February 3, 2017

BASRA, Iraq  On Jan. 15, Iraqi members of parliament, including Sadeq al-Mhanna from the ruling National Alliance, revealed that they are in possession of documents that prove the theft of 300,000 barrels of Basra oil by officials who modified the counters.

A Jan. 25 statement issued by the Oil Ministry in response to the allegation said, Iraq adopts the best international standards in exporting oil via export ports. The process is supervised by local and international agencies. The statement added that the ministry employs an advanced electronic counters system calibrated according to international standards. The system is certified and approved by Intertek, an international testing company that supervises loading procedures, as well as the inspection and approval of exported quantities via the counters.

Up to 98% of the Iraqi national budget relies on the oil produced in Basra, especially after Kurdistan refused to hand over its production to the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) due to disputes over Kurdistans 17% share of the federal budget.

Iraq exports Basra oil via two offshore ports, Basra and Khor al-Amaya. The process of loading the crude oil carrier usually takes 48-56 hours in the presence of representatives from the client company and SOMO and is supervised by Intertek.

Mhanna told Al-Monitor, The National Security Service addressed a letter to the Ministry of Oil confirming the theft of 100,000-300,000 barrels of Basra oil per day. Furthermore, the ministrys periodic meetings with the international testing company have underlined this huge squander. Iraq is losing around $20 million daily due the wastage in oil exports, which amounts to annual losses of $7 billion.

He said, Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki formed a commission to investigate the waste of Basra oil. However, the commission did not conclude with any results because those responsible for it were the same ones benefitting from oil smuggling and concealing information.

Mhanna added, One of the foreign companies formerly operating in Iraq pointed to large discrepancies up to 50% upon loading crude oil into carriers, indicating that the company withdrew once it became aware of the corruption in oil export.

Many parties are involved in oil smuggling, and they should be held accountable for that. I have taken the necessary legal measures and addressed the prime minister and the Oil Ministry urging them to take action against the corrupt party but to no avail, he said, pointing out that although the Oil Ministry installed counters to measure oil in Basras ports, these counters were not calibrated properly. In 2013, I was able to replace them, but the problem persisted. The Oil Ministry blamed the waste of oil on the service contracts concluded with foreign oil companies. However, this is not the case since these companies are not responsible for oil counters.

The parliaments Oil and Energy Commission concurred with Mhanna. Member of parliament Aziz Kazem told Al-Monitor, Iraq is using Aldhirah [measurement] system that measures the size of the carrier. It is an inaccurate method that allows oil smuggling.

He added, The commission decided to address the Oil Ministry in this regard and plans to call on its members to account for the amount of squandered export oil.

Kazem stressed the need for using advanced technology in exporting oil  especially amid the financial crisis the country is facing.

The tertiary international testing company, Intertek, is tasked with testing the oil according to international standards agreed upon by Iraq and the client company buying the oil. Intertek is also responsible for measuring the quantity of oil loaded into the carriers counters installed in the port and within the carrier.

The Ministry of Oil, however, said that the process of transporting crude oil at the Port of Basra follows an advanced counters system and is subject to supervision by several parties, in addition to using the Aldhirah system as a final stage in oil loading.

In a press release issued by the Oil Ministry, the director of the Port of Basra Khalil Hantoush said, The ports current capacity is 1.850 million barrels per day with four terminals. Theres a commission composed of representatives from the South Oil Company, the client company and the international testing company tasked with measuring the deck of the carrier before loading oil. Another commission measures the quantity of oil placed on the carriers deck.

Hantoush noted, The difference between the first commissions figure and that of the second represents the loading net that complies with the counters results at the port.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, oil expert Hamza al-Jawahri stressed the current difficulty of smuggling oil due to the complex procedure implemented by foreign oil companies, arguing that prior to licensing rounds, Iraqi oil was subject to large smuggling operations due to corruption.

International companies operating in Basras fields like ExxonMobil and BP among others are paid for each barrel they produce, which means that it would be impossible to steal such large quantities without them complaining or withdrawing, he said.

However, the contending members of parliament were not convinced, insisting that the prime minister and Integrity Commission should follow up on the issue and preserve the countrys wealth that is being stolen while everyone is turning a blind eye.

Oil remains one of the most controversial issues in the Iraqi economy. The contracts concluded by the Ministry of Oil are not disclosed to the public, and the public is not aware of the stages preceding the agreements nor the current operation procedures in this sector.
You can't force a masterpiece. Harper Lee and John Steinbeck didn't write their respective novels To Kill A Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men with the intent of them becoming renowned masterpieces. It just happened that way. Sure, they set out to make great literature, but what authentic writer doesn't have that goal? The result of trying to force greatness is disingenuous content. Ewan McGregor's adaptation of Philip Roth's American Pastoral has all of the ingredients needed to become an American classic, but ultimately leaves a giant gap where our emotional connection should be.

American Pastoral attempts to tell one cohesive story, but becomes so fragmented you have no idea which point it was trying to make.

The movie kicks off in contemporary times. We meet David Strathairn's character Nathan Zuckerman, a writer who has returned to his small hometown for his forty-fifth high school reunion. We know little of his character, including why he made the trip for this visit. He doesn't socialize with anyone but one man. Even though we later learn he's a published author, played on the popular sports teams, and rubbed shoulders with the younger brother of the most popular guy in school, no one seems to know who he is. This is the first element that called my attention to its forced feeling. It's as if the author of the American Pastoral made this should-be-known character a nobody simply so no one would talk to him, thus leaving room for the voice-over inner monologue to flow without interruption and set up the film's glossy introduction.

After several minutes, the purpose becomes clear. Instead of relating his own story, he's telling the tragic tale of the town's student hero and his beauty queen high school sweetheart. We're meant to take it that this is the subject of his next novel and the voice-over bits are interjections from the novel itself, but we never get anything else out of Zuckerman's character. He is simply the voice of the story being told.

The real lead and central character of American Pastoral is Swede Levov, played by director Ewan McGregor. All eyes were on this hometown celebrity following graduation. After marrying the beautiful and proper Dawn (Jennifer Connelly), he took over the very lucrative family business and continued leading the picture perfect life until imperfection entered their lives. Their daughter Mary suffered a harsh stammer, which made her an outsider and may have stemmed from the impossible task of living up to her trophy mother. Also, Mary seemed to steal her father's affection away from her own mother. The incestuous undertones are quite offputting.

This is where the main story starts to kick off.

At first, Mary seems like an innocent child but, as she enters her teenage years, her anger and discontent spread. Mary (Dakota Fanning) remains kind to her father while verbally attacking her mother, but as time progresses, she even becomes hostile to Dad. As the civil rights movement and anti-war protests of the '60s escalate, Mary thrives on her outsider social status and finds refuge in the dangerous and violent activist moments of the time.

This is the theme that American Pastoral takes the long round-about road to telling: what impact did the radical activists of the '60s have on everyday families?

I just don't understand why it's all so indirect -- if this film truly wants to tell the story of an activist girl bringing her family to its knees, why waste so much time setting up offshoot elements that don't directly impact the theme?

As harsh as I am on American Pastoral, adapting heavy novels is no easy task. Most attempts leave fans shouting, "The book was so much better." Considering how much is contained in this dense picture, I imagine the filmmakers did their best to include everything, which is likely the root cause of its jumbled narrative and theme. I also have to give credit where credit is due. American Pastoral is wonderfully shot and well acted -- it's lacking nothing in terms of what you see and hear -- however, without the emotional connection to the audience, all the pretty imagery suffers under an unrelatable and, truthfully, unlikeable story.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray



American Pastoral hits Blu-ray with a combo release that includes a Region A BD-50 disc, a DVD, and a code for a Digital HD copy. All arrive in a two-disc blue Elite keepcase that comes with a standard slipcover. The Blu-ray is frontloaded with an FBI warning, a Lionsgate reel, a commentary disclaimer and skippable trailers for Deepwater Horizon, Our Kind of Traitor, Hacksaw Ridge, and Indignation.
LETS TAKE IN REFUGEES

This is the appeal from The Muslims of Trinidad and Tobago, a group which wants Governments help to provide a safe haven to Syrians currently living in camps in Lebanon and Jordan. The organisation has turned to this position as it is concerned it may not be able to distribute $1.7 million in relief supplies to refugees in the Middle East, because of a ban on travel for seven Muslim countries.

It also believes Governments proposals to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act, as announced by Attorney General (AG) Faris Al-Rawi last Thursday, will also restrict the movement of local Muslims, the organisations public relations officer Imtiaz Mohammed said in a release yesterday. Mohammed is also president of the Islamic Missionary Guild. This team may have to travel through a country that the AG may consider a terrorist country.

Who is going to determine the purpose and on what grounds, why I travelled to a restricted country.

Are they going to have Muslims followed? Mohammed asked.

They should also consider taking in some of the Syrian refugees (1,000) and we the Muslim community would take care of their needs. The proposed amendment to the current Anti-Terrorism Act seeks to strengthen the existing laws and bring a new law to deal with foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs).

The Attorney General has stated the legislation will extend the scope of the Act to cover terrorist acts committed outside of TT; extend specific offences for the provision of services for the commission of terrorist acts or the financing of terrorism and the collection of property, redefine terrorist acts and expand the definition of a terrorist to include persons who contribute to the commission of a terrorist act. National Security Minister Edmund Dillon revealed last week that 130 nationals are believed to have left TT to join terrorist organisations, especially the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). (See page 5) An American news network also deemed TT as having more terrorists than any of the seven countries on which the US imposed a travel ban. At the post-Cabinet news briefing on Thursday, Al-Rawi listed a slew of measures to address terrorism, following the news that there were about 130 citizens who have gone abroad to join terrorist organisations. The measures include harsh penalties targeting those supporting terrorist groups as well as provisions to address FTFs.

However, Mohammed described the proposed amendments as a violation of our human rights as regards to our freedom of movement, travel saying we see this as an act of discrimination and victimization against all Muslims in Trinidad and Tobago. We are not going to accept this piece of draconian law in Trinidad and Tobago, he said.

Mohammed said any Muslim who joins ISIS rarely return to their countries. The intention which Muslims have in their hearts when they decide to join ISIS is to travel to Syria to fight in the part of Allah and if they die, they believe they would die as martyrs. They believe this would be their gateway to heaven. So, they have no intention of returning to Trinidad and Tobago, Mohammed stated, adding, so why inconvenience the 120,000 Muslims because 130 Muslims are fighting in Syria. He noted the amendments would complicate the lives of Trinidad Muslims locally and abroad as this would make it difficult and expensive for Muslims to fulfil their religious duties. Trinidad Muslims living and working in the Middle East, their lives would be negatively affected by this amendment. They may not even be able to return to Trinidad.

Our humanitarian work in that part of the world will be a major problem, he stated.

Mohammed said Government should instead focus its attention on the unacceptable level of crime in our country and find solutions. Head of the Islamic Front Umar Abdullah also called for the entire Anti-Terrorism Act to be repealed.

I am actually calling for the entire Anti-Terrorism Act to be repealed and some other measure, some other mechanism be put in place to manage the idea of terrorism because as far as I am concerned, the Attorney General (Faris Al-Rawi) and the Minister of National Security (Edmund Dillon) do not understand the meaning of the term, he said.

Speaking in the wake of the Governments proposals to bolster the existing anti-terrorism laws and address, specifically, FTFs, Abdullah said the Government should have consulted with the Muslim groups before formulating its proposals.

My concern may be somewhat different from the rest of the Muslim community because what we are asking is that the Government sit with us and have those discussions and consult with us before they go into Parliament and create laws that are going to infringe on the rights and privileges of not just Muslims but the entire population as well, he said.

When you go through the proposals clearly, you will see that not only Muslims are going to be affected by it, non-Muslims as well. Abdullah suggested.

He said a meeting of Muslim groups was being planned for 2 pm today at the Islamic Missionary Guild, Kelly Village, to discuss the proposals. Mohammed is expected to host the meeting.

We are hopeful that from that meeting, we are going to get a consensus from the Muslim community on the way forward, Abdullah said.

It is something that we have to treat with in this manner. It is not just my voice or Imtiaz voice but the entire Muslim community has to come together an actually take a stance on this position.

The AG could not be reached for comment.
Boy, 15, pensioner, young dad killed

In the first incident, at about 10.30 pm, a group of people were liming at a panyard on the corner of Ravine and Morne Coco Roads Petit Valley, when a masked gunman walked up and opened fire. Three people were hit: 31-year-old Shelly Ann-Craig, Kadeem Lavia and Jahim Alfonso, both 15. They were rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital but Lavia died while undergoing treatment.

One hour later, Aziz Ahmed, 67, was asleep at his home at Cadet Hill, Diego Martin, when he a strange sound woke him up and he saw two men in his bedroom, who then stabbed him several times before escaping. Ahmed was taken to hospital where he died.

And early yesterday morning, businessman and father of two, Naim Caliph, 35, was pronounced dead in his vehicle outside the Mon Repos Police Station following a drive-by shooting along the Tarouba Link Road in San Fernando.

Caliphs friend Fiaz Dougs Mohammed sustained gunshot injuries but survived. Mohammed underwent emergency surgery at the San Fernando General Hospital and, up to yesterday, remained warded in a serious but stable condition.

Police report that shortly after 1 am yesterday, gunmen in a white AD wagon opened fire on Caliphs white Range Rover (PCX 6786), driven by Mohammed, along Tarouba Link Road near the Solomon Hochoy Highway. Caliph, of Naparima/ Mayaro Road in Palmyra Village near San Fernando, was the front-seat passenger.

In trying to escape the assailants, Mohammed sped off to the Mon Repos Police Station on Royal Road. Police investigators said Mohammed was too weak to get out of the vehicle while Caliph, owner of a clothing store, was motionless.

There were 11 bullet holes in the vehicle including a shattered window on the front passenger side.

The driver was so weak from the injuries that he was unable to come out the vehicle. He sounded the horn and officers went outside to see what was going on. Naim Caliph was pronounced dead while Mohammed was rushed to hospital, said a police officer.

Police issued an all-points bulletin and officers of the Rapid Response Unit and the Southern Division Task Force went in search of the assailants without success.

Police blocked road in front of the police building as they searched for evidence. A district medical officer pronounced Caliph dead.

A friend of Caliph told Sunday Newsday that hours before the shooting, he and Mohammed friends were seen at the official opening of Steel Restaurant and Lounge at South Park (Mall) in Tarouba.

He believes Caliph may have been on his way home when the gunmen opened fire.

Naim always had a smile on his face. He was always happy. Although police came out looking for the killers, the highway is right there. Therefore, they could have gone in any direction. In 10 minutes, they could have been in Couva and in five minutes at Debe, said the friend. Relatives were not at home when Sunday Newsday visited.

An autopsy is due to be performed at the Forensic Science Centre, St James tomorrow. The case is being investigated by Homicide Region III officers.
Angelo a scavenger of the past

The history of TT and the sources of the historical record have over the past 40 years been very sadly neglected. So I was extremely gratified to see this young guy so keen and taking source material and turning it intro popular presentations, Besson told Sunday Newsday. He said Bissessarsingh would venture into Lapeyrouse Cemetery to take notes from the headstones, while are now being destroyed by vagrants. He was putting together a virtual museum of great variety and content which is very, very good, when you see the state of the National Museum. Besson said Bissessarsingh was not a university historian but an amateur who was more spontaneous and free to follow his own hunches and inclinations, staying close to the ground .

Us amateur historians are getting old - Fr Anthony De Verteuil, Michael Anthony, Adrian Camp Campins and myself. I am 75 years, so to suddenly see this young fellow (Bissessarsingh) arrive on the scene gave us all the sense that we have someone to pass on our archives or a box of old photos. He wasnt writing with any political overtones but wending his way to the real facts and putting it across in such a way that people really liked. He said Bissessarsinghs books became popular as gifts to recall a past time, spur conversation and trigger memories. However he noted that such publication was a labour of love, saying such a local book would typically sell about 700 to 800 copies, quipping, If you sell 1,000, youve got a best-seller. Besson wondered why in contrast Jamaican publisher, Ian Randle, can sell thousands of books on the Jamaican market and thousands more overseas .

How does Jamaica have such a strong sense of national identity that people want to read about, but not TT? mulled Besson. I ask question how come a lad from deep south would have the impulse to do this (historical research)? They are not rich people, and this work wont make him a living. This thing comes from the heart. Yet history is vitally important, he said .

People are growing up in this country but dont know why a place is called a certain name, why certain animosities exist in society and why we have certain customs, related Besson .

So people like Angelo who pursue the historical record are exceedingly commendable. He hoped the media could whet public thirst for local history by way of pondering why is George Street called George Street, why do the streets of St James bear the names of cities of India, and why are many streets in Woodbrook are named after Boer War commanders such as Kitchener and Gatacre? Saying the answers to such questions build a countrys identity, Besson said, Angelo was contributing to a sense of identity of the place, what Jamaica and Barbados have. He lamented that just a few old people know the full history of the Red House and Presidents House, both whose current dilapidation pose a future threat of demolition one day, a loss of edifice that he likened to the death of somebody .

Things just fall apart, and next thing a rich man bulldozes it and it is gone overnight. Besson recalled learning of the mindless past demolition of an old Spanish colonial building at lower Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain, likely used historically by the Cabildo or Treasury which he ended up scavenging for relics .

Angelo too was a scavenger of the past, he said .

While post-Independence politics may have led many persons to disdain TTs history as being too linked to TTs colonial past, Besson said heritage buildings can also be cherished by the fact of who were the persons who crafted them, the masons and craftsmen, the grandfathers of ordinary persons in TT today .

These things give continuity and give us a sense of identity and make you stronger as a person in the context of the place where you live, so you take better care of it and have a better sense of belonging .

So Angelo was one on those really remarkable people who somewhere in his subconscious he understood all of this and was prepared to dedicate the rest of his life to this. God rest, good old Angelo.
Children rally around Tristan

Yesterday Tristans father, Christopher Khan, 34, said the children in the community were so happy to see him return from hospital on Friday afternoon they literally ran to his side.

At daybreak they were here again. When Tristan reached home around 4 pm yesterday (Friday), the children ran across. They are accustomed to playing together, they often set crab traps together and catch crabs. Tristan is doing fine so far although he is still having pains in the hand, Khan said. The family live on the corner of Lewis and Sucre Streets in Mayaro.

Tristan is a Standard One pupil of Mayaro Government Primary School.

Reports are that on Wednesday last Tristan, and a group of friends were playing at the Mayaro Recreation Ground during his schools second recess break at 2 pm. Further reports are a male student stopped and attacked Tristan by stamping his back. As Tristan fell to the ground, the classmate cuffed, kicked and began to jump up and down on his right arm. While jumping up and down on his right arm, the attacker kept saying, I am a ninja turtle. Tristan was rushed to the nearby Mayaro District Hospital where he was treated and transferred to the Sangre Grande Hospital. At the hospital, he underwent reconstructive surgery on his right elbow and was subsequently warded. On Friday, doctors discharged him from hospital.

He has to go back to hospital on Friday for an X-ray. Once everything is healing properly and is in order, they would change the cast on his hand. We are not sure when he will be okay to go back to school, Khan added.

Khan noted that before Tristan was discharged from hospital, persons from the Child Protection Unit obtained information from hospital officials about his sons condition.

The Education Ministry has since launched an investigation to hear from all relevant parties. Sunday Newsday learnt that an official from the ministry met with relatives yesterday to compile information about the incident.

Khan explained that neither he nor his common-law wife Shareefa Ali, 38, have received any communication whatsoever from the parents of the attacker.

We havent heard a word from the parents as yet--- not a word. We will be taking legal action on this matter, Khan vowed.
Tracking terrorists

More than 25 years later, the issue of terrorism remains on the front burner - one which reached a head last Tuesday when National Security Minister Edmund Dillon told the Upper House that an estimated 130 TT nationals, including adults and their families, have left local shores to get involved in terrorist organisations in other countries.

Information at hand reflects about 70 adults and about 58 family members, he said in response to a question on the issue from independent senator Paul Richards. Dillon said, however, there was no way of tracking those persons overseas.

The Minister also made no reference to any specific group operating in Trinidad and Tobago.

In terms of intelligence and information- gathering, people leave TT sometimes for destinations not mentioned.

For example, for England and end up in Syria, and the intended destination isnt known to us, he said.

Therefore, we rely on international partners to give us the kind of information that will confirm theyre in a terrorist country. Dillons revelations came one day after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley condemned allegations by former United States Navy Petty Officer Malcolm Nance, who, in a recent MSNBC interview, said TT was among a group of countries which had more terrorists than seven predominantly Muslim countries.

President Donald Trump has banned the citizens from these countries from entering the United States.

But this executive order has been suspended following a federal judges ruling on the constitutionality of its provisions on Friday night. The Trump administration is expected to file an appeal.

(See page 29A) Recently, Minister in the Office of the Attorney General Stuart Young gave a somewhat different perspective of the situation, revealing in the Parliament that some 182 TT citizens were suspected of being involved in terrorist activities and there had been a significant increase in what appeared to be the financing of insurgents.

The findings were contained in the 2015/16 report of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Finance, which was laid in the Parliament, early last month.

Sunday Newsday learnt, though, that a comprehensive system to gauge the flow of suspected terrorists to and from TT-remains a work in progress.

In fact, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi on Thursday announced a suite of measures aimed at bolstering the countrys existing anti-terrorism laws and bringing new ones to tackle specifically foreign terrorist fighters.

These include stiff penalties for people directly or indirectly involved in the support of terrorist groups.

However, some Muslim groups have described the measures as draconian, saying they had far-reaching implications for not only members of the faith but other citizens as well.

The groups, under the umbrella of the Islamic Front, are expected to meet today at 2 pm to discuss the proposed amendments to the Anti- Terrorism Bill. The meeting is scheduled to take place at the Islamic Missionary Guild, Kelly Village.

President of the Anjumann Sunnat-Ul-Jamaat (ASJA) Yacoob Ali told Sunday Newsday he had not internalised the measures now being proposed in the legislation, saying he would address the matter at a later stage.

He said, though, that a few Muslims left TT shores several months ago, presumably to join terrorist organisations, but are yet to return.

We havent seen them coming back and their families said they may be dead, he said. We understand that some members were killed but we dont know how many. Ali said he had not received any reports of Muslims going overseas under mysterious circumstances within the past six months.

Ali said they also had no way of tracking those who have left.

I dont think we can really do much here and we really dont know where they are located.

We have checked within our organisation and nobody could tell us where any member from any one of the mosques or the Jamaat that we have would have gone.

Maybe people dont know where they have gone? We dont support ISIS Ali said the faith does not support the ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) network and its operatives.

We, in Trinidad, being the type of organisation we are, do not advocate any extremist views. We dont think Trinidadians should get involved in that at all because it does not concern us, he said.

There is nothing in the religious practice that says you have got to go and defend there. If somebody is defending their State, you could probably join that. But what are you going there for? Ali said the promise of large sums of money appeared to be the allure.

He said: We understand they are well-paid when they go and that is why many of them join ISIS. We have heard that they can get as much as US$20,000 depending... The Muslim cleric said ISIS would not attract large numbers of locals because, to my mind, we like too much of a sweet life to go and destroy it by going over there. Is only those people who do not have anything to live for in this country maybe because of their position they are just attracted by the payment of some US dollars, Ali said.

But I have been saying that they should not neglect their families because it is not part of the faith and they are not practising the faith by doing that for the sake of tens of thousands of dollars. It can spoil the rest of their lives. Griffith: Dillons Senate statement confusing As the Government grapples with the movement of TT citizens in foreign-based terrorist organisations, former national security minister Gary Griffith yesterday described Dillons statement in the Senate as confusing.

It has done more damage than assisted Trinidad and Tobagos reputation and was in total contrast to the previous comment made from the Prime Minister where the prime minister was able to state that Nances comment was total nonsense, he said.

Minister Dillon making another comment along that line gave the perception there was a contradiction between the Office of the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Security. Claiming that Dillons figure of 130 was totally off the mark, Griffith said the minister included the wives and other family members of the terrorists with the actual people who were deemed to be terrorists from T&T.

So he was actually adding numbers, Griffith said.

I dont know if he thought that this would have been of value to us.

So the numbers of the possible terrorists are 70-odd and then they had their family accompanying them. Their family accompanying them does not make them terrorists.

So he added the numbers to more than what it really was. Family members accompanying suspected terrorists does not make you a terrorist. Griffith recalled that when he was national security minister, there were about 35 TT nationals who left the country to terrorist organisations overseas.

But by now it may have gone up, he said.

Griffith claimed that while there was an estimated 15,000 foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs), worldwide, not one originated from TT.

There are FTFs from all over the world, inclusive of the United States. Thousands of FTFs have left the United States to become Foreign terrorist fighters and there are many actual terrorists that are in the United States but the difference with Trinidad and Tobago and, Minister Dillon has failed to give the assurance internationally to reduce the fear in our own community - out of all the 15,000 foreign terrorist fighters, there is not one that is living in Trinidad and Tobago, he claimed.

Griffith said Dillon gave the impression that TT was littered with terrorists.

There is not one person who is deemed as someone who will commit a terrorist act in Trinidad and Tobago, he said.

Griffith, who served as national security minister in the former Peoples Partnership Government from September 2013 to February 2015, said a United Nations Resolution 2178, signed by former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, ensured that all international countries relay information in real time regarding people who may be deemed as possible terrorists or linked to terrorist activities.

No country has any information, data or documentation to show that any person is a terrorist in Trinidad and Tobago, he claimed.

The fact is that no TT citizen has left here, gone to the US and has been deemed as a possible terrorist and that is what is important. That is what differentiates us from the other seven countries that President Trump spoke about.

Those seven countries are littered with persons who are terrorists that live and reside and operate as terrorists in those countries.

There are none in Trinidad and Tobago and that is what Minister Dillon has failed to be able to explain to the country. Griffith added: Those persons, they have gone to Syria and they will never get back home because having been deemed an FTF, they cannot board an aircraft to get back into Trinidad and Tobago because there is no one-way ticket from Syria or wherever to Trinidad and Tobago. Griffith said no one can prevent someone from becoming a terrorist because that person could easily take a flight to go to London and then you never know what happens after. Rather, he said Government should focus on ensuring that they never return to TT.

You can de-nationalise them, which is what I have been speaking about for the last two years and nobody understood. Griffith said some countries were already practising the measure.

They must know that they have given up their right to be a citizen by being a terrorist and that will prevent them from even thinking of getting back into our country. Griffith said under the UN Resolution, the names of people suspected of being an FTF would be relayed to ally nations to ensure they are not able to board an aircraft to any of the transit routes to TT.

Thats what Minister Dillon should be saying. Griffith said the practice will ensure that citizens are not fearful of terrorists lurking around at every turn. It will also stop the stupidity by these correspondents in MSNBC and others who believe that any TT citizen who leaves this country and goes to the US may very well be a person of interest in terrorist activities, he said.
$2.3M price for arts landmark

The 4,800 square foot property is being advertised for sale by Guillen Realty on their Facebook page at a cost of $2.3 million. A number of comments on the post expressed shock and surprise that the TTW building was being put on the market.

Some called for Government to assist while others committed to supporting any fundraisers.

TTW artistic director Albert Laveau, speaking in a telephone interview yesterday, said they have been renting the property since 2004 but were informed months ago that the 100-year-old building it would be put up for sale and they would have the first option to buy.

He reported that last week a couple of young women visited TTW and informed them that the property owner, a United States citizen, had passed on the property to them to deal with it.

Laveau reported that the TTW will have a meeting to discuss their next move.

It is not easy for us to raise $2 million, he added.

He said their fundraising efforts are still in the planning stages and they have a group of volunteers looking at it.

Laveau stressed the building is needed not only by the TTW but the whole artistic community. He said they accommodate the community and train children, teenagers and adults, have programmes in design and production and all the ancillary skills needed to professionally present plays. Veteran playwright Tony Hall hosts playwriting workshops at TTW, which recently put on a festival of new plays.

TTW also gives out 12 scholarships to the Secondary Schools Drama Festival and also to people in need.

Their activities include theatre in education where they remount plays from the English literature syllabus B for schools.

The space features a theatre in the backyard and a storage space for props and costumes.

They also make space available for people to present their art, have meetings, casting for films and for mas bands. Laveau said a university student was coming in next week to host a JOuvert band as part of her thesis.

The facility is available to the entire community. And I am making this pitch to those who would like to see this thing community contact us and help us to buy the place, he said.

TTW was founded by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott and others in 1959. It was originally a part of the Little Carib Theatre, located in Woodbrook, but after they split from them a few years later they were housed at Bretton Hall Hotel up to 1970.

Laveau said they then moved all over the place, including peoples living rooms, before settling at the Old Fire Station in Portof- Spain in 1988.

With the building of the National Library they had to leave that location and then moved to Rust Street, and then finally to Jerningham Avenue in 2004.

About the sale, Laveau said he was not too concerned and they will find some place else if they have to. The TTW, a non-profit organisation, receives an annual government subvention of $30,000.

Laveau said they receive support from the corporate sector, especially Massy Group, but it needs to be continually worked on and expanded.

Roger Roberts, member of rapso group 3canal, commented on the issue saying, I think is very unfortunate that a cultural institution like that should be lost to the community. I think it would be a tragic loss to our cultural fabric, he added.

He said great cities are made vibrant by art and when this happens businessmen can benefit.

It is very unfortunate if the TTW loses their home. It is one more nail in the coffin of dying arts, he added.

Roberts expressed hope that some type of intervention could be made so TTW would maintain ownership of the building.

Veteran actress and producer Penelope Spencer said she felt real saddened and ashamed that building has to be put up for sale.

She added that in a more progressive country, where arts and culture are considered, more would have been invested in the TTW. She expressed hope that Government would look into the issue.

Trinidad Theatre Workshop has a legacy in this country with Derek Walcott and it would be a shame to let it die, she said.

When contacted yesterday, Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts Dr Nyan Gadsby- Dolly told Sunday Newsday that it was the first she had heard of the issue. She said with this new development she expects that the TTW board will come and chat with her ministry about their options.

Anything we can do to support, as one of the foundation drama associations that always push drama and training in theatre arts, we are willing to discuss options. Any way we can support we are willing to examine possibilities, she said.

If you would like to assist the TTW contact them at 624-8502 or 220-0486.
TTUTA head: Expedite sex abuse cases

He made the comment during an interview with radio station i95.5FM. On Friday, Chief Education Officer in the Education Ministry Harrilal Seecaharan told a Joint Select Committee meeting that 19 teachers were under probe for sexual abuse in cases that including incidents of inappropriate touching, sexting (the sending of sexually explicit messages and images), hugging and sexual intercourse with students. The matters are being probed by the Teaching Service Commission and Seecharan assured the teachers had been removed from the system pending the outcome of investigations.

He reported at least one of the matters is 13 years-old and stressed the need for such issues to be dealt with in a faster manner.

TTUTA would not condone any such conduct on the part of teachers, he said.

He stressed that one of these cases is too much. He also advised members to be careful when interacting with students because it is easy for an accusation to be levelled against you. He suggested that for field trips there are teachers of both sexes as a precautionary measure. Doodhai said that we live in a very litigious society and it is easy for someone to be stigmatised or accused of sexual offences.
Minister meets with PAVI on subvention

In a release yesterday it was reported that the meeting was held on February 2 at the ministrys head office, St Vincent Street, Portof- Spain.

Following the very productive meeting, the minister was quite pleased to note that both the Ministry and PAVI are now on the same page in addressing the issue of the organizations subvention. Minister Crichlow-Cockburn further stated that PAVI has been informed and now understands that the information required for the 2013-2015 period was critical to informing consideration of reinstating a subvention, the release said.

PAVI, the release continued, agreed to provide the information as required by the Ministry, by the end of February 2017. The Ministry also forwarded to PAVI the templates to assist in providing the necessary information.

The Ministry through its NGO Unit remains committed to working with PAVI in ensuring that the organization meets the criteria for funding by the Ministry. The meeting concluded on a very cordial note, the release concluded.
School for the Blind remains closed

In a press release on Friday the association advised of its decision to close indefinitely the School for the Blind, located at Pax Vale, Santa Cruz.

According to the release, the decision was taken because of their displeasure with the running of the institution by the current principal, Derrick Mundy. The release stated that the school will remain closed until the Ministry of Education, which appointed Mundy, removes him. The association also demanded that the ministry replace the head teacher Nichola Mundy, the principals wife; sign the memorandum of understanding as proposed by the association; and that in future, it consult the association on the appointment of the new principal and all other teachers at the school.

In a brief phone interview, last Friday, association executive officer Kenneth Suratt said he was ready to resist the ministry if it opposed the associations decision to shut down the school. He made this comment in response to a threat from the Director of School Supervisors, Ashram Deoraj, that the police and the MTS will storm the building to ensure that the school will be reopened. Surratt said, I told him that we will be ready for action. We want to sit down to resolve the situation. But the Government doesnt seem to care about persons with disabilities. In an additional release yesterday, Suratt said the association has not received any word from the Education Ministry and will have no choice but to call on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to intervene to have this matter resolved.

President of the Parent Teacher Association, Alicia Modeste, told Sunday Newsday parents were not pleased with the associations decision to close the school.

The association started the School for the Blind in 1952 and provided both domestic services and academic training for students. However, an amendment to the Education Act of 1984 gave the Education Ministry full responsibility for the schools academic curriculum.

The association retained the responsibility for the domestic services at the school.

Attempts to contact Education Minister Anthony Garcia yesterday were unsuccessful.
Genres : Concert, Music

Starring : Rick Allen (drums); Vivian Campbell (guitars); Phil Collen (guitars); Joe Elliott (vocals), Rick Savage (bass)

Plot Synopsis

Def Leppard rock Detroit! In the summer of 2016, Def Leppard s World Tour rolled into the DTE Energy Music Theatre on the outskirts of Detroit. As the sun began to set over a packed crowd the huge video wall behind the stage came to life with the exploding image of the band's latest album cover and Def Leppard began to power their way through a stunning setlist of classic hits and new tracks. Featuring superb surround sound and amazing visuals this film captures the full-on experience of Def Leppard live in concert like never before.



BLU-RAY and CD:

(CD Disc 1) 1) Let's Go 2) Animal 3) Let It Go 4) Dangerous 5) Foolin 6) Love Bites 7) Armageddon It 8) Rock On 9) Man Enough (CD Disc 2) 10) Rocket 11) Bringin On The Heartbreak 12) Switch 625 13) Hysteria 14) Let's Get Rocked 15) Pour Some Sugar On Me 16) Rock Of Ages 17) Photograph
Insurance Bill goes to JSC

Attorney-General Faris Al-Rawi said the bill enacts lessons learnt from the 2008 global financial crisis and 2009 local crisis, and fills gaps in the current law. He justified the bill by saying insurance companies were backed by insufficient capital to justify the size of their exposure to risk, citing the case of CL Financial whereby a $300 billion conglomerate was backed by its insurance arm having just $3 million capital in its statutory fund. He urged a shift from this de minimis (that is, minimal) model, to a riskbased capital model.

Better corporate governance via board, shareholders, auditors and accountants, and regulators, would also be provided by the Bill, he said.

Contagion risk, seen in 2009, also needs attention in the bill. Saying 37 percent of TTs GDP lies within the insurance and pensions sectors, he said these are large sections of the economy that constitute a risk that must be well-managed. Al-Rawi hailed the work of past JSCs under their past chairmen, former finance ministers, Winston Dookeran and Larry Howai.

Declaring the bill to be a dagger in the heart of crime and criminality, he cited similar law and order bills such as the Gambling Bill and Firearms Bill, as proof of the Governments anti- crime thrust, declaring, One, one cocoa does fill basket.

Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh declared the Oppositions support for the bill
Chaguanas gets thorough clean-up

Addressing reporters prior to the start of the clean-up campaign, Hosein said the initiative would not only ensure a cleaner environment but also bring communities closer together as more contractors as well as members of the business community were supportive of the campaign.

I am so happy to see people who want to give back to the country, and at minimum cost to the government, Hosein said, adding, this is really bringing the community and the country together, the opportunity just came and they buy into it. The last time this was done was 1986, 31 years ago by the NAR, but the support so far has been overwhelming as we move to each corporation, more and more volunteers and the business community, contractors coming out, he said.

Hosein said the exercise included the cleaning up of schools, institutions, residences, and open lots; desilting of drains, disposal of bulk waste, derelict vehicles and dilapidated buildings. Chaguanas Mayor Gopaul Boodhan said the cleanup campaign, themed Team up to clean upwe do it better, would move into all eight electoral districts.

This is an historic day in Chaguanas with this massive clean-up and we want to call on the burgesses and the residents to also pitch in and do their part too because this cannot be an effort of just the Ministry and the Chaguanas Borough Corporation and the workers alone, it has to be a team effort with everybody, Boodhan said.

All of us have one common goal and objective and that is to make our environment clean, and everything is in order to sustain quality living, he said, and noted Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce president, Richie Sookhai as well as Chaguanas East and West MPs Fazal Karim and Ganga Singh also participated in the project.
the inside game

The Most Important Senate Race Is Also the Most Ignored

While most of the chatter is about other races, Nevada might actually decide control of the chamber.
he is so fucking hideous in these photos. he kinda looks like charles manson

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yiiiikes you're right

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oh my god.

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I was thinking mel gibson but yikes you're right

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omg can't unsee, I think it's the nose, or maybe the chin?

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definitely the chin and the evil eyes in that second to last pic. i know joaquin isn't evil like charles manson, he's just giving me some creepy vibes in this pic lol

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you nailed it! I totally see a less hot Charles Manson

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She looks fug too

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indeed

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both Scorpios btw

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what an unattractive couple

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they really called the paps for this shit?

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bitch what? i need u to know that i'm half drunk rn

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come to ontd_bs

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many celebs live in that area and have been photographed outside that store, it's a paparazzi hotspot I guess.

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he is so gross looking now

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RIP, this Joaquin

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my 10yo self was so in love with this joaquin

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it's truly tragic. like look at this shit

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he was so handsome

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this is so gross like why rooney

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the carol tinhat stans that are no only convince that she's gay but that she and cate had/have a thing creep me out

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They take inspiration from K Stew fans. They used to get laughed off for suggesting she is gay. They willed her into eating pussy.

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Yeah she has some hardcore stans who refuse to accept that she and Blanchet probably aren't having some crazy love affair

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I legit thought she was cause I don't know anything about her besides what I read on here

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i mean if i'm calling the caps to the market i'm gonna wear a better outfit...

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I have no real opinion on this couple other than I love Rooney's dimples and Joaquin looks scary. \_()_/



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this reminds me that I should call my father tomorrow and have a chat

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screaming

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lmaooo

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lolllll fuck

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omg

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they make so much sense as a couple lmao hft



and why won't he do himself and us a favor clean up

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They both look terrible.

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she looks like a recent graduate from NYU who went back to MA to hang out with her father while she looks for a job in the city.

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Lol at this description.

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sounds like a NA romance that's borderline erotic

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lmao

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He looks so old. But I will always say he deserved the supporting actor for Gladiator.

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he was so hot when he was younger. and cleaner.

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ew what a downgrade on her part. I would say he looks homeless but that's an insult to homeless people.

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Yes thnx op

eta the show making sure Naomi's entire story doesn't revolve around her relationship with Holden

Best news



Edited at 2017-02-05 05:38 pm (UTC)

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My pleasure. And yes, I was so happy to hear that, we're exploring what being a Belter means to Naomi and there are hints about her backstory and I'm all about that.

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A thousand yes. I want to know her backstory and where she stands. She is a fascinating character. Question to you op.why miller shoot the scientist?

The avclub doesnt cover it right?

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Anyway, we're going to be finished with book 1 by [ Spoiler (click to open) ] episode 5 [ Spoiler (click to open) ] S2 doesn't cover all of book 2 and I'm not sure how I feel about that, since it ends on such a perfect moment for a season finale- 'we need to talk'.



I can't wait to see the promised Alex-Amos subplot and they're really hyping up Drummer, Fred's head of security so I'm excited to see more of her. And to see if they make any changes to Bobbie/Avasarala storylines. I like that we're meeting Bobbie's team and seeing her before her starting point in book 2, I know she'll have an amazing arc this season.



Interesting that Florence Faivre is a credited regular despite not appearing in the first two episodes. I definitely think [ Spoiler (click to open) ] she'll be playing Clarissa (I haven't gotten to her book yet but I wiki'd her) as well as Proto-Julie and this is their way of keeping the actress around.



Anyway I'm just so excited about this season. I've been spending so much time on The Expanse Reddit, it's ridiculous. RIP IMDb messageboards.Anyway, we're going to be finished with book 1 bybased on episode synopses. And Cas apparently saidI can't wait to see the promised Alex-Amos subplot and they're really hyping up Drummer, Fred's head of security so I'm excited to see more of her. And to see if they make any changes to Bobbie/Avasarala storylines. I like that we're meeting Bobbie's team and seeing her before her starting point in book 2, I know she'll have an amazing arc this season.Interesting that Florence Faivre is a credited regular despite not appearing in the first two episodes. I definitely thinkAnyway I'm just so excited about this season.

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I read that. And while i never posted there i read them. Now how do you comment read comments ?

Anyways i dont read the books i am excite for all stories.almost lol

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How do I comment read comments?



I used to post on IMDb all the time for shows, for movies I was more of a lurker, but a few years ago I legit at least once a day went there, but could spend hours there. :(



I've read the first two books and 3 novellas and I'm really excited but also interested in seeing what the show changes. S1 I read the book after seeing the show and kept wanting to get to the good part and was pleasantly surprised to realize the show changed a lot of small stuff for the better. Now I read book 2 and I just want to get to the good parts of the book but also see what gets changed around.

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It never ceases to get weird seeing my name said in shows/in books. Like i'm so not used to it? It always makes me double take!! Like in Shadowhunters when Valentine calls Clary 'Clarissa' i'm like "HEW ME?"

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When the rains fall hard on Olympus Mons, COME THROUGH AND DOMINATE THOSE EARTHLINGS AND BELTERS, QUEEN OF MARS GUNNERY SERGEANT ROBERTA W. DRAPER!!!





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I decided I HAD to make a new icon just for her. I still love and stan for my OPA True Believer Queen Julie Mao, but Queen of Mars Bobbie is here to slay us all, so. She really is evveerryyythiinnggg, my days I am #SHOOK I decided I HAD to make a new icon just for her. I still love and stan for my OPA True Believer Queen Julie Mao, but Queen of Mars Bobbie is here to slay us all, so.

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There's billboards for this show all over LA, is it worth getting into?!

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If you like sci fi, this show is the best thing that has happened to it in like 10 years. :)

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BSG ended in 2009 so *8 years. ahem!

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Yes. Do you like proper sci-fi space opera shows? Realistic, gritty, lots of politics and conspiracies, great world building and characters? If so, give it a shot.

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I just powered through the first season and I loved it, but I reckon it takes a couple of episodes to get going and the pacing is pretty slow. And it can be a bit confusing - I found I really had to pay attention, there's a lot of world-building stuff that doesn't get fully spelled out, if that makes sense.





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My dad got me into this show and I absolutely love it. Best sci-fi on tv right now.

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That's awesome. I got my mom to watch it and now I'm trying really hard to bug my brother enough to give it a go. I definitely think it's one of the best if not the best sci-fi shows at the moment and it's been forever since we had a proper sci-fi show.

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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

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Steven Strait? in 2017???

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Does Nick Tarabay have a decent enough screentime? I know he's only in season 2 so far and I'm almost done with 1.

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It's hard to say, because it's only been two episodes and he just joined, but they're beefing up his role more than it was in the book, so I really don't know what they're doing with his character or how much screen time he'll have.

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Important question tbh! The universe needs more Fucking Ashur!

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the martian power armor is so cool. frankie adams is a badass -- i can barely move at all in the summer, let alone do sprints with 50 pounds on my back. i have a feeling i'm going to like bobbie a lot.



i'm annoying everyone i know to watch this show. i've got my friends watching s1 on amazon and my mom reading the books. i'm obsessed with it

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Frankie is great and Bobbie is a badass, knowing her book 2 storyline, we're in for a treat with her.



You're doing God's work. I got my mom to watch it, I keep trying to bug my brother enough to give it a try but so far no dice, but I'm gonna keep on working on it.

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I'm not American, but I heard it's on Amazon Prime.

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Amazon is where I'm watching it. It may be on netflix? But I'm not too sure

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Netflix has it outside the States, I think.

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Yes. S1

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i love alex so much ahhhh

i honestly didn't buy naomi/holden until i saw it, they have chemistry surprisingly! chrisjen's outfits are killing me this season.

miller did a dumb thing but i understand why he did it tbh. and i wouldn't have trusted dresden either, the way julie's dad and errinwright were talking about eros didn't really match up with dresden's explanation.

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I really like Alex so I'm happy the show seems to be doing more with him than the books have so far (only read 2 books).



I'm mostly indifferent to Naomi/Holden.



Avasarala's outfits are so amazing.



I get why Miller did what he did, outside of wanting revenge, how do you trust anyone with that kind of a weapon? Hmm... I want to rewatch a few scenes, maybe I'll add the Errinwright/Mao and Dresden scenes to see if I think it matches up, but wouldn't be the first time people work on something and view it completely differently.

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i need to back and watch season 1 before watching this.

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Then do it! I got my mom to watch the show like 1-2 weeks before season 2 premiered, so I sort of half rewatched with her.

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I plan to. I watched it earlier this year and actually know where the DVD is. I'm so behind on shows. Slowly working my way through them.

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look forward to it

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Battlestar Galactica knockoff, or no?



Thomas Jane as crazy as ever? lol

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No. Not every gritty space opera is a BSG knock-off.



... I guess? I don't know much about him as a person, if you mean the character he plays, then he's a fairly typical messed up noir detective.

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CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE MELISSA MCCARTHY SEAN SPICER SKIT?!







SHE WAS BRILLIANT!

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MOOSE LAMBS

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but it was seriously the best thing Ive seen from snl in a while lol I didn't include because there was a post earlier with the video http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/104961736.html but it was seriously the best thing Ive seen from snl in a while lol

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This was the best SNL skit in years. She was amazing.

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she was amazing, i was in tears. best skit in a long time.



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Omfg your icon

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When I say rocky start, I mean it in the sense of Rocky the movie. Because I came out here to punch you! In the face!

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she was perfect!

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She stole the show. She's the only one from the show who is still trending on Twitter right now. Years from now, this will still be remembered and referred to. Srsly, one of the best take downs ever, and no one deserves it more. She's just brilliant.

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LMAO, this was absolutely perfect.

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Absolute perfection. The only part that sucks is that it's too fucking realistic.

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i had to rewind it like 5 times bc i was laughing too hard

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we sell those Lambchop toys!

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She belongs on live tv, lesser actors would have corpsed halfway through, she didn't even smirk

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omg this is amazing.

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She is a complete comedic genius. I hope she's brought back next week when Alec hosts

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yessssss



I also love the delayed reaction of the audience when they started to realize who she was, lol

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can't watch in m country

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best thing she's done

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cool that she officially called herself gay.



have those people who still ship her with rob had a stroke over it?

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why do you care what they do? let them be obsessed

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because it's hilarious/creepy as fuck? and most of them are waaaay too old to still be hung up on something like this lmao.

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According to them she's had like three kids with him somehow

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SHE WAS JOKING

ITS A COMEDY SHOW

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In the monologue she said "he [Trump] is in love with my boyfriend" or something like that and this alone will have them going for another 5 years.

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they'll find some way to twist it into a conspiracy led by FKA twigs

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it was kinda odd how trump was obsessed with kristen

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Why do u care that he was obsessed?

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why are you giving me a question i asked back on here? let alone mocking me?

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lol bless u for calling their shit out

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LMAO

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lmao

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Not with Kristen, with Rob. lol

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Also, I preferred it when people only turned to him for his opinion on Robsten, and you know, not the fate of our country.



I do kind of wonder about Rob/KStew, and whether she was out to him and the whole relationship was for publicity or if she was still questioning or maybe closeted.

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I'm glad she's comfortable enough to be out now.

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She looks hot in that third vid

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mte

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this was a good ep lol

also thought it was funny when colin accidentally ended update early and was super embarrassed

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lol, the look on her face when she accidentally dropped the f-bomb, I hope Lorne doesn't hold it against her.

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It will depend on the ratings.

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In honor of Kristen Stewart hosting SNL - here are the 8 tweets President Trump posted about her in the past. pic.twitter.com/0m24xxhGSg  Yashar (@yashar) February 5, 2017



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I thought they were making some of them up holy shit



Edited at 2017-02-05 07:08 pm (UTC)

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good grief

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wow it's real, holy shit

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"Everyone is asking me to speak more" lmao sure

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I legit think he hears voices.

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"am I ever wrong?"



FUCK YES. Are you ever right?

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damn this really tops those 30 year old larries

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Jesus, from a 65+ year old dude...

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And to think he once seemed (whilst also being an eternal conniving sex pest business flop) just like another harmless deluded RPattz fangirl...



In 2012 he was all "Robert, drop her!" and in 2017 he's all "the nukes, drop them!"



How the fuck is he even on the world's radar, let alone POTUS?!

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"She looks like a dog and will do it again." He is truly incapable of insulting someone without insulting himself. Truly.

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well that's rich coming from a cheating pos rapist.

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even without being potus, he was like a sixtysomething man tweeting about the love life of a 22-year old actress best known for being in teen vampire movies. i mean...

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Is this the real life



Is this just fantasy

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he tweeted about Miley and Liam when they broke up too lmao

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the Discourse on her calling herself gay is going to be f u n

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Oh, for sure. (I mean, I do know bi/queer/pan people who casually refer to themselves as gay or "so gay" in certain contexts? I've done it myself. I don't think it invalidates their hetero relationships. But maybe that's not what she meant. Either way, the stan wars will be exhausting. And we just got past the Great Sherlock Orientation Debate. >____>)

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i've called myself queer (it's not considered a slur where i live & it's the accepted umbrella term), but never gay bc it's reserved for lesbians & gays. but i guess that depends on the person & country/language, so ia with you.

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I mean, I'm bi and I don't refer to myself as gay because a) I'm not gay, b) how are people supposed to learn what being bi is if I refuse to own my identity, and c) me not having exclusive attraction to women and calling myself gay does, imo, contribute to the harmful idea that lesbians are not exclusively attracted to women and are just waiting for the Right Man and they don't need that

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has she referred to herself as bi before?? if not, maybe she is just saying that she is a lesbian. i mean plenty of lesbians have had relationships with men before deciding that they are exclusively attracted to women. she could be like that

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i can't wait for the accusations of bisexual erasure when ppl refer to kstew as gay/lesbian.



(yeah i realize that some folks use it as an umbrella term, but you can't get mad at ppl for taking you at your word when you say gay.)





Edited at 2017-02-05 07:43 pm (UTC)

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Whoomp, there it is. I love Mara.

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God I hope ppl keep dragging her forever

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I'm glad people are dragging Ivanka. She can't be so heavily involved in the administration yet totally shield herself from any of the actualities of their shitty decisions. Her husband was directly involved in that botched raid and she stays posting pics in her couture gowns and her trust fund children, ugh.

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Mara is doing work today.

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Drag ha to hell for eternity

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Ivanka is our modern-day Marie Antoinette with her "let them eat cake" bullshit except more evil

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Marie Antoinette never actually said that.

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i'm living for the ivanka drag

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him losing his mind over the judicial branch coming in is a delight



Edited at 2017-02-05 07:12 pm (UTC)

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lol ikr like you are not the CEO of America, sorry, that's not how the presidency works

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Checks and balances? What a dumb deal! Sad! Just another way for the dishonest media to try and discredit me!

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what the fuck is going on in the neck area. is his collar too tight?

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i also don't understand how he looks at that hair and is like "yes this is a good look." everyday

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i wish i had listened to your warning omg



he is so fucking ugly

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jfc @ his labia neck

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his face is triggering and his vagina neck isn't helping

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JFC, he is so ugly.

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Nice neck labia bro. Try not to grab it.

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my kittens add on makes this post so much more bearable. i also am still annoyed with SNL for helping to normalize him in the first place and this assembly of white women doesn't help.

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Miss Universe 2012 Pageant will be airing live on @nbc & @Telemundo december 19th. Open invite stands for Robert Pattinson.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2012



Robert I'm getting a lot of heat for saying you should dump Kristen- but I'm right. If you saw the Miss Universe girls you would reconsider.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2012



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disgusting. he just really really hates women and views them as objects on a rack

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i bet he sees robert as a younger version of himself or something like that. how delusional and gross lol. he wouldn't like robert's current gf either

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wow. why so obsessed with rob? did he dazzle trump or something?

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it's cool that she finally called herself gay.



so i guess this is yet another proof that her relationship with RPatz was PR?

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how would it be proof?

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maybe not necessarily proof, but something that would kinda strengthen the existing & already intense speculation? idk.

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She was in relationship with another dude before that.

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Or she was trying to figure herself out in our heteronormative society?

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yes..i dont believe she is bi. idk if she has ever come out and said she's bi....so there is a possibility that she is a lesbian who has had previous relationships w men. her comments on this show point to that

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why are people so sure her relationship with rob was Pr?

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She banged the director?



I mean, I think she had legitimate relationships with men. But maybe identifies as a lesbian now.

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There is no initial proof, so this can't by definition be additional proof. She was with another boyfriend for 4 years before her relationship with Rob, and she cheated with her married male director, so that's 3 men that we know of.



Rob seemed to particularly go out of his way to avoid the PR aspect of his relationship with her (no PDA, no going to the premieres of her films, no dating in public, no talking about her in interviews, none of the things that PR couples do), I'm not sure why so many people think it was PR.



Lots of couples actually hook up when they're in films together (Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Brad and Angelina, there are tons of them, and none of them are PR). It's more likely Kristen was confused back then and has some clarity now.



Edited at 2017-02-05 08:12 pm (UTC)

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I can't believe people still her affair with the director was a conspiracy theory.



How does her dating women now erase her being with men in the past?

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It was pretty much confirmed that they had a mutual attraction when they did their screen test. Kristen was 16 though and dating Oregano and Rob moved on to Nikki Reed during the filming of Twilight and sometime after.



I think during the filming of the second movie Kristen and Rob started to fool around.

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Even if her relationship with RPattz was PR or played up for PR, I wouldn't take her calling herself gay now as a sign that all the relationships she's had with men were PR. I don't think that there's any way that her affair with the SWATH director was done for publicity and I also think that her age is relevant too - she was still in her teens/early 20s when all that happened and a lot of people are still figuring out their sexuality at that age. Even if she now identifies as a lesbian instead of bi/queer/etc. it doesn't necess. mean that her past relationships with men were fake.

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She looked so hot. she did a decent job. Expected her to constantly look to cue cards. She did pretty really well. Looking forward to Personal Shopper.

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Personal shopper was vacuous self-indulgent art-house trash but I really enjoyed it tbh. Kristen did great at playing herself and the clothes were fabulous.

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"vacuous self-indulgent art-house trash"...that's right up my ally lol. I loved their last collaboration and trailer looks good. But mostly I am interested in staring at her.

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i want to sock his teeth out

i don't care if i break my hand

and teaching boys not to cry is one of the worst things you can do



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I'm almost impressed by how many people he managed to denigrate in a single tweet. Trump is green with envy rn

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mte, same with all these "Christian" conservatives. They contribute nothing of value to the world.

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I hope they all have one collectively

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I'm ready for all these hateful mother fuckers to die, tbh. Painfully.

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this s&m shaming. I love having gay s&m sex.

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i thought he died???? it was a nice time then.

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Lmao

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lool

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Omg lmfao!!!

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SCREAMING

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lmao

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lololol

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that joke was so fuckig gross, but what do you expect from a gross human being. he wouldn't know class if he passed it with flying colors.

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this video shows the differences between women supporters of trump and hillary



trump supporters are typically white, embrace classic definitions of femininity and think feminism means "bra burning" - very "cool girl"







Edited at 2017-02-05 08:45 pm (UTC)

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HDU come in here with facts that take away from OC's 'BernieBot' hate and blame for Clinton's loss!

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I'm still saddened by the 8% of black people that voted for the human cheeto. They should have just stayed at home

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I am truly baffled by the 29% of Hispanic/Latino.



I'm going to assume it was the hardcore catholics who think abortion is more important than anything but still...how u gonna play urself like that?

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But this chart doesn't show how white liberals in their 20s voted.

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I don't even want to think about it. They still play the false equivalency game.

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"She got paid to give speeches", "Emails", "Who cares if she's a woman", "TPP "



The horror! 

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But heeeerrrrr eeeemmmmaaaaiiiilllllsss!!! Eeeeeemmmmaaaiiilllss

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donald trump's awfulness does not make her a saint. sorry. 'hillary the champion of the poor and disenfranchised' is hillary failed by running a shit campaign and cosying up to celebs instead of actually campaigning in some states. deal with it. god when will the fucking stans stop with worshiping this murderer?donald trump's awfulness does not make her a saint. sorry. 'hillary the champion of the poor and disenfranchised' is #alternatefacts

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y'all really need to let go of this weird obsession that candidates are owed votes



hrc could have won if her campaign was ran with any degree of competence, but it wasn't, and she lost to fucking donald trump. good work

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Yeah, make fun of Chuck Schumer for crying, meanwhile you and your GOP buddies continue getting fucked in the ass and mouth by Putin and Trump.

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Lmao Michael McKean's is making me laugh bc it's true but mostly it's so succinct.

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remember how his sons tortured and killed a dog for fun?

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I'm glad those are the first replies on his tweet

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Omg  He did?! That's awful, POS.

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omg what?!



How horrible. I hate watching ppl like this prosper.

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yes

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Remember how your son tortured and killed a dog, Mike? You worthless sack of shit.

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He blocks anyone who mentions it to him. Special snowflake, indeed.

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Yay! I'm about to get banned!

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I've probably read ~250,000 jokes in my life. This might be the worst. Congrats! https://t.co/ukH10Iv867  Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) February 5, 2017

mike schur went after his disgusting existence too

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Watch The Good Place! I really like it

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same to both, and also seconding sweet_heloise's the good place rec.

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these republicunts making fun of schumer for crying really emphasizes their lack of empathy. not that it wasn't apparent before but they're really showing their asses even more

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like, do Christians totally overlook Matthew 7:12 "do onto others as you would have them do onto you" and 1 John 4:8 "God is Love"

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ppl like huckabee are check-box christians so of course

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i honestly wonder about this. hypocrisy is one of the many reasons i stopped going to church and have no intentions of going back to one.

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saaaaaaaaaaame

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this is me. i can't step into a church without feeling disgusted by the hypocrisy now

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Honestly I'm reaching that point. I'm fucking tired of pro-birth. Motherfuckers would vote for the devil himself if his ass were pro birth and it's just too fucked up for me to deal with anymore

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this is why I lost my faith in god/religion tbh

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this is why I cannot with Christians.

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yeah but that's, like, work. it's easier to just be judgmental and psychotic

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yes. they conveniently forget/dgaf that Jesus was basically a communist and basically diametrically opposed to all their shitty ways of being

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They're too busy ignoring Matthew 25:34-40. Hell, I'm pretty sure they're just tearing Matthew out of their bibles entirely

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People always read their religious text selectively. But this thing just happens to be an awful human being.

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they think they're bringing people to jesus if they remind them about how horrible they are. smh.

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it only applies to people like them

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republicans like to ignore the parts of the bible that tell them to help others and be kind. the only parts they care about are the ones that give them an easy way to condemn other people while feeling superior despite the fact that they've almost certainly sinned a bunch of times.

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I go to church and have been in contact with a lot of people in the Bible Belt and their ability to do mental and moral gymnastics is fucking astounding.

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but you see, if they were an ebil sinner, they would want someone to tell them how awful they were so they could be saved. its the "good news" you see

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You know if Jesus came back conservative Christians would be the first to detain and deport him.

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Honestly, the hypocrisy coming from the mega Christians is so fascinating to me? I wasn't really raised in a religious setting, so I don't have a lot of first-hand experience with this stuff. I want to figure out how people get to this point.

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You know people who go to church are hypocrites. I am a christian who doesn't go to church because they condemn everyone who isn't part of what they think is "good~". Like, they go on a rant about gay people and how much they live in sin while also being ok with fornicating~~ and marrying pregnant because omg that's not a sin because they're straight!! Or something. You either are against "sin" or you arent fuckers!



My believe is be a good person and live without hurting others and God will love you. The end.

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The hypocrisy is real. Love thy neighbour, unless thy neighbour is different to you.

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what a vile heartless human being

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Let's not forget to hold white women accountable for shit, too. Part of the reason we are where the fuck we are right now.

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yes true

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53%!



imo white women are the worst because you expect white men to be ignorant as fuck, white women speak of oppression but only in a way that benefits their own self interest

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and they always act like you're the one oppressing them when you call them out

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I'm ready to cancel the whole lot. Better for my sanity and my safety.

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white men are still worse

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nah men stay the worst

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wait why do white dudes get a pass tho just because it's expected of them?

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White women are too busy blaming the Kardashians and quinoa and everything under the sun but themselves for this mess we're in

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mte



i'm starting to be just as suspicious of them as i am of white men

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They are the epitome of trying to have cake and eat it too.

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i'm still shocked by those statistics that showed who voted for who.



there are way more '''fiscally conservative''' people staying mum and voting for trump's ass than i originally thought.

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"Women are obsessed with being women"



Trump supporter at a rally outside of Trump Tower explains her support. pic.twitter.com/sbVHi8ubwC  BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 5, 2017

And still supporting

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Comments like this always remind me how US centered ONTD is.

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exactly...never let them forget that shit.

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Transparent. White women everywhere, even here, have proven to be no any better than white men. They're the first ones to cackle at misandry and #NotAllMen , but the second you call them on their bullshit it's "Not all of us! Wow, way to be misogynistic! Let me tell you about poor Melania!"Transparent.

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stop calling enslaved people from africa 'immigrants'....this kind of erasure is sick. tbh, among poc in america, native americans and african americans are exceptions. if this fact isnt acknowledged any anti-racist work fails. she is completely wrong for glossing over the enslavement and transport of african people into the americas. so usa was built on the back of this kind of labor by enslaved people on land stolen from indigenous people. start with this...jfc. hate this ~~everyone is just a refugee/immigrant in america nonsense if it cannot account for black people and indigenous people



Edited at 2017-02-05 10:44 pm (UTC)

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I was about to say...slaves didn't exactly choose to migrate anywhere

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you're right that she's wrong for not referring specifically to them and their experiences but the way I read it, I felt she just wasn't including them at all. but that may be because I've never heard of enslaved people framed in such a term, so I could be wrong in how I read that part.

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yea i dont think she's including them at all which to me is just worse. i mean how do you talk about the history of the americas without talking about what made it: slave trade....so many whites try to be woke and end up doing more damage. start, study, work quietly instead of grandstanding. sick of their voices

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I mean, I'm Mexican American and my ancestors didn't really choose to become American...

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Yeah, also dismisses the fact that a lot of people that went to the US did it because the US fucking destroyed their countries or helped to destroy it or meddled in their bussiness, a lot of people don't want to go there but they have to, she has good intentions but she should know better, specially as cuban american.

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yeah were kidnapped from our homes, locked in cages, crowded into ships, and taken halfway across the world as chattel for labor camps. we aren't immigrants. we're victims of american colonialism and imperialism but that doesn't mean our history isn't also embedded into furthering us imperialism abroad while it oppresses us at home .

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ugh, this is why i can't get behind all these "we are all immigrants" signs. my white ancestors were, but my african one were trafficked over here. it's not the same.

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This country was built and continues to survive off the backs of immigrants and refugees.



and slaves.

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mte. lol not surprised she left that out...america was built by slaves not a happy coalition of refugees and immigrants...

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Yup. That's one of the reasons this country got so rich in the place.

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One oppressed group at a time sis

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For real

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yeah could've at least mentioned slavery in passing, all things considered.

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After her bullshit anti-vaccine tweets, IDGAF what she has to say.

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she never said she was anti-vaccine, she even specified it. lmao, yall are doing the most trying to find a reason to drag her

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Right, because sharing some anti-vaccine propaganda and asking people to educate themselves on it sounds like something a reasonable person would do. When she got shit for it, she backtracked and said I am not anti-vaccine but let's probe both sides of the story.

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for god's sake, this community will find ANY reason to dismiss a woman's work and label them as ~problematic~ even while they are trying to do something good. people can be good and bad at the same time, informed and ill-informed, EVEN YOU

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there are a couple mishaps here and there but i feel like she had a good message



her intentions were good enough, which is more than i can say for some of the others 





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no, nitpick every phrases and try to come up with something she never meant

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sorry what i mean was **she's the reason trump is president and there's global warming

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She's the only one out of her bandmates and one of the only ones out of the whole younger generation of young hollywood celebs who has continuously said something about Trump for a while now I really respect that



Edited at 2017-02-05 10:50 pm (UTC)

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hmm... Normani wrote letters about Syria and BLM and talks about political issues every time she has the occasion. hers don't get published/get the same amount of attention for obvious reasons

For these elections, her and Lauren were the most vocal in interviews about their disgust for Trump and their support for Hilary. Encouraging their fans to vote for her. People always assume she's dumb and that "Lauren must be educating her" like she hasn't a brain



but tbh, I see a lot of young women being more vocal about political issues. Rowan, Zendaya, Yara, etc. I think it's great

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No shade, but who's Yara?

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hm. the younger generation of hollywood celebs are some of the only few speaking out period.

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a 4th grader could do a better job running this country

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lol mte

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No, ma'am. We don't want ~elitism~ in our government.

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He and the nutjobs who support him DGAF about checks and balances or democracy or anything, really.

When he criticized that judge the other day on Twitter, there were tons of comments from his supporters on the news posts telling the judge to "keeps his nose out of Trump's business" or "Trump should decide". They seem to be pro-dictatorship as long as it is in line with right-wing interests.



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I think her overall points are good - but I've been seeing a lot of "America was built by immigrants" when talking about the Muslim ban but let's remember that America was built on the graves of Native Americans and on the backs of slaves.



semi ot but I'm going to visit my mom in FL in a few weeks and when I visit St. Augustine that reminder stays forever evident.

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St. Augustine/Florida are always odd to me in regard to its Spanish American past because it was founded by the Spanish but it has like no historical Spanish culture/presence like the Southwest (sans the odd relationship it's always had with Cuba).

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I think St. Augustine isn't bad compared to other areas but since I'm a local I'm probably clouded by that. You still kind of have to know where to look, though - which is a shame since it's such a tourist hotspot. It helps more that St. Augustine still has a lot of historical sites.

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This country was built on genocide and slavery.

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~But manifest destiny!!@!1@

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I mean we're still dealing with that today in modern society.

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Like, this is ongoing for CENTURIES to this day. Nearly no one learned a jack shit from dis fucked up history that was basically swept under the rug. Rinse and repeat! How sad is that?

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LOUDER

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Yup

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preach

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it's true though

white men have been causing pretty much most of the gun violence

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more like how-reh-gee.

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Ohh, I know she is cuban american but I wasn't sure if it was pronounced as a spanish speaking person would, thanks !

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honestly, who even knows how to pronounce these weird ass basque names.



-signed someone with a weird ass basque name.

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White women are just as bad. Time to start putting the blame on them.

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They'll just cry we're being misogynistic 

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Mhmm. They need to be #cancelled

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lmao, the comment right under yours.

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Or remind us #NotAllWhiteWomen

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wtf? Now sis yt women aren't out here raping, murdering, and abusing people on the level white men do. At least have some perspective come tf on.

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...I feel like I'm going to be a downer on the first page but.



No I am not the descendant of immigrants. I am the descendant of slaves. Immigration implies that there is some agency to come, and some agency in an intention to stay. None of which occurred with my foreparents. I get why this is the narrative. The hope is to do rhetorical teaming, where you psychologically link everyone on the same team to avoid opposition dynamics, so "we are all immigrants". But a) it's obviously not working with assholes, and b) no the fuck we all aren't.



And let's be real, a lot of early American immigration was leading poor POC people into indentured servitude and then kicking them out when they'd outlived their usefulness or dared to see themselves as equally entitled to the benefits of America citizenship. See all the various forms of exclusion enacted against Asians.

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Well I see I wasn't the only one.



So I'll add: This country was not built on the principle of freedom of oppression. This country was founded on whiny assholes who didn't want to pay the taxes that were only enacted to stop them from smuggling tea, a product of the exploitation of India. So.



Edited at 2017-02-05 11:05 pm (UTC)

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She's right. This country was built on genocide and slavery.

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Investors are bullish on the energy sector as a whole in 2017 according to a recent survey, and with good reason. Oil prices are starting to come back to life, but many stocks in the space have already impounded those improvements into their share price. There are still areas of the energy market that represent good value, and one of those areas is certain refiners.



Refiners profits and ultimately their stock prices are largely driven by crack spreads. And today more than ever, crack spreads are being driven by geography and the particular oil blend being used.

Crack spreads refer to the amount of money a refinery can earn by cracking a barrel of oil. In the U.S., three barrels of oil are used by refiners to produce two barrels of gasoline and one barrel of diesel. If refineries can buy oil inexpensively and sell gas and diesel for more, then they earn a substantial profit.

Today, despite the improvement in crude prices, the world is still awash in oil. While prices are starting to rise, it will still take several quarters before the supply and demand in the oil markets balances out. While crack spreads are not as strong as they were a couple of years ago, the long-term outlook for the business is still very attractive. New refineries are very difficult to build in the current environment after all, even with President Trump pledging to make the process easier. Related: Has Big Oil Bought Into The Oil Price Recovery?

Crack spreads are increasingly coming under pressure in many areas as the laws of supply and demand come into balance. The highly profitable crack spreads of the past have drawn more refining capacity online and lead to more supply for many derivative oil products. Many established refiners are struggling to combat already high inventories of gasoline and other products by cutting production at key plants, but that effort has not been enough to sustain cracking margins over the short term.

The crack spreads are dramatically different in different geographies though. While the crack spreads for products coming out of the Permian Basin look strong, energy analysts are forecasting that cracking spreads will fall substantially and margins in certain areas of the country such as the Midwest are already under severe pressure or even negative thanks to limited storage capacity for final delivery products.

The situation is little better overseas. Asian fuel producers are facing increasing competition from China which is exporting a surging level of refined crude products. Chinese net product exports are forecast to rise by 30% this year. Diesel exports rose double digit levels from China last year much to the chagrin of Indian and South Korean refiners. Related: Top 10 Bankruptcies Of 2016 Feature 9 Energy Firms

China has started allowing many independent Chinese refineries to ship their output aboard. Diesel margins are particularly as risk as the product has seen a significant slowing of domestic Chinese demand and thus a very rapid build in export volumes.

With diesel exports authorized up to 1.8 million barrels per day for China versus 900,000 barrels per day last year, there is little doubt that Asian diesel prices will fall dramatically. This may cause a chain reaction that slowly spreads west perhaps ultimately hampering margins in Europe as well.

Crack spreads are likely headed lower in China and the region as a whole. CNPC predicted that net exports of diesel will surge by 55 percent this year to about 450,000 bpd. In addition, slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy and the shift to renewable energy will hamper the consumption growth for oil products.

By Michael McDonald of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The Keystone XL Pipeline (KXL) is a bet on much higher oil prices several years from now. It will take at least $85 oil prices to develop the new oil sand projects needed to fill the pipeline.

It is also a bet that U.S. tight oil output will continue to grow and will need heavy oil to blend for refining. Both bets are risky.

A Bet On Higher Oil Prices

KXL would add about 830,000 barrels per day (b/d) to the 1.3 million b/d already moving through the base Keystone Pipeline system completed in 3 phases between 2010 and 2014 (Figure 1) when oil prices were more than $90 per barrel.

(Click to enlarge)



Figure 1. Location map of Keystone XL and Base Keystone pipeline systems. Source: TransCanada and Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.

It was not until prices exceeded $70 per barrel in 2005 (December 2016 dollars) that oil sands expansion began to accelerate (Figure 2). Since then, production has almost doubled from 1.3 to 2.4 mmb/d and cumulative production has increased from 5.4 to 10 billion barrels.

(Click to enlarge)

Figure 2. Oil Sands Production Nearly Doubled After Oil Prices Exceeded $70 Per Barrel. Source: Statistics Canada and Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.

By comparison, the Bakken and Eagle Ford tight oil plays have each produced 2.4 billion barrels. The Permian horizontal tight oil playsSpraberry, Wolfcamp and Bone Springhave produced less than 1 billion barrels.*





Table 1. Comparison of Oil Sands and U.S. tight oil plays. Source: Statistics Canada, EIA, Drilling Info and Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.

In 2015, oil prices averaged only $43 per barrel. No new oil sand projects have been sanctioned since oil prices collapsed in 2014 although 3 pilot projects have been approved since prices moved into the $50 per barrel range. Approval is not the same as sanctioning and these 3 projects together would add only 35,000 b/d.

It seems unlikely that new greenfield projects will be sanctioned until oil prices move much higher (Canadian heavy oil (WCS) trades at a 25% discount to WTI). Assuming that prices stabilize in the $50 to $60 range, it is reasonable that pilots may evolve into brownfield expansion projects over the next year or two.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers estimates that annual oil sand production will grow 128,000 b/d until 2021 and then, grow more slowly at 59,000 b/d. If all of that new oil were going to KXL, it would not reach capacity for about 10 years. But other pipelines are already approved for expansion and will probably get much of the oil before KXL is completed.

TransCanadas bet, therefore, is that oil prices will move much higher and more quickly than most forecasts anticipate and that the volumes will be there by the time that the pipeline is built.

Light Oil and Heavy Oil

U.S. tight oil plays produce ultra-light oil. Almost all of it is too light for refinery specifications. That means that it must be blended with heavy oil in order to be refined and that is why there is demand for Canadian heavy oil.

The Keystone XL Pipeline is, therefore, a bet that tight oil plays will continue for several decades. Related: Oil Prices Up On Prospect Of New Iranian Sanctions

Similarly, Canadian viscous, heavy oil must be diluted with ultra-light oil to move through pipelines. Because of that, Canada is the biggest importer of U.S. light oil.

The U.S. imports almost 3 times more oil from Canada than from Saudi Arabia (Figure 3). Imports from Canada are roughly equal to the amount from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia and Iraq combined.

(Click to enlarge)



Figure 3. The U.S. imports almost 3 times more oil from Canada than from Saudi Arabia. Source: EIA and Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.

The average U.S. refinery is designed for 31 API gravity oil but 80% of domestic crude oil is more than 30 and 70% is more than 35 API gravity so it must be blended with heavier oil before it can be refined (Figure 4). The Keystone Pipeline carries oil that is approximately 22 API so the fit with lighter U.S. oil is perfect.

(Click to enlarge)

Figure 4. 80% of U.S. Crude Oil is greater than 30 API and 70% is greater than 35 API. Source: Drilling Info, EIA, Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc. and Crude Oil Peak.

The increasing percentage of ultra-light oil (>40 API) after 2011 shown in Figure 4 is because of the growth of tight oil plays. More than 95% of tight oil is greater than 30 API and these plays now account for more than half (52%) of U.S. output.

It is, therefore, no surprise that 98% of the oil imported by the U.S. is heavy that is, less than 35 API gravity (Figure 5). The biggest sources of heavy oil other than Canada are Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico.

(Click to enlarge)



Figure 5. 98% of U.S. Imports Less Than 35 API Gravity. Source: Drilling Info, Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc. and Crude Oil Peak.

Production from Venezuela and Mexico is declining (Figure 6). Canada, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have strong production histories and are, therefore, more reliable long-term providers of heavy oil to the U.S. Canada has many advantages over other providers because of geographic proximity, supply security and price.

(Click to enlarge)



Figure 6. Mexico, Venezuela, Nigeria and Angola Have Declining Incremental Production. Source: EIA and Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.

Venezuela has enormous reserves of heavy oil and declining production is mostly because of political and social instability. This could change but it is more likely that Venezuelas problems will continue. Mexicos production decline is more systemic because the country has not made a significant new discovery since 1980.

A Bet on Tight Oil

So far, so good for the Keystone XL Pipeline but what about the longevity of the tight oil plays?

Production from the Bakken and Eagle Ford plays is in marked decline and Permian tight oil production growth has slowed (Figure 7). This is despite record high numbers of producing wells in all 3 plays.

(Click to enlarge)



Figure 7. Bakken and Eagle Ford production are declining and Permian basin tight oil production growth has slowed. Source: Drilling Info, Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc. and Crude Oil Peak.

The Bakken and Eagle Ford plays have probably peaked based on remaining core area locations, generally poorer performance from recently drilled wells compared to older wells, and current rig activity. Assuming that oil prices recover to the $70 range in coming years, production should increase as more marginal locations become economically viablejust not to peak levels reached in 2015.

The Permian basin, on the other hand, should continue to grow for several years for all of the reasons that the Bakken and Eagle Ford will not. There are substantial areas in the Permian core that have not been fully developed. Well performance continues to improve and the horizontal rig count has increased 70% since mid-August to 243.

Most forecasts are optimistic about tight oil output. The EIA Annual Energy Outlook 2017 anticipates that tight oil production will decline in 2017 but recover to 2015 peak levels by 2019 (Figure 8). WTI oil prices are expected to be $64 per barrel then and slowly increase to $80 by 2025. Tight oil production will rise to 6 mmb/d by 2026.

(Click to enlarge)



Figure 8. EIA Forecast: Tight Oil Will Not Recover to 2015 Levels Until 2019 and Then Increase to 6 mmb/d by 2026. Source: EIA AEO 2017 and Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.

Although the forecast seems reasonable, it assumes that 2016 was the oil-price floor and that prices will continue to increase. It also suggests that prices will not reach the $70 threshold for new oil sand projects for 5 years. Other forecasts like HSBC are more aggressive and anticipate mid-$70 WTI prices as early as 2018.

The Big Long

If the last few years since the oil-price collapse have taught us anything it is that prices are unlikely to move in one direction. Nor are they likely to conform to mainstream analyst views.

Markets have been driven partly by an expectation that prices must inevitably return to levels of at least $70 to $80 per barrel sooner than later. This belief has endured despite a persistent global supply surplus and outsized inventories. The long-anticipated OPEC deus ex machina was lowered onto the stage in late 2016 and markets responded enthusiastically. Yet WTI prices have not crossed $55 per barrel so far.

It is difficult to find supply-demand fundamentals support even for the limited price rally that began with the OPEC announcement. There may already be an expectation premium of $10-12 per barrel built into current prices. Yet markets don't always follow fundamentals in the short term although they return to them eventually. Related: The Oil War Is Only Just Getting Started

U.S. ultra-light oil production is a central component of the global supply dilemma. Permian basin companies are adding rigs like the boom days of 2011 to 2014 have already returned. When tight oil output is high, some fraction can neither be refined nor exported and simply adds to inventories. This occurs despite the best efforts of Canadian oil sand producers to bring as much heavy oil to the party as they can.

Oil consumption remains relatively weak in the U.S. This is disturbing against the backdrop of surging tight oil rig counts.

Consumption increased with very low oil prices in 2015 and early 2016 but not to the levels before the Financial Collapse of 2007-2008 (Figure 9). Most of the increase was from greater gasoline use and more refined products exports. Modestly increasing prices in 2016 dampened consumption suggesting that demand is highly price-sensitive.

(Click to enlarge)



Figure 9. Consumption fell >2 mmb/d after 2005 but recovered 1 mmb/d with increased refined product exports, lower oil prices & increased gasoline use. Source: EIA and Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.

This does not represent peak demand. All credible forecast anticipate oil-demand growth over the next decade or so, albeit at a slower rate. Instead, it reflects an economy weakened by excessive debt and changes in Federal Reserve Bank monetary policy after mid-2014.

These rather gloomy observations may explain TransCanada's motivation to complete the Keystone XL Pipeline now. I'm talking about a long bet on oil prices.

Future supply constraints will become greater the longer new E&P project investments are deferred. At the same time, the decline of production from developed fields will be more pronounced. Improved production efficiency will further accelerate reserve depletion. Meanwhile, new field discoveries are at the lowest level in decades and the average reserve size of those discoveries has gotten smaller.

Oil prices will increase dramatically at some time in the next several years. That should lead to the next oil boom and the Keystone XL Pipeline will be there to provide heavy oil to U.S. tight oil plays.

There is little doubt that a supply crunch lurks in the future. The risk for the Keystone XL Pipeline is that much higher prices will collapse the global economy before new projects can fill the pipeline and pay out the investment.

*EIAs Drilling Productivity Report estimate of 4.8 billion barrels includes all conventional production in the counties in which the tight oil plays are located

Matt Mushalik contributed to the research on light oil.

By Art Berman for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher,
Social commentator, Sydney Casley Hayford, has said that it was insulting for Gender and Social Protection Minister Nominee, Otiko Djaba to describe former President Mahama as evil and wicked.



Otiko Djaba on Tuesday refused to apologize for her comments against the President when she was queried by some Minority members serving on Parliaments Appointment Committee.

She defended her comments, saying she spoke out of conviction and would therefore neither apologize nor withdraw her comments. The President is my brother and I spoke from my convictions.

I made the statements that I made as a wake up call for him. We are building the nation.He was running for reelection and I felt that the people who should tell him as it is were not telling him as it was.They decided that because he was my brother , they did not want me to speak and when I talked about him being an embarrassment, I spoke in relation to SADA.

SADA is very dear to my heart.My mother is a Northerner, the incidence of poverty is highest in the three Northern Regions and for a President who comes from the Northern Region, who promised to alleviate poverty, what happened to the Guinea fowls?

It was an embarrassment to me and to the North. The Chiefs of the North actually made that statement and so I dont owe him or you any apology. We are developing and building a nation, Otiko said. But sharing his thoughts on the development that transpired in Parliament for which reason the minority is refusing to approve her nomination, Mr. Casley Hayford said Otiko Djabas comments could be equated to insults.

They were insulting comments, he told host of Citi FMs Big Issue, Umaru Sanda Amadu. In the build up to the campaign, everybody says all sorts of things against each other . We seem to have allowed that on our platform and the citizens seem to appreciate, and we laugh about it and for us it becomes fun, Casley Hayford added.

Casley Hayford intimated that, Otiko should have apologized for being sarcastic and cheeky after being queried by members of the Committee, instead of taking a rather stiff stance.

Meanwhile, Parliament is expected to sit and vote on Otiko Djabas approval on Tuesday, 7th February, 2017, since the House could not agree on her nomination by consensus.

Source: Citifmonline.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.

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LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares?



























Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano...



Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos:



Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias.



Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera.



No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje.



En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio.



Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida.



Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella.



Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal.



Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista.



Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen.



Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che?



Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio.



Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora.



Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo.



Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo.



Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania.



No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar.



Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga.





Alguna duda?



Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino



Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia.



OZ1



OZ2



OZ3



OZ4



Homenaje a Jason Galarraga



La Victoria de Samotracia



Odalisca



Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008



























La Sierra Nevada de Merida



Nuestro precioso Churum Meru



Homenaje a Picasso



Autoretrato



Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola?

La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.

Mi profesion?

Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.

Sal en la Coca Cola?

A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.

De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:

Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto

Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)

azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)

Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas

Mucha Cafeina

Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio

Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe

Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion

El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.

Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.

Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.

En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).

Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.

La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.

Bebidas Light?

Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el

Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.



Publicado por loretahur



En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur

MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina:

1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias.

2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina.

3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard.

4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos.

5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla.

6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos.

Ahora... sobre la margarina:

1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) .

2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias.

3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno).

4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer.

5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna.

6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo.

7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina.

Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas:

* No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo).

* No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!!



No a la guerra, Si a la Paz



Misterios de la ciencia...



Los costos de la guerra



medicos y capitalismo...



Capitalismo...



medicos (2)



Quien educa a nuestros hijos?



Los Medios...



Sin Palabras...



Chistes feministas

- Cual es el problema, Eva?

- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz...

- Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.

- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...

- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.

- Que es un hombre?

- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.

- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.

- Cual es el truco?.

- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.

- Cual?

- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.





Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Un dia, en el Paraiso, Eva llamo a Dios: Tengo un problema.- Cual es el problema, Eva?- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.- Que es un hombre?- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.- Cual es el truco?.- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.- Cual?- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Ellas...



Ellas (2)...



Tres venganzas femeninas VENGANZA NUMERO 1

Hoy mi hija cumple 21 anos y estoy muy contento porque es el ultimo pago de pension alimenticia que le doy, asi que llame a mi hijita para que viniera a mi casa y cuando llego le dije:

-Hijita, quiero que lleves este cheque a casa de tu mama y que le digas que: Este es el ultimo maldito cheque que va recibir de mi en todo lo que le queda de su puta vida!!! Quiero que me digas la expresion que pone en su rostro.

Asi que mi hija fue a entregar el cheque. Yo estaba ansioso por saber lo que la bruja tenia que decir y que cara pondria.

Cuando mi hijita entro, le pregunte inmediatamente: -Que fue lo que te dijo tu madre?

-Me dijo que justamente estaba esperando este dia para decirte que no eres mi papa!



VENGANZA NUMERO 2

Un hombre que siempre molestaba a su mujer, paso un dia por la casa de unos amigos para que lo acompanaran al aeropuerto a dejar a su esposa que viajaba a Paris.

A la salida de inmigracion, frente a todo el mundo, el le desea buen viaje y en tono burlon le grita:

- Amor, no te olvides de traerme una hermosa francesita Ja ja ja!!

Ella bajo la cabeza y se embarco muy molesta.

La mujer paso quince dias en Francia.

El marido otra vez pidio a sus amigos que lo acompanasen al aeropuerto a recibirla.

Al verla llegar, lo primero que le grita a toda voz es:

- Y amor me trajiste mi francesita??

- Hice todo lo posible, - contesta ella - ahora solo tenemos que rezar para que nazca nina.



VENGANZA NUMERO 3

El marido, en su lecho de muerte, llama a su mujer. Con voz ronca y ya debil, le dice: - Muy bien, llego mi hora, pero antes quiero hacerte una confesion.

- No, no, tranquilo, tu no debes hacer ningun esfuerzo.

- Pero, mujer, es preciso - insiste el marido - Es preciso morir en paz.

Te quiero confesar algo.

- Esta bien, esta bien. Habla!

- He tenido relaciones con tu hermana, tu mama y tu mejor amiga.

- Lo se, lo se Por eso te envenene, hijo de puta!!!



machismo y cibernetica



Chiste machista La NASA ha enviado al espacio una mision experimental tripulada por dos monos y una mujer.Apenas abandona la atmosfera, se establece comunicacion con Houston.

-Atencion, simio 1, verifique sistemas hidraulicos, controle adecuada presion de los propulsores de arranque. A 60.000 pies disminuya un 25% la velocidad.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, simio 2, nivele al cruzar la estratosfera y active sistemas anticongelantes. No olvide monitorear sistemas de comunicacion e indicadores de presion. Comprendido?.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, Houston llamando a mujer: no se olvide.

-Mujer: Si, si, ya se! -interrumpe enojada- que no me olvide darles de comer a estos monos de mierda y que no se me vaya a ocurrir tocar nada!.



.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti.

Un abogado mantiene un romance con su secretaria.Al poco tiempo, esta queda embarazada y el abogado, que no quiere que su esposa se entere, le da a la secretaria una buena suma de dinero y le pide que se vaya a parir a Italia.Esta pregunta: Y como voy a hacerte saber cuando nazca el bebe ? El abogado responde: Para que mi mujer no se entere, tan solo enviame una postal y escribe por detras: Spaghetti. Y no te preocupes mas, que yo me encargare de todos los gastos.

Pasan los meses y una manana la esposa del abogado lo llama al bufete, algo exaltada: Querido, acabo de recibir el correo y hay una postal muy extrana viene desde Italia. La verdad, no entiendo que significa.El abogado, tratando de ocultar sus nervios, contesta:Espera a que llegue a casa, a ver si yo entiendoCuando el hombre llega a casa y lee la postal, cae al suelo fulminado por un infarto.Llega una ambulancia y se lo lleva. Ya en el hospital, el jefe de cardiologia se queda consolando a la esposa y le pregunta cual ha sido el evento que precipito tan masivo ataque cardiaco.

Entonces la esposa saca la postal y se la muestra diciendole: No me explico, doctor; el solamente leyo esta postal. Vea usted mismo lo que trae escrito.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti."Tres con salchicha y albondigas y dos con almejas



Gol !!!!



Chistes de Borrachos Entra un borracho a su casa todo manchado con lapiz labial por todos lados hecho un desastre, y la mujer le pregunta:-Hombre que te paso?Y el borracho le responde:-No me vas a creer, me pelee con un payaso!



Este es un borracho que entra en un bar y le dice al camarero:-Me da cinco copas de whisky?Al rato:-Me da cuatro?Al rato:-Me da tres copas?Despues:-Me da dos copas?Luego le dice:-Me da una copa?Y le dice al camarero:-Ves? Cuanto menos bebo, mas borracho estoy!


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QUEENSBURY  Kassey Granger bounced around, her blond hair flipping as she smiled and mouthed the words, Just take those old records off the shelf.

Her fingers sang the song, however, as she taught the lyrics in sign language to a group of about 20 kids last week.

Its great to smile and look like youre having fun, Granger told her students, who ranged in age from 7 to 17, and are attending a 12-week class at the Southern Adirondack Independent Living Center in Queensbury called the Lions Clubs Flying Fingers.

Granger started losing her hearing in first grade.

It was a slow progressive hearing loss, said Granger, who now has cochlear implants.

In 1997, by the time she was 26, she had lost all hearing in her left ear. And by 2010, she was deaf.

Her mother, Sandie Clark, who is also deaf, started the Association for the Hearing Impaired in 1986 and taught children how to sign through music for about 20 years. Granger moved back to the area in 2010 and took over the group.

Its not just about hearing loss, Granger said. Sign language is very important I think.

Granger works full time for CapTel, a company that provides captioning telephones with printed words for deaf people and people with hearing loss.

Her daughter, Brianna Granger, 18, said she remembers growing up learning sign language from her grandmother.

I wouldnt say Im fluent, fluent, said the Queensbury High School senior. Fluent enough to communicate.

She remembers when her mother still used hearing aids, before her cochlear implants, and then after when she suddenly heard the crackling of a plastic bag.

She was like, Whats that annoying noise? Brianna Granger recalled.

Kassey Granger said the implants have changed her life. She also runs a support group in Albany for other deaf people who have had cochlear implants.

The Flying Fingers group practices weekly and performs throughout the region including the South Glens Falls Holiday Parade and festivals in Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties. The 12-week session costs $70.

Kyra Gerdes, 14, a member of the group who lives in Saratoga, said learning sign language has helped her communicate with members of her family who are deaf.

Ive always just really enjoyed doing sign language, she said. I thought it was a beautiful language.

Gerdes, who studied sign language in the past, finds the Flying Fingers more fun because of the musical aspect of the group.

I love music, said Gerdes, who is homeschooled. Its very fun to combine sign language and music together.

Lexi Hunter, 14, has been able to use her sign language skills honed over the past 6 years with the Flying Fingers. She, too, enjoys the music, and joked that she convinced Granger to choose 80s-themed songs in this session.

Its easier, Hunter said, because you hear the words and you can associate it with the sign.

Evelyn Crider, 11, is in her second year with the Flying Fingers. She first became interested in sign language in second grade when she wanted to communicate with a deaf student in her class at Queensbury Elementary School.

She always signs the national anthem, said her mother Val Crider with a smile. Always.
Rotary hosts Fuel Fund Feast

SALEM  The Rotary Club of Salem will host a Fuel Fund Feast from 5-7 p.m. Thursday at the First United Presbyterian (White) Church. All proceeds go to the Salem/Shushan Fuel Fund, a well-established charity that has helped hundreds of families over the past several years meet their home heating needs in times of trouble. During the 2016 calendar year, the fuel fund helped 37 families. That amounted to almost $17,000. Adults cost $12 donation, plus an item for the Salem Food Pantry. Children ages 6-10 cost $6. Children 5 and under are free. Take-outs are available.

Black history talk

Willards Mountain Daughters of the American Revolution have invited long-time historian and published author Joe Cutshall-King to share local tales of black history at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Hedbring Room of the Greenwich Free Library, 148 Main St.

Fort Ann breakfast

FORT ANN  The West Fort Ann Volunteer Fire Company will host a Valentines Breakfast from 7-11 a.m. Saturday at 49 Joe Green Road. Adults cost $7 and children 12 and under are free.

Library offers tech help

CORINTH  The National Honor Society students will be on hand at the Corinth Free Library from 1-3 p.m. Saturday to provide Tech Help on the librarys public computers or on other personal devices. Call 654-6913 to register. Walk-ins will be welcome in time allows.

The library, 89 Main St., will be closed Feb. 20 for Presidents Day.

Vendors needed in Hadley

HADLEY  The Hadley Business Association is looking for vendors offering crafts, art, local produce, meats and cheese, wines, as well as nonprofit organizations and businesses advertising their services, for the Maple in April Festival taking place from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. April 29 and 30.

Register for a $30 10-foot-by-10-foot space by email hba.vendor@yahoo.com or contact Tyrone at 696-3693. The event will offer a car and truck show, maple syrup demonstration, French toast breakfast, music, kids activities, food, bounce houses, farm pets and horse-drawn wagon rides.

Operation Santa thanks donors

Many smiles were created due to the generosity of those who gave to Operation Santa Claus this past holiday season. Thank you to all who provided donations, volunteered their time, helped to coordinate, shop, wrap and deliver gifts, and all those who offered a kind word of encouragement.

Operation Santa Claus raised $165,000 to provide food and new warm clothing to 2,200 children in 940 families from Warren, Washington, Northern Saratoga, and parts of Essex and Hamilton counties.

A special thank you to the individuals, organizations and businesses that made this possible. The Sagamore, Fenimore Asset Management Inc., Genpak, Freihofers and NBT Bank for sponsoring our charity gala; Sams Diner for sponsoring the Small Business Challenge; the Adopt-a-Child toy program sponsored by Regional Radio, Warren Tire, Fitzgerald Brothers, Glens Falls Kiwanis, and Della Auto Group; the school Holiday Hopechest Challenge and the Holiday Auction sponsored by Regional Radio; and Progressive Motor Sports, Rosick Well Drilling and Barnstormers Snowmobile Club for sponsoring the Operation Santa Run and Full Moon-Oropallo Liquor Fund Raisers; and Adirondack Corvette Club Car Show. In addition to the money raised, $10,229 in food certificates was raised through the Running Santa program sponsored by Hannaford and Fitzgerald Brothers.

Thank you to all for providing a happy holiday for so many children! We are fortunate to live in such a giving community.

Frank Munoff

Family center names director

Rebecca Baldwin of Schuylerville has been named executive director of Saratoga Center for the Family. Baldwin previously was Director of Foster Care at Berkshire Farm Center and Services for Youth. In addition, the Board of Directors elected its 2017 slate of officers: James Lombardo as president; Dave Shacket as vice president; Douglas Gerhardt as treasurer; and Gregory Moore as secretary. The center also welcomed new board members John Brooks, Tim Hoefer, Katherine Smith and Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner.

Saratoga Center for the Family is a nonprofit organization that provides abuse prevention programs, mental health services, victim advocacy, and a variety of services for children and families in Saratoga County, regardless of ability to pay.

Chorus sings

love messages

SARATOGA SPRINGS  The Racing City Chorus is organizing a Singing Valentines fundraising event. The chorus is a chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, a nonprofit organization of approximately 25,000 members worldwide. Call 504-SING to order a singing Valentine for delivery on Feb. 13 or 14. Each package includes a quartet in tuxedos singing two love songs, plus a Valentine card with a personal message. Visit RacingCityChorus.org for more information and pricing.

Fraud prevention class at library

CAMBRIDGE  The Cambridge Public Library is partnering with the Washington County Sheriffs Department to educate community members of the best way to protect themselves from fraud with a Senior Scam Prevention workshop from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the library, 21 W. Main St. Call the library at 677-2443 or inquire at the desk to reserve a seat.

Rescue Squad selling roses

FORT EDWARD  The Fort Edward Rescue Squad is holding a Valentines Fundraiser from 5-8 p.m. Feb. 13 and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Feb. 14 at 75 Schuyler St. Roses are $20 a dozen and $12 for a half-dozen. Contact Dee at 488-2749 for more details. All profits go toward purchase of a new ambulance.

Foundation

grants available

GLENS FALLS  The Charles R. Wood Foundation is currently accepting grant applications from IRS approved 5013 organizations whose projects or programs assist children, healthcare or the arts in the Lake George region and surrounding areas. Eligible applicants should visit the website www.charlesrwoodfoundation.com to submit an online application by April 1 for consideration at the spring meeting of Trustees. The next subsequent deadline will be Sept. 1 for consideration at the fall meeting.

Over the past five years the foundation has awarded nearly $7.7 million dollars. Mr. Wood, founder of Storytown USA, the present-day Great Escape Theme Park, the Double H Hole in the Woods Camp for critically ill children and numerous other endeavors and businesses in the area, died in September of 2004 leaving the majority of his estate to the Charles R. Wood Foundation.

Beard contest scheduled

QUEENSBURY  The 2017 Wild Whiskers Beard Contest will take place from 5-8 p.m. April 8 at Lake George Brewing Co., 1043 State Route 9.

New this year will be a contest for the Biggest Beard from Scratch. Who can grow the most impressive beard in two months? Contestants must provide a photo documenting that they were clean shaven as of Feb. 1 or later to qualify.

Returning this year will be the Mountain Man contest, inspired by the gnarly beard of legendary Adirondack guide, Old Mountain Phelps. Other categories will include: Best Groomed Full Beard, Best Partial Beard (including sideburns), Best Mustache, and Whiskerina (Fake Beard). Points will be awarded for awesomeness and creativity. The $20 contest entry fee includes admission to the event, two free drinks and additional products. Two prizes, winner and runner-up, will be awarded in each category. Judging starts at 6 p.m.

Contestants are encouraged to preregister and to submit photos that will be posted on the Wild Whiskers page of the Chapman website. For registration forms go to www.chapmanmuseum.org or call (518) 793-2826.

The event will include beer and soda provided by Lake George Brewing Company, food and music. A guided brewery tour will take place at 7 pm. Beard products such as oils, balms and other specialty wares will be available from regional vendors. A professional barber and tattoo artists will be on hand to provide trims, shaves and tattoos.

Admission to the event is $5, and includes one free drink. Proceeds benefit the Chapman Museum of Glens Falls. For more information call the Chapman Museum at 793-2826.

Seniors offer scholarship

QUEENSBURY  The Queensbury Senior Citizens, Inc. is accepting applications for its annual Achievement Award. The 41,000 award is given to a graduating senior from Queensbury Union Free High School, Glens Falls City High School, or Lake George High School or a Queensbury resident home school or private school graduate. The criterion for awarding this scholarship is exemplary service to the community. Contact the Queensbury Activity Center at 761-8224 or seniors@queensbury.net for an application. Deadline is April 28.

SCT scholarships offered

Applications for the 2017 Schuylerville Community Theater scholarships can be downloaded from the SCT website www.scttheater.org. Students from Saratoga, Warren or Washington counties who will be graduating in June and going on to an accredited college to major in music, dance, drama or theater arts are encouraged to apply. Four one-time scholarships are available this year. Completed applications must be postmarked on or before April 15 and sent to SCT Scholarship Chair, M. Peters, 50 Duncan Lane, Gansevoort, N.Y. 12831. Call 695-5480 for more information.
The availability of ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft locally would make the Lake George region more attractive to millennial tourists, said Michael Consuelo, executive director of Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The younger generation, it will allow them to go from town to town and experience the wonderful region and all that we have to offer, he said. I think theres a value and a benefit to it.

Consuselo, as part of the New York State Destination Marketing Association, a coalition of 16 tourism groups, has been advocating in support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomos proposal to legalize ride-hailing services outside New York City.

A ride-hailing service provides an app for scheduling taxi-like rides.

I think it could be an advantage to have it, Consuelo said.

Cuomo has picked up cross-party support for his proposal from state Assemblyman Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, even as some Democrats have resisted it.

I think were all hoping this will get done, Stec said in a telephone interview, after he spoke at a press conference on the topic in Albany.

Stec said ride-hailing would improve transportation accessibility in cities with short tourist seasons, such as Saratoga Springs, and would provide area residents with a seasonal income opportunity as ride-hailing drivers.

You cant get enough mass transit for the one-month build up (during track season) in August, he said.

Stec said 37 states already have legalized ride-hailing, and people that live in those states expect it to be available where they vacation.

The demand is overwhelming, he said.

Ride-hailing legislation passed the Republican-controlled Senate last year, but did not pass the Assembly, largely because of opposition from New York City area Democrats.

Taxi companies opposed it, suggesting it would be unfair competition if ride-hailing drivers did not have the same insurance requirements as taxi drivers.

Advocates for the disabled opposed it, suggesting the legislation did not have adequate handicapped access provisions.

Stec said there must be a balance of regulation, in order for ride-hailing to be economically viable.

I think theres a strong demand for it in New York, he said. But the question is, Are we going to regulate it to the point where its not economically viable in New York?

Stec said details of Cuomos proposal are not yet clear, and likely will be negotiated as part of the state budget.

These big public interest items usually become bargaining chips in the budget, he said.

Stec said he would prefer the state adopt basic legislation and allow municipalities to regulate ride-hailing on a local level, as is the case with taxis.

The availability of ride-hailing services would give people an alternative to driving while intoxicated, said Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo, who also spoke at the press conference in Albany.

It just gives people another choice, another option, not to drink and drive, he said. Its an easy choice. Its an app installed on your cell phone. You pull up the app and pick the car you want to come get you.

Zurlo said ride-hailing could be a viable option for improving transportation in rural communities in the region.

Theres areas where we dont have any taxis or any other transportation, he said.

EDC Warren County President Edward Bartholomew agreed.

Ride hailing, with adequate background checks on drivers, proper insurance for this service, and operating vehicles in good condition and cleanliness, would be most helpful, he said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS  Four local non-profit organizations were among the 23 groups receiving Lend-A-Hand grants from the The Adirondack Trust Company Community Fund.

Nipper Knolls Equine Center, Inc. in Gansevoort received $1,500 from the Adirondack Trust Company Community Fund to provide horses, equipment and support personnel for its programs.

We are honored to be selected for this grant and appreciate the generosity of the Adirondack Trust Company Community Fund. This will certainly help our organization in serving our riders and their families, Nipper Knolls Board President David Lamando said in a press release.

Nipper Knolls provides the horses, equipment, arena, and volunteers for special needs children to experience the joy of horsemanship. All sessions are under the direct supervision of a certified therapist or therapeutic riding instructor.

Open Door Mission of Glens Falls will get $2,000 for its backpack program, which sends food home for the weekends for needy schoolchildren.

That is a real help for us, said Director Kim Cook, who noted that the backpack program is now serving 320 students each week and is still looking for additional donations. The program covers 10 local schools.

The Our Town Theatre Group of North Creek will receive funding for a week-long childrens musical theater workshop for grades two through four. The program introduces children and families to performing arts and allows children to gain experience in all aspects of theater.

The Ben Osborn Memorial Fund, Inc., established in memory of the late Ben Osborn of Lake George, who was killed in Afghanistan, received funding to provide clothing, snacks, head lice kits, and blankets to qualifying school-aged children.

In all, Lend-A-Hand grants totaling $42,270 are going to 23 local groups this year, the majority of them in the Saratoga Springs area. The funding came from the Autumn of Giving Campaign.

The Adirondack Trust Company Community Fund was established in 2009 to serve as a source of philanthropic support for the needs of local charities.

Since it started in 2013, the Autumn of Giving Campaign has raised more than $172,000 from the community. With the bank match, the overall total raised exceeds $345,000.
GLENS FALLS  The local Planned Parenthood facility has seen an uptick in both donations and appointments for long-term birth control since the election of Donald Trump, according to a regional spokeswoman.

Much like the ACLU, Planned Parenthood has seen a significant increase in donations on a national level, Emma Corbett, director of communications for Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson (PPMH) said Tuesday. Here at PPMH, were also seeing an increase of smaller donations from first-time donors and supporters who are looking for ways to help make a difference that directly benefits the community they live in.

Both locally and nationally, Corbett said, the increase is coming because of threats in Congress to eliminate government funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides a variety of healthcare to men and women. The focus of the defunding move is on abortion and birth control.

Locally, Corbett said, the increase in donations also stems from a campaign designed to help pay for the clinics move from Warren Street to a larger site with more parking on Bay Road near SUNY Adirondack.

Were also seeing an increase in support from the wonderful Glens Falls community, who are welcoming the new health center in Queensbury opening later this spring, Corbett said. As far as increases in donations, our development office is still processing donations. One thing I can say is that overall we have received more donations than during this period last year, and interest in the CARE Campaign (fundraising for the Queensbury center) continues to grow as more people become aware of the opportunity.

The Queensbury facility is on schedule to open sometime in April, Corbett said, noting there has been no movement on the sale of the Warren Street site.

Corbett said a fundraising event Saturday in Saratoga Springs attracted more than 400 people to the Racing Museum.

That event sold out, she said. That was the highest level of attendance PPMH has ever had at a fundraising event.

It came just hours after 1,500 people marched from the Warren Street Planned Parenthood building to Crandall Library as part of the nation-wide Womens Marches.

We were truly moved by the turnout for the Womens March on the Jan. 21, and our hope is that people will stay motivated and engaged as the political landscape continues to evolve, Corbett said, noting that Monday, more than 1,600 people marched in Albany.

The local facility has also been busy, Corbett said, especially with women coming in for long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs).

Since the election, our Glens Falls health center has given approximately 250 appointments for LARCs. That number does not include appointments for other types of birth control like hormonal pills, she said. That number does represent a slight increase based on how many appointments were for LARCs over the total number of appointments for all services at the Glens Falls center.

Nationwide, Corbett said, Planned Parenthood has seen an increase in requests for LARCs of more than 900 percent.

Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson has 10 health centers and serves 20,000 patients each year.

On the national level

Planned Parenthood is already trying to counter the defunding moves that have begun at the national and state legislative levels. About 40 percent, or $553 million, of the organizations revenue comes from government health services grants and reimbursements.

Planned Parenthood reports that donations are up 40-fold since the election, while the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League said it has also seen a huge increase in donations.

Planned Parenthood has planned nearly 300 events in 47 states that will include rallies, marches, letter-writing campaigns and other activities over the next few months.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report
HADLEY  Three people, including an 18-month-old girl, were injured Sunday morning in a head-on collision on Route 9N near the Warren County line.

Sheriffs officers said when they arrived they found two seriously injured people in a 2003 Mitsubishi Galant which was being driven by Alison J. Pecor, 20, of Lake Luzerne. Also in her vehicle was the 18-month-old girl, a rear seat passenger. There were no other occupants in the vehicle.

The second vehicle, a 2006 Honda Accord, was being driven by Denise I. Scofield, 55, of Hadley. She was alone in the car.

The initial investigation showed that Pecors vehicle was travelling north when she crossed into the oncoming lane and collided head-on with Scofields vehicle.

Both Pecor and the child were transported to Saratoga Hospital, and the girl was later sent to Albany Medical Center where she was listed in critical condition Sunday evening. Pecor was admitted to Saratoga Hospital and was listed in stable condition Sunday evening.

Scofield was flown to Albany Medical Center by Lifenet helicopter and was listed in critical but stable condition.

The collision is being investigated by the Sheriffs Office Collision Reconstruction Unit and the Criminal Investigation Division.

Sheriffs officers said more information will be released as it becomes available.

Assisting agencies at the scene included HadleyLuzerne Fire, Corinth Fire, Stony Creek Fire, Hadley-Luzerne EMS, Jessups Landing EMS, and Albany Lifenet, which sent two helicopters to the scene.
Renee Harris of Hudson Falls is the sort of person who apologizes for the mess when you walk into her cozy house on Arbor Drive, where the pictures hang evenly on the walls and the dishes are put away.

She is not the sort, when she gets a mysterious medical bill in the mail, to shrug and pay it.

She used to be a smoker, Harris explained, and has a partially blocked carotid artery. Also, she has kidney disease and has to watch her blood pressure.

She has been going for checkups to Adirondack Cardiology once or twice a year, and in January of last year, she went twice  on Jan. 8, and then for a follow-up four days later, on Jan. 12.

She has insurance through Blue Shield of Northeastern NY, with a $30 co-pay, which she paid both times in the Adirondack Cardiology office.

She was surprised when, a short time later, bills came in the mail, each for more than $100. They were covered by her insurance, but for each extra bill, she would have to come up with another $30 co-pay.

Her effort to find out what the extra charges were led her on a months-long odyssey of phone calls and emails to insurance agents and Glens Falls Hospital officials.

She was told the second bill for each visit was a facility charge, assessed for use of Glens Falls Hospital equipment at Adirondack Cardiology, which, since 2012, has been affiliated with the hospital.

She argued she should have been told about the facility charge up front and wasnt. She asked for a list of the hospitals standard charges, which, by law, must either be posted on the hospitals website or made available to the public in another way. The list is not on the website.

She ended up, after several months, speaking with the secretary for the hospitals president and CEO, Dianne Shugrue, and was told the list of standard charges would be faxed to her. But it wasnt.

Meanwhile, the bills kept coming.

They sure sent me a lot of bills. They kept sending them to me and sending them to me, she said.

Then Harris discovered that her mother, who has a pacemaker and visits Adirondack Cardiology every few months, was also being billed twice for each visit. Her mother also has insurance, but since her co-pays are $45, she had to come up with $90 each time.

She was getting the same notices  collection notices  and that scared her, Harris said. She said, Oh, Renee, Im just going to pay it.

Harris stubbornness wore down, too, and last fall she paid the $60.

But shes not going back, she said. She has already canceled an appointment scheduled for this month.

Legal but obscure

Harris said people she works with have had the same experience of being charged a facility fee in a separate bill, after already being billed for a visit to a clinic or a doctors office. They dont want to speak publicly, she said, but All of us feel like were being ripped off.

The bills are for a little-known but widely used charge allowed under federal Medicare rules that applies to doctors offices or clinics affiliated with a hospital but located off the hospital campus. Glens Falls Hospitals tax filing for 2014 lists 24 such locations, from Cambridge Family Health Clinic to Glens Falls Hospital sleep lab.

When patients are seen at these off-campus hospital sites, they are supposed to be informed of the facility fee. Harris said she didnt see a sign about the fee at Adirondack Cardiology, but I didnt look for anything because I didnt know that was going to happen.

We try to have signs up at places to let patients know, said Heather Rivenburg, a hospital spokeswoman.

After its affiliation with the hospital, Everyone at the cardiology practice who was a patient received a letter, Rivenburg said.

Harris said she did not receive a letter about the change.

The regulation was set up this way because Medicare recognizes the increased expense of outpatient treatment, Rivenburg said.

The hospital will always work with people who are struggling to pay their bills, she said.

Mitchell Amado, the hospitals chief financial officer, apologized for not getting the information she requested to Rene Harris  Thats on us, he said.

Were doing everything within the letters of the law, he said. These are the rules.

We work with anyone, he said, but we cant waive co-pays or deductibles.

Private practices not affiliated with hospitals do not charge facility fees. Hudson Headwaters Health Network, a private, not-for-profit system of community health centers, does not charge facility fees.

But hospitals, which are open all day every day, are expensive to run, and Medicare rules recognize that, Amado said.

I apologize for any confusion, he said. Are we perfect? No. Do we try to be? Yes.

Lack of understanding

The widespread ignorance of facility fees highlights a larger problem in health care, according to patient advocates: Many people have no idea how much their medical treatments are going to cost before they get them. Comparison shopping for a better price is rare.

These fees are flying under the radar, said Chuck Bell of the Consumers Union in New York City. Basically, we think its unfair to charge this sort of fee without upfront disclosure. How can you justify youre going to have this surcharge without telling me?

The people staffing the front desks at doctors offices may not even know about the fees, Bell said.

A change in Medicare law signed by President Barack Obama prohibited the charging of facility fees for new hospital affiliations as of this year, but all existing affiliations were exempted from the rule and can continue charging the fees.

Hospitals had advance notice of the change and were able to finish pending affiliations before it took effect.

In New York, a 2015 law protects patients from surprise bills. The law applies when patients at a hospital or surgical center are treated by a doctor who doesnt participate in the patients insurance or when a participating doctor refers a patient to a non-participating doctor, without informing the patient first.

The law requires that patients first sign a consent form when referred to a non-participating doctor; otherwise, they are not responsible for the bill. The law also applies to lab work done by non-participating health care providers.

The surprise bill does not mention facility fees, however.

Renee Harris and her mother have insurance coverage that charges them only co-pays, but many people have deductibles that, until reached, would require paying the full cost of both a doctors visit and the facility fee.

Facility fees can range from $100 or so to more than $1,000.

The states Department of Financial Services regulates health insurance companies. A spokesman for the department, Ronald Klug, said customers who feel they are not being treated fairly by their insurer can file a complaint with the department (www.dfs.ny.gov), but that applies only to insurers, not providers such as hospitals.

Were always here as a resource, Klug said. But the consumer really has to be responsible for understanding what is covered and what isnt.
I wont ever apologize for criticizing those who are in power, or running news stories that address controversial issues, because the job of a free press is to hold those who are in power accountable.

Those of us who practice journalism have been under attack. Weve been called partisan and worse.

It is frustrating to hear that, because I know it is not true of me or my newspaper staff.

As journalists, we have one thing going for us  our credibility. If we compromise that credibility with partisanship, then we will quickly be out of business.

The one promise I have always made to readers of this newspaper is that we will call them as we see them.

President Trumps first week in office was a barrage of controversial executive orders that deserved front-page attention in our newspaper. The ideas and actions deserved to be vetted and analyzed. Thats what a free press does.

We will never be cheerleaders for anyone.

Our job is to question those who are in power, despite a call from one of the presidents closest advisers for us to shut up.

I know I wont.

The criticism I am hearing is not about our local reporting of news stories, but about the selection of stories from The Associated Press.

Several readers say the AP is partisan as well.

I dont see that and I dont believe it.

The Associated Press is a nonprofit news agency that operates as a cooperative. What that means is that the AP is owned by its member newspapers, radio and television stations, which contribute news to its wire report. It has thousands of journalists, more than 200 news bureaus worldwide and ethical standards among the highest in the nation, especially when it comes to anonymous sources.

I have never found a reason not to trust its reporting.

Ultimately, thats what this issue is about  trust.

If you do not believe what the reporters are writing in The Post-Star, then there is no reason to subscribe. I would never subscribe to a publication I believed was partisan, and I wont watch one on television.

Our reporters and editors occasionally make mistakes. We sometimes get things wrong, but it is not intentional. A lie is intentional. When we make mistakes, we correct them, clarify and make sure to get it right the next time.

When those in power lie or tell half-truths, that should be addressed by the news media.

When any new administration makes significant changes in policy, that should be covered, vetted and analyzed so citizens understand the ramifications.

If I had one bit of advice for our readers, it would be to stop watching cable news stations driven by ratings.

Ive heard from readers who also dont like the editorial cartoons that portray the new president in a bad light. Editorial satire using cartoons has a rich and long history in print journalism and presidents are often the centerpiece of that satire. If you dont recall the caricatures of President Obama with giant ears, then you werent paying attention. It comes with the office.

Considering President Trumps controversial first week in office with pronouncements that have alternated between being untrue, unconstitutional and un-American, the cartoonists have had a lot to work with. This is opinion that is run on the opinion page.

One reader sent a note to me this week saying he wanted to thank The Post-Star for standing up to Trump and all of his negative actions and talk.

It was not our intent to stand up to Trump or anyone else, but to report the news that is most important to our readers so they understand the issues and the facts.

Our job is to stand up to anyone who is not doing the right thing.

That has always been the standard at this newspaper, and it is my pledge going forward.

Ken Tingley is the editor of The Post-Star and may be reached via email at tingley@poststar.com. You can read his blog, The Front Page, daily at www.poststar.com or his updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kentingley.
What is startling is that hardly anyone remembers where they were on that balmy September morning when our country was brought to its knees.

No, not 9/11.

This was Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008 when the New York Federal Reserve Bank and the U.S. Treasury realized the world financial system was facing Armageddon.

When Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy on that Monday, it was the largest in American history. Merrill Lynch had to be absorbed by Bank of America to rescue it, and on Tuesday it was learned that AIG, the largest insurance company in the world, was running out of money, and that without billions of dollars from the U.S. government, a global depression could be at hand.

The world financial markets were on fire.

I doubt many of us realize  even today  how bad it could have been. There is a case to be made that the financial collapse had far more of an impact than the terrorists on 9/11.

What most of us remember now is that our retirement accounts tanked, unemployment skyrocketed and our economy has still not recovered nine years later.

Robert Lenzners fascinating account of where the blame lies for the financial collapse was published in Forbes magazine in 2012.

He concluded the total cost for the taxpayers to be $7 trillion while regular household wealth  what we regular folks have in our retirement savings and homes  was reduced $12 trillion to $14 trillion. The collapse also added $2 trillion to the federal budget deficit.

Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff said in 2012 it could it take 10 years, or more, to recover. It is now nine years later.

The why is still probably mostly misunderstood.

Andrew Ross Sorkin addressed it in his play-by-play account as early as 2009, but Michael Lewis unraveled many of the Wall Street abuses in his book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. It was later made into a movie that was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture.

If you havent seen it, you might want to give it a look. It is not so much entertaining as frightening that Wall Street, the banks and related financial institutions acted so recklessly and with so little accountability.

Its still difficult to get a handle on without significant study of what subprime mortgages and collateralize debt obligations are, but The Big Short does a pretty good job of explaining it so anyone can understand we really got screwed.

Consider this from the Forbes article: Banks were borrowing $30 to $40 for every $1 of capital they had, which was like buying a $1 million home with a $30,000 down payment. There is a colossal irony there.

Consider this testimony by Alan Greenspan, the once God-like head of the Federal Reserve:

I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms.

Essentially, Greenspan never imagined that financial corporations would be that greedy.

It is an incredibly important point to remember, because the Trump administration just made a hard right turn down that road.

Of course it wasnt just Greenspan and the Federal Reserve. Government policies and Congress loosened regulations even further with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. Or as Lenzner says, There were no cops on the beat.

By that September morning in 2008, the subprime mortgage-backed bonds had lost up to 80 percent of their value and lenders Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Bank of America, Washington Mutual and Wachovia were all in peril of going under.

The final tally showed 15 banks failed and several others were rescued. Between Oct. 9, 2007 and March 6, 2009, the stock market lost 50 percent of its value.

Many lost their jobs or big chunks of their retirement.

Why?

Lenzner concludes: No one was watching the store.

The Dodd-Frank bill was designed to regulate Wall Street, but Lenzner described it as an unholy mess.

He concluded in 2012 that little has changed on Wall Street today.

Then this week, the new administration  buoyed by six key appointments for former Goldman Sachs employees  announced it was going to undo the financial regulations that are in place, including one simple policy that makes your financial adviser beholden to you, the investor, rather than their own self-interest.

We left our 315 million citizens the distinct impression that the powers that be in Washington are the handmaidens of finance  coming to the rescue of Wall Street by means of a most costly bailout to avoid Armageddon, wrote Lenzner.

Remember, that was over four years ago and this past election was supposed to address that.

By all indications, it has not.
Looking at the world through the eyes of the Web
Action from the CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifying play-in, first-leg match between host French Guiana and Honduras (white jersey) on March 25, 2015, in Remire-Montjoly. (Photo: Jody Amiet)

CONCACAF MIAMI  For the sixth time, a play-in (or qualifying playoff as it has also been termed) for a CONCACAF Gold Cup berth will be contested, when Haiti and Nicaragua square off in a two-legged, total-goals series next month.



On Friday, a draw determined that the Haitians will host the first leg on March 24, 2017, with the action shifting to Nicaragua on March 28, 2017.

Haiti has qualified for the Gold Cup on six occasions, while Nicaragua is looking for a second appearance and first since 2009.

Both sides were handed the lifeline following fifth-place finishes in their respective regional qualifying competitions.

Haiti earned a spot in the play-in after topping the table of the three-team 2016/17 Scotiabank CFU Men's Caribbean Cup fifth-place playoff, while Nicaragua finished fifth out of six teams in the 2017 Copa Centroamericana.

Heres a look at previous Gold Cup qualifying playoffs:

1997 (for 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup)

October 4, 1997: Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis

St. Kitts & Nevis 0, Cuba 2

Qualifier: Cuba

1999 (for 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup)

October 6, 1999: Los Angeles, California, USA

Canada 0, Cuba 0

El Salvador 1, Haiti 1

October 8, 1999: Los Angeles, California, USA

Canada 2, El Salvador 1

Cuba 0, Haiti 1

October 10, 1999: Los Angeles, California, USA

Canada 2, Haiti 1

Cuba 3, El Salvador 1

Qualifiers: Canada, Haiti

2001 (for 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup)

July 29, 2001: Panama City, Panama

Panama 0, Cuba 0

August 1, 2001: Panama City, Panama

Cuba 1, Panama 0

Qualifier: Cuba

2003 (for 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup)

April 23, 2003: Fort-de-France, Martinique

Martinique 3, Trinidad & Tobago 2

April 25, 2003: Fort-de-France, Martinique

Trinidad & Tobago 0, Honduras 2

April 27, 2003: Fort-de-France, Martinique

Honduras 4, Martinique 2

Qualifiers: Honduras, Martinique

2015 (for 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup)

March 25, 2015: Remire-Montjoly, French Guiana

French Guiana 3, Honduras 1

March 29, 2015: San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Honduras 3, French Guiana 0

Qualifier: Honduras
Sri Lanka lose by seven wickets after being bowled out for just 163, as home side takes a winning 3-0 lead

ICC: February 4, 2017 - An all-round South Africa took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match One-Day International series with a convincing seven-wicket victory in the third ODI in Johannesburg on Saturday (February 4). An all-round South Africa took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match One-Day International series with a convincing seven-wicket victory in the third ODI in Johannesburg on Saturday (February 4).

In a perfect game that started with winning the toss, South Africa's bowlers first combined to shoot out Sri Lanka for a paltry 163 in 39.2 overs before AB de Villiers's unbeaten 60 led it to victory in just 32 overs.

Sri Lanka's batsmen, barring Niroshan Dickwella who made 74, capitulated against a relentless attack in a must-win game. Dwayne Pretorius, playing in his first match of the series, took 3 for 19 in seven overs, while Kagiso Rabada, Andile Phehlukwayo, the right-arm pacer, and Imran Tahir took two wickets apiece.

Sri Lanka got off to its best start of the series with Dickwella and Upul Tharanga, the captain, putting on 60 for the first wicket before Tharanga (31) top-edged a pull against Rabada, one ball after Dickwella had been dropped, and was caught at fine leg.

Once Rabada gave the initial breakthrough, Phehlukwayo struck twice more to remove Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal, triggering a collapse. Sri Lanka's middle-order batting once again proved brittle, especially against short-pitched bowling.



The only batsman to resist was Dickwella, who survived a dropped catch, some hostile bowling and a swarm of bees even as he continued to lose partners.

Dwaine Pretorius

Dickwella was dropped on 25 when JP Duminy, running back from backward point, could not hold on to a high leading edge from Rabada's bowling.

There was a delay of an hour after a swarm of bees drove the players from the field after 26.3 overs, and Dickwella was tested several times by some short-pitched deliveries from South Africa's fast bowlers.

Dickwella's 80-ball innings ended when he gloved an attempted pull against a short delivery from Pretorius to present Quinton de Kock, the wicketkeeper, with his 100th dismissal in his 72nd ODI.

South Africa lost de Kock in the third over of chase when the left-handed opener chopped Lahiru Kumara, the debutant, onto his stumps, but the meagre target meant they required only a couple of decent partnerships. The top order managed that despite a couple of stumbles, with Faf du Plessis (24) and Hashim Amla (34) making decent contributions before de Villiers finished the job.

Du Plessis, who made a century in the previous ODI, fell to Lahiru Madushanka, the other debutant, in his first over when he popped a catch to backward point. Sri Lanka raised its hopes when Amla was run out looking for a non-existent second run in the 19th over, but de Villiers ensured there would be no comebacks.

The South African captain added 72 unbeaten runs for the fourth wicket with Duminy and completed the formalities with plenty of time to spare.
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Entertainment / Movies

by Lee Seung

Shortly after news broke on the blogosphere that film maker, Seun Egbegbe, was arrested for allegedly defrauding a bureau de change operator of $60,000, online commenters were quick to flood various blogs airing their opinion on the issue. Many of them insisted that the filmmaker must be under a "spell."Egbegbe was re-arrested six days to his appearance before an Ikeja Magistrate's Court over a case of theft he allegedly committed in Computer Village (Lagos) on November 22, 2016, when he reportedly stole nine iPhones. An online commenter, Tundebrown Ademuyiwa, urged people to pray for the man. "Someone has cursed this guy, he needs original prayers," he said. Another commenter simply identified as Tex king believes that the filmmaker was cursed by a woman."I believe this is not ordinary. First it was the issue of trying to steal iPhone and now this. One babe don go village swear for this guy. I'm very sure," King said.An anonymous commentator was of the opinion that a pastor could help his situation and speedily advised that he visits popular pastor, T.B Joshua for deliverance."I think this guy's problem is more spiritual than physical. Whoever knows him should tell him to visit T.B Joshua," he said.
Most importantly, it now has a phone that can actually compete with the iPhones, Galaxys, and Pixels of the world. The Mate 9, as it's called, won't outsell those behemoths, but it is a strong, high-end choice for Android fans, particularly those aching for a big-phone replacement for their Galaxy Note 7. (RIP.) If you need an especially beefy display and battery, it's near the top of its niche.

At $600, it's anywhere from $50 to $150 easier on the wallet, too. Let's take a closer look.

The Mate 9 looks boring, but that doesn't mean it's built cheaply.

On the contrary, its all-metal frame is both smooth and solid. It's also restrained  there are no gaudy logos on the back, and the bezels on its front are thin, letting that big screen sit there without making the phone too huge.

To be clear, though, this is a big fella. The 5.9-inch display here puts the Mate 9 squarely in the "phablet" category. I wouldn't call it "lightweight," either. But for what it is, it's not as chunky as it could've been.

To give a point of comparison, the iPhone 7 Plus, with a display 0.4 inches smaller, is only 2 grams lighter and 0.2 inches thinner. If your hands are on the larger side, it's not impossible to get around on the phone with one hand.

One thing that deserves special praise here is the fingerprint sensor on the back. It's at a natural spot, it's accurate, and it's extremely fast.

The big downside? It's not water-resistant. At this point, that's hard to accept.

The 5.9-inch, 1080p display is solid. It's not as vibrant as the OLED screens of the Galaxy S7 or Google Pixel, or as sharp (not that youll notice), but it has good contrast, and it can get very bright, which keeps it easy to read outdoors.

If you want to get into the nitty-gritty, though, there are some issues with color accuracy. If you stare closely enough, you'll see that whites assume more of a greenish hue than they do on the iPhone 7 or Galaxy S7. This gets worse when you look at the screen at an angle. Huawei has some color-adjustment settings you can tinker with, but they don't do much.

That said, those are really complaints of hardcore users. Huawei has more or less tried to recreate the look of an OLED screen without actually using OLED tech here. Black tones are good and dark, which makes the whole thing look lively. Most people won't have many issues with it  you can just do better.

The Mate 9 is lightning fast. It scores higher on some benchmark tests than any other Android phone currently on the market.

That's probably going to change once phones using Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 835 start rolling out over the next few weeks, but for now, the Mate 9 and its Huawei-made Kirin 960 chip have zero problems opening apps, installing apps, running multiple apps at once, or flipping through menus. It's impressive.

Graphics performance is a plus, too. The Mate 9 doesn't score quite as high in testing there, but newer games like "Deus Ex Go" run without much of an issue. There's nothing here you can't play on high settings.

Still, this is an Android phone that's not made by Google. It's not immune to the occasional bit of stuttering in Chrome. Technically speaking, the Pixel isn't as fast, but it's a bit more bulletproof when it comes to overall smoothness. Any difference is slight, though.

For phone geeks, the big story here is the visual overhaul of Huaweis software. Itll probably confuse iPhone owners, but it should make immediate sense for those who are familiar with Googles OS.

Huawei is a Chinese company, so past iterations of its EMUI software have reflected what Chinese customers buy  namely, wannabe versions of iOS. With EMUI 5.0, its gone a long way to appease the West, where people generally prefer Android to look, well, like Android.

The result is something thats cleaner and easier to understand for anyone coming from another Android phone. The design of some Huawei apps more closely resembles those from Google. You can actually stash your apps in an app drawer instead of stuffing them in folders. The recent apps button shows your open apps Rolodex-style rather than laying those apps in a horizontal line thats slower to scroll through.

That skin is based on Android 7.0 Nougat, Googles latest major update, and borrows a few of its better features. It still has a few familiar issues, though.

A multi-window mode lets you run two apps onscreen at once. The quick settings menu  i.e., the menu you drag down from the top of the screen  is customizable and more neatly laid out. When youre in the full Settings app, theres a handy little slide-out menu that helps you get around faster. These are all minor, but useful, perks.

Beyond that, Huawei adds a few features of its own  some good, some bad, some aimless. Being able to scale down whatever is on the display is nice when you only have one hand free. Dealing with bloatware like Lyft, Booking.com, or NewsRepublic (which takes it upon itself to feed you notifications) is annoying. Being able to access apps through gestures with your knuckles is just weird.

The whole skin is still on the heavier side, but its fast, it has its perks if you want them, and Huaweis done well to make it more visually consistent. In the coming months, itll also gain support for Amazons Alexa assistant  well let you know if thats useful once its live.

The Mate 9s battery life is among the best Ive seen, and the number one reason to buy the device.

With no super-high-res display hogging up power, the 4,000 mAh battery here is more than capable of lasting over a day. When I deliberately tried to conserve, I could get through two work days before needing a charge. So its superb. Just know that, as with most phones, gaming for any extended period time will cut all of this down.

Like every other recent Android flagship, the Mate 9 charges over USB-C. Its not the most updated version of the spec, but it does support a fast-charging standard that lets you refill the phone faster.

The only annoyance is that its a custom standard, so youll have to use the charger that comes in the box to take advantage of it. Itd be easier if Huawei took after a more widely-used standard like Qualcomms Quick Charge.

The Mate 9s 20-megapixel rear camera isnt class-leading, but still above-average.

To get the comparison out of the way: No, I wouldnt take this over the shooters on the Pixel (my personal favorite), Galaxy S7, or, to a lesser extent, iPhone 7 Plus. Compared to those, it requires more fine-tuning to get the most out of it, its colors arent as vivid, and its HDR mode is just about useless. The optical image stabilization isnt the strongest, either, so you have to make sure you have a steady hand. Plus, theres more of a learning curve to the app.

Some of that comes down to personal preference, though. On a technical level, the Mate 9 captures tons of detail, produces very little noise, and is consistently great at getting the right amount of light into a shot. It doesnt go haywire in darker settings, either.

Its all good, and I cant see anyone complaining about it  I just cant see anyone going out of their way for it, either.

As with the iPhone 7 Plus, the Mate 9s main camera also has two lenses on the back. That allows you to, among other things, take shots with a bokeh effect, which creates an illusion of depth by keeping your subject in focus while blurring out the background. Heres an example:

Huawei even goes a step further than Apple by letting you adjust how blurry you want the background to be after youve taken your shot. This is nothing essential, but it's a fun trick to have in your bag.

It's not flawless, though. If you don't take it slow and careful, youll often run into situations where too much of the area surrounding your subject isnt blurred. That can look sloppy.

The Mate 9s biggest problem has more to do with business than the phone itself. Like most phones sold unlocked, it only works on GSM networks, not CDMA ones. You wont find it in any carrier stores, and youre stuck with AT&T or T-Mobile if you do get your hands on it. if you prefer Verizon or Sprint, youre out of luck.

But if thats not an issue, the Mate 9 is among the best Android phones you can buy. If you specifically want the largest screen possible, its worth a very long look.

Googles Pixel (or Pixel XL) has a more vivid display, cleaner software that gets first dibs on all updates for the next two years, and a camera that is both excellent and dead simple to use, so that remains the Android phone to get today. (Especially since were in a limbo period between the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8.)
For this same reason, Betty Irabor, publisher of Genevieve Magazine took to her Instagram page on Sunday, February 5, 2017, to celebrate the couple that got wedded traditionally only yesterday.

ALSO READ: First photo of actress on her traditional wedding

She shared a photo of the pair with their faces split with smiles, writing, "When you look at this picture what do you see? I will tell you what I see. I don't see two celebs, I see two happy people who genuinely love themselves enough to love each other. You cannot give what you don't have, remember? You cannot love others without self-love.

"I see a couple who are not living their lives to please others because they don't need to prove anything, They know that they are not in any race or competition... They got engaged without any suffocating drama, their traditional wedding yesterday was at its realest. Most of the pressure people go through are self-inflicted in an attempt to make unnecessary statements.

"Who are these people everyone is trying to impress anyway? The truth is, people try too hard to be accepted, to meet other people's expectations, to please others who really shouldn't count...what really should count at the end of the day is the marriage, not the wedding....marriages begin where weddings end.

"I have come to know Yvonne and Kunle better and I believe what they share is deep, very deep.. And at the end of the day, that's what counts...

"Congratulations my darlings. Please don't make me eat my words! ( I know you won't)."

Yvonne got married to late veteran actress' son, Olakunle, popularly known as Abounce, on Saturday, February 4, 2017, at Ogunlana Drive, Surulere, Lagos state.
However, a letter from the MP's lawyer, Sory @ Law, said there was no iota of truth in the publication by A Plus, adding that the statement was designed to cause public disaffection for the MP who by dint of hard work has earned the confidence of his people.

Your publication without doubt, casts a slur on our clients reputation, the lawyers said, adding your publication was definitely made with malicious intent.

--Retraction and apology--

In addition, Mr Acheampong is demanding a retraction of the publication and an unqualified apology from A Plus for false insinuations in the social media publication.
READ ALSO: Pulse style

The book gives readers a deeper reflection of the authors flamboyant lifestyle she flaunts on social media and those reported by media houses.

Undoubtedly Toke is one of the notable fashion icons in Nigeria and most people those who love to read and have a passion for fashion were eager to meet, greet, take photos and copy style inspiration from her.

READ ALSO: Photo

The 32-year did not disappoint her Ghanaian fans at all; from the day she landed in Ghana through to her media house tour and finally book launch, Toke certainly upped the fashion game in Ghana.

Ghanaian celebrities including Jackie Appiah, Ama K. Abrebrese, Ahoufe Patri, Henry Adofo and others were present.

Toke Makinwa is beautiful. She knows how to do unexcepted colour pairing to make her a fashion star.

READ ALSO: Fashion Tips

I just love that metallic pleated skirt. Toke will win any fashion competition with this classy and elegant look.

READ ALSO: Mimi Plange

Among her many talents, Toke Makinwa has a true flare for fashion. The Louboutin heels she wore to her book launch is flirty, feminine and a true representation of her brand.

READ ALSO: Pulse Style

Stunning appearance. Very few people can pull of this eye-popping look, showing off her flawless skin in a radiant style.

Toke Makinwa hardly ever leaves anything to be desired when it comes to her fashion style and tastes.

READ ALSO: Pulse Style
The deceased identified as Grace Nduta Mwaura reportedly endured untold pain in the ritual-like killing that saw her eyes gouged out, body skinned and butchered.

According to Kenyan News, Police officers of the Juja police station found Grace's torso and limbs dumped at a coffee plantation on Thursday, February 2, 2017 in Kalimoni area.

The police also revealed that other parts of the deceased's body including her intestines were found stuffed in a bucket which was hidden in the ceiling of a house in Kahawa Sukari.

The eyes of the deceased were gouged out with parts of her body and face skinned and her tongue cut off.

The police also discovered Grace's laptop as well as the murder weapon which was a knife.

Grace who was a fourth year engineering student was last seen on January 29, 2016, at Githurai Kimbo police station.

In no time, the hashtag #FindGraceNduta and #PrayForNduta were started on social media by her friends, to help find the deceased.

According to the police, the deceased's elder brother is the prime suspect in the crime.

The 24-year-old university student since fled home after the police paid a visit to the family home to make further inquiry into the disappearance of the deceased.

A manhunt has now been launched to find the suspect, as the police would like to find out the reason why he fled and/or the motive behind the killing.

We asked him to bring a torch for use in the search but he took off. We want to know why, a detective familiar with the case told Kenyan News,
News / International

by Staff Reporter

German weekly magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy at home and abroad on Saturday with a front cover illustration of U.S. President Donald Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty.It depicts a cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statue's head, dripping with blood, in the other. It carries the caption: "America First".The artist who designed the cover, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban who came to the United States in 1980 as a political refugee, told The Washington Post: "It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol."The cover set off a debate on Twitter and in German and international media, with Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a member of Germany's Free Democrats (FDP) and vice president of the European Parliament, describing it as "tasteless".The cover follows a series of attacks on Berlin's policies by Trump and his aides, marking a rapid deterioration in German relations with the United States. Chancellor Angela Merkel was the go-to European ally for former U.S. president Barack Obama, who praised her as "an outstanding partner".Last month, Trump said Merkel had made a "catastrophic mistake" with her open-door migration policy, and this week his top trade adviser said Germany was using a "grossly undervalued" euro to gain advantage over the United States and its European partners.No one was available for comment on the Spiegel cover at the U.S. embassy in Berlin.
He said originally, militant groups were driven by sentiments of exclusion, marginalisation and disenfranchisement.

Citing Mali as a case study, he explained that it would be important to pursue efforts of decentralisation, in order to maintain a commitment by national stakeholders to the implementation of the peace process.

Dr Chambas made these remarks in Accra during the unveiling of the Head Office Complex of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP).

The event, which coincided with the launch of a book, dubbed: Strides and Strains of CSOs in Africa: The WANEP Story, was chaired by Mr Alain Marcel Da Souza, the ECOWAS Commission President.

In attendance were Dr Sam G. Doe, the first Executive Director and Co-founder of WANEP and Mr Emmanuel H. Bombande, the second Executive Director and Co-founder of WANEP.

Dr Chambas said ECOWAS and WANEP would be in a good position to devise collaborative approaches in addressing these challenges and related issues of peace and security, while creating a conducive environment for mediation and negotiation.

He said the ECOWAS would strengthen its collaboration with WANEP in addressing common threats affecting the sub-region.

On the recent events that led to former President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia after more than two decades of strong rule, Dr Chambas said: While this was a truly remarkable manifestation of the international community upholding the collective will of The Gambians for genuine democracy, it will be important for civil society organisations such as WANEP to join in and support the efforts of ECOWAS, the African Union and the UN to accomplish the transition in The Gambia, which will be a long and arduous process that touches on critical issues of national reconciliation, and security sector reform.

Mr. Da Souza remarked that the wisdom of ECOWAS to formally collaborate with CSOs and in particular WANEP was in line with the ECOWAS vision of transforming itself from an ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of Peoples.

Ever since the emphasis on human security became enshrined in international normative frameworks and adopted by ECOWAS as the undergirding principle for its Regional Conflict Prevention programme, the issue of peace and security can no longer be the sole preserve of governments, he said.

Building peace and ensuring human security is the collective responsibility of all stakeholders. Governments everywhere have come to recognize and accept the critical role of civil society in complementing its efforts at building peace and sustainable development, he added.

Mr Chukwuemeka B. Eze, the Executive Director of WANEP, said with the cooporation of governments, ECOWAS, the African Union, and development partners, WANEP had continued to act as a catalyst in implementing programmes and specific activities that support Africa Peace Agenda.
"It will happen but the constitutional process must be followed," he told TV3. "Even if you go out right in front of you, the signage says Flagstaff House."

--Jubilee House--

The then New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo kept referring to it as Jubilee House although the official name is Flagstaff House.

It was enough signal at that time that if he gets the nod to lead the country, he'll change the name to Jubilee House.

This was so because it was built under the Kufour administration during the Ghana @50 celebration. Ex-president Kufuor named it Jubilee House in commemoration with Ghana's Jubilee celebration.

READ MORE: Prez Nana Addo clarifies the rationale behind new ministerial portfolios

--Name Change--
The President addressed a small crowd of family and friends of the late Ghanaian anti-colonial activist and nationalist fondly described as the "Doyen of Ghanaian politics" after a wreath laying ceremony on Sarurday.

We can never thank you enough for your sacrifice. We will continue to make sure that those principles guide us in providing strength for what we do. Your life was about service in the nation you christened. It is as a result of your service that we are called Ghana today. We will never ever forget you," Mr Akufo-Addo said of his uncle.

He added: He never held office, and yet the work you have done has gone beyond the work of those who have held offices. They called you the light of the founders and you are indeed the light of our nation. So we came here today to let you know how much we value your work and your life.

The Ghanaian people have embraced your teachings and opted to live in the conditions of freedom. The freedom that you gave your life for. To live under the rule of law, to live under constitutional government and project what you believed was noble in the Ghanaian character."

--Appreciation of principles--

Mr Akufo-Addo also expressed appreciation of J.B Danquah's sacrifices for Ghana and the principles he stood for.

We are grateful for your life, we appreciate everything that you did and we will continue to do our best to honour you and to live by the principles that you lived and gave your life for.

"God continue to bless you and continue to give you peaceful rest and in the day of resurrection, we shall all meet again in the presence of the Almighty. God bless and thank you, he said.

--Big six member--

J.B Danquah is a member of the so called Big six who are credited with leading Ghana to independence from British colonial rule.

He would latter have a bitter relationship with Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president after colonial rule, as his fierce critic.
In an interview with Accra-based Kasapa FM, Mr Boasiako-Sekyere urged the committee to be more visible.

The party in December 2016 outdoored a 13-member committee to investigate the partys defeat to the New Patriotic Party in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The committee is chaired by former finance minister Professor Kwesi Botchwey.

Other members of the committee are Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, the immediate past Speaker of Parliament; Alhaji Hudu Yahaya, Naval Capt. Asaase Gyimah, Mr William Ahadzi, the Director of Research at the NDC headquarters; Mr Ibrahim Zuberu, a lecturer at the Accra Technical University and member of the NDC; Mr Razak Abu, a researcher at NDCs Development Challenge; Mrs Juliana Azumah Mensah, a former MP for Agotime-Ziope; and Ms Barbara Serwah Asamoah, a former deputy minister.

The committee was also charged to recommend the way forward for the party.

"The committee is expected to "review and validate the results of the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections and find out the causes of the poor performance of the NDC in both the presidential and the parliamentary election, as well as to deal with other matter reasonably related to the above objectives and to make recommendations to the National Executive Committee about the way forward," according to the party's General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia.
READ MORE: MPs launch unstrained attack on Otiko Djaba

They are not taking over power through a military coup d'etat, this is a process that has been democratically determined. We recognise their right to rule, but we will not recognise their continuous harassment of our party following," he fumed.

The NPP has the right to rule, but they have no right to disrespect the rights of other people and they have no right to infringe upon workers rights, and they have no right to undermine the functioning of state and public institutions, he cautioned.

He also decried the inability of the Ghana Police Service to contained the organised attacks on state institution.

One is alarmed at the breakdown of law and order and the inability of the police in particular to protect life and property.
It follows chaotic seizures of vehicles by persons acting on behalf of the government.

In furtherance to that, she has constituted a task-force to coordinate the location and retrieval of all such assets in the national interests

The task force is composed of officials from the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Revenue Authority (Customs Division), the Bureau of National Investigations, the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Authority and the Office of the President.

However, in a strongly worded statement, Mr Nketia said the task force is an attempt to justify the activities of "party hoodlums" who have been victimising ordinary citizens.

He said: "The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has taken note of a statement issued by the Akufo-Addo government in which it announced that a task force has been set up to retrieve state properties allegedly in the possession of former government officials.

"This can only be an implausible cover-up for the state-sponsored thuggery and violation of the human rights of innocent Ghanaians over the last four (4) weeks.

"Let it be known to government that the quest to justify the criminal activities of its party hoodlums who have gone about wreaking havoc on innocent citizens, destroying government properties, beating up hardworking civil and public servants and attempting to seize properties of former government officials and leading functionaries of the NDC, can destabilize the peace and stability of our beloved country, Ghana."

The NDC General Secretary also slammed the government for not condemning the activities of party functionaries engaged in the illegal retrieval of state vehicles.

"The activities of these NPP hoodlums operating under the name invisible Forces with tacit approval from elements within the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service, have gone on for several weeks without any noticeable effort by government to take action against them," he said.

"Instead of condemnation and firm action to end this spate of lawlessness, these criminal elements, loyal to President Akufo-Addo, have received approbation from leading figures within the NPP who have sought to justify their conduct amidst threats to seize more private properties," he said.

"The indiscriminate seizures of lawfully-acquired private property came to a head when unseen powerful hands at the seat of government, commandeered uniformed personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces to team up with the violent INVISIBLE FORCES to seize and take away vehicles from the residence of the National Organiser of the NDC, Mr Kofi Adams," he added.

Mr Nketia concluded his statement by warning that the NDC will "resist" any further attacks on officials and members of the party.

"We would however not tolerate any violation of the rights of our members under the guise of retrieving phantom state assets. Any further attacks on officials and members of the NDC will be fiercely resisted," he concluded.

Below is the full statement

LAWLESS SEIZURE OF PRIVATE PROPERTIES BY NPP THUGS & AGENTS OF THE AKUFO-ADDO GOVERNMENT

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has taken note of a statement issued by the Akufo-Addo government in which it announced that a task force has been set up to retrieve state properties allegedly in the possession of former government officials.

This can only be an implausible cover-up for the state-sponsored thuggery and violation of the human rights of innocent Ghanaians over the last four (4) weeks.

Let it be known to government that the quest to justify the criminal activities of its party hoodlums who have gone about wreaking havoc on innocent citizens, destroying government properties, beating up hardworking civil and public servants and attempting to seize properties of former government officials and leading functionaries of the NDC, can destabilize the peace and stability of our beloved country, Ghana.

The activities of these NPP hoodlums operating under the name invisible Forces with tacit approval from elements within the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service, have gone on for several weeks without any noticeable effort by government to take action against them.

Instead of condemnation and firm action to end this spate of lawlessness, these criminal elements, loyal to President Akufo-Addo, have received approbation from leading figures within the NPP who have sought to justify their conduct amidst threats to seize more private properties.

The indiscriminate seizures of lawfully-acquired private property came to a head when unseen powerful hands at the seat of government, commandeered uniformed personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces to team up with the violent INVISIBLE FORCES to seize and take away vehicles from the residence of the National Organiser of the NDC, Mr. Kofi Adams.

Before then, campaign vehicles belonging to the NDC had been unlawfully taken away from across the country. Some officials of the immediate past government also had their private vehicles forcibly taken away by the same marauding gang. Furthermore, innocent citizens of Ghana who find themselves working in government offices and installations have come under violent attacks nationwide from these NPP thugs, while supporters of the NDC have been violently assaulted, causing serious injuries in some cases.

In other instances, employees of some security agencies and ordinary citizens have been evicted from their official accommodation by members of the notorious INVISIBLE FORCES.

A disturbing feature of these raids is that they are soon followed by profuse apologies from National Security Minister, Albert Kan Dapaah, with promises and assurance to avert a recurrence, only for the same attacks to be replicated.

This state of affairs reveals a worrying breakdown of the chain of command of the nations security agencies and the running of a vigilante security system parallel to what is duly established by law. The attempt therefore by the Akufo-Addo government to issue a post-facto rationalisation of this disgraceful behaviour through the setting up of a supposed task force must be roundly condemned.

If government meant well and was willing to act in good faith, lawful procedure would have been used to secure any state asset deemed to be in the hands of unauthorized persons.

Conventional wisdom would dictate that proper inventory would be taken of all government assets whereupon any missing assets would be traced to any person keeping same. This is especially so, as each and every government asset, movable and immovable, as captured in the handing over notes were handed over to the NPP representatives of the Joint Transition Team.

The gung-ho approach adopted by the NPP and President Akufo-Addo betrays their siege mentality which is completely incompatible with democratic practice. The NDC demands an immediate cessation of the violent attacks on its members and the seizure of their properties.

To the best of our knowledge, members of the immediate past administration have complied with the provisions of the Presidential Transition Act in so far as it relates to the handing over of state assets. That said, if the NPP government has genuine reason to believe that any assets are outstanding and yet to be returned, let them provide evidence of same and use lawful means for their retrieval.

To enhance the credibility of the process we call on government to publish the said assets which they deem missing. We wish to make it clear that we stand prepared to cooperate with government in any effort to reconcile national assets and secure them.

We would however not tolerate any violation of the rights of our members under the guise of retrieving phantom state assets. Any further attacks on officials and members of the NDC will be fiercely resisted.

JOHNSON ASIEDU NKETIA
"Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban," the president continued. "They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!"

Trump continued his tirade into the afternoon, tweeting that "many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country."

"What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?" he tweeted.

Robart's ruling, contrary to the claims in Trump's tweets, does not allow "anyone" to travel to the US  travellers from the seven majority-Muslim countries named in Trumps order must still hold valid visas or green cards to gain entry.
"Nordstrom dumped Trump, please follow suit," reads one of many similar comments on Macy's Facebook page. "I would never put plastic Ivanka Trump boots on my little daughter."

One customer claimed she was told by a customer service representative that the company is in the process of dropping Ivanka's apparel and shoe lines. Macy's didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The pressure seems to be coming from inside the company as well. According to an internal source at Macy's, some corporate employees are uncomfortable with their roles selling and marketing Ivanka Trump's brand following the election of Donald Trump.

"Hopefully they stop," an internal Macy's source told Business Insider, referencing the company's declining sales. "They can't lose any more money than they already are."

Currently, almost every Ivanka Trump branded item available on Macy's website is being sold at a discount. While many of the sales can be linked to store-wide deals, some discounts are more stark, such as a $150 pair of shoes being sold for $37.

The movement to boycott retailers that do business with the Trump family began in October, when #GrabYourWallet hashtag

"The Ivanka Trump brand continues to expand across categories and distribution with increased customer support, leading us to experience significant year-over-year revenue growth in 2016," Rosemary K. Young, Ivanka Trump's senior director of marketing, said in a statement on Friday. "We believe that the strength of a brand is measured not only by the profits it generates, but the integrity it maintains."

The retailer's history with the Trump family's retail business extends back before the election. Macy's stopped selling Trump's menswear line  which includes suits, ties, and accessories  last July after he referred to Mexican immigrants as "rapists."

Despite this, the retailer has continued to sell Ivanka Trump's line. Currently, Macy's is on Grab Your Wallet's "Top 10" list of brands to boycott, and has been classified as one of the "most boycottable" brands by the movement.
The mother-of-three rocked different chic ankara pieces as well as English dresses, with a facebeat that continues to belly her age.

The actress has come a long way in the industry as well as on a personal level, and can pass for a veteran act.

In June 2016, Fathia, who got divorced in 2015, was conferred with a chieftaincy title where she was named the "Atesin'Se Adinni".

The title is said to be in connection with her giving Islam a good image in the industry.

ALSO READ: Fathia Balogun marks birthday with new photoshoot

The popular Yoruba actress along with Dayo Amusarecently went to Mecca, Saudi Arabia to observe the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage.
News / Local

by Caroline Chiimba

This year brings the count to 17 years of economic meltdown in Zimbabwe which has resulted to massive industrial shutdowns, whereby the industrial hub (Bulawayo), was not spared from the wrath.According to business digest, nearly 150 companies folded in the second quarter of 2016, leaving hundreds jobless as the country's economic implosion continues to worsen.Thousands of graduates are capped every year from different universities and other tertiary institutions all over Zimbabwe only to become vendors or jobless.However, a 25year old Procurements graduate diverted his attention to politics citing that it is politics that has influenced everything to turn out the way it is.Defying the odds in a society that is skeptical and fearful about anything that has to do with politics, the 25 year old author unveiled his first ever publication The Political Dilemma at the book launch held at Bulawayo Public Library on Saturday."Publishing the book was difficult because a lot of publishing houses in Zimbabwe tend to distance themselves from books about politics so l had to do self-publishing," said the author, Pluto Bonnie Ntabende."The inspiration to pen the book came more from seeing my fellow brothers and sisters suffer," added Ntabende."Why not write about politics when ultimately, it is politics that controls everything, from service delivery to health care and to all other sectors."Born and raised in Bulawayo, Ntabende was greatly inspired by historical figures like the late Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo and Martin Luther Jnr, who fought for what they believed in."The book is mainly targeting the youths as they had shown little interest in Zimbabwean politics in the past years, yet they are the ones greatly affected as the future rest in their hands," said Ntabende.According to Ntabende, the book tackles a lot of political issues including The Parliament, the Cabinet, and pointing out the reasons why the youths should vote and actively partake in the country's politics.Besides focusing on youths, the book encompasses everyone's needs as it also gives the older generation an insight of how the youths perceive politics.Even politicians stand to benefit a lot from the book as it can help them get the youths on their side and encourage them to engage in politics as book hints on the youths' expectations.The book hits the market one year ahead of the much anticipated 2018 harmonised elections and months after the #tajamuka this flag campaign which went rampant on social media platforms last year.The official book launch which attracted mostly male youths stirred a political debate platform whereby the youths revealed the reasons behind their lack of participation in Zimbabwean politics."l am not en ticed to go voting because the so called candidates have nothing new to offer, look at the Mawarire uprising which amounted to nothing because the guy lacked vision and a clear cut purpose," said one of the youths among the crowd."The guy was busy promoting laziness, urging people to 'stay away', stay away and then what? Because the next day people woke up to the very same problem."One of the young men in the crowd said that he would go voting only if one of the candidates at least promises free WiFi, and the whole room busted into laughter."Right now we moving towards the 2018 harmonised elections and the leaders from the constituency level are nowhere to be seen, they want to just show up at the last minute with their half cooked manifestos and expect us to jump and vote for them," said one of the young men who identified himself as Shadreck."lf they have something to offer they should start campaigning now, reveal their agendas while giving us time to digest and see whether they are worth voting for."A lot of youths expressed dissatisfaction with Zimbabwean politicians citing that the politicians are failing to bring something tangible to the table, as to how the economy can be turned around.According to some youths who attended the book launch, they said the problem is that most politicians in Zimbabwe are more concerned with power and attention rather than focusing on the real issues on the ground like unemployment which has increased the levels of poverty whereby the youths are the mostly affected."As youths we should vote wisely, bearing in mind what we want our future to be like. Do not vote for someone because they are MDC, Zanu PF or People First, but vote for a leader who has something reasonable to offer and has a clear vision of what should be done for the next generation," said one of the young ladies during the launch.In his closing remarks, Ntabende cited that the need to see the youths making their own decision and making their voices heard in the 2018 elections is what prompted him to pen the book. He further added that his satisfaction will come only when the youths' voter turnout number is increased in the 2018 elections"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you"- Pericles
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An Ebute-Meta Chief Magistrates Court in Lagos ordered the remand on Friday following arraignment of Ajibola on a murder charge.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court did not take the plea of the resident of Daramola Street, Ijora Badia, Lagos.

Chief Magistrate A. O. Salawu said that she needed advice from the states director of public prosecutions.

She adjourned the case till March 6 for mention.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp. Koti Aodahemba, told the court that the accused committed the murder on Dec. 8 on Orisunbare Street, Ijora Badia.

He said that the accused pushed one Mr Patrick Orilolo, 56, into an oncoming vehicle because he cautioned him for recklessly driving a truck marked FST 444 XE.

The prosecutor said that the accused alighted from his truck to push the deceased into the vehicle which killed him instantly.

He submitted that the offence contravened Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The complainant, Igbobi Uzezi, alleged that her superior, Flight Lieutenant B.S Vibelko, drugged and raped her in 2011, Vanguard reports.

The suit with number FHC/L/CS/10/17, which was filed at the Federal High Court, Lagos Division on January 5, 2017, states that the violent rape and sexual assault of Uzezi was a flagrant violation of her fundamental rights to life, the dignity of human person and personal liberty.

The case is reportedly being handled by the Malachy Ugwummadu Chambers on behalf of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights.

Vanguard reports that Uzezi accused Vibelko of sexually assaulting her on May 17, 2011, claiming that she contracted a sexually transmitted disease in the process.

In her suit, Uzezi said, I was arrested and detained at the guardroom within the Air Force Base, V.I, Lagos in an inclement and dehumanising condition with hard labour for a period of 14 days from May 9 to 23, 2013, on the orders of the chief of air staff, air officer commandant, and the flight lieutenant, without charging me to a court of law or even making my offences known to me.

The suit also states that the complainant, was detained at the Air Force Base, Ikeja, Lagos for another 10 days from October 1 to 10, 2015, still on the alleged orders of the names aforementioned.

Uzezi's cousel also claims that she dismissed from the service without the granting her a fair hearing on the allegations she leveled against Vibelko.

The suit stated that Vibelko, who was her former instructor, took undue advantage of her violently drugging and raping her against all known codes of discipline and laws of both the Nigerian Armed Forces Act and Criminal laws of Nigeria.

According to the reports, Uzezi is suing for the sum of N500 million in damages for the breach of her fundamental rights.
The Magistrate, Mrs O.A. Salawu, ordered that the accused should be kept at Ikoyi Prison pending advice from the State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Koti Aodahemba, told the court that the offence was committed on Dec. 26 at about 7.30 p.m. at the estate.

Aodahemba said that Idris, sighted the deceased stealing his plate of rice and a malt drink where he kept it and gave the deceased a hot chase to retrieve his meal.

A scuffle had ensued between the duo and Idris picked up a plank and hit Diya on his head thrice and he later died.

The offence contravened Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011 which prescribes a death sentence for offenders.
Yusuf of Tsakuwa village, Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area of Kano State, is facing a two-count charge of hostage taking and theft of a car.

According to the Prosecutor, Asp. Anthony Edward, the accused committed the offences on Jan. 11.

He said that the accused stole a Honda Accord car, black in colour, with registration number AH945GWL valued at N200,000.

Edward also told the court that the vehicle belongs to one Muawiyya Umar of Brigade Quarters, Kano.

The accused kidnapped Umars two children: Zainab Abdullahi, 4, and Aliyu Abdullahi, 2, all of Brigade Quarters, Kano, he said.

He said the accused took the two children to an unknown destination and during the course of investigation the vehicle and children were found with him.

The offences contravened Section 15 of the Terrorism (Prevention Amendment) Act 2013, and Section 287 of the Penal Code.

However, the accused pleaded guilty to the charge.

The presiding Judge, Chief Magistrate Ibrahim Khaleel, ordered the remand of the accused in prison custody, pending the legal advice of the Department of Public Prosecution.
Buratai gave the charge on Saturday in Jos, at the celebration of West African Social Activities (WASA), by 3 Division Nigerian Army, Rukuba, Jos.

The COAS, who was represented by Maj. Gen. Rojas Nicholas, Commander of Operation Safe Haven, said that such focus was key to winning the war.

He expressed happiness that WASA was being celebrated after many years, and attributed that to the prolonged fight against insurgency.

Celebration of WASA is an indication that the fight is almost over; I believe that by next year, when we will be celebrating again, our children, soldiers and husbands would be back, he said.
Fashola made the statement when he paid a courtesy call on Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State before proceeding on an inspection tour of some on-going federal road projects in the state on Saturday.

He said that the Federal Government had carefully assessed claims by affected state governments and concluded arrangements to refund all the monies.

We have also been briefed about your intervention on certain roads that are federal roads and I and your commissioner have discussed the outstanding claims.

My message from the Federal Government is that we have completed the assessment of all these claims and the total amounts owed the states far exceed the total amounts for works for the whole country this year.

The plan of the Federal Government is to issue bonds to pay the money and then we pay the bonds back over time, he said.

The minister, however, urged the Enugu State government to assist the contractors handling federal roads in the state to secure the right of way; considering that contractors had been fully re-mobilised to sites once more.

Responding, Ugwuanyi appealed to the Federal Government to refund over N25 billion which Enugu State Government spent on rehabilitating federal roads.

The governor, represented by his Deputy, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo, said, that in the face of the dilapidating federal roads infrastructure in the Southeast region, the people of the area had continued to suffer untold hardship.

He said the hardship necessitated the intervention of the state government in rehabilitating some federal roads in its area of control and appealed to the Federal Government to hasten action in fixing the remaining roads.

The people of Enugu State and, indeed, the entire Southeast region have for long suffered untold hardship arising from the collapse of most of the federal roads in the area.

This of course, has been a great cause for concern for us as a people and has continued to attract complaints from well-meaning citizens and organisations across the country and beyond, Ugwuanyi, who was represented by his Deputy, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo, said.

The governor also assured the Federal Government of his administrations readiness to assist it in obtaining right of ways to facilitate on-going work on some federal roads in the state.

The Federal Government and the states have been disputing the cost of repairing federal roads in their areas since the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Despite all comments and criticisms, Fayose enjoys immunity as a sitting governor; this protects him from arrest and prosecution.

Referring to himself as "", Governor Fayose says anybody who plans to arrest him after his tenure will not be in power.

"May I tell you that anybody that waits for me negatively to complete my tenure would not be in the office at the time," Fayose said in an interview with on Saturday, February 4, 2017.

He is not done yet...

"Anybody waiting for my downfall would be swimming in more troubles that time. My name is Peter The Rock. The man God promised he would build Ekiti and Nigeria on his shoulder.

"Watch the turn of events. Some people say it is because I enjoy immunity. Dont other governors enjoy immunity? It is dependent on who you are. They plotted to manipulate the judiciary against me, it didnt work. The House of Assembly dominated by the All Progressives Congress members attempted to remove me, it didnt work.

"The God that put me here does not sleep nor slumber. The God would not allow me to fall into the traps of my enemies.

"Many things would happen in this country that would amaze Nigerians," he added.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Odesanya died on Jan. 31 in India where he had gone for medicare.

It was received by the the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, the Lagos Airport Police Commissioner, Mrs Victory Menta, and the consignee, Dr Adegboyega Oke.

Spokesman of the Lagos Airport Police Command, DSP Joseph Alabi, confirmed to NAN that the remains of the deceased was later deposited at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) , Ikeja.

The late Odesanya joined the Nigeria Police Force on Feb.2, 1986 as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent
Speaking on his state of health, he said: I am feeling stronger and better now. I must thank Nigerians immensely for the prayers and concerns over my health. I must use this opportunity to also call on Nigerians to continue to pray for the leaders and the country to move forward in positive direction."
News / National

by Staff reporter

A Zimunya teenage herd boy has been dragged to court here over allegations of raping a juvenile maid at knife point.The 17-year-old of Magayakaya village under Chief Zimunya was not asked to plead when he appeared before magistrate Yeukai Chigodora.He was remanded in custody to February 16 and was advised to apply for bail at the High Court.The teenager is being charged with rape as defined in section 65 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act chapter 9:23.Prosecutor, Fletcher Karombe, alleged that the boy arrived home from a nearby shopping centre on January 29, at around 2100 hours and found the girl doing dishes in the kitchen.He then took out a knife and threatened to stab her if she resisted while he tied her hands and mouth with a cloth, it is alleged.He then took her to her bedroom where he raped her once before untying her and leaving the room, the State alleges.When the girl tried to open the door, she realised that it had been locked from outside and escaped through the window.She then fled to her parents' homestead where she reported the incident.A medical report confirming penetration will be produced in court as evidence.
Ibori, who was convicted by a British court on charges of money laundering, arrived at the Benin Airport on Saturday aboard a chartered plane, IZYAIR, with registration number India Zulu Yanky (5NIZY). He was initially scheduled to land at Osubi Airport in Warri.

The flight, a Challenger 60, landed at Benin airport at about 2.25pm

Ibori stepped into his country home Oghara at about 3:30 pm.

His residence was thronged by well wishers and political associates, who came to rejoice with him.

Outside of his residence, Oghara was in frenzy. Hundreds of people marched round the town carrying leaves while some painted their faces with chalk. Musical bands entertained the crowd at various points.

Mr Ighoyota Amori, a former senator representing Delta Central, said the return of Ibori was a good omen to the people.

We are happy that Ibori is back, people are jubilating, the crowd you see here and the enthusiasm that has been displayed today showed that we really missed him.

This is the only way for us to appreciate that our leader who left us long ago is back.

His coming is a beginning of so many good things to come, by his presence today, l am sure we are gaining back all we have lost.

Ibori remains in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but it is not time to discuss politics. All his followers around are members of PDP, Amori said.

Mr Lovett Idisi, member representing Ethiope East and Ethiope West Federal Constituency, thanked God for the safe return of Ibori.

We prayed that all our PDP faithful should be steadfast now that we have a pure political direction.

Their support has not been in vain, I believe now that our leader is out, we will have a sense of direction. We are a sheep with a shepherd right now.

In my constituency, we now have somebody to consult without travelling overseas, Idisi said.

One of Ogharas youth leaders, Mr Efe Moses said the return of Ibori would turn things around for the good of the town.

We are grateful to God for the return of our chief (Ibori). Sure things will turn around for better from now on in Oghara.

Ibori is our father and we can die because of him, Moses said.
Adesina made this known in a telephone conversation with host of Channels Televisions Sunday Politics.

He said: I am sure it will get to a point when the President has to disclose the status of his health if it needs to be disclosed. If its something serious enough to disclose, I am sure he will disclose it."

Continuing, he said: The President is the one who can release his own health status.

The day he left, we still spoke. He didnt tell me this is my condition. He told me he was going to rest and he would do medicals and that was included in the statement we released, he added.

On when the president will be returning, Adesina said: If there was a date he would return, it would have been in that statement.

But the issue now is (that) there is no vacuum in government. No lacuna because power has been transferred to the Vice President who is acting president.

ALSO READ: President Buhari is neither sick nor in a hospital

So, Mr President can take the time he desires and when his doctors give him a clean bill of health, he then can return home.
NAN recalls that Gov. Ben Ayade announced last year that his administration would make Cross River a front line cocoa producing state in the country.

Ayade then set up the states Cocoa Farm Allocation Committee with Mr Augustine Ayuk as Chairman to realise this dream.

However, Mr Oscar Ofuka, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Cocoa Development, told NAN in Calabar on Sunday, that his office was reviewing the allocation of cocoa farms made in 2016.

He said the review would review the irregularities that accompanied the committees allocation of farm lands to cocoa farmers in the state.

The committee did a shoddy job which has led to the loss of 2016 cocoa farming season.

The committee has no reason to continue to exist. I therefore appeal to the governor to immediately disband the committee to give way for a fresh start, he said.

The special adviser said that the review would ascertain genuine cocoa farmers and the location of their farms for proper accountability.

He accused the committee of inciting the farmers not to appear for the audit, which he said, was aimed at making fresh allocation of farm lands for the 2017 farming season.

In his reaction, Ayuk dismissed the allegation of irregularities and said that there was no such review of 2016 allocation of farmlands in the state.

It is only the special adviser that is doing all that. Even the state Ministry of Agriculture which my committee falls under, does not know anything about the so-called exercise.

We are carrying on with our cocoa farming; we are not affected, Ayuk said.
According to a report, Daura met with Ibori on Saturday, February 4, 2017 shortly after his arrival into the country from UK, where he served a jail term.

He met me for a short debriefing session and way forward; also, to welcome him back to his fatherland," Daura reportedly said.

On the possibility of reporting to the DSS headquarters again in Abuja, Daura reportedly said he intends to discuss issues affecting the interest of the nation.

"We are also meeting soon to discuss issues of interest affecting the nation, Daura was quoted as saying.

ALSO READ: James Ibori reportedly in DSS Custody

Ibori returned to Nigeria after serving a four year jail term in the United Kingdom for corruption.

He was convicted by a UK court for fraud in 2012 and handed him a 13-year jail sentence.
In a recent report by SaharaReporters, the NCAA slammed the fine on the airline on Sunday, February 5, 2017.

It was further reported that the regulatory agency slammed the fine on the pilot and the airline because the affected pilot had flown around the country with an expired medical certificate since November 1, 2016.

The pilot, who flew an Airbus A319 with the registration number 5N-FNE, was found out during the ramp inspection of the aircraft at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, by an NCAA safety inspector.

The agency reportedly stated that while the airline was fined N32million, the pilot was ordered to pay a fine of N1.5 million for the infraction.

Both were ordered to pay up within seven days or face grave disciplinary actions.

A statement signed by Mr. Sam Adurogboye, NCAA's spokesman, said immediately the agency discovered the safety infraction, it wrote a Letter of Investigation (LoI) to the airline and the pilot.

According to the statement, First Nation Airlines feigned ignorance of the regulation prohibiting flying with an expired medical certificate.

Therefore, the airline has contravened the Regulations by allowing a flight crew member to be rostered to operate a total of 16 nos (sixteen) scheduled flights on November 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th, 2016.

These operations were carried out while his medical certificate had expired since on the 1st November 2016, thereby rendering his pilot license subsequently invalid from that date, the NCAA said.
Wakili debunked insinuations that the annual budget of the National Assembly is shrouded in secrecy.

Wakili at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja explained that the assemblys budget had always been captured in the Appropriation Bill usually presented by the president.

He said that in the recent time, the national assembly budget had been on decline following the economic recession facing the country.

 It is part of the national budget presented by the president. Some six years ago, the budget of the National Assembly was constant at N150 billion.

Two years ago, because of the exigency of the Nigeria state where there was no fund, the 7 Assembly, before it left, had to cut the budget to N120 billion from N150 billion.

Last year, that is the 8th assembly, our budget was N115 billion and it was captured in the Federal Government budget.

Out of this N115 billion, we have the House of Representatives, we have the Senate, we have 365 members of House of Representatives, and 109 senators.

Then, we have the bureaucracy of the national assembly in terms of the staff, from the Clerk to everybody.

We also have the Nigeria Institute of Legislative Studies, the National Assembly Service Commission, with the paraphernalia of its staff.

All of us take from this N115 billion. So, I dont know where the issue of secrecy is, he said.

On constituency intervention projects, Wakili said that it was a lump sum provided by the Federal Government which went across the states and the geo-political zones of the country.

He said that the total sum of the projects was not more than N60 billion, explaining that each geo-political zone took N10 billion which was further sub-divided, depending on the number of states within each zone.

He also dismissed as false the salary of the lawmakers, especially as being conveyed by the social media.

Wakili said that the emolument of the lawmakers was fixed by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission and the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

My salary is not more than N774,000 and with other allowances.

I was complaining at plenary that the Federal Ministry of Works, Housing and Power, in one go are buying vehicles worth N1.23 billion and at another, they are buying with N590 million.

But, for senator, we are buying these vehicles once in our four years tenure and Nigerians went as if heavens were failing.

Nobody is giving you that car loan every year the way it is been portrayed. They pay you housing allowance for the first year en bloc.

Subsequent years, it is paid the way it is done in civil service. They spread it over 12 months.He said that the 7th assembly had addressed the issue but decried that unfortunately, the social media were still circulating the false information.

On alleged attempt by his constituents to recall him from the Senate, the lawmaker said that the plan started when he confronted his state governor for not fulfilling his electoral promises.

Basically, it is because of the fact that I differ with the governor and he thinks he has executive authority that nobody should challenge him; that is why he thinks that he can recall me.

I have said it that I dont have any regret even if I am recalled because I have given the best I can to the constituency and nobody will erase those records. Wakili said.

He added that Bauchi South Senatorial District, his constituency, now had the greatest voice in the national assembly.

On the rumour of his governorship ambition in 2019, Wakili said though every man had ambition, it was only God that knew what he would become in 2019.

Wakili said that he and the state governor should rather focus on performance than contemplating on who became what in 2019.

He described as false, the accusation that he was engaging in the anti-party activities.

According to him, the allegations are being spread by those who are afraid of my achievements and contributions to the development and the people of my constituency.

He disclosed that he had filed report of anti-party activities against his state governor, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, at the National Secretariat of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

Do you know that they have replaced the deputy chairman and treasurer of the party in the state and the vice chairman, because they are my supporters?
The Director, Directorate of Peace Keeping, Nigeria Police, DCP Lawan Jimeta, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday that the number deployed included 57 female.

We have sent over 300 personnel in 2016 to Mali, South Sudan, Somalia, DR Congo, Liberia and Haiti, including male and female, he said.

He said the Nigeria Police was the largest contributor of female personnel for peace keeping in Africa.

Jimeta added that the it deployed 22 female to Mali and 36 to Somalia, respectively.

According to him, the reduction in the number of UN peace support operation has reduced the number of personnel to be deployed.

Because of the reduction in the missions, the number of personnel has reduced also, he said.

He said that since 1960, when Nigeria began to participate in peace keeping operations, it had evolve from the traditional peace keeping to a more vibrant and multidimensional operation.

Since 2000, the concept of peace keeping had expanded to involve not only the Army, Police but also all aspects of security and in fact law enforcement generally,he said.

He said that since the evolution, civilians, human rights activists, among others have being involved in peace keeping operations.

Jimeta noted that this was occasioned by the fact that the concept of crises had changed from been inter-state to intra-state.

He said that the change in the nature of conflict had also forced the nature of peace support operation to change.

This has made all nations and sub-regional organisations to look at peace support operations in a different concept,he said.

He identified equipment as one of the challenges to the police in peace keeping operations.

The challenge has been in equipment that is always required by the UN, every unit, if it is a new one that is deployed has to go with not less than 10 Amoured Personnel Carriers (APC) and not less than seven Lorries among others,he said

He noted that the procurement of these equipment required huge funding which was refundable by the United Nations.

This is a huge investment that required huge funding, though the UN pays for the use of these equipments and pays the personnel.

Another challenge is the reduction in the number of United Nations peace support operation and cutting down the number of personnel to be deployed,he said.

He explained that this was so because major conflicts were now in Africa, Mali, Central Africa Republic (CAR) and Liberia.

Jimeta said that another challenge inhibiting peace support operation was language barrier, adding that Nigeria was an English-speaking country.

We have a clear vision that at least we have to participate in peace support operations in these French-speaking countries.

Presently, I have almost 800 personnel that are French- speaking , we are going to invite the UN to come and certify them, if they are certified, we will have opportunity to go to these French speaking countries,he said.

He explained that a periodic review was also carried out by the UN to ascertain the performances of personnel to determine the extension of the mission.

What we do generally is to give extension to those who perform exceptionally at the request of the UN,  he said.

Lawan said that personnel of the police who had participated in UN missions had gotten award for their performances.

He denied any case of extortion of personnel by officials of the police.

Nobody is extorting any personnel for peace keeping. Not even the I-G who is a veteran in the UN system influence any officers deployment, he said.

He added that there were established rules and regulations guiding operations of the UN.

This is a total lie, the UN selection is done and only certified personnel are deployed to missions.

It is the UN that does the selection, they also have the result; we only send the result to them, he said.

He said that the UN mission gives specification of the personnel they need.

The highest you can do is to present a candidate to write the examination, he said.

He said that the police had no issue of indiscipline because before deployment, a pre-deployment training is organised to acquaint them with ethics of the operation.

Lawan said that the police had trained officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service and civilians at its centre.
Originally scheduled to return to Nigeria on Sunday, February 5, 2017 and resume work on Monday, February 6, 2017, the President has extended his vacation.

According to a statement from Femi Adesina, Buhari has written to the National Assembly on Sunday, February 5, 2017, informing of his desire to extend his leave in order to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors.

Adesina further said that President Buhari had planned to return to Abuja this evening, but was advised to complete the test cycle before returning.

The notice has since been dispatched to the Senate President, and Speaker, House of Representatives.

ALSO READ: President Buhari is to return on Feb 6 - Presidency
News / National

by Staff reporter

Boys outperformed girls in the 2016 November Ordinary Level examinations, acting minister of Primary and Secondary Education Sithembiso Nyoni said.Speaking at the release of the "O" Level results yesterday, Nyoni said pass rates of school candidates has been increasing since 2012, with a 2 percent increase from 2015."The current results, unlike the "A" level results reflect that male candidates performed better than female candidates in both the November 2015 and 2016 examinations. "The difference was significant across the learning areas," she said.Nyoni said that school candidates who wrote five or more subjects were 155 492, with 46 587 getting grade C or better.Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) board chairperson Levy Nyagura said pupils should be given an enabling environment in order for them to excel.The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) vice-chancellor said of special interest was pupils with disabilities, whose pass rates were still low."We need to pay extra attention to pupils with disabilities as we are not doing well in that regard."In the coming intake, the UZ has only enrolled 148 disabled students out of 16 500 others."This shows that as society, we really need to create that enabling environment for these pupils," Nyagura said.The country's highest scoring student, Kuziva Mahwire from Marist Brothers High School in Nyanga scored 17 A's while his peer from the same school Takudzwa Kaitano scored 16 A's and 1 B.Students with 16 subjects were from Marist Nyanga, Rusununguko and Saint Ignatius, while those with 15 subjects were from Mufakose 2 High School, Gokomere, Zimuto, Njelele, Mount Saint Mary's Hwedza, Saint Faith and Gutu High schools.
NCFRMI Federal Commissioner, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq, stated this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri on Sunday.

We have seen the clinic provided by NAF and they are doing well; we are going to augment their activities by providing some support.

The clinic requires an ambulance as well as some few equipment at the radiography department, we will provide support in these areas, she said.

The NCFRMI federal commission said that the commission was also working on plans to return IDPs home in liberated communities following successes recorded by the military in the fight against Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East.

Our focus now is how we can return the Displaced Persons to their communities where such communities are safe enough, she said.

Umar-Farouq also said that the commission planned to collaborate with the military toward the success of the programme.

We plan to collaborate with the military in the programme because those communities have to be safe before we can return the people, we can not take people to areas that are not safe enough, he said.

She said that the commission would also partner with the State Governments in the affected areas to ensure smooth implementation of the programme.

We are happy to hear that the Borno Government had announced its plans to close all IDPs camps by May 29.

 It is a welcome development, we do not believe in Displaced Persons overstaying in camps, she said.

Umar-Farouq said that the commission was working on plans to unfold different skills acquisition programmes to empower the IDPs as a prelude to the home return.

We are coming up with different skills acquisition programmes to empower the IDPs so that they will have something doing when they return home, she said.

Umar-Farouq also disclosed that the commission will set up a Response Stop Center in Maiduguri to regulate activities of Humanitarian Bodies offering services to the victims of Boko Haram terrorism.

She said the decision to set up the center was to attain the commissions mandate of managing and caring for refugees and IDPs.
In a recent statement issued by SERAP's executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the civil society group urges Trump's administration to attach and release to Nigeria some $500 million worth of US-based proceeds of corruption traced to former Nigerian dictator General Sani Abacha.

The organization said that, these proceeds are separate from the $480 million of Abacha-origin funds that have been forfeited to the US under an August 2014 US federal district court order. SERAPs request is fully consistent with the UN Convention Against Corruption, which both the US and Nigeria have ratified."

In the open letter dated February 3, 2017 and signed by SERAPs US Volunteer Counsel, Professor Alexander W. Sierck, the civil group told Mr Trump that, the US Department of Justice must promptly initiate civil asset forfeiture proceedings against these proceeds so as to fulfill several non-controversial commitments by the US to assist Nigeria in recovering assets looted by former Nigerian government officials.

The letter, a copy of which was sent to the US ambassador to Nigeria Stuart Symington, and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, reads in part: SERAP urges your new Administration to initiate discussions with the Nigerian government to fulfill these objectives within an agreed framework and timeline. Simultaneously, the Administration should instruct the Justice Department to initiate civil asset forfeiture proceedings in regard to the above-referenced $500 million in assets described above.

Any bilateral discussions between the US and Nigeria concerning these assets should include clear acknowledgement of the significant role that civil society plays in asset recovery matters.

To that end, the respective governments ought to commit to promptly sharing information with relevant civil society organizations on stolen assets of Nigerian origin located in the US or otherwise subject to US jurisdiction. This proposed commitment is similar to one between the US and Kenya as well as consistent with Articles 46(4) and 56 of the UN Convention Against Corruption.

SERAP notes that Article 51 of the UN Convention against Corruption provides for the return of corrupt assets to countries of origin as a fundamental principle. Article 43 provides likewise. Similarly, under Articles 47(3)(a) and (b) states parties have an obligation to return forfeited or confiscated assets in cases of public corruption, as here, or when the requesting party reasonably establishes either prior ownership or damages to the states.

In SERAPs judgment, some or all of these requirements have been met with respect to the $500 million in proceeds described above. A resolution adopted by the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention Against Corruption in Panama in November 2013 reaffirms this obligation, by requiring state to make every effort to return such proceeds. to the victim state.

Nigerias Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption has recently informed SERAP that the US Government has identified another $500 million or so proceeds of Nigerian corruption subject to US jurisdiction, the statement read in full.
Akomas, a former Deputy Governor and PPA governor candidate in Abia, gave the advice when he addressed newsmen in Awka on Sunday.

According to him, Anambra is a great state that cannot afford to play the second fiddle by belonging to the wrong place.

He urged the people of the state to desert other political parties, which he described, 'an inferior party.

Akomas, a former deputy governor in Abia, said, effectively, Anambra is for the progressives. They are wonderful people.

They cant belong to local progressives, when others are in the national progressives (APC).

Anambra has gone pass that stage. Anambra and the entire Igbo nation should belong properly. APC is the platform that will give them success in national polity.

Akomas described the ongoing registration in Anambra as an evangelism.

He said that the APC had caught big fishes in the state during the exercise.

They include Sen. Andy Uba; oil magnate Ifeanyi Uba, and the 2013 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr Tony Nwoye.

Reminded that the big fishes could also be a problem for the party, Akomas said APC had an inherent culture on how to manage such situations.

Do you know the origin of APC? Didnt you know that we were a merger of ANPP, ACN, CPC and a part of APGA.

We had big fishes with us in the beginning, but we harmonised all differences and became one and sack the incumbent PDP at the national level.
The C&S order explained that the 2017 annual provincial thanksgiving service was devoted to praying for his speedy recovery, Tribune reports.

Special Senior Apostle and Chairman, Umuahia Province of the church, F.N. Agbugba, noted this while speaking after the program last Sunday.

Agbugba went on to encourage Nigerians to remember the President in their prayers because President Buhari deserves the prayers of Nigerians, going by the fact that he is the leader and God said in His Holy book that we should pray for our leaders.

Speaking on the southern Kaduna crisis which has stirred several controversies in recent times and seen the loss of over 800 lives, Agbugba challenged politicians in the affected areas of the state to state the true facts of the crisis.

According to him, the reports released on the crisis so far seem far from the truth.

Tribune reports that Agbugba also prayed God to grant the country peace, adding that the provincial thanksgiving service was organized every last Sunday of January in appreciation to God for His mercies at beginning of the year.

ALSO READ: Cleric urges Christians to foster unity

The event reportedly saw the eight districts in the state, in attendance.
Nye County Public Works Director Tom Bolling and his road crews have been quite busy over the last year, with a variety of repair, maintenance and improvement projects addressing an array of streets throughout the county. To keep the public and county officials apprised of what is happening, Bolling provided the Nye County Commission with an update on current and future projects during its Tuesday, Nov. 1 meeting.
Finding healthy food options in Nye County can be difficult according to a recent health study ranking the healthiness of Nevada counties.

Finding healthy food options in Nye County can be difficult according to a recent health study ranking the healthiness of Nevada counties.

The 2015 County Health Rankings, released last month by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, ranked Nye County last in the state based on 30 factors.

In Nye, 19 percent of residents have limited access to healthy foods, compared to the state average of four percent, the study revealed.

With a tougher time obtaining healthy food options, the obesity rate in Nye is also above the state average, as it is 29 percent as opposed to Nevada as a whole sitting at 25 percent.

U.S. Anti Hunger Coalition Chief Executive Officer Joel Berg explained that the areas low wages play a big factor in the availability of healthy food.

Berg was in Pahrump on April 17 to talk about anti-hunger initiatives for rural communities in partnership with the NyE Communities Coalition. Berg is nationally recognized for his work in domestic hunger, food insecurity and is the author of All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America?

Theres a significant low-income population here, Berg said. Everywhere in America, whether its urban, whether its rural, whether its suburban, and its a low-income population, they have trouble affording healthier food and they have less time to exercise.

Nye has an average household income of around $40,000, compared Nevadas average of about $53,000, according the United States Census Bureau. The poverty in the county is also higher, as it sits at 19 percent in contrast to the states average of 15 percent.

In addition to wage issues, the rural settings of Nye County create a different set of issues for residents to obtain healthy food.

In rural areas you have an extra set of problems, although gas is a little less expensive than it was, a gallon still equals a quarter of what a low-income person makes in an hour, Berg said. Its more expensive to truck stuff in. Even though you have a good climate here, theres not much fruit and vegetable production.

Food that is harmful for a persons health is easier to obtain for the average citizen due to pricing, so there is a direct correlation between lack of healthy food and people being overweight.

According to the study, access to larger grocery stores provide healthier options than rural communities that have to rely on convenience stores or smaller grocery stores. In a rural area, that is measured by living within 10 miles of a grocery store, which many in Pahrump do, but other rural areas such as Amargosa Valley and the northern part of Nye do not.

Healthier food tends to be harder to find and more expensive than less healthy food, Berg said. So one of the greatest ironies in the world is that hunger and obesity are actually flip sides on the same malnutrition coin.

Berg said that the NyE Communities Coalition is doing great work on nutrition education and other areas of promotion for healthy eating, which in time, can help curb the numbers seen in the survey.

Mary Duff, Americorps Vista Food Security, whos working with the coalition, has been implementing ways to address and educate Nye residents on healthy food options.

We work with policy and an infrastructure thats sustainable once we leave because we only serve in the community for a year, she said.

Ive been working with all of Nye County and one of the things that I find interesting is that weve identified nutritional standards for food that is purchased from food banks, Duff said. We try to strive for fresh fruits and vegetables, and we also get light syrups and low sodium items from the food pantry. Although we cant dictate what is donated, but as far as purchasing goes, we do try to purchase more healthy foods.

Working with all of Nye, Duff said that Pahrump has benefits when it comes to access to healthy foods, that other areas in the county dont.

One of the advantages Pahrump has is this food securities committee thats focused on bringing the town closer to a food secure state, Duff said. Weve done nutrition classes, we have these Hunger one step tool kits, and resources in place here.

These other towns dont have those committees that I am aware of, but in Tonopah we just started one. So thats the best thing about Pahrump, is that we have the resources and that we work together and communicate.

With various food programs Berg knows that they arent perfect and can be tweaked to help use them to their full potential.

Theres problems in the summer with the summer meals programs where your not aloud to take them home and again, its really hot here in the summer, so places like here and in Texas and Arizona they have the lowest participation rates in summer meals, Berg said.

Out of all the ways access to healthier foods can be addressed, nothing is more important that increasing those who call Nye County homes income and financial aid when it comes to obtaining food.

Certainly increasing wages gives people more money, Berg said. The truth is, if you have enough money you can get healthy food, he said. Or you can afford more gas and go to Vegas once a month to shop for food or whatever you need.

So, creating jobs, raising wages, increasing access to the SNAP program, that used to be called the food stamps program, which increases the purchasing power of low-income people.
SECOND 2/4 ROH REIGNS SUPREME REPORT FROM DALLAS, TEXAS

By Richard Colbert on 2017-02-05 08:29:00

Honor Reigns Supreme



Place looks full. If not sold out, as close as possible.



Dalton Castle pinned Donovan Dijak.



Rhett Titus brought out Dirty Andy Dalton for a Rebellion Recruitment thinking they would have a match against each other. Dalton told Titus he had gotten them a tag match against War Machine. War Machine won after Titus left Dalton alone in the ring.



Cody & ROH Champion Adam Cole beat The Addiction when Cole pinned Daniels. After the match, Cole told Daniels to cut it out and that he would never get the ROH World Title.



Hangman Page beat Jay Lethal after Adam Cole distracted the ref and Cody hit Lethal allowing Page to hit the Right of Passage.



Bullet Club then beat down Lethal until The Addiction made the save. Daniels then told Cody that one day he would have to stand across the ring from Jay and Jay would give him the worst ass whipping Cody has had since Dusty put him over his knee as a child. Daniels then turned to Cole and said that if Cole somehow survives Bobby Fish, Daniels will be waiting for him at the 15th Anniversary PPV.

Ian Riccaboni and Silas Young were on commentary tonight.



Will Ferrara pinned Sho (of the Tempura Boys) in a Four Way also featuring Jonathan Gresham and "Godzilla" Jax Dane



Bobby Fish beat Lio Rush in a great match. After the match Fish put over the match with Rush and said he was after Cole when Cole came through the crowd to attack. Fish got the upper hand and hit Cole with a Falcon Arrow on the title.



Six Man Tag Team Title Match: Search and Destroy (Sabin, Shelley and Jay White) beat the Kingdon by DQ. The crowd sang happy birthday to Sabin to start the match. Finish came when one of Kingdom hit I think Shelley with Taven's walking stick. After Search and Destroy challenged the Kingdom to given them another shot.

?

Before the main event Cody came out in a suit to intro the Bucks. Great stuff. Anyway, before he could finish Jay Lethal snuck up behind Cody and they brawled go the back.



2/3 Falls for the Tag Belts: Young Bucks defend against the Briscoes.

Fall 1: Normal - Briscoes with a roll up.

Fall 2 Lucha - Young Bucks by DQ. Jay got on the mic and asked what Lucha rules meant. Then said they don't do Lucha as Mark hit both Bucks with a steel chair for the DQ.

Fall 3: No DQ - Young Bucks retain after a crazy third fall that saw both refs get taken out and interference from Hangman Page. Jay took an incredible Meltzer Driver where Matt went backstage, came running back out and jumped off the stage to hit the move.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai's spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka has expressed dismay that during this modern day of advance technology and infrastructural development several schools in Binga as still having grass thatched classrooms.Tamborinyoka said they recently visited Binga with his boss where they discovered a lot of set backs in the areas."In the rainy and dour sunset, MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai and his convoy deftly negotiated the acute, calamitous curves near Kamativi mine, easing into the depths of the Zambezi valley, as they headed towards the forgotten people of Binga," he said."It is always a grim journey to this desolate and neglected land, the valley itself a literal and sonorous testament of the plumbing depths to which the lives of the people here have sunk due to decades of abandonment. The last time we were here, Tsvangirai was still the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and we opened several health and education facilities and donated books and medicines."He said the people of Binga still remember with nostalgia the respite that Tsvangirai's short stint in government gave them  the hope that he delivered to their desolate and bleak lives."As we drove into Binga last week, I remembered a similar journey in 2010 during the era of the inclusive government and the disturbing sight of a desolate, grass-thatched school that greeted us during our tour," he said."A grass-thatched school in this day and age was a disquieting sight. We had thought such schools were history, given how Zanu PF pontificates about having delivered optimum standards of education to the nation over the years. The then Prime Minister ordered that we stop, as he wanted to have a chat with the headmaster. Near the gate was an unkempt man, without any shoes, whom we all thought could assist and direct us to the headmaster's house."He said "after exchanging greetings and pleasantries, we asked whether he could direct us to the headmaster's house, to which the man replied, "I am the one"."It was a school that we later upgraded, and to which we donated books and other educational material. However, last week, Tsvangirai was on a different mission in the three provinces of Matabeleland. He was beginning a nationwide tour to consult the people, soliciting their views on key national issues, among them the kind of society they want the new government to create after the 2018 general elections," he said."He also wants the people to input into the proposed alliance of opposition political parties in which the mooted plan is to pit President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF against the rest of the country. Before coming to Binga, Tsvangirai had been to Beitbridge, to Mtshabezi and to Gwanda all in Matabeleland South. The script of marginalisation ran high in the three provinces, but it is always louder in this forgotten Zambezi valley."He said the people here had only been remembered by government during Tsvangirai's stint on the levers of the State."Their Tonga language was being taught to their children by non-Tonga people, such as the Shona and the Ndebele. Last week, they told the MDC-T leader they wanted a university and they also yearn for their own province, KaZambezi, stretching from Victoria Falls to Chirundu, that vast desolate valley encapsulating the Tonga culture and ethos. Indeed, it was a sombre, pitiful snivel to a political leader by a forgotten people,Tamborinyoka said!"In his 10 days in the three Matabeleland provinces, Tsvangirai met an angry people that felt they were not part of the country. He met the Kalanga, the Ndebele, and the Tonga and spent a whole day with Nambya chiefs and headmen in Hwange, conversing with people of all shades and ethnic colours. All he heard were grim stories of a forgotten people, who expected better treatment by the new government that will be ushered in by the watershed elections of 2018."He said Tsvangirai was warned of some of his lieutenants, who may want to fight the alliance, not for any objective reason, but for subjective motivations driven by selfish and personal interests to do with positions."The people, during this tour, all expected better days ahead and gave the thumbs up to the opposition alliance, saying the kaleidoscopic political colours would provide a new impetus and give them reason to hope again. There was overwhelming consensus that the new society, post-Mugabe in 2018, must be inclusive and must not leave anyone behind. They wanted closure on the atrocities of Gukurahundi, with their proposed solutions ranging from reparations to devolution as the ultimate panacea.Mugabe may have conveniently dismissed the atrocities as a "moment of madness", but evidence on the ground shows it was more and the effects have been monumental," he said."It was indeed an enlightening tour. The words that have continued to linger in Tsvangirai's mind after his 10-day sojourn to the troubled region are the words of one Tonga chief, who pleaded with him in a strained and emotional voice: "When we vote you into government in 2018, Tsvangirai, please don't follow in Mugabe's footsteps."He said indeed, it was a worthwhile warning by a traditional leader to the incoming leadership after the watershed poll of 2018."The MDC-T's national council, the party's supreme decision-making body between congresses, consistent with a congress resolution on the need for a big tent, has already adopted principles that will guide the alliance-building process.The party's executive organs have tasked Tsvangirai with the responsibility of negotiating with other parties," he said."What he sought to do through this consultation process was not to seek endorsement, because alliance building has already been affirmed by both congress and the national council. All he sought to do was to further enrich and enhance the negotiation process so that when he sits at the table with other principals, he would be guided by the feelings of the people on the ground."Tamborinyoka said indeed, public participation has been the missing link in their politics."As a firm believer in the mass-line, it was no surprise that it would be Tsvangirai who would involve the people in this delicate process. Alliance building cannot be an elitist discourse in boardrooms and it was only Tsvangirai, who could take this debate to the villages and the town-halls. That is his nature. This coming Sunday, Tsvangirai continues with his listening tour in the provinces, starting with Midlands North province and then the rest of the country. It only takes a man, who values people and after this tour, he can only be wiser and can be able to transact the people's business well aware of their true feelings on the various issues," he said."That is the boss I have had the privilege to serve; a man who truly values people and who makes them the central currency in his politics. I can only promise one thing to the people of Zimbabwe. Never mind the sceptics  and there are many of them around  Mugabe will contest against a united opposition in 2018. Yes, the people are speaking and we are listening. Future generations will not forgive us if we let slip this chance to consign mis-governance to the dustbins history.""Indeed, our children will curse and spit on our graves."
Dr. Nazir Kayali, a Quad-City pediatrician and a native of Syria, said he is glad his mother has a green card allowing her to live in the U.S. on a permanent basis.

She is with me and I will not let her leave, he said.

But he still has two brothers and many cousins living in war-torn Aleppo, Syria, some of whom have been injured or killed.

Kayali was among about 200 people who braved cold temperatures Saturday afternoon to protest President Donald Trump's immigration ban on citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries entering the U.S.

The rally was held in front of the Federal Building in downtown Rock Island, which houses the Immigration and Naturalization Office and the Federal Courthouse.

The ban was temporarily lifted Friday night after a federal judge in Washington state blocked enforcement. But the Trump administration has said it will file an emergency appeal of that ruling.

Farida Memon of Bettendorf was born in Pakistan and now is a U.S. citizen. She is Muslim  and worried more about where the United States is going than the actual ban.

I love the fabric of this country, she said at Saturday's rally. But if we are not going to stop Donald Trump, I am not sure what liberty will look like. The U.S. is a beacon of hope for everybody.

This is a little unbelievable that all this is happening, added Emaan Ali of Moline, who was born in the U.S. to parents from Pakistan. She also is Muslim. I hope it changes.

Laura Winton organized Saturday's rally. She lived here about 30 years ago and recently moved back to work on her master's degree at Western Illinois University-Quad-Cities, Moline.

I have a couple of classmates here from Iraq and one of them was quite concerned about him coming back and forth from Iraq to here after the immigration ban was announced, she said.

I wanted to do something and some of us talked about reading poems in front of the Federal Building. I posted that on Facebook and it sort of ballooned in just a week. People have come forward, wanting to volunteer to help. It has grown so fast. I think that says something about this community and I think it says something about Trump in general and about his policies.

People shared speeches, songs, prayers and poems while the crowd held a variety of signs. Slogans like No bans, no walls, Love wins, Protect human rights and We the people were common.

People also chanted phrases, including Let them in, referring to refugees who want to come to the U.S.

Betsy Green of Moline held a sign reading Immigrants make America Great.

This is just a cause I strongly believe in, she said. The ban is unconstitutional. And I believe dissent is patriotic.

Stacy Paper of Davenport shared her reason for joining the rally.

I have a background in education and I want students to have the opportunity to grow up in a world where all differences are celebrated, she said.

Jamal Tayh of Bettendorf is a prayer leader at the Muslim Community of the Quad-Cities in Bettendorf. He is a U.S. citizen of Palestinian heritage. Generally, he is hopeful a resolution can be found.

I think the ban will be reversed or modified, he said. It will not stand. It is unconstitutional.

He said in the eyes of many in the Middle East, this ban is proof America is against Muslims. But the whole problem is political, not a religious problem.
DES MOINES  The first few weeks of the 2017 legislative session at the Iowa Capitol have been atypically slow, but that likely is about to change.

State lawmakers  leaders, in particular  have been bogged down with searching for roughly $110 million to cut out of the current fiscal years spending, a move made necessary by lower-than-expected tax revenue.

With leaders pouring much of their time and energy into that bill  they wanted to tackle the spending cuts as quickly as possible because there are only five months remaining in the fiscal year  activity on other bills has been slower than usual.

But last week, Gov. Terry Branstad signed the budget cut bill into law, clearing that cumbersome item off the top of the legislative agenda.

Let the legislation flow.

Knowing the budget cut bill was on the fast track to completion last week, two more big bills started working their way to floor debate. The Senate on Thursday debated bills that would set school funding for the next school year and stop state funding of womens health care providers that perform abortions.

Statehouse Republicans have proposed increasing K-12 school funding by 1.1 percent; thats less than the 2 percent proposed by Branstad and the 4 percent sought by school officials and legislative Democrats.

The bill also contains a mechanism that would eliminate the requirement that the state set school funding levels more than a year in advance of the school budget year.

The next big bill on the horizon may be collective bargaining legislation. Whispers around the Capitol suggest that bill may be unveiled this week.

Republicans have made no secret of their desire to change the way the states public employees  state troopers, corrections facility staff, teachers, etc.  collectively bargain for wages and benefits.

What Republicans have been far less forthcoming with are details, so not much is known about what will be in their collective bargaining bill.

Branstad has said in recent months he is intrigued by the idea of a master contract for all public employees health insurance. In the past, House Republicans passed legislation that would give dispute mediators the option of choosing a midpoint for negotiations, rather than being required to choose between two offers.

Whether those measures  or others  will be in Republicans collective bargaining bill remains unknown. But we should find out soon.

Partisan shenanigans at Capitol

Democrats and Republicans engaged in some political gamesmanship last week before and during a hearing on legislation that would stop all state funding to womens health care providers that perform abortions.

Democratic Iowa Sen. Janet Peterson reserved the committee room for the two hours prior to Tuesdays hearing on a bill to defund Planned Parenthoood. That allowed Peterson to fill the room with supporters of Planned Parenthood and opponents of the legislation and left most of the dozens of supporters of the bill stuck outside the packed hearing room.

Not to be out-maneuvered, Senate Republicans called for a caucus shortly into the hearing. A caucus is a closed-door meeting of legislators to discuss the bills at hand, and the Republicans said they would conduct their caucus in the hearing room. That meant everybody else had to leave the room.

So the room was cleared out, and when the hearing resumed, both supporters and opponents of the bill re-entered.

Touche.
Women will have a chance to share their stories, make new friends and listen to guest speakers at the second annual Living Our Legacy event from March 2 to 4 in Rapid City.

The event is being organized by the Buffalo Gals, an initiative of local nonprofit The FUSION Foundation, and will take place at Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn. Last year around 280 women attended.

March 8 is International Women's Day, but the event was scheduled for March 2 to 4 to signify women marching forth," said Annie Yakuzan (Bachand) Loyd, founder of The FUSION Foundation and organizer of Living Our Legacy.

When women share their stories, it brings forward our own stories, Loyd said. It gives voice and language to our stories. It opens up our hearts and minds and validates our souls desire for a more peaceful community to live in.

The event starts on March 2 with an appreciation dinner and awards ceremony. Awards will be given for three different themes. Loyd described the first theme as all under one roof, which is about recognizing people in the community who are inclusive and reaching out across unperceived and perceived barriers.

The second theme is voice for change, and the third is intentional connections."

All of these ideas are about building a healthier community, a healthier dialogue and modeling ways of being in the community that builds trust and relationships, Loyd said.

On the second day of the event there will be guest speakers, music, food, vendors, and a chance for women to network.

Three speakers will give presentations, which will be followed by 45 minutes of roundtable discussion among participants. A facilitator at each table will suggest topics to discuss and keep the conversations flowing.

We asked speakers to speak about a significant event in their life and what its like in their life, Loyd said.

Among the speakers scheduled to give presentations are: Amanda Stadel, of Phoenix, who will talk about human trafficking; Cathy Bock, of the Rapid City Police Department; and Karen Red Star, from the Ogala Sioux Tribe.

Other speakers will discuss topics such as health, supporting other women, and bringing about changes in the community.

There will be time on March 4 to continue conversations that were sparked the previous day. We want to create a space and environment to continue these conversations, Loyd said. We encourage the women at the conference to find the things they can focus on and to illuminate solutions they feel are working within their community.

Local businesses and individuals have sponsored the event, but they are also looking for 200 women to each donate $100.

Its a powerful message when women realize they have the power to impact the lives of other women with their checkbooks, Loyd said.

Loyd, who is speaking on the first day of the event, said she hopes attendees will focus on what they have in common, rather than their differences. How are you feeding your soul?" she said. "The souls closest to you, and how are we feeding the soul of our community?
PIERRE | South Dakota lawmakers this week plan to consider measures on abortion, lobbying restrictions and allowing concealed pistols in the Capitol.

A Senate panel is set to consider a bill Monday that would bar some officials from private lobbying for two years after leaving government.

A bill that would allow people to carry concealed pistols in the state Capitol if they have an enhanced carry permit is set to be considered that day in a House committee.

Lawmakers also are revisiting a law approved last year that prohibits most abortions beyond 19 weeks of pregnancy.

A bill set to be heard by a House committee would increase the penalty to a felony for performing an abortion that violates the new threshold. Currently, it's a misdemeanor.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Progressive Teachers Unions of Zimbabwe Dr Takavafira Zhou has warned that most of the roads in Mberengwa have become gullies after heavy rains hit the area leaving quite a trail of destruction."Heavy rains a disaster for Mberengwa District. I recently went home on the 28 of January and was there until 30th of January. Sons and daughters of Mberengwa, the heavy rains that have been pounding our beloved Mberengwa are wrecking disaster in Mberengwa. Unprecedented rains have pounded Mberengwa over the few days leaving a trail of destruction and havoc in the beloved area of our birth," Zhou said."The roads have become gullies and flooded rivers, and all low lying bridges have been destroyed. It took me six hours of driving yesterday to cover a distance of 40km from Chegato to Bvute, as more often than not I had to stop and engage villagers to assist in putting stones on a former low lying bridge or fragile ground. Navigating across the gullies, destroyed bridges, and rivers was an arduous task."He said of course he later learnt he was the only one to have tried the mission impossible of plying that route."The rains have destroyed roads and therefore making it very difficult and impossible for kombis and buses to ply the several routes in Mberengwa. Worse still school pupils have long ceased to go to school in some areas, as rivers such as Chimwe, Nuanetsi (Mwanezi), Gambure, Mundi, Nyororo, Mutsime and many other small tributaries have made it difficult for school pupils to navigate across," he said."For the first time since 1975, today water was flowing over Tandavarai bridge on Nuanetsi river, near Jeka hospital. Crops have either been eroded by the heavy storms or deprived of nutrients and turned yellowish at a time we are hearing government officials peddling falsehood of a bamper harvest. Izhara kwakana. Zvitubu (spring water from ground) have become so incessant in many villages in Mberengwa. Huts, houses, schools, clinics and toilets are collapsing and putting the life of people in danger."He said at a time when those with access to the public ear have declared roads in towns a public disaster, the plight of the people of Mberengwa that is worse off than the people in Harare must be amplified."A terrible disaster in looming in Mberengwa, yet there is complicity of silence from government officials. Cry the beloved people of Mberengwa, for we are not second class citizens to be treated as if we are sub-human. We are also Zimbabweans and deserve better treatment by the government," he said.
Initiated Measure 22 may have been officially wiped from the books on Thursday, but that doesn't mean people are done talking about it.

The ethics reform bill dominated the conversation Saturday morning at the second crackerbarrel meeting in Didier Education Center on the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology campus.

IM 22 was repealed Thursday when Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed the measure dismantling the referendum that the South Dakota Legislature had passed a day earlier. Approved by voters in November, IM 22 proposed new ethics regulations, including lowered campaign contributions, increased campaign reporting requirements, a system to publicly finance elections and an ethics commission to oversee all the reforms.

State Sen. Jeff Partridge, Rep. Lynne DiSanto and Rep. Tim Goodwin addressed the bill and surrounding controversy at the meeting's outset, centering on the Legislatures dismantling of a bill that was supported and passed by public referendum in November.

To those that are frustrated with the possibility of changing it or reworking it, welcome to the process, Partridge said to a crowded room of citizens. This is what we do. We always have amendments throughout the year, we always have bills that get struck down, we always have changes.

DiSanto thought the decision to vote yes to repeal the bill was simple.

It just really was a very black-and-white issue when the facts, not the rhetoric, not the emotion  was all taken away, DiSanto said, mentioning a clause that prohibited anyone employed by a business with links to lobbyists from participating in the state Legislature.

Later in the meeting, Helen Usera, a Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors member and the meetings moderator, opened the floor to all representatives and senators in attendance to address IM 22.

DiSanto again took the podium.

Were regular people that run (for office) because were concerned, she said, blaming the GEAR UP and EB-5 scandals for causing voter distrust of public officials and the ensuing public approval of IM 22. Those problems were under the executive branch.

Rep. David Lust said IM 22 was terrible, poorly crafted and a poor strategy, but said he voted against repealing it.

It is not the legislators job to decide what is constitutional and is not constitutional, Lust said to applause. Its called separation of powers. That is the judiciarys job to determine  The reason I voted against it (the repeal measure) is the manner in which it is being repealed.

State Sen. Kevin Killer agreed it should have been settled in the court system, and Rep. Craig Tieszen said he supported replacing the bill before repealing it.

Partridge, DiSanto, Lust and others preached patience and told voters that reform bills in line with voters' expressed concerns in IM 22 will be passed before the legislative session is over.

I think you should judge the Legislature not where we sit right now, but how things stand at the end of session, Lust said.

Three components that need to be addressed, Lust said, include limits on lobbyist gifts, campaign finance reform and the creation of an ethics commission. Lust did say that the system of publicly financed campaigns was not something he had heard much support for, from constituents or other representatives.

Alternative crackerbarrel

State Sen. Phil Jensen, Rep. Blaine Chip Campbell, Rep. Julie Frye-Mueller and Sen. Lance Russell held their own crackerbarrel, across the hall from Didier Educational Center concurrent to the official crackerbarrel, in protest of the new format. The alternative crackerbarrel followed the old format for public input, in which citizens can pose questions directly to legislators. The new format, first implemented in the last crackerbarrel meeting, requires citizens to hand in written questions, which are then posed by a moderator.

I want to be able to talk directly to the person asking the question, Frye-Mueller said, explaining why she attended the alternative meeting rather than the chamber-sponsored crackerbarrel across the hall. Everybody was engaged. Nobody felt like they were left out or anything. I actually think everybody liked this better.

Campbell said the new format was just one reason he chose to attend the alternative meeting.

The biggest issue for me was the fact that the chamber did not include legislators in the process, Campbell said of the format change. And were a part of the process.

Spearfish Canyon, marijuana, teaching science

Senate Bill 114, the $2.5 million appropriations bill that must pass before the proposed Spearfish Canyon land swap can proceed, appears unlikely to pass.

Its looking now that the governor is stepping away from this issue, Rep. Kristen Conzet said, citing reduced state sales tax collections as a reason.

Another measure, Senate Bill 129, would undo a South Dakota law that treats marijuana ingestion as possession. Rep. David Lust said South Dakota is the only state in America with such a law.

I just dont think thats appropriate, Lust said. "I dont feel people should be incarcerated just because of smoking something ... I dont think its helpful for society.

Tieszen, the former Rapid City police chief, said hes never supported legalization efforts but supports the bill.

Marijuana THC (the psychoactive compound within marijuana) stays in your system for weeks and weeks and weeks, Tieszen said. You could go to Colorado and do something entirely lawful and come back here and end up facing a felony or a misdemeanor as a result of a lawful activity somewhere else.

In education, Senate Bill 55 gives teachers the right to analyze, critique, or review in an objective scientific manner the strengths and weaknesses of scientific information. Opponents have expressed worry that it may allow nonscientific explanations, like creationism, to creep into classrooms. Partridge said he voted for the bill.

Basically, I did it because there is no language that I thought was injurious to the teaching process at all or the standards or the curriculum, he said.

Rep. Alan Solano, however, voted against the bill.

I firmly believe that curriculum is a local school board, along with the teachers, issue, he said. I think that this bill really is not going to accomplish what its intended to do, because we already have that in place.

The next crackerbarrel meeting will be at 9 a.m. Feb. 18 at The Outdoor Campus-West on Adventure Trail. Questions will be asked directly by attendees to legislators and will partially focus on environmental and conservation issues.
Winner  Rural landowners

Though they are opposed by state game officials, two House bills would give landowners more freedom to protect their farms, ranches and wild areas from predation and also to use ponds and dams on their land as they see fit.

House Bill 1094 narrowly passed through a House committee last week. In a nutshell, the bill would allow landowners with a special hunting tag for deer or antelope to transfer or even sell that license to any other eligible hunter. The thought is that landowners may not fill the tag themselves, but could help remove wildlife from their land by finding someone else who is eager to hunt and take big game.

House Bill 1095 would allow landowners with ponds or dams on their land to take as many fish as they like from those water bodies and ignore fish limits set by law. The bill's sponsor said property owners who pay to stock their ponds should be able to take as many fish as they like.

Both bills face a big fight from the state Game, Fish & Parks Department, which argues that allowing individuals to sell big game licenses is unfair, especially to residents who can't afford to pay prices the landowners may charge. Meanwhile, game officials say they already do not enforce fish bag limits on private ponds, and that they don't want to weaken state laws by creating a loophole that could be used in unforeseen ways to avert daily limits.

Either of these measures would be a win for landowners, who would see their rights expanded. And the hunting bill, especially, comes at a time when West River ranchers are battling an influx of hungry wild game animals that are consuming the feed meant for their livestock.

Loser  South Dakota voters

Almost from the moment voters approved the state government ethics package known as IM 22 in November, Republican lawmakers and the governor began to whine.

Voters didn't understand the measure, some said. It's not needed because South Dakota government is devoid of scandal, others claimed. It is clearly unconstitutional, Gov. Dennis Daugaard and others insisted.

So they killed the measure this week by passing a repeal that was quickly signed into law.

This isn't the first time South Dakota voters have been stymied by lawmakers. The last time came when voters approved a hike in the minimum wage, only to see lawmakers lower it back down for teenagers. Well, voters spoke again and now the higher minimum wage is in place for all.

The complaining about IM 22 and the quick action to reverse it has not gone unnoticed. Even among those who don't closely follow state government, many residents across the state are wondering why the Legislature and governor are so very concerned about having ethical guidelines placed on them and lobbyists. Hundreds of people, in fact, showed up in Pierre to protest the repeal, but to no avail.

Even the New York Times noticed South Dakota's repeal, and published a critical editorial on Jan. 27 titled, "South Dakota lawmakers snuffing out ethics reform referendum."

There's no doubt that most GOP lawmakers couldn't care less that The Gray Lady referred to the repeal as "not only shameless but cunning." In fact, they may even see that editorial in The Times as a badge of honor.

But however you feel about the ethics law repeal, one thing is now crystal clear: GOP leaders and lawmakers and Daugaard couldn't care less about what state voters have to say.

Perhaps voters will make their own bold statement during future legislative and gubernatorial elections?
A Rapid City developer is questioning whether the city council is doing too much business behind closed doors and making decisions without giving residents the ability to defend themselves.

The nonpublic discussions that take place between the mayor, city staff and a few council members prior to meetings of the full council appear to be legal, but they open the door to questions about whether the council is acting fairly and making decisions in private that should be made in public.

In July, Rapid City developer Bill Freytag went to a city committee meeting asking for a waiver so he would not have to build a sidewalk on land he wanted to develop on the citys far northeast side.

At the meeting, he argued that very few buildings near his site on Seger Drive have sidewalks, that there isn't much foot traffic and that the city had not built sidewalks on its property in the same area.

The public works committee, a recommending body to the city council made up of five council members, voted unanimously to allow the exemption with the condition that he sign a waiver of a right to protest. That allows the city to order in sidewalks at a later time.

This unanimous vote put the measure on the consent agenda where items are approved in bulk and typically without debate.

But later, Freytag was shocked to find out they had inexplicably taken his item off of the consent agenda, debated it and narrowly voted in favor of his waiver, 5-3.

Darla Drew and Steve Laurenti were absent from that council meeting.

"So what happened in between the public works meeting on Tuesday and the city council meeting on Monday?" wondered Freytag, a well-known local gadfly who is a watchdog over city government.

He did some digging and soon learned that the suggestion to take the matter off the consent agenda and bring it up for debate was made at the so-called agenda review meeting, a pre-agenda meeting led by city staff.

Those pre-meeting meetings, held in an office at the City/School Administration Center, are usually attended by city council leadership, the mayor and relevant city department heads.

There is no public notice, and members of the public do not attend.

They take place the Monday before the public works and legal and finance committee meetings and on the Thursday before the city council meetings, according to city spokesman Darrell Shoemaker.

Council leadership is made up of the president (Brad Estes), vice-president (Amanda Scott), and the two committee chairmen, Charity Doyle for public works and John Roberts for legal and finance.

The pre-agenda meetings for each committee are also sometimes attended by the vice-chairmen, Darla Drew for public works and Jerry Wright for legal and finance.

Shoemaker said the meetings serve as an opportunity for the city council members to clarify and detail any agenda items with the city staff that has knowledge of the matter.

They can ask questions and gain a better understanding of what is on the agenda and what they will be voting for.

Scott said last week the meetings are simply to prepare for the public meetings. She said they do things such as ensuring all of the attachments to the agenda items are correct.

Wright said they will sometimes discuss their thoughts and opinions on matters. But he said that there is nothing wrong with that because no votes are taken.

"We don't vote until we vote on Monday night," Wright said.

David Bordewyk, head of the South Dakota Newspaper Association, which advocates for government openness, said as long as there is no "quorum," or a majority of the 10 elected members present, the agenda review meetings do not appear to violate the law.

In order to be considered a public meeting, a couple of conditions have to be met, according to the South Dakota Attorney General's Office.

There has to be a legal quorum of the public body at the same place and at the same time, and official business, meaning any matter relating to the activities of the entity, must be discussed.

At least one of those conditions for a public meeting is being met.

Shoemaker said there are rarely more than three members of the council at any of the meetings and at the most, there are four.

Regardless of whether there is an actual law violation, the pre-meeting to get clarification on items and discuss things outside of public view violates one condition and thus violates the spirit of the open meetings law, Bordewyk said.

"I would agree that at the very least some members of the council and mayor are violating the spirit of the open meetings law with a 'pre-meeting meeting'," Bordewyk said. "Its one thing to be discussing attachments and administrative stuff, but its a whole other ballgame if they are actually discussing the agenda items at length."

Freytag agrees and said he believes they discussed his item at length during one of the pre-agenda meetings and without him there to defend himself.

He said he believes a member of the city staff made a case for denying his waiver and convinced a member of the city council to pull it off the consent agenda.

Freytag argues that this is actually a violation of his due process rights under state law because the decision the council was making affected his property rights.

To counteract what had been done in secret, Freytag has offered a proposed ordinance called the Appearance of Fairness Doctrine for Quasi-Judicial Proceedings.

The quasi-judicial proceedings before the city council are where city council members hear facts and make a ruling that affects a citizen's property rights.

The ordinance would require that anytime decision-makers get together to discuss a citizen's case, the citizen must be notified ahead of time and given the chance to defend themselves.

If the citizen is not notified, the decision-makers have to then disclose that at a public meeting.

Freytag argues that they then must recuse themselves from the vote, citing case law.

City Attorney Joel Landeen disagrees and said they do not have to recuse themselves from the vote.

Landeen and Freytag have worked on the ordinance together for months, but because they could not agree on that one aspect, Landeen has proposed a similar ordinance without that requirement.

The proposed ordinances are set to be discussed at Monday night's city council meeting at 6:30 p.m.
"Now we're getting to the point where they're not even trusting Pierre."

 Sen. Lance Russell, R-Hot Springs, one of the few GOP lawmakers to vote against the repeal of the IM 22 ethics package

"In South Dakota, while we're not infallible, that has never been a concern."

 Sen. Brock Greenfield, R-Clark, in support of the IM 22 repeal, referring to bribes or scandals in state government

"This matter has been resolved favorably for the state."

 Attorney General Marty Jackley, announcing a plea deal that allowed Joop Bollen, accused of diverting money illegally from a visa program, to receive a fine and probation, and eventually avoid a felony record

"I just want them to know that transgender boys are boys, and transgender girls are girls ... We all want privacy and safety in locker rooms, and we're not in there to harm anyone."

 Jesse Lamphere of Sturgis, a transgender student, testifying against a transgender locker room bill that was later dropped from consideration

These customers have absolutely no repercussions for their actions. Its just plain wrong. People need to have consequences for car theft.

 Brian Busch of Anytime Auto Sales in Rapid City, speaking in favor of a bill to make it illegal to get in the way of legal repossession of an automobile
If Kari Green of Rapid City ever wants to see her 17-year-old son, Christian, she has to get in the car and make the five-hour drive to the eastern edge of the state.

She has to do this because her son has autism, and the closest place that can offer him the level of care he needs is in Sioux Falls, nearly 350 miles away from their home in Rapid City.

Its not easy, Green, 35, said on Friday morning, a few hours before she would get behind the wheel to make the trek once again. But its my son.

Greens family is one of an estimated 200 in Rapid City with a member who has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Until recently, whenever these families needed to go somewhere to help calm their autistic children, brothers, sisters, or spouses, they could take them to Rapid City Regional Hospitals Behavioral Health Center at 915 Mountain View Road.

But as of last week, that option is no longer available, and the only alternatives for inpatient or residential care for individuals seeking treatment for autism are hundreds of miles away.

We are at a crisis point, said Sally Burns, president of the Autism Society of the Black Hills. We dont have a facility to take people  especially children  with autism.

Last week, Rapid City Regional sent out a letter announcing that beginning Feb. 1, the hospitals behavioral health center would no longer be accepting patients who have neurodevelopmental/cognitive disorders such as dementia, Alzheimers disease, or Autism Spectrum Disorder.

For families and individuals dealing with those conditions, the news was devastating.

In a city with a population of over 70,000, to have that as our only option, and now that being taken away from us, is very, very frightening, Green said.

The change is being made, hospital officials have clarified, because the behavioral health unit is not equipped to handle individuals with extreme cases of the listed diagnoses who have a history of violence.

But while Rapid City has residential senior living facilities that can accommodate persons with dementia or Alzheimers, there is no other facility that can handle autistic individuals.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes autism spectrum disorder as an incurable developmental disorder that can result in a wide range of social, communication and behavioral challenges. Manifesting in childhood, the disorder can significantly affect how a person with a diagnosis learns, responds to emotions and relates to the people around them.

Children with autism, they have trouble with change, Burns said. They have trouble with sensory issues, they are most likely unable to communicate their thoughts and feelings, so they become very frustrated, and that frustration sometimes comes out in a more physical or violent way. Thats when they can become dangerous to themselves and others.

Green recalled one such crisis mode when she was driving in the car with Christian.

He started punching me in the side of the head, Green said. We made it home and we sat there a second. He said, I love you, Mom and got out of the car, like nothing even happened. As he was walking up to the house he turned around, realized what he had done, and started crying. He went into the house, and I could hear my house being ripped apart.

Green also has a 4-year-old daughter named Brooklynn.

I always think what would have happened if he went into that mode when she was with me, Green said. I could have been knocked out, we could have crashed.

It is in times like these when Green and others with autism in their families need help.

You get to a point where you feel really alone, Green said. You have to stay strong for your children, but sometimes you just break. You have to go behind a closed door and just break. Its a nightmare.

Green has had to take Christian to Regional Behavioral Health on several occasions, enrolling him in the inpatient unit there for between a week and a month at a time. Medication isnt enough, Green said. As Christian progresses through puberty and his outbursts intensify, the only solution is to find somewhere for him to go for extended periods of time, where trained professionals can help calm him down.

The problem is that the Rapid City Regional Behavioral Health Center has never really been the right place for that, hospital officials have said.

There are 44 beds at Regionals behavioral health unit, all in semi-private rooms. For an autistic person in crisis mode, these kinds of conditions can actually make things worse, Regional officials say. Those patients might be sharing a room with someone in just as much distress as they are, who is perhaps psychotic, suicidal, or coming down from drugs.

You throw a kid with autism in there who craves structure, that can be a very explosive environment for them, said Dr. Mark Garry, a psychiatrist who works at Regionals Behavioral Health Center.

The behavioral health unit will continue to take in other potentially violent individuals with, for instance, schizophrenia or bipolar disorders, Garry said, but only because these disorders can be treated in that setting with medication and therapy within a matter of days if not hours. The same cannot be said for individuals with autism in crisis mode, who require extended care.

From now on, Garry said, if someone with autism in their family goes to the Rapid City Regional emergency room or behavioral health unit looking for help, the individual with autism will be stabilized or sedated, sent home, and referred to inpatient services east of the Missouri River, either in Yankton, Redfield or Sioux Falls.

Christian has been living in the residential program at Lifescape, a disability services organization in Sioux Falls, since the beginning of January. The Lifescape in Rapid City, like many other mental health providers in the area, does not provide inpatient services for treatment of autism.

Green is happy to report that Christian is thriving in his temporary home in Sioux Falls. The long drive to see him on the weekends is difficult, but she knows it could have been worse.

If Lifescape had not taken my son, he would have been held at the Yankton mental health facility then sent for out-of-state services in Utah, she said.

Despite the lack of resources in Rapid City, Green has no plans to move her family, nor does she think she should have to.

This is our home, she said. I love the Black Hills. I cant imagine calling anywhere else home.

Green knows that Rapid City Regionals Behavioral Health Center was never an ideal place to send her son, but before she found Lifescape, it was the only option she had. Now that its gone, she and others have nowhere else to go that isnt hundreds of miles away from home.

Closing a door, thats not an answer, she said. To now be left with nothing, thats unacceptable.

The need for reliable, long-term autism services will not go away. If anything, the opposite is true. According to a 2012 CDC study, one in 68 children in the U.S. has autism, an increase from 2002.

It is now clear to Burns that the Black Hills region has been in this moment of crisis for some time. Finding a solution, she said, will require the cooperation of a wide array of state and community stakeholders. What the results of that cooperation will look like is unclear, but Burns knows one thing for sure.

Something needs to happen, she said. And it needs to happen pretty quickly.
PIERRE | The latest numbers show $58.6 million more is needed to build the new animal disease research diagnostic laboratory at South Dakota State University.

The governors proposal calls for $46.2 million to come from the agriculture sector. He would issue bonds and repay them over 25 years.

The payments would be about $3 million annually, collected through higher fees on feed, veterinary inspections, animal remedies, poultry health products and raw milk.

The Senate Appropriations Committee introduced the legislation Thursday on behalf of Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

Two other plans were already submitted to the Legislature. They come from House Republican leader Lee Qualm of Platte and Sen. Stace Nelson, R-Fulton.

The Qualm bill, HB 1157, calls for the state Board of Regents to provide $10 million for the project. It doesnt identify the sources of the remainder of the funding.

The Nelson bill, SB 162, asks for $10 million from the Future Fund that the governor controls, plus $40 million from the states business low-interest loan fund known as REDI, plus $8.6 million from the regents.

The Qualm bill was assigned to the House State Affairs Committee for its first hearing. A date hasnt been set. The Nelson bill goes to the Joint Committee on Appropriations for its first hearing. A date hasnt been set. A date hasnt been set either for a hearing on the Daugaard bill, SB 172.

The coming four to five weeks will see a decision take shape on how to pay for the lab. Its last major renovation came 25 years ago.

Many of South Dakotas agriculture producers felt the price increases for license plates and the sales tax increase of recent years. Better roads and better teacher pay are the primary recipients of the additional revenue from those additional fees and taxes.

The general public pays those higher fees and taxes. The governors approach on the laboratory project puts most of the revenue responsibility on agriculture.

The governors legislation outlines the specific fee increases hes seeking. They include:

Commercial feed inspection would cost 57 cents per ton, up from two cents now;

Annual fees on pet foods sold in packages of 10 pounds or smaller would rise to $150 from the current $50;

Annual fees on specialty pet foods in packages of 10 pounds or smaller would likewise triple to $75 from the present $25;

Veterinary inspection fees, which now range from 10 cents to 25 cents per head, would add a surcharge of 30 cents per head;

Animal remedies would be charged $75 annually, up from $25 every two years;

Poultry would be charged five cents per bird; and

The assessment on raw milk would climb to $1.10, up from $1 now.

Together these higher fees are expected to generate $3 million to cover the annual bond payments.

The question facing legislators is whether producers desire the new lab sufficiently to stomach another round of higher fees.

The 18 legislators  nine senators and nine representatives  on the Joint Committee on Appropriations will make the initial decision. What they recommend likely will need a two-thirds majority in each chamber for passage.

Thats a big hill.
News / National

by Staff reporter

MORE than 700 families risk losing their houses after the Government reportedly directed beneficiaries of the Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai housing scheme in Cowdray Park, Bulawayo to pay $4 000 for the houses, indicating that the money they paid in the past was for rentals.The residents alleged that when they were initially allocated the houses they were told to pay $15 a month, which was meant to pay the builders, a figure which later increased to $50. In 2014 they were told to stop paying that figure to the Government since the project had since been handed over to council. When they were allocated the houses, they were told that they own them and they only needed to pay monthly fees for builders.However, in the latest development, residents last week got letters from the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing informing them that all along they were renting the houses and were now required to pay $3 920 each for them to own the houses and a further $1 200, which they allegedly owe in rentals.Some of the affected "owners" yesterday held a meeting in the suburb where they appointed a committee led by their local councillor, Collet Ndhlovu with the mandate of engaging both the Ministry and the Bulawayo City Council over the issue.He said from their research, the directive was only affecting the Bulawayo project as in other cities, the Government has made it clear that people who benefited from the project were the owners and have been given title deeds."When it was initially decided that residents stop paying the $50 monthly fee to the Ministry in 2014, it was when the logic behind this payment was questioned because the project was handed over to council in 2012, so it did not make any sense that they continue paying to the Ministry as they had no say towards the running of the project."If you remember this project was done through a donation of land which the Government received from council and it was meant for the poor who could not afford purchasing housing stands. Now where does the Government think these people will get the money? I am sure that all this is from someone trying to paint the Government in bad light," said Clr Ndhlovu.He said as a committee they would initially approach the Public Works office in Bulawayo to try to resolve the impasse and if that fails they would then engage the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Saviour Kasukuwere.A residents' representative who identified himself as Mr Moyo said they had decided not to honour what the Ministry was demanding, noting that some of them started staying at the houses when they were incomplete and had to finish them after the contractor allegedly disappeared."Honestly, for someone to tell us that all along we were lodgers does not make sense at all. We installed electricity on our own, we are also contributing towards the servicing of roads in the area. We are not going to pay anything because we know someone wants to steal from us. They cannot even evict us because we developed the incomplete houses which they gave us," said Mr Moyo.The project was handed over to council in 2012 in keeping with the May 2009 Cabinet resolution to have councils complete the projects. This was after the Government initiated Operation Restore Order, popularly known as Murambatsvina, which saw most houses built outside council authority being destroyed countrywide. The operation culminated in the Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai scheme, a Government initiative which sought to provide decent accommodation to low-income earners.In the past years beneficiaries have locked horns with officials from the Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai project and the Bulawayo Home Seekers Consortium Trust, accusing them of double allocation of stands, poor administration and failure to provide adequate service.
WASHINGTON | Senate Democrats should use any and all means, including the filibuster, to block confirmation of President Trump's Supreme Court nominee. They will almost surely fail. But sometimes you have to lose a battle to win a war.

This is purely about politics. Republicans hold the presidency, majorities in the House and Senate, 33 governorships and total control of the legislatures in 32 states. If the Democratic Party is going to become relevant again outside of its coastal redoubts, it has to start winning some elections and turning the other cheek on this court fight is not the way to begin.

Trump's pick, Judge Neil Gorsuch, has the resume required of a Supreme Court justice. But so did Judge Merrick Garland, former President Obama's last nominee, to whom Senate Republicans would not even extend the courtesy of a hearing, let alone a vote. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., left the late Antonin Scalia's seat open for nearly a year to keep Obama from filling it. That, too, was purely about politics.

I'm not counseling eye-for-an-eye revenge. I'm advising Democrats to consider what course of action is most likely to improve their chances of making gains in 2018, at both the state and national levels.

The party's progressive base is angry and mobilized. Many Democrats are convinced that FBI Director James Comey and Russian President Vladimir Putin decided the election. The very idea of a Trump presidency sparked vast, unprecedented demonstrations in Washington and other cities the day after the inauguration.

In the two weeks since, Trump has only piled outrage upon outrage, as far as progressives are concerned. He took the first steps toward building his ridiculous wall along the southern border, but with U.S. taxpayers' dollars, not Mexico's. He squelched government experts who work on climate change. He weakened the Affordable Care Act in the hope that it would begin to collapse, which would make it easier for Congress to kill it. He displayed comic ignorance of our history (somebody please tell him that Frederick Douglass has been dead since 1895). He signed executive orders banning entry to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from around the world, an action so appalling that huge crowds gathered at major airports in protest.

And Trump is just getting started. Democrats cannot even limit the damage, let alone reverse it, without more power than they have now.

That is the political context into which the Gorsuch nomination arrives. From my reading of the progressive crowds that have recently taken to the streets, the Democratic base is in no mood to hear about the clubby traditions and courtesies of the Senate. The base is itching for a fight.

The way McConnell et al. treated the Garland nomination was indeed unforgivable. Senators who fail to remember that will get an earful from their constituents and, potentially, a challenge in the next primary. More importantly, those senators will be passing up a rare political opportunity.

With just 48 votes, all Senate Democrats can do is filibuster, denying McConnell the 60 votes he needs for a final vote on the nomination. In response, McConnell could employ the "nuclear option"  changing the Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court confirmations. In the end, Gorsuch would be approved anyway.

But I believe Democrats should wage, and lose, this fight. The 60-vote standard looks more and more like an anachronistic holdover from the time when senators prided themselves on putting the nation ahead of ideology. These days, so many votes hew strictly to party lines that it is difficult to get anything done. The Senate is supposed to be deliberative, not paralyzed.

And I can't help thinking back to 2009. Republicans made an all-out effort to stop the Affordable Care Act. Their motives were purely political; some GOP senators railed against policies they had favored in the past. Ultimately, they failed. Obamacare became law.

But this losing battle gave tremendous energy and passion to the tea party movement  which propelled Republicans to a sweeping victory in the 2010 midterm election. It is hard not to see an analogous situation on the Democratic side right now.

Democrats cannot stop Gorsuch from being confirmed. But they can hearten and animate the party's base by fighting this nomination tooth and nail, even if it means giving up some of the backslapping comity of the Senate cloakroom. They can inspire grassroots activists to fight just as hard to win back state legislatures and governorships. They can help make 2018 a Democratic year.
While Child and Family Services leaders arent asking the governor or Legislature for more caseworkers in a tight budget year, some of their employees feel much differently.

Several letters obtained by Lee Newspapers from child protection specialists plead for more employees.

I am flabbergasted that management with (the Department of Public Health and Human Services) is not begging you for funds to hire more staff, one employee wrote to legislators. We desperately need more workers and clerical support.

The Joint Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee this week heard testimony from Child and Family Services leadership as the Legislature considers at least $1 million in cuts to the division, mostly through leaving positions vacant and trimming an increase in funds the agency received last legislative session. The Legislature is considering about $93 million in cuts over the entire health department. The committee will set budgets sometime next week.

Gov. Steve Bullocks plan also proposes $1 million in cuts but puts $16 million back into the division over two years. That money is directed to help pay for the cost of children in care, such as foster families or subsidized adoption and guardianship.

Appropriations committee members Wednesday and Thursday questioned division officials why they werent asking for more employees. About 380 work in the division, which has field offices around the state.

The health department Friday said it's in the process of implementing recommendations from the Protect Montana Kids Commission, a 14-member group appointed by Bullock to examine the division, and that the changes will improve things for children and employees.

"The department will continue to support the division team through technology advancements, training and organizational improvements," a statement from spokesman Jon Ebelt said.

Ebelt said Bullock has transferred the division 27 permanent positions to the division over the last year.

Former division administrator Sarah Corbally told the committee Thursday she met a caseworker in court who had 47 children on her caseload. Employees who wrote letters to legislators said they had a similar caseloads.

New division administrator Maurita Johnson, when asked by lawmakers Wednesday, told the committee the number of children in foster care could be increasing in part because less-experienced workers remove children from homes more often than workers with longevity. Those employees feel less confident in leaving children in possibly abusive homes, Johnson said. The division has also cited an increase in the abuse of methamphetamine as a cause.

Workers who wrote to lawmakers disagreed.

It was brought to my attention that upper management for DPHHS were testifying in front of you folks this week and reported that we did not need more staff and that the extraordinary number of children in foster care we have is due in part to the number of new workers from the agency, one employee wrote. This could not be further from the truth.

Another wrote: "First and foremost, there is not a single person I work with that is incapable of effectively doing their job. Quite the opposite, I have never worked with a more dedicated, ethical, educated and outstanding group of individuals. We put ourselves in positions that most people wouldnt dare tread to protect the innocent lives of children. We spend countless hours away from our own children and families to assure the safety of one child."

One employee wrote that managers responded to a lack of available foster homes by saying that children would have to stay in sleeping bags, supervised by field workers, overnight in Child and Family Services offices, though the letter writer said that didnt happen and temporary placements were found for children.

I plead to this committee to look at the numbers. Look at the workload and caseload numbers that increase everyday. These children deserve to have a safe place to lay their heads down at night without the fear of what will happen the next day.

Jim Fitzgerald, the chief operating officer of Intermountain, a nonprofit that provides a range of services to children in the western part of the state, said workforce vacancies are crippling the division.

We need logical and consistent caseloads for these workers, he said. They are just being ground into dust. ... We are not going to get the job done if we cant get some consistent, thorough support for those folks that are going down in the field as well as those folks in the division."

Ebelt said the division has done things to make work more efficiently  staff now have cellphones and tablets that allow them to work from the field and a new case management system is expected to be in place by October.

The division is also working to enhance its training, which now includes a simulation lab, for field staff and supervisors.

A sixth regional manager was added in Kalispell to help with workload distribution, Ebelt said, and under a new organizational structure regional supervisors report directly to the new division administrator, who started in November.
Montana 4-H youth leaders recently hosted a4-H Grows True Leaders event with legislators to share the value of the program.

Step one is always preparation so State 4-H Ambassadors presented a workshop to youth from around the state on how to interact with legislators.

Jessica Horan, publicity chair for the Montana 4-H Ambassador Team, said the advice included be yourself, be genuinely happy and interested, ask them for their stories and if they were involved in 4-H.

Ninety-five percent of all those leaders were involved in 4-H or had family involved, Horan said. It is amazing how much 4-H influence has on the community.

Victor resident Henry Smith is on the Montana 4-H Ambassador Team. He presented at the workshop.

We said to be an engaged listener, ask questions and talk to them because they are here to listen, Smith said. We dont just focus on 4-H but ask how they got involved in politics and what interests them about politics. This year is very politically divided so we stayed politically neutral.

The second day the youth met for breakfast with state representatives, senators and directors of state departments, like the Office of Public Instruction.

From Ravalli County, four youth and two leaders hosted the table for Ravalli County Representatives and Senators, including Sen. Fred Thomas, HD 44; Sen. Pat Connell, SD 43; Rep. Ed Greef, HD 88 and Rep. Theresa Manzella, HD 85.

Horan said the goal was to advocate for the 4-H program.

We talked with those important government people and shared our 4-H stories with them, Horan said. They make the budget for 4-H and we use that for educational materials and educational events. It is important funding.

Smith said the breakfast was his favorite part.

I had great conversations with the legislators at my table, Smith said. I learned what Theresa Manzella did in 4-H. We tried to seat the youth and legislators with their own county if possible.

Gracie Smith, Ravalli County 4-H Junior Ambassador, said she learned about the legislative process and branches of state government.

It was really fun to meet new 4-H members from all across the state, she said. I got to have dinner with our Ravalli county representatives and reminded them that Montana 4-H has about 18,000 members and 4-Hers have two times better grades and are five times more likely to graduate from college.

Henry Smith said that being a state ambassador has been challenging and rewarding.

I wanted to have a state office because it is one of the highest offices, he said. I wanted to push myself as a leader. The best part of being a 4-H Ambassador is that we reach out to help improve leadership and bring workshops and competitions to our county.

Henry Smith said he wants to enter politics and values the opportunity 4-H gives him to meet hundreds of people and make hundreds of friends, he said.

Ravalli County residents attending the 4-H Grows True Leaders event also included Taylor Andersen, member of Mad Hatters 4-H Club; Adelaide Meyer and Ben Meyer members of Lucky Horse Shoe 4-H club; and Katelyn Andersen, MSU Extension Agent for Ravalli County.

Andersen said that annually 4-H serves nearly 19,000 youth with over 4,000 certified adult and youth volunteers and is the largest out-of-school educational program in Montana. 4-H is for ages 5-19, has over 200 hands-on projects and activities and is a part of Montana State University Extension.

For more information, visit www.montana4h.org.
News / National

by Staff reporter

THE mushrooming of more opposition political parties in Zimbabwe ahead of next year's general elections is not adding any value to people, but are just projects of individuals trying to push their own selfish agendas, political analysts have said.Zimbabwe has for past three years witnessed the mushrooming of new political parties, all claiming to have the people in mind and promising to topple the revolutionary Zanu-PF party.New political parties that have been formed in the country since the 2013 general elections include the Tendai Biti-led People's Democratic Party which was formed by MDC-T members who were disappointed by the party's dismal performance in the watershed polls and called for a leadership renewal.That however, resulted in their expulsion from the party and subsequent formation of their own political outfit. The other new political parties that have emerged since the last elections include the National Constitutional Assembly, Mthwakazi Republic Party, Renewal for Democrats of Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwe People First, led by former Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru.Of late two more political parties have been formed and these are the Zimbabwe Partnership for Prosperity led by little known Mr Blessing Kasiyamhuru, and the Alliance for National Salvation led by former National Healing, Reconciliation and Reintegration Minister Mr Moses Mzila-Ndlovu. Both parties have said they would contest the 2018 plebiscite.With elections still about 17 months away, it would not be surprising to have more political parties being formed. What this means is that over 20 political parties would be contesting against Zanu-PF, come 2018, whether as part of the proposed "grand coalition" of opposition parties, which is also not without problems, or as standalone entities.But political observers told the Sunday News Zimbabweans should not read much into the mushrooming groupings which are founded on weak foundations. The analysts said the political parties were being informed by numerous factors, some of them being failure by politicians to resolve issues and find one another."While in a democracy diversity and plurality are celebrated, in certain instances, like in the issue at hand (Zimbabwean scenario), plurality just for its sake could be counterproductive," said political analyst, Mr Thomas Sithole."Some political parties are seasonal just like rain and only emerge just before elections and disappear thereafter. This does not help Zimbabwe and the citizens."He challenged Zimbabweans to be vigilant when they go to polls next year by looking beyond just the individuals' personalities while also focusing on such issues as ideology, manifesto, capacity and integrity of politicians, programmes of the party in question and other related factors.Another political analyst, Mr Anglistone Sibanda said the formation of new political parties was ill-timed and history has shown that they rarely perform well. Mr Sibanda said learning from the dismal performance of ZAPU and the Welshman Ncube-led MDC in the 2013 polls, chances of some new parties attracting a significant number of votes were close to none.Mr Zibusiso Ndlovu, also political commentator, said while some new parties would attract followers as is common with any party that comes on board, those with with a regional focus were likely to suffer in the long run."There have been efforts to cut off Matabeleland and Midlands from the rest of the country but these have yielded little attention from the people as it is based on tribalism and not influence of power," he said."Let's think of the radical Mthwakazi republic ideology. Who in the world can buy into the ideology? We need politics from the people by the people."
Ravalli Countys most famous photographer is known for his images that captured the beauty of his home state.

For years, those well-known images have taken center stage when the Ravalli County Museum hosted its annual Ernst Peterson Photo Contest.

This year, the museum is going to take a step further back in time to a day when Peterson served in the U.S. Army toward the end of World War II.

By then, the young man had already developed an interest in photography and was developing a keen eye for light and composition.

He took those skills along with him to China, Burma and India to capture images of a way of life that many never knew existed.

For years, those Ektachrome slides and black-and-prints from the war years were along the tens of thousands of images safely stored away in the museums vaults.

This year  when the museum officially opens its annual Ernst Peterson contest for public viewing on Feb. 9  visitors will be offered a chance to see for the first time a collection of Peterson's photographs from his military adventure.

The Ravalli County Museums Noellynn Pepos has been working for weeks to sift through the hundreds of images that Peterson captured of people, buildings and landscapes of the Asian countryside.

I think its important to note to folks that these images were shot during the war but are not of combat, Pepos said. Instead, they depict the World War II-era culture of China, Burma and India.

Pepos discovered the photographs several years ago after being invited to the American Alliance of Museums conference that included sessions focused on exhibition exchanges with China.

When she researched the Peterson database, she was surprised to find photographs from that country. The couple of dozen that she took with her to the conference resulted in great conversations with her colleagues.

We have a heightened sense of visual awareness when language becomes a rhythm, Pepos said. I am drawn to these rich images shot early in his life prior to his commercial career.

It was obvious too that Peterson was intrigued by the new culture that he was experiencing.

On the back of one of the photographs, he wrote: One of the two types of creatures seen in sculptures everywhere. Sometime I hope to get the story and significance of these. China 1945.

It is an image of a stone dragon holding a pearl, Pepos said. Peterson was always learning, always exploring throughout his lifetime.

The museum has most of Petersons collection. It includes about 21,000 transparencies, that include both positive and negative images. So far, about 11,100 of those have been cataloged in a database that can be searched by subject, location and other aspects.

The museum has also digitally scanned about 2,300 images, and has about 9,000 black-and-white prints, plus a collection of camera equipment and other items from Peterson.

The Ernst Peterson Photo Journal WWII: China, Burma and India show will open on Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. It will run through Feb. 23.

Ravalli County Museum Director Tamar Stanley said photographs are still being accepted for this years contest. The contest includes three new categories that should appeal to younger photographers: selfies, memes and photobombs.

The money raised from the contest helps pay for preserving Petersons collection.
Its been more than 70 years since the day Lillian Long first laid eyes on her Marine.

She can still close her eyes and remember it like it was yesterday.

It was 1946 and World War II had finally come to an end. There was sense of relief and joy that had swept over the land.

And so Lillian (she was a Douglas back then) had taken time from her job at Beatons Beauty Parlor in Nelson, British Columbia, to travel across the border to visit her aunt in Idaho.

On that night they decided they wanted to kick up their heels a bit at an old-time country dance just down the road.

There was no way for her to know how her life was about to change.

Harold Long had just finished the most grueling challenge of his life as a U.S. Marine serving the South Pacific. He saw action at Iwo Jima and other islands along the way.

But none of that mattered that night when he first saw Lillian glide across the dance floor.

Surrounded by photographs of their family in the Victor home that they lovingly built, Harold and Lillian steal a glance at each other as she tells the story of that first chance meeting.

He was kind of showing off, Lillian said, with a smile. He was bashful back then.

Harolds laugh fills the room with a joy that speaks of decades of love and companionship.

In short order, Harry made it a point of introducing Lillian to his parents and some of his nine siblings.

And he didnt let Lillian go when it came time for her to go back to work. They wracked up some bills in long-distance phone calls before he decided he couldnt wait to see her again.

And so he made the trip to Nelson.

I thought it was all happening too quick, she said. I wanted it to slow down.

But there was nothing slow about this budding romance.

Shortly after he arrived in Nelson, word came that Lillians mother had broken her arm. The Douglases approved of the young man who accompanied her to the family home to help around the house.

Not long afterward, Harold and Lillian decided to stop at Superior to see the justice of the peace.

Friday, Feb. 10, they will celebrate the 70th anniversary of that day.

Their daughter, Kathy Ahern of Spokane and her husband will be there to celebrate with them. The celebration will continue for weeks and months as other children and family members stop later on this spring and summer to wish them well.

Sometimes I have a hard time believing they have been together that long, Ahern said. Its just not something you see very often. You cant even find a card in a store for a 70th anniversary.

Ahern said her parents are survivors, whose faith in God has seen them through thick and thin.

Theyre both Depression kids, she said. Dad came from a family of 11 kids. I know it was tough for them.

Ahern said her father was part of a company of 100 Marines who fought in the South Pacific. Only seven made it back home.

He never really talked about it much until the last few years, she said. Because he had explosive experience from working the mines, it was his job to destroy pill boxes. He had to crawl up to them and throw dynamite in them.

Ahern said her fathers faith in God began in a foxhole.

He told me encountered God in a foxhole before he was ever a believer, she said. He had been told to man a machine gun used by seven men who had been killed earlier. He was really afraid. That night, the foxhole filled with light and God told him not be afraid.

Ahern said her parents faith has continued to this day.

Im a Christian because of them, she said. Ive seen them walk that out in their lives. They have taught me the value of commitment. There was never a question of whether they were going to stay together or not. That was just part of their values  that commitment to each other.

My dad just adores my mom, Ahern said. Hes always telling me that mom is the most wonderful person in the world. Honestly, knowing my dad, she is kind of a saint. She is his caretaker. All of us really appreciate whats shes done.

Huey Long of Deer Lodge is the couples oldest son.

Theyve taught me that you have to be willing to work at it to create a successful marriage, Long said. You have to be willing to compromise.

And there has to be some love there, too, to make it all work, said Longs wife, Nyla. For 70 years, theyve managed to work through it all. Thats a long time. I think its just always been their belief that marriage is forever.

Even after all these years, he still calls her his little boss or that little Canadian woman, Huey Long said, with a laugh. They are an amazing love story.

Looking over at her husband, Lillian doesnt hesitate for a second when asked whats the secret to a long and happy marriage.

Forgiveness, she said, with a knowing smile. Its not all a bed of roses. Ive heard people say they have never had a fight. Well, I just dont think thats true. You just need to be able to forgive and move on.

She looks over Harold. He smiles back at her and fills the room again with laughter.
HAMILTON - Judith Loretta DeYoung, 78, of Hamilton passed away on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017 at Providence Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington.

Judith was a beautiful, wonderful, talented wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend, she will be greatly missed by everyone who knew her.

She was born on Jan. 3, 1939 in Elk Rapids, Michigan. Daughter of John Mariage and Dorothy Scott. The family lived in Rapid City and Judith attended high school there. Growing up on the edge of a small town in Northern Michigan, she was free to explore the acres of fields, woods, hills, streams and lakes around the little town village. She fished and hunted with family and friends, enjoying wildlife and loved being surrounded by nature.

Judith attended college at Michigan State University in 1956 where she studied Art History. It was at college where Judy met Bob, the love of her life. They were married March 28, 1958, in Alden Minnesota. Moving to Muncie, Indiana in 1959 for a short time where Jessica was born. Shortly after, they moved to Clearwater, Florida in 1960 where their second daughter Jennifer was born in 1962.

In 1980 Judith and Bob purchased a log house on Lost Horse Creek in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley in Hamilton. Judith fell in love with Montana and its people, visiting Montana every summer or fall every year since 1972. They moved permanently to Montana in 1989 from Florida where they lived for 30 years.

She and Bob have fished and hunted from the Caribbean and Central America to Alaska and many areas of the United States and Canada.

Judith was always creating something or learning a new form of art or craft. She loved teaching her love of art not only to her grandchildren but to others. She was an accomplished scratch board artist of wildlife paintings and beautifully created trout gourds. In recent years she had returned to her love of oil painting. Judith had many interest including judging art at the Hamilton fair.

Judith is a member of the Montana Professional Artist Association. She was a president and member of the Fine Arts and Cultural Center Trident Society of Dunedin, Florida and a Chairman of Junior Service League of Dunedin, Florida.

She won numerous awards in national miniature art society and won awards in many wildlife and western art shows including; Southeastern wildlife expo, Charleston , South Carolina, the Southern wildlife Festival, Decatur, Florida, international Wildlife Art Show, Clearwater Florida, Western Heritage Show, Great Falls Montana, Spokane Western Art Show Spokane Washington, Art at the Beach in Lincoln, Oregon, the Treasure State Art Show in Hamilton and others.

Contributions to wildlife and natural resource organizations include; The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Foundation for North America Wild Sheep, Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association, Trout Unlimited and several other wildlife and Park organizations.

Judith is survived by her husband Robert DeYoung of Hamilton; two daughters, Jessica L. Guber of San Diego, California and Jennifer and husband James Lloyd of Helena; two grandchildren Travis W. Ray of Bozeman and Lana L. Guber of San Diego , California; one sister Carol Medina of Mexico City, Mexico. She was preceded in death by her brother John Mariage Jr. and parents John and Dorothy Mariage.

Funeral Services will be announced later in the spring. The family ask that memorials be made to the charity of your choice.
HAMILTON - Jordan Rae Brown, daughter of Ethyl and Kip Keel, 38 young years of age, was born during a snowstorm on Dec. 21, 1978, on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, she chose to leave our lives in the same type of snowstorm!

Jordan grew up in Hamilton, chose to stay in the valley and wanted her daughter to grow up here too, with all her family and friends surrounding and protecting baby Lilly. Jordans first job was at Little Ceasars, she hated it! Her next job was at K-mart for several years, her final employment was her dream job as teller supervisor at Ravalli County Federal Credit Union.

Jordan loved her coworkers and all your after hours parking lot bull and gripe sessions. She also truly loved and enjoyed all the members she felt fortunate enough to get to know, help with banking matters and to call them her friends. That caring has been obvious to the family in the last few weeks. We thank you all. We all know Jordan made friends everywhere she went!

Jordan also thoroughly enjoyed her girls nights outs. Not naming names, but you know who you are, Tiffini, Pam, Amy  She enjoyed cooking, trying new recipes, drinking her Mountain Dew, going to concerts and plays, camping when she had time, picnics and fishing with her dad. She was never afraid to try something new, stretch her imagination and of course, plan months in advance for her Halloween costume. Enjoy those memories!

On May 29, 2016, Jordans world became complete with the birth of her beautiful baby Lilly. Oh, that little girl was loved to the moon and back, and as Grampa Brown used to tell Jordan, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck!

Jordan looked forward to raising her girl in the mountains, teaching her to camp, fish, ride a bike, kissing her first skinned knee, cheering at her graduation and dancing at her future wedding. Jordan will be doing it from heaven now, but she will be doing it!

Jordan kept working and caring for Lilly right up to the final diagnosis of the return of her cancer. She had beat it once, but turned out she couldnt beat it twice.

Her final wish was for Lilly to live her life with Michelle and Matt Shook. We hope her wish will come true.

Jordans smile, goodness and those big beautiful blue eyes will forever be in our hearts and memories. Her humor and sarcastic wit will be remembered, Im sure, at the most inappropriate times. When that happens, laugh out loud kids, and laugh with love.

Jordan truly lived life on her own terms (like it or not Mom and Dad). That stubbornness and bullheaded attitude is what kept her going until she simply could not fight any longer. To quote a good friend, A life too short, but lived well.

Jordan was met in heaven by her grandparents Carlton Brownie Brown and Lillian Brown. Great Grandpa John Pop Myhre, Great Grandmother Katherine Luttenberg, Aunt Nancy Blodgett and Uncle Kolby Keel.

She leaves behind: eight month old daughter Lillian E. Brown. Parents Ethyl and Kip Keel of Hamilton, sister Nellie Keel, California. Grandparents Jim and Shirley Keel, Hamilton. Beloved uncles and aunts: Bernie Brown, Jerry Brown, Pat Ramsey and Stella Brown all of Oregon and Carlynn Sis Brownlee.

Many, many much loved cousins, nieces and nephews, who while Jordan didnt get to visit them all very often were all a wonderful part of her life through the magic of Facebook. She truly loved sharing memories, recipes, jokes, complaints and even a swear word or three with all of you.

Jordan also has so many wonderful friends in her life it would be impossible to name you all, so apologies in advance. But, several certainly must have a shout out for loving our Jordan. Like it or not, you are family! Pam Jennings and amazing family Madison, Caitlyn and Rouxas. Maria and Robert Duggan and also amazing family Michael, Nathan and Miss Mia. Kamie and Mike Gladden, Laci Rose, Michelle and Matt Shook and wonderful son Collin. All of you were with Jordan every day, whether physically or by phone calls. She knew to the end you were all there to love her, help her and support her in any way possible.

We will have a memorial celebration for Jordan at 11 a.m. Feb. 11, at Daly Leach Memorial Chapel. A reception will follow to eat good food, remember Jordans love of cooking and share stories.

Condolences may be left for the family at www.dalyleachchapel.com.
With encouragement from a new conservative administration and a supreme court nominee, almost 100 people gathered in the Capitol rotunda Thursday to advocate for a personhood amendment, which would effectively abolish abortion.

The second biennial Personhood Rally brought awareness to a goal to make Montana the first state to stop murdering preborn babies. The idea behind personhood legislation is that other laws are only regulating abortion and dont actually prevent people from getting one. The rally featured speakers who vowed to fight for overturning Roe v. Wade, a personhood amendment to the Montana Constitution, and said the state could lead the nation in anti-abortion policy.

Several legislators including Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls, and Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, attended the rally. Rep. Derek Skees, R-Kalispell, spoke after being introduced by his wife and emcee, Ronalee Skees. He applauded the revival of the Mexico City policy, which prevents foreign nongovernmental organizations from receiving assistance from the U.S. for family planning if they perform or promote abortions. A country becomes ineligible for U.S. assistance even if they didnt directly use U.S. funds for those services. It is often called the global gag rule by pro-choice advocates, who are prevented from mentioning abortion during counseling to remain eligible for funds.

Skees also applauded the nomination of Neil Gorsuch and said he expects the U.S. Supreme court will see two additional judges while President Donald Trump is in office. He said he plans to bring a personhood bill before the Montana Legislature this session. The bill isnt listed on the Legislatures website.

We will lead the fight nationwide and well overturn Roe v. Wade, Skees said.

The idea of personhood legislation is divisive among conservative legislators and pro-life organizations. A version of federal personhood legislation has been introduced and eventually failed for more than 10 years. The National Right to Life, the self-proclaimed largest pro-life organization in the country, doesnt support personhood legislation.

Past proposals of personhood legislation have either been rejected by voters or found to be unconstitutional.

Voters in Colorado, Mississippi and North Dakota have rejected personhood amendments. In Alabama, a personhood bill was killed after a filibuster by Democrats. Pro-choice groups in Oklahoma filed a lawsuit to block a citizen initiative to establish personhood, and the state supreme court ruled that defining a fertilized egg as a person is unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal in 2012.

On Jan. 17, Rep. Jody Hice, R-Georgia, and 25 other Republicans introduced federal personhood legislation. House Resolution 586, also called the Sanctity of Life Act, would give human rights to fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses. Critics have said the legislation could be interpreted to ban some forms of contraception, in-vitro fertilization and stem cell research.

Chuck Baldwin, the pastor at Liberty Fellowship and keynote speaker of the rally, said people who truly want to end abortion will vote out any legislator who doesnt support personhood.

We need to get behind Derek Skees, he said. We need to let him know that we appreciate him.

Annie Bukacek, president of the Montana Pro-Life Coalition, discussed the different kinds of abortion legislation, including heartbeat bills, fetal homicide and forced ultrasound bills. She said the legislation hasnt been successful in saving a life.

Personhood legislation is the only way to abolish, not regulate abortion, she said.

Mary Leslie reminded people that abortions dont happen in the Capitol. She said 40 Days for Life, an event where people pray for 24 hours a day outside of clinics, brings prayer directly to where abortions happen. Leslie said they dont have the numbers to provide prayer 24 hours a day in Helena, so theyll be taking shifts from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. outside of Planned Parenthood.

Other speakers included Public Service Commissioner Roger Koopman, former Rep. Rick Jore and Debbie Otto, director of Hope Family Resource Center.


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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.  A day after a federal judge temporarily blocked the White Houses immigration order, the government on Saturday began opening the nations doors again to refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations even as President Trump unleashed a fusillade of criticism against the court ruling and the Justice Department moved to have it overturned. On another day of chaotic developments over the week-old order, the State Department reversed its cancellation of visas for people from the seven affected countries and restarted efforts to admit refugees. Aid groups scrambled to take advantage of what they acknowledged might be a brief opportunity for refugees to enter the United States, and small numbers of travelers from the previously banned countries began their journeys, knowing that the judges ruling could be reversed at any time. The developments led Mr. Trump to lash out throughout the day on Saturday, prompting criticism that he failed to respect the judicial branch and its power to exert a check on his authority In an early-morning Twitter post from his waterfront Florida resort, where he is spending the first getaway weekend of his presidency, Mr. Trump wrote, The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Late Saturday, the Justice Department filed papers notifying the District Court that it would seek to have the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit block the lower courts action. The White House had said earlier that it would direct the Justice Department to file for an emergency stay of the ruling, by Judge James Robart of Federal District Court in Seattle, that would allow continued enforcement of the presidents order. Continue reading the main story



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Judge Robart, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, declared in his ruling that theres no support for the administrations argument that we have to protect the U.S. from individuals from the affected countries  Iran, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan and Libya.

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The judge also barred the administration from enforcing its limits on accepting refugees. The State Department said on Saturday that refugees, including Syrians, could begin arriving as early as Monday. Syrians had faced an indefinite ban under the executive order. His ruling applied nationwide. Despite Mr. Trumps vehement criticism of the ruling and the certainty that it would be appealed, the government agencies at the center of the issue, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, moved quickly to comply. Lawrence Bartlett, the State Departments director of refugee resettlement, wrote in a departmental email that officials were working to rebook travel for refugees who had previously been scheduled to leave for the United States over a three-week period that will end Feb. 17. A State Department official said the extended time frame accounted for the fact that some refugees will have to make difficult journeys back to airports from refugee camps. Until there is a new order from the courts, the official said, the department will go back to vetting refugees, booking their travel and bringing them to the United States. A United Nations spokesman, Leonard Doyle, said about 2,000 refugees were ready to travel. Airlines, citing American customs officials, were telling passengers from the seven countries that their visas were once again valid. Those carriers, however, have yet to report an uptick in travel, and there appeared to be no rush to airports by visa holders in Europe and the Middle East intent on making their way to the United States. Etihad Airways, the United Arab Emirates national carrier, said in a statement: Following advice received today from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection unit at Abu Dhabi Airport, the airline will again be accepting nationals from the seven countries named last week. Other Arab carriers, including Qatar Airways, issued similar statements.

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A group of advocacy organizations that had worked to overturn the executive order and help immigrants and refugees stranded at airports issued a statement on Saturday afternoon encouraging travelers to rebook travel to the United States immediately. We have been in contact with hundreds of people impacted by the ban, and we are urging them to get on planes as quickly as possible, Clare Kane, a law student intern at the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School, one of the groups involved, said in a statement. But some officials were being more cautious, advising travelers to wait for further clarity. The American Embassy in Baghdad said it was waiting for additional guidance from Washington. We dont know what the effect will be, but were working to get more information, the embassy told The Associated Press in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security said it had suspended implementation of the order, including procedures to flag travelers from the countries designated in Mr. Trumps order. It said it would resume standard inspection procedures. But in a statement, the department defended the order as lawful and appropriate. In his first statement on the matter on Friday evening, the press secretary, Sean Spicer, described the judges action as outrageous. Minutes later, the White House issued a new statement deleting the word outrageous. Mr. Trumps Twitter post showed no such restraint. It recalled the attacks he made during the presidential campaign on a federal district judge in California who was presiding over a class-action lawsuit involving Trump University.

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Democrats said the presidents criticism of Judge Robart was a dangerous development. Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that Mr. Trump seemed intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis. Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, whose state filed the suit that led to the injunction, said the attack was beneath the dignity of the presidency and could lead America to calamity.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said in a statement that Mr. Trumps outburst could weigh on the confirmation process for Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, the presidents nominee for the Supreme Court.

Until now, Mr. Trump had been comparatively restrained about the multiple federal judges who have ruled against parts of his immigration order, even as he staunchly defended its legality. Some analysts had speculated that he did not want a repeat of the storm during the campaign when he accused Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel of having a conflict of interest in the Trump University case because the judges family was of Mexican heritage. Mr. Trump, who had painted Mexicans as rapists and criminals, settled that case after the election.

But on Saturday, Mr. Trump let loose, and in the afternoon he unleashed another volley of attacks on the ruling. In one Twitter message , he questioned why a judge could halt a Homeland Security travel ban, which would allow anyone, even with bad intentions, to enter the country. An hour later, he complained about the terrible decision, saying it would let many very bad and dangerous people pour into the country.

Earlier, Mr. Trump had asserted , without evidence, that some Middle Eastern countries supported the immigration order. Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban, he wrote. They know that if certain people are allowed in its death & destruction!

The Washington State case was filed on Monday, and it was assigned to Judge Robart that day. He asked for briefs on whether the state had standing to sue, with the last one due on Thursday. On Wednesday, Minnesota joined the suit.

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On Friday evening, after a hearing, Judge Robart issued a temporary restraining order, saying it was required to maintain the status quo as the case moved forward. He found that the states and their citizens had been injured by Mr. Trumps order.

The executive order adversely affects the states residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations and freedom to travel, Judge Robart wrote. He said the states had been hurt because the order affected their public universities and their tax base.

Still, Judge Robarts order left many questions, said Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston.

Does the executive order violate the equal protection of the laws, amount to an establishment of religion, violate rights of free exercise, or deprive aliens of due process of law? Professor Blackman asked. Who knows? The analysis is bare bones, and leaves the court of appeals, as well as the Supreme Court, with no basis to determine whether the nationwide injunction was proper.

An appeal was to be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which includes the Seattle district where Judge Robart sits. Federal judges in other jurisdictions around the country have issued more limited rulings that temporarily struck down parts of the order, though a federal judge in Boston on Friday upheld it.

While large crowds had yet to materialize at airports, there were individual stories of people trying to enter the country.

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Nael Zaino, 32, a Syrian who had tried unsuccessfully for nearly a week to fly to the United States to join his wife and American-born son, was allowed to board a flight from Istanbul and then Frankfurt late Friday. He landed in Boston around 1 p.m. Saturday and emerged from immigration two hours later, said his sister-in-law Katty Alhayek.

Mr. Zaino was believed to be among the first revoked visa holders to enter the United States since the executive order went into effect. His advocates had sought a waiver for him from the State Department, citing family reunification. Mine must be a very special case, Mr. Zaino said by phone from Istanbul.

It was, in a sense. But it was also a case of good fortune. As his advocates were pressing the State Department for a waiver, the federal judge in Washington State issued his order.

Iranians, many of them students on their way to American universities, also rushed to book flights to transfer destinations in other Persian Gulf countries, Turkey and Europe. Pedram Paragomi, a 33-year-old Iranian medical student bound for the University of Pittsburgh, who had been caught up in the initial chaos over the travel ban, flew to Frankfurt on Saturday, where he was to transfer to a flight to Boston.

Im anxious, he said from Frankfurt. The rules keep on changing, but I think I will make it this time.

The Washington State case, filed by the states attorney general, Bob Ferguson, alleged sweeping damages to the states economy and communities, but declined to name any individual residents as plaintiffs, as had been the case in the narrower previous cases.

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The state made no secret of its intentions with the suit: Mr. Ferguson said that it was intended to neuter Mr. Trumps order. Standing beside the governor, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Ferguson said his goal was invalidating the presidents unlawful action nationwide.

The White House order, the Washington State complaint said, is separating Washington families, harming thousands of Washington residents, damaging Washingtons economy, hurting Washington-based companies, and undermining Washingtons sovereign interest in remaining a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees.

Mr. Ferguson phoned several other Democratic attorneys general before filing suit and throughout the week, though none immediately backed his litigation. On Thursday, the Minnesota attorney general, Lori Swanson, announced that her state would join Mr. Fergusons suit as a second plaintiff.

Multiple states that wanted to challenge the presidents order spent several days designing narrower legal strategies than Mr. Fergusons, worrying that such a broad attack might founder over questions of standing.

Rob McKenna, a former Washington State attorney general, likened Mr. Fergusons approach to the legal offensive that Republican state attorneys general mounted against the Affordable Care Act under President Barack Obama.

Mr. McKenna, who is a Republican, said before the judges ruling that Mr. Fergusons action reflected the more confrontational role state legal officers have played in recent years.

I think he has a steep hill to climb, to overcome the presidents constitutional and statutory authority to control immigration, Mr. McKenna said. But it raises valid questions.
America must return to conservative principles of less government,reduced taxes, less spending and a balanced budget! Cut,cap and balance!
Kathmandu Nepal: SSP Shyam Khatri has been arrested by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police for his alleged involvement in the recent 33 kg gold smuggling case.

The CIB has confirmed the arrest stating that he was arrested after he was found guilty in the investigation process.

Khatri was deployed at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) while 33 kg gold was smuggled and found at Tilganga area of Karhmandu.

CIB had been suspecting after Khatri was found involved in the regular contact with TIA customs official Shree Narayan Yadav.

The CIB had already taken Yadav and Raj Kumar Dhakal into custody for their alleged involvement in gold smuggling.
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News / National

by staff reporter

THE Bulawayo City Council has repossessed and put on sale a residential stand belonging to Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko's family, after turning down the family's wish to donate the land to a charitable organisation.The Mphokos had bought the piece of land in the upmarket suburb of Selbourne Park in February 1998 for Z$101 675.The land is for residential purposes. The family this year made an application to the local authority to donate the piece of land to Zulu Duma Mahlangu Trust for the establishment of a boarding house.However, in the latest development the MDC-T councillors blocked the donation claiming that a stand that had not been developed could not be sold or donated unless it has been fully developed. Councillors instead passed a motion to repossess the stand from the Vice-President's family."Council on 16 February 1998 sold the stand to Mrs Laurinda Mphoko at a cost of Z$101 675. The purchase price was paid in full on 16 February 1998. The agreement of sale was signed on 27 February 1998. The stand measures 2 076 square metres and there are no developments on the stand," reads the report.In rejecting the move, council declared that the donation was illegal as according to council by-laws the owner cannot cede their rights to a third party."The financial director noted that the stand is billing in the name of Mrs L Mphoko, presumably the wife of the Vice-President of Zimbabwe. In the department's view, in terms of the Agreement of Sale, the stand cannot be ceded to a third party unless there are improvements on it. As such the current owner cannot cede his rights to a third party."The Mayor (Councillor Martin Moyo) explained that according to council policy, a stand that had not been developed could not be sold or donated unless the stand had been fully developed. The above mentioned stand was a residential stand and was not designated for a boarding house," reads the report.Further it was revealed that in going ahead with the donation VP Mphoko and his family would have breached the agreement of sale hence the stand had to be repossessed.The local authority therefore resolved that; "Council rescinds its decision of 16 February, 1998 that had allocated Mrs L Mphoko Stand 14440 Selbourne Park. Council allocates stand 14440 Selbourne Park at a selling price of $12 000 excluding Value Added Tax at a minimum building clause of a plinth area of 160square metres. The establishment of a boarding house be subject to application for special consent approval for a development permit through the director of engineering services be not adopted and instead the donation of the stand be not acceded to for reasons detailed in the report," reads the report.
sacw.net - 18 January 2017 [updated on 5 Feb 2017]

An Appeal to Voters of UP to Protect Democracy and Defeat the BJP

(Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism)

Voters of Uttar Pradesh will be electing their next state government in February 2017. UP is the largest state in the country. The political choices of its citizens determine not only the shape of state politics, but national politics as well. This time much more is at stake than usual. The voters of UP will not only elect their state government but will play a role in determining the fate of democracy in India. This puts a special responsibility on them to cast their votes with extreme care and wisdom.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections the BJP got more than 40% of votes and won 71 of the 80 UP seats. Many factors contributed to this landslide a the political bankruptcy of the UPA government, the three-way split of non BJP votes, a sustained targeting of religious minorities and communal violence. The most vicious example of this was in Muzaffarnagar. In addition, a section of the people were drawn toward the achhe din promised by the BJP prime ministerial Narandra Modi.

The two and a half years of Mr Modias government have shown that the promise of jobs, development and social peace was merely an election jumla. His government has failed in the first responsibility of any government to provide security to the people. The violent communal elements of the RSSaled Sangh parivar took their election victory as a signal to attack religious minorities and Dalit communities. Mohammad Akhlaq of Badhana village, barely fifty km from Delhi, was killed by so-called gau rakshaks of his own village. Dalits were publicly humiliated in Una in Gujarat by violent hooligans parading as protectors of Hindus. When Rohith Vemula of Hyderabad Central University committed suicide in protest at harassment by university officials and the RSS youth wing (ABVP), ministers in Mr Modis government brazenly tried to prove that he was not a Dalit. Now, when the BJP is faced with a tough going in UP, it has again raked up the issue of Ram Mandir in its manifesto. While it is true that no government in independent India has cared much for Indiaas oppressed communities, it is also true that no government has been as shameless and open in attacking them as the Modi government.

However, it would be a mistake to think that this government is targeting only religious minorities and Dalits. Immediately after coming to power it tried to change the land acquisition law passed by the previous UPA government so that farmers could be dispossessed of their land more easily, and their land given to rich capitalists and corporates. Payments for the MNREGA, which had provided some economic security to the rural poor during times of distress were reduced. The recent demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupee notes took away the hard earned income of crores of farmers and workers, and forced them to stand in queues for days to withdraw their own money. This asurgical strikea on the daily lives of ordinary citizens has benefited only banks and companies dealing in digital payments. Scores of citizens including housewives and retired service personnel have lost their lives. Lakhs of informal sector workers have been thrown out of work. All governments in India follow pro-rich policies. But the Modi government has taken this to a new level. In its zeal to serve the rich it is dismantling the little social security that was available to the poor.

What distinguishes Modi government from other governments is its concerted effort to create an authoritarian environment and weaken all institutions of democratic governance, from the judiciary and police to the Reserve Bank. The right to elect leaders and parties of their choice is crucial in a democracy. Democracy however is sustained by a number of other norms and institutions. Indian democracy is facing its most serious crisis since independence, because its elected leaders themselves are destroying its foundations.

The Sangh Parivar to which Mr Modi belongs follows a hate-filled communal ideology that advocates violence and aggression. The RSS calls itself nationalist, but its idea of the Indian nation excludes large numbers of Indians, and is determined by interests of a section of the financial, land-owning and upper caste elite. When Indians were fighting for freedom from the colonial rule, it was busy helping the British in their divide and rule policy. This was the plan outlined by Savarkar, their ideological patron, in his clemency appeals to British when he was jailed in the Andamans. Indias freedom movement was motivated by the idea of a nation incorporating all Indians and their welfare. The Indian constitution has tried to give legal form to these aspects of the freedom movement.

Freedom and equality of all citizens are the two foundations of democracy. All people should be equally free to lead the life of their choice, organise and express their opinion. The Modi government has consistently attacked these freedoms. It has foisted false sedition cases against university students for shouting slogans against official policies. Hooligans associated with it have physically attacked JNU students in court premises. When many noted writers and public figures protested against day light murders of respected rationalist Dr N Dabholkar, trade unionist Govind Panasare and author MM Kalburgi by fundamentalist forces, ministers of the Modi government attacked their protests as anti-national. This government has vitiated public discourse by abusing all its opponents as enemies of the nation. Clearly, the Modi government wants to create an atmosphere of fear to stop Indians from challenging what the RSS/BJP defines as Indias national interest.

The makers of the Indian constitution adopted a parliamentary style of governance, in which the cabinet headed by a prime minister is responsible to the parliament elected by the people. On many occasions the Modi government has by-passed parliament, and is trying to rule the country through ordinances. Even the president has expressed his displeasure at this shameless disregard of parliamentary norms. Mr Modi rarely attends parliament sessions. In parliament every member is equal, and a prime minister has to deal with other members as equals. Perhaps Mr Modi is scared of the parliament precisely because of this.

Barring the Emergency regime of 1975 - 1977, no Indian government has tried to control the judiciary as brazenly as the current government. It has delayed the appointment of judges recommended by the Supreme Court collegium. Its investigating agencies are stalling criminal cases against supporters of the regime, and victimizing their political opponents. No less a person than the respected public prosecutor, Ms Rohini Salian has publicly stated that she was asked to soften her case against Hindutva terrorists accused of Malegaon blasts. Justice Jyotsana Yagnik, who pronounced important judgments on the Gujarat killings of 2002 has received threatening telephone calls. The governors of Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh have been shamelessly partisan in pushing the BJPas interests.

If BJP wins the UP election the Sangh supporters will continue with their attacks on the common people. Modi will continue to target farmers right to their land, and peoples right to welfare. Most important for all Indians, it will be encouraged to further subvert Indian democracy. Political parties in UP are going to appeal to religious and caste identities and the so- called national interest of voters. The RSS-led Modi government is a threat to the Indian constitution. The people of UP have the opportunity in this election to defend democratic rights of Indians, which are more important than any sectional interest.

Battini Rao, Convenor PADS (95339 75195, battini.rao[at]gmail.com )
"O Theos Agapaei To Haviar" or in the previous English title "God Loves Caviar" is Greek history movie about the Greek pirate legend Varvakis. The movie was one of the official selections that debuted in "2012 Toronto Film Festival" In 2013 The Pirate was the highest grossing film in Greece. In Russia the movie was released as "Pirates of the Aegean Sea". In England the movie got re-released in 2015 as "The Pirate" but don't let the pirate title fool you, the movie is more about Varvakis life when he discovered caviar then his pirate life.

Story:

Ioannis Varvakis (Sebastian Koch) is an adventurous pirate, famous and loved by the Greeks, fared and hated by the Turks, one day he get assigned by Count Lefentarios (Juan Diego Botto) to fight on his side with the Russians against the Turks. For the sake of his people Varvakis agrees and sacrifice his own ship to accomplish his mission. Unfortunately he get caught by the Turks, sent to prison while Greece occupies by Turkey. Varvakis manage to escape and fled to Russia, there he gets pardoned by the Russian empress Catherine II (Catherine Deneuve). However there is a catch, since he used to be a captain on a ship, the empress assigned Varvakis to the Caspian Sea for the fishing market against the Persians. But by a vision from god, Varvakis discover eatable fish eggs or Caviar from a special fish, and he also discover how to keep it fresh for months inside barrels. Varvakis becomes successful and wealthy. But when he hears that his former friend Lefentarios has betrayed Greece and work for the British, a revolution has begun, then Varvakis world turns upside down.

Overall:

A very interesting movie about Varvakis life, it portrays well of his pirate life to his glory days in Russia to his down fall in Greece during the British empire. Despite Sebastian Koch is a German actor, he perform well as the Greek pirate and hero. John Cleese is a great comic relief as the British judge. If one is a person who expecting a typical pirate movie as "Cutthroat Island" or "Pirates of the Caribbean" than get ready for disappointment, it has nothing to do with piracy or sea buccaneers, but if one is interested in fantasy and touchy story and want to know more of European history then The Pirate is for you. I reward The Pirate 8/10.
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Opinion / Columnist

Antonio Guterres is Secretary-General of the United Nations

Far too often, the world views Africa through the prism of problems. When I look to Africa, I see a continent of hope, promise and vast potential.I am committed to building on those strengths and establishing a higher platform of cooperation between the United Nations and the leaders and people of Africa. This is essential to advancing inclusive and sustainable development and deepening cooperation for peace and security.That is the message I carried to the recent African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia -- my first major mission as United Nations Secretary-General.Above all, I came in a spirit of profound solidarity and respect. I am convinced that the world has much to gain from African wisdom, ideas and solutions.I also brought with me a deep sense of gratitude. Africa provides the majority of United Nations peacekeepers around the world. African nations are among the world's largest and most generous hosts of refugees. Africa includes some of the world's fastest growing economies.The recent resolution of the political crisis in the Gambia once again demonstrated the power of African leadership and unity to overcome governance challenges and uphold democracy, human rights and the rule of law.I left the Summit more convinced than ever that all of humanity will benefit by listening, learning and working with the people of Africa.We have the plans in place to build a better future. The international community has entered the second year of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an all-out effort to tackle global poverty, inequality, instability and injustice. Africa has adopted its own complementary and ambitious plan: Agenda 2063.For the people of Africa to fully benefit from these important efforts, these two agendas need to be strategically aligned.It starts with prevention. Our world needs to move from managing crises to preventing them in the first place. We need to break the cycle of responding too late and too little.Most of today's conflicts are internal, triggered by competition for power and resources, inequality, marginalization and sectarian divides. Often, they are inflamed by violent extremism or provide the fuel for it.The United Nations is committed to working hand-in-hand with partners wherever conflict or the threat of conflict endangers stability and well-being.But prevention goes far beyond focusing solely on conflict. The best means of prevention and the surest path to durable peace is inclusive and sustainable development.We can speed progress by doing more to provide opportunities and hope to young people. More than three out of five Africans are under 35 years of age. Making the most of this tremendous asset means more investment in education, training, decent work, and engaging young people in shaping their future.We must also do our utmost to empower women so they can play a full role in sustainable development and sustainable peace. I am pleased that the African Union has consistently placed a special focus on gender equality and women's empowerment.I have seen it again and again: When we empower women, we empower the world.I travelled to Africa as a partner, friend and committed advocate for changing the narrative about this diverse and vital continent. Crises represent at best a partial view. But from a higher platform of cooperation, we can see the whole picture - one that spotlights the enormous potential and remarkable success stories in every corner of the African continent.With that perspective, I have no doubt we can win the battle for sustainable and inclusive development which are also the best weapons to prevent conflict and suffering, allowing Africa to shine even more vibrantly and inspire the world.
Opinion / Columnist

Last year's decision to shift the administration of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) from the home affairs portfolio amounts to an absurdity. This is so because the reasons given were in themselves absurd. But then, the OPC is ill-suited to house Zacc and the attending legislation, the Anti-Corruption Act.From its establishment in September 2005, Zacc fell under the home affairs ministry. It was only last year in July that government shifted the administration of the Anti-Corruption Act that regulates Zacc to the OPC through a statutory instrument, SI68 of 2016.According to the presidential spokesperson, George Charamba, the decision was made after realising that the home affairs ministry was failing to investigate other ministries through Zacc, leaving government with no option but to transfer the commission to the OPC. Before this, Zacc had made numerous attempts to investigate senior government officials, among them cabinet ministers. The probes went nowhere because of extensive interference by members of the executive.Government's argument justifying moving Zacc to the OPC is just a roll of post truths or, worse, outright falsehoods. To start with, it gives the false impression that when a ministry cannot adequately handle a department, the said department must be moved to the "super ministry", the OPC. Secondly, it implies that the ministry of home affairs was to blame for botched or failed investigations. Thirdly, he wanted us to believe that the OPC has the capacity and motivation to effectively direct Zacc in the fight against corruption.The purported principle of moving a unit to the OPC simply because the ministry under which it falls lacks the capacity to make it work must be applied across the board. But then, the principle is not being applied consistently. For instance, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), which happens to also fall under the home affairs ministry has a lot of blemishes. It can be said, with a high degree of confidence that the police have in the past failed to investigate numerous high offices despite strong prima facie evidence. Yet no-one ever thought of moving the ZRP from home affairs to the OPC.To accuse the home affairs portfolio of failing to investigate fellow ministries and their officials using the anti-graft outfit is dishonest and wrong. The plain truth is that a multiplicity of factors influenced the failure by Zacc to meaningfully probe various ministers and senior officials. Interference from the presidium, collusion between ministers and high ranking security chiefs, factionalism, mediocrity on the part of the commission, underfunding and subtle threats and victimisation were the major drivers of Zacc's false starts. There is nothing "home affairs" about all these.For instance, as Zacc was being moved to the OPC last year, Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko stormed Avondale Police Station in Harare and bullied police officers into releasing the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) acting CEO, Moses Juma, and a board member, Davison Norupiri, who had been arrested for $1 million fraud.It's only those that are unfamiliar with Zimbabwean ruling elite politics who would expect home affairs minister Ignatius Chombo to yawn out of his cozy bed and rush to the police station to, in turn, order the arrest of Mphoko, his boss, for defeating the course of justice. In any case, considering that the statutory instrument to move Zacc had already come into effect, what did the OPC do with Mphoko's brazen violation of the law?Take it or leave it, the OPC is the last structure under which Zacc must have been housed because it does not offer alternative solutions to the fight against corruption. That it has failed to act against Mphoko is clear evidence of its lack of will and ill-preparedness to deal with graft and public sector theft. Juma and Norupiri who the police were forced to release have been free since that fateful night when Mphoko charged into the Avondale charge office.The OPC is mandated with providing strategic policy direction, co-ordination, monitoring, advisory oversight and planning relating to service delivery within government ministries and departments. Heading the OPC, which spans no less than 23 departments and administers more than 10 acts, are the president and his two vice-presidents. This is where the problem starts.President Robert Mugabe has an unflattering anti-corruption history. He talks big against graft but hardly acts. It has been like that for a long time. Even though he established a leadership code in the 1980s, cases of his lieutenants dipping their big fingers into the cookie jar are too numerous to mention. Notable among them, though, are the looting of the war victims compensation fund from 1997, the 1988 Willowgate that saw the "chefs" looting a subsidised government vehicle scheme, and, recently the pillage of the Marange diamonds.While he agreed to naming and shaming of Willowgate culprits and instituting a commission of inquiry, there was hardly any redress to talk about because all of them were pardoned. None of the high ranking officials who participated in looting the Marange diamonds has been arrested and a government initiated audit into how the gem business was run is now in limbo.Augustine Chihuri, who claimed 20% disability and got a hefty payout from the fund, is still serving as the commissioner general, some 20 years after the claim. Some of the top ranking officials who were named in various cases of fraud were dismissed and then recalled into public office. There would be little wonder, therefore, that Mphoko got away without as much as a reprimand for what he did at Avondale Police Station.There is no evidence that the OPC is adequately manned to ensure that Zacc properly performs its functions. The chief secretary, Misheck Sibanda and his three deputies have not demonstrated a history of fighting corruption. Neither do they have any history of independent thinking and acting. Merely placing Zacc under the OPC will muzzle the commissioners. They are bound to investigate only the cases that the OPC approves or recommends. Given that cases of corruption tend to be intricate and have high chances of tracking up to the big wigs, that leaves the commission with very little to do.Tawanda Majoni is the national coordinator at Information for Development Trust (IDT), a non-profit organisation promoting access to information on transparency and accountability in the public and private sectors, and can be contacted on majonitt@gmail.com.
Opinion / Columnist

President Tsvangirai has his own weaknesses we all know them for sure. We have to ask ourselves who is cleaner than Tsvangirai in our political landscape: none whatsoever. For VP Mphoko to tell us now that Morgan Richard Tsvangirai wanted to kill Nkomo is wholly laughable if not stupid. In retrospect if Phelekezela Mphoko was sincere with himself he should be telling us about his role as a CIO in Zanu during the struggle and after independence. How did he get the diplomatic job? Are Mphoko's hands clean in the first place? How far did his absconding from Zapu to Zanu with all the Zapu military hardware assigned to him as leader of that contingent, influence the military activities of the Zipra armed forces on the ground? He will need to answer those questions. History will pin him to those dark days when he preferred to remain in Maputo and have a good time than to go to the front and fight.It is said that Mphoko diverted military arms meant for Zipra to Zanu during the struggle. How much did Mphoko sell Nkomo and all the secrets of Zipra to Zanla? Why did he abscond from Zipra and opt to remain in Maputo to get married rather than continue the struggle just like all other freedom fighters. Is it the very Mphoko who is trying to exonerate Robert Mugabe from the Gugurahundi atrocities he committed when he Mphoko was in the secret CIO wing that actually planned the killings of the innocent peoples of Mathebeleland and Midlands. Who is saying Gugurahundi is nothing but a western conspiracy? All that stuff and nonsense coming from Mphoko: he is trying to make Gabriel Mugabe the angel Gabriel itself. He has tried in vain to even pin Dambudzo Mnangagwa as the only Gugurahundist: no Mphoko: all of you are part of the criminal cabal that took lives of thousands in cold blood.VP Mphoko should know better who wanted to assassinate our iconic Josh Nkomo: it was Mugabe himself who said Nkomo was like a cobra in the house that needs to be cut off its head. Mugabe wanted to kill Nkomo. Its not Tsvangirai who wanted to kill Nkomo. Where were you when Mugabe sent his killer squad to Pelandaba to finish Nkomo off by riddling him with bullets? Do not fool us VP Mphoko and tell us stuff and nonsense about MDC-T President Tsvangirai: the young man has his own shortcomings but his hands are surely not as dirty as your own hands. You should be ashamed to still go the SDA church service knowing full well how many people lost their lives under your CIO activities of the early 1980s that earned you the post of a Diplomat in Austria.Do not think that if you have foolish ideas in your head we shall buy them. You are the last person who can tell the people of Mathebeleland about the struggle and the reasons and events that led to President Nkomo to go to exile. Luke Tamborinyoka was dead right, there is something you must have been smoking to come out with such accusations regarding Richard Morgan Tsvangirai. There are cadres who know all about your military activities until you mutinied and joined Zanu. You cannot stand those dirty activities that cost lives of Zipra freedom fighters and after independence. At best you should shut up and eat as much as you can, it won't be long Mugabe will be history and when he dies no amount of reinventing yourselves to be better than thou: will exonerate you.In retrospect VP Mphoko, you are painfully a coward sibi sakho. Cowards do come with such falsehoods to cover your own misdemeanours, it is too late we know what you did and you will have to account for it at the right time: your time is running out, Mugabe is so old he can sleep forever anytime. If you were clever person you would really shut up your foul mouth. There is nothing clever that has ever come out of your mouth ever since you were hand-picked, nominated to the office of a Vice President: some appointment you can never get or smell it by any slender election in Zanu PF itself.VP Mphoko almost all the peoples of Zimbabwe know who the architectures of Mathebelelands and Midlands genocide were. The criminal cabals were the Zanu PF including Enos Nkala and you: the part you were involved in as a CIO fugitive. You are not as clean as you want people to believe you. History books will be written and you will go down in history as those criminal cabals that sold out in the struggle. You should be ashamed of this and you do not stoop so low as to defame Richard Tsvangirai about falsehood. Tsvangirai was a Zanu in the early 1980s we know just like most of or all the Zanu PF youth of the time. To smear him of falsehood is the height of folly. This downright criminality was authored by Mugabe himself and his criminals we all know them by names: very well.I am not writing this piece because I am MDC-T member of the party. Far from it, I will never join MDC-T because I have issues with leadership that does not want any kind of renewal: give the baton to younger people who can actually effect change because they are dynamic and energetic. Tsvangirai has done his part; he is supposed to give the baton to the next to demonstrate that MDC-T and Zanu PF are two different political parties when it comes to leadership change. I will hate it if Richard Tsvangirai is falsely accused of the dirt he was not part of. The political filth and dirt is in Zanu PF where Mphoko belongs and part of it.


Swell or no swell, there will be no Mavericks this year. Following the news this week that organizers had filed for bankruptcy protection amid some outstanding debts and a lawsuit from sponsor Red Bull, the big-wave surfing competition has been officially canceled, as the New York Times is reporting.

This also means that the first year that the competition was going to feature women is a no-go.

Filing for bankruptcy is Cartel Management, headed by sometime record producer Griffin Guess and his supermodel wife Marissa Miller, and they said last week in a statement that they were looking to sell Titans of Mavericks, the brand and the not-annual competition, claiming that the Chapter 11 filing was "the culmination of a strategy designed to implement a sale of the assets and intellectual property of the companies to afford a buyer certain protections available only in bankruptcy."

Despite the fact that Cartel is apparently indebted to vendors and contractors to the tune of $1.9 million, with Titans of Mavericks also $776,335 in the hole, Guess doubles down on the news about the buyer in a statement to the Times, saying, "The bankruptcy filing came after having had several conversations with multiple interested parties who were looking at an acquisition that could happen quickly, with a minimum of legal complications."

Mavericks founder Jeff Clark, himself a well known big-wave surfer, seems to be calling bullshit on that, telling the Times that the three-year relationship the event has had with Cartel has been a mistake. "We thought they were the right fit for us, but they brought their own problems and are now going bankrupt," he said, adding, "Our primary focus has always been to support the men and women who surf Mavericks and to preserve the sanctity of the wave and support our local community. We have sacrificed much to create a stage for the worlds best big wave surfers. We are disappointed.

Sabrina Brennan, head of the San Mateo County Harbor Commission which oversees the Pillar Point surf area near Half Moon Bay where Mavericks has taken place 10 times since 1999  only in years when the biggest swells arrive between November and March  tells the Times that the current situation isn't exactly surprising. "This event has been plagued with problems since its inception," she said. "Trying to generate revenue from an event like Mavericks is a challenge.You need a more organized and committed group of people to pull it off."

Some surfers were apparently already in town awaiting the event, and hanging out in Half Moon Bay  especially after hearing about the 30-foot swells that were happening two weeks back. And now they are sad.

Previously: Wipeout: Mavericks Surf Contest Organizers File For Bankruptcy
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O'NEILL, Neb. -- Over coffee and pie slices, Nebraska's pipeline fighters rallied last week, laying out plans and crafting a strategy to stop, delay or reroute construction of the Keystone XL.

"We are here, yet again, as we have been many times before in this room, to talk about how to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. For most of us in this room it won't be the first time, or the second time, it will be the third time that we stop the Keystone XL," Jane Kleeb, leader of the left-leaning activist group Bold Alliance, told the crowd of close to 150 people gathered at the O'Neill Community Center.

"Stopping the Keystone falls on our shoulders."

Former President Barack Obama twice denied a permit TransCanada needs to build across the border between the U.S. and Canada, the last time saying the United States must lead efforts to curb climate-warming emissions.

This time it won't be national environmental advocacy groups or politicians that stop the Keystone XL pipeline -- resurrected earlier this month with a stroke of President Donald Trump's pen -- rather it will be farmers, ranchers and American Indians fighting before the Nebraska Public Service Commission and in courts, Kleeb told the group.

First proposed in 2008, the Keystone XL has long been a contentious issue in Nebraska. Political and legal battles here led to years of delays for the project and thrust the state into the national limelight as the project became a symbol of how the U.S. should approach climate change concerns.

TransCanada wants to build the 36-inch diameter underground pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, south through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska meeting up with an existing network of pipelines at Steele City.

Nebraska is the only state without an approved route and the only state in which TransCanada still needs right-of-way easements. The company has more than 90 percent of the easements it needs in this state, but a core group of landowners have refused to sign on, including Karen and Kenneth Prososki, who run a cow-calf operation near Fullerton. A mile of the proposed pipeline would cross their property, starting at where it borders the Loup River.

Despite assurances from TransCanada that the Keystone XL would be the safest pipeline ever built, the Prososkis fear a leak would be devastating to wildlife, livestock, drinking water and downstream communities like Genoa and Columbus.

"With all that benzene in it, it scares the hell out of me," Kenneth Prososki said.

While they're feeling discouraged at Trump's attempts to fast-track approval of the pipeline, the Nance County couple isn't giving up hope.

"We're not going to lay down," Kenneth Prososki said.

Attorney Brian Jorde of the Domina Law Group, which represents the majority of holdouts, assured clients at a meeting Monday in O'Neill that Trump's action has no impact on Nebraska's requirement that its Public Service Commission approve the pipeline route, a process that is expected to take eight months to a year and must be done before the company can begin with eminent domain proceedings.

The Public Service Commission, an independent five-member elected board, will review evidence and comments from people who file protests or register as an intervenor before deciding whether to alter, deny or approve TransCanda's route.

TransCanada has said it will submit paperwork to begin the review in coming weeks, and the route will mirror the one former Gov. Dave Heineman gave a thumbs-up in 2013.

In the meantime, organizers encouraged landowners and activists to contact their state senators and ask them to support the creation of a panel to look at eminent domain issues.

If the Commission won't reject the pipeline, Bold and Domina Law plan to push for it to be rerouted along the path of the existing Keystone pipeline, which began moving oil in June 2010. Doing so would have the potential to add years to the project to get the new route approved and new right-of-way contracts negotiated.

As a final line of defense, landowners have promised to fight in court arguing the pipeline doesn't meet the public use criteria required of eminent domain projects because Nebraskans would not have access to use it like they would a highway or park.

The meeting Monday took place following a district court hearing on an appeal over a Nebraska judge's order to repay fees and costs incurred by Nebraskans who TransCanada had taken to court before Obama rejected the pipeline. There are 59 such cases in nine Nebraska counties. The hearing on Monday was for a case in Keya Paha County, but was held in the Holt County Courthouse in O'Neill.
VERMILLION, S.D. -- Michael J. Ewald has been named manager of media relations at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

He will be handling news releases, media inquiries and the faculty experts list on usd.edu . Ewald is a native of Watertown, South Dakota, and a 2014 graduate of USD with a bachelor of science in political science.

He most recently worked as communications director for the South Dakota Democratic Party and then as communications director for the Paul Hawks congressional campaign. He also has experience as a field organizer for the American Cancer Society, as director of debate for University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and as a legal secretary.
SIOUX CITY -- A lifelong asthma sufferer, Daniel Pecaut noticed his health took a severe turn for the worse in early 2013.

The normally active Sioux Cityan said he 'd wake up exhausted even after sleeping for 14 hours. While walking, he'd easily get winded and had to lie down.

Frustrated by his condition, Pecaut went to Rochester, Minnesota's Mayo Clinic, where doctors diagnosed his condition as bronchiectasis, a chronic condition in which the lung's airways becomes damaged, making it hard to clear mucus.

A relatively rare condition that may be the result of an infection or pneumonia, bronchiectasis can't be cured. But prompt treatment can help a person manage the disease.

"The doctors at Mayo had only one piece of advice for me," Pecaut recalled. "They simply told me 'don't get sick.'"

Discouraged by the diagnosis and convinced he was dying, Pecaut decided to take control of his health.

How did he do this? By enlisting a healing "dream team" that included a traditional medical treatment as well as more homeopathic means.

His experience with the disease formed the basis of the book, "Beating Bronchiectasis: How I Went From Diagnosis to Full Recovery in Just One Year."

Pecaut will sign copies of his book from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday at Book People, 2923 Hamilton Blvd. The book is also available for purchase at Amazon.com as well as other online retailers.

"I'm an investment adviser, not a doctor," said Pecaut, the president and CEO of Pecaut and Company. "My book isn't meant to offer medical advice nor is it meant to be used to diagnose or treat any medical condition. I'm merely sharing my own personal experiences."

When you were at Mayo, it sounds like you were at the end of your rope. What was going through your mind?

"My immune system had essentially collapsed which left me susceptible to every type of illness. The bronchiectasis caused all of this mucus to build up in my lungs. Since it had no place to go, the mucus was causing permanent damage to my lungs. My breathing felt more like gurgling. Even though I was in my late 50s at the time, I felt more like a 90-year-old man."

The diagnosis caused you to succumb to depression. How were you able to move beyond that?

"I went on a seven-day Zen retreat in New York State, where I learned about Renzai Zen (a form of meditation that was popular with the Samurai warrior class in Japan). By meditating, I was able to move beyond the personal grief I was experiencing. It also forced me to concentrate. My diagnosis wasn't a death sentence that I was stuck with. Instead, it showed me my recovery would come by mixing modern medicine as well as older, more natural means. Eventually, this included working with a medical concierge and even an acupuncturist."

While it seems like you took an East-meets-West approach to recovery, you also relied on your business background, right?

"In business, you're constantly doing research as well as networking with a wide array of people. That helped me in building a healing dream team. I became a general manager who was executing a plan in which my health became the overall goal. And like in business, I measured my progress every step of the way."

But the proof's in the pudding. You returned to Mayo a year after your initial diagnosis. What did your doctors find this time?

"When my doctors had originally done a CAT scan on my lung, it was completely white. That meant my lungs were inflamed. A year later, there was nothing there. My lungs had no inflammation and there was no damaged tissue."

So, how do you feel nowadays?

"Not to jinx things, I feel pretty good. My vitality is back and I'm finally able to breathe. I guess the takeaway is that you don't have to lie down and suffer in the face of a debilitating disease. Your body can heal itself if you're able to promote a positive environment and lifestyle."
SIOUX CITY -- The Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center invites Siouxland students, kindergarten through eighth grade, to enter "Seaman-the-Dog in Siouxland Art Contest."

Participants will imagine Lewis & Clark's Newfoundland dog arriving in present-day Siouxland, then create artwork based on their imaginings.

The entry deadline is March 1.

Students may enter one of three categories: kindergarten through third grade; fourth and fifth grades; sixth through eighth grades. Winners in each category will receive $50 and the runner-up will receive $25.

Winners will be announced at "Seaman-the-Dog's Party" at 1 p.m. March 11 at the Center where artwork will be displayed.

For more information, contact Sara Olson at SOlson@siouxcitylcic.com.
Within the first 10 days after Donald Trumps election as president, 867 reports of hate incidents in the United States were collected by the Southern Poverty Law Center, including 368 such incidents Nov. 9 and 10 combined. Meanwhile, recently released FBI data show there were 5,850 hate crime incidents in 2015, up 6.8 percent from 5,479 in 2014.

Experts say both figures could, in actuality, be even higher because hate crimes often go unreported.

Hate crimes are significantly underreported, especially in already marginalized and fearful communities, says Betsy Shuman-Moore, director of Fair Housing and Hate Crimes Projects with the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Victims may face a language barrier and lack knowledge about the law; they may be skeptical and distrustful of the response of the criminal justice system and the courts; and, especially, undocumented immigrants may not want to risk their status.

Incidents of hate arent just becoming more frequent; theyre also becoming increasingly public, thanks to cellphone cameras. Videos have captured harassment and intimidation in everyday venues, ranging from craft stores to airplanes.

So what should you do if you come across someone who is being victimized?

You should first ascertain whether or not its safe to intervene, says Lecia Brooks, outreach director for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

If it is safe to do so, you should, because we dont want to normalize this type of behavior. In addition to supporting the person that is being victimized, youre making a statement about whats acceptable and whats not acceptable behavior.

Brooks recommends first making eye contact with the person who is being harassed and then publicly showing support by engaging the person in conversation. Do not acknowledge the harasser.

Typically, the person who is doling out the harassment will back down if they think the person has some type of support because they dont want to get into it with everyone, Brooks says.

(Harassers) typically try to pick a person out. Once other bystanders see you intervening and supporting, then they will also.

Shuman-Moore added that not speaking up emboldens perpetrators of hate crimes.

Bystanders must speak up or risk amplifying the victims isolation and condoning the act of hate, she said.

Speaking up is one thing. Physically intervening, particularly if a violent crime is being committed, is another.

The Illinois State Police advises witnesses to call 911 immediately.

Andrew Weisberg, a Chicago-based criminal defense attorney, says intervening when violence is involved poses its own risks.

The bystander may be injured in attempting to help or could end up getting arrested if their involvement is misunderstood, he says. I have had clients arrested when trying to aid a friend or provide defense.
SIOUX CITY -- Carol Bahney was frustrated when her son Kyle Bahney told her not to clear the snow from the driveway and stairway that leads to her Morningside home's front door.

So in order to feel useful, the 79-year-old grabbed her shovel in defiance and headed for the back patio.

Months earlier, when the weather was nice, Carol wanted to mow the lawn. Kyle removed the spark plug so she couldn't.

"You can't just sit there. You get up and move and do something," an exasperated Carol quipped from her brown recliner. An unfinished jigsaw puzzle of Las Vegas casinos lay in pieces on the dining room table. Carol also does word puzzles to try to preserve her memory.

Carol is fiercely independent. She doesn't like to ask for help. She never learned to drive a car, but walked everywhere for years. That changed when a urinary tract infection landed her in the hospital in November.

As a result of her illness, she developed Sundowner's Syndrome, the onset of confusion and agitation that occurs as daylight fades. Carol was eating dinner in her room at Mercy Medical Center one evening and suddenly didn't know where she was.

"It just like snapped. She went to a whole different place," Kyle said. "She didn't recognize the surroundings or any of the people there. She thought we were keeping her there against her will."

Kyle knew his mother was going to need some additional help and supervision in order to remain in her home after she was discharged. He stepped into the caregiving role with support from a network of family members, neighbors and staff from Mercy Home Care.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2014 found that 25 percent of Americans had a parent over the age of 65 who needed help caring for themselves or handling their affairs. As baby boomers age, more families likely will be taking on the role of caring for an older relative.

Nursing homes can have long waiting lists and many families may not be able to afford the high cost.
Opinion / Columnist

There are lies that are believable because there have some sprinkling of truth in them. Then there are damn lies where everything is so far-fetched no one can possible believe them. VP Phelekezela Mphoko's recent allegations against MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, falls into the latter category of lies."Tsvangirai was around here recently and said as MDC-T, they want to fix the Gukurahundi issue and also said Zanu-PF has failed and he can do it. Let us not forget that when the late Nkomo's car was shot at he (Tsvangirai) was at the fore-front, when an officer-in-charge was killed in Tsholotsho he was there too. The same person wants to address the Gukuraundi issue now," said VP Mphoko.The whole allegation is based on the assertion that Tsvangirai was a Zanu PF commissar during the Gukurahundi period.Tsvangirai is corrupt and incompetent, his political track record speaks volumes on the matter. However, there is nothing in Tsvangirai's political record to suggest that he was involved in the Gukurahundi massacre; indeed, his track record as a blundering fool would suggest he was not involved considering the sicking extend of the murders! The allegations are so far-fetched one must dismiss them with the contempt they rightly deserve.Tsvangirai never rose to the rank Zanu PF political commissar at provincial much less at national level because he would have been in the party's politburo or central committee, which he was not. So, he was Zanu PF commissar at village or cell level in Bindura or his rural home Buhera - far, far away from Matebeleland and the Midlands were the Gukurahundi massacres were took place.The question then arises; why would Mugabe; with a whole battalion of North Korea trained murderers plus thousands of other Zanu PF murderous thugs like Perence Shiri and Emmerson Mnangagwa ready and willing to do his dirty bidding; seek the services of a blundering low ranking party member like Tsvangirai to carry out what would have been the most audacious and high profile murder of the day  the shooting PF Zapu Leader, Joshua Nkomo? Most people know Tsvangirai was trying to make a name for himself as Secretary General of ZCTU by grovelling to Mugabe!Professor Jonathan Moyo, the most notorious political turn-coat of Zimbabwe, not one to be left out of any political intrigue and controversy, has joining in to give VP Mphoko's stupid allegation mileage."This disclosure on Mr Tsvangirai's Gukurahundi CV is new and very serious. It must be investigated!" piped in the Professor.I am sure Professor Jonathan Moyo has heard of the Chihambakwe Commission report on the Gukurahundi massacre; the Professor should demand that the report must now be made public. The report will certainly be the logical starting point of the investigation he is calling for!Both Professor Moyo and VP Mphoko, who was in the intelligence service during the massacres, know many of the people in Zanu PF who played the key roles in the Gukurahundi intimidations, beatings, rapes and cold-blood murders of defenceless civilians  far bigger roles than someone like Tsvangirai played. These gentlemen are jazzing up Tsvangirai's alleged role not out of seeking the truth about the Gukurahundi massacre but rather to soil as many other people's names with Mugabe and Zanu PF's cardinal sin.Indeed, if the truth of the Gukurahundi days was ever told, it will not be surprising that both Professor Moyo and VP Mphoko's were more complacent in the murder of the innocent people in Matebeleland, for example, than Tsvangirai, the man they are pointing the accusing finger at!President Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs were responsible for the Gukurahundi massacres, it was the most significant step in the establishment of the de facto one-party dictatorship the nation has suffered under since signing of the unity accords with PF Zapu in 1987. Tsvangirai has his faults but to accuse him of playing a role in the massacre is nonsense. We cannot accuse the skunk of fouling the air when we can see and smell rotten fish.
SIOUX CITY -- Punxsutawney Phil glanced at his shadow in Pennsylvania on Thursday and, in doing so, let everyone know we'd have six more weeks of winter.

Iowa State Climatologist Harry Hillaker isn't into the cuddly little act. He never was.

"The National Center for Environmental Information did an analysis and found it was no better than a coin flip, for what to expect," said Hillaker, who reads forecasts based on trends and data to help predict what Mother Nature may send. "A groundhog in Pennsylvania is not what I pay attention to."

Instead, Hillaker examines the current La Nina weather pattern and finds contradiction. Previous years in this cycle, one marked by cooler water around the equator, have seen cooler and somewhat wetter Februaries than normal. However, that's not what the current weather pattern is showing.

"We're in a dry weather pattern," he said. "But that may change Tuesday of next week, which has a murky outlook, one showing there is a potential for a precipitation event."

The event may have moisture tracking into northeast Iowa, which would be a repeat of what's been seen this year so far. Towns such as St. Ansgar and Osage have measured more than 30 inches of snow, a total that's 50 percent beyond normal for early February.

By contrast, locations in southwest and south central Iowa have measured just 2-4 inches of snow in total this season.

In its largest outbreak of snow this season, the state was covered, on average, in 4.1 inches of snow on Jan. 25-26. Mason City, in north central Iowa, topped the charts with 15 inches of snow. It's an area where snow cover has been constant since Dec. 10.

"That snow hung on even in late January, which was very mild," he said.

Shenandoah, Iowa, recorded that state's warmest high temperature last month, a 58-degree reading on Jan. 30. Interestingly, Cresco reached below zero on the same day, the only place in Iowa where the mercury went into negative territory during the final half of the month. Cresco showed a low temperature of minus 2 degrees on that day.

If you take out that Jan. 25-26 snow event, Iowa averaged just four-tenths of an inch of snow the rest of the month.

January ranked as the 23rd wettest in Iowa during the past 145 years. That's because Iowa received 1.64 inches of moisture during the month, far surpassing the .92 inches, which is considered normal. Last month was the wettest January since 1996.

December was also a wet month with a Christmas Day storm that impacted some travelers. An ice storm followed three weeks later, one that dumped two-thirds of an inch of water on Iowa.

"Everywhere in Iowa you had some rain with that event," Hillaker said.

A lesser event had taken place Jan. 10, where some places had snow mixed with rain; others just had rain.

Temperatures were warmer in January, as it ended up being 4.5 degrees above normal in Iowa. The average temperature of 23.9 degrees (normal is 19.3 degrees) resulted in the 28th warmest January in the past 145 years and the warmest in five years.

"Cresco was the only town that got below zero, where it reached minus 2 degrees on Jan. 30," Hillaker repeated, noting how it didn't happen anywhere else in Iowa from Jan. 16 to Jan. 31.

"That's pretty rare," Hillaker concluded, "a sign of how mild things were in Iowa that last half of the month."

If a groundhog is predicting six more weeks of that, who would complain?

The state climatologist laughed. "Our youngest son would," he said. "He wants to play in the snow."
Paul and Jeanne Anderson will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Sunday. A reception will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Faith Lutheran Church, 3101 Hamilton Blvd., along with a family brunch.

The couple were married on Feb. 5, 1967, at University Lutheran Church at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

They have two children: Julia Lesko of Sioux City and David (Kim) Anderson of Spokane, Washington. They have five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Mr. Anderson is an independent insurance agent and broker. His wife is a retired professor from Western Iowa Tech Community College.
The Kuerner brothers, John, 4, and Will, 6, had fun last summer gathering branches and leaves for bird nests, touching real bird feathers and gathering nuts and berries for wildlife  all as part of a Backyard Buddies program at PAWS in Seattle.

But the experience wasnt just fun, it was also meant to teach the kids about respecting animals and treating them humanely.

While shelters have offered children and teens general humane education for about 50 years, in the past few decades, more programs like PAWS have been popping up, teaching children or teens through special summer events, camps or volunteering. Many parents and shelter staff say the programs help nurture a better sense of responsibility and compassion for animals.

I think my kids really only see these animals from afar, so it was able to make it more real for them by literally bringing things closer to them, said Sarah Kuerner, the boys mom. Its something they can understand now.  It really helps connect the dots.

Last summer, Lucas and John Fonseca, 8 and 10 years old respectively, got to meet a bearded dragon.

They look really cool and when I held it, it just was super calm, said John, who now has one of the lizards as a pet.

John and Lucas love hanging out with dogs, cats and bunnies, but for their mom, Angie Fonseca, learning to respect and treat animals humanely was an even better reason she enrolled her sons in Animal Adventure Camp, a program for 5-to 13-year-olds at the San Diego Humane Society. Fonseca is a former humane society employee who continues to volunteer.

Lucas and John learned to ask permission to pet a dog, read its body language and stroke it gently on the back. They also learned to interact safely and gently with small mammals.

Were really trying to teach those kids, especially that caring for animals goes beyond the basics of food, shelter and water, and that spending time with them and giving them enrichment is also important, said Amelia Curtis, education manager at the San Diego Humane Society.

The Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago started a half-day program called The Pact, in 2009, where children learn about the responsibilities related to caring for domesticated pets.

They also put on the play Androcles and the Lion, the folk tale about the slave who removes a thorn from the lions paw. The animal shelter also has a vet mentoring program for teens as well as programs for kids of all ages to read to cats, feed rabbits and guinea pigs, and make pet toys.

You realize how much love and care go into the animals here, said Brenda Castillo, 16, of Chicago, who attended a caretaking program in August.

During that program, teens helped stock food and litter supplies in cages and clean an office where a bunny, her babies and a dove were living while awaiting adoption.

At PAWS Chicago, 12- to 17-year-olds volunteer on weekends with their parents, greeting visitors, cleaning and stocking cages, and playing with pets in the Family Service program, which began in 2008.

It has become an amazing program that engages hundreds of families each year, said Celene Mielcarek, volunteer program director.

Emma Seppala, science director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University School of Medicine, said encouraging children to identify their own emotions helped them empathize with pets.

Animals have the same range of basic emotions as we do.  Fear, happiness and calmness.  So when a child is able to identify that in himself, then you can start to talk about how that exists in others too, said Seppala, author of The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success.
So I had myself an epiphany.

Actually, that's not quite the right word. An epiphany is a moment of sudden clarity, but mine rolled in slowly, like dawn on a crystal morning.

I'm not sure when it began. Maybe it was in 2012 when Trayvon Martin was killed and much of America held him guilty of his own murder. Maybe it was in 2013 when the Voting Rights Act was eviscerated and states began hatching schemes to suppress the African-American vote. Maybe it was on Election Day. Maybe it was a few weeks later, when a South Carolina jury deadlocked because the panel -- most of them white -- could not agree that it was a crime for a police officer to shoot an unarmed black man in the back. Could not agree, even though they saw it on video.

I can't say exactly when it was. All I know is that the dawn broke and I realized I had forgotten something.

I had forgotten that I am black.

Yes, I know what the mirror says. And yes, I've always known African Americans face challenges -- discrimination in health, housing, hiring, and a racially biased system of "justice," to name a few. But I think at some level, I had also grown comfortable in a nation paced by Oprah, LeBron, Beyonce and Barack. The old mantra of black progress -- two steps forward, one step back -- had come to feel ... abstract, something you said, but forgot to believe.

So when we hit this season of reversal, I was more surprised than I should have been. I had forgotten about being black. Meaning, I had forgotten that for us, setback is nothing new.

Right after the election, as I was grappling with this, I chanced to see this young black woman -- Melissa "Lizzo" Jefferson -- on "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee," and she performed "Lift Every Voice and Sing," also known as the "Negro National Anthem." Something about that song always gets to me. Something about it always stirs unseen forces, shifts something heavy in my soul.

"Lift Every Voice" was written by James Weldon Johnson in 1900. That was 23 years after the Republicans sold out newly freed slaves, resolving a disputed election by striking a backroom deal that made Rutherford B. Hayes president on condition he withdraw from the South federal troops who had safeguarded African-American rights and lives since the end of the Civil War. It was five years after the first "grandfather clause" disenfranchised former slaves by denying the ballot to anyone whose grandfather did not vote. It was four years after the Supreme Court blessed segregation.

And it was a year in which 106 African Americans were lynched -- a routine number for that era.

Yet in the midst of that American hell, here was Johnson, exhorting his people to joy.

"Lift every voice and sing

Till Earth and heaven ring

Ring with the harmonies of liberty

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies

Let it resound,

Loud as the rolling sea."

Lord, what did it take to sing that song back then?

I pondered that as the year deepened into December, as Christmas came and went, as the ball dropped in Times Square. Now here it is Black History Month, and I know again what I had somehow forgotten.

I had forgotten that we've been here before, that our history is a litany of people pushing us back after every forward step. I had forgotten that it long ago taught us how to weave laughter from a moan of pain, make a meal out of the hog's entrails, climb when you cannot see the stairs, and endure.

I had forgotten that America is still America -- and I am still black.

But it won't happen again.
The Affordable Care Act has been the political golden chalice for the Republican Party - and they have used it successfully for their electoral benefit for the past seven years, voting in Congress over 60 times to repeal it. In the words of an old Steppenwolf song: They stomped it just like a hog.

Every problem you ever had with your insurance company for the past seven years Republicans have blamed on Obamacare. Like insurance companies didn't cause problems for people before Obamacare?

Prior to passage of the ACA nearly one out of four Americans were uninsured. The system was unsustainable and something had to be done. Republicans decided not to be part of any solution, even though the prototype of the act was actually in many ways Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romneys state health care plan.

Though far from perfect, there is no denying the many positives of Obamacare:

*More than 20 million Americans who had no health insurance before the ACA are insured today.

*129 million people with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage.

*People with serious, life-threatening conditions no longer worry about coverage caps that exclude coverage beyond a set dollar amount.

In Iowa, just one year after passage of the ACA, more than 115,000 citizens became insured, representing a 37 percent decline in uninsureds. Woodbury County saw an impressive 47 percent reduction in the uninsured rate.

Although Republicans have been talking about repeal and replace, it is becoming pretty obvious that they really do not have an alternative to replace the ACA. Cmon, seven years of beating up on Obamacare and you still dont have an alternative? How disingenuous.

Repealing without a replacement places the health and welfare of millions of Americans in jeopardy. The consequences could be catastrophic:

*20 million previously uninsured Americans would lose their health care coverage.

*The KaiserFamily Foundation estimates that about 52 million Americans have medical conditions that could deny their insurance coverage without the ACA.

*Caps on yearly or lifetime benefits could be reinstated, even though 105 million people have benefitted from the ACAs ban on lifetime limits.

*The 12 million remaining uninsured would have no affordable options for getting coverage.

*Insurance rates would rise to 25 percent the first year after repeal and double by 2026, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

*Substance abuse and mental health coverage would not be required, jeopardizing care for 55 million Americans who are protected by federal parity laws.

Republican Gov. John Kasich, along with several other Republican governors who have expanded Medicaid, are wondering what is going to happen to these newly insured citizens.

I just want to know whats going to happen to all these people who find themselves left out in the cold, Kasich said at a recent press conference.

After seven years of promising an alternative to Obamacare, there is absolutely no consensus on what Republicans will do. President Trump has promised health care for all citizens, while others in the Republican Party have assured us coverage for pre-existing conditions will still be covered.

And dont kid yourself, there are plenty in the Republican Party who are perfectly content with repealing with absolutely no replacement. That faction would be led by our Congressmen Steve King. In a recent interview on National Public Radio, King stated as follows:

Its my opinion that if we repealed Obamacare and did nothing, were still better off. Almost everybody I know would be happier if Obamacare had never passed and we hadnt made any changes in health care."

Evidently, King is in his alternative facts universe and doesnt seem to be bothered by the consequences of repeal and to the many people who will lose their coverage. No doubt some will lose their lives as a result. But remember, King is Mr. Pro-Life.

King also made it very clear he has no qualms about dumping 9.2 million people insured by Medicaid of their insurance.

The roughly 9.2 million people that are insured under Obamacare that would presumably lose their insurance if it were repealed - theyre living under a subsidized premium, and that subsidized premium is paid for almost 100 percent by the taxpayers," King said in the NPR interview.

Thats right, congressman, the same taxpayers who pay your salary, pension and first-class health-care.

How pathetic that Republicans in Congress continue to play politics with our lives and welfare. Seven years is enough. Put your cards on the table. The American people are waiting.

Next week: Linda Holub

A Sioux City resident and local attorney, Al Sturgeon is a former Democratic state representative and senator. He is the father of six children.
WASHINGTON -- With an asperity born of exasperation, Justice Antonin Scalia once wrote, "If you want aspirations, you can read the Declaration of Independence," but "there is no such philosophizing in our Constitution," which is "a practical and pragmatic charter of government." Scalia was wrong, and much depends on Neil Gorsuch not resembling Scalia in this regard. Gorsuch can endorse Scalia's originalism, construing the Constitution's text and structure as it was understood by its Framers and ratifiers, without embracing Scalia's misunderstanding of this:

There is no philosophizing in the Constitution -- until the Founders' philosophy is infused into it by construing the document as a charter of government for a nation that is, in Lincoln's formulation, dedicated to a proposition that Scalia implicitly disparaged as impractical and unpragmatic. The proposition is that all persons are created equal in their possession of natural rights, to "secure" which -- the Declaration's word -- the government is instituted. In Lincoln's formulation, the Constitution is the "frame of silver" for the "apple of gold" that is the Declaration. Silver is valuable and frames are important, but gold is more precious and frames derive their importance from what they frame.

The drama of American democracy derives from the tension between the natural rights of the individual and the constructed right of the community to make such laws as the majority desires. Natural rights are affirmed by the Declaration; majority rule, circumscribed and modulated, is constructed by the Constitution and a properly engaged judiciary is duty-bound to declare majority acts invalid when they abridge natural rights.

In Justice Elena Kagan's confirmation hearing, she was asked if she believes there are natural rights that are not among the rights the Constitution enumerates. She replied: "I don't have a view of what are natural rights, independent of the Constitution." Using a foggy double negative, she added: "I'm not saying I do not believe that there are rights pre-existing the Constitution and the laws, but my job as a justice is to enforce the Constitution and the laws." And: "I think that the question of what I believe as to what people's rights are outside the Constitution and the laws -- that you should not want me to act in any way on the basis of such a belief."

Well. Natural rights, which are grounded in nature, are thus "independent of" the Constitution. They are not, however, "outside" of it because its paramount purpose is the protection of those rights.

The Ninth Amendment says: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." If you believe, as Robert Bork did, that this amendment is a meaningless "inkblot" you must believe that the Framers were slapdash draftsmen about this, and only this, provision. Scalia believed that "the whole theory of democracy ... is that the majority rules. ... You protect minorities only because the majority determines that there are certain minority positions that deserve protection. ... The minority loses, except to the extent that the majority, in its document of government, has agreed to accord the minority rights."

If that is the "whole theory" of democracy, then democratic theory is uninteresting. What is interesting begins with the institutional and cultural measures necessary to increase the likelihood that majorities will be reasonable and respectful of the natural rights of those in the minority. It is the judiciary's job to construe the "document of government" -- the frame of silver -- in the light cast by the apple of gold.

With the Declaration, Americans ceased claiming the rights of aggrieved Englishmen and began asserting rights that are universal because they are natural, meaning necessary for the flourishing of human nature. The Constitution is America's fundamental law but not its first law. The Declaration appears on Page 1 of Volume 1 of the U.S. Statutes at Large and it is at the head of the United States Code under the caption "The Organic Laws of the United States." Since the 1864 admission of Nevada to statehood, every state's admission has been conditioned on adoption of a constitution consistent with the U.S. Constitution -- and the Declaration.

The Constitutional Convention met in the room where the Declaration was debated and endorsed, and the Constitution implements what the Declaration initiated. Gorsuch will occupy much of the jurisprudential space Scalia so admirably did. But having earned a doctorate in philosophy and jurisprudence at Oxford studying under John Finnis, author of the book "Natural Law and Natural Rights," perhaps Gorsuch will effect a philosophic correction.
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.

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..Memri.org..Inquiry & Analysis Series No.129802 February '17..On January 30, 2017, U.S. sources announced that Iran had conducted a failed test of a new ballistic missile, the Khorramshahr. According to reports, the missile exploded after a 965-km flight.[1] Both Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif (on January 31) and Defense Minister Dehghan (on February 1) stressed that Iran "asks permission from no one in the matter of its defense program."[2]It should be emphasized that contrary to statements by Iranian regime spokesmen who say that Iran's missile program is defensive, missiles with a 2,000-km range are strictly offensive and strategic. This is why Iran has faced constant demands to stop developing them.In the years that preceded the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, Iran developed ballistic missiles with ranges of 2,500-5,000 km that threaten Europe and even the U.S.Dr. Hassan Abbasi, theoretician of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and director of the IRGC Center for Borderless Security Doctrinal Analysis, said in 2004: "We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization and for the uprooting of the Americans and the English."Our missiles are now ready to strike at their civilization, and as soon as the instructions arrive from Leader [Ali Khamenei], we will launch our missiles at their cities and installations... And because of Khatami's policies and dialogue between the civilizations, we have been compelled to freeze our plan... and now we are [again] about to carry out the program... The global infidel front is a front against Allah and the Muslims, and we must make use of everything we have at hand to strike at this front, by means of our suicide operations or by means of our missiles."[3]......However, after U.S.-Iran negotiations began, and at the end of their first stage, in Geneva in November 2013, Iranian officials began reporting that Iran's missile program for missiles with ranges above 2,000 km was being restricted.Thus, for example, immediately after the interim agreement was reached in Geneva, on December 10, 2013, and in reference to it, IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said that Iran is capable of producing missiles with a range of over 2,000 km but that Khamenei had restricted the IRGC to a 2,000-km range: "We want to increase the range of the IRGC's missiles, but despite this, the Leader [Khamenei] has restricted us to a range of 2,000 km. We have the capability to increase the range of our missiles, and our missiles should obviously reach Israel... The regime's red lines were not crossed during the nuclear talks with the P5+1 [Group] and in the Geneva Agreement."[6]
John and JoAnn Belczak vacation in Hawaii every year.

Thats in addition to trips the Yorba Linda, California, couple have taken to Tahoe, Boston and the Carolinas. Theyve strolled the scenic beaches of Aruba and St. Kitts and been on a cruise to Alaska. Every three years, they spend a week in a 2,000-square-foot penthouse in Nuevo Vallarta on Mexicos west coast.

Timeshares make all that travel possible for the peripatetic Belczaks and their three now-grown children. After buying their first timeshare in Kauai 10 years ago, they upped their points a few years later, then bought a second timeshare in Mexico.

Never regretted it, said JoAnn Belczak, 59. Its not cheap. We know that. But so long as you know how to work the system and you use it, its great.

William Dorman has a different take on the Las Vegas timeshare he got talked into buying at a sales presentation 15 years ago. Yes, he has exchanged his parcel for trips to places such as Palm Springs and Arizona, but nothing exotic. Those were always booked. He had to pay out of pocket for accommodations in New York because the timeshare there also was booked.

Now he wants to get rid of it.

Nothings available, and you have to book two years ahead of time, said Dorman, 56, of Dana Point, California. People are giving them away  or theyre listed for $5 or $100 because people want to get out of them.

Some people are happy with their timeshares, saying they give them a chance to see the world in homey, spacious accommodations that cost less than an equivalent hotel. Others deeply regret them, saying maintenance fees keep rising, they can never book the times they want and theyre stuck paying for something they cant use.

Regardless of whether timeshares are good or bad, the industry is booming.

Sales revenue by timeshare developers and operators rose 32 percent  to $8.6 billion a year  in the five years ending in 2015, according to the most recent estimate by the American Resort Development Association, or ARDA. Association figures show there were 411,880 transactions in 2015, with prices averaging $22,240, up 21 percent in five years.

But secondary market sales by private owners have been flat and represent a tiny fraction of the timeshare market, said Bob Schmidt, data officer for Sharket.com, a timeshare resale data firm. The resale market averages 25,000 to 26,000 transactions per year, with an average price of $5,000, a fourth the value of a typical retail unit.

There certainly are a lot of people who are interested in selling their timeshares, Schmidt said.

Sexier vacations

The timeshare concept, which dates to the 1960s, allows multiple owners to share one property or to gain access to resorts around the world by cashing in points theyve accumulated or through an exchange system.

People who love their timeshares say they are motivated to take regular vacations, and they get better accommodations for less money, with kitchens and, in most cases, two or more bedrooms.

An ARDA survey found timeshare owners are more likely to take annual vacations.

And because timeshares have more rooms, and thus more privacy, owners have more sex, the industry trade group claims (yes, they actually asked vacationers about this). More than two-thirds of timeshare owners say they have more sex on vacation, while less than a third of nonowners have more sex.

ARDA President and CEO Howard Nusbaum said that over a 10-year span, the typical timeshare saves a family almost $14,000 compared with renting two hotel rooms for a week each year.

You save money, plus you get all the comforts of home, Nusbaum said. Its a better way to vacation.

But its not for everyone, he concedes. People who are happy sharing a hotel room with the kids or who dont mind sleeping on Grandmas sofa dont buy timeshares. But for those who want to stay in a nice hotel and take a vacation each year, he said, it works out.

Booking issues

Discipline and advance planning are a must in the timeshare world, owners say.

Jeff Weir, owner of three timeshares and chief correspondent for Redweek.com, a leading timeshare resale site, said bookings can get competitive. For example, he has to call a year in advance to reserve a week at the Marriott Newport Coast Villas, where hes an owner.

Wait two days later, those weeks are gone, he said. There are some practice issues for owning a timeshare that people have to deal with.

Most of the unhappy owners are people who own a timeshare in a legacy resort, or an older, single-site property not affiliated with a large club, ARDAs Nusbaum said.

Those are the owners who have more pent-up demand to sell, he said.

A glut of resales

Almost half of the 614 timeshares selling on eBay the weekend of Jan. 14-15 had starting bids of $1 or less, with 37 of them going for a penny.

Theres a glut, said Mitchell Reed Sussman of Corona del Mar, California, an attorney specializing in getting people out of their timeshare contracts.

Hard-sell tactics are a key reason owners end up buying a timeshare they cant use over the long run, Sussman said.

Buyers are lured into sales presentations by free dinners, theater tickets or discounts on hotel bills. The presentations last hours, lubricated by free food and drinks. Then, the buyers are presented a stack of papers to sign.

They are zombies when they sign the contract, Sussman said. I have judges, I have clerks, I have doctors. They all come to me. Im getting people out of these contracts that are burdensome and oppressive because at the time they signed them they really werent in their right mind.

Sussman recently filed a series of lawsuits accusing Las Vegas-based Diamond Resorts International sales people of falsely telling buyers their timeshares appreciate in value and are easily sold and the property could be used by their heirs when they die. A retired Oceanside, California, couple with no income paid $150,000 for timeshare contracts with Diamond, a recent Orange County lawsuit said.

Youre told its an investment.  Its not, Sussman said. Its a liability  because of the maintenance fees you have to pay every year if you go on vacation every year or not.

The lawsuit is without merit, a company statement issued recently said.

In December, Diamond agreed to pay Arizona $800,000 and take back timeshares after the state alleged it had received hundreds of complaints of false statements and misrepresentations made during sales presentations, the state Attorney Generals Office said.

A Diamond statement said the firm will launch nationwide reforms, dubbed Diamond Clarity, to enhance the overall customer experience during sales presentations.

Rising fees

Virginia Pelton of Laguna Hills, California, sold timeshares in the early 1990s and ended up buying four of them in Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Dana Point and Cabo San Lucas.

I used them several times a year, said Pelton, 88, a former model. A lot of people say, If I want to go somewhere, Ill get a hotel. But they dont travel that much. If you have a timeshare, you use it. I did.

But then maintenance fees started going up. Her total bill is $6,000 a year, and shes taking steps to shed her timeshares.

I was really into it until (the maintenance fees) went out of sight, she said. I cant afford it anymore.

Anaheim, California, bakery owner Asem Abusir, 55, tried going to court to get rid of the Las Vegas timeshare he bought for $12,000 in 2008. He said he hasnt been able to get a reservation since he refused to upgrade to a $35,000 plan. His annual maintenance fees are $1,400.

They said, Eventually you have to upgrade, so think about it,  Abusir said. Its like I have no option.

Eventually, he was able to shed his obligation by paying a $2,500 fee.
The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 13125882 Canada Inc., 211 E. Russell Road LLC, 4458664 Canada Inc., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES ASIA PTE. LTD., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES BORROWER S.C.A., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES LLC, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES MIDDLE EAST FZE, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES SERVICES LIMITED, ASTRUM IT GmbH, Accudyne Industries Acquisition S.A r.l, Accudyne Industries Canada Inc., Accudyne Industries S.A r.l., Air Dimensions, Air Dimensions Inc., Albin Pump SAS, BOC Edwards Global Low pressure Air business, CISA S.p.A., Cameron-Centrifugal Compression, Comercial Ingersoll-Rand (Chile) Limitada, Comingersoll-Comercio E Industria De Equipamentos S.A., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Dosatron International SAS, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Proprietary Limited, FlexEnergy Holdings LLC, Frigoblock Grosskopf Gmbh, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First (UK) Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings II Inc., GD Global Holdings Inc., GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., GPS Industries, Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp (Canada), Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Limited, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica SL, Gardner Denver Inc., Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver International Inc., Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Investments Inc., Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan Ltd., Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte. Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia s.r.o., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH (f/k/a ILMVAC GmbH), Gardner Denver Thomas Inc., Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Ghh-Rand Schraubenkompressoren Gmbh, HASKEL EUROPE LTD., HASKEL HOLDINGS UK LIMITED, HASKEL INTERNATIONAL LLC, Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, Haskel France SAS, Haskel Sistemas de Fluidos Espana S.R.L., Hibon Inc., Highspeed Newco LLC, Hingerose Limited, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, INGERSOLL RAND ITS JAPAN LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND (CHANG ZHOU) TOOLS CO. LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND (CHINA) INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING CO. LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND CHINA LLC, INGERSOLL-RAND COMERCIO E SERVICOS DE MAQUINAS E EQUIPAMENTOS INDUSTRIAIS LTDA., INGERSOLL-RAND DE PUERTO RICO INC., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL COMPANY B.V., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL SP. Z O.O., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL U.S. INC., INGERSOLL-RAND PHILIPPINES INC., INGERSOLL-RAND SPAIN S.A., INGERSOLL-RAND U.S. HOLDCO INC., IR HPS Holdco. Inc., ITO Emniyet, Ingersoll Rand Cyprus Investments Ltd., Ingersoll Rand Finance LLC, Ingersoll Rand Global Investments LLC, Ingersoll Rand Global Ventures LLC, Ingersoll Rand Hong Kong Investments Limited, Ingersoll Rand Inc., Ingersoll Rand Investments (SG) Pte. Ltd., Ingersoll Rand Investments B.V., Ingersoll Rand Schweiz Investments Gmbh, Ingersoll Rand Technology R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand (Australia) Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand (China) Investment Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (Guilin) Tools Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (Hong Kong) Holding Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (India) Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Ab, Ingersoll-Rand Air Solutions Hibon Sarl, Ingersoll-Rand Beteiligungs Und Grundstucksverwaltungs Gmbh, Ingersoll-Rand Colombia S.A.S., Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited (Uk), Ingersoll-Rand Company South Africa (Pty) Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Cz S.R.O., Ingersoll-Rand De Mexico S.A. De C.V., Ingersoll-Rand Equipements De Production S.A.S., Ingersoll-Rand Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Industrial Ireland Limited, Ingersoll-Rand International (India) Private Limited, Ingersoll-Rand International Holding Llc, Ingersoll-Rand Italia S.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Italiana Manufacturing S.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Korea Holding Llc, Ingersoll-Rand Korea Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Lux Investments II S.A R.I., Ingersoll-Rand Lux Investments S.A R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Luxembourg Industrial Company S.A R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Machinery (Shanghai) Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Malaysia Co. Sdn. Bhd., Ingersoll-Rand S.A. De C.V., Ingersoll-Rand Services And Trading Limited Liability Company, Ingersoll-Rand Services Company, Ingersoll-Rand Services Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Singapore Enterprises Pte. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand South East Asia (Pte.) Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand Superay Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Technical And Services S.A.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Technologies And Services Private Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Technology R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand Tool Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Trading Gmbh, Ingersoll-Rand Vietnam Company Limited, Instrum Rand JSC, Interflex Datensysteme, Ir Canada Holdings Ulc, Ir Canada Sales & Service Ulc, Ir France Sas, Kryptonite corp, Lawrence Factor Inc., LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MILTON ROY (HONG KONG) LIMITED, MILTON ROY (UK) LIMITED, MILTON ROY EUROPA B.V., MILTON ROY EUROPE SAS, MILTON ROY INDUSTRIAL (SHANGHAI) CO. LTD., MILTON ROY LLC, MILTON ROY US PURCHASER INC., MP Pumps Inc., Maximum AG Technologies Inc., Maximus Solutions, Mb Air Systems Limited, Nash Elmo, Officina Meccaniche Industriali Srl, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Plurifilter D.O.O., Pt Ingersoll-Rand Indonesia, Robuschi, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, SEEPEX, Seepex (M) SDN, Seepex Australia Pty Ltd, Seepex Beteiligungs-Gesellschaft mit Beschrankter Haftung, Seepex France S.a.r.l., Seepex GmbH, Seepex Inc., Seepex India Private Ltd., Seepex Italia SRL, Seepex Japan Co. Ltd., Seepex Nordic A/S, Seepex OOO, Seepex Pumps (Shanghia) Co. Ltd., Seepex UK Ltd., Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Shanghai Ingersoll-Rand Compressor Limited, Shenzhen Bocom System Engineering Co., Superay, Syltone, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, Tamrotor Marine Comp AS Norway, Tecno Matic Europe s.r.o., Thomas Industries Inc., Trane Technologies, Tri-Continent Scientific Inc., Vacuum and Blower Systems division, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zaxe Technologies Inc., Zeks Compressed Air Solutions Llc, Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, Zinsser NA Inc., and crayon interface.

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Brookfield Asset Management is an alternative asset manager and REIT/Real Estate Investment Manager firm focuses on real estate, renewable power, infrastructure and venture capital and private equity assets. It manages a range of public and private investment products and services for institutional and retail clients. It typically makes investments in sizeable, premier assets across geographies and asset classes. It invests both its own capital as well as capital from other investors. Within private equity and venture capital, it focuses on acquisition, early ventures, control buyouts and financially distressed, buyouts and corporate carve-outs, recapitalizations, convertible, senior and mezzanine financings, operational and capital structure restructuring, strategic re-direction, turnaround, and under-performing midmarket companies. It invests in both public debt and equity markets. It invests in private equity sectors with focus on Business Services include infrastructure, healthcare, road fuel distribution and marketing, construction and real estate; Industrials include manufacturers of automotive batteries, graphite electrodes, returnable plastic packaging, and sanitation management and development; and Residential/ infrastructure services. It targets companies which likely possess underlying real assets, primarily in sectors such as industrial products, building materials, metals, mining, homebuilding, oil and gas, paper and packaging, manufacturing and forest product sectors. It invests globally with focus on North America including Brazil, the United States, Canada; Europe; and Australia; and Asia-Pacific. The firm considers equity investments in the range of $2 million to $500 million. It has a four-year investment period and a 10-year term with two one-year extensions. The firm prefers to take minority stake and majority stake. Brookfield Asset Management Inc. was founded in 1997 and based in Toronto, Canada with additional offices across Northern America; South America; Europe; Middle East and Asia.
Nabors Industries Ltd. provides drilling and drilling-related services for land-based and offshore oil and natural gas wells. The company operates through five segments: U.S. Drilling, Canada Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. It provides tubular running, wellbore placement, directional drilling, measurement-while-drilling (MWD), equipment manufacturing, and rig instrumentation services; and logging-while-drilling systems and services, as well as drilling optimization software. The company also offers REVit, an automated real time stick-slip mitigation system; ROCKit, a directional steering control system; SmartNAV, a collaborative guidance and advisory platform; SmartSLIDE, an advanced directional steering control system; and RigCLOUD, which provides the tools and infrastructure to integrate applications to deliver real-time insight into operations across the rig fleet. In addition, it manufactures and sells top drives, catwalks, wrenches, drawworks, and other drilling related equipment, such as robotic systems and downhole tools; and provides aftermarket sales and services for the installed base of its equipment. As of December 31, 2021, the company marketed approximately 301 rigs for land-based drilling operations in the United States, Canada, and in 20 other countries worldwide; and 29 rigs for offshore platform drilling operations in the United States and internationally. Nabors Industries Ltd. was founded in 1952 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.
Robert Half International Inc. provides staffing and risk consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through three segments: Temporary and Consultant Staffing, Permanent Placement Staffing, and Risk Consulting and Internal Audit Services. It places temporary services for accounting, finance, and bookkeeping; temporary and full-time office and administrative personnel consisting of executive and administrative assistants, receptionists, and customer service representatives; full-time accounting, financial, tax, and accounting operations personnel; and information technology contract professionals and full-time employees in the areas of platform systems integration to end-user technical and desktop support, including specialists in application development, networking and cloud, systems integration and deployment, database design and administration, and security and business continuity. The company also offers temporary and full-time employees in attorney, paralegal, legal administrative, and legal secretarial positions; and senior-level project professionals in the accounting and finance fields for financial systems conversions, expansion into new markets, business process re-engineering, business systems performance improvement, and post-merger financial consolidation. It is involved in serving professionals in the areas of creative, design, marketing, advertising, and public relations; and placing various positions, such as creative directors, graphics designers, web designers, media buyers, front end developers, copywriters, digital marketing managers, marketing analytics specialists, brand managers, and public relations specialists. The company provides internal audit, technology consulting, risk and compliance consulting, and business performance services. It serves clients and employment candidates. Robert Half International Inc. was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.
For the Week of February 6, 2017

So a hunchback, a mobster, and a WSB agent walk into a bar and... sounds like a bad joke, but instead, it's just an average week in Port Charles!

Somewhere between Greece and Port Charles, New York, is a brilliant and highly skilled plastic surgeon that turned Valentin from a hunchback to a honey.

The photo of Valentin, then known as Ivan Theodore, was shocking! It showed a disfigured face, a curved spine, and wild hair that defies logic. I mean, seriously, even hunchbacks can use a comb.

Now, of course, Valetin is Mr. GQ, handsome, self-assured, debonair, sexy as all get out. Hard to imagine him as a shy, stuttering, socially inept introvert who was crushing on a cruel-hearted Anna Devane.

I am inclined to believe his version of events for one reason -- Anna keeps crying every time she thinks of it. If she did nothing wrong, she would feel no guilt. If she had been kind to Ivan, she would feel no remorse. I think she is probably guilty of exactly what Nina accused her of, using him for his brain and toying with his emotions. Anna is a kind person now, but I recall when she first came on the show sporting a fake scar designed to hurt and torment Robert. She hasn't always been a nice person. She started out with a cruel streak, and Valentin's memory of her is from that era of her life.

Besides, I just like that version of the story because I want Valentin to be everything Nina believes him to be; I want her to stay happy. I love their relationship. I love that she went to Anna to defend him and to call her out on her misdeeds of the past. I love that Nina saw the photo of him before he was handsome and still saw the things she loved in him. I loved that she promised him that he would never see anything in her eyes but love. I really love this couple, and I hope next year at this time, they will be celebrating an anniversary -- but knowing GH, that's a pipe dream.

Valentin was honest with Nina about the circumstances by which Charlotte came to exist and why he stole her from the Cassadines, which, quite frankly, helped me figure out how Stavros wasn't the father, too.

The one lingering thing that may indicate that Valentin isn't who he says he is is the mysteriously disappearing WSB file that Anna was reviewing. That file must have been from the Ice Princess era, as it looked like 80s computer graphics, and then it did some cheesy fade before it vanished entirely.

What is in that file, and who didn't want Anna to see it? Is Uncle Victor still the head of the WSB and protecting the Cassadine bloodline, or is someone else involved? I know it's been a long time, but I am still rooting for Nikolas to be alive -- and maybe even Helena. The more Cassadines, the better, in my book. #BringBackSpencer

Lulu pitched shared custody of Charlotte to Valentin, but he declined and informed her that offer was off the table. He knows her ultimate goal is to take Charlotte away from him. If Lulu does win custody of Charlotte, I hope Charlotte runs away to Valentin's every day until Lulu succumbs and agrees to joint custody. I am not a fan of people keeping a kid away from a parent unless (and only if) the parent is abusive. I love Lulu, and I know she will be a great mom, but unfortunately for her, Charlotte already adores her dad, and there is no indication he has been anything but a loving and attentive father to her.

In other news, Franco was rescued and is off the hook for Tom's murder. In a strange twist of events, we discovered that the DNA pool of the Baker family definitely has some crazy in it, as Tom's brother Seth turned out to be the killer. Seth realized Tom was up to his old ways and was still on the prowl for women to hurt and rape. Rather than call Tom's parole officer or the cops, Seth just killed him. Good news for Franco, but another crushing blow for the mothering skills of Mrs. Baker.

When Franco was in the storage unit last week and I noticed the scar on his cheek, I excitedly messaged my fellow Soap Central family Liz and Dan to point out that Franco is going to have Todd Manning's cheek scar again! It just looks right for him to shave a scar on his face, don't you think?

Franco must be especially virile, as he was able to make love to Liz two days after not being able to even sit up. What did GH put in that I.V. of his?

Readers, I have not seen Liz's kids for months. I mean, seriously. Where are they? Who is watching them? Do they just live at Gram's now? When Liz took Franco home, A) I was shocked to find there is actually a bedroom at the top of her stairs, and B) I couldn't believe Li'l Jake wasn't in there, crawling on his best buddy's bed. We didn't even hear her kids...that's just wrong.

I am rooting for Liz and Franco, but it's clear after the dog cage incident that Franco still has a few issues to work on before he is husband material.

In other messed-up marriages, Alexis and Julian have made some slight progress during the blackmail phase of their relationship, and in spite of the way it was handled, Julian actually did help Alexis get sober and has been a good influence on her. I am still waiting for an explanation of why he was forced to nearly kill her, but I am willing to give him a chance now that I know Olivia is involved. I recall she is only a few shades of crazy away from Heather when it comes to being obsessive over lovers. Duke is to Olivia as Luke is to Heather.

We are still unclear what Olivia's motives are, why she would want Alexis killed, what she has against Sonny (except for the usual mob battle over "territory," and it seems odd that so many mobsters are fighting over Port Charles, which, from my estimation, isn't that big of a town). Also, why has she not reached out to Ava? Maybe she will try to befriend Kiki next in her inexplicable mystery plot.

Jason and Sonny are getting close to the truth, but they staged a fight for Julian's benefit to convince him Jason will back off on the investigation. They better exonerate Sonny soon; I am ready for him to be out of his ankle bracelet so he can go back to doing mob stuff and intimidating the townspeople.

When Jordan said, "The new D.A. said she wants to continue to prosecute Sonny even though we know he is innocent," I thought, "Oh, no, please tell me Olivia isn't the new D.A." It was also hilarious to discover that Olivia had volunteered to be Alexis' A.A. sponsor. I am a big fan of Tonya Walker. I am delighted she is back. I hope her arrival in Port Charles means that Duke is still alive, and she has him caged up somewhere. I'm looking forward to seeing how this all unfolds.

Another unhinged woman with a mystery plot is Nelle Hayes...Okay, from what I can put together after this week's episodes, Nelle is potentially the daughter of Carly's former adoptive dad, Frank, who left Virginia when Carly was three.

I mean, seriously, dear readers, what sort of a loon would hold someone accountable for anything that happened to a person that Carly hadn't seen or heard from since she was a toddler?

I can't make sense of that. Suppose Frank left Virginia and then lost his job, or got cancer, or had some other terrible thing happen to him. How on earth could Nelle hold three-year-old Carly responsible for that? No comprende.

The highlight of that storyline this week is Felicia going deep undercover and scheming with Bobbie by pretending to befriend Nelle to uncover Nelle's secret plot. Good to see Felicia returning to her P.I. roots. If only there is some way we can get Mac involved, then it will be a party. When they trotted John J. York out for Maxie's wedding, I wished that he were still police commissioner. No offense to Jordan, she could be D.A. or a WSB agent or something else. I just want Mac back in charge of the Port Charles Police Department. Because I want Mac back.

But I digress. Nelle sent herself flowers, signed the card with an "S," and made sure that Michael and Josslyn saw them to bolster the lie she is about to tell that she and Sonny are having a torrid fling. She played with her baby rattle again, but we can't drink when she does that anymore, or we'd end up in A.A. with Alexis and Olivia.

What will happen next? Will Bobbie compare Nelle to another of Aunt Ruby's unruly pets? Will Ned and Olivia be the next couple to tie the knot and end up in the middle of a mob battle? Will Josslyn's family tree turn into an entire forest as she adds in all of Jax, Carly, and Sonny's significant others? Will Diane win the friend of the year award for standing by Alexis in her season of crazy? Will Jordan decide between Andre and Curtis and give one of them a rose? Will we get another Felix sighting soon? Will they please stop showing photos of Sabrina unless they are bringing Sabrina back? Will Michelle Stafford please stop wearing dresses that remind me that her waist is as big as my thigh? (She's so gorgeous.)

Only tomorrow knows, dear readers, and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.

Tamilu
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.
They crowded the sidewalks as they marched down Flagler Street. They shouted all manner of anti-Donald Trump phrases. They marched over the Southern Boulevard bridge to President Donald Trumps home in Palm Beach, the Mar-a-Lago, walking through dozens of pro-Trump demonstrators yelling at them. They finally arrived across the street from the house of the man who was the target of their rage -- yelling and chanting in front of riot police.

Then at 9 p.m. they all left.

No arrests. No reports of violence. No fights reported between protesters and pro-Trumper supporters. From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, at least 3,000 people marched 2.5 miles along Flagler Drive from the West Palm Beach Trump Plaza to President Donald Trumps Palm Beach Home, Mar-a-Lago. The event was lead by South Florida Activism, which also led the West Palm Womens Rally on January 21. Trump does not own the West Palm plaza.

Protesters gathered outside of Trump Plaza around 5 p.m., where they held signs and chanted the usual slogans.

Trump Protesters, photo by Chris Persaud

No Donald Trump! No KKK! No fascist U.S.A.!  A common chant at anti-Trump protests.

Her body! Her choice!  Referring to reproductive rights.

No wall! No ban!  Referring to Trumps proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall and the temporary anti-Muslim travel ban he instated last weekend.

If you rearrange the letters in PRESIDENT TRUMP you get MR. PUTINS RED PET, one sign stated, implying that Trump obeys Russian President Vladimir Putin.

IKEA has better cabinets, another sign stated, referring to Trumps cabinet picks, which have enraged liberals.

Science fiction fan Thomas Robinson held a Star Wars-themed anti-Trump sign. It depicted the Statue of Liberty as Princess Leia strangling Trump the Hutt, with a Mike Pence creature at his side. Hell launch the nukes, Robinson said. Hes already building a wall on our behalf.

As the crowd marched down Flagler, a few people waving flags of Palestine and Soviet Russia managed to get to the front. One of those men -- dressed in a black beanie, black jacket and black pants, going by the name Johann -- had a bullhorn and screamed into it, Fuck the police! Protesters behind the communist-themed men shook their heads in dismay. No, be polite, one shouted back. Stay on message shouted another.

Hey, theyre just out doing their jobs, yelled an off-duty West Palm officer, who said he was marching for two friends who could not be there -- one is Muslim and the other a gay Mexican.

Johann and the other men refused to say why they felt so strongly about West Palm Beach Police officers who made sure protesters stayed off the street, out of traffic.

Volunteers along the march route set up tables where they gave out water to protesters. When the march reached Southern Boulevard, several hundred protesters broke off from the main group to walk across the Southern Boulevard bridge, where a few dozen pro-Trump demonstrators parked their cars and pickup trucks to yell at marchers.

One man waving a Betsy Ross flag yelled Homos go back to Canada, which amused the Trump supporter standing a few feet next to him. The flag-waver yelled Youre a baby killer, at a protester, who got in a shouting match with him about abortion, before a cop next to them broke up the argument, saying, Alright alright, I can see both sides of the issue, just keep going.

Erwin Nieto, a gay Panamanian Trump voter, waved a rainbow flag and carried a sign denouncing terrorism committed by Muslims. He supports Trump banning travel to America from Iran Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Somalia and Yemen. If they believe those countries are responsible, thats why theyre doing it, Nieto said. No Americans have been killed by citizens of those countries between 1975 and 2015, a report by the Cato Institute found.

Nieto said he is not worried about Trump being anti-LGBT either, despite his choice of Vice President Mike Pence, who wanted to spend Indiana taxpayers money on gay conversion programs when he was governor of the state. I think Trump converted him, Nieto said about Pence, although there is no evidence Pence has changed his anti-LGBT positions.

While Nieto and other pro-Trump supporters held their positions, protesters by 8 p.m. marched to the Palm Beach side of the bridge. They were met with more than a dozen Palm Beach Sheriffs deputies wearing riot gear, blockading the intersection of Southern and South Ocean Boulevard. Deputies kept protesters on the grass across from Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago.

For the next hour, demonstrators chanted phrases like Hey hey! Ho ho! Donald Trump has got to go! and This is what democracy looks like! Many jeered at the body-armor-and-riot-mask-equipped cops, chanting Hey youre cute, and urging them to remove their clothes.

The crowd yelled Boo and Shame on you whenever they saw people driving into the Mar-a-Lago estate to attend the 60th annual American Red Cross Ball, a fundraiser.

At one point, officers brought out a tank-like vehicle, but never used it.

Then at 9 p.m., when the march was scheduled to end, protesters left. Officers followed them to make sure no demonstrators turned back to Trumps estate.

Some protesters called friends to get a ride back home. Some started to make the 40-minute trek back to their cars parked in downtown West Palm. And despite the backlash Uber got for its CEO being a Trump advisor, some protesters called on Uber to come get them.
Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme  La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza.



Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres.




The Mohawk Racetrack race office would like to inform horsepeople of a change to the current training schedule for the month of February at Woodbine Racetrack.

Starting next week, training will no longer be available at Woodbine on Tuesday mornings in February, but instead will be available on Saturday mornings.

The racing surface and paddock will be available each Saturday morning during the month of February (starting February 11) from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

An update with the training schedule for the month of March will be issued later in the month.

(WEG)
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India is the highest growing market for the Konica Minolta group, a top executive of the Japanese technology company said at the Printpack India 2017 exhibition organised at India Expo Centre here on Saturday.

While demonstrating the company's high-end printing and web solutions at the exhibition, Yuji Nakata, Managing Director of Konica Minolta India, told IANS that the company has got the strongest infrastructure in India with nearly 200 engineers working on development of the products.

The five-day event, that commenced on February 4, is showcasing solutions for mid-range as well as large businesses, which include products like bizhub PRESS C1100/C1085; bizhub PRESS C1070/C1060; bizhub PRESS 1250 and MGI JETvarnish 3DS.

The company also launched its end-to-end web printing solutions at the event, including CS Remote Care Global Services, Accurio Pro solutions suite and Infinite Web to Print solutions. The company displayed its bizhub PRESS C1100/ C1085 solution for mid range businesses. The solution has an industry leading speed of 100/85 A4 pages per minute in vibrant colours.

The machine offers at 1200 by 1200 dots per inch (dpi) resolution with 8-bit processing for polished and high-resolution images. Also on display is bizhub PRESS C1070/C1060 digital printing press that gives a print output rate of 71/61 A4 pages per minute with excellent colour image quality and offers a maximum of 7,500 sheet paper capacity for long and consistent press operations.

The Bizhub PRESS C1070/ C1060 is embedded with an "Enhanced Simitri HDE" toner for halftone and skin-tone reproduction and is crafted with biomass plant based substance for eco-friendly operations. The MGI JET varnish 3DS with iFoils has a spot UV and 3D tactile varnishing capabilities.

The machine can transform a standard printed output into a high quality spot UV printed sheet or further into a high margin 3D embossed output. "Our industrial printing solutions are tailored to meet the high volume printing demands of businesses," added Yoshinori Koide, Marketing Head for Production Print Business Unit at Konica Minolta India.

The bizhub PRESS 1250 Digital Printing Press offers print speeds of up to 125 A4 pages per minute and comes with a monthly duty cycle of three million outputs as well as real time image density. The newly launched AccurioPro is specially designed for print shops of differing sizes and the platform's modular design is crafted for an end-to-end work flow automation.

"The launched web solutions will also help businesses gain more visibility and agility in their work operations which in turn will raise the productivity of their workforce," Kuldeep Malhotra, Sales Head at Konica Minolta India, said.

IANS
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Indian police have busted an internet scam in which around 650,000 people lost a combined 3700 crores rupees ($549 million) after sending money to a company that promised they would earn cash by clicking on web links, police said on Friday.

Police, who described the pyramid-style scheme as one of India's biggest ever, said they had arrested three ringleaders on the outskirts of New Delhi, the capital, and seized more than 500 crore rupees ($74 million) from bank accounts.

"They learned that if you give some money back to members, the investments would go up exponentially," Amit Pathak, head of a police cyber crime unit in India's populous northern state of Uttar Pradesh, told Reuters.

The men ran a series of websites that promised would-be subscribers a chance to earn five rupees ($0.07) each time they clicked or liked web links sent to their mobile phones, police said.

The unsuspecting investors each paid thousands of rupees into the company's bank accounts to join the scheme, but the web links they received were fake.

The company running the alleged scam had operated for years, but earned almost all the money over a few months from last August, after it began to distribute some of the proceeds, using the beneficiaries to draw in more investors.

Police said the ringleaders had not yet appointed lawyers as the chargesheet was still being prepared.

When police raided the company's head office in the city of Noida they found 250 passports of employees and members who had been rewarded with a holiday to Australia.

The scammers planned to film the holiday and then post it online as promotional material to lure more subscribers.

The alleged mastermind spent some of the proceeds on houses, cars and celebrity parties. Pathak said it would take time to trace most of the money, and several bank employees were believed to be involved.

"It's a very big task for us. We have brought in the income-tax department, and other government agencies, to trace the money," Pathak said.

Cyber crime in India, home to the world's second largest number of internet users, jumped 350 percent in the three years to 2014 as criminals exploited booming smartphone use, a study by auditing services firm PwC and industry lobby group Assocham showed last year.

Reuters
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Boeing Co has hired a small company to make about 600 3D-printed parts for its Starliner space taxis, meaning key components in the United States manned space program are being built with additive manufacturing.

The company, privately held Oxford Performance Materials, will announce a $10 million strategic investment from advanced materials company Hexcel Corp as early as Friday, adding to $15 million Hexcel invested in May and lifting Hexcel's equity stake to 16.1 percent, Oxford and Hexcel said.

Boeing's award of the parts for its flagship space program and Hexcel's funding are strategic bets that printed plastics can perform flawlessly even under the extreme stress of a rocket launch and sub-zero temperatures of space. They offer further evidence of a shift in 3D printing from making prototypes to commercial production of high-grade parts for space ships, aircraft engines and other critical equipment.

Oxford's parts will help Boeing lower costs and save weight on each seven-seat capsule, compared with traditional metal and plastic manufacturing, Larry Varholak, president of Oxford's aerospace business, said in an interview.

"What really makes it valuable to NASA and Boeing is this material is as strong as aluminum at significantly less weight," he said. Boeing said the weight savings on Oxford's parts is about 60 percent compared with traditional manufacturing.

Boeing is building three Starliner capsules under a $4.2 billion NASA contract. Entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX is building a competing capsule under a $2.6 billion NASA contract. Oxford has already shipped parts for the Starliner. The plastic it uses, known as PEKK, also resists fire and radiation, according to Oxford. Boeing declined to say how much of the capsule Oxford's parts represent.

"It's a significant fraction of the Starliner from the aspects of design, assembly and reliability of high integrity parts," said Leo Christodoulou, director of structures and materials engineering at Boeing. "Using Oxford's materials takes out a lot of cost."

Show me the Data

Despite its promise and potential sales, customers and investors need to be convinced by repeatable results from printed plastics. "We're still in the show-me stage," Oxford Chief Executive Scott DeFelice said in an interview. "If you don't show me the data I'm not going to believe you."

Oxford, based in South Windsor, Connecticut, started as a materials science company in 2000 and added 3D printing in 2006. It also makes aircraft parts and cranial and facial implants, as well as replacement human vertebrae.

In 2012 it delved into aerospace and defense. Working with NASA, Northrop Grumman Corp and incubator America Makes, it demonstrated printed PEKK could handle temperatures from minus 300 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit among other qualities,

"It's everything from brackets supporting the propulsion system to internal structures for the air revitalization system," Varholak said of the parts for Boeing's Starliner.

Printing parts is often faster and less expensive than traditional forging, machining or molding. It requires minimal tooling and touch labor, and allows companies to keep a "digital inventory" of parts, printing as needed, said Terry Wohlers, chief executive of consulting firm Wohlers Associates, which has tracked additive manufacturing for more than 20 years.

Use of 3D technology is surging. Sales reached $1 billion in 2007, jumped to nearly $5.2 billion in 2015 and are expected to hit $26.5 billion by 2021, according to the Wohlers Report, which analyzes the sector. Several relatively small listed companies such as Stratasys Ltd, 3D Systems Corp and ExOne Co offer investors exposure.

Other firms have been snapped up. General Electric last year bought a controlling stake in Swedish 3D printing company Arcam AB and Germany's Concept Laser, and launched an additive manufacturing division. GE already prints metal parts for the new LEAP engine that powers Boeing and Airbus SA single-aisle jetliners.

Aerospace already accounts for about 17 percent of 3D printing revenue, ranking second after industrial and business machines but ahead of automotive, consumer, electronics and medical products, according to Wohlers.

Aerospace is a "near perfect fit" for 3D printing because it involves complex, expensive parts made in relatively low volumes, Wohlers said. The Starliner is due to blast off for the first time in June 2018 from Cape Canaveral, and carry its first crew in August 2018. It will be launched on an Atlas V rocket supplied by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corp.

Reuters
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Indian IT sector leaders will meet both U.S. lawmakers and officials from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration later this month to lobby against any major changes to visa regulations that could hurt the country's $150 billion industry.

R. Chandrashekhar, head of Indian IT industry body Nasscom, said details of the visit were still being finalised, but chief executives from some of India's big IT companies would be part of a delegation visiting Washington in the week of Feb. 20.

India's software services industry is concerned about a bill introduced in the U.S. Congress seeking to double the salary paid to H-1B visa holders which would dramatically increase the costs for the Indian companies employing them.

Indian IT service companies use H-1B visas to fly engineers to the U.S., their biggest market, to service clients, but some opponents in the United States argue they are misusing the programme to replace U.S. jobs.

Earlier in the week, Nasscom warned that a bill, introduced last month by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California, unfairly targets some of its members and will not solve a U.S. labour shortage in the tech sector. Chandrashekhar told Reuters that the visit would also seek to emphasize the "the economic partnership that is being built between the two countries."

India's IT firms, led by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS), Infosys (INFY.NS) and Wipro (WIPR.NS), have seen growth slow in 2016, as customers delayed spending ahead of the U.S. presidential election. IT players told Reuters late last year they planned to speed up local hiring, acquire U.S. firms with bigger local workforces and make a renewed push on automation to counter the regulatory threat.

"Immigration concerns were a risk item, always there, but they are more pronounced now," said a senior executive at L&T Technology Services, who declined to be named. Speculation that Trump may issue an executive order curbing the H-1B programme sent shares in IT companies tumbling this week.

An Indian consultant working for Infosys in the U.S. said many of his colleagues were "dejected," while another engineer working for Cisco in North Carolina said management had called in an immigration attorney to reassure employees. India's Ministry of External Affairs said it had expressed its concerns to the U.S. government.

"No executive order has been signed so far," Vikas Swarup, a spokesman for the ministry told reporters on Thursday. "Such bills have been introduced in the past too and such bills have to go through the full Congressional process. So let's not prejudge the outcome."

Reuters
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An assembly plant that Apple's Taiwanese manufacturing partner Wistron Corp is setting up in Bengaluru will focus solely on assembling iPhones, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The source, who asked not to be named because he was not cleared to discuss matters publicly, said Apple and the Indian government were, however, still discussing "the repatriation of long-term profits from local sales and exports."

The government of the Indian state of Karnataka said on Thursday it welcomed Apple's proposal to begin initial manufacturing operations in tech hub Bengaluru, its state capital, hinting it is moving forward with plans to assemble iPhones in India.

"Apple's intentions to manufacture in Bengaluru will foster a cutting edge technology ecosystem and supply chain development in the state, which are critical for India to compete globally," the Karnataka government said in a statement.

Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge told Reuters on Friday he believes Apple will "tentatively begin manufacturing iPhones in the state by the end of April, or beginning of May." A second source familiar with matters told Reuters, however, that no agreement, or memorandum of understanding has so far been finalised with the Karnataka government.

The person, who also asked not to be named, said if Apple did go ahead with plans to begin assembling the iPhone, it was likely to do so initially at the plant being set up by Wistron at Peenya on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Apple was not immediately reachable for comment.

Joyce Chou, a spokeswoman for Wistron, said its Bengaluru plant is expected to begin producing smartphones some time in the first half of 2017. She declined to comment on whether it would be a captive iPhone assembly site. Cupertino, California-based Apple, is keen to assemble its phones in India, one of the world's fastest growing smartphone markets.

Apple representatives met federal and state government officials in India last week, as it is lobbies hard for tax and sourcing concessions before it begins to assemble iPhones there. Apple described its discussions with Indian officials as open and constructive.

Any final decision on manufacturing in India is, however, likely to depend on the government's willingness to concede ground on the concessions Apple seeks. Last month, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said India would consider Apple's request for incentives with an "open mind."

Reuters
About me I'm Avi Green

From Jerusalem, Israel

I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best. My profile

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AL leader Suranjit passes away

President, PM condole his death

Dhaka, UNB - Veteran Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta died at LabaidHospital in the city early Sunday. He was 71.

Suranjit breathed his last around 4:24am, said AL general secretary Obaidul Quader.

He was admitted to the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) of the hospital on February 3.

Suranjit left behind wife Dr Joya Sengupta, son Soumen Sengupta, a host of relatives and well-wishers to mourn his death.

Suranjit's body was taken to his Zigatola residence in the city and it will be taken the SouthPlaza of the National Parliament around 3pm for paying homage by MPs and leaders.

The body will then be taken to Sylhet around 9am on Monday, Quader said.

Later, it will be taken to Suranjit's ancestral home in Dirai upazila of Sumanganj around 3pm for funeral, he added.

"He (Suranjit) was a lively person in our political history. I think he was a number one parliamentarian. A huge vacuum has been created with his death," Quader said while briefing journalists.

Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed deep shock at the death of Suranjit Sengupta, an MP from Sunamganj-2 constituency as well as the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.

Born on May 5, 1946 at Anwarpur village in Dirai upazila of Sunamganj district, Suranjit passed SSC from Dirai High School and HSC from Sylhet MC College and later completed his graduation and post-graduation in History from Dhaka University.

He received LLB degree from Central Law College and started his career as a lawyer.

Suranjit had got engaged with leftist politics during his student life. Later, he joined Awami League.

The veteran politician was elected member of parliament for eight times in the post-liberation period.

Suranjit was a member of 34-member Constitution Drafting Committee, formed after the Liberation War.

He was a commander of Tekerghat sub-sector under Sector-five in Sylhet district as he took part in the Liberation War in 1971 directly.




Tensions flare between uneasy allies Greece and Turkey

A Turkish coast guard ship patrols on the Aegean Sea, off the Turkish coast

AFP, Istanbul :

Turkey is once again facing off against historic foe-turned-ally Greece in one of their fiercest rows in years, though the war of words is unlikely to spill over into military confrontation.

With some two months before Turks vote on a critical referendum to enhance presidential powers, this renewed dispute is fuelling nationalistic sentiment inside Turkey.

Forging a less ideological and more pragmatic relationship with Athens has been seen as one of the major foreign policy gains of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party since it came to power in 2002.

But tensions over disputed Greek islets in the Aegean Sea, airspace violations and discord on how to handle Byzantine heritage inside Turkey have cracked open an old schism between the two NATO allies.

The refusal in January of a Greek court to extradite eight former Turkish army officers over the failed July 15 coup widened that chasm.

The eight fled to Greece by military helicopter on the night of the putsch, which Turkey says was masterminded by the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen.

Defence Minister Fikri Isik slammed the Greek court's decision as a "complete disappointment".

"Any decision taken by Turkey's partners in relation to the failed coup is bound to be highly controversial, be it Gulen's extradition from the US or the officers' extradition from Greece," said Marc Pierini, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe.

In an apparent riposte, a Turkish naval vessel with Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar onboard conducted a sail-by of two disputed islets in the Aegean on January 29, prompting Greece to shadow the Turkish boats with its own forces. The uninhabited islets-known collectively as Kardak in Turkish and Imia in Greek-have long been a source of tension.

A row over their sovereignty flared in January 1996, when the two countries sent marines to two neighbouring islands in a sign of an imminent armed confrontation.

They withdrew their troops after heavy diplomatic pressure from the United States, a fellow NATO member.

Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos later flew over the islets in a helicopter, throwing a wreath into the water to commemorate three Greek soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in the 1996 dispute.
2 godowns, 30 houses, 2 buses gutted

UNB, Chittagong :

Two godowns, a salt factory and around 30 dwelling houses were gutted in two separate fire incidents in Asadganj Shuki(Dried fish) Patti and Khalifa Patti area of the city on Saturday.

A fire broke out from a stove at a shanty in Shutki Patti area around 9:45am and soon engulfed the adjoining area, said Deputy assistant director Jasim Uddin of Chittagong office of Fire Service and Civil Defense.

On information, four fire fighting units from Nandankanon, Chandanpura and Lamarbazar fire service rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control after 3 three hours frantic efforts, said the official.

The fire burnt down a Shukti goddown, a soap goddown, a salt factory and 10 shanties in the area.

Meanwhile, at least 20 houses were gutted as a fire broke out in Khalifa Patti area under Kotwali thana around 11: 15am .On information, eight units of Nandankanon, Agrabad, Bayezid and Kalurghat fire service rushed to the spot and doused the fire after an hour.

Another report added: Two passenger buses were damaged in a fire at Bahaddarhat Bus Terminal in Chittagong city on Saturday.
Seminar on IT Education

Campus Report :

Daffodil International University (DIU) hosted a seminar on "Recommendations for IT Education from WCIT 2016" with major stakeholders from the ICT Industry, Governments, Multinational Institutions, Corporations and Organizations, Academic Institutions, Media and Civil Society Members held on Friday at Media Bazar, Bangabandhu International Convention Center (BICC). Prof Abdul Mannan, Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh was present as chief guest while Md. Sabur Khan, Chairman, Global Trade Committee, WITSA and Chairman, Board of Trustees, DIU was present as the keynote speaker in the seminar.

The seminar was also addressed by Prof Dr Yousuf M. Islam, Vice Chancellor, DIU, Mostafa Jabbar, President, BASIS, Ali Ashfak, Prsident, Bangladesh Computer Samity, Engr Mohammad Enamul Kabir, Director, Training, Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC), Tapan Kanti Sarkar, President, CTO Forum, Dr Shahadat Khan, Managing Director, Sure Cash, Prof Dr Syed Akter Hossain, Head, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) and Dr Touhid Bhuiyan, Head, Department of Software Engineering (SWE) of DIU.

Addressing as the chief guest UGC Chairman Prof Abdul Mannan said, we are trying to develop curriculum and we have to have systematic Change in our course curriculum to keep peace with the global change and for that a 10 years Action Plan has been taken from 2016-2026. He said, I want to initiate the changes, so that next man can continue it. We are not thinking about only to change the course curriculum of IT related subjects but also to change all the relevant subjects based on the suggestions and recommendations based on industry -academia linkage. Universities will have to play the key role in this regard, From Now and onward to get approval of any course, he urged the universities to ensure induction of the required changes of the course curriculum.

Terming Bangladesh as a rising Role Model of Economic Development, he said, we will have to keep up the speed of this change and development and young generation of the country can play the vital role as they are 48 percent of the total population who are under 24 years.


Indian HC mourns death of Suranjit



High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Sunday condoled the death of Suranjit Sengupta.

"Our heartfelt condolences to Dr. Joya Sengupta and other members of his family, his friends and well wishers," the envoy said in a condolence message, expressing profound shock at the death of the veteran politician and parliamentarian.

Recalling the memory of meeting with the politician on a number of occasions, Shringla said that he last time met the leader 'just a few days ago at a Saraswati Puja function in the parliament premises, which he attended despite his evident illness'.

"He was clearly a leader of immense stature, standing, sagacity and dignity. His passing away represents an immeasurable loss for the country and leaves a void," the diplomat said.
UN role to resolve Kashmir dispute stressed



A roundtable discussion on "Human Rights Issue in Kashmir: Youth Perception" has been held at SAYPPS center, Dhaka on Sunday. N. M. Sajjadul Haque; the Chairman of South Asia Youth for Peace and Prosperity Society (SAYPPS) presided over the roundtable.

Eminent Political Scientist Professor Dr. Dilara Islam spoke as the chief discussant at the roundtable and Md. Saif, teacher of Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Dhaka; was present as guest of honor at the roundtable while several other students from different universities also shared their valuable comments and views on this burning issue.

Discussants of the roundtable stressed the needs to take hands-on actions which can minimize the human rights violation in Kashmir. They accentuated on the role of UN and India to create a platform for establishing and protecting human rights for the Kashmiri people and a conflict-free Kashmir.

Professor Dr. Dilara Islam said that India should immediately stop human rights violations by its armed forces on the strength of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act which continues to infuriate the youth of Kashmir resulting in the constant vilification of India in the eyes of the Kashmiri youth. She also said that militant groups need to realize that an armed conflict is neither the solution nor it guarantees freedom. Indian military needs to understand that brutality does not win hearts; and concerned governments, politicians should bring solutions to the table that promises safety to the Kashmiri people and ensures protecting human rights in Kashmir, she added. She urged India and Pakistan should work together to solve the Kashmir crisis and requested the Indian administration to stop using bullets which are making blind the Kashmiris.

Md. Saif, teacher of Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Dhaka; reminded about the history of Kashmir, the 'Black day' and February 5, 1964, which is another tragic date for Kashmiri people. He said that this 'February 5, 1964' day will be marked as shame day for India since they passed a bill, declaring Kashmir a province of India-an integral part of the Indian union. He mentioned that from October 27, 1947; India has been continuing to violate the basic rights of Kashmiri people. In the twenty-first century, while the entire world is very much aware and active about protecting human rights, India must not remain to violate human rights daily, he added.

Zunaid Al Mamun, Researcher, SAYPPS; said that crackdowns, curfews, illegal detentions, massacre, targeted killings, sieges, burning the houses, torture, disappearances, rape, breaking the legs, molestation of Muslim women and killing of persons through fake encounters have been daily affairs for the Kashmiri people. He mentioned information about Kashmir that since 1989, there have been deaths of more than one lac innocent Kashmiris, 6,969 custodial killings, more than 2 lac arrests and 105,861 destructions of houses. Indian brutal security forces have orphaned over 107, 351 children, widowed 22,728 women, and gang raped 9,920 women. He urged the international civil society and UN to take immediate action in order to stop the row of death and suffering.

A.K.M. Zaid Uddin, former Student of University of Dhaka and researcher emphasized on resolving Kashmir disputes immediately for human rights protection and sustainable peace in South Asia and focused on youth sufferings and brutality of armed forces in Kashmir. He mentioned Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch have condemned human rights abuses in Kashmir by Indians such as extra-judicial executions, disappearances, and torture.

Hasan Al Mahmud, Researcher, SAYPPS; said that a real sense of belongingness among the Kashmir's should be created by providing them with genuine autonomy and peace. India is not serious in resolving this dispute, as it is determined to keep its hold on Kashmir, he added. He also said that a civilized world cannot allow it anymore. The people of Kashmir have the right to self-determination. Indian government doesn't have any right to violate it.

Several other youth leaders and students also raised their voices demanding the immediate conclusion of human rights violation in Kashmir by India and they called for prompt UN effective role to resolve the issue for sake of human rights protection.

The president of the roundtable N. M. Sajjadul Hoque said that in the era of civilized globalization while the whole world is thinking about progressiveness and future, people of Kashmir are still bound to be incessantly concerned about their daily life security and basic human rights. He also pointed out that Kashmir conflict is one of the causes of violation of Human Rights in South Asia. It causes abuse and death of thousands of people. He urged the UN to solve the Kashmir crisis soon for strengthening SAARC. At last, he conveyed his vote of thanks to the chief discussant and the guest of honor including other youth discussants for their valuable discussion, comments, and views on this issue.
JESSORE: Journalists and cultural activists in Jessore town formed a human chain in front of Jessore Press Club demanding arrest of the killer of journalist Abdul Hakim Shimul on Saturday.
The US war on Muslim refugees

Salil Shetty :

The gloves are off. With today's Executive Order on "Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals," President Donald J. Trump has declared war on Muslim refugees around the world.

With the stroke of a pen, the President has - among other actions - banned Syrian refugees from the USA and has also effectively prevented anyone (including refugees) from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the USA. These seven countries have two main things in common: they are predominantly Muslim, and they are the countries from where the majority of people seeking asylum from serious human rights violations like persecution or torture are trying to escape.

Were it not so disturbing and dangerous, this Executive Order would be pathetic in its absurdity.

It is ludicrous because there is no data to support the view that refugees - Muslim or otherwise - pose more risk of committing acts of terrorism than citizens. A refugee is not a person who commits acts of terrorism. It is someone fleeing people who commit acts of terrorism. Under international law, perpetrators of these crimes are automatically disqualified from refugee status. Additionally, the US Refugee Admissions Program puts refugees through the most rigorous and detailed security screenings of any category of persons - immigrant or visitor - to enter the USA.

The Executive Order is preposterous in its irrationality. But no one should be laughing about it.

This is a deeply frightening document. Faced with a global emergency in which 21 million people have been forced to flee their homes, one of the wealthiest and most powerful countries on earth responds by obliterating one of their only avenues for hope: "resettlement." This is a process whereby vulnerable people (such as survivors of torture, or women and girls at risk) trapped in dire circumstances in countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Kenya, and Pakistan, are allowed to move to a country such as the USA. In sum, this Executive Order abandons host countries and punishes the most vulnerable among an already vulnerable group.

Does the Executive Order explicitly ban Muslim refugees? No. But the anti-Muslim rationale is brazen. All the countries subject to these severe restrictions are predominantly Muslim. With this action, President Trump has sent a clear message that the USA needs to be protected from Muslim people, and that they are inherently dangerous.

Also, the text identifies one of the exceptions to the new restrictions as people with religious persecution claims, but only if they are part of a religious minority. A plain reading of this provision is that the Trump administration will resettle Christians fleeing predominantly Muslim countries. This provision cloaks religious discrimination in the language of religious persecution. It is even conceivable that this favoured treatment could accentuate a risk to Christian minorities in some countries where they face discrimination and violence on grounds of allegedly belonging to a foreign or American religion.

All in all, this Executive Order would function admirably as a recruitment tool for armed groups such as the Islamic State - groups keen to show that countries like the USA are inherently hostile to Muslim people.

Make no mistake: people will lose their lives because of this Executive Order. Countries hosting large numbers of refugees, feeling aggrieved and abandoned by the international community, will begin or increase their forcible expulsions of refugees. Vulnerable women, men and children who would otherwise be able to move to the USA, and who are trapped in unbearable situations, will "choose" to return home to a risk of torture or death.

It is important to remind ourselves who these people are. In 2016, 72% of the refugees resettled to the US were women and children. In my view, the term "refugee" doesn't do justice to the people who have braved deadly seas, deserts, and human-caused dangers, in the hopes of restarting their lives in peace. I have had the privilege of meeting some of these people, and have always been humbled by their resilience in the face of almost unimaginable adversity. Any country, including the US, would benefit from welcoming them.

Your gloves may be off, Mr. President. But - in solidarity with the 21 million refugees in the world today, and the countless people and organizations who work alongside and for people seeking protection - so are ours.



(Salil Shetty is Secretary General of Amnesty International).


Muslim lawmaker`s death smacks of growing communal hatred in Myanmar

AN important legal adviser for Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party has been shot dead outside Yangon's international airport recently. The 65-year-old U Ko Ni wasn't only a prominent member of the Muslim minority in Myanmar, but also a lawmaker of the current government. Though the gunman has been detained and being questioned for about a week now the killing has just triggered a new fear in Myanmar - Rohingya or not, the country is not any longer safe for any Muslims.



The apparent assassination comes amid heightened tensions in that country, where leader Aung San Aung San Suu Kyi is under pressure over a heavy-handed security operation in the country's northwest Rakhaine. Undeniably, the sudden killing of the Muslim lawyer is likely to make matters between extremist Buddhists and Muslims even worse.



From the UN to many across the globe countries have vehemently condemned this assassination. Most importantly, it happened exactly in the midst of Myanmar and UN's joint efforts for calming down the prevailing ethnic tensions in that country. We have all reasons to believe that the killing of U Ko Ni was premeditated and carried out in order to hamper the sequential development of the current peace and restoration initiatives of the Rohingya crisis. Moreover, if a prominent Muslim lawmaker can be shot dead in broad-day light, what's the safety of the thousands of Muslims scattered around the big cities? Who to ensure the safety of lives and properties of the Muslims?



This targeted killing can be marked as only the beginning of a growing and pro-longed hate story where it is the religion that has become the key issue now. Given what's happened in Rakhaine in recent times, the NLD government should have adopted extra-ordinary measures to safeguard Myanmar's non - Rohingya Muslim population. It didn't however, materialise. Moreover, following noticeable joint moves to end the Rohingya crisis, a militant syndicate has suddenly become pro-active to cancel it out. It's now proved with Ko Ni's detah.



Reportedly, the deceased was the author of six books on human rights issues and democratic elections apart from being actively involved in the interfaith peace movement. Such key figures are extremely important for handling Myanmar's internal communal clashes and humanitarian crisis.



Nevertheless, his assassination wasn't only a big blow for the ruling regime but a clear sign of the countrywide organisational strength of a militant anti-Muslim quarter in Myanmar. We call for launching a thorough, independent and impartial investigation into this killing. Therefore, handout appropriate justice to U Ko Ni's killer. Such act of communal violence must not be tolerated and go unpunished.






Gun toting AL men destroying peace

IN a filmy episode Mayor of Shahzadpur Upazila Parishad Halimul Haque Miru has shot and killed the local Correspondent of a national daily on Friday as he was collecting news of a clash between two Awami League factions. He shot the fire in support of his faction that killed the Correspondent. Abdul Hakim Shimul died on the way to hospital. The clash ensued as a sequel to an earlier assault in which his younger brother was involved. The Mayor is also the Organizing Secretary of Sirajgong district Awami League.



It appears that the gun toting ruling party men are extremely loath to peace and public order but their violence has taken the innocent life of a newsman for no fault of his own except the fact that he was foolishly unmindful of his safety. The most shocking is that police on spot were silent as the violence continued. They were apparently guarding the Mayor and then helped him escaping from the scene following the shoot out.



We must say such policemen must be ashamed of their identity as policemen while compromising the dignity of their uniform taking side in local matters in exchange of money or benefitting otherwise under the shelter of powerful party leaders. Police have been recruited to serve the people and maintain peace; they are not for guarding individual party man and to become their paid agents. But all such chaotic and unruly activities of party men essentially owe their origin to unruly politics of Awami League at all levels. They don't believe in discipline and decency; they believe in the strength of muscle power instead of moral strength.



In just one-week ruling party factions reportedly fought in at least five places rendering some of their men dead and fatally injured. Most party leaders and workers now possess pistol or shotguns to become some kind of mentally unfit persons to shoot and kill anyone on slightest pretext. The party must bear responsibility of all such incidents, because it is not effectively calling for restraint while criminals are enjoying impunity from being punished.



It is so sad that the newsman was killed. We protest the unruly trigger-happy psyche of the ruling party leaders and workers as we mourn the death of the ill-fated newsman. It was perhaps beyond his comprehension that a public representative like the Mayor would use the shoot gun on his opponents. Awami League (AL) lawmaker of Sirajganj-6 constituency Hasibur Rahman Swapan publicly blamed the Mayor for the shooting at his Namaz-e-Janaza and like him we also demand his immediate arrest and punishment.



It is natural; protest has flared up in the district and throughout northern region. Transports were off the road on Saturday and business and educational establishments were closed. Journalists are agitating all over. But it is unacceptable when police say they are yet to arrest the Mayor.
Hopes dim for retrieving $65.75m

Staff Reporter :

Hopes have dimmed for recovering the remaining portions of Bangladesh Bank's heist fund from Philippines as the authorities of the country are showing a 'cold shoulder responsibility' to Bangladesh authorities over the issue.

The new Philippines government earlier assured of all-out support to Bangladesh authorities to retrieve the $81 million heist fund. But it later changed the mindset fading the hope for retrieving the fund.

In February 5 last year, unknown hackers stole $81 million via an account of Bangladesh Bank (BB) at the New York Federal Reserve and the fund was transmitted online to four accounts in fake names at a Manila branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC).

The fund was withdrawn up to February 9 when the central bank already alerted RCBC and asked for a stop payment on February 8.

Most of the money was vanished through Philippine casinos.

In November 11, 2016, Bangladesh received $15.25 million, a portion of the stolen money, from the Philippines' anti-money laundering council, nine months after the hacking.

The fund was recovered from a gaming junket operator and returned to Bangladesh.

Till then the Bangladesh authorities are pursuing the Philippines authorities to get back rest of the fund. But their efforts are yet to yield any positive result, sources said.

"It would take more time.. We are trying our best for retrieving the remaining amount of $65.75 million. We are hopeful to get back the money from Philippines," BB deputy governor Abu Hena Mohammad Razi Hasan, told The New Nation on Sunday.

But the former central bankers expressed pessimism over getting back the remaining portions of the heist fund from the Philippines saying the task now turns more difficult as a result of mishandling the issue by Bangladesh authorities.

"The issue has entered into a complex phase due to lack of coordination among the government agencies. Even, the government from its part has failed to handle the issue properly," former BB governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed told The New Nation yesterday.

He pointed out that the Philippines Bank which comes at the center point of the BB heist case denied their liability of laundering the money and blamed BB for the theft. It seems that the Philippines government is not so active, as it should have been in recovering the stolen fund.

"All these matters have created a potential uncertainty over the fund recovery," said Dr Salehuddin Ahmed.

"The state to state negotiation has been failed as the president of Philippines did not cooperate with Bangladesh. Now Bangladesh has to take legal support to recover the fund. It will take four to five months to settle the issue," former BB deputy governor Dr Ibrahim Khaled told The New Nation yesterday.

A high-level Bangladesh delegation went to Manila to speed up recovery of BB heist fund in November last year. The delegation was scheduled to meet with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. But the meeting was not held as the President had reportedly been skipped the meeting.

Commenting on the issue, Dr Ibrahim Khaled said, "The President Rodrigo Duterte skipped the meeting because the Philippines government is not interested to settle the issue bilaterally. Now, Bangladesh has no other alternative but to go for legal battle for retrieving the remaining heist fund."


New strategy to recover heist fund: Muhith

Staff Reporter :

The government will take up a new strategy to get back the rest of the Bangladesh Bank's heist fund from the Philippines.

"The strategy will be fixed after taking opinion from BB," said Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Sunday.

The Minister came up with the remark at his Secretariat office when a group of journalist asked him about the return of BB heist fund from Philippines.

"A year has gone but there is no progress so far for recovery of the BB heist money. So I have sought BB's opinion in this regard," said Muhith.

The Minister also said Finance and Banking Division will hold fourth taskforce meeting on recovery of BB heist money next week.




Jubo Dal leader shot dead in Khulna

UNB, Khulna :

A local leader of Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal was shot to death by miscreants at Amirpur in Batiaghata upazila on Sunday.

The deceased was identified as Nazrul Islam, general secretary of Amirpur union unit of Jubo Dal and son of M Hashim of Amirpur area.

Sources at Batiaghata

Police Station said miscreants opened fire on Nazrul when he was standing in front of his fish enclosure at Amirpur around 7:30 pm, leaving him injured.

Nazrul was sent to Khulna Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead.

Nazrul had loggerheads with a local group over the fish enclosure, said general secretary of Khulna district unit of BNP advocate Shafiqul Alam Mona adding that Nazrul's rival might have killed him.


Hawkers slam Mayor Khokon at a protest rally

Bangladesh Hawkersa Union brought out a procession in the city\'s Palton area on Sunday demanding their rehabilitation before eviction from the footpaths.

bdnews24.com :

Dhaka hawkers are continuing to demonstrate against their recent eviction from the capital's Gulistan and adjacent areas.

On Sunday, the Bangladesh Hawkers' Union took out a rally from Paltan marching through Bangabazar and streets along the National Press Club. It ended in front of the Baitul Mukarram

National Mosuqe, where the demonstrators held a rally. Addressing the rally, hawker leaders came down hard on Dhaka South City Mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon for the eviction without rehabilitating them.

"The mayor begged for votes from hawkers before the election and now that it's over, he is ignoring us and destroying our livelihoods," said Shahid Khan, a leader of the Hawkers' Union.

Warning Mayor Khokon of dire consequences, he said that they would intensify their agitations.

"You may not be able to stay in office anymore." Another leader Shafiqur Rahman Babul said: "We will not clear the streets until our demand is met." He announced another protest rally for Monday.

City corporation authorities have evicted hawkers from the footpaths at Gulistan and adjacent areas after Jan 15 in keeping with the Mayor Khokon's announcement made three days earlier.

Hawkers are however, allowed to run their business after 6pm in the areas and throughout the day on weekends and holidays. Hawkers have been demonstrating since then.
Mayor Miru held in city

Staff Reporter :

Police arrested Sirajganj's Shahzadpur municipality Mayor Halimul Haque Miru, the main accused of killing journalist Abdul Hakim Shimul from the capital Dhaka's Shymoli area on Sunday night.

Inspector General of Police AKM A K M Shahidul Hoque on Sunday night confirmed a private television channel report about Miru's arrest. He went into hiding after the incident.

With (Mayor Miru), the seven people have so far been arrested.




Veteran politician Suranjit no more

Veteran Awami League leader and top parliamentarian Suranjit Sengupta died at Labaid Hospital in the city early Sunday. He was 71.

Suranjit, also a member of the country's constitution formulation committee and a freedom fighter, had been on life support at the hospital. He was admitted to the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) of the hospital on February

3 as he had been suffering from a low haemoglobin count. Suranjit, also a former railways minister, left behind wife Dr Joya Sengupta, son Soumen Sengupta, a host of relatives and well-wishers to mourn his death. Suranjit's body was taken to his Zigatola residence in the city around 9am where his relatives, friends, politicians and well-wishers thronged to pay their tribute to him.

The Jatiya Sangsad speaker deputy speaker whip, central Awami League leaders, including its general secretary and ministers went to the deceased's residence and also conveyed their sympathy to the bereaved family members. His body was then taken to Dhakeshwari Temple at noon. Politicians, including BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, people of all walks of life gathered there and paid their homage to the late leader. Suranjit's mortal remains were brought to the parliament's South Plaza around 3pm where President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Begum Rawshan Ershad, Cabinet members, Advisors to the Prime Minister, members of parliament and leaders of different political parties as well as political associates of late Suranjit Sengon paid their last respect to him. First the President and then the Prime Minister placed wreaths on his coffin. They also stood there in solemn silence for some time as a mark of respect to the late leader.

Before placing wreaths by the President and the Prime Minister, a smart contingent of the Bangladesh Police gave Guard of honour to the late leader who was also a freedom fighter.

Later, Sheikh Hasina flanked by senior leaders of Awami League placed another wreath on Suranjit's coffin.

Wreath was also laid on behalf of BNP by its senior leader Moudud Ahmad paying deep respect to the Awami League law maker. Later, a special prayer was held seeking the eternal peace of the departed soul of late Suranjit Sengupta. Earlier, Chief Whip of Jatiya Sangsad ASM Firoz delivered speech highlighting life and works of the veteran Awami League leader late Suranjit Sengupta while his son Soumen Sengupta also spoke on the occasion. His body will be kept at the Labaid hospital mortuary. It will be brought to Sylhet at 9:00am on Monday, Obaidul Quader said. From Sylhet, the mortal remains will be taken to Sunamganj around 11am and finally it will be brought to his constituency Dirai upazila around 3pm for cremation.

"He (Suranjit) was a lively person in our political history. I think he was a number one parliamentarian. A huge vacuum has been created with his death," Quader said while briefing journalists.

Paying homage to him at Dhakeshwari Temple, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul said Suranjit was a man of great soul. An honest, sincere and experienced leader like him (Suranjit) is rare. I had a personal relation with him for a long time. Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Harsh Vardhan Shringla in a statement said, Suranjit was clearly a leader of immense stature, standing, sagacity and dignity.

Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia expressed deep shock at the death of Suranjit Sengupta, an MP from Sunamganj-2 constituency as well as the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.

Born on May 5, 1946 at Anwarpur village in Dirai upazila of Sunamganj district, Suranjit passed SSC from Dirai High School and HSC from Sylhet MC College and later completed his graduation and post-graduation in History from Dhaka University. He received LLB degree from Central Law College and started his career as a lawyer.

Suranjit who had got engaged with leftist politics during his student life was elected as a competitive candidate of the National Awami Party (NAP) in the Provincial Assembly in 1970's National Election of Pakistan. He was a vocal member of the Opposition Bench in the first constituent assembly of Bangladesh and soon after he led a party named the Ekota Party. Suranjit joined Awami League in early 1990s. He, being a high-ranking politician in the Awami League, is considered as an influential face for the Hindu community in Bangladesh. Suranjit was a member of Awami League's advisory council. He was elected member of parliament for eight times in the post-liberation period. He took over as Railway Minister and resigned after 5 months in April 2012. Later, Suranjit was made a minister without portfolio.

Suranjit was a member of 34-member Constitution Drafting Committee, formed after the Liberation War.

He was a commander of Tekerghat sub-sector under Sector-five in Sylhet district as he took part in the Liberation War in 1971 directly.
Relocation of Rohingyas to Thengar Char planned

Bangladesh seeks int'l help

Diplomatic Correspondent :

Bangladesh has sought support from international community for implementing the government's plan to relocate Rohingyas to Thengar Char, an Island next to Hatia Island in the Bay of Bengal.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali came up with the call on Sunday while briefing members of the diplomatic corps over the Rohingya crisis.

About 60 Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Heads of Missions, representatives of various Diplomatic Missions in Dhaka as well as representatives from Office of UNRC, IOM, UNHCR and other UN agencies attended the briefing held at the State Guest house Padma.

"Since the existing accommodation arrangements in the Cox's Bazar District for the Myanmar Refugees and undocumented Myanmar Nationals are already over-stretched, arranging shelters for the new arrivals has become a new challenge for the authorities. In this situation, in order to ensure humanitarian assistance to the Myanmar Nationals, the Government of Bangladesh has decided to relocate this population to Thengar Char," said a foreign ministry press release quoting the minister.

He hoped that it would help the Myanmar refugees including undocumented Myanmar nationals to have better access to the humanitarian assistances.

The Foreign Minister informed that in order to make the place habitable, the government plans to build necessary infrastructure including shelter, schools, hospitals/health centers, mosques, roads etc and he added that the relocation will take place only after the development activities are completed.

He also hoped that he would be able to lead the diplomatic community to visit the place once the infrastructure is in place.

In this regard, he requested the bilateral, UN and other international partners to render their support in the implementation of this relocation plan by providing assistance in developing the island and in transporting the Myanmar nationals living in Bangladesh to the new place of their residence.

AH Mahmood Ali also mentioned that while this remains a temporary arrangement for the Myanmar refugees, Bangladesh would like the international community to take meaningful measures for repatriation of this population to their homes back in Myanmar.

The representatives of diplomatic community in general expressed their readiness to help the government implement its relocation plan as and when it is finalized.

They also expressed their hope that this will bring improvements in the living condition of this population. In addition the representatives also recognized that the ultimate solution lies in the repatriation of these refugees from Myanmar to their homeland and also assured their full support in this regard.

The briefing was also graced by Advisor to Hon'ble Prime Minister on Political Affairs, Hon'ble State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cabinet Secretary, and Principal Secretary to Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, among others.

During the briefing, the Foreign Minister apprised the diplomatic community of the steps taken by the government of Bangladesh for Myanmar refugees and the undocumented Myanmar nationals who entered Bangladesh to flee persecution and communal violence in the Rakhine State of Myanmar.

This huge population numbering more than 400,000 (including the newly arrived 69,000) is living mainly in Cox's Bazar in two registered camps and makeshift settlements.

The Foreign Minister stressed that the presence of the huge number of Myanmar Nationals in Cox's Bazar district has not only created formidable challenges for the authorities to manage humanitarian assistances to them but also created a number of adverse effects on the overall socio-economic, political, demographic, environmental, and humanitarian and security situation of Cox's Bazar and adjacent districts and also negatively affecting the eco-tourism prospects.

Citing the vulnerable nature of this population, he added that networks have emerged in this area for the purpose of human trafficking and smuggling of narcotic drugs.

He also mentioned about successful repatriation of around 236,599 Myanmar refugees through an agreement negotiated during 1991-92 in which he had been deeply involved in his official capacity.




Muslim terrorists are a conspiracy against Muslims

A federal judge in New York ordered a stay on Donald Trump's deportation order for people who have arrived in the US with valid visas from seven Muslim-majority nations last week. As thousands of people joined demonstrations at airports across America to protest over Mr Trump's immigration ban on Muslims, a judge ordered the stay and lawyers said the President's actions were unconstitutional. Now the Appellate Court refused to stay the earlier order of the court staying President Trump's order of the ban.



The remarks he made against the judge, so-called judge, makes it clear that Mr Trump is a businessman who does not know the judiciary is the protector of the Constitution and no President is above law. We are with the American people in their fight against transgressors of the supremacy of the Constitution.



The Customs Officers are complying with the court order despite the Department of Homeland Security's insistence the President's decree would "remain in place" and the department would "continue to enforce" it.

As a reaction to American ban on Muslims of seven countries the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would welcome any refugees turned away from the US.



The order of prohibition provoked outcry from the United Nations and NGOs working to stem the worst ever global refugee crisis, with more than 65 million people forced to flee their homes. Amnesty International warned the move could have "catastrophic consequences", saying some of the worst fears about a Trump presidency were already being realised.



French President Francois Hollande has called on European leaders to give a firm response to Donald Trump, whose first steps as the US President have raised concerns among some of America's allies in Europe. According to Hollande, the EU cannot remain silent when Trump's voices support for the UK's Brexit vote or suspends the arrival of refugees into US. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has slammed the travel ban, adding that "the necessary, decisive battle against terrorism does not justify putting people of a specific background or faith under general suspicion," German Weekly Der Spiegel newsmagazine reported, citing her spokesman, Steffen Seibert.



Meanwhile the reaction from the Muslim world has been silence, or worse. Dubai's Deputy Chief of Police and Public Security, Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, has praised US President Donald Trump's recent decision to temporarily ban citizens from seven Muslim-majority states.



Like the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the ultimate authority in Turkey, has so far said nothing about the 'Muslim ban.' Nor have other Muslim majority countries with the exception of Indonesia and Iran. Even Muslim majority Pakistan has remained silent on the issue.



Muslims are without strong leaders and that is the reason why Muslims are easy targets from the extremists in America. All over the world, Muslims are persecuted and humiliated when the governments of Muslim countries fight among themselves to destroy each other.



There should not be any doubt that President Trump and his likes are determined to wage a war against the Muslims as a whole. The conspiracy is too vicious for Muslim countries to remain unconcerned.



Mr Trump is also a crisis for the American people and such a situation offers Muslim countries a great opportunity to play their cards properly in association with sensible American people in their rejection of American extremism.



At the same time we should expose the true nature of ISIS and other so-called extremists. These terrorists are part of the conspiracy against the Muslims and as Muslims we should have the courage to say so and the readiness to fight terrorism in the Middle East without allowing the other Muslim countries to use fear of terrorism for establishing terrorist states.



Besides, we also feel strongly that the Muslims should not allow themselves to be humiliated as refugees. The Muslim countries have the resources to deal with the refugee crisis. But the filthy rich among the Muslim countries lack sensitivity and sense of human considerations to do their best.
The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
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The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.

Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market.

In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender.

India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex.

Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted.

But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted?

Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner.

If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems.

I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now.

I want more variation in masturbation

I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own.

If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end.

What is sex toys for Indian?

Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation.

It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms.

They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable.

Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner.

The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner.

It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past.

In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping.

Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order.

In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing.

Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome.

Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own.

But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance.

More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around.

Sextoy situation in India

Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years.

In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India.

Mumbai

Kolkata

Bangalore

Delhi

Chennai

Hyderabad

These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India.

In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well.

If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too.

If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it.

What are Sextoys for beginner?

Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms.

Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy.

I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion.

I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy.

If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma.

Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it.

Advantages of using sextoy for Indians

There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians

You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways.

Can have stimulating sex

Can develop new sexual zones

If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern.

However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways.

You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation.

Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever.

There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure.

This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it.

When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems.

It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms).

For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles

[Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou...

Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India.

Sextoy for beginner men in India

So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners.

For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men!

The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men

Masturbator

Cock rings

Love Doll

Sex Lubricants

Toys for the prostate

Lets check each one in detail.

Masturbator

The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products.

It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands.

Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands.

They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.)

Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much.

Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! !

Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa   SEXToys India PR  (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018

Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood.

If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here

Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ...

[For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien...

Cock Ring

A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis.

It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow.

It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber.

In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection.

Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction.

It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it.

Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time.

Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function.

Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy.

You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect.

[Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat...

Love Doll

Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex.

There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women.

Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price.

The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true.

You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste.

There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice.

You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls.

If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here

Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to...

Sex lubricants

Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules.

It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution.

Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse.

There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent.

Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent.

If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here.

What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many...

Toys for the Prostate

Another sextoy for men is prostate toys.

The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line.

Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men.

Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men.

What is the prostate?

The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm.

You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus.

By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms.

Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.)

The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation.

Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure.

sextoy for beinner women in India

The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy.

The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy.

Vibrator.

Dildo

Electric Masserger

Lets check out what each one is in detail.

If you want to check out womens toys, click here.

[BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm...

Vibrators

A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator.

Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy.

It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy.

Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women.

For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators.

Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex.

Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself.

This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual.

Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men.

When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons.

Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most...

Dildo

A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis.

It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass.

A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it.

They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well.

It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device.

A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo.

Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands.

For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis.

This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one.

To learn more about dildo, please click here.

What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th...

Electric Masserger

A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores.

It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low.

Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels.

Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation.

It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure.

For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm.

It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out.

If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager?

To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here.

What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th...

How to choose a sextoy for Indian

Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one.

Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points:  Does the size fit you (the partner)?

Does the size fit you (your partner)?

Is the environment able to produce sound without problems?

Price range

First of all, the choice of size is quite important.

Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women.

For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage.

Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems.

Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise.

If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level.

Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it.

Finally, there is the price range.

The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest.

Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy.

Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy?

I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance.

For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics.

If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out.

How to buy sextoys in India

The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping.

For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below.

Sextoy is one of them.

Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping.

SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India.

They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry.

Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card.

To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy.

ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal.

Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on.

Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture.

Cautions for Indians using sextoy

When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind

Keep sex toys clean

Watch out for electrical leakage

Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy

As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone.

Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there.

It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case.

In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness.

Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful.

If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it.

You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly.

Summary

What did you think?

In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India.

The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future.

As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values.

However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health.

If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try?

Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women.

I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it.
Legence Bank has promoted Gina Burnett as assistant vice president and mortgage loan officer.

Burnett has been in the financial industry for 24 years and joined Legence Bank in 2009, she has held the positions of bookkeeping and loan assistant. She pursued her degree at Southeastern Illinois College in business management and received certification through the Consumer Lending Institute at the Community Bankers Association of Illinois.

She plans to continue her role in the bank's mortgage department. Her main focus will be helping customers with financing of their home loans and walking them through the process step by step. Burnett will be splitting her time between the main branch in Eldorado and the Harrisburg branch, according to a press release from Legence Bank.

Burnett has been instrumental in the growth of Legence Bank and we are proud to recognize her contributions to our collective success with her promotion. She will continue to aid in our companys growth and innovative leadership, said Kevin Beckemeyer, president of Legence Bank. We are looking forward to the continued value she will bring to Legence Bank.

Burnett currently resides in Carmi with her husband, Jim Burnett.

For more information, visit LegenceBank.com.

 The Southern
Green grew up on his familys grain and livestock farm in Grand Chain and graduated from Century High School. He attended Shawnee Community College before receiving his bachelors degree in business administration from Murray State University. Before joining Farm Credit Illinois, he spent four years as a branch manager at Regions Bank in Paducah and two years at MidCountry Bank in Metropolis, also as a branch manager. Green is a member of the Metropolis Rotary Club and a board member of the Metropolis Chamber of Commerce.
CARBONDALE  Since her move to Carbondale in August of 1951, 93-year-old Millicent Welch-Penn, a retired substitute teacher, has witnessed changes in her community on the northeast side of town.

As a biracial 27-year-old transfer student from Lincoln University, located in Jefferson City, Missouri, Welch-Penn and her husband, LeRoy Welch, settled into their joint housing on the northeast side with ambitions to attend school at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

"When I first came (to Carbondale) my husband had already spent the spring quarter (at SIUC) and he lived with some friends of ours, and classmates of his, from Hermondale, Missouri," she said.

The atmosphere of the community during the time of her relocation was very intimate.

"It was very close-knit," Welch-Penn said. "Everybody knew everybody on this side of town (and) only two families, I think a retired teacher and nurse, who lived on the west side."

But as students  herself a major in elementary education with a minor in art, and her husband, a physiology major  Welch-Penn said she and her husband were exposed to segregation, and she saw the extent to which she could not affiliate with teachers and students from the west side of Carbondale.

The relationship, she said, was strictly educational.

"We were in classes together, but the relationship was school-motivated," she said. "And that was the relationship."

Despite full awareness of the mistreatment she received as a woman and person of color, Welch-Penn said she kept one thing at the forefront of her mind  to complete her studies and get her bachelor's degree.

"I didn't ignore it because it was something that you couldn't ignore, but I just kept trying" she said. "I wanted a degree and that's why I continued struggling to get (it)."

And in 1968, after 17 years of attending SIUC as a part-time student and traveling to different states to work, she finally did.

"The relationship wasn't as tense," she said.

"Around 1962 it seem like it just took a drastic change. There were more black students and foreign students (and even disabled students) and the relationship between the teachers and the blacks, especially with me, (took a turn)."

In the 1950s and 1960s, civil rights movements were making waves across the nation.

During that time, members of black communities began participating in boycotts, sit-ins and marches, which were aimed at fair treatment of blacks and equality for all.

Remembering the movement, Welch-Penn reflected on a movement that occurred on the university's campus that she said had an outcome of change.

"We never had any marches, but we did have a sit-in," she said. The sit-in was spearheaded by a C. Jr. Haynes and Elbert Simons in a segregated cafeteria on University Avenue, she said.

"(They) got the group of blacks and we went peacefully to the cafeteria, and at the time the cafeteria was roped off, and we went and got our trays and sat among the other students," Welch-Penn said.

"They had it roped off and we went behind the rope and they accepted it. That was the end of segregation in the cafeteria. Before then, most of the (black) students would eat at the Baptist Foundation (a church located on campus)."

After integration, Welch-Penn said the community lost some of its closeness.

"The community more or less is like playing jacks," she said. "You just throw your jacks out there and they scatter, but before desegregation we were just close. The community was close and everybody helped when they could, even if they didn't need it."

She reminiscences on the unison in the community, during which she said families respected one another and frequently gathered on one block for social gatherings.

"There were restaurants and little night clubs they called The Levy," she said. "And The Levy consisted of one block on North Washington Street that was the center of the business of the blacks."

But she said integration has allowed better living and job opportunities.

"There were better jobs and living in a way where we could own our own cars and homes," she said. "I mean a lot of blacks already owned their homes, but it was cheap."

As for strengthening and continuing conversations about race relations, Welch-Penn reiterated a saying that her father always used to dissolve animosity.

"There are five things to remember," she said. "Of whom you speak, to whom you speak, how, and when, and where."
MARION  Call it a unique classroom experience that demands students not only use their minds, but also their hands.

Since January of last year, 11 students  nine seniors and two juniors  from Marion High School have been gathering for two and a half hours each school day to work on the construction of a new home.

Lester James, the building trades instructor at MHS assisting the students with the construction process, said the project began after an open lot was donated from the city to the local high school.

"In the spring 2016 semester the students went from an empty lot to a house shell under roof," James said.

Marion Mayor Robert Butler said the course gives students hands-on experience in construction and will place a lot back on the tax roll to generate revenue for both the school district and the city.

"Of course from time to time the city does have vacant lots and rather than let them just sit there idly, we're all in favor for the high school building trade class utilizing the lot," Butler said. "We view it as a win-win situation."

But before the students began building, they first had to combine their business and public speaking skills to make a proposition to their school board.

"Students from the class proposed a build to the Marion School Board December 2015 with a proposed budget of around $50,000," James said.

"The students prepared a powerpoint presentation of the last two Habitat for Humanity houses that they had worked on, and had prepared the budget and proposed capital outlay over a time schedule."

After a unanimous nod from the board, the students began their work.

Over the initial phases of the building project, the students visited the city's courthouse to complete a property search, created a budget for the vocational project, and completed a blueprint for the home.

"Work began January 2016 with students doing all phases of construction process," James said. "They operated backhoes, skid-steers, concrete buggies (and) tractors in order to move earth and prepare foundations."

The students also worked side-by-side with students from John A. Logan College as well as city workers who assisted with the base of the home.

"Local contractor Brian Donnelson oversaw the concrete work on the footings and slab floor while the students performed the work (and) local contractor Jason Taylor oversaw as the students laid blocks in the foundations," James said.

Students from JALC assisted with heating and air installations and the local high school's agriculture program pitched in with the yard work, James said.

He also said Dale Meyers from the Home Depot in Marion, Brian VanHorn and Jim Phemister from the Marion Code Enforcement Office, Larry Parks, who assisted students with plumbing, and David Norris, who assisted students with roofing, were major contributors.

"A student can read about a skill, have a teacher show them a skill, perform a skill themselves, or perform a skill with a professional and get four different learning perspectives," he said.

Alek Jimenez, a senior who has been enrolled in James' various vocational courses since his junior year, said he plans to hone his skills as a business student at McKendree University in Lebanon.

"I feel like this has shown me that I don't want to be doing this for the rest of my life," he said.

"It's something that I enjoy to do, but it's not something that I would want to make a career out of but, I am happy that I did it and it's something that I can use even in my own house when I'm older."

For Isaac Phipps, a MHS senior also enrolled in James' vocational course, the course secures his confidence for job opportunities in the near future and prevents him from spending excess money when he is ready to build his own home.

"I think it will definitely open up job opportunities and help me save money on my own house," he said. "If I wanted to build my own home, I feel like I could do whatever I want with it and it's something that I could pass on to future generations.

"I don't want to put this in a bad way but people are all meant for different things and this is definitely the class for kids who like to work with their hands and build things and can put in the (labor as well)."

The home, located at 803 N. Granite St. in Marion, is set to be completed by the end of the month and will be listed for sale with a local realtor.

The students plan to start constructing their next home in March, following board's approval, during which the city will donate another lot.
Editor's Note: Throughout February, The Southern will run a series of profiles of Civil War veterans on Sundays. The profiles are from a special exhibit at the John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro called "Forgotten Soldiers: Jackson County's African-American Civil War Veterans." The exhibit is part of A Celebration of Freedom, which commemorates Black History Month.

The Rev. Henry Guy (1827-1902)

Co. A, 55th Regt. United States Colored Troops

Born a slave in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in 1827, Henry Guy was probably owned by Dr. Joseph Guy and later by his son, Joseph Albert Guy Jr. He married a slave named Nancy from a neighboring farm, but lost her when her owner sold her to a man in Mississippi and he never saw her again. After he gained his freedom with the Emancipation Proclamation, Guy joined Company A of the First Alabama Colored Troops in May 1863, and one month later married his second wife, former slave Hannah Ricks. Along with other freed slaves, Hannah then traveled to Cairo, Illinois, to await the wars end while her husband returned to military duty.

Redesignated the 55th USCT, Guys regiment fought heroically at the Battle of Brices Crossroads, driving Confederate troops back at bayonet point to protect retreating Union soldiers. Taken prisoner along with 2,200 Union soldiers at Ripley, Mississippi, Guy was treated for injuries to his ear and eye by a doctor at a Confederate hospital. He attempted escape, but was recaptured and taken to Brooks Station near Meridian, Mississippi.

After successfully escaping, he traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, where he rejoined his unit. He remained on garrison duty for the remainder of the war. On Oct. 9, 1864, Guy was promoted to corporal. His health weakened, he was hospitalized 12 times in 1865 and was discharged Dec. 31, 1865, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

He rejoined his wife in Cairo in 1866, and they began raising their family in Elkville, which was home to an active African-American community by 1870. Guy began as a farmer, but by 1880, he was the communitys minister, and he performed marriages for all of his children. In 1885, he and Hannah moved to Murphysboro.

In 1890, Guy was granted a pension of $4 per month for the injuries he suffered at the Battle of Brices Crossroads. In October 1891, he was among the charter members of Grand Army of the Republic Post No. 728 in Murphysboro. He passed away on Christmas Day 1902, and is buried in an unmarked grave in Holliday Cemetery north of Murphysboro. Hannah died six years later having outlived all but three of her 19 children. It is believed that she, too, is buried in Holliday Cemetery.

The Rev. Henry Guy received a memorial headstone in City Cemetery in 1994.

 Compiled by P. Michael Jones, director of the General John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro.
To the Editor:

I am a woman, and must protest! I protest the arrogance and hypocrisy displayed by the Trump protesters. Eight years ago, and four years later, I was deeply dismayed and distressed that Barack Obama became president. I did not take my disappointment to the streets. Instead I honored the fact that he won the election, and I would have to wait.

So, I waited eight long, and often offensive years to vote for someone I considered, after careful study, to be the best person to lead my beloved country in a direction more aligned with our Constitution and our values. I looked beyond my own self interests, and focused on who would be best to right the wrongs done to my nation by the Obama administration. I wanted to vote for the person who would follow our Constitution, honor the rule of law, and put our beloved country above personal politics and gain.

We should have learned, as children, that in this life we don not always get our way. My preference won this election, as others had won eight and four years ago. I find it very disgusting that so man are rejecting the new president and/or policies before he even has a change to serve. During Mr. Obama's tenure, I objected strongly to his policies, his sometimes offensive words, and his more than narcissistic attitudes. But I would never have served an ultimatum that I had better get my way!

Nancy Burlison

Marysville, Washington
To the Editor:

In a last-minute executive order, former President Obama, changed America's Cuba Policy  a policy welcoming Cubans escaping the Castro regime. Meaning, Cubans reaching U.S. soil could stay.

Mr. Obama's executive order directed removal and return of escapees back to Castor's clutches. That is, unless the escapee had proof of having been personally targeted by Cuba's Communist regime for political speech or religious reasons. Yes, you read it right. Escapees needed proof of having been personally targeted by Cuba's Communist regime. Whether one escapes to freedom via a raft across a perilous ocean, or as in my case, dangerous no-mans-land, such has but one purpose  to be rid of the daily and grinding oppression, humiliation, danger and witnessing unspeakable things.

So why did Mr. Obama choose extreme vetting of Cubans? Are Cuban refugees known for terrorist attacks? Was this about about national security? So why force escapees back to their tormentors? Perish the taught that because most Cubans voted conservatively, escapees were punished because of Secretary Clinton's defeat.

Which begs 3 questions of those who demonstrated against President Trump's recent security-based and temporary travel halt:

1. Why didn't you demonstrate when Pres. Obama violated the human rights of Cuban escapees while aiding-and-abetting Cuba's tyrants and forcing escapees back into hell?

2. Did you, in 2011, demonstrate when Mr. Obama imposed  clearly for national security reasons  a similar 6-month-long ban on Iraqi refugees?

3. And lastly, dear demonstrators, do you find your selective conscience even the tiniest bit disturbing?

Gus Maroscher

Marion
A Jan. 24 article in the Southern was very alarming to say the least. The article reported the sentencing of a 29-year-old man who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a child. This Class X Felony conviction could have resulted in a prison sentence of up to 60 years. Instead, the Judge who was not named, handed down a sentence of 10 years!
History reminds us that blacks and whites settled together in very different positions and circumstances in South Carolina in April 1670. Blacks were taken from their native lands strictly against their desire. The general intent of whites was to use blacks as slave labor, enabling them to live and enjoy the fruits of colonization.

As time progressed, the European settlers saw the need for more and more slave labor and in some cases, blacks outnumbered whites. At the time of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, blacks and whites in South Carolina had been living and working together and in their respective positions for a total of 106 years.

At the signing of the Declaration by the Second Continental Congress, it was announced that the 13 colonies had been formed. All the members agreed to the following: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. " The signers from South Carolina were Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward Jr., Thomas Lynch Jr. and Arthur Middleton. Blacks were not included in this framework for governing the new nation.

The War of 1812 became the second war in the fight for self-rule and independence by the America colonies in effort to have total freedom from British rule. This war started on June 18, 1812 and ended with the final liberation from the British Empire on Feb. 18, 1815. From 1776 until 1812, which total another 36 years, blacks were again excluded from the rights of freedom and its benefits.

On July 5, 1852, Fredrick Douglas delivered a speech in Rochester, N.Y., titled, The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro. He said: I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. This, for the celebration, is the Fourth of July. It is the birth day of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you as what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God.

"Oppression makes a wise man mad. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine.

"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham: your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all religious parades and solemnity, are to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.

"Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture, I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery.

The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain.

Frederick Douglas felt no fears in assessments of his views on the character of America. His oratorical voice helped in the acceleration of freedom for the enslaved blacks and in his somewhat abrasive delivery, he displayed boldness in his chastisement of America. In other words, Douglas expressed that this day of celebrating independence is yours and not mine.

Eighty-nine years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the issue of black enslavement reached its turning point when the war between the Northern Americans and the Southern Americans broke out at Fort Sumter in Charleston. The dreams of living free from the grips of serving the role as a slave in America had finally come true. This sectional war was known as the Civil War started on April 12, 1861. It divided America and in some ways exhibited a sense of deja vu when the 13 colonies fought for their freedom from British rule.

Out of all of the wars that America fought from 1776 until 1861, blacks played no major role. And then at the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, blacks were mustered into a unit known as the United States Colored Troops. This marked the first time in the history of America that organized units of black soldiers protected the freedom and liberties of this nation.

When South Carolina started the secession movement, there were a total of 34 states that formed America. At the end of the war, there were 36 states with West Virginia being admitted in 1863 and Nevada in 1864.

From the decision by South Carolina to depart from the union, some folks in the North declared that South Carolina will forever pay for breaking up the union. This action of war divided the nation.

At this separation of our nation, the states under the Confederacy designed and flew their own flag. The Confederate flag was designed by William T. Thompson. The first flag had seven stars, the second had nine, the third had 11 and the fourth had 13. During those years, the blacks could not and did not embrace the emblems that represented freedom.

President Abraham Lincoln made a gallant attempt to hold the nation together. On Jan 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring, That all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be free.

At the end of the war in 1865, blacks in South Carolina had completed a totaled of 195 years of enslavement. When the chains were unlocked, black South Carolina was faced with the unfathomable position of survival by any means available, which in some cases resulted in many acts of unGodly deeds.

In the first recognition of Independence Day by both black and white South Carolina, blacks exhibited their usual cheerfulness and jolly delight of participating in the parades and celebration.

On July 3, 1865, just two months after the Civil War ended, The Columbia Daily Phoenix reported  A letter from Orangeburg  Employers and employees never got along so well together before. There are disputes, it is true, but all things are settled amicably in the end; and the prospect of a crop is good. The weather has been hot at Orangeburg, the thermometer at 97 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade.

"General Gilmore orders a general suspension of business on the Fourth of July. The day is to be celebrated everywhere. A national salute will be fired at sunrise, one hundred guns at noon; the troops will be paraded; the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation are to be read to them, and orations are to be delivered.

Then on July 4, 1865, the Columbia Daily Phoenix reported: American Independence  the great day of the American Revolution is to be celebrated with great eclat by the colored population of Columbia and its precincts, and there will probably be visitors from a distance of thirty miles and more.

On July 11, 1874, the Orangeburg News reported: Celebration of the Fourth of July by the Militia  Mr. John H. Livingston who was listened to with marked attention told the colored people that he thought Emancipation Day should be nearer their hearts than the fourth of July; that from that period many of their race commenced to enjoy the sweets of liberty, and finally, all of them were endowed with its privileges.

John H. Livingston became the sheriff of Orangeburg in 1877. He defeated Edward Cain, who became the first black sheriff in Orangeburg County in 1872.

In the history of black South Carolina, July 4, 1865, marked the beginning of enjoying the freedoms of life, liberty and the rights to pursue happiness.

A people who delight in having a good time, the blacks jumped on the bandwagon in celebrating a day that had been meaningless for 89 years. That is a long time.

Despite their previous conditions of life, blacks immediately joined in along with the whites in displaying their patriotism and love for America. But when the design of the American flag was adopted on June 14, 1777, the enslaved black people did not honor and hold respect to it as the whites. They simply did not feel that they were a part of that emblem that represented the freedoms of the whites.

At the completion of the Star Spangled Banner" on Sept. 13, 1814, and while the War of 1812 was ragging, Francis Scott Key composed his masterpiece in which we still chant out at the beginning of almost every program that Americans attend.

Key was born Aug. 1, 1779, in what is now Carroll County, Maryland. He became a lawyer, an amateur poet and author. In 1820, he owned six slaves. Key was known to have represented several slaves seeking freedom. He was also considered to be a decent mater. And finally, he became known as The Nigger Lawyer.

For 51 years, the words and music of the Star Spangled Banner rang out melodiously across America for the whites to cherish and hold dear to their hearts and ears.

In 1946, Albert Einstein discussed in his article The Negro Question. Einstein said:

"In the United States everyone feels assured of his worth as an individual. No one humbles himself before another person or class. Even the great difference in wealth, the superior power of a few, cannot undermine this healthy self-confidence and natural respect for the dignity of one's fellow-man.

"There is, however, a somber point in the social outlook of Americans. Their sense of equality and human dignity is mainly limited to men of white skins. Even among these there are prejudices of which I as a Jew am clearly conscious; but they are unimportant in comparison with the attitude of the 'Whites' toward their fellow-citizens of darker complexion, particularly toward Negroes. The more I feel an American, the more this situation pains me. I can escape the feeling of complicity in it only by speaking out.

"Many a sincere person will answer: 'Our attitude towards Negroes is the result of unfavorable experiences which we have had by living side by side with Negroes in this country. They are not our equals in intelligence, sense of responsibility, reliability.'

"I am firmly convinced that whoever believes this, suffers from a fatal misconception. Your ancestors dragged these black people from their homes by force; and in the white man's quest for wealth and an easy life they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited, degraded into slavery. The modern prejudice against Negroes is the result of the desire to maintain this unworthy condition.

Starting in May 1865, black South Carolina had to pick up from that point and instantly participate in all of the existing patriotic celebrations that white South Carolina had been enjoying since 1776. Indeed, that was a very long time for black and white South Carolina to survive together under different standards of life. No matter how high black South Carolina jumped in life as a freedman, they will never be able to catch up and harbor all of the benefits and patriotic feelings that white South Carolina had been delighting in for 195 years.

What a joy it had to have been for the newly freed slaves in May of 1865 to celebrate and enjoy such events like Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine Day and Easter. Therefore, January 1, 1863, is recorded as the Independence Day for black America and it should be recognized and celebrated thereto.
The homes of three families have been damaged by fire since Friday, according to the American Red Cross.

On Friday afternoon, Red Cross volunteers helped two adults following a fire at their home on Kristi Court in Cordova. The Cordova Fire Department responded to the blaze.

When firefighters arrived at the scene of the fire, they encountered heavy smoke from the single-wide mobile home, according to Orangeburg County Chief Fire Operations Officer Teddy Wolfe. About 35 percent of the home was damaged by flames and the rest was damaged by smoke.

A resident of the home had respiratory problems and was taken to the hospital, he said.

In Eutawville, a Third Street home was damaged by fire on Saturday, according to the Red Cross. The Eutawville and Vance fire departments responded.

The Red Cross is helping three adults and one child.

A One Oak Lane home in Bowman was also damaged by fire on Saturday, the Red Cross said. The Bowman, Orangeburg and Rowesville fire departments all responded.

The Red Cross is assisting two adults.

The fires were not suspicious, Wolfe said.

The Red Cross provides fire victims with financial assistance for food, clothing, lodging and other essentials, and comfort kits containing personal hygiene items.

The Red Cross Palmetto South Carolina Region assists over 6,500 individuals a year, 2,000 of them children. The majority of the disasters it responds to are fires.

To find out more or to assist, visit redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS.
The chairman of the Regional Medical Centers board is defending the decision to end the hospitals contract with Quorum Health Resources and replace long-time President and CEO Tom Dandridge.

Chairman Melvin Seabrooks said in a press release issued Friday that the board gave QHR an opportunity to improve its performance, but the company failed to perform appropriate financial and general management.

He said the company also failed to provide transparency and adequate management.

"A lack of confidence has remained among a majority of the RMC board members," Seabrooks said. "RMC is not the only regional healthcare system in South Carolina to terminate its relationship with QHR. Furthermore, QHR is undergoing major internal leadership concerns that have caused alarm for many RMC board members."

RMC trustees voted in December to end the hospitals management contract with QHR on March 30. QHR has managed the hospital for 24 years.

RMC trustees voted 8 to 7 last month to replace Dandridge with Quorum Health Resources Regional Vice President Frank Swinehart until the management contract ends. Dandridge is an employee of QHR.

The hospital plans to enter into an advisory contract with QHR, which will serve in an advisory and consultative role for the next two years. Trustees will conduct a national search for a new CEO outside of QHR.

QHR spokeswoman Rosemary Plorin said, "Though it's disappointing we did not hear from Mr. Seabrooks directly on this matter, we respect the boards decision to modify the hospital's contract with our company and wholeheartedly support their decision to manage the hospital directly.

She said QHR is one of the largest providers of management and consulting services to rural hospitals across the country, and is committed to creating a sustainable future for health care organizations."

Seabrooks also addressed statements by hospital Medical Staff Executive Committee Chairman Dr. Arden Weathers.

Weathers has said the board's decision to terminate its relationship with Dandridge was made without cause. He also claims the board did not appropriately follow the bylaws of the hospital, medical staff or the Joint Commission.

Weathers also said the hospital board has not properly consulted doctors about the decision.

"While Dr. Weathers would rather have a debate in the newspaper, I find that to be counterproductive to what issues remain and how to achieve a better healthcare system for Orangeburg and Calhoun counties," Seabrooks said. "Additionally, in the interest of openness, Dr. Weathers was not forthcoming with all of the issues that have not been addressed by the QHR team."

"However, whats done is done and we must come together and unite for the good of the hospital, medical staff, hospital employees and the citizens of Orangeburg and Calhoun counties," Seabrooks continued. "As chairman of the board, I assure the community and staff continued support through this transition."

Weathers said he was unsure of what transparency issues or matters of concern Seabrooks is referring to.

"As far as I know, things have been transparent," he said. Weathers said he was unaware of any information the board requested that it has not received.

In the press release, Seabrooks said the board believes it will continue to serve the citizens of Orangeburg and Calhoun counties by focusing on promoting a healthy environment for all parties involved.

"Our focus will remain to provide and deliver high-quality, compassionate care to everyone we touch every day," he said. "I will continue to provide leadership to address issues and to ensure a sustainable future for the hospital."

The board's concerns followed losses totaling $6.3 million for 2014 and 2015.

In 2015, trustees voted to renew the hospitals contract with the management company for three years. The board gave both parties the option to exit the contract after one year.

Seabrooks said, "The RMC board decided to give QHR the opportunity to improve their fiscal administration and overall management of the hospital in this year."

After the hospital implemented a turnaround plan, the finances improved. The fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2016 with RMC $1.8 million in the black.

Since Oct. 1, however, the hospital has spent $2 million more than it took in, according to December financial reports. Last year at that time, the hospital system was $3.1 million in the red.

Seabrooks thanked Dandridge for his service to the hospital.

"He has played an integral part in the growth of RMC and the community over the last two decades," Seabrooks said. "The board commends him for his service and we wish him the very best in his new endeavor.

The board looks forward to the next phases of growth and caring for Orangeburg and Calhoun counties."
A divided board of trustees of the Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties has moved ahead with ousting the longtime CEO and president of the hospital.

Board Chairman Melvin Seabrooks  who cast the deciding vote in an 8-7 decision to make the change  is designated by the rules of the body as the spokesman for trustees. But not until Friday did he offer an explanation other than indicating the firing of Tom Dandridge is related to RMC finances.

In a written statement, the chairman shed little new light and, in fact, raised new questions about what is behind the controversial decision.

Seabrooks said Dandridge and management company QHR failed to perform appropriate financial and general management, adding, Because of their failure to provide transparency and adequate management, a lack of confidence has remained among a majority of the RMC board members.

RMC is not the only regional healthcare system in South Carolina to terminate its relationship with QHR. Furthermore, QHR is undergoing major internal leadership concerns that have caused alarm for many RMC board members.

Seabrooks said his leadership effort is focused on addressing issues and ensuring the future of the hospital.

Yet even trustees complain about a lack of specific information being provided. It is as if those voting to make a change at RMC after Dandridges 24 years at the helm have an agenda that is not being made public.

The Regional Medical Center's Medical Staff Executive Committee Chairman Dr. Arden Weathers said he and the hospital doctors are not being told why Dandridge is out, even though the physicians were to have been consulted in advance. As a member of the board, Weathers opposed Dandridges removal and went public with a letter he sent to trustees about the situation.

In the communication, Weather stated: "We have effectively terminated Mr. Dandridge without cause, instruction, or corrective action. This action undermines the morale and spirit and the principles of a just culture. It is a destabilizing action for the entire 1,300 employees. I am ashamed of our action as a Board. We should be better people."

In the Friday statement, Seabrooks addressed Weathers' statements:

While Dr. Weathers would rather have a debate in the newspaper, I find that to be counterproductive to what issues remain and how to achieve a better healthcare system for Orangeburg and Calhoun counties. Additionally, in the interest of openness, Dr. Weathers was not forthcoming with all of the issues that have not been addressed by the QHR team.

"However, whats done is done and we must come together and unite for the good of the hospital, medical staff, hospital employees and the citizens of Orangeburg and Calhoun counties. As Chairman of the Board, I assure the community and staff continued support through this transition.

It is obvious there is anything but unity surrounding RMC governance and administration at this juncture.

The hospitals future is at stake. No one should underestimate RMCs importance to this community. Its survival and prosperity are top priorities.

Instability at RMC has many potential downsides: loss of employees, difficulty in recruiting and retaining physicians, loss of prospective industries and businesses seeing the situation as a negative.

The owners of the hospital are due more specifics. The board members are appointed by the county councils of Orangeburg and Calhoun counties. Those councils are elected by the people of the two counties. The people own RMC.

Yet council members, both those supporting the board and those most critical of trustees' action, say they, too, are unaware of why the decision was made. And they have a duty to get more specifics than offered by the board chairman in his Friday statement.

As much as council members contend the appointment power for trustees does not give them the authority to run RMC, reality is that key decisions about the future of the facility are ultimately the responsibility of the councils. Of particular note, a decision such as sale of RMC, which longtime supporters such as Calhoun County Council Chairman David Summers is saying for the first time should be considered, would have to be made by the elected officials.

Council members should make it their business to know the specifics about why such a controversial and divided decision was made. And then they owe the public further explanation.
WASHINGTON -- To review the left's reaction to Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is to infer he's the spawn of Dracula -- a cruel and bloodless beast who shrinks from the light and plays havoc with history.

Among the many distortions: Gorsuch is against clean water, consumers, women's health, dying people and workers. The liberal Alliance for Justice declares him worse in some ways than Justice Antonin Scalia, whose seat Gorsuch would assume if confirmed. People for the American Way claims he's an ideologue "far outside of the judicial mainstream who has a record of warping the law to serve the powerful over the interests and constitutional rights of ordinary Americans."

Or one could argue that he is courageous in protecting the people and the Constitution by adhering to text and original intent without concern for his popularity.

As background, Gorsuch has served since 2006 on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where his reputation as a brilliant jurist and writer gained national attention. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he also earned a doctorate from Oxford in legal philosophy. His dissertation was on euthanasia, which has raised flags among those fighting for death-with-dignity laws. If Gorsuch opposes assisted suicide for the terminally ill, goes the thinking, then he must also oppose a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy.

Gorsuch has said that human life has intrinsic value and that no other human has a right to destroy another's, which seems on its face to be manifest. He has never written or ruled specifically on abortion, so this remains a hazy correlative. He is, indeed, an originalist, as was Scalia, and his rulings might not differ much from his conservative predecessor's.

Fundamental to his approach is the understanding that legislatures, and not courts, should create laws. This position also extends to administrators and bureaucrats. Liberals have sometimes preferred to fashion law through the courts, rather than navigate the legislative process, which is burdensome, stubborn and slow. It's so much easier to create law in the courts and let people adapt.

This view would seem almost Trumpian but for his selection of Gorsuch, who is of the opposite inclination. After two dizzying weeks of confounding (Mexico), outrageous (travel ban) and absurd (Australia) first acts, Trump's naming of Gorsuch brought a welcome pause. Yes, it was showmanship -- prime time and all that -- but, seriously, who cares? It was far and away the most presidential performance we've thus far witnessed, notwithstanding Trump's nearly separating Gorsuch's arm from its socket during a handshake.

Should Gorsuch be approved, the court's composition obviously doesn't really change. The balance would remain the same, with Justice Kennedy, for whom Gorsuch clerked, as the swing vote. It's the next seat for which Democrats should save their fire, lest they be viewed as intractable as the Republicans were the past eight years. No one wins this war.

Democrats are entitled to their indignation over Republicans' refusal to consider Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's choice for Scalia's seat. But their energies will be spent for naught -- and they could do far worse. Besides, there's no real knowing how a justice will rule. Philosophical temperament is a factor, but it's not the only one. Individual cases present facts and circumstances that can lead to unexpected conclusions. One needn't look far for examples.

Chief Justice John Roberts shocked conservatives when he ruled favorably on the Affordable Care Act, but his decision was double-edged. By deciding that the penalty in Obamacare, intended for people who refused to buy insurance, was really a tax, Roberts also exposed the dishonesty in the Obama administration's presentation of the health care plan. Throughout the legislative process, the administration insisted that it was NOT a tax.

Though cold comfort to conservatives, the ruling bolstered arguments that Obamacare was based on false pretenses and the assumption, as one of the law's architects later boasted, that people would be too stupid to know the difference.

The upcoming debate should be scintillating theater as it strikes at the heart of a judge's role. Gorsuch has made himself clear on this. In a 2016 concurrence, he wrote: "Ours is the job of interpreting the Constitution. And that document isn't some inkblot on which litigants may project their hopes and dreams for a new and perfected tort law, but a carefully drafted text judges are charged with applying according to its original public meaning."

I wouldn't wish on anyone the task of proving that wrong.
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By Azertac





Pakistan is poised to start oil and gas imports from Central Asian states as the Foreign Office has given the go-ahead to the signing of an agreement with energy-rich Azerbaijan, in a move that will lessen Pakistan's excessive reliance on Middle Eastern countries.





A senior official of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources revealed that Azerbaijan had offered to export crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Pakistan.





It has also expressed interest in constructing a terminal as well as LNG and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storages in a joint venture between Azerbaijans state oil company Socar and a Pakistan-designated company.





The official recalled that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had approved a proposal on March 10, 2015 for the start of negotiations with Azerbaijan on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for mutual cooperation in the area of oil and gas exploration and production.





In the sixth session of Pakistan-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Commission held in April 2016, both sides agreed to promote investment opportunities in the energy sector including exploration and production of oil and its products, broaden cooperation for the supply of crude oil and its products and set up an LNG and LPG terminal in a joint venture between nominated enterprises of the two countries.





The prime minister had allowed the Ministry of Petroleum to negotiate with energy companies of different countries including those of Azerbaijan.





During negotiations, Pakistan and Azerbaijan agreed to an inter-governmental draft agreement, which was also cleared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Law and Justice Division from political and legal points of view respectively.





Pakistan and Azerbaijan have also agreed on conducting joint research by setting up a laboratory and undertaking oil and gas production tests.





Furthermore, they will share scientific and technological developments in oil and gas exploration and production, while also committing to the training of professionals working in the petroleum industry.





Under the draft agreement, both sides will also move to jointly evaluate the possibility of supporting relevant sides in oil and gas exploration and development projects in the two countries.
By Trend





Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 6 times violated the ceasefire in various directions along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministryreported on February 5.

Azerbaijani army positions located in nameless hills in Gazakh region, Aghbulag village of Tovuz region and Garavalilar village of Gadabay region underwent fire from Armenian army positions, located in nameless hills in Ijevan region, in Chinari village of Berd region and in nameless hills in Krasnoselsk region.

Moreover, the Azerbaijani army positions were shelled from the Armenian positions located near the occupied Sarijali village of Aghdam region, as well as from positions located in the nameless hills in Jabrayil region.

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





Holding of the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Azerbaijan will become another successful step in terms of promoting the country, said Siyavush Novruzov, deputy executive secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), in an interview posted on NAPs website.

Considering the fact that Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev declared 2017 the Year of Islamic Solidarity in the country, this event becomes even more significant, he added.

Currently, some are advocating unfair treatment of Islam and attempting to associate Islam with terror, according to him.

By making this decision, President Ilham Aliyev sent a message to the world, said Novruzov.

"The whole world needs to realize and accept what high values the Islamic religion carries. Declaring 2017 the Year of Islamic Solidarity in Azerbaijan and holding the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games mean that Islam is a religion of unity, solidarity, and this solidarity must be sustainable," he said.

Such an opinion is now being voiced in the world that interreligious relations cannot be normalized, according to him.

"This approach is based on the policy pursued by aggressor countries and serves their interests. Invader countries pursue such policy to worsen the interreligious situation and implement their goals. The recent decision made by the US contradicts fundamental state policy of this country  the policy pursued by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln. Any racial, religious barriers are unacceptable, people are equal, regardless of skin color and religion, and it is wrong to discriminate between them," Novruzov said.
By Trend





Turkmenistans Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov held meetings with Ambassador of Israel to Turkmenistan Yitzhak Carmel Kagan and Muhannad Hammouri, charge d'affaires ad interim of Palestine, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message.

The sides discussed further development of the bilateral relations, according to the message.

Meredov and Yitzhak Carmel Kagan mulled the issues related to the organization and holding of joint events aimed at expanding economic, cultural and humanitarian ties.

During the meeting, Meredov and Hammouri also noted the necessity to implement bilateral documents.

It was earlier reported that Israel, which has vast experience in agriculture and irrigation, is ready to provide Turkmenistan with the experience in purification, desalination and rational use of water resources.

In November 2016, Turkmenistan and Palestine signed an agreement on economic cooperation and memorandums of understanding on cooperation in higher education and tourism.
By Trend





Kuwaiti charge daffaires Fallah al-Hajraf on Saturday ruled out reports that Iranians were banned to enter Kuwait, IRNA reported.

Al-Hajraf said Iranian citizens are provided with all their rights.

He said relatives of Iranian citizens in Kuwait visit the country without facing any problem after receiving visa.

'In pursuit of false reports of certain mass media that nationals of five Muslim countries, including Iranian citizens, were not allowed to enter Kuwait, the Kuwait Embassy to Tehran emphasizes that such a report is untrue,' he added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he said that the Kuwaiti government has made no decision on banning visit of nationals of the countries referred to in the reports, including nations of the friend country, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Al-Hajraft said many nationalities, including Iranians, along with their families are safe and sound in Kuwait.
Franklin Resources, (operating as Franklin Templeton Investments) has announced the appointment of Sandeep Singh as senior director and regional head, Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA).



Singh will be based in Dubai, UAE, reporting to Vivek Kudva, managing director, Europe, Middle East, Africa and India and will be responsible for the firms businesses across Central Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

Singh will oversee the leadership and development of the retail and institutional distribution efforts across the region. In addition, Singh will continue his existing responsibilities as head of the firms growing Islamic Business, which has close to $1.8 billion under management in Shariah-compliant strategies.



Kudva said: I am pleased to welcome Sandeep to the incredibly varied region that he will lead. Sandeeps two-decade experience and tenured presence with the firm, spanning over 18 years, will be an asset to the broad geography he will cover. While the Middle East in particular is home to some of the largest sovereign wealth funds, there is also a clear emerging retail distribution opportunity throughout the region. And on the Islamic business side, the Middle East is home to vibrant Shariah markets where clear growth opportunities exist.



Singh, who was previously Country Head for Franklin Templetons Malaysia operations, replaces Adam Quaife, who is relocating to take on another role within the firm.



The CEEMEA region is a diverse one, and one in which we are well-positioned to capture growth in by leveraging the firms varied investment groups to offer a truly wide range of investment solutions for both institutional and retail investors alike, added Singh.



Franklin Templeton Investments is one of the largest foreign asset management firms in the CEEMEA region, offering a wide range of investment solutions for retail and institutional investors. - TradeArabia News Service


Colliers International, a global leader in commercial real estate services, has signed a memorandum of umderstanding (MoU) with the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, the leading provider of hospitality education in the Middle East.



Colliers said its tie-up with a world-class institution such as the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management aims to provide students (the general managers and industry leaders of the future) with a practical and industry-focused skill set in hotel asset management and the opportunity for some students to develop into the future managers.



Colliers International was selected for its extensive track record and expertise in the area of asset management, with 12,753 keys under its belt. The companys asset and project management divisions offer three main service lines: Technical and pre-opening services; operational and financial reviews, and acquisition/disposal due diligence.



"We are excited to collaborate with The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management in fostering the asset managers of the future, stated Filippo Sona, the director, head of hotels at Colliers International Mena.



This collaboration highlights the birth of asset management experience and the added value the Colliers International hotel asset management team brings to the hospitality education and industry sector, observed Sona.



Leading this initiative with Sona is Damien Rizzi, senior asset manager at Colliers International Mena.



Dr Stuart Jauncey, the dean at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, said: "To be working in such close collaboration with one of the world's leading hotel asset management consulting firms is very exciting for this university and especially for our students."



"We are very committed to the employability of our graduates and to the provision of real skills that students can apply throughout their careers. There is often perceived to be a gap between education and industry and this model of teaching and learning certainly addresses this issue. Initial feedback from the students attending these classes has been absolutely excellent," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Visitors to the Gulf Industry Fair opening in Bahrain on Tuesday (February 7) can use a new app to access information on companies of interest and be guided to their stands at the expo.



Excpy, an app designed and built in Bahrain by Relocent Technologies, has partnered with show organiser Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE) to deliver a visitor guide via mobile for the exhibition, being held at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre till February 9.



The Excpy app allows for companies at the exhibition to guide their customers to their stand either directionally or through targeted adverts or messages, says founding partner of Relocent Technologies Sanu Kuruvilla.



By understanding the subscriber's preferences, Excpy searches for products that would interest the visitor and lets them know about it when they are close by. It also allows the user of the app to search for things around them and provides directions to these places. The app uses advanced algorithms to ensure users are guided to products and services of preference, said Kuruvilla.



The installation for the Gulf Industry Fair at the Bahrain Exhibition Centre by Excpy will include the creation of a virtual GeoFence around the venue. Whenever the user crosses the GeoFence they will experience a branded Gulf Industry Fair stream of information. Even if the user is outside the venue but within Bahrain, they are able see this stream and select cards within the Gulf Industry Fair branded stream to receive information and direction.



At the Gulf Industry Fair, you can use Excpy to search for the exhibitors around you. You can also browse through all the exhibitor related information and use the Get Directions feature to navigate to their stands, said Jubran Abdulrahman, managing director of HCE. We are excited at piloting this app, which is 'Made in Bahrain' at our exhibition which will give a new experience for exhibitors to access information and contacts of the companies at the exhibition and conferences, added Abdulrahman.



Visitors to GIF downloading the app can also take advantage of the app in their daily shopping experience in malls and retail outlets across Bahrain.



The Excpy app is available free of charge from www.excpy.com - TradeArabia News Service


Iran Khodro, branded as Ikco, an Iranian multinational automaker headquartered in Tehran will launch a joint production line with France's Peugeot in late February, said a top official.



Peugeot 2008 production line will be set up after the required line tests are fulfilled, added Iman Ehteshamzadeh, Ikco Tam deputy CEO .



"We are finalizing the production line settings and we will soon put the line into production in the presence of Tam and Ikap experts, he added.



Peugeot 2008 production line, which in the first step would assemble Peugeot's new cars, is the first outcome of Ikco/Peugeot joint venture, Ikap.



"Among some European and Chinese Companies, Ikco Tam won the international call for tender on Peugeot 2008 body line," he explained. All the line settings, jigs and fixtures and transmission systems that are the major parts of this production line are installed by Ikco Tam."



Given the modern production line management system, Peugeot 2008 production capacity can be boosted from four sets to six sets per hour in case the market demand goes up, he noted.



The production line has been designed and set up in an eight-month period, a statement said. Ikap is supposed to introduce Peugeot 508 to Iran's market by the end March.



Meanwhile, Deputy Industries Minister Mohsen Salehi-Nia said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Saipa automaker and some famous international car manufacturers will also become operations next year.



Salehi-Nia said that a total of 1.8 million cars are produced in the country every year, according to an Irna report.  TradeArabia News Service
Kuwait is hosting a key event which aims to enhance maintenance strategies and strengthen production and operational resilience in the energy industry starting today (February 5).



The 3rd Annual Maintenance Kuwait Summit, hosted by KNPC, opens with a Focus Day today. The official opening of the conferences will take place tomorrow (February 6), the Radisson Blu Hotel, Salwa.



The conferences will continues on february 7 and there will be a post-conference workshop on February 8.



Kuwait is all set to be the regions next downstream hub with almost $30 billion worth of mega projects including the Al Zour Refinery, the integrated petrochemical complex and the LNG receiving terminal to go fully operational in the next few years. With the Clean Fuels Project and also refinery modernisation in progress for the legacy assets in Kuwait, value added integration of the downstream sector is currently making a swift progress, said organisers IQPC.



At the same time, with over 500 wells to be drilled in North Kuwait around the Fars heavy oil field and the Jurassic production centres in progress, the upstream investments in Kuwait are also expected to be completed in the next few years, the future looks extremely bright especially for Kuwait where the oil and gas industry are leaving absolutely no stone unturned to achieve The KPC 2030 strategic objectives, it said.



These massive projects will help Kuwait achieve a daily output of 1.4 million bpd refining capacity and over 4 million bpd of crude oil production. Sustaining these projects in the longer run will require a robust maintenance strategy and its successful implementation. The cost of maintenance should by no means become a daunting factor for timely addressing the wear of machinery because no matter how high the cost is, it will be small compared to the cost of a major breakdown. In fact, recent surveys showed that actual cost of machine breakdown could be within the range of 15 times higher than maintenance cost, the statement from IQPC said.



The Summit will include awards of excellence, practical case studies, technical presentations, interactive workshops and roundtables, plus a new challenges versus solutions session which will help you walk away with answer to your specific questions.



Attendees will hear from the top national oil companies in the region and internationally including KNPC, KOC, PIC, Equate, Gasco, Adco, Adgas, Qatar Petroluem and Saudi Aramco. - TradeArabia News Service
The third Jordan International Energy Summit (JIES), to be held in April, will provide an ideal platform for insightful debate on the energy issues facing the kingdom and the region.



The summit, on April 2 and 3, will be held under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.



The summit comes at a crucial time for Jordan and supports its Energy Strategy as the kingdom makes progress on several key projects across the energy spectrum.



The JIES Summit is centered around a world-class programme with speakers from governments, global energy companies and experts in their fields and is combined with an international exhibition to allow companies to showcase their projects and expertise whilst giving Jordan access to the latest technologies and products, said a statement.



The Jordan International Energy Summit is hosted by the Ministry of Energy, Jordan.



Dr Ibrahim Al Saif, Minister for Energy & Mineral Resources, said: With a stable background for attracting investment, Jordan continues to develop new energy technologies and embraces an energy policy across the spectrum including solar, wind, nuclear, oil shale, mining, oil and gas.



"Jordan is a vibrant energy hub and the Jordan International Energy Summit & Exhibition (JIES) plays a key role in providing the invaluable platform for insightful debate as to the best energy mix for Jordan and the region in addition to providing significant commercial opportunities to participating companies.



"We are greatly looking forward to the 3rd JIES which will include an expanded and much-needed exhibition integrated with the main conference programme. This will allow more companies to participate and we encourage you all to take up this opportunity and join us in April 2017, he said.



With conference rooms catering for 700 participating delegates and an exhibition hall with capacity for 80 companies, the summit is being held at the Grand Hyatt, Amman providing ease of access and first-class facilities.

The audience is expected to surpass last year's numbers with attendees coming from 45 countries making Jordan a focal point for the energy industry in the region. JIES delegates will able to interact and engage in purposeful meetings thoughout the duration of the event.



JIES is an initiative of the Ministry of Energy & Mineral Development, which has appointed the UK-based Global Event Partners (GEP) to organise the event. - TradeArabia News Service


VFS Global, a leading outsourcing and technology services specialist, has appointed Vinay Malhotra as its new chief operating officer (COO) - Middle East and South Asia.



Malhotra takes on additional responsibilities of overseeing operations in the Middle East region, in addition to his current role of managing South Asia. In this new role, he will be based in Dubai, and responsible for the core visa business and B2C services for the travel industry, managing key client relationships, and business development in the two regions.



Malhotra is a commerce graduate (with Honours) from Delhi University, and also holds an MBA degree, with merit, from Bradford University, UK.



Prior to joining VFS Global in 2013, he served Emirates Airline for over 10 years overseeing airport as well as commercial operations in North India, East India & Nepal. Malhotras career spans over almost 25 years in the travel industry, which includes instrumental roles at Swissair and Galileo. He has several awards and accolades to his credit including Best Professional  Marketing for the year 2011 at the National Tourism Awards hosted by Safari India and the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association. - TradeArabia News Service
Winds of change are sweeping through the GCC luxury tourism sector as traveller demands incline towards fresh perspectives centred on experiences and emotional connectivity.



Hospitality and travel professional sponsors of the fifth annual Mice Arabia and Luxury Travel Congress  organized by Dubai-based QnA International  agree that experiences which assist in the making and retelling a story are a key requirement amongst luxury travel seekers.



The luxury tourism industry is definitely shifting, from consumers becoming less interested in thread-count, caviar and other material objects, and more interested in experiences. New luxury is all about offering guests a more authentic, genuine experience unfettered by specific brand or quality standards like thread counts, said Francois Kassab, chief operating officer, Millennium & Copthorne, Middle East & Africa.



There is a need for authenticity in all experiences which should convey the idea of a destination and its history, traditions, and culture, said Arianna Pradella, commercial director, Caldana Travel Service Utat Viaggi. As such, any experience for the luxury traveller is simply insufficient as there is preference for real or pure experiencesan experience that can unleash the senses and unburden luxury pleasure seekers.



For many years, the luxury sector was defined by fantastically designed interiors encapsulated in secluded locations promising exclusivity, privacy, and serenity for the discerning luxury travellers, and competitors differentiated along these characteristics. While exclusivity is still a defining attribute of luxury tourism it has become the basic requirement, and carries a different meaning. Luxury Mice travellers expect a high standard of service, fine finishes, exquisite products, incredible designs and little touches to already be in place in five-star hotels. What will set brands apart moving forward are personalized service and craftsmanship as well as an interesting story to tell  an experience that will help the consumer connect with the brand or hotel," continued Kassab.



"Meanings attributed to exclusivity include 'The need for more customized and personalized approaches to tailormade travel programs and service'," said Jason Lim, chief operating officer  DMC, Smailing Tours & Travel Service, Bali, Indonesia. Clients have to be consulted in the developing of these tailormade packages and travel professionals are expected to and should be experts in their destinations, he stressed. Inclusivity is a key trend in the luxury tourism sector, and technological advancements such as the use of apps have shown to assist in including clients requirements and needs during their stay.



Speaking on whether a slowed global economy would have an impact on the luxury tourism sector, some sponsors seemed to suggest that there may be some impact that would result in the creation of a sub-sector within the luxury sector. Affordable Luxury - A growing middle class aspiration to travel in luxury will be more likely to pay for better experiences and interesting destinations although this will not be the kind of astronomical value previously attributed to luxury travel. On the other hand, high net worth individuals that were classified as Luxury travellers in the past are also now looking at value added deals that accords privacy, good value and yet retains the exclusivity that these travellers have come to expect, said Lim.



Others however, opined that the luxury travel sector has always been insulated from economic fluctuations and would continue to be so.



Differentiating and responding to emerging trends in the luxury tourism sector is becoming quite challenging, as there are those that are aspiring towards affordable luxury, and high-net worth individuals seeking experiences of a lifetime that would last and even change their lives. This is different to a simple get away or vacation. Recognising these needs, these trends, and offering customised packages in a curated environment to do business are a key part of the fifth annual Mice Arabia and Luxury Travel Congress," said Sidh N.C, Director, QnA International.



The Mice Arabia and Luxury Travel Congress, now in its fifth year, will have the opportunity for outbound business and luxury travel from the Middle East as its focal point. It provides a premier platform for regional and international hotel chains, team building companies, DMCs, tourism boards, cruise companies, and other travel and hospitality suppliers to meet over 100 of the top GCC corporations that plan business, luxury, and Mice travel for their organisations. The unique selling point of the congress is its prescheduled one-to-one appointments format designed to maximise time and generate ROI of all parties involved.



The MICE Arabia and Luxury Travel Congress will be hosted by the Palazzo Versace for the second consecutive year, and will run from March 1 to 2. - TradeArabia News Service
So when they butt-stroked me to the head from an AK-47 and I was bleeding down the side of my face and they threw me back in the cell I could
Senior Stompers meet Mondays

Free only for Seniors 60+ who like to have fun, love music and like to dance, tapping and stomping to the beat. Join Joyces Senior Stompers on Monday mornings at 10:50 a.m. and exercise your mind and body. Call Joyce for more information 237-4908.

Reading the West book discussion

The Natrona County Library and Fort Caspar Museum host a book discussion series celebrating all things western, from rugged heroes and horses to books that ride off into the sunset. At 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at the Natrona County Library, Steamboat, by Candie Moulton and Flossie Moulton will be discussed. The discussion is free and open to the public. To participate, pick up a copy of Steamboat at the Librarys second floor Reference Desk. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Adult Coloring Club

Stop by the Natrona County Library anytime between 2 and 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10 for Adult Coloring Club. Coloring books and pages will be available to turn into works of art. Colored pencils, crayons, and markers also will be provided. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Apply for Mrs. Casper

The Mrs. Wyoming Pageant is seeking applicants for the title of Mrs. Casper. Once selected, the successful applicant will advance to represent her community in the 2017 Mrs. Wyoming Pageant to be held on May 6 in Cheyenne.

Local titleholders will compete to win a prize package valued at over $8,000 including an all expense paid trip to the national Mrs. America Pageant. Applicants must be at least 18 years old (no age limit), married at the time of competition and a Wyoming resident, no performing talent required.

Celebrating its 41st year, the Mrs. America pageant is the only competition to recognize Americas married woman.

To request the official application or for information, call Sheree Cooke, Wyomings state director, at 720-549-0440 or visit www.mrswyomingamerica.com.

New member exhibit opens

The Art 321/Casper Artists Guild, 321 W. Midwest, February Exhibit features the guilds newest members (three years as members or less). The New Members Exhibit will give the community a chance to get to know some new artists who may be exhibiting for the first time, as well as many already seasoned artists who have become new members of our organization.

The exhibit will hang until Feb. 25.

Art321/Casper Artists Guild is a non-profit organization that offers many art opportunities and experiences for the citizens of Casper and surrounding communities, offering exhibits, classes, workshops and the chance to meet fellow artists and art lovers. Please visit the gallery and see what becoming involved as a member has to offer.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 265-2655.

All Media class begins

The new eight-week session of All Media classes will start from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at the Casper Recreation Center, taught by local artist, Michele McDonald.

Have fun exploring a variety of art mediums, including watercolor, acrylic, collage or oil. The class for all levels begins with a critique and feedback session and is followed by creative tips from McDonald. Gain inspiration from the other artists in the class.

For registration fees and more information, visit the website www.activecasper.com, stop by the Casper Recreation Center at 1801 E. 4th St., or call 235-8383.

Learn crochet and knitting

Learn a new portable life skill at the Casper Recreation Centers Crochet & Knitting classes beginning Feb. 7.

Join Nancy Pawlowski and learn the basics of Crochet or Knitting in the five-week class that meets Tuesdays from 6 to 7:30 pm. Crochet or knit a scarf or hat for the windy Wyoming weather. A supply list is available at registration, but there will be supplies to use the first night.

For registration fees and more information, stop by the Casper Recreation Center at 1801 E. 4th St., call 235-8383 or visit the website www.activecasper.com.

Global conversation

Feb. 11

The Center for Global Studies brings the first Center for Global Studies-Senator Malcolm Wallop Conversations on Democracy program to the Natrona County Library at 3 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 11, featuring linked presentations focusing on democracy and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. The presentation features a public talk by Ambassador Gary Grappo, the University of Wyomings Senior Visiting Scholar in Global Studies for 2016-17 on Democracy in Transition: Lessons from the Middle East. He is followed by Eric Nigh, M.A. candidate in International Studies at UW discussing Post Conflict US Development Policy Outcomes in Iraq. Jean Garrison, director of the Center for Global Studies will discuss Challenges and Opportunities in US Foreign Policy, and discuss democracy promotion as a goal for U.S. foreign policy. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.
Helping Others

Food of the month

Wyoming Food for Thought Project has announced its food of the month suggestions for the nearly 1,000 weekend food bags its volunteers prepare for food-insecure school students in Natrona County each week. Often, schools, churches and other groups designate certain collection days for a specific type of food as a donation.

The suggested food items may be taken to program headquarters at 900 St. John, but it's best to call ahead to make certain someone is there to receive it.

February, canned vegetables; March, cereal; April, granola bars; May, tuna; June, peanut butter; July, pork 'n beans; August, mac n cheese; September, Chef Boyardee products; October, cereal; November, soup; December, chili.

For more information, call Cassandra at 337-1703.

PB & J Day Feb. 14

Join the Wyoming Food for Thought Project from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Feb. 14, at 900 St. John St., as volunteers shoot to make 1,600 PB & J sandwiches for the Spring Break Packing Day (Tuesday, March 21) which will provide nearly 800 food-insecure students with nine days' worth of food while they are away from school. Everyone is welcome. Bulk peanut butter, jelly and bread donations will also be accepted for the event.

Meeting launches trails advisory group

The public is invited to the Platte River Trails Trust Annual Meeting from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the Tate Pumphouse Trail Center. Mingle with the board and learn more about 2017 projects and events. The official meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m., and will include the launch of the new Friends of the Platte River Trails advisory group. Trail users and lovers may Friend Us and join the advisory group and assist the PRTT Board in planning, maintaining, enhancing, fundraising and advocating for trails in Natrona County. This group will meet quarterly to learn about upcoming projects and events and help assist us with our mission to maintain and develop our community trail system.

Volunteer for new literacy program

INGLES!, a non-profit group teaching English as a second language to adult learners, is currently looking for enthusiastic, patient volunteers. Volunteers will help adult students improve their English one-on-one and in small classes. Volunteering requires a commitment of two hours twice a week. No Spanish proficiency or prior teaching experience required. Volunteer application forms are available at the Natrona County Library Reference Desk located on the second floor.

Blood centers extend hours

United Blood Services (UBS) is expanding hours at its Casper and Cheyenne donor centers in an effort to make blood donation more convenient for more donors.

The center at 2801 East 2nd Street in Casper will be open six days a week. Closed only on Tuesday, the Casper center will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

The center at 112 E. 8th Ave. in Cheyenne will be open five days a week, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Blood donations can drop as much as 20 percent during the holidays and winter months, but every two seconds, every day of the year a patient in the U.S. needs a blood transfusion.

Whole blood donors are eligible to give blood every eight weeks and are encouraged to donate at least three times each year to help UBS meet the needs of patients.

Donors can save time and fill out their Fast Track Health History Questionnaire online at unitedbloodservices.org the day of their donation. To donate blood, volunteers must be at least 16 years old (16 and 17-year-old donors need a minor donor permit which is available online) and be in good health.

In addition to its community donor centers in Cheyenne and Casper, UBS operates various blood drives across Wyoming. To make an appointment call 877-827-4376 or go to unitedbloodservices.org.

Monthly fleece blanket making continues

The Fleece Blanket Project meets on the third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at First Christian Church, 520 CY Ave. Parking is in the back of the building. Upcoming dates are Feb. 18, 2017 and March 18, 2017. Thus far, 289 blankets have been made and given to individuals in need of comfort and warmth and to agencies that serve a vulnerable population. Bring two yards of a print fleece and two yards of a solid fleece for each blanket, or just come and join others who want to make a difference. For more information, call First Christian Church at 234-8964.

Disabled vets need volunteer drivers

The Disabled American Veterans need volunteer drivers to take veterans to their medical appointment at the VA hospital in Cheyenne. The volunteer driver will transport them in a VA vehicle. If you are interested, please call the DAV transportation office in Cheyenne at 307-778-7577 for further information.

Museum needs Troopers items

Fort Caspar Museum will be celebrating 60 years of the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps with an exhibit to run in 2017 and 2018. The museum has acquired a number of items from the Troopers such as uniforms, flags, and instruments, but additional, more personal souvenirs and memorabilia items are desired. By loan or by donation, any souvenirs or collectibles will appreciated. Trooper photographs will also be considered. With a potential spring opening, donations are welcome as soon as possible.

Please contact Rick Young at Fort Caspar Museum at 235-8462 or at ryoung@casperwy.gov.

Jerry Behrens Foundation to assist vets

The doctors and staff at Casper Orthopedics have established the Jerry Behrens Foundation to honor the lifelong achievements and commitment to community service that was demonstrated by Jerome A. Behrens, M.D., retired orthopedic surgeon and co-founder of Casper Orthopedics. The practice will be funding administrative costs so that all financial contributions will go directly toward assisting injured, wounded and ill service members and their families. To donate to the Jerry Behrens Foundation, please call 265-7205.

Dr. Behrens practiced medicine in Casper for over 40 years and was known as a compassionate, conscientious and trusted orthopedic surgeon and community member. Dr. Behrens demonstrated courage and determination as he served our country as a surgeon for the Marines in Vietnam.

Volunteer at WMC

Wyoming Medical Center's Volunteer Services Program is seeking individuals who enjoy helping others.

If you enjoy walking, we have openings for patient escorts. It's a great way to lend a helping hand and get exercise. Both early and late morning shifts are available.

Volunteers are also needed in the surgical staging area. Volunteers will assist families who are waiting on a patient in surgery.

There are many ways to help in every department.

For more information, please call NJ Olsen at 577-2794 or email nolsen@wyomingmedicalcenter.org.

English speakers needed

CHAT, the English Conversation Club at Casper College Adult Learning Center, needs English speakers to meet international community members and help them speak English. Join us for an international potluck in the Werner Technical Center, Rm. 105: Feb. 14, 11 a.m. to noon; March 22, 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.; April 13, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.; and May 4, 11 a.m. to noon. For more information, call 268-2230 or email mdugan@caspercollege.edu

Save the date, restorative justice

Save the date! Restorative Justice Symposium 2017: Wyomings Introduction to a New Frontier. March 15 and 16, 2017, at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center. Hosted by Natrona County Restorative Justice. For additional information and to learn more on what restorative justice is all about, visit and like NCRJsFacebook page.
Fundraisers

API holds raffles

The API, in conjunction with the 25th Annual Chili Cook-off, is holding a raffle for a chance to win $15,000 in total cash prizes, including a $10,000 cash grand prize. Tickets are $20 each with a maximum of 2,700 being sold. The drawing will be held Feb. 18 at the API Chili Cook Off with proceeds benefiting many Casper charities. You dont have to be present to win. Tickets are available from any API board member. For more info, call Bob at 473-2230.

The API, in conjunction with the 25th Annual Chili Cook-off, is holding a raffle to win either a Henry 44 Mag rifle or a Stainless SW1911 .45 pistol (first ticket drawn wins their choice of the two, second ticket drawn wins the other). Tickets are $5 each. The drawing will be held February 18th at the API Chili Cook-off with proceeds benefiting many Casper charities. You dont have to be present to win. Tickets are available from any API board member. For more information, call Bob at 473-2230.

Community impact at Pizza Ranch

Pizza Ranch, 5011 E. Second St., hosts Community Impact nights from 5 to 9 p.m. normally on Mondays and Wednesdays. Members of nonprofit groups bus tables for tips, and 20 percent of meal tickets from diners who mention the group are donated as well. Dine-in, delivery or pickup orders qualify.

Feb. 6, Casper College ADP; Feb. 8, Casper Voltage Softball Team; Feb. 9, CY Middle School; Feb. 13, Bullwinkle's 4-H Group; Feb. 15, ASSW; Feb. 16, Midwest Physics Club; Feb. 20, 4-H Goat Herders; Feb. 22, Casper College Nursing Students; Feb. 23, NCHS Speech and Debate; Feb. 27, KWHS Orchestra.

Relay for Life daffodil sales

The American Cancer Society is having its annual Daffodil Sales to benefit the local Relay for Life. Flowers may be ordered until Feb. 17, and they will be delivered around March 8. The cost is $10 for one bouquet of 10 buds; $40 for five bouquets of 10 buds; and $70 for 10 bouquets of 10 buds. All proceeds benefit Relay for Life. To order please contact any local Relay for Life team or Jennifer with the American Cancer Society at 235-0044.

API Chili Cook-off Feb. 18

Saturday, Feb. 18, is the 25th annual API Chili Cook Off at the Casper Events Center. This year the cook-off is dedicated to Brian Scott with the theme of 25 Years in Oil & Gas -- Lets Make it BOOM! Last year over $100,000 was raised and distributed to over 20 Casper charities. If you would like to be a sponsor or for more information please contact Nick Bailey at 259-7088, Pat Sullivan at 277-5272, or visit www.casperapi.com/api-chili-cook-off.

Sale at Hospice boutique

Visit the new Memory Lane Boutique, 319 S. Wilson St., inside the administration building of Central Wyoming Hospice & Transitions. Hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Current inventory includes jewelry, household goods, furniture, books, pictures, games, and candles. Donations are gladly accepted; all proceeds benefit Central Wyoming Hospice. If you would like more information, please call 577-4832.

Wild sheep license raffle

The Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation 2017 Game & Fish Commissioners License Raffle is underway. Tickets are $100 each and only 300 will be sold. Enter to win one of 10 items to be given away at the annual Wyoming Wild Sheep Banquet on June 3, 2017 in Casper. Winners need not be present to win. First prize is a Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioners 2017 License; second prize, seven-day Caribbean Cruise or $2,000; third prize, Kimber Classic .338 Win. Mag. rifle; fourth prize, Nikon 13-30 x 50mm rifle scope; fifth prize, Ruger Precision 6.5 Creedmore rifle; sixth prize, Ruger Redhawk .44 Mag. revolver; seventh prize, Sony Cybershot DSC-HX300 camera; eighth prize, Nikon Monarch 7, 10x42 binoculars; ninth prize, Bushnell 14 megapixel trophy cam HD; 10th place, Ruger American .45 ACP pistol. Tickets are available online at http://wyomingwildsheep.org.
Glenn McMorrow had an idea: Rent stand-up paddle boards and kayaks out of a mobile stand in Curt Gowdy State Park.

Overhead would be limited. Two people could work the stand, and he could make a little cash while offering sun worshippers and outdoor recreationists something new.

So he contacted Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails to ask if he could have a conditional use permit to set up. After some negotiating, they agreed.

His first summer with Mountain SUP was a success, and now he hopes to expand.

Its so nice because people who have never done anything like this before, people who work in an office and cant get out, they can get out and just go across the water, he said. Its so easy, and theyre beaming.

The business is exactly what the State Parks department is looking for across the state, said director Domenic Bravo.

I think the state park industry is one of the best models of the private-public partnership, Bravo said. There are things the state can provide as a service and other ways the public enterprise can provide a service that is beneficial to the consumers and visitors that isnt a government function.

Some possibilities, like Mountain SUP, require minimal infrastructure. Mobile convenience stores at some of the state park reservoirs are also a popular option. The truck would take food, bait, drinks and other summer necessities around to various campgrounds and beaches.

Zip lining, on the other hand, would require a bit more investment.

We will, for the first time, also put out a [request for information]: Are there businesses in Wyoming that want to start up something like this or have ideas? Bravo said. It will be the private industry giving us information on something like zip lines.

When the department sends out requests for information, officials are basically looking for ideas. They want to know what people would like to see, and what they think they could offer as a private business. It doesnt have to be a full plan.

But Bravo is also looking for more ideas like ones already submitted. Those requests for proposals ask budding entrepreneurs for business plans related to a certain service  more ideas for kayak or paddleboard rentals, for example, or Tarzan boats that operate as floating playgrounds.

Other state parks across the country have some similar ideas. Marinas are a popular private business nestled in a state park, Bravo said. Other parks are also diving into the adventure model scene with things like zip lines. But Wyomings approach is likely unique.

I dont want to say its a new concept, but were doing some new things other state park systems havent done and are exploring new ways to get businesses, he said.

For McMorrow, the Mountain SUP owner, the state parks interest in branching out has been a success. Hes thinking of expanding to other Wyoming reservoirs such as Guernsey or Glendo.

We get a lot of positives with the park and people like it, McMorrow said. Its a win-win. As far as from my perspective its not a money maker, yet, but its a fun thing. It makes enough to pay the employees and I make a little, too. And we just started this year.
More than 60 alternative government Twitter accounts  including two for Yellowstone National Park and one for Glacier  have popped up across the United States in the wake of the Trump administrations mid-January order that Interior Department employees stop making posts on a National Park Service account.

This whole dimension of communication didnt exist before and hadnt been controversial because it was used as a means to amplify talking points, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which revealed a list of the new Twitter accounts in a Wednesday email. But now all the talking points are thrown out the window.

The temporary shutdown of a National Park Service Twitter account was ordered after the agency posted photos of a smaller crowd attending President Donald Trumps inauguration in comparison to when President Barack Obama was sworn in. The step is just one that the Trump administration has taken to control information coming from government agencies. Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency was ordered by the new administration to halt all press releases, blog updates or posts to the agencys social media accounts, according to an Associated Press report.

Ruch said the attempt to control information shows how much the political landscape has changed because of social media in just the past few years. No one would have noticed such a move in the early years of the Obama administration, he said.

Trumps actions have prompted a revolt unique to a new world where social media has provided the ability for people to circumvent the normal channels for releasing information to the public.

The list PEER referred to has been compiled by Alice Stollmeyer, a digital advocacy strategist from Brussels with a background in science and communications, according to her LinkedIn account. Her public list of Twitter accounts is titled Twistance: Twitter+resistance=#Twistance. US federal #science agencies going rogue. Shes also posted another public list called Twistance 2 that listed 33 other rogue alternate accounts for agencies like Homeland Security, FEMA and the Department of Education.

The alternative Yellowstone accounts include @YellerstoneNPS, which describes its site as The official Twitter feed* of Yellerstone National Park. *some facts may be alternative.

More popular is @AltYellowstoneNatPar, which says it is An unofficial group of employees, scientists and activists in and around Yellowstone national park. We will try and keep you informed, when others cant.

The @GlacierNPSAlt site simply says it is The alternative Twitter site for Glacier National Park. It has already gathered more than 20,000 followers.

The fact that in only a few days the sites have logged thousands of followers impressed Kirsten Stade, advocacy director for PEER.

These alternative accounts have tapped into a current that the rest of us dream of, she said, referring to others with Twitter accounts.

Twitter users skew younger, she said, which also means that the accounts may be reaching a new audience for scientific, climate and research issues by government agencies.

@NastyWomenofNPS, The Unofficial Resistance team of nasty lady rangers your elected officials warned you about, posted comments by former Park Service Director Jon Jarvis supporting the social media revolt.

I have been watching the Trump administration trying unsuccessfully to suppress the National Park Service with a mix of pride and amusement, Jarvis said in a statement posted to the Association of National Park Rangers Facebook site. The NPS is the steward of Americas most important places and the narrator of our most powerful stories, told authentically, accurately, and built upon scientific and scholarly research. The park ranger is a trusted interpreter of our complex natural and cultural history and a voice that cannot not be suppressed. Edicts from on-high have directed the NPS to not talk about national policy, but permission is granted to use social media for visitor center hours and safety.

Jarvis goes on to question what such gag orders could lead to, including:  as we scientifically monitor the rapid decline of glaciers in Glacier National Park, a clear and troubling indicator of a warming planet, shall we refrain from telling this story to the public because the administration views climate change as national policy?

The alternative sites now claim to represent people from a variety of federal agencies, from NASA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The new alt movement can trace its short heritage back to a former Badlands (South Dakota) National Park employee who had access to the parks Twitter account and on Jan. 24 started posting climate change facts. The Tweets, which gained 60,000 followers in a day, were later deleted by the Park Service but an alternative account, @AltUSNatParkService popped up.

Although PEERs Stade said the current political climate has been challenging, the rise of alt Twitter accounts is a positive sign.

We may have a more active and engaged citizenry, she said.
April will mark Jimmy Simmons 16th year as president of the Casper branch of the NAACP. He also served as first vice president of the Colorado, Montana and Wyoming Conference for 10 years. He explained how his involvement began.

Back when Mel Hamilton was being railroaded out of the school district when he was principal at East Junior High, thats what did it. I was in the oilfield (still am), and both of us were experiencing hostility in both those industries. We started a little support group. We used to meet once a week at the Village Inn. When they were removing Mel from the principal position, thats when I stepped in. We started writing letters to the editor and monitoring the response and we were getting positive response. Mel said he didnt have time to be president, so he ran for first vice president and I ran for president. We have 50 members, regular meetings every second Sunday of the month at 6 p.m., at the Parkway Plaza Railroad Room, we have had as many as 130 members.

The NAACP will host its Freedom Fund Luncheon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Feb. 11, at the Parkway Plaza. Lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m. The public is welcome but reservations for the $30 lunch are due Monday by calling Joanne Tanner at 307-234-6266.

What does the Freedom Fund do? When civil rights movements got started in the south, you had people being arrested and put in jail. They needed money to be bailed out, so people in the community, along with the NAACP, started selling dinners to raise funds for legal defense, and those dinners were named Freedom Fund Banquets.

Tell us about the luncheon speaker, Henry Allen, past president of Colorado Springs Branch NAACP, and current president, Pikes Peak Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He will address the topic, America 2017 through the eyes of Martin Luther King, Jr. He served 24 years in the U.S. Army and worked as a sheriff until his retirement. There is so much chaos in society right now, what Martin Luther King Jr. was shooting for versus where we are now, it may be different, it should be different, it is different. The talk will be what Martin Luther King Jr. would see through his lens today. After Mr. Allens work with the NAACP, he started work for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was started by Martin Luther King Jr., in 1955. He and his wife are really nice, really neat people.

What work is the NAACP involved in locally? We still do civil rights work, we are noted to be the smallest organization in the state conference  the smallest and the most effective. My branch is about 99.5 percent white. People who are interested can attend our meeting, we give you an application, its $30 a year to join There are 19 committees around the country. We dont have enough people to man all those committees, the one most active in Casper is the legal redress committee. Its usually the busiest committee and it definitely is for us. We have to hire private detectives to go out and investigate things for us and write them up in a manner that can be used in a courtroom. Weve been able to resolve problems by sitting down and talking to officials. You havent seen a whole lot of publicity about us because we get things settled in a quiet manner. Our opponents may say were not effective, but we know that we are getting things done quietly.
One person was killed Saturday morning in a crash about 60 miles west of Casper on U.S. Highway 20/26.

The vehicle was traveling west when it slid on ice attempting to pass another westbound vehicle, said Highway Patrol Interim Supervisor Mark Priest. The cars passenger side was T-boned by an eastbound vehicle.

Priest did not release the name of the person killed pending notification of the family.

No additional details were available about the crash. More information is expected to be released later.
During Christmas break of her sophomore year in high school, Ashley was drugged and raped. Ashamed and disgusted, she decided not to report the rape and try to forget it ever happened.

But then she missed her period. Since she was not sexually active, there was no question that the father of her child could only be the rapist. By then, too much time had passed. There was no hope of convicting the perpetrator. She chose not to be traumatized further by an abortion. So, nine months later she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Soon, however, the realities of single motherhood forced her to seek help. Thats when more trouble began. The state of Wisconsin forced her to seek child support from the man she said attacked her and opened the door for her alleged rapist to sue for custody.

Horrified, she tried in vain to close the door. She pleaded with the state to forget that she ever asked if only they would not force her to share custody. But that door, once opened, could not be closed. Help or no help, he still had all his paternal rights.

Without a rape conviction, the law treated him the same as any other single dad. By the time her son was 2, the state was forcing her to exchange phone numbers and email addresses and meet face to face with the man she said had raped her three years before. (I was forced to devise a parenting plan with my rapist, LifeSiteNews, Jan. 6, 2017.)

Wisconsin eventually passed legislation to close the loophole that forced Ashley into this nightmare. Now Wisconsin women who have already suffered from rape will not have to endure the additional trauma of sharing custody with their rapist.

If you think this couldnt happen in Wyoming, think again. Just ask Aimee Kidd. Her daughter is over 3 months old, but the father is still on the streets while the investigation proceeds at a glacial pace, if at all.

Right now, our legislators are considering a bill to prevent this mess. Rep. Jim Blackburn, R-Cheyenne, brought HB 216 Sexual Assault-Custody Rights before the House Minerals committee on Wednesday morning.

This bill is built upon a federal law that passed overwhelmingly (99 votes in the Senate and 420 votes in the House) in 2015. This bipartisan legislation offers financial incentives to states that protect women like Aimee. In order to qualify, custody must be denied not only when rapists are convicted, but also in the case of clear and convincing evidence before a conviction is handed down.

This provision is an important one. According to the Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network, only 6 out of 1,000 rapes ever come to conviction, and even those that do may drag on for years during the sensitive toddler years of the child.

That leaves far too many victims who remain unprotected from their rapists, and far too many children at risk of being forced into the custody of rapists under investigation.

But while the committee did pass HB 216 on to the House, they also removed its key provision. Their amended version will not protect women from their rapists until a conviction is obtained.

Not only does this leave more than 99 percent of rape victims vulnerable to a lifetime of traumatic contact with their attacker, it also disqualifies Wyoming from receiving significant federal funding for the prevention and treatment of sexual violence against women.

Aimee Kidd is confused. There's so little justice for rape victims, she said. Only 1 percent ever see the rapist convicted for rape. Why are these Wyoming legislators so interested in protecting rapists instead of victims and their children?

This should be one of those bills which is a no-brainer. Wyoming has already provided legislation which allows women to obtain a restraining order with clear and convincing evidence of a rape -- why can their children not be protected in the same way?

There is still opportunity to amend the bill into legislation that will actually help Aimee and many others like her. Lets tell our lawmakers to rescind the amendment and pass the bill. It is bad enough that we fail to protect so many women from the trauma of rape. The least we can do is pass a simple law to protect them and their children from further injury.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  An official in President Trumps Cabinet and at least one of his advisers gave paid speeches for organizations linked to an Iranian exile group that killed Americans before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ran donation scams and saw its members set themselves on fire over the arrest of their leader.

Elaine Chao, confirmed this week as Trumps transportation secretary, received $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously called a cult-like terrorist group by the State Department. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also was paid an unknown sum to talk to the group, known as the MEK.

More than two dozen former U.S. officials, both Republican and Democratic, have spoken before the MEK, including former House Speaker and Trump adviser Newt Gingrich. Some have publicly acknowledged being paid, but others have not.

While nothing would have prohibited the paid speeches, they raise questions about what influence the exiles may have in the new administration.

Already, a group of former U.S. officials, including Giuliani, wrote a letter to Trump last month encouraging him to establish a dialogue with the MEKs political arm. With Trumps ban on Iranians entering the U.S., his administrations call this week to put Iran on notice and the imposition of new sanctions on Friday, the exile group may find his administration more welcoming than any before.

A potential alliance with the MEK would link the U.S. to a group with a controversial history that has gone against American interests in the past by supporting Irans Islamic Revolution and the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran. After fleeing Iran, the MEK joined forces with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It later exposed details of the clandestine nuclear program run by Iran, which views the MEK as its sworn enemy.

The Mujahedeen have backed the winning horse. They are going to have some at least entree into the administration, said Ervand Abrahamian, a professor at the City University of New York who wrote a book on the MEK. I think it weakens the U.S. because the more they have access to the administration, the more people in Iran are going to be scared of anything the U.S. does.

The MEK long has cultivated a roster of former U.S. and European officials to attend its events opposing Irans government.

Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, spoke before an MEK conference in 2015 in Paris. She also had a seat next to Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the MEK.

Chao received a $50,000 honorarium from the MEK-associated Alliance for Public Awareness, according to a report she filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Chao received another $17,500 honorarium for March 2016 speech she gave to the Iranian-American Cultural Association of Missouri, which MEK opponents also link to the exile group.

The Department of Transportation said in a statement that Chao has a strong record of speaking out in support of democracy and womens rights in the Middle East, but has not spoken to MEK events.

It added that her speeches were delivered alongside bipartisan members of Congress, governors, prime ministers, ambassadors, generals, former FBI directors and many other influential voices.

Giuliani has acknowledged being paid for his appearances at MEK events. However, he hasnt filed a government disclosure form since his failed 2008 Republican presidential bid, so its unclear how much the MEK has paid him in total.
We want more.

Guera, Borderlands Theaters current offering, gives us tasty pieces of playwright and star Lisandra Tenas life, full of violence, abandonment, shame and false hopes.

And we want more detail, more insights.

We also want more of Tena, who is a performer full of charm and talent.

Guera is the story of her New Mexico childhood. Her mother abandoned her, her brother and her father just after Tenas birth. Mom was a junkie who would return periodically to promise Tena shed never miss another birthday, or that she would buy her a beautiful blue dress with shoes to match, or to tell her she loved her only to disappear moments later. Tenas father married often and the stepmother portrayed in the play was manipulative and cruel. Her father had no problem inflicting physical violence on his daughter.

Its no wonder she ran away from home when she was 15, living on the streets until she could take it no more. It was then that she found salvation through people who saw her promise and helped her realize it.

Tena quickly seduces the audience with her humor and her sassiness. The conceit is she is a waitress in a restaurant ready to take our order. The program contains a menu, and the audience has a choice of one of two dishes for each of the four courses. Each dish calls for a different monologue.

On the Feb. 3 opening night, the audience opted for an appetizer of El Mexicano. She quickly and silently slips out of waitress mode and transforms into her father, complete with boots and a Bud. As he sits drinking silently, he notices a small child, scared and longing to be held. He sweeps her up in his arms and dances with her until she calms down. The scene is only the Mexican music and Tena. While we never see the child, we know she is there and understand her fear. And the father wont let her go until he knows shes safe. For such a simple, wordless scene, it is shockingly poignant and heartbreaking.

And then the lights come up over the audience and we have the waitress back, ready to take the order for the next course. The audience selects Ass Kickin Posole, and in it Tena slips a paper flower behind her ear and a sock puppet on her hand. The puppet is her father, the woman the stepmother from hell. What follows is a scene that will make you want to call the Department of Child Safety.

There are two more courses, each darker and more disturbing than the last, and each broken up by Tenas sassy waitress bantering with the audience.

Bookending each scene with such easy humor is the only way that the riveting stories can be tolerated  relief is essential.

Heres the thing: If you dont know some of Tenas story, this might be difficult to follow. But there is such a beauty and grace to the 90-minute play, you want to stick with it.

And the other thing: We only get snippets of her story. Perhaps Tena will one day broaden it and give us more depth, more insight into what she took from that part of her life, and what it took from her.

Even if she doesnt, the tasty pieces we got are enough to show us that when Tena is on stage, the audience feasts.
We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some Feb. 5 papers in history. With a subscription to newspapers.com you can search the Arizona Daily Star and many other newspapers using keywords or dates, and download articles or pages.
Local resettlement agencies are canceling housing plans for incoming refugees whose futures are now uncertain.

International students at the University of Arizona are abandoning trips to see relatives abroad, fearing they wont be able to return.

A 22-year-old Sudanese refugee, Osam Yahya, who arrived in Tucson alone in December, is absorbing the news that his big brother wont join him this week, and will instead remain in a Kenyan refugee camp.

Tucsonans of all backgrounds are feeling the ripple effects of President Trumps far-reaching executive order temporarily barring travel from seven Muslim-majority countries and suspending entry of all refugees.

On Friday, a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked Trumps travel ban, a move the Justice Department appealed Saturday night.

On Saturday, U.S. borders were again open to visa holders from the seven banned countries, though its unclear how long that will remain the case.

Some Tucson residents with relatives stuck in dangerous countries say they are trying to keep despair at bay.

I wonder how we work sometimes, how we function, said Rana Sammani, whose Syrian-born husbands siblings, a niece and three nephews are trapped in the ravaged city of Aleppo. Before Trumps indefinite ban on Syrian refugees entering the U.S., they had hoped to soon get approval to come to Tucson as refugees.

Its by the grace of God that theyre still alive, Sammani said. This process  every day counts. Every day were not able to get them here may be the last day theyll be alive.

The travel ban has spurred support for refugees, too. The Iskashitaa Refugee Network has seen a surge in volunteer applications since last week. Members of Islamic groups say they are experiencing an outpouring of support from Tucsonans. But some are nevertheless boosting security in the wake of the Jan. 29 mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque, allegedly carried out by a far-right Quebec native.

CONFUSION AND ANXIETY

Local immigration lawyers are scrambling to nail down the exact implications of the travel ban, which caused widespread confusion and protest when it was signed and implemented late in the day on Jan. 27.

Ive never seen an order by the president that was so disruptive and caused so much confusion and anxiety, said Mo Goldman, a Tucson immigration attorney.

The order is also painful for former refugees already here in Tucson. Some, like 21-year-old Suleiman Shire of Somalia, had been expecting to finally reunite with family members whose flights were canceled after the travel ban took effect.

Its making me afraid again, said Shire, whose four siblings were supposed to arrive in Tucson on Feb. 7.

Sudanese refugee John Anyieth, 36, said the order goes against everything he knows and loves about the United States.

I think this being done by Trump will cause a lot of enmity toward the U.S. people and the U.S. government, he said. Anyieth fled war in Sudan at age 13, and lived for nearly a decade in a refugee camp. In 2003 he began the process of applying for refugee status, and it took nine more years before he, his wife and children were approved to move to Tucson.

When I came here, I pledged to be part of this community, the U.S. land, he said. But now its like Im being told, You are not part of this group. Im so worried about my future and the future of my children.

In a forceful condemnation, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the ban undermines national security by feeding into terrorists recruitment narrative.

CLARIFICATIONS FROM

the WHITE HOUSE

The executive order halts the U.S. refugee program for four months, and indefinitely bars refugees from Syria. The order also bans immigrants and nonimmigrants  like foreign-born students, workers and tourists  from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days.

The Trump administration clarified on Wednesday that green-card holders are exempt from the ban, which the order states is intended to give federal officials time to review and bolster vetting procedures to ensure terrorists and criminals dont infiltrate the U.S.

This order was an appropriate step, said Jessica Vaughan of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C. Its clear that our vetting system and our review process is inadequate.

Vaughan cited a Senate subcommittees finding that 380 out of 580 people convicted in the U.S. of terrorist-related offenses since 9/11 were foreign-born. But a Cato Institute researcher said that statistic is misleading, noting only 40 of those convicted were plotting an attack on U.S. soil, and many of the other convictions werent actually on terrorism charges.

Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., said in a statement the basic goals of the ban are worthwhile, even if the executive order was flawed.

McSally said she learned of very real and dangerous gaps in our vetting processes while serving on a Congressional task force on combating ISIS. Our own intelligence officials have expressed vulnerabilities with these processes, which is why taking a comprehensive look at them is prudent.

Trump recently emphasized the order is not a Muslim ban, a term Trump used often during his campaign and which the American Civil Liberties Union said would amount to unconstitutional discrimination.

For Taha Hasan, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Tucson, it doesnt matter what Trump wants to call the executive order now  the intention is clear, he said.

To state that Christians will be provided priority over Muslims is a very clear message about what this ban is about, he said.

The executive order says it will prioritize refugee claims by those facing religious persecution, if they are a religious minority in their country. In an interview, Trump pledged to give Christian Syrians priority as refugees.

Muslim leaders in Tucson say their community centers and mosques have received a flood of phone calls and letters of support since the immigration ban went into effect. Still, the Islamic Center is increasing security and will be requesting additional police patrols in the area when it holds its Friday religious gatherings, Hasan said.

The University of Arizona is bracing for a drop in international student enrollment, which was already on the decline. A Pima Community College official said the school is unsure what the impact will be to its international and refugee education programs.

And the Air Force is working to determine the bans effects on an F-16 training program at the Arizona Air National Guards 162nd Wing in Tucson, which trains pilots from foreign countries, including Iraq, one of Trumps banned countries. Thirty Iraqi pilots are in the training pipeline, a spokeswoman for the 162nd Wing said.

SUPPORTERS CHEER

Across the country, many Trump supporters are cheering the president for following through on campaign promises. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the days after the executive order found 48 percent of 1,201 people surveyed support the immigration and refugee ban.

Mariano Rodriguez, a 54-year-old architect in Tucson, said he didnt object to Trumps calls for a Muslim ban during his campaign. He agreed the ban was poorly implemented. But as an immigrant himself, who moved to the U.S. from Mexico City at age 9, Rodriguez said sacrifices must be made in the name of security.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, Rodriguez said, his name ended up on an airport security watch list. For a year, he had to undergo extra screenings and baggage searches when he traveled.

His advice to those directly affected by the travel ban?

Suck it up, he said. If they have to wait a little bit of time, its not going to kill them.

But every day comes with risks for those in war-torn countries, said Sammani, the Tucson resident whose extended family is stuck in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

She and her Syrian-born husband, Saad  a doctor who teaches at the UA College of Medicine  have been trying since 2014 to get their relatives safely to Tucson. They first sought a visa for relatives of U.S. citizens, which has a large backlog of visa requests. In 2016 they began working through the refugee resettlement program.

Trumps ban on Syrian refugees has thrown everything into limbo, Sammani said.

Her relatives go days without water service and when the water does come on, the families stay up late filling up every container in the house, Sammani said. Her sister-in-law has two 4-year-old twins who have spent most of their lives in a state of fear, resulting in cognitive and speech delays.

The boys dont have any diagnosis, though, Sammani said  her family says all the pediatricians in Aleppo have been killed.

REFUGEE VETTING

The odds of an American being killed in a terrorist attack committed by a refugee on U.S. soil is one in 3.6 billion per year, according to an analysis by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

For those familiar with the lengthy process refugees face to get into the U.S., the across-the-board ban on their entry is hard to comprehend.

Refugees are the most thoroughly vetted population of travelers to the U.S., subject to a stringent process that takes at least 18 to 24 months and involves scrutiny from eight U.S. and international security agencies, said Jeffrey Cornish, executive director of the International Rescue Committee in Tucson. The IRC is one of three national resettlement agencies that helps refugees establish homes and jobs in the U.S.

When they talk about extreme vetting, already its extreme, Cornish said. For us, the facts just dont bear out the reality of refugees being any kind of threat.

Since vetting procedures were heightened in 2015, one in 10 Syrians applying for refugee status is accepted, he said. To be considered for refugee status, they have to show they are fleeing for their life and cannot return home.

Still, he said, equitable and well-thought out reforms could have been made while still allowing refugees to enter the U.S.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Citing the need to discuss the financial and security consequences of accepting refugees in Arizona, Sen. Judy Burges, R-Sun City, sponsored a bill to remove Arizona from the U.S. refugee program. SB 1468 would also fine charities $1,000 per day for every refugee they assist in the state. Burges told the Arizona Republic, We need to discuss that we have so many needs in our country. But you cant help people if youre not strong yourself.

While some object to public assistance being used to support refugees, those families make significant contributions to the local economy, said Lorel Donaghey of Tucson resettlement agency Refugee Focus.

Those who qualify can get food stamps and financial assistance in the months after they arrive, but after six months, more than nine in 10 refugee families are financially self-sufficient, she said.

Trumps ban could negatively affect Tucsons economy as well, Cornish said. Resettlement agencies have partnerships with local property owners, who rely on the stream of new tenants to fill vacancies, he said. The majority of Tucsons refugees land jobs quickly, usually at local hotels and restaurants, he said.

Thats making them self-sufficient, but its also providing a needed workforce for these employers, he said.

The executive order also cuts the maximum number of refugees permitted into the U.S. this fiscal year from 110,000 to 50,000. The reduction will likely result in reduced funding for, and closures of, resettlement agencies across the country, agency leaders said.

CLIMATE OF FEAR

Last week more than 60 religious leaders met to craft a statement repudiating the ban and emphasizing that refugees, immigrants and Muslims can count on Tucsons multifaith community to defend and support them.

But the climate of fear is hard to ignore these days, said Rula Khalidi, volunteer on an interfaith committee at the Muslim Community Center of Tucson.

People are terrified, she said. I was very active after 9/11 and I find the climate now, with hateful speech and imagery, is so much darker than we ever experienced before.

Iran native Mojtaba Ebrahimian, 31, is here on a student visa as he pursues a doctorate at the UA. Because of the travel ban, hes canceled plans to visit relatives in Iran this summer, but he said he has nothing to complain about: His friends with roots in war-torn countries like Iraq and Syria face much graver challenges. Ebrahimian said he can always go home permanently, without risking his life.

The worst-case scenario for me is that I cant see my family until I finish my studies, and then can never come back to the U.S., said Ebrahimian, who studied in Iran before starting at the UA in 2012.

Meanwhile, one of Ebrahimians Syrian friends said eight of his 14 relatives in Syria are dead, and the surviving ones are expecting death every day, he said.

Ebrahimian said he is seeing the U.S. in a new light. Part of him wishes Trump had been president five years ago, when he was considering studying here, he said. He would have chosen a university in Canada instead, he said.

I dont want my children to grow up in this country, he said.

Anyieth, the refugee from Sudan, said he still has faith in the American people.

The ordinary American citizen, I know they are with us, he said. This issue has been brought about by the politicians. So Im asking the residents within Arizona or in Tucson to stand with the refugees.
By the time Angel Cortez-Piries family discovered he had no immune system  a condition often called bubble boy disease  he was too sick for the treatment hed need to get well.

As a result, Angel spent eight months hospitalized at Phoenix Childrens Hospital at an expensive and likely avoidable cost of $2 million, billed to Arizonas Medicaid program.

Angel is one of the two to four Arizona babies born with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) every year. Most babies survive the rare disorder if screened for it and treated as newborns, the Maryland-based Immune Deficiency Foundation says. But Angel was not screened for the disease when he was born on May 6, 2015.

Ninety percent of newborns in the U.S. are screened for SCID, but not babies born in Arizona, unless they are born on the Navajo Reservation, which has had screening since 2006. Babies like Angel, who have SCID that is not detected right away, face large medical bills and higher mortality rates than those screened as newborns.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services put SCID on its list of recommended core newborn screenings in 2010. In 2014, efforts to add an SCID test to newborn screening in Arizona failed. Now, theres another push.

Gov. Doug Ducey in his 2017 State of the State speech said the 86,000 or so babies born in Arizona annually should be automatically screened for SCID, which affects up to 100 U.S. newborns per year.

A recently introduced state bill  SB 1368  would provide a funding mechanism to make that happen. On Wednesday, Angels mother and other advocates will be at the Legislature to urge passage of the bill.

Higher-risk population

While the risk of SCID in the general population is one in 55,000 live births, the risk is higher for Native American and Hispanic people, said Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In Native American populations, the risk is as high as one in 2,000 live births, and among Hispanics the risk is one in 25,000, a 2014 state Newborn Screening Advisory Committee analysis found.

The department supports this newborn screening fully, Christ said. The key is ensuring there are enough funds.

Arizona, Louisiana and Indiana are the only states that do not mandate newborn SCID screening.

Through its newborn screening panel, Arizona looks for 30 disorders. SCID would be the 31st .

Former Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will Humble said he became convinced that SCID should be added to Arizonas screening in 2014 because of the high-risk population in Arizona, the importance of the diagnosis timing, and because the cost benefits are clear.

The cost-benefit ratio was almost five, meaning that for every dollar of costs to provide SCID screening, there will be about $5 worth of benefits, such as lower treatment costs, said Humble, now a division director at the University of Arizonas Health Sciences Center. But the compelling thing for me was the dramatically better outcomes that are possible with early treatment.

$6 per baby

The current proposal was introduced by Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, and was assigned to the Senates Health and Human Services Committee. It is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday afternoon.

The cost of SCID screening is $6 per baby, which is an estimated $513,000 per year in money the state expects to recoup from hospitals and insurers.

Allens bill would raise the fee for the states automatic first newborn screening panel from $30 to $36.

The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the states Medicaid program, would be billed an estimated $368,000 in screening costs, since most Arizona births are covered by AHCCCS. The state would pay $120,000 of that and the U.S. government would pay the remainder, agency deputy director Beth Kohler said. AHCCCS officials support the screening.

The cost is a bargain when compared with the hospital bills of babies whose condition is diagnosed late, said Dr. Cindy Salm Bauer, an allergy and immunology specialist at Phoenix Childrens Hospital. They have horrendous hospital stays, Bauer said.

In contrast, newborns who test positive for SCID can be given interventions that improve their chances. Those include isolation, antibiotics, antifungals, immunoglobulin replacement, and most importantly, hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation from sources like bone marrow, peripheral and cord blood.

If they are screened and they dont get infections, they can be treated and have a healthy, normal life, Immune Deficiency Foundation founder and president Marcia Boyle said.

It is a pediatric emergencyThere are children who never even get to a diagnosis. They pass away before anyone even understands what happened to them."

The cost of early treatments can be as low as $50,000 in the first few months of life, compared with hospital bills that can run into the millions for later interventions, the foundation says.

Bubble boy

Rachael Pirie had heard of the bubble boy growing up. It was a shock, she said, to learn her son had the same condition.

David Vetter, a Houston boy born in 1971, became known as the bubble boy because he lived in a protected bubble enclosure at Texas Childrens Hospital.

When David was born, a born-marrow transplant from an exact match was the only fix for SCID. But no one in his family was an exact match. Davids life inspired a 1976 movie starring John Travolta, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.

Science eventually advanced to where SCID could be treated without a perfect bone-marrow blood match. David had a transplant with a donation from his sister, but died four months later at the age of 12. Hes credited with raising awareness of SCID, providing the impetus for newborn screening and furthering medical advances that have improved survival rates.

For Angel, the diagnosis did not mean living in a bubble, though the conditions were close. The 6-pound infant was in isolation in Phoenix Childrens, and to see him, his parents had to scrub in and wear surgical masks and gowns. Pirie was told she could no longer breastfeed her son.

More than once, the family thought he would die. Angel has since had two bone-marrow transplants, the most recent on Feb. 22. Though hes home now, he continues to struggle and has been hospitalized twice since March.

Misdiagnosis

Erica Billys daughter, Ava George, spent the months after her 2013 birth constantly at the ER or the doctor and was misdiagnosed with leukemia. She was not diagnosed with SCID until she was 5 months old and extremely ill.

We almost lost Ava. The first five months of her life were a nightmare, Billy said. Luckily, Avas grandmother works in Tuba City (on the Navajo Reservation) and the doctor there told us to get a second opinion, because it looked like SCID.

Ava, who lives in Chandler, spent eight months hospitalized in San Francisco and had a bone-marrow transplant in 2014. But she is still having problems, so shell have another transplant in March.

Billy is not sure the exact cost of the medical care, which is covered by AHCCCS, but says it has reached $2 million.

Like Pirie, Billy will be at the Legislature Wednesday to urge newborn screening.
More than 50 cats and kittens were taken from a Tucson home Friday, in the third hoarding rescue in three weeks, authorities said.

Field services officers with the Pima County Animal Care Center removed 54 cats from the home, and members of the shelter team worked late into the night to check their weights, vaccinate and deworm them before transferring the animals to the medical team, according to a post on PACC's Facebook page.

Additional community agencies responded to the home, which was described as being in "deplorable" condition, and addressed safety concerns with the structure, said Pima County spokesman, Mark Evans.

PACC has reached out to rescue and shelter partners for help make room for the new cats, who need medical care and isolation time. Many organizations, including the Humane Society of Southern Arizona and Saving Animals From Euthanasia, have already agreed to take other PACC cats into their care to make room for the new arrivals, Evans said.

The 57 cats who were rescued from a Jan. 19 hoarding situation are ready to leave the shelter, and anyone who takes one home won't pay a fee, according to PACC's Facebook page.

Through Feb. 14, PACC is running a special on all other pets, with adoption fees priced at $14 or less. The fee includes the pet's spay or neuter surgery, vaccinations, microchip and vet visit. A standard licensing fee of $17 will apply for all dogs.

For those who can't adopt, PACC is asking the public to please consider helping in another way, by making a donation or gift of medical supplies.
Were used to seeing how risky it can be for a child to stay with no-good parents.

Thats because time and again over the last decade, weve learned of local kids whose families were under the scrutiny of the state child-welfare agencies but ended up dead at the hands of their parents anyway.

Ariana, 4, and Tyler Payne, 5, siblings, died in 2007.

Michael Ibarra, 6, died in 2010.

ZaNaya Flores, 22 months, died in 2012.

Roman Barreras, 2, died in 2014.

These are just a few of the cases that received significant attention from reporters, but there were others, here and elsewhere in Arizona. They conditioned the public, legislators and child-protective workers to react conservatively to avoid death and scandal. Taking kids out of questionable homes seems the safe alternative.

The Department of Child Safetys predecessor agency, Child Protective Services, removed just 7,708 as recently as 2009. During the year that ended Sept. 30, the state removed 11,810 children  and that was a decrease from the previous year. Arizona still removes children at a higher rate than almost every other state.

But the story of a 5-year-old girl, still clinging to life at Banner-University Medical Center and reported in the Star last Sunday by Patty Machelor, shows theres another side to those decisions: The risk that life outside a childs borderline home may be worse than it is inside. She was first in the foster home of a sex offender, then scalded nearly to death, allegedly by the woman who adopted her, Samantha Osteraas.

The girl was taken from a home where her biological mother was addicted to drugs but nonetheless worked diligently at the program assigned her by the court in order to keep her parental rights. She had one egregious mistake  she let the girls father see her without court-required supervision from outside agencies  and made a bad impression on an important person.

The parent-child relationship psychologist testified against me at trial and said I was incapable of supporting my daughters emotional needs, Michelle Tremor-Calderon told me Friday. She said that I wasnt able to support her emotional needs because I told my daughter not to feel sad. I didnt want her to feel sad.

The issue, she said, was how Tremor-Calderon dealt with her daughter when her daughter was leaving supervised visits to return to her foster family.

At the time, her foster father was a Sierra Vista man who has since been imprisoned for sex crimes against children.

So, the system took Tremor-Calderons daughter away because she wasnt, in their view, dealing well enough with the emotions of a child who may have been suffering sexual abuse at the home she was about to return to.

Neither authorities nor documents confirm whether the girl was a victim of her foster father, David Frodsham, but Tremor-Calderon was reporting to officials at the time that she suspected abuse. She thinks they held that against her as well.

I tried to protect her. I brought up many concerns, she said. They even accused me of making false reports to the police accusing them of sexual abuse. I was right the whole time. I knew it.

The decision to sever a parents right to raise a child is one of the most intrusive state powers that exists  in my mind its about on par with taking a life. In Arizona, its governed by state laws that say what situations allow a judge to sever the relationship. Reunification remains the goal in every case, but its not always possible.

In other words, its not a judgment call, as Presiding Pima County Juvenile Court Judge Kathleen Quigley told me.

Judges have to determine what the facts are, then apply the facts to the law, she said. You cant use your gut.

And yet, retired Judge Hector Campoy, who led the Juvenile Court until 2010, said a judge never knows how its going to turn out and must use some judgment.

Youre really condemning a relationship, saying that its fatally flawed, and that the benefit to the child is so marginal that youre going to pretend this biological relationship doesnt exist, he said. Yet you know what awaits the child around the corner isnt necessarily going to be a bed of roses.

Foster parents receive background checks and other security reviews before they are allowed to have foster children. So do potential adoptive parents. And yet not every risk factor can be detected, as Frodshams case shows.

Campoy said he was on the bench long enough to see that some kids whose parental relationships he severed never got into a permanent home, or ended up in abusive homes. Some went from foster home to foster home until they turned 18 and were emancipated.

Theres always been a tension between reunification and creating a new, safe placement, he said.

Its easy to see after a parent kills a child that the child should have been removed, and why officials would be anxious to keep that from happening again. Yet its harder to see  except in disturbing cases like the scalded 5-year-old  whether removal worked out better for the child.
Authorities arrested a 38-year-old man Wednesday, in connection with the October shooting death of Israel Dominguez Alfaro on Tucson's south side.

Joseph Torres was booked into the Pima County jail on one count of second-degree murder, after detectives found evidence that linked him to Alfaro's shooting, said Sgt. Pete Dugan, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

Torres is being held on a $350,000 bond, according to jail records.

Shortly after 1 a.m. on Oct. 23, officers went to the area of South 7th Avenue and West Lincoln Street for reports of a possible shooting.

When they arrived, they found Alfaro in the street with obvious signs of gunshot trauma. He was taken to a hospital, but died shortly after arrival, Dugan said.

Detectives learned that Alfaro and 29-year-old Alice Puente had gotten into a physical altercation earlier that night, and hours later, when Alfaro was walking down the street with his brother, Puente and several men pulled up in an SUV and confronted the two, Dugan said.

A fight broke out and one of the suspects fired a gun, striking Alfaro, after which Puente and the men got back in the SUV and fled, Dugan said.

Puente was located shortly after and taken into custody. She's been charged with manslaughter, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, according to Pima County court records.

She remains in the Pima County jail on a $750,000 bond.
University of Arizona facilities need about $350 million in deferred maintenance, and without significant investment that cost could balloon to more than $1 billion in the next decade, school officials said.

A plan in Gov. Doug Duceys proposed state budget could result in the university being able to use some sales-tax revenue to put a dent in the long list of needed capital improvements.

The universitys chief financial officer, in a presentation to the Arizona Board of Regents, called the disrepair a ticking time bomb, saying its just a matter of time until the lack of timely repairs and maintenance creates an emergency situation.

It already has caused some significant problems.

The UA had to repair collapsed concrete on a road near the Student Union while students and faculty were on winter break. In another instance, an electrical fire and loss of power last July at Banner-University Medical Center forced the hospital to evacuate some patients for 24 hours while repairs were made.

UA officials analyzed all facilities and identified seven buildings on the main campus as being outdated and in need of the most repairs. They are: Forbes, Steward Observatory, Biological Sciences East and West, Harshbarger, Shantz and the College of Medicine.

Another building, Old Chemistry, built in 1936, which overlooks the UA Mall from the south, is on the list for demolition. Everything, save for its historic facade, has to go, but there arent any immediate plans to replace the building.

An anthropology professor called his classroom inside Old Chem depressing, saying he hears strange noises every now and then. Its not a great educational environment, said Matthew Rowe, the professor. But he didnt know it was so bad it had to be demolished.

The buildings and their infrastructures have lived, and are living, long past their life spans, said Chris Kopach, assistant vice president of facilities management. Most of them were built before the 1970s. For instance, the Forbes building, where the agriculture department is based, was built in 1915, though it has had upgrades over the years.

Some of the signs of disrepair include cracked concrete, deteriorated insulation, duct leakage, antiquated cold rooms and inefficient lab exhausts. The electrical, mechanical and air-handler systems are 50 to 60 years old in the seven buildings, when the recommended life span would be about 25 years, he said.

Its not that those buildings are not safe to be in, Kopach said. As far as the buildings being safe, theyre all safe. This is no different than when you have a home and you have aging infrastructure and equipment.

The disrepair that poses immediate risk of fire or to safety are addressed quickly, he said. Most of the deferred maintenance is what goes on underneath the layers the public can see, with more than half of it having to do with old heating and cooling systems.

However, there are health issues associated with the systems disrepair in buildings.

A UA presentation, as part of its strategic plan, includes a brief on indoor health issues related to deferred maintenance, which says that long-term effects of temperature, humidity, pressure, noise, vibration, particulates and airborne contaminants may have direct and indirect consequences on individual health.

Parts of the governors proposed budget may allow for additional capital funding for the states three public universities to deal with matters such as deferred maintenance and also to invest in newer buildings for research.

But until the budget makes its way through the Legislature, its business as usual for the UA: focusing on emergency repairs and preventive measures.

Underground system

Beneath the campus lies a utility tunnel system of more than 6 miles that supplies water, steam and more to buildings . The steam thats used to heat the classrooms during cold weather? That comes through those underground pipes.

Rick Lower, a facilities superintendent, is one of three employees tasked with traveling through the vast tunnel system daily to make sure everything is working, though a lot of monitoring is done remotely through electronic systems.

Late last year, Lower discovered the concrete on James E. Rogers Way, a narrow one-way road just south of Second Street that connects east and west sides of the campus, had collapsed on top of the tunnel.

Water had infiltrated the concrete over the years, rusting and stretching the rebar that separated the concrete, Lower said. Theres also heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area.

While students and faculty were away on Christmas break, the facilities management team removed the collapsed concrete, formed a new lid, installed rebar, waterproofed the structure and refilled the concrete in 2 weeks. That ended up being a costly repair  about $300,000.

There are other parts of the tunnel that need maintenance. Theres concrete falling from heavy traffic in several corridors. We handle it on an emergency basis, Kopach said. When theres more than $300 million worth of maintenance needing to be done, thats often how it works.

A UA-developed technique is actually helping the university address some of the tunnel issues. Mo Ehsani, a structural engineering professor in the civil engineering department, developed the Quake Wrap method, which uses fiber-reinforced polymer to strengthen the structures.

As far as outdated equipment, the facilities management team has done a remarkable job of keeping systems more than 50 years old running, Kopach said. Some of the electrical equipment housed underneath the Arizona State Museum might as well be in the museum because its so old, he said.

In the electrical outage at Banner-UMC last July, the problem was caused by an old electrical system owned by the UA. In fact, it was so old that parts for it had to be bought on eBay, as 1960s high-voltage fuses it needed were no longer being commercially manufactured.

Hopes raised

Gregg Goldman, the UAs CFO and senior vice president of business affairs, said he was excited to hear the governors budget included a sales-tax recapture plan to make capital funding available to the universities.

I think this is an amazing step in the right direction to solve two problems, he said. One, research infrastructure and new buildings are critical to fund, to be able to attract and retain our top faculty, which helps our contracts and grants and helps us find the next new big thing. It also helps us recognize the older buildings.

Essentially, what it does is allow universities to take back the sales tax they pay, which would then be matched by each of the three universities and gives them bonding authority. For the UA, the sales-tax recapture program could lead to more than $400 million in bonding capacity.

While no decisions have been made about what to prioritize, if the sales-tax plan is approved, Goldman said about $225 million could go toward the $350 million deferred-maintenance problem.

Renewal is cumulative, he said. If we can change the dialogue and change the equation, where now were taking $225 million and putting it toward this problem, its not going to compound up to a billion.

Goldman said the university must focus on both building new infrastructure and fixing old infrastructure. Part of that is recognizing the historical significance of some of the buildings, but also recognizing the need to grow the university enterprise.

If the sales-tax plan is not approved as part of the state budget, the need to solve the deferred-maintenance issue doesnt diminish, he said. It just means we need to find other ways to connect the dots to make it happen.
Sometime in the not-so-distant future, a somewhat novel election will take place in Pima County: A single ballot will be cast, and it will authorize the eventual issuance of up to $45 million in public debt.

That debt, which will be controlled by the Board of Supervisors, will pay for infrastructure in a large residential development over the next 15 years.

The vote will take place in the recently formed Rocking K Community Facilities District, which overlays the roughly 2,000-acre residential and commercial development Rocking K South near East Old Spanish Trail and South Camino Loma Alta.

As certified by the county, there arent any registered voters living in the district, and home closings arent expected to begin until 2019, according to the district application submitted by the developer, an affiliate of Diamond Ventures Inc. In the absence of residents, state law allows for landowners to vote in such elections.

Its going to be a landslide, County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry quipped.

So, what exactly is a Community Facilities District and why is a transportation columnist writing about it?

A CFD is a special taxing district first authorized by the Legislature in 1988; counties got the ability to form them in the mid-2000s. Funded by property taxes assessed on district landowners, CFDs are intended to provide the means to build basic infrastructure like sewer mains, parks and  to answer the second question  arterial and collector roads. CFDs have also generated concerns and criticism .

With Rocking K, which is the first county-formed CFD, around $15 million of the nearly $40 million of district-funded improvements planned over the next 15 years will go toward roadway infrastructure. Some developers say the traditional sources of private financing for master-planned community infrastructure have dried up in the wake of the Great Recession, leaving few options to move projects forward.

With the recession, virtually any kind of institutional, big bank financing has dried up, said Dean Wingert, head of the Crown West Land Group, whose development Gladden Farms in Marana is one of just a handful in the county with a CFD. Wingert clarified that developers still have to pay for infrastructure upfront, and are only reimbursed by the CFD after it has been inspected and accepted, as is the case with Rocking K.

Priscilla Storm, Diamond Ventures vice president, said, Arizonas use of CFDs make us more competitive at attracting investment and growing our economy.

In its 2015 comprehensive plan Pima Prospers, the county includes CFDs in a list of funding options which should be fully utilized when expecting new development to pay for the cost of growth.

Funding options for roadway improvements, maintenance and repair are very limited, Huckelberry noted in his recommendation that the board approve Rocking K, which it did 5-0 on Jan. 17. Storm agreed, saying the state faces an infrastructure financing shortfall.

Huckelberry later told the Road Runner the countys rising  but qualified  regard for CFDs stems from the frank realization that transportation finance and funding for any infrastructure in the state is poorly funded today, and the likelihood that it will be funded in the future is not very good. Beyond funding road construction, CFDs also include a separate tax to fund maintenance in perpetuity, relieving the county of the financial burden of caring for roads once theyre completed.

Its one of those last resorts, he said of the countys less-than-enthusiastic embrace of CFDs, adding later he would prefer that they not exist.

That lukewarm attitude is due to the fact that CFDs mean higher property taxes for district residents (Rocking K homeowners will likely pay between $2.30 and $2.80 more for every $100 of assessed value) and few  if any  eventual residents participate in the creation or initial debt authorization, which Huckelberry chalked up to the rules the Legislature set. Storm said theres nothing unusual about that latter feature of CFDs, which is unavoidable when the undeveloped land has just one owner, as is the case with Rocking K South.

Kevin McCarthy, president of the Arizona Tax Research Association, which opposed the creation of CFDs, shared some additional concerns .

Because CFD residents also pay property tax to all other overlying taxing districts, and the roadways the district pays for are public and sometimes extend beyond the development itself, there is the possibility of what McCarthy called double taxation.

He also said the assumption that upfront home costs in CFDs would be lower, due to the fact the developer doesnt have to incorporate infrastructure costs into the price, is not necessarily true.

With county-created CFDs specifically there are additional risks, according to McCarthy, including the encouragement of leapfrog development .

Huckelberry took issue with McCarthys double taxation claim, saying that CFD residents get an enhanced service. He also said leapfrog development existed long before counties could form CFDs.

The county has put in place a number of policies to guard against potential pitfalls. For one, the supervisors will serve as the governing board to help maintain control of tax levies and issuing debt. It will be up to the board to determine the amount, timing and form of financing.

Developers are also legally required to advise would-be buyers of the CFDs financial implications.

DOWN THE ROAD

Starting early Monday, Drachman Street will be closed from Stone Avenue east to Seventh Avenue to allow for reconstruction. The stretch is expected to reopen by Feb. 27, though weather could affect the schedule.

Contact: mwoodhouse@tucson.com or 573-4235. On Twitter: @murphywoodhouse
A small South Tucson-based human-rights group and the city of Tucson have found themselves in a political firestorm after a news article in the conservative Daily Caller connected them with last weeks riots in Berkeley, California.

The nonprofit, the Alliance for Global Justice, was listed as a fiscal sponsor for Refuse Fascism, an anti-fascist group that took credit for canceling a speech by right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos in Berkeley on Feb. 1.

The protest turned violent, with some demonstrators clashing with police; 15 buildings were vandalized.

The city and the nonprofit apparently did not financially support Refuse Fascism: The Alliance for Global Justice was a pass-through for other nonprofits, and the city processes some types of grants for tribes.

A $10,000 donation from the city of Tucson is listed in 2015 tax filings for the Alliance for Global Justice.

The citys and the nonprofits financial documents show that they were adhering to state law and tax codes that regulate tribal funds and make it difficult for some nonprofits to accept grant financing.

The funds listed from the city were from the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, which is required by the state to use a governmental agency when distributing tribal gaming revenue.

Additionally, city officials said the $10,000 grant went to a different nonprofit  Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras, also known as the Indigenous Alliance Without Borders, which works to address human-rights violations that threaten tribal members from passing back and forth across the border with Mexico.

Not one dollar of city taxpayer money went to the Alliance for Global Justice, said city spokeswoman Lane Mandle.

In September 2015, the city, acting as a pass-through agency, issued $10,000 of state-shared gaming allocations to Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras. In accordance with state law, gaming allocations must pass from the tribes through a governmental agency.

Tucson and other cities throughout the state act as a pass-through for these grants every year. The city neither controls the funding, nor selects who receives the grant money, she added.

As a 501(c)3 organization, the Alliance for Global Justice accepted the $10,000 grant from the Pascua Yaqui Tribe on behalf of the Alliance Without Borders, said Chuck Kaufman, the national co-coordinator of the Alliance for Global Justice.

A spokesperson for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

The practice of lending a nonprofits legal and tax-exempt status to other groups  known as fiscal sponsorship  is common. Kaufman said his organization offers those services to about 90 nonprofits, including Refuse Fascism.

A nonprofit might also handle donations for another to avoid overhead. Small nonprofits might choose to pay a fee rather than go to the expense of an accountant.

Other donors listed on the same tax document  including billionaire financier George Soros  are the same type of arrangement, Kaufman explained. He said Soros foundation gave money to United Students Against Sweatshops and the funding went through his nonprofits bank account.

His latest annual tax filing, which covers activity up to March 2016, shows his group received $2.3 million in donations. Most of that money  roughly $1.9 million by Kaufmans estimate  went to other groups.

Kaufman said he has no control on how the money he accepts for other groups is used .

Kaufman says his organization had no involvement in the Berkeley protest.

Kaufman said he bears financial responsibility for the money his group accepts, but he doesnt have any reason to believe the funds given to Refuse Fascism were improperly used.

We didnt send any money to Berkeley, he said.

The group has been taking out full-page ads in the Washington Post and The New York Times, and the amount he processed for the group was only a tiny bit of its overall budget.

On Friday night, Kaufman said he sees no reason to cut ties with Refuse Fascism.

They didnt have anything to do with the violence, he said.
For many of us who call the borderlands our home, there is a reality to our lives and our history. We travel back and forth. We visit family south of the line and family comes here, even if the distance is measured in a few miles. Some families histories stretch back to before Spanish colonizers arrived, while others were born yesterday.

But for the vast majority of people who live far and wide outside the 2,000-mile long corridor  including many who do live within this region  their reality is defined by myths or in todays lingo, alternative facts. For them the borderlands are unsafe, full of dangerous people and places. The border sucks in valuable resources while failing to contribute to the general good. The border region has no past but a nefarious present and a dark future.

Sadly its the myths, not the reality, that lead policymakers and governments, at all levels, to remake the border.

Myth makers have long recreated the border into their alternative reality. Oddly enough yesterdays manipulators didnt paint the borderlands as a place to stay away from, rather they pictured the borderlands as an inviting, idyllic place to visit for leisure, for improved health and for better opportunities. It was a place with lots of sunshine and lovely senoritas, and an entryway to old, romantic Mexico.

At the University of Arizona Special Collections Library, an exhibit called Visions of the Borderlands: Myths and Realities, curated by Veronica Reyes-Escudero and Bob Diaz, takes the visitor back to the late 1800s, when the border myths began to be spun for outsiders, and into the first half of the 1900s when the myths, some drawn from bits of distorted reality, became part of the popular culture through the prolific use of picture postcards, Western films and books, and tourism promotion by institutions like the Tucson Chamber of Commerce and the Tucson Sunshine Climate Club, and dude ranches and sanitariums.

These images and messages spread the appeal of a mythical land crowned by mountains, adorned by lush desert and populated with smiling, happy people in quaint towns like Tucson. Movies and books romanticized the land and the tough settlers, waxing over their adventures and accomplishments. And it got better during the Prohibition period when word went out that just across the border, visitors could find liquor and freedom.

Civic and commercial boosterism knew no bounds.

The free out-of-doors life brings everyone together and within a short time the man from the most distant spot finds himself as much at home as the native, and when you stop to think that the majority of the so-called natives were born back east it can readily be understood why the tastes of the Tucsonians and the tourists are always on the same plane, trumpeted a 1920s Tucson Chamber of Commerce publication, Where to Spend the Winter, one of the many items in the exhibit.

The reality behind those myths was that there were long established communities, on both sides of the border, that built the towns, herded the cattle, mined the ore, harvested the crops. The Mexican-American, Chinese, indigenous and black residents were virtually nonexistent in the mythical narrative.

When they did appear, they took shape as outliers, marauders, thieves, submissive servants. And when needed and necessary, the myth weavers assured nervous visitors that savages and bandidos in the lawless land would be eliminated by brave soldiers and sheriffs.

That same message is spread by the current myth creators: An expanded wall and border enforcement are needed. Refuse entry to refugees and immigrants, and pursue those already here. Threaten Mexico that U.S. soldiers will be sent to clean out the bad hombres. Label those who resist the mythology are labeled "un-American."

This is the vision of our borderlands that todays peddlers are selling. The hucksters continue to sell Tucson and Southern Arizona as a myth.
OPINION: "Im sure you will see, as I have, that for all the 'God talk' that Christian nationalists throw around, their attitudes and actions are starkly antithetical to the gospel of love and inclusion for all advocated by the Jesus they claim to believe in," writes Rev. Gary Nelson, a form
University of Arizona neuroscientist John Hildebrand is signing petitions and ready to take to the streets in support of science.

He is worried, as are many scientists, about the rejection of scientific knowledge in public-policy decisions and about threats to cut spending for it.

That fear is shared by scientists worldwide, said Hildebrand, a University of Arizona regents professor who serves as foreign secretary for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He said he heard the concerns when he represented the academy at the G20 Summit in Germany in December.

He said his Russian colleagues were coy about the results of the presidential election, but his colleagues from other countries told him America was losing its soul and going off the rails.

Hildebrand and scientists across the nation are concerned about the rejection of scientific input into public policy and worried the Trump administration will gut climate science and environmental protection.

Scientists were also quick to denounce the presidents executive order to temporarily halt travel from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Hildebrand joined 18,000 U.S. scientists, including 50 Nobel Prize winners, in opposing the ban in a petition that was also endorsed by more than 150 scientific societies.

Hildebrand said he supports the idea of a March for Science, planned for April 22 in Washington, D.C., with local marches in various cities, including Tucson.

I tell everyone I know that its not acceptable to sit on the sidelines and whine. Weve got to be active. Scientists have to speak out about the fact that there is truth and there is fiction, evidence and imagined reality.

Hildebrand said he is concerned about the potentially disastrous effects of a blockade of immigration on our scientific, mathematical and medical research institutions. He is also disturbed about President Trumps appointees to the EPA, the Department of Education and elsewhere.

A gag order on federal scientists was the trigger for Josh Hoskinson, one of the organizers of a March for Science in Tucson.

Hoskinson is pursuing his masters in ecology and evolutionary biology at the UA. He teaches biology at the university and is part of an outreach program that brings science to fourth- through 12th-grade classrooms in Tucson.

He sees the march as an exercise in scientific literacy and communication, and said the group is planning to host booths for local scientific groups.

If you cant communicate what you do in the lab, its pretty much pointless, he said.

When he heard that scientists at the EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture were being told not to talk to the press or the public, I said I must become civically engaged. I have to speak up and say the Trump administration cannot stifle science.

The march is still being planned but will coincide with the national action on April 22, he said. Details will be announced on the groups public March for Science  Tucson Facebook page, he said.

Climate scientist Jonathan Overpeck said he doesnt know whether a March for Science will help or further polarize the debate, but he said scientists need to do a better job of bringing evidence-based knowledge into the public arena.

The most important thing we can do is spend more time in society talking to policy makers and the general public, in a two-way dialogue, to deal with the shared challenges we have. With me its environment, its climate where I have special expertise to bring to the table, Overpeck said.

Voters, politicians, members of the public  they all have things to bring to the table, too. An understanding of the cultural, political and economic issues needs to be factored into the science, in making decisions about what to do. he said.

Overpeck is a regents professor and director of the UA Institute of the Environment. He was a coordinating lead author of the Nobel Prize-winning report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

He said the climate message is taking hold, pointing to a study commissioned by the institute in red-state Arizona, which found overwhelming acceptance of the reality of a warming climate and support for doing something about it.

In that 2015 survey of 803 adult Arizona residents, more than 70 percent said they supported government action to reduce global warming.

Support hasnt always translated into action, Overpeck said. Factor in that there is a huge amount of money being put into play to influence politicians to be more fossil-fuel-industry friendly. The fossil-fuel industry is bullying our politicians to deny climate science and seeking other ways to insure inaction on climate.

Dante Lauretta, who heads a NASA mission to an asteroid, signed the petition opposing the immigration ban and urged others to do so on his Twitter page where he also quoted Thomas Jeffersons words from the Declaration of Independence: A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Lauretta said he signed the petition as an academic who is concerned about our students, and our staff members and our faculty who may be affected.

The petition support and the Jefferson quote were posted on my personal Twitter account, he noted.

I try to be pretty restrained in what I say there. I just thought people needed to be reminded of what we rebelled against when we founded this nation, Lauretta said.

Lauretta is also concerned about the level of support for science in upcoming budgets given all the promises that have been made.

The asteroid sample-return mission he leads  OSIRIS-REx  is in good shape, he said, and space exploration benefits from strong political support, including being one of the few programs mentioned in Trumps inaugural address.

Lauretta also said Trumps guarantee of a more efficient government, coupled with single-party control of the executive and legislative branches, could have one positive effect.

The last time Congress has passed a budget in advance of the fiscal year was 1996. That should be an easy win for this president and this Congress, Theyre in control and seemingly on the same page.

Psychologist Lynn Nadel, chair of faculty at the University of Arizona, said many of his colleagues are concerned by the political climate. He set up an online space for faculty to air their views on the current situation.

Nadel noted in an email that he set up the computer group with non-UA resources.

He hopes it will stimulate discussion of how to respond to attacks on scientific knowledge. Its too early to tell what forms that might take, he said.

You can take it as a given, however, that faculty will strongly condemn attempts to muzzle science and fact-based approaches to policy, he wrote in an email from Sydney, where he is currently on sabbatical.

Hildebrand said scientists have an obligation beyond their pursuit of knowledge.

in good times, in normal times, of course its fine that scientists stick to their science, but these are not normal times. We have an obligation. Were rational, evidence-based thinkers and we need to share our views.
New Delhi: Social and human rights activist, Dr Suresh Khairnar on Saturday, February 4, criticized the Modi government of polarizing different communities and choking freedom of speech in the country. Social and human rights activist, Dr Suresh Khairnar on Saturday, February 4, criticized the Modi government of polarizing different communities and choking freedom of speech in the country. He was speaking at the National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO) Mukundan C Menon Award  2016 which was conferred to him for his active involvement in social and human rights related issues. Support TwoCircles



Dr Suresh in his address said, If a Muslim speaks against BJP, he/she is tagged as terrorist and if a Hindu speaks against them, he is called a naxalite. How activists and intellectuals who hold contrary views to the ruling party are treated, we all are aware of that, Dr. Khairnar said.

Further, he shared his experience about his visit to Kashmir. He castigated Government of perpetrating atrocities on people in the valley and called for proactive role of civil societies.
Dr. Biju, the acclaimed Mollywood director has yet again mesmerized the audiences, as his latest movie "Kaadu Pookkunna Neram" released on January 06, 2016, is receiving rave reviews from all corners.

This Mollywood flick stars Indrajith Sukumaran and Rima Kallingal in the lead roles, while supporting star cast includes, Prakash Bare, Indrans, and Irshad. The Film initially had its world premiere at the Montreal Film Festival in September 2016, where it was the hottest pick among critics.

Last month, it was screened on the IFFK, where audiences praised the filmmaker for crafting such an elegant movie with a strong social message.

Maoist hunt and a sea of emotions

Dr. Biju is always known for crafting movies with relevant social messages, and this time too, he has repeated the same magic. In this film, we can see Indrajith Sukumaran in the role of a policeman who is sent to the jungle to capture a radical leader played by Rima Kallingal.

Things take a new turn when the policeman gets captured by the leader of the gang, and the abduction changes his whole outlook about Maoists.

Watch trailer video

Flawless cinematography

"Kaadu Pookkunna Neram" is strong in its technical departments. Veteran cinematographer M J Radhakrishnan has captured the forest visuals with perfection. The director and cameraman have wisely used the helicam shots, and it will surely give the audiences a Wow feel.

#KaaduPookkunnaNeram Typical Dr. Biju style of depicting it in realistic tempo occasionally drags the movie too much.

3/5#Lensmenreviews  Athul Augustine (@Athul_buddy) January 6, 2017

Director Biju through his uncompromising cinematic language proved that high-quality movies like these can be made with a minimal budget.

Box-office predictions

The film has reached the screens in Kerala during the time theater owners and producers are having a tiff due to profit sharing. Through his official social media page, Dr. Biju has thanked the producer of the movie, Sophia Paul to take such a daring step to release the film at this time.

Considering the limited number of theaters in which it is released, "Kaadu Pookkunna Neram" will most likely gross more than Rs. 1.5 Crores by the end of this weekend.
president donald trump is willing to fulfil his promise to build a wall along the US-mexican border to keep the United States of America safe from all the malicious influence that is illegally coming from Latin America. On the 25th January he sent a tweet celebrating the construction of the discriminatory barrier in order to prevent illegal immigration entering the United States from the Mexican border, aiming he could clean the country from all the evilness that has been spreading around his country, as he states, while forcing Mexico with his coercive policies to pay for its construction.

Not only does the construction of the wall would break the relationship between the two countries, but it will also be a setback for the United States, a country that prides itself on being a world leader but under Trumps policies it would not be able to lead the world anymore.

We must keep "evil" out of our country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017

Mexico will not pay for the wall

As expected, Mexico will not pay for the wall. The Mexican President, Enrique Pena Nieto, has publicly announced several times that Mexico will not pay for the wall. After several press releases and tweets from Pena Nieto, Donald Trump said that if Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.

Of course, as Mexico is not willing to pay for the wall, the Mexican President cancelled the first meeting with the 45th President of the United States. The meeting took place as a phone meeting, however. Several world leaders condemned Trumps attitude towards Mexico. Among them, the mayor of Berlin said that the construction of this wall would only have negative consequences for both countries, and the Spanish government said that although they want the two countries to have a good relationship, they will continue supporting Mexico.

of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017

The fence along the US-Mexican border

Along the US-Mexican border, there is already a fence covering some parts of the border. Since 1990 the United States has been constructing a fence on some parts of the border separating the two countries.

It continued under Bill Clintons administration, even though landowners and other citizens opposed to its construction. This is not the first time that the United States has threaten Mexico to either send troops to the Mexican territory or build a fence/wall on the border, but it is the first time that a US President has forced international companies to stop investing in Mexico by taking their companies to the United States. For better or for worst, both countries need each other, as they boost each others economy, and the construction of this wall will only end in a broken relationship that will take a long time to be repaired.
New white house press secretary Shawn Spicer destroyed his credibility in five minutes during the very first press briefing. Three weeks ago in Chicago, Mr. Spicer told David Axelrod that all any press secretary has is their integrity and that anyone who has a legitimate claim to the job should resign rather than tell a direct lie.

Saturday evening in the White House press room Mr. Spicer told five blatant lies in less than five minutes and they were incredibly obvious lies about the size of the Inaugural crowds (vs. the size of the women's march) which everyone in the room or with a television had actually seen for themselves.

The next morning presidential advisor Kellyanne Conway told NBC's Meet the Press that Spicer had merely presented alternate facts, as opposed to blatant lies. For example, both she and Spicer insisted it was impossible to count the crowd despite the fact that President trump keeps claiming (falsely) it was the largest crowd in history. He also referred to metro traffic, the covering for the grass, and more -- all obviously false.

Whats the difference?

The lies were all about trivial things, which is what really concerns many people. The reason people are so upset is that no one will be able to believe anything he says in the future, whether a trivial headcount, healthcare, or the economy. In other words, things which arent easy to see.

As several media observers and reporters told CNN on Sunday morning, if an administration is willing to lie about such trivial things, what would stop them from lying about important, life threatening matters?

CIA

President Trump told a direct lie to a group at the CIA when he declared a running war with the media, as the President had earlier compared the CIA to Nazis.

He also said the Inaugural crowd "looked like about a million people." Independent estimates put the number at about 200,000, 1/3 the number that attended Mr. Obama's first inauguration.

The President said this to a group of about 400 CIA employees while standing in front of the memorial wall which honours those CIA employees who have been killed in the line of duty -- in other words, the CIAs equivalent of the Armys Unknown Soldier Memorial.

President Trump made a point of saying his first visit to any agency was to the CIA to show his support. The visit had been scheduled earlier to swear in the new CIA chief but the vote on his confirmation was delayed a few days.

President Trump began by saying he was 1,000% behind the intelligence community, his talk quickly turned to complaints about the media. But he also made an important policy statement during his short speech, calling terrorists radical Islamic, a term that angers some in the Muslim community, and a term that President Obama refused to use, despite ordering a massive number of drone attacks against suspected terrorist targets.
The United States appeals court has rejected the Department of Justice's request for Donald Trump's controversial travel ban to be reinstated. Trump's executive order, which was signed last week, banned citizens from the Syria, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia, but was temporarily blocked by a Seattle judge.

High court rules against Trump administration

The ninth circuit of US court appeals in San Fransisco made the judgement on Sunday morning. The trump administration is preparing a counter-response to be filed on Monday afternoon. The court's denial of the Department of Justice's response is the precursor to legal wranglings spilling into next week.

After news of the unsuccessful appeal broke, Trump told reporters: 'We will win. We have to win, for the safety of our country'. Judge James Robart, the judge who blocked Trump's executive order, questioned whether the decision to block citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries was constitutional.

The Department of Justice's filing against Judge Robart stated that his decision posed 'immediate harm' to the US public whilst second-guessing the President's judgement on issues of national security. The filing argued that Judge Robart's decision violated the authority of the President.

Trump takes to Twitter

Earlier in the day, Donald Trump tweeted: 'The opinion of this so-called judge [Judge Robart], which essentially takes law enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous, and it will be overturned as soon as possible!' Trump continued to defend his executive order throughout Saturday.

Trump tweeted: He opens up our country to lots of potential terrorists and others that do not have America's best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy with this decision!

Two weeks into the job, the Trump administration has already created a showdown between state and judiciary over a policy that Trump promised throughout his campaign.

According to airport officials, refugees and travellers from the banned countries scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the US. Throughout the week, European leaders condemned Trump's executive order as 'inhumane and irresponsible'.
President Donald Trump launched a personal attack on Twitter against James Robart, the federal judge who has temporarily blocked his ban on letting in refugees and travellers with visas from seven nations with mostly Muslim populations, and the Democrats are furious.

Democrats speak out against the President

The Democrats have had an angry response to Trumps attack on Robart. Head Democrat of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has said that no matter how many times the President attacks this judge, it cant change what this ban is, which she describes as unconstitutional, immoral and dangerous.

Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, released a statement referring to President Trumps hostility towards the law as not just embarrassing, but in fact dangerous. He believes that Trump is intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis.

Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, said that Trump will struggle to demand that courts respect his inherent authority because he himself is disrespecting the inherent authority of the judiciary, which is creating a kind of paradox.
President Donald Trump has attacked the judge who blocked his ban to not let in refugees and travellers from countries that are made up of mostly Muslims, and then his administration appealed the order, made by Seattle judge James Robart.

Some say the ban is unconstitutional

Robart and some other US politicians are saying that the travel ban violates the Constitution, whereas the Trump administration say that Robarts ruling violates the separation of American powers and the Presidents power as numero uno. Actress Angelina Jolie says that the extreme prejudice of the ban, labelled by most as a Muslim ban, will actually invite in the terrorism it is designed to keep out.

Trump personally attacked Robart in a Twitter rant, insulting him as a so-called judge, and saying that he is taking law-enforcement away from our country, which he called ridiculous and vowed that the judges ruling is going to be overturned.

Trump believes that extreme vetting to keep refugees and immigrants out of the country is necessary to prevent terrorist attacks, but that may not be entirely true. Recruiting militants will be very easy for ISIS now that Muslims are being banned from the country a lot of them once called home.
The US court of appeals in San Francisco has turned down the justice departments appeal to bring back President Donald Trumps divisive travel ban of seven Muslim-majority countries. The judges on the appeals court have spent the night responding to the Trump administrations appeal and this morning came to the verdict that the ban will not be reinstated.

The Justice Department can appeal the appeal

The justice department have until Monday afternoon to file a counter-response to the appeals courts verdict. The court of appeals official ruling stated that the Trump administrations request for an immediate administrative stay is denied, while mentioning a lot of pending: pending full consideration of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal.

Yesterday, a federal judge in Seattle came to a verdict and lifted the ban, making a lot of protestors and foreign travellers very happy.

Of course Trump filed an appeal against the judges order immediately, because he couldnt have his star immigration policy undone and back to Obama normal within a week.

Now that the appeals court has denied the immediate stay and the lift on the travel ban remains, the heated legal battle between Trump and everyone with the power to overthrow his executive orders will continue throughout this week and possibly longer.

Trump is in Palm Beach for the weekend

Trump seemed cool about the whole thing when he was talking to reporters at his private resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where hes taking a quick vacation like George W. Bush did at the start of his Presidency. After the appeal went through, he told journalists, Well win.

For the safety of the country, well win. He seems very sure of himself on this one, but then when does he not?

These calm remarks came after Trump had an angry outburst at James Robart, the judge who lifted the travel ban, which included several personal attacks. Robart and several other US political figures believe that the travel ban goes against the Constitutional rights of the visa-holding travellers, and is therefore illegitimate, despite what the President might order.

The judges block is only temporary

The justice department claimed in the appeal they filed that Robarts order to temporarily block Trump's Muslim travel ban would threaten the American public with immediate harm. The filing also claimed that federal judges should not be able to overthrow an executive order from the President.

It also claims that the judges verdict second-guesses the Presidents national security judgement regarding the quantum of risk posed by the admission of certain classes...and the best means of minimising that risk.

During Vice President Mike Pences interview with ABC, due to air later today, he claimed that he did not believe that Trumps outspoken views against Robart and his verdict weakened the division of American powers. Pence said he believes that the American people are very accustomed to Trump speaking his mind and speaking very straight with them.
There have been many who have called for Donald Trump to be impeached. But as we proceed, the following questions need to be considered. What is impeachment? Why do people want to see him be impeached? But will it actually happen?

What is impeachment?

As stated on the India Today website, the United States (US) Constitution defines impeachment as "the method for removing the president, vice president, federal judges, and other federal officials from office". But how does a president get impeached? It is important to note that the impeachment process is not simple.

The procedure begins in the House of Representatives, where the House Judiciary holds hearings. Here the articles of impeachment (against the said president) are presented. If the articles are approved by a majority in the committee, the House then debates the issue. The House then votes and if found in favour, the (said) president will face a trial in the Senate. Further on from this, is at least two-thirds vote in favour of impeachment, the president is removed from office. It is important to note that up until now only two presidents have faced "impeachment trials"; they are Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, but were both acquitted.

Why do so many want to see it happen?

There are many, particularly Democrats, who believe that Trump exceeded his "constitutional authority" with the temporary ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.

One of these was Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro, a Democrat serving in the House of Representatives. He stated, as reported in the Independent newspaper, that "if President Trump ordered CBP (Customs and Border Protection) to ignore a judicial order he should be censured as a warning. If he does it again Congress should remove him".

But what is interesting it that there are others who believe that Trump should be removed from office, based on other grounds. The Counter Punch website has noted that action should be taken against Trump because he has violated two clauses in the US Constitution; one which forbids any gifts or benefits from foreign governments; the second forbidding the same from the US government.

Trump has allegedly done both.

Will impeachment actually happen?

There are those who think that he will, particularly an expert in American politics (who was not named), who stated that it is "highly likely" that Trump will face impeachment within 18 months of taking office. However, although one cannot tell what will happen in the future, right now it seems highly unlikely, primarily because his Republican Party are in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
A-list actress Angelina Jolie, who also works part-time for the UN, has spoken out critically against President Donald Trumps recent ban of seven countries with predominantly Muslim populations. She argues that preventing refugees from entering the United States will not make the country safer. She wrote a piece for The New York Times in order to criticise the travel ban.

Travel ban to fuel extremism, says Jolie

Jolie wrote that Trumps travel ban would throw fuel on the extremism fire, and that instead of fixing problems, the ban would instead create more instability, hatred and violence. She described refugees as men, women and children caught in the fury of war, and said that they are far from being terrorists, but quite the opposite in fact, saying that most refugees (more than 99% of them, actually) are victims of terrorism themselves.

The controversial ban, labelled by many as a Muslim ban, has provoked protests, not just in the US, but all over the world.

However, the Trump administration are calling the ban a great success, which is debatable. Jolie said that Trumps motivations are justifiable by the threat of terrorism and the current refugee crisis, but did not condone how he went about it.

Jolie doesnt hate Trump as much as youd expect

Jolie wrote that the purpose of a Government is to balance the needs of its citizens with its international responsibilities. She says that the publics response to the travel ban needs to be based on facts, not fear. Jolie also said that the six children she has with soon-to-be ex-husband Brad Pitt were all born in foreign lands and are proud American citizens.

Jolie called the discrimination involved in the ban playing with fire, saying that Trump is lighting a fuse that will burn across continents, effectively inviting in the extremism and terrorism that Trump is seeking to keep out with the ban.

Rather than taking the approach most other liberals are taking and attacking Trump, Jolie is instead calmly warning him of the consequences his actions are going to bring. She says that we should never sacrifice our values for a search for greater security, which according to her is what Trump is doing.

Jolies upcoming movies include starring in a Maleficent sequel and directing biographical drama First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, about a Cambodian human rights activist who struggled under a ruthless dictator.
Arun Jaitleys fourth budget presented last week tells us that there was lots of cash that was deposited by people. In the 50 day period between November 8 and December 31, the FM announced that deposits between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 80 lakh were made in about 1.09 crore accounts with an average deposit size of Rs 5.03 lakh. Deposits of more than 80 lakh were made in 1.48 lakh accounts with an average deposit size of Rs 3.31 crores.

There was a long justification of demonetization, but figures everyone was waiting for never came up. How much black money has been caught? What is the amount of cash that has finally been deposited in various banks? What windfall did the government receive? It has been a full month after December 31st and the country was waiting for some good news on this front.

As the speech went on, it was obvious that the demonetization exercise had failed miserably. There was no data and no money to show. As a result, we saw the budget failing to increase any expenditure significantly on anything except on transportation and on housing. Tax revenue, the FM said has gone up by 17% and will go up by 12% next year. Income tax goes up by 23%. This follows previous trends. Nothing has changed because of demonetization. The huge increase expected in the tax net and the tax base has clearly not happened nor does the government have a clue on how these would increase in the future.

The Union budget was remarkable for its plainness. There was nothing that could be converted into a headline. No significant change in any duty or tax. There was no new scheme launched. Neither were loan waivers handed out. People who were expecting money to be put in their Jan Dhan accounts were disappointed too. It was indeed a budget about nothing and a budget that said nothing. Those people who were relieved were those who were thankful that the FM did not deliver on some dreadful expectations like new taxes or caps on monthly expenditures. The stock market went up only because the FM did not do anything adventurous.

This year broke several traditions. Normally presented on the last day of February, this time we had the budget advanced to the 1st of February. Not even a sitting MPs death could get the Speaker to move the date by a day or two. The morning started with a fair bit of uncertainty. There were murmurs in the air that the Parliament is not honouring tradition. Why was the Parliament adjourned in December when Jayalalitha died? However, the ruling party prevailed and the FM started his rather long budget speech as per schedule.

The other tradition broken was that the rail budget was merged with the Union budget. For the last 92 years, it was the rail budget that was presented first and the Union budget followed the next day. This year the FM spoke about railways for three minutes during his speech. He did not announce any increase in fares but declared that dynamic pricing will be introduced which means that fares will definitely go up, particularly in the peak seasons of festivals in October and during the summer vacations.

Nearly 140 people died in Kanpur in one of our worst accidents ever in November 2016. Last month the tragedy repeated when 39 people died in another accident near Konneru in AP. In the Kanpur case, the administration first tried to predictably blame it on terrorism from across the border but this was quickly rubbished by the UP Police. Railways require huge amounts of investment now, for refurbishing old tracks, putting in safety measures, new signaling devices and to become a clean mode of transportation. However, the FM had very little money to give and again hinted at privatization as a panacea.

We have a token reduction in income tax that benefits those earning between Rs 30000 and Rs 80000 a month. But it amounts to a saving of about 1000 a month only. That is why even this announcement failed to enthuse many of the governments supporters. On corporate taxes, the government did something absolutely bizarre. It reduced corporate income tax rate for MSMEs with a turnover less than 50 crores from 30 to 25 per cent. We will now have companies that stop growing as soon as they reach the 50 crores limit or splitting into multiple entities

The corporate sector waiting for significant decreases in income tax rates is disappointed as nothing has changed, in fact most of them who earn more than a crore will now pay a 12% surcharge of personal income. Those asking for reforms and decrease on subsides see the opposite happening. To put it kindly what the FM has done is the best he could do in a situation the government has dragged itself into, by abruptly stopping Indias growth and attempting a strange experiment putting its own people and its economy at great risk.

There was another strange announcement that reduces the cash amount charities and political parties can accept. Why did the FM stop at Rs 2000? If the PM wants every citizen to go cashless, why not start from the top? Why should political parties be allowed to accept any amount in cash? The government lost a big opportunity to give a strong signal that they are serious about ending political corruption. Also, the FM declared that higher amounts can be given through bonds to protect the identity of the donor. Again, there is no explanation for why political donations need to be anonymous. Transparency dictates that all information be openly declared.








About Me

I am an urban/commercial district revitalization and transportation/mobility advocate and consultant and a principal in BicyclePASS, a bicycle facilities systems integration firm, based in Washington, DC. Urban economic competitiveness is dependent on efficient transit and mixed use, compact places. Therefore, I end up writing mostly about mobility and urban design. While I am based in and write about Washington, DC issues, I try to write so that "universal lessons" are evident in the entries.

View my complete profile
When Donald Trump first announced his campaign for president, he caught major heat for referring to illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers." Trump would go on to promise that he would build a wall on the Southern border, and that Mexico would pay for it. However, it appears that plan is not longer in the cards.

Trump's border trouble

It quickly became one of his first campaign rallying cries, but "Build the Wall" might have a different meaning now that Donald Trump is in the White House. During his campaign, the billionaire real estate mogul would often yell back to supporters "Who's gonna build that wall?" In response, thousands of Trump supporters would scream back, "Mexico!" For the rest of the election, illegal immigration became Trump's bread and butter, and despite the controversy, the president-elect was able to increase Hispanic support when compared to 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

However, as reported by Pix 11 in New York, Trump has changed his mind on who will be funding his border wall.

According to sources close to House Republicans, the Donald Trump transition team have informed Republican leaders that the president-elect will no longer push for Mexico to fund the border wall proposal. Trump is expected to call on Congress to find a way to pay for the wall "through the appropriations process as soon as April."

The Trump transition team are citing a "Bush-era 2006 law" that they believe gives them the authority to build the wall, but have acknowledged that they don't have the means to pay for it. Republican Rep. Luke Messer, of Indiana, commented on the issue, calling it "big dollars," but said it was a "question of priorities."

Moving forward

While it's unknown whether or not Congress would agree to the reported Donald Trump transition proposal, but it would mark a major change from what was promised on the campaign trail.

This isn't the first time that the former host of "The Apprentice" has altered his plans since winning the election. Not long after Election Day, Trump spoke about his plans to keep some of the more popular aspects of Obamacare, a stark difference from his claim of wanting to repealing the entire health care law.
It's become the biggest political story over the last two months, but not everyone is convinced that Russia hacked the 2016 presidential election. Donald Trump has cast doubt, even after the CIA and the FBI revealed their findings, which is even being dismissed by many in the right-wing media, including Fox News host Sean Hannity.

MSNBC vs Fox News

Even during the election, reports circulated and speculated about what the relationship might be between Donald Trump and Russia. With Trump keeping his tax returns private, and his constant praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the case for a link between the two only grew stronger.

After the election, the CIA, FBI, and the White House all confirmed that Russia was behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), with the main goal of preventing Hillary Clinton from becoming president. In the two months since Election Day, Trump has pushed back against the allegation, as have Wikileaks and many right-wing news hosts. As reported by Mediaite on January 6, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough had strong words about how the hacking was being reported on Fox News by Sean Hannity.

Last week, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange sat down for an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity and denied that Russia was the source of the DNC hack, and that the Kremlin had nothing to do with their initial reporting on the matter.

Despite Hannity and other Republicans previously speaking out against Wikileaks, most appear on board now that the group targeted a Democratic presidential candidate. On Friday morning's "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, co-host Joe Scarborough went off on Hannity.

"Wikileaks, Julian Assange was enemy number one...for the Republican Party, Donald Trump, and for every Republican," Joe Scarborough said, before putting out their alleged hypocrisy.

"Now they're sitting there, like Sean Hannity is," the MSNBC host said, adding "there's a bromance there. It's repulsive." Scarborough called on Trump to "get on board" with the mounting evidence against Russia, while predicting, "this is going to end badly."

Next step

Despite a bipartisan effort in Congress to further investigate the Russian hacking, Donald Trump is sticking with his guns and denying that Russia was behind the election hack. With support from some in the media, including Fox News hosts like Sean Hannity, it doesn't appear like the president-elect will be changing his mind anytime soon.
Over the course of the entire 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump never offered a criticism of Russia or their president, Vladimir Putin. With Trump now in the White House, it appears that his administration will follow in his footsteps.

Pence on Russia

In the months leading up to Election Day, various reports circulated and questioned whether or not Donald Trump had financial ties back to Russia. Due to Trump keeping his tax returns private, the information about his alleged link to the Kremlin could never be verified or fully dismissed. Since his big win over Hillary Clinton, rumors have only increased over the potential Russian-link, which were highlighted last month when CNN broke an exclusive story claimed Russia had planned to blackmail the former host of "The Apprentice" using "compromising" information.

As seen during the February 5 edition of "Face the Nation" on CBS, Vice President Mike Pence was put in an uncomfortable position when asked about Russia.

Host John Dickerson welcomed Mike Pence to the show, and quickly questioned the vice president about recent comments made by Donald Trump in regards to Russia. Trump had previously brushed aside allegations that Vladimir Putin was a "killer," and instead appeared to put down the United States for not being so "innocent." "What you heard there was a determination to attempt to deal with the world as it is, Pence told Dickerson, before commenting "Let's start fresh with Putin, and start fresh with Russia."

.@VP, asked whether the Presidents statement that weve got a lot of killers equated us to Russia, says there is "no moral equivalency"  Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 5, 2017

Pence deflects

In response, Dickerson asked "do you think America is morally superior to Russia?" Pence then refused to answer the question straight up, commenting, "What we have in this new president is someone who is willing to engage the world, including Russia, and saying where can we find common interests."

Mike Pence Won't Say America is Morally Superior to Russia https://t.co/ZpDQ7cT0Xf (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/W6aSKGxlBB  Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 5, 2017

At this point, the CBS host didn't back down, simply asking, "But is America morally superior to Russia?" Mike Pence once again danced around the question, with Dickerson being forced to respond.

"Shouldn't we be able to just say yes to that question? Dickerson asked Pence. The vice president went on to say that the United States was superior to many countries, never mentioned Russia in his response.
The UK Daily Mail is reporting that a scandal that many are already calling climategate 2 is brewing at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. A whistleblower named Dr. John Bates, described at a top NOAA scientists, has revealed evidence that a paper that the agency presented that claimed that the so-called Global Warming Pause that started did not exist was based on faulty data. Indeed, Bates argued that NOAA breached its own data verification protocols to have the maximum effect at the Paris Climate Summit. Bates further claims that the lead author of the paper, head of the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) which produced climate data, insisted on, decisions and scientific choices that maximized warming and minimized documentation in an effort to discredit the notion of a global warming pause, rushed so that he could time publication to influence national and international deliberations on climate policy.

If Bates claims prove to be true, NOAA is about to be rocked by a scandal that has echoes of the original Climategate which broke in 2009 when leaked emails that suggested that climate scientists who believed in human-caused global warming were manipulating data to high flaws in it and were plotting to discredit climate change skeptics.

A subsequent investigation found no wrongdoing, but it was the equivalent of the Nixon White House concluding that nothing bad happened during Watergate.

The revelation of possible chicanery going on at NOAA is bound to lend impetus to President Donald Trumps drive to back off on climate change alleviation efforts and encourage more fossil fuel drilling. The bombshell also unmasks, again, that something rotten is going on in the climate science community. Dr. Judith Currey, a renowned climate scientist, was recently forced out of academia for the heresy of being a skeptic of global warming. Other experts have called the computer models that predict global warming to be flawed and based on false and misleading data.

All of this suggests that whomever Trump chooses to be the administrator of NOAA is going to have some housecleaning to do. The climate wars with believers claiming that the science is settled and that anyone who believes otherwise is a denier will heat up and convulse the scientific community.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is best remembered for his performance at his first press conference, notable for the fact that he didn't take questions, nor did he exactly tell the whole truth. He blasted the media on behalf of the newly-minted President of the United States, Donald Trump, for "underestimating the size of the crowd" attending the inauguration. He accused the media of false reporting and then proceeded to deliver a false report in a rambling, angry tone.

Fast forward twelve days and now we realize that Sean Spicer will best be remembered for a press briefing he did not attend.

He will be remembered for being skewered on national television by the comic genius of Melissa McCarthy on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." It was a performance that has been universally applauded across social media in capturing the caricature of Sean Spicer.

Melissa McCarthy played a perfect Sean Spicer

In an eight-minute sketch that could easily have been a "cold opening" for the show, Ms. McCarthy was almost unrecognizable as herself. She was clearly Sean Spicer in imitating his in-your-face and confrontational manner. They look alike. His odd way of turning phrases has become a hallmark of the Trump administration.

During the skit, "Spicer" wanted an apology on "behalf of you to me" for the way the media "has been treating me." She added, "The apology is not accepted!"

It's so spot on, I want to cheer for days. Bravo, @melissamccarthy pic.twitter.com/rDTHseInas  George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) February 5, 2017

'Spicer' goes on a rant about Trump SCOTUS nominee exaggerating the standing ovation

"Spicer" gave an "accurate" recap of Trump's Supreme Court judge nomination announcement, claiming the standing ovation to greet him lasted a "full 15 minutes, and you can check the tape on that." Of course, it was not.

Then, "Spicer" added that "everyone was smiling and happy, and that the men all had erections." Here's more:

Alec Baldwin returns as Trump

Minutes earlier in the show during the "cold opening," Alec Baldwin returned again as President Trump, conspiring with an "evil persona" meant to represent the despised WH Chief Strategist Steven Bannon.

"Saturday Night Live" cast member Mikey Day played Steve Bannon in a Grim Reaper costume.
The Treasury Department released a statement that amends one of the sanctions President Obama issued in retaliation for Russian interference in the U.S. elections, according to Business Insider. The rationale given for the amended sanction in the statement was to "import information technology products" into Russia. President Obama had imposed two sets of sanction against the Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the first in the summer of 2015 and the second one last December. The first set of sanctions was for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee computer system, in which they started monitoring email and chat correspondence.

The fear of many is this could be the start of easing sanctions on Russia, something Russian strongman Vladimir Putin would very much welcome. But the White House is pushing back on the notion.

U.S. eases sanctions that Obama introduced against Russia's intelligence agency https://t.co/I7iulAoZ9j pic.twitter.com/O21myUcSYq  Yahoo News (@YahooNews) February 2, 2017

WH Press Secretary Spicer denies 'easing' of sanctions

At a press conference at the White House, Press Secretary Sean Spicer denied the move was an "easing of sanctions." Mr. Spicer claimed it was a "fixing" of some technical language and he argued that it is common for Treasury to go back and look at "specific carve-outs for different industries or products and services." He claimed it is in "regular course" these type of things are done by Treasury.

"We're not easing sanctions," Press Sec. Sean Spicer says when reporter asks about U.S.-Russia relationship https://t.co/UGeghy7B97 pic.twitter.com/1aPPZHKvKc  CBS News (@CBSNews) February 2, 2017

Trump says he is not 'easing anything'

However, at the White House during a press spray in the Oval Office Trump threw cold water on the claim of easing sanctions.

Responding to a question he simply said, "I'm not easing anything." A senior Treasury Department official told reporters on a conference call that the "exceptions" were "a very technical fix" made in response to "direct complaints" from companies. According to the official, the sanctions had complicated the sale of cell phones and tablets in Russia.

.@POTUS says to pool, re: Russia sanctions: I'm not easing anything.  Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) February 2, 2017

Leaked emails favored Donald Trump during election

The purpose of the hacking by the Russians was to discredit the candidacy of Hillary Clinton and at the same time promote Donald Trump. The controversy erupted during the presidential election campaign when emails and chats were leaked to the press, causing embarrassment for Democrats and at times splitting their ranks. The emails revealed that the Democratic National Committee had favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.
President Donald trumps propensity to say alarming things was on full display during an interview with Fox News Bill OReilly to be broadcast just before the Super Bowl. The conversation turned toward Trumps desire for what is in effect detente with Vladimir Putins Russia when he made a shocking claim of moral equivalence between that country and the United States.

OReilly said, "But he's a killer, though. Putin's a killer.

Trump responded, "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think  our country's so innocent?"

Up until that point, the president was doing fine, making the same case for taking on Russia as an ally in the fight against ISIS and Winston Churchill, no slouch where it came to being an anti-Communist, for having the Soviet Union as an ally against Nazi Germany.

The British prime minister said, If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.

American politicians have done moral equivalence claims about the United States and tyrannies such as Russia before. But in past cases those claims were made by politicians on the left, sometimes to attack conservatives for opposing Soviet aggression back in the Cold War. Now Trumps ill-considered foray into moral equivalency has caused a social media firestorm, with the anti-Trump left sounding like 1980s-era Reagan conservatives and the right, with some exceptions, lapsing into sputtering incoherence or even silence. The cliche that if a libel Democrat had said such a thing the thunder on the right would have been deafening was on full display.

The irony could not be more delicious.

The best that can be said about Trump is that he is not acting as if he actually believes that the United States and Russia are morally equivalent. From having his UN ambassador Nikki Haley condemn Russia for its various aggressions to the more forthright stance toward Irans violations of treaties and UN resolutions, the POTUS is not acting like he feels any guilt over Americas past sins.

The same could not be said about his predecessor, who once sneered at the idea of American exceptionalism, and acted as if the country he was elected to govern twice needed to be taken down a peg or two.

That Trump is going to have to walk back that exchange with OReilly is a given. The unsettling realization is setting in, though, is the country is in for a wild ride which would have been avoided had any Republican besides Trump had been elected in his stead.
Kim Kardashian has faced shocking rumors regarding her potential divorce in recent weeks, but today, a new report suggested the 36-year-old "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star may actually be expecting her third child with husband Kanye West.

"Pregnant with baby #3?" Hollywood Life asked readers on January 6. Amid allegations claiming Kardashian and West are currently on the rocks after months of marital turmoil, the outlet shared a photo of the reality star making her way out of a doctor's office in Los Angeles earlier this week.

Kim Kardashian is already mom to two children

Since the start of her relationship with West in 2012, Kardashian has welcomed two kids, daughter North West, 3, and son Saint West, 1. As for a third, one may say the possibility is quite unlikely due to the high-risk nature of Kardashian's past pregnancies. However, according to Hollywood Life, Kardashian looked "pretty fishy" coming out of a medical building on Thursday afternoon.

Kim Kardashian has sparked rumors of a pregnancy

In addition to visiting the same building in Beverly Hills that she visited when she was receiving prenatal care during her pregnancies with her two kids, Kardashian was reportedly cradling her stomach when she made her way out of the building.

She's also been wearing suspiciously large clothing in recent weeks. On Wednesday, after leaving her stomach out of a new update on social media, Kardashian was seen wearing an oversized hoody and baggy boyfriend jeans while running errands in Los Angeles.

Although Kardashian's new style isn't typical for the reality star, it certainly doesn't mean she's pregnant -- especially considering she was told by a doctor last year that a third pregnancy could be a life or death situation.

That said, her second pregnancy was also risky and she ultimately decided to go through with the idea.

To see more of Kim Kardashian and her family, including husband Kanye West, tune in to the upcoming 13th season of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" this March on the E! Network.
Zimbabwe - ThisFlag leader and activist for change in Zimbabwe, pastor evan mawarire returned from his self-imposed exile in the United States knowing that with the Mugabe Regime, the chances he would be arrested were very high. This return and his subsequent arrest make the man a martyr and the world loves a martyr.

Zimbabwe first arrested Mawarire in July 2016

In July last year, Mawarire was arrested and the courts played a justice parody with court delays and dodgy legal tactics to take his initial charge from that of disturbing the peace to a treasonable charge of attempting under Section 22 (2) of the Criminal Law (Codification & Reform) Act to subvert a constitutional government.

In an emotional scene, his lawyers managed to secure his unconditional release. A few days later the pastor appeared in South Africa, where he met with students, Zimbabweans in the diaspora and influential political activists.

Watch the crowds celebrate Mawarire's release in July

Mawarire's initial arrest propelled the activist into the world spotlight. What was a regional group of people trying to effect change in the country hit the world stage after his arrest, trial, and release and by mid-August he was in the USA addressing the Atlantic Council in New York. His move to the USA left many of his supporters disappointed and cracks in the ThisFlag movement started to appear, as a wave of arrests for participating in peaceful protests in Zimbabwe Harare fostered bitterness.

It was widely said on social media by suspected Zimbabwe Intelligence and Security agents that Mawarire was in fact, a CIA operative and had left his followers in the lurch while he lived the life of Riley at their expense in the USA. It was argued by ThisFlag leadership that he had not run away from Zimbabwe, but was doing a good job in the western world spreading the need for change in Zimbabwe.

Nevertheless, the movement did splinter and many fell away in the face of a brutal crackdown by the Zimbabwe Police.

Watch Pastor Evan address the Atlantic Council below

It seems that this address was the root cause of Evan's current arrest. At that conference, he mentioned the big New York protest that he was arranging at the UN General Assembly in September.

Although the protest was not as large as many people hoped, and they were trolled by Zimbabwe government paid protesters, they did make their mark in the streets of New York. After Mawarire returned to Zimbabwe last week, he was arrested and is now being held in a maximum security prison. Part of his detention seems to revolve around the fact that he did not obtain Zimbabwe Republic Police clearance to hold his New York, USA protest. The arrogance of the Zimbabwe Police to assume they have the legal jurisdiction over the streets of New York is almost mind-boggling.

@ComradeFatsooo @SharonHoole This is unconstitutional & its a crime agnst Evan's rights Who gave Zanu power to regulate New York activities?  Dominic Nyakudya (@DominicNyaks) February 2, 2017

The advocates acting for Mawarire believe his arrest is unconstitutional.

Watch the video as one of them speaks about his trial.

Pastor Mawarire - the voluntary martyr

Nobody in Zimbabwe is amazed and shocked that the ThisFlag Pastor has been arrested and unlawfully charged. Least of all, one assumes, Evan Mawarire, who well knows the way the Mugabe Regime works. He returned knowing full well that these events would probably unfold exactly the way they have. It was his choice to return and place his head in the mouth of the lion - and the lion has bitten him. Now Zimbabwe has a martyr in prison and the repressed and oppressed opposition activists for change once again have a rally point.

One has to ask when the government of Zimbabwe will realize that if they let him have his say and quietly ignored him, that all the hoopla would die away? Instead, there are influential people all across the world with their eyes on the Judicial system of Zimbabwe. His arrest has already been condemned by the Human Rights Foundation.

Pastor Evan speaks after his arrest
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. WILLIAM R. BEAMON, JR., a.k.a. Rusty Beamon, Defendant-Appellant. No. 15-14591 Decided: February 02, 2017

Before TJOFLAT, JILL PRYOR and BLACK, Circuit Judges.

William Rusty Beamon, Jr. appeals his convictions and 42-month total sentence for five counts of bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1344 and 2, and the denial of his motion for a new trial. Beamon asserts five issues on appeal, which we address in turn. After review, we affirm Beamon's convictions and sentence.

I. DISCUSSION

A. Sufficiency of the evidence

Beamon first argues his convictions should be reversed because the evidence was insufficient for a rational trier of fact to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He contends that because he was acquitted of causing Appalachian Community Bank (ACB) to issue a loan to his wife in Count 2, there was insufficient evidence to sustain his convictions on Counts 1 and 3, which related to the same property on Vickery Woods Court (Vickery Woods). Beamon contends that he made no misrepresentations to David Smith, who leased Vickery Woods from him. He further asserts that there were no misrepresentations in Counts 4, 5, or 6, relating to a house on Poplar Street, because Tracy Newton, ACB's president, knew of and approved the transactions.

Each count arose under 18 U.S.C.  1344, which prohibits anyone from knowingly executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme or artifice to: (1) defraud a financial institution; or (2) obtain any of the moneys, funds, credits, assets, securities, or other property owned by, or under the custody or control of, a financial institution, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises. 18 U.S.C.  1344. When an indictment charges both clauses of  1344, and the jury instructions do the same, then the defendant's conviction may be sustained on either theory. United States v. Goldsmith, 109 F.3d 714, 715-16 (11th Cir. 1997).

Viewing all evidence and drawing all inferences in favor of the verdict, a reasonable jury could have found Beamon guilty of bank fraud on each of the five counts beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Isaacson, 752 F.3d 1291, 1303 (11th Cir. 2014) (reviewing de novo whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction, and viewing all evidence and drawing all inferences in favor of the verdict); United States v. Grzybowicz, 747 F.3d 1296, 1304 (11th Cir. 2014) (stating we will not overturn a jury's verdict so long as any reasonable construction of the evidence would have allowed the jury to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt (quotation omitted)). First, to the extent Beamon argues he did not misrepresent anything to Smith, that argument is misplaced because Beamon was charged and convicted of defrauding ACB, not Smith, and what he conveyed to Smith is not dispositive for the question of whether he defrauded the bank. See 18 U.S.C.  1344. Rather, the issue in Counts 1 and 3 is whether Beamon fraudulently received and deposited Smith's security deposit and rent into his own account when they were constructively the bank's property because they arose from his wrongful scheme.

Further, to the extent Beamon argues the Government failed to show he misrepresented anything or had the necessary intent to defraud the bank in Counts 4, 5, and 6 because Newton allegedly knew of and approved his transactions, Beamon made those arguments at trial without taking the witness stand and the jury was entitled to determine whether it believed those theories. See United States v. Hamaker, 455 F.3d 1316, 1334 (11th Cir. 2006) (stating the jury is entitled to disbelieve dubious explanations for conduct). The only evidence Beamon provided that Newton knew of the transactions was (1) Newton signed off on the loan to Maria Beamon and credit card application for Beamon Properties; and (2) various employees of the bank trusted Newton. On the other hand, the Government provided evidence that Beamon: (1) violated various written bank policies about conflicts of interest, self-dealing, and disclosure to the board of directors; (2) asked his stepdaughter to sign all documents relating to Newmon Properties; (3) asked Dewey Cardd to change Manuel Garcia's cash payment for Poplar Street into three cashier's checks under $10,000, which avoided reporting requirements; (4) signed a contract for Poplar Street with Garcia and Judith Mejorada-Cruz as a representative of the bank, but then bought the property and sold it to them himself; (5) signed and represented himself as the owner of Vickery Woods when renting to Smith; (6) deposited all money related to the transactions at banks other than ACB; and (7) as Newmon Properties, used a cashier's check that did not contain his signature to pay ACB rather than a personal check that would contain his signature. The jury was entitled to find the Government's witnesses and evidence credible and to disbelieve Beamon's explanations for his conduct. See United States v. Jiminez, 564 F.3d 1280, 1285 (11th Cir. 2009) (explaining credibility questions are for the jury, and we assume the jury answered them in a manner that supports the jury's verdicts); Hamaker, 455 F.3d at 1334. Viewing all evidence and drawing all inferences in favor of the verdict, Beamon's evidence is not so strong as to preclude the jury from finding Beamon guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Beamon's argument the rent payment in Count 3 was not bank fraud because it was after Beamon bought the house is also unavailing. Section 1344 applies to the execution of a scheme to obtain money, funds, credits, assets, securities, or other property owned by a bank through false pretenses, representations, or promises. 18 U.S.C.  1344(2). A scheme is executed by the movement of money, funds, or other assets from the institution, and this movement of money from the bank completes the execution of the scheme. United States v. Adkinson, 158 F.3d 1147, 1159 (11th Cir. 1998). Here, the money that Beamon received for rent otherwise would have and should have gone to the bank because he acquired the house through bank fraud. Although Beamon did not deposit the rent check until after he owned the house, his ownership was fraudulent, and he did not complete the execution of the scheme to obtain money and property owned by the bank until he deposited the rent. Thus, the Government's evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction because, viewing all evidence and drawing all inferences in favor of the verdict, a reasonable jury could have found Beamon guilty of bank fraud on each of the five counts.

B. New trial

Second, Beamon asserts the district court clearly erred when it did not grant him a new trial given evidence adduced after trial that he suffered from impaired executive functioning. We review the district court's denial of a motion for a new trial based on newly-discovered evidence for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Fernandez, 136 F.3d 1434, 1438 (11th Cir. 1998).

In order to prevail on a motion for a new trial based on newly-discovered evidence, the defendant must show that: (1) the evidence was in fact discovered after trial; (2) the defendant exercised due care to discover the evidence; (3) the evidence was not merely cumulative or impeaching; (4) the evidence was material; and (5) the evidence was of such a nature that a new trial would probably produce a different result. United States v. Lee, 68 F.3d 1267, 1273 (11th Cir. 1995). A defendant's failure to show any one of the factors is fatal to his motion for a new trial. United States v. Starrett, 55 F.3d 1525, 1554 (11th Cir. 1995). Psychiatric evidence offered to negate specific intent is admissible if it focuses on the defendant's specific state of mind at the time of the charged offense. United States v. Cameron, 907 F.2d 1051, 1067-68 (11th Cir. 1990).

The district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Beamon's motion for a new trial based on newly-discovered evidence because the evidence was not material. As the district court determined, Dr. Kristine Lokken's neuropsychological findings were new evidence about Beamon's mental state in April 2015, but were not newly-discovered evidence of his mental state in 2009. Although Lokken testified she did not think Beamon's impaired executive functioning arose from the neurological event he suffered in February 2015, she also testified that she could not know whether the impairment existed before that event without previous neuropsychological data. She also testified Beamon may have been suffering small events both before and after the February 2015 event which could have affected his frontal lobe, but she could not say for sure when they began without previous neuropsychological data. Further, in response to the court' concern about the amount of success Beamon had achieved, despite any possible condition, Lokken testified that it was hard to know exactly, you know, whether the impairment came in, how severe the impairment was, is it worsening, you know, with the [neurological events]. But I think that's you know, a very valid issue. Lokken's testimony showed she could not speak to Beamon's mental state in 2009 because she did not have data from that time and could not definitively determine when and how his impairment developed. Finally, Lokken stated she could not speak to Beamon's intent. Thus, similar to psychiatric evidence, the evidence would have been inadmissible to the extent it could not be probative of and material to Beamon's specific intent at the time of the offense. See Cameron, 907 F.2d at 1067-68. Because the evidence Beamon presented was immaterial, the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying his motion for a new trial.

C. Loss calculation

Third, Beamon asserts the district court incorrectly calculated the advisory guideline range because the district court's loss calculation included both properties that he did not buy from the bank and properties where the loss was speculative. We review the district court's determination of loss for clear error. United States v. Barrington, 648 F.3d 1178, 1197 (11th Cir. 2011). When a defendant challenges one of the factual bases of his sentence, the government has the burden of establishing the disputed fact by a preponderance of the evidence. See United States v. Sepulveda, 115 F.3d 882, 890 (11th Cir. 1997). The Guidelines do not require a precise determination of loss, and a court need only make a reasonable estimate of the loss, given the available information. Id. (quotation omitted). District courts are in a unique position to evaluate the evidence relevant to a loss determination, and thus, their determinations are entitled to appropriate deference. United States v. Bradley, 644 F.3d 1213, 1290 (11th Cir. 2011).

The district court is to include and evaluate all relevant conduct in calculating a defendant's offense level, not merely the charged conduct. U.S.S.G.  1B1.3. Relevant conduct includes all acts and omissions committed, aided, abetted, counseled, commanded, induced, procured, or willfully caused by the defendant  that occurred during the commission of the offense of conviction, in preparation for that offense, or in the course of attempting to avoid detection or responsibility for that offense. Id.  1B1.3(a). For two or more offenses to constitute part of a common scheme or plan, and therefore part of the defendant's relevant conduct in a case such as this one, they must be substantially connected to each other by at least one common factor, such as common victims, common accomplices, common purposes, or similar modus operandi. Id.  1B1.3(a)(2) and comment. (n.9(B)) (2014).

At the time of Beamon's sentencing, the Sentencing Guidelines provided for a 14-level increase where the total loss amount was greater than $400,000 but less than $1,000,000. U.S.S.G.  2B1.1(b)(1)(H) (2014). Where a fraud involves a mortgage loan and the property has not been disposed of, the court uses the fair market value of the collateral as of the date on which the guilt of the defendant was established. Id.  2B1.1 comment. (n.3(E)(iii)) (2014). There is a rebuttable presumption that the most recent tax assessment value of the collateral is a reasonable estimate of the fair market value. Id.

The district court did not clearly err in its inclusion of the Village Terrace Court, Mica Creek, Tails Creek, and Beachwood properties as relevant conduct or in its calculations of the loss value as to each property. First, Village Terrace Court qualified as relevant conduct because the victim was the same as in the charged conduct, the purpose of the scheme was the same, and the conduct followed a similar modus operandi. The district court's reliance on the presentence investigation report's loss valuation was not clear error because the calculation was reasonable given the information available and not speculative. See Barrington, 648 F.3d at 1197.

Mica Creek qualified as relevant conduct because the victim was the same and the conduct was similar to that in Counts 1 and 3. Although it is unclear if ACB lost anything in this transaction, the inclusion of the $5,000 loss value is at most harmless error because even if the total loss value was reduced by $5,000, Beamon would still be well above the $400,000 threshold. See U.S.S.G.  2B1.1(b)(1)(H) (2014); Williams v. United States, 503 U.S. 193, 203 (1992) (providing the harmless error standard applies to a Guidelines error and instructs that remand is appropriate unless, based on the record as a whole, the error did not affect the district court's selection of the sentence imposed).

Tails Creek qualified as relevant conduct because the victim was the same as in the charged conduct, the purpose of the scheme was the same, and the conduct followed a similar modus operandi. The district court did not clearly err in calculating the loss value because the calculation was reasonable given the information available and not speculative, and Beamon's own presentation of the facts invited any error because the court relied on his proffer to determine the loss amount.

Finally, Beachwood qualified as relevant conduct because, although Beamon did not purchase the property directly from the bank, he bought it through another shell company owned by Newton and Adam Teague and the conduct was significantly similar to the charged scheme. Beamon does not separately challenge the calculated loss for Beachwood.

D. Aggravating role

Beamon contends the district court erred when it enhanced his offense level for an aggravating role because no other person could be held criminally responsible for the offense and he did not organize or lead anyone.

To receive a role enhancement under  3B1.1(c), the defendant must have been the organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor of one or more participants. U.S.S.G.  3B1.1, comment. (n.2). A participant is someone who is criminally responsible for the offense, but need not be convicted. Id.  3B1.1, comment. (n.1). In distinguishing the level of enhancement, the court should consider various factors, including:

the exercise of decision making authority, the nature of participation in the commission of the offense, the recruitment of accomplices, the claimed right to a larger share of the fruits of the crime, the degree of participation in planning or organizing the offense, the nature and scope of the illegal activity, and the degree of control and authority exercised over others.

Id.  3B1.1, comment. (n.4).

The district court did not clearly err when it applied the two-level role enhancement for being a manager or supervisor because Beamon exercised authority over Cardd several times, particularly during the Poplar Street transaction. See United States v. Rendon, 354 F.3d 1320, 1331 (11th Cir. 2003). (reviewing the district court's determination of a defendant's role in the offense for clear error). Cardd worked on both closings for the Poplar Street flip, notarized documents that Beamon provided that had already been signed, and, at Beamon's request, converted the cash the buyers used to purchase Poplar Street into three cashier's checks, each under $10,000, which got Cardd fired from ACB. Based on these facts, the district court did not clearly err when it determined by a preponderance of the evidence that Cardd could have been held criminally responsible and thus was a participant. See United States v. Yates, 990 F.2d 1179, 1182 (11th Cir. 1993) (stating the government carries the burden to prove the existence of an aggravating role by a preponderance of the evidence).

E. Reasonableness

Finally, Beamon asserts his sentence was substantively unreasonable in light of the 18 U.S.C.  3553(a) factors because the court did not adequately consider some of the factors. We review the reasonableness of a sentence for an abuse of discretion. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41 (2007).

The district court considered the  3553(a) factors and imposed a substantively reasonable sentence. United States v. Tome, 611 F.3d 1371, 1378 (11th Cir. 2010) (stating the party who challenges the sentence bears the burden to show that the sentence is unreasonable in light of the record and the  3553(a) factor). First, the 42-month sentence was 15 months below the guideline range and significantly below the 30-year statutory maximum sentence. While neither of these facts is dispositive, both indicate that the sentence was substantively reasonable. See United States v. Gonzalez, 550 F.3d 1319, 1324 (11th Cir. 2008) (holding the sentence was reasonable in part because it was well below the statutory maximum); United States v. Hunt, 526 F.3d 739, 746 (11th Cir. 2008) (explaining although we do not presume that a sentence falling within the guideline range is reasonable, we ordinarily expect such a sentence to be reasonable). Further, at sentencing, the district court discussed several factors in detail, including the nature and circumstances of the offense, the characteristics of the defendant, the need to avoid sentencing disparities, and the need to deter criminal conduct. See 18 U.S.C.  3553(a). The weight given to each of these factors, and the choice to weigh these factors higher than the others, is within the discretion of the district court. See United States v. Clay, 483 F.3d 739, 743 (11th Cir. 2007).

II. CONCLUSION

Sufficient evidence supported Beamon's convictions for bank fraud on all five counts. Additionally, the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Beamon's motion for a new trial. As to Beamon's sentence, the district court did not clearly err in its loss calculation, or in imposing an aggravating role enhancement. Lastly, Beamon's sentence is substantively reasonable.

AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

. After Beamon's sentencing, the loss amounts in  2B1.1 were amended, and a 14-level enhancement now corresponds to a loss of greater than $550,000 but less than $1,500,000. U.S.S.G.  2B1.1(b)(1)(H). We apply the version of the Sentencing Guidelines in effect on the date of the sentencing hearing. United States v. Steele, 178 F.3d 1230, 1237 (11th Cir. 1999). Amendments that clarify the Guidelines, however, should be considered on appeal regardless of the date of sentencing. See United States v. Scroggins, 880 F.2d 1204, 1215 (11th Cir. 1989). Generally, amendments to the commentary are clarifying, but amendments to the text are substantive. United States v. Camacho, 40 F.3d 349, 354 (11th Cir. 1994), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Sanchez, 269 F.3d 1250, 1277 (11th Cir. 2001) (en banc).

PER CURIAM:
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JAVIER ORLANDO TRUJILLO-MOLINA Defendant-Appellant. No. 16-1530 Decided: February 02, 2017

BEFORE: BATCHELDER, SUTTON, and, KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges.

Following an indictment, Javier Trujillo-Molina pled guilty to possessing a firearm while being illegally and unlawfully present in the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(5)(A) and 924(a)(2). In this appeal, he challenges the district court's denial of his untimely motion to dismiss his indictment. Trujillo-Molina did not establish good cause for his untimeliness, and we find no abuse of discretion here. We AFFIRM.

I.

In September 2014, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) received a tip based on pictures and videos posted on Trujillo-Molina's Facebook page that he possessed firearms. A subsequent investigation revealed that Trujillo-Molina had illegally entered the United States from Mexico in approximately 1997, and that he had applied for and received relief from removal under the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations team obtained a warrant to search for firearms in Trujillo-Molina's residence and seized a pistol, a shotgun, and numerous rounds of various-caliber ammunition. A federal grand jury indicted Trujillo-Molina in August 2015.

The district court set a September 21, 2015, deadline for pre-trial motions. One month later, on October 20, 2015, Trujillo-Molina filed two motions. One sought dismissal of the indictment, and the other sought a continuance and a new deadline for filing pretrial motions. In the motion to dismiss, Trujillo-Molina argued that when he allegedly possessed the firearms, he was not an alien unlawfully present in the United States, because his status under DACA meant that he was not illegally or unlawfully in the United States for purposes of 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(5)(A). He provided no explanation for his delay in filing the motion asserting this claim. But, in his motion for a continuance, he explained that he sought to extend the deadline for pretrial motions in light of changed circumstances with regard to the prospects of returning to the United States if he were to be deported or obtained a voluntary departure [in simultaneous immigration court proceedings]. He claimed that he did not seek a dismissal earlier because his strategy had been to plead guilty, to remove himself voluntarily from the United States, and to marry a citizen in order to return. Unfortunately, his fiancee had a change of heart and no longer plans to marry him. He also asserted that the criminal charge has resulted in a denial of [his] requested renewal of his employment authorization document and deferred status.

The district court held a hearing at which it denied the motion to dismiss. The court explained that Trujillo-Molina could not show good cause for the delay in filing the motion, so it declined to entertain the untimely motion pursuant to its authority under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(c)(3). Citing the Advisory Committee's Notes to the 2014 Amendment to Rule 12, the district court explained that good cause is a flexible standard that requires consideration of all interests in the particular case. After thoroughly considering the reasons provided by Trujillo-Molina in both motions, the district court found that Trujillo-Molina had not explained why the motion was untimely; he simply referred to his marriage circumstance in his separate continuance motion. Such a change in strategy, the court held, was not good cause for an untimely motion, especially where Trujillo-Molina had known of the facts and theories underlying the motion to dismissnamely, his DACA statusall along. The thwarted marriage required him to change his strategy, but was not good cause sufficient to allow an untimely motion.

The district court also addressed whether DHS's decision not to renew Trujillo-Molina's DACA status in September 2015 in light of the pending criminal charge could be a potential alternate ground for good cause. Again, Trujillo-Molina referred to this fact in his motion for a continuance, but not in his motion to dismiss. The district court found, however, that this did not demonstrate good cause for the untimeliness of the motion to dismiss, because it might have been entirely foreseeable with some forethought on the part of the defendant.

Trujillo-Molina pled guilty before a magistrate judge on January 13, 2016, and the district court entered judgment on April 12, 2016. He reserved the right to appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss.

II.

A pretrial motion made pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(3) is untimely if filed after a deadline set by the district court pursuant to Rule 12(c)(1). Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(c)(3). But a district court may entertain an untimely motion if the party shows good cause. Id. When a party files an untimely motion in the district court, and the district court finds facts to determine whether the late movant has satisfied the good-cause standard, we review that determination for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Soto, 794 F.3d 635, 655 (6th Cir. 2015) (citing United States v. Walden, 625 F.3d 961, 967 (6th Cir. 2010)); see also United States v. Edmond, 815 F.3d 1032, 104344 (6th Cir. 2016). In general, a district court abuses its discretion when it relies on clearly erroneous findings of fact, uses an erroneous legal standard, or improperly applies the law. Soto, 794 F.3d at 645 (citation omitted).

Upon consideration of all interests in this case, we cannot say that the district court erred when it denied Trujillo-Molina's motion to dismiss the indictment. Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(c)(3) advisory committee's notes to 2014 amendment. The district court correctly noted that Rule 12(c)(3) requires a showing of good cause. We have explained that showing cause  often requires developing and analyzing facts' to assess whether the defendant can justify the late filing  and prejudice. Edmond, 815 F.3d at 1043 (internal quotation marks omitted) (citing Davis v. United States, 411 U.S. 233, 24445 (1973); Soto, 794 F.3d at 635), petition for cert. filed, (Aug. 4, 2016 U.S.) (16-5461). Good cause is a flexible standard heavily dependent on the facts of the particular case as found and weighed by the district court in its equitable discretion. Walden, 625 F.3d at 965. At a minimum, a party must articulate some legitimate explanation for the failure to timely file. Id.

The district court did not abuse its discretion by finding that Trujillo-Molina could not explain his failure to timely file. Trujillo-Molina has not explained why he waited nearly a month after the district court's deadline to file his motion to dismiss, either in the court below or here. He addressed certain circumstances, including his failed marriage plans and the government's decision not to renew his DACA status. But those are circumstances that affected his litigation strategy, as he explained in his motion for a continuance below. He could have raised the underlying legal issuewhether his status under DACA renders him ineligible for prosecution as an alien illegally and unlawfully present in the United Statesbefore his marriage plans or DACA status changed. These reasons indicate why his litigation strategy did not include this attack on the indictment, but the district court was well within its discretion to determine that such a litigation choice does not demonstrate good cause for delay.

Moreover, the fact that Trujillo-Molina did not provide any detail about his altered marriage plans or the government's decision not to renew his DACA status lends further support to the district court's conclusion. He failed to provide these details even on appeal, giving us no reason to question the district court's conclusions on these points.

Finally, the district court did not abuse its discretion by declining to address fully the merits of Trujillo-Molina's DACA claim after it had determined that he could not show cause for the delay. Good cause is a flexible standard requiring an explanation for both the delay and the potential prejudice. See Edmond, 815 F.3d at 1046. Even if Trujillo-Molina is correct that his deferred status fatally undermined the indicted charge, the district court's determination that he could not explain the delay was sufficient to support the denial of the untimely motion altogether. See Walden, 625 F.3d at 965. This is not to say that the district courts need give only cursory treatment to a prejudice analysis or may skip that analysis altogether in future cases. Indeed, as Rule 12's advisory committee notes indicate, courts must consider all interests in the particular case. Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(c)(3) advisory committee's notes to 2014 amendment (The party seeking relief must show good cause for failure to raise a claim by the deadline, a flexible standard that requires consideration of all interests in the particular case.). But in this case and on these facts, the district court carefully and properly addressed this motion to dismiss in its full context. Trujillo-Molina provided no explanation for his delay in filing the motion, merely referenced changed circumstances in a parallel motion for a continuance, and declined to explain fully the relevant facts on appeal. The district court's declining to address his DACA argument in this context was not error.

For the foregoing reasons, we hold that the district court was well within its discretion to find that these circumstances did not amount to good cause.

III.

The district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Trujillo-Molina's untimely motion to dismiss the indictment. Accordingly, we AFFIRM.

FOOTNOTES

. In United States v. Meda, 812 F.3d 502, 510 (6th Cir. 2015), a panel of this court applied Soto and used a plain error standard of review in a case where the defendant had filed an untimely motion below. The explanation in Meda is missing a key fact, the absence of which can lead to confusion for unwary counsel. So, for clarity's sake, we address that here. Meda filed a motion to dismiss the indictment after he filed a notice of appeal from the entry of judgment, and the district court declined to hear it on jurisdictional grounds. In effect, then, Meda raised his claim for the first time in his appellate brief. Following Soto, it was proper for this court to review the claim raised on appeal for plain error. To reiterate the various standards of review that can apply: a party who fails to make a timely motion pursuant to Rule 12(b)(3) has not necessarily waived appellate review of the issue he failed to raise, but we will review the issue raised for the first time on appeal for plain error. See Soto, 794 F.3d at 655. This includes an untimely motion made after the district court no longer has jurisdiction. See Meda, 812 F.3d at 510. Where, as here, a party makes an untimely motion in the district court, and the district court finds that the party has not shown good cause for the motion's untimeliness, we review for abuse of discretion. See Soto, 794 F.3d at 655.

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge.
Here is the latest jail booking report for Hamilton County:

AMMONS, EDWIN DEWAYNE

2814 DODSON AVE CHATTANOOGA, 37406

Age at Arrest: 51 years old

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga

DOMESTIC ASSAULT

---

ANDERSON, JOSHUA JOSAIH

801 TUNNEL BLVD CHATTANOOGA, 37411

Age at Arrest: 25 years old

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

RESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESS

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

---

ARTMAN, LINDY CARA

115 AVIS DRIVE DALTON, 30721

Age at Arrest: 31 years old

Arresting Agency: East Ridge

DUI

CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT

POSS.HANDGUN WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE

---

BALLARD, ANTHONY MONTREL

2401 S CHAMBERLAIN AVE CHATTANOOGA, 37407

Age at Arrest: 29 years old

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga

PUBLIC INTOXICATION

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

---

BANKSTON, JONATHAN ERIC

1065 WILLOW STREET CLEVELAND, 37311

Age at Arrest: 29 years old

Arresting Agency: Collegedale

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

---

BELVIN, CHARLENE JOYCE

430 CEDAR GLENN EAST RIDGE, 37419

Age at Arrest: 46 years old

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

---

BENTLEY, KENNETH ALAN

2501 S MARKET STREET #236 CHATTANOOGA, 37408

Age at Arrest: 63 years old

Arresting Agency:

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE

---

BROOKS, BRITTANY LEIGHANN

6551 ESQUIRE DR HIXSON, 37343

Age at Arrest: 22 years old

Arresting Agency: Chatt.

Housing AuthorityPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE---BUDZ, THOMAS HENNESSY12469 COLONY PRESERVE DRIVE BOYNTON BEACH, 33436Age at Arrest: 22 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDISORDERLY CONDUCT---CARTER, JOHN DWANEHOMELESS CHATTANOOGA, 37403Age at Arrest: 46 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPUBLIC INTOXICATIONDISORDERLY CONDUCT---COLE, ROBERT MARLIN7100 TANAGER COURT EAST RIDGE, 37412Age at Arrest: 30 years oldArresting Agency: UTCDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---COX, WILLIE ROY2614 LYNDON AVE APT 8 CHATTANOOGA, 374156326Age at Arrest: 26 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCEDISORDERLY CONDUCTRESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESSRETALIATION AGAINST JUDGE, JUROR, OFFICERESCAPE (ATTEMPT)RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT---CRISP, SANDRA FAYE310 HOLLY GLEN LANE DECATUR, 37322Age at Arrest: 48 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyFAILURE TO YIELD TO EMERGENCY VEHICLETHEFT UNDER $500---DUFF, CLAYTON1514 B KARWILL LANE EAST RIDGE, 37412Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgeCONTRIBUTING TO THE DELINQUENCY OF A MINORMANUFACTURE/SALE/POSS/DISTUBUTE SCHEDULE IV---FOSTER, WILLIAM MICHAEL1430 THRASHER PIKE HIXON, 37343Age at Arrest: 37 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaAGGRAVATED ASSAULT/DOMESTICFALSE IMPRISONMENTINTERFERENCE WITH EMERGENCY CALLS---FRYAR, JULIE F1792 CASEY HOLLOW SODDY DAISY, 37379Age at Arrest: 18 years oldArresting Agency: Soddy DaisyPOSSESSION OF SCHEDULE IV---GILBERT, AMANDA JAEE1101 ARLINGTON AVE APT A CHATTANOOGA, 374063202Age at Arrest: 28 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCEBLOCKING OR IMPEDING THE FLOW OF TRAFFICDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---GRANT, FRANCISCO MARTIN1776 DEAN STREET BROOKLYNN, 11223Age at Arrest: 25 years oldArresting Agency: CollegedaleBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---GRIFFITH, SEAN TYLER2300 CHIMNEY HILLS DR HIXSON, 37373Age at Arrest: 30 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIAPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE---HARDY, JEREMY LEE202 MAPPLEWOOD CHATTANOOGA, 37411Age at Arrest: 47 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyPOSSESSION OF PROHIBITED WEAPONPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIASIMPLE POSS. SCHED II (METH)---HAYDEN, ANTONIO LAVERNE2115 GARFIELD STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37404Age at Arrest: 31 years oldArresting Agency: Chatt. Housing AuthorityDRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSE---HOLLINGSWORTH, MATTHEW AARON236 DAUGHTERTY FERRY ROAD SALE CREEK, 37373Age at Arrest: 25 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgeDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE---HUFF, JOSHUA MATHEW205 BEECH ST ROSSVILLE, 30707Age at Arrest: 31 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDOMESTIC ASSAULTPUBLIC INTOXICATION---JONES, FATRINA LARNETTA3641 MISSIONAIRE AVE CHATTANOOGA, 37412Age at Arrest: 42 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPASSING WORTHLESS CHECK(S)---JOSE, MATIAS DIEGO312 WOODALL LANE SCOTTSBORO, 357684215Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPUBLIC INTOXICATION---JOSEPH, DESHON BRENDON1521 S RUGBY PLACE EAST RIDGE, 37419Age at Arrest: 20 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgeAGGRAVATED ASSAULT (DOMESTIC)DOMESTIC ASSAULT---KENDRICK, GLENN TRACEYHOMELESS CHATTANOOGA, 37416Age at Arrest: 31 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCRIMINAL TRESPASSING---KENDRICK, JIMMI JAQUAY5586 CROOKED CREEK OOLTEWAH, 37363Age at Arrest: 29 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCRIMINAL TRESPASSING---LEE, MARQUESHA CHANTELL707 E 49TH STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37410Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaAGGRAVATED ASSAULT---MCCORMICK, DYLAN ANDREW2462 HICKORY VALLEY ROAD CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 26 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSEVIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SVIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSEVIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSE---MCCROBEY, PETER MARTEZ2317 GILBERT ST CHATTANOOGA, 37405Age at Arrest: 31 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDISORDERLY CONDUCTPUBLIC INTOXICATION---MCGEE, ERIN RANDALLCLOUD SPRINGS LODGE ROOM 259 ROSSVILLE, 30741Age at Arrest: 37 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyCATOOSA COUNTY FUGITIVE (ARREST FOR CRIME IN ANOTH---MILLER, JEFFREY L4917 CAROLIN LANE CHATTANOOGA, 37411Age at Arrest: 52 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaVIOLATION OF PROBATION (THEFT OF PROPERTY UNDER 50---MONTGOMERY, CHARLES COLLIN9043 WOOTEN RD CHATTANOOGA, 37416Age at Arrest: 35 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaVIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FORVIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA FO---MONTGOMERY, CHRIS LAMONT4607 LUKE HILLS CIR CHATTANOOGA, 37416Age at Arrest: 18 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaTHEFT OF PROPERTY---MULLINS, KAREN DUNAWAY6353 LARAMIE CIRCLE CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 63 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE 2NDRECKLESS ENDANGERMENTAGGRAVATED ASSAULTAGGRAVATED ASSAULT---MURRELL, JODY EUDEAN1521 HICKORY VALLEY RD CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 48 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgeBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---NADEAU, JENNIFER LEIGH6966 TAILWINDS DRIVE HARRISON, 37341Age at Arrest: 43 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE---OSHELL, SCOTTIE RAY1333 VANCE RD CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 52 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyEVADING ARREST---PALMS, RONALD HULL706 E 11TH STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37402Age at Arrest: 65 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCEPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA---POE, KYLE HOUSTON18 PAULMAR DRIVE RED BANK, 37415Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDOMESTIC ASSAULT---RIDDLEY, MICHAEL STEVEN313 HANNAH LANE CHATTANOOGA, 37343Age at Arrest: 46 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALEDRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALEPOSS.A FIREARM DURING COMMISSIION OR ATTEMPT TO COPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIAMANUFACTURE,DELIVERY,SALE OF METHAMPHETAMINEDRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALEPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA---RYALS, SIR CLARENCE JACQUEZE4630 HEISKELL DRIVE CHATTANOOGA, 374162607Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaEVADING ARREST---SCHOOEY, HILLARY BETH1104 THOMAS LN #B HIXSON, 37343Age at Arrest: 26 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALEDRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALEPOSS.A FIREARM DURING COMMISSIION OR ATTEMPT TO COPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIAMANUFACTURE,DELIVERY,SALE OF METHAMPHETAMINE---STOKES, SCOTTY JUSTIN6307 GAMBLE ROAD HARRISON, 37308Age at Arrest: 29 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyASSAULTDOMESTIC ASSAULT---TALLEY, JA VAUGHN3628 CRAIG RD CHATTANOOGA, 37412Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaVIOLATION OF PROBATION ( DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUEN---TURNER, JULIET MICHELLE7900 SIMS ROAD HARRISON, 37311Age at Arrest: 47 years oldArresting Agency: CollegedaleBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---VANOVER, LAUREN TAIJAH4709 NORTH TERRACE ROAD APT B EAST RIDGE, 37411Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCONTRIBUTING TO THE DELINQUENCY OF A MINORATTEMPTTHEFT OF PROPERTY (CONDUCT INVOLV.MERCHANDISE)CRIMINAL CONSPIRACYDISORDERLY CONDUCT---WEBB, HOLLY CHRISTINA4811 LONEHILL ROAD CHATTANOOGA, 37416Age at Arrest: 33 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgeFAILURE TO APPEAR---WILLIAMS, BRYAN MONTEZ629 WEST 14TH STREEET COURT CHATTANOOGA, 37402Age at Arrest: 46 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE

Here are the mugshots:

AMMONS, EDWIN DEWAYNE

Age at Arrest: 51

Date of Birth: 04/10/1964

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

DOMESTIC ASSAULT ANDERSON, JOSHUA JOSAIH

Age at Arrest: 25

Date of Birth: 12/05/1991

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

RESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESS

DISORDERLY CONDUCT BALLARD, ANTHONY MONTREL

Age at Arrest: 29

Date of Birth: 05/27/1987

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

PUBLIC INTOXICATION

DISORDERLY CONDUCT BANKSTON, JONATHAN ERIC

Age at Arrest: 29

Date of Birth: 01/29/1988

Arresting Agency: Collegedale



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

BELVIN, CHARLENE JOYCE

Age at Arrest: 46

Date of Birth: 10/25/1970

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

BENTLEY, KENNETH ALAN

Age at Arrest: 63

Date of Birth: 10/27/1953

Arresting Agency:



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE BROOKS, BRITTANY LEIGHANN

Age at Arrest: 22

Date of Birth: 12/15/1994

Arresting Agency: Chatt. Housing Authority



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE BUDZ, THOMAS HENNESSY

Age at Arrest: 22

Date of Birth: 02/22/1994

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

DISORDERLY CONDUCT CARTER, JOHN DWANE

Age at Arrest: 46

Date of Birth: 05/18/1970

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

PUBLIC INTOXICATION

DISORDERLY CONDUCT COLE, ROBERT MARLIN

Age at Arrest: 30

Date of Birth: 07/31/1986

Arresting Agency: UTC



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE





COX, WILLIE ROY

Age at Arrest: 26

Date of Birth: 04/08/1990

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

RESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESS

RETALIATION AGAINST JUDGE, JUROR, OFFICER

ESCAPE (ATTEMPT)

RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT CRISP, SANDRA FAYE

Age at Arrest: 48

Date of Birth: 06/13/1961

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

FAILURE TO YIELD TO EMERGENCY VEHICLE

THEFT UNDER $500 DUFF, CLAYTON

Age at Arrest: 19

Date of Birth: 12/16/1997

Arresting Agency: East Ridge



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

CONTRIBUTING TO THE DELINQUENCY OF A MINOR

MANUFACTURE/SALE/POSS/DISTUBUTE SCHEDULE IV FOSTER, WILLIAM MICHAEL

Age at Arrest: 37

Date of Birth: 12/07/1979

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT/DOMESTIC

FALSE IMPRISONMENT

INTERFERENCE WITH EMERGENCY CALLS FRYAR, JULIE F

Age at Arrest: 18

Date of Birth: 07/07/1998

Arresting Agency: Soddy Daisy



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

POSSESSION OF SCHEDULE IV GILBERT, AMANDA JAEE

Age at Arrest: 28

Date of Birth: 11/12/1988

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

BLOCKING OR IMPEDING THE FLOW OF TRAFFIC

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE GRANT, FRANCISCO MARTIN

Age at Arrest: 25

Date of Birth: 10/13/1991

Arresting Agency: Collegedale



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

GRIFFITH, SEAN TYLER

Age at Arrest: 30

Date of Birth: 11/05/1986

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE HARDY, JEREMY LEE

Age at Arrest: 47

Date of Birth: 10/03/1969

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

POSSESSION OF PROHIBITED WEAPON

POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA

SIMPLE POSS. SCHED II (METH) HAYDEN, ANTONIO LAVERNE

Age at Arrest: 31

Date of Birth: 06/05/1985

Arresting Agency: Chatt. Housing Authority



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

DRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSE

HOLLINGSWORTH, MATTHEW AARON

Age at Arrest: 25

Date of Birth: 07/13/1991

Arresting Agency: East Ridge



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE HUFF, JOSHUA MATHEW

Age at Arrest: 31

Date of Birth: 07/30/1985

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

DOMESTIC ASSAULT

PUBLIC INTOXICATION JONES, FATRINA LARNETTA

Age at Arrest: 42

Date of Birth: 10/28/1974

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

PASSING WORTHLESS CHECK(S) JOSE, MATIAS DIEGO

Age at Arrest: 21

Date of Birth: 08/09/1995

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

PUBLIC INTOXICATION JOSEPH, DESHON BRENDON

Age at Arrest: 20

Date of Birth: 05/09/1996

Arresting Agency: East Ridge



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT (DOMESTIC)

DOMESTIC ASSAULT KENDRICK, GLENN TRACEY

Age at Arrest: 31

Date of Birth: 07/22/1977

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

CRIMINAL TRESPASSING KENDRICK, JIMMI JAQUAY

Age at Arrest: 29

Date of Birth: 04/17/1987

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

CRIMINAL TRESPASSING LEE, MARQUESHA CHANTELL

Age at Arrest: 27

Date of Birth: 08/25/1989

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT MCCORMICK, DYLAN ANDREW

Age at Arrest: 26

Date of Birth: 05/07/1990

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSE

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED S

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSE

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSE

MCCROBEY, PETER MARTEZ

Age at Arrest: 31

Date of Birth: 06/08/1985

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

PUBLIC INTOXICATION MCGEE, ERIN RANDALL

Age at Arrest: 37

Date of Birth: 01/05/1978

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

CATOOSA COUNTY FUGITIVE (ARREST FOR CRIME IN ANOTH MILLER, JEFFREY L

Age at Arrest: 52

Date of Birth: 02/19/1964

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (THEFT OF PROPERTY UNDER 50 MONTGOMERY, CHARLES COLLIN

Age at Arrest: 35

Date of Birth: 03/11/1981

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA FO MONTGOMERY, CHRIS LAMONT

Age at Arrest: 18

Date of Birth: 12/25/1998

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

THEFT OF PROPERTY MULLINS, KAREN DUNAWAY

Age at Arrest: 63

Date of Birth: 07/18/1953

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE 2ND

RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT MURRELL, JODY EUDEAN

Age at Arrest: 48

Date of Birth: 01/04/1969

Arresting Agency: East Ridge



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

NADEAU, JENNIFER LEIGH

Age at Arrest: 43

Date of Birth: 05/24/1973

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OSHELL, SCOTTIE RAY

Age at Arrest: 52

Date of Birth: 02/17/1964

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

EVADING ARREST PALMS, RONALD HULL

Age at Arrest: 65

Date of Birth: 11/26/1951

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 02/04/2017

Charge(s):

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE

POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA
Meanwhile, the sages of our tradition were discussing the proper balance of keva (fixed form) and kavanah (intention or meditative focus) in Jewish prayer. Some went so far as to argue that prayer without the right meditative intention doesn't actually count. In the days of the Tanna'im, communal prayer frequently took the form of variations on known themes, where a skilled prayer-leader would improvise new words on the existing themes of the prayers. Over time, those improvised words were written down, and by the Middle Ages became fixed in more-or-less the forms we know today.

Later, during the time of the Tanna'im (the 1st and 2nd centuries of the Common Era), Jewish mystics sought to elevate their souls by meditating on the chariot visions of Ezekiel. This became a whole school of contemplative practices known as merkavah mysticism . Some of their practices were re-imagined and re-interpreted by later mystical and contemplative movements in Jewish tradition.

We read in Torah that Abraham connected with God in the morning, Isaac in the afternoon, and Jacob in the evening, so we do the same. And in Torah, what form did that connection take? In Genesis 24:63, when Isaac went out  / la'suach in the fields, what exactly was going on? According to the classical JPS translation, that verb means "to meditate." So one could make the case that from the patriarchs on, Jewish prayer has always had a meditative component.

Contemplative practice in Judaism has taken a variety of forms, and bears a variety of names, but it's been a part of Judaism for a very long time. ("Contemplative practice" is an umbrella term which covers a variety of practices; meditation is one of those practices.) Let's start here: maybe you know that traditional Jewish practice includes praying three times a day. The traditional explanation for that thrice-daily prayer regimen teaches either that we do this in remembrance of the offerings at the Temple of old, or that we do this in remembrance of the patriarchs (or both.)

"Would you consider teaching or writing something about Jewish meditation?" a congregant asked me recently. "I think people wonder sometimes whether it's really Jewish."

Kabbalah (the branch of the mystical tradition which began around the 11th century) features all kinds of contemplative / meditative practices. These included visualization practices (imagining Hebrew letters and focusing on Divine Names), letter combination practices (mentally combining and recombining Hebrew letters in order to elevate the mind to a higher plane of consciousness), and practices of contemplating different sefirot (aspects or facets of God) -- all of which had the goal, in one way or another, of uniting one's soul with God in a state of devekut, "cleaving" or union. (This was the subject of my undergraduate thesis, so I can go on about it at some length. I'll spare y'all the long version, though if this is interesting to you, let's have coffee sometime!)

There's a teaching in the Gemara about the Hasidim rishonim, the first generation of pious Jews, who before sitting down to pray the morning service would first meditate for an hour in order to be able to bring full concentration and intention to reciting the prayers' words -- and after the morning service, would meditate for an hour in order to let the prayers fully percolate into their hearts and souls. Two hours of contemplative practice for every one hour of liturgical prayer: holy wow!

Much later in our history, the movement we now call Hasidism, which began with the Baal Shem Tov in the 18th century, inherited those meditative practices along with the kabbalistic aspiration of seeking devekut with God. A variety of contemplative practices arose in Hasidic communities. One is hitbonenut, "contemplation." In some Hasidic schools this term connotes intellectual contemplation of divinity -- particularly in Chabad, the branch of Hasidism whose name is an acronym for three divine modes of knowing (chochmah, binah, and da'at -- wisdom, understanding, and insight.)

Another form of Hasidic contemplative practice is hitbodedut, which means "self-seclusion" -- for instance, walking alone in the woods and communing with God. This was the practice of the Hasidic master known as Reb Nachman of Bratzlav. He frequently engaged in what we would call "walking meditation," walking alone in nature, while speaking aloud with God along the way. Here's a tiny taste of a prayer attributed to Reb Nachman:

How wonderful it would be if we were worthy of hearing the song of the grass!

Every blade of grass sings a pure song to God, expecting nothing in return.

It is wonderful to hear its song and to worship God in its midst!

(That prayer can be found in A Hidden Light: Stories and Teachings of Early HaBad and Bratzlav Hasidism, by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Netanel Miles-Yepez.) This form of contemplative practice tends to be fairly solitary, spontaneous, and unstructured; its goal is to establish a close relationship with God.

In the Mussar (ethical self-improvement) school which developed in 19th-century Europe, contemplative practices were refined and reframed in yet another way. One Mussar meditative practice features focusing on different middot, character-traits or qualities which we can seek to cultivate in ourselves. (These include qualities like patience, lovingkindness, order, humility, and so on.) There are visualization-based Mussar meditative practices, too. Many contemporary Mussar teachers advocate taking time each day to sit in silence and simply notice how ones mind wanders.

All of this may sound unusual to those of us who are most familiar with the Jewish practice of liturgical prayer, known in Hebrew as tefilah. We may have the notion that meditation is something Buddhists do on their cushions, whereas Jews engage in something different altogether! Except... I'm not so sure it's all that different. I think there's a clue to the meditative quality of Jewish worship in the very word we most frequently use to mean prayer.

The Hebrew word tefilah comes from the root l'hitpallel, "to judge oneself." The fact that we use the word tefilah to mean "prayer" hints that our liturgical prayer has at least two purposes. One purpose is to help us connect with God (whatever we understand that term to mean); the other purpose is to take a long deep look inside ourselves, to see who we most truly are, to become aware of our consciousness and our thought processes, and to guide ourselves toward becoming the people we most intend to be. Tefilah is meant to connect us both outwards / upwards / God-wards -- and inwards / downwards / into our deepest selves. Both of those directions can involve contemplative practice.

As I've grown more familiar with our (occasionally wordy) liturgy, I've come to love the idea that even our wordiest liturgical prayer can be understood as a contemplative practice. Of course, in order to be able to experience rapidfire Hebrew prayer as a contemplative practice, one needs to know the words so well that they become transparent and flow from one's lips without effort -- which can be a tall order for most contemporary Jews, for whom the Hebrew may be challenging and the siddur's ancient metaphors distancing. Many of us who are not able to reach meditative states through speedy recitation of Hebrew prayers choose instead to daven shorter versions of the prayers, bringing greater intention and attention to each word.

If you've ever seen a page in a prayerbook dedicated to an image made out of Hebrew letters and words -- perhaps an archway, perhaps a menorah, perhaps a tree -- that's another very old Jewish meditative practice. It's called a shviti, after the verse shviti Adonai k'negdi tamid, "I keep God before me always" (Psalm 16:8.) The idea is to gaze at the words which make up the image and to contemplate the words and the letters as a way of keeping God foremost in one's consciousness. (I've written about shvitis before.) Some people carry a shviti with them on a keychain or on a wallet-sized piece of art, in order to be reminded of God's presence every where they go.

Some forms of Jewish contemplative practice borrow concepts and terminology from Western mindfulness practices which may be familiar to other practitioners of meditation -- such as "following the breath," "exhaling the tension from your body," "noticing how the mind wanders." Others are explicitly Jewish in origin and terminology. For example, letter-meditations featuring the four-letter Name of God, where one inhales on the , exhales on the , inhales on the , exhales on the second . (That's a breathing meditation which allows every pair of breaths to be a recitation of the divine name.) Or the shviti visualization meditation I mentioned a moment ago. There are also embodied Jewish meditation practices which map the sefirot (the diagram of divine qualities, usually conceptualized as a sort of tree) onto the human body and direct energy and attention from one to the next.

At my shul, Jewish contemplative practice takes three different forms. At our Friday morning meditation minyan, we spend half an hour consciously entering into Jewish meditation practices. We follow our breath as it comes and goes, rises and falls; we notice our thoughts as they arise, and without judgement let them drift away; and then depending on the teaching I offer midway through the session, we either engage in guided meditation, or contemplate a quality we wish to cultivate, or reflect on the week now ending in order to process its ups and downs and let it go before Shabbat. That's one way we engage in Jewish contemplative practice.

A few times a year, I lead an explicitly contemplative Shabbat morning service. That's a service which takes the form of chant interspersed with silence. We don't skip any prayers or any of the elements of prayer which are required in order for a person to be yotzei (to have fulfilled the obligation of davening), but instead of reciting each prayer in full-text form, we chant only one or two lines of each, over and over, allowing the meaning of the words to soak in to our hearts and souls. Then we sit in silence for a few moments as the prayer's meaning continues to resonate and reverberate in us before we move on to the next chant. That's a second way we engage in Jewish contemplative practice.

And the third form happens frequently during the Shabbat morning services I lead, the "regular" ones which aren't explicitly contemplative. Every time we reach a kaddish, and I remind us that the kaddish is a doorway in the service from one part of the service to the next, and invite us to pause for a moment, and take a deep breath, and see what we're feeling in that moment, and then to carry that feeling (whatever it may be) into the next part of our prayers? That's a Jewish contemplative practice, right there, and that's a third way that we can enter into this ancient tradition.

Jewish contemplative practice can take the form of Torah study, chanting, sitting in meditation (not necessarily in "lotus position" or sitting on meditation cushions -- you can meditate sitting comfortably in a regular chair if that's what works for you), walking in nature, gazing at names of God (on the printed page or in one's imagination), focusing on personal qualities we want to cultivate, reciting the prayers in our siddur with deep intention and attention...and more. Many of these meditative practices are as old as our prayers. And all of them have deep roots in classical Jewish tradition.

Recommended resources:

If this is interesting to you, don't miss Rabbi Jeff Roth's Jewish Meditation Practices for Everyday Life: Awakening Your Heart, Connecting With God. He's the founder of the Awakened Heart Project, which has as its mission "to promote the use of Jewish contemplative techniques that foster the development of a heart of wisdom and compassion." Rabbi Roth's focus, both in the book and in his organization, is bringing meaningful spiritual practice to life.

For a different perspective, I also recommend Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide. Rabbi Kaplan is an Orthodox rabbi, and his book explores the deep history of Jewish meditation as well as offering "a guide to a variety of meditative techniques: mantra meditation (with suggested phrases and Bible verses to use as mantras); contemplation; visualization; experiencing nothingness (which he does not recommend for beginners); conversing with God; and prayer." (That's from the Amazon description.)

If you're in or near the Boston area, you might want to check out Nishmat Hayyim (Breath of Life): the Jewish Meditation collaborative based in Boston.

Rabbi Sheila Weinberg, author of Surprisingly Happy: An Atypical Religious Memoir, is also a good resource for Jewish contemplative practices. You can listen to a podcast of some of her teachings here at the Awakened Heart Project. Speaking of which, there's wonderful series of podcasts at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, by Rabbi Sheila Weinberg and many others, which draw on Jewish contemplative practice(s).

(I welcome suggestions of other resources in comments!)

to promote the use of Jewish contemplative techniques that foster the development of a heart of wisdom and compassion. Cultivating an awakened heart leads to acting in the world with loving-kindness towards all beings recognizing them as manifestations of the Holy One of Being. - See more at: http://www.awakenedheartproject.org/about#sthash.OPQiuJl1.dpuf

to promote the use of Jewish contemplative techniques that foster the development of a heart of wisdom and compassion. Cultivating an awakened heart leads to acting in the world with loving-kindness towards all beings recognizing them as manifestations of the Holy One of Being. - See more at: http://www.awakenedheartproject.org/about#sthash.OPQiuJl1.dpuf
The Chattanooga Fire Department responded to an early morning house fire in Dalewood on Sunday.

The alarm came into Hamilton County 911 at 2:52 a.m. for a residential structure on fire. A fire engine from station 15 arrived on the scene at 2:59 a.m. and reported fire and smoke visible from a house located at 3825 Larry Dr.

Hose lines were deployed and a primary search was conducted throughout the house to see if anyone was inside. No one was found.

An additional five fire companies responded to assist in battling the blaze. The fire was called under control in less than an hour.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Chattanooga Police, Hamilton County EMS, and the Electric Power Board were on scene to assist.
One of the pieces of my work at Congregation Beth Israel for which I am most grateful is our Friday morning meditation minyan. We call it a "minyan" in recognition of the fact that the term can mean both the time of prayer ("I'm going to morning minyan") and the group that prays (a minyan is the quorum of ten adult Jews required by tradition for communal prayer that involves a call-and-response), but it's not a formalized group and there is no formalized prayer -- just sitting in meditation.

The fact of this standing Friday morning meditation group is one of the things that drew me to CBI, back when my dear friend Reb Jeff was the rabbi and I was just beginning to contemplate whether I might be ready for rabbinical school. I figured, if this were a synagogue where people meditate and are interested in Jewish contemplative practice, it might be a good home for me. (Turns out I was right about that!) I've kept the minyan going since I began to serve the community as its rabbi in 2011.

Our practice is simple. We begin in silence. After about fifteen minutes I offer a very short teaching, or guided meditation, or practice. (Most recently our practice had to do with cultivating compassion for ourselves and others. Often I offer a meditation designed to help us release the week in preparation for Shabbat.) After another fifteen minutes, we close with a three-breath practice from Thich Nhat Hanh that I learned from my friend and colleague Rabbi Chava Bahle, and with a niggun.

I love sitting in companionable silence in our beautiful sanctuary. Sometimes sunlight streams in through the big windows; sometimes snow falls outside. Sometimes we hear the rooster crow next door. And at the end of our practice time, I love opening my eyes and seeing the dear souls who have joined in over the course of the morning. Emerging from contemplative practice can feel like opening my eyes in the morning -- leaving what is almost a dream-state, waking up to a new reality.

And immersing myself in prayer or contemplative practice can feel like a repeated opportunity to wake up. In my experience, spiritual life is characterized by a kind of ebb and flow between wakefulness and sleep. I wake up (to the realities of the world around me, or to my own inner life, or both) and then I fall asleep again, and then I notice that I'm asleep and wake up. Rinse, lather, repeat. Spiritual life is a perennial process of noticing where I have been asleep, and waking up again. And again.

There's a story about the teacher of my teachers, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z"l (of blessed memory) -- actually, it's about one of his children. His daughter asked him, "Abba [Father], when we're asleep we can wake up. When we're awake, can we wake up even more?" (His answer, of course, was yes -- as is mine. We can always wake up even more. Our daily liturgy blesses God Who wipes the sleep from our eyes, and I understand that as a truth both in the physical realm and the spiritual realm.)

Waking up even from our ostensible wakefulness is part of what spiritual practice is for. Prayer and meditation can help to wake us up -- even if we think we're already awake, we can always wake to deeper truths, to higher levels of reality, to the work we are here to do in the world. (Spiritual direction can also be a tool that helps us wake up to who we are called to be.) I'm grateful to my Friday morning meditation group for their willingness to return and return again to the work of waking up together.

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In 2008 Hamilton County and the city cut a deal with Alstom Power to allow the company huge property tax breaks on their land and plant equipment. In return for the sweetheart tax deal, Alstom agreed to invest $265 million in the plant and create 300 new high paying jobs in Chattanooga. Did Alstom keep its promise? No. A few new jobs briefly came and then the people were let go. Alstom met their investment commitment, primarily by buying factory equipment for them to use. That equipment was sold last month.

Let's review: Alstom gets a $13+ million tax break. The city and county get no jobs and the investment is sold. Let's examine how we got here and learn from it.

Alstom took the tax breaks and things started to unravel. Local officials and Alstom told citizens that the economic climate of nuclear power caused Alstom's downturn. That's not entirely accurate. Alstom fell on hard times in part because of bad corporate behavior. Before the tax break was offered, it was well known to investors and others in their industry that Alstom was a company in financial difficulty. If Chattanooga or Hamilton County officials had rigorous procedures or seriously vetted tax break recipients, they would have seen this train wreck coming.

Tax break vetting was awful then and--despite what Mayor Berke's administration says--it's not much better now.

Alstom corporate executives were under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. About 2008, DOJ opened a multi-year case involving Alstom's long-term history of bribing international government. Alstom employees in the U.S. perpetrated some of the illegal actions. In late 2014, people were arrested, the company pled guilty and agreed to pay $772 million to resolve the criminal charges. Few were interested in buying Alstom products after that.

In 2015 the company sold all of their local assets to General Electric. Alstoms tax breaks were worth about $2 million per year in tax savings to the company or $2 million in lost revenue to the city/county. Oddly enough the sale to GE included the transferable gift of continuing the 15-year tax break package. No responsibilities (jobs) to the city or county, just a tax break.

It boggles the mind that the city and county would have signed a contract allowing tax breaks to be transferred without responsibilities. This is another example of poor local government decision-making. It illustrates why our taxpayer-funded and mayor-directed city and county attorneys should start reading the tax break contracts written by company attorneys before passing them on to the City Council and County Commission for approval.

A Feb. 3 article published on Chattanoogan.com states that, in the fall of 2016, the city and county hired the Waller law firm in Nashville to negotiate with Alstom. In a letter dated Nov. 30, Waller attorney James M. Weaver wrote: The City and County can and should recoup the full amount of taxes abated on the real and personal property subject to the PILOT agreement and owed to them from the inception. Weaver placed the total cost of the PILOT agreement at $13 million from 2010 through 2016.The same article indicated that the city and county mayors are proud and happy to accept a $6 million settlement in lieu of the $13 million loss owed the city and county. Why should citizens be happy citizens with a settlement of half the money?

Folks, the city/county rip-off goes much further than $13 million. Alstom received the local $13 million value and millions more in grants and credits from the state's approval and facilitation of millions of federal dollars to Alstom as part of President Obama's stimulus program. The $6 million is a drop in the bucket of what is owed to the city and county.

Is this settlement the best the city and county can do? Trust me. If this situation had gone to a jury trial, we would have done much better.

Deborah Scott

Chattanooga

* * *

It was not the city or county that got ripped off  it never is. It was taxpayers as always.

Did any city or county official lose money? Did any city or county employee lose a paycheck?



This election cycle will be no different than the last. Political promises for accountability, less crime, affordable housing, work-force development programs, all written on Charmin that quickly dissolves after election day. The taxpayers get the corncobs.

The fools are the people who continue to believe this time it will be different. Politicians know this; the gullible dont.

Stephen Greenfield

* * *

Only government would pat themselves on the back for a less than mediocre outcome.

Alstom entered into a written contract with the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County to create jobs in lieu of paying property taxes. Bottom line, Alstom reneged and must be held accountable to the contract provisions and pay back the property taxes forgiven. Alstom has resources and needs to pay back the property taxes in full, not less than 50 percent.

Alstom needs to pay back 100 percent to we the people, called taxpayers.

I simply cannot fathom that Mayor Andy Berke would color this pathetic deal as a job well done. If the millions not paid back were the mayor's funds, they would certainly pursue recapturing those dollars with zeal.

Spare me the false media, press release nonsense from the puzzle girls,and job well done from the mayors, this is a horrible deal.

April Eidson

* * *

Once again, this is a perfect example of government corruption and crony capitalism at the expense of the hardworking tax paying citizens of Chattanooga.

There is a serious problem when our elected officials are in the business of giving taxpayer dollars (i.e. tax breaks) to businesses like Alstom, Erlanger, Walnut Hill Apartments, and many others. Picking favorites and giving taxpayer money to friends is not governing nor in the best interests of all the citizens of Chattanooga.

Quick note to all our government officials, you were elected to be fiduciaries and good stewards of taxpayer dollars. This means avoiding groupthink and making rational decisions in the best interest of all taxpayers and not just a select few of your friends.

Giving away millions of taxpayer dollars to your friends at Alstom, Erlanger, Walnut Hill Apartments and all the other PILOT programs is not being a good fiduciary. That is money that should/could have been used to address the shortage of police officers or other noteworthy causes.

No wonder each day Chattanooga continues to lose ground on our competitors.

John Madzin


By Le Huong

Thousands of people across the nation, including professionals, have improved and are improving their English language skills via activities organised by the IZI English Community for more than five years now.

I havent attended any other club that has been so helpful and so much fun as IZI, said Nguyen Lam, a financial expert.

Nguyen Quang Hung, a teacher, said he found his skills had improved after hed joined the clubs activities for several months. People here are so friendly and helpful, he said

The community has so far been set up in ten cities including Ha Noi, HCM City, Hue, a Nang, Nha Trang, Can Tho and Quy Nhon.

Since its establishment in March 2011, the community has helped more than 200,000 English learners in the country.

It hosts 60 free English shows each month, including: iziShare to share English lessons; iziTalk to enhance presenting skills; iziIELTS to share IELTS testing skills; izyBreeze to enhance daily English in communications; and iziDiscovery to practise English through actual tourism activities.

Besides the weekly shows, there are special programmes every month with diversified content, like: IZI Capola, a camping event to practise English and living skills; iziStudent, specifically for school students; and The City Inside, which is a culture and tourism project that aims to provide English practice.

At first, IZI English was just a small community with 40 members, Tran Gia Thong, the communitys founder told Viet Nam News, As it became more popular, the number of activities increased, and even more people joined. I have actually quit chatting with friends at free time and weekends to concentrate on the communitys work.

Thong, who was a Project Manager at FPT Group, resigned his job because he felt he could not do justice to both.

I remember my father was silent while my mom was obviously worried whenever I visited them in Hue. I felt as if I had taken a huge risk in betting on my dream.

Thong took the decision to focus on IZI because he believes English can change peoples lives and even change the whole country.

I had learnt the language for years, yet my English was not fluent enough to communicate with foreign colleagues and partners, he said.

Get talking: The communitys main audience and participants are students. Photo Courtesy of IZI English Community

The communitys motto for all ages is Funnier, Easier and More Effective. As many as 150 admin members have volunteered to work for the IZI English Community throughout the country.

Nguyen Minh Nguyet, 23, a graduate from the a Nang Economics University, who has joined the communitys activities in the central city, said she had felt more comfortable speaking English since.

I am a bank clerk and Im very confident about using English now, she said.

Thong said he wanted to offer the opportunity to improve English skills to those whose livelihood depends on it.

Last August, the programme English with Hues Cyclo Drivers attracted hundreds of participants.

Other admin members of the community doubted the feasibility of my project. After many days of running here and there to find a suitable venue, financial support and persuade cyclo drivers to join in, I was extremely happy to see the hall full of weather-beaten cyclo drivers, Thong said.

I felt that IZI had done a meaningful thing  sharing English communication skills with people who need the language everyday to earn their living.

Thong said that he wanted to expand the IZI Community to all 63 cities and provinces of the country and even co-ordinate with Vietnamese students overseas to go beyond the nations borders.

But finance has been a problem for the community, he said, adding: I hope that organisations, enterprises and individuals with the same vision will join our mission.

Together with IZI, I hope to create a new notion of an English community, where enthusiastic young people gather to not only enhance their English skills but also develop themselves to build a stronger nation.  VNS
By Minh Thu

The National Museum of History is showing 18 artefacts which have been recognised as national treasures, some dating as far as the ong Son era (2500-2000BC) . They are on display together for the first time at a special exhibition titled "Viet Nams National Treasures" in downtown Ha Noi.

Some of the artefacts have never been exhibited in public.

The ao Thinh bronze situla has been displayed several times as a typical artefact of the ong Son Culture. This time it appears with updated information  the result of recent research.

The situla was discovered on the bank of the Red River in ao Thinh Commune in the northern province of Yen Bai in 1960.

This is the largest bronze situla and the most sophisticated one among hundreds of ong Son situlas that have been unearthed. Along with a conical lid, the situla has a cylindrical shape which gradually gets narrower towards the bottom.

Decorative patterns on the ao Thinh situla are abundant and as elaborate as those on the best ong Son drums. Specifically, the major decorative band on its body has six boats depicted in a row. Each boat carries six or seven birdmen in different postures, surrounded by birds flying, fish, mythical waterbirds and crocodiles swimming below.

Admirable figure: Bronze lamp in the shape of a kneeling man from the ong Son Culture.

Researchers recently talked about the most outstanding feature of the ao Thinh situla -- figurines of four couples in positions of intercourse on the lid, with the genitals of the men depicted much larger than normal.

"This is consistent with the fertility worship of wet rice growers, who desire the procreation of living beings," Pham Quoc Quan, member of the National Cultural Heritage Council, said.

We believe that it belonged to a chieftain. At the beginning, it stored seeds and symbolised the power of the owner. Then it was used to store his ashes after death.

Art researcher-painter Le Thiet Cuong agreed. We dont see the symbol of sex on other artefacts of the ong Son Culture.

Figurines of couples copulating symbolised fertility, which means people in the ong Son Culture believed death is not the end, and that death and birth are a cycle, he said.

Another impressive representative of the ong Son Culture is a boat-shaped coffin or hollow tree-trunk coffin, which is 450cm long and 77cm wide at the largest part.

Symbol of fertility: Lamp in the shape of a man wearing only a loincloth.

The Viet Khe coffin was excavated in 1961 at Viet Khe Village, Hai Phong City. It is made of iron wood with 107 funerary objects, including domestic utensils, working tools, musical instruments and weapons. They were made from bronze, lacquer, stone, bamboo and leather. These objects are on display at an exhibition of Asian history at the Archaeological Museum of Herne, Germany.

The Viet Khe coffin is one of the most significant examples of this funeral custom. It is believed to be the largest coffin with the richest funerary items. The presence of a bronze drum is remarkable because the drum is not only an instrument, but also a symbol of power of the ancient Viet people. It is believed that the owner of the Viet Khe burial may have been a rich and powerful chieftain.

The collection of funerary objects from the Viet Khe burial provides us an insight into the history, culture, society, habits and customs of the ong Son people from over 2,000 years ago. Further, the materials of the burial are also considered indicators of a diversified economy, which included agriculture, commerce and handicrafts made from metallurgy, carpentry, textiles or glass manufacturing, said researcher Quan.

The existence of several objects that originated from China, such as the bronze sword, ring-handle knife, bell and some other objects manufactured locally but inspired by Chinese civilisations, such as the bronze vessel with high perforated ring foot or bronze tripod cauldron, are evidence of the network of cultural exchange between the ong Son people and other civilisations.

National pride: The national treasures and historical and cultural stories help people understand how their ancestors created art and crafts.

A storage jar with brown pattern ceramic dating from the Tran Dynasty (1226-1400) is also among the objects showcased for the first time.

It was discovered while people were digging a well in the area of the Tran Temple, Loc Vuong District, northern Nam inh Province, in 1972.

This is a thick and hard ceramic jar and a typical ceramic object of the Tran Dynasty. Double lotus petals are visible around the mouth. The jar was divided into eight segments; each segment was decorated with a vase of the lotus. The jar is intact, large and made of high-quality ceramic.

It was discovered from the Thien Truong Palace (now Tran Temple) where the kings fathers lived after relinquishing the throne to their sons. Hence, it was confirmed the jar belonged to the royal family.

Though the Prison Diary by President Ho Chi Minh has been published and re-published several times in 20 languages, not many people have seen the original version.

The diary consists of 82 pages and 133 poems written in the Han script from August 1942 to September 1943 while he was imprisoned in Guangxi Province (China) by the Kuomintang government.

The book (12.5cm by 9.5cm) is a valuable treasure providing insight into the life and revolutionary ideas of national leader Ho Chi Minh. In addition to its historic value, the diary is imbued with a profound humanity, revealing the great and humane character of Ho Chi Minh, who devoted his entire life to Viet Nams struggle for independence.

Also on display is uong Kach Menh (Road to Revolution). Published in 1927, it is an important book sketching the revolutionary road initiated by Ho Chi Minh. The book is a collection of lectures compiled by President Ho in 1925-27.

Appeal for National Resistance, the manuscript written on December 19, 1946, by President Ho Chi Minh in Van Phuc Village on the outskirts of Ha Noi, is also showcased. It urged Vietnamese people across the country to rise and fight against the French colonialists who were invading Viet Nam again.

Unique: A golden seal used during the reign of King Minh Menh, (Nguyen Dynasty) in 1827.

Joe Sosnow, a doctor from the United States, and his wife selected the National Museum of History as one of their destinations on a vacation to Ha Noi owing to their special interest in Vietnamese history. Sosnow said he was very impressed by the exhibition of the national treasures. He has two replicas of ong Son bronze drums at home and said it was wonderful to see the authentic bronze drum.

Im so lucky that I visited to the museum during the exhibition. The artefacts are magnificent and they reveal the exquisite skill and sensibility of the Vietnamese craftsmen, Sosnow said.

Nguyen Van oan, vice director of the museum, said "The exhibition is meant to promote the value of the national treasures. Together with the exhibits, historical and culture-related stories will be presented, thus the audience can get a further understanding about the craftsmanship of our ancestors, which may encourage patriotism, national pride and contribute to conserving and promoting Vietnamese cultural values."

The exhibition runs until the end of May at the National Museum of History, 1 Pham Ngu Lao Street, Ha Noi.  VNS
29-year-old Duong Anh Vu from the central province of Binh Thuan currently holds four memory world records.

These records have been recognised by the Research Foundation Assist World Records, the High Range Book of World Records and the Incredible Book of Records. He speaks about his journey to conquer the titles and the secret behind his prodigious memory.

Inner Sanctum: Can you tell us how good your memory is?

I can memorise over 300,000 statistical tables of chemicals; political, historical, economics and geography facts, the content of which can be noted down on 500,000 A4-sized papers; 20,000 digits of pi; all large world maps in English, which I can re-draw from memory; 10,000 historical, scientific and arts events, including time and content, of both Vietnamese and the world; information of over 1,000 classic Vietnamese and international literary works and their author, and more.

Inner Sanctum: When and how did you discover this special ability?

Since my memory is not my innate ability, I cannot tell the exact moment. I started to train my memory in 2010, but before that I had applied Mindmap (a diagram used to visually organise information) to regain and re-systemise my knowledge since I was attending a continuing education class. After I had embarked on training, I spent months struggling with the methods that I used to think were unsuitable to me. When I was about to give up, I realised that if someone wanted to become transcendent, they could not follow anyone elses method but had to create their own. Since then, by following the appropriate method, I have been able to memorise more.

Inner Sanctum: You did not perform very well at school. Can you share something about those days?

I used to be very bad at studies at school. I was born into a family of five children and I was the fourth. I still remember when I was small, whenever my family had dinner together, my dad used to look at me and joke, We are very sorry for giving birth to an error like you.

I used to be weak when I was a second-grader. Then, I was a repeater when I was a third-grader, and it took me nearly six years to finish primary school education. After that, I attended a semi-public school and was a weak student for years. I was not accepted by any high schools.

As usual, my dad would punish me as soon as he learnt about my examination results, but not this time, and this difference changed my life totally.

Instead, he said to me, You had better stop learning at school and learn a trade instead. You see, you have gained nothing in ten years studying but have only become a repeater, and you retake tests.

However, I recall those moments when my dad would sit and drink with his friends. Whenever he heard them boast about their children, he would put his head down in sadness. Or, when my mother said nothing whenever she heard our relatives praise their children. I was really a child who seriously hurt my parents self-esteem. I needed to change.

After that I enrolled in a continuing education course and got absorbed in studying for three years. I finally passed the entrance examination to the Viet Nam National University, Ho Chi Minh City and kept moving forward. I conducted research on various topics, kept enhancing my memory and received a scholarship to complete my Masters degree from the Auckland University, in New Zealand.

Inner Sanctum: What helped you to overcome challenges in studying and reach your current status in life?

After all those years struggling against challenges of life and studies, there were three things that helped me to acquire todays achievements: self-esteem, love and proper method.

When my poor results were mocked by others, my self-esteem and that of my family was severely dented. Once you have something that you need to protect, you will become stronger. What I needed to protect was my self-esteem.

I also realised that the core and ultimate value of life is love. Love from the family and teachers is the invisible strength that cannot be defeated by any other power. Such love prevented me from falling into an autistic life, made me understand the value of life and knowledge. It became the firm shoulders for me to lean on.

And if working hard helps to reach target, the proper method will help us do that in the quickest way. I am certain that without a proper method, it would have taken me a lifetime to accumulate the knowledge that I possess.

Inner Sanctum: Can you share something about your current research and lecturing work?

After setting the worlds records, I started to deliver lectures. Most people would think that my life would be associated with lectures on memorising skills and inspiring others. Of course, lectures are a part of my life, but not all.

Since I attended school, I made great efforts to read, mull over and write to improve my ability to conduct studies. I have been passionate and want to pursue Geopolitics and International Private Law. I am considering making a career as a top-notch researcher and analyst in these two fields.

Inner Sanctum: You have opened classes in the training of memory, and you deliver lectures in different places to inspire others. What advantages and disadvantages have you seen in the youth today?

Through my lectures in Viet Nam, most of the people I have come into contact with are the youth. I have realised that they have the advantage of being active, young, creative and quick at grasping new knowledge. But their weakness also lies within such strengths. Though they are active, they are more likely to give up and get discouraged on encountering harsh challenges. They are young so they tend to have a great sense of self, therefore, they usually try to express themselves and find it hard to accept mistakes. VNS
Farming retreat set at Ewalu

STRAWBERRY POINT  Practical Farmers of Iowa is set to host its ninth annual beginning farmer retreat for Friday and Saturday at Ewalu Camp and Retreat Center near Strawberry Point.

The retreat is intended for beginning farmers who are motivated to improve their financial and business knowledge for their existing or future farm. Friday will cover financial literacy. Saturday the group will break into enterprises and learn about marketing and production efficiencies.

For more information, or to register, go to http://practicalfarmers.org, or call (515) 232-5661.

SingleSpeed earns honor

CEDAR FALLS  SingleSpeed Brewing, located at 128 Main St., is the first craft brewery in the state to be certified by the Iowa Waste Reduction Centers Iowa Green Brewery Certification.

SingleSpeed Brewings Cedar Falls location earned a silver level of certification for their implemented sustainability practices.

The IWRC currently is working with more breweries across the state, including sites in Des Moines, Ankeny, Glenwood and SingleSpeeds Waterloo location opening later this spring. For information on obtaining an Iowa Green Brewery Certification or questions, go to iwrc.uni.edu/green-brewery or contact Bolick at 273-6577.
DECORAH  Realtors from the Northeast Iowa Regional Board of Realtors saw a need for after the emergency assistance for flood victims and rallied together to form the Realtors Flood Relief Fund.

Victims of the 2016 flooding from Cedar Falls, Decorah, Shell Rock, Clarksville, Cresco and Dorchester gathered at the Hotel Winneshiek in Decorah and the Northeast Iowa Regional Board of Realtors Office in Waterloo to receive funds from Realtors Flood Relief.

Realtor members held an auction and accepted contributions to raise funds for the victims. Nearly $40,000 was collected, all of which went directly to the victims. Applications for funds were available through Realtors.

As Realtors, we are part of these communities, and we care about our neighbors. We wanted to assist financially with necessary repairs to help them rebuild not just their homes but their lives. We wanted to let them know Realtors care  it is what they do, said Mary Shileny, executive officer.

Recipients shared stories of personal devastation followed with hugs of appreciation for allowing a part of their lives to be restored.

The Realtors thanked all who donated, especially the Iowa Association of Realtors, The Realtor Foundation of Iowa, Viking Pump, Idex Corp. and the Cedar Rapids Board of Realtors for their support.
OSAGE  Sometimes surprises surface when farmers are asked, What is the key to your successful operation?

For two Mitchell County farmers, the answer is faith, family, less furrowing and technology.

Al Witt and Bruce Johnson, who have partnered in their crop farming operations for the past 10 years, gave some interesting answers as to why their crop farming partnership has been so successful.

Whats really helped is our God-centered relationship. That has been really cool with our spiritual growth and spiritual relationship, Witt said.

That is a huge part of our operation, Johnson said. Sure helps things flow throughout the day and throughout the year.

The arrangement benefits everyone as they follow the practical advice of Ecclesiastes 4:9: Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.

Every Tuesday morning, both men take an hour to join fellow Christian businessmen for an early morning Bible study in Witts farm office.

The Witt and Johnson farmsteads, 10 miles west of Osage, are on opposite sides of Highway 9 and only 150 yards apart. The partnership developed when the two families decided to share farm equipment and labor.

The two have been sharing equipment since Witt moved back to his home farm.

Witt and his wife, Jill, have five children, ranging in age from 2 to 15. Witt is an environmental coordinator for Smithfield Foods. Johnson and his wife, Lisa, have three grown children. He is employed with Popp Excavating in Osage.

Both families are invested in church and community activities, plus travel time between fields in western Mitchell County and other land in Howard County.

Their recent purchase of a Gladiator Strip Tillage machine has cut down on time in cornfields. For the past five years, the partners have strip-tilled a portion of their land to see if the conservation farming method would work.

We watched records, and it proved to work, Witt said.

Last fall, the partners bought their strip tiller and ran it over all their acres.

The machine eliminates two passes through the corn fields. It creates 8-inch-wide furrows between harvested bean rows in the fall and also applies fertilizer and other herbicide treatments. The following spring, the planter then deposits seeds in the 30-inch rows where the raised furrows have been made.

According to Witt and Johnson, this method of corn farming increases soil health by reducing wind and water erosion and increases earthworm populations, micro-organisms and organic matter while cutting machinery costs, fuel costs, soil compaction, water consumption and time.

The partnership also cuts corn inputs through creating a prescription map for each of its tracts of land, which have varying types of soils, drainage and fertilization needs.

We have the ability to design a fertility package for each partial of land, Witt said.

During the winter, Witt and Johnson develop a plan for each tract of land to determine fertilization and planting population. The information is then inserted in the planters computer, signaling when to raise or lower seed distribution and fertilizer rates.

Although the two men are machinery and labor partners, Johnson said they order seed separately, sometimes having different brands.

Drones also have been added to the partnerships corn production plan. Witts 13-year-old son, Riley, flies up the machine. Flying over a growing corn field, the two farmers can recognize many details not visible from the ground. Differing varieties of corn, areas missed when spraying chemicals, lack of fertilization, wet areas and wind damage all are visible from the air.

Extended family members join the workforce during planting and harvest.

Universities, researchers and agribusinesses point corn farmers to new technologies, ag products, conservation practices, new machinery and marketing as ways to improve their bottom line, but many farmers, like Witt and Johnson, still believe family and faith play a greater role.
It takes some serious packing skills  or a mighty big shoehorn  to squeeze 300 years of Iowa history into an RV.

Thats exactly what staffers at the Iowa State Historical Society have done, filling a custom-built Winnebago RV with a multi-media and artifact-based exhibit that tells about Iowas past in 300 square feet.

Iowa became the 29th state in the Union on Dec. 28, 1846, and the historical society is celebrating the 170th birthday with a series of Iowa History 101 exhibits. At the State Historical Museum, visitors can explore grandmas attic in Museum Gallery, with dozens of stories and artifacts such as a flight suit worn by NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and participate in interactive exhibits in Hands on History.

The third is History on the Move, an RV that hits the road this spring with a goal of visiting all 99 counties in the next three years.

The State Historical Society serves the whole state, and we take that very seriously. Some people may never get to Des Moines to visit the museum, so the RV is a fun way for people in different parts of the state to connect with history, says Leo Landis, state museum curator.

American Pickers creator and star Mike Wolfe is an exhibit partner, along with EMC Insurance Companies. Wolfe has provided the voice and video talent for multi-media components.

With about 100,000 artifacts in the museums collection, the task of repackaging Iowas history into a succinct display and recount it in an engaging way was daunting, says Museum Exhibits Manager Andrew Harrington.

You cant tell every Iowa story, even if you had a 10,000-square-foot exhibit. I feel like we did a good job of saying  in as few words as possible  what we wanted to say and finding objects that could tell those stories. We want people to become inspired and want to learn more on their own, Harrington explains.

Organizers settled on themes of home, work and play. Wolfe narrates an overview of the exhibit and offers interesting insights into Iowa history as preparation for viewing the RV displays.

Iowas state motto is Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain. That dates back to 1847, and that was a promise to Iowas citizens. Historically, settlers came to Iowa because they thought they could make a better life for themselves, and we wanted to explore that and how it relates to current-day Iowans while making the most of the space we had in the RV, Landis says.

Waterloos Rath Packing Co. is represented in the work portion of the exhibit, along with farming and farm-related machinery and technology, including the development of the first digital computer by Iowan John Vincent Atanasoff.

We wanted to remind people that we not only collect history but objects and stories from Iowas recent past, Landis says.

Homemaking also is included, represented by cooking utensils like an early cast iron skillet, a Hmong spinning wheel and Meskwaki textiles. Play features toys and other items representing a vision of universal childhood.

Organizers use photographic displays, touch screens and other multi-media devices to tell stories that are mindful of a broad representation of all parts of the state and its residents, including Native Americans, African-Americans, Asian immigrants and Latinos, Landis explains.

The Winnebago-built RV has a commercial shell that looks like the standard 38-foot vehicle, but its empty inside except for floor and walls. The State Historical Society has worked with 1220 Exhibits to outfit the RV. The Nashville-based company specializes in developing, producing and installing exhibits. They do exhibit work all over the country  exhibit case work and graphics that will hold up over time with all the foot traffic, and things we cant build ourselves, Harrington explains.

The RV may show up at the Iowa State Fair and other larger festivals and fairs across the state to maximize exposure. Were receiving requests from counties, but we havent nailed down a schedule just yet. We have to work out the logistics to see what makes the best sense of getting around the state, he says.

In addition, history buffs can download the Iowa Culture mobile app, a fun and interactive way to discover arts, history and cultural destinations in the state.

For more information on scheduling a stop by the RV, call (515) 281-5111 or go to www. iowaculture.gov.
WATERLOO  Some wounds arent visible.

They are the wounds of emotion, the mind, the psyche. As military veteran and psychologist Doty Simpson-Taylor of Waterloo says, wounds of the soul.

She and two Waterloo pastors, all veterans who happen to be African-American, are conducting a two-day program Feb. 17-18 aimed at helping veterans.

Bridging Veteran Spirituality is set for from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 17 at St. Pauls United Methodist Church, 207 W. Louise St. It will be followed by the seventh annual Veterans Tribute and Recognition from 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 18 at Union Missionary Baptist Church, 209 Jackson St.

Keynote speaker at both events will be Chaplain Michael L. McCoy Sr., the director of the National Chaplain Center and the top chaplain in the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Waterloos predominantly African-American churches and associated ministers will recognize veterans in conjunction with Black History Month.

But sponsors  Simpson-Taylors Sister Soldier Network, the Cedar Valley Coalition of Black Veterans and Bridging Veteran Spirituality Partnership  emphasize both the Friday and Saturday events are open to the entire community.

Its a humanity issue, said Simpson-Taylor, a U.S. Air Force veteran.

She and two local pastor-veterans say its an area of ministry that needs to be addressed, particularly given the high incidence of veteran suicides, which Simpson-Taylor says number 22 a day, including three in Iowa in the past year.

The Rev. Thomas Flint, pastor of Payne Memorial AME Church, served with the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., in 1970-73 at the end of the Vietnam War. His military and ministerial experience heightened his appreciation of veterans service.

Most of my tour was at Fort Bragg, so I didnt go overseas. But just being with guys who did go overseas ... I saw the value of being like a family and appreciating the sacrifices men and women were making on my behalf, Flint said.

He tried to establish a veteran ministry during a previous pastoral assignment in Madison, Wis., and was surprised he initially met resistance.

Some questioned the merits of particular conflicts and wanted to avoid encouraging others to join the military. That wasnt his purpose, Flint said. We just appreciate those who went, he said. Those who were initially hesitant appreciated the opportunity to bond with other veterans and veteran families.

I always felt that when you go to serve your country, you should be proud, Flint said. But still, I think the people should let you know they appreciate what youve done. It helps so many people.

The Rev. Belinda Creighton-Smith, pastor of Faith Temple Baptist Church, served in a U.S. Army Reserve military police unit from 1984-92 to pay her way through the University of Northern Iowa. At the time I had two babies, she said, and her mother helped her with them.

I didnt go overseas tours of duties or anything like that, but the conditioning process, however, in itself, can really change a person, she said. When I went in I was probably considered a pacifist.

The training initially brought her to tears. But by the end of six weeks I could taste blood, she said. In marching drills, we were chanting, Kill Gaddafi.  It was 1986, after President Ronald Reagan had ordered air strikes against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddaffi in retaliation for a Berlin discothecque bombing.

I was a lean, mean killing machine; thats what I called myself at that time. I was one of the top of my platoon; graduated with honors, sharpshooter skills and that kind of thing. I worked hard.

Those instincts kicked in after her service, during the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001. She was in school at Central Baptist Theological Seminary near Kansas City, Kan.

We had gotten the news the Twin Towers had been destroyed, I remember getting up and leaving class. There was this automatic switch that went off and it was like, Ive got to go. Ive got to fight. The automatic response was to fight.

Nearly 10 years after she left service, she was ready to don her fatigues, which she still has, and report for duty. It must have been because of my training. Family members said she came home a different person, and she initially felt disconnected from them.

Creighton-Smiths experience underscores the importance of ministering to veterans, Simpson-Taylor said. Once you have a warrior identity, it takes a while to regroup and become a civilian again, Simpson-Taylor said.

She served in the early 1960s at Strategic Air Command headquarters in Omaha, Neb., and other locations. In my 50-some years of looking at my military experiences, I can see that happening over and over again.

Seldom do veterans rid themselves of that altogether. Many dont want to talk about it. Sometimes the trauma brings up some of the other issues.

Simpson-Taylor retired from the University of Iowa in 2010 after a career in higher education and as a counseling psychologist. I continue to have my commitment to veterans, though, because Im really concerned about post-traumatic stress disorder and the spirituality of veterans.

She has seen veterans who have been dechurched because of misperceptions regarding their service.

Ive seen veterans who have been invited not to return to their congregations, she said. Not because they have done anything, but because, some other person has a notion about what post-traumatic stress disorder has done, and this person is subject to going off or whatever.

But veterans are part of the ministry, Flint said. Churches and ministers need to be prepared to assist those individuals.

Thats why Simpson-Taylor and Korean War veteran Lorraine Griffie started Sister Solder Network, to be a conduit of information about and for veterans and to support faith-based efforts to embrace veterans spirituality. Shes active here and in other states.

Reaching out to veterans required a community effort. Its not veterans only, Simpson-Taylor said.

The problem is magnified among female and minority veterans, Simpson-Taylor said.

We have an increasing number of women veterans who have taken their lives, she said. We have veterans of color who people have kind of thrown away. Many times veterans of color will be some of the first that will be incarcerated for drugs or alcohol or domestic violence or some sort of profiling.

We also want to say that everybody has an opportunity to look at who we are as individuals, who we are in terms of our faith, who we are in terms of our race. Its a humanity issue.

Thats what this conference is all about, Simpson-Taylor said.

Creighton-Smith said her involvement is born out of a desire to come alongside the veteran and their family, to not be judgmental, and just understanding the real issues; whats at the heart of the pain.

Black Hawk County Veteran Affairs Commission executive director Kevin Dill said, Our office supports these events and any event that offers assistance to veterans. We are glad to partner with the Sister Soldier Network in offering assistance and guidance on any level to the veterans of this county.

More information about the events is available at sistersoldiernetwork@gmail.com or by calling Simpson-Taylor at (317) 517-6319 or the Black Hawk County Veteran Affairs office at 291-2512. Registration for the Friday event is $20. Veterans also may be nominated for recognition at the Feb. 18 event at those numbers and email.
East student

at symposium

WATERLOO  East High School senior Nathan Schmidt has been selected to present his research at the Iowa Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Iowa City on March 6.

The top 16-18 papers are chosen out of all entries submitted across Iowa.

Schmidt has been accepted to speak once before, competing against nine others in a category at the national level, resulting in second place. His project consists of an analysis of electrostatic pendulums where he implemented a computer program to compare the equation which he constructed to an actual pendulum.

Mayors Awards seek nominees

WATERLOO  The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley is accepting nominations through March 1 for the 2017 Mayors Volunteer Awards and Top Teen Awards.

The awards recognize individuals who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to service through volunteerism in the Cedar Valley.

The Mayors Volunteer Awards honor the exemplary contributions of individuals ages 19 and older who dedicate their time and talent to volunteerism in Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Evansdale and surrounding communities in Black Hawk County.

The Mayors Top Teen Awards honor youths ages 13-18 attending a school in Black Hawk County. The Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa also selects one junior from each of the accredited high schools in Black Hawk County to receive the $1000 Mother Moon Service Scholarship.

All nominees and recipients will be recognized April 11.

Nomination forms are available online at www.vccv.org or may be requested by contacting the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley at 272-2087 or information@vccv.org.

UNI to host PTSD event

CEDAR FALLS  The University of Northern Iowa Military and Veteran Student Services will host the first statewide PTSD Awareness Conference March 29 at Maucker Union.

This conference was made possible through a partnership between the UNI Counseling Center, UNI Student Disability Services, UNI Wellness and Recreation Center, Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services-UNI Service Unit, UNI Veteran Affairs and UNI MVSS.

For more information, contact Norman Ferguson, Jr., coordinator for UNI MVSS, at 273-3040 or norman.ferguson@uni.edu.

Group promotes traffic safety

WATERLOO  Drive Safe Cedar Valley, a Waterloo nonprofit dedicated to changing driving culture, is announcing a partnership with Cedar Falls and Waterloo schools to teach students about traffic safety.

Students ages 7 to 11 can test their traffic safety knowledge once a month throughout the school year by taking an online safety quiz at www.DriveSafeCV.org/TrafficSafetyQuiz. Students who score 100 percent on the quiz will be put into a drawing to win prizes provided by local businesses.

All this and other children safety campaigns could not have been made possible without the school districts excellent cooperation, said Mohammad Elahi, traffic engineer for the city of Waterloo.

The nonprofit began in 2007 as the first public awareness program of its kind in Iowa. To learn more or to donate to its ongoing educational and awareness efforts, visit www.DriveSafeCV.org or call 291-4440.

Sullivan award seeks nominees

WATERLOO  The Grout Museum District, 503 South St., is now accepting nominations for the Sullivan Brothers Outstanding Military Family Award.

The purpose of the award is to recognize and honor families with three or more members who have demonstrated exemplary community service.

The winner of the award will be announced at the An Evening at the Museum fundraising event for the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum 6 to 9 p.m. there April 29. Nomination forms may be downloaded from the website, www.groutmuseumdistrict.org/2017Gala. Nominations are due March 10.

Cost for the fundraising event is $35 per person. For more information call 234-6357.
KANSAS CITY, Mo  An Osage woman recently completed an 1860s fashion show to celebrate the second season of a Civil War television series.

Joy Melchers sold-out show for PBS affiliate KCPT Kansas City was held at the historic antebellum Alexander Majors house, with the production airing on the premiere of the second season of Mercy Street.

The series follows the lives of two volunteer nurses on opposing sides of the Civil War. Melcher is a historical costume designer for the theater and film industry, with her gowns appearing at the Kennedy Center, New York City Opera and Sony TV programs.

Professional models from the Kansas City area wore garments for 1860s women from all walks of life, including homemakers, nurses, Southern belles, brides and those in mourning.

Christian Michael of Kansas City provided the mens clothing.
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Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) test-fired new missiles in the ongoing air defense drills on Saturday, semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Iran tests a missile in a drill. [File photo: Xinhua]

The missiles included home-made short-range and medium-range systems, the report said.

The indigenous missile of 3-Khordad, which was test-fired on Saturday, has a range of 75km and can soar to altitudes up to 30 km.

It is capable of engaging in electronic warfare and incorporates the latest cutting-edge technology and scrambling on multiple targets in lower radar cross-section (RCS).

Another tested missile of Tabas has a range of 60 km and soars to the altitude of 30 km. It is designed and manufactured by the IRGC and is highly agile in offensive and defensive positions.

The third one tested was Sayyad-2 missile system which has the same features as Tabas and has been designed by Iranian Ministry of Defense, according to Mehr.

Also, IRGC deployed three radar systems in the drills on Saturday. Ghadir long-range radar system with 3D detecting feature can capture the aerial threats as far as 1100 km away.

Ghadir is capable of detecting stealth drones and other aerial vehicles and can even trace the targets.

Matla'alfajr and Kavosh radar systems are capable of detecting the threats up to 500km and 150km respectively. They can also detect cruise missiles and drones flying in lower altitudes.

The IRGC launched a major air defense drill, dubbed Defenders of Velayat, on Saturday, official IRNA news agency reported.

The military exercise is carried out in the area of 35,000 square kilometers in Semnan region in the central-north of Iran.

The maneuver is aimed at enhancing the preparedness of the IRGC units in the face of threats.

The home-grown radar systems, commandment tactics, as well as control and electronic warfare systems will be put in the test in the exercise, the report said.

Last week, Iran launched a ballistic missile test, which drew a stern warning from Washington. Iran dismissed the U.S. concerns saying that the test was aimed at deterrence purposes.
WATERLOO  More passengers flew out of Waterloo Regional Airport in 2016 than any time in the past eight years, a new report compiled by airport director Keith Kaspari shows.

There were 25,322 outbound passengers during calendar year 2016, an increase of 338 passengers from 2015. Thats the most since 25,620 in 2008.

The number of passengers flying out of Waterloo has especially increased over the past four years, largely due to American Airlines/American Eagle, airport officials reported. The passenger numbers for 2016 also reflect an increase of 5,990 passengers, or 38.6 percent over 2013, an average of about 9.7 percent a year.

Slowly and surely, we are trending in the right direction, Kaspari said. My goal is to continue to build ridership so we can justify with American Airllines a third departure to OHare (International Airport). Theyve served us very well.

Our task is to get Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Northeast Iowa travelers to look at Waterloo, in contrast with maybe looking at the steering wheel for about an hour or two before they get to a larger airport, Kaspari said.

The report also indicates 2016 is the second year in a row the airport averaged morethan 2,000 passengers per month  2,110. Thats close to 2008s average of 2,135.

Kaspari anticipates significant increases during 2017, with a goal of 2,500 passengers per month.

This is good news, Kaspari said. A very competitively priced air fare structure allows the airport to be looked at more favorably in comparison with nearby airports. Passengers are becoming more aware that flying out of Waterloo saves money as they do not have to pay for an added fuel expense and the higher cost of vehicle parking.

Kaspari noted the number of annual American Airlines flights increased to 693 in 2016 from 675 in 2015 due to added service on weekends and fewer flights cancelled  20 in 2016 compared with 35 in 2015. Additionally, Americans on-time reliability showed continued improvement.

Kaspari said, The increases in passenger numbers from calendar year 2016, fewer cancellations, improved on-time reliability and competitively priced air fares, shows that American Airlines is providing an excellent product for Cedar Valley passengers.
Even the blackest clouds contain streaks of light, those silver linings we need during terrible storms. Are there silver linings over Trumpland?

When times are crazy, when everything seems upside down, when fools get power and destroy most certainties, creative arts flourish. The American 1960s, a decade of protest and turmoil, produced a flood of music and art that lives on.

Its happening again.

Consider:

All expectations are off. Civility, rationality, trustworthy leaders, even simple factual truths have been disappearing like frost on a sunny morning. Were seeing rank amateur politicians  billionaires  put in charge of huge, complex government operations that will certainly suffer from their ignorance and arrogance. Even Republicans are protesting, and some will certainly defect.

As of this writing, after 10 days of Trump: chaos and protests worldwide with no end in sight. Protests mean marches, music, slogans, drama, all of which are grist for artists and art, and more power to them.

Apathy, that bane of good times, has disappeared. Everyone has taken a stand, some with utter certainty alternate facts support their leader, others who insist proven facts stay proven. A comeuppance is on the way, and artists are watching.

Activists are getting busy. Shortly after the election, Cedar Valley Activates, a group of local citizens concerned with taking local action, was born out of a desire to tackle real problems  instead of complaining.

At the first meeting in Cedar Falls on Dec. 4, more than a hundred citizens showed up and formed groups focused on health care, childrens health, poverty, environmental degradation, alternate energy, mental illness treatments  all issues that need attention in the Cedar Valley.

They met in Waterloo in January, and they will gather again at the end of February to connect with local agencies to help find solutions. And theyre determined to stay nonpartisan.

We want to stay as apolitical as possible, Eric Giddens told me. Since were all in this together, cooperation is the only way to get things done.

Hard to argue with that.

People are having to decide where they stand. Wishy-washy wont cut it any more. I vividly remember having to rethink my own ideas in the late sixties when the Vietnam War was gearing up. I read, listened, discussed, argued, formed opinions and helped support worthwhile causes. I felt alive and challenged, as I do now.

Im excited to ponder more, read alternative sources, engage more, create more blogs and other writings.

So turmoil isnt all bad.

As Harry Lime, the Orson Welles character in the 1949 film noir classic, The Third Man put it, You know what the fellow said  in Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace  and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock!

Let our Renaissance begin.
Of all the words used to describe President Donald J. Trump during his first days in office  bold, boastful, alternative facts  here are two almost no person or pundit uttered: promise keeper.

Love him or loathe him, Trump took no time in checking off key items from his unconventional campaigns list of unconventional promises.

Toss out the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): check.

Start process to build a wall: check.

Impose extreme vetting on immigrants and refugees from various Muslim-majority countries: check.

Gut the Environmental Protection Agency: check is on its way.

Congressional Republicans kept their mouths politely shut when the President acted on the lists first two items. Free trade and free access to much-needed, cheap labor  legal, reportedly legal or other-than-legal  are core conservative principles, but their silence seemed to say its the presidents first week so well act like we didnt hear him.

Farm leaders, however, with both more to lose and more courage than their Trump-shrunk congressmen and senators, howled when Trump announced his TPP-killing action.

These Big Ag, mostly Trump backers very well knew candidate Trump had made that promise, but they very well didnt know President Trump would keep his promise. What backslapping politician ever does?

But Trump doesnt see himself as a politician. In fact, neither do most farmers and ranchers who overwhelmingly voted for him because, as they said in poll after poll, Hes not a politician; hes like us, a businessman.

They were right  on both counts. So, stick a fork in TPP; its cooked, because Trump thinks its bad business.

He later signaled the same fate for T-TIP, the not-yet-finished Euro-centered Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the U.S. and the European Union.

If these trade-smacking moves were too subtle to ags free traders, the president gave all another red-hot dose of his promise-keeping serum Jan. 26 when he endorsed a 20 percent border tax on imports entering the U.S from our free-trade partner Mexico.

The border tax, explained White House press secretary Sean Spicer, is less about our ridiculous  yes, he said ridiculous  free trade policy and more about, well, one tall, beautiful wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

Right now our countrys policy, said Spicer, is to tax exports and let imports flow freely in, which is ridiculous. By doing that (20 percent border tax) we can easily pay for a wall just through (sic) mechanism alone.

A border tax to pay for a border wall, however, wasnt one of his boss campaign promises, and it caught American Big Ag leaders and Enrique Pena Nieto, the president of Mexico, flatfooted. Nieto immediately cancelled a planned White House meeting with Trump.

Still, after so much awful ag-related trade news from the White House, there is good news in its terrible border tax idea, says New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and no Trump acolyte (he calls President Trump Agent Orange).

First, explains Krugman, any border tax cant be country specific  aimed solely at, say, Mexico  therefore it cannot be imposed and will never pay for any border wall anywhere.

Second, a border tax might well be considered WTO-illegal because the World Trade Organization often views it as a combined export subsidy and import tariff. Neither is allowed under WTO rules signed by both Mexico and the U.S.

So, a border tax is no bueno no matter what the White House says.

But that fact wont quiet American farmers and ranchers. They made a quid pro quo when they voted for the nonpolitician Trump: Well risk your populist, anti-trade babble in return for a favorable rewrite of the tax code, a dehorning of the EPA and a 2018 extension of todays revenue-based crop insurance programs.

So far theyve gotten the quid right in the eye  just as Trump promised. Whats next is anyones guess.
I am a Waterloo teacher, and I join the more than 34,000 educators in Iowa as a member of the Iowa State Education Association.

Our profession places students at the center of everything we do.

Our profession differs from others, however. As a public school employee, Iowa law requires our salaries, benefits, working conditions and other items related to our work be negotiated with our employer because these matters change based on what is decided by elected leaders at the Iowa Capitol.

As educators, parents entrust us with their childrens care for almost 2,000 hours per year. This is perhaps the biggest responsibility and greatest honor someone can place on another person. Public school educators take this responsibility very seriously.

So, each year when negotiating our contract with our employer and working through issues such as job safety, in-service training and health insurance, we are taking into consideration the students who are affected by the many aspects of what we are negotiating.

We negotiate our work environment with our employer so things like making our classrooms safe from mold and other toxins that affect our students are included in our contracts. In-service training on school safety and anti-bullying efforts are also negotiated. Are we taking the right precautions and have the proper health insurance to get flu shots, check-ups and antibiotics needed so we are not part of the problem in a classroom during an influenza outbreak or viral spread? While health insurance is a huge part of negotiations, it is often the piece that holds our salaries down. Our members opt for better health insurance over an increase in salary. It is a trade-off, but one that goes with negotiating a contract.

Not many citizens are aware that built into the process is a fail-safe method of mediation that does not allow either side to ask for too much one way or another. The process has kept both sides close together in their proposals for over 40 years, and I am puzzled as to why it would need to be changed now.

You can find teachers at after-school activities, weekend tournaments and community events because we do not leave our jobs when we lock our classroom doors. The same holds true when we negotiate a contract. We do not leave our students interests off the negotiations table. When we negotiate classroom and working conditions, we must ensure we negotiate what is best for Iowas students as well. Our working environment is their learning environment. Their concerns, health and well-being are with us every step of the way.
George Washington was a role model when he said, I cannot tell a lie. He portrayed honesty during eight years as our first president. Washington set the standard for presidents to come, including Honest Abe.

However, half-truths and downright fabrications have recently invaded Americas presidency. Some presidents either lived in a bubble or were so narcissistic they believed the rules of candor didnt apply to them.

Witness these faux pas moments:

Dwight Eisenhower denied America had U2 spy planes flying over the Soviet Union; one was shot down provoking an international incident.

John Kennedy stated in 1961,The United States plans no military intervention in Cuba. We invaded Cuba, the Bay of Pigs debacle strengthened Castro, the Soviet Union built bases in Cuba and a missile crisis occurred.

Lyndon Johnson declared in August 1964 an unprovoked attack occurred in Vietmans Gulf of Tonkin. In 1965 Johnson admitted it was a lie.

Richard Nixon: Watergate and I am not a crook says it all.

Ronald Reagan: The Iran-Contra affair started in 1985. When details of missile exchanges leaked in 1986, Reagan said We did not, I repeat, did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we. Later Reagan said: I lied.

George H.W. Bush: Read my lips. No new taxes. Truth: new taxes.

Bill Clintons I did not have sexual relations with that woman, which led to it was wrong. I misled people.

George W. Bushs nearly treasonous statement Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction lead to 6,845 deceased American soldiers and 900,000 injured.

Barack Obama pushed the Affordable Healthcare Act and promised if you like the plan you have, you can keep it. Not true.

Donald Trumps presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton, claimed she landed in Bosnia under sniper fire in 1996; false.

With our 45th president we now have, in his own words, truthful hyperbole, an innocent form of exaggeration (The art of the deal, 1987).

Trump does not have onesie-twosie misstatements of fact. PolitiFact, an independent fact-checking organization, examined 356 claims by Trump, finding two-thirds of them were mostly false or false and 62 were pants on fire false.

During our 45th presidents first week in office, The Washington Post documented 24 false or misleading statements.

Steve Schmidt, manager of Sen. John McCains 2008 presidential campaign, reflected on the cascade of Trumps fabrications by saying they were a direct assault on the very idea of representative democracy.

Peggy Noonan, a conservative writer for The Wall Street Journal, may have summarized the situation we are in with our 45th president the best: A friend called a new word to my attention. It speaks of the moment were in. It is kakistocracy, from the Greek. It means government by the worse persons, by the least qualified or most unprincipled. Were on our way there, arent we? Were going to have to make our way through it together.

Mr. President: Your post-truth, double talk, cover up and alternative fact statements have become the standard of your administration. They must come to an end. Americans and our allies deserve and demand an honest president; otherwise theres no credibility, integrity or trust. Please contemplate the words, so apropos today, of the novelist from your mothers native Scotland, Walter Scott: Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive.
Madonna speaks

DEB SHEDA

INDEPENDENCE  This is my first ever letter to the editor.

But I am outraged. I really am. Who does Madonna think she is that she can speak the horrible and mean-spirited words she spewed? After all, wasnt the Womens March supposed to be peaceful and at least somewhat dignified?

She used her stardom status and elitist attitude, stating that since Donald Trump was elected president, she thought many times about blowing up the White House. Isnt this a terrorist statement? Many in the audience heard her spew her violence-filled hatred for our president, and I find in unbelievable any American citizen, (yes, even you, Madonna), would seemingly want the White House blown up! Again, isnt this terrorism, and shouldnt it be treated as such by our Secret Service? Why wasnt she immediately arrested?

Think about it. If you or I had publicly made such a statement, we would have had been hauled away instantly. But wait, Madonnas not like you and me, is she? Shes an elitist celebrity who can say and do as she pleases. She and so many others who, like her, are held to a different standard, arent they?

House File 7

THOMAS SCOTT

WAVERLY  Rep. Sandy Salmon supports House File 7 to allow for expansion of exemptions for required childhood vaccinations. Current law misguidedly allows for religious exemptions, and this bill expands it to anyone requesting an exemption for any reason.

I suggest the following name for this bill: The Freedom to Allow Children and Vulnerable Iowans to Suffer and Die Needlessly Act. While you consider the effect of this legislation, may I invite you take a walk through an Iowa cemetery and note 20 to 25 percent of the headstones used to be for children. Not anymore. The childhood mortality rate was reduced by more than 90 percent in the second half of the 20th century because of vaccines and herd immunity induced by wide and near universal use of vaccines.

States with similar legislation are seeing resurgence of once rare and completely preventable illnesses. Anyone want to sign up for a case of polio? Misinformation and bills like this will lead directly to the deaths of children, elderly Iowans and those with compromised immune systems. Contact your representatives and demand they oppose this ridiculous legislation.

Nagle response

ABE CONRADS

CEDAR FALLS  I am an immigrant born in Germany in 1932, a year before Hitler was elected chancellor. From my earliest days I was taught to be in total subjection to Hitler and his party. I was 13 years old when the Hitler era ended. By that time I had learned by experience and observation Hitler was an evil person. Fast forward to 2016: Trump came on the stage and all I could think of: another Hitler  power hungry, know-it-all, a bully without feeling for people, no manners, interrupting others, not answering questions. I am afraid the Trump Gestapo will outlaw other parties, have opposing groups disappear, muzzle the press and any group that would oppose him.

Thank you, Dave Nagle, for opening my eyes to other options (Jan. 22). Trump and his henchmen could marginalize their opponents and become the only people in power. Goal achieved. Then we will have a president not unlike Hitler. Trump claims to be pro-life, yet has no problem with torture, which can lead to death; no problem with taking away health care aid, no matter if people die without it. Then we would have an America quite unlike what America used to be or could be. God help us! It makes me sad so many good people voted for a man(?) who has no regard for moral law, for what is best for most people, for our country.

Country View

CAROL BARTELS

WATERLOO  It would indeed be a tragedy if the Country View care facility would be closed or residents farmed out to other locations. These individuals deserve to stay where they currently reside. Many of the residents have come to know this as their home. They have a safe environment and are well taken care of by caring staff.

The staff deals with a unique group of individuals with many needs on a daily basis. It is unfortunate our president can mock people with special needs and our soon-to-be ex-governor has closed so many facilities designated for special needs people.

I do not have the answer for the dire financial problem and hope a solution can be reached. However, I do encourage the Board of Supervisors to visit, or perhaps volunteer at Country View for a clearer picture of the residents and staff.

Home schooling

KATE McELLIGATT

WATERLOO  As a 40-year special educator, I wanted to compliment The Courier on its very important editorial (Jan. 29) on the abuses of home schooling. Over the course of my career, I saw many parents withdraw their children from school in order to isolate their children, shield their own behavior toward their children from the light of day and get out from under district expectations on daily attendance. Some of these parents had drug abuse problems and problems with lawbreaking behavior. In several cases the children were being sexually abused by a parent.

As the U.S. is lagging behind many other countries in terms of educational attainment and knowledge, home schooling needs to be looked at very closely. Public schools need to be well supported, academically rigorous and able to meet the needs of all children.

Health care

JUANITA WILLIAMS

WATERLOO  I am appalled our Republican state legislators are not only considering, but are advancing legislation to throw away $3 million in federal money because of their antagonism toward an organization that improves the health of disadvantaged women and men.

At a time when Iowa has budget problems, conservative legislators are illogically planning to rob state children and family services money to replace a system that is already reducing abortions, sexually transmitted infections and related cancers. How ludicrous.

This represents irresponsible fiscal management at the least and worse yet, a direct attack on the health of our states most vulnerable residents. Lets vote these people out in 2018.

Roundabouts

DEAN MEYER

WATERLOO  I dont understand why so many people are against the roundabouts. Ive been using them five days a week in Cedar Falls for a while now, and I find them refreshing. The only thing Ive found wrong with them is the people who refuse to or are too ignorant to learn the rules of using them.

Ill admit it is a little intimidating at first using them, but after learning the rules its not as bad as some people say. If you dont like them, just take an alternate route (there are many). That would be a very simple solution to your problems with roundabouts.

United Nations

THEODORE LEDERMAN

WATERLOO  In a letter to the editor (Jan. 22), Robert Huber urged citizens to contact Sens. Joni Ernst and Charles Grasley and hold them responsible in not supporting this legislation submitted by Sens. Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham to withhold United Nations funding.

Huber, as a member of the United Nations Association supports its work to make the world a safe and peaceful place. We all wish this could be so. He goes on to regret that the United States has not done more as an advocate for the Palestenians.

Well, has the United Nations been too pro-Israel? Looking at the history of the U.N., there has been no lack of condemnations against Israel. The 2014-15 session of the U.N. General Assembly produced 20 resolutions against Israel vs. only three against all other nations. Unbelievably, the 2016-17 session was a virtual repeat.

I will not hold Sens. Ernst and Grassley responsible for their vote on the legislation prepared by Cruz and Graham to withhold U.N. funding, as I believe they are fully capable of making an appropriate decision.
Fall back tonight -- for the last time?
 Flash

A sixth case of avian influenza H5N8 was confirmed on Saturday in a whooper swan in Nenagh, central Ireland's County Tipperary, according to an official statement.

In a statement, the Irish Department of Agriculture said it is the fourth case in a whooper swan this year.

It followed three previous cases in whooper swans this year, with two cases in Eurasian wigeons in December last year.

In December, Ireland confirmed the first case of avian influenza H5N8 in a wigeon in the southeastern county of Wexford.

Although the H5N8 subtype can cause serious disease in poultry and other birds, no human infections with this virus have been reported world-wide and therefore risk to humans is considered to be very low.

The finding was not unexpected given the detection of highly pathogenic H5N8 in wild birds in Britain in December.

Since then, the Irish Department of Agriculture has introduced regulations under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013, requiring the compulsory housing of poultry as a result of the increased threat.

The government reiterated that strict bio-security measures are necessary to prevent the introduction of avian influenza into poultry and captive bird flocks.
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WHITE PLAINS, NY, February 05, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The names of 24 Protestant Chaplains who died in service including two who remain Missing In Action from the Korean War are planned to be recognized this spring at Chaplains Hill in Section 2 at Arlington National Cemetery on a revised plaque.



The effort is being led by group of local and national veterans service organizations who combined in 2011 to donate the Jewish Chaplains Monument to Arlington National Cemetery. The group plan to replace an aging Protestant Chaplain plaque and monument stone which honors chaplains who died in service only during WWII. The new elements will be a granite monument base and upright presenting a bronze plaque honoring the 117 WWII Protestant chaplains who died in service during WWII adding for the first time the names of 24 Protestant chaplains who died in service in Korea, Vietnam, Cold War Era, and the War on Terror.



A plaque to recognize Catholic chaplains who died in service in the War on Terrorism is also planned to be added to the existing Catholic Monument. The Jewish chaplains plaque is up to date. Although the Chaplain Corps of the US Armed Forces is today represented by chaplains of a wide number of faiths, no other faith group has suffered the loss of a chaplain during military service.



Two US Army chaplains, Captain Kenneth Charles Hyslop of Sussex, Delaware, a Northern Baptist chaplain, and Major Wayne Henry Burdue, of Thurston, Washington a chaplain of the Disciples of Christ, were both taken prisoner in the early months of the Korean War. Both died in captivity and remain Missing in Action according to American Battle Monument Commission records.



Honored by name on the existing Catholic Chaplains Monument on Chaplains Hill, are two US Army chaplains Captain Lawrence Frank Brunnert of St. Louis City, MO and Captain Emil Joseph Kapaun of Wichita, Kansas; both died as prisoners of war and their remains have not been found. Captain Kapaun was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2013.



The names to be recognized at Chaplains Hill for the first time are:



Korea: Wayne Burdue, Wendell Byrd, James Conner, Robert Crane, Kenneth Hyslop, Byron Lee, Samuel Simpson, Kenneth Wilson.



Vietnam: Don Bartley, Merle Brown, William Feaster, Ambrosia Grandea, Roger Heinz, James Johnson, Phillip Nichols.



Cold War Era: Albert Beasley, Evered Cagle, Troy Carter, Robert Ledbetter.



War on Terrorism: Dale Goetz, Edward Jack, Joseph Moore, Gordon E. Oglesby,

Steven Thornton



The replacement plaque and monument is planned for a spring installation and dedication replacing the existing Protestant Monument joining three other monuments honoring Catholic Chaplains, World War One Chaplains, and Jewish Chaplains all who died during military service. It is planned that a plaque will be added this spring to the Catholic Chaplains Monument honoring several Catholic chaplains lost in the War on Terrorism.



The design for the new Protestant Plaque was provided by Debora Jackson of Troy, NY and The Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance who previously designed the Jewish Chaplains Monument plaque dedicated in 2011. Overall plans to update and provide access to Chaplains Hill provided by architect Bruno Carvalho of Washington, DC based Carvalho and Good PLLC.



A later phase is proposed to provide an ADA complaint walkway that will provide access up the 30 foot high Chaplains hill to visitors from Honor Flights to scout groups.



Project director retired US Navy chaplain Rabbi Rear Admiral Harold Robinson (ret) US Navy commented,



"On the 74th anniversary of the extraordinary demonstration of heroism and selfless service by the Four Chaplains lost in the attack on the troopship Dorchester during World War II, we are pleased to confirm our plans to provide Chaplains Hill at Arlington National Cemetery our nation's most sacred place with an updated plaque and new stone monument that for the first time honors our Protestant colleagues who died during service in Korea, Vietnam, Cold War, and during Post 9-11 service in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. We will be working on updating the Catholic Monument this spring. We extend our appreciation to all supporters and contributors to the project."



Participating organizations are The National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces, the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance, the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, the Jewish War Veterans Post 695, Wayne, NJ; Sons of the American Legion Squadron 135 White Plains, NY, the Jewish Welfare Board, and the Florence Lahey and Sol Ollinger Foundation. Appreciation is extended for assistance provided on research to Mr. Gregory Tardieu of the Alexandria, VA Public Schools, Fay Rozovsky, Marsha McManus of the US Army Chaplains School, and Capt. (ret) Tierian Cash USN, former National Chaplain of The American Legion, and Michael D. Helm, former National Commander, The American Legion.



For more information contact Ken Kraetzer on [email protected] or 1914-450-9554

Facebook: Chaplains Hill, Arlington National Cemetery

Facebook: Squadron 135, White Plains, NY

National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces: www.ncmaf.net

The Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance: www.brooklynwall.us

The Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation: www.fourchaplains.org

The Rozovsky Group: www.therozovskygroup.com



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For the last seven decades India has denied the valiant people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir the right of self-determination promised to them by the international community through UN Security Council resolutions. The people of Pakistan join their Kashmiri brothers and sisters in observing Kashmir Solidarity Day today to reaffirm our moral, diplomatic and political support to the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for their basic human rights, especially the right to self determination enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

The Jammu and Kashmir dispute is the unfinished agenda of Partition and remains one of the oldest disputes in the UN Security Council. Pakistan strongly condemns the systematic state terrorism and brutal killings of the innocent people of IoK by Indian occupation forces. Use of pellet guns has permanently blinded more than 150 people including women and young children. The basic human rights of the innocent people of IoK, including the right to life and peaceful assembly have been grossly violated by Indian occupation forces. Senior Hurriyat leadership has been arrested or placed under house detention. Within the last few months, around 12,000 people were illegally detained without any charges.

The valiant, resolute and determined people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir have rendered unmatched sacrifices in their just struggle. However, all the Indian brutalities have failed to deter the people of IoK from their cause for freedom from Indian subjugation. The people of Pakistan and the international community have utmost respect for the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir for their unparalleled courage, bravery and persistence in facing the worst kind of state terrorism, human right abuses, violence and suppression by the Indian state. I salute the sacrifices of the brave and courageous Kashmiri people and reaffirm our firm commitment to Pakistans principled stance on Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan calls upon the international community to raise its voice in seeking an end to the gross violations of human right and the reign of terror unleashed by Indian occupation forces in IoK and fulfill the promises it made with the people of Jammu and Kashmir 70 years ago.

Jammu and Kashmir is the core dispute between Pakistan and India. The dream of peace and prosperity of the people of this region will remain elusive without resolving this dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. We urge India to stop bloodbath in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and allow the holding of free and fair plebiscite under the UN auspices.
Warner thumps Harding Co.-Bison; Patriots, Wolverines to meet for title

Hunter Cramer ran for 2 touchdowns, passed for 1 and returned a kick for 82 yards as the Monarchs won 63-20 in the Class 9A football semifinals.
A countrys economic health rides on how well its primary industries perform. It depends on how encouraged these industries are to expand, how many jobs they create in the bargain, to what degree foreign funds are attracted and encouraged to invest in various industries, and how much consumption increases because of all these factors. Despite laudable effort of the Government, a very large section of people stand to lose their comfortable or qualitative life of old age if they wish to buy or build a house as they cannot afford it. To address their difficulty, government should ensure building homes and offer them on rent for life time to senior citizens with terms of no subletting, no transfer, no modification and no inheritance.

The real estate industry has reasons to cheer as Union Budget 2017 announced infrastructure status for affordable housing. Housing companies acknowledged the beneficial changes to the affordable housing segment as it would give a boost to housing construction for low-income groups. But what is affordable housing? We need to have Rs 50 lakhs for a reasonable flat. The real estate developers suck the benefits as their profits, common people are made fools.

So far, India has only provided infrastructure status to industries and companies involved in the development of ports, airports, highways, public transportation networks, etc. By granting the housing sector infrastructure status as well, the new government will ensure that housing developers become eligible for critical incentives and subsidies at the Central and State levels. It will also mean that institutional lending to the housing sector becomes more liberalized  banks will increase lending to housing developers, who will also be able to raise bonds to help generate funding for housing projects.

Real estate is the most corrupt sector in India and most of the black money is parked in realty and if you go around any city then you will find millions of vacant plots, house and apartments. These vacant property might be sold by builders and developers to greedy investor. Even after sales slowdown builders failed to reduce the price. However, the government had undertaken demonetisation drive to clean up the black money. So we are expecting huge correction in price and the government should take measures to put a brake on the excessive bubble expansion in the Indian property sector, and we should curb excessive financing into the housing sector. Such as Tax savings on Housing loans and HRA should be completely eliminated. Indias current housing prices are more expensive than those during Japans property bubble, and are close to US prices just before the global financial crisis exploded. In Britain on the verge of a Brexit the real estate fuelled a house price crash and that was under stable.

Besides, timely delivery of infrastructure development as promised is one demand that all stakeholders are hoping from the government. The delay in infrastructure jiggles the entire risk and return dynamics for investors, developers, buyers as well as for occupiers. There are high hopes from smart cities initiative as well, thus everybody is expecting a well thought out implementation plan. For the industry to thrive, the economy needs to grow, jobs need to be created, and more income needs to drive demand for bigger offices, new homes, retail and hospitality. Thus, more than real estate incentives we are looking forward for the economy to grow.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)


Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie can agree on one thing and one thing only these days.

The estranged spouses released a statement through their lawyers a few weeks ago in which they said they will keep the personal lives of their children out of the press for the duration of their divorce.

That seemed like progress at the time.

It seemed as if Jolie and Pitt were done playing games and were intent on actually pushing through with their legal breakup in the most amicable way possible.

Since then, however, well

 theres been talk that Pitt checked himself into rehab for substance abuse issues.

 and theres been chatter that Jolie is intent on adopting a seventh child, despite Pitt being strongly against any new siblings for his kids.

It really is amazing just how far this previously-beloved couple has fallen.

They were the apple of Hollywoods eye just a couple months ago and now each rumor about the former couple is more disheartening than the one before it.

But anyway. On to the latest! Jolie is demanding $100,000 in child support each month from Pitt. And while Pitt has filed for joint custody of the children  Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8  and while he has no issue taking care of the kids, a source tells the tabloid that he finds this number to be excessive.

According to this report, every year, $250,000 will be put in each childs trust fund, which will be capped off at $5 million.

This disagreement is merely the latest in what has become a sad saga.

Pitt has said in court that Jolie often exploits her children any time she thinks it may benefit her career or her cause, adding that his former wife has exposed the children by making public the names of their therapist and other mental health professionals.

In retaliation, Jolie has said that Pitt wants to keep details about their childrens life private because hes afraid the public will otherwise learn the truth.

And that truth, according to Jolie, is that Pitt is a bad father who got drunk on a plane in September and assaulted their 15-year old son.

Last month, the two faced off over whether or not to send their offspring to a traditional school.

Brads team is insisting that they enroll the kids in a traditional school in LA, but Angies team rejected the idea

[Brads] team also proposed that one parent always stay behind in LA when the other has to go away on a film shoot or out of town for work, which would allow the kids to remain in school.

Things really have grown ugly.
Weeks after BSF jawan Tej Bahadur posted a video alleging that troops were being served bad quality food, his wife Sharmila Yadav in a shocking revelation said that her husband was forced to retire and added that he was later put under arrest. She also claimed that somehow her husband managed to call up using someone elses phone and said that he was under arrest and being threatened and mentally tortured.

The videos uncover the miserable state of affairs in the armed force and the hardships our soldiers face every day due to the corrupt practices of their own officers. Army or paramilitary jawans usually dont speak against seniors fearing strict punishment. However, jawan Tej Bahadur of 29 battalion showed courage, may be because of his anxiety, to talk about that humiliation without thinking about the penalties. Nowadays, jawans are being used as political tools especially by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his supporters for everything. Everything which goes wrong by government decision was compared with jawans suffering on the borders and if somebody raises their voice, they silence them with jawans example. However, this video tells many untold stories; it exposes the condition of jawans. The video of Bahadur presents a different picture. Half-baked chapatis and uneatable daal are what the jawans get in their lunch. One chapati with tea in the breakfast, in an extreme climate, they have to sustain on this low quality and insufficient food.

The jawan also said he may face dire consequences by his seniors for exposing the truth but he was not worried for his life. In fact, the videos, that have gone viral, may discourage young aspirants from joining the armed force. Nobody can say anything. If they complain, action will be taken against them. Many retired BSF jawans have left the force due to unfair treatment meted against them. There is ample truth in the video. Nobody can deny this fact as mentioned in the video. Justice should be done to the jawans. Yadav in the video has taken extraordinary courage to reveal the truth to the world. Such incidents are definitely happening in BSF and other forces. It is nothing new, of course technological advancement now enable people to share these heinous crime in open. Corruption and demoralization goes hand in hand. Particularly, the top brasses used to eat away all privileges meant for jawans, even rations. Earlier, officers were not entitled for free ration, they incorporated the same in their favour. Corruption is rampant in defence forces. Particularly, these officers pose themselves like Britishers used to behave with Indian soldiers and citizens. The video suggests that our jawans are not just exposed to the security threat from across the border, but are also subjected to humiliation and insult when it comes to their daily meals which are both substandard and insufficient. In fact, they even sleep empty stomach at times, the video reveals. Neither the media, nor any minister tries to take a note on how are we going through this (harsh weather). Our conditions are still worst. (Hamare halat wahi darbartar hain).

He said in a video that, after this video, I will send three more videos that will show how our officials are mistreating us. We do not want to blame any government, because they give everything we need, but our senior officials sell everything (for their own profit). Yadav further asserted for a probe into the situation. He also requested Prime Minister to look into the matter. He was very well prepared for the consequences that he was going to face, but still he was expressing his concern for jawans.

To cover up entire saga, a senior BSF official passed a statement to media stating that, Yadav was awarded four major punishments in the past and issued admonishments for alleged violation of discipline. Though, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has ordered an enquiry after being told that the troops are served bad quality food and sometimes they even go hungry. In three different videos, clocking over 4-minutes and released online, shows the food that is being allegedly served to him. It is very shameful for the country to treat its soldiers with sheer neglect. The Border Security Force (BSF) rejected claims made by a soldier.

The armed forces should integrate and voice their concerns. Yadav has begun the fight and I hope many more will join him in future. An army marches on its stomach, every corrupt officer should be held accountable and asked to repay every rupee stolen by them. The generals should ensure measures and checks are put in place, including random visits to check what supplies were bought and what value, against what is being served to the soldiers. There should be no recrimination against Tej Bahadur. If anything, he should be promoted to root out corruption. However, the force has already ordered for a full investigation into the allegations made by Yadav who joined the force in 1996, he has applied for voluntary retirement. He shouldnt be harmed or framed in any with artificial charges and if any action is taken against him no one will be willing to join the forces.

BSF stands for Border Security Force and it was formed after the India-Pakistan war of 1965. Before 1965 Indian border with Pakistan was guarded by the State Armed Police Battalion. During the war of 1965, Pakistan attacked on Sardar Post, Chhar Bet and Beria Bet on 9 April, 1965 in Kutch. It exposed the inadequacy of the State Armed Police to cope with armed aggression due to which the Government of India felt that Indian Border would be more protected if it is under a control of a centralized force rather than a distributed force. Therefore, BSF was born on 1st December 1965 with motto Duty unto Death.
Hold on tight for one special date night.

While Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have managed to keep their romance relatively private for several months now, new photos have surfaced of the couples most recent public night out.

In photographs, the royal family member was spotted holding hands with the Suits star after enjoying a dinner at Soho House in West London Wednesday evening.

Both Harry and Meghan displayed similar fashion looks as they tried to walk past photographers.

The actress wore a long black coat over her light blue button-down top while Harry accessorized his look with a beanie and blazer.
 Shelar said that a backdoor alliance has happened between both the parties and they are fielding candidates in those areas where BJP has a stronghold.

BJP Mumbai president Ashish Shelar has alleged that Shiv Sena and Congress are involved in a match fixing ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election. Shelar said that a backdoor alliance has happened between both the parties and they are fielding candidates in those areas where BJP has a stronghold. After the state assembly election, the BJP has become the single largest party and there has been a change in political equations in the state.

BJP has been flexing its muscles after its victory in the assembly election and has been sidelining Shiv Sena. The party also aims to wrest the control of BMC which is currently ruled by Sena. On the other hand, Sena is unhappy with the big brother attitude of BJP. BJP had demanded a larger share of seats from Sena for contesting the civic body election. On the other hand, Sena was reluctant to offer more seats to BJP hence both the parties have decided to contest election separately.

Shelar said, Shiv Sena and the Mumbai unit of Congress led by Sanjay Nirupam have entered into some kind of match fixing. Their agenda is to defeat BJP. It also means they have admitted their defeat. This is s treachery to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, to Mumbai and to Maharashtra as well.

This time the contest will happen between BJP and Sena-Congress. Leaders of both these parties have fielded weak candidates in these wards to benefit the other. However we will give a tough fight to these parties and emerge victorious, he said.

BJP kick started its campaign by first offering their tributes at Hutatma Smarak, where 107 people martyred for unification of Mumbai with Maharashtra before 1960. Since Sena has often blamed the BJP for trying to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra therefore the party leaders have started their campaigning from this place.

After this incident, a rally of BJP party workers was held. Maharashtra BJP president Raosaheb Danve had asked candidates to take oath for eliminating corruption and provide clean governance.

In a veiled dig at senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut, a confidante of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, Shelar said the leader continues his mischievous acts and for that sometimes he needs NCP chief Sharad Pawar and sometimes Sanjay Nirupam.

Both the saffron parties have been in power in BMC, countrys richest civic body, for two decades. The election to 227-member BMC is scheduled on February 21 and results will be declared on 23rd February.
A US federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a request by the Department of Justice to immediately reinstate President Donald Trumps travel ban.

Trumps administration had lodged the request with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as part of an appeal against a lower court order temporarily suspending the travel ban on citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries.

For now, the travel ban suspension remains in place. Both the State and Homeland Security Departments said Saturday they were resuming normal practices concerning travelers from the affected countries.

Judge William Canby, Jr. in Phoenix and Judge Michelle Friedland in San Francisco did not give a reason for their denial in a two-paragraph ruling.

However, they told the states of Washington and Minnesota, which had filed the original suit against Trumps travel ban, to provide documents detailing their opposition to the governments appeal by 11:59 pm Sunday (0759 GMT Monday).

The Department of Justice was given a deadline of 3 pm Monday to supply more documents supporting its position.








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Date: 31 January, 2017.

Place: Pittsburgh, State of Pennsylvania, United States.

Alien activity in the United States does not seem to stop in 2017. This time, the scene was the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

According to an anonymous report published on UFO specialised website UFOcasebook.com, a local resident affirmed to have seen a flying object like a dome hovering above the American town.

I was taking my dog outside. I first noticed the object because it flew from over the field across my house, the anonymous witness stated. I had no idea what to think about the object when I first saw it, my only instinct was to get out my phone and start recording because it definitely wasn't something I had ever seen before, he continued.

The Pennsylvanian citizen affirmed that the object would move incredibly fast in a straight pattern. I first saw the object when it flew over the trees across from my house and flew quite quickly in a straight pattern over and away from my house, he commented.

He was also able to describe the features of the object. It was shaped like a dome with a slight point on top, and some type of string like appendage hanging from it. It was dark in colour, he expressed.

Finally, the unnamed witness added that the object continued flying towards a group of hills and disappeared. I lost sight of object when it disappeared over the hills behind my house, he said.

My feelings on the object are quite mixed. I've always been on the fence as far as paranormal occurrences. But when I saw this thing I was just so intrigued, and I genuinely can't explain what this might be, the Pittsburgh resident asserted.

About this incident, famous UFO researcher and writer Scott C. Waring, of UFO Sightings Daily, expressed: This video shows us only a few seconds of footage, but its all we need to see that its rotating slightly as it moves forward. He also pointed out that the alleged UFO had many several antenna-like appendages sticking out.

Many classic UFOs have been seen to have an aerial antenna on top and some on the centre bottom. The eyewitness says it was shaped like a dome...a disk, Mr Waring commented.

Draw your own conclusions

For further information: http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/2017/02/ufo-caught-over-neighborhood-in.html

UFO Caught Over Neighborhood In Pittsburgh On Jan 31, 2017, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: January 31, 2017

Location of sighting: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Source: MUFON

Posted by: UFO Case Book

This was found by UFO Case Book, its one of the most reliable and trustworthy sites on the net today. This video shows us only a few seconds of footage, but its all we need to see that its rotating slightly as it moves forward. The UFO has many several antenna like appendages sticking out. One on top, one on bottom and another two sticking out its front area. Many classic UFOs have been seen to have an arial antenna on top and some on the center bottom. The eyewitness says it was shaped like a dome...a disk. Nice catch.

Scott C. Waring

Eyewitness states:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - 01-31-17 - I was taking my dog outside. I first noticed the object because it flew from over the field across my house. I had no idea what to think about the object when I first saw it, my only instinct was to get out my phone and start recording because it definitely wasn't something I had ever seen before. I first saw the object when it flew over the trees across from my house and flew quite quickly in a straight pattern over and away from my house. It was shaped like a dome with a slight point on top, and some type of string like appendage hanging from it. It was dark in color. My feelings on the object are quite mixed. I've always been on the fence as far as paranormal occurrences. But when I saw this thing I was just so intrigued, and I genuinely can't explain what this might be. I lost sight of object when it disappeared over the hills behind my house. There is a filter on the video I'm sending because I had put it on my Snapchat story.
Jo-Anne Saunders, executive director of the Center for African American History, Art and Culture, said they held the event in honor of February being Black History Month. Attendees ate authentic African food, and learned the history and origin of each dish.
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Generally cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 77F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low 67F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
On Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the government hopes that the government-funded Confucius Institute could continue to play a role in South Korea after the South Korean government announced they are stopping the issuance of visa for some Chinese teachers.

The visa decision comes in as both South Korea and China are on heavy tensions due to the planned deployment of an advanced U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, which it says is to defend the region against North Korea, but which China says threatens its security, as its radar could extend into China.

The South Korean government said it had stopped issuing visas for some Chinese teachers at Confucius Institutes and the justice ministry said the decision had nothing to do with THAAD or the anti-missile system.

On Thursday, South Korea's foreign ministry said that the measure to stop issuing or extending visas had been implemented since last June for practical reasons based on the immigration control law imposed in the country.

China says its Confucius Institutes around the world are established by universities to promote Chinese-language learning and academic and cultural exchange. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Confucius Institutes in South Korea were set up at the request of South Korean universities, and South Korea had an obligation to ensure the correct visa procedures were followed.

Lu said in the daily news briefing that the affected Confucius Institutes were in touch with the South Korean government to sort the matter out for their teachers and students.

"As a Chinese government department, we hope that both sides can work hard, and that the Confucius Institute can continue to help South Korea people learn Chinese, to play a positive role in increasing bilateral mutual trust and friendship."

Relations between staunch U.S. ally South Korea and communist China were poor for decades, but it has improved in recent years as their economic ties have expanded and strong cultural ties.

In some countries, the Confucius Institutes have raised concerns that they threaten academic freedom, conduct surveillance of Chinese students abroad and promote the political aims of China's ruling Communist Party. The government denies these allegations.
February 3, 2017

On the beats of African music, Egypt has recently celebrated the inauguration of its first African Cinema Club at the Cairo Opera House's Hanager Cinema, pinning its hopes that such a step will further cement its cultural and political ties with African countries. Uplifting African film industry and consolidating Egypt's African identity are at the top of the club's priorities.

The African Cinema Club is to screen films from all African countries throughout the year in an attempt to build a bridge between the continent's communities through art. The film screenings are scheduled to take place on the first Saturday of every month. Films from Ethiopia, Tunisia, Kenya and Egypt have already been screened at the opening ceremony. Numerous seminars on the main obstacles hampering the African cinema are expected to be held as part of the club's activities.

The club was inaugurated Jan. 9 under the supervision of the Culture Ministry, represented by the Cultural Development Fund, in collaboration with the Luxor African Film Festival.

Egyptian Culture Minister Helmi El-Namnam stressed throughout his speech at the opening ceremony that the contents of visual and audio arts are more accessible to audiences and their messages can be rapidly and effectively conveyed. Therefore, Namnam continued, this club can be Egypt's "gateway" into the African continent.

"We are proud of our Arab origin, of our Arabism. But Egypt is originally an African country. We do not forget that and no one should forget that. Egypt's Club of African Cinema will keep us abreast of the latest developments in the African cinema. Screening films from all African countries will, definitely, add to our culture and art," Namnam told the audience at the opening ceremony.

Boosting the African cinema has always been the target of those who are involved in this industry. In this regard, Egypt actually organizes one of the most prestigious events in the continent, namely the Luxor African Film Festival. This annual festival seeks to turn the world's eyes toward the African cinema, trying to make it internationally competitive. It also helps create a network between the continent's filmmakers to push all genres of African films forward.

The newly launched club is considered an extension to this festival, where short and long films from more than 30 countries are screened. The festival's sixth edition is to run on March 16-22.

"A seven-day festival is not enough to cover and promote the film industry in a large continent like Africa, which is known for its cultural diversity. That is why we have decided to launch a club that will closely follow up the latest developments in the African cinema throughout the year," scriptwriter Sayed Fouad, the head of the Luxor African Film Festival, told Al-Monitor.

African films usually spotlight the multiple cultural and social problems that plague the continent, including the hurdles that African women continue to face. Therefore, screening these films in Egypt's club, Fouad continued, will strengthen the human and cultural interaction between African societies, paving the way for a brighter future for the African cinema as a whole.

"Surely, the lack of financial resources is the main challenge facing the African cinema. But on the professional level, Africa is filled with many qualified cadres and talented film directors. For instance, the Mauritanian film "Timbuktu," directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, has been nominated for best foreign language film at the 87th Oscars/Academy Awards. It also swept the 40th Cesar Awards in France," Fouad said, expressing optimism that the African cinema's glory will be restored.

African film producers continue to grapple with several hardships, including the lack of theaters and well-equipped studios coupled with the difficulty of distributing their films. However, Mohamed El-Adl, a top film producer in Egypt, believes that the lack of government awareness about the importance of film is the main specter haunting the industry in Africa.

"African governments, unfortunately, give art, which is called a soft power, a back seat since they are not fully aware of its paramount importance. Developed countries, like America, have managed to invade the world not through wars but through art," Adl told Al-Monitor.

Adl said the launch of the African Cinema Club is a positive indicator that Egypt is starting to realize the vital role of art in the development process. "Once our governments understand and prioritize art, African cinema can easily restore its power, in fact."

Egypt's keenness on deepening its cultural ties with African countries may cast a shadow over the political scene, bearing in mind that Egyptian-African relations were neglected during the 30-year rule of former President Hosni Mubarak. Those relations have also been negatively affected by water talks and the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that threatens Egypt's share of the Nile River water.

However, since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took office, Egypt has been stepping up its efforts to enhance its presence in Africa.

"Cinema and art in general are one of the most important means for African people to communicate with each other. Egypt's African Cinema Club along with President Sisi's declaration that Aswan will be Egypt's window to Africa demonstrate the country's seriousness in deepening its cultural and political co-operation with African countries," Mona Monir, a member of parliament's Committee of African Affairs, told Al-Monitor, referring to Sisi's statement in the second monthly youth conference in the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan.

Regarding the film industry, Monir said that some African countries still do not have screening halls and need more support. African films, especially the documentary ones, that will be screened in the club will help people recognize the challenges faced by their continent. Without such cultural awareness, Monir said, there cannot be effective economic or political cooperation.

"We, the African people, have the same roots. We share the same culture, traditions, problems and dreams. Such a club will help other countries benefit from our expertise and vice versa," he said.

Scriptwriter Fouad also pointed out that the club will issue periodic reports on the African cinema's conditions along with other publications on its history.
February 4, 2017

Mustafa Akyol writes that despite protests throughout the United States and worldwide over the Trump administrations executive order restricting access to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries, the same solidarity did not come from some of the Middle Eastern governments that often claim to be the defenders of the faith, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, which, Akyol added, not only has political expectations from Trump but also has a political elite that has a curious adoration for the new American president.

Akyol speculates that one reason Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may be somewhat restrained in response to Trumps Muslim ban is pragmatism. Erdogan and his team have some important expectations from Trump. One is that he may help extradite Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey sees as the mastermind of the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016. The other one is that Trump may stop the Obama administrations policy of supporting the Syrian Kurdish forces, who Turkey considers to be terrorists.

Erdogans expectations may be misguided, according to Semih Idiz. Developments in Syria, he writes, may once again be slipping through Turkeys fingers. The new Donald Trump administration in Washington has already disappointed Ankara. Rather than being welcomed, Trumps advocacy of safe zones in Syria  an idea first proposed by Turkey  has ruffled official Turkish feathers. Ankara now fears that such zones will be a step toward granting Syrian Kurds autonomy.

Meanwhile, on Jan. 27, the S&P lowered Turkeys outlook to negative from stable, while Fitch cut its credit rating to BB+ from BBB-, stripping the country of its last remaining investment grade status with the Big Three, reports Mustafa Sonmez. The need to decrease political risks is now more urgent than any economic measure. A no to the one-man regime at the looming referendum may prove the most decisive step on the way to recovery and back to the upper league.

Erdogan may be heartened by reports that the Trump team has called for a rewrite of the Obama administrations plan to rely on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is made up predominantly of Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), the armed branch of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is allied with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey considers the PKK, PYD and YPG to be terrorist organizations.

But these, too, may be false hopes. According to The Washington Post, the Obama administration came to rely on the SDF because of Turkeys failure to provide alternative forces. For two years inside the Pentagon, the Post reported, Turkeys promises of sending rebels and later its own troops were viewed with deep skepticism and derisively dubbed Erdogans ghosts or the unicorn army, according to current and former defense officials.

The Washington Post added, Trump and his top advisers also could decide to increase coordination with Russia and even Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to seize Raqqa. Or he could ultimately conclude, as Obama did, that arming the Kurds represents the best of several bad options.

Despite an op-ed on Election Day by Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who has since been appointed as Trumps national security adviser, that called attention to the need to address the crisis in US-Turkey relations, Flynn and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Michael Pompeo are otherwise known as critics of the Erdogan government.

Turkeys troubles, however, have more to do with its disastrous Syria policies rather than the personalities in the Trump administration. Idiz writes, Some Syrian opposition members have also expressed disappointment in Turkeys performance in Astana. One opposition member told Reuters that Turkey had been weak in Astana and unable to assert the oppositions line. Given this unfolding backdrop, Ankara now fears that Trumps safe zones and Russias draft constitution are designed, among other things, to provide the Kurds an autonomous region. This is leading to angry comments in the pro-government media in Turkey. It is noteworthy, however, that the target of this anger is the United States more so than Russia.

Fehim Tastekin, reporting from Qamishli, Syria, observed firsthand that the prospects for Kurdish autonomy may eventually be reined in by Damascus. In a swath of land along the north, a pre-planned structure for autonomy is slowly taking shape from Qamishli to Hasakah, from Tell Abyad to Kobani and Manbij, Tastekin writes. Although they are not physically linked to the main body, Afrin and Aleppos Sheikh Maqsoud district are considered parts of it. Syrian officials I spoke with talk of first eroding organizations like IS [Islamic State] and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and then regaining control of the area without fighting the Kurds  but also not allowing them to mutate into federalism. Kurds ultimately want to steer Syria to a federal structure and to have Rojava [the informal name for the Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria] autonomy recognized in the constitution. War is the last thing the Kurds want. They are also aware that under current conditions, they cannot think of dividing the country or setting up an independent state. Both sides are approaching a critical threshold that evokes incendiary questions.

Tastekin writes, Kurds have already taken major steps toward a state structure with a constitution, a constituent assembly, popular committees, defense and security forces, and education and cultural institutions. According to local sources, the Syrian government is content to allow some degree of local autonomy, such as the use of the Kurdish language in education, and allowing Asayish forces to handle local policing. But probably not much more than that.

This column reported last week on the Russian draft constitution, which suggested autonomy for Syrias Kurdish regions, as well as the denial of top Russian officials that Moscow is endorsing autonomy.

Tastekin also interviewed a senior Asayish official who spoke of Turkeys intensifying threat against Rojava, saying that Ankara, together with Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani, is trying to eradicate the autonomy movement in Rojava.

Despite the crisis in US-Turkey relations over Syria, Akyol observed a possible ideological affinity between Trump and Erdogan. He writes, Trumps populism resonates with the populism of Erdogan, creating an affinity of worldviews. When Trump condemns the mainstream media, or his strategist Stephen Bannon says the media should keep its mouth shut, Erdoganists see a very familiar style of strongman politics that they admire. When Trump condemns the conspiracies of internal bankers, he says something that confirms the conspiracy theories of Turkeys new ruling class. Basically, both Erdogan and Trump represent a nationalist, nativist, populist battle cry against the global liberal order, and this creates common ground between the two sides. The fact that Trump dislikes Islam while Erdogan champions it, apparently, is not important enough to disrupt this new transatlantic connection. At least not yet.
February 4, 2017

In charge of the Paris conference on the Middle East on behalf of the Quai d'Orsay, Pierre Vimont, a senior French diplomat who was the executive secretary-general of the European External Action Service in Brussels from 2010 to 2015, shared his views with Al-Monitor on the main results of the meeting that took place Jan. 15.

A graduate of the French National School of Administration, Vimont was ambassador and permanent representative of France to the European Union from 1999 to 2002. He then served three consecutive French foreign ministers as chief of staff to Dominique de Villepin, Michel Barnier and Philippe Douste-Blazy from 2002 to 2007. He was ambassador of France to the United States from 2007 to 2010. Vimont is currently the ombudsman of the French Foreign Ministry and teaches EU affairs at Columbia University in New York.

The full text of the interview, conducted by email, follows:

Al-Monitor: What are the main results of the Paris conference on the Israel-Palestine conflict?

Vimont: The Paris conference succeeded in two ways. First, it has put back on the international agenda the whole issue of the Middle East peace process that had disappeared from most of the diplomatic fora in recent months. More importantly, it reaffirmed the principle of the two-state solution as the only possible option for any peace settlement. Second, it agreed on several practical processes to keep this option alive through relaunching the public debate on both sides and between both sides, if only to rekindle discussions inside both civil societies; supporting the current efforts of the Palestinian Authority [PA] to consolidate its state-building capacities; and sustained international efforts to support economic development in the area with the understanding that much of this development can only be available if a final peace agreement is reached at last.

There has been some misunderstanding around the French initiative as many observers thought it was about reconvening some new Madrid conference to launch a new round of peace talks. This was not our intention as obviously conditions on the ground were not ripe for such a deliverable and neither side was ready to accept such perspective. The goal was more realistic and focusing on giving a new impulse to the two-state solution when this option is being openly contested by some and considered by others as unreachable.

Al-Monitor: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated his opposition to an international conference, saying instead he would meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas for direct talks. Do you expect Netanyahu and Abbas to meet soon?

Vimont: The French initiative was never an attempt at overcoming direct negotiations between the two sides. On the contrary, it was always understood as a way to help both sides to come back to the negotiating table and engage again in meaningful and direct talks. Moreover, French authorities proposed to both President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahou to come to Paris just after the conference to be informed about its outcome and, if agreed, to have a direct bilateral meeting. There was unfortunately no agreement on this proposal just as there was no agreement on the proposal addressed by President [Vladimir] Putin from Russia to both leaders to come to Moscow for a similar meeting. We understand that the Russian invitation still stands. So we will see if both sides at some point decide to give it a try. For the time being unfortunately, conditions for a fruitful meeting between the two sides do not seem to be there.

Al-Monitor: Why did you decide to organize this meeting before the inauguration of Donald Trump? Do you think that the new political situation in Washington will have an impact on the course of the peace process?

Vimont: It was stated right from the launch of this French initiative that it would conclude before the end of 2016 for many reasons linked to the political and international agenda. One of the reasons was precisely the incoming new American administration due to start on Jan. 20. The whole purpose of the French diplomatic efforts was precisely to restate in a credible manner the commitment of the international community to the two-state principle  namely two states living side by side in peace and security  in order for this engagement to be known to all. By gathering more than 70 nations and international organizations in Paris last January, we did precisely that.

Then it is for the new US administration to decide how it wants to proceed, and there is no doubt Washington policy in this field will play a major role in future developments regarding the peace process. For France, what was important was to reaffirm that all options other than the two-state solution have little chance if none at all of bringing a genuine peace settlement. This is the message coming out of the Paris conference and our hope is that it will be heard by all parties.

Al-Monitor: In a related context, France has presidential elections scheduled for this coming April and President Francois Hollande is not running. Have the current candidates indicated they would take a different approach to Frances participation in the peace process efforts?

Vimont: As far as I can see, the peace process issue has not been so far pre-eminent in the main candidates' electoral platforms. Yet through the many contacts with parliamentary and political circles I engaged in at the time of the French initiative, it was striking to observe the very large consensus on the need for a two-state solution. There are without any doubt differences of sensitivities amid the French political parties with regard to each side involved in this conflict. But when dealing with the question of how to reach a final peace agreement, there is a very large understanding around the assessment that stability and security can only be obtained and peace finally reached through the coexistence of two states living side by side.

Al-Monitor: On Dec. 23, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, stating that Israels establishment of settlements constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution. How do you respond to critics who argue this resolution further stalls peace efforts?

Vimont: I know this is the view expressed by Israeli authorities and they have stated the same position in regard to the French initiative. But the reality is that peace efforts are already stalled. Moreover, if no effort is made, this backtracking will only go further down the road. Be it Resolution 2334, the Quartet report issued last July or the Paris conference  all these initiatives have forwarded the same message: the international community cannot let the existing situation on the ground deteriorate as it is happening now with the risk of growing violence and more regional tensions. In more simple terms, it is a warning call against inaction and lack of foresight.

Al-Monitor: What could be the next steps following the conference?

Vimont: As mentioned before, the followup will move along the three tracks agreed at the conference with more efforts directed at consolidating Palestinian state capacities, supporting economic development and encouraging public debates inside and between both civil societies. It was not the intention of the French initiative to launch any sort of new mechanism to replace existing processes. We, on the contrary, emphasized in the final Paris communique that existing formats should be encouraged to work more closely together, like the Quartet with the Arab League. Nonetheless the Paris conference agreed that, before the end of the year, those participants who wish to convene again would do so. This reference testifies of the need to keep alive the momentum triggered by the Paris meeting.
February 5, 2017

Statements by Iranian officials on Tehrans intentions to enter the European gas market still remain part of the political game played by Islamic Republic authorities to make the West more inclined to lift sanctions and restore its economic ties with Iran. To date, however, these statements seem to have had more effect on the behavior of the Russian government and its hydrocarbon companies than on European companies.

Since the late 1990s, Iranian authorities have been promising to help European countries decrease their dependence on gas supplies from Russia. Between 2006 and 2015, at the least, international sanctions were a major obstacle blocking implementation of projects that were supposed to ensure Irans access to the European gas market. European corporations, fearing being hit by Western sanctions, did not dare to develop a presence in the Iranian oil and gas sector beyond mere talks and discussions. Nevertheless, the adoption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and the beginnings of a gradual lifting of limits on cooperation with Iran clearly demonstrated that the core of the issue was not rooted exclusively in the sanctions but rather also involved Iran's energy infrastructure. Iranian natural gas still will not reach the European Union market in the medium term.

Although Iran possesses the largest reserves of natural gas in the world, its extraction capacities and gas transport infrastructure are still underdeveloped. Consequently, Iran is unable to immediately increase its exports abroad. The output of Irans gas sector is about 251 billion cubic meters per year, of which it exports only about 6 billion cubic meters. At the same time, Iran also needs to import relatively the same amount from Turkmenistan to meet export obligations (which are reportedly twice as big as Irans export capacities) and satisfy the needs of its northern provinces during winter. Iranian sources told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the estimated investment needed to develop Irans capacities to extract the natural gas and deliver it to external markets is immense  dozens of billions of dollars  making it difficult to accumulate the necessary funds and implement planned projects in a short period of time. Even in the best-case scenario, it will take Iran three to five years to reach an output of 307 billion cubic meters.

Nevertheless, such an increase in output does not mean that the export capacities of Tehran will rise adequately. This is largely determined by the structure of domestic energy consumption in Iran, which is dominated by gas. While promising to supply European countries with gas, the Iranian authorities set the satisfaction of domestic gas needs as their real priority. And these needs are high and still growing. For the last several decades, the Iranian government has been actively promoting the idea of the substitution of other energy resources with natural gas. Consequently, the share of natural gas in the countrys energy consumption basket is about 60%, while oils share is below 40%. The government also continues to subsidize natural gas prices to its population, which also leads to a high level of consumption of this resource.

Given that the Iranian authorities are determined to continue the implementation of their programs aimed at decreasing the share of oil in the countrys energy consumption by substituting natural gas for petroleum, by 2020 the giant's share of Irans gas will be still consumed domestically. As predicted by some experts, even if Tehran is able to increase its gas production within the next three years, only 27 billion cubic meters will be available for export. The Iranian authorities also keep pursuing their diversification strategy, where the development of the petrochemical industry would likely heavily rely on the gas feed. Apart from that, it is necessary to remember that Tehran is implementing the enhanced oil recovery program, whose goal is to sustain a stable level of oil output at old oilfields by injecting them with gas. This program is also officially given priority over the gas exports.

There is also a difference between statements by Iranian officials about the prospects of natural gas exports and Tehrans real plans. Iranian analysts told Al-Monitor that their government considers any projects aimed at the export of natural gas to distant countries (especially to Europe) as risky and too complicated to implement at the current stage. Instead, Tehran is interested in increasing its gas exports to its direct neighbors. Apart from the obvious economic dividends this would bring, Iranian authorities also want to create an economic leverage of influence on their not-always-friendly neighbors. Under these circumstances, from a mid-term perspective, the European gas market is not a top priority for Iran.

Finally, sanctions have never been completely lifted. US authorities are still reluctant to abolish the restraints put on financial transactions with Tehran. Consequently, European majors are only tiptoeing around potential projects in Irans oil and gas sector, and are still waiting for the time when they will be sure that there is no risk to work with Tehran. Under these circumstances, some local analysts close to the Iranian government told Al-Monitor, Iran scrounged up funding for small infrastructure projects of secondary importance. However, the main gas projects still remain without necessary funds and foreign contractors.

It is often not reality but rather our perception of it that determines our actions. Thus, Russian authorities do not consider the challenge of Irans natural gas to their interests in the European market as negligible, even though Tehran over the next decade will hardly be able to represent a threat to the Russian presence there. However, Moscow tries to see the situation in the long term. Under these circumstances, the Kremlin does not exclude a scenario where, in the long run, Tehran finally carries out its promises to reach the European market.

However, even seeing Iran as a potential rival in this field, Russia still prefers cooperation to confrontation. Moscow follows the judo principle of staying in full contact with your opponent and keeping him close. Consequently, wherever possible, Moscow tries to ensure that hydrocarbons flow in the direction it wants them to, and at the least tries to make sure that it has a stake in the energy projects of Iran. As a result, Gazprom and other Russian energy corporations demonstrate open interest in the development of Irans gas production and gas infrastructure. This strategy of involvement in Irans gas sector is supported and promoted at the top level of the Russian political elite.

During the Baku summit of the Azerbaijani, Russian and Iranian presidents in August 2016, Putin called for the necessity of closer cooperation and coordination in the oil and gas sphere, particularly over the shared use of existing pipeline infrastructure and joint development of Caspian hydrocarbon resources. He formulated a plan to supply the northern provinces of Iran with natural gas via Azerbaijan in exchange for Iranian liquefied natural gas that Russian companies will receive in the Persian Gulf. The implementation of this project would allow Iran to decrease its dependency on Turkmenistan as its sole supplier of natural gas to the northern districts, while Russian authorities would be able to ensure that at least some Iranian gas will not reach Europe but instead will be channeled by Russian companies to other regions.
February 3, 2017

It took the Netanyahu government four days after US President Donald Trump's inauguration to announce one of the biggest Jewish construction plans for the West Bank: 2,500 housing units. Even with Trumps latest declaration against the construction of new settlements, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partners are fairly certain that they need not fear US denunciation of any settlement expansion or any American demand to reverse the move in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.

This new situation is both a blessing and a curse for Netanyahu. On the one hand, no more Obama administration blocking and criticizing settlements, which the administration and the UN defined as the main obstacle to a two-state solution. On the other, the free pass from Trump places Netanyahu on a collision course with the right-wing flank of his government. Education Minister Naftali Bennett's HaBayit HaYehudi party is pressuring the government to exploit the new right-wing friend in the Oval Office for concrete West Bank annexation measures, starting with the application of Israeli law in the Ma'ale Adumim township, east of Jerusalem.

According to a senior Foreign Ministry official who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, even though Netanyahu is obviously satisfied with Trumps approach, he does not want to provoke the more pragmatic elements in the new administration, namely seniors in the State and Defense Departments. Similarly, Netanyahu doesn't want to provoke the European Union member states who are friendly to Israel, such as Germany and the United Kingdom. In his own view, he is implementing the vision of "greater Israel" and preventing Palestinian statehood by building mainly in the Jerusalem area east of the Green Line. He intends to coordinate these plans in his upcoming meeting with Trump and to put an end to any multilateral diplomatic efforts on a two-state solution.

The Palestinian leadership is confronted with this new reality and is deeply concerned that this may create in the coming months an irreversible reality on the ground that would make Palestinian statehood on the 1967 lines virtually impossible. A senior PLO official close to President Mahmoud Abbas told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Abbas was more furious and dismayed by the lack of reaction to the settlement announcement than by the expected announcement itself. "Israel's continued settlement and occupation policies go unpunished by the international community. Netanyahu now has a 'license to kill' the two-state solution." He told Al-Monitor that following the official announcement on the 2,500 housing units, the Palestinian leadership held special deliberations.

Following these deliberations, it was decided that only the Palestinian leadership could make Israel pay a price for the occupation. Five moves/policies were recommended for immediate action.

The first is to demand that the Arab League put the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative on hold until there is a freeze of settlements in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2334.

Second, the leaders recommended asking Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to demand the new US administration denounce the settlement expansion in favor of a necessary two-state solution.

The third recommended move is approaching UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a stern report on Israel's noncompliance with Security Council Resolution 2334.

A fourth move would be asking the EU and Russia for retributions on Israel for its noncompliance with Security Council Resolution 2334, including encouraging the International Court of Justice to act in accordance with international law.

And the last, most serious recommendation is preparing to shift in the coming weeks from diplomacy to violent resistance. This shift would mark 50 years of occupation and would include the Fatah movement.

The senior PLO official does not expect the international community measures to intimidate the Netanyahu government, which will continue its annexation policies in an undisturbed way given the change of policies in Washington. In such a situation, he said, with the aggressive Israeli settlement and occupation policies ongoing, the countdown has begun to a renewal of the Palestinian armed struggle, also by the Fatah movement.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry official reacted to these Palestinian threats in a condescending way, saying, "The Palestinians have made a mistake by not engaging in bilateral unconditioned negotiations with us. Recruiting an international anti-settlement consensus now, in the post-Barack Obama period, has become mission impossible." As to violent resistance, the official said that the Israeli government is undeterred by it, as the Palestinian Authority leadership is more dependent on the security cooperation with Israel than is the Israeli security establishment.

Yet the talks of violent resistance in the corridors of influence in Ramallah should be taken seriously by Israel. In the Israeli-Palestinian experience, a vacuum in diplomatic activity for a two-state solution often gets filled by violence.
February 3, 2017

Israeli settlers raided the village of Kifl Hares in Salfit province in the northern West Bank on Jan. 8. It was not the first time, and it will not be the last. Every Jewish holiday, hundreds of Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli soldiers, enter Kifl Hares to pray in the village on the grounds that it is linked to the Jewish prophet Joshua.

The phenomenon is not restricted to this village. The war of the shrines has pitted Israeli settlers against Palestinians since the occupation of the West Bank in 1967. The settlers have been trying to impose their control over them on religious grounds, using biblical stories to lay claim to them and the land surrounding them.

Kifl Hares has three shrines, which the settlers claim contain the grave of the biblical prophet Joshua. Every Jewish holiday or religious festival, they invade it for prayers and religious rites, the head of Salfits tourist board, Muntasir Moussa, told Al-Monitor.

He said that the three shrines do not date back to biblical times. For their part, local elders say leaders of a local family named Bouzit are actually buried there.

Moussa said Palestinians do not deny the presence of biblical prophets graves in the West Bank, but say many shrines have histories that are clearly not linked to that period.

Claims that shrines date back to the Jewish prophets have often been used as a pretext to take them over. During Jewish holidays, the Israeli army imposes a curfew in the area. In some cases, this has been followed by the shrine area being confiscated and new settlements being built nearby.

The Kifl Hares shrine sits in Area B, which is under joint Israeli-Palestinian Authority administration. The land the shrine occupies is owned by local families who are prevented from accessing it.

There are many examples of settlers taking over similar shrines on religious grounds. Perhaps the most important are the shrine of Prophet Yusuf in east Nablus, the Prophet Ilyas shrine in Deir Istya, the Sheikh Khater shrine and the grave of Bilal Bin Rabah in Bethlehem. Historically, these shrines mostly date from the Mamluk and Ayyubid periods.

Settlers constantly come to these shrines to pray. Clashes erupt between Palestinians and the Israeli army forces that accompany and protect the settlers.

Hamza Deiriya, an expert on Palestinian heritage, said many of the shrines were built during the Crusader period, which had prompted many locals to set up shrines and repair others as a response to the spread of Christianity.

Local rulers and religious men took care of the sites as a way of encouraging locals to care for them too, he told Al-Monitor.

During the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, rulers built shrines and religious sites in an attempt to promote Islam among the local population and encourage them to defend their land. Most of these sites were places of worship, especially during the Fatimid era, and some were linked to the companions of the Prophet Muhammad who had fought in Palestine. Other shrines are linked to prophets mentioned in the Quran, while some were linked to the family and close companions of Muhammad as well as to local religious figures.

Deiriya, who is writing a book on the shrines, said religious interest in them faded under the British mandate, when they took on a political and nationalistic importance. Some, including the Prophet Moussa shrine, became focal points for rebellion against the mandate power.

Ahmed Rafik Awad, a lecturer in Torah studies at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, said what is happening is an attempt to find an Israeli religious narrative around the Palestinian territories and to prove that the area has had an uninterrupted Jewish presence. This is done through the use of prominent figures in the Torah.

Historically, there is absolutely no religious relationship between the shrines and the Torah or the stories of the Torah, he said. These places have their own historical stories, which in most cases date back to the Mamluk period, while the Torah was written before that, during the Babylonian exile.

He said that Palestinians have no problem with any religion, but said the use of such narratives is often followed by the confiscation and settlement of the land around the shrines.

"We know very well the history of these shrines. Therefore, there should be a cultural and academic response to expose the historical reality of these places, he added. The battle will not be easy, as we are facing a theological settler movement that uses theology and religious narratives to take over land with the backing and protection of the Israeli army.

While the settlers are targeting these sites, there has been no official Palestinian response on the ground or attempts to use them for the religious rites for which many of them were originally intended.
Doctors Lona Cook and Ashley Anderson joined more than three dozen chiropractors and chiropractic students from around the world this past month on a mission trip to Haiti.

It was the fourth mission trip for Cook, a Chippewa Falls native, and the first for Anderson, who is from Cadott. They graduated together from Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, Minn., in 2009, and work at Cook Chiropractic Center in Chippewa Falls.

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, Anderson said, and is still recovering from the 2010 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless. It was also hit by a hurricane in October 2016.

During their trip, Cook and Anderson took portable tables and volunteered in a hospital, orphanages and several communities, providing free chiropractic adjustments to residents. They worked with people of all ages, including refugees, children with disabilities and abandoned children.

The mission trip was one of six annually organized by Mission Life International, a nonprofit organization that runs an orphanage and also supports another orphanage and church. The organization's mission is to help the poor, especially in countries with limited resources, and to educate people around the world about natural health care.

For more information on the mission trip or how to donate to Mission Life International, call 715-720-8500.
February 1, 2017

Egypt is looking more and more like the third wheel on a date between Sudan and Saudi Arabia. After US President Barack Obama agreed Jan. 13 to lift some financial sanctions imposed on Sudan, that country's president, Omar al-Bashir, immediately visited Saudi Arabia. Sudanese officials said the Saudis played an important role in getting the trade sanctions lifted.

We have enjoyed Saudi support in this regard, and [Saudi] King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz [Al Saud] pledged to President Bashir to continue his efforts to lift all the sanctions imposed on Sudan and remove the country from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Sudanese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Abdul Basit Badawi al-Sanosi told Al-Monitor recently.

The United States imposed sanctions on Sudan in 1997 after the latter was accused of supporting armed Islamist groups, committing human rights abuses against minority groups in Darfur and dealing with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who lived there between 1992 and 1996. It will take six months for Obama's changes to fully take effect, and the new administration of Donald Trump has yet to indicate its assessment of them. Other US political and economic sanctions against Sudan remain in place.

Sanosi said the change in US policy was the fruit of long discussions involving Saudi Arabia's and Sudans cooperation in the fight against terrorism. Sanosi, who was with Bashir in Medina, Saudi Arabia, pointed out that the US step is a green light for the Gulf states and the rest of the world to deal with Sudan at all economic levels. It would be better for those countries to deal more enthusiastically with my country moving forward, he said.

In the past, the Saudis and Sudanese have had their differences. As one example, Saudi Arabia was angered by Sudan's backing of Hamas and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, but those differences have softened.

Sudans participation in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen, which started in March 2015, led to a remarkable improvement in the relationship between Riyadh and Khartoum, whose first batch of soldiers arrived in Aden, a Yemen port city, in October 2015.

The improvement can be seen in an agreement authorized last year for Saudi Arabia to invest in a massive, long-term project to cultivate 1 million agricultural acres in northern and eastern Sudan as part of the Saudis' 30 food-security projects.

Sudan and Saudi Arabia have shared something else in common since January 2016: Each has its own beef with Iran.

On Jan. 3, Saudi Arabia severed its ties with Iran because of the attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. The next day, Sudan closed the Iranian Embassy there because, Sanosi said, Iran was trying to spread Shiism in Sudan. Despite some speculation that Sudan's move was an expensive price it had to pay to further its relationship with Saudi Arabia, Sanosi rejected that premise.

Some speculators believe Sudan will replace Egypt as a supporter of Saudi Arabia and its policies in the region. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are at odds for many reasons, some of which include Egypt's siding with Russia over the war in Syria, Saudi Arabia's halting oil supplies to Egypt, an Egyptian court's blocking a deal in which Egypt was to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia and Egypt's consternation over a Saudi delegation's visit to the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Sudan's border with Ethiopia.

Diplomacy aside, it seems clear that the relationship between Riyadh and Khartoum progresses when the relationship between Riyadh and Cairo worsens, as happened with the Renaissance Dam visit. Many observers see Sudan as Saudi Arabia's most likely ally on the African continent.

Sudanese journalist Fatah al-Rahman Youssef told Al-Monitor in Riyadh that Sudans role could not be ignored even if relations between Saudi Arabia and Egypt were at their best. Khartoum has active contacts with all African countries, and is considered Saudi Arabias best option to establish political, security and economic relations with Africa. Sudans influential role in the African region is evidenced by the support it receives from the 34-member African Union (AU), which called Feb. 1 for members to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying the court often mistreats African countries. In June 2015, the AU defied the ICC and allowed Bashir to attend its summit in South Africa, despite the ICC's outstanding warrant charging Bashir with committing war crimes in Darfur.

As the sanctions are lifted, Sudan will be able to import military equipment and spare parts, and its companies will once again be allowed to export cotton, wheat, sugar and acacia gum, which Sudan is famous for and is used in drug manufacturing.

Meanwhile, the Saudi investment sector seems to be active in Sudanese territory, in tune with the positive political steps.

In this context, Hussein Bahri, a Saudi businessman from the city of Jeddah and the head of the joint Saudi-Sudanese Business Council, told Al-Monitor that Saudi companies are increasingly attracted to Sudan, which provides them with opportunities in mining, tourism, medicine, manufacturing and petroleum sectors. I expect the Saudi investments to go beyond the existing figures standing at $3.5 billion, he said.

Bahri noted that the recent US decision will allow the free movement of funds to and from Sudan and improve the local currency exchange rate. In other words, the situation is improving in a country that has been suffering from an economic blockade for decades, Bahri said.

From foes to friends

The relationship between Sudan and Saudi Arabia was at its worst on Oct. 29, 2012, when Khartoum allowed three Iranian ships to dock in the waters of the Red Sea. This raised Saudi suspicions that, almost a year later, led Riyadh to prevent Bashir's plane from crossing its airspace to Tehran to congratulate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on his election.

The bickering between the two countries reached a point where Saudi banks in 2014 halted remittances to Sudan, thus depriving the Sudanese economy of expatriate funds. There are more than half a million Sudanese expatriates who work in educational, health, service, economic and other institutions in Saudi Arabia. The ban was lifted in April 2015.

Jaber al-Harami, a Qatari journalist and former editor-in-chief of Al-Sharq newspaper in Qatar, told Al-Monitor by phone from Doha that Sudan's leaning toward the Saudi axis in the region  given that it closed the Iranian Embassy in Khartoum  is consistent with the Arab position, which is exemplified by the Gulf Cooperation Council countries led by Saudi Arabia. The Gulf states are defending the Arab causes [as opposed to the interests of Iran and the Syrian regime] before the international community, while the Egyptian position is drifting away from that toward Iran and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, he said.

Harami said the Gulf-Sudanese relationship will grow because of Sudan's influence and its strategic value on the Red Sea and as a gateway to the African continent. If Egypt continues leaning toward rapprochement with Syria, Russia and Iran, Sudan will surely assume the role of Saudi Arabia's ally in Africa.

The Republic of Sudan is closer than ever to the Gulf countries, and Kuwait has gotten over the grudge it harbored after Sudan supported then-Iraqi President Saddam Husseins short-lived occupation of Kuwait in 1990. Bashir himself issued a decree in November 2016 allowing Kuwaitis to enter Sudan without a visa.
Tutwiler and Staton Prisons

Inmates in a dormitory at Staton Correctional Facility Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, in Elmore, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

(JULIE BENNETT)

It may not be a new plan, but it's a bold plan: Three new, regional prisons to replace 13 smaller, aging ones, plus replacement of the 75-year-old Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women.

The Alabama Prison Transformation Initiative would mark a sharp change of course for a state that hasn't built a prison since the 1990s.

Lawmakers say it will get serious consideration during their annual legislative session, which starts Tuesday.

The money, $800 million, would come from a bond issue that the state would pay off over 30 years at a total cost of $1.5 billion.

Gov. Robert Bentley introduced the APTI a year ago and says it is his top priority this year.

Too many inmates, guarded by too few corrections officers, pack Alabama's dormitory style prisons. The problems are decades old.

Federal investigations, federal lawsuits, rising violence, contraband and a shrinking security staff have raised the urgency for substantive change.

Three years ago, AL.com launched an investigative series on Alabama's prisons after the Department of Justice found conditions at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women unconstitutional because of a failure to protect the inmates from sexual abuse and harassment by staff.

The stories and editorials called for reforms, changes in leadership and closing of Tutwiler.

Some change has happened.

Sentencing guidelines that took effect in 2013 have reduced the inmate population, sending fewer nonviolent offenders to prison, a trend expected to continue the next few years. In 2015, the state reached an agreement with the DOJ on improvements at Tutwiler.

Also in 2015, the Legislature passed criminal justice reforms intended to expand parole and community supervision of offenders and reduce sentences for some nonviolent crimes.

But many of the problems persist.

In October, the Department of Justice announced an investigation into Alabama's men's prisons.

Federal lawsuits allege that mental health care and medical care fail to meet constitutional standards, and state officials are not expecting favorable rulings from the court. Another federal lawsuit concerns violent conditions at St. Clair Correctional Facility. It was filed by the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal advocacy nonprofit in Montgomery that sparked the DOJ's Tutwiler investigation.

Despite the decline in population, Alabama's prisons still hold 23,000 inmates in facilities designed for 13,000, about a 175 percent occupancy rate.

The APTI calls for closing 13 of the 15 men's prisons and building three regional prisons holding about 4,000 inmates each. A new women's prison with about 1,200 beds would replace Julia Tutwiler, which opened in 1942.

Overall capacity of the prison system would increase to 16,000.

Bentley and Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn say modern facilities would be conducive to training, rehabilitation and treatment programs to reduce recidivism.

A key selling point is that DOC says it could pay off the debt, $50 million a year, with savings from lower overall operating costs in the new prisons.

Not everyone is convinced.

"I think the question a lot of members still have, and a legitimate question: Will the savings pay for the bond issue? That is the drawn line in the sand for a lot of members," Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, said.

Ward chaired a task force that helped write the criminal justice reforms that passed two years ago and is an advocate of the plan.

Another key concern is the aftermath for communities where prisons would close. The DOC has not said which men's prisons would shut down.

"The economic impact on cities and towns that have a correctional facility now would be devastating," Sen. Billy Beasley, D-Clayton said.

Beasley's southeast Alabama district is home to three prisons.

Beasley said a better plan would be to upgrade existing prisons and pay correctional officers more so the DOC could recruit and retain more officers.

Starting pay is about $30,000.

"It's hazardous duty when you've got to guard a hundred and something folks, and it's just you," Beasley said.

Dunn told lawmakers in November that the security staff has shrunk by 20 percent in the last five years while the number of violent incidents has roughly doubled. In September, Corrections Officer Kenneth Bettis died after being stabbed by an inmate at Holman prison.

For legislators, this will be a second look at the prison-building initiative.

Last year, the House and Senate passed different versions of the bill.

On the last night of the session, the Senate approved a compromise that reduced the bond amount to $550 million. But it died without a vote in the House.

In the days leading up to this year's session, the DOC has applied a full-court press.

It has organized prison tours for legislators. A media tour is planned for Monday.

The DOC has given lawmakers analyses on staffing and costs.

One summary shows the estimated savings that the DOC says would pay the annual $50 million bond debt:

$17 million by reducing staffing, including a 6 percent reduction in security staff made possible by design improvements and technology and a 19 percent reduction in support staff made possible by consolidations of services.

$21 million by reducing overtime for corrections officers, a reduction of 65-70 percent.

$10 million by reducing health care costs by consolidation of facilities and an anticipated decline in inmate population of 4,200 over the next four years.

$2 million by consolidating services on utilities, fuel, transportation, insurance, food service delivery and other costs.

The DOC says it could complete the first prison in about three years and all four by 2021.

As for the alternative of fixing current prisons, the DOC maintains that is cost-prohibitive.

An architectural and engineering study by Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, Inc., found that deferred maintenance, code compliance and repairs to the DOC's 17 largest facilities would cost $440 million. In a letter to legislators, Dunn said that current facilities, even if upgraded, still could not accommodate effective rehabilitation programs.

The DOC has not named the sites for new prisons other than to say they would be in the northern, central and southern regions of the state.

House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia, said he expects a thorough vetting of the plan early in the session.

"We're not going to try to push this bill through," McCutcheon said. "We're going to have a good debate about it. We're going to get the questions answered that are out there for the members and we're going to let the votes fall where they fall."

Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, chairman of the House Black Caucus, wants assurances that the plan will mean more than new buildings. The DOC has said it can expand and improve rehabilitation programs in ways not possible in the crowded, aging facilities.

"There's still a lot of questions we're trying to get answered," Knight said. "We want a comprehensive approach to solving this problem, not just, 'We're going to build the facilities this year, and we're going to address the others next year or 10 years down the road.' "

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which represents inmates in the federal lawsuit over medical and mental health care, opposes the prison building initiative.

The SPLC says inmates would still face what it says are unconstitutional conditions for at least three years before the first prison is built.

"What we need is a holistic, well thought out plan rather than a knee-jerk, expensive reaction," SPLC Associate Legal Director Ebony Howard said.

In a two-page summary explaining its opposition, the SPLC says the plan to pay the bond debt with cost savings is a "pipe dream."

The SPLC says the 2015 sentencing reforms were a good start and calls for further reforms, including repeal of the Habitual Offender Act, which lengthens sentences.

Ward has helped spearhead sentencing changes but said he believes the Legislature has done all it could do in that area.

Bennet Wright, executive director of the Alabama Sentencing Commission, told lawmakers that because of the sentencing guidelines the proportion of inmates serving time for violent offenses has risen to about 75 percent.

"The low-hanging fruit has been picked," Ward said.

Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, chairman of the Senate's General Fund budget committee, sponsored the APTI bill last year.

Pittman said that like last year, it might have to be scaled down to a smaller bond amount.

"I think that there's a chance that the bill in some form will pass," Pittman said. "I think there is some reform that's needed and I have a lot of respect for Commissioner Dunn. I don't know that the $800 million plan is going to be able to get through."

Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey toured Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore County recently and saw more than 300 inmates in a dorm that is a converted canning factory.

"I think everybody agrees we've got overcrowded and ancient facilities that need attention," Ivey said. "The only concern I've heard is the funding mechanism to pay for it."

Ward said the key could be the level of determination of opponents of the plan.

"Are you a 'no' or a 'heck no'?" Ward said. "That's the question."

Beasley said he would fight the bill "with every ounce in my body and all means at my disposal."

DOC Report on Prison Building Plan by Mike Cason on Scribd
house of representatives feb 9 2016 julie bennett.JPG

(Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

A plan to borrow $800 million to build four new prisons will be a dominant issue when the Alabama Legislature begins its annual session on Tuesday.

Lawmakers have plenty more on their plate, too.

Here are some of the key issues and other topics that could surface during the three-and-a-half month session.

Redistricting: The Legislature must approve new legislative district maps. A federal court ruled in January that lawmakers improperly used race as the predominant factor in three Senate districts and nine House districts in the plan approved in 2012. The districts must be redrawn before the 2018 elections. The court upheld the makeup of 24 other districts that were challenged in court.

General Fund: The Alabama Medicaid Agency, the biggest spender from the General Fund, is getting a $105 million one-year supplement from a BP settlement next year. But Medicaid, which serves about one million Alabamians, says it needs a $44 million increase on top of that. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is seeking a $60 million increase, partly to address a shortage of state troopers. Those are just two examples of requested increases. General Fund budget chairmen say there's not enough money to cover the requests for 2018 and that 2019 could be bleak because Medicaid won't have the BP supplement.

Education budget: Lawmakers expect to have more money to spend on public schools and colleges next year but not enough to meet all the requests. The Department of Education plans to seek $151 million more for K-12 schools. The request does not include pay raises for teachers, who got a raise this year.

Prekindergarten: Gov. Robert Bentley wants a $20 million increase for Alabama's voluntary pre-kindergarten program, to $84 million. The program, called First Class, has already grown from about 200 classrooms with about 4,000 students in 2013 to about 800 with about 15,000. It now serves about 25 percent of the state's 4-year-olds. Bentley wants to eventually make it available statewide.

Gasoline tax increase: The Business Council of Alabama, Alabama Association of County Commissions and other organizations advocate raising the gasoline tax to fund maintenance and improvements for roads and bridges. The last increase in the state gasoline tax was 5 cents a gallon in 1992. House Speaker Mac McCutcheon sponsored a gasoline tax bill before becoming speaker last year and said he is encouraging proposals on the issue this year.

Other tax increases: Senate Democrats are backing a bill that would change the way multi-state businesses report their income that they say would eliminate a loophole that hides taxable income. Senate Democrats are also backing a constitutional amendment to allow voters to raise property taxes by 5 mills. But Democrats hold only eight seats in the 35-seat Senate.

Lottery/gambling: Several lottery bills have already been proposed, as they are every year. Last year, lawmakers gave Bentley's proposal for a lottery to support the state budget serious consideration before it failed. Senate Democrats say they will sponsor legislation to allow a lottery and casinos to support the state budgets and create jobs. Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, who has sponsored a lottery and casinos bill, said he still sees no indication that even a simple lottery bill could pass the Legislature. Bentley created an advisory council to make recommendations on gambling legislation. It has met regularly but might not issue its report until after the session.

Capital punishment: Alabama is now the only state to allow judges to issue a death sentence after a jury recommends a sentence of life imprisonment. Bills introduced in the House and Senate would prohibit judges from doing so. A bill by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, would also require a unanimous vote by a jury to impose a death sentence. Current law requires at least 10 of 12 jurors to recommend death. A bill by Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, would allow condemned inmates to choose to be executed by firing squad rather than lethal injection. Bills by Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, would place new restrictions on use of the death penalty and one of his bills would repeal it. Sanders introduces similar bills every year.

Voting: Democrats, who are a minority in both houses, are sponsoring bills to allow early voting, to repeal the state's photo voter ID law and allow automatic voter registration for people with valid driver's licenses.

Immigration: Alabama House Republicans, who hold more than 70 seats in the 105-seat House, will support legislation to withhold funding from "cities, counties, or public colleges and universities that defy immigration laws and declare themselves 'sanctuary' areas that harbor illegal aliens," according to a press release on their agenda.

Historical monuments: House Republicans support legislation to restrict removal or relocation of memorials and statues on public property. A Republican senator is sponsoring a bill imposing those restrictions on monuments more than 50 years old. Similar bills have failed the last two years.

Abortion: House Republicans will support a constitutional amendment "declaring Alabama a pro-life state so we will be prepared to take action when Roe v. Wade is overturned," according to the press release on their agenda.
The man who spearheaded the planting of a horse chestnut tree, like the one mentioned in "The Diary of Anne Frank," in Kelly Ingram Park doesn't want the tree to be forgotten once tours of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument begin.

The tree planted on April 11, 2010 was dedicated to the "victims of intolerance and discrimination," states an inscription on a plaque near the tree.

Joel Rotenstreich, an executive board member of the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center, said Anne Frank, who died at 15 at a Nazi concentration camp and the four little girls, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair, who were killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing are connected.

"All five of them were young, innocent, their futures ahead of them," he said. They were "killed only because of hate, intolerance, bigotry, prejudice and injustice."

In the coming months, when park rangers begin offering tours of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, Rotenstreich wants the story of the Anne Frank Tree to be told as well.

Additionally, the former Mountain Brook School Board member hopes the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center will take ownership of the tree and use it as a teaching tool.

The national monument includes portions of the historic Birmingham Civil Rights District, including the A.G. Gaston Motel, the neighboring Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the 16th Street Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, the Colored Masonic Temple, St. Paul United Methodist Church and portions of the 4th Avenue Business District.

Birmingham Mayor William Bell and other city officials continue to be briefed by the National Park Service on the timeline and possible dates for the next community meeting.

Bell said he expects the Park Service staff will be in place shortly, and an official event to be set within the next 30-45 days.

The restoration of the A.G. Gaston Motel has already begun.

NPS spokesperson Saudia Muwwakkil said the first priorities of the National Park Service include meeting with community partners about the next steps, planning a public event to mark the park's establishment and identifying a physical location for visitors to access National Park Service information.

The process of establishing the national monument could take two-three years.

The Anne Frank Tree story

A horse chestnut tree was a symbol of hope for Anne Frank. The one outside her Amsterdam window was one of her only connections to nature as she and her family hid for two years from the Nazis.

Frank mentioned the tree in her diary, which was later turned into the best-selling book, "The Diary of Anne Frank."

That very tree, which became diseased and rotten over the years, was toppled by wind and heavy rain in August 2010. Eleven saplings grown from the tree's seeds, though, were given away to cities in the U.S. as part of a project aimed at preserving Frank's legacy and promoting tolerance.

After reading about "The Sapling Project," Rotenstreich formed a group, made up of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Birmingham Public Library, the 16th Street Baptist Church, the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center and the Jewish Community Relations Committee of the Birmingham Jewish Federation, to complete the application.

Birmingham's proposal focused on Birmingham residents' efforts to improve race relations, civil and human rights and the city's image, he said.

Unfortunately, Birmingham wasn't selected.

According to The Sapling Project, the locations chosen "memorialize incidences of intolerance and discrimination across the United States and around the world. The Anne Frank Tree saplings provide an opportunity for these sites to abstract the story of Anne Frank and connect them to incidences of injustice witnessed here in the United States."

The saplings were in quarantine for three years and planted at various sites across the U.S., including at the White House, in 2013.

Rotenstreich wasn't deterred.

He received approval from Birmingham Parks & Recreation Board to plant a horse chestnut tree in Kelly Ingram, and then began a search for another tree.

The only horse chestnut tree he could locate for purchase in the U.S. was at a large nursery in Omaha, Neb. He purchased it himself for $1,500, and a friend who owned a landscape service in Birmingham sent a worker to pick it up.

The tree was dedicated with a Sunday afternoon ceremony nearly seven years ago.

The plaque in front of the tree inscribed with a quote from "Anne Frank's Diary": "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
trump-hotel.jpg

Protesters march along Pennsylvania Avenue past the Trump International Hotel during a rally protesting the immigration policies of President Donald Trump, near the White House in Washington on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017.

(AP)

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has appealed a judge's order temporarily blocking President Donald Trump's refugee and immigration ban, saying it's the "sovereign prerogative" of a president to admit or exclude aliens in order to protect national security.



The appeal filed late Saturday at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, cites a "basic principle that an alien seeking initial admission to the United States requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application."

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

The Justice Department asked that the federal judge's order be stayed pending resolution of the appeal. It says the ban is necessary "to ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism."

Earlier Saturday, the government officially suspended enforcement of the ban in compliance with the judge's order, which plunged the new administration into a crisis that has challenged both Trump's authority and his ability to fulfill campaign promises.

That stand-down marked an extraordinary setback for the White House. Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend America's refugee program and halt immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.

As the White House worked to reinstate the ban, Trump mocked

whose "ridiculous" ruling "will be overturned." He added in a subsequent tweet: "Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision."

The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2017

Trump's direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a Trump University case. Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for his words as the travel ban case reaches the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The ban has caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompting protests across the United States and leading to multiple court challenges. Demonstrations took place outside the White House, in New York and near Trump's estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he was spending the weekend and attending an annual American Red Cross fundraising gala.

"We'll win," Trump told reporters Saturday night. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

The State Department, after initially saying that as many as 60,000 foreigners from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen had their visas canceled, reversed course on Saturday and said they could travel to the U.S. if they had a valid visa.

The department on Saturday advised refugee aid agencies that refugees set to travel before Trump signed his order will now be allowed into the United States. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government was "focusing on booking refugee travel" through Feb. 17 and working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trump's order from boarding U.S.-bound planes. The agency said it had "suspended any and all actions" related to putting in place Trump's order, which the White House argued was "intended to protect the homeland."

Trump made clear what he thought of Robart's action.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned," Trump tweeted. "When a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!"

After a pause of several hours, the president returned to Twitter: "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?"

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized Trump for "attempting to bully and disparage yet another federal judge" and said he seemed "intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis." Trump's rhetoric also could put government lawyers defending his order in a tough spot.

"Either they have to defend the statements that Judge Robart is a 'so-called judge,' which you can't do, or they have to distance themselves from the president, who is their boss," said University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman.

With legal challenges pending, two prominent Middle Eastern air carriers announced they would resume carrying passengers from the seven affected countries. Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, said U.S.-bound travelers from those countries with valid visas would be allowed to board.

In Egypt, Cairo airport and airline officials said they have received instructions from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend President Trump's executive order.

Government-backed Qatar Airways is one of a few Mideast airlines operating direct daily flights to multiple American cities. Its U.S. destinations from its Doha hub include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington.

At New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, volunteer lawyer Renee Paradis said most of the flights involving passengers from the affected countries were to arrive later Saturday.

"Anybody who comes here on a visa is supposed to be allowed in, so we would anticipate that somebody who is in the air would be able to land and enter," she said. "Of course, as with everything this week, it remains to be seen what happens on the ground."

The executive order has caused chaos within the government and the courts. Trump fired Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover who was serving as acting attorney general, after she said the Justice Department would not enforce it. In Washington on Saturday, demonstrators chanting "No hate, No fear, Refugees are welcome here" walked from the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Hearings have also been held in court challenges nationwide.

In arguments to the court, Washington state and Minnesota said the temporary ban and the global suspension of the U.S. refugee program harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

But in his written order Friday, Robart said it's not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches," but rather, to make sure that an action taken by the government "comports with our country's laws."
We got trouble! Right here in River City! With a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for ...

Prisons.

Yeah, we got trouble. The government warned us. Over and over again. Federal judges put us on notice. About assault and overcrowding and mental health and the inhumanity of stacking inmates like cordwood and failing to properly watch over them.

The prison commissioner himself warned that violence doubled inside his walls as staffing fell by a fifth. Riots have become routine, and lawmakers like Sen. Cam Ward reminded us that if Alabama fails to fix the flaws of its prison system somebody else - the feds or the courts - will fix 'em for us.

Whether we like it or not.

And our own Music Man - Gov. Robert Bentley himself - is still pitching that scam that seems just a little too good to be true.

We'll close those wretched prisons down and replace 'em with the biggest and best prisons in all the world! Right here in River City! We'll cut staff and payroll. Don't look at that $800 million(or is it $1.5 billion in all) price tag. The money we save will pay for the whole blessed thing. And we won't even have to bid it out.

Too good.

To be true.

A prison guard stands at one of the towers at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center.

Bentley's same prison proposal died last year, because of cost and concern over whether it would actually solve the problems. It failed largely because of Bentley's determination to use a "design-build" process rather than bidding it out the normal government way. Skeptical lawmakers (bless them) saw it as a sham to slip big contracts to big contractors cozy with the administration.

This year's bill is pretty much the same as last. Even Ward, who has agreed to sponsor it, isn't at all sure it will pay for itself, that cuts to staff and other services could actually save the $50 million a year the governor claims.

Ward wants the Legislative Fiscal Office to analyze the savings, because it seems far-fetched. The plan, if it is to pass, must be careful and transparent and studied, he said.

It really, really does. Because it's already shaky whether lawmakers are willing to spend any political capital to build prisons. Throw voodoo math and sketchy bidless contracts into the deal, and important stuff that needs to get done today gets put off until ....

You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays...

Advocates for the imprisoned - including the Southern Poverty Law Center - are even more skeptical of the plan.

Because prisons are a lot like highways. If you build more lanes, you guarantee more traffic. And if you build more prisons you guarantee more people will fill them up.

Regardless of the fact that even Alabama lawmakers two years ago realized the state sent too many people up the river for too long for too many non-violent offenses and passed sentencing reforms that have - if only slightly - begun to reduce the prison population.

Build more cells - and do nothing else -- and you negate all that.

The truth is Alabama does need new and better prisons. But it needs way more than that. It needs more and better paid corrections officers and political will to find alternative punishments for drug offenders. It needs to reduce the non-violent prison population, provide more mental health care to inmates and better opportunities for rehabilitation.

It needs thought and compassion and resolve. Because trying to solve the shortcomings with nothing but a big bond issue is lazy and naive and beneficial most to the cozy contractors who get the gigs.

That's just trouble. With a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for ...

Profits.

Over people.
The Gaza Strip does not have adequate resources for medical treatment, but Israel prevents patients from leaving.

Gaza City  Im like a bird in a cage, Hind Shaheen told Al Jazeera as she lay in bed at Gaza Citys Al-Rantisi hospital, surrounded by family members. Outside of my cage I can see water and food, but I cant reach it. This is my condition right now.

Shahin, who suffers from breast cancer, says that her condition has been deteriorating ever since she was denied exit from Gaza for treatment.

The Gaza Strip does not have adequate resources to provide her with appropriate treatment, yet she cannot leave, as Israeli authorities at the Erez border crossing, known as Beit Hanoon to Palestinians, rejected her permit three times in a row without explanation.

Gaza has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since 2007. The Erez checkpoint is the main exit for two million residents of Gaza, connecting them to medical care in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

I cant go to Egypt either. The crossing closes for three, four months  so Ill be stuck there, Shaheen said.

Her struggle is familiar to thousands of patients in Gaza, where around 1,500 people are diagnosed with cancer each year. Chemotherapy drugs are not always available, nor are radiotherapy, molecular therapy, PET scans or isotope scans.

READ MORE: Siege limits options for Gazas chronically ill

Gisha, the Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement, says that patients in Gaza have increasingly been blocked from leaving due to security precautions. Others are interrogated at the crossing or forced to wait lengthy periods of time for a response.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), approval rates for exit permits from Gaza dropped as low as 44 percent in October 2016, compared with 82 percent in 2014 and 93 percent in 2012.

[The patients] ask for permission again and again, but the response from Israeli authorities is always that its under [assessment], Awad Aeshan, a radiation oncologist at Al-Shifa hospital, told Al Jazeera. They continue to assess for one year, two years until the patient dies. So this is a massacre of our cancer patients. They have placed a siege on the Gaza Strip and they dont permit our cancer patients to leave for treatment.

My husband and children cried a lot when I was diagnosed. I think about the future now and how to secure my children before I die. by Seham Tatari, leukaemia patient

An Israeli spokesperson from the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit disputed this claim, citing an increase in the number of patients crossing Erez in recent years, from 22,380 in 2013 to 30,768 in 2016. However, the numbers do not take into account Gazas steep population growth.

Breast cancer is one of the most treatable forms of cancer, yet five-year survival rates in Gaza are as low as 30 percent, compared with around 85 percent in England and 86 percent in Israel.

Radiotherapy is vital for breast conservation, but as it is unavailable in Gaza, a high number of women undergo a full mastectomy and lymph node clearance, which would normally be unnecessary.

When Philippa Whitford, a Scottish breast cancer surgeon, asked a patient support group in Gazas Al-Bureij refugee camp how many had undergone mastectomy, all of them raised their hands. Radio isotopes used in bone scans or for guided biopsy of axillary lymph nodes are forbidden entry into Gaza despite having no potentially dangerous application, Whitford wrote in a column.

Patients are also often diagnosed with cancer at later stages due to limited services; Gaza only has two functioning mammograms.





Aeshan says that he sees between 50 and 60 patients a day, and only half of them can receive their chemotherapy treatment in Gaza. Around two-thirds of cancer patients require radiotherapy treatment, and hundreds are referred for outside treatment in occupied East Jerusalem every month.

Due to the decade-long blockade, surgical skills in Gaza have been frozen in time. According to a 2010 report by the WHO, there are no specialist surgeons to treat oesophageal, pancreatic or lung cancer.

Seham Tatari, 52, who is battling chronic lymphoid leukaemia, had been leaving Gaza every 20 days for chemotherapy treatment in the occupied West Bank. She had just four more sessions to go when she received a text message last October regarding her permit. It read: Seham Tatari  Banned.

Ive been going every 20 days for the past three years. Why am I banned now? It doesnt make any sense, Tatari told a cancer patients support group in Gaza City.

OPINION: Apparently no one cares about Gaza

Chemotherapy treatment is a painful process and if it is interrupted, the patient has to start over from the beginning.

My husband and children cried a lot when I was diagnosed. I think about the future now and how to secure my children before I die. We are dying slowly in Gaza, Tatari said. My cancer was controllable [before they banned me from leaving], but now it can spread. My whole body is in pain because I havent been taking any medications; theyre not available all the time in Gaza.

Before the start of the blockade in 2007, Gaza was the centre for medications, said Talha Ahmad, a chemotherapy pharmacist. He now describes his workplace at the hospital as a war zone.

Im fighting everywhere, every day to have the medications required for my patients, Ahmad told Al Jazeera.

We have a big shortage in basic medications. Im not talking about new generations of chemotherapy medications; Im talking about old medications, used 20 years ago in the world. We have a big shortage of them here.

In August 2016, 17 percent of cancer drugs were at zero stock  less than one months supply on shelves  according to Medical Aid for Palestinians.

I try to tell [my patients], Your medication is not available, as gently as possible. Its as if youre telling them, I will kill you slowly because your medication is not available,' Ahmad said.

I try to make adaptations to at least give them hope. I say, Its OK, it will be here next week. This delay will not harm you. But I believe these patients have the right to have their medication [immediately].

INTERACTIVE: Gaza  A life under siege

There have also been reports of extortion of patients as they attempt to reach hospitals a short distance away for life-saving treatment.

Last July, 19-year-old Yousef Younis received a phone call from the Israeli security service after applying for a permit to treat his leukaemia in Jerusalem. They told him that he could cross if he collaborated with them. He refused, and consequently, his permit was denied. His health quickly deteriorated, and he died the next month.

Israel as an occupying force is obligated under international humanitarian law to ensure the Palestinian populations access to medical treatment and to maintain its medical facilities, hospitals and services in the occupied territories.

Gisha found that whenever they challenged a denied permit legally or through media work, Israeli authorities would reverse their decision and grant a travel permit. This calls into question the arbitrary and slack decision-making process for assigning a security block in the first place, Gisha noted.

Back at Al-Rantisi Hospital, Muhammad Qahman, 67, waits for his appointment. Three days after his brother died from lung cancer, Qahman was diagnosed with the same illness. The cancer has now spread to his brain.

The last time he went through Erez, Qahman was in a bad state and waited at the crossing for two hours with an oxygen mask on, his family said. They are worried about his deteriorating condition and the expensive medications available only in Israel.

He wont recover from the disease itself; were just delaying the consequences, Qahmans son told Al Jazeera.
South African activists call for the decriminalisation of sex work to protect human rights and reduce spread of HIV.

Johannesburg, South Africa  In the shadow of an underpass, wearing a black bob wig, Tlaleng paces along her patch of Nugget Street, scanning the downtown Johannesburg traffic.

Behind her, other women lead clients behind the crumbling walls of a gutted building in the brisk morning light. But Tlaleng, a boiled egg in one palm, is distracted, her eyes roaming a nearby post plastered with adverts for cheap abortions and penis enlargements.

Up since dawn, she is eager to finish her shift. She plans to head to a nearby clinic that is offering a miracle that afternoon: a pill that protects against HIV.

The 27-year-old mother of two came to South Africas economic hub with dreams of becoming a clothes designer. Until then, selling sex keeps a roof over her head.

I dont compromise, she says bluntly when it comes to using condoms. I want to get money to buy my sewing machine before I get sick  then get out. I want to make a living for my kids.

But along the stroll, many have been raped or forced into unprotected sex. A recent study estimated that more than 70 percent of female sex workers in Johannesburg are HIV-positive.

Last June, as part the South African National Sex Worker HIV Plan launched in 2016, the country became one of the first in the world to provide PrEP, a prophylaxis pill that protects against HIV, free of charge to sex workers.

Peer educators, who are current or former sex workers engaged in outreach work, had visited Tlaleng on the stroll and told her about the new drug.

These peer educators are the backbone of the HIV plan. The three-year initiative promises to reach 70,000 sex workers through 1,000 peer educators from across South Africa, aiming to reduce HIV and improve access to testing and treatment.

Young women aged 15-24 are at such disproportionate risk of contracting HIV that the government launched a separate three-year plan last year to try to reduce infection rates. There are plans to expand young womens public access to PrEP, with information sessions already being held in schools.

With one of the highest rates of HIV in the world  at 19.2 percent among 15 to 49-year-olds, according to the UN Aids agency  more than seven million South Africans are infected with the virus.

READ MORE: How Malawi reduced its HIV/Aids infection rate

Decriminalising sex work

South Africas national strategy for tackling HIV is radical compared with other nations. With their demand of nothing for us without us, sex worker-led organisations such as the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce directly helped to draft the plan.





Whatever statutes are on our law books  we cannot deny the human and unalienable rights of people who engage in sex work, South Africas deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, stated at the launch of the plan last March. Sex work is essentially work.

The plan demands that the Department of Justice secure a commitment to decriminalisation and also that the South African Police Service end the practice of using condoms or HIV medication as evidence of sex work and grounds for arrest.

As South Africa hosted the International Aids Summit last summer, amid heckling from sex worker rights activists, Deputy Minister of Justice John Jeffery stated that only 241 criminal cases had been filed against sex workers in the past three years.

[Prostitution is] currently illegal, Jeffery told Al Jazeera, however, thats not restricting government from embarking on plans to assist sex workers, particularly with preventing the spread of HIV and Aids.

Last year, the South African Law Reform Commission completed a long-awaited investigation into the decriminalisation of prostitution, but the government is waiting to decide on an official position before releasing the report.

Since 2014, the World Health Organization, UNAIDS and Amnesty International have declared support for the decriminalisation of sex work, to improve access to human rights, healthcare and reduce the risk of HIV, with reports from The Lancet medical journal suggesting that decriminalisation would have the greatest effect on HIV epidemics, averting 33-46 percent of infections over the next decade.

In downtown Johannesburg, a clinic run by the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute provides dedicated care for sex workers. Peer educators operate mobile health clinics to reach those on the streets, turning rented rooms in nearby brothels into impromptu testing spots.

More than 100 people selling sex in Johannesburg sat on plastic chairs in the clinics waiting area as peer educators explained how PrEP worked: Similar to birth control, the pill, taken every day, could give protection against the virus.

While the clinic treats and employs sex workers, the United States Presidents Emergency Plan for Aids Relief is a major funder and demands an anti-prostitution pledge. Deemed unconstitutional in the US owing to its infringement on free speech and no longer applied to US-based organisations, the pledge still stands as a condition for international beneficiaries.

We are unable to advocate for decriminalisation, executive director Francois Venter says, though police harassment is the biggest challenge sex workers report at the clinic.

The clinic has had some success with sensitisation programmes, working with local police commanders, but the police issue is a constant challenge, according to Venter.

Criminalisation is a bigger issue, but no one actually wants to speak out about this, says Katlego Rasebitse, a spokesperson for Sisonke, the National Sex Worker Movement of South Africa.

Even if she gets beaten by the police, Ill just make sure her vagina is safe; shes been raped, Ill make sure she gets [treatment], Rasebitse mocks the limits of the national plan. You want to see me healthy, but my basic human rights arent protected.

Were pretty confident regarding [PrEP] adherence, adds Venter, if the police behave themselves.

READ MORE: Living with HIV  There is nothing to fear

Bribery and corruption

Shaun Bibi, a paralegal and outreach worker with the Womens Legal Centres sex worker project in Johannesburg, hands out know-your-rights leaflets, with the number for their 24-hour helpline to women along Nugget Street. She advises Tlaleng to report the licence plates of police who demand bribes, both money and sexual favours, to avoid criminal charges. A transgender woman and sex worker herself, Bibi speaks from experience.

The Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, told Al Jazeera that decriminalisation was not necessary to providing equal healthcare to sex workers.

Let him come to Nugget Street, Bibi laughs.

With big hoop earrings, Wendy sits boss-like on a backless office chair on Nugget. When Tlaleng was arrested some weeks before, Wendy went to the station, paid the bribe and demanded her release.

What is our government doing? she had cried, smelling alcohol on the police officers breath. You people, youre not working!

On a corner near Nugget, in the biting cold, a mother of three waits for clients. Nearly 50, she stands barelegged in a lurid mesh skirt and old grey jumper.

My name is Miriam, she says. I cant lie in front of God.

She has sold sex for eight years. A week earlier, a client had taken her in his car and forced her to have unprotected sex. She speaks about the rape as if discussing bad weather.

In the past, police have beaten her, demanded sex and jailed her for nearly a month without charge. Some clients, after bribing police to avoid arrest, come back seeking revenge. She says a woman was recently murdered by a client when she was thrown from a speeding car.

With criminalisation, clients take advantage, says Miriam, who is HIV-positive. They can rape you; they can [have sex with] you without a condom.

MAGAZINE: Stories from the sex trade

After the assault, Miriam says she went to the clinic to be treated, but never reported it to the police.

Captain William Mathusane, a legal adviser with the South African Police Service, said he was not aware of specific allegations of harassment or bribery of sex workers.

Im guessing the sex workers are alleging they are being terrorised or abused by the police, he says. Each and every citizen in South Africa, if you feel you are being victimised, [has] the right to go to the nearest police station and report such illegal conduct.

When it comes to decriminalisation, Mathusane believes thats an issue for the justice department, not the police.

Jeffery, the deputy justice minister, also stressed that sex workers have the right to report harassment to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, who investigate criminal cases committed by police, but few feel they have that recourse.

Where can I report it? asks Miriam, throwing her hands up. The police, they will say f*** off, you are makosha [prostitute]. They dont care about us.

Miriam lives with her son in a rough suburb. Because her work is criminalised, she says she cannot rely on any pensioners support.

I like to work, but Im not finding another job, she says. My son has to go to school; he cant stay on the street.

READ MORE: Prostitution is more than a labour rights issue

One less fear

In the suburb of Rosettenville, dominated by pimps, police are known to chase sex workers with pepper spray. One woman said she was made to bend over while police pepper-sprayed her genitals.

Sitting on a lumpy bed, with a TV buzzing and a hot plate left on for warmth, 24-year-old Precious describes how a police officer recently forced his way into the house and beat her, while naked, as her client was leaving.

Zaza came from a rural town to make money for her young son, but her pimp got her hooked on crack. Now the work only feeds her addiction. The same week, Precious was beaten, Zaza was pepper-sprayed in the face and forced into a police van.

They push me rough inside the komba komba [police van], take us to the station, she explains. They say [pay] 10 rand [$0.70] if I want to get out because you are doing business in this area of mine.

Police then started hassling clients outside the house, refusing entry and demanding bribes. Precious says criminalisation makes it impossible to get out from under pimps, who offer a semblance of protection.

We could leave these [pimps] and work on our own, thats the only thing thats keeping us with them, she says. We could do our own business, not giving anyone else a thing.

In August, she started taking PrEP, provided free through a mobile health clinic. One pill each day means one less fear hanging over her.

Their rent is due soon. Clients pay more for unprotected sex, but Precious is strict about condoms: I dont play that game. My life comes first.

Caelainn Hogan reported from South Africa through a fellowship with the International Reporting Project.
After being without a home for nearly a year, parishioners at the Church of Notre Dame in Chippewa Falls returned to their sanctuary for its first services this weekend.

Though it is still the same space, $2 million in renovations has a way of changing things. Msgr. Mark Pierce expected his parishioners would be so overwhelmed with the new space they wouldnt be able to concentrate.

I expect they arent really going to be hearing me, he said. Its a different space. We didnt do anything to the layout, but its so different.

To continue the celebration, the McDonell Central Catholic High School and Chippewa Falls High School choirs are joining forces with Viterbo University of La Crosse for a community choir concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9 at the church.

While Pierce said the concert is really for the schools, and theyre putting the whole thing together, its also a great way to share the church with community members who otherwise wouldnt have the opportunity to see the renovations.

Hes also looking forward to hearing a live choir concert in the space, which hasnt happened at least in the last six years since hes been there.

Musically, it always had great acoustics, he said. We have very high ceilings and a lot of hard surfaces, and that makes for an interesting balance.

Amy Vogt, McDonells choir director, said because she doesnt attend services at Notre Dame she might not otherwise see the renovations, and shes looking forward to having the students sing there.

This is a rare opportunity, Vogt said of being in the church and performing with the Viterbo University choir.

The Viterbo choir tours the state annually, and this year is making the stop in Chippewa Falls before continuing to Minneapolis Friday. Vogt and Ron Buckles, Chi-His choir director, were invited to have their groups join Viterbo at the church.

McDonells choir will perform three pieces. All are specific to Catholic liturgy, which she believed was important.

Its a great way for us to contribute, as a Catholic school, to the new space at Notre Dame, Vogt said.

Chi-His choir will also perform three pieces, and the Viterbo choir will perform five pieces before the three join together for two combined pieces to close the concert.

One of the combined pieces, Sanctuary was completed just about a month before the performance. The song was composed by Mary Ellen Haupert, a music professor at Viterbo, with words by Magda Herzberger, a Holocaust survivor and poet.

The three choirs will meet at Chi-Hi the afternoon of the performance, and then will practice once more as a full choir before the concert that evening. The three groups will also eat a meal together at the old Notre Dame Middle School across from the church.

For the Viterbo choir, director Brett Robison said the tour is about a lot more than singing. Its a chance for high school students to learn about college life in general, and for his students to act as mentors, both in music and in life.

Well stay at Chi-Hi and sing for the different choirs throughout the afternoon, and do a question-and-answer session which Im always excited to do, Robison said. The college students enjoy it just as much as the high schoolers ... and its just fun to share the gift of music with each group.

Following the performance, Robison said Buckles is setting up homestays with Chi-Hi students, so theyll get to know one another before the Viterbo students head to Minnesota the next morning.

Robison is also excited to come to Chippewa Falls, having just moved to Wisconsin himself. Hes even more excited to work with both the choir directors, whom he met briefly at a choir festival in Iowa.

They are a great match of personalities, he said. Its always fun to work with good people who love what they do, and Im excited to see how their passion translates into their students performances.

The community choir concert is at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9 at the Church of Notre Dame, 117 Allen St. in Chippewa Falls. The concert is free and open to the public.
As violence escalates in Eastern Ukraine front, one family copes with losing their livelihood in the shelling.

Avdiivka, Ukraine  Within the ruins of his fourth floor apartment, Anatoliy Karabass slowly manoeuvres around the carpet of debris covering his once pristine floor. As he walks, a misstep yields a squeak. Its the sound of a childrens toy left behind by one of his grandchildren.

Inside the apartment, its so cold that every breath he takes condenses as it leaves his body. The vapour trails off into the distance with his words. What was once a warm and comfortable home is now unlivable after a direct hit from a 122mm shell blew a hole in the exterior wall. The windows and the balcony were also ripped apart, effectively leaving a six-metre hole across his apartment, with only a few patches of brick between.

From the middle of his apartment, Anatoliy can now look out on to the tree line that sits just 500 metres away. Somewhere in that direction is the heavy gun that fired the shell which destroyed everything for which he had worked. The sounds of the intense fighting in that direction are still audible throughout the day.

That poor old man, says his 71-year-old wife, Elena Karabass, as she stares over at her husband, standing teary-eyed and distraught in his home. He worked his whole life for his family, and now its all gone.

READ MORE: Avdiivka civilians caught in crossfire as clashes rage

Escalation in fighting

Several kilometres outside the nearly besieged town of Avdiivka, in Eastern Ukraine, on the morning of February 3, as the violence escalated here, seven Ukrainian military tanks, and scores of what looked to be freshly burned patches in the snow could be seen. They indicated numerous Ukrainian firing positions. The fighting had become exponentially more intense.

Later that day, Alexander Hug, the Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, would say that this level of fighting in Ukraine had not been seen since 2014-2015. Official reports stated that weapons banned long ago had come back in full force, including the terrifyingly lethal BM-21 multiple launch rocket system known as Grad or hail for the way it falls from the sky.





Evidence of the destruction was everywhere in Avdiivka.

Earlier that week, the shelling had taken out the towns power, leaving residents without electricity, heat and water. Two makeshift humanitarian aid centres were set up in the towns centre to help residents cope with the freezing cold temperatures, which hovered around -10 to -20 degrees Celsius all week.

It was at one of those chaotic humanitarian aid centres where Anatoliy and Elena first seek help from a Ukrainian rescue worker named Vladislav Gusyin. A weeping and frantic Anatoliy begs Gusyin, My apartment has been destroyed, what do I do? Where do I go?

The rescue worker directs Anatoliy and Elena to the city administration building, a short walk away in the tiny town centre. As they begin to walk, Gusyin tells Al Jazeera that he has seen many people as upset as Anatoliy this week, and Gusyin is feeling the pain himself that day, after the loss of one of his own men the night before. The 25-year-old was killed when shrapnel from a shell ripped through the ambulance he was in.

He was just a 25-year-old rescue worker, says Gusyin, referring to the colleague who had died. He had a wife and a young child.

READ MORE: NATO calls on Russia to stop violence in Ukraine

Wartime bureaucracy

At the city administration, Anatoliy and Elena gather with scores of others who had had their homes affected by the shelling. As with all the others, they are asked to file a report, filling out their address, their belongings, and a brief assessment of the damage.

Damage? Its gone. Everything! shouts Anatoliy, as his wife takes over to fill out the paperwork. It will be the first of three reports they will file that morning, the mundanity of the paperwork keeps Elena calm and focused, but infuriates Anatoliy.

As they walk to fill out their next report at a police station a few minutes away, Elena explains that the couple had been sleeping in their daughters apartment on the first floor when the shell hit. Otherwise, we wouldnt be talking to you right now, she says.

Anatoliy recently had a heart attack, and so they decided to spend their nights in the first-floor apartment, rather than force Anatoliy to walk four flights of stairs. To accommodate her parents, their daughter had moved her own family into their dacha in a nearby village.

Her husband, walking briskly ahead, drops his pace and waits for his wife to catch up so he can share a thought. Three years ago, they hit our neighbour! Three years ago. And now us. Can you believe it? he says, completely exasperated at this point.

As he walks on, Elena tells us that on the first day of war in Avdiivka, June 27, 2014, their neighbours apartment was hit and destroyed. With their own, that makes four destroyed apartments in their building. As lifelong residents of Avdiivka, they have watched their town wither away and neighbours die in the last three years, but they have stayed put.

At the police station, the elderly couple has to wait patiently as others file their reports. Among them, police officers in full military camouflage and kalashnikov rifles mill about. In this frontline city, a regular police force will not suffice, specialised and highly militarised units are required.

Soon, they are ushered into a meeting room, where they sit with a district policeman, who opens by asking, Elena Karabass, tell me what was destroyed.

Elena looks back at the officer, thinks for a split second before throwing her hands up, Everything! she shouts.

In the dark room with low hung ceilings and badly scratched parquet floors, another officer sits by to witness the testimony. One dutifully takes notes from Elena and Anatoliy, who now sits with his head hung low. His mood switches from sombre to angry to annoyed every few minutes during the 20-minute long report.

READ MORE: Civilians killed as eastern Ukraine violence flares up

The signs and sounds of war

The couple leaves the station to embark on the walk home, but as they leave the station steps, their daughter comes running. With tears in her eyes, she hugs her father and mother. She has yet to see the extent of the damage, and only knows what her father has relayed over the phone this morning.

Walking up to their building, the signs and sounds of war are all around. Debris litters the ground in a nearby building, where a woman was killed by the impact of a shell overnight.

At their own building, a flock of emergency workers walk about, inspecting the damage caused by the explosion in Anatoliy and Elenas apartment. On the other side of the building sits another apartment which has been obliterated by a shell. From the street, passers-by can see right in through an enormous gaping hole.

Residents shout at journalists gathered around the building.

Tell the truth! Tell them the Ukrainian army bombed us, they yell.

Another resident dismisses their yelling and says to ignore them: They only believe what Russian TV tells them to believe. Why would the Ukrainian army shell itself? The rift in Avdiivka between neighbours who support the Ukrainian military and those who support Russia-backed separatists is omnipresent.

As they enter their apartment, and their daughter sees the damage for the first time, she once again breaks into tears. Anatoliy turns to her and says, Look, the only thing left untouched is the sewing machine!

Shortly afterwards, a trio of militarised police officers makes their way into the home. They are here to confirm what Anatoliy and Elena reported earlier at the city administration and at the police station.

One of them, 35-year-old Vyacheslav, rummages through the debris on the floor. He pulls something off the floor and opens it in the palm of his hand.

Its a 122mm. A gift from Russia, he says.

As they leave, it becomes eerily clear that this is it for Anatoliy and Elena. After they have filed their report, this chapter in their lives has closed. There will be no insurance payout to get them back on their feet, no relocation  nothing. And for Anatoliy, he just wants one thing before he leaves.

Come on honey, lets take one more picture here, he jokes to Elena. As a memory of this!

Through her tears, Anatoliys daughter falls into a little fit of laughter at her dads joke.
A map showing which areas are controlled by the government and pro-Russian rebels.

The eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, has been the scene of fighting between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels since 2014.

The conflict started shortly after the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula. This annexation led separatists in the eastern part of the country to protest against the government in Kiev. After weeks of civil unrest, an armed conflict between the Ukrainian army and the pro-Russian rebels broke out.

A pivotal moment came in July 2015, when Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over the rebel-controlled area, killing all 298 on board. According to an investigation done by a team of independent researchers, the airliner was shot down with a Russian-made rocket fired from separatist territory.

To this day, fighting continues in the Donbass region in Eastern Ukraine, trapping over six million people in the contested area.
The Gambian political crisis appears to be over with President Adama Barrow having taken the reins of power, successfully and peacefully, with the backing and support of ECOWAS. So, what is next for sub-Saharan Africas newest democracy following 22 years of authoritarian rule by outgoing dictator Yahya Jammeh?

First and foremost, expectations of Barrows government are high, not only from the Gambian people. Many of ECOWASs leaders  of note: Senegals Macky Sall, Nigerias Muhammadu Buhari, and Liberias Johnson Sirleaf, have put their reputations, resources, and the future direction of West Africa on the line and will expect positive results from Barrow.





In addition, on a broader strategic note, one of the most important stories of the entire Jammeh head-spinning drama leading up to Barrows January 19 swearing-in is ECOWAS achieving something that the African Union (AU) is yet to: commit to physically removing a dictator from power with forces on the ground, ready to carry out the mandate.

Hence, the AU  although it has talked for decades about the importance of democratic governance and respect for elections  has never taken any action similar to ECOWASs in the Gambia against an African presidential peer. I hope going forward that the AU really takes a page out of ECOWASs playbook on how to handle African presidents who fail to adhere to the democratic outcome of an election and the will of the people.

That said, Barrows good stewardship of the forward movement of Gambias democracy will be critical. Barrow has said since taking office that he plans to institute good human rights and governance practices, address longtime concerns about the countrys security agencies, reform the military, and ensure that those wrongly accused (especially political prisoners) who are behind bars are given due process or freed  all important and great things for a new democracy to do.

What does all this mean for the Gambian people?

Although Gambia has not had good governance in a long time, expectations among the Gambian people are high.

The fact that 63 percent of the population are 25 years-old or younger is an important fact that cannot be stressed enough. This means that most of the countrys population has not known any other leadership except Jammehs ruthlessness, but will be looking to experience an open political process, dialogue, freedom of association and the press.

OPINION: Gambia  a lesson for African dictators

They will also expect Barrow to quickly address the countrys long-time economic woes, its high poverty levels which hover around 48 percent of the population, and high youth unemployment. According to several news reports, Barrow stated that Gambia faces a large budget deficit of $107m, which is mostly the result of mismanagement, over-expenditure, and likely also caused by theft during the Jammeh regime, which would include Jammeh himself (Reports are that Jammeh stole approximately $11m upon his departure from the country).

However, the new Gambian president will need to find ways to cover both the budget gaps, as well as expand the countrys narrow economic base  which is mostly focused on revenue from tourism, agriculture and remittances; address social issues of education and health; provide for the large increase in rural to urban migration; and focus on infrastructure development.

Jammeh  a life of impunity?

The question now is whether or not Jammeh will get away with all the crimes he has committed, which would not serve the positive resolution of the countrys political crisis well or help further solidify West Africas overall democracy efforts.

Furthermore, the Gambian people will be expecting Jammehs crimes to be addressed. Democracy is several things, including but not limited to: freedom of speech, association, the press, free and fair elections, and respect for the rule of law, which includes not getting a pass on crimes committed by those in power.

For sub-Saharan Africa to continue to have mature democratic processes, it also must show that leaders who break the law, and steal the wealth of their nation, must answer for their crimes. Jammehs exile to Equatorial Guinea (an interesting choice  and possibly the only choice at the time given that its leader has behaved similarly to Jammeh for nearly as many years) hopefully will be temporary, so that he can face charges of both human right abuses and illicit enrichment.

It will be important for the region to demonstrate that impunity is no longer an acceptable practice along with leaders thwarting free and fair election. We hope that it does not take decades to bring Jammeh to justice, like it did with former Chadian leader, Hassan Habre, who was tried and convicted in Senegal in May 2016 (hats off again to Senegals President Sall on this).

If Jammehs crimes are left unpunished, it would undercut all of the great recent effort by ECOWAS on standing up to tyrants in the region and certainly be a disappointment to the people of Africas newest democracy in the Gambia.

Ambassador Robin Renee Sanders is CEO of FEEEDS and former US Permanent Representative to ECOWAS and US Ambassador to Nigeria and Republic of Congo.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
The Astana talks were an opportunity for Syrian rebel groups to lead negotiations focused solely on implementing the ceasefire. Previous rounds of peace talks have failed due to the clear lack of commitment by Bashar al-Assad and his backers to a sustainable ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access, and a solution to the plight of detainees.





While the position of the regime has not changed, the political and armed opposition are prepared to negotiate an end to the bloodshed and a genuine political solution. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) agreed to participate in Astana on the basis of Turkeys role as a guarantor, and to test Russias readiness to apply real pressure on the Assad regime and Iran to commit to a sustainable ceasefire. We are yet to see any clear sign that either is prepared to negotiate in good faith.

If Russia genuinely wants to see concrete outcomes from Astana, there must be real progress towards an enforced nationwide ceasefire with independent monitors as part of a UN-led mechanism. Securing this would be a critical first step towards enabling a genuine discussion over a political transition in Geneva in the coming weeks.

The Astana talks

Russia used the brutal destruction and fall of Aleppo, in which it played a central role, to push for talks. The FSA and other armed groups agreed to a truce on December 26, in the interest of halting the bloodshed and protecting civilians.

The armed factions agreed to attend the Astana talks in accordance with an agreement reached in Ankara alongside the ceasefire. This agreement states that a direct discussion with Assads regime should take place and provided clear and credible Russian guarantees that the regime will commit to what was signed in Ankara.

US President Donald Trump's willingness to enforce safe zones is a potentially positive step towards protecting civilians and creating some real pressure on Russia to take seriously the need for a political solution, but this will only work if the safe zones are properly enforced and protected. by

The delegates who attended the Astana talks were selected from a broad spectrum of rebel factions which signed the Ankara agreement; the majority of these individuals are officers and political representatives of the FSA. The talks also highlighted the critical coordination between the armed groups and political opposition in the shape of the Syrian High Negotiations Committee.

The delegations agenda in Astana was clear: proposing and discussing credible steps for implementing a comprehensive, enforced ceasefire in order to stop the bloodshed.

Our agreement to talks with the regime is not an acceptance of their position. Nothing has changed from our perspective, the Assad regime is guilty of the vast majority of civilians killed in Syria since 2011, and continues to systematically detain, torture, displace and starve hundreds of thousands of Syrians.

While the FSA and other moderate rebel groups continue to lead the fight against ISIL, the Assad regime, with the full backing of Iran and Russia, focused their military efforts on besieging and bombarding areas with no ISIL presence at all, such as eastern Aleppo and Wadi Barada. The way forward remains clear: Assad can have no place in Syrias future as a democratic free Syria, governed by the rule of law and genuine justice.

The regime and its allied foreign militias violated the December ceasefire almost immediately by launching a military campaign on the town of Wadi Barada. Since the start of this campaign, the regime and its militias have violated the ceasefire on an almost daily basis, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians, with complete impunity.

During the talks in Astana, the head of the regime delegation, Bashar Jaafari, confirmed publicly that this brutal offensive and siege would continue. It is clear that Russia is either unable or unwilling to put serious pressure on the regime. If there is any hope of ending the bloodshed, this must change.

Implementing the ceasefire

The tripartite agreement between Russia, Turkey and Iran is not enough.





To secure a sustainable, credible ceasefire in Syria, there must be an effective and independent UN-led monitoring mechanism and clear consequences for those who violate it. In Astana, we set out a detailed proposal on the requirements for a sustainable ceasefire, including international observers inside Syria. The reality is those who have committed war crimes in Syria and continue to back Assads murderous regime, namely Iran and Russia, cannot be trusted to credibly monitor and enforce a genuine ceasefire.

US President Donald Trumps willingness to enforce safe zones is potentially a positive step towards protecting civilians and creating some real pressure on Russia to take the need for a political solution seriously, but this will only work if the safe zones are properly enforced and protected.

The armed groups Astana delegation made their position clear: discussions on a political transition and Syrias future must take place in Geneva under UN supervision. In parallel, the oppositions participation in Geneva must be through the High Negotiations Committee, representing a broad spectrum of political and armed groups, including the FSA.

Successful outcomes from Astana, or any other venue through which discussions on a ceasefire take place, will be critical to paving the way to genuine negotiations on a political solution in Geneva.

Asaad Hanna is a political officer with the Free Syrian Army.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Al Jazeera denies charges against Mahmoud Hussein and calls for his release as detention is extended for a fourth time.

Egypt has extended the detention of Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein by 45 days, pending further investigation.

The court decision on Saturday marks the fourth time Hussains detention has been extended, and could see him held until March 15.

Though authorities decided to prolong Husseins detention on Saturday, the announcement was only made public on Sunday.

The journalists defence team said that while Hussein was finally able to meet his family members at Saturdays court hearing, having earlier been denied the right, he was still being mistreated and kept in an individual cell.





Hussein, an Egyptian national and journalist with more than two decades of experience, was arrested on December 20 after arriving at Cairos international airport for a holiday.

On January 4 and 19, when his detention was due to expire, authorities extended his arrest for a period of 15 days pending a further investigation. On February 2, authorities extended his detention by four days as they referred his case to the Giza Criminal Court.

Five days after his initial arrest, Egypts interior ministry accused him of incitement against state institutions and broadcasting false news with the aim of spreading chaos.

Al Jazeera rejects all charges against Hussein and urges Egypt to release him immediately.

READ MORE: Mahmoud Hussein  Freedom of expression is valuable

Hussein, who lives in Qatars capital, Doha, joined Al Jazeera in Egypt in 2011. He moved to the networks headquarters in Qatar in 2013.

The United Nations has called on Egypt to comply with its commitment to protect freedom of expression.

In January, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said: We appeal for this case to be resolved in accordance with Egypts own international obligations to protect freedom of expression and freedom of opinion.

Over the past few years, Egyptian authorities have arrested several Al Jazeera employees, raising concerns over media freedom in the country.

In May, a Cairo court sentenced a former editor-in-chief of Al Jazeera Arabic, Ibrahim Helal, to death, charging him in absentia with endangering national security.

Al Jazeeras Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy and Peter Greste  along with seven colleagues outside the country  were accused of spreading false news during their coverage of the aftermath of the military overthrow of then-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the year they were taken into custody.

Mohamed and Fahmy spent 437 days in jail before being released. Greste spent more than a year in prison.

The judge who sentenced the journalists said they were brought together by the devil to destabilise the country.
Military strikes armed group two years after a Jordanian pilot was captured and burned alive in a cage.

Jordan said late on Saturday that its warplanes bombed positions held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in southern Syria, two years after one of its pilots was captured and killed by the armed group.

Fridays strikes came on the second anniversary of ISILs release of video showing pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh being burned alive in a cage after his aircraft crashed in Syria in December 2014.

Jordanian Air Force planes, in memory of our martyrs who have fallen in our war against terrorism, on Friday evening targeted various positions of the terrorist gang Daesh in southern Syria, the military said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

READ MORE: Jordan pilots murder and the banality of evil

It said the strikes against targets including a captured former Syrian army base killed and wounded several ISIL members and destroyed an arms depot, a car bomb workshop and a barracks.

Jordanian forces used drones and precision-guided munitions in the operation, which was part of the kingdoms efforts to eradicate the terrorist group, it said. The kingdom is part of an international coalition battling ISIL, also known as ISIS, in Syria and Iraq.

The strikes came as an alliance of US-backed fighters began a new phase of its campaign on the ISIL-held city of Raqqa in northern Syria, aiming to complete its encirclement of the groups stronghold.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab factions primarily led by the Kurdish YPG, has been a key ground ally of the US-led coalition in the fight against ISIL.
Washington challenges a legal order that temporarily halted Donald Trumps ban on citizens from seven countries.

The US justice department has appealed a temporary block of Donald Trumps immigration ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, as the US president unleashed fiery statements towards the judge who stopped implementation of the order.

Speaking in Florida, Trump said he was sure that the department would win the appeal filed against US District Judge James Robarts order in Seattle late on Saturday.

Well win. For the safety of the country, well win, he told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.





Trumps personal attack on Robart was harsh, as the president took to Twitter, accusing him of making a decision that takes law-enforcement away from the US and of opening up the country to potential terrorists.

Robart said, while issuing his order, that the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress.

It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary.

Debbie Hines, a former Baltimore city prosecutor, told Al Jazeera that the judge who took the decision to block the ban knew that it was unconstitutional and un-American.

[Trump] cannot overturn this order by himself. It has to go through the judicial process  This is a case that ultimately could go all the way up to the Supreme Court, she said.

There are three branches of government in the States, and so what Mr Trump should be doing is to see how he can actually pass laws that would be legal and not trying to pursue, through the judicial process, laws that are illegal, Hines added.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

Despite Trumps anger, government authorities began complying with the Robarts ruling, reopening the borders to those with proper travel documents.

As the ban was lifted, refugees and travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by Trumps executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the US.





The state department earlier said up to 60,000 people had their visas revoked as a result of Trumps ban, although a justice department lawyer put the number at closer to 100,000.

The restrictions on all refugees and travellers from the seven countries went into effect a week ago, wreaking havoc at airports across the US and leaving travellers trying to reach the country in limbo.

The political backlash for Trump has been equally severe, with the order driving numerous mass protests.

In Washington, DC, on Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators marched from the White House to Capitol Hill, chanting Donald, Donald, cant you see, we dont want you in DC!

IN PICTURES: NYC Yemenis close bodegas to protest Trump travel ban

About 3,000 people rallied in New York, while an estimated 10,000 people turned out in London, and smaller gatherings took place in Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and Barcelona.

The White House has argued that the travel bans are needed in order to prevent attacks on the US.
Far-right leader says she is the peoples president as she makes 144 promises against immigration and global trade.

Marine Le Pen, Frances far-right presidential candidate, has formally launched a campaign echoing many of the themes that propelled Donald Trump to the White House.

HIGHLIGHTS: LE PENS COMMITMENTS Six months to renegotiate the EU or go for Frexit

Six months to renegotiate the EU or go for Frexit Leave the euro

Reject international trade treaties

Tax employers who hire foreigners

Boost security defence

Expel foreigners who have been condemned in court

Close all mosques suspected of radical Islam links

Expel foreigners monitored by intelligence for radical Islam links

Slash immigration, curb asylum requests

Allow referendums on issues called for by 500,000 people

10 percent income tax cut for low earners

Addressing hundreds of supporters on Sunday, at the close of her National Front gathering in Lyon, staunchly anti-immigration, anti-globalisation Le Pen said that Trumps recent US election win and Britains vote to leave the European Union had given the French a reason to vote.

Envisioning a thriving nation made in France, the 48-year-old said she is the peoples candidate as she outlined her aspirations for a state with its own borders to guard, its own currency to spend, its own defence and its identity unchanged by immigrants, refugees and globalisation.

A leader in early polls for the April 23 and May 7 elections, Le Pen drew loud cheers of support when she said that Islam is not compatible with French values, before concluding that France was threatened by twin totalitarianisms: economic globalisation and Islamic fundamentalism.

We are at a crossroad  This election is a choice of civilisation, she said, asking whether her three children and other young citizens would have the rights and culture of the current generation. Will they even speak our French language?

Al Jazeeras Natacha Butler, reporting from Lyon, said: Le Pen is promising to favour French citizens in areas such as social housing and education. Le Pens message here is that France is being destroyed by immigration, by globalisation and that shes the person to fix it.

She says she wants to give France back to the French. Shes certainly presenting herself as the anti-elite, anti-establishment candidate and feels the climate is favourable to that after Trump in the US and Brexit.

Turning to the EU, Le Pen said she wanted to release France from the tyranny of Brussels. If the other members of the bloc refused to accept large-scale reforms, she vowed to call a referendum on membership within six months of taking office.

On Saturday, Le Pen published a list of 144 commitments built around putting France first.

This is Le Pens second bid for the presidency after placing third in 2012.

Fillons fake jobs scandal

Francois Fillon, a former conservative prime minister and the candidate just two weeks ago considered the most likely to beat Le Pen and win, has seen his support plummet as French prosecutors investigate possibly fictitious parliamentary aide jobs once held by his wife and two children.

Polls suggest Le Pen is likely to pass the first round comfortably, said our correspondent. But in the second round, voters might be more likely to [choose] her rival [Fillon], who is more mainstream.

Conservative MPs visited their constituencies this weekend to stem the damage surrounding Fillon.

Former budget minister Emmanuel Macron, who rebelled against the Socialist Party to strike out on his own, could end up facing Le Pen in the second-round vote.

READ MORE: Marine Le Pen and post-colonial overseas departments

Macron, a former investment banker, held on Sunday a major rally in the southeastern city of Lyon, thanking crowds for their enthusiasm.

Also running for the French presidency are leftists Jean-Luc Melenchon and Benoit Hamon.

Renaud Girard, a French journalist, told Al Jazeera: Marine Le Pen does not have any ally. When the left comes to power in France, its because it has made an alliance with the far left. But in France, the right and the far right do not agree to make an alliance  I dont see for the time being Le Pen being able to find a support in the right.

Fillon and Macron, Girard said, were more likely to form alliances that could propel them during the final round of voting.
Smaller parties seek a bigger say in the mountaintop monarchy wedged between Austria and Switzerland.

Liechtenstein is going to the polls for parliamentary elections, with two centre-right parties vying for dominance and smaller parties seeking a bigger say in the mountaintop monarchy.

In the country of fewer than 38,000 inhabitants, ballots are open for only 90 minutes on Sunday. However, most people vote by mail.

For decades, the Progressive Citizens Party (FBP) and the Patriotic Union (VU) have formed governments in the wealthy principality, which is wedged between Austria and Switzerland.

The election of Liechtensteins 25 MPs on Sunday is also expected to decide on the political fate of Prime Minister Adrian Hasler, the FBP leader. According to the results, he might have to cede the post to his current deputy, Thomas Zwiefelhofer of the VU.

Both of the main parties lost ground in the 2013 elections, while the populist Independents and the left-wing Free List won a total of six additional seats.

Main parties criticised

The Independents have criticised the two mainstream parties for dividing Liechtenstein among themselves.

Whatever the outcome, the Liechtenstein royal family will continue to wield ultimate authority. The regent, Prince Alois, has the power to suspend parliament and dismiss the government, and he can veto bills.

The royal familys political power is backed by financial muscle.

They own the LGT, the worlds largest family-held private bank, which manages assets totalling 143bn Swiss francs ($144bn).
Nasser Bourita says Rabat will never change stance that Western Sahara is an integral part of its territory.

Morocco will never recognise Western Saharas independence despite rejoining the African Union after a decades-long dispute over the territory, Nasser Bourita, Moroccos deputy foreign minister said.

Last Monday, the AU approved Moroccos re-entry into the bloc which it quit in 1984 in protest at the admission of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) declared by the Polisario Front at the height of a war for the territory.

Not only does Morocco not recognise  and will never recognise  this so-called entity, Bourita told website Le Desk in an interview on Sunday.

It will [also] redouble its efforts so the small minority of countries, particularly African, which recognise it, change their positions.

AU membership would not change Moroccos stance that the Western Sahara is an integral part of its territory, he said.

READ MORE: Moroccans have lost trust in their politicians

Mondays summit in Addis Ababa followed an intense diplomatic battle with the Polisarios backers, led by Algeria and South Africa, which opposed Morocco rejoining the AU.

Meanwhile, the head of Western Saharas Polisario Front has said all options are open in its independence struggle from Morocco, but called for talks after the kingdom rejoined the African Union.

Polisario head and SADR president Brahim Ghali told AFP in an interview on Sunday that the move did not fundamentally change the situation.

We always look for the peaceful way to resolve the conflict, Ghali told AFP at a Sahrawi refugee camp in Tindouf, southwestern Algeria.

But all options remain open, he said, hinting that a return to armed struggle was possible.

READ MORE: Making sense of the recent tension in Western Sahara

Thousands of Sahrawis are settled in five camps around Tindouf, where they receive aid from UN agencies and international NGOs.

Efforts to reach a negotiated solution for the territory have borne little fruit.

Ghali, who took over as leader of the Algeria-backed Polisario on the death of his predecessor Mohamed Abdelaziz in May 2016, said he hoped new UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will push for a return to talks.

We hope that he will have the necessary support of the Security Council to lead the negotiations that will enable the self-determination of our people, Ghali said.

A UN peacekeeping force, United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), was set up in 1991 to monitor the ceasefire and organise a poll on the future of the territory.

The SADR, which remains a member of the AU, demands independence and a UN-supervised referendum to resolve the conflict.

Morocco, which controls 90 percent of the territory including its three main towns, insists it is an integral part of the kingdom and that only autonomy is on the table.
The 23rd annual Chippewa Valley Rally made its way down to Madison on Jan. 25 and overcame the bad weathers attempts to stop it. The Rally, which has been happening annually since 1994, is an event that strengthens relationships between state legislators and leaders from our region. Community representatives and local business leaders from the area including Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls and Menomonie came down to discuss important regional and state matters with legislators from all across Wisconsin, state agency leaders and Gov. Scott Walker. I look forward to this event each year because it gives me a chance to meet some wonderful, motivated constituents who give their time to improve our community.

One of the issues that the Chippewa Valley Rally participants shed light on was access to broadband in rural areas. There are still many places, particularly in our area, that do not have access to affordable broadband internet. Access to high speed internet in a world full of technology is crucial for staying connected with people, staying up on the news and taking advantage of educational opportunities. Gov. Walker supports increasing access to faster internet to help aid people in rural parts of the state find jobs and use the resources found on the internet to learn new skills to help them in their job hunt.

Another issue discussed at the Rally is strengthening the workforce in our region. The governor has said that one of his top priorities for this legislative session is to continue developing Wisconsins workforce. The effort includes studying the different trades and skills that our state needs, providing appropriate training programs, and improving job availability. As recently as December 2013, the unemployment rate for the state was 6.1 percent. In December 2016, the rate had decreased to 4 percent statewide. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for the Eau Claire area decreased from 5.4 percent to 3.7 percent during the same time frame. While this is great news, there is still room for improvements for Wisconsins workforce. I look forward to working with the governor this session as we address these issues.

Transportation funding was also a concern of the Rally members, and this is something my colleagues and I are eager to address this session. The Legislative Audit Bureau recently released an audit of the state highway program that revealed state road conditions have been steadily declining since 2010 and that the Department of Transportation could do better when it comes to managing some of their project funds.

After the batch of storms that hit our area last summer, a number of roads had to be closed because of washed out culverts and pavement damage. Unfortunately, these costly unplanned repairs combined with ongoing maintenance make the already difficult task of keeping our roads in good condition even harder. With the governor presenting his 2017-18 budget on Feb. 8, legislators are looking to find a long-term solution to transportation funding that is the least disruptive for the taxpayers in our state.

While I meet with constituents regularly, both in the district and when I am in Madison, the Chippewa Valley Rally is always a great opportunity to talk to so many people at once and show off all of the great things about the Chippewa Valley to my colleagues in Madison. I am already looking forward to visiting with folks from the eastern side of my district when they come to the Capitol for Centergy in March. Every part of my district has its own unique issues, but I expect that they too will be interested in topics important across Wisconsin, like better broadband access, worker training and finding solutions for our transportation budget. The Rally participants made a fantastic impression while they were down here, and I am proud to represent them and the Chippewa Valley.
Presidents office slams criticism by Catholic Church, which says killing people is not the answer to drug trafficking.

The Philippines Catholic Church has blasted President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs for creating a reign of terror.

In its most strongly worded attack yet on the crackdown on drug pushers and users, the powerful Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said killing people was not the answer to trafficking of illegal drugs.

The Church said, in a pastoral letter that will be read out in sermons on Sunday, it was disturbing that many did not care about the bloodshed, or even approved of it.

An even greater cause of concern is the indifference of many to this kind of wrong. It is considered as normal, and, even worse, something that [according to them] needs to be done, the bishops said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Reuters news agency.

An additional cause of concern is the reign of terror in many places of the poor. Many are killed not because of drugs. Those who kill them are not brought to account, they said.

Dutertes office strikes back

The presidential palace on Sunday lashed back at the Church for the letter, blaming it for being apparently out of touch with the wishes of those who back the changes introduced by Duterte.

The efforts of these church leaders might be put to better use in practical catechetics that build strong moral character among the faithful, and so contribute more to the reign of peace felt by ordinary citizens everywhere, especially those who are innocent of illegal activities, Ernesto Abella, presidential spokesman, was quoted as saying by Philippine media.

INTERACTIVE: Whos liable for the mounting death toll?

The Catholic Church, to which more than 80 percent of Filipinos belong, has earned the ire of Duterte after bishops criticised the spate of killings linked to the presidents narcotics crackdown.

More than 7,600 people have been killed since Duterte launched his anti-drugs campaign seven months ago, more than 2,500 in what police say were armed clashes during raids and sting operations.

Both the government and police have strenuously denied that extrajudicial killings have taken place.
Mass rallies persist nationwide despite scrapping of contentious decree that decriminalised some corruption offences.

An estimated 500,000 Romanians, including more than 200,000 in the capital, Bucharest, rallied on Sunday despite a government climbdown over a contentious corruption decree in the face of week-long mass demonstrations.

Fulfilling a promise made late on Saturday, the government announced on Sunday it had approved the withdrawal of controversial executive order that would have decriminalised certain grant offences and protected politicians from prosecution.





The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu had originally approved the ordinance late on Tuesday, with no input from the countrys parliament, sparking the biggest demonstrations in the country in decades.

After repealing the decree, Grindeanu asked the justice minister to prepare a draft law to be sent to parliament for debate and approval.

The centre-left Social Democratic Party has a parliamentary majority with a junior partner. President Klaus Iohannis, who is expected to speak later on Sunday, then needs to sign off on the legislation.

READ MORE: Romanian minister resigns after anti-graft protests

Yet, the announcement did not stop demonstrators from gathering for a sixth consecutive day, as massive crowds poured into Bucharests Victory Square to protest against what they deem an alarming retreat in the countrys fight against corruption.

It has gone, the amendments are history, but the protesters are still not trusting the prime minister, Al Jazeeras David Chater, reporting from the capital, Bucharest, said.

Chater said demonstrators were questioning Grindeanus competence, calling for him and his government to go.

Why did he try and rush through this legislation? What else will happen? They [protesters] are not happy with the way things are going, Chater said.

They want the government and the prime minister to step down, he added. They want a clear democratic transparent government and theyre making sure that their protest is heard.

Chater said more than 200,000 people had gathered in the Bucharest protest.

Its going to be a record turnout across the country. Its already approaching half a million.

Later, on Sunday, local broadcasters also reported that about 500,000 protesters had taken to the streets nationwide, including 40,000 in Timisoara and 45,000 in Cluj-Napoca, as well as in a string other cities and towns.

OPINION: Romania  Keep the corrupt in jail, where they belong

Grindeanu said on Saturday he would scrap the measure, as requested by Iohannis, as he did not want to divide Romania.

The decree was to make abuse of power a crime only punishable by jail if the sums involved exceeded 200,000 lei ($47,500).

Grindeanus government said it would align the penal code with the constitution, but critics saw it as a clear attempt by the ruling party to let off many of its own officials and policy makers.

The street protests have been on a scale not seen since the fall of communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.
Scores of people have been killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by heavy snow and avalanches that hit mountainous areas in the region, officials said.

More than 100 people have been killed across Afghanistan, including 50 in Nuristan province, officials said Sunday, warning the death toll could rise still further.

At least 54 people were killed in northern and central Afghan provinces, officials told AFP news agency, with massive avalanches destroying 168 houses and killing hundreds of cattle.

Dozens more remain missing, the provincial governor, Hafiz Abdul Qayum, told Al Jazeera on Sunday.

Most affected are women and children, he said, adding that many houses collapsed, killing at least five people and leaving many families without shelter.

The area is completely blocked because of snow so it is very difficult for us to send support, but we are trying our best.

Qayum said local rescue operations continued at the site, adding the death toll might increase.

The government declared Sunday, a normal working day in Afghanistan, to be a public holiday to deter non-essential travel and ensure schools were closed.

Avalanches in Pakistans Chitral

In neighbouring Pakistan, at least 13 people, including three children, were killed early on Sunday morning when an avalanche in the northwestern Chitral district destroyed 22 houses, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said in a statement.

Rescue operations at the site have finished for now, Gul Hammad Farooqi, a local journalist in Chitral, told Al Jazeera.

They were carried out by the local population, because no one was able to reach the site, even by helicopter.

Roads to the remote Shershal village, where the avalanche occurred, remained blocked due to the snowfall, and rescue crews were forced to rush to the surrounding areas by helicopter, the NDMA said.

In a separate incident in the Chitral region, a paramilitary soldier was killed and six others were injured when their post collapsed under an avalanche in the Pisotan area, Pakistans military said in a statement.

The surviving soldiers had been rescued, it added.

Parts of the Chitral valley received more than five feet of snow in the previous 24 hours, the Pakistan Meteorological Department said in a statement on Sunday, with scattered snowfall forecast for Monday.

Transport networks affected

The snow also wreaked havoc on major roads in Afghanistan, including the main Kabul-Kandahar highway, where police and soldiers rescued passengers in about 250 vehicles trapped by the storm, said Jawed Salangi, a spokesman for Ghazni province.

The Salang pass, north of Kabul, was also closed under as much as two and a half metres of snow, officials said.

In Pakistan, all inter-district roads in Chitral were closed, while a major highway linking Chitral to the Dir district and another linking parts of the upper Swat valley were only open to traffic under restrictions, NDMA said.

With additional reporting by Al Jazeeras Asad Hashim in Islamabad.
Government struggling to reign in violence in remote areas, facing raiders armed with guns and machetes.

Rumbek  For centuries, cattle raiding has been a problem among pastoralist communities in South Sudan.

And years of conflict have made the stealing raids even more dangerous, with young raiders using guns and machetes.

Local organisations say more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in cattle raids since South Sudan gained its independence in 2011.

READ MORE: South Sudanese wrestlers keep cattle safe

The violence has seen villages destroyed, women abducted and lives lost.

Our children are being killed, Rebeca Apien, a villager, told Al Jazeera. We used to live in cattle camps with our children but now were losing them because of the raids.

With a population estimated to be more than the number of civilians in the country, cows are considered a walking wealth, especially among herding communities.

Organisations expect the raids to increase with the approach of the dry season.

The government says it is trying to stop the violence, but acknowledges that it is struggling.

Since most of the cattle communities are located in remote areas, interventions are often hindered by access and the threat of firearms.

The number of firearms being owned by the communities or the civilians is more than the number of firearms we have, Major General Nichola Dimo, Rumbek police commissioner, said.

There are a lot of youth armed, well-armed. A single police or two squads cannot handle the issue.


Around 820 detained in nationwide operations, according to state media, in Turkeys biggest roundup targeting the group.

Turkish police have detained hundreds of suspected ISIL members in nationwide raids, according to state media, in the largest operations in the country to target the armed group.

About 820 suspects, most of them foreign nationals, were arrested in at least 29 provinces, including capital Ankara and southeastern provinces, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Operations took place on Sunday and Monday.

This is the largest coordinated and simultaneous raids that Turkey has taken out on what it says are suspected members of ISIL across the country, Al Jazeeras Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Gaziantep, said.

READ MORE: Turkey, US-coalition jets kill 47 ISIL fighters

She added that the operation signalled Turkeys clear intentions to give a message that it is clamping down on the armed group.





Turkey has suffered multiple attacks either claimed by ISIL or inspired by it, Dekker said.

The Turkish government holds ISIL, which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and is also known as ISIS, responsible for several attacks in Turkey.

Most recently, ISIL claimed responsibility for a New Years Eve attack on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul in which 39 people were killed.

Police arrested the suspected attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, on January 16 and authorities say he has confessed to the massacre.

Turkish troops are also engaged in battles against ISIL fighters in the Syrian town of al-Bab, in the fiercest fighting yet of Ankaras militarys campaign inside Syria that started in August.

At least 48 Turkish soldiers have been killed in the incursion so far, according to an AFP news agency tally.
Thousands without heating or electricity in town of Avdiivka as Ukrainian troops and rebels remain locked in fighting.

Thousands of civilians are living in desperate conditions without heating and electricity in the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka as clashes between government forces and pro-Russian rebels intensify.

The warring sides have been locked in heavy battles for control of the government-held town for days, with each side accusing the other of launching attacks and firing heavy artillery in violation of a two-year truce agreement.





The Ukrainian army said on Saturday that one of its soldiers had been killed in the clashes that have claimed the lives of at least 35 people in the past week.

The rebels agreed with Russia and Ukraine, on Wednesday, to agree to the calls for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the flashpoint town of Avdiivka by Sunday.

But the demand for the fighting to stop has not halted the violence and so far there are few signs of the big guns being pulled back from around the town of 25,000, just five kilometres north of the rebels de facto capital of Donetsk .

On Saturday, a rebel military commander was also killed in a car bombing that appeared to have been linked to an internal dispute over power and unrelated to the ongoing fighting.

IN PICTURES: Ukraines angry volunteer brigades at the war front

The clashes have damaged infrastructure and left residents without water and electricity amid freezing conditions, with temperatures plunging to -20C at night.

Girgi Nikiforov, an elderly resident who has had no heating for days, said the situation was dire.

Lately, there has been shelling from that side, he said, pointing to rebel-held areas. Our building was hit. The situation has been terrible for so long and it is especially tense now.

Olga, an Avdiivka resident, told Al Jazeera that many of the buildings bore the scars of war and death.

I was sitting on the sofa listening to the radio  suddenly there was a huge explosion  it was like everything went into slow motion. The windows were smashed in, she said.

Later, there was a second explosion which was so loud we lost our hearing for a few seconds. A shell had hit the fourth floor. Thank God, the people who own it werent there at the time. Otherwise, we would have had to dig them from under the rubble.

Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford, reporting from the town, said that, with rebel positions only a few kilometres away, there was no safe place for the people to seek refuge.

A government agency has set up a camp with a soup kitchen and tents to keep residents warm amid the desperately cold weather, he said.

Inside the tents, however, people say more government help is needed.

READ MORE: Mothers in search of disappeared sons

Ludmilla Voronina, an elderly woman from the area, told Al Jazeera: I have no job and no pension, so how can I live? I tried to pick up aid but it was so crowded, I couldnt get anything.

Ukraine has been fighting pro-Russian rebels since early 2014 when mass protests brought down a pro-Russian government and replaced it with one seeking closer ties with the EU and US.

Kiev accuses Moscow of direct military involvement in the conflict, as well as military support for the rebels.

The Kremlin denies backing the rebels and only admits that Russian volunteers and off-duty soldiers have entered the war zone on their own free will.

The conflict has killed nearly 10,000 people since 2014, more than half of them civilians, and plunged Moscows relations with the West to a post-Cold War low.
Pro-Russian separatists and government troops blame each other for increasing ceasefire violations.

In the past week, eastern Ukraine has suffered some of the heaviest fighting seen for a long time.

Heavy artillery fire, a car bomb explosion and other ceasefire violations coincided with a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart.

The two leaders discussed how to mend relations between the US and Russia.

US senators and analysts are wondering whether the surge in fighting is the Kremlin testing the water with the new US president.

Ukrainian government leaders and pro-Russia separatist rebels are blaming each other for the ceasefire violations.

Trump phoned Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and promised to restore peace.

But between commitments to support the Ukrainian leadership in Kiev and improving relations with Putin, it remains to be seen what Trump will do.

So, will he be able to restore calm in Ukraine?

Presenter: Jane Dutton

Guests:

Olexiy Haran; Professor Of Comparative Politics, University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Sergei Markov; Former spokesman for President Vladimir Putin and Director of the Institute of Political Studies

Lilit Gevorgyan; IHS Global Insight analyst specialising in relations between Russia and Ukraine
Not since Hannah Arendts portrait of Adolf Eichmann has there been a more provocative analysis of evil as that provided in Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleers detailing the crimes, trial, and personality of Dr. Kermit Gosnell -- Gosnell: The Untold Story of Americas Most Prolific Serial Killer (Regnery Publishing),

Banality was the word Arendt chose for Eichmanns bureaucratic officiousness in the Third Reichs Ministry of Death. That term, however, hardly fits the acts of a self-assured abortionist who regularly snipped the spinal cords of babies born alive, kept infants feet as trophies, ran an illegal prescription drug mill, and hired assistants who were totally unqualified to perform medical duties in a filthy, ramshackle facility. But whats surprising about Gosnell is that his greed and macabre callousness existed alongside an often cheerful disposition that accompanied various acts of charity. Consequently, Gosnell had a good reputation among much of the poor community he both served and exploited.

Additionally, the authors prison interview with Gosnell gives the impression of a self-confident individual with at least moderate intellectual and artistic talent -- a man with a positive outlook on the future who enjoyed traveling abroad, namedropping (he was a friend of slain late-term abortionist, George Tiller), and playing Chopin on the piano. Nevertheless, Gosnell clearly overestimated his professional and intellectual abilities as indicated by his desire to represent himself in the trial at which he was ultimately found guilty on three counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison -- a sentence the doctor is confident will one day be overturned.

The term banality does comport, however, with the lassitude and indifference displayed by Pennsylvanias abortion-oversight bureaucracy -- whose officials were all too willing to forego inspections, let gross violations slide, and dismiss even complaints associated with the deaths of two women Gosnell treated. Pennsylvanias pro-choice Republican governor, Tom Ridge, comes in for special criticism by the authors for his hands-off policy vis-a-vis facility inspections -- though they also note that the states bureaucratic malfeasance extended well beyond Ridges tenure.

Accordingly, Gosnells late-term abortion house of horrors was exposed not by folks charged with the responsibility of making abortions safe, but rather by a cop investigating the source of some illegal prescription drugs. The unsanitary conditions in Gosnells Womens Medical Society clinic -- e.g. cat feces, urine stench, milk jugs stuffed with aborted baby parts -- raised enough concerns to begin a probe of Gosnells official practice.

The death of another patient opened additional investigatory doors. This immigrant from Bhutan (mislabeled the Indian woman by Gosnell) had the misfortune of being heavily anesthetized by one of Gosnells unqualified assistants who took orders over the phone from the absent doctor. Lies told by Gosnell and his staff about the treatment of Karnamaya Mongar didnt deflect Detective Jim Wood and district attorneys from finally attempting to determine how far Gosnell had gone beyond the illegal distribution of prescription drugs.

Eventually the prosecution brought seven murder charges against Gosnell for killing live babies plus another charge for Mongars death. Though the practice of snipping the spinal cords of late-term babies was common at Gosnells clinic, the prosecution required clear evidence that infants long since deceased had actually been alive before being murdered. However, since there was no other logical reason for utilizing this unusual procedure on aborted fetuses, the authors estimate that Gosnell, who specialized in late-term abortions, killed hundreds and possibly thousands of live babies over the decades.

McElhinney and McAleers work provides an extensive account of Gosnells defense, presented by one of the states premier attorneys, Jack McMahon. McMahons cross examination of a prosecution witness who occasionally performed legal abortions at a prestigious hospital contains some of the most damning testimony in the book. The defense lawyer argued skillfully that there is precious little difference between what Gosnell is accused of doing to live babies at his poor community facility and the legal approach to a live fetus (i.e. baby) after an attempted abortion in an upscale hospital. In the halting words of a respected female physician, they would just keep it warm you know. It will eventually pass.

The book also highlights other legal absurdities. In Pennsylvania, for example, it is legal to abort a fetus at 23 weeks and six days, even a minute before day seven, but it is a crime to carry out the same abortion a minute later -- a distinction akin to legally sucking the brain out of a baby a few inches before it exits the womb or illegally snipping its spinal cord moments later. Ironically, Gosnell, who regularly manipulated ultrasound data to fit abortions within the states legal limit, appears to have believed Pennsylvania permitted abortions up to 24 and a half weeks, as his incomplete and often inaccurate records regularly noted the age of late-term fetuses as 24.5 weeks.

Given the brutal nature of late-term abortions, its hardly surprising that our pro-choice national press devoted minimal time to Gosnells trial. After all, wall-to-wall coverage would doubtless raise profound questions about the morality of abortion and especially late-term abortions -- as it did with Gosnells pro-choice jury and the books once pro-choice author, Ann McElhinney. Only a prominent USA Today editorial penned by the Daily Beasts Kirsten Powers prodded mainstream journalists into providing slightly more coverage.

This gripping and detailed book about Gosnell is a further attempt by McElhinny and McAleer to remedy that widespread media blackout. In the near future, the same husband-wife team will release a feature-length film to further publicize the largely suppressed truth about Americas Most Prolific Serial Killer.

When one considers what this book reveals about the gruesome details, moral incoherence, and institutional trappings surrounding late-term abortions, it becomes easier to see how an arrogant, controlling doctor like Kermit Gosnell could continue for decades cheerfully snipping live babies spinal cords and committing medical malpractice on a grand scale. After all, Gosnell is precisely the type of person who would be drawn to such a macabre specialty, all the while deeming his den of depravity a service to the community.

Richard Kirk is a freelance writer living in Southern California. Opinion columnist for the North County Times (1996-2012); online reviews: http://spectator.org/people/richard-kirk/all; blog: http://musingwithahammerkirk.blogspot.com/
The following editorial was published in Sundays La Crosse Tribune.

A group of Wisconsin legislators is circulating a bill that aims to take public notices out of newspapers and put them instead on government websites  a bad idea that would harm transparency, democracy and public trust.

For more than two centuries, governments in this country have paid newspapers to publish public notices about the actions of government.

Without a third-party, independent source providing the information, there is no accountability, no check-and-balance to make sure that government is posting all the public notices it is required by law to post.

Besides, relatively few people actually use government websites compared to newspaper websites  and relying exclusively on individual government websites does nothing for people who dont use computers.

Most Wisconsin residents continue to rely on the printed newspaper for information about their local elected governments, as they have for decades.

For those who choose not to use computers, it remains the best source.

For those who use computers, theres already an invaluable resource at your fingertips.

Since 2005, newspapers in Wisconsin have been digitally archiving every public notice published in every newspaper in our state every day. Today, there is a database with more than a decade worth of information posted on a website thats free to use, 24/7: www.WisconsinPublicNotices.org.

Wisconsin newspapers collect that information daily, archive and maintain it free of charge. That database is very user-friendly  searchable by city, county, newspaper, Zip code and key word.

This service is provided to citizens, courts and local government free of charge because newspapers in Wisconsin have made a substantial investment to provide and maintain the service for the sake of transparency and public trust.

Businesses throughout the state use www.WisconsinPublicNotices.org to learn about projects they may wish to bid on. Just ask a contractor how efficient it would be to  every day  log onto the website of every local government in Wisconsin. Eliminating the usefulness of that website wouldnt be good for business in our state.

So, is this a big money-maker for newspapers  and are newspapers gouging government by charging an exorbitant rate for publishing notices?

That rate barely covers the cost of processing and printing the information. Besides, the rate is regulated by the state  the Department of Administration, to be specific. Most states dont regulate the rate that newspapers can charge for the service.

To give you an idea how regulated the process is in Wisconsin, just look at the portion of the statute that regulates the type used to print notices: All legal notices shall be in Arial type face. A standard line shall be 6-point leading without spacing between the lines, and 11 picas in length.

In fact, it was the newspaper industry in Wisconsin that agreed on a standard type face to help the DOA cut down on its administrative workload. The Wisconsin Legislature approved of that streamlining without opposition in 2012.

The process of publishing public notices is more regulated in Wisconsin than in most states. With that said, only one state  Utah  briefly eliminated the requirement of publication, and it was a failure.

Its also important to note that government isnt the sole bearer of the cost of publishing legal notices. In many cases, the cost is passed along by the government agency to those who are seeking government action.

As Beth Bennett, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, has testified: A notice for a new license is passed along to the new licensee. Foreclosure notices are assumed by the banks and the attorneys handling the foreclosure. Court notices are passed along by the courts to the subject of the legal matter; and in many instances, public notices are required to be placed by John Q. Citizen who pays directly for the publication of the notice. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has such notices.

Taking public notices out of newspapers is just another attempt by government officials to curb government transparency in Wisconsin.
Conservatives are torn these days. We wake up happy and excited to read the headlines and see what great new thing Trump has done. Then we're hit with images of thugs in black masks beating up Trump supporters. It is very disturbing.

Democrats are scared stiff that Trump's sensible, practical polices will make our country safer, boost our economy, and deliver jobs to blacks and millennials. That's why they are running around in pink hats and black masks, beating dissenters up literally or verbally.

Democrats are rejecting the heart of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power via the ballot box.

Democrat leaders says Trump has no right to enact the conservative policies we voted for, that our election victory is illegitimate. They have embraced violence and violent rhetoric. In Congress, senators boycotted committee meetings, forcing an emergency rule to move nominations forward. Progressives are training government employees in passive resistance. That will create another confrontation. There is talk of impeachment before Trump is in office two weeks.

This is not the 1960s. This is not a mass movement protesting an unpopular war or supporting civil rights legislation. We have Obama's community agitation, not Martin Luther King's nonviolent resistance.



Via powerlineblog, The Week in Pictures.

It is hard to claim the moral high ground when men in black masks beat a Trump supporter unconscious, sending him to the hospital with a concussion. They are "protesting" Americans' right to vet Syrian refugees.

The professional agitators at Berkeley didn't stop with setting things on fire. They, too, bloodied Trump supporters, including women, beating them with poles. They are "protesting" Republican students' right to listen to a speaker of their choice.

These ugly assaults are live-streamed and go viral. Do Democrats really think this will hurt Trump and not them?

Oddly, the answer is yes.

V.P. candidate Tim Kaine called for fighting in the streets, and former President Barack Obama praised the black-masked pro-Syrian protesters' "level of engagement" and declared through his spokesman that this is "exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake." Obama previously told reporters that he and Michelle will be devoting themselves to funding, training, and organizing left-wing agitators  what he calls community activists. As a supporter of Black Lives Matter and the international BDS movement, mob violence is precisely Obama's definition of democracy in action.

Democrats are not trying to win people to their side. Their strategy has four strategic goals: keep their followers in line, shut conservatives up, make Trump seem extreme, and provoke a national crisis. They have ambitious goals. They hope to end Trump's presidency.

It is evident that the left, with the active cooperation of the news media, wishes to drive Trump from office. Nothing will sate the left or get them to calm down into a recognizably responsible opposition force. And why shouldn't the left think this can succeed? It has worked before. They bagged two presidents in succession back in the 1960s and 1970s  Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

First, progressive violence reinforces the messages of identity politics, to keep their side from hemorrhaging support. Identity politics is pandering, yes, promising special treatment for special groups, but it is also a control mechanism. Are you one of the kind, caring Democrats, or not? Moderate Democrats actually like Trump's ideas on immigration, but they can't picture themselves switching over and joining the mean, racist Republicans. It's not who they are, and their friends would freak out. Demonization works in reinforcing bonds of identification.

Second, Democrats liked it better before Trump, when conservatives kept their heads down and their mouths shut. The violence is meant to silence and intimidate us. Will people start thinking twice about putting on a MAGA hat? Ask any conservative black or Jew or college kid how comfortable it is for him to express himself among liberal friends. You need a backbone of steel to do it.

Democrat power relies on millions of unpaid thought police. Democrats demonize and bully their conservative friends on social media, in personal conversations, at family dinners. Sportscasting is now part of the social bullying. Hollywood is doubling down. The escalation into violence against Trump and his supporters encourages the bullying to continue.

Third, violent speech and actions by Democrats are meant to define Trump's policies as abnormal. See all the violence Trump's extreme policies are creating? Pay no attention to your own thoughts that vetting Muslims from jihadi countries makes sense, or that Trump's focus on job creation is appealing. Even iconic liberals like Bill Maher and Sam Harris are straying off the reservation and openly saying Obama's Muslim immigration and refugee policy was nuts.

Maher then stated, "But also, you're not automatically a racist if you have concerns about assimilation." Harris agreed, adding, "[Y]ou don't have to be a fascist, or a racist, or, even a Trumpian to not want to import people into your society who think cartoonists should be killed for drawing the prophet, right? That's a totally rational thing not to want, and the left has been demonizing anyone who will talk about this."

The fourth strategic goal: provoke a national crisis. Democrats seem to be doing their best to provoke a law and order reaction and get some video that will bring down Trump: police in riot gear mowing down the violent protesters. I imagine them thinking hopefully of a dead co-ed, a repeat of the tragedy at Kent State. If Democrats can provoke a police overreaction, they could set off riots. More people will be hurt and killed, but it will be good politically.

Democrats usually signal their Machiavellian intentions well in advance. The meme this week over the 120-day visa halt was "constitutional crisis." Trump will have to watch his every step, because Democrats with pitchforks are waiting to get him. They are not giving up power peacefully.

"We are here tonight because it is a constitutional crisis," said Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren at a protest outside the Supreme Court Monday night. "A constitutional crisis," said Democratic Sen. Cory Booker as he joined demonstrators at Dulles Airport Saturday night. "A constitutional crisis," said Virginia Democratic Rep. Don Beyer when he arrived at Dulles Sunday.

Meanwhile, conservatives are still breaking open bottles of champagne with friends and toasting our new president. We can't believe how just plain impressive his nominations have been. Trump and his Cabinet and Supreme Court pick seem committed to shrinking government overreach and returning America to fiscal sanity and constitutional limits. The stock market is booming, even unions are happy, and business has regained confidence. Jihadis are no longer welcome into our country, and the Iranians and Chinese and Russians are being put on notice their military adventurism will no longer be condoned. Everywhere we look, Trump is keeping his campaign promises and more, doing so in a better way than we ever dared hope.

This is a happy moment for us and for our country, a time of great promise.

Trump will continue fighting Democrat obstructionism, politically and in the courts, while forging ahead with his own constructive policies. The more successful he is, the more Democrats will foment violence.

Some Americans will end up hurt, beat up, and perhaps worse. Democrats don't care. Republicans are non-persons; their bloodied faces and concussions are acceptable collateral damage for Democrat power politics. Our police will eventually have to get involved, and confrontations will escalate.

We booted the Democrats out of office, and they are kicking us back  not metaphorically, but with bricks and sticks and firebombs. This is not responsible leadership. Democrats' violent refusal to accept their loss of the presidency and Congress should be a national scandal.
President Trumps recent statement that settlements might not be "helpful" for peace shows that he may be falling for the same misconceptions that have governed American policy on both sides of the aisle toward Israel for decades. From Condoleezza Rice on the right, to Obama on the left, there has been a remarkable sharing of misguided assumptions when it comes to Israel.

These assumptions can be summed up as:

1) Creation of two states out of Israel and the West Bank -- one Palestinian and the other Israeli -- is the only solution that will be fair and that can bring peace.

2) Those two states must be along the 1948 borders with a land swap here or there for a viable state of Palestine.

3) If Israel settles beyond the 1948 borders, it may become impossible to create a viable Palestinian State and there will be no peace without a viable Palestinian state.

4) The root of the problem is land, if the Palestinians have enough land for a state, there will be peace.

If these assumptions were correct, then policies based on those assumptions should make the area more peaceful. The Oslo Accords, in which Israel turned 98% of the land inhabited by the Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria over to the Palestinian Authority, should have brought an era of peace and harmony. Likewise, when Israel forcibly evicted Jewish residents of Gaza and turned their lands over to the Palestinians for peace, peace should have come to Gaza.

Instead, the Oslo Accords brought a reign of terror to Israel. The land Jews were removed from in Gaza was used to shoot rockets at Israeli civilians.

The great chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov once said about Rices policies: Sooner or later, you have to look at the consequences of your policies. American peacemaking policies in the Middle East have failed, yet American politicians never let go of their assumptions - which are wrong.

The problem is not that the Palestinians dont have a state. There are already four Palestinian States. They include Jordan, the area controlled by the Palestinian Authority, the area controlled by Hamas, and Israel, as explained in the article The Four State Solution.

The state of Jordan was carved out by the British from three quarters of the original Jewish National Home proposed in the 1917 Balfour Declaration. Jordan's then-King Hussein said in 1981 that The truth is that Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan. The Eighth Palestnian National Congress declared that Jordan is linked to Palestine by a national relationship and a national unity forged by history and culture from earliest times. The creation of one political entity in east Jordan and another in Palestine would have no basis either in legality or as to the elements universally accepted as fundamental to a political entity.

The problem is not that the Palestinians dont have a state, the problem is the Islamic imperative to wage jihad against the infidel, especially the killer of prophets, the Jewish infidel. From the Islamic perspective, Israel rules over Muslims when Muslims should rule over Jews and jihad must be waged until this outrage is rectified. The end goal of the Muslims is for Palestine to be free from the river to the sea as they chant at anti-Israel demonstrations. That is a euphemism for driving Israel into the sea. The freedom part is propaganda as the Muslims living as citizens in Israel are far freer than their counterparts who live under the heel of the Palestinian Authority or Hamas.

When one recognizes the root of the conflict, it becomes clear why territorial concessions have failed and have in fact made things worse. Territorial concessions whet the Arab appetite. They show the Arabs that their goals are achievable and encourage them to keep on the pressure with more and more terror attacks.

That raises an interesting question. What if the Israelis responded to terrorist attacks by building new settlements. Then the Arabs would learn that terror attacks are counterproductive and might have an incentive to stop them. This is the exact opposite of the policies that the world and even the U.S. have pressured Israel into carrying out. Perhaps instead of appeasement, Israel should be engaging in deterrence.

Moshe Dayan, one of the great generals of Israel, gave a speech to volunteers of the RAFI political party, stating:

The essence of Israel's security in this region (Middle East) is deterrence. When we formed the State in 1948-9, we were very weak. The Arab States had planes, tanks, heavy artillery and many more soldiers than us. We had very little heavy military equipment. In the period 1949-55, we absorbed almost a million immigrants. Tent cities sprung up all over the country. We were totally disorganized. Had the Arabs mounted another major invasion, we could have lost. We devised a solution to this problem. It was deterrence. Think about being lost in a forest and surrounded by hostile animals. If you light a torch, boldly approach them showing no fear -- they will retreat. But, if you show fear -- they will attack and you are lost. We used this principle to save Israel during those early years. Every time we were attacked, we retaliated ten-fold. We showed daring and penetrated deep within their borders to attack our targets... You know the result. The Arabs were afraid and never attacked. Deterrence worked.

Land for peace has failed over and over again. Perhaps the time has come to deter the Arabs from engaging in violence. Perhaps the time has come for building settlements for peace.
In Imperial China, the palace eunuchs were given cups (paos) in which their external genitalia were preserved in alcohol. Watching the once docile and obedient to Obama press continuing their rage at the new order reminded my friend Thomas Lipscomb of the scene in the movie The Last Emperor when the exiled eunuchs proceed to demonstrate their anguish by waving their mummified masculinity and howling. I cannot think of a better analogy to this weeks continuing media meltdown.

I cannot begin to list all the fabrications being peddled by the now out of favor and all but exiled mainstream media this pa st week. John Nolte published a list of fake news by the national media as of January 25 and this week followed up with another list of the biggest lies for the ensuing week. If you read a newspaper or watched TV newscasts, you might want to read his dissection and links lest you remain forever misled. Paraphrased in short form, here are some of the most significant:

The entire media lied about Trumps immigration suspension being a Moslem Ban

Time magazine blamed its misreporting on Trumps Executive orders on Trump.

The Washington Posts Glenn Kessler called on foreign service officers to sign a dissent memo which was then used as an anti-Trump story.

The media has omitted informing its audience of the documented threats from foreign-born immigrants. AP misled readers into thinking that Trumps vote fraud expert committed fraud because his name appears on registrations in three states.

They falsely reported that former Vice-President Cheney had criticized Trump for his refugee pause. They reported the refugee pause was occasioned by Trumps business interests, when, in fact, the list of countries to which the pause applied had been prepared by the Obama administration. They concocted and spread the fairytale that refugee pauses create terrorists. They spread the lie that the son of Trumps National Security Adviser had characterized the pause as a Muslim ban

They falsely reported that there was a mass exodus of senior Foreign Service officers at the State Department when in fact the resignations had been asked for, standard procedure when administrations change.

The NYTs Maggie Haberman falsely claimed that only the San Bernardino shootings involved a Non-US-born attacker. The media lied when they claimed Obama did not discriminate against Christian refugees. They lied when they published that Trump had installed a gag order against the EPA, ignoring that the directives were standard operating procedure during a change in administrations. They covered up and lied about Obamas 2011 refugee ban from Iraq and pretended it was different than Trumps. Covering Prime Minister Mays visit, the Washington Post published an anti-Trump editorial as a news story. NBCs Chuck Todd admitted that reporters knew how unpopular Hillary was in the Midwest and covered it up because it would be sexist to tell the truth. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in 2016 that the murder rate there was increasing and when Trump agreed with him they called him a liar. The Atlantic published a fake story advancing the pro-abortion narrative by dehumanizing the unborn and has been forced to publish repeated corrections to the multiple clear errors in it. The media continues to demonize and lie about Steve Bannon, a key Trump adviser. ABC cut out of its official transcript Trumps criticism of the media for underplaying the massive crowds at the March for Life.

and has been forced to publish repeated corrections to the multiple clear errors in it. The media continues to demonize and lie about Steve Bannon, a key Trump adviser. ABC cut out of its official transcript Trumps criticism of the media for underplaying the massive crowds at the March for Life. The media consistently ignores evidence of widespread vote fraud.

Thomas Lipscomb, a former Timesman himself, took particular aim at that papers sheer lousy reporting.

In their polemic staff editorial against "President Bannon" they build up the "alt-R" fantasy issue and now have Bannon both publishing Breitbart for this MSM chimera, AND aggrandizing power in the WH for it. The NYT has yet to run an article on Alt-R and seem to think it is sufficient for their degraded paper to wave the bloody shirt. In their even worse article on the Yates firing, they still get wrong that she was NOT the only person at DOJ who could sign and carefully omit the fact that her opinion was not only not based upon any legal argument, but her own Justice Legal Review had approved the action. I have no problem with anyone being anti or pro Trump, but there are key elements of the issues that have to covered in a respectable article.

Getting little purchase in its war on Trump and Bannon, the media have targeted Trumps family as well. A boycott effort by two women has persuaded the financially troubled Nordstroms to virtue signal by dumping Ivankas clothing line. (Shoe.com, a Canadian outfit, which did the same, announced bankruptcy shortly afterward.) The Forward carried a despicable article by Peter Beinart on her husband Jared Kushner.

One might think theres a Journalism for Lying Dummies handbook theyre working from -- and this week the fairytale narrative is chaos.

Probably the worst of the stories this week are the accounts of the private phone calls between the president and the leaders of Mexico and Australia. One wonders what their sources of these private conversations were and how they got them so wrong.

The Washington Post ran an AP account which reported that Trump had threatened to invade Mexico and was forced to concede the story was not properly sourced, but not before it had been widely quoted by other media outlets: Editors note: This article has been updated and a reference to an AP report on the details of a phone conversation between President Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto removed because they could not be independently confirmed.

The account of the conversation with Australian Prime Minister Turnbull was equally suspect, but more importantly it exposed another piece of treachery by Obama and former Secretary of State John F. Kerry. The impeccable reporter Shoshana Bryen explains the underhanded post-election deal and why Trump has every reason to scotch it.

Australia wants to prevent immigrants arriving by sea and has dumped them on the islands of Nauru and Manus where they are kept in utterly appalling conditions, creating a public relations nightmare for the Australian government. Bryen writes:

In September, Turnbull agreed to resettle Central American refugees who were in a processing center in Costa Rica. At the time, Australian officials said firmly there would be no quid pro quo. "There will not be a people swap," announced Scott Ryan, a special minister of state. The American agreement to take Australian internees came two months later, providing a convenient way for Mr. Turnbull to keep his promise to his people and get rid of people who had become a public relations disaster. Then-Secretary of State John Kerry worked out the deal with Australia to "fast track" the immigrants, but did not tell Congress. In November, responding to information it received, WND reported that the chairmen of the House and Senate judiciary committees demanded details: "Congress only learned of the deal through media reports two weeks ago [November, 2016] and -- according to a letter sent to administration officials by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) -- the deal is not only a matter of grave national security concern, but it could be illegal." It would be illegal if the deal was considered a treaty negotiated by then-Secretary Kerry. According to the Constitution, it would have to have been sent to Congress for ratification. Asked if he had discussed the deal with then-candidate Donald Trump, Turnbull said, "We deal with one administration at a time and there is only one president of the United States at a time." But Donald Trump is now president and his decision appears to have left the Australian government with few choices. Asked if there was a "Plan B" for Australia, Turnbull said he was examining several options, but that Australia would not back down on its decision not to let those refugees stopped at sea enter the country: "Our expectation naturally, given the commitments that have been made, is that it will go ahead. The only option that isn't available to [the refugees] is bringing them to Australia for the obvious reasons that that would provide a signal to the people smugglers to get back into business." Whether there is an agreement to be had between the United States and Australia for the resettlement of Australia's interned population or not, it is clear that this deal had more to it than the Obama Administration -- or the Turnbull government -- wanted to admit. The United States and Australia both had reasons not to admit the migrants closest to their borders, but trading Central Americans who wanted to come to the U.S. for Muslims who wanted to reach Australian shores would allow Turnbull to keep a campaign promise and Obama to divert attention from the massive breach of America's southern border.

When news of the deal broke this week, Australians supported Trumps refusal to abide by it:

1) Chronology is important here. 1. Ten months out from U.S. presidential election, Turnbull visits U.S. He meets Hillary and snubs Trump. 2. In the weeks leading up to U.S. presidential election, Turnbull does a deal with a dead [sic] duck president. 3. Turnbull and Obama agree to not announce it (hide the deal) until the U.S. presidential election is over. They both want Hillary to get up, and the deal would be excellent ammunition for Trump in a campaign dominated by illegal immigration. 4. Trump wins. Turnbull panics. 5. Turnbull has to call Greg Norman to find out how to get in touch with Trump. 6. Turnbull announces deal publicly five days later, and before he has spoken to Trump about it. 7. Trump understandably gives him a smack down on the phone. 8. Turnbull spins the phone call, and in desperation to announce something good in his otherwise failing prime ministership, announces the deal as done. 9. Trump is annoyed that Turnbull couldnt keep quiet. Trump has been placed in a contradictory position that could damage him politically. 10. Trump gives Turnbull a smack down on Twitter, and leaks the phone call to return the favour. The problem exists because of Turnbull, and Turnbull alone.  At no point has Turnbull invested in a personal relationship with Trump. Mostly because he exists in the same elitist bubble as people who predicted a thumping Hillary win.  He did a sneaky deal with left wingers and helped hide it from voters in the U.S.  He then tried to pump his own political fortunes up and didnt care about the damage it might do to Trump. Turnbull has to go. He is damaging the Liberal party and the nation.

The now odious White House Correspondents Dinner, which for years has merely highlighted the inappropriate media-Democrat love fest, may be cancelled. And it turns out that not only did many viewers find it a distasteful show but in fact more money went to the organizer than went to fund scholarships -- its stated purpose.

Theres also a question of what the WHCA really is. According to their Form 990 filing for 2015, the not for profit group had $330,000 in expenses in 2015. Nearly half of that money -- about $145,000  went to their president, Julia Whitson, in salary. Only $86,550 went to grants to individuals like journalism students. Indeed gifts, grants and other monies received have declined sharply from $293,189 in 2010 to $63,420 in 2014. They claim total net assets of $602,550 for 2015.

In the meantime, I advise you to insert the word "not" in any story you read or hear or see from the mainstream media -- theyre just rattling their cups and wailing.
Even as his campus smoldered from the latest riots, former labor secretary Robert Reich  now the highly paid, long tenured chancellor's professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley  put in an appearance to spread his latest brand of liberal lies.

Reich, you may remember, served in the Bill Clinton administration at the behest of his old Oxford classmate and chum. Naturally, he was a huge supporter of Hillary in her latest unsuccessful bid for the White House. In a political opinion piece, Reich declared that "anyone who doesn't vote for Hillary Clinton can't call themselves [sic] 'liberal.'"

Reich has referred to the 2016 election as "very strange. " And as much as he admires Hillary, he despises Trump, whom he has described as a "dangerous, bigoted, misogynistic, narcissistic, [sic] megalomaniac with fascist tendencies [who] if elected president can wreak irreparable damage on Americas and the world." Reich has referred to Republicans as "the other America," bemoaning the fact that much of the rest of the country does not resemble the West Coast.

A lifelong leftist, Robert Reich is a self-promoting tin-horn general in what he touts as America's raging class warfare. He piously professes to do battle on behalf of the working-class poor of America, while at the same time hypocritically managing to live high on the academic hog. In a 2014 article in the American Enterprise Institute, stats from University of California database pegged Reich's annual academic salary at $242,613. He was scheduled to teach only one undergraduate class again the following fall semester  Public Policy 260  which met once a week for two hours.

For the mathematically challenged, this works out to about $2,500 for each hour of lecture time that Professor Reich spends with U.C.-Berkeley students. And one can hardly expect that he would have taken a cut in pay since that report, which means his compensation is likely even higher now. It's hard to substantiate this, however, because even though American taxpayers partially foot the bill for Reich's lofty teaching salary, there seems to be no requirement for transparency.

In addition to his light academic load, Dr. Reich rakes in substantial amounts from well paying speaking engagements. Perhaps he is not as handsomely compensated for this activity as is his old buddy Bubba, but it is documented that he has charged as much for a speech, or more, as many struggling Americans earn in a year. As an economist, he is also well paid for writing books on the subject and traveling around the country to promote them.

With his tidy nest egg, it's no wonder that photos of Reich sometimes show him leaning back and smiling in his Veritas-crested Harvard chair, with his arms behind his head, appearing to have no care in the world other than that of transmitting his left-leaning doctrine to students eagerly supping at his progressive trough.

My one clear recollection of Secretary of Labor Robert Reich was when he referred to decent hardworking Americans in the fast food industry as "burger flippers." I was again reminded of that condescending remark during the last presidential campaign, when Secretary Clinton chortled with similar disdain at Pennsylvania coal miners, reminding them that under a Hillary presidency, they would be out of work in short order.

Incidentally, according to the website Pay Scale/Human Capital (Jan. 2017), the national average hourly rate for a coal mine worker is $24. It is one thing to demand, as liberals customarily do, that employers pay higher wages to workers. It is quite another to demean the efforts of those who contribute in some way to the work force, no matter how insignificantly they are judged by smug eggheads like Robert Reich.

When violence at U.C. Berkeley last week canceled Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos's scheduled speech, Professor Reich was quick to claim that Breitbart News itself had played a role in organizing the violent mob that shut down the conservative speaker's scheduled event, resulting in his being hastily hustled off the campus in fear of his life.

Asked by CNN's Don Lemon whether the conservatives were actually providing a strategy behind the riots, Reich responded, "I wouldn't bet against it, Don. Again, I saw these people. They all looked almost paramilitary. They were not from the campus. And I've heard  I don't want to say factually ... there was some relationship here between these people ... and the right-wing movement that is affiliated with Breitbart News."

Reich charged ahead in claiming that Breitbart News had an affiliation with the violent rioters who lit fires around campus and beat and pepper-sprayed the Milo supporters who were waiting to get into the speaking venue.

Professor Reich went on to claim that he had never before "seen"" those people on campus  a ludicrous statement in itself, since he surely has not "seen" everyone on Berkeley's large campus and could not have recognized these rioters if he had, since they were wearing heavy clothing and woolen caps to obscure their identity.

Such charges could not be substantiated in any event, inasmuch as the Berkeley campus police chose  or were instructed  to stand above the fray on second-story balconies, from which safe vantage points they did absolutely nothing to apprehend the rioters, who thus proceeded, unhampered, to break windows and damage school property to the tune of thousands of dollars. So much for the taxpayers' well intentioned expenditure on behalf of campus safety.

The hubris of Robert Reich has taken many forms over his long career in government and academia. But it is most egregiously defined by his present intention to sacrifice freedom of academic expression on the altar of his own left-wing ideology.

It is apparent that, in order to justify shutting down freedom of speech on his vaunted campus, Profession Reich was entirely willing to speculate in falsehood and deceit. We should expect better than that, even from a burger-flipper.
To all my fellow veterans, I'm about to tip a sacred cow here. I would ask that for the sake of our many fellow warriors who need relief ASAP, please read this with an open mind and a willingness to offer tweaks, embellishments or outright different approaches:

Many of us can agree that the Veterans Administration has done a less-than-stellar job in delivering timely, high-quality and cost-effective medical care, especially when it comes to "wait times," for veterans injured serving this great nation. However, there is one piece of good news in this situation: The American public is outraged and sincerely wants to help. This gives us a window of opportunity and leverage to achieve major changes, something historically, very difficult to do in the D.C. bureaucracy.

An intermediate solution now in place, has its own issues. In response to the public furor over Veterans' Health Care, the Obama Administration initiated the "Veterans Choice" initiative, which allows Veterans to seek service outside the VA, if there is expected to be a long wait period for internal service. A longtime friend and fellow vet wrote the following about this:

If you are considering Veterans Choice with the VA, think long and hard. I am out and here is why.

1. Referrals: The system is totally broken. Requests for referrals are sent by the primary care VA choice doctor to the VA, and then supposedly approved and placed in your file so you can schedule an appointment.

I had one sent in October, never happened. Then I got the actual phone number for the person who should have approved it. I called and reached her. She approved and said the referral would be in my file the next day. Two weeks later, still no joy.

2. Primary care VA choice doctor: I had 24 visits approved for him as just a regular doctor. I made an appointment for Friday and was told he dropped out of the program. The reason was that he never got paid. As a result, I would have to re-enter the VA choice, select a new doctor, go to him for the initial visit, go through the hassle of having all my records transferred to this new doctor and then hope this doctor would decide to stay with the program long enough to get care. Not happening.

Admittedly, this is but one anecdote, but it does showcase the continued tension between prompt, effective treatment for a veteran, and a slovenly, calcified bureaucracy with little motivation or accountability, as well as some financial considerations.

A more recent solution being bandied about is to "just give the veterans a card and let them use that to get service at the private facility of their choice." At first blush, this sounds like the perfect solution. Give the veteran a "Medical Charge Card" that lets him or her seek medical care in the private economy, while the government simply writes the checks as in Medicare. After a little reflection however, we can see that the costs for that could rapidly spiral out of control, endangering the program for everyone.

We want to enact our reform of the VA at least as well as that and get it right the first time -- quickly. What we need is a system that identifies veterans eligible for VA-funded care, identifies the specific care they are eligible for, adequately funds that care, and does those things in a timely and cost-effective manner while minimizing the potential for abuse.

The first thing we need to do is get the Veteran's Administration out of the Medical Care Delivery aspect of Veteran's Medicine. The VA should be limited to determining the extent of the injury/illness, service connection of that injury/illness and disability rating resulting from service connected injuries/illnesses. After that, another entity should take over to ensure delivery of treatment -- TRICARE.

TRICARE is the health care management/payment system that takes care of Active Duty Military (when not being treated in a military facility) selected reservists and their dependents. TRICARE also covers military retirees. TRICARE manages the administration & payment for health care for all of the above categories -- each of which is entitled to a different level of coverage/payment. For example, an Active Duty Army Staff Sergeant being treated by a civilian specialist, will usually have 100% of the cost covered. That same Staff Sergeant, now retired, will be able to get the same treatment, but will have to pay a modest co-pay. The TRICARE computer management algorithm(s) know(s) the difference.

The above capability makes TRICARE, an existing system that works, the ideal choice to ensure disabled vets get the treatment they need and are entitled to. Instead of the billions of dollars we spend to fund the overhead and facility costs of Veterans' hospitals and treatment clinics, those funds could instead be allocated to TRICARE to pay for actual medical treatment. This would result in lower overhead costs and hence provide more money for actual treatment and best of all, do it with a much more rapid response time.

TRICARE's algorithm would need to differentiate between the following categories of veterans:

Cat 1: A disabled veteran who is also retired from the military, either medically or by virtue of length of service.

Cat 2: A disabled veteran who has been separated from the military, but not for medical reasons or via retirement. This veteran is your typical patriotic American who has honorably served one or more military enlistments but has decided to pursue civilian opportunities instead of a twenty (or more year) career in the military. However, he does have one or more "souvenirs" of his military service; a souvenir the American public has the legal and moral obligation to pay for.

Differentiating between these two categories is critical in order to execute a dual-use system as proposed above. At the secretary level in the U.S. government, which pot of money pays for what service, is always important. Although TRICARE would manage physician reimbursement in both categories, the differences between the two above categories would determine which agency would pay TRICARE: The Veteran's Administration or the Department of Defense.

Here are two examples:

Case 1: A disabled veteran who is retired from the military goes to his family practice provider for two issues, a head cold and recurring pain from a service-connected knee injury. As a military retiree, he would pay a partial co-pay for the head cold portion of his family practice visit, while DOD, through TRICARE would pay for the reimbursement. The VA would pay TRICARE 100% of the reimbursement, including the co-pay, for the part of the visit and any subsequent referrals for the knee pain. Put more tersely, this appropriately splits the cost of treatment between the VA and DOD.

Case 2: A disabled veteran who is honorably separated from the military, but not via retirement, goes to that same family practice doctor for the same two complaints. In this case, our veteran will pay either out of pocket or via private insurance, the cost associated with his head cold. The VA however, through TRICARE, will pay 100% of the costs associated with the knee pain.

What will enable this to work are advances in data-driven technology. Up until recently, the degree of granularity required as to what treatment would be authorized for payment would be difficult to achieve in a distributed system. With advances in automation in the medical billing industry, it would be quite simple for the VA to issue a TRICARE ID card to eligible veterans. Such a card would be tied to a discrete "account" for each veteran that would contain all of the treatment codes authorized for that veteran based on his service-connected illnesses/injuries. For veterans who are retired from the military, the VA can easily transmit this treatment code information to TRICARE so that its computer algorithm can properly assign costs for treatment, either VA or DOD.

I have spent a significant amount of space in this article, on what my fellow "shooters," would call "bean-counter stuff." At first blush, our instinct is to say, "Damn the cost! Do whatever it takes to help our vets!" However, such an open-ended system would be rife for abuse, which in turn could burn up a lot of goodwill for the troops on the part of the American taxpayer. We're only going to get one chance to get this right, before a historically shortsighted electorate moves on to other things.

With an intent to follow the example of our incoming president, I offer my services to the Veteran's Administration, for $1.00/year salary, to help develop and implement such a program.

Mike Ford is a retired infantry colonel in the U.S. Army.
Yesterday, I received a panicky message on social media from someone who thought President Trump is going to start a war with Iran. The root of the concern was that the Trump administration put Iran on notice.

I responded by telling my social media friend to settle down and take two aspirins with a glass of water.

I reminded this person that we are already in various wars, a rather overlooked part of the Obama legacy.

President Obama ordered air strikes in Syria and Yemen in his last week. He approved the Yemen operation where a U.S. Navy SEAL was killed. He sent troops back to Iraq.

And he dropped a ton of bombs last year  26,171, to be exact. This is from The Guardian in London:

While candidate Obama came to office pledging to end George W Bushs wars, he leaves office having been at war longer than any president in US history. He is also the only president to serve two complete terms with the nation at war. President Obama did reduce the number of US soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, but he dramatically expanded the air wars and the use of special operations forces around the globe. In 2016, US special operators could be found in 70% of the worlds nations, 138 countries  a staggering jump of 130% since the days of the Bush administration. Looking back at President Obamas legacy, the Council on Foreign Relations Micah Zenko added up the defense departments data on airstrikes and made a startling revelation: in 2016 alone, the Obama administration dropped at least 26,171 bombs. This means that every day last year, the US military blasted combatants or civilians overseas with 72 bombs; thats three bombs every hour, 24 hours a day. While most of these air attacks were in Syria and Iraq, US bombs also rained down on people in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. Thats seven majority-Muslim countries. One bombing technique that President Obama championed is drone strikes. As drone-warrior-in-chief, he spread the use of drones outside the declared battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, mainly to Pakistan and Yemen. Obama authorized over 10 times more drone strikes than George W Bush, and automatically painted all males of military age in these regions as combatants, making them fair game for remote controlled killing.

To be fair, I supported some of those actions. My criticism was that he did not go to the U.S. public and explain what he was doing.

My "anti-Trumpista" friend had to admit that President Obama had left a few wars for President Trump to worry about.

Two weeks of Trump, and it looks to me that his critics have gone crazy, or "extra loco," as my mother used to yell at us in Spanish when she thought we were acting strange.

Maybe this state of "extra loco" is a natural consequence of what happened on Election Night. After all, most of these people thought Election Day was just a formality to Mrs. Clinton's sweeping electoral victory.

And the media is even worse. They've gone from eating out of Obama's hand to biting Mr. Trump's. They've gone from silly poodles to pit bulls in a dogfight. The media protected Obama, from "Fast and Furious" to the IRS to Benghazi, and now they want to tear up Trump over everything.

As you may remember, I did not start out as a Trump supporter. However, I'm on his side now, especially after watching the other side freak out over everything.

Memo to anti-Trumpistas: Take a couple of aspirins with a glass water, and remember that you've got four more years of President Trump. Maybe eight years! And it won't look any prettier on Election Day 2018, with so many Democrats running in red states.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
The federal government spends more every year funding sanctuary cities than it would cost to build a wall on our southern border.

The Washington Examiner highlights a new report that says the federal government spends nearly $27 billion annually on grants and payments to 106 American sanctuary cities  "money that President Trump has threatened to cut off if they continue to thwart federal immigration officials from seizing illegals in jail for local crimes."

The sanctuary city report posted at openthebooks.com notes further that there are "nearly 300 government jurisdictions of states, counties, cities and other governments claiming" sanctuary status.

In contrast, estimates to complete another 1,300 miles of the southern border wall  670 miles of fencing have already been completed  range from $15 billion to $25 billion.

States such as Texas, Iowa, and Virginia are debating laws that would cut off state funding for sanctuary cities, defined in a proposed Virginia law as "localities adopting any procedure or policy that restricts the enforcement of federal immigration laws," while other states such as California and Oregon would "block police from enforcing federal immigration law."

Big-city mayors like New York's Bill de Blasio and Chicago's Rahm Emanuel have vowed to "use the courts to fight" the president's executive order blocking federal funds to sanctuary cities.

The federal funds involved in those two cities alone, as listed in the sanctuary cities report, are staggering: $7.6 billion for New York and $5.3 billion for Chicago.

The report provides a detailed breakout of the various grants and payments to New York City, with those funds amounting to almost 10 percent of New York's $82-billion annual budget. New York City has 585,000 "undocumented persons," according to the report.

Sanctuary cities receive federal funding for local police and fire departments, schools, housing, and city services, according to the report, with $16 billion of the total flowing into "just twelve major American cities  where 1 in 5 illegal entrants reside."

The report says the insubordinate cities are imposing a "defiance tax" on their citizens:

Mayors defending their sanctuary city status by refusing to comply with federal law are essentially imposing a defiance tax on local residents. On average, this tax amounts to $500 per man, woman and child.

The sanctuary cities funding numbers provide juicy headlines, but the reality of which funds, if any, would be blocked by the Trump executive order remains to be seen.

The most likely area for blocking federal funds may be law enforcement funds related to incarcerating illegal immigrants  funds that are in the millions, rather than billions. A Texas Republican has done some diligent groundwork in that regard.

Rep. John Culberson, a House appropriations subcommittee chairman, has used his control over Justice Department spending to act on a 1996 Immigration Act that includes a "section 8 U.S.C. 1373, which provided that no state or local entity can in any way restrict its law-enforcement officials from communicating with federal immigration authorities regarding an individual's citizenship or immigration status," according to an article in National Review last fall:

After Culberson met with officials within the Justice Department and made clear that their financial situation could become strained if they refused to cooperate, the department released guidance notifying all U.S. jurisdictions that they must comply with all federal law  including 8 U.S.C. 1373  in order to receive federal grants. "I've effectively created an off-switch that Attorney General Sessions and President Trump can throw at noon on January 20 to cut off all federal law-enforcement grants to these cities."

In an interview to air this Sunday, Culberson adds:

It's real easy, their money disappears. There's no fight, their money is gone. ... They are in violation of federal law because federal law requires state and local jurisdictions can't interfere in any way with sharing information about criminal illegal aliens in their custody; in any way means you must cooperate 100 percent of the time  99 out of 100 of sharing information is not enough. These are law enforcement grants for the law enforcement of the country and state, the cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in custody, which is particularly galling that these sanctuary jurisdictions hide and protect criminal aliens in their jails from being deported, but they still have to ask for federal money for housing the criminal alien.

The openthebooks.com report concludes that the battle over withholding federal funds to sanctuary cities may ultimately be resolved by the United States Supreme Court.

Withholding federal funds as leverage to encourage states to comply with federal laws is not a new idea. In 1987, the Supreme Court "upheld a law that forced states to raise the drinking age to 21 or lose millions in highway dollars":

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said that while Congress' power to control federal money is not unlimited, it can be used in the pursuit of the "general welfare." ... While Congress may lack the power to directly impose a national drinking age, Rehnquist said, "we conclude that encouragement to state action ... is a valid use of the spending power."

Federal highway funds were also used as leverage to enforce a nationwide 55-mile-per-hour speed limit during the 1974 Arab oil embargo, and again in 1995 to restore state control over speed limits.

The battle royal over federal funds for largely Democrat-controlled sanctuary cities has just begun.
Word got out a couple days ago that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump influenced President Trump to refrain from issuing an executive order titled "Establishing a Government-Wide Initiative to Respect Religious Freedom."

According to The Nation's Sarah Posner:

The draft order seeks to create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious or moral objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity, and it seeks to curtail women's access to contraception and abortion through the Affordable Care Act.

If I could sit down with Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump, here's what I would say:

One doesn't have to be a card-carrying member of the religious right in order to seek a more equitable, humane balance between LGBT rights and religious liberty.

The quest to discover an ever increasing number of LGBT rights has essentially been a runaway train these last few years. Things have gone too far, too fast. From a Fifth Avenue penthouse, that might not seem true, but from just about every other vantage point in America, it certainly does.

The issue is no longer about rights, but about supremacy. The American public knows this because they experience it  everyone from wedding vendors who are now forced to go against their consciences to students in our schools who have to deal with members of the opposite sex in their bathrooms and locker rooms. The rights of the majority of Americans who bore no ill toward Ls, Gs, Bs, or Ts suddenly must be made to submit to Ls', Gs', Bs', and Ts' demands.

There has been a well-intended but imprudent rush to legitimize not only same-sex marriage, but gender dysphoria, primarily via judicial fiat. This has occurred at the speed of light, and in the aftermath, there has been a similar rush to fully normalize and mainstream both while either silencing or punishing those who continue to hold moral and religious objections.

Put aside all the showy rainbow-colored flags and bright equality banners, all the bumper sticker slogans and media pop-culture hype, and what we're left with is this: a society that has too quickly embraced genderless marriage and genderlessness. And please note: the emphasis in both cases is on less.

In Our Rush to Manufacture More Freedom, We Severely Decrease It

The United States Commission on Civil Rights issued a report last year titled "Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties." When the report was unveiled, the commission's chairman, Martin Castro, said, "The phrases 'religious liberty' and 'religious freedom' ... remain code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Christian supremacy, or any form of intolerance."

Again, while Mr. Castro's statement might sound correct from a lofty altitude looking down on Central Park, his statement is an incendiary indictment of thinking and reasoning Americans everywhere else.

More and more, our government seeks to undermine faith and family  the only real barriers between individuals and unbridled, tyrannical government control of our lives. Yet this is exactly what the leftovers, the Geronimo, bombs away executive orders regarding additional LGBT and "reproductive" rights from former President Obama's administration now confronting President Trump, will achieve.

Candidate Trump's wonderful appeal to America was the promise of smaller government and decreased government regulation, more prosperity, and more freedom. Yet by upholding these newly defined rights over and above serious religious freedom concerns, American freedom will decrease under President Trump's term in the White House.

Upholding constitutional rights and the human dignity of those who are same sex-attracted is one thing  a matter of the common good and basic human decency. Few, if any, would dispute that. Same-sex marriage is something completely different. These are unrelated issues, mischievously, masterfully, diabolically conflated  to the point that redefining marriage to include same-sex couples can neither be questioned nor resisted in the public square without calling down a hailstorm of accusations of bigotry and hatred.

The same goes for the unreasonable federally mandated accommodations for those who consider themselves members of the opposite sex. Less than three one thousandths (0.003) of the population of the United States  just 700,000 people  self-identify as transgendered. Their numbers are infinitesimal, yet new laws and regulations are unreasonably upending every community from sea to shining sea.

If President Trump wants to increase freedom, the White House needs to come to grips with the fact that there is an unnecessary tyrannical element to the over-extension of unwarranted LGBT and reproductive "rights."

America Needs More Freedom, Not Less

Is America a more rich, diverse, and varied culture if the wisdom of every religious tradition and culture from around the world that has come together in this great melting pot is swept away? Are genderless marriage and genderlessness meant to supplant the rich tapestry of America?  or to unravel it and reweave it into a monochrome fabric?

Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation has suggested a series of things which a new executive order from the White House might do. You can read the list here. He concluded by explaining why this new executive order is so critical (emphasis mine):

It ensures that the government will not discriminate against beliefs that are under assault, and protects religious organizations' right to maintain their mission and identity in their staffing decisions and programming, while not losing the ability to partner with the government. The executive order also provides specific protections to undo some of the worst of liberal overreach. It finally and fully protects Americans from having to violate their consciences under the Obamacare abortifacient and contraception mandate. It protects the ability of all Americans to buy health care that doesn't cover or subsidize abortion. And it protects all Americans who believe that marriage is the union of husband and wife from federal government penalties or coercion. These protections take nothing away from anyone  they simply ensure that the public square remains open to all religious voices, even when those voices diverge from the government's view on contested questions. They protect diversity and pluralism and tolerance. None of this should be objectionable  which makes you wonder why liberals are objecting, except to continue the denunciation of "deplorables" that offended Americans of good will last year. Trump promised while on the campaign trail that he would defend religious freedom. Now is the time to make good on that promise.

America will grow and prosper if burdensome regulations are removed from the books. Likewise, our culture will prosper if religion and faith are neither suppressed nor oppressed. Let's keep this the land of the free.
The U.S. Constitution was created to protect the rights of citizens. Instead, leftist judges have created Etch-a-Sketch interpretations of the Constitution that have been used to oppress citizens and threaten their rights and well-being. Federal district judge James Robart issued only the latest example of this when he struck down President Trump's rather modest and temporary entry restrictions from the most chaotic and dangerous countries.

The scalpel of choice for the left is often the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution states, in part:

No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

What liberal judges have done is say that illegal aliens are "persons" under the Amendment and entitled to constitutional protection.

In actuality, the original purpose of the 14th Amendment was to protect the rights of newly freed slaves. If you look at documentation describing the debates behind it, there was no discussion at all about protecting illegal aliens or foreigners in other countries. These left-wing judges have twisted and perverted the 14th Amendment to cover individuals were not, according to the historical record, meant to be protected.

In the rather unfortunate decision of Plyler vs. Doe, the court ruled that illegal alien children are entitled to free primary education because they are considered "persons" under the Equal Protection Clause even though they are in the country illegally.

Whatever his status under the immigration laws, an alien is a "person" in any ordinary sense of that term[.] ... Instead, use of the phrase "within its jurisdiction" confirms the understanding that the Fourteenth Amendment's protection extends to anyone, citizen or stranger, who is subject to the laws of a State, and reaches into every corner of a State's territory.

Once illegal aliens became entitled to free education without fear of being apprehended and deported, the door was opened to a wide variety of free government services for them. The ridiculousness of this ruling is apparent: if illegal aliens are entitled to equal protection, why, then, can they not vote like everyone else? Obviously, they are not entitled to equal protection, and the entire ruling is a sham.

But this ruling, however broad, still did not apply to foreign nationals outside the United States. For that, you have to look at Judge Robart's ruling regarding President Trump's temporary entry ban.

In Washington v. Donald Trump, the states of Minnesota and Washington were seeking to overcome Trump's temporary entry ban from seven countries. Plaintiffs claimed they had standing to sue on two grounds: first, that citizens in their states would be adversely affected if the temporary ban were upheld, and secondly, that the states themselves would suffer if unvetted Iraqis, Somalis, Yemenis, and Libyans were not immediately allowed in.

The court found:

The Executive Order adversely affects the States' residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations, and freedom to travel. In addition, the States are harmed by virtue of the damage ... upon their public universities ... as well as injury to the States' operations, tax base, and public funds.

So if a Libyan were coming in to work at a pita shop, the grocery store would have standing to sue. Liberals claim that businesses shouldn't be considered "people" under the law, but they have no problem when the designation serves their purposes.

Other grounds for suing: if Arab refugees in Washington or Minnesota want their relatives to visit them from Yemen or Libya.

Furthermore, if states can merely claim that people from these countries will come to their states, get jobs, and pay taxes, the states also have standing to sue. The bar can't be set much lower than that.

Essentially, Judge Robart is playing the "seven degrees of separation" game to find standing for anyone to sue on behalf of the people from these countries. Judge Robart may not have found that foreign nationals have standing to sue, but he allows anyone with a tangential, ephemeral, or hypothetical relationship with foreign nationals to sue on their behalf. In effect, the 14th Amendment is extended to the entire world.

Consider how far this can go.

Imagine if a resident of Greenland claims that global warming is disrupting his seal hunting, preventing him from sending money to his second cousins in Minnesota. They can sue on his behalf.

Imagine if a drone kills a terrorist in Yemen, and the family sues, saying he was merely an "Islamic Lives Matter" activist on his way to a workshop at the local madrassa and had applied for a scholarship at the University of Berkeley for peace studies. Berkeley could sue on his behalf.

Imagine if anyone, anywhere wants to come to America, from Yemen, Libya, Syria, or any place you can think of, and the ACLU agrees to hire him as a professional demonstrator, and he doesn't get a visa. The ACLU can sue because their business would be affected.

Effectively, this ruling opens the door to everyone suing for the right to enter the United States as long as they can claim that someone inside the U.S. will be affected.

In reality, people in the U.S. are affected by unvetted visitors  often negatively, in terms of payments for medical care, welfare, education, and sometimes suffering acts of terrorism. But that isn't the kind of effects the court is considering.

The 14th Amendment promised equal protection for all citizens, but liberals are using it to promise open borders for the entire planet. If this ruling is allowed to stand, we will effectively be a nation without borders, no matter how many walls we build, because the judiciary will enforce an open borders policy, as they are doing right now.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com and an attorney.
Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California system, has got a new nightmare on her hands. Having already failed to protect the right of Milo Yiannopoulos to speak at the University of California, Berkeley, she is now on notice that she has a second chance to meet those who openly proclaim their disruptive intent with sufficient force to uphold the civil rights of Milo and those who want to hear him. Yesterday,

Milo Yiannopoulos made an announcement Saturday morning that may have members of the East Bay up in arms all over again. He says he is planning on returning to Berkeley to give the speech he was unable to deliver earlier this week when chaos broke out over his appearance. Im planning to return to Berkeley to give the speech I was prevented from delivering, Yiannopoulos said in a Facebook post. Hopefully within the next few months. Ill keep you posted.

Napolitano, along with the Mayor of Berkeley, Jesse Arreguin, failed to request adequate assistance to prevent the violence that had been signaled by Leftists who cannot survive an airing of contrary views. Evidently, officers were issued orders and/or lacked equipment that could have prevented the violence that caused cancellation of the lecture. Water cannons are made for the purpose of breaking up violent mobs before they can do their worst. If the Campus police or Berkeley PD lack the equipment, there must be other agencies that have water cannons. The masked, uniformed, armed thugs who marched onto the Berkeley campus could have been thwarted much earlier. They were already violating the law, and should have been ordered to disperse. As the former head of the Department of Homeland Security, Napolitano ought to have been supremely qualified to understand and overcome the threat.

Of course, Janet Napolitano, when serving in that highly sensitive post, absurdly claimed, The system worked, when it was left to passengers (not anyone related to DHS or its overseas counterparts) on a Christmas Day Delta flight from Amsterdam to Detroit to thwart a bomber who was attempting to ignite explosives on the crowded jumbo jet.

She should not be allowed to make such a counterfactual claim again. The University of California system has a very checkered past when it comes to upholding the civil rights of conservatives in general, and Milo Yiannopoulos in particular. The Associated Press reported January 14th this year:

Speeches by conservative commentator Milo Yiannopoulos and former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli were canceled after heated protests erupted Friday night at UC Davis.

While she is preparting to use her Homeland Security expertise to allow Milo to give his speech (this time televised, please, so that everyone can check out what kind of "white nationalist" he is and come to their own conclusions about the media who mischaracterized him), she might also check into this employee of hers. Via Gateway Pundit:

A UC Berkeley rioter and thug who bragged online about beating conservatives outside the Milo Yiannopoulos speech on Wednesday night  works at the university. Dabney Miller, a staff member at the UC Berkeley, bragged about how he beat conservatives. He posted images of one man he knocked to the ground and pummeled with his fists before someone pulled him away. Dabney Miller draws a paycheck from the UC Berkeley administration.

Tattoos: check

Earrings: check

Wifebeater shirt: check

And best of all, he's Caucasian, so nobody can call his critics racists.

The Left may have won the skirmish at UC Berkeley, but it will lose the war. Milo Yiannopoulos does not cut and run; he retreats, regroups, and responds at a time of his choosing. I can think of no more splendid example of the same spirit than this:
home World Discrimination against Christians on the rise in Turkey, new report reveals

A new report from the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey has revealed that the attacks and hate speech against Christians are increasing in the country.

The 2016 Rights Violations Report noted the rise in hate speech against Christians in social and conventional media, according to Hurriyet Daily News. The report highlighted the billboard ads, posters, and pamphlets that warned against the celebration of Christmas and New Year.

One incident that occurred on Dec. 28 in the Nazilli district of the western province of AydAn involved an amateur theatrical act, in which a group of costumed men put a gun to the head of a man portraying Santa Claus.

The report also noted that Protestant religious officials have been regarded by the government as a "threat against national security" and some have been deported, the news website Asbarez revealed.

Last August, Anteb church leader Patric Jansen was barred from entering Turkey, as Turkish officials considered him to be a "threat to national security."

Andrew Craig Brunson, the leader of Izmir Resurrection Church, was supposed to be deported, but he was arrested on Dec. 9 for allegedly being involved in a failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ryan Keating, who is affiliated with the Ankara Salvation Church, was told on Oct. 8, 2016 that his residence permit was canceled as he was leaving Turkey to attend a conference abroad. He was also designated as a "threat against national security" and was told that he would not be able to return to the country.

Another issue highlighted in the report was the classification of Bibles that were found in shelters used by terrorist group members as "terrorist material."

The report also cited cases in which Christian and Jewish students were required to provide documents from their religious centers before they could be exempted from religion classes in Turkish schools.

"In one school a baptism document was verbally demanded. The use of the exemption right [from religion classes] is becoming more difficult day by day," the report noted.

Christian students, who had to leave religion classes, were put in the position of declaring their faith, which results in harassment from their classmates and invitations to convert to Islam.
Last Tuesday afternoon, a conservative client (I am a social worker) was discussing the college choices of a high-school cousin of hers. She went on to say the young person was planning on attending the University of California but did not know which campus. This client was most concerned about the left-wing indoctrination that would inevitably seize her young cousins mind. To allay her fears, I shared what I had read a few years ago: Berkeley, the so-called bulwark of free speech, kept to their word by allowing R.O.T.C. students on their campus and that these young military types would often be found walking peacefully along the same path as their more left-wing peers.

I went on to inform this client that in 2015 I met a young graduate from Berkeley who had been the campus Republicans president and sang nothing but praises about her college experience. When I finished my proud commentary about the fairness of Berkeley, the client looked dubious to say the least. Well, as we learned the next night, the riots at the iconic campus rightfully supported my clients concern. Consequently, I emailed her Thursday morning stating, You were right.

Yes, how correct she was! Academia has accelerated its sharp turn to the left as exemplified by Berkeley and other college campuses. Students masquerade as social justice warriors and use victimization, intolerance, envy, mayhem and, ultimately, violence to forward their cause. They refer to President Trump and his cabinet as Fascists and Nazis and remain ignorant of the true meaning of these ideological labels for big-government totalitarianism. With the help of a petulant, corrupt mainstream media, they refuse to look in the mirror which reveals the true practitioner of Fascism and Nazism. Yes, the left goes marching on.

Speaking of marches, those so-called enlightened female social workers made it clear before the inauguration they would be attending their local citys demonstration. They commiserated over email about the importance of their presence. Some planned on bringing their daughters. These stalwart agents of feminism were determined to disallow the blustering, uncouth Mr. Trump controlling the narrative as president based on his ancient locker room discourse with a fellow entertainer. Ironically, the same women, many of them my contemporaries, did not raise a peep over President Clintons engagement of a young intern twenty years ago, nor do they seem to have a problem with Mrs. Clintons sham of a marriage. These progressive ladies have made it a point to ignore Mr. Clintons predatory practices as well as his association with the billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein even though many social workers treat victims of sexual abuse. When I am in a courageous mood, I pose the question about Mrs. Clinton's blind eye regarding her husbands behavior and unsavory acquaintances, and they quickly retort with the fact it is not her. I respond by saying, No, but it is about judgment. Subsequently, the subject is changed. As we see, this lenient treatment is not afforded to Mr. Trump.

So they marched. Some attended the local demonstrations, and others, including a few of my own colleagues, traveled to Washington D.C. Those steady loyalists of the leftward agenda were privileged to exercise their First Amendment right of freedom of assembly. Throughout the day, they had the opportunity to hear from some of the worn-out celebrities acting on their First Amendment right of free speech. As usual, the message was muddled and appeared to be focused on physicality. Madonna a talented but exhibitionistic entertainer did not disappoint as she spoke of love mixed with not-so loving expletives. Scarlett Johansson needed to inform us of her encounters with Planned Parenthood at age 15. The so-called erudite Ashley Judd used the bully pulpit to make, perhaps, the most disturbing statement, a vile accusation towards our president. All three of these women are an embarrassment to say the least. They have no idea of the real struggles for women which is not just about the body, and if that is the main focus, let it be about womens health such as cancer, heart disease and healthy pregnancies not abortion on demand.

Since the demonstrations of January 21st, my colleagues and the social workers at large have become more emboldened in this liberal bastion of the United States. Last week, a mild-mannered colleague decided to tell me her distress over Trump as I stopped by her office to say hello. Because I did not and usually never initiate political discussion, I became annoyed and questioned her about Obamas track record. She made it clear she viewed him as positive, and subsequently dismissed me. I was so shaken by the encounter I canceled a scheduled presentation at a business meeting where I will remain an infrequent visitor.

This wise decision was reinforced later that day, when conservative client informed me her daughter, who sees one of my other colleagues, became a bit disturbed after seeing a Black Lives Matter pin on the colleagues coat. As I informed my client, to my knowledge, we have always adhered to the unspoken rule of respecting any and all clients, and within reason, keeping religious and, especially, political displays outside the therapeutic environment. Well, it is evident such a rule no longer applies.

My guess is that this colleague feels it is safe to be outward with her beliefs, and I suspect she may be correct. For her and other liberals, there is no need to worry in our neck of the woods. Those of us who are conservative and work as helping professionals must remain in the shadows for fear of retribution even more so with the Trump presidency. If President Trump can pull it off, more people will begin to embrace his populist message. As they do, perhaps some might acquire more knowledge about the Constitution and begin to recognize the benefits of an efficient and lean government -- which was the original intent of the Founders. Maybe, they will begin to understand the significance of these words which some attribute to Thomas Jefferson: When the people fear the government, it is tyranny. When the government fears the people, it is liberty. In the meantime, the demonstrations will continue as the Left goes marching on.

The author is using a pen name for reasons she explains here
In an interview with Fox News Bill O'Reilly scheduled to air Super Bowl Sunday, President Trump defended Russian President Vladimir Putin after O'Reilly referred to him as a "killer."

CNN:

President Donald Trump appeared to equate US actions with the authoritarian regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview released Saturday, saying, "There are a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent?"

Trump made the remark during an interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, saying he respected his Russian counterpart.

"But he's a killer," O'Reilly said to Trump.

"There are a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent?" Trump replied.

A clip of the exchange was released Saturday and the full interview is scheduled to air Sunday.

It was an unusual assertion coming from the President of the United States. Trump himself, however, has made similar points before.

"He's running his country and at least he's a leader, unlike what we have in this country," Trump told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" in December 2015.

He continued, "I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe, so you know. There's a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, a lot of killing, a lot of stupidity," Trump said.

US Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, called Trump's claim false.

"This is the second time Trump has defended Putin against the charge that he's a killer by saying in effect that the US is no better or different," Schiff told CNN. "This is as inexplicably bizarre as it is untrue. Does he not see the damage he does with comments like that, and the gift he gives to Russian propaganda?"

In the interview with O'Reilly, Trump noted that just because he respects someone "doesn't mean I'm going to get along with them."

"He's a leader of his country and I say it's better to get along with Russia than not, and if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world, a major fight -- that's a good thing. Will I get along with them? I have no idea," Trump said.

Trump and Putin spoke on the phone last Saturday, and the two discussed cooperation in the fight against ISIS, among other areas.
President Donald Trump recently tweeted the question, in reply to protests of his recent immigration policy: "Where was all the outrage from Democrats and the opposition party (the media) when our jobs were fleeing our country?" Mr. Trump appears to imply that the left and the protesters associated with the left, who are right now preoccupied with the refugee and immigration ban, did not stand up against globalization for many years. Indeed, not since the late 1990s and early 2000s has the left stood up to globalization.

There was of course the famous Battle of Seattle, where protesters demonstrated against China entering the WTO. There were few protests taking place after 2004, and hardly any in the U.S. after that date. The 2009 G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, for instance, drew only 100-200 people. The anti-globalization movement was thereby supplanted in 2010 by the Occupy Movement, which had as its target Wall Street and the "excesses of finance," rather than China and globalization. This movement, according to globalization expert Naomi Klein, did not have to "hector" for a list of demands and didn't have a "list of soundbite-ready demands and media-ready spokespeople" to put forward their position.

It appears that this movement lost focus on the role of trade agreements and how countries like China came to dominate internationally, because as Peter Katel explains, after the September 11 attacks, "left-liberal activists, those not transformed into hawks by the attacks, threw themselves into anti-Iraq War organizing, as well as civil liberties work and opposition to the George W. Bush administration." As well, in early 2015, before the Republican primaries had even begun, President Barack Obama dismissed anti-globalization efforts as "anti-global engagement" that is a "big mistake."

Enter Donald Trump. He has pledged to "use every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes if China does not stop its illegal activities" and to "instruct the U.S. Trade Representative to bring trade cases against China, both in this country and at the WTO." This is a policy that those against globalization can support and, in fact, did support in the 1990s and early 2000s. Trump is doing more than simply appropriating the rhetoric of the anti-globalization movement, while Obama was doing less than adopting a reform approach to anti-globalization when he dismissed complicity with unfair trade practices as global disengagement.

The bottom line is that the Democrats abandoned the industrial working person, while President Trump has not.
Agile Cigar Reviews replace what we termed Assessment Updates. The concept is the same, but the name is different. Agile Cigar Reviews use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or providing a score for a first time. It might be a blend we are looking at in a different size. Today we take another look at the Espada by Montecristo Estoque. This is a cigar we have previously assessed back in November, 2015.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Cuban Seed Viso Jalapa Vintage 2013

Binder: Nicaraguan Criollo Seco Jalapa Vintage 2002

Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo Seco Esteli, Vintage 2009 Nicaraguan Criollo Viso Ometepe Vintage 2013, and Nicaraguan Criollo Viso Condega Vintage 2013.

Country of Origin: Nicaragua (Placencia SA)

Torpedo: 6 x 50

In 2014, Altadis USAs Monetaristo brand announced a cigar called Espada by Montecristo. The Espada is a significant project for the Montecristo brand as it became the first all Nicaraguan Montecristo and well as the first Montecristo to be made in Nicaragua. In addition, it marked the first of what would be a series of collaborations by Atladis USA as the Espada would be produced at the Placencia factory. Fast forward to 2015 and with the Montecristo brand commemorating its 80th anniversary, Altadis USA decided to come out with a limited edition line extension to Espada known as Espada by Montecristo Estoque.

Like the regular production Espada, the Estoque is also a Nicaraguan puro. At the same time the Estoque features a completely different blend than the regular Espada offering. The Estoque comes in one size  a 6 x 50 Torpedo that the same format as the Montecristo brands No. 2 format. The cigars are packaged in ten count boxes.

The tasting notes to the Estoque include notes of citrus, coffee, cedar, classic wood, and red pepper. There were a couple of differences from when smoked in 2015  notably the coffee presence had diminished. I also didnt quite get the dark chocolate notes that I detected when I originally assessed the Estoque.

I also found the Estoque to be slightly dialed back in strength from the last time I assessed this cigar. For the most part, the strength level remained in the medium range. As for the body, this pretty much remained in the same wheelhouse as I assessed the Estoque as being medium to full-bodied.

Overall the Estoque is still a fine extension to the Montecristo brand, but Im wondering if this cigar might have aged out. I found the diminished presence of the coffee notes and the loss of the dark chocolate flavor was indicative of this. Its still a cigar Id recommend as a fiver, but its probably one I would smoke sooner than later.

Summary

Key Flavors: Classic Wood, Cedar, Red Pepper, Coffee

Burn: Very Good

Draw: Excellent

Complexity: Medium

Strength: Medium

Body: Medium to Full

Finish: Very Good

Rating

Assessment: 3.0-The Fiver

Score: 89

References

Previous Assessment: Espada by Montecristo Estoque

News: Espada by Montecristo Estoque Unveiled at 2015 IPCPR

Price: $14.50

Source: Purchased

Brand Reference: Montecristo

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
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
Radhakrishna Rao goes around Delhi capturing alluring frames, that he feels should narrate a compelling story as well.

A glance at his clicks and it becomes crystal clear that Radhakrishna Rao loves to capture images that have few objects in them. So, when a recently concluded photography show themed on minimalism, was held at India Habitat Centre, Delhi, Raos works effortlessly garnered eyeballs. Hailing from Karnataka, the photographer moved to Delhi in 1999 and works as art director in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. On weekends usually, he moves around the city to capture routine life of people in unconventional frames. For instance, he moved around different parts of Delhi and in a photography series, documented the life of effigy makers during Dussehera that got him an award from the Union Ministry of Culture in 2015. Or take the picture of two dogs lying on a pavement, for which he was honoured by Lalit Kala Akademi last year. So, whats the reason behind the minimalist approach? Maybe because I am a very simple man who enjoys classical music, says 43-year-old with a smile.

Friends Farmer of India Hari Om Netaji Subash Marg

And when you ask him why he loves the black and white frames so much, he says, With colours, you can identify everything. Colours are the body, black and white is the soul. There are only shades in it. You have to feel the picture. I click colours only when it is direly needed. Also, I am immensely inspired by the works of photojournalist Kishor Parekh, whose black and white photos clicked during the Bangladesh Liberation War, will leave you crying. His personal life, however, is not so colourless and his young kids inspired him to click a series titled Innocence. Only a kid, who is yet to know the difference between right and wrong, is innocent. You can click the purity of human emotions on their faces, he says.

Bangle Shop Child Labour Silent Rays Patterns of Life

Though always interested in photography as a teenager, the lensman got deeply fascinated with the art form when he chose the subject of Evolution of technology in photography for his dissertation in graduation and since then there has been no looking back. He considers photography as a potent tool to bring change in mindsets. The picture should tell a compelling story without me explaining it and it should contribute in spreading social awareness, he shares and adds, The key to being a better photographer is patience. You have to visit a place several times to get that one nice shot. Frankly, thanks to photography I learnt to be hardworking, dedicated and tolerant.
MPC of the central bank will take a call on whether to reduce rates at its next policy meeting on February 8.

New Delhi: Reserve Bank's monetary policy review meet this week, key macro data and corporate quarterly earnings will size up the market this week, say experts. The monetary policy committee (MPC) of the central bank will take a call on whether to reduce rates at its next policy meeting on February 8.

"Apart from RBI's monetary policy, the ongoing earnings season will continue to impact investor sentiment," said Vijay Singhania, Founder-Director, Trade Smart Online.

Major results that are lined up this week are Tata Steel, BHEL, Punjab National Bank, Cipla, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Lupin, GAIL, Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India and Tata Power.

Index of industrial production (IIP) for December 2016 is scheduled for release on Friday. Marketmen said that going ahead, state election trend will dictate which way the market will move. The elections in Punjab, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur will spill over to March.

"Also, developments in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament will be keenly watched," Singhania noted. US jobs numbers will be another key datapoint to be watched out for.

"Going ahead, the remaining quarterly results will be important to determine the impact of demonetisation. Focus will now shift to the RBI meeting," said Dipen Shah, Senior Vice-President - PCG Research, Kotak Securities.

Last week, the Sensex rallied 358.06 points, or 1.28 per cent, and the Nifty 99.70 points, or 1.15 per cent.

"Quite a lot of corporates are yet to announce their quarterly earnings. We expect indices to take cues from their earnings growth as well," said Abnish Kumar Sudhanshu, Director and Research Head, Amrapali Aadya Trading and Investments.
There are eight vacancies in the apex court, of which five are to be filled within few days.

New Delhi: The NDA government wants the new Chief Justice of India, J.S. Khehar, to remove the logjam in judicial appointments in over a year. The CJI has responded immediately by recommending five names for appointment as judges to the apex court.

With the former CJI T.S. Thakur squarely blaming the Centre for the stalemate, no fresh appointments were made to the apex court and various high courts, resulting in piling up of vacancies and accumulation of arrears. Justice Thakur used two public interest petitions to voice his grievance against the government.

There are eight vacancies in the apex court, of which five are to be filled within few days. There are more than 430 vacancies in the high courts, which has a sanctioned strength of 1,079. So most high courts are working at 50 per cent strength.

There was an inordinate since Justice Thakurs period in finalising the memorandum of procedure relating to judicial appointments, the process of filling the vacancies is being delayed. The collegium headed by the new CJI Khehar has almost finalised the MoP and it is likely to be sent back to the Union law ministry in the next few days.

The Supreme Court has a pendency of over 60,000 cases, various high courts have 45 lakh cases and trial courts around 2.75 crore cases, making it a total of around 3.25 crore cases, which may even cross four crore in a year.

Soon after the new CJI Khehar took over, the Centre has drawn the attention of Justice Khehar to the fact that after the verdict quashing the National Judicial Appointments Commission, the MoP has to be put in place. But the draft MoP sent in August 2016 to the then CJI Thakur is yet to be finalised. The Centre feels that once the MoP is finalised all the problems can be taken care of and the issue of appointment of judges can be resolved in the administrative side without any intervention in judicial side. The conciliatory approach of the Centre is intended to resolve the issue amicably.

There is no consensus in finalising the MoP at least on two issues. The government wanted a veto power that is to reserve its right to reject any candidate recommended for appointment as a judge on grounds of national security. Under the earlier MoP, the Centre had the right to return a name back to the collegium for reconsideration.

But if the collegium reiterates the recommendation, the Centre is bound to accept the recommendation.

In the revised MoP, the Centre says it can reject any name on grounds of national security. Another area of difference is the Centre had suggested a separate secretariat to deal with the process of appointments and/or transfers and a screening committee of retired Supreme Court judges to vet the names.

But the judiciary feels that appointing a separate secretariat and a screening committee to vet the names would not only impinge on the independence of the judiciary, but could also lead to prospective names being leaked and this cannot be accepted. Though the differences seemed to have been sorted out, it remains to be seen whether justice Khehar accepts the draft MoP and toe the centres line or reiterate the judiciarys primacy in appointments.
The NSG, however, denied the charges, and claimed that the statement gives one-sided view of situation.

Chandigarh: In a shocking revelation, it has been reported that the National Security Guard (NSG), had ignored the rescue plea of two soldiers who were trapped inside the Pathankot Airbase, during the terror attack last January.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the claim was made by Wing Commander Abhijit Sarin in the charge sheet filed by the NIA (National Investigation Team) on the Pathankot attack.

Sarin was tasked with guiding the NSG team around the base to neutralise the terrorists.

I heard an RT (radio transmission on a wireless set) in which some DSC (defence security corps) personnel was yelling one is dead and two are wounded, please somebody come (to) evacuate us, else we would die.

I then asked Brigadier (Gautam) Ganguly (the NSG officer leading the commando team) to get one team prepared for rescue to which he didnt paid (sic) heed to, Sarin said in the charge sheet, which was submitted before a special court in Mohali recently.

Earlier last year, terrorists who had sneaked in from across the border had attacked Pathankot air base on the intervening night of January 1-2. The attack claimed the lives of seven security personnel, including an NSG commander, while four terrorists were killed.

The NSG, however, denied the charges. There was a chance of friendly fire. The air force personnel were firing and running helter-skelter. And it was the NSG that rescued people.

"The statement gives one-sided view of situation. Besides, there were foreign students as well as families residing in the airbase area. The NSG had to secure everyone, the report quoted an NSG source as saying.
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen has confirmed that the slain militants were its senior local commanders.

Commandos of Army and special operation group of J&K police take positions during an encounter at Sopore in north Kashmir. (Photo: PTI)

Srinagar: The security forces on Saturday shot dead two top Kashmiri militants while they were trying to enter politically-sensitive Sopore town in Jammu and Kashmirs north-western Baramulla district to carry out a major terrorist act, the officials claimed. Two police officials were injured in initial response from the duo during the encounter.

Though the police has yet to identify the duo, the local sources said the slain men were two senior commanders of indigenous outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen  Azaharuddin alias Ghazi Umar and Sajad Ahmed alias Babar. The officials said that the police had information about the militants travelling in a car on the highway in the Sheer Amargarh area to relocate to Sopore.

Confirming it, a statement issued by the police said that the members of its counter-insurgency special operations group (SOG), along with other security forces, thwarted a major terrorist action by killing the militant duo.

Information was received that militants were travelling in a vehicle and were planning some terrorist action in Sopore area. The police and security forces immediately swung into action and intercepted them near Amargarh Sopore, it said. The statement claimed that while being challenged the militants lobbed a grenade and fired upon police party, injuring SP (operations) Baramulla Shafqat Hussain and sub-inspector Mohammad Murtaza.

In the retaliatory action two militants were killed, it said, adding that two AK series rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.

The Hizb has, meanwhile, confirmed that the slain militants were its senior local commander who had been affiliated with the outfit for quite some time.

It said Azaharuddin alias Ghazi Umar was a lecturer by profession who had abdicated the government service to join the outfit. The Hizb claimed that it was a fierce encounter in which many Indian troopers were seriously wounded. The Hizb admitted the killing of the militants was a big loss to it and freedom movement. But the struggle against India will continue till taken to its logical conclusion, said the outfits Deputy Chief Commander Saifullah Khalid and Field Operational Commander Mehmood Ghaznavi in a joint statement to local news agency CNS.
The Ram temple issue has also been kept alive to signal to the Hindutva vote bank in western UP, which had seen communal riots in 2013.

New Delhi/Lucknow: Sensing that the situation is tough in western Uttar Pradesh, BJP strategists are looking at measured and controlled polarisation of votebank.

Some of the Hindutva hawks and saffron candidates in western UP such as Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana, among others, who have been accused of giving hate speeches, have not been pulled up by the party leadership.

The Ram temple issue has also been kept alive to signal to the Hindutva vote bank in western UP, which had seen communal riots in 2013.

Playing the religious card, the partys firebrand leader Yogi Adityanath Saturday said the alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana and love jihad were important issues for the party.

Saffron poll strategists, it was learnt, are hoping that polarisation in this region could boost up partys numbers as the region has nearly 100 Assembly constituencies.

Jats and Muslims are two dominant votebanks here and polarisation could impact the poll prospects of both the BJP and SP-Congress combine.

Though the SP-Congress seems to be the current favourite of the Muslim votebank, polarisation of Hindu votebank would help the BJP. Mayawatis BSP is also strong here.

Despite harping on development and good governance as its main poll planks, saffron poll strategists are banking on measured polarisation in this region. Hindu migration from Kairana is a polarising issue and saffron leaders have been raising it since last year.

Sources said BJP state leaders and cadres have been raking up this issue in campaign meetings even though most of the partys top leaders are avoiding it in their public rallies. A senior BJP leader said candidates speeches are being monitored by the Election Commission, therefore, such issues are being raised in smaller gatherings and meetings.

In western UP, where Muslims are in a significant number, Yogi Adityanath said that while nationalist Muslims like former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and partys national spokesperson Shahnawaz Khan were acceptable to him, those Muslims who believed their icon was Osama Bin Laden were not.

Earlier this week, the Gorakhpur MP had compared the exodus of Hindus from western Uttar Pradesh with the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.

Only few days back, Mr Som, BJP candidate from Thana Bhawan seat, was booked on charges of inciting hatred.

When asked whether he wanted to fuel communal passions, Yogi Adityanath asked, Have you ever thought why riots take place only in western UP? I live in eastern UP but no riots have ever taken place there. In Purvanchal, if Hindus are safe, Muslims are safe too.
On voting day, AAP chief says election body has surrendered to PM.

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday termed Election Commission as spineless and alleged that the poll body has completely surrendered before Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr Kejriwals remarks came in response to reports of people allegedly visiting polling booths with party symbols and other campaigning material, and also campaigning on social media and TV on polling day.

Election Commission has completely surrendered before Modiji, just like the CBI and the RBI. This is a completely shameless and spineless Election Commission, Mr Kejriwal tweeted.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader had earlier repeatedly targeted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for acting on the directions of the Prime Ministers Office.

Just like Modiji destroyed the RBI, he has also destroyed the Election Commission by appointing his cronies in the Commission, Mr Kejriwal said.

Punjab began voting for all 117 assembly constituencies in the state at 8 am, while polling for Goas 40 Assembly seats got underway at 7 am.

Mr Kejriwal also slammed the Prime Minister for his November 8 demonetisation move and said it had failed to curb the menace of black money.

Modiji had said that the note ban will put an end to black money. But it is being openly distributed in Punjab and Goa. Then what was the use of the note ban, Mr Kejriwal asked.

In a sudden move, the Prime Minister had on November 8 announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 rupee notes would no longer be legal tender.

The move, Mr Modi had then said, would eliminate black money from the system apart from targeting counterfeit currency and terror funding.
The chief minister denied that he was funding the Congress campaign in the state.

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said Saturday that he did not have any prime ministerial ambition and is happy being in Uttar Pradesh.

Staying away from Delhi is the key to happiness because people who stay away from Delhi are happier, he said at an event organised by a news channel. He said he had gone through all kinds of situations and emotions in the past few months, and was getting used to the churning. This is why tension does not show on my face because I have become used to it, Mr Yadav said.

On the alliance with the Congress party, the chief minister said that while his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, has often taken anti-Congress stand, times have changed.

It is important to keep communal forces at bay and that is why this alliance with the Congress (was made). The initiative was taken from both sides, Akhilesh Yadav said. There was no compulsion for us to give 105 seats to the Congress, but it reflects our large-heartedness. Both parties will benefit from the alliance and we will together form the government again, he said.

The chief minister denied that he was funding the Congress campaign in the state. About his fathers reaction to the alliance, Akhilesh Yadav said, He was initially angry, but later agreed when I explained my point of view.

There were reports that Mulayam Singh Yadav might join the campaign. Netajis (Mulayam Singh Yadav) blessings are with us. About his presence in the campaign, it is up to him to decide.
'I'll reply to PM Modi's SCAM remark. It's Seva (Service), Bahaduri (Courage), Shamta (Ability) and Modesty,' he said.

Kanpur: With the first phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls barely a week away from commencing, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday retorted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'SCAM' barb, stating that a person "who is involved in scams sees scam everywhere".

"Modi ji has come up with a new scheme-SCAM. The person who is in involved in scams, sees scams everywhere," Rahul said while holding a joint rally with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur.

Replying to Modi's SCAM remark, he spelled out the acronym of SCAM, stating that the Samajwadi party-Congress alliance abides by it.

"I'll reply to PM Modi's SCAM remark. It's Seva (Service), Bahaduri (Courage), Shamta (Ability) and Modesty," he said.

Further taking a jibe at the Prime Minister, the Congress vice-president said people of Uttar Pradesh will make the former realise how the demonetisation had affected them.

"After the Uttar Pradesh polls, Prime Minister Modi will realise what the people think of demonetisation. People of UP will not buy your lies," he said.

"The Prime Minister says that he is against corruption. But after demonetisation, there was not a rich man in the queue; no 'suit boot' person was seen. The farmers don't take cheques, they take cash. He has created problems for the poor," he added.

He said Prime Minister Modi stopped talking after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost in Bihar and the same will follow in Uttar Pradesh.

"After his defeat in Bihar, Prime Minister Modi stopped speaking about Bihar; after his UP defeat he will never speak about UP again," Rahul said.

Speaking earlier at the rally, Akhilesh also took the Prime Minister apart on the 'SCAM' remark, saying, "You all must have been hearing what the senior BJP minister said about removing SCAMs. He also named buaa (Mayawati) in his speech. Even we want to get rid of scams. We want to save the country from Amit Shah and Prime Minister Modi."

Referring to the Prime Minister's decision to demonetise currency notes, Akhilesh said, "In the name of acche din, people were made to stand in queues for long hours."

The people of Uttar Pradesh will be voting for a new government in seven-phase elections between February 11 and March 8.

The Congress will be contesting in 105 seats and the Samajwadi Party will be contesting in 298 seats out of the 403 assembly seats.
Sources said the Naga civil society will defy constitutional obligations and directives to protect their customs and tradition.

Guwahati: A large number of legislators of the ruling Naga Peoples Front (NPF) are challenging the leadership of Nagaland chief minister T.R. Zeliang.

The legislators are reluctant to go against the Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC), opposing the decision of the state government adopting Article 234(T) of the Constitution, which provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in local body elections. The NTAC represents tribal organisations in the state.

NPF sources said Mr Zeliang has started calling all the legislators to Kohima. He has sent Army helicopters to bring legislators stranded in their constituencies because of the indefinite strike enforced by the NTAC.

The BJP has decided to extend support to Mr Zeliang, but over 20 NPF legislators are in touch with former chief minister and member of Parliament Neiphu Rio.

Mr Rio, who was expelled from the NPF on charges of anti-party activities, has won the confidence of legislators, people familiar with the matter said.

Though BJP legislators were reluctant to go against the NTAC, sources told this newspaper that BJP general secretary Ram Madhavs to support Mr Zeliang has silenced them.

Sources said the Naga civil society will defy constitutional obligations and directives to protect their customs and tradition. They said growing public support to the NTAC was compelling the legislators to go against the chief minister.

The NTAC has sought Mr Zeliangs resignation and wants to nullifying the urban local body polls. Security sources in Kohima said there is visible panic in the state government.

On Saturday, shops, banks, and state and Central government offices remained closed.

The protest in Nagaland started after the state Assembly on November 24, 2016, revoked its earlier resolution of September 22, 2012, which proposed a wider consultation with the Naga civil society before adopting a Central legislation (Article 234T) giving 33 per cent reservation to women in local body elections.

Nagalands apex tribal bodies, which recently accepted a draft agreement signed between the Centre and the armed group Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), giving up the demand for independence from India, saw the Assemblys move as an infringement on constitutional protection granted by Article 371A of the Constitution.

A key point of the draft agreement was that Nagas would end their decades-old demand for independence from India, but would have protection of their sovereign rights.

The influential Naga Hoho, an apex body of various tribes, also considers Article 234(T) a Central legislation which infringes on tradition and customary laws of the state.

The Naga Hoho said there is already 25 per cent reservation for women in village development boards as mandated by Section 50 of the Nagaland Village and Area Council Act, 1978.
Ryan Ott, a tourist from the United States, said: "I think it's a good use of humour, which is what the world needs."

"Let the world be great again" was written on the wall (Photo: AFP)

Hamburg: A German tourist attraction that features miniature models of various parts of the world has put up a wall around the United States, in a dig at President Donald Trump's plan to build a full-sized one on the border with Mexico.

The display at Miniature Wonderland, which Trip Advisor rates as the top destination in the city of Hamburg, is a hit with tourists, including some from the United States, who are usually drawn by its vast model railway.

Visitors on Friday could be seen peering over a miniature concrete wall topped with razor wire to look at sites such as a tiny Mount Rushmore and a Las Vegas skyline.

The slogan "Let the world be great again" was scribbled on the wall, a reference to Trump's election slogan "Make America Great Again".

"I don't want to tell anyone what to think. Everybody should look at that wall, and then decide regardless of whether they are on the left, right or centre," said Gerrit Braun, co-founder of Miniatur Wunderland. "The main thing is that the people think about it."

Ryan Ott, a tourist from the United States, said: "I think it's a good use of humour, which is what the world needs, I think, right now to help cope with what's happening in our country."
The 57-year-old approached doctors after finding a lump in the penis and said they didn't inform him of the consequence.

Zagreb, Croatia: Surgery can now solve a lot of health issues with technology being introduced to the medical field and such developments have given hope to several people battling sexual problems, with penis implants and bionic penises helping out patients in several cases.

Seeing this rise in people finding solution to their issues, a 57-year-old artist decided to go for a surgery in order fix his curved penis, but was put in a spot when the doctors shortened his member by three inches in order to solve the problem. The artist Zeljku Nosicu from Croatia said that he came home with half a penis.

He found a lump in his penis two years back, which was caused by a condition called Peyronies disease, which caused the penis to curve. Nosicu was first asked to take injections but later a surgery was suggested when the injections didnt work.

Shocked at finding out that his penis is shorter by three inches, Nosicu was sure that the surgery wasnt carried out properly. He is now taking the doctors to court where he intends to prove that the doctors botched the operation leaving him with just half of his penis.

He says that the doctors never informed him the consequences the surgery would have on the size of his penis.
Too much running can possibly cause a drop in testosterone and trigger restlesness and loss of appetite.

Staying in shape has a lot of benefits and it has been considered a way to help people have a better time in bed. At the same time, there have also been debates concerning how much is too much, as experts suggest that excess time spent working out can drain the energy required to perform well in bed.

While some studies suggest that a rigorous workout may desensitise a womans vagina and deprive them of sexual pleasure, running it seems has a different effect since a study says that people felt a higher desire to have sex after running.

The findings suggested that 51 percent of those observed said that they were turned on by the energy boost they got from running. Experts suggest that this may be due to the fact that being proud of one triggers higher libido in a person.

The study also found that running leaves people feeling strong and confident, hence enhancing their abilities in bed. It showed that not only does running prove beneficial for sex, but the same works the other way round, since having sex strengthens the hips as well.

Research suggested that feeling good about their body makes people want to have sex more and being active is a great aphrodisiac. This may be due to a boost in endorphins including serotonin and dopamine, as one promotes happiness and another triggers excitement and arousal.

Meanwhile too much is not good when it comes to running as well, since the testosterone drops and women cant stop menstruating due to over training, and this causes a drop in libido with a rise in restlessness, inability to sleep and loss of appetite.
The accused on earlier occasion had threatened his wife not to reveal anything to her family else he would leave his job.

With the sudden turn of events, the victim approached her father, who is a retired Air Force officer, and arranged Rs 2 lakh. (Representational image)

New Delhi: A South Delhi-based wom-an has lodged a case of cruelty, breach of trust and criminal intimidation against her husband, who claimed to be a scientist at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Bengaluru, at the Saket police station on Friday.

The police has registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC and has initiated a probe. According to the complaint, the accused, identified as Harveer Singh, who hails from Agra and lives in southeast Bengalurus Electronics City, had befriended the complainant in April 2016. Soon, the duo got married in June 2016. He had told the woman that he was earning a pay package of Rs 2 lakh as a scientist in DRDO, Bengaluru.

When the victim went to Bengaluru in July 2016, Harveer took her to a hotel on the pretext of his government quarter being under repair.

After spending a few days in the hotel, the victim grew suspicious when the hotel management asked for the pending bills. When she enquired about the same with Harveer, he allegedly threatened her not to reveal anything to her family else he would leave his job.

By the time the victim could figure out what was happening, she received a call from Harveers friend from Delhi who allegedly told her that Harveer had misbehaved with the Isro director and the authorities had filed Rs 2.92 lakh lawsuit against him.

With the sudden turn of events, the victim approached her father, who is a retired Air Force officer, and arranged Rs 2 lakh.

After claiming the money from the victim, Harveer weaved another web of lies and allegedly told her that he was going to Nasa and asked her for money. But, the situation turned grim when he came home with a gun and allegedly claimed that his friend had murdered someone at the office. He said that he needed to hide the gun as it was registered in his name and asked the victim to arrange for Rs 20 lakh.

However, this time Harveer ran out of luck as the victim had learnt about his modus operandi of extracting money and instead questioned him. Enraged over it, he allegedly beat her up brutally.

The victim also said that her husband used to sedate her food, following which he used to click pictures of her in compromising situations and later threatened her of uploading the same on the Internet.
Sources close to Mr Khan and Mr Singh said both leaders are disturbed over the tickets distribution done by Mr Nirupam.

Mumbai: Infighting in Mumbai Congress clearly suggests that senior leaders of the party who are not campaigning in Mumbai are trying to elude responsibility in case of a debacle in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Council (BMC) elections.

After Narayan Rane and Gurudas Kamat declared that they would not participate in campaigning in Mumbai, now other leaders like Naseem Khan and Kripashankar Singh have also decided against campaigning for the election. These leaders are seen to be acting against Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam, who enjoys total control over party affairs for BMC elections from the party high command.

Sources close to Mr Khan and Mr Singh said both leaders are disturbed over the tickets distribution done by Mr Nirupam. Mumbai Congress on Friday declared its entire list of candidates for all 227 wards in BMC, in which the supporters of Mr Kamat, Mr Khan and Mr Singh were denied tickets. These leaders now complain of being sidelined in their constituencies and districts. As a result, they have come together to protest against Mr Nirupam.

However, ticket distribution is not the only issue. The anti-Nirupam lobby within Mumbai Congress has been trying to corner its city chief for the past few weeks. It was Mr Kamat who first came out openly against Mr Nirupam, which forced the Congress high command to send its emissary, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to broker peace between the warring factions. However, that attempt was a complete failure.

Mr Rane, who was pushing for an alliance with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for BMC polls, later pulled out himself from the campaign fray, taunting that Mr Nirupam is able enough to look after the election single-handedly.
The Sena chief did not even spare CM Devendra Fadnavis for criticising Sena. The CM said to show our aukat (standard).

Mumbai: Taking Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) head on in its first campaign rally for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Council (BMC) polls, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray lashed out at the older ally over the transparency issue. Mr Thackeray also warned BJP national president Amit Shah that the election is not a friendly match between the two but a battle for Marathi pride. Mr Thackeray kicked off his first rally from Chira Bazaar in south Mumbai, a pocket that has a mix of Marathi, Gujarati and Marawadi traders.

Referring to the economic survey of India, Mr Thackeray said it has praised BMC for its transparency. They (BJP) need transparency everywhere. But now they have been left red-faced as the economic survey said BMCs functioning is the most transparent. I thanked the Centre for this report, which has come at the perfect time, Mr Thackeray said. The BJP in the state has been clamouring for transparent functioning in BMC, alleging Sena of corruption.

Mr Thackeray also said there wont be any more alliance with anyone, and that now, his party will do it alone. On Mr Shahs statement about the election being a friendly fight, Mr Thackeray said, Its not a friendly match Amit Shah. You have lost a friend who stood by you in difficult situations. This is a fight for Marathi pride, he said.

The Sena chief did not even spare CM Devendra Fadnavis for criticising Sena. The CM said to show our aukat (standard). The previous CM (Prithviraj Chavan) had said the Sena would be inconsequential. Now he is not seen in active politics. I thank Fadnavis for the statement because whoever asks to finish Sena ruins himself. Your generations cant finish Shiv Sena, he added.

Terming BJPs poll promises as a bluff, he said no earlier promises it made have been fulfilled so far.
The 33-year-old food writer and blogger insists that Mr Thakkar is in fact a billionaire, the Daily Telegraph reported.

London: An Indian-origin couple in the UK are caught up in a divorce battle, which includes a 160,000 ticket on the futuristic first commercial flight into space on British entrepreneur Richard Bransons famed Virgin Galactic.

Meera Manek is taking her husband, Ashish Thakkar, to the UK High Court next week to dispute his claims that his assets are worth just 445,532.

The 33-year-old food writer and blogger insists that Mr Thakkar is in fact a billionaire, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The Virgin Galactic flight will be discussed in court. It is an asset Ashish still holds and will be considered as part of the investigation into his total wealth. Meera will demand the cost of the ticket be counted in his assets. She could demand he cashes it in, the daily quoted a source as saying.

Mr Thakkar was among the first to sign up for Mr Bransons dream project of launching the first commercial flight into space. The total amount of the tickets are paid up front but the tickets on Virgin Galactic are fully refundable up until the date of the flight.

The UK High Court will now decide over the course of a five-day hearing, beginning on Monday, the total value of Mr Thakkars assets and a further trial will then determine how much Ms Manek should receive as part of the divorce settlement.

Mr Thakkar is a Dubai-based businessman and is the owner of the Mara Group. He was born in Leicester, UK.

The 35-year-old married Ms Manek in 2008 but the couple separated in 2013. His soon-to-be ex-wife claims that her estranged husband is the beneficiary of a complex series of companies held offshore. But he has told the court that the beneficiaries of the Mara Group were his mother and sister.

The Sunday Times Rich List had estimated Mr Thakkars wealth at 500 million in 2015.


Stewart was filming Sharkwater sequel when he went missing.

Miami: The body of Canadian documentary filmmaker and conservationist Rob Stewart was found off the Florida coast on Friday, days after he disappeared during a dive while making a film about sharks.

Stewart, 37, went missing on Tuesday afternoon during a dive with three of his crew members at the Alligator Reef, some four nautical miles off the island of Islamorada.

The body was reportedly recovered late in the afternoon, said Marilyn Fajardo, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guards Seventh Distrct. She added, It was found 300 feet from his last known position and at approximately 220 feet in depth.

The Key Largo Fire Department volunteer dive team discovered the body and identified it as Stewarts. The US Coast Guard announced that it had suspended the search for Stewart.

Officials did not comment as to the reason for Stewarts death. After surfacing from his dive, he went underwater again before the crews boat was able to pick him up. The other three divers emerged safely.

A biologist and underwater photographer, Stewart was filming a sequel to his famous 2006 documentary Sharkwater, which talks about shark hunting and its impact on the marine ecosystem. Sharkwater was premiered at the national Film Festival and has won over 40 awards at film festivals around the world. The film also won the Directors Guild of Canada award.

Stewarts second film, Revolution, was the highest-grossing Canadian documentary in 2013 and won 19 awards from global film festivals.

Born and raised in Toronto, Stewart studied biology at the Western University in London.

So happy to be shooting #sharkwater2 with the best cameras and equipment in the world, he wrote in his latest Instagram post three days ago. For the first time I can show you sharks through my eyes, it read.

Stewarts team is fundraising and looking for volunteers via his Twitter account to continue the search.

His sister Alexandra said, We are grateful to everyone who helped the search, and happy that Rob passed while doing what he loved. We are working on how best to honour his incredible work.

Tributes have started pouring in for Stewart. Toronto mayor John Tory, among others, have expressed condolences.
Trump issued an executive order last week banning nationals from seven nations - including Iran.

U.S. free style wrestler Daniel Bergman, left, signs Iranian flags for Iranian boys during Takhti Wrestling Cup, on the Persian Gulf island of Kish, Iran. (Photo: AP)

Tehran: Iran said Sunday it would allow US wrestlers to compete in an international tournament after President Donald Trump's travel ban was halted by a federal court.

"Following the court ruling suspending #MuslimBan...US Wrestlers' visa will be granted," tweeted Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif.

Iran had blocked visas for US citizens in response to Trump's travel ban, preventing the wrestlers from competing in the event on February 16 to 17.

Meanwhile, a group of 72 academics from the prestigious Sharif University in Tehran signed a letter calling for the government to take the higher ground by offering visas-on-arrival to US citizens.

"(We) request our government to act differently in response to this ungracious action (by the United States)," the letter said, adding that US visitors should be encouraged to experience the "hospitality of peaceful Iranians and Muslims".

Tensions between the two countries escalated after Iran tested a ballistic missile last week and Washington responded with a raft of new sanctions against individuals and groups linked to its weapons programme.

Iran denies US claims that the missile test violated a UN resolution, and said it would impose its own sanctions on US individuals and companies which it says have supported extremist groups in Syria and elsewhere.

Trump issued an executive order last week banning nationals from seven nations - including Iran - from entering the US. On Friday, a US federal judge suspended the ban, but Trump promised he would fight the decision.
The White House said in a statement that the department of justice would fight the court to defend the travel ban.

Washington: US President Donald Trump lashed out on Saturday at a court ruling suspending his controversial ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries, dismissing it as ridiculous and vowing to get it overturned.

The order blocking the ban, issued late Friday by Seattle US district judge James Robart, is valid across the US, pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington states attorney general.

The travel restrictions, which went into effect a week ago, have wreaked havoc at airports across America, sparked numerous protests and left countless people hoping to reach the US in limbo.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Trump wrote in a flurry of early morning tweets.

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.Security  big trouble! Mr Trump wrote, less than 12 hours after the ruling was issued.

Interesting that certain Middle Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in its death & destruction! said Mr Trump, who was in Florida for the weekend.

The White House said in a statement that the department of justice would fight the court to defend the travel ban, which we believe is lawful and appropriate.

Fridays ruling was not the first to challenge the travel ban, but it was the most sweeping as it effectively vacated the main tenets of the order.

Washington states attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said the order technically means that anyone with a valid visa must be allowed entry into the country by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

It is not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom, its the Constitution, Mr Ferguson said, pointing out that Justice Robart was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush.

The state department said on Friday that up to 60,000 people from the seven targeted countries had their visas cancelled as a result of the order. A justice department attorney, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The ruling gave hope to some West Asian travellers, but left them unclear how long the new travel window might last.

Mr Donald Trumps executive order blocked the entry of citizens of Syria into the US for 120 days, and for citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia Sudan, and Yemen for 90 days.
Qatar Airways did not have a figure for the number of passengers who boarded but it is believed there are 4 pilots and 15 crew on the plane.

Doha: Qatar Airways launched the world's longest scheduled commercial service with its inaugural flight from Doha to Auckland taking off eight minutes early on Sunday, a company spokeswoman said.

Flight QR920 left the Qatari capital at 05:02 (local time) and is set to land in New Zealand at 07:30 (local time on Monday).

The Boeing 777 flight will take 16 hours and 20 minutes, pass over 10 time zones, five countries and travel 14,535 kilometres before reaching Auckland.

But even that flying time may be looked on jealously by passengers on the return flight which, due to high-altitude winds, will take 17 hours and 30 minutes, according to the company website.

This will make it the world's longest passenger service in terms of flying time, according to tracking website flightradar24.

Qatar Airways did not immediately have a figure for the number of passengers who boarded on Sunday, but it is believed there are four pilots and 15 crew on the plane.

In March 2016, Emirates airline launched what was then thought to be the world's longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight, with a service from Dubai to Auckland, spanning 14,200 kilometres.
The law came into effect Saturday, two years after it was passed by parliament -- a period meant to prepare shelters for the ban.

An animal welfare group, Life Conservationist Association, estimated more than 1.2 million animals not adopted from shelters have been put down since 1999. (Photo: PTI/Representational)

Taipei: Taiwan has banned euthanising animals in shelters, which follows the tragic suicide last year of a vet burdened with the task of putting down animals.

The law came into effect Saturday, two years after it was passed by parliament -- a period meant to prepare shelters for the ban.

But during the wait, animal lover Chien Chih-cheng took her own life with euthanasia drugs, reportedly upset at having to kill animals at the shelter she worked at.

Reports at the time said Chien was called a "butcher" by activists.

Her death sparked calls for authorities to improve conditions for animals and staff at shelters.

An animal welfare group, Life Conservationist Association, estimated more than 1.2 million animals not adopted from shelters have been put down since 1999.

"Animal protection in Taiwan has moved towards a new milestone," the association's executive director Ho Tsung-hsun said in a statement.

But Taiwan's Council of Agriculture warned the ban would lead to deterioration in the quality of shelters through a surging intake or it may discourage the capture of strays.

"It's impossible for there to be no problems," said Wang Chung-shu, deputy chief of the animal husbandry department, according to The China Times.

He said Taiwan's ban was "quite idealised", adding that manpower was a problem because the vet's suicide had had a "chilling effect" on the sector, according to the report.

Even before the legislation, the number of animals being put down had been steadily declining.

Last year, 12.38 percent of the 64,276 animals in public shelters were euthanised, according to official statistics. That compares with 94,741 animals in shelters in 2014, of which 26.45 percent were put down.
At the Angelus Pope Francis expresses unity with the Italian bishops. "Every life is sacred." "Both the child about to be born and the person who is going to die." Christians must "be the light and salt in your daily life environment". "Keep away from the pollutants germs of selfishness, envy, slander". Our communities must shine "as places of welcome, solidarity and reconciliation".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - As a "response to the logic of a throw away culture and demographic decline", we need to promote the "culture of life" following the example of St. Theresa of Calcutta " said Pope Francis to the tens of thousands of pilgrims and members of the Movement for Life gathered in St Peter's Square for the Angelus prayer, repeating the phrase "Every life is sacred" at least three times.

The pontiff expressed unity "with the Italian bishops in expressing a bold educational action in favor of human life", on the occasion of the Day for Life celebrated today in Italy, which this year has the theme "Women and men for life in the wake of Santa Teresa of Calcutta ".

"Every life is sacred. We carry forward the culture of life in response to the logic of a throw away culture and demographic decline. We are neighbors and together we pray for children who are at risk of abortion, as well as for people at the end of life. All life is sacred, because no one is left alone and love defends the meaning of life. We recall the words of Mother Teresa: "Life is beauty, admire it; life is life, defend it. " Both with the child about to be born and the person who is dying. All life is sacred. "

Francis greeted "all those who work for life, the teachers of the Roman universities and those who work for the formation of the new generations, so that they are able to build a comfortable and worthy society for each person."

Earlier, the pope reflected on the Gospel of today's Mass (5th year for A, Matthew 5,13-16) in which Jesus speaks of "the mission of his disciples" using the metaphors of the "salt of the earth" and "light of the world".

"His words - he explained - are directed to the disciples of every age, so also to us. Jesus invites us to be a reflection of His light, through the witness of good works. "

"So we have a duty and a responsibility for the gift received: we should not hold the light of faith, that is in us through Christ and the Holy Spirit, as if it were our property. Instead, we are called to shine it in the world, to give it to others through good works. And the world needs the light of the Gospel that transforms, heals and provides salvation to those who accept it.

Recalling that in ancient times salt was used to preserve "the alteration and corruption of food - there were no refrigerators in Jesus time!", he added: "The mission of Christians in society is to give 'flavor 'to life with faith and love that Christ has given us, and at the same time to keep out the pollutant germs of selfishness, envy, slander, and so on. These germs ruin the fabric of our communities, which must instead shine as places of welcome, solidarity and reconciliation. To fulfill this mission, we must ourselves first pray that we may be delivered from degeneration, from the corrupting influence of worldly influences, opposed to Christ and the Gospel; and this purification never ends, it must be made continuously. "

Each of us - he concluded - is called to be the light and salt in our daily life environment, persevering in the task of regenerating the human reality in the spirit of the Gospel and in the perspective of the kingdom of God. Our Lady, Mary, is always there to help protect, the first disciple of Jesus and model of believers who live every day in the history of their vocation and mission. Our Mother will help us to let ourselves be purified and enlightened by the Lord, to become in our turn 'salt of the earth' and 'light of the world' ".
According to state law, fines, penalties, and license money shall be appropriated exclusively to the use and support of the common schools ... . An exception is fines for overloaded vehicles. Seventy-five percent of those funds go to state highways; 25 percent go to the county general fund where the fine or penalty is paid. Fifty percent of money forfeited or seized in enforcing drug laws goes to counties for drug enforcement. Vehicles seized in drug law cases may be used by law enforcement agencies or sold with the proceeds going to schools.

County Court

Traffic Sentences

Merrick Erickson, 20, Watertown, South Dakota, speeding 80 in 60 mph zone; $125 fine and $49 court costs.

Donald Houdek, 59, Lincoln, failure to use turn signal and failure to use seatbelt; $50 fine and $49 court costs.

Robert Hallagin, 52, Fullerton, viola traffic control device; $25 fine and $49 court costs.

Steven Gragert, 64, Albion, overweight single axle; $25 fine and $49 court costs.

Eligio Trevino, 53, Grand Island, violate stop/yield sign; $75 fine and $49 court costs.

Jackson Jones, 17, Genoa, speeding 80 in 60 mph zone; $150 fine and $49 court costs.

Misael Fernandez Fernandez, 29, 2323 Pershing #3, possession/consume open alcohol; $50 fine and $49 court costs.

Jennifer Ryan, 21, 452 21st Ave., speeding 48 in 35 mph zone; $75 fine and $49 court costs.

Nicholas Regnier, 30, Humphrey, no valid registration; $25 fine and $49 court costs.

Jose Rivera, 38, 766 7th Ave., violate stop sign; $75 fine and $49 court costs.

Izaguirre Herber, 30, 454 246th Ave., no operators license; $75 fine and $49 court costs.

Adrian Martinez, 18, 1210 8th St., speeding 60 in 50 mph zone; $100 fine and $49 court costs.

Josue Benitez, 16, 1772 36th Ave., speeding 60 in 35 mph zone; $200 fine and $49 court costs.

Jorge Portillo, 39, 420 S. 4th St., no operators license; $75 fine and $49 court costs.

Tanner Koehler, 36, Hoskins, speeding 74 in 60 mph zone; $75 fine and $49 court costs.

Cody Vanbrocklin, 29, 1571 23rd Ave., failure to maintain control; $25 fine and $49 court costs.

Ethan Ruppert, 20, Norfolk, failure to use child passenger restraint; $25 fine and $49 court costs.

Criminal Sentences

Patrick Wolfe, 21, homeless, possession; $100 fine and court costs.

Sarah Planck, 26, Monroe, DUI; probation for 6 months, revocation of license for 60 days, $500 fine and court costs.

Andre Braun, 19, Humphrey, theft; jail for 7 days.

Ruth Garza, 31, 2909 19th St., no proof of insurance and driving under suspension; $100 fine and court costs.

Mark Harsh, 25, 705 6th St., DUI; probation for 6 months, revoke license for 60 days, $500 fine and court costs.

Jerry Jimenez, 24, North Loup, reckless driving; $150 fine and court costs.

Luis Martin, 19, Norfolk, possession of K2/marijuana; $300 fine and court costs.

Tyler Behnken, 31, 961 22nd Ave., theft; $150 fine and court costs.

Monique Raitt, 54, 1931 24th Ave. #3, commit child abuse negligently; probation for 18 months and court costs.

John Abolins, 54, 1471 25th Ave., DUI second offense, refusal to submit to test with two prior convictions; jail for 30 days with credit for 17 days served, probations 12 months, license revoked for 60 days, $500 fine and court costs.

Christopher Helmick, 42, Duncan, criminal mischief; $250 fine and court costs.

Andrew Ganow, 19, 2010 7th St., leaving scene of accident; $500 fine and court costs.

Gavin Glaser, 19, 2021 15th St., minor in possession; probation for 6 months, $250 fine and court costs.

Daniel Greene, 21, 3317 25th St. #70, attempted assault; fine of $250, restitution of $1,098.43 and court costs.

Sergio Marino-Marino, 30, West Point, unauthorized use of financial transaction device; jail for 75 days with credit for 87 days served, restitution of $1,060.45 and court costs.

Joseph Schrader, 26, 3017 21st St., issue bad check, criminal mischief, theft; concurrent sentences of 30 days in jail with credit for 2 days served.

District Court

Criminal Sentences

Greg Hergott, 34, Newman Grove, assault third degree; jail for 210 days with credit for 118 days served, and court costs.

Douglas Miles, 45, 1471 25th Ave., theft; jail for 365 days with credit for 192 days served, probation for 2 years, $65 restitution, and court costs.

Levi Laska 19, Monroe, assault; probation for one year and court costs.

Brandon Stewart, 23, 2904 14th St., attempted burglary; jail for 120 days to be served in 30 day increments from 2016-17, probation for two years, $1,520 restitution and court costs.

Kollin Weldon, 20, detention facility, attempted burglary, theft; jail for 120 days to be served in 30 day increments from 2016-17, probation for 2 years, restitution of $1,520 and court costs.
By Chris Rizos, Professor, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UNSW

Shutterstock/Jayjune

Nothing on the Earths solid surface is static because all land is moving very slowly due to continental drift. This very slow movement affects everything around you in the same way so you cant tell it is happening, unless you are able to very accurately measure where on the Earths surface you are.

The Australian continent, perched on the planets fastest moving tectonic plate, is drifting at about seven centimetres a year to the northeast. This is taking features marked on our maps out of line with the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) such as GPS.

These global systems guide our smartphones, cars and other geopositioning devices used in sectors such as construction, transport, mining, agriculture and surveying.

How can we keep our map coordinates up to date? That is a challenge faced by todays geodesists.

Knowing where things are

Geolocation devices determine their location in relation to known reference points  stable survey marks that have been fixed in the ground and precisely measured.

These reference points and their coordinate system of latitudes, longitudes and heights are called a geodetic datum. Every country has its own datum, and the one Australia has used to date is called the Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994, or GDA94.

The coordinates of fixed features on our maps, such as roads, buildings, property boundaries and utilities, as well as the coordinates of moving objects, vehicles, aircraft, and ships are all based on GDA94.

In the early 1990s, GDA94 was defined so that it moved with the drift of the Australian continent, like a giant net tied to the landscape. The effect was that fixed features had unchanging three-dimensional coordinates.

In contrast, the GNSS devices we now increasingly rely on use a different datum to determine their coordinates.

Satellite positioning systems  such as GPS, the Russian GLONASS, the European Unions Galileo and Chinas BeiDou  give coordinates based on a datum that is not fixed to any continent, but rather the average of all continents. So the coordinates of fixed features on the Earths surface, such as the Australian continent, are always changing, like slow-moving ships at sea.

The global GNSS coordinates and the Australian GDA94 coordinates are getting further out of alignment every year.

Precise positioning on the horizon

Historically, coordinate differences of a metre or so have not been an issue, because positioning systems have not been accurate enough for users to notice. When GDA94 was first introduced, the GPS locations were only accurate to around 100 metres and sometimes much worse.

But two important things have happened since then. Australia has moved about 1.6 metres northeast, effectively moving the location of mapped features and their associated GDA94 coordinates.

At the same time, positioning technology has evolved considerably. By 2020, Australia will have moved by 1.8 metres and many of us will own devices that could pinpoint locations with accuracy as small as, well, a smartphone. With real-time access to precise satellite positioning at our fingertips, well notice discrepancies with GDA94-mapped features.

Imagine the confusion if a driverless car can determine its coordinates with (say) decimetre accuracy, in the GNSS datum, but the stored map features were referenced to our old datum GDA94 and and were nearly two metres different. Thats probably not even in the same lane.

The upshot is that Australias datum needs updating to ensure Australias plate-fixed maps are in sync with devices with accurate positioning capabilities.

A two-stage modernisation

Australias datum is being modernised in two stages to allow for the complexity of the change.

Stage 1 begins this year and involves defining a new datum which on average shifts all coordinates in Australia by 1.8 metres to the northeast. Called GDA2020, this new continent-fixed datum will bring the coordinates of Australias mapped features back into line with global systems in the year 2020.

In 2020, Stage 2 of the modernisation will establish a different kind of location reference system, similar to the global one, that will continually measure and model Australias movement. The modelling will include local ground deformation and subsidence effects which can affect heights, as well as global tectonic motion which is mostly horizontal.

Then the location information we rely upon will always be in alignment with the devices we use to access it. But we will have to get used to the coordinates of fixed features in the Australian landscape changing by seven centimetres per year. This will be in sync with the satellites that provide all our modern positioning. It will be future proof!

Who is making the changes?

The Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) has formed a group to oversee the process of implementing GDA2020.

The GDA Modernisation Implementation Working Group (GMIWG) is helping users and government agencies to develop coordinate transformation tools and technical resources, and providing information for software developers, equipment providers and users of spatial information.

Geodesists from Geoscience Australia and all the states and territories have been working on the tools required for the transition to GDA2020. While the new datum will be officially gazetted early this year, it will probably take until mid-2018 before it is widely adopted.

How do the changes affect you?

The key thing to remember is that in order to be reliable, location information must be identified by the datum as well as the latitude, longitude and height coordinate values.

People who work with accurate spatial information and rely on positioning technologies will need to keep up to date with the important changes being made to Australias datum.

For others, the datum shift will be largely invisible, apart from improvements to the location services provided by smartphones.





Professor Chris Rizos receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information.

Associate Professor Donald Grant has received funding for a review of the geodesic science in Geoscience Australia. He is a member of three professional bodies: the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute; the Institution of Surveyors Victoria; and the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors.

Originally published in The Conversation.
Hello dear Forum Users



i am thinking about to apply for an employers sponsored visa. Do you have a website where such jobs are offered or has the Australian government to offer jobs?



I am certified Car- Mechatronic this includes Automotive Electrician + Mechanical working skills. I have 10,5 years working experience. (Service Technician Troubleshooter)



I can also work as Welder or Computer-Systemelectronic but i don't have Certs.



Regards NewLife01
Hello all,



We got our PRs and came to melbourne to meet the entry croteria to enter australia before june 2017.

Our passports were scanned at the airport when the collected the arrival forms but did not put any Arrival stamp or dates on the passports.

As we will be leaving and coming back in another few months, would it be ok or do i need to contact DIBP to clarify my entry date?



Thanks much for your suggestions
Hello, my boyfriend is of Dutch nationality, and he applied for an e-visitor almost 3 weeks ago. I am of NZ nationality so I have an automatic SCV into the country, unfortunately my boyfriends visa was rejected due to them feeling that he didn't have enough funds in his account and they did not believe he was coming as a tourist and would work illegally. So now my boyfriend has been in Amsterdam waiting to come over and I am now in Australia. The thing is we have 6000 eur but it was in my account (we have separate accounts) and when the immi asked for further information and his account details, we didn't upload any of my account details but we did mention our travel plans and that he would be with me and my family etc...



We have now been told to apply for an ETA instead, and if they ask for more details to transfer the money from my account into his account so it shows he has sufficient funds. I am wondering if this is the best way to go? We are quite nervous now since the rejection and do not want him to be banned from visiting Australia altogether. I am wondering can you reapply for a tourist visa if it has been rejected? I feel that due to the fact we do have sufficient funds the rejection is incorrect and has only happened due to a misunderstanding on our end.





Also, once my boyfriend is here, we were thinking if we liked it in Australia we would apply for a partnership visa as he can get one with me on a 461 visa. We were going to add that onto the ETA visa that he has no intention to work illegally and that if he does want to live here we will apply for a partnership visa? However we have also been told NOT to put this on the visa when we apply as it will be rejected. I am very confused, we just want to be together and we don't want to be telling any untruths but it feels like we need to withhold certain things in order for the visa to be approved?



Any assistance from anyone would be most appreciated.



Thanks
Electric cars are getting popular year after year, which is why car manufacturers are doing everything to stay on top of the market and keep up with the increasing demand. With new models, range efficiency, higher speed and luxury, they try to grab the largest piece of the electric car market. The increased sales of both Chevy Bolt EV and Chevy Volt prove just that.

According to Auto Blog, General Motors first mass-produced electric vehicle outpaces Nissan Leaf sales. In January, Chevy Bolt EV sold to 1,162 buyers while Nissan Leaf sold 772 vehicles. Chevy Volt sold 1,611 which is 62 percent more from a year earlier in the same month.

Over the past six years, Chevy Volt continues to grow its lead over Nissan for American plug-in vehicles, as buyers see that the Leaf is in dire need of some updating. Nissan Executive hinted that the next generation will have a single-charge range of more than 200 miles, but they have been silent on when exactly the updated model will launch. The Bold can go as far as 238 miles on a charge or more than double the Leafs current charged range.



Electrek reported that General Motors had delivered about 30,000 Chevy Bolt EV units per year, but it will need to double its delivery date if they want to meet their goal of catching up with the Chevy Volt. So far, most of the Bolt EVs were delivered in California and Oregon, but the company has started with deliveries in Canada as well. European deliveries will happen under Opel brand during the second half of the year according to the automaker. The price for the Chevy Bolt EV starts at $37,500 but some dealerships in California have been bumping the price for up to $5,000 because of the quick sales.
Following the recent success of Tesla and its driverless models, Volvo is entering the market with their own driverless car. The carmaker plans to start selling the vehicle in 2020/2021. But it will come at a hefty price.

As reported by The Guardian, major car manufacturer Volvo will soon test its own driverless vehicles. There are ongoing tests in Gothenburg Sweden where Volvo has set up a website so people can register. The Swedish carmaker told The Guardian that they aim to make the operation of a self-driving car as easy as using a smartphone. The test they plan to do will be the largest one so far by the automobile industry. At the moment they are seeking professionals of different age groups, usually people that commute to or from west London via the M40, M4, M25 or A4.



Volvo told The Guardian that the cars will drive themselves on motorways and dual carriageways, giving the people ability to prepare for work, read the newspaper or just update their social media. However, drivers will take over control as soon as they get into London. The vehicle will signal them well before so the driver can do it safely. Volvo says there will be no need of additional training or driving tests.

The car will be equipped with a protective firewall that would ensure that the steering, braking, and acceleration cannot be hacked. It will use a combination of cameras, radar transmitters, sensors, laser scanners, 3D maps and GPS to make the self-driving car much safer. There will also be black boxes that will help establish whether the vehicle technology or the driver is to blame if any accidents occur.

Insurance Business Magazine reported that the UK government is currently preparing a new law that will address the insurance issues for driverless cars. In late January Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said that the proposed legislation will deal with liability concerns in accidents involving driverless cars.
Callaway Cars have finally unveiled the Corvette AeroWagen after more than 3 years of leaving people on the edge wondering when they will see the real car from the company's vision. The C21 AeroWagen is a shooting-break conversion that everyone has been waiting and it not just beautiful. It is beyond stunning.

According to Fox News, the C21 AeroWagen conversion will only be available for the coupe's body style, although this can reverse depending on the owner's preference. The conversion will also be available for any Callaway custom Corvette or stock C7 and the Grand Sport and Z06. The conversion is pretty much straightforward, much like in the reveal project prior to the C7's launch.

Carbon fiber is used for the panels. The conversion replaces the original car's hatchback design with Callaway's redesigned AeroWagen assembly. The rear piece incorporates a wraparound rear glass retaining the defogger.

Plus, the new design of the C21 AeroWagen does not interrupt the car's removable roof panel. The company uses the original hardware and latching mechanisms.

The downside to this majestic beauty is that because the roof has been elongated and stretched to the rear of the car, there wouldn't be space for another set of seats. On the bright side, there is plenty of storage space.

According to Callaway, deliveries for the AeroWagen were supposed to start in December of last year. Seeing as how this is the first time we've laid eyes on the C7 shooting brake in the flesh, the team might be a little behind schedule. But we can forgive them because it looks awesome.

CarAndDriver reports that the standard kit for the C21 AeroWagen is priced at $14,990. Callaway Cars notes that this is inclusive of the "the Callaway carbon fiber AeroSpoiler." Also, by adding around $2980, the new vehicle can be painted with any Corvette OE color.

Callaway Cars also said that the conversion can be accomplished at their facilities in either California or Connecticut and also in their partner retailers. The company has close ties with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), similar to BMW's Alpina and Ford's Mountune.

The tuning company promised in 2013 that they will be making shooting brake conversions. The company has confirmed last Friday that the C21 AeroWagen will make its official debut at the 2017 Michelin NCM Bash. This is the annual get-together at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky and is slated to run from April 27 to 29.
An international force of air tankers has been tackling the forest fires that have wiped out thousands of square miles of Chile and U.S.-based Global SuperTanker says its been a record-setting effort for their converted Boeing 747. A wealthy Chilean living in the U.S. footed the multimillion-dollar bill to get the jumbo jet to Chile and its been put to good use, according to a news release from the company. During its deployment in Chile, the Global SuperTanker set a world record for liquid dropped in a single day by a land-based aerial tanker at 134,400 gallons (508,000 liters), the release said. The SuperTanker, which has now been deployed in Chile for nine days, achieved this milestone through seven sorties on Wednesday, February 1, which far surpassed the previous known world record of 110,000 gallons. The aircraft can drop 19,000 gallons of liquid in as many as six different drops. Its working alongside another jet air tanker from the other side of the world.

Russia sent an Il-76 waterbomber to Chile and its also been busy. The Il-76 can carry 11,000 gallons of water or retardant. The two big tankers have been joined by aircraft from Canada, Brazil, Colombia, France and Portugal. The fires have relented in recent days and Chile has ended its state of emergency in the affected areas. The government has spent $333 million battling the blazes, which blackened 500,000 hectares, destroyed 1,610 houses and killed 11 people, including five firefighters. Video below gives an idea of how close those fires are to cities and how much water that 747 can hold.
Perhaps youve seen the widely distributed aviation video 178 Seconds to Live. The narrative starts: The sky is overcast and the visibility poor. That reported five-mile visibility looks more like two and you cannot judge the height of the overcast. . . It continues: . . . You find yourself unconsciously easing back just a bit on the controls to clear those none- too-imaginary towers. With no warning, you are in the soup. . . And then, dramatically, You now have 178 seconds to live! Or do you? As a survivor of a Visual Flight Rules (VFR) into Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) incident that lasted a lot longer than 178 seconds, I often wondered about the veracity of 178 Seconds to Live. It certainly wasnt true in my case. Where had this video come from? Was it a follow on to those old scare em straight propaganda movies they fed us in high school? A post about the video on a social media site mentioned a study with 20 subjects. I started doing research. The oldest reference to the phrase 178 seconds to live in a VFR into IMC narrative I located was an article with the same title published in the January/February 1993 issue of FAA Aviation News. I then discovered that the study was really part of an experimentthe results of which had nothing to do with what eventually became 178 Seconds to Live. And, after the research I conducted into surviving a VFR into IMC encounter, I cant help but wonder whether teaching that a pilot has but 178 seconds to live has caused fatalities because a some who got into what is a frightening situation gave up rather than do what was needed to survive. In 1954, the University of Illinois published a report entitled The 180Degree Turn Experiment. The objective of the experiment was to see if 20 non-instrument-rated pilot subjects could be taught a technique for making a 180-degree turn and controlled descent in instrument meteorological conditions. In order to document the progress of the subjects, there had to be a baseline established for the abilities of each at the beginning of the project. Each pilot was evaluated on his or her ability to maintain control of an airplane under simulated instrument conditions. During his or her initial flight, each subject eventually placed the airplane into what the report referred to as an incipient dangerous attitude. The minimum time to reach an incipient dangerous attitude was 20 seconds; the maximum time was eight minutes. The average was 178 seconds. 178 seconds was the average of baseline measurements taken for the purpose of evaluating the results of an experiment. I think it is also important to note that most of the subjects had little or no experience with the type of aircraft used in the experiment, a Beechcraft Bonanza, and that they were flying it with only a bare minimum of instrumentswhat we would call partial panel. Over the years, that baseline measurement took on a life of its own. It morphed from being the initial evaluation of a subjects ability to control a complex aircraft in simulated, partial panel IMC into an urban myth that an unwary pilot can survive for less than three minutes in an inadvertent IMC encounter. Variations of 178 Seconds to Live have been promoted by the civil aviation authorities of both Canada and Australia.

Are pilots who encounter IMC on a VFR flight doomed as the video claims? Hardly. While they are seriously at risk, a look at the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System reports finds that pilots can and do survive VFR into IMC encounters. Researchers at NASA sent supplemental questionnaires to 120 survivors of VFR into IMC events who had sent in what we pilots refer to as NASA reports of the encounters (ASRS GA Weather Encounters). The results of the study of the questionnaires returned to NASA researchers present an interesting picture of VFR into IMC incidents and how pilots who have experienced VFR into IMC have successfully coped with the situation. Ill talk about successful coping techniques after a brief digression into the types of crashes that result from VFR into IMC and how they come about. VFR into IMC Accident Categories VFR into IMC accidents almost invariably fall into one of two categories: controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and loss of control. CFIT, tends to occur in more mountainous regions where terrain and obstacles present a hazard to flight. Loss of control accidents are most often the result of spatial disorientation. CFIT tends to be the result of a pilot attempting to maintain visual contact with the ground by descending to stay under the weather. In many cases, higher terrain is obscured by clouds and cannot be seen until it is too late to avoid hitting it. An example of this would is an infamous Colorado crash that occurred in August 2008. A instrument-rated pilot loaded his family into a Cessna 182 and departed from Steamboat Springs, Colorado en route to Houston, Texas. The flight departed in marginal VFR conditions with the cloud bases below the mountain tops and the cruising altitude the pilot selected. The aircraft impacted terrain at 12,300 feet on Mt. Guyot in the central Colorado Rocky Mountains. (NTSB No.: DEN08FA141) As most every pilot knows, spatial disorientation occurs when the brain receives conflicting information from the bodys senses that are used to determine orientation relative to the earth. Bluntly: we can no longer tell which way is up. To better understand this, we need to know a little about our senses. Most people learn in school about the five senses, sight, sound, taste, smell and touch. In reality, we have more senses than that and three play important roles in how we determine our orientation relative to the earth. Our visual system is what we rely on the most for our sense of orientation. Naturally, its our primary sense for determining the airplanes orientation while flying. What might be a surprise is that most of what we use for visual orientation comes from our peripheral vision. When we lose our peripheral vision, as is the case when flying in IMC, we have to rely on our central vision and the use of the aircrafts instruments to understand the airplanes orientation relative to the earth. The vestibular system, our inner ear is the second of the three orientation senses. It consists of two components that we use to maintain our balance: The semicircular canals and the otolith organ. The otolith organ contains a gelatinous layer that slides over hair cells. When the gelatinous layer causes the hair cells to bend, they trigger nerve impulses that the brain interprets as movement. The semicircular canals also contain hair cells but are filled with a liquid and are oriented perpendicular to each other. A good way to think of them is that each semicircular canal corresponds to an axis and the three semicircular canals represent roll, pitch, and yaw. These canals are sensitive to rotational movement. The three semicircular canals can be thought of as rate-based gyroscopes.

Both the otolith organ and the semicircular canals are susceptible to the laws of physics. YouTube is full of videos of water being poured into a glass while an air- plane is doing a barrel roll. Bob Hoover was perhaps one of the first to make this demonstration popular. The positiveand coordinatedG load maintained throughout the maneuver allows the water to be poured regardless of the attitude of the aircraft relative to the earth. The same thing happens in our inner ear, fooling the brain into an erroneous perception of the bodys orientation relative to the earth. Finally, the proprioceptive system gives us our overall sense of body position, movement and acceleration. In flying, it can be thought of as the seat of the pants. The sensation of movement, the amount of effort required, and the sensation of pressure are communicated via the proprioceptive system. The proprioceptive system is the least involved of the three senses in an IMC situation. Most of our information will be from the visual system, and to a lesser extent, the vestibular system. Fooling the Inner Ear As mentioned before, the inner ear can be fooled by acceleration that simulates the effects of gravity on the fluid in our inner ear. Bob Hoover is among many who have demonstrated that any positive G maneuver can fool fluid into seemingly defying gravity. If we think of the fluid in our inner ear as behaving identically to the iced tea in Bob Hoovers famous demonstration, we can envision how our inner ear can send the wrong messages to our brain. Full motion simulators are designed to fool the inner ear. If youve ever had the opportunity to fly or observe a full motion simulator, you may have noticed how the simulator tilts back during takeoff. This isnt simulating climb; its simulating acceleration. As the pilot moves the power levers forward the hydraulics in the simulator tilt it backward. This causes the gelatinous layer in the otolith organ to slide rearward, bending the hair cells and signaling to the brain that the head is tilting back, which it is. However, the visual picture presented to the pilot is of the airplane accelerating down the runway in a level attitude. If the pilot is focusing on the takeoffphase of flight, the brain goes with the visual presentation of forward acceleration and overrides the sensation of tilting backward coming from the otolith organ. Thousands have tried to dissect the reasons for decisions pilots have made over the decades to start or continue a VFR flight despite obvious warning signs that the weather may not be conducive to doing so. Get-there-itis is one of the most commonly cited. The 2007 NASA GA Weather Encounters study cited a litany of others including time pressure, equipment problems, distraction by passenger or flight crew, fatigue, illness, management pressure, ill patient, insufficient training, insufficient preparation and lack of familiarity with onboard navigation equipment. Awareness of the factors involved in deciding to continue VFR into IMC may help pilots avoid doing so in the future. While researching this article, I found that one of the best training courses for identifying the conditions that lead to VFR into IMC accidents was AOPAs Weather Wise: VFR into IMC.

Effective Decision MakingRedefining Success In economics there is the concept of prospect theory. Put simply, prospect theory states that people have a stronger desire to avoid loss than pursue gain. Decision framing, also known as the framing effect, builds on prospect theory. Decision framingis a bias in which people react differently to a particular choice depending upon how the out- come of the choice is presented. In politics, this is called spin. Outcomes presented as a loss are received negatively and outcomes presented as a gain are viewed more favorable. In their 2001 article, Visual Flight Rules Into Instrument Meteorlogical Conditions: An Empirical Investigation of the Possible Causes, published in The International Journal of Aviation Psychology, authors Juliana Goh and Douglas Wiegmann wrote about possible factors that could contribute to VFR flight into IMC. In the article, it was put forth that if a pilot framed the decision to divert as a loss (e.g. wasted time, money, missed opportunity), the pilot might be risk-seeking and choose to continue the flight. If, on the other hand, a pilot frames the decision to divert as a gain (e.g. avoiding loss of lives), the pilot would be more likely to divert. In my opinion, When faced with a potential VFR into IMC situation, it is important to view the decision to escape from the situation as a gain and avoid the temptation to view failure to complete the flight as planned as a loss. By changing this frame of reference, a pilot is more likely to choose to avoid or escape rather than continue into a deteriorating situation. One way to accomplish this reframing is to start with a complete plan B. One of the factors mentioned in the AOPA Weather Wise course is the problem of plan continuation bias, a bias towards continuing with the original plan even though there are indications that the situation is deteriorating. Pilots are goal orientedonce they start toward a destination, the do all they can to keep going toward it, even when doing so is no longer in their best interest. One strategy to avoid continuation bias is to have a solid plan B in place prior to the weather encounter. This is more than just an alternate airport; it is a complete plan that provides for an acceptable outcome. An example would be diverting to an alternate airport and renting a car to continue to the original destination. Other alternatives would be to stay over night and continue the next day, call ahead to inform the party you are meeting that you have been delayed by weather and make alternate arrangements. By putting a high priority on having an acceptable alternate outcome already planned prior to departure, the temptation to fixate on completing the flight as originally planned can be avoided. Starting with Plan B reframes escape or diverting as a gain, a positive outcome. Surviving in the Clag Avoidance is wonderfulnot getting into an emergency situation is always wonderful. My research found that the vast majority of the focus on VFR into IMC education by the FAA and organizations such as AOPA ison avoiding VFR into IMC encounters. However, in the real world, counting on avoidance just isnt realistic. VFR into IMC encounters occur for a wide variety of reasons. Haze can make it impossible to see a cloud prior to entry. Automated weather reporting stations are widespread but large areas are still not covered and local conditions can vary within a short distance from the reporting station, especially in the west. Interestingly, another problem is that the ability to accurately perceive visibility varies from individual to individual. In a study published in 2000 by D. Weigmann and J. Goh done at the University of Illinois, 32 subjects were put into a simulator and embarked on a VFR flight with an estimated in route flight time of one hour. During the flight, visibility was gradually reduced from 5 miles to 2 miles. 22 of the 32 subjects continued on after the visibility dropped below the three-mile VFR minimum for operations in the airspace in which they were flying. Pilots can fly into weather where they suddenly cannot control the airplane by outside visual references without realizing they are doing so.

Based on what I learned in the research I conducted after my VFR into IMC encounter, it is my opinion that better training of pilots on how to cope with VFR into IMC is needed. What follows is are recommendations on how to survive a VFR into IMC situation based upon personal experience and research.

Focus on the Instrument Scan.

Surviving an encounter with IMC requires that the aircraft be kept under control. While thats obvious and basic, it isnt necessarily easy. The instrumentscan is the only way to accomplish this task. A private pilot is required to have a minimum of three hours of instrument time before the checkride. An instrument rated pilot will have some thirteen times more instrument time as of the checkride. Its not surprising that 70 percent of the VFR into IMC survivors in the NASA study were instrument rated. However, instrument rated pilots do succumb to spatial disorientationapproximately 30 percent of the pilots involved in fatal VFR into IMC incidents were instrument rated.

The switch from visual flight to instrument flight requires that the pilot switch from peripheral vision to central vision. And do so quickly. While this change may seem trivial, the conflicting sensations from the vestibular system almost always causes some degree confusion, especially when the need to make the switch is unexpected. Combined with the startle factor as well as fright, information to the brain from the vestibular system the pilot may doubt the information being presented by the flight instruments. The conflict can be incapacitating. Above all else, the pilot has to focus on maintaining his or her instrument scan, interpreting what he or she sees and applying appropriate control inputs to keep the airplane under control.

Stay in the Fight.

Having to rely on central vision rather than peripheral vision while battling conflicting sensationsfrom the vestibular system can be exhausting to a pilot not accustomed to flying by reference to instruments or having done so recently. One of the significant challenges to surviving VFR into IMC is, stunningly, resignation. The task of keeping the plane under control is daunting. It may seem overwhelming. What was a stable aircraft in visual conditions suddenly seems like it wants to doanything but fly straight and level, especially if turbulence is involved. Its not unusual the frustrated pilot to seriously consider just giving up. Giving in to resignation will probably be fatal. As incredibly difficult as things may be, its essential that the pilot stay in the fightremain determined to keep up the instrument scan and keep the airplane under control.

Minimizing head movement will help in the maintaining control battle. The idea is to keep movement of the fluid in the inner ear to a minimum. If you need to look at a chart, table or printed material, raise whatever it is into your line of vision rather than titling your head down. When head movement is required, make the movements slow and deliberate. Routine tasks, such as changing radio frequencies, can become difficult. Break tasks downfor example, if you have to change a radio frequency, do it a little at a time. Change one digit and go right back to the instrument scan and return the airplane to straight and level (it wont have gotten as far away from right side up as it would had you took the time to put in all of the digits of the new frequency at once). Then change the next digit on the radio and return to your scan. Repeat as needed. When you return to your instrument scan, take as much time as necessary for your vestibular system to settle down before making another change.

To my surprise, I found that in many of the fatal VFR into IMC accidents, the pilot elected to continue to fly in the conditions. Thats foolish. Once youve got the airplane under control, the most important next step is to take action to get out of the situation. Youll probably have a number of options from which to choose. In the 2007 NASA study on GA weather encounters, 46 of 99 pilots who responded chose to land as soon as possible (dont overlook landing in a field). Others were able to either descend below the weather, deviate around it or get on top of it. The 180-degree turn was used 19 percent of the time. AWOS/ASOS/ATIS broadcasts or on-board weather via ADS-B or satellite can be used to find nearby airports that have acceptable conditions. Having a prepared plan B can make the decision to escape easier and avoid the temptation of plan continuation bias. Your Plan B already has an acceptable outcome built into itits time to use it.

Get Help

If time and circumstances permit, get on the radio and get help. Youre a pilot; you use resources to complete your flights. When youre in a jam, ATC can be an extraordinarily valuable resource. ATC can identify airports with suitable conditions for landing and give you vectors to get there. A controller can contact other pilots who may be able to provide PIREPS on areas of VMC. However, the task of identifying the correct frequency for an ATC facility may be more than the pilot can handle at the time. If you are in the habit of using VFR fight following, monitoring local ATC frequencies or having 121.5 selected on the other comm radio, your workload will be reduced. The reality is that you have a life-threatening emergency. Make a call on 121.5, youll almost invariably get an answer from an ATC facility. If youre too low, the chances are good someone flying higher will hear you and help out by relaying your calls to ATC. Your objective is to reduce your workload so that more concentration can be devoted to flying the airplane. Plus, because you have an emergency, if you can get in contact with ATC, declare it. That gives a controller the freedom to put you absolutely first in line for assistancesomething you need right now. Dont be hesitant to declare an emergency because youre worried about paperwork, there isnt anythe paperwork myth comes from an old John Wayne movie.

Conclusion

Aviation has a fascination with the morbid. We study accidents in hopes of learning how to avoid the same type of accident in the future. We know a lot about how people die in airplaneswe need to know more about how to survive. While every VFR into IMC crash is investigated we need to know more about the encounters that were handled successfully. Pilots who survive and file NASA reports have helped otherstheir reports were a part of the VFR into IMC survival strategy in this article. I hope you never have a VFR into IMC event, but if you do, I hope you are able to handle it and that youll help other pilots by filing a NASA report and explain how you dealt with the situation.

David Rowland is a long-time private pilot and professional computer analyst specializing in system crashes and performance. He survived a protracted VFR into IMC event some years ago.
DUNCAN  Diners at My Place Bar & Grill in Duncan can take a world tour without getting up from their tables.

The restaurants Thursday night menu specials feature ethnic cuisines, with a particular emphasis on traditional Polish, Czech and Slavic dishes to appeal to the many area residents who have those family backgrounds.

We throw a dart at the globe every Thursday, joked My Place cook Brian Laska, who has been offering his ethnic specials for a few years from November through April. That's when its too cold outside to fire up the smoker he uses for barbecue meats on Thursdays the rest of the year.

Laska said during the tour the world nights he prepares enough food to serve about 20 people  and its been pretty much sold out every Thursday.

The longtime My Place cook was busy prepping for a Russian-themed menu on Thursday afternoon at the bar's location at 904 Eighth St. on the north side of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks in Duncan.

Laska made sure he had plenty of sour cream for a Taste of Russia.

The evenings menu called for an appetizer of borscht  the main ingredient of My Places recipe is the beets that give the tart-tasting soup its distinctive red coloring. The soup, which had Laska slicing up beets, onions and homemade pork sausage, is served with a scoop of sour cream.

People want me to prepare it like they did back in their day, said Laska, who gets red-stained hands from the beet juice every time he makes the dish.

The menus entree was a serving of beef stroganoff with sauteed pieces of beef in a sour cream sauce.

They use a lot of sour cream in Russia, Laska said.

Its best to do it the traditional way, from scratch, said the cook, stopping his prep work as a regular stepped inside the bars front door to log her order of stroganoff and borscht to be picked up when dinnertime rolled around Thursday.

My Place just finished its Taste of Poland special.

That nights menu entree  galumpkis  probably brought back memories of grandmas favorite recipe for many area diners of Polish descent.

Galumpkis are Polish cabbage rolls, cabbage leaves stuffed with a mixture of ground meat, spices and rice baked in a tomato sauce, Laska said.

The cook said he served the rolls along with pierogi, a filled dumpling favored by Poland and other eastern European cuisines. Typical fillings include potato (those featured at My Place), sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese and fruits. Though the dish is especially associated with Poland, its also thought of as a national dish of Ukraine and Slovakia.

A Taste of Italy looked a lot different at My Place than it would at an area restaurant featuring Italian food. No lasagna and no pizza on the table, but there was a dessert that would make an Italian grandmother proud.

We keep it traditional, Laska said of the cream cheese dessert.

The entree for Italy was orzo. Italian for barley, orzo is a short-grain pasta shaped like a large grain of rice that was served with mushrooms, Laska said. Recipes with the rice-shaped pasta can also be a base for soups or salads.

The tour stopover during the Taste of Spain featured a chicken in white wine sauce entree, Laska said. The tour has also included stops for traditional dishes from France, Argentina and Great Britain.

My Place also features tacos on Mondays, Philly cheesesteaks on Tuesdays and burgers on Wednesdays. The bar and grill has lunch specials every day.

Laska is about halfway through his world tour, with an eye toward spring when the smoker starts up on Thursdays. Beef brisket and pulled pork are among the crowd favorites.

Every third Thursday we have ribs, said Laska, who earned the top prize at last years Pork in the Park barbecue competition in Genoa. We go through about 24 full racks of ribs on those nights.
6 February 2017 12:10 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Italy, a strong and reliable partner of Azerbaijan in Europe, aims to engage in new sectors of trade with the country.



Director General of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan Luigi DAprea, in an interview with Trend, said that opportunities for the development of trade between Italy and Azerbaijan are very extensive, and this is manifested not only in the oil and gas sector, where, by the way, Italy holds a very strong position.



Considering other sectors, Italy is represented very well in the metallurgical sector of Azerbaijan, he added.

The latest contract signed between Italys Danieli and Baku Steel Company, which embodies further growth and development of Italys activity in this sector, is a proof of this, he noted.

Regarding the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Italy, DAprea said that despite the slight decrease in the bilateral trade, Italy remains one of the main trade partners of Azerbaijan.

Last year the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Italy amounted to $1.89 billion, decreasing by 33.5 percent compared to 2015.

Italy, ranking first in the list of the main trade partners of Azerbaijan for eight years, dropped to the third place by late 2016. In the reporting period, Azerbaijan exported goods to Italy at $1.56 billion, accounting for 17.06 percent of the total export of Azerbaijan. Imports from Italy amounted to $332.19 million, decreasing by 43.5 percent compared to 2015.

Italy and Azerbaijan have excellent bilateral and economic relations, DAprea noted, adding that over the past eight years, Italy has remained Azerbaijans major trading partner, the fourth exporting country and the first customer in the energy sector.

The growth of Italian export to Azerbaijan reached its peak during 2011-2015, increasing by nearly twice and only now exports from all countries, including Italy, slightly decreased, he said.

DAprea went on to add that the Italian products are valued a lot in Azerbaijan, and this concerns not only the luxury segment.

The quality and credibility are the two factors that make up the advantage of the "Made in Italy" brand, he said.

DAprea stressed that Italy is synonymous with quality not only regarding usual Italian export sectors (fashion, furniture, food products), but also in such sectors as mechanics, engineering and technology.

In addition to the annual participation in such exhibitions as Baku Build, Caspian Oil & Gas, and others, Italy tries to promote other sectors of its economy as well, including the food sector, DAprea said.

Baku and Rome are strategic partners in the energy sector. Italy, whose scanty natural resources traditionally make the country dependent on import has been a key partner for Baku. Since 1999, Italy has begun to receive a large part of Azerbaijani oil exported through the Baku - Supsa pipeline and then through the Baku - Jeyhan. This made Italy the number one partner for Azerbaijan and this position is maintained until today.

Currently, about 45 Italian companies are operating in Azerbaijan in insurance, banking, trade, and other areas.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
5 February 2017 17:25 (UTC+04:00)

By Azertag

Azerbaijani ambassador to Kazakhstan Rashad Mammadov has proposed developing joint tourism packages for foreign tourists as he met with director of Kazakhstan Tourism Industry Department Marat Igaliyev. Mammadov said tourism authorities and agencies in both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan could cooperate in preparing tourism packages for increasing the flow of foreign tourists.

The ambassador highlighted Azerbaijan`s accomplishments in tourism industry, including the establishment of state-of-the-art infrastructure and promotional campaigns.

Mammadov also pointed out growth in the number of Kazakh tourists visiting Azerbaijan. The tourist flow from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan saw a 14.8 per cent increase in 2016. The ambassador said Azerbaijani was ready for cooperation to boost the flow of Azerbaijani tourists to Kazakhstan.

Igaliyev praised ongoing development processes in Azerbaijan, describing Baku as one of the most attractive cities in the world. He said Kazakhstan was interested in studying Azerbaijan`s experience in developing tourism industry.

Igaliyev hailed the introduction of ASAN viza system in Azerbaijan, saying Kazakhstan will consider the opportunities of applying this system.

He also welcomed the Azerbaijani ambassador`s proposal to develop joint tourism packages for foreign tourists.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
5 February 2017 10:54 (UTC+04:00)

Turkmenistan's gas and gas condensate reserves can be substantially increased due to further geological, geophysical and drilling studies to be carried out on the countrys plain lands as well as within the West-Turkmen cavity, said Taganguly Ilamanov, candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, deputy director of the Natural Gas Research Institute of the Turkmengas state concern.

The strategy of development of the countrys oil and gas industry requires accelerated exploration and development of new prospective areas and fields, says an article published in the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper.

Complex analysis and detailed processing of geological and geophysical information on the gas fields of central and southeast Turkmenistan are now being conducted. They scientifically defined the exploration in the prospective regions through 2D and 3D seismic surveys and drilling.

As for the worlds second biggest gas field, Galkynysh, located in the eastern part of Turkmenistan, it is stated that this filed is unique for its geological conditions.

After additional seismic and well surveys, estimation of gas reserves of the Galkynysh field may be revised upward and the obtained results will be used for the rational exploitation of this gas-bearing territory.

According to the audit held by the UKs Gaffney, Cline & Associates, reserves of the Galkynysh, together with reserves of the Yashlar field, are estimated at 26.2 trillion cubic meters of gas and reaches 27.4 trillion cubic meters  together with reserves of the reopened Garakel field.

Currently, Turkmenistan delivers gas to Iran and China. The country also continues the construction of the Turkmen part of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
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ABOUT THIS SERIES

This project results from an innovative reporting venture  the Center for Health Journalism Collaborative  that currently involves The Bakersfield Californian, Radio Bilingue in Fresno, Valley Public Radio in Fresno and Bakersfield, Vida en el Valle in Fresno, Hanford Sentinel, the Voice of OC in Santa Ana, the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, La Estrella de Tucson and CenterforHealthJournalism.org.

The collaborative is an initiative of the Center for Health Journalism at the University of Southern Californias Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

You can read more of this series and the collaborative's previous work on valley fever here:

http://www.bakersfield.com/special/just-one-breath
July 12, 1876  The Columbus Journal

Gen. Custer and His Command Exterminated by Indians

A terrible and bloody battle between Gen. Custers command and about 2,500 Sioux warriors occurred on Sunday, the 25th of June, at the Indian village forty miles below the mouth of Little Big Horn River. Gen. Custer attacked the Indians in their village, and the fighting was fierce and desperate, resulting in the death of Gen. Custer, his two brothers, nephew and brother in law, and all his detachment of men.

Two hundred and seven men were buried in one place, and the killed are estimated at 300, with 31 wounded. The loss of the Indians could not be ascertained.

The battleground looked like a slaughter pen, and all the arms (weapons) of the dead soldiers fell into the hands of the Indians. It is stated that seventeen commissioned officers were killed.

(Major) Reno, who was expected to assist in the attack was surrounded and held in check, but finally made his escape by retreating under the protection of Gen. Gibbons reserve. Lieut. Crittenden, son of Gen. Crittenden, is among the killed.

The official report of Gen. Terry leaves no doubt as to the correctness of the first reports.

* * *

News of the Custer massacre on the Little Big Horn River was the talk of the nation, Platte County, Nebraska, included. The good folks of Columbus immediately focused attention on their Indian fighting favorite sons, Frank and Luther North. Since 1864, the Pawnee Scouts had played a significant role in the Plains Indian wars. Frank, Luther and several other local men served as officers of the Scouts and were the pride of the city and county. Now with the news of the massacre the local expectation was get the Pawnee Scouts up there and avenge Custer."

Frank and Luther no doubt experienced some degree of emotion upon hearing the breaking news of the Custer debacle. Perhaps both of them, who had rubbed elbows with or worked for Custer in the last few years, were thinking: How could it have happened? Unbelievable! It could have been us and our Pawnee Scouts!

Frank had gotten to know Custer four years before in 1872. General Custer was the official leader of a special January 1872 three-day buffalo hunt staged for Grand Duke Alexis of Russia just south of North Platte. Buffalo Bill Cody and Frank North, however, were probably the ones who really put it all together and actually ran the show. The party hunted successfully then celebrated with a wagonload of champagne. Norths Pawnee and some Sioux did ritual dances, Frank interpreting the meaning. The Indians also demonstrated how they hunted buffalo. The three-day affair was very successful and the famous Indian fighters  Custer, Cody and North  had ample time to share war stories" for the benefit of the grand dukes Wild West adventure.

Luther had been a member of Custers 1874 Black Hills Expedition. Officially the expedition was supposed to find a site for a fort on the north side of the Black Hills to help control the Sioux. Unofficially, the expedition would confirm reports of gold in the hills. Custer and his Seventh Cavalry, some infantry, Indian scouts, scientists, miners, geologists, newspapermen, a photographer, teamsters, packers, and so on, to the tune of over 1,000, formed the expedition and spent July and August 1874 exploring." Luther went as an assistant to professor and naturalist George Bird Grinnell.

Reporting initially to Custer at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory, Luther and Grinnell also met Georges wife, Elizabeth (Libbie). Of this meeting Luther later wrote, (Mrs. Custer) would probably remember Grinnell, but I doubt she would recall me.

Custer not only commanded the 1874 Black Hills Expedition, he also blazed trails, hunted, collected animal and mineral specimens for eastern museums, wrote reports and even authored an article for a New York magazine. One day professor Grinnell bragged to the general about some good shooting Luther had done while hunting deer. Custer said, Huh, I found two more horned toads today," refusing to acknowledge Norths marksmanship. Later on the expedition stopped at a small pond near which a duck had nested. She had seven or eight young ones about half grown. Custer got off his horse and said, I will knock the heads off a few of them. Luther later told the story of what happened next: Mr. Grinnell looked at me and made a gesture. I dismounted and sat down on the ground behind the General. He shot and missed. Then I shot and cut the head off one of the birds. He shot again and missed, and I cut the head off another. He looked around at me, then shot again and missed, and I cut the head off a third one. Just then an officer rode up on the opposite bank of the pond and said our bullets, after skipping off the water, were singing over the heads of his troops. The General said we had better stop shooting, and got on his horse and rode away without saying a word to me, but I dont think he liked it very well.

Aug. 8, 1876  The Columbus Journal

Major Frank North, formerly of this place (he was currently serving at Sidney Barracks) has received authority from General Sheridan to enlist 100 Pawnees. It is supposed that they will be ordered to the Powder River country for winter work. Capt. Luther H. North of this place, brother to the Major, left the city yesterday evening for the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) where the Pawnee are now located.

Sept. 27, 1876  The Columbus Journal

The 100 Pawnee scouts (that have been enlisted) are being equipped at Sidney. Frank North is commissioned as Captain, L.H. North as 1st Lieut. and James Cushing as 2nd Lieut. These gentlemen formerly acted in similar capacities with the Pawnees, are brave men and excellent soldiers, and will make a good record.

* * *

They did make a good record  first by capturing Red Cloud and his people so they were unable to join the hostiles who massacred Custer and second, they joined the Powder River expedition of Col. Mackenzie in pursuit of the Cheyenne who helped the Sioux during the Battle of Little Big Horn. The pursuit finally ended with the successful attack and defeat of Dull Knifes village.

During the battle, Frank and Luther North and their Pawnee Scouts charged into the Cheyenne village, routing the enemy. Inside the village much was found that the Cheyenne Indians had taken from the Seventh Cavalry at the Little Big Horn massacre  a roster book of a First Sergeant of the 7th giving many details about his troop, the fringed sleeve of a buckskin jacket with a bullet hole in the back, the red, white and blue of the Seventh Cavalrys guidons, a collection of leather gloves and gauntlets, soldiers blouses and officers coats, gold chevrons and bars, and a few old kepis. There were also 7th saddles, currycombs, memorandum books, bundles of letters tied with twine or faded hair ribbons, canteens, soldier wallets and a tarnished pocket watch. This was the last contact the North brothers would have with anything Custer.

References

Barnes, Jeff, The Great Plains Guide to Custer, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2012.

Bruce, Robert, The Fighting Norths and Pawnee Scouts, Lincoln, NE, Nebraska State Historical Society, 1932.

Grinnell, George Bird, Two Great Scouts and Their Pawnee Battalion, Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press (reprint), 1973.

Johnston, Terry C., A Cold Day in Hell, New York, NY, Bantam Books, 1996.

News releases, The Columbus Journal, July 12, 1876, August 8, 1876, and September 27, 1876.

North, Luther, ed. By Danker, Donald F., Man of the Plains, Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1961.

Wilson, Ruby E., Frank North Pawnee Scout Commander and Pioneer,

Athens, Ohio, Swallow Press, 1984.

Reprinted from the April 2012 issue of the Platte County Historical Society newsletter.
It's hard to figure out if the thugs who run Iran were puzzled or amused by the stern warning from National Security Adviser Michael Flynn last week. Sounding like a substitute teacher in front of a rowdy classroom, he told them they were officially being put "on notice" for testing ballistic missiles and arming Houthi rebels in Yemen.

"On notice"? What exactly does that mean? Is it a hollow threat, which will make us look foolish? Or is it a prelude to some kind of armed clash that will accomplish nothing for us yet provide perfect propaganda fodder for the extremists who hold power in Teheran - against the sentiments of most Iranians, incidentally.

Clearly, Team Trump wanted to make it clear that they were going to be a lot tougher than President Obama, who went too far in the other direction. Rogue regimes like Iran need to know we can and will push back when certain lines are crossed.

But dictatorships don't care how many of their civilians or sailors are lost in a battle - or heaven forbid, a war - with the United States. To the ruthless mullahs, individual Iranian lives are simply statistics to be exploited. They prop up the lies they tell to maintain power at home and the tired cliches they peddle abroad about standing up to U.S. imperialism.

In this country, however, human losses matter deeply. If any members of our military come home to Dover, Delaware, in flag-draped coffins, it had better be for a very good reason. Losing them because of loose words or political grandstanding is unacceptable.

This is why North Korea has nuclear weapons and is busily testing long-range missiles. The only way to stop them is with a full-scale war that would be unimaginably costly.

Iran, however, does not have nuclear weapons, thanks to years of economic sanctions (which wouldn't work on isolated North Korea) and the deal signed by Obama and five major powers. You may argue that when the agreement expires in 10 years, Iran will pursue the very nukes we don't want them to get. And you may be right. But for a decade, at least, they don't join the nuclear club. And maybe the deal can be extended.

It's worth noting that the Trump administration also did something else last week in response to Iran's provocations. It levied new sanctions on more than two dozen people and companies connected with Iran's missile program.

But the new sanctions do not violate the agreement with Iran. A senior administration official also said he did not consider Iran's missile tests to violate the pact either. On top of everything, House Speaker Paul Ryan said the Iran nuclear deal is likely to stay in place.

All of this is a far cry from Trump's campaign bluster to immediately "tear up" the agreement with Iran that was the "worst deal" we had ever signed. The reality of it is quite different, even if it's not perfect.

Let's hope Mike Flynn takes "notice" of that, and the fragile peace prevails.

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

Thomas Taschinger, TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com, is the editorial page editor of The Beaumont Enterprise. Follow him on Twitter at @PoliticalTom
Katie Price said she and Simon Cowell went to his London mansion after the Comedy Awards in 2003

Katie Price has said that she spent the night with Simon Cowell - but did not sleep with The X Factor boss.

The former glamour model, 38, said that the pair headed back to his London mansion after the Comedy Awards in 2003.

Price, who was single at the time, told The Sun: "We kissed. I undressed and we got into bed. We had fun."

She said of their encounter: "I ran my fingers through his chest hair thinking, 'This is the first time I've been in bed with a proper man'."

The Loose Women panellist added: "I stayed the night with him and he got me a car home in the morning. We had fun but we did not have sex."

She said: "It would have been nice to have a relationship but I don't think he ever saw it that way."

Price said that the pair enjoyed a night getting drunk, with another friend, in 2012 when her relationship with Argentine model Leandro Penna was ending.

But she said that nothing happened with Cowell and she did not cheat on ex-fiance Penna, adding: "I have never cheated on anybody."

Cowell is now in a relationship with Lauren Silverman, the mother of his young son Eric.

A spokesman for Cowell declined to comment.
La La Land swept up another major Hollywood prize in its bid for Oscars glory, as Damien Chazelle was honoured at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards.

Chazelle, who directed the musical starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, won the DGA Award for feature film at the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles.

The award is seen as an accurate predictor for Academy Award success, as 12 of the last 13 winners have gone on to win the Oscar for best director.

On stage, Chazelle, 32, said: " I'm a movie maker because I love movies. I was three years old watching Cinderella on loop.

"I felt that movies were powerful because they speak to everyone: all countries all cultures."

Chazelle is bidding to become the youngest ever winner of the best director award at the Oscars on February 26, where La La Land has earned a record-equalling 14 nominations.

Gosling, who attended the DGA Awards with his co-star Stone, said Chazelle had "great vision, unbridled creativity and is a real collaborator."

"He directed his birth in a single take," the film star joked.

Alejandro Inarritu, the Oscar-winning director of Birdman and The Revenant, appeared to take aim at US president Donald Trump's administration before he presented the award to Chazelle.

"We all know the story being written now is really, really bad," he said on stage.

"Actually it's a bad remake of one of the worst stories of the last century.

"The only way we win is by telling good, complex and truthful human stories. No alternative facts or false statistics will defeat that."

Denis Villeneuve, the French Canadian director of Oscar-nominated film Arrival, had earlier referred on stage to Mr Trump's controversial travel ban.

"In the morning the first thing I do is go on Twitter to see if my visa is still legal," he said.

British director Sir Ridley Scott was presented with a lifetime achievement award by actor Michael Fassbender.

On stage, the Alien director, 79, said: "My fellow directors, I salute you. Do try to raise the bar and most importantly, try not to punch anyone because I've come close quite a few times."

Paying tribute to Sir Ridley, Christopher Nolan, who directed the Dark Knight trilogy, said: "If I was asked to point to one filmmaker who inspired me to get into film, it would be Sir Ridley Scott."

Australian director Garth Davis won the DGA for first-time feature film for his moving drama Lion.

The film, which has earned Oscar nominations for its stars Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman, tells the true story of a young man who was adopted in Australia and uses Google Earth to trace his family in India.

Collecting his award, Davis paid tribute to the cast including child actor Sunny Pawar, who was sat next to Kidman at the ceremony at the Beverly Hilton hotel.

"There's no doubt as a director, I was lucky," Davis said.

"I was gifted such a magnificent and beautiful script but with that came immense responsibility.

"The first half of the film relies on the performance of a five-year-old child who did not speak English. I love you Sunny."

There was more British success as Miguel Sapochnik won the DGA Award for dramatic series for Game Of Thrones.

And fellow Briton Becky Martin won the DGA for a comedy series for her work on the political satire Veep.

On stage, Martin thanked the show's creator Armando Iannucci and its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus for her "boundless energy".

"She's not a bad actor - one to look for in the future if you're casting," Martin joked.
The Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev John Mann, has announced he will be leaving St Annes Cathedral at Easter to take up a post in England.

The Dean has been appointed team rector of the Parish of Swanage with Studland in the Diocese of Salisbury.

He made the announcement at the 11am Sunday service in St Annes.

Dean Mann spoke of how hard it had been to make the decision to move back across the water having lived most of his adult life in Northern Ireland.

He said: My wife Helen and I have been privileged to serve in four parishes in the Church of Ireland, as well as St Annes Cathedral, and have seen great change in the community.

Our children were both born here and had much of their education in Belfast. We will be leaving with fond memories and with the intent of being back as often as is practical.

Dean Mann said the decision to move had been weighing on him and Helen for some time, and had been taken for several reasons.

But the main reason, he said, was because St Annes is passing from one phase of transition, into which he was appointed, to another, as the Cathedral Quarter approaches very significant change.

St Annes will rise to the opportunities and challenges that will face a new Dean and the Cathedral Board over the next five years.

It is from this perspective a good time to go.

We will also be moving closer to our family and I look forward not only to that, but to returning for a few years to my primary calling as a parish clergyman. It is a time to look forward for us all.

The Bishop of Conor, the Rt Rev Alan Abernethy, is a member of the Belfast Cathedral Board.

He said: I will be forever grateful for Johns ministry in St Annes, for his prayerful presence. His clear thinking and compassionate care for many will leave the Cathedral in good heart.

"He and Helen can be assured of the love and prayers of everyone at St Annes and the clergy and people of Connor Diocese.
General view of the house on Magdala Street in the Holy Lands are of south Belfast where a man and woman were rescued from a third floor attic after a fire on Saturday night. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com

General view of the house on Magdala Street in the Holy Lands are of south Belfast where a man and woman were rescued from a third floor attic after a fire on Saturday night. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com

Firefighters have rescued a man and a woman trapped in a house blaze in Belfast.

The pair became trapped in a room on the third floor of the property on Magdala Street, close to Queen's University in the south of the city, when the fire broke out on Saturday night.

Three other people managed to escape the blaze before firefighters arrived. One man received burns to his hand as he attempted to put out the fire which was caused by an unattended chip pan.

NIFRS said that three other occupants had managed to escape from the mid-terrace house shortly before the crews arrived.

"The property did have a smoke alarm system, however, it did not operate and alert the occupants. Thankfully, on this occasion, the fire was discovered by another male who had returned to the property and raised the alarm. He suffered burns to his hand trying to extinguish the blaze," the spokesman added.

The British Red Cross Fire and Emergency Support Service also attended the incident to support the occupants and assist with rehousing.

Fire service group commander Alan O'Neill said: "Of those who were rescued there was some slight smoke inhalation and the individual who had gone back into the property - who had identified that a fire had occurred - had some slight burns to his hands

"He was able to get back out of the property and the fire crews were able to get in then and extinguish it."
A consultant psychiatrist has spoken of his shock after a Belfast woman said she would rather die than be treated by a Muslim doctor.

Dr Saleem Tareen, who is based in Whiteabbey, said the outburst on the BBC Stephen Nolan radio show had upset many Muslims.

"It was very hard to hear that being said. It was quite hurtful that there are people who think like that," he said.

"And then I thought 'how would anyone actually be sure a person was Muslim?' The colour of their skin?"

Originally from Pakistan, Dr Tareen said that in 17 years working in Northern Ireland he had only "once or twice" felt that a patient was uncomfortable with him.

"And of course you do what you can to alleviate those feelings," he said.

His comments came after the Belfast Islamic Centre voiced "deep sadness" about the comments and pointed out there are "numerous" Muslim doctors, nurses, pharmacists and others working in NI.

The centre in south Belfast is holding an open day tomorrow for visitors to learn more about the Muslim community and faith and "commonalities".

Dr Tareen said: "As you know there is a quite a shortage of GPs in practices and hospitals and if it was not for Muslim doctors that situation would be even worse. Queen's University and Ulster University get a lot of students from Malaysia and other Muslim countries who then work as junior doctors here."

Presenter Nolan said he had been shocked by the woman's comments and knew he would be criticised for allowing her air-time.

Asked if she would receive treatment from a Muslim doctor, the anonymous 'Janice from Belfast' said: "I wouldn't like to be treated... I would rather go home and die."

The centre, which will be open on Sunday from noon until 5pm, said in a statement: "We were deeply saddened to hear the comments on the Nolan show. Among the Muslim community of Northern Ireland, there are numerous doctors, nurses, pharmacists, carers, scientists, medical students and other health care professionals who will treat you regardless of your religion or racial origin. We are also business owners, taxi drivers, lecturers, students, shopkeepers, office workers, parents, volunteers and more all contributing to Northern Irish society in our own way".

The statement added: "Muslims have been here for at least 100 years. Many of us were born here, others came for work, education, love or seeking safety and refuge from war and violence abroad.

"It is very important to obtain your information from appropriate sources.

"The Muslim community in Northern Ireland always welcomes visitors, but in particular this Sunday we have an open day at Belfast Islamic Centre and we invite you to join us to find out more about our community, our faith and hopefully our commonalities".




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.
Traffic crosses the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the village of Bridgend, Co Donegal (File photo)

A post-Brexit hard border would be a "disaster" for Ireland, former Irish minister for foreign affairs Dermot Ahern has warned.

Mr Ahern told RTE's The Week In Politics he believes "one way or another" there is going to be some sort of hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

He said such a border "would be terrible for us".

"There will be a hard border of some sort and there will have to be checks, particularly on the southern side. That would be a disaster for us," the retired Louth TD said.

Mr Ahern added: "Whoever decided to put that referendum before the people in Britain didn't think out the implications for Ireland, both north and south.

"I think our Government are in a difficult position given that this has been foisted upon them against their will.

"Obviously they have to try and ameliorate the situation for our people. One way or the other, I think it is particularly bad news for border areas."

Meanwhile Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan has moved to reassure the public that Irish police will maintain their close working relationship with police in Northern Ireland and UK security services to tackle cross border crime, post Brexit.

"Obviously we have a very unique and very close working relationship with the PSNI and the UK security services. Those relationships will continue," Ms O'Sullivan said during an organised crime briefing recently.

She added: "I have met the Chief Constable of the PSNI and my counterparts in the UK in terms of making sure there will not be an impact. We are determined that nothing will really impact.

"We have to be mindful of whatever happens within the EU administration, the impact that it is going to have on European arrest warrants and operating systems for example.

"By way of reassurance to the public we will continue our relationship with the PSNI."

The Northern Ireland Police Federation, the body that represents rank and file officers, recently warned that a Brexit hard border would place police officers "in the terrorist firing line".

Head of the Federation Mark Lindsay said physical border posts would make officers easy targets for terrorists and harm relations between the police and communities.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has insisted that both the British and Irish governments want to see a "seamless, frictionless border".
Two men are in a critical condition in hospital following separate crashes in Co Down and Co Tyrone.

A motorcyclist is in a critical condition in hospital following a crash in Co Tyrone on Saturday.

The one vehicle crash involving a green Honda motorcycle happened at 12.45pm on the Pomeroy Road in Donaghmore.

The motorcyclist has been taken to the Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast for treatment to his injuries which are described as critical.

Sergeant Brady would appeal to any motorists who were on the Pomeroy Road between 12.30pm and 12.45pm and who may have witnessed this road traffic collision to contact Police at Dungannon on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 590 04/02/17.

Meanwhile in a separate incident a man is fighting for his life in hospital following a three-vehicle crash in Killyleagh Co Down.

It happened on the Comber Road on Saturday night.

The man is in the Royal Victoria Hospital where his condition is described as critical.

A woman was also taken to hospital for checks.

The road was closed between Ringduffering and Derrboy crossroads but has since reopened.

Sergeant Sam Ballard has appealed to any witnesses or anyone with any information to contact police at Downpatrick on the non-emergency number 101 quoting reference 1275 04/02/2017.
Sophie Toscan du Plantier was found dead at her holiday home in Ireland

Ian Bailey is likely to be tried in France in his absence over the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier

A man who was questioned in connection with the death of film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier in Co Cork 20 years ago has been indicted in France for her murder.

Ian Bailey, 59, an English journalist living in Co Cork, has been served with papers by gardai, on behalf of the French authorities.

Mr Bailey's extradition to France has been refused by the courts in Ireland because of the lack of evidence connecting him to the murder.

He is now likely to be tried in France in his absence.

Mr Bailey told the Sunday Times that gardai had called to his home in Schull, west Cork, on Thursday to serve him with a 95-page indictment outlining the case against him.

"I thought the gardai had come to arrest me. They were very polite. I'm constantly on alert as the French are determined to extradite me and am always preparing for the worst.

"I still can't leave Ireland, or cross the border, in case I'm arrested on foot of a European arrest warrant. This ordeal just goes on and on," he said.

Frank Buttimer, a solicitor who acts for Bailey, told the paper on Saturday he was considering the indictment.

Ms Toscan du Plantier's badly-beaten body was found outside her holiday home near Toormore outside Schull on the morning of December 23, 1996. No one has ever been charged in Ireland in connection with her death, despite an extensive Garda investigation.

Mr Bailey was twice arrested by gardai and questioned about the murder.

He has always denied any involvement.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who funded a centre in Edinburgh that helped a motor neurone disease patient to keep his Yorkshire accent

A 41-year-old father with motor neurone disease will be able to keep his Yorkshire accent despite the fact he is losing the ability to speak.

Experts have, for the first time, been able to use technology to create an accented voice, basing it on a similar system to that used by Professor Stephen Hawking.

Jason Liversidge, from Scarborough in North Yorkshire, was diagnosed with in 2014 and is slowly losing the ability to speak as his condition progresses.

But instead of giving him a computer-generated voice, specialists have created a voice with a Yorkshire accent for Mr Liversidge.

They have used recordings of his original voice from a speech he gave at his sister's wedding, plus those of Yorkshire men who have donated their voices, including Jason's best friend, Phil White.

Donor voices were needed because Mr Liversidge's speech is already slurred.

Speaking to BBC Inside Out Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, Mr Liversidge said he was hoping to keep his voice to communicate with his children, Poppy and Lilly, and wife, Liz.

He said: "I'd quite like to keep a form of identity.

"I just don't want to be a programmed voice on a computer. But also for the kids and Liz, [I want them] to hear my voice rather [than] a computer one."

After hearing his new voice, he said: "That's pretty good. It's instantly recognisable. It sounds really good. I know it's me."

The new voice was developed at a centre in Edinburgh funded by Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

Dr Phillipa Rewaj, a speech and language therapist at the Anne Rowling Clinic, said: "Your voice is identifiable to other people as your face is. It's very unique to you. So to be able to preserve that is really important for people."

BBC Inside Out Yorkshire and Lincolnshire is on Monday at 7.30pm.
Malcolm Turnbull said there would be no link between the refugee resettlement and any future US request for military help in the Middle East or the South China Sea

Australia's prime minister has ruled out any deal to get the United States to honour an agreement to resettle hundreds of Muslim refugees.

Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull on Sunday also dismissed a Nine Network television network journalist's suggestion that he should be offended that White House spokesman Sean Spicer has repeatedly called him "Trumbull" in press briefings.

Turnbull said: "The important thing is results."

Spicer said US President Donald Trump has agreed to honour an Obama administration deal to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers rejected by Australia. Trump made the agreement during a conversation with Turnbull last weekend, but has since tweeted, "I will study this dumb deal!"

Turnbull said Trump had asked for nothing in return for resettling the mostly Muslim refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Australia pays the impoverished Pacific countries of Nauru and Papua New Guinea to keep the refugees in camps.

"Absolutely not," Turnbull said. "It's a deal obviously that President Trump has said he wouldn't have entered into, but he has committed to honour it."

Turnbull said there would be no link between the refugee resettlement and any future US request for military help in the Middle East or the South China Sea.

Australia is one of the largest contributors to the US-led military campaign in Iraq and Syria. Australia has resisted US pressure to conduct freedom of navigation exercises close to artificial islands created by China in the contested South China Sea.

"We assess all requests for military assistance on their merits and there is no linkage at all between an arrangement relating to refugee resettlement and any other matters," Turnbull said.

The Obama administration agreed to resettle Australia's refugees after Australia agreed in September last year to accept Costa Rican refugees fleeing drug wars.

AP
The White House expects the courts to reaffirm President Donald Trump's executive power and reinstate a ban on refugees and travellers from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States, it said on Sunday.

The case promised to extend into Monday at least, when fresh legal filings were due, and observers had no doubt the Supreme Court ultimately will have a say.

The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, in a brief order overnight, denied the administration's request to set aside a Seattle judge's ruling that put a temporary hold on the ban nationwide.

The lawsuit by Washington state and Minnesota said Mr Trump's order harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination.

Their lawyers had until early Monday to submit briefs opposing the government's request. The Justice Department then had a deadline to respond.

"We'll accomplish the stay and will win the case on the merits," Vice President Mike Pence said.

Members of Mr Trump's Republican Party scolded him for Twitter attacks on US District Court Judge James Robart, appointed by former president George W. Bush, and accused Mr Trump of stepping over the line that separates the executive from the judiciary.

To Mr Trump, Judge Robart is a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling "will be overturned".

Mr Trump renewed his Twitter attacks against Judge Robart on Sunday.

"Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!"

He followed with another tweet saying he had instructed the Homeland Security Department to check people coming into the country but that "the courts are making the job very difficult!"

Vice President Mike Pence defended Mr Trump, saying "the president can criticise anybody he wants".

Mr Pence added that he believes the American people "find it very refreshing that they not only understand this president's mind, but they understand how he feels about things".

At issue is the legality of a presidential action undertaken in the name of national security.

Whatever the outcome and however the case drags on, a president who was used to getting his way in private business is finding, weeks in to the job, obstacles to quickly fulfilling one of his chief campaign pledges.

The government had told the appeals court that the president alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the United States, an assertion that appeared to invoke the wider battle to come over illegal immigration.

Congress "vests complete discretion" in the president to impose conditions on entry of foreigners to the United States, and that power is "largely immune from judicial control", according to the court filing.

"We don't appoint judges to our district courts to conduct foreign policy or to make decisions about the national security," Mr Pence said.

Mr Trump's order applied to Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, Muslim-majority countries that the administration said raise terrorism concerns.

The order had caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompted protests across the United States and led to multiple court challenges.

After Judge Robart's decision, the department reversed course and said they could travel to the US if they had a valid visa.

AP
A demonstrator chants during a rally protesting over the immigration policies of US president Donald Trump, near the White House in Washington (AP)

Visa holders from countries affected by US president Donald Trump's travel ban have hurried to board US-bound flights after a federal judge temporarily halted the block.

Those who can travel immediately are being urged to do so because of uncertainty over whether the US justice department would be granted an emergency freeze of the order issued on Friday by US district judge James Robart in Seattle.

The US government suspended enforcement of the week-old ban as it scurried to appeal Judge Robart's order, although an immigration lawyer said passengers in at least one African airport were told they could not get on the planes.

Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan, told The Detroit News that her group is advising people to hurry.

US officials have said up to 60,000 foreigners had their visas "provisionally revoked" to comply with Mr Trump's order. Although the government suspended enforcement of the travel ban while it sought an emergency stay of Judge Robart's order, some airlines reportedly still were not letting some people from the seven Muslim-majority countries board their planes.

Royal Jordanian Airlines, which operates direct flights from Amman to New York, Chicago and Detroit, said it would resume carrying nationals from the seven countries as long as they presented a valid US visa or green card.

But in the African nation of Djibouti, immigration attorney Julie Goldberg said a Qatar Airways representative told her that immigrants from all seven countries affected by the ban - Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Somalia - were not allowed to fly on Saturday afternoon. A Qatar Airways spokeswoman said the airline would begin boarding travellers from those countries.

Ms Goldberg said she was trying to arrange flights for dozens of Yemeni citizens who have immigrant visas and were stranded there. She said a supervisor at Turkish Airlines told her that people holding immigrant and non-immigrant visas from the seven countries still were being banned unless they had a special email from the US Customs and Border Protection with the person's name and passport number.

A 12-year-old Yemeni girl whose parents and siblings are US citizens living in California was finally allowed to depart after "an hour-and-a-half of fighting" with officials, Ms Goldberg said. It was unclear when she would arrive.

A Somali refugee said about 140 asylum seekers whose resettlement in the US was blocked by Mr Trump's executive order were sent back to their camp. It is unclear if or when they could travel.

Nadir Hassan said the group of Somali refugees was relocated to Dadaab camp in eastern Kenya on Saturday. They had been expected to settle in the US this week and had been staying at an International Organisation for Migration transit centre in Nairobi.

"I was hoping to start a new life in the US," Mr Hassan said. "We feel bad."

American businesses affected by the ban also were jumping into action. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who quit Mr Trump's business advisory council this week under criticism of his initial response to the ban, said his company is buying plane tickets for some of its drivers who are stranded, tweeting Friday night that the head of litigation for the ride-hailing app is "buying a whole bunch of airline tickets ASAP!"

Meanwhile, legal advocates waited at airports to offer assistance to new arrivals in case anything went wrong.

Volunteer attorney Renee Paradis was among 20-25 lawyers and interpreters who stationed themselves inside JFK's Terminal 4 in case anyone arrived on Saturday needing help. They were carrying handmade signs in Arabic and Farsi which read they were available to help.

AP
A bid from Pulte Homes to rezone and add 465 residences and possibly a school near Sandy Run Creek on Jedburg Road wasn't met with open arms at a Oct. 26 community meeting on the part of local homeowners seeking to preserve the area's rural characteristics. Read moreJedburg Road residents tell Pulte Homes: 'Keep it rural'
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Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia








Turkish police have foiled a planned ISIS terror strike on the Izmir holiday resort following a string of dawn raids.

In total 445 suspects have been arrested across the country - including nine jihadis in the tourist resort plotting their attack.

One of the men arrested in Izmir is a Syrian national who had made contact with people smuggling gangs to sneak ISIS terrorists into Europe. Around 100 suspects were arrested in the south east of the country near the border with Syria.

Turkish anti-terror police have arrested 440 ISIS suspects in a string of raids, pictured

The raids took place during the early hours of this morning according to Turkish media

Nine ISIS suspects were planning an attack on the coastal tourist resort of Izmir, pictured

400 ISIS suspects arrested in a series of raids by Turkish police Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% 00:00 Previous Play Skip Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Fullscreen

At least 60 suspected jihadis were arrested in Ankara, most of them believed to be foreign nationals.

The operation around the country saw 150 suspects rounded up in Sanliurfa in the southeast and 47 in the nearby city of Gaziantep close to the Syrian border which has a known jihadist presence, Dogan said.

One of the suspects detained in Izmir - a Syrian identified only as E.A. - is said to have been in touch with people smugglers in a bid to help the ISIS members escape to Europe, Anadolu said.Eighteen people were detained in Istanbul and the neighbouring province of Kocaeli on suspicion of planning attacks.

Another 14 foreigners were due to be deported, including 10 children.

Turkish security forces conducted a series of coordinated raids to arrest suspected jihadis.

Abdulgadir Masharipov, pictured, is the main suspect for the New Year terror attack on teh Reina nightclub in Istanbul

This morning's raids saw Turkish police arrest the suspects - including foreign nationals - who are believed to have been planning attacks.

This follows the first confirmed attack by ISIS on Turkey on New Year's Eve which claimed the lives of 39 people.

The New Year's Eve attack on the Reina nightclub was the first time ISIS claimed responsibility for an atrocity in Turkey, although it had been suspected of several bombings during 2016.

Police detained the suspected New Year's Eve attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, on January 16 after over over two weeks on the run and authorities say he has confessed to the massacre.

The Hurriyet daily reported after the attack that ISIS also planned a simultaneous New Year's strike in Ankara but dropped the plot after arrests by the Turkish authorities.

Sources claim most of the 60 people detained in the capital are foreigners, although there is no information yet as to their nationality.

Dozens more arrests were made in provinces ranging from Bursa in the west to Bingol in the east.

In addition to the latest arrests, Turkey says at least 780 people, including 350 foreigners, remain in detention - some of whom have been convicted - over suspected links to the jihadist group.
Scary Live Suicide Attempts On Social Media Life oi-Syeda Farah

Everything we do in our daily life is shared online. From feeling bored to being excited or frustrated, we share it with the world. In this process, we make a connect with the virtual world and friends whom we hardly meet in person. They become our soul consolers.

This article, is all about some of the cases of people who have live-streamed their death to the world. Some of these people are lucky as they have been saved while most of them just died on the spot!

Also Read: Girl Who Livestreamed Her Death On Social Media For This Reason



Depression is something that can kill a person instantly and we have friends around us who are depressed, then they need to guided and spoken to as it can avoid unwanted suicides.

Check out the stories of these people who shook the world with the live-streaming of their deaths.

A Heartbroken Turkish Man Shot Himself! Erdogan Ceren was just 22 years old. This cute looking guy apparently shot himself while live on Facebook after his girlfriend broke up with him. The viewers tried to get him to stop, but he fired the second time after his first shot missed. Unfortunately he died. A Teen Attempted Suicide While 18,000 People Watched! A teenage girl from St. Paul, Minnesota attempted suicide during a Facebook live stream. She apparently was drinking a poisonous substance while around 18,000 people watched her die painfully! A Pre-Teen Killed Herself This young girl hanged herself to death while she filmed the entire act. She claimed that her step dad had abused her emotionally, sexually and verbally! Image Source Image Source An Actor Who Faced Sexual Assault Charges Frederick Jay Bowdy shot himself during a Facebook live stream in January 2017. He was recently arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. He was released after posting $100,000 on bail. A Model Who Streamed Her Suicide Attempt A Hong Kong model, named Ng Shuk Yi, broadcasted her suicide attempt to a live audience on Facebook in the early hours of January 16, 2017. Luckily she was saved at the nick of time and reports claim that she is recovering. Image Source Image Source

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Personal stories of women who have had abortions and crisis pregnancies will be heard by the Citizens' Assembly in March.

The Assembly will also hear from a range of advocacy groups at next month's meeting.

Today's session started with a debate between pro-life and pro-choice specialists on the ethical aspects of abortion.

Dr Donal O'Mathuna, senior lecturer in ethics, decision-making and evidence at Dublin City University, told the Assembly the issue of autonomous decision-making about abortion was unfair to the unborn.

"Where is the fairness in this for the unborn, who are totally without power? Relational autonomy holds that in relationships we must consider our responsibilities towards others, not just our rights," he said.

Dr Joan McCarthy of University College Cork, however, said the Eighth Amendment tramples on women's autonomy rights and poses serious risks to the mental and physical health of pregnant women.

She said the amendment requires of expectant mothers a self sacrifice that is unreasonable and unjust.

The Assembly will meet again in March and will hear directly from women who have been affected by the Eighth Amendment.

Chairman of the Assembly Ms Justice Laffoy said: "Hearing personal testimony is important as it allows the citizens the opportunity to hear first-hand about how the matters they are discussing at these weekends affect women and their families.

"We are now developing a work programme for the next meeting that will bring this testimony to the members in an informative manner, that can aid them in making a recommendation to the Houses of the Oireachtas."

The final weekend on the Eighth Amendment in April will focus on making recommendations to the Oireachtas.
Gerry Adams says he will travel to the US for St Patrick's Day.

During a short 48-hour visit, the Sinn Fein President will meet Irish American leaders and politicians to discuss the North, Brexit and the issue of the undocumented Irish.
Canberra's Rosa Green is well-aware of the "glamorous side" of the pageant world but hopes months of fund-raising and volunteer work will help equip her for a career as a doctor.

Rosa, 15, has been gearing up to vy for the title of Miss Teen Galaxy Australia at the pageant's national final on the Gold Coast in March.

Canberra girl Rosa Green who is a student at St Clare?s College Griffith will represent the ACT at the Miss Teen Galaxy Australia National Final in March.

A friend encouraged Rosa, of Deakin, to sign up for the pageant last year and she competed in the NSW finals held in December.

She has spent the past three months since volunteering, promoting the pageant and fund-raising for wildlife conservation organisation Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors.
Toddler Dash Dewey is believed to be one of 30 children in Australia living with a particular kind of cystic fibrosis who may finally be given access to subsidised drugs that could improve and extend their lives.

His parents, Carly and Nick, of Canberra, remain in the torturous situation of knowing there is a drug available that could help their little boy live a longer, happier life but it is beyond the financial reach of them and most Australians, costing more than $200,000 a year per child.

The drug, Kalydeco, is on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, subsidised by the Federal Government, for children aged six and over with a specific genotype. But is is not subsidised for anyone younger than six.

The office of Health Minister Greg Hunt told The Canberra Times on Friday that it was making an announcement that Kalydeco would be listed for children aged under six from this year but could not confirm it until Sunday. The office on Sunday then refused to confirm the listing.
Women more than 80 years old are turning to Canberra's homeless services for shelter, forced out of housing by the ACT's rental market, low savings and family violence.

Homelessness services are reporting a rise in clients who are elderly women, some resorting to sleeping in cars and couch surfing for shelter before seeking help.

More elderly women are seeking help from Canberra's homelessness shelters. Credit:Getty Images.

Rising rental prices in areas previously more accessible for low-income groups and pensioners have locked out older women with low superannuation and savings.

YWCA Canberra executive director Frances Crimmins said the housing options for elderly women were "dire".
Ten dogs behind bars for attack or harassment remain in limbo at the Canberra pound pending decisions on whether they will be returned to their owners or euthanised.

One dog, responsible for the horrific mauling of a Belconnen public housing resident, has been kept at the Domestic Animal Services facility in Symonston for nearly a year due to a "stalled" investigation.

Domestic animal services Operations manager Brad Murrell walks one of the dogs in the Mugga lane facility. Credit:Karleen Minney

The ACT government would not say how long the other nine had been there, but said each were under investigation for attacks on other animals. . Three of the 10 had attacked more than once.

Operations manager at the ACT-government-owned pound Brad Murrell said the length of stay for seized dogs varied greatly.
Malcolm Turnbull wants us to believe he's an energy magician, able to pull off a "policy trifecta" of eliminating blackouts and greatly reducing our emissions, all without much increase in the price of electricity and gas.

The main trick magicians use is to direct the audience's attention away from the place where they're doing their sleight-of-hand. That's what Turnbull's up to.

"As we can afford to reduce personal income taxes, we will," Malcolm Turnbull told the National Press Club in February. Credit:Blomberg

He wants to shift the blame for blackouts away from the feds and onto the states, while doing exactly the same for the big jump in gas prices.

He wants to blame our problems on a too-fast shift to renewables, to justify a new subsidy for new coal-fired power stations.
It is rare to find much unanimity among economists, but one of the few things they agree on is that the trough in commodity prices of 2016 will not be repeated.

But after the huge upswing in prices since then  particularly for bulk commodities such as coal and iron ore  the question is how far will prices retreat, especially after the March quarter, which often marks a cyclical high.

Stronger economic growth in most major economies worldwide, coupled with efforts to lift growth in China and changes to regulations there, saw prices of both bulk commodities along with a number of base metals, surge in the latter part of last year. Oil, likewise, has benefited from the move by key OPEC producers to limit production to help take pressure off prices.
The Tax Office's processes for forming decisions about whether taxpayers are guilty of fraud or evasion are "not sufficiently robust and may lead to unfair outcomes", according to concerns raised with the Inspector-General of Taxation Ali Noroozi.

Mr Noroozi has said, if time permits, he will look at the issue as part of his work program for the year ahead.

He also wants to look at taxpayer concerns raised by large companies about the ATO's recent approach to advice and guidance.

This is the second time the issue of fraud and evasion has come under scrutiny, after a 2014 parliamentary inquiry recommended that people and companies charged with it should be granted the presumption of innocence in court. Currently, a taxpayer accused of tax evasion is deemed guilty and must prove their innocence.
Voters across a swathe of Coalition seats believe federal government MPs should be given a free vote on same-sex marriage, according to new polling that will embolden Liberal moderates who want Malcolm Turnbull to stare down the party's conservatives and ditch Tony Abbott's plebiscite policy.

As the Prime Minister comes under renewed internal pressure over the issue ahead of Parliament's return on Tuesday, new ReachTEL polling shows nearly 62 per cent of people in seven Liberal and National seats across the country want Coalition MPs to have a conscience vote this year.

A poll has shown voters in Coalition seats want MPs to be given a free vote on same-sex marriage. Credit:Bloomberg

Mr Abbott and his supporters have warned Mr Turnbull against any such policy shift, saying it would be a "betrayal" of the Coalition's election commitments. But moderates believe after voting in favour of the plebiscite  which would have been held this month had it not been defeated in the Senate  they have discharged their duty and are now free to push once again for a conscience vote.

Mr Turnbull concedes the issue is to be discussed again in the Coalition party room.
The two most influential social liberals in President Donald Trump's inner circle - daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner - helped kill a proposed executive order that would have scrapped Obama-era LGBT protections, according to people familiar with the issue.

A third, Gary D. Cohn, chairman of the president's National Economic Council, a Democrat who was brought to the West Wing by Kushner and reflects the socially liberal and economically conservative views of many Wall Street power brokers, privately told aides to the president that he was disturbed it was even being considered.

Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner dance at the Freedom Ball. Credit:Evan Vucci

The executive order has exposed what is likely to be a persistent schism in Trump's paradoxical presidency: He is a cosmopolitan New Yorker who has long operated in an environment where sexual orientation is often an afterthought, but is nonetheless beholden to the social conservatives who backed him overwhelmingly in 2016, despite reports of his crudeness and sexual misdeeds.

Kushner, a lifelong Democrat, and Ivanka Trump, an independent, travel in liberal social circles and have long supported LGBT rights. Neither had seen the order before details were leaked. They expressed their dissatisfaction to Donald Trump's other advisers, and then weighed in directly with the president, who opposes same-sex marriage but has spoken out against discrimination.
The much-maligned Millennial generation is not really a bunch of lazy, entitled narcissists; it is just misunderstood.

That's the opinion of author and public speaker Simon Sinek whose views on today's teens and twentysomethings have been shared millions of times since being posted online late last year.

Simon Sinek says bosses must learn to understand their millennial employees.

The 43-year-old Gen Xer describes the younger generation as "accused of being entitled and narcissistic, self interested, unfocused and lazy  but entitled is the big one"  blaming the situation on cosseted parenting, technology overload, their own impatience and the current environment.

Mr Sinek's interview, which has been viewed 60 million times, has drawn criticism as well as support from Millennials, generally described as being born between 1982 and 2004, although definitions do vary.
Sydney Metro is being accused of "push polling" the public over the Sydenham to Bankstown section of the $20 billion rail line in telephone surveys critics say omit crucial information about the impact of the project.

Two companies, The Knowledge Warehouse and Newgate Research, have been conducting the surveys to test public attitudes towards the metro, which will replace the Bankstown heavy rail line.

The surveys cost $122,500 and involved more than 2800 people who live along the 66 kilometre Sydney Metro route from Rouse Hill in Sydney's northwest, through the city to Bankstown.

After establishing a respondent's attitude, the surveys present a series of statements about the benefits of the Sydney Metro.
Police have uncovered a sophisticated identity theft operation north of Brisbane on Saturday, finding a high-quality printer detectives believe was used to forge identity cards.

Members of the Fraud and Cyber Crime Group executed a search warrant at a May Street property in Godwin Beach near Caboolture, where they seized a commercial-grade ID card printer and about 500 blank magnetic ID cards.

Driver's licences, bank cards, Medicare cards, staff ID cards, mobile phones and sim cards were seized at the Godwin Beach residence. Credit:Queensland Police Service

Police said they also found a computer, driver's licences, bank cards, Medicare cards, staff ID cards, mobile phones and sim cards for both Queensland and New South Wales. Some of the cards were fakes.

"They were quite high-quality driver's licences, which to the normal person would appear to be legitimate," Detective Sergeant Sarah Boniface said.
An Australian tried to hide in Cambodia after police seized a huge stash of child pornography from his Queensland home, a court has been told.

Robbie Neils Berry, 54, had almost 130,000 child abuse images, videos and stories in his house at Daintree, in far north Queensland, when police raided the property in November 2008, the Brisbane District Court was told today.

During the raid, police seized 10 external computer hard drives and several CDs containing the offensive material.

The court was told the material featured children aged between one and 17, most of it in the lowest category of seriousness.

Commonwealth prosecutor Anthony Gett told the court Berry was in Thailand at the time of the raid, and that he subsequently made his way to Cambodia.
Drones and virtual reality are leading the way forward for film and TV production in Queensland, as the state remains on track for its best year yet.

Screen Queensland chief executive Tracey Vieira said the 2016/17 financial year was set to be "the pinnacle in the history of the organisation, in terms of outcomes for local filmmakers".

Australia's first virtual reality TV series was produced by three teams of Queenslanders in March 2016. Credit:JAMES HORAN

Ms Vieira said drones and VR were having a dramatic impact on the industry and establishing a "fairly significant role in terms of filming".

"Every big international production we've had here in recent years has been using drones for both shooting and lighting," she said.
Trains are again running through the City Loop after a false alarm caused its closure on Monday morning.

Metro Trains spokesman Marcus Williams said the Loop had re-opened at 9.50am, after investigations concluded a reported fire alarm was false.

Crowded train chaos. Credit:Courtesy Twitter @diongunn

Trains were forced to travel direct to and from Flinders Street during the brief closure.

Commuters on two City Loop trains had earlier also been forced to disembark, he said.
The power of the storm was obvious as it rolled in over Melbourne's outer east. Credit:Nathan Edwards By 11pm, power had been restored to most Victorian homes. Power pole fires were responsible for some of the outages, while 1500 homes were in darkness because bark blew onto a powerline in Trentham Road, Tylden. Lightning forced the Demons and Lions players into an early half-time break. Credit:Michael Dodge Cinema-goers were disappointed when Readings Cinemas in Waurn Ponds was forced to close on Sunday evening due to storm damage.

And commuters were left to find another way home when the Sandringham line was suspended between Flinders Street and Sandringham due to flooding over the tracks. Thunderstorms are expected to hit the city. Credit:Chris Hopkins Tram routes 12, 96 and 109 were similarly delayed because of flooding at the Clarendon Street junction, Docklands, where the three routes converge. Earlier on Sunday, lightning strikes temporarily suspended an AFLW match at Cranbourne, forcing the Demons and Lions players into an early half-time break. Melbourne is is set for the wettest night this year. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Officials told players to retreat to the rooms after thunder and lightning erupted at Casey Fields. Play resumed about 10 minutes later. Senior forecaster Rod Dixon said the mercury reached 30.7 degrees at 3.30pm Sunday and started to plummet about 5.45pm from 28 degrees to 23 degrees. A firebomber tackles the Diggers Rest grassfire on Saturday. Credit:Chris Hopkins

"The rain has dropped it further to 20 degrees in the city," he said. "We're forecasting a minimum of 16 degrees and a top of 19 for Monday so we'll see a fairly gradual decrease overnight and a fairly cool day with light southerly winds." The wettest day of 2017 so far was the 24 hours to 9am on January 20, when the city received 22.6 millimetres. "We could eclipse that if we do get some of those thunderstorms over Melbourne," Mr Efron said. "But it does look particularly wet across central Victoria, as well as into elevated parts of Gippsland.

"As well as the rainfall, we could see some thunderstorms tonight, as well across a lot of the state." Despite the forecast, ticketholders to Melbourne Zoo's twilight concert tonight were told the show would go on. Umbrellas, however, were banned. The email alert recommended people bring waterproof tarps instead. The rainfall was a welcome relief for emergency services, which responded to a series of bushfires across Victoria this weekend. A fire at Diggers Rest on Melbourne's north-west fringe threatened homes and burned near the Organ Pipes National Park.

Inquiries by fire investigators into the cause of the fast-moving grassfire have established that it was ignited by a ride-on lawnmower. CFA state duty officer Jamie Hansen said the blade assembly of the lawnmower "malfunctioned and created a spark. The mower was mechanically unsound". The fire, which broke out about 11.20am, burnt about 110 hectares and had a perimeter of eight kilometres. It was tackled by 170 firefighters, 33 firefighting vehicles and four aircraft. "We had gusty north-westerly winds, and that, coupled with difficult terrain and the gullies in the area, [meant] we had quite erratic fire behaviour, which made it very difficult to control," Mr Hansen said. "It was brought under control at six o'clock last night, and then early this morning we've declared it safe.

"There's been no loss of homes in the area. There were a few homes that had superficial damage, and there's obviously a lot of fencing that has been destroyed." Mr Hansen said the grassfire was a prime example of the kind of threat grassfires could pose this summer "with the weather conditions the way they've been. The fuel in the grassland areas has increased significantly this season." Authorities responded to two other grassfires on Sunday, including one at Tooradin, south-east of Melbourne. Authorities said the fire was under control about midday on Sunday. The fire burnt about four hectares. "It was caused by a stolen car left in a paddock and set alight," Mr Hansen said. In the Latrobe Valley, fire crews responded to a grassfire at Hazelwood North. The fire, which is being treated as suspicious, was quickly brought under control.
Thousands of Australians with pacemakers and defibrillators in their hearts are at risk of cyber security breaches that could allow somebody to kill them, doctors say.

Some cardiologists are also concerned that the multi-billion dollar medical device industry has too much control over devices being implanted in Australians, and that this could lead to over-servicing to boost profits.

There are good reasons to connect a pacemaker to the internet, but there are risks as well.

For the past year, Australian and American health authorities have been issuing warnings that medical devices connected to the internet for remote monitoring have vulnerabilities that could be exploited.

Last month, the US Federal Drug Administration highlighted potential weaknesses with St. Jude Medical's systems for cardiac devices, saying it was possible for an unauthorised user to remotely access a patient's cardiac device.
A woman is fighting for her life after being struck by a car and pinned against a safety barricade during a hit-and-run in Melbourne's west early on Monday morning.

The 56-year-old woman, from Burnside, was in Truganina inspecting a taxi she owned, when she was hit by a passing car and pinned against a barricade by a driver who fled the scene.

The Burnside woman's taxi, which was damaged before the hit and run. Credit:Twitter/@NearyTy_9

The woman had been standing next to the taxi, which had been involved in an earlier minor incident, when she was struck about 2.30am, according to Nine News.

According to Victoria Police, the tow-truck driver who was at the scene to retrieve the taxi managed to take down the vehicle's registration, with police tracking the driver to an address in Truganina.
Kabul: In eastern Afghanistan at least 50 people have died and dozens more are missing after an avalanche buried a village in Nuristan, provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayum said.

"Based on information from district officials, 50 dead bodies have been recovered and the number may increase," he said.

Heavy snow has caused at least five other deaths from collapsed roofs elsewhere in Nuristan.

In the northern province of Badakhshan, over the past two days as many as 19 people were killed and 17 injured by avalanches, collapsed roofs and road accidents, said Naweed Frotan, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

The government was working to reach at least 12 districts in Badakhshan that had been completely cut off, he said.
Washington: On Friday, Sweden's deputy prime minister and climate minister, Isabella Lovin, shared a photograph on Twitter and Facebook that showed her signing a new climate law.

In the picture, Lovin is sat at the left of the frame while she signs the law. Behind her are seven female colleagues, including one who is in the late stages of a pregnancy.

As Swedish tabloid Expressen put it, the photograph appeared to be a "cheeky nod" to a recent image of US President Donald Trump.

In particular, Lovin's image may be a reference to a number of widely shared photographs from last week that showed Trump signing a controversial executive order that blocked US foreign aid to organisations that discuss abortion services.
Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has issued a warning that the military is ready to respond with airstrikes and new offensives if communist rebels launch new attacks.

That news comes as both sides lifted separate ceasefires and Mr Duterte announced he was scrapping peace talks with the guerrillas.

Mr Duterte called the rebels "terrorists," as months of steady progress in talks brokered by Norway rapidly turned hostile after New People's Army rebels killed six soldiers and kidnapped two others in fresh violence.

"It seems to me that these terrorists want another 50 years of war, of killing of Filipinos," Mr Duterte said. "I don't want a bloody thing, but if they choose to do it, fine.
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A man has been arrested at a leisure centre after allegedly being caught committing an obscene sexual act in a children's changing room.

Police officers were called to Hengrove Park Leisure Centre at around 11am on Friday, after a teacher reported the incident to staff members.

The leisure centre was hosting swimming lessons for school children at the time of the incident.

Claims have been circulating on social media that the man had gone into the changing room while children were swimming and taken underwear out of children's bags, before committing a sexual act.

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police confirmed that officers had been called to the leisure centre on Friday at 11.10am, and that a man had been arrested and taken to Keynsham police station.

A manager at the leisure centre told the Bristol Post: "The police were called to an incident on Friday.

"They arrived and we are cooperating with their investigations."

He declined to comment further on the incident
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The parents of Harry Studley have accused the friend who shot their son in the head  leaving him with devastating injuries - of showing no remorse.

Edward Studley and Amy Allen say they have not spoken to college pal and neighbour Jordan Walters since he shot their two-year-old son in the head with an airgun.

Speaking to Bristol Post sister paper the Sunday Mirror , the couple revealed their fury and fears for Harry, left with the pellet in his brain, as Walters, 24, awaits sentence after admitting grievous bodily harm.

His partner, Emma Horseman was last week cleared of encouraging him to fire the weapon at the youngster during an incident at their flat at Bishport Avenue, Hartcliffe, last July.

Mum Amy, 21, said: "The last time I spoke to either of them was on the day Jordan shot Harry  and neither me or Ed will ever speak to them again.

"Jordan could have killed my little boy but he has no remorse for what he has done."

Edward, 22, said: "Our friend betrayed us.

"We don't know if we can trust anybody any more."

Walters fired the gun as Amy, Harry and his brother Riley visited the flat. The pellet lodged in Harry's brain, temporarily paralysed him and left him unable to speak.

It cannot be removed and could blind or even kill him if it shifts as he grows. He has been left battling epilepsy and suffers multiple seizures every day.

He has to wear a helmet to protect his head when he fits.

Amy said: "The first time he had a seizure I thought I'd lost him again.

"His eyes were open, but his face was just blank.

"We tried calling his name but he just lay there, completely still.

"Tomorrow he could just wake up and be completely blind. It's just a guessing game which way things will go.

"We had thoughts of him and Riley growing up and being what they wanted to be.

"But it's hard to stay what path Harry will take."

Former Sainsbury's manager Edward, who is now a full time carer for Harry, said: "He's forgotten us a couple of times, which is very hard to deal with.

"I was holding him a few weeks ago and he said 'Mummy, where's Daddy?'

"He didn't recognise I was there."

Clothes shop worker Amy and Edward met while studying.

Amy met Emma Horseman when they were both on the same childcare course.

In 2015 both couples moved into the same block of flats in Hartcliffe. After the incident in July, Walters called 999 and said he had accidentally shot Harry, thinking the gun was empty.

Harry was put into a coma before rehabilitation on a hospital ward.

Medics began therapy to help the paralysed left side of his body move again. Eventually he regained his speech.

The maximum sentence Jordan could receive is five years for causing grievous bodily harm. He has been on remand since July 4.

Emma Horseman was cleared of GBH by aiding and abetting at Bristol Crown Court last week.

Walters is due to be sentenced at a later date.

Edward said: "We want them to lock him up and throw away the key. We will never forgive him."
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Ever wonder where our obsession with child predators began?

The answer just might be at the movies. And M is the picture that started it all.

What a creepy film. It opens with a mother puttering around the kitchen, waiting for her daughter to come home from school. We see the clock on the wall. We see her expression grow from cheer to terror. And somewhere in the streets below, we see a man buy a little girl a balloon.

If your pulse is racing already, thank Fritz Lang, director of that 1931 classic that taught filmmakers everywhere to hook audiences with the primal emotion of heart-stopping fear for our kids.

After bad guy Peter Lorre murders the girl he bought the balloon for  off camera, so we can imagine the worst  the city rises up to hunt him down.

He nonetheless manages to befriend another child on the street. But just as he is leading her off to buy candy, her mother appears. Hallelujah!

And that is the moral of the story: Unless you want your children to get murdered, you cannot let them go outside on their own. Lang himself said he made the movie to warn mothers about neglecting children.

It almost feels like those hygiene films that warned you to brush your teeth, says Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University. Thats what I think Adam did as well.

Adam is the made-for-television picture that came out in 1983, two years after 6-year-old Adam Walsh was abducted from a Sears store in Florida and subsequently beheaded. Even more than M (which was, after all, German), it is the movie that branded stranger-danger onto the collective American consciousness.

Until then, the majority of child abduction movies were either police procedurals or family melodramas, says Pat Gill, professor emeritus of communications at the University of Illinois.

You often dont see the child at all, or if you do, its got some gangsters moll taking care of the kid. Hes not tied up or anything.

Adam changed all that. The two-part mini-series was ratings gold, and the media world began ordering more and more kiddie kidnappings. Thats why weve seen flicks about teenaged abductees (Elizabeth Smart), toddler murder victim (JonBenet Ramsey), and kids ripped from their bicycles (Amber Hagerman, for whom the Amber Alerts are named). Then there are all those Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes.

How do you proceed to kick it up a notch? You hire Liam Neeson. In 2008, we got Taken, the megahit in which Neeson is convinced by his pushy ex-wife to let their 17-year-old daughter and her slutty friend travel to Paris without supervision. The girls land and immediately meet a cute but skeevy guy who asks to share their taxi. Moments after he drops them off, he and his gang of sex traffickers return.

Neesons daughter sees the men grab her friend in the next room and speed-dials daddy  a Special Ops type  for advice. Matter-of-factly he tells her, You will be taken.

So will you, dear viewer, on what is basically an excuse for vigilante sadism as Neeson hightails it to Paris. Without a hint of jet lag, he takes on an international team of traffickers, allowing the audience to enjoy all sorts of cruelty while feeling smug: Take that, you fiends!

Meantime, it gave parents something else to be terrified of. A mom at a PTA meeting once solemnly informed me that there are more girls sex-trafficked in America today than there were slaves before the Civil War. (Umm  wrong.)

Room, by comparison, is a serious film. We know this because the lead actress, Brie Larson, won an Academy Award for playing the mom who raises a son within the confines of a backyard shed. Her fictional character was taken at age 17 when she was kind enough to help a man who said hed lost his dog.

In all these pictures, a mom is overtly or subtly at fault: The mother in M, who didnt walk her child home from school. The mother in Adam, who didnt keep her son by her side at Sears. The mother in Taken, who sends her daughter to Europe unchaperoned. And even in Room, Larson yells at her own mother for teaching her to be nice to strangers. Maybe if shed been a little less nice, she wouldnt have been snatched.

The movie industry has realized what newspaper editors, cable television producers, and grandstanding politicians already know: Theres no business like woe business, and most woeful of all are stories about missing children whose mothers could have saved them  but didnt.

Read Lenore Skenazys column every Sunday morning on Brook lynPa per.com

Lenore Skenazy is a public speaker and author of the book, blog and Twitter feed Free-Range Kids.
HS Football: North Penn upsets Pennsbury in instant playoff classic

With the game on the line, North Penn coach Dick Beck opted to go for the win with a two-point conversion attempt against Pennsbury.
Daylight saving time ends soon, but will it soon be the new normal?
THE WEAPON WIZARDS

How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower

Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot

St Martins Press

288 pages; $27.99

Seventy years ago, the state of Israel was still just a gleam in Zionists eyes, and the future states military was hardly more than a ragtag group of irregulars, forced to manufacture bullets in a secret facility built underneath a kibbutz. Today, Israels military is widely viewed as one of the most effective in the world. Once compelled to arm itself with surplus equipment purchased from more powerful states (and sometimes obtained by stealth), Israel is now one of the worlds six largest arms exporters, earning billions each year through the sale of military equipment to buyers from China and India to Colombia and Russia.

The Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower tells the story of this transformation. Written by the Israeli journalists Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot, the book offers a lively account of Israels evolving military prowess, from the early days of Jewish paramilitaries operating within the British Mandate to Israels recent emergence as exporter of 60 per cent of the worlds drones. From satellites and missile defence systems to adaptive armour and cyber weapons, Israel has consistently found ways to circumvent or leapfrog financial and technological barriers.

But Mr Katz and Mr Bohbot aspire to do more than just offer a journalistic history of the Israeli militarys technological advances: They aim to explain just how the tiny Jewish state managed to become such a military innovator. Their answer: Brains, pluck and the bracing prospect of imminent annihilation.

If The Weapon Wizards were a novel, it would be one written by Horatio Alger; if it were a biblical allegory, it would be the story of David and Goliath. The authors highlight several interconnected cultural drivers of Israels military innovations. Surrounded by enemies at its inception, Israel came to view itself as a nation that could, as Arieh Herzog, a former head of Israels missile defence agency, put it, either innovate or disappear. Meanwhile, the Jewish tradition of education and scholarship led Israel to place a high value on investments in research and development.

Today, Israel devotes a higher percentage of its GDP to research and development than any other country, and the book notes that roughly 30 per cent of Israeli R&D goes toward military technologies. Israel also invests in its human resources, with numerous specialised educational programmes designed to bring top talent into the military and to send soldiers back to school. (Mr Katz and Mr Bohbot quote Shimon Peres: We need to invest in soldiers brains, not just their muscles.)

Israels small size, combined with its tradition of universal military service, also helps, by ensuring that theres rarely more than one degree of separation between military officials, scientists and entrepreneurs; as a result, military needs and challenges are quickly and easily communicated to policy makers, academics and financiers.

Finally, the authors argue, Israels culture of informality offers an underappreciated advantage: What makes Israel unique is the complete lack of structure. The absence of social hierarchy... helps spur innovation. In Israel, junior soldiers feel free to argue with high-ranking officers, and a keen sense of chutzpah encourages creativity and protects against groupthink.

The Weapon Wizards offers plenty of good stories about fascinating people. Theres the young Shimon Peres, negotiating weapons deals in Havana nightclubs. Theres Danny Shapira, the legendary Israeli pilot testing French Mirages. Theres the Israeli official who helps start Israels drone programme in the late 1960s by buying remote-control airplanes at a Manhattan toy store and sending them back to Israel in the embassys diplomatic pouch.

What The Weapon Wizards doesnt offer is any meditation on the political context or implications of Israels rise to military superpower status. Mr Katz and Mr Bohbot are cheerleaders, not critics, and theres little room for introspection in this breathless tale of triumph over adversity. Left largely unmentioned, for instance, is the role of the US. American security guarantees over the last few decades have kept Israels neighbours relatively docile, if not precisely friendly, and nearly a quarter of Israels annual defence budget is effectively paid for by the US. Israel receives more American military aid than every other country in the world combined. A more complete answer to How did Israel do it? might be: Pluck, brains and billions of dollars of American aid each year.

The Weapon Wizards is also largely silent on how Israel uses its military might. Absent is any reflection on the role of the Israeli armed forces in paving the way for the contentious expansion of Jewish settlements into Palestinian territory, for instance, or the Israeli practice of destroying homes occupied by the families of suspected militants, though both have been condemned by the international community.

The authors are similarly uninterested in the brave new world Israel is helping to create. Israel, they note with pride, has become the first country to master the art of targeted killings, which have now become the global standard in the war on terror. Some might consider this a dubious honour. To the authors, however, targeted killings are interesting only because they showcase the combination of cutting-edge technology, high quality intelligence, and Israels best and brightest minds.

Israel, the authors note, is changing the way wars are being fought around the globe. Readers will have to decide for themselves if this is something to cheer or mourn.



2017 The New York Times News Service
Amar Abrol, CEO of AirAsia India, a company which has been through much turbulence, tells Arindam Majumder in an interview that operations are stable at the airline now and that with support from promoters, it is looking to fly international by middle of next year. Edited excerpts:
Five of the seven cement which were fined by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in January, for alleged bid rigging of a 2012 tender floated by the Haryana government, have decided to take up the matter to the Competition Appellate Tribunal.
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Indigo, the countrys largest airline, cannot provide security training to its crew now as the license of its centre tasked with this job has been suspended by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the regulator in the field.
The apex council of the Federation of Retired Employees (FORSE) will go on a three-day hunger strike in a protest against the state-run company for not addressing their demands.

"In absence of a positive response from SAIL, FORSE apex council is conducting dharna, demonstration... Hunger strike etc for three days from February 7 to Feb 9, 2017 in front of Corporate Office, Lodhi Road, New Delhi," FORSE said in a statement.

It further said, "... is not serious about solving any of the issues which are indicated by the absence of any interaction even once with the FORSE apex council particularly when the times are difficult for the retirees. FORSE must adopt a more aggressive stand and execute that in a peaceful and non-violent manner."

The body of retired employees of SAIL is demanding a monthly payment of minimum Rs 5,000 and ex-gratia payment periodically to each retiree, payment of pension for those retired on or after January 1, 2007with immediate effect.

Further, improvement in healthcare facilities as also in the SAIL medi-claim scheme by increasing OPD coverage to Rs 20,000 per annum jointly for self and spouse, fixing Rs 4 lakh as the upper limit for each member and spouse for IPD/cashless treatment under floating (combining) facilities and withdrawal of all capping.

It also wants periodic interaction between SAIL and FORSE members (twice a year).

The body also wants the government to provide11 per cent interest on deposits, especially for senior citizens who are without pension with provision for tax-free exemption for income up to Rs 6 lakh and regular revision (of pension) against the price rise of essential commodities as done for government pensioners.
Zoom Air, India's 10th national scheduled airline which received an air operator's permit (AOP) on February 3, is in talks with the Arunachal Pradesh government to connect newly built Pasighat airport with its operational network, an official said on Sunday.

"We are looking to connect Pasighat airport in Arunachal Pradesh. In fact, we are in talks with the state government. We need to take some clearances from the state and Arunachal government also requires to get some clearances from Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)," the airline's Executive Director and CEO Koustav Mohan Dhar told IANS.

"It would take some time to get all the clearances. To be realistic, the operation in Pasighat is expected not before end of March," he added.

The airline will launch its scheduled commercial operation on Delhi-Kolkata-Durgapur-Delhi route on February 12.

"We are staring operation from February 12 with the triangle services-Delhi-Kolkata, Kolkata-Durgapur and Durgapur-Delhi route. There will be daily flights on these routes," said Dhar.

He also said that the airline planned to start the reverse triangle operations in evening on the same route by early week of March.

Incidentally, the Delhi-based airline is starting its operation from Kaji Nazrul Islam Airport at West Bengal's Durgapur after Air India withdrew its operation on the Kolkata-Durgapur-Delhi route in June last year due to "operational reasons".

The new operator will have flights in regional routes.

"We are doing Delhi-Allahabad Kolkata-Shillong as of now. We also start operation on Delhi-Amritsar-Delhi route. We will explore regional routes and will have services in many of such routes," he said.

On Friday, the DGCA granted the AOP to Zexus Air Services which will run the operation with the brand name .

"This certifies that Zexus Air Services Pvt Ltd is authorised to perform commercial air operations in accordance with the operations manual and Rule 134 of the Aircraft Rules 1937," said the AOP.
With a number of startups collapsing mid-way, many employees are now preferring bonuses instead of Employee Stock Option Plans (Esops) as part of their compensation package, industry experts said.

"We have seen a change where the Esop component in compensation packages has dropped in startup companies. This is because they never reach the valuations they initially project and in the past year a lot of startups also had to close businesses.

"Since around end-2016, we have been witnessing a change from to variable bonuses in terms of compensation in these companies," Michael Page India Director Mohit Bharti told PTI.

As the startup world continues to see more uncertainty, employers prefer more stability and therefore, also prefer bonuses as compared to Esops, which is usually offered to middle and senior-level employees, he added.

This trend is seen across the startup industry, including e-commerce, food, technology, logistics and financial services, Bharti added.

Echoing a similar view, GlobalHunt Managing Director Sunil Goel said, in the world of startups talent war was natural where every company wanted to hire the best and to attract them, Esop was used as a component.

However, with many startups collapsing gradually employees started relying on cash component, he said.

"Hence, employees are now seeking bonus options. Bonuses are generally short-term component, paid either yearly or quarterly, and is becoming an attractive option even if it is one-third or one-fourth of the value as compared to the Esops," he pointed out.

But, Goel said, startups are now at a consolidation phase with lot of buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, so might be more beneficial in long run.

TeamLease Services Senior Vice President Kunal Sen opined that this trend began in last 1-2 years with declining valuations of e-commerce and tech startup performance.

He said, will form a lower component in the compensation of top talent going forward, as earlier top talent would agree to a 30-50per cent salary cut and opt for Esops, but not these days.

"Companies are offering a bonus in lieu of Esops. But bonus option cannot replace Esops as they bring in an element of ownership, which cannot be created by bonuses," he added.

DDI India Member, Key Leadership Team, Amogh Deshmukh said industries like pharmaceuticals, banking and IT companies are few who offered Esops to employees.

"However, in the current scenario instead of Esops many organisations are looking at multiple avenues to develop and retain their leaders, some of them include, business school degrees, certifications, providing a career path and purposeful development," he added.
The progress report of a student right from PhD enrollment to thesis submission will now be available online with Delhi University developing a dedicated portal for the purpose.

"A portal is being created to make the students' works reliable. Notification regarding their research works and field reports will be available on the portal. However, the research work and findings will be kept confidential," said an examination department official.

At present, all work related to PhD including admission, thesis, research report, attendance, marks, interview, viva, progress report and others is being done manually, which involve a lot of paper work.

"But with digitisation, all these records will be maintained on the online portal. The portal will not only help PhD scholars but will also ease the work pressure on the staff," the official added.

In 2014, DU had signed an MoU with the University Grants Commission (UGC) to upload thesis and dissertations of its research scholars on the digital database 'Shodhganga repository'.

As many as 27 departments in Delhi University are running PhD courses in the fields of arts, commerce and science.
The details of the agreement signed between Indian and French authorities regarding the supply of 36 aircraft cannot be disclosed as they are confidential in nature, the Air Force has said.

An Inter-Governmental Agreement was signed between the governments of India and France on September 23, 2016 for the supply of the aircraft, initial consignment of weapons, long-term maintenance support through performance-based logistics, simulators with annual maintenance and associated equipment.

Replying to an RTI query, the Air Force said the details are held by it in the fiduciary capacity.

The information sought is confidential in nature and public revelation of the same may lead to its subsequent availability to our adversaries, it said.

"Further, the information sought is also held in the fiduciary capacity and no larger public interest is served by disclosure of such information. Hence, the same is denied," the Air Force said in reply to the application filed by PTI.

The Defence Ministry was asked to provide copies of the agreement and price of the deal. The query was then forwarded to the Air Force for providing the reply.

The delivery of 36 Rafale aircraft, weapons and associated equipment to India will commence from September 2019. The deliveries are spread over two and half years, with the last aircraft delivery scheduled in April 2022.
The government is planning to resume labour reforms by introducing two labour Bills in the second half of the Budget session of Parliament, a move likely to be resisted by Opposition parties and unions.

The Bills are the Industrial Relations Code Bill, 2016, and the Wage Code Bill, 2016. The second half of the session begins on March 9. Labour ministry officials say that all formalities, including tripartite consultations with the trade unions and approval from the law ministry, have been done.

Both the Bills are with a Group of Ministers. It will make changes if required and then they will be placed before the cabinet.

The government wants to integrate around 40 labour laws into four pieces of legislation. For example, all wage-related laws will be amalgamated to form the Wage Code and the industrial relations laws will be part of the related Code.

In his Budget speech, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reiterated forming the four labour Codes, the process of which started since the BJP came to power but has been facing hurdles.

Once passed, the Industrial Relations Code would facilitate hiring and retrenchment in factories, an official said. A previous draft of the proposed law had suggested that companies did not require approval for retrenching up to 300 employees in the case of an emergency.

The Wage Code Bill was sent to the Cabinet by the labour ministry, but has been returned to the Group of Ministers, headed by Jaitley, for review.

If it is not possible to pass these in this session, it expects to do so in the next session, said a senior labour ministry official.

Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, who had earlier announced that the Bills would be passed in the winter session, wants them to get Parliaments nod in the Budget session.

However, trade unions say they have voiced their strong opposition to the Bills.

We have rejected the Wage Code Bill outright. Instead of pushing the Bill, the government must focus on how workers can get cash in hand. The Centre must also see how to check the massive job loss arising out of demonetisation, said Tapan Sen, general secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).
The report, however, said NBFCs will benefit more from the Rs 70,000 crore recapitalisation of state-owned banks, which will increase their ...
A federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a request by the Justice Department to immediately restore President Trumps targeted travel ban, deepening a legal showdown over his authority to tighten the nations borders in the name of protecting Americans from terrorism.
The administration of US President Donald Trump on Saturday began the process of appealing the decision of a federal judge who suspended the application of an immigration ban to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, the media reported.

In a short document presented to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco late Saturday, Trump and his cabinet formally appealed the judicial decision that has temporarily blocked the controversial executive order and has reopened the country's doors to millions of immigrants and refugees, Efe news reported.

The Notice of Appeal was made in the name of Trump, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and the United States of America.

The parties above appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals the decision to restrict the application of Trump's executive order is to protect the country from terrorist threats, according to the Notice of Appeal.

The document has begun a process of appeal that, according to legal experts, will be followed by an application to suspend the judicial order that blocked the immigration ban, and a report with arguments on why, in the government's view, the courts should grant them this petition.

The appeal follows a late Friday decision by US District Court Senior Judge James L. Robart, appointed by former President George W Bush, when he granted an injunction by blocking enforcement of Trump's executive order instituting the travel ban, acting at the request of Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose office said that the temporary restraining order applies nationwide.

Trump's policy banned travel to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, suspended all refugee entry to the US for 120 days and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrian refugees.

If the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rules against the Trump government, the case could go to the Supreme Court, something many experts consider likely.

Asked at a gala in Florida about whether he was confident his administration would prevail in the appeal, Trump replied, "We'll win. For the safety of our country, we'll win," CNN reported.

The three judges who will likely hear the appeal are Judge William Canby, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter; Richard Clifton, who was appointed by Bush and Michelle Friedland, a President Barack Obama appointee.

Although it is unclear what form of relief the Justice Department will seek, the White House said on Friday that it wants an "emergency stay" of Robart's order.

Also on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended all actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travellers as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban.
launched the world's longest scheduled commercial service with its inaugural flight from Doha to Auckland taking off eight minutes early on Sunday, a company spokeswoman said.

Flight QR920 left the Qatari capital at 05:02 (local time) and is set to land in New Zealand at 07:30 (local time on Monday).

The Boeing 777 flight will take 16 hours and 20 minutes, pass over 10 time zones, five countries and travel 14,535 kilometres before reaching Auckland.

But even that flying time may be looked on jealously by passengers on the return flight which, due to high-altitude winds, will take 17 hours and 30 minutes, according to the company website.

This will make it the world's longest passenger service in terms of flying time, according to a tracking website.

did not immediately have a figure for the number of passengers who boarded today(Sunday), but it is believed there are four pilots and 15 crew on the plane.

In March last year, Emirates airline launched what was then thought to be the world's longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight, with a service from Dubai to Auckland, spanning 14,200 kilometres.
Refusing to bow before US President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban, scientists across the world, including India, have opened up their lab spaces to counterparts stranded outside America.

Under the Science Solidarity List (SSL) initiative, researchers from over 30 countries have agreed to host the affected.

What began on social media as spontaneous offers of help from scientists to accommodate banned peers awaiting US clearance, following Trump's January 27 order, has emerged as a clarion call to support those in need of immediate work spaces.

Anchored by the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), the SSL is a "list of scientists offering temporary bench or desk space, library access and possibly even accommodation for US-based scientists who are stranded abroad due to the White House Executive Order 13769, 'Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States' of 27 January, 2017."

On Friday, a US judge in Seattle issued a temporary nationwide block on Trump's ban on travellers from seven Muslim nations. However, the White House said the Justice Department will challenge attorney's decision.

Offers continue to pour in as science, literally, attempts to trump the ban.

There are currently over 800 offers of assistance and the list gets a new entry every five minutes or so.

"We felt we had to do something. It is very discriminating. This impacts science a lot. It impacts the work of the lab. Their projects do not get done because the scientists are missing. It impacts everyone," Maria Leptin, director EMBO, told IANS over the phone from Heidelberg, Germany.

"We (scientists) see ourselves as a worldwide community and it is a completely natural thing for us to do," she said.

EMBO is an organisation of more than 1,700 leading researchers that promotes excellence in life sciences.

Its programmes and activities are funded by the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC). The EMBC, founded in 1969, is an inter-governmental organisation comprising 33 member- and partner-states, including India, which came under its fold in February 2016.

The solidarity list comprises offers from both EMBC and non-EMBC countries.

Leptin was the first to join the list, extending help to host stranded researchers in her own lab at the University of Cologne.

While most of the host offers are from Europe, the list includes labs in India, Canada, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Singapore, Brazil, and China.

The "overwhelming response" from the fraternity is trending under the hashtag ScienceShelters.

Among the first to make personal offers of assistance via Twitter were population geneticist Magnus Nordborg and plant biologist Jurgen Kleine-Vehn from Austria.

A look at some of the tweets reflects the gravity of the situation, relegating scientists to an almost refugee-like status.

"Another example of consequences... biology postdoc meant to join our School w/new faculty has visa but cannot come -- Iranian passport," tweeted Georgia Institute of Technology Professor Joshua Weitz.

"I was pretty excited to join @soumya_boston's lab but denied boarding due to my Iranian nationality. Feeling safer?" tweeted Samira Asgari.

The Kleine-Vehn Lab tweeted in response to an update of 420 offers of assistance: "Took less than 24h, reflecting the strong political statement!#ScienceSheltersAagainst Trump's immigration ban and discrimination!"

Coming to the rescue of their peers are also scientists from India.

Till February 4, three offers were made from the country, all of them from Bengaluru-based National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS).

Theoretical physicist Sandeep Krishna has proferred desk space and access to computers, while Shashi Thutupalli's lab, dealing with experimental physical biology, is also available.

"Can provide experimental facilities, desk space, lab space, library access and a warm welcome." NCBS's Arati Ramesh has stepped forward with "desk space, lab bench space, access to lab equipment and computers" in her lab that works on RNA biology.

"I am a theoretical physicist who uses tools and ideas from physics and maths to try and pose new kinds of questions about basic processes in biological systems. Thus, what I can offer is simply desk space and access to computers and a scientific environment where a stranded scientist can continue their work, at least to some extent," Krishna told IANS.

Expressing his views on the "Muslim ban", Krishna reckons it would do more harm than good to the US.

"I have no doubt it is really a Muslim ban, whatever legal devices they use to cloak it and justify it. As such, it seems to me quite against the Constitution of the USA, and practically speaking I would predict would do more harm than good to that country. Think this will simply spawn another generation of hurt and disgruntled young people who could be exploited by extremists," he said.

He added: "In India, though we can hardly take the moral high ground here because our governments similarly fail repeatedly, in my opinion, to protect the rights of minorities, including Muslims, and do not have a humane approach to immigrants or even a consistent political and legal framework for them."
Chaotic scenes were witnessed at the Los Angeles Airport as protests against US President Donald Trump grew after a federal judge halted enforcement of the executive order barring refugees and people from select Muslim-majority nations entering the country.

Travellers had a tough time coming out of the airport, one of the busiest in the US, on Saturday afternoon as both anti- and pro-Trump protesters blocked almost all exits, shouting slogans amid heavy police deployment.

Irfana, one of the anti-Trump supporters at the rally outside the airport, said: "We have a ray of hope after the federal judge blocked the enforcement of Trump's executive order instituting the travel ban. We know that the battle will now go to the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and even to Supreme Court, but we believe in the law of the land."

According to her, the fight is not only about the Trump ban on people from Muslim-majority nations from entering the US.

"The fight has a broader meaning. We want the government to restore civil rights, minority rights and true liberty of immigrants in the country," Irfana said, hailing the work of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which is fighting for the cause.

Later in the day, the US Justice Department filed a formal notice of appeal on the court order suspending immigration ban.

"We'll win. For the safety of our country, we'll win," Trump tweeted.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump had earlier tweeted.

Media reports said it was unusual for a President to attack a member of the judiciary, which the US Constitution designates as a check to the power of the executive branch and Congress.

According to Daniel, who works at the LA airport, the situation created by the protests is not acceptable as this has affected day-to-day life.

"I don't like this situation. I hope a solution to this issue arrives soon and the country comes back to normal," he told IANS.

But Trump had his supporters too at the airport. James, who was part of a pro-Trump rally, told IANS: "The US has become a country of immigrants and refugees. We want our land, our jobs back. We support Trump and believe he will get us our country back."

Meanwhile, after the ruling by the US District Court Senior Judge James L. Robart, the State Department said it had reinstated thousands of visas. The provisional revocation of visas under Trump's executive order has been reversed, a State Department official told Efe news agency.

The official added that people with visas that were not physically cancelled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid.

On January 27, Trump issued an executive order that banned citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US.

The order has been met with widespread protests across the globe, with multiple lawsuits already filed in the US and many more expected in the coming days.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has deported 160 Pakistanis who were living illegally in the country.

As per details, these people have been sent to Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto International Airport on a special plane- SV-3724, reports Dunya News.

The immigration authorities of Pakistan have taken the deported persons into custody after verifying their details.

An earlier report said that nearly 250,000 Pakistanis were deported from various countries during the years 2012-2015 with Saudi Arabia deporting 131,643 Pakistani nationals United Arab Emirates - 32,458, Iran -28,684, Oman - 17,248, Greece - 14,145, United Kingdom - 9,778 and Malaysia- 8,861.

Most of the individuals deported from Saudi Arabia and the UAE were job seekers and businessmen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Visiting the site of the massive oil spill here, Tamil Nadu Chief Minsiter O. Panneerselvam on Sunday assured that the incident had not affected the marine life in any way and the fish could be consumed, adding that over 90 per cent of the spill had been cleared up.

Speaking to the media here after inspecting the site, the Chief Minister stated it was an "extraordinary situation" where the state government and the Centre were working in tandem to restore normalcy post the accident.

"More than 5,700 people took part in the clean-up endeavours, and all the operations will be completed in one-two days. Efforts are also being made to safeguard the fishermen's livelihood. Rest assured, we will also provide compensation to the fishermen affected by the spill," he said.

Paneerselvam further assured that the spill had not affected the Marine life in any way, and that the fish in the area was fit to be consumed.

"The sample of fish which was caught from this region was sent to various laboratories for testing. The result shows the fish are fit for consumption. There are no harmful elements in them. 90 percent of the spill has been cleared in Tiruvallur and 95 percent of the cleaning up is over in Kancheepuram and Chennai," he added.

Earlier, the Indian Coast Guard, the coordinating agency for removal of the oil sludge, had said there are no traces of oil spill inwards into the sea, though a few stretches of the coasts near Ennore Kamarajar Port remain blackened with the oil pollutants.

On January 28, a large amount of oil spilled into the sea following the collision of two ships - MT Dawn Kancheepuram and MT Maple, near the port at Ennore, 30 km off Chennai.

The Kamarajar Port officials had initially declined of any such accidents. The spilled heavy furnace oil, however, later landed on the seashore of Ennore upto Thiruvanmiyur beach polluting a coastal line of about 24 km.

A massive clean up operation was then launched with more than 2,000 people as told to ANI by Union Shipping Minister Pon Radhakrishnan.

"The cleaning work is going on. The state and the centre are coordinating. And we will take another day or two to finish off the work," Radhakrishnan added.

It was assured that marine life of the sea will not be affected.

"Coast Guard is giving full support so that there is no loss to marine life," S Parmesh, IG, Coast Guard said.

It's estimated that over 20 tonne of oil had spilled into the Bay of Bengal, with 40 tonne of oil sludge and 27 tonne of oil mixture and water already removed.

Full-fledged clean up operations had begun only a day after the collision. The Coast Guard along with personnel from the state government, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and the Kamarajar Port and local fishermen were joined by hundreds of volunteering youth and college students in removing the oil slick manually and using dispersing agents.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi Police on Sunday arrested an Afghan national

for allegedly assaulting a US woman and duping her of 86,000 dollars on the pretext of marriage after he befriended her on social media.

According to the police, the accused allegedly posed himself as M.K. Fahim and befriended the American woman on Facebook.

"Accused further lured the complainant in the trap of love and affection and persuaded her for physical meetings. Accused won her confidence and promised lifelong friendship along with assurance of marriage and became physically intimate with her," the official release stated.

The officials said that the accused also prepared fake marriage document mentioning her as his lawful wife and started exploiting her. He also managed to cheat the victim by transferring 86, 000 dollars to his account.

"The accused got the cheated amount transferred to Afghanistan through Western Union Money Transfer and further received this amount in India through alternative channels," the release stated.

The victim later managed to discover his real identity and found that the accused has been mentioned as a scammer on website 'who scammedyou.com'

"When she confronted the accused, he threatened her that he would inform the FBI that the money transferred by her through Western Union was paid to some terrorists in Kabul. Accused also threatened her that he had clicked her indecent pics and videos and that he would upload them on the net," the officials said.

The victim later filed a complaint at the Crime Branch on Thursday in Delhi and registered the case under the section 420, 376, 385, 387 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.

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The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has asked the Bangladesh to vigorously probe the killing of the daily Samakal newspaper journalist, Abdul Hakim Shimul.

The shooting took place before many witnesses and police have reportedly seized the weapon and identified its owner, said Steven Butler, CPJ Asia programme coordinator, while adding that there can be no excuse for failing to swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum (BMSF) also strongly condemned the killing of Hakim, reports the Daily Star.

The IFJ demanded immediate arrest and punishment of the perpetrators, according to a statement posted on its website.

The IFJ strongly condemns violence which cost the life of colleague Abdul Hakim Shimul who was only doing his job, said IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger.

Abdul Hakim, who sustained bullet wounds during a clash between two associate bodies of Awami League in Shahjadpur on Thursday, succumbed to his injuries.

Since CPJ began keeping records in 1992, at least 20 journalists have been killed in Bangladesh in direct relation to their work.

In addition to Abdul Hakim's death, CPJ is investigating the deaths of another nine journalists to determine whether they were related to the journalists' work.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his intervention in the Jallikattu matter, as the traditional sport was conducted in its full splendours in Avaniapuram in Madurai district.

"#Jallikattu in Avaniapuram; 1200 tamers, 950 bulls,15 medical teams, 20 ambulances deployed,Thanks 2 Shri @narendramodi ji & #TNCM," the BJP TamilNadu said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway in Alanganallur in Madurai, where Jallikattu will be organised this coming Friday.

The famous venue for the bull taming sport is being held after a gap of three years, with organizers announcing attractive prizes, including a car for the winner.

Jallikattu is usually held during the harvest festival of Pongal in mid-January, but could not be organised in the past three years in view of the ban on the sport.

With the Tamil Nadu government promulgating an ordinance and subsequently getting a Bill passed in the state assembly allowing Jallikattu, the event is being held in several parts of the state in the past few days.

The government's intervention came after a week-long protest largely by youths, including students, in the Marina Beach in Chennai, and elsewhere in the state.

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Adding fuel to the Kashmir issue, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that Kashmir is an 'incomplete agenda of the division of the sub-continent' and without its solution, peace and prosperity of the region will remain elusive.

In his message for Kashmir Solidarity Day, being observed today, the premier said that Kashmir dispute is the oldest conflict present in United Nation Security Council, reports Geo News.

Sharif further said that Pakistan stands with the right of self-determination for Kashmiri people and reiterated that the region cannot progress until and unless Kashmir dispute is not resolved.

Repeating his rhetoric of Pakistan condemning "Indian aggression in Kashmir", Sharif called upon the international community to raise its voice in seeking an end to the present situation.

Celebrating Kashmir Solidarity Day is an annual ritual since 1990 with the objective of highlighting "aspirations of the people of Kashmir who are struggling to achieve self-determination".

On the occasion, Sharif is also expected to address a special joint session of the Legislative Assembly and the Council in Muzaffarabad.

Meanwhile, anti Pakistan protests have been taking place across Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) for weeks now, even as Islamabad today observes the annual celebration.

Enraged at Pakistan's high handedness and denial of basic human rights in the held region, the PoK residents took to the streets to express their ire at the corridors of power in Islamabad.

PoK residents claimed that the Pakistani government, via its intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and administration, is committing atrocities on innocent citizens.

The demonstrators further alleged that there is no existence of civil liberty and fundamental rights in PoK, as the ISI is calling all the shots in the administration.

Those who don't agree with Pakistan's occupation are being persecuted and tortured and authorities are muzzling the voice of people and curbing basic right of freedom of expression, asserted the protesters.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With Nitish Kumar painting a lotus- party symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - at an event and sparking speculations, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday took the development in its stride and welcomed the gesture shown by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, asserting that the saffron party's ideology has transcended to other parties as well.

"Obviously Nitish Kumar Ji has seen the writing on the wall and we welcome the gesture that he has painted the lotus colour, because our party always talks about nation first, party next and individual. And that ideology has also transcended to other political parties as well," BJP spokesperson Shaina NC told ANI.

Earlier, senior BJP leader Giriraj Singh had said that Nitish was painting his "political ambitions" and wants to show RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav that he is independent.

"Wo (Nitish) apni rajnetik rang bhar rahe thay, Laluji ko baar baar wo zaroor dikhaate rehte hain ki main swatantra hun." (He has to show to show his political colour frequently. He keeps showing Lalu that he is completely independent.)," senior BJP leader Giriraj Singh told ANI here.

However, the RJD was quick in responding and asserted that the lotus flower was not an exclusive entity of the BJP's

"Does the Lotus belong solely to the BJP? In that case the lantern (RJD symbol) hangs in so many houses across the nation. What should be inferred from that? All I can say is that if someone is getting happy with such a small thing, then so be it. Let them have their fun," Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Lalu's son Tejaswi Yadav told the media here.

At the Patna Book Fair on Saturday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was seen adding saffron colour to a lotus drawn by an artist.

It immediately sparked speculations of being proof to the growing friendship between Nitish and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and putting alliance partner RJD in check.

Eyebrows had risen earlier when all Opposition parties, including the JD(U)'s alliance partners Congress and RJD, lashed out against demonetisation, but Nitish chose to praise the Prime Minister and support the move.

Nitish said the move to withdraw high-value currencies would help in curbing corruption and flush out black money.

Following Nitish's endorsement, Prime Minister Modi praised the Bihar Chief Minister for imposing prohibition in the state and the arrangements put in place for celebrating the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday conducted searches in various cities across Uttar Pradesh after it registered a money laundering case in Lucknow to probe the alleged Rs. 3,700 crore ponzi scam case.

A Noida-based firm offered money for fake social media 'likes' from lakhs of gullible investors. The agency conducted raids at the business and residential premises of the owners of the said firm and others in Noida, Ghaziabad and Kanpur.

The searches resulted in recovery of incriminating documents revealing the offence of money laundering and possession of huge sum of money. The documents recovered are likely to be useful in recovery of cheated funds as well as properties acquired out of proceeds of crime beyond the frozen amount of Rs. 500 crore balance in the accounts of the company.

The agency has also asked for details of transaction from the related banks which were used by the accused .The money trail would be investigated to further ascertain the investments and parking of the tainted money by the accused. The directorate will seek custodial investigation of the accused arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) and their accomplices.

Further to secure the investments of the public provisional attachment of all moveable and immoveable properties which are proceeds of crime or acquired by means of tainted money will be attached under Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The directorate is also coordinating with the Income Tax Authority as well as STF in Uttar Pradesh.

The accused allegedly cheated about 6.5 million investors at an estimated Rs. 3,700 crore.

The investigators found incriminating documents that reveales assets worth crores of rupees. The Enforcement Directorate's zonal office in Lucknow registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on an FIR of the Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force which unearthed the alleged illegal ponzi or multi-level marketing scam few days back.

The Uttar Pradesh STF had arrested the owner of the company, Anubhav Mittal, its CEO Sridhar and technical head Mahesh on February 2.

According to the ED, the accused propagated a false story that the promotional web pages linked to these international social media portals paid Rs. six per likes out of which they paid Rs. five to the investor. The agency said the accused also promoted four systematic investment plans offering various incentives depending upon the investment made by the user.

The multi-level marketing and ponzi schemes were run by Ms Ablaze Info Solutions Private Ltd, Ms Social Trade India Pvt Ltd, Ms 3W Digital Pvt Ltd and Ms Intmaart India Pvt Ltd.

The agency added that all these firms were the brain child of Mittal and others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Special Assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi has said that Pakistan is willing to hold negotiations with the Trump administration over the release of Dr Shakil Afridi, who helped the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) pinpoint 9/11 mastermind and al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad.

"We will handle this issue within the parameters of our legal system but at the same time we don't want it to become an irritant with anyone. That is not the purpose of [our legal proceedings]," Geo News quoted Fatemi as saying on Saturday.

He added that the previous U.S. administration had demanded Afridi's release, but were elaborately informed that the man is a Pakistani national who violated local laws and was being dealt with accordingly.

Currently, Afridi is serving a 33-year jail sentence in a Peshawar prison.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIDMK) general secretary on Sunday admitted that she was pursued by O Panneerselvam to become the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

"Following the demise of Amma (J Jayalalithaa), it was O Panneerselvam who urged me first to take charge as the general secretary of AIADMK. It was Panneerselvam who again insisted first, that I become the Chief Minister of the state," Sasikala told ANI.

This latest development came hours after incumbent Chief Minister Panneerselvam proposed the name of Natarajan as the leader of AIADMK legislature party leader.

"AIADMK chief aka 'Chinamma' all set to become the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. AIADMK MLAs elect as legislative party leader. Current Chief Minister O Panneerselvam proposed the name of Chinnamma (Sasikala Natarajan) as the leader of AIADMK Legislature Party Leader," AIADMK said in a statement.

Speculations were rife that party general secretary Sasikala would be chosen as the new legislative party leader - paving the way for her to assume the chief minister's mantle. Though many party leaders favour such a move, a few believe Panneerselvam should be retained because he is doing a good job at the helm of affairs.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa and AIADMK leader K C Palaniswamy complained to the Election Commission (EC) that Sasikala's appointment as the party's interim general secretary had been carried out in an undemocratic manner.

The Election Commission issued a notice to the AIADMK, seeking clarifications in this regard.

Sasikala will be the third woman Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after Janaki Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa.
Rana Daggubati, who will be seen in a movie based on true events from the 1971 war, when Pakistani submarine Ghazi attempted to destroy the Indian aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, is keen to buy Bajaj V bike as a memorabilia from the film.

Rana wishes to keep a slice of history with him as the bike has its parts made from the metal of indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.

Rana shares "The INS Vikrant was one of the most celebrated war ships in the Indian Navel fleet. Bajaj making motorcycles from the metal is like a token of honor that we can all have as citizens."

The film will see him playing Naval officer Lieutenant Commander Arjun Varma, who is said to have remained underwater for 18 days during the war.

Rana met many naval officers, especially those on board the ship, while preparing for the role.

Also starring Taapsee Pannu, Kay Kay Menon and Atul Kulkarni, 'The Ghazi Attack' releases on February 17.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor Narra Srinivas, best known for his comic performance in Pawan Kalyan-starrer Telugu actioner "Gabbar Singh", will be making his Tamil debut with upcoming action-thriller "Dheeran: Adhigaaram Ondrua.

A source close to the actor told IANS: "The makers finalised him because he was tailor-made for the role. He will be seen as a cop and will provide some comic relief at important junctures. He will be joining the sets from the second week of February."

Actors Karthi and Rakul Preet Singh are paired together for the first time.

Last seen in Vikram's Tamil actioner "10 Endrathukulla", actor Abhimanyu Singh will play the prime antagonist in the film, which is being helmed by Vinoth, who earlier made "Sathuranga Vettai".

In the movie, Karthi essays a character called Dheeran, and he will be playing a straight-forward police officer who will be required to go undercover at times.

Ghibran has been roped in to compose the music and he's believed to have already started working on the album.

The film will be shot across various locations in India and the team might travel abroad to shoot one song.

--IANS

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An Afghan man has been arrested on charge of cheating a US woman of over $86,000 after starting a love affair with her, Delhi Police said on Sunday.

Hameedullah, 34, presently staying in Noida in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, had threatened to get the woman framed in a terror case and also defamed publicly by uploading her explicit pictures on the Internet, apart from attacking her with acid, police said.

"Hameedullah was arrested on Saturday night in south Delhi," said Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Ravindra Yadav.

"The woman filed a complaint of cheating, sexual assault and extortion against Hameedullah on Thursday. She accused him of befriending her on a social networking site by posing as M.K. Fahim and trapping her," Yadav said.

The woman alleged the accused promised to marry her and sexually exploited her and also took her explicit photographs. He cheated her of $86,000on various pretexts.

When the woman came to know his real identity and confronted him, he allegedly threatened her to get her implicated in a fake case that the money transferred to him by her was used to fund terrorists in Kabul, Yadav said.

"Hameedullah told police during questioning that he trapped his women victims through social websites and cheated them out of money on different pretexts. He was maintaining a flashy lifestyle through this easy money," he added.

The woman has since left for the US after Hameedullah's arrest, the police officer said.

--IANS

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Television anchor-turned-actress Anasuya Bharadwaj has grooved to a special club number - shot in Ukraine - in Telugu actioner "Winner" starring Sai Dharam Tej in the lead.

Talking about the song called 'Suya suya..Anasuya', director Gopichand Malineni told IANS: "It's one of the three songs we shot in Ukraine. We filmed it in a plush pub featuring a lot of foreign artistes. It has come out very well."

Also starring Rakul Preet Singh and Thakur Anoop Singh, the film is set for release on February 17. Malineni is extremely satisfied with the output.

"We've completed the film on time and are set for release. One of the highlights will be the nail-biting horse-racing sequence. The whole action episode was shot under the supervision of Bulgarian stunt director Kaloian Vodenicharov, who has worked in films such as 'Baahubali' and 'World War Z'," he said.

The team also shot in Istanbul, Pollachi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

--IANS

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday extended an amnesty, announced last year, till the end of next June, for all rebels who surrender themselves to the Syrian army, state news agency SANA reported.

The presidential pardon covers all those who have held weapons in the face of the government and fugitives as well as kidnappers on condition to surrender themselves during the time of the pardon.

It was the third extension to the amnesty since it was first announced in late July last year.

The government considers the amnesty as a golden chance for the rebels who want to abandon their insurgency, and it was applied for tens of rebels who have surrendered themselves during the past months.

This comes as Syrian government and opposition delegations are set to embark on talks in Geneva at the end of February, a month after rebels and government representatives agreed to a nationwide cease-fire brokered by Turkey and Russia, which went into force on December 30.

--IANS

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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should apologise for his rude remarks against former minister P.S. Nataraja Pillai, the state Congress demanded on Sunday.

State Congress President V.M. Sudheeran told the media here that Vijayan's remark was not acceptable from a Chief Minister.

"The best that Vijayan can do now and that too at the earliest is to apologise to Pillai's family. It is most unfortunate that Vijayan addressed Nataraja Pillai 'as some Pillai'," said Sudheeran.

Vijayan made the rude reference to Nataraja Pillai on Saturday when he was asked to comment on a row over the nearly 12 acres of land that is in possession of the Kerala Law Academy located in the capital city.

The academy's students are on an indefinite protest, demanding the resignation of its principal Lekshmi Nair for her mismanagement and rude behaviour.

The land in the possession of the academy originally belonged to Nataraja Pillai and was taken over by the then Diwan of Travancore C.P. Ramaswamy as a punishment to Pillai for participating in the freedom struggle.

Pillai, a respected figure in the state politics, served as a state Minister for Finance for Travancore-Cochin (1954-55).

He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly (1948-50), the Travancore legislative assembly (1944-47 and 1948-50), and the Travancore-Cochin legislative assembly (1951 and 1954-57).

Pillai also represented the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency in the third Lok Sabha as an independent candidate. He passed away in 1966.

Last week, Nataraja Pillai's son N. Venkatesan asked the government to cancel the assignment of the 11.49 acres of land with the privately-run Kerala Law Academy, and take over its possession since the academy was trying to put it to commercial exploitation.

Vijayan said his government has no plans to do anything of the kind as the family members of "some Pillai" asked for.

--IANS

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A US court has rejected the Justice Department's appeal asking to pause the sweeping decision that temporarily halted enforcement of President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

The Ninth Circuit Court has asked to file legal briefs before it makes a decision, CNN reported.

Just after midnight on Sunday, the Justice Department filed an appeal asking the court to put on hold its sweeping decision that temporarily halted enforcement of Trump's travel ban nationwide, saying in a strongly-worded filing that blocking the travel ban "harms the public" and "second-guesses the President's national security judgment".

The legal battle, which now moves up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, surrounds a Friday ruling issued by US District Court Judge James Robart, who halted the implementation of several key provisions of Trump's executive order.

Trump's policy banned foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority -- Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen -- countries from entering the US for 90 days, suspended all refugee entry to the US for 120 days, and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrian refugees.

The government's emergency motion sets forth a mutli-pronged attack on Robart's decision, emphasizing the President's broad authority in the immigration context.

"(Robart's ruling) contravenes the considered judgment of Congress that the President should have the unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class of aliens," the Justice Department wrote in its appeal.

The department further argued that the parties who filed the lawsuit -- the attorneys general of Washington state and Minnesota -- lack the authority to sue in federal court because their alleged harms are too "speculative".

The three judges on the Ninth Circuit who will likely hear the case -- assuming no one has to step aside over any conflicts -- are Judge William Canby, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter; Richard Clifton, who was appointed by George W. Bush; and Michelle Friedland, a President Barack Obama appointee, CNN said.

When the President was asked at a gala in Florida whether he was confident his administration would prevail in the appeal, Trump replied, "We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win."

On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended "any and all" actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travellers, as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban.

--IANS

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The family of Shweta Sharma, who was allegedly murdered by her live-in partner, on Sunday demanded the "harshest punishment" for the arrested Bhopal resident, who they described as a "vicious" person.

"I would want the harshest punishment for him (Udayan Das). He is a vicious man. He moved with thorough planning and after murdering my daughter, he tried to erase all signs," the deceased's father told a TV channel in West Bengal's Bankura.

Accused Udyan Das revealed during interrogation over the murder of his partner Shweta that he murdered both his parents in 2010 and interred the two bodies in their house in Raipur in Chhattisgarh in a way similar to what he did in the case of Shweta.

A joint team of West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh Police on Sunday recovered the bodies of parents of Das, earlier arrested on charge of murdering Shweta and entombing her body in his Bhopal house.

Das had come in contact with Shweta, who hailed from Bokaro in West Bengal, through a social networking site and was living with her at his Saket Nagar residence since June, 2016. Both had a fight in December last year, following which he allegedly murdered her.

He built a concrete platform in his first floor house over Shweta's body to conceal his crime.

The murder came to light following Das' interrogation by the police after the tower location of Shweta's mobile phone was located to Saket Nagar area.

Shweta's family had registered a missing complaint with Bankura police in West Bengal.

--IANS

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Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte signalled the end of peace talks with Communist rebels, with the government pulling out of the negotiations days after both parties announced an end to the truce, the media reported on Sunday.

Duterte decided to withdraw from the negotiations after the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the outlawed Communist party, carried out attacks against security forces, Efe news reported.

"Peace talks will remain cancelled unless there is a compelling reason that will benefit the interest of the nation," Duterte said late Saturday.

The attacks occurred after the rebels ended the truce on February 1, causing Duterte to lift the ceasefire - which he had announced after the two parties began the talks - two days later.

In January, the government and the rebels began the third round of negotiations in Rome and were to meet in the Netherlands to discuss a bilateral ceasefire before resuming peace talks in Oslo in April.

"I would like to tell the Filipino people: Peace with the Communists might not come in this generation," Duterte said.

The main hurdle in the negotiations was the government's unwillingness to set free 140 political prisoners from the NPA.

The NPA, a Maoist group created in 1969, consists of 6,000 fighters and has carried out numerous attacks, murders, kidnappings and extortion over the last few decades.

--IANS

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The fishery industry in Himachal Pradesh has produced 42,881 metric tonne of fish worth Rs 38,994 lakh in the past four years, an official said on Sunday.

The fisheries department is earning more than Rs 4 crore annually, a government spokesperson told IANS.

He said with the technical assistance of the Central Institute of Technology in Kochi, the state is establishing four fish processing units -- one each at Bhakra and Pong dams, Katauhad Kalan in Una district and Ratyod in Solan district.

In order to create self-employment opportunities in the fishery sector, he said schemes amounting to Rs 35 crore apart from regular budgetary provision were sanctioned and implemented in the past four years.

A sum of Rs 13 crore is being spent alone under the Blue Revolution scheme during this fiscal. Under the scheme, hatcheries, fish farms, small and big fish ponds, fishery feed units and trout units are being established.

The spokesperson said to engage the youth in fisheries activities, various schemes are being implemented in the state. For construction of pond of one hectare size, financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh is being provided to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe applicants, and Rs 80,000 to the general category.

With the concerted efforts of the state government and keen interest shown by the people towards fisheries activities, full-time self employment has been provided to 6,098 fishermen in major reservoirs of the state.

The department is providing fishery support services through 12 fish seed farms out of which six are trout and the remaining carp farms.

Two more trout farms are under construction at Thala in Bharmour area and Banjar in Hamani area, besides one carp fish farm at Paonta Sahib. The funds have been sanctioned for a rainbow aquarium-cum-museum centre at Dharwala in Chamba district.

With the introduction of rainbow trout production technique, 611 more trout units have been established in the state, he said.

The major fish species available in the streams of Himachal Pradesh are trout, mahseer, barilus and glyptothorax.

Two species -- Hungarian common carp and Amoor common carp -- have been imported and multiplied in the state.

--IANS

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Tamil Nadu's traditional rural sport Jallikattu, bull taming sport, was held at Avaniyapuram in Madurai district on Sunday after a gap of three years.

In Jallikattu, a bull vaulter is expected to hang on to the bull's hump for a stipulated distance or for a minimum of three jumps by the bull.

At Avaniyapuram Jallikattu, over 900 bulls and bull tamers participated.

Both the bulls and bull tamers were subjected to medical tests before to the event.

Prizes ranging from cycles, cupboards, travel bags and other items were awarded to bull tamers.

Similarly, prizes were awarded to the owners of the animals if their bulls wriggled out of the bull tamers' hold.

The event was held with strong police deployment after Tamil Nadu passed a law legalising Jallikattu, replacing the Prevention of cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, that was promulgated recently.

The law was passed with the cooperation of the central government following a week-long statewide protest by Tamil Nadu's youths who demanded Jallikattu be allowed. The Supreme Court banned the sport in 2014.

Normally, Jallikattu would be held as part of the Pongal festivities in Tamil Nadu. However, it was not held during Pongal this year due to the Supreme Court ban.

--IANS

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Bengaluru/Chittoor (Andhra Pradesh), Feb 5 (ANS) A local court in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor on Sunday sent the alleged attacker of a woman at an ATM kiosk here over three years ago to 12 days judicial custody, police said.

"Judge Kavita of the Paleru court has remanded accused Madhukar Reddy to judicial custody till February 17 for interrogation in four-five criminal cases, including an attack on a woman at an ATM in Bengaluru," Chittoor Superintendent of Police G. Srinivas told reporters at Chittoor, about 190km from Bengaluru.

Being Sunday, Reddy (35) was produced before the judge at her residence a day after being arrested at Madanapalle in the same district.

"We have lodged Reddy in the Paleru sub-jail as he had committed one of the crimes in that area while he was on run as a convict from Kadapa jail in 2011," said Srinivas.

A special police team from Bengaluru, which rushed to Madanapelle to secure Reddy's custody, has joined the Andhra investigation team to interrogate him, taking his statement and his finger prints to match with those collected from the ATM kiosk.

Reddy allegedly attacked Jyothi Uday, 38, with a machete when she was drawing cash from the ATM of the state-run Corporation Bank in the city centre on November 19, 2013. She is an employee of the same bank at a branch in the city.

Though the CCTV camera in the kiosk captured the horrifying incident, Reddy was at large, despite police launching a massive hunt for him in both the states over the past 40 months and circulating widely his picture to trace him.

"As Reddy has confessed to attacking Jyothi and committing other heinous crimes such as four murders, including of a woman at different places across the state (Andhra), he will be taken to those places on transit remand for investigating all the crimes," reiterated Srinivas.

The Karnataka government announced Rs 10 lakh cash prize as a reward for capturing the assailant or leading to his arrest.

Though an Andhra Police constable nabbed Reddy at Madanapalle in another case, he is eligible for the reward as per the norms.

--IANS

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is expected to visit Bengaluru to get his high blood sugar treated, an official said on Sunday.

The Delhi government official said Kejriwal's sugar level is "quite high", and he will be visiting Bengaluru for treatment on February 7.

The Chief Minister is expected to return to the national capital after 10-12 days, the official said, adding that Kejriwal, who was vrelentlessly campaigning in Punjab over the last one month, has been on three doses of insulin a day.

The Delhi Chief Minister has visited Bengaluru for his medical treatments earlier also.

He underwent a naturopathy treatment for his chronic cough problem in the city last year in January.

In 2015 too, Kejriwal was admitted to the hospital for 12 days for treatment of his chronic cough and high blood sugar.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A special court here on Sunday sent chit fund company Green Ray International Ltd. (GRIL) Managing Director Mir Shahruddin to six-day custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI had sought a 10-day remand of the accused in court.

The agency earlier brought Mir to Bhubaneswar on a transit remand from Kolkata, where he was arrested on Friday.

A native of Balasore district, Mir returned to India from Nigeria a few days ago on a Bangladeshi passport by impersonating as Ahmed Hussain, CBI sources said.

The CBI said GRIL tied up with a company in Nigeria where it acquired an iron ore mine on lease.

The dubious chit fund firm is accused of duping gullible investors of Odisha and 13 other states of nearly Rs 1,000 crore by promising good returns.

In October 2014, the Chhattisgarh Police had arrested another Grill director Ayub Shah from Ajmer in Rajasthan while he was trying to flee to Nigeria via Bangladesh.

The state Crime Branch, which was probing the case, confiscated 20.68 acres of land belonging to the company, besides freezing cash deposits of Rs 57 lakh in 46 accounts. The CBI took up the investigation in May 2014.

--IANS

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has thanked everyone who worked for the AAP in Punjab and Goa, saying he was feeling

"overwhelmed".

"I am truly overwhelmed," a visibly tired Kejriwal said in a video message in a choking voice late on Saturday. "We will surely win, people will surely win."

The Aam Aadmi Party leader thanked the people of Punjab and Goa, the two states which voted on Saturday, party volunteers, donors and NRIs who campaigned for the AAP.

"People fought this election, not the AAP," Kejriwal said, describing the election in both the states as an "andolan" (movement).

He profusely thanked both the volunteers and the NRIs. "You guys are just amazing."

Kejriwal said those who donated to the AAP showed courage because the Narendra Modi government, he pointed out, hounded virtually everyone who gave money to the party.

Some election watchers and opinion polls have said the AAP will finish on top in the Punjab battle also involving the Akali Dal-BJP combine and the Congress.

In response to election specialist Prannoy Roy's prediction at the end of polling that the AAP's chances of forming a government in Punjab was 55-60 per cent compared to the Congress' 30-35 per cent, Kejriwal said: "This is huge. Unbelievable."

--IANS

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Outgoing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam on Sunday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao for their support and cooperation.

Panneerselvam resigned on Sunday, paving way for party General Secretary V.K Sasikala to take charge of the state.

In a letter to Modi, the text of which was released to the media, Panneerselvam said: "I would like to convey my sincere gratitude for all the support and cooperation extended by you during my tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu."

Panneerselvam also thanked Rao in separate letter.

--IANS

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Dozens of people in the Philippine capital marched in front of the United States Embassy to protest the policies of the new US president.

Almost 100 people joined the protest on Saturday, which consisted of members of various groups including the League of Filipino Students and the left-wing New Patriotic Alliance, Efe news reported.

As they marched, they carried placards featuring the image of Donald Trump which read "No deportations", and several people held up a wide banner with the message "Fight Trump! Resist fascism and imperialism!"

The groups chanted and denounced Donald Trump's executive order barring entry to the US of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, and criticized the joint US-Philippine military exercises that have been held in the Southeast Asian country.

The protesters also urged Trump to remove from the US list of foreign terrorist organisations the New People's Army, the guerrilla wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Around 200 police officers, some armed with anti-riot gear, stood guard near the marchers and gave an ultimatum calling on the people to disperse by 12 pm local time. The protesters agreed and there were no arrests.

Saturday's protest coincides with the 118th anniversary of the start of the Philippine-American War, which the US won and which led to the US administering the archipelago as an American territory until 1946.

--IANS

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AIADMK legislators on Sunday elected General Secretary V.K. Sasikala as leader of their legislature party, paving the way for her to become the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

According to AIADMK sources, Sasikala's name was proposed by incumbent Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and seconded by other MLAs unanimously.

The election of Sasikala puts an end to speculation about her elevation to the top post in the government since she was elected the AIADMK General Secretary following the death of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.

Earlier, Panneerselvam and other ministers met Sasikala at the Poes Garden residence of Jayalalithaa where Sasikala continues to live.

The meeting of the legislators was called at short notice, a day after Sasikala appointed some former ministers and others who had been earlier shunted out by Jayalalithaa to various party posts.

Jayalalithaa died in December following a prolonged illness. Sasikala had been the erstwhile AIADMK leader's confidante for a long time.

--IANS

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State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) on Sunday said it has identified five core areas, including optimisation of new assets utilisation, to turn ongoing challenges into opportunities in a context where the business environment is extremely challenging for the steel sector suffering due to weak demand.

"At this crucial juncture for steel industry across the world, SAIL management realises that business environment has become extremely challenging. Thus the company, in a recent meeting of top management, devised appropriate responses for the impending challenges to turn them into opportunities," the company said.

The nation's largest steelmaker said the core areas identified include, ensuring quality and cost effective input, achieving production excellence, optimising new assets utilisation and leveraging human capital.

SAIL is focusing on developing high impact leadership amongst its ranks for which it is sensitising talented young executives, it added.

At this recent meeting in Ranchi, SAIL Chairman P.K. Singh and other directors interacted with young managers for re-energising them and reshaping their perspective on leadership.

The session was part of a four-day training programme organised by the SAIL Management Training Institute and was attended by around 100 young executives, the company said.

--IANS

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The Supreme Court has stated that by rejecting the bid for a huge commercial property in Gurgaon, the Haryana Urban Development Authority acted in the interest of the public and state revenue, and the 9.5 acres in the city was saved from being plundered. It quashed the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had ruled that Orchid Infrastructure Developers had a right on the land as its bid was the highest. The company had offered Rs 111.75 crore. However, later it was found that even in smaller towns like Faridabad, Punchkula and Panipat, the auction trend showed the property was worth much more. Therefore, the Supreme Court held that the rejection of the bid was justified and beyond the pale of judicial scrutiny. A bidder has no vested interest in the matter except the right of fair treatment. He cannot insist on further negotiations. There was no contract because the bid had not been accepted and the advance amount was returned. The court imposed Rs 5 lakh fine on the company which will be shared equally by the advocates fund and the SC employees welfare fund.
With the government proposing in Budget 2017-18 plans to rationalise the number of tribunals, some appellate bodies are likely to face the axe. India has over 35 tribunals that look into designated legal issues and appeals from orders of sectoral regulators.
Punjabis are generally jovial, hospitable and warm-hearted. They are always open to new ideas and philosophies. They opened their hearts and pockets when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) first came knocking at their doors in the 2014 Lok Sabha election; it was rewarded with four parliamentary seats.
Traversing the streets of Panjim, Goas capital and its political hotbed, one hardly gets the election feel. The state went to the polls on Saturday and while in the last few days before the elections there were rallies and political heavy-weights from Delhi descended on this quaint town, one could hardly spot an election hoarding, a cut-out or even posters.
In Aligarh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a public rally on Sunday that winning Uttar Pradesh assembly polls was important to help his party get a majority in the Rajya Sabha.

He said BJPs rivals have come together in Uttar Pradesh not just to win the assembly polls, but to frustrate his partys efforts to get a majority in the Rajya Sabha. They are scared. They know if Modi gets a majority in Rajya Sabha he will push for laws that will leave no room for the corrupt, the PM said.

The PMs comments come when the Opposition is planning to embarrass his government in the Rajya Sabha this week. It is all set to demand a vote on the motion of thanks on the Presidents address to get the government to concede that its decision failed to achieve its objectives, caused hardships to people and led to over a 100 deaths. But opposition unity is under some question.

Government strategists are reaching out to some of the opposition parties to not press for a vote on the motion of thanks to the Presidents address. The Opposition had embarrassed the government in both 2015 and 2016 by forcing it to amend the Presidents address.

Currently, the Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as the Democratic Alliance (NDA) it leads, is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha. The lack of majority in the Rajya Sabha has meant some of Modi governments key Bills have either had to be withdrawn or amended to get the Opposition on board, or tabled as money Bills.

Opposition parties like the Trinamool Congress are unlikely to press for a division of votes, and others like Biju Janata Dal and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) might abstain from voting. But even the coming together of the rest of the opposition would make it difficult for the government to prevent a defeat.

The Trinamool Congress has moved amendments, but sources said the party will not press for a division of vote in honour of President Pranab Mukherjee. Notably, two of Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha members are currently in jail in a case that the Central Bureau of Investigation is probing.

Currently, the BJP has 56 seats to Congress 60 seats in the Rajya Sabha. The NDA has a total of 74 members. The BJP hopes to increase its tally in the Rajya Sabha at the time of its biennial elections in 2018. Once in two years, at least a third of Rajya Sabhas 245 members retire. In 2018, nearly 70 would retire and a significant 10 will retire from UP. A defeat in UP will, therefore, dent Modi governments efforts to win more seats in Rajya Sabha.

Rajya Sabha seats

2017: 10 MPs to retire (6 from Bengal (including Sitaram Yechury and Derek OBrien); 3 from Gujarat (including Smriti Irani and Ahmed Patel) and Shantaram Naik from Goa)

2018: 67 MPs to retire (incl. 10 from UP, 6 from Bihar, 5 from Bengal, 4 from Karnataka, 6 from Maharashtra, 3 from Andhra Pradesh, etc)

Current Rajya Sabha strength: 244




Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed over 30 public rallies for the 243-member Bihar Assembly polls in October-November 2015 but he is likely to address less than half of that in the run-up to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly polls.

The PM launched his UP campaign by addressing a public rally in Meerut on Saturday, and followed with another one in Aligarh on Sunday.

In Aligarh, the PM promised a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in UP would deliver vikas (development), which he said was an acronym for vidyut (improved power supply); kanoon (better law and order); and sadak (roads). There was only a passing reference to demonetisation.

As UP goes to polls on Saturday, references to Modi governments currency ban decision have all but vanished from his, party president Amit Shah and other candidates speeches. This was not the case a month ago.

After November 8, the demonetisation announcement, the PM had addressed several rallies across north India, particularly half a dozen in UP, to reach out to people on his note ban decision. The last of these was in Lucknow on January 2 to mark the end of 50 days of pain caused by note ban. There was a only passing reference to demonetisation in his Meerut and Aligarh speeches. Shah has also come across as keen to change the public discourse to the alleged corruption charges on opponents.

On December 20, Shah had issued a statement lauding his partys performance after winning the Chandigarh municipal elections. That had come on the heels of victories in Assembly bypolls and civic and panchayat polls in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Then, Shah had stated the people had stamped their seal of approval on the PMs demonetisation decision by making the party victorious in all elections after November 8.

Shah, in an interview to a television channel last week, disagreed that the results of the UP polls would be a referendum on note ban. He had said the results would not be a referendum on demonetisation policy, but if the Opposition wanted to play it that way, then BJP is game for it.

In UP, party leaders are finding it difficult to get people for public rallies and roadshows. On Friday, Shahs roadshow in Meerut was cancelled, ostensibly to protest the murder of a youth in Lucknow but the party unit was skeptical that it would attract enough people. Reports of infighting among BJP workers and dissatisfaction in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ranks are dime a dozen. The anti-reservation remarks of RSS publicity chief Manmohan Vaidya have also been exploited by rival parties.

According to sources, Shah had last week warned BJP Lok Sabha members that the party was unlikely to renominate them for the 2019 elections if it fared poorly on the Assembly seats under their constituencies.

It is vital for BJP to bag a good number of seats in UP. The state sent 71 of the BJPs 282 members in the Lok Sabha. A good performance will keep it in good stead for the next general elections. It is also important for BJP to improve its tally in 2018 in the Rajya Sabha, where it is in a minority, and for election to the President this July.
With the political fever increasing by the day in Uttar Pradesh for the first phase of Assembly elections, a politically charged Sunday is lined up as the big guns from all the parties will vigorously continue to woo the electorate here.

Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address, a joint rally will be held by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in Kanpur.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh will also address the masses in mega rallies.

While addressing a rally in Bareilly on Saturday, Mayawati continued to train her guns on the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance and termed it as tainted alliance.

She also blamed that BJP could not dare to project any face for chief ministership while Samajwadi Party has projected tainted Akhilesh Yadav again.

Addressing another meeting in Firozabad, Mayawati narrated achievements of her tenure, asserting that in the Samajwadi Party regime more criminal activities were recorded than development works.

BJP President Amit Shah, who is also campaigning in the state, addressed a public meeting in Firozabad Saturday, where he promised that the rule of law will be established in the state.

Praising action taken by prime minister on several fronts including on national security, he said government is working on inclusive development for all.

Later in the day, addressing a meeting in Agra, Union Minister Rajnath Singh claimed that Samajwadi Party's government's claims on development are not true, adding that the state GDP has decreased from 5.6 to 3.6% in last five years.

Addressing a rally in Auraiya, CM Akhilesh Yadav said the welfare and development work has just begun in the state and Samajwadi government will take it further in coming years. He said his landmark projects were completed in short time.

At his first election rally in Uttar Pradesh since polls were announced, Prime Minister Modi on Saturday attacked the Samajwadi Party and Congress, saying "the corrupt" had joined hands to bring him down.
Nepal police today arrested 37 Bangladeshi nationals, engaged in tailoring business, from Kathmandu's main tourist hub Thamel for illegally entering the country via India.

The arrested Bangladeshi nationals were not having passports and other legal documents to be in Nepal when they were arrested by the Metropolitan police, the Kathmandu Post reported.

According to the police, the arrested people were in the age group of 19-34 and they entered Nepal via India. They were engaged in tailoring business.

Their goal was to acquire Nepali citizenship and passports and set out for jobs abroad, police said.

They will be deported to Bangladesh after investigation.

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People of Bihar, including Patna, today experienced a sunny day with all major cities witnessing an increase in maximum temperature by few notches from season's average.

Patna Meteorological Centre officials said that four major cities of Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnea witnessed three to four degree Celsius above from normal maximum temperature.

Though Patna and Gaya did not witness any upward deviation from normal minimum temperature while Bhagalpur witnessed below one degree Celsius and Purnea above one degree normal minimum.

As per the Met bulletin, the maximum temperature was recorded in Patna at 29.4 degrees Celsius which is four degree above from normal temperature. Patna's yesterday's maximum temperature was 24.2 degree Celsius.

The state capital registered a minimum temperature of 11.4 degrees Celsius against yesterday's 10.1 degrees Celsius.

"Western disturbance has passed over Bihar with wind staying calm coupled with no cloud formation may increase the temperature gradually," Met official said.

Purnea recorded the highest maximum temperature of the state at 29.7 degree Celsius followed by Bhagalpur and Gaya which recorded 29.5 and 28.3 degree Celsius respectively.

Similarly, Gaya, Purnea and Bhagalpur registered a minimum temperature of 10.1, 10.8 and 13 degree Celsius respectively, Met office said.

The state's lowest minimum temperature was also recorded at 7 degrees Celsius at Sabour in Bhagalpur district.

Met has forecast foggy/misty morning to be followed by partly cloudy sky later in the day in four major cities of Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnea tomorrow.

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The inmates of Chhattisgarh jails will soon get rid of their stinky and dirty blankets as the state Home department has decided to get them washed.

The decision to this effect was taken after several complaints of skin-related diseases and allergy to prisoners.

"We have permitted to procure washing machines at a cost of Rs 40 lakh. Very soon, washing of blankets will be started in jails," Director General (Jail) Girdhari Nayak told PTI today.

The step is expected to have a positive impact on the mental as well as health condition of the prisoners, he said.

"The effort is being made under 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan'. We want to improve the conditions in jails so that the inmates become good citizens. For the purpose, it is necessary that they should be both physically and mentally fit," the DG said.

Another jail department official, on condition of anonymity, said, "The department recently conducted health examination of 22,000 prisoners lodged in separate jails of the state by holding camps during which it was found that most of them were suffering from skin-related diseases and allergy. During investigation, dirty blankets used by them were found to be a major reason behind it."



Surprisingly, it later came to light that the blankets were never washed. To prevent them from fungus, they were just kept in open when the sun is out. Keeping this in view, it has been decided to procure industrial washers for cleaning the blankets, he said.

As per statistics, the state has five central jails, 12 district jails and 16 sub-jails where more than 18,000 inmates are lodged. Of them, around 10,000 are undertrials while 8,000 are convicts.

Each prisoner is given 2-3 blankets and in this way, total 54,000 blankets are being used in jails of the state. One blanket is used for atleast five years by several inmates. During this period, neither the blanket is cleaned nor washed.

Though sometimes they are kept out in the sun, the official said, adding that "these unhygienic blankets now have become source of disease for the users".

"The department has planned to wash all blankets and for the purpose has given permission to buy industrial washers in five central jails - Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg, Ambikapur and Jagdalpur. Very soon it will be procured," he said.

The washing machines will have the capacity to wash 20 kg clothes at a time, and thereby around 500 blankets will be cleaned in a day. The entire task will be completed in about four months, he added.

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A bomb exploded on a main street near the Bahraini capital today, causing no casualties in what the government described as a "terrorist" act.

"Terrorist bombing on Budaya Street damages multiple cars without casualties," read a tweet by the interior ministry.

No further details were available.

Bahrain has been rocked by unrest since Shiite-led protests in 2011 were put down by authorities in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state.

The country, ruled by the Al-Khalifa dynasty for more than two centuries, has a majority Shiite population which has long complained of marginalisation.

Bahrain last month executed three men found guilty of killing policemen, including an Emirati officer who was part of a Gulf force that entered the kingdom to help quell protests.

A policeman was also shot dead in a Shiite village last month. Authorities described the shooting as "terrorist.

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Budgetary allocations for child welfare schemes for 2017-18 may have been raised but rights advocates have termed as "disappointing" this "nominal increment" for programmes for children who account for 39 per cent of the country's population.

Noting that the Budget for 2017-18 allocates just 3.32 per cent of the total funds for child welfare schemes, rights body CRY said the allocations fail to meet National Plan of Action for Children (NPAC) recommendations of 5 per cent funds.

Nobel Laureate and social activist Kailash Satyarthi said he was disappointed with the "nominal" increase for the National Child Labour Plan.

"Like last 15 years, budgets for children have remained stagnant with Union Budget 2017-18 allocating just 3.32 per cent to children. While the need is that of exponential increase, allocations for children have seen only an incremental increase with Rs 71,305.35 crore from Rs 65,758.45 crore in 2016-17 budget," Komal Ganotra, director (policy, research and advocacy) at CRY told PTI.

She said the recently-released NPAC chalks out targets for children for next five years, and states and recommends that atleast 5 per cent of the Union Budget must be spent on schemes and programmes directly related to children.

"This budget does not even meet the conservative recommendation stated in NPAC," she claimed.

In the Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 1, the increase has been largely in four children-related schemes -- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (from Rs 22,500 crore to Rs 23,500 crore), Midday meal scheme (Rs 9,700 crore to Rs 10,000 crore), Integrated Child Development Schemes (Rs 14,000 crore to 15,245 crore) and increase of Rs 339 crore in NRHM flexible pool.

Satyarthi, however, welcomed the eight per cent increase in the budget for empowerment and protection of children and said the government's decision to raise the fund for women and child development from Rs 1.56 lakh crore to Rs 1.84 lakh crore is reassuring.

But he added that it was "disappointing that there is nominal increment for the National Child Labour Project".

"I have always emphasised on the criticality of



safeguarding the child's environment to ensure their development.

"The outcome indicators of children's progress show huge deficiencies at present. These can be addressed only with enhanced allocation and expenditure under different child welfare programs," Satyarthi said.

"The increased outlays to the social sector do not necessarily benefit children. Children comprise 39 per cent of our population yet are allotted only 3.32 per cent of the budget," he said, adding, "a more proportionate investment will create opportunities for the whole country to thrive."



On education front, CRY said the country is still struggling to meet the Right To Education (RTE) targets and fulfil huge gaps in areas like teacher vacancy, infrastructure and quality learning.

"The mere increase in the allocation of budget in SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) by 1,305 crore will be distributed among 10,80,757 elementary schools in India," Ganotra said.

The non-profit body although lauded the government opening its coffers for the scheme for Child Protection and National Nutrition Mission.

"The scheme for Child Protection saw a revival in the revised estimate stage last year (from Rs 397 to 597 crore) and has seen further increase of Rs 50 crore in the 2017-18 budget at Rs 648 crore. Hopes for an early revival of the National Nutrition Mission, which has been in the pipeline for over two years, have also resurfaced, with an allocation of Rs 1,100 crore as against Rs 360 crore which was largely unutilised in 2015-16," she said.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has cut subsidy qualifications for seven Chinese automakers over subsidy cheating.

Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co. Ltd, one of the punished producers, was accused of equipping 1,353 new-energy cars with sub par number of battery cells in 2015, when it applied for financial subsidies.

The MIIT penalty effectively bans the automakers from entering an official catalogue of recommended vehicle types which get fiscal support to lower their prices and boost market competitiveness, state-run Xinhua agency reported today.

Authorities will review their application after they rectify their problems in two months.

Authorities launched investigations into subsidy cheating cases in beginning of 2016 after the country had forked out about 33 billion yuan (about USD 4.8 billion) of subsidies between 2009 and 2015.

The subsidy program has played an important role in the country's booming market for new-energy vehicles, which are seen as effective in cutting emissions.

China sold 507,000 new-energy vehicles last year, a rise of 53 per cent year on year.

The government will cut subsidies to new-energy vehicles by 10 per cent this year from the 2016 level and plans to phase out the subsidies by 2020.

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Having decided against any tie-up with BJP in the upcoming civic polls, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will be personally focusing on Mumbai, the party's home turf ever since its inception decades ago.

According to his schedule, Thackeray will campaign in the city till February 12, addressing as many as 19 rallies, while he is planning to hold one rally each in Pune, Pimpri- Chinchwad, Nashik and Thane from February 13 to 17.

Kickstarting the campaign last evening, he unleashed a stinging attack on BJP and even signalled that his party may not enter into a post-poll tie up with the party if the outcome in Mumbai falls short of its expectations.

Thackeray also said the upcoming electoral battle is no "friendly match", virtually scotching speculations that they may strike some pact with BJP in case the poll verdict throws up a hung House in the Mumbai civic body.

Amid its frosty relations with BJP, the Sena's decision to go solo for the civic polls across Maharashtra has thrown up the question if the party's strategy will pay off or sharpen the divide between the saffron allies which share power in the state and at the Centre.

Though Sena has compelling reasons to maintain unfettered hold over its prime political space in Mumbai and other cities and restrain BJP from expanding its base, some observers feel the course it has opted may prove to be risky.

According to them, it is hazardous to predict the results as forces outside the ruling combine could also take advantage of the divide in the saffron camp.

"What happens if the post-poll situation is such that both parties may need to come together? In the elections, both may have to pay a price. BJP now has high expectations thinking it has got the mandate to rule and the 'Modi wave' that swept it to power in 2014 still remains. Shiv Sena, on the other hand, thinks that Mumbai is its own turf, which it can not concede to others," said an observer.

"These parties, however, forget there can be a fatigue factor in people's mind, affecting both," an analyst said.

A BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, said Shiv Sena thinks his party's win in 2014 was a fluke by simply riding on the 'Modi wave'.

"Even if it is a fluke, we came to power and that is important. Similarly, the party has done very well in the recent municipal council and nagar panchayat polls as well. The Sena is trying to hurt our growing influence," he said.

"Though both parties may have to come together post elections, BJP will press for its transparency agenda and will join hands with Sena only on this condition," the leader said.

Though the seat-sharing talks with Sena never made any



headway right from the start, BJP had maintained that its entire focus is on ensuring a "clean and transparent" administration in the affairs of BMC and not on a few seats.

However, Sena rejected the claim saying the transparency issue was brought in by BJP to bargain and get a larger number of seats than it ever contested in the Mumbai civic polls.

BJP insiders say sections in the party felt that the ally could have been honourably accommodated but the Sena leadership, by publicly targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has forfeited the goodwill of that section.

However, Sena sources said the party is keen to cash-in on the "anger" against BJP over demonetisation.

"Many Gujaratis, especially the business community, are joining the Sena in large numbers. Uddhavji felt that time was ripe to go alone," one of them said.

Congress, keen to dispel the impression that the fight in Mumbai is between Sena and BJP, said both the parties have shed ideology for the sake of power.

"If there is an ideological difference why Sena is still in the government? The grand-standing by both parties is because they are eyeing short-term political and individual gains. If there is indeed a real fight we will come to know after elections results," Congress leader Anant Gadgil said.

BJP spokesman Madhav Bhandari said the Sena leadership has failed to understand the changing political perceptions and aspirations of the new age voters.

According to him, the Sena top brass feels retaining power in Mumbai is essential for their political survival and has forced a decision on the grassroot cadres, despite they being open to an alliance.
The combined value of has surpassed that of US banks for the first time as they emerged as global leaders by asset base as well as brand value, a report by a business valuation consultancy has said.

The report by the London-based Brand Banking 500 places Industrial and Commercial Bank of China as the world's most valuable bank, with a brand value worth $47.8 billion, representing a 32% year-on-year growth.

Marketing investment and the brand's credibility with customers, staff and shareholders, among other factors are taken into consideration in calculating the brand value.

The report said have an aggregate total brand value of $258 billion, accounting for 24% of the total brand value of the top 500 global banks by brand value, compared with 23% for US banks, state-run China Daily quoted the report as saying.

Zhou Jingtong, division head and professor at Bank of China's Institute of Finance, said: "The brand value growth of is closely related to the continuous rise of China's contribution to the global economy."

"During the process, the Chinese banking industry maintained steady development in various aspects, including asset growth, asset quality, provision coverage ratio and capital adequacy ratio."

The internationalisation of Chinese banks, particularly in recent years, also contributed to their brand value growth, he said.
Following up on the Budget announcement, the Commerce and Industry Ministry has got down to preparing a draft scheme for the leather and footwear segment -- on the lines of textiles -- to boost manufacturing, exports and job creation.

In the Budget 2017-18, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced plans to launch a scheme for the labour-intensive leather and footwear sector.

The scheme will be something similar to the package unveiled for the textiles sector in June last year.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion "has started preparing the contours of the scheme and would soon send the same to the Expenditure Finance Committee for their views and approval", an official said.

The final note will then be sent for consideration of the Union Cabinet. The aim is to implement the scheme from April 1.

The scheme may include fiscal and non-fiscal support, besides incentives, for promotion of skill development for the leather sector.

Jaitley, in his speech, has said a special scheme for creating employment in the textiles sector has already been launched and a similar scheme will be implemented for leather and footwear.

In June 2016, the government approved a Rs 6,000-crore special package for the textiles and apparel sector. It included a set of reforms, with simplified labour laws and technology upgradation.

The leather remains a key focus area under the 'Make in India' initiative of the government.

Analysts say Rs 1 crore investment in the sector spins off jobs for close to 250 people, which employs about 30 lakh people in direct jobs.

China is giving a tough competition to Indian leather manufacturers in terms of pricing. The government aims to increase the sectoral exports to USD 15 billion by 2020, from the current USD 7 billion.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The death toll from three days of heavy snow across rose to 54 on Sunday and there were fears that the toll could rise as rescuers began clearing roads to remote areas.

Avalanches destroyed scores of homes and blocked roads in central and northeastern provinces, a spokesman for the ministry of natural disasters told AFP.

"So far, 54 persons have lost their lives and 52 were injured as a result of avalanches and freezing weather in 22 provinces," said Mohammad Omar Mohammadi.

He said 168 houses were destroyed and 340 cattle killed.

Authorities fear the toll may rise sharply because the rescue crew are yet to reach some of the worst-hit areas.

In the badly hit northeastern province of Badakhshan at least 18 people, including three women and two children, were killed when avalanches hit their houses overnight, said provincial spokesman Naweed Frotan.

"Several dozens are still trapped, we are trying to rescue them," he said, adding that many roads were still blocked.

Five people were killed by avalanches in the Balkhab district of Sari Pul province in northern and at least 70 people trapped under the snow were being rescued, said provincial spokesman Zabiullah Amani.

"The roads to Balkhab are still blocked and we are trying to open them," he said.

Freezing weather killed at least two people and over 100 animals in the western province of Badghis.

In Parwan province just north of Kabul, the spokesman for governor Wahid Sediqqi said 16 people died.

The government declared on Sunday- usually a working day in Afghanistan- to be a public holiday to deter non-essential travel and ensure that the schools were closed.

Unusually, snow even fell in the southern province of Kandahar.

Deadly avalanches are common in Afghanistan's mountainous areas in winter and rescue efforts are frequently hampered by lack of equipment.

Despite billions of dollars in aid after the ousting of the Taliban government in 2001, remains among the world's poorest nations.

Last month heavy snowfall and freezing weather killed 27 children, all under the age of five, in Jawzjan province in northern Afghanistan.
Nearly half of the 135 sitting BJP councillors in the three municipal corporations in Delhi could be dropped in the upcoming civic polls as the party aims to reduce effects of anti-incumbency, sources said.

An area of concern for BJP in the municipal elections scheduled for April is that among the outgoing councillors, over 50 per cent are holding the position for 10-15 years.

There are also many who have served up to four terms, Delhi BJP functionaries said.

Such candidates run the risk of facing strong anti-incumbency.

The people of Delhi understand the problems faced by MCDs due to the fight with the AAP government, but they also evaluate performance of the councillors, said an office-bearer of the party.

"The party wants to get rid of such sitting councillors and fortunately, delimitation has come to our rescue since many of these councillors have got their wards drastically changed and will be dropped automatically," he said.

The biggest benefit BJP will have from the delimitation is that the urban wards where most of the sitting councillors are concentrated have decreased.

"People have faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi but they may not like these councillors who are from urban wards," he said.

Before delimitation, the number of urban seats were around 150 and the rest were in outer and rural parts of the city. Now, the situation has reversed with the number of wards in rural and outer areas going up to 150.

These are the areas where BJP has focused with a renewed vigour after the appointment of Manoj Tiwari as state president.

Tiwari, who took over as Delhi BJP president in December last year, celebrated new year with slum-dwellers of Todapur.

His night stays at four unauthorised colonies and slums and a couple of villages in Narela and Najafgarh have highlighted the poor infrastructure in these settlements leading party leaders to attack AAP for neglecting the very people who voted it to power in Delhi.

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A committee under the Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has rejected group's request to convert its aviation SEZ at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here into a multi-sector SEZ.

Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) cited poor response from the aviation for setting up shops in aviation SEZ as the reason to convert it into a multi-product SEZ.

However, the Expert Appraisal Committee under the Ministry felt conversion of the aviation SEZ, which is close to the runway, into the planned multi-product SEZ, may attract birds which may become hazardous to aircraft at airport.

The infra major said the Aerospace and Industrial Park, spread in the layout of 253.85 acres, has an occupancy rate of just 11% over the last six years, and if allowed to convert into a multi-product SEZ, within 3-4 years it will be fully operational.

"The committee also felt that bird hazard is a serious concern for aviation sector and comprehensive study must be done by a reputed institution such as SACON, not just for airport, but also for SEZ areas, especially due the fact that multi-sector SEZ can become heaven for birds and if not planned well, can have serious risks to aircraft.

In view of the deliberations, the EAC was not inclined to consider the proposal anymore, and asked the project proponent to withdraw the same," the EAC said in a meeting held last month.

When contacted, a GHIAL spokesperson said they will study the order of the EAC and take steps.

"We will study the order and take necessary steps as required," the spokesperson told PTI, while offering no comments for the poor response for the aviation SEZ.

The proposal is an upgradation of the existing sector specific SEZ to multi-sector SEZ to meet the business feasibility and industrial interests received from prospective SEZ customers.

"GHIAL's SEZ has seen limited growth during last 6 years and is presently operating at just 11 per cent occupancy.

"With the revised sector focus, it is perceived that GHIAL would be able to capitalise upon the opportunities in next 3-5 years to make the SEZ fully operational with diverse but coherent industrial units, that will in long run provide requisite impetus to develop the region as an economic hub of Hyderabad with airport city as it core," the EAC said quoting GMR's proposal.

GMR said the multi-product SEZ will have industrial units/activities relating to aviation, pharma, gems and jewellery and electronics, among others. No additional land is required as part of the proposed conversion.
Former Rajya Sabha MP P Kannan today announced his resignation from the AIADMK.

He told reporters here that he did not want to disclose the reason for his quittingAIADMK.

But when reporters kept on asking him for the reason, he said "everything is obvious."



The resignation comes at a time when AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala was elected as Legislature party leader at a meeting of legislature party meeting in Chennai earlier in the day.

Kannan joined AIADMK after quitting Congress on February 14 last year ahead of the Assembly polls.He enrolled himself as member of AIADMK then in the presence of then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa at Chennai.

Kannan was defeated by Congress candidate K Lakshminarayanan in the May 16 assembly polls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Expelled AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Puspha today opposed party chief V K Sasikala becoming the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, alleging she had a "criminal background".

In letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, she said, "It is condemnable to nominate or invite Sasikala Natarajan to be a Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu due to her criminal background. All criminal cases are pending and (she is) convicted."



Pushpa was apparently referring to the disproportionate assets case against late chief minister Jayalalithaa in which Sasikala was a co-accused and convicted by the trial court in Bengaluru.

The Karnataka High Court had set aside the conviction. An appeal challenging the acquittal is now pending before the Supreme Court.

Pushpa also alleged Sasikala, who was today elected leader of the AIADMK Legislature Party paving the way for her to become the Chief Minister, had "not done any basic work to the party."



"The then Chief Minister (J Jayalalithaa) not even proposed her (Sasikala) as a candidate when she was in hospital. When she will be Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, there would be law and order problems," she alleged.

She urged Modi and Rao "not to recommend or invite Sasikala to be Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu".

Pushpa had recently filed a complaint with the Election Commission claiming that the election of Sasikala as AIADMK General Secretary was not done as per procedure, following which the panel had sought the party's response.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Digital payments have gained popularity among consumers but have also brought in the threat of cyber criminals placing fake e-wallet apps to dupe users.

According to cyber security solution firm Kaspersky, no such incident has been reported yet but the probability of cyber criminals adding fake apps on app stores remains high.

"Digital payment companies ensure that the transactions are safe on their apps. Besides, there are checks like two-factor authentication for ensuring secure transactions for consumers," Altaf Halde, Managing Director at Kaspersky Lab, South Asia, said.

In such a scenario, cyber criminals could look at tricking consumers into downloading fake apps that look almost like the genuine one, allowing a backdoor entry into their smartphone.

While financial institutions like banks and mobile m-wallet companies take steps to protect customer information, users also need to take precautions as negative experiences could lead to losing trust in digital transactions.

The government's move to demonetise high-value currency notes in November last year has given a massive push towards adoption of digital payment methods including credit/debit/ Rupay cards, UPI and mobile wallets.

The government had also launched BHIM app to facilitate e-payments. Launched on December 30, the app has already been adopted by over 125 lakh people.

"The convenience that digital payments bring is massive. However, there are also risks involved. Consumers need to be informed and careful when they download app. They should ensure they are downloading the genuine apps and not the fake ones," he said.

Asked how consumers could spot the fake apps, Halde said the fake ones "almost resemble the real ones but there is still a difference".

"The logo might look exactly same but the spelling might be different. The key is to carefully check before downloading just any app," he added.

Besides, consumers should install security solutions on their phones.

"Consumers should install security solutions on their phones just like they would on their PCs. Since a large number of consumers now carry out financial transactions through their smartphones, it is important that they protect it," Halde said.
The Indian foundry industry is expecting to double the revenue over the next 2-3 years with immense opportunities given in the Budget, an industry member said.

However, cost push and uncertainty over the policies in the US for foundry and casting imports remain a matter of concern.

"...Indian foundry industry is expected to double its revenue over the next 2-3 years with the huge opportunity which will be unlocked due to big push in railway infrastructure in the budget, defence and revival of automotive sector," Institute of Indian Foundrymen (IIF) President Anil Waswani told PTI.

Curently, the annual revenue of Indian foundry industry stands at USD 18 Billion of which USD 2.7 billion comes from exports.

The Budget, however, did not provide some relief from import duty burden on met coke and metal scrap, he said.

Moreover, we are keeping our fingers crossed on unfolding of the US policies about their long import of foundry and casting from India when we are hearing about 'Make in USA', Waswani said.

The Indian Foundry Industry had been growing steadily in the last few years and became the 3rd largest caster in the world. It employs two million people directly and indirectly.

Demonetisation has impacted the foundry industry for sourcing domestic metal scrap, he said.

"Normally, pig iron which is also used by our industry as raw material is costlier than metal scrap but due to demonetisation, price surpassed pig-iron price due to short supply of scrap," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The ninth edition of the India Art Fair that draws to a close today, served as a potent platform for galleries to gain exposure and establish networks with their foreign counterparts, despite recording "low sales".

For city-based Art Heritage gallery which sought to promote modern Indian art with their collection at the fair, the sales were "not up to the mark" but the gallery director says they were "happy" with the response from the art collectors as well as other visitors.

"Although the sales have not be up to the mark, but I have been really happy with the response from the viewers. It is a very important that the fair is being held annually because it gives us a tremendous amount of exposure and we get to know about new collectors, international galleries and museums," says Amal Allana, director of the Art heritage gallery.

Allana said that fairs like IAF help the galleries to understand the dynamics of the Indian art market in a better way.

"It is important to understand the dynamics of marketing while selling the art pieces or projecting them in front of the audience. We are learning many things in the process through such fairs," she says.

Meher Kalra of Gallerie Navya sees demonetisation a major reason behind low sales in comparison to the business the gallery did last year.

"Although people have appreciated a good mix of both modern as well as contemporary art works but due to demonetisation the response of the buyers has been slightly low.

"There have been less buyers compared to last time. Also such fairs can't be seen only with the expectation of making sales. Rather it is an opportunity to market and project our collections," says Kalra.

The edition this year focused on art from South Asia, including countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The fair also presented 16 specially-curated art projects by artists like Sudarshan Shetty, Reena Saini Kallat among others.

Payal Vadehra from city-based Vadehra Art Gallery says the fair has been "good" for the Indian art market and that they drew satisfactory sales.

"A lot of people have come and appreciated our collection.

We have been consistently doing well at the fair. IAF plays a unique role in the art circuit because they also do a lot of work to promote art with their outreach programs, presenting art to people who would not normally go to a gallery to see it. It does very good for bringing art to the public whether it is to a buyer or just a viewer," she says.

The art pieces by artist Jagannath Panda and sculptor



Riyas Komu at their booth have garnered a lot of interest amongst visitors, she says.

Crayon Art Gallery which displayed works by modernist artist like Syed Haider Raza and M F Husain, says the fair has been "unique" since the gallery witnessed an influx of a lot of foreign buyers.

"We had several new international buyers coming from the United States of America. We also got several architects and interior designers at our booth who are helping people recreate and renovate their homes. They have been recommending art to their customers.

"It is a really good sign for marketing art since many new collectors will emerge," says Amit Vadhera from the gallery.

For him, the event serves as an important platform for new buyers since they feel less intimidated than visiting an art gallery.

While asserting about the role of gallery directors at such fairs, Shireen Gandhy, owner of Mumbai- based Chemould Prescott Road gallery says, "At fairs, there is always this advantage that the gallery directors and assistants are always present in the fair to answer queries of curious viewers as well as collectors and guide them about the art works they display".
US President Donald Trump's latest remarks drawing an equivalence between America and its arch- enemy Russia has drawn the ire of Republicans, with a top Senator today questioning the new administration's friendly postures towards Moscow.

"Well, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is a former KGB. He's agent. He's a thug. He was not elected in a way that most people would consider a credible election. The Russians annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, and messed around in our elections," the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN in an interview.

He was responding to a question on Trump praising Putin in an interview to Fox in which he also compared the US with Russia.

"No, I don't think there is any equivalency between the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does," McConnell said.

"I'm not going to critique the President's every utterance, but I do think America is exceptional. America is different. We don't operate in any way the way the Russians do. I think there is a clear distinction here that all Americans understand," he said.

On Trump's travel ban, McConnell ruled out offering legislation to carry out the ban through the Senate.

"Well, I don't know if that is necessary. I mean, the courts are going to decide whether the executive order the President issued is valid or not. We all follow court orders. The administration is following the court order, as I understand it," he said.

"The courts will ultimately determine the validity of it. But there is a fine line here between proper vetting and interfering with the kind of travel or suggesting some kind of religious test. And we need to avoid doing that kind of thing," McConnell said.

"We all want to try to keep terrorists out of the United States. But we can't shut down travel. We certainly don't want Muslim allies who have fought with us in countries overseas to not be able to travel to the US," he said.

Responding to a question on Trump slamming the federal judge who halted his executive order, McConnell said it is best not to single out judges for criticism.

McConnell, however, praised Trump for his Supreme Court pick.

"The search was handled extremely well. I want to commend the administration for that. He picked an outstanding nominee, who has got a sterling background, outstanding accomplishment at every phase of his life. And I'm very confident he will be confirmed," he added.

The Senate majority Leader said the Trump Administration will have a look at the Iranian nuclear deal.

"It was an executive agreement only. It was not a treaty. So, the Trump administration is going to have to take a look at this and decide whether they want to continue it," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hit by increase in non-performing assets and subdued global demand, the national export finance institution Exim Bank is looking at a muted growth of 5-7 per cent for the current financial year.

The bank had witnessed a healthy balance sheet with 13 per cent growth in lending in the previous fiscal.

"Fiscal year 2017 is growing to be flat. This year, we are looking at a balance sheet growth between 5 and 7 per cent because global demand is low and we have also taken a hit with rising NPAs," Exim Bank Chairman and MD Yaduvendra Mathur told PTI.

Gross non-performing assets jumped to 9.3 per cent for September 2016 from 4.2 per cent in March.

Net NPAs during the first half of the current financial year rose to 2 per cent from 0.9 per cent a year ago.

"NPA percentage for us has increased like for others in the industry. It is coming from steel, metals and minerals, shipping and textile sectors," Mathur said.

Mathur added the bank is looking to sell off some of the bad loans.

He said globally, the current financial year has been difficult and domestic companies' overseas businesses are also going through a tough phase.

The bank's fresh disbursement during the year is likely to be in the range of Rs 40,000-45,000 crore, almost similar to Rs 40,000 crore in 2015-16, Mathur said.

He said 35 per cent of the balance sheetcomprises loans to sovereigns while the remaining 65 per cent are to domestic companies' overseas and domestic operations.

The chairman said the bank wants to deliver large strategic projects overseas and not do too much of lending to corporates.

"Though we will continue to do that (lending to corporates), we would probably stop lending to infrastructure projects in the country," he said.

"For example, we were taking exposure to shipyards being built in the countryfor exports, as our mandate allows us to finance export-oriented infrastructure. But, those are big areas where we have found problems... Some shipyards have defaulted," he explained.

Mathur said there is a task force which is being set up by the board to relook at areas on such fronts.

The task force will come out with its report in a month



and based on that the bank will tweak its lending policy next fiscal, he said.

"We will desist from financing sectors where other banks are already present. We are even withdrawing from markets or products where domestic banks have already reached. But we will go in for new markets and new products," Mathur added.

He further said the bank will now focus more on its guarantee business which currently stands at 10 per cent of the book.

"Our guaranteed business is only 10 per cent and now we are planning to double it, which may take about three years," Mathur said.

He also said going forward the bank would be looking at key sectors for exporting services like IT, ITeS and health where the domestic firms enjoy a competitive edge.

"Domestic companies are exporting IT and ITeS services only to the United States and European Union now and not to Africa and South Asia.

We are now encouraging them to export to Africa and promote the same through project exports," he said.

Besides, the bank is also encouraging domestic companies to export health and educational services to Africa, he said.
India's largest home cleaning service provider Hicare Services today said it is investing Rs 100 crore for expansion and aims revenues of Rs 400 crore by 2020.

"We are looking at investing around Rs 100 crore to expand in B2B segment to grow our business. The company also targets revenues of Rs 400 crore by 2020 from the present Rs 100 crore," Hicare Services CEO Himanshu Chakrawarti told PTI here.

Hicare was founded by Godrej Industries in 2004 to provide pest control services to residential customers in Mumbai, eventually expanding to become a pan-India player serving both residential and commercial customers.

It was acquired by Danish multinational ISS in 2009, making Hicare India's second largest pest control service provider.

In 2014, True North (formerly known as India Value Fund Advisor), one of the leading PE funds in the country that manages over USD 1.2 billion in assets, invested in Hicare.

Hicare has entered into the space of professional home cleaning services in India.

The company is introducing home cleaning services, which includes deep cleaning as well as specialist cleaning and niche services.

The company is looking at expansion in pest control segment, which has market size of around Rs 6,000 crore, Chakrawarti said, adding that the market is poised to grow in the coming years.

Currently, Hicare operates in 30 cities across the country.

It serves over 1,00,000 residential and 10,000 commercial customers with over 1,500 employees and a leading network of franchise partners.

The company has partnered with brands like Bayer to co-create and provide safe and effective pest control services to the highly under-penetrated Indian market.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The HRD ministry will bring in a "graded regulatory mechanism" as part of key reforms in the University Grants Commission (UGC) to usher in greater transparency, freedom and autonomy, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said today.

The HRD minister also announced that 'SWAYAM', an open web based platform from which 2000 courses will be run for students across the country, will be launched next month.

Referring to the Union Budget 2017, Javadekar said that it reflects the government's vision of raising quality in the education sector, which has got additional funds this time to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore.

He said that as per the Right to Education Act, learning outcomes are being defined and will be part of the coming academic session.

Another initiative is an innovation fund of Rs 100 crore for schools which will be introduced in educationally backward districts, he said.

He said a separate exam agency has also been announced which will conduct major exams, many of which are being conducted by an "overburdened" CBSE, he said. The CBSE's main focus is to look after school education.

Speaking about UGC reforms, Javadekar said that thrust is to give more autonomy to good institutes and "monitor mid-level and monitor more those in the lower rungs".

"Everybody would be incentivised to go upwards," Javadekar told reporters here.

Referring to the IIM Bill, which is expected to come up in the current Parliament session, Javadekar said it indicates the shape of things to come.

He referred to SWAYAM which is a MOOCs platform and said that it would become what ATM is for money.

"It will be any time learning and anywhere learning," he said while thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the budget provisions.

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Actress Sarah Jessica Parker has said she is "unclear" about how much private information she should share on social media.

The 51-year-old star revealed that she is unsure about how much she should actually engage with the world online, reported Femalefirst.

"I'm not easy with (social media and technology) and I'm unclear of my own boundaries.

"I'm unclear of how much I want to engage and how to have it not be a personal experience and how to have conversations that I think are productive with people when they're feeling anxious or angry or they're wanting to say unfriendly things," Parker said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held a wake for his late wife, ending it with harshly worded criticism for the couple's detractors in an ongoing corruption scandal.

Leftist party staff and hundreds of citizens, many wearing the red shirt of the Workers' Party and carrying posters that read "President Lula," went to Sao Bernardo do Campo in metropolitan Sao Paulo to offer their condolences to Latin America's most popular leftist leader yesterday.

"Marisa died sad," Lula said at the headquarters of the Metalworkers' Union where they met four decades ago, before later breaking into tears.

She was affected by "the nasty remarks, the idiocy and the wickedness that they inflicted on her," he said of her critics, standing in front of her coffin which was draped with a Brazilian and red Workers' Party flag.

Marisa Leticia Rocco, who was first lady from 2003 to 2011 and a veteran labor activist like her husband, was pronounced brain dead at 66 at the Sirio-Libanes hospital in Sao Paulo on Thursday.

She had been treated in intensive care since January 24 with a brain hemorrhage due to a ruptured brain aneurism. Lula ended his rule with sky-high ratings and took credit for Brazil's economic boom. But his legacy has been tarnished by a subsequent recession and a string of corruption charges last year in which his wife was also indicted.

"I'm 71 years old and I think I'm going to live much longer because I want the criminals who insulted Marisa to have the humility to apologise," Lula said to applause.

Lula's leftist party colleagues were quick to defend the political couple as they paid their respects, with several suggesting that the year of scandal had weakened the former first lady's health.

"It is not an exaggeration to say that they killed Dona Marisa," leftist senator Lindbergh Farias told journalists.

"She was the victim of enormous persecution and couldn't take it."



Lula received condolences and hugs from hundreds of Brazilian citizens throughout the morning.

On Thursday evening conservative President Michel Temer -- who replaced Lula's ally and successor in the presidency, Dilma Rousseff -- offered his condolences at the medical center.

The former first lady's remains were to be cremated in a private family ceremony following the wake.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and Venezuela have stepped up cooperation in various sectors, including pharmaceutical industry and education and a new student exchange programme involving a petroleum university in the country, expected to begin soon.

"After the US and China, India is the biggest importer of oil from Venezuela. India has shown interest in expanding the economic ties, especially in this sector. But our cooperation is in other field as well, including cultural and educational," Venezuelan Ambassador Augusto Montiel said.

Venezuela is one of the largest oil-producing countries in the world, the diplomat said, adding the ties between the two countries are growing. India constitutes about 10-12 per cent of the total volume of oil exported globally from Venezuela.

"We already signed an MoU with ISM Dhanbad for an exchange programme earlier and the select students visited Venezuela recently as part of it.

"And now we are in the process of finalising another agreement, to have an exchange programme for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of a petroleum university in India. By June, we should have the first batch of these students, about 30, in our country," Montiel told PTI in an interview.

In pharmaceutical sector, he said, private Indian firms are showing interest in setting up businesses in the Latin American country.

"A pharma major has recently set up production plant in our country. And culturally too, we are enhancing our ties. Last year, we did 'Venezuela-India Blend Ensemble', a cultural event, and we were there at the Kokata Book Fair too. We want both countries to know each other better," he said.

ONGC Videsh Ltd, overseas arm of state-owned ONGC, along with Indian Oil Corp and Oil India Ltd, holds 18 per cent stake in Venezuela's Carabobo-1 oil project, which currently produces about 16,000 bpd of oil and is expected to reach 90,000 bpd by end of 2017.

"The growing ties between the two countries was recently exhibited when India accepted our request to have a public square named our great leader and freedom icon Simon Bolivar. And we already have a street in Delhi named after him," Montiel said.

Located in Chanakyapuri's diplomatic enclave, Simon Bolivar Square was inaugurated last April to mark 206th anniversary of the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence.

"The Simon Bolivar Square stands for the strategic fraternal ties between India and Venezuela. It also underlines that the memory of Simon Bolivar will continue to guide between Indian and those countries that he liberated in Latin America," Montiel had said on the Square's inauguration.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Islamic State (ISIS) terror group is paying smugglers in an attempt to recruit vulnerable child refugees from countries like Lebanon and Jordan, a new UK report has warned.

The report from counter-terrorism think-tank Quilliam to be released tomorrow claims that an estimated 88,300 unaccompanied children identified by the European Unions police agency Europol as having gone missing are at risk of being radicalised.

"Young asylum seekers are targeted by extremist groups as they are more vulnerable to indoctrination, make able fighters and, in the case of girls, can create a new generation of recruits. This report outlines national and international requirements to reduce the risk of child-trafficking, extremism and modern slavery," Nikita Malik, a senior researcher at Quilliam, told the 'Observer' newspaper.

The report found that ISIS had offered up to 2,000 dollars to recruit within camps in Lebanon and Jordan.

Last year, Jordanian special forces reportedly found what they described as an ISIS sleeper cell inside a refugee camp near Irbid, north Jordan.

Additional reports indicated that ISIS had tried to recruit refugees by supplying food previously withheld from camp residents, the newspaper reports.

The report said: "Young unaccompanied refugees are more vulnerable to radicalisation if they are separated from their parents, who remained in the country of origin at risk to violent and radical groups, or in a new host country".

"There is no question that militant groups target refugee youth for recruitment. It has also been argued that refugee youth can become autonomously radicalised, through online content, for example," the report said.

Another so-called hotspot is the south Libyan town of Qatrun, where reports have indicated that ISIS, which is believed to have between 4,000 to 6,000 fighters in the region, has waived 450-pound smuggler fees to allow refugees to travel north if they joined its ranks.

The 171-page report proposes the creation of a safeguarding and resilience against extremism framework, which would be mandatory for organisations such as the UK's Home Office and the National Crime Agency.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling for international unity against Iran after Tehran's recent ballistic missile test.

Netanyahu spoke today ahead of his visit to London where he will meet Prime Minister Theresa May to "deepen bilateral diplomatic, security, economic and technological ties."



He said "In the diplomatic sphere, I intend to emphasize the need for a common front against Iran's defiant aggression which has raised its head in recent days."



Iran and Israel are bitter enemies. Netanyahu vehemently opposes the 2015 deal that imposed curbs on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. He says it won't stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The deal does not include provisions against missile tests.

The Trump administration later ordered some sanctions against Iran in retaliation for the missile test.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Confusion prevailed over the continuation of retired Madhya Pradesh High Court judge S K Pandey as the head of the one-man panel probing the October 30 jailbreak by eight SIMI activists and their subsequent "encounter" by police, with a top officer today saying Pandey has resigned over the lack of "infrastructure".

According to the officer, Pandey quit over the "delay in providing a car by the government for carrying out official work". However, he also added the retired judge has agreed to continue after government apologised to him.

"Yes, he (Pandey) has resigned citing that the government has not provided him a car for carrying out official work," the officer close to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told PTI.

He said Pandey's resignation has not been accepted.

When contacted over phone to know whether he has withdrawn his resignation, Pandey merely said, "Thank you very much" and hang up.

Thereafter, he couldn't be contacted even after repeated calls were made.

According to sources, Pandey resigned yesterday, following which senior officials went into a huddle and scrambled to placate him.

The former HC judge was also probing the murder of Bhopal Central Jail warden Ramashanker Yadav allegedly by the SIMI activists before their escape on intervening night of October 30 and 31 last year.

According to Parvez Alam, the counsel for the deceased SIMI men, the Pandey commission has held two hearings so far and the next hearing is scheduled for March 1.

In a daring jailbreak, the eight SIMI under-trials escaped from the high-security Central Jail on the intervening night of October 30-31. They were gunned down in an alleged encounter by police on the outskirts of city on October 31 morning.

The encounter had mired in controversy with opposition Congress and other parties raising doubts over its genuineness after surfacing of a video clip and audio tapes that questioned the police version.

In a notification issued last November, the government asked the Pandey panel to probe the "circumstances in which the SIMI members escaped from the prison and the officials responsible for it".

"How and under what circumstances the encounter took place at Manikheda village under Gunga Police Station limits on the outskirts of Bhopal in which all eight prisoners were killed...Whether the action taken by the police is justified under prevailing circumstances," the notification stated.

Before setting up the Pandey panel, the government had announced a probe by an SIT comprising CID officers into the encounter and a separate investigation by former DGP Nandan Dubey into the jailbreak. However, it agreed for the judicial probe following demands made by the Congress and other parties.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With international oil and gas and commodity prices witnessing a decline, engineering firm KEC International is expecting its overseas business to pick and is eyeing nearly 45 per cent of its revenues from this, in fiscal 2017-18.

KEC and its US subsidiary SAE Towers execute turnkey transmission projects across 61 countries.

"We have a wide reach in terms of our international presence. Due to higher oil and commodity prices, there was a slow down in order inflows. But now that we are seeing a decline in these prices, we believe the international business to contribute to nearly 45 per cent to our total revenues," KEC managing director and CEO Vimal Kejriwal told PTI here.

The company has nearly Rs 2,400 crore worth of international orders where it is in L1 position and expects these to contribute in revenues in FY18 along with new orders coming from the Middle East and African countries.

For FY2016-17, the company believes the international business may contribute nearly 40 per cent.

During the December 31, 2016 quarter, the company had secured orders worth Rs 1,218 crore from international business and Rs 115 crore in India.

Kejriwal further said the company expects a 10-15 per cent growth in revenues for FY18 as against a 10 per cent projected by it earlier.

"We witnessed a degrowth of 6 per cent in revenues during the third quarter of the current fiscal which was impacted by many events including demonetisation, delay in execution and tendering of new contracts. We have almost Rs 2,000 crore worth of contracts in India where we are at L1 position which we expect to be translated in orders in the coming fiscal," he said.

He further said with execution pace improving in areas like Jammu and Kashmir where one of its projects is under implementation, the company will be able to achieve higher sales during the fiscal.

Currently, the company has an order book of Rs 11,000 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kolkata's once flourishing Parsi community, which is now aging and down to just 500 in number, is facing a further decline as the youngsters leave the city for greener pastures.

"This is a far cry from the 1930s, when our population was growing. During the 1960s and 70s, many of our people started leaving Kolkata and now the population is just 500 odd of whom less than 50 per cent are young," said the community's senior trustee and community member Bahadur Postwala.

"In the city's present job scenario there is not much to be hopeful about. Many youngsters have migrated to Canada, Australia and New Zealand and many others shifted to different Indian cities. This started in the 1960s and continues unabated. But still we are keeping our regular meets as vibrant as we can," he said.

The youngsters, he said, have fond memories of the city and visit it during festive occasions.

"It is a close-knit community. We meet 50 times in a year. Even in these hard times we are a vibrant community but the sad part is our number is declining," he said.

Lesser known in the city than in Mumbai, the community arrived here from Surat in the late 18th century. Their rise here parallelled the consolidation of British power in eastern India and the rise of the city as the capital of British India.

"Not many are aware of the Parsi community here. We need people to be aware about us in the country," Postwala said.

To bring back the focus on the Zoroastrian community, whose number has dwindled from 3,000 to 500 in just a couple of years, we will organise a four-day exhibition at the community's favourite Olpadvala Hall in the city this October, he said.

Roda Bulsara, a senior community member, said the element



of heritage at Parsi Fire Temple and Parsi Tower of Silence and other buildings in the city were being retained with great effort, principally with donations from its members.

She said the situation in Mumbai was "far better" as far as the community was concerned despite the fall in numbers there as well.

Customised robes for religious Parsi ceremonies are brought from Mumbai because there are no women who can do the stitching here. People who can cook typical Parsi dishes on a large scale are also declining sharply.

A meet 'Qissa I Calcutta' under the series 'Future of the Past' was held by Instagram community of Kolkata yesterday to focus on this fast shrinking community.

It allowed participants - both Parsis and non-Parsis-- savour the community's unique delicacies like mutton dhansak, patra ni machhi, chingri no patio, kheema patttice, alet paleti (chicken liver) and ravo, a sweet dish.

An Instagaram-style photo exhibition had glimpses of Parsi landmarks in the city and important people of the community, including 107-year-old Hilla Sorab Billimoria.

The exhibits include the photo of the flames at Parsee Fire Temple which is fed five times a day.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar adding 'colour' to a 'lotus' painting, drawn by famous Madhubani artist Baoa Devi at the Patna Book Fair yesterday, has triggered speculation among political circles whether the JD(U) and BJP may come together again.

Both the BJP and Kumar's party JD(U), which is ruling the state in alliance with RJD and Congress, rubbished any such possibility saying not much should be read in the act.

JD(U) spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar said it was a "non-issue" and no political meaning should be read in it (adding colour to lotus).

"This is nothing. It is a non-issue. No political meaning should be read in it... CM goes to the book fair every year and he was invited by the noted Mahdubani artist to paint her drawing this time and he painted it," Neeraj said.

Coming to the issue of 'saffron' colour, Neeraj said "it is very much part of our national flag."



Kumar had added colour to 'lotus', election symbol of BJP, when Devi had invited him at 23rd Patna Book Fair yesterday to paint her drawing.

This gave rise to speculation with some even conjecturing whether the colour the Chief Minister was using in the drawing was indeed saffron or red.

The BJP too dismissed any such speculation of JD(U) joining hands with the saffron forces once again.

"We have supported each other on good work - like Nitish Kumar having supported demonetisation - and we supported prohibition. PM Modi believes in Team India and Nitish Kumar, being the CM of a prestigious state, is also the part of Team India..." senior BJP leader and spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said.

"But so far as alliance is concerned, there is neither any discussion on it nor do I have any information in this regard. He (Kumar) is working on his party's agenda," he said.

The JD(U) national president, Kumar, has time and again



extended his party's support to the BJP-led government at the Centre that was reciprocated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As Kumar extended his unwavering support to the Centre's decision to demonetise high value currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500, his allies Congress and RJD were staunchly opposed to the move.

The PM returned Kumar's favour by heaping praise for his (Kumar) commitment to de-addiction and prohibition.
In a bid to avoid any confrontation with students who resolved to intensify their 26-day long stir, the management of a private law college here today announced its indefinite closure from tomorrow.

Reversing the decision to resume classes from tomorrow, the authorities of Kerala Law Academy College said police, citing intelligence inputs, informed them about possible trouble.

"There is intelligence report of troubleand in view of that, the management has decided to close down the institution indefinitely from tomorrow', a spokesperson of the academy said.

The management had earlier decided toresume classes from tomorrow.

The college is in the eye of a storm over alleged irregularities in providing internal marks and harassment of students by Lekshmi Nair daughter of Academy Director N Narayanan Nair, a close relative of a former CPI(M) MLA.

The issue also led to fissures in the CPI-M led ruling LDF with key partner CPI openly coming out in support of students agitation.

SFI, students wing of pro-CPI-M, had withdrawn from the stir last week after management agreed to keep away Lekshmi Nair from the post of Principal.

A meeting convened yesterday by State Education Minister C Raveendhranath to end the agitation had failed to break the impasse as students stuck to their main demand of resignation of the Principal Lekshmi Nair and the management maintained that she had been kept away from the post for next five years.

Significantly though the students belonging to ABVP, KSU and AISF, under a joint action council launched the strike, Congress and BJP have now openly joined the agitation.

Though students started the agitation levelling allegations of harassment, nepotism, mismanagement, and misuse of power, another serious issue with regard to the mis-utilisation of about 12 acres of land assigned to the academy surfaced later, prompting the government to order a probe into the matter.

Former KPCC President K Muraleedharan, MLA, on a fast for the past four days in front of the Academy here, said the government should intervene and avoid a tense situation.

Senior Congress Working Committee member and former defence minister A K Antony visited Muraleedharan and expressed hope that students agitation would end in success.

BJP State Secretary V V Rajesh, who was also on a fast in front of the college, said their agitation was not only against the institution, but a fight against private educational managements who harass students.

He said BJPwould continue the strike till demands of students were met.

BJP is also demanding cancellation of affiliation of the college.

Spilling more trouble for the Principal, Kerala Pulayar Mahaha Sabha, an outfit of backward community, has called for her arrest over alleged harassment of Dalit students.

The Sabha leaders said that they would take out a march to the academy tomorrow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Far-right leader vowed on Monday she would be a president who puts France first as she formally launched a campaign echoing many of the themes that propelled Donald Trump to the White House.

Less than three months before voting begins, the National Front (FN) leader attacked "mass immigration", globalisation and "Islamic fundamentalism" and said she wanted a country "which owes nothing to anyone".

In a speech in the central city of Lyon, Le Pen praised Britain for choosing to leave the European Union and urged the French to emulate Trump voters "who put their own national interests first".

"We will be all about the local, not the global," she said to cheers from a crowd of around 3,000 people.

"The impossible is becoming possible," she said, "just as it's possible for presidents like Donald Trump to not only be elected in the face of a system ranged against them, but also that they keep their promises".

Polls have shown for months that 48-year-old Le Pen will win enough votes in the first round on April 23 to reach the runoff, but they currently show she will be defeated in the second round on May 7.

With former investment banker Emmanuel Macron appearing increasingly likely to be her ultimate opponent, Le Pen told supporters that "faced with the cash-rich rightwing and the cash-rich leftwing, only I am the candidate of the people".

It was also a reference to the previous frontrunner in the presidential race, conservative candidate Francois Fillon, who is embroiled in revelations his wife drew hundreds of thousands of euros in salary as his parliamentary assistant but never actually worked.

An incident at the Louvre museum in Paris on Friday, where a man wielding two machetes and shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) was shot after attacking a group of soldiers, has shifted the focus onto Le Pen's preferred subjects of security, Islam and immigration.

"We will not expect the French people to get used to living with terrorism," she said, promising a massive increase in spending on law and order.

Speaking in the city where she once compared the sight of Muslims praying in the street to the Nazi occupation, Le Pen said: "We do not want to live under the tyranny of fundamentalism."

She promised a "zero tolerance" approach to crime with the recruitment of 15,000 extra police, focusing attention on the troubled suburbs of French cities.

Foreigners who commit crimes will be drummed out of France, she said.

Turning to the EU, she said she wanted to "release France from the tyranny" of Brussels. If the bloc refused to accept large-scale reforms, she vowed to call a referendum on membership within six months of taking office.
For the first time in 70 years, music by the survivors of Nazi concentration camps may be heard, thanks to discovery of recordings of "Henonville Songs" - performed in Yiddish and German - that were long thought lost.

In the final months of World War II, as Allied Forces began to liberate the prisoners of Nazi concentration camps, they captured on film the horrors they saw around them.

Soon, the whole world saw - images of skeletal survivors bearing silent witness to what they and millions more had been forced to endure.

In 1946, researcher David Boder interviewed at least 130 Jewish survivors in nine languages in refugee camps in France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

With a wire recorder - then considered state-of-the-art equipment - and 200 spools of steel wire, Boder preserved some of the first oral histories of concentration camp survivors. He also recorded song sessions and religious services.

A portion of Boder's work has been archived at The University of Akronin the US since 1967.

A recent project to digitise led to the discovery of a spool containing the "Henonville Songs," performed in Yiddish and German and long thought lost.

"I think it is one of the most important discoveries from our collections in our 50-year history," notes David Baker, from the University of Akron.

"The songs were recorded at a refugee camp in Henonville, France. The Nazis made the prisoners sing some of these songs as they ran to their forced labour sites and back each day," Baker said.

"That we could give the world the melody to a song sung by those sentenced to their death through forced labour during one of the most unspeakable horrors of the 20th century is remarkable," Baker said.

"The discovery of this single canister holding a lost recording means that these songs can be heard again, they can be studied and they can inform us in a new way about the experiences, the joys and the frustrations of these displaced persons," said Jon Endres, a media specialist with at the University of Akron.

"These songs, in the voices of those subjected to unspeakable cruelty, are a reminder of the power of memory, the value of history and the indomitable human spirit," said Baker.

"Hearing them sing again after 70 years of silence gives the world a greater understanding of the circumstances and experiences of those who were witnesses to a dark chapter in human history," said Endres.

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A 24-year-old man was killed while his wife was injured when their car in which they were travelling hit an electricity pole in the wee hours today in front of the Czech Republic Embassy.

Police suspect it to be a case of drunken driving.

Patrick was returning with his 22-year-old wife from a get-together in High Commission of Singapore, where he was a staffer, when their vehicle hit an electricity pole around 1 AM, said a senior police officer.

Both of them were rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre where Patrick was declared brought dead while his wife is currently out of danger and is under observation, he said.

It seems from the sequence of events that Patrick was drunk and lost control of the vehicle that was allegedly being driven in high speed, he added.

The couple was on their way to their home in Moti Nagar after the get-together at the high commission.

The post-mortem will confirm whether he was in an inebriated state, said the officer.

Patrick had got married recently, he added.

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Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor has complained about the poor quality of certain roads in Madhya Pradesh and requested Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to improve their condition.

"At a time when excellent roads are being constructed everywhere in India, highways and four-laneways are being developed, why such roads are not being constructed here (in Madhya Pradesh)," Kapoor told journalists at Hoshangabad yesterday.

"This road which connects Bhopal to Nagpur is full of narrow lanes. I will request your (of Madhya Pradesh) Chief Minister to improve the roads in the state," he added.

Kapoor expressed his grievance after travelling on about 75-km long stretch to Hoshangabad from the state capital.

"I have witnessed heavy traffic when coming from Bhopal. It was terrible," Kapoor complained while talking to journalists.

This road, which Kapoor travelled yesterday, passes through Budhni -- the home turf of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The road from Bhopal to Hoshangabad further leads to Nagpur.

Earlier, actress-turned-politician Hema Malini and another Bollywood star Raveena Tandon too had expressed displeasure over the poor quality of certain roads in the state.

Kapoor had come to Hoshangabad to participate in a function to inaugurate a music institution.

Meanwhile, a group of saffron activists had also staged a protest in Hoshangabad yesterday on Kapoor's arrival.

These activists were protesting against Kapoor's twitter confession about beef-eating.

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The Nagaland Cabinet has decided to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister to issue an ordinance to exempt the state from the provision of Part IX A of the Constitution related to municipalities and ULBs, and their composition.

The decision comes in the wake of various tribal organisations opposing elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULB) with 33 per cent reservation of seats for women.

Taking serious consideration of the widespread concern expressed by various tribal and other organisations with regard to certain provisions of Part IX-A of the Constitution relating to municipalities and women reservation, the state Cabinet, in an emergency meeting attended by special invitees comprising of legislators from all tribes yesterday, decided to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister to amend the Constitution through an ordinance.

The state Cabinet has decided to take the matter to New Delhi to demand that Nagaland be exempted from the purview of Part IX A.

All 60 legislators of the state, both the MPs, the chairman and vice chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland will submit the memorandum jointly for which an early appointment with the Prime Minister has been sought.

Tribal organisations are observing an indefinite bandh in the state against the functioning of state government offices and vehicles and demanding the resignation of Chief Minister T R Zeliang and his cabinet.

On February 2, violent mobs had set afire government offices and vehicles in Kohima, and also vandalised the State Election Commission office.

However, the decision of the Cabinet has been rejected by various tribal organisations and civil societies.

Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) Kohima has expressed shock over the decision of state Cabinet to submit a memorandum to the PM to amend the provision of Part IX A.

NTAC Kohima convener K T Vilie and secretary C T Jamir in a release said the people of Nagaland are aware that the State Assembly is empowered to make laws and amend them as per a need of the State as empowered by Article 371 (A) of the Constitution.

Article 371 (A) of the Indian Constitution deals with special provision with respect to the state of Nagaland.

This move of the Cabinet, NTAC Kohima said is "sheer



mockery of the state Assembly itself, the democracy of the state and the people of the state in general."



It termed the decision of the Cabinet "a total sell-out of the Article 371 (A)."



Therefore, NTAC Kohima said the decision also confirms the urgency of the demand for the resignation of the Chief Minister T R Zeliang before further damage is done to the state.

Nagaland Public Rights Awareness and Action Forum said the government should call a special Assembly session to again revoke the said Act reiterating the 2012 resolution and further revoking the 2016 resolution.
Terming Pakistan's "empathy" for Kashmir as "crocodile tears", a senior Bangladeshi minister today said Pakistan should apologise for 1971 genocide it committed before talking about Kashmir.

"The Pakistani rulers' empathy for Kashmir is in fact nothing but crocodile tears while they repeatedly plead innocence instead of seeking apology for the 1971 brutality and genocide they committed," Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said.

He said Pakistan should apologise for 1971 genocide they committed before talking about Kashmir.

The minister also commented that the history of Pakistan had always been one of oppressing ethic groups besides Bengalis.

Inu made the remarks while responding to a journalist on the reported observance of 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' at the Pakistan High Commission here, according to an official statement.

Inu, a member of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Cabinet, called the "celebration" in Dhaka "beyond diplomatic norms and a mischievous move" by Pakistan to drag Bangladesh into "what is basically a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan".

Inu's left-leaning Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASOD) is a partner in the ruling Awami League-led grand alliance.

Pakistan has been observing 'Kashmir Day' every year on February 5 since 1990.

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The Bombay High Court has recently disposed of a petition filed by Ali Akbar Adamjee Peerbhoy, the scion of philanthropist Peerbhoy family, which alleged that the multi-storyed Saifee Hospital here had encroached upon a graveyard where his ancestors lay buried.

The Peerbhoy family had donated their land to set up the state-of-the-art Saifee Hospital. Later, they learnt that the hospital had allegedly encroached upon the graveyard where their kith and kin lay buried, the petition alleged.

Ali Akbar Peerbhoy filed a plea in the Bombay High Court, demanding that FIR be lodged against the guilty officials of the hospital trust.

The petition was disposed of by Justice Ranjit More and Dr Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi, who asked the police to record a supplementary statement of Peerbhoy and take appropriate action within seven days.

Earlier, his statement had been recorded but police wanted to record his supplementary statement.

Peerbhoy told PTI that the authorities are yet to take action though police recorded his supplementary statement on January 30 as per directives of the high court.

He demanded action against those responsible for encroaching the graveyard, saying that they had hurt the sentiments of the Peerbhoy family.

Peerbhoy alleged that the graveyard was allegedly encroached in 2012 after more than 1,000 graves were exhumed.

Peerbhoy said his great grandfather had bought land at Charni Road in South Mumbai in 1884 in erstwhile Bombay to set up a mosque, sanatorium, a charitable hospital and a graveyard for the Bohra community.

After his death in 1913, a trust was created in 1931, called Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy Sanatorium Trust. In 1973, Saifee Hospital trust was created and after 32 years the new Saifee Hospital started functioning, said Peerbhoy.

The Supreme Court, in 2000, had directed the Trust to ensure that the new construction should not affect the mosque and the graveyard. While the mosque still remains, the graveyard was allegedly taken over to accommodate a canteen for the hospital, alleged Peerbhoy.

Sir Adamji Peerbhoy, who had donated land for Saifee Hospital trust, was conferred knighthood by the British during its rule in India in 1907. He also set up Matheran Hill Railway. He was the first Indian Sheriff of Mumbai in 1897. Later, he was appointed Justice of Peace. He was also social reformer of Dawoodi Bohra Community.

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Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Falah-e-Insaniyat, recently placed under "watch-list" and against whom Pakistan government launched a crackdown, today held rallies in parts of the country under the banner of Tehreek Azadi Jammu Kashmir (TAJK).

The rallies were organised just days after the JuD's chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed was put under "house arrest" in Lahore under the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act by Pakistan government.

Saeed had indicated a week before his "house arrest" that he might launch TAJK to "expedite the freedom of Kashmir". The Interior Ministry had also placed Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF members on Exit Control List, barring them from leaving Pakistan.

At the rallies in several parts of Pakistan today, the participants demanded immediate release of Saeed.

In Lahore, Yakjahtee (solidarity) Kashmir Conference was held at Nasser Bagh in which a large number of activists of JuD and FIF participated.

They shounted slogans against Pakistan, Indian and the US governments for detaining Saeed, and said the Nawaz Sharif government was damaging the country's image by maintaining friendship with the Narendra Modi government.

"Pakistani nation is united for Hafiz Saeed's release," said JuD central leader Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, who is also the brother-in-law of Saeed.

He said unfortunately due to Saeed's detention "our message of solidarity to Kashmiris is not that powerful and encouraging this year".

The Sharif government, he said, should make its stance clear on Kashmir and tell the people of Pakistan that it is loyal to Kashmiris, and not India.

Makki said trade of potato and onion with India is not right. "Treacherous plot of giving India the Most Favoured Nation status will not be successful," he said.

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Rising Student Club leapfrogged table toppers Alakhpura FC to take the pole position in the ongoing inaugural edition of the Indian Women's League with nine points from four matches, following their 5-0 win over FC Pune City at the Ambedkar Stadium here today.

A brace from Jabamani Tudu (1, 15 minutes) and strikes from Anju Tamang (44) and Sasmita Malik (47, 73) led Rising Student to an easy win.

Rising Student stunned FC Pune City by taking the lead as early as the 1st minute when Tudu's back header bounced over an onrushing custodian and ended in the back of the net. The early goal knocked the stuffing out of FC Pune City, whilst setting an attacking tempo for Rising Student's Club.

Ngoubi could have put another on the goal scoring tally with less than five minutes on the clock, but her volley from outside of the box caused little trouble for Rumpa Malik.

But in the 15th minute, Tudu's ferocious shot from outside of the box crashed into the back of the net and Rising Student doubled their lead.

With FC Pune City trailing 2-0 with less than 20 minutes on the clock, morale seemed to seep from the 'girls in orange', as miss-passes became a common feature.

The pressure from Rising Student was so much that even FC Pune City's counter attacks resulted in nothing.

Anju Tamang took advantage of a faulty clearance and poked it home to give Rising Student a 3-0 lead in the 44th minute.

After the half-time break, Rising Student were awarded a penalty in the 47th minute when Laura handed the ball inside the penalty box. Sasmita Malik slotted it with ease to make it 4-0 for Rising Student's Club.

Even after that Rising Student continued to attack and created chances at will.

FC Pune City tried to minimise the deficit but failed to open their goal-scoring tally.

Meanwhile, Sasmita Malik's 73rd minute strike added gloss to the scoreline as the full-time scoreline read 5-0 in Rising Student Club's favour.

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Romania scrapped today a contentious corruption decree in a climbdown after the biggest mass demonstrations since 1989, but protesters kept up pressure by taking to the streets for a sixth straight day.

As thousands of people gathered in Bucharest and elsewhere, the government announced it had approved a repeal of the decree that would have decriminalised certain corruption offences.

This fulfilled the promise made late on Saturday by a pale and tired-looking Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu after a fifth day of demonstrations that were the largest since the ouster of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

But the announcement didn't stop demonstrators gathering again on Sunday to make it clear to Grindeanu and his left-wing government, which has been in office only a month, that they were on thin ice and that corruption must be rooted out.

"I hope that this is a real repeal... We are going to keep an eye on them to make sure we are not being had," said protester Daniel, 35.

"Today we are going to break new records," electrician Florian, 40, told AFP in Bucharest, distributing free pretzels and tea at Victory Square, the epicentre of this week's protests.

By midafternoon, around a thousand people could be seen gathering in the square and the crowd was expected to swell later with buses arriving from outside the capital.

Again they brandished placards, chanted and blew whistles and plastic vuvuzela horns in the national colours of blue, yellow and red. Later in the evening they were all to sing the national anthem.

The decree, passed Tuesday and due to enter into force on February 10, was to make abuse of power a crime only punishable by jail if the sums involved exceeded 200,000 lei (44,000 euros, USD 47,500).

The government also wants in a separate decree to be reviewed by parliament next week to free some 2,500 people from prison serving sentences of less than five years.

Grindeanu, from the left-wing Social Democrats (PSD), had said that the measures were to bring penal law into line with the constitution and reduce overcrowding in prisons.

But critics saw a brazenly transparent attempt by the PSD to let off many of its own officials and lawmakers ensnared in a major anti-corruption drive of recent years.

This push saw almost 2,000 people convicted for abuse of power between 2014 and 2016, and a serving prime minister, five ministers, 16 lawmakers and five senators go on trial.

Grindeanu's climbdown on Saturday evening -- he said he wanted to avoid "dividing the nation" -- sparked cheers and celebrations that went late into the night.

But he said the government still needed to bring laws into line with the constitution, slamming what he called a campaign of misinformation and "distortion".

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A Saudi warship targeted by Yemeni rebel "suicide" boats returned to its home port in Jeddah today, Saudi Arabia's national agency said.

"The frigate, which was attacked by the Huthi militia while on patrol in the Red Sea, has returned to Jeddah as planned," the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Saudi Arabia said last week that two sailors were killed and three wounded when battleship Al-Madinah was hit by a Yemeni rebel "suicide" boat strike off the Red Sea port of Hodeida.

The Huthi rebels said they hit the ship with a guided missile.

The United States has since deployed the USS Cole to the Bab Al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, according to a US defence official.

Seventeen US military personnel were killed aboard the USS Cole in an attack in the Yemeni port city of Aden in October 2000 claimed by Al-Qaeda.

A Saudi-led Arab coalition launched a military campaign against the Huthi rebels in March 2015 as the insurgents closed in on President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in Aden, forcing him into exile.

More than 7,400 Yemenis have since been killed, most of them civilians, according to the World Health Organization.

At least 113 Saudis have been killed in skirmishes or rocket strikes along the border with Yemen since the coalition campaign began.

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The faction-ridden city unit of Congress today failed to put up a united show even on the occasion of release of party manifesto for BMC polls, slated on February 21, with senior leaders like Gurudas Kamat and Ashok Chavan not attending the event led by Sanjay Nirupam.

On the occasion, Nirupam, seems to be getting isolated amid bitter feud between him and Kamat and others, took a dig at the absentees saying, "If you cannot campaign for the party, at least do not engage in any anti-party campaign".

In its vision document, the Congress has made a range of promises, some of which already announced by Shiv Sena and the NCP.

Among the key assurances is offering free of cost clean drinking water to citizens.

The manifesto also promises to make Mumbai a garbage-fee city by developing a new dumping ground and introducing measures like collecting the waste in night.

Congress almost imitated the Sena and BJP by promising subsidy in property tax.

Sena had declared waiver of property tax for houses up to 500 square feet whereas BJP had assured subsidy in footpath tax.

On the lines of cities like Delhi and Chennai, Mumbai Congress is planning subsidised food stalls in city.

In a bid to woo the North Indian voters', the party has promised to implement hawkers' policy without any change. The policy is currently lying with a cabinet sub-committee after Sena raised an objection.

Addressing a rally, Nirupam refuted the allegations levelled by city unit BJP chief Ashish Shelar about the "match-fixing" between Congress and Sena for 42 municipal wards.

He said on the contrary people of Mumbai are witnessing a match-fixing between Shiv Sena and BJP.

"BJP president Amit Shah himself has said that it's a 'friendly match' between them. Even BJP cabinet minister has himself hinted about post-poll alliance between the saffron parties," the city unit Congress chief said.

He accused the Sena-BJP combine, which has been ruling the BMC for 20 years, of "making fortune through corruption in every ward. In last 20 years they have done nothing other than corruption. In every tender they have a share of loot".

Among those who didn't attend the rally were state unit Congress president Ashok Chavan, former state minister Narayan Rane, former Union minister Gurudas Kamat, Nasim Khan and Kripashankar Singh.

They had accused Nirupam's "way of functioning and choice of candidates for the BMC polls."



State Congress in-charge Mohan Prakash, former MPs Milind Deora and Priya Dutt were present at the rally.

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Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today urged professors and students of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Patna, to take up the issue of siltation in Ganga River as a "challenge" and find out solution to maintain its uninterrupted flow and purity.

"This is a big challenge as how to maintain the uninterrupted flow of River Ganga. A lot has to be done in the field of silt management. I request the professors and students of NIT, Patna, to take up the issue of siltation in River Ganga as a challenge and start work to find out solution to maintain its uninterrupted flow," Kumar said.

He said this while addressing the alumni meet of NIT, Patna, formerly known as Bihar College of Engineering, at the college campus.

Kumar, an alumnus of the institute, said he had enrolled himself in 1967 and now it was the golden jubilee year of his batch.

He said he wanted the institute to be at par with Roorkee Engineering College in the field of civil engineering.

In his address, the CM said a workshop would be organised on 'uninterrupted flow and silt deposition in Ganga' in the state capital this month.

Kumar lamented on the present condition of Ganga as to how much silt has been deposited in the river because of the construction of the Farakka Dam.

"Once I showed the plight of Ganga to (a former) union minister from Buxar about Farakka as how much silt has deposited in the river. I had said the construction of the dam will not benefit anyone," he said.

It may be noted that Kumar, in his Independence Day address last year, had raised the issue saying the depth of River Ganga had reduced due to silt deposition after construction of the dam at Farakka.

The CM, on August 21, 2016, had asked the Centre to remove the dam or come out with a Silt Management Policy.

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The soupy grey smog shrouding Polish cities this winter is one of the most visible symptoms of the EU member's addiction to coal, a deadly habit forcing many to stay indoors or don masks before venturing out.

Professor Anna Doboszynska, a respected specialist with more than two decades of experience treating lung disease, minces no words about the health risks it poses.

"During periods of smog, more people with respiratory and circulatory illnesses actually die," she told AFP after examining an asthma patient wheezing heavily amid a spike in pollution in Warsaw.

"Children, pregnant women and the elderly are most at risk from smog, which damages the respiratory tract much in the same way smoking does.

"A child playing outside in the smog is smoking cigarettes, it's the same thing," she told AFP.

One Warsaw hospital reported a 50 percent spike in patients over several days of intense smog during a windless cold snap in January.

As anti-smog masks sold out across Poland this week, Warsaw issued them to police officers on duty across the capital.

A study published last year by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) blamed air pollution -- caused in large part by the burning of coal -- for an estimated 50,000 premature deaths per year in the country of 38 million people.

Seventy percent of Polish households burn low-quality coal or rubbish in old stoves for heat and antiquated coal-fired power plants generate nearly all of Poland's electricity, giving it some of the dirtiest air in the 28-member EU.

The EEA also blames so-called "low-stack" emissions from old household stoves for countless cases of respiratory illness.

The AirVisuals website regularly lists Warsaw, Katowice or Krakow among the world's top ten most polluted cities alongside Beijing or New Delhi.

Karolina, a Warsaw mother of three who did not wish to reveal her surname, says checking mobile phone apps for smog levels and wearing masks have become part of her family's daily routine.

"My son's had pneumonia twice within the last 10 months and my daughter was sick all October and November. But, of course, nobody's blaming smog, even though we live in an area of Warsaw where there's chronic air pollution," she told AFP.

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Asserting that the steel sector has started "stabilising", Steel Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh today said the industry must gear up to face global competition as protectionist measures like minimum import price (MIP) and anti-dumping can not continue indefinitely.

"At least now I am of the view that steel industry as such is stabilising and if everything is stabilised then we may think which are the components which should again be put in MIP (list)," Singh told PTI in an interview.

He further said that steps taken by the government like MIP and anti-dumping duty on certain products have helped improve the condition of the steel sector which has suffered on account of glut in the global market.

"All put together now (steel) import has come down to 34 per cent and our (steel) export is now 58 per cent higher as compared to last year (fiscal)," he said.

The government, he said, has already indicated to the industry that protectionist measures like MIP and anti dumping cannot be provided indefinitely.

"But, on the other hand, we have also suggested the steel industry that this kind of continuance will not go on indefinitely," he said.

Giving relief to domestic steel producers against cheap in-bound shipments, for the first time, MIP was imposed in February last year on 173 items. Later, the number of products were reduced.

"When we started with this (MIP) it was 173. Now we are just left with 19," the minister said.

Last month, the government had said that it was taking permanent measures to counter unfair trade practices as per international norms.

A total of 124 steel products have been covered by provisional anti-dumping duties and final orders on it are expected in due course, the government had said.

Steel makers had urged the government to extend MIP on certain products, saying its imposition has marginally improved the industry's viability after a long period of subdued prices.

Accelerating imports at predatory prices from steel surplus countries like China, Japan and Korea have been a major area of concern for the domestic industry since September 2014.

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The word "TRUMP" accompanied a swastika symbol drawn with a dark coloured chalk at the statue of the founder of a university here in the US state of Texas, in the third act of racist vandalism on the campus this month.

The Nazi symbol was drawn on the base of the founder William Marsh Rice's 2,000-pound statue in the heart of the Academic Quad lawn at Rice University, the Houston Chronicle reported.

It accompanied the word "TRUMP", referring to the new US President Donald Trump. The incident was the third act of racist vandalism on the campus this month.

Rice was not Jewish although the prestigious university does have a large Jewish student population.

"I have had it with this behaviour," undergraduate dean John Hutchinson said in a statement released by the university that was also posted on Facebook.

"The use of the swastika clearly reveals that whoever did this is either ignorant of the history of true evil associated with this emblem of hate or is genuinely motivated by blind hatred."



If a student is discovered to have drawn the graffiti, he or she faces expulsion from the university, Hutchinson reportedly said.

Meanwhile, similar signs were found in Chicago and New York too.

Chicago Police released a surveillance video yesterday that shows a man smashing the front window of a synagogue and placing swastikas on the front door.

In the video, the suspect pulls up to the synagogue curb in a dark-coloured SUV just after midnight, places the stickers on the front door and then breaks the glass with a metal object. He then gets back in the car and flees the scene. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.

And in New York City, passengers encountered swastikas and Nazi slogans scrawled on a subway train car last night.

The sign also caught the attention of former first daughter Chelsea Clinton, who tweeted about it.

"We will not let hate win," Clinton said.

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US Vice President Mike Pence today warned Iran to "think twice" over its "hostile and belligerent actions" as "all options" were on the table for the new Trump administration, days after America slapped fresh sanctions on the Islamic republic after a ballistic missile test launch.

"The President said...All options are on the table. The Iranians will do well to look at the calendar and recognise that we've got a new president in the Oval Office," Pence told Fox .

The warning comes a week after Pentagon chief James Mattis said Iran was "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world."



US-Iran ties have hit the bottom since Donald Trump took office last month promising a tough line on the nuclear deal with Tehran reached during the previous Obama administration.

"That disastrous nuclear deal that the last administration entered into with Iran, should have encouraged better behaviour by the Iranians. But instead they're flouting UN Security Council resolutions, banning ballistic missile test or whether it'd be the way they're arming of Houthis in Yemen who just last week attacked a Saudi Arabian ship," he alleged.

"What we're seeing here is hostile action, belligerent action being supported by or taken by the Iranians. And we're just not going to put up with it anymore," Pence said.

In another interview to ABC News, he said the ballistic missile test launch last week were in direct violation of UNSC resolutions dealing with limiting them in that regard.

"That's the reason why the president took the decisive action that he took to impose economic sanctions on their supply chain for their missile programme," he said.

"But also, let's recognise that the Houthi rebels in Yemen are fully subsidised by Iran. The attack that the Houthis leveled using Iranian arms against a Saudi Arabian ship this last week, all represent the kind of hostile and belligerent actions that are simply not going to be tolerated by this administration," Pence said.

The Iranians got a deal from the international community that Trump and his administration think was a "terrible deal".

"It essentially allows Iran to develop a nuclear weapon - in the years ahead at a date certain. And they received hundreds of millions of dollars in cash," he alleged.

Pence said Trump is reviewing the deal and make a decision on it the days ahead.

"He'll listen to all of his advisors, but make no mistake about it. The resolve of this president is such that Iran would do well to think twice about their continued hostile and belligerent actions," he said.

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Accusing the Manipur government of being involved in rampant corruption, BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav today said if BJP came to power it would investigate allegations of graft against the present regime and those found guilty would be punished.

He also assured that if BJP came to power then the state would no longer witness economic blockade.

Madhav, who is presently in the poll-bound Manipur, accused the Okram Ibobi Singh government of being involved in corruption and smuggling of foodgrains and fertilisers.

"The state government and ruling party are involved in corruption and smuggling of foodgrains, fertilisers and also helps in smuggling of narcotics. Manipur is the third least developed state in the whole country," Madhav alleged while addressing a press conference.

"If BJP comes to power our first priority would be to provide clean, corruption-free and progressive government in the state. We would also ensure that there is no economic blockade in the state and everybody enjoys the fruit of development," Madhav said.

Economic blockade has led to extreme shortage of essential commodities including food items, lifesaving drugs and motor fuel in the state.

Answering media queries, he said, "If BJP comes to power, any allegation made against the incumbent government would be investigated and those found guilty will be punished."



Questioning the utilisation of funds sanctioned by the central government, Madhav expressed shock that several dam projects ha been stalled for more than three decades.

Promising zero tolerance in corruption, transparency in governance, the BJP leader said the state needed development and progress in every sector.

"Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is committed to clean politics, the state can excel in everything. We have zero tolerance towards corruption," he said.

Stressing on the need for infrastructure development in the state, Madhav said, "The state which has abundant natural water reserve does not have proper sanitation and water provision, with 85 per cent of people having no access to proper sanitation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of London against Donald Trump's controversial travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries entering the US and have called on Theresa May to withdraw her invitation of a State Visit to him.

The march, organised by the Stop the War Coalition, Stand Up to Racism and the Muslim Association of Britain among other groups, set off yesterday from the US embassy in central London and congregated at Downing Street. The placards declared "No to Trump, No to War" and images of the President captioned as "American Psycho".

From a make-shift stage outside the British Prime Minister's official London address, protesters called on May to withdraw her controversial invitation of a State Visit to Trump later this year.

"We believe in equality and I think what (Trump) is doing is damaging the whole social fabric of our society," Dilowar Khan, executive director of the East London mosque, said at a press conference before the march.

A video message from the Opposition Labour Party's leader Jeremy Corbyn was played to the crowd, in which he said May would find herself on the "wrong side of history" if she let the State Visit go ahead.

Protesters also gathered in 12 other UK cities, including Brighton, Birmingham, and Sheffield.

Trump introduced a 90-day travel ban on residents from seven predominantly Muslim countries - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen - to stop "radical Islamic terrorists" from coming to America, sparking fury. The executive order suspended refugee resettlement in the US for 120 days.

However, the Trump administration suffered a setback on Friday after a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked the executive order regarding the travel ban.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
From London and Paris to New York and Washington, thousands of people took to the streets in American and European cities to protest US President Donald Trump's travel ban, even as it was suspended by a federal judge.

The biggest demonstration by far took place in the British capital, where an estimated 10,000 people turned out, chanting "Theresa May: Shame on You" to denounce the British prime minister's support for the new US leader.

Brandishing placards declaring "No to scapegoating Muslims" and "Socialism not Trumpism," the protesters moved from the US embassy toward May's Downing Street office.

In an executive order issued on January 27, Trump slapped a blanket ban on nationals of seven mainly Muslim countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- barring their entry to the United States for 90 days.

Refugees were also barred from entry for 120 days, except those from Syria, who were blocked indefinitely.

However, on Friday, a US federal judge suspended the ban, a move which the Republican president -- who took office on January 20 -- condemned and vowed to fight.

On the other side of the Atlantic, about 3,000 people demonstrated yesterday in New York, Trump's home town where protests against the property magnate-turned-world leader are near-daily.

Activists and supporters gathered outside the historic Stonewall Inn, a landmark of the gay rights movement in New York's Greenwich Village, to show support for Muslims and others affected by Trump's immigration order.

Democratic Senate minority leader Charles Schumer led the crowd -- which carried rainbow flags and Americans flags -- in cheers of "Dump Trump."



In Washington, hundreds marched from the White House to Capitol Hill to show their solidarity.

"Donald, Donald can't you see, we don't want you in DC," chanted the demonstrators in the largely Democratic-leaning US capital.

In Britain, more than 1.8 million people have signed a petition saying Trump should not be afforded a formal state visit because it would embarrass Queen Elizabeth II.

"We're going to bring this capital to a halt on the day he comes over. We are going to make it impossible for him to have a state visit," Chris Nineham, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, told AFP.

The Guardian newspaper said around 10,000 people attended the London protest, while organizers claimed 40,000.

Elsewhere in Europe, about 1,000 people turned out in both Paris and Berlin, while smaller gatherings of several hundred people took place in provincial British cities including Manchester and Birmingham.

"We are here to say we don't accept hate," said 20-year-old American Michael Jacobs, co-organizer of the Paris rally, surrounded by signs saying "Refugees are welcome!"



In Berlin, protesters rallied in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao is leaving for Delhi taking an evening flight, cutting short his visit to nearby Udhagamandalam.

After attending a function at a private hospital here, Rao had left for Udhagamandalam at Ooty in the afternoon.

As per the schedule, he was to stay at Ooty tonight and tomorrow, and attend the convocation of Bharathiar University here on February 7.

However, the developments in ruling AIADMK reportedly made Rao to consider returning to Chennai, but police sources said he is leaving for New Delhi by the 7:30 PM flight from here.

Officially it was said that Rao is going to Delhi to attend a wedding in Union Minister Prakash Javadekar's family.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Trump administration today appealed a decision that temporarily halted enforcement of its controversial travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, setting the stage for a showdown between the presidency and the judiciary.

Trump administration lawyers filed a notice to appeal the Seattle federal judge James Robart's decision that imposed a temporary, nationwide halt to Trump's order barring refugees and those from the seven Muslim nations from entering the country.

Soon after the court's decision, President Donald Trump attacked Robart, a George W Bush appointee, on Twitter, calling him a "so-called judge" and saying his opinion was "ridiculous and will be overturned".

Trump's executive order banned travel to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, suspended all refugee entry to the US for 120 days and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrian refugees.

After Friday's court ruling, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended all actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travellers as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban. But it urged the Justice Department to challenge the ruling "at the earliest possible time".

Trump exuded confidence that his administration would prevail in the government's appeal of the ruling.

"We'll win," Trump told White House pool.

"For the safety of the country, we'll win," said the US President.

"The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" Trump said expressing his clear displeasure over the ruling.

"What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into US ?" he asked in another tweet.

"Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision," he tweeted to his 23.7 million followers.

Experts said the US had been brought to the brink of a full-blown constitutional crisis.

"This is an epic confrontation between the presidency and the constitution," said Marci Hamilton, a constitutional lawyer and scholar of religion at the University of Pennsylvania.

"The moment Donald Trump suggests anyone disobey the federal court order then we will be in a constitutional crisis."



Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, said in a statement that Trump seemed intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Via the Centre for Health Protection: CHP closely monitors four human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) in Mainland and Taiwan. Excerpt:

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health is today (February 5) closely monitoring three human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) in Mainland and an imported case in Taiwan, and again urged the public to maintain strict personal, food and environmental hygiene both locally and during travel.

According to the Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the 37-year-old male patient from Changsha in Hunan was exposed to poultry and is now in serious condition. The Health and Family Planning Commission in Guangxi reported that the 32-year-old male patient from Guigang City in Guangxi worked in Guangdong before onset and is now in critical condition. The third case is a male patient from Honghu City in Hubei.

Meanwhile, according to the health authority in Taiwan, the 69-year-old male patient had his onset in Guangdong on January 23. He returned to Taiwan on January 25 for management and was diagnosed with H7N9 infection yesterday (February 4).

Update: See also this post by Mike Coston at Avian Flu Diary, discussing the uncertain quality of H7N9 reports coming out of China, and this post by Sharon Sanders at FluTrackers, who wonders if the Chinese authorities are losing count of their cases.
Donald Trump has agreed to attend the G-7 Summit in Italy in May during his telephonic conversation with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, in what could be his first visit to Europe as US president.

They discussed the bilateral relationship, the importance of the NATO alliance and threats to common security.

Trump agreed to attend the G-7 Summit in Taormina, Italy in May, and said he looked forward to meeting with the Prime Minister at that time.

During the phone call, Trump discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation across a range of shared interests, including security and counter-terrorism.

"President Trump reiterated the US commitment to NATO and emphasised the importance of all NATO allies sharing the monetary burden of defence spending," the White House said in a readout of the phone call.

The two leaders agreed to continue close coordination and cooperation on efforts to eliminate ISIS and other terrorist organizations, it said.

"The leaders discussed Libya, the influx of migrants and refugees into Europe, as well as Italy's priorities, and the upcoming G-7 meeting in Italy," it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Turkish police on Sunday detained hundreds of suspected members of the Islamic State extremist group in nationwide raids, just over a month after an attack on an Istanbul nightclub claimed by the jihadists.

Among around 400 detained in the biggest operation so far against IS after the New Year attack were foreigners and those suspected of planning attacks in Turkey, the Dogan and Anadolu news agencies reported.

The operation around the country saw 150 suspects detained in Sanliurfa in the southeast and 47 in the nearby city of Gaziantep close to the Syrian border which has a known jihadist presence, Dogan said.

Sixty suspects, mostly foreigners, were detained in four districts in the capital Ankara.

Dozens more arrests were made in provinces ranging from Bursa in the west to Bingol in the east.

In the usually peaceful Aegean city of Izmir, nine people suspected of travelling to and from Syria and planning attacks in the city were detained, Anadolu said.

Eighteen people were detained in Istanbul and the neighbouring province of Kocaeli on suspicion of planning attacks. Another 14 foreigners were due to be deported, including 10 children.

Thirty-nine people were killed, mainly foreigners, on New Year's night when a gunman went on the rampage inside a plush Istanbul nightclub.

IS claimed the massacre, its first clear claim for a major attack in although it had been blamed for several bombings in 2016.

Police detained the suspected attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, on January 16 after over two weeks on the run and authorities say he has confessed to the massacre.

The Hurriyet daily reported after the attack that IS also planned a simultaneous New Year's strike in Ankara but dropped the plot after arrests by the Turkish authorities.

was in 2016 shaken by a string of attacks blamed on IS and Kurdish militants that left hundreds dead.

It is also engaged in a battle with IS to take the Syrian town of Al-Bab, in the fiercest fighting yet of the Turkish military's campaign inside Syria that started in August.
India has been asked to send the name of its nominee for inclusion in a global team to assist a United Nations committee which decides on banning terror outfits and their leaders.

Following the request from the global body, both the Home and Finance ministries have been asked to recommend names of suitable individuals who can be part of the key team, official sources said on Sunday.

The presence of the country's nominee on the panel may facilitate the government's efforts to get Maulana Masood Azhar, head of Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and mastermind of last year's Pathankot air base attack, banned, they said.

India's effort to get JeM chief listed in the UN's sanctions list of organisations and individuals linked to Al-Qaida and ISIS has been repeatedly blocked by China.

The nominations have been sought from qualified individuals to serve on the 'Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team' in support of the important '1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee'.

India had in February last year reportedly sent the name of its nominee for the team who was not selected, the sources said.

Those interested should be experts on ISIL (Da'esh), Al-Qaida and affiliated individuals and entities, their evolution, linkages and changing nature of the threat. They should have "willingness to travel extensively, including in difficult environments".

The position requires a high level of personal commitment to the monitoring team's mandate and to the United Nations.

The fifteen members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) are on the Sanctions Committee. India is currently not a member of the UNSC and hence also not on the Sanctions Committee.

The 10-member 'Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team' comprising independent experts assist the Sanctions Committee.

Depending on the vacancies available, India and all other member states can forward nominations of their nationals to serve on the monitoring team.

The final selection of the team is made by the UN secretariat based on assessment of the individual qualifications of the candidate.

The monitoring team works in tandem with the UN Secretariat to standardise the format of all United Nations sanctions lists and also assists the Committee in regularly reviewing names on it.

Azhar's JeM, which is said to have links with Taliban and Al-Qaida, has been blacklisted by the UNSC. Ironically, its chief Azhar, who has been behind several major terror strikes in India, has not been banned by the UN.
A 12-year-old boy in the US was allegedly assaulted by a group of students on a school bus for wearing President Donald Trump's signature "Make America Great Again" hat.

A group of middle school students from the Parkway School District, Missouri, got into a fight on the school bus when they started arguing with Gavin who was wearing a 'Make America Great Again' hat.

"As a parent it's so upsetting. I feel like my son was made an example of, it was a tricky situation, it was politically charged," Christina Cortina, the mother of the boy who was wearing the Trump hat and was suspended later, told KMOV-TV.

In cell phone video of the incident, the students are heard arguing over President Trump's proposed Mexican border wall. The situation quickly escalates to pushing and what looks likes some punches thrown.

"You want to build a wall?" one student yells in the clip. "You want to build a (expletive) wall?"



Things quickly escalated from there, Gavin said.

"At one point, he just got so frustrated he pushed me," the sixth-grader told the station.

"And then he kept hitting me and backing me up by the window of the bus, and so I just had to push him out," he said.

A Parkway District spokesperson was quoted as saying that the incident was investigated and all the students involved have faced "consequences".

The spokesperson said the district is also working to sit the students down and reach peaceful understanding.

The incident comes amid stark political divide in the country over President Trump's ban on refugees and visa holders entering the country from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Several hundred people have protested against President Trump's immigration order.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a significant blow to President Donald Trump, a US federal appeals court today rejected a request by his administration to immediately reinstate travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

The Justice Department had made the request with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco as part of an appeal against a lower court order halting the travel ban on people from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.

"Appellants' request for an immediate administrative stay pending full consideration of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal is denied," the ruling said.

The court asked for both sides to file legal briefs before it makes its final decision after a federal judge halted the program on Friday.

It asked challengers of the ban to respond to the appeal, and for the Justice Department to file a counter-response by tomorrow.

The court's denial of stay means the people from affected Muslim countries will be allowed, for now, to enter the US.

Citing the president's "sovereign prerogative" to admit or exclude aliens, lawyers for the Department of Justice earlier told the court that the states of Washington and Minnesota should not have been allowed to challenge the ban, and that a judge was wrong to stop Trump's executive order.

Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco said the president alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the US.

"Judicial second-guessing of the President's determination that a temporary suspension of entry of certain classes of aliens was necessary at this time to protect national security would constitute an impermissible intrusion on the political branches' plenary constitutional authority over foreign affairs, national security, and immigration," Francisco said in a brief.

The administration was fighting Seattle federal judge James Robart's decision on Friday that imposed a temporary, nationwide halt to Trump's order barring refugees and those from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the country.

Soon after Robart's ruling, Trump attacked the judge, a George W Bush appointee, calling him a "so-called judge" and saying his opinion was "ridiculous and will be overturned".

Trump's executive order banned travel to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, suspended all refugee entry to the US for 120 days and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrian refugees.

After Friday's ruling, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended all actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travellers as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban. At the same time, it urged the Justice Department to challenge the ruling "at the earliest possible time".

Trump had exuded confidence that his administration would prevail in the government's appeal of the ruling.

"We'll win," Trump had told White House pool. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."



"The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" Trump had said, expressing his clear displeasure over Robart's ruling.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government has suspended enforcement of President Donald Trump's refugee and immigration ban and filed notice it would appeal a judge's order, plunging the new administration into a crisis that has challenged Trump's authority -- and ability to fulfill campaign promises.

The stand-down, a day after a federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked the ban, marked an extraordinary setback for the White House.

Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend America's refugee program and halt immigration to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.

As the White House worked to reinstate the ban, Trump mocked US District Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W Bush, as a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling "will be overturned."



He added in a subsequent tweet: "Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision."



Trump's direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a Trump University case.

Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for his words as the travel ban case reaches the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

The order had caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompted protests across the United States and led to multiple court challenges.

Demonstrations took place outside the White House, in New York and elsewhere. One was planned later today near the estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was spending the weekend and where the American Red Cross scheduled its annual fundraising gala.

Robart's ruling, which the White House said the Justice Department would challenge, led federal agencies to unwind enforcement of Trump's executive order. Justice filed notice Saturday it would appeal the ruling.

The State Department, after initially saying that as many as 60,000 foreigners from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen had their visas canceled, reversed course on Saturday and said they could travel to the US if they had a valid visa.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Visa holders from seven majority- Muslim countries who were turned away from the US due to President Donald Trump's travel ban are rushing to try again, hoping to make it through a narrow window opened by legal challenges.

The federal appeals court in San Francisco denied Trump's effort to immediately reinstate the ban early today. For now, it remains blocked by a judge's temporary restraining order, and federal officials have told their staffs to comply.

Advocates weren't taking any chances, telling people who could travel to get on the earliest flights they could find after the week-old ban was blocked Friday by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle.

"We're telling them to get on the quickest flight ASAP," said Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan. Her group sued in federal court in Detroit, challenging Trump's executive order as unconstitutional.

Protesters sought to keep up the pressure, gathering in Denver and other U.S. Cities to demonstrate against the ban. Meanwhile, legal advocates waited at airports in case anything went wrong with new arrivals.

Renee Paradis was among 20-25 volunteer lawyers and interpreters who stationed themselves inside John F. Kennedy's Terminal 4 in New York in case anyone needed help. They were carrying handmade signs in Arabic and Farsi "that say we're lawyers, we're here to help. We're not from the government," Paradis said.

"We're all just waiting to see what actually happens and who manages to get through," she said. Some people have had to make hard choices.

A Yemeni family expected to arrive at John F Kennedy Airport on Sunday from Egypt after leaving two of their four children behind. The father and two children are U.S. Citizens and the mother has an immigrant visa, but the other two are waiting don't have their papers yet.

"They just don't want to take a chance of waiting," she said.

The State Department has advised refugee aid agencies that refugees who had been scheduled to travel before the order was signed will now be allowed into the US. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government is "focusing on booking refugee travel through February 17," and they were working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.
The National Zoological Park, which recently reopened after a brief hiatus over bird flu scare, might lose out on its visitors due to lack of major crowd pullers here.

People thronging the place complain about the absence of animals like giraffe, zebra, kangaroo, ostrich, King Cobra etc at the zoo.

"I have been to Delhi zoo many times. Though I like the place, I feel that it needs a revamp. My little daughter wanted to see giraffe but the park does not have any from so many years," 36-year-old Sajid Naveed, forest officer with Jammu and Kashmir government, said.

22-year-old Shubam Jha, a law student, said the zoo needed to work on its 'Reptile House' which is "losing its sheen without a King Cobra".

"Although the name boards across the park mention many animals and birds, not all of them are present in the zoo. For instance, the snake house had hardly any snakes," he alleged.

Some visitors also complained about how the animals looked "shabby and weak".

"The crocodiles look very shabby and weak. It is high time the zoo officials buckle up and bring some major crowd pullers here," Neha Vishwakarma, a housewife, commented.

A zoo official said all animal exchange programmes have come to a halt after the bird flu scare.

"We understand the ire of the visitors but all exchange programmes have come to a halt at present. The zoo is under scrutiny and it will take some time to get back on track. We are confident that major species will be brought to the park soon," he said.

While the zoo lacks animals like giraffes and ostriches, the white tiger Vijay, who mauled a man to death in 2014, continues to enjoy his share of fame as curious onlookers make a beeline to catch a glimpse of the canine.

The zoo, one of the largest in the country, came under a cloud last year over the death of 13 free ranging birds, including rosy pelicans, ducks and painted storks due to H5N8 Avian influenza.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President Donald Trump has assured his Ukrainian counterpart to work with all parties to end bloodshed and restore peace along volatile Russia-Ukraine border, amid escalation in violence in the region.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said in his phone call with the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, according to the White House.

The White House said Trump had "a very good call" with Poroshenko to address a variety of topics, including Ukraine's long-running conflict with Russia.

Ukrainian President first conversation with the new US leader, whose aim to improve relations with the Kremlin has alarmed Kiev while the nearly three-year-old conflict remains unresolved.

The discussion came during a sharp escalation in violence in the Russian-backed separatist east that has claimed 35 lives in the past week.

They discussed the potential for a meeting in the near future.

On Thursday, Trump has promised former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko that the US would not lift sanctions from Russia until it pulls out of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Trump has said that he does "respect" Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that respect does not mean they will get along and has sought Russian help in defeating the dreaded ISIS.

"I say it's better to get along with Russia than not.And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world -- that's a good thing," Trump told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly in an interview, which is scheduled to air today.

I respect a lot of people but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with him," Trump said. "He's a leader of his country,"Trump said according to an excerpt released yesterday.

When asked about Putin's history of violence, the President indicated that the same could be said about the US too.

"There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?" he asked.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the 2013-14 Union Budget, the then finance minister P Chidambaram, for the first time, coined and defined Indias super rich  a person with an income of over Rs 1 crore. And, he imposed a surcharge of 10 per cent on these individuals.
With the Indian IT companies feeling the heat over the H1-B visa, IT czar N R Narayana Murthy today said businesses cannot fight government and have to work within the limitations.

"We cannot fight any government. Let's remember whether it is the US, the UK or the Indian government, no business can fight any government," Infosys co-founder Murthy told reporters here.

He also said, "We have to work within the constraints of the government and there is a lot of innovation that we can bring to the table, whereby our companies are safe. Our companies can grow well again, grow profitably and then we can make the customers."

Murthy said politicians have responsibilities to ensure that unemployment level in their country is as low as possible, and hence they cannot be blamed.

Murthy also argued that India itself has done it in the past by asking the Chinese companies to give a minimum wage of 25,000 US dollars a year for construction workers and power plant builders, to protect India's interests.

"When the Chinese companies wanted to bring Chinese labour because they have very stiff competition target, the then UPA government said that you must give a minimum of wage of 25,000 dollars a year for construction workers for builders in India. So, this is nothing new to the US alone. We have done it ourselves and we all realised that it was done for a good reason by our politicians," he said.

Therefore, he would not blame the politicians and go into a tizzy on the issue, Murthy said, adding that it would the responsibility of the industry to come out with a mechanism to reduce dependence on visas.

"That is the reason why I believe that any prudent board in any of the Indian software companies would have to identify visas as an important risk and ask the management what they have done to mitigate this risk," he said.

Murthy also said it is very unlikely for President Trump to execute the H1-B order, as the Indian software industry has largely been responsible for building and maintaining the information infrastructure of the large western corporations.

"Therefore they play a very very critical role in the success of the US corporations, tampering with it is not going to be easy," he said.

He also believed the customers of Indian software companies will use their influence with the Trump administration to prevent him from executing such a order.

"Therefore, the probability of any such executive order appears somewhat remote, at least from where I see," he said.

Even if the the order is executed, Murthy said in this scenario the Indian software industry will try to renegotiate the prices with their customers so as to their profitability will not be impacted as much as the industry thinks it would.

"I believe that they will be able to sit down with their customers and renegotiate the prices. So, thereby their profitability will not be impacted as much as we think it would," he said.
The demonetisation of high value currency notes to address the problem of black money has had an adverse impact on majority of the population in the country, former Union minister P Chidambaram has said.

Speaking at a discussion on 'Demonetisation scheme' here last night, the senior Congress leader claimed that the ban on high value currency notes had affected normal life and most people were facing troubles.

Charging Prime Minister Narendra Modi with taking the role of the Reserve Bank of India in implementing the note ban, Chidambaram said the scheme benefited only the government and private banks, while the common man and small vendors were the worst hit.

Disputing the Centre's claims that the policy had eradicated black money and counterfeit currency, he said it had failed to implement the scheme properly.

All India Congress Committee member and Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram also spoke on the issue.
On Thursday I wrote Some Random Concerns and Observations .... One of my observations was that after the election, many analysts thought the priorities of the new administration would be tax cuts, infrastructure spending, and deregulation. And the analysts thought that the negative economic policies on immigration and trade would be delayed until at least 2018. So far the new administration has delayed the policies with potential short term economic benefits - and pushed the negative policies.



From CNBC: US political, economic risks mounting against Trump's agenda, Goldman Sachs says



The policy halo effect that provided ballast to the stock market and fueled investor optimism is already being dimmed by political realities, according to Goldman Sachs, which may have negative implications for economic growth.



In a note to clients on Friday, the investment bank noted President Donald Trump's agenda was already running into bipartisan political resistance, with doubts growing about potential tax reform and a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, among other marquee Trump administration initiatives.

 The Trump Agenda presents risks in both directions; tax cuts and infrastructure funding could boost growth but could be offset by the negative effects of restrictions on trade and immigration.



 Following the election, the positive shift in sentiment among investors, business, and consumers suggested that the probability of tax cuts and easier regulation was seen to be higher than the probability of meaningful restrictions to trade and immigration.



 One month into the year, the balance of risks is somewhat less positive in our view, for three reasons. First, the recent difficulty congressional Republicans have had in moving forward on Obamacare repeal does not bode well for reaching a quick agreement on tax reform or infrastructure funding, and reinforces our view that a fiscal boost, if it happens, is mostly a 2018 story.



 Second, while bipartisan cooperation looked possible on some issues following the election, the political environment appears to be as polarized as ever, suggesting that issues that require bipartisan support may be difficult to address.



 Third, some of the recent administrative actions by the Trump Administration serve as a reminder that the president is likely to follow through on campaign promises on trade and immigration, some of which could be disruptive for financial markets and the real economy.

Here are a few excepts from the Goldman Sachs note by economist Alex Phillips mentioned in the CNBC article:
| BY Ricki Green |

Australian values support a fair go for all, but not when it comes to marriage. A new campaign for The Equality Campaign, created by The Royals, is calling on Australian politicians to do their job and hold a parliamentary vote to make marriage equality legal.

The campaign, titled Its Only Fair, features members of the LGBTI community who selflessly dedicate themselves to aiding and supporting society  a Royal Australian Navy veteran, a nurse, a doctor, a firefighter and a lifesaver  while being denied the right to marry.

It consists of a TVC, out-of-home, social components and a website, with messages including We can make the ultimate sacrifice but we cant make the ultimate commitment and We can hold a life in our hands but we cant ask for our partners hand.

With two thirds of Australians believing everyone should be able to marry the person they love, regardless of sexual orientation, The Equality Campaign is aiming to further galvinise public support for the issue to encourage politicians to do their job as they return to Canberra for the first sitting of the new year.

The campaign encourages the public to visit The Equality Campaign website to send a message to their local MP voicing their support on the issue.

Says Nick Cumins, creative partner, The Royals: We will have marriage equality in Australia, it is just a matter of when. I believe that one of the ways we can achieve this faster is through communication. Communication between Australians and their politicians, communication between friends and family members. So it has been incredibly fulfilling to be able to help the team at The Equality Campaign keep this conversation going. We couldnt have done this without the amazing team on this job going above and beyond to help. The team at Finch with Marge and Chris leading the charge and Toby Dixon on stills. I encourage you to go to the website and leave your message and we will get it to your politician and get this job done.

Says Tiernan Brady, executive director, The Equality Campaign: The majority of Australians and MPs support marriage equality and the time has come for the federal parliament to act and deliver this straightforward reform. With this campaign we call on all MPs to recognise that this is about equality for all Australians, who already make this a better country for us all with their sacrifice and contribution to the community.

The Equality Campaign is a not-for-profit organisation with no affiliation to any political party.

Client: The Equality Campaign

Executive Director: Tiernan Brady

Media Director: Helen Ross-Browne, Kirk Marcolina

Communications Director: Clint McGilvray

Creative Producer: Leah Newman

Agency: The Royals

Managing Partner: Dan Beaumont

Creative Partner: Nick Cummins

Strategy Director: Clare La Palombara

Senior Creative: Alberto Talegon

Senior Creative: Gareth Sweet

Art Director: Dom Meehan

Integrated Producer: Rene Shalala

Senior Account Manager: Kelso Winnick

Production Company: Finch Company

Director: Chris Nelius

Founder: Robert Galluzzo

Managing Director: Corey Esse

Producer: Marge McInnes

Photographer: Toby Dixon

Sound: Song Zu

Composer: Ramesh Sathiah
| BY Ricki Green |

V Energy Australia has launched the fourth instalment of its highly successful The Massive Hit That Improves You A Bit positioning, with a campaign via TKT Sydney, that promises to be bigger than Biggie, and doper than Drizzy.

Directed by Finchs Benji Wienstein, and shot on location in Miami, the new campaign is set against the backdrop of a $15m crib and comes complete with a polished hip-hop track, twerking back-up dancers, tricked out lowriders and a fierce entourage.

In the new spots, created by up-and-coming agency TKT Sydney, emerging megastar Lil Pup goes head to head with a V-drinking, better version of himself, Lil Big Pup, in a rap-roasting of words and wit.

The campaign, which launched last night on TV, will also feature a full-length film clip which airs in-cinema, online, and across music video channels and will be supported by below the line activity.

This is the second brand campaign created for V Energy by TKT Sydney, Clemengers new breed creative consultancy.

TKT Sydney creative directors Ben Clare and Brendan Willenberg said the strength of the work comes down to the simple, universal truth that when you have an energy drink, you become a marginally better version of yourself.

Says Clare: Creating communication platforms is a tricky business. Creating ones that endure and are celebrated for their creativity and effectiveness is trickier still.

Says Karl Davies, head of energy, Frucor: Were massively stoked with how Rapper has turned out. The crew at TKT Sydney have once again successfully built on the huge success of our previous campaign. We have seen all our brand health metrics increase when our Massive Hit campaigns are running and we anticipate the new creative for 2017 to be the most successful yet.

Agency: TKT Sydney

Executive Creative Director: Paul Nagy

Creative Directors: Brendan Willenberg & Ben Clare

Senior Creatives: James Beswick & Ollie Beeston

Founding Director: Cate Stuart-Robertson

Senior Account Director: Hanne Haugen

Senior Account Manager: Marshall Campbell

Planning Director: Rob Dougan

Creative Agency Producer: Katrina Maw

Head of Craft: Daniel Mortensen

Public Relations Group Account Director: Phillipa Thomas

Media Partner: OMD

Marketing Director: Mark Wiedermann

Head of Energy: Karl Davies

Senior Marketing Manager: Craig Harkness

Marketing Manager: Lennart Sipsma

Assistant Brand Manager: Alana Lucci

Director: Benji Weinstein

Production Companies: Finch/Steam

Executive Producers: Corey Esse (Finch), Krista Marshall (Steam)

Producers: Karen Bryson (Finch), Andrew Graham (Steam)

Director of Photography: Brendan Steacy

Editor: Dave Whittaker (The Editors)

Post production: Finch

Original Music: Grayson Matthews ft. RMDY & Roshin
Well into his 80s, my printer grandfather each workday morning would don a tie, business suit with vest and part his hair in the center prior to ambling several residential blocks to his newspaper shop in the Illinois prairie village.

A diminutive but well-recognized figure along the hamlets tree-lined streets, he had inherited his fathers stern habit of demanding a courteous greeting from children passing him on the sidewalk (and providing a tongue-lashing to those who erred) and insisted on addressing adult individuals other than close, personal friends by the honorific of mister or missus when meeting.

He simply would not brook what was considered unearned familiarity from strangers or business acquaintances  and woe to any of his grandchildren who attempted such liberties in dealing with adults. Its a matter of respect, and an aspect sorely missed in what we facetiously call this cultured society.

Addressing those weve just met by surname and honorific is a sign of respect. When it comes to addressing me, or others, by their first (or Christian) name, you first should ask  a further sign of respect.

There are many culprits to condemn for this outrageous breach of etiquette, but perhaps none so complicit as Dale Carnegie, whose How to Win Friends and Influence People was a best-seller for four decades following its first publication in 1936. His advice was praised to the rafters. Thus began a downward cultural spiral without a recognizable bottom.

Naturally, the book fostered The Dale Carnegie Course in Effective Speaking and Human Relations, an institute of sorts, that promised social success to those forking over the required sum. As for those promises, my high school English teacher, Mr. Webb, drew his own conclusions. He had worked as a trainer for the Carnegie course but related how he quit in disgust as he was only turning out little Dale Carnegies a grasping herd he described as a mob of boors.

Carnegie claimed that addressing new acquaintances by first names  described as subtle flattery, proved the effectiveness of his method. Effective? For some, perhaps. For others, the circle, or small crowd of those individuals permitted to use your first name should be quite selective. Otherwise its impersonal and often downright insulting.

Author Ralph Keyes, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, calls the promiscuous use of given names as too faux familiar and by becoming a first-name society, weve exchanged the actual familiarity of two names for the feigned familiarity of one.

Unless I know someone reasonably well, and our personal or professional relationship has matured into the first-name classification, its oh, so much more comfortable to be addressed with the politeness of mister. It means one doesnt have to be wary of who presumes using your given name and that were approaching a level of acquaintance based on respect.

Where we go from there, of course, is up to you.
Sunday, February 5, 2017 at 2:43AM

Been meaning to look for the hidden categories on Netflix? This Google Chrome extension will help you with your search and even save your favorites for you. Aptly-named as Netflix Categories, the extension adds a button to your Chrome menu bar. When you click on the button itll show the list of categories you might not see on Netflixs site. If you want to search for a specific category, the extension offers a search functionality. You can click on the heart icon to save the ones you like so youll be able to see those on top the next time you open the extension. Netflix Categories works even when you dont have a Netflix tab open.

Source: Lifehacker
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An overgrown pile of paperwork was the welcome back to work that most Canberrans looked forward to after the summer holidays. For Renee Osterloh it was an excited singing capuchin monkey spraying urine on her neck and arms to re-mark its territory. When most people are drinking a second coffee (which would be right about now), Ms Osterloh, the operations manager at Canberra's National Zoo and Aquarium, is feeding wild animals and giving giraffes daily pedicures. Photo: Jamila Toderas
"This usually includes conditions such as being muzzled when in public, only people over the age of 18 can be in control of the dog, the dog must wear a dangerous dog collar and the dog must be kept in a suitable lockable enclosure."
February 4: World Cancer Day

Published: February 4, 2017

The World Cancer Day (WCD) is observed every year on 4 February across the world to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.

The theme (tagline) between 2016 and 2018 WCD is We can. I can. It reflects on what everyone can do to raise awareness of cancer and asks to take pledge and action in fight against cancer.

Special three-year campaign for the World Cancer Day 2016-2018 seeks to explore how everyone- as individuals or as a collective  can do their part to reduce the burden of cancer globally.

About World Cancer Day

The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) had instituted World Cancer Day (WCD in 2008 by formally writing the goals of the World Cancer Declaration. The primary goal of observing the day is to reduce illness and death caused by it by 2020. The origin of the day can be traced to 2000 at the first World Summit Against Cancer, which was held in Paris, France.

UICC: It is Geneva based leading international non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded in 1933. Its purpose is to help the global health community to accelerate the fight against cancer. It has a membership of over 800 organisations spread across 155 countries.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2017

Topics: Days and Events  Diseases  International  Public health  World Cancer Day

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Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car

I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ...
A response to Paul Graham's "How to Make Wealth"

When I first read Paul Grahams essay How to Make Wealth, I was quickly seduced, like, I am sure, many young corporate cubicle-dwellers who think themselves more clever than their employers, and found myself day-dreaming about quitting my job and forming a startup with a catchy url and the $50 Million I would get for selling it to Google. At the time, I was able to overlook the flaws and inconsistencies in the argument because the inspirational nature of the piece was so compelling. On closer examination, however, I find that underlying Grahams motivational pep talks for the under-appreciated geek is a tenuous philosophical position that demands proper refutation. Whether this essay will succeed in righting Grahams injustices remains to be seen. There are so many problems with Grahams thinking that it is difficult to organize a focused response. Thus, with this essay, I intend mainly to introduce the reader to an alternate line of thought, lest they be so overwhelmed by Grahams crusades that their mental capacities for logical reasoning are badly warped.

The principal function of Paul Grahams essay How to Make Wealth is, as in so many of the thoughtful writings available on his website, to inspire. His words are a manifesto for the creative hacker trapped in a cubicle. His main argument is that computer programmers have a talent for creating wealth, and are exploited by a corporate system in which they are not justly rewarded for their work. The startup offers an alternative that embodies greater freedom and greater reward. Graham appeals directly to the deeply held insecurities of intelligent introverts. We want to believe that there is a world that will worship us like gods, not cram us into ever smaller featureless boxes and treat us like cogs.

As an inspirational piece, Grahams essay is undeniably powerful. Yet, for a great many of his points he drifts into territory that is clearly not his specialty and the flawed assertions that he makes subverts his main message and makes him look foolish. Grahams understanding of economics is woefully pedestrian, un-researched conjecture. His conceptualization of the economics of exchange relies on a stubborn insistence and blind naive trust that the free market is the ultimate solution to which his audience must subscribe. It is distressing that one could allow arrogance to so cloud his judgment that he would embarrass himself by making such claims in an area of study he is clearly lacking any authority on which to speak.

To understand why Graham, and the many others he has inspired, make these mistakes it is necessary to look at the nature of introversion that develops among computer programmers, and how this peculiar characteristic can interfere with their judgement on matters of the social world.

1. Introversion

Introversion is a curious and wonderful trait: the ability to create and inhabit a mental utopia devoid of the complications of external reality is a truly liberating experience. Free from the ordinary trappings of social norms and customs, those lucky enough to dwell in inner space are rewarded far more generously than those whose sense of accomplishment must be subject to the approval of others. On the other hand, the profound disjoint between ones inner life and the outer worldthe locus of the introverts insulationis also dangerous in that it can lead to the most ridiculous assumptions about how the world works.

No class of person better illustrates what it means to be a paragon of introversion than the computer programmer. The nature of the work itself very nearly demands that a rich and complex inner world exists wherein intricate structures of abstract thought can roam and romp freely. It is no coincidence that the psychology of those attracted to programming includes people who feel very comfortable inside their own heads, and rarely more than a short distance beyond. It is also no surprise that many of them strongly prefer their inner fantasy world and the absolute power they wield within it as opposed to the nasty, brutish, and short external world in which we are all powerless, enslaved by animalistic needs, and waiting for death.

Introversion comes in many forms, but the form that typically develops among hackers is a particularly potent and tantalizing one. The mind of a hacker must have at its core a logic factory. This provides the ability to construct massively complex structures from the basic elemental components of logical axioms, operators, and truth-statement evaluators. But this is not enough. A hacker must also have developed advanced visualization tools to navigate within the logic factory at incredible speeds. One must be able to zoom in to an infinitesimal point, understand its purpose, then quickly zoom out to galactic scale and know how each part in the factory contributes, leviathan-like, to the grand design. This requires the mind to be fluid, aware of multiple simultaneous perspectives and dimensions, to constantly challenge the impetus for order and explore the unseen paths that only a revolutionary will find. If youve ever been there, however briefly, where any of this made sense, you know you would give anything to go back.

This world that the hacker inhabits, while a rich source of internal delight and personal inspiration, is generally a piss poor model from which to form opinions of the outside world. Nature is not deterministic, people do not behave like cellular automata, and economic systems do not spring forth from algorithms found in textbooks by Don Knuth.

Thus, there is a certain morbid fascination involved in watching a hacker talk politics because many of them have developed utterly ridiculous ideas that do not seem worthy of their otherwise keen logical intellect. Here we find that someone with an obviously intricate and brilliant mind, capable of amazing feats of artistry and ingenuity with a computer, can simultaneously hold the most idiotic and brain-dead assumptions about society, economics, and politics. Hackers are particularly susceptible to the fallacy that because they are brilliant software developers, their views on everything else must also be equally brilliant. Although this is sometimes true, in the vast majority of cases, hackers appear positively child-like when it comes to non-silicon matters. Introversion, the source of the hackers strength, is also a limiting factor because it blinds its holder with a false confidence, and the appearance that just because things ought to be true, that they are in fact true. It is with this lens that we may begin to see how Graham has come to some of the more fanciful conclusions in his essay.

2. The Deification of the Programmer

One of Grahams early contentions in his essay is that money does not equal wealth. Money is a finite medium of exchange used to move wealth around, but wealth, the object of human desire, can be generated by applying labor and talent to some raw materials. Grahams formulation is a rather pedestrian rehash of Adam Smiths account of specialization and exchange and it appears that Grahams own intellectual development on economic matters appears not to have evolved much beyond the 18th Century. Sadly, this yields an agonizingly myopic view of social structure that neglects any treatment of the role of power, particularly how manipulation of economic need can distort market forces.

In deriving the political views of the hacker, Graham asserts that programmers, as craftsmen, create wealth directly: they literally think the product. As creators, they also directly observe the vast differences in productivity that separate the best programmers from the merely mediocre. The wisdom afforded this privileged class of wealth creators by these two observations, Graham concludes, must lead them to a libertarian philosophy: if the top 5% of programmers probably write 99% of the good software, then why shouldnt those top 5% be justly rewarded for the wealth they have directly created?

It is amazing how many otherwise intelligent people have been seduced by this remarkably simplistic line of thought. While tantalizing in its apparent logical completeness, there are actually several critical errors in the above reasoning which render Grahams conclusions baseless. The first is the idea that measurement of things like quality and success can be objective, perfect and fair. These are not objective facts, they are highly contextual and can be manipulated by power struggles, charisma, clever marketing, or outright fraud.

Value is a social construct, and the measurement of the quality of software code is as much a consequence of marketing and sales efforts as anything that is emitted on the command line. Due to these contingencies, while it is certainly true that wealth is being created in there somewhere, it is simply not possible to attach a direct quantitative relation between the work a programmer is doing and the exact amount of wealth that results from it.

A second critical assumption being posited in Grahams essay is that one persons direct contribution can be disentangled from that of others. In contrast to the programmers, the craftsmen-wealth-creators, Graham identifies that Many of the employees (e.g. the people in the mailroom or the personnel department) work at one remove from the actual making of stuff. So what exactly do they contribute to the wealth generation process? Does Graham imply that without these others working at one remove, the programmers could still create the wealth they do? Without the human resources team to coordinate their medical benefits, would the programmers be as productive? Without the legal team to fend off frivolous lawsuits brought by patent trolls, would the programmers still have enough time to create their wealth after first reviewing the IP implications of every line of code they write? What about the operations departments who keep the power flowing, the networks running, the servers humming, what fraction of programmer productivity is the result of their hard work? Finally, without the sales and marketing teams, how else will code find its way to the top of the industry?

Graham implies that once the programmer geniuses are done with their work, they can sit back, fold their arms, and watch as their creation magically spreads throughout the land while dump trucks full of cash line up outside the door. Back to reality, thinking of all the factors that are involved in the success of a product; the work of the programmerthe creation of the actual product itselfmay very well be the most insignificant part of the entire process.

3. Value is a method, not an attribute

Any Python programmer should be able to grasp the distinction I am trying to make with this claim. What Graham and others who follow his logic want to believe is that value is a known objective quantity that is attached to an object. In reality, it is a function that involves many factors only one of which is the labor that is used as an input. Since value is a social construct, it is exceedingly dangerous to allow ourselves to be governed by the fiction that value exists independent of competing forces and the machinations of power. Unfortunately, Graham makes this mistake throughout his essay and it severely undermines the legitimacy of his claims.

In his introductory section The Proposition, Graham describes the economics of working at a startup as a trade-off between time and intensity of work: Instead of working at a low intensity for forty years, you work as hard as you possibly can for four. Although he never says this payoff is guaranteed, he doesnt deny it either, and implies that if you really are as good as you think you are, then by rights, you will accrue exactly what nature and the market deem you to be worth.

Graham spends a great deal of time quantifying exactly how much more productive you could be as a superior programmer compared to the average employee, when these metrics involve fundamentally unquantifiable units. He ignores the fact there are so many mitigating and mediating factors between the work and its value, and instead blindly assumes that his calculations of productivity will translate into a greater payout for the smart hacker. Unfortunately, he has devised a model that poorly fits the data, since there is far more unexplained variance in the equation that he totally ignores.

The mistaken idea that value can be objectively quantified goes hand in hand with another critical error that Graham assumes to be true: that it is not only possible but easy to disentangle the value contribution of one person from another. This problematic idea is introduced in his second footnote: Hypothesis: A company will be maximally profitable when each employee is paid in proportion to the wealth they generate. Later in the section Working Harder, Graham writes:

A company that could pay all its employees so straightforwardly would be enormously successful. Many employees would work harder if they could get paid for it. More importantly, such a company would attract people who wanted to work especially hard. It would crush its competitors.

Although this sounds attractive at face value, upon closer reflection it becomes apparent that such a situation would be too easily subject to manipulation, and the result would be the complete opposite of Grahams utopian claims. While the hackers are busy working on the hard problems faced by the company, the one who wins the prize will have chosen the only real hard problem remaining: how to convince the owners that he or she was the one responsible for all the value being created and to whom the windfall should be paid. Such a system would only reward the best schemer, the best at personal marketing and showmanship, the best ass-kisser. Any company that attempts such a vague pay for performance initiative would destroy itself because it would end up rewarding the wrong people, and all the right people would get fed up and leave.

In the section What a Job Is, Graham outlines the deleterious effects of mind-numbing institutionalization and how working for a large corporation is such an agonizing prospect for a bright hacker: In a company, the work you do is averaged together with a lot of other peoples. Later, he writes, I think the single biggest problem afflicting large companies is the difficulty of assigning a value to each persons work. And yet, he did it so easily in his back of the envelope calculation that a superior programmer could be 36x as productive as the typical employee. How does this extra productivity translate to reward? Grahams answer is that it can only happen in the context of a startup.

Lets explore his thinking further: A programmer, for example, instead of chugging along maintaining and updating an existing piece of software, could write a whole new piece of software, and with it create a new source of revenue. Here is the crux of Grahams assumption that programmers are the real engine of the value chain. He ignores the fact that without the infrastructure and ancillary components of the business, it isnt so easy to simply translate that new piece of software into pure profit. Consider an alternative scenario: a sales team could sell an existing product to a new vertical. Now, the market for the companys products has been expanded and incremental value has been added to the same product line. This requires no additional work from the programmers, and yet the sales team has now increased the value of the programmers work. Who should get the credit?

Grahams discussion of the function of sales contradicts his claim that programmers are the wealth creators. Salesmen are an exception. Its easy to measure how much revenue they generate, and theyre usually paid a percentage of it. This assumes that sales works in a vacuum, but in reality they also rely on the same infrastructure of the business to support their sales efforts. Sales needs a product team to design a solution to spec for their clients, an analytics team to provide data on its effectiveness, marketing to shape and package the value proposition, etc. Once you begin to consider how all these facets work together, it becomes impossible to disentangle the contributions of one group, whether sales or programming, from that of another. Yet Graham repeatedly overlooks this point: Unfortunately, companies cant pay everyone like salesmen. Salesmen work alone. Most employees work is tangled together. This is wrong because nobody works alone, not sales, not marketing, not operations, and not the programmers. Graham is almost right: he should have said that everyones work is tangled together, but this would defeat his entire argument.

In the section Measurement and Leverage, Graham extends his explanation for the merit pay of salesmen to upper management. Here his ideological biases are revealed in their full glory. Graham argues that measurement and leverage are two necessary conditions for becoming rich. Given that executives have an easily determined metricshort-term profitsand the leverage to make command decisions, this apparently justifies their enormous pay packages. Graham so desperately wants to justify his own wealth as the righteous product of his own personal labor without acknowledging the effects of either luck or power, to which more sober commentators on wealth creation are quick to point.

There is one other job besides sales where big companies can hire first-rate people: in the top management jobs. And for the same reason: their performance can be measured. The top managers are held responsible for the performance of the entire company. Because an ordinary employees performance cant usually be measured, he is not expected to do more than put in a solid effort. Whereas top management, like salespeople, have to actually come up with the numbers. The CEO of a company that tanks cannot plead that he put in a solid effort. If the company does badly, hes done badly.

This claim that CEOs have risk which justifies their reward simply does not match up with reality. CEOs are no more at risk than the gentlemen soliders who lead their armies from the comfortable confines of a bunker well removed from the front lines. Whether the company succeeds or fails, the CEO and most of upper management will still be handsomely paid. Even in the rare occurrences when a CEO is ousted for poor performance, there are two key factors that mitigate their risk: first, they are paid so extraordinarily well that they can afford to be out of a job, and second, they travel in networks within which it is easy for them to secure another position of equal stature relatively quickly. Failed CEOs find new posts all the time. Consider how in Silicon Valley, being the former head of a failed startup is considered to be a badge of honorit demonstrates that you have experience and will do things differently next time. Oddly, however, the honor appears to accumulate with each successive failed startup, hence the term serial entrepreneur.

There is a class dynamic at work here that Graham ignores. Upper management have cultural capital to which mere mortals do not have access. For ordinary workers, being laid-off through no fault of their own, to say nothing of being laid-off due to their own failure, is certainly not a badge of honor, and they find it much more difficult to parlay this experience into a positive spin. The CEO really has no downside risk at all. The explanation for their pay rates has nothing to do with measurement or leverage, but is determined purely by their location in the social structure, and by the ability of power to set its own rules.

Grahams limited understanding of organizational dynamics leads him to more embarrassing claims in the section Smallness = Measurement. Here, he uses the analogy of the ten best rowers who, if you take them out of a large system and put them together with a shared goal, will necessarily be superior. But running a company is not as clear-cut as a boat race. There are multiple means for a company to succeed, and multiple strategies for getting there. Ten of the smartest people will not necessarily come up with the best strategy for success, let alone the best tactics for executing those strategies. The dynamics of team effort have a great deal of impact on a companys success. The smartest guys in the room was a phrase used to describe Enron, and certainly no one would want to emulate them today. There are numerous cases where the smartest people have made the dumbest decisions. Arrogance clouds judgment far more aggressively than introversion.

In elaborating on the startup trade-off, Graham writes if you want to make a million dollars, you have to endure a million dollars worth of pain. This is an interesting perspective on an industry that sees a great deal of failures. For the vast majority, you will endure the pain and get nothing. How can this be seen as an incentive for young people entering the work force? The answer, of course, is that Grahams inspirational mantras whip up such fanatical devotion among his target audience that they overlook these obvious facts and are inculcated into a way of thinking that if they really are the best, then they simply need to put in the hard work and they will automagically succeed.

It is amazing how well this piece serves as marketing fodder for Grahams venture capital arm, Y Combinator. His business model relies on convincing hordes of eager young hackers to sign over their surplus labor to his investors. With logic crafted to appeal directly to the introverted minds of recent computer science graduates, he has no shortage of cannon fodder lining up on his doorstep willing to eat Ramen and gleefully line the coffers of his investors portfolios.

In the section Technology = Leverage, Graham returns to his flowery appeal to the introverted mind by using some grand historical examples of technological innovation in the pastFlorence in the 1200s, the Dutch in the 1600swith the underlying implication that you too, if you are a genius programmer, can quit your job, found a startup, and be next in this line of magnificent historical transformations. As if writing a new ecommerce shopping cart application can be placed alongside these examples. Bonus points, I suppose, if you use an obtuse language to do so.

Technology thats valuable today could be worthless in a couple years. This is Grahams justification for why technology rewards fast movers. We do not need to travel far to find an example here. Grahams own software was completely worthless two years after he sold it to Yahoo. It had to be rewritten because nobody could (or cared to) maintain a web application written in Lisp. How interesting then that Graham ignores this point when considering the value of programmers labor. Perhaps he was led to this conclusion upon reflection of the fate of Viaweb and how lucky he was to have sold at the right time. It turned out that the wealth he created was not so durable after all.

In the penultimate section, Get Users, Graham puts forth some advice to the young hacker on the best way to think about their startup. I think its a good idea to get bought, if you can.

Conveniently, he runs a company that will offer to buy you out, but only, of course, if youre one of the really really smart ones.

4. Libertarianism != Meritocracy

Even if we were to overlook these deficiencies in the argument leading up to the conclusion, the most critical of errors Graham makes is the assumption that a world constructed in a libertarian framework would rightly and justly reward hard work with a proportionate amount of wealth. It remains a giant leap to assume that a libertarian world would operate in such an equitable fashion.

In the midst of discussing the hacker and its discontents, Graham notes, though without any empirical substantiation, that so many of the best programmers are libertarians. Lets explore this further and try to find out how he is led to this silly claim. Graham makes this observation in a discussion of the programmer as craftsman. Programmers create. Their labor leads directly to a tangible product. They also recognize the vast differences in productivity among programmers. Graham assumes that this explains why so many programmers are libertarians. But why? Why would a disparity in productivity lead people to want a system with less or zero regulatory oversight?

Presumably, Graham is implying that those who believe themselves to be at the top end of the curve would want an economic system in which they would be appropriately rewarded for their superior efforts. He assumes that a more libertarian society would necessarily be more meritocratic. But this assumption has been proven false time and again, based on everything we know about the nature of power and corruption. Historically, societies with laissez-faire economic policies have been associated with rigid, hierarchical social structures with negligible social mobility. In a free society, what reason would those in power have to give lots of money to a productive hacker, when they could simply use coercion? What guarantees would you have that the definition of productivity would be fairly evaluated or that everyone would agree upon the metrics for productivity? An antagonist could manipulate the rankings via fraud or deception and without the means to stop them, an honest worker would not stand a chance. Another alternative is that, collectively, everyone else would simply decide that what programmers do is tantamount to sweeping floors and changing light bulbs, and suddenly programmer salaries would begin to resemble those of janitorial engineers.

Graham is by no means the first of his kind to fall victim to the false consciousness of laissez-faire rhetoric. How do so many programmers become deluded by this free-market ideology? This is precisely the dangerous potential side-effect of the hackers introversion: they begin to think that the world does (or should) operate like a computer. Having spent so much time in the logic factory of their mind, they buy in to the fallacy that the real world should somehow emulate the electronically deterministic one: that compensation is a linear function of value, merit can be objectively determined, markets are free, and everyone plays by the same rules. Stop laughing.

It is hard to fault someone for wanting to receive fair compensation and appropriate recognition for their hard work. The introverted hackers feel especially put upon by a society which tends to reward flashy salesmen in fine suits and fast cars. Unfortunately, the hackers introversion has bled them of any empathy, so they cannot see anything but the work they are doing, and cannot see the value that anyone else is contributing. Thus, with a history of not faring too well in social competitions, the insecure hacker seeks a redistribution of wealth based on metrics they they alone define. To assume that everyone else should judge the value of their work the same way they do is not romantic but naive.

The problem shared by libertarians, free market pundits, and laissez-faire capitalists is this assumption that we can all agree on standards and that human beings will tend to do only good things if left alone. This fallacy flies in the face of every shred of evidence we have about the nature of power. Graham rightly points out that wealth is not a zero-sum game. Power, on the other hand, is most definitely a zero-sum proposition, and those who have it will stop at nothing to retain it and quash any perceptible threat. Power is a black holeit consumes everything and yet remains a perpetual void. We see instances of this even with the meager controls in place in our society today. Loosen or remove those controls and power, unchecked, will accumulate until nothing remains. Anyone or anything in its path will be destroyed.

The final section Wealth and Power is the first time that Graham even mentions power in this context. This section is so painfully amusing to read that it is almost not fair to critique it because it was clearly written as an after-thought to cap off an already lengthy essay. A great deal has been written about the causes of the Industrial Revolution. Surprisingly, however, it can all be summed up in a few quick paragraphs that basically argue that the triumph of Western civilization is all owed to nerds who wanted to get rich. Feudalism and communism were just bullies on the playground, and any government intervention preventing nerds from accumulating more wealth will only lead to ruin.

Graham concludes: The same recipe that makes individuals rich makes countries powerful. Let the nerds keep their lunch money, and you rule the world. Sadly, the bottom line is that unless you are among a tiny handful of the elite, a laissez-faire economic system would enslave you, not liberate you. The only people who will enjoy the fruits of a truly free society are those with the power to keep you in line. Given more freedom, those in power will first cut off the access to power, to prevent anyone from challenging them. They will immediately go for the jugular. There is no compromise with power and no means to share it. Thus, the power elite will readily command vast armies of people and resources to ensure that you stay down. This will be their first priority. Their second priority will be to extract labor from you in the manner that serves them best. In a perfectly libertarian society, the bullies would not only take your lunch money, they would murder your family, burn your house, and leave you for dead by the side of the road. This is your free society. Enjoy.
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Sometimes its good to be reminded of just how good a car is by giving it go once more. In the case of the Mitsubishi Xpander, its the smal...
CET      :        ;        
Few car features manage to turn heads quite like Lamborghinis famed scissor doors. Used in every halo supercar from the brand since the Countach, the doors dont only look cool but can be quite practical, especially in tight parking spaces.



As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so its no surprise that numerous companies offer Lambo door kits for everyday vehicles and 99.99 per cent of the time, they look totally stupid. This latest kit is no different.

Designed by Vertical Doors Inc in the United States, these scissor doors have been developed for the Aventadors baby brother, the Huracan.

Unlike the real thing, they dont open straight up. Instead, they initially open up like normal doors, wide enough to squeeze into the cabin. They can then be tilted skywards to show how much of a try-hard you are.

From a side-on view, the doors look quite good. However, the clumsy two-part opening procedure immediately turned us off.

Whats more, why would any reasonable Huracan owner want aftermarket scissor doors? It basically just says Hey, look at me, I cant afford an Aventador but this is the next best thing! Sorry, but the next best thing is just a standard Huracan, forget the fakery.

VIDEO
A Chinese car expert believes that when Chinese automakers launch in the United States, they wont do so with super-cheap vehicles. Instead, they will target the upper-echelons of the market.



Speaking with Automotive News, president of Hong Kong consulting firm Dunne Automotive, Michael Dunne said that Chinese carmakers are developing advanced, self-driving and environmentally-friendly vehicles aimed at unsettling the luxury vehicle market.

Arent Chinese companies supposed to be low-cost competitors that will come in with $10,000 cars? No, theyre coming in with premium electric vehicles, Dunne said at an automotive press event in Detroit.

Weve already seen what Chinese-backed Faraday Future and Lucid Motors have cooked up for the U.S. market and theyre not alone. Wanxiang recently unveiled the Revero plug-in hybrid and Chinese company Tencent has provided financial backing to NextEV and its Nio EP9, a record-setting electric hypercar.

Additionally, Geely unveiled its Lynk & Co mobility brand late last year and aims to produce the most connected cars on the market, not cut-price hatchbacks with shoddy build quality.

According to Dunne, these companies are initially aiming at competing with U.S. vehicles in terms of performance and quality, not pricing.

I dont see the Chinese coming in with extremely competitive pricing and taking market share away. Theyll come, but it will be gradual, he said.

PHOTO GALLERY
A German motorist had a runny mishap on Sunday when he lost control of his fairly new Audi R8 V10 Plus and landed into a river between Abcoude and Loenersloot in the Netherlands.



The yellow supercar quickly submerged under the murky waters of the Angstel River, but not before the unnamed driver managed to climb out of the window and swim to shore without sustaining any injuries. According to the police, the man was wet and cold, but otherwise, perfectly fine.

Later in the day, a crane came and lifted the sunken R8 V10 Plus which has a starting price of 190,000 in Germany not including any options, out of the riverto let it dry out.

While from the pictures and video it doesnt appear that the supercar suffered any cosmetic damages on the outside, its very likely that it will end up being a write-off for the insurance, because, you know, water and interior bits, electronics and other stuff behind the sheet-metal dont play well together

Video 0297.nl, Photos Marc Brugman via Gumbal

Photo Gallery

Video
Weve definitely heard of biker mice (from Mars), but biker cats? This is a whole new level of cute.



Of course, that kind of depends on how you look at it, because while there does seem to be a harness of sorts around the cat sitting on the riders lap, you could still make a case for animals being in danger.

But sure, if cute is what youre looking for, just get a load of those little faces and custom-made tiny helmets with wobbly antennas! They even have tinted visors

According to the videos description, the footage was captured last week by a 21-year old girl in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, and the speed of the motorcycle was somewhere around 40 mph (64 km/h). The cats were amazing. They were so cute sitting on the motorbike with their little helmets, said the girl.

By the way, a closer look reveals that the cat sitting behind the rider is also tied up to something, so perhaps a lot of thought went into transporting these lovable felines on the motorbike.

VIDEO
Photo: DriveBC

UPDATE: 5:04 p.m.

The vehicle incident from Albert Canyon to Rogers Pass Summit is now clear, according to DriveBC.

Highway 1 has been closed in both directions in between Albert Canyon and the west boundary of Glacier National Park due to a vehicle crash.

The crash occurred before 3 p.m. Saturday.

DriveBC does not currently have an estimated time the road might reopen. There is no detour around the highway closure.

Highway cams in the area show parts of the highway are covered in snow.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a conversation with his British counterpart on Saturday.

Trudeau's office says Theresa May offered her condolences for last weekend's shooting at a Quebec City mosque that left six people dead.

The two leaders also discussed their shared commitment to NATO, the G7 and the G20.

An emailed statement from Trudeau's office also says they discussed their commitment to promoting free trade and investment, including the free trade agreement between Canada and the European Union.

Britain is in the process of separating from the EU.
A pedestrian was struck and killed by a pickup truck while walking down Highway 8 near Route M in Leadwood at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Spokesperson Corporal Juston Wheetley said 33-year-old James Logue was walking in the eastbound lane of Highway 8 heading toward Desloge. He believed the man was from Ellington but relatives have said the man lived in Park Hills.

He was struck by a pickup truck and was pronounced (dead) at the scene, said Wheetley. That area is not really well lit and he was wearing dark clothing.

St. Francois County Ambulance District Administrator David Tetrault said they were dispatched along with the Leadwood Fire Department and Leadwood Police Department.

We pulled up at 7:35 p.m. to a male driver in a red Chevy truck and he was being attended to. The driver of the truck was a young man in his early 20s and he was not injured, but very shaken up over what happened. said Tetrault.

Tetrault added the driver was given a bunch of tests while there, possibly sobriety field tests, and they let him go.

St. Francois County Sheriff Dan Bullock was the acting coroner and he said its unknown at this time why the man was walking in the middle of the road. Logue was killed instantly.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A Toronto filmmaker who was found dead days after he went missing while diving off the coast of Florida is remembered by his sister as a community-builder who brought about global change.

Rob Stewart's body was found in the Florida Keys Friday, 90 metres from where he disappeared during a dive on earlier in the week. His remains were found after an extensive search, for which nearly $200,000 was raised.

"He had so much passion for what he was doing, and that passion brought people in," said his sister, Alexandra Stewart.

The 37-year-old was best known for his 2006 documentary "Sharkwater," about the rapidly declining shark population at the hands of illegal and recreational fishing, climate change and pollution.

Stewart was in Florida filming a follow-up to the documentary, called "Sharkwater: Extinction," his sister said.

"Sharkwater" prompted people around the world to lobby their governments for bans on shark finning, the removal of the fins while tossing the rest of the carcass in the ocean.

Alexandra Stewart said her brother had an extraordinary way of working  with passion and commitment  and also an extraordinary lifestyle.

"My dad always called him a global citizen," she said. "Whenever I picked up the phone to call him, I'd have no idea where he'd answer from. A boat off the coast of a small island, or L.A. for a movie premiere or even driving up North  even though he hated the cold."

She said her family is trying to figure out a way to best honour his legacy.

"We're very committed to making sure his mission is carried out," she said.

In a video posted to Facebook, Tyler MacLeod, who was listed as an associate producer on Revolution, another of Stewart's films, said the director was an inspiration.

"Rob literally never flinched. He never changed. He's always been a warrior for this planet and a warrior for what's right," MacLeod said in a video posted to Facebook after Stewart's body was found. "At least in my mind, he's a massive hero."

Stewart had been diving with friends on Tuesday when he was last seen. They were diving deep  about 70 metres down, which the coast guard said is deeper than many people are able to go  near Alligator Reef in the Florida Keys.

His diving partner lost consciousness as he got into the dive boat, Stewart's sister previously told The Canadian Press. The U.S. Coast Guard said as others tended to the man and gave him oxygen, Stewart disappeared.

In the wake of his disappearance, support flooded in for the missing filmmaker. Nearly $200,000 had been donated to an online fundraising page for the search for Stewart by Saturday. MacLeod, who organized the page, said any leftover money would be given to Fin Free, a charitable organization that works for the protection of sharks.

Toronto mayor John Tory said on Twitter that Stewart's death was not the news he was hoping and praying for.

"My heartfelt sympathies go out to family and friends of #RobStewart," he wrote.

Others also took to social media to memorialize Stewart, including Paul Watson, president and CEO of conservation group Sea Shepherd.

On his Instagram account, Watson posted a statement offering condolences to the filmmaker's family.

"He accomplished so much in his 37 years," Watson wrote. "We will miss him and we intend to honour his life by working to protect and defend the sharks that he loved so much."

"He knew the risks involved with his work and told me once that sharks were the least of those risks," he added.

Stewart devoted his career to warning the world about threats facing sharks, other ocean life and humanity in general.

Stewart said he and his colleagues risked their lives to make the film: they visited a Costa Rican warehouse that trafficked in illegal shark fin and confronted poachers on the high seas.

"This century we're facing some pretty catastrophic consequences of our actions," he said in a 2012 interview with The Canadian Press.

"We're facing a world by 2050 that has no fish, no reefs, no rainforest, and nine billion people on a planet that already can't sustain seven billion people. So it's going to be a really dramatic century unless we do something about it."
Photo: The Canadian Press

The Conservatives confirm their interim leader took a Caribbean vacation on a billionaire's yacht around the time members of her caucus were criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for vacationing on a private island owned by the Aga Khan.

A spokesman for Rona Ambrose verified a report by political news website iPolitics that the acting Conservative leader and her partner J.P. Veitch soaked up the sun last month on the yacht of energy mogul Murray Edwards around the islands of St. Barths and Saint Martin.

However, Mike Storeshaw told The Canadian Press in an email that Ambrose was far more open about her vacation than Trudeau was about his winter holiday.

"Ms. Ambrose has followed all rules that apply to her with respect to her holiday, and was open and transparent with the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, unlike the Prime Minister," Storeshaw said.

Storeshaw said Ambrose paid for a flight on a charter along with a number of friends  none of whom, he said, are public office holders.

"Ms. Ambrose discussed her holiday with the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, who verified that it was within the rules," he added.

The iPolitics report said Ambrose took her vacation from Jan. 3-14. During the same time members of her caucus called for the ethic commissioner Mary Dawson to probe both Trudeau's stay at the Aga Khan's exclusive private island in the Bahamas and his use of the Aga Khan's private helicopter to the island after he and his family jetted down to the Caribbean.

The federal Conflict of Interest Act and Trudeau's own guidelines for his cabinet ministers bar the use of sponsored travel in private aircraft, allowing it only in exceptional circumstances and only with prior approval from the commissioner.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The crowd of more experienced contenders for the federal Conservative leadership set its sights on Kevin O'Leary right out of the gate Saturday as the reality-TV star and aspiring politician made his debate debut in Halifax.

O'Leary's unconventional, no-nonsense style and celebrity status as star of the U.S.-based program "Shark Tank" has made him the presumptive front-runner  and the primary target for most of the other candidates on the stage, who derided him as inexperienced, opportunistic and politically tone-deaf.

"We have a celebrity-in-chief" in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario MP Erin O'Toole said during his closing statement.

"We don't beat the celebrity-in-chief with another celebrity-in-chief."

Ontario MP Michael Chong called him "Rambo" as he slammed O'Leary for releasing a video clip of himself blasting away with automatic weapons at a Miami gun range Friday  the same day of the funeral for three of the six victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting.

"(He) had the audacity to post that video on the very same day we were burying the victims of one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history," Chong said. "That video will cost us the next election."

But O'Leary didn't steal the entire show.

Between the sustained attacks and wisecracks at O'Leary's expense that bookended the two-hour debate, the 14 candidates took part in what was largely a measured and civil exchange of ideas about issues like health care, justice reform, economic growth and Atlantic Canada's diminished profile in Ottawa.

O'Toole, a former navy pilot who was stationed in Nova Scotia, described how when he left Atlantic Canada, "I took a part of this place in my heart," and promised to fight hard for the region as prime minister.

O'Toole characterized the 32 Liberal MPs who currently represent the region as "lambs" who do little and say less to represent their constituents: "The silence of the lambs."

Former House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer described his frustration as he watched the Liberals vote against Energy East, a 4,600-kilometre pipeline project designed to ship crude oil from Alberta to refineries and port terminals in New Brunswick.

"It happens every time there's a Trudeau in office," he said, describing the disenfranchisement of regions like Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

"It's the same Ottawa-knows-best, centralizing, big-government approach that the Liberals are famous for."

Vancouver MP Andrew Saxton elicited a lusty cheer when he put it this way: "This Trudeau government," he said, "is as economically inept as the last Trudeau government."

On that point, everyone on stage agreed  including O'Leary.

"Nowhere does it say you have to tolerate mediocrity" in government, he said. "People are sick of politicians spinning them BS. That time is over, my friends. That's why I'm in this race. we are going to change it all, my friends."

In her opening salvo, Ontario MP Kellie Leitch, sitting at O'Leary's left elbow, made a point of "welcoming" him to the Conservative party and took a dig at his lack of party bona fides.

"There have been some news stories recently about non-Conservatives joining the party to stop me from leader," a spirited Leitch joked.

"I just never expected to be sitting beside one of them."

O'Leary, however, played it cool, refusing to rise to the bait of his rivals and instead focusing on issues that play to his background: fostering job creation and economic growth.

Businesses need "rich soil to plant the seed" in order to grow and flourish, something he said doesn't happen much in Atlantic Canada these days.

"You can't even grow a weed here any more," said O'Leary, whose candidacy has been compared to the unlikely political success of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Capital is fluid, he added  "It goes to the place of least resistance and most opportunity."
Photo: Contributed

A judge in Manitoba is to give his decision Monday in the case of a woman charged with disposing of the remains of six infants in a storage locker.

The Crown has painted Andrea Giesbrecht as a woman who took great pains to hide the remains and her pregnancies, while the defence has argued that she was saving the bodies  not disposing of them.

Giesbrecht pleaded not guilty to six counts of disposing of a body of a dead child with intent to conceal the delivery. The offence under Section 243 of the Criminal Code carries a jail term of up to two years.

The verdict by provincial court Judge Murray Thompson is to be live-streamed from the Winnipeg courthouse by media outlets.

Giesbrecht, 42, was arrested in October 2014 after employees at a U-Haul storage facility alerted police. Officers found the remains in garbage bags and other containers inside a locker she had rented.

Medical experts testified at her trial that DNA linked the infants to Giesbrecht and her husband. They said the babies were at or near full term and were probably born alive, but were so badly decomposed it was impossible to say for sure. They also couldn't determine how the babies died.

One child was put in a pail under concrete, while another was covered in a white powder that slowed decomposition but dried out the body and left it rock hard.

A third infant was little more than a pile of bones wrapped in a towel.

Crown attorney Debbie Buors said in her closing arguments that cement and detergent were used in some of the containers "to mask the smell of these remains so that employees of U-Haul wouldn't become suspicious."

She said towels, blankets and other household items stored with the remains also showed that the infants were probably born at Giesbrecht's home before they were taken to the storage locker.

"Clearly she had control and possession of these human remains."

The trial also heard that Giesbrecht, a mother of two, had 10 legal abortions between 1994 and 2011, as well as a miscarriage. A friend told court that Giesbrecht hid her pregnancies by wearing baggy clothes.

Her husband testified he was unaware of the six pregnancies connected to the charges. Jeremy Giesbrecht also said he thought his wife was hoarding furniture in the storage locker.

Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky didn't call any witnesses.

"These products of conception were never meant to be concealed," Brodsky said during closing arguments.

"To make sure they're kept in a storage locker ... is saving, not disposing. It's the opposite of disposing."
Photo: Contributed

The union representing Canada Border Services Agency workers in contract negotiations says talks have broken off after three days of mediation.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada says it's been at the bargaining table with the Treasury Board for more than two years.

PSAC says it's looking for the government to offer border agents the same benefits as other law enforcement officers, including the RCMP.

It says it's asking for a commitment to allow early retirement, and compensation and working conditions that match that of the RCMP.

PSAC says it represents about 8,000 workers.
Photo: Contributed

Canadian Food Inspection Agency has recalled a brand of baby food for potentially having a dangerous bacteria in it.

Loblaw Companies Limited recalled PC Organics brand Apple, Blueberry & Green Pea baby food on Friday as it may contain Clostridium botulinum.

The national recall was triggered by a consumer complaint. Products should be thrown out or returned to the store where it was purchased.

The baby food may not look or smell spoiled but can still cause an individual to be sick.

Symptoms being reported with the bacteria are nausea, vomiting, fatigue, dizziness, blurred or double vision, dry mouth, respiratory failure and paralysis.

CFIA is currently conducting a food safety investigation which may lead to the recall of other products.

If other high-risk products are recalled, the CFIA will notify the public through updated Food Recall Warnings, reads the alert.

CFIA says there has been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product as of yet.

For more information about the recall visit here.
The terrorist attack in Berlin on December 19 has given Germany's xenophobic parties ammunition against immigration and refugees. Following the massacre in the Christmas market, the Alternative for Germany party (AfD, in German) attributed the attack to Angela Merkel's asylum policy. A spokesman for the far right party appealed to the public not to react with a je suis Berlin attitude but to vote for the AfD in order to secure the country's borders.

The party was founded in 2012 by economists against the euro who favoured a return to national currencies and economic liberalism. After initially poor electoral results, and after a series of internal struggles, in 2015 the most extreme branch of the party under Frauke Petry came to prominence. At the same time, one of the party's more moderate founders, Bernd Lucke, abandoned ship due to what he saw as the infiltration of xenophobic extremists, anti-Semites and homophobes, from both the far right and the far left. Petry took control of the party and electoral results began to improve to the point that the latest polls suggest the party is on course to become the third party in the state. This chemist and entrepreneur born in 1975 in East Germany, has a tendency to use the Donald Trump tactic of accusing the media of constantly twisting her words to cast the party in a bad light. Thus, after the outrage caused by statements she made suggesting firearms should be used to protect the country's borders against the influx of refugees, Petry justified herself by saying it was a legal option she saw as a final resort that she hoped would not be required. Naturally, she put the blame on the Merkel government for not enforcing the border laws.

Using the media
A paramedic is celebrating his 30th year with the St. Francois County Ambulance District and its a job he always knew he would end up doing.

Paramedic James Easter, 56, dreamt of being a first responder when he was a young child. He grew up watching his father who was the fire chief for Elvins Fire Department.

It was just in my blood to do this, it was my life dream, said Easter. I have also been a volunteer firefighter with the Park Hills Fire Department since 1979. My wifes dad was the fire chief of Flat River when we got married, so I got on with the Flat River Fire Department and have been there ever since, through the consolidation and everything. I have been in every position over there from firefighter up to chief and back to firefighter.

Easter worked in radiology at Mineral Area Regional Medical Center for six years and decided one day that he didnt like being in the building all of the time, so he took the necessary steps and started working with the ambulance district in 1986.

I have seen numerous changes over the years, explained Easter. I have seen a lot of people come and go and I have seen a lot of equipment-style changes. Some of the bigger changes I have seen is back in 1986 we could only do a three lead EKG and now we can do 12 leads and we can fax those to the hospitals. If we are hauling someone who has an (Myocardial infarction) MI or acute myocardial infarction (AMI), which is commonly known as a heart attack, we have advanced care in the field now. That is something they had to wait to do until they got to the hospital 30 years ago.

Easter said a three lead EKG would give you three pictures of the heart and the 12 lead EKG now gives you 12 pictures of the heart. It has become a lot more advanced of an EKG, which can save lives.

We also have drugs we can sedate people with now if they have trouble breathing or head injuries or are combative, said Easter. Before we just had to take them in and do what we could with them. All of these things make a big difference.

Easter explained if they have a person who cant breathe, they can now sedate them and put a tube down their throat. Before they just had to nurse them to the hospital and the patient would have to wait to get that care at the hospital.

Now we can put them down and breathe for them, which is a lot easier on the patient, added Easter. I generally work in the back of the ambulance with the patients, unless I am with another paramedic. Right now I have an EMT partner, so anything that requires advanced life support, I am in the back with the patient. If it is a really bad call, the fire department will come out to help us. If necessary, we will pick a firefighter to drive and both of us will be in the back with the patient.

Over the years Easter has seen many things, but the most memorable call he can think of was delivering a baby. He said they received the call that a woman had gone into labor and they quickly responded to the house.

If I remember correctly, I think she had been to the hospital earlier that day and they told her it was false labor and sent her home, recalled Easter. She kept putting it off and then eventually she put it off too long. We delivered the baby there and then took them both to the hospital.

Easter said while he was shopping at Walmart about 14 years later, a woman approached him.

She asked me if I recognized the girl who was with her and I told her no maam, Im afraid I dont,' explained Easter. She told me I should since I delivered her 14 years ago. Its just one of those things that sticks with you and stands out in your mind. Its was really neat to see her so many years later.

Easter said probably one of the strangest calls he has ever been on was when a girl wrapped her car around a tree, but the car was on its side and the tree was in her lap.

It took us almost two and half hours to cut her out, stressed Easter. She was on a hillside and every time we tried to do a conventional extrication (cut-her out normally) we risked her car sliding off into this ditch.

Easter said they had to prop the car up and actually cut through the whole bottom of the cars floorboard to reach her safely.

We had to bring the whole drivers seat out and everything in order to get her out of the car, recalled Easter. That was a pretty interesting call and she is alive and well today. Thats one of the good moments. She did have some major injuries and we had her flown to St. Louis where they patched her up and eventually sent her back home.

Easter added there are people who had heart attacks and he said its pretty neat to see them still walking around today.

Especially when you see them in the store and can talk to them to see how they are doing, said Easter. Its things like this, that make the job worthwhile. There has been a lot of good times and bad times over the years. I think the worst part is seeing everyone leave. There have been a lot of people who have come through here the last 30 years. A lot of good EMTs and medics and they have moved on to other places. I hate to see them go.

Easter said even though he has been working with the district for 30 years now, he still has some years left in him.

Ill work until Im at least 59 years old, thats when I can access my retirement fund, said Easter. Until then I will keep doing what Im doing. My favorite part about the job is that every day there is something different and challenging. I like being out and about, you can never predict what will happen.

St. Francois County Ambulance District Administrator David Tetrault said the ambulance district has been providing exceptional emergency medical services care in St. Francois County for 40 years now.

With that comes some extraordinary employees, said Tetrault. We have grown from 10 personnel to well over 90 people over the years with our service. We honor James Easter for 30 years of service with SFCAD and the communities we serve. Congratulations from our Board of Directors and staff.

Tetrault said Easter is a person who can be depended on to get things done in a timely manner and it will be done the correct way with time to spare.

Jimmy is a can-do person, said Tetrault. He has the respect of the staff and exhibits excellent command and leadership capabilities. His willingness to step up to the plate means he is always prepared to finish or take over in a patient care event or emergency when needed.

Tetrault stressed he is pro-active rather than just reactive. Easter has dedicated his life to EMS and the communities they serve.

He provides excellent skills, making sure our team is ready, willing, and able to meet the ever-changing demands of emergency medical services, stressed Tetrault. Jimmy is like a celebrity, a Star of Life, here at St. Francois County Ambulance District.
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
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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.
A Hixson woman was one of two people revived by the same trio of Port Authority police officers at LaGuardia Airport on Saturday.

An 89-year-old man was Orlando suffered a heart attack and was found lying on the floor without a pulse, according to the New York Daily News.

Joseph Miranne, Jason Berrios and Anthony Oliveto performed CPR to revive the man, who was taken to a hospital.

Then the 67-year-old woman from Hixson had a heart attack while riding a bus outside Terminal C.

The same officers shocked the woman with a portable defibrillator to revive her.
A Gastonia, N.C., man came to Chattanooga after he said he made payments via Facebook for a truck he planned to buy.

The man said he sent a money gram via Walmart for $200 and another for $500.00 to an individual who was supposedly selling the truck.

The seller was listed as Alexandra Juan Thomas of 4707 Sabrina Lane, Hixson, he told police.

The man said Mr. Thomas was to deliver the truck to him in Gastonia. He said has not received the truck and now the seller's profile is gone from Facebook.

The North Carolina man said he had filed a report with the police in Gastonia and they told him to also file in Chattanooga.

* * *

At the Walmart on Highway 153, store personnel said Jeffrey L. Baggett was observed selecting assorted merchandise. He then passed all points of sale without paying for the items.

Baggett was then detained and cited in lieu of arrest for theft under $500.

The assorted meat he took was recovered. It was valued at $71.32.

* * *

At the McDonald's on Third Street a black male became aggressive in the lobby and threw his drink on the register.

This caused the system to crash and permanently damage the computer. Store personnel said it would cost around $1500 to replace it.

The man was later Identified by McDonald's staff to be Jerterrius Akridge. Warrants were obtained on Akridge for vandalism over $1,000.

* * *

Police answered a shoplifting call at Spencer's Gifts at Hamilton Place.

A loss prevention specialist said she observed Harold Maradiaga Ramirez, put a hat in his backpack and then walk out the door without paying for the hat. She immediately detained Ramirez, who admitted to her that he did in fact steal the hat.

While waiting for police, Ramirez also admitted to stealing two T-shirts from Hot Topic, which he had in his backpack. The Hot Topic store manager and an employee were notified and met police at Spencer's Gifts.

All items were recovered and given back to the respective stores.

Ramirez was issued a citation in lieu of arrest.

* * *

An E. 48th Street woman said she allowed one of her friends to take her vehicle to his shop to fix it earlier in the day. Her friend arrived at the house at 4 a.m. to get the vehicle.

Around 11:30 a.m., her friend returned saying his ex-girlfriend came to his shop and stole the vehicle.

The woman did not have a phone number for this friend or the location where he took the vehicle to have it fixed.

* * *

A black cloth-type bag was found in bushes outside Buffalo Wild Wings at 120 Market.

There was no ID along with the several hundred dollars inside.

The bag and cash were turned in to the police property room.

* * *

Tommy Fuget of 6th Avenue said an unknown suspect has stolen his vehicle.

He last saw the vehicle parked in the back of his house late at night.

He used a different vehicle when leaving for work the next morning, and, after returning home, realized his vehicle parked in the back yard had been taken.

It was a white 1995 Nissan Maxima.

A neighbor arrived on scene to find out why police were at the location and mentioned hearing a vehicle speeding off down the road earlier in the day around 11 a.m.

* * *

As the CVS Pharmacy on Lee Highway was closing an unknown white female stated her name was Jessica and she had worked there yesterday and left her name badge in the pharmacy.

The woman was allowed to walk into the pharmacy past the safe area and was seen videotaping with her phone as she walked past the safe.

The woman who let her in said she did not know if the woman actually worked at the store or not because she was off and there have been floaters in the area. The woman was accompanied by an unknown male who attempted to hide his face as he walked by the camera.

The store employee said the whole incident was strange, and she requested the incident be documented.

The woman was described as approximately 5'1", 115 pounds, with long dark hair. The white male was about 5'10", 160 pounds, with dark hair.

* * *

At Patten Towers on E. 11th Street, police spoke to a woman who said that her neighbor had been talking to her grandmother telling her that she drinks Dr. Peppers.

The complaintant said that upset her "because she does not want Lina telling everyone what she is doing all the time."

An officer told the woman it is "OK if she wants to drink Dr. Peppers. It is not illegal."

He advised the woman not to let Lina in her apartment again to see what she is drinking.
Find new books and literate friends with Shelfari, the online book club.
Last summer, on my way to Kilimanjaro, my flight from Washington, D.C., to New York was canceled and rescheduled by JetBlue.

The rescheduled flight didn't work because I would have missed our international flight. I contacted my booking agent immediately, and since JetBlue didn't have any workable flights, I ended up taking a train to New York.

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I have been waiting to hear about a refund for this portion of our travel for months. My travel agent has submitted a request for a refund but has not been able to give me any information beyond that he's waiting for a response.

I thought I was waiting on JetBlue, but I found out today that I'm actually waiting for Qatar Airways, its partner airline. Can you please look into this matter for me?

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 Wendy Bell, Takoma Park, Md.

A: Did you say "last summer?" That's a long time to be waiting for a refund, even from an international airline.

I know you've probably heard this before, but it merits repeating: Refunds like yours should happen quickly. An airline is required to forward a credit to your card company within seven business days after receiving a complete refund application. It may take your card up to two billing cycles to credit you, but that's another story.

Your requests to JetBlue ended in disappointment and with conflicting information. The airline sent you a form letter, saying it allows "20 business days for processing and an additional 7-10 business days for delivery" of a refund. "However, since this was booked through a third party, your agency will need to process the refund according to their procedures and possibly the other airline on the ticket."

Being a "partner" allows Qatar to sell a ticket from your airport all the way through to your destination, as if it's being operated by Qatar (even though your plane says "JetBlue" on it). The benefit of codesharing is that you can treat both airlines as if they are one  except when they don't feel like it. And in this particular case, maybe Qatar just didn't feel like it.

The money should have been sent to you quickly without anyone asking. You did the right thing by roping your travel agent into this. He should have known that Qatar had your money and asked for it as soon as possible. It looks like he finally figured out where to go for your refund at roughly the same time you contacted me.

Your refund request might have benefitted from a little push by you. I list the executive contacts for both JetBlue and Qatar on my advocacy website, http://elliott.org/company-contacts/qatar-airways/ and http://elliott.org/company-contacts/jetblue.

Your agent was as frustrated as you were. His airline contact told him that it is Qatar's policy to refund tickets within three months. If that's true, then it's a violation of Transportation Department regulations.

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I contacted your agent on your behalf; that seemed to do the trick. A refund of $274 was processed. Separately, one other member of your party who also had been delayed received help and a refund after contacting the airline through the help forum on my consumer-advocacy website. I'm glad your wait is over.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the author of "How to Be the World's Smartest Traveler." You can read more travel tips on his blog, www.elliott.org, or email him at chris@elliott.org.
Illinois State Police are investigating a shooting on Interstate 290 near Forest Park and Oak Park after a person sought treatment for a gunshot wound at Mount Sinai Hospital.

About 3:15 a.m. Sunday, a person was taken to Mount Sinai to be treated for a gunshot wound to the calf, troopers said. The person told officials the shooting took place on I-290.

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Information about the person's gender and age was not released.

Troopers initially searched the interstate near Austin Boulevard, but they were not able to find any evidence of a shooting.

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They later searched for evidence on the inbound lanes between Des Plaines Avenue and Harlem Avenue, state police said. As of Sunday morning, state police had not made a determination as to where exactly the shooting took place.

The shooting remains under investigation.

Check back for updates.
Excerpts from the article that I think are particularly cogent:

"Even in the early days of the Presidential campaign it was a ludicrous idea: that Donald Trump was now a Christian; that hed miraculously found Jesus right at the time he needed to pull in millions of Evangelical voters. Never mind that his life showed an open contempt for most of the things the Jesus of the Gospels lived and preached: humility, generosity, respect, empathy, kindness, peace.



The high profile-evangelists in his corner assured their rightly alarmed flocks, that behind the scenes Donnie was changed man, a baby Christian whod now seen the light and was making his way down the narrow road of faith to lead us all to the Promised Land (where curiously America was first and everyone was white.)



Sure, he was on his third marriage and was heard on video boasting of his infidelity to his current wife. Yes, he said he could grab a woman by the genitalia. Yes, he advocated that protesters at his rallies be roughed up. Sure, he made fun of a disabled man. Certainly, he talked about walling off Mexicans and banning Muslims and taking away healthcarebut Donnie loved Jesus now, so all should be well with our souls."



This may be one man's opinion but it sounds like gospel to me. I have never understood the hypocrisy of his Christian voters. They could overlook his VAST unethical, immoral lifestyle, even when the vile video was released. It's astonishing.
A sub shop worker has been ordered released on bond with electronic home monitoring after authorities said he shot and paralyzed a 15-year-old boy who robbed him at gunpoint in a drug deal moments earlier.



Jonathan A. Ramos, 22, was charged with aggravated battery for the shooting that happened at about 6:40 p.m. Wednesday in the 3700 block of West Lawrence Avenue in the Albany Park neighborhood, authorities said.



On Saturday, Judge Donald Panarese Jr. ordered Ramos, of the Avondale neighborhood, held on $100,000 pending his release on home electronic monitoring. Ramos is scheduled to return to court next Wednesday.



Police said the incident began when Ramos went to the 3800 block of West Lawrence Avenue to sell the teen 8 grams of marijuana. The teen then pulled a handgun and robbed Ramos before fleeing on foot, Assistant State's Attorney Jullian Brevard said.



Ramos then chased after the teen, tackling the youth about a block away, prosecutors said. Ramos began punching the teen before taking away the .45-caliber handgun he was carrying and pistol-whipping the boy with it. Ramos then stood over the teen and shot him in the back, authorities said.

The teen was first taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston before being transferred to Lurie Children's Hospital, authorities said. The boy is paralyzed from the chest down, Brevard told the court.



Ramos was also charged with manufacture and delivery of cannabis because he planned to sell marijuana to the teen.



Before setting bail, the judge, seeking clarity, asked whether the teen who was shot was also the offender, which prosecutors affirmed. Ramos, a clerk at a Northwest Side sub shop, has no prior criminal record.
People remove snow from their house in Ghazni, Afghanistan, on Feb. 5, 2017. Dozens of people were killed across Afghanistan after three days of continued snowfall. (Ghulam Mustafa / EPA)

KABUL, Afghanistan  A string of avalanches and snowstorms has killed scores of people in Afghanistan in the past two days, blocking key roads across the country and canceling all flights at Kabul Airport, officials said Sunday.

Some 50 people lost their lives to avalanches in the rugged and remote province of Nurestan in one village on Sunday, its governor, Hafiz Abdul Qayoum, told Radio Liberty.

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There were reports of deaths in Parwan, to the north of Kabul; Badakhshan in the northeast; and several other parts of the country. The total number of dead is about 100, the minister for national disaster management, Wais Ahmad Barmak, told reporters.

His deputy, Mohammad Aslam, said scores of houses were also destroyed and damaged by the disaster.

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"We have to complete an assessment of the situation and send emergency aid where we can as soon as possible," Aslam said by phone.

The inaccessibility of some mountainous areas and the closure of many roads linking scores of villages with provincial capitals were obstructing the delivery of assistance where it is badly needed, he said.

Dozens of cars and buses were stranded for hours along one highway west of Kabul while heavy snow fell, measuring a yard and a half in some places. The Salang tunnel, which links Kabul with the northern region, was closed, witnesses and officials said.

Ice and snow shut Kabul airport. The power supply was also interrupted in some areas of the capital.

Despite the loss of so many lives, the snowfall was welcomed by many across the disaster-prone country, which is suffering from years of drought and acute water shortages.

The Washington Post
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will emphasize the need for a united international response to Iran's ballistic missile tests when he meets with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday, just days ahead of his White House visit with President Donald Trump.

"On the diplomatic front, my emphasis will be on assembling a partnership against Iran's defiant aggression, which has reared its head in recent days," Netanyahu told cabinet ministers at their weekly meeting Sunday in Jerusalem, according to a text message from his office.

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Netanyahu was scheduled to leave for London on Sunday to meet with May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. They will also discuss strengthening security, trade and technology ties between Israel and the U.K., he said. The Israeli leader said last week that Iran will be at the top of his agenda when he meets Trump on Feb. 15.

Having failed to block world powers' 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Netanyahu is trying to drum up international support for a harder line against Tehran now that Trump has taken office. The U.S. president, who has denounced the pact as a "disaster" and said he will scrap it or renegotiate it, imposed new penalties on Iran on Friday after it acknowledged carrying out a ballistic missile test.

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The launch was the first test of the fledgling Trump administration's policy on Iran and it has escalated frictions between the two nations. The testing falls outside the purview of the nuclear deal, and Iran has said it didn't violate a related United Nations Security Council resolution that extended a ban on any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear payload.

Iran has denied ever having a nuclear weapons program, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said his country's missiles aren't designed to carry nuclear warheads and are solely meant for self-defense.

The Iranian military carried out further missile tests on Saturday after Trump applied sanctions to 13 individuals and 12 companies or government entities in response to the original launch. While the actions were limited in scope, and appeared to be an extension of the Obama administration's restricted penalties for missile activity, his language sounded a warning: "Iran is playing with fire -- they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me," he tweeted.

Iran parried with tough talk of its own. "If the enemy falls out of line, our missiles will pour down on them, Amir Ali Jahizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' aerospace division, was cited as saying.

Netanyahu, aboard the plane to London, heralded "a new era of diplomatic opportunities and challenges."

"I'm going to explore them in Washington next week and London tomorrow," he said. "The Iranians know what I'm talking about and they're testing the boundaries."

Bloomberg
President Donald Trump offered a fulsome defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend, leaving Republican lawmakers frustrated and flummoxed yet again by the president's warm feelings toward the rival nation.

In a Fox News interview, Trump, who during the campaign repeatedly praised Putin, again said he respected the Russian leader and hoped to get along with Moscow, and he seemed to equate the United States with its adversary when pressed by host Bill O'Reilly, who said, "But he's a killer though. Putin's a killer."

"There are a lot of killers," Trump said, in an interview that aired Sunday before the Super Bowl. "We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?"

Trump's comments came even as his United Nations envoy, Nikki Haley, on Thursday condemned Russia's "aggressive actions" in eastern Ukraine and as both the Senate and House intelligence committees launched investigations into alleged hacking by Russia of the U.S. election that the intelligence community believes was intended to benefit Trump.

The issue of Russia dogged Trump's presidential campaign - including after a news conference where he suggested that Russia hack Hillary Clinton's emails - and his latest comments left Capitol Hill Republicans scrambling to distance themselves from the president and his unusually friendly stance toward Putin, who has praised the president as a "smart" man.

In an interview with CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Putin "a former KGB agent" and "a thug," and he rejected any comparison between the two nations, citing Russia's annexation of Crimea, its incursions into Ukraine and its interference in the U.S. presidential election.

"I don't think there's any equivalency between the way that the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does," McConnell said.

The senator added that while he hoped not to "critique the president's every utterance," he found significant differences between the two nations. "I do think America is exceptional. America is different," McConnell said. "We don't operate in any way the way the Russians do. I think there's a clear distinction here that all Americans understand, and no, I would not have characterized it that way."

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was similarly wary. "Speaker Ryan has consistently and frequently spoken out on Russia and Putin and made his opinions well known, including the need for continued sanctions," spokeswoman AshLee Strong said Sunday.

She pointed to Ryan's comments at a CNN town hall broadcast last month, where he called Russia a "global menace" and said Putin "does not share our interests; he frustrates our interests."

"Let me put it this way, the Russians are up to no good, we all know that," Ryan said, responding to a question about Russia's election meddling. "We've got to make sure going forward that we do everything we can on cyber, on all of the other things to make sure that they can't do this again."

Congressional Republicans have broken with Trump over dozens of controversial statements he has made during his campaign, his transition and now his presidency. But few issues appear to have confounded lawmakers as much as his consistent defense of Putin. Trump's coziness is at odds with years of Republican foreign policy orthodoxy calling for a more aggressive stance toward Putin's regime.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., weighed in on Twitter with two missives that he personally penned. "When has a Democratic political activists ever been poisoned by the GOP or vice versa? We are not the same as #Putin," he wrote. In a second tweet, he said the United States should lift sanctions on Russia only if it ends its violations in Ukraine.

And Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wy., the daughter of former Vice President Richard Cheney, also took to Twitter to say that Trump's "statement suggesting moral equivalence between Putin's Russia and the United States of America is deeply troubling and wrong."

Appearing on four Sunday shows, Vice President Mike Pence rejected the notion that Trump had equated Russia to the United States.

"I simply don't accept that there was any moral equivalency in the president's comments," Pence said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "There was no moral equivalency. What you heard there was a determination to attempt to deal with the world as it is - to start afresh with Putin and to start afresh with Russia."

Pressed by John Dickerson, the show's host, on whether he believed the United States was morally superior to Russia, Pence repeatedly dodged the question, instead finally saying, "American ideals are superior to countries all across the world."

Pence, who would not commit to maintaining sanctions against Russia if it continues to violate a cease-fire agreement in Ukraine, nonetheless took a slightly harder line than the president on Russia.

Asked on ABC's "This Week" whether the White House planned to put Russia on notice, as it had Iran, over violating the cease-fire, Pence said, "We're watching, and very troubled by the increased hostilities over the past week in eastern Ukraine."

But he also broadly defended his boss, saying, "There's a new style of leadership, not just a new leader in the White House."

"President Trump is bringing a very candid - and direct type of leadership to the White House," Pence said. "And in conversations with leaders around the world, frankly, I think they all find it very refreshing."

Not everyone seemed to agree. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who ran against Trump during the 2016 Republican primaries, issued a sharp rebuke on Twitter. "America has been a beacon of light and freedom," he wrote. "There is no equivalence with the brutal regime of Vladimir Putin."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., even called for an investigation by the FBI into Trump's financial, personal and political connections to Russia.

"I want to know what the Russians have on Donald Trump," she said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We want to see his tax returns so we can have truth in the relationship between Putin, whom he admires, and Donald Trump."
PARIS  The father of an Egyptian man accused of attacking French soldiers guarding Paris' Louvre museum says he trusts the French judiciary to find out the truth behind his son's alleged involvement.



Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy told The Associated Press late Saturday that his 28-year-old son Abdullah is not a terrorist and that he leads a normal life with his wife and infant son.



Speaking at the family home in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, north of Cairo, the father said "if he is convicted, God be with us. But if he is innocent, they owe us an apology."



The Paris prosecutor's office says the attacker was shot four times Friday after injuring a soldier patrolling an underground mall near the famous museum but his injuries are no longer life-threatening.



Associated Press
WASHINGTON  Vice President Mike Pence seemed to break slightly with President Donald Trump over the question of Russia on Sunday, taking a harder line than the president on how to handle Russia's incursion into Ukraine.

"We're watching," Pence said, when asked on ABC's "This Week" whether the White House plans to put Russia on notice, as it has Iran, over violating the cease-fire in Ukraine. "And very troubled by the increased hostilities over the past week in eastern Ukraine."

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Although Pence would not commit to maintaining sanctions against Russia if it continues to violate the cease-fire agreement - "I think that's a question that will be answered," he said - the vice president's answer differed from the one Trump gave in an interview with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly, which will air before the Super Bowl.

In that interview, pressed by the host about Russian President Vladimir Putin's harsh tactics - "Putin's a killer," O'Reilly said - Trump seemed to suggest a moral equivalency between the United States and Russia. "There are a lot of killers," Trump said. "We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?"

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On CBS' "Face the Nation," Pence rejected the notion that Trump had equated Russia and the United States.

"I simply don't accept that there was any moral equivalency in the president's comments," Pence said. "There was no moral equivalency. What you heard there was a determination to attempt to deal with the world as it is - to start afresh with Putin and to start afresh with Russia."

On NBC's "Meet the Press," Pence defended the administration's travel ban, which has encountered legal challenges after being blocked nationwide by a federal district court in Seattle on Friday night, a ruling that was upheld early Sunday by a federal appeals court.

"We're very confident the president's operating within his authority as president, both under the Constitution and under clear statutory law," Pence said. "That's what's so frustrating about the decision."

Asked by the show's host, Chuck Todd, why the administration doesn't simply withdraw its original executive order - which was drafted largely in secret without much input from the various agencies tasked with implementing it and caused chaos and confusion as soon as it was announced - Pence defended the directive as critical to the nation's security.

"It was not done hastily," he said. "There may have been some leaders on Capitol Hill that were not informed in the usual niceties of Washington D.C. But look, we live in a very dangerous world. The reality is there the people around the globe who have inspired violence here in the homeland."

Pence also defended his boss more broadly Sunday, telling "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos that "there's a new style of leadership, not just a new leader in the White House."

"President Trump is bringing a very candid and direct type of leadership to the White House" Pence said. "And in conversations with leaders around the world, frankly, I think they all find it very refreshing."

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Turning to the topic of Neil Gorsuch, the White House's nominee for the Supreme Court, Pence said he had not specifically asked the judge about Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 abortion-rights case.

"I did not," he said. "What the president charged us to do was to find someone who had the background, the experience, the unimpeachable credentials, the character, but also just to be faithful to the Constitution as written."

Pence appeared on four Sunday political shows, spurning only CNN.

The Washington Post
President Donald J. Trump speaks on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 28, 2017. (MICHAEL REYNOLDS / EPA)

After a federal appeals court on Sunday rejected President Trump's emergency bid to reinstate his contentious travel ban, the White House signaled fresh determination to push forward in a legal dispute that is fast becoming a test of executive power.

Meanwhile, visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries targeted by Trump's temporary ban hurried to board U.S.-bound airplanes to seize what they feared might be a brief opportunity to enter the country.

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Trump's 10-day-old directive  which also temporarily halted the arrival of all refugees coming to the U.S.  sparked worldwide debate over religious discrimination, briefly locked out tens of thousands of valid U.S. visa holders and rattled some close U.S. allies.

It remains in abeyance after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco early Sunday rejected an emergency request by the Justice Department to stay an order by a Seattle federal judge that had blocked implementation of the ban.

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The legal fight will continue in the coming days. Though it turned down Trump's request for an immediate reinstatement of the ban, the 9th Circuit will still consider the administration's appeal and asked for responses and counter-responses from both sides by Monday.

Several courts around the country have questioned whether parts of the ban are discriminatory. The White House and many Republicans defend it as necessary for national security.

But despite the administration's attempts to stay on message as a broader constitutional confrontation loomed, the president himself  as has happened often in his nascent administration  proved a potent source of distraction over the weekend through his comments and tweets.

Some Republicans moved Sunday to distance themselves from two days of repeated attacks by Trump against the Seattle federal judge, James Robart, who blocked the ban's implementation Friday.

"Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!" Trump said Sunday on Twitter. A day earlier he referred to the Republican-appointed jurist as a "so-called judge."

Also grabbing attention was Trump's inflammatory comparison of Russian President Vladimir Putin's deadly reprisals against domestic enemies with American acts of violence.

Asked by Fox News' Bill O'Reilly why Trump had such respect for the Russian leader when "Putin's a killer," Trump responded, "We've got a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent?"

He went on to reference the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. "Take a look at what we've done too. We've made a lot of mistakes."

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In the same interview, Trump renewed his threat to strip federal funding from California if it proceeds with a proposal to resist Trump's deportation plans for immigrants here illegally and become the first sanctuary state.

"California in many ways is out of control," Trump said.

The result of Trump's latest remarks was that Vice President Mike Pence and other Republicans found themselves spending as much time defending and explaining the president's comments as advocating for the travel ban.

Democrats expressed dismay over Trump's Twitter attacks against the judge, saying they suggested the president did not respect the independence of the judiciary.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," said Trump's ban should have been handled in consultation with Congress. She expected the matter to eventually end up in the Supreme Court  meaning the entire flap could color confirmation hearings for Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch.

"The president is not a dictator," Feinstein said. "The framers of our Constitution wanted a strong Congress for the very reason that most of these kinds of things should be done within the scope of lawmaking."

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Most Republicans defended the need for a travel ban, though many questioned how it had been rolled out, causing chaos and confusion in airports and embassies worldwide.

Several GOP lawmakers took issue with Trump's personal attacks on the judge and his comments about Putin, rejecting any moral comparison between the Russian leader and the U.S.

"I don't understand language like that," Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said on ABC's "This Week." "We don't have so-called judges. We don't have so-called senators. We don't have so-called presidents."

Sasse also expressed dismay at Trump's remarks about Putin.

"There is no moral equivalency between the United States of America, the greatest freedom-loving nation in the history of the world, and the murderous thugs that are in Putin's defense of his cronyism," Sasse said. "There's no moral equivalency there."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," said he wasn't going to "critique every utterance" of Trump's, but didn't defend him either. "I obviously don't see this issue the same way he does," he said. "America is different  we don't operate in any way the way the Russians do."

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McConnell also raised concerns over restricting travel. "The courts are going to decide whether the executive order the president issued is valid or not," the Kentucky Republican said. "There is a fine line here between proper vetting and interfering with the kind of travel or suggesting some kind of religious test. And we need to avoid doing that kind of thing."

Pressed about Trump's criticism of the judge, Pence downplayed Trump's tweets, saying in an interview on "This Week" that the American people were "very accustomed to this president speaking his mind."

Pence also defended the decision-making process behind the travel ban, one of a flurry of executive orders in Trump's first days in the Oval Office.

"I think the early days of this administration are going to be described in history books as days of action," the vice president said.

He said the White House would abide by the court's decision, but he expressed unhappiness over what he described as judicial efforts to improperly interfere with the president's authority.

"It's just very frustrating to the president, to our whole administration, to millions of Americans who want to see judges that will uphold the law and recognize the authority the president of the United States has under the Constitution to manage who comes into this country," Pence said in another interview, on NBC's "Meet the Press."

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The travel ban affected some 60,000 valid visas. They were first canceled as a result of the president's Jan. 27 directive and then reinstated following Robart's order.

Over the weekend, some travelers who had previously been turned away were able to rebook travel to the United States, setting the stage for some joyous reunions. Friends and family of Yemeni-born Ahmed Alamry waited eagerly for him at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday.

It had taken Alamry nearly nine years to get a visa to join his wife, who is studying to be a doctor in the United States. After being waved off when the ban was imposed, he was finally en route.

"This takes a toll on everyone," said a waiting friend, Abdonasser Almasmary, who worked as a New York City police officer and now leads a local Yemeni American group.

"This is a great nation built on immigrants," he said. "That's what makes us great."

Immigration advocacy groups have urged those holding visas to travel as soon as possible because the legal outlook remained uncertain.

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Court challenges to the ban are underway in a dozen other venues around the country, but the Seattle ruling was the most sweeping. Groups including the American Civil Liberties Union say they hope to overturn the travel ban on constitutional grounds.

In Florida, where Trump is having a golf getaway, the president told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday night that he expected his order to ultimately stand.

"We'll win," he said. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

laura.king@latimes.com

Twitter: @laurakingLAT

Los Angeles Times staff writer Lisa Mascaro in Washington and special correspondent Matt Hansen in New York contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump travels aboard Marine One to Dover Air Force Base, Del. on Feb. 1, 2017 to meet withfamily members of Chief of Special Warfare Operator William "Ryan" Owens, 36, of Peoria, Ill, the U.S. service member who was killed in a raid in Yemen. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP)

CAIRO  A U.S. commando raid in Yemen that set off a fierce firefight revealed the growing strength of an al-Qaida affiliate that has targeted both the United States and Europe in recent years.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, as the branch is known, had collected enough intelligence to anticipate the raid last weekend, Yemeni officials and analysts said. The militants also had the firepower to counterattack from their bastion, which was surrounded by land mines and other traps.

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By the end of the raid, a Navy SEAL was dead and three other American troops were wounded. Yemeni officials said that as many as 30 civilians, including 10 women and children, were also killed. Among them was the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni American al-Qaida leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.

The Pentagon initially said it could not confirm reports of civilian casualties, but it acknowledged on Wednesday that civilians were "likely killed" in the raid, which took place in remote Bayda province.

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(The Washington Post)

The raid and civilian casualties have triggered widespread anger across Yemen toward Washington, adding to tensions over President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens of Yemen and six other majority-Muslim countries. Yemenis have posted photos on social media of children purportedly killed in the attack.

In the capital, Sanaa, where anti-American slogans are scrawled on billboards and walls across the city, the raid appeared to unify Yemenis, a rare occurrence these days in the fractured country.

"What happened caused more anger and hatred toward America," said Bassam Mahmoud, 40, a government employee. "America has no right to carry out any military action in our country. This a serious violation for our country's sovereignty and is totally unacceptable."

On Thursday, the watchdog group Amnesty International called for Secretary of Defense James Mattis to launch an investigation into the civilian deaths, and, if appropriate, "prosecute those responsible."

The raid was the first counterterrorism operation greenlighted by Trump, and he hailed it as a success. But regional analysts say it could help AQAP gain sympathy and support from local populations.

"The use of U.S. troops and the high number of civilian casualties ... are deeply inflammatory," April Longley Alley, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, wrote on its website this week, "and breed anti-American resentment across the Yemeni political spectrum that works to the advantage of AQAP."

The militant group, which U.S. officials consider al-Qaida's most dangerous branch, seized large swaths of southern Yemen in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring revolts that topped longtime autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh. Now, with Yemen cripped by a two-year-old civil war, AQAP has expanded its reach even more, gaining territory and recruits and deepening its influence and networks among local tribes.

Al-Qaida in Yemen "is stronger than it has ever been," the International Crisis Group said, adding that the militants are "thriving in an environment of state collapse, growing sectarianism, shifting alliances, security vacuums and a burgeoning war economy."

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AQAP was behind some of the most audacious assaults against the West in recent years, including a failed attempt to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009. It also asserted responsibility for the deadly 2015 shootings at the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

Also of concern is an emerging Islamic State affiliate that has staged numerous suicide bombings against Yemeni military and government officials in the south, especially in the port city of Aden.

Together, the groups "emerged arguably as the biggest winners of the failed political transition and civil war that followed," the report said.

The ill-fated raid was an indicator of how much the political fallout from the Arab revolts has weakened U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Yemen. As the nation slid toward civil war, Washington scaled back on counterterrorism training, intelligence-gathering and advising of Yemeni forces. The conflict pits an alliance of northern rebels known as Houthis and Saleh loyalists against forces nominally loyal to President Abed Raboo Mansour Hadi, who is leading a government in exile. The United States, along with a regional coalition led by Saudi Arabia, is seeking to restore Hadi to power.

Today, a small contingent of U.S. special operations forces is helping Hadi's government and regional units combat AQAP and the Islamic State.

U.S. counterterrorism efforts during the Obama administration mostly involved drone strikes targeting the radical groups. Many AQAP leaders and operatives were killed, but the overall strategy did little to neutralize the radical groups.

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Analysts say it is unclear what broader strategy the Trump administration will employ, but that it appears he might also heavily rely on drones and special operations.

"Yet drone attacks have shown limited effectiveness and a propensity to backfire politically when they cause high civilian casualties," wrote Alley, adding that the strikes have "failed" to stop AQAP's "rapid growth - in large part because the opportunities provided by the war outstrip its losses."

AQAP has forged alliances with influential Sunni groups and tribes, often with cash payments. It earns revenue from smuggling goods into Yemen, where an air, sea and land blockade is being enforced by the Saudi-led coalition. In particular, the militants are covertly embedded into local community and within militias battling the Houthi and their allies.

To prevent alienating people, the group has stopped enforcing its rigid Islamic codes in some areas, wrote Michael Horton, a Yemen analyst, in last month's issue of CTC Sentinel, a magazine published by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

Horton, who described AQAP as "better funded and armed than at any point in its history," said the group is bolstering its intelligence and counterintelligence cells, while creating a network of informants and sympathizers, even in areas were the group no longer rules.

In Bayda, where the U.S. raid unfolded, AQAP exploited tribal rivalries, "leveraging its access to arms, funds, and the military acumen of some of its ranking members in exchange for safe havens," according to Horton.

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But many of the tribesmen were likely supporting AQAP because of its fight against the Houthis and Saleh loyalists and not because it has targeted the West.

In fact, the United States is providing weapons, intelligence and other support to those fighting the Houthis and Saleh. But even U.S. allies condemned the raid, which left as many as 13 militants dead, including an AQAP leader named Abdulra'oof Aldahab.

"Killing outside the law and killing civilians is a condemned act and supports terrorism," Abdulmalik Almekhlafi, the foreign minister in Hadi's government, said in a tweet this week.

The Washington Post Ali Al-Mujahed in Sanaa, Yemen, contributed to this report.
Spirited protests against President Trump and his policies, particularly his administration's controversial travel ban, were held around the world and across the United States again Saturday.

The largely peaceful rallies overseas drew thousands of people in places such as London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Jakarta and Manila.

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Marching in London behind a banner reading "Stop Trump's Muslim Ban," tens of thousands of people first gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy and then paraded about two miles through the government quarter to the prime minister's residence at Downing Street to demand the British government withdraw Prime Minister Theresa May's invitation to Trump to visit this year.

Police in Berlin said 1,200 anti-Trump protesters took part in a rally through the center of the city that ended in front of the U.S. Embassy and next to the landmark Brandenburg Gate in the heart of the German capital where the Berlin Wall that divided the city once stood.

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"We say no to a ban on immigrants and we say no to walls," read one poster in Berlin, referring to Trump's vows to build a wall on the Mexican border.

The crowd in Berlin, where about 16,000 Americans and many former U.S. soldiers live, chanted, "Refugees in, racists out," after one speaker told the gathering, "We will fight with all our might to overturn this ban permanently."

There were also major demonstrations against the administration's travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries for a second weekend in a row across the United States in cities such as New York, Washington, San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Denver, Salt Lake City and Philadelphia.

The rallies took place even after a federal judge in Seattle on Friday issued a temporary restraining order against parts of Trump's week-old executive order, which affected travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The Department of Homeland Security said it had suspended "any and all actions" related to the controversial travel ban.

The Trump administration late Saturday filed a notice of appeal of the judge's order and has said that the president's actions were lawful.

Emotions against Trump's controversial policies are running high in many places that look to the United States for leadership and support.

Nerves are especially raw in Germany, a country where fears of war are traditionally high as a result of the devastation the Nazi regime caused during World War II.

Trump's actions and tough talk on a number of issues in his first two weeks have deeply unsettled many Germans, a sentiment reflected by Der Spiegel magazine with its publication of a cover illustration showing a Trump-like figure beheading the Statue of Liberty.

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In France, where President Francois Hollande has spoken out against Trump, saying the new U.S. administration is "encouraging populism and extremism," about 1,000 demonstrators and a large group of American expats took part in a march against Trump in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

In the Philippines, protesters burned a giant portrait of Trump at a rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Manila, the capital. Some protesters carried a large banner that read: "Fight Trump! Resist fascism and imperialism!"

In Indonesia, students and activists called on the government in Jakarta and the international community to intervene to thwart Trump's order to ban travelers from the seven countries.

Kirschbaum is a special correspondent.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump has spent the better part of the last 24 hours bashing a Washington state judge's decision to temporarily halt his travel ban executive order.



First came a White House statement calling the ruling "outrageous" (the word was later taken out). Then came Trump's many tweets, which were scattered throughout the day Saturday and actually seemed to question the judge's authority. And then, in its appeal, the Trump administration said the lower-court judge shouldn't be "second-guessing" the president.



The administration is complying with the order. But Trump's tweets and this type of rhetoric about the judge's authority begs the question: What if it didn't? What if Trump -- or any president -- decided too much was at stake or that he didn't recognize (in his words) "this so-called judge's" authority?



It's something experts on executive authority have been chewing over. Given Trump's populist campaign, admiration for authoritarian leaders and expressed skepticism toward the political establishment, some think it's it's possible he takes on the judicial establishment, too.





"They're spoiling for a fight, and that's what populists do," said Daniel P. Franklin, a professor at Georgia State University. "And I think that's the way it plays out -- maybe not on this issue, but on something."



I'll emphasize upfront that the Trump administration has given no indication that they'll actually ignore this particular court order -- or any other. (They're appealing, and the 9th Circuit declined to immediately reinstate the ban early Sunday morning.) And doing so would take things further than most any president ever has; Franklin said he's not aware of when a president "purposely ignored a direct court order."



But sometimes presidents have interpreted court decisions in ways that lead to discord between branches of government, leading to the threat of constitutional crises.



The most oft-cited example of a president allegedly ignoring a court ruling just happens to involve the populist president that Trump's team seems most interested in comparing to Trump: Andrew Jackson.



After the Supreme Court and Justice John Marshall struck down a Georgia law that allowed for the seizure of Native American lands, saying it violated federal treaties, Jackson ignored it or at least initially declined to get involved -- depending upon the account. He is remembered to have said, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it," though there is debate about the accuracy of that quote.

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According to Native American scholar Frank Pommersheim:



"While others consider the statement apocryphal, there is no doubt that President Jackson supported Georgia's claimed sovereignty over Cherokee land. The constitutional imbroglio was only averted when the impending nullification crisis convinced President Jackson that such a constitutional crisis was not in the national interest."



An earlier and plainer example also involved Marshall -- and a Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson. Jeffrey Rosen wrote for PBS that a showdown between the two pitted Jefferson's federalist views against Marshall's view that the Supreme Court had authority over all U.S. laws:



"The culmination of Marshall's national vision came in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), in which he wrote an opinion for a unanimous Court upholding Congress' power to charter the Bank of the United States. Marshall resurrected the same arguments that Alexander Hamilton had used to persuade George Washington to charter the bank over Jefferson's objections: namely, that the Constitution gives Congress the authority to pass all laws 'necessary and proper' for executing its constitutional powers, and that those words should be construed broadly, in a practical spirit.  Although the decision was popular in the middle and Northern states, it precipitated a backlash against the Court in the Southern and Western states.



"Jefferson's reaction to McCulloch was especially peevish and extreme. He endorsed attacks on the decision published by the radical states' rights partisans Spencer Roane and John Taylor, agreeing that the Supreme Court had no power to review the constitutionality of state laws or to second-guess the decisions of state courts. Later, he seemed to deny entirely the Supreme Court's power to hand down binding interpretations of the Constitution. This proved too radical for Jefferson's protege, James Madison, who wrote to his patron that he had no doubt that the framers of the Constitution intended the federal courts to be a final arbiter of conflicts between federal and state law. On his deathbed, just before he expired on July 4, 1826, Jefferson criticized Madison for being too accommodating."





Another potential parallel involves Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War. From history.com:



"John Merryman, a state legislator from Maryland, is arrested for attempting to hinder Union troops from moving from Baltimore to Washington during the Civil War and is held at Fort McHenry by Union military officials. His attorney immediately sought a writ of habeas corpus so that a federal court could examine the charges. However, President Abraham Lincoln decided to suspend the right of habeas corpus, and the general in command of Fort McHenry refused to turn Merryman over to the authorities.



"Federal judge Roger Taney, the chief justice of the Supreme Court (and also the author of the infamous Dred Scott decision), issued a ruling that President Lincoln did not have the authority to suspend habeas corpus. Lincoln didn't respond, appeal, or order the release of Merryman. But during a July 4 speech, Lincoln was defiant, insisting that he needed to suspend the rules in order to put down the rebellion in the South.



"Five years later, a new Supreme Court essentially backed Justice Taney's ruling: In an unrelated case, the court held that only Congress could suspend habeas corpus and that civilians were not subject to military courts, even in times of war."



If Trump were to ever go down this road, Franklin said, the ultimate arbiter would be the other, third, branch of government. He said Trump could be held in contempt of court, and it would then be up to the House of Representatives.

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"(Contempt of court), in my opinion, is a 'high crime or misdemeanor' in the meaning of the Constitution, and he would be subject to impeachment," Franklin said. "Whether or not the House of Representatives would see it that way is another question. It is at that point their call."



The other big question with Trump -- should he opt to question the legal authority of a judge who runs afoul of him -- is whether the government agencies who would need to go along with Trump's decision would actually do so. Trump's Defense and Homeland Security secretaries, for example, are military generals who are accustomed to a chain of command. Would they ignore a court order in favor of Trump?



It's all very hypothetical, but Trump's rhetoric -- not just about the judge's decision, but the judge's actual authority -- and his apparent desire to press his case for his own authority suggest it's not out of the question.
The U.S. is bolstering its naval force operating off the Yemen coast and in the Bab El Mandeb straits connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The Navy announced the AEGIS destroyer USS Cole has joined the task force cruising off the coast of Yemen to defend access and ships transiting the Bab el-Mandeb strait.

The main concern is that the Houthis will try to block the narrow maritime lane with mines. Weve seen evidence that the Houthis are laying mines in the waters outside at least one of their ports. We officially have great concern for the freedom of navigation there Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told Stars & Stripes.

Three U.S. warships are currently patrolling the area  the USS Makin Island, an amphibious assault ship that provided the floating launch base for a recent strike force that attacked an Al-Qaeda base, the USS Comstock, a dock landing ship is also deployed in the area. Further to the south, USS Cole is patrolling the straits.

Davis added that the United States was prepared to defend access to waters off the coast of Yemen where a Saudi frigate was attacked earlier this week. The Saudi government said the frigate was attacked by three suicide boats. The Saudis said they were able to destroy two of the boats, but the third hit the frigate, which led to the death of two of the ships crew members. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who control Yemens west coast claim they hit the frigate with a missile.

The deployment of USS Cole is part of an increased presence there aimed at protecting shipping from the Houthis. Last October the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked a logistical vessel from the UAE and two U.S. warships in the same area that they hit the Saudi frigate. In response, the U.S. military launched cruise missile strikes to knock out three coastal radars located in areas of Yemen controlled by Houthi forces.

In 2000, the USS Cole was attacked when al Qaeda bombers steered a boat full of explosives into the side of the American warship while it refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 U.S. sailors and wounding about three dozen others.
He was known for that sort of thing.

"The amicus law professors," Robart said Friday, noting the many groups that waited in his Seattle courtroom to argue for or against a motion to halt President Donald Trump's travel ban. "Sounds like the three amigos."

People laughed, despite the tension. The federal judge had a habit of mixing soft speech and extraordinary pronouncements.

At the end of the hearing, with no jokes or spare words; Robart halted Trump's ban and potentially changed the fate of citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries and tens of thousands of refugees, who had been denied entry into the United States.

His order challenges a White House that had spent all week defending the travel ban.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said in a tweet Saturday morning.

But Robart has been called judge for more than a decade. President George W. Bush nominated him to the federal court for Washington state's western district court in 2004, choosing him from a shortlist of nominees selected by a bipartisan commission.

Although he had held no judgeship before, senators of both parties praised Robart.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., introduced him to the judiciary committee as a man who had fostered six children with his wife. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., went over Robart's 30 years as a lawyer - up to his work at the time as managing partner at a Seattle law firm. Robart graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1973.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, noted Robart's "representation of the disadvantaged" - including his work representing "southeast Asian refugees."

Asked about such work at his confirmation hearing, Robart gave a short speech about fairness in the courtroom.

"I was introduced to people who, in many times, felt that the legal system was stacked against them or was unfair," Robart told the senators. "Working with people who have an immediate need and an immediate problem that you are able to help with is the most satisfying aspect of the practice of law."

"Well, thank you," Hatch said. "That is a great answer."

No one opposed his confirmation.

In his 13 years on the federal bench, the judge handed down criminal sentences no lighter than the law recommended - 78 months in prison for a crack dealer, life for a man who murdered a woman on a Native American reservation two decades earlier.

His job as a federal judge got more complicated after Seattle police fatally shot John Williams - a partially deaf woodcarver who did not put down his carving knife one day in 2010.

Hundreds surrounded a Seattle police station to protest Williams' death, which had followed other accusations of police brutality in the city. A Justice Department investigation "found routine and widespread use of excessive force by officers," the Seattle Times reported. That led to settlements and lawsuits - the bow-tied Robart presiding.

"Well, there certainly are a lot of you," he said in August. His tie was green, his beard as white as ever.

In the years since Williams' death, the Seattle case had evolved from passionate protests and a federal investigation into a string of hearings to oversee police reforms.

August's hearing was one of many, and Robart gave no indication at the beginning that it would be anything of special note. He listened to each side, as he had many times before. When it was his turn to speak, he went over schedules, comments and consent decrees to come.

Then he took a deep breath.

"I will now step back from my very precise legal practice and give you the following observation - from me," he said.

He spoke of the police - their training and accountability and leadership. "The men and women who go out and walk around Seattle and proudly wear the Seattle Police Department uniform," he said, " . . . are entitled to know what they may and may not do."

He breathed in again. Then he spoke of protests against police that had spread across the country, and FBI statistics showing that black people are twice as likely to be shot dead by police as their share of the population would warrant.

"Black lives matter," the judge said.

His words, the Seattle Times noted, caused "a startled, audible reaction" in the courtroom. Here was a federal judge echoing a slogan used by protesters.

Robart was not done. "Black people are not alone in this," he went on. "Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans are also involved. And lastly and importantly: Police deaths in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Minneapolis and let's not forget Lakewood, Washington, remind us of the importance of what we are doing."

If his words were extraordinary, he gave no indication that day. Robart thanked everyone before him "for your hard work" and walked out the door behind him.

"It was an interesting message to the community from a white Republican federal judge," said Mike McKay, a former U.S. attorney who used to partner with Robart in private practice, and has known him throughout his legal career.

"It's pretty clear what he was trying to do: show I'm listening and sensitive to all parties."

McKay co-chaired the bipartisan committee that put Robart on a shortlist in 2003, when Bush chose him to become a federal judge. His Democratic co-chair, Jenny Durkan, agreed with McKay's take on the judge.

"If you were to typecast a conservative Republican judge, it would look a lot like Judge Robart," said Durkan, who became a U.S. attorney after Robart joined the federal bench and argued before him in the Seattle hearings.

"I've felt Judge Robart's wrath and also had rulings that went my way," she said. "He's going to make the ruling he thinks is the right ruling and not worry about who disagrees with him -- even the president of the United States."

Half a year after Robart's "black lives matter" speech, a president did just that.

Robart listened for nearly an hour to arguments of the federal government and to those who oppose its travel ban, then thanked everyone for their "thoughtful" remarks.

He tried to tamp down any anticipation. A judge's job, Robart said, "is not to judge the wisdom of any policy," but only whether it was legal.

He would not even do that at the moment, he said, but merely consider whether Trump's order should be blocked temporarily to prevent "immediate and irreparable injury" to the people it affects.

Robart looked down at his papers and issued his order.

The travel ban must be halted not just in Washington state, he said, but for all "federal defendants and all their respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys and persons acting in concert ... at all U.S. borders and port of entry, pending further order from this court."

Robart did not bluster or make speeches. He promised to help the government file a speedy appeal to his decision, then collected his papers and recessed.
No  do not give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to blow themselves up. America already has enough intellectually tired academics, and among many people, and thanks to the nanny state, poverty has become a profession. I don't want to see huddled masses in the public square; I want to stride with spirited folk of all colors. America needs an injection of vigor, not the burden of ignorance and extremism. If you are decent and ambitious, if you yearn to breathe free, but do not expect a handout, then fall in line at the door. We will, in due time, let you in.

 Alexander Lee, West Chicago
Donald Trump's presence in the White House represents the last gasp of the dream to turn back the clock to 1950s America. It's a last-ditch effort by folks who used to try to claim the moral high ground  real Americans, out of a longing for yesteryear, when they were firmly higher on the social ladder than "others." They've abandoned their family values mantra and flung the ultimate Hail Mary pass  Trump.

Yes, Trump, who strutted into his convention with five children by three different wives. The same Trump who clearly brags about pursuing women (while married) and jokes about sexually assaulting them. Indeed, who would have thought that real Americans would embrace a man who has been and continues to play footsies with the Russians?

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It seems unreal, doesn't it? But not really. We're witnessing a last gasp, a long-shot effort to hold on to something that never was.

 Deborah Keene, Chicago
Wilson Pierce IV speaks to students at the 2nd annual Youth Empowerment Conference held Saturday at Hillcrest High School. (Mike Nolan / Daily Southtown)

Talking with a group of high school students about interacting with police, Wilson Pierce IV finished up with advice they can apply in any encounter, whether or not it involves law enforcement.

"Always conduct yourselves as young men and young ladies, because you never know who you're going to meet," he told them.

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Instilling respect in themselves and having respect for each other were common themes during the second-annual Youth Empowerment Conference, held Saturday at Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills.

More than 200 students in grades sixth through 12th took part, along with 60 parents, in the event, organized by the Joliet Area-South Suburban Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. and the chapter's charitable foundation.

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The chapter has more than 400 members throughout the south and southwest suburbs, according to Kimberly Rowe-Barney, chapter president.

Wilson Pierce IV speaks to students at the 2nd annual Youth Empowerment Conference held Saturday at Hillcrest High School. (Mike Nolan / Daily Southtown)

The first conference, held last year at Crete-Monee High School, was attended by about 125 students, according to Rowe-Barney and Virgie Bullie, president of the JASSAC Charitable Foundation.

Organizing the conference is a way to "help them face different challenges," with workshops during the daylong event on topics such as the one Pierce presented, along with sessions covering financial maturity, preparing for college and dealing with peer pressure and bullying.

"Children are going to school feeling unsafe," Bullie said. "Even if you are not the one being bullied, you may witness it and feel helpless to stop it."

Through the use of social media, bullying doesn't stop when the school day ends, she said.

"Cyber bullying is very out of control," she said.

This year's conference added workshops aimed at parents on topics such as paying for college, health care literacy and helping their child deal with bullying at school.

"We want to educate the child and educate the parent," Rowe-Barney said.

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In his interacting with police workshop, Pierce said that taking an attitude with an officer can make a situation go from bad to worse.

"It's not what you say, it's how you say it," he said.

If they're driving and are pulled over, "be professional," he said.

It's not until the very end of his talk with students that Pierce identifies himself as having been a police officer for the past 16 years. The 47-year-old is a patrol officer with the Lansing Police Department, and his father, Wilson Pierce III, served as police chief in Country Club Hills.

Pierce said that if he told the students from the beginning he was a cop, their attitudes toward what he had to say could have easily changed.

"Because of the environment we are in, youth turn you off as soon as they hear you are a police officer," he said. "This way they get to see me as a person and not as a police officer."

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Organizers said that the conference's goals align with the sorority's five-point programmatic thrust of promoting economic development, educational development, international awareness and involvement, physical and mental health, and political awareness and involvement.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

On that last point, the chapter was registering students to vote during the conference  18-year-olds as well as 17-year-olds who will be of voting age by the April election, Rogercarole Rogers, who heads the chapter's social action committee, said.

Last summer the committee registered more than 200 teens at barbershops, churches, Prairie State College and Crete-Monee High School, she said.

Encouraging youth to become involved in the political process helps them to become "civically responsible," Rogers said.

"We give up our rights if we're not part of the process," she said.

Also as part of its educational development efforts, the chapter's charitable foundation will, at the end of April, hold its annual scholarship luncheon, with $22,000 in scholarship money being given to area high school seniors, Bullie said. The foundation has, over the last 10 years, given out $150,000 in scholarships, she said.

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The deadline for applications is March 15 and information is at www.jassacdeltas.org.

mnolan@tribpub.com
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth was one of the speakers at Saturday's Black History Family Festival held at Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin. (Gloria Casas / The Courier-News)

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth lauded black educators and America's diversity Saturday at Gail Borden Public Library's 12th annual Black History Family Festival.

"I am so honored to celebrate Black History Month and the Black History Family Festival," Duckworth said. "We know black history is American history and educators have been important in establishing who we are as people. Everything I am goes back to the educators who helped me along the way."

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Duckworth was one of the speakers at the festival's kickoff event, which also included Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain reading a proclamation naming Saturday for the festival and keynote speaker was Dr. Vincent Gaddis, a Benedictine University professor and author, whose address was titled, "Talking Race, Building Community: The Challenge of Re-Segregation in Education."

Those who attended also had the chance to do crafts, watch a performance by Chicago West Community Music Center and learn about "Project 2,3,1" inspired by Elginite Ernie Broadnax and the experience of African-Americans in Elgin.

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Black History Family Festival, founded by retired School District U-46 educator Dr. Phyllis Folarin, is an event that uses education and cultural arts to promote literacy, celebrate diversity and explore history specific to the local and global African-American experience, said Carl King, president of the Black History Family Festival board.

"Today is your day, today is our day," King told the audience.

The festival board also recognized local African-American educators, including Dr. Rise Jones, Dr. DeSean E. Coleman, Dr. Barbara Bonner and Dr. David Sam, president of Elgin Community College.

Sam said there is so much African-American history to be told, citing the recent film "Hidden Figures," about three black women who worked at NASA in the 1960s and played a vital role in America's space program.

"How many of us knew the impact African-American women had" in the space program, he asked. "I tell you, there are more hidden stories out there, stories that are not being told. We have many things to learn."

Diversity is important and honoring that diversity is vital to who are as people, Duckworth said. She commented briefly on President Donald Trump's "Muslim ban" and pointed out there have been times in country's history where people of different cultural backgrounds were turned away from America or, in the case of Japanese Americans, interred, she said.

"There's always been this tension and desire to divide us as a people," Duckworth said. Such efforts "affect us all as a people," she said.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.
Two online fundraisers for a student seriously injured Friday when he was assaulted at Kenyon Woods Middle School had raised nearly $19,000 as of Sunday afternoon.

The student was identified by District U46 as Henry Sembdner. A vigil in his honor was held Saturday night at South Elgin's Fox Meadow Park in South Elgin.

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According to a message sent to parents on Friday by Kenyon Woods Principal Lisa Olsem, the student suffered severe injuries and was taken to Presence Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin and later to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.

According to a second email to Kenyon Woods families sent out Saturday, the student remained in intensive care.

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"His parents thank the Kenyon Woods community for the outpouring of concern, prayers and support and ask for your continued good thoughts and prayers," read the notification from Olsem.

According to the GoFundMe pages set up for Sembdner, the boy has a serious brain injury as a result of the assault. The account set up by the boy's aunt indicates he was in a coma with multiple facial fractures.

The alleged attacker was arrested and transported to South Elgin Police Department.

Illinois juvenile law does not allow the release of juvenile reports to the public, South Elgin Chief of Police Jerry Krawczyk said in an email Sunday.

"The investigation continues as the department works with the Kane County State's Attorney (Office) to determine charges," Krawczyk said.

"U46 will have counselors and extra teachers available for the students. The South Elgin Police Department will have the school resource officer in the building as we normally do as well as an additional officer presence as needed," he added.

The department has been in communication with the injured student's family and is offering them counseling services, Krawczyk said.

On Monday, additional support social workers and the district's Response Team will be at the school, the notification from Olsem said.

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"We will provide these support services for as long as they are needed. Staff and students are encouraged to wear green, the color of hope, in support of the student and his family," she said.

A room at school will be set aside Monday for anyone who has concerns or questions, according to the notification.

Janelle Walker is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.
North Shore School District 112 has tapped retired school superintendents from Des Plaines and Schaumburg to share leadership duties on an interim basis through the 2017-18 school year.

The school board late Friday approved 18-month contracts for Jane Westerhold and Edward Rafferty, who will start Feb. 6 and be paid $1,200 per day for each day worked without receiving benefits.

As retired educators drawing pensions from the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System, they are allowed to work 100 days in any given school year without jeopardizing their benefits.

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The former superintendents were among more than 20 applicants for the interim superintendency and did not apply as a team. But the mid-year timing of Bregy's departure meant the school board was off the normal cycle for conducting a superintendent search for the 2017-18 school year. Board member Jane Solmor Mordini said Tuesday the co-superintendency for 18 months made more sense than two interim superintendents in succession.

"Not only are these people uber-professionals with experience and talent, but they are really focused on moving the district forward," Solmor Mordini said. Both were very aware the district had been through a failed referendum and a school closing plan that fractured the community, she added.

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"Not only had they done their homework and understood the complexities of our community and our challenges, but they relished the opportunity to play a part in finding a solution," Solmor Mordini said. "They are going to bring an energy and momentum to the district that we need."

Board President Samantha Stolberg said Westerhold and Rafferty bring skill sets, experiences and leadership styles that District 112 needs at a critical moment in its history.

Westerhold retired as superintendent of Community Consolidated School District 62 in Des Plaines in 2016 after a dozen years in the position. During her tenure, the district completed a $109-million academic and facility renovation project, according to information on the District 62 website. She previously served as assistant superintendent of a unit system serving Bolingbrook and Romeoville and as a curriculum director in Wauconda.

Rafferty retired in 2013 from the Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54, where he'd been superintendent since 2004 and spent his entire 37-year career in education.

Both Westerhold and Rafferty have been honored as Superintendent of the Year from the Illinois School Administrators Association.

Their 18-month contracts will allow the school board seated after the April 4 election time to decide on a process for hiring a permanent successor to Superintendent Michael Bregy, a school official said.

Bregy left the district in January to become superintendent of schools in Beverly Hills, Calif. Bregy's 30-month tenure in the Highland Park-based school system was a time of controversy while the district attempted to grapple with long-deferred decisions about school reorganization.

A second key administrator  Jennifer Ferrari  announced Jan. 30 that she was leaving in mid March to work for a charter schools organization. Ferrari, a 22-year district veteran, has served as Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning since 2013.

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The first live intercept test of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA interceptor missile was completed successfully on Friday dawn, off the west coast of Hawaii, proving the design maturity of the most advanced interceptor in the sea-based AEGIS Missile Defense system. The intercept was conducted by the US Navy AEGIS test ship  from the USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) as part of a US-Japanese cooperative development.

Todays test demonstrates a critical milestone in the cooperative development of the SM-3 Block IIA missile, said MDA Director Vice Adm. Jim Syring. The missile, developed jointly by a Japanese and U.S. government and industry team, is vitally important to both our nations and will ultimately improve our ability to defend against increasing ballistic missile threats around the world.

The flight test designated SM-3 Block IIA Cooperative Development (SCD) Project Flight Test, Standard Missile (SFTM)-01, was the third flight test of the SM-3 Block IIA guided missile, and the first intercept test. At approximately 10:30 p.m., Hawaii Standard Time, Feb. 3 (3:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Feb. 4) a medium-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii. John Paul Jones detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1D(V) radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. Upon acquiring and tracking the target, the ship launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile which intercepted the target. Based on preliminary data the test met its primary objective. Program officials will continue to evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.

The tests primary objective was a successful intercept. The mission was also designed to evaluate key missile system performance, including the kinetic warhead, divert and attitude control system functionality, nosecone performance, steering control section function, booster performance and separation and the second and third stage rocket motor performance and separation.

This test also marks the first time an SM-3IIA was launched from an Aegis ship and the first intercept engagement using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 (BMD 5.1) weapon system. Future flight tests will continue to evaluate system performance, en-route to a 2018 deployment at sea and ashore, in support of the European Phased Adaptive Approach Phase 3.

The interceptors kinetic warhead has been enhanced to best address advanced and emerging threats, with improvements to the search, discrimination, acquisition and tracking functions. The kinetic warhead, along with larger rocket motors, allows SM-3 Block IIA to engage more sophisticated threats and protect larger regions from short- to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats, providing greater operational flexibility.

The SM-3 Block IIA interceptor is designed to defeat short- to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats. It operates as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and can be launched from Aegis-equipped ships or Aegis Ashore sites. Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense is the naval component of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System. The MDA and the U.S. Navy cooperatively manage the Aegis BMD program. The Missile Defense Agencys mission is to develop and deploy a layered Ballistic Missile Defense System to defend the United States, its deployed forces, allies, and friends from ballistic missile attacks of all ranges in all phases of flight.
A proposed "welcoming ordinance," up for approval by the Oak Park Village Board on Monday night, would be "exactly what we were looking for," Mony Ruiz-Velasco said as a group of hundreds gathered in Scoville Park on Saturday afternoon.

Ruiz-Velasco, who serves as executive director of PASO/West Suburban Action Project, a social justice and legal organization based in Melrose Park, spoke during a rally PASO hosted in partnership with local groups including Suburban Unity Alliance, the Oak Park Progressive Women for Action, Collaboration for Health Equity Cook County, Democratic Part of Oak Park and Community of Congregations.

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The event was dubbed a "Rally for Sanctuary in Oak Park: No Loopholes, No Collaboration."

Organizers said the rally was held to boost support for the progressive ordinance up for consideration by village trustees Monday that would protect the community's undocumented immigrants from persecution based on their immigration status and bar Oak Park officials and law enforcement from collaborating with federal immigration officials to identify and apprehend them.

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Lieve Schreiner-Witte, 3, and her older sister, Tekla, 7, hold signs during a "Rally for Sanctuary" on Feb. 4 in Scoville Park. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Rally-goers, who ranged widely in age and ethnicity, carried signs that read "protection, not collaboration" and "hate has no home here." At various intervals, they chanted slogans including "no ban, no wall, sanctuary for all."

Pem Hessing, a member of both SUA and the Oak Park Progressive Women for Action, said during an interview before the rally that the push to encourage Oak Park officials to adopt the legislation, also referred to as a sanctuary city ordinance, began shortly after Donald Trump was elected president. She said the need for such an ordinance "is even more crucial" in light of the Trump administration's recent executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Chicago and Evanston have already passed measures to protect their undocumented residents from persecution by federal immigration officials, but Ruiz-Velasco, Hessing and Anthony Clark, an Oak Park River Forest High School teacher and founder of SUA, say those ordinances don't go far enough and include "loopholes" that would allow for collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

Oak Park officials considered a proposed "welcoming ordinance" at a meeting held last month. Hessing, Clark and Ruiz-Velasco said the initial piece of legislation did not adequately protect the village's undocumented immigrants.

Oak Park Trustee Bob Tucker, who was one of a number of local and state elected officials present at Saturday's rally, said in an interview after the event that the board revised the ordinance after discussions with staff, community organizations and police.

People gather during a "Rally for Sanctuary" at Scoville Park on Feb. 4. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

He told the crowd gathered that on Monday night he would be honored "to vote on a truly inclusive welcoming ordinance for Oak Park  an ordinance without loopholes, an ordinance that speaks to Oak Park's true values of including everyone and protecting everyone."

The ordinance up for consideration at the Monday night meeting "is exactly what we were looking for," Ruiz-Velasco said.

She said it bans local officials from sharing information with or collaborating with ICE except in circumstances in which a legal warrant has been issued.

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Oak Park resident Kaidrea Stockman, 35, said she attended the rally as a show of support for her friends who are immigrants and who she said are terrified about what may happen to them under the current administration. Making Oak Park a sanctuary city sends a message to fearful immigrants that the community is "willing to stand up and say we love you and we're not afraid to support you," she said.

When asked after the rally whether trustees were concerned about the possible ramifications of passing such a law given that Trump has threatened to cut funding to cities with sanctuary ordinances on the books, Tucker said the village's elected officials had considered the threats but above all believed they needed to "remain true to our values."

"I really do think [the ordinance] will be a model for the country," he said.

Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Protesters gather at Veteran's Park in East Chicago Saturday for a rally against President Donald Trump's recent travel ban that mainly affects Muslim countries. (Suzanne Tennant / Post-Tribune)

Ezza Pedra Alfrhan told the crowd gathered Saturday to protest policy changes affecting immigrants and refugees that she was proud to be an American.

Pedra Alfrhan, of Crown Point, said she was also proud her five children were born in America and can call this nation their home. "They work hard. This is their country," she said, speaking at Veterans Park in East Chicago.

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"I'm proud to wear my hijab. I'm proud to be a Hoosier. I'm proud to be a Syrian," she continued, drawing applause and cheers from the crowd. Pedra Alfrhan emigrated to the U.S. 20 years ago from her native Syria and has held dual citizenship in the two countries for the past 10 years, she said.

Actions by President Donald Trump to ban travel from certain countries robs her of her freedom and her Syrian citizenship, she said, because she could be prevented from re-entering the U.S. were she to return to Syria to see her family or to go to Turkey, where she works to help refugees.

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"I cannot see my family. Now he has crushed my dream," Pedra Alfhran said.

While the actions of the administration are discouraging and rob her of her work to help refugees and children orphaned by war, she is encouraged by the support she has seen from the American people and her neighbors in Northwest Indiana.

"Despite the administration coming out against my rights, I see more American's come out to support me," she said.

Chants of "No Wall No Ban" repeatedly erupted as speakers took their turns addressing the crowd. Native American dancers beat drums to the chants and performed for the crowd to close out the presentations.

Alfredo Estrada, chairman of the Lake County Young Democrats, said little has changed since Robert Kennedy in 1968 asked people to put aside their differences and come together.

"Today we still fight hate. We still fight fear," Estrada said.

He encouraged protesters to continue to fight for democracy every day.

Eric Anderson and Lara Volkman, of Hammond, were among the 150-plus people who participated in the rally.

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"We just are against the ban and the wall," Volkman said, adding the couple stands against discrimination. She said they were proud to see so many different people attending.

"We're proud to be part of a diverse community," she said.

Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post Tribune.
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The performance of "Si Hai Tong Chun" art troupe on Saturday was staged in Utrecht, a historic city located in the central Netherlands, to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

The two-hour evening show attracted over 1,400 audience in Utrecht's TivoliVredenburg music complex, bringing the enjoyment of Chinese culture to the overseas Chinese and local people.

The highlight of the show was Shaolin Kungfu practiced by a group of warrior monks from China's Songshan Shaolin temple. Their performance triggered loud applause by the audience and livened up the evening.

Dance, music and magic are also part of this year's programs. The audience gave the artists rounds of applause throughout the event.

"The show is so wonderful. I was impressed by the Kungfu," said C. Van Den Bor, a Dutch business woman.

The visit by the art troupe to the Netherlands brought happiness to Chinese people here, said Hu Yunfei, with the local Chinese community, who also participated in the preparation work.

"Si Hai Tong Chun" means "people all around the world celebrate the Spring Festival". It is a series of international cultural events initiated in 2009.

It has become an important part of Chinese New Year celebrations for overseas Chinese people as well as locals.
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The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has cut subsidy qualifications for seven Chinese automakers over subsidy cheating.

Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co., Ltd, one of the punished producers, was accused of equipping 1,353 new-energy cars with sub par number of battery cells in 2015, when it applied for financial subsidies.

The MIIT penalty effectively bans the automakers from entering an official catalogue of recommended vehicle types which get fiscal support to lower their prices and boost market competitiveness.

Authorities will review their application after they rectify their problems in two months.

Authorities launched investigations into subsidy cheating cases in beginning of 2016 after the country had forked out about 33 billion yuan (about 4.8 billion U.S. dollars) of subsidies between 2009 and 2015.

The subsidy program has played an important role in the country's booming market for new-energy vehicles, which are seen as effective in cutting emissions.

China sold 507,000 new-energy vehicles last year, a rise of 53 percent year on year.

The government will cut subsidies to new-energy vehicles by 10 percent this year from the 2016 level and plans to phase out the subsidies by 2020.
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Representatives of the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR will arrive in the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday to discuss selling of the passenger planes to the country, a senior Iranian aviation official said on Saturday.

After finalization of the deal, valued at 400 million U.S. dollars, 20 passenger planes will be delivered to Iran in a scheduled manner, Iranian Deputy Road and Urban Development Minister Asqar Fakhriyeh Kashan was quoted as saying by semi-official Fars News Agency.

"ATR will deliver three or four passenger planes to Iran Air, Iran's national flag air carrier, by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ending on March 20)," Fakhriyeh Kashan said.

In December 2016, Iran sealed a contract with Airbus to buy 100 aircraft worth over 18 billion dollars. Airbus delivered the first plane to Iran in January.

Also in December, Iran Air finalized another agreement with the U.S. Boeing to purchase 80 commercial planes.

The agreement envisages the purchase of 50 twinjet narrow-body Boeing 737 planes and 30 long-range wide-body 777 aircraft with a total value of 16.6 billion dollars.

The planes by Boeing would be delivered to Iran within 10 years. The first deliveries are expected in 2018.
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday the government is "cancelling" its peace talks with the communist rebels.

In an interview with reporters in his home city in Davao, Duterte said he is ordering members of the government peace panel "to fold up tents and come home."

"Peace talks will remain cancelled unless there is compelling reason that will benefit the interest of the nation," he told reporters.

He said he would order the Philippine negotiators to come home. "I am not ready to resume (the talks). As I have said peace with the communists might not come in this generation," he said.

Asked again if the government is "scrapping" the talks, Duterte answered, "Yes, entirely."

Pressed again if the suspension is "temporary," he said, "maybe."

Asked again if the talks could resume "sometime mid-term," Duterte said, "Do it after my term if there is still one."

"I've tried everything as you can see I walk the extra mile, release prisoners, release their leaders so they can got to Oslo, Norway to talk. Now, they want 400 plus prisoners who fought the government under rebellion crime," Duterte said.

The government and the communist rebels announced before the weekend their decision to scrap the truce they declared since the start of the latest talks in August. The move dampened prospects to reach a negotiated settlement between the two sides.

The rebels were first to announce their intention to put an end to the truce, saying Duterte failed to keep his promise to release some 400 political prisoners. Barely three days later after the rebels' announcement the government has decided to scrap its truce because the rebels of continuously attacked the government troops.

Duterte denied making a promise to release all prisoners, saying he did not intend to free all of them. "We started with 18 (prisoners) and we came up 23 leaders and now it's 400," he said, adding that releasing the prisoners is tantamount to a government surrender.

Duterte, the commander in chief, ordered the Philippine armed forces on Friday to resume offensive against the New People's Army rebels that have been trying to overthrow the government since 1969.

"Let's resume (the military offensive). Take your position and be alert," Duterte told his troops on Friday.

The president on Saturday repeated his order to the military "to prepare for the long struggle."

Duterte expressed his pessimism that a negotiated settlement with the communist rebels would succeed.

"I have lost so many soldiers in just 48 hours. I think to continue with a ceasefire does not or will not produce anything," he said.

The Duterte administration revived the talks with communist rebels in August. Norway has agreed to broker the talks again. So far, both sides have conducted three rounds of talks. Another talk is slated this month.

Since 1986, the government has been trying to reach a peace deal with the communist rebels but failed to make any headway.

The communist rebellion began in 1969 and reached its peak in 1987 when it boasted 26,000 armed militants.

However, the movement has since dwindled due to differences in strategy and tactics and the arrests of many of its top leaders in the late 1980s. The military estimates the communist armed rebels at around 4,000.
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Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Washington on Saturday to demonstrate against an executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Demonstrators participate in a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order barring U.S. entry to all regugees and seven Mideast and North African countries' citizens, in front of the White House, in Washington D.C., the United States, Feb. 4, 2017. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Washington on Saturday to demonstrate against an executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump. [Photo: Xinhua]

Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 which bars citizens from the seven predominately Muslim countries from traveling to the U.S. for 90 days, stops accepting refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria, in order to protect the U.S. security.

The protesters, mostly young people, started to gather outside the White House at around 1 p.m. local time, and made their way toward the Congress along Pennsylvania Avenue at around 2:20 p.m.

Organized on a Facebook page called Peace for Iran, the demonstration was the second of its kind in Washington.

The protester chanted "immigrants are welcomed here, no hate, no fear" and "that's what make America great, love, not hate" as they marched in downtown Washington.

When the crowd passed by the Trump International Hotel, loud boos were heard and chants of "Donald Donald can't you see, you are not welcomed in D.C." broke out.

A protester called Alexa Wilson said she came out to show solidarity. "I believe that people should stand up against things that are against their beliefs," she said.

Taylor Stevens, another protester, said he felt uneasy with the way Trump executed the order.

"He used a hammer when you need a scalpel. The executive order has made our country less safe as it may become propaganda fodder for the extremist groups," he said.

Similar events also took place in New York and Florida on Saturday.

In a related development, the U.S. State Department earlier on Saturday reversed revocation of visas for foreigners under a travel ban which was suspended Friday by a federal judge.

The department said that the foreigners covered by the travel ban who hold a valid visa now may travel to the United States.

The move came after federal judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington state, ruled Friday that President Donald Trump's executive order on the travel ban would be suspended nationwide, effective immediately.

Up to 60,000 visas for citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries covered by the 90-day ban, including Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia, were "provisionally revoked" under the January travel ban, which triggered worldwide criticism and protests.

Also on Saturday, the U.S. Homeland Security Department said that it had suspended all actions to implement the travel ban in accordance with the judge's ruling.
Elizabeth Pena knows what it's like to be intimidated by a system she doesn't understand and by people who don't understand her.

A native Spanish speaker and mother of four, Pena has learned through the years how to advocate for her own sons. In summer, the Albany resident leads classes to help families, particularly Latino parents, learn to navigate their children's school organization and work more closely with teachers and administrators.

Lately, however, actions by the country's new presidential administration are prompting family fears that go beyond report cards and parent conferences.

Among President Donald Trump's actions during his first week in office were signatures on executive orders to begin immediate work on a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, pull federal funding from so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions, reinstate a provision enabling law enforcement agencies to effectively act as immigration officials, and prioritize certain undocumented immigrants for deportation.

School districts in Corvallis, Albany and Lebanon have reported contact with Latino parents who ask if their children are safe; if strangers will be allowed access to talk to them; what the schools will do if the parents are taken away.

"They are worried," Pena said simply. "I'm worried."

School districts say they're doing what they can to assure Latino families of their children's safety: updating policies, holding meetings to discuss parents' rights and forming communication plans if federal immigration officials come knocking.

Some districts have passed resolutions reminding staff members of how to handle information about a student's background and the steps any immigration official must follow before being allowed access to a school. The Lebanon School Board plans to take a vote on such a resolution at its Feb. 9 meeting.

Pena is encouraging them to reach out even more. For many parents, the language barrier is bad enough, Pena said. But cultural barriers exist, too: In her experience, bilingual district translators might help with words but are often seen as acting as the school's protector rather than the family's advocate.

Plus, while the parent may have a green card or even U.S. citizenship, he or she is likely connected to a community where many have neither, Pena added. One person commanding attention can draw it to all  which makes families even less likely to seek assistance and spurs on the fear.

"It's a big monster, to go in and ask for help, for the Latino parents," Pena said.

Growing population

Oregon's Latino population continues to grow, even faster than the national rate, according to a 2016 report by the Oregon Community Foundation. Much of that growth is driven by birth rates: The report found nearly two-thirds of Oregon Latinos were born in the United States.

Although whites still dominate the population, Linn County's Latino families are the second-largest racial ethnic group, about 8 percent of the population as of the 2010 census. Benton County was at 6.4 percent for 2010.

Numbers vary when it comes to schools. In Linn and Benton counties for 2015-16, Albany had the largest population of students from Latino/Hispanic backgrounds; roughly one in every five students depending on the grade level.

Districts continue to respond to the demographic change, making sure interpreters are available at meetings and that websites and school brochures give information in Spanish as well as English.

In Albany, the Welcome Center, established more than a decade ago, offers activities and translation services for Spanish-speaking families in Greater Albany Public Schools. South Shore Elementary in Albany and Lincoln Elementary in Corvallis both provide dual-immersion programs in English and Spanish. Superintendent Jim Golden, now in his second year with the Albany district, has pledged to make the hiring of both bilingual and bicultural educators a priority.

But many immigrant families lack the experience or the language skills to understand both the nuances of American politics and the reach  and limits  of American law.

"Theyre concerned about, specifically, with the schools, immigration officials coming to a school and taking kids away that dont have documents," said Rob Hess, superintendent of the Lebanon Community School District.

Sanctuary in Oregon

The effect of Trump's executive orders are not yet clear. But Oregon is, by state law, a sanctuary state.

Specifically, ORS 181.850 prohibits law enforcement officers from enforcing federal immigration laws that target people based on their race or ethnic origin when those individuals are not suspected of committing a crime.

On Thursday, Gov. Kate Brown issued an executive order of her own, requiring state agencies to not discriminate on the basis of immigration status and extending sanctuary law to all state agencies, not just law enforcement. She also called on Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to bring legal action to oppose Trump's immigration policies.

"I will uphold the civil and human rights of all who call Oregon home," Brown said in a written statement. "It is also my duty to prevent any undue harm to our economy and ensure the ability of Oregonians to support their families. These new policies from the White House show no regard for the values Oregonians believe in or the economic realities Oregon faces."

Oregon's schools are required by law to educate every child, a legal obligation that doesn't depend on his or her immigrant status, according to the Oregon School Boards Association.

That's a position upheld by a 1982 Supreme Court decision, Plyler vs. Doe, which ruled schools in Texas that withheld state funds or denied enrollment for children not legally admitted to the United States risked violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

School districts aren't required to collect citizenship documentation and are prevented by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act from giving out any personal student information without permission from the family. And Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers can't just come into a classroom and start rounding people up unless they have a subpoena, Hess said.

Uncertain future

Some families worry the federal government already has their information, however.

In 2012, President Barack Obama announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program as a policy change for the Department of Homeland Security. Called DACA for short, the program is a kind of temporary relief for qualifying undocumented immigrants who were brought over the border as children, allowing them to receive work permits, pay in-state tuition for higher education, and put off, at least temporarily, any fear of deportation.

Trump campaigned on removing DACA protections, though he has not yet made any move to do so. In the meantime, families who have registered for DACA worry they've tipped their hand to the government  and to everyone else.

Principal Amanda Plummer of Green Acres Elementary School in Lebanon shared parent fears with members of the Lebanon School Board at their December meeting and asked for board assistance.

Green Acres has DACA kids, she said. "I did have one kid say, 'You know what, they're going to come get you and take you guys back and they're going to build a wall,'" Plummer said.

She added later that school administrators talked with the child who'd made the comment, a third-grade boy who "didn't really get it," Plummer said. "This is a wonderful opportunity to teach others ... we're teaching them to be open-minded and openhearted."

Children's taunts aside, Plummer said, she's trying to reassure parents they aren't without support.

"The biggest fear they have is, what are their rights?" she said. "What are we going to do as a district, or as as school, to take care of them?"

Providing guidance

Oregon's educational institutions are trying to answer that question.

The Oregon State Board of Education issued a statement shortly after the election promising vigilance for safety and freedom from bullying, discrimination and harassment.

"This is not a moment for passivity, but rather boldness; this is a moment to stand behind our commitment to the well-being of students, families, and communities across the state of Oregon," Chairman Charles Martinez wrote.

The Oregon School Boards Association has posted an "Immigration FAQ" on its website urging school districts to review their policies on releasing information and develop a communication plan about their procedures.

"If law enforcement arrives at a school building to question a student, district staff should handle this situation just as any other visit from law enforcement," the FAQ states. "This generally includes what documentation is required of law enforcement, when access will be granted, what notification is provided to parents, and whether an administrator should be present during the meeting between law enforcement and the student."

The association doesn't necessarily recommend adopting any specific resolutions, but some districts are moving forward with them regardless.

In December, the Corvallis School Board voted unanimously to issue a resolution defining the rights of undocumented students. The resolution requires that any immigration official wishing to enter a district school to first notify the superintendent and provide documentation of their legal authority to take action in the school. It also directs the superintendent to develop training for staff on how to respond to immigration officials.

On Feb. 9, the Lebanon School Board will consider a similar resolution, reminding district staff they aren't to inquire about a student or family's immigration status. In addition, any immigration official requesting entry to a school must give enough advance notice to the superintendent to allow a meeting with legal counsel.

Albany doesn't have a resolution in the works currently but has been a part of two "Know Your Rights" meetings, one organized by the school district and one by Casa Latinos Unidos and held at Linn-Benton Community College. Other meetings will be planned, said Tina Dodge Vera, part of the Oregon State University Extension Service, the Hispanic Advisory Committee and Albany's Human Rights Commission.

Vera agrees with Elizabeth Pena that more is needed, however.

Latino families, she said, are "going to become quieter and quieter and quieter, because they're already trying to stay below the radar. ... We have to be proactive because parents are not going to come forward and share.

Vera was instrumental in creating a 2016 report, the "Educational Equity for Latin@ Families Project," which looked at the experiences of Latino families with discrimination and unfair treatment, particularly in schools.

The study for the report, done a year earlier, found 73 percent of parents (mean age 38) and 72 percent of youth (mean age 15 years) feared deportation.

"The political and community climate has not improved," Vera said. " All the negative rhetoric on Mexican immigrants that was brought up at the national level during the election and all the future unknowns does not help our Latino neighbors feel safe, secure and welcome in our community."

Not all immigrants are in Oregon illegally, and even those without documentation often have children born here, Vera stressed. Issues that affect one person in a family end up affecting everyone.

What kind of a community do we want to live in? she said. Were talking about a segment of our population where the kids are U.S. citizens.

"These families have an added stress that most of our families do not have," she added. "I want to look out for my neighbor.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that his country will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help restore peace along the Ukraine-Russia border.

Trump made the pledge in a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the White House said in a statement, describing it as a "very good call."

The two leaders also discussed the potential for their meeting in the near future, the statement said.

The call came as the situation in eastern Ukraine has worsened in recent days with reported ceasefire violations and widespread use of multiple launch rocket systems.

Separately, Trump spoke with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni over the phone on Saturday to discuss strengthening bilateral cooperation on issues including security and counter-terrorism.

The two leaders discussed Libya, the influx of migrants and refugees into Europe, as well as Italy's priorities, and the upcoming G7 meeting in Italy, the White House said.

They agreed to continue close coordination and cooperation on efforts to eliminate the Islamic State (IS) group and other terrorist organizations.

During the call, Trump also emphasized the importance of all North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies sharing the monetary burden of defense spending, according to the White House.

Trump also agreed to attend the G7 Summit in Taormina, Italy in May.
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Iran's Foreign Ministry dismissed the claims made by the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs about Tehran's interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries, Press TV reported on Saturday.

The UAE official had better be realistic and avoid repeating baseless claims which have no result but divergence among regional countries, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on Saturday.

Iran has made all efforts to establish and maintain convergence, peace, stability and security in the region, Qasemi was quoted as saying.

Iran has always placed emphasis on the principles of dialogue, respect for sovereignty of countries and good neighborliness in the region, he said, expressing the hope that other regional countries would also make more efforts to establish such relations.

On Saturday, the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, tweeted that Iran's interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries had caused instability in the region.
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Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will visit China in May to discuss further economic cooperation, the Sri Lankan ambassador said on Feb. 4, a significant date for an announcement because it marks the island nation's 69th National Day celebration.

Flag hoisting ceremony at the Embassy of Sri Lanka, Beijing on February 4, 2017. [Photo by Yang Jia/China.org.cn]

This year also marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Sri Lanka and China and the 65th anniversary of the Rubber-Rice Pact, an agreement that proved momentous for both countries.

The ambassador, Karunasena Kodituwakku, said Wickremesinghe will attend the Belt and Road Initiative Forum hosted in Beijing on May 14 and 15 in Beijing, and added that Sri Lanka will join China's Belt and Road Initiative and seek more investment and further cooperation.

"Like Singapore and Hong Kong, Colombo will be built into an international financial city in South Asia," said the ambassador, showing positive perspective on China's investment on Colombo Port projects.

A growing number of Sri Lankan study Mandarin and Chinese medicine in China, reflecting the increasing development and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Kodituwakka also predicts that by 2020, there will be more than 2 million Chinese tourists visiting Sri Lanka.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis speaks before meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo at the headquarters of the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, February 3, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

In Seoul, he defended the United States' commitment to deploying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system in the Republic of Korea.

In Tokyo, he restated that the US-Japan security treaty applies to the Diaoyu Islands.

Almost equally provocative, he blamed China for shredding the trust between nations in the region by attempting to dictate the "diplomatic and security and economic conditions of neighboring states".

Which, not surprisingly, prompted immediate protests from Beijing.

But, despite the diplomatic feathers he ruffled during his trip, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' maiden visit to Asia has also prompted sighs of relief. For, at the very least, it dispersed the clouds of war that many feared were gathering over the South China Sea.

If the new US president's precedent-breaking call with Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and his claim of readiness to reconsider the "one China" principle were broadly interpreted as signs that the new administration wanted to reset China-US relations, Rex Tillerson's proposal to deny China access to its own islands in the South China Sea, and more recent remarks by administration officials about "defending international waters" and possible military conflict with China, only lent additional credibility to speculation about an upcoming showdown between the two countries, sparked by US actions with regard to Taiwan or the South China Sea.

Although Beijing has appeared patient and restrained, and so far consigned the task of responding to its diplomats, it would be impossible for those wielding the ultimate decision-making power not to be affected by Trump's vow to get tough and domestic calls for Beijing to reciprocate.

Mattis' Saturday statement on the South China Sea, therefore, offered them a "mind-soothing pill".

By clarifying Washington does "not see any need for dramatic military moves at all," defining the issue as "something that's best solved by the diplomats", and highlighting the Trump administration's willingness to maintain "open lines of communication", Mattis has inspired optimism here that things may not be as bad as previously portrayed.

By and large, Trump's China policy as seen from Mattis' words is hence being read as "basically in conformity with that of Obama's". Trump's demonstrated enthusiasm for erasing his predecessor's legacies notwithstanding, the no-nonsense style Mattis debuted thus far did provide the dose of predictability the bilateral relationship badly needs.

Yet it is too early for Chinese decision-makers to sit back and relax, because this may not remain the case as Trump has already shown he is no fan of predictability.
BEIJING - The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has cut subsidy qualifications for seven Chinese automakers over subsidy cheating.

Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co., Ltd, one of the punished producers, was accused of equipping 1,353 new-energy cars with sub par number of battery cells in 2015, when it applied for financial subsidies.

The MIIT penalty effectively bans the automakers from entering an official catalogue of recommended vehicle types which get fiscal support to lower their prices and boost market competitiveness.

Authorities will review their application after they rectify their problems in two months.

Authorities launched investigations into subsidy cheating cases in beginning of 2016 after the country had forked out about 33 billion yuan (about 4.8 billion U.S. dollars) of subsidies between 2009 and 2015.

The subsidy program has played an important role in the country's booming market for new-energy vehicles, which are seen as effective in cutting emissions.

China sold 507,000 new-energy vehicles last year, a rise of 53 percent year on year.

The government will cut subsidies to new-energy vehicles by 10 percent this year from the 2016 level and plans to phase out the subsidies by 2020.
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The story is told of President Theodore Roosevelt dying in his sleep. Woodrow Wilson's vice president, Thomas R. Marshall, said that "Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight." Those who discovered the President found an open book under his pillow. Roosevelt was one who always wanted to learn. He was open to change. I believe he understood that most people do not embrace change easily, including leaders.

As I begin my 13th year in the Oregon Legislature I feel honored to represent the Albany area in Salem. Most of the time I have served in the minority party, but that has not deterred me from being successful in passing common sense legislation. To use a business adage, the person who insists on using yesterdays methods in todays world wont be in business tomorrow. I try hard to learn who is new each session in order to have some influence in supporting my bills.

I could dig my heels in the ground and never accomplish anything, but that would put me in the losers bracket, which would hurt many Oregonians. Thats why last month when Governor Kate Brown stated, We cannot and will not retreat, during her acceptance speech, I felt she was not willing to embrace change! Oregon will be losing! The Democrats may be in the majority in our state, but they are not in the majority nationally. Thats when it becomes beneficial not to dig ones heels in and begin working together.

The closing comments by the Oregonian editorial board in Sundays paper, "Will the Real Leader in the Oregon State House Please Rise?", was spot-on.

Leadership of the let's-get-this-done-now variety will be needed. If such a talent is nested in Brown, Courtney or Kotek, it is not yet apparent. Perhaps an unheralded lawmaker who sees the urgency of the situation will rise up and lead. It won't matter as long as the job gets done right, as long as the can is no longer kicked down the road. Oregonians deserve no less.

The governor says we are $1.8 billion in the hole, but we have had a record revenue this year. It appears the leadership plans to dig their heels into the ground and dismiss an opportunity to embrace the change necessary to reach positive results. It will take both parties willing to cast aside special interest biases and work together for the best interests of all.

There really is no alternative!
BEIJING - In 2016, 1,576 foreigners became permanent Chinese residents, an increase of 163 percent on the previous year, according the Ministry of Public Security.

China has made huge progress in easing its residence and entry policies for foreigners since September 2015, which has helped attract more talent from overseas as well as boost international exchanges and the economy, according to a ministry statement.

Foreigners with permanent residence will enjoy the same rights as Chinese citizens such as in investment, housing purchases and schooling, among other rights.

One year after new measures were implemented, Shanghai saw an year-on-year increase of six times the number of permanent residence applications from foreigners and their families.

The number of such applications in Beijing last year increased 426 percent from that of 2015.

Foreigners made over 56.5 million trips to China last year, up 8.9 percent from 2015.

At present, 15 Chinese cities allow a 72-hour visa-free entry for nationals of certain countries. Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang offer 144-hour visa-free stays for international transit passengers from certain countries.
The People's Liberation Army has released a video of a recent exercise employing the advanced DF-16 medium-range ballistic missile, a weapon seen as filling a gap in the nation's arsenal.

Several launch vehicles carrying the ballistic missiles were seen in the footage that the PLA published on its video website, released to show the training of Rocket Force missile brigade soldiers around the Spring Festival holiday.

The participating units handled a number of scenarios, including chemical/biological contamination, countering satellite reconnaissance and electronic jamming. The crews practiced multiple maneuvers, such as rapid loading, redeployment and launch sequence, though the video showed no missile actually being launched.

Two types of DF-16 that appeared in the exercise are the bullet-shaped missile that is considered the original DF-16 and a new variant that features a maneuverable warhead and several extra fins.

The video represents the third time the DF-16 has been shown to the public. The missile made its debut at a military parade in Beijing in September 2015. In July, a television news program showed General Fan Changlong, a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspecting a DF-16 unit of the Southern Theater Command.

Though the PLA has never disclosed its ballistic missiles' specifications, experts said the DF-16 poses a challenge to foreign military installations along the first island chain, which is what the Chinese military calls the series of islands that stretch from Japan in the north to China's Taiwan and the Philippines to the south.

Xu Guangyu, a retired major general and now a strategy researcher, said that DF-16 has a strike range of more than 1,000 kilometers, filling the gap that previously existed with the absence of a medium-range ballistic missile in the PLA's arsenal. He said the missile also is able to reach Okinawa, a Japanese island about 400 km from China's Diaoyu Islands.

Shi Hong, executive editor of Shipborne Weapons, said the DF-16 was developed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp based on the DF-11 short-range ballistic missile and can carry a warhead of at least 500 kg. The missile has a strike accuracy as good as that of a cruise missile, Shi said. It is also able to maneuver in its final stage to penetrate enemy defensive firepower, he said.

Other PLA Rocket Force brigades also mobilized their DF-11, DF-15 and DF-21C ballistic missiles during training around Spring Festival, according to PLA media outlets.

In another development, Washington Free Beacon, a news website in the United States that specializes in military affairs, reported on Jan 31 that China conducted the first flight of the DF-5C intercontinental ballistic missile in January. The missile carries 10 multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles. The DF-5C is the latest variant of the three-decade-old DF-5 family, the report said.

An unidentified officer from the Defense Ministry's Information Bureau reached by Shenzhen TV on Saturday would neither confirm nor deny the DF-5C test, but said such tests are not aimed at any foreign nation or specific target.
City Hall or Hotel de Ville with image of Charles de Gaulle.[Photo/VCG]

"No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men"

Thomas Carlyle.

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

A few months before his death on the 9 of november 1970, General de Gaulle expressed his wish to visit China.

Since France was the first western country to establish diplomatic ties with the Peoples Republic of China in 1964, Chinese leaders at that time were happy to welcome him. They also fondly remembered the famous General de Gaulle quote: "China is a big country inhabited by many Chinese".

While preparing for his trip, de Gaulle consulted several books thoroughly, such as "Man's Fate" by Malraux, his former Minister for Cultural Affairs, an in-depth description of the revolution that took place in Asia at the beginning of the century, "A Barbarian in Asia" by the Belgium novelist Henri Michaux, tales from Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit priest also called in Chinese Li Madou (), and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, philosopher and paleontologist.

Unfortunately, de Gaulle died abruptly from a seizure before his trip.

How is he remembered today in China?

There is no General de Gaulle in China but a man commonly called Dai Gao Le (). According to current translations, in English it would read as follows: "The very tall", more likely, "the very great".

China holds a tradition of giving each foreign personality a name in Chinese.

Who decided the name for de Gaulle? Some said that at the request of Zhou Enlai, an obscure civil servant selected this promising Chinese name.

Dai Gao Le is a widely known name in China even in most remote places. From Lanzhou to Taiyuan, the story is always the same.

When some guys asked me about my nationality, I answered joyfully: "Fa guo ren ! ()"

My interlocutor asked with a broad smile if I meant lang man. ()

Usually, lang man reflects the French men behavior in China, something between romantic and libertine, which seems redundant.

I have to say that I am not very happy with this long-standing reputation. Im not a "lang man" no more than an Italian Casanova or a Spanish Don Juan.

So I asked the guy if he knows something more about my country than this stereotype, old fashioned assumption.

"Dai Gao Le," he replied gently.

"What do you know about him?" I asked, almost moved to tears.

"He is important in French history! (Zhong yao de ren  ). He took part in the war."

Generally the conversation stops at that point. Thats all in the mind of the average Chinese man.

Once, a professor emeritus from the University of Changsha told me: He incarnated an ascetic and magnificent ideal, the so-called French pride. He epitomized the adage of "act locally for global impact". But now France is somewhat weak, uncertain, without a holistic perspective.

He added: Let's dream together! Let the rains come down upon you and cover France with life-giving water.

A writer from the city of Guangzhou made this significant statement: Beyond the sovereignty of each country, as a primary objective, Dai Gao Le life depicts a fairytale existence through a strong cultural heritage. Dai Gao Le is our spiritual connection to France. In a way, Dai Gao Le is rather like a Chinese hero within a safe and predictable world as we dreamed.

But he is not. At the "Millennium Center" in Beijing, the bas-relief of the history of China gathers only two renowned strangers, Marco Polo and Matteo Ricci but, indeed, those two are inextricable intermingled with Chinese history.

Because the French of today have mainly forgotten Dai Gao Le thoughts, above all his deep sense of commitment, exclaimed an old professor from the Tsinghua University, we, Chinese, we're going to dress him as a Confucius mandarin (guan). Then for the generation to come, Dai Gao Le will enter definitively into the Chinese pantheon.

Jun ma   (Francois de la Chevalerie, member of the Charles de Gaulle Foundation)
PARIS - Health situation of shot machete-wielding man, who rushed at soldiers near Louvre Museum in Paris, improved and was placed into custody on Saturday, according to local media reports.

Citing a judicial source, the local broadcaster Europe 1 said the man's situation has "significantly improved" and "his life prognosis is no longer in danger".

Louvre assailant was placed into custody after he was declared able to answer investigators' questions over his attack targeting soldiers outside France's landmark museum, the report added.

On Friday morning, an "aggressive" man armed with two machetes attacked four soldiers patrolling the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center in the French capital, shouting Allahou Akbar (God the Greatest).

He slightly injured a soldier in his scalp before he was shot and seriously wounded.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the man was an Egyptian national who arrived in France from Dubai at the end of January after acquiring a one-month tourist visa.

Investigation is underway to determine the motive and to establish whether he acted alone or have been guided, he added.

At a meeting of EU leaders in Malta, French President Francois Hollande on Friday said the "terrorist nature( of the attack) leaves little doubt".

He warned that terrorism menaces are "here to stay", pledging to continue to mobilize all the necessary tools to ensure security indoors where terror alert remain high.
WASHINGTON - The US Justice Department on Saturday filed a notice of appeal seeking to challenge a federal judge's ruling that has suspended President Donald Trump's executive order of temporarily banning global refugees and nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

The formal notice was filed in the US District Court of the Western District of Washington and the case now goes to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, according to local media reports.

Federal judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington state, ruled Friday that Trump's executive order on the travel ban would be suspended nationwide.

In response, the White House said the administration would seek an emergency stay against Robart's ruling, defending the travel restrictions as legal.

On Saturday, the US Homeland Security Department said it had suspended all actions under the travel ban in accordance with the judge's ruling.

The US State Department also announced it had reversed revocation of visas for foreigners covered by the travel ban, saying that they now may travel to the United States with a valid visa.

Throughout Saturday, Trump criticized Robart for his ruling. He tweeted on Saturday evening: "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!"

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump tweeted Saturday morning.

Trump signed an executive order on Jan 27 that bars citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen from traveling to the United States for 90 days, stops accepting refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria.

Up to 60,000 visas have been revoked since then, sparking mass protests at major airports and cities in the country and some other countries, as protesters decried it as a "Muslim ban" that targets people because of their faith.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Washington DC on Saturday to demonstrate against Trump's order.

Since the inauguration, Trump has been named in 52 federal lawsuits in 17 US states, many of the cases filed over his executive order on refugees and immigration, according to an NBC News report citing the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said Saturday that his country will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help restore peace along the Ukraine-Russia border.

Trump made the pledge in a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the White House said in a statement, describing it as a "very good call."

The two leaders also discussed the potential for their meeting in the near future, the statement said.

The call came as the situation in eastern Ukraine has worsened in recent days with reported ceasefire violations and widespread use of multiple launch rocket systems.

Separately, Trump spoke with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni over the phone on Saturday to discuss strengthening bilateral cooperation on issues including security and counter-terrorism.

The two leaders discussed Libya, the influx of migrants and refugees into Europe, as well as Italy's priorities, and the upcoming G7 meeting in Italy, the White House said.

They agreed to continue close coordination and cooperation on efforts to eliminate the Islamic State (IS) group and other terrorist organizations.

During the call, Trump also emphasized the importance of all North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies sharing the monetary burden of defense spending, according to the White House.

Trump also agreed to attend the G7 Summit in Taormina, Italy in May.
WASHINGTON - The US Justice Department on late Saturday filed a notice of appeal seeking the reinstatement of President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The latest turn of events triggered a new round of fights over the legitimacy of the ban, which has not only sparked mass protests across the United States, but has also created panic and drawn criticism around the globe.

SUSPENSION & REVERSION

The formal notice was filed in the US District Court of the Western District of Washington and the case now goes to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, according to US media reports.

The move came after Trump's order was suspended late Friday by federal judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington state.

In response, the White House said the administration would seek an emergency stay against Robart's ruling, defending the travel restrictions as legal.

On Saturday, the US Homeland Security Department said it had suspended all actions under the travel ban in accordance with the judge's ruling.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order which bars citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen from traveling to the United States for 90 days, stops accepting refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria.

The total population from these countries exceeds 130 million and up to 60,000 visas have been revoked since then.

However, the State Department on Saturday announced it had reversed the revocation of visas for foreigners covered by the travel ban, saying that they now may travel to the United States with a valid visa.

Visa holders from the seven countries hurried to board US-bound flights Saturday, fearing they might have only a slim window through which to enter the country after the ban was blocked by Robart, US media reported.

TWIST & TWEET

Throughout Saturday, Trump criticized Robart for his ruling.

"The opinion of this co-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump tweeted early Saturday.

In the evening, he posted: "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!"

The newly-inaugurated president has been harshly criticized during the past week as his pushy ban triggered mass protests at major airports and cities in the United States and some other countries. Protesters scolded it as a "Muslim ban" that targets people because of their faith.

Thousands of protesters, mostly young people, took to the streets in Washington DC on Saturday.

"Donald, Donald can't you see, you are not welcomed in DC," they chanted. "Immigrants are welcomed here, no hate, no fear."

The outcry has been echoed by thousands of protesters from London and Paris.

Moreover, the ban has also been rejected by governments of traditional US allies in the West, including Britain, Germany and France.

Since the inauguration, Trump has been named in 52 federal lawsuits in 17 US states. Many of the cases were filed over his executive order on refugees and immigration, according to an NBC News report citing the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.
MOSUL, Iraq - Large reinforcement troops have been dispatched near the southern edges of Mosul, preparing for an imminent push into the last Islamic State (IS) stronghold in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said on Sunday.

"We have large reinforcement troops with units of armored vehicles and artillery arriving recently near the Abu Saif Hills just south of Mosul to bolster the military situation," an army source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"The reinforcement troops have taken new positions on the southern and western edges of Mosul. The troops are on the highest alert and are ready to engage in battles to free the remaining part of Mosul from IS terrorists," the source said.

During the past few days, the Iraqi and US-led coalition aircraft conducted many airstrikes against IS positions in the western side of Mosul, while the artillery and mortar shelling intensified against IS positions in particular their positions in Mosul international airport in southern the city, the source added.

"The troops are waiting for the zero hour to push into the western side of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of the city," he said.

On January 24, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the eastern side of the city of Mosul was fully liberated after more than 100 days of fighting against the extremist militants of IS group.

Following the liberation of eastern Mosul, al-Abadi promised to retake the western part of the city, where an estimated 750,000 people are still living under the control of IS militants.

On Oct. 17, 2016, al-Abadi announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city and IS militants' last major urban stronghold in Iraq.

The second phase of the offensive to free the eastern bank of Mosul began on Dec 29.

Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
A man holds a sign during a protest held in response to President Donald Trump's travel ban, in Seattle, Washington, US January 29, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

A US appeal court late on Saturday denied an emergency appeal from the US Department of Justice to restore a immigration order from President Donald Trump barring citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries and temporarily banning refugees.

"Appellants' request for an immediate administrative stay pending full consideration of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal is denied," the ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

It said a reply from the Department in support of the emergency appeal was due on Monday.

The Department filed the appeal a day after a federal judge in Seattle ordered Trump's travel ban to be lifted. The president's Jan 27 order had barred admission of citizens from the seven nations for 90 days.
GAZA - Islamic Hamas movement said Sunday it seeks reaching a full prisoners' swap deal with Israel via a broker, a spokesman for the movement in Gaza said.

Abdulatif al-Qanou denied earlier Israeli reports saying that Hamas rejected an Israeli offer to free two Israeli civilians for the release of a brother of a senior Gaza Hamas leader.

"Hamas hasn't received any offer for a prisoners exchange and so far there is still no deal with Israel," said al-Qanou, adding that Hamas welcomes Egypt's mediation to finalize a full prisoners swap deal with Israel.

Israel Public Radio had earlier reported that Hamas welcomed an Egyptian mediation for reaching a prisoners swap deal, but rejected an Israeli proposal for a humanitarian swap deal of two Israelis.

"Hamas won't talk on any deal before Israel shows commitment to the terms of the first swap deal, which is to release all those were freed in 2011 deal and were re-arrested again," he said.

In October 2011, Egypt brokered the first-ever prisoners swap deal between Israel and Hamas, where the latter freed an Israeli soldier for an Israeli release of 1,028 prisoners from its jails, including women and children.

However, Israel arrested and resentenced dozens of Hamas prisoners in the West Bank, who were released in the 2011 deal. Hamas said they should first get released before starting to talk about a new deal.
A senior British government official on Thursday said he welcomed the continued strengthening of UK China trade relations as Britain prepares to leave the European Union.

The Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox said the UK was pleased to see how China had positively greeted its "new place in the world" since the EU referendum in June 2016, and that record levels of investment into the UK from China matched this sentiment.

Fox was speaking in London at a Chinese New Year Dinner hosted by the Confederation of British Industry, a British association representing 190,000 businesses.

In his speech he emphasized the importance of the UK and China's "golden era" against the backdrop of a Britain eager to champion free trade. His words came on the same day the UK government published an official policy document setting out its Brexit plans.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and former UK Prime Minister David Cameron originally coined the term "golden era" when Xi visited the UK in 2015.

The UK's Brexit policy document, or White Paper, included a desire by the UK to "forge ambitious free trade agreements with other countries across the world". One such potential free trade agreement could be with China, which British chancellor Philip Hammond proposed in July 2016 while attending the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Chengdu.

"China is the world's second largest economy, and one of the fastest-growing markets on earth; now, more than ever, China's future is all of our futures," said Fox.

The value of UK exports to China has grown by 108 percent between 2010 and 2016. China is the UK's third-largest export market, and the second-largest destination for UK investment, according to UK government figures.

Fox said he expected this growth to continue, adding his department is working to connect more British suppliers to China's major e-commerce platforms and establishing reliable distribution channels for instant online sales between the UK and China.

Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI director-general, said her team was proud that both China and the UK were both championing the benefits of free trade, at a time when challenges to globalization were evident.

"We welcome President Xi's remarks about committing ourselves to growing an open global economy, and we welcome Prime Minister Theresa May's ambition to deepen trade with old friends and new partners alike," said Fairbairn.

Fairbairn was referring to Xi's keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, where he fiercely defended globalization.

Fairbairn said surging Chinese investment into the UK was increasingly evident.

"Step outside the door and you'll see Chinese investment everywhere you look."

In Warwickshire, a Chinese company, Geely, is preparing to produce the next generation of the famous black cabs. In Manchester, Beijing Construction Engineering Group has invested in an 800 million pound ($1,003) joint venture with British partners to build Airport City Manchester, a major infrastructure project set to create 16,000 jobs.

Fairbairn added that China's burgeoning middle class would be a big target of opportunity for Britain's service industry exports in the future.
JOHANNESBURG - Three Chinese tourists were injured after being rubbed by armed gangsters in a South African hotel, the Chinese Consulate-General in Johannesburg confirmed on Sunday.

The family of three from south China's Guangxi were in a tour group that arrived at Johannesburg Airport Holiday Inn Hotel around 10 pm on Saturday to take the flight home on Sunday.

The group was checking in when four gun-wielding criminals stormed into the hotel and tried to rob them.

While trying to fight back, the mother was shot on the head by the gangsters' sand-blasting guns, the father's chest and legs were scratched by the sand bullets, and the daughter sustained bruise on the head.

The criminals escaped with their suitcases and handbags, and the family were send to a local hospital for treatment. All three family members are out of danger, the consulate-general told Xinhua.
TOKYO - Dozens of ultra-right wing activists besieged and attacked a peaceful parade held here on Sunday by some overseas Chinese in protest against a major Japanese hotel chain which recently sparked fury over history-distorting books placed in its guest rooms.

Some 100 overseas Chinese gathered in Shinjuku Central Park in downtown Tokyo Sunday afternoon, holding banners with slogans such as "Freedom of speech shall not violate human conscience" and "Peace shall be treasured."

The demonstrators marched silently and peacefully towards an APA hotel about 2 km away at around 2:45 pm local time to protest against the hotel chain's provocative act. The parade lasted about one hour.

The Japanese APA hotel chain has sparked public outrage recently, especially among people in China and South Korea, for placing books written by its CEO in its guest rooms denying the Nanjing Massacre and the forced recruitment of "comfort women" ever happened.

The incident, after being exposed on social media by a young woman from the United States and confirmed independently by Xinhua as well as major Japanese media outlets, has also raised great controversy in Japan.

During the peaceful protest, dozens of ultra-right wing activists besieged and followed the paraders, shouting through loudspeakers and even trying to wrest banners away from the demonstrators, only to be stopped by the hundreds of local police keeping the parade in order.
WASHINGTON/BEIRUT - A US appeal court late on Saturday denied a request from the Department of Justice to immediately restore an immigration order from President Donald Trump barring citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries and temporarily banning refugees.

The court ruling dealt a further setback to Trump, who has denounced the judge in the state of Washington who blocked his executive order on Friday. In tweets and comments to reporters, the president has insisted he will get the ban reinstated.

Trump says the 90-day travel ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and a 120-day bar on all refugees, are necessary to protect the United States from Islamist militants. Critics say the measures are unjustified and discriminatory.

The judge's order and the appeal ruling have created what may be a short-lived opportunity for travellers from the seven affected countries to get into the United States while the legal uncertainty continues.

"This is the first time I try to travel to America. We were booked to travel next week but decided to bring it forward after we heard," said a Yemeni woman, recently married to a US citizen, who boarded a plane from Cairo to Turkey on Sunday to connect with a US-bound flight. She declined to be named for fear it could complicate her entry to the United States.

In a brief order, the US appeals court said the government's request for an immediate administrative stay on the Washington judge's decision had been denied. It was awaiting further submissions from Washington and Minnesota states on Sunday, and from the government on Monday.

Reacting to the court's statement, Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said: "It is a move in the right direction to solve the problems that it caused."

"WHAT IS OUR COUNTRY COMING TO?"

Trump's Jan 27 travel restrictions have drawn protests in the United States, provoked criticism from US allies and created chaos for thousands of people who have, in some cases, spent years seeking asylum.

In his ruling in Washington state on Friday, Judge James Robart questioned the use of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban, saying no attacks had been carried out on US soil by individuals from the seven affected countries since then.

For Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction".

The 9/11 attacks were carried out by hijackers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon, whose nationals were not affected by the order.

In a series of tweets on Saturday, Trump attacked "the opinion of this so-called judge" as ridiculous.

"What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into US?" he asked.

Trump told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida: "We'll win. For the safety of the country we'll win."

But the Washington court ruling was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges to his push to clamp down on immigration.

The Justice Department appeal criticized Robart's legal reasoning, saying it violated the separation of powers and stepped on the president's authority as commander-in-chief.

The appeal said the state of Washington lacked standing to challenge the order and denied that the order "favors Christians at the expense of Muslims."

INFLUX EXPECTED

The US State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with Robart's order and many visitors are expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expects to begin admitting refugees again on Monday.

Iraqi Fuad Sharef, his wife and three children spent two years obtaining US visas. They had packed up to move to America last week, but were turned back to Iraq after a failed attempt to board a US-bound flight from Cairo.

On Sunday, the family checked in for a Turkish Airlines flight to New York from Istanbul.

"Yeah, we are very excited. We are very happy," Sharef told Reuters TV. "Finally, we have been cleared. We are allowed to enter the United States."

Rana Shamasha, 32, an Iraqi refugee in Lebanon, was due to travel to the United States with her two sisters and mother on Feb. 1 to join relatives in Detroit until their trip was cancelled as a result of the travel ban.

She is now waiting to hear from U.N. officials overseeing their case. "If they tell me there is a plane tomorrow morning, I will go. If they tell me there is one in an hour, I will go," she told Reuters by telephone in Beirut, saying their bags were still packed. "I no longer have a house here, work, or anything," she said.

An official at Beirut airport said three Syrian families had left for the United States via Europe on Sunday morning.

Airline sources in Cairo said that 33 people from the seven affected countries had been allowed to board US-bound flights since Saturday.
The above is a direct quote from a client for whom my law firm is now in the process of helping his company move its production from China to Mexico. He said this about China and Mexico, right after setting saying that he is done with China because his company is unable to sell a number of its products because when you add in the increase in China labor costs and the China tariffs and the massive increase in shipping costs, we are simply no longer competitive with those companies that make their products in Mexico.

And then, literally that same day, a client called about moving its manufacturing from China to Mexico because of the political risks. This person is convinced there will be a massive flare-up between China and Taiwan within the next year and the U.S. will impose massive trade sanctions for this and that will crush his business.

I am sure some of you are reading this and thinking that the above either does not apply to you or is flat our wrong and I get that. But, all I know is that in the last two weeks my law firm has had more companies come to us seeking help to move their manufacturing from China to Mexico than we have had in any six month period. Global Sources (which has for decades made huge money from China sourcing), is also writing about this, and did so last week. See e.g. Made in Mexico: an export manufacturing boom as the US nearshores. See also Made in Mexico and the U.S.-China Trade War.

Not only are we getting foreign companies looking to move their manufacturing from China to Mexico, we are getting many Chinese companies contacting us for the same reasons  it does not hurt that our lead Mexico manufacturing lawyer is perhaps the only lawyer in Mexico fluent in Chinese and with a law degree from both a Mexican and Chinese law school.

So something is happening out there and it is not really any one thing, it is a combination of the below:

1. China is getting more difficult and expensive. COVID is a big factor in this, but just one of many.

2. Chinas government is getting more oppressive and this wears on people and it puts the reputations of their companies at risk. See Will Your Business in/with China Hurt Your Business Reputation Outside China? See Negative views of China continue to dominate its international image, survey finds.

3. China is threatening to sanction foreign companies that abide by their own countrys laws regarding China. What U.S. businesses should know about Chinas anti-foreign sanctions law. Or, as one of our clients recently put it, we are damned if we do and damned if we dont.

4. Shipping costs. See Shipping Delays and Higher Rates Get Small Businesses Jammed Up. As one client put it, I realize these super-high shipping costs will not last forever, but nobody knows how long they will last and I am just sick of the uncertainty. Getting my products into the U.S. from Mexico will always cost way less than from China and will never fluctuate nearly as much.

5. Overall costs of doing business with China.

6. COVID-19, and Chinas total lockdowns and blocking foreigners from entering into China.

7. China risks. Two years ago, In The Top 14 China Wild Cards/Future Risks, we listed out what we saw as the top 14 China risks. It is downright scary how many of those are indisputably a reality now and how there are some  like Chinas crackdown on tech and on other private businesses  that we did not even write about. Mexico is not without risks, but it has become a far less risky country in which to manufacture than China. Just read the news.

What exactly should a company do to legally prepare itself to move its manufacturing from China?

The first thing you should do is to build up your protections in China before moving your manufacturing out of China.
Transcription

1 The Spanish in Hawaii: Gaytan to Marin Donald Cutter The Spanish legend, that somehow Spain anticipated all other Europeans in its discovery and presence in most every part of the New World, extends even to the Pacific Ocean area. Spain's early activity in Alaska, Canada, Washington, Oregon, and California reinforces the idea that Spain was also the early explorer of the Pacific Islands. The vast Pacific, from its European discovery in Panama by Vasco Nunez de Balboa, until almost the end of the 18th Century, was part of the Spanish overseas empire. Generous Papal recognition of Spain's early discoveries and an attempt to avert an open conflict between Spain and Portugal resulted in a division of the non-christian world between those Iberian powers. Though north European nations were not in accord and the King of France even suggested that he would like to see the clause in Adam's will giving the Pope such sweeping jurisdiction, Spain was convinced of its exclusive sovereignty over the Pacific Ocean all the way to the Philippine Islands. Spain strengthened both the Papal decree and the treaty signed with Portugal at Tordasillas by observing the niceties of international law. In 1513, Nunez de Balboa waded into the Pacific, banner in hand, and in a single grandiose act of sovereignty claimed the ocean and all of its islands for Spain. It was a majestic moment in time nearly one third of the world was staked out for exclusive Spanish control by this single imperial act. And Spain was able to parlay this act of sovereignty into the creation of a huge Spanish lake of hundreds of thousands of square miles, a body of water in which no other European nation could sail in peaceful commerce. After several early explorations, Spain established Dr. Donald Cutter, Professor of History, University of New Mexico, presented this paper at the American Historical Association Pacific Coast Branch meeting in Honolulu, August

2 commercial ports at each extremity of its ocean at San Diego de Acapulco in New Spain and at Manila. Then for over two centuries on a regular basis an overloaded, clumsy galleon made the trip from Mexico to the Philippine Islands and back following the prevailing winds and currents. Is it possible that either the pre-galleon period commanders or the galleon commanders hit the Hawaiian Islands? Conversely, is it possible in hundreds of round trips to have consistently missed the mid-pacific group? Spanish tradition indicates some not-well-substantiated discoveries of the Islas del Rey, Islas de los Jardines, Islas de las Tablas, or Islas de la Mesa, all or any of which might have been Hawaii. The pre-captain Cook discovery of the islands finds the historical world divided into two camps, the vast majority denying such a possibility, with a very small group convinced of earlier European contact. Of the minority group most are Spaniards. Juan Gaytan (Gaytano, Gaetano) gets most of the minority vote. As an associate and pilot of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, one of the early trans-pacific explorers, and based on his rudimentary account and a supposed map, Gaytan might have hit the Islas del Rey while outbound from the coast of New Spain in Another less well supported candidate for initial honors is Francisco Gali (or Hualde) whose 1582 expedition or expeditions seem to have gone astray both north and south of normal galleon routing. It seems unlikely that he could have "discovered" the Alaska Coast in ', the British Columbia Coast in 50 0, and also Hawaii, all in the same year; and it is probable that he did none of the above, his merit being confined to running the California coast southward. All speculations, true or false, concerning an early discovery of Hawaii do not take away from Cook the laurel of being the real discoverer, the one who made the Islands known to the world and the world known to Hawaii. But as positive as this fact seems, one should not overlook the nature of the Spanish pretensions which are: 1) That Spain continued to assert its claim to prior discovery and has not yet abandoned this posture. 2) That despite Cook, Spain continued to demonstrate an interest in Hawaii based on Spanish claims to the entire Pacific. 3) That Spain could not be indifferent to foreign designs on the islands, and 4) That Spain considered exercising her right to occupy these strategic islands in an effort to deny their shelter, provisions and manpower to rival nations who were active competitors for control of the Pacific Coast of North America. Spanish interest in Hawaii was a spin-off from its interest in the Pacific Northwest, an interest which became very evident in the Nootka Sound Affair. It is clear that Spanish activity was associated with its

3 political fortunes on the international scene. In an effort to forestall Russian and English entry into Spain's hitherto relatively unchallenged domains, Spain explored extensively in the North Pacific and in 1789 established a settlement at Friendly Cove, Nootka Sound on the British Columbia coast. There Estevan Jose Martinez, a Spanish naval officer, triggered the Nootka Sound Controversy by capturing British Captain James Colnett and his vessels, along with their crews, including Tayana, chief of Hawaii as he claimed to be. 1 Colnett had been using the services of this Hawaiian giant, who now by force of circumstances switched interest to the Spanish, including a name change to Jose Mariano. From the Hawaiian, Franciscan Father Lorenzo Socies of the Colegio de San Fernando in Mexico City composed a Spanish-Hawaiian vocabulary of 230 words and numbers. It would be hard to believe that the Franciscan was interested in comparative linguistics. Rather it is probable that both he and Martinez had coincidental interests in the Hawaiian Islands, the former for missionization and the naval officer as part of a large scale plan for exploitation of the fur trade that he was on the point of proposing to the Viceroy. The scheme projected by Martinez embraced a wide trade circle with himself in the center. The Pacific Northwest and California were to be linked to the China trade and to the convenient stop of Hawaii in an expansion of Spanish commercial activity. China was to be the insatiable market for furs gathered along the coast, with Nootka as focus of these collecting activities. California would supply more furs and would also provide the beautiful and much desired abalone shells coveted by the Nootkans, Haida, Tlinget, and other Northwest Coast natives. Manila would continue to serve as Spain's oriental emporium, and the increased trade would carry more mercury, spices, silks, Manila shawls, and other exotic products of the Far East. The Sandwich Islands would be occupied by a presidio on Hawaii, while one or more mission establishments among the Hawaiian Indians (as Spain insisted on calling the Polynesians) could be used for refreshment of the vessels on the long Pacific Ocean crossing. At the same time occupation would support the Northwest Coast and provide the tactical advantage of depriving other nations of the convenience of wintering and provisioning there. Martinez was not alone in his desire to monopolize the Spanish fur trade. Others, perhaps better prepared than he, submitted proposals, such as Vicente Vasadre y Vega and Nicolas Manzanelli, but no other plan was as specific as regards Hawaii's role in the scheme. Martinez stressed the point that occupation of the islands should be based on Juan Gaytan's earlier discovery. 2 In an effort to promote added interest in his project, Martinez acquired, crated, and sent off to the Viceroy for 18

4 forwarding to the Crown Prince, Fernando, a collection of materials from the "Islas de la Mesa" or "Sandwich," consisting of: 2 cloaks woven of fine carmine and yellow feathers of the kind used by Tayana, King of the Island of Hawaii. 2 capes for women made of the same feathers, i fan of the same. i carpeta of woven feathers of red, yellow and black stripes. 3 head dresses made as helmets of the same feathers and each different from the other. 3 dead birds, two red and one black, which are the ones used to weave the cloaks, capes and other curios of those natives of the Islands of La Mesa. 3 Unfortunately for Martinez and his plan, a change of viceroys from Florez, reputedly his uncle, to the Conde de Revilla Gigedo, dimmed chances for adoption of his project. Revilla Gigedo opposed occupation on the basis that the natives had treated badly Europeans who had come there. While squelching Martinez's plan because local aborigines had a bad reputation, the Viceroy did give orders always to treat the Hawaiians well because of the advantage that their alliance could produce "in case of our exploring or Philippine vessels reaching there, so that they may be supplied with food and other things produced in abundance there." 4 In support of his plan, Martinez had submitted a Sandwich Island vocabulary which was soon being used in Mexico City by Don Juan Eugenio de Santelizes in an attempt to make a comparative study of the vocabularies of the Nootkans, the Hawaiians, the Mexican and the Spanish languages. 5 Even before submission of the Martinez plan, Spain intended to explore extensively the islands as part of the mission of the Spanish round-the-world naval scientific exploring expedition headed by Captain Alejandro Malaspina. This expedition which set out from Cadiz in the summer of 1789, projected a three-month reconnaissance in January, February and March of 1791, after which Malaspina had the option of going to the Pacific Northwest Coast or not. However, before arriving on the coast of Mexico, the commander of the naval exploring expedition received word that the King wanted him to go directly to the northern latitudes to search for the Strait of Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado, the Spanish version of the Northwest Passage, and while there to visit the Spanish outpost at San Lorenzo de Nutka. In order to carry out the new commission Malaspina had to forego the sunny beaches of Hawaii for the glaciers and fog of Alaska and Western Canada. Based on the customary thoroughness of Malaspina's party, Hawaiian history is less complete but Alaskan history has an added dimension created by the visit of the men of the Descubierta and the Atrevida. How nice it would

5 have been to have turned loose artists Tomas de Suria and Jose Cardero and natural scientists like Antonio Pineda, Tadeo Haneke and Luis Nee in the Aloha Islands, or as the Spaniards most frequently called them, the Islands of San Duic! 6 A curious aside here are the variant spelling versions of English "Sandwich" concocted by contemporary Spaniards frequently inventing a new saint San Dwhich or using San Luis. 7 As for Spanish interest in Hawaii, a substitute naval party was sent and we are deprived of fullsome treatment, for at best San Bias officer Manuel Quimper was a poor substitute for the trained naval scientists. The record of his visits to the islands of Hawaii and Kauai is largely unsatisfactory. The highlight was perhaps the desertion of a sailor, Martin Mariano, whom Quimper believed had been picked up by the aforementioned British Captain Colnett, who by strange coincidence was in Hawaii after many months as a prisoner in Mexico. It is not clear whether or not the deserter really joined Colnett, stayed on the island of Kauai, moved to some other island, or found other transportation away from the islands. Quimper did not make a serious attempt to recover the deserting crew member, but continued on to his destination of Manila in the Princesa Real with a cargo of 3356 otter furs. Failure to stow properly these pelts and long delay in marketing them made them almost useless in the oriental trade. 8 When British explorer George Vancouver paid a visit to Hawaii he found there "the boatswain from Martinez's ship," possibly Martin Mariano. The major figure in Spanish relations with Hawaii soon put in his appearance in the Sandwich Islands. But the exact circumstances of the arrival of Francisco de Paula Marin are obscure. Marin, sometimes in early sources Marino, Marini, Manini and even Manning, was also a deserter from the Spanish navy, more specifically from the Naval Department of San Bias on the west coast of Mexico. Marin became a well-known Hawaiian resident, even to the point of having recently become the subject of a book 9 including a journal of sorts kept by him. At no place does Marin or his biographers make clear his early life or even much of his early activity in Hawaii. Furthermore, Marin seems to be one of those people who would prefer to lie when the truth might serve equally well. He would well qualify as one of those "Rascals in Paradise" of whom James A. Michener and A. Grove Day wrote so delightfully. Depending upon his audience, Marin could tell a story calculated to please and confound. Yet the little renegade became a key to continuing interest of Spain in Hawaii, with the Iberians willing to consider laying political claim to the archipelago partly on the basis of the dubious advantage created by a deserter. 20

6 Marin's origins are vague. Most probably he was born in 1773 at Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, not far from the White City of Cadiz. On another occasion he told the improbable story that he was the son of the hangman of Mataro in Catalonia, that he was involved in the Napoleonic Wars and that he had escaped to America. Though not giving any information on his provenance, contemporary authorities in Mexico do indicate that up until his desertion he was a pilot in the naval department. Careful perusal of the volumes of documents in the Section de Marina in the Archivo General de la Nation in Mexico City and research on Marin in the Museo Naval in Madrid have yielded no file of documents on Marin either as a deserter or as a pilot, suggesting that he was perhaps little more than an apprentice at pilotage. By Marin's own admission he had been with the expedition of the sloops Sutil and Mexicana in the first circumnavigation of Vancouver Island (1792). These vessels, forming a sub-unit of the Malaspina exploring expedition, visited Nootka a year after the visit of the parent vessels, and were under the command of Dionisio Alcala-Galiano and Cayetano Valdes. Marin later claimed not only participation in this notable expedition but also a warm friendship with those Spanish naval heroes. The records of the 1792 expedition at no place mention Marin and the pilotage duties were known to have been carried out by Jose Cardero, the artist and journalist. According to other archival sources, Marin, who seems never to have been an official pilot, jumped ship at Nootka in 1792, deserting to erstwhile American Revolutionary privateer, turned merchant mariner, John Kendrick, Sr. 10 The U.S. vessel carried Francisco de Paula Marin to Hawaii where the Spaniard joined a growing colony of foreigners, consisting of a rare assortment of weird types, not the least of which was the new arrival. If one could believe even half the claims made by or for Marin, his name should loom large in Hawaiian history. Doubtless much of it is true, while other information rests on less certain evidence, principally on Marin's own unsubstantiated word. He fought in the army of Kamehameha the great, had been wounded, and bore the scars as permanent testimony. He served as personal physician and counselor to the king. He was a particular favorite of Queen Kaahumanu, who because of her respect for Marin was therefore partial to all Spaniards. Marin introduced cattle, horses, sheep, all with great success, and later owned nearly all the cattle on Oahu. He planted the first vines, produced wine from the fruit, and distributed cuttings so that others might follow his lead. He introduced to Hawaii "all of the fruit trees of California," as well as greens, melons, bananas, and pineapples, brought at his behest from Mexico. He experimented with coffee production. He carried out 21

7 the functions of doctor and even missionary. He had the best of two worlds for he "had a truly Spanish soul in an 'Indian' body, for he combined the feelings of a Spaniard with the customs of the 'Indians.' " Some of these claims need qualification. English explorer Vancouver is credited or blamed for transporting California cattle to Hawaii, though a subsequent Spanish report indicated that all of the twelve animals taken in California had died. 11 However, four ewes and a ram survived. Another early Spaniard, a Malaguerio, also an early resident of Hawaii, is credited elsewhere for vinicultural beginnings, but this pioneer returned to Spain after a short stay in Hawaii. As for being a "missionary," it is true that Marin taught his several wives to offer devotions in unison, but sired one of the large polygamous families of the historic period in Hawaii. He was also later interested in Catholic mission establishment, but in siding with h's traditional co-religionists he became less respected by the dominant Protestants who probably disapproved of him anyway. At death he was buried by the Protestants because he had been denied a Catholic burial, though there is evidence that he personally conducted numerous Catholic baptisms. We do know that Marin was in contact with prominent early Californians, the Ortegas, Estudillos, Arguellos, De la Guerra, and was at one time seriously petitioning for a private land grant to which he contemplated moving his family. He also corresponded with people in Mexico, and to all of these contacts he placed requests for cuttings, seeds and live plants to be sent to him at his headquarters in Honolulu which apparently included the Pearl Harbor area of Oahu, with Ford Island as one of his livestock ranges. As a shadowy figure, the Spanish authorities were anxious to know more precisely of Marin's situation in the islands. One specific opportunity arose in late 1798, some six years after Marin's presumed desertion. Four U.S. seamen of the American Brigantine Garland, Basil Worth, commanding, were taken prisoner in Baja California and sent to San Diego where they were interrogated on various subjects relating to their voyage which had included a stop in Hawaii. As regards Spain's interest in those islands, the key questions were numbers 5 through 11 of a list supplied by the Basque governor, Diego de Borica. 5th What vessels frequent most the Sandwich Islands and with what objectives? 6th What is the number of Europeans established in said islands, distinguishing between English, Americans, Spanish and others? 5th [bis] In what do they employ themselves, if they are married and whatever they know of interest? 6th [bis] What European foods they cultivate and in what quantity? 7th If they engage in the raising of cattle, sheep, goats and horses and in what number? 22

8 8th What nation supplies the grains and livestock for them to raise? 9th If, because of the settling of strangers in said islands, the Indians have changed their old government, and if any of the former have taken preponderance over the latter and to what extent? 10th If the English have any fort on said islands and with what strength and personnel? 11th How our deserter pilot named Don Francisco de Paula Marin lives? 12 The answers as gleaned from the prisoners by Ensign Rodriguez of San Diego presidio were as follows: 5th That the ships that most frequent the Sandwich Islands are English with the object of wintering in them because of their warm, mild climate, as well as to provision themselves with some pigs that the natives give along with the fruits that the country produces in exchange for small wares or notions and some cloth. 6th That in those islands they haven't noticed there to be any more Europeans than the Frenchmen, 7 or 8 Englishmen, 2 Americans, and the Spanish deserter pilot, who are not employed at anything since the wives that each has maintain them. 7th That the European foods that they have are potatoes, cabbage, peppers, and melons in abundance, and among the American ones are bananas, coconuts and sugar cane. 8th That they have some cattle, although not many, a few goats and abundance of chickens, but no horses or sheep. 9th That the English are those who have supplied said European foods, cattle, goats and chickens. 10th That the same method of government that the Indians of the Sandwich Islands have had since time immemorable continues at present, since the small number of Europeans that there are obey the Chief of King Chameame, who is well armed with a large number of guns, powder and ball, in the use of which his vassals are skillful; in addition to which they have two 4-pound cannon and four pedreros with corresponding munitions, which the English have provided them in exchange for food supplies. 11th That the English don't have any fort or protection where they can make themselves safe. 12th That they know our pilot deserter, named Don Francisco de Paula Marin, who is married to an Indian woman by whom he has a son, and who said to the deponents that therefore he didn't want to return to his country. 13 Marin appeared personally on the California scene and in the archival record again in January 1804 aboard the New England frigate Hazard with the rascally James Rowan commanding. With him were "sixteen Indians of San Luis," that is, Hawaiians. According to local Californians the "Aser" [Hazard] had an interpreter who was "bastante castellano". He was, of course, Marin "who had learned his languages in Macao and also had learned pilotage at the same time." 14 Marin had been serving Rowan as pilot and interpreter with the Indians of the Pacific Northwest Coast, confirming the adage that a criminal returns to the scene of his crime, on this occasion being that of desertion. Whatever the nature of Marin's contacts on the California Coast, he was recognized by some as a deserter of yesteryear, but was not detained. It is possibly from this 23

9 visit along the coast that Marin established lasting contacts and perhaps even obtained some plants for transfer to Hawaii. It was also probably from this cruise with Rowan that a story originates of Marin as purchaser of some religious statues which when unlocked proved to be pornographic. The continued presence of Marin in Hawaii led to some discussion as to the suitability of Spain laying claim to the area on the basis of its ancient claim to the entire Pacific Ocean, to the primacy of its contacts with the islands, and most recently to the contribution of the Andalusian deserter. The Viceroy felt that the time was not ripe and the opportunity passed. With further passage of time, Spain's hold on its overseas colonies began to slip, though all interest in Hawaii did not disappear. Some fear was evident concerning those islands as late as 1818, almost at the end of the colonial period, when California Governor Pablo Vicente de Sola expressed his certain opinion that Russia had taken possession of Hawaii and had established a fort there. In that same year Argentinian privateer Hipolito Bouchard staged an attack on California from Hawaii as a base. Records of that attacking group speak highly of a Mr. Manning of Honolulu, none other than Marin, who was obviously little concerned for the safety of Spanish California as he hobnobbed with the pirates. The next year, 1819, artist Santiago [Jacques] Arago, aboard the French frigate Urania, visited Marin and left us the longest single description of the Honolulu chameleon. 15 Marin's home was a bright spot in an otherwise dismal area; and it was quickly evident that Marin's propensity for spinning a great yarn had not diminished with the years. He claimed to be of Catalan background, had been a guerrillero in the war of independence, but because of the horrors of war, which he knew first hand, he went off to France. At Bordeaux he signed aboard a Dutch vessel which touched at the island of Hawaii where he asked to be dismissed and where he remained. He subsequently served under "Tamahamat," and latter dedicated himself to raising a vineyard and orchards. Even after the loss of most of Spain's colonies, there was still some residual interest in the now prominent figure of Marin, a prosperous landowner on Oahu. A glimpse of the aging pioneer is found in the account of Don Juan Manuel de la Mata, a Spanish corsair operating in the Pacific against the vessels of the recently revolted colonies. In April of 1828 on his round-the-world cruise Mata met and talked with Marin, commenting on the contributions the latter had made to the local economy and indicating that for many years Marin had worn no other clothing than a Hawaiian breechclout and that he ate only in local style. Despite his conformity in most regards to local custom, "it was certainly admirable to see the punctual devotion with which these poor 'Indians' 24

10 [Hawaiians] come to pray at Marin's house, and notwithstanding many of them being old and still pagans, all crossed themselves devotedly on entering the door of the house as if it were that of a temple." 16 Though others saw him as "a sad old rogue," "guilty of every specie of enormity" he was Spain's most lasting contribution. With the departure of Mata, the curtain drops on an era of Spanish interest. In the future Spain would only view those mid-pacific islands as an exotic tropical paradise, and once in a while see it as a paradise lost. NOTES 1 Tayana, also known as Mawtaray and as Jose Mariano, was 6' 4f". Revilla Gigedo to Valdes, December 27, 1789 in Archivo General de Indias, hereafter AGI, Mexico The Martinez plan is in Archivo General dela Nacion, hereafter AGN, Historia Florez to Valdes, August 27, 1789 in AGI, Mexico AGI, Mexico Martinez Diary in Museo Naval, hereafter MN, Doc. No Naval officer Gonzalo Lopez de Haro, an associate but hardly a friend of Martinez, also submitted a vocabulary of similar length. See: AGN, Historia, The original Malaspina plan had been to leave Haenke and Pineda in Mexico while the main contingent went to Hawaii, then to Cape Mendocino and from there to run south along the well-known coast of California. This would have eliminated all consideration of the Pacific Northwest. AGN, Historia Without effort some 12 to 20 variant spellings are available. San Wuit, Sanduwich, Sandiwich, Sandwyche, San Dwyche, San Duic, San Duivh, Sandwik, Sanduick, San Luis, S. Luis, Sand wictz, S. Duic are quickly found. 8 Quimper had left San Bias in February of 1791, visited Kailua Bay on Oahu, Kauai and "Niihaii." He collected a cape, a helmet, and a cloak as gifts from Kamehameha. 9 Ross H. Gast, Don Francisco de Paula Marin (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii for the Hawaiian Historical Society, 1973) 10 AGN, California Archivo Hist6rico Nacional, Estado Diego de Borica, Monterey, December 22, 1798 in AGI, Estado Manuel Rodriguez, San Diego, January 8, 1799 in AGI, Estado AGN, Historia Santiago Arago, Recuerdos de tin ciego: Viaje al rededor del mundo (Madrid, 1851), pp "Extracto del diario de navegacion de Don Juan Manuel de la Mata," MS, in MN No. 933.
(Photo : Getty Images) Japanese national flags are hung up at the Tiananmen Square on December 27, 2007 in Beijing, China.

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Japan's embassy refused to give any comment after British media reports alleged that the country hired British think tank Henry Jackson Society (HJS) to spread anti-propaganda news about China.



The embassy neither denied nor confirmed when asked about the reports but told China Daily that "the embassy of Japan is not in a position to comment on the article since it is about the activities by a British private entity which do not concern the embassy."



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News surfaced after a Jan. 29 issue of The Sunday Times claimed that the Japanese Embassy in London is planning to wage a propaganda campaign against the mainland. It suggested that Japan is paying HJS as much as $12,500 a month to push British politicians including the former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifking and the media to oppose China's foreign policy.



ECNS reported that HJS, which is run by former Tory candidate Alan Mendoza, received payment to carry out the anti-propaganda campaign. The agreement was reportedly made because of the increasing cooperation between Britain and China.



Rifkind also confirmed that HJS came to him last August and asked to put his name to a Daily Telegraph article entitled "How China could switch off Britain's lights in a crisis if we let the build Hinkley C."



The piece pointed some possible risk of the station having cyber-backdoors that could pose a great risk to the UK national security. Rifkind, however, said that he was not aware of the HJS funding and he should have been informed if such exists.



The HJS, on the other hand, said that "the Henry Jackson Society had approached Sir Malcolm Rifkind who generously agreed to work with us in the drafting of this article which appeared under his name. He proposed a number of amendments to the initial draft which we had prepared to ensure that he was in agreement with its contents.



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TagsJapan, china, British Think Tank, Henry Jackson Society, Malcolm Rifking
(Photo : CCTV) The ski jump bow of the Shandong is clearly visible in this photo.

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The U.S. Navy will undoubtedly respond to the deployment of China's second aircraft carrier, the CNS Shandong (CV-17) by 2020 at the earliest, by sending a fourth carrier air wing to reinforce the three already patrolling Asian waters.



The Shandong has been object of intense media speculation, especially among Chinese state-owned media, because it's China's first indigenous aircraft carrier. More important, it will become the most powerful warship of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) when it becomes operational.



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But against four U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carriers with 10 times the number of jets it has, the Shandong won't be expected to eagerly seek combat with the Americans should push come to shove in the South China Sea.



And, in accord with China's anti-access, area denial (A2/AD) strategy, Shandong can be expected to seek battle within the 1, 500 km coverage of China's ballistic anti-ship missile defense system based on the mainland. That means the Shandong will stay inside the disputed South China Sea and won't venture beyond the "First Island Chain."



Like PLAN's first carrier, the CNS Liaoning (CV-16), Shandong will be of value as a propaganda symbol of China's rising naval power. As a combat asset, its value is close to nothing against the U.S. Navy.



Chinese state media recently announced a speeding-up of the commissioning of Shandong to 2019, which remains unlikely given construction of the carrier has been described as proceeding as scheduled to meet the original 2020 deadline.



Latest news says the Shandong is "taking shape" and the carrier will be used to deal with "complicated situations in the South China Sea" once it becomes operational.



Shandong will become the flagship of both the North Sea Fleet and the East Sea Fleet of the PLAN.



Analysts believe the Shandong will displace between 60,000 to 70,000 tons. Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company in Liaoning began building the carrier in 2015.



Shandong will probably carry 48 aircraft, a number larger than that of the Liaoning, which can take 36 aircraft. Shandong will house up to 32 Shenyang J-15 multi-role fighters, a huge boost to its offensive firepower, with the other aircraft complement remaining more or less the same.



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TagsU.S. Navy, CNS Shandong (CV-17), People's Liberation Army Navy, anti-access, area denial, A2/AD
I had the privilege or reading a pre-release version of "God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church." Here are 20 quotes from the book, which you should pick up.
Transcription

1 THE LOWER PALEOZOIC METASEDIMENTARY BASEMENT OF THE COASTAL RANGES OF CHILE BETWEEN 25 30' and 27 S C.M.BELL Dept. Geogr. and Geol., The College of Sto Paul and Sto Mary, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. RESUMEN El basamento sedimentario de la Cordillera de la Costa del norte de Chile (Formacion Las Tortolas), entre los 25 30' Y 27" S, esta constituido por una secuencia de turbiditas distales, con intercalaciones menores de calizas y cherts pelagicos. Esta secuencia se deposito en un ambiente submarino, de planicie abisal, con paleocorrientes de direccion SEE, probablemente paralelas a un margen continental, activo, del tipo cordillerano. La edad de las sedimentitas se ubicaria en el lapso Ordovicico-Devonico y su depositacion fue acompanada por erupciones de basaltos alcalinos. Tanto las rocas sedimentarias como las volcanicas fueron deformadas y afectadas por un metamorfismo, que alcanzo hasta las facies de esquistos verdes, con anterioridad a la intrusion de monzogranitos del Permico Inferior. La existencia, en la region, de una importante zona de "melanges" tectonicos ("melange" de Chanaral) indica que este conjunto de rocas forma parte de un complejo de subduccion de probable edad paleowica superior. ABSTRACT The metasedimentary basement of the coastal ranges of Chile between 25 30' and 27" S 'comprises a distal turbidite sequen ce, with minor limestones and pelagic cherts (Las Tortolas Formation). The depositional environment was a deep-sea basin-plain, with palaeocurrents directed towards the south-southeast, possibly parallel to a cordilleran-type of active continental margino The sediments are probably Ordovician to Devonian in age. Deposition was accompanied by eruptions of alkali basalts. The sedimentary and volcanic rocks were deformed and subjected to greenschist facies metamorphism prior to the intrusion of Lower Permian monzogranites. The presence of a major tectonic melange (Chanaral melange) indicates that the rocks formed part of a subduction complex of possible Upper Paleozoic age. INTRODUCTION This report details the lithology, provenance and depositional environment of the Lower Paleozoic metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of the coastal ranges of northern Chile between 25 30' and 27 S (Fig. 1). The strata have been subdivided into two units (Bell, in press): the Las Tortolas Formation comprising clastic burbidites with minor pelagic cherts and basic lavas, and the Chanaral melange. Trace fossils suggest an age between Ordovician and Devonian (written como form V. Covacevich). The pattern of deformation (Bell, in press) and the presence of a tectonic melange indicates that the rocks comprise a subduction complex produced by underthrusting towards the north and northeast. Posttectonic intrusion by Lower Permian monzogranites (267  8 m_y.; Zentilli, 1974) indicates that the subduction complex probably formed in Devonian or Carboniferous times. Revista Geologica de Chile No. 17. p figs. 1 tabla

2 22 PALEOZOIC BASEMENT OF COASTAL RANGES. NORTHERN CHILE LAS TORTOLAS FORMATION The Las Tortolas Formation (Ulriksen, 1979) is exposed over an area extending 160 km from north to south, and at least 50 km from west to east. It extends north beyond the are a of the present investigation (Ferraris. 1978) and is probably equivalent to the El Toco Formation of the Antofagasta region (GarcIa. 1967; Harrington, 1961). Many exposures of Paleozoic metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks are found farther south in Chile but few correlations between these isolated occurrences have vet been made. The rocks of the Las Tortolas Formation are a monotonous succession of interbedded fine-grained sandstones and mudstones with sedimentary structures, indicating a distal turbidite depositional environment. A few limestone and chert horizons are interbedded with the turbidites. No significant regional facies variations have been identified during the present study. Basic lavas at Pan de Azucar are probably of a similar age to the sediments but their precise relationship is not known. Punta Ballena 26'10'5 D tzz2l v V V Las Tortolas Formation Bosic Volconic Rocks --- Foults l> e r CLASTIC SEDIMENTARY ROCKS Sandstones of the Las Tortolas Formation are predominantly fine to very fine-grained and only very rarely medium to coarse-grained. Large detrital clasts were only observed at the southern end of Quebrada del Griton, where scattered pebbles occur at the base of a 1 m thick sandstone. Scattered mudflakes, produced by contemporaneous erosion of cohesive beds, are common in the massive sandstones. In thin section the sandstones are seen to be immature and very poorly sorted, with angular to well-rounded clasts. The quartz content ranges from 20 to 60 % with 1 average of 35%. Plagioclase (andesine and oligoclase) and potassium feldspar (often perthitic) comprise between 10 and 30%. The relative proportions and composition of the feldspars are, however, commonly indeterminate due to secondary altera- FIG. 1. Geological map showing the distribution of Lower Palaeozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks in the area between 25 30' and 27 S.

3 C. M. Bell 23 Calcite nodules up to several metres in length exhibiting cone-in-cone structures, were observed in the area southeast of Chanaral. SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES FIG.2. Plan view of a bedding plane showing current scour marks defonned by subsequent folding. tion. Other detrital minerals include muscovite, zircon, opaques, apatite, tourmaline, sphene, garnet and rutile. Sorne well-rounded detrital tourmaline crystals exhibit secondary euhedral overgrowths. Lithic clasts comprise up to 30% of the sandstones andesitic and glassy vojcanic fragments are the most abundant but low-grade metamorphosed sandstones and mudstones are also common. Diorite, granodiorite and granophyre have also been recorded. A study of the coarser-grained sandstones suggests that the abundant matrix (up to 40%) is predominantly secondary in origin, produced both by the compaction of mudstone clasts and by the alteration of feldspar and volcanic clasts. The sandstones are therefore classified as lithic and feldspathic arenites rather than as greywackes. Vein minerals include calcite, quartz, epidote and opaques. Few sedimentary structures are preserved in the mudstones, which have been deformed and metamorphosed to phyllite, slate and spotted slate. Sedimentary structures in the sandstones and siltstones are also commonly distorted (Fig. 2) or destroyed by tectonic deformation and metamorphism. Beds are parallel and continous over the length of exposures (up to several 100 m). Bedding thickness is very variable, ranging from a few millimeters up to 3 m. Most beds are between 50 and 200 mm thick and beds thicker than 1 m are very uncommon. Individual beds may be sudivided into divisions of the Bouma sequence. Massive or more rarely graded basal units of fine-grained sandstone grade up into or are overlain with a sharp contact by finely parallel or ripple cross-iaminated siltstones and mudstones. Repeated ripple cross-iaminated units with no massive basal unit are common, and the upper finely-laminated pelites are also frequently absent. The thickness and the proportions of sand to silt and ciay in each unit is very variable. Due to the deformation, no sedimentary sequen ces were measured except for a 10 m section south of Quebrada Cachina, which comprised 25 thinly bedded units suggesting an upward fining cycle. In places the turbidites are predominantly pelitic but overall the proportion of sandstone exceeds that of pelite. The contact between beds is usually parallel, with no current marks, but basal erosion structures have been observed at a number of localities. The most common are current scour marks (Fig. 2), normally between 15 and 20 mm deep but in place s up to 70 mm deep. Grooves, bounce, brush and chevron marks have also been recorded. Ripple cross-iaminations have lunate or cuspate crests. Load casts are commonly associated with the flute marks but other indicators of penecontemporaneous deformation, such as clastic dykes and convolute laminations, are very rareo Trace fossils are very common but are seldom well preserved.

4 24 PALEOZOIC BASEMENT OF COASTAL RANGES, NORTHERN CHILE LIMESTONE Limestone beds are rare in the Las Tortolas Formation. They are found at scattered localities in all but the northernmost areas but are apparently more abundant towards the south. Mercado (1978, 1980) subdivided the strata in the Pan de Azucar and Chanaral are as on the basis of the presence of limestone (metacaliza) horizons. Field work during the present investigation has suggested, however, that this subdivision is inapplicable during detailed mapping. Limestone horizons are usually easily recognized from a distance due to their cover of a distinctive white lichen. Where this lichen is absent, the limestones are only distinguished with difficulty from the other fine-grained sediments. Beds are continuous and of constant thickness, normally up to 1.5 m thick with the thickest of 4 m. Beds occur either in isolation within the turbidite sequences or more commonly as paralle1 sets, often interbedded with phyllite and chert. In most places the limestone is massive and structure1ess as a result of recrystallization. In a number of localities, particularly in the centre of the thickest beds, it can be seen to consist of broken shell fragments. These fragments are up to 10 mm in length and commonly 1 mm thick. They are usually flat or slightly bent but occasionally tightly curved. The fragments are tightly packed and lic parallel to the bedding. In thin section they can be seen to comprise long filaments of calcite divided into cell~ ano orientated with the long axis of the filaments perpendicular or slightly inclined to the surface of the shell. Each filament is about 0.05 mm in diameter and up to 1 mm long. The filaments are close1y packed with polygonal outlines. The centre of each cell is marked by a con centration of small dark impurities. R. Riding (written com.) has suggested that the shells resemble calcareous red algae such as the crustose Corallinaceae. Up to 5 % of the limestones consists of secondary quartz, feldspar, muscovite, iron sulphide and iron oxide. No definite detrital grains have been indentified. The uniformity and close packing of the shell fragments are distinctive features of the limestone. Two 1 kg blocks of the limestone were digested in dilute acetic acid and the resulting insoluble fraction was concentrated in heavy liquids. No conodonts were found but a number of small but well-preserved sponge spicule fragments were identified. These fragments consist of straight cylinders with a narrow central tube. The fragments range from 0.1 to 0.3 mm in lenth and are approximate1y 0.05 m wide. They have a smooth, shiny black exterior and a few show branches and spines. Most form discrete broken fragments but none show evidence of abrasion. The fragments are weakly magnetic and apparently consist of pyrrhotite as a replacement of opaline silica. The fragments close1y resemble the spicules of glass sponges of the class Hexactinellida. The origin of these limestones in a turbidite sequen ce is problematical. A pelagic origin is suggested by the association with chert horizons. However, the thickness, lack of detrital or chert content, together with the fragmented nature of the shells, strongly supports an origin by the influx of turbidity currents derived from a relatively pure carbonate serliment so urce area. N? L_...I..---lf_...J1 observations 28 observations FIG. 3. Rose diagram indicating the palaeocurrent direction deterrnined from flute marks. Vector mean towards the south-southeast.

5 C. M. Bell 25 CHERT Rare chert horizons averaging 100 mm and up to 600 mm in thickness are interstratified with the limestones and the pelites. The strata are continous and of constant thickness. In thin section these rocks are extremely fine grained and they retain no recognizable organic structures. A very small proportion of the chert horizons comprise detrital grains of quartz and white mica with a preferred orientation parallel to the bedding. Seco n dary minerals include veins of quartz, calcite, iron sulphide and albite. The cherts are interpreted as pelagic deposits. PALAEOGEOGRAPHY Palaeocurrent determinations made on distinct flute marks at 28 localities (Fig. 3) indica te currents directed between the southwest and southeast, with a vector mean directed towards the south-southeast. The sedimentary structures and rock types described aboye are indicative of a deepsea basin-plain environment (Mutti and Ricci Lucchi,1978). The provenance was a mixed terrain of andesitic volcanic, plutonic and metasedimentary rocks. Immaturity and lack of sorting indicate relatively short transportation. These factors together suggest a cordilleran-type of active continental margin, similar to the present-day Andes. METAMORPHISM OF THE SEDIMENTS Metamorphism of the pelitic sediments has produced slates, phyllites and schists. Most specimens record a complex metamorphic history with a strog slaty cleavage deformed by a crenulation cleavage, itself superimposed by contact metamorphic porphyroblasts. The phyllites and schists comprise layers rich in orientated muscovite, stilpnomelane and chlorite alternating with quartzrich layers. Other metamorphic minerals identified in thin section include almandine garnet (from one locality at Pan de Azucar), plagioclase fledspar, clinopyroxene and tourmaline. Contact metamorphic porphyroblasts comprise andalusite, staurolite and sericitized cordierite crystals up to 2 mm in diameter. No distinct relationship between the plutonic intrusives and the areas of contact metamorphism was observed during the present investigation. The sandstones show less metamorphic effects than the pelites but they do exhibit a similarly complex metamorphic history. In most sandstones the most prominent characteristic is the abundant matrix produced by alteration of feldspar and lithic clasts. Trains of fragmented tourmaline and feldspar provide evidence of brittle deformation in sorne sandstones. More common is the recrystallization of quartz and micas to form a schistose frabric. Quartz crystals are invariably strained and frequently show a mortar texture of deformed grains surrounded by smaller undeformed crystals produced by dynamic recrystallization. Plagioclase feldspars are also bent and strained in sorne specimens. Sandstones in close proximity to plutonic intrusive bodies have been completely recrystallized to form chlorite and muscovite schists. The early metamorphic fabric in both the pelites and the sandstones is indicative of intense flattening and is probably related to the first phase of deformation described by Bell (in press). The crenulation cleavage was produced during the second phase of deformation, and the contact metamorphic spotting resulted from the intrusion of late Paleozoic plutons. VOLCANIC ROCKS Basic volcanic rocks become more abundant towards the south (Fig. 1) and all observations of volcanic rocks except those at Pan de Azucar, were made within the melange zone. The basic volcanic rocks are black to dark brick red in colour. They are generally massive with metamorphism and tectonic deformation having masked most of the primary structures. Pillows up to 0.5 m in diameter were recorded at severallocalities. Sorne of the pillows exhibit chilled margins

6 26 PALEOZOIC BASEMENT OF COASTAL RANGES, NORTHERN CHILE and concentrically zoned quartz and calcite-filled vesicles. Probable hyaloclastite breccias were observed at Pan de Azucar. In thin section the lavas are seen to be greenschist facies amphibolites (metabasites) comprising up to 80"10 actinolite together with quartz, zoisite, white mica, epidote, sphene, albite and opaque minerals. Biotite is also present but partly altered to chlorite. In a few specimens a relict igneous texture of glomeroporphyritic albite laths can be distinguished. Extensive replacement by calcite is a feature of sorne of the rocks, elsewhere limonite or epidote rich patches can be observed. Falttening of the pillows at Pan de Azucar provides clear evidence of tectonic deformation (Fig. 4) yet in thin section the rocks are non-schistose and the metamorphic mineral s show no alignment. This suggests that the greenschist facies metamorphism post-dated much of the tectonic deformation. Major and trace element analyses of six specimens of the volcanic rocks are presented in Table 1. Samples were crushed to less than 240 mesh in a tungsten carbide swingmill. Major elements were determined on glass fusion discs and trace elements on compressed powder briquettes using a Philips PW 1400 XRF at Bedford College, University of London. Calibration checks were maintained using accepted international and inter-iaboratory standards. The extensive alteration of specimens CP 98.4 and CP is reflected in the low total percentage of major oxides. The low Zr/Nb rations and the high Sr, Ni and Cr values indicate that FIG.4. Defonned pillow lavas at Pan de Azucar. these rocks resemble alkali basalts, rather than normal depleted mid-ocean ridge basalts (written como from Dr. A.D. Sauders). MELANGE The extraordinary assemblage of intensely deformed sedimentary rocks of the Chanaral melange has been interpreted as the product of north and northeast directed subduction (Bell, in press). The rocks of the melange are probably the stratigraphical equivalent of the Las Tortolas Formation. Despite the great areal extent of the melange, no significant regional variations have been observed. The most typic?1 rock type is a breccia comprising blocks of fine to very fine-grained feldspathic and lithic arenite in a pelitic matrix. The sandstone blocks are commonly lighter in colour and more resistant to erosion than matrix. Rare blocks of pillow lava (often extensively epidotized), limestone and deformed masses of turbidite have also been observed. Blocks very in size from grains up to many metres but there is no typical size. Th largest block observed was a mass of limestone approximately 150 x 50 m. Larger block s than this may well exist but their recognition awaits more detailed studies. The. small blocks are extremely irregular in shape, they are frequently rounded and may be pillow or lens shaped. Many are elongated parallel to the pervasive fabric of the matrix (Fig. 5), but this fabric, and hence the elongation, may well be a result of tectonic deformation superimposed on the melange. Blocks seldom exhibit angular fractures indicative of brittle deformation. instead

7 c. M. Be/l 27 TABLE 1: MAJOR AND TRACE ELEMENT COMPOSITION OF BASIC VOLCANIC ROCKS % CP82.1 CP98.3 CP98.4 CP98.5 CP102.1 CP Si Ti AI Fe203 * MnO MgO CaO Na K P20 S Total ppm V Cr Ni Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Localities CP82, CP98 and CPI02 at Pan de Azucar. Locality CP157, 7 km south of Punta Animas. Analyscs carried out by Dr. A.D. Saunders at Bedford CoJlege, London. gently curved surfaces indicate plastic deformation Sorne blocks are boudinaged, with pelitic material apparently intruding into the blocks, thus illustrating the marked ductility contrasts of the two materials. Folds are very rare, suggesting that much of the deformation was the product of tensile or shear rather than compressive stress. In places the blocks form interlocking masses with little matrix (Fig. 6), but elsewhere the matrix predominates, with whisps of sand in a pelitic mass. The contact between blocks and matrix is usually sharp but in places it is transitional with blocks merging into matrix. In marked contrast with the typical melange of sandstone blocks in a pelitic matrix (Fig. 5) is a dark-coloured breccia comprising well-sorted angular sandstone, siltstone and mudstone fragments. In the field this breccia has the appearance of a massive structureless sandstone, forming units up to 20 m in thickness. It grades imperceptibly into, and is interstratified with, the' typical melange. A distinctive feature of the breccia is the presence of scattered well-rounded clasts (quartzite, sandstone, andesitic volcanics and vein quartz) up to 200 mm in diameter. Detrital clasts of this size have been found nowhere else in the metasedimentary basement rocks in this area. Fragments in the breccia range from several millimetres up to a maximum of 1 m. The average grain size is that of a granule conglomerate. Little lithological sorting is apparent

8 28 PALEOZOIC BASEMENT OF COASTAL RANGES, NORTHERN CHILE FIG.5. Melange of sandstone fragments in a pelitic matrix. Fragments are elongated parailel to the pervasive fabrico FIG. 6. Melange comprising tabular sandstone blocks with little pelitic matrix. FIG.7. Thin section oi melange breccia showing illdefined fragments of pooriy-sorted sandstone in a matrix comprising sand grains and smail pelitic fragments. but iragments oi one size tend to be concentrrated in distinct layers which themselves grade into coarser and iiner layers. With the exception oi fine mud whisps, the fragments are seldom bent. In thin section these breccias can be seen to consist oi compacted fragments of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone together with individual sand grains in an extremely ill-sorted marrix (Fig. 7). The mudstone c1asts are generally rounded but many are deformed to fill the gaps between the less ductile fragments. Sorne of the fine-grained sandstone fragments are rounded but others are angular and may even be invaded by whisps of mudo In sorne specimens many of the fragments are them- FIG.8. Thin section of melange breccia showing sandstone fragments with pelitic rims in a matrix of sandy mudstone. These fragments are believed to indicate recyc1ing within the melange. selves composed of an aggregate of small mud clasts and sand grains. There is commonly an increase in the proportion of fine-grained material towards the edges of these fragments (Fig. 8), providing evidence of the recyc1ing of the component blocks of the melange (Hibbard and Williams, 1979). There is no evidence of subaqueous erosion, sorting or deposition in the breccia, thus suggesting that it was produced by the breakdown of coherent, but not lithified, sediment in an intrastratal position. Therefore, the formation of the breccia is believed to have occurred during the subduction process.

9 C. M. Bell 29 DEFORMATION Following the formation of the melange, the rocks of the Las Tortolas Formation were subjected to two phases of tectonic deformation (Bell, in press). The first phase is characterized by largescale, tight chevron folds and an axial planar cleavage. The folds of the second phase are smaller and more upright, and are related to a crenulation cleavage. The fold axes of both phases trend between west-east and northwest-southeast, oblique to the present-day Andean structures. Folds are predominantly asymmetrically overturned towards the south and southwest, suggesting an origin by underthrusting directed towards the north and northeast (Bell, in press). CONCLUSIONS Distal turbidites in northern Chile were deposited in a deep-sea basin-plain environment during Ordovician to Devonian times. The sedimentary basin was situated adjacent to a cordilleran-type of continental margino The presence of a tectonic melange indicates that the rocks formed part of a subduction complex of possible Devonian or Carboniferous age (Bell, in press). The Upper Palaeozoic age deduced for the deformation coincides with that of the paired metamorphic belt in southern Chile (Gonzalez-Bonorino, 1971; Herve, 1977). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. M. Suarez, J. Naranjo, J. Munoz and L. Gomez for their help in Chile. The work was financed by the Instituto de Investigaciones Geologicas together with a trave! grant from the Royal Society Latin American Programme. Dr. A.D. Saunders of Bedford College, University of London kindly performed the chemical analyses. REFERENCES BELL, C. M. (In press). Deformation produced by the subduction oi a Lower Palaeozoic turbidite sequence in northern Chile. Geol. Soco Lond., J. FERRARIS, F Geologia de la Cordillera de la Costa entre 24 0 y 2S o Lat. S, Region de Antoiagasta. Inst. Invest. Geol., Carta Geol. Chile, No. 26, ls p. GARCIA, F Geologia del Norte Grande de Chile. In Simposium sobre el Geosinclinal Andino,. Soco Geol. Chile, No. 3, 138 p. Santiago, Chile, GDNZALEZ BONORINO, F Metamorphism ofthe crystalline bascment oi Central Chile. J. Petrol., Vol. 12, No. 1, p HARRINGTON, H Geology oi parts of Antoiagasta and Atacarna provinces of northern Chile. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull., Vol. 45, No. 2, p HERVE, F Petrology of the crystalline bascment of the Nahuelbuta Mountains, south-central Chile. In Comparative studies on the geology of th~ Circum-Pacific orogenic belt in Japan and Chile (Ichikawa, T.; Aguirre, L. ; eds.), J ap. Soco Promot. Sci., p. 1-S1, Tokyo, Japan. HIBBARD, J.; WILLIAMS, H Regional sctting oi the Dunnage melange in the Newfondland Appalachians. Am. J. ScL, Vol. 279, No. 9, p MERCADO, M Geologia de la Cordillera de la Costa entre Chanaral y Caldera, Region de Atacama. Inst. Invest. Geol., Carta Geol. Chile, No. 27, ls p. MERCADO, M Geologia del area Pan de Azucar, Region de Atacama. Inst. Inve5t. Geol., Carta Geol. Chile, No. 37, 30 p. MUTTI, E.; RICCI LUCCHI, F Turbidites oi the northem Apennines; introduction to facies ana Iysis. Int. Geol. Rev., Vol. 20, No. 2, p. 12S-166. ULRIKSEN, C Regional geology, geochronology and metallogeny oi the Coastal Cordillera of Chile between 25" 30' and ' south. M.Sc. Thesis, Dalhousie Univ., 221 p. Canada. ZENTILLI, M Geological evolution and metallogenetic relationships in the Andes oi northern Chile, between 26 0 and 29 0 south. Ph.D. Thesis, Queen's Univ., 446 p. Kingston, Canada.
home US Donald Trump rebukes judge who lifted travel ban, vows to fight ruling

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday denounced a judge who lifted the travel ban he had imposed on citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries, taking an unusual jab at an independent branch of the U.S. government as he vowed to bring back the restrictions.

Trump's personal attack on U.S. District Judge James Robart went too far for some who said he was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress.

As the ban lifted, refugees and thousands of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by Trump's executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States.

The Justice Department is expected to quickly argue in court to reverse a restraining order made by a federal judge in Seattle late on Friday.

Federal Judge James Robart, who was appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush, blocked on Trump's executive order, questioning its constitutionality.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said on Twitter early on Saturday. Trump has said "extreme vetting" of refugees and immigrants is needed to prevent terrorist attacks.

Eight hours later, Trump tweeted: "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?"

It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the U.S. Constitution designates as a check to the power of the White House and Congress.

Democratic Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland said Trump went too far by attacking the judge and the integrity of the judicial branch.

"He is undermining the entire system of government, not only the decisions with which he disagrees," Cardin said in a statement.

"Read the 'so-called' Constitution," tweeted Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee.

The court ruling was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges to Trump's push to clamp down on immigration. His order set off chaos last week at airports across the United States where travelers were stranded and thousands of people gathered to protest.

Americans are divided over Trump's order. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed 49 percent favored it while 41 percent did not.

Rights groups, Democrats and U.S. allies have condemned the travel ban as discriminatory. On Saturday, there were protests against the ban in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and other cities.

At the White House, hundreds of protesters chanted "Donald, Donald can't you see? You're not welcome in D.C."

TRAVELERS MOVE WITH HASTE

In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Fuad Sharef and his family prepared to fly on Saturday to Istanbul and then New York before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.

"I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Sharef, who was stopped from boarding a New York-bound flight last week.

"I didn't surrender and I fought for my right and other people's right," he told Reuters.

Trump's executive order caused confusion from the time it was signed as border agents tried to figure out who it applied to and many legal permanent residents - "green card" holders - from the seven countries were temporarily detained at airports while trying to return to the United States.

At Dulles International Airport outside Washington on Saturday, Cleveland gastroenterologist Maher Salam waited for his mother, Rukaieh Sarioul, to arrive from Riyadh.

Sarioul, a Syrian citizen who has a U.S. green card, was supposed to arrive a week ago but had delayed her plans because of the order.

Salam called Trump's order "very discriminatory."

"You cannot really separate the executive order from the rhetoric that Mr. Trump used during the campaign," he said.

On Saturday, a small group of immigration lawyers, some holding signs in English and Arabic, gathered at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, offering services to passengers arriving from overseas destinations.

"This is an instance where people could really slip through the cracks and get detained and nobody would know," said John Biancamano, 35, an attorney volunteering his services.

'IN GOD'S HANDS'

The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travelers but that the Justice Department would file for an emergency stay of the order "at the earliest possible time."

Some travelers told Reuters they were cautious about the sudden change. Overnight, some international airlines were uncertain about whether they could sell tickets to travelers from the countries listed in Trump's ban.

"I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes," said Josephine Abu Assaleh, who was stopped from entering the United States after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family.

Abu Assaleh, 60, and her family were granted U.S. visas in 2016, some 13 years after they initially made their applications.

"We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been canceled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone.

Virtually all refugees also were barred by Trump's order, upending the lives of thousands of people who have spent years seeking asylum in the United States.

Friday night's court decision sent refugee advocacy and resettlement agencies scrambling to help people in the pipeline.

Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab, 52, told Reuters in Lebanon: "If it really has been frozen, I thank God, because my wife and children should have been in America by now."

He said his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on Jan. 31. The trip was canceled two days before that and he was now waiting for a phone call from U.N. officials overseeing their case.

"It's in God's hands," he said.
home US Iowa Senate approves bill to cut Planned Parenthood funding

The Republican-led Iowa Senate voted on Thursday to cut off public funding to Planned Parenthood and redirect tax dollars to clinics that do not perform abortions.

The legislators voted 30a20 in favor of Senate File 2, which will allocate $3 million in state money to health centers that do not perform or promote abortions. The bill is headed for the Iowa House, where it is likely to pass. Republican Gov. Terry Branstad has promised to sign it into law, The Des Moine Register reported.

Under the legislation, the state will discontinue its participation in the Medicaid family program and create a new state-funded program that would fund health care groups that do not offer abortion services. The state would redirect money from a federal block grant for child and family services, according to The Courier.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland in Iowa received about $1 million through Medicaid in the 2016 fiscal year.

Sen. Amy Sinclair, co-sponsor of the bill, argued that the state-funded program would spread out the tax dollars evenly, which would, in turn, increase access for women, especially those living in rural areas are not served by Planned Parenthood clinics.

"There are zero Planned Parenthood clinics in [her local district]," she said. "And I would suggest that is true for many other rural Senate districts as well. So anyone in my district would have to drive to one of those clinics, all located in urban areas, to access care for their needs under the current system," she continued.

Sen. Janet Petersen spoke against the bill in a lengthy floor speech, arguing that the measure is bad for Iowa women and families.

"It will create more unintended pregnancies, more high risk pregnancies, and cost Iowa taxpayers more," said Petersen. "Iowans don't support it. Doctors warn against it. We should listen to them and reject it," she added.

Planned Parenthood has stated that only two percent of its services involve abortions, but pro-life advocates argued that government funds are indirectly subsidizing abortions by helping to pay for the organization's overhead costs, such as for utilities, administrative staff and office space.

Iowans for LIFE argued that the bill would give women better options with regards to health care. The group is asking pro-lifers to urge their state legislators to support the measure.
home US Leaked draft of executive order signals protection for opponents of same-sex marriage, abortion

A leaked copy of a draft executive order has suggested that Americans who have religious objections to same-sex marriage, abortion, and other social issues may soon be able to live their lives and run their businesses in accordance with their beliefs.

The draft, titled "Establishing a Government-Wide Initiative to Respect Religious Freedom," came after social conservative activists raised their concern over reports that President Donald Trump would not rescind a previous executive order signed by President Barack Obama in 2014.

The 2014 order puts religious charities and other federal contractors at risk of losing federal grants if their employment practices are consistent with their stance on sexuality and marriage.

The Nation reported that the four-page draft order "seeks to create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious or moral objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity, and it seeks to curtail women's access to contraception and abortion through the Affordable Care Act."

The draft suggests that the religious liberties curtailed by the 2014 order would be restored if the president makes it official, The Christian Post reported.

The order would also ensure that religious organizations would maintain their tax-exempt status if they speak out against gay marriage, premarital sex, abortion rights, and rights for transgender individuals.

Ryan Anderson, an advocate for traditional marriage and religious liberty from The Heritage Foundation, said that the executive order is "good policy" and "entirely lawful."

He noted that liberals should be concerned about the order because it explicitly stated that it "shall be carried out ... to the extent permitted by law" and any accommodation must be "reasonable" in order to avoid potential conflicts.

Anderson also clarified that the draft order would not repeal the Obama executive order that elevates LGBT status to a protected class in federal contracts.

White House officials have told ABC News that the religious freedom order draft is just one among hundreds of executive orders that are currently being reviewed by the Trump administration. The officials further noted that not all of the orders reflect the administration's view on what will become actual policy.

"We do not have plans to sign anything at this time but will let you know when we have any updates," said White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
home World Pakistani minister says blasphemy law will stay in place

A Pakistani official has stated that the federal government has no plans to amend or repeal the country's controversial blasphemy law.

Religious affairs minister Sardar Mohammad Yousuf claimed that the prime minister and his cabinet members do not disapprove of the said law.

Last month, Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the Senate Committee on Human Rights is set to debate the blasphemy laws based on the recommendations of a 24-year-old report. He stated that the committee would consider a proposal that would require an investigation of a complaint before a case is registered to ensure that the law is not being used to settle scores.

Yousuf, however, denied that the government is considering any amendments to the law.

"I want to make it clear that our government is not going to amend or repeal blasphemy law. The law will remain as it is and that those blaspheming against Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) will face the gallows," Yousuf told reporters on Tuesday, as reported by Daily Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister of Pakistan Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has denied that Christians and religious minorities are suffering because of the abuse of the blasphemy laws, the British Pakistani Christian Association reported.

He contended that most of those who are accused of blasphemy were Muslims. Citing statistics from Sindh province, he stated that 99 out of 129 registered cases of blasphemy were against Muslims. He further noted that no blasphemy cases have been registered in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan.

"These facts point towards the fact that religious minorities are not being embroiled in blasphemy cases more than Muslims," said Khan. "In essence, religious minorities are not being targeted by the blasphemy laws," he added.

Statistics from the Center for Research and Security Studies have indicated that hundreds of Pakistanis are currently on death row for blasphemy convictions, and at least 65 people have been killed over allegations of blasphemy since 1990.

There are some conservatives in Pakistan who consider even criticizing the laws as blasphemy. In 2011, Pakistani Governor Salman Taseer was killed by his bodyguard after he called for a reform of the blasphemy laws. The assassin was hailed as a hero by religious hardliners and thousands attended his funeral after he was executed last year.
home US Pastor discovers burning cross outside African-American church in Texas

Cherokee County officials have been called to investigate an act of vandalism after a pastor found a burning makeshift cross outside a historic African-American church in Alto, Texas.

Pastor Bill Burton of St. Thomas AME Church said that he was alarmed to see the tree limbs shaped into a cross set on fire outside the church, adding that it reminded him of cross burnings outside black churches in the 1960s.

"When I saw the cross burning, it was heart wrenching," the pastor told CBS 19. "Just brought back the '60s to my mind, back when they used to burn crosses at different churches. When you burn a cross on church ground that speaks for itself," he continued.

Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell noted that there was a rock thrown on one of the church windows, and a water line had been broken on the side of the building. He said that the tree limbs have been put together to resemble a cross, but it did not seem like it was used to burn the building because it was set up far from the church.

The sheriff has not yet labeled the incident as a hate crime, but Burton is convinced that it is. "When you burn a cross on church ground that speaks for itself," said the pastor.

St. Thomas AME was founded in 1905, and its first building was built in 1909. Burton said that the congregation would not live in fear and would continue to have its regular services. He said that the congregation had prayed for the perpetrator of the crime, and he hopes that the country can stop being divisive.

"We're not surprised of these type things happening in the world," said Burton, according to KTRE. "It's just when they happen in their own church it brings it full circle. Apparently the wrong message is being spread, rather than love," he added.

Campbell said that the sheriff's office has spoken to a person of interest, but it still calls on anyone who has any information to contact the office.
home US Syrian Christians in Pennsylvania voice their support for Trump's travel ban

Syrian Christians who are now living in Pennsylvania has expressed their support for President Donald Trump's executive order that placed an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria.

Apart from the ban on Syrian refugees, the order also suspends admission of all refugees to the U.S. for 120 days and bars entry of citizens from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen for 90 days.

Following the issuance of the order last week, some Syrian Christians in Pennsylvania have spoken out in support of the travel ban.

Elias Shetayh and Aziz Wehbey, both residents of Allentown, believe that Trump has made the right decision in banning refugees from predominantly Muslim countries.

"Trump is right, in a way, to do what he's doing," Shetayh told The Washington Post. "This country is going into a disaster," he added.

Shetayh has lived in the U.S. for 46 years while his wife, Georgette has been in the country for 30 years. Wehbey came to the U.S in 1991 at the age of 19. The Shetayhs and Wehbey are now American citizens and supporters of Trump.

"We would not like to bring refugees for a simple reason: We do not know their background," said Wehbey. "We're concerned about, if God forbid a terrorist attack happened here . . . that we're all labeled as bad people. I hate to say it," he went on to say.

Not all Syrians in Allentown agree with Trump's travel ban. Fouad and Mouna Younes, who came to the U.S. during the civil war, disagree with the president's decision to stop accepting refugees, but they maintain that asylum seekers must be rigorously screened.

"These poor people are coming from war. For them to get here and all of a sudden to be told a and they're legal and have visas a and all of a sudden you tell them, 'You can't come in. You have to go back' a that's a shame," said Fouad.

Wehbey noted that the travel ban is only temporary and advised the people in the community to be patient.

Fouad said that he will not necessarily withdraw his support for Trump even if the refugee program is ended permanently.

Many in the community believe that exceptions will be made by the government for Syrian Christians, particularly those who already have family members living in the U.S.
home US Trump reiterates promise to repeal Johnson Amendment

President Donald Trump has reiterated his promise to repeal an IRS rule that bars churches and other tax-exempt institutions from engaging in political activity.

Under the Johnson Amendment, tax-exempt organizations such as churches, charities, and educational institutions could lose their tax-exempt status if they participate in any political campaign in favor or against a political candidate.

In his speech during the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Trump vowed to "destroy" the IRS rule which has been in place since 1954.

"I will get rid of, totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear," he told the guests at gathering.

In an interview with CBN's David Brody last week, Trump described the Johnson Amendment as a "disaster for religion" and said that repealing the rule is a priority of his administration.

Trump's promise to rescind the rule during the campaign period won the support of evangelical leaders, including Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.

Falwell said that eliminating the Johnson Amendment would "create a huge revolution for conservative Christians and for free speech."

Some secularist groups including Americans United for Separation of Church and State have expressed concern over the president's announcement.

"President Donald Trump and his allies in the religious right seek to turn America's houses of worship into miniature political action committees," said the group's executive director, Barry Lynn, according to Reuters.

"It would also lead some houses of worship to focus on supporting candidates in exchange for financial and other aid. That would be a disaster for both churches and politics in America," he added.

A study conducted by LifeWay Research has indicated that most Americans believe that preachers should not endorse candidates in church.

The results of the study revealed that eight in 10 Americans have agreed that it is inappropriate for pastors to endorse candidates during church services while three-quarters said that churches should steer clear of endorsements in general.

However, only 42 percent of Americans agreed that churches should lose their tax-exemption for endorsing a candidate. Fifty-two percent disagreed that churches should be punished for being involved in political campaigns while five percent said they were not sure.
home US YouTube briefly shuts down popular sermon channel

YouTube temporarily terminated the account of a popular sermon channel purportedly due to violations of the site's terms of service. The channel, however, was later reinstated without a detailed explanation as to why it was suspended.

Canadian-based website SermonIndex.net had posted over 5,600 video sermons on its YouTube channel, which currently has over 95,000 subscribers.

However, the channel became inaccessible earlier this week and replaced with a page containing a message, which stated that it has been terminated due to "multiple or severe violations" of YouTube's terms of service.

A representative of SermonIndex said in a statement to The Christian Post that they discovered the termination on Monday. When Greg Gordon, the channel owner, submitted a complaint to YouTube, he received a vague reply about the suspension of the account.

"At this point I have to believe there is religious discrimination possibly involved and this does not seem normal to have no email warning or exact reason why the account is deleted," said Gordon.

After news of the channel's termination was reported on various websites, the administrators of SermonIndex.net learned that the YouTube account was restored days later.

"We have re-reviewed your account and have concluded that it is not in violation of our Terms of Service. Therefore, we have unsuspended your account. This means your account is once again active and operational, and in good standing," read the message from YouTube.

This was not the first time that YouTube has blocked Christian content from its site. Last year, a short film on Christian persecution titled "Chased" was removed from popular video sharing platform. Last September, it blocked the trailer for the faith-based film "I'm Not Ashamed," although it was eventually restored on the site.

According to New City Times, YouTube has a standard policy that allows community members to report channels that are deemed to be in violation of the website's guidelines.

"Anyone on Youtube can submit a complaint, and YouTube will delete a channel after three strikes. No appeal. No questions asked," said Donny Soles III, a Regent University law student.
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Christians And Jews Extend Help To Muslim Neighbours After Fire Destroyed Their Mosque In Texas

Heeding Jesus' teaching to "love your neighbour as yourself," Christians from the United States and overseas have pitched in to help rebuild a mosque in Texas that burned down last week.

Jews have also joined in the effort, even offering their synagogue as a temporary worship place for the Muslim community in Victoria, a small city in Texas about 125 miles southwest of Houston with a population of about 65,000, according to the Huffington Post.

At least four churches have also offered their facilities for the Muslims to hold their services following the fiery destruction of the Victoria Islamic Center. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

"We are praying that it is an accident because the thought of actually somebody doing something terrible like that is beyond imagination," mosque member Abe Ajrami told the Victoria Advocate.

"Jewish community members walked into my home and gave me a key to the synagogue," Dr. Shahid Hashmi, a co-founder of the Victoria Islamic Center, told The New York Times.

A GoFundMe page was set up for the reconstruction of the mosque, and it has raised $1.2 million of its $850,000 goal. The donations came from more than 23,000 people in seven days.

Many who donated commented on the recent rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and the controversial executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Friday, which temporarily banned immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Children from a local Catholic school trooped to the mosque to form what Muslim leaders called "a human chain of love and peace."

Gretchen Boyle, an English teacher at St. Joseph High School, said their gesture is in response to the call, "Love thy neighbour" since the Muslim community is "literally our neighbours."

The Catholic students from the school presented the mosque elders with a tree sapling.

"The tree will be planted in the grounds of our new mosque & prominently displayed to remind us of this beautiful moment," the Islamic centre wrote on its Facebook page. "This is the spirit of love where the cross hugs the crescent."

Omar Rachid, a member of the Muslim congregation who organised the donation drive, said, "Our hearts are filled with gratitude for the tremendous support we've received."

"The outpouring of love, kind words, hugs, helping hands and the financial contributions are examples of the true American Spirit and Humanity at its best with donations coming in from all over the world," he added.
Does The Bible Say Anything About Trump's #RefugeeBan?

Donald Trump's temporary ban on refugees and indefinite block on Syrians fleeing persecution and war coming to the US sent shockwaves around the world.

But what does the Bible actually say about refugees and welcoming the stranger?

The reaction of Christian leaders to Donald Trump's executive order was largely, but not universally, condemning.

As we report today, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, is a rare voice in trying to defend the President.

Franklin Graham also broke the mould to defend the president. He said a refugee ban was "not a Bible issue".

He told Huffington Post: "It's not a biblical command for the country to let everyone in who wants to come, that's not a Bible issue."

This comes after Bill Johnson, senior pastor at Bethel Church in California and another Trump supporter, justified his stance by saying "responsibility to provide safety for its citizens comes first".

In a lengthy Facebook post the day after the vote, he wrote: "Open borders violates such a responsibility, creating an impossible task for our law enforcement officers who already live in the daily challenge of risking their lives to provide safety for all enter our borders, citizens or not."

The first thing to say is at no point does the Bible offer an immigration policy. You cannot take one verse or passage and say it means the US should close or open its borders.

But what it does offer is an attitude we should take towards people who are desperate and strangers in a foreign land.

An approach of welcome, openness and hospitality starts with God's law handed down to the Israelites in the Jewish Torah.

God firmly lays down that the Jews, themselves aliens and immigrants in a foreign land of Egpyt and then Canaan, should be a people that are hospitable and welcoming to foreigners.

"You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt," says Exodus 23:9.

Leviticus is where God outlines his model for how God's people should live. Chapter 19: 33-34 says: "When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."

Then again in chapter 25 verse 35: "If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you."

But it is not just in the Torah that God's people are told to be open to foreigners. This continues through the Old Testament.

Proverbs 5:10 offers a particularly stark challenge to Bill Johnson's view that the Bible teaches us to look after our own first. "Let strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another," it reads.

It doesn't stop there but continues into Jesus' arrival as the visible image of an invisible God.

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me," he teaches in Matthew 25:35.

The parable of the good Samaritan is another example where Jesus taught about attitudes to hated aliens. Some commentators have compared Jewish dislike of the Samaritans in 1st century Palestine with the West's view of ISIS now.

Paul in Romans follows up on Christ's example of showing love to foreigners. "Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God," he says in Romans 15:7.

All of this must be caveated with remembering this does not dictate what immigration policy should be. An attitude of welcome and openness does not necessarily mean an open borders policy, although it may do.

But it certainly does not fit with an attitude of hostility and suspicion to desperate people fleeing war.

Aside from the fact it contradicts everything God laid down in his law to the Israelites, you might be turning away angels, according Hebrews 13.
Furious Donald Trump Launches Twitter Tirade After Judge Throws Out Bid To Restore Travel Ban

US President Donald Trump has responded with a furious Twitter tirade after a US appeal court has denied the emergency appeal from the US Department of Justice to restore his 90-day travel ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries and on refugees.

Trump tweeted: "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!"

The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2017

He also tweeted: "Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision"

Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

And: "What is our country to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.? "

What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

The President's Twitter tirade came after the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled: "Appellants' request for an immediate administrative stay pending full consideration of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal is denied."

The justice department is expected to try again with a letter pleading its case tomorrow, Monday.

The appeal court decision came after thousands of people in the UK marched to protest President Donald Trump's state visit to the UK and his travel ban.

Seattle Judge James Robart overturned the ban, ruling that it is unconstitutional.

Seattle attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said: "This decision shuts down the executive order right now. No one is above the law, not even the President." He was quoting Lord Denning in his confrontation with Attorney General Sam Silkin in 1977. Denning himself was himself quoting English churchman Thomas Fuller from three centuries earlier.

Trump tweeted: "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"

The White House immediately condemned the ruling as airlines around the world and airports in the US ceased implementing it. Trump's launched the "emergency stay" against the ruling, which is what the appeal court has now denied, late last night.

There is uncertainty still over how many banned travellers will reinstate their plans to visit the US.

Additional reporting by Reuters
Lord Carey Condemns 'Staggering' Hostility To US President, Praises Trump's Support For Christians

The "staggering overreaction" by his critics to US President Donald Trump has made a sensible discussion of his policies all but impossible, according to a former Archbishop of Canterbury.

"He is treated as a uniquely bad leader," says Lord Carey of Clifton in a newspaper article today. He attacks "progressives" who condemn America or Israel while ignoring those who are truly evil.

Writing in the Express, Lord Carey says that "we" are are in no position to judge him as a politician in any meaningful sense.

"Even in American terms he can hardly be deemed the worst president in a considerable list of duds, some of whom held out for an indefensibly long time against the abolition of slavery or have napalmed and bombed other countries in episodes of ill-considered military adventurism," he adds.

He applauds Trump for recognising that Christians are persecuted in the Middle East and elsewhere and his resolve to prioritise asylum for religious minorities.

"Up to now, American and in fact British immigration policy has discriminated against Christians. In spite of the fact that the last Secretary of State, John Kerry, said that Christians, Yazidis and Shi'a Muslims were facing genocide in Syria, refugees from that country were 99 per cent Sunni Muslims.

"Ten per cent of Syria's pre-war population was Christian. In halting this genocide, and in other areas, Trump could actually make a difference."

Carey recalls his time as Archbishop of Canterbury, when he was "commanded" by the Royal Household "to sup" with leaders such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, and the then President of China.

"State visits are not to signal our approval of every visiting leader but to create strategic and trading ties, and extend British influence."

He admits Trump is different from the norm.

"Though we may disapprove we must accept the right of the US public to elect their own leader.

"Furthermore, many of his comments strike a chord with vast swathes of the American population. They are the left behind.

"They lost the culture wars, they lost their jobs and they are sick of being lectured to about what they can and cannot say, do and think."

Even in modern times, here is a long list of dictators and tyrants who are worse than Trump.

"Mugabe and Assad, for example? I cannot recall such demonstrations against terrible and autocratic regimes such as Burma, Sudan and North Korea," writes Carey.

He says American voters have recognised that it will require a man behaves like a "bull in a china shop" to turn America's fortunes around.

Last week, Carey gave an interview to Christian Today where he hit out at "hysterical" and "baying" critics of the potentially "outstanding" President Donald Trump, and said that he would "of course" attend a state banquet were he still Anglican leader.

Lord Carey of Clifton, who was Archbishop from 1991-2002, told Christian Today that while he did not "by and large" agree with the new President, the choice of the American people should be "honoured and respected" and that Trump "has the strength of personality to be an outstanding President".
Orthodox Archbishop Alludes To Trump's Immigration Ban, Calls For 'Love Of The Stranger'

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has issued a statement focussing on the importance of Christian hospitality, and the need to welcome "people of every nation, tribe, and tongue".

The statement made yesterday by Archbishop Demetrios is an apparent reference to President Trump's immigration ban.

He makes no mention of President Trump, but emphasises the plight of refugees and the imperative to help those in need.

He speaks of the need to offer "philoxenia", Greek for "love of the stranger", as The Pappas Post reports.

"We express our sadness and pain for our brothers and sisters all over the world who find themselves in tragic circumstances of hostility, violence and war, where families have been torn apart, displaced and where people are denied basic human rights," he says.

The Archbishop highlights the American tradition of helping strangers: "In our great country, which has historically and practically welcomed people of every nation, tribe, and tongue, we have the distinct privilege and honour to offer philoxenia  love of the stranger  to humans from all walks of life."

He refers to various aspects of scripture which emphasise that call.

"The New Testament is replete with an ethos of philoxenia...based not on fear but on care and on gratitude. Welcome one another, says Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans, even as Christ welcomed you (Rom. 15:7).

"Christian philoxenia must not only be extended to those close to us, but must be extended to those near and far away, and even to those who will not reciprocateto the poor, the stranger, even those who hate us. For Christ says, if you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? (Luke 14:14)."

The Archbishop calls on people to pray urgently for those who are suffering. "In these most difficult times, the strongest expression of our philoxenia becomes a very urgent matter," he says.
The Powerful Film 'Loving' Has Important Challenges For All Who Seek To Follow Christ

Inter-racial marriage has only been legal across America for 50 years. It's a staggering fact, especially to the ear of generations born since the 1967 Supreme Court ruling which finally enabled men and women to marry regardless of their colour or which state they happened to live in. To put that in context, that law is younger than TV series Doctor Who, and was ruled a couple of weeks after the release of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album. The law change is shockingly recent.

Jeff Nichols' film Loving, out this week, tells the story behind that historic Supreme Court decision, and of the couple at the centre of the case which provoked it. Richard and Mildred Loving were an interracial couple living in small-town Virginia, who had to leave their state in order to find a courthouse which would marry them. The problem was that when they returned to their home and family, their marriage effectively became illegal, and the child in Mildred's womb officially termed a "bastard". Once their marriage was discovered by local police, they were forced to begin nine-year battle with the laws of their state, and eventually the US Constitution itself in order to have their marriage and children legally recognised.

The film's gentle opening lulls you into a false sense of security and even equality. Nichols depicts Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) as a humble and hardworking man, fully accepted by Mildred's (Ruth Negga) family, and seemingly oblivious to the colour of his many black friends. They are apparently simple, happy folk, aspiring only to marry, raise children and to have bricklayer Richard build a home of their own. This tranquility is shattered however when the archaic laws of Virginia are revealed and gleefully enacted by local Sheriff (Marton Csokas), who tears the couple from their bed while they sleep, and initiates their long journey through police cells and lawyer's offices.

It's not a punch-the-air courtroom drama, or even a painful thriller about the threat of racial violence. Instead it's a subtle, tender portrait of two people very much in love, and told by bad laws that they should not be. Nichols takes his time to build up a picture of their relationship, and uses that to build the Lovings' case, rather than focusing on the blunt ugliness of racism itself. As a result it'll be too slow-paced for some, but filmgoers who appreciate gentle, artistic storytelling will be hooked throughout.

Negga's performance has rightly acclaimed to the point of Oscar nomination, but Edgerton's understated, physical portrayal of Richard should not be overlooked. Both show their characters as simple, uneducated people who are constantly confused by the injustice of what's going on around them, and this is where the film is perhaps at its most nuanced and interesting. A story about civil rights might immediately be written off as a liberal tract, but actually the message of the film is surprisingly conservative: that less educated people rely on the intellectual elite  the activists, law-makers and politicians  to fight for their rights, and to make wise decisions on their behalf. The Lovings were a case which proved a huge error in the law, but they were unable to fight it alone. That message has a wide application even today, and speaks of the responsibility that those of us with the power to bring change bear towards those who do not.

Loving has been coincidentally released alongside Hidden Figures, a movie about black female trailblazers in the NASA space programme, and another illumination of how racial prejudice was allowed to fester unchecked in American institutions for far too long. Both stories make you wonder how on earth the so-called civilised world was ever like this, let alone in such recent history. And yet both films seem painfully timely. In America today the laws might have changed, but the air of racial difference and prejudice remains, even after the appointment of a Black President. The same insidious attitudes portrayed in Loving are sadly still alive and festering today.

In Nichols' film, racism isn't presented as the angry, violent pursuit of prejudiced individuals, but as a seemingly immovable object, practiced by whole institutions and enshrined in law. Today the reverse seems true, and the Lovings' story should provoke us to see that change. Again, those with the power to enact change bear a great responsibility to those who been historically rendered far less powerful.

Despite the church's well-documented role in the American civil right's movement, God is only mentioned as the supposed original architect of racial segregation, and his followers are nowhere to be seen. Yet despite leaving them out of the picture, I think Nichols' film has some important challenges for people who seek to live the Way of Christ. While religion was originally used as a justification for racist laws and attitudes, Jesus sought to establish a kingdom of equality and love. In the film, that Kingdom feels much more present in the Lovings' home and marriage than in the court-rooms which try to dehumanise them. In 2017, just fifty years after that historic and long-overdue ruling, the American church must ensure they're still part of ushering that Kingdom in, rather than allowing it to be undermined on their watch.

Martin Saunders is a Contributing Editor for Christian Today and the Deputy CEO of Youthscape. Follow him on Twitter @martinsaunders.
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This story ran in the Houston Post on January 6, 1963. The headline and words are reprinted as they appeared then.

For 48 hours the machine at her bedside recorded simultaneously the beat of her heart and the rhythm and depth of her breathing.

Her heart beat 250,000 times in the 48 hours, four minutes, seemingly scattered at random, told the tale.

There was no long vigil at her bedside. No one had to examine the yards and yards of graphs. No one had to study the quarter of a million inked scratches that signified heart beats, looking for the few which were irregular.

A medical team -doctors, nurses, psychologist, social worker and physical and occupational therapists - gathered in a conference room at the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation in the Texas Medical Center.

They were planning the next few days' treatment for the woman, Mrs. Jones, whom they suspected had brain stem damage.

They were also participating in a quiet revolution. The revolution was being led by a new member of the medical team.

That member could, in a split second, tell the others exactly when and how Mrs. Jones' respiration and heart beat were abnormal.

That member could also tell how Mrs. Jones' kidney was functioning at the very moment, how Mr. Jones felt about Mrs. Jones' condition, how much the hospital was spending on Mrs. Jones per day - in short, almost anything that instruments or human beings could find out about Mrs. Jones.

The amazing new member of the medical team was a computer. It has a field all its own, which Dr. William A. Spencer, director of the institute, has called "medical humanetics".

Computing and data processing have been used in other hospitals, but Dr. Spencer says he knows of no other place where they have been used extensively as at the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research in Houston.

Special tests have been adapted and developed to record the function of almost every part of the body.

The respiration and heart beat records of Mrs. Jones, the lady with the brain stem damage, are part of 5,000 to 6,000 bits of data per patient which are recorded at the institute every day.

The need for the computer in medicine, as in other fields, has developed because of a data explosion.

Man has devised more ways of getting information than the doctor can reasonably manage to study, absorb and integrate into a picture of the total patient whom he must treat.

On the basis of the information recorded and processed about Mrs. Jones, the computer can give an inventory of everything that has happened to her.

It can give a total of her state at any moment - even as the test are being made - and it can expand any bit of the information which the doctor wants to examine more closely.

Mrs. Jones was paralyzed by her injury, but with the computer's help, the medical team has been able to plan her rehabilitation to know, for instance, when it is safe for her to begin exercises, when she should be given certain drugs, or when a wheel chair should be ordered for her.

There will come a time when Mrs. Jones will be well enough to leave the hospital. But her story will not end there.

One day there will be a Mrs. Smith who has suffered brain stem damage. On the basis of tests, the computer will be able to give the medical planners a total picture of her condition.

Then the doctors will ask the computer if it has in its "memory" any cases similar to Mrs. Smith's.

Out of thousands of cases, which it has processed, the computer may "remember" 10 cases which are similar to Mrs. Smith's. One of the cases may be that of Mrs. Jones.

To most members of the medical team which planned her treatment. Mrs. Jones may be only a vague memory by that time.

It might take them months to go through the hospital's case histories to find that Jones case was similar to the Smith case in almost every detail.

By that time, who knows what would happen to Mrs. Smith.

But that search will not be necessary, because there will still be one member of the medical team who remembers the individuality of Mrs. Jones.

The computer will remember every one of those 250,000 heart-beats as though they had been recorded only the moment before.

It may recall, for instance, that Mrs. Jones' condition began to deteriorate a few weeks after she sustained her injury. At the time, the doctors were taken by surprise, and they had to make a hasty decision about what to do for her.

But that will not happen in Mrs. Smith's case. Because they have Mrs. Jones' and other similar medical histories at hand, the doctors can anticipate the possibility of that deterioration in Mrs. Smith's condition, and they may be able to modify or prevent it.

Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Smith are Houstonians. There is a man named Gray who lives in Seattle. And there is a boy in Hong Kong whose name is Ling. Five or 10 years from now, they too may have brain stem damage.

By then, Dr. Spencer said it is possible that treatment may be planned on the basis of a medical record which may be conveyed anywhere in the world.

If the Ling boy's case is very similar to Mrs. Jones, the Hong Kong doctor will be able to learn about it immediately and to base his decisions on experience acquired on the other side of the world.

The computer relieves the doctor of much tedious and time - consuming clerical work. But it does not make him a button-pusher.

On the contrary, it heaps upon him more responsibility than he has ever had. The most difficult part of medicine -the making of decisions -is still in his hands.

The computer, like any machine, is actually stupid. It must be told everything simply and clearly. The computer forces the doctor to discipline his thinking and to clarify his ideas.

The machine has the memory and the ability to correlate facts. But it is the medical expert who decides what the machine should remember and what it should correlate.

He must know how to ask the right questions to get the information he wants. No two cases are exactly alike, and as the medical record processed in the computer becomes more thorough, the differences between patients become more obvious.

The doctor must take responsibility for more individualized decisions. He must decide whether or not to do something to a particular patient. What? How much? How? For how long?

The doctor is concerned with the individuality of a person," Dr. Spencer said. "We have been reluctant to believe that there are cook book descriptions and formulas.

"But only now, because of the wealth of information we can acquire about each patient, do we realize the depth of individuality."

Individual cases, based on Individual decisions, go into the "memory" of the computer. The computer's vast "experience" will in time become a treasure chest for research. It will probably save years of setting up experiments and trying to maintain proper controls.

At the rehabilitation institute; which is staffed by Baylor University College of Medicine, researchers have already been able to go back and ask questions of the machine's experience.

They have learned, among other things, that the attitude of a paralyzed patient's family may be a better indication of how he will eventually use his residual muscle strength than is a muscle test.

They have learned that the temperature curve of polio patient "is exactly opposite to what they had been assuming it was.

The same experience which the computer has stored for doctors and researchers is there for the medical student. There are more individual cases to learn from than he could study in a lifetime of practice.

The possibilities of medical humanetics are as great as man's imagination. But, dr. Spencer said, there is a danger at this point that doctors' expectations will rise too high -that they might expect to see results faster than results are possible.

The computer is not just another tool, but combined with instrumentation, it becomes a new system. Medical humanetics is a process, a broad way of thinking. It requires new ways of classifying information, standardizing data and approaching problems.

UPDATE

The hospital changed its name in 1978 to The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, emphasizing its national and international service. In 2006, it became part of the Memorial Hermann Health System and goes by TIRR Memorial Hermann.
Michael Ciaglo/Staff

Texas City emergency management officials are trying to determine the cause of a nuisance odor that permeated the city on Saturday evening.

At about 6:30 p.m., city officials posted reports that residents had complained of an odor. Facebook users described it as a natural gas, rotten egg or methyl mercaptan smell.
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Amid the bustling crowds of Super Bowl weekend, more than 300 cheering, chanting protesters flooded the streets of Houston Saturday, shouting in opposition to the administration of President Donald Trump.

Proudly hoisting signs comparing Vice President Mike Pence to a jar of mayonnaise and imploring passersby to "Resist Trump," the rambunctious crowd started at City Hall and made its way toward Minute Maid Park, stopping for a tense standoff with police before trekking back toward the Super Bowl Live event at Discovery Green.

The march in Houston comes amid a wave of similar protests nationwide, including in New York City and Washington D.C. on Saturday.

"We are coming together today to demonstrate against the divisive policies of Donald Trump," said Brian Harrison, a local lawyer and regular organizer with the Houston Socialist Alternative. "People are really concerned about Trump's policies and it's mobilizing and energizing people in a way I've never seen."

The marchers passed by thick crowds gathered downtown for Super Bowl festivities, and onlookers met the marchers with a combination of cheers and jeers. Some raised fists in solidarity and others raised middle fingers, while demonstrators reveled in the attention.

"I feel like we have a lot of eyes on us because of the Super Bowl," said Melanie Villela, who last Saturday created the most widely shared Facebook event page for the protest. "It was too good of an opportunity to pass up."

Rozella White, another organizer, described the gathering as a coalescence of left-leaning groups that have gained mass in recent years, including Black Lives Matter, environmentalists, feminists and advocates of rights for immigrants, indigenous and LGBT people. She and others handed out a list of 13 local organizations that she said collaborated in assembling the march.

But many demonstrators, she said, weren't affiliated with any group and turned out based on the Facebook page. Saturday's protest follows two days of similar gatherings in Houston last weekend in response to a steady volley of White House executive orders.

The march began in close coordination with Houston police. One officer addressed the crowd as it grew, asking those gathered to "take care of members who get too emotional."

"You lose the message when you get too emotional," the officer told the crowd.

Although the event started off orderly and calm, by the time the mass neared Super Bowl crowds, dozens of officers worked to keep the protesters corralled and maintain free passage on sidewalks for the Super Bowl fans.

Anti-Trump chants turned to "Mayor Turner, let us march" cries as police penned the crowd in the "Free Speech Zone" - a large, empty lot they shared with a group of anti-circumcision activists known as The Bloodstained Men.

Some protest leaders advocated for ignoring police and spilling out into the crowded streets, but eventually the demonstrators decided to head back up Rusk toward the Super Bowl Live events, where they chanted and shouted toward the sports-loving revelers across the street.

One little girl gleefully toted a "Trump eats farts" sign scrawled out at the start of the day's demonstrations.

Bob Klenk, 55, arrived in Houston Friday from Jacksonville, Fla. to catch the Super Bowl, and watched unhappily as the march passed through downtown, shouting his support for Trump.

"It's a waste of time. Trump is the president," Klenk said. "Move on. Right now they're disrupting America."

Saturday's action was just the latest in a busy week of protests, which has also included actions at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, near the Galleria and at the Mexican consulate. For Sunday's big game, crowds are slated to gather at Hermann Park around noon before marching toward NRG Stadium where the Super Bowl will be played.
Town Center Park in Kingwood will be decorated in purple, green and gold for the 2017 Mardi Gras Festival and Parade at Town Center Park in Kingwood on Saturday, Feb. 25, from 12 to 6 p.m.

This Mardi Gras Festival and Parade has been one of Town Center Park's main annual events for more than a decade.

"We thought, 'Why not hold a Mardi Gras parade as an annual event,'" said Tony Austin, director of the Town Center Park Association. "We decided to try it out, and it was very popular."

The Mardi Gras Festival and Parade event will feature a variety of food vendors, arts and craft booths and live music.

DJ KDub will be the event DJ from 12 p.m. up through the parade.

The parade begins at 2 p.m. and lasts about 45 minutes. During the parade, approximately 20-or-so floats designed by various local entities, including schools, rescue groups and nonprofits, will proceed around the park tossing Mardi Gras beads to onlookers.

From 2:30 to 6 p.m., guests can enjoy the music of zydeco artist Leroy Thomas.

Whether it's Christmas in the Park, the July Fourth Festival, or the spring and fall car shows, Town Center Park's main annual events are free to the public. The Mardi Gras Festival and Parade is no exception.

Austin said these free, family-friendly events are important to offer.

"Because we are a community," Austin said, "this is a way we can get together, and it's something for people to do here at home; right in the middle of Kingwood."

Town Center Park is at 8 N Main Street in Kingwood.

For more information, visit http://www.towncenterevents.com/mardigras.html.
GALVESTON  An animal rights group declared victory Tuesday after the reassignment of a University of Texas Medical Branch official who oversees animal experimentation.

Stop Animal Exploitation Now! issued a news release saying that Toni D'Agostino had been removed as UTMB's institutional official, a title given to the official responsible for overseeing compliance with federal regulations governing experiments on animals.
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A Texas man went to Wal-Mart three years ago. Someone spotted him driving away. Since then, John Terry hasn't been seen or heard from.

Now, Terry's family and friends have raised $10,000 and Hill County investigators say they're taking a fresh look at what may have happened to him.

Haley Carmona, a family friend who is leading a fundraising effort for the reward money, said Terry's two sons and family just want to bring him home.

FEW SIGNS: Police found her car, but no other sign of missing Texas woman

"We owe it to the family and to the boys and to John to find out exactly what happened," Carmona told KWTX-TV.

Terry was last seen Oct. 17, 2014 driving away from the Wal-Mart in Hillsboro. Deputies found his abandoned pickup truck the next day on Hill County Road 2346 with the windows down and the keys still inside.

In a puzzling twist, deputies also found blood and other evidence they've declined to discuss in Terry's home.

CRUEL DISCOVERIES: 2 weeks, 2 bodies found by search crew, but not the woman they sought

Terry, who is listed with Texas Equuisearch and in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons database, was last seen wearing a black shirt with red lettering, a gray ball and jeans. He has brown hair, a full beard, stands 5-foot-9 and weighs about 180 pounds.

Investigators ask anyone with information about his whereabouts to call the Hill County Sheriffs Office at (254) 582-5313.

>>>Click through the above gallery to see details about John Terry's case as well as other missing persons cases in Texas
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.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - A Sudanese Cleveland Clinic doctor is still not able to return to the U.S., even though a federal appeals court has continued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration's travel ban.

Dr. Suha Abushamma

Dr. Suha Abushamma, a 26-year-old internal medicine resident at the Clinic, was detained for hours in New York City on Jan. 28 after returning to the U.S. from a vacation to Saudi Arabia. She was put back onto a plane flying to the Middle East, in accordance with President Donald Trump's executive order banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and all refugees.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge James Robart blocked Trump's executive order nationwide, and a federal appeals court denied the Justice Department's request Sunday to immediately reinstate the ban.

The restraining order against the ban will assist individuals from those Muslim-majority countries - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen - who had their visas canceled. However, Abushamma's work visa was withdrawn, not canceled, when she signed forms given to her by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents while she was detained in New York City.

Abushamma, 26, of Cleveland Heights, filed a lawsuit Tuesday stating that she was "misled and coerced" into signing the forms. The doctor also claimed that immigration officials violated a stay issued by a New York federal judge that said anyone with a green card or a valid work visa must be admitted into the country.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon ordered the government to provide proof as to why Abushamma should not have her visa reinstated. The government has until Tuesday to do so.

Amon will hold a hearing on Feb. 15 on whether Abushamma will be allowed to return to the U.S. Abushamma said in a court filling Thursday that her career would be irreparably damaged if she is not allowed to return to the Clinic.

An attorney representing Abushamma could be reached for comment Sunday afternoon. Cleveland Clinic spokeswoman Eileen Sheil said Sunday afternoon that she did not have any updates to provide on Abushamma's case.

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A man and a woman are wanted in connection to a deadly stabbing in Strongsville.

(Kaylee Remington, cleveland.com)

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio -- Two people are wanted in connection with the stabbing death of a Strongsville man Friday.

Police are looking for 32-year-old Timothy Bene and 23-year-old Courtney Heckman. They have been charged in the stabbing, police said Saturday evening.

They are traveling in a blue four-door Mazda Protege, police say.

Police earlier Saturday identified the victim as Dean Vastartis. Vastartis is Bene's stepfather, police say.

The stabbing happened shortly before 1 p.m. in the 13500 block of Sprague Road just next to Barbara Drive.

Police were called to the scene after a report of a domestic violence incident, according to a news release from the Strongsville Police Department.

Police discovered the man with stab wounds, the news release said.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The only casualties of the fictitious 'Bowling Green Massacre are Kellyanne Conway's already wounded reputation, and the truth, which was shot multiple times.

Conway said she misspoke when she cited the fake massacre in defending Trump's Muslim ban on MSNBC's "Hardball". "I meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists", Conway tweeted, referring to two Iraqi men living in Bowling Green Kentucky who were arrested and convicted for plotting to send weapons to al-Qaeda in Iraq.

For several reasons, I don't buy Conway's claim that she just misspoke. She, in fact, had mentioned the two terrorists in her initial comment. And the entire answer was not just some tossed-off line. It was an involved response.

"I bet it's brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered."

That's what Conway said. She says she meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists", which would read like this:

"...President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and were the masterminds behind Bowling Green terrorists."

Conway's a smart woman. She knew exactly what she was saying and why. Instead of misspeaking, I believe Conway was attempting to employ a classic propaganda technique to implant fear-mongering fake news to bolster Trump's Muslim ban. This has been the m.o. of the Steve Bannon controlled Trump campaign and presidential administration. The kernel of truth is two Iraqi men in Bowling Green. Inflame it with fake news alternative facts of a massacre, there has been so many, gullible American viewers will buy it --so believes the Trump camp.

Conway's two other lies on "Hardball"

The Bowling Green line was just the biggest of what were at least three major lies Conway spoke on "Hardball."

Conway lied when she said Obama enacted a "six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program." Obama never instituted a six-month ban. After the two Iraqi men in Bowling Green were arrested, the Obama administration began reviewing and tightening vetting procedures on Iraqi refugees, which dramatically slowed the visa approval process, which was already long to begin with, but never stopped it.

Conway also lied when she said the arrest of two Iraqi nationals was never covered. The Washington Post's search found around 90 stories in major newspapers. The Bowling Green Daily News has written close to 100 stories about the case. It was covered by every major news network. Conway herself linked to ABC NEWS coverage of the arrests, in one of her follow up tweets attempting to do damage control.

The two Iraqi men were never even convicted of plotting a massacre to take place in Bowling Green. They were convicted of plotting to send money and arms back to Iraq, where they had fought, to be used against US forces there.

It was an especially rough ending of the week for Trump's two primary mouthpieces. Last night, on "Saturday Night Live", Melissa McCarthy impersonated Sean Spicer in what's rightfully being dubbed an instant classic SNL skit. What was left of Spicer's already damaged image, McCarthy destroyed with the greatest SNL impersonation since Tina Fey's take on Sarah Palin.

It's only been a few weeks, and already,Trump's two primary spokespeople, Conway and Spicer, have nearly destroyed their credibility.
Heroin file photo 1.jpg

Six people have died in Cleveland since Friday due to opiate overdoses, Cleveland police said Sunday. Five of those deaths happened on Saturday.

(File photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Six people have died in the city of Cleveland in the past 24 hours due to opiate-related incidents, Cleveland police said Sunday.

First responders attended to 14 overdose incidents Saturday, Cleveland police spokesman told cleveland.com Sunday afternoon. Of the 14 reported incidents, six people died, including two at one location.

On Friday, one person died as a result of an opiate overdose, bringing the total number of weekend overdose deaths to seven.

No information about the seven dead victims - including ages, race or genders - have been released. It's also unclear where or when the fatal overdoses happened.

Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office spokesman Christopher Harris told cleveland.com that an update would be available Monday.

More than 500 people died in Cuyahoga County in 2016 due to drug overdoses, with the overwhelming majority linked to opioids.

This post will be updated if further information about the opiate death spike is released Sunday.

If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section.
"They used to say Big Brother is watching, but it's not just Big Brother, it's sister, mother, father, friends, co-worker, boss," said Darrin Giglio, chief investigator at North American Investigations in New York.

Are you on Facebook? Do you have a smartphone? Ever send text messages? How about emails? If you answered yes to any of those questions  and who among us would not  your life is an open book. And it doesn't really matter how careful you are about all those privacy settings.

In this photo Nov. 4, 2015 file photo, a sign honoring Fox Lake Police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz is defaced outside Fox Lake Police Department in Fox Lake, Ill. Lake County officials confirmed that Gliniewicz, 52, died Sept. 1 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

If you want your life to be a little less conspicuous (we will give you the benefit of the doubt that you just want some more privacy and are not trying to lead a G.I. Joe-style double life), here are some of the more common mistakes people make, and why the job of a private eye, like Giglio, is a little easier than it once was.

"Everything in your life, there's information attached. So if you have a job, there's records. You have a house or property, there's records. You have a mobile phone, there's records," he said. "We're a record-driven society."

But all the while, Gliniewicz was embezzling money from the local youth group he led. He even at one point contemplated hiring a hit man to cover up his crimes. The fact that he managed to keep it secret for so long, in the digital age, is a testament to his skills, says Giglio.

"He was a cop's cop," said Lee Filas, a reporter for the Daily Herald. "He was just this larger than life, 'I am the great American hero' cop, and he portrayed it every day."

Known as "G.I. Joe" in the close-knit community 50 miles north of Chicago, Gliniewicz seemingly lived up to his nickname.

That makes the scheme that Fox Lake, Illinois, Police Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz managed to pull off all the more astounding. For nearly a decade, the small-town cop essentially led a double life. The charade was so convincing, it continued even beyond Gliniewicz's violent death in 2015. The story is the focus of the latest episode of "American Greed."

Know your friends

When you open a Facebook account, you automatically surrender a certain amount of privacy. There is really no way around it. So one way to be more obscure is to not have an account in the first place. Of course, for most of us, that ship sailed long ago.



"You can go and delete those accounts, but usually there's records and old archive stuff that people can go through and still find information," Giglio said.



Plus, even if you don't have an account, chances are your family or friends do. A smart investigator can use that information to track you down.



If you do have an account, limit the information you share. Do you really want the world to know where you work? Your phone number? The names and locations of your family members? If the answer is no, leave it out of your profile.



"I can't even tell you the amount of cases we've solved, and information we've gotten that helps with cases from social media," Giglio said. "And people don't really realize the goods that they're giving up until after it's too late."



Also, don't accept a friend request from someone you don't know. And even if it is someone you do know, make sure you are not already friends. You could be falling for a common private investigator's trick, which crooks use as well.



"We have undercover Facebook profiles that look real," Giglio said. "And we're able to then kind of use that as a fake person to gather information on something during an investigation."



Guard your information



It is hard to avoid having some identifying information. You live at a physical address, you have a phone number and, if you are a U.S. citizen, you have a Social Security number. A determined investigator is probably going to be able find that information no matter what, but you don't need to give them any extra help.



"One person has one fingerprint. It's kind of the same with your Social Security number," Giglio said.



There are very few situations anymore in which you are required to provide your Social Security number. Don't give it out unless you absolutely must, and then keep in mind that you are giving away a total key to your identity.



You have heard again and again about securing your passwords, and hopefully you no longer access any accounts by typing "password," or "12345," or "letmein." But what about your user name or your email address?



"There's people that have their email addresses, they'll have, you know, janesmith072173," Giglio said. "So now I have a person's name and their date of birth just from their email address."



Consider changing your email address to something less obvious. There is no law that says your user name has to include your actual name. At the very least, consider removing those identifying numbers like your birth date or ZIP code.



Also, don't be a virtual pack rat. Delete old emails and text messages. That way, you will reduce your digital footprint.



Take a hard look at your hardware



Your computer or smartphone can be a treasure chest for someone looking to track you down, so don't leave them the keys.



Don't let the devices out of your sight, and make sure they are secure.



"You don't want to leave anything un-password protected, especially your phones and stuff like that because phones are lost very easily," Giglio said. "Just like you would secure your home with an alarm system and cameras and all that, you have to do that with the same diligence with your computer and your smartphone."



Always make sure your firewalls and security software are up to date, and make sure your equipment has the most current operating system. Those updates that pop up from time to time often include fixes for security bugs. Don't put off installing them.



And when you trade up to the newest model, Giglio says to be sure you have completely erased all of your information on the old device.



"People just think you're hitting the trash button, the delete button, that leaves the computer. That's just not the case."



Smile! You're on candid camera!



Anytime you leave your house, chances are you come into the view of multiple cameras. Security cameras watch our streets. Cameras with license plate readers patrol our roads. There are cameras where you least expect them. Be conscious of them, and anything you do in public.



"Used to be, just big businesses had surveillance systems. Now, everyone's house is starting to have them and the technology of those cameras, the clarity, the HD, is becoming great," Giglio said.



To escape the long arm of the surveillance state, "You'd have to go to the mountains and live in a cabin," Giglio said.



"You know, if you have nothing in your name, you're not in contact with any of your friends or family, you know, could it be done? Yeah. It's a very difficult life, and it's probably a very disciplined life."



Joe Gliniewicz was nothing if not disciplined. Even the sneakiest sneaks slip up eventually though, and G.I. Joe was no exception. But Joe was so good, his double life continued even after he died.


The Trump administration on Saturday filed a notice of appeal indicating it intends to challenge a federal judge's ruling that blocked President Donald Trump's executive order that temporarily blocked entry to the U.S. of those from seven predominantly Muslim nations.

The notice was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington. It comes a day after a federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order that blocked the Trump travel restrictions.

The notice is not the appeal itself. The White House press secretary on Friday said the administration would seek an emergency stay against Judge James L. Robart's restraining order, and defended the travel restrictions as legal.

Trump's Jan. 27 order suspended for 90 days entry to the U.S. by people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The order caused chaos at airports, and among those reported detained or turned away included students, professors, and green card holders.

Some 60,000 visas that had been canceled were deemed valid after the judge issued his ruling.









More from NBC News:

Trump's immigration ban: meet some of the stranded Muslims

Small businesses optimistic, anxious about deregulations under Trump

Iraqi girl banned from US dreams of becoming an astronaut

The International Air Transport Association said in a note to airlines earlier Saturday that restrictions were lifted and "it is as if the Executive Order never existed."

Once the appeal is filed a judge will decide whether to grant the stay. If the stay is granted, the executive order would go back into effect.

Trump's order suspended for 90 days entry to the U.S. of nationals of Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Yemen. Trump said the order is necessary to protect Americans from terrorism. Critics have called it a "Muslim ban," which trump has denied.









Meanwhile, visa holders from the seven affected nations rushed to airports or to make travel plans after a U.S. judge put the controversial order on hold, fearing that it was only a temporary reprieve.

Trump's order suspended for 90 days entry to the U.S. of nationals of Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Yemen. Trump said the order is necessary to protect Americans from terrorism. Critics have called it a "Muslim ban," which trump has denied.

Meanwhile, visa holders from the seven affected nations rushed to airports or to make travel plans after a U.S. judge put the controversial order on hold, fearing that it was only a temporary reprieve.

Some didn't wait for Friday's night's restraining order that put the immigration restrictions on hold nationwide.

Amir Rashidi, 55, of Seattle, said his niece had flown into Boston on Saturday afternoon from Iran. Despite holding a green card, she was previously barred from entering the United States.

Rashidi said he heard from an attorney that Lufthansa was agreeing to board passengers with immigrant visas, and he contacted his niece, Mahsa Fazmali, to buy a ticket. She scrambled to board the next plane.

"She is happy and we're very thankful," Rashidi told NBC News after his niece arrived at Boston's Logan International Airport Saturday.

"This is her first experience with democracy where no one is above the law even the president," he said. "This is the America everyone knows outside the U.S."

Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan, was urging people to hurry.

"We're telling them to get on the quickest flight ASAP," Aoun, whose group filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Detroit asking a judge to declare Trump's immigration order unconstitutional, told The Associated Press.

Trump responded the temporary restraining order issued by Washington U.S. District Court Judge James L. Robart with a serious of angry Tweets, including one that called Robart a "so-called judge." Robart was nominated in 2003 by President George W. Bush.

Saira Rafiee, a doctoral student at the City University of New York, arrived at Boston's airport Saturday after being stranded in Iran following a family vacation. After the order was put in place, she was stopped in Abu Dhabi and sent back to Tehran.

"I hope this all ends soon," she said.
Flipping is back.

The trend of buying a fixer-upper, making some repairs and "flipping" to a new buyer quickly is making a return to real estate markets, years after the trend fell out of fashion with home buyers.

More than 6 percent of home sales last year were "flips", according to a new report from Trulia. The real estate data website defines a flip as the selling of a home at least twice within a year.

That's the highest number in a decade, before the real estate bubble burst and the financial crisis of 2008. So could the housing market flip out again?

"When you see flipping reach ten-year highs, economists like us start to worry a little bit." Trulia's Chief Economist Ralph McLaughlin told CNBC's "On the Money" recently.

"We think it's a little bit different this time ," McLaughlin added, "because we think more flips are actually value-added improvements that investors are making to the house, rather than speculative flips which is basically someone buying and sitting on a home waiting for the prices to rise."

But like the mid 2000's, home prices are rising. "Price increases in 2016 were the quickest in about 3 to 4 years," McLaughlin said, adding that gives flippers a potential layer of protection.

"If the flip doesn't go according to plan, they at least made a little bit up in price gains in equity in the house." McLaughlin added.
President Donald Trump believes tax reform, a key campaign plank that has boosted the business community's expectations for his presidency, will be done this year.



Asked by Fox News' Bill O'Reilly if Americans should expect a tax cut this year, Trump said he was optimistic.



"I think so, yes," Trump said in a wide ranging interview that aired Sunday, ahead of the Super Bowl. "And I think before the end of the year I would like to say yes."



The president's promise comes as some investors and analysts have begun to rethink the optimism that helped propel markets in a broad-based "Trump rally." Over the weekend, Goldman Sachs warned that economic and political realities were conspiring to undermine the market's high hopesand Trump's lofty ambitions.

A lack of consensus on how to implement a controversial border adjustment tax appears to be dividing Republicans, something Goldman pointed to in its analysis.

Trump ran on a platform of across-the-board income and corporate tax cuts, saying that he believes the change will boost economic activity and job creation. So far, though, Congress has spent little time on the effort amid a push to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Trump has touted tax cuts in meetings with business leaders since he took office, saying they encourage companies to keep operations and jobs in the United States. Hopes for that policy change, as well as potential infrastructure funding, helped to power a stock market rally in the weeks after Trump's election in November.

House Speaker Paul Ryan recently said Republican lawmakers will try to start pushing through tax reform and infrastructure bills in the spring.

"It's just the way the budget works that we won't be able to get the ability to write our tax reform bill until our spring budget passes, and then we write that through the summer," Ryan said Thursday on "Fox and Friends."

Trump has called for slashing the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent. Ryan's proposal calls for a 20 percent corporate rate.

--CNBC's Javier E. David contributed to this article.
Protesters rally during a demonstration against the travel ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City.

Federal Judge James L. Robart, who brought President Donald Trump's attempt to block people from certain countries from entering the United States to a screeching halt, has lived much of his life out of the spotlight.

Until now.

Robart's ruling Friday that temporarily invalidates Trump's effort to block entry into America to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries elicited a response from the president, who rarely lets any slight go unanswered.

And sure enough, Trump's retort was quick to come: On Saturday morning, the president tweeted that the decision of this "so-called judge" would not stand.

Trump tweet

More from NBC News:



Trump's immigration ban: meet some of the stranded Muslims

Small businesses optimistic, anxious about deregulations under Trump

Iraqi girl banned from US dreams of becoming an astronaut





What little is known of Robart, who's based out of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington state, suggests that he is a soft-spoken yet fearless man  someone of deep convictions and a jurist who does not mince words.

He suggested in court that Trump's 90-day entry ban on people from the countries of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen was not "rationally based," since no one from any those countries had been arrested in the U.S. on terrorism-related charges since 9/11.

Robart was born in Seattle in 1947, which would make him 69 or 70, according to a federal court informational site. He seems to have spent much of his life near home in Washington state.

He graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla in 1969. And while he did go to law school in that other Washington  Washington, D.C.  he returned to the city of his birth to practice law from 1973 to 2004.

He was nominated by President George W. Bush to be a federal judge in the Western District of Washington late in 2003 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in June 2004.

His rulings are replete with the legalese that routinely marks judicial orders  references to "all of the foregoing" and "declaratory and injunctive relief," and the like.

But when he speaks aloud from the bench, it seems he makes no effort to avoid politically charged language.

Last August, in a case in which the U.S. government sued the city of Seattle, alleging excessive use of force by police, Robart spoke softly but emotionally from the bench.

"The importance, to me, of this issue is best demonstrated by the news, which was much reported again today," the judge said shaking his head, his voice trembling with emotion.

"According to FBI statistics, police shootings resulting in deaths involve 41 percent black people despite being only 20 percent of the population living in those cities. Forty-one percent of the casualties, 20 percent of the population," he said.

He sighed deeply, and then added, in a phrase laden with political significance: "Black lives matter."


Live updates: Mizzou football takes on Kentucky

Mizzou football takes on Kentucky Saturday. We've got you covered with live score updates and analysis from the game.


the complete review - fiction

The Last of the Empire



by

Sembene Ousmane



general information | our review | links | about the author

A Senegalese Novel

French title: Le dernier de l'Empire

Translated by Adrian Adams

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Our Assessment:



B : interesting slice of its time and place

See our review for fuller assessment.

The complete review 's Review :

The Last of the Empire is a then-contemporary (late 1970s and early 1980s) novel set in Senegal, and while the 'Venerable One', the nation's President who is a prominent figure in the novel, is named Leon Mignane here, the resemblance to Senegal's actual first president, Leopold Sedar Senghor, is unmistakable. In an Author's Foreword Sembene amusingly playfully protests entirely too much, insisting the novel: "is not to be taken for anything other than a work of imagination" and that the: "mediocre types portrayed in this book" can't be compared to "our valiant fellow citizens", But there's no question: The Last of the Empire is a reckoning with modern Senegal and especially the declining years of Senghor's rule (with Senghor in fact stepping down from office shortly before Sembene completed the book).

While the Senegalese politicians are presented in different guises and with other names, The Last of the Empire is otherwise situated entirely (then-)contemporarily, with mentions of the (then) current situations elsewhere in Africa, as well as many of the other leaders of the day (or recent yesteryear -- a deposed Idi Amin, for example). And there are a few direct Senegalese winks too -- "Good old Sembene ...", one character acknowledges .....

Leon Mignane is "the founder of modern Senegal", and still the dominant national figure -- for better and worse: "Leon is a monarch" one of his ministers says (to himself). Yet not everyone venerates the Venerable One, the francophile whose ideology is one that stresses: "Africa, complement to Europe" is considered too close to Europe (and especially former colonial master France):

Leon Mignane with his Authenegraficanitus has nothing African but his black skin. If he could turn white he would.

A President who disappears into thin air ! A trick ? Why ? To what end ?

After having liquidated his companions during the years 1963 to 1970, Leon Mignane had surrounded himself with docile young technocrats. Knowing them to be avid pleasure-seekers, eager for rank and honours, he kept them plentifully supplied with all the little things that deaden a man's will to react, to refuse, to disagree with the Father in charge.

'All generations say the same thing: "We've been sacrificed." I don't see in what sense we, the elite, can say that'

- M.A.Orthofer, 5 February 2017

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:

L'Harmattan publicity page

See Index of books relating to Africa

See Index of French literature

Other books from the African Writers Series

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About the Author :

Senegalese author and film-maker Sembene Ousmane lived 1923 to 2007.

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The pain doesn't start until the worm begins the chestburster phase of its lifecycle. In Guinea worm-affected regions of the world, this means every blister or sore might be a nightmare worm ready to tear its way into your life.

" were always bothered about blisters. You can usually tell if it's a Guinea worm blister apart from others, but some you can't, and they would get stressed out from not knowing. They would be in pain for a month, and no one wanted that. All I could do was tell them to visit the doctor. They'd listen too, because while they did use traditional medicine for some ailments, Guinea worm was not one of them. Through the years they probably tried every herb in the book, so having a doctor say if it is or isn't Guinea worm was a huge relief."

Global 2000/The Carter Center

Nightmare fuel or ill-fitting sandal? Only time and screaming will tell.

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After watching 11 of these hell-ribbons tear their way out of a human meat prison, Craig was worried that he might've swallowed one in an errant drop of water. But it can take as long as a year for the worm to go from 'larva' to 'leaving' in your body, so Craig stayed on edge for a long time, "For a year, it was in the back of my mind and I was looking for those blisters. I had stubbed my toes against a wall one day, and when I woke up in the morning the pain was there, and I temporarily forgot about the wall and my mind went to Guinea worm for a second. That one second of panic boosted my adrenaline before I realized, hey wait, you biffed your toes you idiot." Guinea worm is almost never fatal, but it sounds about as close to a haunting as nature gets.
Joan Marcus / Contributed photo

The Book of Mormon returns to Hartford on Valentines Day for a six-day run at the Bushnells Mortensen Hall. This award-winning musical  a religious satire that earned nine Tonys  will be on stage Tuesday, Feb. 14, through Sunday, Feb. 19.

The show follows two young missionaries who are sent to Uganda to convert people to the Mormon religion. One of the missionaries, Elder Price, is an enthusiastic go-getter with a strong dedication to his faith, according to broadway.com.
Michael P. Mayko / Hearst Connecticut Media

DERBY-As the City/Town clerks office enters its second year of collecting food for the needy, they are asking for boxes of pancake mix and syrup.

The items collected will be delivered to the St. Vincent DePaul Food Bank, 237 Roosevelt Drive at the end of the month.
FAIRFIELD - A Fairfield child was injured after being hit by a car in a school parking lot Saturday afternoon, according to police.

Gary Potmesil, 76, of Norwalk, was driving in the Tomlinson Middle School parking lot when he hit the child with his front left fender.
DERBY  The citys public schools will begin a week of events designed to combat social isolation among students.

The events start with Say Hello on Monday and end with No One Eats Alone on Friday.

Start with hello teaches students the skills they need to reach out ... and includes those who may be dealing with chronic social isolation, said Superintendent of Schools Matthew J. Conway, Jr. It creates a culture of inclusion and connectedness with their school or youth organizations.

Monday is to begin with a half-hour presentation from Billy Flash of Sandy Hook Promise at 9 a.m. for the 321 Derby Middle School students. The program is scheduled to shift to Derby High School for its 353 students at 10:30 a.m . During the day, students will be hanging posters and banners based on the hello theme in each of the four public schools.

On Tuesday there will be a special senior guest luncheon and on Wednesday students will learn to say hello in multiple languages. Thursday is name tag and emoji day.

The week ends on Friday with no one eating alone in any of the schools cafeterias.

Young people who are isolated can become victims of bullying, violence and/or depression, Conway said. As a result, many children pull away from society, struggle with learns and social development and choose to hurt themselves and others.

.
We must rethink the U.S. response to infectious disease. Here's why.
Husband and wife ex-Tory MPs Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton quit the Commons in disgrace after this newspaper exposed how they bought a second home outright on MPs expenses, gave it to their kids in trust to avoid inheritance tax, and then claimed double-bubble expenses for the rent.

Husband and wife ex-Tory MPs Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton, who quite the Commons after an expenses row

A lavish Lords party is to be held for the couple this month to celebrate their political life and times. Doubtless no expense will be spared.

Asked last week if Britains much-depleted Armed Forces are still up to fighting a war, Defence Minister Earl Howes reply was hardly Churchillian.

The Army is ready and capable of deploying a potent, large-scale, war-fighting force at divisional level, he said, before adding languidly: Providing there is sufficient notice.

In other words, the British Bulldog can still see off the likes of Putin  provided that Vlad gives us the heads-up about when hes invading.

In 1982 Beaconsfield Tory MP Sir Ronald Bell died while having sex with his mistress

Why Blair owes it all to a night of lust

The steamy BBC series Apple Tree Yard, which features a couple having sex in Parliament, is not so far-fetched.

In 1982 Beaconsfield Tory MP Sir Ronald Bell died while having sex with his mistress in his Commons office.

His death led to the Beaconsfield by-election, which launched the political career of Tony Blair.

If the world looks a mess, remember it started with some Parly rumpy-pumpy.

Maverick Tory Daniel Kawczynski, whose main claim to fame is that, at 6ft 8in, he is the tallest MP, was forced to call off a controversial Commons reception on Monday starring Vladimir Putins Kremlin spin doctor Maria Zakharova, who has constantly attacked Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

Daniel has some weird foreign connections, says one diplomat. He may be the tallest MP but it is time he grew up.

Wes's bad dream team

As Jeremy Corbyn drives his party ever closer to the cliff edge, rebel Labour MP Wes Streeting has started fantasising about going back in time to change history.

As Jeremy Corbyn drives his party ever closer to the cliff edge, rebel Labour MP Wes Streeting has started fantasising about going back in time to change history

Id like to teleport myself to the leadership ballot, and as the final five MPs nominating Jeremy come in, Id scream, No, dont do it! and wrestle them to the ground. Dream on, Wes.

Overheard between two sneering civil servants in a Commons corridor as they spotted a tatty plastic Union Flag taped to the door of an MPs office.

Civil servant one: What Tory Brexit twit has done that? Civil servant two (on closer inspection of the name on door): Crikey.

'They may be a twit but theyre a twit in the Cabinet. Step forward patriotic Priti Patel.

The political love affair that dares to speak its name  between Old Etonian Tory toff Jacob Rees-Mogg and ex-barmaid Jess Phillips, the blunt-speaking Brummie Labour MP who once told Diane Abbott to f*** off  is now blossoming into an on-screen, television sofa romance.

The unlikely duo are set to do a Gogglebox-style weekly review of May versus Corbyn clashes during Prime Ministers Questions on Skys Sophy Ridge On Sunday show.
Ironically, Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) has been undone by his first act of serious leadership, writes Dan Hodges

It's possible to name the precise moment Tony Blair's leadership of his party and his country came to an end. At 10.14pm on Tuesday, March 18, 2003, the division bell rang in the Commons, and MPs walked through the lobbies to endorse a motion authorising the Government to 'use all means necessary to ensure the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction'.

It would be a further four years before Blair formally resigned. But that vote represented the terminal blow from which he and his party never recovered.

Wednesday's vote to trigger Article 50  a vote that passed with the formal endorsement of the Labour Party and its leader  will go down in the history books as Jeremy Corbyn's Iraq. It, too, represents the end. The moment when the perspective of those who have vehemently opposed Corbyn's leadership, and those who have doggedly supported it, were finally aligned.

There will be no more talk of relaunches. Of dramatic transformations in the polls, or a harnessing of a wave of Trump-like Left-wing populism. The gig is up.

Ironically, Corbyn has been undone by his first act of serious leadership. He was right to order a vote for Brexit. Yes, it will certainly cost his party dear. Two thirds of Labour voters cast Remain ballots in the referendum, and for many this is an act of betrayal on a par with Nick Clegg's tuition fees pledge.

But had he chosen to oppose the stated will of the people, a political price just as severe would have been exacted in Labour's crumbling former working-class heartlands. And in any case, Corbyn has always been a shy Brexiteer. At least he managed to at last be true to himself on Europe.

As a result, the last, fragile pillars of his support are giving way. The briefing is no longer of the thousands of true believers flocking to his banner, but of the 7,000 Labour members who resigned in protest at last week's vote. Where once key lieutenants fanned out across the airwaves to denounce his 'Red Tory' opponents, now there is only the sound of static. When he turned to old ally Diane Abbott to join him in solidarity in the 'Yes' lobby, her response was 'not tonight, dear, I've got a headache'.

It is the Labour Left, not Labour moderates, who are beginning to mobilise for the post-Corbyn era. And as they do so, they are finding they face many of the same challenges as their erstwhile opponents.

First, there is the dilemma over a candidate. Clive Lewis says he is poised to resign from his post as Shadow Business Secretary if a 'Hard Brexit' Bill cannot be diluted by the time of its Third Reading. Lewis is seen by some on the Left as the man capable of building bridges with Labour's pragmatic centrists. But he remains wary of making an overt bid for the leadership. 'He doesn't want to become the new Owen Smith,' an ally explained.

Another candidate is Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. His hard-Left credentials are impeccable, and even his opponents concede he is a much smoother media operator than his hapless leader. But he is hamstrung by one important fact  he is despised by many of his colleagues.

Another candidate is Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell (pictured) whose hard-Left credentials are impeccable

'Corbyn's an idiot, but McDonnell is pure evil,' says one Labour MP.

Aware that power is starting to slip from their grasp, Corbyn and his inner circle are said to be turning their thoughts to the grooming of a replacement. 'Angela Rayner [Shadow Education Secretary] was the favourite,' a former Corbyn ally told me, 'but they think she's got too big for her boots. Now they're talking about Rebecca Long-Bailey [Shadow Chief Secretary].'

A second problem facing any potential Left-wing replacement is the Labour leadership rules. Last July the High Court confirmed that, as standing leader, Corbyn was not required to get the nominations of 51 MPs or MEPs to secure a place on the ballot. But that rule would not apply to any potential successor, meaning Labour moderates could easily block anyone from the Left.

'We're stuck in a Mexican stand-off,' said one former Shadow Minister. 'We need the Left to move against Corbyn. But they know if they do, we can stop them getting the nominations for their candidate.'

Because of this, some Labour MPs are talking of a Faustian pact, where they will guarantee to provide the requisite nominations. In return, Corbyn's former supporters will be asked to wield the knife.

Which leaves a third problem  the timing. No one has the stomach for yet another full-frontal leadership challenge. The preferred option is for a delegation of so-called 'Red Beards'  senior figures on the Left  to call for Corbyn to step down.

Many MPs believe the optimum moment would be in March, following the by-elections in Stoke and Copeland  Labour seats which are under serious threat.

But there is no guarantee these elections will create a clear window of opportunity. The Conservatives remain favourites to win in Copeland, but Labour is said to be putting up a good fight by focusing on local concerns over the NHS. In Stoke, Ukip are mounting a serious challenge, but this may be undermined by the revelation their leader and candidate Paul Nuttall filed a false declaration on his nomination papers by giving an address that he had not yet moved into.

'We just don't have any luck,' a Labour moderate told me. 'We should be increasing our majority in these seats. But I can see a situation where we have the worst of all worlds  where our majorities collapse, but we just cling on, and Corbyn stays.'

But any stay of execution will be only temporary. It is no longer Corbyn's enemies who are circling him, but his friends. It could take some time for them to organise themselves, but timing is now the only issue. Beware, Jeremy. Beware the Ides of March.
Think what you like about the great Climate Change controversy, it will have a powerful effect on you. Many are baffled by complex arguments about the rate and nature of global warming, and its cause.

But the current consensus is having a giant influence on governments and industry, and on all our pockets. Vast amounts of taxpayers money are being spent on measures to reduce CO2 emissions.

Much of this tax is raised by levies which dramatically increase industrial and domestic fuel bills. Much of it is spent on subsidising alternative and renewable sources of energy  which are now big businesses in their own right.

There are serious doubts about recent research, which was used to thrust aside scepticism about the rate of warming, and so to intensify costly efforts to combat it

Every few years, politicians get together at great international conferences and intensify this effort. They tend to brush aside dissent when they do so, arguing that the matter is both decided and extremely urgent. In that case it is surely their duty to be scrupulous and demanding about the figures on which they base these actions. But, as The Mail on Sunday reveals today, there are serious doubts about recent research  research which was used to thrust aside scepticism about the rate of warming, and so to intensify costly efforts to combat it.

A distinguished climate scientist, Dr John Bates, has gone public with claims that a 2015 document was based upon unverified and misleading data. Americas National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is now re-examining the 2015 figures on sea temperatures, which were measured using methods known to be unreliable. The figures for land temperatures are equally questionable for different reasons.

Thanks to this revelation, much of the urgent rhetoric spouted by politicians since 2015 now looks threadbare. And President Donald Trump will find it easier than before to dismiss the Climate Change agenda completely. If he does, those who rushed to publicise these flawed data have only themselves to blame.

So crime does pay

Information dragged by this newspaper from the Home Office shows we are paying millions in compensation to criminals and illegal immigrants, many of whom were due to be deported from the UK. This incredible fact, yet again, flows from Human Rights laws and the absurd way in which judges interpret them. The money was paid because those involved spent too long in detention before being thrown out for various revolting crimes  including sex offences against children.

No wonder the Home Office were reluctant to admit to this. But it has to be faced. The European Human Rights Convention is meant to protect the weak, not the evil. Such payments are clearly not what its authors intended. But if courts continue to use it in this way then it must be replaced  a promise repeatedly made by Tory politicians, but never kept. Time to act.

Concrete bungle...

THERE is something fishy about incessant campaigns to concrete over large chunks of precious green belt. This is always portrayed as being for the benefit of those who cannot afford homes.

But, in fact, there is plenty of brownfield land available, and the suspicion lingers that it is developers who will be the real beneficiaries. Andrew Mitchell is right to warn against any relaxation of the rules. Of course we need more homes, but we also need to keep the open space that makes our beautiful country such a uniquely pleasant place to live.
While it might be popular opinion that men don't fake tan, it appears more and more are adding a faux glow to their weekly beauty regime.

After discovering about 10 per cent of the fake tanning market in the UK is made up of men, Bondi Sands owners Blair James and Shaun Wilson began considering a male tanning product.

But when they spoke to a few male friends in Australia about the idea, they discovered it wasn't just Englishmen that liked a little colouring - and so, the idea was born.

Developing: Bondi Sands owner Blair James developed a fake tanning foam for men after discovering a bunch of his male friends had been using the other products

'I found out a lot of my guy mates were already using Bondi Sands, and our gradual tanning milk in particular,' said James.

'The feedback I was getting was that they wanted a product that maybe didn't smell like cocoa butter or coconut - they wanted something a bit more masculine.

'They also wanted something that would dry a little bit faster. A lot of the lotions we have in our range - they do leave a bit of a sheen on the skin which makes it look like you have a moisturiser on.'

Breaking the stigma: Manny Gutierrez, 25, has a following of more than 2million on his YouTube account, which mostly holds videos of himself holding makeup tutorials

The Bondi Sands product is just the latest addition to the men's grooming market, which the Financial Times reported was worth about $50 billion in 2016.

Other companies which have traditionally targeted women are now moving to be more gender neutral to take advantage of the lessening stigma.

Maybelline launched their Colossal Big Shot mascara with YouTube star Manny Gutierrez, who boasts more than 2 million followers on his makeup-oriented vlog.

From YouTube to television: The beauty maven (pictured right) was heavily featured in the marketing campaign for Maybelline's new mascara

Mr Gutierrez, 25, has also worked with American beauty company, Benefit.

Men's grooming packs are also becoming a regular sight on the shelves of department stores, with many boutiques popping up online.

Australian company The Man Grooming Kit offers customers artisan beauty products such as shampoo which retails for $22 and shaving oil for $24.

Man care: The male grooming industry was worth about $50 billion globally in 2016, thanks to designer men's grooming products, which have grown the industry well beyond the humble razor

The products are marketed at men who want to be well groomed, but also want simple and easy to use products.

The new Bondi Sands tanning foam, which Blair James says smells like shaving cream, dries twice as fast as the other lotions and doesn't require a mitt.

James says the women working in his office have also become big fans of the product, and don't mind the loss of the coconut scent.

Bronze for all! Though men make up 10 per cent of the UK tanning market, James was most inspired by his Australian friends

Useful: The new Bondi Sands tanning foam (pictured), which Blair James says smells like shaving cream, dries twice as fast as the other lotions and doesn't require a mitt

If the general public agree, the mittless tan could be a big win not just for males who fake tan, but for men with girlfriends who fake tan.

Men nationwide recently exploded with frustration at the small tanning mitts available with the product, which did not fit their hands and left them with orange patches.

But James says this tanning foam won't leave anybody hiding their hands.

'It's a much lighter product than our normal mousses, so you can literally spray it into your hand and it will stay like that until it dissolves,' he said.

'As long as you wash your hands afterwards you won't get orange palms.'
Tracey Spicer has spoken out about the sexualisation of her 10-year-old daughter, which she faced when at a barbecue several weeks ago.

While she was speaking to a family friend, the 49-year-old Australian journalist was shocked when the man told her daughter, Grace, what a 'pretty little thing' she was.

'I want to shout and scream and shake him: HOW DARE YOU SEXUALISE MY DAUGHTER?,' Ms Spicer wrote in a column for Fairfax on Sunday.

Tracey Spicer has spoken out about the sexualisation of her 10-year-old daughter (both pictured in 2012), which she faced when at a barbecue several weeks ago

After her daughter was told she was a 'pretty little thing', Ms Spicer (pictured with Grace) said: 'I want to shout and scream and shake him: HOW DARE YOU SEXUALISE MY DAUGHTER?'

Tracey Spicer went on to say that she feared 'sexism was afoot' when her daughter was confronted.

'Picture this: my husband... is at a social function with our son, aged 11. "What a handsome lad he is," someone says. "All the women will be looking at him instead of his father!".

'Of course no one would say this to a boy. But girls are treated as fresh meat, ready to be devoured before they go off,' she argued.

Tracey Spicer (pictured) went on to say that she feared 'sexism was afoot' when her daughter was confronted

In recounting the story, Ms Spicer concluded by saying that her 'clever, strong, assertive daughter's...only crime is being on the precipice of puberty.

'And her punishment will be decades of sexual harassment,' she said.

Tracey Spicer is not alone in calling out the blatant sexualisation of young girls, either.

In recounting the story, Ms Spicer (pictured) concluded by saying that her 'clever, strong, assertive daughter's...only crime is being on the precipice of puberty'

A recent study by University College London found that girls aged between 11 and 13 are now more likely to worry, lack confidence or feel nervous than they were five years ago because they feel under pressure.

The number of schoolgirls likely to suffer emotional problems also rose from 13 per cent in the 2009 study to 20 per cent  one in five  in 2014.

American actress and model, Emily Ratajkowski, spoke about the subject in a personal essay written last year, where she wrote in detail about how confusing it was when she hit puberty at a young age.
She's always been a trailblazer for women in politics and was one of only 10 female MPs when she first entered the House of Commons 34 years ago.

But mother-of-three Harriet Harman Harman, 66, has admitted that she constantly struggled with the demands of bringing up her family with her political career.

Busting the myth that women can have it all, she told The Sunday Times Magazine that she was 'haunted by maternal guilt' as she attempted to juggle both roles with little hands-on help from her husband Jack Dromey, also an MP.

But she refused to admit that staying for sittings at the Commons until after 1 AM was too difficult because she didn't want to seem 'drippy and self serving'.

Mother-of-three Harriet Harman Harman, 66, has admitted that she constantly struggled with the demands of bringing up her three children with her political career

The former deputy Labour leader recalled an incident where she realised that she was being judged for being a mother when she was accused by another Labour MP of smuggling her first baby through the division lobby under her coat.

The mortified politician then had to explain to the serjeant at arms that she hadn't breached the rules.

Her fellow MP thought the extra bulk was from her concealed baby, but in fact she was 'just fat from pregnancy'.

Harman revealed that the incident made it hit home that she was being judged for being a mother and it made her even more determined not to be treated differently.

Harriet Harman with her three children Joe, Amy and Harry in 1988. She admits that juggling her political career with motherhood was a constant battle

She would have to stay for a 7 PM vote, and late sittings that went on past 1 AM but refused to admit to struggling because she didn't want to look 'drippy and self-serving'.

The politician also revealed that while she was loathe to admit it, she was constantly exhausted when her three children Amy, Joe and Harry were young and never felt she was getting the balance right.

She is now eager for her grandchildren to come along, so that she can make up for her 'deficiencies' as a mother.

Harriet Harman arriving in Coventry with her baby daughter Amy in 1987

While admitting to being worried she was setting a negative example of failure to her children when she was sacked from Tony Blair's cabinet in 1998 she says they've never judged her or criticised her as a mother.

The politician and author also made reference to the tough environment of the Commons this week in an interview for the Graham Norton Show.

'There were two worlds for me  one was the women's movement, which was so vibrant, and we would come together, plan to change the world, drink a lot and have fun, and then there was parliament, which was not a lot of fun and very hard,' she said.

The former Labour deputy leader admitted that she felt like she'd set an example of failure to her children when she was sacked from Tony Blair's cabinet

'When you are much younger in politics it's like you're pretty, a bit flakey and not to be taken seriously, whereas a young man will be regarded as thrusting, with a lot of promise for the future and in his prime.

'When you have children women are considered write-offs, whereas men are regarded as having a family and reassuringly virile.

'And then, when they are older men are considered wise and attractive and women just past it! When is our prime? I am having my prime now!'

Earlier this week, Mrs Harman suggested the Prime Minister Theresa May should cancel Donald Trump's upcoming state visit

She also urged the Prime Minister Theresa May 'to stand up for herself and our country' in reference to Mrs May's meeting with the new US President Donald Trump in Washington.

She added: 'That's why that handholding thing was so disastrous because it looked like he was leading her along.'

'There are all sorts of rumours as to why he did it but I think she should have had in her briefing, 'This man is a identified groper  stand well away!'

And talking about Theresa May's meeting with Donald Trump in Washington, she added: 'She has got to look like a strong prime minister of a strong self-confident country and not look like she's begging for a trade deal on any terms.

'She needs to stand up for herself and our country.

'That's why that handholding thing was so disastrous because it looked like he was leading her along.

'There are all sorts of rumours as to why he did it but I think she should have had in her briefing, 'This man is a identified groper  stand well away!'

Asked if she thought there was anything Mrs May can do to counter the fallout from that meeting, she added: 'She could cancel the state visit.'
Sunday Brunch fans were today left in hysterics as a guest accidentally swore on live TV - while apologising for using bad language.

Cheesemonger Morgan McGlynn made the error as hosts Tim Lovejoy told viewers he was sorry for some bad language that had slipped into the show earlier on.

Thinking he was referring to something she'd come out with, Morgan said: 'Was that me? Oh s***.'

Viewers seemed more tickled than offended by the mishap, especially as Russell Brand was also on the show.

Cheesemonger Morgan McGlynn accidentally swore on Sunday Brunch today while apologising because she thought she might have let a bad word slip out earlier in the show

Viewers were tickels by the fact that it was Morgan (far left) who made the slip-up rather than comedian Russell Brand (far right)

One said they couldn't believe that Morgan was the one who made the faux pas, as opposed to the comedian who is known for his potty mouth.

Another declared that they love when people swear on live TV, as it always manages to liven things up.

And several fans declared the overall episode 'hilarious'.

Viewers also seemed baffled by the apology for the original swearing episode, and weren't sure what the host was referring to.

The North London cheesemonger covered her face with her hands in embarrassment as she realised her slip-up

And several questioned the need to apologise at all, saying it was an example of political correctness gone too far.

Morgan, runs Cheeses of Muswell Hill in the upmarket North London suburb.

The award-winning family business has been selling farmhouse and artisan cheeses for 31 years and stocks 230 different varieties.

Fans were left in fits of giggles over the swearing and couldn't believe it wasn't comedian Russell Brand who had made the error

Her memorable appearance on the show will no doubt stick in her customers' minds, but she's by no means the first to make such a slip up.

Made in Chelsea's Louise Thompson forgot her manners when she swore during a live broadcast of Sunday Brunch in August 2016.

While being quizzed on the show being shot in the South of France, and the 26-year-old let slip that she was 'p**sed off' by something that happened during their trip.

Viewers thought the show was hilarious and questioned the fact that an apology was needed

The red-faced star was clearly embarrassed as the hosts were forced to apologise to viewers watching at home.

And her fellow reality star Ollie Locke previously turned the air blue on the show, taking things even further by uttering the F word.

In November game show host Bradley Walsh, 56, had viewers questioning whether he was still 'drunk' from the night before as he fooled around during a cooking segment - pretending at one point that a mushroom was his moustache.
Who? You might remember her as one of Game of Throness most hated characters, but actress Charlotte Hope is now winning rave reviews on the London stage.

How Game of Thrones star Charlotte Hope went from being reviled to revered

Acting bug The 25-year-old, who hails from Lower Daggons, a tiny village in Hampshire, has always loved acting  I thought it was the best rush ever  but assumed that everyone else felt the same.

Were it not for a chance encounter in the street with a casting agent for a French film (Charlotte studied French and Spanish at Oxford, spending a year at theatre school in Paris), she might never have plucked up the confidence to give acting a go.

After that, I wrote to agents, inviting them to see a play I was in. Luckily, one of them signed me.

Big break Charlotte shot to fame in the hugely successful fantasy series Game of Thrones, playing Myranda, the sadistic lover of arch-villain Ramsay Bolton.

She describes her time on the show as total magic. I was only a small part of it but everyone made me feel welcomed and loved.

Roles followed in two of last years big movies  A United Kingdom (alongside favourite actor David Oyelowo) and Allied (where Charlotte shared sushi with Brad Pitt).

Treading the boards Charlotte is currently starring on the West End stage in Buried Child, which is about a dysfunctional Midwest family.

She plays Shelly, who is kind of the detective within the plot, shining a light on the familys strange past.

On appearing alongside Hollywood legend Ed Harris in the play, Charlotte says: Hes so generous and kind  I feel he makes me a better actor.

Whats next? Her first lead role (alongside Richard Gere) in thriller The Three Christs of Ypsilanti. Right now, Ive got everything I ever dreamed of.

Buried Child is at Londons Trafalgar Studios until 4 March. For tickets, visit buriedchildplay.co.uk
One of Princess Dianas favourite designers, as well as a trusted confidant, DAVID SASSOON enjoyed extraordinary access to the royal inner circle. Twenty years after her death  as a new exhibition celebrates her rise to global fashion icon  he talks to Margarette Driscoll about the woman behind the wardrobe

Princess Diana in a red chiffon Bellville Sassoon dress at the premiere of For Your Eyes Only, 1981, which she later also wore to meet the dancer Rudolf Nureyev

Who can forget Princess Dianas dramatic arrival at the Serpentine Gallery on the night in 1994 when Prince Charles confessed his infidelity to Jonathan Dimbleby on TV? The princesss last-minute outfit choice  a daring, off-the-shoulder black dress by Christina Stambolian, with a trailing chiffon tail, which later became known as the revenge dress  was proof (yet again) that this was a woman who understood the potent power of clothes. It was her zenith as a style queen, the most photographed woman in the world.

Our Queen of Hearts had a soft spot for many British designers, including David and Elizabeth Emanuel (who designed her wedding dress), Catherine Walker (Diana was buried in a black dress by her), Bruce Oldfield and Jenny Packham, but her fashion journey began with a name that may be less familiar.

David Sassoon is the designer who, as one half of Bellville Sassoon, the label of choice among privileged young ladies in the late 1970s, took Lady Di from junior Sloane ranger  all floaty skirts, cashmere cardigans and pie-crust collars  and discreetly steered her in the direction of fully fledged fashion icon. Dianas loyalty to him was absolute: he designed more than 70 gowns for her over nearly two decades.

The original design sketch, which features in the new Diana: Her Fashion Story exhibition

David is 84 but, in jeans and trainers, looks much younger. His mischievous smile and gentle manner make it easy to understand how he won the trust of a nervous 19-year-old, already under siege by the paparazzi and awestruck at the responsibility she was taking on. His affectionate recollections give an intriguing insight into Dianas world and the eccentricities of royal life, hidden behind the scenes.

On the face of it, theirs was a most unlikely alliance. He was the son of Iraqi immigrants, she the daughter of an earl. He was nearly 30 years older and several inches shorter than the fledgling princess, but David had an eye for elegance (honed as a child in Highbury, North London, where he would dress his sister in glamorous items that had made their way from his mothers trousseau to the dressing-up box) and a track record of dressing both royal ladies and Hollywood stars. He was the first person Diana came to rely on as she found her style footing and he became a trusted, lifelong friend; a source of gossip and fun amid the stuffiness of royal life.

The only time I saw Diana cry was the week before the wedding

He was a guest at her wedding and later at her funeral. Time seemed to stand still for a moment when he heard that she had died: It was Sunday morning and I was here, he says, gesturing around his beautiful, high-ceilinged apartment in South Kensington, a stones throw from Dianas former home at Kensington Palace. I put the radio on for the 7am news. I thought, Im not hearing this. I was absolutely stunned.

He had seen Diana just a few weeks earlier at the preview of a charity auction of her clothes at Christies. The princess was at her sleek, stunning peak, in a figure-hugging, pale blue dress by Catherine Walker, heavily embroidered with sparkles and pearls. They chatted about some of the outfits David had made for her over the years, including the going-away outfit she wore on her wedding day. He asked if it was in the auction. Oh no! said Diana. Im not losing that.

David Sassoon was the first person Diana came to rely on as she found her style footing

Diana: Her Fashion Story, opening shortly at Kensington Palace, is an exhibition tracing the princesss evolving style. It will feature sketches from Davids archive bearing Dianas handwritten notes  Yes, please! or, Please could I have this one without the high collar and bow?  and the man himself is to appear in conversation with Eleri Lynn, collections curator at Historic Royal Palaces, on Saturday 4 March.

His friendship with the princess had a bumpy start: Diana walked into the Bellville Sassoon studio (which David ran with Belinda Bellville) a few days before her engagement to Prince Charles was announced in February 1981 and quickly walked out again. The studios imperious French vendeuse was less than impressed by a teenage girl turning up late on Friday afternoon, nervously fingering clothes that were too sophisticated and probably far outside her budget. She suggested madam might find something more suitable around the corner at Harrods. So Diana fled.

Diana in that revenge dress by Christina Stambolian, 1994

When David and Belinda heard from another assistant that the girl had looked a bit like Lady Diana Spencer  the one who was in all the papers  we nearly had a fit. Luckily for them, Diana might have been scared off but her mother Frances Shand Kydd was made of sterner stuff. For the announcement of her engagement Diana wore a blue Cojana suit shed hurriedly picked up at Harrods that Friday afternoon, but to order her trousseau her mother took her back to Bellville Sassoon. From then on, whenever Diana appeared, we kept the vendeuse out of the way, says David.

Diana in a Bellville Sassoon sailor suit for her first official photograph with the Queen and Prince Charles, 1981

Diana chose a sailor suit from the studios ready-to-wear collection for her first official portrait with the Queen. After that, it was all couture. She was a joy to dress. She could wear any colour and look wonderful, says David. Some of the royal ladies could be difficult but Diana would always send little thank-you notes or twirl around saying, Theyre going to love this! She really was a delight.

David was the perfect guide to the daunting new world of haute couture. By the time Diana came along he had dressed every royal lady except the Queen and almost every star of the day, including Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Julie Christie, Helen Mirren, Catherine Deneuve, Jackie Kennedy and Ivana Trump.

Diana with David at a viewing of a charity auction of her dresses, 1997

His first encounter with the royals came shortly after he joined Belinda Bellvilles couture house in 1958, when he was sent to Buckingham Palace to supervise the final fitting of a bridesmaids dress for Princess Anne. He was almost overcome with excitement and apprehension. He had originally wanted to be an actor and been accepted at Rada, but his father disapproved. Instead, he won a place at the Royal College of Art where he studied fashion design.

I took a step back to make a bow and my foot went into one of the corgis' bowls

Belinda, a six-foot, aristocratic and very intimidating designer, was in need of an assistant and hired him on the strength of his graduation show (they later became business partners). Belinda was renowned for dressing debutantes  including the Duchess of Cornwall, whose coming-out dress was a Bellville design  and was forever correcting me. One day I mentioned Ascot and she told me very severely that As-cot, as Id pronounced it, was a water heater. I can hear her now: And we dont say navy, David, its navy blue.

As he and the fitter arrived at Buckingham Palace for their appointment with nine-year-old Princess Anne, who was to be bridesmaid to Lady Pamela Mountbatten and David Hicks, instead of swanning through the gates, as he had imagined, they were directed to the tradesmans entrance.

One of Princess Dianas favourite Bellville Sassoon outfits is her caring dress, pictured here at a hostel for abandoned children in Brazil  she liked to wear it to meet children because of the bright colours

Another favourite was this pretty floral dress, which she wore on several occasions, including Prince Williams 1982 christening

We stepped into a lift with a liveried page who took us to the nursery floor. There were ink stains on the carpet and toys all over the place. Princess Anne was wearing Clarks sandals and had braces on her teeth. The nanny put her into the bridesmaids dress and Prince Charles came in wearing short, grey flannel trousers, holding his hands behind his back, and walked round his sister inspecting the dress.

Then the Queen appeared. In those days you had to walk backwards in the presence of royalty, so I took a step back to make a bow and my foot went into one of the corgis bowls, which was full of water that splashed all over my shoes. The Queen pulled a cord by the side of the fireplace and up came a liveried page to wipe my shoes. The funny thing was the bridesmaids dress was a beautiful white organdie and the Queens only concern was whether it would wash.

Princess Margaret was a character and her mood could change for no reason at all

This was the first of many surreal encounters with the royals. A few years later, he and Belinda arrived at Kensington Palace for a fitting with Princess Margaret (she was living in the apartment that is now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges London residence). This was shortly after her marriage to Lord Snowdon, when the princess was endeavouring to live an ordinary family life. When they rang the bell, no one answered.

David and Belinda went down the steps to the basement, rang another bell and were astonished when the door was opened by Princess Margaret herself. Paintbrush in hand, she was whitewashing the conservatory wall  in an Yves Saint Laurent burgundy velvet suit with a plastic bag over the top for protection.

The princess at Hampton Court Palace in 1982

Handwritten letters from Diana to David with her notes on his designs

Another day we turned up and she was sitting at her desk with two sets of newspaper clippings in front of her. We had made part of her wardrobe for her first official visit to the US with Snowdon, and Womens Wear Daily, the leading fashion paper, had been very rude about her clothes, giving her marks every day, says David.

Fortunately for us, all our clothes had been given five stars  poor [Norman] Hartnell and others didnt do so well. The paper remarked on her big handbags and wondered if she kept sandwiches in them and said her mink coat looked moth-eaten. Well, if they want to give me a new mink coat Ill happily take it, the princess said.

It was really very amusing, but she didnt see the funny side. She was a character and her mood could change for no reason at all. She could be the very royal maam one day, then shed be familiar with you, but if you tried to be familiar back she didnt like it.

Diana wore Bellville Sassoon designs on numerous occasions, including to a concert in 1989, left, and a visit to Hereford Cathedral, 1985, centre, and attending a function while pregnant in 1982, right

Diana wearing a tartan jacket and pencil skirt to turn on the Bond Street Christmas lights, 1993

Diana was the polar opposite, eager to chat once the formal Good morning, maam was done with. She was always asking, What have you been doing, what have you seen? She knew I loved the ballet and so did she. There were times when Id be quite fraught and shed pat the sofa beside her and say, Now, whats the problem? Sit down and have a cup of tea. She was good at listening to your woes but she rarely opened up about her own. The only time I saw her cry was the week before the wedding, when everything got on top of her.

On that occasion, Diana arrived at the Knightsbridge studio straight from a wedding rehearsal at St Pauls Cathedral, very distressed. She was finding it impossible to cope with the publicity and hated being followed by the press.

It was the final fitting for the going-away outfit and she was very tearful and panicking because shed forgotten to get a bag. I told her not to worry and had a little pochette made in the same material. There was a tiny compartment for a mirror and I added a little card saying, Lots of happiness on your great day. She told me that when she got off the train on the way to her honeymoon her hair got blown in the wind, so she took out her mirror and the card fell out. She was very touched by it.

Diana wearing Davids fairy princess chiffon dress for the Splendours of the Gonzaga exhibition in 1981, the night before she announced her pregnancy with Prince William

After the wedding David was sent a piece of wedding cake: he still has the box. He became a regular at Kensington Palace and made more than 70 outfits for Diana, including a glittering dress for the state opening of parliament and a floaty fairy princess dress she wore the night before it was announced that she was pregnant with Prince William.

Years later he also made clothes for her friend Sarah Ferguson, who had married Prince Andrew and become the Duchess of York (Belinda had retired in 1982). One evening a motorcade with two outriders drew up. It was 6pm and the shop was shut. Sarah came in and said that she wanted some clothes and we thought, Oh dear, really? She had been getting terrible press.

Diana with Charles attending their first state opening of Parliament as a married couple, 1981

Diana in the going-away outfit David designed for her honeymoon, 1981; wearing a white shimmer silk maternity dress to meet Elizabeth Taylor in 1982

She was great fun, very lively, but she wouldnt listen. Id say, Oh, come on, maam, that skirts too short for you, and it would be, No, I like it like this. Diana would listen but Sarah never did. Shed come in one week and have lost weight then the next shed have put it on again, so we were forever taking things in then letting them out.

A visit to Buckingham Palace around that time showed how fast royal mystique was fading. There were no more liveried pages and designers had been upgraded to using the main entrance. Prince Andrew and Sarah were recently married and did not yet have their own home, so they had been given a set of make-do rooms on the old nursery floor.

There were balloons above the bed and on either side of it there were chamber pots because the loo was a half a mile away down a long corridor, says David. Andrews clothes and dress uniforms were on a rail because there wasnt enough hanging space for everything they had.

Diana wearing an LBD with beaded jewelled straps to a film premiere in 1991

Sarah wanted a very short Grecian gown for a fancy-dress party and when she went to show Andrew you could hear him say, Youre not going to wear that, its outrageous! She just laughed and said, The Grecians would have and proceeded to wear it. She had camellias flown in from the US to pin to it.

David retired in 2012, then masterminded a retrospective of his work at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Londons Bermondsey. He knew, because of the conversation just before she died, that Diana had kept her treasured going-away dress, but when he asked to borrow it for the exhibition, no one knew where it was. Buckingham Palace came up with an aubergine satin evening dress and when he went to collect it, an official said there was a pink suit he could also have if he wanted.

Diana in a pink wool maternity coat, 1982, and wrapped up for a Christmas service at Gloucester Cathedral in 1981

As soon as I saw it, I said, Oh my gosh, thats it! David says. The organdie collar had been turned inside and a long-sleeved jacket wed made in case of cold weather was draped over the top.

It was in perfect condition, he says, but the dress was a desperately sad echo of Dianas life story itself. The treasure was there at the palace, but no one appreciated what they had.

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencers Wedding Day: Everything you need to know

Princess Dianas Wedding Gown: Details on the Dress of the Century

Charles and Dianas Wedding: Minute-by-minute Timeline of the Big Day

Prince Charles and Lady Diana's bridesmaids: Where are they now?

Tim Graham/Getty Images, Bettmann Archive, PA/PA Archive, David Levenson, Julian Parker/UK Press, Nils Jorgensen/Rex/Shutterstock, Fox Photos/Hulton Archive, Ted Blackbrow/Daily Mail, Mark Kauffman/The Life Picture Collection, Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone, Reginald Davis, Clive Arrowsmith/Camera Press, Trevor Leighton/timeincukcontent.com, Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's announcement of not having any pre-poll alliance with the BJP for the elections in 25 Zila Parishads and 10 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, scheduled on February 16 and 21 respectively, is the beginning of political polarisation in the post-Congress era.

Addressing a gathering of 50,000 Shiv Sena officials in Mumbai, Thackeray said what the workers' wanted to hear.

That Shiv Sena is switching from one person leadership to collective responsibility is evident in Thackeray's changed stand on pre-poll alliance with the BJP.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray announced that the party will not have any pre-poll alliance with the BJP

He had almost made up his mind to go along with the BJP in these polls, which will set the state's mood for the next Assembly election in 2019.

However, the party's senior leaders forced him to abandon his plan.

Senior leader and environment minister Ramdas Kadam confirmed to Mail Today that Thackeray was under pressure from the party cadre.

'The BJP leaders have been repeatedly calling him mafia. The Shiv Sainiks were angry with the BJP for targeting him in this fashion. We could not tolerate such kind of humiliation,' he said.

State environment minister Ramdas Kadam said that Thackeray was under pressure

The BJP's claim over 40 sitting Shiv Sena seats in Mumbai was the final trigger.

'How can we give them half of the seats we won last time? Their demand was unrealistic,' said Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab.

The changing voting pattern in Mumbai in the last five years shows that both the BJP and Shiv Sena have benefited when they contested separately.

In the 2012, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election, when they were allies, the BJP and Shiv Sena jointly won 20 lakh votes.

In the Lok Sabha election of May 2014 they won 25 lakh votes in the city as allies.

However, when they separated during the October 2014 Assembly election, their total votes were 30 lakh.

The outcome of the BMC election will be crucial to get a feel of the mood in the country's financial capital after the Union government's demonetisation move.

The BJP supporter Gujarati traders, whose vote share is 15 per cent, had expressed displeasure over the decision, and BJP can beat Shiv Sena riding on their support.

Sensing the situation, Thackeray is likely to field one Gujarati candidate after every five Marathi candidates to earn a soft corner in the community.

Though they will be contesting independently, the possibility of Shiv Sena pulling out from the Devendra Fadnavis-led government will depend on the election results in Mumbai.

If Shiv Sena loses control over Mumbai, Thackeray will pull the plug.

If the BJP can't win Mumbai, Fadnavis' leadership will be questioned as he is the only leader in the BJP who wanted a pre-poll alliance.

In both the situations, Fadnavis will be at the receiving end.

Hindutva versus Hindutva

The Maharashtra government's order to impose a ban on religious functions and the removal of photographs of deities at all government- run institutions is likely to lead to another storm in the state's politics.

The Hindutva forces are against the ban, being imposed by a government whose prime agenda is Hindutva.

The religious functions were allowed in the previous Congress - NCP regime and no one objected to them.

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis expects government employees to be secular

The government employees at the state's seat of power, Mantralaya, hold satyanarayan katha every year by contributing from their own pockets.

They also decorate their offices during Diwali.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis believes that this is against the Constitution which expects government employees to be secular.

His decision has come a month after AIMIM demanded a one hour leave for Muslim employees to offer namaaz.

The first casualty of the decision was none another than Fadnavis' home department.

The coastal police had to cancel the satyanarayan katha scheduled on Republic Day.

'Private companies do puja at their offices at times. It gives the employees an opportunity to mix up, setting aside their hierarchy and protocol. Why are we getting step-motherly treatment?' a union leader asked.

Shiv Sena has already registered its protest against the ban.

Anil Vartak, spokesperson of Sanatan Sanstha, pointed at a room reserved for offering namaaz on the seventh floor of Mantralaya.

'Will that room be locked now?' he asked.

Skill development

A survey by an NGO, ASAR, in the field of education has come as a huge relief for the Maharashtra government.

According to the survey, the Zila Parishad schools in the state are doing better than schools in other states.

Almost 64 per cent students at the primary education level in these schools can read and write paragraphs of textbooks.

Almost 64 per cent students at the primary education level in these schools can read and write paragraphs of textbooks. (Picture for representation)

Education minister Vinod Tawde started beating the drum after around 14,000 students withdrew from private English-medium schools across the state and enrolled themselves in the Zila Parishad schools.

'We are third in the field of education. We will soon be nemero uno,' he told Mail Today.
A lithe Zambian woman in a beige jacket came out of the Ethiopian Airlines flight at Delhi's Indira Gandhi airport on Friday.

The flight was a couple of hours late. Thelma Mkandwire, the 38-year-old mother of five children, walked confidently with her large brown suitcase and a handbag, which passed through the customs check.

The passage was smooth, following which she stepped out into the chilly Delhi afternoon, boarding a private taxi, and zipping off to her destination - a seedy hotel in south Delhi's Mahipalpur, barely three km from the airport.

Pamela Devid Kirtitta and Thelma Mkandwire were held with 4kg drugs

Thelma failed to notice 10 men and women who were waiting for her at the airport, hidden innocuously in the crowd of travelers.

One of the police's trusted informers knew what hi-tech machines and airport officials could not detect.

This person had tipped off the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which had sprung the detectives into action.

The team members got on to two cars and two bikes and started tailing her taxi.

Once Thelma reached the hotel, she checked into a second floor room.

Shortly, another woman - a plump man from Tanzania, named Pamela Devid Kiritta, 41, arrived.

Their brown suitcase was opened and sleuths discovered the false cavity which had fooled Customs machines and officials in the first place.

She was to receive the gift Thelma had flown in with.

Pamela had put up at a Vasant Kunj apartment for the last 20 days. This was her ninth visit to India, a country where she was out to make a small fortune.

According to the NCB team, they did not barge in immediately.

They waited for two hours in the hotel, some of them disguised as hotel's service staff.

Around 3.30 pm, they rang the bell of the room and an unsuspecting Thelma opened the door.

One by one they went in, with video cameras rolling. The Narcotics team informed that Thelma and Pamela were caught with their luggage.

Their brown suitcase was opened and after a thorough search began, the investigating team discovered the false cavity, which had fooled the Customs machines.

The cavity in the suitcase, allegedly had a packet carrying four kg of white powder, which wrapped with black polythene.

The detective team informed that it was pure cocaine, enough to burn the wallets and blow the heads of several thousands of party-bopping Indians.

The value of the coke is worth Rs 30 crore, informed the officials.

Once spiked and adulterated with chalk dust or talcum powder, it would have got multiplied.

It would have gone in small packets to hundreds of drug peddlers across India, who would have then reached it to some of the most glamorous parties.

The police informed that Thelma had been caught once earlier in Pakistan, but had found her way out allegedly after bribing the local authorities.

They suspect that she has been operating China and Hong Kong also.

The team members claim that Pamela is allegedly a busy trafficker and Delhi has been her rewarding workplace.

Pamela has multiple-entry tourist visa and now both of them are face a minimum term of 10 years in an Indian jail.
The irony was stark. In mid-January, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted her opposition to the date of the Union Budget, citing Saraswati Puja.

But when the puja actually happened, several schools across Bengal, including a few situated just a stone's throw away from her administration in Kolkata, were forced to cancel the festivities fearing reprisals from Islamist groups.

The reason: they reportedly wanted Prophet Muhammad's birthday to be celebrated first.

Students protesting outside Tehatta School to demand Saraswati Puja

This was allegedly a precondition set by the Rajarhat Imam Council.

Rajarhat is a newly built township, which is less than 10 km from Kolkata.

Schools that opposed the Rajarhat diktat saw posters on school walls asking to celebrate, complete with the date and time of the event.

Welcome to the new Bengal, were hallowed secular institutions, including schools, are facing increasing interference from the Islamist radicals, even as the state's ruling party shamelessly passes the buck or opts for outright denial.

Student injured during the protest in Tehatta

'This (Islamic interference) is not only limited to Rajarhat,' says Sourish Mukherjee, media in-charge of Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Bengal unit.

'This has been happening in Tehatta where schools are not allowed to open for weeks due to refusal to celebrate Nabi Dibas (Prophet's birthday),' he says.

'The situation is graver in border districts where religious fanaticism is allowed to play havoc more easily. Can you imagine us demanding Saraswati Puja in a madrassa? It's exactly like that,' says Mukherjee.

School students celebrated Nabi dibas in West Bengal

Similar threats were faced by a high school in Tehatta in Nadia district.

Only this time, both the sides are rigid. After the school authority firmly refused to allow Nabi Dibas celebration, the school was shut down for 26 days in a row.

Though district school observers ordered the school to be reopened, a local Muslim leader, Qasim Siddiqui upped the ante with his followers and refused the re-opening.

A video available with Mail Today, whose authenticity could not immediately be verified, shows Siddiqui telling a large gathering that he would not negotiate.

A copy of the letter the president of the Tehatta school send to the local police informing about the proposed plan to celebrate Nabi Dibas

Meanwhile, the school president wrote a letter to the local police, a copy of which is in possession of Mail Today, in which he has urged the law enforcement agencies to take corrective actions to prevent a possible communal flare up.

Following this, the school was opened briefly, but was closed again to avoid clashes over Saraswati Puja celebrations.

A protest march led by students and residents of the area, carrying a 3-ft tall idol of Goddess Saraswati, meanwhile, turned violent and the police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.

The school currently remains shut, and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel deployed in nearby areas.

The school principal has tendered his resignation and it's not just about Rajarhat or Tehatta.

Schools in Jangipara area of Hooghly district also face similar problems, as the local residents claim that the schools have not been allowed to celebrate Sarawati Puja for some years now, mainly due to opposition from the fundamentalist forces.

A school that refused to celebrate Nabi Dibas has allegedly received threats, which was followed by verbal spat between two groups.

The school was forced to remain closed for a day to avoid communal tension.

Talking to Mail Today, senior sources in West Bengal police confirmed the security threat which these schools are facing from fringe elements.

But how can fundamentalist outfits hold entire school administrations to ransom?

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders Mail Today approached were either terse in their response or feigned complete ignorance of any such radicalisation efforts.

'No, I haven't heard of any such thing. I am not aware,' says Sougata Roy, TMC spokesperson.

TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy also responded in a similar fashion.

'I dont know. Ask the state politicians for such issues.' So we contacted Shishir Adhikari who is lately spending more time in the state.

He put the ball back in the court of central leadership.

Interestingly, these statements of ignorance are akin to how Banerjee herself described the infamous Park Street rape as 'shajano ghotona' (cooked up story) or more recently, the Dhulagarh Riots as 'wrong information'.

It may be noted that a charge sheet was filed against the main accused in the Park Street rape case, last year, while this year, the Calcutta High Court asked Mamata Banerjee government to file an affidavit on actions taken on the Dhulagarh Riot.

However, CM Mamata continues to be dismissive and claims that both the case never took place.

Sidhharth Nath Singh, BJP leader, calls it a 'worrisome situation' in West Bengal.

Locket Chatterjee, a Bengali TV actress who recently joined BJP explains what the 'worry factor' is.

'The appeasement policy of TMC is to be blamed for this. The ground reality in West Bengal is very serious,' says Chatterjee.

'We could never imagine that students could be beaten black and blue, only for asking for Saraswati Puja celebrations.

'Needless to say, the situation in border districts where Jamat-e-Islami Hind has taken over are worse,' she says.

Jamat-e-Islami Hind, an outfit that has been previously banned by the Central government, has been distributing theological books on Islam and Prophet Muhammed in government schools.

BJP leader Babul Supriyo claims that the state is facing systematic Islamic intrusion in all the secular institutions

When contacted, its Bengal president Mohammad Nooruddin confirmed the book distribution and added that it was a part of its campaign from December 9 to December 23.

'Yes we have been distributing books on Prophet Muhammad. We distributed the books in almost all schools, be it government or otherwise,' says Nooruddin.

The phenomenon is even more open and brazen along the Indo-Bangla border districts such as Murshidabad, Nadia, Malda and Birbhum, where a lot of Jamat-e- Islami leaders from Bangladesh side have a strong presence.

'What is alarming is the systematic Islamic intrusion in all the secular institutions and curriculum,' says Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises and the face of Bengal BJP.

'What happened at Kaliachak, Dhulagarh and Tehatta are dangerous, but what's more worrying is the governments' action or inaction is based on selective acknowledgement of the incidents,' adds Supriyo.
Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari wants to popularise electric vehicles in India to promote cleaner environment

The Centre is planning to shifting lakhs of commercial vehicles to the 'electric mode'.

The Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways will soon install as many as 1,200 charging points on the PPP basis that will allow charging of electricity- run vehicles within one to six hours.

The pilot project is likely to begin in Nagpur this month and charging points will be set up at fuel stations in the city.

A senior transport ministry official said, they are in talks with two private companies including app-based taxi service provider.

Ola, which will introduce 50 electric cars in the pilot project and depending on the success of the experiment, the company plans to add more electric cars to its fleet.

The final decision will be taken in the next couple of weeks.

Officials have also identified Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat where the project is likely to be started in the next phase.

The Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways will soon install as many as 1,200 charging points. (Picture for representation)

The two companies gave a detailed presentation before the Niti Aayog this week.

As per the proposal, charging points can be installed at petrol pumps and other convenient locations across the city.

There will be two types of charging points - fast and slow charging units.

In the pilot project, 200 fast charging points will be installed, which will fully charge an all-electric vehicle (EV) in one hour.

The other unit will take six hours to fully charge a vehicle, the proposal said.

The primary objective of introducing electric car is to reduce emissions by scrapping old fuel guzzling and polluting vehicles

The companies plan to set up 1,000 slow charging points for this project.

'It has been the constant endeavour of Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari to popularise electric vehicles in India for cleaner environment.

'Unavailability of charging points is a major hurdle in this direction. The pilot project for setting up charging points is likely to be rolled out in Nagpur this month. The modalities are being worked out,' said a senior transport ministry official.

The development comes in wake of the government announcing subsidy on electric cars in India.

While the government is planning to ban diesel vehicles in a phased manner, it aims to roll out over 50 lakh electric and hybrid vehicles in the next three years.

To cater to the needs of high-end users, the government may also bring luxury electric sedans.

Gadkari, during his visit to the United States last year, also urged American electric car manufacturer Tesla to start manufacturing in India.

Officials said the government is also considering Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation program that proposes to give incentive to the buyers.

As per the plan, the government will offer tax benefits and discounts to people who junk old vehicles and replace them with new ones.

Its primary objective is to reduce emissions by scrapping old fuel guzzling and polluting vehicles.

According to estimates, there are nearly 30 lakh vehicles in Delhi, which are 10 to 15 years old and thus are a major source of air and noise pollution.

The government wants to remove these vehicles and replace them with non-polluting vehicles.

Officials say, if the government manages to introduce 50 lakh electric vehicles on Indian roads, it will save up to 9,500 million tonnes of fossil fuel and reduce emission of green house gases by up to 2 lakh million tonnes.

According to a study conducted by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and the Ministry of Heavy Industry, India has the potential to reach sales of over 7 million electric vehicles by 2020.

Gadkari had earlier proposed to make cycle tracks on all major roads across the country, including on highways, and favoured a shift towards electricity- based public transport.

The plans include replacing electric cars as taxi in some cities.
A major terrorist operation was thwarted on Saturday as two top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmir's Sopore district.

Two policemen - SP (Operations) Shafqat Hussain and sub inspector Mohammad Murtaza were also injured in the gun battle that took place near Amargarh village, 50km from Srinagar, after police intercepted the two militants in a vehicle.

Officials said the two militants - Sajjad Ahmed Lone, and Azhar Khan were planning a big attack in Srinagar.

Security forces killed the two terrorists in an encounter on Saturday

Nitish Kumar DIG, North Kashmir range told Mail Today: 'The operation is a major success, as it averted a major terror attack in valley'.

He said that the two militants were no 'ordinary attackers' as they had been actively planning to promote militancy in the Valley.

Lone (25) went missing in February last year, but it has been learnt that he had gone to Pakistan on a valid visa and crossed the border at Wagah.

Intelligence sources said he then turned up at a training camp in Muzzaffarnagar, only to reappear in Kashmir as a radicalised militant.

Officials said that Lone was involved in attacks on security forces, police and VVIPs.

His job was to recruit boys from poor backgrounds and lure them with monetary benefits.

Azhar Khan (left) and Sajjad Ahmed (right) were gunned down by the Indian Army

Lone himself was the son of a retired JK Police officer, Mohammed Akbar Lone. He has three brothers and two sisters.

A graduate from Government College in Sopore, Lone earlier worked at a pharmaceutical company.

The other terrorist, Mohammed Azhar Khan (26), operated in Handwara and Sopore districts.

Sources said he was MA in Kashmiri studies, and was working as lecturer on a contractual basis at a higher secondary school in Handwara before he joined the terror outfit in April last year.

According to sources, Khan played an important role in mobilizing residents of his native village for violent protests during last year's unrest.

Along with his other associates, Khan was actively planning to attack a special forces convoy along the Kupwara-Baramulla axis, sources said.

But on Saturday, they ran out of luck.

Nitish Kumar, DIG, North Kashmir, told Mail Today that a Nakka was laid by Jammu Kashmir police, CRPF and Army after a specific input was generated by JK police that 'militants were planning some terrorist action in Srinagar.'

The duo was traveling in a vehicle when security forces intercepted them near Amargarh.

On being challenged, the two lobbed a grenade and fired at the police party.

They were killed in the retaliatory fire. Two AK series rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition was recovered from their possession.
The market for second-hand wedding dresses is growing rapidly as bargain-hungry brides seek out designer labels at knock-down prices.

But this burgeoning industry is also attracting the interest of criminals who are either looking to launder money  or trick sellers into giving out key bank details so their accounts can be emptied.

One bride told The Mail on Sunday she recently gave up trying to sell her wedding dress online because she was being contacted only by bogus buyers.

She says a number of individuals offered to pay the asking price for her dress, plus an inflated fee to cover 'courier' costs.

Value: Ingrid Szajer says dresses can sell for 70 per cent of their original cost

They then wanted her to transfer this 'extra' money she received into another account from which she was told the courier costs would be met.

Such a tactic is employed by criminals to launder money because it disguises the original ownership of the cash.

Eddie Townsend, of Action Fraud  the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime  says fraudsters are regularly targeting people who trade online.

Wedding dress sales, he says, are one of the areas where fraudsters are prevalent  in part because the market is relatively recent and growing rapidly.

He says: 'Consumers must be vigilant and have their eyes open to potential scams.'

Jo Hanby is founder of website Sell My Wedding Dress, part of a burgeoning market for trading pre-owned dresses.

She says the vast majority of her site's users are legitimate, but she is aware that fraudsters are constantly trying to hoodwink unwitting buyers and sellers.

She adds: 'The advice is the same whatever you are buying or selling online. You must have your wits about you. If something seems too good to be true, leave it well alone.'

'IF YOU LOVED YOUR DRESS, THEN SOMEONE ELSE WILL TOO' There is money to be made in selling your wedding dress if you can navigate the market safely. Ingrid Szajer, co-founder of Still White, says sellers can expect to achieve between 50 and 70 per cent of the original value of the dress if it is less than two years old and in excellent condition. Anything older and dress values start falling because of ever- changing fashions and styles. An older dress might sell for between 20 and 40 per cent of its original retail price. Szajer, who set up the company with her husband Bruno, says well-known bridal labels such as Jenny Packham, Pronovias, Maggie Sottero, Mori Lee and Caroline Castigliano are most popular among UK buyers. But a dress does not have to have a designer label to get a good price. She says: 'The chances are that if you loved it, someone else will too.' Many potential buyers will search for a particular brand, so it may take longer to find the right buyer if your dress does not have a designer label. But some websites, including Still White, will list dresses for a one-off fee until they are sold. Be prepared for the fact that potential buyers will want to haggle  typically demanding a ten per cent discount off the asking price. An American-based website, PreOwnedWeddingDresses, has an online calculator that gives estimates on the value of pre-owned dresses. It is based on the designer, original purchase price and the year it was bought. Although calculations are done in US dollars, it is a useful tool to gauge what your own wedding dress might be worth in today's market.

How to avoid falling for a scam

There are ways to avoid being a victim of fraud if you are selling items online. A genuine buyer will never offer to pay more than your asking price, so this should set alarm bells ringing.

If someone sends an overpayment, return it and ask for the correct amount.

If you have set up a PayPal account to accept payments, always log in yourself so you know you are using the legitimate website.

Do not use a link in an email sent to you by a potential buyer. If someone emails you a link to the PayPal website and asks you to re-enter your information do not be fooled.

They are simply phishing for banking details that can be used to defraud you.

Second time around: Bridal gowns sell on Still White

PayPal will never request that you send money in order to release funds owed to you or to release a transaction currently on hold.

Also, it is imperative to wait for funds to be cleared through your bank account  or for a cheque to clear  before you send any item to the buyer.

Finally, be suspicious of offers to pay via MoneyGram or Western Union as these payment methods are not traceable.

How do wedding dress websites work?

If you want to sell your wedding dress, you will first need to register with a chosen website. You may have to pay to do this.

For example, Sell My Wedding Dress charges from 10, while Still White charges from 17.

You can then list your wedding dress online, including a description, photographs and your asking price.

Potential buyers will then contact you through the website to ask questions and make offers.

Expect your dress to take between two and six months to sell. Newer styles and recognised brands sell fastest.

Once a price is agreed with a buyer, it is advisable to use a third party payment provider, such as PayPal, for the transaction.

This is linked to your bank account but is a more secure way to receive payments as you do not have to give out your bank details.

Hanby says: 'Always wait for the funds to be cleared into your own bank account  once they have gone through PayPal  before shipping your wedding dress.'
Switching current accounts is a step few are prepared to take. Despite measures to make the process as stress free as possible, one in three bank customers have resisted the temptation.

Indeed, the latest data indicates that fewer people switched accounts last year than they did in 2015.

Such reticence is understandable. Sometimes it is better to stick with the banking devil you know than step into the unknown.

So far, most people have switched to take advantage of incentives offered by selected banks. But some of these are now on the wane.

Staying put: Sometimes it is better to stick with the banking devil you know than step into the unknown

Halifax's 100 switching bonus is being reduced from the start of next month by 25. This follows the trimming of the monthly sum paid to those switching to its Reward current account from 5 to 3.

The only bank bucking the trend is Tesco Bank, which has just guaranteed to pay at least three per cent interest on current account balances up to 3,000 for two years beginning this April.

Although the start date is April 1, I have been told it is NOT an April Fool.

Tesco's move is welcome, especially given that it extends to all existing customers. But it is probably more a response to the damage that was done to its business late last year when criminals hacked into customers' bank accounts and walked off with 2.5 million.

If I were looking for a new current account home, I would not be tempted. Instead I would visit website Fairer Finance and choose an account that gets good reviews on a range of key issues  for example, customer trust and complaints handling.

First Direct, Metro Bank and Nationwide Building Society all score highly.

Coventry BS breaks the mould

Coventry Building Society is a business I have a lot of time for. Its mantra is 'TLC, not PLC', the TLC standing for tender loving care. Although I am not a customer, it looks after savers and borrowers and strives to give them as good a deal as possible.

It also has an exemplary record when it comes to resolving customer complaints (Fairer Finance scores it highly).

Its latest initiative is to allow society savers to go on to its website and see how their accounts fare against the competition  not just in terms of interest offered but how they can be accessed.

All the comparative data is supplied by Moneyfacts, renowned for its independent scrutiny of the savings market.

You might think such transparency is commercial suicide  it is the first savings provider to do this  and an open invitation for existing customers to jump ship.

But Coventry believes it will only enhance its reputation for fairness by being so open.

The terms 'tender loving care' and 'financial institution' are often oxymorons. But Coventry breaks the mould.

Yodel in the firing line

Parcel delivery firm Yodel was recently voted the country's worst for ensuring goods ordered over the internet or by phone arrive on time, in pristine condition and at the right address.

The poll was conducted by financial website MoneySavingExpert, whose founder Martin Lewis was scathing about the service standards of some firms (City Sprint, iPost Parcels and DX came in for criticism as well).

'They don't ring the doorbell, parcels are misdelivered, they're left in bins or under cars  and it leaves many grinding their teeth in frustration,' he remarked.

Recent personal experience supports both Money-SavingExpert's findings and Lewis's forthright words.

A bottle of champagne sent to a friend in the West Country to celebrate their birthday never arrived. Yodel, it transpired, had delivered it to the next village.

Although the address was as explicit as you can get (down to the cottage's name), the bubbly ended up on the doorstep of a home in the next village  and has not been seen since.

Admittedly, I got the last digit of the postcode wrong (wonky fingers) but you would have thought that a delivery earmarked for someone living in Fitzhead, Somerset, would not end up being left in nearby Combe Florey.

Majestic Wine kindly sent a replacement bottle via Yodel, but it arrived two days after the birthday, rather spoiling the exercise.

Coincidentally, the person whose birthday it was returned home later in the week to find another Yodel delivery waiting for them.

This time the package, which had been ripped open, was not for them but for someone else. As befits a good neighbour, it was duly handed over to the rightful owner.

Is Yodel as bad as it seems? If you have suffered at its hands  or indeed been bowled over by the quality of its customer service  do let me know.
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.

T.D. writes: Pentagon Asset Management approached me about selling my carbon credits. Its website address is pentagonassetmgt.com and the telephone number is 020 7859 4985.

I assume this company is a scam, but perhaps you can check it out and let readers know if it is to be avoided.

Pentagon Asset Management claims to be based in Berkeley Square

Thank you. I have checked them out. This is a scam. Avoid.

Carbon credits were a scam investment to begin with, so any firm claiming it can sell them for you is just another rip-off.

One investor says Pentagon told him his credits were worth more than 8 each but  surprise, surprise  he would have to pay an up-front fee to start the sales ball rolling.

This is not the only evidence against Pentagon. For a start, while there are businesses with similar names, records at Companies House show there is no such British limited company.

Then there is the website. It claims Pentagon is almost 200 years old, with more than 26billion of client assets, offices in London, Switzerland, Guernsey and South Africa, and services covering shares, unit trusts and currencies.

Remarkably though, the firm has somehow managed not to be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, leaving its bosses open to the risk of being jailed for providing all these services illegally.

Some of its website has simply been copied from that of the genuine Investec Wealth & Investment. It mistakenly copied over a passage that says: 'Discover how IW&I can help you preserve capital'. A bit of a giveaway.

'Want to know more?' Pentagon asks. 'Speak to one of our specialists today.' The confident face that smiles out from Pentagon's website really does belong to a financial adviser.

Dupe: Brian LaHue is an adviser, but not for firm Pentagon Asset Management

I traced him  thousands of miles away in Louisville, Kentucky, in the US.

His name is Brian LaHue and he told me: 'No, there is no connection with me. Why would it want to use a picture of me?'

Closer to home, Pentagon claims to be located at Berkeley Square in London, but says its registered office is 12 Chequers Road in Derby.

This address exists and it is the registered office of a company called Pentagon Investments Limited  but this is a legitimate business in the vehicle industry.

Joe O'Callaghan, of the Derby company, told me: 'It has got nothing to do with us. When we found out about it we called the police straight away.

'We passed all the details to Action Fraud, but unfortunately we have heard nothing back.'

Last Tuesday, I called Pentagon's London phone number. The person who answered said 'Reception', with no company name  a clue that he takes calls for all sorts of bogus businesses. He could not help, he said, but he would get someone to phone me back.

A short time later Pentagon called me. I explained who I was and asked why the company was not authorised, why it used a fake picture on its website and why it used the address of an unconnected business in Derby.

The speaker said he would put me through to his boss. There were some background noises, then the line went dead. By Thursday, Pentagon's website had disappeared.

There is no disputing that Pentagon is a criminal enterprise run by crooks. But if Joe O'Callaghan and his colleagues in Derby already reported this, why was Pentagon still in business just a few days ago?

If the authorities ignore crooks like this, then all they have to do is reopen under a new name and carry on stealing.

You don't need this company's assistance

D.F. writes: I am sending you a copy of a letter I have sent to the Financial Ombudsman Service concerning Uniform Tax Credits, an organisation recently featured by you.

I wrote about Uniform Tax Credits (UTC) because the Swansea-based firm had won a 63 tax refund for a reader but charged 207 in fees.

Your own problem is rather different. Your son, who has learning difficulties, works as a supermarket cleaner. You told me he was contacted with an offer of help in claiming backdated tax relief for the cost of cleaning his work uniform and he authorised UTC to lodge a claim.

He was told by Revenue & Customs last June that a refund of 48 was sent to UTC. You then spoke to three different people at UTC, but your son still received nothing.

Although you have written to the Ombudsman, it does not handle tax problems. These are dealt with by the Revenue Adjudicator.

I asked UTC's boss, Michael Byfield, to comment. He told me two cheques were sent to your son, but for some unknown reason, neither arrived. A third cheque has now been sent and you have confirmed that this time your son really does have his money.

As I reported in December, the Revenue does not want to have to make individual calculations for millions of people who have to provide or clean work uniforms.

The taxman operates a flat-rate expenses scheme that anyone can use without professional help. Byfield told me: 'Our target customers are not typically Mail on Sunday readers and have no idea they are due a refund for past years, or an allowance for future years, until we contact them.'

Let us be clear: UTC has no official role and anyone can find out from their tax office whether they qualify for a fixed expenses allowance.

Binary calls are not 'local'

C.R.D. writes: Further to your recent article on binary options investment scams, I believe BT is assisting these fraudsters. It is doing this by selling telephone numbers that make people believe a call is coming from within Britain, rather than abroad.

Advances in technology mean that none of us should rely on a telephone number as proof of where a call originates. You have given me examples of numbers that appear to show calls coming from Bedford, Aberdeen and Ayr, when in fact they all come from Cyprus.

It is not illegal to supply a British number to a foreign firm. BT told me: 'BT, like many communications companies, has for many years offered companies the use of worldwide phone numbers, including UK numbers, that may be located in almost any country. Companies use these numbers to appear local and enable them to be contacted at low cost, or no cost, by their customers.'

Worse though, scam firms can 'spoof' a British number, so when they call from abroad, a fake British number shows up on your caller ID screen. The safest policy is to refuse to deal with cold-callers. When in doubt use a free online directory service to get the genuine number of the firm supposed to be calling you and then ring them back so you can be sure of dealing with the genuine article.

If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
The desire for income from a portfolio of shares has never been greater among investors.

This huge appetite has prompted Woodford Investment Management to launch a fund next month paying an income of around five per cent.

The Income Focus Fund, to be run by hugely respected manager Neil Woodford, will complement the Woodford Equity Income fund with more emphasis on extracting dividends from companies listed abroad. About 20 per cent of the fund will be invested overseas.

Continued demand for equity income is also a key reason why rival investment house Miton Asset Management is appearing on the radars of both advisers and investors.

On the move: Gervais Williams likes services group Stobart, now the UK's biggest biomass fuels supplier

Since Gervais Williams, formerly of Gartmore, joined the firm six years ago, Miton has gained a reputation for managing income funds effectively.

What makes it slightly unusual is the approach it takes to find income-friendly UK investments.

Unlike many rivals, which concentrate on dividend payers in the FTSE 100 Index, Miton also looks for income among smaller firms found in the FTSE AIM, Small Cap and Fledgling indices.

Nowhere is this approach more manifest than on Miton UK Multi Cap Income, which Williams has managed with Martin Turner since it was launched in October 2011.

The biggest chunk of the 150-strong portfolio is concentrated on AIM stocks.

It seems to be working. Analysis by investment experts at Sanlam Private Wealth identifies Miton's as the 'best' UK equity income fund.

This is based on its analysis of income funds over the past five calendar years, taking into account factors such as dividends, investment performance and the smoothness of returns.

The biggest chunk of the 150-strong portfolio is concentrated on AIM stocks

Others on Sanlam's 'white list' of top UK equity income funds include Axa Framlington Monthly Income, Royal London UK Equity Income and Threadneedle UK Equity Alpha Income.

The analysis excludes UK equity income investment trusts, which, because of their ability to smooth the income they pay investors, have long-established records of increasing their dividends.

Williams says: 'We are looking for income in parts of the market that are not that well researched. It enables us to dig out opportunities that others miss.

'Yes, we are happy investing in FTSE 100 stocks. Indeed, we would be fools if we did not. But there are lots of smaller firms out there that have strong balance sheets, have invested to make productivity gains and are now paying good dividends or have the potential to do so.'

Stobart Group, he says, is a case in point. Best known for its juggernauts, Williams says it has undergone a transformation in recent years.

It is now the UK's largest supplier of biomass fuels and it owns Southend Airport.

'The airport has great potential,' says Williams. 'Passenger numbers are rising and it has a great reputation for service.'

Although Sanlam's analysis puts the Miton fund top of the pile, its income record over the past five years is a little uneven, with the dividend payments dipping in 2013 before growing in each of the next three years.

As a result, income seekers may prefer Diverse Income, an investment trust run by Williams and Turner in near identical fashion to Miton UK Multi Cap Income. There is 90 per cent overlap between the two portfolios.

The trust's ability to regulate the income it pays out means that dividends have increased year on year since its launch in April 2011.

It also has a year's income in reserve to boost dividend payments if the economic backdrop tightens, forcing companies to cut back on the income they pay shareholders.
Low & Bonar has come a long way from its roots back in 1903, when John Low and George Bonar set up a jute firm in Dundee.

Today, the company is run by Brett Simpson, who was born in New Zealand, raised in Australia and has spent most of his working life in the US, Asia and continental Europe.

The group still has a presence in Dundee, making yarns for carpet groups, including Axminster & Wilton. But it now has 15 factories worldwide, and operates in 20 countries, with almost 2,500 employees.

On course: The company provided the textile for a tensile roof at Aintree racecourse

The shares are 71p and should rise this year and beyond. Simpson was brought in at the end of 2014 to turn the business round.

He has made significant progress, but the best lies ahead and the shares should respond as he meets targets.

Low & Bonar can seem like a complicated business because it makes a wide variety of products, used in industries ranging from mushroom farming to motorway building and from carpeting to water filtration.

But all these applications share certain features. They all involve taking polymers and using technology to convert them to hardwearing, lightweight yarns, fibres and other fabrics.

The company has contributed to projects including the O2 Skywalk in London, Aintree racecourse in Liverpool, the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Road, Copenhagen airport and waterway embankments in Holland.

When Simpson joined, the firm was organised on a regional basis, with each regional manager responsible for everything sold in that area.

Simpson has restructured the business into four global divisions: building & industrial (products for large buildings, roofs, farming and horticulture); civil engineering (products for infrastructure projects including roads, rail and land reclamation); interior and transportation (mainly carpet backing); and coated technical textiles (tarpaulin and similar materials).

Organising the firm this way makes it much easier to see what is working around the world. Simpson sets the bar relatively high  every division should be able to achieve profit margins of at least 10 per cent.

Businesses that seem incapable of reaching that goal have either been sold or are due for imminent disposal. Those with potential are being invested in and expanded.

The strategy is starting to deliver results. Annual figures, released last week, showed a 6.6 per cent increase in underlying pre-tax profits to 29.2 million for the year to November 30, while sales rose 10 per cent to 400 million.

The company benefited from sterling's weakness, but suffered from a major blip at the coated technical textiles division, where core profits tumbled 38 per cent to 8.7 million.

The business ran into problems on two fronts  changes in EU regulation and manufacturing issues, after a period of rapid expansion. Simpson has taken action to resolve both issues and the division is expected to return to health this year.

The three other divisions experienced strong growth, delivering profit rises of between 15 and 27 per cent.

Encouragingly too, the dividend has been raised by 8 per cent to 3p, putting the shares on a yield of just over 4 per cent.

The group is also expanding in parts of the world where it should have an edge. A new factory has been opened in China and there was a small US acquisition.

Low & Bonar derives about 65 per cent of its revenues from Europe, 20 per cent from the US and 15 per cent from the rest of the world.

Simpson is keen to increase the firm's presence in China and the US, both countries with extensive infrastructure programmes from which it should benefit.

Analysts are optimistic about this firm, despite the disappointment over coated technical textiles.

The group specialises in high-end materials, which cannot easily be copied and it should benefit from global trends, such as spending on roads and rail, a focus on clean air and water and the move towards lighter, durable and flexible fabrics within construction.

Brokers forecast an 18 per cent rise in profits this year to 34.6 million, rising to 38 million in 2018. A 3.2p dividend is expected for 2017, increasing to 3.4p next year.

Midas verdict: Low & Bonar has been through some difficult times in recent years, but Simpson is determined to improve profits, reduce debt and deliver generous dividends. Buy now, at 71p, and there should be substantial rewards over the next few years.

Traded on: Main market Ticker: LWB Contact: lowandbonar.com or 020 7535 3180
Anglo Pacific Group occupies a unique place on the stock market. The only natural resources royalty company to be listed in London, Anglo Pacific invests in mining projects and then receives a proportion of the revenues they generate.

Midas last looked at the company in December 2014, when the shares were just 105p, having suffered from the slump in commodity prices, particularly coal.

The company had also invested in several exploration and development assets, which produced no royalties because they were not making any money.

Rights: Anglo Pacific Group has struck a deal over uranium from Cigar Lake

A new management team was brought in to put the business back on its feet, headed by Julian Treger, a financier specialising in natural resources and turning companies round.

Today, the shares are 130.5p and should continue to gain ground. Many commodities have been rising in price and Treger has streamlined the business, focusing on assets that are producing royalties and diversifying the portfolio so the group is less reliant on coal.

That strategy was given a boost last week, when Anglo completed a complex deal, under which it is paying 26.5 million for the rights to uranium processing revenues in Canada.

The uranium comes from the Cigar Lake mine, the highest quality uranium operation in the world.

The mine owners pay for the uranium to be processed at the McClean Lake Mill and Anglo will now receive a proportion of those annual processing fees. The transaction will boost Anglos profits and reduce its reliance on coal-related royalties.

The deal could also prove to be timely, as uranium has not enjoyed the same recovery as other commodities, but is expected to rise in price over the coming years.

Anglo said in January that royalty income for 2016 should be the highest it has been since 2011 and analysts expect further strong growth this year.

A dividend of 6p is forecast for 2016, as Anglo takes advantage of rising commodity prices to rebuild its balance sheet. But the payout should recover to at least 7p for the current year.

The firm has 12 investments in its portfolio, but it has a 70 per cent exposure to coal and Treger would like to reduce this by making acquisitions that provide a more diverse revenue stream.

Midas verdict: Anglo Pacific has primarily been an income stock in recent years, and the 4.6 per cent yield is still attractive.

The shares should also rise in price as commodities continue to recover and Treger maintains his efforts to refocus the portfolio.

Existing investors should hold on to their shares. New ones could find value at the current price.

Traded on: Main market Ticker: APF Contact: anglopacificgroup.com or 020 3435 7400
There was a time when getting a mortgage as a self-employed worker was simple. Indeed, some lenders were happy to grant a loan without seeing any evidence of earnings.

Although such 'self-certified' mortgages were banned six years ago, many lenders have now gone to the other extreme.

Conscious of a regulator keen to clamp down on reckless lending, they are nervous about lending to the self-employed.

Rather than 'We say yes', the common response from many lenders to enquiries from the newly self-employed is: 'The computer says no.'

New affordability rules introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority are to blame. They mean some lenders will only entertain the self-employed if they can provide at least three years of accounts or three years of income that has been reported to Revenue & Customs (via a form called SA302).

The mechanistic way many big lenders now process mortgage applications means that those made by the self-employed are routinely spat out.

The decision on whether to lend is taken by an insensitive computer located on some industrial estate in the middle of nowhere, not by an employee working out of a bank or building society branch who has discretion over lending decisions.

Only a few specialist lenders and a handful of local building societies are happy to lend to the self-employed without resorting to a computer, assessing cases on an individual basis.

It means many people setting up in business can find themselves excluded from getting a home loan.

If they already have a mortgage, they can find remortgaging nigh-on impossible. In most cases, they have no choice but to stick with their existing lender irrespective of how competitive their products are.

David Hollingworth, mortgage expert at broker London & Country, says the reluctance of lenders to accommodate the newly self-employed can feel like a 'lockout' for those searching for a loan.

Although he believes some lenders, especially new challenger banks, are adapting their lending to take into account the labour market's shift from employment to self-employment, they are not adapting quickly enough.

Research by challenger bank Aldermore indicates that worries over getting a mortgage are holding back some people from becoming self-employed.

Though one in seven workers would like to be self-employed, one in ten fear that they would struggle to get a mortgage if they made the jump, so putting them off.

Charles Haresnape, director of mortgages at Aldermore, says: 'As the self-employed market grows, more needs to be done by lenders to support their needs.

Healthy: Nigel Patton's ambulance firm has a multi-million pound turnover

IT'S NOT EASY...EVEN WHEN YOUR BUSINESS IS A SUCCESS Former fireman Nigel Patton is a self-employed business success story. But getting a mortgage lender to put its trust in him has not been easy. When he moved home 18 months ago, he had only been self-employed a short while. His existing lender was not interested in helping him, nor were other big banks. Eventually, he turned to Aldermore, one of a new breed of challenger banks, and keen to make its mark in the mortgage market. Aldermore's faith in Nigel has proved shrewd. Nigel's business, Meditech Ambulance Service is now generating a multi-million pound turnover. As well as patient transfer, it specialises in repatriating people from Europe (usually ski injuries) and moving obese people (bariatrics). 'It has been a difficult journey,' says 51-year-old Nigel. 'We have ridden our luck.' He and his family  he is married with two children  have since moved home again. They moved last December into a four- bedroom detached property in Ashford, Kent. The current mortgage is a two-year fix, priced at 3.68 per cent. Aldermore required him to provide details confirming his income over the past two years. 'Getting a mortgage as a self-employed worker is not easy,' says Nigel. 'This time around, Aldermore asked for more information and to speak to my accountant. 'But it treated me as an individual and wanted to help me.'

'All too often these borrowers do not fit the norm for high street lenders and it can be a real challenge for them to receive the financial support they need to buy a home.'

He adds: 'This has to change. Self-employment now accounts for 15 per cent of the country's employed market and this figure is going to grow. Lenders must move with the times.'

Aldermore, which is happy to lend to the self-employed, now only requires applicants to show one year of accounts  it was previously two. It is among a select band of lenders which experts describe as self-employed friendly.

Others include specialists Kensington, Paragon, Precise and Vida and building societies Coventry, Ipswich, Leeds, Market Harborough, Newcastle and Saffron. Clydesdale, Kent Reliance, Metro Bank, Platform (Co-operative Bank) and Virgin will also lend.

Ray Boulger is senior technical manager at mortgage broker John Charcol. Apart from the need for accounts, he says the self-employed face other challenges, irrespective of how long they have been trading.

'No two lenders are the same,' he says. 'For example, those people who trade as a company may have a loan application assessed purely on the salary they are drawing from the business plus any dividends they pay themselves.

This can discriminate against those who opt to keep the bulk of their profits in the business in order to grow it. Flexible lenders will take retained profits into any lending decision.'

A recent blip in profits may also cause some lenders to say no. Accommodating lenders, says Boulger, will be happy to accept a mortgage application if this blip has been caused by a 'non-recurring event' such as a large bad debt or someone taking time off after the birth of a child.

Those who have just been made a partner after being employed in a business such as an accountancy firm, a solicitor's or a GP practice can also come unstuck. This is because a lender can treat them as if they were newly self-employed.

Finally, those who generate a lot of their business revenue in a foreign currency can find the choice of lenders restricted. This is because a recent EU directive means any mortgage is treated as a foreign currency loan.

'As far as the self-employed are concerned, it's a mortgage minefield out there,' says Boulger. 'It can be navigated but it is not easy.'
The Post Office network has almost halved since the Millennium to just 11,600 branches, yet hard-hit communities are now facing a fresh cull. More than 40 per cent of the large Crown offices  branches run directly by the Post Office  will soon die a death.

Early this year, the Post Office admitted 37 Crown branches are to be closed or sold off and put inside shops.

This is on top of a further 93 it revealed last year would close or be franchised inside stores.

So far only 40 of these earlier earmarked branches have found a home  in a WH Smith store. The future of the rest remains unclear.

Last post: Locals say the South Woodford closure will be a disaster, while Abby Miller (pictured) is upset the branch is going because she regularly uses it to collect parcels

This latest wave of closures has been well hidden under the double-speak of 'network transformation engagement'  a term you might expect from the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's novel 1984 rather than from the friendly Post Office.

But those who run the network have a long history of using weasel words to hoodwink customers.

Terms such as 'network reinvention', 'transformation', 'investment' and 'change' have all been used to mask the closure of almost 7,000 sub-post offices since 2000.

The mood on the high street confirms that many long-suffering customers are not impressed.

HURTING LOCAL BUSINESSES

Wartime leader Winston Churchill was the MP for the East London suburb of South Woodford for 40 years.

Under his command, the British bulldog spirit remained unbowed during the Blitz strikes of the Second World War, when bombing raids destroyed shops and houses a few doors down from the local Crown post office.

But Post Office bosses are now doing what the Nazis failed to achieve, which is get rid of the Crown branch.

Knowing the area well  having spent ten years living around the corner from this always busy branch  I am all too aware of the damage it will do.

There is no local WH Smith shop that can accommodate a post office branch. The next nearest Crown branch is in Walthamstow, which can take half an hour to get to on congested roads. But this branch is also earmarked for closure.

Locals are fearful of what it means for South Woodford high street. Estate agent Abby Miller is upset the branch is being axed. It is right next door to her office.

She says: 'Post Office bosses say it has to move with the times, but they fail to recognise the growing need for its services by people like me who do a lot of internet shopping and use the branch for posting and picking up parcels.'

Spirit: Churchill was MP for South Woodford

Abby adds: 'It is a disaster for the community. I cannot believe the branch does not make money as it is always busy with queues snaking out the door.

'This area has always had a post office and to lose the friendly face-to-face service will be devastating.'

Local Anita Brookes is also unhappy that the Post Office is pulling out.

The retired driver says: 'It is being bloody-minded in closing such a well-used branch and it makes no economic sense.

'It is a decision made by bean counters that have no idea about what is actually going on.

'The local Co-op bank closed recently and I relied on the post office for my banking.

'What is the point of the post office boasting how it offers such wonderful services if it then closes down the most popular large branches? It is really upsetting.'

Not everyone believes the Crown branch's demise is a bad thing.

Secondary school teacher Suzie Rees says: 'People are being too nostalgic. There are far too many struggling shops on the high street. It makes sense to put post offices inside retailers. The Post Office is not a charity.'

TAKING THE HEART OUT OF A COMMUNITY

The bustling market town of Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire has been my home for the past six years.

It has a sense of community that is great for bringing up a young family. At the town's heart is a Crown post office. But not for much longer.

Despite thousands of pounds recently spent on a major revamp, including the introduction of a 'digital application service' till with a high-tech Big Brother-style camera and scanner for driving licence applications, staff were told last month it is being closed. Instead, a branch is likely to be installed in the local WH Smith store.

Local physiotherapist Marta Smorowinska is unimpressed. She regularly visits the branch to post parcels.

She says: 'This branch is so conveniently situated. I love coming here at quiet times of the day to get served quickly. If they end up shoving the branch into the back of a shop, I am not sure I am going to use it.'

Marta is not alone in voicing her dismay that the branch is shutting. Barber Jolene Dipple believes the knock-on effect of shutting the branch will be to reduce the number of people who pass by her salon, Bow Jangles, just a few doors down.

She says: 'We get a lot of customers who pop in after a trip to the post office. They will go elsewhere if forced to use another post office.'

She adds: 'There is something special about having a standalone post office at the heart of Bishop's Stortford. Rip it out and everyone suffers, from locals through to businesses and the quality of post office services offered.'

Not everyone is against the closure. Retired banker John Emmett says: 'It might not make me popular, but I think putting the post office inside a shop makes business sense. Post offices should not be run as social services.'

HOW 330 COMMUNITIES IN THE UK ARE SERVED BY VANS ENTER THE MOBILE OPTION The mobile branch is being hailed by the Post Office as a possible saviour for communities shorn of their local branch. Fourteen new post offices on wheels were added to a fleet of 42 last year  and more are expected to hit the road in the near future. Service: The mobile branches are set up to work like small post offices The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans currently serve more than 330 rural and urban communities. They have been adapted to offer the same level of service you might expect from a small post office. On board is a sub-postmaster to handle everything from posting parcels to basic banking, such as making cash withdrawals and deposits.

ABANDONING VULNERABLE PEOPLE

Chelmsford in Essex is a brand new city. It was promoted to this heady status just five years ago as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

It has also enjoyed a multi-million pound revamp of its shopping centre. But the city does not justify a Crown post office. Instead, a branch is run out of the back of the local WH Smith store.

The store's frontage is impressive. A two-storey glass-fronted edifice is sharp and modern.

There is a large WH Smith sign flanked either side by bold post offices logos. Yet step inside and you struggle to find the branch. It has been tucked away upstairs behind a coffee shop and maze of bookshelves.

Once there, customers face an anaemic open area where the focus seems more on getting customers to serve themselves rather than be dealt with by a real person.

There are three self-serve machines  two of which are not working when I visit  and a dozen people queuing patiently to be served by the one till out of three that is open. Another member of staff sits rather forlornly at a separate 'travel money' kiosk.

Anna Morrow, from nearby Little Waltham, is a 'puppy parent'. She is currently training 20-month-old labrador Quiz to become an assistant dog for people with disabilities.

The retired nurse is a volunteer for charity Canine Partners. Among those who benefit from the trained dogs are former soldiers who have been injured in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq and now need assistance.

Anna says: 'One of my duties is to understand how difficult day-to-day shopping can be for disabled people. For example, if you have a guide dog the animals are not supposed to be taken on escalators.

'But the lift to the post office has broken down today  it is not the first time it has happened. This means many people with mobility problems cannot use the branch.'

Helen Wooldridge, from Great Baddow, is annoyed the post office was allowed to be installed on the second floor.

The mother-of-four suffers from epilepsy and was being assisted by carer Cassandra Upchurch. She was using the post office to renew her passport so she can visit a son in Spain.

Helen says: 'How on earth was permission granted for a post office to be stuck at the back of a shop up a long flight of stairs?

'Lots of young mums with pushchairs and elderly people who have mobility problems rely on this post office. But it is unwelcoming and not user friendly at all.'

THE POST OFFICE VISION

The Government has ploughed 2 billion of taxpayers' money into the post office network in recent years.

The money was handed over on the understanding that the Post Office kept open 11,500 outlets so that 99 per cent of the population lived within three miles of a branch.

But the latest wave of closures leaves the network perilously close to breaking this solemn pledge.

Post Office boss Paula Vennells remains defiantly bullish, boasting that 2,000 new branches could be opened.

DIARY OF DESTRUCTION SINCE TURN OF THE MILLENNIUM 2000: As champagne corks pop to celebrate a new Millennium, there are about 18,400 Post Office branches. This compares with a network peak of 25,000 in 1965. Stamp of authority: Some two out of every five surviving 315 branches are to be shut 2003: A cull of 3,000 post offices in towns and cities is unveiled as an 'urban reinvention programme'. Benefits books are also scrapped, making it harder for post offices to survive. This benefits book service generated 40 per cent of all post office revenue. 2006: Post offices lose the right to sell TV licences. Stamps can also be purchased online. 2007: The Post Office unveils a 'network change programme'. Some 2,500 branches are closed after a six-week 'consultation'. Eighty-five Crown branches are also given the axe. 2012: The Government pledges a 1.34 billion cash injection into the ailing post office network to keep it alive until at least 2015: A further 640 million is committed, taking Government funding up until 2018. 2017: The Post Office wields the axe (again) on Crown offices. Some two out of every five surviving 315 branches are to be shut, with at least half then relocated inside a shop.

Melanie Corfield, a spokeswoman for the Post Office, says: 'We are certainly not looking to close any more branches down.

'For example, we are confident the 37 Crown post offices that are currently being looked at can be relocated  as others have been  in a process taking 18 months.'

She adds: 'Without such forward planning more branches are in danger. We need to adapt for the challenges of the 21st Century.'

The Post Office says that in order to attract more customers it will focus more on banking, offering basic cash withdrawal and deposit services for 99 per cent of high street bank customers.

It already offers own-brand current accounts, savings accounts, personal loans, credit cards and mortgages provided by the Bank of Ireland UK.

In addition it sells travel insurance, home insurance, foreign currency and phone line rentals.

The Communication Workers Union is unimpressed by the wave of Crown post office closures.

A spokesman says: 'This is two fingers up to the community. Post Offices are being run into the ground. Offloading responsibility by ramming Crown post offices into the back of a shop is not a well thought out survival strategy. It is a shambles.'

He adds: 'This is a slash-and-burn paper exercise with the end aim of selling off what remains of the Post Office, just like was done with the Royal Mail just over three years ago.'

Vennells hopes further cost-cutting to the 357-year-old Post Office could see it make a profit of 100 million a year within a decade. For the 12 months to the end of March 2016 it lost 24 million.
Tesco has rejected a 170 million claim by a group of shareholders and denied allegations there was pressure on its staff to achieve profit targets by 'dishonest means'.

The supermarket group is facing legal claims from investors after the accounting scandal of 2014 in which it emerged Tesco had overstated actual and expected profits by 284 million.

In its latest defence, filed at the High Court by Tesco, the group rejected responsibility for any losses suffered the investors.

Basket case: The supermarket group is facing legal claims from investors after the accounting scandal of 2014

It also rejected claims that its senior executives were 'motivated by profit rather than serving customers'.

The documents are in response to the 170 million claim against the company from US investors Manning & Napier Fund and Exeter Trust Company.

Tesco faces a separate claim from 111 investors including the Kaiser Foundation, an American non-profit organisation, the Church Commissioners and the American Red Cross, which it is also defending.

Tesco shares plunged after the scandal emerged and the retailer reported a 6.3 billion loss in 2015.

In the latest set of documents, Tesco said senior executives were aware staff were 'under pressure to meet financial targets'.

But it denied allegations that former board members, specifically chairman Sir Richard Broadbent, chief executive Phil Clarke and finance director Lawrie McIlwee, 'knew or believed there to be a substantial risk that commercial income or profits or expected profits stated in Tesco's published information might be untrue or misleading'.

But Tesco said it was 'inappropriate to comment' on former UK managing director Chris Bush 'in circumstances where criminal charges have been brought' by the Serious Fraud Office.

Former Tesco UK finance director Carl Rogberg and former commercial director John Scouler have also been charged.

All three have pleaded not guilty of fraud by abuse of position and false accounting.

Commercial income refers to payments from suppliers to a retailer for special deals such as promotions or launching new products and were at the centre of the accounting scandal.

Investors allege the accounting of such payments was used to overstate profits which allowed executives to maintain targets, the share price and, potentially, bonuses.

Tesco said in early 2012 it had separately discovered that its Polish affiliate had overstated commercial income, but that had been corrected prior to the end of that financial year.

Tesco said group finance director Lawrie McIlwee had written to finance directors in April 2012 reminding them of duties including that they act with 'integrity and objectivity' and ensure they abide by 'relevant laws and accounting regulations'.

Tesco added that in April 2014 accountancy giant PwC informed Tesco's audit committee it had performed 'extensive audit procedures on commercial income in the UK' and 'no significant issues had been identified'.
Chris Gillan served alongside the SAS in Afghanistan until a training injury ended his RAF career.

After a 'dire' period of unemployment during which time his home was flooded and his family left homeless, he turned to charities for support.

Now his company, Heroes Drinks, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to employing injured veterans and supporting forces' charities with donations from sales, is about to start selling through 353 Asda stores.

Support: Chris Gillan donates a fifth of profits from Heroes Drinks to supporting forces' charities

Gillan, 37, said: 'I left the military in 2010. My plan was to join the police, but my injury was worse than I expected and resulted in me not being able to complete the fitness test and a period of unemployment.

'At the same time, a property I was in the process of selling flooded. Unfortunately the house insurance had come to an end and I had to sell at a substantial loss.

'I was in quite a dire situation financially. I had to get a council house. It was a dark part of my life.'

He added: 'But when your chips are down you put the kettle on and move forward. I did a bit of HGV work, but the driving aggravated my injury. I turned to the charities, they kitted out my house. It left me with time to think.

'When you're in the Armed Forces a percentage of your salary goes to the charities, but you don't ever think you will need a handout yourself.

'By going through that process I realised how much work the charities were doing.'

'I was thinking: "How many people out there are in the same position as myself?" Self-employment seemed the natural way to go for me.

'I knew I could apply the skills I had from the military to business.'

In May 2015 Heroes Drinks, based in Edinburgh, became the first not-for-profit body in the alcohol sector.

It donates a minimum of 20 per cent of all profits to UK Armed Forces' causes, split equally between Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity, ABF The Soldiers' Charity and Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick says his company is buying plane tickets for stranded drivers now that a federal judge has put a hold on President Donald Trump's ban on travel to the United States by people from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Kalanick tweeted Friday night that the head of litigation for the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company is 'buying a whole bunch of airline tickets ASAP!'

He added, '#homecoming #fingerscrossed.'

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick (pictured) says his company is buying plane tickets for stranded drivers now that a federal judge has put a hold on President Donald Trump's ban on travel to the United States by people from seven Muslim-majority countries

Kalanick tweeted Friday night that the head of litigation for the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company is 'buying a whole bunch of airline tickets ASAP!' He added, '#homecoming #fingerscrossed'

US District Judge James Robart in Seattle put a nationwide hold Friday night on Trump's executive order. And the State Department said Saturday it has reinstated the visas of the thousands of travelers who were affected by the ban.

Meanwhile, Trump tweeted Saturday that the judge's ruling 'is ridiculous and will be overturned!'

Kalanick quit Trump's council of business advisers on Thursday, after Uber drew fury from protesters who had been angered by Trump's immigration order.

He made his decision known in an email to employees, where he argued against Trump's new immigration ban.

Kalanick quit Trump's council of business advisers on Thursday, after Uber drew fury from protesters who had been angered by Trump's immigration order.

Meanwhile, Trump tweeted Saturday that the judge's ruling 'is ridiculous and will be overturned!'

'Earlier today I spoke briefly with the president about the immigration executive order and its issues for our community,' Kalanick wrote.

'I also let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that,' he added.

'The implicit assumption that Uber (or I) was somehow endorsing the Administration's agenda has created a perception-reality gap between who people think we are, and who we actually are, Kalanick continued.

'We must believe that the actions we take ultimately move the ball forward. There are many ways we will continue to advocate for just change on immigration but staying on the council was going to get in the way of that,' he wrote. 'The executive order is hurting many people in communities all across America. Families are being separated, people are stranded overseas and there's a growing fear the U.S. is no longer a place that welcomes immigrants.'

'We will fight for the rights of immigrants in our communities so that each of us can be who we are with optimism and hope for the future,' he concluded.

An Online petition called for his immediate resignation from the council. 'As a company whose success is built on a foundation of hard work by immigrant workers, Uber can and should do better to stand up for immigrants,' it said.

Recode published the email and reported the departure.

On January 29 Kalanick posted a message on Facebook saying that he was 'Standing up for the driver community.'

He added that he had emailed 'drivers affected by the President's unjust immigration and travel ban', and put the body of that email into the Facebook post.

He wrote 'At Uber we've always believed in standing up for what's right. Today we need your help supporting drivers who may be impacted by the President's unjust immigration ban.'
Donald Trump won't hold his wife Melania's hand in public because he wants to be seen as a presidential alpha, a body language expert has said.

The president and first lady had an awkward hand-hold Friday on the tarmac of the Palm Beach International Airport. He had just arrived on Air Force One for a visit to his Mar-A-Lago resort.

Trump and Melania were holding hands when he first got off the plane. But the president abruptly let go to clap with the well-wishers who were there to greet him. Melania reached for his hand again, at which point he brought her hand up towards him, gave it two pats - and dropped it once more.

'Typically a hand-hold shows a couple as a unit,' body language expert Patti Wood told the DailyMail.com. 'But to me, I think he's been saying, "I want to be seen as the president on my own", which is very much alpha. "I want to be just the powerful me." And it's clear that that's his choice.'

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Donald Trump and his wife Melania had an awkward hand-hold Friday on the tarmac of the Palm Beach International Airport, after he arrived for a stay at his Mar-A-Lago resort

Footage of the interaction shows first Lady Melania was at first all smiles as she waited patiently to be reunited with her husband after his whirlwind week in Washington.

She gave the president a kiss when he got off the plane, in what was her first public appearance since Trump's inauguration two weeks ago.

Melania went to hold his hand as they made their way across the tarmac, but Trump then appeared to drop his wife's hand twice.

The couple initially walked behind a car on the tarmac while holding hands.

The presidential couple were initially seen holding hands, but Trump abruptly let go to clap along with the well-wishers who had come to greet him (pictured)

Melania then reached for her husband's hand again, at which point he brought her hand towards him and patted it (left) before dropping it once more (right)

'Holding hands can communicate so much about an individual and a couple, depending on the position of the hands, who reaches in first, who breaks it first,' Wood, who has written a book on body language and first impressions, said.

'What's fascinating, I think to all of us, is that they're holding hands at all. They hold hands in private, so we know that there's a coupleness that we weren't seeing in public or at the inauguration.'

But Trump let go to clap along with the well-wishers on the tarmac. Melania then grabbed his hand again, prompting him to bring it up towards him, tap it a couple of times, and drop it one more time.

The president appeared to be walking slightly ahead of the first lady, who wore a $2000 Givenchy red cape dress for the occasion, as he waved to supporters.

This was Mrs Trump's first public appearance since the inauguration. She has been at the couple's Trump Tower home in New York while their 10-year-old son Barron attends school.

The first lady, who wore a $2000 Givenchy red cape dress, was all smiles as her husband moved away to shake hands with well-wishers

Melania embraced her husband and gave him a kiss when he disembarked from Air Force One before they made their way across the tarmac

'Even though we've been hearing that Melania wants to be like Jackie O - she initiated this hand-hold. He clapped his hands to get out of it, which was very odd because basically he's clapping away from her,' Wood said.

'And then the second time she goes into a supplicant hand-hold in which she cups her hand up, showing, "I'm supplicant, I will take the bottom position but I want to hold hands." She goes into it and he goes out of that.'

The way Trump patted his wife's hand, using his flat palm with his fingers open, wasn't an affectionate gesture, according to Wood.

'It could have been affection if he'd cupped his hand, if he'd done it with sweetness, or if he had kissed her and done it,' she said. But instead, Wood added, the gesture was a clear way of saying no.

'He pulls it up towards him, it has some admonishing to it, some power, and then he has that flat hand to say, "No no." He's smiling as he does it. He's not mad. He's fully in control of what's happening,' Wood said.

The interaction, according to body language expert Patti Wood, shows that Trump wants to be seen as president on his own and appear as an alpha

Based on the rest of the interaction, as well as on other footage, Wood believes the presidential couple do hold hands - in private.

'He doesn't want to do it in public,' she said. 'It's very clear that she does, she would like that. That would make her feel connected and she would get some of that power and confidence, and he's saying "No, not in public." '

Wood has noticed a shift in the couple's body language since Trump entered the presidential race.

'They used to be very sexually affectionate, years ago, when they were first together, first married,' she said.

But now, their body language says that Trump 'wants to be seen as alpha,' according to Wood.

'He doesnt want to give comfort or be seen as a unit in public. Since running for president, thats an interesting choice. It changes your couple dynamics pretty dramatically if you had that before and now you dont,' she said.

Deja vu? Trump was also seen holding hands with British Prime Minister Theresa May during her visit at the White House last month

In that instance too, Trump appeared to pat the British Prime Minister's hand as both walked along the colonnade of the West Wing




A single brown cow wanders around the decaying mansion which was once an architectural jewel of the West Indies. The tiles are falling off and the white coral facade, once so dazzling, is rotting  victims of neglect and the salt-wind blowing from the Caribbean sea stretched out below.

It is hard to believe that this was once a millionaire aristocrats pleasure palace, the backdrop to decadent parties attended by royalty and the jet-setting beau monde, all presided over by the self-styled King of St Lucia.

For it was here  perched between the Pitons, St Lucias picture-postcard rocky outcrops  where the late Lord Glenconner built his dream home. And it was within these crumbling walls that his close friend Princess Margaret would sip whisky cocktails as revellers danced long into the night.

Kent Adonai, an illiterate St Lucian fisherman, is in a legal battle with his former master's grandson after he was named as the inheritor of the estate

Glen House is mouldering because it lies at the centre of an extraordinary dispute that has left the house abandoned and in legal limbo. The problems started six years ago when Glenconner  known to friends and staff alike as Colin Tennant, the name he bore before inheriting his title  shocked his family by bequeathing his entire 20million estate to his West Indian manservant, deliberately cutting his own children out of his will.

It sparked a legal wrangle between two of the most unlikely litigants: Kent Adonai, an illiterate St Lucian fisherman, against Tennants grandson, Cody, 22, the fourth Lord Glenconner.

By any rights, Kent should today be enjoying his riches, after agreeing an outline settlement to split his inheritance with Tennants family, accepting half of the prospective 20 million sale of the estate where he had served his master for so long.

Instead, he still ekes out a living as a fisherman, rising long before dawn to push out to sea in his old wooden boat, the Slice Of Life, returning with red snapper or mahi-mahi to sell at market in the nearby village of Laborie.

He supplements his income by auctioning a few of the furnishings that were bequeathed to him, and selling the occasional cow from the small herd that grazes his land. He worries constantly about providing for his eight children.

Despite being, in theory, a property multi-millionaire, Kent cannot afford to repair the decaying mansion at the centre of his inheritance. Indeed, he refuses even to enter it.

Party pals: Lord Glenconner with his close friend Princess Margaret in Mustique in 1976

There are, he explains, too many memories of the good times when Mr Tennant was so magical and fun.

He says: All I see now is broken glass and things rotting. I want to be able to move on and to sell it so that his dream house can be restored by someone to its former glory.

I cried so much when he died  I was beside him. I am so sad that he is not here. I spent so much of my life with him, listening and learning and also trying to keep the peace.

He always said, Never live like me. He knew better than anyone how to spend! He was one of those very rare, totally honest Englishmen. What he said he did, and he treated everyone the same.

All I see now is broken glass and things rotting Kent Adonai

If Kents gilded inheritance has been tarnished by years of bitterness and legal battles, then that may not surprise those familiar with the Tennant family history.

For despite their wealth, they have endured so many tragedies over the years that it gave rise to a rumoured Curse of the Tennants.

Colins eldest son, Charlie, died of a heroin addiction; his second son, Henry, died of AIDS; and his youngest son, Christopher, was left brain-damaged in a motorcycle accident.

As disorganised as he was extravagant, Colin himself lost two Caribbean estates due to his mismanagement.

The final surprise in his life was learning, at the age of 82, that he had a 45-year-old illegitimate son by Henrietta Moraes, the muse of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.

Today, more than six years after his death, his will has still not been resolved in a case that has echoes of Charles Dickenss Jarndyce vs Jarndyce, the legal battle at the heart of Bleak House which lasted a generation and left no money for anyone.

For Kent Adonai, Glen House is bleak indeed, and his life no better off than before his extraordinary inheritance. He cannot even afford a new engine for his boat, while the money he has made by selling off some family furniture and pictures from the house has been used to honour a pledge made by Tennant to build a road for a neighbour.

So loyal was he to the elderly aristocrat that Kent even personally footed the bill for Tennants burial.

Extravagant: Lord Glenconner in 1985 in Mustique, the island he owned before being forced out

He wanted a state funeral but the family opposed that. I did these things because it was what Mr Tennant wanted, and that is all I can do, he explains.

As for the ongoing dispute, Kent claims: Mr Tennant would be turning in his grave. I just want to get the money to put into an escrow account so I can get an income. I just wanted to do what he wanted. But I dont understand why we dont have a deal agreed. I want money now so that I can look after my family.

Kent had entered Tennants life aged 18 when he accompanied his father, a stevedore, on the docks at Castries, the capital of St Lucia.

A ship had arrived carrying an elephant and a giraffe labelled for Tennant, who planned to keep them as exotic pets. When Kent coaxed the elephant out of its cage with bananas, he was asked to accompany the animal to its new home and work for Tennant there. Some people still refer to Kent as the mari lelefant (elephant husband).

It was to lead to a lifetime together, with Kent travelling all over the world with Tennants family. But it came at a price, as his employer was often tetchy and temperamental.

I was the peacemaker as he could be volcanic in his rages, Kent explains. They were like fires in a sugar-cane field  they flared up and then quickly went out. I was able to calm him.

I was so happy working for Mr Tennant. We went to Bali, Africa, Canada, Europe, everywhere. I had no salary but when I needed anything he would buy it, he says, sporting an $8,000 gold necklace that his master once bought for him in India.

Unusual though their bond may have seemed to the outside world, Kent was one of the few stable ingredients in Tennants rickety life, which was marked by so much tragedy.

He was constantly hit by financial problems, eventually squandering much of the family fortune that had its roots in the chemicals industry. He famously turned the once mosquito-ridden swampland of Mustique into an island paradise for the super-rich  gifting his friend Princess Margaret a plot of land there as a wedding present  but ended up being turfed out and owning none of it. Houses there today change hands for up to 30 million. Tennant then bought 200 acres of St Lucia but lost control of much of that property, too, during failed attempts to turn it into a successful holiday resort. The land is now home to the Sugar Beach Resort, one of the top hotels in the Caribbean.

But such setbacks did nothing to curb his profligacy.

On one occasion, while back in London, he was told by his wife to economise, so dismissed his chauffeur  a saving soon undermined when he left a brand new set of Hermes suitcases in a Tube carriage, so over-excited was he by his first ever trip on the Underground.

In the Caribbean, his generosity was legendary. He once gave a fancy-dress party in Mustique for 200 guests, who all had their costumes hand-made in India. On that occasion, his manservant wore a maharajas coat made of red silk and gold thread.

One day I may say the real reason why Princess Margaret died Kent Adonai

Today Kent still wears Tennants old clothes for weddings, funerals and Sunday church services. He cherishes his memories and tries to be philosophical about his inheritance. What is undiminished is his devotion to his old master.

A large photograph of Princess Margaret and Tennant, clipped from Hello! magazine, is displayed in his house. It brings me happiness and sadness, because I so miss my friend, he says.

He hints that he has seen more than anyone else at the height of Tennants hedonism, but so far he says discretion has been his watchword. I saw everything but I will never say anything about Princess Margaret except that she was a wonderful lady.

I have many stories to tell and in particular one day I may say the real reason why she died, he says intriguingly.

It was back in 2011, after Tennants death the year before at the age of 83, that Kent was stunned to learn he was the sole heir to one of the most valuable estates in the Caribbean. It transpired that the aristocrat had altered his will in his final months, cutting his family out.

It immediately sparked a legal challenge by Cody, Tennants grandson by his eldest son.

After protracted negotiations, Kent agreed in principle to split the proceeds of any land sold, but that arrangement has yet to be settled.

He says it has been difficult and upsetting to not be able to move on, and in particular to see Glen House rotting.

I want to do what is right and offered to give some land to Mr Tennants twins Amy and May. I just want a deal so we can move on.

Tennants lawyer in St Lucia, Peter Foster, admitted that the deal was still dragging on.

We are working out the logistics. We are in negotiations to resolve outstanding issues but my client would not be happy if I explained what they were.

Poised in a financial no-mans-land between poverty and vast riches, Kent Adonai is not an angry man. He simply looks forward to the day when he can put his worries behind him for ever, just as the master he adored had planned.

If I can make his wish come true, I can look after my family for ever. I just want to achieve what he wanted for me.
Visa holders from seven predominantly Muslim countries hurried to board US-bound flights at the weekend while Donald Trump's travel ban remained blocked.

They feared they might have only a slim window through which to enter the country after a federal judge temporarily stopped the week-old ban.

US District Judge James Robart blocked Trump's measure Friday in Seattle, causing the Justice Department to demand an emergency freeze of Robart's order Saturday.

The appeal was refused by a Washington court which said it would wait until Monday afternoon for both the ban's opponents and the Justice Department to file responses and counter-responses.

That left thousands of US visa holders rushing to return to the country while they still could - some leaving behind their own children to make the window before it closed.

Munther Alaskry and his family arrive in New York. They spent a week in limbo in Iraq due to Donald Trump's travel ban on seven Muslim countries, which was shelved by a court on Friday

An Iraqi family from Woodbridge, Virginia, welcomes their grandmother, a green card holder who was also held up by the ban, back to the US on Sunday. Trump wants to restore the ban

It's expected that the battle to restore the ban will be an uphill struggle as it faces a mostly liberal appeals court and an evenly split Supreme Court. Trump mocked the judge on Twitter

On Saturday night the Justice Department asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to immediately set aside Robart's block.

But early Sunday morning the court denied the request, saying that opponents of the ban must have an opportunity to respond to the appeal, and that the Justice Department must file a counter-response to them by Monday afternoon.

In the meantime, thousands of US visa holders from the blocked countries - Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Somalia - were rushing onto planes to make it into the US before the block could be removed and the ban put back in play.

Nazanin Zinouri, from Tehran, Iran, was escorted off her flight by two officers at a Dubai airport hours after President Donald Trump imposed a ban on immigrants

She said in a Facebook post about her experience: 'After almost 7 years of living the the United States, I got deported!!!'

An Iranian engineer who penned an emotive Facebook post after she was pulled off a plane in Dubai on the way back to the U.S. due to the ban is now returning to the South Carolina city where she works.

A spokesman for an Atlanta-based public relations firm said in an email Sunday that Nazanin Zinouri had cleared through a U.S. immigration check in Boston.

Rick Toller said Zinouri, a PhD graduate from Clemson University, expected to return home Monday to Clemson, where she works for a startup technology firm.

Zinouri, who has been living in the US for seven years, said last week she was taken off a plane in Dubai days after Trump signed the executive order. She had been in Iran visiting her family.

The PhD graduate from Clemson University has lived in the United States for nearly seven years and said that 'everything I worked for all these years doesn't matter'. She shared her story with this picture of a plane on Facebook on Saturday

Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan, said her group - which filed a lawsuit on Tuesday calling the order unconstitutional - is advising people to hurry back to the US.

And she said some have had to make hard choices - such as a Yemeni family who flew from Egypt to New York without two of their children over the weekend, rather than risk waiting for their kids' visas to be processed.

The father and two of the children are US citizens and the mother has an immigrant visa, but the other two kids do not yet have visas, and were left behind with relatives.

'They just don't want to take a chance of waiting,' she said.

For others, the ban's suspension led to happier endings.

One such person is Colorado State University PhD student Hanan Isweiri, who was stranded in Libya with her one-year-old after they flew back to attend her father's funeral and care for her sick mother.

Colorado State University PhD student Hanan Isweiri and her one-year-old son (both pictured) were stranded in Libya after she returned for her father's funeral only to be hit with the ban

Isweiri, who has lived in Colorado since 2010, was unable to return to her husband and their three other children in the US after the ban was imposed, finding herself stuck in airports in Jordan, Turkey and Germany 9News reported.

'I kinda really got scared that she wasn't gonna come back,' Isweiri's daughter, Manar, said.

'We've gotten a lot of support from my friends and other families around us, but it's just not the same when your mom is like halfway around the world.'

But the stay on the travel ban gave Isweiri an opening to return, and on Saturday the family got confirmation that - after being detained by immigration officials in Boston - their mother was coming home.

'The fact that my mom is now in the US and is able to move from Boston, Massachusetts to Denver, Colorado in a matter of a plane ride is extravagantly amazing,' Manar said.

Isweiri has now been reunited with her husband and three other children (all pictured) after the stay on the travel ban opened a window for her to travel

Another academic whose plans to travel to the US were temporarily scuppered was Nima Enayati, 29, who has a visa to conduct research on robotic surgery at Stamford University in California.

The researcher, who received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in his home country of Tehran and a master's degree in Italy, had been prevented from boarding a flight to the US last week.

But on Sunday he boarded an Emirates flight from Italy to New York, so he could continue his studies. He is currently working on his doctorate in the Italian city of Milan.

Enayati said check-in at the Milan airport went smoothly, but an airport desk employee told him 'she personally would be scared to go to the United States now.'

And on Saturday Ammar Alnajjar landed in JFK after finally being able to board a flight from Turkey, where he had been visiting his fiancee.

He had planned to stay in the country for three months with her, but returned to the US immediately when the ban was lifted, where he was met by his cousin, Fahd Alfakih.

'I got to study. I got to do some work,' said Alnajjar. He said he fled civil war in Yemen and moved to the U.S. from Turkey in 2015. 'I'm Muslim. I'm proud of it. Islam means peace.'

Italy-based Iranian researcher Nima Enayati holds up his ticket to New York, where he will work on surgical robotics research. He landed on Sunday after Trump's ban was suspended Friday

Ammar Alnajjar (left) shakes hands with his cousin after successfully traveling from Turkey to New York on Saturday. The suspension of Donald Trump's travel ban made his trip possible

For some arriving in New York, the stories were a little different.

Fariba Tajrostami, a 32-year-old painter from Iran, came through the gate at Kennedy with a huge smile and tears in her eyes as her brothers greeted her with joyful hugs.

'I'm very happy. I haven't seen my brothers for nine years,' she said.

Tajrostami had tried to fly to the U.S. from Turkey over a week ago but was turned away.

'I was crying and was so disappointed,' she said. 'Everything I had in mind, what I was going to do, I was so disappointed about everything. I thought it was all over.'

Tajrostami said she hopes to study art in the U.S. and plans to join her husband in Dallas soon. He moved from Iran six months ago, has a green card and is working at a car dealership.

Fariba Tajrostami, center, of Iran, is embraced by her brothers Joseph, left, and Eddie, right, Sunday at John F. Kennedy International Airport after arriving on her flight from Istanbul

And for Munther Alaskry, 37, and his family they had faced death threats in Iraq for his work as a translator and bomb-clearer with the US Army.

Their hope of starting their life anew seemed to have been shattered by Trump's ban, and they spent a week waiting in limbo in Baghdad.

But after the ban went into place - and before it was outright suspended by Robart's ruling - the Trump administration partially reversed its decision, allowing those who had worked as translators for the US military to enter the country.

He was one of several Iraqi translators who had been turned away.

Munther Alaskry and his family faced death threats for his work as a translator and bomb-clearer for the US Army in Iraq, but arrived on Friday after the Trump administration had allowed entry for military translators; that same day the entire ban was shelved

He arrived in the US on Friday accompanied by his wife Hiba, son Hassan and daughter Dima; his entry to the country had been aided by a number of US veterans, including the veteran-run No One Left Behind organization.

'I don't believe this is real,' he said. 'We always watch American movies, and this is just like my life is in one now. I'm speechless.'

He added: 'I just want to tell Mr. Trump, President Trump: 'We are your allies. Please let us be your friends. We want to be your friends. Don't let the Iraqi people down. We look to America like it is our big brother.''

For others who have yet to even make it to US shores, the outlook was more grim.

Moayed Maher, 24, a refugee at the UN refugee agency HQ in Amman, Jordan, said he had filed paperwork for his family, but that he believed Trump would soon re-impose the ban

Moayed Maher, 24, is a refugee at the UN refugee agency headquarters in Amman, Jordan.

On Sunday, after refiling paperwork for his eight-person family, he said that while his relatives were hoping to join the resettlement program, he didn't believe that the ban would remain off the books for long.

'Of course we are happy that the ruling was overturned, but we also know he's going to immediately oppose this,' he said.

Mahsa Azabadi, 29, an Iranian-American who lives in Denver, was forced to put her wedding plans on hold after her fiance, Sorena Behzadfar, was turned away when he tried to board a plane to travel from Iran to the U.S. on Jan. 28.

Over the weekend, though, Behzadfar was cleared for travel and was expected to arrive at Boston's Logan Airport on Sunday afternoon.

'It's been a really tough week to figure out what will happen to us,' said Azabadi, who has lived in the U.S. for 11 years and is now a U.S. citizen.

The couple are hoping to keep their wedding date of May 12.

'Seeing the support from the lawyers and different people trying to help, it was really nice,' she said. 'We want to be the best and do the best for the people and for this country. We would love to have the opportunity.'

Although many of those who scrambled for the US border were worried they would have just days to get into the US before the ban was restored, it emerged Sunday that Trump's administration might struggle to get the executive order returned.

One reason for that is that the 9th Circuit of Appeals, where the Justice Department filed its appeal, is seen as one of the most liberal in the US, USA Today reported.

The San Francisco-based court has 18 judges named by Democratic presidents, and only seven by Republicans.

And even the Supreme Court may provide scant relief for the Trump administration, as it will need a majority vote of five to overturn Robart's block.

The Supreme Court is currently tied 4-4 between Democrat and Republican judges while Trump's replacement for Antonin Scalia, Neil Gorsuch, awaits confirmation hearings.

However, on Sunday Vice President Mike Pence vowed to use 'all legal means at our disposal' to reinstate the Muslim travel ban.

'From the outset of his campaign and administration, the president of the United States has made it clear to put the safety of the American people first,' Pence told Fox News Sunday. 'We are going to win this argument.'

Meanwhile, Trump has lashed out at Judge Robart on Twitter, calling him a 'so-called judge' and saying his 'ridiculous' ruling would be overturned.

Trump ranted about the judge's 'terrible decision' and fretted that 'dangerous people' would enter the US. Up to 60,000 foreigners had their visas 'provisionally revoked' due to the order

Trump claimed Judge James Robart's decision 'opens up our country to potential terrorists'. A wave of travelers rushed to enter the US while the travel ban was put on hold

In later tweets, Trump ranted: 'Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision.'

And, he added: 'The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!'

US officials have said up to 60,000 foreigners had their visas 'provisionally revoked' to comply with Trump's order.

Confusion during the roll-out of the ban initially found green card holders caught in travel limbo, until the White House on Wednesday clarified that they would be allowed to enter and leave the US as they pleased.

Protesters against Trump's travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations stood in front of the Bradley Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday

Although the government suspended enforcement of the travel ban while it sought an emergency stay of Robart's order, some airlines reportedly still weren't letting some people from the seven countries board their planes, at least initially.

Royal Jordanian Airlines, which operates direct flights from Amman to New York, Chicago and Detroit, said it would resume carrying nationals from the seven countries as long as they presented a valid US visa or green card.

But in the African nation of Djibouti, immigration attorney Julie Goldberg said a Qatar Airways representative told her that immigrants from all seven countries affected by the ban were not allowed to fly Saturday afternoon.

A Qatar Airways spokeswoman said the airline would begin boarding travelers from those countries.

Goldberg said she was trying to arrange flights for dozens of Yemeni citizens who have immigrant visas and were stranded there.

About 140 Somali refugees whose resettlement in the US this week was stopped by Trump's executive order have been sent back to Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya

She said a supervisor at Turkish Airlines told her that people holding immigrant and non-immigrant visas from the seven countries still were being banned unless they had a special email from the US Customs and Border Protection with the person's name and passport number.

A 12-year-old Yemeni girl whose parents and siblings are US citizens living in California was finally allowed to depart after 'an hour-and-half of fighting' with officials, Goldberg said. It was unclear when she would arrive.

'Her mother is on pins and needles ... her father is on the plane with her,' Stacey Gartland, a San Francisco attorney who represented the girl, said in an email.

Refugees also awaited word on their fates.

A Somali refugee said about 140 refugees whose resettlement in the US was blocked by Trump's executive order were sent back to their refugee camp and it was unclear if or when they could travel.

Nadir Hassan said the refugees were relocated to Dadaab camp in eastern Kenya on Saturday.

They had been expected to settle in the US this week and had been staying at an International Organization for Migration transit center in Nairobi.

'I was hoping to start a new life in the US,' Hassan said. 'We feel bad.'

A large group gathered at the band shell at Smothers Park on Saturday in Owensboro, Kentucky, to participate in an interfaith solidarity rally

The State Department has advised refugee aid agencies that refugees who had been scheduled to travel before the order was signed will now be allowed into the US.

A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government is 'focusing on booking refugee travel through February 17,' and they were working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

American businesses affected by the ban also were jumping into action.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who quit Trump's business advisory council this week following criticism of his initial response to Trump's ban, said his company is buying plane tickets for some of its drivers who are stranded.

He tweeted Friday night that the head of litigation for the ride-hailing app is 'buying a whole bunch of airline tickets ASAP!'

Protesters also took to the streets in several cities to protest the ban. Thousands gathered at Denver's City Center Park Saturday, carrying signs, chanting and singing.

'I find it utterly cruel that Trump is depriving people of the same dreams my family and I had,' 17-year-old Zahra Abdulameer told the crowd, explaining that she came to the US as a refugee from Iraq and is now a US citizen.

She recounted being welcomed and treated with respect, but fears things could change amid fears over immigrants.

'No religion inflicts terror on people, but those who do so in the name of a faith have only twisted its value,' Abdulameer said.

Meanwhile, legal advocates waited at airports to offer assistance to new arrivals in case anything went wrong.

Volunteer attorney Renee Paradis was among 20-25 lawyers and interpreters who stationed themselves inside JFK's Terminal 4 in case anyone arrived Saturday needing help.

Paradis said they were carrying handmade signs in Arabic and Farsi that said 'we're lawyers, we're here to help. We're not from the government.'
The Seattle judge derided by President Donald Trump on Twitter Saturday after blocking Trump's executive order on immigration is known for his conservative legal views.

However, he is also known for a record of helping disadvantaged children that includes fostering six of them, and for dramatically declaring 'black lives matter' during a hearing on police reform in 2015.

Judge James L. Robart, 69, was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2004, following a distinguished 30-year career in private practice that included his selection to the American College of Trial Lawyers, an honor bestowed on less than 1 percent of lawyers.

Judge James L. Robart, 69, was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2004, following a distinguished 30-year career in private practice

The judge made the most high-profile ruling of his tenure Friday when he temporarily invalidated Trump's ban on travel to the US from seven primarily Muslim nations.

Washington state sued to block the order - with support from Minnesota and major corporations including Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia - arguing that it's unconstitutional and would harm its residents, and Robart held that the state was likely correct.

The ruling did not sit well with the president.

'The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned,' Trump tweeted.

The judge (left) made the most high-profile ruling of his tenure Friday when he temporarily invalidated President Donald Trump's (right) ban on travel to the US from seven primarily Muslim nations

That decision led Trump to tweet on Saturday: 'The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!'

It's a comment unlikely to sway Robart, said those who know him.

'Jim will give a wry smile, maybe adjust his bowtie a little bit and go back to doing his business,' said former Seattle US attorney John McKay, who worked with Robart for a decade at the law firm of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky.

'He's a very careful judge, and he's conservative in the sense he looks at the law and tries to determine what that is, not what he wants,' McKay said.

'He's conservative in his review of the law, but courageous in his application of it.'

Another former Seattle US attorney, Jenny Durkan, called Robart exacting: 'We won some in front of him and we lost some in front of him, but we knew anytime we walked into his courtroom we'd better be prepared.'

That was evident Friday when Robart grilled a Justice Department lawyer, asking if there had been any terrorist attacks by people from the seven counties since 9/11. Michelle Bennett said she didn't know.

Protesters in New York attend an LGBT solidarity rally in New York to demonstrate against Trump on Saturday

'The answer is none,' Robart said.

'You're here arguing we have to protect from these individuals from these countries, and there's no support for that.'

Robart, a graduate of Georgetown Law School, is an expert in patent and intellectual property law, and he issued a landmark decision - later upheld by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals - in a lawsuit between Microsoft and Motorola that provided guidance in how to calculate reasonable rates for use of another company's patents.

He's considered a tough sentencing judge in criminal matters, especially in cases involving white-collar defendants, and he has overseen reforms at the Seattle Police Department since 2012, when it agreed to make changes in response to Justice Department findings that its officers were too quick to use force, especially in low-level situations.

Robart was holding a hearing in that case in summer 2015 - a time fraught with tension over violence by and against police officers around the country - when he surprised the courtroom by adopting the mantra of protesters.

'The importance of this issue to me is best demonstrated by the news,' he said, shaking his head and sighing heavily.

'According to FBI statistics, police shootings resulting in death involve 41 percent black people, despite being only 20 percent of the population living in those cities. Forty-one percent of the casualties, 20 percent of the population: Black lives matter.'

Watch federal judge James Robart's #BlackLivesMatter declaration, plus his challenge to Seattle's police union. pic.twitter.com/UDgQl2XCiu  Ansel Herz (@Ansel) August 23, 2016

Robart donated to the state Republican party and to GOP candidates before becoming a judge, but was picked for the bench with the help of a bipartisan selection panel.

He helped lead his law firm's efforts to provide free legal services to those who couldn't afford them, and he served as president of Seattle Children's Home, which offers mental health services and special education for at-risk children.

And as US Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., noted during his confirmation hearing, he and his wife had fostered six children themselves.

Robart drew high praise from Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who cited his 'exceptional qualifications' and his work representing southeast Asian refugees.

'Working with people who have an immediate need and an immediate problem that you are able to help with is the most satisfying aspect of the practice of law,' Robart said then.
It might be called the art of the drug deal: Florida authorities seized scores of individually wrapped heroin packets stamped with the image of President Donald Trump.

Some of the other packets seized in the Hernando County bust bore the names or likenesses of other notorious figures, such as Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman and Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi apparently didn't think it was funny, and said the dealer 'made a big mistake' using Trump's picture.

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Florida authorities seized scores of individually wrapped heroin packets stamped with the image of President Donald Trump (pictured)

She said, holding up the little white squares with Trump's name on them, 'Big Mistake. Because he is going to be our most fierce advocate in taking this junk off our streets.'

Bondi is long rumored to join the Trump administration, and said she would make sure the President knew about Johnson's joke to 'remind him of all the good he's doing.'

L aw enforcement officers seized the heroin January 27, in what sheriff's officials are calling the county's largest heroin bust ever, reported the Tampa Bay Times.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said, holding up the little white squares with Trump's name on them, 'Big Mistake. Because he is going to be our most fierce advocate in taking this junk off our streets.'

Authorities couldn't explain the purpose of the different markings on he packaging. Dealers often stamp heroin bags with street 'brand names.' The bust netted about 5,550 heroin doses altogether.

Police arrested 46-year-old Kelvin Scott Johnson (pictured) on suspicion of heroin trafficking, possession and sale of heroin, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, unlawful use of a two-way communication device and driving with a suspended license. His bail is set at $75,000, which was not met

Police arrested 46-year-old Kelvin Scott Johnson on suspicion of heroin trafficking, possession and sale of heroin, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, unlawful use of a two-way communication device and driving with a suspended license. His bail is set at $75,000, which was not met.

Johnson has a long criminal record dating back to 1989 in New Jersey. In Florida alone he has been arrested 13 times.

Depending on the weight of the drugs Johnson could face a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 to 25 years, reported the Times.

Detectives are confident that these two shipments are not the only that Johnson sent to Hernando.

Sheriff Al Nienhuis said that getting someone like Johnson off the streets is a priority for the department, as it would mean there are fewer addicts in Hernando county.

This bust comes amidst an effort by the Sheriff's office to rid the county of drugs, and Nienhuis encouraged anyone addicted to get help or run the risk of being arrested, according to the Times.
Engaged couples would be forced to sign prenuptial agreements and burqas would be banned under Pauline Hanson's plan for Australia.

If the One Nation leader were to become prime minister, couples by law would have to lodge with a court a confidential prenuptial agreement covering finances and parenting.

'Family law is high on my agenda. It needs a complete overhaul,' she told The Sunday Mail.

'We've got to free up our court system. It's overloaded. A lot of judgments aren't being handed down for years.'

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One Nation leader Pauline Hanson will speak to judges about reforming the Family Court

Senator Hanson, who is twice divorced, said she would meet with judges in coming weeks to discuss her idea of reforming the Family Court system, which she said was prone to vexatious litigation that had caused 'too many suicides and murders'.

The Queensland senator would also ban burqas and start a royal commission into Islam, which she campaigned on ahead of last year's election.

Last month, she announced her party would ban the burqa in Queensland if it won the balance of power in that state.

'You know what I'm going to do, going to investigate?' she told Sky News.

'Ban the burqa in government buildings, banks and schools.'

She also tweeted: 'It seems people don't realise the burqa is not a religious right it's an evil tool of oppression and an extreme national security risk.'

Engaged couples would be forced to sign a prenuptial agreement under Pauline Hanson (stock image)

Islamic face coverings like the burqa and the niqab (stock image) would be banned under Pauline Hanson is she became prime minister

As prime minister, Senator Hanson would reduce the number of politicians, cut migration levels and build more dams.

She would also bring in an Australian identity card to crack down on welfare fraud - an idea which Bob Hawke's Labor government abandoned in 1987.

The former small business owner is also pushing a two per cent flat tax, which her party took to the 1998 federal election.

At the time, One Nation's 'Easy Tax' was ridiculed by the major parties and Senator Hanson went on to lose her Ipswich-based seat of Oxley on preferences.

Her One Nation party would also introduce American-style 'citizen-initiated referendums' where voters can introduce and repeal laws.

In California, this saw opponents of gay marriage in 2008 successfully push for Proposition 8, a constitutional ban on same-sex unions.

Pauline Hanson wants to build more dams (Warragamba Dam in Sydney pictured)

The Queensland senator would also force foreign companies to sell Australian infrastructure assets back to the federal government, which could include airports, ports and energy assets.

Senator Hanson, who was disendorsed as a federal Liberal candidate in 1996 over her comments on indigenous welfare, has also flagged making One Nation politicians pay $250,000 to her party if they are elected only to quit her team.

The policy is unprecedented and follows last year's resignation of West Australian senator Rod Culleton from One Nation.

The High Court last week ruled him ineligible to have run for parliament because he was a bankrupt at the July election.
A group of hikers plunged down a long, steep icy slope in the mountains near Los Angeles on Saturday, killing one and injuring four others, one of them critically.

The accident in what is known as an ice chute was reported around 11am at Islip Saddle, a hiking area about 7,000 feet high in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, authorities said.

Members of the party somehow slipped and fell down the mountainside through the ice chute. The term refers to a passageway for ascending hikers that is less steep than the side of a mountain.

At least one hiker managed to contact members of a search and rescue team from Ventura County who were training in the area, and they notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, sheriff's Lieutenant Thomas Reid said.

A group of hikers plunged down a long, steep icy slope in the mountains near Los Angeles on Saturday, killing one and injuring four others, one of them critically. Pictured are members of an emergency crew who were sent in to rescue the hikers

The accident in what is known as an ice chute was reported around 11am at Islip Saddle, a hiking area about 7,000 feet high in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, authorities said

One person died at the scene, and one was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition with head and back injuries, said Bernard Peters, supervising dispatcher with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Two other people also were taken to hospitals, one with a wrist injury and another complaining of chest pain. All three also had hypothermia, Peters said.

A fifth person had a minor wrist injury and was treated at the scene, he said.

It wasn't immediately clear how long the hikers had been on the mountain or where they were headed.

The rescue site is in the Angeles National Forest in an area that is a trail-head for several hiking paths, including the famous Pacific Crest Trail that runs more than 2,600 miles from Mexico to Canada.

It wasn't immediately clear how long the hikers had been on the mountain or where they were headed. Pictured: An emergency crew who were sent down the slope to rescue the hikers
A Perth father is fighting for his life after a sickening attack in which he was kicked in the head several times by a group of men.

Diego Hulton, 37, was rushed to hospital after he reportedly tried to break up a fight outside the Brook Bar and Bistro on Main Street in Ellenbrook and was set upon.

Disturbing footage obtained by 7 News shows Friday night's fight.

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A Perth father is fighting for his life after a sickening attack in which he was kicked in the head several times by a group of men

The footage shows a man being knocked to the ground before a group of men are seen kicking and punching him.

The moment was captured by a witness who was filming on a mobile phone.

Mr Hulton was knocked unconscious in the attack and is in critical condition at Royal Perth Hospital.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Diego Hulton, 37, was rushed to hospital after he reportedly tried to break up a fight outside the Brook Bar and Bistro on Main Street in Ellenbrook and was set upon
Jumaa Kater Saleh lured schoolgirls into a house for sex but won a payout after a court ruled he had been unlawfully detained

Foreign criminals were handed a staggering 2 million in compensation last year after complaining they were locked up for too long.

Official figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday reveal that the Home Office made payouts to hundreds of crooks who should have been deported or released sooner.

Another 2 million was given to illegal immigrants who claimed they were unlawfully detained.

Overseas criminals given payouts in recent years include:

A Somali sex offender with a record of offences including unlawful wounding  after he slashed someones face with a mirror. He was given 105,000 for being unlawfully detained for more than a year

A Sudanese man, Jumaa Kater Saleh, who lured schoolgirls into a house for sex. He got a payout after a court ruled he had been unlawfully detained for eight months pending deportation

A Romanian murderer who was locked up when officials discovered his conviction. A judge later ruled it had been wrong to do so

An armed robber who was kept in jail  unlawfully  for three extra years while the authorities tried to sort out where he was from. He had lied about his homeland to avoid being sent back.

The payouts were made despite repeated attempts by Ministers to crack down on human rights cases.

Conservative MP Philip Hollobone said the payouts show 'crime does pay for foreign criminals'

Last night, Conservative MP Philip Hollobone, who has tabled bills that would see more offenders deported, said: It shows under our crazy rules that crime does pay for foreign criminals.

'Its yet another reason why we need to reform human rights legislation in this country. And we need to have protocols in place so countries take back foreign criminals when they offend in this country.

Details of the payouts were obtained by this newspaper after an eight-month battle with the Home Office.

Officials repeatedly delayed sending the information, originally requested on June 10 last year, until the Information Commissioner watchdog warned them they were breaking the Freedom of Information Act.

The figures showed that the Home Office made compensation payments totalling 2.1 million to Foreign National Offenders for unlawful detention in 2015-16, up from 1.5 million the previous financial year.

Total compensation including payments made to illegal immigrants as well as criminals came to 4.1 million, up from 4 million the previous year, but down from 5 million in 2012-13.

The Home Office said it was unable to say how many cases had been settled nor what the highest individual payment was.

A report by MPs in 2015 suggested the average award was 27,000. However, some individuals have received far more, despite having committed serious crimes.

A Home Office spokesman said: Detention is an important part of a firm but fair immigration system, helping to ensure those with no right to remain in the UK are returned to their home country if they will not leave voluntarily. We are committed to treating detainees with dignity and respect.

You can't leave Britain - you could be a terrorist: Then Home Secretary Theresa May 'personally' ruled terror suspect Syrian refugee could not leave UK



A Syrian refugee suspected of being a terrorist has been banned by Theresa May  from leaving Britain

A Syrian refugee suspected by the UK Government of being a terrorist has been banned by Theresa May  from leaving Britain.

Rather than deporting the alleged extremist to protect national security, the then Home Secretary personally ruled he should be kept here.

Her officials have repeatedly gone to court to prevent the man obtaining documents that would allow him to go overseas.

They claim the terror suspect wants to fight for Islamic State in Syria and would pose more of a threat if he came back to the UK afterwards.

The Home Office told him in a letter: You are assessed to hold Islamic extremist views and have expressed a desire to travel to Syria to engage in fighting.

The bizarre case began in August 2012 after the Syrian man  known only as AZ in legal documents to protect his identity  was given refugee status in Britain.

He asked for a travel document given to refugees in line with the Geneva Convention, so he could go to Jordan.

After months of delay, the Home Office told him his application had been refused on national security grounds.

The man then launched a bid for a judicial review of the decision, and in January 2015 was sent the letter telling him that his desire to fight for IS was behind the travel ban.

His lawyers denied that he had any such plans and claimed he was suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression as well as back and leg pain.

In May that year he was allowed to travel to Sweden, to visit his terminally ill father, who died the same day.

He went back there in June to attend his funeral. A High Court ruling stated that Mrs May herself then rubber-stamped the decision not to let him travel anywhere else.

Later that year, Mr Justice Nicol, sitting in the Administrative Court, dismissed the alleged extremists judicial review. AZ appealed against the ruling but, in a Court of Appeal judgment last week, three top judges threw out the challenge.
Advertisement

Many people turned to exploring local nature paths for their daily exercise when lockdown closed gyms and group sports took a hiatus amid the pandemic.

Amateur photographers who captured stunning images of animals in their natural habitat were quick to submit their snaps to Weekend magazine's annual Wildlife Photography Challenge in the hopes of winning a package worth over 1,000.

The entrants were split into five categories - Birds; Mammals; Insects; Under-18s; and Reptiles, Fish, Amphibians & Molluscs.

While each category winner received a Nikon mirrorless digital camera kit and a year's subscription to Nikon Owner magazine, the overall winner also received a trip to the Camargue with wildlife photographer Simon Stafford, courtesy of Create Away, for a four-night masterclass in photographing the region's wild horses, flamingos and bulls.

Judges David Suchet, Clare Balding, Lucy Cooke, Steve Brown, Kelly Brook and Michael Eleftheriades were impressed with Lee O'dwyer, 67, a retired engineer from Lancashire, who was awarded the overall winner for his shot of a long-tailed tit.

These runner-up snaps taken by talented amateur photographers prove choosing an overall winner was a tough decision...

BIRDS

PUFFIN: Taken by Joseph Bristow, 23, a retail supervisor from Llantwit Major. 'Arriving at 3am and queueing for the 6am ticket office to open. First in line I caught the boat over to Skomer Island. With only a few hours permitted on the island I had no time to waste. Surrounded by the Puffins was an amazing spectacle and allowed me to capture some amazing photos. I found this one puffin who seemed very tame and loved posing for the camera. As he stared down the barrel of my lens I took my shot and was pleased with the result. I found the black background really provides a provocative and striking image highlight the vibrant colour of the Puffins.'

KESTREL CHICKS: Taken by Jayne Kirkby, 20, from Braintree, Essex. 'Beautiful pair of Kestrel chicks, taken at Wrabness on 20th June 2020.'

KINGFISHER: Tim Clifton, a 59-year-old from, St Leonards on Sea, snapped this captivating photo of a kingfisher hunting for small fish

MALLARD: William Watson, 64, a semi retired HGV driver from East Dunbartonshire. 'Taken on the Forth & Clyde canal (December '19') Bishopbriggs, As I went to take this photo of this female Mallard it stretched creating a nice reflection....'

INSECTS

BUTTERFLY: Adam Lane, a 27-year-old host at Legoland, from Slough, captured a butterfly perched on a purple flower in specular detail

WASP: Shelia Moth took this captivating photo of a wasp on a thistle, capturing the insect and plant in immense detail

SPIDER: Taken by Geoffrey Wells, 67, a maintenance caretaker from North Yorkshire. 'This picture was taken in my back garden during the recent lockdown.'

REPTILES

MATING FROGS: Taken by Steve Jellett, 64, from Essex, who is retired. 'Taken in small garden pond when 21 frogs descended to mate.'

MAMMALS

ROE DEER: Tim Cliffton, a 75-year-old from St Leonards on sea, took a photograph of two roe deer spotted in a field

MOUSE: Taken by Cameron Parfitt, 20, a student at the University of Brighton, from Worthing. 'I would love to highlight that even in your back garden there are images to be had. This image is of a cheeky wood mouse that keeps stealing food from what we have now dubbed the mouse feeder. It's not unheard of for this little guy to be found inside the feeder without a care in the world stuffing himself with the bird seed.'

JUNIORS

FOX CUB: Billy Evans-Freke, 15, a secondary school student from East Sussex. 'It wasn't a long wait in the hide before the first fox cub woke up from its nap and came out into the open. It was soon followed by another cub. At first they stayed in the shadows of the bushes near the den. But once they gained their confidence they started coming closer. This cub in particular was very curious and came very close to the hide.'
A journalist caught in the shooting at Florida airport has detailed the terrifying moment he was forced to create a barricade to protect himself and his partner from a crazed gunman.

Australian journalist James Drew was in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport in Florida last month when the gunman opened fire and killed five people.

Visiting the U.S. for a family wedding with wife Lori Ostrow, Drew described the chaos that ensued after hearing two loud thuds and people running in all directions.

James Drew and his partner Lori Ostrow were hidden behind luggage

The former army reservist instinctively built a barricade using suitcases wedged between two concrete blocks.

'I figure if there's a bullet or even a ricocheting bullet we're better off if it goes through a couple of bags than it just hitting us directly,' Drew said.

Ms Ostrow was frightened for her life but praised Mr Drew's quick thinking.

'I had no idea what was going on, but luckily my husband got into fight-or-flight mode and grabbed all of our luggage and secured a barricade to protect me,' Ms Ostrow told the ABC.

Mr Drew built the barricade using luggage after he heard the gunfire

Terrified people were seen running across the tarmac about 2.30pm - more than an hour after the shooting was reported

This picture shows what may be the weapon that was used by the gunman in the shooting

Despite the horrific shooting that had people fleeing and hiding on the airport tarmac, the U.S.-based journalist has come to understand why Americans feel so strongly about their rights to bear arms.

Drew said the mass shootings in the U.S. were a terrible tragedy but the chances of it happening to you always seem minuscule.

'I've been in America long enough to know there is a different culture and there is a different feeling towards guns here. Guns are a symbol of the rights of the citizen,' he said.

The alleged gunman, Esteban Santiago, has been indicted on 22 counts and is facing the death penalty.
Theresa May faces a Conservative revolt this week aimed at stopping her walking away from EU negotiations with no Brexit deal.

Up to a dozen Tories are threatening to back a Commons move to give MPs the power to reject a so-called 'cliff-edge' Brexit outcome.

The rebels, who include ex-Ministers Ken Clarke, Anna Soubry, Dominic Grieve and Nicky Morgan, say Parliament must have the right to tell the Government to go back and get a better deal.

With a Commons majority of 16, in theory if nine Tories vote against the Government, Mrs May could lose. Rebel leader Conservative MP Neil Carmichael told The Mail on Sunday it was 'illogical' for Mrs May to have offered a Commons vote on any Brexit deal after two years of EU talks, but no vote if there was no deal.

Theresa May (pictured) faces a Conservative revolt this week aimed at stopping her walking away from EU negotiations with no Brexit deal

'Parliament must have a final say when we get to the endgame,' said Stroud MP Mr Carmichael, who, like his fellow rebels, opposed leaving the EU. 'We could be faced with the prospect of leaving the EU by 'falling off a cliff'  as some have described leaving with no deal  with potentially disastrous economic consequences.

'To argue that MPs can have a say if we achieve a deal, with all the safeguards implied by it, but no say if we walk away with none of these, defies all logic. If that occurred, it would be even more important for MPs to be able to vote for or against it.'

He was backed by Ms Soubry who said: 'It is essential that MPs get a say when the negotiations are over. Some Brexiteers would be happy to force the Prime Minister to walk away with no deal and no thought to the consequences for the country.

'Sensible voices inside the Government know it would be a mistake to rush this.'

Ministers have accused the rebels of undermining Mrs May's negotiating tactics.

The rebels include ex-Ministers Ken Clarke, Anna Soubry, Dominic Grieve and Nicky Morgan (pictured)

'If we tell the EU we will walk away if they don't make concessions, but they know Parliament can make us go straight back again, it gives us zero leverage,' said one. 'This is just another obstacle put up by people who are unable to accept that Brexit means Brexit.'

Tory rebels are ready to join forces with Labour, Lib Dems and Scottish Nationalists and back an amendment tabled by Labour's Chris Leslie.

Mr Leslie told this newspaper: 'No one doubts that Brexit will go ahead. But it is crazy for Mrs May to say she will consult Parliament if she gets a deal but not if she doesn't.'

Deal or no deal, MPs deserve a vote on the outcome of EU talks

COMMENT, by Neil Carmichael, Conservative MP for Stroud

I campaigned to stay in the EU. But we lost. And we have to accept the outcome.

Which is why I will vote in favour of signing Article 50 this week, albeit with a heavy heart.

But just as Remainers must accept the views of the 52 per cent who voted for Brexit, the 48 per cent who voted Remain cannot be totally ignored in the Brexit negotiations.

Harold Macmillan said politics was dictated by 'events' rather than grand schemes. With so many unpredictable factors surrounding Brexit  such as elections in France and Germany, and Donald Trump  no one can forecast where we will be when the talking is over.

But my view is that Parliament must have a final say when we get to the end-game. The Prime Minister has agreed to give Parliament a say on any Brexit deal she negotiates with the EU.

Harold Macmillan (pictured, left) said politics was dictated by 'events' rather than grand schemes

Mrs May has also said she would prefer 'no deal to a bad deal'. However, at present, there is no provision to give MPs a vote on this outcome.

We could be faced with the prospect of leaving the EU by 'falling off a cliff'  as some have described leaving with no deal  with potentially disastrous economic consequences. But MPs would have no chance to say the Government should step back from the brink and return to the negotiating table.

To argue that MPs can have a say if we achieve a deal, with all the safeguards implied by it, but no say if we walk away with none of these, defies logic. If that occurred, it would be even more important for MPs to be able to vote for or against it.

If we are not given this opportunity, it is hard not to conclude that some people believe in a sovereign Parliament only if it accords with their view.

I am not the only Tory MP who feels strongly about this and I hope to persuade the Government to meet our concerns this week before the Brexit Bill is finalised.
Mr Javid will announce a new Government drive this week to build thousands of homes

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid is today accused by a former Cabinet Minister of bringing politicians into disrepute by failing to protect the Green Belt.

Former International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell says that Mr Javid, who will this week announce a new Government drive to build thousands of new homes, has retreated from his pledge to treat the Green Belt as sacrosanct.

Writing in todays Mail on Sunday, Mr Mitchell warns: All the signs coming out of Whitehall are that Ministers will use the Housing White Paper to find a back-door route to concrete over our glorious countryside. He also claims that shortly after Mr Javid told the Commons last year that the Green Belt was sacrosanct, he was enjoying lunch with the Home Builders Federation  and then decided to authorise 6,000 houses to be built on Green Belt land in Mr Mitchells Sutton Coldfield constituency.

Mr Mitchell adds: Saying one thing in the House of Commons and then another to a pressure group... brings politics and politicians into disrepute.

And Shaun Spiers, chief executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: Proposals to release yet more land for development, including Green Belt, will simply mean a greater loss of precious countryside with little change to housebuilding rates.

A spokesman for Mr Javid said the decision on Sutton Coldfield was taken by Housing Minister Gavin Barwell before Mr Javid met with the housebuilders.
The wheelchair-bound woman who was filmed smoking what appeared to be marijuana on a New York City subway last month was once a millionaire who ran into hard luck and became destitute within months of winning a large court settlement.

Michelle Carter, 60, was recorded on Instagram last month in a bizarre confrontation with a fellow passenger on a subway train, according to the New York Post.

A video of the incident, shot on an M Train in New York, was posted online and quickly racked up almost one-million views.

Now it has been learned that Carter had previously won a seven-figure settlement from the Transit Authority just two years ago.

Michelle Carter, 60, was filmed last month while she appeared to be smoking a 'blunt' on a New York City subway train. She then got into an argument with a young man

In 2005, Carter needed to have both of her legs amputated below the knee after she fell into the path of an oncoming F train in Roosevelt Island.

Carter claimed that she was pushed, while transit officials argued that she tried to commit suicide.

With no money, Carter continued to wander the streets until November 2014, when transit officials finally agreed to pay her $4million in damages, according to the Post.

In the two years since the settlement, all of the money she received has evaporated.

The video started when Carter appeared to be rolling a cigar while she was sat in her wheelchair

Her lawyers believe that Carter squandered some of it and gave some of it way.

She also was robbed of approximately $900,000.

A thief had snatched her bag and ran away as she was sitting in New York's Penn Station sometime in 2015, according to the Post.

The bag had contained a cashier's check for $886,339.96, an installment of the settlement she had reached with the Transit Authority.

The thief apparently managed to cash the check at a JP Morgan Chase branch.

Carter eventually sued the bank, claiming that it should never have allowed the thief to cash the check.

'She was victimized several times,' her lawyer, Robert Unger, told the Post.

The Instagram video featuring Carter last month proved to be a hit on the internet.

It starts by showing Carter, who is not identified, rolling what appears to be cigar as she sits in her wheelchair.

A young man was seen on camera shouting at her during the bizarre altercation

A man off-camera is heard saying something, before the video cuts forward to Carter shouting back.

'If you smoke marijuana, why you dont know what it is?' she said in the video, before shouting something undecipherable.

The video then cuts to another recording, and the young man is heard threatening Carter.

'If you smoke marijuana, why you dont know what it is?' Carter said in the video, before the young man shouted back: 'Get the f*** off my train. Dirty b***h. Ill smack you and that hat, and that blunt'

The video ends by showing Carter on the ground on the train platform, appearing to have been knocked from her chair

'Get the f*** off my train. Dirty b***h. Ill smack you and that hat, and that blunt,' he said.

'Everybody on this train, Im decking that b***hWord, gangsta.'

The altercation continued, before the video against cut forward and this time showed Carter sprawled out on the train platform.

At points during the video an MTA worker can be seen in the background.
Cash-strapped hospitals will be charged 80p a minute to ring a hotline to check if foreign patients are entitled to free treatment, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The Home Office has set up a premium service phoneline for hospital trusts as the NHS tries to crack down on health tourism.

But last night the plan to charge hospitals for fast access to vital immigration data was strongly criticised.

David Hickson of the Fair Telecoms Campaign said: The idea is wholly disgusting. Using a premium-rate line eats into the funding promised to the NHS and is placing an unnecessary cost burden on trusts.

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Priscilla, from Nigeria, gave birth to premature triplets, running up a 500,000 NHS bill. Her story featured in a BBC documentary last week

'The Home Office should do its job by supporting the NHS and the rest of the public sector.

It is hoped that the improved service will help the NHS claw back 500 million in a year for services provided to foreign nationals who are not meant to receive free treatment  or allow them to be turned away if their procedures are not deemed urgent.

But the helpline is an 090 number, more commonly used for TV competitions, horoscopes and adult chat lines.

It will cost 80p per minute plus the hospitals standard operator charge, which can range from 12p a minute for landlines to 50p a minute from mobiles.

Priscilla (pictured with her baby Deborah). Some health trusts have already started demanding that patients show their passports and utility bills proving their entitlement to free care

The scheme comes after a damning report by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee into the chaotic system for recouping costs from foreign patients, while a BBC documentary last week exposed the 500,000 bill incurred when a Nigerian woman gave birth prematurely to quadruplets in a London hospital.

Some health trusts have already started demanding that patients show their passports and utility bills proving their entitlement to free care.

Department of Health bosses have now written to hospitals that have written off the biggest debts from overseas patients, urging them to sign up to the Home Office service.

And in an implied acceptance that many trusts will be deterred by the costs of the helpline, Whitehall chiefs have even offered to cover first-year costs for one trust.

Sonia Dower, director of interventions and sanctions directorate at the Home Office, has written to NHS trusts, explaining that the Home Office already provides free support, including an email system for checking patients immigration status.

But she goes on: In addition, the Home Office has recently developed ... a package of premium services ... designed to complement the free support we already provide  and there for those customers who want an enhanced service.

The focus of the new service is a real-time telephone-based immigration status checking service that allows managers to conduct an instant immigration check on a potentially chargeable, non-exempt overseas visitor or migrant.

Staff can call a dedicated team of highly knowledgeable and skilled immigration staff in normal office hours, who can check Home Office systems in less than ten minutes.

Officials insist the hotline is being operated on a not-for-profit basis.

The Home Office is also offering to train NHS staff in handling overseas patients. And it even wants hospitals to consider having a Home Office expert embedded within your trust to provide immigration status checks and advice.

University College London Hospital was told in October by the Department for Health and NHS Improvement that they would cover the cost of your use of the Home Office Premium Service for the remainder of the financial year.

The trust was identified as one of the top 20 in the country that could do more to ensure free healthcare is only provided to those entitled to it.

A spokesman for UCLH confirmed it had taken up the offer of access to the premium service but had not yet begun using it.

Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of pressure group MigrationWatch UK, said last night: Given the huge sums involved, if the use of premium lines to access data leads to even some of the costs involved being recovered, it will be a small price to pay.
Police sources said Saturday that investigators were interrogating a man in the killing of Karina Vetrano (pictured)

Detectives are interrogating a man in the killing of slain Queens jogger Karina Vetrano, a report said Saturday.

Police sources told the New York Daily News the suspect was 20-year-old Chanel Lewis from East New York.

It comes six months after 30-year-old Vetrano was beaten, raped and strangled.

Vetrano's father found her body in Spring Creek Park near her home in Howard Beach, New York, at 9 pm on August 2.

Investigators have recovered DNA from Vetrano's remains, but the sample didn't match any convicted criminal in New York or around the country.

Police had been eyeing the suspect, a man in his twenties from East New York, Brooklyn, after an off-duty officer saw him acting suspiciously in Howard Beach, sources told the New York Post.

Officers stopped the suspect then, but found no valid reason to take him into custody. They approached him again earlier this week and asked for a DNA sample, which he agreed to give, the newspaper reported.

The suspect had no criminal history, meaning his DNA profile wasn't part of law enforcement databases. He was being held and questioned Saturday night outside of Howard Beach.

Vetrano's father Phil confirmed to Pix11 that the NYPD had told him they had a suspect in custody.

Another report by CBS New York said he had been taken into custody around 6 pm on Saturday.

No charges have been filed so far.

Vetrano's family has advocated for familial DNA testing, which would allow them to potentially find a suspect's relative. Police didn't have to use the technique after all, since the suspect agreed to give a DNA simple.

'My baby girl Karina went into these weeds right here and never came out,' Phil said during a news conference Thursday.

'The scum that murdered Karina is still at-large,' he added according to NY1.

The father of the murdered Queens jogger previously said he had a 'bad feeling' just 25 minutes after his daughter left home for her run.

Phil was meant to go running with his daughter but couldn't because of a back injury.

Investigators have recovered DNA from Vetrano's remains, but the sample didn't match that of any convicted criminal in New York or around the country

He warned her not to run in the park alone but couldn't stop her from leaving.

Within 25 minutes of her departure, he knew instinctively something was wrong and phoned police.

His daughter was last seen on surveillance footage at around 5:45 pm. Phil found her body in marshland at the park just over three hours later.

'She asked me to go for a run and I said I couldn't go.

'And about 25 minutes later I got a bad feeling. I knew something was wrong. Like something was wrong,' Phil told Dr Oz in an appearance that will be aired on Tuesday evening.

Vetrano was still alive when her father phoned a police chief he knew personally to raise his concerns.

The jogger's body was found in Spring Creek Park near her home in Howard Beach, New York, at 9 pm on August 2. The crime scene is pictured at the time

Phil Vetrano, Vetrano's father (pictured with her), said he knew something was 'wrong' instinctively just 25 minutes after his daughter left their home to go running on August 2

She was captured on a surveillance camera at 5:46 pm. Police said it is likely those were some of her final moments alive.

Phil found his daughter's lifeless body after a frantic search with detectives that evening.

They were led to it by her phone which lay discarded on the ground nearby.

Forensic investigators found traces of DNA in beneath Vetrano's fingernails, on her neck and on her phone.

They believe it likely belongs to her killer but have not been able to find a match on convicted criminal databases.

Familial testing compares the crime scene DNA with others on file that are a close enough match to be family.

It has led to the arrests and convictions of other dangerous criminals but is not common practice in New York.

Vetrano's death was just five days before that of a jogger in Princeton, Massachusetts, who was taken while running near her mother's home.

Vanessa Marcotte, 27, was found dead in bushes having been sexually assaulted, strangled and set on fire.

DNA at the scene was found but could not be matched to anyone already in police databases.

Vetrano was seen on surveillance footage jogging towards the park at 5.46pm, moments before her death

Her father offered a large reward to anyone with information about his daughter's death

Vetrano's family and friends are campaigning for information about her death. Above, mourners at the young woman's funeral
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has criticised Donald Trump's critics for their 'hysterical overreaction' to the new president

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has criticised Donald Trump's critics for their 'hysterical overreaction' to his presidency.

He accused protesters of 'reprehensible' behaviour that could 'damage the fabric of democracy' - and said he would be happy to attend a state banquet with Mr Trump.

Despite saying he did not 'by and large' agree with the president's views, the cleric said his 'strength of personality' could make him an effective leader.

Lord Carey told Christian Today: 'I think that Donald Trump will learn on the job and his rhetoric will be toned down as time goes on.

'He has the strength of personality to be an outstanding President but this is predicated on him acquiring experience and wisdom.'

His comments came a day after 4,000 people took to the streets of London to call on Theresa May to end her 'collusion' with President Trump.

The demonstration was organised by groups including the Stop the War Coalition, Stand Up to Racism and the Muslim Association of Britain.

He accused protesters of 'reprehensible' behaviour that could 'damage the fabric of democracy' - and said he would be happy to attend a state banquet with Mr Trump (pictured)

In a separate intervention, Lord Carey hit out at 'progressives' who reserved condemnation for the USA rather than autocratic regimes such as North Korea.

Writing in The Sunday Express, he urged Theresa May to continue efforts to build bridges with Mr Trump and praised his vow to prioritise Christian refugees.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on Mrs May to cancel the president's state visit until he withdrew his ban on seven predominantly Muslim countries.

He said: 'I support the campaign of millions of people in Britain that Donald Trump should not be welcomed on a state visit to this country.'

Mrs May invited the American president to visit Britain later this year during a recent trip to the White House.

Hours later, Mr Trump introduced a 90-day travel ban on residents from seven mainly Muslim countries - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

The American president's travel ban has angered protesters, and thousands marched through the streets of London today

He said this was intended to stop 'radical Islamic terrorists' from coming to America.

A petition calling on the government to stop Trump making a state visit as it would cause 'embarrassment' to the Queen has received more than 1.8 million signatures.

Downing Street rejected claims the Queen has been put in a difficult position due to the invitation, and insisted the state visit would go ahead this year.

Since the ban was announced, there have been protests at several US airports where travellers were being held, including New York's Kennedy International Airport.
Three young children have been removed from a western Sydney home where four adults were treated for suspected drug overdoses.

Police were called to the Ropes Crossing home in Sydney's west about 4am on Sunday by paramedics who treated two men and two women.

The men, aged 33 and 35, and the women, 28 and 32, did not need to go to hospital.

Three young children have been removed from a western Sydney home where four adults were treated for suspected drug overdoses.

Police said three children who were at the home, all aged under ten, appear to have slept through the incident.

'The children were removed from the home and are in the care of relatives,' NSW Police said in a statement on Sunday.

In September last year a 15-month old girl was found in the back seat of a car in Penrith while a couple who were supervising her were found passed out from a drug overdose in the front.

A 34-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man were charged with possessing a prohibited drug after police found synthetic cannabis and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle and child neglect.

The girl was taken to Nepean hospital for precautionary tests before being released into the care of Family and Community Services.
The Queen (pictured) did not attend the traditional church service at Sandringham because she was too ill

The Queen cheered herself up as she battled her illness over the Christmas period by watching old Laurel and Hardy films, it was revealed today.

Her Majesty missed the traditional church service at the Sandringham Estate on Christmas Day because she was suffering from a heavy cold.

She was told by doctors to rest up and relax at home.

And it has now been reported that the 90-year-old monarch nursed herself back to health after watching old black and white films.

According to Camilla Tominey at the Sunday Express, the Queen sat down and watched films featuring the famous comedy double act, Laurel and Hardy.

A source told the newspaper that the television at the country house estate in Norfolk was switched to Talking Pictures TV.

The channel plays reruns of old television shows and films and the Queen took a particular liking to the duo's films.

They were active from 1927 to 1950 and were known for their slapstick comedy.

A source said: 'The Queen has really been enjoying some of the channel's output, especially Laurel and Hardy and films starring Sid James and Dora Bryan.

'She normally doesn't have much time to watch television but obviously when she was told to rest up by doctors, she was able to convalesce by watching some of the films she would have first enjoyed as a girl.'

The Queen was said to also have enjoyed Keeping Up Appearances, Midsomer Murders, The Last Detective and Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee.

The Queen reportedly sat down and watched films featuring the famous comedy double act, Laurel and Hardy (pictured)

A Kensington Palace spokesman said on Christmas Day: 'Her Majesty The Queen will not attend Church at Sandringham this morning.

'The Queen continues to recover from a heavy cold and will stay indoors to assist with her recovery.'

On New Year's Day, Princess Anne insisted the Queen was feeling 'better' even though her mother was too ill to attend church at Sandringham.

The Princess Royal spoke out in an apparent bid to calm fears over the health of the Queen who had not been seen in public for almost two weeks.
African youths were spotted at an out-of-control party that spilled out on to the street from an Airbnb rental house.

A youth was also hit in the head with a brick during the Saturday night fracas in Melbourne's east.

Detective Senior Constable Paul Thomas said about 40 people had gate crashed the party at Malvern East, which was advertised on Facebook.

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Police reinforcements were need to control the fracas outside an Airbnb house party in Melbourne

'Witnesses saw groups of African youths, who were soon spotted by police,' he told reporters.

Police found 60 people on the street after being called to the Prior Road house at 11pm on Saturday, where 100 people had been invited.

A youth was hit in the head with a brick, Nine News reported.

Constable Thomas said the teenagers rented an Airbnb property and charged a $10 cover for each party guest.

The property costs $161 a night to rent.

The party was advertised on Facebook and had three male security guards monitoring the party.

Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said paramedics were called to the scene shortly after 10pm and treated four youths in their late teens to early twenties.

One male, who suffered a head injury and a broken finger, was taken to The Alfred Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Traces of blood was found on the fence outside the property after a teen was hit in the head with a brick on Saturday night

A brick hit one youth in the head. He is now being treated for serious head injuries

A youth seen outside the house in Malvern East where a party was advertised on Facebook

The house on Prior Road in Malvern East which was advertised on Airbnb for $161 a night

A woman, who lives nearby, said a friend of hers became concerned he saw about 30 youths walk past her place.

'He got quite concerned and we were on alert and that's when we rang the police,' she told Daily Mail Australia on Sunday.

'It's probably a young group of guys 16, 17 ... they were darker skinned.'

'Across the road from us ... he saw a big group of kids running through the area.'

The crowd dispersed after police arrived.

Two other people are being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

A neighbours brick fence was destroyed.

The front letterbox of the picket-fence house was spattered with blood.

The Herald Sun reported the the hosts of the party were from the Bentleigh and Springvale areas.

No arrests have been made and police investigations are continuing.

CCTV shows cars pulling up outside the party, with some walking on foot to the property

Police talk to residents of Prior Road in East Malvern after neighbours complained

A young man, believed to be the party host, refused to comment on the incident as he denied any involvement with the party

The Airbnb advertisement's house rules said 'no parties or events'.

It described the two-bedroom house, with a white picket fence, as a 'spacious and airy spotless cottage in a quiet leafy street with an open fireplace, charming garden and patio'.

The house is close to Chadstone shopping centre and the M1 freeway.

'The house is good for couples, business travellers, families (with kids), and groups,' the ad said.

An East Malvern resident who lives near the party said it was a quiet area.

'We never had anything like that happen down the road,' she said.

The house was bought for $1.24 million in June last year and was let out by a university student who lives in Melbourne with her parents.
Almost half of new homes built in the next five years will go to migrants, government figures have revealed.

Soaring immigration means that Britain will need to accommodate as many as 243,000 new households each year for the next 22 years, the Department for Communities and Local Government has said.

It is been estimated that an extra 5.3 million new properties could be needed to meet the growth in population, and an extra 2.4 million of the new homes will be needed for migrants alone.

This means that one new home needs to be built every five minutes to house Britain's burgeoning migrant population.

One new home will need to be built every five minutes to house Britain's burgeoning migrant population, it has been revealed

Integration minister Nicholas Bourne told peers that an 109,000 extra homes will be needed every year by migrants and their families as Britain's population grows.

'Net migration accounts for an estimated 45 per cent of this growth,' he said.

The figures were published last week in response to a question by Lord Green of Deddington, the chairman of think tank Migration Watch.

Lord Green of Deddington has said a new home will need to be built every five minutes night and day to house incoming migrants

The group claims that as a conservative estimate, 300 homes a day will need to be built each day just to house the new arrivals, the Sunday Express reports.

Addressing the House of Lords, Lord Green said: 'To put the point slightly more dramatically, that would mean building a new home every five minutes night and day, for new arrivals until such a time as we can get those numbers down.

It has been revealed that new immigration controls will have to be phased in after Brexit takes place meaning it could take years for net migration to fall

'I know there is a strong view in the House that there is a lot to be said for migration. All I am pointing out is that there are also costs.'

However, the estimates are based on projections of popular growth from 2014, which does not take into account Britain's decision to leave the European Union, which is expected to reduce net migration by ending free movement.

But Migration Watch claims that the most recent projections are lower than actual net migration numbers, meaning housing demand from migrants has been underplayed.

It was also revealed that new immigration controls will have to be phased in after Brexit takes place raising fears it could take years for the number of new arrivals to fall.
President Donald Trump's supporters are vowing to never drink Budweiser beer after parent company Anheuser-Busch rolled out its Super Bowl commercial retelling the immigrant tale of its co-founder.

With the American public bitterly divided over the question of immigration in the wake of Trump's controversial executive orders, the hashtag #boycottbudweiser went viral Saturday on Twitter.

The company's Super Bowl commercial, titled Born the Hard Way, is a 60-second, highly produced clip which tells the story of German immigrant Adolphus Busch's journey to America in 1857.

The ad shows Busch encountering hostile anti-immigrant sentiment upon his arrival in America - a sentiment that some say parallels current attitudes toward Muslim refugees.

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Budweiser's new Super Bowl ad tells the story of when its co-founder, Adolphus Busch, traveled to the US as an immigrant in 1857

Eventually, after trudging through swamps and sitting on a small boat among a huddled mass of travelers, Busch arrives in Missouri.

A man, who conveniently happens to stroll past the signature Budweiser Clydesdale horses, approaches and says: 'Welcome to St Louis, son.'

He then heads inside a pub, where a man - who is revealed to be Eberhard Anheuser, with whom Busch would form Budweiser's parent company, Anheuser-Busch - offers him a beer.

Busch then shows Anheuser a sketching of a bottle adorned with the Budweiser logo, and the pair shake hands.

Busch (left) is seen in the ad receiving a hostile welcome, with locals shouting at him to leave the country and go home

'This commercial shows the start of Budweiser's journey,' Anheuser-Busch Vice President Ricardo Marques said in a statement.

'And while it is set in the 1800's, it's a story we believe will resonate with today's entrepreneurial generation - those who continue strive for their dreams.'

'Way to go, Budweiser,' tweeted Kathy Pierce. 'You've managed to piss off middle America. You know, the people who used to drink your beer'

'Sorry Budweiser, I liked sipping you while chewing on Teriyaki Beef Jerky, but it will Stop now!' tweeted another commenter

Dawn Lee tweeted that Budweiser 'has decided to make fun of Trump during their commercials at the Super Bowl'

'We don't need you beer, your opinions, and your illegal immigrant,' tweeted another Twitter user

Norma Earls tweeted that she's 'never been a Budweiser drinker' and that 'now, I will never be'

One Twitter user came to the company's defense, bashing those calling for a boycott as racist

The commercial appears to have been interpreted by Trump supporters as a rebuke to the president's policies, however the alcohol behemoth said it was not made with that in mind.

'Way to go, Budweiser,' tweeted Kathy Pierce. 'You've managed to piss off middle America. You know, the people who used to drink your beer.'

'Sorry Budweiser, I liked sipping you while chewing on Teriyaki Beef Jerky, but it will Stop now!' tweeted another commenter.

But the ad then continues to show Busch (right) unveiling his dream beer to a man in a bar - who turns out to be Eberhard Anheuser, with whom Busch would form Budweiser's parent company, Anheuser-Busch

Dawn Lee tweeted that Budweiser 'has decided to make fun of Trump during their commercials at the Super Bowl.'

'We don't need you beer, your opinions, and your illegal immigrant,' tweeted another Twitter user.

Norma Earls tweeted that she's 'never been a Budweiser drinker' and that 'now, I will never be'.

One Twitter user came to the company's defense, bashing those calling for a boycott as racist.

Budweiser Vice President Ricardo Marques (pictured) said: 'This commercial shows the start of Budweiser's journey, and while it is set in the 1800s, it's a story we believe will resonate with today's entrepreneurial generation'

Budweiser insists that the commercial's message is apolitical.

'This story celebrates Adolphus Busch's American dream and the bold vision to brew the best beer in the world,' Budweiser 'master brewer' Peter Kraemer said.

'While everyone knows Budweiser, they don't necessarily know our story and how we came to be brewed the hard way.'

The company added the ad had been in the works before Trump signed his travel ban last week.

Politically-intended or not, the commercial is certainly pricey for Budweiser.

The beer giant however said it is not in response to Donald Trump's travel ban, adding it had been in the works before that was announced last week

A 30-second spot came with a $5million price-tag for Sunday's Super Bowl, according to the New York Times, meaning Anheuser-Busch would have shelled out $10million.

This year is the 28th in which Budweiser was the exclusive beer advertiser during the Super Bowl, and the 42nd Anheuser Busch has been part of.
A Queensland man made a shocking confession in a pub about assaulting his former partner even after she took out an AVO on him for threatening to kill her via text message.

The 45-year-old man, identified only as Dave, made the revelation to the Gold Coast Bulletin in a Coomera pub after being asked about a tragic murder-suicide in Pimpama earlier this week.

Mother-of-four Teresa Bradford was stabbed to death by her estranged husband just two weeks after he was released on bail for a previous assault on her.

A Queensland man made a shocking confession in a pub about assaulting his former partner even after she took out an AVO on him. Stock image

Shockingly, Dave  described by the Bulletin as friendly, personable and eloquent -claimed that 'some girls actually ask for it'.

There are 'diseases' that cause women to want to be treated badly, he claims.

He also revealed details about how he forced himself on his ex on New Year's Eve as she slept, demanding she perform oral sex on him.

'I grabbed her and held her down and put my [penis] in her face and said, "Suck it, you [expletive]," he said.

Dave claims she had agreed to do it, but he had a change of heart and walked away.

He said he ended up moving from Brisbane to the Gold Coast because of the AVO against him.

The man said his ex took out an AVO after he threatened to kill her via text. Stock image

He said: 'I got a bit drunk one night and was like "Well, if you love me you'd come see me now and if you don't, I'll come and kill you".'

He insists he would never have followed through with the threat, but concedes she didn't know that.

Still he brands her 'disloyal' for taking out an AVO on him.

He admits he considered breaking the order, but didn't want to end up in jail.

But rather than blaming himself for his actions, Dave insists that domestic violence just stems from a desire to be loved.

He said the relationship 'drove him crazy', led to depression and he believed he would have a nervous breakdown.

But despite this, he says he is still in touch with his ex who he claims still wants a relationship.

Although the AVO forbids him from going to her house, he says it has been altered so they can keep in touch.
Two men have been arrested and charged with carjacking an Uber driver in Brisbane.

The two men allegedly called the driver to a backstreet of Fortitude Valley about 8pm on Saturday before pulling the 29-year-old from the car, assaulting him with a spanner and driving off in his car.

The two alleged attackers, aged 29 and 25, fled the area with the stolen car and another vehicle, police said.

A 25-year-old man and a 29-year-old man, both from Logan, have been arrested and charged after allegedly carjacking an Uber driver in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley (pictured) at 8pm on Saturday

Police tracked the pair to Hinchcliffe Street, in the Logan suburb of Tanah Merah, 30 minutes away

Officers tracked the men and cars to Hinchcliffe Street, in the Logan suburb of Tanah Merah, 30 minutes' drive away.

The pair, both from Tanah Merah, were arrested and have been charged with multiple offences.

The 29-year-old has been charged with operation of a motor vehicle, unlicensed driving, armed robbery, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and wilful damage, police said.

A 25-year-old man has been charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, armed robbery and drink driving.

The men, both from Tanah Merah (pictured), were arrested and have been charged with multiple offences

They are due to face Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Monday.

The Uber driver was taken to a nearby hospital with head injuries.

In a statement, Uber said the safety of their drivers is a top priority.

'There is no place for violent attacks in our community and our thoughts are with the driver-partner at this time,' an Uber spokesman said.
Sundhe Moses served 18 years in prison before his release on parole in 2013. He is petitioning to get his conviction for killing four-year-old Shamone Jackson overturned

A Brooklyn man has admitted to incorrectly identifying the person who killed his four-year-old cousin in 1995.

Sharron Ivory, who himself is serving a 25-to-life sentence for homicide, admitted that he knew his cousin's killer was not Sundhe Moses in a Brooklyn court.

His cousin Shamone Johnson was killed by a stray bullet at 1750 Prospect Place in 1995.

She was four years old.

At an evidentiary hearing for Moses, Ivory said: 'I was under a lot of pressure. I knew it wasn't him,' the New York Daily News reported.

Moses has brought his case to Brooklyn's Supreme Court with the hope that his conviction will be overturned. At an evidentiary hearing, Sharron Ivory admitted to incorrectly identifying Moses as the man who killed his four-year-old cousin

Moses had been in prison for 18 years for the murder, until he was released on parole in 2013.

He's brought his case to Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dineen Rivierzzo with the hope that his conviction will be overturned.

Ivory had not identified Moses at the trial but allegedly told investigators he recognized Moses in a photo.

His testimony had been instrumental in a series of unusual - and potentially not legal - cases dealt with by retired NYPD detective Louis Scarcella.

Shamone Johnson, Sharron Ivory's cousin, was killed by a stray bullet at 1750 Prospect Place in 1995. Ivory allegedly lied to investigators that Moses was the killer

Ivory's testimony had been instrumental in a series of unusual - and potentially not legal - cases dealt with by retired NYPD detective Louis Scarcella. Moses, during his 1997 trial, alleged that Scarcella had beaten him into his confession

Ivory told the New York Times: 'The cops would say the number out loud and say, "Take a good look at it,' so I went with it. I thought they knew what they were doing.

'And I figured if it wasn't him, he could beat it at trial.'

Ivory wrote a sworn affidavit in which he said he was under pressure from police and his family.

He said the man he saw shoot his cousin was 'taller and lighter skin.'

Moses had always pleaded his innocence in the case and testified on his own behalf at his 1997 trial, during which he also alleged that Scarcella had beaten him into a confession.

Ivory testified that he was not coerced by Scarcella or any other police officers into identifying Moses as the killer.

He said: 'I came forward, because it was the right thing to do.'
A video that shows a campervan appearing to repeatedly prevent a driver from overtaking has sparked an online debate about who was in the right.

Dashcam footage shows the view from a vehicle following a campervan along a scenic route from Lake Tekapo on New Zealand's South Island.

The three-minute clip was posted on YouTube by a user called 'stenly' last month and has since amassed 67,000 views.

The infuriated couple who filmed the video claim the driver of the campervan was travelling at between 40 and 45km/h and did not want to be passed over.

A video that shows a campervan appearing to repeatedly prevent a driver from overtaking has sparked an online debate about who was in the right

When the driver attempted to overtake, they said their path was crossed by the campervan veering across the centre line and almost caused a crash.

'We were heading from Lake Tekapo by Breamer Road towards campsites and this driver  not sure why  just does not allow us to overtake him,' the caption explains.

'Our way was crossed by his vehicle at the beginning of maneuver [sic].

'This almost caused an accident and us ending up in a ditch.'

The user added this was 'not normal' considering the conditions were perfect and there was no traffic along the route.

'Welcome to South Island, how is [it] possible to have somebody like this driving such a big campervan?' they asked.

Dashcam footage shows the view from a vehicle following a campervan along a scenic route from Lake Tekapo on New Zealand's South Island

The video claims the driver of the campervan was travelling at between 40 and 45km/hour

The video sparked a fierce debate  but many of the commenters agreed that the campervan was being driven dangerously.

'I seriously can't believe people are commenting that this driving is perfectly fine and normal,' one person wrote.

'No bloody wonder there is a problem on our roads if people don't see a problem with this absolutely inconsiderate and dangerous driving.'

Hamish Webb added: 'This is bad even by New Zealand's standards.'

But some defended the driver of the campervan, assuming he must be a tourist or unfamiliar with driving a large vehicle.

Many agreed that the campervan driver was behaving in a dangerous manner but some claimed he may have been unfamiliar with New Zealand's roads

'Honestly, it doesn't look like he's trying to prevent you from passing over, he just looks very clumsy and scared of driving maybe he's not even aware of you following behind,' Raffaelo Vivaldi wrote.

While Megan McDowell, who says she lives three hours from Lake Tekapo said the type of driving shown in the video is common  but blames it on visitors to the country, not locals.

'This is the sort of driving that happens every single day,' she said.

'More than once an hour. But nothing gets done about it.

'Multiple crashes, people stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures in a 100km area. People driving down the wrong side of the road.'




Police are offering a $1 million reward in a bid to solve the 1998 murder of a 16-year-old girl whose body was found in an Adelaide Plains creek.

South Australian authorities have revealed new details about Heather Turner's movements before her disappearance almost 20 years ago as part of a full review into the cold case.

The teenager was last seen by her best friend Kali Edmonds about 1pm on January 16 and never returned home that day.

Her fully-clothed body was found two weeks later in a creek at Port Gawler.

Heather Turner (pictured right, and left, with her best friend Kali Edmonds) vanished and was found in a creek in 1998

And Ms Edmonds has now revealed the last words she said to her friend before she disappeared.

Now 35, she said had given Heather a hug as they stood at the Semaphore foreshore before telling her: 'See you tonight.'

The pair had met up to chat while Ms Edmonds kept an eye on her siblings, she told The Advertiser reported.

Heather had left saying she was going to her home in Largs Bay and although her friend had asked to go with her, she refused.

'I pleaded to go with her because I didn't have anything else on for the day, but she was adamant she'd be fine and wouldn't be long,' Ms Edmonds said.

Police believe the teenager was murdered at an unknown location before her body was moved to the Port Gawler area several days before her remains were found.

South Australia Police are offering a $1million reward in a bid to solve the 1998 murder

Heather was found fully-clothed by the Tweety Bird bag (like the one pictured) she had with her was never recovered by police

A suspect has been interviewed, but there has been insufficient evidence to proceed with the matter, police said.

The community has provided information to police over the past 19 years allowing officers to establish her movements in the days leading up to her death.

Detective Brevet Sergeant Shaun Osborn said the announcement of the reward had led to people coming forward with information about the case.

'Heather was drifting around, but at the time of her disappearance she was a vulnerable young person who was stabilising back into family life,' he said.

A suspect has been interviewed, but there has been insufficient evidence to proceed with the matter, police said. Above, Heather as a child

The community has provided information to police over the past 19 years allowing officers to establish her movements in the days leading up to her death

'She'd been through a rebellious period, which had been difficult for her family, but things were improving.

'Heather's murder had a terrible impact on her family.'

He added that police know that she left a house in Ashton Road, Davoren Park, in a car on January 19.

At the house, police say she had been with 'friends of friends.'

'We're confident she left Ashton Road willingly and alive and we believe several people know what happened to her from there,' Detective Osborn said.

Heather's body was found dressed in the clothes she had been wearing when she said goodbye to her best friend on January 16.

But the Tweety Bird shoulder bag she had with her was missing and has never been recovered by police.

Anyone with any information about the murder of Heather Turner is asked to call Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1800 333 000 or report online here.

A reward of up to $1 million is offered for information in this case leading to the apprehension/conviction of the person or people responsible for Heather's murder.
After a two-week hiatus, Alec Baldwin returned to portray President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live  the first time he has done so since the inauguration on January 20.

In a spoof of the new presidents first two weeks in office, the shows cold open shows Trump phoning the prime minister of Australia, the president of Mexico, the chancellor of Germany, and the president of Zimbabwe  with the Grim Reaper (Steve Bannon) by his side in the Oval Office.

The skit begins with an aide to Trump telling his boss - wearing a Russian flag pin on his lapel - that hes about to go home for the night.

How do you like working at the White House? Trump asks. Are your parents proud?

After a two-week hiatus, Alec Baldwin returned to portray President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live  the first time he has done so since the inauguration on January 20

President Donald Trump is spoofed on Saturday Night Live along with his chief strategist, Steve Bannon (right), played by the Grim Reaper

I tell them I work at Applebees, he said.

Trump then inquires about his daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner.

He tells the aide that 'they always keep me so calm and make sure i don't do anything too crazy.'

When Trump is told that they do not work on the Jewish Sabbath, he says: 'When the Jews are away, the goys will play.'

Trump is then joined in the Oval Office by 'Steve Bannon,' portrayed by the Grim Reaper.

After Trump tells 'Bannon' that he has had a long day, he picks up the phone and calls Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, played by cast member Beck Bennett.

'I hear there's been a lot of blowback over your Muslim ban,' Turnbull tells Trump.

'No there wasn't,' Trump says. 'Everyone loves it. We had to do it because of that huge massacre at Bowling Green.'

That was a reference to Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway's false claim that refugees were responsible for a massacre at Bowling Green even though that never happened.

The skit begins with an aide to Trump telling his boss that hes about to go home for the night. How do you like working at the White House? Trump asks. Are your parents proud?

I tell them I work at Applebees, the aide said before Trump calls in 'Bannon'

With Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner not working due to the Jewish Sabbath, Trump and 'Bannon' are left to their own devices

When Turnbull told Trump that he had never heard of it, Trump said: 'It was horrible. So many people died, but they're the lucky ones. They don't have to see how bad The Apprentice has gotten.'

That joke was in reference to Trump's remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this week taunting Arnold Schwarzenegger for his ratings on the latest version of the show once hosted by Trump.

Turnbull then thanks Trump for honoring the agreement made by his predecessor to accept 1,200 refugees  to which a stunned Trump replied: Homey say what?

'Your compassion will not be forgotten,' the Australian leader tells Trump.

The president then replies: 'No, no, no.'

'America first, Australia sucks, prepare to go to war,' Trump tells Turnbull before hanging up.

When Trump asks 'Bannon' if 'the call was bad,' the advisor gives his approval.

'No, it went just according to plan,' he says.

After Trump tells 'Bannon' that he has had a long day, he picks up the phone and calls Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, played by cast member Beck Bennett

'I hear there's been a lot of blowback over your Muslim ban,' Turnbull tells Trump.

'No there wasn't,' Trump says. 'Everyone loves it. We had to do it because of that huge massacre at Bowling Green'

When Turnbull told Trump that he had never heard of it, Trump said: 'It was horrible. So many people died, but they're the lucky ones. They don't have to see how bad The Apprentice has gotten'

Turnbull then thanks Trump for honoring the agreement made by his predecessor to accept 1,200 refugees  to which a stunned Trump replied: Homey say what?

Trump then dials up Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and tries to trick him into paying for the wall along the southern border.

'I've figured out a smart diplomatic way to get them to pay for this wall,' Trump boasts.

When Pena Nieto, played by Alex Moffat, answers the phone, Trump says: 'Guy who's gonna pay for the wall says what?'

A perplexed Pena Nieto replies: 'Que?'

Trump then repeats himself and receives the same reply.

Finally, Pena Nieto says: 'You say what, you're going to pay for the wall.'

Trump is seen telephoning the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto (played on the right by Alex Moffat), and trying to trick him into paying for the wall along the southern border

When Pena Nieto, played by Alex Moffat, answers the phone, Trump says: 'Guy who's gonna pay for the wall says what?'

Trump then repeats himself and receives the same reply. Finally, Pena Nieto says: 'You say what, you're going to pay for the wall'

An exasperated Trump then ends the conversation by saying: 'Loser. Bad hombre. Here come our tanks. We're gonna go to war.'

Trump then calls German Chancellor Angela Merkel, played by Kate McKinnon.

When a terrified Merkel picks up the phone, she says: 'Hello, is this my sweet Barack? I miss you, Barack.'

'No, it's Donald Trump,' the president replies.

Merkel then says: 'Gross.'

When Merkel asks Trump if protesters are still marching in the street in the US, Trump says: 'Yes, everyone is marching in the street. They're upset about how bad The Apprentice has gotten.'

Trump then proceeds to tell Merkel about controversial events of the past few days.

'Last week it was Holocaust Remembrance Day. And, as you know, 6 million people... were at my inauguration,' the president says.

Trump also phones German Chancellor Angela Merkel (right), played by Kate McKinnon

A petrified Merkel begins the conversation by asking if Barack Obama was calling, saying: 'I miss you, Barack'

'No, it's Donald Trump,' the president says, to which the German chancellor replies: 'Gross'

When Merkel asks Trump if protesters are still marching in the street in the US, Trump says: 'Yes, everyone is marching in the street. They're upset about how bad The Apprentice has gotten'

Trump then proceeds to tell Merkel about controversial events of the past few days. 'Last week it was Holocaust Remembrance Day. And, as you know, 6 million people... were at my inauguration,' the president says

The joke was in reference to the statement released by the White House commemorating the victims of the Holocaust without any mention of the 6 million Jews who perished - a move criticized by many

When an indignant Trump blames the media for not reporting the '6 million people' who attended his inauguration, he then goes on to say that he'll write a memoir about his 'struggle.' 'I'll call it My Struggle,' he says to a horrified Merkel

The joke was in reference to the statement released by the White House commemorating the victims of the Holocaust without any mention of the 6 million Jews who perished - a move criticized by many.

When an indignant Trump blames the media for not reporting the '6 million people' who attended his inauguration, he then goes on to say that he'll write a memoir about his 'struggle.'

'I'll call it My Struggle,' he says to a horrified Merkel.

'How do you say that in German?' Trump asks, the reference being to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

'Why don't you call some random little country and show them who's boss,' Trump is told by 'Bannon.' At that point, Trump phones Zimbabwean ruler Robert Mugabe (right, played by Kenan Thompson)

When Trump tells Mugabe, 'There's a new sheriff in town,' the Zimbabwean ruler fights back

'I will rip out your spine and drink from your skull,' Mugabe tells him

'You cannot even walk downstairs you little white b****. Don't you ever call Zimbabwe again,' Mugabe says

Trump then abruptly ends the phone call with Merkel, telling her: 'Germany sucks, your wall failed, prepare to go to war.'

Trump then tries another tactic to get Pena Nieto to pay for the border wall.

'Congratulations, you've just won a free cruise for two to Hawaii,' Trump tells the Mexican president.

'We just need your country's credit card number.'

'We're not paying for the wall, Donald,' Pena Nieto says before hanging up.

'Why don't you call some random little country and show them who's boss,' Trump is told by 'Bannon.'

The sketch ends with Trump vacating the desk to 'President Bannon'

The president then sits down at a smaller desk while 'Bannon' occupies the bigger chair - a nod to criticism that Trump has given Bannon extraordinary powers on key matters of national security

Trump then plays with a kid's toy, exclaiming: 'This is so much fun. I love it'

That's when Trump decided to phone Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, played by Kenan Thompson.

When Trump tells Mugabe, 'There's a new sheriff in town,' the Zimbabwean ruler fights back.

'I will rip out your spine and drink from your skull,' Mugabe tells him.

'You cannot even walk downstairs you little white b****.'

'Don't you ever call Zimbabwe again.'

The sketch ends with Trump vacating the desk to 'President Bannon.'

The president then sits down at a smaller desk while 'Bannon' occupies the bigger chair - a nod to criticism that Trump has given Bannon extraordinary powers on key matters of national security.

'That's enough fun for tonight,' the Grim Reaper tells Trump. 'Can i have my desk back?'

'Yes, of course, Mr President, i'll go sit at my desk,' Trump tells Bannon.

Trump then plays with a kid's toy, exclaiming: 'This is so much fun. I love it.'
Millennials are under too much pressure to succeed but don't have the life skills to cope with the real world, an expert claims.

Simon Sinek, 43, whose observations about the much-maligned generation went viral last month, said their sheltered upbringing was holding them back.

'I feel for this generation. The pressures on this it to achieve are much greater than previous generations,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'They grow up watching people like Mark Zuckerberg become billionaires in their 20s and that becomes the standard.

Simon Sinek said millennials were under too much pressure to succeed but don't have the life skills to cope with the real world because they were 'coddled' by their parents.

The business consultant made headlines saying millennials were perceived as 'entitled, narcissistic, self-interested, unfocused and lazy' - but it wasn't their fault.

Millions of people watched his interview with Inside Quest where he explained why many bosses are frustrated with their youngest employees.

He said the response was overwhelmingly positive, with millennials themselves saying they felt he understood them and made them feel less alone.

A very small minority of millennials said I was millennial bashing but nothing could be further from the truth  if anything I was coming to their defence,' he said.

'They grow up watching people like Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) become billionaires in their 20s and that becomes the standard,' he said

'Theyve been called entitled and lazy and I was saying have empathy and try to understand.'

Every generation is affected by whatever is going on in the world during their formative years. If you grew up during the war youll be more miserly. This one has been affected by technology more than any other.

Mr Sinek laid the blame at the environment they grew up in, particularly parenting styles that convince them they are special and can do anything but leave them unprepared for the realities of the real world.

He said their 'helicopter' parents did far more for them than previous generations, which did not teach them to be self-sufficient.

The unintended consequence of coddling is that young people dont learn to be resourceful and independent,' he said.

The business consultant made headlines last month saying millennials were perceived as 'entitled, narcissistic, self-interested, unfocused and lazy', but it wasn't their fault.

Mr Sinek said millenials were 'coddled' by their parents who did so much for them they didn't learn to be resourceful and independent

This not only included doing homework for them, but filling out job applications and even calling employers to complain if they didn't get the job.

Mr Sinek heard about a U.S. university student who offered the excuse of 'my parents didn't wake me' when he was late to work.

He said the man's parents had a webcam in his dorm room they checked every morning to make sure he was up in time for class or work. If he was asleep they would call him until he woke up.

I thought "you have to be kidding me", but this is a real story,' he said.

These traits inherited from their upbringing created the 'entitlement' their bosses perceived in them and were struggling to manage at work.

Mr Sinek said employers regularly told him millennials felt they deserved a promotion after a year in their first job or wanted to clock off at 5pm no matter what

Mr Sinek heard about a U.S. university student who offered the excuse of 'my parents didn't wake me' when he was late to work, as his parents watched him on a webcam

Mr Sinek said employers regularly told him millennials felt they deserved a promotion after a year in their first job or wanted to clock off at 5pm no matter what.

Though he stressed work-life balance was important, and often underappreciated by older generations, the 'pendulum has swung too far' in that direction among millennials.

He told a story about his former assistant who was responsible for managing his calendar, and one week hadnt put anything in it for Monday even though he knew he was travelling, so he called her on the weekend to ask.

'Before she answered my question she said oh Ive been meaning to talk to you about this  if youre going to call me on weekends were going to have to talk about additional compensation",' he recalled.

'She said, "its important for me to separate work and personal life. Maybe if she did her job we wouldnt have to have that conversation.'

Beyond the frustrations of employers, he saw disturbing trends like rise in suicide rates, accidental death, depression, and self-medication in millennials

However, he noted some positive traits millennials possessed, such as being more opened minded and willing to speak out when things needed to change

But beyond the frustrations of employers, he saw disturbing trends like rise in suicide rates, accidental death, depression, and self-medication in millennials.

Mr Sinek recalled a friend he was working with took an Adderall at 3pm because she was having trouble concentrating, even though most people everyone start to lose focus around that time.

Shes grown up in this world of intense need to succeed, she thought her inability to concentrate was because she was broken and there was something wrong with her brain,' he said.

'But we all struggle and its OK to not be able to focus every minute of every day.'

Mr Sinek also said millennials' fixation on mobile phones and social media was troubling, and needed to be recognised and treated as a real addiction.

'We have age restrictions on alcohol, tobacco and gambling but none on mobile phones or social media,' he said.

Mr Sinek also said millennials' fixation on mobile phones and social media was troubling, and needed to be recognised and treated as a real addiction

Mr Sinek claimed employers suffered from a lack of leadership skills needed to deal with millennial employees, and needed to set good examples.

However, he noted some positive traits millennials possessed, such as being more opened minded and willing to speak out when things needed to change.

They just do not care if you want to dress like a boy or a girl, its just not an issue,' he said.

I also love that they speak up, older people will put their head down and suffer through a toxic work environment for 20 years.

Mr Sinek is touring Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland in March for a series of one-day leadership workshops through his company The Growth Faculty.
The founder of Alibaba and China's second richest man has labelled Australia as a 'gold mine' for its soil and fresh air.

Jack Ma is no stranger to finding the next big thing and at the opening of his Alibaba branch in Melbourne he said Australia's environment was 'unique'.

'Australia is a gold mine. The next gold mine,' Mr Ma said in Melbourne at the launch of his Australian branch.

'The clean water, the soil and the air, this is what you have, the most unique asset.'

Alibaba founder and China's second richest man Jack Ma opened a branch in Melbourne

With fresh air becoming a bespoke market in China the images shows a man inhaling fresh air

New Zealand air farmers currently use Alibaba to sell aerosol cans of fresh air for up to $25 to Chinese consumers, according to The Advertiser.

The air pollution in China is currently so severe that a blanket of smog the size of Victoria covered Beijing at the end of 2016.

The demand for bottled air has sky-rocketed with a Canadian start-up launching its online product and selling it for 100 Yuan - 33 more times expensive than a bottle of water.

Leo De Watts , 27, from Britain sells his bottles of air for $115 per jar and said he often has very specific requests for orders.

Beijing had a cloud of smog over the city the size of Victoria at the end of 2016

'Quite often a lot of our orders are bespoke - we have clients who request very particular circumstances for their air,' he explains in a video for his company.

With air pollution at a critical level in China, experts see Australia taking advantage of the lucrative market and selling air from the Blue Mountains, Bondi Beach and Yarra Valley.

Green and Clean company director John Dickinson said the consumption of fresh air is suppose to clean their lungs.

'A lot of people see the product as a supplement to clean their lungs out with fresh Australian air,' he said.

Alibaba - the world's largest retailer since 1999 - has opened up the opportunity for small businesses in Australia to sell their products to China.
French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron called on U.S. scientists who were 'afraid' and at odds with Donald Trump's administration to move to France.

The former economy minister urged U.S.-based scientists working on climate change, renewable energy or health issues to seek refuge across the Atlantic on Saturday.

He offered his homeland up to the inventive minds who were wary of the new political situation, so they could help rebuild a more innovative France.

French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron called on U.S. scientists at odds with Donald Trump's administration to move to France on Saturday

Macron, one of the front runners in the upcoming French presidential election, said: 'I want all those who today embody innovation and excellence in the United States to hear what we say: from now on, from next May, you will have a new homeland, France.'

Rogue Twitter feeds voicing employee concerns at more than a dozen U.S. government agencies have been launched in defiance of what they say are Trump's attempts to muzzle federal climate change research and other science.

Representing scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and other bureaus, either directly or through friends and supporters, the accounts protest restrictions they view as censorship since Trump took office on Jan. 20.

Without naming Trump in his campaign speech in the southeastern city of Lyon, Macron, a former investment banker, said his 'solemn call' was meant to all 'researchers, academics and companies in the United States fighting obscurantism and who are afraid today', to join the land of innovation he wants France to be.

Without naming Trump in his campaign speech, Macron, a former investment banker, said his 'solemn call' was meant to all 'researchers, academics and companies in the United States fighting obscurantism and who are afraid today

Macron also had another thinly veiled dig at Trump's intention to build a wall along the Mexico border, and said: 'I don't want to build a wall. I can assure you there's no wall in my program'

Macron's campaign for the Elysee palace has been given a fillip by a scandal over fake pay embroiling his main rival, conservative Francois Fillon, and the nomination of a hard-left candidate to represent the ruling Socialist party.

The 39-year old is now seen reaching the election's crucial second round runoff in May and beating far-right leader Marine Le Pen by a comfortable margin, according to a number of opinion polls published this past week.

Macron also had a thinly veiled dig at Trump's intention to build a wall along the Mexico border, comparing it to France's Maginot Line, which in 1940 failed to keep Nazi invaders out of France.

'I don't want to build a wall. I can assure you there's no wall in my program,' he told about 8,000 cheering supporters. 'Can you remember the Maginot Line?'
Victoria Cross recipient Johnson Beharry was delayed for three hours at JFK Airport in New York

A British war hero was left 'humiliated' by US immigration officials during Donald Trumps immigration clampdown as he had an Iraqi stamp in his passport.

Victoria Cross recipient Johnson Beharry was delayed for three hours at JFK Airport in New York as staff scrutinsed his passport.

Beharry was on route to a charity event, that was once backed by Donald Trump, on January 27 where he was to be a guest of honour.

The 37-year-old has since spoke of his anger about being treated by security staff with 'suspicion' of being terrorist despite fighting alongside US troops in the last Iraq war and gaining the highest military decoration for valour in the British and Commonwealth forces.

Speaking on Saturday he said: 'I felt humiliated. I think they held me because my passport showed I'd been to Iraq.

'Maybe I am a bit Asian-looking but that doesn't mean I should be treated with the same suspicion as a terrorist. I explained that I had been in Iraq fighting for the British army but they didn't seem to care.

The highly decorated soldier Beharry meeting with the Queen in 2014

'The officials only let me in when I kicked up a fuss.'

Beharry also told of the chaos that greeted non-US citizens as they entered the country during Trump's ban on people on from seven Muslim majority nations.

'We were separated into two queues - people from the US and those who weren't. The Americans sailed through while we just waited.

'One immigration official started pulling out Middle-Eastern looking passengers. We kept asking what was going on but they wouldn't tell us.'

The former soldier, who was wounded after a rocket propelled grenade was detonated close to his face in Iraq in 2004, ended up missing the event organised by Sean Connery which features a fashion show in aid of war veterans.

He told the Sun on Sunday that he became very 'grumpy' with the long wait and that due to his injuries sustained fighting for his country he gets back pain when he stands for long periods of time.

Johnson, who moved to the UK from the Caribbean island of Grenada in 1999, reached the front of the airport queue at 10:30pm, two and half hours after his plane from Gatwick had landed.

But as he approached the airport booth he was told by an official to go to the back of queue of about 800 non-US citizens.

The war hero then had to wait for another 30 minutes before the man returned from other duties called him to his booth, where he faced questions on his time in Iraq.

A Donald Trump supporter talks with police at an airport demonstration

'He stared at my passport for ten minutes. I kept reiterating that I wasn't from Iraq. But again he didn't say anything.

'I was getting more and more angry. I was being treated with suspicion.

'At that moment I hated the place, the airport, New York. I was thinking of never coming back here if this is how they are going to treat me. I felt like a second rate citizen.'

Beharry was eventually allowed to pass but only after both his fingerprints were taken.

He dashed to for the High Line Hotel, where the event was being held, changed into his military uniform with his VC during the taxi journey but arrived to find the show had finished.

The executive order put in place by President Trump in late January sparked widespread condemnation at home and around the world.

Trump has since been locked in a legal battle over the legitimacy of the temporary ban, which restricts travel to the US from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq.

On Friday a judge in Seattle temporarily blocked enforcement of the ban, and the Department of Justice filed a notice to appeal against the ruling in court which was rejected by the Court of Appeal early on Sunday morning.
Malcolm Turnbull has admitted that President Donald Trump 'would not have to honour' a deal to resettle refugees in the United States.

In a grilling interview on 60 Minutes, the Australian Prime Minister largely deflected questions about his first official phone call with the newly elected president.

'It's a deal that President Trump entered into, he would not have to honour it, but he has committed,' Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Turnbull has gone to great lengths to assure the public that the deal - which was settled by the Obama Administration - would still go forward under President Trump.

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Malcolm Turnbull has admitted that President Donald Trump 'would not have to honour' a deal to resettle refugees in the United States

In a grilling interview on 60 Minutes, the Australian Prime Minister largely deflected questions about his first official phone call with President Trump

Mr Turnbull went on to admit he has a 'very frank relationship' with President Trump, reiterating that their conversation was 'forthright' and 'ended courteously'.

'I've got nothing more to say about the phone call than that, it's very important for me to be disciplined, calm, and for me to pursue - in a very focused way - Australia's national interest,' he added.

Mr Turnbull asserted that Australia would not owe the United States anything in return for the deal to resettle roughly 1250 refugees stationed in Manus and Nauru.

'At the end of the day our two military establishments work very, very closely together, seamlessly, extremely closely together,' he said.

'Now, any further or varied or different military engagement is something that we assess on its merits.'

Mr Turnbull asserted that Australia would not owe the United States anything in return for the deal to resettle roughly 1250 refugees

Details of a heated conversation between President Trump and Mr Turnbull were leaked by the Washington Post on Friday. The pair clashed over a deal to resettle refugees

Details of Mr Turnbull and President Trump's phone call, leaked by the Washington Post, revealed that President Trump complained he was 'going to get killed' politically and said Australia was trying to ship the U.S the 'next Boston bombers'.

President Trump also reportedly fumed about the agreement to advisers soon after signing the executive order, saying 'I don't want these people'.

Australian and U.S. leaders spent the days since the call was made public trying to solidify the deal and patch up frayed relations between the staunch allies.

Mr Trump admitted the call was 'tough' and he repeatedly grilled his opposite number on why the deal was struck and the U.S. had to take Australian refugees.

'I love Australia as a country, but we had a problem,' Trump said, explaining how President Obama agreed to resettle '1,000 illegal immigrants who were in prisons.'

Mr Trump and Prime Minister Turnbull clashed over the deal in their first telephone call on Sunday, described as the president's worst call of the day 'by far'

He also said he was 'unbelievably disappointed' and 'extremely, extremely upset' by the deal, but slammed reports of the heated phone call.

'Thank you to the Prime Minister of Australia for telling the truth about our very civil conversation that FAKE NEWS media lied about,' Trump wrote in an early-morning tweet. 'Very nice.'

Dozens of U.S. and Australian politicians and experts have since weighed in to say while the report was embarrassing, the exchange wouldn't harm relations long term.

And on Sunday night Mr Turnbull agreed, claiming there had never been 'more public support for Australia' than there had been this week.

'We have seen dozens and dozens of congressmen and senators talking about the importance of the Australian alliance and talking about what a great friend we have always been to the United States. So this has been a very good week for Australia.'
The government's 60million probe into alleged abuse by British troops in Iraq should be scrapped immediately, a damning report by MPs is expected to say.

Tory backbencher Johnny Mercer, who is leading a parliamentary inquiry into Ihat, said he believed a 'rotten core' of civil servants had warped the purpose of the process.

The report is set to blame the Ministry of Defence for creating a system that allowed Phil Shiner, the disgraced human rights lawyer, to bring criminal cases against former soldiers on an 'industrial scale'.

The Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat) was established in 2010 to probe claims of abuse of civilians following the 2003 invasion

The Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat), which was established in 2010 to probe claims of abuse of civilians following the 2003 invasion, has been heavily criticised for leading a 'witch-hunt' and is estimated to have cost 36.3 million to date.

But the MoD has said it is obliged to investigate criminal allegations and the existence of Ihat keeps British soldiers from being hauled through international courts.

The Defence Sub-Committee's report on the support given to former and serving personnel who face legal proceedings is due to be published on February 15.

Since its launch there have been 3,392 cases lodged with Ihat, two thirds of which were brought by Shiner and his firm, Public Interest Lawyers (PIL).

The allegations against British military personnel have ranged from low-level mistreatment of civilians to claims of torture and murder.

Mr Shiner was finally struck off last week after a string of misconduct charges against him, including five of dishonesty, were found proven following a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearing.

There have been calls for the lawyer to face criminal prosecution and the National Crime Agency is said to be reviewing evidence from the Legal Aid Authority.

Among its findings, the parliamentary report is expected to question why PIL was paid by Ihat to help it with its inquiries.

It will also criticise the MoD for paying the firm more than 200,000 after Mr Shiner had been reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

Lawyer Phil Shiner was struck off last week

Mr Mercer, a former Army captain, told the newspaper: 'I have made my distaste for the methods and behaviour of Ihat - and the MoD's complicity in it - very obvious over the last year.

'The evidence has been clear and I look forward to publishing our report a week Wednesday.

'I am pretty clear where the problems lie.

'There is a rotten core of civil servants in the MoD who have made decisions without ministers or military input, and have in the process demonstrated a disturbing lack of understanding or respect for the more subtle qualities that bind an army together and make men fight for each other or a cause.

'Things have improved this year but, prior to my investigation, there was no heed whatsoever paid to how this process has affected our people. That is a deep regret of mine.'

The report is expected to call for Ihat, which is made up of mostly civilian investigators, to be replaced by a team from the military police.

An MoD spokeswoman said: 'The Government is legally obliged to investigate criminal allegations and the courts are clear that if Ihat did not exist, British troops could be dragged through international courts.

'We're committed to reducing Ihat's caseload to a small number of credible cases as quickly as possible.

'We are determined to stop spurious legal claims against our troops and tackle the likes of Phil Shiner, who have abused our legal system.

'The Defence Secretary insisted that the MoD submit evidence on Shiner's actions due to the distress he caused to soldiers. That led to Shiner being struck off. Now we are taking steps to ensure this abuse cannot happen in the future.'
Britain's most senior immigration judge has criticised taxpayer-funded lawyers of being 'cavalier and unprofessional' in helping a child sex-grooming gang avoid deportation from the UK.

Mr Justice Bernard McCloskey launched the damning attack in response to an appeal made by the Rochdale sex gang against the decision of then-Home Secretary Theresa May in 2012 to strip them of their British citizenship and deport them.

Paedophile Shabir Ahmed, 63 - the ringleader of the Rochdale gang - wrote to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to appeal against his impending deportation from the UK.

Three other men convicted in the case, Abdul Aziz, Adil Khan and Abdul Rauf, are also appealing against being stripped of their citizenship.

Paedophile Shabir Ahmed, 63 - the ringleader of the Rochdale gang (left) and Taxi driver Abdul Aziz, 41, (right) are both appealing the decision to strip them of their citizenship

Mr Justice Bernard McCloskey launched the damning attack about the gang's solicitors, Nottingham-based firm Burton and Burton, in an immigration tribunal

Justice McCloskey made the comments about the gang's solicitors, Nottingham-based firm Burton and Burton, in an immigration tribunal.

Ahmed was convicted in 2012 of being the ringleader of a group of Asian men who preyed on girls as young as 13 in Rochdale, plying them with drink and drugs before they were 'passed around' for sex.

His case sparked fears about how foreign criminals are trying to exploit human rights laws to remain in the country.

Ahmed was given a 19-year sentence at Liverpool Crown Court in May 2012 for a string of child sex offences, including rape.

He was also jailed for 22 years, to run concurrently, in July 2012 for 30 rapes against another victim.

Burton and Burton are funded by the taxpayer via legal aid, with their fees reported to be 50 to 70 an hour, according to the Telegraph.

Three other men convicted in the case, including Abdul Rauf (left) and Adil Khan (right), are also appealing against being stripped of their citizenship

Justice McCloskey said: 'The conduct of these appeals has been cavalier and unprofessional. The rule of law has been weakened in consequence.'

The judge also threatened the legal team with disciplinary action, warning them their actions could be in contempt of court.

He added: 'Scarce judicial and administrative resources have been wasted in dealing with repeated unmeritorious requests by the Appellants solicitors for an adjournment.'

Kabeer Hassan, 25, was sentenced to nine years for rape and conspiracy (left) while taxi driver Abdul Huk was found guilty of sexual activity with a child and was jailed for four years

Taxi driver Rauf, 47, a father-of-five, was released on licence in 2015 after serving half of a six-year sentence for trafficking a girl, aged 15, in the UK for sex, and for having sex with the youngster himself.

Rauf, who also acted as a religious studies teacher at a mosque in Rochdale, burst into tears, and through his Urdu interpreter asked the immigration tribunal for 'mercy' and that he 'wanted a second chance'.

Ahmed, known as Daddy, previously took his case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) claiming that his all-white jury was biased  a breach of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, guaranteeing a fair trial.

But judges in Strasbourg unanimously threw out his case, insisitng that there was 'simply no proof' jurors acted improperly.

They dismissed the claim as 'manifestly ill-founded'.
Four Perth women were abducted and raped by Australia's worst serial killer couple in the 1980s.

Catherine and David Birnie were only caught when their fifth victim, Kate Moir, escaped from the sadistic killers' home in south-west Perth in 1986.

Ms Moir was just 17 when she was kidnapped, shackled to a bed in chains and repeatedly raped after the 'very drunk' teenager accepted a lift home from the killers after a night out with friends.

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Kate Moir was just 17 when she was kidnapped by Catherine and David Birnie. She was the pair's fifth victim, but was the only one to escape

Catherine Birnie (pictured) and her partner David are Australia's worst serial killer couple

The Birnies were sentenced to life in prison. David (pictured) hanged himself in a West Australian jail cell in 2005

Ms Moir, now 47, has revealed the harrowing details of her ordeal in her first television interview with Channel Seven's Murder Uncovered.

After accepting the ride home and sensing danger, she asked the couple if they were going to kill or rape her.

The sickening reply was: 'We'll only rape you if you're good.'

Ms Moir recalled the killer couple used code words to signal they had found their next victim.

Ms Moir was just 17 when she was kidnapped, shackled to a bed in chains and repeatedly raped

David Birnie is led from court in handcuffs in 1987. His body was found hanging in a cell in Casuarina prison, south of Perth, in 2005

'I remember hearing, ''have you got the munchies?"' she said. 'David was the puppet, Catherine was the puppeteer.

'She gave the tick of approval. She would say ''I've got the munchies'', which meant ''you can have this one''.

'You know you're going to die but you don't acknowledge that to yourself, you just live it,' she said.

Ms Moir managed to escape through a window and ran for her life - unaware the couple had already killed four young women.

Four Perth women were abducted and raped by Australia's worst serial killer couple (pictured)

The pair murdered Sussannah Candy, 15, Denise Brown, 21, Mary Neilson, 22, and Noelene Patterson, 31 in the weeks prior to Ms Moir's abduction.

Ms Moir alerted authorities and the Birnies were sentenced to life in prison.

David hanged himself in a West Australian jail cell in 2005.

But Catherine could be freed within a matter of weeks, with her case set to be reviewed in the coming months.

Paul Ferguson, a retired detective, told Seven News it would be an outrage if she was released.

Paul Ferguson, a retired detective, said it would be an outrage if Catherine was ever released

The Birnies murdered Sussannah Candy, 15, Denise Brown, 21, Mary Neilson, 22, and Noelene Patterson, 31 in the weeks prior to Ms Moir's abduction

'If that woman had an ounce of decency she would have made some effort or showed remorse,' he said.

'This woman does not deserve one day of freedom.'

But Birnie's barrister, Simon Watters, said she has been rehabilitated and will cause no threat to the community.

'One can reasonably assume she's been rehabilitated so it's hard to see why - putting public pressure to one side - she would not be considered for parole.'

Murder Uncovered premieres on Channel Seven on Wednesday at 9pm.
Dozens of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan were killed, including women and children, after heavy snow and avalanches buried remote villages over the weekend.

In eastern Afghanistan, at least 50 people died and tens more were missing on Sunday after an avalanche buried a village in Nuristan, provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayum said.

'Based on information from district officials, 50 dead bodies have been recovered and the number may increase,' he said.

Afghan tea vendor Imran, 15, prepares tea for customers on a hillside during snowfall near Qargha Lake on the outskirts of Kabul on February 4

An Afghan man walks with a donkey as they head to collect water in Kabul, on January 27, 2017

At least five other deaths from collapsed roofs were reported elsewhere in Nuristan.

In the northern province of Badakhshan, over the past two days as many as 19 people were killed and 17 injured by avalanches, collapsed roofs and road accidents, said Naweed Frotan, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

The government was working to reach at least 12 districts in Badakhshan that had been completely cut off, he said.

Heavy snow also blanketed the Afghan capital of Kabul, where the government closed its offices on Sunday.

The government declared a public holiday due to the heavy snowfall.

In neighbouring Pakistan, at least 13 people, including children, were killed by an avalanche in the northern Chitral district, with more residents believed to still be trapped in collapsed houses.

Severe weather hits Pakistan every year, with avalanches in winter and flash floods in summer disrupting lives (FILE PHOTO)

Nizamud Shah, the commander of Chitral Scouts force, said the avalanche struck the town of Chitral late Saturday.

He said rescuers have retrieved 13 bodies and efforts are underway to reach any survivors

The avalanche struck a village of 25 houses, but evacuation operations were delayed by the weather, Chitral Deputy Commissioner Shahab Hameed Yousafzai.

'There is no way to rush the injured persons to Chitral hospital because all roads in the valley have been blocked due to heavy snowfall,' he said.

Rescue workers extract a car from under snow in Tajikistan that also experienced avalanches last week

In a separate incident in the Chitral region, a government rescue worker was killed when an avalanche struck a check post near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the commanding officer told Reuters.

The snow wreaked havoc on major roads in Afghanistan, including the Kabul-Kandahar Highway, where police and soldiers had to rescue around 250 cars and buses trapped by the storm, said Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for Ghazni province, where as much as two metres of new snow was reported.

'Fortunately we arrived on time and there is not a single casualty,' he said, noting that officials expected the road to reopen quickly.

The Salang pass north of Kabul was also closed under as much as two and a half metres of snow, according to police general Rajab Salangi, who oversees the area.

'It will remain blocked until the snow is cleared from the main road, facilities are provided and it is safe to travel,' he said.

Last week in Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan, a series of avalanches killed seven people.

At least five people on a highway linking the capital Dushanbe with Khujand, Tajikistan's second largest city, the emergency services committee said.
The Ministry of Defence was criticised last night for leaving Britain vulnerable to attack due to a series of equipment blunders.

New tanks are too big to fit in the planes that will get them to warzones and our ships and can be heard by Russian submarines 100 miles away, it has emerged.

Rear Admiral Chris Parry described the navy's Type 45 destroyers, which cost 1billion each, as sounding like 'a box of spanners' underwater.

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Rear Admiral Chris Parry described the navy's Type 45 destroyers, which cost 1billion each, as sounding like 'a box of spanners' underwater

He said they were 'noisy as hell' and slammed the MoD for not 'thinking about the anti-submarine element'.

They also suffer frequent engine problems which cause them to break down in warm seas despite being designed to function between 50C and -20C.

All six are having new diesel generators installed which involves cutting a hole in the side of the ships and will take around nine years.

Meanwhile, the Army's Ajax tanks, which cost 3.5bn in total, can't fit on board the A400m transport aircraft without needing to be dismantled.

This means they have to be accompanied by a crane which removes their five-tonne side plates to reduce their weight before the flight.

The Army's Ajax tanks, which cost 3.5bn in total, can't fit on board the A400m transport aircraft without needing to be dismantled

The A400m transport aircraft which cannot fit the Ajax tank without it being altered by a crane before the flight

The Army's 54 Watchkeeper reconnaissance drones, which were ordered at a cost of 1.2bn 12 years ago, have still not entered full service due to technical glitches.

And concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of nine new P-8 Poseidon aircraft, which the MoD is considering buying for 2.6billion from the US.

They hunt for enemy submarines by dropping buoys in the sea but reports doubt if the sensor systems on board work properly and they could be vulnerable to cyber attack.

The navy also proposed 13 new Type 26 frigates, but this figure has fallen to eight after navy chiefs increased their cost by insisting a Chinook helicopter should be able to land on deck.

Parry, a former Ministry of Defence (MoD) director of operational capability, said the navy had made a grave mistake with the Type 45 destroyers, which are vulnerable to Russia's new Kilo-class submarines, dubbed the Black Hole due to their silence.

Concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of nine new P-8 Poseidon aircraft, which the MoD is considering buying for 2.6billion from the US

The Army's 54 Watchkeeper reconnaissance drones, which were ordered at a cost of 1.2bn 12 years ago, have still not entered full service due to technical glitches

He told the Sunday Times: 'We used to put little wooden wedges between the hatchclips and the hatches in my destroyer to stop them rattling so we could keep the noise down.'

'We have forgotten all about it  it's crazy. Noise suppression has been probably the biggest dirty secret since the end of the Cold War that people have been cheerfully ignoring.'

General Sir Richard Barrons urged the government to 're-bench' the armed forces in the face of a resurgent Russia, as experts warned the 'multimillion-pound blackhole' in funding has not been filled.

An MOD spokesperson did not comment directly on the blunders but said: 'Britain's defence budget is the biggest in Europe and it is growing every year, we are investing 178 billion as the UK steps up globally.

'We are focused on maintaining an affordable programme and getting the best value for the taxpayer to deliver the cutting-edge kit our Armed Forces need to keep Britain safe.'
A police sting in Sydney unravelled an alleged drug smuggling network stretching from the United States to Australia.

Police were able to bust an alleged Sydney-based cocaine smuggler going by the moniker of 'Dr Octopus 88' by texting him from his alleged accomplice's phone.

Roberto Zalapa, 31, was arrested in Potts Point after police intercepted a 16kg cocaine shipment, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Police claim they were able to catch Roberto Zalapa, a.k.a. 'Dr Octopus 88,' after arresting an alleged accomplice, Bennet Schwartz (pictured) and taking control of his mobile phone

Australian Federal Police seized cocaine (pictured), which led to charges against Schwartz

The NSW Supreme Court heard details from the police investigation into the drug smuggling operation last Monday.

In court, police claimed they were able to catch Zalapa after arresting an alleged accomplice, Rio Tinto executive Bennet Schwartz, and taking control of his mobile phone.

Schwartz was arrested on September 2 after his computer ID address was allegedly linked to the monitoring of shipments of cocaine that were smuggled from the US in the post, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The next day, police began using Schwartz's Blackberry phone to communicate with 'Dr Octopus.'

Owen Hanson, 35, was charged by federal US prosecutors over alleged drug smuggling

Police claimed they identified Zalapa as 'Dr Octopus' after he was allegedly observed dropping $40,000 in cash into the back of an unmarked police car near a Bondi Junction shopping centre, believing the vehicle belonged to Schwartz.

On September 8, police intercepted the 16kg cocaine shipment at a Newcastle home, and arrested Zalapa shortly afterwards.

Before his arrest, Zalapa allegedly texted Schwartz's phone, writing: 'We have a massive problem here. Guy waiting at address was picked up by police.'

Police alleged a cocaine shipment over which Schwartz was charged was linked to a Double Bay man, Jonathan Fagan, who is accused of smuggling 160kg of cocaine into Australia with the help of a US man, Owen Hanson.

A lawyer representing Zalapa and Fagan, Paul McGirr, declined to comment to the Daily Telegraph, but said both men would contest the charges against them.
Theresa May, pictured attending church with husband Philip today, is facing a tough battle against rebels in the Commons and Lords

Theresa May is facing a bitter fight for Brexit this week with up to 27 Tory MPs ready to back moves to water down the historic EU Bill.

Conservative rebels are said to be plotting with Labour, the SNP and Liberal Democrats to pass key amendments to the legislation in the Commons.

The scale of the opposition has emerged as the parliamentary battle over Brexit enters a new attritional phase.

MPs have tabled more than 140 pages of amendments to the Bill - which is just 137 words long. There will be a series of clashes in the Commons next week after the Speaker selects which changes will be voted on.

Dissenters are hoping they will be able to force the PM to seek early approval from parliament for any deal struck with the EU - raising the prospect that MPs could strike it down and send her back to renegotiate.

Former ministers Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve are among those considering voting to modify the legislation - alongside Europhile Ken Clarke who was the lone Tory rebel at second reading.

Ms Soubry told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show: 'The PM has been absolutely clear. If she gets a deal she will be back to the House of Commons - in fact both chambers - and there will be votes, and rightly so.

'But if there is no deal then the Government will determine what happens next. I think it should it come into Parliament. I don't know why people are so fearful of that.'

But pro-Leave Tories condemned the objections as a backdoor way of derailling Brexit.

Steve Baker claimed there were as many as 27 Tory MPs who could vote with the opposition.

'This is a time to unite behind a democratic result not plot to repudiate it. Any vote to amend this simple Bill is a vote against implementation of the referendum result,' the MP said.

That figure was dismissed as being far too high by the pro-Remain camp, but with a Government majority of just 16 in the Commons, the voting arithmetic may be tight.

There are also signs that Jeremy Corbyn will make another concession to his own pro-EU MPs by letting them abstain on the third reading of the Bill on Wednesday.

His allies believe the compromise could be the only way to stop the party's divisions becoming even more catastrophic.

The rearguard action against Brexit is likely to be even more fierce in the Lords, where the government does not have a majority and members are not answerable to voters.

Jeremy Corbyn was out and about at Finsbury Park Mosque to mark 'Visit My Mosque' day ahead of another tortuous week in parliament as the PM pushes through Brexit legislation

MPs overhwelmingly passed the EU Bill at second reading last week - but Europhiles are expected to try to water down the government's approach this week

A cross-party group of Europhiles calling themselves 'the Network' is said to be coordinating opposition to the government's plans in the upper chamber.

Former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown and Labour peers Peter Hain are among those involved, according to the Sunday Times.

Among the amendments they will be seeking when the Bill comes to the Lords next week will be a clause giving parliament an early vote on whatever deal is struck with the EU.

Tory former minister Lady Altmann signalled she would consider backing changes to the draft law.

'I am very concerned about the implications for jobs and the corporate landscape if we have seriously abandoned the idea of being members of the single market and the customs union,' she told the newspaper.

Focal points for rebels include guarantees that EU nationals already living in Britain will be allowed to stay, and ensuring there is not a 'hard' border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The rearguard action against Brexit is likely to be most fierce in the Lords, where the government does not have a majority and members are not answerable to voters

Former chancellor Lord Lamont said Mrs May should call a general election if peers 'obstruct' the Brexit process.

'In the end the Lords normally defer to the Commons after asking it to think again, maybe once, maybe twice or more ... the scope for mischief is there,' he wrote in The Sun on Sunday.

'If the Lords and the Commons in league with each other were to obstruct and thus sabotage the Government's timetable, it is obvious what the PM should do.

'She should immediately call a General Election in which she makes it clear first that we are definitely leaving the European Union and second that the House of Lords would be abolished.

'I would be sorry to see it go. In many ways it does a fine job. But if it over-reaches itself, its days will deservedly be numbered.'
The body of a British millionaire said to have been lured to his death by his Ukranian 'Black Widow' bride was sent back to the UK with his kidneys and liver missing, despite evidence suggesting he had been poisoned.

Barry Pring, 47, was mysteriously killed in a high speed, hit-and-run while flagging down a taxi on a motorway in Kiev in 2008, following dinner with his internet bride, former lap dancer Ganna Ziuzina.

An inquest into this death last month ruled the IT consultant was unlawfully killed and there was evidence suggesting Miss Ziuzina, who was 19 years his junior, arranged his brutal death to seize his 1.5million inheritance.

The body of Barry Pring, 47, pictured with wife Ganna Ziuzina, 38, was returned from Kiev to the UK with his liver and kidneys missing, amid questions over whether he was poisoned

Now further details have emerged, including that when his body was returned to the UK a week after his death, it was missing the kidneys and liver, and had been embalmed, meaning Barry's blood could not be tested.

The businessman had also asked for milk at the restaurant after complaining of a burning pain.



Barry's brother, Shaughan, 54, told The Sun on Sunday: 'It suggests they got rid of organs that could have shown up drugs.

'I also remember that woman [Barry's wife] asking me if the coroner would carry out another autopsy in Britain. She was obviously worried about it.'

The latest revelations about the case came to light just days after Mr Prings MP Neil Parish met Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to put pressure on the Ukrainian authorities.

Mr Parish said: I would like a British police force to take over the inquiry, but this is obviously difficult when the incident occurred in another state.

'Gold digger': Evidence heard at the inquest suggests Miss Ziuzina, who was 19 years younger than her husband, arranged his brutal death to seize his 1.5million assets

Boris Johnson has agreed to raise our request through the Foreign Office and his counterpart in Ukraine.

Shaughan, of Cullompton, Devon, said: If this could be agreed it would be a big step forward. No one has taken ownership of my brothers case.

British police have no jurisdiction, our Foreign Office has achieved little, and after nine years the Ukrainian police are no further forward.

Last week, Miss Ziuzina's former best friend Tatiana Pereklita claimed the former stripper had 'no love' for the businessman - and was not upset by his death.

'There was no love there. Anna [Ganna] just found a wealthy husband for herself,' Tatiana said.

'And Barry was not a young boy, he wanted to get married. I think both of them knew exactly what the other wanted.

'I knew Barry. He was a good man, very nice and polite. I attended their wedding and later we met each other in the same group of friends.'

Tatiana added: 'She [Ziuzina] just wanted his money. She thought of him as just an old bloke in love with her whom she could use.'

The inquest heard that Barry was allegedly tricked into standing by a busy dual carriageway following a boozy dinner with his wife and was killed instantly by a car travelling at up to 80mph, without its lights on and carrying stolen number-plates.

The car did not apply its breaks. Barry was pinned and dragged against the barrier for 100ft.

The family of Barry Pring believe that his wife, Ghanna Ziuzina, was involved in his death

Barry, originally from Devon, owned five properties and was worth an estimated 1.5million. His assets are currently frozen under a High Court order.

His wife did not attend his inquest, asserting that she had nothing to say.

The inquest also heard from Barry's best friend, lawyer Peter Clifford, who told the court that he was sure Anna was involved in his death.

He said: 'There is no reasonable doubt in my mind that Barry was murdered. Nor is there any doubt that [Ghanna] arranged for, or was complicit in his murder.'

Mr Clifford described his friend as 'hopelessly under her control' and 'infatuated' but said that the wedding celebrations were 'unnatural and false'.

When out for dinner on another occasion with the couple, Mr Clifford said Ziuzina had told him: 'Local police are corrupt and if one pays them, one can get away with anything.'

He added: 'I have no idea why she made that comment.'

The police probe into his death has been dogged by accusations of corruption but British detectives cannot travel to Ukraine to investigate his death - and his wife's alleged involvement - without the permission of local authorities.

Irene and Shaughan Pring, the mother and brother of Barry Pring, outside Devon County Hall

It is claimed a close friend of Miss Ziuzina was a senior officer in the Ukraine police traffic department at the time of the murder.

She was granted legal aid to fight for a major share of her ex-husband's fortune following his death - leading to a bitter falling out with his family.

Now the inquest has finished, the legal battle over his estate is set to resume in court.

Miss Ziuzina, now 38 and known as Julianne Moore, has since moved to Spain with her new husband, wealthy British businessman, Ivan Lister, with whom she has a three-year-old daughter.

The internet bride also paid bought a three-bedroom flat 130,000 in a nearby development for her parents.
Turkish police have foiled a planned ISIS terror strike on the Izmir holiday resort following a string of dawn raids.

In total 445 suspects have been arrested across the country - including nine jihadis in the tourist resort plotting their attack.

One of the men arrested in Izmir is a Syrian national who had made contact with people smuggling gangs to sneak ISIS terrorists into Europe. Around 100 suspects were arrested in the south east of the country near the border with Syria.

Turkish anti-terror police have arrested 440 ISIS suspects in a string of raids, pictured

The raids took place during the early hours of this morning according to Turkish media

Nine ISIS suspects were planning an attack on the coastal tourist resort of Izmir, pictured

At least 60 suspected jihadis were arrested in Ankara, most of them believed to be foreign nationals.

The operation around the country saw 150 suspects rounded up in Sanliurfa in the southeast and 47 in the nearby city of Gaziantep close to the Syrian border which has a known jihadist presence, Dogan said.

One of the suspects detained in Izmir - a Syrian identified only as E.A. - is said to have been in touch with people smugglers in a bid to help the ISIS members escape to Europe, Anadolu said.

Eighteen people were detained in Istanbul and the neighbouring province of Kocaeli on suspicion of planning attacks.

Another 14 foreigners were due to be deported, including 10 children.

Turkish security forces conducted a series of coordinated raids to arrest suspected jihadis.

Abdulgadir Masharipov, pictured, is the main suspect for the New Year terror attack on teh Reina nightclub in Istanbul

This morning's raids saw Turkish police arrest the suspects - including foreign nationals - who are believed to have been planning attacks.

This follows the first confirmed attack by ISIS on Turkey on New Year's Eve which claimed the lives of 39 people.

The New Year's Eve attack on the Reina nightclub was the first time ISIS claimed responsibility for an atrocity in Turkey, although it had been suspected of several bombings during 2016.

Police detained the suspected New Year's Eve attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, on January 16 after over over two weeks on the run and authorities say he has confessed to the massacre.

The Hurriyet daily reported after the attack that ISIS also planned a simultaneous New Year's strike in Ankara but dropped the plot after arrests by the Turkish authorities.

Sources claim most of the 60 people detained in the capital are foreigners, although there is no information yet as to their nationality.

Dozens more arrests were made in provinces ranging from Bursa in the west to Bingol in the east.

In addition to the latest arrests, Turkey says at least 780 people, including 350 foreigners, remain in detention - some of whom have been convicted - over suspected links to the jihadist group.
Labour's plight is as bad as the 1980s and the party must stop 'telling the public they are wrong', Harriet Harman has warned.

The former deputy leader said Jeremy Corbyn's team was 'shouting' at voters and refusing to recognise that their policies were unpopular.

The stark warning came as shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry stoked tensions by refusing to defend Diane Abbott over her 'sick' absence from the key EU Bill vote last week.

Labour's former deputy leader Harriet Harman said the party was in a very bad state and Jeremy Corbyn needed to recognise that his policies were unpopular

Mr Corbyn, pictured in the Commons last week, was defied by more than a dozen of his own frontbenchers after ordering his MPs to back the second reading of the Brexit Bill

Asked whether she accepted key Corbyn ally Ms Abbott's explanation for defying a three-line whip on the second reading of the legislation, Ms Thornberry would only say: 'I don't know the details of that.'

Mr Corbyn faces another tortuous week in which he will have to decide whether to sack some 13 frontbenchers who voted against the historic Brexit legislation.

He hinted today that he would not enforce the three line whip - telling BBC Radio 4's World This Weekend 'I'm a very lenient person.'

There is also mounting speculation that the leader will order MPs to abstain on the third reading of the Bill on Wednesday - in a bid to stop the party's divisions becoming even more catastrophic.

Ms Thornberry did not deny that abstaining was on the table - pointing out that the shadow cabinet would meet to consider the issue on Tuesday.

'We have said that we will not frustrate Brexit. We have got our instructions from the British people. We are democrats and the public have voted to leave the European Union,' she told The Andrew Marr Show.

'There are going to be negotiations happening in the next week. There are many ways in which the Government may be able to react to this that will be positive.

'On one of the amendments we have put down they may say, 'We're not going to support this amendment but during a speech we can give an assurance, we can speak in back channels, we can say you will get this.'

She added: 'It is a fast-moving picture. Let's see what happens,' she said. 'The whip will be decided next week. Let's see what happens in relation to the amendments. We have a shadow cabinet meeting next week. It will be for the chief whip and the leader to decide what the whip is.'

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry (pictured today on the BBC's Andrew Marr show) pointedly refused to defend Diane Abbott's failure to vote on the EU Bill

Ms Abbott's office insisted she had a 'severe migraine' that came on just hours before the vote

There were more calls today for Ms Abbott to be sacked for missing last week's historic vote, which delivered an overwhelming majority in support of Theresa May triggering the Article 50 Brexit process.

MPs have ridiculed the excuse that the shadow home secretary had a severe migraine, and pointed out that at least two politicians undergoing cancer treatment did manage to take part in the division.

Former minister Caroline Flint told ITV's Peston show: 'We used to have man flu now we have Brexit flu ... if she can't support the leader on this she should go.'

Ms Harman said there were 'painful echoes of the 1980s' about what was happening to Labour.

The party had to 'get its act together instead of shouting at the public and telling the public they are getting it wrong'.

'We had to listen to them and work out where we were getting it wrong,' she told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

'That is what we have to do again.'

Pointing to the dire poll ratings for Mr Corbyn and the party, Ms Harman said: 'I think you cannot be an effective Opposition if you haven't got enough public support.

Ms Harman told Sky News there were 'painful echoes of the 1980s' about what was happening to Labour

'We do need more public support in order to be an effective Opposition, let alone a credible government.'

But shadow chancellor John McDonnell - a key ally of Mr Corbyn - told BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics: 'Once we get past Brexit we'll unite the Labour Party, we'll be back on our agenda, and you'll see I think that we'll have a significant impact on the political debate in this country which means we'll go back in front of the Tories in the polls over the next year.

'That's what I think most of the Labour party members are actually campaigning for and support.

'We'll be on the Labour agenda of protecting our economy. They [the Tories] are preparing for a fight even though they've papered over the cracks at the moment.'

Tory MP Maria Caulfield said: 'Labour are totally divided and confused over whether or not to back the Bill that delivers the country's decision to leave the EU.'

160 MPs and London Mayor back calls to deny Trump honour of Westminster Hall speech

More than 160 MPs and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have backed calls to deny Donald Trump the honour of a Westminster Hall speech.

Tory former minister Anna Soubry branded the US president a 'spoilt child', and said if he was to deliver an address she would probably boycott it.

Theresa May has flatly dismissed demands for Mr Trump's state visit to be cancelled over his ban on nationals seven mainly-Muslim countries coming to America - which has been put on hold by the US courts.

The Prime Minister said that while she viewed the policy as 'divisive and wrong' it was a matter for the American authorities and would not hurt relations.

More than 160 MPs have signed an indicative motion calling for Mr Trump to be denied the honour of delivering a Westminster Hall address

More than 1million people have signed a petition demanding President Trump's state visit to the UK is cancelled. Pictured, President Trump with an executive order in the Oval Office

However, critics are trying a different tack by appealing to the Speakers of the Commons and Lords to refuse to authorise a Westminster Hall speech.

Speaker John Bercow has privately expressed concern about the expected backlash if the event were to happen, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

London Mayor Mr Khan, a former Labour MP, told MailOnline: 'I had the honour of being there and listening to Aung San Suu Kyi and also President Obama.

'I think parliamentarians will make their own decisions, as will the Speaker. The reality is that in the circumstances where there is a ban in place the public find it odd there is a state visit, let alone him being given the privilege that dignitaries have been given to address both Houses.'

Ms Harman told the Observer she would boycott any speech by the US commander-in-chief.

'His views on many issues are unacceptable. And on foreign policy he seems to think he can just bully other countries and get his way. That we should sit there smiling and clapping is... well for me it is out of the question,' she told the Observer.

Tory former minister Anna Soubry (pictured right on the BBC's Andrew Marr show today) branded the US president a 'spoilt child'

Fellow Labour MP Yvette Cooper said: 'The idea that we are all going to sit in Parliament and listen to a man who is turning the clock back on democracy, pushing misogyny and hatred of Muslims is a joke.'

The 'early day motion' tabled by Labour MP Stephen Doughty reads: 'This House deplores recent actions taken by US President Donald J Trump, including his Executive Order on Immigration and Refugees, and notably his comments on torture and women;

'Notes the historical significance and honour that comes with an invitation to address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall or elsewhere in the Palace of Westminster;

'And calls on the Speaker, Lord Speaker, Black Rod and Serjeant at Arms to withhold permission from the Government for an address to be made in Westminster Hall, or elsewhere in the Palace of Westminster, by President Trump.'
As many as 22 British students from the same university in Sudan have fled to Syria to join ISIS.

The University of Medical Sciences and Technology in Khartoum has been exposed as a hotbed of extremism for British medics studying abroad.

Its dean admitted that 27 of its students and graduates have tried to join ISIS and 22 of these are British citizens or residents with family in the UK.

Tarik Hassane, a student at The University of Medical Sciences and Technology, was jailed in 2014 for plotting terror

Social media analysis shows that some of the 22 have links with jailed students Tarik Hassane and Suhaib Majeed who plotted to kill London soldiers, police officers and civilians in 2014.

Many have praised jihad, exposing their humanitarian reasons for travelling to Syria as fake.

The medics crossed into Syria from Turkey in several waves starting in March 2015, reports the Sunday Times.

Dean Dr Ahmed Babiker Mohamed Zein said said six medics, including up to 'four or five' with British links, had since been killed in Syria or Iraq.

He said: 'I have visited their families in Sudan to offer my condolences.'

Only relatives of those who have died have been told of their children's fate.

'If there's no news, it's good news,' said one relative. 'But we're in the dark.'

Ahmad Kheder, 25, and his sister, Nada, 22

The UMST is an attractive option for British-Sudanese students because it charges around 1,500 per year for tuition - much less than the 9,000 UK fees - and its qualifications are recognized by UK medical authorities.

Among those to flee are Leicester brothers Mohamed and Ibrahim Ageed, aged 22 and 24, who attended fee-paying Loughborough Grammar School.

The pair, who fled to Syria in June 2015, are both friends on Facebook with jailed terrorist Suhaib Majeed, 22. Their father claims they were 'deceived' and are 'not fighters'.

He added: 'All the families [of the Isis medics] are very sad. They just want Allah to return them.'

Ahmad Kheder, 25, and his sister, Nada, 22, from Carshalton, south London, who have both praised ISIS on social media, also fled.

Their father is a doctor in the UK but he refused to comment, saying: 'It's a private matter. We don't want any publicity.'

The medics are believed to be working in hospitals in Syria.

In 2014, UMST student Tarik Hassane and Suhaib Majeed, both 22 at the time, got their hands on a gun and ammunition in a plot to cause terror in London.

Among those children to flee are Leicester brothers Mohamed (left) and Ibrahim Ageed (right), aged 22 and 24

The University of Medical Sciences and Technology (pictured) in Khartoum has been exposed as a hotbed of extremism for British medics studying abroad

An ISIS contact sent encrypted messages to Majeed while he was sitting in Regent's Park, yards from the US Ambassador's residence.

Hassane, notoriously known as The Surgeon, was studying medicine in Sudan when Majeed was arrested, but rushed back to London to carry on as a 'lone wolf terrorist'.

He identified Shepherd's Bush police station and the Parachute Regiment Territorial Army Barracks at White City as possible targets.

Majeed was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and preparation of terrorist acts after Hassane admitted the charges midway through a trial.

Mr Justice Wilkie jailed Hassane for a minimum of 21 years and Majeed for a minimum of 20 years at the Old Bailey.
Hundreds of mourners turned out to honour the life of murdered Gold Coast woman Teresa Bradford at a moving candlelight vigil outside her home as her family called for an end to domestic violence.

Family, close friends, members of the local anti-domestic violence group and those who did not know Ms Bradford personally but wanted to pay their respects joined together for the Sunday evening service in Pimpama.

Ms Bradford, 40, was stabbed to death by her estranged husband David, 52, in front of their children on Tuesday.

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Gold Coast mother Teresa Bradford was remembered at a candlelight vigil on Sunday

Ms Bradford's brother, Darren OBrien, pays his respects at the candlelight vigil

Teresa was remembered as a 'sweet and caring mother'

Many of those in attendance at the vigil wore purple, Ms Bradford's favourite colour.

Teresa was remembered as a 'sweet and caring mother'.

The Gold Coast Bulletin reported family friend Amy Robinson read out a family statement at the vigil which said Ms Bradford's death was not in vain.

The family also posted a statement to the NO DV GC - Teresa Facebook page shortly after the vigil.

'There is absolutely no words to adequately describe the grief we feel losing our beloved Teresa to domestic violence - but we feel it's our duty to articulate as best as possible so that her death is not in vain,' the statement said.

'Domestic violence needs to stop.

'We need to acknowledge the outpouring of support from the community that have reached out in this incredibly difficult time.

'It has been overwhelming in our time of grief, to be thrust into the spotlight because of this horrific event and try to protect the liberty of the children who have been orphaned.

'We thank each and every person who has been there to support and will continue to need that support as we move through next stages of this tragic circumstance. It still feels surreal that we are even in this position.

Teresa Bradford was murdered by her husband David in their Gold Coast home on Tuesday

David Bradford, 52, murdered Teresa before killing himself

'This should never have been allowed to happen.

'Our primary focus is to ensure we protect Teresa's legacy and her four beautiful children.

'This is the reason why we have insisted on asking for privacy so that they have time to grieve and heal.'

Those who attended the vigil took to Facebook to post their tributes and remark on what a 'beautiful' service it was.

One person wrote: 'Thankyou to the people who organised this. Thankyou to the family for allowing it. Thankyou to the people who attended. Was such a lovely vigil. Lots of tears'.

Another said: 'Thanks for putting on a beautiful night, I never knew Teresa but after tonight I learnt what an amazing person she was, her children spoke so well, taken so young under horrible circumstances R.I.P fly high with the angels'.

Many people who couldn't be there added messages of support.

Mr Bradford was released on bail just two weeks before he murdered the mother-of-four in their Pimpama home.

Bradford is believed to have broken into the family home overnight on Tuesday - in breach of his bail conditions - and stabbed his estranged wife to death in front of their children before killing himself.

They had four children together, aged between nine and 17. Three of them were in their home when their mother was murdered and ran to a neighbour's house to raise the alarm.

Some people wore White Ribbon t-shirts to show their support to ending domestic violence

Teresa's family have called for an end to domestic violence

Those at the candlelight vigil paused to remember the life of Teresa Bradford

Crowds gather to honour the life of Teresa Bradford outside her Gold Coast home

Mourners embrace one another at the candlelight vigil

Vigil attendees walk towards Ms Bradford's home for the candlelight service

Just two months earlier, Mr Bradford was charged with four domestic violence offences including choking, assault occasioning bodily harm, deprivation of liberty and common assault.

Police had strongly objected to Bradford being bailed in January, saying he was 'an unreasonable risk of causing self-harm or harm towards others'.

Friends of the mother-of-four claim Ms Bradford did not know her estranged husband was applying for bail until after he was released and that she spent her final days scrambling to find a new home so he would not track her down.

Ms Bradford's friend April Trengove told Daily Mail Australia that the authorities had failed her.

'The system didn't even tell her he was released until she found out hours later. The system could not get one thing right.

'This is why this happens and this is why she is not here and those babies lost their mum.'

Just prior to the vigil, ABC News reported Queensland's opposition has proposed legislation for an 'alert system' for victims of domestic violence, who would be notified if their alleged attacker applies for bail or parole.

The family's statement on the NO DV GC - Teresa Facebook page added: 'We need more money invested in our justice system to ensure violence is not tolerated.

'We need investments in the areas of mental health, safe refuges, drug and alcohol rehabilitation and assistance for the perpetrators of violence so that this never happens again,' the statement said.
Police hunting the suspected killers of a British man found dead at a Spanish airport with ham on his buttocks have arrested one of the four fugitives identified from an incriminating video.

The 58-year-old Irishman was held in the southern Spanish port city of Algeciras on Thursday after being made a wanted man along with three others following the death of Steven Allford, 51, last October at Malaga Airport.

Officers detained him on foot of a European Arrest Warrant after tracking him down to a makeshift home inside a tent hidden in a refuge made out of several abandoned cars.

Steven Allford was found dead on a bench outside Malaga Airport in October, pictured

Last night the loner, named as James O'Byrne, was languishing behind bars after being remanded in custody following a private court hearing before an investigating judge.

The police operation to locate three other suspects over Mr Allford's death, a Briton and two Finnish nationals, is now continuing.

Vagrant Mr Allford was discovered lying face down on a bench outside Malaga Airport early on October 21 last year.

He had been tied to the bench in a landscaped area near the arrivals lounge and a busy train stop and his trousers had been pulled down round his ankles.

A slice of ham had been left on each of his exposed bottom cheeks and his genitals placed inside an empty tuna can.

A Finnish man described as a 'giant' and known only by his first name Kimmo, was arrested days later and remanded in prison on suspicion of Mr Allford's manslaughter after a witness told police he often carried plastic ties similar to the ones used on the dead Briton.

The Irishman held in Algeciras is understood to appear in a damning video showing several men taunting Londoner Mr Allford the night he died which was briefly posted on Facebook and discovered by Finnish police who tipped off their Spanish counterparts. The video was taken down from social media after it was discovered.

The footage - which resulted in the four arrest warrants and is expected to form a crucial part of any future prosecution - has been stashed away in a court file marked 'Private and Confidential.'

The bombshell video police spotted on Facebook is understood to show Mr Allford moving his head while tied to the bench with his trousers pulled down round his ankles.

It is not clear if he died after he was abandoned whilst still strapped to the bench or during the humiliation he was put through.

A post-mortem revealed he choked to death on his own vomit after a heavy drinking session.

Initial fears Mr Allford's death could be a hate crime based on hobophobia - a fear of vagrants - gave way to a new theory as the investigation advanced that he was targeted in a row over food.

Police were told he had fallouts with other men sleeping rough at Malaga Airport because he was mean about sharing food and drink with them but always expected a portion of theirs.

Sources close to the investigation revealed last night the Irish suspect had originally been questioned as a witness after Mr Allford's body was discovered and left a local court after giving a statement before investigators were tipped off about the video.

One said: 'He had already left Malaga Airport where he slept rough like the Brit by the time police identified him as a potential suspect and there was no trace of him in the places in Malaga normally frequented by vagrants.

'Investigators got wind he may be in Algeciras but at first drew a blank because he had no contact with other tramps and wasn't using homeless shelters.

'Local police eventually discovered him on waste ground on the outskirts of the city.

'He was found in a tent inside a makeshift refuge. He has no known acquaintances in Algeciras and no history of living in the city so police suspect he left the Malaga area for a reason.'

Although he is thought to be in jail in Algeciras, he is expected to be transferred to Malaga later this week so he can be questioned again by the judge heading the probe into Mr Allford's death.

He was remanded in custody on suspicion of manslaughter after declining to testify or answer questions during the brief hearing, which was held behind closed doors at a duty court in Algeciras.

He has not been formally charged with any crime, as is customary in Spain where charges are only laid shortly before trial.

The three other suspects police are still hunting have not been named.

Little is known about Mr Allford's life and why he ended up sleeping at one of Spain's busiest holiday airports, although it is believed he was adopted as a youngster and has served time in prison in France and Spain.

He had only been in Spain for about a week before he died after a brief spell in the UK and was thought to be trying to sort out proper accommodation away from Malaga Airport.

Police in the UK and Ireland as well as other forces around Europe have already been informed his alleged killers could be in hiding in their countries.

A source close to the case said before the latest arrest: 'The images show the victim was alive when the humiliation began and have permitted the identification of the other four suspects.

'The judge in charge of the investigation has issued international arrest warrants against them while keeping the other suspect on remand in prison.

'Steven is tied up and in the same position he was found in hours later in the footage, lying face-down on the bench, but he can be seen moving his head slightly.

'The video was posted briefly on Facebook and shared by a Finnish user who later took it down, but only after police in Finland had got hold of it and downloaded it so they could pass it on to counterparts in Spain.

'It's bombshell stuff and key to the investigation and any eventual prosecution.'
A black power activist has labelled Sir Winston Churchill a whore's son during a speech in the House of Commons.

Omowale Rupert of the Pan-African Society Community Forum claimed that Great Britain's wartime Prime Minister was conceived after his father visited an African prostitute's bondage den.

Rupert told attendees of the talk, which was arranged by former shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler, how Churchill was really the son of an infamous London prostitute called Agnes Bronte.

Omowale Rupert during his House of Commons address. He claimed that Great Britain's wartime Prime Minister was conceived after his father visited an African prostitute's bondage den

He said: 'There is a character by the name of Churchill  a war man from Britain, a part of British imperialismand he made her pregnant during this whole process and they had a son.

'It was a secret at the time but the history has come out and that son was named Winston Churchill. Yes, it's that same Winston Churchill.'

Controversial Rupert also lambasted William Wilberforce, the MP who was part of the campaign to abolish slavery, during the 40-minute rant.

Rupert claimed that Infamous London prostitute Agnes Bronte is Winston Churchill's mother and not Lady Randolph Churchill (right). Churchill (left) gives his famous victory sign

He claimed that Wilberforce, the politician and philanthropist, was a drug abuser who raped African women.

The militant activist said: ' We can prove this. He was a cocaine addict for 40 years. Not just a fly-by-night cocaine addict. He was a junkie. They're telling us it was a junkie who freed us.

'When you look at the history of this man, you will find that he was a serial rapist of African woman.

'African women were captured, held prisoner in these brothels and then he would go into these brothels and sexually attack these African women who could not say no. What is that, other than rape? We've got the evidence.'

He also insisted that Wilberforce paid for sex with Agnes Bronte while she was trapped in chains and say 'this is what happens to African women on the slave ships'.

Rupert concluded: 'This is standard knowledge for some historians.

'This woman went on to become the most famous prostitute in Britain. She had a place called the Bronte dungeon.'

The outburst was not greeted with condemnation by the small crowd with Brent Central MP Dawn Butler failing to challenge his comments after the tirade.

She told the audience in the Palace of Westminster: 'This place has to be opened up for everyone to have a voice.

'That's the whole point of having a Parliament and that's why I was happy to help facilitate you being here today.'

Rupert's comments on Winston Churchill stirred a quick reaction in the former's family.

Rupert (left) labelled William Wilberforce (right), an anti-slavery campaigner, a 'junkie' during the odd speech

Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Soames, who is Churchill's grandson, said the remarks were the 'pathetic' rantings of a 'nutter' on Saturday night.

He said: 'I'm 68 and have lived through endless stories about my grandfather.

'One of the greatest things this country has is absolute freedom of speech. He is perfectly entitled, however odious some people may find his views including myself, to exercise it.

'Churchill would not have wanted any restriction on anyone's freedom to express any view on anything, providing it is within the law.

'It may be repulsive and offensive but it is not illegal. I'm way past the age of getting annoyed by stories like this.

'I'm just resigned to a clear nutter and lunatic expressing views which are not held by the majority of people in the country which he is lucky enough to be in.

'It's just absurd but I'm not going to get angry about it, because it's just pathetic.'
An Apex gang member jailed for several home invasions could walk free in fewer than two years.

A lawyer for the 18-year-old man, who was thrown in a youth detention centre nine months ago while he was still a minor, has told a Children's Court that he has learned his lesson.

The lawyer said he 'seems to be a much different young man than he was in April' last year, when he and a group of accomplices broke into two houses and beat up a resident, the Herald Sun reported.

A prominent Apex gang member jailed for several home invasions could walk free in fewer than two years. The person pictured is a different man associated with Melbourne's Apex gang

During the brutal home invasions, the then-minor threatened to rape a person, and stole cash and computer equipment.

He pleaded guilty to charges including armed robbery with a hammer, intentionally causing injury, stealing two luxury vehicles, trespass and driving offences.

According to the Herald Sun, the man is associated with Melbourne's Apex gang.

A Children's Court said last week the man's crimes were 'about as serious as charges can be,' and that it is 'horrific for anybody to have to listen to what you and other young men did on that night,' the Herald Sun reported.

The then-boy was sentenced to a maximum of 30 months' youth detention, meaning he could be freed within 21 months.
Police are investigating a claim that a teenage cancer patient faked the extent of his illness after being given gifts by charities.

The Clutha Trust have alleged Eli Stewart, 19, told lies about his stomach and lung cancer, which he said he was diagnosed with two years ago.

The charity, which was founded by Clutha pub owner Alan Crossan after the helicopter crash in 2013, gave a 1,000 guitar to Mr Stewart, who has been photographed with his head shaved in hospital, and have allowed him to perform at the pub.

Eli Stewart, above, has been accused of telling lies about the extent of his illness

He has told charities he was diagnosed with stomach and lung cancer in 2015 and has been given a 1,000 guitar by The Clutha Trust

Mr Crossan told The Daily Record: 'This wee guy appeared at the Clutha about a year ago and what we do is give kids a chance to play on a Sunday afternoon. He said he was terminally ill and had only six months to live.

'It started off with cancer, then it was epilepsy, then a heart transplant  that was what really raised the alarm with me. He also said he was suffering from seizures.'

Mr Crossan added that when he raised his concerns, the teenager published an email from a doctor about his condition, but a representative for the doctor denied sending the email.

The musician, who is from Glasgow, has taken part in charitable events in the past to raise money for vulnerable people.

The musician, who is from Glasgow, has taken part in charitable events in the past to raise money for vulnerable people

Eli has previously tweeted about not being able to see Adele due to having chemotherapy

He also made a reference to a conversation he had with his girlfriend about his illness

He has also been accused of failing to pay another charity after staging a gig for them at Ivory Blacks nightclub in Glasgow.

On his Twitter page, Mr Stewart has previously written about cancer.

In March last year he said he was unable to attend an Adele concert due to chemotherapy 'knocking' him 'out'.

A police spokesman said: 'We can confirm we have received a complaint and police inquiries into this matter are ongoing.'

The Clutha Trust posted a statement on its Facebook page addressing the matter.

It said: 'I am sure most of you would have seen the story in today's newspapers regarding a certain individual, The Clutha Trust and Project Genie. It is an unfortunate state of affairs and it was also a very difficult situation to address.

'I feel that this has been fuelled by social media and unfortunately a lot of people including youngsters were being affected by it. If any lesson has to be learned here it is that everyone has to take extra care with statements on social media and to look after children and any vulnerable people who use it.

'The Clutha Trust and Project Genie will put this behind us and carry on the good work we do with underprivileged young people. We will always take people at face value and trust our judgement  to do otherwise would be intrusive and wrong. Hopefully this is an isolated case and we can all learn from this experience. As I have said before please be careful with what you post  especially with this.'

Mr Stewart was too upset to talk at his home but his mother Carole refuted the reports about her son.

She said: 'Eli has had cancer and he has not been charged by the police.

'We're devastated. These reports are completely false. Eli is so upset and very unwell. He's been getting death threats online.

'This is a young vulnerable man, who has Aspergers, and he's getting death threats.

'He's confused, he doesn't know what's going on.

'He (Eli) has battled cancer for four years. He's not exaggerating his battle with cancer at all.

'We want this stopped. We want to move on with our lives. All the allegations are completely false.'
A family home has been trashed after a teenager hosted an out-of-control party while her parents were away.

Police were called to the Bangalow property, a small town near Byron Bay in NSW, around 7.30pm on Saturday following reports of a disturbance.

The teenage girl had sent an open invitation to her guests on Facebook.

A family home has been trashed after a teenager hosted an out-of-control party while her parents were away (stock image)

Up to 15 gatecrashers descended to the party where food and condiments were thrown around the home.

A number of items were also stolen from the property, police claimed.

Meanwhile, a party in Melbourne's east got out of hand on Saturday night after 40 unwanted guests attended the Airbnb rental home.

A young man was hit in the head with a brick as young revellers spilled onto to street, causing chaos along the suburban street.

The party was advertised on Facebook as the teenagers who rented the property via Airbnb, charged their guests $10 for entry fee at the door.
Lord Monson has lost his second son to suicide after the death of his eldest child in 2012.

The peer, who is the 12th Baron Monson, of Burton, Lincolnshire, inherited his title after the unexpected death of his father in 2011.

The next year his eldest son Alexander, 28, was mysteriously found dead in Kenya.

Lord Monson has lost his second son to suicide after the death of his eldest child in 2012. He his pictured with his former wife Hilary

Last month Rupert Green, 21, died in hospital after trying to kill himself at home in Surrey

Last month his only other son Rupert Green, 21, died in hospital after trying to kill himself at home in Surrey.

Monson blames his death on an addiction to 'skunk' - a strong type of cannabis - which made him introverted and prone to outbursts.

He told The Sunday Times: 'After Alexander I thought I had another son who would blossom and fulfil his dreams. Now he's gone as well. It's so sad.'

Kenyan authorities claimed Alexander died of a drug overdose but a toxicology report revealed no traces in his system.

Monson believes evidence that he suffered injuries to his head and genitals points to death by beating in police custody.

He said: 'I am probably the only person who now has two inquests running into the deaths of two children.'

Alexander Monson who died in 2012

Rupert Green was the child of Monson and Kate Green, who met after he split from his first wife in 1990.

Their relationship did not last and Monson was not seriously involved with Rupert until he became a teenager.

Monson said: 'We are in a war now  a war against skunk,' but said the way to wage this war is to legalise cannabis.

He believes his son would not have taken the more potent version of the drug if regular cannabis was legal.

He said the drug has huge impact on his son's wellbeing, needing him to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act shortly before his death.

'Once someone has become psychotic on skunk, they often never come back,' he said.

'In his last six months there was a nice Rupert and not-so-nice Rupert and from day to day you never knew which one you would encounter.'

In his younger days, Rupert was very different, 'sporty, congenial and very popular. Also, like his brother Alexander, he was a wonderfully talented artist.'

As well as campaigning for the legalisation of cannabis, Monson wants to see the end of primogeniture which means his daughter Isabella, 29, cannot legally inherit his title so it will go to his younger brother Andrew.
MSP John Mason (pictured) refused to withdraw his remarks after comparing IRA terrorists to 'freedom fighters' - having already failed to back a campaign to bring the killers of three soldiers executed by the IRA in 1971 to justice

A nationalist MSP who said IRA terrorists could be seen as 'freedom fighters' yesterday fuelled the row by comparing them to Nelson Mandela.

John Mason refused to withdraw his slur and cited William Wallace and Bonnie Prince Charlie to defend his extraordinary comments, which sparked calls for him to quit.

He said he was 'trying to make more of a philosophical point that it is never clear-cut, or seldom clear-cut, who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter'.

The MSP admitted he was only 'vaguely aware' of the case of three Scottish soldiers lured to their deaths by IRA 'honey-trap' killers, whose families were appalled at his social media outburst.

The row began when Mr Mason was questioned about the slain servicemen and asked if he backed a crowd-funding campaign to bring their killers to justice - but the MSP said he refused to take sides on Irish issues.

Last night Alan Barry, a former soldier who co-founded Justice for Northern Ireland Veterans, said: 'I'm sick to death of hearing people describe IRA murderers as freedom fighters.

Brothers Joseph McCaig (left) and John McCaig (right) were executed in cold blood along with Dougald McCaughey, 23. Mason stated he was only 'vaguely' aware of the soldiers who were lured to their deaths in 1971

'They are nothing but gangsters and thugs.

'Nelson Mandela was one of the greatest human beings in history. To speak of him in the same breath as IRA executioners shows just how low John Mason has sunk.'

Dennis Hutchings, a British Army soldier during the Troubles, said: 'It is absolutely disgraceful. Dougald McCaughey (23), John McCaig (17)

'The IRA executed those boys in cold blood. To compare those killers to Nelson Mandela is nauseating. I don't understand how this person can keep his job.'

Royal Highland Fusiliers Dougald McCaughey, 23, from Glasgow, and Joseph McCaig, 18, and his brother John, 17, from Ayr, were shot dead on a mountain road in Northern Ireland on March 10, 1971.

The shootings caused widespread disgust and the public mourning led to a political crisis that resulted in the resignation of the then prime minister of Northern Ireland, James Chichester-Clark.

Mr Mason was asked on Twitter to support a campaign to bring the killers to justice, with the message: 'Will you support this campaign, or are these brave lads not Scottish enough in your opinion?'

The MSP responded: 'Happy to support all campaigns to bring about justice. But not taking sides between Irish and British.'

When Mr Mason was asked whether he was refusing to take the side of Scottish soldiers over IRA murderers, he tweeted: 'You say Irish murderers. Others say Irish freedom fighters. I support Scottish soldiers if they do good but not if they do bad.'

A campaign to bring the killers of Fusiliers (from left) Dougald McCaughey, 23, Joseph McCaig, 18, and his brother John, 17, to justice was rejected by Mason who said he did not take sides in Irish politics. His comments have been labelled 'disgraceful' in some quarters

Yesterday Glasgow Shettleston MSP Mr Mason refused to back down and attempted to explain his remarks.

Asked what he had meant by his IRA tweets, he told the Mail he had been making a 'general point'.

He said: 'I mean, you can go right back to William Wallace and he would be considered a freedom fighter by many of us who are Scottish, and he was certainly called a traitor by the English.

'And a terrorist, though I don't know if they would have used that word at the time.

'So I was really trying to make more of a philosophical point that it is never clear cut, or seldom clear cut, who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter.

Mason said: 'I mean, you can go right back to William Wallace and he would be considered a freedom fighter by many of us who are Scottish, and he was certainly called a traitor by the English'

'You look at Nelson Mandela, you look at Bonnie Prince Charlie - there are always people on both sides.'

When asked what his personal view was on the IRA and the Troubles, he replied: 'No, I've not said that and I'm not saying that.'

Asked if he regretted his remarks, Mr Mason said: 'No, no. I made a general point and I do that kind of thing on Twitter. I do accept I am a little bit provocative, I like to get a debate going, I do accept that.'

Mr Mason, who said it was his part of his 'style' to make controversial remarks online, said he was 'vaguely aware of these things [the story of the three soldiers]' but he 'generally wouldn't get into a case'.

He said 'if there has been a crime committed it gets complicated because there are deals done between government and all that kind of thing, and the peace talks and that kind of thing, but I am not an expert in that'. Mr Mason said: 'As far as I'm concerned, that is a question for the courts. I'm not going to get involved in anything like that.'

A Corporal of the Royal Highland Fusiliers sheds a tear during the funeral of his three colleagues in 1971

When asked if he had since deleted any of the tweets, he said: 'No, I don't delete tweets as a general rule.

'Once you've said something, what's the point in pretending you haven't said it? If it's wrong, then you either apologise or clarify.'

Asked if he would temper his Twitter comments in future, Mr Mason said: 'Well, I think that's what the party thinks I should do, and some of my colleagues think I should do.'

Last night John O'Neill, 72, who lives in Shettleston, said: 'I think his comments are disgusting. I remember when the soldiers were killed and it was so shocking. That's the IRA for you.'

Bernard Rospendowski, 52, also a constituent, said: 'I think it's wrong to equate the IRA with freedom fighters. It is a terrorist organisation run by a bunch of gangsters.'

MP'S WARNING OVER INQUIRIES The inquiry into actions of British troops in Northern Ireland will put them at risk of being hounded with false allegations like those against many Iraq veterans, a senior MP warned. Julian Lewis said those who served in the Troubles would face the same ordeal as soldiers who fell victim to bogus accusations after the Iraq War. The chairman of the Commons defence committee said many claims investigated by the Iraq Historical Allegations Team (Ihat) were made by lawyers cashing in on legal aid and had been shown to be 'spurious'. 'Any country which allows its legal aid system to be used as a weapon against its own service personnel in this way has surely taken leave of its senses,' Dr Lewis said in a speech at Speaker's House in London. 'Unless the Government urgently gets a grip, the same will happen to hundreds of veterans of the Troubles  while amnestied terrorists freely walk the streets of Ulster.' He said recruitment could suffer and called for a statute of limitations to stop prosecution of soldiers for events before the Good Friday agreement. Advertisement

Only last month, Mr Mason was accused of 'trivialising rape culture' after he compared Scottish independence to attempting to woo a woman.

He tweeted: 'Marginal view was no to indy. We hope to change that. The girl does not always say yes first time!'

While holidaying in Ireland last year, the MSP tweeted that he was 'boycotting Barrhead Travel', which backed the No campaign in the independence referendum campaign. He said: 'Got euros elsewhere.'

Relatives are launching a legal battle to bring the living alleged murderers to justice in the case of three murdered Scottish soldiers.

They believe authorities should be forced to re-open the investigation - and are angry that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has snubbed calls to re-examine the case or identify the two unnamed killers.

Meanwhile, the PSNI is allowing its taxpayer-funded Legacy Investigation Branch to look at 238 'fatal incidents' involving British troops in Ulster, which led to 302 deaths.

Up to 1,000 retired soldiers face a witch-hunt - and could be investigated as potential murder or manslaughter suspects over their actions at the height of the IRA's terror campaign.

Former soldier Mr Hutchings, 75, has been charged with attempted murder over the 1974 fatal shooting of an IRA suspect.

An SNP spokesman said: 'John Mason's comments do not represent the position of the SNP and are not endorsed by the party.'

To donate to the campaign, visit www.crowdjustice.org/case/three-scottish-soldiers
An Uber driver, who was allegedly bashed with a spanner in a carjacking incident, has spoken of the terrifying ordeal.

Muhammad Shafique was called to a backstreet of Fortitude Valley in Brisbane on Saturday night where he was allegedly attacked.

The 29-year-old driver was then allegedly dragged from his Nissan before he was repeatedly struck with the metal tool.

'He just pulled me out from my car and straight away just attacked me with the spanner,' he told 9 News.

'He hit me on my head like three or four times attack.'

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Uber driver Muhammad Shafique (pictured) was left covered in blood after he was allegedly struck in the head with a spanner on Saturday night

The 29-year-old has spoken of the terrifying ordeal after the suspects allegedly fled in his car

As he tried to fight back, one of the suspects allegedly fled from the scene in his car.

Mr Shafique managed to track his car down after he logged on to 'Find My iPhone' at a police station.

The driver said he received up to seven stitches in his head.

He said the alleged attack has deterred him from working as an Uber driver again - as he revealed the incident was the second assault he faced while working.

'It's really stressful,' Mr Shafique added.

The 29-year-old man required seven stitches after he was allegedly struck with the metal tool

Police tracked the suspects at a property in Tanah Merah, Logan, just 30 minutes away

Officers were able to find his car at a property in the Logan suburb of Tanah Merah, about 30 minutes away from the scene.

The men were both arrested and charged with a string of offences.

A 29-year-old has been charged with operation of a motor vehicle, unlicensed driving, armed robbery, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and willful damage.

A 25-year-old man has been charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, armed robbery and drink driving.

They are due to face Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Monday.

In a statement, Uber said the safety of their drivers is a top priority.

'There is no place for violent attacks in our community and our thoughts are with the driver-partner at this time,' an Uber spokesman said.
An Iranian baby banned from entering the United States for life-saving heart surgery under President Trump's executive order will now be allowed to have the treatment.

The family of four-month-old Fatemeh Reshad had an appointment in Dubai to receive a US tourist visa.

But it was abruptly cancelled earlier this week after Trump announced his executive order on immigration, banning travel to the US by people from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iran.

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Four-month-old Fatemeh Reshad was denied entry into the US for life-saving heart surgery under President Donald Trump's executive order

Fatemeh has two holes in her heart. Iranian doctors told the family that the infant needed at least one surgery, maybe several, to correct the serious heart defects, or she will die

Courtesy KOIN

So, Fatemeh and her family were forced to return home.

Lawyers had been seeking an exemption from the travel ban on the family's behalf, said Jennifer Morrissey, an attorney representing the Reshads.

Morrissey called the case 'an extremely poignant example of the impact of the ban'.

'It's probably the clearest illustration I can think of offhand of why the travel ban was poorly thought out, poorly executed and had significant humanitarian consequences', she said.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he worked with the International Refugee Assistance Project to secure a waiver of Trump's order.

'Bizarrely, the federal ban would prevent this child from receiving medical care and literally endanger her life.

'It is repugnant to all we believe as Americans and as members of the human family', Cuomo said.

Fatemeh's uncle, Samad Taghizadeh, said she will die if she doesn't have the surgery soon

He plans on continuing to work with the organization 'to ensure this baby receives the treatment she needs, and fight for those being unfairly shut out of Americas gates by this policy'.

A law firm has agreed to cover the family's travel expenses, he added.

Iranian doctors told the family that Fatemeh needed at least one surgery, maybe several, to correct the serious heart defects, or she will die, said the infant's uncle, Samad Taghizadeh, a US citizen who lives in Portland.

In one night, everything changed for Fatemeh and her mother, Taghizadeh told KOIN6.

'It was very hard because she got the hope to come to [the] US, bring the baby here', he said.

Taghizadeh said Trump's actions against immigrants make him feel like he doesn't belong in the US.

'Because were born in Iran, its like he ignores me as a citizen. My niece is 4-months-old coming to here for surgery, youre scared of her? Whats she going to do? Is she dangerous?'

New York Gov Andrew Cuomo helped secure a waiver of Trump's order on the family's behalf

The hospitals in Iran dont have the right equipment to operate on Fatemeh, so her chance of success with surgery is significantly decreased.

Manhattan's Mount Sinai Medical Center had offered to perform the critical surgery for free, but the family chose to do it in Portland, both because of the hospital's proximity to the infant's uncle and grandparents.

'She's in an emergency situation and if it takes a long time, they're going to lose her', Taghizadeh said.

Two in 10,000 children are born with the rare congenital heart disease, which is fatal if left untreated.

Most babies born in the US with the same condition receive treatment within the first week of life.

Fatemeh's condition doesn't allow her heart to properly circulate blood in her body, said Dr Laurie Armsby.

Oregon Health Sciences University's Doernbecher Children's Hospital, where Fatemeh will be treated, performs six to 10 of the 6-hour operations each year, said Dr Irving Shen.

Shen said the surgery includes moving small coronary arteries.
Heather Mack has remorselessly confessed to murdering her mother in a Bali hotel room then getting her boyfriend to stuff her body in a suitcase.

In three videos uploaded to YouTube from an Indonesian prison on Thursday, the 21-year-old said claimed that she concocted the murder plot and forced boyfriend Tommy Schaefer to help her after learning that her mother was responsible for her father's 2006 death.

'I killed her myself and then I told Tommy that if he did not help me clean the room and get rid of the body, that I would tell the police that he did it, that I would pay money to get him arrested,' she said.

Blinking back tears, she said she regretted dragging Tommy, who was 'innocent' in to her murderous revenge plot but that she didn't regret the killing.

'I don't regret killing my mother and as evil as that may sound, that's my reality.'

Heather Mack confessed to killing her mother in a chilling prison video she uploaded to YouTube on Thursday

Mack was sentenced to 10 years behind bars while Schaefer was jailed for 18 in 2015 after they were found guilty of murdering Sheila von Wiese-Mack.

Her sentence was more lenient given the birth of their daughter, Stella, during legal proceedings. The baby now lives with her mother in prison.

Sheila von Wiese-Mack was murdered by her daughter and her boyfriend at the St Regis hotel in Bali's Nusa Dua in August, 2014

She now receives 'princess treatment' in the jail, regularly sharing photographs on social media through a contraband cell phone she presumably used to film her confession.

During the trial in Denpasar, Bali, the couple claimed Schaefer bludgeoned von Wiese-Mack with a fruit bowl in her room at the luxurious St Regis Hotel in retaliation against her racial slurs.

In her video on Thursday, Mack claimed this was a lie designed to convince jurors Schaefer was guilty of the murder so that she would be allowed to keep her $1million inheritance.

The real motive for the murder was her father's death eight years earlier, she said, which she had discovered two weeks before the Bali vacation.

'When I was 10, my mother killed my father in a hotel in Athens, Greece. Two weeks before I came to Bali, I found out that she killed my father and I made it up in my heart, in my mind, my soul, in my blood, in the oxygen running through my body, that I wanted to kill my mother.

'I got this whole new savage idea in my head that I wanted to kill her in a hotel room because she had killed my father in a hotel room.'

She claimed she then began framing Schaefer by texting herself from his phone while he slept to discuss details of the killing. She deleted the exchanges before he could ever see them, she said.

She claimed to have then booked him on to the holiday - a last ditch effort by her mother to salvage their fractured relationship - by using her credit card.

They would go on to fight over who would pay Schaefer's holiday expenses in volatile arguments friends said were routine between the socialite and her 'vicious little monster' daughter.

After murdering her mother in the room on August 12, Mack coerced Schaefer into stuffing her body in a suitcase which was dumped with a taxi driver at the hotel's lobby later.

Up until then, he had no involvement in the murder, she said.

Mack's boyfriend, 23-year-old Tommy Schaefer, was with her at the time and confessed in court to murdering her heiress mother. She claims she forced him to lie for her

Mack said she killed her mother in revenge for her father James Mack's 2006 death. The Chicago composer died of a pulmonary embolism in Athens but his daughter believes her mother killed him

Mack (above during her 2015 trial) said she and her lawyers forced Schaefer into confessing to the killing so that she could keep her inheritance

Mack gave birth to the pair's daughter Stella while in custody and now lives with the infant behind bars, regularly sharing photographs on Instagram of their prison life

'I trapped him here and that is what I regret. I regret being selfish. I regret trapping an innocent person into this because it was my battle, my mother, it was my father.

'I'm sorry to Tommy Schaefer for trapping him.'

In court, Mack said she and her lawyers forced him again to follow their lead, convincing him to confess to the murder so that she would not be cut off from the money she stood to inherit.

'My lawyers and I, because of the fact that if I get money, if my article that I was charged with was not that I'm the one that killed her, I'm still entitled to the money and therefore I can pay the lawyers more.

'So we told Tommy together, my lawyers and I, that if he didn't take the blame in the court, that he would get the death penalty.

Schaefer and Mack stuffed her mother's body in this suitcase which they left at the hotel before fleeing in a taxi

'So he lied in the court because of me, my motivation for doing this was myself.'

Robert Bibbs, Schaefer's cousin who pleaded guilty last year to helping them plot the killing by telling them in text messages how to carry it out, was also 'innocent', she said.

Calling him Ryan, Mack told the camera: 'I don't even know how he got involved in this or why the FBI involved him because he had absolutely nothing to do with any of it.

'He's innocent. I don't know if he wanted to sell a better story or what the FBI was on but Tommy ad Ryan are innocent, I'm not.'

Through tears, she told Schaefer that she was sorry and that she loved him before signing off.

'I'm sorry you won't be able to get a job, I'm sorry everybody thinks that you're some crazy killer. This is the truth and whoever is watching this, don't hate Tommy.

'He's innocent. I'm not. I love you Tommy.'

James Mack died in Athens, Greece, during a vacation with his wife and daughter in 2006. Obituaries gave his cause of death as a pulmonary embolism.

He was a well-known Chicago composer.

'THE TRUTH SETS YOU FREE': HEATHER MACK'S CONFESSION 'Hey so this is a video that I need to make. A lot of times since I've been a kid I've heard "the truth sets you free", "the truth sets you free," and I never understood but I'm Heather Mack, I wanna be set free. I don't want to live in a lie anymore. 'When I was 10, my mother killed my father in a hotel in Athens, Greece. Two weeks before I came to Bali, I found out that she killed my father and I made it up in my heart in my mind, my soul, in my blood, in the oxygen running through my body that I wanted to kill my mother. 'First, I asked Tommy Schaefer to help me find somebody to kill my mom $50.000 and he said no. After that, I got this whole new savage idea in my head that I wanted to kill her in a hotel room because she had killed my father in a hotel room. 'We were going to Bali so I began to plot, I began turning off Tommy's phone, taking Tommy's phone when he was asleep. This started in Chicago. Texting myself, having fake conversations and then deleting them before he could see them. 'I did that because part of me knew that with this plan of killing my mom in a hotel, that she might... I might get arrested. I didn't want to get arrested by myself in a different country so I came to Bali and I told Tommy that he was going to come here for a vacation with my mother and I and that she knew about it. 'And in reality, I stole her credit card and bought him a ticket without her knowing about it. 'I trapped him here and that is what I regret. I don't regret killing my mother, and as evil as that may sound, that's my reality. If somebody killed Stella, I wouldn't regret killing them either but I regret bringing Tommy into it. 'I regret being selfish. I regret trapping an innocent person into this because it was my battle, my mother, it was my father. It was my mother, it was my father, it was my battle. I'm sorry to Tommy Schaefer for trapping him. 'We came to Bali, my mom found out. I killed her myself and then I told Tommy that if he did not help me clean the room and get rid of the body, that I would tell the police that he did it, that I would pay money to get him arrested. 'So he helped me clean. He ran with me, in the court the same thing happened. My lawyers and I, because of the fact that if I get money, if my article that I was charged with was not that I'm the one that killed her, I'm still entitled to the money and therefore I can pay the lawyers more. So we told Tommy together, my lawyers and I, that if he didn't take the blame in the court, that he would get the death penalty. 'So he lied in the court because of me, my motivation for doing this was myself. It's from inside of me and it's my battle. It wasn't Tommy's. Tommy is an innocent man and an even more innocent man is Ryan, Tommy's cousin. 'I don't even know how hegot involved in this or why the FBI involved him because he had absolutely nothing to do with any of it. He's innocent. I don't know if he wanted to sell a better story or what the FBI was on but Tommy ad Ryan are innocent, I'm not. 'The only thing Tommy is not innocent of is hiding the body. And the only reason he did that is because of me. 'Because it was so burning and so deep in my heart, my plan, that I didn't think. I involved him, I hurt him and I hurt Stella and I am sorry Tommy Schaefer, I'm sorry. I love you. 'I really love you and if I could go back I would do it myself and I'm sorry that everyone who ever knew you now thinks you're a murderer when you're not. 'I'm sorry you won't be able to get a job, I'm sorry everybody thinks that you're some crazy killer. This is the truth and whoever is watching this, don't hate Tommy. 'He's innocent. I'm not. I love you Tommy.' Advertisement




A photographer refused to capture a gay couple's wedding because he said it was at odds with his beliefs.

Mike Cerantola and his partner Victor Rivas, contacted Giulio Granata at Premier Productions in Montreal to set up a meeting and the agency asked details about the bride.

'I mentioned that there's only going to be one house, since we already live with each other, and I said there is no bride: we're two guys,' Mike told CTV Montreal.

Mike Cerantola (left) and his partner Victor, contacted Premier Productions in Montreal to book a photographer for their wedding

After to couple tried to set up a meeting and mentioned there was 'no bride,' the photographer declined

Granata replied to his email and said he could not shoot the couple's wedding, citing religious beliefs, he said.

'Mike, I regret that I cannot take this wedding, because it is at odds with my religious beliefs. I'm so sorry and I hope you're not offended,' the photographer said.

Cerantola said he was hurt and shocked by the response, but has received a lot of support from friends and family.

'I was with my friend and she was like, "Are we reading this right?" So, obviously I was a little shocked to hear that, and this kind of thing had never happened to me before,' he said.

Mike took to Facebook to address the incident, where he was recommended more options.

Mike flashes a ring on his finger with his partner. The man said he now has 29 photographers to choose from and wants to raise awareness for others in the same 'gay boat'

'Anyone who knows me knows I'm relatively a nice person and would never be malicious....but being refused by a photographer to shoot my wedding because I'm gay hurt me a little,' he said in a Facebook post.

'No sweat off my back..Gonna look for more, but raising awareness for others who are in the same Gay boat. Be aware, this company will turn you down if you are homosexual.'

Cerantola said he is moving past the incident and now has 29 photographers to choose from.

The Dailymail has reached out to Premiere Productions for comment.

'No sweat off my back..Gonna look for more': Cerantola received a great deal of support on social media

Giulio Granata (pictured) from Premiere Productions said he could not shoot because of his religious beliefs




Human remains have been found in the search for a 25-year-old woman who went missing in October.

Monica Elaine Sykes disappeared while out buying candy for her nephew in the small town of Kinloch, Missouri.

Search and rescue teams found an unidentified female body in a wooded area outside of the town on Saturday, 5 On Your Side reports.

The remains are being sent to the St Louis County Medical Examiner's office for identification.

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Human remains were found Saturday morning in a small Missouri town near where 25-year-old Monica Elaine Sykes (pictured above) went missing in October

Police found an unidentified female body while searching for 25-year-old Sykes

Sykes's family has been notified, although police are not sure if the remains belong to her.

Sykes was last seen by her six-year-old nephew getting into a white car with an unnamed person

Berkeley Police said the results may come back in two-to-six weeks.

Her mother, Regina, told FOX 2 that the situation is so heartbreaking that she can't participate in the searches.

No arrests have been made.

Sykes, who lives with her sister and three nephews in Berkeley, Missouri, left to buy candy on the morning of October 28 and never returned.

'They told their mom Monica told them she was heading out and would get them some candy to give them later that afternoon', Regina said.

'The oldest then said he saw her get into a white car that drove away. That was the last time anyone saw her'.

The remains are being sent to the St Louis County Medical Examiner's office for identification

A home alarm verifies that Sykes opened the door just after 7am. She took her cell phone with her but not her identification or debit card.

The store Sykes said she was going to was about a half mile away.

Sykes had just started a new job at a restaurant and was scheduled to work the day she went missing.

She was planning to return to school and wanted to eventually run her grandmother's daycare business.

She is close with her family, and it's uncharacteristic of her to go a day without talking to them.

Sykes is the third youngest of six children and spent much of her free time with family.

Sykes's family has been notified, although police are not sure if the remains belong to her

'I definitely think that there is foul play. She is being held against her will and unable to contact us', Regina said.

Little information has been released in connection with the case so as to not hinder the ongoing investigation.

'We're treating it as the family would want us to treat it. And that's if it was our own daughter. And that's the steps we're taking', Berkeley Police Department Captain Art Jackson told NBC affiliate KSDK in December.

At the time of her disappearance, Sykes had started dating a man, someone her family said they had not yet met.

He drives a white car, the same color car Sykes's nephew said he saw her get into the day she disappeared.

Her boyfriend was questioned by police, along with several of Monica's close friends.

Sykes is described as 4 feet 11 inches tall, weighing 100 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

It's unknown what type of clothing Sykes was wearing at the time of her disappearance, but she had on pink and black Adidas flip-flops.

She has an 'M' tattooed on her upper right arm and the name 'Leonard' written in cursive tattooed on her left shoulder blade.

Anyone with information is urged to call Berkeley Police or the anonymous CrimeStopper's tip line at 866-371-tips.
Mr Corbyn, pictured visiting Finsbury Park Mosque today, was defied by more than a dozen of his own team over Brexit last week

Labour's shambles over Brexit hit a new low today as Jeremy Corbyn indicated he will not sack more than a dozen frontbenchers who defied him to try and block the EU Bill.

The veteran left-winger is facing another tortuous week as Theresa May pushes through legislation that will allow her to trigger Article 50.

He made a desperate bid to put an end to months of confusion about the Opposition's stance by ordering his MPs to vote in favour of the Bill at second reading on Wednesday.

But more than 40 of his MPs ignored the three-line whip. Asked this afternoon if he would fire 13 members of his own team who has chosen to rebel, Mr Corbyn said merely: 'I am a lenient person.'

The limp response came amid fresh demands for the leader's close ally Diane Abbott to resign over her 'sick note' absence from the key EU Bill vote.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry stoked the row this morning by refusing to defend Ms Abbott's claim that she developed a headache shortly before the division. 'I don't know the details of that,' Ms Thornberry said.

There is mounting speculation that Mr Corbyn will make another concession to rebels by ordering MPs to abstain on the third reading of the Bill on Wednesday.

His allies believe the compromise could be the only way to stop the party's divisions becoming even more catastrophic.

Ms Thornberry did not deny that abstaining was on the table - pointing out that the shadow cabinet would meet to consider the issue on Tuesday.

'We have said that we will not frustrate Brexit. We have got our instructions from the British people. We are democrats and the public have voted to leave the European Union,' she told The Andrew Marr Show.

'There are going to be negotiations happening in the next week. There are many ways in which the Government may be able to react to this that will be positive.

'On one of the amendments we have put down they may say, 'We're not going to support this amendment but during a speech we can give an assurance, we can speak in back channels, we can say you will get this.'

She added: 'It is a fast-moving picture. Let's see what happens,' she said. 'The whip will be decided next week. Let's see what happens in relation to the amendments. We have a shadow cabinet meeting next week. It will be for the chief whip and the leader to decide what the whip is.'

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry (pictured today on the BBC's Andrew Marr show) pointedly refused to defend Diane Abbott's failure to vote on the EU Bill

Ms Abbott's office insisted she had a 'severe migraine' that came on just hours before the vote

There were more calls today for Ms Abbott to be sacked for missing last week's historic vote, which delivered an overwhelming majority in support of Theresa May triggering the Article 50 Brexit process.

MPs have ridiculed the excuse that the shadow home secretary had a severe migraine, and pointed out that at least two politicians undergoing cancer treatment did manage to take part in the division.

Former minister Caroline Flint told ITV's Peston show: 'We used to have man flu now we have Brexit flu ... if she can't support the leader on this she should go.'

Meanwhile, former deputy leader Harriet Harman has warned that Labour's plight is as bad as the 1980s and the party must stop 'telling the public they are wrong'.

Mr Corbyn was out and about at Finsbury Park Mosque to mark 'Visit My Mosque' day ahead of another tortuous week as the PM pushes through Brexit legislation

She said Mr Corbyn's team was 'shouting' at voters and refusing to recognise that their policies were unpopular.

Ms Harman said there were 'painful echoes of the 1980s' about what was happening to Labour.

The party had to 'get its act together instead of shouting at the public and telling the public they are getting it wrong'.

'We had to listen to them and work out where we were getting it wrong,' she told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

'That is what we have to do again.'

Pointing to the dire poll ratings for the leader and the party, Ms Harman said: 'I think you cannot be an effective Opposition if you haven't got enough public support.

Labour's former deputy leader Harriet Harman said the party was in a very bad state and Jeremy Corbyn needed to recognise that his policies were unpopular

Ms Harman told Sky News there were 'painful echoes of the 1980s' about what was happening to Labour

'We do need more public support in order to be an effective Opposition, let alone a credible government.'

But shadow chancellor John McDonnell - a key ally of Mr Corbyn - told BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics: 'Once we get past Brexit we'll unite the Labour Party, we'll be back on our agenda, and you'll see I think that we'll have a significant impact on the political debate in this country which means we'll go back in front of the Tories in the polls over the next year.

'That's what I think most of the Labour party members are actually campaigning for and support.

'We'll be on the Labour agenda of protecting our economy. They [the Tories] are preparing for a fight even though they've papered over the cracks at the moment.'

Tory MP Maria Caulfield said: 'Labour are totally divided and confused over whether or not to back the Bill that delivers the country's decision to leave the EU.'

160 MPs and London Mayor back calls to deny Trump honour of Westminster Hall speech

More than 160 MPs and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have backed calls to deny Donald Trump the honour of a Westminster Hall speech.

Tory former minister Anna Soubry branded the US president a 'spoilt child', and said if he was to deliver an address she would probably boycott it.

Theresa May has flatly dismissed demands for Mr Trump's state visit to be cancelled over his ban on nationals seven mainly-Muslim countries coming to America - which has been put on hold by the US courts.

The Prime Minister said that while she viewed the policy as 'divisive and wrong' it was a matter for the American authorities and would not hurt relations.

More than 160 MPs have signed an indicative motion calling for Mr Trump to be denied the honour of delivering a Westminster Hall address

More than 1million people have signed a petition demanding President Trump's state visit to the UK is cancelled. Pictured, President Trump with an executive order in the Oval Office

However, critics are trying a different tack by appealing to the Speakers of the Commons and Lords to refuse to authorise a Westminster Hall speech.

Speaker John Bercow has privately expressed concern about the expected backlash if the event were to happen, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

London Mayor Mr Khan, a former Labour MP, told MailOnline: 'I had the honour of being there and listening to Aung San Suu Kyi and also President Obama.

'I think parliamentarians will make their own decisions, as will the Speaker. The reality is that in the circumstances where there is a ban in place the public find it odd there is a state visit, let alone him being given the privilege that dignitaries have been given to address both Houses.'

Ms Harman told the Observer she would boycott any speech by the US commander-in-chief.

'His views on many issues are unacceptable. And on foreign policy he seems to think he can just bully other countries and get his way. That we should sit there smiling and clapping is... well for me it is out of the question,' she told the Observer.

Tory former minister Anna Soubry (pictured right on the BBC's Andrew Marr show today) branded the US president a 'spoilt child'

Fellow Labour MP Yvette Cooper said: 'The idea that we are all going to sit in Parliament and listen to a man who is turning the clock back on democracy, pushing misogyny and hatred of Muslims is a joke.'

The 'early day motion' tabled by Labour MP Stephen Doughty reads: 'This House deplores recent actions taken by US President Donald J Trump, including his Executive Order on Immigration and Refugees, and notably his comments on torture and women;

'Notes the historical significance and honour that comes with an invitation to address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall or elsewhere in the Palace of Westminster;

'And calls on the Speaker, Lord Speaker, Black Rod and Serjeant at Arms to withhold permission from the Government for an address to be made in Westminster Hall, or elsewhere in the Palace of Westminster, by President Trump.'
Marina Adams, 44, was raped by illegal immigrant Alexander Volynets

A woman has shared the harrowing story of how a grenade-wielding maniac she met online brutally raped her while she was pregnant with his child.

Marina Adams, 44, was held hostage and subjected to a vicious 15-hour ordeal by illegal immigrant Alexander Volynets.

The 'dangerous and ruthless' 39-year-old violently raped her twice in her bedroom while she was five months pregnant, after she tried to end their relationship.

Ms Adams has now shared her story in a bid to warn other women after Volynets was released from prison in his native Ukraine, having served his six-year jail sentence.

The hairdresser from Bognor Regis in West Sussex, has waived her right to anonymity to speak out because she is now petrified he will return and strike again.

The 14-stone brute, who was living in London illegally, launched his attack after Ms Adams, who was raising a four-year-old daughter alone, tried to cut ties with him.

Ms Adams claims he had been warned by police five times to stay away from her, but ignored them.

He told her: 'If I can't have you no one can.'

Window fitter Volynets was later jailed for six years and deported back to his native Ukraine to finish serving his sentence

The mother-of-two said: 'I worry he will come back to Britain. At the back of my mind I think, if he has done it once he could do it again.

'If he was in this country again I would be absolutely terrified. I would have to move to a different country or somewhere he couldn't find me.

'I would be absolutely petrified. I dread to think what would happen.

'I feared for my life. He said he was going to kill me and I thought he would. He is mentally unstable. He is dangerous and ruthless.

'The internet is an open window. You could meet the love of your life or you could meet someone like who I met. You don't know who is behind the screen.'

Russian-born Marina, who has lived in the UK for half her life, met window fitter Volynets on dating site love.ru and became pregnant with his child after a brief fling.

She kept the baby but broke things off with Volynets after discovering he had two passports, was living in London illegally and had been lying about his age.

Grovelling and seemingly romantic at first, he begged Ms Adams to take him back, telling her he loved her and asking her to marry him.

But things turned sinister when she said no and the father-of-two began to stalk her, bombarding her with late night calls, texts and up to 100 emails an hour.

On one occasion she found him lurking in her lounge at 1am, having removed the bolts from her back door so he could sneak in to check if she was with another man.

In a desperate bid to put him off, the heavily pregnant mother resorted to lying and told Volynets that she was in a new relationship.

But the plan backfired and two weeks later, on January 29, 2010, he turned up on Marina's doorstep knowing she was home alone.

He barged inside and raped her twice while holding a hand grenade - which Ms Adams later learned was fake.

The father-of-two began to stalk Ms Adams, and removed the bolts from her back door so he could sneak in to check if she was with another man

Hairdresser Marina, from Bognor Regis in West Sussex, has waived her right to anonymity to speak out because she is now petrified he will return and strike again

She said: 'He knocked on the door. I had expected that he might come over and I thought we might deal with it once and for all.

'But instead of that, he just pushed himself in, threw my phone out of my hand and shoved me against the wall.

'Then he put this hand grenade right up to my face and said, 'Are you happy now?', said Marina, who had no idea the grenade was a realistic replica at the time.

He said, 'I will keep coming back and doing what I'm doing until you get used to it'

'He said, 'Are you smiling now? Do you think it's funny now?' Then he asked, 'How can you do this? I love you. How can you do this you horrible b***h?'

'It went round and round in circles, he was going on and on and on and was holding the grenade the whole time. I just thought, 'Please go away.'

'Then he told me to go upstairs. He raped me in my bedroom. He told me not to struggle. He said, 'You won't struggle because you will lose your baby.'

'He was very calm and was giving orders but he had these mad eyes. I tried to push him off but he is tall and strong - I had absolutely no chance.

'He didn't leave until the next morning. He told me he was going to keep doing it. He said, "I will keep coming back and doing what I'm doing until you get used to it.''

Volynets denied rape but was found guilty after Marina gave evidence during a week-long trial at Lewes Crown Court in May 2011 and jailed for six years

Volynets raped Marina at night and again the following morning, warning her not to struggle and threatening to blow up the house if she did.

He finally left at 8am, 15 hours after he arrived.

Police knocked on her door later that week and said they had caught Volynets, who was married with twin daughters in Ukraine, with a crowbar trying to break into houses.

Volynets raped Marina at night and again the following morning

She broke down in tears and told them everything.

Volynets denied rape but was found guilty after Marina gave evidence during a week-long trial at Lewes Crown Court in May 2011 and jailed for six years.

He was deported to Ukraine in 2013 to serve the second half of his sentence and is since understood to have been released.

The child he fathered with Ms Adams is now six years old. Remarkably, Ms Adams says she's now forgiven her rapist.

She said: 'A two-month mistake ruined three years of my life. In the end he was in jail but I was serving the sentence.

'I was was frightened, paranoid and a nervous wreck.

'I eventually decided to forgive him and this has definitely made me a stronger person. He has no power over me anymore.'

But she added: 'If he has gone this far then next time he will go further. Every woman who sees his photo should beware.'

Sussex Police said: 'The rape was thoroughly investigated, resulting in his conviction, prison sentence, and deportation.'




Officials have warned against a trend where young people pose on train tracks to impress social media followers.

A top Sydney transit official joined the NSW Police in condemning what he called an 'extremely dangerous and stupid' fad - one which previously made headlines in Melbourne.

Instagram pages show young people standing on train tracks and riding on the outside of city trains.

Similar incidents have led to injury and death.

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Officials have warned against a trend where young people pose on train tracks to impress social media followers

A top Sydney transit official joined the NSW Police in condemning what he called an 'extremely dangerous and stupid' fad - one which previously made headlines in Melbourne

Instagram pages show young people standing on train tracks and riding on the outside of city trains

Dangerous: The social media fad has led to injury and death in the past

'It only takes a train accelerating quickly or braking suddenly to shake someone buffer riding onto the tracks,' Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins told the Daily Telegraph.

'If the fall doesn't kill you, the next train coming along probably will. It can take a train hundreds of metres to stop under emergency braking and you won't hear them coming.'

A spokesperson for NSW Police told the newspaper: 'It's ludicrous behaviour and it places lives at risk; not only these idiots' lives but also those of train staff and emergency responders.'

'People need to be aware trains travel at speeds of over 100km/h and take a significant distance to stop.'

Police said riding on the back of trains or entering rail tunnels carries a $400 penalty.

'It only takes a train accelerating quickly or braking suddenly to shake someone buffer riding onto the tracks,' Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins said
Taylor was a TSU freshman majoring in respiratory care and a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority

All four fraternities have now been suspended over the infractions

Police were called to wild frat party on the night of Taylor's death over complaints of noise and underage drinking

Pi Kappa Alpha, Alpha Tau Omega, Kappa Alpha Order and Delta Tau Delta were found to have hazed students and served minors, according to a school memo

hosted a party at Cool River Ranch and shuttle buses were used to transport students home after the event

Taylor was struck by the bus on October 28 and dragged more than 500 feet

Four fraternities at Texas State have been suspended over the wild frat party where a 20-year-old woman was found dead underneath a bus.

University records reveal authorities found vomit covered bathrooms and passed-out revelers at the off-campus frat party which Jordin Taylor had been attending before she was struck by a shuttle bus and dragged more than 500 feet to her death on October 28.

Police had been called to Cool River Ranch in Houston, Texas, over complaints of noise and underage drinking. But Taylor's body was not found until the next day.

'The investigation found that attendees were intoxicated to the point of being unconscious as they laid on the ground or being intoxicated to the point of throwing up,' a memorandum, seen by My San Antonio, to several of the Texas State fraternities read.

University records reveal authorities found vomit covered bathrooms and passed-out revelers at the off-campus frat party which Jordin Taylor (left and right) had been attending before she was struck by a shuttle bus and dragged more than 500 feet to her death

Pi Kappa Alpha, Alpha Tau Omega, Kappa Alpha Order and Delta Tau Delta were found to have thrown the event, as well as hazing prospective members and serving minors, according to the memo.

All four frats have been now been suspended.

Alpha Tau Omega was also found to have texted a chapter member urging them to tell university officials that the party was not one of theirs and to deny drinks were being served from a bar, saying everyone had their own drinks.

Party scene: The incident took place at Cool River Ranch, a concert and tubing venue in Martindale, which was the site of an off-campus fraternity party

Pi Kappa Alpha, Alpha Tau Omega, Kappa Alpha Order and Delta Tau Delta were found to have thrown the event, as well as hazing prospective members and serving minors, according to the memo

But the investigation found the fraternities were responsible for serving beer and boxed wine at the event. It also found the fraternities could not prove they had checked the identification of minors.

University spokesman Matt Flores would not comment on the connection between the fraternity party and Taylor's death, but the date and location of the party match where the 20-year-old student was found dead.

Taylor, an Alpha Delta Pi sorority member, previously favorited a tweet mentioning a party hosted by the fraternities now facing suspension. It did not provide the date or location of the event.

Guadalupe County Sheriff Arnold Zwicke said that an autopsy showed Taylor's cause of death to be consistent with being hit and dragged by a bus.

The investigation found the fraternities were responsible for serving beer and boxed wine at the event

Taylor's body was discovered shortly after 1pm on October 29 beneath the vehicle at Cool River Ranch, a concert venue and tubing site near Martindale.

At around 11.15pm the previous evening, the operator of the shuttle bus reported problems with the vehicle's air braking system, which are now believed to have been caused by the collision with Taylor, reported the stationKXAN. The driver apparently was unaware at the time that the bus had struck someone.

The driver's supervisor instructed him to leave the incapacitated bus where it had come to a stop and transfer students who were on board to another bus, reported KVUE.

The buses were transporting party goers from the venue of the celebration, which according to local reports had been organized by several fraternities.

Neechui Sosa, a senior who attended the event, said there was a large police presence at the site and there were paramedics on hand keeping watch of students. He said the event ended at around 11.30pm.

Mechanics who went back the following day to fix the broken down bus in the 600 block of Dupuy Ranch Road discovered Jordin Taylor's body underneath the rear axle.

Tragic death: Texas State University freshman Jordin Taylor, 20, was found dead beneath a shuttle bus in Martindale, Texas, on October 29

Family: Taylor is pictured left with her father, Joey, and right with her older sister, Ashtin

Texas State University spokesman Matt Flores said Taylor, of Burleson, Texas, was majoring in respiratory care and was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.

The Greek organization sent out a tweet that read: Thank you for the condolences during this hard time with the loss our sweet sister, Jordin. All of the love and support means so much.

She is survived by her father, Joey Taylor, sister Ashtin and brother Dustin. Jordin was preceded in death by her mother, Kara Taylor, who passed away unexpectedly from a brain tumor in 2012 at age 47.

You send your kid off to school and you don't anticipate that they're not coming back, a devastated Mr Taylor told the station WFAA by phone.

Video courtesy of CBS Austin

Those who knew Jordin Taylor described her as a kind-hearted young woman with a bubbly personality and an infectious laugh.

Fellow Texas State student Nicole Carter wrote in a tweet accompanying a series of photos depicting Taylor: You left an impact on me and I'll cherish you forever. It's just not fair.
A brilliant city businesswoman labelled Supermum for juggling her high-powered career with being a mother-of-nine has revealed the secret to her success - having a house husband.

Helena Morrissey, 50, who announced she has been appointed to the board of Legal & General Investment Management - one of Britain's largest asset management firms - admitted her stay-at-home husband remains instrumental to her career.

Richard Morrissey, 53, a former financial journalist agreed to halt his own career and look after their children in the run up to the birth of their fourth child.

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Helena Morrissey, 50, manages to balance a high powered corporate job with being a mother to nine children. The City Supermum recently announced that she was to join Legal & General Investment Management - one of Britain's largest asset management firms

The couple agreed that Richard would become a stay-at-home husband, raising the children and maintaining their home in Notting Hill, London.

Richard became a Buddist monk and dedicated himself to raising the children allowing Morrissey to soar through the corporate ranks.

When we were expecting our fourth child, he sat down one day and said, "Look, we are struggling to cope with both of us having jobs'"  such as working out which one of us would get home to relieve the nanny or wait at home in the morning until she arrives,' Morrissey, who lives in Notting Hill, west London, told The Times.

The mother-of-nine told The Times that they had intended on having five children but 'overshot' the mark because they were having such fun raising their offspring

When we were expecting our fourth child, he sat down one day and said, "Look, we are struggling to cope with both of us having jobs'"  such as working out which one of us would get home to relieve the nanny or wait at home in the morning until she arrives,' Morrissey, who lives in Notting Hill, west London, told The Times





The pair met while studying at Cambridge, marrying by the time Helena was 21.





She gave birth to her first child at 25, which she named Fitz after her university college Fitzwilliam.

The inspirational businesswoman also founded the 30 Per Cent Club, a campaign to make boardrooms 30% female by 2015.

Morrissey heaped praise on her husband Richard, 53, who she met while studying at Cambridge and married shortly after. The former financial journalist became a Buddist monk and has dedicated himself to raising the brood while maintaining their Notting Hill home.

Discussing her nine-strong brood, Morrissey admitted they had 'overshot' their original target of five children.

The busy executive explained the key to her success as starting her day at 5am to catch up on emails and waking her children at 6.30am to get ready for school. She even drives her children to school as often as possible, getting to work for 8.15am.

Morrissey who became the chief executive of Newton Investment Management by the time she was only 35 has even found time to begin writing her own book: A Good Time to Be a Girl: How to Succeed in a Changing World.
A Wal-Mart customer in Florida fatally shot a 19-year-old man who was suspected of stealing two carts filled with diapers.

Police say that the shooting occurred around 8am on Saturday in the parking lot of the supersore on the 5500 block of Clarcona Ocoee Road in the Pine Hills area of Orlando.

The customer confronted the four men who were loading stolen items into a maroon Nissan Rogue in the superstore's parking lot.

He 'felt threatened' when one of the alleged suspects reached for something, fearing it was a gun.

A customer at a Wal-Mart store in Florida fatally shot a 19-year-old man who was among a group suspected of stealing two carts filled with diapers

Police say that the shooting occurred around 8am on Saturday on the 5500 block of Clarcona Ocoee Road in the Pine Hills area of Orlando

He then fired at the 19-year-old suspect, killing him.

The suspect has not yet been identified.

The Nissan had been reported stolen after a carjacking on January 13th.

Sheriff's Captain Angelo Nieves said: 'They were fleeing from the store when they were confronted by store personnel,

'Some type of commotion occurred at the vehicle as it was being loaded with the stolen merchandise.'

Sheriff's Captain Angelo Nieves said: 'Some type of commotion occurred at the vehicle as it was being loaded with the stolen merchandise'

That's when the armed customer intervened, firing his weapon, and hitting two vehicles in the parking lot, causing one to spin off.

The suspect later died at a hospital after deputies found him at a gas station. Police have not said if the customer will be charged for the shooting.

The shooting is under investigation, and the remaining robbery suspects remain at large.

This is reportedly the second shooting at a Pine Hills Wal-Mart in just a month.

This is reportedly the second shooting at a Pine Hills Wal-Mart in just a month.

Another tragic incident in Orlando occurred last month when a 17-year veteran police officer was shot and killed at a Wal-Mart while trying to apprehend a murder suspect.
In what's thought to be the first conviction of its kind, a Canadian court recently found two parents guilty of taking their 13-year-old daughter across the border for a sexual purpose when she was forced to marry Warren Jeffs, as their Canadian sect leader alone has 145 children with 27 wives.

British Colombia Supreme Court Justice Paul Pearlman ruled Friday that former husband and wife Brandon J. Blackmore and Emily Ruth Gail Blackmore are guilty of taking their daughter across the border in 2004 to marry the now imprisoned Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) leader Warren Jeffs.

FLDS Bishop James Oler was also on trial with the former couple, but Pearlman found him not guilty of the same charge.

Oler was accused of bringing the 15-year-old girl across the border to marry James Leroy Johnson, who was 24 at the time of the marriage.

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Brandon J. Blackmore was found guilty on Friday of taking his daughter across the border in 2004 to marry the now imprisoned Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) leader Warren Jeffs. Above he arrives at the courthouse in Cranbrook, British Columbia

His estranged wife, Emily Ruth Gail Blackmore, was also found guilty of the same charge. She is pictured above on Friday arriving to court with FLDS bishop James Oler

Oler was also on trial with the former couple, but he was found not guilty. He was accused of bringing the 15-year-old girl across the border to marry James Leroy Johnson, who was 24 at the time of the marriage.

Despite the snowy weather,supporters of Brandon J. Blackmore, Gail Blackmore and James Oler attended the trial in Cranbrook on Friday

Pearlman said he couldn't prove that the man crossed the border with a 15-year-old girl who was later married to a member of the polygamous church. The Blackmores will be sentenced April 13 and face up to five years in prison.

The three defendants were members of the FLDS, a polygamous offshoot church that has members in the community of Bountiful in southeastern British Colombia.

Much of the evidence heard in the judge-only trial of the three defendants arose from a U.S. investigation into Jeffs, in which authorities say he married three underage girls - Millie Blackmore, Alyshia Rae Blackmore and Nolita Collen Blackmore - in 2004 and 2005 who were brought across the border to marry the now imprisoned leader.

Those same three girls are believed to be missing, as Canadian and United States authorities are both searching for them.

In addition, the charges against 59-year-old Winston Blackmore came after Special Prosecutor Peter Wilson approved three 'unlawful removal of a child from Canada' charges against the former couple and Oler.

Winston Blackmore is married to 27 women with whom he has at least 145 children.

Millie Blackmore (above) was transported by her parents from Canada to the US to marry Warren Jeffs in 2004 when she was aged 13. Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators are still searching for her

Alyshia Rae Blackmore (above) was also taken from the community in Bountiful to marry Jeffs when she was aged 12. Authorities are still searching for her as well

Millie Blackmore is not the only sibling of Brandon S. Blackmore who was married to Jeffs (above), as their sister Annie Mae Blackmore was married to the FLDS leader at an unknown date. Her whereabouts are unknown

Brandon J. Blackmore and Emily Blackmore are now separated as husband and wife, but the charges they were convicted of center on the couple's daughter, Millie Blackmore, who was married off to a then-48-year-old Jeffs in 2004.

Their son and Millie Blackmore's half-brother, Brandon S. Blackmore, testified against them during the trial, but he is hoping they receive leniency when they're sentenced.

In their defense, he said they were doing what they were told to by their prophet in terms of having his sibling marry Jeffs.

'I really do hope the judge takes into consideration the fact that my dad has already suffered a lot,' Brandon S. Blackmore told the Salt Lake Tribune.

'He has been cast out from the [FLDS] and his home and family.'

He shared that his father has 40 children and used to have five wives, but the FLDS excommunicated him when the investigation began.

Canada's biggest polygamist, Winston Blackmore (center), 59, is currently being prosecuted by the Canadian government for polygamy. He has 27 wives and 145 children

As the sect leader in Bountiful, British Columbia, Winston Blackmore had a large amount of children (above) and is accused of helping to arrange the cross border wedding ceremonies for child brides

Winston Blackmore is pictured above laughing with six of his 145 children, as some of the women hold their children which are his grandchildren in Canada

Winston Blackmore was charged again in 2014, and recently claimed that he and his wives are officially 'friends', adding that despite them being friends, 'they still charge us with polygamy'

The son added that his father now lives alone in a hamlet in southeast British Columbia. He said his father was hurt that the family members who were in the courtroom to hear the verdict wouldn't acknowledge him or look at him.

'I think that hurt him worse than the conviction,' Brandon S. Blackmore told the Salt Lake Tribune.

Last year, Brandon S. Blackmore revealed that his sibling was married to Jeffs moments before the leader presided over his wedding ceremony in Colorado City, Arizona, as he was a member of Jeff's flock at the time, according to VICE.

Millie Blackmore is not the only sibling of Brandon S. Blackmore who was married to Jeffs, as Annie Mae Blackmore was married to the FLDS leader at an unknown date.

Apparently Jeffs sent word to their father in Canada that he also wanted to take on Millie Blackmore as a bride.

A March 1, 2004 journal entry dictated by Jeffs to one of his wives and was later confiscated by U.S. authorities in Texas apparently reveals what happened.

'I sat down with Brandon [J] Blackmore and his wife and his daughter, gave a training on the redemption of Zion in brief, in summary, and this girl was called on a mission, and they received it joyfully,' the entry reads.

Above students at the Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School play an afternoon game of basketball. The community has two independent schools within a few hundred yards of each other

Students at the Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School play an afternoon game of basketball

Students who attend the Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School play a game of parachute during an afternoon recess

'And there Mildred Marlene Blackmore, age 13, was sealed to Warren Steed Jeffs for time and all eternity.'

It also notes that her father witnessed the ceremony to Jeffs, as Brandon S. Blackmore had no idea she had got married the same day or even that she was in Colorado City at the time.

He explained to VICE that he didn't see Millie Blackmore for years around the Bountiful community, as people claimed that she was 'on a mission for the church.'

In 2013, investigators with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) asked Brandon S. Blackmore to listen to a recording of Jeffs having sex, as they wanted to know if the person on the tape was his teenage half-sister.

Even though her name was not said aloud on the tape, he said could tell that it was his half-sister's voice and told RCMP investigators.

'He was asking her how it felt and a bunch of weird things,' Brandon S. Blackmore told VICE in an interview.

Brandon S. Blackmore shared that RCMP investigators told him the tape with Jeffs and his half-sister was recorded sometime around 2004 or 2005 at a motel in New Mexico.

Rachel Jeffs, the 32-year-old daughter from the FLDS leaders' second marriage confirmed that a series of teenage girls, including Millie Blackmore, had arrived to their household.

Young girls are seen playing outside one of the two schools in the polygamist community of Bountiful

It's not often that people who are not within the community are allowed in to photograph FLDS members . Above young girls play outside of school in Bountiful

Male students at the Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School play an afternoon game of basketball

A young girl is seen running from one building to another at a school in the polygamist community of Bountiful

Rachel, who left the sect in 2015, told VICE that when she inquired about who the girls were, she was told they would be new wives for her father.

She explained that she never asked her father about why he married girls who were underage.

'If you do, then you lose your place in the church,' Rachel explained.

'I wasn't so worried about losing my place in the church. I just would never get to see my family again.'

She shared that she remembered the teenage Millie Blackmore crying a lot.

Rachel added that the situation worsened when Alyshia Rae Blackmore and Nolita Colleen Blackmore arrived in December 2005 at the Yearning for Zion ranch, which is a compound for the FLDS in Texas.

'I saw her struggle emotionally a lot,' Rachel said of Millie. 'She wasn't really stable.'

Mounties with the RCMP launched a search for Millie Blackmore along with two other Canadian women, Alyshia Rae Blackmore and Nolita Collen Blackmore last year.

The other two women were also married to Jeffs when they were aged 12, as authorities believe all three of the women are now in their early to mid 20s.

Officials say much of the evidence for the cases against Winston Blackmore (above) and the other three members stem from the investigation into Jeffs

It is believed that the three missing women are still loyal to Jeffs, as many women apart of the sect are taught to be loyal to their husbands.

It's thought that Millie Blackmore, Alyshia Rae Blackmore and Nolita Collen Blackmore are all living on one of the many FLDS compounds in the U.S., or are being housed at secret locations that are known as 'Houses of Hiding' among members who are waiting for Jeffs to be released from prison (even though he is serving a life sentence).

The charges and convictions against Brandon J. Blackmore and Emily Blackmore are thought to be the first time that any parents within the religion have faced in relation to the reported pipeline of child brides that operated for years between the FLDS sects in Bountiful and the headquarters in Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah, according to VICE.

Oler was accused of having taken his 15-year-old daughter across the Canadian border to the U.S. to marry then-24-year-old James Leroy.

Oler was also charged with polygamy along with his brother-in-law Winston Blackmore, who faced the same charge previously years ago.

In 2007, Winston Blackmore was first arrested for polygamy, but those charges were later dropped over concerns of how the special prosecutor was selected, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported.

Winston Blackmore was charged again in 2014, and recently claimed that he and his wives are officially 'friends', adding that despite them being friends, 'they still charge us with polygamy'.

All of the marriages within the FLDS have been reportedly stopped since Jeffs arrest, but it's unclear if members of the religion have continued to transport child brides across the border.

Authorities in both the US and Canada have been searching for signs of human trafficking and other crimes that could possibly be happening by members of the FLDS.
FAR-RIGHT French presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen paid a glowing tribute to Donald Trump and Brexit today saying she could make her own country free again.

The 48-year-old leader of the National Front (FN) launched her campaign to become head of state at a rally in Lyon, eastern France.

Donald Trump is keeping his promises, acting fast and strong in the interest of his people, said Ms Pen.

French presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen paid tribute to Donald Trump and Brexit suggesting that she was the candidate to make France 'free again'

In turn, she promised her own populist revolution  one based on fighting globalisation and radical Islam, and engineering an exit from the failed EU.

The European Union has placed us under guardianship, we will have to find a compromise with Europe to regain sovereignty, said Ms Le Pen.

If no compromise is found, Ms Le Pen said she wanted to organise a Frexit referendum so as to resign from his nightmares and become free again.

She also wants to leave NATO, and devout to two per cent of gross domestic product to building up the French Army.

Her Made in France economic policies would be based on jobs for French workers, and a clampdown on foreign companies creating unfair competition from other countries in the global economy.

Donald Trump is keeping his promises, acting fast and strong in the interest of his people, said Ms Pen, praising the new US president

She particularly wants to stop immigration from Muslim countries, and to clampdown on Islamic practices in France so as to defend French culture.

The FN leader is currently leading polls to win the first round of the presidential election, but is expected to lose heavily in the second, which will be held in May.

Her closest rival is the 39-year-old independent Emmanuel Macron, who also launched his campaign in Lyon.

The former economics minister and merchant banker is pro-Europe, and pro-free trade, and a fierce enemy of Ms Le Pen.

He said the FN betrays French values adding: Some today pretend to be talking in the name of the people, but they are just ventriloquists.

In a clear reference to Ms Le Pens father Jean-Marie Le Pen and niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen, he Mr Macron said: They dont speak in the name of the people, they speak in the name of their bitterness, they speak for themselves, from father to daughter and daughter to niece.

With conservative candidate, Francois Fillon, facing criticism and accusations against his financial conduct while in office, Emmanuel Macron has emerged as a potential favourite for victory

With the conservative candidate, Francois Fillon, battling a financial scandal based on fictitious jobs for his Welsh wife Penelope, Mr Macron has a strong chance of victory.

The Socialist Partys candidate is the radical leftist Benoit Hamon who is described as a French Jeremy Corbyn with next to no chance of reaching the Elysee Palace.

Also speaking in Lyon today was Jean-Luc Melenchon, another hard leftist, who is expected to take a lot of votes off Hamon.
The suspect, believed to be Egyptian national Abdallah El-Hamahmy, was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded on Friday

The man arrested over the Louvre terror attack is refusing to talk to anti-terror police as they begin questioning him in Paris.

The suspect, believed to be Egyptian national Abdallah El-Hamahmy, was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded after lunging at soldiers with two machetes on Friday.

The attack was the latest in a string of assaults in France and thrust the issue of security back into the headlines three months ahead of the presidential election.

Investigators decided to question him at his hospital bed after his condition improved, a source said.

The man 'is refusing to speak to investigators for now', but anti-terror police planned to question him again later this evening.

The suspect has been held at a Paris hospital since the attack near the museum on Friday morning.

Based on his phone and visa records, he is thought to be Abdallah El-Hamahmy, a 29-year-old Egyptian national living in the United Arab Emirates, who entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26.

Investigators believe Hamahmy rented an expensive apartment near the Champs Elysees.

A grainy picture claims to show the immediate aftermath of yesterday's shooting, after a machete-wielding man attacked four soldiers outside the Louvre, which houses many of the world's most famous paintings, including the Mona Lisa

El Hamahmy had reportedly arrived in France from Dubai on January 26, and investigators believe he posted tweets voicing support for ISIS in the build-up to the attack

Investigators say the attacker, who was carrying two machetes and wearing a black T-shirt with a skull design, lunged at four soldiers shouting 'Allahu Akbar'.

President Francois Hollande said that 'there is little doubt as to the terrorist nature of this act'.

French investigators have contacted Egyptian officials in hopes of confirming the suspect's identity through DNA testing, a source close to the inquiry said.

They also plan to contact officials in the UAE and in Turkey, since Hamahmy's passport had two visas from Turkey, in 2015 and 2016.

The suspect is in a serious condition after being shot five times in the stomach following an attack on four soldiers yesterday morning

Police are also examining Hamahmy's Twitter account after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic just minutes before the attack.

'In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world,' he wrote, before referring to the Islamic State jihadist group in another tweet a minute later.

Speaking in Cairo on Saturday, a retired police general, Reda El-Hamahmy, said he believed the wounded suspect was his son, who had been in Paris on a business trip.

'He went on a company trip and when it was over visited the museum. He was supposed to leave on Saturday,' he said, saying his son was married and his pregnant wife was currently staying in Saudi Arabia with their seven-month-old son.

After being closed immediately after the attack, the museum reopened Saturday under a heavy presence of police and soldiers.
Women joining the armed forces are becoming pregnant at the rate of one a fortnight, new figures have revealed.

According to statistics released by the Ministry Of Defence between 2014 and December 2016, 36 Army recruits, 15 RAF and 10 Navy recruits became pregnant during their basic training.

Sources say the figures are 'baffling' and questioned how recruits 'find the time to have sex' during the mentally draining and physically gruelling training process.

Some 36 Army recruits, 15 RAF and 10 Navy recruits became pregnant during their basic training (file photo)

The figures were revealed following a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Servicemen and women are warned that the Ministry of Defence does not approve of sexual relations between troops and that any inappropriate behaviour would breach standards guidelines.

Those caught having sex usually face a rebuke from their commanding officer or more serious disciplinary action, depending on the rank and position of those involved.

Sex during basic training is not banned, however male and female recruits sleep in separate sleeping quarters.

Servicemen and women are warned that the Ministry of Defence does not approve of sexual relations between troops (file photo)

New arrivals complete a medical questionnaire which asks if they think they may be pregnant - but in exceptional circumstances they may be allowed to continue the process.

WOMEN IN ARMED FORCES Women now make up ten per cent of Armed Forces personnel and account for 14 per cent of the RAF, nine per cent of the Navy and eight per cent of the Army. In 1949, women were officially recognised as a permanent part of British Armed forces, but it was not until the 1991 Gulf War that women were first deployed in combat roles. Women first became eligible to pilot Royal Air Force combat aircraft in 1989 and the following year, they were permitted to serve on Royal Navy warships. Although they can serve on the front line, women are not permitted to perform roles where the ' primary duty is to close with and kill the enemy', meaning they can not join the Infantry, Household Cavalry, Royal Armoured Corps, Royal Marines Commandos, RAF Regiment, Special Air Service and Special Boat Service. During deployment women serve as combat medics or engagement officers. Advertisement

A source told the Daily Star: 'It's amazing that some female recruits find the time to have sex.

'Boot camp is pretty challenging and most of the time recruits are exhausted. It's baffling.

'Perhaps they are making the most of the few weekends of leave they get.'

At least 102 servicewomen were sent home from Iraq after finding out they were pregnant, before British forces withdrew from the country in 2009.

Between January 2006 and December 2013, 99 servicewomen on operations were flown back to the UK under strict military rules that ban mothers-to-be from serving in a war zone.

According to figures released by the Ministry Of Defence, 16 women were removed from Afghanistan in 2013 due to pregnancy, while 18 were sent home in 2011.

In September 2012 it was revealed that Lance Bombardier Lynette Pearce, then 28, gave birth to a son at the field hospital in Camp Bastion, four days after the base was attacked by the Taliban.

And in February 2011 it was revealed how how Private Kayla Donnelly, then 21, served on the front line in Afghanistans Helmand Province while seven months pregnant.

She had conceived before going to the war zone.
Transexual prisoner Paris Green, 23, has been moved from a woman's prison amid claims she was having sex with the other prisoners

A transexual murderer who was allowed to serve his sentence in a women's prison has been moved amid claims he was having sex with female inmates.

Paris Green, 23, who was born Peter Laing but identifies as a woman, had been staying on the female wing at HMP Edinburgh.

But Green, who is awaiting sex-change surgery, has been transferred back to the male block amid suspicions she was involved in sexual relationships with other convicts there.

It is the second time Green, who was jailed for at least 18 years for her crime, has been moved for 'inappropriate behaviour'.

In 2013, just weeks after she was found guilty alongside Kevin McDonagh and Dean Smith of the murder of Robert Shankland, she was transferred from Corton Vale women's prison, near Stirling, amid similar accusations.

A source told Daily Star Sunday: 'The women want sex and Paris is the only person who can give it to them.'

Green and her two friends had invited Mr Shankland, 45, to a party in Green's flat in the central Scotland town of Glenrothes in 2013.

There he was tied up, beaten and tortured for hours before finally being murdered.

The behaviour of the three murderers who subjected Mr Shankland to hours of torture in Green's flat was described by a judge as 'utterly depraved'.

During the attack, Mr Shankland was tied up with bedding, battered, kicked and sexually attacked with a rolling pin.

He died as a result of either suffocation or blunt force injuries.

Green's friend Maggie Shields told the trial at the High Court in Glasgow that she visited the flat and discovered the death, before recalling how the trio boasted about the beating.

Victim Robert Shankland was tortured and killed by the trio at a flat in Glenrothes, Fife, in 2013

Dean Smith and Kevin McDonagh were found guilty alongside Green for the brutal murder

Miss Shields went on to say the violence had erupted after a row about buying a bag of chips.

As he lay dying, the killers ate ham sandwiches paid for with the proceeds of selling their victim's mobile phone.

The victim's sister Pauline Bell said: 'The whole thing is a joke. We don't believe he really wants a sex change.

'He's just trying to manipulate the system and the tax payer is footing the bill.'

A spokesperson for the Scottish Ministry of Justice, said: 'We would not comment on an individual case.'
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell broke ranks with President Donald Trump on Sunday, criticizing his fellow Republican for lashing out at a federal judge on Twitter.

'I think it is best not to single out judges for criticism,' McConnell told CNN's Jake Tapper on State of the Union. 'We all get disappointed from time to time at the outcome in courts on things that we care about. But I think it is best to avoid criticizing judges individually.'

The president took to Twitter yesterday and knocked Judge James Robart, who temporarily blocked Trump's seven country travel ban.

Sen. Mitch McConnell wagged his finger at President Donald Trump, who attacked the federal judge who temporarily blocked the president's travel ban

CNN's Jake Tapper (left) asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (right) if he planned to pass legislation that would echo Trump's travel ban, which would make it more 'durable'

Robart, who was appointed to the bench by George W. Bush in 2004, was attacked by Trump in five different tweets throughout the day yesterday.

'The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!' Trump said at one point.

McConnell answered in the affirmative when Tapper asked if he was concerned about the comments the president was making at the judiciary.

Tapper also pointed out that Trump's executive order would be made more 'durable' if it was a bill passed through Congress, getting the stamp of approval from the legislative branch.

When the CNN newsman asked the senator if he planned to do that, McConnell gave a lukewarm response.

'Well, I don't think that's necessary,' the majority leader said. 'I mean the courts are going to decide whether the executive order the president issued is valid or not. And we all follow court orders.'

Then McConnell pushed back on the travel ban even more.

'Let me just say, I think proper vetting is important to the American people but there is fine line here between proper vetting and interfering with the kind of travel or suggesting some kind of religious test,' he said. 'And we need to avoid doing that kind of thing.'

Asked if he thought the travel ban was too broad, McConnell said he believed the administration was in the process of modifying it already.

'The courts are going to determine whether the initial executive order, as it was issued, is valid,' McConnell pointed out.

The Republican leader said he didn't have advice for what he thought the courts should do.

'We all want to try to keep terrorists out of the United States,' he said. 'But we can't shut down travel.'

'We certainly don't want Muslim allies who have fought with us in countries overseas to not be able to travel to the United States,' McConnell continued.

'We need to be careful about this,' he said.
Veteran German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble is a key ally of Angela Merkel

Theresa May has been given a major boost after a key ally of Angela Merkel warned that the EU must be 'reasonable' and not seek to 'punish' the UK for Brexit.

Veteran German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said cutting the City of London adrift would be counterproductive because it had capacity that did not exist in the rest of the continent.

He insisted the aim of the looming divorce negotiations should be to 'keep Britain close to us'.

The positive comments will be a huge relief to the City, which has been raising concern about the possible impact if they do not retain strong access to the European single market.

Under current 'passporting' rules, financial services firms based in the UK can do business across the EU with the minimum of red tape.

But there is considerable uncertainty about how the arrangements will change after we leave the bloc - drawing warnings from some banks that they may have to move jobs.

The intervention by Mr Schauble, who has previously signalled a tough line on issues such as freedom of movement within the single market, will go a long way towards easing nerves.

In an interview with German newspaper Tagesspiegel,Mr Schauble said: 'We don't want to punish the British for their decision.

'We want to keep Britain close to us.

'London's financial centre serves the whole European economy.

'London offers a quality of financial services that are not to be found on the continent.

'That would change a bit after a separation, but we have to find reasonable rules here with Britain.'

The Prime Minister, pictured with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Valetta last week, has vowed to be a reliable partner after we leave the EU

Mrs May has been on a charm offensive with her European counterparts over recent weeks as she prepares formally to launch the Brexit process.

At a summit in Malta last week she made clear that Britain wants to see a strong and thriving EU after we leave.

The tone - which contrasts sharply with Donald Trump's apparent indifference to the future of the bloc - was welcomed by Mrs Merkel.

She told reporters at the summit: 'I am pleased that Theresa May says that she wants a strong Europe.

'It's up to us, as the 27, to determine how strong and how good and how rigorous Europe is and how we solve our problems - and Germany wants to do its part on that.'

The UK and German leaders did not have a formal bilateral meeting at the summit, but talked extensively as they walked around Valletta.
Sophomore Timothy Piazza died from injuries sustained at Beta Theta Pi fraternity

A Penn State student died from falling at Beta Theta Pi fraternity on Friday.

Sophomore Timothy Piazza from Lebanon, New Jersey was an engineering major at the college.

State College Police are investigating the incident according to Centre Daily Times.

The Penn State Interfraternity Council suspended social activities on Saturday to mourn the loss of the Beta brother.

IFC President Alex Frederick said in an email: 'Our deepest sympathy goes out to Tims family and friends during this mournful time.'

'Our Student Affairs staff through CAPS is reaching out to students who desire counseling.'

Timothy Piazza died from injuries sustained from falling at Beta Theta Pi fraternity

The Penn State Interfraternity Council had a day of mourning to honor Timothy Piazza

'Anyone who feels they need assistance should not hesitate to contact CAPS.'

CAPS is the counseling services organization at the university.

Though there are not many details available about Piazza's death, fatal injuries sustained at fraternity houses are not uncommon.

In 2014 The Atlantic published a story about how often people die at frat houses by falling. The reporter counted 21 people who have died by falling off or out of frat houses around the country.
A fight between two fraternity brothers at a Pennsylvania university has left one dead and the other facing aggravated assault charges.

Witnesses reported that Brady DiStefano, 19, was seen choking Caleb Zweig, 20, on a sidewalk after an altercation on Friday night.

The students were friends and brothers at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

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Witnesses reported that Brady DiStefano, left, was seen choking Caleb Zweig, right, on a sidewalk after an altercation on Friday night

Courtesy WPXI

Police say they are working under the assumption that the two had been drinking, according to WCVB.

Zweig was found unresponsive on the 800 block of Wayne Avenue around 11:30pm on Friday. One witness called police after pulling DiStefano off of Zweig, choking him. He was taken to the hospital and later died of his injuries.

Police went to DiStefano's home on South 7th street at 8:30am on Saturday to inform him that his friend was dead, which caused him to become 'visibly distraught'.

DiStefano and Zweig, of Rockville, Maryland, had both recently been inducted to the fraternity in December.

DiStefano and Zweig had both recently been inducted to the fraternity in December

The charges against DiStefano may change as more details emerge about his death, as the preliminary autopsy was inconclusive.

The loss of Zweig, pictured, has shocked the Indiana University of Pennsylvania community

District Attorney Patrick Dougherty said: 'Unfortunately, without knowing the cause of death, we're not comfortable to charge anything more at this time, but hopefully, in the coming weeks, we'll know more in regard to the cause and manner of death.'

The loss has shocked the school's community.

'Our hearts are broken when something like this happens,' said IUP Executive Director of Communications Michelle Fryling.

'It is just tragic and horrible for all involved. And we are continuing to provide support to the family and to all the Greek community that was involved and the entire university community.'

Zweig aided two soldiers in the rescue of a young woman whose car flipped over after texting while driving in 2015.

He called the incident 'one of the most heroic actions of my entire life,' and helped pry open the car door to pull the woman out of the wreckage.
Long before he was elected president of the United States, businessman Donald Trump commissioned a Spanish firm to design the largest and most beautiful yacht in the world.

Over the following months, Jaime Oliver and his son IOigo built up a close personal relationship with the future White House resident.

Together they worked on the conceptual design of the Trump Princess, from the first sketches through to the completed blueprints. The company was paid $170,000 to design the opulent 420-foot luxury vessel.

Ultimately, however, the project was abandoned at a time when several of Trumps hotels and casinos had filed for bankruptcy.

Long before he was elected president of the United States, Donald Trump commissioned a Spanish firm to design the larges yacht in the world. Trump is pictured above with firm's design team in Trump Tower in 1993

Over the next few months, a conceptual design (above) of the Trump Princess, from the first sketches through to the completed blueprints were finished

The company was paid $170,000 to design the opulent 420-foot luxury vessel for Trump (pictured above in a sketch)

Oliver Design, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary was still a small, fledgling company which had set up its pitch at one of the world's leading shipping fairs, the Florida Boat Show.

There, to the astonishment of the firms founder, Jaime Oliver, they were visited by Trumps personal assistant.

A spokesman for Oliver Design said: It transpired that the real estate mogul had had a private viewing of the exhibition and out of all the exhibitors, had picked Oliver Design as the best candidate to design his new yacht.

Trump knew exactly what he wanted. He wrote in a letter to Jaime Oliver, saying he was interested in building not only the largest yacht in the world, but at the same time, the most beautiful.

The businessman had already had some experience with luxury yachts.

In 1988, he had bought the Kingdom 5KR, previously owned by Saudi millionaire Adnan Khashoggi, from the worlds richest man, the Sultan of Brunei.

Trump renamed the vessel Trump Princess and in 1991 sold it on to a Saudi prince.

Trump knew exactly what he wanted. He wrote in a letter to Jaime Oliver (above with Trump in 1993), saying he was interested in building not only the largest yacht in the world, but at the same time, the most beautiful.

Over a period of several months, from the first sketches through to the completed blueprints, the billionaire followed the work on the design (above) of the Trump Princess with close interest

Oliver Design was paid $170,000 for the conceptual design and even began talks with Spanish shipyard Astilleros EspaOoles, now Navantia, about construction. Sketch above

The firms archives still contain the plans of a ship which had four decks, a heliport, luxury split-level suites, sophisticated lounges, a swimming pool, hot tubs and a vast gallery decorated with palm trees which could have hosted any type of function. Sketch above

The vessel was so spectacular it was used as the location for the villain's floating headquarters in the hit James Bond movie, Never Say Never Again, Sean Connerys last appearance as 007.

Jaime Oliver's son IOigo , now the company's sales manager, was aged 25 at the time and had just joined the firm.

The spokesman added: IOigo spoke excellent English and his father put him in charge of nearly all direct dealings with the American businessman.

'On a number of occasions, father and son visited the billionaire in his office at Trump Tower, the imposing New York skyscraper that symbolized his financial might.

'Oigo was also invited to stay at Donald Trump's mansion at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, where he dined with the Trumps and watched movies in their private cinema.'

He even attended the baptism of Trumps youngest daughter, Tiffany Trump.

Over a period of several months, from the first sketches through to the completed blueprints, the billionaire followed the work on the design of the Trump Princess with close interest.

Trump sent the above letter in regards to getting the yacht built in 1993

Soon after, Trump notified Oliver Design that the yacht would not finally be built. According to some sources, in early 1994, his companies had a combined corporate debt of $3.5 billion dollars and he had personal debts of around $900 million. Sketch above

Oliver Design was paid $170,000 for the conceptual design and even began talks with Spanish shipyard Astilleros EspaOoles, now Navantia, about construction.

The firms archives still contain the plans of a ship which had four decks, a heliport, luxury split-level suites, sophisticated lounges, a swimming pool, hot tubs and a vast gallery decorated with palm trees which could have hosted any type of function.

But just as suddenly as it had arrived on Jaime's desk, the project was scrapped.

The spokesman explained: Without offering much explanation, Donald Trump notified Oliver Design that the yacht would not finally be built; a decision that was probably not unrelated to the businessmans delicate financial situation at the time, with his hotel and casino businesses facing bankruptcy.

According to some sources, in early 1994, his companies had a combined corporate debt of $3.5 billion dollars and he had personal debts of around $900 million.

But as a testament to that failed operation, Oliver Design's files still hold the sketches of what would have been the most spectacular and sophisticated private yacht of its time, conceived by a small Spanish firm for a man who would one day become President of the United States.
The father of the 20-year-old Brooklyn man arrested and charged with murdering Queens jogger Karina Vetrano said on Sunday that his son is a 'very humble kid' who 'would never have gone to do what they say he has done.'

Chanel Lewis is accused of beating, raping and strangling Vetrano, 30, in Spring Creek Park near Howard Beach on August 2 last year.

His father, Richard Lewis, a retired school principal, told the New York Post on Sunday that he was 'extremely' surprised at the news of Chanel Lewis' arrest.

'Chanel would never have gone to do what they say he has done,' Richard Lewis said.

'He's never had a fight in his 20 years,' he said.

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Chanel Lewis, 20, was arrested on Saturday night for the murder of Karina Vetrano on August 2. He is seen being led to court (left) in Queens on Sunday

Lewis said that his son was a good student who was planning for a career in social services.

He said that his son had even received recommendations from his high school principal.

To drive home the point, Lewis showed reporters his son's diploma that he earned from Martin De Porres High School in Far Rockaway, Queens.

'He's a humble kid. He's a very humble kid.'

'He's a wonderful kid': The suspect's father, retired principal Richard Lewis, was shocked by the charges against him

He added he'd been the victim of a mugging earlier in the year and was once hospitalized after being beaten with a piece of wood by random attackers.

The suspect's father said while he was sorry for Vetrano's death, he believes his child is innocent.

In a plea to the jogger's parents, he said: 'I'm sorry to hear about [your daughter], but I'm sure that [Chanel] would not be a part of that.

Cathy Vetrano hurled angry abuse at Lewis as he was arraigned on Sunday night.

'He f---ing murdered my daughter, my beautiful innocent daughter. Now your nightmare begins,' she screamed in court.

The Vetrano murder received significant media attention in the days and weeks following the incident, yet Lewis said that he was never familiar with the details of the case until this weekend.

'I saw it on the television this morning,' Richard Lewis said. 'I've never heard about it. I've never read about it. Nothing at all.'

Police sources gave a different description of the 20-year-old who they said had a 'deep seated' anger towards women.

'Hes had previous incidents in which he has expressed a hatred for women. Hes thought of hurting women or attacking women.

'Hes expressed a deep-seated aggression towards women. But it was nothing hes ever acted on,' one told New York Daily News on Monday.

Chanel was arrested on Saturday evening at his home in East New York, Brooklyn, where he lives with his mother and adult sisters after police matched his DNA to some found under Vetrano's fingernails.

One of Vetrano's neighbors in Howard Beach called 911 to report him acting suspiciously in the park in May, two months before her killing.

Lewis was led out of the 107th precinct on Sunday afternoon after his arrest was announced at a press conference

Lewis was reported acting suspiciously at the park in May, two months before Vetrano's death, by one of her neighbors. He is seen above being taken out of the precinct on Sunday

The 20-year-old has no prior criminal record but has three court summonses for acting suspiciously

Detectives investigating the murder came across a log of the call while carrying out a 'deep dive' into all reports made in the area as they tried desperately to make headway after months of dead ends.

They tracked Lewis down to his mother's house on Thursday to extract a DNA sample and found a hit two days later after testing it against traces found on the jogger's body.

NYPD detectives said once he was in custody, Lewis made 'detailed' descriptions of 'each step' of the attack.

Lewis was heckled as he made his way into a police car on Sunday by Queens residents who screamed 'murderer' as he emerged from the 107th Precinct.

He is due to be arraigned at a court in Queens on Sunday night.

Phil and Cathy Vetrano, the slain jogger's parents, said they would be in court to watch him face 'justice'.

'We would stop at nothing to find the savage that did this to her. The demon must get his justice and we will see to it,' Mrs Vetrano told New York Daily News.

Her husband said they could finally move forward to the 'next phase' of their grief and commended the NYPD for 'good, hard, old fashioned investigative work'.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Bryce confirmed Lewis's arrest on Sunday at a press conference.

Lewis has no previous criminal record but has three court summonses for suspicious behavior in a bicycle track at Spring Creek Park. Chief Bryce would not disclose what the previous 'issues' were for.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said on Sunday (left) that Lewis did not know Vetrano and it was a 'chance encounter'

In May, a resident in Howard Beach, Queens, called 911 to report him acting suspiciously near Spring Creek Park where the jogger died.

Detectives investigating Vetrano's death found a record of the call as they purged through hundreds of reports and similar phone-ins while trying to make headway in the case.

They were able to identify Lewis from the caller's description and track him to his mother's home in East New York with the help of a Howard Beach lieutenant, Boyce said.

'We found a 911 call prior to the homicide of him being in Howard Beach.

'We had a member of community call to say he was a suspicious person which we get all the time.

'From that we had a profile. He does have a number of summonses, he has no criminal record,' he said.

It's not clear what was done about the call at the time.

Lewis was charged with second degree murder on Sunday afternoon and is likely to be charged with sexual assault.

Vetrano was seen on surveillance footage jogging towards the park at 5.46pm, moments before her death

Lewis was arrested at the home he shares with his mother in East New York on Saturday night. It is less than four miles from the park where Vetrano was found

'The demon must get his justice': Phil and Cathy Vetrano said they would be in court to see Lewis have his arraignment

The suspect was reported to police previously for acting suspiciously in a bicycle track in Spring Creek Park, where the 30-year-old was murdered

It matched traces of previously unidentified DNA found beneath Vetrano's fingernails, signs she tried to fight him off as he attacked her.

A hand print left on her back also matched him as did DNA found on her cell phone. Detectives were still searching his home on Sunday as Chief Boyce spoke.

'Karina helped us identify is person, she had the DNA under her nails, touch DNA on her back and she had DNA on her cell phone.'

Boyce would not be drawn on details of Lewis's mental state or social status but said he does not work and lives at home with his mother Veta. She has not commented on his arrest.

He is not thought to have ever met Vetrano before the August 2 attack, police said.

'He gave very detailed, incriminating statements. We don't believe he knew her at all. It appears to be a chance encounter.

'I don't think there was any stalking,' he said, adding the suspect's had described 'each step of the assault'.

Phil Vetrano, Vetrano's father (pictured with her), said he knew something was 'wrong' instinctively just 25 minutes after his daughter left their home to go running on August 2

Karina's parents Cathy and Phil maintained an active public profile during the investigation

'It's there where he received those three court summonses for various issues,' he said.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said Lewis was facing charges for murder and sexual assault.

Police issued this sketch after Vetrano's death

'We're still doing a lot of the paperwork that needs to be done but we're satisfied we have a solid case that has been put together by everyone involved.'

They could no confirm whether familial DNA testing, which the Vetrano family had pushed for, played any role in the investigation.

Phil Vetrano, the jogger's father, was due to go running with her on the night she died but didn't because of an injury.

He and his wife have maintained an active public profile since their daughter's deaths in order to catch her killer.

They are still campaigning for familial DNA testing, which examines the DNA of potential suspects' family members to rule them in or out of crimes, to become commonplace.

It's not clear whether it played a part in Lewis's arrest.
A 20-day-old baby was among several children rescued from Mediterranean waters as coastguard ships save more than 2,000 migrants risking their lives to get to Europe.

The Italian coastguard said it intercepted 1,750 people crossing the Mediterranean so far this month, while Libyan officials said their boats have found more than 400.

Meanwhile, Turkish coastguards said one person died and 45 were rescued from the ocean after the decrepit smuggler boat foundered during the crossing.

A 20-day-old baby was among more than 120 migrants rescued by Libyan coastguards off the coast of Tripoli in the early hours of Sunday morning

In Turkey, aid workers comforted a group of migrants, including this girl, after their boat sank on Sunday

These young children were saved from drowning by Turkish authorities after their boat sank

Officials were able to rescue 45 people from the ocean but unfortunately one person drowned

On Friday night, some 120 migrants, including women and children set off from Sabratha, some 45 miles west of Tripoli.

The town has become a centre for migrant smuggling and a staging ground for traffickers.

Libyan coast guard officials intercepted the migrant vessel some 20 nautical miles north east of Tripoli after its engine failed.

The migrants risking their lives various African nationalities, including 10 women, five children and a baby.

Migrant smugglers have a base outside Sabratha, which is about 45 miles west of Tripoli

This man carrying an infant is in tears after he was forced to return to Libya early this morning

The 20-day-old newborn is pictured sleeping after being rescued by Libyan coastguards

Young children were among the people intercepted by the Libyan coastguard

EU leaders, including British Prime MInister Theresa May held discussions on the crisis during a summit in Matla.

The announcement followed a meeting of European Union leaders in Malta where they agreed moves to curb mass migration from Libya.

The plan includes funding and training Libya's coastguard to make it better able to intercept migrant boats and helping neighbouring countries to close routes into Libya.

Libyan coast guard boats have begun patrolling their waters seeking migrants looking to leave

The group were brought from their deadly dangerous voyage to a reception centre

The migrants rescued came from a number of different of African countries

Officials from the UNHCR helped the men and women ashore so they could be assessed

At least one person died when the boat carrying 45 people sank on its way to Greece
An official in U.S. President Donald Trump's Cabinet and at least one of his advisers gave paid speeches for an Iranian exile group that killed Americans before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ran donation scams and saw its members set themselves on fire over the arrest of their leader.

Elaine Chao, confirmed this week as Trump's transportation secretary, received $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously called a 'cult-like' terrorist group by the State Department.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also was paid an unknown sum to talk to the group, known as the MEK.

Elaine Chao (left), Donald Trump's new transportation secretary, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (right) both gave paid speeches to a 'cult-like' Iranian exile group

In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012 file photo, members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq organization seen inside the Liberty refugee camp in Baghdad, Iraq

More than two dozen former U.S. officials, both Republican and Democratic, have spoken before the MEK, including former House Speaker and Trump adviser Newt Gingrich.

Some have publicly acknowledged being paid, but others have not.

While nothing would have prohibited the paid speeches, they raise questions about what influence the exiles may have in the new administration.

Already, a group of former U.S. officials, including Giuliani, wrote a letter to Trump last month encouraging him to 'establish a dialogue' with the MEK's political arm.

With Trump's ban on Iranians entering the U.S., his administration's call this week to put Iran 'on notice' and the imposition of new sanctions on Friday, the exile group may find his administration more welcoming than any before.

A potential alliance with the MEK would link the U.S. to a group with a controversial history that has gone against American interests in the past by supporting Iran's Islamic Revolution and the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran.

Members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq organization chant slogans and hold banners during a tour organized by the Iraqi government for foreign diplomats in Baghdad in 2012

After fleeing Iran, the MEK joined forces with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

It later exposed details of the clandestine nuclear program run by Iran, which views the MEK as its sworn enemy.

'The Mujahedeen have backed the winning horse. They are going to have some at least entree into the administration,' said Ervand Abrahamian, a professor at the City University of New York who wrote a book on the MEK.

'I think it weakens the U.S. because the more they have access to the administration, the more people in Iran are going to be scared of anything the U.S. does.'

The MEK long has cultivated a roster of former U.S. and European officials to attend its events opposing Iran's clerically run government. It pays for the appearance of many.

Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, spoke before an MEK conference in 2015 in Paris.

She also had a seat next to Maryam Rajavi, the 'president-elect' of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the MEK.

Elaine Chao, Donald Trump's transportation secretary, gave paid speeches for an Iranian exile group that killed Americans before the 1979 Islamic Revolution

Chao received a $50,000 honorarium from the MEK-associated Alliance for Public Awareness, according to a report she filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

Chao received another $17,500 honorarium for March 2016 speech she gave to the Iranian-American Cultural Association of Missouri, which MEK opponents also link to the exile group.

The Department of Transportation said in a statement that Chao has a 'strong record of speaking out in support of democracy and women's rights in the Middle East,' but 'has not spoken to MEK events.'

It added that her speeches were delivered alongside bipartisan members of Congress, governors, prime ministers, ambassadors, generals, former FBI Directors and 'many other influential voices.'

Giuliani has acknowledged being paid for his appearances at MEK events. However, he hasn't filed a government disclosure form since his failed 2008 Republican presidential bid, so it's unclear how much the MEK has paid him in total.

Giuliani did not respond to an AP request for comment sent through his aides.

Gingrich has also spoken to the MEK before, including at a gala in 2016, although it is not clear whether or how much he was paid. Gingrich could not be reached for comment.

The White House also did not comment.

The MEK welcomes the incoming Trump government, as 'some people within this administration' plan to change American policies toward Iran, said Mohammad Mohaddessin, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of its political arm.

'The core of the policy that we are advocating is to be tough with the Iranian regime, to not ignore its crimes against the Iranian people,' he said.

The White House had no comment.

In September 2010, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani walks under a photo of Iran opposition leader Massoud Rajavi as he speaks at a protest of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the United Nations

The MEK formed in 1965.

They embraced both Marxism and the idea of an Islamic government after the violent overthrow of the American-backed shah who ruled Iran at the time.

Their name, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, means 'the People's Holy Warriors.'

They carried out a string of targeted assassinations hitting Iranian officials, as well as Americans.

However, the MEK today blames a Marxist splinter faction of the group for killing the Americans.

The MEK fled Iran and later found refuge from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Heavily armed by Saddam, MEK forces launched cross-border raids into Iran during its with war with Iraq, further alienating the group from average Iranians.

The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001.

The State Department has described the MEK as having 'cult-like characteristics.'

When French police arrested Rajavi in 2003 as part of a terrorism investigation, MEK members responded by lighting themselves on fire.

At least two people died.

Over the years, the MEK has said their organization receives money from Iranians to fund their operations.

However, the group has been targeted by a series of investigations around the world for running charity scams.

In June 2014, thousands of exiled Iranians gathered in Villepinte, north of Paris, to listen to the speech of Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

Mohaddessin blames the investigations on a concerted misinformation campaign carried out by Iran.

The MEK's success in getting former U.S. officials behind them could be seen in a letter dated Jan. 9 sent to Trump just before his inauguration.

'We repeat the call for the U.S. government to establish a dialogue with Iran's exile resistance,' read the letter signed by Giuliani and others.

Whether Trump's administration forms closer ties to the MEK is yet to be seen.

However, exile groups haven't always been proven to be reliable American allies in the Middle East.

Exiled politician Ahmad Chalabi heavily lobbied the administration of President George W. Bush to invade Iraq by pushing false allegations of weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaida.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

But while the MEK continues to pay former U.S. officials for their time, the family of the American lieutenant colonel killed in Iran in 1975 has filed a $35 million federal lawsuit in Colorado against the group and Iran.
Sieglinde Ivo, from Austria, was elected leader of the INF in 2008

Members of the official naturism body for the UK, British Naturism, have called for the president of the International Naturism Federation (INF) to step down from the post in a letter drafted by lawyers.

Sieglinde Ivo, from Austria, was elected leader of the INF in 2008 however nudist organisations from across the world, including the UK, voted to oust her from the position with a narrow majority in a secret ballot last November.

Ivo is accused of spending more than 80,000 to move INF's offices from its longstanding headquarters in Belgium to an office close to her home in the small Austrian town of Horsching, and employing it with members of her own family.

She is also said to have not done enough to promote naturism to a wider audience during her tenure.

Since the vote Ivo has refused to step down, citing procedural errors with the election, and now Britain nudists are considering pulling out of the INF in revolt.

In an open letter to Evo, seen by the Sunday Telegraph, the British run Naturist Action Group accused her of damaging the image of naturism.

In the letter Reg Barlow, chairman of the group, said: 'The result of the election at the 2016 World Congress was clear; the majority of member federations are not satisfied with your leadership.

'By clinging on to power in this manner, you will have achieved nothing but make the INF look ridiculous.'

Armand Jamier, the President of the French naturist association, has been selected to take her Ivo's place as president

While Duncan Heenan, a leading UK naturist, says many British naturists want to withdraw from the organisation in order to use the 8,000 members fee for its own body.

He said: 'Mrs Ivo had held office for eight years and her first act had been to spend more than 100,000 Euros of INF money is moving the long established INF office from Belgium to an apartment in her own block in a small town in Austria, and staff it in part with her family.'

At the World Congress of the INF held in New Zealand last November members elected Armand Jamier, the President of the French naturist association, to take her place.

Jamier says he will use social media to make naturism more fashionable and high-profile.

But Ivo has so far refused to stand down as president.

There are around 13,000 British naturists which falls short of many other European countries such as France which has close to 2 million active naturists, according to the French Federation of Naturism (FNN).

There are around 13,000 British naturists but around 2 million in France




A woman has shared a heartbreaking story of her late term abortion in response to Donald Trump's controversial pro-life stance.

Lindsey Paradiso, 28, from Fredericksburg, Virginia, took to Facebook in October to share pictures of her decision to terminate her pregnancy at 23 weeks.

After doctors realized her unborn daughter Omara, had a life-threatening tumor, Lindsey decided to pull the plug.

Lindsey Paradiso(pictured with husband Matt) from Fredericksburg, Virginia, took to Facebook in October to share pictures of her decision to have an abortion after her daughter was diagnosed with an aggressive tumor

'This is ending a wanted pregnancy. This is late-term abortion. It was not wanted. It was not a 'way out'. It was not birth control. The government does not belong here,' she said.

The post has since gone viral with more than 113,000 shares and 85,000 likes.

The Virginia-based photographer and her husband Matt Paradiso were excited to know they were expecting a child, but at 18 weeks, Lindsey realized something was wrong with her pregnancy.

During an ultrasound, doctors learned there was a large mass growing out around baby Omara's neck.

It was determined the fetus had a rare tumor called teratoma, but Lindsey continued on with her pregnancy hoping it would be operable after she gave birth.

Baby Omara had a rare tumor called teratoma, but Lindsey continued on with her pregnancy hoping it would be operable after she gave birth (Lindsey and Matt pictured holding Omara after was delivered)

During a routine checkup at 18 weeks, doctors realized something Omara had a large mass growing around her neck

After Donald Trump spoke out against abortion, Lindsey took to Facebook to tell her story. The post has since gone viral with more than 113,000 shares and 85,000 likes

Weeks later, the baby's tumor had doubled in size and began to spread even further into her chest, according to her blog. The growth was determined to be aggressive lymphangioma, and Omara had a one per cent chance of surviving.

Doctors advised her to terminate the pregnancy as they warned the aggressive tumor would eventually kill Omara in the womb, before Lindsey could reach 27 weeks. The mass would also have been too large to deliver vaginally.

'He said it would probably be in our best interest to terminate the pregnancy since the chances of her dying were pretty inevitable. He then said that he would leave us to process and discuss what we want to do.

'Matt and I both immediately broke down. We didn't want our baby to die and we most certainly didn't want to kill her,' she wrote in her blog.

The couple decided to go through with an abortion through lethal injection, and Omara's heart stopped beating on February 26. Lindsey said she decided to 'relieve the suffering' that baby and the family were experiencing and 'deliver her through labor fully intact.'

The couple decided to go through with an abortion through lethal injection, and Omara's heart stopped beating on February 26, Lindsey gave birth two days later

The Virginia woman posted heartbreaking pictures of her daughter's blanket and the site where she is buried

The couple decided to 'relieve the suffering' that baby and the family were experiencing and 'deliver her through labor fully intact' (pictured at Omara's funeral)

If she had carried her pregnancy to full term, 'past the window of a legal abortion,' the baby could've died in the womb and Lindsey would have had to deliver it months later, she said.

The couple traveled more than an hour away to a hospital for the procedure because of Virginia's strict abortion laws. After 40 hours of labor, the baby was delivered two days after she died.

If she had carried her pregnancy to full term the baby could've died in the womb and Lindsey would have had to deliver it months later

Abortion is legal in the state only during the first and second trimesters, but is only available at certain hospitals after 14 weeks.

Lindsey and Matt were able to hold Omara, before saying goodbye.

Month's later, she was prompted to share her story after Donald Trump describe the issue of late-term abortions during a presidential debate.

'His words made me physically sick; having lived through a late-term abortion myself. I could not let his idiocracy go unchallenged and watch it painfully affect so many people,' she said.

She added: 'When politicians like Trump and Pence spread their intolerance for giving women a choice, we make these very difficult situations so much more difficult for not just the mother, but everyone involved.'

After her post went viral, Lindsey is now an activist for a pro-choice organizations spreading awareness for reproductive rights.
A snack van owner was serving food in such filthy conditions that inspectors found even his hygiene safety manual was covered in dirt.

Gary Johnston, owner of Gary's Snacks in Beckenham, south London, was fined thousands for breaching food and safety hygiene regulations.

Inspectors found that the floor of his van was 'soiled with dirt', while he had no hot water supply for washing hands or equipment.

A snack van owner in Beckenham, south London, was serving food in such filthy conditions that inspectors found even his hygiene safety manual was covered in dirt

Gary Johnston, owner of Gary's Snacks, was fined thousands for breaching food and safety hygiene regulations. Fridges and freezers in the food van were caked in dirt

Fridges and freezers in the food van were caked in dirt, while the washing basins were too small.

Johnston had not attended a food hygiene training course since 2003 and had failed to register his business.

He had initially stopped food safety inspectors from entering the van at the Chaffinch Business Park but officers were awarded a warrant.

Food safety staff conducted a second visit accompanied by two police officers.

The food van owner was handed a fine of 7,530 at Bromley Magistrates' Court after he pleaded guilty to 15 charges under food and safety hygiene regulations.

The court heard that Johnston had left his entire van encrusted with dirt and also failed to cover food inside his fridge.

Johnston had left his entire van encrusted with dirt (left) and had not attended a food hygiene training course since 2003

An inspection on 30 June found he also left wrapping materials next to an open bin, posing a serious risk of contamination.

In addition, Johnston was found to not be wearing suitable protective clothing.

Kate Lymer, executive councillor for public protection and safety at Bromley Council, said: 'We will take action to protect Bromley's consumers and this prosecution and sentence gives a very strong message that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

'Bromley's Food Safety Officers routinely inspect some 2000 premises across the borough to ensure that they are well run and that customers are protected from poor hygiene practices.

'They give guidance and training to help businesses improve but will not hesitate to take strong action where they attempt to operate outside the law.'
A San Francisco activist is the woman behind the campaign which is crumbling Ivanka Trump's $100 million fashion empire.

The First Daughter's business empire is in tatters after the grassroots campaign launched by two women on Twitter which has managed to convince thousands to stop buying Ivanka's clothes.

Shannon Coulter and Sue Atencio launched the Grab Your Wallet campaign on October 11 after they 'simultaneously realized they could no longer in good conscience shop at retailers that do business with the Trump family'. And in just five months they have achieved more than even their own family and loves ones thought was possible.

'My husband said I was crazy for deleting my Nordstrom & Saks apps. He said I was 1 person what difference would it make...' she tweeted in a statement. 'In a world where I often feel powerless over the forces of evil (since the election), I now use my wallet to NOT give money to those we know support really, really, really bad people.'

Since October, five major retailers - including Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus - have all stopped carrying Ivanka's fashion line due to poor sales after the boycott.

Now Coulter has her next target firmly in her sights. Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer and a corporate giant, is selling Donald Trump suits.

Shannon Coulter (left) founded the boycott in October. It's believed that a boycott of the Ivanka Trump brand led to the poor sales. Trump (right) looks downcast as she attends a meeting with business leaders at the White House on Friday

Star Trek veteran George Takei was the first to take a swipe at Amazon for advertisng with right wing news site Breitbart.

He tweeted yesterday: 'Time for Amazon to stop advertising with Breitbart, and for Shopify to stop selling its good on Breitbart. RT if you agree.'

A fellow Twitter user, Amanda Stabler, replied that it was 'Time to boycott @amazon & @saks. Still carrying Ivanka's merchandise. #GrabYourWallet.'

Coulter weighed in adding: 'Amazon also carries Donald.'

Days after Nordstrom dropped Ivanka Trump's fashion line following a political-inspired boycott, protesters have set their sights on Amazon

Trump's fashion label has defended itself and says that it continues to continues to expand, resulting in 'significant' revenue growth last year compared to the previous year - despite the boycott.

Rosemary K. Young, senior director of marketing at Ivanka Trump, said in a statement: 'The Ivanka Trump brand continues to expand across categories and distribution with increased customer support, leading us to experience significant year-over-year revenue growth in 2016.

'We believe that the strength of a brand is measured not only by the profits it generates, but the integrity it maintains.

'The women behind the brand represent a diverse group of professionals and we are proud to say that the Ivanka Trump brand continues to embody the principles upon which it was founded.

'It is a company built to inspire women with solution-oriented offerings, created to celebrate and service the many aspects of their lives.'

Ivanka Trump looked downcast Friday afternoon as she headed out for the weekend with her kids in tow

But even as Young released the statement, Coulter reported that yet another retailer, Belk department store had quietly withdrawn its online sales of Ivanka's line.

Shoes.com, a Canadian online shoe store, became the first retailer to announce it was dropping Trump's shoe line as a result of the campaign in November.

Nordstrom followed suit last week, although they denied being influenced by the boycott or politics. They insist the move was made as a result of poor sales months after it was hit by a grassroots boycott started by a marketing specialist and a grandmother.

The following day, on February 3, Neiman Marcus followed suit, dropping all its Trump lines blaming poor sales as the boycott hits its fifth month.

'Neiman Marcus has a very small Ivanka Trump precious jewelry business which is comprised 100 percent of consigned merchandise (merchandise owned by the vendor). Based on productivity we continuously assess whether our brands are carried in stores, on our website, or both,' a spokesman said.

Coulter, the founder & CEO at DoubleKnown Marketing & Communications, says she felt moved to start the boycott because of the allegations of sexual harassment emerging against President Trump.

Since announcing that the retail giant would not stock the Ivanka Trump brand, some have questioned if the decision was based on a political reason

Nordstrom has stated they didn't buy her brand 'for this season based on its sales performance'

She said the claims reminded her of her own alleged experience while she was working in Silicon Valley.

She said she could not fathom how Ivanka could support her father.

Ivanka insisted that she had 'always tried to maintain complete separation between [my brand] and the campaign.'

But many have questioned that stance after Ivanka's company sent a fashion alert ad about a $10,800 gold bracelet she wore during a '60 Minutes' interview about Trump's presidential plans.

Critics questioned whether a news interview was the place to promote her brand and asked whether she was using her father's political gains to further her own company.

'That action on her part revealed in full the crass commercialism of Ivanka Trump as well as how false claim that her primary role here is that of daughter,' Coulter told CBS News.

'Anyone who criticized Hillary Clinton for cultivating a pay-to-play culture at the Clinton Foundation but isn't offended by Ivanka Trump's hawking of a $10,800 diamond bracelet just after a "60 Minutes" interview with her father is a hypocrite.'

Many women also felt that they could no longer separate Ivanka from her father's politics.

By Thursday evening, Nordstrom had completely taken off the first daughter's merchandise from their website (above)

Nordstom's announced on Thursday that it was cutting the brand due to poor sales. The remaining shoes on Nordstrom's website now feature 'new markdown' notices. The site used to feature not only shoes but also clothes and bags

Above, a Nordstrom Rack store in Columbus, Ohio and Ivanka Trump shoes that were put on sale there

As Coulter explained in an interview with Cosmopolitan, '[women] were ready to give Ivanka a pass because she's his [Trump's] daughter and it's hard to be objective about your dad.'

However, after the tape, women took particular offense 'to the fact that Ivanka tries to make feminism a part of her brand but is standing by, as an official campaign surrogate, a guy who is an alleged serial sexual assaulter of women,' according to Coulter.

'The disconnect was too big. And they were ready to speak up about it and flex their consumer power about it,' the San Francisco-based brand and digital strategist said.

Coulter says that the boycott has picked up steam since Trump's election win as many consumers seek a way to register their disappointment in the Republican's victory.

The campaign is also targeting brands that have aligned themselves with Trump.

Nordstrom initially resisted the boycott.

The firm responded to a shopper's letter calling for the company to stop selling the brand, tweeting: 'We hope that offering a vendor's products isn't misunderstood as us taking a political position; we're not.'

By last Thursday evening, Nordstrom had completely taken off the first daughter's merchandise from their website.

Shoes.com, a Canadian online shoe store, became the first retailer to announce it was dropping Ivanka Trump's shoe line last week, following the GrabYourWallet campaign

Shannon Coulter kicked off the boycott on October 11, a reference to Trump's now famous 'grab them by the p***y' remark from the audio tape and numerous allegations of sexual assault by the president-elect

She was also not listed on Nordstrom's master list of brands available and the page that previously featured items from her brand was empty.

But some of her goods can be found online on its Rack site, which is the department store's value-focused chain.

Nordstrom said it cuts about 10 percent of its merchandise each year and Ivanka's brand was axed due to its flagging performance.

A spokesperson didn't reveal whether the decision to stop buying the brand was permanent and said they make buying decisions from season to season.

'I am absolutely thrilled, and I know the vast majority of Grab Your Wallet participants will be as well,' Coulter said.

Nordstrom has come under fire from Trump supporters, but the Seattle-based department chain insisted the move was not political.

'Our buying decisions are based on sales, so it was not a political decision for us. We're sorry for any disappointment,' Nordstrom tweeted to one user.

The popular department-store chain is said the cut is based on the 'brand's performance' and that they decided 'not to buy it for this season'

Nordstrom has hit back at calls to boycott the store over their sales of Ivanka Trump's brand

In another message, they repeated the statement reiterating the move is 'based on its sales performance.'

When the mother-of-three first launched the Ivanka Trump footwear line in 2011, Nordstrom was one of the first retail partnerships for her, as Marc Fisher Footwear is the licensee for the products.

Representatives for Ivanka Trump's collection could not be reached for comment.

Other companies who have dropped her brand due to the Grab Your Wallet campaign include Shoes.com and interior decor store Bellacor.

Shoes.com became the first retailer to announce it was dropping Ivanka Trump's shoe line in November, although the company has folded as of January 27.

Ivanka Trump's independent lifestyle brand promotes her image as a successful working mother and partners with companies to make the branded blush pink dresses and trendy booties offered in multiple department stores.

The brand came under fire after she appeared on CBS' 60 Minutes wearing a nearly $11,000 gold bracelet from her jewelry line, which an employee pointed out in an email seeking free publicity.

Ivanka Trump announced in January she would take a formal leave of absence from both her brand and Trump Organization to help settle her family in Washington DC.
People shining laser pens at pilots, train and bus drivers could face jail or heavy fines under new legislation.

Announcing the new powers to protect the public, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'This kind of dangerous behaviour risks lives and must be stopped.'

More than 1,500 planes a year are targeted in laser attacks, putting passengers and crew at risk of disastrous consequences.

An average of four planes a day are targeted in laser attacks at British airports

It is currently an offence to shine lasers at pilots and can be punished with a fine of up to 2,500.

But under the new bolstered plans the police will only have to prove a laser has been shined in the vicinity of a plane, rather than having to prove an aircraft was endangered.

The law is also designed to protect train, bus and even car drivers.

Mr Grayling said: 'Shining a laser pointer at pilots or drivers is incredibly dangerous and could have fatal consequences.

'Whilst we know laser pens can be fun and many users have good intentions, some are not aware of the risks of dazzling drivers or pilots putting public safety at risk.

He said: 'That's why we want to take the common sense approach to strengthen our laws to protect the public from those who are unaware of the dangers or even worse, intentionally want to cause harm.'

Astronomers at Kielder Observatory use laser pens to indicate some of the stars that are visible. But some people use laser pens to just cause mischief STOCK PHOTO

'There are around 1,500 laser attacks on aircraft every year in the UK and we know there have been similar attacks on trains and buses. What I am announcing today are plans to give the police effective powers to investigate and bring those who misuse lasers to justice,' said Mr Grayling.

British Airline Pilots Association flight safety specialist Steve Landells said: 'Any move to give the police and authorities more powers to tackle this real and growing threat to flight safety is a good thing, and we are pleased that the Government has included action on lasers in this bill.'

Last year the British Journal of Ophthalmology warned that laser pens could have 'devastating' consequences if a laser is pointed at the cockpit of a plane or helicopter and the pilots are blinded.

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The experts said lasers can 'dazzle' pilots who 'almost certainly will be distracted'.

If pilots are distracted at a critical time, such as during landing or take-off, the result could be disastrous.

There has only been one case of alleged retinal damage in a pilot as a result of laser targeting of aircraft, they said, but the 'suspect' case is questionable because of the distances involved.

Between half and one million laser pointers, pens, and key rings are thought to have been in circulation over the past decade.

The sale of laser pens themselves is not illegal
A retired police chief who won victory over Madeleine McCann's parents in a bitter libel case will be warned a second book he is writing about her disappearance must not be published in Britain.

Kate and Gerry McCann will inform him: 'Beware, our lawyers are watching!' if he tries to sell his new novel or his first contentious one in the UK, family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said today.

Former Portuguese detective Goncalo Amaral accused Maddie's parents of covering up their daughter's death which they have always vehemently denied.

Goncalo Amaral with his book which was banned at one point as the McCanns tried to sue for libel

After defeating the couple on appeal last week in their eight-year civil battle he is now reportedly looking for a British publisher for his sequel to the Maddie mystery.

Mr Mitchell said: 'If Mr Amaral's current book about Madeleine or any new one he may be planning to write is published here in the UK Kate and Gerry's lawyers will take immediate action. He needs to know lawyers are watching.'

Former GP Kate and heart doctor Gerry have on board the country's top libel lawyers, London-based Carter-Ruck, to deal with any grievance they have if they feel lies are being told or if anything is written or said which they believe damages their reputation.

The couple, both 48 from Rothley, Leicestershire, pay for the costly service when needed from the Find Maddie Fund, which is made up of public donations and proceeds from Kate's own bestseller book 'Madeleine' published in 2011.

Jubilant Mr Amaral is finishing off the final chapter of his newly-penned book while taking a break in Switzerland.

He is confident his sequel to Maddie The Truth of the Lie could be a 'big hit,' according to a source in Portugal.

The book claimed that the McCanns, pictured left, had covered up the death of their daughter Madeleine, pictured right, when she went missing in 2007

The insider said: 'Mr Amaral knows that the world is fascinated with the Maddie story and her parents.'

What he wrote in his first book  which was never sold in Britain  formed the basis of the McCann's libel battle. He said three-year-old Maddie, who vanished from a Portuguese holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007, had in fact died there.

Mr Amaral is said to be putting the finishing touches to his second book and wants it to be published in English

There had been no kidnap and her parents had hidden her body after an accidental death, he claimed.

His once-banned book, translated into several different languages but never before in English, can now go back on the shelves again.

The friend of the McCann's, who are still reeling from their libel loss, said: 'If he thinks his old or new book will appear here he'll have another think coming If that's his intention whoever is responsible will be sued. Carter-Ruck will have no hesitation issuing a writ for defamation.'

Mr Amaral's 2008 book was never translated into English for publication in the UK because it would have breached strict libel laws.

The ex police officer, who led the initial bungled hunt for Maddie, may consider suing Kate and Gerry for allegedly 'damaging his reputation' and 'causing him years of anguish.'

Their friend added: 'If that happens it would be a relentless battle. Kate and Gerry only took civil action against Mr Amaral in the first place to stop him spouting his malicious lies. He has profited from their pain.'

The McCanns believe their daughter is alive and are continuing the search for her. Scotland Yard are investigating one last throw of the dice

Mr Amaral, 58, revelling in his libel victory, previously said: 'Truth is simple. It is truth that guides me, and it will continue to do so in its simplicity and greatness.'

His appeal was funded by online supports, including Brits, and he thanked them saying: 'None of this would have been possible without you.'

Scotland Yard are busy investigating one 'last throw of the dice' lead in a bid to solve the Madeleine mystery which has gripped the world. But time could be running out as police now have just two months left of guaranteed Government funding to continue to unravel an 'important' new tip.

Detectives on the Maddie inquiry, codenamed Operation Grange, recently revealed they are working on a final theory that the youngster was snatched by a European trafficking gang. If alive, she would be turn 14 in mid-May.
Pamela Anderson visits the Ecuadorian Embassy to visit Julian Assange on January 21

Pamela Anderson has visited julian assange at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London five times in the past four months - sparking rumors they are in a relationship.

The Baywatch actress and model is said to be dating the Wikileaks founder while he is stuck inside.

A political activist told Page Six: 'She seems to be wearing sexier outfits every time she visits.'

Assange, 44, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over a rape allegation from 2010, and has avoided extradition by living in the embassy since June 2012.

He has been camping out at the Ecuadorean Embassy for five years.

Anderson was first spotted at Assange's residence in September of 2014. The meeting was set up for Anderson to try to persuade Assange to back her new foundation, which supports women who are victims of sexual abuse.

Most recently she was seen at Assange's residence on January 21, a little over a month from the last time she saw him.

Anderson was seen bringing her rumored beau dinner in December a few weeks before the holidays. She walked into the Ecuadorean Embassy with a bag full of Whole Foods groceries.

Anderson was seen visiting Assange on December 7 and December 12.

On November 13, Anderson was spotted bringing a tray of goodies into the Embassy as well.

Anderson visited Assange at the Ecuadorean Embassy in October (left), November (left of center), and twice in December (right two photos)

Assange, 44, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over a rape allegation from 2010

Less than a month before that on October 15, she saw him again. This time, she brought him food from Pret A Manger. For a while, bizarre rumors swirled that Anderson had poisoned Assange.

Though it might seem like the actress and the hacker may not have much in common, they share a mutual appreciation for Russia.

In December, 49-year-old Anderson said she would love to become a Russian citizen.

Russia Beyond the Headlines reports Anderson said: 'I have a Canadian passport and an American passport. I would gladly have a Russian passport. It would be easier to get here.'
The heatwave along the east coast will continue on Monday as temperatures remain in the high-30s and 40s.

Sydney is predicted to swelter through 35 degrees on Monday, or 43 degrees in Penrith in the west, with a cooler breeze providing some relief from the scorcher.

Sunday was the city's tenth day of temperatures above 35 degrees, the most consecutive days on record. Sydney is expected to exceed that record again on Monday, after temperatures dropped to a minimum of 26.3 overnight.

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Women enjoy the surf at Bondi Beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs on Monday

Sydney is expected to reach 35 degrees on Monday before cooler weather on Tuesday and Wednesday

Sunday was the city's tenth day of temperatures above 35 degrees, the most consecutive days on record (Bondi Beach is pictured)

Weatherzone meteorologist Rob Sharpe told Daily Mail Australia the mercury would peak on Monday about 11am or 12 noon before a sea breeze limits heating.

A southerly change will kick in properly in the afternoon with fairly strong winds, making temperatures steadily drop.

There is expected to be a reprieve on Tuesday and Wednesday, with highs of 26 degrees, before temperatures again smash the high-30s for the rest of the week.

Mr Sharpe said Sydney could see quite a bit of rain over Tuesday and Wednesday, particularly along the east coast.

Locals and tourists flocked to the beach to take advantage of another scorching day on Monday

A woman sun-bakes at Bondi Beach on Monday when temperatures rose above 30 degrees again

Women enjoy the surf at Bondi Beach in the eastern suburbs on Monday

The city will then creep back up into the 30s, reaching 36 degrees on Sunday before another cool change will hit that night.

In south-west Queensland, temperatures are expected to reach 48 degrees on Tuesday and could continue to sit around 45 for six consecutive days.

While Brisbane will sit around 33C during the week, the small town of Birdsville, on the border of Queensland and South Australia, is predicted to stay in the mid-40s until Thursday.

A wind change will bring a brief drop in temperatures before they rise again on Friday, according to Weatherzone.

Monday is expected to become the eleventh consecutive day above 35 degrees

After a brief reprieve on Tuesday and Wednesday, temperatures are expected to again soar from Thursday

A man is pictured at Bondi Beach on Monday enjoying the heat

Western Sydney will reach between 38C and 43C on Monday and will remain warm until Saturday when temperatures reach the 40s again

A high humidity will accompany the rising temperatures this week as an abnormally high pressure to the east of Australia creates stagnant hot air.

Jacob Cronje, a senior meteorologist for Weatherzone told Daily Mail Australia the previous record of nine days over 35 degrees was held since 1896.

Adelaide will have a cooler start to the week with a maximum temperature of 24 on Monday but will soar to 40 degrees on Wednesday, with temperatures in the high-30s for the following few days.

Thunderstorms and flooding are expected to ease across Victoria after a wild and woolly end to the weekend that led to hundreds of emergency call outs.

A heatwave will continue across the east coast as Sydney swelters

Although temperatures reached 34.7C around 12pm, it has not cracked the record, Mr Cronje said

A wind change will bring a brief reprieve from the heat on Wednesday and Thursday

While the likelihood for rain is high on Monday, only 5-10mm is expected, following on from a wet Sunday that saw up to 33mm in some parts of Melbourne and up to 46mm at Arthurs Seat.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forescaster Rod Dickson told AAP the weather conditions would ease on Monday, with a high of only 19 degrees and rains clearing.

State Emergency Service spokeswoman Jacque Quaine says residents should check their rooves on Monday morning to ensure they haven't got any missing tiles and that their guttering is clear to prevent the chance of indoor flooding during future rain events.

A woman is pictured with a large crowd of people at a beach on the Gold Coast

People flocked to Sydney's eastern beaches on Sunday as temperatures reached over 30 degrees by 9am

While Brisbane will sit around 33C during the week, some areas of south Queensland can expect temperatures to sit around 45C to 48C until next weekend

She says the SES responded to more then 330 requests for assistance on Sunday, with most of the chaos in the Melbourne metropolitan area, Ballarat and Phillip Island.

Those call outs included 170 flooding jobs, 122 building damage jobs and one instance where a car was stuck in water.

Temperatures in Melbourne will remain cool on Monday but will reach 32 on Wednesday and linger in the late 20s until Saturday.

Darwin is bracing for an extreme monsoon with thunderstorms expected all week with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees.

7 DAY WEATHER FORECAST FOR AUSTRALIA Penrith, Sydney Monday: Max 42, mostly sunny Tuesday: Max 27, showers Wednesday: Max 27, possible showers Thursday: Max 34, mostly sunny Friday: Max 40, mostly sunny Saturday: Max 40, possible showers Sunday: Max 41, possible showers Melbourne Monday: Max 20, showers clearing Tuesday: Max 26, mostly sunny Wednesday: Max 32, sunny Thursday: Max 32, possible shower Friday: Max 26, mostly sunny Saturday: Max 27, possible shower Sunday: Max 21, possible shower Brisbane Monday: Max 32, mostly sunny Tuesday: Max 33, clearing showers Wednesday: Max 32, possible showers Thursday: Max 31, possible showers Friday: Max 32, mostly sunny Saturday: Max 34, mostly sunny Sunday: Max 36, sunny Adelaide Monday: Max 24, rain clearing Tuesday: Max 31, sunny Wednesday: Max 40, sunny Thursday: Max 37, partly cloudy Friday: Max 37, mostly sunny Saturday: Max 37, mostly sunny Sunday: Max 28, mostly cloudy Advertisement

A group of people splash in the water on the Gold Coast on Sunday

New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia are expected to see extreme temperatures throughout the week
Support for the federal government is at its lowest point since Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulll ousted Tony Abbott, the first Newspoll of the year has revealed.

As parliament returns this week after the summer break, Labor leads 54 to 46 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

The poll, published in The Australian newspaper on Monday, also revealed that support for One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has surged to a record high.

Support for the Liberal Party and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has slipped to its lowest point since Tony Abbott was rolled

The survey of more than 1700 people showed the Liberal party's primary vote slipped four points to 35 per cent over the holidays.

The last time it was that low two years ago, Mr Abbott faced a move to spill his leadership after he brought back knighthoods, including one for Prince Philip.

Labor's primary vote remains unchanged at 36 per cent, with independents and minor parties earning a surge in support from 15 to 19 per cent.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation party enjoys an eight per cent national primary vote - the same level of support it garnered at the 1998 election.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation party now holds eight per cent of the national primary vote, the same as a the 1998 election

Labor Leader Bill Shorten's satisfaction rating slipped two points to 32 per cent over summer

Labor Leader Bill Shorten's popularity also slipped over the summer break, and his satisfaction rating down two points to 32 per cent.

The coalition's result comes after a summer of expenses scandals, the loss of the former health minister Sussan Ley from the ministry, and a backlash over the Centrelink debt recovery system.

Mr Turnbull has also come under scrutiny for his $1.75 million donation to the Liberal Party for the 2016 federal election campaign and his 'frank and forthright' phone call with US President Donald Trump.

Mr Turnbull has come under fire for his 'frank and forthright' phone call with US President Donald Trump

The poll has also prompted predictions from commentators who have claimed Mr Turnbull would be 'lucky' to last the year.

'The parliamentary year resumes this week and unless Malcolm Turnbull is lucky it will be his final one as Prime Minister,' Radio National host Tom Switzer wrote in a column for Fairfax.

He warned dissatisfaction within the party, Mr Turnbull's waning popularity, and his now infamous phone call with President Donald Trump could all spell the end for the PM soon.
Suffolk police had set up an online sting operation to catch Alan Wright (pictured) with one officer posing as a 14-year-old boy

A former Freemason Grand Master is facing jail after he was caught in a police sting trying a lure a child into sex.

Alan Wright, 75, regularly went to meetings at Freemasons Hall in St James Street London.

He was described as a 'significant' figure of the organisation which is also popular with Prince Michael.

Wright was arrested last November at Bury St Edmunds railway station in Suffolk, the Express reported.

He thought he was there to meet a 14-year-old boy he'd talked to online, and sent pictures of his private parts.

But instead when he arrived he was greeted by Suffolk police, who'd set up an online sting after gathering information on Wright's private life.

A specialist officer had posed as a child on the gay dating app Grindr.

Wright will appear at Ipswich Crown Court for sentencing next month, and is facing up to ten years in prison.

He was a former Grand Master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters, although he resigned from the Freemasons when details of his activities came to line.

Wright had sent the 14-year-old pictures of his private parts, and arranged to meet with him on the gay dating app Grindr

A spokesman for the United Grand Lodge of England said: 'We were made aware of an allegation against a Freemason on December 1 2016, who immediately resigned from the organisation.

'Having learned of the situation we have no further information currently, and fully believe that this is a one-off, isolated incident.

'United Grand Lodge of England places great importance on total transparency in its dealings with members and we have a robust disciplinary system to deal with members who break the law, break our rules or conduct themselves in a way that would bring Freemasonry into disrepute.'
In response to Balenciaga's Bernie Sanders-inspired menswear line, CNNs Jake Tapper asked the Vermont senator on Sunday's State of the Union if he ever thought he'd be a fashion icon.

'Bizarre sighting at Paris fashion week from Balenciaga. Take a look, these are a number of people, models on a runway in Bernie clothes. Did you ever think that you would become a fashion icon?'

'Not quite', Sanders said with an amused laugh. 'Of my many attributes, being a great dresser or a fashion maven is not one of them'.

Bernie Sanders inspired Balenciaga's fall menswear collection

The high-end fashion designer reworked Sanders's red-and-blue presidential campaign logo and put it on jackets and scarves

Sanders's fashion tastes are more in line with the off-price department store Marshalls than Balenciaga, the high-end fashion designer inspired by the presidential hopeful.

Balenciaga teased its fall menswear line at Paris Fashion Week, featuring Sanders-inspired T-shirts, high-shouldered bomber jackets, blanket scarves and even manicures.

The items were created in the same style as Sanders's red-and-blue presidential campaign logo. But instead of his name, they read 'Balenciaga'.

The logo Sanders used for his presidential campaign was designed by artist Camilo Caffi.

Balenciaga's Fall 2017 Men's collection showed in Paris last month

The logo was reworked from saying 'Bernie 2016' to 'Balenciaga 2017'

Some of the models also wore ill-fitting suits that seemed to mimic Bernie's style

Want one? There isn't yet information on pricing or whether the pieces will be in stores

The sweaters were layered over plaid button-downs and paired with sneakers

Several of the items looked like they could have been pulled from a Bernie Bro's closet

Twitter has been reacting to the collection and people seem intrigued

Nail artist Mei Kawajiri added corresponding nail art for the men

Balenciaga's creative director, Demna Gvasalia, added a third swoosh underline and placed '2017' off-center, whereas Sanders's logo only had two underlines and the '2016' was centered.

Indirect nods to the 75-year-old included oversize, loose-fitting suits, button-downs, ties and boxy blazers.

The average price of a Balenciaga men's T-shirt is $275, while an official Sanders T-shirt emblazoned with his 2016 presidential campaign logo is $25.

Some social media users noted the irony that the French luxury brand would draw inspiration from Sanders, who vocally campaigned for working-class and low-income Americans.
Labour remoaner Keir Starmer was reportedly paid nearly 10,000 for just 20 hours work after he advised Gibraltar's government how they could nobble Brexit.

According to his Register of Interests, the MP for Holborn and St Pancras carried out work for the British Overseas Territory in December 2015.

The former head of the Crown Prosecution Service was working there just days before its politicians discussed the Brexit vote.

Labour remoaner Keir Starmer was reportedly paid nearly 10,000 for just 20 hours work

Politicians in Gibraltar had just published draft legislation to enable some of its 30,000 residents - who were pro-EU - to vote in the referendum.

It was later announced as being the most pro-European part of Britain after 96 per cent of the population voted to remain in the EU.

According to Gary O'Shea at the Sun on Sunday, Sir Starmer, 54, refused to reveal how he advised the Gibraltar government.

Labour's Brexit spokesman added that it did not have anything to do with helping them draft the legislation which enabled them to vote.

The former Director of Public Prosecutions owns a 1.5million London property and a home in Surrey told the newspaper that 'legal advice is confidential and privileged'.

Labour's Brexit spokesman (pictured) added that it did not have anything to do with helping them draft the legislation which enabled them to vote

It comes as Harriet Harman backed Sir Starmer as the successor to beleaguered party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

A leaked tape recording revealed that former deputy Labour leader Ms Harman presented him as the party's saviour.

Those who were at the meeting cheered while she described his 'wisdom, expertise and ability to solve insoluble problems'.

Sir Keir is the bookies' favourite to take over from Mr Corbyn and made a passionate cry at the meeting for unity.

He said Labour faced a massive fight to survive and he was ready to play his part.
An eight-year-old boy left home alone with his younger siblings accidentally shot his sister, 5, dead and injured his four-year-old brother.

Serenity Allen, died at the scene from the gunshot wound shortly after 1pm on Saturday in their inner city family apartment in Jacksonville, Florida, according to Jacksonville.com.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Chief Chris Butler said the elder boy fired a single shot from the gun, which killed his younger sister and gave his brother a non-life-threatening wound.

Serenity Allen, died at the scene from the gunshot wound shortly after 1pm on Saturday in their inner city family apartment in Jacksonville, Florida

Video courtesy of Action News Jax

'We believe, in the absence of any other information being developed, that unfortunately this is a tragic unfortunate accidental shooting,' Butler said.

The children's mother had left for an unspecified amount of time to go to a store, Butler said.

Police did not release the names of the family involved.

The four-year-old is being treated at the hospital where he is expected to make a full recovery. A therapist was brought in to help the boy who fired the shot, Butler said.

The Florida Department of Children and Families and the state attorney's office were also being consulted.

It was unclear to investigators how the child got access to the gun, or whether it had been properly stored and secured.

Emergency crews were at the scene on Saturday after the tragic shooting of Serenity

Butler said the incident is under investigation to see if any charges will be filed for leaving a gun accessible to the children.

Outside the apartment block, devastated family and friends gathered to mourn.

One woman collapsed to the ground crying, while others screamed in pain and anguish.

Butler said the tragedy was hard to witness.

'You could just tell from their expressions, their eyes and everything. It's not very pleasant to go through this investigation at all. It's tragic,' he said.
Two members of the Republican Party's most well known families took issue with comments President Donald Trump said about Vladimir Putin in a new interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly.

Jack McCain, son of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Liz Cheney, former Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter who is a congresswoman from Wyoming, both pushed back when Trump answered, 'Well, you think our country is so innocent?' when O'Reilly labeled the Russian president a 'killer.'

'My nation of laws just got compared to one that murders journalists that don't fall in line and kills political opposition,' McCain, a Navy helicopter pilot, tweeted. 'Awesome ..........'

Cheney, who was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives last month, sang a similar tune.

'POTUS statement suggesting moral equivalence between Putin's Russia and the United States of America is deeply troubling and wrong,' she wrote on Twitter.

Scroll down for video

THE YOUNGER GENERATION: Rep. Liz Cheney (left) and Jack McCain both spoke out against President Donald Trump saying 'you think our country is so innocent?' when showing support for Russian President Vladimir Putin

Sen. John McCain's son Jack initially commented on what President Donald Trump said about Vladimir Putin. He later deleted this tweet

Rep. Liz Cheney dashed off a tweet after President Donald Trump made the remarks to a taped interview with Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly

President Donald trump was asked by Fox News' Bill O'Reilly if he had 'respect' for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the new American president said he did

Trump sat down with O'Reilly for an pre-Super Bowl interview and said he indeed had 'respect' for Putin.

'I do respect him. Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'll get along with them,' Trump said.

O'Reilly then pointed out that 'Putin is a killer.'

Trump noted that, 'there are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers,' seemingly putting Russia and the U.S. on equal footing.

The president justified his comments by pointing to the Iraq War, which he considers a major foreign policy blunder.

'A lot of mistakes. A lot of people were killed,' Trump said.

While the young McCain initially stepped into the debate, he soon deleted his tweet.

'I just need to go back to tweeting about why I love Air Tractors,' the pilot wrote.

'For the record no one "got to me,"' McCain added. 'I just don't want to cause a fuss.'

But the younger generation had some big Republicans voices backing their stance.

Speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper this morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dismissed any sort of comparison of the U.S. to Putin.

'Well, Putin is a former KGB ... agent, he's a thug,' McConnell said on CNN. 'He was not elected in a way that most people would consider a credible election.'

Jack McCain took down his tweet and joked that he should go back to tweeting about 'Air Tractors' and just didn't 'want to cause a fuss'

'The Russians annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, and messed around in our elections,' the GOP's leader in the Senate continued.

'No, I don't think there is any equivalency between the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does,' McConnell said.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who ran against Trump in the Republican primary, used Twitter to broadcast his thoughts.

'When has a Democratic political activists been poisoned by the GOP, or vice versa?' Rubio wrote. 'We are not the same as Putin.'

Vice President Mike Pence was more willing to let Trump's comments on the matter slide.

Appearing on Face the Nation, Pence wouldn't directly answer host John Dickerson's query of whether the United States is 'morally superior' to Russia.

Sen. Marco Rubio also bashed Donald Trump's comments saying there shouldn't be an equivalency between the United States and the actions of Vladimir Putin

Vice President Mike Pence was more willing to let the president's comments slide, as he wouldn't say to John Dickerson if America is morally superior to Russia

'What you have in this new president is someone who is willing to and is in fact engaging the world, including Russia, and saying, "Where can we find common interests that will advance the security of the American people, the peace and prosperity of the world?"' Pence first answered.

Dickerson tried again.

'But America morally superior to Russia? Yes or no?' the CBS newsman asked.

Pence began talking about American ideals and a recent visit to Philadelphia's Independence Hall.

'Shouldn't this just a yes answer?' Dickerson asked.

Pence continued to talk about the country having the 'highest ideals in the world.'

'Shouldn't we be able to just say "yes" to that question though?' Dickerson probed.

Pence then answered, 'I think it's without question, John.'

The host tried finishing his sentence, 'That America is morally superior to Russia.'

But Pence wouldn't get specific.

'That American ideals are superior to countries all across the world,' the vice president answered. He then pivoted and spoke of Trump trying to have a 'new relationship with Russia.'

Dickerson said 'I understand' and answered 'all right,' and left it there.
Are you sitting comfortably, children? Then I have a creative task for you. Tell me, is this poem from the Bush era, still relevant today?

'When the president talks to god

Does he ever think that maybe he's not?

That that voice is just inside his head

When he kneels next to the presidential bed

Does he ever smell his own bulls**t When the president talks to god.

I doubt it. I doubt it.'

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what is being taught in British schools. Teachers asking children to think about Trump and his bulls**t. And whether he smells it.

Do they smell their own I wonder? I doubt it, I doubt it.

Thirteen-year-old children were given this poem in a 'creative writing task', and were asked to imagine 'how Trump would react'

Even as my suspicions have been growing about the indoctrination of our young children by so-called liberals, so has the number of stories arriving in my inbox.

Worried parents whose little kids come home repeating opinions they have been taught in school, rather than lessons, wondering how they should talk to the school about it without getting their kids into trouble.

Children being taught that Trump is a bad man and a racist. That Brexit is wrong. That the correct answer is Clinton.

A young man aged 17 from Hertfordshire was ostracised from his politics class for daring to admit he supported Trump. He was told by the teacher to have 'less strong views' and was isolated by his class.

Eventually he dropped the subject completely because no one would sit with him or talk to him.

A child isolated for his opinion and hounded for his views.

Another worried mother, Rachel from Solihull recounts that her eight-year-old came home from primary school and asked her why she liked Trump when he is a racist and hates women.

The child had been shown the news, told by his teacher that Trump hates women, Muslims and Mexicans and is a Bad Man.

Elsewhere, a headmaster of a secondary school in Chester gave a lecture featuring his own brand of politics, alarming the kids about the state of the world.

He said he hoped to see his pupils again next week 'if Trump has not pressed the nuclear button by then', and sent them home with a newsletter reinforcing his point.

And then this from a mum in Bournemouth

'My seven-year-old daughter came home from school saying she had been learning Donald Trump's job is to take care of all the people but he doesn't because he is a nasty evil man.

'I asked her why, and she said ... in school they had been shown a newspaper of a little girl holding up a sign saying 'not my President' because Trump had held a book and sworn to take care of all people but he lied.

'Because American people don't have newspapers, they cannot see what a horrible man he really is and what he is really like. And a lady wanted to be president and she actually got more votes than him. But they still let him win. And that's not fair.'

This poster was pinned to a classroom wall by a teacher

Other parents also told of assemblies for twelve-year-olds in Swindon in which Donald Trump's ban on refugees entering the country had been compared to the Holocaust.

Small children in Chelmsford were taught in morning assembly on June 24 following the vote for Leave that 'your parents will be very sad tonight. They might even be crying. Because people who do not want us to be friends with Europe voted the wrong way'.

Clearly, children need to be aware of the news and current affairs. I buy my own children a children's newspaper so they can form their own views.

I am not arguing teachers shouldn't offer up the facts of the world and allow children to form a view.

I can accept that many teachers believe Trump to be an odious individual and/or that Trump equals hate.

And I have heard the argument that it is right that teachers should teach children to be inclusive and to stand against hate, and by this logic teachers have a duty to speak out against Trump. But this is a sleight of hand. Deductive reasoning that has lost its way.

The opinion that Trump equals hate is not a fact. It is a view.

Schools are doing exactly what Remainers did when they tried to foist hate on to Leave voters by claiming ownership of the phrase 'hope not hate'. As if they had rights to the word hope, and everything else was hate.

This presentation was given in a social studies lesson with a class of 14-year-olds. The teacher said he would 'keep opinions to himself'....then produced this slide.

Many teachers seem to believe their opinions are right and, therefore, all other viewpoints are wrong. And they are are indoctrinating our children with their beliefs.

This is not teaching children how to think. This is teaching children what to think.

I spoke to a teacher earlier who called me to confirm categorically that this is what she is seeing inside schools, too. She can be honest with her students about the fact that she supported Leave  she would never lie to them, after all  but she does not dare repeat her views in the staff room, where prescribed-think prevails.

What is going on inside our schools is a disgrace. It needs blowing wide open.

And it is truly terrifying that adult teachers are willing to humiliate children because of their beliefs, or to isolate young people with their hands in the air to support Trump when an entire assembly full other kids AND their teachers thrust their hands up in opposition.

I can accept that many teachers believe Trump to be an odious individual and/or that Trump equals hate. Though, the opinion that Trump equals hate is not a fact. It is a view

Being a minority voice is still brave. Even if the minority voice is from the right wing.

It's more frightening still to bully a child into giving up a subject altogether because their opinions and views are 'too strong', and quite blatantly too 'wrong'.

If you wonder why young people often seem so weak, perhaps it is because in school they were never allowed to think strong or to stand strong for their own beliefs  only for the beliefs of their so-called teachers.

I urge young people to stand strong for what you believe. And I implore parents, to stand strong for your children. Surely they deserve the opportunity to learn how to think, before a teacher tries to tell them what to think as well.
Protests for and against President Donald Trump's policies continued this weekend in several major US cities.

Demonstrators gathered in Denver, Houston, Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, St Louis and Washington.

A protest also took place in West Palm Beach, Florida, close to Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, where he spent the weekend.

People protested for a variety of reasons.

Some voiced objection to the president's proposed wall between the US and Mexico border.

The gatherings took place one day after a federal judge issued a temporary stay on the President's immigration ban.

Supporters of US President Donald Trump yell at anti-Trump protesters at a rally near Trump Tower in Fifth Avenue on Sunday in New York

Anti-Trump protesters shout at supporters of US President Donald Trump in Manhattan

In other places, people spoke in support of Trump and his administration's policies.

On Sunday, passionate Trump supporters held a rally outside Trump Tower in Manhattan - one of the few held in the president's largely Democratic hometown since he took office on January 20.

Demonstrators urged their fellow Americans to give the new president a chance, and they backed his controversial travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

A big white banner they unfurled read, 'Welcome the Trump Era!'

It didn't take long for a dozen or so counter-demonstrators to descend on the scene - Trump won only 18 percent of the city's votes.

US President Donald Trump's New York supporters were uncowed

Police kept the two groups apart.

The pro-Trump group wore his red "Make America Great Again" campaign hats, carried US flags and chanted "USA! USA!'

Some wore Star of David buttons and carried signs in Hebrew and in English, one of which said: 'President Trump Mazel Tov You're Doing It Your Way."

Demonstrators on both sides competed to make their message heard. 'No ban, no wall, refugees are welcome here', his opponents shouted in a sing-song chant.

But Cindy Grosz, a Trump supporter and rally co-organizer, said Americans should give the new president a chance.

'He's been in office less than three weeks. He's entitled to have a fair shot and to run the government the way he wants to', Grosz said.

Demonstrators march to the Federal Building in protest against Trump's executive order fast-tracking the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, in LA on Sunday

Opponents say the proposed $3.8billion Dakota Access pipeline threatens the water supply and sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

Work on the Dakota Access pipeline is stalled due to a dispute over whether the company Energy Transfer Partners has permission to lay pipe under a reservoir in North Dakota that is the source of drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe

Sunday's rally paled next to the huge anti-Trump marches and rallies that have sprung up almost spontaneously across the country.

Thousands of marchers took to the streets in LA to demonstrate against Trump's executive order fast-tracking the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines.

Protesters hoisting signs and chanting slogans gathered Sunday near Pershing Square and began marching about a mile for a rally at the Edward Roybal Federal Building.

Police say the gathering is peaceful and no disruptions or arrests have been reported

Kristen Dorsey joins demonstrators marching to the Los Angeles Federal Building

'Jack' the dog joins demonstrators in Los Angeles

Police say the gathering is peaceful and no disruptions or arrests have been reported.

Opponents say the proposed $3.8billion Dakota Access pipeline threatens the water supply and sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

The 1,200-mile pipeline would transport North Dakota oil to Illinois.

Trump said he wants to move forward with Dakota Access and the Keystone XL pipeline, which would connect Canada's tar sands with Gulf Coast refineries.

'I havent seen this kind of thing before and Ive been involved in protests since the 70s', Karen Pomer of Labor for Standing Rock, one of the groups that participated in the demonstration, told the Los Angeles Times.

Labor for Standing Rock includes some union workers who formerly worked on the Dakota Access pipeline.
Peru Two drugs mule Michaella McCollum Connolly has broken her silence by posting a selfie on Facebook, six months after returning to the UK.

The 24-year-old, from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, was jailed in Peru in 2013 for attempting to smuggle 1.5 million of cocaine out of the country with fellow drug mule Melissa Reid.

Now back at home, she posted a message on Facebook thanking 'everyone who has supported myself and family through these past few years.'

Peru Two drugs mule Michaella McCollum Connolly has broken her silence by posting a selfie on Facebook, six months after returning to the UK

She posted a message on her Facebook thanking 'everyone who has supported myself and family through these past few years'

The post read: 'Please know I truly appreciate each one who cared and had my back.

'Thank you for all the sweet messages I have not got reading them all just yet or got a chance to reply to them but I will definitely make a good attempt to get back to you all.

'It has been a long ride to get where I am today but it just shows that when we fight hard enough for something we can achieve it.

'Something to have in mind when one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.'

The 24-year-old, from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, was jailed in Peru in 2013 for attempting to smuggle 1.5 million of cocaine out of the country

McCollum Connolly returned home to Ireland in August last year after reportedly doing a deal with Peruvian authorities.

She and Reid - dubbed the Peru Two  had each been sentenced to six years and eight months in jail after admitting to trying to smuggle cocaine out of the country.

The pair, who initially protested their innocence, were found in possession of 11kg of cocaine hidden inside food packets in their luggage as they prepared to board a flight from Lima to Madrid.

McCollum Connolly was released on parole last March after serving less than half of her sentence but was initially required to stay in Peru, where she carried out voluntary work.

McCollum Connolly (left) and Melissa Reid (right)- dubbed the Peru Two  were each sentenced to six years and eight months in jail

Reid was released from prison in June last year, flying back to Scotland shortly afterwards.

Speaking previously about her experience in Limas Ancon 2 prison, McCollum Connolly described how she shared a cell with seven other prisoners including Reid, sleeping on concrete bunks and using a hole in the floor as a lavatory.

Despite the harsh conditions, she told Mail On Sunday 'of course you have laughs in there and said she adjusted to life in jail by running a beauty salon and participating in dance competitions.

She secretly took the pictures on a mobile phone she got by bribing a prison guard, in order to reassure her family that she was coping with the harsh reality of her situation.

One photograph showed her crouching alongside other inmates as she blew out candles on a cake they made for her 22nd birthday.
A mother is filing a number of complaints with a Toronto-area primary school after her six-year-old daughter's wrists and ankles were handcuffed by police under their watch

A mother is filing a number of complaints with a Toronto-area primary school after her six-year-old daughter's wrists and ankles were handcuffed by police under their watch.

Police say the child spitting, biting, and punching - and they needed to restrain her for her own safety and that of others at Nahani Way Public School in Mississauga, Ontario.

The child's mother, however, believes their actions were inexcusable, and has sought the aid of the African Canadian Legal Clinic with a human rights lawsuit.

The incident, which occurred in September, has left the child terrified of police and her mother has since enrolled her at a different school, according to CTV News.

It was reportedly the third time authorities were called to the school to help with this specific child.

It was reportedly the third time authorities were called to the school to help with this specific child.

The girl's mother received the call from police saying that her daughter was handcuffed after behaving violently, and she rushed straight to the school.

She was so angry at the school staff and police that she 'couldn't think straight'.

The woman and her child have not been named for legal purposes, but they believe race was a factor in the treatment of the young girl.

The family's lawyer, Donardo Jones, said: 'According to them, she was kicking, screaming and spitting and punching,'

'She weighs 48 pounds.'

The family's lawyer, Donardo Jones, center, said: 'According to them, she was kicking, screaming and spitting and punching ... she weighs 48 pounds'

He continued: 'Had she not been an African-Canadian child, I strongly, strongly believe this would not have happened.'

The police vehemently deny that any element of racism informed their actions, and maintain that they tried all de-escalation techniques that officers are taught to use before restraining someone.

Sargent Josh Colley said: 'It's an insult to think that someone would say that race played a part in the way that we dealt with the situation.'
A three-truck pile up has caused traffic chaos during the busy morning commute in Sydney.

A large truck collided with two others parked on the side of the road in Homebush West at 6am on Monday.

The force of the crash wedged the three vehicles together, 9 News reported.

A three-truck pile up has caused traffic chaos during the busy morning commute in Sydney

A large truck collided with two others parked on the side of the road in Homebush West at 6am on Monday

The accident occurred on Marlborough Rd near Mandemar Ave during peak hour.

The driver was able to climb free but suffered whiplash on impact.

They have since been taken to hospital.

Drivers should expect delays as traffic is heavy through the area.

Marlborough Road is closed Northbound while the clean-up gets underway.

The accident occurred on Marlborough Rd near Mandemar Ave during peak hour
Dylan Voller - the teen inmate at the centre of the Northern Territory's royal commission into juvenile justice - is set to be released from prison to begin a rehabilitation program.

Voller has been granted bail by the Northern Territory Supreme Court to spend the next 16 weeks with the Alice Springs-based Bush Mob rehabilitation camp, with his release effective from Monday morning.

If that goes well, the 19-year-old's remaining months of his near four-year jail sentence for attempted robbery, aggravated robbery and endangering serious harm to a police officer could be suspended.

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Dylan Voller - the teen inmate at the centre of the Northern Territory's royal commission into juvenile justice is being released into a youth rehabilitation scheme

In his decision last week, Justice Peter Barr said bail would give Voller the opportunity to demonstrate good behaviour in the community.

'It would be, in effect, a test run to see whether the court could have sufficient confidence in Mr Voller to be persuaded that his existing sentence should be replaced by a partially suspended sentence,' the judge said.

Voller was jailed in 2014 for a violent, ice-fuelled crime spree and was not due for release until October this year.

The NT royal commission was sparked when footage of him being tear-gassed, spit-hooded and shackled in the youth prison system was aired on national television last year.

Voller was jailed in 2014 for a violent, ice-fuelled crime spree and was not due for release until October this year

Voller has been granted bail by the Northern Territory Supreme Court to spend the next 16 weeks in the Alice Springs-based Bush Mob rehabilitation program (pictured)

The NT royal commission was sparked when footage of him being tear-gassed, spit-hooded and shackled in the youth prison system was aired on national television last year

Voller was shown in CCTV footage on ABC's Four Corners program allegedly being assaulted by guards
Conservative senator Cory Bernardi will split with the Liberal party to form his own political group, it has been revealed.

The ABC and Andrew Bolt are reporting that the South Australian senator will walk from the Coalition in the next 48 hours.

The new party would be based on his Australian Conservatives movement, which already has more than 50,000 members, Bolt said.

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Conservative senator Cory Bernardi will split from the Liberal Party and form his own party

'Bernardi has turned down all interviews lately, which is significant, but the logic all points to him breaking away soon,' Bolt wrote.

Mr Bernardi had previously hinted at starting his own party for conservative voters dissatisfied with the Liberal government.

There is speculation he is planning on calling the party Australian Majority, after a website with the name popped up late last year with nothing on it except a promise it was 'coming soon'.

The reports come on a grim day for the Coalition, as the first Newspoll for the year revealed support for the government is at its lowest since former PM Tony Abbott was rolled for the leadership.

Fellow SA Liberal Simon Birmingham played down a possible defection, citing his colleague's recent comments.

Mr Bernardi shared this selfie posing in a 'Make Australia Great Again' hat last year

The reports come on a grim day for the Coalition, as the first Newspoll for the year revealed support for the government and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has plummeted

'Every comment I've ever seen Cory make, including over recent months, has been about the importance of Liberals, Nationals, conservatives - all those in the right of centre - working together and working as a strong Coalition,' he said.

'I'm confident that Cory will stand by his words.'

Cabinet colleague Matt Canavan said 'of course' he wanted Senator Bernardi to stay in the coalition.

'I love all members of our team and sometimes you don't agree with every member of your team but it's a great team and I hope we keep it together,' he said.

Labor frontbencher Tony Burke wasn't surprised about the reports.

'We've been watching a split in the coalition for more than a year now and it's going to continue to unravel,' he said.
Jeremy Vine took up the challenge of rapping along with his daughter in the car - but immediately realised it was a mistake.

The BBC Radio 2 presenter, 51, posted an amusing video of his daughter nailing the lyrics to Fergie's L.A. Love while he stuck to muttering individual words.

As the beats throbbed through the car stereo he mumbled, 'London... west side', while doing his best to look cool for the camera.

Jeremy Vine took up the challenge of rapping along with his daughter in the car - but immediately realised it was a mistake

The father-of-two posted the video online with the caption: 'Taking up the challenge to rap in the car with my daughter was a mistake - she knows every word.'

Facebook users praised Vine for being a good sport, with Charlotte Gervis saying: 'What a dad, you are just too cool for school.'

Julian Kent said: 'Brilliant, don't give up the day job just yet big guy.'

Helen Kate Fox said: 'Aww bless, what a lovely family moment - thanks so much for sharing it with us. Very funny too.'

The BBC Radio 2 presenter, 51, posted an amusing video of his daughter nailing the lyrics to Fergie's L.A. Love while he stuck to muttering individual words

As the beats throbbed through the car stereo he mumbled, 'London... west side', while doing his best to look cool for the camera

And Nick Fisher added: 'You're daughter is so cool , jury is out on you Jer I'm afraid...'

Mr Vine recently spoke out against road rage after he was abused while riding on his bike through Kensington, west London.

Shanique Syrena Pearson, 22, was found guilty of road rage offences after shouting abuse and threatening the presenter in the row on August 26 last year.
Doctors whose mistakes led to patient deaths are among hundreds still allowed to work in the NHS despite major failings.

A Daily Mail investigation revealed that 19 patients died over three years after doctors made grave errors.

Yet in each of the cases uncovered, the General Medical Council allowed the doctors to keep working after deciding their failings were not serious enough to warrant them being struck off.

Dr Delia Parnham-Cope (pictured) was not struck off despite failing to spot a blood clot on the lung of Jayne Hughes, who died

Hundreds more medics whose patients survived were reprimanded for errors ranging from surgical blunders and misdiagnosis to criminal behaviour.

The full list of the 416 dangerous doctors warned, but let off, was uncovered under freedom of information laws.

Patients can look up the records of individual doctors on the GMC website, but a full list of those given warnings is not published.

Last night, campaigners, bereaved relatives and MPs accused the GMC of failing patients.

The figures  which run from 2013 to the end of 2015 and are the most recent available  have raised fears the watchdog is letting off dangerous doctors with a slap on the wrist, when they should be suspended or barred.

Only a small percentage of doctors investigated by the GMC are struck off.

In 2013, just 55 of the 3,348 investigated had their licence to practise revoked. That year, 147 doctors were given warnings and 86 were suspended.

Carol Woodward, 68, whose daughter died after A&E consultant Dr Delia Parnham-Cope failed to spot a blood clot on her lung, told the Mail: It is disgraceful  none of these doctors should be working. They are getting away with killing people.

While they get a warning on their record for five years, I have to live with the consequences forever.

Her daughter Jayne Hughes, 44, was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital after falling down the stairs.

She was checked for fractures and heart problems, but Dr Parnham-Cope failed to investigate symptoms of breathlessness, high blood pressure and low oxygen  all tell-tale signs of a clot.

Miss Hughes was discharged and died just hours later. A hospital investigation following the tragedy in December 2012 found her symptoms were overlooked.

Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, said: The GMC must ensure it prevents poorly performing doctors from being able to continue practising, or at the very least prevent them from causing any more harm through additional training or conditions on their practice.

Tory MP Andrew Percy said: I think patients will be deeply concerned that people are dying and those doctors are continuing to practise.

Allegations against doctors are considered by two senior GMC staff, who can choose to take no further action, to issue a warning, to agree re-training, or to refer to a medical tribunal.

Warnings are held against a medics name on the GMC register for five years  after which they are cleared entirely  but are not displayed in surgeries.

Serious cases include that of Egypt-qualified Dr Tarek Seda, who was warned after telling a vulnerable A&E patient she belonged to Allah and bombarding her with calls and texts.

In another case, a patient died of sepsis from a perforated appendix a day after Filipino-trained Dr Paul Bisnar misdiagnosed him with a minor stomach illness and discharged him from A&E at Newham University Hospital in east London.

Dr Stephen Grant (pictured, left) was let off with a warning in 2013 after a patient who had come to see him repeatedly with symptoms, died from bone cancer. Dr Chukwuma Amayo (right) failed to properly monitor a prisoner, who died of drug intoxication

Dr Stephen Grant, a GP from Worcestershire who recently retired, was let off with a warning in 2013 after a patient died from bone cancer.

The patient had visited with symptoms five times.

Dr Chukwuma Amayo, who also got a warning, failed to properly monitor a prisoner he was treating who later died of drug intoxication.

And Dr Alex George was sanctioned for causing a seriously ill patient distress by handing him a cartoon featuring the Grim Reaper and telling him he would be consigned to the everlasting fire of hell unless he turned to Jesus.

None of the doctors replied to requests for comment.

Newham University Hospital said Dr Bisnar was a locum who no longer worked at the trust.

A GMC spokesman said: A warning  which lasts for five years and is visible to patients and employers on the medical register  is serious ... and is designed to send a clear message that the doctor must learn from their mistake and not repeat it.
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Love it or loathe it, another Valentine's Day is just around the corner.

And while you may be choosing cards and planning candlelit dinners, other couples around the world are preparing quite differently.

In Japan, for example, women don't receive gifts from men at all, they give them. A month later on March 14th, however, men can return the favour on what is known as White Day.

In South Africa, women write down the name of the person they are besotted with and pin it to their sleeves; while in Germany, the pig is viewed as a symbol of lust and is often seen on cards and presents.

In Finland and Estonia, the 14th of February is actually Friend's Day - an occasion to celebrate non-romantic kinships, as this new infographic from Flowercard reveals.

And if you want to avoid Valentine's Day altogether? You'll be in good company in Saudi Arabia, where it's strictly banned. There is even a black market for red roses.
The Queen has decided to grant special permission to allow hundreds of people to trek through the grounds of Balmoral for charity this summer  after some gentle persuasion from Prince Harry.

Since it became the Scottish home of Queen Victoria in 1852, visits to the estate by the public have been strictly controlled. But the Queen has decided to bend the rules for Harry. I can reveal that she has agreed to let hundreds of injured soldiers and athletes trek through the hills of her Aberdeenshire retreat for a Walking With The Wounded challenge on June 24  Armed Forces Day.

I understand that Harry used all his charm on his grandmother after visiting her at Balmoral last September.

Harry and his girlfriend Meghan Markle also plan to complete a US trek later this summer

The Queen is thrilled with Harrys recent charitable work and very proud of him, says a Palace source. Although she and the Duke of Edinburgh consider Balmoral to be their private sanctuary, they will open it up to the public for Harry. They want to show him how pleased they are.

The special event, billed as by gracious permission of Her Majesty the Queen, will see 100 teams each comprising four people compete over one of three mountainous routes in the Cairngorm National Park. Each team must raise at least 1,000 as part of their entry fee, with the money going towards helping vulnerable injured veterans regain their independence and reintegrate into society.

Walking With The Wounded is a cause close to Harrys heart. The charity was set up in 2010 by his former Army officer pals Ed Parker and Simon Dalglish after Eds 26-year-old nephew lost both legs in an IED blast in Afghanistan in 2009. Harry is patron and has played an active role in treks to the North Pole and South Pole.

Since it became the Scottish home of Queen Victoria in 1852, visits to the Balmoral estate by the public have been strictly controlled

I am also told that talks took place last week over another proposed charity trek  this time across America later in the summer. The event would see teams venturing from the East Coast to the West Coast, and it is anticipated that Harry will join them for several week-long stints.

According to sources, Walking With The Wounded hopes that his girlfriend Meghan Markle, 35, may join the walk too.

The actress could also make a public appearance with Harry for his Invictus Games, which takes place in September in Toronto, the city where she lives.
She is already so painfully thin that she shocked pals with her hip-bone revealing wedding dress, so why on earth did It Girl Lady Mary Charteris check herself in to the Viva Mayr spa in Austria last week?

It is famous for helping A-list clients shed pounds by encouraging fasting, and patients are expected to eat stale bread, chewing each mouthful 50 times.

Wedding of Lady Mary Charteris and Robbie Furze at the Earl of Wemyss Estate. She has checked into a spa that is known for shifting weight

Viva Mayr Spa in Austria, which is known for making its guests to eat stale bread and chew each piece 50 times

Mary may be in need of a detox  after all she is a wild child who splits her time between partying in LA with her rock star hubby Robbie Furze and partying in London with models such as Cara Delevingne, Lily Donaldson and Mick Jaggers daughter Georgia May.

But she really cant afford to lose another inch at a fat farm!

Heres some good news for pop fans  X Factor rapper Honey G has been dropped by Simon Cowells record label Syco after her first single, The Honey G Show, bombed in the charts.

X Factor rapper Honey G has been dropped by Syco after her first single bombed in the charts

A record company source tells me: There are no plans to release anything else.

But Honey G  real name Anna Georgette Gilford  is still hopeful of success. I will find out whats happening with Syco after the X Factor tour finishes but whatever happens, Ive been writing and will be releasing more material.

Cant wait
Andy Lee and girlfriend Rebecca Harding looked happier than ever at The Book of Mormon premiere on Saturday night.

The stylish couple, who rekindled their romance last year, couldn't stop smiling as they posed outside the Princess Theatre in Melbourne.

The Australian model looked effortlessly chic in a pale pink off-the-shoulder mini dress with layered ruffles concealing her cleavage.

Still back on! Andy Lee and girlfriend Rebecca Harding looked happier than ever at The Book of Mormon premiere on Saturday night, after rekindling their romance late last year

The 25-year-old's tanned shoulders peeked out from under her sleek brunette hair, which she wore straight and loose with a simple middle part.

Her slim, bronzed legs were accentuated by her strappy stilettos and she completed her red carpet look with a simple black clutch.

Meanwhile, Andy looked dapper with a fashionably retro look featuring a blue blazer, a white shirt and tan trousers with polished black shoes.

Never break up again! The couple, who met at a Melbourne cafe where Rebecca worked, dated for 18 months before briefly parting ways last year. But Andy says they're in no rush to marry

The Fox FM radio personality confirmed his rekindled romance with model Rebecca in December last year.

But the 35-year-old also later confirmed that the couple probably won't be getting married any time soon.

At the Portsea Polo in January, Andy was asked by Fairfax if he would propose to his younger girlfriend this year.

Fancy seeing you here! Andy's longtime radio co-host Hamish Blake (R) also attended the premiere, alongside his journalist wife Zoe Foster (L), who is expecting their second child

'No', he jovially responded, as Rebecca reportedly laughed and shook her head.

'I propose that we keep on drinking and enjoy today,' he added, before saying he is too busy with his 'marriage' to co-host Hamish Blake.

The couple, who met at a Melbourne cafe where Rebecca worked, dated for 18 months before briefly parting ways last year.
He's the Today show larrikin known for his boyish charm and on-camera gaffes.

But in the middle of his high-profile split from wife of 21 years Cassandra Thorburn, Karl Stefanovic, 42, says he is determined to 'grow up'.

'I am certainly growing up. I will not be getting p**** at the Logies again. I will always have a good time but I need to be more responsible,' he told the Herald Sun.

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'I will not be getting p**** at the Logies again': In the middle of his high-profile split from wife of 21 years Cassandra Thorburn, Karl Stefanovic (pictured) says he is determined to 'grow up'

Karl explained there was once a time when his partying lifestyle 'never affected' his 'ability to be a father', but he no long thinks that is the case.

He continued: 'I don't have to party all the time, I don't have to go out drinking all the time, I don't have to go to the Logies and get p****d every time because I can now enjoy other things in life.'

'I think that is just a course of time,' he added.

'I need to be more responsible': Karl explained there was once a time when his partying lifestyle 'never affected' his 'ability to be a father', but he no long thinks that is the case

'I don't have to party all the time': Karl told the Herald Sun over the weekend he 'doesn't have to go out drinking all the time'. Pictured with models Ashley and Jessica Hart in New York in 2015

Times are changing: In September last year, it was reported Karl had split with his wife, former ABC journalist Cassandra Thorburn (R), after 21 years of marriage. Pictured in May 2011

The newly-single TV personality also confirmed that he isn't dating anyone at the moment.

Karl and Cassandra share three children together - Jackson, 16, Ava, 11, and River 10.

Karl recently returned to the Today studio following a two-month sabbatical over the festive period.

Back on TV: Karl recently returned to the Today studio following a two-month sabbatical over the festive period. Pictured with co-host Lisa Wilkinson (R)

He and Cassandra spent Christmas apart, with his estranged wife celebrating at the family home on Sydney's upper north shore.

Meanwhile, the veteran breakfast TV host spent Christmas with his siblings.

He also flew to Aspen, Colorado with billionaire friend James Packer, who coincidentally also recently split from his fiancee Mariah Carey.

After news of their split broke in September, it was reported Karl left the family home and moved into James's Bondi apartment.
Since moving to Bali last month, Megan Marx has rarely been pictured apart from her girlfriend Tiffany Scanlon.

But amid allegations the pair are 'faking' their relationship, Megan took time to clear her head with a leisurely trip to the beach on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old, who met her partner on The Bachelor last year, looked stunning as she flaunted her curves in a skimpy bikini.

Flaunting it! The Bachelor's Megan Marx took time to clear her head with a leisurely trip to the beach in Bali on Wednesday, amid allegations she is 'faking' a lesbian relationship

She paired a dark green bottoms with a white floral bikini top, and finished off her look with a pair of tinted sunglasses.

The reality TV star's skimpy swimsuit could barely contain her ample assets as she causally walked along the beach.

While her bronzed physique was on display, it was hard to ignore a painful-looking open wound on Megan's lower back.

What's that? While her bronzed physique was on display in her skimpy bikini, it was hard to ignore a painful-looking open wound on Megan's lower back

Megan later enjoyed some refreshment by drinking a can of Coke Zero on a lounger while soaking up the sun's rays.

While she enjoyed a solo trip during the week, it appears Megan spent Saturday with her girlfriend Tiffany and former Bachelor star Noni Janur.

But as they enjoyed dinner at a Balinese restaurant, unconfirmed rumours have been swirling their romance may be a 'publicity stunt'.

Zero worries! Megan later enjoyed some refreshment by drinking a can of Coke Zero on a lounger while soaking up the sun's rays

Catch up! While she enjoyed a solo trip during the week, it appears Megan spent Saturday with her girlfriend Tiffany (L) and former Bachelor star Noni Janur (R)

Fellow Bachelor contestant Keira Maguire alleged last week 'they are faking their relationship' for publicity, which Megan and Tiffany deny.

And on Friday, Rachael Gouvignon questioned the couple's previous claims they fell in love during their first trip to Bali in June.

She told Daily Mail Australia: 'When I caught up with Tiffany (in October) she told me about a guy she was seeing.

'Megan has also spoken to me about a guy she was seeing... maybe their status should be along the lines of an open relationship or bisexual!'
They had a tumultuous year, splitting then reuniting several times after she suffered a miscarriage and was diagnosed with cervical cancer in June.

But following their most recent reunion in November, Jessica Knowles has reportedly revealed she is finally moving on from Nick Knowles and looking for someone closer to her age.

A source reported that the 28-year-old left the home she shares with DIY SOS presenter, 54, after 'finding evidence of other women.

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Single ready to mingle: Following their most recent reunion in November, Jessica Knowles has reportedly revealed she is finally moving on from Nick Knowles and looking for someone closer to her age

Speaking to The Daily Star, a source said Jess told them: 'Some days he acted more like my dad than my husband.

'It's goodbye Mr Wrinkly and hello tight, firm abs.

'I am looking for someone closer to my age. Tall dark and handsome only need apply and hot bodies  Nick wasn't in the best shape.'

Over for good? A source reported that the 28-year-old moved out of the home she shares with DIY SOS presenter, 54, after 'finding evidence of other women

Back in November the duo- who share 2-year-old son Eddie were attempting to give things another go, with Jessica telling The Mirror: 'We are getting to know each other again. In a way it feels like entering a new relationship.'

But in December, according to The Daily Star, the blonde beauty found a hair tie in their home and suspected a 21-year-old woman house-sitting may have been involved with Nick.

MailOnline have contacted Nick's representative for comment.

Nick and Jessica - who share a 26-year age gap - wed in Rome in 2012, and announced their separation in January, however, this week he was spotted moving personal items back into her home.

Jessica Knowles said: 'We are getting to know each other again. In a way it feels like entering a new relationship'

Nick Knowles said last year: 'Our essential point has to be our son Eddie, he's a real joy'

In July, Jessica announced she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer, and later revealed that Nick had been helping her through the illness.

Two months later, Nick was seen cosying up to Gemma Oaten at the TV Choice Awards.

Just three days after she and Nick announced their split, Jessica suffered a miscarriage. Shortly afterwards, her grandmother died.

'Best friends': In July, Jessica was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and revealed that Nick had been helping her through it

Jessica said her husband had wanted to reunite their family sooner, telling The Mirror: 'Nick made it clear at that time that he wanted to be a family, back together.

'But I didn't want to. To try and rebuild a marriage and relationship while dealing with cancer was too much.'

Speaking on Tuesday's episode of Lorraine in November the 54-year-old DIY SOS presenter confirmed his wife had accompanied him to the ITV studios for the chat, as he revealed: 'W e're working on our relationship.'

Jessica with her son Eddie: The television presenter has had a difficult year, but said in November she and her husband Nick were working on their marriage

He continued: 'Our essential point has to be our son Eddie, he's a real joy.'

Touching on their reconciliation, he added that they had been keeping busy, explaining: 'Throughout difficulties - Jess went through a terrible time with cancer and now she's an ambassador at Jo's Trust and shes doing an incredible job with that - but we're always travelling in and out in London...

'We're not going to work out our relationship in the public eyes but we remain the best of friends and first and foremost we are parents to Eddie.'

Stepping out together: Speaking in November of Lorraine , the 54-year-old DIY SOS presenter confirmed his wife had accompanied him to the ITV studios for the chat

Emmerdale star Gemma Oaten claimed she and the DIY SOS presenter did enjoy a romance, which ended suddenly once their relationship became public knowledge.

She told The Mirror they were in bed together as the pictures of their cosy moment appeared, which allegedly lead him to change his demeanor.

Gemma explained: 'In an instant he completely changed. It was all about him and how it was going to affect his family. It was really cruel as he said it didn't matter for me.'

She continued: 'I felt sick. I said, 'do you want to throw away what we have got? We have done nothing wrong.' But he just dropped me like a ton of bricks.'

'Dropped': The Emmerdale star claims she enjoyed a romance with Nick Knowles, which ended suddenly once their relationship became public knowledge

On the move: Touching on their reconciliation, Nick added that they had been keeping busy by focusing on their son and Jessica's work as a cancer charity ambassador

At the time, Nick retaliated in a lengthy Twitter statement, during which he claimed: 'The story is something that happened (in the space of less than one week) during a turbulent, traumatic time and more to the point - whilst we were separated.

'It is unfortunate we are having to relive it purely so someone can financially gain from exploiting our private life. '

He then told The Mirror: 'I have a relationship with Jessica and we are best friends. We are working through things.

'Gemma and I are not dating. We went on a date. The nature of my work means it's very difficult to go on a date without everybody making a much bigger deal of it.'
Bombed and draped in swastikas, the ruins of Buckingham Palace symbolise the shameful defeat of a once-proud nation in the Second World War. Jackbooted and heavily armed German soldiers patrol the streets and Britons live under the yoke of a brutal Nazi occupation.

It is November 1941 and, having been invaded after losing the Battle of Britain a year earlier, the UK has become the last part of Europe to fall to Hitlers armies.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill has been executed and King George VI is held in the Tower of London.

The so-called alternate history is a nightmare come true and the basis of a gripping new five-part BBC drama series, SS-GB, which is due to start later this month. But it could never have happened, could it?

Bombed and draped in swastikas, the ruins of Buckingham Palace symbolise Britain's shameful defeat in the Second World War

As far-fetched as the idea seems, Len Deighton, on whose 1978 novel the drama is based, used secret German plans prepared for the post-invasion administration of the UK as source material for his bestseller.

In reality, the invasion, codenamed Operation Sealion, never took place because Hitler dithered and his Luftwaffe was beaten by the RAF over the skies of Kent and Sussex in 1940. But that didnt stop the efficient German armed forces from planning for the occupation of the UK.

SS-GB scriptwriting duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who have collaborated on the past six James Bond movies, were handed copies of some of the Nazi plans by Deighton, 87, while adapting his novel for their screenplay.

The document showed how the Germans would run Britain before they invaded us, Purvis said. Plans for running the country were drawn up before they had even drawn up their plans for an invasion. It was very efficient.

The so-called alternate history is the basis of gripping new five-part BBC drama series, SS-GB

Wade added: They werent going to bomb Blackpool, as they wanted that as a place for R&R for their soldiers. Meanwhile, Hitler wanted Blenheim Palace, where Churchill was born.

One chilling Nazi document  known as the Special Search List GB, also dubbed The Black Book  contained the names of 2,820 prominent people to be arrested after the invasion. It was an appendix to the Gestapo handbook for the invasion, which contained information about politically important aspects of British society.

It included institutions such as embassies, universities and Freemason lodges, which would help facilitate the Nazi occupation and administration of Britain.

Separately, generals had earmarked a selection of the countrys grandest stately homes for top Nazis to reside in, as well as handpicking Eton as the school of choice for their offspring.

The dossier, dubbed a Nazi A to Z of Great Britain, is littered with postcards and maps of iconic landmarks such as Blackpool Tower and the Mersey Tunnel, which were intended to help troops successfully identify locations during the invasion.

Meanwhile, other wartime papers revealed the Nazis had singled out Bridgnorth, in Shropshire, as a major base, leading historians to conclude that Hitler wanted his personal headquarters there.

Even though the occupation is imaginary, every other detail in the TV drama was meticulously researched over a three-year period.

The London of SS-GB is one of smoggy, dirty streets, dimly lit pubs, and people wearing browns, greys, tweeds and heavy fabrics. Even the smallest item was painstakingly recreated, including identity passes and train tickets.

Graffiti from the 1940s was also reproduced, with slogans such as Wot no sugar? seen on walls.

Executive producer Sally Woodward Gentle told The Mail on Sunday the production was very sensitive because the team was conscious viewers might be distressed and uneasy about the depiction of a Nazi-occupied London.

We felt an enormous responsibility about it, she said.

Detective Douglas Archer, who is forced to work under the brutal SS in occupied London, is played by Sam Riley

It is shocking but we have to remember that mainland Europe suffered. Its absolutely terrifying and we were so incredibly lucky that we prevailed, and the whole production is in a way an honour for all those who served with the Allied forces.

The drama stars Sam Riley  who played Joy Division star Ian Curtis in the 2007 biopic Control  as Detective Inspector Douglas Archer, and Kate Bosworth as US journalist Barbara Barga.

Working on a routine murder case at SS-controlled Scotland Yard, Rileys character soon becomes involved in espionage involving the British resistance movement, which attracts the interest of German authorities. SS-GB, widely expected to become the BBCs new Sunday-night blockbuster, continues the trend for raunchier viewing. The series includes at least three sex scenes, including an opening sequence in which Rileys naked mistress is draped in a swastika.

Historian Max Arthur said: There is no doubt the Germans spent a great deal of time planning how they would run the UK in the event of a successful invasion and our surrender.

In many ways, they were far more efficient planning for the post-occupation than the actual invasion across the Channel, which many of Hitlers senior generals doubted would succeed.

Deightons fascinating book was one of the first so-called alternate histories where people imagine what if?

Thankfully, the RAF triumphed in the Battle of Britain and retained our air superiority.

Hitler turned his eyes from the UK and fatefully invaded Russia, so we will never know what might have happened if Hitlers plan had succeeded.
She's the busy working mother living the dream in New York, but Lara Bingle still made time for a whirlwind visit to Sydney last week.

And while she chose not travel to Australia with her two young sons, they were not far from her mind during the 72-hour business trip.

'It's amazing, two children under two definitely keeps us busy,' she told The Sydney Morning Herald at the David Jones Autumn/Winter launch on Wednesday.

'It's amazing, two children under two definitely keeps us busy': Lara Bingle spoke to Fairfax about balancing work and motherhood at the David Jones Autumn/Winter launch this week

The 29-year-old quickly added: 'But it's the most rewarding thing ever'.

Lara, who is married to actor Sam Worthington, welcomed her second son in late October but they are yet to reveal his name.

The high-profile couple also have an older son, Rocket Zot, who turns two in March.

Happy family: Lara, who is married to actor Sam Worthington, welcomed her second son in late October but the couple is yet to reveal his name. They also share an older son, Rocket Zot

Lara arrived in Sydney recently for the first time since giving birth to her second son. It was also her first trip Down Under in eight months.

'Lara is in Sydney for literally 72 hours for business meetings for her beauty brand The Base and meet with her Australian team,' a friend told The Daily Telegraph.

But she also found time to attend the David Jones event, where she dropped jaws in a pale blue Celine ruched frock with frayed edges.

She paired the outfit with a pair of orange fur Fendi heels and subsequently made fashion bible Harper's Bazaar's 'best dressed list'.

Back home! Lara arrived in Sydney recently for the first time since giving birth to her second son. It was also her first trip Down Under in eight months, as she and Sam live in New York City

As well as attending the fashion launch, Lara was in town for several business meetings regarding her beauty line, The Base.

'It's been a really successful trip from a business perspective... Australia is a really important market for The Base,' she previously said.

Lara added, 'We've got some really exciting things happening so it's been great to be here to finalise it all.'
She announced almost one month ago exactly that she's expecting her first child.

And mom-to-be Lauren Conrad was the picture of bliss as she hosted a pop-up shop for The Little Market at The Grove in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The reality star, 31, cut an angelic figure as she covered her bump in a lace white dress.

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Expecting in style! Mom-to-be Lauren Conrad couldn't have looked happier as she hosted a pop-up shop at The Grove in Los Angeles on Saturday

Lauren was truly glowing as she stole the spotlight in her summery ensemble.

The dress was off the shoulder and highlighted her sunkissed skin.

The fashionista topped off the look with a pair of strappy beige heels.

And she accessorized with a large pair of aviator sunglasses.

Bumping along just nicely! Conrad showed some leg in her bohemian chic frock

All eyes on Lauren! Conrad was truly glowing as she stole the spotlight in her summery ensemble

Pretty as a picture: Lauren wore her golden hair down in gorgeous long waves and added to her radiant complexion with peachy blush, while adding some glamour with a delicate gold necklace

The star had a busy fashion day ahead of her as she was also at The Grove to watch designer Rebecca Minkoffs Spring 2017 See Now, Buy Now Fashion Show so kept the rest of her look simple to ensure she lasted the distance.

Lauren wore her golden hair down in gorgeous long waves and added to her radiant complexion with peachy blush, while adding some glamour with a delicate gold necklace.

Strolling about in between posing with guests, Lauren appeared relaxed and care-free as she enjoyed a spot of sunshine and a bit of fresh air.

Social butterfly: Strolling about in between posing with guests, Lauren appeared relaxed and care-free as she enjoyed a spot of sunshine and a bit of fresh air

Mom-to-be: On New Year's Day, Lauren announced that she and her husband William Tell were expecting their first child together

Strike a pose: The star was glowing as she posed up with guests

The reality star is no doubt brimming with happiness as she awaits the arrival of her first child.

On New Year's Day, Lauren announced that she and her husband William Tell were expecting their first child together.

The Hills star made the announcement with a sweet sonogram picture posted on Instagram.

Show and tell: Conrad posed beside several of the merchandise on display

Strike a pose! The MTV star grinned from ear-to-ear as she posed for photographers

Sitting pretty: The mother-to-be sat front row

Star-studded: Jamie Chung showed off her legs in a pretty white frock, while Coco Rocha rocked a suede mini skirt and baby blue top

Strut it out: Coco also walked in the fashion parade which say the tram's path turned into a runway for the day

She captioned the snap: 'Happy New Year! I have a feeling 2017 is going to be the best year yet...'

Lauren has been married to musician and lawyer William since September 2014.

When asked previously how many kids she wants, she replied in a Q&A on her website last year: 'Maybe two... That way we aren't outnumbered.'

Dreaming of summer! Taissa Farmiga, Rebecca Minkoff, and Angela Sarafyan showed off their warm weather-ready attire

Dressed to impress! Jessica Szohr, Victoria Justice, and Camila Alves dazzled in their gorgeous dresses

Biker chic! Emmanuelle Chriqui and Erika Christensen (L-R) rocked the runway show in their leather jackets

Leggy display: AnnaLynne McCord wore leather edged shirts with thigh high boots

She also revealed she is very happy in her relationship with William, writing: 'My favourite thing about being married is knowing that I have a partner in life that I get to do so many wonderful things with.

'Dreaming of the things we will do in 20 years from now is so fun.

'The hardest is compromise. You always want to be considerate of each other. It's not just about you anymore.'

Heaven sent! Keke Palmer played with her braids as she sported an all-white look

A picture says a thousand words: AnnaLynne McCord and Keke whipped out their phones to record the occasion

Getting animated: Palmer reacted to the show

Checking it out: The stars looked captivated by the show

Picture perfect: Chung and Aimee Song captivated in their gorgeous dresses
On Sunday night she was voted off on Dance, Dance, Dance with partner Duane Lamonte.

And Jess Wright has been enjoying a well-deserved Caribbean cruise with her family, including younger sister Natalya Wright.

The TOWIE star, 31, took to Instagram on Saturday to share a sibling snap- but fans quickly pointed out that the sisters looked more like like twins.

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Sister, sister! Jess Wright, 31,has been enjoying a well-deserved Caribbean cruise with her family, including younger sister Natalya Wright- and the duo looked like twins in a recent snap

Posing in a tweed blazer with her raven locks swept over to one side, Jess Wright posed in front of a beautiful backdrop of blue oceans and white sand.

With bold brows and her blue peepers accentuated by her transparent glasses, she split the snap with a picture of Natalya in her bikini, who sported similar aviator glasses.

With her hair left loose and facial features bearing a striking resemblance to Jess's, the caption read: 'Sister sister twinning in @withlove_jess glasses in oval & square @natalyawright_x'.

Beach babe! Jess has been keeping her fans updated with her tropical getaway, posing against the crashing waves on the beach on Friday in a semi-sheer lace white beach kaftan

'Literally twins both look beaut', one fan wrote while another user added: 'Twins in this pic!!'.

Another cheeky follower joked: 'Trevor McDonalds missing his glasses!'.

Jess has been keeping her fans updated with her tropical getaway, posing against the crashing waves on the beach on Friday in a semi-sheer lace white beach kaftan.

And as she disembarked from her Caribbean cruise in Jamaica on Thursday, she was sure to share a snap in a white strapless one-piece, flaunting her toned curves to perfection.

Wright looking al-white! As she disembarked from her Caribbean cruise in Jamaica on Thursday, she was sure to share a snap in a white strapless one-piece

Meanwhile last Sunday she broke down as she was voted off the dance show, admitting: 'Im so proud of myself'.

Breaking down in tears she continued: 'I never thought I could do this so its been a dream come true.

'I loved dancing growing up, I did it for 10 years as a little girl and genuinely I couldnt have done it without this boy.'

Thanking her partner, she gushed: 'He is a rock, he is everything to me. Thank you so much Duane youve been unbelievably talented, hard working and the biggest friend.'

Emotional: Jess was voted off Dance, Dance, Dance on Sunday night and was overcome with emotion as she reflected on the experience

Dazzling: Earlier in the night she wowed viewers with her tango to Roxanne from Moulin Rouge, but it wasn't enough to save her from getting axed

Duane echoed her sentiments, as he emotionally said: 'Its been absolutely incredible, Jess from the bottom of my heart, you know Im going to get emotional, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for letting me do this show with you because I love you to bits.

'Weve had these amazing judges who have criticised us and told us all these different things but we came back fighting so much and I love you for that.'

Taking to Instagram after the show, Mark Wright's elder sister shared a sweet snap of herself dancing with Duane as she gushed: 'We will never stop laughing & dancing @duanelamonte85.

Kind words: Thanking her partner, she gushed: 'He is a rock, he is everything to me. Thank you so much Duane youve been unbelievably talented,'

'Most amazing experience of my life & I wouldn't change a minute of it! Thank you @itv for this wonderful opportunity.

'Myself & Duane laughed from start to finish & ive accomplished fears I never even knew I had. What a wonderful show @dancedancedance There are so many people to thank I don't know where to begin.

'Thank you @mistersteinberg @lizziehollick @ljtoday & David for making this experience so pleasant & fun for us. Love you all. To every choreographer & dancer on the show I found friends for life and to Duane.

Sweet: Duane echoed her sentiments, as he emotionally said: 'Its been absolutely incredible, Jess from the bottom of my heart,'

Bearer of bad news: Host Alesha Dixon consoled Jessica after she was voted off the show

'You inspire me I love you so much & our friendship will remain forever & ever. The best partner I could have ever asked for.

'And thank you for everyone else who came to watch me every week especially my mum @carolwright1 every time I finished a dance I would look at you & it would make me emosh!

'Wooooooo let's all dance like noones watching. [sic]'

Now put your hands up! Jessica had also performed her version of Beyonces Single Ladies

ITV are hoping the show will rival BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing, with celebrities recreating iconic pop video and dance movie sequences.

Ashley Banjo, Tina Landon and Timor Steffens judge the routines, and the fate of the celebrities rest solely in their hands.

The series began earlier this month, and is presented by Alesha Dixon and Will Best.
Neighbours actress Olympia Valance is quickly becoming one of Australia's most fashionable women.

And on Saturday, she proved it's OK to turn your day look into an evening ensemble.

The 24-year-old was spotted in a retro patterned jumpsuit in Melbourne before wearing the same outfit to The Book Of Mormon premiere.

Stepping out: Neighbours actress Olympia Valance (L) was spotted in Melbourne with her hairdresser friend Karlose Papastergiou (R) on Saturday

In the afternoon, she was spotted walking arm-in-arm with her friend, hairdresser Karlose Papastergiou.

Olympia's dress featured a '70s style octagon print and a plunging neckline, and she finished off her look with nude heels.

She styled her hair in a scruffy updo and accessorised with statement hoop earrings, a beige handbag, and a gold necklace.

Keeping it retro! Olympia's dress featured a '70s style octagon print and a plunging neckline, and she finished off her look with nude heels

Taking it easy: Olympia styled her hair in a scruffy updo and accessorised with statement hoop earrings, a beige handbag, and a gold necklace

Meanwhile her friend looked dashing in a white shirt, blue skinny trousers, and brown dress shoes. He was also holding a cigarette.

The Australia actress smiled as she made her way through the Melbourne crowds during her friendly outing.

Later in the evening, Olympia graced the red carpet of the opening night of The Book Of Mormon wearing the same outfit.

Fancy seeing you again! Later in the evening, Olympia graced the red carpet of the opening night of The Book Of Mormon wearing the same outfit

She confidently posed for photographers by the press wall outside the city's Princess Theatre.

The Gossard lingerie ambassador walked the red carpet solo, without her boyfriend Greg Cannell.

Other famous faces at the opening night included Lisa Wilkinson, Hamish Blake, The Bachelorette's Sam Frost and Rachel Griffiths.
The production of Hollywood sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising plunged the streets of Sydney into chaos on Saturday.

Barangaroo, in the city's Central Business District, was turned into a temporary war zone as debris littered the roads and traffic was bought to a standstill.

Several streets around the location were closed off to pedestrians and cars as filming of an apparently explosive action scene got underway.

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Chaos! The production of Hollywood sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising plunged the streets of Sydney, Australia into chaos on Saturday

Disaster zone! Barangaroo, in Sydney's Central Business District, was turned into a temporary war zone as debris littered the roads and traffic was bought to a standstill

The road was covered in all manner of objects, including office chairs, pipes, car tires and large slabs of concrete.

A crumpled car lay upside down and smashed to pieces in the middle of the chaos, as smoke fumes poured out the exhaust.

Meanwhile, a blue screen - which is used to create background special effects in post-production - was also erected on set.

And several extras, including men and women dressed in police uniforms, were filmed in front of the screens.

Keep out! Several streets around the location were closed off to pedestrians and cars as filming of an apparently explosive action scene got underway

Crash: A crumpled car lay upside down and smashed to pieces in the middle of the chaos, as smoke fumes poured out the exhaust

Spinning out: The road was covered in all manner of objects, including office chairs, pipes, car tires and large slabs of concrete

Fire danger! The set became smoky as a prop car 'burst into flames' on set

Working: Nearby, several camera operators and crew surrounded the screens, set design and props as filming went ahead in the busy city

Nearby, several camera operators and crew surrounded the screens, set design and props as filming went ahead in the busy city.

Brisbane, in Queensland, recently received a similar treatment when scenes were shot in the city's Central Business District last month.

Eagle Street in the capital was closed off to traffic on 4am on a Saturday as the area was completely transformed into bustling Tokyo, Japan.

Not just Sydney: Brisbane, in Queensland, recently received a similar treatment when scenes were shot in the city's Central Business District last month

Special effects: Meanwhile, a blue screen - which is used to create background special effects in post-production - was also erected on set

Scott Eastwood was not photographed during the Sydney shoot, but he has still been enjoying the sights and sounds of the NSW capital.

Scott has been making the most of the beaches during his trip Down Under - and has even been linked to several attractive locals.

Last month, he spent Australia Day in 'true blue' fashion, while surfboarding behind a boat while clutching a beer in Sydney Harbour.

Law and order: Several extras, including men and women dressed in police uniforms, were filmed in front of the screens
Without the captains of their television and film ships they would not be the celebrated actors they are today.

So the star's turned out in force to help recognize the men and women that do more than just yell 'action' at the 69th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards held in Beverly Hills, California, on Saturday night.

Kerry Washington was simply stunning in an understated but very sexy black dress.

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Simply stunning: Kerry Washington wowed in a low-cut LBD at the 69th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Beverly Hills, California, on Saturday

The 40-year-old actress sizzled in the over-the-knee gown which featured a plunging neckline which revealed lots of cleavage.

Making the dress even sexier, it had a built-in choker that combine with the deep V-cut neckline, framed her exposed chest.

The dress clung to the Scandal star's body showing off her fantastic post-baby form.

The actress welcomed her second child into the world in October, son Celeb. She and partner Nnamdi Asomugha, also have a two-year-old daughter Isabelle.

Dared to bare: The 40-year-old actress sizzled in the over-the-knee gown which featured a plunging neckline which revealed lots of cleavage

Oh baby! The dress clung to the Scandal star's body showing off her fantastic post-baby form

Saucy detail: Making the dress even sexier, it had a built-in choker that combine with the deep V-cut neckline, framed her exposed chest

Keeping with dress' sleek and understated theme, the star wore her hair slicked back.

With her cleavage already stealing the spotlight, Kerry skipped wearing a necklace but she did have some bling thanks to her small stud earrings and silver strappy shoes.

She was not the only one opting to put a little cleavage on display.

A hint of skin: Emma Stone skipped the carpet but made sure to make the awards in a gown featuring a keyhole cutout

Stylish team: Emma was joined by her always dapper La La Land co-star Ryan Reynolds

Honor just to be nominated: The pair were at the awards to present their director Damien Chazelle with a plaque for being nominated for best Feature Film director, a category he went on to win

Crowing glory: The star wore her famous flame haired locks out and styled with a side part

Sparkle bright: The gown featured beading and pears splashed across it like stars and had a draped back

Emma Stone skipped the carpet but made sure to make the awards in a gown featuring a keyhole cutout.

While she did not dare to bare as much as Kerry, the actress flashed some skin in the black dress.

The gown featured beading and pears splashed across it like stars and had a draped back.

Making them green with envy: Laverne Cox also made a dramatic entrance into the Beverly Hilton Hotel

Cheeky but chic: For the annual awards, the Orange Is The New Black star opted for an emerald gown with a cleavage-baring neckline

Devil's in the detail: The dress had a flowing chiffon layer on one side and a thigh high split at the front as well as beading detail

Emma was joined by her always dapper La La Land co-star Ryan Reynolds.

The pair were at the awards to present their director Damien Chazelle with a plaque for being nominated for best Feature Film director - a category he went on to win.

Laverne Cox made a dramatic entrance into the Beverly Hilton Hotel as she joined a star studded crowd to celebrate the year's best directors in television and film.

Pretty in pattern: Amy Adams - who arrived late - wore a white with yellow pattern dress

The 32-year-old was already unmissable in a green gown but further ensured all eyes were on her by tossing back a chiffon layer of the dress' skirt behind as she posed for pictures.

For the annual awards, the Orange Is The New Black star opted for an emerald gown with a cleavage-baring neckline.

The dress had a flowing chiffon layer on one side and a thigh high split at the front as well as beading detail.

Striking in silver: Nicole Kidman took a different approach in an attempt to stand out, wearing a heavily embellished gown that caught the light with every turn

Precious metal: The Australian actress wore a silver cocktail length frock that was covered in silver beads on a semi-translucent silver material with a nude under layer

Working the room: Nicole's pint sized co-star was seen schmoozing the Hollywood crowd and certainly impressed Rooney Mara

While usually her locks are golden, Laverne wore a dark wavy wig for the awards which complemented her dark accessories namely patent black pumps and a small rectangular handbag.

Nicole Kidman took a different approach in an attempt to stand out, wearing a heavily embellished gown that caught the light with every turn.

The Australian actress wore a silver cocktail length frock that was covered in silver beads on a semi-translucent silver material with a nude under layer.

There's nothing like a Dame: Helen Mirren also opted to shine in silver but proved she remains Hollywood's rebel

Can't be tamed: The 71-year-old - who attended with husband Taylor Hackford - wore a white squire with shiny silver dots but added a grey sweater to mix things up

The 49-year-old perfectly matched her clutch to the bedazzled gown and also added some silver strappy shoes.

Helen Mirren also opted to shine in silver but proved she remains Hollywood's rebel.

The 71-year-old - who attended with husband Taylor Hackford - wore a white squire with shiny silver dots but added a grey sweater to mix things up.

That's different: Also breaking the red carpet rules was Mandy Moore who opted to wear a suit

Oerfect match: The This Is Us star opted for a black ensemble featured cropped pants and a figure skimming jacket while her co-star Milo Ventimiglia also wore a black suit

Followed suit: French actress and Academy Award nominee Isabelle Huppert also opted to not wear a dress

Host with the most: Jayne Lynch was the night's emcee and wore wide legged pants with a sheer black shirt

Also breaking the red carpet rules was Mandy Moore who opted to wear a suit.

The This Is Us star opted for a black ensemble featured cropped pants and a figure skimming jacket.

The actress accessorized with black heels with pearl detail on the toes and a gold envelope metal clutch.

Theatrical frock: Sarah Paulson dressed with lot of drama wearing a gothic semi-sheer velvet flocked gown

Back to the future: The dress looked like it was from another century but its sheer bra-exposing top made it a dress of today

Kissing co stars: Cuba Gooding Jnr. gave Sarah a big kiss as they posed up on the carpet

Daring documentary: The pair presented Ezra Edelman with the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary trophy for O.J.: Made in America

Low key and lovely: Mary Elizabeth Winstead wore a black and blue dress which featured a sexy bralette top

Sarah Paulson dressed with lot of drama wearing a gothic semi-sheer velvet flocked gown.

The dress looked like it was from another century but its sheer bra-exposing top made it a dress of today.

The dress had long flowing batwing sleeves with tassels on the end and also had a mini-train.

Blast from the past: America Ferrera's dress looked a little Eighties prom with puffy sleeves

Got the rest right: While her dress was not a winner, the star's side swept bob and hot red lips ensured she was still red carpet ready

Leggy display: Keesha Sharp wore a two toned gown with a very high split that showed off her gorgeous gams

Keeping this conservative: While her fellow stars showed off lots of skin, Anna Chlumsky opted for something a little less exposing

Low key and lovely: The My Girl star wore wearing a Josie Natori dress and Via Spiga heels

While the women went all out, most of the male stars opted to go for more classic looks.

It was tuxes across the board for Michael Fassbender, Orlando Bloom and Josh Hartnett.

Josh opted to wear a black tux with satin lapels but that was the only thing that separated him and his two dinner companions.

Date night: Lou Diamond Phillips and wife Yvonne Boismier Phillips attended the event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel

Classic look: It was tuxes across the board for (L-R) Michael Fassbender, Orlando Bloom and Josh Hartnett

Slick in satin: Josh opted to wear a black tux with satin lapels but that was the only thing that separated him and his two dinner companions

Rough night? Casey Affleck looked a little disheveled as he took to the podium

Producer Brian Grazer injected a bit of his own personality into his ensemble by wearing his tux with black sneakers that had roses embroidered on them.

The annual awards recognizes directors of film, television as well as advertising.

La La Land was once again continued its award show domination that it has shown so far this award season winning the Feature Film category.

Doing it his way: Producer Brian Grazer injected a bit of his own personality into his ensemble by wearing his tux with black sneakers that had roses embroidered on them

Posing up a storm: David Hasselhoff and director John Singleton looked dapper in their suits

Big win: Lion director Garth Davis may have not got an Oscar nod, but he was recognized on Saturday night taking home Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film

Top honors: Derek Cianfrance won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials

At 32 writer and director Damien is the youngest to ever win the award for a feature film.

It was the first time he and the rest of the Feature Film category directors - Barry Jenkins for Moonlight, Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea, Garth Davis for Lion and Denis Villeneueve for Arrival - have been nominated at the awards.

Damien will face off against all of them sans for Garth at the Oscars at the end of the month.

But while Garth may have not got an Oscar nod, he was recognized on Saturday night for his work in Lion taking home Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film.

Hollywood heavy weights: Director Sir Ridley Scott, actress Giannina Facio, cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, and Orlando chatted away at the awards

So excited for you: J. Rupert Thompson won the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs for the American Grit, episode The Finale Over the Falls
Fans were invited to a music festival-inspired instant restaurant on My Kitchen Rules this Sunday as Bek and Ash took the reigns for the evening.

The episode began with Bek and Ash indulging in their morning routine, which involved swiping through Tinder and sipping tea.

The flatmates quickly began discussing fellow contestant Kyle, with whom Bek has already taken a liking.

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The pressure's on! Fans were invited to a music festival-inspired instant restaraunt on My Kitchen Rules this Sunday as Bek and Ash took the reigns for the evening

'I'm actually wondering if I'm going to come across. I really want to come across his profile,' cooed Bek.

The episode moved into an introductory montage for the two Perth girls, who described themselves as extremely intelligent and eve more flirtatious.

'I could flirt wit ha pot-plant if I needed to,' boasted Bek, before revealing that it was her and Ash's dream to win MKR and get married to two other cooks so that they could have dinner parties together.

Stressful: With just 3.5 hours before the guests arrived, the girls were beginning to feel the pinch

Next, we saw the girls start their shopping expedition ahead of their instant restaurant night.

First stop was to a trendy fish market to pick up a Goldband snapper before rushing to the supermarket to buy the ingredients necessary to create a vegetable tart and profiteroles.

With just 3.5 hours before the guests arrived, the girls were beginning to feel the pinch.

Gypsy vibes: Despite any second guessing from the other contestants, the pair were quietly confident that at the very least, their 'Wildfields' music festival-inspired decor would leave a lasting impression upon the guests

'I just feel like time is getting away from us,' said a concerned Bek as they sped back home.

'The stress is just starting to build up a bit,' she added.

Meanwhile, highly competitive contestant Tyson told the cameras: 'We've had three really average dinners. I'm really hoping that Bek and Ash are the challenge I've been looking for.'

Despite any second guessing from the other contestants, the pair were quietly confident that at the very least, their 'Wildfields' music festival-inspired decor would leave a lasting impression upon the guests.

Kaleidoscopic decor: After setting up their vibrant instant restaurant, the girls dashed into the kitchen to begin mixing the ingredients for the profiteroles

After setting up their vibrant instant restaurant, the girls dashed into the kitchen to begin mixing the ingredients for the profiteroles.

'I'm really worried that If Kyle in fact fancies me and I cook him something hideous he's going to be like 'ew I'm not going to marry her.' So I guess it's my future on the line,' admitted Bek as she kneaded the dough.

Tim and Kyle echoed the sentiment, with Tim telling the cameras that tonight would be the test of whether Bek is 'good wife material.'

Running out of time: The pair quickly dashed to get changed as the pastry baked, before rushing back to the kitchen with just 20 minutes to spare before the guests arrived

Meanwhile, Ash was busy chopping up the vegetables for the salad, revealing to the camera that she was worries that there would be uncooked chunks of pumpkin in the mix.

The pair quickly dashed to get changed as the pastry baked, before rushing back to the kitchen with just 20 minutes to spare before the guests arrived.

'Definitely starting to panic, we expected to have more done by the stage,' said a concerned Ash.

The guests swiftly arrived at the girls' Western Australian abode and were seen striding in pairs toward the front door.

Shots fired! David turned to Betty with a smirk and said: 'Hope the girls can cook better than they flirt'

'I wonder what the missus is putting up for you tonight,' quipped Tim.

Meanwhile, David turned to Betty with a smirk and said: 'Hope the girls can cook better than they flirt.'

'I'm sure they flirt better than they cook, bro,' a Sassy Betty responded.

After stepping into the pop-up restaurant, the guests were taken aback by the colourful decor and attention to detail.

Some were more impressed than others, however, with Tyson telling the cameras: 'I wouldn't describe myself as a festival person.'

Not a fan: Some were more impressed than others, however, with Tyson telling the cameras: 'I wouldn't describe myself as a festival person'

'No I'm not big on festivals. There's a lot of people, it's not very sophisticated,' concurred Amy.

Back in the kitchen, Bek and Ash were scrambling to prepare their entree.

'The last thing I want to hear is it's not seasoned properly,' said Bek as she furiously added garlic to the tart's cream-cheese filling.

Manu and Pete finally arrived and took their seats at the head of the table, before the girls emerged from the kitchen to reveal their menu for the evening.

Again, Tyson wasn't enthralled by their choice of dish, telling the cameras: 'It doesn't scream out intrigue and inspire me.'

Not his first choice: David wasn't shy to voice his concerns about the menu at the dinner table, saying 'it doesn't excite me at all. It's not something I would order'

David wasn't shy to voice his concerns about the menu at the dinner table, saying 'it doesn't excite me at all. It's not something I would order.'

'A bit boring,' said Betty.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Bek was having a minor break-down after her pastry mixture wouldn't mix together properly.

Pasty problems: Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Bek was having a minor break-down after her pastry mixture wouldn't mix together properly

She was forced to start the entire mixture from scratch leaving her frantically praying to the pastry gods for guidance.

While, the second batch worked perfectly, the girls were soon faced with other entree problems when the tart shells began shrinking in the oven and the leeks began melting into mush.

'Feeling extremely upset right now,' moaned a disappointed Bek.

Too much of a good thing? After the first taste test, Manu had less-than-positive feedback for the girls, telling them: 'It doesn't matter what's on this dish, it just tastes like garlic. It's killed your tart big-time'

After the first taste test, Manu had less-than-positive feedback for the girls, telling them: 'It doesn't matter what's on this dish, it just tastes like garlic. It's killed your tart big-time.'

'It seemed a very very strange choice to use cream cheese in a tart when you've got the biggest array of the most beautiful cheeses to choose from.'

'It was just creamy cheesy nondescript filling,' said Pete.

Inedible: 'I don't like it, I wouldn't order it again. it was like a smack in my face. I couldn't eat it,' said Betty

'I don't like it, I wouldn't order it again. it was like a smack in my face. I couldn't eat it,' said Betty.

Tyson and Amy were less hard-hitting with their feedback, prompting Betty to hit back in frustration.

'Guys stop beating around the bush. If you don't like it just say you don't like it,' she snapped.

On the fence: Tyson and Amy were less hard-hitting with their feedback, prompting Betty to hit back in frustration

Ouch: Wounded, the girls trudged back to the kitchen to prepare their fish main course, but it wasn't long before the pressure started taking its toll on Ash

Wounded, the girls trudged back to the kitchen to prepare their fish main course, but it wasn't long before the pressure started taking its toll on Ash.

'Nothing's going right with this dish,' said Ash with tears in her eyes.

Things went from bad to worse when they discovered they had run out of walnut oil while making their salad dressing.

2 hours after the entree was served, the girls had no choice but to plate their lacklustre fish dish.

Another disaster: 2 hours after the entree was served, the girls had no choice but to plate their lacklustre fish dish

Nightmare: 'I feel sick to my stomach about taking this plate out' confessed Bek as she plated up the fish and salad

'I feel sick to my stomach about taking this plate out,' confessed Bek as she plated up the fish and salad.

The taste test went as expected, with Pete and Manu slamming their efforts.

The fish was overcooked, the salad wasn't dressed,' he said, shaking his head.

Manu added: 'There's nothing complicated here and you made it so complicated.'

'There's nothing complicated here and you made it so complicated': The taste test went as expected, with Pete and Manu slamming their efforts

'I feel rotten for the girls, just want to give them a hug, a sympathetic,' Kyle told the cameras as Bek and Ash retreated to the kitchen in shame.

'It's quite overcooked, it's dry. It's really hard to come back from that so I'm really sad for them.', said Karen after eating half of her meal.

'The figs were good,' retorted Kyle, silently gleeful at the girls' dismal effort.

Back in the kitchen, Bek and Ash woefully attempted to redeem themselves with their profiteroles, but ran into trouble when the pastries collapsed after being removed from the oven.

Unimpressed: 'The fish was overcooked, the salad wasn't dressed,' Pete said, shaking his head

'I am feeling utterly hopeless right now,' sighed Bek.

Their chocolate filling also failed to mix properly after Bek mixed too much Cointreau into the concoction.

'At this point I'm expecting a truck to run through the kitchen and I'm hoping that it does,' said Bek, holding her temples in frustration.

'Stress in the kitchen is making me have this weird tunnel vision. I literally have no more room left in my brain, she added.

'Stress in the kitchen is making me have this weird tunnel vision': Their chocolate filling also failed to mix properly after Bek mixed too much Cointreau into the concoction

Despite their turmoil in the kitchen, Pete was pleased with the dessert, labelling it the best dish of the night by far.

Manu wasn't sold, however, telling them: 'Unfortunately your custard was very gluggy and not the right texture really.'

After tasting his dessert, Tim said: 'The roll itself unfortunately for me was a bit soggy.'

Lifting spirits: Despite their turmoil in the kitchen, Pete was pleased with the dessert, labelling it the best dish of the night by far

Not happy: Manu wasn't sold, however, telling them: 'Unfortunately your custard was very gluggy and not the right texture really'

'A good way below average. It was't anywhere near good,' said Kyle.

Overall the guests scored Bek and Ash 17 out of 50, while Pete and Manu scored them a score of nine, leaving them with a grand total of 26 points.

That include scores of 1 from both judges for both the entree and main course.

'I'm sorry to say, that is the lowest score ever in the history of My Kitchen Rules,' said Pete with a sympathetic smile.
The room may be spinning when Paris Hilton goes to bed on Saturday night.

The 35-year-old shared a look at her fancy hotel room at the Palms in Las Vegas, including mirrors on the ceiling and a rotating bed.

The socialite gave a tour before heading out over to XS at the Wynn to catch Chainsmokers, who just signed a three-year residency.

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You think she'd stay at Paris! Hilton rocks tiny silver dress as she at the Palms in Vegas on Saturday

Before heading across, Paris gave her 6.5million followers a glimpse of her stunning and tiny silver dress, which she paired with with a matching silver laurel wreath in her hair.

'So happy to be in Las Vegas for #SuperBowl weekend! Loving my #SkyVilla Suite at the @PalmsCasinoResort! #PalmsLV' she captioned her Instagram shot.

The day before, Paris socialite took a social media trip down memory lane as she posted a load of #flashbackFriday pics to Instagram.

The Simple Life star certainly seemed to be a happy child if the trio of baby snaps she shared were anything to go by.

Very Caesars: She paired it with with a matching silver laurel wreath in her hair

Pink campaign on ice: The 35-year-old shared a look at her fancy hotel room at the Palms in Las Vegas, including mirrors on the ceiling and a rotating bed

Night out: The socialite gave a tour before heading out over to XS at the Wynn to catch Chainsmokers

Stays in Vegas: The group just signed a three-year residency

In one, the impossibly blonde youngster beams delightedly as she hugs two of her 'squad'  one her baby sis Nicky, the other her little cousin Brooke.

In another she proved she gained her fashion chops early on, as she rocked a stylish red and white summer dress, with matching bag and hat.

'Little lady in red,' she captioned the photo, as the smile remained.

Flashback Friday! Paris Hilton was in a retrospective mood on Friday, sharing throwback pics of herself with baby sis Nicky and cousin Brooke

'Little lady in red': In another she proved she gained her fashion chops early on, as she rocked a stylish red and white summer dress, with matching bag and hat

Somewhere: In a third she showed off a cute rainbow themed tee, captioning with the lyrics Judy Garland made famous

In a third she showed off a cute rainbow themed tee, captioning with the lyrics Judy Garland made famous: 'And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true...'

She grew up pretty quickly during her flashback however, as she also shared he sexy riding-themed shoot by Mario Testino for the cover of vanity Fair in 2005.

'Love this @VanityFair cover story I shot with the #Legendary @MarioTestino.

That's hot: She also shared he sexy riding-themed shoot by Mario Testino for the cover of vanity Fair in 2005.

The woman who does not require validation from anyone is the most feared individual on the planet... by @MarioTestino A photo posted by Paris Hilton (@parishilton) on Feb 2, 2017 at 6:59pm PST

Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with them...  by @MarioTestino A photo posted by Paris Hilton (@parishilton) on Feb 2, 2017 at 1:43pm PST

And for the weekend that was in it, the DJ also shared a clip of her infamous Carl's Jr Super Bowl ad that was so racy it was banned before it was ever shown.

It was the first of many for the fast food chain, which continued a tradition of hiring stunners to chow down on their burgers, including Audrina Patridge, Padma Lakshmi, Emily Ratajkowski Nina Agdal, Kate Upton, and even Kim Kardashian (who opted for a salad instead).

'That time my @CarlsJr #SuperBowl commercial got banned for being #TooHotForTV #FBF' Paris reminisced.

Timing: And for the weekend that was in it, the DJ also shared a clip of her infamous Carl's Jr Super Bowl ad that was so racy it was banned before it was ever shown
Blac Chyna had a pajama party Saturday night with her two adorable children, King Cairo and newborn daughter Dream.

The reality star took to Instagram to share a precious photo of herself snuggled up on the couch with her tots as they all wore matching striped onesies.

'My fabulous life,' Chyna declared in the caption of the one of the snaps she shared.

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Family night! Blac Chyna had a pajama party Saturday night with her two adorable children, King Cairo and newborn daughter Dream

Hair slicked back, Chyna looked right at home as she enjoyed a quiet night in with her two children.

From watching the Disney channel with her four-year-old son to recording him as he played with his toy car, it was no doubt a fun-filled evening for the proud mom of two.

'My fabulous life': Chyna declared in the caption of the one of the snaps she shared

Her tot: The super star grinned from ear-to-ear as she bonded with her son

Bear hug: The star cuddled with her baby daughter

Like mother, like daughter: The girls wore matching red and white pajamas

Chyna shared a video of herself being an 'annoying mom' to King Cairo as she made noises in front of him.

Her son was glued to the television screen and attempted to playfully make his escape as Chyna continued to snuggle him.

Chyna also posted a precious image of her cherubic baby daughter, curled up in a soft pink blanket.

Hilarious: Chyna shared a video of herself being an 'annoying mom' to King Cairo as she made noises in front of him

Aww: The 28-year-old also shared a sweet snap of her newborn daughter, cuddled up in a blanket

'Catch me outside': From watching the Disney channel with her son to recording him as he played with his toy car, it was no doubt a fun-filled evening for the proud mom of two.

By the looks of her Snapchat, Chyna spent much of Saturday in the company of her little ones.

Chyna recorded her son as he sported a black T-shirt which featured a photo of both himself and his mother.

Not only did Chyna spend time with her family, but her best friend Amber Rose also stopped by for a visit.

Kisses: Chyna planted a peck on baby Dream

Her little one: King Cairo grinned for the cameras as he played about in his red and white pajamas

Fashion statement: Chyna's son rocked a T-shirt which featured a photo of themselves

Chyna recorded a video of her gal pal pulling up to her house in her white Rolls Royce, which she captioned, 'Pull up Muva.'

The star's son Sebastian had dropped by for a play date with King Cairo.

It was back in November that Chyna gave birth to her second child and first daughter Dream, whose father is Chyna's fiance Rob Kardashian.

Her son King Cairo is from her relationship with ex-fiance Tyga, who is dating her sister-in-law-to-be Kylie Jenner.

Coming soon: The reality star plugged her new merchandise

Hitting the road! King Cairo had a play date with Amber Rose's son, Sebastian

Look who's here! Amber Rose approached her best friend's house in her white Rolls Royce
Reese Witherspoon looked mighty polished in Brentwood, California on Saturday.

The 40-year-old rocked some fun fashion choices on her walk down the street as she chatted on the phone.

Even though she was in a casual environment, the actress knew how to keep up with her star persona.

Dressy gal: Reese Witherspoon was in Brentwood, California on Saturday in a casual outfit as she chatted on the phone

Reese donned a black and white striped shirt with a pair of blue jeans.

She added on a thin black coat and some fancy jewelry on her left arm.

As she chatted on the phone, she looked to be in a great mood as her smile glowed from miles away.

Dress to impress: The actress donned a striped shirt with blue jeans and red heels

The Oscar winner's look was simply fresh with some red lipstick.

This happened to match her red high heels that blended beautifully with her comfortable outdoor style.

With her blonde hair flowing down, Reese definitely had a positive charm looming around her.

Love Y'all: The 40-year-old brought her Draper James bag on her day out

Reese also carried a bag with her that had the words 'Love Y'all' written across it.

As the owner of the brand Draper James, the star is known for accessories that can work nicely for anyone looking to accessorize.

Draper James sells all sorts of items from jackets, to skirts, to handbags, and wallets.

Successful woman: The Wild star brings her Draper James bags with her on her days out. Here she is in Los Angeles last week.

There is a Draper James store in Dallas, something Reese discussed last September with Architectural Digest.

She explained what she envisioned for the store and how it was important to embrace her Southern background.

'I wanted the store to embody the graciousness of southern culture with traditional elements like wallpaper and moldings, but also have a contemporary feel with light fixtures and art,' the businesswoman said.

'It was important that the store felt like people were walking into my own home.'

So elegant: The mother of three looked incredible at Elle's Annual Women In Television Celebration last month in Los Angeles

Reese will be playing Madeline Martha Mackenzie in the TV miniseries Big Little Lies along with Alexander Skarsgard and Laura Dern.

The series is about three mothers whose lives turn to the worst when murder enters their lives.

It will air on HBO on February 19.
Being a fashion It girl does not come easy, even grabbing a chop salad requires a lot of fashion thought.

Sofia Richie was dressed to the nine as she popped out for lunch on Saturday.

The 18-year-old headed to Beverly Hills go-to lunch spot, Il Pastaio but it was far from a laid back affair.

Didn't just throw it on: Sofia Richie was dressed to the nine as she popped out for lunch on Beverly Hills on Saturday

While the eatery is known for its chop salad and casual for Beverly Hills eats, there was nothing casual about Sofia Richie's look.

Lionel Richie's daughter stepped out in a white T-shirt under a bright yellow bomber from Daniel Patrick with a pair of black pants with a matching yellow stripes.

Making sure to coordinate, the teen accessorized the look with a pair of patent leather black moccasins and a patchwork leather and crocodile bag.

Sofia finished off the look by wearing multiple silver chokers and round rose colored glasses.

Matchy, matchy: Lionel Richie's daughter stepped out in a white T-shirt under a bright yellow Daniel Patrick bomber with a pair of black pants with a matching yellow stripes

Sticking to the theme: Making sure to coordinate, the teen accessorized the look with a pair of patent leather black moccasins and a patchwork leather and crocodile bag

Post-lunch the star found some time to post to Instagram and Snapchat to show off her carefully planned out look.

The model - who currently has her hair on corn rows - posed up as she was stopped at the lights in West Hollywood.

Sofia headed to the lunch with a pal but has been spending a lot of time with 32-year-old Formula One champ Lewis Hamilton recently, and was even spotted with his dog the day before.

Always time for a quick pic: Post-lunch the star found some time to post to Instagram and Snapchat to show off her carefully planned out look
She's known for her endless curves.

And Penelope Cruz knows exactly how to showcase her enviable figure as she arrived at the the 31st Goya Cinema Awards held at the Marriot Auditorium in Mardrid, Spain on Saturday night.

The 42-year-old dazzled in a plunging sweetheart neckline gown as she sashayed down the red carpet, oozing Jessica Rabbit vibes with a daring thigh high slit.

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A vision: Penelope Cruz knows exactly how to showcased her enviable figure as she arrived at the the 31st Goya Cinema Awards held at the Marriot Auditorium in Mardrid, Spain on Saturday night

The Spanish beauty's demure show-stopper featured head-turning sequin embellishment across her bust with a single strap detail that drew attention to her ample cleavage as she posed for pictures at the cinematic event.

Her eye-catching look boasted a forties inspired wrap around her shoulders that accentuated her decolletage while her dress showcased her narrow waist to perfection.

Adding inches to her diminutive height, the film darling slipped on a sultry strappy black heel which elongated her slender pins as she teetered to the venue.

Penelope completed her look with a touch of sparkle in the form of a diamond drop earring and diamond ring.

Sex appeal: The 42-year-old sizzled in a plunging sweetheart neckline gown as she sashayed down the red carpet, oozing Jessica Rabbit vibes with a daring thigh high slit

Show-stopper: Her eye-catching look boasted a forties inspired wrap around her shoulders that accentuated her decolletage while her dress showcased her narrow waist to perfection

Penelope continued her old Hollywood inspired attire with a fitting side sweeping chignon and deep side parting as she arrived at the star-studded event with acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.

Noticeably absent from the festivities was her Oscar winning husband Javier Bardem - who most recently enjoyed a trip to London with his love in January.

The couple married in 2010 and are parents to their kids, Leo, 5; and Luna, 3.

After co-starring in an impressive nine films, the Oscar-winning couple will share the screen for the 10th time in this year's biopic Escobar.

New heights: Adding inches to her diminutive height, the film darling slipped on a sultry strappy black heel which elongated her slender pins as she arrived at the star-studded event with acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar (R)

Absent: Noticeably absent from the festivities was her Oscar winning husband Javier Bardem (Pictured at 2016's event)

The highly-anticipated flick was scheduled to go into production on October 24 with film maker Fernando Leon de Aranoa at the helm.

Javier is set to undertake the role of Pablo Escobar while his real life wife will play Escobar's lover, Colombian journalist Virginia Vallejo.

The film will recreates the infamous drug lords story, with a major focus on his love affair with the glamorous Colombian TV host.
Georgia Love made a quick dash from Melbourne to Hobart for a day at the races on Sunday.

The 28-year-old left boyfriend Lee Elliot behind, having attended the Book of Mormon premiere together on Saturday, as she raced to the Hobart Cup in her former home state of Tasmania.

Sporting a pair of short shorts for the trip, The Bachelorette star was pictured at Tullamarine Airport ahead of her flight.

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Home alone: Georgia Love made a quick dash from Melbourne to Hobart for a day at the races on Sunday in her former home state of Tasmania without Lee Elliot

A casual-looking Georgia looked content as she headed through the departures terminal alone, dragging a suitcase and dress bag behind her.

The brunette wore her hair in a ponytail as she sported an oversize white jumper, denim shorts and a pair of flip flops.

The TV presenter was seen busily scrolling through her phone as she counted down until her flight to Hobart.

Plane sailing: The 28-year-old left boyfriend Lee Elliot behind, having attended the Book of Mormon premiere together on Saturday, as she raced to the Hobart Cup at Hobart Racecourse

Case closed: Sporting a pair of short shorts for the trip, The Bachelorette star was pictured at Tullamarine Airport ahead of her flight

Georgia seemed to relish her trip to Tasmania - a place she spent a number of years working as a reporter for WIN News before moving back to her native Melbourne last year.

Back in the company of her 'Tassie clique', Georgia shared two photos from her day at the races on Instagram later on Sunday.

The journalist was a special guest at the Tasmanian Racing Council Young Members Enclosure at the cup, also judging the day's Fashions On The Field event.

And they're off! The journalist (right centre) was a special guest at the Tasmanian Racing Council Young Members Enclosure at the cup, also judging the day's Fashions On The Field event

Next to a photo of her and three gal pals, Georgia wrote that it was an 'absolute pleasure and honour' to be involved in the state final of the fashion competition.

Taking the opportunity to showcase her race day chic, the reality star opted for a classical black and white colour scheme, which extended to an intricate headpiece.

Georgia will be back at another of her old stomping grounds later this month when she plays the same role at the Launceston Cup on 22 February.
Kym Marsh reportedly left onlookers astounded when she was involved in a heated argument with hotel staff after her door key wouldn't work.

The actress, 40, is said to have had a 'huge meltdown' at London's InterContinental Hotel following the National Television Awards last week, when she couldn't return to her room.

An onlooker claimed the Coronation Street star was outraged by that staff had asked to see her ID, and angrily said: 'Dont you know who I am?' - a claim which Kym strenuously denies.

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Shocking: Kym Marsh reportedly left onlookers astounded when she came to blows with hotel staff at London's InterContinental after her door key wouldn't work last week

A source told The Sun: 'She was pretty unimpressed, to say the least, and caused a bit of a scene.

'At one point she said, "Dont you know who I am?" and seemed really angry.

'She felt that the staff were being unreasonable but they genuinely had no idea who she was.'

The outburst is said to have occurred after the National Television Awards on January 25.

Classic line: An onlooker claimed the Coronation Street star was outraged by that staff had asked to see her ID, and angrily said: 'Dont you know who I am?'

Denial: Kym went on to deny The Sun's claims, taking to Twitter to laugh it off

Kym joined her Corrie co-stars at one of the biggest events in the awards show calendar - but the cast of the ITV soap lost out to the channel's Emmerdale for the Serial Drama gong.

However, a source told MailOnline that Kym did not lose her temper, but was merely 'frustrated' as she was unable to provide staff with ID as it was locked in her room.

They explained: 'The staff said they couldn't help her - which you can imagine was very frustrating.

'In the end Kym called someone from ITV who came and sorted it out for her. Kym didn't lose her temper at all or say "do you know who I am?" After half an hour or so it all got sorted out. That was all there was to it.'

Kym went on to deny The Sun's claims, taking to Twitter on Sunday to post: 'Just read I had a meltdown over a hotel room key And as if I'd ever say 'don't u know who I am?' U have to laugh at the stuff they make up.'

Dazzling: The outburst is said to have occurred after the National Television Awards on January 25. Coronation Street lost out to Emmerdale for the Best Serial Drama gong on the night

Kym has been at the centre of Corrie's big storyline in recent weeks after her character Michelle Connor and onscreen husband Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) endured the tragic stillbirth of their baby.

And the tragedy appears to have become too much to bear for Michelle who is seen making a suicide bid in a sneak peek at new scenes, after shocking her husband with her drunken antics.

Kym, whose own son who died eight years ago at 21 weeks, bravely opened up to OK! Magazine about the scenes.

'There are themes of guilt and self-blame for our characters too and I know I felt a certain guilt about my situation, even though I had no control over what happened,' she explained.

'I've heard from other women who feel the same way and I think it's important to let them know that going through a situation like this is never, ever their fault.'
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and former US Senator James Webb

(Source: VNA)

The PM emphasised that the bilateral ties have grown positively and practically in bilateral, regional and global aspects, meeting interests of the two countries, and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.



He wished to receive further support from the former Senator in anytime and any field.



The host informed Webb that he had held a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump on measures to reinforce ties between the two nations in the future.



The former Senator spoke highly of positive changes in Vietnam since his first arrival in the country in 1991, as well as the telephone talks between the two leaders, saying that it bodes well for bilateral ties.



He also pledged to do his best to foster Vietnam-US ties in any position./.
Long running Coronation Street character Ken Barlow is allegedly set to suffer his second stroke in six months.

And it seems that he won't be so fortunate this time.

With plot rumours circling around Ken's decision to add a Do Not Resuscitate order to his medical records - and his nephew Adam's desperate quest for fast money - it would seem the infamous character is facing the axe.

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Is this the end for Ken? Coronation Street legend Barlow 'set to suffer ANOTHER stroke' as fans fear character's days are numbered

'Ken had only just recovered from the terrible stroke he suffered in October, so this latest attack hits him twice as hard,' an insider from the soap has revealed. 'He is rushed to hospital and his life is very much hanging in the balance.

'Obviously for someone who was so recently ill, the chances of him coming out of it alive  let alone unscathed  are drastically reduced!

'And as he is a very much loved character, the bosses are expecting viewers to be gripped as well.'

Round two: 'Ken had only just recovered from the terrible stroke he suffered in October, so this latest attack hits him twice as hard,' an insider from the soap has revealed

Two strokes, no waiting: Ken will be rushed to hospital and his life is very much hanging in the balance

'The chances of him coming out of it alive are drastically reduced!' Coronation Street's Ken Barlow set to suffer ANOTHER stroke, this time killing off the long-running character

Bill Roache - who has played the role on British TV screens since the soap's inception in 1960 - is therefore facing the chop.

The actor, 84, has always insisted that he would only ever leave the cobbles if he was written out or killed off.

Could it be the time has finally come?

Ken has been like a cat with nine lives during his 57 years living on Coronation Street.

Tragedy: Managing to steer clear from the gaze of the grim reaper during the 80s, in 1990 he took an overdose

Back in 1971 his wife Val was killed; and six years later Ken fell down a ravine.

Managing to steer clear from the gaze of the grim reaper during the 80s, in 1990 he took an overdose.

Ten years after that he was caught in an armed siege.

He has also been beaten up twice, by Mike Baldwin and his own grandson.

Is this the end? Bill Roache (R) - who has played the role on British TV screens since the soap's inception in 1960 - is therefore facing the chop
She made quite the splash on 2016's Ex On The Beach with her explosive arguments.

And now, Holly Rickwood flaunted her sultry style as she celebrated her birthday with former TOWIE star Georgia Harrison at the Mayfair Hotel on Saturday night.

The 24-year-old acid tongued MTV star sizzled in a plunging leather look catsuit that displayed her cleavage with aplomb outside the West London hotspot.

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Hell for leather: Holly Rickwood flaunted her sultry style as she celebrated birthday with former TOWIE star Georgia Harrison and pals at the Mayfair Hotel on Saturday night

Her figure-flaunting ensemble hugged her every curve as she posed for photos before heading into the venue.

The blonde bombshell's skintight number emulated that of Sandy's iconic racy ensemble from Grease - sans Danny Zuko - as it boasted double seam detail and was cropped above her ankles.

Drawing attention to her bust, Holly - who had a physical brawl with Jemma Lucy on EOTB last year - wrapped a simple black ribbon and diamante choker around her slender neck to add a touch of glamour to her evening.

She let her peroxide blonde locks cascade into a busy curl as she injected height into her petite frame with a pair of platform nude heels, which matched her patent leather clutch.

Sizzle: The 24-year-old acid tongued MTV star sizzled in a plunging leather look catsuit that display her cleavage with aplomb outside the West London hotspot

Glam gal: She let her peroxide blonde locks cascade into a busy curl

Holly, who first went on EOTB in series three as the ex of hairdresser Graham Griffiths, made quite the arrival on 2016's offering when she returned as Stephen Bear's fiesty former flame.

She became embroiled in a full-on fight with co-star Jemma Lucy, after going on a date with her ex Hawley - the pictures of which were sent to a horrified Jemma.

His ex Jemma Lucy had a jealous meltdown, lashing out at Holly as soon as she arrived back from her date and yanking at her hair.

Celebrating her bestie's birthday, former TOWIE star Georgia Harrison was sure to command attention in her head-turning red mini dress.

Pin-credible! Celebrating her bestie's birthday, former TOWIE star Georgia Harrison was sure to command attention in her head-turning red mini dress

Shining bright: Offsetting her suedette number, she wrapped a diamante choker around her neck as she worked her golden tresses into a half ponytail

The 21-year-old - who's stint on The Only Way Is Essex was short-lived - sported the saucy thigh-grazer that hugged her pert posterior while framing her ample cleavage.

Offsetting her suedette number, she wrapped a diamante choker around her neck as she worked her golden tresses into a half ponytail.

Georgia completed her nineties inspired look with a pair of pointed nude heels as she draped her quilted Chanel bag over her shoulder.

The petite beauty starred in just three episodes of TOWIE in 2014 - during which she went on several dates with Tom Pearce.

Party pals: Georgia Harrison and friends arrived at Mayfair hotel bar for Holly's birthday party

Camera ready: Georgia was front and centre as she stopped for a picture with her friends

She was also linked to Lewis Bloor, but producers felt the tenuous romantic storylines weren't enough to secure her a more permanent role on the ITVBe show, especially when Tom left the show.

A source told Beamly: 'Every cast member sits down with producers before each new series to talk about their future but George was told bosses didnt believe she had big enough storylines coming up.'

She is still a regular face among the familiar ITVBe crowd, having known Lewis Bloor since the age of 14.
He recently took home his first Golden Globe for his portrayal in Tom Ford's thriller Nocturnal Animals.

And still on a high from his win, Aaron Taylor Johnson, 26, attended the 32nd Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the Arlington Theatre on Saturday night alongside his film maker wife Sam, 49, in California.

The British star looked suave as his donned a speckled black suit to pick up his Virtuoso Award at the coveted event alongside his lady love.

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Suave: Aaron Taylor Johnson, 26, attended the 32nd Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the Arlington Theatre on Saturday night alongside his film maker wife Sam, 49, in California

Aaron - who was one of eight actors honoured on the night - teamed his dapper look with a crisp white shirt, beaming as he arrived at the event to accept his award for his turn as villain Ray Marcus in the thriller.

There to support her man, Fifty Shades of Grey director Sam looked sensational in a bohemian inspired white floor-length dress with floral print.

Hiding her petite frame, her boho number featured billowing sleeves as she wrapped her arm around her man on his big night.

Neatly blow drying her locks into a straight style, she accessorised her fashionable look with a pair of gold hoop earrings and soft red lip.

Honour: The British star looked suave as his donned a speckled black suit as he picked up his Virtuoso Award at the coveted event alongside his lady love

Proud: Hiding her petite frame, her boho number featured billowing sleeves as she wrapped her arm around her man on his big night

Bold: Neatly blow drying her locks into a straight style, she accessorised her fashionable look with a pair of gold hoop earrings and soft red lip

Sam began a relationship with Aaron, after meeting on the set of the 2009 film she directed - Nowhere Boy - when he was 19 and she was 42.

They tied the knot in June 2012 in an intimate ceremony in Somerset.

The couple have two daughters, Wylda Rae, six, and Romy Hero, four, whilst Sam also has two daughters from her previous marriage to art dealer Jay Jopling.

Meanwhile, his jovial appearance comes after he scored a surprise win at the 74th annual Golden Globes last month.

Winning: There to support her man, Fifty Shades of Grey director Sam looked sensational in a bohemian inspired white floor-length dress with floral print

All smiles: The pair appeared in high spirits as they arrived at the star-studded party

Dapper: Aaron - who was one of eight actors honoured on the night - teamed his dapper look with a crisp white shirt, beaming as he arrived at the event to accept his award for his turn as villain Ray Marcus in the thriller

Pals: Oscar nominated actor Dev Patel joined Aaron to receive his honour for his role in Lion

The acclaimed actor took home the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Film for his role in Nocturnal Animals - shortly after revealing he sought therapy for the effects of preparing for the role.

Before his win, Aaron revealed he needed therapy after his work as villain Ray Marcus in the thriller, after preparations for the role left him with sleepless nights, and he took around two or three months to fully shake off the dark role afterwards.

He said: 'I spent a lot of time watching documentaries on serial killers. It was not nice. It was sleepless nights, it was dark. Some actors do job to job. I do one thing a year. I need that time in order to remember and come back. To be grounded. A little bit of therapy in there. It was intense.'

Despite his experiences, Aaron insisted he had "enjoyed every second" of working on the Tom Ford-directed thriller.

Award winners: Actors Simon Helberg, Aaron and Stephen Henderson visit the Dom Perignon Lounge after receiving the Virtuosos Awards
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson have so far proved irreplaceable since leaving Southern Cross Austereo in 2013.

The radio giant has tried, and failed, with three different presenting combinations on 2Day FM's flagship breakfast show - the latest of which included Kyle's nemesis Rove McManus - after the pair joined Australian Radio Network.

And speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Sunday, The Kyle and Jackie O Show's executive producer, Bruno Bouchet, took a swipe at Rove by insisting their rival network have 'the best replacement yet' in Em Rusciano and Harley Breen - even if they are 'option F'.

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Miss us? Kyle Sandilands (L) and Jackie 'O' Henderson (R) have so far proved irreplaceable since leaving Southern Cross Austereo in 2013

In his snide backhanded compliment, he said of Em and Harley that 'for an option F, I actually think they're pretty good.

'I mean, of course we want to beat the c**p out of them. But compared to the other combinations, you'd have to say they're the best.'

Em and Harley took up the ominous challenge off breaking the KIIS FM duo's monopoly at the top of the FM radio breakfast show ratings earlier this year.

Replacing Rove and Sam Frost, who lasted just over a year, 2Day FM's newbies caused a stir when it was announced they would be hosting their 'Sydney' show from Melbourne.

Trash talk: Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Sunday, The Kyle and Jackie O Show's executive producer, Bruno Bouchet, took a swipe at Rove by insisting their rival network have 'the best replacement yet' in Em Rusciano and Harley Breen

Uphill task: Em (L) and Harley (R) took up the ominous challenge off breaking the KIIS FM duo's monopoly at the top of the FM radio breakfast show ratings earlier this year

Last month, Jackie O was quick to spark up a war of words with Em over the decision, telling The Daily Telegraph she thought her former employer was making a mistake.

She said: 'I truly believe you need to broadcast from Sydney because there's so much you're missing out on if you're not.'

Em, 37, wasted no time issuing a response to her rival's criticisms, firing back during a Facebook Live video.

She said: 'I think it's really insulting to the Sydney public to think they're going to give a s**t.'

What a city: Replacing Rove and Sam Frost, who lasted just over a year, 2Day FM's newbies caused a stir when it was announced they would be hosting their 'Sydney' show from Melbourne

Thumbs down: Last month, Jackie O was quick to spark up a war of words with Em over the decision, telling The Daily Telegraph she thought her former employers were making a mistake

Kyle and Jackie O have seen off several attempts by Southern Cross Austereo to unseat them at the top of the ratings over the past four years.

A program billed as 'Breakfast With The Stars' hosted by Merrick Watts, Jules Lund, former Spice Girl Mel B and media personality Sophie Monk was the first to try and fill the void left by the radio heavyweights.

The format was soon replaced by Dan Debuf and Maz Compton - but they were eventually dropped in favour of Rove and Sam, which launched in November 2015.

Replacements: A program billed as 'Breakfast With The Stars' hosted by Merrick Watts (left centre), Jules Lund (R), former Spice Girl Mel B (L) and media personality Sophie Monk (right centre) was the first to try and fill the void left by the radio heavyweights

Trainwreck: The format was soon replaced by Dan Debuf (R) and Maz Compton (L) - but they were eventually dropped in favour of Rove and Sam

Been and gone: Rove and Sam were shifted to a one-hour evening slot after being dumped from the breakfast show after just one year

Last year, Kyle and Jackie O reaffirmed their commitment to KIIS by signing new five-year contracts worth up to an estimated $25 million each - dependent on ratings.

The popular pair had been offered a reported $20 million to return to Southern Cross Austereo before putting pen-to-paper on their new deals, having previously been offered $12 million to return to the network in 2015.

At the time of signing, Kyle told The Sydney Morning Herald: 'There was never a doubt in my mind KIIS was our home for the long haul, because I made it! It's my baby.'

'Jackie and I are still doing what we love and doing it better than ever.'
She's set to star opposite Lily-Rose Depp in French-Belgian drama Planetrium later this year.

And while fans these days are used to seeing Natalie Portman with her ever-blossoming baby bump, she has laid it all out bare for her latest film's promo.

The 35-year-old Oscar winner - who is nominated at this year's Academy Awards for her turn as Jackie Onassis in drama Jackie - showcases her completely naked slender frame in the newest stills from the highly-anticipated flick.

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Laid out bare: While fans are used to seeing Natalie Portman with her ever-blossoming bump, she has laid it all out bare for the latest film's promo

Brunette beauty Natalie - who is expecting her second child with husband Benjamin Millepied - displays her infectious smile and perky posterior as she soaks up the sun completely starkers.

Appearing to get splashed with water, she joyfully laughs as she exhibits her trim figure with aplomb.

The latest still from her upcoming flick comes months after the first trailer was released in August, displaying her in a bath and enjoying a cigarette with co-star Lily-Rose.

In the two-minute preview for the drama, the 5ft3in Gemini duo play American sisters who are 'spiritualists' that can commune with the dead.

Intimate: Lily-Rose Depp and Natalie share a bath and a cigarette together in the first trailer for Planetarium

A little strange: In the two-minute preview for the French-Belgian drama, the 5ft3in Gemini duo play American sisters who are 'spiritualists' that can commune with the dead

In one moment, the psychic siblings embrace while touting their paranormal talents in 1930s pre-war Paris.

And in the other, Natalie (as Laura Barlow) can be seen slapping Lily-Rose (as Kate Barlow) across the face.

The man who appears to come between the pretty petite pair is a powerful French film producer Andre Korben (played by 51-year-old Emmanuel Salinger), who wants to capture their gifts on camera.

In real life, the striking star is married to French ballet dancer Benjamin Millepied - while the nepotistically-privileged 17-year-old is the daughter of French star Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp.

Bear hug: In one moment, the psychic siblings embrace while touting their paranormal talents in 1930s pre-war Paris

'Are you jealous?' And in the other, Natalie (as Laura Barlow) can be seen slapping Lily-Rose (as Kate Barlow) across the face

Seriously? The man who appears to come between the pretty petite pair is a powerful French film producer Andre Korben (played by 51-year-old Emmanuel Salinger), who wants to capture their gifts on camera

Portman and Depp also both front French fashion houses - Christian Dior and Chanel, respectively.

Rebecca Zlotowski (Grand Central, Belle epine) helmed Planetarium, which has no US/UK release date.

The glamorous flick premieres September 8 at the Venice Film Festival, and then screens September 10 at the Toronto Film Festival.

Fashion mavens for France: Portman and Depp also both front French fashion houses - Christian Dior and Chanel, respectively

Gorgeous cinematography: Rebecca Zlotowski (Grand Central, Belle epine) helmed Planetarium, which has no US/UK release date
Their tumultuous relationship kept CBB viewers glued to their screens.

Yet Kim Woodburn is adamant her feud with Nicole McLean ran even deeper than audiences could see as she voiced her fears that the former glamour model 'would have stabbed' her.

The 74-year-old How Clean Is Your House? star unleashed a furious rant in an interview with the Daily Star, in which she dubbed Nicola, 35, 'an evil little beggar'.

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Oh no... Kim Woodburn is adamant her feud with Nicole McLean ran even deeper than audiences could see as she voiced her fears that the former glamour model 'would have stabbed' her

Kim was a late addition to the Channel 5 show, yet became famed for her fiery temper and particularly her venom towards Nicola.

After their blazing rows became a focal storyline in the show, the duo's sparring soon hit headlines for all the reasons.

In her latest interview, the septuagenarian has now voiced her concerns over Nicola causing her physical harm while they were in the enclosure.

She said: 'Nicola could start a row in an empty house. She is an evil little beggar. She was smiling while she said the vilest things about me. She made it clear I either toed the line or shed put me through hell.

Evil? The 74-year-old How Clean Is Your House? star unleashed a furious rant in an interview with the Daily Star , in which she dubbed Nicola, 35, 'an evil little beggar'

Furious: Kim was a late addition to the Channel 5 show, yet became famed for her fiery temper and particularly her venom towards Nicola

'I never felt unsafe because they all wanted to win  that was my saving grace. Nicola knew if there was any violence she was out and so did all the others.

'But Nicola would have stabbed me if she could have. You know what Im saying. I hope the day will never come when I am in the same room as her again.'

Kim's chat comes shortly after Nicola launched a furious tirade against her after the cleaning expert commented on the model's Page 3 past.

She said: 'Im just done! Shes a nasty f**king b***h. Shes so condescending and arrogant and aggressive. The names she calls me, I dont understand how she is allowed to stand there and be that f**king aggressive.

Anger: Kim's chat comes shortly after Nicola launched a furious tirade against her after the cleaning expert commented on the model's Page 3 past

Venomous: She said: 'Im just done! Shes a nasty f**king b***h. Shes so condescending and arrogant and aggressive. The names she calls me, I dont understand how she is allowed to stand there and be that f**king aggressive'

'I never want to see her again. Dont f**king talk to me. Dont look at me. I f**king dislike you and your f***king hairpiece.'

The feud deepened when Nicola made a comment regarding Kim not having children - after which she insisted she was unaware that she had suffered a still birth.

During yet another spat, Nicola pointed out that Kim was childless, leading to the backlash against her. Upon apologising, she also admitted she has suffered two miscarriages herself.

Serious stuff: The feud deepened when Nicola made a comment regarding Kim not having children - after which she insisted she was unaware that she had suffered a still birth

Serious: During yet another spat, Nicola pointed out that Kim was childless, leading to the backlash against her. Upon apologising, she also admitted she has suffered two miscarriages herself

Upon departing the house she insisted she was unaware of Kim's tragic history: 'I would stand in front of her now and apologise wholeheartedly.

'I did not know that when Kim and I had that argument, and I certainly  had I had known that  being a woman who is desperate for more kids and who has suffered two miscarriages herself...

'I certainly would never ever, ever have said that in a derogatory way. Never in my life would I ever ever be that disrespectful about anyone going through any kind of tragedy on that level.'

While the girls were still at loggerheads, their co-stars Spencer and Heidi Pratt were spotted out and about in London - sporting matching padded jackets.

The loved-up couple appear to still be loving their adopted UK home as they could not stop beaming while strutting along the street.

Warmed up: While the girls were still at loggerheads, their co-stars Spencer and Heidi Pratt were spotted out and about in London - sporting matching padded jackets
She has made an explosive impact on the new series of Ex On The Beach, after enjoying a night with Aaron Chalmers as soon as he entered the villa.

And ZaraLena Jackson proved exactly why she has made such a dazzling entrance to the show as she flaunted her incredible figure in a series of Instagram posts on Sunday, while documenting her Barbados getaway.

The 24-year-old fashion designer looked stunning in her sizzling shots, with one in particular set to send pulses racing as she struggled to contain her perky cleavage from beneath a tiny bandeau bikini.

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Cheeky! ZaraLena Jackson proved exactly why she has made such a dazzling entrance to the show as she flaunted her incredible figure in a series of Instagram posts on Sunday, as she documented her Barbados getaway

ZaraLena was sure to show off every inch of her incredible figure as she stripped off on the beach to pose for a number of sexy shots.

One particularly eye-catching image saw the Preston-based fashion giant slip into a black bandeau bikini which just about covered her perky cleavage.

With her modesty only just protected, she gazed into the camera while sipping a delicious cocktail to help cool off in the blistering Caribbean heat.

Her trademark flame red tresses were pulled into chic braids, while she masked her make-up free face with a huge pair of tortoiseshell sunglasses.

Hot stuff! The 24-year-old fashion designer looked stunning in her sizzling shots, with one in particular set to send pulses racing as she struggled to contain her perky cleavage from beneath a tiny bandeau bikini

Steamy! She has made an explosive impact on the new series of Ex On The Beach, after enjoying a night with Aaron Chalmers as soon as he entered the villa

Proving the vast expanse of racy swimwear in her suitcase, ZaraLena continued to share raunchy snaps, including a dazzling image on a balcony.

As she gazed into the distance, she confidently displayed her slender frame in the swimsuit which boasted a crossover chest and cut-out hips.

The snakeskin pattern comprised of a green and white colour scheme, which perfectly accentuated her deep bronze tan.

Another one of her swimsuits kept things simple - allowing her incredible body to do the talking as she pulled her black bikini bottoms high on her hips.

Cut out! The snakeskin pattern comprised of a green and white colour scheme, which perfectly accentuated her deep bronze tan

Sexy two-piece: She again wore a bandeau bikini top, yet this garment covered more of her figure that the sizzling number she wore later in the day

She again wore a bandeau bikini top, yet this garment covered more of her figure that the sizzling number she wore later in the day.

Away from her bikini clad antics, she opted to pose while sporting nothing, from beneath the covers of her hotel room bed.

ZaraLena's sun-drenched getaway comes shortly after her night of passion with Geordie Shore star Aaron was aired on MTV.

Sexy stuff: ZaraLena's sun-drenched getaway comes shortly after her night of passion with Geordie Shore star Aaron was aired on MTV

Stunner: Zara's holiday certainly looked luxurious

Aside from his dalliance with ZaraLena, Aaron's love life has hit headlines once again after he reportedly split from Lauren Pope after a 'nightmare holiday' in Dubai - claims he has strenuously denied, insisting they parted ways on great terms.

He has hit back at claims that he spat food at Lauren during an emotion filled row, insisting that the reports couldn't be further from the truth.

Confirming their split to MailOnline, the 25-year-old reality hunk revealed that the reason behind their break was down to bad timing.

Having a giggle: She has slotted into EOTB perfectly

All wrong: Aside from his dalliance with ZaraLena, Aaron's love life has hit headlines once again after he reportedly split from Lauren Pope after a 'nightmare holiday' in Dubai - claims he has strenuously denied, insisting they parted ways on great terms

He explained: 'Lauren posted a picture of herself sitting on my knee in Dubai  that was apparently the night of the argument. For one, I wouldnt spit food at anyone because Im not a tramp, two, I wouldnt waste food  and three, if I spat food at Lauren she would have f**king knocked us out! '

Aaron revealed he didn't attempt to clear up the 'laughable' claims because he thought the allegations were so over the top.

'Anyone that knows me knows I would never do that. I wouldnt embarrass myself doing that in a nice restaurant, I wouldnt embarrass Lauren  I just wouldnt do it!', he declared.
He announced on Monday that he was putting down his sonic screwdriver for good.

But before he's set to regenerate at the end of the series 10, Peter Capaldi's Doctor still has some work to do, so it was back to work as usual for the actor on Sunday.

Filming scenes in Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay, the 58-year-old actor was back in the last of the Time Lords' shoes alongside co-stars Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas.

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The Doctor is in the house: Before he's set to regenerate at the end of the series 10, Peter Capaldi's Doctor still has some work to do, so it was back to work as usual for the actor on Sunday

Braving the cold weather in the Welsh capital, Peter headed out on set dressed in his familiar costume.

Suited and booted as the eponymous hero, he looked in his element as the cameras started rolling.

His latest assistant, Pearl, 29, who plays Bill Potts, was clad in a boiler suit and jumper, whilst his other companion Matt, Nardole, was dressed in his familiar costume.

The trio were flanked by what appeared to be armed officers of the Memory Police clad in red fatigues and armour.

Going... Filming scenes in Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay, the 58-year-old actor was back in the last of the Time Lords' shoes alongside co-stars Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas

It looked as though the central villain to the latest episode was a mummy, brought to life by an actor swathed in red robes and prosthetics.

The return to work for Peter comes just days after he announced he was leaving his role on the show.

Having dropped the bombshell over night on Monday, it wasn't long before the rumour mill went into over-drive when it came to who would be the thirteenth doctor.

His glamorous assistant: His latest assistant, Pearl, 29, who plays Bill Potts, was clad in a boiler suit and jumper while Peter was in his familiar costume

Happy man: The Doctor's other companion Matt, Nardole, was dressed in his familiar costume

Who you gonna call? The Memory Police were also out in force, but whether they were helping or hindering The Doctor is not quite clear

What a fright: A Doctor Who actor has a mask fitted during filming for series 10 of the BBC show

Ghoulish: This spooky figure would have given bystanders quite a fright during the filming

And following his own announcement that he was quitting Death In Paradise after four years, so that he can spend less time away from his family, Kris Marshall was thrust into the mix.

Almost immediately, speculation began to spin on social media as to the real reason Kris Marshall had chosen to quit his role on the hugely popular series.

Avid BBC viewers seem to be under the impression that Marshall is transferring his skills as a Detective to that of the Doctor - and is in the running to play Doctor Who in the wake of Peter's decision to leave.

Ready for his close up: Capaldi has said he will step down from the iconic acting role

Action: Stern-faced actors filled the streets with a real sense of danger during the BBC production

Not to be messed with: The determined-looking actors were wearing space style costumes

In league or at odds? Also on set alongside the armed police unit was a mysterious mummy swathed in red robes

'Maybe a coincidence but since Doctor Who needs a new lead, interesting that that Kris Marshall has now quit Death in Paradise. New doctor?' came a theory from one fan.

Another typed 'Kris marshall should play doctor who...' as a further tweeter concurred: 'Kris Marshall will be the 13th Doctor. Calling it. He'd be perfect. #doctorwho!'

The theory proved popular as the news spread that Marshall is leaving the role of Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman.

'So Kris Marshall leaves #DeathInParadise, just as they're starting to look for a new #DoctorWho... #Coincidence...?? ;-)' a fourth person theorised.

'Huh so Kris Marshall leaves Death in Paradise around the same time Peter Capaldi leaves Doctor Who. Hmm, interesting...' a fifth wrote.

The new Doctor? Following his own announcement that he was quitting Death In Paradise after four years Kris Marshall was thrust into the running by fans

Time to go: Peter Capaldi announced his decision to quit as the twelfth Doctor on Monday night - prompting a flurry of actors and actress to be thrust into the running for number 13

Speculation: Avid BBC viewers seem to be under the impression that Marshall is transferring his skills as a Detective to a Doctor - and is in the running to play Doctor Who in the wake of Peter Capaldi's decision to leave

Some didn't seem too keen on the idea.

'If Kris Marshall is the new #DoctorWho they might as well cast a toilet brush. Dull,' a fan seethed.

The 43-year-old actor - whose big break came in the form of BBC sitcom My Family - revealed on Thursday's episode of Good Morning Britain that the decision was made in order to spend more time with his family after his daughter was born last year, leaving him 'bereft' while away filming in the Caribbean.

Pastures Who? Kris said of the decision to quit - 'I've loved it. It's time to move on and give someone else some sun. I'm still thinking whether I've made the right decision'

It has been confirmed that after he departs the show, he will be replaced by Father Ted funnyman Ardal O'Hanlan, who will play Detective Inspector Jack Mooney, a role he debuts in Thursday night's episode of the show.

Kris said of the decision to quit: 'I've loved it. It's time to move on and give someone else some sun. I'm still thinking whether I've made the right decision.

'It is amazing and I've been filming in London since and there's a moment when you stand in the cold and think why am I not in flips flops in the Caribbean?'

He admitted he struggled being away from his family for filming, saying: 'For the last few years I have been able to take them with me but we had a daughter and this last series I did on my own. Skyping leaves me bereft.'

She's the favourite: Olivia Colman has become a hot bet among punters hoping to predict the new Doctor

And while playing The Doctor would certainly keep him closer to home, he's not the only name floating around for the role.

Olivia Colman has become favourite among the bookies to land the role of the 13th Doctor with odds on the actress with Betway bookmakers tumbling from 20/1 to 5/1 in the last 24 hours, fuelling speculation that the Night Manager star could become the first female Doctor.

BOOKIES' ODDS ON THE NEW DOCTOR ON FEBRUARY 1 2017 Olivia Colman: 5/1 Andrew Buchan: 14/1 Iwan Rheon: 14/1 Ben Whishaw: 16/1 Robert Carlyle: 16/1 Tom Ellis: 16/1 Rupert Grint: 16/1 James Norton: 20/1 Jason Flemyng: 20/1 Reece Shearsmith: 20/1 Rory Kinnear: 20/1 *source Betway Advertisement

'Since our market opened weve seen a wave of support for Olivia Colman to be the next Doctor Who,' said a Betway spokeman.

Olivia, who recently received an Emmy award nomination for her role in The Night Manager, has even been tipped for the job by her Broadchurch co-star David Tennant who played the tenth Doctor.

'Olivia would clearly be a magnificent choice. If you have the right people telling the right stories then its absolutely a possibility,' he said.

Other favourites with punters include Broadchurch actor Andrew Buchan, Game Of Thrones star Iwan Rheon, James Bond's Q Ben Whishaw and and The IT Crowd's Richard Ayoade.

Capaldi himself joined in the name-dropping for the next Time Lord - and is giving his backing to Rising Damp veteran Frances de la Tour.

Bizarrely, she was considered to be the first female Doctor in the 1980s, when producers were desperate to change the sex of the time-travelling alien in a bid to keep it on the air - but it was cancelled, only to return again in 2005.

Rising dame? Exiting Doctor Who Peter Capaldi has joined in the name-dropping for the next Time Lord - and he wants a woman to take over from him, Rising Damp star Frances de la Tour

Announcing his decision to step down from his Time Lord role, Peter said: 'This'll be the end for me. I feel sad. I love Doctor Who. It's a fantastic programme to work on.'

'It's been a huge pleasure to work with... a family. I can't praise the people I work with more highly.

'I've never worked the same job for three years, and I feel like now is the right time to move on. I'll still be the Doctor for a while.'

Twelve actors have played the time-travelling Doctor since William Hartnell first adopted the role in 1963, and so far all of them have been men.

Billie Piper, who played the Doctor's assistant when the show was brought back in 2005, tweeted that it would be a 'welcome turn' for a woman to take the role.
Cate Blanchett was in-demand as she arrived on Broadway for another performance of her critically-acclaimed theatre show.

The actress was met by a sea of excited fans outside Barrymore Theatre ahead of an evening performance of The Present on Sunday.

Wrapping up warm for the chilly conditions in New York, Cate wore a thick coat and scarf as she signed autographs for her admirers.

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Star of the show: Cate Blanchett was in-demand as she arrived on Broadway for another performance of her critically-acclaimed theatre show

The 47-year-old was happy to stop outside the building and greet star-struck fans, signing pictures and copies of the show's programme.

Clutching a pair of headphones and a handbag, the Ivanhoe native wore a pair of dark skinny jeans and black leather boots on her bottom half.

Taking steps to shield herself against the cold, Cate wore a knitted jumper under a brown fur jacket, adding a big grey scarf to her look.

Signing session: The actress was met by a sea of excited fans outside Barrymore Theatre ahead of an evening performance of The Present on Sunday

Sydney on Broadway: After tending to her fans, Cate headed inside to join the rest of the all-Australian cast of The Present

The mother-of-four appeared to be wearing minimal makeup as she shielded her eyes behind a pair of blue sunglasses.

After tending to her fans, Cate headed inside to join the rest of the all-Australian cast of The Present.

The actress is co-starring with Richard Roxburgh in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of the little known Chekhov play Platanov adapted by her husband, Andrew Upton.

Lead roles: The actress is co-starring with Richard Roxburgh in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of the little known Chekhov play adapted by her husband, Andrew Upton (pictured)

Dream debut: The show is the two-time Oscar winner's Broadway debut and has been receiving rave reviews from critics in the US since previews began on 17 December

She plays a Russian widow, Anna Petrovna, who is turning 40 and worried about how to hang on to her home.

The show is the two-time Oscar winner's Broadway debut and has been receiving rave reviews from critics in the US since previews began on 17 December.

The Guardian's Alexis Soloski wrote: 'Anna isn't one to sit idly by and let hourglass sands bleed away. In Blanchett's hands, she is sexy, antic, ferocious, imperious, mordant, and angry.'

The limited production is due to close on 19 March.
She was a real life lawyer before becoming a bonafide Instagram sensation.

And Pia Muehlenbeck, 24, has celebrated hitting a social media milestone in seemingly the only way she knows how - a post.

The brunette beauty took to Instagram on Sunday morning to share a picture of herself in skimpy lingerie and enjoying a pillow fight, while also offering a gesture of thanks to her 1.7 million followers.

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Instagram sensation: Pia Muehlenbeck, 24, has celebrated hitting the milestone mark of 1.7 million followers by posting a skimpy lingerie photo to social media as a show of gratitude

'Sunday mornings in @showpo,' Muehlenbeck captioned the intimate image.

'Ps. 1.7 million of you amazing peeps here on Insta now! You are the best!'

Posing with a pillow in her hand a towel wrapped around her head, it seemed the buxom model was taking it easy on her weekend.

Social star: Her photo came a day after revealing to Daily Mail Australia she owns 200 pairs of bikinis

In an elegant white bra and matching panties, Pia showed off not only her toned and tanned physique, but also her bright white smile.

Her appreciative post came just a day after revealing to Daily Mail Australia that she owns about 200 pairs of bikinis, meaning her drawers are filled to the brim.

'My whole bed is full of bikinis,' the brunette beauty said at the Bondi Sands for Men launch in Sydney on Friday.

Pia joked: 'I try to cull regularly, but I'm like 'but I might need this one one day', I'm terrible.'

Bikini babe: She said, 'I try to cull regularly, but I'm like 'but I might need this one one day', I'm terrible'

'My bed is full of bikinis': Pia is known for flaunting her enviable figure by the beach in tiny string bikinis

'I'm not a bikini hoarder alright,' she added jokingly.

Pia stunned at the event in a white top and skirt with mesh parts that showed off her bronzed skin, while she also wore her hair out in natural waves.

Pairing her look with a minimal gold cuff and dangling earrings, she accessorised with a nude pink clutch and strappy silver heels.

Part of the influencer's success is due to her boyfriend Kane Vato.

Exotic beach locations: She and her boyfriend Kane Vato travel together to exotic beach locations around the world

Sultry by the sea: He is the photographer behind her sultry Instagram posts and the creative director of her athleisure SLINKII

He is also the creative director of her athleisure brand SLINKII and photographer behind her sultry posts when they travel to exotic beach locations.

When asked about a potential engagement or wedding, the entrepreneur was quick to say she did not know of any plans.

'Ask him,' she joked.

The two-piece enthusiast said that her beau keeps dropping hints that she should ask him, since she was the one who initiated their relationship.

Two-piece enthusiast: She said she has big plans for her brand sportswear brand to expand this year.

'He seems to think that I should be the one proposing, and I was like no wait it's your turn so we're in a bit of a limbo lock off,' Pia laughed.

She said she has big plans to expand her sportswear brand in 2017.

'We're going to be adding a lot more leisure wear, a lot more beach wear and then stuff that enables you to obviously live a healthy lifestyle,' said.
Secretary (East) of the Ministry of External Affairs of India Preeti Saran (Photo: VNA)

The full text of the interview is as follows:



Q: 45 years since the establishment of the diplomatic relation (7th January 1972 - 7th January 2017), India - Vietnam relations have strongly developed in various areas, from politics, economic, trade and investment areas to security, defense and culture ones. What do you value the current cooperation ties between two countries?



Secretary Preeti Saran: India greatly values its relations with Vietnam. India and Vietnam share traditionally close relations that have their roots in our freedom struggle led by our founding fathers, Mahatma Gandhi and Ho Chi Minh and which have been nurtured by successive generations of leaders. The friendship and solidarity between our peoples has been steadfast during the period of Vietnams national struggle for independence, the heroic effort at national reunification and todays phase of national reconstruction. Today, we can proudly say that our relations are marked by strong trust, mutual understanding and convergence of views on various international issues and the regional security situation in Asia.



There has been an all round progress made in development cooperation and assistance, political exchanges, defense and security cooperation, human resource development, commercial and economic ties, cultural exchanges and scholarships.



The Official Visit of our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi to Vietnam during September 2nd  3rd 2016 at the invitation of His Excellency Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam can be seen in this context. This was the first Prime Ministerial visit from India after a gap of fifteen years and a landmark visit where our leaders decided to elevate our relations from Strategic Partnership to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This is testimony to the importance our respective leaders attach to our bilateral relations.



2017 is indeed a year of many milestones in our relationship with Vietnam and in the evolution of our Took East and Act East Policies. As you know, with the two countries celebrating the 45th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 10th Anniversary of our Strategic Partnership, 2017 has been declared the Year of Friendship and under this we hope to celebrate all aspects of our relations by organizing cultural activities, seminars, conferences, workshops, food festivals, exhibitions and road shows, etc. As Vice Minister of External Affairs, my agenda would be to further consolidate and elevate bilateral relations. We hope to do this through high level exchange of visits, including between political parties, our two governments, legislatures and States and Provinces of the two countries. It would also be the endeavour of Ministry of External Affairs to try and ensure regular convening of the established dialogue mechanisms and effective implementation of the agreements signed between our two countries and the vision set out by our leaders for the relationship.



Q: The economic cooperation is one of the five pillars of the strategic partnership between two countries. What do you think about the cooperation between two countries in this field, especially since the two sides have just upgraded the strategic partnership to the comprehensive strategic partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Hanoi in early September? What should India and Vietnam do to tap our strengths to promote economic and trade cooperation?



Secretary Preeti Saran: During Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Vietnam in September 2016, he and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc took the historic step to elevate the relationship to that of Strategic Comprehensive Partnership, and identified enhanced economic engagement as a strategic priority. Cooperation in defence industry, energy and energy conservation, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, engineering, agriculture and food processing, garment and textiles, leather and infrastructure projects are specific focus areas. PM Modi during his visit to Vietnam also announced a new Defence Line of Credit for Vietnam of USD 500 million for facilitating deeper defence industry cooperation.



A series of agreements have been signed ever since in the area of healthcare, mutual recognition of standards, finance, information technology and space cooperation that have created good frameworks for enhancing economic cooperation.



The bilateral trade is growing at a healthy pace and is currently around USD8 billion; our leaders have set a trade target of USD15 billion by 2020, and both sides are committed to achieving it. India is keen on increasing its investments in Vietnam, which is currently over USD1.2 billion, and would be tripling in a few years once some large infrastructure investments reach fruition. We would similarly like to invite Vietnamese business and industry to look at India as an attractive investment destination.



Though India and Vietnam share excellent political ties, the economic relations have not kept pace. In order to realize the trade target of USD15 billion by 2020 set by our leaders, we need to actively collaborate to enhance exchange of trade delegations, reach out to business and industry and encourage mutual investments which will boost trade. In November 2016, we hosted a high level trade delegation of CEOs led by the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).



We will also focus on trade promotion activities in textiles, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, gems and jewellery, commercial vehicles, auto components, machinery and equipment, leather products and footwear.

Tariff and non-tariff barriers, including some technical barriers to trade, remain significant impediments to development of bilateral trade and they are being addressed by both sides. India and Vietnam have agreed to facilitate trade flows between the two countries by minimizing the application of trade barriers, and step by step removal/abolishment of trade barriers in accordance with the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and India. While India has already lowered or eliminated tariffs on many commodities under the India-ASEAN FTA in goods, Vietnam has two years before such tariff reduction/elimination takes place. We believe that bilateral trade will receive a strong boost when tariffs for many commodities are eliminated or significantly reduced under this agreement.



The November 2016 visit of the CEO Delegation led by President of CII had generated immense interest in investing in renewable energy. Many Indian companies are in discussions with Vietnamese partners and provincial authorities for undertaking large scale solar and wind energy projects. We are optimistic that new projects in renewable energy would be starting shortly, especially because Indian companies have unique expertise, scale and experience in renewable sector due to Prime Minister Modis decision to install 175 GW of renewable power of which 100 GW is solar and 60 GW is wind energy.



Energy Conservation is another potential area in our bilateral economic cooperation. A MW saved is a MW produced at a significantly cheaper cost. During the recent visit of the Chairwoman of the National Assembly, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to India, an MOU was signed between the Energy Efficiency Service Limited (EESL) and EVN. EESL is in touch with several provinces for providing various energy efficiency solutions based on its experience of replacing 197 million ordinary bulbs with LED bulbs saving over USD1.5 billion and 25,000 million KWh annually and causing a significant reduction in Carbon Dioxide emissions.



In garment and textile, India and Vietnam share complementary strengths. Vietnam is strong in spinning and garments and is trying to diversify the sources of imports of fabrics, fibers, yarns and other accessories; India is a potential market to source these inputs.



Science and Technology cooperation is a very important sector. Our governments are closely collaborating to realise the peaceful uses of space and atomic energy technology and both sides have signed agreements in this regard during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Vietnam in September 2016 and visit of Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to India last month. We are also keen to promote greater interaction between our companies in information technology and software services, design and engineering services and in research and development.



Q: With the rapid reform and development, India is emerging as a leading economic, political power and playing an increasingly important role in maintaining the peace, stability and prosperity in Asia and Pacific as well as the world. In the context of the disputes in the South China Sea (East Sea) complicatedly developing, Vice Foreign Minister, can you tell Indian's view in resolving such disputes?

Secretary Preeti Saran: Our position on the East Sea has been consistent. As can be seen in the Joint Statement issued during Prime Minister Modis visit to Vietnam in September 2016, we reiterate our desire and determination to work together with Vietnam to maintain peace, stability, growth and prosperity in Asia and beyond. Noting the Award issued on July 12th 2016 of the Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the Annex VII to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS), we reiterate our support for peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and over flight, and unimpeded commerce, based on the principles of international law, as reflected notably in the UNCLOS. We call on all states to resolve disputes through peaceful means without threat or use of force and exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that could complicate or escalate disputes affecting peace and stability, respect the diplomatic and legal processes, fully observe the Declaration on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and soon finalize the Code of Conduct (COC). We also recognize that the sea lanes of communication passing through the South China Sea are critical for peace, stability, prosperity and development. India, as a State Party to the UNCLOS, urges all parties to show utmost respect for the UNCLOS, which establishes the international legal order of the seas and oceans.



Q: To promote cooperation with eastern countries, including ASEAN countries, India has shifted from the Look East to the Act East policy, what do you think about Vietnam's position in this policy?



Secretary Preeti Saran: Government of India has placed the new context and vision of the bilateral relationship in the framework of Indias Look East and Act East approaches of which Vietnam is an important pillar, and that of ASEAN, which is important to us in terms of history, geography and the economic and strategic space that we share. We welcome and appreciate the significant contribution of Vietnam to the ASEAN-India engagement in its capacity as ASEAN Coordinator for India for the period of 2015-2018. Both our countries are committed to strengthening our partnership within the India-ASEAN and Mekong-Ganga Cooperation frameworks. We value the cooperation and coordination between our two countries at regional and international fora./.
It's tipped to be the big success story of this year's Oscars.

And it seems that La La Land is well and truly the juggernaut of this year's Awards season, as director Damien Chazelle added another win to its substantial haul.

The film-maker and scrip writer, 32, bagged the big prize at the Directors Guild of America Awards on Saturday night - as he became the youngest recipient of the feature film award.

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Golden touch: It seems that La La Land is well and truly the juggernaut of this year's Awards season, as director Damien Chazelle added another win to its substantial haul

Damien was in good company on the night as his leading man and lady, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, were on hand to present him with the award.

The Rhode Island native was the top winner on the night at the 69th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards held in Beverly Hills, California.

And it seems that he will now be the hot favourite to walk away with the Academy Award for Best Director, as 12 of the past 13 winners of the DGA Best Feature have gone on to claim that prize.

In fact all but seven of all the Best Film winners at the DGA Awards since 1948 have gone on to win the Best Director gong at the Oscars.

It's a winner: The director, 32, bagged the big prize at the Directors Guild of America Awards on Saturday night - as he became the youngest recipient of the feature film award

As he collected his award, Damien said that he'd made La La Land to give people - especially those struggling in the arts - hope, Variety reports.

'I would hope that the movie gives some kind of hope,' he said. 'If theres one message I want to get across, its that just chasing those dream  no matter how unrealistic, in fact sometimes because they seem unrealistic  is the most important thing.'

He added: 'They may not come true but chasing those dreams sometimes creates a ripple effect. I really do believe that.'

Winning big: The Rhode Island native was the top winner on the night at the 69th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards held in Beverly Hills, California

His stars: Damien was in good company on the night as his leading man and lady, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, were on hand to present him with his nomination plaque for the category

Hope: Upon collecting the award he said: 'If theres one message I want to get across, its that just chasing those dream  no matter how unrealistic, in fact sometimes because they seem unrealistic  is the most important thing'

And as only befitting a tinsel town awards ceremony, the stars were out in force - with the great and the good of the film industry descending on the Hilton Hotel.

Kerry Washington was simply stunning in an understated but very sexy black dress.

The 40-year-old actress sizzled in the over-the-knee gown which featured a plunging neckline which revealed lots of cleavage.

Making the dress even sexier, it had a built-in choker that combine with the deep V-cut neckline, framed her exposed chest.

Simply stunning: Kerry Washington wowed in a low-cut LBD at the 69th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Beverly Hills, California

Dared to bare: The 40-year-old actress sizzled in the over-the-knee gown which featured a plunging neckline which revealed lots of cleavage

Oh baby! The dress clung to the Scandal star's body showing off her fantastic post-baby form

Saucy detail: Making the dress even sexier, it had a built-in choker that combine with the deep V-cut neckline, framed her exposed chest

The dress clung to the Scandal star's body showing off her fantastic post-baby form.

The actress welcomed her second child into the world in October, son Celeb. She and partner Nnamdi Asomugha, also have a two-year-old daughter Isabelle.

Keeping with dress' sleek and understated theme, the star wore her hair slicked back.

With her cleavage already stealing the spotlight, Kerry skipped wearing a necklace but she did have some bling thanks to her small stud earrings and silver strappy shoes.

She was not the only one opting to put a little cleavage on display.

A hint of skin: Emma skipped the carpet but made sure to make the awards in a gown featuring a keyhole cutout

Stylish team: Emma was joined by her always dapper La La Land co-star Ryan

Crowing glory: The star wore her famous flame haired locks out and styled with a side part

Sparkle bright: The gown featured beading and pears splashed across it like stars and had a draped back

Emma Stone skipped the carpet but made sure to make the awards in a gown featuring a keyhole cutout.

While she did not dare to bare as much as Kerry, the actress flashed some skin in the black dress.

The gown featured beading and pears splashed across it like stars and had a draped back.

Making them green with envy: Laverne Cox also made a dramatic entrance into the Beverly Hilton Hotel

Cheeky but chic: For the annual awards, the Orange Is The New Black star opted for an emerald gown with a cleavage-baring neckline

Devil's in the detail: The dress had a flowing chiffon layer on one side and a thigh high split at the front as well as beading detail

Emma was joined by her always dapper La La Land co-star Ryan Reynolds.

The pair were at the awards to present their director Damien Chazelle with a plaque for being nominated for best Feature Film director - a category he went on to win.

Laverne Cox made a dramatic entrance into the Beverly Hilton Hotel as she joined a star studded crowd to celebrate the year's best directors in television and film.

Pretty in pattern: Amy Adams - who arrived late - wore a white with yellow pattern dress

The 32-year-old was already unmissable in a green gown but further ensured all eyes were on her by tossing back a chiffon layer of the dress' skirt behind as she posed for pictures.

For the annual awards, the Orange Is The New Black star opted for an emerald gown with a cleavage-baring neckline.

The dress had a flowing chiffon layer on one side and a thigh high split at the front as well as beading detail.

Striking in silver: Nicole Kidman took a different approach in an attempt to stand out, wearing a heavily embellished gown that caught the light with every turn

Precious metal: The Australian actress wore a silver cocktail length frock that was covered in silver beads on a semi-translucent silver material with a nude under layer

Working the room: Nicole's pint sized co-star was seen schmoozing the Hollywood crowd and certainly impressed Rooney Mara

While usually her locks are golden, Laverne wore a dark wavy wig for the awards which complemented her dark accessories namely patent black pumps and a small rectangular handbag.

Nicole Kidman took a different approach in an attempt to stand out, wearing a heavily embellished gown that caught the light with every turn.

The Australian actress wore a silver cocktail length frock that was covered in silver beads on a semi-translucent silver material with a nude under layer.

There's nothing like a Dame: Helen Mirren also opted to shine in silver but proved she remains Hollywood's rebel

Can't be tamed: The 71-year-old - who attended with husband Taylor Hackford - wore a white squire with shiny silver dots but added a grey sweater to mix things up

DGA Award winners Feature Film Damien Chazelle La La Land First-Time Director Feature Film Garth Davis Lion Documentary Ezra Edelman O.J.: Made in America Dramatic Series Miguel Sapochnik Game of Thrones, 'The Battle of the Bastards' Comedy Series Becky Matyin Veep, 'Inauguration' Movies For TV And Miniseries Steven Zaillian The Night Of, 'The Beach' Variety/News/Talk/Sports  Regularly Scheduled Programming Don Roy King Saturday Night Live, 'Host: Dave Chappelle' Variety/News/Talk/Sports  Specials Glenn Weiss The 70th Annual Tony Awards Reality Programs J. Rupert Thompson American Grit, 'The Finale Over the Falls' Children's Programs Tina Mabry An American Girl Story  Melody 1963: Love Has to Win Commercials Derek Cianfrance Chase, Nike Golf Advertisement

The 49-year-old perfectly matched her clutch to the bedazzled gown and also added some silver strappy shoes.

Helen Mirren also opted to shine in silver but proved she remains Hollywood's rebel.

The 71-year-old - who attended with husband Taylor Hackford - wore a white squire with shiny silver dots but added a grey sweater to mix things up.

That's different: Also breaking the red carpet rules was Mandy Moore who opted to wear a suit

Oerfect match: The This Is Us star opted for a black ensemble featured cropped pants and a figure skimming jacket while her co-star Milo Ventimiglia also wore a black suit

Followed suit: French actress and Academy Award nominee Isabelle Huppert also opted to not wear a dress

Host with the most: Jayne Lynch was the night's emcee and wore wide legged pants with a sheer black shirt

Also breaking the red carpet rules was Mandy Moore who opted to wear a suit.

The This Is Us star opted for a black ensemble featured cropped pants and a figure skimming jacket.

The actress accessorized with black heels with pearl detail on the toes and a gold envelope metal clutch.

Theatrical frock: Sarah Paulson dressed with lot of drama wearing a gothic semi-sheer velvet flocked gown

Back to the future: The dress looked like it was from another century but its sheer bra-exposing top made it a dress of today

Kissing co stars: Cuba Gooding Jnr. gave Sarah a big kiss as they posed up on the carpet

Daring documentary: The pair presented Ezra Edelman with the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary trophy for O.J.: Made in America

Low key and lovely: Mary Elizabeth Winstead wore a black and blue dress which featured a sexy bralette top

Sarah Paulson dressed with lot of drama wearing a gothic semi-sheer velvet flocked gown.

The dress looked like it was from another century but its sheer bra-exposing top made it a dress of today.

The dress had long flowing batwing sleeves with tassels on the end and also had a mini-train.

Blast from the past: America Ferrera's dress looked a little Eighties prom with puffy sleeves

Got the rest right: While her dress was not a winner, the star's side swept bob and hot red lips ensured she was still red carpet ready

Leggy display: Keesha Sharp wore a two toned gown with a very high split that showed off her gorgeous gams

Keeping this conservative: While her fellow stars showed off lots of skin, Anna Chlumsky opted for something a little less exposing

Low key and lovely: The My Girl star wore wearing a Josie Natori dress and Via Spiga heels

While the women went all out, most of the male stars opted to go for more classic looks.

It was tuxes across the board for Michael Fassbender, Orlando Bloom and Josh Hartnett.

Josh opted to wear a black tux with satin lapels but that was the only thing that separated him and his two dinner companions.

Date night: Lou Diamond Phillips and wife Yvonne Boismier Phillips attended the event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel

Classic look: It was tuxes across the board for (L-R) Michael Fassbender, Orlando Bloom and Josh Hartnett

Slick in satin: Josh opted to wear a black tux with satin lapels but that was the only thing that separated him and his two dinner companions

Rough night? Casey Affleck looked a little disheveled as he took to the podium

Producer Brian Grazer injected a bit of his own personality into his ensemble by wearing his tux with black sneakers that had roses embroidered on them.

The annual awards recognizes directors of film, television as well as advertising.

La La Land was once again continued its award show domination that it has shown so far this award season winning the Feature Film category.

Doing it his way: Producer Brian Grazer injected a bit of his own personality into his ensemble by wearing his tux with black sneakers that had roses embroidered on them

Posing up a storm: David Hasselhoff and director John Singleton looked dapper in their suits

Big win: Lion director Garth Davis may have not got an Oscar nod, but he was recognized on Saturday night taking home Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film

Top honors: Derek Cianfrance won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials

At 32 writer and director Damien is the youngest to ever win the award for a feature film.

It was the first time he and the rest of the Feature Film category directors - Barry Jenkins for Moonlight, Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea, Garth Davis for Lion and Denis Villeneueve for Arrival - have been nominated at the awards.

Damien will face off against all of them sans for Garth at the Oscars at the end of the month.

But while Garth may have not got an Oscar nod, he was recognized on Saturday night for his work in Lion taking home Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film.

Hollywood heavy weights: Director Sir Ridley Scott, actress Giannina Facio, cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, and Orlando chatted away at the awards
After last year's freak disaster on Coronation Street involving a petrol drenched David Platt crashing his car on the cobbles, one might presume the soap's writers would be steering clear of any more vehicular catastrophes in the near future.

But unfortunately for Luke Britton, this isn't the case.

The mechanic is to be involved in a plot line which will see him working under a car at the garage, potentially ending in tragedy.

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Crushing news: Coronation Street's Luke Britton faces sudden death when a car cascades down on him at Kevin Webster's garage

Car trouble: After last year's freak disaster on Coronation Street involving a petrol drenched David Platt crashing his car on the cobbles, one might presume the soap's writers would be steering clear of any more vehicular catastrophes in the near future

Luke (who is played by Dean Fagan) will be underneath a vehicle on axle stands when it will become loose and collapse down on top of him.

Stuck underneath, and with the prospect of it slipping further and crushing him to death, Luke will eventually be discovered by girlfriend Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) who, in a panic, rushes to his aid.

A bypassing Adam Barlow (Sam Robertson) notices the catastrophe and helps Tracy to jack the car back up, attempting to save the life of Luke, while he screams beneath the vehicle.

It would appear Luke narrowly avoids imminent death, as photos show him being pulled out from under the car and recovering from the ordeal with Adam and Tracy.

Jacked up: Luke Britton is to be involved in a plot line which will see him working under a car at the garage, potentially ending in tragedy

Get him out: Stuck underneath, and with the prospect of it slipping further and crushing him to death, Luke will eventually be discovered by girlfriend Tracy Barlow who, in a panic, rushes to his aid

It's at this point that Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) appears.

Given that he owns the garage and hadn't provided Luke with a safety stand, he takes full blame for the accident.

Feisty Tracy is so distraught that she vows to take legal action against him - something broke Kevin can't afford.

Actor Dean, 28, talked to the Daily Star about shooting the scene.

A close shave: A bypassing Adam Barlow notices the catastrophe and helps Tracy to jack the car back up, attempting to save the life of Luke, while he screams beneath the vehicle

Terrifying: It would appear Luke narrowly avoids imminent death, as photos show him being pulled out from under the car and recovering from the ordeal with Adam and Tracy

See you in court: Feisty Tracy is so distraught that she vows to take legal action against him - something broke Kevin can't afford

'When we filmed the accident it was a little bit scary,' he said. 'But my dads a mechanic and ever since I was young Ive always been under cars with him in slightly precarious situations.'

The dramatic moment will be aired in Friday night's episode of Coronation Street on ITV.

Meanwhile, there's further dramatic news to come from the set of the long-running soap.

Is this the end for Ken? Coronation Street legend Barlow 'set to suffer ANOTHER stroke' as fans fear character's days are numbered

Ken Barlow is allegedly set to suffer his second stroke in six months, and is facing a story that might see the end of him for good.

With plot rumours circling around Ken's decision to add a Do Not Resuscitate order to his medical records - and his nephew Adam's desperate quest for fast money - it would seem the infamous character is facing the axe.

'Ken had only just recovered from the terrible stroke he suffered in October, so this latest attack hits him twice as hard,' an insider from the soap has revealed. 'He is rushed to hospital and his life is very much hanging in the balance.

'Obviously for someone who was so recently ill, the chances of him coming out of it alive  let alone unscathed  are drastically reduced!

Round two: 'Ken had only just recovered from the terrible stroke he suffered in October, so this latest attack hits him twice as hard,' an insider from the soap has revealed

'The chances of him coming out of it alive are drastically reduced!' Coronation Street's Ken Barlow set to suffer ANOTHER stroke, this time killing off the long-running character

'And as he is a very much loved character, the bosses are expecting viewers to be gripped as well.'

Bill Roache - who has played the role on British TV screens since the soap's inception in 1960 - is therefore facing the chop.

The actor, 84, has always insisted that he would only ever leave the cobbles if he was written out or killed off.

Could it be the time has finally come?
It's her unwavering morning routine - hop in the car and head to Starbucks.

And Caitlyn Jenner's daily coffee run does not include a pitstop to meet fans, as one found out on Saturday.

The reality star had stopped by her local - perched in a scenic spot beside the PCH in Malibu, California - when she was approached by a star-spotter.

No selfies! Caitlyn Jenner gets her coffee fix at Satrbucks in Malibu on Saturday... but doesn't look very pleased to be spotted by a fan

After years in the spotlight Caitlyn - who was previously known as Bruce Jenner before undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2015 - deftly side stepped the man before continuing on her way.

Caitlyn was dressed down for her outing in jeans and a sweater, but as always looked polished with perfectly applied make-up.

The 67-year-old star is busy prepping to release her memoir, The Secrets of My Life, which will be released in April this year.

Outing: Caitlyn was dressed down for her outing in jeans and a sweater, but as always looked polished with perfectly applied make-up

In a new video Caitlyn admitted she endured a 'long personal struggle', but she has finally found happiness with herself.

She said: 'Imagine denying your core and soul. Then add to it the most impossible expectations that people have for you because you are the personification of The American Male Athlete.

'After a lifetime of secrets... and a long personal struggle... Caitlyn Jenner is finally learning to live as her true self.'

No chance! Caitlyn - who was previously known as Bruce Jenner before undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2015 - deftly side stepped the man before continuing on her way

And Caitlyn - who has daughters Kendall, 21, and Kylie, 19, with ex-wife Kris Jenner - has admitted time has been 'moving so quickly' for her over the past few months, she is glad to be able to take some time to "reflect" on her major transformation.

Speaking previously, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star said: 'Things have been moving so quickly that it will be nice to slow things down a bit and take the proper time to reflect on this journey.

'I couldn't pick a better team... to make sure this story is told with a lot of honesty and care.'

Caitlyn first announced she was working on the memoir in January 2016, and took to social media in November last year to reveal the details of the upcoming publication, and her excitement at the project.
He has dated a bevy of beautiful women over the years.

Now Ryan Seacrest appears to have rekindled his love with an old flame, Shayna Taylor.

The 42-year-old celebrity bachelor turned up at a Los Angeles gym with the gorgeous 41-year-old model and fitness trainer on Saturday, adding grist to the rumour mill.

Such a gent: Ryan Seacrest toted a large bag when he and old flame Shayna Taylor turned up to an LA gym together on Saturday, adding to rumours that they are now a couple again

And both were wearing eye-catching neon pink sneakers.

The former American Idol host teamed his with a grey hoodie, baggy black sweat pants and a black cap.

Hiding his eye behind shades, Ryan carried a black bag that looked big enough to hold all the things that both he and Shayna would need at the gym.

In step: The 42-year-old former American Idol host and radio and TV personality and the 41-year-old model and personal trainer both wore neon pink sneakers

Junk in the trunk: Ryan checked things out in the back of his car as Shayna looked on

The beautiful blonde showed off her slender figure in skin-tight patterned leggings, a black, round neck T-shirt and a zip-up jacket.

The couple, who dated for 18 months spanning 2013 and 2014, have been seen together frequently over the past couple of months.

Ryan took her as his date to Guess co-founder Paul Marciano's wedding in Bora Bora over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Back in the day: Ryan and Shayna, who split in 2014 after an 18 month relationship, are here seen on vacation in Uruguay in November 2013

And they were spotted enjoying a day on their bikes in the ocean-side neighbourhood of Venice in Los Angeles in early December.

The radio DJ and television producer/personality was snapped shopping with Shayne, who hails from New Mexico, at Barneys New York in Beverly Hills last month

While he seems like the eternal bachelor, Ryan recently revealed that he would love to settle down.

Free wheeling: The couple have been seen on many dates over the past few months, including this biking trip in the LA neighbourhood of Venice in December

The couple who shop together: The TV and radio celebrity gallantly held the door for Shayna when they checked out Barneys New York in Beverly Hills last month

Backstage at 102.7 KIIS-FM's Jingle Ball in December, he spoke openly about the idea of tying the knot.

When asked about his apparently single relationship status, he quipped: 'Well, how do you know I don't have a date here?'

He then went on to say that he'd love to say 'I do' when the time is right.

Former love: Ryan's last significant relationship was with Dancing With The Stars' Julianna Hough. The couple were together for three years before splitting in March 2013, two months after walking the red carpet Golden Globes awards in Los Angeles

The wealthy bachelor's more significant relationships include a high profile hook-up with Teri Hatcher in 2006 during her time on Desperate Housewives.

Ryan had a brief fling with English Australian actress and model Sophie Monk in 2008.

And he was involved for nearly three years with Dancing With The Stars beauty Julianne Hough, until the pair split in March of 2013.

Meanwhile, Ryan will likely be watching the Super Bowl on Sunday as he shared an Instagram of himself as a youngster in an Atlanta Falcons jacket that he joked probably still fitted him. The Falcons are up against the New England Braves.
Her future looks very different following this week's sad news of a split with Luke Crodden.

But Scarlett Moffatt didn't seem to be letting it bring her down on Sunday, when she returned to Instagram with a smiley selfie, once again showing off her recent weight loss.

The stunning television personality seemed to still be snapping from her new London home - which she has shared with Luke since January - as she prepares to move back in with her Gogglebox family following the split.

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Back on Instagram: Scarlett Moffatt put a brave face on things on Sunday night, as she Instagrammed an outfit she was wearing after news of her split from Luke Crodden

New reports this weekend, suggest that Scarlett will abandon the home she was due to share with Luke and will therefore return to The Moffatts' abode.

The Bishop Auckland, County Durham home that Scarlett originally shared with mum Betty and dad Mark, as well as nine-year-old sister Ava-Grace, is the same one where she originally found fame on Channel 4's Gogglebox.

A source told The Mirror this weekend that she was back with her parents for support as she recovers from her break-up.

'She's not going to get over Luke in a day,' the insider explained. 'They had talked about marriage and the future a lot.

Split: Scarlett and boyfriend Luke called it quits last week, with sources claiming that she was hoping to concentrate on her career

Moving out? New reports claim that Scarlett is due to leave the London apartment (pictured) that she shared with Luke since January

Girlie touches: Scarlett had boasted about the new home, showing off the decor last month

Back in with the parents: Insiders claim that Scarlett is back with mum Betty (left) and dad Mark (right) in the Bishop Auckland, County Durham home made famous by Gogglebox, while she recovers from the break-up

'Splitting up has been hard for both of them. Scarlett has got an incredibly close group of pals, though, and extremely supportive parents. They are rallying round and really making things easier.'

News of a split between Scarlett and her hairdresser boyfriend emerged on Friday, when it was revealed that a 'sad' Scarlett hoped to remain friends with her ex-beau.

Late last month, the couple looked to have been in a good place with Scarlett taking Luke to the National Television Awards where she was working as a backstage presenter.

Split: Scarlett and Luke attended last month's National Television Awards together, just two weeks ago

Friends with the family: Officially, Scarlett had taken her father (right) as her date, so the split will have no doubt come as a surprise to all (here with Luke, left, and Betty, centre)

But according to The Sun, the Gogglebox star has been so busy following her return from the jungle, that she and Luke have been struggling to spend time together.

A source close to the couple told the newspaper: 'Scarlett is sad about her break up with Luke but she really hopes they can remain friends.

'It's a positive thing that Scarlett's schedule is so busy at the moment as it will take her mind off the split.'

She's sad about it: Scarlett is hoping she and her former beau can remain friends

Together: Scarlett and Luke, pictured together in December, recently moved out of her native Newcastle to London

A return to her family home could uproot Scarlett's sharp work trajectory, which has landed her huge TV jobs in the British capital.

The 26-year-old star recently signed up to be a co-presenter alongside Ant & Dec for their show Saturday Night Takeaway and will also host a reboot of Channel 4 dating show Streetmate.

'At the moment she needs to concentrate on her career. After all, she's got plenty of time to settle down in the future,' the insider added.

The split will come as a surprise to fans of the reality star, with Scarlett previously making no secret of the fact she felt ready to make a long term commitment to her beau.

'My friend works at a jewellers and he invited me over. I said, 'While I'm here, I might as well try some rings on'', she told The Mirror last November before heading to the Australian jungle for I'm A Celeb.

Falling apart: Scarlett and her boyfriend's failed romance may come as a shock to fans

Insta-official: Scarlett regularly posted images of she and her beau on social media

Happier times: Scarlett and Luke even revealed they had a baby name chat

'I pointed out which one I liked and what my ring size is, just so Luke knows which one to get in the future. If that isn't a hint, I don't know what is.'

The couple even confided to OK! magazine in December that they had discussed names for their future children.

'We've had a baby name chat,' she told the publication, with Luke revealing she wanted to call their daughter Aurora.

Priorities: Scarlett will now instead focus on her burgeoning career after winning I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here last year

It hasn't always been smooth sailing for the pair - last August it was reported Scarlett was concerned her hard-earned cash could be squandered by her beau.

In texts obtained by The Sun Online, the 25-year-old reality starlet appeared to contact her beau's ex-girlfriend after hearing that he may have been lying about his finances.

Initially tracking down the former flame through Facebook in May, Scarlett's message allegedly read: 'I was wrongly fobbed off into believing Luke had money and owned a home in London etc which obv I found out isn't true which doesn't bother as I earn my own money but I don't want to be taking the p**s out of.'

She continued: 'My friends and family are just worrying I'm a meal ticket and as lovely as he I just want to make sure that this isn't true although when I hear things like this I just don't want the same to happen [sic].'

Woo! Scarlett took to Twitter during the National Television Awards where she shared a snapshot with Ant & Dec, who'll she'll work with on Saturday Night Takeaway

After hearing from Luke's ex that he still allegedly owed her money from the loans, Scarlett seemed adamant that the news was enough to break them up.

She wrote back: 'I've finished it off with him, two of the main reasons being money and the day that's two people that have said he told them he loved them after a week, he's obviously perfect his game playing and will do this to every girl [sic].'

However, despite being seemingly certain that she was calling things off with her beau, Scarlett clearly had a change of heart, claiming he had been honest with her about his past.

A representative for Scarlett confirmed the split but had no further comment when contacted by Mail Online.
They were the pictures that suggested Sam Frost has moved on following the end of her 18-months relationship with Sasha Mielczarek.

And it's claimed the construction manager is 'angry' after images emerged of the original Bachelorette getting touchy-feely with her good friend Dave Bashford.

According to a friend of his, quoted in this week's Woman's Day magazine: 'Sashas a typical proud Aussie bloke and he thinks out of courtesy Sam should wait a little longer until shes seen canoodling with another guy'.

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'Sashas a typical proud Aussie bloke': According to a friend, the former Bachelorette winner is angry with Sam for 'canoodling' with another guy so publicly and so soon after their split

Touchy-feely picnic: Photos emerged of Sam and her friend Dave Bashford at an Australia Day picnic with friends with their arms around one another for most of the outing

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Sasha for comment.

The pair announced their split in December, two days after Christmas.

And one month later, on Australia Day, Sam was pictured with her arm around Dave, while he was touching her knee tenderly.

The pair appeared inseparable as they sat among friends at a Sydney park for a picnic.

Upset? It's claimed the construction manager is 'angry' after images emerged of the original Bachelorette getting touchy-feely with her good friend Dave Bashford

Moving on? The pictures of Sam with Dave suggested The Bachelorette has moved on following the end of her 18-months relationship with Sasha

'Mates': A rep has denied a relationship between Sam and Dave (pictured), telling Daily Mail Australia that 'Dave is one of Sam's mates'

However, Sam's representative told Daily Mail Australia when the pictures first came out: 'Dave is one of Sams mates, hes not a boyfriend'.

The reality TV personality's rep added that the magazine 'ran a series of pap photos without checking any facts'.

Adding to the theory that Sam and Dave are merely 'mates' it was claimed the pair have been friends for years.

However, according to , OK! magazine the duo are reported to be ready to move in together just months after being introduced to one another.

Single lady? It's understood the Sam (pictured) met Dave through her former housemate Sarah-Mae Amey last October and the pair are believed to have been inseparable since

It's understood the pair met through Sam's former housemate Sarah-Mae Amey last October and have been inseparable since.

Meanwhile, there were rumours Sasha was dating Gold Coast beauty Elisa Nolan, a friend of the massage therapist's told Daily Mail Australia last month the duo are simply long-time family friends and not romantically involved.

Sasha and Sam announced their split in late December following months of speculation the pair had called it quits.

Summer split: Sasha and Sam announced their split in late December following months of speculation the pair had called it quits

'After 18 months together, Sam Frost and Sasha Mielczarek have come to a mutual decision to end their relationship,' read a statement she released at the time.

The couple dated after meeting on the reality TV series in 2014 and were building a house together at the time of their split.

Following the summer split, the 27-year-old appears happier than ever on social media, telling fans she is 'feeling like me again' recently in an Instagram post.

'Feeling like me again': Sam appearing to be happier than ever on social media and admitted recently to feeling like her old self
NY protest pushes back against Trump, supports gay rights

About 3,000 people demonstrated in New York Saturday against Donald Trump, voicing solidarity with LGBT groups, Muslims and others they fear the US president could target.

In bright afternoon sun, protesters massed around the historic Stonewall Inn, a powerful symbol of the gay community and its hard-won rights, in Greenwich Village.

Waving rainbow and American flags, a colorful crowd that included people wearing pink "pussy hats," a symbol of the women's marches that gathered around the globe two weeks ago, chanted slogans such as: "Resist" and "No hate! No fear! Refugees are welcome here!"

People hold signs and flags at a rally in front of the Stonewall Inn in solidarity with immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and the LGBT community on February 4, 2017 in New York Bryan R. Smith (20202243A/AFP)

The protests were called in response to Trump's decree late Friday that sought to bar citizens from seven mostly Muslim countries from entering the United States. A federal judge later that day blocked its implementation.

Saturday marked the first time since the billionaire realty TV star was sworn in on January 20 that the gay community held a major protest in Manhattan.

Several local politicians delivered speeches calling for an end to Trump's travel-related restrictions, particularly the refugee ban, including powerful New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer.

Gabriel Blau, one of the organizers, said the LGBT community is made up of "immigrants, Muslims, women... we are no strangers to what it is to be under attack."

In a city and community that voted overwhelmingly for Democrat Hillary Clinton, some protesters took harsh tones.

"I came because we have a fascist at the head of the United States and we have to come together to resist him," said filmmaker Steve Lippman.

The Stonewall Inn is the site where riots broke out on June 28, 1969 after police raided the gay bar in the middle of the night to enforce a law that at the time barred homosexuals from being served alcohol.

The episode was considered a major catalyst for the LGBT rights movement in the United States. Former president Barack Obama designated it a national monument in June 2016.
Thousands protest in US, Europe over Trump travel ban

From London and Paris to New York and Washington, thousands of people took to the streets to protest US President Donald Trump's travel ban amid a fierce legal battle over the order.

The biggest demonstration by far on Saturday took place in the British capital, where an estimated 10,000 people turned out, chanting "Theresa May: Shame on You" to denounce the British prime minister's support for the new US leader.

Brandishing placards declaring "No to scapegoating Muslims" and "Socialism not Trumpism," the protesters marched from the US embassy toward May's Downing Street office.

Thousands took to the streets in cities around the world and the US to protest President Donald Trump's travel ban, with the largest demonstration in London where some 10,000 turned out NIKLAS HALLE'N (AFP)

In an executive order issued on January 27, Trump slapped a blanket ban on nationals of seven mainly Muslim countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- barring their entry to the United States for 90 days.

Refugees were also barred from entry for 120 days, except those from Syria, who were blocked indefinitely.

On Friday, a US federal judge temporarily suspended the ban, a move which the Republican president vowed to fight.

Late Saturday, the Justice Department appealed the block on the travel ban but a federal appeals court rejected any immediate move to reinstate it.

"We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win," Trump told reporters ahead of the appeals court decision.

- 'Dump Trump' -

About 3,000 people demonstrated in Trump's hometown of New York where protests against the property magnate-turned-world leader take place almost daily.

Activists and supporters gathered outside the Stonewall Inn, a landmark of the gay rights movement in Greenwich Village, to show support for Muslims and others affected by Trump's immigration order.

Democratic Senate minority leader Charles Schumer led the crowd -- which carried rainbow flags and Americans flags -- in cheers of "Dump Trump."

In Washington, hundreds marched from the White House to Capitol Hill.

"Donald, Donald can't you see, we don't want you in DC," chanted the demonstrators in the largely Democratic-leaning US capital.

"I was born and raised here and for the first time in my life, I don't feel safe," said Abu Bakkar, 26, whose parents are originally from Pakistan.

The Department of Defense consultant said the new president "has revealed hate that's been underground for so long. He has divided one of the greatest countries in the world."

At least 2,000 people marched near Trump's Florida golf club as the president and First Lady Melania Trump attended a Red Cross gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

"You know, my father fought World War II," protestor Rob Resaid said. "For years and years, so many people fought for freedom in this country and now it's being taken away."

"We have to stand now before all of our rights are taken away, before we become the pariah of the world."

- Anti-Trump petition -

In Britain, more than 1.8 million people have signed a petition saying Trump should not be afforded a formal state visit because it would embarrass Queen Elizabeth II.

"We're going to bring this capital to a halt on the day he comes over. We are going to make it impossible for him to have a state visit," Chris Nineham, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, told AFP.

The Guardian newspaper said around 10,000 people attended the London protest, while organizers claimed 40,000.

Elsewhere in Europe, about 1,000 people turned out in both Paris and Berlin, while smaller gatherings of several hundred people took place in provincial British cities including Manchester and Birmingham.

"We are here to say we don't accept hate," said 20-year-old American Michael Jacobs, co-organizer of the Paris rally, surrounded by signs saying "Refugees are welcome!"

In Berlin, protesters rallied in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

"I hope they will change something, but I am really disappointed," said Mahsa Zamani, a 26-year-old Iranian medical student who had been due to head to a Florida hospital for an internship.

"It is still discrimination, and I don't know if I really feel like going even if they are changing (the rules)."

In Hong Kong, hundreds of expatriate workers marched through the city center on Sunday to protest the "tyrannical and fascist" ban, in the Asian hub's first major protest against Trump.

Many were women from the Philippines and Indonesia employed in Hong Kong as domestic workers. Protesters chanted, "US imperialist, number one terrorist!"

"We are very worried that what Donald Trump is doing will also be adopted by other states who believe that their nation is the greatest nation without the migrants," activist and domestic worker Eni Lestari said outside the US Consulate General.

Protesters march on Pennsylvania Avenue while protesting against US President Donald Trump's recent action on refugees entering the US MOLLY RILEY (AFP)

Demonstrators protest the executive order by US President Donald Trump banning immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries at Los Angeles International Airport Kyle Grillot (AFP)

People protest outside the Trump Plaza Hotel, in West Palm Beach, Florida, against the executive orders issued by US President Donald Trump Antoni BELCHI (AFP)
Calm returns to flashpoint Ukraine town as Trump pledges to help

Fighting subsided around a flashpoint Ukrainian town on Sunday following a week-long surge in violence that prompted US President Donald Trump to pledge to help bring peace to the European Union's backyard.

The Ukrainian military said in the late afternoon that no soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours for the first time since fighting over the blue-collar town of Avdiivka soared last Sunday.

A total of 27 people have died in the battered town while eight more were killed in other parts of the war zone that covers the Russian-backed eastern separatist fiefdoms of Lugansk and Donetsk.

A Ukrainian Forces tank is stationed outside a building in the flashpoint eastern town of Avdiivka, north of the pro-Russian rebels' de facto capital of Donetsk, on February 2, 2017 Aleksey FILIPPOV (AFP)

AFP reporters on the scene said the streets of Avdiivka were quiet and no shelling could be heard from the outskirts where both sides have their big guns stationed.

Ukrainian military spokesman Sergiy Klymenko told AFP that a pause in hostilities agreed by the two sides came into effect from 8:00 am (0600 GMT).

Yet he stressed that it was only a verbal deal and not on paper.

"We are still along way off a complete ceasefire," Kiev military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk added in Kiev.

Klymenko said the truce was aimed at allowing workers to repair broken power lines after many in the town of 25,000 -- nearly 300 of whom have been evacuated -- spent days without power or heat and only limited supplies of water.

- Different spins -

Ukraine said the overall level of rebel shelling across the conflict zone had halved over the past day while the insurgents announced their frontline towns had not come under bombardment overnight.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's first conversation with the new US leader since his inauguration took place as the impoverished and battle-weary former Soviet republic worries that Trump is seeking to build a friendship with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Some analysts believe this potential improvement in relations with Moscow had emboldened the rebels and was behind the Avdiivka carnage.

Others attributed it to a battle for power within the insurgency movement and the right for its warlords to brag about who staged the biggest attack.

Trump used Saturday's call to promise to try to push for an end to the war but appeared to stop short of offering the sort of staunch backing Ukraine enjoyed under the Barack Obama administration.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," the White House quoted Trump as saying.

The White House further said that the two leaders had a "good call" but provided few other details except to note that a meeting between Trump and Poroshenko was being arranged for the future.

Poroshenko himself put a more positive spin on the high-profile conversation.

A statement issued by his office thanked Trump for his "firm support of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity".

It added that the two leaders expressed "deep concern" about the spike in fighting in Avdiivka and underscored the need for an "immediate ceasefire".

- 'Aggressive actions' -

The Ukrainian presidency also said that they "spoke in favour of energising dialogue at all levels with the new US administration".

All those comments were missing from the release issued by the White House.

The talks follow Trump's phone conversation with Putin on January 28 that both sides described as constructive.

The 33-month conflict began shortly after Ukraine ousted its Russian-backed leader in February 2014.

Moscow responded by annexing Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in March 2014 before allegedly plotting the eastern insurgency to keep Ukraine under its thumb.

Washington's UN ambassador Nikki Haley on Thursday condemned Russia's "aggressive actions" in Ukraine -- a surprising attack given Trump's warm words for Putin.

Russia denies any responsibility for the unrest and blames the United States for igniting three months of massive street protests that turned Ukraine toward the West.

The entire conflict has claimed more than 10,000 lives and become one of Europe's bloodiest crises since the 1990s Balkans wars.

Ukraine fighting flares S.Ramis/J.Jacobsen (AFP)

Elderly residents of the flashpoint eastern town of Avdiivka, just north of the de facto rebel capital of Donetsk, sit by tents set-up for those who lost heat in their homes on February 2, 2017 Aleksey FILIPPOV (AFP)

Servicemen of the National Guard of Ukraine and communal workers load humanitarian aid for Avdiivka inhabitants on February 3, 2017 GENYA SAVILOV (AFP)
In the era of Trump, US companies must navigate a minefield

Starbucks promises to hire 10,000 refugees? President Donald Trump's supporters call for a boycott. Uber allegedly takes advantage of the president's anti-immigration decree to drum up business? Users unsubscribe from the app en masse.

Trump's election has laid bare the deep divisions of American society, a discord that has forced many businesses to walk a fine line to avoid alienating consumers.

"Companies that were working very hard to stay neutral no longer can," says brand expert Bruce Turkel. "The biggest problem is anything they say can be misinterpreted."

When Starbucks promised to hire 10,000 refugees it faced a boycott call from US President Donald Trump's supporters SAUL LOEB (AFP/File)

Sportswear manufacturer New Balance, for instance, found itself embroiled in controversy after its CEO Matt LeBretton voiced optimism following the election.

"We feel things are going to move in the right direction," he said in an interview, prompting outrage on Twitter, where users called for a massive boycott of the sneaker company, forcing the brand into damage control.

"From the people who make our shoes to the people who wear them, we believe in acting with the utmost integrity and we welcome all walks of life," the company said.

Beverage giant PepsiCo faced similar backlash from the opposite camp. Two days after the election, the company's CEO Indra Nooyi said her employees "were all in mourning."

"And the question that they're asking, especially those who are not white: Are we safe?" she said.

The retaliation came instantly: "It's probably a good time to pass on the Pepsi products," the conservative site The Gateway Pundit wrote.

- 'No margin in the middle' -

Calls for boycotts often proliferate on internet forums such as Reddit and 4Chan, as well as social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Others originate from more structured protests.

The Grab Your Wallet site, launched in October, lists companies suspected of favoring Trump, either because their leaders contributed to the real estate billionaire's campaign or because they do business with the Trump family.

The long "boycott" list includes the department store Macy's, retail giant Walmart and beer brand Yuengling.

"Brands have always been political, but now consumers can see more of this activity and are making decisions based on this information," the site's cofounder Shannon Coulter says.

The impact of boycott campaigns is difficult to evaluate, however, because calls to blacklist specific companies tend to get lost in the frenzy of social media.

"Consumers have an incredibly short memory," marketing expert Merry Carole Powers says.

Still, some companies fear losing customers by staying silent. Nordstrom, a chain of department stores, recently announced it would drop the Ivanka Trump clothing line belonging to the president's eldest daughter.

"There's no margin in the middle," says Turkel, who recently wrote the book "All About Them," focused on company branding. "If you stay quiet, you get nothing out of it."

"You have to figure out who your audience is and what are their values."

- Super Bowl stakes -

Uber appears to be playing by ear as it devises its strategy.

The company first distanced itself from Trump's executive order temporarily barring refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

But it then came under fire for allegedly taking advantage of a New York taxi driver protest against the ban, prompting a wave of unsubscriptions. As taxi drivers went on strike refusing to pick up passengers at JFK airport, Uber not only continued to operate but also dropped its surge pricing.

Rival Lyft was quick to set itself apart, vowing to donate $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed lawsuits against Trump's measures.

The strategy paid off with the Lyft app notching more iPhone downloads than Uber for the first time.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick then attempted to make amends by quitting Trump's business advisory group, saying "the executive order is hurting many people in communities all across America."

And with the approach of the Super Bowl -- one of the advertising world's central events -- every marketing move is facing microscopic scrutiny.

The beer giant Budweiser is slated to air an immigration-themed advertisement focused on the difficulties the brand's German founder faced when he arrived in the United States in the 19th century.

South of the border, consumer trends are less divided.

In Mexico, the campaign "Consumers, the cry of war" is urging people to boycott all American brands in protest against Trump's anti-Mexican threats.

Ginni Rometty (2ndL), CEO of IBM, Indra Nooyi (2ndR), CEO of Pepsi Co., and US President Donald Trump at a policy and strategy forum at the White House Brendan Smialowski (AFP/File)
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
Trump's White House: Five takeaways from Saturday

US President Donald Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago vacation retreat in Florida, but if his Twitter feed and a brewing legal showdown are any indication, rest and relaxation are not on the menu.

The president began his day with a Twitter storm of posts expressing his outrage at a court ruling that suspended his controversial ban on travelers from seven majority Muslim countries. By the end of the day, his administration was appealing the judge's decision.

Here are five takeaways from Saturday's events in Washington and Palm Beach:

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive for the 60th Annual Red Cross Gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach MANDEL NGAN (AFP)

- Administration appeal -

On Saturday evening, the US Justice Department appealed a temporary block that had been placed on Trump's travel ban.

The nationwide suspension of Trump's executive order had been put in place by Judge James Robart of the federal district court in Seattle the day before.

Trump let loose a tirade of tweets Saturday morning, including a rare criticism of an individual judge by a US president.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump posted.

When asked at a Red Cross gala Saturday evening if he was confident the government would prevail in its appeal, Trump responded: "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

- Travelers welcome -

In light of the court decision halting the traveler ban, both the State and Homeland Security departments announced on Saturday they were resuming normal practices concerning travelers from the affected countries.

"We have reversed the provisional revocation of visas," a State Department spokesman told AFP. The department had said some 60,000 travel visas had been revoked in compliance with the president's executive order.

The Department of Homeland Security wrote in a separate statement: "In accordance with the judge's ruling, DHS has suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections of the executive order."

- Global protests -

From London and Paris to New York and Washington, thousands of people took to the streets Saturday in American and European cities to protest the travel ban.

The biggest demonstration by far took place in the British capital, where an estimated 10,000 people turned out, chanting "Theresa May: Shame on You" to denounce the British prime minister's support for the new US leader.

Elsewhere in Europe, about 1,000 people demonstrated in both Paris and Berlin, while smaller gatherings of several hundred people took place in provincial British cities.

In the United States, around 3,000 people rallied in New York, hundreds marched in Washington and at least 2,000 protested near Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

- Pence's Supreme Court warning -

Vice President Mike Pence warned Democrats Saturday not to block a vote on the president's Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch, who faces a fierce confirmation battle.

He needs at least 60 votes from the country's 100 senators to prevent Democratic opponents from launching a filibuster -- a procedure that essentially prevents a vote through endless debate.

"Make no mistake about it. This would be an unwise and unprecedented act," Pence said during a speech in Philadelphia to a local chapter of the Federalist Society, a conservative group.

- Der Spiegel cover -

German news magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy Saturday with a cover depicting Trump holding the severed head of the Statue of Liberty in one hand and a bloodied knife in the other.

The image by US-Cuban artist and political refugee Edel Rodriguez also included the Trump slogan "America first."
10 killed in Pakistan avalanches: officials

At least 10 people were killed and three more trapped beneath thick snow after two avalanches crashed into a village and a border post in northern Pakistan on Sunday, officials said.

Disaster struck the village of Shershal in Chitral district, with four women and four children among the dead.

The avalanche hit eight homes at around 3:00 am, said Sheema Ayub Khan, a spokeswoman for the Disaster Management Authority in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Severe weather hits Pakistan every year, with avalanches in winter and flash floods in summer disrupting lives Pakistan's ISPR (ISPR/AFP/File)

She said three people had been rescued from the snow while at least three more were still trapped.

The region has been hit by heavy snowfall that is four feet (1.2 metres) deep in some places.

Shahab Hameed, a senior administration official in the area, confirmed the death toll, adding that most of the area's roads had been blocked.

"We are trying to reopen the roads and help people," he said.

Both officials reported that another snow avalanche hit a Pakistani military post at the Afghanistan border near Chitral overnight killing a soldier and injured six others.

An army statement confirmed the toll and said forces were working to rescue people.

Chitral district mayor, Maghfriat Shah, said the city's airport was shut because of the weather.

Another local official, Muhammad Ilyas, told AFP that people in the affected area were facing medicine and food shortages because of road closures and flight cancellations.

The region's electricity supply was also disrupted after the main transmission line was damaged.
Euthanising animals in shelters has been banned in Taiwan - nearly a year after a vet took her life after becoming distraught about the number of dogs she had to kill.

Jian Zhicheng was described as a 'butcher with beauty' and inundated with threatening messages after it emerged that she had euthanised more than 700 pets in two years.

Jian, who was 31 when she died in May last year, strived to rehome dogs, but had often had to put them down because there wasn't space for them in the state-run facilty where she worked.

Animal lover: Jian was described as kind and caring by colleagues, and she was distraught at the number of dogs she had to put down

Sad story: She was a target for animal rights activists, but campaign group PETA said she had been forced to do society's 'dirty work'

She revealed the number of dogs she had been forced to euthanise during a news bulletin.

The revelation made her a target for animal rights activists, and colleagues said she became upset at the criticism directed at her.

Taiwan's ban came into effect on Saturday, two years after it was passed by parliament, having given shelters time to prepare.

Jian's death sparked calls for authorities to improve conditions for animals and staff at shelters.

A protester holds a picture of dead dogs during a demonstration in front of the Taiwan government's agriculture council, in Taipei, in 2013

Following her suicide last year, a member of staff from the Office of Animal Care and Control in Taoyuan confirmed to MailOnline that Jian used to work as the director at the Xinwu Animal Protection and Education centre.

They told MailOnline: 'Public animal shelters are allowed to carry out mercy killings when they are running out of space, according to Taiwanese law.

'Since this is an animal shelter, it cannot refuse to take in stray animals, when there are more coming in than leaving, and in order to maintain the standard of the living quality of animals here, this is allowed.'

Elisa Allen, Associate Director of animal rights group PETA, told MailOnline: 'The reality is that there are simply not enough homes to go around for the millions of unwanted animals who are euthanised every year.

'It's left to shelter workers like Jian Zhicheng, who love animals so much, to do society's dirty work because so many people fail to do the one thing that could alleviate the animal overpopulation crisis: spraying and neutering animals.

'We offer our deepest condolences to Jian's family and urge all compassionate people to spay and neuter as well as always adopting companion animals from a shelter, rather than buying from a breeder.'

She appeared in a news broadcast where she revealed she had to put animals to sleep

Animal welfare group, Life Conservationist Association, estimated more than 1.2 million animals not adopted from shelters have been put down since 1999.

'Animal protection in Taiwan has moved towards a new milestone,' the association's executive director Ho Tsung-hsun said in a statement.

But Taiwan's Council of Agriculture warned the ban would lead to a deterioration in the quality of shelters through a surging intake or it may discourage the capture of strays.

'It's impossible for there to be no problems,' said Wang Chung-shu, deputy chief of the animal husbandry department, according to The China Times.

He said Taiwan's ban was 'quite idealised', adding that manpower was a problem because the vet's suicide had had a 'chilling effect' on the sector, according to the report.

Even before the legislation, the number of animals being put down had been steadily declining.

Last year, 12.38 percent of the 64,276 animals in public shelters were euthanised, according to official statistics.
Pakistan thanks India after Kashmiri boy reunited with mother

Pakistan has sent a rare message of thanks to arch-rival India after a five-year-old boy who was taken to India by his father nearly a year ago was reunited with his Pakistani mother.

Ifthikar Ahmed was handed over to Rohina Kiani by border officials in the town of Wagah in Punjab province on Saturday evening following a long legal battle seeking his return from his father, Gulzar Ahmad Tantray.

The case created a media stir and shone a spotlight on the two countries' decades-long dispute over divided Kashmir, over which they have fought two full-scale wars.

Pakistani mother Rohina Kiani holds her son Ifthikar Ahmed after he was handed over by an Indian official at the Wagah border, on February 4, 2017

Kiani, a resident of the Pakistani-controlled part of the territory, told AFP on Sunday she was overwhelmed with happiness and prepared to forgive her estranged husband, who is from Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"I'm extremely happy and unable to express my joy. I pardon my husband and hope he will also join us soon to live with us here in Pakistan," she told AFP.

Tantray was among thousands who crossed the de facto border into Pakistani Kashmir while an insurgency was at its peak in the Indian sector.

He later married Kiani, but wanted the family to return to his home village following the birth of their son. When Kiani refused, Tantray absconded with the child last March.

Kiani pursued a custody case in an Indian court through the Pakistani embassy in New Delhi, and the court ruled in her favour.

"We are thankful to Indian authorities for their cooperation in this humanitarian matter," Pakistan's high commissioner (ambassador) Abdul Basit tweeted.

Kiani also thanked both governments, and urged them to come together to find a lasting solution to the Kashmir conflict.

"Thousands of people are suffering from grief and sorrow because of this dispute. The Kashmir issue must be solved to end problems of people living on both sides of Kashmir," she said.

The Himalayan region has been divided between India and Pakistan since they won independence from Britain in 1947, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
World's longest flight lands in New Zealand

The world's longest commercial flight landed in New Zealand Monday with the arrival of Qatar Airways's 14,535 kilometres (9,032 miles) Doha-Auckland service, the airline announced.

"We've officially landed in Auckland," the airline tweeted as flight QR920 landed at 7.25am (1825 GMT Sunday), five minutes ahead of schedule after a 16 hour 23 minute flight.

The long-range Boeing 777-200LR crossed 10 time zones on its marathon flight.

A long-range Boeing 777-200LR crossed 10 time zones on its marathon flight from Doha to Auckland

Qatar Airways noted the flight was longer than the entire "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" trilogies which were filmed in New Zealand.

There were four pilots on board as well as 15 cabin crew who served 1,100 cups of tea and coffee, 2,000 cold drinks and 1,036 meals during the flight.

In keeping with international tradition to welcome inaugural flights, the Auckland airport rescue service showered the plane with water cannons on arrival.

New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay said the estimated economic impact of the new service "will be well in excess" of NZ$50 million (US$36 million) with the increased freight capacity provided.

In March last year, Emirates airline launched what was then thought to be the world's longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight, with a service from Dubai to Auckland, spanning 14,200 kilometres (8,824 miles).
America's LGBT community awaits Trump's next move

America's LGBT community is watching warily to decipher President Donald Trump's intentions towards them, with many fearing a backlash is in store from the new administration -- despite its efforts to reassure them.

The presence in Trump's cabinet of arch conservatives, with a record of opposing same-sex marriage and other hard-fought LGBT rights, has set the community on edge.

Since Trump's election in November, phones have been ringing off the hook at the Trevor Project, which provides counseling to people in the community who suffer from depression or are at risk of suicide.

People hold signs and flags at a rally in front of the Stonewall Inn in solidarity with immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and the LGBT community on February 4, 2017 in New York Bryan R. Smith (20202243A/AFP)

The day after the vote, the organization was contacted 400 times -- the biggest single day total all year.

"Before this campaign, this election season, people were feeling in power to really be themselves, speak out. Because the direction was, after gay marriage, under (Barack) Obama, more moves to more openness and more security in terms of laws and policies," said Steve Mendelson, the organization's interim executive director.

But now "there are a lot of messages that lead LGBTQ people to be frightened, to think that they can't come out," he said.

Those fears spiked last week, when a draft executive order outlining plans to roll back LGBT workplace protections created under Obama was circulated among journalists and progressive groups.

The White House moved to quash the story in a statement on Tuesday.

"President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community," it read, promising Obama's anti-discrimination decree would remain intact.

Politico reported that Trump's daughter Ivanka and influential son-in-law Jared Kushner -- who have both supported gay rights -- led the charge to scuttle the draft.

But members of the religious right quoted by Politico said they have been led to expect some changes will come from Trump's administration -- namely to let companies opt out of anti-discrimination rules on faith grounds.

- 'Anti-gay cabinet' -

Trump spoke out in defense of the community last year after a shooting massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida left 49 people dead.

But his words have been eclipsed by the records of some of the appointees to his cabinet.

Vice President Mike Pence, for instance, while serving in Congress for the state of Indiana, consistently voted against same-sex marriage and laws to protect gays from discrimination. He is accused of supporting conversion therapy -- a treatment designed to change people's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. Pence denies this charge.

Activists say Trump's nominees for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, and education, Betsy DeVos, also have long records of opposing LGBTQ rights.

"I think we should judge who he is and what he believes based on what he does, and what he has done so far is nominate the most hateful anti-gay cabinet imaginable," said Camilla Taylor, senior counsel for Lambda Legal, an NGO that works to defend the rights of LGBTQ people.

With both houses of Congress now under Republican control, many in the community wonder if lawmakers might try to scrap laws legalizing gay marriage, say, or institute conversion therapy for children.

"This is the fight of our life. We are engaged in a resistance," Taylor warned.

On Saturday, about 3,000 people demonstrated in New York to voice solidarity with LGBTQ groups, Muslims and others they fear the president could target.

They massed around the historic Stonewall Inn, a powerful symbol of the gay community and its hard-won rights, chanting and waving rainbow and American flags.

- Hard to reverse -

Obama, before leaving office, said he was proud of the achievements made by the gay rights movement -- and sought to reassure the community about the road ahead.

"I don't think it is something that will be reversible because American society has changed," he told his farewell news conference.

Though he noted: "That doesn't mean there aren't going to be some fights that are important, legal issues, issues surrounding transgender persons."

Jim Obergefell, the widower behind the class action suit that led the US Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015, said it will be hard for the court to reverse that decision.

In his view it would take an unlikely "perfect storm of the right case, the right judges, the right appeals court and Trump's nominated justices."

- Things in common -

Meanwhile the Trevor Project's phone lines -- manned 24 hours a day by volunteers in Los Angeles and New York -- keep ringing.

Most calls come from the southern United States, which tends to be conservative and where religion often plays a strong role in people's lives.

"It's the effect of the rhetoric that is in use in politics," said David Bond, vice president of programs for the organization.

Seeking to counter some of that rhetoric, a TV mini-series on the fight for gay rights -- entitled "When we Rise" -- will start airing on February 27.

Written and directed by Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black, the seven-part series tells the story of Cleve Jones, an activist in the fight for gay rights and against AIDS.

Black, who comes from a conservative family, says he wrote the screenplay "for my family, for that other America, to say, 'Hey, we have more in common than you think.'"

US Senator Charles Schumer speaks at an LGBT Solidarity Rally Against Trump on February 4, 2017 in New York Bryan R. Smith (20202243A/AFP)

Organisers at the Trevor Project Call Center in California say its phones have not stopped ringing since US President Trump's election, as the team provides advice and support to LGBTI young people in a situation of depression and/or suicide Mark RALSTON (AFP)
As travel ban lifted, Syrian rushes to join wife in US

It was still dark when Adel learned the controversial US travel ban had been lifted, but he shot out of bed to book a flight before his hopes were dashed again.

"I was sleeping when my wife called me at dawn yesterday to tell me that there was a decision to lift the ban," the 25-year-old Syrian law graduate said on Sunday.

"I jumped up and haven't been able to sleep since. I'm ecstatic," he told AFP in the aptly named Muhajirin (Emigrants) neighbourhood of Damascus.

A protest against the executive order by US President Donald Trump, banning immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California on February 4, 2017 Kyle Grillot (AFP/File)

Adel -- whose name has been changed to protect his identity -- was to drive to Beirut on Sunday, fly to Amman and then take a connecting flight to New York.

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked US President Donald Trump's executive order, which had barred entry to the US for refugees and travellers from seven mainly Muslim nations, including Syria.

That decision devastated Adel, who had finally received a US visa in mid-January after a year of phone calls and visits to the American embassy in neighbouring Lebanon.

He was hoping to join his wife Lamia in New York a year after their wedding in Syria, where a bloody six-year conflict has killed more than 310,000 people.

When Lamia called early Sunday to tell him the ban had been temporarily lifted, she urged him to head for US soil as soon as possible.

"I was following everything about Trump's decision very closely," she told AFP by phone from the United States.

The 22-year-old, who lives alone in New York City after her American father and Syrian mother separated, said she was buoyed when she saw widespread protests erupting against the ban.

"The most important thing now is that Adel travels as fast as possible, that he arrives in America before this crazy guy issues another order," Lamia said.

- Hope in a suitcase -

Trump's executive order barred nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days.

Refugees were blocked from entering for 120 days, except Syrian refugees who were banned indefinitely.

The restrictions caused havoc at airports across America and beyond, leaving US-bound travellers in limbo.

But after Judge James Robart temporarily blocked the decision on Friday, citizens from the targeted countries began preparing once again to travel.

Relatives flocked to Adel's home on Sunday to bid him a speedy goodbye before he embarked on his long-awaited journey.

Amid the chaos, Adel snapped a last picture of himself in the family home while his cousin checked to make sure the flights to and from Amman were operating on schedule.

His packed suitcases were stacked neatly one atop another.

Adel hadn't had the heart to unpack after Trump's order was issued last month.

"I felt like hope was here inside these suitcases, and that if I opened them, I'd be admitting to myself that I failed and that I'm staying here," he told AFP.

"That's why I kept them all closed, except a single one that I opened for bare necessities."

As he made the final preparations on Sunday for his journey, Lamia called to remind him to bring all his official paperwork and to keep his passport tucked safely in his pocket.

"My heart won't feel at ease until I see him inside my home in New York. I won't be completely happy until I see him with my own eyes leaving the airport," Lamia said.

Lamia, who has both Syrian and American citizenship, has lived in New York for more than a decade.

"I was disappointed by the American president, but I haven't lost hope in American democracy," she said.

When the executive order was first issued, Lamia said, she scribbled "I believe that we will win" on her kitchen wall.
Israeli Supreme Court puts back settler demolition order

Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday gave a small group of settlers in the occupied West Bank a brief respite from a demolition order, giving them until March 5 to leave.

Nine homes in Ofra settlement which were built on private Palestinian land were originally ordered to be razed by February 8, 2017, a 2015 court order said.

Their inhabitants had asked the court for a three-month postponement due to delays in completion of their new homes, according to a transcript of Sunday's ruling, released by the justice ministry.

Ofra is one of the oldest settlements in the occupied West Bank, with a population of around 3,500 people THOMAS COEX (AFP)

"Execution of the demolition orders against the nine buildings will be carried out within one month, that is to say by March 5, 2017," the court ruled.

"Although the request for a three-month postponement was rejected we hope that when the time to leave arrives the petitioners will go peacefully as they stated in their request," Chief Justice Miriam Naor said.

On Thursday, Israeli police battled hardliners resisting the court-ordered demolition of the Amona outpost, a wildcat satellite of Ofra, near Ramallah built without official government permits.

Police said that 32 officers were injured during the eviction operation, which began the day before.

Ofra itself, one of the oldest settlements in the occupied West Bank, has a population of around 3,500 people.

It is deep inside the Palestinian territory, and is not part of the blocs of settlements that Israel will seek to retain as part of any future peace agreement with the Palestinians.

More than 370,000 Israeli settlers now live across the West Bank, surrounded by around 2.6 million Palestinians.

Israel's parliament is expected on Monday to give second and third readings to a bill which would retroactively legalise several thousand Israeli settler homes in the West Bank.

The United Nations has ruled that all settlements on occupied territory are illegal, whether or not they are authorised by the Israeli government.

They are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

But the settlement movement wields significant power in Israeli politics.

Key members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, seen as the most right-wing in Israel's history, openly oppose a Palestinian state and advocate annexing most of the West Bank.
'Feels great': Sudanese doctor finally back home in US

For Sudanese doctor Kamal Fadlalla, 33, the nightmare ended on Sunday -- he was reunited with ecstatic friends and colleagues a week after being barred from returning to his patients in New York.

The Brooklyn medical resident had been at home on holiday in Sudan when he heard that President Donald Trump was planning to ban visa holders from his homeland and six other predominantly Muslim countries from re-entering the country.

He frantically re-booked his flight to return earlier, but was not quick enough. Last weekend he had been in a queue to board a plane, but was pulled out and told he would not be allowed to fly.

Kamal Fadlalla (C) is greeted by New York City's public advocate Letitia James (L) and New York City Councilman for District 36, Robert E. Cornegy Jr., as he arrives at JFK International Airport on February 5, 2017 Jennie MATTHEW (AFP)

He stayed in Sudan while friends, supporters and lawyers in New York worked out how to get him in as quickly as possible. After a federal judge in Seattle suspended the ban on Friday, he took a flight on Saturday.

"He's here!" said friend and fellow doctor Osama Mukhtar, whose young son ran ahead to greet Fadlalla with a hug in the arrivals hall of Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

"It feels great," said Fadlalla, dressed in a teal jersey and checked shirt, looking remarkably relaxed after an overnight flight from Dubai.

"It was a tough week actually, but finally," he said of making it home.

Excited shrieks and whoops erupted from a group of doctors and well-wishers, who turned out in white doctors' coats to greet him.

"Welcome home," shouted one of them. There were sighs as Fadlalla scooped Mukhtar's son into his arms.

Fadlalla, who is from the Sudanese city of Madani, said the first thing he wanted to do was call his mom and sister to reassure them that everything was fine.

"It was really horrible, it was shocking," he said, when asked what he thought about the ban that had blocked visa holders from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for at least 90 days.

- 'Great country' -

"Justice is justice, the law is the law, it's a great country," he said, looking forward to getting back to work as soon as possible and seeing his patients again. "I'll be happy to see all of them."

New York's public advocate Letitia James, a Democrat, was one of those who came out to greet him.

"I believe in freedom and I believe in individual liberties and I believe this doctor, who has done much for central Brooklyn, needs to be celebrated and he needs to know that America is a safe harbor," she told reporters.

James called the travel ban "unconstitutional, illegal and immoral" and said Trump had "overreached and overstepped his power."

"He needs to understand and read the constitution," she said.

Khurram Mehtabdin, 30, from Long Island, was one of those who came out to greet Fadlalla despite never having previously met the Interfaith Medical Center resident, so horrified was he by the ban.

"He is the kind of person that makes this country great," Mehtabdin told AFP. His own parents are doctors who came to America 40 years ago as part of the same competitive, government-sponsored residency program, he said.

"We were all devastated. This is not just for the doctors, but it's for the cab drivers, it's for the bodega owners, it's for the common person whose life is now completely shattered because of this ridiculous travel ban."

Mehtabdin said there was a "huge shortage" of physicians in the United States, which high-achieving, foreign-born doctors help to fill, often working in under-served areas who can then be fast-tracked for green cards.

"I'm definitely happy," said Mukhtar, Fadlalla's friend and colleague from Sudan who is doing the same internal medicine residency.

On Sunday morning before Fadlalla arrived, Mukhtar's sons, aged three and six, crouched on the floor of the terminal to pen welcome home signs.
In New York, pro- and anti-Trump supporters face off

On one side, a few dozen diehard supporters of Donald Trump. On the other, a dozen or so equally passionate counter-demonstrators. They faced off Sunday outside Trump Tower -- proof positive of how entrenched the divide has become.

The pro-Trump protest, on a bitingly cold Manhattan day, was one of the first in the president's largely Democratic hometown since he took office on January 20.

Demonstrators urged their fellow Americans to give the new president a chance, and they backed his controversial travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Supporters of US President Donald Trump yell at anti-Trump protesters at a rally near Trump Tower in Fifth Avenue on Sunday in New York

A big white banner they unfurled read, "Welcome the Trump Era!"

The crowd stood outside designer boutiques Dolce & Gabbana and Armani on Fifth Avenue near the president's New York home and business headquarters in Trump Tower.

But such is the antipathy that the Republican president can arouse in New York -- he won only 18 percent of the city's votes -- that soon a dozen or so counter-demonstrators descended on the scene.

Police kept the two groups apart.

The pro-Trump group wore his red "Make America Great Again" campaign hats, carried US flags and chanted "USA! USA!"

Some wore Star of David buttons and carried signs in Hebrew and in English, one of which said: "President Trump Mazel Tov You're Doing It Your Way."

Demonstrators on both sides competed to make their message heard. "No ban, no wall, refugees are welcome here," his opponents shouted in a sing-song chant.

But Cindy Grosz, a Trump supporter and rally co-organizer, said Americans should give the new president a chance.

"He's been in office less than three weeks. He's entitled to have a fair shot and to run the government the way he wants to," she said.

- 'Very much afraid' -

Sunday's rally paled next to the huge anti-Trump marches and rallies that have sprung up almost spontaneously across the country. But the president's New York supporters were uncowed.

Adela Pisarevsky, a Manhattan retiree who emigrated from Argentina decades ago, said the rally had a point to make in a city that overwhelmingly preferred Trump's Democratic Party rival Hillary Clinton.

"It's important to show that we want to get rid of the illegals and we want to get rid especially of the Middle Eastern illegals, the terrorists," Pisarevsky told AFP.

"For the first time we have a president doing exactly what he wanted to do and instead of waiting to see if it works, they're harassing him. They want him to fail. I'm very much afraid," she said.

Greg Drapkin, 28, from Brooklyn, told AFP that he had been "really excited" to find out about the rare pro-Trump rally in the city, even knowing it might well be outnumbered by Trump critics.

"There's nothing wrong with prioritizing American interests," he said. "A lot of people are equating that with racism or discrimination but it's not," he added.

A cyclist passed by, waving a sign denouncing Steve Bannon, the senior Trump adviser who some Democrats have portrayed as a dark, Svengali-like force behind Trump.

A Trump supporter, 23-year-old Eric Preneta, approached the cyclist, exhorting him to "give him a chance," and the two engaged in a testy exchange before a policeman stepped in to separate them.

Emily Winters, a cook who had come from neighboring Connecticut to support Trump's strongly pro-Israel stance, said it was impossible to talk to Democrats about the new president.

Pushing a stroller carrying her pet dog, a Pekingese, she said Democrats were hostile, aggressive and belligerent. She likened them to "a cancer."

But Trump supporters, she said firmly, would never give in.

Anti-Trump protesters shout at supporters of US President Donald Trump in Manhattan
US advances to Davis Cup quarters, 3-0 over Switzerland

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP)  Jack Sock and Steve Johnson won their doubles match in three sets Saturday, sending the United States to the Davis Cup quarterfinals with a 3-0 victory over Switzerland.

Sock and Johnson, bronze medalists in men's doubles at the Rio Olympics, beat Henri Laaksonen and Adrien Bossel 7-6 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Switzerland was without the country's two best players this weekend: 18-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer and three-time major champ Stan Wawrinka. Federer won the Australian Open last Sunday night.

United States' Steve Johnson returns the ball to Switzerland's Henri Laaksonen and Adrien Bossel during a Davis Cup tennis match, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

The U.S. will travel to Australia for the April quarterfinals. Australia advanced with a 3-0 victory over the Czech Republic.

"We played together a bunch of times in the past, so just once we get going we get the familiarity back with one another," Johnson said. "Everything kind of clicked toward the end or we got it going, so just keep it rolling."

The Americans are now 158-4 all-time in Davis Cup ties when taking a 2-0 lead. Sock also won a singles match on Friday. Reverse singles will be best-of-three Sunday.

Sock is scheduled to play Laaksonen and John Isner is slated to face Marco Chiudinelli in pairings of each country's No. 1 and No. 2 players. Captains can substitute up to an hour before the match with the outcome already settled.

"We will be ready to play tomorrow for sure, even though this thing is decided," U.S. captain Jim Courier said. "I think I can speak for all of us when I say we're anxious to get down there and battle on. We really want to get out to the semifinals and see what we can do this year."

Switzerland's Henri Laaksonen serves to United States' Steve Johnson and Jack Sock during a Davis Cup tennis match, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Switzerland's Adrien Bossel returns the ball to United States' Jack Sock and Steve Johnson during a Davis Cup tennis match, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

United States' Jack Sock returns the ball to Switzerland's Henri Laaksonen and Adrien Bossel during a Davis Cup tennis match, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Chan Sun Jung has 1st round KO of Bermudez in return to UFC

HOUSTON (AP)  After a 3 1/2-year absence from the UFC, Chan Sun Jung looked like he never left.

The South Korean featherweight, who left the UFC in 2014 to serve his two-year mandatory military service in his home country, knocked out Dennis Bermudez in the first round at UFC Fight Night 104 Saturday night.

Jung delivered a right uppercut that knocked Bermudez to the ground before delivering multiple right hands that forced referee Herb Dean to stop the fight at 2:49 of the first round.

"I actually was expecting and planning for a five-round decision," Jung said. "But I thought if I can catch the knockout or submission, then even better."

Bermudez delivered the most effective blows early in the first round, stunning Jung temporarily. Two minutes into the fight, he thought he was in control.

"Everything was going my way, I felt," Bermudez said.

Jung is 4-1 in the UFC, with his only loss coming to featherweight champion Jose Aldo in his last fight before his spell in the military on Aug. 3, 2013. Overall, Jung is 14-4 as a professional.

Bermudez was ranked ninth in the featherweight division, and this victory makes Jung feel his goal of featherweight gold is once again in his sights.

"My goal is always to be the champion, and I think this fight has put me back in the game," Jung said.

Bermudez ended a two-fight winning streak but was happy with his performance, saying he felt he improved on his previous showing last August.

It may have been difficult for Bermudez to prepare for Jung, with no recent film to watch. On Thursday, at the pre-fight workouts, Bermudez noted that Jung was in the featherweight division's top-5. He came in expecting to get the South Korean's best.

"I put myself in his shoes," Bermudez said. "If I was away from the sport for three years, man, I would be so thirsty, so hungry to get after it."

In the semi-main event, the previously unbeaten Alexa Grasso lost to veteran Felice Herrig by unanimous decision in a women's strawweight fight. Herrig won her second straight fight.

This was just Herrig's third fight since the start of 2015, with her last being a victory on July 23, 2016. At 32, Herrig felt she was overlooked with the matchup against the 23-year-old Grasso.

"Sometimes, the veterans in this sport actually get overlooked because we're not these young, up-and-coming fighters that you can market," Herrig said. "It's like we kind of get left behind and forgotten about. I wanted to prove I'm here, and I'm here to stay."

Grasso's unbeaten record come to an end in her second UFC fight.

Texas native James Vick picked up a lightweight win over Abel Trujillo. The Fort Worth native won via submission in the third round with a choke hold. He improved to 10-1 overall and made a request in the octagon to get his next fight in Texas, as well, during the UFC's event in Dallas on May 13.

"I'm like a little kid right now. I'm so happy," Vick said. "This is my state. I love to fight here."

At 6-foot-3, Vick is tall for the lightweight division. He thinks others in the division think they can wrestle him to the ground, but he proved on Saturday that is not the case.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - A Feb. 5 story by The Associated Press on contacts between people associated with the Trump administration and the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, known as the MEK, stated as fact long-standing accusations against the group, including its alleged responsibility for the killing of Americans in the 1970s.

The U.S. State Department and the FBI concluded that the group carried out those killings, and claims of responsibility were made at the time in the name of the MEK. However, the story should have stated higher up that the current MEK leadership disavows the killings, as well as several other allegations.

The story also omitted the reason the State Department delisted the group as a foreign terrorist organization in 2012: The U.S. government acknowledged that the organization had renounced violence and had committed no terrorist acts for more than a decade.

A revised version of the story follows:

An official in U.S. President Donald Trump's Cabinet and at least one of his advisers gave paid speeches to organizations linked to an Iranian exile group widely accused of killing Americans before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, running donation scams and seeing its members set themselves on fire over the arrest of their leader.

Elaine Chao, confirmed this week as Trump's transportation secretary, received $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously called a "cult-like" terrorist group by the State Department. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also was paid an unknown sum to talk to the group, known as the MEK.

More than two dozen former U.S. officials, both Republican and Democratic, have spoken before the MEK, including former House Speaker and Trump adviser Newt Gingrich. Some have publicly acknowledged being paid, but others have not.

While nothing would have prohibited the paid speeches, they raise questions about what influence the exiles may have in the new administration.

Already, a group of former U.S. officials, including Giuliani, wrote a letter to Trump last month encouraging him to "establish a dialogue" with the MEK's political arm. With Trump's ban on Iranians entering the U.S., his administration's call this week to put Iran "on notice" and the imposition of new sanctions on Friday, the exile group may find his administration more welcoming than any before.

A potential alliance with the MEK would link the U.S. to a group with a controversial history that has gone against American interests in the past by supporting Iran's Islamic Revolution and the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran. After fleeing Iran, the MEK joined forces with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It later exposed details of the clandestine nuclear program run by Iran, which views the MEK as its sworn enemy.

"The Mujahedeen have backed the winning horse. They are going to have some at least entree into the administration," said Ervand Abrahamian, a professor at the City University of New York who wrote a book on the MEK. "I think it weakens the U.S. because the more they have access to the administration, the more people in Iran are going to be scared of anything the U.S. does."

The MEK denies responsibility for the killing of Americans in the 1970s, blaming a splinter faction. It also denies financial misdeeds and cultism, and says it has been unjustly demonized by its foes.

The group waged a long political struggle in Europe and the United States to be removed from lists of terrorist organizations. The Obama administration officially lifted that designation in 2012, with then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying she was satisfied that the MEK had publicly renounced violence and had committed no confirmed acts of terrorism for more than a decade.

In a letter to The Associated Press, the group's spokesman in Paris, Shahin Gobadi, dismissed the accusations against it now as "stale and threadbare."

"THE AYATOLLAH MUST GO"

The MEK long has cultivated a roster of former U.S. and European officials to attend its events opposing Iran's clerically-run government. It pays for the appearance of many.

Standing before a cheering crowd of MEK supporters in Paris in 2015, Giuliani didn't disappoint.

"The ayatollah must go! Gone! Out! No more!" Giuliani shouted in a speech as American flags waved behind him on giant screens.

"I will not support anyone for president of the United States who isn't clear on that slogan behind me. What does it say? It says regime change!"

Giuliani has acknowledged being paid for his appearances at MEK events. However, he hasn't filed a government disclosure form since his failed 2008 Republican presidential bid, so it's unclear how much the MEK has paid him in total. Giuliani did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment sent through his aides.

As Giuliani spoke in Paris, behind him were a host of other former officials on stage, including Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. A former director of the Peace Corps and a labor secretary under President George W. Bush, Chao gave a much more subdued speech focusing on women's rights.

"While discrimination against women (has) been outlawed in other countries, Iran has been legalizing it," Chao said. "While other countries are empowering women, Iran has been penalizing them."

Chao had a seat of honor at the Paris event next to Maryam Rajavi, the "president-elect" of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the MEK. She received a $50,000 honorarium from the MEK-associated Alliance for Public Awareness, according to a report she filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

Chao received another $17,500 honorarium for a March 2016 speech she gave to the Iranian-American Cultural Association of Missouri, which MEK opponents also link to the exile group.

The Department of Transportation said in a statement that Chao has a "strong record of speaking out in support of democracy and women's rights in the Middle East," but "has not spoken to MEK events."

It added that her speeches were delivered alongside bipartisan members of Congress, governors, prime ministers, ambassadors, generals, former FBI Directors and "many other influential voices."

Gingrich has also spoken to the MEK before, including at a gala in 2016, although it is not clear whether or how much he was paid. Gingrich could not be reached for comment. The White House also had no comment.

The MEK welcomes the incoming Trump government, as "some people within this administration" plan to change American policies toward Iran, said Mohammad Mohaddessin, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of its political arm.

"The core of the policy that we are advocating is to be tough with the Iranian regime, to not ignore its crimes against the Iranian people," Mohaddessin told the AP.

The U.S. Treasury briefly investigated the MEK's practice of paying American politicians in 2012. A Treasury spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment about the status of that probe.

___

"THE KILLING OF TWO AMERICANS, THIS WAS WORK OF MOVEMENT MUJAHEDEEN"

The MEK was formed by radicalized university students in 1965. It embraced both Marxism and the idea of an Islamic government after the violent overthrow of the American-backed shah. Their name, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, means "the People's Holy Warriors."

The group at one point successfully infiltrated the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, according to a State Department report. And a series of bombings attributed to the MEK accompanied visits by presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter to Iran, including one to target an American cultural center.

In 1973, MEK assailants wearing motorcycle helmets shot dead U.S. Army Lt. Col. Lewis L. Hawkins, the deputy chief of the U.S. military mission to Tehran, as he walked home from work, according to the State Department.

In 1975, gunmen attacked a car carrying two American airmen, killing them. Hours later, American consular officials received a call claiming the attack for the MEK in revenge for Iran executing prisoners.

"This was work of Movement Mujahedeen of Iran," the caller said, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable.

In the three years that followed, the MEK killed three American employees of defense contractor Rockwell International and a Texaco executive, according to the State Department and others.

"The Mujahedeen are xenophobic," a once-secret 1981 CIA assessment on the group said. "Anti-Americanism and anti-imperialism provide cornerstones for the policies."

The MEK, which now describes itself as being "committed to a secular, democratic, non-nuclear republic" in Iran, blames a Marxist splinter faction of the group for killing the Americans.

After joining in the Islamic Revolution and the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, the MEK quickly fell out of favor with Iran's first Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The MEK declared war on Iran in June 1981. Within days, a bomb exploded at the headquarters of the Khomeini-directed Islamic Republican Party in Tehran, killing at least 72 people.

A series of assassinations and attacks followed as MEK leaders and associates fled to Paris. Later expelled from France, the MEK found haven in Iraq amid its grinding, bloody war with Iran. Heavily armed by dictator Saddam Hussein, MEK forces launched cross-border raids into Iran.

After Iran accepted terms of a United Nations cease-fire in 1988, the MEK sent 7,000 fighters over the border. The attack further alienated the group from average Iranians.

The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001. But the U.S. Army's official history of the Iraq invasion in 2003 says MEK forces "fought against coalition forces" for the first weeks of the war, something the MEK denies.

In the chaotic years after the invasion, the MEK itself became a target of violence. The worst came in September 2013, when at least 52 members were shot dead.

Thousands of MEK members were ultimately resettled in Albania.

___

"CULT-LIKE CHARACTERISTICS"

After siding with Saddam, the MEK's popularity in Iran plummeted. To boost its ranks, the group increasingly began targeting Iranians applying for visas abroad in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, promising them work, aid in moving to Western countries and even marriage, according to RAND.

"Most of these 'recruits' were brought into Iraq illegally and then required to hand over their identity documents for 'safekeeping,'" RAND said. "Thus, they were effectively trapped."

The MEK also forced its members to divorce their spouses and separated parents from their children, which the State Department described as "cult-like characteristics." RAND and Abrahamian, the university professor, said the MEK dictated how much its members slept, giving them busy-work tasks and controlling what outside news they consume.

For years, MEK leader Massoud Rajavi, the husband of Maryam Rajavi, hasn't been seen publicly and is presumed to have died, Abrahamian said. MEK members call him the "Hidden Imam" who will return to Earth as a messiah, Abrahamian said.

When French police arrested Maryam Rajavi in 2003 as part of a terrorism investigation, MEK members responded by lighting themselves on fire in Paris and other European cities. The MEK denies it is a cult.

Over the years, the MEK has been targeted in a series of investigations around the world for running charity scams.

An FBI probe found MEK members hustled travelers arriving to Los Angeles International Airport, asking them to donate after showing them binders of photographs of disaster or torture victims. The money instead went to banks in Belgium, France, Jordan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to "support MEK operations and activities, including terrorist activities," a 2007 indictment against seven members said.

In Britain, authorities dissolved a charity in 2001 allegedly associated with the MEK that had made an estimated 5 million pounds a year. Its investigation found some donors "were misled into believing they were personally sponsoring individual children when this was not in fact the case."

In the 2003 raids in France, police found $1.3 million, mostly in $100 bills, at MEK-affiliated properties.

Mohaddessin, the MEK foreign policy chairman, blames the investigations on a concerted misinformation campaign carried out by Iran. The Islamic Republic has imprisoned and executed the group's members for years.

"These allegations are absolutely false," Mohaddessin said. "There are many cases that were fabricated by the Iranian regime and their agents."

Iran also has alleged the MEK receives foreign support. After the assassination of four nuclear scientists, Iran accused Israel of training and equipping MEK fighters who committed the killings. The MEK called the accusation "absolutely false" at the time, while Israel declined to comment.

In recent months, Saudi Arabia increasingly has shown support for the MEK as it faces off with Iran in wars in Syria and Yemen. The kingdom's state-run television channels have featured MEK events and comments. Prince Turki al-Faisal, the nation's former intelligence chief, even appeared in July at an MEK rally in Paris.

"I want to topple the regime too," the prince said to cheers.

___

"SKILLED MANIPULATORS OF PUBLIC OPINION"

From protests at the United Nations to their Paris rallies, the MEK has proven over the years to be effective at getting attention.

RAND in 2009 called the group "skilled manipulators of public opinion." A U.S. diplomatic cable from February of that year released by WikiLeaks described their "extravagantly hospitable, exaggeratedly friendly, culturally-attuned manner." The cable also mentioned that the MEK had "a history of using intimidation and terrorism for its ends," which Mohaddessin called an allegation from the Iranian regime.

The MEK's success in getting former U.S. officials behind them could be seen in a letter dated Jan. 9 sent to Trump just days before his inauguration.

"We repeat the call for the U.S. government to establish a dialogue with Iran's exile resistance," read the letter, signed by Giuliani and others.

However, exile groups haven't always been proven to be reliable American allies in the Middle East. Exiled Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, for instance, heavily lobbied the administration of President George W. Bush to invade by pushing false allegations of weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaida.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

But while the MEK continues to pay former U.S. officials for their time, the family of the American lieutenant colonel killed in 1975 has filed a $35 million federal lawsuit in Colorado against the group and Iran.

The reason for the lawsuit, Lt. Col. Jack Turner's family says, is simple: "Unlike the U.S. hostages, our father never had the chance to come home."

___

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap.
Israeli PM calls for unity against Iran before UK visit

JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling for international unity against Iran after Tehran's recent ballistic missile test.

Netanyahu spoke Sunday ahead of his visit to London where he will meet Prime Minister Theresa May to "deepen bilateral diplomatic, security, economic and technological ties."

He said "In the diplomatic sphere, I intend to emphasize the need for a common front against Iran's defiant aggression which has raised its head in recent days."

Iran and Israel are bitter enemies. Netanyahu vehemently opposes the 2015 deal that imposed curbs on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. He says it won't stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The deal does not include provisions against missile tests.
Managers held over China massage parlor fire that killed 18

BEIJING (AP)  Authorities have detained those in charge of a foot massage parlor in eastern China in which 18 people were killed and another 18 injured in a fire Sunday.

The official Xinhua News Agency gave no further details and the cause of the fire was under investigation on Monday. Workers jumped out of windows to escape the blaze, which broke out at the Zuxintang parlor in Zhejiang province's Tiantai county at around 4 p.m.

China has struggled to improve workplace safety and change a deep-rooted business mentality that puts profits above all else.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a man walks past the Zuxintang Foot Massage Parlor damaged by a fire in Tiantai County, east China's Zhejiang Province, Monday, Feb. 6, 2017. The fire at the massage parlor on Sunday killed and injured dozens of people, state media reported. (Wang Junlu/Xinhua via AP)
Arctic's indigenous Sami people to celebrate national day

HELSINKI (AP)  The indigenous people of Europe's Arctic north are celebrating their national day this week with hundreds of events across Nordic lands.

Monday's start to weeklong festivities marks the centenary of the Sami people's first congress in Trondheim, Norway, in 1917. Seventy-five years later, the Sami declared Feb. 6 their national day.

The Sami, previously known as Lapps, today inhabit Lapland stretching from northern parts of Norway through Sweden and Finland to Russia. They once faced oppression of their culture, including bans on use of their native tongue.

In this Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017 photo, Sami children, from left, Karen Seline Eira, Inga Helene Anti Persen and Leah Christine Utsi at the reindeer kindergarten in Karasjok, Norway. The indigenous people of Europe's Arctic region are celebrating the centenary of their national day this week with some 120 events planned in Norway. Mondays start to weeklong festivities marks the centenary of the Sami peoples first congress in Trondheim, Norway, in 1917. Seventy-five years later, the Sami declared Feb. 6 their national day. (Heiko Junge /NTB Scanpix via AP)

Today the nomadic people live mostly modern lifestyles. Some still tend reindeer, wear their traditionally bright-colored national dress and perform joik songs. The songs, involving a mixture of chanting and poetry, are being recited in events across northern Scandinavia and Finland this week.

In this photo taken on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017, Sami reindeer herder Jon Mikkel Eira captures a reindeer at Nightwater (Idjajavri) 20 kilometers outside Karasjok, Norway. The indigenous people of Europe's Arctic region are celebrating the centenary of their national day this week with some 120 events planned in Norway. Mondays start to weeklong festivities marks the centenary of the Sami peoples first congress in Trondheim, Norway, in 1917. Seventy-five years later, the Sami declared Feb. 6 their national day. (Heiko Junge /NTB Scanpix via AP)
Chris Eubank Jnr has moved into contention for a world title fight later this year after stopping Australias Renold Quinlan in 10 rounds at Londons Olympia.

Winning the Super Middleweight World Title is just the beginning. Now I'm coming after everyone else who has a belt #ICantStop #TeamEubank  Chris Eubank Jr (@ChrisEubankJr) February 5, 2017

The victory  in his maiden fight at super-middleweight  saw the 27-year-old win the lightly regarded IBO belt he claims should be treated as a true world title.

AND the new IBO World Champion #teameubank pic.twitter.com/a8fAFe5XGE  Chris Eubank Jr (@ChrisEubankJr) February 5, 2017

It remains to be seen whether he will return to middleweight or remain at 168lbs, but there is little question greater tests than the little-known Quinlan await.

The opening exchanges showed the Australian, also 27, to at least be as fast as his challenger.

Renold Quinlan and Chris Eubank Jr

It took until the end of the third round for Eubank Jnr to begin to impose himself when landing numerous punches as they fought on the inside by the ropes, and until a left hook in the fourth for Quinlan, also 27, to briefly appear hurt.

A lack of true power has undermined Eubank Jnr in many of his previous fights, and it again appeared that would be the case until the sixth, when first an uppercut, then a right hook and finally a hurtful barrage left his opponent troubled.

(Steven Paston/PA)

From the seventh, and after taking further left-right combinations, Quinlan was a fighter being worn down and content to survive.

The eighth and ninth became increasingly one-sided, as the aggressive Briton landed with ease and the resilient Australian clung on in a period when referee Howard Foster should have waved the action over.

(Steven Paston/PA)

The 10th remained similarly damaging until, with the tough Quinlan no longer able to defend himself from Eubank Jnrs latest barrage, Foster ended the fight after two minutes and seven seconds to protect him from further punishment.

Victory at super-middleweight means George Groves and James DeGale have joined Billy Joe Saunders as domestic rivals, and it is hoped will lead to a significant fight in the coming months.

The once-promising David Prices career was earlier left in ruins after his latest stoppage defeat, this time by Romanias Christian Hammer.

(Steven Paston/PA)

Price, 33, has now been stopped four times, and will hereafter struggle to rebuild his reputation, despite the previous two coming against opponents it later emerged had failed drug tests.

He was exceptionally close to winning a competitive affair in the fifth when he knocked Hammer down with a right uppercut at the end of a hurtful combination.

Christian Hammer is knocked to the ground as David Price (left) waits for the ref to count

Eubank gets more criticism for his win than David Price got for his loss, this is the problem with Boxing today.  Ohara Davies (@OharaDavies) February 5, 2017

Hammer, who lost to Tyson Fury in 2015, responded in the sixth, before forcing referee Phil Edwards to intervene after 82 seconds with the tiring Price defenceless following a lengthy barrage against the ropes.

John Ryder had revived his career with his finest win to date when he outpointed domestic rival Adam Etches at super-middleweight.

He consistently outworked and outboxed the out-of-shape Etches, who perhaps should have been pulled out at the end of the 10th round as the cut surrounding his left eye worsened.

(Steven Paston/PA)

Ryder, 28 and fighting for the first time at super-middleweight, was scored a 117-111, 116-112 and 118-109 winner.

There was also a victory for Kid Galahad, who beat his underwhelming late replacement Leonel Hernandez in three rounds at featherweight after the Nicaraguan retired with an eye injury. He had been scheduled to fight Ghanas former world champion Joseph Agbeko until his withdrawal through illness.

(Steven Paston/PA)

Finally, 2012 Olympian Andrew Selby  the younger brother of Wales IBF featherweight champion Lee  impressed in earning a unanimous decision at flyweight over Ardin Diale of the Philippines via scores of 100-90 on the three judges scorecards.
Nigel Farage is sharing his London house with a French woman politician who heads a think tank at the centre of an investigation into the alleged illegal funding of Ukip, it has been reported.

Laure Ferrari  who runs the Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe (IDDE)  has been living in the former Ukip leaders house in Chelsea for the past week, according to The Mail on Sunday.

Mr Farage told the paper that he was helping her out because she needed accommodation and had nowhere else to stay.

She is someone I have worked with and known well for a long time who wanted somewhere to stay for a week that wouldnt cost her any money. Its a working relationship, he was quoted as saying.

Last November the Electoral Commission announced it was opening an investigation into whether Ukip had accepted impermissible donations from IDDE and the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE), the political party it is affiliated to.

It followed an audit by the European Parliament which concluded that ADDE and IDDE used EU grant funding for the benefit of Ukip in breach of its rules. The claims have been strongly contested by Ukip.

Ms Ferrari, who first became involved in politics as a result of a chance meeting with Mr Farage 10 years ago while she was working as a waitress in Strasbourg, said she had been forced to move out of her own flat after the European Parliament stopped IDDEs funding.

I have no trustworthy friends in London who could have hosted me. I asked and he accepted. He is just trying to be helpful, she told The Mail on Sunday.

Nigel Farage denies that he has split from his German-born wife, Kirsten. (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Asked by the newspaper whether he had slept with Ms Ferrari, Mr Farage said he was not prepared to answer ludicrous questions.

Last month Mr Farage told The Mail on Sunday that he spent most week nights at a bachelor pad and denied that he had split from his German-born wife, Kirsten.

There was no immediate response from Mr Farage for a request to comment from the Press Association.
Anthony Hamilton will play Ali Carter in the final of the German Masters following a surprise win over world number two Stuart Bingham.

He's done it, Anthony Hamilton will play Ali Carter in the final of the 2017 https://t.co/DVlOfOYbmT German Masters following a 6-4 win! pic.twitter.com/PtRptOXw32  World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) February 4, 2017

The world number 66, who has never won a rankings event and last reached a final almost 15 years ago, recorded a 6-4 success over former world champion Bingham in Berlin.

Hamilton had been 5-1 up, and although Bingham reduced the deficit with breaks of 80 and 55, Hamilton compiled 77 in the 10th frame to progress.

Anthony Hamilton

 "Bit tired, but you know, really happy!" - Anthony Hamilton into his first ranking final in 15 years at the #F66German Masters pic.twitter.com/8g4BfWWIsP  World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) February 5, 2017

Earlier in the day, Carter booked his place in Sundays final by ending the title defence of reigning champion Martin Gould.

The world number 14, who won the tournament in 2013, recovered from dropping the opening frame to beat Gould 6-2 at the Tempodrom.
Chris Froome had to settle for sixth place overall in the Herald Sun Tour as Australian rider Damien Howson took the title on Sunday.

Tour de France champion Froome was defending his title Down Under, bidding to become the first rider in more than a decade to claim back-to-back titles in the five-day event.

But the Team Sky man left himself with too much to do on the final stage, which was won by his team-mate and fellow Briton Ian Stannard.

Chris Froome

Race complete at #SunTour. Training still ongoing for Froome, Elissonde and stage winner Stannard as they ride 73km back to the hotel pic.twitter.com/HA1McIuV3t  INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) February 5, 2017

Howson, of the ORICA-Scott team, finished with Froome in the bunch on the hilly closing 121-kilometre ride at the Kinglake National Park, a town north-east of Melbourne.

Froome, who was one minute and 12 seconds down in the overall standings, paid tribute to the winner, saying: Damien Howson was really strong. He rode a great stage on Falls Creek and has defended the jersey really well. Chapeau.

That was close but he's done it! Ian Stannard jumped clear and just held on to win the final stage at #SunTour. That's 3 wins for @TeamSky pic.twitter.com/Mf9LVqwWPt  INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) February 5, 2017

Stannards stage win was also appreciated by Froome, who said: Hes an absolute beast of a rider. Thats the thing about Ian. Hes so versatile. Hes 85 kilos or something but still wins on top of a climb. Its scary.

Howson, a 24-year-old rider from Adelaide, follows the likes of Froome and Sir Bradley WIggins onto the list of champions in the event.

Quoted on the event website, he said of his success: Im really happy to join that list of guys and to get my first win only a couple of days ago to continue all the way through and keep the yellow jersey on the final day, its my first overall win ever. Its also nice to break into new territory for myself.
A petition to allow a police dog to retire with her handler who is stepping down after 34 years service has gained thousands of signatures.

Sergeant David Evans, who has received awards for his bravery through the decades, is heartbroken at the prospect of not being allowed to keep four-year-old Ivy when he retires from West Mercia police in April, his daughter said.

The long-serving dog handler has been told he will have to pass the animal, a Malinois cross German Shepherd, on to another handler to continue working, the family said.

Sergeant Evans daughter Jennie felt moved to start an online petition to garner support for her father, but spoke of her shock when it provoked global interest, and gathered 4,000 signatures in 24 hours.

She said: We had hoped for a few hundred people to sign it and take an interest, but it has been signed by people from as far as Canada and New Zealand.

Past policemen and women that have been in different forces all over the world seem to have picked up on it and responded. The publics response to it has just been incredible.

Police dog handler who's served 34yrs with distinction wants Police dog Ivy to retire with him. He's also offered to cover replacement costs  Marc Jones (@MarcJonesLincs) February 5, 2017

The family has had 12 ex-police dogs through the years, which Ms Evans said have all come home to live out their days with the family in Market Drayton, Shropshire.

Sergeant Evans, 59, has offered to buy Ivy and cover the cost of replacing her, she said, adding: He is heartbroken. He is trying to put on a brave front and have meetings with West Mercia to try and come to some conclusion but he is absolutely devastated at the thought of losing Ivy.

Sergeant David Evans wants to keep police dog Ivy

He is willing to offer anything he can to try and get West Mercia to change their minds. And he is overwhelmed at the support that the public have shown him.

The family has alerted the Police and Crime Commissioner to their plight, and said they want the force to consider Ivys welfare.

Ms Evans said: Dad sacrificed many family moments with the support of his wife to enable him to undergo months of training with his police dogs. West Mercia need to show they appreciate these efforts and do not treat dogs as dispensable equipment that can be handed down to other people.

A West Mercia Police spokesman said: Chief Constable Anthony Bangham has been made aware of this for the first time at home this morning.

He recognises the unique bond between an officer and his dog and has made a direct offer to speak to the officer personally about this.
Anthony Hamilton produced a sensational comeback to clinch his first ranking title with victory over Ali Carter in the final of the German Masters.

The 45-year-old world number 66, who turned professional in 1991, found himself three frames down to Carter in Berlin before winning six in a row on his way to a 9-6 success.

 Anthony Hamilton has defeated Ali Carter 9-6 to win his first ranking title at the https://t.co/DVlOfOYbmT German Masters! pic.twitter.com/2wn4UKzpcA  World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) February 5, 2017

Sundays final was Hamiltons first in a major competition since he lost to Mark Williams at the 2002 China Open and it looked set to end in another disappointment as world number 14 Carter went 5-2 ahead.

Anthony Hamilton

Hamilton battled back though and won seven of the next eight frames, including a break of 118 to level at 5-5, to lift silverware for the first time in his 26-year career.

Dreams are made of this stuff, he told Eurosport. Its been a fantastic week and I just cant ask for any more than this. I dont know what to do with the trophy as Ive never had one.
A Tokyo hotel for bookworms

TOKYO, Feb 5 (Reuters) - A hotel in Japan is defying the digital books trend and appealing to guests who prefer to curl up with a traditional paper book.

Book and Bed Tokyo, a variation of Japan's famous capsule hotels, offers guests a closet-sized bunk embedded in rows of bookshelves.

The walls, ceiling and most of the decor of the hotel are packed with 3,200 books in different languages.

A common room serves as a lounge for day visitors who can also come to share the experience of reading books together.

"There are many visitors staying in one big space, so we can communicate and feel relaxed," said student Natsuki Suno, who was taking a break from her studies.

The hotel, which opened 18 months ago, has 60 cube rooms equipped with a mattress and reading lamp.

Depending on the room, overnight rates range from 3,800 yen ($33) to 4,800 yen ($42). Daytime visitors can lounge in cushioned corners of the hotel for 500 yen an hour.

Kei Asai, chief executive of Book and Bed, said he wanted to offer something beyond the traditional capsule hotel.
Russia's Lavrov backs renewal of UN-led Syria talks

By Andrey Ostroukh

MOSCOW, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Russia said on Sunday that it supports the continuation of Syria peace talks under United Nations auspices, long-running negotiations which had been thrown into doubt by separate, Moscow-backed peace talks launched last month.

The latest round of U.N. talks had been planned to begin in Geneva on Feb. 8 but Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that they had been postponed.

They have now been rescheduled for February 20, diplomats have told Reuters. The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said he had decided to delay them to take advantage of negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition in Astana, Kazakhstan, hosted by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran.

The Astana talks last month ended with Russia, Turkey and Iran agreeing to monitor Syrian government and opposition compliance with a Dec. 30 truce brokered by Moscow and Ankara.

Lavrov said on Sunday the Astana talks between representatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and opposition groups were a "breakthrough step" in efforts to resolve the crisis but were not instead of the U.N.-led talks.

"We are not planning to replace Geneva with the Astana format," he said in an interview published on the ministry's web site on Sunday.

The Astana talks were a diplomatic coup that underlined the growing Middle East clout of Russia, Iran and Turkey and Washington's diminished influence at a time when Donald Trump is settling into the presidency.

But the talks spotlighted sharp differences between Moscow and Tehran over the possible future participation of the United States and also excluded Gulf states, despite their major role in the proxy war in Syria that has drawn in the entire region.

Iran, whose relations with Washington have nosedived since Trump became president, opposes any U.S. involvement.

Lavrov reiterated on Sunday that the United States and Moscow were in a position to solve bilateral issues, improve ties and coordinate efforts to fight "international terrorism", but said it had to be on the basis of mutual respect.

The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, also praised the Astana talks in a meeting with Russia's special envoy on Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, in Tehran on Sunday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

But he said peace was not achievable while Islamic State, which he labelled Daesh, as well as the al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front, which has renamed itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, and other unnamed groups he said were linked to them were present.

"As long as Daesh and al-Nusra and groups linked to them are present in Syria - and they are being protected and supported by some countries in the region - a political solution and peace for Syria and the region will not be achievable."

The Syrian opposition have objected to Iran's role in the Astana talks, blaming Shi'ite militias backed by Tehran for violations of the fragile ceasefire agreement by launching military assaults in rebel-held suburbs of the capital.

De Mistura said the United Nations would be attending a follow up technical meeting in Astana on Feb. 6 of the talks on the implementation and monitoring of the Syria ceasefire.
Fire in China massage parlour kills at least 18

BEIJING, Feb 5 (Reuters) - A fire at a massage parlour in eastern China on Sunday killed at least 18 people with two others injured, state media reported.

The fire broke out late afternoon in the foot massage parlour in Tiantai in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, the official Xinhua news agency said.

State television said on its official microblog that at least 18 people had died. It gave no other details.
Romania scraps decree decriminalising graft as mass protests persist

By Radu-Sorin Marinas

BUCHAREST, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Romania's Social Democrat government on Sunday anulled a decree that would decriminalise some graft offences, an embarrassing u-turn for the country's new prime minister in the face of week-long mass protests and international rebuke.

The government also declassified the transcript of debates during Tuesday's cabinet meeting when the decree that would have shielded dozens of politicians from prosecution was approved.

It said the decree was a bid to relieve pressure on the prison system but Romanians were furious, holding the biggest mass protests in the country since 1989, when the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu was ousted in a bloody revolution.

A day after Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said he did not want to divide Romania, his cabinet held an emergency meeting to scrap the decree as tens of thousands of demonstrators outside chanted "Thieves, thieves" and "Re-sig-na-tion, Re-sig-na-tion".

Among the 220,000 protesters in the central Piata Victoriei square, one dressed as 15th century Romanian ruler Vlad Tepes - notorious for impaling Turks and thieves on wooden stakes and whose life inspired the fictional character Dracula - held a banner reading: "Did you miss me?"

A giant laser plastered the words "Do Not Give Up" and "Resignation," on the facade of the building housing the headquarters of government - the prime minister's office.

The decree had been seen by critics as the biggest retreat on reforms since Romania joined the European Union in 2007. It would have exempted abuse-of-power offences involving sums below 200,000 lei ($48,000) from prosecution - shielding hundreds of officials from justice.

Liviu Dragnea, leader of the ruling Social Democrat party, said the prime minister would hold talks with his justice minister and decide whether or not to sack him.

The decree could have put an end to the trial of Dragnea, who is barred from political office because of an electoral fraud conviction and viewed by many as the real power behind Grindeanu's government.

Among the decree's chief critics was President Klaus Iohannis, who joined one anti-corruption rally two weeks ago and repeatedly urged the government to scrap the measure.

On Sunday a small group of pro-government protesters in front of his Cotroceni presidential palace denounced him as a "traitor".

Germany and the United States were among nine western powers which had expressed concern that the decree could undermine Romania's partnerships in the EU and NATO.
In Cuba visit, Colorado governor sees gov't desire to work with Trump

By Marc Frank

HAVANA, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The governor of Colorado said on Sunday he believes the Cuban government wants to further improve relations with the United States under President Donald Trump, as he wrapped up a three-day visit to the Communist-run island nation.

"They seemed eager for the chance to build a relationship with President Trump and have it be a constructive one," Governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said of his meeting with Cuba's point person for U.S. relations, Josefina Vidal.

He said in an interview that Vidal, director of U.S. affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry, and other foreign ministry officials "were cautiously optimistic."

"They realize they have to wait and that the new administration has a lot of things going on. They understand things could change in some ways, but I didn't sense there was any fear or some sort of depression," the governor said.

Hickenlooper, who traveled with a cultural and business delegation, was the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to meet with Vidal since Trump assumed office last month. Trump has said he wanted a better deal than that brokered by his predecessor, Barack Obama.

On Friday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said a "full review" of America's foreign policy toward Cuba was underway.

Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro stunned the world in December 2014 when they announced the two governments would restore diplomatic ties after more than 50 years of Cold War hostilities and work to normalize relations.

The Colorado governor said the purpose of his trip was to view post-Fidel Castro Cuba and invite the country to his state's Biennial of the Americas, which brings together the cultures, businesses and ideas of North and South America.

Hickenlooper said the Cubans had enthusiastically accepted the invitation to attend the event in September.

Hickenlooper said he did not doubt many innocent people were hurt during the early years of the Revolution, but most of those involved had passed away.

"The younger people seem eager to build a relationship with the United States," he said.

The governor, a former entrepreneur and restaurant owner, spent a day meeting with small business owners and said he had visited five private eateries.

"I was surprised. One has this vision of everyone being downtrodden, and there was so much optimism and positive energy," he said.
National Australia Bank first quarter earnings fall 1 pct as costs rise

By Jamie Freed

SYDNEY, Feb 6 (Reuters) - National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB), the No. 4 lender by market value, on Monday reported a 1 percent fall in first quarter unaudited cash profit as costs grew faster than revenue.

NAB posted unaudited cash earnings of A$1.6 billion ($1.23 billion) in line with market expectations for the quarter ended Dec. 31, with its net interest margin remaining "broadly stable".

Australian bank returns have been under pressure from higher wholesale funding and deposit costs, as well as regulatory changes requiring them to hold more capital against their mortgage books to provide a more level playing field for smaller banks.

"While the Australian and New Zealand economies remain resilient and continue to deliver solid growth, the operating environment has some challenges with funding costs remaining elevated and competition still intense," NAB Chief Executive Andrew Thorburn said in a statement.

Omkar Joshi, a senior analyst at Regal Funds Management, said it was pleasing that the net interest margin was broadly stable, but consensus expectations had started to price in an increase in the margin this year.

"(That) may turn out to be too optimistic if competition remains intense," he said.

NAB said costs rose by 5 percent in part due to annual salary increases and higher redundancy costs, while revenue rose by 1 percent.

"The expense increase was slightly higher than I thought it would be, Bell Potter analyst TS Lim said. But he noted NAB was still targeting income growth to outpace expense growth for the financial year ended Sept. 30.

The ratio of 90-days past due and total impaired assets to gross loans rose to 0.90 percent at end-December from 0.85 percent at end-September 2016. NAB did not give a reason for the increase. It said bad and doubtful debt charges fell by 23 percent to A$164 million for the end-December quarter.

NAB said its Tier 1 capital ratio had fallen to 9.5 percent at Dec. 31 from 9.8 percent on Sept. 30 after it paid a final dividend. The bank said it was considering the issue of a Tier 2 capital security to shore up its capital position, subject to market conditions.
France's Le Pen to reveal election programme to supporters

French far-right leader and presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen was set to lay out her key policies in a speech to supporters on Sunday, ahead of elections beginning in April.

GALLERY

Le Pen has promised her followers "144 pledges to put France in order," including major strengthening of security forces, withdrawal from the visa-free Schengen area and the reintroduction of a French currency.

Lyon, France (dpa) - On the first of two days of events in the city of Lyon over the weekend, the National Front party said it would hold a referendum on the countrys European Union membership if it wins the upcoming presidential elections.Polls predict that the 48-year-old party leader will reach the second round in the elections, although she remains well behind in polls regarding the decisive presidential election in May.Le Pen has promised her followers "144 pledges to put France in order," including major strengthening of security forces, withdrawal from the visa-free Schengen area and the reintroduction of a French currency.
Chinese military activity will not be allowed at the Hambantota port considering concerns from India, Sri Lankan ambassador in Beijing said on Saturday, playing down protests by hundreds of opposition supporters over handing of 80 per cent stakes of the strategic port to a Chinese firm.

Apparently referring to Pakistan handing over Gwadar port to Chinese, Ambassador Karunasena Kodituwakku told the media on the sidelines of Sri Lankan Independence Day reception in Beijing that, I do not know about other countries but Sri Lanka has very categorically informed the (Chinese) investor that it will not be allowed to be used for any military purposes.

Playing down protests by locals and labour unions over handing of 80 per cent stakes of the Hambantota port to a Chinese firm, the envoy said that considering Indias concerns, no military activity will be allowed at the port. The Maithripala Sirisena government which earlier opposed the Chinese investments procured by pro-China predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa faced public protests over handing over 15,000 acres of land for a Chinese industrial park in Hambantota as well as the port. Ironically Rajapaksa who procured about $7 billion for Hambantota and other projects opposed the handing over of the port and land to Chinese.

Admitting concerns expressed by China over the protests, the Ambassador said: Despite the opposition from a small group, the government will go ahead. The Sri Lankan government said the port was being handed over with 80 per cent stake for a Chinese firm on 99 year lease as it has no commercial viability and duty bound to pay back the huge Chinese loans.

The Ambassador said Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe would attend the high-profile One Belt One Road (Silk Road) summit called by Chinese President Xi Jinping in May. Chinese officials said 20 world leaders confirmed their attendance but did not provide details. Wickramasinghes presence at the Silk Road summit as China regards Sri Lanka as an important base for its 21st Maritime Silk Road in the Indian ocean over which India has expressed strong reservations.(PTI)
Corruption which was sweeping into the body politics unreservedly grabbed a fair portion of Independence; and continues to do so. Allegations of corruption, scandals and scams running into Billions that have been levelled against successive Governments in the past few decades far superseded the first 12 years, when Some Ministers were accused of accepting a bag of chilies or rice and other small gratifications, for which they had to pay the price.

On February 4, 2017, we commemorated the 69th anniversary of the achievement of independence from colonialists. We are yet to see the signs of a prospective developing nation towards an independent, free and a sovereign society following 443-year foreign domination. Since the time of our first King Vijaya, this resplendent country, thrice-blessed by the Buddha, has a recorded history of more than 25 centuries, and a proud tradition. D S Senanayake, the first Prime Minister of Independent Sri Lanka, unfurled the Lion flag, the symbol of an ancient civilization, marking our freedom from the clutches of Colonial rule. The leadership in the path to independence, in the form of D.S. Senanayake, F.R. Senanayake, Sir D.B. Jayatilleke, Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, Sir Ponnamabalam Ramanathan, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, T.B. Jayah and D.R. Wijewardene were among many others worked together successfully with great insight and grace so as to achieve freedom.



From Bags of Chilies to Billions: Achievement of the past Six Decades

The unprecedented happening in India as analysts point out; the Congress and the BJP are having a long and tacit understanding to suppress each others money-making tricks and private businesses are those deals that our media often cries about here, is a result of emulating the Indian model by our rulers and opponents? Bribery and corruption has become the order of the day.

Very few would remember with gratitude the great men of the calibre of U.B. Wanninayake, M.D. Banda and Forester Obeysekera, the early UNP stalwarts. Then Finance Minister Wanninayake declined to give a certificate to his own son for his interview at the Central Bank. Mr. Banda refused to use State funds to get an electricity connection to his ancestral home unless the department agreed to provide electricity to the entire village; he was seen running about in his old car until his death. Mr. Obeysekera, rejected a plea to give a testimonial to the son of his closest supporter. He said it will be against his conscience to give a certificate to a person he had not known.



Earliest Recorded Action Against corrupt Legislators

Governor Sir Andrew Caldecott appointed a Commission to investigate bribery among State Council members; Lawyer L M D de Silva, the one-man commissioner found eight members guilty of corrupt activity. While three of them were appointed by the Governor himself, the other elected men were, E W Abeygoonesekara [Nuwara-Eliya], A H Gunasekara [Balangoda], D D Gunasekara [Bandarawela], U Batuwantudawa [Kalutara] and E R Thambimuttu [Trinco-Batticaloa]. The first seven resigned immediately. Thambimuttu was removed by a motion moved by DS Senanayake, the Leader of the House. [L M D de Silva - KC, also served as a member in the Privy Council in Britain]

On September 11, 1959, a few days before his assassination, Prime Minister, SWRD Bandaranaike advised G.G. Ponnambalam to appoint the Thalgodapitiya Commission to inquire into allegations of bribery and corruption against his governments parliamentarians, including some members of the Cabinet. The report tabled on Decenmber 16, 1960, found two of SWRD loyalists, D B Monnekulame and C A S Marikkar along with H Abeywickrema, M P de Zoysa, M S Kariyapper and R E Jayatillake guilty. Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike was lenient with the offenders. However, they were punished under the UNP-led National Government of Dudley Senanayake in 1965. Kariapper who was a MP then lost his seat and all six lost their civic rights for seven years. Monnekulama later told his constituents that he took small santhosams for the work he did.

During the JR Presidency, Anura Daniel Deputy Minister was arrested at the Airport for smuggling gold bars and lost his seat. UNP nominated his sister to contest the same seat and Anura Daniel was the chief campaigner; Miss Daniel won with a huge majority over her SLFP rival. Voters sometimes do behave in a peculiar manner. The Bribery department was converted to a Commission to eradicate and inquire into Bribery and Corruption in the 1940s. During Sirimavos 1970-77 rule, there were allegations of SLFP Ministers taking bribes even as low as five hundred rupees, and most teacher appointments interviews were held in Rest Houses.



There were serious allegations of corruption against most of the senior Ministers of J.R Jayewardenes Cabinet. JR was like Rajapaksa; he did not oppose corruption. They both collected material on corrupt activities of their men and kept them safe in a give and take policy with a warning do not rock the boat. President Premadasa in 1989 smelt that some of his top men were conspiring against him. He hired former Police Commissioner A C Lawrence to investigate corrupt activities of the suspicious characters in his government.

When the Impeachment motion was moved against him in 1992, it contained very serious allegations of corruption. Premadasa supporters made equally strong allegations against Gamini Dissanayake and Lalith Athulathmudali, the architects of the Impeachment. The allegations referred to apple orchards in Australia, Swiss bank accounts, Airbus purchase, Argentine Ships [that never sailed] and Mahaweli Scams. However, the Motion failed as Speaker M H Mohamed switched loyalty at the final hour. [Mohamed was accused of accepting a huge santhosam from a big influential businessman in the city] Allegations against the two smart politicians, Lalith and Gamini were never proved.

"The leadership in the path to independence, in the form of D.S. Senanayake, F.R. Senanayake, Sir D.B. Jayatilleke, Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, Sir Ponnamabalam Ramanathan, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, T.B. Jayah and D.R. Wijewardene were among many others worked together successfully with great insight and grace so as to achieve freedom. "

During the Premadasa regime in 1989-1993, the State banks were ordered to release millions as loans to cronies without collateral. CBKs election slogan Dooshanaya and Beeshanaya cried foul of these alleged corruption. People saw a completely new face in CBK; she promised that politicians who engaged in corrupt activities would be brought to the Galle Face Green for public execution. At the end of her second term, they spoke of deals involving her office in prime state lands, leading to punitive action against her by Courts soon after her retirement.



People always wanted a Change: Pot Calling the Kettle Black

It was Theodore Roosevelt , who once commented, When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer Present or Not Guilty. Clearly the people always wanted a change. The Bribery and Corruption Commission has not produced a single Member of Parliament or any government Minister in Court since 1960. The first and the last punitive action against politicians was in the first 12 years of post-independence Sri Lanka. May be that the Bribery Commissioners did not want to impartially investigate cases concerning the allegations of corruption of Parliamentarians. Those who make indictments against the men in power alleging corruption are the ones who were equally corrupt or more corrupt when they were in power; and with absolute power at their disposal, they would yield to such temptations. Today a good percentage of Politicians of both the big parties are corrupt to the core. The Government has got into dire financial straits due to the robbery and plunder of state property by the politicians, and their Cronies and Acolytes who have been ruling the country during the past few decades.

A Bribery and Corruption Commission or a Special Presidential Commission cannot grapple with this problem. The people should fight politicians irrespective of their party loyalties to make them accountable. Walter Thalgodapitiya Commission - 1959

Bandaranaike, unlike most leaders decided the time had come to act. He advised the Governor General to appoint a Commission and wanted even the members of the State Council and all the governments of the post independence, from 1943 up to September 11, 1959 investigated. Commissioners received a large number of anonymous petitions against politicians and members of their families. But there wasnt a single petition against the left leaders. The report commented on the reluctance of the persons to come forward with information. Reasons for the reluctance were fear of reprisals and the fact that persons who had given bribes were reluctant to come forward, it said.

As per the report of the Commission which was tabled on the 16th of December 1960, one of the most Seniors Ministers was accused of accepting a bag of chilies and others with bags of rice and other commodities in return for small favours like jobs in the state sector. The position today is frightening. Corruption, theft and looting by politicians have achieved unprecedented proportions over the past 57 years, the hunger for wealth of powerful persons is astonishing. This situation needs to be arrested before the voiceless majority goes starving. We hear about extensive financial scandals running into Billions performed at high echelons while the political authority turns a blind-eye, or more surprisingly, aiding and abetting them, while the public are suffering under heavy economic conditions.

Thomas Love Peacock, the English novelist, poet, and official of the East India Company of 19th century once asked,

Is ours a government of the people, by the people, for the people, or a kakistocracy [his own coining for a state or country run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens] rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?


Medical students and their parents today launched a protest at Liptons Circus against the police attack on medical students who were protesting against SAITM last week. Pics by Kushan Pathiraja
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extending his greetings to Sri Lanka on its 69th Independence Day celebrations said in a twitter message that Sri Lanka was a valued friend and a neibour of India.

Independence Day greetings to the people of Sri Lanka, a valued friend & neighbour. May Sri Lanka continue to prosper in the years to come, Prime Minister Modi tweeted.
n January 20, 2017, Donald J. Trump assumed office as US President. He rode into power on the back of the slogan Make America Great Again. Among his campaign promises were: To ban Muslims entering the US; to lock-up his principle challenger Hilary Clinton; to build a wall along the Mexican border and make Mexico pay for it; to get rid of Obamacare; to deport all undocumented immigrants; to remove limits on coal production and to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)

Since assuming office, in a flurry of presidential executive directives, President Trump has made good on many of his election pledges. On January 23, 2017, he signed a directive initiating a process of withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal; on January 25, he signed a directive ordering the start of a plan to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. Another directive on January 25 signalled tough action against some 11 million illegal immigrants already in the United States and on January 27 an executive order banned citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. While we may or may not like what the new US President is doing and even believe he is wrong, the man seems to be walking the talk.



Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, also in the month of January, but two years earlier in 2015 a new president was sworn in. As at Trumps election the new president was elected to power amid high expectations of the electorate and several pledges to usher in an era of good governance.

In the run-up to the hustings the presidential aspirant promised to: abolish the executive presidency; to end the fear psychosis which gripped the country; to draw up a new constitution; to weed out corruption and bring persons accused of corrupt practices to justice and to lower the cost of living

Sadly though two years had passed since the new president made these promises but unlike his US counterpart, our President has been uable to fulfil the promises he made to the electorate.

To the Presidents eternal credit, he has been able to rid the country of the fear psychosis which stalked the land. Unfortunately, while initial steps have been taken to draw up a new Constitution and through it to abolish the executive presidency, the matter is dragging on.

Rather than weeding out corruption this government stands accused of being involved in large-scale corrupt practices such as the bond scam involving he Central Banks then governor  a government appointee.



While corruption charges have been initiated against a few persons allegedly involved in corrupt practices no one has been brought to book nor any one said to be behind the killings and kidnappings which occurred regularly during the previous regime has been brought to book with the cases filed still hanging fire. The cost of living too has risen astronomically.

Two years had flown by and the peoples thirst for justice remains unquenched, quite unlike in the US where Mr. Trump through his executive decrees is bulldozing through measures he promised during his campaign.

In fact Mr. Trump has gone further, he not only is fulfilling election pledges like initiating steps to build his wall and make Mexico pay for it, he has threatened to invade that country.



He has threatened military action against Iran, warned he will not honour international treaties signed by the US -- the TPP and the agreement with Australia regarding taking in refugees and insulted the Australian premier by abruptly cutting him short during a telephone conversation

The US presidents style in making America Great Again, conjures visions of another elected leader who rose to power in the first half of the 20th century -- a little man with a small moustache. A man with a similar blustering style and whose actions created the conditions for the outbreak of World War II and the holocaust which saw millions end up in gas chambers. A man named Adolf Hitler.

While Hitler identified the Jews as Germanys enemy, Trump sees Muslims as the enemy of the US and is rushing through a series of executive directives to make good his election pledges.

Sri Lankas new president is taking the slow legislative path toward achieving his election pledges. Its breeding impatience at a peoples level, but things are happening.

Which is better  the bulldozer or the constitutional path -- only time will tell
Northern Province Chief Minister C. V Wigneswarans moves to establish a hybrid court in the province is a dream which will never materialize, Skills Development and Vocational Training Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said.



Speaking at an Independence Day ceremony in Kalutara, the minister went on to say that some politicians had become slaves to foreign powers and organizations and were only working towards obtaining certain privileges.



We will not betray our soldiers and police officers. I saw a news report which said a hybrid court will be established in the Northern Provincial Council. I want to say that this is just a dream of the Chief Minister which will not be accomplished. We have faith that President Maithripala Sirisena would not allow anyone to betray our soldiers, he said.(Darshana Sanjeewa)
The 2017 edition of India Art Fair calls itself South Asias leading platform for modern and contemporary art.And to make the story more complicated, the fair claims to reflect South Asias immense diversity in the visual arts.

The proclaimed relation with South Asia ought to be a muse for critical art admirers in the wake of the fair. This however requires being an irreverent observer ready to steer clear of high decibel congratulatory notes while toying with a few rhetorical questions.

Since its inception in 2008, India Art Fair has created commendable synergy among galleries and artists groups from the region and beyond. It serves the fundamental objective of connecting artists, markets, consumers, collectors and an inchoate mass of art lovers.

But most importantly, it plays a subtle pedagogical role in exposing art lovers to a wide range of works, which could be otherwise not accessible. By emphasising a relation with the idea of South Asia, the fair unwittingly invites critical engagement.

A non-issue such as artworks held up with the customs department at the airport becomes crucial once the fair is perceived through the prism of South Asia.

Dhaka-based artist Tayeba Begum Lipis magnificent works in stainless steel razor blades were not on exhibition on the day of opening. The pedestal meant to display Bangladeshi artist Mahbubur Rahmans Lonely King had a revealing note.

Regimes of power contribute to art in South Asia. (Photo: Dev Pathak)

Thorny provocation of Mahbubur Rahman from Bangladesh. (Photo: Dev Pathak)

Tayeba Begum Lipi's argumentative art. (Photo: Dev Pathak)

Some of these works arrived late due to delayed clearance from the customs. This is not new as Anoli Perera, an eminent artist from Sri Lanka, has faced similar difficulties in fetching artworks from Colombo in the recent past.

After all, the rules of customs often believed to be sacrosanct to the survival of the nation states political identity, cannot be subverted merely for arts sake. But then, this also refers to the general lack of understanding about the regional framework, which impedes the smooth participation of artists, academics, and cultural activists in the region at cultural and intellectual forums while also denting the free circulation of their works and ideas.

Moreover, a critical browsing of the fair engenders more unrequited curiosity about the idea of South Asia. Among the three key groups from South Asia inundated by disproportionately high number of galleries and groups from India and abroad are - Britto Arts Trust from Dhaka, Theertha International Artists Collective from Colombo and Nepal Art Council from Kathmandu.

A collaborative art project between artists groups from India and Sri Lanka, titled A Tale of Two Cities, features in skeletal form in the fair. Besides a small group of artists from neighbouring countries are represented in a handful of galleries.

They are - Sri Lankas Koralegedara Pushpukumara and Bangladeshs Yasmin Jahan Nupurat Exhibit 320 and Tayeba Begum Lipi in Shrine Empire. At the booth of Blueprint 12, there are works of Pala Pothupitye from Sri Lanka with Bangladeshs Mahbubur Rahmanand and Pakistans Madiha Sikandar, among others.

Bani Abidi from Pakistan is in the fair without much to exhibit except her book. And a US-trained and based artist born in Pakistan named Anila Qayyum Agha is omnipresent in the fair with her work All the Flowers are For Me.

The works of these artists are scattered within the radius of about 50 metres in the otherwise sprawling space of the art fair. But, does it suffice to symbolise the cultural complexity of contemporary South Asia, which itself is a debatable idea in the wake of contemporary geopolitics?

What map of region could emerge from the selective representation in the fair? Is South Asia merely a phrase employed for business strategy and convenience? Does it subvert the dominant politics of power to be in the region? And many such questions emerge without any answers in the sight in the art fair.

A side glance of Nepal Art Council. (Photo: Dev Pathak)

A glimpse of Theertha International Artists Collective. (Photo: Dev Pathak)

Furthermore, the South Asia claim of the art fair deserved a thorough discourse despite the platitude mouthed by the organisers and visiting celebrities. The speakers forum appended to the art fair spent hours without hitting the nail.

None of the speakers seemed equipped to unravel the complexity underpinning the idea of South Asia. Though the first forum did mention that South Asian artists are globally networked while also rooted in South Asian consciousness. The forum needed scholars in art history, anthropology and South Asian studies to deliberate on the possible meanings of South Asia in the context of art, artists networks and aesthetic politics.

There is indeed no dearth of scholars from across the region that engage with art in proposing arguments on the idea of South Asia. One can quickly think of scholars from the region such as Rustom Bharucha, Sasanka Perera, Jagath Weerasinghe, Parul Dave Mukherji, Salima Hashmi among many others.

Besides, there was the possibility of curating a conversation among artists from across South Asia in the speakers forum. This could have added width to the comprehension of what these phrases could mean for the artists. Without this informed and layered discourse the fair concealed the integral politics of art, curating, exhibition and fair.

South Asia was largely a usage for commerce, rather than for cultural politics. Reduced into a rhetorical phrase thus, South Asian consciousness could not relate to the artworks on exhibit.

Connecting artworks of the artists from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan with their Indian counterparts could have anchored the art lovers to understand that South Asia is not merely a prerogative of nations, diplomats, and bureaucrats.
The very high turnouts in the Punjab and Goa elections, of 78 per cent and 83 per cent, respectively, are a clear example of anti-incumbency.

In both states, the ruling SAD-BJP coalition in Punjab and the BJP in Goa appear to be on the way out. In Punjab, the AAP has emerged as a major force battling the Congress.

Though Captain Amarinder Singh is the foremost leader in the state, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP has made major inroads into the dominant Malwa region, and among Punjabi Hindus, Dalits and, of course, the Sikhs.

A major issue in both states is demonetisation. In Goa, for 14 days ending on January 9, the anti-noteban sentiment I observed against PM Narendra Modi and the BJP was overwhelming.

Though defence minister and former Goa CM Manohar Parrikar campaigned hard and long in the state, he is unlikely to be able to turn the tide.

Other issues such as stoppage of the English language stipend in schools are very unpopular, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop was highly critical of poor governance in Goa.

Here, since AAP is a new force without sufficient influence in the panchayats which are a critical political-social force, the Congress appears to be ahead. But since there are many small parties in the fray, there could be a hung Assembly.

And Punjab? AAP started with a bang. Thereafter there were a number of fissures culminating in 30 important AAP leaders leaving the party, including Dharamvira Gandhi, MP, and Sucha Singh Chottepur, then AAP's Punjab convener.

This stalled AAP's momentum but Kejriwal along with local leaders like the charismatic Bhagwant Singh Mann and HS Phoolka, a noted campaigner for justice for Sikh victims in the 1984 riots, rejuvenated the AAP campaign.

Rahul Gandhi stalled the announcement of Amarinder Singh as the CM candidate, weakening the Congress campaign. So what will emerge?

Many commentators think AAP has the edge. But a 2 per cent shift in votes can mean a major swing.

A major issue in the two states of Punjab and Goa is demonetisation. (Photo: Reuters)

The major state going to elections is, of course, Uttar Pradesh. UP results will have a particularly important impact. It is the largest and most populous state with the maximum Assembly and parliamentary seats.

Its run-up to the elections is symptomatic of the challenges and weaknesses of the current electoral system. Firstly, the BJP manifesto. It has called for building of the Ram Mandir, on the ruins of the so-called Babri Masjid, though Babar never reached Ayodhya.

The Masjid was destroyed in December 1992, while the Congress PM PV Narasimha Rao stood by, as civil society reports pointed out later. But what has the Sangh Parivar done in the last 24-plus years?

Has it built the Ram Mandir when it has been in power? No! Has it been held up by judicial intervention? If so, how can it build the Ram Mandir in the next five years? What has changed, apart from communal politics?

Not satisfied with this, the NDA has also accused the Samajwadi Party of permitting the forced cleansing of Hindus from a part of UP. This has been a clear attack on secularism and truth. But what are the judiciary and the Election Commission doing?

The Supreme Court has been harassed and humiliated by the government, which has refused to accept most of its recommendations to the higher courts. The UPA-II, which sought to bring in the National Judicial Accountability Commission (NJAC), and its successors have not moved decisively to protect the judiciary.

Thus, these and other elections in this round will be impacted by the breakdown of democratic institutions including the Reserve Bank of India. Why was RBI governor Urjit Patel supine when PM Modi rammed through demonetisation without any systematic planning and emergency backup?

Why did the RBI have so little valuable information that the RBI governor was unable to answer parliamentary committees, including the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)? Why did the RBI keep shifting and changing its own 60-plus notifications, leading bankers to joke that the Reserve Bank of India had become the Reverse Bank of India?

Due to this abdication of responsibility, large areas of UP including Western UP are severely impacted by recession. Eastern UP is even worse off. Cash flows in near to four months remain low and quite inadequate, despite Modi's promise to the nation that he would resolve all demonetisation issues in 50 days.

This is going to be a major issue along with communalism in the forthcoming Assembly election. Elections also bring out the worst in political parties, especially the declining ones.

The Congress insisted on a 100+ Assembly seats, well more than its strength. If they had reduced their demands, UP CM Akhilesh Yadav could have accommodated the Rashtriya Lok Dal. Now the Jats are estranged.

Though the Bahujan Samaj Party is a major force in some areas, the people will soon size up whom the likely winners are. So most estimate that the SP-Congress alliance will win, and likely get a majority. But these are predictions. The people will decide. Their votes will prevail.
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Wipro Limited operates as information technology (IT), consulting, and business process services company worldwide. It operates through three segments: IT Services, IT Products, and India State Run Enterprise Services (ISRE). The IT Services segment offers IT and IT-enabled services, including digital strategy advisory, customer-centric design, technology and IT consulting, custom application design, development, re-engineering and maintenance, systems integration, package implementation, cloud and infrastructure, business process, cloud, mobility and analytics, research and development, and hardware and software design services to enterprises. It serves customers in various industry sectors, such as healthcare and medical devices, consumer goods and life sciences, retail, transportation and services, communications, media and information services, technology products and platforms, banking, financial services and insurance, manufacturing, hi-tech, energy, and utilities. The IT Products segment provides a range of third-party IT products comprising enterprise platforms, networking solutions, software and data storage products, contact center infrastructure, enterprise security, IT optimization technologies, video solutions, and end-user computing solutions. It serves enterprises in various industries primarily in the India market, which comprise the government, defense, IT and IT-enabled services, telecommunications, manufacturing, utilities, education, and financial services sectors. The ISRE segment offers IT services to entities and departments owned or controlled by the Government of India and/or various Indian State Governments. The company was incorporated in 1945 and is based in Bengaluru, India.
(Xinhua) 09:18, February 05, 2017

China has issued its first strategic plan for territory development and preservation, outlining the protection of arable land reserves and islands.

The plan, issued by the State Council Saturday, demands the retaining of 1.825 billion mu (about 121 million hectares) of arable land by 2030 and reiterates the red-line of holding 1.865 billion mu by 2020.

Urban areas must occupy no greater space than 116,700 sq km by 2030, according to the plan.

The timetable also suggested that the country create 1.2 billion mu of high-standard farmland and bring an additional 940,000 sq km of eroded soil under control.

China, the world's third largest country by size, has a landmass of 9.6 million sq km and nearly 3 million sq km of maritime area.

The plan calls for enhanced restoration of ecology on the nation's islands, serving as base points of territorial sea and the environment-friendly development of uninhabited islands.

It also said that infrastructures on islands with development plans, and remote ones, must be improved as a major task in protecting the natural resources and environment of islands.

The plan said that development of tourism projects on remote islands would be encouraged, and the ocean economy would own a greater share of the country's growth.

China will establish 10 to 20 demonstration zones during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) to test ocean economy polices, according to the country's top economic planner.

By 2030, the country will get closer to becoming a maritime power given its enhanced ability in oceanic development and protection, according to the plan.

The nation had more than 11,000 islands by the end of 2015, with Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong having the largest number, according to the State Oceanic Administration survey.

Since 2010, the nation repaired damaged islands with 3.6 billion yuan (about 525 million U.S. dollars) from the central budget, 2.6 billion yuan from the local budget and 300 million yuan from enterprises, in a total of 169 projects.

The plan also envisions better water quality in the country's rivers and lakes, so that 75 percent of water in major drainage basins is of good quality by 2030.
As the nation has watched and reacted to an immigration ban from President Donald Trump via executive order, local school divisions have been watching it with the atmosphere of their schools and wellbeing of students in mind.

On Jan. 27, Trump signed the order that barred citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations  Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen  from entering the United States for 90 days. It also placed a ban on refugees for 120 days, but Syrian refugees have been banned indefinitely.

The orders led to confusion, as well as protests at airports where people were detained. Protests and other similar demonstrations followed in Charlottesville and at the University of Virginia.

But even though the immigration ban was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in Washington state on Friday and the Department of Homeland Security suspended it on Saturday, a sense of anxiety and uncertainty among students in Charlottesville and Albemarle County schools likely will carry over.

In response to the executive orders, the city and county school divisions  each of which has immigrant and refugee students  were ready to provide a welcoming and supportive place for students who might need it.

At the same time, the superintendents encouraged educators to build connections with their students, but to be considerate of how politics and any misinformation could make its way into the classrooms.

But as the news of the ban rolled out, some refugee and immigrant students in the Charlottesville area looked on at what was happening in the nation with disappointment.

For senior Saad Khaleefa, who is originally from Jordan but came to the United States five years ago as a refugee through Syria, and junior Nadiya Khaydari, whose parents are from Afghanistan but she was born in Russia before she came to the U.S. in 2013, what unfolded before them did not represent the America they were once welcomed to as newcomers.

It's very, very sad to see a country that taught me a Constitution, a country that taught me to be welcoming, to be nice to other people close down on people like this and banning them, Khaleefa said.

It was very upsetting because this is what I thought the United States stands for  for the diversity, for helping out immigrants, Khaydari said. And when that executive order came out, I was very upset.

***

Superintendents for Charlottesville and Albemarle County public schools last weekend sent emails to their staff and administrators addressing the executive order and acknowledging that there might be questions, concerns and even some anxiety among students that following Monday.

In them, Superintendents Rosa Atkins and Pam Moran of the city and county schools, respectively, pointed to in-school resources, such as counselors and teachers who work closely with English language learner students, should a student need help.

While we as individuals will have a range of responses to President Trumps executive order, we are united by our commitment to serving all our students and creating an atmosphere of mutual respect regardless of race, ethnicity, politics or more, Atkins said in her email.

In addition, the Charlottesville School Board issued a statement Thursday expressing support for all of its students.

Our students from around the world  whether here as immigrants, refugees, through international exchanges or for other reasons  enrich the learning environment for all of us the statement said.

For principals like Robyn Bolling, there was concern going into the week about how her school would approach such a sensitive subject.

But Bolling, principal of Greer Elementary School, an Albemarle school with many immigrant and refugee students, said one of the most important things she and her staff can do for students who might feel any sense of anxiety at this time is to make them feel welcomed at school.

We cant make promises to students, but what we can promise them is that when they're here at school they are welcomed and they are safe, she said. And, really, that is the message, that we love them, we embrace our diversity, we embrace students. All are welcomed here.

The sense of anxiety in some students and their families in response to the executive orders has been much higher than in recent memory for some educators in the Charlottesville area and beyond.

Scott Kizner, superintendent of Harrisonburg City Schools, said in all his years as an educator he has not seen the level of anxiety he sees today in response to the orders, as well as any other potential actions from the president that could affect immigrant or refugee students.

This has really tested when we say that great educators understand having strong relationships with children and their community, he said. I think this has really highlighted that importance in our school system, and our schools are open for community dialogue and discussions.

***

While school officials and staff are communicating with students and addressing any concerns that might arise from actions from the White House, other organizations in the area are prepared to help, as well.

The Legal Aid Justice Center and the International Rescue Committees Charlottesville office are both watching the developments and deciding how best to move forward.

Tanishka Cruz, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center, said she and others with the center have been working to make sure those who could be affected by, or are concerned about, the recent actions know their rights.

And this isn't a new worry, Cruz said. Its been going on for months, she said.

Theres a lot of fear of raids that will be happening at some point based on what the administration promised on the campaign trail, and that has produced a lot of anxiety, as well, Cruz said.

Harriet Kuhr, director of the IRCs office in Charlottesville, said one of the messages she and others with the organization have been trying to communicate is that refugees who already have been admitted and are in the country should feel safe.

Kuhr added that Charlottesville has been a welcoming community, and both she and Cruz said its important for communities, and the schools, to help ensure that sense of safety and belonging.

We don't want the opposite to happen where people are so scared that they're not leaving their homes, they're not sending their children to school, they're not going to work, Cruz said. All of that can have a terrible impact on the community in general.

The Legal Aid Justice Center filed a complaint on Monday against Trump, Homeland Security and others regarding the executive order.

***

While the schools want to be a resource for students who are feeling uncertain or have questions about what is going on, educators are being careful about how they approach such a politically charged subject.

Both the city and county school divisions have policies in place that recognize employees rights to engage in political activity, but that that while on school property or during school time they should not do so in a way that advocates for partisan political purposes.

So, for Hannah Bailey and Allen Robinson, who teach social studies and government classes, its important to foster student discussions around questions about current political issues, such as the recent executive orders, from an informed and academic point of view.

Bailey, a social studies teacher at Monticello High, said its about grounding the students  and teacher  in the policy of the matter, rather than the politics of it.

So when anything controversial happens in the world of current events, we try to steer them to looking at the policy and understanding that reasonable people on both sides of an issue can look at the same problem or the same issue and have different opinions about how to work on that issue, she said.

Robinson, a government teacher at Charlottesville High, said that while the classes he teaches allow students to address whats going on in the world, theres a level of flexibility that teachers need in order to discuss such broad topics.

We learn as teachers to build connections with our students from the beginning, and sometimes it's times like now where those connections become especially important, he said. If a student wants to come by at lunch and just kind of work through what they're hearing and reading and worrying about, then they have a safe place they can do it. That's a nice thing.

But for students like Khaleefa, its not a political or Republican-versus-Democrat element that should be the main concern for conversations like this. For him, its the human element in these executive orders.

Its about being human, he said. Its about giving your heart, being merciful to these people.

And as more information and changes are likely to come, Khaleefa and Khaydari said they hope that their school, and other school divisions, can continue to be a supportive environment for students who may feel a close connection to what is happening.

Its for students like Khaleefa, who said he has family and friends still living in Syria and Iraq, and his mother is still in Jordan.

That affects me; that affects my friends, it affects my family, affects my mother. It affects a lot of us, he said. That executive order is bigger than what you think.
The Braves' Dragon Dance is performed in Southwest Chinas Guizhou province to celebrate the lunar New Year on February 2, 2017. The folk art has a tradition of hundreds of years and not like the ordinary Chinese dragon dance, performers dance with fireworks in their hands and pour the sparks onto the dragon. The dance is called Braves' Dragon Dance because some dancers may get singed during the performance. [Photo: Weibo]
Local government lobbyists want to add several little words to the Virginia budget that could call attention to a big problem: that rather than a handout from the state, cities and counties increasingly get the back of its hand.

Del. Israel OQuinn, R-Washington County, and Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Russell, introduced amendments, respectively, to the House and Senate versions of the $104 billion budget calling for a $1 million study on whether state government is giving local schools enough money to meet education standards set by the Virginia Constitution.

It is a thorny issue  and not just in remote, economically struggling pockets of the countryside, including the coalfields that OQuinn and Chafin represent.

It is too soon to say whether a compromise budget will include the proposed study and enough money to pay for it. But the issue spotlighted by the amendment is not going away, though it may be overshadowed  for now  by $1.5 billion in spending cuts forced by the slowing economy.

Plus, it is not just state funding for education that has alarmed such organizations as the Virginia Municipal League, the Virginia Association of Counties and Virginia First Cities, a coalition of 12 of the states oldest cities, including Richmond. Local government is jittery, too, about its ability to generate cash.

Sluggish growth in revenue from the real estate tax  the biggest source of funds  means that localities are having a harder time making up for what they believe they should be receiving from the state for schools.

And they are already contributing more than required. Counties and cities are supposed to spend $3.3 billion.

Instead, the figure is approaching $3.9 billion, covering the additional $600 million per year that the State Board of Education has said that Virginia should be committing to schools to meet the so-called Standards of Quality  or SOQ  the constitutionally designated, minimum annual investment by the state in a students K-12 education.

But this is not a topic that politicians necessarily want to discuss in an election year. With Virginians readying to choose a new governor and House of Delegates  perhaps in redrawn districts if the U.S. Supreme Court throws out a Republican map as racial gerrymandering  the narrative is supposed to be largely positive.

It being the Trump era, a dystopian notion of politics and policy has descended on Washington, but in purple Virginia all, comparatively speaking, is sweetness and light, particularly with Republicans  ordinarily anti-tax, lean-government skinflints  who are promising a 3 percent pay raise for state workers and even more for state troopers.

Thank Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a soon-to-be lame-duck Democrat, for the Republicans generosity. His underwhelming one-time, 1.5 percent bonus for public employees was an invitation to Republicans to ride to the rescue. McAuliffe had canceled a 3 percent raise planned for last month, because of the trudging economy.

Teachers, however, were overlooked by Republicans. They are forgoing another state contribution toward teacher raises because most educators got a pay increase last year, courtesy of the people who ultimately decide such matters: local elective officials.

This is not stopping McAuliffe, in his final full year in office, from attempting to make a sows ear from a silk purse. He welcomes the Republican-authored pay increase for classified employees but complains that the GOP is doing a disservice to public schools by not recommending raises for teachers  whose union tends to favor Democrats.

That teachers would get the short shrift is a reminder that public education has endured similar treatment for years  under Democrats and Republicans.

Part of the problem: The state, because of the Standards of Quality funding formula, does not recognize about one-third of the K-12 positions in local schools. Many are support staff rather than instructional personnel.

Driving up staff costs are economic and demographic trends, according to the Virginia Department of Education.

From 2008 to 2016, there has been a nearly 10 percent jump in students eligible for free lunch  a yardstick of poverty. Also, an increasingly diverse student population means that demand for English instruction is up 63 percent over 10 years.

Funding also is a factor in school accreditation. More than one in five schools are not meeting state standards, which are measured as well by student performance on competency tests.

Pass rates on the Standards of Learning examinations are highest for Asians, followed closely by whites. Third are Hispanics; fourth, African-Americans, who are slightly ahead of all low-income students and those with limited English proficiency.

All this suggests that the Standards of Quality, as the acknowledged-by-law measure of educational advancement, is little more than aspirational; maybe even a bit of a fantasy  one that cannot be realized without, at minimum, the political consensus that has often eluded this governor and this General Assembly.

Perhaps the last time such a consensus was achieved was in 2004, when a Democratic governor, Mark Warner, maneuvered a $1.4 billion tax increase through a GOP legislature over the objections a new Republican House speaker, Bill Howell of Stafford County. The tax increase was the culmination of a different but no less decisive victory.

In 2002, the investigative arm of the General Assembly, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, issued a sweeping report on ever-expanding gaps in education funding.

The report became a powerful talking point in the case for higher taxes, hastening a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats that is unlikely in 2017 because of uniformly conservative GOP majorities in the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate.

Even skeptics would agree that more money  more reliable sources of money  could stabilize public education in Virginia. However, stability is tied to factors that part-time legislators cannot control: the trajectory of the economy and the whims of voters, though redistricting temporarily can, on a micro-level, minimize swings in the electorate. Redistricting, however, has only polarized the General Assembly.

An update of the tax system would help, but there is little interest in anything more than random tinkering. And the one-term-and-youre-out rule for a governor means there is little impetus for a chief executive to spend the bulk of his or her four-year term pushing for revisions on something as politically volatile as the tax code.

So Virginia endures with an odd patchwork of taxes and tax breaks, the latter contributing to a net annual contraction in revenues of $2.3 billion since 1994. For 19 years, a wobbly protocol for lessening the bite of the unpopular, locally imposed car tax has drained nearly $1 billion a year from the general fund, the main source of public school dollars.

And while a poll this past week by Virginia Commonwealth University suggests that many taxpayers are willing to dig deeper for public education, heres betting that most of them know more about their SUVs than the states SOQ.

Jeff E. Schapiro is a writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Contact him at (804) 649-6814.
We talk a lot in Albemarle County about being welcoming and inclusive, especially now, in the darkness and uncertainty associated with our immigrants and those most in need.

But, when it comes time to creating inclusivity on a local level, it is clear that some of our leaders have a different agenda.

By opposing rezoning for the Adelaide development in Crozet, the dissenting supervisors, Ann Mallek, Liz Palmer, and Rick Randolph, have voted against inclusivity and against the recommendations of the experts that they appointed: the county staff and the planning commissioners.

Their vote prevents Albemarle from building trails and connections, and it pressures growth in the rural areas. It forces us to build closer to our neighbors and environmental features. Most importantly, it permanently eliminates the opportunity for affordable housing, creating price points that are far out of reach for young families, police officers, teachers and public servants.

Despite two years of proposals, plan revisions, and compromise, these dissenting votes ensure that the community vision outlined in the Master Plan will not be realized. Furthermore, the vote sends a message of exclusivity to those most in need.

I want to thank all the supportive staff, supervisors, community members, and friends who have worked with me on this project. Its been an honor to serve the goal of creating an inclusive and welcoming community.

Kyle Redinger is a serial entrepreneur, including most recently in the area of land development company. He sought a rezoning in Albemarle County for the proposed Adelaide subdivision in Crozet.
(Xinhua) 10:50, February 05, 2017

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has cut subsidy qualifications for seven Chinese automakers over subsidy cheating.

Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co., Ltd, one of the punished producers, was accused of equipping 1,353 new-energy cars with sub par number of battery cells in 2015, when it applied for financial subsidies.

The MIIT penalty effectively bans the automakers from entering an official catalogue of recommended vehicle types which get fiscal support to lower their prices and boost market competitiveness.

Authorities will review their application after they rectify their problems in two months.

Authorities launched investigations into subsidy cheating cases in beginning of 2016 after the country had forked out about 33 billion yuan (about 4.8 billion U.S. dollars) of subsidies between 2009 and 2015.

The subsidy program has played an important role in the country's booming market for new-energy vehicles, which are seen as effective in cutting emissions.

China sold 507,000 new-energy vehicles last year, a rise of 53 percent year on year.

The government will cut subsidies to new-energy vehicles by 10 percent this year from the 2016 level and plans to phase out the subsidies by 2020.
It may be 2017, but a group of local high school thespians still want their MTV.

Beginning Thursday evening at 7 p.m., Culpeper County High School will present its production of Rock of Ages, a 2009 hit play from the Great White Waywhich features some great big hair.

The show will be presented in the CCHS auditorium at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday evenings. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students.

CCHS theater teacher Maxie Mitchell is directing the musical, which has a cast and crew of about 60 students.

The show is being choreographed by CCHS math teacher Ashley Elkins, and the musical director is choir instructor Doray Walker.

We wanted to choose a play that would be fun for the cast and crew to do, Mitchell said. Plus it has music by a lot of fantastic bands from the 1980s. Theyre classic songs that everybody will know.

Elkins said auditions for the play were held last November, right after CCHS finished its fall production of High School Musical.

We finished that play Friday night and began auditions for this one on Monday, Elkins said.

Mitchell said the CCHS production of Rock of Ages is a high school version of the play, which depicts the love story between aspiring musicians Drew Boley, played by Micah Leuterio, and Sherrie Christian, played by Alexis Hinton.

Mitchell said the story is narrated by Lonny Barrett, played by Chad McKnight, a character who was excluded from the popular film version of the play released a few years ago.

Rock of Ages is set against a back drop of classic music from the 1980swhich the productions promotional fliers refer to as music by a bunch of really sweet 80s bands, including such acts as Poison, Twisted Sister, Night Ranger, Journey and Starship.

To bring across that music, the play features a live six-piece band which plays from the rear of the stage throughout the production, Mitchell said.

Michell said having the band on stage rather than in front of it posed a few logistical issues which the crew had to work out.

The cast cant see Walkers musical directions because she is behind them, so the production has incorporated laptops in front of the cast to allow the performers to see Walker for their musical cues, Mitchell said.

The show also incorporates a revolving mini-stage for the performers and images that are projected on a screen behind the cast.

This is the most technologically advanced show we have ever done, Mitchell said.

Included in the shows band are high school students C.J. Giba on drums, Jacob Dawson on bass, Hannah Randolph on keyboards and Jacob Dawson and Chase Miller on guitar.

Playing lead guitar is Chris Brown, a volunteer from the community known to many from his years as a guitarist with local band Brown Bag Special.

Brown said he goes to church with Walker, which is how he found out the production was searching for a lead guitar player for this weeks show.

She asked me if I wanted to do it and I said I would give it a try, Brown said. The hardest part is learning where the stops and transitions are, because a lot of the songs are put together as medleys.

Brown said he has been working with a recording of the shows soundtrack to help learn the score, something Walker said many of the cast members have done as well.

Walker said the company that leases the rights to perform the play provided a CD of the soundtrack the cast members could use while learning the plays songs, songs which date from before the young cast members were born.

Walker noted that many of the cast members will be performing at district choir this weekend, which is being held at Eastern View High School at 3 p.m. Saturday before the curtain goes up on the final performance of Rock of Ages at 7 that evening.

Theyve all been working really hard, Walker said. We have a lot of talented students here, and its been amazing watching them put it all together and seeing what they can do.
On this day 118 years ago, the Culpeper area was in the grips of perhaps its most potent and dangerous winter weather system in recorded history. The Blizzard of 1899 had begun.

Today we tend to think of a blizzard as a powerful snowstorm with high winds, but the Blizzard of 1899 was that and much more.

That event was really several storms that raged over almost a two-week period. In an era that featured none of the modern conveniences of today, it was particularly devastating.

It began on Feb. 3 with a thunderstorm in air so cold that the raindrops froze on contact, according to newspaper accounts of the day.

The Culpeper Exponent reported that the ice made our streets veritable ice slides and caused a large number of limbs to fall from the shade trees in town.

Snow began to fall on Feb. 7 and continued sporadically for three days.

On the 11th [Saturday] it began to snow and continued all night, all Sunday and Sunday night, Miss Senie Hitt of Rixeyville wrote in her diary. The wind began to blow and, oh, my! Monday morning! What a dreadful time!

Temperatures had begun falling even before the thunderstorm and freezing rain and then it only got colder. On Friday, Feb. 10, Washington, D.C., experienced its all-time low15 degrees below zero. Temperatures over the Mid-Atlantic region would remain below zero for almost a week.

During the height of the snowstorm, one Remington man said that members of his family had to be anchored to a porch post of reach the woodhouse.

At Cardova, the drifts became so deep and the snow was falling so fiercely that Bergen Judd, using a balance pole, had to walk atop drifts and follow a rail fence to get to the springhouse.

The wind sounded like so many roaring lions, wrote Senie Hitt. The snow was coming so thick you could only see a few yards ahead of you. It continued all [Monday]. The wind blew all that night but I think the snow ceased to fall soon after dark.

Few people living in the county ever saw a worse day than last Monday, 60-year-old Dr. Alexander Harris of Jeffersonton said. It was risky to venture far from home, and I did not, even to feed, without an escort.

Those short of wood cut shade trees in their yards to survive and could work only 15 or so minutes at a time in the blinding snow and freezing cold. One Remington resident burned the lining of his ice house and many sacrificed furniture to keep from freezing.

Other Remington residents commandeered coal from cars that were marooned on the tracks.

In Stafford County, about two miles from Fredericksburg, a 60-year-old man named Reuben Bowler froze to death while he and two companions were out cutting wood.

He was within a quarter of a mile of a dwelling and couldnt reach it, wrote the Exponent.

Lewis Green, an elderly colored man who lived in a lean-to on the place of Moses and Mollie Phillips [at Stevensburg], died of exposure and starvation, the paper reported.

Soon after the snow abated (Tuesday was bright and clear but cold), two doctors had concurred that Lester Frays grandmother was in bad need of medication to keep her alive. The closest drug store was in Culpeper, so, believing the worst to be over, the 19-year-old set out about 9 a.m. on his sorrel horse, Thunderbolt, to make the 15-mile trip.

With transportation at a standstill, the postmaster at Brightwood asked Fray to carry the mail pouch to Culpeper, which he did.

I had quite a time getting to James City [Leon], a distance of three miles, Fray wrote 50 years later. At this point the trail was drifted over.

Residents there warned Fray to turn back, but he kept going.

At this time it began to hail, with a keen wind from the north. I pulled down my hat brim and we faced the elements. I hated to force Thunderbolt into the weather as he had nothing to shield his eyes. But our trip was a must.

Then the hail turned to rain and, with the temperature still well below freezing, Fray became almost encased in ice. At times, he could not find the main road (U.S. 29) and made his way through the fields and woods, occasionally stopping at houses to ask directions.

He wandered so far off course that he wound up passing through Clatterbucks big swamp (above where Mountain Run Lake is now).

Here my heart almost failed me, he later wrote. I dreaded forcing Thunderbolt into that swamp but we went into it, crossing without a mishap.

He crossed Mountain Run at Gibsons old mill, but at one small brook nearby Thunderbolt, weary from his journey, refused to cross because of the high drifts.

Fray faced no other option but to dismount, worrying that he would never be able to get back on the horse. Still, he got down and persuaded his horse to make the crossing with one enormous jump. But when he did, the animal pulled the reins from his riders hands and bolted up the trail, leaving Fray stranded.

I was just about all in anyway so I began to bellow just like a crybaby, Fray wrote. That being a strange noise that probably he had never heard, [Thunderbolt] stopped in his tracks, turned, looked at me and waited until I pulled the mail pouch from the brook.

Somehow, climbing onto a half frozen drift, Fray was able to remount and continue, hitting the Sperryville Pike at the old toll gate (west of Fairview Cemetery).

At some place between there and Culpeper I saw a lot of starving cattle in a field, some that appeared to be nothing but skeletons with hide stretched over them. Vultures were standing in front of them, waiting for them to pass out, some skeletons already picked.

After more than seven hours in the saddle, Fray finally reached the Culpeper home of his cousin, Billy Fray, who provided a warm stove but advised the weary traveler that those in his home had the measles, as did many in Culpeper at that time.

Between 40 and 50 inches of snow fell during that period, not counting the freezing rain and sleet. Trains were stalled as drifts of 12 feet covered the tracks in places.

The Exponent told of many sheep and cattle that perished, some standing with only their horns protruding from the drifts. One farmer accidently snapped off both of his horses frozen ears while trying to bridle the beast.

During that cold stretch, the Chesapeake Bay froze, as did the Mississippi River. It got down to six degrees in New Orleans and 10 in Jacksonville, Fla. At Monterey, in Highland County, the low temperature on Feb. 2 was 29 below.

The effects of the blizzard and cold were long lasting. Small trees and shrubbery froze and died and the quail population would take 20 years to return to normal.

The Blizzard of 1899 was really one for the record books.

Editors note: All three of the accompanying photos were taken by John T. Wampler, editor of the Culpeper Enterprise, Culpepers second weekly newspaper of the day.
The Information Telegraphic Agency of Russia (TASS) reported on February 2 that a source engaged in Russia's foreign military technical cooperation revealed that Russia will deliver the second batch of ten Su-35 fighter jets to China this year.

"The first batch of four fighter jets were supplied late last year, the second batch of ten jets will be delivered to China this year, and the last ten jets will be delivered in 2018," the source said.

The Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation didn't comment on the news.

The Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Vladimir Drozhzhov said in November 2016 that Russia was performing the first-stage obligations of its Su-35 fighter jets contract with China.

Russia and China signed a contract worth no less than $2 billion for the delivery of 24 Su-35 fighter jets in November 2015, including the provision of ground equipment and backup engine. A source told TASS earlier that the contract would be completed within three years.

Su-35 is Russia's Generation4++ multi-function fighter jet equipped with airborne phased array radar, TVC engine and 12 hard-points. It boasts the maximal speed of 2500km/h, maximal range of 3400km and combat radius of 1600km.

According to news on the website of Britain's Jane's Defence Weekly February 2, TASS quoted a source engaged in "Russia's foreign military technical cooperation" as saying that Russia will deliver another ten Su-35 multi-function fighter jets to China in 2017.

Vyacheslav Shport, governor of Russia's Khabarovskiy Kray, announced in September 2016 that the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KNAAPO), an aircraft manufacturer located by the Amur River in that region, will deliver all 24 Su-35 fighter jets to China before 2018.

The sales contract was announced by Russian Technologies, a military-industrial enterprise, in November 2015, making China the first foreign buyer of Su-35. The fighter jet is reputed to be a Generation 4++ aircraft with high flexibility and similar characteristics and performance to the upcoming Generation 5 fighter jet.

The website of RBC Daily reported February 2 that according to a source engaged in Russia's foreign military technical cooperation, Russia will deliver ten Su-35 fighter jets to China in 2017, to be followed by another ten in 2018.

China is the first foreign buyer of Su-35 fighter jets. The two countries signed the contract of 24 fighter jets of this kind in November 2015.

The Chinese military first showed interests in Su-35 at the Airshow China in 2008, when General Xu Qiliang, the then commander of the PLA Air Force, visited Su-35 at Sukhoi's booth and inquired about its flying, technical and tactical performance.

In 2011, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense made an offer to Russia's Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation to buy Su-35. The two sides signed an initial agreement at the end of 2012 and negotiated about technical and financial terms of the deal in the following three years.

American bimonthly National Interest put Su-35 fighters on top of the list of Russia's most horrible weapons. Expert from the magazine held that this fighter jet was "extremely dangerous" for most of NATO's fighter jets because it was equipped with long-range air-to-air missiles and was able to launch them at supersonic speed.
(Xinhua) 12:26, February 05, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that his country will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help restore peace along the Ukraine-Russia border.

Trump made the pledge in a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the White House said in a statement, describing it as a "very good call."

The two leaders also discussed the potential for their meeting in the near future, the statement said.

The call came as the situation in eastern Ukraine has worsened in recent days with reported ceasefire violations and widespread use of multiple launch rocket systems.

Separately, Trump spoke with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni over the phone on Saturday to discuss strengthening bilateral cooperation on issues including security and counter-terrorism.

The two leaders discussed Libya, the influx of migrants and refugees into Europe, as well as Italy's priorities, and the upcoming G7 meeting in Italy, the White House said.

They agreed to continue close coordination and cooperation on efforts to eliminate the Islamic State (IS) group and other terrorist organizations.

During the call, Trump also emphasized the importance of all North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies sharing the monetary burden of defense spending, according to the White House.

Trump also agreed to attend the G7 Summit in Taormina, Italy in May.
(Xinhua) 14:25, February 05, 2017

Chinese police solved 83,000 cases of telecom and Internet fraud in 2016, up 49.6 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The ministry noted that the number of cases has dropped significantly since last September.

The increase in telecom and Internet fraud has been contained, the ministry said in a statement, adding that economic losses caused by telecom and Internet fraud in 2016 decreased by 10.9 percent year on year.

Last year, Chinese police dispatched work teams to several countries, including Kenya, Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia and Spain, and took back 561 telecom fraud suspects, the ministry said.

In 2016, police nationwide busted nearly 7,700 telecom fraud rings.

According to the ministry, Chinese police have successfully stopped bank transfers to 73,000 fraud accounts and recovered 1.13 billion yuan (around 164.8 million U.S. dollars) since June 2016 when banks and police nationwide began cooperation to respond to telecom fraud.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 5

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 6 times violated the ceasefire in various directions along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend Feb. 5.

Azerbaijani army positions located on the nameless heights of the Gazakh district, Aghbulag village of the Tovuz district and Garavalilar village of the Gadabay district underwent fire from Armenian army positions, located on the nameless heights of the Ijevan district, Chinari village of the Berd district and on the nameless heights of the Krasnoselsk district.

Moreover, the Azerbaijani army positions were shelled from the Armenian positions located near the Armenian-occupied Sarijali village of the Aghdam district, as well as from the positions located on the nameless heights of the Jabrayil district.

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, Feb. 5

Trend:

The body of Azerbaijani soldier Chingiz Gurbanov was transferred to Azerbaijan thanks to the efforts of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev, the countrys defense ministry said in a message Feb. 5

Gurbanov was killed in an Armenian provocation on Dec. 29, 2016 at the Azerbaijan-Armenia border.

According to the message, the procedure was carried out in the direction of Bala Jafarli village of the Azerbaijani Gazakh district through appropriate measures made by the countrys Ministry of Defense and the mediation of the Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The body of Gurbanov, after receiving it from the opposite side, was sent to Baku, accompanied by a guard of honour and with military honors.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 5

Trend:

The body of Azerbaijani soldier Chingiz Gurbanov was transferred to Azerbaijan Feb. 5, the countrys State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People said in a message.

Gurbanov was killed in an Armenian provocation on Dec. 29, 2016 at the Azerbaijan-Armenia border.

"Gurbanovs body was transferred as a result of the regular measures undertaken by the international organizations, relevant state agencies and in accordance with the instructions of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev, the message said.

The humanitarian process conducted by the Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People and the Ministry of Defense with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross, took place without incident," the message said.
The fund will focus on investing in consumer internet companies both locally and internationally.

New Delhi: Handset maker Micromax is setting up a USD 75-million independent fund that will focus on investing in domestic and international consumer internet companies. In the last two years, Micromax has already invested in about 10 startups, including ixigo, Gaana, HealthifyMe and Scandid.

The fund -- Orbis Capital -- aims to raise USD 75 million in the next 12-18 months. Backed by Micromax as an investor and strategic partner, the fund will focus on investing in consumer internet companies both locally and internationally.

"We have tasted a great amount of success with all our investments that we strategically did over the last two years and this progression to announce an independent fund was due to the large opportunities that the market presents.

This fund will look at investing in consumer internet companies across the world that have local relevance," Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma told PTI. This will also allow Micromax to further leverage its platform for larger opportunities, he added.

Orbis Capital is in the process of building an advisory board alongside the investment team and has already brought on board leading entrepreneurs including Nami Zarringhalam (Truecaller co-founder) and Parry Blacher (former co-founder, Covestor). Kumar Shah, who spearheaded Micromaxs global investment programme will lead Orbis Capital along with his existing team.
Government has already announced its plans to sell its stake in the firm and transfer the management control of the helicopter service operator.

New Delhi: Strongly opposing the sale of Pawan Hans, a section of the company's employees has said the decision was taken in an "arbitrary" manner without considering its financial performance.

In this regard, All India Civil Aviation Employees' Union has written to the Prime Minister's Office voicing its opposition to the proposed 100 per cent strategic sale of the helicopter services provider.

The union, which claims to represent nearly 300 employees at Pawan Hans, has described the decision as "arbitrary and unjustified" particularly against the backdrop of the company's IPO plans. Pawan Hans -- where the Centre and ONGC hold 51 per cent and 49 per cent stakes, respectively -- has more than 900 employees, including 450 on permanent rolls.

"It goes without saying that the case of Pawan Hans Ltd's disinvestment was recommended arbitrarily without due consideration to its history, mandate, financial performance and future scope of business in the evolving aviation sector," the union said in a statement.

Expressing shock over the company being included in the "list of sick public sector undertakings, which have bee selected for 100 per cent strategic sale based on recommendations of Niti Aayog," the union said

Pawan Hans has been making profit since its inception and also pays dividend. According to the union, Pawan Hans has till now given a dividend of Rs 235 crore to the government and ONGC.

The proposal of Niti Aayog is "far from ground reality" and should be re-considered, it added. Citing the example of Air India, which is receiving taxpayers' fund as part of turnaround plans, the union said no such facility has been extended to Pawan Hans, which has been maintaining steady profits.

"Against the backdrop of the soaps provided to similar organisations like Air India which has been accommodated vide a comprehensive turnaround plan, no such consideration was given for Pawan Hans Ltd...," it noted.

The government has already announced its plans to sell its stake in the firm and transfer the management control of the helicopter service operator.

Pawan Hans earned an operating profit of Rs 61.6 crore in the last financial year. Last week, it paid a total dividend of Rs 10.82 crore to the government and ONGC. Set up in 1985, Pawan Hans currently has a fleet of 46 helicopters.
New Delhi: Telecom regulator Trai has said that 'operator-assisted' drive tests, which measure call drops and service quality, would start across various locations soon. These tests would be conducted around each of Trai's five regional offices including Jaipur, Hyderabad and Bangalore, by March.

"The operator-assisted drive tests where operators do their own drive tests and Trai participates and monitors... They are going to start very soon at various places," Trai Chairman RS Sharma told PTI.

The operator-assisted tests - a new concept by Trai - involves operators' equipment and costs, with the regulator monitoring and supervising the entire process.

"Trai is partnering with the operators to do the drive tests to measure quality of service... We have five regional offices and we have requested the operators to conduct drive tests and our regional officers...they tell the time and place in terms of which city, which road, place, route...," Sharma said.

"They are saying, by March we will conduct 4 drive tests in each of the five regions," he said, adding that these locations include Bhopal, Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Bangalore.

The 'operator-assisted' drive tests will most likely precede the independent drive tests conducted by the regulator.

"As far as our drive tests are concerned...I had earlier mentioned that there were some issues with our agency...they are being sorted out and those tests should start soon...within a couple of weeks," Sharma said.

Asked if transparency will be an issue, when drive tests to assess call drops and service quality are conducted by the operators, Sharma said, "I am sure it will be transparent and the operators will collaborate".

"Quality of service is certainly a consumer (centric) problem but it is also an operator problem...customer care and quality of service is good for the service providers too," he said.

Last year, independent drive tests were conducted by Trai in Amritsar in August-September, and in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, Darjeeling, Sikkim and Trivandrum in May-June.

Typically, drive tests assess the performance of networks on various quality benchmarks, including call set-up success rate, call drop rate, blocked calls and Radio Frequency (RF) coverage.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 5

Trend:

The Main Anti-Corruption Department under the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office completed the investigation and sent 201 criminal cases against 313 individuals to the countrys courts, according to the message made at the expanded meeting of the Prosecutor General's Offices Board.

The meeting was held with the participation of the management of the Military Prosecutor's Office, prosecutor's offices of Baku and Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, as well as city and district military prosecutors.

According to the message, those cases are associated with bribery, abuse of office, forgery and other facts.

The board meeting was devoted to the activity of the prosecution bodies in 2016, as well as the further tasks, the message said.

According to the message, 33 million manat was paid as a compensation for damage and property worth 78 million manat was seized as a result of the investigation.
Mumbai: Split star James McAvoy has donated50,000 euros for the treatment of a 16-year-old cancer patient.

Kelly Turner, who was given just two years to live in 2015, hopes to fly to America for pioneering surgery to reduce the size of the rare tumours, reported Femalefirst.

Her family are trying to raise one million euros needed for the immunisation to fly her to New York for immunotherapy treatment.

When the 37-year-old actor got to know about it, he visited the girl at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Kent.

He later donated the amount to the little lady's fundraising page at JustGiving.

"Great to meet you the other day Kelly. I hope this helps you achieve your goal sooner rather than later. Good luck love James," a message alongside the Split star's generous donation read.
Malayalam actor Maqbool Salman, nephew of Superstar Mammootty, is foraying into Ktown with a Tamil movie. Directed by Hashim Marikar, the film has three heroines opposite Maqbool. Popular Kannada award-winning actress, Harshika Poonacha, Paoli Dam known for her Hindi film Hate Story, and Shakshi Dwivedi, are debuting in Tamil. Riyaz Khan, a popular Malayalam actor, has been roped in as well for a crucial role.

Maqbool who has done more than a dozen Malayalam flicks, shared his opinion, I am happy to be launched in Tamil. My periappa, Mammootty, is an all India star and my elder brother Dulquer Salman is a rising star. Like how you gave support to them in Tamil, I hope you extend the same support to me too.

Harshika, on her part, said, It was my dream to work in a Tamil movie. I want to do meaty roles and be part of good films and earn a name like Nayanthara. Noted Malayalam banner Marikar Arts will be bankrolling the project.
The European Film Market of the Berlin International Film Festival is a very prestigious Film festival and an important trade platform. Come every February, the European Film Market throws open its doors to welcome over 9,230 producers, buyers, sales agents, distributors, exhibitors and financiers to the first major film market of the year.

This time Olapeepi the film directed by Krish Kaimal has found a place in the prestigious Film Festival. The film with Biju Menon and Paris Laxmi in the lead told the endearing tale of the bond between a grandson and his grandmother, who was once a very rich landlady, now fallen to penury. The film received critical acclaim for the story line and the performances- especially notable was the acting by the 86 year old veteran drama artiste Kanchanamma who played the role of the frail grandmother. The film is produced under the Vibezon banner and co -produced by Parthan Mohan.
Mumbai: The girl holding the lamp in the celebrated painting 'Glow of Hope', also referred commonly as the "Woman With the Lamp", by S L Haldankar, has turned 100.

The painting, a watercolour masterpiece, is now housed in the Jaychama Rajendra Art Gallery at the Jaganmohan Palace in Mysore and is one of the most prized possessions as well as a major attractions at the gallery.



It was painted in 1945-46, almost seven decades ago, but yet holds the same amount of fascination for art lovers all over the country. Though the painting is by Haldankar, it has been wrongly attributed to legendary painter Raja Ravi Verma.

The girl in the painting is Haldankar's third daughter, Gita Uplekar, who turned 100 on February 2.

To mark the occasion, a small event was organised on Thursday at Kolhapur, where she resides since 1940s, after her marriage to jeweller Krishnakant Uplekar.

"I was 12 and lighting the Diwali diya when Bhau (Haldankar) saw me and asked me to pose for the sketch," Gita said. The painting was completed in three days, she added.

"It is a matter of pride for us that my mother's name is recognised by all art fans," Gita's daughter Parinita Shah said, adding that her mother relished her favourite ice cream on her 100th birthday.

Raja Uplekar, Gita's nephew told PTI that there was a demand from France for the painting to be sold at Rs 8 crore but the Mysore gallery did not part with the painting, which was bought from Haldankar at Rs 300.

When the painting was being done, Gita had to hold her pose for three or more hours continuously. There is a very interesting story about how the idea for this painting was conceived.

During Diwali, Haldankar saw his daughter in a beautiful saree with a candle and her hand woven around the flame to prevent the wind from blowing it out. The rays of the candle radiated from the gap within her fingers and it also illuminated her face. Haldankar decided to model a painting on the same

lines. The medium used was water colours on painted handmade paper as he wanted to prove that he can paint without a single mistake as mistakes made with oil paints cannot be rectified.

Each of the water colours used signifies and symbolises different things - the lavender in the saree stands for grace and the gold showcases the royal touch. The woman in a saree stands for grace, femininity and natural beauty.

The painting is in a domain which is usually darkened with curtains to highlight the subtlety of the glowing candle. The effect of the painting is heightened by the shadow of the woman in the back.

Born in 1882 in Maharashtra's Savantawadi, Sawlaram Lakshman Haldankar showed early promise and enrolled in the Sir JJ school of Arts, Mumbai.

He soon became a student of Dhurandhar and Cecil Burns. In 1908, he started the Haldankar Art Institute in Mumbai. Later, with other friends, he founded the Art School of India in 1918 and became its president.
"Let the world be great again" was written on the wall (Photo: AFP)

Hamburg: A German tourist attraction that features miniature models of various parts of the world has put up a wall around the United States, in a dig at President Donald Trump's plan to build a full-sized one on the border with Mexico.

The display at Miniature Wonderland, which Trip Advisor rates as the top destination in the city of Hamburg, is a hit with tourists, including some from the United States, who are usually drawn by its vast model railway.

Visitors on Friday could be seen peering over a miniature concrete wall topped with razor wire to look at sites such as a tiny Mount Rushmore and a Las Vegas skyline.

The slogan "Let the world be great again" was scribbled on the wall, a reference to Trump's election slogan "Make America Great Again".

"I don't want to tell anyone what to think. Everybody should look at that wall, and then decide regardless of whether they are on the left, right or centre," said Gerrit Braun, co-founder of Miniatur Wunderland. "The main thing is that the people think about it."

Ryan Ott, a tourist from the United States, said: "I think it's a good use of humour, which is what the world needs, I think, right now to help cope with what's happening in our country."
Stating that there is a delay at almost every stage, the doctor said that initially, the patient delays for some time, then the general practitioner also does.

Chennai: Cancer is contagious and cancer is incurable are just two among many myths that continue to exist in the society today. On World Cancer Day, doctors urge for increased awareness against such myths.

Cancer is never communicable. If the public recognises this fact, family members and friends of patients will definitely support him or her. Also, the myth that a patients cancer will get aggravated when he or she goes for treatment is very wrong. One must go to a proper comprehensive cancer care centre for the right kind of treatment. The notion that cancer treatment is more troublesome than cancer itself is also far from the truth, said Dr Raja Sundaram, Director  Gleneagles Global Institute of Oncology, Gleneagles Global Health City, on the sidelines of a World Cancer Day meet on Saturday.

Nowadays, a surgery is very sophisticated. All sorts of technologies have been introduced to ensure that the patient does not have any pain, even if it is a major surgery. We have gone way ahead in terms of cancer treatment, he added.

Despite awareness on the importance of early diagnosis, the burden of cancer continues to be very high. The way the message is put across makes a difference. We are looking at the Unwait Philosophy, wherein, we try to ensure that the delay at all stages are avoided so that treatment is given at an early stage, he added.

Stating that there is a delay at almost every stage, the doctor said that initially, the patient delays for some time, then the general practitioner also does. The diagnostic tests too get delayed. In order to avoid such delays, the patient could be taken for a comprehensive cancer care treatment right away. Every time patients have to wait, they get stressed. The waiting period should be as minimal as possible as it is the most painful time for the patient, he added.
Several youngsters these days have stressful jobs and choose to assuage their stress and emotional issues with a night out of binge drinking. Its a misconception that alcohol relieves stress and other emotional issues. Also, even a few extra drinks a week can prove to be harmful, both in the long and short term.

The effects on you

The short-term effects of drinking too much include nausea, vomiting, giddiness, and a false sense of well-being and happiness. But in the long-term, every organ in the body can get affected. Alcohol can damage those parts of the brain that affects behaviour, and the ability to learn and remember things.

Other than the fact that there are many types of cancers that are associated with alcohol, heart attacks are common too. Alcohol increases blood pressure and with that, several complications related to heart, such as attacks and strokes.

Your lungs are also more prone to infections. There are multiple ways in which the liver gets affected. First is called the fatty liver. It could then develop into cirrhosis of the liver and finally, it can lead to liver cancer.

A common way to get high quicker is by mixing drinks, which causes severe hangovers, dehydration, and there is also evidence that the immune system may be compromised, causing headaches and fatigue. This is because of elements added to coloured spirits like acetone and acetaldehyde. In vodka and white rum (clear spirits) the incidence is much lower, compared to coloured spirits (whiskey, rum).

Societal pressure

A woman having lesser capacity than a man to handle her drink is also an urban myth. In fact, the only difference in alcohols effect on a woman is that she could develop infertility. The misconception arises because of the psycho-social environment we are in  male teens are more likely to have alcohol than female teens. And when they move into adulthood, males are less likely to come off it than females.

Not working out

In case you think that your weekly workout sessions are enough to clear out all those calories you put on while drinking, think again. When we exercise, the fat in the body turns into calories and gets used up. But alcohol already has a lot of calories, and it is only these calories that are burnt first when you take up any physical activity. As a result, the calories and the fat that are not used up start getting accumulated in the system.

All of this has led to a rise in the number of cases at the hospital, with alcohol induced injuries and various diseases. People, as young as 35, come with liver cancer! This, other than the regular cases of drunken driving that range from broken arms to instant death.

One of the main things that needs to be addressed is the fact that its an addiction, and that it affects your mental health as well. It alters the emotional situation of the patient, and causes a range of disorders such as depression and anxiety.

Deal with it

Normally, peer pressure causes people to drink more. You have one drink and then somebody forces you for the second and third. So, do it where youre in control. Also, know your limits. How much can you consume and still behave normally.

As to when you should approach a doctor or seek medical advice, the sooner the better. Whether its signs of addiction, acute symptoms such as gastritis or bigger ones such as fatigue and higher blood pressure, theres never a bad time to consult your doctor.

Quick Facts

The hangover pills taken next morning are not of much use. They may help in hangovers, but others, such as dehydration, etc., are not relieved by these over-the-counter medicines.

Mixing of drinks not just increases alcohol levels and thus the effects of alcohol, but you may end up with severe hangovers.

Teens, whose parents drink, are more likely to take up alcohol, and the next most common cause of initiation is peer pressure.

There are many reserves in our body. As we abuse the body initially, the reserve is taken up and in the younger age groups, health effects may not be noticed. For example, only a small part of our liver is adequate to sustain us, and may not have any problems with alcohol in the younger age groups as there is enough reserve left in the liver. But in case of alcoholics, with age, this liver reserve decreases and liver damages start showing up. This is a phenomenon even for other organs like the heart and kidneys.

As told to Christopher Isaac
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finding that mimicry and shooting in the air are of no use, even counter productive, the Forest Department has decided to take on crop-raiding elephants the way western democracies spurn rioters. The Department will use gas guns and rubber bullets on wild elephants ravaging crops along the fringes of forests. Since such anti-rioting weapons are used only by the police, the Department has put forward a request to the DGP to spare specialists for the purpose till Centre grants permission to its own personnel.

"We have made a request to the Centre to allow our personnel to use the guns. Till this is secured, the Department's Rapid Response Teams will seek the help of the police as a stop-gap measure," a top Forest Department official said. The State Police Department might spare two policemen each to assist the Rapid Response Teams in eight affected locations: Thalipparamba (Kannur), Sulthan Bathery (Wayanad), Thamarassery (Kozhikode), Nilambur (Malappuram), Mannakad (Palakkad), Olavakkode (Palakkad), Ranni (Pathanamthitta) and Peppara (Thiruvananthapuram). There is a realisation in the Forest Department that its strategies for dealing with crop-raiders are not effective.

The usual methods it employed were either ineffective or dangerous. An oft-used technique was to scare the elephant by blaring the sound of a lion through an improvised speaker. When this does not work, which is usually the case, forest personnel resort to shooting in the air using a .315 bore rifle. "Both the methods have been found to be ineffective. Gunshot, at times, has even caused grave injury to the animal," the official said. Rubber bullets are rubber or rubber-coated projectiles that can be fired from either standard firearms or dedicated riot guns. "They are intended to be a non-lethal alternative to metal bullets. But even they can cause fatalities in animals," said animal activist Janaki Raman.
Zagreb, Croatia: Developments in the medical field and the introduction of better technology means that a lot of issues can be fixed by surgery and this has come as a blessing for people struggling with sexual problems, as penis implants and bionic penises have been making the news for a while now.

Seeing this rise in people finding solution to their issues, a 57-year-old artist decided to go for a surgery in order fix his curved penis, but was put in a spot when the doctors shortened his member by three inches in order to solve the problem. The artist Zeljku Nosicu from Croatia said that he came home with half a penis.

He found a lump in his penis two years back, which was caused by a condition called Peyronies disease, which caused the penis to curve. Nosicu was first asked to take injections but later a surgery was suggested when the injections didnt work.

Shocked at finding out that his penis is shorter by three inches, Nosicu was sure that the surgery wasnt carried out properly. He is now taking the doctors to court where he intends to prove that the doctors botched the operation leaving him with just half of his penis.

He says that the doctors never informed him the consequences the surgery would have on the size of his penis.
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Sunday nabbed a person allegedly involved in hatching a conspiracy to spread terror in the state to avenge attacks on Muslims during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Based on a specific tip off, a team of the squad officials nabbed one Javed Chauhan (38) from a village in Chhota Udepur district, an ATS release said.

Chauhan, accused of supplying arms to spread terror, was on the run for the last 14 years after he was named as one of the accused in that case, registered by City Crime Branch in November 2003, it said.

According to ATS officials, he was part of a larger conspiracy of spreading terror in the state to avenge the killing of Muslims during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Chauhan, a native of Kasba village of Chhota Udepur district, is accused of acquiring arms and ammunitions from the neighboring Madhya Pradesh based dealers and supplying them to other perpetrators involved in the crime, said the release.

"Chauhan used his connections to acquire arms and ammunitions from MP-based dealers and then supplied these arms to other accused. He was on the run for almost 14 years, during which, he was into bootlegging and other petty crimes," an official said.

In 2003, the city crime branch had registered a case under Prevention of Terrorist Activities (POTA) Act against the perpetrators and subsequently arrested around 60 accused while around 35 are still at large, the official said.

Since the case was handled by the crime branch, Chauhan will be handed over to them for further probe, the release said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 3

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

Italy aims to engage in new sectors of trade with Azerbaijan, Luigi DAprea, director general of the ITA (Trade promotion section of the Italian Embassy), said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

Opportunities for the development of trade between Italy and Azerbaijan are very extensive, and this is manifested not only in the oil and gas sector, where, by the way, Italy holds a very strong position, DAprea said.

Considering other sectors, one may note that Italy is represented very well in the metallurgical sector of Azerbaijan, he added.

The latest contract signed between Italys Danieli and Baku Steel Company, which embodies further growth and development of Italys activity in this sector, is a proof of this, he noted.

Regarding the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Italy, DAprea said that despite the slight decrease in the bilateral trade, Italy remains one of the main trade partners of Azerbaijan.

Italy and Azerbaijan have excellent bilateral and economic relations, DAprea noted.

Over the past eight years, Italy has remained Azerbaijans major trading partner, the fourth exporting country and the first customer in the energy sector, he added.

The growth of Italian export to Azerbaijan reached its peak during 2011-2015, increasing by nearly twice and only currently exports from all countries, including Italy, slightly decreased, he said.

DAprea went on to add that the Italian products are valued a lot in Azerbaijan, and this concerns not only the luxury segment.

The quality and credibility are the two factors that make up the advantage of the "Made in Italy" brand, he said.

Italy is synonymous with quality not only regarding usual Italian export sectors (fashion, furniture, food products), but also in such sectors as mechanics, engineering and technology, he noted.

In addition to the annual participation in such exhibitions as Baku Build, Caspian Oil & Gas, and others, Italy tries to promote other sectors of its economy as well, including the food sector, DAprea said.
Alanganallur: A bonanza awaits competitors in the Feb 10 Jallikattu here, a famous venue for the bull taming sport, being held after a gap of three years with the organisers on Saturday announcing attractive prizes, including car, for the winner.

Besides the car, the winner of the event would also get gold coins, steel cupboard, cot and mega size vessels, the organisers said.

This town in Madurai District is famous for Jallikattu and used to attract a large number of spectators, including foreign tourists.

Jallikattu, usually held during the harvest festival of Pongal in mid-January, could not be organised in the past three years in view of the ban on the sport.

With the Tamil Nadu government promulgating an ordinance and subsequently getting a Bill passed in the state assembly allowing Jallikattu, the event is being held in several parts of the state in the past few days.

The government intervention came after a week-long protest largely by youths, including students, in the Marina Beach in Chennai, and elsewhere in the state, including here last month.

Organisers here said registration for the bulls and sportsmen would begin on Feb 6 and 7 respectively.

Meanwhile, a total of 400 bulls and 500 sportsmen participated in the Jallikattu organised at Ulagampatti in the district. The winners were given prizes ranging from silver coin to currency notes to furniture.
New Delhi: A 24-year-old man was killed while his wife was injured when their car hit an electricity pole in the wee hours on Sunday in front of the Czech Republic Embassy.

Police suspect it to be a case of drunken driving. Patrick was returning with his 22-year-old wife from a get-together in High Commission of Singapore, where he was a staffer, when their vehicle hit an electricity pole around 1 AM, said a senior police officer.

Both of them were rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre where Patrick was declared brought dead while his wife is currently out of danger and is under observation, he said.

It seems from the sequence of events that Patrick was drunk and lost control of the vehicle that was allegedly being driven in high speed, he added.

The couple was on their way to their home in Moti Nagar after the get-together at the high commission.

The post-mortem will confirm whether he was in an inebriated state, said the officer.

Patrick had got married recently, he added.
Puducherry: Former Rajya Sabha MP P Kannan on Sunday announced his resignation from the AIADMK, hours after Sasikala Natarajan was appointed the Legislative party leader.

He told reporters in Puducherry that he did not want to disclose the reason for his quitting AIADMK.

But when reporters kept on asking him for the reason, he said "everything is obvious."

The resignation comes at a time when AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala was elected as Legislature party leader at a meeting of legislature party meeting in Chennai earlier in the day.

Kannan joined AIADMK after quitting Congress on February 14 last year ahead of the Assembly polls.He enrolled himself as member of AIADMK then in the presence of then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa at Chennai.

Kannan was defeated by Congress candidate K Lakshminarayanan in the May 16 assembly polls.
Mumbai: A special NIA court on Saturday granted permission to 2008 Malegaon blast accused Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay to contest the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and visit the state.

"The court has granted him permission to go to Uttar Pradesh for three weeks," said special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal.

"The court has imposed a number of conditions on him," Rasal added.

Upadhyay is contesting elections from constituency number 363 Baria in Ballia district on the ticket given by Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha.

The court on January 20 allowed him to file his nomination form after which he moved an application for interim bail.

A bomb strapped to a motorcycle had exploded in Malegaon on September 29, 2008, killing seven people and injuring around 100.
Firefighters and volunteers try to clean up oil that has washed ashore, in Chennai (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The issue of a recent oil spill off the coast of Tamil Nadu that is posing a threat to environment and health of local residents has gone to the National Green Tribunal with a plea seeking compensation and seizure of the vessels.

The petition, which is likely to be heard by a bench headed by NGT chairperson Swatanter Kumar on Monday, has also sought constitution of an expert committee to oversee and monitor the entire clean up process and assess the damage caused to the environment.

"The fish and all the other aquatic animals have become victims to the widespread disaster caused by the two vessels as a result of their negligence," the plea filed by one Ashwini Kumar through advocate Sumeer Sodhi said.

The petition has made the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), the Ministry of Shipping, the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, the TN State Pollution Control Board as parties.

It has also made parties the owners of the offending ships, including Gurgaon-based Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. On January 28, 2017, two merchant vessels -- MV Maple

Galaxy, owned by Tokio Marine Holding Inc. and under charter party contract with Indian Oil Corporation, collided with vessel MT Dawn Kanchipuram, operated by unknown persons near the Port of Kamarajar in Ennore, Tamil Nadu.

The collision led to a massive spill of hazardous oil and LPG near the shoreline "causing severe damage to the ecosystem in the area and which will eventually become toxic for marine life in and around the place of incident and further result in health and other damage to the residents of the vicinity," the plea said.

The petitioner has sought seizure of both the offending merchant vessels until their owners pay adequate compensation for the damage to the environment caused by them, and that a panel be constituted to oversee and monitor the entire clean up process and assess the damage caused to the environment.

"It is imperative that the respondents pay compensation for restitution and restoration of the environment and ecology and further compensate the affected people who have not only lost their livelihood but are also prone to disease and unascertained consequences," the plea said.

According to the petition, the oil spill has also reached the shores of the famous Marina beach in Chennai and is continuing to spread across various other areas along the coast with huge chunks of black oil deposits in the surrounding waters.

"The respondents have grossly violated the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and are liable to pay adequate compensation to restore environment and water bodies to their original position and the entire cost of restoration must be borne by the respondents alone," it said.

It said that the "nearby residents are complaining of the widespread smell caused by the oil spill which is making the areas around the beach inhabitable".

The plea said that people have been advised not to go near the beaches where the oil has spread because it may be toxic not only for the human skin but also because inhaling benzene (found in such fuels) is very harmful for humans.

It also alleged that the merchant vessels have not conformed to the safety guidelines issued by the International Maritime Organisation and other similar bodies.
Chandigarh: In a shocking revelation, it has been reported that the National Security Guard (NSG), had ignored the rescue plea of two soldiers who were trapped inside the Pathankot Airbase, during the terror attack last January.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the claim was made by Wing Commander Abhijit Sarin in the charge sheet filed by the NIA (National Investigation Team) on the Pathankot attack.

Sarin was tasked with guiding the NSG team around the base to neutralise the terrorists.

I heard an RT (radio transmission on a wireless set) in which some DSC (defence security corps) personnel was yelling one is dead and two are wounded, please somebody come (to) evacuate us, else we would die.

I then asked Brigadier (Gautam) Ganguly (the NSG officer leading the commando team) to get one team prepared for rescue to which he didnt paid (sic) heed to, Sarin said in the charge sheet, which was submitted before a special court in Mohali recently.

Earlier last year, terrorists who had sneaked in from across the border had attacked Pathankot air base on the intervening night of January 1-2. The attack claimed the lives of seven security personnel, including an NSG commander, while four terrorists were killed.

The NSG, however, denied the charges. There was a chance of friendly fire. The air force personnel were firing and running helter-skelter. And it was the NSG that rescued people.

"The statement gives one-sided view of situation. Besides, there were foreign students as well as families residing in the airbase area. The NSG had to secure everyone, the report quoted an NSG source as saying.
Chennai: While Coast Guard officials announced to have removed 90 per cent of the oil slick that floated along the Chennai coast, port authorities began the disposal operations on Saturday.

Over 150 tonnes of oil sludge collected from the beaches of Chennai were dumped in the pit dug to carry out the bioremediation procedure, said officials from the research and development wing of the Indian Oil Corporation.

The wing, which shared the bioremediation technology called Oilivorous - S is, monitored the works on the day 2 of the disposal operations. The pit 1.5 feet deep, dug in a land of 2000 square metre was covered with the oil contaminated sand and the sludge in layers. We are yet to sprinkle the bacterium that will eat up the oil and convert it to mud in three months, said head of operations, IOC, Tamil Nadu, K. S. Rao

Meanwhile, minister of state (Shipping), Pon Radhakrishnan inspected the beaches of Marina, Elliot's and Ernavoor and Kamarajar port to held discussions with the chairman of Chennai port, P. Raveendran and Commander, Coast Guard Region (East) Inspector General Rajan Bargotra about the clean up operations.

Expressing confidence to clean the pollution in three weeks, Coast Guard authorities said, "Massive cleaning operations are being carried out. After removing the sludge, oil on the rocks would be cleaned."

"Except for R.K. Nagar Kuppam and other places to north of Chennai port, the coast line is completely clean," Chennai port chairman, P. Raveendran told this newspaper.

The minister has also inspected MT Dawn Kanchipuram, the vessel that collided with MT Maple last Saturday, resulting in the oil pollution. He also inspected the engine room of MT Kanchipuram and held discussions with the Captain and other authorities of the ship.

Following the hue and cry of environmental activists, the Chennai port collected samples of seawater from different locations. "There is no pollution visible. We will be sending it to the laboratory on Monday for testing," said Raveendran.

However, officials from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) took no initiatives for the testing.

Testing can be done only after the clean-up operations are completed. Oil pollution is visible now. Whats the point in testing? asked an official seeking anonymity.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala at the party MLA's meeting in which she was elected as AIADMK Legislative party leader, set to become Tamil Nadu CM, at party's Headquarters in Chennai on Sunday. (Photo: AIADMK/Twitter)

Chennai: Ending days of speculation, the AIADMK on Sunday, announced the elevation of party general secretary Sasikala Natrajan as the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Addressing a meeting of AIADMK MLAs at the party headquarters, Sasikala said, Following the demise of our Amma, it was O Paneerselvam who urged me first to take charge as the General Secretary of AIADMK. It was Paneerselvam who insisted first, that I become the Chief Minister of the State.

Meeting the party MLAs at the AIADMK headquarters, Sasikala assured people that the Tamil Nadu Government would continue to work towards the welfare of the people. She also said that government would continue to follow the principles of Jayalalithaa.

"Party workers had said that the Legislative Assembly leader and the Chief Minister have always been the same I accepted the post as per their wishes, to fulfil the ambitions of Amma," Sasikala said.

Pannerselvam on Saturday tendered his resignation to the Tamil Nadu Governor, citing "personal reasons".

Due to my personal reasons, I am tendering my resignation from the post of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Kindly accept my resignation and relive the council of Ministers of Tamil Nadu appointed by me on December 6, 2016, his letter read.

(Photo: ANI/Twitter)

He had also arrived at the Poes Garden Residence to meet Sasikala prior to the meeting.

"Chinnamma all set to become the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu," AIADMK said in a tweet.

In December last year, within a week of Panneerselvam taking over as CM, four state ministers had asked Sasikala to become the Chief Minister, besides being the AIADMK General Secretary. Later it was followed by other MLAs, besides party leaders at the state and district level.

Despite the disproportionate wealth case hanging like a Damocles sword over Sasikala, there were speculations that she would become the CM before Pongal or immediately after the festival. But the month of January had passed and there was a brief lull in such speculations and demands for Sasikala assuming CM post.

A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting of Tirunelveli Urban Jaya Peravai (Forum), led by state AIADMK secretary and revenue minister R B Udhayakumar on December 17.

On February 3, Sasikala had appointed senior leaders, including some former Ministers and a former Mayor, to key party posts.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa and AIADMK leader KC Palaniswamy had complained to the Election Commission (EC) that Sasikala's appointment as the party's interim general secretary had been carried out in an undemocratic manner. The Election Commission issued a notice to the AIADMK, seeking clarifications in this regard.

Sasikala, J. Jayalalithaa's closest aide since the 1980s, had handled party affairs on several occasions despite not holding any formal position in the AIADMK prior to the former chief minister's death. She is called Chinnamma, meaning aunt, taking after Jayalalithaa - who was popularly known among her legions of supporters as Amma (or mother).

Sasikala will be the third woman Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after Janaki Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa.

Sasikala said it was Panneerselvam who had for the first time urged her to become both the party General Secretary and Chief Minister after the demise of Jayalalithaa.

"I was, however, not in a mood to listen to anything then due to the passing away of Amma," she said, adding, she agreed to become the party General Secretary after leaders and cadres persuaded her to do so to fulfil the ideals of Jayalalithaa.

Recalling that party leaders and workers had been urging her that "both the party general secretary and Chief Minister should be one and the same person (Sasikala), she said "I am accepting it."

"I will fuffil the dreams of Amma fully and I give my assurance that this regime will work for the people," Sasikala said with her eyes moist.

Panneerselvam was the stop gap Chief Minister twice, first time when Jayalalithaa was unseated following a Supreme Court order in 2001 and when she was convicted in a disproportionate assets case in 2014.

When Jayalalithaa was at the helm, Sasikala was considered to yield a huge clout behind the scenes. After taking charge of the party, she had pledged to take forward the legacy of the former Chief Minister.

Ever since Jayalalithaa's death, there has been a clamour that Sasikala should follow the earlier practice of both the party General Secretary and the Chief Minister's post being vested with the same person.

Senior party leader and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai is among those who have backed Sasikala for the Chief Minister's post.

In December last year, four state ministers had asked Sasikala to become the Chief Minister, besides AIADMK General Secretary.

A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting of Tirunelveli Urban Jaya Peravai (Forum), led by state AIADMK secretary and revenue minister R B Udhayakumar on December 17.

Two days back, Sasikala had appointed senior leaders, including some former Ministers and a former Mayor, to key party posts.

Reacting to today's development, DMK Working President and Leader of Opposition MK Stalin dubbed the elevation of Sasikala as against the "wishes" of both Jayalalithaa and the expectations of the people.

When she addressed the party legislators, Sasikala was clad in the signature green sari and blouse emulating the late Jayalalithaa.

Sasikala's elevation saw her supporters celebrating it by bursting crackers and distributing sweets at many places. It is now a mere formality for Panneerselvam to resign from the Chief Ministership, paving the way for Sasikala to assume the top post.

Stalin claimed Sasikala was not Jayalalithaa's choice for position either in the government or in the party.

Speaking to reporters at Tiruvarur, the DMK leader recalled that whenever Jayalalithaa could not be at the helm as when she was indisposed since last September and after being convicted in a disproportionate assets case, she chose Panneerselvam to head the government.

He said his "party will face it in the upcoming elections (civic) in a democratic manner."

However, CPI (M) state secretary G Ramakrishnan greeted Sasikala on her elevation.

"I believe she will factor in people's opinions on this change," he said in a statement.
Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has reiterated that the government programmes should be implemented more effectively through the new districts, structured to enhance decentralisation of administration, better governance and for the convenience of the people.

While addressing District Collectors meeting on Sunday at Pragathi Bhavan, Rao has asked the officials to study each and every family, their living standards, identify the poor among them and design exclusive programmes for their benefit.

The government's Chief Advisor Sri Rajiv Sharma, Chief Secretary Sri SP Singh, Government Chief Whip Sri Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, MLAs Sri Kanakaiah, Sri Venkateshwarlu, principal secretaries from various departments and other senior officials were present at the meeting.

In his inaugural address, the Chief Minister showered praises on collectors of the newly formed districts.

"Collectors are working well. I am happy with your performance. I am confident that if you continue to work with the same confidence, we will achieve our goals well ahead of the schedules," Rao urged the gathering.

He further pitched for identifying human resources and utilising it well.

"Telangana state stood number one in the country by registering 19.5 per cent growth rate. This is possible due to the uninterrupted power supply being given in the state. We will continue this growth rate in future too. The financial resources that are accrued should be used to develop the human resource. Study and understand the ground level situation in towns and villages and take measures to eradicate the poverty," the Chief Minister explained.

Rao further said that special focus should be put on strengthening the rural economy.

"Identify human resource through resource mapping. A stage should come wherein our state start exporting the sheep and this will strengthen our rural economy," he said.

He added that a new sheep rearing policy should be announced in the state and the officials should get prepare for it.
Hyderabad: Students from Hyderabad and Punjab, who have been served deportation notices by the New Zealand government, will be staging a protest on Monday in Auckland, supported by local migrant rights organisation.

Anu Kaloti of the Migrant Workers Association in a press release said, Indian students are facing unfair deportations due to fraudulent financial documents submitted to Immigration NZ on their behalf... The students have been victims of unscrupulous immigration agents and corrupt bank officials in India. Irresponsible private training establishments in New Zealand and a lax approach taken by Immigration New Zealand for the visa approval process are also the reasons.

She added that the bishops of the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church have also requested New Zealands Prime Minister, Bill English, to show compassion and intervene to cancel the deportation orders.

As a last attempt students are now seeking help from an Auckland church. The Auckland Unitarian Church has recognised the call for justice and kindly decided to provide support and shelter for the victimised students. There will be a welcoming ceremony and multi-faith blessings and prayers for the students on February 6, said Ms Kaloti.

Students want the deportation orders to be cancelled, permission to stay in New Zealand till completion of their education, and permission for one year work visa upon completion of their education.

Unite Union is also organising the protest supported by several churches and workers unions and rights groups.

A student from Hyderabad, Mr Mirza, told the New Zealand media that it was the fault of the agent. He said 50 students from Hyderabad were sent by the same agent who operates under different names.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 5

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iran has finalized a one-year deal with Total, French oil and gas company, on exporting crude oil.

An informed source has told Fars news agency that the long-term deal was signed between the French company and Iran over the past week.

According to the report, Iran is also expected to reach other long-term agreements with several Asian refineries on exporting crude oil within the next two months.

The informed source further added that the National Iranian Oil Company has put increasing the production level of crude oil on agenda.

Ali Kardor, the head of National Iranian Oil Company, on Feb. 4 told reporters that Iran exports 600,000 barrels of crude to the Europe per day.

According to Kardor, Iran exported 900,000 barrels of crude to the Europe in December.

Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh in January said that the volume of Irans oil output was almost 3.9 million barrels per day.
Lucknow: In a move that could have far-reaching consequences in the ongoing Assembly elections in UP, Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here on Sunday that the Centre is committed to ending the evil social practice of triple talaq and is likely to take a major step to ban it after the polls.

Mr Prasad asked the SP, BSP and the Congress to clarify their position on the issue. Talking to reporters, Mr Prasad said, I want Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati to clarify their stand on the issue. The issue is not related to religion but involves respect and dignity of women.

He said that the government respects faith and worship but cannot allow social evils to coexist. The minister had said in Ghaziabad on Saturday that the Centre may take appropriate steps to ban triple talaq after the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections as the tradition denies respect to women.

Every pernicious practice cannot be part of a religion and the Centre would raise the issue in the Supreme Court on three points  justice, equality and dignity of women, he explained.

Cleric: Will save our religious freedom

The ministers statement is likely to evoke a strong reaction from Muslim clerics. Talking on condition of anonymity on Sunday, a senior cleric said that they would discuss the issue on Monday and come out with a strongly-worded statement.

Instead of talking individually, it would be better if the ministers statement is dealt with directly. However, this statement has only strengthened our resolve to save our personal religious freedom, the cleric said.
Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have cancelled an appointment given to an all-party delegation from Telangana led by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao due to his reluctance to lend his name to the SC categorisation in the backdrop of crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

On the request of the Telangana government, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) had initially gave an appointment to the state delegation to meet the Prime Minister in parliament on Monday.

According to sources close to the Chief Minister, the state government had a detailed note on the SC categorisation issue  including the genesis of the issue  on the request of PMO officials.

A day after sending the note, the sources said PMO officials informed the Chief Ministers Office that the proposed appointment with Mr Modi was cancelled and a fre-sh date of appointment would be communicated later.

The sources said the PMO officials appear to have advised Mr Modi against the delegation as any assurance by the Prime Minister on the SC categorisation issue may lead to create unnecessary controversy in the poll bound UP, where SCs play a significant role in deciding the winner.

There is unanimity in Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh on the SC categorisation. But this clarity is lacking in other states, due to various local factors and the caste compositions. Many northern States do not want categorisation or sub-classification of SCs in their states.

Mr Modi, the source said, may allot time for the all party delegation fr-om Telangana state once the elections in UP are over.
Chennai: After being elected as the leader of the legislature party on Sunday, the AIADMK General Secretary said it was my dear brother Panneerselvam who had first proposed that I should take over as the Chief Minister and party supremo. Ever since the death of Jayalalithaa, party leaders have been requesting her to take over as Chief Minister with members of the OPS cabinet leading in the front.

The AIADMK government will follow the principles of Amma. We will always work for the welfare of the people, Ms Sasikala said. I was not in a position to accept the request (by OPS) and I agreed to take over as party supremo only after repeated requests from the party men. Every party man who met during the last two months insisted that I should take over as the Chief Minister. Left with no option, I decided to heed to the request, she said.
New Delhi: Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, on Wednesday said the Pathankot terror attack earlier in January this year was the first setback, adding that they are now better prepared having learnt lessons from the same.

"Pathankot was the first setback. We have learnt lessons and are better prepared now. The second setback was the missing of the AN-32. Even after efforts, we could not trace the aircraft. We are helping their families. It is one of the worst memories in my career. AN-32s don't have Underwater Locater Beacons. We have taken up the case with the government," the Air Chief said.

"We paid attention to latest acquisitions and upgrades of the aircrafts we have. On Rafael, we have invited LCA. Three are flying and we will accept 123 in next 10 years. The second squadron of C130 will come soon. It will be based at the Arjangadh base. Large numbers of radars which are indigenous have been inducted. The Air Force is well on its way to have network centric capabilities. We have done reasonably well in looking after the sub-conventional threat like terrorism and other conventional threat," he added.

He asserted that the revenue cases languishing since long have been signed due the proactiveness of the government and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

"The average flying we did was more than the average flying of last 10 years. We have flown in the fighter fleet 40,000 hrs, more than last 10 years due to better serviceability. We have done an average night flying of 27 percent which was less earlier. There has been a large improvement in the professional capabilities. We have been involved deeply in the operations against Naxalism, logistics support, flying by night," he added.

The Air Chief also said that they have upgraded the Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) in northeast.

"The government has given approval of 27 flights of Garuns, with each having 45 Grains. 23 more Garun Flights will be raised later. (Garun is the special force under the Indian Air Force). We have been able to sign various cases in the last two and a half years including Rafale which will be in India. It will be operational within next three years to five and a half years," he added.
Chennai: Ecologists demand underwater study by marine scientists to evaluate the impact of the oil spill along Chennai coast and recommend damage control measures.

Coast Guard is using dispersants and this will certainly affect small micro-organisms and sea grass and this needs to be examined, said a senior professor attached to the Tamil Nadu fisheries university. He also said that the Ennore Port authorities should support long-term research projects to ascertain the impact of oil spill on native species.

Sedentary organisms like mussels, clams, oysters should be studied. Similarly, the oil spill will certainly have an impact on micro organisms like planktons, he said that the public can eat fish without any fear as the fishes and other movable organisms would have migrated due to pollution and the water quality will certainly improve by six months, the senior faculty said. As a safety measure public can stop eating oysters that are collected from Ennore, otherwise seafood is safe for consumption, he added.

Though there is no immediate threat due to oil spills, there are possibilities for long term impact on large species like deep sea corals, turtles and cetaceans and this needs monitoring and scientific research like it is done in western countries, said conservation scientist Dr A. Kumaraguru. The ocean is a vast area and these mammals will certainly avoid the polluted waters, but by studying their migratory movement some valid data can be ascertained in correspondence with pollutions, he added.

On the management side, incidents like this should help us to chart out mitigation plans based on scientific data. In events like this, it is easier to blame each other or spread rumours unchecked about the fauna and flora of the area. Information like this should be assessed only on the scientific merits of the content, opined marine biologist R. P. Kumaran.
Chennai: An advocate has approached the Madras high court to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against MDMK leader Vaiko for allegedly maligning a judge of the high court for his reported observation during the hearing of a petition pertaining to the demise of Chief Minister late J. Jayalalithaa.

In his PIL. A.P.Suryaprakasam submitted that he was shocked to read a news item published in an English daily, in which Vaiko has crossed all the limit and maligned a judge of the Madras high court for his reported observation during the hearing of a petition pertaining to the demise of chief minister late J.Jayalalithaa.

Vaiko was not only a politician but also a lawyer. Since he being a member of the bar it was his duty not to demean and disgrace the majesty of justice dispensed by a court of law. Such casting of bald, unsubstantiated aspersions even by implication against the judge of the high court not only causes agony and anguish to the fearless judges but also shakes the confidence of the public in the judiciary in its functioning of dispensation of justice and it was not only highly unwarranted but also causing irreparable damage to the system, he added. He said in the press meet, Vaiko seems to have demanded to know what evidence the judge had, to utter such words.
Chennai: Charging AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala with trying to unseat Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam from his post and seize power, leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin said the resignation of Sheela Balakrishnan from the post of advisor to Chief Minister appears to be the beginning of the cold war between the two leaders.

Stalin said the attempt by the AIADMK leadership is paralysing the state government administration and asked Panneerselvam not to worry about his post and ensure that government administration functions as per his directions alone.

The instability is reflected in police disrupting the peaceful jallikattu protests at Marina, besides issues like checkdams across Palar river, setting up of Cauvery Management Board and confusion in enacting a law against Neet.

Citing the construction of checkdams and raising the height of existing checkdams by Andhra Pradesh government across the river Palar, Stalin said Andhra Pradesh government is violating the 1892 agreement between Chennai and Mysore which barred the state from building checkdams across the Palar, which is an inter-state river. The AIADMK government had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Andhra Pradesh government's move and it had not obtained an order to prevent the construction.

The Chief Minister should not worry about his post and focus his attention on people's issues, the problems caused to Tamil Nadu by neighbouring states, the Central government schemes and assistance that should be obtained. The DMK working president said Panneerselvam should take action to protect the interests of Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, even during his speech on the motion to thank Governor's address, Stalin had greeted the new Chief Minister and team. There were no attacks by the DMK on the Chief Minister, but on the other hand, the DMK leaders including Stalin objected to praising Sasikala in the Assembly.

DMK deputy floor leader K. Duraimurugan, went a step further and said his party would support Panneerselvams government and the Chief Minister needs to only take care of the sakthi behind him.

Stalin is treating Panneerselvam with respect, but had not mentioned the name of Sasikala till now, in an obvious refusal to acknowledge her as a leader. Even when Sasikala issued a statement against Stalin, the DMK leader did not respond to the AIADMK general secretarys statement and chose to reply through a junior leader.
Aligarh: Mocking at opposition parties for joining hands fearing that BJP will get a majority in Rajya Sabha after the UP polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took a dig at the SP-Congress alliance saying the BJP "storm" has forced Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to desperately seek the help of anything, "even a pole", to retain power.

Addressing an election rally in Aligarh, he also launched a scathing attack on the SP government for "doing nothing" for development in the state, as he used his signature style of coining acronyms to assert that BJP will bring "Vikas"  'Vidyut' (electricity), 'Kanoon' (law and order) and 'Sadak' (roads), if voted to power in Uttar Pradesh.

Speaking on the safety of women in the state, Modi said, If, for once you oust politicians who shelter gundas (goons), the safety of women will be ensured automatically.

Maintaining that he had come to Aligarh in 2014 as the PM candidate, Modi said "not even half this ground was filled then. But today there is a 'kesariya sagar' (saffron sea) before me.

"And when the wind is so strong, even a young leader cannot face it and seeks help of anything ...even a pole...but this time BJP 'aandhi' (storm) is so strong that the Chief Minister fears that he might be blown off... The people of UP want change and justice."

Attacking the opposition, Modi said "we are working to save money by adopting strict measures. Will they not be angry with me and will not come together to defeat Modi...They feel that if they remain alone, Modi will get majority in the Rajya Sabha and make such rules that thieves, looters and the corrupt will not get any help. This is their fear."

"I am tightening the screws to teach those supporting black money a lesson," he said. Attacking the SP government, Modi said "past governments in UP worked in such a manner that it led to the closure of famous Aligarh lock industry as they could not provide enough electricity."

He castigated the state government for "doing nothing for development" and accused it of neither checking corruption, casteism and nepotism, nor clearing the cane farmers' dues.

"But we are working day and night to ensure that every corner of India has electricity. We are making good progress. I am confident that electricity will reach every factory and household very soon," he said.

Amidst chants of "Modi-Modi", the Prime Minister said it is shameful that "youths were asked to pay bribe and bring recommendation for interviews by MLAs and Ministers. Poor had to mortgage land and assets to pay. This has to be stopped."

Observing that corrupt people were withdrawing money out of a widow's pension also, he said "the corrupt are flourishing under the current UP administration ... To stop this, we have from the Centre linked pension to Aadhaar and bank accounts. Rs 40,000 crore of the treasury that these rats would have silently eaten, is now being saved."

On demonetisation, Modi said there was chaos amongst the corrupt after note ban was announced as they were forced to deposit the ill-gotten money in bank accounts.

"They thought Modi has not made any arrangement but they did not know that there was sufficient planning to find out details of all the money being deposited in banks... We want that this money comes to good use, for the benefit of our youth and development of our country. I am thankful to 1.2 billion people for supporting me," Modi said.

On lack of development in UP, he said, "Governments in the state in the past some years worked in such a manner that it led to closure of Aligarh lock industry because of bad state of elecric supply."

He said there was a "magic" which had led to the annual saving of Rs 10,000 crore. "By introducing cheap LED bulbs, we have reduced electricity bills."

Speaking on the law and order situation in UP, Modi asked if sisters and daughters can move out after sunset in UP and asked should this goondaism not stop. He appealed to the electorate to root out the leaders giving protection to criminals.

Maintaining that there was a "strange competition" between Mayawati and Akhilesh with both wanting to leave each other behind, the Prime Minister said "when Mayawati was in power, UP stood first in the country in three major crimes.

But the youth (Akhilesh) who came later took the state ahead in five crimes."

On a single day, 7650 crimes, 24 rapes, 21 rape attempts, 13 murders, 33 kidnappings, 19 riots and 136 thefts happen in UP, he said, adding "your presence in large numbers prove that ... this 'aandhi' (storm) will uproot those who have indulged in corruption."

Turning to the youth, the Prime Minister said "I want to assure you that a decision has been taken that corruption will not be allowed when they seek jobs...

"Interviews have been done away with in central government jobs for grade III and IV to check corruption, casteism, nepotism. Why can't it be done in UP?"

"Tell me, have you all not faced injustice and discrimination? Let's take jobs for instance; does one have to belong to a certain caste to get a job? Or is it necessary know someone who is connected politically to find a job? Is this what our Constitution says?

"You all are facing this because of the current government in UP. They have failed you all. We will do our best to ensure that every young person in UP gets justice in getting job when BJP comes to power. It will make legal provisions to check corruption," he said.

Modi said those doing politics in the name of Ambedkar have been troubled when the digital app was named after Bhimrao Ambedkar was launched.

"We launched the BHIM app on Ambedkar's name. People questioned us, saying what right does Narendra Modi have to use Ambedkar's name? I want to remind them that he was the economist under whom the Reserve Bank of India was formed. He was a great man and his contributions will never be forgotten.

"I don't care if people are unhappy, but I will always honour him and hold him in highest regard," he said, citing various works being done by his government to honour Ambedkar.
Chennai: People of Tamil Nadu did not vote for anyone from Jayalalithaa's "household" to be chief minister, DMK Working President M K Stalin said on Sunday.

Stalin, who appears to be keeping his options open on the possibility of another government in the tenure of the current Assembly, also asserted that there are no "obstacles" to his leadership in the party and dismisses as "pointless" questions whether projecting him as the chief ministerial face would have won DMK power in the last year's Assembly polls.

The 63-year-old leader, who was made the Working President of DMK last month, is worried about divisions in the ruling AIADMK after the death of Jayalalithaa and keen that it should not affect the functioning of the administration.

"One thing is certain that the government - in its present form - is clearly one that doesn't have the explicit legitimacy of having been elected by the people.

"The people voted for a government to be headed by Jayalalithaa in May, 2016 and not for one to be run by O Panneerselvam or any other person from Jayalalithaa's household," Stalin said in an interview.

His comments came on a day the chorus grew in the AIADMK for its General Secretary V K Sasikala to take over as Chief Minister of the state.

So, the Leader of the Opposition in the state said, the present government, which clearly does not enjoy the support of the majority people, which has a divided cabinet and the AIADMK MLAs speaking in different voices, is bound to fail.

"As a responsible party, the DMK is watching the situation closely. Any decision that we take will be within the framework of democracy, reflecting the popular will and aspirations of the people," he said.

He was asked whether he foresaw the possibility of DMK forming a government within the tenure of the 15th Assembly given that the gap in numbers between the ruling and the opposition parties is not very huge.

Asked about reports of power struggle within AIADMK in the wake of Jayalalithaa's death, Stalin said DMK does not want to intervene or interfere in the internal affairs of AIADMK but there were reports on a daily basis that such a division existed.

"As the Leader of the Opposition in the state, however, my primary worry is that such internal problems within the ruling AIADMK should affect neither the functioning of the Legislative Assembly nor the administration of the state. As the main opposition party in the state, the DMK has the responsibility to ensure that," he said.

When queried about murmurs of criticism about family politics in DMK and when he foresaw himself taking full charge of the party, Stalin said his detention under MISA during the emergency in 1975-77 is still green in his memory.

He said he was happy that he had an opportunity to fight for democracy as a cadre of the DMK during his youth.

"Dr Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) is the President of the party and he has been guiding me in all the spheres of my activity. I know very well that a hard and sincere worker in the DMK will never face obstacles and even if there are a few obstacles, they will be converted into stepping stones," he said.

Stalin, son of Karunanidhi, had led a spirited campaign ahead of the Assembly elections last year that in which the party won 89 seats on its own and 98 together with allies in a House of 234 losing by a narrow margin in the race for power.

Asked if he agreed with the analysis that probably projecting him as the chief minister would have ensured DMK's victory, he said the number of seats won by DMK individually and together with allies were both unprecedented records.

"Even with the draw of Ms Jayalalithaa at the helm of AIADMK, the vote margin between the party in power and the DMK was just 1.1 per cent. Our future is so bright. This kind of post-hoc speculation about our previous campaign that your question raises is completely pointless. I strongly believe that digging into the past is distracting from the future," he said.

To a question on the perception that DMK has not been strident in attacking the Centre on issues concerning central projects in the state, Stalin said as a political party, DMK always preferred to maintain good relations with the party in power at the Centre but only as long as the interests of the State and the secular character of the nation are protected.

"But we are not the ruling party in Tamil Nadu. It is for the ruling AIADMK, which also happens to have 49 MPs, to make the central government act fairly towards the state."

He said he was disappointed at the AIADMK government's lack of enthusiasm to fight for the rights of the state with the government at the Centre.

As for the Sethusamudram project, Stalin charged that it has been delayed not only due to the efforts of the BJP but also due to the AIADMK government's attitude which is unmindful of the development of the state.

"DMK is strongly for the Sethusamudram project, which will boost the economy, spur development and create employment- in not only the southern districts but the whole state and wherever the situation demands we have been raising our voice for the implementation of the project," he said.

When queried about the Dravidian parties aligning with the one or the other national parties in recent decades and whether the Marina Uprising had any message for DMK to go to its roots, Stalin said he believed in constructive centre-state relations.

"In a federal set-up, the state government has to depend upon the help of the Central government on so many important issues such as inter-state disputes, major infrastructure development projects, and allocation of central funds," he said.
Bengaluru: Casting aside rumours over his joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former Congress leader S.M. Krishna on Saturday categorically said that he has not joined any party.

"I have not joined any party and I have not taken any call. When I decide, will let you know," Krishna told ANI.

The former foreign minister's comment comes hours after Karnataka BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa claimed that the former would join the party soon.

"S.M. Krishnaa has decided to join the BJP. We don't know when for certain, we'll fix that soon. But he is joining 100 per cent," Yeddyurappa told ANI.

On January 29, Krishnaa had resigned from all the posts held by him in Congress.

The party repeatedly made attempts to convince the veteran leader to join back.

Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara had urged the Congress top brass to convince Krishna not to quit.

"Hopefully, the high command will be able to convince him to stay in the party," Parameshwara told ANI.

"S. M. Krishnaa leaving the party has in one way affected the Congress in Karnataka. But we will definitely make up for that. At the same time, we appeal to the high command to talk to him and see that he doesn't go out of the party," he added.
Irans Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanaei announced that according to the statistics value of economic exchanges between Iran and Russia during first nine months of year 2016 in comparison with the same period of preceding year (2015) increased 80 percent, but still it is not satisfactory, IRNA reported.

He said that Iran, Russia economic exchange level have witnessed growth in the past two years.

Sanaei said that one of the reasons for low level of bilateral trade is similarity between economy of the two countries as exporters of oil and gas, adding that if both sides complete their reciprocal needs, trade cooperation may be promoted.

Fields in transport, especially railway, oil and gas industry, mine, thermo and nuclear power plants, aerospace, agriculture and fishery are appropriate grounds for promotion of economic cooperation between the two countries.

Sanaei reminded that concerning exports of goods to Russia, Iran has received license to export beef, dairy and maritime products and already we had permission for exporting fruit, vegetables and nuts.

Concerning other dimension of bilateral cooperation, Sanaei underlined that a number of Russias big banks are working with Iran now and we expect other Russian banks to join them soon.

Considering tourism situation also there exist progresses as well, Sanaei said, adding that three years ago there were four weekly flights between Moscow and Tehran, but now it reaches 16 regular flights per week.

In the past summer, there were charter flights between the two countries in addition to regular flights.

According to the Russian officials reports, the value of bilateral commercial exchanges between Iran and Russia in the first 9 months of the year by 80 percent increase reached to more than 1.6 billion dollars.

At the same time, value of economic relations between Russia and some of its main trade partners like, China, Vietnam and India decreased and had reducing trend.
Kanpur: Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'SCAM' jibe, Rahul Gandhi on Sunday alleged that one who is in the wrong, sees scam in everything while ally and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said the acronym stood for "save country from Amit Shah and Modi".

Addressing a joint rally in Kanpur with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh, Rahul urged voters to ensure that the outcome of Bihar election is repeated, where BJP was trounced by a coalition led by Nitish Kumar.

"Whenever Modi is nervous, he starts giving labels PPE, ABC, DEF, GHY. Now this SCAM.... A person, who is in the wrong, sees scam everywhere because this is his reality," he said, adding that the Congress-Samajwadi alliance in the state had made Modi jittery.

"S infact stands for 'service', C for 'courage', A for 'ability' and M for 'modesty'," he said at the rally in government inter-college ground in Kanpur, giving his own coinage for the acronym.

Attacking Modi over note ban, the Congress vice president said, "Demonetisation has hurt the poor most. Do not raise these slogans (denouncing Modi) but vote for Congress-SP alliance and ensure that Modi never utters the name of Uttar Pradesh again, like he forgot to say Bihar after the Assembly elections there".

Rahul said that Modi is "afraid of the youths, who will give a befitting response to him in UP elections as he gave the slogan of Make in India, made promises, but provided no jobs".

Akhilesh Yadav, who reached an hour ahead of Rahul, also took on the Prime Minister for his yesterday's SCAM taunt, where Modi had asked people of Uttar Pradesh to "rid the state of SCAM - S for Samajwadi (party), C for Congress, A for Akhilesh (Yadav) and M for Mayawati".

The SP leader said, "SCAM means 'save the country from Amit Shah and Modi'. But why has Modi included 'bua' Mayawati's party as it was BJP which had thrice formed government with BSP and both of you have amiable ties."

He alleged that the Modi government has given nothing to the people but false promises in its tenure while the Samajwadi Party had delivered in Uttar Pradesh. Hailing the Congress-SP tie-up, Akhilesh said, "A true friend is one who is big hearted. If you befriend a mean person, you will only suffer. We had an alliance with the Congress because both of us are large hearted. We are confident of forming a government in the state to complete the work left unfinished."

The SP leader too raised the note ban issue, saying BJP should tell the country how much black money has been unearthed.

"No black money has returned, but people have died while standing in queues outside banks and ATMs. We gave Rs two lakh to families of these victims but the Centre did nothing," he said.

"BJP leaders betray the people, they will show you dreams and will try to mislead you but do not fall for it. For the last three years, BJP is only making promises and has done nothing for the people," he said.

In contrast, his government has given Uttar Pradesh "metro, expressway, pension for the poor, laptops among other things", Akhilesh said.

Rahul targeted the Prime Minister during most of his speech saying the people have realised the reality of the note ban.

"Modi thinks that he is the only one in the country and the world who knows everything and speaks the truth while the people of India are foolish and ignorant. "One man cannot run this country. He cannot keep manufacturing falsehood," the Congress leader said and alleged that Modi has been working to benfit his "fifty friends" like Mallaya who have taken loans from banks.

"Modiji is taking care of rich friends because during elections they give him money to spend," he alleged. He said the SP-Congress alliance government will work for youths, farmers, poor and the women.

The BJP had stepped up its attack on the SP-Congress alliance in recent days with party chief Amit Shah saying yesterday that two "good-looking princes" involved in corruption are now out to mislead the people of Uttar Pradesh.

"Both are 'khoobsurat shehzade' (beautiful princes) who are out to mislead the public.

"Mother is fed up with one and father is fed up with the other. How will they help Uttar Pradesh? One has looted the country while the other has looted the state. Beware of them," Shah said in Mathura.

Akhilesh listed the steps taken by his government for Kanpur. He claimed that the BJP had carried out the stone laying ceremony for Ghatampur power project again although he and UPA Minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal had already done it earlier. "But the work on the project has not started till now," he said.

Stressing on the issue of providing jobs, Rahul said if their alliance wins, a number of steps will be taken on this front like opening high-class institutes for students from weaker sections.

He also recited a couplet on their alliance, saying "hum dono mein farq itna he, ek kehta he sapna or doosra khwab, mein Hindi, Urdu ka doab, mein weh aina hoon jisme he aap". (...I am a mirror in which you can see your reflection).
Coast Guard, State revenue personnel, local volunteers, and fishermen removing black oil washed ashore as a thick oily tide from the sea lapped at the coast. (Photo: PTI)

Chennai: Terming the oil spill situation in Chennai coastline as extraordinary, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, on Sunday said that adequate compensation would be paid to the fishermen for the losses that they have had to endure.

Visiting the site of oil spill, the chief minister said, Centre and state government is working together on the issue. The clean-up operation will be completed in 1-2 days. Efforts are being taken to safeguard fishermen's livelihood.

Clarifying that marine life was not affected by the mishap, he said, Fishes caught from this region found fit for consumption. There is no impact on marine flora and fauna. We will give compensation to fishermen for their loss.

Claiming that over 90 per cent clean-up operation was complete in Chennai and Kancheepuram, he said that more than 5700 people took part in tackling the oil slick.

Meanwhile, the port authorities began disposal operations on Saturday.

Over 150 tonnes of oil sludge collected from the beaches of Chennai were dumped in the pit dug to carry out the bioremediation procedure, said officials from the research and development wing of the Indian Oil Corporation.

Minister of state (Shipping), Pon Radhakrishnan also inspected the beaches of Marina, Elliot's and Ernavoor and Kamarajar port yesterday and held discussions with the chairman of Chennai port, P Raveendran and Commander, Coast Guard Region (East) Inspector General Rajan Bargotra about the clean up operations.

Expressing confidence to clean the pollution in three weeks, Coast Guard authorities said, "Massive cleaning operations are being carried out. After removing the sludge, oil on the rocks would be cleaned."

Following the hue and cry of environmental activists, the Chennai port collected samples of seawater from different locations. "There is no pollution visible. We will be sending it to the laboratory on Monday for testing," said Raveendran.

However, officials from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) took no initiatives for the testing.

Testing can be done only after the clean-up operations are completed. Oil pollution is visible now. Whats the point in testing? asked an official.
The unseemly social unrest in Nagaland over 33 per cent reservation for women in urban local bodies again raises the question of to what extent customary laws can be pushed at the cost of their anachronism leading to dangerous social friction, undermining modern norms of justice and laws. The Nagaland developments arent entirely dissimilar to the Jallikattu controversy. While the latter is a case of whether causing immense distress to animals in the name of culture and custom should be given legal sanction, in Nagaland the question is whether keeping women out of decision-making community bodies, just because it was the norm in an earlier era, can at all be justifiable. This concern isnt new, and its been a stumbling block towards codifying customary laws of indigenous peoples. For one, there are as many customary laws as there are indigenous tribal communities, and many neighbouring communities often advocate mutually antagonistic values, thus causing conflicts amongst them. For another, the question of compliance with the principle of peremptory norms, also sometimes referred to a jus cogen, has always been a big issue.

Peremptory norms refer to certain practices that are absolutely and unjustifiably wrong. This includes slavery, piracy, colonisation, racism, etc. The list cant have boundaries: many previously overlooked situations/experiences of injustice peculiar to individual communities can and do come up; child marriage, sati, female genital mutilation, traditional practices resulting in gender inequality, to cite some examples. The Naga customary laws objection to what in modern society is a key initiative for womens empowerment would arguably make this list. The Nagaland controversy, that has already cost two lives and destruction of much public infrastructure, is a call to review adherence to customary laws and their supposed infallibility. This isnt just in Nagaland, but covers most of the Northeast. in neighbouring Manipur, the 95-day-old ongoing blockade along two major highways that link the state to the rest of the country by the United Naga Council rests on a similar clash of vision between customary and modern laws. The blockade began November 1 in anticipation of the Manipur government creating two new districts from what the UNC considers as part of the traditional Naga homeland. After nearly a month and a half of the blockade, the Manipur government decided to disregard the UNCs objection and created seven districts by bifurcating seven existing districts, four of which the UNC considers to be part of their ancestral Naga homeland.

The question here is: do administrative districts divide people? This is specially relevant given that Assembly and parliamentary constituencies have been left unaltered by new districts. The more important question is, can there be a reconciliation of the two visions? The answer is currently being explored in talks in New Delhi between UNC leaders, Manipur government representatives and the Centre, and on its outcome rests the future of the atrocious blockade. Last weeks violence in Nagaland has its genesis in the Constitutions 74th Amendment in 1993, which provides for 33 per cent reservations for women in urban local bodies nationwide. This wasnt immediately adopted in Nagaland. In 2006, however, the Nagaland Assembly passed the Nagaland Municipal (First Amendment) Act, providing for 33 per cent reservations for women. The law, however, faced objections as it was felt it violated Article 371A, a clause in the Constitution introduced in 1963 when Nagaland state was formed, stating no Act of Parliament in respect of... religious or social practices of Nagas, customary law and procedure, ownership and transfer of land and its resources... shall apply to the state of Nagaland unless the nagaland Legislative Assembly by a resolution so decides.

After this objection, polls to municipal bodies werent held. In 2009, a powerful womens organisation, Naga Mothers Association, took up the issue. At its initiative, a newly-formed Joint Action Committee for Women Reservation (JACWR) filed a writ petition before the Kohima bench of the Guwahati high court in 2011, challenging the state governments refusal to hold municipal elections. The ruling went in its favour, and the court directed the Nagaland government to hold municipal elections before January 2012 with 33 per cent seats reserved for women. The legal entangle, however, didnt end as the state government secured a stay on the grounds that the order violated Article 371A. In September 2012, under pressure from Naga tribal bodies, in particular the Naga Hoho, a Nagaland Assembly resolution overturned its earlier decision on reservations. The JACWR, however, moved a special leave petition in the Supreme Court and finally got a ruling on April 20, 2016, wherein the Supreme Court upheld the high courts October 2011 order.

The state government, now under chief minister T.R. Zeliang, decided to support the cause of womens reservation and passed the Nagaland Municipal (Third Amendment) Bill 2016, which revoked its September 2012 resolution. The state government also decided to conduct polls in 12 of 32 municipal bodies in the state on January 31, after another directive from the high court. The street violence followed thereafter. It is rather surprising and ironic that Nagaland, and indeed most tribal communities of the Northeast, which are known for their liberal approach to gender equality and status, should have such structural gender oppression embedded within its customary norms. This being so, many in the state also feel that the present trouble is the fallout of sinister political instigation by those pitted against Mr Zeliang. Considering the latters bitter rival, former chief minister and now member of Parliament Neiphiu Rio, has come out strongly against Mr Zeliang and those advocating reservations for women, there may indeed be more to the present Nagaland trouble.
Bastars top police officer S.R.P. Kalluri has been asked to go on long leave and a new DIG posted in the region that has a sizeable adivasi population, besides active Maoists; but its uncertain if the change of guard will lead to the desired change in mindset, away from the barbaric human rights abuses that leaves adivasis in a permanent war-like situation. They have suffered sexual assault, rape, violence and other forms of abuse over the years with the police emboldened to act this way in the name of fighting ideological extremists. Many brazen acts of violence by non-state and state actors recorded in detail by rights activists may lessen thanks to a key player being removed from operations. The officer systematically ran a brutal operation and threatened anyone who came in his way, like activists and journalists, against whom he foisted scores of cases, including murder.

The exploitation of the mineral-rich region by the corporate sector led to adviasis displaced from their land by coercion, with the police acting hand-in-glove with big business. The NHRC can take the credit for the states BJP government taking action at last. The rights body can throw light on gross human rights abuses, but usually cant get governments to act. The strong strictures it passed on Bastars adivasis may have forced a tacit admission by the state government that problems exist. Empowering the NHRC to compel governments to act in proven cases of abuse might bring about not only rule of law but some reason to cheer too.
Three days before Pakistans independence, Balochistan became an independent sovereign state on August 11, 1947, recognised by Jinnah himself. Before that too, Balochistan had an identifiable, independent history, geography and culture; positioned at the confluence of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman, and connected to Indias heartland since ages. Understandably, as it happened in the past, geographical region in flanks (owing to distance, ignorance, unfamiliarity and negligence) tend to be susceptible to liberation movements, thereby giving rise to secessionist forces, resulting in creation of new political units. Instances galore exist in history. The entire north-western, southern, south-eastern and eastern flanks of mighty USSR broke into 15 independent states in the 1990s. Yugoslavia, one big Balkan heartland European state, became seven independent states thereby turning the core territory under Belgrade as the landlocked state of Serbia. In Asia, the two north-western and south-western flank provinces of China, Xinjiang and Xizang (Tibet), continue to be flashpoints for Beijing since 1949. And in South Asia, first Bangladesh and now Balochistan, have collectively emerged as classical geo-politics and geo-economics case studies of remote flanks.

To the discomfiture of many, however, Balochistan, like Afghanistan, not only existed as identifiable geography, but was also an independence-aspiring, intervention-resenting and subjugation-resisting demography of a territory spanning from Makran coast of Northern Arabian Sea to mountainous terrain of Quetta. In a curious post-1947 scenario, however, Balochistan in west and East Pakistan (which became Bangladesh in 1971) showed signs of dissension and discontentment, leading to ceaseless friction with the rulers of Pakistan. Nevertheless East Pakistan became independent language-based homeland for Bengalis as Bangladesh (which was opposite to Jinnahs religion-based Pakistan as the homeland for Muslims of India in 1940s) through bloody tribulations and terror, inflicted by military rulers in eastern flank. Understandably, therefore, post-1971, the weight and might of Pakistani military rulers fell on the Balochistan flank, to nip any secessionist movement in the bud. Success of Bengali agitation against Pakistani rulers had destroyed Jinnahs applecart, thereby setting a bad precedent for the remnant of Pakistan. Under no circumstances could another Bangladesh-like movement be allowed to grow in a truncated Pakistan.

Unsurprisingly, however, things had not augured well post-British departure from South Asia. The departing edict of London was: no princely state of South Asia could proclaim independence. All 565 princes of South Asia faced unavoidable compulsion of no-choice. Their sole choice was compulsion. Join India or Pakistan. In 1947, Balochistan consisted of four princely states of Las Bela, Kharan, Makran and Kalat. Mir Ahmad Yar Khan Baloch, the ruler of Kalat, nevertheless, wanted independence, claiming that since it was neither part of India nor an Indian state, it was independent sovereign state vide treaties with British government. Khan claimed he was the true leader of entire British Baloch nation and had assumed title of Khan-e-Azam. He strongly urged British to hand him over Quetta, Nushki and Nasirabad, areas, which he claimed once belonged to Kalat but were usurped by London under the treaty of 1876. Khan also claimed suzerainty over Las Bela, Kharan and Makran along with Marri-Bugti areas.

On April 11, 1947, Khan unilaterally declared Kalat a sovereign state, and also extended support to Jinnahs demand for Pakistan. Furthermore, he sought Jinnahs reciprocal support for independence of his sovereign state. Soon, August 11, 1947 proved to be the liberation day for Kalat. In a joint press communique issued by the leaders, Pakistan recognised Kalat as an independent sovereign state. However, a catch, introduced at Jinnahs behest, appeared to have gone either un-noticed or un-comprehended by Khans team. Thus, despite Jinnahs recognition of Kalat as an independent sovereign state, Khan agreed to go for legal opinion to know if the agreements of leases between the British and Kalat would be inherited by Pakistan or not. By agreeing to a legal opinion, Khan, in one stroke, made his position potentially untenable, thereby putting a question mark on his independent sovereign status though as Pakistan, on August 11, 1947 was not born, being a part of India till August 14, 1947. As there was no legal provision for the princely state of Kalat to either remain or become independent, Jinnah brazenly violated the ground rules. Moreover, when a bilateral Pakistan-Kalat agreement came as a form of treaty (even before Pakistan was born), thereby superseding all previous agreements, Jinnah could have kept his commitment for Kalats position as sovereign independent state.

But that was not to be because once legal opinion was sought, its verdict was a foregone conclusion. It was against sovereignty of the princely state. By deliberately violating the laid-down principles, Jinnah showed the way to breach commitments and bilateral agreements, thereby laying down the future direction for Pakistan. No doubt, Khan of Kalat subsequently, per force, acceded to Pakistan on March 31, 1948, but irreparable damage had been done to the process of integration of Indian states. In reality, Baloch nationalist aspirations continued undiminished as Khans brother, Prince Karim, waged guerrilla war against Pakistan from Kalat. However, the inevitable failure of guerrilla war owed more to internal feuds of Baloch rather than the use of force by Pakistan under Colonel Gulzar. As Kalat, after remaining an independent sovereign state for seven and half months, surrendered to Pakistan, for the other three minor Baloch states, Las Bela, Kharan and Makran, understandably it was only a matter of time. No doubt they too had the intention, but did not have the ability to do what Kalat had done from April 11, 1947 to March 31, 1948. Kalat, in retrospect, gives credence to the futility of Pakistani stand on Jammu and Kashmirs accession to India. J&K acceded to India on October 26, 1947 through the due process of law, but Pakistan has not been following due process thereof because law and Pakistan appear contradictory since its birth!
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav is making his son Akhilesh Yadavs blood pressure fluctuate drastically from his antics! Ever since his own son ousted him from the position of party chief, the veteran socialist leader has been unable to come to terms with the fact that he has nothing left to do. At regular intervals, he calls over a news agency and reads out a statement that is invariably designed to damage his son in the midst of elections. Team Akhilesh is now keeping a close watch on the party patriarchs movements and journalists are not allowed to meet him in Lucknow  perhaps the only way to keep out trouble.

Mulayam Singh now has found a way out of the situation. He flies to Delhi, reads out his statement to a news agency and returns to Lucknow. Akhilesh and his team are then left to clean the mess. Just when Akhilesh thought that his fathers anger had started subsiding and announced that Mulayam Singh would soon be campaigning for the party, the Lok Dal  a party that is happily doling out tickets to all SP rejects and rebels  sprung a surprise by naming Mulayam Singh as its star campaigner. It seems that the family drama will continue not only through the elections but also after that.

NO PUBLICITY IS GOOD PUBLICITY!

It seems wisdom has finally dawned upon beleaguered Madhya Pradesh higher education minister Sanjay Pathak. Ever since the Katni hawala racket in which his name was dragged surfaced in November last year, the richest legislator of MP spared no efforts to wriggle out the controversy. The chain of events that followed the exposure of the scandal had put him on the back foot. The scam involved operation of bogus accounts in a local bank branch in his hometown of Katni in MP. Katni districts superintendent of police Gaurav Tiwari, who unearthed the racket, was suddenly transferred. The Congress raised a hue and cry alleging a coverup operation by the state government to shield Mr Pathak.

Mr Tiwaris transfer to Chhindwara district barely within six months of becoming SP had also sparked a popular agitation in the town threatening to erode Mr Pathaks electoral base. In a bid to refurbish his image, Mr Pathak launched a series of public relations moves. He first led a motorcycle rally in Katni to counter the mass uprising. When that didnt help, he turned to the media to plead his innocence. This plan boomeranged on him as he invited even more negative publicity. He then withdrew from the glare of the media and the controversy has since then simply petered out. We have finally realised no publicity is good publicity, his supporters quipped.

FLAWLESS RETALIATION

Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik is not a person to be cowed down either by his own partymen or rivals, even during a time of crisis. When the CBI recently conducted raids on the residences and offices of his party leaders, he restrained himself and did not utter a single word. However, he ensured that he did not remain silent and prepared a counter-offensive. As grapevine has it, hours after the CBI raids, Mr Patnaik summoned his most dependable officers to his residence and sought their suggestions on counter-offensives.

Within 24 hours of the raids, the state vigilance department conducted raids on Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhans brothers gas agency and several other petrol pumps run by people supported by the BJP, sending a strong message that if the CBI raids the regional BJD leaders houses, the state vigilance department would conduct search operations in BJP leaders residences. Mission accomplished, Mr Patnaik sent his partys muscle man and state agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy to face the media and clarify the government action. You people better understand what is happening now. The BJP is not the sole political party who can do what it wants, Mr Maharathy thundered.

WALK THE TALK

Of late the BJP government, following the advice of Assam governor Banwarilal Purohit, directed state government officials to refrain from holding any government function or media interaction in five-star hotels. A day after the announcement, former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi welcomed the measures but questioned Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal using the five-star category state guest house meant for VVIPs as his residence.

He added that charity must begin at home. Although Mr Sonowal is yet to respond, it is said some astrologer has identified the guesthouse as one of the best places for him to reside. Mr Gogoi, who also converted a guesthouse into his residence when he came to power in 2001, however, clarified that he occupied a poorly-maintained and abandoned guesthouse on Koinadhara hills. It was never a star category guesthouse. It may be treated as three-star category, but not five-star like Mr Sonowals residence.
US Magistrate Judge Thomas Rueter in Philadelphia ruled on Friday that transferring emails from a foreign server so FBI agents could review them locally as part of a domestic fraud probe did not qualify as a seizure.

A US judge has ordered Google to comply with search warrants seeking customer emails stored outside the United States, diverging from a federal appeals court that reached the opposite conclusion in a similar case involving Microsoft Corp.

US Magistrate Judge Thomas Rueter in Philadelphia ruled on Friday that transferring emails from a foreign server so FBI agents could review them locally as part of a domestic fraud probe did not qualify as a seizure.

The judge said this was because there was "no meaningful interference" with the account holder's "possessory interest" in the data sought. "Though the retrieval of the electronic data by Google from its multiple data centers abroad has the potential for an invasion of privacy, the actual infringement of privacy occurs at the time of disclosure in the United States," Rueter wrote.

Google, a unit of Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc, said in a statement on Saturday: "The magistrate in this case departed from precedent, and we plan to appeal the decision. We will continue to push back on overbroad warrants."

The ruling came less than seven months after the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said Microsoft could not be forced to turn over emails stored on a server in Dublin, Ireland that US investigators sought in a narcotics case.

That decision last July 14 was welcomed by dozens of technology and media companies, privacy advocates, and both the American Civil Liberties Union and US Chamber of Commerce. On Jan. 24, the same appeals court voted not to revisit the decision. The four dissenting judges called on the US Supreme Court or Congress to reverse it, saying the decision hurt law enforcement and raised national security concerns.

Both cases involved warrants issued under the Stored Communications Act, a 1986 federal law that many technology companies and privacy advocates consider outdated. In court papers, Google said it sometimes breaks up emails into pieces to improve its network's performance, and did not necessarily know where particular emails might be stored.

Relying on the Microsoft decision, Google said it believed it had complied with the warrants it received, by turning over data it knew were stored in the United States. Google receives more than 25,000 requests annually from US authorities for disclosures of user data in criminal matters, according to Rueter's ruling.

The cases are In re: Search Warrant No. 16-960-M-01 to Google and In re: Search Warrant No. 16-1061-M to Google, US District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Nos. 16-mj-00960, 16-mj-01061.

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The leaders have extended mutual invitations to visit their respective countries but are heading for a clash on visas.

Indian student Sunny Nair has always dreamt of working for a technology giant in the United States but fears that President Donald Trump will crush his life ambition. The 19-year-old worries that Trump's crackdown on immigration will include restrictions on so-called H-1B visas, which India's IT sector uses to send thousands of highly-skilled workers to America every year.

Analysts say the issue also threatens to sour Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's burgeoning relationship. The leaders have extended mutual invitations to visit their respective countries but are heading for a clash on visas. "I had always dreamt about going to the US and working for a major company like Infosys but now all that will change," Nair told AFP despondently before trudging into class.

The aspiring techie had planned to head to the United States for further study next year after completing his bachelor's degree in engineering at the Don Bosco Institute of Technology in Mumbai. He hoped that would help land him the opportunity of a lifetime at one of India's top information technology exporting firms, such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) or Wipro. But Trump has pledged to prioritise jobs for Americans. Shares in India's three largest tech firms took a hit this week after White House spokesman Sean Spicer suggested that presidential and congressional action could be taken on H-1B visas as "part of a larger immigration reform effort".

Three bills have been introduced to Congress which reportedly seek to restructure the H-1B visa programme, including one that would raise the salary threshold, making it more expensive for Indian firms to send employees to America. Scores of high-profile Indians, including Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, have followed a well-trodden path from Indian IT institutes to a master's degree in America before landing a plum job in Silicon Valley.

Nair is now anxiously plotting a different road map for his future. "(Restrictions)... would be a major negative decision by Trump and would mean fewer international opportunities so my goals have shifted drastically now. I am looking at other venues for my future studies like Canada and Europe instead of USA," he said.

Government concerns

India's IT outsourcing industry is worth around $108 billion, according to industry body NASSCOM, the National Association of Software and Services Companies, with almost four million people employed in the sector. Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar said restrictions would create uncertainty and leave US businesses short of the skilled workers they need.

"It's a myth that these workers replace American workers," he told AFP. "Given that there aren't enough people with the qualifications to fill these jobs, two things can happen -- these jobs can remain unfilled or companies can ship these jobs overseas. Neither is a good thing for the US."

India's IT sector has become a boom industry in recent years with companies, especially in developed nations, subcontracting work to firms such as TCS, taking advantage of the country's skilled English-speaking workforce. It makes more than $60 billion alone from the American market, providing IT and engineering services to major US businesses.

The United States offers 85,000 H-1B visas every year, most of which are snapped up by Indian outsourcers whose employees fill a skill gap in US engineering. Applications are vastly oversubscribed and are allocated via a lottery system.

Industry experts say any clampdown would force Indian tech titans to radically rethink their business models. "Indian IT firms may start focusing on Asia-Pacific and expand their businesses here instead of in the US," D.D. Mishra, an analyst at technology research company Gartner told AFP. Infosys has said it is looking into reducing its dependency on visas to stay competitive, while worried software executives are due to travel to the US later this month to press their case with lawmakers.

Tech Mahindra CEO C.P Gurnani told AFP there would certainly be an impact, adding: "It is unfortunate that we are talking about protectionism and creating artificial trade barriers in the age of globalisation." "(Any) restriction is always a concern and we hope that the Trump administration will take into consideration all factors, before making any decision," he added.

A spokesman for India's external affairs ministry said earlier this week that New Delhi had conveyed India's "interests and concerns" to "senior levels" in the US administration and Congress.

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Trump has said that he does "respect" Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that respect does not mean they will get along and has sought Russian help in defeating the dreaded ISIS. (Photo: AP)

Washington: US President Donald Trump has assured his Ukrainian counterpart to work with all parties to end bloodshed and restore peace along volatile Russia-Ukraine border, amid escalation in violence in the region.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said in his phone call with the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, according to the White House.

The White House said Trump had "a very good call" with Poroshenko to address a variety of topics, including Ukraine's long-running conflict with Russia.

Ukrainian President first conversation with the new US leader, whose aim to improve relations with the Kremlin has alarmed Kiev while the nearly three-year-old conflict remains unresolved.

The discussion came during a sharp escalation in violence in the Russian-backed separatist east that has claimed 35 lives in the past week.

They discussed the potential for a meeting in the near future.

On Thursday, Trump has promised former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko that the US would not lift sanctions from Russia until it pulls out of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Trump has said that he does "respect" Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that respect does not mean they will get along and has sought Russian help in defeating the dreaded ISIS.

"I say it's better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world -- that's a good thing," Trump told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly in an interview, which is scheduled to air today.

I respect a lot of people but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with him," Trump said. "He's a leader of his country," Trump said according to an excerpt released yesterday.

When asked about Putin's history of violence, the President indicated that the same could be said about the US too.

"There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?" he asked.
President Donald Trump sits at his desk in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (Photo: AP)

Washington: A federal appeals court denied early Sunday the Justice Department's request for an immediate reinstatement of President Donald Trump's ban on accepting certain travelers and all refugees.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco instead asked challengers of the ban respond to the appeal filed by the Trump administration late Saturday night, and for the Justice Department to file a counter-response by Monday afternoon.

The Trump administration declared that a federal judge in Seattle overstepped his authority by temporarily blocking the ban nationwide. Now the higher court's denial of an immediate stay means the legal battles will continue for days at least.

Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco forcefully argued Saturday night that the president alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the United States - an assertion that invokes the wider battle to come over illegal immigration.

"The power to expel or exclude aliens is a fundamental sovereign attribute, delegated by Congress to the executive branch of government and largely immune from judicial control," the brief says.

Earlier Saturday, the government officially suspended the ban's enforcement in compliance with order of the order of U.S. District Judge James Robart. It marks an extraordinary setback for the new president, who only a week ago acted to suspend America's refugee program and halt immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries the government said raise terrorism concerns.

Trump, meanwhile, mocked Robart, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, calling him a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling "will be overturned."

"Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision," he tweeted.

Trump's direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against the federal judge of Mexican heritage who oversaw lawsuits alleging fraud by Trump University, and may prompt some tough questions as these challenges rise through the courts.

But the government's brief repeatedly asserts that presidential authority cannot be questioned by judges once the nation's security is invoked.

Congress "vests complete discretion in the President" to impose conditions on alien entry, so Trump isn't legally required to justify such decisions, it says. His executive order said the ban is necessary for "protecting against terrorism," and that "is sufficient to end the matter."

The Justice Department asked that the federal judge's order be stayed pending resolution of the appeal, so that the ban can "ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism."

The order had caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompted protests across the United States and led to multiple court challenges. Demonstrations took place outside the White House, in New York and near his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was attending the annual American Red Cross fundraising gala.

"We'll win," Trump told reporters Saturday night. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

The State Department, after initially saying that as many as 60,000 foreigners from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen had their visas canceled, reversed course on Saturday and said they could travel to the U.S. if they had a valid visa.

The department on Saturday advised refugee aid agencies that refugees set to travel before Trump signed his order will now be allowed in. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government was "focusing on booking refugee travel" through Feb. 17 and working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trump's order from boarding U.S.-bound planes. The agency said it had "suspended any and all actions" related to putting in place Trump's order.

Hearings have also been held in court challenges nationwide. Washington state and Minnesota argued that the temporary ban and the global suspension of the U.S. refugee program harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination.

In his written order Friday, Robart said it's not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches," but rather, to make sure that an action taken by the government "comports with our country's laws."

The Justice Department countered that "judicial second-guessing of the President's national security determination in itself imposes substantial harm on the federal government and the nation at large."

Robart's order also imposes harm on U.S. citizens "by thwarting the legal effect of the public's chosen representative," it says.
Tehran, Iran, February 5

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Some countries say they are worried about Syria, but the truth is they are worried that terrorist groups in Syria are losing their capacities, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Shamkhani said.

Speaking to Russian Presidents Special Envoy on Syria Alexander Lavrentiev in a meeting in Tehran, Shamkhani said if such countries do not change their policies, they will not be able to play a key role in the future political life of the region, IRNA news agency reported February 5.

Pointing out that some regional countries are sensitive about recent political efforts by Iran, Russia, and Turkey over Syria, Shamkhani said Iran considers a military approach to the Syrian crisis only to face the armed groups which do not intend to lay down their arms.

As long as the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), al-Nusrah Front, and their affiliates are in Syria and are being supported by some regional countries, a political solution to Syria and the achievement of peace will be impossible.

Lavrentiev, for his part, expressed thanks to Iran over its positive role in a political solution to the Syrian crisis, adding the successful convention of the Astana meeting over Syria is a great achievement for Iran, Russia, and Turkey.

The three countries recently arranged a meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan where the Syrian government and opposition groups discussed how to maintain a ceasefire in Syria to pursue political developments in the war-torn country.

The three powers are also going to appear in Astana February 6 at the expert level to further discuss the situation in Syria.
Washington: Sant Singh Chatwal, a prominent hotelier and convicted Indian-American Democratic Party fundraiser, secured an invitation to a State Department lunch for the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009 through top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, according to emails.

The emails obtained by Judicial Watch show that donors to the Clinton Foundation thought that they could receive favours from the State Department while Ms Clinton was at the helm. According to the emails, Ms Abedin was asked by Mr Chatwal, who has donated millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, to secure an invitation to an Obama administration State Dinner. Ms Abedin said Clintons office was unable to secure an invitation to the State Dinner, but offered Mr Chatwal access to the Indian PM nonetheless, The Washington Free Beacon reported.
Washington/Palm Beach: US President Donald Trump said the Justice Department will win an appeal filed late Saturday of a judge's order lifting a travel ban he had imposed on citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries.

"We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win," he told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, shortly after the Justice Department filed a notice that it intends to appeal the order.

Trump's personal attack on U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle went too far for some who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said on Twitter early on Saturday. Trump has said "extreme vetting" of refugees and immigrants is needed to prevent terrorist attacks.

Throughout the day, Trump continued to criticize the decision in tweets. Late Saturday, Trump showed no signs of backing down. "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" he tweeted.

As the ban lifted, refugees and thousands of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by Trump's executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States.

The Justice Department did not say when it would file its appeal with the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the ruling made by Robart late on Friday that also lifted Trump's temporary ban imposed on refugee admissions.

The judge appointed by former Republican President George W Bush questioned the constitutionality of Trump's order.

The three-judge panel that will decide whether to immediately block the ruling includes appointees of George W. Bush and two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.

Trumps tweets criticizing the judges decision could make it tougher for Justice Department attorneys as they seek to defend the executive order in Washington state and other courts, said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, adding that presidents are usually circumspect about commenting on government litigation.

"Its hard for the president to demand that courts respect his inherent authority when he is disrespecting the inherent authority of the judiciary. That certainly tends to poison the well for litigation," Turley said.

U.S. immigration advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and International Refugee Assistance Project on Saturday in a joint statement urged those with now valid visas from the seven nations "to consider rebooking travel to the United States immediately" because the ruling could be overturned or put on hold. A U.S. State Department email review said the department is working to begin admitting refugees including Syrians as soon as Monday.

Separation of powers

It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the U.S. Constitution designates as a check to the power of the executive branch and Congress.

Reached by email Saturday, Robart declined comment on Trump's tweets.

Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in a statement Saturday that Trump's "hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it is dangerous. He seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis."

"Read the 'so-called' Constitution," tweeted Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee.

In an interview with ABC scheduled to air on Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence said he did not think that Trump's criticisms of the judge undermined the separation of powers.

"I think the American people are very accustomed to this president speaking his mind and speaking very straight with them," Pence said, according to an excerpt of the interview.

The court ruling was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges to Trump's push to clamp down on immigration. His order set off chaos last week at airports across the United States where travelers were stranded and thousands of people gathered to protest.

Americans are divided over Trump's order. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed 49 percent favored it while 41 percent did not.

Wes Parker, a retiree from Long Beach, California, held a sign saying "Trump is love" at the Los Angeles International Airport, and said he supported the tighter measures.

"We just have to support the travel pause," said Parker, 62. "If you were a new president coming in, wouldn't you want what you feel safe with?"

Rights groups, Democrats and U.S. allies have condemned the travel ban as discriminatory. On Saturday, there were protests against the immigrant curb in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and other cities.

At the White House, hundreds of protesters chanted "Donald, Donald can't you see? You're not welcome in D.C."

Travellers move with haste

The sudden reversal of the ban catapulted would-be immigrants back to airports, with uncertainty over how long the window to enter the United States will remain open.

In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Fuad Sharef and his family prepared to fly on Saturday to Istanbul and then New York before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.

"I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Sharef, who was stopped from boarding a New York-bound flight last week.

The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travelers but that the Justice Department would file for an emergency stay of the order "at the earliest possible time."

Some travelers said they were cautious about the sudden change.

"I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes," said Josephine Abu Assaleh, 60, who was stopped from entering the United States after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family.

"We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been canceled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she said, in Damascus, speaking by telephone.

Virtually all refugees also were barred by Trump's order, upending the lives of thousands of people who have spent years seeking asylum in the United States.

Friday night's court decision sent refugee advocacy and resettlement agencies scrambling to help people in the pipeline.

Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab, 52, said in Lebanon that his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on January 31. The trip was canceled two days before that and he was now waiting for a phone call from UN officials overseeing their case.

"It's in God's hands," he said.
A woman offers legal services at the customs arrival area as demonstrators opposed to President Donald Trump's executive orders barring entry to the US by Muslims from certain countries march behind at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. (Photo: AP)

Chicago: Visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries affected by President Donald Trump's travel ban hurried to board US-bound flights Saturday, fearing they might have only a slim window through which to enter the country after a federal judge temporarily blocked the ban.

Those who could travel immediately were being urged to do so because of uncertainty over whether the Justice Department would be granted an emergency freeze of the order issued Friday by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle. The government on Saturday suspended enforcement of the week-old ban as it scurried to appeal Robart's order, although an immigration lawyer said passengers in at least one African airport were told they couldn't get on the planes.

Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan, said her group is advising people to hurry.

"We're telling them to get on the quickest flight ASAP," said Aoun, whose group filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Detroit asking a judge to declare Trump's immigration order unconstitutional.

Aoun said some people have had to make hard choices, including a Yemeni family expected to arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday from Egypt without two of their children. The father and two of the children are U.S. citizens, the mother has an immigrant visa, but the other two children did not yet have theirs and were left behind with relatives.

"They just don't want to take a chance of waiting," she said.

US officials have said up to 60,000 foreigners had their visas "provisionally revoked" to comply with Trump's order. Confusion during the rollout of the ban initially found green card holders caught in travel limbo, until the White House last week clarified that they would be allowed to enter and leave the U.S as they pleased.

Even so, green card holder Ammar Alnajjar, a 24-year-old Yemeni student at Southwest Tennessee Community College, cut short a planned three-month visit to his fiancee in Turkey, paying $1,000 to return immediately when the ban was lifted.

"I got to study. I got to do some work," said Alnajjar, who arrived at JFK on Saturday. He said he fled civil war in Yemen and moved to the U.S. from Turkey in 2015. "I'm Muslim. I'm proud of it. Islam means peace."

Although the government suspended enforcement of the travel ban while it sought an emergency stay of Robart's order, some airlines reportedly still weren't letting some people from the seven countries board their planes, at least initially.

Royal Jordanian Airlines, which operates direct flights from Amman to New York, Chicago and Detroit, said it would resume carrying nationals from the seven countries as long as they presented a valid U.S. visa or green card.

But in the African nation of Djibouti, immigration attorney Julie Goldberg said a Qatar Airways representative told her that immigrants from all seven countries affected by the ban - Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Somalia - were not allowed to fly Saturday afternoon. A Qatar Airways spokeswoman said the airline would begin boarding travelers from those countries.

Goldberg said she was trying to arrange flights for dozens of Yemeni citizens who have immigrant visas and were stranded there. She said a supervisor at Turkish Airlines told her that people holding immigrant and non-immigrant visas from the seven countries still were being banned unless they had a special email from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection with the person's name and passport number.

A 12-year-old Yemeni girl whose parents and siblings are U.S. citizens living in California, was finally allowed to depart after "an hour-and-half of fighting" with officials, Goldberg said. It was unclear when she would arrive.

"Her mother is on pins and needles ... her father is on the plane with her," Stacey Gartland, a San Francisco attorney who represented the girl, said in an email.

Refugees also awaited word on their fates.

A Somali refugee said about 140 refugees whose resettlement in the U.S. was blocked by Trump's executive order were sent back to their refugee camp and it was unclear if or when they could travel.

Nadir Hassan said the group of Somali refugees was relocated to Dadaab camp in eastern Kenya on Saturday. They had been expected to settle in the U.S. this week and had been staying at an International Organization for Migration transit center in Nairobi.

"I was hoping to start a new life in the U.S." Hassan said. "We feel bad."

The State Department has advised refugee aid agencies that refugees who had been scheduled to travel before the order was signed will now be allowed into the U.S. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government is "focusing on booking refugee travel through February 17," and they were working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

American businesses affected by the ban also were jumping into action. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who quit Trump's business advisory council this week following criticism of his initial response to Trump's ban, said his company is buying plane tickets for some of its drivers who are stranded, tweeting Friday night that the head of litigation for the ride-hailing app is "buying a whole bunch of airline tickets ASAP!"

Meanwhile, legal advocates waited at airports to offer assistance to new arrivals in case anything went wrong.

Volunteer attorney Renee Paradis was among 20-25 lawyers and interpreters who stationed themselves inside JFK's Terminal 4 in case anyone arrived Saturday needing help. They were carrying handmade signs in Arabic and Farsi "that say we're lawyers, we're here to help. We're not from the government," Paradis said.

"We're all just waiting to see what actually happens and who manages to get through," she said.
Washington: US Vice President Mike Pence in an interview airing Sunday warned Iran "not to test the resolve" of the Donald Trump administration, days after Washington slapped new sanctions on Tehran following a ballistic missile test launch.

Relations between the two sides have deteriorated sharply since Trump took office in January, promising a tough line on what he sees as Iranian belligerence toward US interests.

"Iran would do well to look at the calendar and realize there's a new president in the Oval Office. And Iran would do well not to test the resolve of this new president," Pence told ABC News in an interview taped Saturday.

The tough talk came after Trump's Pentagon chief James Mattis declared last week that Iran was "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world."

The charged rhetoric has raised questions over whether the United States will abandon commitments it made under a landmark deal - negotiated with several world powers and approved by president Barack Obama in 2015 - that obliged Iran to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from US and international sanctions.

"The Iranians got a deal from the international community that again, the president and I and our administration think was a terrible deal," Pence said.

Although Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have said the United States would stand by the agreement, Pence was less forthcoming.

"Well, we're evaluating that as we speak," he said.

"I think the president will make that decision in the days ahead. And he'll listen to all of his advisors, but make no mistake about it. The resolve of this president is such that Iran would do well to think twice about their continued hostile and belligerent actions."

US officials said the new sanctions imposed Friday were in response to Iran's recent ballistic missile test and its support for the Huthi rebels in Yemen, who recently targeted a Saudi warship.

The White House has said "nothing is off the table" - even military action.
Chicago: Visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries affected by President Donald Trumps travel ban hurried to board US-bound flights on Sunday, fearing they might have only a slim window through which to enter the country after a federal judge temporarily blocked the ban. Those who could travel immediately were being urged to do so because of uncertainty over whether the Justice Department would be granted an emergency freeze of the order issued on Friday by US district judge James Robart in Seattle. The government on Sunday suspended enforcement of the week-old ban as it scurried to appeal Robarts order, although an immigration lawyer said passengers in at least one African airport were told they couldnt get on the planes.

Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan, said her group is advising people to hurry. Were telling them to get on the quickest flight ASAP, said Aoun, whose group filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in federal court in Detroit asking a judge to declare Mr Trumps immigration order unconstitutional. Aoun said some people have had to make hard choices, including a Yemeni family expected to arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday from Egypt without two of their children. The father and two of the children are US citizens, the mother has an immigrant visa, but the other two children did not yet have theirs and were left behind with relatives.

They just dont want to take a chance of waiting, she said. Confusion during the rollout of the ban initially found green card holders caught in travel limbo, until the White House on Wednesday clarified they would be allowed to enter and leave the US as they pleased. Even so, green card holder Ammar Alnajjar, a 24-year-old Yemeni student cut short his visit to meet his fiancee in Turkey, paying $1,000 to return immediately when the ban was lifted. I got to study. I got to do some work, said Alnajjar who arrived on Sunday. He fled the civil war in Yemen and moved to the US in 2015. Im Muslim. Im proud of it. Although the government temporarily suspended enforcement of the travel ban, some airlines reportedly still werent letting some people from the seven countries board their planes, at least initially.
London: An Indian-origin couple in the UK are caught up in a divorce battle which includes a 160,000-pound ticket on the futuristic first commercial flight into space on British entrepreneur Richard Branson's famed Virgin Galactic.

Meera Manek is taking her husband, Ashish Thakkar, to the UK High Court next week to dispute his claims that his assets are worth just 445,532 pounds.

The 33-year-old food writer and blogger insists that Thakkar is in fact a billionaire, 'The Daily Telegraph ' reported.

"The Virgin Galactic flight will be discussed in court. It is an asset Ashish still holds and will be considered as part of the investigation into his total wealth. Meera will demand the cost of the ticket be counted in his assets. She could demand he cashes it in," the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

Thakkar was among the first to sign up for Branson's dream project of launching the first commercial flight into space. The full amount of the tickets are paid up front but the tickets on Virgin Galactic are fully refundable up until the date of the flight.

The UK High Court will now decide over the course of a five-day hearing beginning on Monday what Thakkar's assets are worth and a further trial will then determine how much Manek should receive as part of the divorce settlement.

Thakkar is a Dubai-based businessman who runs the Mara Group and was born in the city of Leicester in the UK. His family were among the thousands of East African Indians who came to the UK after being deported by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 1970s.

The 35-year-old married Manek in 2008 but the couple separated in 2013. His soon-to-be ex-wife claims her estranged husband is the beneficiary of a complex series of companies held offshore. But he has told the High Court that the beneficiaries of the Mara Group - an IT, banking and property group - were his mother and sister.

'The Sunday Times Rich List' had estimated Thakkar's wealth at 500 million pounds in 2015 but he was missing from the list in 2016. Justice Moor will rule on Thakkar's real wealth next week.
London: The Islamic State (ISIS) terror group is paying smugglers in an attempt to recruit vulnerable child refugees from countries like Lebanon and Jordan, a new UK report has warned.

The report from counter-terrorism think-tank Quilliam to be released on Monday claims that an estimated 88,300 unaccompanied children identified by the European Unions police agency Europol as having gone missing are at risk of being radicalised.

"Young asylum seekers are targeted by extremist groups as they are more vulnerable to indoctrination, make able fighters and, in the case of girls, can create a new generation of recruits. This report outlines national and international requirements to reduce the risk of child-trafficking, extremism and modern slavery," Nikita Malik, a senior researcher at Quilliam, told the Observer newspaper.

The report found that ISIS had offered up to $ 2,000 to recruit within camps in Lebanon and Jordan.

In 2016, Jordanian special forces reportedly found what they described as an ISIS sleeper cell inside a refugee camp near Irbid, north Jordan.

Additional reports indicated that ISIS had tried to recruit refugees by supplying food previously withheld from camp residents, the newspaper reports.

The report said: "Young unaccompanied refugees are more vulnerable to radicalisation if they are separated from their parents, who remained in the country of origin at risk to violent and radical groups, or in a new host country".

"There is no question that militant groups target refugee youth for recruitment. It has also been argued that refugee youth can become autonomously radicalised, through online content, for example," the report said.

Another so-called hotspot is the south Libyan town of Qatrun, where reports have indicated that ISIS, which is believed to have between 4,000 to 6,000 fighters in the region, has waived 450-pound smuggler fees to allow refugees to travel north if they joined its ranks.

The 171-page report proposes the creation of a safeguarding and resilience against extremism framework, which would be mandatory for organisations such as the UKs Home Office and the National Crime Agency.
Oslo: A former Norwegian prime minister said he was held at a Washington airport for one hour because of an Iranian visa in his passport, an incident he described as provocative. There is no reason to be afraid of a former head of government who has been on official visits several times to this country, including in the White House, Kjell Magne Bondevik, 69, told Norwegian broadcaster TV2.

Mr Bondevik, who served as Prime Minister twice between 1997 and 2005, said immigration authorities held him on Tuesday for an hour and questioned him over an Iranian visa in his diplomatic passport.

Iran is one of seven Muslim-majority countries whose nationals are temporarily banned from entering US territory in accordance with a controversial decree signed by Mr Trump. The head of human rights organisation Oslo Centre, Bondevik flew to the US on Tuesday to attend a yearly event in Washington DC called the National Prayer Breakfast. US President Donald Trump also attended the event.
London: An Indian-origin couple in the UK are caught up in a divorce battle which includes a 1,60,000 ticket on the futuristic first commercial flight into space on British entrepreneur Richard Bransons famed Virgin Galactic. Meera Manek is taking her husband, Ashish Thakkar, to the UK High Court next week to dispute his claims that his assets are worth just 4,45,532.

The 33-year-old food writer and blogger insists that Thakkar is in fact a billionaire, The Daily Telegraph reported. The Virgin Galactic flight will be discussed in court. It is an asset Ashish still holds and will be considered as part of the investigation into his total wealth. Meera will demand the cost of the ticket be counted in his assets. She could demand he cashes it in, the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

Thakkar was among the first to sign up for Bransons dream project of launching the first commercial flight into space. The full amount of the tickets are paid up front but the tickets on Virgin Galactic are fully refundable up until the date of the flight. The UK High Court will now decide over the course of a five-day hearing beginning on Monday what Thakkars assets are worth and a further trial will then determine how much Manek should receive as part of the divorce settlement.

Thakkar is a Dubai-based businessman who runs the Mara Group and was born in the city of Leicester in the UK. His family were among the thousands of East African Indians who came to the UK after being deported by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 1970s. The 35-year-old married Manek in 2008 but the couple separated in 2013. His soon-to-be ex-wife claims her estranged husband is the beneficiary of a complex series of companies held offshore. But he has told the High Court that the beneficiaries of the Mara Group an IT, banking and property group were his mother and sister. The Sunday Times Rich List had estimated Thakkars wealth at 500 million pounds in 2015.
Ankara: Turkish police on Sunday detained 60 suspected members of the Islamic State jihadist group in the capital Ankara, just over a month after an attack on an Istanbul nightclub claimed by the extremist organisation, state media said.

Those held were mainly foreign nationals, the state-run Anadolu news agency said, without saying if they were linked to any suspected plot.

The suspects were rounded up in simultaneous raids on the Sincan, Cubuk, Yenimahalle and Mamak districts of the capital, it added.

Thirty-nine people were killed, mainly foreigners, on New Year's night when a gunman went on the rampage inside a plush Istanbul night club.

IS claimed the massacre, its first clear claim for a major attack in Turkey although it had been blamed for several bombings in 2016.

Police detained the suspected attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, on January 16 after over two weeks on the run and authorities say he has confessed to the massacre.

The Hurriyet Daily reported after the attack that IS also planned a simultaneous New Year's strike in Ankara but dropped the plot after arrests by the Turkish authorities.

Turkey was in 2016 shaken by a string of attacks blamed on IS and Kurdish militants that left hundreds dead.
Tehran, Iran, February 5

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Tehran will welcome with open arms Iranian technicians that are based in the United States, said Head of Irans Presidential Office Mohammad Nahavandian.

Unlike those who are so unwise to deprive themselves of scientists and the elite, we will welcome them, he said in response to new situations US-based Iranians are facing after US President Donald Trumps ban on visa for nationals of seven countries including Iran, Tasnim news agency reported February 5.

We will have other plans than what the Foreign Ministry does politically-wise to support American-based Iranians to return to their country, the official said.

For example, we can offer them economic aid in the form of services rendered by the Innovation and Development Fund to found their science-based companies.

Trump signed an executive order January 27 blocking entry into the US of people from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days and suspending all refugee admissions, from all countries, for 120 days. The countries included Iran, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, and Sudan.

However, US District Judge James Robart, a federal judge in Seattle, on February 3 temporarily blocked Trumps week-old immigration order from being enforced nationwide, reopening Americas door to visa holders from the seven countries and dealing the administration a humbling defeat.
Istanbul: Turkey's state-run agency says anti-terrorism police have detained over 420 people over alleged links to the Islamic State group.

The Anadolu agency said on Sunday that 60 IS suspects, the vast majority of them foreigners, were taken into custody in the capital, Ankara. It says a total of 423 people were detained in simultaneous police operations that spanned several cities, including Istanbul and Gaziantep, near the border with Syria.

The largest operation was in the southeast province of Sanliurfa, where police took into custody more than 100 suspects from multiple addresses and found materials relating to Islamic State militants.

Turkey, which endured a failed coup attempt and dozens of bloody attacks linked to IS or Kurdish militants in 2016, has been stepping up its anti-terrorism efforts.
Baghdad: Iraq is satisfied with a US appeals court ruling against a travel ban imposed by US President Donald Trump, a government spokesman said on Sunday.

The ruling given late on Saturday denied a request from the US Department of Justice to immediately restore Trump's order, which a judge in Washington state had blocked on Friday.

"It is a move in the right direction to solve the problems that it caused," the Iraqi spokesman, Saad al-Hadithi, said.

Trump's executive order last week put a 120-day halt on the US refugee program, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and imposed a 90-day suspension on people from seven majority Muslim countries - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Religious minorities persecuted by the Islamic State group, and other Iraqis fleeing violence, were among those affected.

The ban would have prevented a total of 20,000 people in "precarious circumstances" in the seven countries targeted from resettling in the US during the 120 days covered by the suspension, according to the United Nations.

Baghdad protested against the ban, calling it unfair and saying that no Iraqi had been involved in attacks on US soil.

But it refrained from retaliating as it seeks to maintain US support for Iraqi forces battling Islamic State in Mosul.

The US has more than 5,000 troops deployed in Iraq, providing critical air and ground support for Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting the militants, who declared a self-styled caliphate over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014.
Dubai: Kuwait has denied a media report which said it had imposed a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, a story which U.S. President Donald Trump praised on Facebook. Smart! a post on Mr Trumps official Facebook page said on Thursday, linking to a report on Jordanian news website Al Bawaba which alleged that Kuwait had mirrored a decision by the Trump administration to temporarily bar travelers from several countries. The article alleged that Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans would not be allowed to enter the Gulf state while the blanket ban is in place.

But Kuwaits foreign ministry refuted the report, which was widely picked up by news websites popular with Trump supporters, including Breitbart, Infowars and Sputnik. Kuwait categorically denies these claims and affirms that these reported nationalities ... have big communities in Kuwait and enjoy full rights, a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying on state news agency KUNA. Citizens of the countries mentioned visit Kuwait regularly, it added. Representatives of the proscribed countries condemned the move, but Mr Trump tweeted that the initiative enjoyed support in the region.
Afghan tea vendor Imran, 15, prepares tea for customers on a hillside during snowfall near Qargha Lake on the outskirts of Kabul on February 4, 2017. Avalanches after three days of heavy snow destroyed homes and killed over 20 people in central and northeastern provinces of the country. (Photo: AFP)

Kabul: Avalanches and freezing weather have killed more than 20 people in Afghanistan, officials said Saturday, as rescuers worked to save scores still trapped under the snow.

The avalanches, which followed three days of heavy snow, destroyed homes and blocked roads in central and northeastern provinces.

In northeastern Badakhshan province at least 18 people, including three women and two children, were killed when avalanches hit their houses overnight, provincial spokesman Naweed Frotan said.

Several dozens are still trapped, we are trying to rescue them, he said, adding that many roads remained blocked.

Five people were killed by avalanches in the Balkhab district of Sari Pul province in northern Afghanistan and at least 70 people trapped under the snow were being rescued, Zabiullah Amani, the provincial spokesman told AFP.

The roads to Balkhab are still blocked and we are trying to open them, he said.

Freezing weather also killed at least two people and over 100 animals in western Badghis province.

Deadly avalanches are common in Afghanistans mountainous areas in winter and rescue efforts are frequently hampered by lack of equipment.

Despite billions of dollars in aid after the collapse of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan remains among the worlds poorest nations after decades of conflict.

Last month, heavy snowfall and freezing weather killed 27 children, all under the age of five, in Jawzjan province in northern Afghanistan.
Lahore: Dozens of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan were killed after heavy snow and avalanches hit over the weekend.

In eastern Afghanistan, at least 50 people died and dozens more were missing on Sunday after an avalanche buried a village in Nuristan, provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayum said.

"Based on information from district officials, 50 dead bodies have been recovered and the number may increase," he said.

At least five other deaths from collapsed roofs were reported elsewhere in Nuristan.

In the northern province of Badakhshan, over the past two days as many as 19 people were killed and 17 injured by avalanches, collapsed roofs and road accidents, said Naweed Frotan, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

The government was working to reach at least 12 districts in Badakhshan that had been completely cut off, he said.

Heavy snow also blanketed the Afghan capital of Kabul, where the government closed its offices on Sunday.

In neighboring Pakistan, at least nine people, including children, were killed by an avalanche in the northern Chitral district, with as many as 14 residents believed to still be trapped in collapsed houses, district official Syed Maghferat Shah said.

"So far the rescue workers have recovered nine bodies and efforts are under way to retrieve more," he said.

The avalanche struck a village of 25 houses, but evacuation operations were delayed by the weather, Chitral Deputy Commissioner Shahab Hameed Yousafzai.

"There is no way to rush the injured persons to Chitral hospital because all roads in the valley have been blocked due to heavy snowfall," he said.

In a separate incident in the Chitral region, a government rescue worker was killed when an avalanche struck a check post near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the commanding officer said.

The snow wreaked havoc on major roads in Afghanistan, including the Kabul-Kandahar Highway, where police and soldiers had to rescue around 250 cars and buses trapped by the storm, said Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for Ghazni province, where as much as two meters of new snow was reported.

"Fortunately we arrived on time and there is not a single casualty," he said, noting that officials expected the road to reopen quickly.

The Salang pass north of Kabul was also closed under as much as two and a half meters of snow, according to police general Rajab Salangi, who oversees the area.

"It will remain blocked until the snow is cleared from the main road, facilities are provided and it is safe to travel, he said.
He was speaking on the occasion of 'Kashmir Solidarity Day'.

Islamabad: Upping the ante, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday said Kashmir is the "core dispute" between India and Pakistan and the dream of peace and prosperity of the people of the region will remain elusive without resolving the issue.

Describing Kashmir issue is the "unfinished agenda of partition and the oldest disputes in the UN Security Council, Sharif said "for the last seven decades India has denied the people of Kashmir the right to self-determination promised to them by the international community through numerous UN Security Council resolutions".

He was speaking on the occasion of 'Kashmir Solidarity Day'.

"The people of Pakistan join their Kashmiri brothers and sisters in observing Kashmir Solidarity Day today to reaffirm our moral, diplomatic and political support to the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for their basic human rights, especially the right to self determination enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions," Sharif said.

Pakistan, he said, "strongly condemns the systemic state terrorism and brutal killings of the innocent people of Kashmir by Indian forces".

"However, all the Indian brutalities have failed to deter the people of Kashmir from their cause for freedom from Indian subjugation," he said.

Pakistan calls upon the international community to raise its voice in seeking an end to the "gross violations of human rights and the reign of terror unleashed by Indian forces" in Kashmir and fulfil the promises it made with the people of Jammu and Kashmir 70 years ago, he said.

"Jammu & Kashmir is the core dispute between Pakistan and India. The dream of peace and prosperity of the people of this region will remain elusive without resolving this dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions," Sharif said.

"We urge India to stop bloodbath in....Kashmir and allow the holding of free and fair plebiscite under the UN auspices," he added.
Muzaffarabad: Pakistan has sent a rare message of thanks to arch-rival India after a five-year-old boy who was taken to India by his father nearly a year ago was reunited with his Pakistani mother.

Ifthikar Ahmed was handed over to Rohina Kiani by border officials in the town of Wagah in Punjab province on Saturday evening following a long legal battle seeking his return from his father, Gulzar Ahmad Tantray.

The case created a media stir and shone a spotlight on the two countries' decades-long dispute over divided Kashmir, over which they have fought two full-scale wars.

Kiani, a resident of the Pakistani-controlled part of the territory, said on Sunday she was overwhelmed with happiness and prepared to forgive her estranged husband, who is from Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"I'm extremely happy and unable to express my joy. I pardon my husband and hope he will also join us soon to live with us here in Pakistan," she said.

Tantray was among thousands who crossed the de facto border into Pakistani Kashmir while an insurgency was at its peak in the Indian sector.

He later married Kiani, but wanted the family to return to his home village following the birth of their son. When Kiani refused, Tantray absconded with the child last March.

Kiani pursued a custody case in an Indian court through the Pakistani embassy in New Delhi, and the court ruled in her favour.

"We are thankful to Indian authorities for their cooperation in this humanitarian matter," Pakistan's High Commissioner (ambassador) Abdul Basit tweeted.

Kiani also thanked both governments, and urged them to come together to find a lasting solution to the Kashmir conflict.

"Thousands of people are suffering from grief and sorrow because of this dispute. The Kashmir issue must be solved to end problems of people living on both sides of Kashmir," she said.

The Himalayan region has been divided between India and Pakistan since they won independence from Britain in 1947, but both claim the territory in its entirety.

Several rebel groups have for decades fought Indian troops deployed in the region, demanding its independence or merger with Pakistan.
The Trump administration today appealed a decision that temporarily halted enforcement of its controversial travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, setting the stage for a showdown between the presidency and the judiciary.



Trump administration lawyers filed a notice to appeal the Seattle federal judge James Robart's decision that imposed a temporary, nationwide halt to Trumps order barring refugees and those from the seven Muslim nations from entering the country.



Soon after the court's decision, President Donald Trump attacked Robart, a George W Bush appointee, on Twitter, calling him a "so-called judge" and saying his opinion was "ridiculous and will be overturned".



Trump's executive order banned travel to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, suspended all refugee entry to the US for 120 days and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrian refugees.



After Friday's court ruling, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended all actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travellers as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban. But it urged the Justice Department to challenge the ruling "at the earliest possible time".



Trump exuded confidence that his administration would prevail in the government's appeal of the ruling.



"We'll win," Trump told White House pool.



"For the safety of the country, we'll win," said the US President.



"The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" Trump said expressing his clear displeasure over the ruling.



"What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into US ?" he asked in another tweet.



"Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision," he tweeted to his 23.7 million followers.



Experts said the US had been brought to the brink of a full-blown constitutional crisis.



"This is an epic confrontation between the presidency and the constitution," said Marci Hamilton, a constitutional lawyer and scholar of religion at the University of Pennsylvania.



"The moment Donald Trump suggests anyone disobey the federal court order then we will be in a constitutional crisis."



Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, said in a statement that Trump seemed intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis.



"The president's hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it's dangerous," Leahy said, calling the travel ban an "arbitrary and shameful" attempt to discriminate against Muslims.



The State Department said that those with valid visas could enter the country.



Advocates encouraged travellers from the affected countries who qualified for entry to get on planes as soon as possible because of the unpredictable legal terrain.



More than a dozen legal challenges have been filed around the country, and only one judge so far has indicated that he was willing to let Trump's order stand.



It is somewhat unusual for a district judge to issue an order that affects the entire country, but Robart said it was necessary to follow Congresss intention that "the immigration laws of the United States should be enforced vigorously and uniformly."



He was quoting from a 2015 appeals court ruling that had blocked former president Barack Obama's executive action that would have made it easier for undocumented immigrants in this country to remain. It was never implemented because of legal challenges.



While the losing side can then request intervention from the Supreme Court, it would take the votes of five justices to overturn the panel decision, Washington Post said.



Meanwhile, thousands of people from London and Paris to New York and Washington staged fresh protests against Trump, who took office on January 20.
In a bid to check generation of black money, a steep penalty awaits those accepting cash in excess of Rs 3 lakh, beginning April 1, to settle any transaction.





A ban on cash transaction of more than Rs 3 lakh has been proposed in the Budget for 2017-18.



In an interview to PTI, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said the penalty for doing cash transaction will be steep and the receiver will have to pay an amount equivalent to the cash received.



"Supposing you do a transaction of Rs 4 lakh in cash, then the penalty would be Rs 4 lakh. If you do a transaction of Rs 50 lakh, penalty would be Rs 50 lakh," he said, adding that the penalty will be levied on the receiver.



So, if someone buys an expensive watch for cash, it is the shopkeeper who will have to pay the tax, he said, adding that the provision is to deter people from doing large cash transactions.



Demonetisation brought to account the stock of black money and now the government wants to stop future generation of the same.



The government, he said, will track all large cash transactions, and also curb the avenues of conspicuous consumption through cash.



People with large sum of unaccounted money usually spend it on holidaying or buying luxury items like cars, watches and jewellery. The new cash curbs will mean that such spending avenues are curtailed, disincentivising people from generating black money.



Adhia said that the previously notified rule of quoting PAN for any cash transaction above Rs 2 lakh stays.



Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in his Budget for 2017-18 proposed to insert Section 269ST in the Income-Tax Act to state that "no person shall receive an amount of Rs 3 lakh or more by way of cash in aggregate from a person in a day; in respect of a single transaction; or in respect of transactions relating to one event or occasion from a person".



However, the restrictions will not apply to the government, any banking company, post office savings bank or co-operative bank.



Adhia said the Budget proposes to levy penalty on a person who receives Rs 3 lakh and above.



A panel of Chief Ministers headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had in its interim report just days before the Budget recommended a cap on cash transactions beyond a threshold and a tax on payments of over Rs 50,000 as a way of discouraging people from using physical currency.
People of Tamil Nadu did not vote for anyone from Jayalalithaa's "household" to be chief minister, says DMK Working President M K Stalin, who appears to be keeping his options open on the possibility of another government in the tenure of the current Assembly.



He also asserts that there are no "obstacles" to his leadership in the party and dismisses as "pointless" questions whether projecting him as the chief ministerial face would have won DMK power in the last year's Assembly polls.



The 63-year-old leader, who was made the Working President of DMK last month, is worried about divisions in the ruling AIADMK after the death of Jayalalithaa and keen that it should not affect the functioning of the administration.



"One thing is certain that the government - in its present form - is clearly one that doesn't have the explicit legitimacy of having been elected by the people.



"The people voted for a government to be headed by Ms Jayalalithaa in May, 2016 and not for one to be run by Mr. O Panneerselvam or any other person from Ms Jayalalithaa's household," Stalin told PTI in an interview, the first since he took over as Working President.



His comments came on a day the chorus grew in the AIADMK for its General Secretary V K Sasikala to take over as Chief Minister of the state.



So, the Leader of the Opposition in the state said, the present government, which clearly does not enjoy the support of the majority people, which has a divided cabinet and the AIADMK MLAs speaking in different voices, is bound to fail.



"As a responsible party, the DMK is watching the situation closely. Any decision that we take will be within the framework of democracy, reflecting the popular will and aspirations of the people," he said.



He was asked whether he foresaw the possibility of DMK forming a government within the tenure of the 15th Assembly given that the gap in numbers between the ruling and the opposition parties is not very huge.



Asked about reports of power struggle within AIADMK in the wake of Jayalalithaa's death, Stalin said DMK does not want to intervene or interfere in the internal affairs of AIADMK but there were reports on a daily basis that such a division existed.



"As the Leader of the Opposition in the state, however, my primary worry is that such internal problems within the ruling AIADMK should affect neither the functioning of the Legislative Assembly nor the administration of the state.As the main opposition party in the state, the DMK has the responsibility to ensure that," he said.



When queried about murmurs of criticism about family politics in DMK and when he foresaw himself taking full charge of the party, Stalin said his detention under MISA during the emergency in 1975-77 is still green in his memory.



He said he was happy that he had an opportunity to fight for democracy as a cadre of the DMK during his youth.



"Dr Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) is the President of the party and he has been guiding me in all the spheres of my activity. I know very well that a hard and sincere worker in the DMK will never face obstacles and even if there are a few obstacles, they will be converted into stepping stones," he said.



Stalin, son of Karunanidhi, had led a spirited campaign ahead of the Assembly elections last year that in which the party won 89 seats on its own and 98 together with allies in a House of 234 losing by a narrow margin in the race for power.



Asked if he agreed with the analysis that probably projecting him as the chief minister would have ensured DMK's victory, he said the number of seats won by DMK individually and together with allies were both unprecedented records.



"Even with the draw of Ms Jayalalithaa at the helm of AIADMK, the vote margin between the party in power and the DMK was just 1.1 per cent. Our future is so bright. This kind of post-hoc speculation about our previous campaign that your question raises is completely pointless. I strongly believe that digging into the past is distracting from the future," he said.



To a question on the perception that DMK has not been strident in attacking the Centre on issues concerning central projects in the state, Stalin said as a political party, DMK always preferred to maintain good relations with the party in power at the Centre but only as long as the interests of the State and the secular character of the nation are protected.



"But we are not the ruling party in Tamil Nadu. It is for the ruling AIADMK, which also happens to have 49 MPs, to make the central government act fairly towards the state."



He said he was disappointed at the AIADMK government's lack of enthusiasm to fight for the rights of the state with the government at the Centre.



As for the Sethusamudram project, Stalin charged that it has been delayed not only due to the efforts of the BJP but also due to the AIADMK government's attitude which is unmindful of the development of the state.



"DMK is strongly for the Sethusamudram project, which will boost the economy, spur development and create employment - in not only the southern districts but the whole state and wherever the situation demands we haver been raising our voice for the implementation of the project," he said.



When queried about the Dravidian parties aligning with the one or the other national parties in recent decades and whether the Marina Uprising had any message for DMK to go to its roots, Stalin said he believed in constructive centre- state relations.



"In a federal set-up, the state government has to depend upon the help of the Central government on so many important issues such as inter-state disputes, major infrastructure development projects, and allocation of central funds," he said.



At the same time, Stalin said, DMK is not for giving up the state's rights. It was their party which had first appointed the Rajamannar Commission over Centre-State relations and it was DMK which had adopted the motto "autonomy for states and federalism at the Centre".



The party remains committed to this principle always, he said, adding whenever the state's rights were harmed during the years the party was in the ruling coalition at the Centre, it had achieved a number of projects for the development of the state.



"Whenever state's rights were affected during those years, we never hesitated to express our views or raise our voice with all seriousness and strength. We never compromised our individual identity while supporting any government at the Centre as this identity is our heart and soul.



"The recent Marina uprising reflects the disappointment among the students and youth about the non-performing AIADMK government in the state and the Centre's complete apathy towards important issues concerning the state.



"As many have observed, the Jallikattu issue is the straw that broke the Camel's back, the issue that ignited the pent-up discontent on many issues," he said.



Stalin cited the "betrayal" of the Centre over the formation of Cauvery Management Board despite the Supreme Court's direction has been mentioned by many students who were interviewed during the protests.



"History shows that this kind of large-scale action has been crucial to the growth and evolution of the Dravidian Movement over the past century. Think of the massive student-led anti-Hindi agitation in the mid-1960s, which was the precursor to the first DMK government in 1967.



"As the current standard-bearer of the Dravidian Movement, the DMK is confident that the students' uprising will once again reinforce our objectives, rather than undermine them," he said.



The DMK, Stalin said, was the first party to take up the cause of Jallikattu very early.



"I myself led a mammoth protest at Alanganallur on January 3 itself. But it was a peaceful protest of students, youngsters and common citizens in places like the Marina Beach in Chennai and Tamukkam grounds in Madurai, which ultimately forced the AIADMK government's hand to table the legislation enabling Jalllikattu."



Equally, he said, the DMK has been relentlessly fighting for the cause of the people, including recently, the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry into the alleged discriminate attack and atrocities unleashed by the police on the students after the peaceful Jallikattu protests.



Stalin said the recent announcement by the chief minister about the formation of a Commission of Inquiry with almost all the terms demanded by the DMK was a victory for the party.



"The party has its principles and values and will continue to fight to ensure that the interest of the each and every section of society in the state is protected fully against the maladministration of the AIADMK," he said.



Asked about his taking over at the helm of his party at a time when there is vacuum in the the state with the fading away of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi from politics, Stalin said he did not agree with the theory that there is a political vacuum in the state.



"It is a theory being planted by some people with a view to discrediting the DMK - the Dravidian party which has worked for the betterment of the state in the field of social justice, women's emancipation, industrial growth and economic development for over 50 years.



"Dr Kalaignar is still very much the unassailable President of the party nd he continues to inspire and guide the party...



"I am not new to the party. I have worked as Unit Organiser, Branch Secretary, Youth Wing Secretary, Dy General Secretary and Treasurer, along the seniors and veterans. I have now assumed the responsibility as the Working President of the party. I am humbled by the affection and faith and great amount of confidence that the party cadres have vested in me.



"I am in turn confident that I can discharge the responsibility given to me by the General Council of DMK under the able leadership of Dr Kalaignar- to the best satisfaction of the entire party," he said.



On the challenge facing him and his party, Stalin said the challenge before it now was to recover the lost glory of the state, which has been "squandered by the inefficient, incapable and corrupt AIADMK government.



"Our state has seen massive decline with regard to industrialisation, general economy, growth in job opportunities and overall development in the last six years' of AIADMK misrule.



"Reconstructing the state will be a Herculean task and a big challenge - but one that we are well prepared for. Even in opposition, the DMK will continue to highlight the misdeeds, poor governance and maladministration of AIADMK rule in the state."
Around 3,000 people took part in a Florida protest march against the administration of US President Donald Trump, Sputnik reported, citing local WPTV news.

The protesters made their way from Trump Plaza in West Palm Beach, across the Southern Boulevard bridge into Palm Beach, ending their march just outside the gates of Mar-a-Lago, the president's Palm Beach estate, Florida's WPTV news reported on Saturday.

The 2.4-mile March Mar-a-Lago began at 5 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT), and lasted until around 9 p.m., when Palm Beach Police requested that protesters leave Bingham Island.

The protest was reportedly organized by Women's March Florida PBC and South Florida Activism.

Trump arrived at his property on Friday ahead of the International Red Cross Gala fundraiser.
In a major blow to President Donald Trump, a US federal appeals court today rejected a request by his administration to immediately reinstate travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.





The Justice Department had made the request with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco as part of an appeal against a lower court order halting the travel ban on people from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.



The court asked challengers of the ban respond to the appeal, and for the Justice Department to file a counter- response by tomorrow.



Citing the president's "sovereign prerogative" to admit or exclude aliens, lawyers for the Department of Justice earlier told the court that the states of Washington and Minnesota should not have been allowed to challenge the ban, and that a judge was wrong to stop Trump's executive order.



Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco said the president alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the US.



"Judicial second-guessing of the President's determination that a temporary suspension of entry of certain classes of aliens was necessary at this time to protect national security would constitute an impermissible intrusion on the political branches plenary constitutional authority over foreign affairs, national security, and immigration," Francisco said.



The administration was fighting Seattle federal judge James Robart's decision on Friday that imposed a temporary, nationwide halt to Trump's order barring refugees and those from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the country.



Soon after Robart's ruling, Trump attacked the judge, a George W Bush appointee, on Twitter, calling him a "so-called judge" and saying his opinion was "ridiculous and will be overturned".



Trump's executive order banned travel to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, suspended all refugee entry to the US for 120 days and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrian refugees.



After Friday's ruling, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended all actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travellers as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban. At the same time, it urged the Justice Department to challenge the ruling "at the earliest possible time".



Trump had exuded confidence that his administration would prevail in the government's appeal of the ruling.



"We'll win," Trump had told White House pool. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

"The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" Trump had said, expressing his clear displeasure over Robart's ruling.



"What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into US ?" he had asked in another tweet.



"Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision," he had tweeted to his 23.7 million followers.

Experts said the US had been brought to the brink of a full-blown constitutional crisis.



"This is an epic confrontation between the presidency and the constitution," said Marci Hamilton, a constitutional lawyer and scholar of religion at the University of Pennsylvania.

"The moment Trump suggests anyone disobey the federal court order then we will be in a constitutional crisis."



Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, said in a statement that Trump seemed intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis.



"The president's hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it's dangerous," Leahy said, calling the travel ban an "arbitrary and shameful" attempt to discriminate against Muslims.



The State Department said that those with valid visas could enter the country.



Advocates encouraged travellers from the affected countries who qualified for entry to get on planes as soon as possible because of the unpredictable legal terrain.



More than a dozen legal challenges have been filed around the country, and only one judge so far has indicated that he was willing to let Trump's order stand.



It is somewhat unusual for a district judge to issue an order that affects the entire country, but Robart said it was necessary to follow Congresss intention that "the immigration laws of the US should be enforced vigorously and uniformly."



He was quoting from a 2015 appeals court ruling that had blocked former president Barack Obama's executive action that would have made it easier for undocumented immigrants in this country to remain. It was never implemented because of legal challenges.



While the losing side can then request intervention from the Supreme Court, it would take the vote s of five justices to overturn the panel decision, Washington Post said.



Meanwhile, thousands of people from London and Paris to New York and Washington staged fresh protests against Trump, who took office on January 20.


Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'SCAM' jibe, Rahul Gandhi today alleged that one who is in the wrong, sees scam in everything while ally and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said the acronym stood for "save country from Amit Shah and Modi".





Addressing a joint rally here with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh, Rahul urged voters to ensure that the outcome of Bihar election is repeated, where BJP was trounced by a coalition led by Nitish Kumar.



"Whenever Modi is nervous, he starts giving labels PPE, ABC, DEF, GHY. Now this SCAM.... A person, who is in the wrong, sees scam everywhere because this is his reality," he said, adding that the Congress-Samajwadi alliance in the state had made Modi jittery.



"S infact stands for 'service', C for 'courage', A for 'ability' and M for 'modesty'," he said at the rally in government inter-collge ground here, giving his own coinage for the acronym.



Attacking Modi over note ban, the Congress vice president said, "Demonetisation has hurt the poor most. Do not raise these slogans (denouncing Modi) but vote for Congress-SP alliance and ensure that Modi never utters the name of Uttar Pradesh again, like he forgot to say Bihar after the Assembly elections there".



Rahul said that Modi is "afraid of the youths, who will give a befitting response to him in UP elections as he gave the slogan of Make in India, made promises, but provided no jobs".



Akhilesh Yadav, who reached an hour ahead of Rahul, also took on the Prime Minister for his yesterday's SCAM taunt, where Modi had asked people of Uttar Pradesh to "rid the state of SCAM - S for Samajwadi (party), C for Congress, A for Akhilesh (Yadav) and M for Mayawati".



The SP leader said, "SCAM means 'save the country from Amit Shah and Modi'. But why has Modi included 'bua' Mayawati's party as it was BJP which had thrice formed government with BSP and both of you have amiable ties."



He alleged that the Modi government has given nothing to the people but false promises in its tenure while the Samajwadi Party had delivered in Uttar Pradesh.



Hailing the Congress-SP tie-up, Akhilesh said, "A true friend is one who is big hearted. If you befriend a mean person, you will only suffer. We had an alliance with the Congress because both of us are large hearted. We are confident of forming a government in the state to complete the work left unfinished."



The SP leader too raised the note ban issue, saying BJP should tell the country how much blackmoney has been unearthed.



"No blackmoney has returned, but people have died while standing in queues outside banks and ATMs. We gave Rs two lakh to families of these victims but the Centre did nothing," he said.



"BJP leaders betray the people, they will show you dreams and will try to mislead you but do not fall for it. For the last three years, BJP is only making promises and has done nothing for the people," he said.



In contrast, his government has given Uttar Pradesh "metro, expressway, pension for the poor, laptops among other things", Akhilesh said.



Rahul targeted the Prime Minister during most of his speech saying the people have realised the reality of the note ban.



"Modi thinks that he is the only one in the country and the world who knows everything and speaks the truth while the people of India are foolish and ignorant.

"One man cannot run this country. He cannot keep manufacturing falsehood," the Congress leader said and alleged that Modi has been working to benfit his "fifty friends" like Mallaya who have taken loans from banks.



"Modiji is taking care of rich friends because during elections they give him money to spend," he alleged.



He said the SP-Congress alliance government will work for youths, farmers, poor and the women.



The BJP had stepped up its attack on the SP-Congress alliance in recent days with party chief Amit Shah saying yesterday that two "good-looking princes" involved in corruption are now out to mislead the people of Uttar Pradesh.



"Both are 'khoobsurat shehzade' (beautiful princes) who are out to mislead the public.



"Mother is fed up with one and father is fed up with the other. How will they help Uttar Pradesh? One has looted the country while the other has looted the state. Beware of them," Shah said in Mathura.



Akhilesh listed the steps taken by his government for Kanpur. He claimed that the BJP had carried out the stone laying ceremony for Ghatampur power project again although he and UPA Minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal had already done it earlier. "But the work on the project has not started till now," he said.



Stressing on the issue of providing jobs, Rahul said if their alliance wins, a number of steps will be taken on this front like opening high-class institutes for students from weaker sections.



He also recited a couplet on their alliance, saying "hum dono mein farq itna he, ek kehta he sapna or doosra khwab, mein Hindi, Urdu ka doab, mein weh aina hoon jisme he aap". (...I am a mirror in which you can see your reflection) .
German engineering colossus Continental has decided to hire 500 additional engineers this year at its Bengaluru-based technical centre, taking the total R&D headcount on campus to 2,500.





The technical centre is involved in supporting Continentals global initiatives in the automotive realm, even as the company readies itself for supplying demand emerging from the Indian market.



Evolving with the changing times, Continentals suite of offerings today includes end-to-end solutions, with the product portfolio already having moved towards mobility services.



Our strategy is based on a large product portfolio, taking care of Human-Machine Interface (HMI), connectivity, and systems integration, Helmut Matschi  President of the Interior Division and Member of the Executive Board of Continental  told DH.



The company already markets a range of auto sensors, ADAS systems, cameras, and several aspects of HMI, through instrument clusters and displays, globally. This year, where HMI is concerned, it will be rolling out DMD (Digital Micro-mirror Device) technology, and an interior camera.



We are taking steps towards automated driving through HMI. By 2022, we will also be coming out with a holographic wave guide, which would eliminate mirrors on headup displays, reducing their size, Matschi said, adding that work in the realms of IoT and satellite-connectivity in cars is also underway.



In terms of Indias scope in the global auto-tech scene, Continental Automotive Components India MD Claude dGama Rose said, While we dont have technologies like headup displays in the Indian market, we have been in discussions with several OEMs.



However, having found a market which fits its strategy well, dGama Rose hinted, A big opportunity would be to tap the demand for engine management systems, as the country steers towards BS VI by 2020.
The police are yet to trace the newborn that was abducted from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the government-run Jayanagar General Hospital in Jayanagar 4th Block on Friday.





The police say that they are making all efforts and are optimistic of tracing my daughter shortly, U J Thyagaraja, a cab driver from Bannerghatta, told DH on Sunday.

We have decided to stay back at the hospital till my daughter is traced. I think many people from the hospital are involved in the abduction. I strongly suspect that my daughter has been given to some issueless couple. I suspect a racket, he said.



Thyagaraja said his wife Sahanashree lost her mother when she was a child. She was trying to see her mother in the baby. The babys abduction has adversely affected her health, he added.



Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Dr M B Boralingaiah said that there was no information yet on the abducted baby. We are making efforts to trace the child at the earliest, he added.



The baby was born on January 29 and kept in the ICU as it was suffering from jaundice. On Friday, a man claiming to be a relative of the baby approached the nurse at ICU, and she gave the child to him. The stranger walked away with the baby immediately, the police said quoting the nurse Thippamma.






The owner of a ladies bar was found hanging at his house in Sarakki, JP Nagar, south Bengaluru, on Sunday, police said.





B N Jeevan, 36, the owner of Kajal Bar and Restaurant in Gandhinagar, had been depressed after fracturing his legs in a road accident last year. He was the vice president of Bangalore Ladies Working Bar and Restaurant Owners Association. A ladies bar is where women serve liquor.



The association had taken on the Upparpet police and accused them of extorting money. Jeevans bar was raided by police several times. He also feared for his life as he had plenty of business rivals and had sought police protection. A history-sheeter had tried to kill him in his bar in 2014. Besides, he also faced financial problems. He had separated from his wife and was staying with his mother.




The city police will have to wait for at least 20 days to take Madhukar Reddy into custody to interrogate him for assaulting Jyothi Uday inside the Corporation Bank ATM centre near NR Square on November 19, 2013.





Reddy was produced before the magistrate at Madanapalle in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday morning. He was remanded in judicial custody for 15 days. He has been lodged in Madanapalle sub-jail.



Meanwhile, the joint operation by the Karnataka police and the AP police in tracing Reddy has come under sharp criticism. Many senior officers stressed that the operation lacked professionalism, planning and leadership.



The search operation was carried out for the first six months properly. It derailed after that. Police inspectors deputed for the operation were withdrawn. The inspectors, who werent part of the operation earlier, were sent in groups to Andhra. Coordination with the Andhra police ground staff was the biggest challenge. Proper planning did not happen from investigating officers of both the states, a senior officer, who had monitored the case for six months, told DH.



Our teams went to Andhra only to verify the information and returned to Bengaluru. Senior officers were given the impression that Reddy could be dead or be hiding in naxal-infested areas, he said.



The city police repeatedly claimed that they had checked the background of prisoners in every prison across South India. They compiled the data after visiting prisons in South India, but it did not show anything about Reddys background. They also had verified records at the Kadapa Central Prison where Reddy was lodged in connection with murder case in 2006. He had absconded while in judicial custody in 2011.



Our teams had Reddys fingerprints. Our men did not do a proper verification at the Kadapa Central Prison. It is also not known what information the jail authorities provided. We were very close to Reddy and professional work would have resulted in his arrest long ago, a former head of the City police said.



Police Commissioner Praveen Sood told DH: Coordination was never an issue between the two police forces. We had very good rapport with the AP police. In fact, the AP police contacted us after Reddys confessions to share the information.



The only evidence in the case was CCTV footage. We didnt even know his name and background. It would have been a different tale had the police known his name, he added.



Our teams worked hard in AP for more than three months, but he was in Kerala. The efforts of our men finally yielded the result, he said.






The battle for Dhanaulti Assembly seat is rather unique. The Congress had decided to leave this seat for Pritam Singh Panwar, an independent legislator, who had bailed out the Harish Rawat government when the BJP staged an unsuccessful coup last year.





But Congress leader Manmohan Singh Mall managed to convince the party high command and has entered the fray. The BJP denied ticket to sitting legislator Mahavir Singh Rangad to favour former MLA Narayan Singh Rana, a relative of Home Minister Rajnath Singh.



Rangad is said to be upset at the BJP move and decided to remain neutral, a stance perceived by many as a tacit support to the Congress.



Uttarakhand is witnessing several such rebellion making the Assembly elections a triangular fight in a state that has largely remained bipolar.



In neighbouring Mussoorie, the Congress has fielded Godavari Thapli, who had contested the 2012 election as an independent. Congress leader Jot Singh Gunsola, who was defeated by BJP leader Ganesh Joshi, has accepted Thaplis candidature reluctantly.



In Sahaspur constituency, Uttarakhand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay is facing a serious challenge from one-time compatriot Aryendra Sharma, who is contesting as an independent.



Talking to DH, Gunsola, the two-term mayor of Mussoorie admitted that rebels are posing a challenge to Congresss official candidates across the state.



The situation is grave in the BJP, that is aspiring to dislodge the Harish Rawat government. Uttarakhand BJP chief Ajay Bhatt is facing party rebel Pramod Nainwal in the Ranikhet Assembly constituency. Bhatt may have to sweat it out literally given that he could defeat Congresss Karan Mahara by just 78 votes in the 2012 election.



Mahara has been re-nominated by the Congress.Uttarakhand Congress leader Shilpi Arora had filed her nomination papers against Chief Minister Harish Rawat from Kichha Assembly seat but withdrew after a lot of persuasion by the party.



BJP rebels wont affect prospects



As the BJP expelled 17 rebels for fighting against partys official nominees, Uttarakhand party chief Ajay Bhatt said their exit will not impact prospects in polls, PTI reports from Dehradun. Those who were over-ambitious are fighting against the party, Bhatt said.



Taking action against the rebels who have chosen to remain in poll fray as independents despite the partys efforts to cajole them to withdraw, the BJP has suspended as many as 17 rebels for six years.




The Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the Medical Council of India (MCI) to disclose information on its scam-tainted past president Ketan Desai.





In October 2016, Desai became the president of the World Medical Association (WMA) on the basis of the clean chit given by some of the MCI members, who did not provide correct facts on the corruption cases involving Desai to the international body.



The CIC last month directed the MCI to release the documents on the basis of which he was exonerated.



The CIC gave its ruling on a petition filed by US-based doctor Kunal Saha who campaigns against corruption in Indias healthcare sector.



Both MCI and Saha presented their arguments before the transparency watchdog, which gave the MCI three weeks of time to comply with its order.



Desais name was recommended to the WMA by the Indian Medical Association which the Gujarat-based urologist headed between 2001 and 2003.



In April 2010, Desai was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on corruption charges related to sanctioning of new medical colleges. His registration to practise as a doctor in India was also cancelled. Subsequently, five other cases also came to the CBI for investigation.



After four years, the CBI filed closure reports in four out of the six cases, leaving the remaining two for trials by two courts in Delhi and Lucknow.



The CBI case in Delhi against Desai was last heard on November 5, 2016 and the next hearing is on February 6. The criminal case against him in Lucknow is also pending, Kunal Saha told DH.



The MCI, for its part, claimed that it revoked the suspension of Desai following a specific section of the MCI Act, which says a doctors registration cannot be cancelled unless the person is convicted.
Romania's Social Democrat government of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu on Sunday repealed a decree decriminalizing some graft offences, Reuters reported.

"The decree was scrapped," a government official told Reuters, adding that an official statement would be released soon.

Romania's prime minister said on Saturday he was would scrap the decree following mass protests. It would have shielded dozens of politicians from prosecution for corruption.
After the BJP-led government made amendments to history textbooks in Rajasthan schools, it seems the Rajasthan University may also follow suit.





BJP MLA Mohanlal Gupta has proposed to amend a historical event  the Battle of Haldighati of 1576  by stating that it was won by Maharana Pratap who defeated Mughal emperor Akbar.



Gupta, a BJP MLA from Jaipurs Kishanpole constituency, who is also a government nominee in the Rajasthan University syndicate, proposed this change at the syndicate meeting for revising history textbooks on Saturday.



Gupta suggested the change on the basis of a book authored by K S Gupta which mentions that Akbars forces led by his general Man Singh were defeated by Maharana Pratap.



I want students to know the other side of history. I have suggested the change in the textbook after thoroughly reading this book which is an outcome of rigorous research, he said.



The present textbook says that Akbars forces defeated Maharana Pratap, which

is also a popular view of historians.



Guptas proposal was met with fierce criticism by the Opposition and leading historians. Its not for the first time that the ruling party has tried to run down Akbar. Earlier they eliminated the suffix Great from Akbars name in school textbooks. If such changes happen, the varsity must check with a panel of historians and make sure that they dont share the same ideology, Congress spokesperson Archana Sharma told DH.




Two teenagers, both aged 13 and students of Class V, were apprehended by the Kishanganj police after they were charged with gang-raping a minor girl.





The 5-year-old victim is said to be their neighbour in Kishanganj, around 425 km from the state capital.



Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Kamini Bala, said the girl was sent for a medical examination after an FIR was lodged by the victims mother.



Both the accused, who have confessed to their crime, were produced before the local juvenile court on Saturday, which, in turn, ordered they be kept at a remand home.



Since Kishanganj does not have a remand home, the two boys were sent to a remand home in Purnia.



Kishanganj Superintendent of Police (SP), Rajiv Mishra, said the two boys lured the girl on the pretext of giving her chocolates, took her to an abandoned lavatory and raped her. When the parents of the girl did not find her in the house, they went in search of her.



Eventually, the minor girl was found lying in a pool of blood in the lavatory.

Prima facie, the charges against the two boys appear to be true, said the SP, who has asked the Station House Officer (SHO) of the womens police station, Mahashweta, to submit a charge sheet against the accused in the next 48 hours.



The SHO said the accused told the interrogators that they committed the crime after watching an obscene video clip on mobile phone.



The police have also arrested the parents of the two accused as they had beaten up the girls parents for lodging a case against the boys.




Counting of votes for the bypoll held to the Southeast Teachers constituency of the Legislative Council will be taken up from 8 am in Bengaluru on Monday. Elaborate security arrangements have been made at the Government Arts College, Bengaluru, where the counting process will be taken up.





As many 17 candidates including T N Niranjan of the Congress, P R Basavaraju of the BJP and Ramesh Babu of the JD (S) are testing their electoral fortunes. On polling day (February 3), 85.46% of the 21,354 voters cast their votes in the constituency spread over the districts of Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru, Chitradurga and parts of Davangere. Results are expected to be out by evening.
From recording videos to taking over the reins of Tamil Nadu, it was not an easy journey for V K Sasikala.





Despite her share in decision-making when Jayalalithaa was alive, people did not consider her anything more than a spectator beside the chief minister, particularly as Sasikala never held any party or government position.



Born in 1957, Sasikala hails from the dominant Thevar community in the rice-belt district of Tiruvarur. She was introduced to Jayalalithaa by IAS officer V S Chandralekha in 1982, when Jayalalithaa was the propaganda secretary of the AIADMK.



Running a video-recording business, Sasikala also covered functions attended by Jayalalithaa and grew close to her over the years. Her husband Natarajan was a government public relations officer in the 1970s and was instrumental in introducing his wife to the then rising star of the AIADMK.



In 1995, when Jayalalithaa, the then chief minister, was criticised for the extravagant wedding of Sasikalas nephew and her foster son V N Sudhakaran.



The late chief minister sacked Sasikala and 15 of her family members in 2011, and took back her long-term friend only after Sasikala snapped ties with her family, whom she said was plotting against Jayalalithaa without her knowledge.



Hours after Jayalalithaas death, Sasikalas family virtually held the centre stage by flanking the chief ministers remains at Rajaji Hall, leaving no doubts over their dominant role in the party.



Sasikalas husband hospitalised



Sasikalas husband M Natarajan was on Sunday admitted to a corporate hospital in Chennai with complaints of breathing problem, PTI reports.




The Heallth and Family Welfare department is all set to introduce injectable contraceptives for women in the government hospitals by February end.





So far, the state has had oral contraceptive measures and intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) for those opting family planning. The new injectable contraceptive Antara would be made available free of cost at all government hospitals and family planning centres across the state.



Dr Rajkumar N, deputy director (Maternal Health), Health and Family Welfare department said that the injectable contraceptive would give a spacing of three months and is considered the most effective contraceptive.



In 90% of the families, it is the woman who does the family planning and takes measures accordingly. Once a woman is given an injectable, she will not have to be on medication constantly. It is injected intramuscularly, he added.



The injectable drug helps in having a healthy spacing between children, which would in turn reduce both infant and maternal mortality. It takes three years for a womans body to regain essential nutrients and energy for a second pregnancy. Also, there has to be a gap of six months between an abortion and pregnancy, Dr Rajkumar explained. With women being forced to opt out of contraception in several families where myths are prevalent, they are inevitably put at a the risk of abortion, an official said. At times when women in rural areas are not allowed to adopt other contraceptive measures, injectable can be chosen as it can be kept confidential from the family, he added.



Obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Kamini Rao emphasised the need for counselling women before prescribing the injection. There may be a little bit of weight gain as well which could go up to four kilos a year. It is best for lactating women as well, she added.
The United States will consider lifting of anti-Russia sanctions depending on Moscow's "changes in posture", US Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday, Sputnik reported.

"It just simply all depends  on whether or not we see the kind of changes in posture by Russia and the opportunity perhaps to work on common interests," Pence said in an interview with the ABC broadcaster, speaking about the possibility of lifting sanctions from Russia amid the recent escalation of violence in Ukraine.

Pence noted that the common interests with Russia included fight against the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) jihadist group, outlawed in Russia and the United States.

"The president made it clear that top priority of this administration is to hunt down and destroy ISIS and its source  Russia has a common interest in confronting radical Islamic terrorism and especially ISIS. If we have opportunities to work together, I think the president is looking for an opportunity to begin that relationship anew," Pence told the broadcaster.

In 2014, Washington and Brussels imposed a series of sanctions on Russia accusing it of the alleged involvement in the crisis in Eastern Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied the claims and introduced countermeasures.
The students and the management of an institute in Electronics City, who have been running a helpline since 2013 for women in distress, plan to launch a mobile app and a website.





The mobile app and website will have details of their helpline, womens organisations, NGOs and other guidelines to assist women in distress. Both the projects are scheduled to be launched by March this year.



Round-the-clock helpline



Following the Nirbhaya incident, a former student and a professor from the Institute of Finance and International Management (IFIM) Business School in Electronics City came up with the idea of a 24-hour functioning helpline S.A.F.E. (Safety Against Female Exploitation) to ensure safety of women and help them in distress.



S.A.F.E. is the brainchild of Tauqueer Iqbal a former student of the institute and assistant professor (Personality Enhancement Program), Rajarshi Chakraborty, also from IFIM. They began to work on the concept soon after the Nirbhaya incident in December 2012.



The helpline, which was launched in February 2013, functions from the institute premises.



A student-driven initiative, the S.A.F.E. helpline (9611216862) caters to women who face exploitation such as verbal abuse, eve teasing, physical abuse or those stuck in crisis situations. It currently caters to Electronics City, Phase I, where a large chunk of IT companies are located.



Student committee



Women fear stepping out alone after work in Electronics City. A 10-member core S.A.F.E. student committee attends to calls. As soon as a call is received, two to three student committee members visit the spot and enquire, after which appropriate measures are taken and help extended, said Rajarshi Chakraborty.



Recalling an incident, Rajarshi said that they once received a call from a young working professional who wanted to seek a divorce from her husband as he was physically and mentally abusing her. S.A.F.E. members arranged for a lawyer to get her a divorce. Finally, the issue was sorted out peacefully.



The committee said that they have also received calls from women who have lost their way in the middle of the night and were unable to get any public transportation. In such cases, volunteers helped them by arranging transportation and ensured that they reached their destination safely.



Lavanya Kosuri, an active student committee member, said that they are creating awareness about their initiative by distributing pamphlets among residents and companies located there. She said that during exams, the institute management handles the calls.




Students at Canyon Crest Academy peacefully protested President Donald Trumps immigration policies during lunchtime on campus on Thursday, Feb. 2, carrying signs and marching silently through common areas at the school.

Between 100 and 150 students took part in the march, said Safi Jafri, 16, a junior at CCA who organized the event, using social media to promote it to his friends on campus.

School officials made sure that marchers followed education code guidelines, which they communicated to Jafri and his fellow students, and said afterward that the event went smoothly.

The student-led free speech activity was calm, quiet, and respectful. They followed our expectations and their actions were consistent with the law. There were no issues of any concern between this group of students and other students, said CCA Principal Brett Killeen in an e-mail.

Members of the media were not allowed on campus to observe the march, but afterward, about 20 students, all juniors and seniors, came out to the sidewalk in front of the school, carrying their signs and speaking to reporters. Freshmen and sophomores are not permitted to leave campus at lunchtime, school officials said.

Safi had printed and distributed T-shirts with the phrase, 1984 = 2017 #THISISHOWITSTARTS, a nod to George Orwells dystopian novel, 1984, which chronicles a futuristic society where leaders manipulate facts and the truth to control the population.

Safi and other students said Trumps executive order banning entry to the U.S. by anyone from seven Muslim-majority nations, as well as his rhetoric before and after the election, prompted them to speak their mind.

After the march, Safi, who is Muslim and the child of parents who emigrated to the U.S. as young children from Pakistan and India, said he has been troubled by both the anti-immigrant rhetoric in recent months, and the new presidents official actions on immigration.

This is the country I love, I pledge allegiance every morning at school. I would fight for this country, he said, but that some of Trumps statements have seemingly questioned the loyalty of himself and millions of other Muslim-Americans.

He and his fellow students said such actions as the immigration ban could be the beginning of far worse discrimination, and compared it to the Holocaust and internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

Safi said he decided earlier this week, I have to do something bold but yet respectful. I have to speak out when I feel injustice to me, my brothers and sisters and mankind.

The march, he said, was truly amazing for me. a very heart-warming feeling.

Other students who took part in the march echoed his feelings.

No refugee should be turned away from this country, said Saumya Khanna, a CCA junior. Referencing the World War II era, when Jewish refugees from Europe were banned from entering America, some of whom were subsequently murdered by the Nazis, she said, No one wants to see that happen again.

Junior Luca Giles, a transgender student, said, No one deserves to be discriminated against for who they are or things they cant control.

And Alex Poplawsky, also a junior, said she also sees disturbing similarities between the World War II era and todays anti-immigrant rhetoric.

As a minority, I know what its like to feel discriminated against, said Poplawsky, who has Jewish and Mexican heritage. I dont want anyone else to go through that.

Junior Kane Bush said, Im marching in solidarity with people who are repressed.

While many students cheered on the marchers, some students opposed their message, said Safi, and held up signs saying, Build the Wall, and Make America Great Again, which was Trumps campaign slogan.

But the marchers continued silently on their way, he said.

On a Facebook page Safi set up to spread the word about Thursdays silent march, posts later Thursday said some students were planning a pro-Trump rally at CCA for the next day, Friday, Feb. 3.

Killeen, in a statement issued Thursday, said he and other administrators became aware of Thursdays planned march through social media. School officials notified CCA families and let them know that if they wanted a quiet space for lunch, away from the event, they could go into classrooms, the gymnasium or other places.

Killeen also said in an e-mail that San Diego police school resource officers and extra administrative staff were on hand Thursday to ensure for a safe and largely normal day.
Thirty-three Daesh terrorists were neutralized in the last 24 hours as part of the Turkish-backed Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria, the military announced Sunday, Anadolu reported.

Turkish authorities use the word "neutralized" to refer to terrorists who are killed, wounded, or captured.

The Turkish Armed Forces also hit 259 Daesh targets in northern Syria, the General Staff said, in a statement marking the operations 166th day.

Turkish jets destroyed 39 targets, including 32 buildings, three headquarters, an arsenal, two bomb-laden vehicles, and a tunnel entrance used by the terrorists in the Al-Bab and Bzagah regions. The statement also said 57 mines and 3,680 improvised explosives have been defused since the start of the operation last Aug. 24.

The Turkish General Staff also said that Abu Khalid Urduni, Daeshs so-called "governor" of the northern Syrian district of al-Bab, was killed Friday by a Turkish airstrike.

The military added that the death was confirmed by internal Daesh correspondence, as the terror organizations main headquarters in Raqqa sent a letter to Urdunis replacement.

Operation Euphrates Shield began in August 2016 to tighten border security, eliminate terror threats along the Turkish border, and support opposition forces in Syria. In the operation, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is backed by Turkish forces.

FSA fighters have been concentrating on taking the Daesh-held town of Al-Bab, 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Aleppo.
English language and psychology teacher Vera Bukhgolts talks to one of her students at a village school in Turuntayevo, Tomsk District, Russia. (Photo : Getty Images)

Russia will include Chinese language into state testing across the country in three years' time.



This was announced by the director of Russias Federal Service for the Supervision of Education and Science as published at Shanghaiist.



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By 2018, Chinese language test will be introduced to the Basic State Exam and by 2020 to the Unified State Exam.



The Basic State Exam is a series of obligatory examinations for ninth grade students; while the Unified State Exam is for the 11th-grade students necessary to qualify for university education.



As part of the exams foreign language component, takers of the two exams currently have a choice of French, Spanish, English, and German.



Back in 2015, Chinese was already included in the college entrance exams for certain districts like St. Petersburg, Moscow, and those in the Far East.



At present, there are 123 state primary and secondary schools in Russia that offer Chinese courses with over 17,000 students studying the language, of which, around 5,000 are eight to 11th graders.



However, compared to their Russian counterparts, Chinese students arent given the opportunity to learn many foreign languages, resulting in hundreds of millions of English-language learners.



According to BU World Languages & Literatures, international businesses prefer hiring people who know how to speak many languages.



China is the second largest economy in the world. It is a huge market so business leaders are looking for Chinese-speaking people so they can operate in a Chinese cultural context successfully.



Some people have this impression that its difficult to learn Chinese language, but Benjamin Ross, a Mandarin Chinese interpreter/translator, Sociology PhD, candidate assured that after learning the hard part in the beginning, it gets progressively easier and more simplistic.



Mandarin Chinese is also spoken in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Mongolia, and Brunei. If you want to do business in these countries, knowing how to speak Chinese can give you an edge over your competitors.


GlaxoSmithKline chief Sir Andrew Witty will leave on a high note, leaving the company he joined in 1985 on a solid footing, and the outlook is still positive under incoming head Emma Walmsley, The Sunday Timess Peter Evans said in his Inside the City column.

A year and a half ago, Witty had just avoided becoming embroiled in a bribery scandal in China and the drug-maker's had yet to emerge from a deep funk, amid speculation that the cherished dividend might be axed.

Instead, Wittys focus on marketing cheap drugs - in huge volumes - instead of developing high-priced medicines for rare ailments has payed off.

Full-year 2016 figures set for release on Wednesday are expected to reveal top-line growth of 15.9% to 27.7bn, a dividend yield at 6.5%.

The companys stock is also 40% higher than when he took over at the helm.

Wittys strategy looks especially prescient given the new US presidents offensive against drug pricing.

Nonetheless, incoming boss Walmsley has zero experience in developing new drugs, having overseen the companys consumer arm for six years.

Thus, some investors are cautious.

Tempus admitted as much but said, "backing the new boss is undoubtedly a leap of faith but one worth taking. Buy."

Things were looking up for Low & Bonar, the Mail on Sundays Midas column argued, pointing to its bosss stated strategy of growing its footprint in China and the US, changes made to the way the company was organised and multiple trends which it believed should favour the company.

Brought in at the end of 2014, chief Brett Simpson had re-organised the high-performance polymers-maker along global product lines, instead of geographical regions, setting clear profitability targets for each arm.

Dundee-based Low & Bonar derived 65% of sales from Europe, 20% from the States and another 15% from the rest of the world.

Simpson had already made significant progress, but the best was yet to come, Midas added, with its Chinese and US operations set to benefit from increased infrastructure investment.

Furthermore, the high-end materials in which it specialised were difficult to copy and would benefit from various other trends such as spending on roads and rail, clean air and water and a shift towards lighter, durable and flexible fabrics for construction, the tipster said.

Simpson was also determined to grow profits while cutting debt and delivering generous dividends.

"Buy now, at 71p, and there should be substantial rewards over the next few years," Midas concluded.
The government has announced that over six million euro is to be pumped into upgrading works in Killybegs harbour. The works will include a 120 metre extension to the quay.

Deputy Joe McHugh has welcomed the news saying that "this is fantastic news for Killybegs."

Donegal County Council will also benefit from further funding at other harbours in the county. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed has announced details of the overall 28m Capital Investment Package for the ongoing development of Irelands Local Authority owned small harbour network.

Killybegs is one of six Fishery Harbour Centres in the State. The six will share in 20 million of funding on new developments with the Donegal harbour getting almost a third of that fund.

Minister McHugh said: "This capital investment in Killybegs is one of the largest in the state. The money will be spent on the Smooth Point pier extension and permitting, a harbour electrics upgrade and the final completion of the small craft harbour. The project will deliver 120m of additional quay in the vicinity of Smooth Point and will provide sheltered stern on berthing for approximately 8-10 large fishing vessels."

It is estimated that the works will take around nine months.

This once again shows the commitment to this Government to Killybegs, to the fishing industry and to Donegal, the minister said.

In announcing the initiative Minister Creed said: It is testament not only to this Governments ongoing commitment to the Seafood sector, but also to the success of the sector in terms of increased activity levels.

Flagship projects in the 2017 Capital Programme include the major quay extensions at Killybegs, Castletownbere and Howth.

Minister Creed said: This 28m investment will build on the 64m invested in the Fishery Harbour Centres since 2010 and the 23m invested in the Local Authority infrastructure over the same period. It continues to improve the facilities at our Fishery Harbour Centres and other public harbours around our coast attracting increasing and additional economic activities, benefitting a broad cohort of current and future harbour users including the fishing industry, seafood processing sector, other ancillary marine industries, and the wider rural coastal communities.
With Doe Castle drawing 30,000 visitors last year, the local group Moving Mevagh Forward is discussing plans for the future of the 15th-century castle.

Moving Mevagh Forward is in talks with the Office of Public Works (OPW) over steps that could enhance the visitor experience there, committee members told Glenties Municipal District councillors at their January meeting.

But if the Creeslough-area castle is to cope with more visitors, the committee will need council help, councillors heard.

Former councillor Noel McBride and Janet McIver, members of Moving Mevagh Forward, said the narrow approach roads need to be widened, and would benefit from passing bays. They also said the car park could use a modest upgrading, along with additional signage directing visitors to the castle.

We're all working on a voluntary basis at moment and theres only so much we can do, Mr. McBride said.

New guided tours of the castle were launched last July after an extensive renovation project. Volunteers conduct tours of the castle on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in July and August, drawing about 2,000 visitors last year.

The Doe Castle grounds are opened to the public seven days a week; in all, the castle attracted 30,000 visitors last year. RTE broadcaster Sean ORourke was at the castle last July to launch the new visitor experience, including the tours and colourful, informative panels on the castle grounds.

Built by the ODonnells and given to the Mac Sweeneys, the Gaelic Irish fortified towerhouse has sat for centuries at a spectacular view of Sheephaven Bay and tells an important story, Ms. McIver said. OPW took public ownership of the historic castle in the 1930s.

Going forward we would like to be able to offer more tours over an extended time period, Ms. McIver said. Doe Castle is also a discovery point on the Wild Atlantic Way tourism route.

More than half of visitors who signed the guest book at the castle came from abroad, with most coming from the United Kingdom, followed by the United States and other European countries.

People came from every continent except Antarctica and the Arctic, Ms. McIver said.

Cllr. Terence Slowey, council cathaoirleach, said councillors would look into what they could do in terms of support. It is a great visitor experience and it has such a great story, he said.
A display of Chinese take-out food and appropriate serving and eating items. (Photo : Getty Images)

Chinese food has long been in the United States for decades, but it is often relegated to takeout boxed and dumplings. Nowadays, however, Chinese cuisine in the U.S. is put under a new light with an emphasis on taste, according to an article by China Daily.



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The crowd favorites are still there but offered in a more refined setting. Restaurateurs and chefs alike look to the east and current fusion trends for inspiration.



Chinese restaurateurs have been trying to offer Chinese food as fine dining; but their efforts have remained largely unsuccessful until recently, said Tong Chen, a professor at the University of California-Irvine and food writer, in an interview with China Daily.



According to Chen, who wrote Chop Suey, USA: The Rise of Chinese Food in America, the main proponents of the new Chinese cuisine are more professionally trained chefs and more affluent and more informed diners.



One of the restaurateurs who have been busy trying to change the image of Chinese cuisine in America is Wang Gang.



Along with his wife, he opened a restaurant in Beijing in 1996. Almost two decades later, Wang has expanded his operations in the United States. The first Meizhou Dongpo restaurant in the U.S. opened in Beverly Hills in 2013.



Although chefs were hired locally, they were sent to China for professional training.



We are trying to make authentic Chinese food for America, said Wang Xiaojing, the general manager of Meizhou Dongpo in the U.S.



Meanwhile, Chinese companies have joined the movement, snapping up properties and forging partnerships with their global counterparts to pave way for foreign subsidiaries.



Fame has brought us pressure and responsibility because Chinese restaurants who are considering opening locations in the U.S. are all looking at as, Wang told China Daily.



If we are successful, they will take action. If we fail, they will be afraid of 'going out.'


With the regular session of the Alabama Legislature set to begin this week, it should be no surprise that lawmakers are looking ahead at the task before them. As usual, the session will begin with the governor making a State of the State address describing in abstract terms what has been accomplished and what lies ahead. If the events of recent months are any indication, Gov. Robert Bentleys attention may be on his impending impeachment and how to derail it, and using campaign funds to pay for his legal fees, and dealing with ethics fallout from using campaign funds to pay legal fees of his former advisor, Rebekah Caldwell-Mason, with whom the governor is accused of carrying on an inappropriate relationship.

Several lawmakers will likely be wondering about their own political futures since the Legislature has been ordered to reconfigure a dozen legislative districts a federal court panel ruled were improper. Redrawing district lines will have broad consequences, and theres a possibility that an incumbent somewhere may find theyve been gerrymandered into another district.

What should be at the forefront of every lawmakers mind is money  what we need and where it needs to come from.

On todays front page, Lance Griffin reports the concerns of House Ways and Means Chairman Steve Clouse, as well as other area lawmakers, who have looked ahead and see trouble looming ahead.

Alabamians should hope that lawmakers think beyond the perceived panacea of a state lottery to explore more complex strategies such as unifying the state budgets, restructuring the states tax code to more equitably distribute the tax burden among corporate citizens, and revisiting traditional perquisites  such as state aircraft used to ferry the governors forgotten wallet, or the beach mansion  that the state taxpayers can ill afford.
Pia Wurtzbach hugs Maxine Medina (Photo : Universal Records Philippines/Facebook)

Miss Universe Philippines Maxine Medina extends her gratitude to her close friend, former 2015 Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach. The beauty queen revealed that former the latter supported her until to the minute of her journey towards the crown.



Medina shared the now-viral picture on social media of her and Wurtzbach hugging after she ranked in the Top 6 of the competition. She added that no matter how far she may have gone and no matter how successful she becomes, she will never forget to be grateful to her close friend until the last minute of her international pageant journey.



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Medina unveiled that the former Miss Universe was the first friend who congratulated her for giving a great fight before she stood out of the stage. She mentioned on her Instagram that the former beauty queen was guiding her until the end of the international pageant.



According to the GMA Network, Wurtzbach said that she exactly understands how Medina was feeling at the moment of the pageant, which she revealed that she was once in that situation. Wurtzbach thought that Medina needed a hug at that moment, which was captured by trainer and beauty queen maker Jonas Gaffud and the photo that was posted on Instagram was credited to Richard Juan.



The Philippines'' bet unleashed that she knows that she is capable and she will rise from the challenges that she might encounter through, as noted on the Inquirer. She added that the heart that never hates and carries a smile that never fades, together with a touch that never hurts is the real Miss Universe.



"I gave and offered my best, my heart and my soul as I stepped out on the stage to represent the entire nation at this year's Miss Universe pageant! I am so proud to have been given the opportunity of wearing the Philippine sash for a month of hosting this historical event," Medina said.








Its a common refrain among the reformer Illuminati whenever they experience any push-back against their anti-teacher, anti-union, anti-public education, anti-Motherhood-apple-pie-and-hot-dogs agenda. You can bet your bottom privatization dollar that as soon as these edu-tourists hear any reasonable, evidence-based rationale refuting their radical positions on teacher evaluation, tenure or the use of Value-Added Measures, they will inevitably blurt out the one magic incantation they believe will repel all attacks, confident in its power to tug at the heartstrings of any parent/voter: But, its all about the kids!

(Lets leave aside the notion for the moment that this well-funded clique of hedge fund managers, investment bankers and failed morning show hosts suddenly cares about kids after spending their entire adult lives making backroom deals and raiding pension funds. There is obvious power in this spell, which is designed to cut through logic and reason, and appeal directly to the most primal instincts of any parent.)

The truth is that education and schools are not, and should not be, all about the kids. If we truly want our schools to be healthy, highly-functional institutions, then every member of the school community must be treated with honor, dignity and respect. This includes adults as well as children.

It means that every person who works in the schoolfrom teachers to principals, from custodians to secretaries, from bus drivers to cafeteria workers, from nurses to counselors, from students to parentsdeserves to work and learn in an environment where they feel trusted and valued.

It means that the working conditions of teachers cannot be separated from the learning conditions of students, and that when one member of the community is devalued there is a devastating ripple effect across the rest of the community.

It also means that as teachers, we need to stop romanticizing our profession. We can start by not referring to teaching as a calling, as though we are clergy or missionaries. We can also stop using hackneyed phrases such as Teaching. Im not in it for the income; Im in it for the outcomes, or other meme-worthy sayings that imply that teachers dont need to be compensated fairly, or dont require adequate benefit packages, like health care insurance and pensions.

When we talk about our profession in these ways we play right into the reformers game plan, which is to degrade and dehumanize the teaching force as mere delivery systems for test prep materials and canned curricula. If we dont value ourselves as dedicated, committed, well-educated professionals with deep subject matter expertise and rich pedagogical abilities and understandings, then why be surprised when the reformers suggest that veteran teachers can be replaced with uncertified, unqualified Teach for America recruits bolstered by a mere 5 week summer boot camps worth of training?

The truth is that teaching is not a calling, or a missionits a job, and a darned hard one at that. Those who choose this profession do so because they are deeply committed to the education of all children, and they demonstrate this commitment by doing their jobs under often difficult conditions, and while under nearly constant attack from the reformers, the media and the public. Teachers deserve to be treated with respect, paid fairly, and trusted to do their jobs without the threat of invalid and unreliable accountability measures imposed by persons who have never set foot in a school classroom. If we as a society really value our childrens education as much as we say we do, then we need to treat teachers as equal partners in our childrens education, and stop pretending that its all about the kids, because its not.

The diversity statement of the University of Chicago Lab School, founded by American progressive educator and philosopher John Dewey, says it best:

Whether parents, faculty, administrators, or staff, members can expect to receive respect and to extend respect to others. Only when our community functions in a healthy manner can we provide a beneficial environment for our students.

And only when we start treating teachers with honor, dignity and respect will we get the schools that our children, and our society, deserve.
China's Acorn International is taking steps to combat piracy to make the country more conducive for foreign businesses. (Photo : Getty Images)

Chinese marketing and branding firm Acorn International scored an important victory in its trademark infringement lawsuit against Taian Deang Trading. The firm received the final ruling in its favor from the Beijing Xicheng People's Court.



The court found Taian Deang Trading guilty of infringing Acorn International's trademark for its line of Suyumei BBJ products.



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That serves as another successful example of Acorn International's mission to go against trademark piracy in China to boost support for its own brands and for its licensed international brands.



Acorn International is reputed for its relentless push to clamp down on intellectual property violators through the exhaustion of legal means, per PR News Wire.



As a conduit for foreign firms looking to do business in China, Acorn International banks on brand protection to build a reputation of reliability.



With such at the center of Acorn International's concept of competency, the firm, through its IP & Brand Protection Unit, continues to go after trademark-infringing counterfeiters, specifically in e-commerce channels where several pirates tend to distribute counterfeit goods to both local and foreign buyers.



Said initiative by Acorn International aims to strengthen the performance of its product portfolio, which includes both proprietary and third-party brand products.



Acorn International distributes all its products through its various distribution channels: e-commerce, direct sales, and other nationwide networks.



Acorn International President Jacob A. Fisch avows that his firm will continue to stand by its commitment against the proliferation of pirated goods in China to cleanse its reputation of trademark-infringing activities, making his firm a more reliable partner of foreign brands investing in China.



Fisch also applauded Acorn International's IP & Brand Protection Unit's efforts to curbing piracy, with the court victory set to uphold the firm's commitment against the dire effects of trademark-infringing counterfeiters on the sales and market share of legitimate competitors.


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Visitors pose for a photo at the Rockefeller Center in New York, United States. (Photo : Getty Images)

Instead of spending their money for a shopping spree abroad, many Chinese tourists are now choosing to experience exotic culture and services.



According to the Global Times, tracing natural attractions and wildlife have become popular among Chinese tourists.



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Chinese tourists are getting more willing to experience local culture and characteristic services, including staying in private homes, watching monkeys in hot springs, and appreciating bonsai, said Li Xuejing, marketing manager of a tourism agency in Tokyo.



Meng Fanhai, owner of the said tourism agency, revealed that they arranged more than 200 cases of physical checkups and medical treatments in 2016, up 50 percent from 2015, accounting for about one-third of his agencys total tourists.



In Kenya, for example, more and more Chinese tourists are visiting there to experience biodiversity. Nearly 90 percent of tourists in Kenyas Masai Mara National Reserve came from China to watch the great migration.



One Chinese tourist went to the Philippines to take a diving exam and gain the certificate. Some went to a spa to get a massage and other special services.



China has become the most valuable tourists for Britain. An average increase of 22 Chinese tourists creates one new post for British tourist industry, added the author.



Britains rich history, famous education tradition, museums, and others are some of the famous attractions for ordinary Chinese, along with the devaluation of pound.



Chinese travelers are the worlds biggest spenders since 2012. Theyve spent $165 billion abroad in 2014, said Forbes.



Other nations included in the list of Top 10 spenders abroad were Germany, United Kingdom, Russia, France, Canada, Italy, Australia and Brazil.



Last year, Yibada reported that the number of Chinese individuals having 1 million yuan ($151,700) to 5 million yuan worth of investable assets is estimated to reach 12.3 million this year, up from 11.16 million last year.



We all know how hardworking Chinese people are, but despite their busy schedule, they take time to travel and would often allot longer days for holidays.


Analysts and observers see potential workarounds for China to improve its standing. (Photo : Getty Images)

The growth of Chinas economic power has enabled the country to be a model for the Global South, as an alternative to liberal democratic infrastructure, according to a report by the Asia Times.



Although this is the case, Chinas rise has not been complemented with a positive image abroad. Many of its regional and international neighbors are still skeptical of Chinas ascent to economic stardom amid various issues such as territorial disputes in the South China Sea and hostility towards liberal principles.



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Analysts and observers see potential workarounds for China to improve its standing. Chinas current international heft in terms of investment, trade, and diplomatic engagements is an opportunity for further outreach and public diplomacy initiatives.



Chinese Soft Power Unlocks Potential Levers of Development



Chinas foray into Africa is a strong potential for fostering development and interconnectedness through commerce, culture, and mutual growth. Utilizing its soft power, China can become a driver of development in the region while it promotes its culture policies and principles.



In addition, the combination of large-scale infrastructure projects and an approach of close cooperation and engagement, China can emphasize its strategic goal to realize peaceful development and prosperity.



Another potential area of improvement of its image is boosting the credibility of national brands. Similar to the United States, China can draw from the influence and image of a strong national brand to gain more recognition. The 2008 Beijing Olympics and Shanghai Expo has been an example of this experiment and China needs to tap more into this area.



The perpetual challenge for China is asserting its national interests while cultivating an image of a peaceful and progressive superpower. Many countries will still see the countrys diplomatic, investment, and development initiatives as a tactic for gaining influence.



However, conducting relations is no longer unilateral, rather it is becoming more multilateral as it continuously evolves. Thus, China needs to adapt to the ever-changing dynamics of state interaction and pursue a harmonious economic rise.






People in Europe and the World expect from CoE to make a succes of its "Monitoring" for Human Rights and Democracy, despite difficulties, said Finland's President Tarja Halonen to "EuroFora" at a crucial moment for the mecanism built 15 years ago by the paneuropean organization which celebrates its 60th Anniversary in 2009.Halonen, known as "Mother" of CoE's "Monitoring" mecanism, a long-time MEP and former Foreign Minister before becoming Finland's President, holds a long experience in the mattter, after also serving twice as CoE and EU Chairwoman in the past. That's why she is well placed to judge how CoE's "monitoring" should deal today with some crucial issues of importance both to CoE and to the EU.The move came just a Month before a crucial, last visit to Turkey, scheduled for June, by the President of CoE''s "Monitoring" Committee, Ukranian MEP Serge Holovaty, to finalize his Report on Ankara, the CoE Member State with the longest Monitoring procedure. From its results depends its overall credibility.This is a Test-case, because, in fact, it's in order to avoid Sanctions threatened against Turkey by a CoE's Assembly's April 1995 Resolution for grave Human Rights violations, Democracy gaps, the continuing Military Occupation in Cyprus, the unresolved Kurdish problem, Aegean differend with Greece, etc., that MEPs decided to create, for the 1st time on April 1996, a "Monitoring" proces, allegedly destinated to check, without excluding Countries who did not fulfill all CoE's standards.In the Past, the obliged withdrawal of Greece's Military regime and of its "Civil" cover-up out of the CoE had helped bring back Democracy in 1974. But, on the contrary, since April 1996, the idea was to "monitor" Human Rights' respect while keeping most concerned Countries inside the CoE. After Turkey's oldest example, this was extended also to several former "Eastern" European Countries, even if CoE's Assembly has imposed to some of them (fex. Ukraine, Russia, etc., after Belarus, Serbia, etc) various "Sanctions", that Ankara always avoided. Curiously more succesful even than .. USA itself, (a CoE "Observer" since 1995), which has been at least threatened with sanctions some years ago..EU-effects of CoE's Monitoring process became obvious between 2001-2008, since the "closure" of this procedure, when CoE felt that a Country had met most of its Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law obligations, (i.e. the "Copenhagen Criteria" for the EU), helped trigger Negotiations with the EU for "Accession" or other closer relations : This occured already before the 2004 and 2007 EU Enlargements to former "Eastern" European Countries, as well as for the commencement of "accession" negotiations with Croatia, and of "open-ended" negotiations with Turkey in 2005.But a stricking new development are Holovaty's recent findings that on core Human Rights issues as Torture and Freedom of Expression, Turkey, even "5 Years after" CoE closed its "Monitoring", back in 2004, inciting EU to start accession Negotiations in 2005, still presents grave problems.His findings are of crucial importance after a 2008 CoE Resolution called, "if need be", to "seriously consider the possibility of Re-Opening the Monitoring procedure for Turkey" : A move which might affect Ankara's controversial EU bid, since EU Accession Negotiations are based on the Hypothesis that the Candidate fullfils the "Copenhagen Criteria" (See above)..-------------------------Holovaty expressed his will to check "Matters still Outstanding" and those that he "didn't have an opportunity to discuss" at an earlier visit this year, "in order to discuss the more complex issues in greater depth", at his forthcoming New Visit to Ankara, before the December 2009 EU Summit. This is all based on the 2004 CoE Resolution which stresses that, CoE "will continue.. post-monitoring Dialogue with the Turkish authorities,...in addition to a 12-points list,..and on any Other Matter that might arise in connection with Turkeys Obligations as a CoE member state".CoE's Resolution also asks from Turkey "to secure the proper Implementation of Judgements, particularly in the Cyprus v. Turkey InterState case", of 2001, which concerns also the plight of many Hundreds of MISSING People. It adds Turkey's obligations to "execute" ECHR's Judgements in the Loizidou case,..and in particular adopt General Measures to avoid repetition or continuation of Violations found by the Court" to the detriment of Refugees.Nevertheless, Holovaty said to "EuroFora" that "MISSING" persons,"might be included" and cannot be excluded, but he has yet to examine the situation "to find out which issues will be raised" to the Turkish Government.Therefore, "EuroFora" asked Halonen, as the Historic "Mother" of CoE's Monitoring mecanism, if she thought that, "whenever there are grave Human Rights Violations, as fex. "MISSING" persons, attested even by ECHR's judgements, they should be always checked by a Monitoring process. Or could they be forgotten ?"- "We (CoE) must be, at the same time, Fair, Realistic, but not in the mind that "now we have Forgotten", etc., replied to "EuroFora"'s question Halonen, speaking as a matter of general principle.- "When we think of those People that are suffering from the lack of Democracy, of Human Rights, and of the Rule of Law", "we should find a base on how to deal with the (Monitoring) system more rapidly"', she stressed.- "Sometimes it's very difficult to combine Transparency and Effectivenes together, particularly in this specific case", she went on to say. But, "I have not found a (CoE Member) Country who could be insensitive in this sens", Halonen answered concerning grave Human Rights violations attested by the ECHR.- "I have no ready-made answer. I have the expectations that you, in the CoE, will, step by step, find the different types of the monitoring systems."Also "because this is a part of the UN's Post-Conflict system, (fex. when it comes to Cyprus' MISSING persons), and it's a more Global system". So that, "If we make a succes in Europe, the others will follow", throughout the World. "But they expect that we (Europe) are this opportunity, this Opportunity to make a Succes", Halonen concluded.In addition, she advised to extend CoE's Monitoring to all its 47 Member States, "because, as long as we hear that, all these monitoring systems are "OK for the neighbor, but not for me", "it's very difficult" to understand. Something which could make easier to Compare...Finnish MEP Jaako Laakso, former CoE Rapporteur on the Occupied Territories of Cyprus and one of the 5 Signatories of the Historic CoE's call to create the "MONITORING" mecanism since 1996, was more specific : - "We (CoE Assembly) have to find a way for the issue of Cyprus' MISSING People to be better followed", he stressed, anouncing his intention to "speak to Mr. Holovaty" about that. "There might be also other ways", added Laakso.- The 2008 "Year had been a very Bad one for Turkey with regard to Human Rights in general, and Freedom of Expression in particular", denounced, meanwhile, Holovaty's preliminary Post-Monitoringh Draft Report by Holovaty, published by the CoE on April 2009."Amnesty International believes that freedom of expression is not guaranteed given the various articles of the Criminal Code that restrict it. .. "For example, 1,300 Websites are said to have been closed down by the (Turkish) authorities in 2008" ! While "the new Turkish Criminal Code was used to bring a total of 1,072 proceedings between June 2005 and April 2008, and led to the conviction of 192 people", for expressing views. "Representatives of the Ozgur Gundem newspaper, which specialises in Kurdish affairs, ..complained about Numerous Attacks on their Freedom of Expression ...as was everyone who advocated a settlement to the question by means other than the intervention of the army" "According to their figures, 19 Newspapers had been suspended 43 times between 4 August 2006 and 4 November 2008" !...Moreover, on 2008, CoE's "Ministers adopted its 4rth Resolution on the execution of the judgments of the ECHR, ...and outstanding issues regarding 175 Judgements and decisions relating to Turkey delivered between 1996 and 2008... concerning Deaths resulting from the excessive use of force by members of the Security forces, the failure to protect the right to life, the DIisappearance and/or death of individuals, Ill-Treatment and the Destruction of property". CoE's " Ministers urged the Turkish authorities ...to ensure that members of Security forces of all ranks can be prosecuted without administrativeauthorisation" for "serious crimes". Holovaty reminded."Nonetheless", Holovaty heard anew of "Several cases of Violence committed last year (2008) by the (Turkish) security forces". Amnesty International speaks of Many Cases of ill-treatment and Torture in the prisons and by the police". "Including, fex."'the death of Engin Ceber, a young man of 29 who died on October 2008 as a result of the TORTURE allegedly inflicted on him by police officers, prison staff and members of the gendarmerie. He was part of a group of people arrested on September 2008 during a demonstration and Press Conference in Istanbul'. Proceedings against suspects are "on-going" in this case.- " I therefore noted an Obvious Contradiction between the Governments stated zero tolerance policy.... of Torture and other forms of ill-treatment, and the different testimonies given", denounced CoE's Rapporteur. Turkish "authorities must make considerable efforts to guarantee that proper investigations are carried out into allegations of abuses by members of the security forces and that perpetrators are effectively punished" "In this respect, I have requested detailed Statistics on the number of Investigations, acquittals and convictions in cases involving allegations of abuse in order to show the positive impact of the measures taken to date", Holovaty said, repeating a permanently unsatisfied CoE's demand to Turkey since a Decade...- "The Political Crisis that shook the country in the spring of 2008 highlighted the Weaknesses of the (Turkish) Constitution", which comes from the Military regime of 1982, "and the Urgent Need of Reforms", stressed from the outset CoE's Rapporteur in 2009. In particular, "the ...Democratic functioning of state institutions, including the independence of the judicial system, are crucial", he observes.But, "the Electoral system and the ways in which it is circumvented do not appear to give those elected complete Legitimacy, and tend to pervert the course of direct universal suffrage", denounces Holovaty, observing that, even 5 Years later, Turkey did not yet change the 10% nationwide Threshold for a party to take any seat, which is "far higher" than the "3%" maximum in Europe and already condemned as contrary to European Standards by the CoE.+ Moreover, EU Parliament's 2009 Report on Turkey, drafted by Dutch MEP Ria Oomen-Ruijten and adopted in Strasbourg on March, expresses "Concern over the Failure of the (Turkish) Judiciary to prosecute cases of Torture and Ill-treatment, the Number of which is Growing". EU also "is concerned about continuing Hostility and Violence against Minorities" in Turkey. It also "calls on the Turkish Government to launch, as a matter of Priority, a Political Initiatve favouring a lasting Settlement of the Kurdish issue, (while "condemning violence.. and terrorist groups"). EU "regrets that No progress has been made on establishing full, systematic Civilian suprevisory functions over the (Turkish) Military".The final results of Holovaty's 2nd and last visit to Turkley will be known later this year, and, at any case, before EU's December 2009 Summit.
I wrote this last weekend, and it went up briefly in the wee hours of Monday morning. Then I woke up, heard about the slaughter at a Quebec City mosque, immediately feared it was in bad taste and took it down. Saturday, I saw Nicholas Kristof had declared Canada the leader of the free world, and figured it is safe to float this out there as well. Because even the attack is a reminder of their advantage over us: Canada has its haters too. It just doesn't put them in positions of executive power. Nor does it seize upon acts of terrorism to undermine their democracy.





On the positive side of all this. Consider our friends in Canada, who have always chafed in the shadow of the larger, more powerful and more significant nation to their south. Whatever they did or said, America always had done or said it first, louder, bigger, better, bolder.

Now that extends to soiling our nest in the fashion that Ernest Hemingway once used to describe bankruptcygradually then all at once. Twenty years of slowly undermining truth and degrading each other as traitors then, boom, we wake up one morning and we've elected a brittle and angry pathological liar and buffoon as our president.

In his first week in office, he was giving the finger to our Mexican allies with one hand while slamming the front door to 134 million Muslims with the other. America has gone full bore, balls flapping, off the rails and into the ditch, where it sits upside down in a shallow muddy creek, engine howling, wheels spinning uselessly.

Only 207 weeks left to go...

To their eternal credit, Canada didn't gloat, didn't rub our faces in it, not directly. Just kept on being the smart, decent human beings they have always been, which is in a sense an even worse reproach. Just the existence of Canada has become a wrenching indictment of the United States.

While our bold former ideals gaze scowling down at them from their marble plinths, our legislators are busily wiping the ass of an egomaniac. Lawmakers who were entrenched ideologues a few weeks ago tossing their core beliefs into the Bonfire of His Vanities, all out of terror of being the subject of a tweet.

While there you are, jaws set in determination not to be us, offering comfort at the world, saying "Hey all you good immigrant folk stranded across the world by America's insane, abrupt and bigoted lurch in customs law: come live in Canada! The safe and friendly home of refugees. We lift the Coleman lantern beside the frosty door. Oh, and by the way. All that stuff that American pretends to be? We actually are those things. Sure, we have our kooks too Bonjour les separatistes quebecois!but they aren't going to shoot you and frankly, since having their heads handed to them at the polls in 2014, they've been off somewhere licking their wounds. We didn't give them the reins of power, not like some nations do."

Well, maybe you ground it in a little. What with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, young, handsome, not at all orange, who waved in 39,000 Syrian refugees just after he was electedabout triple the number the U.S. could bring itself to toleratedeclaring Canada to be the haven of the world, welcoming the displaced families that Americans are just too pants-wetting terrified to allow into our once-mighty country, lest they try to fertilize their lawns with the ammonium nitrate that our own home-grown fundamentalist terrorists need to make bombs.

O Canada. You always wanted to be a greater, stronger, more respected nation than the United States. And now you are. We're still more populous, but give it time. If California secedes, out of pure embarrassment, we'll lose 40 million people right there. Plus the strain of living in a topsy-turvy funhouse mirror world where the idea of there being a verifiable truth is spat upon. Can a people die of shame? We'll see. Or maybe we won't have to. Maybe we'll end up in Steve Bannon's gulag, for the crime of attempting to exercise freedoms we thought we had butpresto chango!have no longer.

Still, it must be a hollow victory. You sometimes feel the same trickle of cold dread, the same nauseous can-this-really-be-happening? disbelief that hits half of America every morning the second our eyes snap open. (The other half of Americans wake up thinking, "Mmmm, waffles!") In our defense, it's not just us. The world is going crazythe Philippines elected a murderous madman who promised, once in office, to start killing people, and did just that, and they love him for it. Britain pulled the pin on Brexit in June and stands staring, stupidly, at the grenade, waiting for the "boom!" Prime Minister Theresa May was just here, holding Donald Trump's hand, literally, because, heck, they need to be somebody's steady girlfriend, and with all of Europe freshly jilted and plotting vengeance, there's slim pickings left. Over in France, the National Front might not come to power in May, Then again, it might.

Back to your good old Uncle Sam. The truth is, America always had its share of failures, of times when it fell short of our ideals. But never intentionally, never as an official matter of national policy designed to make regular American folks feel less scared about all the stuff they obviously feel scared about. And in such a ham-handed, pissing-in-the-wind fashion.

You can't grow avocados or distill tequila up there, can you? Because at the rate we're going, well, the usual sources of those and many other products just won't be rumbling to our stores the way we used to. Tim Horton's and Canadian Club, no offense, it just ain't the same.

Though who are we to poke fun at you, or at anybody? The old Soviet Union was such a figure of ridicule, hooted at and mocked for claiming to have invented the telephone, for believing all the bald lies their tyrants forced down their throats. And now we're on the receiving end having raised up the King of Lies and put him in the Oval Office. We'll be dealing with him for four or eight years or forever, depending on just much we let him get away with. On the plus side, we're protesting in huge numbers. On the minus, we have to.

It's like all the swagger we ever had was sucked out of our body and swallowed up into the grotesque human form of one bottle blond demagogue. A Japanese monster movie creature who rose dripping from New York Harbor, absorbed America's pride and used it as energy. Which might be yet another unexpected benefit of all this because, to be honest, looking at it in our new leader, swagger doesn't seem the positive value it used to be. In fact, it's downright repellent. No wonder you hate us so much. Or did, before we became an object of pity. I can't speak for the entire country as a wholethere's already one guy too many claiming to do that. But I promise you Canada, if we ever get out of this mess, if we ever crawl out of the noxious sewer of nationalism, lies and bumbling folly we fell into with a sickening splash on Nov. 8, we're going to be a whole lot better a friend, neighbor, country. You see it already forming, in the brave resistance to his crazy edicts. How this turns out, well, who can say? But your good example is a comfort to us. Sincerely. Thanks for you being you, and apologies for us being us. We're working on changing that.




China Looks to Pakistan for More Growth Possibilities

According to experts, Chinese companies are using Beijings One Belt, One Road initiative to further expansion interests in Pakistan, as the South Asian nation is part of the project. (Photo : Getty Images)

Relations between China and Pakistan are warming up as Chinese companies look forward to more business deals and investments in the South Asian country, Reuters reported.



Two major deals were sealed recently, and Chinese corporations are already exploring investment opportunities in Pakistans cement, steel, energy and textile sectors. These industries are major drivers of Pakistans economy currently worth $270 billion.



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Just recently, Chinese businessmen acquired a significant stake in the Pakistan Stock Exchange. At the same time, K-Electric, one of Pakistans biggest energy producers, was acquired by Shanghai Electric Power for $1.8 billion.



The Chinese have got deep pockets and they are looking for major investment in Pakistan, said Muhammad Ali Tabba, chief executive in two of the Yunus Brothers Groups companies, in an interview with Reuters.



Although the Yunus Brothers, in partnership with a Chinese company, lost the bid for K-Electric, the group has other plans to push their $2 billion expansion project.



According to experts, Chinese companies are using Beijings One Belt, One Road initiative to further expansion interests in Pakistan, as the South Asian nation is part of the project.



What the Chinese are doing is in stark contrast to the Western approach, as Western investors have largely avoided Pakistan in the past years despite growth and increasing stability.



The effect of Chinese investment in Pakistan is obvious. In Karachi, Pakistans financial center, Chinese businessmen outnumber westerners. Chinese-language brochures are being printed, and there is a newfound demand for Pakistanis who speak fluent Chinese.



Although there is cause for excitement, other groups in Pakistan are not too keen on Chinas interest in the nation. Some remember Chinas alleged mistreatment of African workers, accusations which Beijing and Chinese companies involved have dismissed in the past.



We have concern and reservations that the Chinese might use the same methods in Pakistan, Nasir Mansoor told Reuters. Mansoor is the deputy secretary general of Pakistans trade union body, the National Trade Union Federation.


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An online tool has been launched allowing you to track nearby cases of deadly dog disease Alabama Rot - with information on how to spot it, how to prevent it and what to do if your dog has it.

Dog owners across the South West are being warned to watch out for signs of Alabama Rot amid fears that the disease is spreading in the region - including two cases within 50 miles of Exeter..

There have been cases reported either side of the city in parts of the region, and there are fears it is spreading.

It follows confirmed cases reported in Cornwall, Shepton Mallet, Dorset and other areas.

The disease CRGV, commonly known as Alabama Rot, is a nasty bug of unknown cause that affects all breeds of dog.

Shepton Vets, based in Shepton Mallet in Somerset, last month warned about a confirmed case, which can lead to a dog's flesh rotting - resulting in kidney failure, loss of appetite, tiredness and vomiting.

Without urgent treatment, dogs develop a raging fever and can eventually die.

Vets4Pets, an online search site that helps locate veterinary practices across the South West including many listed in Plymouth, has an online search tool to help owners track the spread of the disease.

The site also gives owners advice and help from expert vets on what can be done to tackle the disease.

Using data provided by Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists, where you can enter in your postcode into a search, the service tells dog owners where the cases have been confirmed.

The most recent case was reported in West Chelborough, Dorchester, by Poole Vets4Pets.

What is Alabama Rot?

CRGV, commonly known as Alabama Rot, is a dog disease of unknown cause that affects all breeds.

A total of 78 dogs have been confirmed with the disease in the UK since 2012, with 14 in the first four months of 2016.

The mysterious illness, which first appeared in the late 1980s affecting greyhounds in America, has been found in at least 27 counties in England and Wales since 2012.

"The cause of Alabama Rot, clinically known as idiopathic cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (CRGV), is still unknown and there is no known way to prevent a dog from contracting the disease," said David Walker, from Anderson Moores Vetinary Specialists.

"While there is currently no known way to prevent a dog from contracting the disease, there is a very useful guide available online to help people understand where in the UK confirmed cases have been found and advice on how to spot signs.

"Any concerned dog owners should visit www.vets4pets.com/stop-alabama-rot/ ."

How to avoid your dog getting Alabama Rot:

Avoid taking your dogs for walks in muddy wooded areas  particularly after a period of heavy rainfall.

Wash your dog's paws and legs thoroughly when you get back from the walk.

What signs should dog owners look out for?

One of the most noticeable signs of the disease early in its onset is skin lesions.

This abnormality in the tissue of an organism begins as a slow-healing ulcer.

Owners who spot wounds or lesions to the limbs of their pet, or on their dog's face, that appear to take a long time to heal, should make a prompt visit to the vet.

Dogs can also appear to become 'depressed' with a loss of appetite and they may start to vomit.

This can lead to acute injury to the kidneys.

To help collate correct data for dog owners, Anderson Moores is calling for all UK vets to contact them if they see a dog they suspect has Alabama Rot.

"Only tests on a kidney from an affected dog, most likely post mortem, will give 100% confirmation of the disease," added David.

"There have been a number of cases 'confirmed' by vets, but unless we carry out analysis of the affected pet, we will never be able to confirm the disease."
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A protester shouts slogans as police stand guard on a street on May 1, 2015 in Macau. (Photo : Getty Images)

Labor unrest is spreading across various industries in China, including the one that would have taken the lead in bringing the country future economic growth. And with how things are going, it looks like that the number of worker strikes will continue to grow in the next few weeks.



Just recently, workers protested in the city of Xi'an in front of an oil company's headquarters since late December over unpaid wages. Zou Zhanhai and his fellow workers have not gone home for the Lunar New Year to continue protesting.



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In 2016, around 2,663 strikes and protests were recorded by the China Labour Bulletin. While this figure is a decrease of 112 compared to 2015, the total is still double that of the number in 2014. The spread of strikes to new sectors have partly offset the drop in the unrest in the manufacturing sector.



New economy refers to e-commerce such as online sales and services.



"The new economy is rife with the old labor problems of the past," said Keegan Elmer, a researcher at the Hong Kong-based worker's rights.



Elmer added that this figure is far from the real situation of China's labor unrest as the Labour Bulletin's tally is largely comprised of online reports which still goes through confirmation.



He estimates that this is only 10 percent of the real total in light of the far bigger but unverified reports produced by activists or sporadically made public by the government.



And unlike in the past, workers are now able to harness the power of the internet to popularize protests and their organizational capacity. This was demonstrated last year by a series of strikes waged against Walmart. The movement was coordinated on the social messaging platform WeChat.



While it seems that the government is trying to implement policies to address workers' issues, it seems that the workers do not feel the change they are looking for. The government must double its efforts if it sincerely cares for the working class.


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Texas oil and gas regulator, emboldened by possible changes in federal energy policy, is paring down regulations on the industry, arguing that removing regulatory burdens will create more energy jobs in Texas.

The Railroad Commission, which launched the initiative last summer, has changed rules to lower compliance costs for oil and gas companies and encourage them to report their own violations by waiving penalties. This year, the agency plans to ease several reporting requirements for the industry, eliminating paperwork that companies must file or else face fines.

Among the most lauded, and controversial, moves by the commission: changing the definition of active oil and gas wells to relieve companies of the cost of plugging inactive wells.

While oil and gas companies have praised the commissions changes, environmental advocates argue that relaxing regulations would only encourage companies to damage the environment, compromise the safety of people nearby and further promote an agency culture that they say already allows companies to operate with minimal monitoring by the Railroad Commission.

Advocates add that its ironic the commission wants to cut regulations as it makes a case to the Legislature to provide more money to increase inspections of wells and pipelines to better protect the public and the environment. The commission as sought an increase of $44.9 million; the House has proposed raising funding by $35 million, but the Senates plan would cut it by $13 million.

Lessening oversight further puts families health and safety at risk, said Sharon Wilson, a Gulf region organizer for Earthworks, a national environmental advocacy group.

But the commissioners say eliminating unnecessary regulations will make it easier for companies to focus on crucial rules, such as those that require companies to protect nearby water sources. In addition, they say, cutting red tape will lower costs and help companies to stay in business and add workers after an oil bust that cost the state an estimated 100,000 energy jobs.

Many of these rule changes, added commission Chairwoman Christi Craddick, are aimed at lowering costs for smaller operators that run low-producing oil and gas wells and continue to struggle as oil prices remain low.

We want to make sure that those wells and those operators stay in business, and that those wells have an opportunity to produce, said Craddick.

The Railroad Commission launched its effort, called the Oilfield Relief Initiative, in August, targeting nine rules and processes that need updating, Craddick said. Many of the proposed changes target obscure data that companies are required to report, as well as other paperwork for elimination.

The signature revision changed the definition of inactive wells, saving companies the costs of plugging and cleaning up many wells that produce minimal amounts of oil. Before the change, an oil well was considered inactive if it produced less that 10 barrels a month for three months consecutively. Today, a well remains active if it produces just one barrel a month for a year.

The commission also introduced self-audit guidelines, which offer companies immunity from hefty fines if they voluntarily report violations.

These moves dovetail with promises of President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress to unravel the regulations imposed on the energy industry under his predecessor, Barack Obama. Trump has pledged to ease emissions limits on power plants and remove barriers to oil and gas exploration on federal lands.

Recently, congressional Republicans moved to overturn Obama administration limits on the amount of methane  a potent greenhouse gas  that can be released or flared by drilling operations on federal lands.

In December, when she was elected chairman of the commission, Craddick said she looked forward to working with Trump, who named Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon Mobil, his secretary of state and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has nominated for energy secretary. Tillerson was sworn in Wednesday after being confirmed earlier in the day. Perry is awaiting confirmation by the full Senate.

They at least get us, I hope, as an industry, Craddick said.

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 three-member commission is looking to make more changes that would aid oil and gas companies. In January, the commission started allowing well logs  reports on rock formations a well passes through  to be filed electronically.

The commission is also eliminating a requirement that companies conduct and report pressure tests that measure production of oil and gas wells, and help regulators to determine when a well becomes inactive and needs to be plugged.

In the past, companies had to shut down a well to run the test; now the commission will get the information from production data companies report monthly.

The Texas Land and Mineral Owners Association, which represents property owners who lease land and mineral rights to oil and gas producers, has opposed changes to rules on inactive wells and self-reporting of violations. During a public comment period last year, the group said such changes would only keep unstable companies in business and encourage poor care of well pads around the state.

Craddick, however, is confident that the changes will not affect what she calls the commissions main mission  safety of the public and the environment.

Thats our first priority, she said. We dont anticipate that those concerns will be a problem. That is our job, to inspect to enforce our laws and penalties.

ryan.handy@chron.com

twitter.com/ryanmhandy
What on Earth could the writer of this bizarre screed have been referring to  and what could it have done to his Army career?

 Paula Allen

Yes, thats correct: Im asking and answering my own question. This month, the column turns 25. After a quarter-century of answering other peoples queries about local history, it felt like time to look into one of my own.

Many of the answers have come from San Antonios two longtime daily newspapers  the one youre reading (thanks!) and the San Antonio Light, which closed in 1993. Part of the fun of this job is getting to noodle around reading old papers  in bound volumes, on microfilm and online. You may be pursuing accounts of the war between the jitneys and the streetcars, but you wont be able to avoid seeing recipes for new tricks with rhubarb, surprisingly salacious crime stories in faraway places and mentions of things you know youll probably be asked about at some future time and are sure youll be able to find again when you need them. (Thank goodness for keyword searches!)

Then there are the totally loopy items that seem to be hiding more than theyre telling. One of them was printed in the San Antonio Daily Express, April 2, 1889. Unlike the vast run of spot news, social notes and commercial notices from that time period, the weird urgency of its message wont be ignored  nor easily forgotten.

Bumping into this anomalous thing was like a chance encounter with someone you know you should avoid but you also know will be fun to tell people about. Headed An Apology, it reads as follows:

To the ladies and gentlemen who visited me on the evenings of the 28th and 30th ultime (of the last month: I wish to offer my most humble apology for the extreme ungentlemanly conduct on my part. I was sick and at the time mentioned I was crazy. I cannot appreciate how I could have conducted myself in the manner I did, for it is not my habit. Since coming to my senses, my heart is exceedingly sore to know that I conducted myself in such a disgraceful and ungentlemanly manner. To each and all, I most humbly beg your pardon and ask for forgiveness. I know you cannot forget, but hope that you will permit me to show by my future conduct that I am not the loafer I made myself to appear on those evenings. The kind invitation to the ball I will have to decline, well knowing that my presence could not be agreeable. Ever begging for forgiveness, Bainbridge Reynolds, Captain, Third Cavalry.

So  what the heck did he do, exactly? And why did he think publishing this in the newspaper would make it better?

Often I read old news stories about terrible tragedies  only a few of them the actual subjects of my columns. Maybe its not rational, but I feel obliged to read them respectfully, even pray when that seems like the right thing to do. I couldnt tell if Reynolds was deserving of this kind of attention or just an antique dingbat.

So I did what I always do: I asked someone who might know. In this case, it was Fort Sam Houston Museum Director Jacqueline Davis, who confirmed that this apparently tormented soul had indeed been an officer in the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Sam when he threw whatever this semipublic snit-fit had been.

With these and other resources, we found some pieces of the puzzle. By all indications, though, Reynolds should never have become the principal in what a newspaper would call one of the most ludicrous and at the same time serious incidents in the history of American Army life. He was born in 1849  making him 40 years old at the time of the extreme ungentlemanly conduct  at West Point, to career Army officer Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds and his wife Mary Bainbridge. By 1869, the younger Reynolds had followed his father to the U.S. Military Academy. As a cadet, he was noted for his neatness of dress and military bearing, as well as for his jovial, kindly disposition and was extremely popular in his class, says his obituary in a publication of West Points annual reunion, June 9, 1902.

Reynolds graduated in 1873, ranked 19th out of a class of 41. From the record of his service in Cullum's Register of the Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy, he didnt seem to take any advantage from being a generals son. A member of the 3rd Cavalry, he went west for the rest of the decade, as the 3rd Cavalry had stations along the Union Pacific railway from Fort McPherson (Nebraska) to Fort Saunders (Kansas), says the reunion obit, a line across the trails of the numerous tribes of the great Sioux nation on the north and the southern Indians in the Indian Territory and Texas. Reynolds was sent to Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana, taking part in the Big Horn Expedition against the Sioux and Cheyenne, serving as a scout and engaging regularly in combat.

A letter from a fellow officer praises him as a handsome, robust specimen of young manhood, ambitious and teeming with energy. Known to his associates as B, he was hardy as a knot.immaculate in his dress, almost to vanity, (but) just as much at home in his rough scouting clothes (and) with cheap, coarse fare as the toughest one of us. He faced frequent combat with marked coolness, bravery and efficiency taking great pride in being an officer.

Reynolds was promoted to first lieutenant in 1879, did some brief stints as regimental adjutant and quartermaster, then went back on frontier duty, scouting and spent some time in Arizona before making his way to Fort Davis in 1885, from which he took an unexplained leave of absence for more than six months. Back in the saddle, he was posted to a succession of West Texas forts  small posts that afforded no opportunities for special distinction  until he received his promotion to captain in 1889 and was sent to San Antonio.

As reported by the Galveston Daily News, June 18, 1888, Reynolds was appointed inspector general and ordered to Fort Sam to assign recruits of the 3rd Cavalry. He is the son of General Reynolds, formerly in command of this department. Disaster seems to have held off until, as Davis says, Something happens in the last days of March 1889: Reynolds says he was sick and crazy, while the command says he was so drunk he was having delirium tremens.

He was arrested May 10, 1889, charged with conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman (to which he had virtually confessed in the Express), for having by protracted and excessive drinking of alcoholic stimulants, incapacitate(d) himself for duty and bring(ing) on delirium tremens, improperly and without cause, call(ing) for the sergeant of the guard several times during the night and writing and publishing a letter disgraceful to the service of the United States Army.

At his court-martial, Reynolds pled guilty to the charge of letter-writing, but not to being drunk. The closed-door proceeding began April 20, 1889, and was adjourned sine die (for an indefinite period, in this case, forever) May 9, 1889, a conclusion disappointing (to) the public, who expected a series of trials, says the Galveston Daily News, May 10, 1889. He was suspended from command, confined to the limits of the post and compelled to forfeit his pay of $50 a month for a year.

We might never know exactly what he did to upset the ladies, Davis says, but he did do something and writing the apology  still not thinking right  made matters worse. She proposes a few options other than falling-down drunk. Reynolds might overdosed on medicine he was taking while sick in quarters; he could have had uncontrolled diabetes, which can seem like drunkenness; or this veteran of the Indian wars might have had post-traumatic stress disorder.

Reynolds, his obit notes, was under fire at the numerous night attacks  in the fight at Crazy Horse village  also at the fight on Tongue River, Montana; and Slim Buttes, Dakota and many other battles in which the enemy were fierce, daring, determined fighters, and the brunt of the battle fell upon four troops of which Reynolds was one.

Serving out his punishment for the Mysterious Incident in the Newspaper, Reynolds stayed at Fort Sam until March 27, 1890. After a couple of months leave, he was assigned to garrison duty at Fort Brown until Sept. 6, 1890, then to Fort Ringgold until he resigned, Feb. 1, 1891. Where he went and what he did after that isnt easily determined. In 1898, this career cavalryman appears as a private on the rolls of the 3rd U.S. Volunteer Infantry, although there is absolutely no information other than name and unit, Davis says. I suspect he never actually served with them.

He died of cancer at age 52 on July 10, 1901, at his mothers house in Washington D.C. and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Reynolds never married, says his West Point obit, but many a gray-haired mother and grayer grandmother must have pleasant recollections of his gallantries, and a host of middle-age men and women recall his acts of kindness  Not many of his early comrades remain, but of them not onecan indulge in a reminiscence of B Reynolds and not have to wipe away a tear.

***

I couldnt note this anniversary without thanking all who have helped me learn something old every week  the academic and avocational historians, librarians and archivists, museum curators, government record keepers, genealogists and most of all readers who share their first-hand and family knowledge of every age of old San Antonio.

At the end of each calendar year, this column publishes the years stumpers  the unsolved, seemingly unsolvable mysteries that came in as questions and resist easy answers. Often, its because theres not quite enough information. I have one of those of my own. It was a wisp of a story I saw while looking for something else, a one- or two-paragraph report on something that conjured up a moody, foreboding scene: A single womans shoe and an empty suitcase were found together near a tree. No one in the neighborhood claimed them; it didnt look good for the owner. The objects were reported to the police, who didnt seem to know what to make of them. No names, just shoe, suitcase, treeand maybe a gone girl?

Thats one of those things I promised myself to come back to later, to look for a next-day story and maybe a resolution. I remembered it for this column but when I tried to find it, nothing remotely like it came up. So unless someone else knows the story, the Case of the Random Belongings, if it was one, will have to wait. Lets promise to meet back here, or some reasonable facsimile, in 2042.

historycolumn@yahoo.com

Twitter: @sahistorycolumn

Facebook: SanAntoniohistorycolumn
Of all the documents obtained from the family of Tech Sgt. Steven D. Bellino, who the Air Force says killed his squadron commander and then himself nine months ago, none is more painful to read than a note found in a storage unit he rented in San Antonio.

The note is undated and unsigned. The Air Force said it was likely written in August 2015, months before Bellinos fatal encounter with Lt. Col. William Bill Schroeder at Forbes Hall at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

The two were in the Air Forces elite Battlefield Airmen program, where Bellino had trained in a tough pararescue course the summer before  and by washing out, had seen his military career unravel.

The Air Force calls the letter a suicide note. Bellinos family thinks its a forgery.

Bellino rarely told anyone about his successes or his failures. He never told his family he was a Green Beret or that he graduated with honors from Ohio State University.

I never wanted any family, never to settle down, the note says. An Air Force psychiatric exam conducted months after the note was written revealed that Bellino never dated in high school, never married and had no children.

Bellino begins by asking that his letter not be shared with any authorities or representatives of the government. As far as they are concerned I have left no final communication. I am only writing this letter so those who are important to me will not be forever completely in the dark.

He continues, Im very sorry for leaving you and I know you will not understand why. This letter will not be long enough to convey an understanding, but will help you begin to know why. I do not like this world and I do not want to be a part of it any longer. There is no place I belong. Ive searched for many years to find a home consistent with my ethics and such a place does not exist.

Steve Bellino was a stellar soldier. Recordings, transcripts and documents provided to the San Antonio Express-News show he had a strong sense of honor  a code some would call inflexible.

Bellino had struggled to regain his footing amid professional setbacks following repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Post traumatic stress disorder symptoms grew more and more severe in the final year of his life, the documents indicate.

It didnt take long for Bellino to become unhappy with the Air Force at Lackland. He had given up his Army master sergeants stripes to get into the pararescue pipeline, going from an E-8 to an E-6, and then he didnt like what he saw. At 40, he was an old pro.

Bellino writes of his decision to leave the two-week pararescue Developmental Course, called Dev by the instructors and trainees. The key: Instructors, called cadre, telling him to sound an air horn to signify he was quitting the program on the morning of Aug. 3, 2015. He refused. Hours later, Bellino was on a plane headed to Cleveland, absent without leave.

I began discovering there were some things about the Air Force Pararescue I respected; however, the beginning of this pipeline requires an incredible amount of immaturity. It is exactly like stepping back in basic training, and this is where my most current problem lied. Hence, I am currently AWOL (absent without leave). I can handle the physical rigors fine because I am in great shape. What I have no problem in admitting that I cannot handle is being treated like a child, he writes.

He returned to Lackland 10 days later. The fatal dispute occurred last April.

Toward the end of the note, his anger dissipates into defiant self-pity.

I never wanted any family, never to settle down. I only wanted to improve myself as a man in every way possible, to achieve my ideal career, and that ship has sailed forever. I am inflexible. I do not feel sorry for myself. Im a man. Sometimes we get what we want and sometimes we do not, he writes, addressing his mother, father and twin brother before closing.

I love you all. I know you will never understand, nor get over this. I am so very sorry, but I cannot remain here any longer. What becomes of this world is no longer my concern.
After Texas moved forward with cuts in Medicaid reimbursements to therapists who work with disabled children, providers in Bexar County are projecting losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The reimbursements under the state Medicaid program cover physical, occupational and speech therapy for poor children with disabilities. The state Legislature previously approved $350 million in cuts, though now some legislators, including House Speaker Joe Straus, are working on a plan to reverse them.

Kim Jefferies, chief executive officer of the Brighton Center, one of the three Early Childhood Intervention providers in Bexar County, said that out of 1,700 children served, 1,139 are enrolled in Medicaid. ECI provides free or discounted therapy for babies and toddlers with developmental disabilities, such as speech issues, Down syndrome and autism.

(The cuts) will translate into a loss of revenue of about $250,000, Jefferies said, starting from Dec.15, when cuts were enacted, through Aug. 31. We have to find a way to make up that revenue, including community support, foundation support and individual support. We have to raise these funds in order to support that every child who qualifies gets the services that they need.

The Medicaid reimbursement cuts went into effect in December, more than a year after lawmakers approved them. Some home health providers and parents sued to try to stop the cuts, which they said affect as many as 60,000 children statewide. Opponents say that the lower reimbursements will force some providers to curtail services or close, shifting more children to fewer therapists.

A court dismissed the suit, finding that the state acted within its authority to set the rates.

Regardless of how much reimbursement they get for services, Jefferies said, they still have to provide therapy.

It puts us in a unique situation where we are required by the state of Texas in our contract to provide services for every child, yet the state is cutting our funding in order to do that, Jefferies said.

State legislators have cut funding for ECI by 11 percent in the last seven years, according to a report by the advocacy group Texans Care for Children. As a result, ECI enrollment has decreased, it found. Texas ranked 43rd nationwide in 2014 for the percentage of children enrolled in ECI, and since 2011, the number of ECI contractors in the state dropped from 58 to 47.

Another Bexar County ECI program is provided by the Center for Health Care Services, which serves about 700 children, including those who are in kinship or foster care. About 500 of those children are Medicaid recipients.

Zaida Yzaguirre, director of the program, projected a loss of revenue of $83,600 through Aug. 31 because of the cuts and said that layoffs were a possible way of dealing with the revenue gap.

Were running a very lean machine, Yzaguirre said. We are serving all the children that qualify with nothing fancy. Were serving them all because we have to by law.

With state revenues squeezed by the downturn in the oil and gas industry, House and Senate budget writers have taken largely different positions on the reimbursement rate controversy. Straus finalized a plan to reverse cuts in the supplemental budget for the legislative biennium, but Senate leaders have not.

At the Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, where tearful parents of children with developmental delays testified, Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, said it was never the legislators intent to take away services.

She has said that the cuts were based on information showing that Texas rates were far above those in other states.

Marty Drake brought his 16-month-old daughter, Sully, diagnosed with Down syndrome. He said that he and his wife had been advised by one of the therapists in Livingston that if cuts were not reversed, the provider would not remain open and Sully would not receive occupational therapy.

Drake said that without services in Livingston, they would have to go to another center in downtown Houston, about 70 miles away.

Nelson said the Texas Health and Human Services Commission must consider access to care when implementing the rates. We will make sure, in any case, no child is denied services, she said.

It makes me very sad that people are so frightened, she said. No service should be cut.

After hearing from parents, State Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, vice chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, said: I hope that the Legislature will acknowledge and agree that we need to put that money back into budget.

elutz@express-news.net

Twitter: @elenamejialutz
Associated Press

Police in West Texas arrested the 25-year-old boyfriend of Sul Ross State University student Zuzu Verk in connection with the 22-year-old womans disappearance in October, police said Saturday.

Alpine police officers arrested Robert Fabian at around 9 a.m. Saturday and charged him with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence by concealing a human corpse, a second-degree felony punishable by a maximum 20 year sentence upon conviction, the Alpine Police Department said in a news release Saturday.
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Each time the bucking chute gate opens during the 18-day San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, all eyes in the arena will be on the young cowpoke fighting to stay aboard a bucking bronc or pitching bull.

And when each wild ride ends, either after eight seconds of glory or a crash to earth, the pickup men take center stage, rushing in to help an anxious rider to safety or rope a belligerent bull.

Were in the arena as part of the whole rodeo performance. Our job is to look after the cowboy at the end of the ride, and the bucking horse as well, said Gary Rempel, 65, of Montana, long one of the best at the trade.

Its kind of an art. You take pride in what you do. And the smoother you look doing it, the better it makes everything flow, he added.

This year, Rempel and Chase Cervi, 30, his regular partner at the San Antonio rodeo, will be returning to South Texas to work 21 performances.

More Information The rodeo crew It takes more than 75 people just to put on the rodeo portion of the Stock Show & Rodeo, and most are unseen by the public. Pickup men have just one of the critical public roles. Among the others: Announcers: Provide a steady stream of information and live-action commentary, including names of contestants, results and humorous stories for the crowd. Judges: Score the events, enforce the rules and maintain the flow of contestants. Stock managers: Work with stock contractors on supplying animals and run the "roughstock" events. Chute boss: Manages the timed-riding events, makes sure the animals are in the right order in the chutes and keeps the rodeo moving. Bullfighters: Sometimes called rodeo clowns, they protect bull riders and help get animals out of the arena. Barrel men: Use the barrel to protect bull riders and entertain the crowd. Secretary: Works with contestants, judges and the office to organize the events. Keeps track of scores and payouts. Timers: Work with judges, keep official scoring in timed events, run official clocks and stopwatches. See More Collapse

Both look forward to this stop on the national circuit that includes the Pendleton Roundup, the Calgary Stampede and the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

I always kind of compare San Antonio to Calgary because theres a Western feel about it. When you get to San Antonio, you kind of know the rodeo is going on, Rempel said.

Cervi, whose family owns a rodeo company in Colorado, said, San Antonio is probably one of the funnest places to pickup. The arena is small, and the bucking horses are the best in the business.

And the feeling is mutual, according to Glen Alan Phillips, whose job includes helping supervise the rodeo that this year will involve about 450 contestants and 1,500 animals and will draw over 315,000 spectators.

Those two are about as good as it gets when it comes to being pickup men. And both those gentlemen have been a big part of our rodeo as a whole, Phillips said.

As the ultimate compliment, both Rempel and Cervi have repeatedly been selected by the competing cowboys to work the National Finals Rodeo, the most prestigious in the land, where a pickup man can earn $1,000 per performance.

But most rodeos pay far less, and the endless travel, bunking in a horse trailer and the risk of injury make it mostly a labor of love, Cervi said.

Theres a handful of guys who do all the big rodeos, and a bunch of guys who do the small rodeos, he said.

Both agree that much of a pickup mans success depends on his horses.

If you dont have a good pickup horse, its going to be a long rodeo. You have to have a horse that can run and is real stout for when you latch onto a saddle bronc, Cervi said.

Each man will be bringing about a half-dozen proven mounts to San Antonio for the rodeo.

Knowing a lot about livestock is just the beginning for a pickup man. In order to anticipate what might happen next, he also must be able to read the rider.

Say in bareback, youre watching the ride and you see a guy whos not in real control. You can almost see the wreck coming before it gets there, Rempel said.

But no matter how good and experienced a pickup man may be, he always worries about what can go wrong when the bucking starts.

In the bareback riding, if a horse bucks the guy off the wrong way, the guys hand can get hung up in the rigging. He can be dragged around the arena, and theres nothing he can do, Cervi said.

So the pickup man will have to get a rope on the horse to stop him, so the cowboy can get his arm out. A lot of times, they will break their wrist or jack up their hands or shoulders, or get stepped on, he said.

Another key to a smooth performance is working well with the other pickup men, and Rempel and Cervi have lost count of the number of times theyve been a team.

Ive been working with him a long time, basically since he started, through the winter run. We were talking about it the other day. Were looking at close to 1,000 bucking horses just this winter, Rempel said.

And even after 35 years in the business and uncounted thousands of successful pickups, Rempel still worries about what could go wrong.

I lose sleep over it. Your biggest worry is letting that guy get beat up too much. And when things dont go right, it really bothers you, he said.
FORT HOOD  Some legislators have toured Fort Hood for a closer look at helicopters, tanks and how the sprawling Central Texas post operates.

Friday was Texas Legislative Day and more than a dozen new members of the state House and Senate had a chance to interact with soldiers, the Killeen Daily Herald reported.

The lawmakers took part in a combat engagement skills simulation, with access to the same weapons that soldiers use.

GOP Sen. Dawn Buckingham, of Lakeway, represents the district that includes the Army post.

We wanted to understand each and every one of our communities and the folks who live here. So I just view this is a continuation of that, she told KWTX-TV.

The event was a daylong opportunity for Texas government officials to see the training areas and to interact with soldiers.

It gives us a glimpse of what its like to be a soldier, said Rep. Scott Cosper, a Republican from Killeen. Its also an opportunity to see how big Fort Hood is and what the many moving parts are  from the motor pools, the training areas to the command post.

Buckingham had the chance to jump in a tank, get in a helicopter and shoot a machine gun during a simulation.

Im a gun girl, since I grew up shooting guns, Buckingham said. So I just walked up and said dibs on the biggest one.
In the high, dry plains of West Texas sits a hazardous waste site operated by Waste Control Specialists, a company that wants to begin storing high-level nuclear waste from dozens of nuclear power plants across the country.

For that waste to get to the facility in Andrews County on the Texas-New Mexico border, it would first travel on thousands of miles of railroad tracks, according to a WCS spokesman and a Federal Railroad Administration document. That could include rail lines that pass through Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, though the specifics so far are hard to come by.

WCS site is already one of eight in the U.S. permitted to take low-level radioactive waste, mostly from hospitals and laboratories. High-level waste, which only comes from nuclear reactor fuel or reprocesssed fuel, is radioactive enough to kill a person directly exposed to it so its stored in metal canisters inside of concrete casks that can weigh more than 100 tons.

WCS wants to begin accepting high-level waste by 2021. On Jan. 27, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an independent agency, declared WCS application complete, starting the clock on period for public input that ends March 13. The NRC will hold public hearings in Andrews on Feb. 15 and in Hobbs, New Mexico, on Feb. 13.

Trying to build grassroots opposition to the new permit, husband-and-wife clean energy activists Tom Smitty Smith, who recently retired from running Public Citizen, and Karen Hadden of the SEED Coalition have been visiting Texas cities telling local politicians and news media that the waste could travel through their communities on its way to Andrews. Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert added his voice to theirs in a statement last April.

Officials with WCS and federal agencies that regulate the waste shipments are not giving out details about the exact routes, most likely because of security concerns. The waste would have to be shipped under an agreement between WCS and the Department of Energy, which technically owns the waste.

Youre jumping way ahead of the process, WCS spokesman Chuck McDonald said in a phone interview. Weve got a license application to get a (consolidated interim storage facility) license. And then we want to construct and operate a facility. If that would happen, DOE would have to take title to this waste and then the contract would be at DOE. All that would have to happen but that hasnt happened yet.

Information on the metal canisters and concrete casks used for transport is easier to find. The manufacturers, AREVA Inc. and NAC International, are working on the application with WCS. An independent 2006 report by the National Research Council committee states that these kinds of casks can withstand drops, puncturing, explosions, submersion and other calamities, though they may be vulnerable to very long duration, fully engulfing fires.

Small amounts of nuclear waste from research reactors in other countries have already been shipped to sites in South Carolina and Idaho, according to federal documents. Federal agencies are supposed to work with rail carriers to use the highest-rated tracks, coordinate with state and local governments and conduct crew training and inspections, according to an FRA oversight plan.

The transportation is the No. 1 issue people ask about, but when they actually get a chance to see it, they actually feel pretty confident because its highly regulated, McDonald said.

Hadden and Smith prefer to focus on the what-ifs.

Youve got this stuff going out in the middle of the desert with temperature extremes, Hadden said. Youve got intense storms and flooding, lightning, wildfires.  I dont think the casks are at all robust enough.

Unexpected accidents are not unheard of in the nuclear waste field. The wrong brand of cat litter caused a two-year shutdown of the DOEs Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, an underground storage site for defense-related radioactive waste outside of Carlsbad only 43 miles from WCS, in an area sometimes referred to as New Mexicos nuclear corridor.

In 2014, a barrel of waste at that site burst, releasing radioactive materials, after someone packed it with organic cat litter instead of the inorganic brand they usually use, according to a DOE investigation. The site reopened Jan. 9.

Still, two independent experts who worked on the 2006 waste transportation study committee told the Express-News that the cask systems used for spent nuclear fuel storage and transport can withstand nearly any real-world calamity, including a terrorist attack.

I became convinced in my association with the committee that you could do it safely, said Melvin Kanninen, a San Antonio resident and mechanical engineer formerly with Southwest Research Institute. And even if a terrorist decided to do some damage, hed have a hard time doing it.

WCS site has now become part of the debate over what to do with spent nuclear material being stored at 67 sites in 34 states, including the South Texas Project in Bay City, the nuclear power plant partly owned by CPS Energy. The fuel is kept in concrete-lined pools of water 40 feet deep or in above-ground casks. Spent fuel only 10 years out of the reactor still emits 20 times the amount of radiation per hour it would take to kill a person all at once, according to the NRC.

So far, the U.S. has no viable permanent disposal site for this waste, which continues to emit unsafe levels of radiation for hundreds of thousands of years after it has grown too thermally cool to efficiently generate electricity.

Hadden thinks the real priority should be on finding a permanent site.

We dont think it should be moved until that site is found and developed because its a huge risk to transport this, and it should only get transported once, she said.

Other countries have also struggled to find a long-term site. Canada, Germany, Japan and South Korea store it at the reactor site, while France and the United Kingdom reprocess theirs into new fuel.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration says U.S. waste adds up to 70,000 metric tons, more than three times the weight of the USS Lexington, the decommissioned battleship floating in Corpus Christi Bay. In its current permit, WCS asked to take 5,000 metric tons.

Only one other company has a similar permit for high-level nuclear waste  Private Fuel Storage, which received approval in 2006 after nine years of NRC review. The site has not been built, NRC spokeswoman Maureen Conley said.

Another company, Holtec International, is expected to file an application in March for another site in Lea County, New Mexico, across the Texas border from WCS.

For 30 years, the Department of Energys goal was to store the waste inside the hollowed-out Yucca Mountain in Nevada until a permanent disposal site could be found. The DOE spent $15 billion developing the site, but the Nevada congressional delegation, led by for now-retired Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, has successfully blocked it.

In the coming weeks, the Senate will vote whether to confirm former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has supported WCS in the past, to lead the DOE.

From 2000 to 2011, Perrys campaigns took in at least $1.1 million from Dallas billionaire and WCS owner Harold Simmons, who died in 2013. As governor, Perry wrote a letter in 2014 supporting WCS permit application for high-level waste storage.

At Perrys recent confirmation hearing, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, asked him if he supported a requirement that the DOE, if it does decide to use Yucca Mountain, get Nevadas consent.

I'm going to work very closely with you and the members of this committee to find the answers to these challenges, Perry said. I think that we can find a solution, both in the interim and long term, (for) our nuclear waste.

Federal campaign records appear to show no donations from top executives of WCS or its parent company, Valhi Inc., to Perrys 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns.

WCS is fending off a Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit that would block the proposed acquisition of WCS by EnergySolutions, which also disposes of low-level waste. The government contends that the $367 million deal would stifle competition, which has led to lower disposal costs for commercial customers.

bgibbons@express-news.net

Twitter: @bgibbs
The Yangtze River serves as Beijing's main water supply provider, thanks to a diversion project that currently serves around 50 percent of the Chinese capital's population. (Photo : Getty Images)

Beijing benefits once more from the south-north water diversion project, as the Chinese capital receives 2 billion cubic meters worth of water from the Yangtze River, authorities claimed. The diversion has benefited almost half of the city's population.



The diversion project has supplied said amount of water to Beijing since Dec. 2014, when it first commenced operations, per the office in charge of the diversion project. Water from the Yangtze River has been distributed to water supply companies, reservoirs, groundwater, rivers, and lakes.



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Around 68 percent of the diverted water to Beijing went to water supply companies, effectively providing 1.37 billion cubic meters to the capital's residents. Reservoirs filled in 284 million cubic meters of water, with groundwater, rivers, and lakes constituting the remaining amount.



Standards have been thoroughly met in maintaining the quality of the water supply going to Beijing. At the same time, authorities remarked positively on the facility's operations, as well as the smooth running of water diversion towards the Chinese capital.



The diversion project has since helped more than half of Beijing's population--around 11 million people--in terms of their water supply needs. That provides great relief to the capital's heavy demands for water, considering the high concentration of people living within its borders.



Also, the diversion project enabled Beijing to gain access to clean water, having reduced levels of hard mineral sediments in the supply, per Xinhua. Prior to that, the Chinese capital relied mostly on water coming from underground sources, which often contain minerals such as calcium and magnesium.



Beijing's water comes from the diversion project's middle route, which consists of canal and pipe networks from the Danjiangkou reservoir, in Hubei Province. The middle route also supplies water to both the Hebei and Henan Provinces, and all the way to Tianjin before it reaches the Chinese capital.


AUSTIN  As the founder of a charter school, Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins is inclined to see the value in allowing choices in education.

But the Democrat from San Antonio is concerned about some Republican proposals to allow tax dollars to be used on tuition at private elementary and high schools, for the same reason cited by teacher and school board groups with a stake in the current system.

Its the issue of accountability.

We cant paint with a broad brush and believe that everybody would be good stewards of the public money, said Gervin-Hawkins.

Traditional public schools must meet strict financial and academic accountability standards. A new A-F grading system that will be in effect in 2018 already has caused a ruckus among officials who contend its unfair to schools with low-income students who may not do as well on standardized tests.

Charter schools are subject to fewer state laws in an effort to encourage innovation. But they also are monitored and accredited by the state, and they must meet financial and academic standards.

Advocates of voucher-type programs arent trying to bring private schools under the same strictures as public schools if they take public money, although those getting public funds would have to be accredited through an organization recognized by the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission.

A summary by school choice advocates of Senate Bill 3, unveiled last week by Senate Education Committee Chairman Larry Taylor with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick last week, makes that clear.

This bill protects against additional government regulation on the educational program of the child. No school will be forced to alter its creed, practices, admissions policies, curriculum, performance standards, or assessments to receive money under the program. There will be no state control or supervision of a private school, parent, or student not absolutely necessary to implement the program and prevent financial fraud, says the summary by Texans for Education Opportunity.

Taylor had a quick answer to the accountability question at a news conference with Patrick to unveil a school choice measure that could allow 15,000 students to use public resources to attend private school in the first year of its implementation.

A private school has the best accountability system in the world: They (students) dont have to go there, said Taylor, R-Friendswood. Theyre not assigned to that private school by geography or ZIP code. And if the parents not happy with whats going on in that school, they leave. And that school loses all the funding that goes with them

You cant get much better accountability than that, he said.

Others dont see it that way.

In a policy environment with increasing school accountability, it is preposterous that the State of Texas would place thousands of public tax dollars on a debit card with little to no accountability, said a statement from the Texas Association of School Boards.

Taylors measure, Senate Bill 3, would create two avenues of public support for private-school tuition.

Parents either could get public money through education savings accounts, or their children could get scholarships funded by businesses that would get insurance tax credits for the contribution.

Randan Steinhauser  Texas adviser for school choice advocacy group EdChoice  pointed out that the state comptroller would administer the education savings accounts, which only could go to approved educational expenses. The accreditation process for private schools is strict, she said.

The bill also would instruct the comptroller to contract with a private entity to randomly audit education savings accounts as necessary to ensure compliance with requirements.

As for student outcomes, Steinhauser said parents may judge a school by more than standardized test scores. For example, she said, a private school may better suit a student with social anxiety.

She, and others who support this sort of school choice, take issue with concerns that it would undermine public schools that would continue to serve the vast majority of students.

We just want the children to be able to go to a school that works for them, she said.

Gervin-Hawkins said she wants to sit down with colleagues to talk about choice in the public school system.

Ive got some ideas, she said. I think we could create a win-win. But that win-win has to include accountability.

pfikac@express-news.net

Twitter: @pfikac
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Rabbi Mara Nathan of Congregation Beth-El was on her way back from Eastern Europe when President Donald Trumps executive order blocking Syrian refugees and travelers from six other predominantly Muslim nations began to take effect.

She wrote to congregants about Vienna and Budapest, where she saw the effect of anti-Semitism and the generosity of righteous gentiles in the reawakening of Jewish life. She lamented the rise of nationalism in Hungary.

Each time she faced a customs check, she felt grateful for her U.S. passport.

Too many of our own people have been turned away in their most desperate hour, she wrote. How can we, a nation of immigrants, withhold the same compassion our ancestors required?

Other San Antonio faith leaders have been spurred to speak about the entry ban and Trumps plans to hasten deportations, crack down on so-called sanctuary cities and extend a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border.

They say theyre praying for both the president and those whose lives his orders have affected.

Travis Park United Methodist Church made its statement with a banner on its downtown steeple declaring, We stand with our Muslim neighbors.

Some declined comment or did not return calls. Those who issued statements focused less on specific policies than on overarching humanitarian concerns.

Here, in no particular order, are the reactions of local religious leaders on the latest refugee and immigration policy changes. Most have been excerpted from longer statements.

Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller and Auxiliary Bishop-elect Michael Boulette, Archdiocese of San Antonio

Our archdiocese and Catholic Charities agency, along with other groups and dioceses across the country, will continue to stand in solidarity with refugees, immigrants and their families. We will work for responsible and comprehensive immigration reform. All agree that change needs to take place, but it must be carried out in a humane manner which respects the dignity of the human person. Certainly, concerns about security must be strongly addressed, but not through political measures that do more harm than good.

Beytullah Colak, director and imam, the Islamic Institute

Making America safe should be a high priority for our government, yet preserving the American values that have been admired by many nations around the globe is another priority.  We, Muslim citizens of this great nation, along with Americans of every religious, nonreligious and philosophical tradition, desire to build peace in our neighborhoods, communities, cities, states and in our nation.

Cornerstone Church

The evangelical, nondenominational megachurch did not respond due to travel and prior commitments of its pastors, a spokesman said.

Scott Kindig and Sean Metcalf, executive pastors, Community Bible Church

At Community Bible Church, a central part of our vision is that we are For the City, for the Nation and for the World. Therefore, when it comes to how we will treat the people in this world, as well as how we will respond to the leaders of this world, the answer is very much the same. We will love all the people in our city, our nation and our world. We will also pray for our city leaders, pray for our national leaders and pray for our world leaders.

Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word

Any time a group of people is separated from the human community because another part of that community determines they are a threat, our faith and tradition demand that we speak against and act for. (We stand) alongside voices of own faith tradition, and others, who have issued statements against recent extreme actions by the executive branch.

Interim Pastor San Williams, University Presbyterian Church. (Its late Pastor Kelly Allen founded the Interfaith Welcome Coalition, a nonprofit that aids immigrants and asylum seekers.)

The work goes on, no matter what government policy. The ministry and mission of the church is the same  to welcome people, provide hospitality and resist voices and efforts aimed at particularly vulnerable populations.

First Baptist Church San Antonio

The historic downtown church declined to comment.

Pastors Ronald Scates and Bob Fuller, First Presbyterian Church

First Presbyterian Church does not take official positions on legislation or presidential orders. With Christians everywhere, we are praying for our elected leaders to govern wisely and justly. We also embrace the recurring theme in the Bible to love the foreigners in our midst. FPC has provided funding to establish sustainable businesses benefiting internally displaced peoples in Iraq. Our church has mission partners around the world, and we support organizations like Food for the Hungry, which has been providing material relief to refugees in the Middle East and Europe. First Presbyterian also hosts strategy meetings and a fundraising gala for the Interfaith Welcome Coalition.

Rabbi Chaim Block, Chabad Center for Jewish Life & Learning

The head of the Orthodox synagogue, which is part of the worlds largest Hasidic movement, declined to comment at this time.

Bishop Michael Vono, Episcopal Bishops of Texas, in a statement co-signed by fellow bishops

Texans are not known for being fearful, but for their generous hospitality and bighearted welcoming.  We are extremely concerned that Gov. Greg Abbott has announced his intention to pull the state of Texas out of the U.S. refugee resettlement program (which is) inconsistent with our proud history of welcoming refugees.

Retired Bishop Joel Martinez, United Methodist Church

As Christians and United Methodists, we are called to love the stranger in our midst and to treat that stranger as we would our own family. We must be a church that welcomes the immigrant into our cities, our towns, our neighborhoods, our churches and our homes.

eayala@express-news.net

Twitter: @ElaineAyala
Mark Sorrells will be the new president of FTCC next year

education
The CPC requires 88 million members to transcribe by hand the Party's constitution. (Photo : Getty Images)

The celebration of a new year brings not only new opportunities, but new challenges as well. For China, the Year of the Rooster is a step closer towards the dream of creating "quan mian xiao kang" by the year 2020.



China aims to achieve a "moderately prosperous society in an all-around way" under the country's 13th Five-Year Plan. The year will be significant and very challenging for the ruling Communist Party of China, which was also founded in the Year of the Rooster (1921).



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On the long list of items under the CPC's plan, poverty relief is high on the agenda of the government. The government proposes support for poor villages to develop signature products and services.



Guidelines were also issued to enhance collaboration between the developed eastern regions and underdeveloped western regions, in the hopes of meeting poverty reduction targets.



The government will continue to implement supply-side structural reforms this year, which includes cutting excess capacity, implementing agricultural reforms, boosting the real economy and nurturing new growth.



Political reforms will also be implemented this year, with the establishment of a national supervisory commission and a creation of a law on national supervision. Despite efforts to build a clean Party, the crackdown on corruption has gained "crushing momentum," netting both "tigers" and "flies" with no signs of letting up in the near future.



On foreign relations, China will be pushing through with its commitment to encourage globalization and cooperation despite the hurdles ahead.



The country will be hosting big events such as the Belt and Road forum for international cooperation in Beijing in May, and the ninth BRICS leaders' summit in southeast China's coastal city of Xiamen in September.



The Year of the Rooster will also be a test on the country's relations with the U.S., now under the new Trump administration. Despite the seemingly rising tension between the two countries, China will still go with the general trend of cooperation, which is the only right choice for both countries.



"If things go well for China and the Chinese people, the chances are it's going to go well for a lot of other people around the planet," said Michael Moller, head of the United Nations Office at Geneva.



While these may seem like overwhelming tasks ahead, China and its people will continue to focus on working for a better future.


Andrew Garfield has explained why he and Ryan Reynolds locked lips at this years Golden Globes, with the pair sharing a smooch when Canadian actor Ryan Gosling took to the stage to pick up the gong for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.

Appearing on The Graham Norton Show this weekend, the actor explained: I said to Ryan Reynolds if you win, kiss me instead of your wife. He said, Yeah, thats great. And the plan was that he would kind of move towards his wife, and then kind of last minute lean in to it.

And then he didnt win, much to our disappointment, so I said to Ryan, We can still just do it if we want. And he was game.

Reynolds was also nominated in the category for his portrayal of superhero Deadpool in the Marvel movie of the same name and was attending the Globes ceremony with wife, Blake Lively.

Meanwhile, Garfield is now gearing up to fight it out in the Best Actor category at this years Oscars, with the star picking up a nomination due to his leading role in Hacksaw Ridge.

He previously told the LA Times upon receiving the nod: If there was any doubt in my mind  and theres always a lot  the Academy members, whose opinion I value, seem to think Im on the right track.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Celebrated Hollywood actress Brie Larson, states that films are her own way of activism. She says she derives happiness by performing in the different roles and characters in the movie.

The 27-year-old star, who will soon be seen in the upcoming movie Kong: Skull Island states that she feels proud of her role in the movie in the character of Mason Weaver, as it showcases the plight and toil of being a journalist, who put their life to risk in search of truth.

"I make movies as a form of activism. I believe we learn from what we see in our leaders. I'm proud to play Mason Weaver in 'Kong: Skull Island' because she represents the many journalists who risk their lives every day to share with us the truth." Brie Larson said in a statement.

"Weaver leads with compassion and believes that unity cannot be obtained through aggression. I'm excited to share this film with you," said the actress.

Larson also expressed her happiness about getting connected with her fans via Instagram and let them aware all the important aspects and updates about her upcoming movie.

"And in the meanwhile, I'm thrilled to have this platform as a way to connect us. Let's work together. Let's be open to learning from each other," Larson stated via Instagram post.
2016 G20 State Leaders Summit in Hangzhou (Photo : Getty Images)

While tensions between the U.S. and Mexico are intensifying because of Trump's plan to build a border wall between the countries, China is taking this opportunity to strengthen ties with the latter. It looks like both countries are making moves in light of the uncertainty on a global scale.



Trump has been engaging in a war of words with almost everyone, including their neighbor down south. The U.S. President has signed an executive order that calls for the building a wall along the US-Mexico border, to keep migrants from crossing. About 2,000 miles of border separates the U.S. and Mexico.



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Because of this certain executive order, a border tax of 20 percent might be implemented, putting the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)--involving the U.S., Canada and Mexico--under threat.



Mexico houses the factories of automakers from around the world, most of which have a particular interest in the easy access to the U.S. market.



But Trump might just change everything as he threatens to impose a 35 percent tax on cars made in Mexico and sold in the U.S., causing uncertainty in a key part of the Mexican community. The U.S. head of state threatened carmaker General Motors with a big border tax over its manufacturing operations in Mexico.



While U.S. automakers are being threatened, a Chinese automaker has reached a $212 million deal with Mexico. Giant Motors Latinoamerica and JAC Motors will lead to the manufacture of two SUV models, and possibly an electric vehicle in the state of Hidalgo.



And it looks like the Mexican government is also looking to a reinforced partnership with China.



"We want to attract investment and continue to strengthen our ties with China in a comprehensive way," said Luis Videgaray, Mexico's Foreign Affairs Minister.



China hasn't pumped in much investment in Mexico in the past years. But with the uncertainties under the new Trump administration, it looks like China is prepared to fill in the vacuum that the U.S. will create if things go bad.


By Ben Blanchard

| BEIJING

BEIJING Executives of two Chinese companies included on a new U.S. sanctions list targeting Iran said on Sunday they had only exported "normal" goods to the Middle Eastern country and didn't consider they had done anything wrong.The sanctions on 25 individuals and entities imposed on Friday were the opening salvo by President Donald Trump who has vowed a more aggressive policy against Tehran and came two days after the administration had put Iran 'on notice' following a ballistic missile test.Those affected under the sanctions cannot access the U.S. financial system or deal with U.S. companies and are subject to secondary sanctions, meaning foreign companies and individuals are prohibited from dealing with them or risk being blacklisted by the United States.The list includes two Chinese companies and three Chinese people, only one of whom the U.S. Treasury Department explicitly said was a Chinese citizen, a person called Qin Xianhua.Richard Yue, who is on the list, told Reuters he was also Chinese and that he thought the decision was unfair. His bank account had been frozen, meaning he couldn't work, he said."I export to lots of countries, and Iran is a customer too. That's totally normal," Yue said."How is this fair? Why should others pay attention to what Americans say? What's wrong with my daily use goods?"

Yue added he did not know what he would do, or whether he would try and seek help from the Chinese government.He did not elaborate on what products his company, Cosailing Business Trading Co. Ltd, based in the northern port city of Qingdao and also on the sanctions list, exported to Iran.The company's website shows it is involved in trading everything from furnaces to treadmills and false eyelashes. Yue is listed on the site as Cosailing's sales manager.The other Chinese company on the list is Ningbo New Century Import and Export Co, based in the eastern port city of Ningbo, which business-to-business websites show advertises exports and imports of fire hydrants and inner tubes for motorcycle tyres.

An export manager at Ningbo New Century who gave his family name as Tang told Reuters they made "normal" exports to Iran, though he would not say of what."There's nothing we can do. Let them put us on the sanctions list," Tang added, declining further comment.Reuters was not able to locate contacts for the two other Chinese people on the list.

China's Foreign Ministry has not commented on the new sanctions.The official Xinhua news agency, in a commentary on Sunday, said while the new sanctions would have a limited effect on Iran, they opened a new chapter in the stand-off between Washington and Tehran."Now Trump has taken office, uncertainly in the U.S.-Iran relationship has risen, and this may become a ticking time bomb for peace and stability in the Middle East," Xinhua said.China has in the past been angered by what it calls unilateral sanctions placed on Chinese firms by the United States and others in relation to Iran or North Korea's nuclear ambitions.China has close economic and diplomatic ties with Tehran, but was also instrumental in pushing through a landmark 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear programme. (Additional reporting by Adam Jourdan in Shanghai; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: The members of AIIMS nursing union on Sunday held a protest over the death of their colleague who they claimed died allegedly due to negligence of the doctors. The union threatened to go on strike if the doctors, who treated the woman, were not terminated from service.

According to Sukhlal Jat, a member of the nursing union, one of their colleagues, Rajbir Kaur, who was pregnant, was admitted to the hospital for a normal delivery on 16 January. During treatment, she lost her baby and was put on life support and died last night.

"Ever since her baby died, the nursing union had been protesting against the administration for not taking note of the issue and punishing the errant doctors," said the nursing union representative. "We lost one of our colleagues due to the negligence of the doctors. We want the doctors who were involved in the negligence towards her to be terminated. We can discuss about our other demands with the AIIMS administration but we want the termination of doctors," said Jat.

He said that they haven't yet received a response from the AIIMS administration. Police said that the post-mortem of the deceased will be conducted.
Islamabad: The killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was a "turning point" for Kashmir, Pakistan's top diplomat on Saturday claimed in Islamabad as he termed the ensuing violence in the Valley an "indigenous youth-led movement" triggered by India's "misguided efforts" to change the state's demography.

Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said this at an event to mark the 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' observed annually on 5 February.

Aziz claimed that the violence following the killing of Wani on 8 July by Indian security forces led to the several deaths and many were blinded either completely or partially.

"This brutality, which has continued unabated in the past 7 months, has not however dampened the resolve of Kashmiri youth to secure their right of self-determination," Aziz said, according to a statement by Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.

Another important factor, Aziz claimed, after Wani's death was the "total rejection of the Indian narrative by the international community" that Kashmir was an integral part of India.

Following the death of Wani, Kashmir witnessed protests and chaos last year. The situation normalised towards the end of last year.

Aziz also said: "The whole world now acknowledges that this is an indigenous youth-led movement which has become stronger because of the Indian government's misguided efforts to change the demographic composition of the state and its insensitivity to the rights of minority communities in India."

He said several countries have debated this issue and human rights organisations in Europe and North America have been mobilising public support to "force" India to resume dialogue with Pakistan to find an acceptable "solution to the longstanding dispute, still on the UN agenda."

He accused India of "desperately trying to divert the attention" of the global community from the situation in Kashmir by "intensifying" cross-border firing along the Line of Control and "pretending" to be a victim of terrorism from Pakistan.
New Delhi: The HRD ministry will bring in a "graded regulatory mechanism" as part of key reforms in the University Grants Commission (UGC) to usher in greater transparency, freedom and autonomy, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Sunday.

The HRD minister also announced that 'SWAYAM', an open web-based platform from which 2000 courses will be run for students across the country, will be launched next month.

Referring to the Union Budget 2017, Javadekar said that it reflects the government's vision of raising quality in the education sector, which has got additional funds this time to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore.

He said that as per the Right to Education Act, learning outcomes are being defined and will be part of the coming academic session.

Another initiative is an innovation fund of Rs 100 crore for schools which will be introduced in educationally backward districts, he said.

He said a separate exam agency has also been announced which will conduct major exams, many of which are being conducted by an "overburdened" CBSE, he said. The CBSE's main focus is to look after school education.

Speaking about UGC reforms, Javadekar said that thrust is to give more autonomy to good institutes and "monitor mid-level and monitor more those in the lower rungs".

"Everybody would be incentivised to go upwards," Javadekar told reporters here.

Referring to the IIM Bill, which is expected to come up in the current Parliament session, Javadekar said it indicates the shape of things to come.

He referred to SWAYAM which is a MOOCs platform and said that it would become what ATM is for money.

"It will be any time learning and anywhere learning," he said while thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the budget provisions.

The HRD minister also referred to the announcement made in 2016 budget about creating 20 world class institutions, and said that consultations are complete and guidelines finalised.

He said institutions would be asked to file applications and the process would start soon.

They wold be know as institutions of excellence, Javadekar said.

Javadekar also said that the HRD ministry is working in a major way to bring reforms in teachers' education.

Asked about exceptionally high cut-offs in some DU colleges, the HRD minister said that it is true that a situation has come where even after scoring 90 per cent students are disappointed and said that the issue will be looked into.

About the names for VC in Aligarh Muslim University, he said that the decision will be taken as per procedure.

He was also asked about certain UGC regulations on admission in PhDs related to which some students were agitating in JNU. Javadekar said if required the students could come and meet him regarding their grievances.
New Delhi: Noting that possible use of weapons of mass destruction and related material by terrorists

is no longer a theoretical concern, India will host a key meet on nuclear security next week which will be attended by delegated from over 100 countries.

The Ministry of External Affairs in coordination with the Department of Atomic Energy is hosting the Implementation and Assessment Group Meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) on 8-10 February.

Approximately 150 delegates from various GICNT partner countries and international organisations will participate in this event, a statement by the MEA said. It said the development was pursuant to the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Nuclear Security Summit last year.

It said the event highlights India's commitment to global nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy and is part of its overall engagement with the international community on nuclear security issues.

"India hosting this meeting highlights the continued priority we attach to nuclear security, our efforts to further strengthen the institutional frameworks, capacity building and enhance international cooperation," the statement said.

It noted that the possible use of weapons of mass destruction and related material by terrorists is no longer a theoretical concern. "A breach of nuclear security may lead to unimaginable consequences. Such an event would have a global impact. It is imperative to strengthen international efforts to combat such

threats. This meeting is therefore timely and important and would further enhance our vigil," MEA said.

GICNT was launched in 2006 jointly by the Russian Federation and the United States. In the past 10 years, it has grown to include 86 partner nations and five official observer organisations and has held several multilateral activities in support of its Statement of Principles.
Through a mutilated door, the old women watch M Kalaimathi, a middle-aged woman who is waking her two children to go to school while her husband is out at sea. Despite her eldest son's warning, the milk bubbling on the stove ascends and falls, as her lanky frame stares sullenly at the broken television set.

She and many suffered in the hands of violence, many reports emerging on alleged police atrocities and bodily harm to her back and arms.

Nadukuppam, a fisherman settlement, faces the Marina beach and was one of many other settlements to face violence on the seventh day of the protests demanding that Jalikattu be held on Pongal day in contravention of the Supreme Courts 2014 ban. The other areas included Shivarajapuram, Mattankuppam, Ruthrapuram and near the famed Parthasarathy temple.

The day before the violence, Chennai Police had barricaded the entrances to Shivarajapuram and Mattankuppam, explaining to residents that they had done so for their safety. "We couldn't access the public toilets or go out to work. We were puzzled for a while," 25-year-old Ponni from Mattankuppam said. Murthy, who manages a petty shop nearby, springs upright at the mention of the barricading and shakes his head. "We felt trapped. This seemed planned."

In Nadukuppam, Senthil Mohan manages a dented blue corner shop with low scaffolding. During the protests, he handed out tea to those who occasionally came out for food. But by the third day, the customers dwindled due to the delivered food at the venue.

"Many come regularly to stay on rent in the houses in bylanes. Some had come in the week before the protests. While there is a priority for fellow fishermen, some from Rajasthan and Bihar come to stay as well. Lighthouse (Station) police tell us from time to time to ask for photo IDs. How many people follow it, I don't know," he says. This claim however, is not unanimously accepted by the community, but many agree that the kuppam (settlement) houses a floating population. The police that attacked us are not from the Lighthouse police station, and we know that for sure, he says, but fish sellers remain perturbed by the presence of police in the area.

A bloody Monday

On 23 January, residents woke up to a flurry of black shirted youngsters begging for shelter. This happened at 8 am when the men were at sea and the women and children were readying for the day. Between 8:30 am to 9 am police arrived on the spot and began a full blown lathi charge and assault on the women and children. "We allowed the protesters in. What do you expect us to do? They are humans too," Kalaiselvi Mani said.

The complex faces a bare orphaned market that was burnt to the ground, and men take to their tea breaks at the spot, huddled over newspapers and video clips on their phones. "We heard Hindi. Jao, jao. They kept saying that. We don't know if it's the police or other people because we were running and never looked back," said Anandi (surname withheld on request), as other women agreed with her.

A constable from the Light House police station who refused to be named said the Hindi speaking rogue elements may have bought training uniforms from Kodambakkam costume shops easily, and that it couldn't be the Chennai Police that did this. While residents of the Kuppam seemed to allege the same, Mylapore's deputy commissioner of police refuted the charges saying there was no possibility that it could be someone other than Tamil Nadu Police. "Rumours are amuck," he said. Whether the Hindi speakers could be police or locals lost in the din of the crowd is a matter for investigation.

In Mattankuppam, women alleged sexual harassment. "They (police) opened their zippers and told us to come to them, called us prostitutes. They spoke mostly in Madurai baashai (language). Most of them definitely didn't look like our local police," 70-year-old Malar (surname withheld on request) says. Malar was hit on the head by a lathi that did not look like the ones police are usually armed with.

"This was like a steel rod," she says, holding up a piece of the broken lathi. Many unidentified youth threw stones at the police from the MRTS rail tracks. We definitely cant trust the police in our area. To date, all of us women stay up all night for our own safety, she says.

Wary fisherfolk

Two weeks have passed. The smell of fish that accompanies locals as they enter the market is absent. Women are hunched over kolams (designs drawn in rice flour on the ground) and officials from the public works department are hauling cement in machinery. The kuppam came together for an inauguration of the newly built complex for fish sellers and took shelter from the scorching sun while they waited for AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) MLA and Fisheries Minister D Jeyakumar to inaugurate it on 3 February. Some clutched their ration cards in hope of grace contributions of rice from the government.

On being approached, the youth are guarded. College students immediately disperse at the sight of anyone unfamiliar, and none are seen on the streets. The 25-year-old Suresh (name changed on request), and his friend were found crouched inside an auto rickshaw and were reluctant to speak. "We go to college and back. We don't want the police arresting us. Just a few days back, the police dragged two of our friends to police enquiry," he said.

Parthiban Anand is running his fingers along the rust that hangs from the head of the auto rickshaw. The rickshaw made headlines as an unidentified policewoman whose face was covered completely with a handkerchief, set fire to his vehicle. He looks on at the preparations and adjusts his pants, lost and confused. "Time to do something else, I guess," he says. The bikes scattered around the auto are reminders of the kuppam that was not so long ago, ensconced in reams of smoke and aflame in chaos.

In a statement on 31 January, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam announced an enquiry commission headed by high court judge would look into the possibility of police excesses. The commission will submit the report in three months and work along with the cyber crime cell to identify the perpetrators.

In Mattankuppam, enquiry officials of the commission, are doing the rounds with visiting cards peeking out from their yellowing notepads. The settlement rings of laughter and sighs as women are bunched up playing a game of snakes and ladders. They digest and neutralise the trauma they have suffered with jokes on the police. "You know, we have a stupid neighbour called Rani. She keeps saying "police dhaan, aana police illa." (They are the police, but they are not the police.) While Rani means to say that they were police but didn't behave like police, the women immediately alienate her as they believed she was defending the police. The police of E6 station near Mattankuppam is familiar to all the residents, but they were let down by 4-5 of them who participated in the violence themselves, they say.

The police version

V Balakrishnan, Mylapore deputy commisioner of police who oversaw most of the police deputation at the Jallikattu protests, arrives far earlier than the scheduled time of interview. Composed and civil, Balakrishnan has experience handling various protests across Madurai and Theni. He enquires about the ground findings and listens intently to the complaints of kuppam residents that were collected.

"The entire violence was perpetrated by antisocial elements. These people have been arrested at various police stations. They infiltrated the protestors and had a plan. The police had to react and that's why we preempted the attack and brought in riot vehicles as well," he explains.

The emotionally instigated Nadukuppam people tried to break the barricade, and while police warned them, they allegedly began throwing stones and launching petrol bomb attacks. Police suffered injuries and had to use tear gas. Mild force had to be used. The agitators regrouped and attacked them again. Chilli solution was being prepared inside the Kuppam," he maintains.

Balakrishnan says lathis were not deputed to be used in Jallikattu protests. They were all collected and kept in a place safely. But in Nadukuppam, they were allowed to be used.

The policewoman with the face covered is being enquired into. They were however not deputed to cause the violence (burning of autorickshaws and bikes) as is being alleged, he says. The responsibility of leading the operations was vested with a senior police official and IG level officers were present. "The police had to disperse in different directions. When the riot breaks out, minimum force is used to disperse them. The rioters tried to attack them from the housing board area. They had to find their hideout and catch them," he says.

"We have on record which police were leading the protests. City police are trying to collect information on tenants in all the houses. Whoever has stayed in recent times may not have given their details. Some of the protestors were found to have stayed in nearby mansions. We are trying to track down where they stayed. There are antisocial groups involved," he says. Balakrishnan also clarified that the burning down of the Ice House police station was completely done by these anti social groups. "They are not of any specific religion. They are all from different groups," he said.

Balakrishnan admits that the government-ordered commission needs to analyse the reaction by the police. He also revealed that the PA (Public Announcement) system was damaged by the rioters. Further expanding on the antisocial elements, he said they had spread rumours that a lot of people were killed and residents of the kuppam immediately believed this. He however, admits that innocent people were caught in the crossfire.

Justifying the use of barricades at the fishing hamlets, he said the antisocial elements had a plan to cause violence on 23 January after the protests ended. "Images being aired on social media belonged to Telangana and other states," he says.

Police are banking on photo IDs to match the video footage. However, he says some individual houses in the kuppam areas that may have housed antisocial elements unknowingly, may not have asked for identifications as rigorously as nearby mansions. As a result, Triplicane mansions are being included in the investigation.

But fear and mistrust of the police reigns in the fishing hamlets along the Marina Beach. "They hit us under the impression that we were harbouring protestors and giving asylum to them. Then why would they drag women and harass them?" Mattankuppam resident Murthy (surname withheld) mulls, chewing at the last piece of his hard earned fish.
Islamabad/New Delhi: Pakistan has thanked India for its cooperation in reuniting a five-year-old boy with his Pakistani mother nearly a year after he was taken to India on the sly by his father.

"We are thankful to Indian authorities for their cooperation in this humanitarian matter," Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit tweeted.

The boy, Iftikhar Ahmed, was on Saturday handed over to Pakistan Rangers by Indian authorities at Wagah where his mother was waiting for him for several hours.

"I am extremely happy to have my son back. I am thankful to the Pakistani government for its help for return of my child," Iftikhar's mother Rohina Kiyani had said on Saturday at Wagah.

"I had lost all hope of getting my child back. It's not a less than a miracle for me," she said.

The boy's mother alleged that her estranged husband, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, had lied to her that he was taking the child to a wedding along with him as he took him to Dubai and from there to Kashmir in March 2016.

Rohina with the help of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi had filed a custody case in an Indian court.

After the case was taken up by the Pakistani High Commission and proven that Iftikhar was a Pakistani by nationality, the court ruled in her favour and ordered that the child should be returned to his mother in Pakistan.

Due to border tensions, it took eight months for the mother to get the good news of seeing her son.
New Delhi: If you don't vote, then you have "no right" to question or blame the government, the Supreme Court has observed.

The candid admission of an activist seeking a blanket order to remove encroachments in the country, saying he has never cast his vote, did not go down well with the apex court leading it to make the observation.

Observing that the court cannot pass a sweeping order on encroachments in a matter involving all states, the bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar said "One can't blame the government for everything. If a person does not cast his vote, then he has no right to question the government."

The bench, which also comprised Justices NV Ramana and DY Chandrachud, said it was not possible for it to look into encroachments sitting in Delhi and asked the petitioner to approach different high courts wherever he saw such encroachments on roads or pavements.

The hard-hitting observation came when Dhanesh Ieshdhan, appearing in person for Delhi-based NGO 'Voice of India', said the governments do not do anything to remove encroachments and kept on insisting for a blanket order to remove them from across the country.

The bench asked Ieshdhan whether he has voted or not.

"To be honest, I have never voted in my life," Ieshdhan said candidly.

This irked the bench which said, "If you have not voted, then you have no right to question or blame the government".

"We do not have so much power to order a clean sweep of encroachments. If we pass any order, then contempt cases and other petitions will pile up. It's not possible," the bench said after the petitioner kept on seeking a blanket order.

"If you do not move High Courts, we will feel that you are here for publicity," the bench said and noted in the order that an open-ended direction to remove encroachments will not serve any purpose.

It granted liberty to the NGO to seek remedy state-wise before the high courts.

On 26 August last year, the apex court, while hearing the plea, had said it cannot order the establishment of 'Ram Rajya' in the country and cannot do several things it wanted to due to its "limited capacity".

"Do you think with our directions, everything will be done? Do you (petitioner) think we will pass an order that there will be no corruption in the country and all corruption will go? Should we pass an order that there will be 'Ram Rajya' in the country? It cannot be like this," the apex court had then observed.

The NGO had said that in 2014, the apex court had asked concerned authorities to deal with the issue raised it its plea.
The summer of 1976 was a particularly hot one in London. In the mail order department of the Grunwick film processing unit, Jayaben Desai worked in a room without air-conditioning. The hours were long, the pay low. Just when she was about to leave, her supervisor informed her that she would have to stay back, put in overtime.

That demand by her boss would prove to be the straw that broke the camels back. Jayaben decided that shed had enough; told her colleagues  mostly immigrant women of colour, just like her  that they had to express their protest, informed her supervisor that she was staging a walkout, and then proceeded to do just that.

The next morning, Jayaben was picketing outside the Grunwick premises. Her son Sunil (who was also employed at Grunwick) had joined her, as had a few other workmates. Soon others joined in. It was the start of a strike that lasted two years and changed the face of the trade unions in Britain.

At first glance, it seems unlikely that this diminutive woman (she stood only 410) who was born in Gujarat in 1933, married and moved to Tanzania in the 50s, before finally making her home in the UK, could have spearheaded one of the biggest workers strikes of its kind in England. And yet, thats just what she did.

With the help of the Apex trade union, she took on the establishment  in this case, her employers at Grunwick, the government (that wanted the strike to be quickly disbanded), and even the Trades Union Congress itself.

The images of the strikers in saris (as the group of East African Asian immigrant women at the core of the movement) captured the imagination of the public, thanks to the TV coverage and newspaper reportage on the issue, especially when the clashes between the workers and the police grew violent. August 2016 marked the 40th anniversary of the strike, and is being commemorated in the form of an exhibition at the Brent Museum, called Grunwick 40. The milestone also coincided with Jayaben being named to the BBC Womans Hour Power List in December.

Sujata Aurora, the chair of Grunwick 40, spoke to Firstpost about the exhibition and its significance.

Theres always been a tradition in the local area, where this happened, of marking important anniversaries. This year, we had a very ambitious plan (in the form of the exhibition), she said.

After 40 years, a lot of the residents hadnt heard the story or didnt understand the relevance. So this was a way of looking back on history to see what we could learn from it today.

The exhibition draws on not just archival material, but also photos, letters written by the strike committee, minutes of the meetings where strategies for the strike would be discussed, the posters and flyers that were made all over the country by those supporting the picketers. Government files that had been previously kept secret, but journalists had uncovered in recent years, also provided a rich mine of new information.

The challenge was that many of the people involved in the strike were not around anymore, or were elderly and infirm (Jayaben Desai herself passed away in 2010). The Grunwick 40 team managed to track down 10 of the original strikers. Apart from this, several supporters of the strike reached out to the team over the past year, to record their memories. Pointing out that this task would have been well-nigh impossible had the team decided to wait another decade and commemorate say, the 50th anniversary of Grunwick, Sujata Aurora said, At times we find that history is written in a way that doesnt centre the people at the heart of it. So we wanted to bring out the strikers accounts rather than the establishment or trade unions'.

And at the heart of this account was the figure of Jayaben, who Aurora described as a very tenacious woman: She was quite witty and had a turn of phrase many of which would go on to become aphorisms for the trade union. Jayaben inspired a personal loyalty among the strikers which no doubt helped keep them going during a tough two years.

Jayaben's power with words is very evident when you consider one of her most quoted exchanges  what she told her supervisor before walking out of Grunwick and beginning the strike:

"What you are running is not a factory, it is a zoo. But in a zoo there are many types of animals. Some are monkeys who dance on your fingertips. Others are lions who can bite your head off. We are those lions, Mr Manager."

Grunwick wasnt the first strike by migrant workers. But it was first so highly visible one. The image of these Asian women in saris with their trade union armbands, standing on a picket line, broadcast on TV  it changed peoples perceptions of how Asian women could be seen. They were supposed to be passive, meek, submissive  and Jayaben challenged that idea, said Aurora.

There was also the fact that trade unions themselves werent immune to the racism that existed in the rest of Britain. Which was one reason why the problems of migrant workers had been ignored in the past. With Jayaben, that changed and white unionists were picketing alongside their immigrant comrades. The strike itself  after two years  may not have met with success, but it achieved something intangible and wide-reaching.

Forty years after Jayaben first exhorted her colleagues to leave that sweltering workroom and join her on a picket fence, the Grunwick strike seems more relevant than ever in modern Britain, feels Sujata Arora. We find ourselves in the midst of a very poisonous political debate over migrants in this country, she said. For those who think, Migrant workers depress our wages, Grunwick is a reminder that they have been at the forefront of fighting for better pay, conditions. Migrant labour is not here just to be exploited  it has value not just to the economy but also to the working class.

Watch a short film on the Grunwik strike and Jayaben Desai here:
Pankaj Mishra's latest book, Age of Anger, is described as a history of the present. It begins, however, in the September of 1919, with Gabriele DAnnunzios occupation of the town of Fiume, along with 2,000 Italian mutineers.

D' Annunzio's speeches would go on to inspire both Mussolini and Hitler, and volunteers from as far away as India, Egypt and Ireland joined up to serve under him. His reign ended in December 1920, after the Italian navy bombarded Fiume. But the mass movement he had inspired took seed in other places, picking up where DAnnunzio had left off.

Mishra uses the story of DAnnunzio to illustrate the idea at the core of Age of Anger  that the sentiment of rage and frustration we see around the world today, which manifests in the form of voting demagogues into power or the rise and spread of ISIS  is not really a new phenomenon; that it has its roots in the economic and political revolutions of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Mishra began writing Age of Anger in 2014, after Narendra Modi was voted into power; he finished it in 2016, in the week that led to Brexit; it was printed the same week that Donald Trump was declared the US President Elect.

Mishra told Firstpost of the events that led to this book, After Modi became the prime minister, anything seemed possible at that point. I lost my confidence in the political process not just in Delhi, but also in other places in Asia and Europe, where there was a manifestation of demagogues Brexit didn't just come out of the blue, there was an environment that led to the vote. In the US, before Trump won the election, the (rise of the) far right was seen on TV, Twitter so what we see is the electoral processes catching up with what is happening. Long before Modi became prime minister, (people on) social media and national TV were talking about the need for a saviour to save us from the corrupt. Angry, frustrated people who didn't receive the benefits of globalisation are making unwise political choices.

Age of Anger follows Mishras previous book, From The Ruins of Empire, which looked at the emergence of todays Asia. In an interview with Al Jazeera at the time, Mishra said he was struck by how certain Asian nation states had turned out to be more violent than the European regimes that had previously suppressed them. Working on that book, in a way, triggered the exploration in this one. Ruins of Empire was about the anxiety that the catastrophic events of 20th century Europe might repeat in Asia, dealing a blow to democracy it may not recover from, Mishra told Firstpost. Age of Anger flows naturally from that anxiety.

Among the hallmarks of this age of anger, Mishra writes in the book, is ressentiment  the frustration and anger felt by those who have been left out of economic growth. It has created a 'community of the excluded' or less privileged  no matter which part of the world they come from. Mishra explained the phenomenon: The world is (looked at) as a collection of nation states. But in a globalised world, we are looking at a whole other community  the disaffected, whether from India or the US, have the same mentality. Just as people who are members of the global elite (do)  they subscribe to the same news outlets, social media networks. These communities transcend old borders, and what we have is a community of the angry and the disgruntled.

One of the arguments that Mishra makes in Age of Anger is that it has been around for a long time, for around 200 years or so. He told us that what is remarkable today, is that it is manifest universally  and that we are aware it is happening universally. Modern means of communication mean this rage has intensified in a way that was not possible in the 19th century. This kind of militancy can express itself in a variety of ways: through armed rebellion, or the ballot box. And we haven't heard (or felt) the last of it.

Whatever happens next, one hopes that we'll at least climb down from this very volatile situation we're in the midst of, Mishra told us. We have, at the helm of the US, a completely reckless man. In India, we have a prime minister who has taken a reckless gamble with demonetisation. Other leaderships in other places are gambling with peoples lives. It will be a while before we climb out of this age of anger. I only hope that we won't stay in it too long.

Age of Anger: A History of the Present by Pankaj Mishra is published by Juggernaut Books. Available in bookstores and www.juggernaut.in. Pages: 432, price: Rs 699 (hardback)
Libratus, an AI-powered robot made by Carnegie Mellon University scientists, was the first of its kind to beat humans in poker. (Photo : Getty Images)

It looks like artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming more potent against humans, as an AI-powered robot called Libratus beat four of the world's top players in a game of poker in Philadelphia. The victory earned the robot around $1.7 million.



Libratus, a creation of scientists from Carnegie Mellon University, has demonstrated the ability of machines to counter human discretion prominent in games like poker, which features imperfect information. The machine's win means that AI can now match up with human strategizing, Reuters said.



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Machines have beaten humans in a host of other games before--in chess, checkers, and Go. However, those games do not have imperfect information features, making Libratus' win an important milestone for AI developers looking to recreate human behavior, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.



Tuomas Sandholm, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University and one of Libratus' creators, said that the robot has exhibited advanced qualities in strategic reasoning. Such skill is thought of as unthinkable in robots.



With Libratus' victory, several companies have approached its creators as part of possible ventures to recreate the machine's AI qualities for other problem-solving features. Sandholm said that the robot can contribute to situations like medical treatment and business negotiations.



Key to the winning formula of Libratus lies on its propensity to bluff other players. Considering that poker features imperfect information qualities, winning it would have to require strategies to get one over the other players--something the robot has successfully done.



Libratus serves as an upgrade to Carnegie Mellon University's past endeavor in 2015 named Claudico. That robot, unlike its newer variant, has failed in beating other poker players, largely because of the bugs it has on its algorithm.



Poker players that faced Claudico won around $700,000 as they won daily against the robot. In contrast, Libratus exhibited a massive improvement, with poker players only winning five out of 20 days against it for $200,000 split among them.


New Delhi: AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal thanked the people of Punjab and Goa, where polling took place on Saturday, and termed electioneering in both the states an "incredible experience" for his party while exuding confidence about victory.

"These elections were fought by the people for the people. They spent money, campaigned door to door," he said in a video posted on his Facebook page.

Apparently elated with bright prospects of the party owing to high voting registered in both the states, Kejriwal congratulated the electorates for "magnificent" elections and said blessings of crores of people are with AAP.

Terming the polling as a "movement and revolution", he thanked the party volunteers for their "hard work and sacrifices" for success of the party in the polls and also commended the NRI supporters terming them as "amazing people".

"When the chance came to change Punjab and Goa, several NRIs came from all parts of the world for campaigning," Kejriwal said.

He claimed that elections in Punjab and Goa were "tough" as donors of AAP were "harassed" by the Modi government.

Expressing confidence that AAP will win the elections, Kejriwal said, "It was an election of hopes. People have high hopes, and we will together fulfil those hopes."

"I once again assure all the people of Punjab that AAP will provide a honest and progressive government," he was quoted as saying in an AAP release.

"The people of Punjab have faced a long ordeal of lawlessness, drug menace, unemployment and corrupt regime. They have already won the battle and now the results would be announced formally on March 11," Kejriwal said.

After hectic campaigning in Punjab and Goa, Kejriwal and his Delhi Cabinet members, incuding Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia returned on Saturday to Delhi.

Kejriwal and Sisodia watched Shah Rukh Khan starrer Raees at a cinema hall in the national capital.

Punjab and Goa on Saturday voted heavily with an estimated 75 per cent and a record-breaking 83 per cent turnout respectively as the first round of Assembly elections in five states concluded by and large peacefully.
KABUL Dozens of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan were killed after heavy snow and avalanches hit over the weekend.In eastern Afghanistan, at least 50 people died and dozens more were missing on Sunday after an avalanche buried a village in Nuristan, provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayum said."Based on information from district officials, 50 dead bodies have been recovered and the number may increase," he said.At least five other deaths from collapsed roofs were reported elsewhere in Nuristan. In the northern province of Badakhshan, over the past two days as many as 19 people were killed and 17 injured by avalanches, collapsed roofs and road accidents, said Naweed Frotan, a spokesman for the provincial governor. The government was working to reach at least 12 districts in Badakhshan that had been completely cut off, he said.Heavy snow also blanketed the Afghan capital of Kabul, where the government closed its offices on Sunday.

In neighboring Pakistan, at least nine people, including children, were killed by an avalanche in the northern Chitral district, with as many as 14 residents believed to still be trapped in collapsed houses, district official Syed Maghferat Shah said."So far the rescue workers have recovered nine bodies and efforts are under way to retrieve more," he said.The avalanche struck a village of 25 houses, but evacuation operations were delayed by the weather, Chitral Deputy Commissioner Shahab Hameed Yousafzai.

"There is no way to rush the injured persons to Chitral hospital because all roads in the valley have been blocked due to heavy snowfall," he said.In a separate incident in the Chitral region, a government rescue worker was killed when an avalanche struck a check post near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the commanding officer told Reuters.The snow wreaked havoc on major roads in Afghanistan, including the Kabul-Kandahar Highway, where police and soldiers had to rescue around 250 cars and buses trapped by the storm, said Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for Ghazni province, where as much as two meters of new snow was reported.

"Fortunately we arrived on time and there is not a single casualty," he said, noting that officials expected the road to reopen quickly. The Salang pass north of Kabul was also closed under as much as two and a half meters of snow, according to police general Rajab Salangi, who oversees the area."It will remain blocked until the snow is cleared from the main road, facilities are provided and it is safe to travel, he said. (Reporting by Mirwais Harooni in Kabul. Jibran Ahmad and Gul Hamad Farooqi reported from Pakistan; writing by Josh Smith; editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jason Neely)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, on Sunday, tendered his resignation from the post citing 'personal reasons' and setting the stage for takeover of V K Sasikala, who was elected as Legislature Party leader in the day.

"Due to my personal reasons, I am tendering my resignation from the post of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Kindly accept my resignation and relieve the Council of Ministers of Tamil Nadu appointed by me on December 6, 2016," he said in a letter addressed to Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao.

His resignation came on a day when AIADMK MLAs elected party chief V K Sasikala as their leader, paving the way for her appointment as Chief Minister.

Panneerselvam was appointed as Chief Minister on the night of 5 December within hours of the death of his predecessor J Jayalalithaa.

Incidentally, he had proposed the name of Sasikala for the top post at the AIADMK MLAs meeting held in the party headquarters here today.

Meanwhile, in a separate but near identical letter, Panneerselvam thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Governor Rao for all the support and cooperation extended by them during his term.

"I would like to convey my sincere gratitude for all the support and cooperation extended by you during my tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu," he said.
Washington: US President Donald Trump on Saturday termed as "ridiculous" a federal court ruling that halted his controversial executive order preventing people from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the country, and vowed to get it "overturned".

The order blocking the ban was issued on Friday by Seattle US District Judge James Robart and is valid across the US, jeopardising Trump's stated plan to prevent radical Islamic terrorists from entering the country.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said in his early morning tweet to his 23.6 million followers.

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!" he said in yet another tweet as he lashed out at those who are opposing his ban on people coming from these seven Muslim-majority countries.

"Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!" Trump said.

Trump's executive order, which went into effect a week ago, blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days, while barring entry of Syrian refugees indefinitely, and refugees from other countries for 120 days.

The controversial order which many Democrats have termed as "unconstitutional" and "illegal," has felled protests across US airports where many travellers with valid documents to enter the country have been detained.

The US President, who is spending his weekend at Mar-a-Lago continued to lash out at The New York Times, which has been critical of his policies.

"After being forced to apologise for its bad and inaccurate coverage of me after winning the election, the FAKE NEWS @nytimes is still lost!" Trump said.

The New York Times had endorsed Ohio Governor John Kasich in the primaries and Hillary Clinton in the general elections.

Trump, who uses Twitter as a medium of communication with his large support base, alleges that traditional media outlets like The New York Times, CNN and The Washington Post have been unfair to him in their coverage and very often indulge in inaccurate reporting.

"Make America Great Again," Trump said in another tweet.
Washington: US President Donald Trump has assured his Ukrainian counterpart to work with all parties to end bloodshed and restore peace along volatile Russia-Ukraine border, amid escalation in violence in the region.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said in his phone call with the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, according to the White House.

The White House said Trump had "a very good call" with Poroshenko to address a variety of topics, including Ukraine's long-running conflict with Russia.

Ukrainian President first conversation with the new US leader, whose aim to improve relations with the Kremlin has alarmed Kiev while the nearly three-year-old conflict remains unresolved.

The discussion came during a sharp escalation in violence in the Russian-backed separatist east that has claimed 35 lives in the past week.

They discussed the potential for a meeting in the near future.

On Thursday, Trump has promised former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko that the US would not lift sanctions from Russia until it pulls out of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Trump has said that he does "respect" Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that respect does not mean they will get along and has sought Russian help in defeating the dreaded Islamic State.

"I say it's better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against the Islamic State, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world -- that's a good thing," Trump told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly in an interview, which is scheduled to air today.

I respect a lot of people but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with him," Trump said. "He's a leader of his country," Trump said according to an excerpt released on Saturday.

When asked about Putin's history of violence, the President indicated that the same could be said about the US too.

"There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?" he asked.
Washington: A US court has rejected the Justice Department's appeal asking to pause the sweeping decision that temporarily halted enforcement of president Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries. The Ninth Circuit Court has asked to file legal briefs before it makes a decision, CNN reported.

Just after midnight on Sunday, the Justice Department filed an appeal asking the court to put on hold its sweeping decision that temporarily halted enforcement of Trump's travel ban nationwide, saying in a strongly-worded filing that blocking the travel ban "harms the public" and "second-guesses the President's national security judgment".

The legal battle, which now moves up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, surrounds a Friday ruling issued by US District Court Judge James Robart, who halted the implementation of several key provisions of Trump's executive order.

Trump's policy banned foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority  Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen  countries from entering the US for 90 days, suspended all refugee entry to the US for 120 days, and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrian refugees.

The government's emergency motion sets forth a mutli-pronged attack on Robart's decision, emphasizing the President's broad authority in the immigration context.

"(Robart's ruling) contravenes the considered judgment of Congress that the President should have the unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class of aliens," the Justice Department wrote in its appeal.

The department further argued that the parties who filed the lawsuit  the attorneys general of Washington state and Minnesota  lack the authority to sue in federal court because their alleged harms are too "speculative".

The three judges on the Ninth Circuit who will likely hear the case  assuming no one has to step aside over any conflicts  are Judge William Canby, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter; Richard Clifton, who was appointed by George W. Bush; and Michelle Friedland, a President Barack Obama appointee, CNN said.

When the President was asked at a gala in Florida whether he was confident his administration would prevail in the appeal, Trump replied, "We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win."

On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended "any and all" actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travellers, as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban.
Chicago: Visa holders from seven majority- Muslim countries who were turned away from the US due to President Donald Trump's travel ban are rushing to try again, hoping to make it through a narrow window opened by legal challenges.

The federal appeals court in San Francisco denied Trump's effort to immediately reinstate the ban early on Sunday. For now, it remains blocked by a judge's temporary restraining order, and federal officials have told their staffs to comply.

Advocates weren't taking any chances, telling people who could travel to get on the earliest flights they could find after the week-old ban was blocked Friday by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle.

"We're telling them to get on the quickest flight ASAP," said Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan. Her group sued in federal court in Detroit, challenging Trump's executive order as unconstitutional.

Protesters sought to keep up the pressure, gathering in Denver and other U.S. cities to demonstrate against the ban. Meanwhile, legal advocates waited at airports in case anything went wrong with new arrivals.

Renee Paradis was among 20-25 volunteer lawyers and interpreters who stationed themselves inside John F. Kennedy's Terminal 4 in New York in case anyone needed help. They were carrying handmade signs in Arabic and Farsi "that say we're lawyers, we're here to help. We're not from the government," Paradis said.

"We're all just waiting to see what actually happens and who manages to get through," she said. Some people have had to make hard choices.

A Yemeni family expected to arrive at John F Kennedy International Airport on Sunday from Egypt after leaving two of their four children behind. The father and two children are U.S. citizens and the mother has an immigrant visa, but the other two are waiting don't have their papers yet.

"They just don't want to take a chance of waiting," she said.

The State Department has advised refugee aid agencies that refugees who had been scheduled to travel before the order was signed will now be allowed into the US. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government is "focusing on booking refugee travel through 17 February," and they were working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.
Many Americans felt offended by an order of their new president banning immigrants from seven nations. Donald Trump had made a campaign promise to end terrorism by stopping the entry of Muslims coming into the United States. He said this ban would remain till he could 'figure out what's going on'.

On taking office, president Trump put in force this ban on nations which included Iran, a country whose population has relationships with lakhs of Iranian-Americans, and Iraq, many of whose citizens took America's side in a war against their own countrymen.

The list also included Syria, where violence is forcing millions to flee. The Trump order did not seem to have been properly vetted by experts and initially covered those individuals who were citizens of those seven nations but held permanent residency rights in the United States (what is called a green card).

And the ban also extended to all those citizens from these nations who held valid tourist and business visas for America, causing chaos at airports. It was noticed that the ban did not cover nations with which Trump had business interests, like Saudi Arabia (whose citizens had actually participated in the 9/11 attacks). But more than the hypocrisy and the casual manner of the ban, offence was taken by many Americans at the fact that civil liberties and human rights were being violated. Many Americans take seriously the idea of their country as being a nation of laws, and one that is free and equal.

These individuals felt they should act, and they did so by supporting the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organisation that describes itself as 'a nonprofit, nonpartisan, legal and advocacy organization devoted to protecting the rights of everyone in America.' On its website it gives the rationale for its action since the Trump order with these simple words: 'He discriminated. We sued.' A judge put a stay on the Trump order and several other lawsuits will make it difficult for him to enforce it. Already some of the things, for example the ban on green card holders, have been rolled back because of spirited opposition.

It is at times like this that America benefits from having robust NGO institutions that have wide public backing in terms of media support and volunteer and financial support. Within a few days of their lawsuit against the Trump order, the ACLU raised over Rs 150 crore. This money came mostly in the form of small contributions. Like the organisation that I work for, the ACLU raises most of its money from monthly contributions from members.

Because of anger at the so-called Muslim ban, many celebrities offered to match donations made to ACLU by other people. If 200 people donated a total of Rs 10 lakh, then the celebrity would add their own 10 lakh so that ACLU got Rs 20 lakh. Other people decided to help increase the number of people following ACLU on Twitter and raise their following to 10 lakh. Two lakh followers were added in a week and by the time you read this it is likely the number will cross ten lakh.

Many Americans felt that Trump's ban was similar to an event in the 1940s. During the second world war, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, an American naval base in Hawaii. Following this, thousands of American citizens of Japanese origin were rounded up and jailed in internment camps, suspected of being traitors. This would later become a matter of national shame.

It is the memory of such historic wrongs, and the acknowledgment that their governments are not perfect and must always be challenged when they violate individual rights, that keeps America great. Perhaps Trump, who says he wants to 'make America great again' does not really understand the source of its greatness.

America is fortunate that it has the ACLU and groups like it that will defend the 'rights of everyone in America'. In India we need such groups and support for such groups from all sections, including the political and the judicial, so that we can also be a nation of laws that respects the rights of the individual.

Many Indians will not know this but during the China war of 1962, Nehru jailed thousands of Indian citizens who were ethnic Chinese. That war lasted only a few weeks but for almost two years these Indians were kept in incarceration in Rajasthan after being forcibly removed from their homes in Calcutta. It is a matter of shame that we have not properly acknowledged this act by Nehru.

And, of course, we continue to visit barbarism on the weakest Indians, the Dalits and Muslims and Adivasis. It will be a fine day when we can claim to have institutions in civil society as influential and as popular as ACLU, which is a strong body only because millions of Americans support its values. When Indians take offence at how other Indians are treated, when we take injustice to others personally, we will begin to make India great.
PARIS Far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon embraced technology during the launch of his presidential campaign at a rally in Lyon on Sunday, with a 3D hologram of him making his speech appearing at the same time at another rally in Paris. Melenchon, wearing a Nehru-style jacket, tried to use the hologram technology give a modern look to his launch, which coincided with that of the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.Melenchon is certainly not the first politician to employ such technology - in 2014, then-Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan used a huge hologram of himself to attract wider support, while India's Narendra Modi trounced the opposition with a campaign that included holograms of his speeches in villages across the country.Melenchon tried to position himself on Sunday as a key adversary of Marine Le Pen, choosing Lyon - and almost the same timing - for the launch of his campaign. Le Pen, speaking in Lyon on Sunday, told thousands of flag-waving supporters chanting "This is our country!" that she alone would protect them against Islamic fundamentalism and globalisation if elected president in May.

There are some similarities between Melenchon's platform and Le Pen's, as both are sceptical of the EU and globalisation, but they differ sharply on other issues including migration.During his speech, Melenchon mentioned the Socialist party's presidential candidate Benoit Hamon, who has called on left-wing forces to unite.

"Everyone wants to abolish El Khomri (a labour law), including the Socialist candidate. I wonder what holds him back?" said Melanchon, who has between 11 and 11.5 percent support, according to Friday's BVA poll. The Socialists, weakened after the deeply unpopular presidency of Francois Hollande, have no chance of getting beyond the first round of the election in April, according to the latest polls.

The poll by BVA of voting intentions on Friday gave Hamon between 16 and 17 percent in the April 23 first round, behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen on 25 percent, independent centrist Emmanuel Macron on 21-22 percent and conservative Francois Fillon on 20 percent. (Reporting by Maya Nikolaeva in Paris and Catherine Lagrange in Lyon; Editing by Andrew Bolton)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Ahmed Rasheed and David Shepardson

| BAGHDAD/NEW YORK

BAGHDAD/NEW YORK Fuad Sharef took one of the first planes out of Iraq with a connection to the United States this past weekend, just hours after a judge in Seattle blocked U.S. President Donald Trump's ban on immigrants from seven mainly Muslim countries.Sharef, who worked for a USAID subcontractor in Iraq, was prevented with his wife and three kids from boarding a U.S.-bound flight last week via Cairo after Trump signed a 90-day travel ban on citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.The U.S. president also imposed a 120-day ban on all refugees. Sharef said he came out of the tumultuous week with a lesson he wanted his kids to learn as well."Yeah, my life changed dramatically. You know, ups and downs, and I learned a lesson that if you have a right, never surrender," he said before he and his family departed Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, on a Turkish Airlines flight with a connection to New York via Istanbul.Once in the United States, the family will head to Nashville, Tennessee, where the local Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition [TIRRC] is planning to welcome them at the airport."Join us at the Nashville International Airport (BNA) to welcome Fuad Sharef Suleman and his family to their new home in Nashville," the TIRRC said on its Facebook event page."Nashvillians fought to bring them home - and now we can show them the very best of Southern hospitality!," it said.Nael Zaino, a Syrian refugee who worked for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Turkey, also received help from Americans.He was reunited with family in Boston on Saturday after getting a waiver from the State Department, thanks to intervention by U.S. lawmakers who were contacted by Zaino's relatives.Zaino's arrival was relatively smooth, though he was pulled out of the arrival line, put through "secondary screening" and asked a long series of questions before a U.S. agent stamped his passport and gave him a friendly send-off. "He said, 'Go on, start your life, and enjoy your time with your son,'" Zaino said. "I didn't believe it until I came out of the airport. At that moment I realized I'm not in a dream.Zaino had received a visa to join his wife and U.S.-born infant son in Los Angeles on Jan. 27, but was blocked from travelling after Trump signed his executive order the same day, according to his sister-in-law."We've been lobbying a lot of senators in the last few days," said Katty al-Hayek, a PhD student in Massachusetts with her own pending asylum claim, who met him at the airport.

"It's been a long, stressful story but senators ... were able to get him a waiver from the State Department."VALID FOR TRAVEL

Trump said his executive order, which also barred Syrian refugees indefinitely, was needed to protect the United States from Islamist militants. Religious minorities persecuted by the Islamic State, and other Iraqis fleeing violence, were among those affected.The United Nations said the ban would have prevented a total of 20,000 people in "precarious circumstances" in the seven countries targeted from resettling in the United States during the period covered by the suspension.A ruling by a federal judge in Seattle, Washington, on Friday was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges. It also opened a window of opportunity for some would-be travellers."We were booked to travel next week but decided to bring it forward after we heard," said a Yemeni woman, recently married to a U.S. citizen, who boarded a plane from Cairo to Turkey on Sunday to connect with a U.S.-bound flight.

"This is the first time I try to travel to America," she said, declining to be named for fear it could complicate her entry to the United States.In a statement dated Saturday but published on its website on Sunday, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad said visa processing had resumed and appointments would be scheduled for applicants. Visas revoked by the Trump order "are now valid for travel to the United States," it added. TWO-YEAR WAIT

Sharef and his family spent two years obtaining U.S. visas."Yeah, we are very excited. We are very happy," Sharef told Reuters TV before he and his family boarded their flight to New York. "Finally, we have been cleared. We are allowed to enter the United States."Sharef said he applied to immigrate to the United States under the Special Immigration Visa program, designed for those who worked for U.S. military and civilian state bodies in Iraq. U.S. Representative Jim Cooper of Tennessee helped clear the hurdles to allow the family to try again, Sharef said.

Baghdad protested against the U.S. ban, calling it unfair and saying no Iraqi had been involved in attacks on U.S. soil.But it refrained from retaliating as it seeks to maintain U.S. support for Iraqi forces battling Islamic State in Mosul.Late on Saturday, a San Francisco-based U.S. appeals court denied the U.S. government's request for an immediate administrative stay on the Seattle judge's decision. Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said: "It is a move in the right direction to solve the problems that it caused."The U.S. State Department and Department of HomelandSecurity said many visitors were expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expects to begin admitting refugees again on Monday.Rana Shamasha, 32, an Iraqi refugee in Lebanon, was due to travel to the United States with her two sisters and mother on Feb. 1 to join relatives in Detroit until their trip was cancelled as a result of the travel ban.She is now waiting to hear from U.N. officials overseeing their case."If they tell me there is a plane tomorrow morning, I will go. If they tell me there is one in an hour, I will go," she told Reuters by telephone in Beirut, saying their bags were still packed."I no longer have a house here, work, or anything."On Sunday, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, Leonard Doyle, confirmed that about 2,000 refugees are ready to travel to the United States."We expect a small number of refugees to arrive in the U.S. on Monday Feb 6th. They are mainly from Jordan and include people fleeing war and persecution in Syria," he said in an email. An official at the airport in Beirut said three Syrian families had left for the United States via Europe on Sunday morning. In Cairo, airline sources said that since Saturday, 33 people from the seven countries affected by the U.S. ban had been allowed to board U.S.-bound flights. (Additional reporting by Katie Paul, Ayat Basma, Chris Michaud and Lin Noeheid; Writing by Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Paul Simao)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Workers check the grid-connected photovoltaic system built on an abandoned mine at Chihe Town in Chuzhou, Anhui Province. (Photo : Getty Images)

Last month, China's National Energy Administration announced that it will spend at least $360 billion on green energy until 2020, a move welcomed and praised by environmentalists.



While Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to continue to fight for climate change, U.S. President Trump is thinking of ending climate policies which he believed were costly for the U.S. government.



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Although it may look like a huge investment at around $72 billion a year, the amount is small and not as impressive, considering China's high growth rate, according to Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, in an article in The Wall Street Journal.



Lomborg said it is ironic for China to assert its green efforts when renewable energy is only a small part of its economy and the country continues to rely on coal for energy.



In 2015, the country spent more than 40 percent of its budget for renewable energy to wind power. The country also leads the world in production of wind turbines, and became its fastest and biggest adopter.



Lomborg, however, said that it invested too heavily on wind power which resulted in an oversupply of wind turbines. Now many of them cannot be used as grid development is way behind the number of wind farms built. And although China has surpassed the U.S. by 75 percent in terms of number of wind turbines, according to a 2016 study by Carnegie Mellon University, the country still generates less electricity with its turbines, compared to the U.S.



A study made by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 2014 said that the U.S. turns off its wind energy around 4 percent, compared to one province in China which curtails about 39 percent, or about three days a week.



As China builds infrastructure to keep pace with new energy production, the National Energy Administration ordered local authorities in Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Gansu, Ningxia, Heilongjiang and Xinjiang to stop approving wind-power projects.



In addition, wind power is 80 percent to 250 percent more expensive than coal power, a document by International Energy Agency said. The cost of electricity from wind can also be 50 percent to 200 percent more expensive, according to the Carnegie Mellon study.



China's Renewable Energy Sources



According to Lomborg, China's big investment on renewable energy has taken away the focus from actions that are inimical to its green image. For instance, the International Energy Agency said that China installed several coal plants in 2015 and in the first half of 2016. In 2014, the agency said that 66 percent of its energy came from coal, not from wind and solar energy, and only 0.4 percent came from wind energy.



Lomborg further said that China's largest source of renewable energy came not from wind or solar energy, but from the traditional biomass, which people used in the form of firewood, charcoal and dung. It is also the source of air pollution in the world. Next to biomass, hydroelectric power is the second biggest source of renewable energy in the country.



However, if China does what it had promised in the Paris Agreement, the renewable share will increase by 4 percent in 2040 and will take hard work to keep up with its bold pronouncements, Lomborg said.


London: The Islamic State terror group is paying smugglers in an attempt to recruit vulnerable child refugees from countries like Lebanon and Jordan, a new UK report has warned.

The report from counter-terrorism think-tank Quilliam to be released on Monday claims that an estimated 88,300 unaccompanied children identified by the European Unions police agency Europol as having gone missing are at risk of being radicalised.

"Young asylum seekers are targeted by extremist groups as they are more vulnerable to indoctrination, make able fighters and, in the case of girls, can create a new generation of recruits. This report outlines national and international requirements to reduce the risk of child-trafficking, extremism and modern slavery," Nikita Malik, a senior researcher at Quilliam, told the 'Observer' newspaper.

The report found that Islamic State had offered up to 2,000 dollars to recruit within camps in Lebanon and Jordan.

Last year, Jordanian special forces reportedly found what they described as an Islamic State sleeper cell inside a refugee camp near Irbid, north Jordan.

Additional reports indicated that Islamic State had tried to recruit refugees by supplying food previously withheld from camp residents, the newspaper reports.

The report said: "Young unaccompanied refugees are more vulnerable to radicalisation if they are separated from their parents, who remained in the country of origin at risk to violent and radical groups, or in a new host country".

"There is no question that militant groups target refugee youth for recruitment. It has also been argued that refugee youth can become autonomously radicalised, through online content, for example," the report said.

Another so-called hotspot is the south Libyan town of Qatrun, where reports have indicated that Islamic State, which is believed to have between 4,000 to 6,000 fighters in the region, has waived 450-pound smuggler fees to allow refugees to travel north if they joined its ranks.

The 171-page report proposes the creation of a safeguarding and resilience against extremism framework, which would be mandatory for organisations such as the UKs Home Office and the National Crime Agency.
Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signalled the end of peace talks with Communist rebels, with the government pulling out of the negotiations days after both parties announced an end to the truce, the media reported on Sunday.

Duterte decided to withdraw from the negotiations after the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the outlawed Communist party, carried out attacks against security forces, Efe news reported.

"Peace talks will remain cancelled unless there is a compelling reason that will benefit the interest of the nation," Duterte said late Saturday.

The attacks occurred after the rebels ended the truce on February 1, causing Duterte to lift the ceasefire - which he had announced after the two parties began the talks - two days later.

In January, the government and the rebels began the third round of negotiations in Rome and were to meet in the Netherlands to discuss a bilateral ceasefire before resuming peace talks in Oslo in April.

"I would like to tell the Filipino people: Peace with the Communists might not come in this generation," Duterte said.

The main hurdle in the negotiations was the government's unwillingness to set free 140 political prisoners from the NPA.

The NPA, a Maoist group created in 1969, consists of 6,000 fighters and has carried out numerous attacks, murders, kidnappings and extortion over the last few decades.
London: A woman in the UK has vowed not to lose her humour after she was diagnosed with an uncommon form of cancer and named her tumour after US President Donald Trump.

Elise Stapleton was left stunned when doctors told her she had Hodgkin lymphoma in September last year.

The diagnosis meant the 24-year-old needed to undergo intensive chemotherapy which caused her to lose her hair, Mirror reported.

But rather than shying away from the ordeal, she decided to write a blog in the hope of inspiring others.

Elise poked fun at Trump after naming her tumour after him.

"I decided to name it 'Donald' as in Donald Trump  one big, ugly, useless mass that is good at one thing: hurting people."

Elise, an admin assistant, spoke to WalesOnline about her battle to mark World Cancer Day.

"I set up the blog because I just wanted to address the elephant in the room. It was really important to me because it felt empowering and it gave me a voice. People were shocked when they read about it all. They couldnt believe that in the blog I was laughing and joking about it but I just said if you don't laugh you cry," she said.

Elise said her first treatment was rough, leaving her with side effects including nausea, diarrhoea and fatigue.
Sheng nu, which literally means leftover woman, is a derogatory term for women who are over 25 and unmarried. (Photo : YouTube )

I wont die in peace unless you are married.



Youre too picky.



You are a leftover woman.



Beginning with some comments leftover women often receive from people, a commercial ad of a skin-care product by P&G boldly campaigns for these women who are often seen by Chinese society to be incomplete. The ad has now over 2 million views on YouTube.



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Sheng nu, which literally means leftover woman, is a derogatory term for women who are over 25 and unmarried.



Leftover women often suffer from social pressure in a culture which recognizes traditional roles and expects women to marry early.



Bloomberg reported that Chinese parents, many of whom have only one child, anticipate their childs marriage to give them grandchildren, and that the government encourages early marriage to address the aging population.



It was mentioned in the ad that within Chinese culture, respect for parents is a very important quality and not getting married is like the biggest sign of disrespect.



In Shanghai, there is even a Marriage Market being held at the Peoples Park where parents post their childrens profiles in hopes that they will find a suitable partner for them.



The daughters in the ad, all tagged as sheng nu, decided to go to the Marriage Market not to finally give in to the stigma and social pressures but to give a personal message to their parents.



I dont want to get married just for the sake of marriage. I wont live happily that way.



I have a great career and there is another term called 'power woman.'



I feel free and enjoy the single status.



I am a pretty outstanding woman.



The whole ad looks more of a social campaign with the product name only appearing at the end of the 4-minute video. The P&G product being promoted was the SK-II skin-care line.



Markus Strobel, global president of SK-II, said that the ad helped in increasing the sales in China by more than 50 percent in the past nine months.


Italy's top insurer Generali will hold a meeting on Monday to discuss the 3 percent stake it bought in Intesa Sanpaolo in January to fend off unwanted interest from the bank, a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

Generali's investment committee is due to meet on Monday to discuss ways of maintaining the stake but on more favorable terms, the person said, confirming a report in Sunday's Il Sole 24 Ore.

In January Generali, whose biggest investor is influential investment bank Mediobanca , bought around 3 percent of Intesa as a defensive move to stop Intesa building a stake.

Italy's biggest retail bank is looking at a possible tie-up with Generali but has said any such move should not jeopardize its capital base or dividend policy.

On Friday Intesa CEO Carlo Messina said the bank would take all the time it needed to make up its mind on any possible move on Generali.

According to Sole 24 Ore, Generali management and board members might also discuss on Monday bringing on board a second adviser, alongside Goldman Sachs , to help build a defense against any Intesa move.

Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan could be approached, the paper said.

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; editing by John Stonestreet)
It's easier than ever to open an IRA and start saving for retirement. Picking which brokerage firm you should use to open the account is easier said than done, however.

Where you open your account does matter. It affects everything from the fees you pay to the investments you have to choose from.Today we'll compare Merrill Edge and Fidelity, two popular discount brokers, to see what each has to offer the retirement investor.

Commission prices and trading costs

Pricing generally differs by only a few dollars between the major discount brokers, but as you'll see in the table below, just one dollar separates Merrill Edge and Fidelity on most trades.

Data source: company websites.

Cost-conscious investors do better than the published prices. Both companies offer a number of investments you can trade without paying a fee. Furthermore, you can take advantage of routine special offers for IRAs, which frequently include cash bonuses, commission-free trades, and other benefits, just for opening a new account.

Mutual fund selection and commission-free choices

You'll find that Merrill Edge and Fidelity both offer a wide selection of funds, including no-transaction-fee (NTF) mutual funds and commission-free ETFs that you can trade for free.

Data source: company websites and representatives.

Fee-free funds can be used to build a diverse portfolio that includes thousands of stocks and bonds, international and domestic. Given the higher prices for mutual fund transactions ($19.95 at Merrill Edge and $49.95 at Fidelity), it can be advantageous to shop from fee-free lists first.

Minimum deposit requirement for IRAs

Neither Merrill Edge nor Fidelity has a minimum deposit requirement, so you can open an account and fund it with whatever you're most comfortable investing. Keep in mind that there are some practical limitations to making investments. You'll need to be able to afford a single share of a stock, ETF, or mutual fund (which can have their own minimums), to make an investment.

Image source: Getty Images.

International stocks and ADRs

Online brokers make investing in foreign companies painless, but selection varies by broker. Here's how international investment access varies by brokerage.

Data source: company websites and representatives.

The biggest different between Merrill Edge and Fidelity (and most brokers) is whether they can route your trades to markets in other countries' stock exchanges. Fidelity offers trading on international exchanges, whereas Merrill Edge does not.

However, if you prefer to invest in foreign companies via tickers you can find over the counter (OTC) or on U.S. markets, your broker won't be a limitation on how you can invest.

Mobile app reviews

The ability to trade from anywhere has become a requirement in the modern discount brokerage business -- a feature that virtually all brokers offer. Here's how each brokers' users and customers rated their capabilities, as of Jan. 30, 2017:

Data source: relevant app stores.

IRA fees: Maintenance and inactivity fees

When it comes to pricing, commissions aren't the only thing you have to worry about. Some brokers charge annual account maintenance fees, in addition to inactivity fees for low volume traders. Luckily, neither Fidelity nor Merrill Edge charges these fees on customer accounts.

Research and retirement planning tools

As a general rule, we think that having access to research and retirement planning tools can lead to better investment and planning decisions.

Merrill Edge customers can tap into the collective knowledge ofBank of America Merrill Lynch analysts,Morningstar, and S&P Capital IQ, just to name a few proprietary and third-party research providers. The brokerage also offers a variety of tools designed to show you how your IRA fits within your full financial picture. Its asset allocation tool can help you make sense of how your portfolio compares to models designed for investors with similar financials and timelines.

Fidelity provides analyst upgrades and downgrades from hundreds of firms, S&P reports, and a vast collection of financial screening tools. Its Planning & Guidance Center is designed with savers and retirement investors in mind. The tool scores your portfolio against your goals to provide you with a score for how your progress compares to its target model.

Better pick for your IRA: Merrill Edge or Fidelity?

Depending on how you invest, you could make the case that either is the best choice for you. Fidelity has more fee-free funds, and offers a full line of commission-free ETFs, but its standard commission prices are marginally more expensive. Merrill Edge may win over some investors who prefer its integration with Bank of America accounts, or its lower-cost trades. Ultimately, it's really all about how each broker fits your specific needs. To be clear, The Motley Fool does not endorse any particular brokerage, but we can help you find one that is a good fit for you. VisitFool.com's IRA Centerto compare several brokers all on one page and see if you qualify for any special offers for opening a new account.

10 stocks we like better thanWal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and TomGardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter theyhave run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

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*StockAdvisor returns as of December 12, 2016The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.

Jordan Wathen has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Auto industry sales volume slipped 1.9% year over year in January, from 1.16 million light vehicles sold during January 2016 to 1.14 million last month. On the bright side, January's seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate (SAAR) of 17.57 million outpaced Wall Street's consensus forecast of 17.3 million, even if it was slightly below last year's 17.62 million result.

"It's tricky to use January as a bellwether for how auto sales will trend for the year,"said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds executive director of industry analysis, in an email. "It's the lowest volume month and only accounts for 6 percent of annual sales on average. But 2017 is already proving to be a year unlike any other -- expectations were that sales were going to level off or decline, but the president has proven a bit of an X-factor..."

Among full-line automakers, Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. were the only ones to post year-over-year gains; Detroit automakers Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), General Motors (NYSE: GM), and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE: FCAU), among others, were left behind. Let's take a look at the highlights and takeaways from each of Detroit's big three, in no particular order.

Ford: 172,612 units sold; 0.6% decline

Detroit's second-largest automaker's January results can be highlighted in two graphs: sales of the F-Series and of the Lincoln marque. We'll start with Ford's most profitable product and America's best-selling truck.

Data source: Ford Motor Company sales releases. Chart by author.

There are clearly some very wild month-to-month swings due to seasonality, inventory, and holiday deals, but a trend line shows nothing but consistent progress for its sales in recent years. Remember that any month when F-Series sales top 50,000 is considered a strong month. And despite January historically being the weakest-volume month of the year for major automakers, Ford still managed to sell nearly 58,000 F-Series trucks, almost a 13% increase compared to the prior year and an even higher 19% gain at retail.

Now, these figures are so impressive they might indicate that Ford ramped up its incentive spending to encourage more consumers to drive its trucks off dealership lots -- but we'll have to wait for more incentive information to determine that. Another bright spot for Ford was easily its long-struggling Lincoln brand.

Data source: Ford Motor Company sales releases. Image source: author.

While the rebound since Lincoln's sales hit bottom a few years back may not seem like much, this is the first time in at least two decades that its sales have increased for three consecutive years. January was Lincoln's best start to a new year in a decade, with sales increasing 22% to 8,784, thanks in large part to the all-new Lincoln Continental. Thanks to sales increases from SUVs, F-Series, and Lincoln, Ford's average transaction prices (ATPs) were up $2,500 compared to last year.

Fiat Chrysler: 152,218 units sold; 11% decline

FCA posted years of incredible growth in large measure due to its lauded Jeep portfolio, and that was the sole reason for optimism among many investors. We're finally seeing Jeep's year-over-year gains slow down; in fact, for the first time in years, sales are declining consistently.

Data source: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles sales releases. Chart by author.

The good news for investors is that FCA is obviously committed to restoring growth with its profit-hauling SUV brand. The automaker confirmed earlier this month that it would add to its lineup a Jeep Wagoneer, Grand Wagoneer, and even a Jeep pickup truck -- additions that culminated in a Donald Trump-pleasing pledge of $1 billion in new U.S. investment and the promise of 2,000 jobs, per Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The bad news is that these projects might not start fueling growth until closer to 2020.

Another positive story -- though your view of it may depend on if you're a glass-half-full or -half-empty type of thinker -- is that FCA's fleet sales were down 31% year over year. While that sounds like a strong improvement, the truth is,fleet sales still generated around 28% of the company's total, which is about in line with crosstown rival Ford, but much higher than the roughly 20% General Motors' did during 2016.

General Motors: 195,909 units sold; 3.8% decline

Image source: General Motors.

Let's finish with Detroit's largest automaker, which posted a slight decline last month. In fact, January was the first time since January of 2014 that its monthly sales dipped below 200,000 units. And despite posting consistent retail sales gains throughout 2016, retail sales were down an even steeper 4.9% in January.

Looking at GM's suite of brands, GMC was the only one to post a year-over-year gain: Its sales were up 1.1% to 37,324 units. On the flip side, Buick posted a staggering 28.2% decline to 13,117 units while Chevrolet and Cadillac posted 1.9% and 4.1% declines to 135,170 units and 10,298 units, respectively.

The biggest issue for General Motors' investors was with its bread-and-butter full-size trucks. Sales of the Silverado were down 6.1% and the company's GMC Sierra posted a 9.3% decline. That's obviously unfavorable compared to its rivals, the F-Series and Ram Truck, which both posted gains.

On the bright side, ATPs for GM's full-size trucks jumped $1,750 year over year, to roughly $43,650, according to J.D. Power and Associates. That helped drive GM's overall ATPs $1,200 higher to $34,500, a new January record.

10 stocks we like better than Ford When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Ford wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017

Daniel Miller owns shares of Ford and General Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Ford. The Motley Fool recommends General Motors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
For a few weeks in January, Valeant Pharmaceuticals' (NYSE: VRX) stock outperformed the S&P 500 index. The run didn't last long, though. Here's why Valeant's rebound quickly fizzled.

Anatomy of a letdown

The first phase of Valeant's failed rebound started with the stock's collapse. And did it ever collapse. Valeant has lost over 94% of its market cap since August 2015.

For a rebound to occur, there had to be signs of hope. Valeant provided some reason for investors to hope at the beginning of 2017. On Jan. 9, the company announced that it was selling Dendreon to Sanpower Group for nearly $820 million. The next day, Valeant revealed an even bigger deal to sell its CeraVe, AcneFree, and AMBI skincare brands to L'Oreal for $1.3 billion.

Image source: Getty Images.

These transactions pleased investors. Valeant's management team had promised to sell off non-core assets to reduce debt. The sales of Dendreon and the skincare brands fit perfectly with that goal. Even better, Valeant received good prices in both deals.

The company originally paid $495 million for Dendreon in February 2015. Making a 65% return in roughly two years sounds pretty nice. Valeant sold the skincare brands to L'Oreal for more than 20 times annual earnings for the products. That's not a bad deal at all for Valeant.

Thanks to these two asset sales, Valeant's stock spiked more than 6% in one day. Those gains quickly evaporated, though. Why? I suspect that reality set in for investors. Yes, Valeant had raised nearly $1.8 billion in cash. However, that number seems small compared to the company's debt of more than $30 billion.The sale of Dendreon and the skincare brands underscored just how far Valeant has to go.

What it will take for a real comeback

Investors will need to see two things from Valeant for the stock to mount a real comeback. First, the debt must be reduced significantly. Second, the company's earnings must grow.

Valeant CEO Joe Papa thinks the company can reduce its debt by $5 billion over the next year or so. Selling off Dendreon and some of its skincare brands was a start on achieving this goal. More asset sales are on the way.

Papa has stated in the past that he doesn't want to sell any core assets. That would mean everything other than the company'sBausch + Lomb eye care, dermatology, and consumer products businesses could be on the block. He also uses geography to differentiate core assets from non-core assets. This could mean that commercialization rights to products outside of the North American market could be sold to generate cash.

My view is that lowering the debt by $5 billion is only a start. Valeant must have a solid plan for sustained debt reduction. That's where earnings growth comes into the picture.Selling off assets seems easy in comparison to increasing earnings. Valeant faces challenges on multiple fronts, from lower average selling prices to generic competition.

Two products are especially critical for Valeant's success in improving earnings. The first is Xifaxan, which is approved for treatingirritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D) and travelers' diarrhea. Xifaxan was the crown jewel in Valeant's 2015 acquisition of Salix Pharmaceuticals.

The second key product for Valeant's fortunes is experimental psoriasis drug brodalumab. A decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of the drug is expected by Feb. 16.

If Xifaxan reaches its potential and brodalumab wins approval, Valeant could be on track to grow earnings. And if the company's bottom line begins to improve, it will have more money to pay down debt. That's the recipe for a sustained comeback for Valeant's stock.

Looking ahead

Valeant is taking the right steps, in my view. The asset sales announced in January were a good start. I expect Valeant will sell off its Sprout Pharmaceuticals and Amoun Pharmaceuticalbusinesses by the end of 2017 and likely additional products as well. If I'm right, these deals could raise cash of at least $2 billion and probably significantly more than that.

I'm not as optimistic about brodalumab's prospects as CEO Joe Papa is. If it's approved, the drug will probably come with a warning about suicide ideation. That could be enough to scare off some physicians from prescribing it.

Can Valeant's stock rebound in a big way in 2017? It's possible. But until the company proves that it can significantly lower its debt and produce earnings growth, any rebound is at risk for fizzling -- just like the one in January.

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Image source: Getty Images.

The marijuana industry is red hot, and it has the rapidly changing views of the public to thank.

In 1995, just prior to California becoming the first state to legalize medical cannabis for compassionate use, only 25% of respondents in Gallup's national poll wanted to see pot legalized nationally. That was essentially unchanged since 1980. However, since 1995 we've seen a steady uptick in support for weed. By 2005, 36% approved of its nationwide legalization. In 2011, marijuana's approval hit 50% for the first time ever. Finally, in 2016 it topped 60%, logging an all-time high. It's this rapid shift of opinion that's allowed marijuana to expand so quickly at the state level.

Last year, residents in nine states voted on marijuana initiatives, and eight were approved. The lone outlier, Arizona, narrowly missed out on making it a clean sweep for cannabis by only 2% of the vote. The year ended with 28 states having approved medical cannabis, and eight states having legalized recreational, adult-use pot. We also witnessed two states in 2016 (Pennsylvania and Ohio) legalizing medical cannabis entirely through the legislative process. In other words, it wasn't even put to on a ballot for state residents to vote on. This push from legislators to legalize pot adds an entirely new dimension to marijuana's momentum.

The result for the industry has been an exceptionally fast growth rate. Cannabis research firm ArcView estimates that compound annual growth for the legal marijuana industry could be 30% through the end of the decade, whereas investment firm Cowen & Co. is calling for $50 billion in legal sales by 2026, which is good enough for a compound annual growth rate of nearly 24%.

Image source: Office of Public Affairs, Shane T. McCoy, Flickr.

You'll never guess who wants to see cannabis legalized

Marijuana's expansion is incredible. Still, it may not be as jaw-dropping and surprising as the study released by the Pew Research Center last month that showed a surprising group of individuals who want to see marijuana legalized on a national scale.

Between May and August of 2016, Pew interviewed a national sample of more than 7,900 police officers in local police and sheriff departments with at least 100 sworn officers to get their opinion on whether or not marijuana should be legalized nationally. Pew's findings showed that:

32% of the police officers believe cannabis should be legal for recreational and medical purposes nationally.

37% of police officers want to see marijuana legalized nationally for medical use only.

30% of police officers believe pot should remain illegal nationally.

You'll note that rounding keeps the figures from adding perfectly to 100%, but that by more than a two-to-one margin police officers around the country would prefer to see marijuana at least legalized for medical use. Though within the margin of error of two to three percentage points, fully legalizing the drug is also slightly more popular than keeping it entirely illegal. Consistent with other previous studies, younger police officers are considerably more likely to favor some form of legalization than older police officers (ages 50 and up).

It's worth pointing out that police officers were still notably more conservative in their views than the general public. Pew questioned more than 4,500 adults between August and September 2016 and found that 49% wanted to see cannabis legalized for recreational and medical purpose; 35% wanted to see it legalized for medical use only; and just 15% opposed its national legalization. Once again, rounding keeps these figures from adding to 100%.

Image source: Getty Images.

Even with the support of police, cannabis remains a dicey investment

However, even with the surprising support of law enforcement, it's unlikely that we're going to see any changes to the scheduling of cannabis at the federal level anytime soon.

For those who may not recall, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency had the opportunity to review two petitions to reschedule marijuana last summer, ultimately choosing to leave the current scheduling untouched. The DEA deemed that there was insufficient safety and efficacy data available for review, and thus decided to leave pot as an illegal substance. Considering how long it can take for petitions to make their way to the DEA, it's unlikely the regulatory agency will be revisiting pot's status in the near future.

Interestingly enough, the DEA's ruling also exposed perhaps the greatest irony of the debate surrounding whether or not marijuana should be legalized nationally. Both the DEA and lawmakers in Washington want more safety and efficacy data that they can comb through to make a smart decision on marijuana's future. Yet this data is extremely hard to come by as long as access to cannabis remains highly restricted by the DEA's schedule 1 status. Though we've witnessed some easing of the research restrictions of marijuana at the federal level, it's still far from being considered open clinical research.

In short, it means the marijuana industry should expect to continue dealing with the burdens of a schedule 1 status for some time to come. This means accepting the fact that access to basic banking services, such as a checking account and lines of credit, will remain limited at best, and coming to terms with the fact that normal business deductions will remain out of reach as long as businesses are selling a federally illegal substance. For the investor, these two inherent disadvantages could be enough to stay on the sidelines until big changes are made at the federal level.

10 stocks we like better thanWal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and TomGardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter theyhave run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tomjust revealed what they believe are theten best stocksfor investors to buy right now... and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- theythink these 10 stocks are even better buys.

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*StockAdvisor returns as of December 12, 2016The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.

The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Selma Blair had a pretty rough Friday.

The "Mothers and Daughters" star took to Instagram to share a video of herself looking a little teary-eyed, and detailing her unlucky day in the caption. According to Blair, the series of misfortunes began after she drove away from a gas pump with the nozzle still in her fuel tank.

WATCH: Selma Blair Thanks Fans for 'Forgiveness' on Her Birthday Following Plane Outburst

"Ok. So my head is still pounding," she explained. "I drove away from a gas pump with the nozzle still in. I was chastised for wearing fur but that was weird 'cause it was teddy bear fur. And then I paid for the broken pump so that was over a 500 dollar tank of gas. Felt awful for being so absent minded."

"Then I burst into tears in front of barista after ordering and made everyone uncomfortable," she added. "Still crying. And I ran out of dog food. And excedrin. Can I have someone say this will pass? #waytogo #crapday #stillgrateful #makemelaughplease #timetoplaywithmylittleone."

And judging by her latest pic, it appears that's exactly what she did on Saturday! The 44-year-old actress shared a sweet photo with her 5-year-old son, Arthur, who accidentally woke her up by placing his feet on her face.

Too cute!

WATCH: Selma Blair Opens Up About 'Frightening' Plane Incident

Back in June, the Southfield, Michigan, native suffered a much more serious incident during a flight, which resulted in her having to be removed from the plane.
A South Carolina restaurant owner is in hot water after a highly-descriptive posting a help wanted sign in her eatery's window.

Th sign, which was spotted by locals outside of Kennedy's Home Cooking in Spartanburg, S.C., over the weekend read Minorities need not apply, written in both English and Spanish. A photo of the sign posted online sparked outrage across social media with many vowing to boycott the establishment and asking others to do the same.

Minorities Need Not Apply - Spartanburg SC racists pic.twitter.com/InwZXDFLWn  Cooke Keitha (@KeithaCook_) January 28, 2017

But the owner of Kennedy's, Sook "Sue" Shin, says its all a huge misunderstanding.

She says her husband bought the sign on eBay and they didnt know what it meant. Shin, who is Japanese, says English is her second language and her husband is Korean.

DISNEYLAND'S EXCLUSIVE 21 ROYAL RESTAURANT NOW HAS A $15,000 DINNER

I never ever meant that, so I'm really sorry. Please forgive me," Shin told North Carolinas WYFF News 4s Mike McCormick.

As news of the sign spread online, workers at Kennedy's says there was swift backlash.

Minority's Need Not ApplyAnd y'all still giving these folkSC restaurant apologizes for racist Help Wanted Sign https://t.co/KD5zuA6Otf  Carla (@Tuniekc) February 2, 2017

That day we probably only had 20 customers, and me and the other girl that was working, we didn't make hardly any money. We had phone calls all day harassing us," Melonie Henderson, a server at the restaurant told FOX Carolina.

"They thought it meant minors, not minorities, Henderson told WYFF.

As soon as the owners realized the error, they promptly took down the sign and replaced it with an apology Monday.

ORLANDO CHICK-FIL-A RESTAURANT HONORS FALLEN OFFICER WITH TRIBUTE TABLE

The new sign reads: Dear Customers. I am the owner Sue. I am really sorry for the sign that posted (earlier). I didnt know what it meant. After I know, I took it off immediately. English is not my first language. And I never thought about it again. I sincerely apologize for (everything).

But Shin and her servers say the restaurant is continuing to feel the heat even after recognizing the error.

According to WLOX, a group African-American customers stopped by the restaurant Monday, read the sign, but said they still plan to stop eating at the restaurant. The lack of business, say servers, may have a detrimental effect down the line.

If we dont have customers, we don't make that much. We rely on our tips, said Deborah Bright, a server for five years told WYFF.
During the winter months, it seems like kids are sick nearly every week with another cold, virus or ear infection.

Its not uncommon for a child to have an ear infection more than 80 percent of children in the U.S. are diagnosed with ear infections by the time theyre 3 years old.

Pediatric ear infections are also the most common condition that antibiotics are prescribed for in the U.S., according to studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association, but many parents are worried about giving their child antibiotics.

Studies show overexposure to antibiotics can alter the microbiome and the healthy gut flora that ward off infectionssometimes even permanently. Antibiotics can also lead to thrush, intestinal yeast, diarrhea and a compromised immune system.

In fact, kids treated with low-doses of antibiotics were more likely to develop a biofilm within the ear itself and more likely to have chronic ear infections in the future, according to a study in the journal PLOS One.

Why do kids get ear infections?

Babies and young children are more susceptible to ear infections because the Eustachian tube, which connects the space between the eardrum and the back of the nose, is positioned at a horizontal angle, but in adults its diagonal or more vertical.

The fluid drains directly into the ear versus draining down with gravity, said Dr. Erika Krumbeck, a naturopathic physician who specializes in pediatrics and the founder and owner of Montana Whole Health in Missoula, Montana.

Although your child might have frequent ear infections, antibiotics may not have to be the first line of defense.

Here are eight natural remedies you can try:

1. Wait and watch

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that in low-risk kids, a wait-and-watch approach is a better choice than prescribing antibiotics right away. The guidelines, however, will vary depending on your childs age, severity of symptoms, and whether the infection is in one or both ears.

Most physicians will wait between 24 and 48 hours to see if the symptoms will improve, but up to 72 hours is ok, too.

I would recommend all parents to question immediately whether antibiotics are absolutely necessary or [if] they have some room to play according to Krumbeck. If you can get the fluid that is trapped in that Eustachian tube to drain, then you dont have possibility for an infection any more.

2. Onion earmuffs

It might seem odd, but onion ear muffs, can help ease pain and the antimicrobial properties can heal the infection, Krumbeck said.

Slice an onion in half and then either microwave or simmer it in half an inch of water until its soft. Then wrap the onion in a cloth and hold it up to your childs ear for as long as hell tolerate it. Of course, make sure you feel the onion first to make sure its not too hot.

3. Garlic oil

Studies show that garlic is anti-inflammatory, will relieve pain, and can fight an ear infection whether its viral or bacterial, said Dr. Elisa Song, a holistic pediatrician at Whole Family Wellness in Belmont, California and founder of Healthy Kids Happy Kids.

At the first sign of pain, place one drop of garlic oil into your childs ears three to four times a day. Since garlic can be irritating, dont try to make it yourself most health food stores sell it.

4. Acupressure and essential oils

Lavender essential oil reduces inflammation and when used with acupressure, it can help relieve ear infections.

The acupressure points are located in front of and behind the ear and the space between the thumb and index finger on the hand.

5. Use a humidifier

Running a humidifier can help to counteract the dry indoor air, reduce swelling, moisten the membranes and thin the mucus in the Eustachian tubes.

6. Elevate the bed

Prop up your childs head with pillows to allow the fluid to drain down. For babies, boost up the head of the crib with some books.

7. Vitamin C

An oral vitamin C supplement can reduce swelling in the ears but its important to ask your doctor about the dosage, as too much can lead to diarrhea, Krumbeck said.

8. Homeopathic remedies

Studies show that homeopathic treatments can reduce the pain of ear infections and work faster than antibiotics.

One to try: ferrum phosphoricum, an anti-inflammatory remedy that specifically targets the eardrum. Use it alone or with garlic oil.
An Oklahoma lawmaker who admitted asking a legislative aide to send him topless photos and accompany him to a strip club announced plans to resign on Saturday, two days after a special House committee recommended he be expelled from office.

"I hereby irrevocably tender my resignation from the elected position as State Representative for House District 75," Republican Dan Kirby of Tulsa said in the two sentence letter to Republican House Speaker Charles McCall. "Such Resignation shall become effective Wednesday, March 1st, 2017."

McCall spokesman Jason Sutton said the speaker received the letter and forwarded it to Gov. Mary Fallin.

"He's resigning, it's irrevocable, so he's leaving the Legislature," Sutton said.

Fallin spokesman Michael McNutt said Fallin will now begin the process of scheduling a special election to fill the vacancy.

"I respect Rep. Kirby's decision, and it is in everyone's best interest so we can focus on state issues," Fallin said in a statement.

Kirby did not return a phone call seeking comment, but issued a statement saying he can't continue fighting what he called "unfounded accusations" and reiterated his denial that he sexually harassed anyone.

"In hindsight, it was poor judgement to work with someone with whom I had a very close and personal relationship with for over 5 years, but I strongly disagree that our actions warrant my expulsion," Kirby wrote.

Kirby has said the relationship was consensual.

The chairman of the House committee, Republican Rep. Josh Cockroft, said after Thursday's vote that he believed a two-thirds majority of the 101-member House, 68 members, would vote to expel Kirby if he did not resign.

House Minority Lead Scott Inman, D-Del City, released a statement saying he and the Democratic caucus "were pleased to hear that Representative Kirby has done the right thing and resigned. We hope the victims of this sordid episode find some measure of comfort in the announcement.
President Trump is sticking with his argument that millions of illegal immigrants voted in the 2016 presidential election, amid calls for him to provide proof and questions about whether hell indeed have an official probe into the issue.

Many people have come out and said I am right, Trump said in an interview with Fox News Bill OReilly to be aired Sunday before the NFL Super Bowl.

Watch the O'Reilly Super Bowl LI interview with Trump at 4 pm ET Sunday on Fox Sports. Tune in for more of the interview on "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday and Tuesday at 8 pm ET on Fox News Channel.

Trump didnt directly answer a question about whether he, in fact, has evidence -- but suggested that he has seen voter-registration records that suggest widespread voter fraud.

We can be babies, but you take a look at the registration, Trump said. You have illegals, you have dead people, you have this. Its really a bad situation.

Trump became president by winning the Electoral College vote but did not win the popular vote. And losing that vote to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by an estimated 3 million ballots has been a continuing source of contention with him.

Last month, Trump suggested he would ask for a major investigation through the Justice Department. And he purportedly was considering signing an executive order to start the process. But the administration has not taken any public action on the issue in roughly the past 10 days.

Also on Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R- Ky., told CNNs State of the Union that he doesnt want to spend federal money to investigate Trumps allegation.

Trump also said in the Fox interview that he has "respect" for Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that respect does not mean they'll get along.

"I say its better to get along with Russia than not, he said. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world -- thats a good thing.  Will I get along with him? I have no idea."

Pressed about Putin's history of violence, Trump said: "There are a lot of killers. Weve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our countrys so innocent?
'The Monster' collaborators Eminem and Rihanna perform onstage at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on April 13, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo : Getty Images/Frederick M. Brown)

Stacy Ann Ferguson, who is professionally known as Fergie Duhamel, is one of the celebrities mentioned in the lyrics of Big Sean's new song "No Favors" featuring Eminem. In the "Rap God" rapper's verse, one of the most controversial moments of Fergie's life as a musician is mentioned.



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"It may be disturbing," Eminem raps. "What I'm saying's cringeworthy, but I'm urinating on Fergie."



In 2014, Duhamel talked about the accident in 2005 when she was performing with The Black Eyed Peas. The former female vocalist of the hip hop group said at the time, she had no time to go to the lavatory and she was rushing to get onstage.



On the Hot 97 radio show "Ebro in the Morning," Duhamel explained that they were late for stage and they were driving down the freeway. It was Friday traffic and they had to get to the stage and start the show immediately, according to her.



"I'm running on and we jump and do 'Let's Get It Started,' and I get crazy and I jump and I run across the stage and my adrenaline was going and gosh," Duhamel recalled. The wife of "Transformers: The Last Knight" star Josh Duhamel acknowledged that it was very embarrassing and wished it did not happen.



"Let's Get It Started" was released on June 22, 2004. It was the fourth single released from "Elephunk," the third studio album of The Black Eyed Peas.



Meanwhile, "No Favors" is one of the 14 tracks of "I Decided," the fourth studio album of Big Sean. Eminem and Big Sean co-wrote the song with Brittany Hazzard, Ebony Oshunrinde, Francis Bach-Hoang Nguyen-Tran, Mark Sebastian, Steve Boone and John Sebastian.



Sean created limited-edition pieces of "I Decided." Recently, he also launched his first-ever pop-up shops in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, and, of course, his hometown of Detroit, Complex reported.



For Sean, style is about doing something that has meaning to a person and makes him or her feel good. He told Billboard that there is a real message behind "I Decided."



Watch Sean talk about "No Favors" and Eminem here:






The Justice Department filed an appeal of a judges order temporarily stopping President Donald Trumps travel ban on Saturday night, saying its the sovereign prerogative" of a president to admit or exclude aliens.

On Friday a federal judge in Seattle issued the halt to Trump's executive order that temporarily bans travelers, immigrants and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. By early afternoon, the departments of State and Homeland Security effectively said that they had responded accordingly.

The appeal states that the district courts ruling conflicts with the basic principle that an alien seeking initial admission to the United States requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application."

The Justice Department is asking that the federal judge's order be stayed pending resolution of the appeal.

It calls the ban necessary "to ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism."

Airlines, federal agencies, foreign travelers and others scrambled throughout Saturday in response to the weekend court order.

Trump took to Twitter Saturday night to express his feelings about the judge's ruling. Trump said, "Bad people are very happy."

The appeal says the temporary restraining order by U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle is a broad overreach of judicial authority.

"Judicial second-guessing of the President's national security determination in itself imposes substantial harm on the federal government and the nation at large," it says. The order also imposes harm on U.S. citizens "by thwarting the legal effect of the public's chosen representative," it says.

President Trump, at Mar-a-Lago for the weekend with the first lady to attend the Red Cross Ball, had this to say when a pool reporter asked if has confident he would prevail in court: "We'll win," he replied. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

The State Department said it had reversed cancelling visas for related foreigners, after provisionally revoking as many as 60,000 of them to comply with Trump's Jan. 27 order.

Then Homeland Security announced that it would no longer be directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by the order from boarding U.S.-bound planes.

The agency also said that it had suspended any and all actions" related to putting in place the terms of the order.

However, by late Saturday afternoon, the response from international airlines still appeared in flux. Several were honoring the temporary halt, while some immigrants were still having trouble boarding planes to America.

Royal Jordanian, for example, had resumed flights from six of the seven countries -- Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Somalia -- as long as people presented valid visas or green cards.

But African immigration lawyer Julie Goldberg was struggling Saturday to arrange flights at Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport for stranded Yemeni citizens with visas.

And Goldberg said she was told by Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines that immigrants from the seven countries are still not being allowed to fly.

Trumps executive order also halted a refugee program from the seventh country, war-torn Syria. He issued the temporary ban following his winning campaign promise to further protect Americans from what he calls "radical Islamic terrorism."

Like last weekend, when thousands of air travelers were detained at U.S. airports because the executive order was issued with no clear warning, widespread, peaceful demonstrations broke out Saturday.

They occurred again in New York and Washington, D.C., and in such places as Philadelphia, London and Paris.

Later in the day Saturday, Trump said on Twitter: "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?" He added that "very bad and dangerous" people may now come into the U.S. because of the judge's "terrible" ruling.

Earlier, Trump called the judge who issued the temporary restraining order a so-called judge and vowed that the order would be overturned!

Trumps tweet about Robart also resulted in criticism from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The president's attack  shows a disdain for an independent judiciary that doesn't always bend to his wishes and a continued lack of respect for the Constitution, the New York Democrat said.

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," a White House statement said.

The halt late Friday was issued by Robart, who was an appointee of George W. Bush. He said that Washington state and Minnesota had standing to challenge Trump's executive order on immigration. So he issued the temporary, nationwide restraining order based on his opinion that the states showed their case is likely to succeed.

Washington became the first state to sue over the order, and Minnesota joined the lawsuit two days later.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

The two states won a temporary restraining order while the court considers the lawsuit, which aims to permanently block Trump's order. Court challenges have been filed nationwide from states and advocacy groups.

Justice Department lawyers say about 100,000 visas -- not 60,000 -- had been revoked.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions appears poised to be confirmed later this week as U.S. attorney general, but filling his Senate seat looks less certain, with the states governor reportedly still deciding among six potential replacements.

Among those considered most likely to replace the four-term senator is state Attorney General Luther Strange, who back in December 2016 said he would seek the open seat.

Republican Gov. Robert Bentley will appoint an interim replacement until there's an election either next year or in 2018 to fill the rest of Sessions term.

"The voters will make the ultimate decision about who will represent them, and I look forward to making my case to the people of Alabama in the months to come as to why they can trust me to keep protecting and fighting for our conservative values," Strange said.

Strange, who considered a run for governor before Trump tapped Sessions as his nominee for attorney general, has already filed the necessary paperwork with federal election officials.

The Tennessee Valley newspaper the Decatur Daily reports Bentley has narrowed his search to six. The other five are state Sen. Del Marsh; state Reps. Robert Aderholt, Perry Hooper Jr. and Connie Rowe and Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs Director Jim Bayard, according to the newspaper.

Bentley replacing Sessions has reportedly raised some concern, considering Bentley late last year asked the state House Judiciary Committee to postpone its investigation into Bentleys relationship with a former female aide.

Skeptics think Strange could squash the entire investigation in return for the appointment, or that Bentley could appoint an attorney general to replace Bentley who would not pursue the issue.

Nevertheless, the GOP-Congress will almost certainly wait to confirm Sessions until after the Senate votes on Betsy DeVos becoming education secretary because it will need Sessions vote in what has become a tough effort to get 51 yes votes to confirm DeVos.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Early Sunday morning a federal appeals court denied the Justice Department's request for an immediate reinstatement of President Donald Trump's ban on accepting certain travelers and refugees.

The DOJ filed an appeal of a judges order temporarily stopping Trumps travel ban on Saturday night, saying its the sovereign prerogative" of a president to admit or exclude aliens.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco instead asked for the Justice Department to file a counter-response by Monday afternoon.

The higher court's denial of an immediate stay means the legal battles will continue for days at least.

The appeal stated that the district courts ruling conflicts with the basic principle that an alien seeking initial admission to the United States requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application."

The appeal also said the temporary order blocking Trumps ban was an overreach of judicial authority. The order was issued by U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle.

"Judicial second-guessing of the President's national security determination in itself imposes substantial harm on the federal government and the nation at large," it said.

Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco argued on Saturday night saying that the president has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the United States.

"The power to expel or exclude aliens is a fundamental sovereign attribute, delegated by Congress to the executive branch of government and largely immune from judicial control," the brief says.

The Justice Department asked that the federal judge's order be stayed pending resolution of the appeal, so that the ban can "ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism."

Trumps controversial executive order has caused unending confusion for many travelers trying to reach the U.S.

Demonstrations took place outside the White House, in New York and near his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was attending the annual American Red Cross fundraising gala.

"We'll win," Trump told reporters Saturday night. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

The department on Saturday advised refugee aid agencies that those set to travel before Trump signed his order will now be allowed in. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government was "focusing on booking refugee travel" through Feb. 17 and working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trump's order from boarding U.S.-bound planes. The agency said it had "suspended any and all actions" related to putting in place Trump's order.

Hearings have also been held in court challenges nationwide. Washington state and Minnesota argued that the temporary ban and the global suspension of the U.S. refugee program harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is suggesting that new Secretary of State Rex Tillersons promised changes to the agency will include clamping down on damaging leaks to the press, after transcripts of President Trumps phone conversations with two world leaders were leaked.

He has made very clear to people at State that they should expect major changes coming, and I would assume on leaking is one of them, Conway said in an interview aired Sunday on Fox News Media Buzz with Howie Kurtz.

Conways comments follow White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer suggesting several days earlier to Fox that Trump has asked his team to look into the leaks.

There is no evidence so far on who leaked partial transcripts of Trumps separate calls with Mexican President Enrique Pena and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

However, much of the speculation has focused on the State Department, particularly those from the former Obama administration, considering hundreds of agency employees purportedly signed a dissent memo on Trumps recent executive order to temporarily ban immigration from seven mostly Muslim nations.

To be sure, Tillerson said Thursday at State Department headquarters, after being sworn-in, that he is committed to reviewing processes that need change.

Tillerson, a former ExxonMobil chief executive, said he wouldnt make changes for the sake of change, but also made clear that no one will tolerate disrespect of anyone.

A released partial transcript of Trumps call last week with Pena shows Trump saying: "You have a bunch of bad hombres down there.  You aren't doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn't, so I just might send them down to take care of it."

Both countries have said the conversation was not confrontational. And Eduardo Sanchez, spokesman for Mexico's presidential office, said reports that Trump threatened to send in troops are absolutely false.

Details about Trump's call last week with Turnbull also were leaked to the media. Trump reportedly ended the phone call abruptly after a disagreement about refugee policy. However, both sides again downplayed the reported acrimony.

Believe me, when you hear about the tough phone calls Im having -- dont worry about it, Trump said after the calls, at a prayer breakfast last week in Washington, D.C. Just dont worry about it.

Conway also said Sunday: We are not leakers.  We are duty-bound to this country to not leak information that could jeopardize all of us.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Some federal employees are gearing up for a cyber-battle against President Trump, and they are creating a hidden messaging system to elude detection.

According to POLITICO, employees of agencies that seem on the chopping block of the new administration are setting up new email addresses and turning to encrypted messaging apps to hold group conversations with other anti-Trump staffers, and to communicate with the press.

Theyre also using these cloak-and-dagger methods to work on letters that take exception to Trump policies, POLITICO reported.

Career employees at the State Department have amassed some 1,000 signatures on a memo that expresses condemnation of Trumps executive order that imposes a travel ban on immigrants and that puts a hold on refugee admissions from seven Muslim-majority countries deemed hotbeds of terrorist activity.

Employees of other agencies, such as the Labor Department and Environmental Protection Agency, also have turned to off-the-grid messaging to urge U.S. senators to oppose Trump Cabinet nominees and warning against the presidents plans to make cuts in some agencies.

Such off-grid communication can work, and stay within legal boundaries, say experts, so long as it is done during personal time and on personal equipment.

It could work, but it depends on whether they are using their office computers or networks, said Jim Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to Fox News. If they are, theyll be detected, even if they use encryption. If they are using private accounts or devices, it would require a warrant to find them and they arent violating any law if they stick to opinion.

Lewis served as a Foreign Service officer with both the State and Commerce departments.

Illegal surveillance would lead to a lawsuit against the [agency] that conducted it [and] the workers would win, Lewis added. Encryption is a problem in that it can hide communications between two people but can be a handicap if you want to share material widely.

Some State Department employees see it as their civil duty to flag any policies or proposals that they believe will be detrimental to their agencys role, POLITICO said.

I think we all have to look within ourselves and say Where is that line that I will not cross? one Foreign Service officer said about opposition toTrump's ban, according to POLITICO.

One of the most high-profile acts of dissent occurred when Acting Attorney General Sally Yates ordered the Department of Justices lawyers not to defend the ban order in court.

Trump abruptly fired her.

Recently, news surfaced about a Secret Service agent who last year said in a Facebook post that she would not sacrifice her life for Donald Trump if he became president.

Employees of the National Parks Service raised eyebrows when the agencys Twitter account had a retweet of photos showing crowds at Trumps and Barack Obamas inaugurations.

The agency removed the retweet and described it as an error.

But so-called unofficial resistance teams at the park service, EPA and NASA have been apparently using alternative accounts to take jabs at Trump and his policies.

One tweet, cited by POLITICO, said: Can't wait for President Trump to call us FAKE NEWS. You can take our official twitter, but you'll never take our free time!

Many of the federal workers turning to under-the-radar means of communicating are using Signal, a smartphone app that can be used to send encrypted messages.

It seems Trump is going after people who oppose things that hes doing, so it makes sense that federal workers would be concerned about making their political ideas known, said Jonathan Katz, director of the Maryland Cybersecurity Center at the University of Maryland.

The [Signal] app is well-designed, its secure, it would be difficult to collect widespread information from it, Katz said to Fox News. But if [the government] wants to target a specific individual, it could do that.
Angry constituents confronted Republican lawmakers at separate town halls in California and Florida, fearful of the GOP promise to repeal former President Barack Obama's health care law without a comprehensive alternative.

In California, Rep. Tom McClintock faced tough questions on Saturday about health care and President Donald Trump's agenda and had to be escorted by police after his hour-long event. Protesters followed him, shouting "Shame on you!"

In an equally conservative district in Florida, Rep. Gus Bilirakis answered questions from frustrated town hall attendees who worried about the loss of insurance and higher premiums if the law is repealed.

The events captured on Facebook, the Saint Peters blog and other news organizations echoed the angry town halls that Democrats faced in 2009 as Obama pressed for passage of his sweeping law. With the Trump administration support for scrapping the law, the Republican campaign to overturn it is no longer a political exercise to be stopped by Democrats and Obama but rather a reality.

Republicans have repeatedly said the law is a costly disaster with rising costs. Democrats say the GOP effort will threaten health care's availability and raise rates, angering the 20 million people who gained insurance under the law and tens of millions of others who benefit from the statute's coverage requirements.

Last week, at a GOP retreat in Philadelphia, McClintock raised concerns about the GOP steps.

"We'd better be sure that we're prepared to live with the market we've created," McClintock was quoted as saying in a secret recording obtained by The Washington Post and elsewhere. "That's going to be called `Trumpcare.' Republicans will own that lock, stock and barrel, and we'll be judged in the election less than two years away."

On Saturday, McClintock was constantly interrupted and booed as he defended his party's national agenda during the hourlong event at a theater in downtown Roseville, the population center of his sprawling congressional district, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Hundreds of protesters stood outside chanting "Vote him out," while those inside the theater held signs that read "Resist," "Dump Tom McTrump," and "Climate change is real."

"I understand you do not like Donald Trump," McClintock said. "I sympathize with you. There have been elections where our side has lost ... Just a word of friendly advice: Remember that there were many people in America who disagreed with and feared Barack Obama just as vigorously as you disagree with and fear Donald Trump."

A video posted on the newspaper's website shows a demonstrators chanting "Shame on you!" as they follow McClintock who walks to a waiting car surrounded by police officers.

Trump supporters also attended the town hall. David Ramsey said he volunteered for McClintock's 2008 campaign and voted for Trump in November.

"President Trump is doing what he said he was going to do," Ramsey said. "I like what he's talking about -- securing our borders and vetting immigrants. Hopefully, he'll lower taxes, and reduce big government and regulation."
Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that the federal judge who halted President Trumps temporary immigration ban made the wrong decision and vowed to use all legal means at our disposal to protect Americans.

From the outset of his campaign and administration, the president of the United States has made it clear to put the safety of the American people first, Pence said on Fox News Sunday. We are going to win this argument.

Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 that temporarily halted immigration from seven mostly Muslim nations and the United States Syrian refugee program. The order follows his steadfast argument that radical Islamic terrorism poses a major threat to Americans safety.

On Friday, a federal judge in Seattle imposed a temporary restraining order on Trumps ban, in response to a case filed last week by Washington state and Minnesota challenging Trumps constitutional authority to unilaterally impose such a sweeping ban.

On Saturday night, a federal appeals court denied a Trump administration request to lift the restraining order and allow the immigration ban to continue.

Under statutory law and under the Constitution, that authority belongs to the president, Pence also said Sunday.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Sunday that she has no doubt that the legal issue will ultimately go to the Supreme Court.

Pence also supported the new sanctions Trump imposed on Iran after the country last week launched a medium-range ballistic missile.

They have flouted the U.N. security resolution, he said. What we are seeing here is a hostile action, belligerent action, taken by the Iranians. And we just are not going to put up with it anymore."
The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is sending agents to North Dakota to help clear Dakota Access oil pipeline protesters from makeshift camps on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

The Standing Rock tribe led the months-long protest against the pipeline project, but recently requested BIAs assistance in closing the camps, Prairie Public Broadcasting reported Friday.

BIAs announcement comes after the Army Corps of Engineers issued an order to a few hundred protesters at a camp in Cannon Ball, N.D., to get out by Feb. 22, the station reported.

BIAs Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Michael Black said on Friday that closing the camps is a matter of public health and safety.

PROPOSED FINE AGAINST DAKOTA ACCESS COMPANY TO GET HEARING

North Dakota Gov. Burgum, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe leadership, local law enforcement, and local landowners have all warned the public and those still camped of the dangerous spring flooding expected due to the heavy amount of snowfall the state received this winter, Black said.

Authorities arrested 74 protesters, including American Indian activist Chase Iron Eyes, after they set up teepees Wednesday on land owned by Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners. Protesters said they were peacefully assembling on land they believe rightfully belongs to American Indians.

President Donald Trump last month called on the Army to reconsider its earlier decision to block the pipeline from being laid under Lake Oahe. It's the last big chunk of construction for the pipeline, and work has stalled while ETP battles the Army Corps of Engineers in court for permission to proceed.

Acting Army Secretary Robert Speer on Tuesday ordered a review of the Army's earlier decision not to grant permission until more study was done. It's unclear how long the review will take, but U.S. Sen. John Hoeven told the AP that after a conversation with Speer, he's certain permission will be granted soon.

TRIBAL CHAIRMAN DECRIES DAKOTA ACCESS PROTESTERS' NEW CAMP

"The fight is no longer here, but in the halls and courts of the federal government," Standing Rock Sioux tribal Chairman Dave Archambault said.

The Dakota Access pipeline would carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois. Opponents fear it could harm the environment and American Indian artifacts. The pipeline developer disputes that.

The Associated Press contribued to this report.
A nurse is challenging a Maryland countys stun gun ban on Second Amendment grounds.

Leah Baran sued in federal court after stun gun manufacturer Taser International refused to ship the device to her home in Howard County last month, Courthouse News Service reports.

Baran says she wants a stun gun becasue she fears for her life after her ex-boyfriend broke into her home, raped her and tried to kill her in 2012.

She says in her Jan. 27 lawsuit that his last words to her were, If I go to prison, as soon as I get out, I am coming for you and I am going to kill you, Courthouse News reported Thursday.

The ex was convicted of kidnapping and assaulting her and is serving a lengthy sentence in a Maryland prison.

Baran estimates that his earliest release date is in 2032, but she is still convinced that he will make good on his threat, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

She told the paper that she believes what he said to her, every word of it.

The paper reports that Baran owns a gun and has applied for a permit to carry it with her everywhere, but isn't comfortable resorting to deadly force to defend herself.

Last year the Supreme Court decided a case that may give her lawsuit a boost. In Caetano v. Massachusetts the court questioned the constitutionality of stun gun bans without outlawing them, according to the Post.

A Howard County spokeswoman declined comment on the lawsuit, which also seeks to overturn Baltimore Countys stun gun ban.
U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis. (Photo : Getty Images)

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis again condemned Iran, but this time as "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world," in his first official comment about a country's he's been waging a personal war against for over a decade.



Mattis said Iran's "misconduct and misbehavior" have to be dealt with.



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"We have a responsibility with the rest of the nations to be absolutely clear with Iran in this regard. It does no good to ignore it. It does no good to dismiss it," said Mattis in Tokyo.



Mattis is in Tokyo as part of an official visit to Japan and South Korea, America's staunchest allies in Asia.



Mattis, however, said the escalating feud with Iran doesn't need an increase in the number of U.S. military forces in the Middle East.



"We always have the capability to do so, but at this time I don't think it's necessary," he said.



Mattis' rousing remarks made Feb. 4 came a day after the Trump administration imposed new sanctions against Iranian government institutions and Iranian individuals in retaliation for Iran's failed test of an intermediate range ballistic missile in mid-January.



Iran revealed the test only after Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 27 temporarily banning nationals from seven Muslim-majority nations -- including Iran -- from entering the United States.



The U.S. and Israel both claim the test violated United Nations Resolution 2231 that forbids conducting from conducting tests such as these. Iran, however, claimed the test was legitimate since the IRBM it tested wasn't designed to carry nuclear warheads.



Eshaq Jahangiri, Iran's first vice president, dismissed Mattis' remarks as "useless claims," saying Iran is a key player in the fight against ISIS.



"The Iranian government and nation do not care in the least for the worn-out and threadbare remarks made by the American officials," said Jahangiri.



Mattis' anti-Iranian viewpoint has been evident since his service with the U.S. Marines. As a Marine Corps four star General, Mattis was once Commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) responsible for the Middle East.



His current worldview has been shaped by his experience in the Middle East as CENTCOM commander. He is steadfastly anti-Iran.



Mattis once said the three gravest threats facing the U.S. are "Iran, Iran, Iran." And after Iran, there's Russia and China.



He also called on the United States, especially the Congress, "to adapt to changing circumstances, to come out now from our reactive crouch and take a firm, strategic stance in defense of our values."


The man accused in the shocking murder and sexual assault of a young New York City jogger last summer is set to be arraigned later Sunday, bringing a close to a six-month investigation that gripped the region.

Chanel Lewis, 20, was taken into custody on Saturday night after police matched his DNA to samples taken from the victim, 30-year-old Karina Vetrano, and the surrounding crime scene, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said during a Sunday news conference. Lewis is also alleged to have made detailed incriminating statements.

"The demon must get his justice," said Vetrano's mom, Cathy. "We will see to it."

FAMILY OF MURDERED MASS. JOGGER SPEAKS OUT FOR FIRST TIME

Vetrano's parents had mixed emotions as they commented to reporters, including one from The New York Daily News, outside their home on Sunday. While Cathy spoke of vengeance, Phil Vetrano talked about the path ahead.

"I'm not going to say it is a good day, but we can move forward now," he said. "We know who did this."

Authorities zeroed in on Lewis following an extensive probe into the Howard Beach park where Vetrano was found murdered and assaulted on Aug. 2.

A plethora of cameras  both city-run and those of private homeowners  helped investigators rule out the killer entering or exiting the park from the Howard Beach side. Once police turned their attention to the East New York side, Lewis began coming into focus as a suspect, Boyce said.

Investigators, who pored through more than 250 leads and 1,700 investigative reports, initially began looking at Lewis following the discovery of a 911 call from May reporting a suspicious person in the area that turned out to be Lewis. Authorities soon developed a profile of Lewis and uncovered multiple summonses issued to him placing him in the area dating back to 2013.

An off-duty officer also saw Lewis acting suspiciously somewhere in Howard Beach after the murder, and called the local precinct. Lewis was questioned at that time, but police found no valid reason to hold him and he was released without charges, sources told The New York Post.

During an interview with police on Thursday, Lewis freely allowed officials to swab his cheek for DNA, which was quickly matched to the DNA found on and around Vetrano, Boyce said. Investigators had found the DNA of Vetranos suspected attacker on her cellphone, neck and fingernails.

Lewis, who does not work and lives at home with his mother, was arrested without incident at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Investigators on Sunday were executing a search warrant at his home.

Boyce said police dont believe Vetrano was stalked and that the murder occurred following a chance encounter.

We dont believe he knew her at all, Boyce said.

Richard Lewis said his son, Chanel, wanted to be a social worker and was taking classes toward that end. Richard told NBC4 that Chanel was a "good and humble kid."

"It's extremely surprising because he's not the person for that," Lewis said. "Chanel would have never gone to do what they say he has, he would never."

The latest development in the murder investigation came a few days after Vetrano's parents called for the New York State Commission on Forensic Science to allow familial DNA matching in New York, which lets police search the state and federal DNA database to see if a suspect's relative is in the system.
Police say a customer at a Wal-Mart store in Florida fatally shot a man who was among a group suspected of stealing two carts full of merchandise.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that the shooting occurred Saturday after suspects left the store with stolen items.

Sheriff's Capt. A.L. Nieves says the men were loading the merchandise into a car when a worker and a customer who came to the employee's aid confronted them.

Nieves says the customer was armed and fired at a suspect, who he thought was going for a weapon. Nieves did not identify anyone involved.

The suspect later died at a hospital after deputies found him at a gas station.

The shooting is under investigation, and the remaining robbery suspects remain at large.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP)  Five teenagers have been found guilty of killing seven taxi drivers and seriously injuring two others by forcing most of them to drink drain cleaner.

The teenagers, who ranged in ages from 15 to 17 and included two girls, were sentenced on Thursday to three to five years in prison.

The victims' relatives had demanded the five be treated as adults and serve up to 30 years in prison, the maximum penalty allowed for killing someone in the Dominican Republic.

Police said the teens used guns to assault the drivers in April and steal money from them. Two of the drivers were fatally shot and the others were forced to drink drain cleaner. Authorities said the teens also doused the bodies with drain cleaner to prevent them from being identified.

The sentencing came a day after the government banned the commercial sale of certain drain cleaners because police have reported they are increasingly being used in violent assaults.

In late August, an 8-month-old baby and a 19-year-old mother died after her partner doused them with the liquid, police said.
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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was flown by helicopter from a cruise ship in the Galapagos Islands for medical attention after suffering intense pain because of a kidney stone on Jan. 1, authorities said Saturday.

Capt. Santiago Rubio, commander of the port of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos, told The Associated Press that Bezos was on a ship not far from the island when he felt the pains in his stomach area.

Ecuador's navy sent doctors to examine Bezos and when they determined that it was a kidney stone attack, Rubio said he authorized a helicopter to take the Amazon founder and Washington Post owner from the ship on New Year's Day.

The captain said Bezos was taken to Santa Cruz port and from there a short flight to Baltra island where his private jet was waiting to take him to the U.S. for treatment.

Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said in a statement Saturday that no surgery was required, and Bezos is feeling well.

He said Bezos sent an email saying, "Galapagos: five stars. Kidney stones: zero stars."
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The last time men posing as immigration officials showed up at Wei Kun's shoe store in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, the Chinese trader forked out $1,000 in bribes to prevent his business from being shuttered.

"I have many, many problems. It's very difficult to make money here," Kun said as he waited for customers inside his shoe store.

Yet Kun's perseverance in the face of such obstacles, including the rising hostility toward local merchants, is a measure of how profitable it is for Chinese merchants to run small businesses in Uganda  and the rest of Africa. Over the past 10 years, Chinese industrial giants have invested billions across Africa, and there has been an accompanying explosion of petty retailers opening small shops from Senegal in the west to Algeria in the north, Zimbabwe in the south and Uganda in the east.

China's direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa jumped from practically nothing in 2002 to $18.2 billion in 2012. According to the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce in Africa, there are about a million Chinese living in Africa, mostly engaged in commercial work.

Inexpensive Chinese goods have long been popular in Africa, and in the last decade Chinese merchants have started eliminating the middle man and setting up retail outlets of their own  much to local merchants' chagrin.

"The price undercutting will chase us out of the market," said Issa Sekitto, spokesman for the Kampala City Traders Association, which counts 400,000 formal members.

"Because the Chinese are importing directly from home, they can also afford to bring in junk," he said, accusing them of importing inferior goods  which the Chinese deny.

Local officials estimate there are thousands of these so-called briefcase investors in Uganda  a pejorative term playing off the government's desire to bring in major international money.

The Chinese merchants' inexpensive products  such as $1 plastic, slip-on shoes  are finding a ready market in a city where most put affordability first.

Trader Leo Jian says he and his fellow merchants sell what the market wants.

"China has the best shoes but it also has the fake ones. But Uganda needs cheap, cheap things, and cheap things can also be seen as fake."

The traders are increasingly everywhere, in supermarkets, furniture shops, photo studios, and massage parlors, but mostly in run-down shopping centers in which Ugandan and Chinese operate side by side. They are also starting to bring in their own people for the manual labor that used to employ Ugandans, Sekitto said.

Ugandan trader Arafat Jalai buys much of the stock for his suitcase shop from the Chinese  even as he competes with a Chinese-owned store across from his own.

"They should not be here trading. They should have factories. Otherwise they should be sent back home," he said.

Many other local merchants would like to see them deported or restricted to just large business ventures. In Zimbabwe, there was even a law in 2013 to reserve retail outlets for locals but it hasn't stopped the spread of Chinese merchants there either.

In 2011, riots broke out in Kampala that largely targeted the city's foreign merchants  echoing the 1972 expulsion of the country's Indian middle class by dictator Idi Amin.

Frank Ssebowa of the Uganda Investment Authority maintains that there is room for both Chinese and Ugandan merchants. He dismisses complaints by some locals.

"If they didn't have what clients want, would the Chinese be in that business?" he said. "The Ugandans who are grumbling are lazy types. They don't want competition ... bitterness and envy will always be there."

Most of the Chinese merchants, like Kun and his shoe store, keep a low profile. They avoid involving police in any disputes with employees or rivals. Kun said that in the last four months since he set up his shoe store in one Kampala's many noisy, poorly-ventilated shopping centers, he has paid some $8,000 in fees and bribes to keep his place open.

Ugandan immigration officials routinely deport groups of Chinese citizens found operating without valid work permits  which are often difficult to obtain.

Perspective traders must provide evidence of $100,000 in planned investment, language skills and obtain the necessary trade licenses  or pay off the right people.

"To get anything done you need money," said Maya Fang, a Chinese woman who sells furniture in Kampala.
Japan's prime minister said Tuesday that his nation needs to attend to its own demographic challenges posed by falling birth rates and an aging population before opening its doors to refugees.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced at the U.N. General Assembly that Japan is ramping up assistance in response to the exodus of refugees to Europe from the Middle East and Africa.

He said Japan will provide $1.5 billion in emergency aid for refugees and for stabilization of communities facing upheaval. But speaking to reporters later Tuesday he poured cold water on the idea of Japan opening its doors to those fleeing.

"I would say that before accepting immigrants or refugees we need to have more activities by women, by elderly people and we must raise (the) birth rate. There are many things that we should do before accepting immigrants"  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

He said Japan first needed to attend to domestic challenges which he proposes to tackle under a revamped economic policy that aims to boost GDP to a post-war record level, while bolstering the social security system to support families.

VIDEO: Boatloads of refugees arrive off the coast of Lesbos, Greece

"As an issue of demography, I would say that before accepting immigrants or refugees we need to have more activities by women, by elderly people and we must raise (the) birth rate. There are many things that we should do before accepting immigrants," Abe told a news conference, according to the official translation of his comments.

He added that Japan would "discharge our own responsibility" in addressing the refugee crisis, which he described as helping to improve conditions that cause the exodus.

Abe earlier told the world body that Japan would provide $810 million this year for emergency assistance of refugees and internally displaced persons from Syria and Iraq, triple what it gave last year. Abe said Japan is also preparing about $750 million for stabilization efforts in the Middle East and Africa.

Japan prides itself on being a good global citizen. It is one of the largest aid donors in the world. Last year Japan gave $181.6 million to the UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency, making it second only to the United States in generosity.

But it has offered very few if any resettlement places for refugees from the civil war in Syria.

According to Ministry of Justice data, it accepted just 11 asylum seekers out of a record 5,000 applications last year, although Japanese officials say most of the asylum applicants were from other Asian countries and were already living in Japan.

Some argue that increased immigration could help arrest a shrinking population, which is currently 126 million. Abe says he is determined to ensure that in 50 years the Japanese population has stabilized at 100 million.




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Egypt's top Islamic authority has rejected the president's suggestion for legislation that would invalidate the practice of men verbally divorcing their wives.

Al-Azhar's Council of Grand Clerics said Sunday that verbal divorce, when appropriately declared by husbands with sound minds, has been an undisputed practice since the days of the 7th century Prophet Muhammad.

As a compromise, it proposed harsher penalties for those who don't swiftly document such divorces.

Alarmed by high divorce rates, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi last month suggested that legislation be adopted so a divorce would be legal only in the presence of a state-authorized cleric.

El-Sissi has spoken in the past of reforming Islamic teachings in order to combat extremism.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling for international unity against Iran after Tehran's recent ballistic missile test.

Netanyahu spoke Sunday ahead of his visit to London where he will meet Prime Minister Theresa May to "deepen bilateral diplomatic, security, economic and technological ties."

He said "In the diplomatic sphere, I intend to emphasize the need for a common front against Iran's defiant aggression which has raised its head in recent days."

Iran and Israel are bitter enemies. Netanyahu vehemently opposes the 2015 deal that imposed curbs on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. He says it won't stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The deal does not include provisions against missile tests.

The Trump administration later ordered some sanctions against Iran in retaliation for the missile test.
(L-R) Actress Nina Dobrev, actor Paul Wesley, actor Ian Somerhalder, actress Kat Graham and actor Matthew Davis attend 'The Vampire Diaries' Press Line during Comic-Con International 2014 at Hilton Bayfront on July 26, 2014 in San Diego, California. (Photo : Getty Images/ Mark Davis)

"The Vampire Diaries" finale is looming, but before it happens, The CW series is going to bring back fan-favorite characters who are already dead. Just this week, Steven R. McQueen, who played Jeremy Gilbert, confirmed his return in the series' finale.



McQueen shared the good news on his Instagram, where he was seen on the set of "The Vampire Diaries" in Atlanta. It is not known how his character will reappear in "The Vampire Diaries" finale after his demise in Season 6. McQueen played Gilbert from 2009 to 2015.



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Saying hi to some old friends

A photo posted by @steven_r_mcqueen on Feb 3, 2017 at 3:10pm PST





McQueen is not the only cast member, who will be returning for the last season of "The Vampire Diaries." Other stars, including David Anders cast as John Gilbert, Kayla Ewell as Vicki Donovan and Michael Trevino, who plays Tyler Lockwood, are all set to reprise their respective roles.



With this good news, fans of the hit supernatural show are now looking forward to see these characters returning in "The Vampire Diaries" finale. Nina Dobrev, who plays Elena Gilbert, has recently confirmed her appearance for the finale.



Many were dismayed in the last episode "You Made a Choice to Be Good." Enzo (Michael Malarkey) met his tragic death when Stefan (Paul Wesley) ripped his heart out. Although it sent fans to mourn about his demise, there is still reason for them to rejoice because Malarkey confirmed that he will reappear in the series before the series wraps up.



"I've gone in and done a couple bits here and there," Malarkey told TVLine. "It's nice to be able to wrap this thing up the way they've done it, to know this is the end, and to do it justice."



Meanwhile, there are rumors that say that although "The Vampire Diaries" is wrapping up in March, viewers will still have the chance to see "The Vampire Diaries" characters in "The Originals," according to Digital Spy. The last episode of "The Vampire Diaries" finale will air on March 10, and "The Originals" will take its time slot the following week.



There are still a couple of episodes more to go before the series ends, and it seems that there are still more suspense and surprises in store for the fans. The Vampire Diaries" Season 8 episode 12 titled "What Are You?" air on Feb. 10.



Watch Season 8's next episode below:






Huangyan Island (Photo : YouTube)

Aside from a looming trade war between the two largest economies of the world, the rivalry between the U.S. and China could soar to new heights with growing tensions over the disputed South China Sea. The Chinese government plans to place a new aircraft carrier in the said area.



The aircraft carrier, provisionally named the Shandong, will be set on a site in the disputed waters. The announcement comes after Washington pledged to challenge Chinese occupation in the transport route.



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Last month, China released a five-year plan to develop research on clean energy by establishing a research center in the South China Sea. This was a sign of the country's increasing influence over the disputed waters.



The placement of the new vessel will raise questions of the intention. No one is quite sure yet if it's intended to be a show of force over Taiwan. But this move could also be interpreted as a warning to China's rivals in the region, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.



This week, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the U.S. "is going to make sure that we protect our interests there."



"We're going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country," he added.



Another U.S. official is also advocating a tough stance on the dispute. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Trump's pick for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the U.S. should deny China access to the islands.



In response to the U.S. officials' statements, Beijing Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying warned the U.S. to keep out of the dispute. She said that China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea and is committed to safeguarding it.



Exhaust Diplomatic Efforts





While Tillerson advocated a tougher stance on the issue, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis would like to go the other way, saying that diplomatic efforts should be exhausted to resolve the dispute.



"What we have to do is exhaust all efforts, diplomatic efforts, to try and resolve this properly. Our military stance should be one that reinforces our diplomats," said Mattis. He added that at this time, they do not see any need for dramatic military moves at all.



From how things are going, tensions will continue to rise especially if the U.S. continues to involve itself in the dispute. To prevent any unnecessary sacrifices, perhaps the right way to go is for the claimant countries to resolve the dispute through diplomacy and cooperation.


New U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt has reversed most of an economic package announced by the government just weeks ago, including a planned cut in income taxes. Hunt said Monday he was scrapping almost all the tax cuts announced last month by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Liz Truss, and also signaled that public spending cuts are on the way. It was a bid to soothe turbulent financial markets spooked by fears of excessive government borrowing. The move raises questions about how long the beleaguered prime minister can stay in office, though Truss insisted she has no plans to quit. She vowed to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, but many in the party want her gone.
In celebration of Black History Month, the Fauquier County Public Library will present a short screening of the documentary series The Singing Stream, followed by audience Q&A with the filmmaker, Tom Davenport.

The event will take place today at 2 p.m. at the Family Life Center, First Baptist Church, 39 Alexandria Pike, Warrenton. In the event of inclement weather, the program will be held Feb. 26 at the Family Life Center.

The Singing Stream series tells the story of the life and legacy of Bertha Landis and her family through song, stories and scenes of daily life as they made their way from tenant farmers to land owners in eastern North Carolina.

The Singing Stream has been awarded three stars by Video Librarian and a starred review by Booklist, respected journals used by librarians to choose materials for their collection.

The presentation of The Singing Stream is the first in a new monthly library seriesSunday with the Library, which will include a wide range of topics and formats, including guest speakers, author visits and demonstrations.

We found that people responded in great numbers to special Sunday programs last year, said Maria Del Rosso, library director. And, our recent community survey confirmed that our patrons are interested in nature programs, author talks and other timely topics, like sustainable living. With Friends of the Fauquier Library support and other generous donors, we are eager to expand our earlier success to offer something for everyone.A full list of Sunday with the Library topics will be available shortly.

Tom Davenport is an independent filmmaker and film distributor who has worked for decades documenting American life and exploring folklore. A Virginia native, Davenport is based in Delaplane. He is the founder and project director for Folkstreams, a website that houses independent documentary films about American folk roots and cultures.

Fauquier County Public Library locations are: Warrenton central library, 11 Winchester St.; Bealeton branch library, 10877 Willow Drive North; and John Marshall branch library, 4133 Rectortown Road, Marshall. Call 540/422-8500 for more information.
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By PATRICK NEUSTATTER

FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR

The perinatologist who advised my pregnant friend, when it was found that something was wrong with her baby, would appear not to have been through a course on Empathetics.

A perinatologist specializes in unborn babies with medical problems, so is presumably used to dealing with fraught mothers. But on this first visit, when it was far from clear how bad an abnormality the baby had, my friend was blithely advised you can get pregnant again and was offered to be fitted in for an abortion that same afternoon.

I didnt want another baby. I wanted this baby, my friend told me. She had bonded already, although she was only a few weeks pregnant.

Maybe this is an inflammatory illustration, as people are likely to get riled up about the issue of abortionlike when I wrote about House diagnosing someone with porphyria and got all sorts of grief from members of the American Porphyria Association.

The issue is not that abortion was offered, but that the perinatologist appeared to have no empathy. No understanding of my friends feelings. No ability to stand in her shoes, which is the definition of empathy.

Dwindling Empathy

You would thinkor hopethat doctors naturally are empathetic and maybe thats why they go into the business. But it would appear any empathy is beaten out of us in the course of training.

A study at Jefferson Medical School, where 456 medical students were assessed for how empathetic they were at five different points throughout their training, showed empathy actually decreased.

The trouble is that the selection process, and the training, tends to emphasize the left brainthe rational, scientific side of the brain that computer programmers use to write code, lawyers use to write contracts and MBAs use to crunch numbers. Not the touchy-feely right side, which is the domain of creators and empathizers, pattern organizers and meaning makers, in the words of Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind.

Things are changing some. To get into medical school, it used to just depend on your gradesand you have to have a pretty stellar academic record, which tends to select out the left-brain nerds. But The Medical College Admissions Test now includes an assessment of human behavior and psychology.

Various medical schools are including courses to teach their upcoming doctors empathyincluding down the road in Richmond, where Virginia Commonwealth University medical school is running a course in collaboration with the theater department to teach students to decode facial expressions, body language and the like.

Massachusetts General Hospital has an empathy and relational science program called Empathetics, founded by psychiatrist Helen Riess. She created the program in response to the flood of patients in her psychiatric practice who told her of the devastating interactions with doctors.

These are not just innocuous effects, she said, but often experiences that were profound and deeply affected peoples lives.

Power of Empathy

Teaching doctors to be empathetic, with better listening skills, less defensiveness and understanding of the impact of their patients illness, improves outcomes, makes for happier patients, reduces burnout in doctors and leads to more accurate diagnosis. Another particularly tangible benefit that might incentivize your doctor is that it reduces malpractice litigation.

Another tangible influence is that the Affordable Care Act, through the Value Based Purchasing program for Medicare, pays doctors more if they get a higher patient satisfaction score, which in turn is very dependent, on how empathetic the doctor is.

In the old days, when there was far less in the way of treatment, I guess empathy was at a higher premium. Often all you could do was be nice to your patient.

Science and the scientific method have led us away, making us enamoured with the technological stuff at the expense of empathy. I think this is why integrative treatments are so popular. The therapy may be something verging on bizarre, without a lot of scientific backing, like crystal healers, aura cleansers or tachyon therapy (manipulation of invisible particles to help healing), but often the therapists are much better at listening, communicating, explaining and spending time with patients. They are more empathetic.

Ive seen my share of unempathetic doctors, like one who told a nurse to dismiss a woman with fibromyalgia because he didnt believe in fibromyalgia. Ive likely been a little unempathetic in my time, as well.

But Im glad to see the profession is coming round to the idea that empathy matters.

Patrick Neustatter is the medical director of Lloyd Moss Free Clinic in Fredericksburg and the author of Managing Your Doctor: The Smart Patients Guide to Getting Effective Affordable Healthcare. Visit managingyourdoctor.com.
Donald Bley said he feels like a prophet in the wilderness, shouting about the need for more instructions on prescription labels.

The retired doctor, who spent more than 30 years in family practice and community health, would like fellow physicians to list on a label why a drug is being prescribed, to note if its for high blood pressure or diabetes pain, acid reflux or insomnia.

With the extra detail on the labeland not just on the information sheet that comes with the drugpatients taking several medicines would know exactly how and when to take each, as well as which capsule is for what condition.

More information might be especially helpful for elderly patients who might get as many as four or more new prescriptions at one time. Even though doctors counsel the patients on the use of each drug, older people may forget the details.

I can assure you I will not remember precisely how to take each drug before I reach the parking lot, said the 70-year-old, who lives in Spotsylvania County. And Im a doctor!

Bley asked Del. Mark Cole to put forth a resolution in the Virginia General Assembly this year, and House Bill 1424 would have mandated that every prescription written in the state list the purpose for which the drug is prescribed.

It didnt go far.

The bill died in session, after two state health care groups quickly jumped on the bandwagon against it, saying the proposal would do more harm than good.

The added administrative burden  would be tremendous, responded the legal counsel for the Medical Society of Virginia. We are concerned it would slow down the ability of physicians to timely see and treat their patients and hamper the ability to make necessary prescriptions.

The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association stressed that physicians and pharmacists already discuss medications with patients, and that those taking drugs can always ask more questions of those who write or fill prescriptions. Thats the way to address the need for more information, the associations general counsel wrote, not to create an unworkable burden on prescribers and pharmacies.

How difficult would it be to add a few words to a label? Would it really help patients?

The answer seems to depend on who you ask.

HEARTBEAT OR HEARTBURN?

In 2008, Bley wrote a guest column in The Free LanceStar, asking other doctors to give patients more information on follow-up care when they leave hospitals. He spent four years in Culpeper as a hospitalist, a physician who deals exclusively with hospitalized patients.

Consider that the patient is your elderly, widowed mother, he wrote. Wouldnt you want her to have the best discharge instructions possible?

He said the same goes for the medicine mom may take. In one of the scenarios presented in his prescription-label campaign, he described an elderly woman released from the hospital with nine new prescriptions.

When it came time for refills, she couldnt afford them all so she skipped a few. Because she didnt know which drug regulated her heartbeat and which helped with heartburn, she inadvertently stopped taking the more vital medication.

As a result, she ended up in the emergency room with a wildly irregular pulse.

If she had been able to read on the label, Take one twice daily to stabilize heart rhythm and Take one at bedtime for heartburn, would she have made a better choice? he asked.

In such a case, the patient would not be the only one feeling the pain. The hospital would have faced a financial penalty from Medicare for having the same patient readmitted for the same condition within 30 days.

DOCTORS ARE BURDENED

Pharmacists put on the label only what the doctor dictates. There are times when Eugene Triplett, owner of Wilderness Center Pharmacy in Locust Grove, has called a doctor and asked for more information about how a drug should be taken. If the doctor gives permission, Triplett puts the details on the prescription label.

The condition the drug is meant to treat is noted in about one out of 10 prescriptions, and thats usually when the medicine is prescribed for pain, said Triplett, president of the Rappahannock Pharmacists Association for 10 years.

Yeah, it would be helpful if doctors spelled out the condition, Triplett said, then added in the next breath that its not gonna happen. Doctors are burdened now. Their time is taken up with all the bureaucratic insurance, and it would be one more thing they would have to do.

He and Tina Kelly Bowling, who directs pharmacy services at the Moss Free Clinic in Fredericksburg and also works at a retail pharmacy, said one drug can be used to treat several, and differing, conditions.

Triplett fills a lot of prescriptions for drugs initially designed for people with epilepsy. But his customers dont take the drug to treat seizures; they take it for tingling or pain in the feet from diabetes.

Thats whats known as off-label use, when drugs are prescribed because of the side effect they produce. Likewise, Bowling said some early antidepressants didnt work well at treating depression, but did make people sleepy, so theyre still prescribed, in low doses, for insomnia. And, a medicine typically used for high blood pressure can help with migraine headaches.

Both have seen people get confused about their medicine, as has Dr. Lisa Sarber at her practice of internal medicine in Spotsylvania.

Im amazed at the number of patients who have no idea what medications they take or why they are taking what they are taking, Sarber said. I dont usually write the condition for which the prescription was written for, although I can see why this would be helpful.

INFORMATION IS POWER

Douglas Schulte, vice president of physician practice operations at Mary Washington Healthcare, agreed that medication administration can be quite confusing. The improper use of medications is a serious cause of illness for patients.

While it would be nice to put more information on prescription labels, Schulte said there simply isnt room on the labeland he said it isnt practical for doctors to devote additional time to the task.

William Reese, a doctor with Reese Medical Associates in Spotsylvania, was more blunt about it.

We are so over-regulated as it is that we spend more time on paperwork than on patient care, he wrote in an email. Adding an additional burden on prescription writing is not necessary.

Schulte believes better patient care results when physicians and pharmacists alike take the time to educate patients on medicine and its side effects.

Patients have a responsibility, too, added Triplett the pharmacist.

Just think about it, 50 years ago, they didnt even put the drug and what it was used for on the label, people just trusted the doctor, Triplett said. Information is power, and in this day and time, patients have to take control of their own health care.
The 20-year-old with long, dark locks that tumble down his back unfurls an American flag, spreading it across a wall in the bedroom he shares with his three sisters.

I love America, Yasser Ghanoum said, explaining his most recent online Amazon purchase.

Unsaid was all that he and his family had to endure before arriving at this moment  the escape from gunfire and explosions, the perilous journey across the world to arrive here, where few speak their language or can identify firsthand with the bloodshed they escaped.

The Ghanoums are the first Syrian refugee family to resettle in the Richmond area, an arrival as mathematically improbable as it was remarkable. Fewer than 1 percent of the worlds refugees fleeing violence and persecution were resettled in another country in 2015.

The probability grew narrower for families like the Ghanoums after President Donald Trump issued a directive last week temporarily shutting the countrys borders to refugees and barring entry to people from seven majority-Muslim countries.

The Ghanoums are silent about the ban, just as they remained silent as Trump ascended to the nations highest office on a platform antagonistic toward Muslim migrants and refugees such as themselves. They dont watch television, and they catch news online in dribs and drabs.

Since arriving at their home in western Henrico County in June, they remain focused on the more immediately pressing matter of finding their way in a foreign place.

The family was set up with a donated 1996 Honda and federal grant money that paid for their first six months of rent and other major expenses. Yasser and his dad, Mohamad, started jobs at a packaging plant in Chesterfield County.

The rest was left to them.

But for all the difficulties of navigating a new culture and language, the Ghanoums realize their good fortune. They were spared. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed in the countrys civil war, and thousands more have drowned crossing the Mediterranean in attempts to escape to Europe.

Here, Mohamad Yahya Ghanoum can imagine a future for his family. His four children, wife and father can live unafraid. In America, he says, there is justice.

I am lucky, says the stocky, optimistic 42-year-old with a bright smile. Thanking God.

***

The pictures are a window into a life that is no more.

Photo albums nearly spill from the flimsy cardboard box Hala Ghanoum places on the familys dining room table.

As family matriarch, her daily schedule revolves around everyone elses.

On weekdays, she wakes at 6:30 a.m. to ready her daughters  Rama, 17, who is reserved and intuitive; Reema, 11, the brainiest of her sisters; and Alaa, 9, a playful girl who carried with her a small, tattered teddy bear named Bebo as she fled her home  for school.

Mornings are generally populated by a blur of appointments and visitors. Hala, 39, is the main caretaker for her father-in-law, who cant travel more than a few steps without a walker.

One afternoon, in the hush that falls after her husband and son leave for work and before her youngest daughters return home from school, Hala examines the photo albums.

Flipping the pages, the familys life unfolds across the years.

Her eldest and only boy, Yasser, at age 10 on a tree. Her daughters, young and bright-eyed, wearing fanciful dresses. Rama, in midkick, her toe pointed skyward with a red taekwondo belt around her waist.

Their life in Jobar, a suburb of Damascus, was fun, if not ordinary and secure.

They owned two homes. Mohamad made and sold bathroom accessories. Hala was the homemaker. Fridays were reserved for special family dinners  baked chicken, pizza or barbecue.

The photos stop abruptly. There are none by 2013.

By then, Hala says, there was no home, no country.

***

It started small, at first, like a flicker of flame from a lighter. Then it grew and kept growing until all of Syria was engulfed.

First came the rumblings from freedom-seekers, Mohamad recalls. It swelled into a chorus over time. Then came the gunfire and falling bombs.

For months, as violence descended, they carried on. Mohamad walked his younger daughters to school, only to be summoned immediately back after an explosion would erupt nearby. Once, as Mohamad and one of his daughters stood at the window of their home, a ball of fire from an exploded warhead lighted their view. Any bit of shrapnel could have killed them.

The Ghanoums werent among the people who called for more freedom  Mohamad said he sided neither with Syrian President Bashar Assad nor the forces seeking to overthrow him.

In January 2013, when food supplies in their hometown were choked, the family packed clothes into small bags and traveled in a relatives car to Halas parents farm. After months without heat or electricity to cook the vegetables they foraged, they departed for Damascus in late August of that year.

The family of seven lived in a rented, cluttered office that lacked beds and regular electricity. They subsisted on rations from the United Nations. Yasser tried to eke out a living as a barber, Mohamad as a metalworker.

They boarded a ship bound for Turkey in late 2014. Deterred by descriptions of suffering in refugee camps, they rented a home in a coastal city where they said they encountered discrimination as Syrians.

In the dead of winter, the family slept on the floor with just jackets and blankets to warm them. They awoke one morning to find a glass of water had frozen overnight.

An official working on behalf of the Turkish government visited the Ghanoums one afternoon to check on their living situation, Mohamad said.

The representative asked if the family wanted to be placed on a list for resettlement by the United Nations, setting in motion the lengthy, exhaustive vetting process that would ultimately land the Ghanoums in central Virginia.

***

A tray of baked spaghetti topped with broccoli sits on the floral, plastic cover that dresses the dining room table. Yasser and Mohamad are working their usual evening shift, so just Hala and the three girls gather for the weeknight dinner. Poster paper taped to the kitchen walls is marked with words in English, as is a magnetic whiteboard stuck to the fridge.

Reema fiddles with a laptop sitting at the end of the table, settling on a YouTube video of a show set in old Damascus during Christmastime.

I very miss Syria, says Hala.

I dont miss Syria, Rama says before qualifying her response.

She misses Syria as it was, when her home still stood, before war claimed one of her grandfathers. Those memories are now seared alongside ones of militia and the dead.

Syria was so beautiful before war, she says. We would go anywhere  happy. We were like now, here, in America.

Of their four children, Hala and Mohamad say their oldest daughter was most altered by war.

Combat began during her adolescence  a sensitive time, Hala says. And whenever her family left one place for another, she was forced to part with friends.

But Rama insists life is much better now  she has befriended girls at J.R. Tucker High School from other far-flung places, such as El Salvador, Bangladesh and Vietnam.

Around 500 refugee students from about 30 countries are educated in Henrico schools yearly, said Val Gooss, the divisions educational specialist for English as a Second Language and world languages.

Rama writes stories in Arabic that she wants to translate into English and aspires to one day pen screenplays.

That, or she wants to study psychology  she says she can understand a persons thoughts simply by peering into their eyes.

***

The calls from Syria arrive infrequently  once a month, maybe  and they drop after a minute or two. Internet service is unstable in Syria, preventing Hala from receiving and making calls to her mother over WhatsApp for weeks at a time.

Widowed by war, Halas mother lives with three of her children on the family farm. She hasnt seen her four other children since 2013  two are in Damascus, another in Turkey.

Hala, the firstborn child and a matronly figure to her siblings, wishes her family could reunite in the United States.

But how? she says.

Its a scenario that seems virtually unimaginable for the foreseeable future, given Trumps executive order.

The conversations and messages Hala does manage with her mother and siblings are light. They talk about the kids, how they miss and pray for one another.

***

Two agencies contracted with the federal government, Church World Service and Catholic Charities, have long handled resettlement in the Richmond region. A third, the International Rescue Committee, started resettling refugees in Richmond more recently.

About 85,000 refugees fleeing violence and persecution were resettled in the United States last year. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 21.3 million of the worlds 65.3 million displaced people are refugees.

Locally, 410 refugees, mostly from Middle Eastern and African countries, found new homes in the Richmond area last year. More than 3,270 refugees were resettled in the state in the federal fiscal year that started on Oct. 1, 2015, according to statistics from the Virginia Department of Social Services Office of Newcomer Services.

But now, with the White Houses hardened stance toward refugees, Church World Service, the organization that resettled the Ghanoums, has been forced to re-examine budgets and contemplate layoffs because funding is tied to the number of refugees it resettles.

Aside from a few minor exceptions, its pretty much a shutdown, John Baumann, director of Church World Services Virginia Refugee and Immigration Program, said recently.

***

During Laura Jones first visit with the family, she helped Hala, Mohamad and Yasser trace a roundabout bus path that required a transfer and walk that would bring them to an English class.

In the middle of the car trip, Hala answered a call from a family member in Syria, recalled Jones, who is the refugee outreach coordinator at ReEstablish Richmond, an organization that helps refugees establish roots in the local community.

A Jordanian college student who was translating that day relayed information from the conversation to Jones  Hala learned of a neighbor whose three sons were killed in a bombing.

It was very eye-opening and heartbreaking all at the same time, Jones said.

Since June, the Ghanoums have accompanied Jones family on a tacky lights tour. Theyve had dinner together. Hala refers to Jones as a sister, and they greet each other with kisses on the cheek.

When your spirit recognizes in another spirit we belong together, its very rich, Jones said, tears forming. Its very sweet, and its very powerful.

***

Seven months have passed since the Ghanoums settled here, and Mohamad has been preoccupied with finding a better-paying job, preferably one closer to their home.

He would like a morning shift so he can dedicate afternoons to studying for a GED diploma or a skills certification  which he believes are requirements to become a metalworker in the United States. Yasser wants to start cutting hair again.

Mohamad and Yasser each earn $10.25 an hour in their packaging jobs. Hala draws an income from the government as her father-in-laws caretaker.

Together, its just enough to cover the $1,250 rent for the familys three-bedroom row home, bills and other necessities.

But Mohamad soon will start having to repay the airline tickets that brought the family to the U.S. His medical assistance expired recently, another likely expense that troubles him.

Too much money, he says, mentally calculating the costs. Maybe hell work a second job, become a taxi or pizza-delivery driver.

***

In the morning sunlight of their living room last Sunday, Mohamad toyed with a plastic solar-powered lamp purchased during a recent dollar-store outing with his daughters. Hala stared at him quizzically.

People flooded airports across the country that same day, echoing protests from a day earlier denouncing Trumps ban and pressuring officials to release travelers.

But in the Ghanoums living room, all of that feels far off. As noon approaches, the house whirs with activity.

Mohamad sits on the floor, chatting animatedly on the phone in Arabic. Hala disappears upstairs to ready herself and retrieve Yasser for a trip to Food Lion. Alaa, who never passes up a trip anywhere, awaits her mom and brother on one of the living room couches.

Days earlier, a few of Alaas teachers at Charles M. Johnson Elementary School stopped at the house to celebrate the third-graders birthday. They ate cake and brought gifts, including a large stuffed panda she calls Bendo.

Alaa proudly produces a Ziploc bag. In it are new photos to share.

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Cows in China. (Photo : Getty Images)

China's claim to have produced cloned cows with increased resistance to bovine tuberculosis using the genome editing tool called CRISPR/Cas9 is being questioned by western medical experts.



Chinese scientists from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University in Shaanxi claim they used CRISPR/Cas9 to change the genetic code of the cows resulting in clones more resistant to bovine TB.



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The Chinese said the clones were more resistant to TB than cows that weren't modified. The engineered cows also didn't show any unintended consequences of genetic modification. A study describing these findings was published in the journal Genome Biology on January 31.



"The resulting transgenic cattle exhibited increased resistance to M. bovis (bovine TB) infection," said the Chinese team.



"Our study provides an avenue to develop the CRISPR/Cas9 system for agricultural applications."



The Chinese reported that 20 calves were born, of which 11 survived for more than three months.



This is the first time scientists anywhere have genetically modified cows to be resistant to the bacterium that causes bovine tuberculosis. Bovine TB is a risk to cattle in many countries, especially in developing countries like China.



Dissenting voices from the west, however, are questioning this apparent achievement.



Prof. Ian McConnell, Emeritus Professor of veterinary science at the University of Cambridge, doubts if this achievement will be useful at all.



"Although it is a thorough and novel paper on using gene technology in transgenic cattle at this stage I doubt if the research will have any application to prevention of TB in cattle using transgenic technology," he said.



Prof. Alan Archibald, head of genetics and genomics at The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, said he remains unconvinced by the paper.



"I was not convinced that the authors had demonstrated that the edited calves were resistant. There was no pathology reported for the edited or control animals."


It took a while for the visitors in the packed committee room to understand the meeting was over and lawmakers were leaving. When they realized it, they started shouting.

"Shame!" the crowd yelled as officials filed out of the room Friday at the Virginia General Assembly Building. Many of the politicians already had left, which meant the House of Delegates election committee staff took most of the heat.

The outburst came in reaction to the Republican-controlled committee snuffing out a last-ditch effort to revive a GOP-sponsored redistricting reform measure that advocates saw as their best shot to scale back partisan gerrymandering and create "fair-fight" districts.

A Democratic lawmaker had planned a motion to bring back a redistricting measure patroned by Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Augusta. But the panel's Republicans abruptly adjourned the 9 a.m. meeting before anything could happen.

"We came all the way from Falls Church," said Geri Falek, one of several redistricting reform advocates frustrated over the sequence of events. "Woke up at 5:30 in the morning, walked in the door and they shut us out."

Despite Friday's fuming, Republican leaders have shown little desire to change the system that elected GOP majorities in the House and Senate despite the party being shut out of statewide offices and Virginia's Democratic voting streak in presidential races.

Though the governor's race this year gives Republicans a chance to break their statewide slump, several GOP proposals to expand the General Assembly's power seem to anticipate a future in which the legislature remains the center of Republican power in Virginia.

Nearing the midway point of the 2017 legislative session, Republicans have advanced a constitutional amendment that would give the General Assembly power to overrule any administrative rule or regulation adopted by the executive branch; and a bill to tilt the State Board of Elections to GOP control.

"The legislation would give the General Assembly prerogative over important areas of state government," Chris West, a spokesman for House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, said in a statement. "It would allow the citizens of Virginia a chance to weigh in through their elected representatives, Republican or Democrat."

Another bill would strip away a governor's power to fill U.S. Senate vacancies. It would require a special election instead of a temporary gubernatorial appointment.

Republicans argue they're simply bringing more balance to Virginia's system, in which governors have unusually strong authority over state affairs but must leave office after one four-year term.

That hasn't stopped Democrats from making multiple comparisons to the power struggle in North Carolina, where the Republican legislature moved to weaken its governor's office after losing it to Democrats.

"The majority party thinks they're never going to win another statewide election in Virginia," said Del. Mark D. Sickles, D-Fairfax, who opposed the measure on regulatory overrides Friday before trying to bring back the redistricting amendment. "There are numerous bills in this session on every topic chipping away at the governor's powers."

The constitutional change giving the General Assembly more control over the administrative rules, which has House and Senate versions, would give the legislature a hand in the finer details of how state agencies interpret and enforce the law. Much of the regulatory rule-making process focuses on dense, technical issues of interest to certain industries.

The governor's office called the proposed amendment "ill-advised."

"It would basically mean that lobbyists and influence peddlers can interfere with the regulatory process in the same way that many Virginians feel they interfere with the legislative process," McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said.

Other regulations have dealt with more political issues where a Republican legislature could be expected to differ sharply with a Democratic governor and vice versa.

The state Board of Health, for example, regulates the licensure of abortion facilities, and McAuliffe recently directed the board to lift controversial restrictions on abortion clinics that grew out of a law Republicans approved in 2011.

McAuliffe can veto the bills that shrink the power of his office, but he can't block constitutional amendments, which require General Assembly approval in two consecutive years before being put on the ballot for voters to decide.

The legislation that could help Republicans win control of the Board of Elections even if they dont win the Executive Mansion passed the House last week.

"The complaint about it is that the governor is too powerful," said Del. Mark L. Cole, R-Spotsylvania, the bill's patron.

Virginia is the only state that bars its governor from serving consecutive terms. Cole, the chairman of the House elections committee, said he favors allowing longer tenures for governors.

"And he needs to give up some of his authority before we go to a two-term governor," Cole said. "This is just a small step in that direction."

Under existing law, the governor appoints all three board members and is allowed to choose two from his own party. The third seat is reserved for the party finishing second in the last gubernatorial election.

A GOP-sponsored bill still would allow the governor to appoint the board but would require one board member from the party in power in the House, one member from the party that controls the Senate, and one from the governors party.

If all three are from the same party, the minority party still would get one representative.

Under the current balance of power, with Republicans holding both chambers but no statewide offices, the bill would create a GOP majority on the elections board, which oversees the work of local election officials throughout the state.

Democrats have come close in recent years to winning a majority in the Senate, but Republicans currently hold a 21-19 advantage.

Republicans also hold a 66-33 majority in the House. Richmond's 71st House District, a strongly Democratic seat, is vacant but will be filled through a special election Tuesday. All 100 House seats are up for re-election in the fall.
Amid the chaos, pray for our nation, leaders

The kings heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; he turns it wherever he wishes. This quote from Proverbs 21:1 in the Bible offers a ray of hope in the increasing chaos of the current political arena.

In an atmosphere of violence and recrimination, any chance of meaningful dialogue quickly degenerates into a rude theater of hoarse accusations and bitter attacks. Our current president is faced with an impossible job. I believe, despite his flaws, (are any of us without flaws?) that he sincerely desires what is best for the nation.

For better or for worse, he is our president for the next four years. Whether he succeeds or fails depends in large part upon the response of the people he serves. We are foolish to put our faith in any man or political system.

There is one, however, who understands clearly, who can intervene sovereignly and powerfully, and who has repeatedly shown throughout history that his hand is moved at the cry of his people. I would like to challenge the community of faith in the Fredericksburg region, especially the Christian community of whom I am a part, to believing, fervent prayer for our nation and its elected officials.

God, who has answered before, will answer again if we pray the price. May we see in our generation the realized truth of 2 Chronicles 7:14: If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Bowie Curry

Spotsylvania
By Stef Gijssels We love solo bass albums, and it seems that they keep coming in great numbers. The overview below is indeed nothing more t...
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(L-R) Director Ryan Coogler, actors Danai Gurira, Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o and Michael B. Jordan from Marvel Studios 'Black Panther attend the San Diego Comic-Con International 2016 Marvel Panel in Hall H on July 23, 2016 in San Diego, Californi (Photo : Getty Images for Disney/Alberto E. Rodriguez)

Marvel's "Black Panther" is currently in production and exciting new details about the superhero flick have made themselves available. So far, Marvel has confirmed which characters are going to appear as well as the movie's first plot point. Here is everything we know so far about "Black Panther."



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Flashback to the 1990's



Chadwick Boseman made his debut as Black Panther/T'Challa in "Captain America: Civil War." While it was established that he is the son of the late ruler of Wakanda and that his family controlled the vast Vibranium reserve in the coutry, not much else was revealed about his personal life.



Fans will learn more about the character a flashback scene in "Black Panther," which will take back the story to T'Challa's formative years in 1990's California, /FILM reported.



Klaw returns



The first time fans saw Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaw in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was in "Avengers: Age of Ultron." In the movie, he was introduced as a villain and a big time arms dealer. He was also approached by Ultron because he has huge stocks of Vibranium.



In "Age of Ultron," Klaw lost his hand, which means it is likely that he is going to return with a sonic cannon attached to his limb, much like in the comic books.



"Black Panther" filming in South Korea.



The MCU is returning to South Korea with "Black Panther," where an intense chase scene will be filmed for the movie. According to Variety, Busan's landmarks, including Gwangali beach, Gwangan beach and the Jagalchi fish market, will serve as a backdrop to the said chase scene.



"The shoot, which will involve some 150 cars and more than 700 people, is a car chase scene with the protagonist and the villain," local production service company Mr. Romance Film revealed. "It will also involve helicopter(s) and guns (firing blanks) and may cause noise as well as traffic restrictions."



"Black Panther" cast



The "Black Panther" cast is certainly filled with big names in the industry. Aside from Boseman and Serkis, the movie also stars Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett and Forest Whitaker. Martin Freeman will reprise his role as agent Everett Ross.



"Black Panther" will be released on Feb. 16, 2018.






Farmers, landowners and gamekeepers could face tougher penalties for killing wild birds after an RSPB report found nearly 200 birds were illegally killed in just one year.

The charity published its Birdcrime 2015 report on Friday (3 February) which showed 196 birds of prey were illegally shot, poisoned or trapped in the countryside in 2015  up from 187 in 2014 and 178 in 2013.

The shootings included 16 buzzards, 11 peregrines, three red kites, one red-footed falcon and one hen harrier.

See also: BBCs Chris Packham sorry after lapwing shooting accusations

Fifty reports were of wildlife poisoning and pesticide-related offences, including the poisoning of 15 buzzards, four red kites and three peregrine falcons.

In November 2015, the Stody Estate in Norfolk lost 75% of its single farm payment after its former gamekeeper was found guilty of killing 11 birds of prey (see Estate sees subsidy slashed, below).

In January 2015, an Aberdeenshire gamekeeper, George Mutch, received a four-month prison sentence for the killing of a goshawk, the illegal use of two cage traps, and the taking of a buzzard and a second goshawk.

Martin Harper, RSPB director of conservation, said: Our uplands are deprived of some amazing wildlife because of ongoing illegal persecution and it has to stop.

Public anger is growing stronger over the ongoing persecution of our birds of prey and the state of the uplands, and more voices are beginning to call for change.

The status quo is not an option and we continue to call, throughout the UK, for the introduction of a robust licensing system for driven grouse shooting and an offence of vicarious liability for employers whose staff commit wildlife crime.

In England and Wales, anyone found guilty of shooting a bird of prey without a licence could face up to six months in prison and/or a fine of up to 5,000 if found guilty under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Estate sees subsidy slashed In November 2014, estate gamekeeper Allen Lambert was convicted of multiple poisoning offences involving the killing of 10 buzzards and a sparrowhawk. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) withdrew 75% of the rural subsidy paid to the Stody Estate (which employed the convicted gamekeeper) in Norfolk under the cross-compliance scheme. This reduction of 263,308.10 (about 185,000) is believed to be the largest penalty applied under the scheme for a wildlife crime.
On Friday, a French soldier shot and seriously wounded the reported attacker in a shopping mall beneath the Louvre Museum as he rushed at security personnel, shouting "Allahu akbar"

Egypt's foreign ministry has said that no tensions have arisen between Egypt and France, and that their relationship will not be affected after the nationality of the man behind an attack near Paris' Louvre Museum on Friday was revealed to be Egyptian.

On Friday, A French soldier shot and seriously wounded the reported attacker after he rushed towards a group of soldiers and guards shouting "Allahu akbar," in a shopping mall beneath the Louvre Museum, AP reported a French official as saying.

The man was carrying two backpacks and had two machetes, the French official said. He is currently in a French hospital and his condition is no longer critical.

Terrorism doesnt show preferential treatment between countries, peoples and religions; everyone is targeted, Abu Zeid said in a phone call with Al-Hayah TV channel.

He said that Egypt is one of the first victims of terrorism and that everyone is targeted by terrorist attacks, whether [they are] Egyptian, French or [citizens of] all other countries.

Abu Zeid said that French investigations so far indicate the perpetrator is an Egyptian national, but that the foreign ministry is awaiting the conclusion of the French police investigation.

Following the attack, Egypts foreign ministry released a statement denouncing the incident and called on the international community to intensify its efforts to combat terrorism.

Egypts army and police forces have been waging a war over the past three years against an Islamist militant insurgency in North Sinai. Hundreds of security personnel and militants have been killed in the violence.

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Readers, we need your help to prove a merry Christmas for victims of domestic violence.
Egyptian MP and 25-30 coalition member Abdel-Hamid Kamal asked Parliament on Sunday to summon the ministers of interior and communication before the House of Representatives to discuss the leaking of a phone call between Egypt's Foreign Minister and the country's president.

Last Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Mekamelin channel, reportedly airing from Turkey, broadcast what it said was a phone call between Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

In the 20-minute phone call, Shoukry can be heard speaking with the president on regional issues, including Egypt's relations with Gulf countries and an invitation from Iran requesting Egypt's attendance at a conference on the Syrian crisis hosted by Tehran in October 2016.

The president's voice appears not to have been recorded and cannot be heard at any point in the phone call.

Kamal demanded that the person(s) responsible for leaking the call be identified, saying the leak represents an imminent danger to Egypt's national security.

The MP also called on the parliament's national security committee to convene to discuss the matter as soon as possible.

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Ouch! We Cant Trace Our Families In Nigeria - UK Deportees Cry Out

nametalkam at 5-02-2017 10:39 AM (5 years ago) (m)

41 Nigerians, deported from the United Kingdom (UK), arrived Lagos on Wednesday.





The chartered Airbus 330 aircraft that brought them landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport at about 8am. It was learnt that they were deported for alleged immigration offences.



Before their arrival, the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, had informed that about 83 deportees were being expected, and that some of them who had not completed their prison sentences would be handed over to the Nigeria Prison Service to complete the terms.



However, eight females and 33 males, mostly Yoruba, Edo and Igbo, were received by Dr. Bandele Onimode, Deputy Director, Search and Rescue, who represented NEMA Director General.



On arrival, the deportees were served breakfast and later interrogated to determine their states of origin so that they can be assisted to locate their relatives where necessary.



Nigerian deportees from Uk, on their arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagosyesterday. Photo Lamidi Bamidele

The Nigeria Immigration Service was said to have profiled the deportees although their identities were not disclosed.



One of them, 37, and Yoruba, said he left Nigeria about 17 years ago and had lost touch with home. According to him, he put resources together to travel to the UK but could not raise the money to process stay papers. He then began to engage in illegal activities until he ran out of luck.



Another deportee, Igbo, who said his parents were Lagos-based before he left for greener pastures, said he might not be able to trace the parents because he learnt they had relocated home.



An aged deportee woman, who claimed she left Nigeria some decades back, said he had lost touch with her relatives, including her children.



Sunday Vanguard gathered that many of the deportees had used fictitious names in their documentation as they were ashamed to reveal their identities because of stigma.



Those who could locate their Nigerian addresses were aided to return home while those who could not were taken to rehabilitation centers.



NEMA Information Officer, Ibrahim Farinloye, said the agency was yet to ascertain why the number of the deportees was 41 instead of 83. Also, he said none of the deportees was a prisoner as earlier stated by the United Kingdom authorities. They told us that 83 were coming but on arrival it was 41. This is humanitarian evacuation and many things could have happened at the last minute that may lead to increment or decrease in the number of the people. We work on information made available to us, said Farinloye



Asked why the deportees names were not released, he said, The Nigeria Immigration Service did the profiling and the names are not made public because of their security and social protection.



Apart from NEMA, the Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Police and aviation security personnel were on ground to receive the deportees. The chartered Airbus 330 aircraft that brought them landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport at about 8am. It was learnt that they were deported for alleged immigration offences.Before their arrival, the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, had informed that about 83 deportees were being expected, and that some of them who had not completed their prison sentences would be handed over to the Nigeria Prison Service to complete the terms.However, eight females and 33 males, mostly Yoruba, Edo and Igbo, were received by Dr. Bandele Onimode, Deputy Director, Search and Rescue, who represented NEMA Director General.On arrival, the deportees were served breakfast and later interrogated to determine their states of origin so that they can be assisted to locate their relatives where necessary.Nigerian deportees from Uk, on their arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagosyesterday. Photo Lamidi BamideleThe Nigeria Immigration Service was said to have profiled the deportees although their identities were not disclosed.One of them, 37, and Yoruba, said he left Nigeria about 17 years ago and had lost touch with home. According to him, he put resources together to travel to the UK but could not raise the money to process stay papers. He then began to engage in illegal activities until he ran out of luck.Another deportee, Igbo, who said his parents were Lagos-based before he left for greener pastures, said he might not be able to trace the parents because he learnt they had relocated home.An aged deportee woman, who claimed she left Nigeria some decades back, said he had lost touch with her relatives, including her children.Sunday Vanguard gathered that many of the deportees had used fictitious names in their documentation as they were ashamed to reveal their identities because of stigma.Those who could locate their Nigerian addresses were aided to return home while those who could not were taken to rehabilitation centers.NEMA Information Officer, Ibrahim Farinloye, said the agency was yet to ascertain why the number of the deportees was 41 instead of 83. Also, he said none of the deportees was a prisoner as earlier stated by the United Kingdom authorities. They told us that 83 were coming but on arrival it was 41. This is humanitarian evacuation and many things could have happened at the last minute that may lead to increment or decrease in the number of the people. We work on information made available to us, said FarinloyeAsked why the deportees names were not released, he said, The Nigeria Immigration Service did the profiling and the names are not made public because of their security and social protection.Apart from NEMA, the Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Police and aviation security personnel were on ground to receive the deportees.

Post Reply I specialize in investigative reportage across several subject matter and sectors but mainly focus on metro events and investigation. Do leave your thoughts and opinion on my reports to let me know what you think about them. Thank you Posted: at 5-02-2017 10:39 AM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero

beneno at 5-02-2017 10:48 AM (5 years ago)

(m) Posted: at 5-02-2017 10:48 AM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero Reply

angesco at 5-02-2017 10:50 AM (5 years ago)

(f) If IBORI who is also a DEPORTEE can find his way home - I' m sure the others CAN!



Who forgets their state of ORIGIN?



Once a liar ALWAYS a LIAR! Posted: at 5-02-2017 10:50 AM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac If IBORI who is also a DEPORTEE can find his way home - I' m sure the others CAN!Who forgets their state of ORIGIN?Once a liar ALWAYS a LIAR! Reply

maizaxx at 5-02-2017 10:51 AM (5 years ago)

(m) If they can't find their relatives, it simply means that while they were over there; they cut off all communication with home, believing they won't come back home.

Serve you guys right.

The government should aid them they should Struggle and go make amends to your family. Posted: at 5-02-2017 10:51 AM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac If they can't find their relatives, it simply means that while they were over there; they cut off all communication with home, believing they won't come back home.Serve you guys right.The government should aid them they should Struggle and go make amends to your family. Reply

beneno at 5-02-2017 10:52 AM (5 years ago)

(m) Since this UK deportation start ni I never hear or see any comment from Gogoman .make E no be wetin I dey think o Posted: at 5-02-2017 10:52 AM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero Since this UK deportation start ni I never hear or see any comment from Gogoman .make E no be wetin I dey think o Reply

angesco at 5-02-2017 11:12 AM (5 years ago)

(f) Quote from: maizaxx on 5-02-2017 10:51 AM If they can't find their relatives, it simply means that while they were over there; they cut off all communication with home, believing they won't come back home.

Serve you guys right.

The government should aid them they should Struggle and go make amends to your family.



It has NOTHING to do with NOT communicating with their families.



It has to do with TWO things



1. SHAME that they got caught committing a CRIME and IMPRISONED in the U.K.



2. In letters they have written to families and relatives in Nigeria they have lied. In U.K. prisons you CAN write letters home and send emails. In those letters I bet they NEVER mentioned being in PRISON! Posted: at 5-02-2017 11:12 AM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac It has NOTHING to do with NOT communicating with their families.It has to do with TWO things1. SHAME that they got caught committing a CRIME and IMPRISONED in the U.K.2. In letters they have written to families and relatives in Nigeria they have lied. In U.K. prisons you CAN write letters home and send emails. In those letters I bet they NEVER mentioned being in PRISON! Reply

nametalkam at 5-02-2017 11:39 AM (5 years ago)

(m) Quote from: beneno on 5-02-2017 10:52 AM

Since this UK deportation start ni I never hear or see any comment from Gogoman .make E no be wetin I dey think o

Gongoman is way above deportation, he is a chief in Europe, they crowned him chief of Biafra in UK, so he can't be deported and even if he is deported am sure he will be able to find his family I specialize in investigative reportage across several subject matter and sectors but mainly focus on metro events and investigation. Do leave your thoughts and opinion on my reports to let me know what you think about them. Thank you Posted: at 5-02-2017 11:39 AM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero Gongoman is way above deportation, he is a chief in Europe, they crowned him chief of Biafra in UK, so he can't be deported and even if he is deported am sure he will be able to find his family Reply

LegendaryU at 5-02-2017 12:13 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Liars, how could that be possible, how can any of you forget your real indentities? Shame Posted: at 5-02-2017 12:13 PM (5 years ago) | Upcoming Liars, how could that be possible, how can any of you forget your real indentities? Shame Reply

gogoman at 5-02-2017 12:18 PM (5 years ago)

(m) People people na so una hate me reach BENENO!! well my friend @ NAMETALKAM don answer you... I dey with BUHARI na why i'm busy Posted: at 5-02-2017 12:18 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero People people na so una hate me reach BENENO!! well my friend @ NAMETALKAM don answer you... I dey with BUHARI na why i'm busy Reply

beneno at 5-02-2017 12:34 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Quote from: gogoman on 5-02-2017 12:18 PM People people na so una hate me reach BENENO!! well my friend @ NAMETALKAM don answer you... I dey with BUHARI na why i'm busy

you susre say no be with MTN or GLO you dey comment from ? Posted: at 5-02-2017 12:34 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero you susre say no be with MTN or GLO you dey comment from ? Reply

gogoman at 5-02-2017 12:39 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Quote from: beneno on 5-02-2017 12:34 PM

you susre say no be with MTN or GLO you dey comment from ?



that one go chop my data

Posted: at 5-02-2017 12:39 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero that one go chop my data Reply

jeroba1 at 5-02-2017 01:12 PM (5 years ago)

(m) even you travel for 40 years,when you are at the age 17,u can't forget ur home. Posted: at 5-02-2017 01:12 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac even you travel for 40 years,when you are at the age 17,u can't forget ur home. Reply

akinmanchy at 5-02-2017 01:52 PM (5 years ago)

(m) What a wrong time to be deported back to Nigeria, now recession go hit these guys really hard Life na jeje so just try to take am softly Posted: at 5-02-2017 01:52 PM (5 years ago) | Hero What a wrong time to be deported back to Nigeria, now recession go hit these guys really hard Reply

schmit at 5-02-2017 02:04 PM (5 years ago)

(f) Lies Posted: at 5-02-2017 02:04 PM (5 years ago) | Hero Lies Reply

Otikadinje at 5-02-2017 02:43 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Una welcome back home. Oscardeejay Posted: at 5-02-2017 02:43 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Una welcome back home. Reply

TEMICOOL1 at 5-02-2017 03:07 PM (5 years ago)

(f) I think some of them may not even be a Nigerian, how can one forget his or her roots??? Na wa ooo Posted: at 5-02-2017 03:07 PM (5 years ago) | Newbie I think some of them may not even be a Nigerian, how can one forget his or her roots??? Na wa ooo Reply

james987 at 5-02-2017 03:11 PM (5 years ago)

(m) They find it hard to go back home because they haven't made it period.. if you can't find your home or lossed contact with home,you can atleast recall the name of your town/village. someone should help them like TB Joshua did last year by giving deportees some funds to start a new life,they will immediately find their homes. Posted: at 5-02-2017 03:11 PM (5 years ago) | Hero They find it hard to go back home because they haven't made it period..if you can't find your home or lossed contact with home,you can atleast recall the name of your town/village.someone should help them like TB Joshua did last year by giving deportees some funds to start a new life,they will immediately find their homes. Reply

osarobo62 at 5-02-2017 03:30 PM (5 years ago)

(m) send them to live with Ibori.....they were neighbours over there. Posted: at 5-02-2017 03:30 PM (5 years ago) | Hero send them to live with Ibori.....they were neighbours over there. Reply

K01abinibi at 5-02-2017 06:03 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Give dem jobs they've got potentials Posted: at 5-02-2017 06:03 PM (5 years ago) | Upcoming Give dem jobs they've got potentials Reply
Now you can easily extract texts from images using this tool Features oi -Samden Sherpa Today we have a lot of free and effective options if you're looking to pull texts out of an image instead of typing it all up by hand.

At times there are situations where you need to extract text but you only have an image as the source. What do you do then? The option of copy-paste is a basically useless in this type of situation. And do you type in or write down the text from the images?

Well, if that's the case it will take a lot of your time, and rather make everything much harder than it needs to be. An added workload I must say.

However, what if we told you that there is a much easier way to extract texts. I believe it would make things much simpler for you right?

Thanks to the advancement in technology, today we have a lot of free and effective options if you're looking to pull texts out of an image instead of typing it all up by hand.

The option is a text extraction technology which is not a difficult process, but it does require some tinkering with the problem at hand. Besides, to extract text from an image, you will need to use OCR software. OCR is an abbreviation of "Optical Character Recognition" and this software basically enables you to successfully extract the text from a scanned image and convert it into an editable text document.

Here's how you can use VLC Media Player to record your PC screen

In general, the whole process is quite simple. You will first need to scan the page using the "scan for OCR" option and all printer/scanner software should have this option. So you have finished scanning the document, now save the resulting image as a .TIFF file. Then, simply use any OCR software to convert it into editable text.

The point to remember in this process is that not always does the software get every letter right and the OCR software can get confused if you have background images and other elements in the image. If you want an accurate company then the text should be black, on a white background. This way, you are sure to get top quality and reduce the number of errors. It also depends on the software that you use too.

And also remember to always check the resulting text for errors. Most of the times, accuracy rates do exceed 99 percent, so there should be very few errors.

While we have introduced the technology to you, here are few types of software that you can try.

FreeOCR FreeOCR is a free Optical Character Recognition Software for Windows and what's good about this is that it supports scanning from most Twain scanners and can also open most scanned PDF's and multi page Tiff images as well as popular image file formats.

Well, FreeOCR has been said to be one of the best free tools for extracting text from images. Moreover, it comes with a feature that lets you export the extracted text straight to Microsoft Word format. On the negative side, if your source image is of lesser resolution then FreeOCR could fail to deliver 100 percent accuracy. Make sure you have a high-resolution image. If you are using the software then you can Click the Open button and select the image file. After that, click the Clear Text Window button. Now click the OCR button and choose OCR Current Page. That should do it. Download OneNote Well another effective tool, OneNote is one of the best free OCR tools for some time now. While many fail to make use of this feature, but once you start using it, you'll be surprised by how fast and accurate it can be. Moreover, its ability to efficiently extract text is one feature that puts OneNote ahead of others. SEE ALSO: Android Malware types you really need to be aware of So if you want to extract text then open any page in OneNote, preferably a blank one. Navigate to Insert > Pictures and select the image file. After that right-click using the mouse on the inserted image and select Copy Text from Picture. And finally, paste wherever you want. You can also delete the inserted image if you wish. Download PC Download App Photron Image Translator Photron Image Translator app lets you take a picture from your camera and it will automatically extract the text contained in that picture. Moreover, the app translates the extracted text to your desired language. And there's more this app can do! You don't even have to read it yourself, the app does it for you. Also, you can easily share the extracted or translated text through message, mail or social network apps with the press of a button. Photron Image Translator is a free app available in the Windows Store that can be used on both desktop and tablet versions of Windows 10. Download Copyfish Copyfish is basically a Google Chrome extension that is simple and less complicated than the other tools here. With this extension, instead of feeding an image file, you can use it to select any region of the browser screen and instantly extract the text from there. So if you find an image with some texts, you can just select the whole image instead of downloading it and feeding it into another app. You just need to open the image in Chrome then click the Copyfish button next to the URL address bar. Select the area of the image with the text. The app will extract the text. Easy right! Download SEE ALSO: 4 simple tricks for recording amazing videos with your Apple iPhone Google Drive Did you know that you can use Google Drive to extract texts from images? Well now you know. While there are many Google Drive tips and tricks this one can definitely make your life easier. Using Google Drive you can take any image and convert it into text with a single mouse click. How you do it? You just need to upload the image file to Google Drive. On the web version of Google Drive, right-click on the image file and select Open With > Google Docs. You will see the text below the image. However, make sure to check the details. It might not be 100 percent accurate, but it does automatically extract the text and thus makes your job easier. Website

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Egypt's Council of Senior Islamic Scholars upheld on Sunday the instant validity of verbal divorce without witnesses or documentation, but also stressed the need for quick official documentaion.

A meeting of the council, presided over by Egypt's Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayeb, discussed the matter after a recent call by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to mandate documentation of divorce before a marriage official as a way of strengthening the institution of the family.

The Council of Senior Islamic Scholars is an advisory board comprised of prominent Azhar clerics, which is appointed by the grand imam.

Islamic religion allows a man to divorce his wife verbally.

Egyptian law mandates that divorces should be documented within 30 days.

El-Sisi had said in a speech last week that making documentation of divorce decisions a necessity would help in lowering divorce rates in the country.

The president quoted official statistics which show that 40 percent of marriages end in divorve withinn the first five years.

El-Sisi argued that documentation before officials gives married partners a chance to reconsider separating.

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Activate Touch Gestures Such as Double Tap to Wake, Sleep, etc.

Asus has added a new ZenMotion menu under their Settings app, which allows you to choose between several additional tweaks such as Double-tap to turn off screen,' Double-tap to wake up,' Swipe up to wake up,' etc. Additionally, there are other gesture controls such as drawing W' on the lock screen will directly take you to the Weather app and so on. You can change these settings under Settings

Mute the Incoming Call by Flipping the Device!

Under the same ZenMotion menu, there's another tab called as Motion Gestures.' Under motion gestures, there's a setting called as Turn the Device Over.' This means that: whenever an incoming call is coming, and you don't want to pick up the call or imagine you are in a meeting, just turn the device over to mute the phone. This is a very handy feature is you attend a lot of sessions.

Use the Phone in One Hand with the One-Handed Mode

Even though the Zenfone 3S Max is compact with its 5.2-inch display, there might be some people who still can't be able to use the phone with one hand. Thankfully, for those users, the company is bundling a one-handed mode, and it is hidden under the same ZenMotion menu. Activating this mode, you can quickly shift to the one-handed mode by just double tapping the home button.

Enable Easy Mode for a Friendly Interface

There is an Easy Mode under the Settings app which by enabling changes the drawer app and opens up nine apps based screen layout. Also, you can add a maximum of four screens to the design.

A Dedicated Kids Mode to Set up a Safe Playground for Your Kids

Asus has also added a new Kids Mode with which you can allow only specific apps for your kids to access. This mode can be enabled by heading over to Settings>Kids Mode.

Take Screenshots with Recent Apps Key

One of the best feature with the Asus Zen UI, which we loved a lot. These days' lot of people want to check save some information while browsing through the net. Asus has a perfect solution for that. The Taiwanese company has added a feature with which you can take screenshots by tapping the recent apps key for two seconds, which is a good feature to have around.

Change Screenshot File Format

Another interesting feature is that Asus will allow you to modify the screenshot file format between JPEG and PNG. You can alter the setting by heading over to Settings> Screenshot>Screenshot file format> JPEG or PNG.

Activate Bluelight Filter to Reduce Strain for Eyes

The Asus Zenfone 3S Max also comes with a Bluelight Filter mode, which we call it as Night Mode in iPhones and stock Android phones. This feature is hidden under the display settings, and it reduces the strain to your eyes after activating.
Microsoft posts a massive 81 percent down in phone revenue News oi -Chakri Kudikala The Redmond giant hasn't sold a total of one million Lumia phones.

Redmond tech giant, Microsoft, today announced their financial report of their FY Q2 2017 that includes the last three months of 2016.

The company officially revealed that their smartphone revenue department sales were down by almost 81 percent, compared to the same period of 2015. Last quarter Microsoft sold nearly 4.5 million of Lumia handsets, and when compared to 81 percent down sided sales, the number of units will be less than one million, which is underwhelming.

Also Read: ZTE to launch Blade A610 Plus with 5,000mAh battery on February 3

Besides the phone business, the company disclosed a total revenue of $50.2 billion and that is slightly ahead of last year's total revenue, to be precise, it is up by 1.2 percent.

This story pretty much sums up on how Microsoft is struggling in the smartphone space. In spite of all these, the company is reportedly working on a smartphone, called as Microsoft Surface Phone to get them back on track.

SOURCE

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Navy Decommissions "The Big E"

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170203-16

Release Date: 2/3/2017 3:40:00 PM

By MC2(SW) Kevin F. Johnson, COMNAVAIRLANT Public Affairs

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (NNS) -- The aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVN 65), was decommissioned during a ceremony held in the ship's hangar bay, Feb. 3.

The ceremony not only marked the end the ship's nearly 55-year career, it also served as the very first decommissioning of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Capt. Todd Beltz, commanding officer of the Enterprise, addressed the ship's company, former commanding officers and distinguished visitors and spoke of where the true spirit of "The Big E" comes from.

"For all that Enterprise represents to this nation, it's the people that bring this ship to life," said Beltz. "So as I stand in this ship that we all care so much about, I feel it's appropriate to underscore the contributions of the thousands of Sailors and individuals that kept this ship alive and made its reputation. We are 'The Big E.'"

Enterprise was the eighth naval vessel to carry the name. It was built by the Newport News Shipbuilding Co. and was christened Sep. 24, 1960, by Mrs. Bertha Irene Franke, wife of former Secretary of the Navy William B. Franke. The ship was put to sea in 1961 and safely steamed more than 1 million nautical miles on nuclear power over its entire career of more than 50 years.

Key-note speaker Rear Adm. Bruce Lindsey, commander, Naval Air Force, Atlantic, used his own experiences aboard Enterprise to emphasize the unmatched adaptability and capability of not just this ship but of all nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

"One cannot influence world events if you are not on station and stay on station; in other words: to be where it matters, when it matters," said Lindsey. "Nuclear carriers are tough and no other country can match us in this respect."

Though Enterprise's history is long and filled with numerous successful deployments, Beltz offered highlights from a letter written by Adm. James Holloway III, Enterprise's third commanding officer, which looked toward the future of the namesake in the proposed construction of the ninth Enterprise, CVN 80.

"As this ship retires," Beltz recited, "we know the memory will live beyond her and we--the Sailors, the shipbuilders, the supporters of Enterprise--we are that link to the next Enterprise."

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US Missile Destroyer Sails Off Coast of Yemen Amid Rising Tensions With Iran

Sputnik News

21:52 03.02.2017(updated 02:01 04.02.2017)

Amid strained relations between Iran and the US, Washington has deployed a Navy destroyer off the Yemeni coast to protect waterways from the Iran-supported Houthi militia. The USS Cole was deployed to escort vessels and carry out other patrols off southwestern Yemen, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

While refueling in the Yemeni port of Aden in 2000, Al Qaeda militants bombed the USS Cole by steering a boat full of explosives into the warship's side. As a result 17 American sailors died, and some three dozen were injured.

Tensions have increased between Tehran and Washington after Iran's recent ballistic missile test, with US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn on Thursday condemning the launch as "provocative," and stating that, "As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice."

US President Donald Trump was asked if he would consider using military force in Iran, and he responded saying "nothing is off the table." Trump has been critical of the nuclear deal with Iran, and on the campaign trail he even threatened to "tear it up," if elected.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) said in a statement, "No longer will Iran be given a pass for its repeated ballistic missile violations, continued support of terrorism, human rights abuses and other hostile activities that threaten international peace and security."

Armed Houthis attacked a Saudi warship off western Yemen earlier this week, with two Saudi crewmembers killed in the explosion, in an escalation of the conflict between the coalition, supporting the recognized government, and militia forces.

Three Houthi-controlled radar installations in parts of Yemen were taken out by US cruise missiles in October 2016 in response to a failed attack on the USS Mason.

Further deepening the strife between Iran and the US are Trump's new economic sanctions against Iran. On Friday Trump tweeted, ""ran is playing with fire  they don't appreciate how "kind" President Obama was to them. Not me!"

 Sputnik

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Refugees fleeing danger are 'not dangerous themselves' - UN agency chief

3 February 2017  The head of the United Nations refugee agency today warned developed countries against politicizing the issue of refugees, stressing that the move risked undermining the principle of international solidarity with those fleeing war and persecution.

"These are people that flee from danger, they're not dangerous themselves," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told reporters in Lebanon's capital, Beirut following a four-day visit to Syria, where he witnessed first-hand the massive destruction caused by nearly six years of conflict.

"We have serious concerns, and these are not new concerns, we've had them for some time, that the refugee issue in the industrialized world  in Europe, the US, Australia  is very politicized. It shouldn't be," Mr. Grandi said, urging rich countries to show generosity to refugees, rather than regarding them as a threat.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mr. Grandi is the first senior UN official to visit Syria since Turkey and Russia brokered a ceasefire last month.

Mr. Grandi said that the recent decision by the United States to suspend its refugee resettlement programme would negatively impact the most vulnerable individuals.

"Resettlement means taking refugees from places like Lebanon, where they are already refugees, selecting the most vulnerable and taking them to other places," he said. "If we weaken that programme, as has been done in the United States, this is a very dangerous weakening of the international solidarity for refugees."

UNHCR estimates that 20,000 refugees in precarious circumstances might have been resettled to the US in the 120 days covered by the suspension set out in an Executive Order signed one week ago by President Donald Trump.

Mr. Grandi expressed his hope that the US would resume resettlements following its internal review of the programme.

As for the situation in Syria, he described progress in his discussions with the Government on humanitarian access in hard-to-reach areas, and expressed hope that some aid convoys could reach parts of Homs in the coming days.

On the issue of refugees returning to Syria, the High Commissioner said that while many were keen to go home, the political and security situation in the country currently made it impossible for large numbers to do so.

"People need to return eventually to Syria, and we all agree that that's the ideal solution. But we need to be patient," Mr. Grandi said. "More progress needs to be made politically, then economically and infrastructure-wise in order for conditions to be there to have large returns."

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Airstrikes Continue Against ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Feb. 4, 2017  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack, bomber and fighter aircraft and rocket artillery conducted 31 strikes in 45 engagements in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, seven strikes destroyed 14 oil wellheads and two oil refinement stills.

-- Near Bab, three strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units; destroyed two tactical vehicles, two heavy machine guns and two fighting positions; and damaged a command and control node.

-- Near Idlib, a strike destroyed a fighting position.

-- Near Raqqa, 20 strikes engaged four ISIL tactical units; destroyed 11 oil tanker trucks, six oil barrels, three oil refinement stills, two fighting positions, two tunnels, two vehicles, an ISIL headquarters, an oil storage tank and a command and control node; and damaged 16 supply routes.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted seven strikes in 18 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Huwayjah, a strike destroyed an improvised explosive device factory.

-- Near Irbil, a strike destroyed a front-end loader and a dump truck.

-- Near Mosul, five strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units; destroyed eight watercraft, three vehicle bombs, two barges, a vehicle and an artillery system; damaged three supply routes; and suppressed a mortar team.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Transcript

Presenter: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis February 04, 2017

Joint Press Briefing by Secretary Mattis and Minister Inada in Tokyo, Japan

STAFF: Now we will begin the joint news conference.

Minister Inada, Secretary Mattis will make initial remarks.

First, we'd like to start with Minister Inada.

JAPANESE DEFENSE MINISTER TOMOMI INADA (through translator): Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

Today, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis is here at the ministry of defense and we're very please to receive him. This was the first defense ministerial talks with him. A very significant exchange of views took place in today's meeting that the Japan and U.S. alliance is important to secure peace and stability of Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. And that to further strengthen deterrents and response capabilities of the alliance Japan and the United States work together. These points have been confirmed.

We exchanged opinions on the regional situations, evolution of North Korea's nuclear and missile development is for the Japan and the U.S. and for the region's security a grave threat. We agreed on this understanding.

Also China's activities in the East and South China Seas are a security concern for the Asia-Pacific region. This concern has been shared between us. Secretary Mattis said the Senkaku Islands are under the administration of the government of Japan, and fall within the scope of article five of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

He said that the United States opposes any unilateral action to attempt to overthrow Japan's administration of the Senkaku Islands.

I said that freedom of navigation operations and other actions by the U.S. forces in the South China Sea contribute to maintaining maritime order based on the rule of law, and that I support these efforts. We agree that including capacity-building initiatives, we will enhance engagement in the South China Sea.

I conveyed my thinking that for the regional peace and stability Japan continues to play a proactive role.

Secretary Mattis communicated to me about the U.S. obligation to defend Japan and its ironclad commitment to extended deterrence. Based on the Japan-U.S. guidelines deterrence and the response capabilities of the Japan-U.S. alliance need to be further reinforced. We agreed to this understanding. Realignment of the U.S. forces in Japan is an important project to mitigate the impact on the local communities, including Okinawa.

I asked Secretary Mattis for cooperation in steady progress for realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. Secretary Mattis said he would like to move ahead with it in cooperation with Japan.

Also I told him that relocation and the return of MCAS Futnenma needs to be realized as soon as possible. We agreed that relocation of it to Henoko is the only solution, and we will continue to cooperate.

I requested cooperation for mitigating the impact on Okinawa. We agreed to cooperate to ensure stable stationing of U.S. forces in Japan.

Lastly, I would like to say having had this opportunity to talk with Secretary Mattis today, these talks were frank, and candid and significant. This pleases me tremendously, and based on today's talk I will continue to work hard to strengthen and deepen the Japan-U.S. alliance.

Thank you.

STAFF: Next, we'd like to invite Secretary Mattis, please.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE JIM MATTIS: Good morning, everyone. And thank you for being here. And thank you, Minister Inada, for hosting me.

I'm very pleased to be visiting Japan on my first trip overseas as secretary of defense. It's been many years since I first served in Japan as a young lieutenant in the Marines, but I have fond memories and good friends from that time.

It's clear that much has changed since those years. But one this is certain: The alliance between the United States and Japan is enduring and will remain as the cornerstone of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.

Let me assure you that President Trump's administration places a high priority on this region, and specifically on long-term allies like Japan.

As I told Minister Inada, the United States remains committed to the defense of Japan under the Treaty of Mutual Security, and we stand ready to enhance our alliance to the benefit of regional peace, prosperity and freedom.

Today the minister and I discussed the security situation and I made clear that our longstanding policy on the Senkaku Islands stands. The United States will continue to recognize Japanese administration of the islands, and as such article five of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty applies.

As the Japanese people know so well, jointly we faced many security challenges in this region. From the threat of nuclear and missile provocations by North Korea to increasingly confrontational behavior by China in the East and South China Seas we recognize the changing security situation.

In our meeting together Minister Inada and I confirmed out intention to continue close coordination on these and other security issues.

I also expressed the United States appreciation for Japan's stabilizing and strengthening efforts with Southeast Asian partners, which contribute to the regional peace, prosperity and freedom.

The U.S.-Japan alliance is critical to ensuring that this region remain safe and secure, not just now, but for years to come.

The 2015 defense guideline in Japan's peace and security legislation lay the foundation for us to do much more together, to increase interoperability between our forces and to bolster Japan's capabilities from peacetime to contingency if needed.

I am certain that the coming years will see important strides on both sides to realize our mutual goal of a strong defense of Japan and a stable regional environment in which all nations play by the broadly accepted international rules and can prosper free from fear.

The United States has invested in the alliance by deploying our most advanced capabilities to Japan, and by maintaining a robust force structure.

I also mentioned to Minister Inada that the United States remains committed to mutually agreed upon realignment plans. These include relocating Marines to Guam, and reducing our footprint on Okinawa, while maintaining the capabilities needed to keep Japan and the region secure.

During my discussions here we agreed that our mutual efforts to build the Futenma replacement facility will continue as it is the only solution that will enable the United States to return the current Marine Corps Air Station at Futenma to Japan.

Japan has made noteworthy contributions to regional security and to the alliance, and the United States deeply appreciates these contributions.

But make no mistake, in my meeting with Japanese leaders both our nations recognize that we must not be found complacent in the face of the emerging challenges.

As our alliance grows it will be important for both of our nations to continue investing in our defense personnel and capabilities. In this manner we will ensure that we are true partners together today and in the years to come. The United States stands with our friends and allies.

Thank you again, Minister Inada, for hosting me. It is a pleasure to be back in Japan, and I look forward to hosting you in Washington. Thank you.

STAFF: Next we'd like to move on representative questions.

In the interest of time we'd like to entertain two questions from each, Japan and the United States.

Those of you who ask questions, please raise your hand. When designated please come to the standing mike in front. Please state your name and affiliation before asking a question, either to Minister Inada or Secretary Mattis -- state which person your question is directed to. And after asking the question please return to your seat.

First I would like to take up one question from the Japanese side.

Nakamura-san.

Q (through translator): My name's Nakamura with NHK. Thank you.

With Secretary Mattis, and to Minister Mattis I would like to ask both of you this question: What are your thoughts on the importance of the Japan-U.S. alliance and the roles of the respective countries. Does your understanding that Senkaku Islands of Okinawa prefecture is within the scope of (inaudible) security pact remain unchanged?

In South and East China Seas maritime advances are strengthened by China. Nuclear and missile development is promoted by DPRK. How will you respond to them? How are you going to work on relocation of MCAS Futenma. Thank you.

STAFF: First, Minister Inada, please.

MIN. INADA (through translator): First, with respect to Japan-U.S. alliance and its importance this is unshakable. For Japan's peace and security and for the entire region's peace and stability and prosperity, and for the regional's future this is very important. This point was once again reaffirmed in today's talks, and the U.S. side many times said that the Senkaku Islands are government of Japan's -- under the government of Japan's administration, and it is within the scope of article five of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

And in the new administration Secretary Mattis clearly stated that they are within the scope of the treaty. And through the continued presence of the United States the U.S. will strengthen its commitment to the region, and now the security -- the environment surrounding Japan is increasingly difficult. And against this backdrop the U.S. commitment I believe is very significant.

And also with respect to DPRK and China, you also asked the question about this. Now there's a need to further strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance's deterrence and response capabilities. We agreed on this point, and for the regional peace and stability. Japan will play a proactive role and also we will strengthen our role in the alliance. This point has been communicated to Secretary Mattis. China is a very important neighbor for Japan, and so constructive dialogue -- for the constructive dialog we are always open. Our door is always open. This was also communicated.

With respect to MCAS Futenma, the relocation of it to Henoko is the only solution, and this position was once again reaffirmed with Secretary Mattis and the -- as far as the government of Japan is concerned we have an intention to steadily move ahead with the work toward relocation. Based on the results of today's talks we would like to further solidify the ties of the Japan-U.S. alliance which is unshaken based on the trusting relationship. There's an attempt to change the status quo by force, but -- for -- in order to establish peace and stability and the rule of law I would like to work with the countries that share that value.

STAFF: Secretary Mattis, please?

SEC. MATTIS: (Off mic) stated the alliance is unshakeable, and between the two of us standing together we're stronger together. We're strong with South Korea, and yet there is no complacency in terms of the alliance. We know we have got to adjust to the changing security situation. We will do so in measured steps working together. And I don't see any reason right now to think we cannot maintain stability in the Asia-Pacific region, especially with China.

But at the same time we have to recognize that the rules-based international order must be maintained. And so our focus, immediate focus is perhaps principally on the North Korea nuclear and ballistic missile threat, but we also must stand together in support of the international order that is rules based, and no one nation shoulders another aside or shreds the trust in terms of conviction over maintaining a rules-based approach to solving any sorts of disputes.

Thank you.

STAFF: Next we'd like to have a question from the U.S. side, please.

Q: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. It's Robert Burns of Associated Press. The White House a few days said that it was putting Iran on notice. The question is on notice for what? And as defense secretary, are you going to put more military muscle behind those words? For example, by deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf, or making other military contingency moves? Otherwise aren't those just empty words, to put them on notice?

And if I may ask you in a related question you said earlier, including at your confirmation hearing that you felt that the counter-ISIL campaign should be accelerated. I'm wondering as it pertains to recapturing Raqqa will this possibly involve sending more U.S. troops to Syria?

If I may ask a question of Minister Inada. You mentioned in your opening statement that Japan intends to increase and strengthen its role on the alliance. Is Japan prepared to address U.S. concerns about contributing more financially to hosting U.S. forces in Japan?

Thank you.

STAFF: As far as Iran goes, this is single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, and I think it is wise to make certain that Iran recognizes that what it is doing is getting the attention of a lot of people, and we have responsibility, along with the rest of the nations that want to maintain stability to be absolutely clear with Iran in this regard. It does no good to ignore it. It does no good to dismiss it. And at the same time I don't see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time. That's not in the cards right now. We always have the capability to do so, but right now I don't think it's necessary.

But I would also just say that we do not have a situation, vis a vis Iran, that shows respect, again, for the rules-based international order. We have seen their misconduct, their misbehavior from Lebanon and Syria to Bahrain and to Yemen, and it's got to be addressed at some point.

Minister?

STAFF: Next Minister Inada, please.

MIN. INADA (through translator): The Japan-U.S. alliance, this is for Japan and also for the future of this region is a very important alliance, and the importance is increasing I believe. Against this background, in this alliance, what kind of roles Japan will play. And also proactive playing of roles was mentioned under the Abe administration, the peace and security legislation and also through the Japan-U.S. Security guidelines.

For example, we are able to protect the U.S. assets and also -- limited exercise of force would be allowed. So within the permission of the Japan -- Japanese constitution, we are contributing to the peace of the world, and also we are doing activities to contribute to the Japan-U.S. alliance.

And furthermore, when -- in the administration the -- the national defense program guidelines have been revised and -- and now. Before the Abe administration the -- the defense expenditure was growing negatively, but after the Abe (inaudible) came into place, every year this has been growing.

So, the Japan's defense capabilities have been strengthened steadily and securely. Now, the strengthening of Japan's defense capabilities and also to the countries that share the values that we also providing the capacity building, and also for the region we are playing a proactive role also in the Japan's alliance.

And also with the secretary, with respect to the burden on the costs for the U.S. forces in Japan, there was no discussion whatsoever. So based upon the agreement between the two countries appropriate burden sharing is happening.

STAFF: The second question from the Japanese side please.

Onuma-san, please?

Q (through translator): My name's Onuma with Jiji Press.

To both Secretary Mattis and Minister Inada, as was mentioned by Minister Inada, President Trump during the campaign referred to increasing Japan's burden of cost for stationing U.S. forces in Japan.

On this point, Mattis -- Secretary Mattis now, you have expressed your intention to ask the allies to increase the burden of costs. Now, how are you going to respond to that?

And also, what do you think of Japan's defense budget, which accounts for about 1 percent of GDP?

STAFF: To Minister Inada first, please.

MIN. INADA (through translator): Right. Regarding the point of cost of burden for stationing U.S. forces in Japan, as I said before, in these talks there was no discussion on that particular point.

And also the burden sharing in the alliance, not really restricted to the financial aspects. And also, regarding the defense-related expenditures, again, as I mentioned before, we have midterm defense build-up program, covering from fiscal 2014 to 2018 based on this midterm defense build-up program.

In five years, on average, the plan is to increase it by 0.8 percent on average. So we will endeavor to develop the defense capabilities steadily and continuously. And in my talks with the secretary, based on the security environment that is increasingly becoming more difficult, both the qualitatively and quantitatively, Japan, we're strengthening defense capabilities, and expand the role that the Japan can play. This point has been communicated.

STAFF: Secretary Mattis, next please.

SEC. MATTIS: Japan has been a model of cost sharing, of burden sharing. We have constant dialogue about this. We've worked through the details, but we can point to our Japanese-American cost-sharing approach as an example for other nations to follow. And we have watched as the security situation worsened, and watched the budget grow under Prime Minister Abe and the minister of defense guidance, and I think it's prudent that we take those steps and we adapt the military, both our military positions, to the security situation we face today and anticipate tomorrow. And I think Japan is on the right track.

STAFF: Lastly, the second question from the U.S. side please.

Q: (Inaudible) from Financial Times.

Secretary Mattis, the U.S. has made little progress in recent years, urging China to slow down or to stop its activity -- it's construction activity in the South China Sea. Do you think the U.S. needs to adopt a more assertive policy in the South China Sea? And if so, what kind of military measures do you think should be tried?

And for Inada (unintelligible).

(through translastor): The DPRK threat is becoming increasing. Now if the U.S. side proactive attack, if that's communicated to Japan, what would be the response, the reaction of the Abe administration?

Sorry, I didn't get the assumption. If the U.S. side asks, announces to Japan that there's -- well, first well the -- the attack to the DPRK what would be the reaction of the Abe administration?

STAFF: Starting with Secretary Mattis please.

SEC. MATTIS: (Off mic) watched in the South China Sea, as China has shredded the trust of nations in the region. Apparently having to have a veto authority over the diplomatic, and security and economic conditions of the neighboring states. And the point behind a rules-based international order, what those words mean, is that we all play by the rules, and if we have disputes, we take them to arbitration. We don't settle them by taking military means and occupying land that is subject to question, to say the least about who actually owns it, or is it international waters.

So, what we have to do is exhaust all -- all efforts, diplomatic efforts, to try and resolve this properly, maintain open lines of communication. And certainly our military stance should be one that reinforces our diplomats in this regard.

But there is no need right now at this time for military maneuvers or something like that, that would -- that would solve something that's best solved by the diplomats.

At the same time, freedom of navigation is absolute, and whether it be commercial shipping or our U.S. Navy, we will practice in international waters and transit international waters as appropriate.

So, at this time, we do not see any need for dramatic military moves at all.

STAFF: Next, Minister Inada please.

MIN. INADA (through translator): Right. Regarding DPRK, last year the two nuclear tests were conducted and also with respect to missiles, 20 -- more than 20 missiles, were launched from submarines, as well as Musudan and also from the same place, three missiles were -- actually landed in the waters simultaneously.

So DPRK's missile threat is now in a new stage. And also, how are we going to respond to that? We had a conversation with the secretary, and so we have to have a missile-defense capabilities, and also important neighbor is -- ROK with Korea, long-standing issue. (unintelligible) has now in place -- is now in place. So, the Japan-U.S. alliance and also Japan, U.S. ROK, these three countries need to cooperate and will cooperate steadily. I think because this is very important.

And beyond that, Japan has article nine of the constitution and we have a defense-only posture. And we have strike capability -- we don't have strike capability. On this point, between Japan and the United States, we have division of roles, but first we have to make sure that this kind of a situation will not happen. We have to cooperate.

And furthermore, in this region, the Japan and U.S. has ties and we have to strengthen the alliance. The U.S. has strike capability. This is a deterrence, so including all of this to the DPRK, we have to confront the nation.

STAFF: Now the time is up. I'd like to conclude the joint press conference. The two ministers are leaving the stage. Please remain -- I would like to ask the press corps to remain seated.

-END-

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1071436/

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Transcript

Presenter: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis February 04, 2017

Remarks by Secretary Mattis and Minister Inada at the Top of Their Meeting in Tokyo, Japan

JAPANESE DEFENSE MINISTER TOMOMI INADA (through translator): Good morning Mr. Secretary.

Last night we had a very enjoyable and candid discussion during the dinner, and under this beautiful weather, it's an extreme delight for me to welcome, and host you today.

I take your visit to this region, including Japan, for your first trip overseas as a message which shows your sound commitment and your high priority for the Asian Pacific. I welcome your decision for your visit to Japan.

With the security environment surrounding our nation becoming increasingly severe, strong U.S.-Japan alliance is critical as the cornerstone of the peace and stability of this region, as well as Japan. I am determined to work together with you, Mr. Secretary, to even further enhance our alliance relationship.

And of course, South Korea where you have already stopped by, is truly a vital labor for us. I look forward that your visit to this region with lead to in-depth trilateral Japan-United States-Republic of Korea defense cooperation.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE JIM MATTIS: Thank you Madame Minister for the very warm welcome, and for the dinner last night, where we had a very candid, frank, but very warm discussion about the security situation.

I first served alongside the Japanese Self Defense Forces as a lieutenant in 1972, which is probably long before you were born Madame Minister. It was a delight to be, once again, in front of your troops. This morning they looked very sharp, very impressive. Thank you for the ceremony.

And, of course, our relationship is built on much more than ceremonies, it goes back to many years ago and it will continue as strong as ever. We see the alliance between ourselves, and Japan, as a cornerstone for peace, prosperity, and freedom in the Asian Pacific area.

As you noted Madame Minister, this is my first trip overseas, I thought nothing would demonstrate the high priority we place on this better than making this my first trip to this region. I pledge that we will work closely with you, and I look forward to developing a good relationship between the U.S. Department of Defense and your ministry.

Thank you very much for welcoming me.

-END-

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1071438/

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South Sudan opposition accuses Egypt of attacking its positions

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 6:40PM

Egypt's air force has dropped bombs on the positions of South Sudan's opposition movement near the northern village of Kaka, the opposition's armed wing has claimed.

In a statement on Saturday, the Sudan People's Liberation Army-In Opposition, also known as the SPLA-IO, accused the Egyptian air force of dropping "more than nine bombs" on their positions the previous day.

The SPLA-IO is the armed wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO), which is led by former Vice President Riek Machar.

Machar and his followers have been fighting government forces under the leadership of President Salva Kiir for more than three years now.

South Sudan's conflict began in 2013 after Kiir and Machar, who hail from rival tribes, disagreed on a number of political issues. A peace agreement convinced Machar to return to the capital, Juba, but fighting broke out again in July 2016 after tensions escalated in the world's youngest nation.

The Saturday statement condemned the alleged attacks by the Egyptian air force and warned that the move could spark a "regional war."

The statement claimed that Egypt was involved in the conflict in South Sudan, which indicated "that the Juba regime is provoking the region."

Cairo meeting in January irked South Sudan opposition

The opposition in South Sudan had previously accused Egypt of using its influence on the government in Juba to advance its regional objectives.

Kiir met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on January 10, with reports saying the Egyptian side was seeking closer cooperation from Juba on sensitive regional issues, especially a dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia, a South Sudan neighbor, on how to manage the water of the Nile River.

Sources in Machar's camp said Cairo had been keen to have South Sudan and Uganda as allies so that it could "advance its covert sabotage campaign" against Ethiopia's construction of a dam on the Nile.

Egypt's alleged air force attacks on Friday came after rebels made gains against government forces in several areas this week, the statement added.

Rebels managed to kill many troops and capture at least nine during clashes that erupted in three locations in Unity state, the statement said, accusing President Kiir of seeking to escalate the war through the Egyptian involvement.

Officials in Cairo denied the claims, saying Egypt was totally against any form of military intervention in other countries.

"Egypt does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries," Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

Sources in Juba also dismissed the statement by rebels, with presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny describing the allegations as "nonsense."

"Those small packets of rebels are ... operating inside our population and we cannot bomb our own population," Ateny said.

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UN Security Council drops sanctions against Afghan warlord Hekmatyar

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 2:56PM

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has lifted sanctions against Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of a militant group in conflict-ridden Afghanistan, some five months after the government inked a landmark peace accord with the strongman.

The move, requested by Kabul, was taken late on Friday by the world body, which said in a subsequent statement that "the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Daesh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities removed the name below [Gulbuddin Hekmatyar] from the ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List."

The Afghan government inked the historic peace deal with Hekmatyar, the leader of Hezb-i-Islami militant group, in September last year, following seven months of negotiations.

Hekmatyar, a former anti-Soviet commander in the 1980s who waged a guerrilla war against the Soviet forces occupying Afghanistan, stands accused of leading militancy that allegedly killed thousands of people, mostly civilians, in Kabul, during the 1992-1996 civil war.

In the wake of Taliban's reign of terror in 2001, Hekmatyar was designated a "global terrorist" by Washington for his alleged links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban militant groups and was hence forced to go into hiding.

Meanwhile, the government welcomed the move, saying that it was a historic day for the country. In a joint press conference held in Kabul on Saturday afternoon, representatives of both sides praised the achievement.

Mohammad Akram Khpalwak, a political advisor to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, described the move as "a major step toward peace and stability in Afghanistan." He also urged all other militant groups to join the peace process.

Hezb-i-Islami's chief peace negotiator, Amin Karim, for his part, said both sides were currently working on fulfilling all commitments stated in the peace agreement and that both sides were satisfied with the progress to date.

He also emphasized that the UNSC's decision showed that political negotiations were the "only logical way to achieve peace in Afghanistan."

According to the UNSC's statement, "assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in  resolution 2253 (2015)" no longer apply to Hekmatyar.

Some Afghans and human rights groups slammed the accord at the time for the pardon it granted to the strongman and many of his militants.

Afghanistan has been gripped by insecurity since the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington's so-called war on terror in 2001. Many parts of the Asian state remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops.

During the past 15 years, the Taliban militants have been conducting terrorist attacks across the country, killing and displacing civilians.

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Rashwan, who was syndicate head between 2013 and 2015, lost the position to current syndicate leader Yehia Kalash in 2015

The former head of Egypt's press syndicate Diaa Rashwan announced on Sunday that he will be running for syndicate head in the March elections, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The union will hold elections for syndicate head and six board members on 3 March, with the deadline for declaring candidacy on 11 February.

Rashwan, who was syndicate head between 2013 and 2015, lost the position to current syndicate leader Yehia Kalash in 2015.

Rashwan said that he has a duty to save the profession and the syndicate from serious pitfalls that resulted from stances that lacked wisdom [and were made] in the name of principle and policies [by union leaders] that did not appreciate journalists or honour their syndicate.

Rashwan said that his main electoral slogan will be restore the syndicates status and respect for journalists.

Current syndicate head Kalash and two syndicate board members were given a two-year suspended prison sentence late last year on charges of harbouring fugitives inside the syndicate's headquarters.

The court's sentence came after two journalists, who were wanted for spreading false news regarding Egypts Red Sea island deal with Saudi Arabia, were arrested in May inside the syndicates Cairo headquarters.

The police raid on the syndicate was followed by protests from journalists who demanded the dismissal of the interior minister.

Rashwan, 56, is a graduate of the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University,

Since 2011, Rashwan has been the head of Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, which he joined in 1981.

Rashwan is known for his studies on Islamist groups in Egypt and the Arab world.

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China warns US against destabilizing East Asia

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 11:1AM

China has warned the US against destabilizing East Asia after its new Defense Secretary James Mattis said Washington would rush to defend Japan in case of a conflict with Beijing.

The remarks by China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Saturday came after Mattis stated during a two-day official tour of Japan that Senkaku islands fell within the scope of the US-Japan security treaty.

Under the treaty, Washington is obligated to defend all areas under Japanese administrative control, hence making Senkaku which China calls Diaoyu a bone of contention.

"The Diaoyu Island and its adjacent islets have been an inherent part of Chinese territory since ancient times, which is a unchangeable historical fact," state news agency Xinhua quoted Lu as saying.

"We urge the US side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks... and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation," he added.

During the visit to Japan, Mattis said, "I made clear that our long-standing policy on the Senkaku Islands stands -- the US will continue to recognize Japanese administration of the islands."

Lu insisted that the US-Japan treaty was a product of the Cold War, and should not affect China's territorial sovereignty, according to the Xinhua's report.

China cites historical records for its claim, and Japan's move to nationalize several of the islands in 2012 set off anti-Japanese protests across China. The decision prompted the Chinese government to dispatch warships and aircraft to the area as a challenge to Japanese control.

In addition to the new tension over the islands and the South China Sea, China has also slammed a recent pact to deploy a US missile system known as THAAD in South Korea later in the year.

China says the system may disturb the regional balance of power amid Washington's claims that its only objective is to counter what it regards as the North Korea missile threat.

"We have resolute opposition to the deployment of Thaad to South Korea by the US and (South Korea)," Lu said in a statement.

"Such actions," he added, "will jeopardize security and the strategic interests of regional countries, including China, and undermine the strategic balance in the region."

Beijing further warned Washington to stop using the Dalai Lama to create trouble for China, saying it would bring no benefit to the US but damage Sino-US ties instead.

China says the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, is a violent separatist.

The warning by Chinese official in charge of Tibet affairs, Zhu Weiqun, came after the newly appointed US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he would receive and meet the Dalai Lama.

Tillerson's position shows he is a "complete amateur" on Tibet-related questions, Zhu told the Global Times which is published by the ruling Communist Party.

The US maintains 28,500 military service members in South Korean and 47,000 in Japan, mostly on the southern island of Okinawa, where Mattis served as a young marine officer in the early 1970s, according to wire reports.

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Saudi airstrikes, mercenaries kill seven across Yemen

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 8:12AM

Saudi Arabian warplanes and Riyadh-backed militias have slain seven civilians in indiscriminate offensives targeting various areas across Yemen.

On Saturday, Saudi aircraft targeted fishing boats off the Tarfah Island of the western Yemeni province of al-Hudaydah, killing one civilian and injuring six others.

Two civilians were killed and a number of others injured after the fighter planes struck the al-Mokha District of Ta'izz Province in Yemen's extreme southwest.

The United Nations has warned about the dire situation of civilians in Mokha and Ta'izz more generally, as Saudi Arabia and its mercenaries try to force out Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The movement has been defending Yemen against the Saudi war, which started in March 2015 to restore power to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has resigned but seeks a forced return to office.

Saudi-backed militiamen, meanwhile, raided residential buildings in the Nihm District in Yemen's western Sana'a Province, killing two women and one child.

Separately, Russia Today reported that five people had been killed and 35 others injured during a melee in the Central Prison in the capital, Sana'a.

It cited Abdul-Salam al-Dhale'ei, the head of the country's Rehabilitation Organization, as saying that violence erupted following an argument between a prisoner and a guard.

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Turkey, Greece trade barbs over Aegean

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 7:17AM

Turkey and Greece have been trading accusations of impolitic behavior in the Aegean Sea, where they are engaged in a territorial dispute.

Earlier this week, Turkey said Greek special forces had landed on the Greek island of Kos in the Aegean. Greece, on the other hand, reported mass incursions by Turkish military aircraft over the central and southern parts of the waters on Wednesday.

On Friday, Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu warned Athens against "any arbitrary step contrary to international law that could create tensions," Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported.

The spokesman said a Paris peace accord that ended World War II has banned the militarization of the islands. Greece argues that Turkey was not part of the treaty and thus lacks jurisdiction to pass judgment on the developments in the area.

Muftuoglu, however, cautioned that Ankara would take all legal actions to defend "its right over the Aegean."

Greece had earlier on Friday branded the reported Turkish forays over the waters as "cowboy antics."

The two sides were within a whisker of going to war with one another in 1996 over the ownership of uninhabited Aegean islets known as Imia in Greece and Kardak in Turkey.

On Sunday, Turkish Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar paid a surprise visit to the islets.

Turkey was also enraged after Greek recently refused to extradite eight soldiers whom Ankara said had been involved in a failed coup last July to oust Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's administration.

Reacting to the frayed tempers in Ankara, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said Turkey's behavior appeared to be an "attempt to externalize their internal crisis."

"Turkey may occasionally behave nervously, in a manner not becoming to the needs of normal development of bilateral relations," he added.

The two sides are, meanwhile, busy supporting the parties under their respective influence as Turkish Cyprus and Greek Cyprus are working out a means to unify the political systems in each territory.

Back in 1974, Greek-allied forces staged a failed coup to annex the island, but Turkey responded militarily, and the territory has been partitioned ever since.



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For Montenegro, On The Brink Of Joining NATO, The Stakes Are High

Gordana Knezevic February 04, 2017

With the country on the brink of becoming NATO's 29th member, the stakes for Montenegro are high.

Although an accession protocol has already been approved by 23 of the alliance's 28 member states, the process has been delayed in the U.S. Senate. Opponents of NATO expansion see this as a last chance to block the Balkan country's long-expected membership.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has been visiting the region this week. Speaking to journalists in Sarajevo on February 2, Stoltenberg said NATO was aware of reports of increased Russian influence in the Balkans and of Russian intervention in political processes in Montenegro.

"We are following that very closely. We work with partners, including Montenegro, to help them strengthen their intelligence capacities and defense institutions," Stoltenberg said, answering a journalist's question.

A day earlier, two Montenegrin opposition politicians rushed to Moscow and were received by the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksei Meshkov.

Meshkov reportedly told Andrija Mandic and Milan Knezevic, leaders of Montenegro's Democratic Front, that "dragging Montenegro into NATO may cause a rift in the country's society," according to the Russian TASS news agency.

Stoltenberg said he was not concerned that the misgivings about NATO expressed by U.S. President Donald Trump would delay U.S. approval of Montenegro's membership.

"I am confident that the accession protocol will be ratified by the Senate. It has already passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and it has strong bipartisan support," he said after meeting the Montenegrin Prime Minister Dusko Markovic.

'Useless Defense Dependent'

Opposing Montenegro's NATO membership, Doug Bandow, senior fellow at The Cato Institute, claimed that "the Balkans is irrelevant to U.S. security and only indirectly relevant to the protection of Europe."

If he were still around, it easy to imagine the 19th-century German statesman Otto von Bismarck immediately tweeting his own warning to Bandow about the importance of the Balkans to European peace.

"If there is ever another war in Europe," the Iron Chancellor reportedly said at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, "it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans."

Bandow argues that, if Montenegro becomes a member of NATO, "Americans will have yet another essentially useless defense dependent, this one a corrupt, longtime one-party gangster state. Quite a model for future alliance expansion."

The former prime minister of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, was regularly accused of corruption by members of the opposition, but these accusations were never substantiated.

Djukanovic was the dominant figure on the Montenegrin political stage for a quarter of a century, until stepping down as prime minister after the October 2016 elections.

His Democratic Socialist Party (DPS) narrowly won the elections but was only able to form a parliamentary majority in partnership with deputies from smaller groupings representing Montenegro's various ethnic minorities.

However, the events surrounding Montenegro's October elections were dramatic even in the currently volatile Balkan context.

During the night before the election, only hours before polling booths opened on October 16, Montenegrin police -- with help from neighboring Serbia's security service -- detained 20 people suspected of plotting a violent overthrow of the government.

According to reports based on sources within the Serbian security services, the plan called for the assassination of Prime Minister Djukanovic.

Although he relinquished his prime ministerial role, Djukanovic remained as the leader of the DPS. In an interview with the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List, Djukanovic said that the attempted coup was "the last attempt to divert Montenegro from the course it has been following for the past 20 years -- namely, its desire to join the EU and NATO."

On the subject of the alleged assassination plot, Djukanovic suggested that the real target was something bigger than himself.

"The target was not Milo Djukanovic as such, but the legitimate prime minister who is taking his country into the EU and NATO," he said. "They wanted to send a message to others [in the Balkans] as well. Having in mind that most countries in the region are currently at different stages of Euro-Atlantic integration, the message was that they would not be allowed to make those decisions based on their national interests."

Djukanovic added that the alleged plotters also "wanted to send a message to NATO and the EU -- that there would be no enlargement without approval from Russia."

Djukanovic also said that we "can only speculate" about allegations that Russia was involved in the foiled October plot.

Nonetheless, he added that "Moscow officials had been issuing warnings to Montenegro to stay away from NATO, arguing that it would destabilize the country."

"As our membership talks progressed, the tone of those warnings was becoming harsher," he said. "That was followed by obvious [Russian] support for Montenegrin opposition groups ahead of the parliamentary elections. We are talking about anti-NATO, anti-European, and, in essence, anti-Montenegrin parties run by the same people who had been the foremost opponents of Montenegro's declaration of independence [in 2006]. They continued to receive substantial support from Moscow in their struggle to reverse the country's decision on NATO and EU membership."

Litmus Test?

Although Moscow made an official announcement after the failed coup attempt that Russia had nothing to do with the events in Montenegro, Djukanovic described the Kremlin's statement as "not convincing."

Michael Haltzel, a senior fellow at the John Hopkins' Center for Transatlantic Relations, has suggested that the U.S. Senate vote on Montenegro could be seen as a litmus test for the United States' foreign-policy independence.

"The U.S. Senate should ratify Montenegro's membership as soon as possible, and President Trump should formalize it," Haltzel wrote. "For Trump to do otherwise would show the world that during his presidency the Kremlin will exercise unprecedented influence on U.S. foreign policy.

Acknowledging that Podgorica finds itself on the brink of NATO accession at a time of fraught international relations and rising tensions in the Balkans, Djukanovic indicated that Montenegro was still correct to pursue membership in the alliance, saying that the country was now "in the right place at the wrong time."

Should Montenegro eventually join NATO, it will become the third ex-Yugoslav country to enter the alliance, after Croatia and Slovenia.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/balkans-without -borders-montenegro-nato-russian -objections/28278104.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Romanian Government Backs Down On Corruption Decree Following Protests

RFE/RL February 04, 2017

Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu has announced his government will repeal a decree that decriminalized some official corruption in response to nearly a week of massive public protests.

Grindeanu said on February 4 that the government would hold a session the following day to rescind the decree.

"I don't want to divide Romania," Grindeanu told reporters. "It can't be divided in two."

The move came as tens thousands of people gathered at protests across the nation for the fifth straight day.

On February 4, police estimated the total number of demonstrators at 330,000, making them the largest protests in the country since the 1989 fall of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

While the announcement was broadcast on live television, some of the protesters outside Grindeanu's office -- which police estimated to number 170,000 -- waved the Romanian flag and chanted: "Resign! Resign!"

Under the January 31 decree, abuse of power would only be an offense punishable by prison time if the amount involved exceeded 200,000 lei ($47,500).

The government justified the decree by saying the current law did not conform the constitution and claiming it would help ease prison overcrowding.

Critics said the real goal was to help some of the several thousand officials and politicians caught in an anticorruption drive in recent years, many of them from Grindeanu's PSD. Grindeanu took office a month ago.

The government's pullback could be seen as a victory for President Klaus Iohannis, who filed a Constitutional Court challenge against the decree, arguing that it undermined the rule of law and efforts to combat corruption.

Some members of the European Union had expressed concerns about the decree.

Romania joined the EU in 2007, but it, like Bulgaria, is still under the bloc's mechanism for monitoring whether they are meeting EU requirements before being granted full and permanent membership.

With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/romania-graft-decree -crisis-protests/28279101.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Freedom Forever! Transnistrian Leader Calls Independence a Guarantee of Security

Sputnik News

23:56 04.02.2017

The authorities of the self-proclaimed Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria) remain committed to the course toward the republic's independence from Moldova, Vadim Krasnoselsky, the Transnistrian president, said on Saturday.

TIRASPOL (Sputnik)  Krasnoselsky stated that the proclaimed course is a will of the people living in Transnistria.

"Our independence serves as a guarantee of our security. Political issues are currently less relevant due to the myriads of other problems that should be resolved immediately. The nation voted in favor of independence with a consecutive unification with Russia back in 2006, and I am not willing to change this policy," Krasnoselsky said after the meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Sebastian Kurz.

Earlier in the day, Moldova's Prime Minister Pavel Filip stated that the issue of defining the details of the special legal status of the self-declared republic Transnistria as a part of Moldova will be a top priority in 2017 for Chisinau.

He noted that Chisinau opposed federalization and considered it "not a good decision."

Moldovan President Igor Dodon also spoke on the issue, highlighting that "the Transnistrian settlement should end by reintegration of Moldova and Transnistria with a special legal status of Transnistria within the country."

Also on Saturday, the OSCE chairperson expressed support to the idea of granting a special legal status to Transnistria, hoping that it would help to settle the Transnistrian crisis.

Transnistria, a region with a predominantly ethical Russian and Ukrainian population, is a self-proclaimed republic that seceded from the Soviet Republic of Moldova in 1990 fearing possible reunion with Romania. The separation led to a conflict known as "The Transnistria War" that ended in a ceasefire declared on 21 July 1992, but the conflict remains unresolved.

In 2006, more than 90 percent of the Transnistrian population voted at a referendum in favor of the republic's independence from Moldova with its consecutive unification with Russia.

 Sputnik

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Afghan Security Forces Eliminate 16 Militants in Southern Helmand Province

Sputnik News

20:20 04.02.2017

The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces killed 16 militants repelling the militants' attack on Garmsir district in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, according to local media reports.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Afghan security forces eliminated 16 militants and wounded nine others repelling the militants' attack on Garmsir district in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, local media reported Saturday citing a statement issued by Helmand's governor.

The militants attacked the district from different directions, but the Afghan security forces managed to ward off the attack, resuming control over the district, according to the statement cited by the TOLOnews broadcaster.

The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces are currently conducting joint operations across the country, including the Helmand province, aimed to combat terrorism.

On Friday, at least 15 civilians and 65 militants from the Taliban movement have been killed in clashes during the large-scale security operation in Helmand ongoing since Wednesday, the media reported, citing Gen. Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai.

Afghanistan is experiencing political, social and security instability, in particular, due to the activity of Taliban, a militant group formed in the 1990s, seeking to establish Sharia law in the country. The crisis in the country prompted the emergence of local cells of other extremist organizations such as Islamic State, which is banned in many countries, including Russia.

 Sputnik

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Indian Police Eliminate Two Militants, Foil Terrorist Attack in Kashmir

Sputnik News

19:11 04.02.2017(updated 19:12 04.02.2017)

Two militants of a separatist group Hizbul Mujahideen were killed in the northern part of Kashmir region by Indian police and security forces, according to local media.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Indian police and security forces eliminated two militants of a separatist group Hizbul Mujahideen, outlawed in India, who intended to carry out an attack in the northern part of Kashmir region, local media reported Saturday.

Two servicemen were injured in the operation as the terrorists opened fire after being intercepted by police, the Times of India newspaper reported.

The militants, residents of the towns of Kupwara and Sopore in Kashmir region, plotted a terrorist attack in Sopore area, according to the newspaper. The police reportedly found two rifles, a pistol, four hand grenades and ammunition at the site of the shooting.

Kashmir has been disputed between India and Pakistan since the partition of India in 1947. The two countries have gone through three wars over the region, but the conflict has not been resolved.

The recent escalation of violence across the India-Pakistan border came after 19 Indian soldiers died as a result of the September 18 attack by armed militants on a base outside of Srinagar, the capital of India-administered Kashmir. Since then, India repeatedly accused Pakistan of backing terrorism in Kashmir.

 Sputnik

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Pentagon Chief Says US Will Maintain Its Policy on Japan-China Territorial Row

Sputnik News

08:26 04.02.2017(updated 08:43 04.02.2017)

The United States is committed to its stance with regard to the territorial dispute between Japan and China, US Defense Secretary James Mattis stressed on Saturday.

TOKYO (Sputnik)  The US Defense Secretary is currently visiting Japan, where he has announced that the United States will continue to honor Article 5 of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, which commits the US to protecting its partner in the event of an attack.

"I made clear that our long-standing policy on the Senkaku Islands stands  the US will continue to recognize Japanese administration of the islands and as such Article 5 of the US-Japan Security Treaty applies," Mattis said at a Tokyo press conference, as quoted by CNN.

On Friday, Mattis told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Washington is committed to defending Japan from common threats such as North Korea. Japan has pushed for closer US ties to counter the threat of neighboring North Korea's nuclear program.

In 2014, Japan and China agreed to reduce tensions over the disputed Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in Chinese. Japan, however, has repeatedly accused the Chinese Navy of entering the contiguous zone around the disputed Senkaku Islands, which it considers Japanese territorial waters.

 Sputnik

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UN Removes Afghan Warlord Hekmatyar From Terrorist List

By Ayaz Gul February 04, 2017

The United Nations has removed notorious Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from its list of designated terrorists following his recent peace agreement with the Kabul government.

"Therefore, the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo ... no longer apply to him," the U.N. Security Council's Sanctions Committee said in a statement issued in New York Friday.

The move comes months after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government sealed a peace deal with Hekmatyar's Hizb-e-Islami, or HIG, an insurgent faction.

The truce

The truce required Hekmatyar to cease fighting against the Afghan government in return for his removal from the U.N. blacklist, along with other leaders of his faction, and allowing his group to resume political activities in Afghanistan.

Friday's announcement has set the stage for the notorious fugitive warlord, a designated "global terrorist," to return to Afghan politics after years in hiding, allegedly in neighboring Pakistan, though his aides insist he is present somewhere in the country.

A member of Hekmatyar's peace negotiating team, Atiqullah Safi, confirmed to VOA Saturday that the group has formally been informed about the removal of their leader's name from the U.N. terrorist list.

"The world body has taken this step at the request of the Afghan government and we welcome it," senior government official Akram Khpalwak told VOA. He heads a joint committee of government and officials from Hekmatyar's group, which is tasked to oversee implementation of the peace deal.

"It will boost efforts the government has been making to promote peace in the country," Khpalwak said.

Reaction

Local and international human rights groups have been critical of the peace deal from the outset and called for Hekmatyar be held accountable for his alleged crimes.

"His return will compound the culture of impunity that the Afghan government and its foreign donors have fostered by not pursuing accountability for the many victims of forces commanded by Hekmatyar and other warlords that laid waste to much of the country in the 1990s," Human Rights Watch said in a recent statement.

Hekmatyar's group has been fighting the U.S.-backed Afghan government alongside the Taliban for the past 15 years. He was designated a terrorist in 2003 for his association with al-Qaida.

A longtime guerilla commander with a history of war crimes and rights abuses, Hekmatyar's forces fought against the former Soviet Union in the 1980s. Later, his militias battled the Taliban for control of Afghanistan during the brutal civil war of the 1990s.

The United States has also designated him a terrorist and offered millions of dollars for information leading to his arrest. But Washington has welcomed Kabul's peace deal and promised to take steps to support efforts aimed at ending years of conflict in Afghanistan.

However, the Taliban has refused to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government and instead intensified insurgent activities across the country.

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Syrian nationals began flying out of Beirut on Sunday en route to the United States after a US court placed a temporary block on President Donald Trump's contentious travel ban.

Trump's January 27 executive order prevented entry into the US for refugees and travellers from seven mainly Muslim nations, including Syria.

But after a federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the decision, citizens from the targeted countries began preparing once again to travel.

"Starting on Sunday, airlines operating out of the airport began allowing citizens from the seven countries... to travel to the United States," Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

"A number of Syrian families with official documents allowing them to enter the United States left (Beirut), heading to the US via Arab and European nations," the state agency said.

There are no direct flights between Lebanon and the United States.

A source from Lebanon's Middle East Airlines confirmed to AFP on Sunday that citizens of the seven banned countries would be allowed to board their flights from Beirut to a transit country.

The US executive order had barred nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days.

Refugees were blocked from entering for 120 days, except Syrian refugees who were banned indefinitely.

The restrictions caused havoc at airports across America and beyond, leaving US-bound travellers in limbo.

Judge James Robart of the federal district court in Seattle on Friday ordered the nationwide suspension of the president's order pending a broader legal review.

Federal judges in other states, including California and New York, followed suit.

The State Department on Saturday told visa holders from the seven countries that they can travel as long as their documents had not been "physically cancelled".

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Mattis: No Plans for More Troops in Middle East Over Iran Actions

By Jeff Seldin February 04, 2017

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the country is not immediately considering increasing troops in the Middle East in response to what he called Iran's "misbehavior," but warned that Washington and the world cannot ignore Iran's actions.

In comments made at a news conference during a visit to Japan Saturday, Mattis called Iran the "biggest state sponsor of terrorism," and said much of the rest of the world is watching.

He said, however, that despite the capability for the U.S. to send more forces to the Middle East, "right now, I don't think it's necessary."

On Friday, the United States took its first steps in backing up tough talk about Iran, slapping new sanctions on 13 individuals and 12 entities linked to Tehran's ballistic missile program and its proxies across the Middle East.

The targets include Iranian support networks in China and the United Arab Emirates that have been working to help Tehran obtain technology and materials needed to advance its ballistic missile program.

The Treasury Department said sanctions were also levied on individuals and networks working with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force and the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

"These are just initial steps in response to Iranian provocative behavior," a senior administration official warned, calling Iran's recent behavior "not sustainable, not acceptable."

"Iran has a choice to make," the official added. "We will work positively with Iran when it abides by its international commitments while underscoring our commitment to aggressively counter Iran's destabilizing activities."

'Clear threat'

Friday's actions came as a result of what U.S. officials described as an ongoing process that included consultations with key U.S. agencies and also U.S. allies.

But officials said the trigger was Iran's January 29 test of a ballistic missile, which was "in defiance" of a U.N. resolution barring Iran from engaging in such tests.

A second senior administration official described Sunday's launch as "a clear threat to regional security."

The new sanctions are a culmination of the Trump administration's increasingly aggressive stance with Tehran, following a presidential campaign in which then-candidate Donald Trump said he was willing to rip up the nuclear deal former President Barack Obama and other world leaders negotiated with Iran.

Earlier this week, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn announced the U.S. was "officially putting Iran on notice."

Flynn was even more direct in a statement issued Friday. "The days of turning a blind eye to Iran's hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over," he warned.

'In check'

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer continued with the tough talk.

"President Trump is going to do everything he can to make sure Iran is stayed in check," Spicer said. "He is going to continue to be tough on Iran in a way that wasn't done in the past eight years."

Spicer also reiterated that the president was not taking any options off the table although "he understands the impact" of resorting to military action.

Earlier Friday, Trump took to Twitter to warn Iran directly.

"Iran is playing with fire  they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them, " Trump tweeted. "Not me!"

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted a response Friday.

"Iran unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people," Zarif tweeted. "We'll never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defense."

Late Friday, Iranian state television quoted a foreign ministry statement, which promised that Tehran would retaliate with sanctions of its own.

"Iran will impose legal restrictions on some American individuals and entities that were involved in helping and founding regional terrorist groups," the statement was quoted as saying.

The meaning or the impact of the promised Iranian sanctions was not immediately clear.

New U.S. sanctions

But senior administration officials in Washington said the new U.S. sanctions would have some bite.

Although all of the entities and individuals targeted are located overseas, all have "touch points" in the United States, one official said. Whether those involved the acquisition of U.S.-made, dual-use materials or interactions with the U.S. financial system, the Iranian efforts will be impacted, the official added.

U.S. officials also said the sanctions did not impact U.S. compliance with the Iran nuclear deal and that none of the individuals or entities had previously been sanctioned under the Obama administration.

Some analysts, however, are doubtful the sanctions will amount to anything more than messaging.

"The newest round of U.S. sanctions on Iran are unlikely to impact the IRGC Quds Forces and its proxy partner Lebanese Hezbollah heavily," Marie Donovan, an Iran analyst with the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project, told VOA by email. "The Islamic Republic will be able to rely on other networks."

And while much of the attention has focused on Iran's ballistic missile program, Trump administration officials have voiced significant concerns about Iran's use of proxy forces across the Middle East, and in Yemen in particular.

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have been engaged in a bloody civil war in Yemen, and earlier this week attacked a Saudi warship, killing two crew members.

"Iran has heavy influence, continues to arm and support the Houthis," a senior administration official said.

And while the official said Iran was not responsible "for every tactical decision, Iran in its relationships with proxies through the region bears responsibility for these groups that they are closely entwined with."

Harassment of ships

U.S. officials also cited concerns about a series of incidents in which Iranian vessels harassed American vessels, describing a January 2016 incident as an abduction of U.S. sailors.

Already, the U.S. appears to be backing up the concerns with action, sending the destroyer USS Cole to conduct patrols off the coast of Yemen with an eye on freedom of navigation in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

But whether with the ballistic missile tests or with operations in the waters off Yemen, it may take some time before Tehran is ready to change its overall approach.

"The Iranian government carried out the [missile] test at this time in order to test [the] waters, " former Iranian diplomat Mehrdad Khansari told VOA Persian's NewsHour.

"Naturally, the Iranians want to see if Trump's controversial rhetoric of recent months will translate into action," said Khansari, who served in Iran's pre-Islamist Revolution government.

Tony Shaffer, a retired intelligence officer now with the London Center for Policy Research, expects Iran will learn quickly that the Trump administration is unlikely to have nearly as much patience as its predecessor.

"If they fire at our ships, fire will be returned," Shaffer said. "If they do swarm operations, where they have these small boat operations doing dangerous things in close proximately to our ships, I think you can expect they will be fired on."

Also yet to be seen is what the new dynamic between Washington and Tehran will mean for Iran's proxies in both Iraq and Syria.

Analysts and others say, so far, the activity and rhetoric of the Iranian-backed militias has remained fairly consistent, with little change from the emboldened approach they began taking last year.

'Regional instability'

Much of that has involved Iranian propaganda talking up the militias' role in beating back the Islamic State terror group.

"Iran is using this threat of ISIS to promote this regional instability," cautioned Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior Iran analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "You cannot let the Iranian PR [public relations] narrative go unchecked."

But Taleblu said that narrative may well begin to change as the Trump administration begins to focus more heavily on its primary foreign policy objective  destroying IS.

"There are opportunities to marginalize Iran's presence in Iraq while you target ISIS," he said, using an acronym for the militant group.

For now, the Trump administration's first actions against Iran are meeting with the approval of congressional Republicans, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, both of whom have had marked differences with the president on other foreign policy matters, such as Russia.

"I hope the measures announced today by the Trump administration will serve as a first step toward a comprehensive strategy," McCain said in a statement.

"A coordinated, multifaceted effort to push back against a range of illicit Iranian behavior is long overdue," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said in a statement. "The announcement makes clear that it is a new day in U.S.-Iran relations."

White House Correspondents Cindy Saine and Mary Alice Salinas, Congressional Correspondent Michael Bowman, Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Steve Herman, and VOA Persian's Guita Aryan and Deyhim Behzadi contributed to this report.

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Romanian PM Calls for Repeal of Corruption Decree

By VOA News February 04, 2017

Following widespread demonstrations across Romania, the country's prime minister called Saturday for the repeal of a decree decriminalizing official misconduct.

"Tomorrow [Sunday], we will hold a government [cabinet] meeting to repeal this decree," Sorin Grindeanu said in a televised statement Saturday evening. "I do not want to divide Romania. It can't be divided in two."

The decision came in response to the largest protests to occur in the country since the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, with more than 140,000 people demonstrating since the decree was announced Wednesday. The prime minister had said earlier in the week that he would not repeal the order.

One of the strongest defenders of the decree, ruling Social Democratic Party leader Liviu Dragnea, faces a corruption charge himself. But Dragnea assured protesters that the decree would not "free corrupt people."

The ordinance decriminalizes official misconduct if the funds involved are less than $47,800. Critics voiced concerns that it would allow corrupt politicians to be freed and encourage those in office to steal on the job.

In a joint statement released earlier this week, the U.S., Germany, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands and France said Romania's government had undermined "progress on rule of law and the fight against corruption over the past 10 years.''

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Suspended DRC Talks to Resume Next Week

By Peter Clottey February 04, 2017

Opposition groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under the umbrella group Rassemblement are expecting talks with the government will begin next week, despite the death of the group's leader, Etienne Tshisekedi.

Opposition supporters and civil society organizations expressed concern that Tshisekedi's demise could imperil the transition agreement recently signed with the government. The agreement will, among other things, allow President Joseph Kabila to lead a transitional government for a year, after which fresh elections would be held.

The Catholic Bishop mediators, who suspended negotiations between the Rassemblement and the government, are expected to return to the capital, Kinshasa, to jump start the talks next week, according to Freddy Mbuyamu Matungulu, leader of the opposition Congo Nabiso Party (known as Congo -- in the local Lingala language).

"It is my hope that the talks would resume and would take it to a fruitful conclusion, because the passing of our elder and leader only happened a few days ago. We haven't had time to really test the goodwill of the government. Everybody has invested so much in these discussions and I am hoping that the government is going to continue being serious about how we take all these processes forward and we do complete [them]," said Matungulu who is also a prominent member of the Rassemblement negotiating team.

"As the opposition, we are taking very seriously the talks in a view of completing the discussions [which] would help consolidate Tshisekedi's political legacy. We are going to work hard to make sure that we complete the discussions successfully, so that we can consolidate his legacy of bringing democracy to this country," Matungulu added.

Some Congolese say failure of the opposition groups to choose a leader to rally around could create divisions and embolden President Joseph Kabila to scuttle the deal, and amend the constitution to remove term limits.

Kabila's supporters and his ruling party have rejected the accusations as without merit. They said the government has demonstrated good will by engaging the opposition in talks to ensure the country remains united, peaceful and stable in spite of the accusations and suspicions.

"Tshisekedi was head of the wise men committee in the Rassemblement and it is going to be falling on us now to decide who would eventually lead the group at that particular level going forward. But we have been working together closely since his passing, making sure that there is good coordination between the different platforms that are in the Rassemblement," Matungulu said.

Civil society groups say the government's statement to the United Nations that the re-emergence of M23 rebels in the country's east could derail the transition agreement with the opposition, is yet another indication that the administration is not committed to the negotiations and a subsequent agreement. They called on the Rassemblement to pressure the administration to assure the country that the transition agreement would be respected.

"We are going to be working hard to make sure that this agreement is going to be respected. We have told the people of this country that they would have to remain vigilant to continue being committed to monitoring developments as we go forward," said Matungulu.

"The agreement is very clear, we have to make sure that we have these elections as soon as possible in 2017 and we are going to be working hard as part of the new government that is going to be eventually going to be set up so that we are able to achieve those particular objectives."

"The other guarantee is the commitment of the international community. We have been working closely with the major partners in the international community, the U.N., the United States of America, France, Great Britain and Belgium. Everybody involved trying to do their bit so that we have the possibility of ensuring a very successful implementation of this agreement," added Matungulu.

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Romania Repealing Decree Decriminalizing Some Corruption

By VOA News February 05, 2017

Romania says it is repealing a decree which decriminalized some official misconduct after witnessing the largest protests in the capital Bucharest since 1989.

The country's prime minister announced Saturday night that he would be holding a meeting to officially repeal the order.

"Tomorrow (Sunday) we will hold a government (cabinet) meeting to repeal this decree," Sorin Grindeanu said in a televised statement made Saturday evening. "I do not want to divide Romania. It can't be divided in two."

The decision is in response to the largest protests the country has seen since the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, with more than 140,000 people demonstrating since the decree was announced on Wednesday. The prime minister had said earlier in the week he would not repeal the order.

But protests continued on Sunday, with thousands taking to the streets for the fifth day in a row to demand authorities to be vigilant in rooting out corruption.

One of the strongest defenders of the decree, ruling Social Democrat party leader Liviu Dragnea, faces a corruption charge himself. But he assured protesters that the decree would not "free corrupt people".

The order decriminalized official misconduct if the funds involved are less than $47,800. Critics have voiced concerns that it would allow corrupt politicians to go unpunished and encourage future graft among officials.

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Operation Copper Dune - Yemen

Operation Copper Dune is the codename for US military operations directly and in support of the Government of Yemen against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and other terrorist elements in Yemen. By 2017 it was unclear whether these operations were still being conducated under this name, but no other name had been suggested.

The U.S. campaign targeting AQAP with drones has been going on since 2011 with more than 100 strikes by 2016 that have killed some of the group's top leaders, but also brought criticism about civilian deaths.

The United States deployed the USS Cole, an Arleign Burke class destroyer, off the coast of Yemen to protect waterways from Houthi militia aligned with Iran. In October 2000, AQ conducted a suicide attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, with an explosive-laden boat, killing 17 U.S. Navy sailors and injuring 39. The Cole arrived 02 February 2017 in waters near the Bab al-Mandab Strait off southwestern Yemen. The vessel would carry out patrols including escorting vessels, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The USS Cole provides anti-surface and anti-air defense capabilities, allowing the ship to better "reach out and touch" potential enemy attackers, according to the defense official, who added that the ship had not fired into Yemen since its arrival. The U.S. military had a plan "in the works" to move a cruiser or a destroyer into the Bab al-Mandab Strait soon, but the timeline was accelerated due to a Houthi suicide attack on a Saudi frigate in the Red Sea that killed two crew members.

Two amphibious ships, the USS Comstock and the USS Makin Island, are nearby in the Gulf of Aden.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was seen as one of the more active affiliates of the Al Qaeda network and a direct threat to the United States. It was not clear what command was the lead on Operation Copper Dune, but it is likely that operations are or were conducted at least in coordination with either Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) in Djibouti or Special Operations Command (Forward) - Yemen inside the country, or both. Elements of Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) had been conducting Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) functions in Yemen since at least 2004.

Yemen 2009

Operation Copper Dune was reported to have begun following the designation by the US Department of State on 14 December 2009 of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as a terrorist organization. However, the Central Intelligence Agency had reportedly been carrying out strikes in Yemen using unmanned aerial vehicles as early as 2002. Initially, the operation was said to have targeted 3 specific individuals, one of whom was identified as Muhammed Saleh Al-Anbouri (known as Al-Kazimi). Al-Kazimi was accused of organizing a suicide attack on Spanish tourists in Magrib in 2007, as well as planning an attack against the US Embassy in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The other 2 individuals were associates of Al-Kazimi and were reported to have been codenamed Akron, Toledo, and Cleveland respectively. They were believed to be in the village of Al-Maajal, which the US government described as a terrorist training camp.

On 17 December 2009, a strike was launched against the targets in Al-Maajal. Initial reports were unclear, and the Government of Yemen took full responsibility for the action, which it said first had been conducted by its forces alone, and then said had been conducted in cooperation with the United States. The attacks resulted in a number of civilian casualties, as the targeted individuals had been staying with their families, though the exact number was disputed. The casualties created an outcry in Yemen and elsewhere. In addition, western media and other reports quickly challenged the ability of the Yemeni forces to have carried out the attacks, suggesting that only the United States could have carried out the attack. This assertion was made based on the recovery on the site of debris identified as being from BGM-109D Tomahawk cruise missiles. The BGM-109D variant contains a submunition payload, some of which were recovered unexploded, along with other debris. The US never admitted to being involved in the strikes, until evidence in diplomatic cables leaked by the Wikileaks in 2010 confirmed that the US had conducted airstrikes, by manned and unmanned aircraft, as well as missile strikes in Yemen. For instance, in a 2010 cable, it was noted that Yemen's President Saleh had requested military aid for the purchase of 12 armed helicopters, which would allow the Government of Yemen to take the lead in future counterterrorism operations, "ease" the use of fighter jets and cruise missiles against terrorist targets, and allow Yemeni Special Operations Forces to capture terrorist suspects and identify victims following strikes.

Yemen 2010

Yemen 2011

In July 2011, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) returned to its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia after conducting operations in the 5th, 6th, and 7th Fleet areas of responsibility. This included operations conducted in support of Operation Copper Dune. In December 2011, the destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG-91) was reported to be on station support Operation Copper Dune.

On 30 September 2011, US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, described as the leader of external operations Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was killed in a drone strike. Reports quoted US officials as saying the strike had been coordinated by the CIA and led by US Joint Special Operations Command. It was not clear whether this strike was officially part of Operation Copper Dune. The killing of al-Awlaki, a US citizen, set off a fierce debate about the potential use of military force against other US citizens abroad and within the United States, prompting the US government to divulge legal documents and otherwise describe their legal rational for such strikes.

Yemen 2012

On 9 January 2012, close to 50 Marines of Marine Aerial Refueler Squadron 252 (VMGR-252) returned to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point following a deployment in support of operations, including Operation Copper Dune. The Marines were attached to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and deployed with 2 of their KC-130J Hercules transport aircraft for nearly 8 months, 3.5 of them in Djibouti. While in Djibouti, they supported national mission tasking for anti-terrorism efforts in support of Operation Copper Dune.

On 26 April 2012, the Department of Defense said officials were assessing what US national security role they were called upon to perform in Yemen. The Defense Department had suspended military assistance activities in Yemen in 2011 because of political instability there. With a new administration governing Yemen, defense leaders were beginning to reassess, and to start up again, some elements of military assistance. On 8 May 2012, the US Department of Defense announced that US military personnel were again training Yemeni forces.

On 15 May 2012, it was reported that US forces in Yemen were assisting Yemeni forces in operations against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The US Defense Department acknowledged having trainers in Yemen, but would not go into detail about whether these operations were specifically stationed in Lahj province where raids and ground fighting reportedly killed more than 40 people, including al-Qaida militants and civilians.

On 16 May 2012, President Obama signed an Executive Order authorizing sanctions to be imposed on individuals and entities who threaten the peace, security, and stability of Yemen by disrupting the political transition. This Executive Order allowed the United States to take action against those who seek to undermine Yemen's transition and the Yemeni peoples' clear desire for change. Yemen's transition represented an important step forward for the Yemeni people and the United States said it strongly supported Yemen's political transition. The US said it would continue to work with international partners, including the Gulf Cooperation Council, to help Yemen chart a more secure, democratic, and prosperous path forward.

On 17 May 2012, Yemeni officials said US forces were assisting Yemeni troops in launching a wide air and land offensive against militant groups, including Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the south of the country. Yemeni officials said the most recent assault on militants was carried out by Yemeni warplanes and troops with direct guidance from a small number of US personnel in the country. Anonymously sources reported that US forces were helping Yemenis with intelligence, including satellite imagery, pictures from drones, and other means to help them locate targets.

On 15 June 2012, President Obama sent a letter to the US House of Representatives summarizing the 2012 War Powers Resolution 6-Month Report. In the letter President Obama said that the US military had been working closely with the Yemeni government to operationally dismantle and ultimately eliminate the terrorist threat posed by al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula. Joint efforts had resulted in direct action against a limited number of that organization's operatives and senior leaders in Yemen who posed a terrorist threat to the United States and its interests.

The mid-September 2012 deployment of an elite team of 50 Marines to the U.S. embassy in Yemen fueled growing opposition to Washingtons role in the small Arab nation, which remained mired in a fragile political transition after a tumultuous year of uprisings dethroned President Ali Abdullah Saleh after 33 years of authoritarian rule. Yemen's parliament voiced concerns about issues of sovereignty after Washington announced its decision to send the Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) to bolster security at the embassy in Yemen's capital. "The Parliament of Yemen strongly rejects any foreign military presence on Yemeni soil, whether big or small ... under any pretext," a statement read.

Controversial remarks by transitional President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi during his first trip to Washington in late September may have further complicated his domestic agenda. President Hadi, who was swept to power in February as part of a Gulf-brokered and U.N.-backed power-transfer deal, defended drone strikes as a critical tool. In an interview with The Washington Post, Hadi spoke to the superior technology of drones and argued that the U.S. and Yemen have taken multiple measures to avoid mistakes of the past, alluding to collateral damage. He also announced that he gives prior consent for each American strike.

Yemen 2013

In February 2013, a base used for launching US unmanned aerial vehicles was discovered in Saudi Arabia. It was subsequently reported that the base had been constructed in secret in 2010 as base to launch drone strikes at targets in Yemen. It was unclear whether the base or its operations were directly connected to the Operation Copper Dune mission. By 2013, unmanned aerial vehicle strikes in Yemen had become the US method of choice for attacking AQAP in Yemen and otherwise supporting Yemeni forces. These strikes were reportedly conducted by both the US military and the Central Intelligence Agency, with the aircraft being launched from bases like the one in Saudi Arabia or Camp Le Monier in Djibouti, the home of CJTF-HOA.

On 14 June 2013, in a letter from President Obama regarding the War Powers Resolution, it was stated that the US military continued to work closely with the Yemeni government to dismantle operationally and ultimately eliminate the terrorist threat posed by AQAP, declared to be the most active and dangerous affiliate of al-Qa'ida at that time. US-Yemeni efforts were said to have resulted in direct action against a limited number of AQAP operatives and senior leaders in Yemen who posed a terrorist threat to the United States and our interests.

Yemen 2014

Yemen 2015

There were no permanent US troops in Yemen, but military personnel have been deployed there in recent years for training purposes. The U.S. had maintained a troop presence in Yemen as part of a counter terrorism partnership with the Yemeni government. But the last US forces were pulled out in March 2015 as sectarian violence threatened to rip the country apart.

On 10 September 2015, President Obama announced to the American public his plan to degrade and destroy the terrorist group ISIL. While making his case for America's role in the fight against ISIL, the President highlighted US strategy in Yemen and held it up as a model of success to be emulated in the fight against ISIL. Yet, about a week later, the Iran- backed Houthis seized control of the capital and the government. Despite this, the administration continued to hail our counterterror operations in Yemen as a model for success, even though The US effectively had no partner on the ground since President Hadi was forced to flee.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has taken advantage of the fighting and has capitalized on the deteriorating situation in Yemen. Since the February 2006 escape of 23 Al Qaeda members from a prison in Sanaa, an international coalition of warships has patrolled the waterways off Yemen.

Since the Arab Awakening in 2011, the Huthis have expanded their influence, culminating in a major offensive against military units and tribes affiliated with their Yemeni rivals and enabling their forces to overrun the capital, Sana'a, in September 2014. In January 2015, the Huthis attacked the presidential palace and President HADI's residence and surrounded key government facilities, prompting HADI and the cabinet to submit their resignations. HADI fled to Aden, and in February 2015 rescinded his resignation. He subsequently escaped to Saudi Arabia and asked the GCC to intervene militarily in Yemen to protect the legitimate government from the Huthis.

In March 2015, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia launched Operation Decisive Storm, a series of airstrikes against Huthi and Huthi-affiliated forces. In April 2015, the Saudi Government announced completion of the operation and initiated Operation Restoring Hope, which focuses on humanitarian aid and a return to political dialogue. However, fighting continued through the remainder of 2015 and into early 2016. In April 2015, the UN brokered a "cessation of hostilities" among the warring parties and initiated peace talks in Kuwait.

Yemen 2016

US military personnel were back on the ground in Yemen in an effort help drive al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) from the port city of Mukalla. The Pentagon said the small group arrived in Yemen in April 2016 to provide what was being described as limited intelligence support.

"We have seen over the period of many months a troubling growth of AQAP in Yemen, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said 06 May 2016, calling the terror group a significant security threat to the United States and to our regional partners. Davis said the support included airborne surveillance and reconnaissance, assistance with operational planning and aerial refueling.

The USS Boxer Amphibious Readiness Group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit have also been sent to the waters off the coast of Yemen to help provide medical help and maritime security. Davis said the U.S. support is being given to the United Arab Emirates, which has been leading a coalition of Arab countries supporting Yemeni forces in the area.

The Pentagon also said the U.S. had resumed taking unilateral action against AQAP, with four airstrikes against the terror group since 23 April 2016. The strikes killed 10 AQAP operatives and injured another, Davis said, though he added none of the operatives were considered to be high value targets. In the aftermath of the 08 October 2016 Saudi bombing that killed 140 people at a funeral, the Houthis, who are supported by Iran, launched missiles against a U.S. destroyer in the Red Sea. The US fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at three rebel radar installations from USS Nitze, a destroyer, in retaliation for missiles fired at USS Mason. The missiles failed to hit the US ship and the Obama administration retaliated by blowing up three radar facilities on the Yemeni coast. The Houthis reportedly tried again to hit the destroyer and failed.

The U.S. retaliation represented the first direct U.S. military involvement in the war. It risked a further alienation of the Houthis who, prior to the U.S. intervention in support of the Saudi bombing campaign, had on occasion cooperated with U.S. intelligence against AQAP.

Yemen 2017

Yemeni security officials said 02 February 2017 they suspected US warships had directed cannon and rocket fire against al-Qaida militants in Yemen's southern coastal areas. They said 02 February 2017 that naval strikes had been underway for five days, targetting mountainous areas north of the coastal town of Shakr. Dozens of al-Qaida fighters were reported to be assembling there as well as north of the nearby town of Zinjibar.

The US military raid on the militant Islamist group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula compound in Yemen 28 January 2016 that killed a U.S. service member and injured three others yielded valuable intelligence, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters Jan. 30, 2017. Material captured from the site will help the United States "gain a deeper insight into the group's planning to help prevent terrorist attacks against innocent civilians in the United States and our coalition-partner nations," he said.

Civilian casualties appeared to have been caught up in aerial gunfire that was called in to assist U.S. forces in contact against a determined enemy that included armed women firing from prepared fighting positions and US special operations members receiving fire from all sides, including from houses and other buildings.

Fred Kaplan reported "The raid  which involved several dozen commandos from the U.S. Navys SEAL Team 6 and from the United Arab Emirates elite forces  was the first operation in a new policy, proposed by the Pentagon, to step up joint ground attacks against al-Qaida militias in Yemen. Military officials briefed President Obama on the policy proposal, which would give lower-level officers broad latitude to carry out such attacks without going through the sluggish process of seeking authority from higher-ups. Since this would mean a significant escalation of Americas military involvement in Yemen, Obama deferred the issue to his successor..."

The U.S. military conducted strikes on al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula operatives in central Yemen on Jan. 20, 21 and 22. On Jan. 20, one strike killed an AQAP operative in the al-Baydah Governorate. On Jan. 21, one strike killed three AQAP operatives in the al-Baydah Governorate. On Jan. 22, one strike killed an AQAP operative in the al-Baydah Governorate.

"Strikes against al-Qa'ida operatives in Yemen put consistent pressure on the terrorist network and prevent them from plotting and executing attacks against the U.S. and our allies," Army Maj. Josh T. Jacques, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said 25 January 2017. "AQAP remains a significant threat to the region, the United States, and beyond."

Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to intensify the campaign against the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen. US officials said AQAP represented a greater threat to the US homeland than Daesh. In early Mac 2017, the US military carried out an unprecedented 30 airstrikes against the group's suspected positions in south-central Yemen. They were the first US attacks in the country since the January 29 operation in Al Bayda Province in which, along with al-Qaeda militants, 24 Yemeni civilians, among them children, and one Navy SEAL were killed.

President Joe Biden announced 04 February 2021 the United States was ending support for the five-year Saudi-led military offensive in Yemen.This war has to end, Biden told diplomats in his first visit to the State Department as president, saying the conflict had created a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe. Biden announced that he would end all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales.

Congress had repeatedly invoked its war powers authority by voting to end U.S. participation in this war via War Powers Resolutions and amendments to the FY2019, 2020, and 2021 National Defense Authorization Acts, including provisions that mandated an end to intelligence sharing and logistical support for airstrikes. Most recently, Congress also passed a provision in the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act requiring detailed reporting regarding U.S. involvement in Saudi Arabias de-facto blockade of Yemens air and seaports. Bipartisan majorities of Congress had also voted to block several weapons sales approved by the Trump Administration over concerns about the war in Yemen.





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Trump eats humble pie; State Department suspends Muslim ban

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 5:43PM

The administration of President Donald Trump has announced to comply with a federal judge's order halting its travel ban, despite the fact that Trump has questioned the judge's ruling.

"We have reversed the provisional revocation of visas under" Trump's executive order, a US State Department spokesperson said on Saturday. "Those individuals with visas that were not physically canceled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid."

The State Department said it was reversing the cancellation of visas, 60,000 -- according to some reports, more than 100, 000 -- of which were revoked after Trump's last week directive.

The Department of Homeland Security announced to roll back all actions which were taken to implement Trump's controversial travel ban on Muslims from seven countries.

Department of Homeland Security personnel "will resume inspection of travelers in accordance with standard policy and procedure."

People affected by the travel ban treated news of the suspension with suspicions as airlines started allowing them to board flights to America on Saturday.

On Friday, US District Court Judge James Robart of Seattle, Washington, ruled in favor of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the presidential order that blocks the entry of citizens from seven predominately Muslim countries.

The ruling was broader than similar ones before it, and represents the most severe legal blow to Trump's contentious action.

Trump's tweets over court ruling draw rebuke

In a series of tweets early on Saturday morning, Trump insulted Robart, calling him a "so-called judge," and threatened to overturn his judgment.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" he tweeted,after posting several other tweets defending his travel ban.

Trump's tweets drew a swift condemnation from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

"The President's attack on Judge James Robart, a Bush appointee who passed with 99 votes, shows a disdain for an independent judiciary that doesn't always bend to his wishes and a continued lack of respect for the Constitution, making it more important that the Supreme Court serve as an independent check on the administration," Schumer said.

"With each action testing the Constitution, and each personal attack on a judge, President Trump raises the bar even higher for Judge Gorsuch's nomination to serve on the Supreme Court. His ability to be an independent check will be front and center throughout the confirmation process," he stated.

Trump humbled by massive global protests

Trump signed the executive order on January 27 that imposed a temporary travel ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and placed an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. The move also suspended admission of all refugees for 120 days.

Trump has come under immense pressure from politicians and rights groups to rescind the Muslim ban.

The measure has also created a global backlash with a growing number of countries, including long-standing US allies, criticizing the curbs as discriminatory and divisive.

Tens of thousands of people held massive demonstrations in London, Berlin, Paris, Sydney, Jakarta, Manila, and other world cities outside US embassies and diplomatic missions on Saturday to protest against Trump's contentious ban.

A German weekly magazine went on to publish a striking cartoon of Trump on its cover, portraying him as a terrorist, who beheaded the Statue of Liberty while shouting "America First."

On the cover of its Friday edition, Der Spiegel depicted the cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the bleeding head of Lady Liberty in the other.

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US judge orders nationwide halt to Trump's travel ban

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 5:18AM

A US federal judge in Seattle, Washington, has ordered a temporary, nationwide halt to President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban that blocks the entry of citizens from seven predominately Muslim countries.

The ruling on Friday by US District Judge James Robart was broader than similar ones before it, and represents the most severe legal blow to Trump's action, although his administration could still have the policy put back into effect with an appeal.

The ruling prompted government authorities to immediately communicate with airlines and begin taking steps that would allow those previously affected to travel.

Trump signed an executive order on January 27 that imposed a temporary travel ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and placed an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. The move also suspended admission of all refugees for 120 days.

Robart's decision came after Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit to invalidate key provisions of Trump's executive order.

The judge questioned the Trump administration's use of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the US as a justification for the travel ban.

He said no attacks had been carried out on American soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the ban.

For Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction."

The judge's ruling was welcomed by groups protesting the immigration order.

"This order demonstrates that federal judges throughout the country are seeing the serious constitutional problems with this order," said Nicholas Espiritu, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.

Amnesty International USA spokesman Eric Ferrero praised the temporary measure but said "Congress must step in and block this unlawful ban for good."

However, the White House quickly defended the travel ban as "lawful and appropriate" and said the US Justice Department would appeal to stop the judge's order from taking effect.

Trump has come under immense pressure from politicians and rights groups to rescind the Muslim ban.

The measure has also created a global backlash with a growing number of countries including long-standing US allies criticizing the curbs as discriminatory and divisive.

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U.S., Japan Successfully Conduct First SM-3 Block IIA Intercept Test

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170204-01

Release Date: 2/4/2017 10:15:00 AM

From Missile Defense Agency

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the Japan Ministry of Defense, and U.S. Navy Sailors aboard USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) successfully conducted a flight test Feb. 3 (Hawaii Standard Time), resulting in the first intercept of a ballistic missile target using the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3)

The SM-3 Block IIA is being developed cooperatively by the United States and Japan to defeat medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The SM-3 Block IIA interceptor operates as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and can be launched from Aegis-equipped ships or Aegis Ashore sites.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., Hawaii Standard Time, Feb. 3 (3:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Feb. 4) a medium-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii. John Paul Jones detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1D(V) radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. Upon acquiring and tracking the target, the ship launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile which intercepted the target.

"Today's test demonstrates a critical milestone in the cooperative development of the SM-3 Block IIA missile," said MDA Director Vice Adm. Jim Syring. "The missile, developed jointly by a Japanese and U.S. government and industry team, is vitally important to both our nations and will ultimately improve our ability to defend against increasing ballistic missile threats around the world."

Based on preliminary data the test met its primary objective. Program officials will continue to evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.

The flight test, designated SM-3 Block IIA Cooperative Development (SCD) Project Flight Test, Standard Missile (SFTM)-01, was the third flight test of the SM-3 Block IIA guided missile, and the first intercept test. This test also marks the first time an SM-3IIA was launched from an Aegis ship and the first intercept engagement using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 (BMD 5.1) weapon system.

Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense is the naval component of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System. The MDA and the U.S. Navy cooperatively manage the Aegis BMD program. The Missile Defense Agency's mission is to develop and deploy a layered Ballistic Missile Defense System to defend the United States, its deployed forces, allies and friends from ballistic missile attacks of all ranges in all phases of flight.

Additional information about all elements of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System can be found here.

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China reiterates opposition to deployment of THAAD

People's Daily Online

(Global Times) 09:40, February 04, 2017

China on Friday reiterated its opposition to the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea, after the U.S. defense secretary reaffirmed the deployment in Seoul.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated China's opposition on Friday, which he said would never change.

"We do not believe this move will be conducive to resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue or to maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula," Lu told a daily news briefing in Beijing.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis and his South Korean counterpart Han Min-koo said the allies will push forward the deployment plan "within this year," South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

"Mattis' first trip abroad as defense secretary showed that Trump's security policy toward the Asia-Pacific region is consistent with that of the Obama Administration," Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

"The policy is likely to be even tougher, considering that the new South Korean government, which will be elected this year, might object to the deployment," Li said.

Echoing Li, Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the visit is intended to send a clear signal to the future South Korean president.

North Korea, which regularly threatens to destroy South Korea and its main ally, the U.S., conducted more than 20 missile tests last year, as well as two nuclear tests, in defiance of UN resolutions and sanctions.

Once fully developed, a DPRK's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) could threaten the continental U.S., which is about 9,000 kilometers from DPRK. ICBMs have a minimum range of about 5,500 kilometers, but some are designed to travel 10,000 kilometers or more.

DPRK also appears to have restarted operation of a reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear facility that produces plutonium that can be used for its nuclear weapons program, according to the U.S. think tank 38 North.

"Any attack on the U.S., or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming," Mattis said while reassuring South Korea of steadfast U.S. support, Reuters reported on Friday.

"His reaffirmation of the alliance also delivered a message to China and DPRK that there is no opportunity to take advantage of [the discord between former President Barack Obama and Trump]," Liu told the Global Times.

No room for doubt

During a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Friday, Mattis appeared eager to reassure Japan of U.S. resolve, after an election campaign that saw Trump question the value of U.S. alliances, Reuters reported.

Mattis said provocations by DPRK, which is advancing its nuclear weapons and missile programs, left no room for doubt about U.S. commitment. It was a similar message he delivered over the past two days in South Korea.

"Previously the Pentagon was more impacted by the White House, but Mattis has confirmed his role in leading the White House in terms of defense policies," Liu noted.

Trump singled out both South Korea and Japan on the campaign trail, suggesting they were benefiting from the U.S. security umbrella without sharing enough of the costs.

Japan has been keenly awaiting assurances that Trump's administration would honor Washington's previous commitment to defend disputed East China Sea islands that are under Japanese control but claimed also by China.

Kyodo news agency, citing an unidentified Japanese government source, said Mattis had confirmed that the U.S. defense commitment extended to the Diaoyu Islands.

Abe said he was convinced that, with Trump and Mattis, the U.S. and Japan could demonstrate to the world their "unwavering alliance."

"It also reflected U.S.' attempt to further disrupt the Asia-Pacific region under the Trump administration," Li said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida echoed that message to Mattis in a meeting later on Friday, saying it was important to further strengthen the alliance in the face of an "increasingly severe" security environment in the region.

Mattis is due to hold talks on Saturday with Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, who has repeatedly said Japan is bearing its fair share of the costs for U.S. troops stationed there and has stressed that the alliance is good for both countries.

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Russia to take corresponding measures if South Korea deploys THAAD

People's Daily Online

(People's Daily Online) 18:37, February 04, 2017

Russia will take corresponding measures to ensure its national security if South Korea deploys the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, Alexander Timonin, Russian Ambassador to South Korea, said at a press conference on Friday in Seoul.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Timonin said that the deployment of THAAD in South Korea would pose a threat to security on the Korean Peninsula and would contribute nothing to regional peace. He said the deployment indicates that South Korea would be incorporated into the U.S. missile defense system, which would challenge Russia's strategic security.

Timonin pointed out that Russia still hopes for South Korea to decide against the deployment.

South Korea's Ministry of National Defense said on Friday that South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-goo and U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis have reached consensus on making sure that THAAD is deployed in South Korea this year.

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U.S-led coalition planes bombed an Islamic State-controlled town near the Euphrates Dam in northern Syria a day after the launch of a new phase of a campaign to capture the militants' defacto capital of Raqqa, activists and the militants said on Sunday.

Activists confirmed reports released by the militants' news agency Amaq which said four raids in the last twenty four hours hit the town of Tabqa west of Raqqa, located near Syria's largest dam, at the southern end of Lake Assad on the Euphrates.

A video released by Amaq showed extensive damage to a commercial centre in the town but did mention any casualties.

Islamic State fighters are battling hard to keep the swathes of territory they have captured in Syria, mostly in the centre and east, as they lose ground in Iraq.

On Friday, air strikes in Raqqa hit at least four bridges over the Euphrates River, part of a weeks-long campaign of air strikes in the province and near the dam, activists said.

The Euphrates Dam is one of the major sources of electicity in the country and crucial for irrigation of farms in the fertile region around Raqqa.

On the ground, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of U.S.-backed militias, started a new phase of its campaign against Raqqa on Saturday, aiming to surround it and sever the road to militant strongholds in Deir Ezzor province.

The SDF, which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, launched the campaign to capture Raqqa in November.

The alliance of militias quickly gained territory to the north of the city at the beginning of the campaign and has been targeting areas to the west of it. It is the main U.S. partner in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.

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Secure Sky: Belarus to Purchase Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM Jet Fighters in 2017

Sputnik News

11:55 04.02.2017(updated 12:03 04.02.2017)

Minsk plans to purchase a number of Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM (Flanker C) multirole fighter jets this year, Belarusian Deputy Minister of Defense for Armament, Chief of Armament Igor Lotenkov said on Saturday.

MINSK (Sputnik)  In November 2016, Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense Commander Maj. Gen. Oleg Dvigalyov stated that the country planned to buy at least a squadron of Russia's new generation Su-30SM aircraft by 2020.

"In 2017, the purchase of Su-30SM airplanes is planned," Lotenkov said in the interview with the Belarusian Military Newspaper.

The Su-30SM, commissioned in 2013-2014, is a two-seat derivative of the Su-27UB jet which is capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground strikes. It can be equipped with a wide variety of precision-guided munitions.

"In the last year, over 250 new types of weapons and military hardware have been purchased for the needs of the Armed Forces  Yakovlev Yak-130 combat training aircraft, transport and combat Mil Mi-8 helicopters, radio monitoring systems, a Polonaise Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), Protivnik GE radar, Vostok D radar, a Tor-M2 missile system, a Rosa-RB MLRS, a P-270 Moskit and so on," Lotenkov stressed.

He added that the purchase of radio monitoring systems, 120-mm caliber 2B23 NONA-M1 mortars, unmanned aircraft systems, and the modernization of the BTR-70MB1 were planned for 2017.

The deputy minister noted that Mil Mi-24 and Mil Mi-8 helicopters, the Ilyushin Il-76 airlifter, as well as T-72 and BMP-2 tanks were to be repaired and T-72BM1 tanks were due to undergo further modernization. Joint work is also expected to be conducted with the economy's defense sector, in order to transfer different types of multiple rocket launchers to Belarusian-produced chassis.

 Sputnik

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Indians in key states go to polls in regional elections

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 10:40AM

Millions of Indians in two of the country's main states have taken to the polls in key legislative elections seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.

More than 40 million voters were eligible to cast their ballots to elect a total of 157 legislators in the northern state of Punjab and Goa in the west on Saturday.

Hundreds of thousands of electoral officials and police forces were deployed in the two states to ensure violence-free polling.

Three other states, including the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, will elect new governments over the next five weeks. The final results are to be announced on March 11.

The elections come amid national polarization over Modi's controversial decision that withdrew India's two high-value currency bank notes from circulation last year, sparking months of financial uproar in the vast South Asian country.

Voters are also outraged over the prime minister's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which attempts to push through its Hindu ideology and revamp Indian labor laws.

Recent opinion polls show victory for the ruling party, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, where its primary rivals are regional factions. In the other four states, the BJP faces national opposition parties, such as Congress.

Uttar Pradesh is deemed important because the state sends the highest number of MPs to the upper house of the national parliament, where the BJP currently lacks a majority.

In case of winning more seats in the parliament, the Indian premier would initiate reforms seen as crucial to enhance the economic growth he has already promised voters.

The elections in the five states will not decide whether Modi remains in office or not; however, a defeat would be seen as a major blow to his political image.

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Foreign ministry slams US new sanctions against Iran

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Feb 4, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that inclusion of new Iranian and non-Iranian people and institutes to the list of illegitimate sanctions by the US under the excuse of missile tests is inconsistent with the country's commitments and contradictory to the spirit and text of UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

The statement further noted that development of missile capabilities which are designed solely for defensive purposes and carrying conventional weapons is the Iranian nation's right and any interference in the field runs against international regulations and is not within any country or institute's authority.

Islamic Republic of Iran will appropriately counter any measure threatening the nation's interests, as it has suspended issuance of visas for the Americans in a tit-for-tat move against the US travel ban for the Iranians.

The ministry also stressed that the Islamic Republic would not allow the ominous realization of the dangerous plots and delusions of the Zionist warmongers and their supporters.

'Retaliating the US inclusion of the Iranian people and companies to the list of sanctions, Iran will exert legal restrictions against the American individuals and companies which have a role in aiding extremist and terrorist groups or contribute to the suppression and murder of the defenseless people in the region. Their names will be announced subsequently,' said the statement.

Iran's security is not open to any compromise or negotiations and the US miscalculated moves will never stop Iran from pursuing its principled policy of safeguarding peace, stability and countering terrorism and extremism, the statement concluded.

The statement came after the US Treasury Department said in a statement on Friday that Washington has imposed sanctions on 13 individuals and 12 entities as part of bids to ratchet up pressure on Iran.

The move against Iran is the first by the US government since President Donald Trump took office on January 20.



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Russian-Iranian Military Cooperation 'Not Limited to Supply of S-300 Systems'

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 4 February 2017 / 15:07

Tehran (ISNA) - The Committee on Defense and Security of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian legislature, will visit Iran next month to discuss weapons sales as well as the peaceful resolution of the war in Syria.

On March 1, representatives of Russia's Federation Council's Committee on Defense and Security will start their six-day visit to Iran to discuss the provision of weaponry to Tehran as well as the situation in Syria, the Committee's chairman Viktor Ozerov told RIA Novosti.

The visit comes a few months after the implementation of a contract on the supply of Russian S-300 missile defense systems to Iran, a document which Tehran said laid a solid foundation for the development of new areas of weapons development cooperation between the two countries.

In an interview with Sputnik Persian, Iranian political analyst Shoeib Bahman remained optimistic about the future of the Russian-Iranian military collaboration.

"Currently, both countries are poised to expand partnership in this area, with Iran ready to purchase other kinds of weapons [from Russia] for its Navy and Air Force. The military and technical cooperation between Tehran and Moscow is not only limited to the supply of the S-300 missile system," Bahman said.

He recalled that in the past couple of months, the two countries have held talks to discuss the supply of Russian fighter jets and light armament to Iran.

The topic is expected to be further discussed during the upcoming inter-parliamentary meeting in Iran, according to Bahman.

He also expressed hope that the two countries will continue to cooperate, and that Russian specialists could train the Iranian military as well as technical experts, especially given that Russia is slated to provide more military hardware to the Iranian Air Force and Navy.

In this vein, Bahman said that it will be necessary to render "staff support to Iranian specialists during the integration of Russian arms and transfer of their technology."

"Also, the past several years have seen the intensification of military cooperation between Iran and Russia on Syria," he said, also referring to anti-terrorist drills between the two countries.

"So the level of military collaboration between Iran and Russia is not limited to the agreements on arms supplies," Bahman concluded.

End Item

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U.S. imposes sanctions on Iranian entities, individuals after missile test

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 08:31, February 04, 2017

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Friday announced sanctions on multiple entities and individuals involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and providing support to a military force in Iran.

The move came days after Iran launched a ballistic missile test, which drew a stern warning from Washington.

The action reflects the United States' commitment to enforcing sanctions on Iran with respect to its ballistic missile program and "destabilizing" activities in the region, and is fully consistent with the United States' commitments under the nuclear deal with Iran, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

The new move targets several networks and supporters of Iran's ballistic missile procurement, including a critical Iranian procurement agent and eight individuals and entities.

It also slapped sanctions on a key support network run by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and working with Hizballah, including IRGC-QF official Hasan Deghan Ebrahimi, his two associates, and several affiliated companies in Lebanon.

In addition, it designates Ali Sharifi, an individual providing procurement and other services on behalf of IRGC-QF.

As a result of Friday's action, all property and interests of those designated subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

"Iran's continued support for terrorism and development of its ballistic missile program poses a threat to the region, to our partners worldwide, and to the United States," said Treasury Department official John Smith.

"We will continue to actively apply all available tools, including financial sanctions, to address this behavior," Smith said.

As the U.S. unveiled the fresh sanctions on Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump also issued a warning to the Islamic Republic.

"Iran is playing with fire -- they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!" Trump tweeted.

The United States on Wednesday officially put Iran "on notice" over Tehran's recent missile launch and an attack against a Saudi Arabian vessel by Iran-Supported Houthi militants in Yemen.

These actions "underscore what should have been clear to the international community all along about Iran's destabilizing behavior across the Middle East," Michael Flynn, national security advisor to President Trump, said in a statement.

In response, Iranian Foreign Ministry on Thursday dismissed Flynn's remarks about Iran's recent missile test as "baseless."

"Iran's missile test does not contradict the UN Security Council Resolution 2231," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.

The remarks by Flynn are "baseless and provocative," Qasemi said, adding that "none of the Iranian missiles has been designed for delivering nuclear weapons."

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Ryan admits Iran deal cannot be simply undone

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 10:18PM

The Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives says the nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers, including Washington, cannot be undone despite President Donald Trump's promise to repeal it immediately.

Paul Ryan appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Friday, to admit that the outcome of negotiations pursed by the administration of former President Barack Obama cannot be simply repealed.

"A lot of that toothpaste is already out of the tube," Ryan noted.

He further distanced himself from the deal by repeating the GOP's rhetoric against negotiations with Tehran.

"I never supported the deal in the first place. I thought it was a huge mistake, but the multilateral sanctions are done," said Ryan (pictured below). "I don't think you're going to go back and reconstitute the multilateral sanctions that were put in place."

Despite vowing to repeal the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or renegotiating it, Trump has not yet done anything to the agreement.

The new administration, however, has been criticizing Iran's test of its ballistic missiles and branding Tehran a "state sponsor of terrorism."

"I think we should expend our effort where it can pay off the mostWhat they're doing now makes a lot of sense," Ryan said. "They are a belligerent force in the Middle East They write on the side of their ballistic missiles in Hebrew, Farsi and English, 'Death to Israel' and 'Death to America.' This is not a peaceful nation."

Tehran maintains that its ballistic missile tests solely seek to keep Iran's capability for defense at check.

Tehran has also remained committed to the JCPOA, since it was clinched in 2015, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In a Friday tweet, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif indirectly challenged the Trump administration to "make the same statement," he made in regard to weapons.

"We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defense. Let us see if any of those who complain can make the same statement."

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Iran dismisses UAE claims on interference in Arab countries' affairs

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 6:20PM

Iran has dismissed as groundless the recent claims made by the Emirati minister of state for foreign affairs about Tehran's interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries.

The Emirati official had better express his opinions with more realism and avoid repeating hackneyed and baseless claims, which have no result but the exacerbation of divergence among regional countries, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Saturday.

In a post on his Twitter account, Anwar Gargash claimed that Iran's interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries had caused instability in the region and said Iran needed to cooperate with the Persian Gulf countries to hold dialogue based on transparent principles.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, with the backing of its popular power, has well distinguished its interests and made all-out efforts to establish and maintain convergence, peace, stability and security in the region while regarding defense against hostile attitude and policies as a legitimate right of the Iranian nation," Qassemi said.

He emphasized that Iran has always placed emphasis on the principles of dialogue, respect for sovereignty of countries and good neighborliness in the region and expressed its keenness to enjoy rational and balanced relations with all its neighboring states.

The Islamic Republic hopes that other regional countries would also understand the ongoing international circumstances and make more efforts to establish such relations, Qassemi said.

The Iranian spokesperson said the change of a policy of leveling accusations and unconstructive and useless claims about an undeniable truth regarding Iran's effective and stabilizing role in the region would be among the first steps to strengthen cooperation and constructive interaction.

The allegations against Iran were leveled after the Emirati Foreign Ministry on Thursday summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires in protest at what Abu Dhabi claims to be Tehran's "provision of weapons" to Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah fighters.

Abdul Rahim al-Awadi, the United Arab Emirates' assistant minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation for legal affairs, handed the Iranian envoy a note of protest and said Iran's provision of arms to the Houthis violated a number of United Nations Security Council resolutions, which prohibit such arms supplies.

The United Arab Emirates is a key Saudi ally in its deadly aggression against Yemen, which was launched in March 2015 in a bid to reinstall the ex-Yemeni government and crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

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US setbacks in Mideast behind Iran new sanctions: Senior MP

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 2:52PM

A senior Iranian lawmaker says the defeats of US-backed terrorists in the Middle East prompted Washington to impose new sanctions against the Islamic Republic, adding that the new US sanctions amount to a violation of Tehran's nuclear agreement.

"The recent sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities are because of Washington's rage at the defeats of terrorists it supports in the region," Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on Saturday.

He emphasized that the imposition of new sanctions against Iran is a breach of a landmark nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, including the United States, in July 2015.

The US Treasury Department said on Friday that Washington had imposed sanctions on 13 individuals and 12 entities as part of bids to ratchet up pressure on Iran over Tehran's missile program and spiritual support for Yemen's Houthi fighters.

The move against Iran is the first by the US government since President Donald Trump took office on January 20.

Boroujerdi further said the new US sanctions came after terrorists' defeats in the strategic Syrian city of Aleppo and the Iraqi city of Mosul.

He added that the US and its allies had spent billions of dollars to support terrorists but all their efforts have failed due to Iran's effective advisory presence in Syria and Iraq, saying Washington is now very angry with the ongoing circumstances.

The Syrian military announced on December 22, 2016 that it had attained full control of Aleppo, having completely cleansed its eastern side of militants for the first time since 2012.

The victory came about despite military support for the militants by the United States, Turkey, and some Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region.

In Iraq, army soldiers, supported by fighters from pro-government Popular Mobilization Units, commonly known by the Arabic name, Hashd al-Sha'abi, and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, launched a joint operation on October 17, 2016, to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

The Iraqi army announced in a statement on January 22 that all districts of eastern Mosul had been cleared of Daesh terrorists.

The Iranian legislator said the fresh sanctions were a reaction to the terrorists' setbacks in the region.

"However, the US must know that such sanctions will have no impact on the firm determination of the Islamic Republic in the fight against terrorism and Iran will strongly counter the agents of the US and Britain in the region," Boroujerdi pointed out.

"We will never allow them to misuse [the situation] in the region," he said.

He warned that the recent measures by the US government would lead to Washington's isolation in the near future.

In a statement on Friday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry slammed as illegal the US anti-Iran sanctions and said the Islamic Republic would deliver a "proportionate and reciprocal" response to the move.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, with the backing of the wise participation and support of the great Iranian nation, will respond proportionately and reciprocally to any move that targets the interests of the Iranian people," the statement said.

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Iran to use missiles to counter any hostile actions: Senior IRGC commander

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 12:19PM

A top Iranian commander has warned that Iran will use its missiles against enemies should they take any hostile action against Tehran.

"If the enemy sets a foot wrong, our roaring missiles will pour on them," said Commander of the Aerospace Division of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh on the sidelines of major drills, dubbed "Defenders of the Velayat Skies," underway in the north-central Iranian province of Semnan on Saturday.

The commander underscored Tehran's determination to bolster its defense capabilities and noted, "Matters such as nuclear capability and know-how, missile might and similar issues are just a pretext for their animosity towards the Islamic establishment and the Iranian nation."

The remarks come amid tough talk from the new US administration which has ratcheted up hostile actions against Iran.

In vague, threatening comments, White House national security adviser Michael Flynn said on Wednesday that Washington was "officially putting Iran on notice."

US Defense Secretary James Mattis called Iran "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world" hours after the US President Donald Trump's administration announced fresh sanctions on the Islamic Republic following a recent missile test.

On Friday, the US administration imposed new sanctions against Iran over a recent missile test by the Islamic Republic and allegations of the country's support for terrorism.

Washington claims that a recent missile test by Iran violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of countries, including the US.

Iranian officials have voiced support for the country's defense program, criticizing the hostile approach of the US administration.

On Friday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry slammed the fresh US sanctions over Iran's defensive missile program, saying Tehran would deliver a "proportionate and reciprocal" response to the move. The foreign ministry said Iran's missile program is the undeniable and inalienable right of the Iranian nation according to international law and the United Nations Charter.

The Islamic Republic has always stressed that its military might poses no threat to other countries and is in line with the country's plan to boost its deterrence power.

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Iranian first VP dismisses hostile posturing by US

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 10:54AM

Iran's first vice president has dismissed recent anti-Iran posturing by the United States, saying "threadbare" accusations against Iran are aimed by Washington at scaring away investors.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has recently ratcheted up its rhetoric against Iran. Trump himself, Defense Secretary James Mattis, and White House national security adviser Michael Flynn have all recently made anti-Iran comments. Mattis on Saturday called Iran "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world."

Reacting on the same day, Is'haq Jahangiri, the Iranian first vice president, said accusations that Iran supports terrorism have gone threadbare.

"The Iranian nation and authorities do not attach the least value to these remarks," he said.

Had it not been for Iran, Jahangiri said, Syria would have today fallen to the Daesh terrorist group, "Arab countries would have been encircled by Daesh, and no one would have known what al-Qaeda would be doing in Afghanistan."

He said Iran was present wherever it was necessary to help restore stability.

"Over the recent years, wherever they planted terrorism to disrupt the region, the country that was present on the battlefield against terror was the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.

Iran has most recently been lending advisory military support to the Syrian and Iraqi militaries against terrorism.

Pointing to the anti-Iran rhetoric by the US officials, Jahangiri said, "These accusations against Iran have become [mere] rehashes, and even the accuser is ashamed of making the claim that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism."

The senior Iranian official said the accusations are meant to slow down Iran's progress by dissuading domestic and foreign investors.

On Friday, the US administration also imposed new sanctions against Iran over a recent missile test by the Islamic Republic and its "continued support for terrorism."

Jahangiri said the parties imposing the sanctions on Iran have witnessed the difference between when they impose bans and when they engage in interaction with the Islamic Republic.

"If a language of respect is used to talk to the Iranian nation and if issues are resolved through dialog and negotiation, then, as stated by President [Hassan Rouhani], the outcome could be a win for all."

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The Justice Department has appealed a judge's order temporarily blocking President Donald Trump's refugee and immigration ban, saying it's the "sovereign prerogative" of a president to admit or exclude aliens in order to protect national security.

The appeal filed late Saturday at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, cites a "basic principle that an alien seeking initial admission to the United States requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application."

The Justice Department asked that the federal judge's order be stayed pending resolution of the appeal. It says the ban is necessary "to ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism."

Earlier Saturday, the government officially suspended enforcement of the ban in compliance with the judge's order, which plunged the new administration into a crisis that has challenged both Trump's authority and his ability to fulfill campaign promises.

That stand-down marked an extraordinary setback for the White House. Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend America's refugee program and halt immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.

The appeal says the temporary restraining order by U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle is a broad overreach of judicial authority.

"Judicial second-guessing of the President's national security determination in itself imposes substantial harm on the federal government and the nation at large," it says. The order also imposes harm on U.S. citizens "by thwarting the legal effect of the public's chosen representative," it says.

On Twitter, Trump mocked Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, as a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling "will be overturned." He added in a subsequent tweet: "Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision."

Trump's direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a Trump University case. Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for his words as the travel ban case is judged by higher courts.

The ban has caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompting protests across the United States and leading to multiple court challenges. Demonstrations took place outside the White House, in New York and near Trump's estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he was spending the weekend and attending an annual American Red Cross fundraising gala.

"We'll win," Trump told reporters Saturday night. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

The State Department, after initially saying that as many as 60,000 foreigners from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen had their visas canceled, reversed course on Saturday and said they could travel to the U.S. if they had a valid visa.

The department on Saturday advised refugee aid agencies that refugees set to travel before Trump signed his order will now be allowed into the United States. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government was "focusing on booking refugee travel" through Feb. 17 and working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trump's order from boarding U.S.-bound planes. The agency said it had "suspended any and all actions" related to putting in place Trump's order, which the White House argued was "intended to protect the homeland."

Trump made clear what he thought of Robart's action.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned," Trump tweeted. "When a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!"

After a pause of several hours, the president returned to Twitter: "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?"

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized Trump for "attempting to bully and disparage yet another federal judge" and said he seemed "intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis."

Trump's rhetoric also could put government lawyers defending his order in a tough spot.

"Either they have to defend the statements that Judge Robart is a 'so-called judge,' which you can't do, or they have to distance themselves from the president, who is their boss," said University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman.

With legal challenges pending, two prominent Middle Eastern air carriers announced they would resume carrying passengers from the seven affected countries. Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, said U.S.-bound travelers from those countries with valid visas would be allowed to board.

In Egypt, Cairo airport and airline officials said they have received instructions from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend President Trump's executive order.

Government-backed Qatar Airways is one of a few Mideast airlines operating direct daily flights to multiple American cities. Its U.S. destinations from its Doha hub include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington.

At New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, volunteer lawyer Renee Paradis said most of the flights involving passengers from the affected countries were to arrive later Saturday.

"Anybody who comes here on a visa is supposed to be allowed in, so we would anticipate that somebody who is in the air would be able to land and enter," she said. "Of course, as with everything this week, it remains to be seen what happens on the ground."

The executive order has caused chaos within the government and the courts. Trump fired Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover who was serving as acting attorney general, after she said the Justice Department would not enforce it. In Washington on Saturday, demonstrators chanting "No hate, No fear, Refugees are welcome here" walked from the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Hearings have also been held in court challenges nationwide.

In arguments to the court, Washington state and Minnesota said the temporary ban and the global suspension of the U.S. refugee program harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

But in his written order Friday, Robart said it's not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches," but rather, to make sure that an action taken by the government "comports with our country's laws."

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Iran's missile test not direct breach of nuclear deal: White House

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 12:5AM

The White House has confirmed that Iran's recent missile test was "not a direct violation" of the country's 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers.

White House Press Secretary Sea Spicer made the remarks during an interview with the MSNBC on Friday, days after Tehran test fired a ballistic missile.

Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the multilateral deal was reached between Iran and the P5+1 group The US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germanyin July 2015.

Trump has been critical of the deal, which entered into force in January last year and put limitations on Iran's peaceful nuclear program in exchange for removal of all sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Spicer's comment came after Trump's Treasury Department undermined the landmark deal by introducing new sanctions against a number of Iranian individuals and companies over the country's latest missile test on Sunday.

Washington claims that the missile test violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the nuclear agreement.

Meanwhile, US House Speaker Paul Ryan said Friday that the deal was irreversible and would sustain the recent developments.

"A lot of that toothpaste is already out of the tube," Ryan told NBC News on Sunday, when asked if the new US administration was going to back out of the JCPOA.

"I don't think you're going to go back and reconstitute the multilateral sanctions that were in place," he added.

"I think the key is to rigorously enforce this deal. But also, remember, they're testing ballistic missiles," Ryan went on.

However, the powerful Republican figure said he opposed the deal since the beginning and Washington should "ratchet up" sanctions against Tehran.

"I think what this administration is doing, which I agree with, is saying, 'We have a new administration, and we're going to hold you, Iran, to account,'" Ryan said. "This last administration did not do that."

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Iran To Test Missile, Radar Systems, One Day After New U.S. Sanctions

RFE/RL February 04, 2017

Iran is holding a military exercise to test its missile and radar systems on February 4, a day after the United State imposed sanctions on Tehran over its recent ballistic-missile test.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps website said the maneuvers in the northeastern province of Semnan were aimed at demonstrating their "complete preparedness to deal with the threats" and "humiliating sanctions" from Washington.

Iranian state media reported that missile systems, radars, command-and-control centers, and cyberwarfare systems will be tested in the drill.

News agencies quoted a senior Revolutionary Guards commander as saying Iran's missiles will come down on the country's enemies if they do wrong.

"If we see the smallest misstep from the enemies, our roaring missiles will fall on their heads," the head of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace unit, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, was quoted as saying on February 4.

Relations between the United States and Iran have deteriorated sharply since President Donald Trump took office last month.

Washington sanctioned 13 individuals and 12 entities on February 3 after the White House put Iran "on notice" over a ballistic-missile test and other activities.

On February 4, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis called Iran "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world."

Iran is one of seven predominantly Muslim countries targeted by a visa ban Washington ordered last week.

Tehran, in response, banned a U.S. wrestling team from a major international tournament it is hosting later this month.

The United States says Iran's January 29 missile launch defied a 2015 UN Security Council resolution calling on Iran not to test nuclear-capable missiles, which Tehran denies.

In a tweet on February 3, Trump warned that Iran is "playing with fire."

Trump campaigned on promises to take a much tougher stance on Iran than his predecessor, Barack Obama, in response to actions including threats against Israel and involvement in conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

Tehran confirmed on February 1 that it had test-fired a new ballistic missile but said the test did not breach Iran's 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers or a UN Security Council resolution endorsing the pact.

Iran has test-fired several ballistic missiles since the nuclear deal, but the latest test was the first since Trump took office.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on January 31 and referred the matter to its committee on Iran for an investigation.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/iran-missile-radar- tests-sanctions/28278832.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Iran Ready to 'Rain Down' Missiles in Response to Enemy Attack

Sputnik News

19:27 04.02.2017(updated 19:52 04.02.2017)

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Commander Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said that the Iranian Armed Forces could defend the country from foreign threats and would respond to an enemy attack with "roaring missiles."

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Iranian Armed Forces are capable to defend the country from foreign threats and would respond to an enemy attack with "roaring missiles," the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Commander Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said on Saturday.

"With the knowledge I have about the capabilities of the (Iranian) Armed Forces and about ourselves, I'd say with confidence that foreign threats against the Islamic Establishment (of Iran) are futile Should the enemy make a mistake, our roaring missiles will rain down on them," Hajizadeh said as quoted by the Tasnim news agency.

Earlier in the day, the IRGC started military exercises with the use of missile systems in the northeast province of Semnan, aimed at demonstrating Iran's readiness to counter enemy threats.

On Friday, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a Tweet that Tehran would "never initiate war," following this statement by a warning that, if needed, the country would not shy away from using weapons in self-defense.

This week, US President Donald Trump's administration announced sanctions against 25 individuals and entities that allegedly provided support to Iran's missile program following Tehran's latest medium-range ballistic missile test, which took place on Monday.

Iran retaliated by imposing counter-sanctions against the United States and asserting that President Donald Trump has violated the nuclear deal with his sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

 Sputnik

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Iran Holding Missile, Radar Exercises

By Edward Yeranian February 04, 2017

A top Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander says Tehran is conducting missile and radar exercises Saturday, with the drills coming a day after the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Iran for a ballistic missile test it conducted last week.

Iranian state TV reported that the country's Revolutionary Guard air force was conducting air defense exercises Saturday, including missile and radar tests over a 35,000-square-kilometer area in the northern province of Semnan.

The TV channel added that Iran's vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, denounced recent U.S. accusations against Tehran, insisting the Iranian people "do not take them seriously." U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis called Iran the "single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world," while visiting Tokyo on Friday.

Mattis stressed, however, the U.S. was not contemplating raising the number of U.S. troops in the Middle East, for the moment, to respond to what he called Iran's "misbehavior."

The U.S. has, nevertheless, deployed the warship USS Cole in the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait, off the coast of Yemen, in response to a recent attack on a Saudi naval vessel, which left several crew members dead. The USS Cole itself was attacked by al-Qaida militants in 2000.

Houthi support alleged

Saudi military spokesman General Ahmed Assiri claimed earlier this week that Iran has military advisers helping Yemen's Houthi militia fighters in various parts of Yemen.

Assiri said he would not give specific details about Iran's activities inside Yemen, but he accused Tehran of being responsible for all the wars and instability in the region.

Saudi analyst Ali Touati did, however, in an interview with al-Arabiya TV, accuse Iran of helping Houthi forces in the Red Sea port of Hodeida, which attacked the Saudi naval vessel.

He also accused Iranian advisers of helping the Houthi forces conduct a series of missile attacks that have hit inside Saudi territory. One such missile struck a U.N. compound Monday in the Saudi town of Dhahran al-Janoubi.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif told state TV that his country would never initiate a conflict, though, and was relying on its own resources to defend itself.

"We will never, repeat, never use [missiles]  against anybody, unless in self-defense and be sure that nobody has the guts again, to attack us," Zarif said.

U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn told journalists Wednesday the U.S. believes that Iran's recent missile tests breached U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted in July 2015, after a nuclear deal between Tehran and the P5+1 group of nations.

Iran has denied it violated the resolution.

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Iran wants to develop military-technical cooperation with Russia

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sun / 5 February 2017 / 13:54

Tehran (ISNA) - Tehran intends to develop the military-technical cooperation with Moscow, including those areas that require the consent of the UN Security Council, the Iranian ambassador to the Russian Federation, Mehdi Sanai said.

"For example, there are no restrictions on the sale of various types of weapons to Iran in the agreement on the nuclear program. It says that you must obtain permission,'' RIA Novosti cites his interview to the Arguments and Facts newspaper.

On March 1, representatives of Russia's Federation Council's Committee on Defense and Security will start their six-day visit to Iran to discuss the provision of weaponry to Tehran as well as the situation in Syria, the Committee's chairman Viktor Ozerov told.

End Item

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White House Warns Iran To 'Think Twice' Before Testing U.S. Resolve

RFE/RL February 05, 2017

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has warned Iran "not to test the resolve" of the Donald Trump administration days after the U.S. imposed new sanctions on the Islamic republic over a ballistic-missile test.

Pence made the warning in a February 5 interview amid rising tensions between the two countries.

"Iran would do well to look at the calendar and realize there's a new president in the Oval Office. And Iran would do well not to test the resolve of this new president," Pence told ABC News.

The warning came a day after U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis called Iran "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world."

The Trump administration has signaled a more confrontational U.S. policy toward Iran.

Last week U.S. national-security adviser Michael Flynn said, "The days of turning a blind eye to Iran's hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over."

Asked by ABC News how the United States would respond to provocation by Iran, Pence said that the "president said everything's on the table" -- including military action.

Pence also said that Washington is looking into the 2015 nuclear agreement that obligated Iran to significantly restrict its sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

"Well, we're evaluating that as we speak," he said.

Pence said that Trump will make a decision in the days ahead.

"He'll listen to all of his advisers, but make no mistake about it. The resolve of this president is such that Iran would do well to think twice about their continued hostile and belligerent actions," Pence added.

Tehran has denied that its missile test violates a UN Security Council resolution or the nuclear deal it struck with world powers, including the United States.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote last week on Twitter that his country is unfazed by U.S. threats.

"Iran [is] unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people. Will never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defense," Zarif wrote on February 3.

With reporting by ABC and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/us-iran-pence-warning -not-to-test-resolve/28280320.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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42 Daesh Takfiris killed as army jets strike areas in northern Iraq

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 2:23PM

At least 42 members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group have been killed in separate operations by the Iraqi Air Force in the country's northern province of Nineveh.

The Iraqi Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that 25 Daesh terrorists were killed as Iraqi military aircraft launched precision strikes against a number of terrorists' hideouts in al-Jamaliyah region northwest of Mosul and the village of Tal Abra near Tal Afar city, Arabic-language al-Sumaria satellite television network reported.

Additionally, 17 Daesh terrorists were killed when Iraqi fighter jets carried out attacks against their positions in Badush village northwest of Mosul.

Iraqi warplanes also struck and destroyed the terrorist group's caches of Composition C-4 plastic explosive and trinitrotoluene in Ayn al-Wakhmah al-Karablah village of the western province of Anbar.

Elsewhere in the al-Mosana district of eastern Mosul, Iraqi forces discovered a considerable amount of rockets and military hardware belonging to Daesh extremists.

Meanwhile, soldiers from the 15th battalion of the Iraqi army have established full control over al-Jamaliyah and Sheikh Mohammad villages west of Mosul.

Iraqi pro-government fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units -- commonly known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha'abi -- freed tens of civilians who had been taken hostage by Daesh extremists in the two areas.

Iraqi army soldiers, supported by Hashd al-Sha'abi fighters and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, launched a joint operation on October 17, 2016 to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

On Thursday, the UN special envoy for Iraq, Jan Kubis, expressed hope for full liberation of the crisis-hit Arab country from the Daesh terrorists in near future, saying that the days of Daesh are numbered.

He noted that Baghdad's steady progress in recapturing the eastern part of Mosul "should not conceal that fighting has been and will be a massive challenge, in particular inside the old city in western Mosul."

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UN says Myanmar army killed, raped in Rohingya ethnic cleansing

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 4, IRNA -- The Myanmar Army forces have committed mass killing and raping Muslims since Oct 2016 which is likely to be crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) announced.

Witnesses testified to 'the killing of babies, toddlers, children, women and elderly; opening fire at people fleeing; burning of entire villages; massive detention; massive and systematic rape and sexual violence; deliberate destruction of food and sources of food', the report said.

"One woman told UN investigators how her eight-month baby boy had had his throat slit. Another was raped by soldiers and saw her five-year-old daughter killed as she tried to stop them," Asia Pacific News reported.

"The devastating cruelty to which these Rohingya children have been subjected is unbearable,' Asia Pacific quoted UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein as saying in a statement.

'I did speak to Aung San Suu Kyi about an hour and a half ago. I called upon her to use every means available to exert pressure on the military and the security services to end this operation,' Asia Pacific News quoted Ra'ad al-Hussein as saying in an interview with Reuters in Geneva.

'She informed me that an investigation will be launched. She said that they would require further information.'

In Yangon, presidential spokesman Zaw Htay said, 'These are extremely serious allegations, and we are deeply concerned. We will be immediately investigating these allegations through the investigation commission led by Vice-President U Myint Swe.

'Where there is clear evidence of abuses and violations, we will take all necessary action.'

Around 66,000 people have fled from the Muslim-majority northern part of Rakhine State to Bangladesh since Myanmar's military launched a security operation in response to attacks on police border posts on Oct. 9, the U.N. report said. The U.N. humanitarian office has recently put the figure at 69,000.

'The 'area clearance operations' have likely resulted in hundreds of deaths,' some of them through helicopters shooting at villages and dropping grenades on them, the report said.

Four UN investigators gathered testimony last month from 220 Rohingya victims and witnesses who fled the 'lockdown area' in Maungdaw in Rakhine for the Cox's Bazar district in Bangladesh.

Nearly half reported a family member had been killed or disappeared while 101 women reported having been raped or subjected to sexual violence, it said.

Testimonies pointed to 'a persecution on ethnic grounds which is similar to what has been, in other contexts, described as 'ethnic cleansing',' UN mission leader Linnea Arvidsson told a news briefing.

'The findings and gravity of the situation are really so stark that something needs to be done for accountability, but primarily for the violence to stop.'

She said the UN Human Rights Council could refer the issue to the UN Security Council, which in turn had the power to pass it to the International Criminal Court.

The investigators took evidence including photographs of bullet and knife wounds, burns, and injuries resulting from beatings with rifle butts or bamboo sticks.

The plight of the stateless Rohingya, of whom some 1.1 million live in apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine, has long been a source of friction between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Myanmar, a mostly Buddhist country where Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is de facto leader, has denied almost all allegations of human rights abuses in northern Rakhine and says a lawful counterinsurgency campaign is under way.

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British Defense Minister Accuses Kremlin Of 'Weaponizing Misinformation'

February 04, 2017

Britain's defense minister says Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to undermine the West by spreading lies and hacking critical infrastructure.

Michael Fallon said Kremlin-backed media, including RT and Sputnik, are now spreading "Soviet-style misinformation" while NATO estimates that "threatening cyberattacks" against the military alliance's digital infrastructure increased 60 percent last year over 2015.

"We see a country that in weaponizing misinformation has created what we might now see as the post-truth age," Fallon said in a speech late on February 2. "Russia is clearly testing NATO and the West. It is seeking to expand its sphere of influence, destabilize countries, and weaken the alliance."

"Part of our response is for NATO and the West to do more to tackle the false reality promoted through Soviet-style misinformation," he said. "Whatever else we do on deterrence and dialogue, we must counter Putin's Pravda with a faster truth."

At the same time, Fallon urged cooperation with Moscow and expressed hope that the West's relationship with Moscow will improve.

"We hope that Russia changes tack," he said. "Russia could again become the partner the West always wished for. We could dare to hope that."

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/british-defense-minister -fallon-accuses-kremlin-weaponizing-misinformation-west-hacking soviet-style-propaganda/28278586.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russian-Iranian Military Cooperation 'Not Limited to Supply of S-300 Systems'

Sputnik News

10:38 04.02.2017(updated 15:30 04.02.2017)

The Committee on Defense and Security of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian legislature, will visit Iran next month to discuss weapons sales as well as the peaceful resolution of the war in Syria.

On March 1, representatives of Russia's Federation Council's Committee on Defense and Security will start their six-day visit to Iran to discuss the provision of weaponry to Tehran as well as the situation in Syria, the Committee's chairman Viktor Ozerov told RIA Novosti.

The visit comes a few months after the implementation of a contract on the supply of Russian S-300 missile defense systems to Iran, a document which Tehran said laid a solid foundation for the development of new areas of weapons development cooperation between the two countries.

In an interview with Sputnik Persian, Iranian political analyst Shoeib Bahman remained optimistic about the future of the Russian-Iranian military collaboration.

"Currently, both countries are poised to expand partnership in this area, with Iran ready to purchase other kinds of weapons [from Russia] for its Navy and Air Force. The military and technical cooperation between Tehran and Moscow is not only limited to the supply of the S-300 missile system," Bahman said.

He recalled that in the past couple of months, the two countries have held talks to discuss the supply of Russian fighter jets and light armament to Iran.

The topic is expected to be further discussed during the upcoming inter-parliamentary meeting in Iran, according to Bahman.

He also expressed hope that the two countries will continue to cooperate, and that Russian specialists could train the Iranian military as well as technical experts, especially given that Russia is slated to provide more military hardware to the Iranian Air Force and Navy.

In this vein, Bahman said that it will be necessary to render "staff support to Iranian specialists during the integration of Russian arms and transfer of their technology."

"Also, the past several years have seen the intensification of military cooperation between Iran and Russia on Syria," he said, also referring to anti-terrorist drills between the two countries.

"So the level of military collaboration between Iran and Russia is not limited to the agreements on arms supplies," Bahman concluded.

The $900-million contract to deliver five Russian S-300 systems to Iran was signed in 2007. It was suspended after the adoption of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran in mid-2010.

In April 2015, Russia resumed the talks on the S-300 deliveries following an interim agreement on the Iranian nuclear program.

Tehran announced a year later that Russia had delivered its first consignment of S-300 missiles as scheduled.

Last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif had agreed that the intra-Syrian talks in Astana were an effective platform for the resolution of the Syrian conflict, pledging to maintain efforts to closely coordinate their efforts to resolve the conflict.

The Astana talks on the Syrian crisis settlement brought together the representatives of the Syrian government and the armed opposition groups for the first time since the Syrian War began six years ago.

As a result of the talks, Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to establish a trilateral mechanism to monitor the ceasefire that came into effect on December 30, 2016.

 Sputnik

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Ethnic Serbs in the Kosovo town of Mitrovica on Sunday tore down a controversial wall critics blamed for reinforcing ethnic divisions in an already tense region.

The mayor of the city's Serb-dominated northern sector, Goran Rakic, argued the barrier built last month would protect a new pedestrian zone near the bridge crossing the Ibar river to the southern zone, where most of the town's ethnic Albanian population live.

But the two-metre (six and a half feet)-high concrete wall, stretching some 100 metres, quickly took on a larger political dimension, with Kosovar authorities in Pristina calling for its dismantling.

On Sunday, a crew of workers operating two bulldozers took three hours to demolish the barrier, an AFP journalist reported.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini hailed the move as "constructive", and said leaders on both sides were "demonstrating courage and vision by taking down walls and focusing on building bridges".

The move was the first evidence of a thaw between Kosovo and its northern neighbour Serbia after weeks of strained relations, and came after EU-sponsored talks between leaders of both sides in Brussels last month.

Ties between the two Balkan countries have reached their lowest level since they opened talks to improve relations back in 2011, three years after Kosovo declared independence from its larger neighbour.

Last month Belgrade sent a train towards Kosovo painted in the colours of the Serbian flag, bearing the words "Kosovo is Serbia" in multiple languages, and decorated inside with Serbian Orthodox imagery.

Pristina called it a "provocation", and the train was stopped from crossing the border over fears it would be attacked, according to Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

Members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority were also outraged by the arrest in France in January of former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, under an international warrant issued by Serbia, which wants him tried for alleged war crimes committed during the 1990s conflict.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian insurgents fought Serbian forces in 1998-1999.

The former province unilaterally declared independence in 2008, but Serbia does not formally recognise Kosovo's sovereignty.

Mogherini has warned the two states that normalising relations is essential if they want to pursue closer relations with the European Union.

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Around 30,000 Syrians Flee Al Bab Amid Massive Anti-Daesh Operation - UN

Sputnik News

23:46 03.02.2017

Amid anti-Daesh military operation in Aleppo province, the United Nations has registered a mass exodus of civilians from the town of al Bab, who fled to other districts of the province.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik)  Around 30,000 Syrians fled al Bab town where the campaign against Daesh is underway for other districts of Aleppo province, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric said Friday.

"It is estimated that about around 30,000 civilians have fled al Bab city and surroundings since late December, heading mainly towards other districts in Aleppo. The UN and partners are providing assistance to those who are displaced, including through setting up reception and transit centres to receive and provide basic assistance to those in need," Dujarric said.

He added that up to 10,000 civilians still remain in al Bab.

The Russian and Turkish planes are carrying out joint mission against Daesh terrorists in the outskirts of the town of al-Bab.

Daesh is outlawed in the United States, Russia and numerous other countries.

 Sputnik

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SDF Hopeful to Receive More US Weapons as 'Promised by Trump'

Sputnik News

21:12 03.02.2017(updated 21:23 03.02.2017)

Lately, the press has been actively discussing the new US administration's will to possibly increase the military aid to Kurdish forces in order to accelerate the fight against Daesh in Syria. A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which forms the backbone of the Kurdish self-defense units, Talal Sulo spoke with Sputnik about this.

"Recently, the United States delivered 10 armored personnel carriers to us. Under Obama, we almost did not receive any military assistance. However, Trump's administration promised to provide us with more military equipment and weapons in the near future. This assistance is provided to us as a part of the operation to liberate Raqqa from Daesh terrorists," Sulo said.

Abdulaziz Yunus who is responsible for external relations of the Democratic Forces of Syria also confirmed the US military aid.

"American officials both in the press and in the course of our meetings declared that they will continue to help us. We intend to continue cooperation with the United States on the issue of fighting terrorism," Yunus told Sputnik Turkey.

The Co-Chairman of the Council of Democratic Syria, which is composed of representatives of the Party of Democratic Union, People's Protection Units and the SDF, Ilhan Ehmed commented on the issue saying that the council is working together with the US to fight the terrorists.

"We hope that the new US administration will continue to support our cooperation in the fight against terrorists. It is exactly this struggle that will return stability and peace to Syria," Ehmed said.

Even before the inauguration of Donald Trump, Ilhan Ehmed and Chairman of the Assembly of the Assyrians Besam Ishak visited the US where they held a series of meetings with both the Obama administration and the new leadership.

Kurdish fighters dominate the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a collective that also includes the Syrian Arab Coalition, which is made up of fighters predominantly from local Arab areas.

American-supplied armored vehicles were delivered to Syrian fighters on Tuesday, but Col. John Dorrian said they were transferred to the Syrian Arab Coalition, not the SDF. Another of the SDF's Kurdish components, the Popular Defense Units (YPG) also denied receiving arms from the US-led coalition.

 Sputnik

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Russian Long-Range Bombers Strike Terrorist Targets in Syria's Deir ez-Zor

Sputnik News

18:01 03.02.2017(updated 18:19 03.02.2017)

Russian long-range Tu-22M3 bombers have continued striking terrorist targets in Syria's province of Deir ez-Zor.

Russian strategic bombers launched airstrikes on large Daesh arms and ammunition depots in the Deir ez-Zor province, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"On February 3, Tu-22M3 long-range bombers that took off from a Russian airfield and flew over Iraq and Iran carried out group airstrikes on terrorist targets in the province of Deir ez-Zor."

"Large Daesh arms and ammunition depots have been the targets of the strikes. Reconnaissance means have confirmed the destruction of all designated targets."

"Su-30SM and Su-35S provided air cover to the Russian bombers from the Hmeymim airbase."

After successfully completing their combat mission in Syria, the Russian jets returned to Russia.

This has been the sixth time Russian long-range struck Daesh targets near Deir ez-Zor. Russian strategic bombers started strikes on January 21.

Daesh terrorists surrounded the Deir ez-Zor military airfield in Syria's northeast.

Commenting on the development of the situation in the area, the Russian General Staff said that if terrorists capture Deir ez-Zor, civilians will be subjected to genocide and the population may be completely exterminated.

The city of Deir ez-Zor, which is still held by Syrian government forces, has been under Daesh's siege since July 2014. The residents of Deir ez-Zor and the servicemen receive food only via planes delivering humanitarian aid.

 Sputnik

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Syria militants start new operation against Daesh in Raqqah

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 7:33PM

A US-backed militant group in Syria has started the third phase of an operation against Daesh Takfiri terrorists to advance towards the northern city of Raqqah.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a multi-ethnic anti-government alliance, announced the beginning of the campaign on Saturday.

The SDF "announce the beginning of the third phase to liberate Raqqah and its surroundings, which will target the eastern part of the province," spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed said.

The SDF launched its campaign to capture Raqqah in November 2016 and took control of some areas up the Euphrates Valley.

Local SDF commander Rojda Felat did not provide a timeline for the SDF to reach the outskirts of Raqqah, but she said that the group needs additional equipment, including Dushkas (heavy machine guns) and armored vehicles.

So far, the group has reportedly advanced a few kilometers in the eastern areas of Raqqah Province, named by the Daesh as its so-called headquarters in Syria.

The new phase of the operation also aims to sever a highway linking Raqqah to Daesh strongholds in Dayr al-Zawr Province.

The US-led coalition says it is working with the SDF to try to defeat Daesh in the militant-riddled Syrian city. However, there have been numerous reports of US-led airstrikes targeting Syrian civilians, military and infrastructure.

On Friday, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that an airstrike by the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group destroyed the water supply system in Raqqah.

Nearly two-thirds of the 30,000 SDF militants belong to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey considers a "terrorist" group. Although the US insists that it only provides military support to the Arab components of the SDF, Turkey has been enraged by Washington's support for the group.

Syria has been battling foreign-backed militancy for nearly six years. Over the past few months, the Syrian army has made significant gains against terrorists, including the liberation of the strategic city of Aleppo in late 2016.

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UN Refugee Chief Doubtful About Trump Plan For 'Safe Zones' In Syria

RFE/RL February 04, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to establish safe zones for refugees in Syria to discourage them from fleeing to other countries, but a top United Nations official says that won't work.

"Frankly, I don't see in Syria the conditions" to create successful safe zones, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on February 3.

"With the fragmentation, the number of actors, the presence of terrorist groups, it's not the right place to think of that solution," he said.

Grandi made his comments on a visit to Lebanon, where President Michel Aoun endorsed the idea of safe zones and said world powers should work with the Syrian government to create such zones so Syrians can return to their country.

At least 1 million Syrians have fled since 2011 into Lebanon, which has an estimated total population of less than 6 million.

The war has divided Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad, various rebel groups fighting to unseat him, Kurdish militia, and Islamic State militants.

Trump is expected to soon order the Pentagon and the State Department to craft a plan for safe zones, a move that could require significantly more U.S. military involvement in Syria.

Trump has not provided details about the proposed zones, except to say he would try to persuade Persian Gulf states to pay for them.

The Pentagon has warned that policing them would be difficult in a war zone filled with armed groups.

The UN refugee chief, who just completed a visit to Syria, said his agency has no information about the Trump safe zone plans, but he expressed opposition to the idea.

"Let's not waste time planning safe zones that will not be set up because they will not be safe enough for people to go back," Grandi said. "Let's concentrate on making peace so that everything becomes safe. That should be the investment."

The Syrian government said earlier this week that any attempt to create safe zones for refugees without coordinating with Damascus would be "unsafe" and violate Syria's sovereignty.

Syrian rebel backers such as Qatar have welcomed Trump's support for safe zones. Turkey -- which has proposed safe zones in the past -- says it is waiting to see what Trump proposes.

Turkey is the country that currently hosts the most Syrian refugees, estimated at nearly 3 million.

Trump discussed safe zones in a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Washington on February 2. Jordan is host to some 650,000 Syrian refugees.

The Syrian refugee crisis is one of the most pressing in the world. The six-year war there has killed hundreds of thousands of people and made more than half of Syrians homeless, creating the worst refugee crisis since World War II.

Trump barred all Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely as part of sweeping anti-immigration restrictions announced a week ago.

He had originally suggested creating Syrian safe zones as an alternative to resettling Syrian refugees in the United States.

The UN estimates that around 20,000 refugees worldwide have been affected by Trump's suspension of the entire U.S. refugee resettlement program for 120 days, a move Grandi called a "dangerous weakening" of protections for refugees.

"These are people that flee from danger. They are not dangerous themselves," he said.

"We are taking exception to discrimination," he said. "All people that are vulnerable, irrespective of their ethnic or religious affiliations, should be given a chance to benefit from this program."

With reporting by AP and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/un-refugee- chief-grandi-doubtful-trump-safe-zone-plan- syrian-refugees/28278661.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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White House Unaware if Trump Plans to Arm Ukrainian Forces - Spokesman

Sputnik News

21:29 03.02.2017

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Friday he was not aware if President Donald Trump intended to follow Senator John McCain's recommendation to send lethal weapons to Ukrainian forces.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  On Thursday, McCain sent a letter to Trump, calling on him to approve providing Kiev with defensive lethal assistance amid the spike of violence in eastern Ukraine.

"I don't know. I'll have to get back to you on that," Spicer said when asked if Trump was looking into arming the Ukrainians.

McCain clarified to Sputnik that Trump should send Javelin FGM-148 handheld anti-tank missiles to Kiev to support Ukraine government forces.

Russian officials have repeatedly warned that Washington providing Ukraine with weapons will only escalate violence and lead to more bloodshed.

The situation in southeastern Ukraine around the towns of Avdiivka and Yasynuvata became aggravated over the weekend after both towns were shelled, resulting in heavy losses on both sides. Ukrainian forces and Donbas militia have traded accusations and blame for the escalation.

 Sputnik

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Kremlin Comments on Accusations of New US Envoy to UN Over Crimea

Sputnik News

15:39 03.02.2017(updated 16:14 03.02.2017)

Russia disagrees with new US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley's comments on Crimea's status, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, noting that Moscow has never been too optimistic about the prospect of sanctions relief under the new US administration.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Haley said on Thursday that Washington's sanctions related to the Russian peninsula in the Black Sea would "remain in place" despite a 2014 referendum in which the majority of Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.

"We certainly do not agree with this statement, and we will continue to consistently and convincingly voice our position to all the members of the UN Security Council meetings and our other partners, including the US permanent representative," Peskov told reporters.

Peskov noted that Moscow was "never overly optimistic" about the United States' stance on sanctions, saying "we have talked about this from the beginning."

During her confirmation hearings in the Senate, Haley said that the US should be careful when dealing with Russia because Moscow cannot be trusted. She also commented the US sanctions against Russia and said that they should be maintained until there is a dramatic shift in Moscow's foreign policy.

 Sputnik

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DPR Military Says Kiev Forces 'Deliberately' Shelling Civilians in Donetsk

Sputnik News

04:03 03.02.2017

Deputy Defense Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Eduard Basurin has claimed that Kiev armed forces deliberately shelled residential areas of Donetsk, the region's largest city, with the use of multiple rocket launchers.

DONETSK (Sputnik)  Kiev forces are shelling civilians in the city of Donetsk in Ukraine's southeast, Basurin told Sputnik.

"There is a deliberate shelling of residential areas of the city of Donetsk. Just now, Grad [multiple rocket launcher] was used on the Kiev district," Basurin said.

DPR Minister of Emergencies Alexei Kostrubitsky told journalists that at least two people were killed and over a dozen were injured when Kiev forces attacked Donetsk from the Uragan self-propelled multiple rocket launcher system.

Meanwhile advisor to Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs Zoryan Shkiryak wrote on Facebook that DPR troops had attacked several towns in Ukraine's southeast (Donbas), including Avdiivka, from the Grad multiple rocket launcher.

The situation near the industrial town of Avdiivka and neighboring Yasynuvata in southeastern Ukraine has been tense for several days, with both Kiev forces and Donbas militia having suffered casualties. The conflicting sides are accusing each other of being responsible for the escalation of fighting.

 Sputnik

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Civilians face 'dire' situation amid ongoing hostilities in eastern Ukraine, UN warns

3 February 2017  An immediate pause in fighting is needed in Ukraine to prevent more people dying and repair essential services, the United Nations human rights office said today following another night of shelling in the east of the country.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed deep concern about the ongoing tensions and intensification of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, according the UN chief's spokesperson, who said he appealed to all parties to fully observe the ceasefire and allow for immediate humanitarian access.

In the last week, aerial attacks have killed seven people and injured at least 40 more in heavily populated areas, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

"Reports suggest that two hospitals, a polyclinic, a dental clinic, three schools, and a kindergarten were damaged by shelling in Makiivka and Donetsk city, which are controlled by armed groups," OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell told reporters at the regular bi-weekly news briefing in Geneva.

She said OHCHR staff in Donetsk heard explosions over five days, from 29 January through the night of 2 February, and on 2 February, "saw a clearly marked ambulance in Donetsk that had been damaged by shrapnel."

Latest data shows that at least 9,800 civilians and members of armed forces have been killed since the conflict began in mid-April 2014 according to the UN Human Rights Office.

It also warns that sub-zero temperatures have also left civilians even more vulnerable amid the destruction of power lines and disruption to water, electricity and heating networks.

Ms. Throssell explained that critical civilian infrastructure has been damaged, including near Avdiivka, where power lines have been destroyed, disrupting water, electricity and heating supplies. Gas and electricity supplies were also reported to have been affected in Makiivka and other areas under the control of armed groups, including Irmino and parts of Donetsk.

"Both Government forces and armed groups must take all feasible measures to protect the civilian population in the areas under their control, she said, adding: "We remind them that the protection of civilians must be considered the utmost priority and those committing violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law must be held accountable."

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Car bomb kills senior military official in Lugansk

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 4, 2017 2:28PM

Amid recent fighting in eastern Ukraine, a military official with pro-Russia forces has been killed in a car bombing in Lugansk.

Sources from the pro-Russians reported on Saturday that Oleg Anashchenko, who used to serve as the head of the military department of Lugansk, was killed.

Another person also died in the explosion, which the pro-Russians blamed on Ukrainian forces. Sources in Kiev denied the accusation.

Nearly 9,500 people have died and over 21,000 others injured in the war, according to the United Nations.

Crisis erupted in eastern Ukraine in April 2014, when Kiev launched its first formal military action against the pro-Russians who had seized government buildings in towns and cities across the region. The ethnic Russian population in the east began to resist the rise of a pro-Western, anti-Russian government in Kiev, following the stepping down of former President Viktor Yanukovych in February the same year. The pro-Russians are mainly concentrated in Donetsk and Lugansk.

A similar blast in August nearly killed Igor Plotnitsky, a senior official in Lugansk, which is the smaller of the two regions. Senior officials in Donetsk have also been targeted in car bombings. Some of them have been killed.

Ukraine president to have phone conversation with Trump

The government in Kiev, which accuses Russia of having a role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, said on Saturday that it would discuss the issue of recent fighting in the region with US President Donald Trump. Moscow rejects any involvement in the fighting.

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said he would make a phone call later in the day to brief Trump on the developments in the industrial east.

During his election campaign, the US president said ties between the United States and Ukraine, which have been badly affected due to the crisis in eastern Ukraine, would be restored under his administration.

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Egypt's oil minister also said that the country is paying less than the global price for the cargo, which is 'in recognition and appreciation of Egypt and the president's role regionally and internationally'

Egypt has signed a $1 billion contract with three international companies to import 45 shipments of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to be delivered by the start of March, Al-Ahram Daily reported on Sunday, citing the Egyptian oil minister.

Minister Tarek El-Molla said that the state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), which has the authority to make oil agreements, signed the deals with the Russian Company Roseneft, the French Engie Company, and the Omani OTI Company.

The shipments weight will range between 138 and 156 thousand cubic metres, and Egypt will have a grace period of six months to pay for the shipments, El-Molla added.

The minister also said that Egypt is paying less than the global price for the cargo, which is "in recognition and appreciation of Egypt and the president's [Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi] role regionally and internationally."

In June of last year, EGAS told Reuters that Egypt aims to import between 110 and 120 shipments of liquefied natural gas in 2017.

EL-Molla previously said that Egypt is aiming to increase its natural gas production up to 50 percent by mid-2018.

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Donetsk Republic Boosts Security After Murder of Lugansk Militia Chief

Sputnik News

22:31 04.02.2017(updated 22:33 04.02.2017)

The self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk (DPR) increased security measures due to the threat of new terrorist attacks following the death of Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) Militia Office Col. Oleg Anashchenko in a car explosion on Saturday, DPR Deputy Defense Minister Eduard Basurin said.

DONETSK (Sputnik)  Anashchenko was killed in the city of Lugansk with the LPR suspecting that the terrorist attack was carried out by Kiev's special forces to destabilize the situation in the region.

"The Ukrainian side is continuing to choose the most violent and devious methods of war, copying international terrorists  That's why the DPR increased its security measures  We do not rule out the possibility of new provocative and terrorist acts in the republic," Basurin told reporters.

The attack occurred amid the escalation in the Donetsk region. In the town of Avdiivka Kiev forces and DPR militias are clashing. The conflicting parties have both accused each other of initiating the violence and have both suffered casualties.

On Friday, a spokesperson of the DPR's Office of Ombudsman said that over 30 people have been killed and more than 80 others, including 47 civilians, have been injured in the republic as a result of violence this year.

On October 16, a blast in an elevator killed a prominent commander of the Donetsk People's Republic colonel Arseniy Pavlov (call sign Motorola). The Donetsk authorities accused Kiev of masterminding the murder.

The armed conflict in eastern Ukraine flared up in April 2014 as a local counter-reaction to the West-sponsored Maidan coup in Kiev that had toppled legitimate President Viktor Yanukovych in February. Residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions held independence referendums and proclaimed the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Kiev has since been conducting a military operation, encountering stiff local resistance.

In February 2015, Kiev forces and Donbass independence supporters signed a peace agreement in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in Donbass, as well as constitutional reforms that would give a special status to the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Since then, the ceasefire regime has been regularly violated, with both sides accusing each other of multiple breaches, undermining the terms of the accord.

 Sputnik

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Trump Tells Poroshenko U.S. Will Work To Restore Peace In Ukraine

RFE/RL February 05, 2017

The White House says President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko the United States will work to end the deadly conflict near the Russian border in eastern Ukraine.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said in a statement issued on February 4.

The statement added that the two leaders discussed the possibility of meeting in the near future.

A statement by Poroshenko's office said the two leaders "noted the urgent necessity of establishing a complete cease-fire" in the region.

The Ukrainian president thanked Trump for his "strong support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," the statement added.

The call came as an upsurge in fighting has killed at least 35 in a week of escalated fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has expressed concern that Trump could roll back some sanctions imposed on Russia after its illegal 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and in retaliation for Moscow's military, economic, and political support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Trump has repeatedly expressed hope for improved relations with Moscow. The phone call came a week after Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On February 2, the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, expressed "strong condemnation of Russia's actions" in eastern Ukraine and warned that Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia would not be lifted until Crimea was returned to Kyiv.

"Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control of the peninsula to Ukraine," she said.

At least 9,800 people have been killed since the conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted in April 2014.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/trump-poroshenko -phone-call-russia-putin/28279111.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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To the editor:

I am for making our country safe from terrorist attacks, but President Trumps actions on extreme vetting are so unnecessary. Foreign nationals wishing to relocate to the United States already face very intense scrutiny and an extensive visa application process that takes up to two years.

In one week, he has managed to alienate any hope for peace in this country and cordial relationships with the rest of the sovereign nations who dont agree with this policy at all. Since Trump issued his ban on refugees, we have heard the cries of resistance from around the world to challenge the ban. Eagerly anticipated family reunifications are now indefinitely postponed.

Trumps policy on immigration is a policy against Islam, not terrorism. Trump said he would allow Christians in, though. Why not anyone if they pass the vetting program already in place? Permanent residents of the United States fear theyll be denied reentry if they leave the country to visit friends or family. His actions undermine our values and our Constitution and are based on a religion  Islam. Trump has forgotten that his mother, Mary Anne Macleod, illegally immigrated to the United States in 1929.

We are a nation of religious refugees. Over and over, we have opened our door to those fleeing war and terror. It will give life back to the terrorist movement and get Americans killed.

The real danger here is homegrown terror. ISIS is in retreat, but Trump has now handed them a path to rebirth. They will use this as confirmation that America is at war with Muslims. Lone-wolf attackers in America will have new energy and purpose. All the work we have done to cut down on extremist recruitment at home and abroad is now at risk.

Extreme vetting to me is just racism in disguise. Demonizing refugees and immigrants and spending billions of taxpayer dollars to keep them out is so wrong. Trumps actions are a embarrassment to the world. Trump is using national security as a guise for bigotry and doesnt strengthen our national security at all. A common-sense measure would be to ban people on the terrorist watch list from buying firearms in America, something which is not being done now. And also make sure Europeans are sharing counter-terrorism intelligence with each instead of pursing misguided policies rooted in pure bigotry and fear.

ROBERT HAYDEN

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The festival was organised by medical doctors Mina El-Naggar and Khaled Ali, who share a passion for film

A two-day forum with short film screenings, Medfest: Under the Skin took place 27 January at the Creativity Centre and on 28 January at Falaki Theatre, centering on the theme of mental health.

The first edition of Medfest describes itself as "a cinematic voyage into mental health."

It unites the art of film and the science of medicine, celebrating the place where they overlap as a fertile ground for intriguing discourse, and shining a spotlight on untapped potential.

Medicine is a factual science, and films are the world of magic and imagination; they teach us how to feel, organiser Mina El-Naggar said in opening words at the event.

El-Naggar is a clinical nutritionist, an actor and a filmmaker. His short film The Birthmark Man won the first prize in the 48 Hour Film Festival.

He added that medical conditions are an integral aspect of the human experience, so its inevitable that they find their way into film across different genres.

Films allow us to know the patient and encourage empathy, something essential in the practice of medicine, which should go beyond diagnosing the patient, geriatrician Khaled Ali added.

Medfest was born out of a conversation he had during Cairos Panorama of the European Film Festival between El-Naggar and Ali, who is a senior lecturer in geriatrics and stroke medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and editor of The Screening Room section of the Medical Humanities British Medical Journal online.

Ali is also a writer of film reviews with a focus on humane and medical aspects, contributing to top international film festivals including Cannes, Edinburgh and the Dubai Film Festival.

Upon discovering their mutual passion for film alongside their careers in medicine, the two men initiated the event in Egypt inspired by a similar one held in the UK, as a platform for professionals and enthusiasts alike across both disciplines.

Medfest also aims to propagate empathy and dissolve stigmas while raising awareness on the social impact of different illnesses, which arent always recognisable to the general public.

El-Naggar told Ahram Online that many of the films that came in response to their open call contained stigmas, which they didnt wish to encourage, leading them to only select a couple of them. The other works were curated from films the organisers have seen before at festivals, and felt were relevant to the theme.

Medfest is all kinds of medical subjects. We started with mental health, or the psychological aspect, and we will expand it, but there will always be a psychological reference. All health issues and illnesses are real drama from real life, and drama is always linked to the psychological aspect.

The plan for the coming editions of Medfest is to have an open call for filmmakers in advance, and hopefully to offer grants or funds for production of relevant films.

Between two worlds

On the second day of Medfest at Falaki Theatre, seven Egyptian and international short films were screened throughout the evening, with discussion sessions held in between.

The discussions, moderated by Ali, invited to the stage panelists from different backgrounds  film and medicine  to field questions from the audience and delve into the films from the perspective of two seemingly divergent disciplines.

The many points where film and medicine can meet were also reflected in the diversity of the films.

Two films were screened under the theme of Between two worlds: the Egyptian film Compos Mentis and the UK film Outside, each tackling psychological questions in different ways.

Video art film Compos Mentis by Mohammad Shawky Hassan offered an artistic interpretation exploring the fine line between sanity and madness, and the social obligations that dictate what being normal is.

The films title is the Latin phrase meaning to have full control of ones mind. The film has no linear narrative, but is suggestive of the themes it tackles. It is the voiceover that plays an important role in making it a psychological exploration.

The film opens with a woman in conversation with a philosopher around what makes a sound man and sound mind. We are presented with various stories during different parts of the film, such as a woman who has a condition of uncontrollable laughter, leading her to limit her social interactions to spare herself from the judgement of others. The auditory material also includes sound clips from the Egyptian film Ber El-Herman, starring Soad Hosny as a schizophrenic seductress.

The sound created a tension, and the dialogue from Ber El-Herman (Well of Deprivation) seems to have been selected very carefully, it gave me a whole new context for the film, Egyptian film director Amir Ramsis said in the discussion.

Ali pointed out how the film included many scenes from religious spaces, and scenes of holy rituals such as baptism.

Perhaps this is linked to how some religious practices were often resorted to for curing people from psychological problems, such as El-Zar rituals, Ali offered, as a means of deciphering the films conceptual language.

Dr Hani Shoeb, head of the psychological medicine section at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in England, highlighted the difference between restraint and suppression.

Restraint is through obligations, which make boundaries for the individual, religion can be one of them, as well as social expectations, he said.

Outside, directed by Dolly Sen took a more direct approach, created with the intention of being informative and educational.

The film offers an example of the real life drama El-Naggar referred to. Evoking a thriller fiction, Outside centres on a woman suffering from psychosis, a condition that makes a simple shopping trip a challenging ordeal in every step as she battles with hallucinations.

The director herself has lived through psychosis, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder and mood disorder. It is one of a group of films she made to raise awareness on what psychological conditions feel like to those experiencing them, and to better help other people understand them.

Its directness makes it easily relatable to a wide range of audience, as opposed to the conceptual play and artistic ambiguity that Compos Mentis portrayed.

During the open discussion, an audience member raised the question of to what extent has Egyptian cinema effectively presented psychological health issues?

Ramsiss response was that the potential was largely unexploited, noting that many Egyptian films tend to use the psychological condition non-seriously, or as a plot twist, instead of placing it at the centre of the story.

Some examples of the latter include Mariam Naoums television series Taht El-Saytara,

It must be taken into consideration though, that filmmakers need to make the story attractive. Just portraying a psychological condition isnt attractive enough to the audience, Shoeb said.

When an audience suggestion emerged to create a series, similar to Sens films, that would be accurate enough for medical students to learn from, Ramsis also pointed to the issue of production.

This is not a genre that Egyptian production companies will care to invest in, so the project will be up against that establishment. Many of the films and series that tackled such issues were co-produced by the institutions that cared for the cause, he said.

A look from the inside

The second round of screenings grouped five films under the theme of A look from the inside. All the films in this group touched upon the situation of children, who are often tangled in the traumas of the adults around them.

A Game by Egyptian director Marwa Zein offered an excellent drama, featuring a young girl who turns the tables on her mother through a game of role play, surprising her with how much she knows.

We often underestimate how aware children are of the troubles around them. They can feel any shifts in the energy around them in the household, Dr Tarig Diab, consultant in child psychiatry at Dubais El-Galeila Hospital, said.

A different type of film was To This Day by Shayne Koyczan, a slam poetry with animation video on the subject of child bullying and its effects that can last into adulthood.

It is the most direct of the five films in terms of sending a message, as the poem is spoken in the first person as well as third person. The emotional charge in the poetry is a poignant and powerful reminder of how this is not an issue to be taken lightly.

Mavie Mahers film Bayeha, from Egypt, touched on the effect of trauma on children, though this wasnt originally meant to be at the centre of its story.

The degree of relevance was similar in the British film Dr Easy, where a man who is about to commit suicide, and we learn that he will be leaving a child behind, leaving us to imagine the consequences.

The British short documentary Notes from Inside showed musics therapeutic effect, as a successful pianist, James Rhodes, revisits the psychiatric hospital in which he stayed.

After sharing how he was saved by music, the film documents an experiment where he brings live classical music and installs a piano  in the hospital, in hopes that he can use music to help patients there work through their struggles.

Rhodes particularly bonds with a patient who like him has a young boy, and shares with her his emotions of guilt toward his son, and how seeing him was the main reason he backed out of suicide.

On the subject of children, the audience brought up the subject of onscreen violence and age limits, questioning how responsible directors are when it comes to children watching scenes of violence.

This responsibility cant be placed on the director or the artist, who should be able to do his work the way he wishes. I believe there should be more effort from entities to enforce age group censorship, Ramsis said.

As the discussion came to a close, a medicine student asked how he could move forward with a project and create more works that bridge medicine and film.

We often think of change as something that comes from an organisation. Maybe in the Arab world this is not even practical anymore. Im all for individual efforts. Perhaps this discussion will lead someone into taking an initiative to start something like that, and the effect will ripple, Ramsis said.



For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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RINGGOLD  Axxor employees, guests and local officials gathered at the plant in Ringgold on Tuesday to celebrate its fifth anniversary of doing business in Pittsylvania County.

The company started looking for the perfect location in 2011 and announced it would be opening its first North American plant to manufacture honeycomb fiberboard for use in furniture building, primarily for IKEA.

Axxor is based in the Netherlands, with a plant there and another in Poland. Last year, the company produced about 40 million square feet of honeycomb fiberboard, the Danville plants president, Robert Boerrigter, said.

Guests were given a tour of the plant, watching a dozen huge rolls of paper wind through machinery that turns it into the tough material honeycomb fiberboard is. The Pittsylvania County plant continues to supply the material to IKEA and other furniture manufacturers to strengthen items such as bookcases  but has also branched out into creating parts used in automobile manufacturing.

If theres a cover over the spare tire in your trunk, its probably made of honeycomb fiberboard between other material, the plants operations manager, Bill Conrad, said.

To handle the extra demand from automotive contract, the plant recently expanded from one full shift to one-and-a-half, and expects to go to two full shifts shortly, Boerrigter said. That expansion is expected to create six additional jobs.

My hope is well go right through a second shift and have to add a third, Boerrigter said.

Wieger Wiegersma  who founded the company in the Netherlands and now is over operations in Europe and a partner in the Pittsylvania County location  said about 140 people are employed at the three plants.

Were growing and we need good people, Wiegersma said. We build our own equipment, so we dont expect people to be trained already. We need people who want to learn and to take responsibility  well train them. We are not looking for short-term relationships.

People interested in working at Axxor can visit the companys website at www.axxor.eu for information; send a resume to axxor@jobs.eu, or drop a resume off at the Pittsylvania County plant at 2275 Cain Creek Parkway, Ringgold.
Local Water, Local Control The people of San Lorenzo Valley who want to maintain local control of our water should vote to reelect Bob Fultz to the Board of the SLV Water District. During the recent attempt to merge with the Scotts Valley Water District, Director Fultz strongly advocated to...
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RALEIGH  Legislators from the Greensboro area say they hope the North Carolina General Assemblys new session will not get mired in the winner-take-all politics that gridlocked the federal government in recent years.

Just like the situation in Washington until recently, both legislative chambers in Raleigh are solidly controlled by the Republicans while Democrats now occupy the executive branch.

That formula did not work out so well in the nations capital during the last few years of the Obama administration, but North Carolinas governmental DNA differs in important ways that should yield a better outcome on West Jones Street, said state Sen. Phil Berger, the senates influential president pro tem who represents parts of Guilford and Rockingham counties.

The GOP leader from Eden said the state Constitutions requirement that the General Assembly produce a balanced budget forces the two sides to collaborate in ways alien to Capitol Hill, where the feds face no such requirement.

I think its also closer here than it is in Washington. Here, its not unusual for me to leave the office and walk down a block to see the governor, Berger said, referring to his Democratic counterweight, newly installed Gov. Roy Cooper.

My guess is that doesnt happen in Washington. Theres just more direct interaction here, and when you have that, its a little easier to make it work.

State Rep. Pricey Harrison said that she and other Democrats also are hopeful the two sides can collaborate more effectively this session than last.

There seems to be a different tone this time, Harrison said, speaking of inter-party relations within the House of Representatives. It seems to be more cooperative and congenial. ... Im appreciative to the House leadership for being responsive to the minority party.

Without naming names, the Guilford delegations senior Democrat, embarking on her seventh term, attributed some of the improved atmosphere to fewer of the extreme right members in the Republican caucus this session than the previous one.

But nobody should confuse civil back and forth with the complete abandonment of hardball politics. On the Senate side, state Sen. Gladys Robinson said she and others from the Democratic Party arent necessarily feeling the love on a full-time basis.

We really havent been able to get any information from the Republicans in terms of what they are doing, said Robinson, of Greensboro.

Robinson said for the state to move forward and prosper in ways that benefit all its residents, the two parties must forge a better working relationship. The four-term senator points to the breakdown of the deal to repeal the divisive House Bill 2 bathroom bill in December as the classic example of what must not continue.

Both parties appeared to have an agreement worked out to deep-six the law that has tarnished North Carolinas economy and image with accusations of LGBT bias. But the pact fell apart amid bitter recriminations all around.

Unfortunately, the end of last year was not a good signal, she said of that impasse. I am urging the entire General Assembly to work with the governor.

Robinson listed a series of goals for the session that, at least in subject matter, were not that far afield from those mentioned in recent interviews by her Republican counterparts in the nine-member Guilford delegation that includes six representatives and three senators.

Robinson said the session would be successful from her perspective if it results in real strides in criminal justice reform, more effective economic development strategies, and improvements in such educational areas as better teacher pay, pre-kindergarten programs and school building repairs.

State Rep. Jon Hardister said the states budget, employment levels and tax structure have improved markedly under Republican legislative control for the last six years. He noted that North Carolinas rainy day fund has increased to $1.5 billion, including a $300 million surplus from last years budget alone.

That gives the state added leeway to make inroads on such statewide issues as average teacher salaries, which fall below national norms, the three-term Greensboro Republican said.

I feel very confident well provide a pay increase for teachers this year, Hardister said. I dont know the exact percentage, but I do think we will increase teacher pay again.

Hardister said that at the nexus of economic development and higher education, he hopes to foster programs that focus on job specific training partnerships between companies that need highly skilled workers and the community colleges and universities that can impart those skills.

Hardister added he believes the partisan divide in the General Assembly often looks deeper from the outside than it really is within the Legislative Buildings halls.

I think were going to find common ground, he said. I know weve had disagreements, but thats not unusual in politics.

He estimated that 80 percent of the General Assemblys actions proceed in a bipartisan spirit and are not controversial.

Unfortunately, its only the more contentious issues that people hear about, he said.

He pointed to the bipartisan delegations meeting Thursday evening with the Greensboro City Council, where legislators of both parties met cordially with the nonpartisan municipal body made up mostly of registered Democrats to discuss the city governments legislative wish list for the new session that debuted last month.

One council request was to consider ways of improving the states new police body cam law, which might have been a sensitive subject because one of the new laws principal architects, state Rep. John Faircloth, was among the delegations attendees.

But the High Point Republican was open to taking another look for possible changes to the law that governs under what circumstances videos of police encounters with suspects and others may be released for public scrutiny.

We promised last year to do that as part of the negotiations we had with the various parties across the state, Faircloth said. What I hear so far is that its working well, though in some instances it may not be as convenient as some people would like.

Faircloth said in addition to that review, he plans to work for legislation this session that would help public officials as they battle North Carolinas terrible problem with opioids and heroin addiction.

Its not just a matter of putting people away in prison, the former police chief and High Point city councilman said.

Freshman Democratic lawmaker Amos Quick said that among other things, he hopes the session will take steps to fix the many aging schools around the state that are in disrepair and desperately need fixing.

Ive spoken with Gov. Cooper about it, and he recognizes it as a need, said Quick, who won his House seat after serving for years on the Guilford County Board of Education.

Veteran legislator Harrison said repealing HB 2 has to be a top commitment, but she also plans to work on a laundry list of initiatives ranging from additional coal ash legislation to getting a handle on the pesticides that are devastating natures system of plant pollination by destroying the states bee population.

Wait! More coal ash?

We need to ensure that rate payers dont get stuck with the clean-up costs, she said, referring to Duke Energys required closure of its decades-old storage ponds where the waste product lies submerged.

Theres a donnybrook waiting for combatants, if ever there was one.

So the General Assembly is sure to see a dust-up here and there in the months ahead as the General Assembly puts together the two-year budget that is its major focus every other year and the reason they call this one the long session.

GOP powerhouse Berger said that to make this a successful session in his estimation, he wants to see that budget done by June 30 when the current fiscal year ends, room in the new spending plan for teacher pay raises and additional tax reduction, and regulatory reform to get rid of measures imposing high costs or great inconvenience on private enterprise without any corresponding benefit to public safety or environmental quality.

That last item is another of those with great potential to raise hackles among members of the opposing party from Manteo to Murphy and back. So it might also be worth noting what else Berger said last week:

A successful session also would mean that we found a way to work cooperatively with the Cooper administration in accomplishing all those things.
A memorable and wholesome political event occurred in downtown Raleigh in early January.

It was memorable because it commemorated what became a landmark change in North Carolina politics. And it was wholesome because in todays attack-dog electoral climate, positive politics of reasonableness and respect are seldom discussed.

The occasion was an informal luncheon gathering to celebrate the Hargrove Skipper Bowles gubernatorial campaign of 1972  45 years ago. Bowles, a Democrat, lost that campaign to James Holshouser Jr. who became the first Republican to be elected governor in this state in 75 years.

The significance of the Jan. 10 Raleigh event was the fact that the Bowles campaign staff, which held the luncheon, has remained cohesive and pretty much together for almost 50 years. That clearly shows the depth and breadth of their care and concern for their candidate and what he represented.

Historically, when political candidates win, campaign staffs and hangers-on flock to become part of the continuing effort, seeking credit. Conversely, when candidates lose, campaign staffs disperse, seek to hide from their perceived mistakes and are soon forgotten.

Not so with the Bowles staff. They still feel confident after more than four decades that their candidate was the best choice, could and would have been good for the state, and that his values and ideas still have merit.

Bowles was a successful Greensboro businessman known for his progressive views on education and economical growth. Early in that campaign against at the time a little-known mountain lawyer named Holshouser, Bowles was the perceived sure winner. Time and presidential candidates helped change all that, leading to what became a turning point in North Carolina politics.

The real political turmoil in that gubernatorial campaign was actually in the Democratic primary, where Bowles and his opponent, Lt. Gov. Pat Taylor, engaged in a tangle of wills. Bowles won that battle, but it may well have cost him the war in the general election because Democrats never healed their party wounds. Also working against Democrats that year was the fact that Republicans had Richard Nixon at the top of their presidential ticket and Democrats had George McGovern, who was about as popular as a case of poison ivy.

What was unusual in the Bowles-Holshouser campaign was that neither side threw hollow slogans nor wallowed in the muck of what today is called alternative facts. The two candidates stuck to real facts. They agreed on many things, just taking different approaches to similar solutions. On other topics and issues, they disagreed but spent their time explaining their differences, not condemning or demeaning their opponent.

It was a wholesome and worthy way to campaign because both candidates were good and decent individuals who both practiced as well as preached tolerance and respect. That clearly counted with the Bowles staff.

That theme was evident in the reunion luncheon conversations among Bowles loyalists. Their words were praise for their guy, not criticism of the opposition. Bowles often spoke in his campaign of adding to the community woodpile, his way of saying candidates and others needed to work to help people with genuine needs. That phrase was often repeated at the recent gathering because it is still relevant and his loyal staff remembered.

Bowles, in fact, carried out his woodpile philosophy throughout his remaining years after his political loss. He directed initiatives large and small in his later life before his death in 1986. Two of his notable projects were creation of an alcohol research center at UNC-Chapel Hill and his initial efforts to build the Dean Smith Center on the UNC campus.

Its unfortunate that in todays political climate, too many candidates only want to chop down trees and burn the timber rather than use it to add to the woodpiles for present and future needs.

Hargrove Skipper Bowles left a worthy legacy. His staff remembers. It would be heartening if others did, too.
Regarding your article Jan. 28, Comfort for survivors of Holocaust, I am writing to tell you about an organization in Israel that also needs our support. It is called Friends of Zion and was started by Dr. Michael D. Evans, who is a Jewish Christian. He is doing a mighty work there, helping Holocaust survivors and showing the Jewish people that Christians are standing with them. They are still Gods Chosen People.

I have done much reading about World War II and the Holocaust, and the horrors that the Jewish people went through are beyond description. I hope that President Trump will do all in his power to support Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The internet address for this organization is www.jerusalemnprayerteam.org. Mike Evans has written a book about Benjamin Netanyahu, which I read with much interest.

By the way, David Jeremiah, who preaches on TV on Sunday mornings, is also very pro-Israel.

Vivian Robinson

Jamestown
REIDSVILLE  A huge blizzard in 1950 in Pennsylvania first piqued Bea Mansfields interest in feeding birds.

That commitment that has grown and expanded into other areas over the ensuing years, including bird counting.

Mansfield has counted more than her share of birds over the past 30 years.

The snow began to fall the day before Thanksgiving 1950 in Neshannock Township, Lawrence County, Pa., Mansfield said. It continued for two or three days covering everything in a three-foot blanket of white.

As we struggled to endure, we wondered how the birds and other wildlife could survive such unusual and harsh conditions.

That Christmas, 9-year-old Bea received The Burgess Bird Book for Children from her father. In the book, Peter Rabbit visited the birds of the forest, orchards, and fields. Each bird had his own personality and lifestyle.

I was fascinated, Mansfield said. Perhaps Dad felt sorry for the birds who had struggled through the Thanksgiving blizzard.

We started feeding the birds, she said. I took that book into the yard and woods where I saw American woodcocks and many other birds.

Mansfield wanted to learn more about the birds and always looked for them as she trudged through the woods and fields.

In April, Mansfield will complete her 30th year participating in counting birds dining at her expansive bird-feeding area. She also served as the first president of the North Carolina Bluebird Society and is the person many people seek out when they see a new bird they cant identify.

Mansfield has done 477 counts and has nine or 10 more counts to do this season. Shes about halfway through the current 20-count season. Mansfield counts on Sundays and Mondays of each week and has recorded 57 different species at her feeders since 1987.

We count the most individuals of a species we see at one time, Mansfield said. That way the same bird does not get counted more than once. If I see two male cardinals now, I count two cardinals. If later I see one male and one female cardinal, the count would still be 2 cardinals.

How much seed she uses depends a lot on the weather. If it is bad, she gets more birds, and that requires more kinds of food.

A deep snow will bring out birds you dont usually see at the feeders, Mansfield said.

In one month, she might use 100 pounds of sunflower seeds, 40 pounds of mixed seed and six to eight suet cakes. Mansfield also prepares bluebird meal as she needs it during cold weather.

Most of the birds like it, so if its hard for the birds to find bugs or berries, the seed goes quickly, she said.

Mansfield uses black-oil sunflower seed in tube and hopper feeders. She spreads a mixed seed on the ground for the birds that do not eat from feeders  mourning doves, sparrows, juncos, towhees, hermit thrush. Suet is important because it gives the birds fat and protein they need to help them stay warm during cold weather.

Since some birds, such as Carolina wren, pine warbler and ruby-crowned kinglet do not eat seeds, they need suet and a bluebird meal Mansfield makes for them.

Many people have great luck getting Eastern bluebirds to eat this meal, but I have not been so lucky, Mansfield said.

Birds also need fresh, not frozen, water during winter for drinking and bathing. Clean feathers provide more insulation than dirty ones. The bluebirds do like the heated birdbath.

Over the years, Mansfield has planted trees and shrubs to add to the variety of foods, nesting and protection for the birds.

After she married Bill Mansfield in 1962 and they moved to Warren County, Pa., the couple began feeding the birds.

There we saw our first and only American crossbills, Mansfield said.

In 1975, Bill was transferred to Essex County, Ontario, Canada, to work.

We lived in South Woodslee, where we again fed the birds, Mansfield said. I vaguely remember counting birds there, perhaps for Long Point.

In 1983, the couple was back in Warren, where flocks of evening grosbeaks entertained them while cleaning out the sunflower feeders around the neighborhood. It was also where Mansfield saw her first bluebird.

We also enjoyed the red-breasted nuthatches, Mansfield said. Our sons (Mike and Steve) were learning about birds because of our hobby.

Bill, an engineer with GTE, was transferred to Rockingham County in 1984.

Mansfield became more involved in bird count projects.

In June 2007, she and 118 of the more than 4,000 original participants in the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and Bird Studies, Canadas Project FeederWatch program, received letters from the program commemorating its anniversary and their 20 years of service.

The participants also received Bird Songs, a book of bird photos and information, including a sound player with recordings of each birds songs.

The organization paid tribute to Mansfield and other founding members on its Original FeederWatchers Web page.

I hope to count for another five years, but health problems will determine how long I can continue, she said. I have added several birds to my life list here in North Carolina.

Bird-count projects require civilians to count and report the highest numbers and the species of birds at their feeders from November until April, Mansfield said. The count she is doing now started Nov. 13 and runs for 20 weeks.

The reports help scientists track broad scale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance.

Often, Mansfield participates in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. In 2008, Mansfield said, more than 9.8 million birds of 635 species were reported. That year, the bird counters submitted more than 85,000 checklists  an all-time record at that time for the count.

Mansfield said bird counting is a good project for students and youth organizations.

This is a fun project and watching the returns come in over the Internet is very interesting, she said. You can see the counts for your state and town.

Recently Mansfield gave a Roger Tory Peterson song bird coloring book to Morgan Stanley, a 12-year-old friend of Caroline, Mansfields granddaughter.

Morgan is so interested in birds that I hope birding will become a lifelong hobby for her like it did for me, Mansfield said.

Many birds are beautiful, Mansfield said. All can be fascinating.

They have given me a lot of enjoyment and kept me interested for 65 years now.
WENTWORTH  Health officials from across Rockingham County came together to discuss community health action plans and involvement on Jan. 24 at the Community Health Assessment Public Forum at Whitcomb Student Center on the campus of Rockingham Community College.

The 2016 Rockingham County Health Assessment was a collaborative effort between the Rockingham County Department of Health and Human Services, Morehead Memorial Hospital and Annie Penn Hospital.

Not only do they cause us to look at both the issues facing our communities, as well as the assets and resources that we have, but they also help us to set our priorities and focus areas for the next few years while holding us accountable.

Over the next few months and years I hope to see all of you still engaged in the process as we move to improving the health outcomes for Rockingham County because together we can definitely make sure that Rockingham County is a good place for our health.

Through the assistance of the Community Health Assessment Advisory Group, led by Healthy Carolinian Director Beth Scurry, the three agencies came together in January of 2015 for the first time to merge the required public health based Community Health Assessment with a hospital-based community health needs assessment.

Community health assessments play an important role in public health, said newly-hired Rockingham County Health Director Lucretia Hoffman to open up the forum.

The CHAAG consists of 15 represented community organizations that collected data for the CHA in a three-step process: door-to-door surveys, target population focus groups and data retrieved from reputable sources.

Focus groups of various community residents were used to ask health and human services questions as well as to assess diverse populations in the community that may not have been represented in the surveys.

Community leaders and those in attendance received the official Community Health Assessment Executive Summary and primary and secondary data collected through the process.

The CHAAG also used data from Caldwell, Surry and Guilford County, as well as Henry County, Virginia to compare services.

Goal numbers set in Healthy NC 2020, North Carolinas 10-year health plan, served as the groups comparison for how much improvement is needed through Rockingham County.

The committee identified the top health concerns in the community at a meeting on April 27, 2016. Data was presented to 60 community organizations, business and residents in attendance on the top 15 community health concerns.

After a voting process, small groups were formed to break down the top six concerns that were selected by a voting process. Each small group then rated and ranked its top priority area.

Access to healthcare, the social detriments of health through education, as well as physical activity and nutrition were selected as the focal points of the health assessment.

According to the CHA Executive survey, Rockingham County only has 4.7 primary care doctors per 10,000 people  compared to the 7.6 state average and the totals garnered in neighboring Caldwell (5.1) and Guilford (8.1) counties.

While physician recruitment remains a top priority, so will the changing landscape of healthcare. As of 2015, 16 percent of Rockingham County residents from ages 0-64 are uninsured. In the 18-34 age bracket, 23 percent of the countywide population is without health insurance.

The county is combating those numbers with newly-found efforts like the Integrated Healthcare program which is focuses on aligning existing county and community resources for medical care, behavioral health care, and social services through a shared records system.

The initiative plans to strengthen communication and coordination to increase access to primary care and cut the overutilization of emergency room services.

On the physical activity and nutrition front, residents meeting suggested requirements are well below target goals.

In the Rockingham County Health Opinion Survey, only 14 percent of residents registered consuming the recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day. The goal set for the state through the Healthy 2020 NC campaign is 29.3 percent.

According to the assessment, 49 percent of restaurants across the county are of the fast food variety and 19 percent of residents are considered food insecure.

In the same survey, 37.25 percent of residents noted getting the recommended 150 hours of moderate physical activity recommended. Healthy NC 2020 has set a target goal of 60.6 percent across the state.

Educationally, 79 percent of residents have a high school diploma or higher, with 13.1 percent of those graduates having a bachelors degree or higher. Surry (15.2), Caldwell (13.4) and Guilford (33.7) all have higher percentages compared to the 27.8 percent stage average.

Despite that fact, graduation rates at the high school level are on the rise. RCS saw an 81.4 percent graduation rate following the 2014-15 school year  the highest percentage the district has seen in a decade.

The assessment also addressed income and employment. Citing U.S. Census Bureau numbers from 2014, the report stated that the per capital personal income for a Rockingham County resident was $21,138. That was nearly $4,500 below the state average. The average household income was $38,946 or $7,747 less than the state average.

According to the 2015 Rockingham County Health Opinion Survey, 64.53 percent of residents commute to Guilford County for employment purposes.

To view the full 2016 Community Health Assessment Executive Summary, click here.
We've seen this movie before - a Xiaomi Redmi Note on top of our weekly Top 10 trending chart for weeks on end. Now it's the Mediatek version of the Redmi Note 4 that's been holding the crown for three weeks in a row. The Snapdragon version is in here too, only in 9th spot. The previous model hasn't fallen off the chart either - the Redmi Note 3 is in 6th this week.

Returning to the podium, we see that the Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime has reclaimed its second spot, which the Nokia 6 occupied for a couple of weeks. The 6 itself is in 3rd.

We have a couple of new entries this week, both coming from Samsung. One is the Galaxy A5 (2017) - the fine premium midranger we reviewed recently joins the chart in number 8.

The other newcomer, believe it or not, is the Galaxy S8. Samsung's future flagship is not to be announced until March 29, and yet almost 2 months ahead of that it's already in 7th spot in our trending phones chart.




Haiti - FLASH : Pre-Carnival festivities for children





The mayor of Port-au-Prince, Ralph Yuri Chevry, informs the general public that during the pre-carnival festivities of this Sunday, February 5, 2017, traffic will be banned from the Chretien lane to Chemin des Dalles from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm to carry out activities for children.



The Municipal Administration of Port-au-Prince already thanks the population for their understanding and contribution to the success of these activities.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Education : Recruitment of teachers, denial of the Ministry





Faced with the allegations made by certain leaders of trade unions and others in the education sector suggesting that the Ministry of National Education has made several appointments of teachers in the public sector in recent months, the Ministry wishes to make a formal denial of these statements without any foundation.



The Ministry wishes to draw to the attention of all that the Administration has not appointed a teacher since the inauguration of Minister Jean Beauvois Dorsonne at the end of March 2016 due to the absence of expected budgetary provisions and liabilities linked to all the cases of appointment of teaching and administrative staff overdue for several years.



Moreover, the Ministry specifies that the Minister Dorsonne did not benefit from any delegation of the Prime Minister to proceed in this way. The Ministry's choice not to make appointments without ensuring the necessary budgetary resources, responds to a concern for good governance in order to not aggravate the situation.



The Ministry is concerned about the real motivations of those who circulate these false information deliberately.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2017/02/04

Disney to distribute its first Korean film, Film Journal International reviews "The King", KoBiz's latest infographic looks at Lunar New Year winners past and present, and Marvel's "Black Panther" set to shoot a massive chase scene in "the city of film".

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"Disney Picks Up "My Little Brother" for Korea Release"

Editor-turned-director Ma Dae-yun's family drama "My Little Brother" (2017) will be the first Korean film Disney distributes. The film, which is set for release in Korea the day after Valentine's Day, and stars Lee Yo-won, Jung Man-sik, Esom and Jung Joon-won, follows two siblings who discover they have a younger sibling and have to rush to solve the mystery surrounding their newly discovered family member. According to the film's directors, "Disney picked up this film because the company thought its family theme would fit their motto".

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"Film Review: The King"

Daniel Eagan, writing for Film Journal International, reviews Han Jae-rim's new film, "The King". The film stars Zo In-sung and Jung Woo-sung and was released in Korea mid-January where it went straight to number one. Currently, the film is the second-highest grossing Korean film of the year with 4.5 million admissions ($32.4 million), just behind "Confidential Assignment" (5 million admissions). "The movie's glitzy approach owes more than a little to Martin Scorsese, but its tame disclosures and weird bromances are completely homegrown", writes Daniel.

...READ ON FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

"Who is the Winner over the Lunar New Year's Holiday?"

Lunar New Year was recently celebrated in Korea, so that means that many folks headed to the cinema, but what films have come out on top over the years during this highly competitive time of year? This year the two local contenders where "The King" and "Confidential Assignment", with the latter pulling ahead just before the big celebrations, but can you remember (or guess) what films have triumphed over the past few years? KoBiz's latest infographic has the reveals all...

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"Marvel's 'Black Panther' to Shoot Huge Chase Scene in Korea"

Marvel's upcoming superhero film "Black Panther" (directed by Ryan Cooler and starring Chadwick Boseman) will be coming to Korea's 'City of Film' (aka Busan) to shoot a massive chase scene that will involve around "some 150 cars and more than 700 people". Oh, there will also be a helicopter and some shots (blanks) fired. "The city, known for hosting Asia's biggest film festival, will see its landmarks including the Gwangalli beach, Gwangan Bridge, and the Jagalchi fish market near Nampodong, used in the movie". Heads up, Busan!

...READ ON VARIETY
Published on 2017/02/04

Expat restauranteurs thrive in Korea, My Korean Kitchen makes 'good kimchi', find out what food is best for foreigners to give them an authentic cultural experience, and Sue lists her top ten kitchen essentials for K-cooking.

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"Young, foreign restaurateurs make foray into Seoul alleys"

Do you think the only good food in Korea is made by Koreans? Think again: "A growing number of expat restaurateurs in their 20s and 30s are bringing the flavors of their home countries to the affordable back alleys of trendy Seoul neighborhoods, away from Itaewon, the traditional foreigner enclave". In this article on the Korea Herald, you'll read all about how one foreign duo opened their own restaurant in Yeonnam-dong, Seoul, called "L'Empreinte" ("impression"). If you're in the neighbourhood, give it a try and let us know just how scrumptious the food is...

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"NON-SPICY WHITE KIMCHI (BAEK KIMCHI)"

Sue's latest post on My Korean Kitchen shows us how to make non-spicy white kimchi. If the regular (spicy) red kimchi is too much for you, this style of Kimchi may be just what the doctor ordered: "Unlike regular kimchi (spicy kinds) made with Korean chili flakes (gochugaru)", writes Sue, "Baek Kimchi ("white kimchi") doesn't use any chili flakes. Instead, it is submerged in fruity salty brine". Beautiful images, easy-to-follow steps, and printable recipe card to file-thanks, My Korean Kitchen!

...READ ON MY KOREAN KITCHEN

"'Samgyeopsal + soju' picked as best Korean meal for foreigners"

And the number one food and drink for foreigners is...samgyeopsal and soju! This is according to a survey conducted by Sungshin Women's University that asked over 500 Korean students from various universities around the world what South Korean food would give foreigners the best food cultural experience. Do you agree? What food and drink do you think is the most popular among foreigners? Let us know, along with your favourites, in the comment section below...

...READ ON THE KOREA TIMES

"MY KOREAN KITCHEN ESSENTIAL TOOLS"

Getting started with Korean food may seem a little intimidating at first, but it helps if you have the right tools to begin with. In this post on My Korean Kitchen, Sue highlights some of the essential kitchen tools every Korean food lover should have to hand. Tools like a rice cooker, a skillet, a mixer, and a quality knife; it's all simple stuff really, but knowing you have the right tools for the job may just help to take the edge off. Now let's get cooking!

...READ ON MY KOREAN KITCHEN
By William Schwartz | Published on 2017/02/04

Cheol-ryeong (played by Hyun Bin) is a good North Korean officer who plays by the spirit of the rules. That is, until he fails to heed the literal words of commander Gi-seong (played by Kim Joo-hyuk), and ends up stuck in a disastrous firefight. Although that situation was rather preventable. Why is it that the good guys in the movies always give up their guns in a Mexican standoff? I mean yeah it's an obvious cinematic device, but in the real world no one ever does that for some fairly predictable reasons.

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Anyway! "Confidential Assignment" is the story of how Cheol-ryeong must travel to South Korea in order to retrieve the mcguffin before it's used for evil or something. Gi-seong's nonsensical rants are among the highlights in "Confidential Assignment". He hates communism, loves money, death, and irony (in that order) and will somehow utilize an international criminal gang to liberate the people of North Korea. It's too bad Gi-seong inevitably fails because I'm a little curious what exactly the second step of his plan was going to be.

Alas, director Kim Seong-hoon-III is more interested in genre standards, like how well Cheol-ryeong gets along with South Korean cop Jin-tae (played by Yoo Hae-jin) as they drive from action scene to action scene. The culture clash between Cheol-ryeong and Jin-tae has less to do with nationality as it does background. Cheol-ryeong is a very serious handsome man with a deep dark desire for revenge, and Jin-tae is a flustered homely middle-aged career cop who can never catch a break.

Politics does come up in the form of another incoherent highlight- Jin-tae browbeating Cheol-ryeong over North Korea's poverty and Cheol-ryeong responding with mild annoyance over Jin-tae's repeating obvious propaganda. The political dimensions of "Confidential Assignment" are a lot more interesting than they should be due to the film's inherent optimism. North Korea can do bad things, yet Cheol-ryeong is still loyal to it while also prioritizing his own immediate needs without being murdered for disloyalty. Wow! That sounds like my country!

"Confidential Assignment" is much more a thriller than it is comic relief. And on that front the movie is...passable. I'm willing to go as low as uninspired. The movie isn't really bad so much as it is a connection of various generic setpieces. The two toilet paper scenes stand out less because they looked all that interesting and more because the postscript and prescript about toilet paper was funny, in a kind of "that should not have worked" way.

Whether or not you'll like "Confidential Assignment" depends on which part you're looking at really. While actually watching the movie I was genuinely unimpressed by the formulaic way the action scenes and plot lurched. Yet in retrospect the moments of chemistry between Hyun Bin and Yoo Hae-jin make up for that. While I definitely would have preferred a more creative script "Confidential Assignment" does succeed where it counts by throwing appealing characters into problems and making them come up with solutions.

Review by William Schwartz

"Confidential Assignment" is directed by Kim Seong-hoon-III and features Hyun Bin, Yoo Hae-jin, Kim Joo-hyuk, Jang Young-nam, Lee Dong-hwi and Yoona.
Published on 2017/02/05 | Source

Working hours in Korea have been increasing again recently after a brief lull when it seemed they might stop ranking among the longest in the world.

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According to a report by the Korea Labor and Society Institute on Monday, Koreans worked 2,273 hours in 2015 or 43.6 hours per week. That was 26 hours longer than the previous record in 2013 and 1.3 times the OECD average of 1,766 hours a year.

Some 54.2 percent of workers worked beyond the legal limit of 40 hours a week, according to the report. Men in their late 30s worked the longest hours at 47.1 hours a week. Those with only a high-school diploma worked the longest hours, followed by graduates of vocational colleges and university graduates.

The shipping and transportation sector had the longest working hours at 47.7 a week, followed by manufacturing (45.9) and real estate rental services (45.9).

The biggest reason for the recent surge is a rise in the number of low-paid workers and a consequent drop in the proportion who work only a five-day week. The proportion working five days a week rose from 30.2 percent in 2005 to 66.4 percent in 2013 but then fell to 65.7 percent in 2015.

Other reasons are a preference among employers to make existing staff work longer hours rather than hire new staff, and stalled progress in improving conditions for shift workers.

Park Ji-soon at Korea University said, "Businesses are trying to make staff work longer hours to meet production goals since it's hard to lay off newly hired workers, and employees want the overtime pay".
Published on 2017/02/05 | Source

Marvel Studios will shoot some of the new film in the Avengers franchise, "Black Panther", in Korea.

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Marvel Studios last Friday announced that production of "Black Panther", which will be released in North America early next year, has begun and the shooting will take place in Korea and Atlanta.

Marvel cast Korean actress Claudia Kim, in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" in 2015, and about 20 minutes of the film were shot in Seoul. It attracted 10.5 million viewers in Korea to become the second most successful foreign film here after "Avatar".

Black Panther first made an appearance in "Captain America: Civil War" in 2016. The superhero is the king and protector of a fictional African nation, Wakanda. He is played by Chadwick Boseman.

Read this article in Korean

Update

Marvel Studios will shoot parts of its new film "Black Panther" in Busan in March and April.

Black Panther is a character from the superhero film series that made its first appearance in the Avengers franchise in "Captain America: Civil War" last year. He is played by Chadwick Boseman.

Scenes will be filmed at several tourist sites in Busan such as Gwangalli Beach, Jagalchi Market and Haeundae Beach.

A huge car chase scene involving a helicopter, 150 cars and more than 700 people will be filmed there.

"We will fully support filming by cooperating with relevant organizations as we believe it will be a good opportunity to promote the city", a Busan city official said.

Marvel Studios shot parts of its previous installment "Avengers: Age of Ultron" in Seoul in 2014.
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Unlike previous elections in Punjab, the Congress this time succeeded in taming the rebels who were threatening to play the spoiler once again.

The partys chances of regaining power from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP combine in the 2012 assembly elections were marred by 22 rebel candidates.

In the end, the Congress managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of the victory with the SAD-BJP alliance creating history. Punjab had been witnessing cyclic change since 1966 when it was re-organised along the linguistic formula. This time, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh desperately wanted to avoid that situation and formulated a strategy to rein in the 34 rebels who had filed nomination papers from different constituencies.

It was decided that Amarinder along with Congress president Sonia Gandhis political secretary Ahmed Patel will personally make phone calls to some of them while reaching out to others through their mentors in the organisation.

Congress managers had also identified the leaders who had recommended names of some of the rebels for tickets and given the task of ensuring their withdrawal from the contest.

The exercise was a success as 27 rebels withdrew their nomination in support of the Congress official candidates. Though seven rebels remained in the fray, the Congress internal assessment suggested these dissidents were not in a position to hurt the partys chances. The Congress leaders also persuaded former legislator from Amritsar East Jasbir Singh Dimpa to campaign Navjot Singh Sidhu.

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Amid technical snags and sporadic incidents of violence, Punjab on Saturday registered 77.37% polling in the high-stakes assembly elections where the SAD-BJP, Congress and newbie AAP are locked in a fierce triangular contest. The turnout in the 2012 assembly polls was 78.5%.

Barring stray incidents of violence, the polling in single-phase remained peaceful, said additional director general of police (ADGP-elections) VK Bhawra.

Barring stray incidents of violence, the polling in single-phase remained peaceful, additional director general of police (ADGP- elections) VK Bhawra said. Two persons were injured in a clash which took place between AAP and Congress workers at Sultanpur village in Sangrur district.

In Tarn Taran district, a Congress worker identified as Jagjit Singh was injured when an Akali supporter allegedly opened fire at him outside a polling booth in Lalu Ghuman village. In Ferozepurs Guru Har Sahai segment, unidentified miscreants fired gunshots in the air, triggering panic.

AAP candidate of Dera Baba Nanak segment was booked for allegedly using undue influence on the complaint of Congress nominee. As many as 187 voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, installed for the first time in the ongoing Punjab assembly polls, developed snags during the polling process in the state, leaving officials red-faced. As many as 538 VVPAT machines had developed glitches during the mock poll.

Punjab CEO VK Singh dubbed it as logistic nightmare. Most snags were reported in Majitha, Muktsar, Sangrur, Barnala and Bathinda constituencies. In Majitha, polling had to be called off a number of times due to the snag. We will see the report of the returning officer and take a call on whether a repoll will be held or not, VK Singh added.

A polling station in Moga is heading for a repoll as the polling staff by mistake included 50 mock poll votes in the actual voting. 195 electronic voting machines developed technical snag during the mock poll and 47 turned faulty during the polling.

After Maur twin blast on Monday five anti-terrorist units of CRPF were deployed at five places in the state. More than one lakh paramilitary personnel were deployed in the state for smooth conduct of polls.

The Election Commission (EC) said more than 80% voters exercised their franchise in districts such as Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot and Sangrur. Experts said this clearly indicated a fiercely fought three-cornered battle in Malwa.

But, this trend was missing in Doaba and Majha where voting percentage dipped, pointing towards a two-horse race between the Congress and Akalis.

Punjab and Goa will be followed by assembly elections in Uttarakhand, Manipur and the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, which will see seven-phase polls. The results of all states will be announced on March 11.
The voting pattern in Punjabs Malwa region, which accounts for 69 of the 117 assembly seats and reported a turnout of 80% on Saturday, points to a fiercely fought three-cornered battle.

But, in Doaba and Majha regions, where voting percentages were lower than those in the last election, indicate a two-horse race.

These conflicting signals from Punjab voters could cause confusion  as well as worry  for the ruling SAD-BJP combine, the Congress, which is desperate to make a comeback, and debutant Aam Aadmi Party that is looking to capture a state outside Delhi.

Saturdays turnout of 78.62% is a new record for the state, a shade higher than 78.57% in the 2012 election.

The voters in the Malwa region, which covers half the state, would make or mar the fortunes of the three parties, say analysts.

In Punjabs poll math, it is long-held belief that the party that wins Malwa rules the state.

Another factor behind Malwa leading the state in voter turnout was heavy mobilisation and a three-legged race. Until AAP entered the fray, elections in Punjab were largely a contest between the Akalis and the Congress.

An AAP wave in Malwa districts was pronounced. And that was the reason that at least nine of the 14 Malwa districts recorded a voting percentage of above 80%.

Mansa district, which has three seats, led the state with a turnout of 87.34%. In all, at least 30 seats saw above 80% voting.

The assembly segments, including those in Malwa, with turnout lower than that in 2012 point towards two-horse race, a Punjab-based political observer, who didnt wish to be identified, told HT.

For instance, all the seven constituencies in Sangrur district recorded above 80% polling.

In Fazilka districts Jalalabad segment, where SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal is locked in a tight contest with Bhagwant Mann of the AAP and Ravneet Singh Bittu of the Congress, turnout was above 86%.

The last-minute support extended by Dera Sacha Sauda helped lift the spirits of the SAD rank and file, battling anti-incumbency and voter discontent.

The polling percentage in chief minister Parkash Singh Badals Lambi constituency was 78%, down from 87.29% in 2012.

Comparative lower turnout in Majha and Doaba regions have the parties, especially the AAP, worried as the so-called wave in its favour seemed to have failed to cross the mighty Sutlej river.

The contest for the majority of the 48 seats in the two regions was between the Congress and the SAD-BJP.

In Majitha, where senior minister Bikram Singh Majithia is in the running, only 68% voters exercised their franchise in contrast to 81.84% the last time.

Doaba reported 74.77% polling against 76.69% in 2012 while Majha clocked 75%.

Till 2007, Punjab used to vote out the ruling party but in 2012, voters pulled a surprise by returning the SAD-BJP combine.

Is another surprise coming Punjabs way? We will know on March 11.

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Punjab and Goa, which reported high voter turnout for assembly elections on Saturday, could be looking at a change, an analysis of past poll data reveals.

In around 80% of the state assembly polls whenever voting percentage has been higher than the previous election, there has been a change in the government, election commission data for the last 20 years reveal. The probability of change is even higher when women voters outnumber men.

Punjab reported 77.37% polling, a shade lower than 78.57% in the 2012 election. Goa turnout was 82.23% against 81.73% the last time. In both the states, more women turned up at polling booths than men.

High voting, a recent phenomenon, has led to change in governments in most states though there are exceptions. Voters in Punjab took everyone by surprise in 2012 when they returned SAD-BJP to power, a first for the state where Akalis and Congress took turns to rule the state.

Last year, Mamata Banerjee was given a second successive term by voters in West Bengal. When she ended the Lefts three decades of rule in 2011, it was a new voting record for the state. Sheila Dikshit returned as the chief minister of Delhi with a higher majority in 2003.

Invariably the enthusiasm at polling booths is for a change, said Sanjay Kumar of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, which has been monitoring voting patterns of assembly elections for the last 20 years.

Kumar said understanding voting pattern was a complex issue and could vary from state to state in a big country like India, as elections also have caste and community dimensions. But what we observe from analysing long-term data is that if people are satisfied with the incumbent government, they normally may not come out in large numbers, he said.

In the last 20 years, India has seen voters enthusiasm rise.

Voters queue to cast their ballots in the Punjab Legislative Assembly and Amritsar Lok Sabha elections at a polling centre in a village on the outskirts of Amritsar on February 4, 2017. (AFP Photo)

Higher turnouts can primarily be attributed to three factors  weeding out of bogus names from poll rolls, the election commissions efforts to encourage voting and bring polling stations closer to voters homes and adequate security. The number of polling stations has more than doubled in the last two decades. All polling booths now have a central election observer to ensure free and fair polling.

At least 10% of the names on polls rolls were found to be bogus or duplicate and were struck off, EC has said. The ECI has worked a lot on this and it is showing results, former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi said. These factors have helped build voters confidence. In around 160 assembly polls, including those for union territories, held since 1990, higher voter turnout was reported in about 122 elections, leading to change in the government in about 79.4% cases. Moreover, data also show that it is getting increasingly difficult for the ruling parties to retain power when compared to early years of Independence.

When the turnout is higher in the strongholds of the ruling party, the chances of its decimation are higher. That means the SAD-BJP combine have a reason to worry.

In Goa, the record turnout may cause concern for the ruling BJP, which in the last lap propped up defence minister Manohar Parrikar for the top job. Parrikar was a popular chief minister before he moved to the Centre. Most opinion polls put the BJP ahead but history and poll data are stacked against it.

The BJP lost when the coastal state hit a voting record in 2007. The party came back in 2012, with polling percentage scaling a new high. On Saturday, Goas voters went even better on 2012.

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Political parties might have fielded just 7% of them, but women hold the key in deciding fate of the 1,145 candidates in Punjab assembly polls as they turned up in higher number than men to cast their vote on Saturday.

Of the 1,145 candidates, only 81 women were in the fray in Punjab. A total of 78.14% (93.75 lakh) women exercised their franchise, while 76.69% (80.54 lakh) men came forward to cast their vote. There are 93.75 lakh women and 1.05 crore male voters in the state. Polling by transgenders was not encouraging as of the 415 voters, only 91 (22%) of them exercised their franchise. In the 2012 assembly polls too, women recorded higher voting percentage of 79% against 78% of men.

Also Read | Punjab polls: Fearing AAP, Akalis may have added votes to Congress kitty

HIGHEST TURNOUT IN MANSA

Mansa district had the highest turnout at 88.75% in the state with Sardulgarh recording 88.9% polling. Mohali district was the lowest with 71.2% turnout. Only 60% of voters turned up in the Amritsar West constituency, lowest in the state. Cumulative figures of all 11 assembly segments of Amritsar district recorded 71.3% polling, marginally higher than Mohali.

EVMs IN 3-TIER SECURITY

After Saturdays polling, electronic voting machines (EVMs), which have sealed fate of 1,145 candidates, have been stored in high-security strong rooms with three-tier security. The EVMs will be kept in strong rooms till the date of counting on March 11.

The strong rooms are constantly under the CCTV camera surveillance. Punjab additional director general of police VK Bhawra told HT that 12 companies of paramilitary forces have been retained for the security of EVMs. The second ring of security is the Punjab Armed Police and third of the state police, said Bhawra.

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A day after voting in Punjab and Goa, the focus sharpened on Uttar Pradesh where an acronym war raged between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the duo of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for the second successive day.

The big guns from the parties boomed in the bellwether state which goes to polls in seven phases beginning February 11, when 73 constituencies of the communally and politically volatile western UP go to polls.

After coining SCAM in Meerut on Saturday to target rivals, Modi gave VIKAS (development) a new spin at a rally in Aligarh on Sunday. He said the BJP was riding a wave in UP and would bring VIKAS  V for vidyut (power), KA for kanoon (law and order), and S for sadak (roads). Modi said chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was wary of imminent defeat and had formed an alliance with the Congress.

And when the wind is so strong, even a young leader cannot face it and seeks help of anything... even a pole... but this time BJP aandhi (storm) is so strong that the chief minister fears that he might be blown off... The people of UP want change and justice.

Modi said he had held a rally at the same ground in 2014, but this time the crowd was double.

Responding to Modis SCAM barb, which he had expanded as S for Samajwadi Party, C for Congress, A for Akhilesh and M for Mayawati, Rahul hit back in Kanpur at a joint rally with Akhilesh, saying, SCAM also stands for Service, Courage, Ability and Modesty. And all these four things Modi ji lacks.

He said the BJP was rattled by the SP-Congress alliance and Modiji, as always, was spinning lies to mislead people.

For full coverage of UP assembly elections, click here

Akhilesh had responded to the barb on Saturday, interpreting SCAM as Save the Country from Amit Shah and Modi.

BJP president Shah too was on campaign trail in west UPs Shamli district. Addressing a rally in Thanabhawan, he promised to put an end to exodus of Hindus from Kairana and other areas if the BJP came to power in the state. Targeting the SP government, Shah alleged that every day 13 murders, 24 rape cases and 150 incidents of loot were reported in the state.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati took a days break from her west UP campaign and is expected to hit the trail in Agra on Monday.

(With inputs from Vasistha Bhardwaj in Muzaffarnagar and agencies)
Some of the non-resident Indians (NRIs) who had come to India to support the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in elections will stay till March 11 to celebrate the victory.

Most NRIs have flown back to the countries they had come from. Some of us have been asked by the party to stay till the results, Joban Randhawa, AAPs overseas youth wing convener, told HT over telephone. He is staying at his parents home in SAS Nagar. It will be a different feeling to be a part of celebrations when the AAP will win. I want to be a part of that, he said.

All those who have gone back will come back for the results, he said. Many NRIs from Punjab who couldnt come for the campaigning but supported the party in whatever way they could from the countries they stay in are also expected to join us on March 11, Joban said.

Joban said till the result day they plan to spend the time like vacations  enjoy good weather, shopping and meet relatives.

A large number of NRIs had booked their return tickets for February 3 or 4, apprehending threat from the opposition parties, he said. Those still around are in touch with each other. We will feel at home only when the AAP forms the government in Punjab, he said.

On January 19, AAPs 167 NRI supporters from Canada landed in Delhi to support the party. They had come in a single plane, but returned separately as per their itineraries. We wanted to book one plane for them, but it didnt happen, said another NRI, who works with Randhawa.
Samajwadi Party leader and senior Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan on Sunday compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the mythical demon king Ravana.

Without taking Modis name, he said, The king who rules over 130 crore Indians goes to Lucknow to burn the effigy of Ravana, but he forgets that the biggest Ravana is not in Lucknow but lives in Delhi.

Addressing an election rally on his home turf Rampur, Khan also took a dig at Modi and alleged that he was working in the interests of the rich.

He also appealed to the people to vote for his party to continue the development works.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his SCAM jibe, saying that since Modi is in the wrong, he sees scam in everything.

Addressing a joint rally in Kanpur with Uttar Pradesh chief minister and chief of ally Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi urged voters to ensure that the outcome of Bihar election is repeated, where BJP was trounced by a coalition led by Nitish Kumar.

Whenever Modi is nervous, he starts giving labels PPE, ABC, DEF, GHY. Now this SCAM.... A person, who is in the wrong sees scam everywhere because this is his reality, he said, adding that the Congress-Samajwadi alliance in the state had made Modi jittery.

S infact stands for Service, C for courage, A for ability and M for modesty, he said at the rally in government inter-collge ground here, giving his own coinage for the acronym.

Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said the acronym stood for save country from Amit Shah and Modi.

Attacking the prime minister over note ban, the Congress vice-president said, Demonetisation has hurt the poor most. Do not raise these slogans (denouncing Modi) but vote for Congress-SP alliance, and ensure that Modi never utters the name of Uttar Pradesh again, like he forgot to say Bihar after the assembly elections there.

Rahul said that Modi is afraid of the youths, who will give a befitting response to him in UP elections as he gave the slogan of Make in India, made promises, but provided no jobs.

Akhilesh Yadav, who reached an hour ahead of Rahul, also took on the prime minister for his Saturdays SCAM taunt, where Modi had asked people of Uttar Pradesh to rid the state of SCAM - S for Samajwadi (party), C for Congress, A for Akhilesh (Yadav) and M for Mayawati.

The SP leader said, SCAM means save the country from Amit Shah and Modi. But why has Modi included bua Mayawatis party as it was BJP which had thrice formed government with BSP and both of you have amiable ties.

He alleged that the Modi government has given nothing to the people but false promises in its tenure while the Samajwadi Party had delivered in Uttar Pradesh.

Akhilesh Yadav speaks during the joint rally in Kanpur (Manoj Yadav/HT Photo)

Hailing the Congress-SP tie-up, Akhilesh said, A true friend is one who is big hearted. If you befriend a mean person, you will only suffer. We had an alliance with the Congress because both of us are large hearted. We are confident of forming a government in the state to complete the work left unfinished.

The SP leader too raised the note ban issue, saying BJP should tell the country how much black money has been unearthed.

No blackmoney has returned, but people have died while standing in queues outside banks and ATMs. We gave Rs two lakh to families of these victims but the Centre did nothing, he said.

BJP leaders betray the people, they will show you dreams and will try to mislead you but do not fall for it. For the last three years, BJP is only making promises and has done nothing for the people, he said.

In contrast, his government has given Uttar Pradesh metro, expressway, pension for the poor, laptops among other things, Akhilesh said.

Rahul targeted the Prime Minister during most of his speech saying the people have realised the reality of the note ban.

Modi thinks that he is the only one in the country and the world who knows everything and speaks the truth while the people of India are foolish and ignorant.

One man cannot run this country. He cannot keep manufacturing falsehood, the Congress leader said and alleged that Modi has been working to benfit his fifty friends like Mallaya who have taken loans from banks.

Modiji is taking care of rich friends because during elections they give him money to spend, he alleged.

He said the SP-Congress alliance government will work for youths, farmers, poor and the women.

The BJP had stepped up its attack on the SP-Congress alliance in recent days with party chief Amit Shah saying on Saturday that two good-looking princes involved in corruption are now out to mislead the people of Uttar Pradesh.

Both are khoobsurat shehzade (beautiful princes) who are out to mislead the public.

Mother is fed up with one and father is fed up with the other. How will they help Uttar Pradesh? One has looted the country while the other has looted the state. Beware of them, Shah said in Mathura.
Goa saw a record voter turnout of 82.23% on Saturday, with people thronging polling booths to participate in a four-cornered political battle for power.

While north Goa registered a voter turnout of 84.31%, it was 80.47% in south Goa. This does not include 794 people, whose votes were declared invalid after the Election Commission recommended re-polling at a polling station in Margao, south Goa.

This years voter turnout was a significant increase from the 81.73% clocked during the 2012 assembly election.

Read | Assembly elections: With record turnouts, Punjab and Goa may be in for a change

Political observers say Goans have always attached great significance to their political preferences, and election-time is when they choose to act on them. The people of Goa are vocal and politically aware. They vote for candidates, not parties. The voters here pick the candidates they identify with, senior journalist Mayabhushan Nagvenkar remarked.

Previous voting percentages 2012: 81.73% - Male 78.86 % Female 84.57 % 2007: 70.51% Male 69.70% Female 70.30% 2002 : 68.75% - Male 69.87% Female 67.61% 1999: 65.00% - Male 66.78% Female 63.15% 1994: 71.20% -Male 71.73% Female 70.65%

The fact that Goa has a higher literacy rate than the national average contributes significantly to the electoral eagerness of its residents, he said. Besides this, we had political parties as well as the Election Commission mobilising voters for the cause. We had a large number of regional political parties coming up, and AAP was making its entry for the first time. It was only natural that these developments should spur voters to come out in large numbers, added Nagvenkar.

Prakash Kamat, another senior political journalist from the state, had an alternative theory for the impressive voter turnout witnessed on Saturday. While its true that Goans are quite particular about exercising their franchise, the high numbers witnessed in this election are due to the revision of electoral rolls carried out during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The old list contained several anomalies, including names of dead people and those with Portuguese passports. With photo IDs coming into the picture, electoral rolls have become much more transparent, he said.

Kamat also applauded the efforts of grass root workers in making this election a success. Goa is a state where the chances of an individual candidate are the same as that of a national-level political party. In fact, the individual has a higher chance if he/she has good reach. People want to vote on the basis of the issues they face, he said.

Read | Goa elections: Pink teddy bears for first-time women voters, pens for men

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Bhopal witnessed high drama after SIMI judicial commission chief justice (retd) SK Pandey resigned on Saturday evening, but the state government refused to accept his resignation.

Sources said justice Pandey, who heads the single member judicial commission to probe the jailbreak and alleged encounter of eight SIMI men in Bhopal on October 31, reportedly put in his papers and left Bhopal. Sources added he left the circuit house, where he was staying with his baggage and boarded an auto.

When Hindustan Times contacted justice Pandey on phone, he said he didnt want to comment on the developments.

A senior official in the chief ministers office (CMO) told HT that justice Pandey sent his resignation to the state government. But the government has decided not to approve it, said the official.

On why Pandey had resigned, the official said there was some protocol issue , adding that the state government had already apologised to him for the same.

In the first week of November, the state government had issued a notification for instituting a judicial inquiry into the jailbreak and the alleged encounter, with justice Pandey heading the one-man inquiry commission. According to the terms of reference for the inquiry, it had to be completed in within three months and the report had to be submitted to the state government.

On October 31  Diwali night  eight SIMI men broke out of Bhopal central jail after killing a warder and overpowering a sentry. They allegedly opened the locks of their cells and scaled the wall of the high-security prison with the help of a rope made of bed-sheets given to them for daily use. Within eight hours, they were gunned down at a hillock in Manikhedi village on the outskirts of Bhopal.

The inquiry is looking into the circumstances under which the men managed to escape, which officers and employees are responsible for the jailbreak, and the sequence the encounter took place at a hillock in Manikhedi. The inquiry has also been mandated to look into whether the alleged encounter by police under the prevailing circumstances was rational?. The inquiry has also been mandated to give suggestions to ensure this doesnt happen in the states other 122 jails.
Whether her choices end in success or failure, Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra -- whose visibility in the US is on the rise -- says she is always on the lookout for new ways to challenge herself, because she believes in living without regrets. In an interview with IANS, she talks about her insecurities and fears, transition from Bollywood to Hollywood and more.

Jamie Chung and Adam Rodriguez look on from left as Priyanka Chopra accepts the award for favourite TV drama actress at the People's Choice Awards. (AP)

Be it for her acting skills, fashion calls or advocating social causes -- Priyanka has made a name for herself in all spheres. Its been an incredible, amazing experience and I dont think Ive had time to fully process it all. Im a living testament of If you can dream it, you can do it, and Im filled with gratitude for all the connections and learnings Ive had along the way, Priyanka said.

I am a firm believer in not having any regrets. Every choice Ive made and step Ive taken has led me to where I am today. Each success and failure too has shaped my present, and I wouldnt change that for anything, she added.

For Priyanka, it all started at the age of 17 when she was crowned Miss World. She soon stepped into the world of Bollywood in 2003 with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. Projects like Don, Fashion, 7 Khoon Maaf, Barfi!, Mary Kom and Bajirao Mastani are milestones in her career graph. But it wasnt a smooth ride for her as she even saw setbacks with films like Bluffmaster, Salaam-E-Ishq, God Tussi Great Ho, The Legend of Drona, and Whats Your Raashee?.

She was at the peak of her career when she explored the world of music with singles like In my city and Exotic, and then walked into the US television space as FBI agent Alex Parrish in Quantico. She even bagged two Peoples Choice Awards for the show.

The second season of Quantico is back after a mid-season break. It airs in India on Star World and Star World HD. Priyanka will soon make her Hollywood debut as a villain in Baywatch.

Priyanka Chopra arrives at the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California. (REUTERS)

Is she now scared of failure? I dont like to fail, she said, adding: And if I do fail, I bundle up in my room with my blanket, eat a tub of ice cream and Im over it.

She admitted she gets butterflies in the stomach whenever she does something new, but said: Im always looking for new things to do. Ive learned to make fear my friend.

The former beauty queen said she is glad that talent from India is being recognised more and more because we have so much to offer. She asserted that she has always tried to break misconceptions about the Indian film industry or culture in the West.

Priyanka Chopra comes out after offering prayer at Kamakhya temple in Guwahati. (PTI)

If anything, I would like to believe that I have tried to clear misconceptions when it comes to Indian films and its actors. I believe in our talent and Ive just opened the worlds eyes to what we have to offer. The rest is left to each individuals talent.

Ive made a special effort to educate everyone I meet, on our film industry and the amazing writers, directors, technicians and actors we have. Its great to be able to take us out of the box weve been in for a while now.

Weve changed, evolved, grown and its time the world sees that. Im also excited about the connect Ive been able to make with new audiences and the fact that they see me as an actor first, before anything else. That, in my mind, is a true measure of success, added Priyanka, who also owns the Purple Pebble Pictures production house.

One can spot many Indian elements like wearing the Om bracelet or the cast speaking in Hindi incorporated in Quantico. Priyanka says it came organically.

Asked about her next destination, she said: Thats a dangerous question to ask someone like me because my answer is... Everything! The point is to move forward, try new things, challenge yourself and be open to the endless possibilities.

Priyanka Chopra, who voices the character of Ishani, poses at the world premiere of Planes at El Capitan theatre in Hollywood, California. (Reuters)

For now, she is busy with Quantico, and looks forward to the release of Baywatch. As a producer, she has three regional films and three childrens films in the pipeline.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
The presentation of the Union budget is often followed by discussions on what it has done to push economic reforms. The focus of the discourse this time, however, has been on political reforms  triggered by the finance ministers announcement to ban cash for donations exceeding Rs 2,000 and introduce electoral bonds that can be purchased and traded in the marketplace.

There is a reason why the proposal relating to funding of political parties has overshadowed other budgetary measures. In the wake of demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have been under pressure to do more to curb black money. No campaign against illegal wealth, many have argued, will be effective unless it addresses the lack of transparency and regulation in relation to funding of political parties.

Political donations not only offer an easy channel to evade taxes, but also undermine the basic tenets of our democracy. Under the law, these payments are exempt from taxation for both the donor and the recipients. There is no system in place for adequate scrutiny of the end use of these funds. A majority of donations come in the form of cash and are from unidentified sources. In 2014, the Election Commission ordered only donations made in cheques or bank transfers to be exempted from taxation, but that hasnt deterred people from helping political parties with cash.

According to the Association of Democratic Rights, an advocacy group, 69% of the total income reported by the countrys six national and 51 regional parties, which filed their returns for the period between 2004-05 and 2014-15, came from unknown sources. Only 16% came from named donors, while the remaining 15% accrued from other sources such asset sale, and membership fees. This is only one side of the spectrum. On the other side, around 1,500 parties  more than three-fourth of the 1,900 parties registered with the Election Commission havent contested elections for years. Each of them is a possible platform to launder illegal money.

Read | Cash donation limit, bonds to reform polls fail to impress experts, parties

The lack of transparency and accountability in relation to political donations also breeds the ground for rent-seeking and corruption. Businesses, small and big, contribute funds to a political party or its candidate with the expectation that the favour would be returned. They influence policy and government actions when their friendly political party comes to power. This is not unique to India, but unlike many mature democracies there is no institutional framework to deal with the problem. That is why finance minister Arun Jaitleys budget proposal has come under criticism, because it doesnt address the issue of anonymous donors. Nor does it answer the question as to why it cant be made mandatory for political parties to adhere to the same auditing principles that apply to any other economic entity or public institution and make their financials public.

That said, there is a bigger objective that any electoral reform initiative ought to address  ensuring a level playing field for all stakeholders in a multi-party democracy such as ours. The more competitive a democracy gets, the better it is for the people of the country. It is time, therefore, to revisit the idea of a National Election Fund, which has been in the works for more than two decades. Such a fund could be declared as the only channel through which businesses and individuals can contribute to political parties. Just as the finance commission decides how to distribute central transfers to states, the Election Commission or any institution created for the purpose of administering the fund can decide how the donations are shared among parties. Of course, such an initiative will have to be supported by other measures such as stricter audits for books of accounts maintained by political parties and cracking down on parties that exist only on paper.

Read | Budget 2017: The move towards transparent funding is the first step towards electoral reform

The author is Chief Content Officer, Hindustan Times

Follow the author @rajeshmahapatra

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In 2007, the company which was then the bellwether for both the Indian information technology (IT) services industry and the countrys stock market Infosys Ltd enjoyed an operating profit margin of close to 30%, almost double that of International Business Machines Corp.

A decade later, the gap has reduced. As Andy Mukherjee pointed out in a recent Bloomberg Gadfly column, the 10-percentage-point operating margin advantage that Indian companies have traditionally enjoyed over International Business Machines Corp. and Accenture Plc will start to erode.

He added: The harsher the new US immigration policies, the faster that gap might close.

His reference was to events of the past week, when happenings related the US visa policies for highly-skilled workers (the H1B visa) threatened to push everything else, including Indias Union Budget presented on February 1, to the periphery. The flap concerns an executive order by President Donald Trump and the High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017, a bill introduced by Democrat Zoe Lofgren (from Silicon Valley). Mint reported last week that either of the two would, if passed, require Indian IT services companies such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Wipro Ltd and Infosys to make significant changes in their business models. Worse, that story added, their operating margins could fall by as much as 3 percentage points.

The changes, if they come (and they probably will, in some form or other), will mean that there are fewer H1B visas to go around, and companies will end up paying more for the people they send to the US on H1B visas. Currently the minimum salary to be paid by companies which have over 15% of their employees in the US on H1B visas  all big Indian IT services companies meet this criteria  is $60,000. That number would go up to $130,000 (according to the bill), although most analysts do not expect it to be raised beyond $100,000. Then, things could get worse. Theres some talk of reviving an old plan to allot more H1B visas to companies willing to pay the most to employees. Interestingly, this was part of a 2011 bill, the Immigration Driving Entrepreneurship in America (IDEA) Act of 2011, introduced by (drum roll here), Zoe Lofgren.

In India, response to happenings in the US (as far as H1B visas are concerned) has been varied. Theres a sense of outrage among Indian IT services companies that have always maintained that outsourcing is good not just for them and India but also the companies and countries doing the outsourcing. Led by Indias software lobby group Nasscom, they will put forward this point of view to the Trump administration in the last week of February. Its one that needs to be put forth, Mint columnist Ravi Venkatesan, the chairman of Bank of Baroda, a director on the board of Infosys and former chairman of Microsoft India, wrote in a column last week: Indian tech companies have helped create over 400,000 jobs in the US, paid over $20 billion in taxes in the past five years, and made a difference to 120,000 young Americans through various STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education initiatives. Indian technology companies provide mission-critical support to well over 75% of Fortune 500 US companies including banks, retailers, and car manufacturers. Unfortunately companies, Indian and American, have neglected to effectively make this argument forcefully and persuasively to the American people and lawmakers using robust data. Its time we did for there is much at stake here for everyone.

The imminent visa curbs will also push Indian IT companies to transform and move away from the famed global delivery model that worked well for them in the past, but has, in recent years, begun to show some wear and tear. In a second column for Mint  that should indicate how important the H1B issue is  last week, Venkatesan wrote: The boards and CEOs of all these firms understand intellectually that they need to abandon cost arbitrage and shift from renting out IQ to creating IP.

Apart from not communicating the benefits of outsourcing and being slow to adopt alternative business models, Indian IT companies, or at least some of them, are also guilty of gaming the US visa regime. Cost, not availability of local expertise, is likely to have played a central role in their decision to fill roles with Indians with H1B visas. Over the years, Indian IT companies have stretched their interpretation of the US visa regime at times, even flouted it at others. A 2011 Mint series highlighted how several Indian companies were sending employees to work in the US on business visas as opposed to H1B visas.

The US new H1B policy will also affect the lives of the few hundred thousand Indians in the US on such visas. Many choose to take their families with them, exposing their spouses and children to all the uncertainties that come with a non-immigrant work visa such as the H1B. You truly understand the turmoil that work visa vulnerability puts you in only when you actually experience it, says Radhika MB in her book Visa Wives: Emigration Experiences of Indian Women in the US.

Like many other issues, the H1B one doesnt just affect governments and companies. It affects people.

R Sukumar is editor of Mint and tweets as @mint_ed

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If you glance through the headlines of newspapers and television news, youll realise 70% of the media discourse is devoted to Uttar Pradesh and 25% to Punjab. States such as Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur never feature in mainstream politics and the media.

Who says smaller states dont face all-round injustice in the country?

Let me begin with Uttarakhand which is close to my heart. It seems the state is living out a contradiction. Entrepreneurs and job-seekers want to encourage tourism in the state. The place has the natural resources to attract tourists. But the facilities are abysmal. When tourists visit, they return home complaining of lack of facilities. On top of it, they have to pay through their nose for accommodation, eating out and sightseeing. A tourism industry insider says Uttarakhands three-star hotels ask for higher tariffs from tourists than many five-star hotels in cities such as Bangkok.

Read: Full coverage of assembly elections

The lack of facilities is apparent the moment one crosses the Uttarakhand border. Governments have come and gone but a four-lane highway from Delhi to Dehradun or Nainital remains a dream. While roaming through the mountains and lowlands of Kumaon, I discovered that as soon as one talks about tourism, people begin complaining about tough regulations related to the industry and tourism-related regulatory bodies. I asked many people if tourism itself dries up, then who will come to Uttarakhand? The only way to prevent this is to ensure that the state allocates adequate funds for tourism, but that is not happening. For instance, hundreds of trees between Haridwar and Dehradun were cut with the promise that an even greater number of saplings will be planted. The area was ostensibly cleared to build a four-lane highway. The trees were cut but the highway is nowhere in sight.

It is true that the common man, to uphold whose rights Uttarakhand was created, is deprived on all counts. Entire villages are becoming vacant. There are no roads, no electricity, no water and no sign of employment. A large chunk of the hill population is sustained by the money-order economy. Owing to the paucity of local jobs, the youngsters are keen to join the army and paramilitary forces. But everybody isnt fortunate enough to wear the coveted uniform. Under the pressure of unemployment, they have to make ends meet working in neighbouring states. The money-order economy can help fill your stomach, but it also encourages the migration of the masses.

Read: Manipur BJP banking on this former footballer-editor for election win

It is often alleged that regional parties have established the loot raj in many states of India and that only national parties can provide clean administration. Uttarakhand has given a resounding response to this flawed logic. Here the Congress and the BJP were in power one after the other but the faces of chief ministers kept changing as if party the high commands were shuffling a pack of cards.

The last government appointed Bhuvan Chandra Khandhuri as chief minister. Halfway through his tenure, he was removed and was replaced by Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank but on the eve of elections, Khanduri was again roped in and given power. Owing to this tragicomic game of musical chairs, the Congress sensed an opportunity to assume power and grabbed it. First Vijay Bahuguna was appointed chief minister and soon he was replaced by Harish Rawat. The manner in which these leaders shifted their political loyalties made it clear that they were only concerned with securing their own seats.

Clearly, they were going with the orders of the high command. But in the process the common man was feeling like a political orphan.

Let us now talk about Manipur. Just like Uttarakhand, this state, too, is blessed with extraordinary natural beauty. But the conditions are even worse. The reason: Separatist violence and insurgency. Many years ago, doing a recce of its inhospitable terrain, I had to face a number of challenges. The locals addressed us as Indians and viewed the armed forces with distrust. The governments in Manipur have been victims of their own tribal complexes and the whims of the Centre in Delhi. As a result, the people of the state have been caught between the government and separatists. Fear, hunger and insurgency have driven the young to drugs and other forms of substance abuse. The young need trust more than they need guns. But it is easier said than done. Insurgency is an organised industry here. Government agencies, prominent citizens of the state and politicians of all hues have a stake in it.

Read: Women play important role in hilly districts of Uttarakhand

I wont elaborate much on Goa. Compared to these two states, it faces fewer problems, but the credit for that goes to its history and culture and not to its state governments.

Those leaders making emotion-filled speeches about Punjab often say it is a sensitive border state. Why do they tend to ignore the other three states that are also located dangerously close to international borders? Clearly Delhi doesnt bother about smaller states because they dont send too many MPs to the Parliament. The apathy of governments forces our soldiers to shed their blood from Manipur to Kashmir.

These states are indispensable parts of the Indian Republic. Being on the border, they are also our natural guardians. Ignoring them can prove to be a perilous proposition.

Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan

letters@hindustantimes.com
A 53-year-old lawyer was killed on Sunday morning when the Harley Davidson motorcycle he was riding collided with a crash barrier on KMP expressway near Gurgaon. The bikers pillion rider sustained injuries in the crash.

The incident took place near Panchgaon village under Bilaspur police station, around 35km from Gurgaon. The deceased was identified as Sunil Seth, lawyer at Delhi high court and vice president of Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Read more| BMW accident: Five other infamous luxury car mishaps on Delhi roads

Seth, police said, had hired a Harley Davidson motorcycle from a bike provider on Gold Course Road and was reportedly riding the bike for the first time. The lawyer seems to have lost control of his vehicle and collided with a crash barrier.

Seth, a member of Delhi Old Xaverians Association, was rushed to Rockland hospital in Manesar but was declared brought dead. The hospital staff said he sustained head injuries. The hospital informed the police who reached the spot and filed a case of accidental death. Seth lived with his family at Uniworld City in Sector 30, Gurgaon.

Read more| Delhi again: Range Rover crashes into Uber cab, driver of SUV held

Assistant sub inspector Dharam Singh, who is the investigating officer in the case, said Seth and his co-rider Neeraj Seth, 45, were wearing a helmet but Seth still sustained head injuries. Singh said the body was handed over after post-mortem examination as the family did not want to pursue a police case. The funeral was held in the evening at Iffco Chowk crematorium.

A person close to Seth said that he was riding a Harley Davidson bike for the first time and had gone out with a group of bikers. He and Neeraj were left behind, while the other bikers went ahead. Harley bikes are heavy and a new rider needs to practice before hitting the road. He must have lost control over the bike and it crashed with the side of a barrier, said a rider from another biking group.

Read more| On way back from wedding in Delhi, bus crashes into truck; 19 injured

There are no rules and regulations for renting out heavy bikes like Harleys for novice riders. A bike can be hired for about Rs 8,000 a day by just showing a licence. There should be preliminary checks before handing out such bikes to people. Riders should be told about dos and donts. Some training and basic awareness is also advisable, added the rider.

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A 23-year-old staffer of Singapore High Commission was killed on Sunday morning when the car he was driving climbed up on a pavement, crashed through an iron fence and collided with an electricity pole and turned on its right in Chanakyapuri.

Police said the man, identified as Pattrick Anthony, was allegedly drunk and speeding and lost control on his vehicle. Anthonys wife Sonal Gupta, 21, who was with him in the car, sustained severe injuries and has been admitted to AIIMS.

Read more| Ahmedabad: Speeding car runs over labourers sleeping on pavement, 2 dead

Police said Anthony and Sonal had been married for less than a month and lived in west Delhis Moti Nagar. The couple had attended a party at the Singapore embassy and was returning home in a silver WagonR car when the accident took place around 2am on Sunday.

Though the exact sequence of events is yet to be ascertained, DCP (New Delhi) BK Singh said that prima facia it looked like the car was overspeeding in a 60kmph speed zone.

The accident took place in front of the gates of the Embassy of Slovak Republic on Niti Marg. Police suspect that the accident might have happened after Anthony misjudged a turn and steered left a few metres before he should have.

Read more| Two killed, two injured in accident on Yamuna Expressway

The early turn caused the car to climb on to the pavement on the left and knock down an iron signboard. The car then went on to hit and crash through an iron fence before skidding further to hit an electricity pole and turning on its right.

Some passersby rushed to the site of the accident after hearing the sound of the crash. Someone from the crowd also informed the police control room after which the victims were rushed to AIIMS, where Anthony was declared brought dead.

Anthony, police said, had received severe head injuries after possibly hitting the cars steering wheel. A pool of blood at the accident spot and blood marks on the cars driver side window suggested that he bled to death.

Read more| Ghaziabad Audi accident: Man who claimed to be driving the car missing, neighbours say was honest
The alleged impostor in the Audi Q7 hit and run case, which claimed four lives, has gone missing from his home in Bareilly.

Police teams from Ghaziabad and Bareilly on Sunday raided the house of Syed Imtiyaz Qadri, the man who allegedly surrendered before the Ghaziabad court and claimed to be Ishak Ahmad from Labhera village, Bareilly. However, the officials returned empty-handed.

Four people travelling in an auto died on January 28 when the Audi hit them. The owner of the Audi, Dr Manish Rawat, hasalso been missing since. Rawat is a neurosurgeon at Safdarjung Hospital.

Our teams went to Bareilly in search of the man who allegedly posed as Ishaq Ahmad and surrendered before the court. But he could not be found at home and is still missing. It seems that he has run away and we have no clue about him, said Deepak Kumar, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Ghaziabad.

Qadris land lady, Shabnam Khan, said he left on Saturday afternoon while his wife left with their two children on Sunday morning.

Imtiyaz used to live with his wife and two children in a room on the first floor. After he left, his wife also went away. The family left in a hurry and left behind their belongings. They did not even lock the room. Ishaq lives in a room on the ground-floor in the same building, Shabnam said.

She said that Qadri had left Bareilly on January 29 and told his wife that he was going to meet his relatives in Gonda. She said that he returned a couple of days later. According to neighbours, Imtiyaz looked depressed after he returned.

He stopped talking to people. I asked him about his well-being but he didnt say anything and went about his daily chores, said Rashid, another tenant in the same building.

Shabnam claims that the man told his wife Ayesha that he went to Ghaziabad and not Gonda.

She said the family had rented the house over a year ago and the man was engaged in repair of mobiles. Their financial condition was bad, Shabnam said.

They are a poor family and could hardly manage affairs. He used to work from home to earn extra money. Even in this condition they never cheated anyone. Faqa kar lete the par kabhi daga mari nahi ki (They would go hungry but never used unfair means), she said.

Earlier, a HT team traced Ishaq Ahmad, resident of Labhera village in Bareilly and son of Jameel Ahmad, with the help of addresses mentioned in the police report that was sent to the court and also on the surrender application submitted by him before the Ghaziabad court on January 30. However, Ahmad turned out to be a truck driver who claimed that he never went to court and was at Ahmedabad in Gujarat on the night of the accident. He denied ever having driven an Audi and any links with the doctor.

The issue of two people claiming to be Ishaq Ahmad flummoxed the police whose investigation has not had much success so far. The truck driver, the doctor and even the man who surrendered before the court have so far not come before the police.

We have sent teams to trace the missing man. Ahmad will reach home soon, Kumar said
An Afghan man living in Delhi-NCR has been arrested for allegedly raping a 33-year-old American businesswoman, extorting $86,000 from her by threatening to link her to terror activities and threatening to attack her with acid.

The woman worked with the United Nations (UN) for a while before starting her own business in Delhi. She had approached senior officers of Delhi Police with her complaint earlier this week after which the crime branch began probing her allegations.

Based on the information provided by the victim, the 36-year-old accused, Hameedullah, was arrested near Hyatt Hotel in south Delhis RK Puram on Friday. An Audi A3 car in which the victim was raped was among several belongings seized from him.

An Audi A3 car in which the victim was raped was among several belongings seized from him.

Hameedullah had allegedly duped several women by befriending them on social media by presenting a fake identity, said Ravindra Yadav, Joint CP (crime). The US woman has told the police that there were over 15 more women like her who were Hameedullah victims.

The American woman had come in contact with Hameedullah on Facebook last year. Posing as MK Fahim, he won the womans trust in no time and was able to convince her to meet him.

Read more: Police arrest four accused of raping American woman in Delhi

As time went by, Hameedullah allegedly established physical relations with her by promising marriage. He even went on to produce fake marriage documents to convince her that they were lawfully wedded.

He would allegedly record her in their intimate moments and regularly persuade her to part with her money, said the Joint CP. The woman gave him $86,000 in total, all of which was transferred to accounts in Afghanistan using Western Union Money Transfer. The money would reach him in India sometime later through various channels.

It was last month that the woman learnt from common friends that Hameedullah had been faking his identity. When she Googled him, she found he had been listed as a scammer in one of the many websites which warns people about such characters.

Read more: Woman on way home after work dragged, raped by 2 in Delhi

When the woman confronted him, Hameedullah allegedly threatened to inform the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that the money she was sending to Afghanistan was actually being transferred to terrorists in Kabul. The victim was initially terrified as she believed his false threats, said an investigator.

Encouraged by the womans fears, Hameedullah allegedly went on to threaten her to upload her intimate pictures and videos on the internet. She was also threatened with an acid attack after which she decided to approach the police.

Meanwhile, the accused was interrogated to learn that he had visited India in July 2011 on a tourist visa that was later converted to a medical visa. During his stay in Delhi and Noida, he allegedly learnt how to trap women through social media and cheat them of their money.

Read more: Chhattisgarh girl boards wrong train; raped, sold for Rs 70,000 in Delhi

He possesses excellent communication skills and has command over several languages. He has made Facebook profiles with different names and approaches women with friend requests before winning their trust, said Yadav.

Holding an Afghan passport, Hameedullah had been alternating between Karol Bagh and Noida soon after arriving in India.
Traders of Connaught Place will shut shops from 11am to 3pm on Tuesday to silently gather, talk and decide the next course of action against the plan to pedestrianise the 84-year-old shopping hub by banning entry of vehicles into the area.

We oppose this idea of car-free Connaught Place. We will be closing our shops and members of the New Delhi Traders Association (NDTA) will discuss the NDMCs proposals for the implementation of the proposed car-free project. There will be a gathering near C Block where we will hear everyones opinion to decide the next course of action, Atul Bhargava of the NDTA told HT.

The three-month car-free Connaught Place trial run, which was slated to kick off on February 1, is yet to start due to lack of unanimity over execution of the plan among the stakeholders, including the traders.

The plan, which was given the go-ahead by the Union urban development ministry after extensive talks with New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and traffic police officials in early January, aims to decongest the heritage shopping arcade in central Delhi.

However, it can be called off before its full proposed duration of three months, based on the response, NDMC officials have said.

In a meeting last week with all stakeholders, the New Delhi Municipal Council proposed two plans. According to the first, cars will be allowed to enter from Janpath, people will alight at Palika Bazar or Palika Parking and make exit through Baba Khadak Singh Marg. As per second plan cars will be allowed in the Middle Circle but only to drop visitors and shoppers, Bhargava said.

The traders have also met Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal over the issue. After that he had convened a meeting with commissioner of police, NDMC chairperson, the joint secretary responsible for this project in the Union urban development ministry and Delhi chief secretary, NDTA members say.

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A 35-year-old woman working in a bar was allegedly gang-raped by two people in south Delhis upscale Hauz Khas Village while she was returning to her home, police said.

She was on her way home on a scooty in Vasant Vihar area when the accused stopped her and dragged her inside an under construction building where they raped her.

Nikhil and Vishal were arrested on Friday on the basis of details provided by the victim, a senior police officer said.

According to the victim, the accused stopped her and asked for directions and all of a sudden, caught hold of her and dragged her inside the under construction building near Hauz Khas Village, around 11pm on Thursday, he said.

The accused also thrashed her before fleeing, said the officer.

Read | HIV-positive man held for having oral sex with 5-year-old boy

The woman called the police who took her to a hospital where rape was confirmed in medical examination. A case was registered.

The accused, who are distantly related, work as salesmen in a garment shop in Sarojini Nagar area and live in Munirka, the officer added.
It was a crisis in the making, and so it is hardly surprising that violence has broken out in Kohima, Nagalands capital over local body polls. While there could be many deep-seated political and social crises triggering the violence, on the surface it seems to be a battle that has got gender rights, politics and tribal anger pitted against one another in the elections, which was scheduled in the state after more than 10 years and in which for the first time 33% seats were reserved for women. But the reservation part, which has been pushed by the womens groups and supported by the government, did not go down well with several tribal councils and they accused the government of not respecting Naga customary laws. The other bone of contention: The Nagaland Municipal Act of 2001 also empowers municipal bodies to collect land and building taxes. In November, the apex tribal organisation in the state, Naga Hoho, had sent out a warning: It urged the assembly to ensure that the reservation in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) does not bring divisions among the people of the state resulting in creation of an unmanageable situation and that both decisions will create chaos.

Read: Uneasy calm in Nagalands Kohima as securitymen take charge, curfew lifted

On the customary law part, the Naga tribal groups are right when they say that such laws are protected under Article 371 (A) of the Constitution. Under this provision, no Act that interfered with Naga laws or social and religious practices would apply to the state unless the assembly passed a resolution allowing it. In an interview to Scroll.in a senior Naga leader summed up their opposition: Women should participate in polls, not through reservation but through nominations. The percentage of women could be even higher. We are saying why give reservation when there is no discrimination against women? It would only create a rift between Naga men and women, he felt. The womens groups, however, think otherwise.

Read: Violence in Nagaland: Mobs torch buildings over local body polls, army deployed

On Monday, the state government signed a deal with tribal bodies to postpone elections by two months. But with Gauhati high court directing the state government on Tuesday to hold ULBs polls, the state government decided to go ahead with polling in 12 of the 32 municipal bodies. But that did not calm the tribal groups and the government was forced to scrap the polls.
A New Delhi resident was shot dead at Palam Vihar area in Gurgaon on Sunday evening, police said. Police identified the victim as Vikrant, 25,of Baba Haridas Nagar in New Delhi.

An FIR has been registered under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code at the Palam Vihar police station, police said.

Police said according to eyewitness accounts, Vikrant was brought to Bajghera village in Palam Vihar in a van. He was talking with other occupants of the van when they shot him in the chest. The accused fled the spot in the van and Vikrant died on the spot, police said.

We have identified the accused and informed his family members. The matter will be probed to trace the accused, Sumit Kuhar, deputy commissioner of police (crime), said.

Police are suspecting some property dispute or illicit relations as the reasons behind the murder. Kuhar said anything could be ascertained only after meeting Vikrants family members.

Police are working on tracing the call record of Vikrant to get any leads on the accused. Police are also scanning CCTV camera footage of routes leading to the crime spot. Palam Vihar police station has formed a team to probe the case.

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Police have prepared sketches of five of the eight men accused in the Pataudi gangrape and burglary, and distributed them to all police stations in the region. Police have failed to make any significant breakthrough in the case even a week after the incident.

On the night of January 28, eight men entered a factory premises in Mandpura village, Pataudi, 30 kms from Gurgaon city, on which the victims -- workers of the factory -- lived. Two women were gangraped while their husbands and other workers were held hostage.

The husbands filed a complaint that the accused took them hostage at gunpoint, ransacked their residences, raped their wives, and made away with silver jewellery and more than 40,000 cash.

The burglars wore monkey caps but police claim to have prepared sketches of five accused on the basis of the description given by the women and their husbands. A police spokesperson said the sketches have been prepared for assisting the investigation team, and also to help police of nearby districts and states.

Families of the victims apprised police of danger to their lives as the culprits have not been nabbed.

One of the women and her family have left the area and returned to their village in Uttar Pradesh. The other woman is from Odisha and she is scared for the safety of her family.

The factory owner said the family from Uttar Pradesh was already scheduled to visit their village on Friday and they had prepared for it. He said it did not seem that they left out of fear.

On Saturday, Sumit Kuhar, deputy commissioner of police (crime), had held a meeting in Manesar with the crime units of Delhi, Rajasthan, and Haryana and also with teams from Palwal, Mewat, Rewari, Jhajjar and Faridabad districts.

In the meeting, it was decided that security in border areas, patrolling, intelligence and information sharing will be improved to prevent such crimes in future. The Gurgaon police is coordinating with police departments of nearby states and districts to trace the accused, the spokesperson said.

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For a brief period in 2012, Donald Trump became really obsessed with Kristen Stewart. Back then, she was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, basking in the success of her hugely popular Twilight movies, and he was just a businessman.

Stewart hosted this weekends Saturday Night Live, and in a passionate monologue in which she also let loose an F-bomb, she ripped into Trumps inexplicable obsession with her, and his unsolicited dating advice for her ex-boyfriend Robert Pattinson.

Four years ago I was dating this guy named Robert, she said. We broke up and then we got back together and for some reason it made Donald Trump go insane.

Stewart then proceeded to quote several of Trumps tweets about her infamous cheating scandal (with her Snow White and the Hunstman director Rupert Wyatt), her breakup, and brief reunion.

The president is not a huge fan of me, Stewart concluded, after looking at the Twitter record. But that is so OK. And Donald, if you didnt like me then, youre really probably not going to like me now, because Im hosting SNL and I am so gay, dude.

So to be fair, Steward said Saturday, I dont think Donald Trump hated me. I think hes in love with my boyfriend.

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Oscar winning actor-filmmaker George Clooneys wife Amal Clooney reportedly flaunted a rounder tummy while arriving in Barcelona with George and his parents, Nick and Nina.

The human rights lawyer kept mum about her rumoured pregnancy, reports Daily Mail.

#barcelona #humanrights #amalclooney A photo posted by @jkgreene10 on Feb 3, 2017 at 2:15pm PST

#GeorgeClooney #AmalClooney #NickClooney #NinaClooney #Barcelona #spain (1.1.2017) A photo posted by @mr_mrs_clooney on Feb 3, 2017 at 9:31am PST

 #GeorgeClooney and #AmalClooney at #LAX. Jan 27, 2017 A photo posted by @mr_mrs_clooney on Jan 28, 2017 at 2:11am PST

While strolling through Barcelona airport, Amal, who is reportedly pregnant with twins, flashed a big smile.

With minimal make-up, she kept warm in a cream loose sweater dress paired with a white hat, a black jacket, leggings and printed boots. She later traded the white hat for a black one.

On Thursday, the couple was seen having dinner with Georges parents.

Amal was in town to speak at the ADP ReThink Human Capital Management conference, which was moderated by Georges father. She also celebrated her 39th birthday on Friday.

The couple got married in Venice, Italy in 2014.

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Ruling AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikalas husband M Natarajan was on Sunday night hospitalised in Chennai with complaints of breathing problem, party sources said.

Natarajan was admitted to a corporate hospital after he complained of breathing trouble, they said without divulging any further information.

Natarajans health complications come on a day of significant developments as Sasikala moved one big step closer to becoming Tamil Nadus chief minister.

Read | From a shop owner to Tamil Nadu CM, quite a journey for Chinnamma Sasikala

The 62-year-old general secretary, considered a close aide of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, was named AIADMK party leader while chief minister O Panneerselvam tendered his resignation, citing personal reasons.

Sasikala, who will meet governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao to stake the claim to forming the government, is expected to be sworn-in before February 9, making her the third chief female chief minister.

Jayalalithaa, who won a sweeping victory in the 2016 assembly elections, came back to power on a crest that was short lived. She was admitted in the hospital in September, following complaints of shortness of breath, where she remained till her death on December 5. Following her demise, O Panneerselvam took charge as the chief minister.
More than 500 nurses at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) went on a strike on Sunday to protest against the death of colleague due to alleged negligence of the doctors.

The strike has affected services in wards, including the ICUs and critical care units. The nurses union has threatened to stop work even in the emergency department if the alleged erring junior doctors are not suspended.

According to Sukhlal Jat, a member of the nursing union, one of their colleagues, Rajbir Kaur, who was pregnant, was admitted to the hospital for a normal delivery on January 16.

During treatment, she lost her baby and was put on life support but died on Saturday night.

Following her pre-natal checkups, Kaur was admitted to AIIMS for a normal delivery, but the doctors did not monitor her properly. The fetal heartbeat dropped and she was taken to the operation theatre, said Harish Kajla, president of AIIMS nursing union.

It was a still born and even the mother had a cardiac arrest on the table. She was taken to the ICU and was declared dead after midnight, he said.

We lost one of our colleagues due to the negligence of the doctors. We want the doctors who were involved in the negligence towards her to be terminated. We can discuss about our other demands with the AIIMS administration but we want the termination of doctors, said Jat.

He said that they havent yet received a response from the AIIMS administration.

We cannot suspend the doctors without ascertaining whether they were at fault. We have constituted an eight-member committee, including doctors from Safdarjung and representatives from Resident Doctors Association (RDA), said Dr Balram Airan, acting director, AIIMS. The committee has to submit a report in seven days.

Police said that the post-mortem of the deceased will be conducted.

(With agency inputs)

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Many questions are being raised about a man who identified himself as Ishaq Ahmad  a truck driver from Labhera village in Bareilly  while surrendering before a Ghaziabad court last week in connection with an Audi-auto rickshaw accident that claimed four lives in the area on January 27.

An HT team found that the tall, moustachioed man who gave himself up in court on January 31, and later obtained bail under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, may have been different from the person he identified himself as in the surrender application the previous day.

The role of the Indirapuram police, who forwarded a report in the case to the court without verifying Ahmads credentials, has also come under the scanner.

A woman techie and two of her friends were among the four people killed when the speeding Audi rammed into their auto-rickshaw at Hindon canal road in Ghaziabad on the night of January 27.

When the HT team visited the address mentioned in the surrender application and the report filed by the Indirapuram police, it found that the actual Ahmad was a 32-year-old driver who claimed to have nothing to do with the incident in question. I have never been the driver of any Dr Manish Rawat, and I certainly havent driven an Audi. I drive canter trucks, and on the night of January 30, I had just returned to my village from a Gujarat trip, he said over the phone from Guwahati, where he has gone on a trucking assignment.

The truck driver was shocked to hear that he was the prime accused in the Ghaziabad accident. I wonder how my name got mired in this incident. Once I return, I will try to find out who impersonated me in court. There are others called Ishaq in my village, but none of them have fathers who go by the name Jameel, he said.

A photo of Ishaq Ahmad, a truck driver from Labhera village in Bareilly, accused in the case. (HT Photo)

Ahmad said he was in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, at the time of the accident. I left for Ahmedabad from my village on January 9. After spending over 20 days loading goods, I set off from there around midnight on January 27 and reached Bareilly at 2 am on January 30, he added.

The Bareilly resident claimed his father had called him up to say that some policemen had come to their residence with a notice. I think it is in connection with the same incident. I am heading home now, and once I reach, I will try to find out who impersonated me in court. Only then will my worries end.

According to Ahmad, he had set off on another trip to Guwahati from Bareilly on the night of January 31. And yet, earlier that day, a man claiming to be him had stood before the Ghaziabad court  located nearly 250 km away  to dutifully confess his involvement in the crime.

Our village has two people called Ishaq. While one is a driver whose fathers name is Jameel, the other is a mason whose father is called something else, said Liaqat Khan, pradhan of Labhera village.

In his surrender application, the alleged impersonator claimed he was driving the Audi Q7 car  bearing the registration number DL11CA-3420  involved in the accident. He expressed his wish to give himself up and apply for bail from the court.

Investigating officer Sanat Kumar Mishra denied any irresponsibility on the part of the Indirapuram police. The report was forwarded on the basis of what the court sought. The individuals who submitted the surety will be held responsible if the person who appeared before the court and obtained bail is different from the one mentioned in the document. We have sent a notice to Ishaq Ahmad at his address, asking him to submit his statement, he said.

The written report, a copy of which is with HT, clearly states that Ishaq Ahmad, son of Jameel, resident of village Labhera alias Buland Nagar, police station  Hafizganj, Bareilly, is wanted in connection with the case registered at Indirapuram under IPC sections 279, 304a and 427.

Nazakat Chaudhary, the lawyer who represented the alleged impersonator, said he was innocent of any wrongdoing. The individual was referred to me by a previous client. He told me his name and address, and showed me his driving licence. We only put up his surrender application, he added.

Police are yet to locate car owner Manish Rawat, a medical professional with Safdarjung hospital, and his phone has been switched off since the night of the accident. Two people were reportedly present in the car when it suffered a head-on collision with the auto rickshaw.

Read | Ghaziabad Audi crash ends lives, dreams to marry, work in a big city
The national president of All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) Yashpal Malik on Saturday threatened to start more dharnas in the state if the government did not stop issuing notices to Jat agitators.

Addressing the gathering, Yashpal Malik said, I came to know that the local administration is issuing notices to Jat leaders. It had even tried to stop students who wanted to visit the agitation spot. If the state government and local administration does not stop issuing notices, we will organise more dharnas and intensify our stir by February 12.

We have launched our stir in 19 districts of Haryana and the state government arranged 77 companies of paramilitary forces to maintain the law and order situation. Now I am announcing more agitation spots in Haryana, I request the government to arrange more forces to deal with us. We are protesting peacefully, but if the government takes any action against Jats, we will reply back, said Malik.

Talking about the criminal intimidation case against him, the AIJASS chief said, This is a trick by the state government to book me in various cases so that I stay at home. But I am not scared. I am here to address 36 communities and will come to Haryana again.

Yashpal Malik also slammed Haryana BJP ministers Captain Abhimanyu and OP Dhankar for calling Jat leaders chandakhor (someone who misappropriates donations).

I want to say that we do collect chanda, but for the good of Jat community. We hold langar and hookah-pani for everyone from the 36 communities visiting the dharna site to support us. To feed thousands of mouths, money is required, Yashpal Malik added.

Meanwhile, police and paramilitary forces have been deployed near the dharna spot to maintain the law and order situation.

Meanwhile, INLD national president Ashok Arora reached out to protesters at Jainpuar Jattan village of Kurukshetra district and assured all support to the protesters from his party.

Our party favours reservation for Jats and will extend our support to you in your fight for your demands, he said.

Meanwhile, the protesters who were protesting under the banner of AIJASS were also collecting donations from people visiting the protest sites and several people, including INLD workers, were seen giving donations and their names were announced by the organisers to encourage others for donation.

(with inputs from Neeraj Mohan)

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Carrying chits to exam halls is passe.

Patna police recovered undergarments and shirts fitted with electronic devices among other hi-tech devices on the eve of Sundays intermediate level combined examination (second phase) of the Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) that were held among rumours of question paper leak.

The police recovered 13 Bluetooth and credit-card type devices with SIM card and button batteries, power banks, 10 other batteries, 90 earphones, 10 cellphones and four separate SIM cards from a rented house on Kanti factory road under Agamkuan police station.

Vests and shirts with wires and sleek devices stitched to them were also recovered. The cops claimed that the devices were to facilitate cheating in examinations and took credit for having foiled an organised gangs bid to indulge in largescale malpractices.

The police also arrested three persons  Pawan Kumar (from Fatuha), Bipin Kumar (Nalanda) and Navneet Kumar Rai (Motihari)  in this connection.

An electronic device to facilitate cheating in exam (Santosh Kumar/HT photo)

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj said Pawan was the mastermind of the gang involved in several examination paper leak cases since 2014. Pawan admitted to the police that he had managed exam centres for aspirants with the connivance of several government officers in the competitive exams of police, excise and prison departments, the SSP added.

READ: 5 held in army job racket; Bihar police say armymen involved

Sources said Pawan came in contact with a secretary-level officer through a common acquaintance. He disclosed that the officer told him about the countrywide nexus of paper solvers and asked him to look for suitable opportunities so that both of them could make quick bucks.

Maharaaj claimed that the arrested trio disclosed the name of gang members and police were carrying out raids to nab them.

The BSSC conducts the exam for appointment of clerks in the state government. The first phase exam was held last Sunday amidst reports of question paper leak, which the commission denied.

Earlier on January 28, police had arrested five members of a gang from Shahpur police station area and busted a racket allegedly involved in efforts to leak papers of Army recruiting and BSSC exams.

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More 100- and 500-rupee banknotes are set to be pumped into the economy after the government shelved plans to reintroduce Rs 1,000 bills, which were scrapped during last Novembers demonetisation drive.

The shock recall of 500- and 1,000-rupee notes sucked out 86% of the money in circulation in a cash-driven economy. The cash crunch forced millions to queue at banks and ATMs for hours to draw money, reducing the public support the exercise enjoyed initially.

The shortage stabilised to an extent after the government introduced redesigned Rs 500 notes as well a whole new 2,000-rupee bill. But another worry cropped up as the Rs 2,000 note received a tepid response in the absence of enough small change in the market.

Instances abound of customers being turned away for giving a Rs 2,000 bill to purchase goods worth, say, Rs 650 since shopkeepers didnt have enough lower-value notes to return the change.

The problem prompted a government rethink, and chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian underlined the need to introduce more lower-value notes.

Sources said mostly 100- and 500-rupee notes  as well as the Rs 50  will be fed into the system as part of the strategy to remonetize the economy.

The focus will be on lower-denomination notes, though people are now no more reluctant to accept Rs 2,000 notes. Right now there is no plan to introduce Rs 1,000 notes, economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said and underscored that pro-active measures should be taken to reduce the demand for cash.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to replenish the entire sum that has been scrapped.

Until now, the RBI has reloaded about Rs 10 lakh crore into the system after sucking out Rs 15.44 lakh crore  which accounts for 17.16 billion notes  since November 8, 2016.

Das informed that new 50- and 100-rupee notes will be unveiled with a design change.

But this will not disrupt ATM operations, as it did after new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 bills were introduced. The ATMs had to be recalibrated to recognize the new notes.

The Rs 50 and Rs 100 notes will undergo only design changes, without tinkering with their basic shape and size template.

Sources said there has been some cash shortage with the RBI relaxing the withdrawal limits from ATMs.

The demand for cash is always high during the beginning of the month and about 30% of the ATMs are running dry, said a senior executive with a private bank. But the shortage is temporary and will ease in the next few days.

According to the sources, about Rs 12,000 crore were given to the countrys 220,000 ATMs, compared to around Rs 13,000 crore before November 8 when the demonetisation drive was announced.

The government scrapped the two high-value notes as part of its fight against illegal cash or black money, tax dodgers and counterfeiting.

But protests over the exercise washed out Parliaments winter session with the Opposition calling the government anti-people. The drive became a talking point of assembly elections in five states this February and March.

Also read | Demonetisation: A virtual nuclear strike to tackle a mosquito

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Cow vigilantes and Bajrang Dal activists staged a demonstration against actor Rishi Kapoor in Hoshangabad on Saturday evening, where he had come to attend a function of a private college. The protest was against the actors remarks on beef eating he made last year.

The protesters assembled at Nehru Park crossing in Hoshangabad town where they shouted slogans against Kapoor and burnt his effigy. Many also raised black flags. The protesters said they were hurt by the actors remarks on beef eating and he should publicly apologise for the same.

Read | What I eat, drink or pray is none of your business: Rishi

Kapoor courted controversy in March last year when he tweeted, I am angry. Why do you equate food with religion?? I am a beef eating Hindu. Does that mean I am less God fearing then a non eater? Think!!

In another tweet, he said, Knew this would go wrong! When did I say I have Gau Maas and I kill cows? Yes I eat beef where cattle are bred for food legally Not in India.
Let me be the change you need, reads the poll banner of Hukheli T. Wotsa, an Independent candidate for the Dimapur Municipal Council from Ward-9a seat reserved for women.

But before she could get a chance to bring about the change, her dreams were shattered by protests by the states tribal organisations opposed to holding of urban local body (ULB) polls with 33% seats reserved for women.

Two youths were killed in police firing in Dimapur on January 31 and an unruly mob burnt down over 20 government buildings in the capital Kohima, forcing the state government to declare the ULB polls null and void.

I wanted to take part in the policy-making process and bring about a change in my town, the former president of Dimapur unit of the Naga Womens Hohoan organisation comprising women from Nagalands 16 major tribes.

Her four grown up children and husband, who is in government service, supported Wotsas decision to contest the polls, but she was surprised by the reaction of the men-dominated tribal bodies.

I dont know what happened to our men. Women feel very discouraged by such opposition, said Wotsa, one of the few women candidates who refused to withdraw her nomination despite threats of social boycott.

Hukheli T Wotsa, a candidate from ward number 9 of Dimapur Muncipal Council. (Utpal Parashar/HT Photo)

Naga tribal bodies feel allowing reservation for women in ULBs will infringe on customary laws and also violate Article 371A of the constitution, which grants special status to Nagaland for protection of such laws.

Though 13 women have contested unsuccessfully over the decades, the state has never elected a woman legislator since gaining statehood in 1963.

I am deeply saddened by the developments. At this point we no longer know what our men want, said Rosemary Dzuvichu, adviser to Naga Mothers Association, which has been fighting for women rights.

A seasoned campaigner for womens reservation in elected bodies, Dzuvichu clarified that they respect traditional customs and laws, but want Naga women to also enjoy the same rights like other Indian women.

Following the spate of violence on Saturday night, the state cabinet held an emergency meeting and decided to request the Centre to keep Nagaland outside the purview of the Part IX of the Constitution, which deals with municipal elections and also 33% reservation for women.

Like Wotsa, another women candidate from the same ward Katoli Sema has also refused to withdraw her nomination. She wanted to contest to address problems in her constituency, but now she is more concerned about peace.

There is a lot of deep-seated anger in our society, and the opposition to reservation for women was the spark that ignited the fire and led to the incidents of violence, said Rugotsono Iralu, a woman resident of Kohima.

On Sunday afternoon, Iralu stood outside the gutted Kohima Municipal Council office carrying a banner expressing her dismay at the present state of affairs in her town and state.

Many feel the way forward could be intensive talks with all stakeholders before holding elections with nomination for women in all civic bodies keeping the issue of reservation aside---for the time being.

We are going to take a stand and Naga women are not going to take the blame for the incidents of the past few days, said Dzuvichu.

Meanwhile the Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) has decided to intensify protests from Monday and paralyse government machinery across the state demanding resignation of Chief Minister TR Zeliang.

The NTAC is spearheading the anti-reservation stir in the state.

Zeliang, who heads the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) of which BJP is also a partner was busy holding several meetings in Kohima on Sunday. Rumours are rife that he may step down soon to diffuse the tension before it escalates further.

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Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said it was time for a referendum in Pakistan to determine whether its citizens wished to merge with India. Addressing a public gathering at Haridwar in the poll-bound Uttarakhand, the Union minister comments came on a day when Pakistan observed the annual Kashmiri Solidarity Day in support of Kashmiris caught in protests across Pak Occupied Kashmir.

Rokiye ye maang karne walo ki Kashmir mein janmat sangrah hona chahey Ham ye sawal khara karna chahte hain ki janmat sangrah Pakistan mein hone chahey (Stop these demands of a referendum on KashmirWe want to demand a referendum on Pakistan) Singh, who addressed two rallies in Haridwar (rural) to mobilise support for BJP for the February 15 assembly polls, said.

(The referendum) is for whether Pakistanis want to remain in their country or merge with India, he added.

Kashmir has remained a contentious issue between the two countries, with bilateral relations souring considerably in the last year. Following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July 2015, Kashmir was plunged into a violent state of unrest, witnessing its longest period of curfew.

Diplomatic relations turned for the worse after militants attacked an army camp in Uri in north Kashmir in September, killing 19 soldiers, an attack India squarely blamed on Pakistan. New Delhi further used global diplomacy in an attempt to corner Pakistan into taking action against militants sheltering in its country.

Within a fortnight, India announced having carried out surgical strikes along the Line of Control, taking out militant launch pads, a claim Pakistan has dismissed as untrue. However, the announcement led to an increase of border violations, often trapping civilian villages in between.

We want peaceful relations with Pakistan but time and again Pakistan is responsible for notorious activities, Rajnath said, adding, Through surgical strikes, we have showed the world that even we can take strong action. India is a peace loving country but however, it is no longer a soft nation.

Pitching for the BJP in the hill state, the minister said Uttarakhand needs a strong government that can keep a check on its internal security. Terming both demonetisation and surgical strike as steps taken in the countrys interests, he said they will have long-term and good effects.

At another rally in the area from where chief minister Harish Rawat is contesting, Singh said if voted to power, the BJP will make crop loans to farmers interest free.

(With inputs from agencies)

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The AIADMK dismissed media reports about a leadership change in the Tamil Nadu government on Sunday morning, even as party MLAs braced themselves for an emergency meeting later in the day.

Speculations were rife that party general secretary VK Sasikala would be chosen as the new legislative party leader  paving the way for her to assume the chief ministers mantle. Though many party leaders favour such a move, a few believe O Panneerselvam should be retained because he is doing a good job at the helm of affairs.

The chief minister, who enjoys a fair degree of goodwill in the state, has even won praise from opposition leader and DMK working president MK Stalin.

Party spokesperson CR Saraswathi refused to comment on the rumours of leadership change as well as the topic of discussion at the MLAs meeting, scheduled to be held at 1.30 pm.

A senior party leader chose to deny the speculations. At present, I do not have any specific information. I doubt the authenticity of the media reports. For the time being, I would like to treat them only as rumours, he told HT on the condition of anonymity.

He said that even if a leadership change were to happen, it would be a smooth transition with complete cooperation from Panneerselvam.

The buzz over Sasikalas possible elevation comes in the backdrop of the party leadership politically rehabilitating several leaders shunned by J Jayalalithaa, the charismatic former chief minister who succumbed to cardiac arrest in December.

Sources say the objective of the move could be to thwart Jayalalithaas niece Deepa Jayakumar  who is reportedly in talks with a section of AIADMK leaders over announcing her political strategy on February 24, the late chief ministers birthday. Jayakumar has compared the move to anoint Sasikala as the legislative party leader to carrying out a military coup.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa and AIADMK leader KC Palaniswamy complained to the Election Commission (EC) that Sasikalas appointment as the partys interim general secretary had been carried out in an undemocratic manner. The EC issued a notice to the AIADMK, seeking clarifications in this regard.

Sasikala, Jayalalithaas closest aide since the 1980s, had handled party affairs on several occasions despite not holding any formal position in the AIADMK prior to the former chief ministers death. She is called Chinnamma, meaning aunt, taking after Jayalalithaa  who was popularly known among her legions of supporters as Amma (or mother). However, rivals refer to the AIADMK general secretary, her husband and their extended family as the Mannargudi Mafia  referring to their alleged stranglehold over the party.

Read | Why Sasikala as Tamil Nadu CM could backfire on many fronts

Meanwhile, Panneerselvam continues to go about his chief ministerial duties. Later in the day, he is scheduled to visit Ennore port to review the ongoing clean-up operations of an oil slick that occurred recently.

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An Uber cab driver was stabbed to death in Bhopals Barkheda Pathani area on Saturday night.

According to police, the driver, Yogesh Pujari (24), was dropping a passenger in Krishna Nagar locality when his car touched a two-wheeler parked nearby.

The two-wheeler owner Ashwini Sanate (19) took offence, ensuing in a fight, following which he attacked Yogesh with a sharp-edged weapon, killing him on the spot.

Sanate, an ITI student, has been arrested, police said.

Yogesh, a resident of Govindpura, was the sole breadwinner of his family and was driving his own car, police said.
Aankhon ko visa nahi lagta, sapnon ki sarhad hoti nahi, band aankhon se roz main sarhad paar chala jaata hoon, milne Mehdi Hassan se This poetry was narrated by legendary poet, Gulzar, to an audience at Partition Museum in Amritsar.

The writer, while mapping memories of partition, unfolded a few of his literary creations along with poet Sukrita Paul Kumar atGuftagu with Gulzar on Sunday.

Before sharing his literary creations, he took a walk around the museum, feeling the pain of people, and said, Likh likh ke main ye dard bhoolta raha, par aaj ye dobara samne aagaya (I kept writing for years to subside my painful memories of partition, but today history came alive yet again). I was a kid of about nine-years, but I remember everything. How our family got separated, how we were taken to refugee camps. The ones who left their homes; us paar, ya iss paar; cultures have seen bloodshed.

History came alive for Gulzar

There cant be more perfect place for this museum. Coming here has brought history alive for me. One should learn that history cannot be changed, it just has to be accepted as it is, irrespective of the fact that it gives us pain and tears till date, said Gulzar, who along with Sukrita pointed out the wounds were grave, and filmmaking on this incident was not allowed. Also, till date cinema has not been able to show a film where this chapter of history can be seen as it was.

Sukrita said, Not only cinema, even our education system has failed to unfold the heart wrenching truths of Partition. Earlier it was needed to heal the wounds, but now the archives should be brought out.

Bring tales from Pakistan to the museum

Gulzar suggested the trustees and the dedicated team of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust (TAACHT) to also get the poignant tales from Pakistan to the museum.

He said, Jiye hain hum dard ke saath aur dard ko saath lekar (we have lived with the pain and keeping the pain with us), now if we have a platform like this museum, we should take out some chunks of our pain and hang it on the walls for generations to read and feel.

Lets try to get the stories from across the border as well. People in Pakistan also felt the tremors that we felt. Their stories should also be a part of the museum. In one of my writings, I had stated hum logon ki duniya mein aam log kitne milte julte hain (People this side and that side have many things in common), said the poet-writer.

Gulzar, while winding up the talk, said, Pakistan ko main watan kehta hoon, par Hindustan mulk hai mera. (I was born there, but I belong here).

Desh, sarkar nahin hota, aur mulk hukoomat nahin hoti. Hukoomat aur sarkar to badal jate hain par mulk aur watan nahin badalte, he quoted.

One cannot change what happened and neither it is possible to be one again. One should accept history positively and tell oneself that borders and siyasat have divided us but the waters, sunshine and air cannot be curbed, and the cultural exchange should not be changed, he added.

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Walking into a dingy lane on Gwyne Road in the old, congested quarters of the city ushers one into a digital experience with a desi touch.

Here, one chances upon a small, mobile recharge shop owned by Indrajeet Ahujani, 24, popularly known as DJ Wale Bhai. The shop is difficult to miss because of the deafening music Indrajeet plays as mouth-freshner sachets hang from the walls of the outlet.

Four years ago, when Indrajeet received a free Samajwadi laptop, he did not know how to use the gadget for himself and his family.

For some time, he kept it in a corner of his room. But one day a friend showed him how to run the laptop and that changed Indrajeets life.

Cut to 2017: This HP laptop has enabled Indrajeet to open a small shop for mobile and data recharge and earn a livelihood.

He has been in the business for the last two years and makes about Rs 20,000 per month now.

He received the laptop in 2013 after passing the Class 12 examination from Aminabad Inter College.

I was unemployed before getting this laptop. Since there are hardly any jobs available for a mediocre student like me, life was becoming difficult. But the Samajwadi free laptop scheme has changed my life. Im making decent money, thanks to this laptop, he told HT.

Indrajeet says, Normally, most shops do mobile recharge through handsets. But I do it digitally with my laptop. It is so simple. One can recharge much faster by computer than by mobile.

Asked why people call him DJ Wale Bhai, Indrajeet laughs and says, I have started playing DJ music at weddings and birthday parties with this laptop. I have stored nearly 500 of the latest Bollywood and Hollywood chartbusters on the laptop. By connecting the gadget to a sound system, I have become a DJ as well. I can mix songs very well at the click of a mouse.

The young man is hired by residents of the adjoining areas for private functions where he becomes the DJ. Today, Indrajeet is earning decent money with help of the laptop.

A big fan of Akhilesh Yadav, he is eagerly looking forward for an opportunity to meet the chief minister so he can thank Yadav for helping him live a respectable life.

Indrajeet is confident that Yadav will form the next government because he has done so much for the state.

Distributing 18 lakh laptops, bringing metro rail to the state capital and constructing the Agra-Lucknow Expressway is no joke, he says.

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A tea stall owner in Prime Minister Narendra Modis Varanasi constituency flaunts his love for all things Samajwadi.

Known as Samajwadi Chaiwala, Mahesh Yadav, 26, has installed a brand new photograph of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and an old photograph of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav at the tea stall near Dashashwamedh Ghat here. His support to the party and its new president is quite evident from this act.

Situated in the heart of the city, the stall attracts many young SP leaders and workers in the age group of 25 to 40 years late every evening. They come from various pockets of the city. Sipping tea served by Mahesh, they discuss political trends and strategies to win the voters hearts.

Mahesh Yadav became an ardent supporter of Akhilesh Yadav at the age of 16. He caught glimpses of Akhilesh on December 12, 2015 on Dashashwamedh Ghat where the UP chief minister attended Ganga Arati along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

Mahesh Yadav recently got a fresh photograph of Akhilesh Yadav from Lucknow and installed it at the shop. In 2015, I saw bhaiya (Akhilesh) on television for the first time and became his fan for life. I installed his picture at the shop the next day. Recently, I replaced that picture with a new one from Lucknow, Mahesh Yadav told HT.

He started calling himself Samajwadi chaiwala two and half years ago, drawing inspiration from Narendra Modi who sold tea in his early years but rose to the position of prime minister.

As I am an SP supporter, I like to be addressed as Samajwadi chaiwala. I try to popularise the party by all means, Mahesh Yadav said.

As for his plans, he said, At present, I dont want to contest polls. I want to meet Akhilesh Bhaiya at least once.

Around 9 pm, a group of the SP supporters turned up at the tea stall. They took seats and ordered for tea which invigorated their discussion on political affairs.

Vinod Yadav, a party office bearer in the Cantonment assembly constituency, said, Mahesh is a selfless party worker. He never asks for anything. In the true sense, he is a Samajwadi. Therefore, we call him Samajwadi Chaiwala.

Manish Yadav, Shyamu Yadav and many others, all in the age group of 30 and 40, are among the regular visitors to the tea stall. They prefer visiting the tea stall around 9pm when activities in the area reduce. Often, they are joined by the passersby. The discussions continued till 11.30pm.

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A 54-year-old woman, who was suffering from cancer, allegedly committed suicide after jumping from her the terrace of residential building in Malad (west) on Sunday. The deceased, who was residing on the fourth floor of Kapol co-operative housing society, situated on Marve Road in Malad (west) along with her husband, son and daughter, was upset for the past few days due to her illness, revealed preliminary investigation.

According to the police, the incident occurred around 10 am when the victim allegedly jumped from the terrace of her building. The watchman and few other residents heard a loud thud and rushed to the spot. They informed her family members, said a police officer.

At the time of the incident her husband and children were at home, added the police officer from Malad police station. The Malad police was then informed about the incident and a police team was rushed to the spot. They sent her to Shatabdi hospital where she was declared dead.

The police have registered a case of accidental death report (ADR). We are not suspecting any foul play but we will investigate the case from all angles and will record statement of her family members and neighbours to know the exact reason, added officer.

READ MORE

Family problems, illness and exam failures major cause for suicides in Mumbai

Papa, I brought you shame: Kota students message before suicide

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In a symbolic gesture to woo the Marathi manoos  the voterbase of its ally-turned-rival, Shiv Sena  the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday officially kick-started its campaign for the Mumbai civic polls by making all its candidates pay tributes at the Hutatma Chowk memorial for martyrs of the United Maharashtra movement in south Mumbai.

The candidates then went on to take an oath of transparency, promising to ensure corruption-free governance in the countrys richest civic body, making it clear this would be its core agenda. The candidates also promised to make public their assets every year once elected to the civic body.

And just as the party flagged off its campaign, BJP city unit chief Ashish Shelar, in his address, alleged the Sena and the Congress had teamed up together with an agenda to defeat the BJP. Shelar said there were at least 42 wards in the seat where such match fixing had happened.

I have studied the list of both the parties after a Congress worker joined the BJP complaining of her ticket being cancelled at the last minute. I found out that at least in 42 wards, both these parties have done match fixing. Wherever Sena is weak, a candidate has been fielded to help the Congress and vice versa, said Shelar. Without taking names, he alleged the Sena had reached out to Congress city chief Sanjay Nirupam, a former Shiv Sainik, for such an arrangement.

He said such a move was a betrayal of Mumbai and the sophisticated and cultured Marathi voter, who knows the BJP, would not fall prey to it.

The BJPs deference to the memorial for the martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra or the United Maharashtra movement of the 1960s ahead of elections can be seen as political expediency ahead of the polls. The partys policy to support smaller states, including a separate Vidarbha, is at cross purposes with United Maharashtra stand that the Sena has always aggressively supported.

Sources in the party admit that given that Mumbai is at stake, this is a bid to walk the tightrope to ensure Marathi manoos is not alienated from the BJP. The party is hoping to corner a majority of non-Marathi votes, but at the same time it will have to make dent in the Marathi core base of the Sena to take the lead in the polls. The Sena, by giving nearly 85% of its seats to Marathi manoos, has tried to secure its core support base.

The BJPs worry is the Sena in the future will make this more aggressively as a fight between Marathi versus non-Marathi voters. Indicating as much, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at a rally in the evening, said if the BJP was really sincere, it should take a public oath to support United Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, Shelar, in a series of rhetorical questions, also pointed out the reason the Sena had broken the alliance was because the BJPs transparent agenda made it uncomfortable. He asked whether the Sena had split from the alliance because the BJP had put corrupt contractors in the BMC behind bars, initiated a probe into dumping ground or road scam or because Prime Minister Modi went against black money hoarders.

Read more:

Maharashtra CM only cares about destroying Shiv Sena: Uddhav Thackeray

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The state school education department has asked schools in Maharashtra to maintain confidentiality of its students Aadhaar cards, after a parent complained about violation of privacy.

All schools have to ensure that students have an Aadhaar card and register their unique identification number. They need submit the details to the department.

A circular issued by Govind Nandade, director of primary education, reads, All divisional education officers should ask schools to take all precautions to ensure the details are not misused.

A parent from Thane submitted a complaint on the states Aaple Sarkar portal following which the education department issued the instructions. As you are aware, the Aadhaar card is a confidential document... We are not asking for any subsidies for our ward. There are already several reports of illegal copies floating around and the information may be misused if confidentiality is not maintained... We dont mind providing the details but we must be assured of confidentiality at every stage, said the complaint.

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New pre-school guidelines not sufficient for childrens safety in Maharashtra, say parents and teachers

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Officers from MIDC police station on Saturday arrested three out of six men for murdering a man and attacking two others in Andheri (East).

Cops said Wasiullah Mohsin Shaikh, 41, had informed Dahisar police about the involvement of one of the arrested accused, Soorab Saha, in a crime committed at Nashik.

Acting on Shaikhs tip-off, Dahisar police summoned Sahas relatives to the police station for questioning. Saha somehow learnt about Shaikhs involvement in the case. Both know each other as they hail from the same village at Siddharthnagar district in Uttar Pradesh.

After deciding to teach him a lesson, Saha convinced Shaikh to meet him for lunch at Bhangarwadi in Subhash Nagar on Friday. As per their plan, Shaikh met Saha around 11 am. However, expecting trouble, he tagged along his brother, Abdul Mohsin Shaikh, and Abduls brother in law, Samsuddin Saha.

After speaking for two hours, Saha and five of his accomplices attacked the three with iron rods and pipes following which they fled they spot . While Shiakh succumbed to his injuries at a government hospital on Friday evening, his kin, who sustained grievous injuries in the attack, are said to be out of danger.

The next day, cops arrested Saha and his relatives, Sabir Ali Shaikh and Mohammad Ali. They were produced in the magistrates court and were remanded in police custody till 8 February. A manhunt has been launched to arrest their three accomplices, said investigating officer inspector Padmakar Devre from MIDC police station.

Also read: Mumbai police finds body with injuries in Bandra, suspects murder
The Shiv Sena leader who masterminded the ink attack on Observer Research Foundation (ORF) chief Sudheendra Kulkarni for inviting a Pakistan-based personality, courting massive controversy, is now vying to be a corporator in the Mumbai civic body.

The Shiv Sena has picked Gajanan Patil, the most senior of the six Sainiks who splashed ink on Kulkarni, completely blackening his face, as its official candidate for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election from ward number 176 (Sion, GTB Nagar). The six Shiv Sena leaders attacked Kulkarni, ambushing him near his house, for inviting Pakistans former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri for his book launch on behalf of ORF in Mumbai.

Patil said, I gained a lot of support in my area after that incident. There is a lot of anger against Pakistan among people for the violence at the border, the terrorism, and people really appreciated what I did. If anything, it will only help me in my election campaign. Besides, I will stress on the need for slum redevelopment, and improved garbage collection, highlighting how the BJP legislator in the area has done no work.

The Shiv Sena has always been against any kind of association with Pakistan-based artistes and personalities, and had even forced the cancellation of a concert by ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali just a few days before the ink attack on Kulkarni.

While Sena leaders said the six Sainiks acted out of their own volition, and there were no such official orders from the party, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray reportedly felicitated Patil and his five associates for the assault on Kulkarni the following day.

Patil, a tour operator by profession, has been associated with the Sena for more than 23 years. For nearly 15 years, he has been heading Shiv Senas shakha at Antop Hill.

READ MORE

Shiv Sena heckles BJP over Ae Dil Hai Mushkil issue in Saamana editorial

In the face: Kulkarni blames Shiv Sena for ink attack over Kasuri book

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While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Maharashtra came to power with a promise that it would make the states roads toll-free, a financial study of the Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communications Expressway has projected that motorists will have to pay toll for 40 years.

According to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the long period for collecting toll is required to make the Rs46,000-crore project financially viable. The detailed project report is in the final stages. It is a huge project and to make it viable, we will have to charge toll for around 40 years. We are targeting an annual revenue of Rs1,000 crore from the expressway, said Kiran Kurundkar, joint managing director, MSRDC. He said the final decision rests with the government.

A senior official explained that initially, a couple of years would go in making the expressway popular and to attract motorists. However, the exact toll charges for different vehicles will be decided after the final report is in. The expressway is being implemented on the EPC model and once the construction is completed, the corporation will float bids to appoint an agency to operate and maintain the expressway for a stipulated period, an official added.

The ambitious project that is monitored closely by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis entail huge investments. The civil construction for which the bids have been floated is estimated to cost Rs27,650 crore.

The corporation plans to raise Rs26,750 crore from a multilateral agency and domestic market for the expressway. Of the Rs26,750 crore, we are in discussion with the Asian Development Bank for funds close to Rs13,750 crore. And for the remaining, have already roped in SBI caps to raise the remaining funds, an official said.

Meanwhile, in a boost for the project, the corporation has received consent for 40% of required land from the project-affected people along the alignment. According to officials,farmers of 30% of the land have given their consent and 10% land, which is required from various government departments, has also been handed over. Considering the stiff deadline of 2019, acquiring 20,820 hectares of land has been the biggest challenge before the implementing agency.

Maharashtra seeks global bids to push construction of Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway

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Khoda colony is vital for candidates during elections as it is a major vote bank. Dotted with hundreds of narrow lanes, hanging electricity wires, rough cemented roads, mixed residential areas with thousands of shops, the colony presents a horrid picture of civic mess.

A majority of the 7 lakh residents here have come from other parts of UP, Bihar and other neighbouring states, in search of small-time jobs and occupation around Delhi.

I came here in 1994 but nothing has changed. In fact, residents here battle overflowing drains, hanging electricity wires and garbage filled surroundings. Nearly 95% residents use submersible pumps to draw water while rest depend on water tankers or water extraction units, Amit Raj Updahdyaya, of Fatehpur in UP, said.

Hundreds of houses with unauthorised construction are also situated along the lanes and by-lanes.The houses here are difficult to locate.

Any new person needs at least an hour to reach an address here, and even has to ask nearly a dozen persons on the way. People in mohallas have given their own street numbers and house numbers. Some houses have numbers which are based on their ration card numbers. Everything is messy here, Satish Mishra, of Deepak Vihar in Khoda, said.

Khoda was also declared a Nagar Palika but the development work is yet to start fully.

There is no proper place to dispose of the garbage. People dump garbage on vacant plots, in drains or any other vacant place they find suitable. Often, it happens that water flowing in the open drains and sewage water gets mixed with the groundwater and submersible pumps supply contaminated water, Sonu Tiwari of Azad Vihar said.

Non-functional drainages also mar lives of residents. The roads in the colony are at different level and most of the houses and shops are located a couple of feet below the ground level.

This is due to repeated laying of roads that the level of houses has gone below the road level. But, there is no option. Residents here are mostly used as a vote bank and politicians arrive here with promises. Every election, we think we will vote for candidates who will resolve issues. Before every election, politicians promise many things but there seems to be no end to our misery, PS Bhadoria of Vandana Enclave in Khoda said.

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In a scathing attack on Uttar Pradesh chief minister (CM) Akhilesh Yadav, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said that the CM has ignored the basic necessities of the people.

Akhilesh has undertaken the cosmetic development of UP and is bragging about the same before the elections. There is no electricity in villages, road connectivity from villages to towns is absent, medicines are not cheap, farmers are unable to sell their produce, there is no safety for women and every day, we read about murders and rapes. Yet, Akhilesh proudly claims that he has built a road between Agra and Lucknow, Shah said at a rally in Noida on Sunday.

Shah was campaigning for BJPs Noida candidate, Pankaj Singh, along with Union minister Mahesh Sharma and sitting MLA Vimla Batham.

Shah said that Akhilesh and his party indulged in corrupt practices for every public welfare project, thereby slowing the states development. You (Akhilesh) have indulged in corrupt practices in (projects of) sand mining, road construction, nurse appointments, police appointments and even while constructing the cycle tracks in Noida, Shah said.

He said that the law and order situation has deteriorated in the state during the Samajwadi Partys regime.

People gave you (SP) five years to govern and you took UP to newer lows. At present, 24 rapes, 16 murders, 1,500 loots and 265 kidnapping incidents are registered every day across the state. What exactly have you (Akhilesh) done for the people of UP? Shah said.

Shah also took on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that Gandhi should introspect rather than ask questions of the PM.

Rahul Gandhi keeps asking what has Modi has done in two-and-a-half years. I wish to remind him that this is not Lok Sabha elections and we will give him all the answers in 2019. You (Congress) gave us a Prime Minister who never spoke to anyone except to you and your mother. Earlier, the Pakistan Army could easily infiltrate our borders and indulge in gunfire. Today, we have a Prime Minister whom nobody can accuse of corruption. Today, our army gives a befitting reply to infiltration bids and crossfires. This is what we have achieved, Shah said.

Shah said that only BJP can change the fortune of the state. I request the people of Noida to cast their vote on February 11, not to choose their local MLA or state chief minister, but to change the fortune of their state, said Shah.

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Raising the issue of poor civic amenities and lack of safety to women, Union minister of Textiles and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) star campaigner Smriti Irani on Sunday held a rally in Khoda Colony of Ghaziabad and blamed the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party for the mess.

Khoda is one of the most congested colonies of Ghaziabad and has borders with Noida and Delhi. It is estimated to have a population of over seven lakh and is an important part of the Sahibabad constituency. Around 2 lakh residents are expected to vote on February 11.

Residents were shown development dreams with a package of 300 crore and told that if they voted for Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), their life will be better. The MLA is theirs, the pradhan is also theirs, but Khoda residents have failed to get a better life. The narrow streets are overflowing with drainage and roads are garbage ridden, she said.

The Centre sent nearly 950 crore for cleanliness in UP but only 40 crore was spent and the remaining remains unutilized. The residents should ask those who could not clean Khoda colony. So, you should now vote for the BJP. I was looking at women and girls who were peeping outside and greeting me. Girls remain fearful while stepping out to study and their mothers remain fearful till the girls return home, she said.

I am sure that people from Khoda will vote to get rid of overflowing drains, garbage ridden bylanes and lack of safe and clean drinking water. Women here remain worried about the safety of the child if he/she goes out to play near open and overflowing drains. Girls here get worried about stepping out alone as they know that no one will come to their help if they are teased. They know the police will not come (to their aid) as officials will get a phone call from Lucknow to release them, she said.

She said that the BSP, SP and Congress have not been able to give proper education facilities to girls. The BJP has announced that girls will be given free education up to graduation level. We need your vote to make this happen, she said.

In UP, there is a major problem as recruitment of 1 lakh personnel is still pending. If a young man from a poor family applies for a job, leaders of SP and BSP tell them to show them Laxmi (money) and only then will the job be provided. I have come here to assure you that if the BJP comes to power, recruitment of the 1 lakh will be done within a year, she said.

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The court of additional and sessions judge Anshu Shukla has sentenced three men to 20 years in jail each for the October 2014 gangrape and death of 20-year-old architecture student, the daughter of an eatery owner in Sector-22. A fine of Rs 5.22 lakh each has also been imposed on the convicts. Rajat Beniwal (23), Kamal Singh (31) and Dilpreet Singh (24) had been convicted on January 30.

The victims body was found in a drain on Rajpura Road near Shambhu barrier, 8km from Ambala, on October 21, 2014, though she had died two days earlier. Rajat Beniwal, of Sector 51, was a student at the evening college, Panjab University, Kamal owned a dhaba in Sector 37-D, while Dilpreet was pursuing interior designing at the time.

After preliminary investigation, police said she was consuming heroin inside a car with Rajat, Kamal, and Dilpreet (with whom she was allegedly in a relationship) in SAS Nagar and had died due to drug overdose.

The judgment refers to the admission by accused Dilpreet, that he was addicted to drugs and that the three (accused) brought drugs from Ludhiana.

The judgment also notes, ... The arguments led by defence counsel are not sustainable in the eyes of the law... prosecution evidence is one well-knit piece. The cops also recovered the body of the victim in the presence of the complainant. (there is a video recording of this). The Central Forensics Science Laboratory report which established that unnatural sex took place also helped prove the guilt.

The three have been given 10 years under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder); three years under 363 (kidnapping); five years under 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent to confine person); 20 years under 376D (gangrape); 10 years under 377 (unnatural offences); one year for 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) of the IPC, all read with Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. The sentence will run concurrently.

The court submitted that since the deceased would have undergone trauma... a compensation is recommended . A copy of the judgment is to be sent to the District Legal Services Authority Chandigarh, to determine the amount.

.... even if there is a contradiction regarding the date of missing of deceased, it is not fatal to the prosecution story... a girl is always a flesh and blood of her fathers life... in case when she goes missing it is natural that they feel disturbed... such discrepancies occur, the judgment adds.

ONLY DEATH CAN EQUATE THE PAIN OF DEATH: VICTIMS BROTHER

Even as they had been held guilty and knew they were in for punishment, the three accused Rajat, Kamal and Dilpreet-sentenced to 20 years for the gangrape and death of a 20-year-old woman, the daughter of an eatery in Sector-22, still hoped for leniency.

Complainants counsel Manish Dewan had confirmed that charges of gang-rape and unnatural offence were added against the accused later after the victims family had moved an application in the court.

The day witnessed a lot of drama as each of three convicted in the case pleaded for clemency before the court in pronouncing the quantum. While Rajat and Dilpreet wore a restless look, Kamal was seen constantly praying with his hands folded.

The families of each carried food in tiffin boxes claiming they didnt know when they will get to do this next. Later in the afternoon, when the court staff did not allow the families of the guilty to enter the courtroom during the pronouncement, it was not taken in good taste. Dilpreets mother, sister and uncle were seen arguing with the constables about the same.

The families of the guilty were disheartened when they heard the decision. Kamals mother and wife in particular broke down outside the court while others consoled her. She said she wasnt in a position to express her feelings. Dilpreets sister remarked that her brother had been wronged.

Rajats sister and widowed mother, who appeared calm though, shared how they couldnt come to terms with this.

The guilty appeared cold and expressionless post the quantum announcement. Rajat requested the cops to let him meet his family before he was taken to the jail.

DECEASEDS FAMILY STILL REMORSEFUL

Victims father and complainant Joginder Singh gave a mixed reaction after he was informed about the quantum. He said, Itna toh banta hi tha...ab kya keh sakte hain (This much was only appropriate...what more can I say), while her brother Pankaj said, Only death can equate the pain of death. They deserved to be hanged.

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Land registration in Jharkhand has dropped by 80% after Aadhaar cards (unique identity number) was mandated for land deals from February 1.

In an attempt to stop fake registration, Jharkhand government has made Aadhaar cards mandatory for both-buyers and sellers-in registration of land.

However, the devices installed in all registry offices of the state for authentication are failing to authenticate buyers, which has virtually brought the entire registration process to a standstill putting many, including NRIs in a Catch-22 situation..

An official in the Ranchi registry office said a woman from Germany, who had bought a flat in Ranchi, had to return home empty handed on Friday, as the device could not authenticate her finger print. She had visited the office for registration of her flat.

She is not alone. Over 200 people had to return in last three days from district registry office in Ranchi without registering their property.

Pushkar Sahu, a deed writer in Ranchi registry office, said, On February 2 after introduction of Aadhaar enabled system, only seven registrations were done, which reduced to four on Friday. It was seven on Saturday.

Sahu, who is also the Jharkhand Deed Writers Association (JDWA) general secretary, said that states other registry offices are also in a similar situation.

Daily registration has come down to 75-100 from 2000-2500 in 47 registration offices in the state after implementation of the system. If the government does not sort it out, hundreds of deeds writers across the state will face livelihood problems, Sahu said.

Rahul Choubey, district subregistrar Ranchi, said, We do not know the exact reason but there could be a glitch in the software. The device is authenticating very few people. Daily registration has dropped due to the problem. He, however, said that the problem would be rectified in a day or two.

Revenue and land reforms department on Saturday asked district sub-registrars to detect the actual problem and inform the department.

A source said that the department is contemplating to install iris scanner in registry offices. Iris scans are considered to be the most accurate form of biometrics.

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More than a 100 people have been killed in a series of avalanches triggered by days of heavy snowfall around Afghanistan, including 50 in one village, officials said on Sunday, warning the death toll could rise still further.

The avalanches struck after three days of heavy snow, which has destroyed scores of homes and blocked roads mainly in central and northeastern provinces, making it difficult for rescue workers to reach the stricken villages.

The bulk of the deaths however occurred in remote Nuristan province, where at least 50 people were killed in a single village, Mohammad Omar Mohammadi, a spokesperson for the ministry of natural disaster told AFP.

Avalanches have buried two entire villages in Bargmatal district, 50 bodies were recovered from one village while rescuers are trying to reach the other village, said the spokesperson.

Elsewhere 54 people were killed in northern and central Afghan provinces, where officials said massive avalanches destroyed 168 houses and killed hundreds of cattle.

Bad weather and deep snow had hampered efforts of rescue workers to reach the isolated villages, raising fears the toll could rise sharply, according to officials.

In Badakhshan province also in the northeast of the country, at least 18 people, including three women and two children, were killed when avalanches struck their houses overnight, said provincial spokesperson Naweed Frotan.

Several dozens are still trapped, we are trying to rescue them, he said, adding that many roads were still blocked.

Five people were killed by avalanches in the Balkhab district of Sari Pul province in northern Afghanistan and at least 70 people trapped under the snow were being rescued, said provincial spokesperson Zabiullah Amani.

The roads to Balkhab are still blocked and we are trying to open them, he said.

Freezing weather killed at least two people and over 100 animals in the western province of Badghis.

In Parwan province just north of Kabul, the spokesperson for governor Wahid Sediqqi said 16 people died.

The government declared Sunday, a normal working day in Afghanistan, to be a public holiday to deter non-essential travel and ensure schools were closed.

Afghan men make their way down a snow-covered street in Kabul on Sunday. (AFP)

Heavy snowfall

Unusually, snow even fell in the southern province of Kandahar.

Neighbouring Pakistan was also hit by severe weather, with at least 13 people killed in the northwest by avalanches or heavy rain.

An avalanche smashed into eight homes in the village of Shershal in Chitral district, killing nine people including four women and four children.

The region has been hit by heavy snowfall that is four feet deep in some places.

Six people who had been trapped beneath the snow were rescued.

A separate avalanche killed a soldier at a border checkpoint in Chitral district, a military statement said, while six more soldiers were injured.

Chitral district mayor Maghfriat Shah said the citys airport was closed because of the weather.

The regions electricity supply was also disrupted after the main power line was damaged.

In the Khyber tribal district on the Afghan border in the northwest, three infant girls were killed and two women injured when the roof of their house collapsed in heavy rain.

Deadly avalanches are common in Afghanistans mountainous areas in winter and rescue efforts are frequently hampered by lack of equipment.

Despite billions of dollars in international aid after the ousting of the Taliban government in 2001, Afghanistan remains among the worlds poorest nations.

Last month heavy snowfall and freezing weather killed 27 children, all under the age of five, in Jawzjan province in northern Afghanistan.
The leader of al Qaedas affiliate in Yemen has released an audio recording in which he describes President Donald Trump as the White Houses new fool and says a recent US raid against the group killed 25 people, including 11 women and children.

Addressing his followers in the recording, which emerged late on Saturday, Qassim al-Rimi says: The White Houses new fool has received a painful blow at your hands in his first outing on your land.

Al Rimi identifies all 25 purported victims of the January 29 raid and claims that scores of US soldiers were killed or wounded.

The recordings authenticity could not be immediately verified, but the voice was similar to that of previous recordings by al Rimi.

The US military says a Navy SEAL was killed in the raid.
Till last year, Sharoon Thomas and Rituparna Panda, co-founders of the startup Fulfil.io, were on a predictable path  planning to move to the United States. As the immigration climate got muddied during the 2016 US Presidential election, they did find themselves in a North American nation, except that they arrived in Toronto last October.

Cracking the US immigration system is very hard, Thomas, who hails from Kochi and is the startups CEO, said. The main issue is, there is no stability.

So they opted to immigrate under the Canadian Startup Visa or SUV programme, due to the clarity it offers. The logic is simple  building a startup is challenging enough without the added risk of maintaining immigration status.

They now work out of the office of Extreme Accelerator. In an interview with the Hindustan Times at its office in downtown Toronto, Extreme Accelerators co-founder Sunil Sharma saw an opportunity in the concern over the immigration policies of the Donald Trump Administration south of the border.

He said, Many founders from many countries such as India, are either in the United States on a temporary immigration status or are desiring to go to the United States. Our feeling is that both of those scenarios are now at greater risk than in the past with new policies that are relooking at immigration, including the coveted H1B visa. With that situation now more difficult to predict with any certainty, there is a very strong case for Canada to step forward and try to bring some of those founders here where we have a much more open and transparent immigration programme and policies.

Extreme Accelerators co-founder Sunil Sharma saw an opportunity in the concern over the immigration policies of the Donald Trump Administration south of the border (HT Photo/Anirudh Bhattacharyya)

In fact, he plans to announce a dedicated fund aimed at enticing such entrepreneurs to Canada soon. Sharma believes Indians, whether in India or in Silicon Valley, are among the worlds most prolific creators of startups and wants to attract some to Canada, as he said, We think India is a great country to co-create startup companies with. The concept is to create mini multinational companies, where theres a Canadian headquarters and an Indian operation and teams in both countries.

The fund has already been soft-launched and brought in five teams of founders, including two from India. The SUV programme allows for up to five co-founders of a company and their immediate families to immigrate to Canada.

While the SUV is a pilot programme scheduled to end in 2017 and offers 2,750 visas, the new opening could give it a more permanent shape.

Sharma is also chair of the Canadian Accelerator and Business Incubation Association, which has the mandate to manage the startup visa list and programme for the Government.

The effort is now to show the government the programme is working and needs to be strengthened.

The uptake of the SUV has been low since its launch, but its proponents hope the new environment will make the number of applicants grow appreciably.

Panda, who is from Delhi, found Canada very welcoming.

Fulfil.io offers a business suite for retailers to compete with giants such as Amazon, and two of its co-founders, Prakash Pandey and Tarun Bhardwaj, are in Bangalore.

Thomas and Panda are hopeful their India-based colleagues will also eventually make their way to Canada.

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Jubilant lawyers at New Yorks leading airport on Saturday urged visa holders from seven predominantly Muslim countries to fly to the United States immediately while Donald Trumps travel ban remains in tatters.

Volunteers manning a crisis-management headquarters behind a diner at John F Kennedy International Airport breathed a collective sigh of relief on Saturday, delighted that one week after the explosive order came into effect a federal judge in Seattle had suspended it.

Renee Paradis, 39, who has a solo practice in New York and worked on Senator Bernie Sanders failed presidential bid last year, said the sense of happiness contrasted sharply with the gloom of a week earlier over deportations.

It was just incredibly chaotic and stressful and really worrisome and just heartbreaking, she said, recalling one woman who was saved only when her plane turned back after a judge issued a temporary stay.

Today is definitely a better Saturday, she said. Its definitely more excited and jubilant that were actually going to hopefully see some folks coming in who havent been able to come in before.

Paradis, the on-site coordinator for the day and working her fourth shift, said the group based at Terminal 4 had assisted at least 199 families over the past week.

International travellers being welcomed by family members at the John F Kennedy international airport in New York City, US. (Reuters Photo)

But while the team began the day optimistic that affected travellers would soon arrive, by sundown there had been only anecdotal reports of arrivals, with more expected on Sunday.

Confusion also lingered as authorities digested the ramifications both of the federal judges ruling suspending the presidential order and of the White Houses vow that the justice department will challenge the decision.

Read: Donald Trumps officials appeal judges ruling blocking immigration order

At least one person bound for New York was prevented from boarding by an airline, said Paradis. Seventeen or 18 others did make it through Logan airport in Boston, she said.

One was a female graduate student studying in New York. State Governor Andrew Cuomo said that a four-month-old Iranian baby and her family had been given clearance for the infant to undergo heart surgery.

Lingering confusion

It was unclear what would happen to people whose visas had been cancelled. Some volunteers said they expected many travellers to wait a few days for greater certainty before purchasing expensive tickets.

But with the president vowing to appeal the Seattle judges ruling, activists urged visa holders and refugees to act immediately.

They should move quickly and come as soon as they can and reach out to the volunteer lawyers group, Paradis said. We will do what we can to make sure that they land and get to where they need to be.

It was a message of urgency repeated by other groups working to help travelers from the seven affected countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

We encourage all US visa holders who have been affected by the order to travel to the United States as soon as possible, said Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Clare Kane, a student intern at the Jerome N Frank legal services organisation at Yale Law School, said in a statement that her group had been in contact with hundreds of people impacted by the ban.

The Trump administration has said they will appeal the judges ruling -- so people should get on planes as soon as possible, she said.

Back at JFK, one New Yorker, film studies professor Lindley Hanlon, donned a home-made Statue of Liberty costume and staked out Terminal 4 to greet those arriving to the symbol of US immigration and freedom.

Lindley Hamlon, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, greets international travellers at the John F Kennedy international airport in New York City, US on Saturday. (Reuters photo)

We still represent those values, and many, many people in this country do, she said, draped in a shower curtain, wearing a plastic crown and holding a sign saying Liberty and Justice for All.

I am hopeful but I am sure it will be legal tango for a long time, she said of the suspension. Halfway through the afternoon, after spending long hours on her feet, she called it a day.
Far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon embraced technology during the launch of his presidential campaign at a rally in Lyon on Sunday, with a 3D hologram of him making his speech appearing at the same time at another rally in Paris.

Melenchon, wearing a Nehru-style jacket, tried to use the hologram technology give a modern look to his launch, which coincided with that of the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Melenchon is certainly not the first politician to employ such technology -- in 2014, then-Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan used a huge hologram of himself to attract wider support, while Indias Narendra Modi trounced the opposition with a campaign that included holograms of his speeches in villages across the country.

Melenchon tried to position himself on Sunday as a key adversary of Marine Le Pen, choosing Lyon -- and almost the same timing -- for the launch of his campaign.

Le Pen, speaking in Lyon on Sunday, told thousands of flag-waving supporters chanting This is our country! that she alone would protect them against Islamic fundamentalism and globalisation if elected president in May.

A combination image of Melenchons hologram (left) and Melenchon himself during a public meeting in Lyon. (AFP Photo)

There are some similarities between Melenchons platform and Le Pens, as both are sceptical of the EU and globalisation, but they differ sharply on other issues including migration.

During his speech, Melenchon mentioned the Socialist partys presidential candidate Benoit Hamon, who has called on left-wing forces to unite.

Everyone wants to abolish El Khomri (a labour law), including the Socialist candidate. I wonder what holds him back? said Melanchon, who has between 11 and 11.5% support, according to Fridays BVA poll.

The Socialists, weakened after the deeply unpopular presidency of Francois Hollande, have no chance of getting beyond the first round of the election in April, according to the latest polls.

The poll by BVA of voting intentions on Friday gave Hamon between 16 and 17% in the April 23 first round, behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen on 25%, independent centrist Emmanuel Macron on 21-22% and conservative Francois Fillon on 20%.
A woman in the UK vowed not to lose her sense of humour after she was diagnosed with an uncommon form of cancer and named her tumour after US President Donald Trump.

Elise Stapleton was left stunned when doctors told her she had Hodgkins lymphoma in September last year.

The diagnosis meant the 24-year-old needed to undergo intensive chemotherapy led her hair loss, Mirror reported.

But rather than shying away from the ordeal, she decided to write a blog in the hope of inspiring others.

Elise poked fun at Trump after naming her tumour after him.

I decided to name it Donald as in Donald Trump  one big, ugly, useless mass that is good at one thing: hurting people.

Elise, an administrative assistant, spoke to WalesOnline about her battle to mark World Cancer Day.

I set up the blog because I just wanted to address the elephant in the room. It was really important to me because it felt empowering and it gave me a voice. People were shocked when they read about it all. They couldnt believe that in the blog I was laughing and joking about it but I just said if you dont laugh you cry, she said.

Elise said her first treatment was rough, leaving her with side effects including nausea, diarrhoea and fatigue.
Like his predecessor, President Donald Trump seized on a go-it-alone strategy for fast-tracking his agenda. It took him two weeks to run into the nations system of checks and balances.

The legal battle over his executive order on immigration and refugees is a surprisingly early demonstration of a lesson all presidents learn eventually. Governing by executive action may appear easier and faster, but it carries its own legal and political risks.

President Barack Obama was confronted with that reality late in his tenure when, thwarted by the GOP-controlled House, he used what he called a pen and phone strategy to advance his agenda. He ultimately found one of his most sweeping actions, the expansion of a program deferring deportation for some immigrants, blocked by the courts, while Republicans blasted him for what they said was an abuse of power.

Republicans have been notably quiet as Trump has taken a similar approach, particularly taking advantage of the precedent giving the president broad leeway when it comes to immigration.

A federal judges order in Seattle Friday evening blocking Trumps ban on admitting travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries showed the limits of the presidents powers and the role of checks and balances among the three branches of government. The administration appealed the judges order, but the higher court denied its request for an immediate stay that would have enabled Trump to reinstate the ban.

The State Department cancelled visas for about 60,000 people from the affected countries; the legal setbacks had many rushing to restore their documents and find flights to the United States over the weekend.

Trump isnt alone in trying to maximize executive muscle. Presidents rarely voluntarily restrict their own power. And recent presidents also have used a burst of unilateral action to spur progress at the start of their administrations and to set a tone for Congress, where legislation often moves slowly.

Trumps opening weeks have shown hes likely to rely on the Republicans who hold a majority in Congress to pass top agenda items like overhauling the Obamacare law, changing the tax code and repairing aging roads and bridges.

The president has also signed a blitz of actions on border security, health care and financial regulation, showing few signs of slowing down.

On Friday, Trumps administration imposed sanctions on companies and individuals in response to Irans recent ballistic missile test  after months of bitter criticism of Obamas landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.

Still, his actions stand out for their sweep and haste. On some issues, Trump didnt just leapfrog Congress, where his own party is in control, he cut Republicans out of the consultations and rollout of his plans.

I think that Trump has been unusually aggressive in the scope of what he is trying to do and also I think remarkably casual in issuing orders and other actions that dont appear to have gone through what would be a typical process of reviewing and vetting and consideration, said Kenneth Mayer, a University of Wisconsin professor who has studied executive actions by presidents.

Since Inauguration Day, Trump has signed 20 memoranda and executive orders. That number is in line with Obamas first two weeks. One of his orders directly reversed one of Obamas early orders: The former president signed a memorandum in his first week in 2009 rescinding a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform or provide information on abortions. Trump reinstituted the regulation, known as the Mexico City Policy, on his first day in office.

In this, Mayer said Trumps use of unilateral powers has shown some similarities to a general pattern set in 1993, 2001 and 2009  when the White House switched parties.

But he added that theres a big qualification. None of those incoming presidents sparked the controversy that Trump did last week. Chaos at airports and concern around the world quickly followed Trumps signing of the executive order to temporarily ban all refugees and also travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The president said quick, forceful action was needed to reduce the threat of terrorist attacks.

The executive actions on immigration have led to lawsuits. Interest groups also have vowed to challenge any unilateral efforts to curtail Obamas environmental regulations and other rules.

Despite his initial flurry of action, Obama became more reliant upon executive orders during his second term, when he faced opposition from Republicans. Ive got a pen and Ive got a phone, he declared at one point, promising public orders and personal efforts to build support. When he acted unilaterally on immigration in 2014, providing temporary legal status to millions living in the U.S. illegally, Republicans insisted he was acting illegally.

The House speaker at the time, John Boehner, accused him of acting like a king or an emperor.

This time, with full control of the White House and Congress, Republicans have been largely muted in their assessments of Trumps executive actions.

A notable exception has been Arizona Sen. John McCain, who warned Trump not to allow the resumption of enhanced interrogation techniques such as waterboarding following reports that the new administration was planning a review.

The president can sign whatever executive orders he likes. But the law is the law. We are not bringing back torture in the United States of America, McCain said.

Democrats are broadly and bitterly opposed to Trumps proposals  on the health care law, oil pipelines and the border wall  as well as the unilateral way hes going about pursuing some of them.

What he is doing is reprehensible to them in most cases, said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic strategist and former aide to former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt. The go-it-alone approach, Elmendorf said, is going to inflame the base of the party and make it hard for Democrats to work with him on other issues.

Even members of Trumps own party have distanced themselves from the rollout of his executive orders on immigration. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that Trump didnt think it through and the orders were a classic example of putting something out there that wasnt ready for prime time.

But Graham said the bumpy start still pales in comparison to Obamas use of executive action, pointing to federal courts blocking the former presidents executive actions on immigration and a piece of his health care overhaul.

Look what Obama did. His executive orders got struck down by the court. Im not going to listen to a bunch of Democrats complain about Trump when they sat on the sidelines and did nothing about Obama, he said.
When Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson arrived in Seattle last Saturday after a trip to Florida, public outrage over the immigration order issued the previous day by President Donald Trump was quickly growing. He went home, greeted his family and then went to work.

By late Monday afternoon, just minutes before the court closed for the day, Ferguson, a Democrat, and his team of lawyers were ready to file the first state lawsuit seeking to block the order.

On Friday, they won a dramatic courtroom victory when US district judge James Robart put on hold the travel ban for refugees and citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries.

Read: Trumps travel ban reversed, airlines allow passengers to board flights to US

The lawsuit emerged out of a chaotic 48-hour period in which the need for immediate action held sway over the kind of carefully thought-out strategising that usually leads up to a major legal complaint being filed, according to Ferguson and other attorneys involved in actions against the order.

We knew we had one shot, Ferguson said in an interview, in reference to the bid for a temporary restraining that would immediately overturn Trumps executive order.

The lawsuit is one of several now filed against the executive order around the United States, but it was the first case leading to a broad decision that applies nationwide.

The fight over the immigration order is just the first of what is likely to be a series of court battles between Democratic attorneys general, the top legal officers in liberal-leaning states, and the administration. Several attorneys general have already said they expect to sue Trump on various issues if he oversteps his authority, including on the environment and consumer protection.

President Trump on Saturday ridiculed Judge Robart, a George W Bush appointee, and his decision. The justice department filed a formal appeal.

Read: Donald Trumps officials appeal judges ruling blocking immigration order

The Washington state lawyers worked around the clock last Saturday and Sunday against the backdrop of turbulent scenes at US airports, where immigrants were detained by federal officials unprepared to implement the presidents directive.

Volunteer translator Nour Our (L) and volunteer attorney Kat Choi (R) sit in the arrivals area during a protest against the executive order by US President Donald Trump, at Los Angeles International Airport. (AFP photo)

There was little time to coordinate with other states, though ultimately one other state, Minnesota, joined the effort. Additional states, including Virginia, New York and Hawaii, have filed their own lawsuits or sought to intervene in cases brought by individuals affected by the ban.

State attorneys general did not collectively decide to let Washington file first for any strategic advantage, Ferguson said. Rather, Washington was able most quickly to marshal evidence of the harm Trumps order caused to the state, which is crucial to establish legal standing.

Ferguson called the general counsels at major Washington employers Amazon.com Inc. and Expedia Inc. for their support. The companies eventually filed sworn statements in court saying the ban hurt their businesses.

The state lawyers also gathered information on the harm to state residents and institutions such as the university system, which the judge appeared to find persuasive.

TURNING THE TABLES

The legal assault on the order has involved Ferguson and other Democratic lawyers taking a leaf from the play-book followed by Republican states that successfully challenged actions taken by Trumps predecessor, former President Barack Obama.

Washington states claims rely in part on the same legal arguments that Texas and 25 other Republican-led states made when they challenged Obamas November 2014 plan to protect up to four million immigrants from deportation. In that case, the Republican states argued that Obama overstepped his constitutional powers by infringing upon the authority of Congress.

Washington and other states say Trump has violated the Constitution too, albeit on different grounds. They say he has violated protections against discrimination on the basis of religion by targeting Muslims. The state has a responsibility to protect the health, safety, and well-being of all its residents, the lawsuit said.

In the 2014 case, Texas, like Washington state in the Trump case, asked for a nationwide injunction.

Where the fight against Trumps order differs from the Texas challenge to Obama is that various lawsuits have been filed around the country by states and civil rights groups. The Texas case was a single lawsuit that the other states joined.

ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said there was little time to talk strategy among the many states and advocacy groups opposing the order, as would normally happen. Its moving too quickly, he said.

That sense of urgency was all too clear to Washington state lawyers on Monday as they feverishly gathered the required documents to file with the lawsuit, including the motion for a temporary restraining order.

Unlike other court papers filed electronically, a paper copy of that motion had to be delivered to the clerks office in person. So Noah Purcell, the solicitor general, led a race to the Seattle courthouse with others from the office just as the building was about to close. They pulled up to the courthouse, jumped out of the car and ran up the steps to the doors before they were locked. They arrived just in time.
Millions across the world took to streets to protest the travel ban imposed by the Donald Trump administration on refugees and travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

It was not just the avenues of Washington and New York that saw anti-Trump placards raised for his executive order. Britons, French, Australians and Asians, and everyone else affected, marched in support of the refugees and travellers, several of them stranded either at airports and in high commissions, waiting to get into US somehow or get back to their homes.

Demonstrators holding placards march in central London during a protest against US President Donald Trump. (AFP Photo)

Men from the Islamic School of Miami pray together as they attend a protest against Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Gimenez's decision to abide by Trump's order. (AFP Photo)

Miami-Dade County had stopped holding potentially illegal inmates in 2013 but the mayor's decision to abide by President Trumps executive order overturns that practice.

UK also stood up in solidarity with the stranded and resolved to raise its voice on the streets of London.

Protester Brandon McTear holds a sign and the American Flag as demonstrators gather to protest against US President Donald Trump during a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Anti-Trump protests continued for a third consecutive weekend on Saturday, and escalated as the travel-ban order was passed.

Demonstrators holding placards march in central London during a protest against Trump on Saturday. (AFP)

In the executive order issued on January 27, Trump slapped a blanket ban on nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, barring their entry to the United States for 90 days.

But the fortnight-old government suffered a backlash when a US court rolled back the orders, and the US government was forced to re-recognise the visas from the seven countries.

An Iraqi graffiti artist sprays a cement wall with anti-US President Donald Trump slogans in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. (AFP Photo)

As far as Indonesia, the ripples against Trumps order were seen, with dozens of students and activists from several rights groups in Jakarta called on the Indonesian government and the international community to help stop Trumps order.

An activist burns a poster depicting Trump as they protest his recent policies, outside the US embassy in Jakarta, on Saturday. (REUTERS)

Paris was one of the first cities in Europe to suffer terrorist attacks yet the city continued to be vibrant despite a state of emergency in place since the Paris terror attacks in November, 2015.

The City of Love denounced the Trump travel-ban order with placards showing the US President as one with a snake-tongue.

People hold a banner reading "Make America hate again" during a gathering at Trocadero Plaza next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, to protest Donald Trump's recent travel ban to the US. (AP)

Muslim protesters demonstrate against US President Trump's immigration ban outside US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. (AP)

A large number of Australians from different walks of life held banners and placards marched to the US consulate in Sydney protesting against Trump's travel ban policy and demanded the Australian government to settle all the refugees and asylum seekers in the county.

Protestors march on the streets of Sydney's central business district against US President Donald Trump's travel ban policy on Saturday. (AFP)

Back in US, Americans stood shoulder to shoulder protesting with foreign nationals against the order.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has asked challengers of the ban to respond to the appeal, and for the justice department to file a counter-response by Monday afternoon.

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors and community advocates vow to stand firm against Trump's travel ban outside of City Hall in San Francisco, California. (REUTERS)

Trump, meanwhile, mocked the US district judge James Robart, who was appointed by President George W Bush, calling him a so-called judge whose ridiculous ruling will be overturned.

Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision, he tweeted.

People hold up signs during a protest against Trump's immigration rules at the Regan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)

Thousands of people gather at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado for the Protect Our Muslim Neighbors Rally on Saturday. (AFP)

Experts from the fields of intelligence, counterterrorism and diplomacy say the ban is at best ineffective and at worst fuels hatred of the United States in the Middle East.

Protesters of the environmental organization 'Greenpeace' display placards showing a slogan at the Berlin Wall Memorial in Berlin. (AP Photo)
From London and Paris to New York and Washington, thousands of people took to the streets Saturday in American and European cities to protest US President Donald Trumps travel ban, even as it was suspended by a federal judge.

The biggest demonstration by far took place in the British capital, where an estimated 10,000 people turned out, chanting Theresa May: Shame on You to denounce the British prime ministers support for the new US leader.

Brandishing placards declaring No to scapegoating Muslims and Socialism not Trumpism, the protesters moved from the US embassy toward Mays Downing Street office.

In an executive order issued on January 27, Trump slapped a blanket ban on nationals of seven mainly Muslim countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- barring their entry to the United States for 90 days.

People hold a banner as they take part in a protest march in London, against U.S. President Donald Trump's ban on travellers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries entering the U.S. (AP Photo)

Refugees were also barred from entry for 120 days, except those from Syria, who were blocked indefinitely.

However, on Friday, a US federal judge suspended the ban, a move which the Republican president -- who took office on January 20 -- condemned and vowed to fight.

Anti-Trump petition

In Britain, more than 1.8 million people have signed a petition saying Trump should not be afforded a formal state visit because it would embarrass Queen Elizabeth II.

A demonstrator holds a placard during a march against U.S. President Donald Trump and his temporary ban on refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries. (REUTERS)

Were going to bring this capital to a halt on the day he comes over. We are going to make it impossible for him to have a state visit, Chris Nineham, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, told AFP.

The Guardian newspaper said around 10,000 people attended the London protest, while organizers claimed 40,000.

Demonstrators hold placards outside Downing Street. (REUTERS)

Elsewhere in Europe, about 1,000 people turned out in both Paris and Berlin, while smaller gatherings of several hundred people took place in provincial British cities including Manchester and Birmingham.

Demonstrators holding placards march in central London during a protest against US President Donald Trump. (AFP Photo)

We are here to say we dont accept hate, said 20-year-old American Michael Jacobs, co-organizer of the Paris rally, surrounded by signs saying Refugees are welcome!

Demonstrators holding placards march in central London. (AFP Photo)

Signs at the march against U.S. President Donald Trump and his temporary ban on refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries. (REUTERS)

Demonstrators hold placards during a march against Donald Trump. (REUTERS)

In Berlin, protesters rallied in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

I hope they will change something, but I am really disappointed, said Mahsa Zamani, a 26-year-old Iranian medical student who had been due to head to a Florida hospital for an internship.

Children take part in a protest outside the US embassy in London, against US President Donald Trump's ban. (AP Photo)

It is still discrimination, and I dont know if I really feel like going even if they are changing (the rules).

On Saturday evening, hundreds of protesters were planning to march near Trumps Mar-a-Lago club and vacation home in Florida, though police were expected to keep them far from the property.
Qatar Airways launched the worlds longest scheduled commercial service with its inaugural flight from Doha to Auckland taking off eight minutes early today, a company spokesperson said.

Flight QR920 left the Qatari capital at 05:02 (local time) and is set to land in New Zealand at 07:30 (local time on Monday.

The Boeing 777 flight will take 16 hours and 20 minutes, pass over 10 time zones, five countries and travel 14,535km before reaching Auckland.

But even that flying time may be looked on jealously by passengers on the return flight which, due to high-altitude winds, will take 17 hours and 30 minutes, according to the company website.

This will make it the worlds longest passenger service in terms of flying time, according to tracking website flightradar24.

Qatar Airways did not immediately have a figure for the number of passengers who boarded today, but it is believed there are four pilots and 15 crew on the plane.

In March last year, Emirates airline launched what was then thought to be the worlds longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight, with a service from Dubai to Auckland, spanning 14,200km.
Qatar Airways launched the worlds longest scheduled commercial service with its inaugural flight from Doha to Auckland taking off eight minutes early on Sunday, a company spokeswoman said.

Flight QR920 left the Qatari capital at 05:02 (local time) and is set to land in New Zealand at 07:30 (local time on Monday.

The Boeing 777 flight will take 16 hours and 20 minutes, pass over 10 time zones, five countries and travel 14,535 kilometres before reaching Auckland.

But even that flying time may be looked on jealously by passengers on the return flight which, due to high-altitude winds, will take 17 hours and 30 minutes, according to the company website.

This will make it the worlds longest passenger service in terms of flying time, according to tracking website flightradar24.

Qatar Airways did not immediately have a figure for the number of passengers who boarded on Sunday, but it is believed there are four pilots and 15 crew on the plane.

In March last year, Emirates airline launched what was then thought to be the worlds longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight, with a service from Dubai to Auckland, spanning 14,200 kilometres.

The worlds other 10 longest air routes 1. Auckland, New Zealand - Dubai, UAE on Emirates : 8,825 miles, 17.25 hours 2. Dallas, Texas - Sydney, Australia on Qantas: 8,578 miles, 17 hours 3. San Francisco, California - Singapore on United Airlines: 8,446 miles, 16.5 hours 4. Johannesburg, South Africa - Atlanta, Georgia on Delta Air Lines: 8,439 miles, 16.5 hours 5. Abu Dhabi, UAE - Los Angeles, California on Etihad: 8,390 miles, 16.5 hours 6. Dubai, UAE - Los Angeles, California on Emirates: 8,339 miles, 16.5 hours 7. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - Los Angeles, California on Saudia: 8,332 miles, 16.5 hours 8. Doha, Qatar - Los Angeles, California on Qatar Airways: 8,306 miles, 16.5 hours 9. Dubai, UAE - Houston, Texas on Emirates: 8,168 miles, 16.5 hours 10. Abu Dhabi, UAE - San Francisco, California on Etihad: 8,158 miles, 16.25 hours

(Source: Conde Nast Traveller)
Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniyat, recently placed under watch-list and against whom Pakistan government launched a crackdown, on Sunday held rallies in parts of the country under the banner of Tehreek Azadi Jammu Kashmir (TAJK).

The rallies were organised just days after the JuDs chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest in Lahore under the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act by Pakistan government.

Saeed had indicated a week before his house arrest that he might launch TAJK to expedite the freedom of Kashmir. The interior ministry had also placed Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF members on Exit Control List, barring them from leaving Pakistan.

At the rallies in several parts of Pakistan, the participants demanded immediate release of Saeed.

Read | Pakistan puts Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed under house arrest

In Lahore, Yakjahtee (solidarity) Kashmir Conference was held at Nasser Bagh in which a large number of activists of JuD and FIF participated.

They shounted slogans against Pakistan, Indian and the US governments for detaining Saeed, and said the Nawaz Sharif government was damaging the countrys image by maintaining friendship with the Narendra Modi government.

Pakistani nation is united for Hafiz Saeeds release, said JuD central leader Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, who is also the brother-in-law of Saeed.

Read | Pressure from US, China may have led to LeT founder Hafiz Saeeds house arrest

He said unfortunately due to Saeeds detention our message of solidarity to Kashmiris is not that powerful and encouraging this year.

The Sharif government, he said, should make its stance clear on Kashmir and tell the people of Pakistan that it is loyal to Kashmiris, and not India.

Makki said trade of potato and onion with India is not right. Treacherous plot of giving India the Most Favoured Nation status will not be successful, he said.

Also read | Hafiz Saeeds JuD gets a new name with a Kashmir connection
The family of an Iranian infant who was temporarily banned from coming to the United States for life-saving heart surgery is overwhelmingly relieved and thrilled the child will now be able to have the treatment, their lawyer said on Saturday.

Jennifer M Morrissey, an attorney representing the family of Fatemeh Reshad, said she was not sure where the family was, but they had been expected to travel to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for pre-clearance after a Seattle judge blocked enforcement of President Donald Trumps immigration and refugee ban.

Lawyers had been seeking an exemption from the travel ban on the familys behalf, Morrissey told a news conference on Saturday at Oregon Health Sciences Universitys Doernbecher Childrens Hospital, where Fatemah will be treated. She called the case an extremely poignant example of the impact of the ban.

Its probably the clearest illustration I can think of offhand of why the travel ban was poorly thought out, poorly executed and had significant humanitarian consequences, she said.

Read: Fly to US immediately, legal volunteers recommend

The family previously had an appointment in Dubai to get a tourist visa. But it was abruptly cancelled earlier this week after Trump announced his executive order on immigration, banning travel to the US by people from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iran. The four-month-old girl was forced to return home.

Iranian doctors told the childs parents weeks ago that she needed at least one urgent surgery  and maybe several  to correct serious heart defects, or she will die, according to her uncle, Samad Taghizadeh, a US citizen who lives in Portland.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday night that Fatemah and her family had been granted boarding documents to come to the United States. Cuomo said Manhattans Mount Sinai Medical Center had offered to perform the critical surgery, but the family finally chose to do it in Portland, both because of the hospitals pediatric cardiology expertise and proximity to the babys uncle and grandparents.

Two in 10,000 children are born with the disease, which is fatal if left untreated. Doernbechers Dr. Irving Shen said the hospital performs six to 10 of the 6-hour operations each year, including three over the holidays. He said the surgery includes moving small coronary arteries, the most challenging part of the operation.

Read: Donald Trumps officials appeal judges ruling blocking immigration order

This is not a common defect, but it is an operation that we have performed on a fairly regular basis, Shen said.

Physicians working on the girl are waiving their fees, said Dr Dana Braner, chair of the department of pediatrics at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine. He noted that Doernbecher Hospital has been providing care for 90 years.

In that time, we have never turned away a child and never expect to, he said.
Amid the controversy over US President Donald Trumps controversial travel ban, scientists across the world, including India, have opened up their lab spaces to counterparts stranded outside America.

Under the Science Solidarity List (SSL) initiative, researchers from over 30 countries have agreed to host the affected.

What began on social media as spontaneous offers of help from scientists to accommodate banned peers awaiting US clearance, following Trumps January 27 order, has emerged as a clarion call to support those in need of immediate work spaces.

Anchored by the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), the SSL is a list of scientists offering temporary bench or desk space, library access and possibly even accommodation for US-based scientists who are stranded abroad due to the White House Executive Order 13769, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States of 27 January, 2017.

On Friday, a US judge in Seattle issued a temporary nationwide block on Trumps ban on travellers from seven Muslim nations. However, the White House said the justice department will challenge attorneys decision.

Offers continue to pour in as science, literally, attempts to trump the ban.

There are currently over 800 offers of assistance and the list gets a new entry every five minutes or so.

We felt we had to do something. It is very discriminating. This impacts science a lot. It impacts the work of the lab. Their projects do not get done because the scientists are missing. It impacts everyone, Maria Leptin, director EMBO, told IANS over the phone from Heidelberg, Germany.

We (scientists) see ourselves as a worldwide community and it is a completely natural thing for us to do, she said.

EMBO is an organisation of more than 1,700 leading researchers that promotes excellence in life sciences.

Its programmes and activities are funded by the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC). The EMBC, founded in 1969, is an inter-governmental organisation comprising 33 member  and partner-states, including India, which came under its fold in February 2016.

The solidarity list comprises offers from both EMBC and non-EMBC countries.

Leptin was the first to join the list, extending help to host stranded researchers in her own lab at the University of Cologne.

While most of the host offers are from Europe, the list includes labs in India, Canada, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Singapore, Brazil, and China.

The overwhelming response from the fraternity is trending under the hashtag ScienceShelters.

Among the first to make personal offers of assistance via Twitter were population geneticist Magnus Nordborg and plant biologist Jurgen Kleine-Vehn from Austria.
Baldeep Singh, a resident of Leicestershire in the Midlands, has been charged with murder after the body of a woman was discovered in a property in Thurmaston on Friday, the police said.

In another case, two Indian-origin criminals  Inderpaul Rura and Jatinder Singh  were among nine members of two gangs who were jailed for 110 years last week for their involvement in the illegal supply of guns and ammunition.

Baldeep Singh, 38, is scheduled to appeal before the Leicester Magistrates Court on Monday. The police said formal identification of the deceased was yet to be completed. The neighbourhood is reported to be in a state of shock after the incident.

Residents said a family lived at the rented house where the body was found. The family had moved into the rented property a couple of months ago.

The local police said that Inderpaul Rura and Jatinder Singh were among nine individuals caught by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit after guns and ammunition were seized and their successful conviction brings to an end a lengthy investigation, which uncovered the movement of firearms into Leicestershire from other areas of the country.

Detective inspector Richard Bull said: All of these individuals are part of organised crime groups who have been determined to bring firearms to our county. We have worked tirelessly to bring them to justice and rid our streets of prohibited firearms, which could be used in criminal activity.

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Swedens deputy prime minister Isabella Lovin published a photograph of herself signing a climate bill surrounded by her closest female colleagues, mocking a photo of US President Donald Trump.

In the photo, Lovin, who also serves as environment and development aid minister, is seated at a desk as she signs the bill under the watchful eye of seven female colleagues, including one who is visibly pregnant.

The shot parodies a photo taken of Donald Trump on January 23 in the White House, as he signs a decree barring US federal funding for foreign NGOs that support abortion, as his all-male colleagues look on.

US President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 23. (AFP photo)

Sweden, a pioneer in womens rights, is known for its high level of women in the workplace, including in parliament and government.

We are a feminist government, which shows in this photo. Ultimately it is up to the observer to interpret the photo, the Swedish minister said.

The climate bill she is signing in the photo aims to make Sweden carbon neutral by 2045 and marks a new era in Swedish climate politics, Lovin wrote.

There is a global demand for climate leadership. I want to show that Sweden is ready to take that leadership, she added.

The Trump photo elicited an avalanche of comments, many of them remarking that no woman was present for a decision concerning women.
An Iranian refugee bound for Australia, who was sent to a controversial asylum camp in Papua New Guinea (PNG), fled to Fiji and was then deported back again to PNG, has now been charged with using false documents, police said on Sunday.

The case of Loghman Sawari, one of about 1,200 refugees potentially eligible for resettlement under an agreement with the United States, has drawn world attention to Australias tough line on immigration - and to what US President Donald Trump has branded a dumb deal on resettlement.

Kurdish Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani, who has been detained on Manus Island, part of PNG in the South Pacific, for nearly four years, said Sawari had contacted him on Saturday night.

I can only say that he was too scared and in shock, he said via WhatsApp.

Sawari fled PNG for Fiji due to homelessness and safety fears, he told Reuters last week.

Humanitarian groups have urged PNG to show compassion for Sawari amid fears for his mental health.

Protestors march on the streets of Sydney's central business district against US President Donald Trump's travel ban policy. (AFP photo)

Asylum seekers intercepted attempting to reach Australia by boat are sent for processing to camps on Manus and on Nauru in the South Pacific. They are never eligible for resettlement in Australia.

Sawari opted to live freely in PNG in return for the opportunity to leave the detention centre where he had been sent four years ago after trying to reach Australia by boat.

Read: Donald Trumps outburst at Turnbull set to change calculations in Australia, Asia

Sawari, who travelled to Fiji last week, was deported and charged on return with falsifying passport documents on Friday, said Inspector Robert Wane, the commander of the Port Moresby International Airport police.

He had been remanded in custody and would face court next week, Wane said.

The resettlement deal, negotiated by Australia with the administration of Barack Obama, strained ties between the two allies last week.

Trump has reluctantly agreed to honour it, but detainees and an official source said on Friday US immigration officials had postponed interviews with asylum seekers.
A move by President Donald Trumps administration to appeal a federal court order, suspending its contentious travel ban is the latest twist in what could be a long, high-stakes legal battle.

Here are the main facts about Trumps executive order and the court action surrounding the case:

Executive order

The January 27 decree prohibits entry to all refugees, regardless of nationality, for 120 days, and bars Syrian refugees indefinitely.

It also suspended the issuance of visas for 90 days to migrants or visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Federal court action

Judge James Robart of the federal district court in Seattle on Friday ordered the nationwide suspension of the Presidents order.

His ruling stands until the court can study a complaint filed by the Washington state attorney general, Bob Ferguson. Critics, including Ferguson, say the measure unfairly targets Muslims.

Groups of demonstrators against the immigration rules implemented by US President Donald Trump's administration, rally at Los Angeles international airport in Los Angeles, California. (Reuters Photo)

Federal judges in several other states -- notably California and New York -- have also ruled against Trumps executive order, but Robarts ruling has by far the greatest sweep.

Trump attacked the judge in a string of fiery Twitter posts on Saturday.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! the president wrote.

Travel ban lifted... for now

Those individuals with visas that were not physically cancelled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid, a State Department spokesperson said on Saturday.

Read | Ban on travel ban: Fly to US immediately, legal volunteers recommend

And the Department of Homeland Security, which has authority over border police, said it was reverting to standard policy and procedure.

Was the federal ruling unusual?

Not really. The suspension of Trumps order is reminiscent of the reaction to Barack Obamas executive order of November 2014, which sought to protect from deportation more than four million undocumented immigrants who had been in the country for at least five years.

A federal judge in Texas ruled that Obama had overstepped his powers and blocked the orders implementation. That decision survived an appeal and reached the Supreme Court. Obama ultimately had to give in on what had been a key measure of his second term.

The appeal

Late Saturday, the Justice Department officially challenged Robarts ruling.

The Trump administration filed an emergency motion with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals saying that suspending the ban was causing irreparable harm to the American public.

It also argued that Robart had run afoul of constitutional separation of powers, and second-guesses the Presidents national security judgment.

The January 27 decree signed by Trump prohibits entry to all refugees, regardless of nationality, for 120 days, and bars Syrian refugees indefinitely. (AP File Photo)

If the appeals court upholds Robarts ruling, the case could go to the Supreme Court, said Peter Spiro, a law professor at Temple University in Philadelphia.

It could go very, very fast, he added.

But for now, the Justice Department is operating without a permanent boss: Jeff Sessions, Trumps pick as US attorney general, has yet to be confirmed by the full Senate.

Ban remains crippled

Early Sunday morning, the federal appeals court rejected the governments request to immediately reinstate the travel ban.

Judges William Canby Jr. and Michelle Friedland did not give a reason in their two-paragraph ruling.

But they told the states of Washington and Minnesota, which had filed the original suit against the ban, to provide supporting documents by 11:59pm Sunday (0759 GMT Monday).

And the Justice Department was given until 3:00pm on Monday (2300 GMT) to supply more documents bolstering its position.

Lessons to learn?

Legal experts said Trumps attack on Robart was unusual.

Its not exactly contempt of court, but it certainly is contemptuous, and it conveys a lack of respect for the independent judiciary, said Laurence Tribe, a constitutional scholar and Harvard Law professor.

People protest against President Donald Trump as they gather at the entrance to the Mar-a-Lago Resort where he is staying for the weekend, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AFP Photo)

For Spiro, the Temple law professor, Trump made a mistake by mocking Robart as a so-called judge.

Thats not something that judges like, he said.
A protest has been planned in Sharm el-Sheikh, the venue of the summit.
A US appeals court has turned down Trump administrations plea to urgently overturn a stay on the presidents controversial travel ban on visa holders of seven Muslim-majority nations, giving those affected more time to reach wherever they want to be.

President Donald Trump, who had railed against the stay ordered by a federal court in Seattle, Washington, on Friday and disparaged the so-called judge responsible for it, is yet to react to the new setback as of now.

But he did open another front with critics, across party lines, by defending Russian president Vladimir Putin in an interview to be telecast on Sunday. To an observation from the interviewer that Putin was a killer, Trump said, There are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers. Well, you think our country is so innocent?

Critics, especially conservatives who have been historically more hawkish on Russia, were aghast. Trump puts US on moral par with Putin's Russia. Never in history has a President slandered his country like this, wrote Bret Stevens, a columnist with The Wall Street Journal, on Twitter.

But Trump seemed to not care much about this, focussed as he seemed to be, as displayed in his Twitter posts, on his executive order barring visa-holders from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Libya from entering the US for 90 days, and all refugees for 120 days  indefinitely for those from Syria.

He said, in a tweet, the order was intended to protect Americans from bad dudes, a theme he has continued to press since, but in less colourful language. The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy! Trump wrote on Twitter about the Seattle court order.

The justice department filed a motion against that ruling in an appeals court  similar to high courts in India  arguing the lower court had sought to second-guess the presidents overarching powers and judgment on national security issues.

Trump seemed confident the governments petition would be upheld, and the Seattle court order will be struck down. Well win, he told reporters of the presidential pool, which travels with him  he was at his Miami resort for the weekend replied. For the safety of our country, well win.

The appeals court didnt agree. It will hear from the Washington state attorney general, whose lawsuit had led to the temporary stay granted by the Seattle court, later on Sunday, and then again from the justice department on Monday.

Until then, visa holders from the seven Muslim-majority will continue to arrive in the US. In fact, they are being advised to make the most of this window of opportunity that could close anytime. If you are attempting to travel to the US on a valid visa, you should attempt to get on a plane as soon as possible, the Urban Justice Center, a New York non-profit, has said in an advisory to travellers.
US President Donald Trump said he was willing to work with both Kiev and Moscow to resolve a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, following a telephone call with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday.

The call was the first direct contact between the two leaders since the inauguration of Trump, whose aim to improve relations with the Kremlin has alarmed Kiev while the nearly three-year-old conflict remains unresolved.

It followed fresh artillery attacks in Ukraines Donbass region, which broke a lull in shelling at a frontline hot-spot that had raised hopes the conflicts worst escalation in months was waning.

We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border, Trump said in a White House statement after talking to Poroshenko.

Trumps open admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and campaign pledge to mend ties with Moscow have raised questions over his administrations commitment to maintaining sanctions against Russia for its involvement in the fighting and annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Poroshenkos office said the conversation with Trump paid particular attention to settlement of the situation in the Donbass and achieving peace via political and diplomatic means.

The two sides discussed strengthening the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States, it said in a statement.

Earlier the Ukrainian military and Russia-backed separatists accused each other of launching a new wave of shelling. The past week has seen a flare-up in hostilities in which more than 40 people have been killed in both government- and rebel-held areas.

The escalation near the town of Avdiyivka has left thousands on both sides of the front line with little or no access to power or water amid freezing winter temperatures, prompting aid agencies to warn of a possible humanitarian crisis.

The US and EU sanctions against Russia are linked to accusations from Kiev and NATO that the Kremlin has fuelled the conflict by supporting separatists with troops and weapons - a charge it denies.

Russia says Ukraine instigated the latest surge to firm up Western support, while Kiev accuses the Kremlin of stirring up the violence to test the new US administrations will to involve itself in the crisis.

Trump said his respect for Putin would not affect his foreign policy.

I respect a lot of people but that doesnt mean Im going to get along with him. Hes a leader of his country. I say its better to get along with Russia than not, Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Bill OReilly on Saturday.
Like his predecessor, President Donald Trump seized on a go-it-alone strategy for fast-tracking his agenda. It took him two weeks to run into the nations system of checks and balances.

The legal battle over his executive order on immigration and refugees is a surprisingly early demonstration of a lesson all presidents learn eventually. Governing by executive action may appear easier and faster, but it carries its own legal and political risks.

President Barack Obama was confronted with that reality late in his tenure when, thwarted by the GOP-controlled House, he used what he called a pen and phone strategy to advance his agenda. He ultimately found one of his most sweeping actions, the expansion of a program deferring deportation for some immigrants, blocked by the courts, while Republicans blasted him for what they said was an abuse of power.

Republicans have been notably quiet as Trump has taken a similar approach, particularly taking advantage of the precedent giving the president broad leeway when it comes to immigration.

People hold candles during a vigil in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. (AFP Photo)

A federal judges order in Seattle Friday evening blocking Trumps ban on admitting travellers from seven predominantly Muslim countries showed the limits of the presidents powers and the role of checks and balances among the three branches of government. The administration appealed the judges order, but the higher court denied its request for an immediate stay that would have enabled Trump to reinstate the ban.

The State Department cancelled visas for about 60,000 people from the affected countries; the legal setbacks had many rushing to restore their documents and find flights to the United States over the weekend.

Read | Ban on travel ban: Fly to US immediately, legal volunteers recommend

Trump isnt alone in trying to maximize executive muscle. Presidents rarely voluntarily restrict their own power. And recent presidents also have used a burst of unilateral action to spur progress at the start of their administrations and to set a tone for Congress, where legislation often moves slowly.

Trumps opening weeks have shown hes likely to rely on the Republicans who hold a majority in Congress to pass top agenda items like overhauling the Obamacare law, changing the tax code and repairing aging roads and bridges.

The President has also signed a blitz of actions on border security, health care and financial regulation, showing few signs of slowing down.

Demonstrators support a ruling by a federal judge in Seattle that grants a nationwide temporary restraining order against the presidential order to ban travel to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries, at Tom Bradley International Terminal in LA. (AFP Photo)

On Friday, Trump administration imposed sanctions on companies and individuals in response to Irans recent ballistic missile test  after months of bitter criticism of Obamas landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.

Still, his actions stand out for their sweep and haste. On some issues, Trump didnt just leapfrog Congress, where his own party is in control, he cut Republicans out of the consultations and roll-out of his plans.

I think that Trump has been unusually aggressive in the scope of what he is trying to do and also I think remarkably casual in issuing orders and other actions that dont appear to have gone through what would be a typical process of reviewing and vetting and consideration, said Kenneth Mayer, a University of Wisconsin professor who has studied executive actions by presidents.

Since Inauguration Day, Trump has signed 20 memoranda and executive orders. That number is in line with Obamas first two weeks. One of his orders directly reversed one of Obamas early orders: The former president signed a memorandum in his first week in 2009, rescinding a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform or provide information on abortions. Trump reinstituted the regulation, known as the Mexico City Policy, on his first day in office.

In this, Mayer said Trumps use of unilateral powers has shown some similarities to a general pattern set in 1993, 2001 and 2009  when the White House switched parties.

But he added that theres a big qualification. None of those incoming presidents sparked the controversy that Trump did last week. Chaos at airports and concern around the world quickly followed Trumps signing of the executive order to temporarily ban all refugees and also travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The President said quick, forceful action was needed to reduce the threat of terrorist attacks.

The executive actions on immigration have led to lawsuits. Interest groups also have vowed to challenge any unilateral efforts to curtail Obamas environmental regulations and other rules.

A man protests in front of Trump Plaza holding a sign depicting the cover of the German magazine Der Spiegel in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo)

Despite his initial flurry of action, Obama became more reliant upon executive orders during his second term, when he faced opposition from Republicans. Ive got a pen and Ive got a phone, he declared at one point, promising public orders and personal efforts to build support. When he acted unilaterally on immigration in 2014, providing temporary legal status to millions living in the US illegally, Republicans insisted he was acting illegally.

The House speaker at the time, John Boehner, accused him of acting like a king or an emperor.

This time, with full control of the White House and Congress, Republicans have been largely muted in their assessments of Trumps executive actions.

A notable exception has been Arizona Senator John McCain, who warned Trump not to allow the resumption of enhanced interrogation techniques such as waterboarding following reports that the new administration was planning a review.

The President can sign whatever executive orders he likes. But the law is the law. We are not bringing back torture in the United States of America, McCain said.

Democrats are broadly and bitterly opposed to Trumps proposals  on the health care law, oil pipelines and the border wall  as well as the unilateral way hes going about pursuing some of them.

What he is doing is reprehensible to them in most cases, said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic strategist and former aide to former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt. The go-it-alone approach, Elmendorf said, is going to inflame the base of the party and make it hard for Democrats to work with him on other issues.

Even members of Trumps own party have distanced themselves from the roll-out of his executive orders on immigration. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that Trump didnt think it through and the orders were a classic example of putting something out there that wasnt ready for prime time.

But Graham said the bumpy start still pales in comparison to Obamas use of executive action, pointing to federal courts blocking the former presidents executive actions on immigration and a piece of his health care overhaul.

Protesters outside Trump Plaza in West Palm Beach, Flordia. (AP Photo)

Look what Obama did. His executive orders got struck down by the court. Im not going to listen to a bunch of Democrats complain about Trump when they sat on the sidelines and did nothing about Obama, he said.
Turkish police on Sunday detained 60 suspected members of the Islamic State jihadist group in the capital Ankara, just over a month after an attack on an Istanbul nightclub claimed by the extremist organisation, state media said.

Those held were mainly foreign nationals, the state-run Anadolu news agency said, without saying if they were linked to any suspected plot.

The suspects were rounded up in simultaneous raids on the Sincan, Cubuk, Yenimahalle and Mamak districts of the capital, it added.

Thirty-nine people were killed, mainly foreigners, on New Years night when a gunman went on the rampage inside a plush Istanbul night club.

IS claimed the massacre, its first clear claim for a major attack in Turkey although it had been blamed for several bombings in 2016.

Police detained the suspected attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, on January 16 after over over two weeks on the run and authorities say he has confessed to the massacre.

The Hurriyet daily reported after the attack that IS also planned a simultaneous New Years strike in Ankara but dropped the plot after arrests by the Turkish authorities.

Turkey was in 2016 shaken by a string of attacks blamed on IS and Kurdish militants that left hundreds dead.
A motion was signed by 163 House of Commons MPs, including Indian-origin legislators, seeking to bar US President Donald Trump from addressing parliament when he comes visiting later this year, while women MPs have declared they would boycott his address.

Trump has accepted an invitation by Prime Minister Theresa May to visit Britain, prompting a welter of protests across the political spectrum. May has stood by her invitation, though no date has yet been fixed.

An online petition to prevent the visit is nearing the two-million mark of signatories.

The early day motion, initiated by Labour MP Stephen Doughty, has attracted one of the highest number of signatories. Signed mostly by Labour and Scottish National Party MPs, the signatories include Virendra Sharma, Keith Vaz and Valerie Vaz.

The motion says: That this House deplores recent actions taken by US President Donald J Trump, including his Executive Order on Immigration and Refugees, and notably his comments on torture and women; notes the historical significance and honour that comes with an invitation to address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall or elsewhere in the Palace of Westminster; and calls on the Speaker, Lord Speaker, Black Rod and Serjeant at Arms to withhold permission from the Government for an address to be made in Westminster Hall, or elsewhere in the Palace of Westminster, by President Trump.

A group of Labours most senior women MPs vowed to stage a mass no show at Westminster if Trump is invited to address both Houses of Parliament during the visit. The partys former deputy leader Harrier Harman said his views on women and a number of other issues were appalling.

I could not be there clapping a man who is a self-confessed groper, she told the 'Observer'. His views on many issues are unacceptable. And on foreign policy he seems to think he can just bully other countries and get his way. That we should sit there smiling and clapping is... well for me it is out of the question.

Former cabinet minister Yvette Cooper said: The idea that we are all going to sit in parliament and listen to a man who is turning the clock back on democracy, pushing misogyny and hatred of Muslims is a joke.

Weve fought for equality for decades and we certainly shouldnt be honouring someone at the heart of British democracy who wants to rip those democratic values up.

Parliament has to show a bit of muscle on this and not just roll over because Theresa May sent out an embarrassing invitation to Trump in a desperate rush, Cooper added.

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The Trump administration has for now backed off a draft executive order that would have called for a review of whether the United States should reopen overseas black site prisons, where interrogation techniques often condemned as torture were used, US officials have told Reuters.

The New York Times, citing unidentified officials, on Saturday said the White House was circulating a revised version that did not have language that contemplated reopening the prisons. It said the revised draft did, however, contain parts of the earlier draft, including expanding the use of the militarys Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention centre.

A senior administration official confirmed the initial draft was no longer under consideration. It was a transition draft never under serious consideration by the administration, the official said. We have abandoned that transition draft.

The now-defunct CIA program used so-called enhanced interrogation practices, including simulated drowning, known as waterboarding, that were criticized around the world and denounced by former President Barack Obama and other senior US officials as torture.

Officials familiar with internal administration discussions said it was unclear when any alternative might be approved and said there were conflicting views within the administration on how to proceed.

Neither Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo nor Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had been consulted about the draft order before it leaked on January 25, according to officials.

News of the draft executive order last week led to a bipartisan outcry in Congress. The draft plans also met with bitter resistance from the CIA and the military, according to officials in both.

If the president had ordered us to waterboard anyone, let alone start pulling out fingernails, this place would have started to empty out, said one longtime CIA officer.

The black site prisons were used under President George W. Bush to detain terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and were formally closed by Obama.

Last week, President Donald Trump tapped Gina Haspel, a veteran CIA officer who supervised one of the prison sites, to be deputy director of the spy agency.
A US federal appeals court on Sunday rejected a request by the Department of Justice to immediately reinstate President Donald Trumps travel ban.

Trumps administration had lodged the request with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as part of an appeal against a lower court order temporarily suspending the travel ban on citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries.

For now, the travel ban suspension remains in place. Both the State and Homeland Security Departments said on Saturday they were resuming normal practices concerning travellers from the affected countries.

Judge William Canby, Jr. in Phoenix and Judge Michelle Friedland in San Francisco did not give a reason for their denial in a two-paragraph ruling.

However, they told the states of Washington and Minnesota, which had filed the original suit against Trumps travel ban, to provide documents detailing their opposition to the governments appeal by 11:59 pm Sunday.

The Department of Justice was given a deadline of 3 pm on Monday to supply more documents supporting its position.
An official in US President Donald Trumps Cabinet and at least one of his advisers gave paid speeches for an Iranian exile group that killed Americans before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ran donation scams and saw its members set themselves on fire over the arrest of their leader.

Elaine Chao, confirmed this week as Trumps transportation secretary, received $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously called a cult-like terrorist group by the State Department. Former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani also was paid an unknown sum to talk to the group, known as the MEK.

More than two dozen former US officials, both Republican and Democratic, have spoken before the MEK, including former House Speaker and Trump adviser Newt Gingrich. Some have publicly acknowledged being paid, but others have not.

While nothing would have prohibited the paid speeches, they raise questions about what influence the exiles may have in the new administration.

Already, a group of former US officials, including Giuliani, wrote a letter to Trump last month encouraging him to establish a dialogue with the MEKs political arm. With Trumps ban on Iranians entering the US, his administrations call this week to put Iran on notice and the imposition of new sanctions on Friday, the exile group may find his administration more welcoming than any before.

A potential alliance with the MEK would link the US to a group with a controversial history that has gone against American interests in the past by supporting Irans Islamic Revolution and the US Embassy takeover in Tehran. After fleeing Iran, the MEK joined forces with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It later exposed details of the clandestine nuclear program run by Iran, which views the MEK as its sworn enemy.

The Mujahedeen have backed the winning horse. They are going to have some at least entree into the administration, said Ervand Abrahamian, a professor at the City University of New York who wrote a book on the MEK. I think it weakens the US because the more they have access to the administration, the more people in Iran are going to be scared of anything the US does.

The MEK long has cultivated a roster of former US and European officials to attend its events opposing Irans clerically run government. It pays for the appearance of many.

Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, spoke before an MEK conference in 2015 in Paris. She also had a seat next to Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the MEK.

Chao received a $50,000 honorarium from the MEK-associated Alliance for Public Awareness, according to a report she filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Chao received another $17,500 honorarium for March 2016 speech she gave to the Iranian-American Cultural Association of Missouri, which MEK opponents also link to the exile group. Chao did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press about the MEK.

Giuliani has acknowledged being paid for his appearances at MEK events. However, he hasnt filed a government disclosure form since his failed 2008 Republican presidential bid, so its unclear how much the MEK has paid him in total. Giuliani did not respond to an AP request for comment sent through his aides.

Gingrich has also spoken to the MEK before, including at a gala in 2016, although it is not clear whether or how much he was paid. Gingrich could not be reached for comment. The White House also did not comment.

The MEK welcomes the incoming Trump government, as some people within this administration plan to change American policies toward Iran, said Mohammad Mohaddessin, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of its political arm.

The core of the policy that we are advocating is to be tough with the Iranian regime, to not ignore its crimes against the Iranian people, he said.

The White House had no comment.

The MEK formed in 1965. They embraced both Marxism and the idea of an Islamic government after the violent overthrow of the American-backed shah who ruled Iran at the time. Their name, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, means the Peoples Holy Warriors.

They carried out a string of targeted assassinations hitting Iranian officials, as well as Americans. However, the MEK today blames a Marxist splinter faction of the group for killing the Americans.

The MEK fled Iran and later found refuge from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Heavily armed by Saddam, MEK forces launched cross-border raids into Iran during its with war with Iraq, further alienating the group from average Iranians. The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001.

The State Department has described the MEK as having cult-like characteristics. When French police arrested Rajavi in 2003 as part of a terrorism investigation, MEK members responded by lighting themselves. At least two people died.

Over the years, the MEK has said their organization receives money from Iranians to fund their operations. However, the group has been targeted by a series of investigations around the world for running charity scams.

Mohaddessin blames the investigations on a concerted misinformation campaign carried out by Iran.

The MEKs success in getting former US officials behind them could be seen in a letter dated Jan. 9 sent to Trump just before his inauguration.

We repeat the call for the US government to establish a dialogue with Irans exile resistance, read the letter signed by Giuliani and others.

Whether Trumps administration forms closer ties to the MEK is yet to be seen. However, exile groups havent always been proven to be reliable American allies in the Middle East. Exiled politician Ahmad Chalabi heavily lobbied the administration of President George W. Bush to invade Iraq by pushing false allegations of weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaida.

Irans mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

But while the MEK continues to pay former US officials for their time, the family of the American lieutenant colonel killed in Iran in 1975 has filed a $35 million federal lawsuit in Colorado against the group and Iran.

The reason for the lawsuit, Jack Turners family says, is simple: Unlike the US hostages, our father never had the chance to come home.
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Workers carry slabs of marble down the hall as another crew scrambles on kneepads, laying woodlike ceramic tile where hotel guests eventually will stop for their free breakfast.

Saws and hammers clatter in the background as women in blue uniforms scurry down halls with stacks of towels and sheets.

The Dalwadi family were scrambling to complete as much renovation as it could before Super Bowl LI guests arrived at the newly renamed Hotel Ylem (pronounced EYE-lum) across from NRG Park.

It was 13 years ago this week - when Houston hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII - that the family opened this 79-room hotel, then a Holiday Inn Express franchise.

When the contract approached its end, the family - parents Jay and Kapila Dalwadi plus their four grown children, Manisha, Amisha, Shital and Sumit - decided it was time to trend in another direction.

The compassionate and charitable family always wanted to use its hospitality skills to help others, and becoming an independent, boutique hotel allows just that.

As design changes got underway, the siblings scoured the internet for ideas for a new name. Late one night, they were Googling keywords, and "ylem" popped up.

More Information Information Learn more about the charities benefiting from business at Hotel Ylem. Lighthouse Louisiana: lighthouselouisiana.org Clean the World: cleantheworld.org Share Our Strength: nokidhungry.org Charity Water: charitywater.org Lather: latherhotel.com Sundara: sundarafund.org The Community Cloth: thecommunitycloth.org See More Collapse

"The scientific meaning is the primordial substance from which all things are formed," Manisha said. "For us, that's water and mother. Our mother is our glue; she keeps our family strong  and mothers are the source of life, right?

"And water,  nothing can go on without water. We felt that was the perfect name for the hotel."

Eclectic design

For the first 12 years of this hotel's life, everything about it bore the stamp of a franchise: the uniforms, the look, its rooms and service.

Manisha said she and her siblings wanted their hotel to be more personal, less corporate. And that chain look wasn't what they wanted either.

"We told the design team we want to use hospitality to change the world. It sounds very lofty, but this is what we want to do, and this is how we can do it best," she said.

As a boutique hotel, they want guests to feel at home in rooms filled with an eclectic mix of contemporary, vintage and traditional.

There's a decorative mailbox on the wall outside each room, and those doors are painted teal, golden yellow, black, coral and turquoise.

"The rooms take on this moody vibe that might be unexpected but is very serene, with pops of color," said Megan Ybarra-Haney of Duncan Miller Ullmann, which designed Hotel Ylem's interiors. "It's a very different kind of room. Not a brand room by any means."

DMU is best known in Houston for handling the interiors of over-the-top Hotel Zaza and the renovation of Hotel Icon a few years ago.

Gone are the impersonal desks, headboards, nightstands and dressers.

Instead, fabric-covered headboards have built-in electrical outlets and USB ports. Painted nightstands are glazed and distressed. Glass-globe pendant lights hang from brightly colored wiring, attached to the wall in an artsy pattern. Closets made of curved metal pipes on elevated stands look more like bellhop carts.

One final touch comes in artwork, pairs of framed messages to make you smile: "Dear bed  I love you." Or, "Everything works better if you unplug it once in a while  including you."

In a couple of months, the Dalwadis hope to have their bar, Esperanto, open. When guests have asked where they could walk for a quiet meal or a drink, they haven't had much to offer. Now they're working with local bar guru Hal Brock to create a bar menu.

And Houston fashion designer David Peck will design staff uniforms. The Dalwadis aren't ready for a sneak peek, but they promise they'll be comfortable, practical, approachable and fun.

Hard work and good luck

Jay Dalwadi, the patriarch of this family, was about 9 years old when his father died. It was the early 1950s in Kholvad, India, and his mother, Maniben Dalwadi, poor and uneducated, was left to raise 10 children by herself.

Most of her children quit school to help support the family, but they decided that Jay, the youngest, would be educated. That he might someday go to college - or even to America - was their dream.

Maniben worked at a brick factory, scooping sand into big pots that she'd carry on her head to the men who worked the brick molds. She watched, asked questions and learned.

"Long story short, we have a brick factory in India today," Manisha said as her brother and sisters smiled proudly.

Jay Dalwadi earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry, and in his 20s it was determined that he should marry. He broke tradition by insisting that he and his bride meet first.

Still, his family wanted him to seek the kind of opportunity found in America. Family members pooled their money and sent him halfway around the world for another college degree. They could afford to send only Jay, so while he studied chemical engineering at Texas A&M University, Kapila, pregnant, stayed in India.

When they were finally reunited in Texas, they celebrated with a small white cake: It was daughter Manisha's third birthday.

Growing up, the siblings were often the only Indian children in their classes, but they learned to love American music, food and people. To understand those around them, this Hindu family went to Catholic, Baptist and Pentecostal services to sample world religions.

A professional engineer, Jay Dalwadi has worked for Bechtel, Brown & Root (now KBR) and other companies in addition to operating hotels, from small independents to franchises.

Now, his children do most of the work.

A few years ago, Sumit, the youngest, launched Dalwadi Hospitality Management LLC to handle the business side of things for their hotels, plus hotel interests elsewhere in Texas and in Tennessee.

In addition to Hotel Ylem, the siblings and their parents own the Holiday Inn Express Intercontinental near the airport and the Summit Inn at Texas 288 and Old Spanish Trail.

Jay and Kapila raised their children to value education as much as they do. All four Dalwadi siblings have bachelor's and master's degrees from either the University of Houston or Texas A&M.

While the Dalwadis raised their children to assimilate in America, they never lost sight of their Indian and Hindu traditions.

"Kids would ask why I couldn't be out of the house on a Friday past 8 o'clock or have a boyfriend or a date," Manisha said. And they were incredulous about arranged marriages.

All four of the Dilwadi siblings say their marriages were semi-arranged. Manisha insisted on dating a suitor at least six months before marriage. Shital's marriage was similar and she had a hand in finding a wife for her younger brother, who married in India on Dec. 24. Amisha, the second oldest, has rejected every suggestion from her parents and siblings.

Their father got the family into the hotel business when he saw hotels going up all over the city. He'd stop at construction sites and ask questions. He got plumbing and electrical licenses and took welding classes. If he was going to hire crews to build his hotels, he wanted to know what they were doing.

Giving back

When they talk about their grandmother, it is in the context of hospitality.

Having known poverty themselves, they had big hearts for others who often came looking for food. Other homes might offer their leftovers to the hungry, but she instead made fresh food for them. She wanted them to feel that they were worth more.

That's how her American grandchildren treat their hotel guests, and they hope that their guests, in turn, are inspired to do the same.

Multicolored decorative pillows in the guest rooms are for sale - $35 each - and proceeds go to Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign.

Illy-brand paper cups are from Lighthouse Louisiana, an organization that trains and employs the blind, and bath products come from eco-friendly Lather.

Charity Water might be the biggest beneficiary of their efforts. All profits from guest-room mini-bars will go to the nonprofit, as will 9 percent of profits from Esperanto. An art wall where local artists can display and sell their work will be in the lobby, and 9 percent of the sale of any piece will go to Charity Water.

Still a work in progress, the Dalwadis hope to offer more items that give back. They're looking at Community Cloth, a Houston microenterprise group that helps refugee women who make and sell items to earn money for their families.

On a recent afternoon, artist Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee, who has a studio at Silver Street Studios, was perched on scaffolding with a can of paint and brushes, working on the mural that passersby surely will see long before they spot the Hotel Ylem sign.

There's a woman's face, framed with dark flowing hair. She's the mother, the giver of life. Flowing patches of blues and greens represent water, and the green barnacles strung throughout are us, the people who will always be here.

"I finally found a name for it - 'Waves of Wonder,' " Folmsbee said. "I'm using mother-of-pearl dust in the paint. It will sort of glow."
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President Donald Trump has announced Neil Gorsuch of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as his Supreme Court nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last February.

Here are five faith facts about Gorsuch:

1. Gorsuch, 49, now attends an Episcopal church, but he attended Catholic schools.

He studied at the Jesuit-run Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Md., while his mother, Anne Gorsuch, served as President Ronald Reagan's administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. After college and law school at Columbia and Harvard respectively, Gorsuch clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is Catholic. Gorsuch, his wife and two daughters attend St. John's Episcopal Church in Boulder, Colo.

2. Gorsuch has supported religious groups against the U.S. government.

Two major religious liberty cases wound up before Denver's 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, where Gorsuch has served since 2006: The Little Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell and Hobby Lobby v. Burwell.

In both cases, religious organizations - a Catholic order of nuns and the evangelical owners of a craft store chain - sought exemptions from providing birth control under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

"All of us face the problem of complicity," he wrote in support of Hobby Lobby. Government should not force those with "sincerely held religious beliefs" to comply with "conduct their religion teaches them to be gravely wrong." The Supreme Court agreed in a 5-4 decision in 2014.

3. Gorsuch opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide, two positions that coincide with the views of a majority of Christian denominations.

He wrote a book titled "The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia" that argued for maintaining laws against assisted suicide and euthanasia.

4. Gorsuch has not ruled in an abortion-related case.

But he is lauded by many conservative religious people and groups who seek the overturning of Roe v. Wade because of how he wrote about the value of life in his book. "All human beings are intrinsically valuable and the intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong," he wrote. "The law ... doesn't just apply to protect popular religious beliefs: it does perhaps its most important work in protecting unpopular religious beliefs, vindicating this nation's long-held aspiration to serve as a refuge of religious tolerance."

5. Gorsuch reminds some, rightly or wrongly, of Scalia, who was a conservative, an originalist and who spoke often of his Catholic faith.

University of Denver law professor Justin Marceau told the Denver Post that Gorsuch would be Scalia's "intellectual equal and almost certainly his equal on conservative jurisprudential approaches to criminal justice and social justice issues that are bound to keep coming up in the country."
One of the projects on the supposed Trump infrastructure priority list (which, I am 90 percent convinced, is not an official list) was the Dallas-Houston high-speed rail line.

When I called this project a boondoggle, I received an email from a supporter saying it will be entirely privately financed. While that would alleviate my objections, I remain skeptical that it could work.

The Texas Central project is backed by the Central Japan Railway and proposes to use Japanese high-speed rail technology in the 240-mile corridor from Dallas to Houston. Trains would make only one stop between those two cities, making the journey in 90 minutes at top speeds of around 200 miles per hour.

Japan's Tokyo-Osaka line makes money, but when it was built the corridor had twice as many people as Dallas-Houston, and few of those people owned automobiles. Around 70 percent of the corridor's travel at the time was low-speed rail, while not much more than 10 percent was by car and less than one percent was by air. By comparison, around 90 percent of trips in the Dallas-Houston corridor are by car, 7 percent by air, and a small number are by bus.

In today's dollars, the Tokyo-Osaka line cost more than $50 million a mile to build, but at the time it was built trains went only 135 miles per hour. Most of Japan's other lines cost more to build and carry far fewer riders than the Tokyo-Osaka line. Though most earn enough fares to cover their operating costs, they failed to cover their capital costs.

Based on this, the Dallas-Houston line will cost more than $12 billion to build, potentially a lot more. High-speed rail also imposes very high maintenance costs, as it requires lots of extremely precise infrastructure. Other than air traffic control, the only infrastructure required by air travel is a few acres of concrete and some terminal buildings, neither of which is expensive to maintain.

People in the Tokyo-Osaka corridor are also far more densely populated than between Houston and Dallas, which means they are closer to train stations. The route also has 17 stations, not just the three proposed for the Texas line. Fewer stops means faster trains, but also fewer people near a station.

Southwest, American and United airlines currently offer dozens of flights a day between the two Houston and two Dallas airports. Typical flights take 60 minutes, and prices start at under $100. Texas Central says that downtown-Houston-to-downtown-Dallas times on the train will be faster than flying, but only about 4 percent of workers in the Dallas-Ft. Worth and Houston areas work downtown.

With two airports to choose from in each urban area, it is likely that more people live and work closer to an airport than to a downtown train station.

Texas Central's ridership analysis projects that the train will capture nearly 25 percent of travel between Dallas and Houston. I don't know what percent of travel is carried by the Tokyo-Osaka train, but Amtrak carries just 6 percent of travel between Boston and Washington. Amtrak trains aren't as fast as Texas Central proposes, but the Northeast corridor is also far more congested than the Texas corridor, so slower trains could still be competitive. The Northeast corridor also has far more people than the Texas corridor, which makes Texas a less viable candidate for high-speed rail.

The Japanese are also promoting a mag-lev proposal between Baltimore and Washington, while the Chinese are promoting a high-speed rail line from Las Vegas to a point outside of Los Angeles. I suspect that what's really going on is that companies in these countries are trying to sell their technology. Perhaps they intend to build the lines themselves, but it is most likely that they will end up seeking government support.

The European Union says that high-speed rail projects need 6 million to 9 million annual riders to be viable, and they are only talking about covering operating costs. Texas Central projects that it will carry 5 million riders by the mid-2020s and 10 million by 2050. Five million isn't enough, and 2050 is a long way away  too long for most investors to wait and too long to accurately predict what will happen with other transportation technologies.

Certainly by 2050, self-driving cars will dominate highways. People in self-driving cars will be less time-sensitive than those who have to drive themselves, so the time advantage of high-speed rail will be less important. Plus, the car's door-to-door convenience and ability to stop at any point in the middle of a journey will outweigh the train's time advantage.

People who car-share might take a car to a train station, then the high-speed train to another city, then a shared car to their final destination. But no one really knows what people will do with self-driving cars, so betting $15 billion or so today on a technology that almost no one in the United States uses is pretty risky.

The other possible change between now and 2050 is in air travel. Installation of more advanced air traffic control systems will relieve congestion and speed take-offs and landings. Improvements in security will speed the boarding process. It might even be possible to build more airports in major urban areas so Dallas- and Houston-area residents can choose among four or five locations at either end.

Supposedly, the only high-speed rail lines in the world that make money are Tokyo-Osaka, Beijing-Shanghai, and Paris-Lyon. In fact, Beijing-Shanghai only began to cover its operating costs after several years, and it still hasn't covered its capital costs. I haven't been able to find detailed data verifying that Paris-Lyon actually makes money. Tokyo-Osaka was profitable mainly because it was built before many people in Japan had cars.

I would be happy if this project could work. But almost all other high-speed rail lines in the world lose gobs of money, and I can't see any reason why Dallas-Houston will be an exception.

Randal O'Toole (rot@cato.org) is a senior fellow with the Cato Institute specializing in land-use and transportation policy and the author of Gridlock: Why We're Stuck in Traffic and What to Do About It. This article originally appeared on The Antiplanner.

Bookmark Gray Matters. It requires lots of extremely precise infrastructure.


Hayder Al Baidhani began to worry when he hadn't heard from his mother more than an hour after her flight from Dubai arrived Saturday at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

An Iraqi citizen with a green card, she had flown from Baghdad to the United Arab Emirates before making her way to Houston a day after a federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's immigration ban. Green card holders had been exempted under the order, but Al Baidhani nonetheless approached a group of lawyers volunteering free legal advice before she finally called to announce she had made it through customs.

"She was horrified," he said, translating for his mother after a long embrace.

Confusion and concern continued to proliferate at airports in Houston and elsewhere even after the U.S. State Department reinstated visas for travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries in the wake of the ruling issued Friday by the Federal District Court in Seattle. The Trump administration moved to appeal the ruling late Saturday, further heightening an air of uncertainty about whether travelers from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen would continue to be allowed entry during the temporary window the judge created.

The group of volunteer lawyers gathered at IAH as part of an effort organized by the American Civil Liberties Union to assist those affected by the ban. Throughout the afternoon, family members of people living in the Middle East and Africa approached them with questions about whether they would be allowed to travel to the U.S.

Kamran Makhdoom, an immigration attorney in Houston who volunteered Saturday, anticipated that passengers who had been barred from entry under the ban would begin arriving in the coming days if the opportunity to enter remained. Since Friday, he has been encouraging travelers to seize the chance to travel even amid the uncertainty.

"You are free to come here," he said. "Right now, it's like the ban never happened."

'Mixed stories'

Mustafaa Carroll, executive director of the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said early Saturday he hadn't heard whether travelers initially barred from the U.S. had made arrangements to fly after Friday's ruling. The past week had been chaotic, he noted, adding that some green card holders had been held up in customs after the ban was implemented.

"It's been real mixed stories," he said. "A lot of things that happened with the ban were not well thought out."

Abdul Maniusmani, a U.S. citizen traveling from Pakistan, said he encountered no problems at any point in his trip. But he remained concerned about his son-in-law, a green card holder from Pakistan scheduled to arrive in Houston on Tuesday, even though that country is not included in the ban.

"My daughter is quite worried," Maniusmani said.

It remained unclear whether any refugees had planned to travel to Houston after the ruling. Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston and the YMCA of Greater Houston, two groups leading resettlement efforts, both said Saturday they weren't expecting any to arrive in the coming days.

'It came unexpectedly'

A U.S. citizen named Abdel, who declined provide his surname, paced between the greeting area and the arrival screens as he waited for his Algerian mother-in-law to emerge from customs more than an hour and a half after her flight from Qatar touched down. He said he wasn't expecting her to encounter any problems, but the speed with which the ban took effect made him worry.

"It came unexpectedly," he said. "What if suddenly they put our country on the list?"

For the past week, lawyers volunteering through the ACLU took shifts at the airport each day from 7 a.m. to midnight to help allay concerns. Lauren Fisher Flores, an immigration attorney in Houston, said she felt compelled to volunteer Saturday to hold the government accountable for the impact of the ban.

"I feel like that's my duty as an attorney," she said.

Not everyone was as enthused about the efforts to reverse the effects of the order. Ralph Williams, a 78-year-old Republican, applauded Trump for making good on a campaign promise and recalled several incidents of terror in recent years, noting that he considered the temporary ban necessary for the nation's safety.

"If we can prevent that, then God bless us," he said. "I'm sorry if a few people are inconvenienced."

Al Baidhani said his mother had been held up in Baghdad as officials determined whether her documentation would allow her into the U.S. She and others were questioned extensively upon arrival and then released without further incident.
Fifth in a series

A dozen officer-involved shootings have not been reported to the state attorney general as required under a groundbreaking new Texas law aimed at enhancing transparency in the often high-profile incidents.

Texas law enforcement agencies failed to report at least 10 instances where an officer fatally shot a civilian, an analysis of reports filed through Jan. 31 shows. Agencies also failed to timely report four incidents where officers were shot, including two deaths. Shootings are supposed to be reported within 30 days under the law, which took effect September 2015. But right now, there are no consequences for violators. The legislator who authored the reform hopes to change that.

"We need to fix the fact that we have a state law on the books that doesn't carry with it any penalty," said Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas. "That was the compromise that we settled on last session to get the bill done, and now we want to come back and button this up."

So far, 106 law enforcement agencies have reported shooting 238 civilians, 105 fatally, as of Jan. 31. Agencies also reported 39 officers were shot, six of whom died.

But reports were still missing for at least 12 other shootings that injured four people and killed 12, according to a comparison of the data with other publicly-available information on shootings. Three missing reports stemmed from Harris County incidents.

Both Precincts 3 and 4 and the Harris County Sheriff's Office are still due to file reports, records show. Reports also are overdue from sheriff's departments in Ector, Bell, Montgomery, Refugio and Wood counties; and police departments in Beaumont, Dallas, Euless and Marlin, according to information posted by the Texas ATtorney General's office.

El Centro College posted reports on injuries of two of its officers in a July incident this month - after an earlier version of this story was posted online.

In April, an off-duty sheriff's deputy in Victoria shot and killed a man who broke into her Victoria home. Refugio County did not file a report on the incident.

Sheriff Raul Gonzales said through a secretary that he believed no report was required since Deputy Tammy Gregory was off-duty.

Check the box

The Attorney General's Office confirmed that the new statute requires agencies to report such shootings - the form contains a box to check if officers were "off-duty."

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Ken Paxton, Kayleigh Lovvorn, said the office sent letters to all of Texas' 2,500 law enforcement agencies informing them of the new law in 2015. If the office is notified about a missing report, they "will reach out to the agency to make them aware of the requirements."

But Johnson wants more. Through a trio of bills he's introduced, Johnson would tie compliance with the reporting requirement to grants that law enforcement agencies receive through the governor's office. From September 2014 to August 2016, the Criminal Justice Division awarded $52 million in law enforcement grants, including $1 million to the Dallas Police Department and Dallas Area Rapid Transit in the aftermath of Micah Xavier Johnson's ambush of officers guarding a protest last July.

Eliminating confusion

Dallas Police Department quickly filed required reports describing the deaths of officers Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith and Patrick Zamarripa, state records show. In January - six months later - DART Police Department reported the death of the fifth officer slain, Officer Brent Alan Thompson, and the injuries of three other officers.

And none of the agencies representing the dozen officers who fired at sniper Micah Xavier Johnson reported his death - he was shot, though the death was attributed to an exploding robot in a Dallas PD press release.

Rep. Eric Johnson doesn't think the omissions by agencies in his district were intentional and has proposed two approaches - offering grant money to agencies that comply and withholding money from those who don't. A third bill that is less likely in a tight budget year would establish a web portal for law enforcement to file reports online, complete with an interactive dashboard, analysis and visual data representations.

"We need to pass some combination of these bills to take away any possible confusion anyone has about what they have to do to comply," Johnson said. "They have to know that this is a law they must comply with."

The legislator already has won support for withholding funding for law violators from Kevin Lawrence, executive director of the Texas Municipal Police Association. Lawrence said that law enforcement should absolutely be following the law.

"If there's a statute that says you should do x, y and z, and you fail to do x, y and z, there should be some negative reinforcement," Lawrence said. "We have always argued that more transparency is better - we assume that everything we do is open to the public."

Amanda Woog, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis at the University of Texas, had an early interest in the officer-involved shooting data and contacted several agencies in the beginning to inform them of the requirements. She said it's difficult to tell exactly how much information is missing. But even one missing is important, she said, adding, "It's necessary that we know that all reports are submitted on time."

'Threat of punishment'

Incomplete information keeps researchers and politicians from being confident in police shooting data, which is being gathered to help generate proposals and policy changes. Last year, researchers deemed incomplete an older database of reports Texas law enforcement agencies also must file: reports on custodial deaths, which include fatal shootings and other deaths of people in jails and law enforcement custody.

Texas State University Professor Howard Williams and his co-researchers found that even with the threat of a Class B misdemeanor charge for non-reporting, about 200 deaths from 2005 to 2015 weren't reported. And it's unclear whether that penalty has ever been pursued by a Texas prosecutor.

"On the books, there's a threat of punishment, but I don't know of a single instance when it's been used," Woog said.

Read more about this series at Point of Impact.

Note: No required reports are missing from Harris County Constable Precinct 1, as erroneously reported in an earlier version of this story. That agency has met its legal requirements.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's administration has been simultaneously splashy and slow to take shape, hindered by its own rocky transition and congressional Democratic opposition that shows no sign of easing.

Six nominees for Cabinet-level positions have been confirmed by the Senate. More than two dozen other Cabinet-level seats remain vacant, the slack only partly picked up by acting secretaries, including in the Departments of Energy, Education, and Health and Human Services.

The sluggish pace of approvals is unusually slow. It shows no signs of easing, as Senate Democrats vow to continue stalling tactics that could last weeks.

The tardiness, in turn, has consequences that can magnify over time.

"Anytime you have an acting anything, you have someone who serves not just at the pleasure of the president, but with a degree of trepidation and a question of their legitimacy," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. "Having somebody permanent gives them an ability to speak about the future; otherwise they're just speaking about today."

Ultimately, Trump will have about 4,100 administration positions to fill, including about 1,240 that require Senate confirmation. So far, only about three dozen nominees have been announced, according to a database maintained by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post.

In many cases, being shorthanded makes it impossible for the federal government to take action, particularly if it's too controversial. Only two of the five seats on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are filled, for instance, and the resulting lack of a quorum puts all but the most routine decisions out of reach.

Some government wheels, though, never stop turning.

In just the past week, for instance, the Consumer Product Safety Commission proposed revising fireworks safety rules, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission started an environmental study of a proposed Texas pipeline extension and the Defense Department announced a $400 million military contract with Kuwait.

"You're talking about ordinary bureaucratic cases," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. "The bureaucracy just continues to function."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was sworn in Wednesday. Next week, the Senate is set to take up more Cabinet-level confirmations, starting Tuesday with Education Department nominee Betsy DeVos. In a 52-48 vote along party lines Friday, the Senate agreed to end a Democratic filibuster intended to delay action on the Michigan billionaire.

"The nominee for the secretary of education is one of the worst nominees that has ever been brought before this body for a Cabinet position," declared Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., adding that Republicans were trying to "rush her through."

The Democratic base, in particular, appears dead set against DeVos, with calls jamming Capitol Hill phone lines and social media accounts lit up to demand massive resistance. Some of it seems to foreshadow a grass-roots Democratic insistence that the party's senators filibuster the big nominee coming down the tracks, Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court.

Next up are Republican Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, nominee for secretary of health and human services, and Steven Mnuchin, chosen for treasury secretary. Democrats are expected to attempt filibusters and procedural maneuvering is likely to mean debates on each will stretch for a day or two.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Trump administration moved Saturday night to appeal a U.S. District Court ruling that blocked the president's immigration order, setting the stage for a legal showdown over his authority to tighten the nation's borders in the name of protecting Americans from terrorism.

The brief notice of appeal came after a chaotic day in which the government complied with the district court's ruling by allowing the entry of refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations, even as President Donald Trump unleashed a fusillade of criticism at the ruling and the judge who had issued it.

At airports around the world, small numbers of travelers from the previously banned countries began venturing trips to the United States, knowing that the judge's ruling could be overturned at any time. The State Department reversed its cancellation of visas for people from the seven affected countries - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - and aid groups scrambled to take advantage of what they acknowledged might be a brief window for refugees to enter the United States.

On Saturday night, as Trump arrived at a Red Cross gala at Mar-a-Lago, his waterfront Florida resort, where he was spending the first getaway weekend of his presidency, reporters asked him if he was confident that he would prevail in the government's appeal. "We'll win," he replied. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

The legal maneuvering led Trump to lash out at Judge James Robart of the U.S. District Court in Seattle throughout the day, prompting criticism that the president had failed to respect the judicial branch and its power to exert a check on his authority.

In an early-morning Twitter post, Trump wrote, "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"

Agencies quick to comply

Late Saturday, the Justice Department filed papers saying that it would seek to have the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals block the judge's decision.

Robart, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, declared in his ruling Friday that "there's no support" for the administration's argument that "we have to protect the U.S. from individuals" from the affected countries.

Robart's ruling also barred the administration from enforcing its limits on accepting refugees. The State Department said Saturday that refugees, including Syrians, could begin arriving as early as Monday. Syrians had faced an indefinite ban under the executive order. His ruling applied nationwide.

It was not clear how quickly the 9th Circuit court would move. In a note posted Saturday night on its electronic filing system, the court said it would soon issue an order setting a briefing schedule. In ordinary cases, the first brief would not be filed for almost a month, but the federal government will no doubt ask the appeals court to move much faster. In emergencies, the appeals court's rules sometimes allow a single judge to act alone or to convene a three-judge panel by telephone.

Despite Trump's vehement criticism of the lower court's ruling and the certainty that it would be appealed, the government agencies at the center of the issue, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, moved quickly to comply.

Lawrence Bartlett, the State Department's director of refugee resettlement, wrote in a departmental email that officials were working to rebook travel for refugees who had previously been scheduled to leave for the United States over a three-week period ending Feb. 17. A State Department official said the extended time frame accounted for the fact that some refugees would have to make difficult journeys back to airports from refugee camps.

Until there is a new order from the courts, the official said, the department will go back to vetting refugees, booking their travel and bringing them to the United States. A United Nations spokesman, Leonard Doyle, said about 2,000 refugees were ready to travel.

Airlines, citing U.S. customs officials, were telling passengers from the seven countries that their visas were once again valid. Those carriers, however, have yet to report an uptick in travel, and there appeared to be no rush to airports by visa holders in Europe and the Middle East intent on making their way to the United States.

Etihad Airways, the United Arab Emirates' national carrier, said in a statement: "Following advice received today from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection unit at Abu Dhabi Airport, the airline will again be accepting nationals from the seven countries named last week." Other Arab carriers, including Qatar Airways, issued similar statements.

Differing advice

A group of advocacy organizations that had worked to overturn the executive order and help immigrants and refugees stranded at airports issued a statement Saturday afternoon encouraging travelers "to rebook travel to the United States immediately."

"We have been in contact with hundreds of people impacted by the ban, and we are urging them to get on planes as quickly as possible," Clare Kane, a law student intern at the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School, one of the groups involved, said in a statement.

But some officials were being more cautious, advising travelers to wait for further clarity.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said it was waiting for additional guidance from Washington. "We don't know what the effect will be, but we're working to get more information," the embassy told The Associated Press in a statement.

The Department of Homeland Security said it had suspended implementation of the order, including procedures to flag travelers from the countries designated in Trump's order. It said it would resume standard inspection procedures. But in a statement, the department defended the order as "lawful and appropriate."

In his first statement on the matter Friday evening, White House press secretary Sean Spicer described the judge's action as "outrageous." Minutes later, the White House issued a new statement deleting the word outrageous.

Trump's Twitter post showed no such restraint. It recalled the attacks he made during the presidential campaign on a federal district judge in California, who was presiding over a class-action lawsuit involving Trump University.

Criticism called dangerous

Democrats said the president's criticism of Robart was a dangerous development. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that Trump seemed "intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis." Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, whose state filed the suit that led to the injunction, said the attack was "beneath the dignity" of the presidency and could "lead America to calamity."

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said in a statement that Trump's outburst could weigh on the confirmation process for Judge Neil Gorsuch, the president's nominee for the Supreme Court.

The Washington state case was filed Monday, and it was assigned to Robart that day. He asked for briefs on whether the state had standing to sue, with the last one due Thursday. On Wednesday, Minnesota joined the suit.

On Friday evening, Robart issued a temporary restraining order, requiring the government to revert to its previous immigration policies as the case moved forward. He found that the states and their citizens had been injured by Trump's order.

"The executive order adversely affects the states' residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations and freedom to travel," Robart wrote. He said the states had been hurt because the order affected their public universities and their tax bases.

Still, Robart's order left many questions, said Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston.

"Does the executive order violate the equal protection of the laws, amount to an establishment of religion, violate rights of free exercise, or deprive aliens of due process of law?" Blackman asked. "Who knows? The analysis is bare bones, and leaves the court of appeals, as well as the Supreme Court, with no basis to determine whether the nationwide injunction was proper."
Biology curriculum

Regarding "A battle over creationism, creative thinking" (Page A4, Thursday), while the Trump Administration provides "alternative facts," the Texas State Board of Education offers "alternative meanings." Language that appears to support critical thinking actually promotes rigid dogma. They say that students should "evaluate the scientific explanations" for biological complexity, the origin of life, and the fossil record. Sounds great! Who could oppose the objective evaluation of scientific claims? But the language is code. Just as "family values" is code for "anti-gay," so the call for evaluation of scientific explanations is code for the indoctrination of creationism.

Creationism is the opposite of critical thinking. Creationists know exactly where they are going to wind up before they start. They begin with the Bible, interpreted as a science textbook, and that is where they finish.

Critical thinking follows Socrates' dictum to "follow the argument wherever it leads." Creationism just wants you to believe without questioning, and so it has no place in a school curriculum.

Keith M. Parsons, Friendswood

The pulpit and politics

Regarding "Trump wants religion to mix with politics" (Page A12, Friday), if religious leaders live in fear of their places of worship losing their tax-exempt status with the IRS for politicking from the pulpit there is one simple answer. Don't politick from the pulpit.

If they do want to politick, then pay taxes as the rest of us do.

Joanne Driscoll, Houston

Sex-trafficking

We hope that the national attention on Houston and the Super Bowl provides a bright light in the darkness that too often engulfs innocent people - a plague on our city, our country and our world - human trafficking.

This is often a topic around Super Bowl time as this event is known to attract thousands of sex workers, many of them young women who are victims of human trafficking, forced into prostitution against their will.

Texas accounts for 20 percent of the human trafficking market in the United States. In fact, a state report indicates Houston is the world's largest center for trafficking.

The best way to eliminate trafficking is to eliminate the root causes that force people from their homes and into the hands of traffickers. Our government should support programs that provide economic opportunities and education for those most vulnerable to exploitation, including refugees, migrants, women, children and indigenous people.

Ask Congress and the Trump Administration to protect funding of our international humanitarian and poverty-reducing assistance, which makes up less than 1 percent of federal spending. Programs supported through this funding, which have always received bipartisan support, have made tremendous progress against global poverty in recent decades.

Pope Francis has said human trafficking is a "crime against humanity" and "should be eradicated from the earth." I think that those of any faith would agree with him. Many look to the United States for encouragement, for inspiration and for help. Let us work together to keep the spotlight shining on this worldwide problem until it is eliminated.

Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston; Rabbi David Lyon, Congregation Beth Israel; The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, Episcopal Diocese of Texas; The Rt. Rev. Jeff Fisher, Suffragan Bishop Episcopal Diocese of Texas; Bishop Michael Rinehart, Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod EvangelicalLutheran Church in America; the Rev. John Ogletree, First Metropolitan Church;The Metropolitan Organization

An American classic

Regarding "Pull Astrodome plug" letter (Page A18, Friday), the writer from The Woodlands misses the point of saving the Astrodome, which was built in an innovative way with advice from inventer Buckminster Fuller. The history cannot be ignored, and all too often in our city, we choose to demolish and move on and then all we have are pictures in coffee-table books. In many instances I agree with this attitude and results, but some neighborhoods, and structures such as the Astrodome, deserve more thoughtful and deliberate consideration. The Dome can and will be useful.

Also, the Dome is owned by residents of Harris County. I don't believe The Woodlands falls within these boundaries.

Craig Vinson, Houston
Opposition

Regarding "Resist now!" (Page A13, Monday), the editorial criticizing President Trump's executive order on immigration is just plain wrong. Where you see a threat to the very fabric of our democracy, anyone with a shred of common sense sees it as an effort to protect our country from being attacked. What our president is doing is not a ban on Muslims or religion in any way. It is a ban on anyone from seven hostile countries who have terrorist cells that would like to destroy America.

Other countries such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt are Muslim. However, they are not in this temporary ban. The president's executive order also does not, as this editorial states, " threaten legal permanent residents." It does give us a little time to put in place and implement stringent vetting procedures on thousands of immigrants coming from countries who are at war with us.

Intelligence agencies around the world have said ISIS is indeed infiltrating the ranks of refugees. Just ask Germany, Belgium, and France if that is happening.

Randall C. Sagstetter, Huffman

Freedom, justice

President Trump's executive order on immigration was, as the editorial said, a chilling affront to liberty, an affront to "sacred American values."

It was also an assault on religious freedom. Trump's own comment that his administration is giving "priority" to Christians leaves no doubt of that. More troubling to my mind, this order is also an assault on and affront to the fundamental principles of compassion and obligation to our fellow human beings found in almost all the world's religions and philosophical traditions. One might even argue that it is an assault on our "humanity" itself.

The editorial is right. We must resist fiercely with "every legal, non-violent means available." And I believe we must be committed to a long, hard slog in this struggle for freedom, compassion and justice.

Becky Edmiston-Lange, minister, Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church, Houston
America is the best country in the world, and ours is one of the most compassionate, caring and loving cities in our great nation. Every time our city faces a crisis - whether it be a hurricane, a flood or some other tragedy - Houstonians and Texans band together to take care of one another.

On Jan. 28, fire destroyed the Islamic Center of Victoria. This created a tangible test of the moral mettle of Texans. Within a few days, the community raised more than $1 million to rebuild the mosque. This feat was accomplished through the humanity of more than 20,000 of our fellow Americans, both Muslims and non-Muslims.

An official of the Islamic Center, Omar Rachid, reported a tremendous, "outpouring of love, kind words, hugs, helping hands and  financial contributions." One donor whose ancestors fled to the United States from Europe due to persecution of Jewish communities added a note that read in part, "whatever the cause of this fire, no community should lose its home." Another donor wrote, "I'm an atheist and I am deeply saddened and disgusted by what was done to you. Religious freedom and freedom from persecution are fundamental rights!" In an act of beautiful solidarity, the Jewish community has offered to share their only synagogue in Victoria with their Muslims neighbors so that they might have a place for prayers while the mosque is being rebuilt.

These demonstrations of affection, love, support, friendship, faith and trust are the true hallmarks of the American spirit.

As a Muslim, I am particularly grateful to our fellow citizens for the many sustained expressions of care and solidarity they have shown. As the final messenger of God, the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him), once said, "One who is not grateful to people, is not grateful to God." And so while I am grateful to God, I am also grateful to all of my friends and neighbors for their outpouring of love support. But I am also especially grateful for America itself.

Where else but here could so many people of such different backgrounds come together as one people? Where else but America?

There is lot of anxiety and fear among the Muslim community in light of recent actions in Washington. But it is the actions of my friends and neighbors right here in Texas that help to calm those fears. Houston is blessed with an exemplary degree of cordiality, mutual acceptance and cooperation among all segments of society. Proof of this harmony is found in the catalogue of messages of solidarity and unselfish support being communicated directly from fellow Houstonians to the Islamic community.

To demonstrate my gratitude to the many people of this community, I invite my fellow Americans to visit our mosques and our homes to get to know us and give us the opportunity to be your personal friends.

American Muslims are committed to keeping their families, their neighbors and their society safe. We are members of the U.S. armed forces and we are first responders. We are doctors, engineers, teachers and scientists. We are entrepreneurs and workers. We are exactly like you.

And because we share so much in common, I urge everyone to stand strong in these difficult times. As our elected leaders muddle through the coming months and years, we need to remind them of who we are: We are a city, a state and a country that cares about each other. It has never been more important for us to show our solidarity and lead our politicians by our example. They need to understand that when they make decisions, they should be doing so for the benefit of us all.

If we can show our leaders what it really means to care about your fellow man - show them how those 20,000 people reached out to the Muslim community in Victoria - then perhaps we can teach them an important lesson about what it really means to be an American.

Khan, a former Houston city councilman, is president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston.
The Raymondville Fire Department responded at about 4:20 p.m. Sunday to 6945 Foster Road, where an earlier Highway 137 blaze rekindled.

The Houston Fire Department was called at about 4 p.m. to a report of a yard fire at 200 North St.

Members of the Roby Fire Department were called at about 3 p.m. Sunday to a report of a grass fire on Saline Lane at Evening Shade.

Volunteers of the Plato Fire Department were called to 9115 Highway H for a pasture fire at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
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Canadas major airlines have all confirmed they are once again boarding passengers from the seven countries President Donald Trump banned onto flights to the U.S.

Air Canada, Westjet and Porter Airlines confirmed to media and through travel advisories that passengers holding Iranian, Iraqi, Libyan, Somali, Sudanese, Syrian or Yemeni passports will be able to fly to the U.S., after a federal judge temporarily blocked Trumps executive order on Friday.

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The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it is no longer enforcing any part of Trumps executive order that suspended refugee intake and banned travelers from the seven targeted countries.

That move reportedly launched a race by travellers from the affected countries to get into the United States before the temporary block expires or is overturned.

Trump blasted so-called U.S. District Court Judge James Robart on Twitter over the weekend for the judges decision to block the executive order.

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The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

As a number of news articles pointed out, Judge Robart is an appointee of President George W. Bush, and has a reputation for fairness and concern for children.

The Trump administration took Robarts ruling directly to an appeals court, which early on Sunday declined to overturn Robarts order.

However, airlines are keeping in mind the possibility that Trumps travel ban could be back in force.

Porter Airlines is advising passengers to check for the latest details on the travel ban immediately prior to their flight. Westjet says it will continue to offer refunds or flight re-bookings for affected passengers, should the ban resume.

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You are the sum of your habits. When you allow bad habits to take over, they dramatically impede your path to success. The challenge is bad habits are insidious, creeping up on you slowly until you don't even notice the damage they're causing.

"Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken." - Warren Buffett

Breaking bad habits requires self-control--and lots of it. Research indicates that it's worth the effort, as self-control has huge implications for success.

University of Pennsylvania psychologists Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman conducted a study where they measured college students' IQ scores and levels of self-control upon entering university. Four years later, they looked at the students' grade point averages (GPA) and found that self-control was twice as important as IQ in earning a high GPA.

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The self-control required to develop good habits (and stop bad ones) also serves as the foundation for a strong work ethic and high productivity. Self-control is like a muscle--to build it up you need to exercise it. Practice flexing your self-control muscle by breaking the following bad habits:

1. Using your phone, tablet, or computer in bed. This is a big one that most people don't even realize harms their sleep and productivity. Short-wavelength blue light plays an important role in your mood, energy level, and sleep quality. In the morning, sunlight contains high concentrations of this blue light. When your eyes are exposed to it directly, the blue light halts production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and makes you feel more alert. In the afternoon, the sun's rays lose their blue light, which allows your body to produce melatonin and start making you sleepy. By the evening, your brain doesn't expect any blue light exposure and is very sensitive to it.

Most of our favorite evening devices--laptops, tablets, and mobile phones--emit short-wavelength blue light brightly and right in your face. This exposure impairs melatonin production and interferes with your ability to fall asleep as well as with the quality of your sleep once you do nod off. As we've all experienced, a poor night's sleep has disastrous effects. The best thing you can do is to avoid these devices after dinner (television is OK for most people as long as they sit far enough away from the set).

2. Impulsively surfing the Internet. It takes you 15 consecutive minutes of focus before you can fully engage in a task. Once you do, you fall into a euphoric state of increased productivity called flow. Research shows that people in a flow state are five times more productive than they otherwise would be. When you click out of your work because you get an itch to check the news, Facebook, a sport's score, or what have you, this pulls you out of flow. This means you have to go through another 15 minutes of continuous focus to reenter the flow state. Click in and out of your work enough times, and you can go through an entire day without experiencing flow.



3. Checking your phone during a conversation. Nothing turns people off like a mid-conversation text message or even a quick glance at your phone. When you commit to a conversation, focus all your energy on the conversation. You will find that conversations are more enjoyable and effective when you immerse yourself in them.

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4. Using multiple notifications. Multiple notifications are a productivity nightmare. Studies have shown that hopping on your phone and e-mail every time they ping for your attention causes your productivity to plummet. Getting notified every time a message drops onto your phone or an e-mail arrives in your inbox might feel productive, but it isn't. Instead of working at the whim of your notifications, pool all your e-mails/texts and check them at designated times (e.g., respond to your e-mails every hour). This is a proven, productive way to work.

5. Saying "yes" when you should say "no." Research conducted at the University of California in San Francisco shows that the more difficulty that you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout, and even depression, all of which erode self-control. Saying no is indeed a major self-control challenge for many people. "No" is a powerful word that you should not be afraid to wield. When it's time to say no, emotionally intelligent people avoid phrases like "I don't think I can" or "I'm not certain." Saying no to a new commitment honors your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to successfully fulfill them. Just remind yourself that saying no is an act of self-control now that will increase your future self-control by preventing the negative effects of over commitment.

6. Thinking about toxic people. There are always going to be toxic people who have a way of getting under your skin and staying there. Each time you find yourself thinking about a coworker or person who makes your blood boil, practice being grateful for someone else in your life instead. There are plenty of people out there who deserve your attention, and the last thing you want to do is think about the people who don't matter when there are people who do.

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7. Multitasking during meetings. You should never give anything half of your attention, especially meetings. If a meeting isn't worth your full attention, then you shouldn't be attending it in the first place; and if the meeting is worth your full attention, then you need to get everything you can out of it. Multitasking during meetings hurts you by creating the impression that you believe you are more important than everyone else.

8. Gossiping. Gossipers derive pleasure from other people's misfortunes. It might be fun to peer into somebody else's personal or professional faux pas at first, but over time, it gets tiring, makes you feel gross, and hurts other people. There are too many positives out there and too much to learn from interesting people to waste your time talking about the misfortune of others.

"Great minds discuss ideas, average ones discuss events, and small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt

9. Waiting to act until you know you'll succeed. Most writers spend countless hours brainstorming their characters and plots, and they even write page after page that they know they'll never include in the books. They do this because they know that ideas need time to develop. We tend to freeze up when it's time to get started because we know that our ideas aren't perfect and that what we produce might not be any good. But how can you ever produce something great if you don't get started and give your ideas time to evolve? Author Jodi Picoult summarized the importance of avoiding perfectionism perfectly: "You can edit a bad page, but you can't edit a blank page."



10. Comparing yourself to other people. When your sense of pleasure and satisfaction are derived from comparing yourself to others, you are no longer the master of your own happiness. When you feel good about something that you've done, don't allow anyone's opinions or accomplishments take that away from you. While it's impossible to turn off your reactions to what others think of you, you don't have to compare yourself to others, and you can always take people's opinions with a grain of salt. That way, no matter what other people are thinking or doing, your self-worth comes from within. Regardless of what people think of you at any particular moment, one thing is certain--you're never as good or bad as they say you are.



Bringing It All Together

By practicing self-control to break these bad habits, you can simultaneously strengthen your self-control muscle and abolish nasty habits that have the power to bring your career to a grinding halt.

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If I don't get to watch another film this year apart from Raoul Peck's Academy Award nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro, I think I'll be cinematically satisfied for the entire 2017. Yes, you read me right. It's. That. Good.

Why make such a strong statement, you may wonder? Because the writing of James Baldwin, the great African American author who defines the Civil Rights movement in America along with Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers -- and of course Rosa Parks and Dorothy Counts among many others -- is as current and crucial today as it was in the 1950s and '60s.

In I Am Not Your Negro, Peck manages to weave archival photos, video and even the odd space footage into a beautifully watchable, mesmerizing, can't-tear-your-eyes-away-from-the-screen masterpiece of understanding, drawn out straight from Baldwin's writing. Samuel L. Jackson narrates by reading from the 30 pages of notes for Remember This House, a book Baldwin never completed where he wanted to tell the story of his three murdered friends -- MLK, Malcolm X and Evers. At times I had to remind myself that it wasn't Baldwin talking me through his fascinating life, but Jackson instead. If ever someone channeled the spirit, courage and great humanity of the author, it's the beloved Hollywood actor.

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I Am Not Your Negro is currently in theaters in the US. Thankfully, European audiences will soon get a sneak peak of it as well, when the film screens at Berlinale.

I believe this is a crucial film for our here and now because we are witnessing what happens when that often used quote comes true: 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'

When Samuel L. Jackson recently attended the Dubai International Film Festival to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the organizers, I sat in his presence with a group of journalists, and here are the highlights of our talk.

Does acting fulfill you in the same way as when you started your career?

Samuel L. Jackson: Yeah for sure. It's something that I think about all the time. I constantly get up and wanna do it, constantly searching for projects and new scripts, imagining myself inside that script or not inside it.

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What excites you about it?

Jackson: Telling a story mostly. If I find a story that is really compelling and looks like it would be fun to do and they are making it in a fun place...

Do you feel like you're an ambassador of sorts here in Dubai, because of the way the West looks at the Arab world and vice versa?

Jackson: I don't know that I could change anybody's opinion on how they feel about Westerners. I think people look at my films and they see me as some kind of alike for that character in the film. I just did an interview and found out about Rules of Engagements that some people were offended by it in this part of the world. The studios knew about it and there was an apology issued that we didn't know anything about. You do that, and you show up and people see interviews and they know who I am and I guess I'm sort of known as being an outspoken individual. People pretty much know who I am and where I stand.

Do you think that comes from having grown up in the times you grew up in?

Jackson: Definitely. It's totally about where I came from, what my values are, what I think the world should be in terms of equal rights for everyone and all people no matter where you're from and what your sexuality might be. All those things are formed because of the time I came from in America. I'm a child of the Sixties.

You've had a lot of iconic lines in your films. Which one is recited back to you most often?

Jackson: "You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris?"

How do you feel about that?

Jackson: Fine. You know there are actors who spend their whole careers and no one can quote anything they've ever said, so... People also try to do the Ezekiel speech but they are not very good at it.

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Have you ever ordered a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris?

Jackson: I don't tend to eat at McDonalds.

What are your thoughts about the most contentiously elected President of the United States we've had in our lifetime?

Jackson: That's hard to say. I think now people like me are feeling the way that all those people who hated Barack felt for the last eight years. It's just been a flip. A lot of people voted for dude. It's not like he stole the election! More people voted for Hillary, OK fine. But for eight years there have been people who hated Barack and to the world he was a beloved kind of dude. He was supposedly like "America's got a black president he's so cool!" America is growing. Well, now we know America didn't grow so much. People were just laying there waitin'. "That guy has gotta be gone!" So, we're on that side now, we can't wait for that guy for leave but we have to wait four years, at least. It's just a flip so the other half of America gets what they want now. Or what they think they want.

What are finding as you tour around the world, do you need to defend America?

Jackson: I don't defend America. No. It is what it is. We wish we could have someone who was beloved, but even the people we love don't do everything we need them to do for us.

Images courtesy of Magnolia Pictures and Getty Images for the Dubai International Film Festival, used with permission.
The Jordanian Royal Air Force bombed Islamic State-held positions in southern Syria on Friday, killing and wounding a number of ISIS members.

According to a statement released today by Petra, the Jordanian government's news wire service, the operation also resulted in the destruction of a number of ISIS-owned vehicles, an arms cache, a warehouse used to make car bombs, and barracks used by the terrorist group. Jordanian forces used drones and precision-guided munitions in the operation, according to the statement, as part of the "kingdom's efforts to eradicate the terrorist group."

Jordanian citizens have hailed the country's ongoing crackdown on terrorist cells linked to ISIS. Dozens of alleged ISIS-affiliated terrorists have been arrested since March of last year.

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On February 3, 2015, ISIS released a high-definition video showing captured JRAF pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh being burned alive in a cage, after his plane crashed in Syria in December of 2014. Yesterday's airstrikes marked the second anniversary of the video's release.
Reality tells us the only way to ensure we stop Trump in the long run, unless he is impeached, is to elect a Democratic Congress in 2018. We can and should continue to march and protest but that must lead to organizing and electing Democrats. The first step is ensuring we keep the Virginia governorship and retake the governor's office in New Jersey in 2017.

To do this we need to stop fighting each other and one way to do that is to stop demanding perfection in our candidates. That is what led to the election of Donald Trump. The Susan Sarandon's and Ralph Nader's of the world who by their stupidity and short-sightedness supported third party candidates must take some responsibility for Trump being in the White House. Sarandon had the unmitigated gall to tweet after the women's march telling Cher to keep protesting after she told everyone she thinks Clinton is more dangerous than Trump.

For the next two years we need to get all Democrats and Independent voters who lean Democratic to eschew voting for any third Party candidate if we are to take back the Congress in 2018. Let us accept a Democrat who can win in Mississippi will not run with a focus on the same issues as a Democratic candidate running in New York City. But we need to recognize even the most imperfect Democrat, at least imperfect according to a progressive from an ultra-blue state, once elected to Congress will cast their first vote for a Democratic Speaker of the House or a Democratic Majority Leader in the Senate. That will give Democrats control of the agenda and committees and is the only way we will stop Trump and his Rasputin, Steve Bannon.

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That has to be our goal for 2018. We need to stop the internecine fights in order to do that. Blowhards like Michael Moore who is calling for a political revolution and spoke at the Women's March on Washington, before they cut his mic off, saying he will help primary already elected Democrats he doesn't agree with will only help Republicans win in marginal Districts.

In truth I thought my protest days were behind me. Instead since Donald Trump's election and inauguration protests have again become a way of life for those of us who care about our country and democracy. In my youth I met Martin Luther King, Jr. and fought for Civil Rights; marched with Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem for women's rights; got tear gassed in front of the Department of Justice protesting the Vietnam War and picketed the White House for Disability Rights. Joined Hands-around-the-White House, among other demonstrations, to bring attention to the fight against HIV/AIDS and marched with Elizabeth Taylor in a candlelight procession demanding Ronald Reagan stand up to fight the scourge of AIDS. I was on the mall marching to fight for LGBT rights. Guess it was too much to hope at my age I could stop marching and protesting and enjoy the fruits of what we accomplished.

Yet in just the last ten days I participated in the Women's March on Washington and demonstrated in front of the White House to protest Trump's EO which tries to ban Muslims from entering the country. I am on the planning committee for the June 11th LGBT Pride March in Washington. Once again there are compelling reasons demanding us to stand up and be counted. Millions of Americans clearly feel the same need and will stand together and speak out because we know Silence = Death.

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In just one week the Trump White House has turned the world upside down. He is fighting with Mexico and Australia; debating Climate Change with Prince Charles; leaving out any mention of Jews in his statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day; and banning residents from seven Muslim countries from entering the United States. He has reorganized the National Security Council removing the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from regular attendance at the principals committee, which is the meeting for the most senior national security officials and instead added his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who was formerly executive chair of Breitbart News, a far-right news, opinion, and commentary website that Bannon himself described as "the platform of the Internet-based alt-right" including Nazis and the KKK. Protesters at the White House correctly chanted "End the immigration ban, ban Bannon".
The first ten days of Donald Trump saw the controversial new US president deliver on many of his campaign promises. He has disrupted usual government business and has brought a seismic shock that has shaken Washington and world capitals. The new president grabbed for his magical pen, and signed astonishing executive orders, deliberately pre-empting the traditional work of his cabinet appointees and his administration. The silver lining is that Trump has settled the debate on whether he will adapt with the post of president, and made it clear to all that he intends to put to practice all that he had pledged as candidate, heading off speculations and assumptions. The frightening news is that Trump may truly take the United States towards unravelling, and the world towards a perfect storm, crashing the international order without setting up an alternative. It might be said that the internal resistance to Donald Trump's orders and measures could force him to reconsider and back down. However, Trump for his part is betting on exhausting his opponents, as they dash to catch up with his relentless executive orders. Meanwhile, ten days into his presidency, there has been increasing talk of his impeachment, because some argue America will not allow him to dismantle it, drag it to civil war, impoverish it, harm is global influence, and allow China and Russia to take its superpower status. Trump's supporters are gloating, taunting those dreaming to topple the president. They are certain that Trump will truly make America 'great again', and that his foreign policy realism will build a new world order and unprecedented alliances, that would in turn lead to American and global prosperity. Russia is pivotal to Trump's calculations. Trump's close associates say he will not base relations with Moscow on the basis of ethical standards but on the basis of what it would take for the dealmaker in chief to cut a deal. People well familiar with Trump say he will pursue realpolitik to build alliances and modify policy on Iran and Syria, and will split the world into allies who are useful for the US and rewarded accordingly, and non-allies who will be made to pay the price for their positions and non-usefulness.

The new US envoy to the UN, Nikki Hailey, began her tenure by stressing an intent to show strength and vowed that those who don't support us will face appropriate consequences. We want to support our allies, she said, but our allies must support us too. Hailey added that the new administration will focus more on bilateral relations, perhaps at the expense of multilateral ones. Haley's statements were received with surprise when she undiplomatically threatened: "For those that don't have our back, we're taking names, we will make points to respond to that accordingly."

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And who exactly are America's allies in the age of Trump? He has antagonized Mexico with his plans for a border wall, banned travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees, drawing fierce criticism including from neighboring Canada, and rankled NATO allies including Britain, which has been scrambling to protect the so-called special relationship with the US under the new administration.

A source close to Trump's inner circle said: "We are determined to help those who truly help us and prove their worth in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and the Emirates." "At the same time, we will condemn those we class as pariah states, Iran and Syria included." In short, the source added, "It is a simple equation: be an honest ally, and we will be willing to help in return."

Interestingly, the source spoke of the US desire for Saudi Arabia to help keep Iran in check, without elaborating. The Trump administration wants Saudi Arabia to take a proactive role in stopping terror financing, not necessarily in an overt manner. "The bottom line is that Saudi Arabia will be closer to the United States," according to the high level source.

The Trump administration intends to strictly enforce the nuclear agreement with Iran rather than run it through the paper shredder. It will put Iran on notice through intense scrutiny. If Tehran violates the deal, "the agreement will be void and we will jump to accountability," the source stressed.

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How will the Trump administration modify the once-favorable US attitude on Iran's expansionism in the Arab sphere, especially in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon? It is not clear yet whether the Trump administration will adopt Obama's greenlighting of Iranian incursions in Iraq and Syria in the name of helping in the fight against ISIS and jihadists. There are hints that change could come through the Yemeni gateway, but there are no fully developed policies yet to clarify whether or how the anticipated rapprochement with Saudi Arabia will be reflected in Yemen. Clearly so far, that won't happen in Syria.

Russia remains the most important player in Syria. The Trump administration is prepared to cur a deal on the basis of 'give and take', and the art of the deal, rather than moral grounds as was the case under President Obama - albeit rhetorically and to the exclusion of Syria, as the source remarked.

The source said the policy based on urging Assad to step down under Obama was rhetorical, and never intended to be enforced. "Bashar al-Assad is still in power. This is a fact. Accordingly, the new policy will be based on acknowledging this but classing him as rogue and isolating him."

In other words, the thinking in the Trump administration is that Obama had pursued an unrealistic policy, while Trump is looking to "change declared policy to match reality." The Trump administration will abandon the policy of regime change in Syria, and focus instead on isolating Assad "who has committed war crimes against his people and will remain a pariah."

The current wager is on a deal whereby Assad would go into exile, or coax Russia into joining the effort of isolating Assad, once it ascertains that the US will not be seeking regime change in Syria, according to the source.

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At any rate, US-Russian negotiations have not yet begun in earnest. It is still too early to scrutinize the elements of any putative grand bargain that Putin and Trump may want to conclude. Indeed, what is at stake goes beyond Syria or even Ukraine. It involves major interests and it will not be necessarily easy or close. In the meantime, Russia will continue to manage things in Syria with Turkey and Iran, while the West's absence on this issue is set to continue, under the pretext that Russia has hijacked the Syrian issue from the UN Security Council to Astana.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has considered UN participation in Astana to be a reaffirmation of its role in the peace process, stressing that the substantial negotiations would take place on February 20 in Geneva under the auspices of his envoy Staffan De Mistura. He said that the transition in Syria affirmed by the Geneva Communique will be a central issue in those talks between regime and opposition. For his part, De Mistura has warned the opposition that if it fails to form a unified delegation for the talks, he would take action and form the delegation himself as part of his authorities granted by resolution 2254. This statement riled up figures in the Syrian opposition, but the opposition today is being pulled in different directions as Turkey abandons its support and Russia and Iran now guarantee the ceasefire, all while the Gulf nations have washed their hands clean of Syria and the US administration signals its intentions to sacrifice the rebels but while maintaining support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (complete with armored vehicles this week for the fight against ISIS.)

The projects for Syria are conflicting, especially the three projects of Russia, Turkey, and Iran respectively. It is not clear what has happened recently between Russia and Iran with regards to their divergent schemes. Russia wants a strong regime in Damascus with the withdrawal of all foreign forces including those backed by Iran. Iran, however, wants to keep its influence in Syria through paramilitary forces along the lines of its own Revolutionary Guards. These issues will be on hold for now, according to Guterres, who has indicated the withdrawal of foreign forces from Syrian include all forces without exception. But reality on the ground has the final say, and there is competition to shape things in a de facto manner in Syria ahead of any talks and final deals.

Anything and everything is possible in the time of unconventional surprises promised by Trump, and unconventional alliances being drafted by Trump and Putin. Everyone is realigning themselves accordingly in a landscape of quicksand and seismic shifts.

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This article first appeared in The National Book Review



COLUMN: THE BIBLIOPHILE

The Art of the Affair: An Illustrated History of Love, Sex, and Artistic Influence by Catherine Lacey and Forsyth Harmon

Bloomsbury USA, 96 pp.

By Simone Grace Seol

What is better than art and gossip? An eminently well-read friend, with a glint in her eye, turned me onto The Art of the Affair: An Illustrated History of Love, Sex and Artistic Influence. This much-buzzed about new book, written by Catherine Lacey and illustrated by Forsyth Harmon, catalogues the interweaving romantic and artistic entanglements of some of recent history's best-loved writers, artists and musicians.

Lacey's reportage digs far and deep. She includes plenty of surprises -- everything from drama in the halcyon days of American jazz to a pornographer who inspired Alfred Kinsey's research. At the same time, we meet up with some A-list couples who could hardly have been omitted from a study of this sort --like Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, who check all of the subtitle's boxes (love, sex, artistic influence) and many more (alcoholism, obsession, and madness, to name just a few).

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A self-professed "Illustrated History of Love, Sex, and Artistic Influence" promises a certain amount of thrill and titillation, and this one delivers. But against my expectations, Lacey's tone was not that of a salacious gossip-monger. Instead, she works like a cautious detective on a clandestine mission, her tone much more elegant Chopin nocturne than dramatic Puccini recitativo. By the end of the book, I was won over by her tenor as much as her substance.

The detective analogy turns out to be remarkably on point: as Lacey observes, we only have a partial picture of the web of passion connecting these artists, since records have been lost or destroyed, liaisons kept secret, and the truth of a flame between two people remains invisible to outsiders.

We poke at and inspect the visible clues either to satisfy vulgar curiosities or to make earnest critical inferences. In either case, crude and overconfident handling of those clues can obscure our gaze toward, and understanding of, the art that we admire. We risk simplifying and distorting something sublimely private and evanescent.

Every fan of the arts has a favorite creative couple; I was gratified to meet mine, Frida and Diego, on the very first page. More than one friend, in our exploratory years, told me that they saw themselves and their ill-chosen boyfriends in Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. It is indeed satisfying to know that love lives have always been fraught and, on occasion, disastrous.

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I was relieved by the narratives of profligacy and untidy denouements (Mercedes de Acosta and Greta Garbo are a sterling example) because I welcome every reminder that exemplary creativity need not correlate with teeth-gritting virtue and constancy of character. I felt soothed by the ordinary yet somehow remarkable knowledge that these luminous figures were far from immune to the pain of unrequited love and the humiliation of rejection (spotlight, here, on Anais Nin and Gore Vidal).

The salon-like intimacy of these pages had me imagining first-person scenarios of "girl talk" with great women writers of yore. I conjured Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway's third wife, leaning over to me and whispering over a drink (as quoted by Lacey): "No one should ever marry a man who hated his mother . . . [He had a] mistrust and fear of women which he suffered from always, and made women suffer; and which shows in his writing." Feeling gratefully and giddily privy, I would reply, "Oh, I had such a suspicion!" Who among us women did not endure a Hemingway or two?

The Art of the Affair is beautiful to flip through. Forsyth Harmon's watercolor portraits are vibrant with personality and transparent color. The illustrations and text are ensconced in whimsically curving and intersecting dotted lines that call to mind the flight trail of a bee hunting for honey -- quite an apposite image, as it happens. The visual effect is light and luminous, reminding us of the transient, almost flitting beauty of love that inspires and evaporates.

This volume is heavy with love tales from the late 19th and 20th centuries, perhaps not surprisingly. Yet one wonders how Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms' affair, or that of Mary Wollstonecraft and Henry Fuseli, would have been rendered through the author (and illustrator's) affectionate eyes.
Early morning fire heavily damages southeast Hutchinson home

Hutchinson resident and his four dogs escaped the home without injury. The cause remains under investigation, fire officials reported.
Berkshire Regional Planning Commission representative Patricia Mullins sits in front of Community Development Strategy Plan Commission members Eileen Quinn, Edmund St. John IV and Peter Traub.

Cheshire Sees Draft Community Development Strategy Plan

CHESHIRE, Mass.  The Selectmen have seen a draft of a Community Development Strategy Plan that is needed for the town to participate in the state's Housing Rehab Program.

Berkshire Regional Planning Commission representative Patricia Mullins asked the board on Tuesday to review a draft copy of the plan that was created by a committee of residents. The plan outlines community goals and strategies.

"They tried to sort of summarize with the other planning that has taken place, the past plan," she said. "They pointed out work the town would like to do going forwards and after naming those goals, prioritized them in a community development point of view."

Late last year, the board agreed to apply to the state Department of Housing and Community Development for grants that will allow residents to make improvements to their homes.

The plan needs to be part of the application due March 10.

Mullins said the process needs to show that the town has thought through goals and strategies and has allowed public input. She said this is why the commissioners who were chosen to create the plan also serve on the Master Plan Committee.

"They ask the communities to do one of these to demonstrate that there has been thought put into the town's development goals and priorities and that there has been public input," she said. "They want to make sure it hasn't just been this thing that town leaders made up themselves."

She added by having a three-member committee of Master Plan Committee members, it ensures the plan will be consistent with the master plan

Mullins said the policy can also be part of future grant applications.

"In the future, there may be a lot of activities that the town can do with CDBG and we want to make sure you are well covered in this document and it will support those next priorities," she said.

She said the plan opens up with an overview of the town and some of the planning initiatives the town is currently undergoing, such as the Master Plan, Water System Master Plan and the Cheshire Community Association.

The document then lists some community development goals the working group had come up with.

First off was to expand on housing opportunities with a stress on senior and more affordable housing.

This goal included the rehabilitation of existing properties and using grant funds to achieve this.

Another goal listed in the document is to support the redevelopment of public works projects and focus on reinvigorating the downtown area.

That includes attracting new business, fostering new businesses and making the downtown a more comfortable space.

The third major goal in the document is to implement quality-of-life improvements, to promote and enhance cultural and recreation attractions and to leverage existing town assets.

Mullins said this could be done by increasing signage, capitalizing on historic and recreational assets and possibly create a town beach.

The document then prioritizes the goals and lists strategies to complete them with CDBG and non-CDBG funds over the next one to five years.

The Selectmen agreed to read over the plan and make a ruling on it next week.

In other business, the board reported it had interviewed three applicants for Department of Public Works director and will make a decision once reference checks are conducted.

The Selectmen also approved the Age-Friendly Community Resolution after town counsel explained the resolution would not bind the town to anything.




iciHaiti - Panyol : Laying the first stone of the Classical Training Center





This week, the Foundation Dr. Louis G. Lamothe (FLGL) and the RAPINO Foundation, in the presence of former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and the inhabitants of the area, laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the Classical Training Center of Panyol (commune of Kenscoff), second priority action identified by the actors of this community.



This important project is the fruit of several sessions of dialogue with the actors of the community around the model of education to promote. The reconstruction of the school was entrusted to the local firm INGORCEWA after discussions with more than 4 other firms of the place. The work should not exceed three months in order to allow students to continue learning in a safe and comfortable environment.



Recall that the Panyol Classical Training Center is a small school founded in 1996, which welcomes the most deprived children of the locality and surrounding neighborhoods. The school has a current enrollment of 151 students from the first to the seventh fundamental year, 9 teachers, one educational director and one director general.



See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-19951-icihaiti-social-first-anniversary-of-the-fondation-louis-g-lamothe.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-18675-icihaiti-reconstruction-two-temporary-shelter-for-students-of-panyol.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-18452-icihaiti-education-training-of-a-dozen-teachers-from-panyol.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18237-haiti-education-towards-a-green-school-in-panyol.html



IH/ iciHaiti






















iciHaiti - Environment : The Embassy of France welcomes the ratification of the Paris Agreement





The Embassy of France in Haiti welcomes the ratification by the Haitian Parliament https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-19990-icihaiti-environment-ratification-of-the-universal-climate-agreement.html of the Universal Climate Agreement adopted in Paris on 12 December 2015 at the end of COP21 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17231-haiti-environment-dieuseul-desras-to-the-signing-ceremony-of-the-paris-agreement-cop21.html



By this vote, Haiti joins the list of 127 countries representing more than 81% of the global emissions of greenhouse gases that have already ratified this historic agreement entered into force on 4 November 2016.



This positive step reflects Haiti's commitment to working towards sustainable development and will allow it to benefit from increased support to implement the climate change adaptation measures foreseen in its national contribution https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/CPDN_Republique-d-Haiti.pdf , including through the Green Climate Fund.



France welcomes this progress that offers new perspectives to work together on the climatic issues essential to the country.



Download the COP21 agreement : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/l09r01.pdf



IH/ iciHaiti


















Abhishek Bachchan celebrates his birthday every year at the Bachchans Jalsa residence in Mumbai. And each year, this grand occasion of Bachchan family is celebrated with the big names of Bollywood.

But this year, Bachchan Family is celebrating Junior Bs Birthday Day in Maldives as they have decided to do something private this time. This birthday is basically a together family hangout. They will return soon to resume their professional commitments.

This picture was posted by Abhishek on Instagram with a caption that Life is a journey which is far more enjoyable when you are holding hands with the ones you love''.

Also Read:

Bipasha Basu was the Showstopper on Day 3rd of Lakme Fashion Week!

The King of Bollywood is all set do his comeback on Television!

'Hare Krishna Hare' new song of Commando 2 released
President Trump's Meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan

Washington, DC - President Trump met briefly Thursday with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. The President conveyed the U.S.'s commitment to Jordan's stability, security, and prosperity. The President thanked the King for his leadership in promoting peace and stability in the region. He highlighted Jordan's critical contributions to defeating ISIS and discussed the possibility of establishing safe zones in Syria.

President Trump underscored that the United States is committed to strengthening the security and economic partnership with Jordan. The President also emphasized Jordan's essential role in serving as a model of tolerance and moderation in the region. The two leaders discussed the King returning to Washington for an official visit in the near future.
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There's been a certain trend of late of attempting to insult hired professionals by placing "so-called" in front of their job title.

A completely meaningless phrase, yet that hasn't deterred Donald Trump from using it to attack the (definitely called, as it is his profession) federal judge who temporarily blocked Trump's executive order banning entry into the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries.

US District Judge James Robart, who was appointed by President George Bush in 2003, issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration's restrictions, ruling that the ban would be immediately stopped nationwide.

Unsurprisingly, Trump's reaction was furious, taking to Twitter to declare: "the opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"

Well, two can play at that game, Trump; with filmmaker Michael Moore responding to the tweet with pretty much the perfect answer. "Thank you, So-Called President Trump! I've been struggling for 2 weeks over what to call you, and your tweet here gave us the answer," he tweeted.



Moore was one of the few famous people to publicly predict that Donald Trump would become President, and recently also took to Twitter to deliver a warning that the US was currently in the middle of a coup, specifically in connection to Steven Bannon's role as senior advisor.

A federal appeals court has denied Donald Trump's request to immediately reinstate his travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, instead asking both the state of Washington and the Trump administration to file more arguments at the start of next week.
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While Donald Trump seems intent on erecting a wall to divide people, a village in Europe has been tearing one down.

A concrete wall in the northern Kosovo city of Mitrovica that had provoked tensions between Kosovo and neighboring Serbia has been pulled down.

The move followed an agreement between the government and the country's ethnic Serb minority, facilitated by the European Union and the United States embassy.

Kosovo Serbs look as bulldozers tear down a concrete wall erected in the northern city of Mitrovica , that has provoked tensions between Kosovo and neighboring Serbia. The wall removal followed an agreement between the government with the country's ethnic Serb minority, facilitated by the European Union and the United States embassy (AP)

Kosovo Serbs look as bulldozers tear down a concrete wall erected in the northern city of Mitrovica (AP)

Bulldozers demolish a wall following weeks of tensions between Kosovo and Serbia, in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo (Reuters)

The wall's destruction by two excavators on Sunday was not accompanied by any protests or disturbances. However, police forces were on high alert.

Other than journalists, only a few people watched as bulldozers tore down the wall.

"We did not enter into a show of force or demonstrate populism," Prime Minister Isa Mustafa also thanking Mitrovica citizens, "The best democratic methods prevailed."

The head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Nataliya Apostolova, hailed the agreement.

Recommended Senior Trump adviser compared to renowned Nazi

The border tensions started with the wall in December and increased in January, when a Serbian nationalist train that was stopped at the border.

Ethnic Serbs in northern Mitrovica, where most of the Serb minority lives in Kosovo, erected the two-meter (yard) tall and 50-meter- (yard-) long wall, calling it a barrier against a landslide.

The Kosovo government saw it as a provocation, and parliament voted to pull it down.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia has not recognized it as a separate country, seeking to maintain influence in northern Kosovo where most of the Serb minority lives.
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The autumn of 2015 was meant to be yet another passing season. I should have known something was badly wrong when I started finding the morning commute exhausting. I felt lethargic as I dragged myself up the stairs of the tube station. By the time I managed to clamber on the train, my armpits would be sweaty even though I had just showered. I put it down to how infernally hot the Tube can be. When I surfaced from the underground, I was knackered before I had even arrived at work. Clearly I needed to get fit!

But it wasn't just at work. At weekends, my girlfriend noticed that I was lacking in energy when we went out. I often found myself sitting down and asking her to carry on without me. Again, I put it down to the boredom of shopping. Then I noticed that my trousers were looser. I managed to dismiss this too; wishfully ascribing it to leading a better lifestyle.

As a doctor, I should have known better. If I had taken a step back, I would have realised that the above descriptions could be neatly summarised as lethargy, sweats and weight loss. If this catalogue of symptoms had appeared in any exam situation  and boy had I done enough exams  I would have told you straight off that these were serious, constitutional symptoms warranting further investigation.

Overall UK survival for all cancers has doubled over the past 40 years, says Youssef El-Gingihy, who has experienced the disease as both doctor and patient (youtube)

Yet it never occurred that something was wrong. After all, I was in the prime of my life at the age of 35. And I was the one looking after patients, not the other way round, or so I thought. Even so, if I had gone to see my GP at this stage, my examination, blood tests and chest X-ray would have likely been normal.

The medical textbooks tend to engage in the hyperbolic. Weight loss is dramatic. Sweats are drenching. Lethargy is a state of perpetual torpor not occasional lassitude. The reality was that my symptoms were insidious and innocuous explaining how they had slipped under my medical radar.

However, when I noticed a solid neck lump whilst shaving one morning, I booked an appointment with my GP. Before I knew it, I was on the conveyor belt. I found myself at an urgent hospital appointment, where I was subjected to a camera test in order to look down my throat. Pristine, the ENT surgeon declared.

Next up was an ultrasound scan involving a large biopsy needle, which proved to be remarkably painless in the skilful hands of the consultant. The concerned reaction of the radiologist and pathologist, though, set off alarm bells. In due course, the dreaded diagnosis of the big C was imparted. I was informed that I had developed Hodgkins lymphoma  a blood cancer classically affecting younger patients.

In the past, I would have required an unpleasant bone marrow biopsy for diagnosis. Patients even underwent a laparotomy  open abdominal surgery  in order to stage the spread of the disease. Now all that is required is the wonder of a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan; not only for staging but also for confirming resolution of the disease. It works on the principle that the glucose or sugar consumption of cancer cells is greater than that of normal cells. A radio-labelled glucose tracer is injected and the PET scan images the uptake of this tracer. The cancerous lymph nodes light up brighter than other tissues. It is a surreal experience lying under a scan as it portends your future by revealing how far this silent enemy had multiplied inside me.

In the space of a traumatic fortnight, my life had been turned upside down. It was hard to imagine a silver lining. But, as one of my consultants pointed out, the good news was that treatment for Hodgkins lymphoma is given with curative intent. And there are not many things you can say that for in medicine. Most conditions are simply treated as long term.

Hodgkins has been a success story in oncology. The prognosis for early disease is now very good. In fact, overall UK survival for all cancers has doubled over the past 40 years. The treatment for Hodgkins has been modified over recent decades mirroring astonishing advances in cancer therapy. Toxic chemotherapy regimens have been replaced with better tolerated ones. Radiotherapy was previously given extensively at higher doses but is now targeted at much lower doses.

I was terrified at the prospect of chemotherapy. You might imagine that a medic would at least know what to expect. But I now realised the limits of my knowledge  pretty much all I knew about chemotherapy was from medical school. We simply had not been taught that much about this complex and continually evolving subject. Unless you are a cancer specialist, the chances are you will not know a great deal about it. As with every field, medicine has become super-specialist. The age of the generalist in medicine, let alone the Renaissance man, is a thing of the past.

And its no surprise that I was petrified  the mental image I had was of kneeling over the toilet being sick, all your hair falling out, unable to eat, feeling very ill and being admitted for intravenous antibiotics with life-threatening infections due to a wiped out immune system. Much of this comes from the ingrained representation of cancer treatment in popular culture. Some of it came from my brief dealings with the sickest cancer patients  the ones admitted to hospital  and was therefore necessarily skewed.

In the past, I would have required an unpleasant bone marrow biopsy for diagnosis. Now all that is required is the wonder of a PET scan (Getty/iStock) (Getty/iStockphoto)

When I was informed that the standard chemotherapy regimen for Hodgkins was manageable, I was disbelieving. When my consultant advised that this was a moderate regimen, which was generally well tolerated, I almost scoffed. It felt like the kind of reassuring platitude that we doctors are very good at regurgitating. Of course, each chemotherapy regimen is different and one cannot predict how an individual will respond to a particular drug. Being young, fit and healthy, with good physiological reserve, was certainly in my favour.

After my first bout of chemotherapy, I merely felt very tired; as if I had worked a long day or been doing night shifts. I did not experience any nausea, such are the effectiveness of 21st-century anti-emetics (anti-sickness drugs). I even heartily ate a pizza that evening. My appetite was largely down to the steroids. The roids, as I called them, cause all manner of side effects. They disturb the sleep-wake cycle and cause mood swings. This means that you turn into a grumpy insomniac, who demolishes the fridge in the middle of the night.

I woke up the next day feeling as good as new. In fact, I felt so well that we decided to go on the junior doctors protest march and I even managed to speak in front of thousands at Parliament Square. I felt great  well if this was chemo then bring it on! I even joked, paraphrasing Muhammad Ali, that I could wrestle with an alligator and tussle with a whale. A word of warning  never, I mean NEVER, tempt fate in this way.

On the Sunday evening just before bedtime, minding the advice on dental hygiene, I swigged some strong mouthwash hoping it might ward off any potential bugs. The next day, I woke up with mucositis or inflammation of the lining of your mouth and throat. This is one of the side effects that patients rate as among the worst. The mucositis triggered a chain reaction or domino effect of other side effects, including total insomnia, constipation and bloating. The body can handle one or two side effects but once you get up to three or four then you really start to struggle.

However, the first dose is generally about learning to manage side effects. Duly, things improved with successive doses. After two months of fortnightly chemotherapy, I enjoyed a break over Christmas. I began radiotherapy in the New Year. You do not generally feel anything during the delivery of radiotherapy in spite of how powerful it is. My side effects were minimal due to the fact that it was targeted and low dose. The most noticeable one being painful swallowing, which was manageable with soluble paracetamol.

My final PET scan was organised three months from completion of treatment and I was formally declared in remission. From now on, the focus would be on looking after myself in order to remain in remission.

The big question for the 21st century is whether a cure for cancer is attainable. Each passing week generates a new story heralding the arrival of a wonder drug round the corner. The United States has invested over $200bn (160bn) ever since Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971. More recently, Obamas cancer Moonshot programme will mean more investment in research.

The latest developments are showing great promise. Immunotherapy harnesses our own immune system and early results, even in terminal patients, have been very encouraging. Yet a cure for cancer implies a silver bullet. This appears increasingly unlikely in that each cancer is uniquely individual in terms of its genetic mutations and molecular structure. As Siddhartha Mukherjee  the oncologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer  explains, cancer is essentially a distorted version of our normal selves.

Cancer demonstrates evolutionary characteristics as it develops. It adapts to the environment and even evades treatment. Cancer cells do not exist in a vacuum but instead are found in a rich micro-environment of immune cells and blood vessels. A Google Street View mapping of this micro-environment is required.

Personalised medicine may hold the key to the future with treatments ultimately tailored to each patients cancer. Thus, genome-based research holds the promise of new ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. Other research suggests that, in spite of countless differences, treatments targeting common pathways may offer a potential Achilles heel.

Integrating big data between genomics and clinical fields will play a key role with greater information sharing between centres. While translational medicine will be increasingly employed to translate laboratory findings into the clinical setting. This bench to bedside methodology will only speed up progress.

The US has invested over $200bn on research and treatment since Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971 (Getty)

In spite of such exciting potential, good old-fashioned prevention remains preferable to a cure. Public health measures against smoking have demonstrated the importance of tackling root causes. Tackling air pollution, causative of a massive burden of disease as identified by the World Health Organisation, will be necessary.

Screening has been one of the key factors behind improving survival rates with cancers diagnosed earlier. At the same time, we are learning to balance over-diagnosis with under-diagnosis. For example, we are beginning to understand that some types of breast and prostate cancer are relatively harmless while others are dangerous.

Yet even as we continually improve treatments, who will benefit from such increasingly costly advances? Much of the world does not have access to decent healthcare. Obamacare fell a long way short of the kind of public, universal healthcare that the US so badly needs. Yet even this is likely to be dismantled by the Trump administration. Similarly, the NHS is undergoing increasing privatisation with the concomitant expansion of private health insurance.

Who will live and who will die and who gets to decide? One of the biggest challenges in 21st-century global healthcare will encompass this struggle between the private and public provision of healthcare.

Youssef El-Gingihy is the author of How to Dismantle the NHS in 10 Easy Steps published by Zero books. Follow him @ElGingihy
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The CEO of China's biggest online retailer has warned that "if trade stops, war starts".

Jack Ma, who met US President Donald Trump last month and announced his company Alibaba would help create one million jobs in the United States, added: "The world needs globalisation, it needs trade".

Speaking in Melbourne at the launch of Alibaba's Australia and New Zealand headquarters, he said: "Everybody is concerned about trade wars. If trade stops, war starts."

 Donald Trump boasts about January jobs growth...and gets the number wrong

"But worry doesn't solve the problem," he added, Business Insider Australia reports. "The only thing you can do is get involved and actively prove that trade helps people to communicate.

"We should have fair, transparent and inclusive trade."

Speaking a month after meeting Mr Trump, he said the world was in an "interesting" period requiring new leadership.

Trump holds up executive order withdrawing US from TPP

Mr Trump's first executive order withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a deal among 11 Pacific Rim countries, which include Australia and New Zealand.

He had described the TPP as "a potential disaster for our country". In its place, he said he would "negotiate fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back".

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Mr Ma said his company believes "globalisation is the future".

The world needs globalisation, it needs to trade," he said. "Trade is about trust and cultural exchange."

He added: We have to actively prove that trade helps people to communicate. And we should have fair trade, transparent trade, inclusive trade."
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Tory Eurosceptics have claimed 27 Conservative rebels ready to back amendments to the Brexit Bill tabled by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

One of the most influential Tory Eurosceptics, Steve Baker, released a statement claiming he had identified the group of 27 in an apparent pre-emptive strike to quell the possibility of the bill to trigger Article 50 being derailed.

Mr Baker, who chairs the pro-Brexit European Research Group, claimed the group of 27  who he did not name  could unite with opposition parties to demand the rights of EU citizens living in the UK are protected and to press for a meaningful final debate on the terms of the exit package.

The bill sailed through its second reading and returns to the Commons for three days this week when a number of amendments will be debated before the final vote on whether to begin the exit process is held this Wednesday.

Recommended Read the Brexit White Paper in brief

Mr Baker said: I understand 27 Conservative MPs plan to support wrecking amendments to the Withdrawal Bill, weakening the Prime Ministers hand and exposing the bill to damage in the Lords.

And, referring to the decision by the Irish Parliament in 2008 to vote down its own referendum result and hold a second one, he said: Given the court case in Ireland, we know at least some MPs intend to overturn the result.

This is a time to unite behind a democratic result, not plot to repudiate it. Any vote to amend this simple bill is a vote against implementation of the referendum result.

Rebel Conservative MPs would certainly include Ken Clarke  the only Tory to vote against the bill last week  and would likely include prominent pro-Europeans such as Anna Soubry, Dominic Grieve and Nicky Morgan, who this week voted with the Government.

 Ken Clarke asks why anyone would deal with Britain if we make all the rules

On Thursday, The Independent revealed that Neil Carmichael had become the first Conservative MP to say he is likely to rebel in a key vote to stop May carrying out her threat to take Britain out of the EU with no fresh trade deal.

The Tory whips are attempting to quell guerrilla tactics by pro-Remainers by banning their MPs from travelling outside London this week in case they are needed at short notice to vote.

The Westminster convention of pairing  where MPs are allowed to skip votes as long as someone from a rival party is also absent  has also been suspended with the Government holding a slender working majority of 16.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said she would prefer the UK to walk away from the EU with no deal at all rather than signing up to a bad deal.

Pro-European Tories and most opposition MPs believe it is essential Parliament has a say on the final deal when the two-year negotiations are over.

Former minister Ms Soubry said: Some Brexiteers would be happy to force the Prime Minister to walk away with no deal and no thought to the consequences for this country.

142 pages of amendments have been tabled  including a Liberal Democrat demand for a second referendum on the terms of the final Brexit deal, while the SNP wants the devolved administration to have a veto.

The Tories were in disarray for many years over the question of EU membership, but have managed to present a relatively united front since the Brexit vote last June, with its MPs agreeing not to frustrate the will of the majority  while Labour MPs have appeared more disunited on the issue.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has consistently vowed not to frustrate the triggering of Article 50 and imposed a three-line whip on his MPs to vote with the Government last week  but 47 Labour MPs defied the instruction, including 15 frontbenchers.

But next week could see a return to Tory discord, with insiders claiming it is possible the Government could lose at least one vote on the amendments.

Pro-remain Conservative backbencher Neil Carmichael told The Mail on Sunday: Parliament must have a final say when we get to the endgame.

We could be faced with the prospect of leaving the EU by falling off a cliff  as some have described leaving with no deal  with potentially disastrous economic consequences.
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A British news presenter has revealed how he told his anorexic daughter to starve herself to death, in a brutally honest account of his struggle to deal with her illness.

Television presenter Mark Austin said that in the early days of his daughter Maddys eating disorder he failed utterly to grasp that she was seriously mentally ill and thought she was being selfish and pathetic when she lashed out when challenged about how little she was eating.

In a first-hand account published in the Sunday Times, Mr Austin, best known for formerly presenting the ITV Evening News, describes watching his daughter wilfully destroying herself when she became ill as a teenager in 2012, and admits that he initially failed to deal with the situation in the right way.

This was my daughter willfully destroying herself by not eating. I thought it was crass, insensitive, selfish and pathetic. She would lie about how much she had eaten and then explode with rage if we challenged her, writes Mr Austin.

She showered me with contempt. As a father you have to make a decision and I made the wrong one. I decided to go on the attack. I told her she was being ridiculous. I told her to get a grip and grow up, to just bloody well eat, for Christs sake.

Maddy, now 22 and fully recovered, was a teenager when she suddenly stopped eating during her A-Levels, resulting in her weight plummeting by four stone and leaving her close to organ failure.

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leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon 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Mr Austin, 58, recounts in the article how he became so enraged that he told Maddy to starve herself, unable to comprehend that she was going through "serious" mental suffering. I even remember saying, If you really want to starve yourself to death, just get on with it'," he continues.

And at least once, exasperated and at a loss, I think I actually meant it. What I failed utterly to grasp was that she was seriously mentally ill and could not see a future for herself.

 Mark Austin reveals daughter's anorexia battle: 'She was shrinking away before our eyes'

Following a failed spell as an in-patient at a private hospital that used forced feeding, Maddy was treated in an NHS daycare unit at Farnham Hospital in Surrey which, Mr Austin says, saved her life.

After giving his deeply personal and revealing account, Mr Austin talks more generally in the article about the impacts of anorexia on families  and in particular fathers  in trying to comprehend complex issues with body image and weight control suffered by their children.

He writes: The impact of anorexia on families is devastating. As a father I felt excluded and hated. I found the issues of body image and weight control difficult to talk about. I floundered and, in the process, ended up poisoning her against me further.

Mr Austin's article has received positive responses from hundreds of people on social media, who describe his words as "powerful" and "moving".

It is not the first time Mr Austin has spoken out about his daughter's illness.

Last year, the television presenter called on the Government to invest more money into combating the illness and said more specialist units should be built by the NHS saying they were lucky to be able to afford the care needed for her.
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A Victoria Cross recipient has described his humiliation after he was held up by US border officials during Donald Trumps immigration clampdown.

Johnson Beharry arrived at New Yorks JFK airport hours after the President ordered travel restrictions on 27 January.

Long delays at immigration meant he missed a veterans event where he was due to be a guest of honour.

Mr Beharry, who was injured in the conflict in 2004, said he faced a wait of nearly three hours to reach the border where his passport was further scrutinised.

The 37-year-old told The Sun on Sunday he suspected he had been viewed with suspicion because of his travel to Iraq and his appearance.

He said: I felt humiliated. I think they held me because my passport showed I had been to Iraq.

Maybe I am a bit Asian-looking but that doesn't mean I should be treated with the same suspicion as a terrorist.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

I explained that I had been in Iraq fighting for the British Army but they didnt seem to care.

The officials only let me in after I kicked up a fuss. It was the worst travel experience of my life.

Mr Beharry said he witnessed Middle Eastern-looking passengers being pulled aside by officials enforcing the President's controversial executive order.

The move, which was promised by Mr Trump on the campaign trail, sparked widespread condemnation at home and around the world.

Mr Trump has since been locked in a legal battle over the legitimacy of the temporary ban, which restricts travel to the US from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq.

On Friday, a judge in Seattle temporarily blocked enforcement of the ban, and the Department of Justice filed a notice on Saturday to appeal against the ruling in court.
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Anna Soubry has slammed Labours Diane Abbott for missing last weeks crucial Article 50 vote after the Shadow Home Secretary claimed she had a migraine.

Ms Abbott, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, angered fellow Labour MPs after saying she was too ill to vote on whether Brexit negotiations should begin  despite having spoken in another parliamentary debate just three hours earlier.

Ms Abbotts Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency voted overwhelmingly for Britain to Remain in the EU. Three other shadow cabinet ministers in Remain-supporting constituencies decided to resign in order to vote against Brexit.

Ms Soubry, the Conservative MP for Broxtowe and a vocal Remain supporter, told the BBCs The Andrew Marr Show it was farcical that Ms Abbott had failed to vote when even MPs with cancer had managed to do so.

She said: It is farcical what is happening. Diane was taken terribly poorly and actually couldnt vote even though there were people with very serious cancers who did come in and vote.

[Labour] are all over the place and you should be in no doubt whatsoever about these huge fractures within Labour.

It comes after 47 Labour MPs defied a three-line whip issued by Mr Corbyn instructing them to vote in support of triggering Brexit.

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

A number of other junior ministers, and three party whips, joined the three shadow cabinet ministers in defying Mr Corbyns instructions and are now waiting to see if he will sack them.

Critics claimed Ms Abbott had missed the vote in order to avoid having to resign. Her office insists she was taken ill shortly before the vote and forced to go home, having told Mr Corbyns office of the situation.

But Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, declined to defend Ms Abbott. She said: I dont know the details of this. All Im told is that she was ill. Thats all I know. Theres nothing else I can say.

Earlier Labour MPs had called for the Shadow Home Secretary to apologise and resign.

The Governments Article 50 bill will return to the House of Commons on Monday. More Labour MPs are expected to vote against it unless the Government accepts a number of amendments, including one that would guarantee Parliament a vote on the final exit package that Theresa May negotiates with the EU.

Clive Lewis, the Shadow Business Secretary, has threatened to vote against the Bill if such amendments are not passed  a situation that would likely force him to resign from the shadow cabinet. Should Ms Abbott follow suit it would mean Mr Corbyn losing two of his closest allies in his top team, but reports suggest Ms Abbott is likely to toe the party line this time around.
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Donald Trump could be denied the honour of addressing MPs in Parliaments Westminster Hall as controversy over his state visit mounts.

MPs are due to debate cancelling the new Presidents official visit to the UK later this year following outrage over his ban on all citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries coming to the US after a petition was signed by nearly two million people.

But a potential compromise has emerged where Mr Trump would not be allowed to deliver a speech in the mediaeval hall, the oldest and most prestigious part of the Palace of Westminster, and instead speak in the Royal Gallery in the House of Lords  which was built 800 years later and is currently covered in scaffolding.

The move would be a major snub to Mr Trump as Westminster Hall, where Winston Churchill lay in state and Charles I was tried for treason, is traditionally reserved for the most respected world leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyri, Pope Benedict XVI and Barack Obama.

There is a plaque on the floor of the hall commemorating the speech Mr Obama delivered to both Houses of Parliament when he became the first US President ever to address them in 2011.

The solution was reportedly proposed by Speaker John Bercow who is said to be not happy about the level of MPs concerns about the idea, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

It came after 150 MPs signed a statement calling for Mr Trump to be denied a parliamentary address.

In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President-elect Donald Trump acknowledges guests as he arrives on the platform at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump looks on during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump shakes hands with Justice John Roberts after taking the oath at inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump raises his fists after his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets outgoing President Barack Obama before Trump is inaugurated during ceremonies on the Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump resident-elect Donald Trump arrives on the platform of the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Attendees partake in the inauguration ceremonies to swear in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address during ceremonies at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President Donald Trump waves with wife Melania during the Inaugural Parade in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters registered their rage against the new president Friday in a chaotic confrontation with police who used pepper spray and stun grenades in a melee just blocks from Donald Trump's inaugural parade route. Scores were arrested for trashing property and attacking officers AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators protest against US President Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A woman holds a sign before the start of the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Anti-Trump protesters prepare banners for a protest against the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, in Berlin REUTERS In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators shout slogans against US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators march, block foot traffic and clash with U.S. Capitol Police at the entry checkpoints for the Inauguration of Donald Trump Alamy Live News In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators display a banner as people arrive for US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A man displays a placard as people lineup to get into the National Mall for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump raise their hands as they are surrounded by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A demonstrator wearing a mask depicting Donald Trump protests outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush arrive for the Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden share an umbrella as President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address at the inauguration in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. Vice President Mike Pence takes the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Advisors to President-elect Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon depart from services at St. John's Church during the Presidential Inauguration in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump take cover as they are hit by pepper spray by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump An activist demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump is helped after being hit by pepper spray on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer tries to tackle a protester demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump Reuters/Adrees Latif In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Police arrest and detain a protester in the street in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer falls to the ground as another shoots pepper spray at protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters

Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton also had to make do with the Royal Gallery but the snub would be damaging to the ego of the notoriously thin-skinned Commander in Chief.

Stephen Doughty, the Labour MP who created the petition, said denying Mr Trump the chance to address the house like Mr Obama would be a victory for the standards and principles of Parliament.

Last month, it was revealed Mr Trump wanted a full Monty state visit to the UK, involving a Parliamentary address and a visit to the Queen in Buckingham Palace, which would go one better than Mr Obama  who he reportedly loathes.

But outspoken select committee chairwoman Sarah Wollaston denounced the idea that he should be given a Westminster Hall address saying it had great significance and should be reserved for leaders who have made an outstanding positive difference in the world.

She added that this doesnt not include Mr Trump who she described as a sickening piece of work and suggested that those who wish to fawn over him should be free to do so in the Royal Gallery as normal.
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Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, has indicated Labour will not attempt to block Brexit, even if they partys amendments do not get accepted in the Commons this week.

Her comments come as Labour braces itself for a fresh rebellion this week as MPs vote again on Article 50  the mechanism for triggering the Brexit negotiations. Clive Lewis, the Shadow Business Secretary, has hinted he could resign from his post if Labours demands are not met.

It follows a vote last week, in which three members of the Shadow Cabinet resigned in order to vote against the Governments EU Withdrawal Bill. Three party whips and around ten junior frontbenchers also defied the leadership but whether they will remain in their roles is yet to be decided.

Speaking on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show, Ms Thornberry said: We have said that we will not frustrate Brexit. We have got our instructions from the British people. We are democrats and the public have voted to leave the European Union.

There are going to be negotiations happening in the next week. There are many ways in which the Government may be able to react to this that will be positive.

On one of the amendments we have put down they may say: Were not going to support this amendment but during a speech we can give an assurance, we can speak in back channels, we can say you will get this.

There will need to be back channels, private conversations. There are many conversations going on now. We are speaking to Government, we are speaking to Tory backbenchers and we are trying to get a compromise that will work.

Ms Thornberry refused to be drawn on whether the Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott  who infuriated many Labour MPs when she missed last weeks vote because she said she had migraine  would face the sack if she failed to support the bill in Wednesdays final third reading vote.

It is a fast-moving picture. Lets see what happens, she said. The whip will be decided next week. Lets see what happens in relation to the amendments. We have a Shadow Cabinet meeting next week. It will be for the chief whip and the leader to decide what the whip is.

Last week John Mann, a Labour MP, called for his colleague Ms Abbott to resign and apologise for missing the historic vote. I think we all know whats going on here, he said. She bottled the vote. Its cowardice.

How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Show all 8 1 /8 How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Weetabix Chief executive of Weetabix Giles Turrell has warned that the price of one of the nations favourite breakfast are likely to go up this year by low-single digits in percentage terms. Reuters How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Nescafe The cost of a 100g jar of Nescafe Original at Sainsburys has gone up 40p from 2.75 to 3.15  a 14 per cent risesince the Brexit vote. PA How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Freddo When contacted by The Independent this month, a Mondelez spokesperson declined to discuss specific brands but confirmed that there would be "selective" price increases across its range despite the American multi-national confectionery giant reporting profits of $548m (450m) in its last three-month financial period. Mondelez, which bought Cadbury in 2010, said rising commodity costs combined with the slump in the value of the pound had made its products more expensive to make. Cadbury How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Mr Kipling cakes Premier Foods, the maker of Mr Kipling and Bisto gravy, said that it was considering price rises on a case-by-case basis Reuters How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Walkers Crisps Walkers, owned by US giant PepsiCo, said "the weakened value of the pound" is affecting the import cost of some of its materials. A Walkers spokesman told the Press Association that a 32g standard bag was set to increase from 50p to 55p, and the larger grab bag from 75p to 80p. Getty How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Marmite Tesco removed Marmite and other Unilever household brand from its website last October, after the manufacturer tried to raise its prices by about 10 per cent owing to sterlings slump. Tesco and Unilever resolved their argument, but the price of Marmite has increased in UK supermarkets with the grocer reporting a 250g jar of Marmite will now cost Morrisons customers 2.64 - an increase of 12.5 per cent. Rex How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Toblerone Toblerone came under fire in November after it increased the space between the distinctive triangles of its bars. Mondelez International, the company which makes the product, said the change was made due to price rises in recent months. Pixabay How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Maltesers Maltesers, billed as the lighter way to enjoy chocolate, have also shrunk in size. Mars, which owns the brand, has reduced its pouch weight by 15 per cent. Mars said rising costs mean it had to make the unenviable decision between increasing its prices or reducing the weight of its Malteser packs. iStockphoto

Ms Thornberry, the MP for Islington South, also repeated Labours call to urge the Government to guarantee the rights of EU nationals currently residing in the UK. She added that some foreign nationals had come to hear constituency surgery in tears.

The government may be saying they won't deport, but I've had people coming to my surgery in tears, she added. I had a meeting of 200 French nationals, not from my constituency, saying they are extremely concerned about their future.

They have fallen in love with this country, they have fallen in love with someone from this country, they are setting up businesses here, they have put their life down here. Surely as a gesture of good faith she should be sorting this out unilaterally on behalf of people who are living in my constituency now.
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Jeremy Corbyn has refused to say whether members of the frontbench who defied his orders over the Governments Brexit Bill could keep their jobs  but added is a very lenient person.

The Labour leaders comments come as the party braces itself for a fresh rebellion as the EU Withdraw Bill  the legislation needed to invoke Article 50 and begin the Brexit negotiations  receives its final third reading in the Commons this week.

Last weeks vote on triggering the mechanism for leaving the EU led to the resignation of three members of Labours Shadow Cabinet, including Jo Stevens, Rachael Maskell and Dawn Butler.

Three party whips  responsible for party discipline  also defied orders alongside ten junior ministers on the frontbench. No decision has yet been made on whether they will retain their job after breaking ranks and rebelling against the three-line whip  the strictest possible instruction.

In total, 47 Labour MPs voted against the partys official position.

The Independent understands Mr Corbyn will fill the now vacant positions in the Shadow Cabinet after Wednesdays vote. But when asked on Sunday whether frontbenchers who defied party orders could keep their jobs, Mr Corbyn told BBC Radio 4s The World This Weekend: Im talking to all of them. We will be announcing changes in the Shadow Cabinet in the coming few days.

Im a very lenient person, he added.

Asked whether rebels would keep their jobs at the upcoming third reading, he responded: You are asking me a very hypothetical question here. I will be making an announcement during the week.

Clive Lewis, the Shadow Business Secretary, who is tipped by those on the left of the party as a future Labour leader, has hinted he could resign from his post if Labours amendments are not accepted in the Commons.

In an interview with The Independent John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, added that the party abides by the parliamentary convention whereby if someone is in the Shadow Cabinet and voted against it they resign.

On the other ranks within the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), he added: The chief whip will report after the Commons stages of the Bill itself and well take into account what his recommendations are.

Earlier on Sunday Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, indicated the party will not attempt to block Brexit, even if the partys amendments do not get accepted in the Commons later this week.

Speaking on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show, Ms Thornberry said: We have said that we will not frustrate Brexit. We have got our instructions from the British people. We are democrats and the public have voted to leave the European Union.

There are going to be negotiations happening in the next week. There are many ways in which the Government may be able to react to this that will be positive.

On one of the amendments we have put down they may say: Were not going to support this amendment but during a speech we can give an assurance, we can speak in back channels, we can say you will get this.

 Emily Thornberry says Labour are a national party and will not frustrate will of the people

There will need to be back channels, private conversations. There are many conversations going on now. We are speaking to Government, we are speaking to Tory backbenchers and we are trying to get a compromise that will work.

Ms Thornberry refused to be drawn on whether the Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott  who infuriated many Labour MPs when she missed last weeks vote because she said she had migraine  would face the sack if she failed to support the bill in Wednesdays final third reading vote.

It is a fast-moving picture. Lets see what happens, she said. The whip will be decided next week. Lets see what happens in relation to the amendments. We have a Shadow Cabinet meeting next week. It will be for the chief whip and the leader to decide what the whip is.

Last week John Mann, a Labour MP, called for his colleague Ms Abbott to resign and apologise for missing the historic vote. I think we all know whats going on here, he said. She bottled the vote. Its cowardice.
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Labour will close the poll gap and reverse the political situation in Britain within 12 months as the Conservatives begin ripping themselves apart over Brexit, John McDonnell has insisted.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Independent the Shadow Chancellor, one of Jeremy Corbyns closest allies in Westminster, claimed that once divisions over the invoking of Article 50 were out of the way the party would unite.

Speaking in his office in Westminster, the day after the Commons passed the Governments Brexit Bill by 498 votes to 114 (47 Labour MPs rebelled), Mr McDonnell also suggested Theresa May demeaned herself by rushing towards President Donald Trumps side in a desperate attempt to secure a trade deal in Washington last week.

Recommended Thornberry indicates Labour will not block Brexit if amendments fail

Since Ms Mays ascent to Downing Street in the summer of 2016, Labours position in the polls has been dismal and rarely have the Tories been fewer than 10 points ahead of Labour. It will take a while to turn, Mr McDonnell added.

For Jeremys period since Ed Miliband stood down  were talking about 18 months or so  half of which has been leadership elections. Understandably people see this as a divided party and its going to take a long time to restore that and thats what were doing.

Asked whether he agreed with a prediction from Diane Abbott, the Shadow Home Secretary, that Labour will close the gap in the polls with the Tories in the next year, he replied: I think over the next 12 months well turn the political situation around and thats what well do.

He added: Now we get past Article 50, were then in our terrain in which were protecting people from a reckless Brexit the Tories are going to implement the Tories will start ripping themselves apart of the next 12 months. On that basis I think youll see that Theresa Mays honeymoon comes to an end. A relationship with Donald Trump may not be the most stable basis upon which you seek to secure your popularity in this country either.

Over the next 12 months well be contesting in a way that narrows the gap between us and the Tories. Asked what would happen if this scenario didnt turn into a reality he replied: Well, I think it will.

His comments come after a torrid week for the Labour party as dozens of MPs defied a three-line whip  the strictest possible instruction  to vote against the triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Three members of the partys Shadow Cabinet  representing constituencies with significant proportions of Remain voters  resigned from their posts before the vote. And now the leadership is braced for a fresh rebellion this week, especially if the party fails to secure amendments to the Governments EU Withdrawal bill in the Commons.

Asked about whether MPs would have to resign from the frontbench, Mr McDonnell said the party abides by the parliamentary convention whereby if someone is in the Shadow Cabinet and votes against it they resign.

With other ranks within the PLP the chief whip will report after the Commons stages of the Bill itself and well take into account what his recommendations are. On the three whips, who voted against the whip, he added: Ill leave that for the chief whip.

Explaining the painful situation Labour MPs find themselves in, he continued: The atmosphere is one of understanding and mutual respect, we understand where people are coming from completely. Its exactly as Keir [Starmer] has said time and time again, were now in a situation where we campaigned for Remain, we lost the referendumtwo thirds of our members now represent seats where people voted Leave and there are others with constituencies where there is an extremely strong Remain vote.

Weve had to give direction under the whip system because we wanted people to be clear about Labour policy is  and it is to support the triggering of Article 50 and not to in anyway obstruct it.

But Labours position also appears to have resulted in members abandoning the party. According to the New Statesman magazine more than 7,000 have deserted Labour in the last week over the partys Article 50 stance. Members come and go, said Mr McDonnell when asked for his reaction to this. Members come and go. Its renewals that are the big thing at the moment.

He is scathing of the Prime Ministers historic visit to Washington, where she appeared at a press conference with Mr Trump just hours before he signed an executive order indefinitely blocking Syrian refugees from entering the US. Immigration from Syria and six other predominantly Muslim countries, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, has also been suspended for at least 30-days. On Monday, when thousands of protestors marched on Whitehall to express their anger at the travel ban, Mr McDonnell was in the crowd.

I think shes [Ms May] made a catastrophic mistake, he added. Where her advisers and she thought naively that being the first person through the door to greet Donald Trump was some form of electoral advantage to her here, I think has proved completely counter-productive. I don't think people want to see a British Prime Minister demeaning themselves in that way. I understand why she did it: she was desperately trying to demonstrate some form of status for herself but also shes desperate to find a trade deal.

He believes if the Prime Minister fails to negotiate properly US corporations will see the NHS as open for privatisation. Donald Trump is a negotiator. To have someone rushing to you, walking hand in hand desperate for a trade deal  it doesnt display any strength in that negotiation from our point of view and Im fearful of the sort of deal that theyll do.

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

Later, he added: People are anxious she [May] is going to sell off the NHS I think shell negotiate a trade deal desperately and I think the President will walk all over us I think he sees our welfare state as the opportunity for profit for US companies its the same with higher education and other aspects.

I think Donald Trump welcomes her and shes so pleased to get the first invite but I think he sees it as a rich cherry to be picked in terms of our economy.

In the interview Mr McDonnell, who has been the MP for Hayes and Harlington since 1997, also revealed the party has set up a taskforce to investigate universal basic income, which will present its findings before the next general election. The radical concept involves ditching means-tested benefits in favour of unconditional flat-rate payments to all citizens.

During the summer of 2016 he suggested he could win the argument on basic income within the Labour party but now he intends to publish a report on the idea with Guy Standing, one of his economic advisers and a founding member of Basic Income Earth Network  established in 1986 to encourage discussion on the topic around Europe.

His comments come before he appeared alongside his long-time comrade Mr Corbyn in Liverpool on Saturday to launch a series of regional economic conferences, aimed at addressing the regional investment imbalance in the economy. Its pretty stark whats been happening over a period of years especially under this Government, is the lack of investment particularly in the North, Mr McDonnell added. Hes anxious over what he describes as a potential bankers Brexit  a deal at the expense of the wider economy for a special settlement to be done with the City of London.

He also vowed to deliver a Crossrail for the North with a series of major upgrades to east-west transport links. A new High Speed 3 rail link would transform the economy of northern England, creating 850,000 additional jobs by 2050.
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Nigel Farage is sharing a 4million house with a female French politician.

Laure Ferrari, 37, is 15 years younger than the former UKIP leader and was photographed taking the bins out at the property in Chelsea.

Mr Farage confirmed Ms Ferrari was staying at his house but denied any suggestion of an affair, describing the idea as crackers.

Ms Ferrari is the head of the Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe (IDDE), a Eurosceptic think tank, which is accused of illegally diverting public money to UKIP.

The party is currently under investigation for apparently receiving a total of 400,000 in donations from the think tank and a political alliance ahead of the General Election and the Brexit referendum.

Mr Farage said he was helping Ms Ferrari out because she needed accommodation and has nowhere else to stay.

Laure Ferrari (Twitter)

She is someone I have worked with and known well for a long time who wanted somewhere to stay for a week that wouldnt cost her any money. Its a working relationship, he told The Mail on Sunday.

Ms Ferrari met Mr Farage a decade ago while working as a waitress in Strasbourg and he helped her get her first job at the European Parliament.

She was forced to move out of her flat after her think tanks funding was stopped and has turned to Mr Farage for help.

I have no trustworthy friends in London who could have hosted me. I asked and he accepted. He is just trying to be helpful, she told The Mail on Sunday.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 A villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India's desert state of Rajasthan AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA

Last month Mr Farage said he spent most week nights at a bachelor pad but denied he had split from his wife.

There was no immediate response from Mr Farage for a request to comment from the Press Association.
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A copy of the Governments Article 50 bill signed by Theresa May is to be auctioned off at a Conservative party fundraising event, according to reports.

Emails seen by The Guardian indicate that a signed copy of the EU withdrawal bill, obtained by a Westminster councillor, will be put up for auction at an inaugural Regents Dinner organised by the West End ward Conservatives, at which the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, will be speaking.

In one of the emails, West End chairman Michael Case describes the Article 50 bill, apparently acquired by Tory councillor Paul Church, as a fantastic prize.

The email reportedly read: Paul has managed to secure us a copy of the European Union notification of withdrawal bill (aka the article 50 bill) signed by the Prime Minister, Theresa May, herself!

A huge thanks to Cllr Church on behalf of the committee for getting such a topical piece of unique political memorabilia for us to auction.

Mr Case, who is also deputy chair of the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association, reportedly refused to confirm or deny whether the emails were accurate, saying it was a private event, while a spokesperson for Ms May also refused to comment on the matter.

A previous email detailing other prizes on offer, including a magnum of Veuve Clicquot champagne and lobster and frites with prosecco at a top West End restaurant, reportedly stated: Cllr Church is working on a rather special auction prize  watch this space!

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

MPs from opposition parties have described the alleged auctioning of the signed bill as shameless. Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh told The Guardian: Considering how hard the Tory former prime minister fought for the remain campaign, this, quite frankly, is a grubby little fundraising tool.

Theresa May used to be believe that we are safer as part of the European Union and now she is autographing copies of the article 50 bill. Its pretty shameless.

Tickets for the dinner event, of which the location is yet to be announced but is described on the event page as a prestigious West End venue, reportedly sold at a cost of 85 per person, although a limited number of premium tickets are said to have been sold at 500 each.
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Theresa Mays Government is due to announce a major shift in housing policy by placing greater emphasis on renters with plans to deliver more affordable rental properties.

Gavin Barwell, the housing minister, said the Government intended to encourage more housebuilding of all kinds, including more social housing. But he insisted the plans, due to be published in a white paper this week, would not propose any changes to the rules of building on the green belt.

He acknowledged the proposals would represent a change in tone from previous Conservative policy and Margaret Thatchers home-owning democracy advanced by David Cameron.

It will include proposals to amend planning rules to enable councils to plan for more build-to-rent-properties as well as measures to ensure more secure, longer term tenancies are available in the private rented sector.

Speaking on ITVs Peston on Sunday programme, he added: We are not going to weaken the protections. We have a clear manifesto commitment. There is no need to take huge tracts of land out of the green belt to solve the housing crisis.

They [councils] can take land out of the green belt in exceptional circumstances but they should have looked at every alternative first. That policy is not going change.

The white paper will outline steps to ensure longer-term tenancies are available in private rented schemes to give renting families more stability.

Family-friendly tenancies of three years or more in purpose-built private rental schemes to all customers would be encouraged, the Government said.

A ban on letting agent fees  averaging 223 per tenancy  to stop renters being slapped with unfair charges has also been proposed.

Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary, added: We understand people are living longer in private rented accommodation, which is why we are fixing this broken housing market so all types of home are more affordable.

These measures will help renters have the security they need to be able to plan for the future while we ensure this is a country that works for everyone.

John Healey, the shadow housing minister, said the proposal on build-to-rent fell far short of what was needed. Government figures show that affordable house building has fallen to the lowest level in 24 years, with the number of homes being built for social rent now at the lowest level since records began, he said.

Ministers continue to do next to nothing to help people who rent from a private landlord and have consistently blocked Labours attempts to change the law to control costs and give renters security.

Kate Webb, head of policy at housing and homelessness charity Shelter, said: Ordinary families up and down the country are struggling to keep their heads above water with sky-high rents and short-term, unstable contracts which can make it nearly impossible to save and plan ahead.

Its vital the Government look to fix this by introducing long-term contracts of five years or more so people can plan their lives and feel safe.

If the Government really is serious about fixing this problem at its source, then they quite simply need to build more homes. We hope they grab these opportunities with both hands in the forthcoming housing white paper  millions of renters up and down the country are counting on them.
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BuzzFeed and its editor Ben Smith are being sued by a Russian technology tycoon who was named in the so-called dirty dossier against President Donald Trump.

A defamation lawsuit seeking unspecified damages has been filed in Florida by lawyers acting for Aleksej Gubarev, the multimillionaire chief of Luxembourg-based company XBT.

And a separate lawsuit has been filed in London by Mr Gubarevs lawyers against British former spy, Christopher Steele, who compiled the dossier.

 Vladimir Putin says Donald Trump didn't use prostitutes because he's met so many beautiful women

Lawyers claim BuzzFeed acted recklessly in publishing specific allegations made towards the end of the dossier that Mr Gubarev and his company were involved in Russian hacking operations designed to damage the Democratic Party.

The complaint says none of the allegations had any basis in fact and that publication of the dossier has left Mr Gubarevs reputation in tatters, compromised his familys safety and damaged his business.

The lawsuit criticises BuzzFeed for publishing the 35 pages of salacious memos, alleging that: BuzzFeed itself admitted it had no idea what  if anything  in the dossier was truthful.

Several media outlets declined to publish the dramatic dossier because its contents could not be verified  and Mr Gubarevs lawyers called BuzzFeeds decision to publish, perhaps one of the most reckless and irresponsible moments in modern journalism.

CNN reported the existence of the dossier but not its contents, prompting BuzzFeed to publish the document in full on its website, sparking one of the most extraordinary press conferences in living memory as Mr Trump went to war with journalists who he accused of producing fake news and denounced the dossier as a smear worthy of Nazi Germany.

Mr Gubarevs lawsuit claims that while more than 30 publications tried to contact him after the dossiers publication, he was not contacted by BuzzFeed for his right of reply prior to publication in a breach of conventional journalistic practice.

I'm really damaged by this story. This is why Im ready to spend money and go to court about this, Mr Gubarev told CNN Money in January before he filed the lawsuit.

I have a multimillion dollar business. Why do I need these connections with hackers? Its absolutely not true, and I can go to the court and say this.

Mr Gubarev, who founded the Webzilla site in Florida and built an international technology empire, lives in in Cyprus with his wife and children.

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BuzzFeed said in a statement they have now removed Mr Gubarevs name from the dossier and apologised for including it, admitting they should have redacted his name from the dossier, as they did with other individuals.

When it published the dossier, BuzzFeed highlighted that its contents were unverified and that it contained errors, although editor-in-chief Ben Smith wrote that its reporters had spent weeks investigating the report.

Relations between the media and President are at unprecedented level of hostility in US history with Mr Trumps chief strategist, Steve Bannon, branding news outlets the opposition party.

Mr Trump called BuzzFeed a failing pile of garbage during the post-dossier press conference and has this week put out several tweets criticising The New York Times.

In the complaint filed in Florida, Mr Gubrarevs lawyers argue that he is not a public figure, removing the defence of there being a public interest in naming him.

If the court disagrees, lawyers will have to prove that BuzzFeed acted both negligently and maliciously in order to prove defamation.

A potential defence available for BuzzFeed is that of neutral reportage, which defends the publishing of some defamatory material if it is in the public interest.
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Donald Trump's administration has launched a legal appeal against a judge's order suspending his controversial immigration ban.

The President hit out at US district judge's James Robart's move to block an executive order that temporarily stopped America's refugee programme and immigration from seven Muslim-majority "countries of concern".

He vented his anger against the "terrible decision" on Twitter before a formal challenge came from the Department of Justice.

 President Donald Trump lashes out at US judge on Twitter

It has filed a request for an emergency stay with the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, in the name of Mr Trump, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.

The legal document appeals the "order enjoining and restraining enforcement of portions of the January 27 2017 executive order on Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States".

The Justice Department had said it would ask for a suspension to honour the President's executive order, initially describing the ruling as outrageous before omitting the word from a later statement.

The filing asks the court to lift the previous order made by Judge Robart in Washington state on Friday, which caused the Department of Homeland security to stop enforcing the ban.

Mr Trump vowed to overturn the ruling by the "so-called judge", claiming it takes law enforcement away from our country and allow "many very bad and dangerous people" into the US.

"The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" he wrote on Twitter.

Critics said checks and balances on presidential power were part of America's constitution, and that extensive vetting procedures were already in place for visitors, immigrants and refugees.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Mr Trump's order, signed last week, suspended the US refugee programme for 120 days and banned Syrian refugees indefinitely.

It also barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen - from entering the US for 90 days.

The President the measures would keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the US but the excluded countries did not include Saudi Arabia and other nations from which attackers in the US have hailed.

It has sparked widespread chaos at airports and mass protests, seeing 40,000 people descend on London on Saturday. The states of Washington and Minnesota sued the federal government over the travel ban, which Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said significantly harms residents and mandates discrimination.

Judge Robart ruled to immediately stop the ban nationwide after he found no support for government lawyers' claims the ban protects the US.

Within hours, government officials had told airlines to begin allowing previously barred passengers to fly, although confusion still reigned among many authorities, embassies and airlines.
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A federal appeals court has denied Donald Trump's request to immediately reinstate his travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.

The Department of Homeland Security suspended all enforcement of Mr Trump's immigration ban following a nationwide locking of the executive order from federal judge James Robart in Washington.

Mr Trump called the order from the so-called judge ridiculous.

 President Donald Trump lashes out at US judge on Twitter

However, the White House said the government would adhere to the court's ruling until the Justice Department intervenes.

But the ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied the Justice Department's request, and instead asked both the state of Washington and the Trump administration to file more arguments at the start of next week.

The higher court's denial of an immediate stay means legal battles over the ban will continue into the coming week at least.

Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco forcefully argued in the government's brief that presidential authority is "largely immune from judicial control" when it comes to deciding who can enter or stay in the United States.

The Justice Department asked that the federal judge's order be stayed pending resolution of the appeal, so that the ban can "ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism."

"We'll win," Mr Trump said at the start of the weekend. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

In his written order, Mr Robart said it is not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches," but rather to make sure that an action taken by the government "comports with our country's laws."

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Mr Trump's executive order sought to ban all travellers from the seven countries  Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen  for 90 days and suspended the US's refugee program for 120 days.

It also indefinitely suspended Syrian refugees from entering the US.
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Donald Trump has said he respects Russian President Vladimir Putin even though he's "a killer".

In an interview with Fox News, the president suggested he thinks the US and Russia are as bad as each other.

When asked by Bill O'Reilly if he respects Mr Putin, Mr Trump replied: "I do respect him."

Asked to elaborate, he added: "Well, I respect a lot of people but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with him. He's a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not.

"And if Russia helps us in the fight against Isis, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world, that's a good thing.

"Will I get along with him? I have no idea."

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

Mr O'Reilly then said: "But he's a killer though. Putin's a killer."

Mr Trump replied: "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers.

"What do you think, our country's so innocent?"

Mr Trump has said he is prepared to review the sanctions imposed on Russia over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014.

Senator John McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke out against a possible move by the White House to lift sanctions against Russia.

He called the Russian leader "a murderer and a thug" and said he "seeks to undermine American national security interests at every turn."

When Mr Trump spoke to Mr Putin over the phone, the first time he had spoken directly with the Russian leader, the pair reportedly did not hacking in the US election or the lifting of sanctions.

During the full interview, due to be broadcast on Fox before the Super Bowl, Mr Trump also answered a question about his unverified allegations of voter fraud.
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Up to eight million illegal immigrants living in the US could face deportation under President Donald Trumps first executive order, according to new analysis.

Experts said it appeared immigration agents had interpreted the Presidents directive broadly, and were looking to target millions for deportation.

The new order allows immigration officials to detain almost anyone they come into contact with who has crossed the border illegally, lawyers told The Los Angeles Times.

This contact would include collecting food stamps, or other forms of governmental support.

 Trump supporter tells journalist to 'get out of their country'

Under the Obama administration, only recent arrivals, repeated immigration violators and people with several offences on their criminal record were priorities for deportation  a group of around 1.4 million.

But following Mr Trumps order, that group is expected to swell almost six times in size, the paper said.

We are going back to enforcement chaos  they are going to give lip service to going after criminals, but they really are going to round up everybody they can get their hands on, David Leopold, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the paper.

Recommended Senior Trump adviser compared to renowned Nazi

As well as a blow to families with members living in the country illegally, some analysts predict businesses would take a big hit.

The agriculture industry in particular, which relies on a seasonal migrant workforce, is anticipated to be badly affected by such mass deportations.

Americas Social Security system may also suffer, since unauthorised immigrants contribute an estimated $13bn (10.4bn), while only receiving around $1bn (800m) in return.

Not only those who are convicted of crimes, but those merely suspected of crimes, would become targets under the new directive. This category applies to 6 million people thought to have entered the US without passing through an official border gateway.

Another 11.1 people are thought to remain in the US after overstaying a visa, according to Pew Research. Eight million of those hold jobs, the vast majority of which would have lied on federal employment forms.

Mr Trumps order specifically calls on border agents to target anyone who lied on the applications.

A draft plan currently reportedly being considered by the Trump administration also seeks to deport anyone dependent on welfare.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

During his campaign for the White House, Mr Trump repeatedly vowed to build a wall along the Mexico border, telling a Fox news presenter at one point: You have them coming all over. It's not just Mexico. Everybody's pouring through the border.

But according to Alex Nowrasteh  a policy analyst at libertarian think-tank, the Cato Institute  US immigration has remained stable since since 2009, with around 350,000 people travelling in each direction across the border every year.
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A drugs bust in Florida has found packaging featuring Donald Trumps face.

Following a six month investigation police in Hernando County seized 5,500 packets of heroin embossed with the faces of Mr Trump and famous Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman.

Sheriff Al Nienhuis said they had arrested Kevin Johnson on suspicion of trafficking heroin in the area.

He said Johnson would travel north to collect heroin before distributing it in the Tampa Bay area of central Florida but was caught when a postal worker found his stash and alerted the police who then began tracking his movements, local TV station WFLA reported.

Officers said they do not know why the images of Mr Trump and Guzman were used but they believe it is the largest heroin bust they have ever carried out.

But the use of the new Commander in Chiefs image has not gone down will with Floridas Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Ms Bondi, a former member of the Trump transition team who is rumoured to be in the running for a White House post, told the Tampa Bay Times: All I want to say to this drug dealer is, Big mistake by putting the president's picture on this.

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The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. 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Big mistake. Because he is going to be our most fierce advocate in taking this junk off of our streets. Can you believe this? Big mistake.

She said she planned to make sure (Mr Trump) gets one of these packages when the case is all over to put in the Oval Office to remind him of all the good hes doing.

Johnson has been remanded in custody with bail set at $75,000 (60,000). Depending on the weight of the drugs, which weigh 3.3 pounds each when in their packaging, he could face a minimum of between 15 and 25 years in prison if convicted.
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Judge James Robart emerged from relative obscurity on Saturday as the first justice to come under fire from the president since he took office after his temporary order to lift Donald Trump's immigration ban.

In a reaction that went viral on Twitter, Mr Trump called the 69-year-old Judge Robart a so-called judge whose ridiculous opinion essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country.

To those who know Judge Robart, who has been on the federal bench in Seattle for more than a decade after his appointment by another Republican, President George W Bush, the ensuing drama surrounding the move was a far cry from the judge's standard.

 President Donald Trump lashes out at US judge on Twitter

He is relatively apolitical, said Douglas Adkins, a private equity investor and former investment banker who has known Judge Robart since childhood. He's not a conservative or a liberal. He's a man interested in the law and fairness.

Late on Friday, Judge Robart grabbed national headlines with his decision to temporarily lift Mr Trump's week-old travel ban for citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries and refugees. His ruling was just a first step in considering the merits of the case challenging the ban. The Justice Department on Saturday filed a formal notice that it intends to appeal the ruling.

As a candidate, Mr Trump had criticised federal judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was overseeing a case against his Trump University - arguing Curiel could not be impartial because of his Mexican heritage and Mr Trump's vow to crack down on Mexican immigrants.

But by lashing out at Judge Robart as President, Mr Trump's anti-judiciary stance takes on new importance: it hits at the very heart of the checks and balances system meant to protect the country from government abuse of power.

Coincidentally, in his wide-reaching ruling on Friday, Judge Robart emphasised that the three branches of government  the executive branch, Congress and the judiciary  should function as equals.

The work of the Judiciary, and this court, is limited to ensuring that the actions taken by the other two branches comport with our country's laws, and more importantly, our constitution, Judge Robart wrote.

Reached by email, Judge Robart declined to comment on Mr Trump's tweets.

A graduate of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and Georgetown University Law Centre, Judge Robart spent 30 years in private practice at the law firm now known as Lane Powell, before being appointed to the bench by Bush in 2004.

Judge James Robart was appointed by George W Bush but is said to be "relatively apolitical"

Adkins said Judge Robart and his wife have no children but have been foster parents to several immigrant children over the years, primarily from Southeast Asia. Judge Robart could not be reached for comment.

The judge served in the past as the president of the Seattle Children's Home and was a former trustee of the Children's Home Society of Washington, according to his official biography on the federal court website. Those organisations provide mental health services for at-risk youth and help troubled families.

His involvement with children may have helped contribute to his understanding of the people impacted by this ruling but would not have shaped his interpretation of the rule of law, said Paul Lawrence, who was one of the attorneys who filed an amicus brief backing Washington State in the immigration case.

During his confirmation hearing, Judge Robart recalled providing pro-bono legal services early in his career to people who in many times felt that the legal system was stacked against them. He said he learned that the law could be, if properly used, an opportunity for them to seek redress if they had been wronged, according to a transcript of the testimony.

Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban Show all 11 1 /11 Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty

Often sporting bow-ties with his black robes, Judge Robart is known for saying from the bench in 2016 that black lives matter. He cited the statement popularised by protesters during a hearing about a 2012 consent decree with the federal government that required the Seattle police department to address allegations of bias and excessive force.

In 2011, Judge Robart put a temporary hold on a state rule change that would have cut government funding for disabled children and families in Washington.

When faced with a conflict between the financial and budgetary concerns [...] and the preventable human suffering, Judge Robart wrote in that opinion, the balance of hardships tips in the favour of preventing human suffering.

Adkins said he thought his friend would be able to take Mr Trump's attacks in stride.

His view is that criticism is important, said Mr Adkins.

Reuters
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A senior adviser in Donald Trump's administration has been compared to a renowned Nazi philosopher by the editor of the "neo-con bible" The Weekly Standard.

Michael Anton, works as a senior national security official in the White House.

"From Carl Schmitt to Mike Anton," The Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol wrote on Twitter, comparing Mr Anton to the controversial Nazi political theorist.

"First time tragedy, second time farce."

Mr Kristol expanded on his concerns in an email to Mic, linking Mr Anton to far-right figure Steve Bannon, Mr Trump's closest adviser.

The former editor of the alt-right Breitbart website was reportedly behind the White House directive that made US green card holders subject to additional screening under Mr Trump's "Muslim ban".

"The Bannon-Anton wing of the Trump White House has a penchant for semi-conspiratorial analyses and semi-kooky prescriptions," Mr Kristol wrote in the email.

"And for them, being responsible isn't a virtue. Which is worrisome."

 Donald Trump's closest advisor Steve Bannon thinks there will be war with China in the next few years

In his tweet, Mr Kristol shared a link to a New York Magazine article describing Mr Anton as "America's leading authoritarian intellectual."

During the election, Mr Anton wrote several pro-Trump articles under the pseudonym Publius Decius Mus, a reference to the ancient Roman consul who gave his life in battle to save his people.

He was unmasked as the anonymous author earlier this week by The Weekly Standard.

In his most influential essay, "The Flight 93 Election," Mr Anton made the case that conservatives should support Mr Trump because they cannot survive another election defeat.

He makes his case by using the metaphor that conservatives are like the passengers on the doomed 9/11 Flight 93, which was eventually brought down in a field in Pennsylvania.

2016 is the Flight 93 election: charge the cockpit or you die, he writes.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

He adds: If you dont try, death is certain. To compound the metaphor: a Hillary Clinton presidency is Russian Roulette with a semi-auto.

Mr Anton, who was formerly a speech writer for the Bush administration and Rupert Murdoch, then director of communications at multinational investment bank Citigroup, goes on to describe the Obama government as "the junta".

He argued Mr Trump was the only Republican capable of saving America: "Trump, alone among candidates for high office in this or in the last seven (at least) cycles, has stood up to say: I want to live. I want my party to live. I want my country to live. I want my people to live. I want to end the insanity."

Now he is in a position where he can shape the White House's national security message, commentators are wondering how much Mr Anton and Mr Bannon will be able to shape the US president's ideas and policies.
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Campaigners have accused the Red Cross of hypocrisy after it held its annual fundraising ball at a luxury resort owned by Donald Trump - and welcomed the US President to the event.

The charity, which works to support refugees, hosted the gala at the billionaire businessman's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida at a time when he is engulfed in a row over his decision to ban refugees entering the US for at least 120 days, and indefinitely in the case of migrants from Syria.

The United Nations (UN) said thousands of refugees were left stranded in their countries of origin when the ban was introduced, including many who had "disposed of their few possessions and given up their livelihoods and shelters all in the expectation that they were about to start new lives".

Recommended Senior female MPs will boycott if Donald Trump addresses Parliament

The Red Cross is providing humanitarian aid to those affected, including "food and water at ports of entry; blankets, toiletries and other aid; and health, mental health and spiritual care service.

On its website, the charity even refers to the Syrian conflict as "one of the most daunting humanitarian crises in decades".

"Millions of refugees are fleeing conditions in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, creating one of the most daunting humanitarian crises in decades. The Red Cross is working in numerous countries to help as these families migrate from their homeland in search of a better life."

By contrast, Mr Trump has highlighted those very same displaced people as potential terrorists.

"We have no idea who these people are, we [the US] are the worst when it comes to paperwork," he said in November. "This could be one of the great Trojan horses."

It is not the first time the Red Crosss lavish fundraising gala has been held at Mar-a-Largo but the move is particularly contentious this year because of Mr Trumps anti-immigrant rhetoric.

A spokesperson for the charity said it does not take political positions and attempts to remain neutral. Event organisers also said the venue was chosen well in advance - but added that the location of next years gala had not yet been decided.

However, critics questioned why the organisation was giving money to Mr Trump at the same time as it is fighting to help the victims of his policies, and demonstrators outside the resort protested against the decision.

Stephen P. Milo, a Miami resident who organised the protest before stepping aside citing safety concerns, said: The Red Cross does good things, but there's some irony in having the fundraiser there, and I do want to shed light on that. Wait a minute  you're talking about alleviating human suffering and you're having this event here?"

This years fundraising gala was predicted to cost $400,000 to put on and was expected to raise $925,000 for the charity. Many of the costs will be paid directly to Mr Trumps business.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The lavish ball was given the theme Vienna to Versailles and saw the resorts ballroom decked out in gold and silver decorations. Mr Trump made an appearance along with with his wife, Melania. Before entering the ball, he responded to news that a Seattle judge had ruled his travel ban was unconstitutional and must be suspended.

Mr Trump vowed to fight on, saying: Well win. For the safety of the country, well win.

The controversy comes months after the American Red Cross was criticised by victims of a deadly earthquake in Haiti, who told donors not to give money to the charity because of reports it had squandered funds.

The charity was accused of building just six homes in the Caribbean nation since 2010  despite raising almost half a billion dollars in donations and pledging to build 700.
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The banging sounded like furniture was being slammed in her daughters bedroom. Startled by the noise just before 2am on New Years Day, Suzanne Zaremba dashed down the hallway of her suburban Maryland home to 16-year-old Charlottes room. She found her slender, brown-eyed daughter wrestling with a masked intruder. Charlotte, she recalled, was screaming, Call 911.

Suzanne, a 52-year-old registered nurse, shouted for her husband, Jim Zaremba. Then she vaulted on to the floor by the bedroom window, where Charlotte and the stranger were on their knees grappling with one another. Recounting what happened that night for the first time publicly, Suzanne said she wrapped her arms around Charlotte, trying to yank her away from the intruder. All three of them tumbled into the middle of the bedroom of the Ellicott City house, where Charlotte had slept all her life.

Charlotte, 16, cheers for the Orioles with her aunt, Mary Helen Sprecher (left), her mother and grandmother, Zelma Holzgang

Then, without warning, the stranger pointed a gun at Suzannes chest. She grabbed the barrel of the gun, which he held in his left hand, pushing it downward. The weapon went off and the bullet tore into Suzannes left leg. She cant remember hearing a second shot fired, but she looked down and saw Charlotte had been wounded, too.

Charlotte was unconscious, and her eyes were wide open, and she was gasping for air. She forgot about the gunman and began performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the younger of her two daughters, a high school sophomore who wanted to become a surgeon and who talked about joining the Peace Corps. Her husband, Jim, 51, also a registered nurse, had rushed into the room and began performing chest compressions.

The intruder, whose eyes were the only visible part of his face, scooted backwards to the bedroom wall, decorated with a jungle mural Suzanne had painted when she was pregnant with Charlotte. The Zarembas ignored him in their desperation to save their daughter. He could have shot both of us and left the room and ran away, said Suzanne, who insisted, I wasnt being brave. I was saving my baby.

But the couple had done enough CPR in their lives to know there was little hope. Charlotte was dead or close to dying. I tried to will the bullet so that it just went through the one lung, Jim said. Because you can survive that.

Charlotte Zaremba with her mother Suzanne in an undated family photo. Suzanne was shot trying to save her daughter

The intruder just sat and stared at the Zarembas. After a moment or two, he lifted the gun to his head. There was another shot, and he lay dying, too. It wasnt until Suzanne was released from the University of Maryland shock trauma centre on the afternoon of 1 January that she learned the name of her daughters attacker: Sean Crizer. He was just 15 years old and a classmate of Charlottes at Howard High School, police told her.

They said: Do you know this name? And Jim and I looked at each other and said: No',  Suzanne recalled. The Zarembas and their older daughter, Audrey, 20, had never heard Charlotte mention him.

On Friday, Howard County police announced that after reviewing mobile phone records and computers theyd found no evidence that Crizer targeted Charlotte. The teens were described as acquaintances , but investigators do not believe they had a close friendship or relationship.

Police still do not know Crizers motive for entering Zarembas house in the early morning hours of 1 January, and may never be able to determine his intent, the statement said.

But in an interview with The Washington Post last week, one of Charlottes closest friends, Juliana Torres, said Crizer had asked Charlotte out for the homecoming in the autumn, and that she had turned him down. He asked her to homecoming, Juliana remembered, and she said she just wanted to go with her friends. [He told] her that he had feelings for her. She didnt reciprocate, but he didnt react poorly. She said she wanted to go with friends. She was kind about it.

Juliana, 15, a sophomore at nearby Centennial High School, said last week that she hadnt been interviewed by police yet. Sherry Llewellyn, a spokeswoman for Howard County police, said detectives declined an interview with The Post because the investigation is still active.

Sean Crizer lived just a half mile away from Charlotte with his grandfather, Earl Crizer, a retired technician with the National Institutes of Health. In an interview, Crizer said he was shocked by the news and grieves for the Zarembas. I feel a lot of pain because when I try to rest at night. I also think about the pain Seans younger brother has, in addition to my own personal pain, Crizer said.

Crizer said he didnt detect anything unusually aggressive in his grandson, whod been an altar boy at an Ellicot City Catholic church. His grades were very good. Would he talk back? From time to time. Yes, Crizer said. Was it violent? It wasnt violent.

But police said the 15-year-old had burglarised a couple of homes in the neighbourhood, and had stolen the gun that he used in the shooting. After Charlotte was killed, the Zarembas heard that Sean Crizer might have asked their daughter to the homecoming. But they still cant fathom what he was doing in her bedroom that night. His took his reasons with him and his feelings, Suzanne said. Two families lost a child that day.

Amazing people

Suzanne entered her daughters bedroom, still hobbling slightly by the bullet doctors decided not to remove from her left leg. The blood has been cleaned from the floor and the room is filled with artifacts of Charlottes life: a Polaroid camera on a shelf, a stuffed hippo (her favourite animal) flopped on the bed, and a fish tank, with the teens handwritten instructions for My Fishy whenever she was away.

Suzanne and Jim moved into this white brick ranch house, about an hour north of Washington, in 1999. Theyd been living in Southern California and chose Howard County for its affordability and good schools. Somewhere family oriented, Suzanne said. Safe, Jim said.

Now, nearly everywhere the Zarembas look, there are memories of Charlotte: The chickens she wanted as pets  Phyllis, Gladys and Bertha  in the coop outside her bedroom. A framed living room poster from an Amos Lee concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl that the entire family attended. And the chalkboard painted door of Charlottes bedroom, scrawled with her words about fate: If yee cud chenge yer fet wutcha?

Charlotte stayed in Girl Scouts even when her friends dropped out. Last summer she travelled to Costa Rica on a service trip through Global Leadership Adventures, where she worked in a rural village. Ive loved every minute, even breaking concrete in the direct sun, because I was beside amazing people helping to make an amazing change in the community! she posted on Instagram. This photo was taken of us on the playground with the children of Escuela Libertad. She already had plans to do another trip with the company this summer, in Peru.

At Howard High, her favourite classes were science and Spanish. Shed already set her sights on Towson University, her parents said. When Charlotte wasnt in school, she threw on blue scrubs and volunteered at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, where she completed one shift in the pediatric emergency room and several others in the intermediate care unit. Though she talked about a career as a doctor, her father thought she might become a FBI agent because she loved watching Homicide Hunter on the Discovery Channel.

She liked finding out how things happened, why they happened, Suzanne said.

She liked puzzles, Jim said.

Thats what drew her to medicine, Suzanne said. She wanted to fix things.

On the last night of Charlottes life, she spent New Years Eve at a sick friends house, giving her a foot massage. Marisa Poisal, aged 15, a Howard High sophomore, said Charlotte might have stayed overnight if she hadnt been sick. She came here because she wanted to take care of me, Poisal said. She was going to stay here all night, but I was throwing up.

Instead Suzanne picked Charlotte up and drove her home. Now Poisal, who lunched most days with Charlotte in the atrium next to the school cafeteria, keeps a box of memories to remember her friend: the programme from Charlottes funeral on 7 January, some concealer Charlotte had given her, and a roll of toilet paper that Charlotte fetched for her on New Years Eve when Poisal ran out of tissues. But Marisa also prizes Charlottes Instagram photos.

Charlotte had two accounts: charlOttez, a public account with 64 posts, and her private one, with 521. Poisal laughed when she arrived at a photo Charlotte posted on 14 December of the two of them. Picture with someone I love bc I just decided to start writing the book of which Ive been thinking about the plot for months yall its gonna be great, Charlotte wrote.

Poisal was privy to the plot of her friends novel-in-progress. Her book was about some sort of society where you werent supposed to have feelings, but this one character had feelings and . . . it was weird, Poisal said, smiling. And you had to take something, like a drug, so you wouldnt have emotion.

Jim said he draws on Taoism for strength. If I fill my heart with anger, guilt and despair, in the end it will only lead to my own demise, he said. If I fill my heart with love and appreciation of the time I had with her, then I can go on and be the person she wants me to be. I can go on and try to make the world a better place as she was doing.

He and Suzanne still have work to do. Thank you cards need to be written and mailed. A headstone needs the right words, and Jim is wondering whether the marker should be engraved with the lyrics of an Amos Lee song. And then there is Charlottes bedroom. Suzanne and Jim want to keep some of her clothes there  shirts with hippos (which she fell in love with on a trip to Disney World at age 3), and a sun dress with palm trees that she wore in Costa Rica.

Were leaning towards keeping it intact, Jim said. Like a sitting room.

Not like a shrine, Suzanne said. More of a place of peace. After all, your life shouldnt be defined by these horrible moments. Neither should your home.

 Washington Post
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Thousands of people have attended the funeral of three men killed in a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City last Sunday.

Imam Hassan Guillet opened the service by denouncing the poisoned words he said permeated Quebecs social discourse, turning people against Muslims.

"Our mosques will remain open, and our children will continue to learn and recite the Koran," the imam told mourners, CBC reported.

"Our children will continue to be honourable citizens in this country, as you were.

"We have chosen this society, and we ask that this society choose us and welcome us."

Each of the two funerals drew thousands of mourners, Thursday, 2 February 2017 (AP)

Azzeddine Soufiane, a 57-year-old grocer; Mamadou Tanou Barry, a 42-year-old cosmetics company technician; and 39-year-old Ibrahima Barry, who worked in health insurance, were among the six men who died when a shooter opened fire at a mosque in Quebec City  an act condemned as a terrorist attack by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

On Thursday a service was held for the three other victims who died in the attack: Abdelkrim Hassane, 41; Khaled Belkacemi, 60; and Aboubaker Thabti, 44, a pharmacy worker.

The bodies of the victims remembered in Thursdays service will be sent to their native countries of Tunisia and Algeria.

Another 19 were wounded, of whom two were in a critical condition on Friday.

 Six killed at mosque shooting in Quebec

Meanwhile hundreds on Friday gathered to form human shields around Canadian mosques  in a demonstration of defiance against the persecution of Muslims.

Yet there were reports that a mosque close to the funeral had been vandalised, an act described by one local politician as an act of terrorism.

Police said they were investigating the incident as a hate crime and said they had noticed an increase in reports of such offences following the mosque shooting.

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. 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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 27-year-old university student Alexandre Bissonnette has been charged with six counts of first degree murder, and another nine counts of attempted murder after the shooting.

He has been described as a far-right sympathiser, who is against immigration and pro-Donald Trump.

Mr Trudeau, who spoke on Thursday's service, said Canada would "rise from [the] darkness stronger", following the massacre.

It is with a heavy heart that we come together this afternoon to grieve the loss of these innocent lives," he told the crowds.

"But as a community and as a country, together we will rise from this darkness stronger and more unified than ever before  that is who we are."

* This article originally contained a reference to the Quebec attack taking place in Montreal; in fact it took place in Quebec City, as stated later in the report. Updated 9/2/17
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China has accused Donald Trump's administration of putting regional stability in East Asia at risk following remarks by the President's defense secretary that a U.S. commitment to defend Japanese territory applies to an island group that China claims.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang has called on Trump's administration to avoid discussion of the issue and reasserted China's claim of sovereignty over the tiny uninhabited islands, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and Chinese as Diaoyu.

The 1960 US-Japan treaty is "a product of the Cold War, which should not impair China's territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights," Lu was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

"We urge the U.S. side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu islands' sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation," he added.

Widespread alarm over how the region could shape geopolitical tensions was raised following the revelation that Steve Bannon, the chief strategist in Trump's White House, said he believed the US would go to war with China within five to 10 years during a radio broadcast in 2016.

While the prospect remains relatively remote, experts have told The Independent they believe such a conflict would be catastrophic, throwing the entire globe into turmoil and potentially ending "life as we know it on Earth".

The United States would likely win because sending China's untested forces against the might of America's military would be like pitching farmers against Achilles and his warriors, said one, but even a conventional military victory would be a strategic disaster. It would set off a global economic crisis and create a potential power vacuum inside defeated China "the like of which we can't imagine".

Mr Bannon said war would erupt in the South China Sea in "five to 10 years". He said: "Theyre taking their sandbars and making basically stationary aircraft carriers and putting missiles on those. They come here to the United States in front of our faceand you understand how important face isand say its an ancient territorial sea."

The US and China have been engaged in a back-and-forth dispute over military build-up and territorial claims in the region for some years. In December the US said it would base its deadliest fighter jets in Australia, and days later China seized an unmanned US Navy drone.

It followed a diplomatic spat around then-President-elect Trump's congratulatory phone call with Taiwan's Prime Minister Tsai Ing-wen, which broke with decades of US policy. Mr Trump has been forthright about China's influence, blaming it for the loss of American jobs.

The war of words recently heated up when a Chinese military official was quoted as saying talk of war with the US under Mr Trump "are not just slogans, they are becoming a practical reality".

Trevor McCrisken, associate professor of politics and international studies at the University of Warwick, said that if war broke out "we would be looking, I would imagine, at World War Three".

He said: "I really do think that would be the end of life as we know it on Earth.

"From a global strategic risk level I would say the last thing you want is war between the United States and any of the major powers because of the risks of escalation, obviously the potential for nuclear weapons to be used. The likelihood of nuclear exchange between the two principals involved is high."

But, he added, the "overwhelming view of most policy-makers in Washington since at least the late 1970s" favours a form of "cooperative, if competitive" relationship with China.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Dr Peter Roberts, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, said: "America would take military losses. They would lose thousands and thousands [of personnel]. But China would be utterly defeated. If America goes to war, it wages war in its totality. They would go to this with unparalleled violence and energy."

The US has an "overall competitive edge" partly due to technological superiority, Dr Roberts said, but also because the four branches of its militaryArmy, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Forceare trained to work closely together. "It's demonstrated how it can use all those arms to deliver military victory," he said.

In contrast, China's services operate "individually" and also have less, and less recent, combat experience compared to their American counterparts. "There's a huge difference between someone who's been in combat before, and someone who hasn't," Dr Roberts said, comparing the potential confrontation to one between Greek hero Achilles and farmers recruited from the fields.

Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese studies and director of King's College London's Lau China Institute, said: "US naval superiority is massive. And if we are talking just military, then for sure, a conflict right beside China would hurt China more than the US.

"It would, of course, totally upend supply routes, however, and probably cause a global recession. So it would, no matter who won in terms of military outcomes, be lose-lose and cut against the logic of self interest of both the US and China."

Professor Brown added: "We have to expect this war of words to simply get worse. The best outcome is that the two sides ultimately compromiseChina acts more responsibly, and stops its adventurism, and the US concedes it more space. The worst outcome would be a misunderstanding that would lead to real conflict."
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Australias Prime Minister has ruled out any deal to get the United States to honour an agreement to resettle hundreds of Muslim refugees.

Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull also dismissed a Nine Network television network journalists suggestion that he should be offended that White House spokesman Sean Spicer has repeatedly called him Trumbull in press briefings.

Mr Turnbull said: The important thing is results.

Mr Spicer said US President Donald Trump has agreed to honour an Obama administration deal to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers rejected by Australia. Mr Trump made the agreement during a conversation with Mr Turnbull last weekend, but has since tweeted: I will study this dumb deal!

Mr Turnbull said Mr Trump had asked for nothing in return for resettling the mostly Muslim refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Australia pays the impoverished Pacific countries of Nauru and Papua New Guinea to keep the refugees in camps.

Absolutely not, Mr Turnbull said. Its a deal obviously that President Trump has said he wouldnt have entered into, but he has committed to honour it.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Turnbull said there would be no link between the refugee resettlement and any future US request for military help in the Middle East or the South China Sea.

Australia is one of the largest contributors to the US-led military campaign in Iraq and Syria. Australia has also resisted US pressure to conduct freedom of navigation exercises close to artificial islands created by China in the contested South China Sea.

We assess all requests for military assistance on their merits and there is no linkage at all between an arrangement relating to refugee resettlement and any other matters, Mr Turnbull said.

The Obama administration agreed to resettle Australias refugees after Australia agreed in September last year to accept Costa Rican refugees fleeing drug wars.

AP
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A girl was allegedly raped after being forced into a marriage aged only 14, a court has heard.

Mohammed Shakir, 34, from Melbourne, is accused of having sex with the girl in 2016, following their wedding, which was conducted by ex-imam Ibrahim Omerdic, 61, who also faces charges related to the marriage.

The girl, who has not been named, has ongoing health issues and is currently in a fragile state, prosecutor Ranjani Padmanabhan told Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Mr Shakir was informed the girls parents would give evidence at his hearing and he appeared in court via video link, the Daily Mail reported.

Mr Omerdic, who is the former imam at the Bosnian Islamic Society and Noble Park Mosque, has been sacked and had his marriage celebrant licence revoked.

A new Imam has been appointed. Omerdic is no longer the Imam of the Noble Park Mosque and has no role with the Society, Noble Park Mosque said in a statement.

The Islamic Council of Victoria condemned underage marriages and said despite it being permitted elsewhere it was not acceptable in Australia.

It is true that marriage at a younger age is permitted in other countries and cultures, but this is not a justification for marriage below the legal age or child marriages here in Australia, it 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

Mr Omerdic is on bail while Mr Shakir is currently in custody. The hearing is scheduled for April.
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A Dutch doctor who ordered an elderly dementia patients family to hold her down as she was given a lethal euthanasia injection has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

The doctor at a nursing home in the Netherlands, where euthanasia is legal, was investigated following the death of the unnamed woman who had expressed a wish to die when the time was right.

The Catholic News Agency reported that the woman woke up despite the sleep-inducing drug she had been given in her coffee and tried to resist the procedure.

The doctor then asked the relatives of the woman, said to be aged over 80, to restrain her while she administered the lethal injection.

The senior doctor had determined the time was right because of a recent deterioration in the womans condition.

I am convinced that the doctor acted in good faith, and we would like to see more clarity on how such cases are handled in the future, said Jacob Kohnstamm, chairman of the Regional Review Committee, which considered the case.

The case will be further examined by the Dutch courts to clarify the laws around euthanasia and determine whether doctors who carry out the procedure should be prosecuted if they are found to have acted in good faith.

The Dutch Parliament is considering revising the euthanasia laws to allow anyone older than 75 who is tired of life to have the right to assisted suicide, widening the current restriction which limits the practice to the terminally ill.

The Netherlands was the first country in the world to decriminalise euthanasia and assisted suicide in 2002, but has had several high-profile cases of doctor-assisted suicide in recent years.

In 2015, there were more than 5,000 euthanasia deaths in the country  which represents a leap of 50 per cent in the past five years.

Only four of these 5,306 deaths were found by officials to have involved irregularities.

Recommended Canada strikes down ban on assisted suicide

Psychiatric patients can be put to death at their own request as can under 18s. Those aged between 12 and 16 wishing to die must also have the consent of their parents, but 16-18s can take the decision themselves.

This has led to fierce opposition from numerous groups, including church leaders and psychiatrists who do not believe young girls and boys or the mentally ill have the capacity to make such decisions.

Those opposed to euthanasia have highlighted the potential pitfalls of allowing doctor-assisted death for those with dementia or mental health conditions.

A new study has found that Canadas new euthanasia laws, which closely resemble those of the Netherlands, could save the state as much as 84 million from its annual health care budget, with lethal injections said to cost just 15 per patient.

Robert Flello, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, told the Catholic Herald the implications of the Canadian study were absolutely horrific.

It reinforces anecdotal evidence coming out of Holland that doctors are rationing health care by using euthanasia, said Mr Flello, a co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group.

Quite frankly, it terrifies me, he said. We have issues with bed-blocking and if we ever had euthanasia or even so-called assisted dying in this country then we would have a real issue with cuts to our NHS being softened by actually just killing people off.

Euthanasia has been debated in the UK Parliament, with the last right-to-die private members bill defeated in the Commons in 2015.

Public opinion in the UK shows the majority are in favour of the right to die, with the largest ever poll conducted on assisted suicide finding 82 per cent were in favour in 2015.
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French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has publicly criticised far-right rival Marine Le Pen in a bitter attack, saying the Front National leader betrays Frances historical values.

Speaking at a rally of round 8,000 people in Lyon on Saturday, the former economy minister appeared to mock Ms Le Pens campaign slogan, In the name of the people, claiming she and her far-right predecessors spoke in the names of their bitterness.

Without actually mentioning the Front National leader by name, Mr Macron said: Some today pretend to be talking in the name of the people, but they are just ventriloquists.

In a clear reference to Ms Le Pens father Jean-Marie and niece Marion, he proceeded to say: They dont speak in the name of the people, they speak in the name of their bitterness, they speak for themselves, from father to daughter and daughter to niece.

They betray liberty by shrinking our horizons, they betray equality by stating that some are more equal than others, they betray fraternity because they hate the faces that dont look like theirs.

Mr Macron, 39, has gained a strong following after creating his own political party called En Marche! (On the Move!), and has recently surged in the polls after Conservative candidate Francois Fillon became embroiled in controversy over payments made to his wife, which could potentially see him eliminated from the race.

The independent candidates remarks about Ms Le Pen came on the same day the Front National leader launched her presidential campaign in the same city, pledging to hold an EU referendum, ditch the euro, withhold free healthcare from illegal migrants and slash immigration.

Ms Le Pen is currently leading in the polls, with up to 27 per cent of voting intentions in the first round, but Mr Macron is close behind her with 23 per cent and is widely expected to win the presidential race in a head-to head with Ms Le Pen in a second round  although faith in pollsters has recently gone down with surprise outcomes across the Western world.

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

Mr Macron, who was economy minister under current president Francois Hollande before he left to set up his own party last year, also pledged to reconcile divisions in France, and appeared to mock US President Donald Trumps plan to build a wall, comparing it to Frances Maginot Line which in 1940 failed to keep Nazi invaders out of France.

I want to reconcile the two Frances that have been growing apart for too long. I want a more European defence, partnerships between France and Germany, Mr Macron said, later announcing: I dont want to build a wall. I can assure you theres no wall in my programme. Can you remember the Maginot Line?

The first round of voting in Frances presidential elections will be held on 23 April. If no candidate wins an outright majority, a run-off between the leading two will take place in May.
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An Italian priest faces defrocking after allegations were made that he organised orgies on church property.

Don Andrea Contin, a priest in Padua, Italy, was accused of always carrying a briefcase full of vibrators, sex toys, masks and bondage equipment.

He is also accused of having as many as 30 lovers and taking trips with them to a naturist swingers resort in France, despite taking a vow of celibacy.

The 48-year-old also allegedly concealed pornographic home videos in covers with the names of various popes.

He is accused of farming out some of his lovers to men on wife-swapping websites, according to The Times.

"He always carried a briefcase full of vibrators, sex toys, masks and bondage equipment," one of his accusers said in her police statement, according to the Corriere del Veneto.

She also accused Mr Contin of encouraging her to have sexual relations with a horse and beat her in the rectory on two occasions.

Claudio Cipolla, Paduas bishop, said Mr Contin would lose his role regardless of the outcome of the investigation.

"I am incredulous and pained by the accusations," Mr Cipolla told a press conference, the Local reported.

"Even if, at the end of this affair, there are no legal consequences, we have a duty by canon law to take disciplinary action."

The investigations into Mr Contin began in December after three women came forward making complaints.

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 priest initially denied the claims before confessing after police searched his house and discovered video evidence.

Another priest, Don Cavazzana, admitted to taking part in the parties and occasionally filming the events but is unlikely to face suspension.

Bishop Cipolla said the church did not yet have "sufficient elements" to reach a decision on his future, but that it was "a different case" because Mr Cavazzana's "involvement was only partial and occasional - though not acceptable for a priest".
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Marine Le Pen is showing no sign of moderating her rhetoric as she claimed France was under the threat of two totalitarianisms  economic globalisation and Islamic fundamentalism.

In a speech to launch her campaign for the presidential race, the leader of the far-right Front National (FN) said mosques, prayers in the streets and the veil worn by Muslim women were threats to Frances culture and values and that no French person, no Republican and no women attached to their dignity could accept it.

We do not want to live under the yoke of the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, she said at her partys conference in Lyon.

Ms Le Pen claimed mass immigration caused by globalisation left French people feeling dispossessed of their own country and allowed Islamic fundamentalism, an ideological enemy of France to settle on its territory.

Islamic fundamentalism is attacking us at home, she said, and went on to compare Islamists settling in France to wolves in a henhouse and claimed Islamic fundamentalism was planting itself in some neighbourhoods and vulnerable minds.

The places of Islamic preaching will be closed and the propagators of hate will be condemned and expelled, she said.

Thousands of flag-wavers chanted we are at home and Marine President during the party leaders speech. Ms Le Pen was greeted with loud cheers after she said immigrants without papers would be denied free health care and foreigners who committed crimes would be expelled.

Immigration and fear of radicalisation have been consistent themes for Ms Le Pens FN, with strong focus on the terrorist attacks that have taken place in France in the last two years.

Her speech comes just two days after an Egyptian man accused of attempting to carry out a terror attack on the Louvre museum in Paris, was shot four times by soldiers after attacking one of them with a machete.

Ms Le Pen said Islam demanded for us to adapt, which cannot be reasonable or conceivable.

Emphasising Frances Christian heritage, she said French people were having ways of thinking imposed that are opposite to ours.

The majority of opinion polls currently show Ms Le Pen winning the first round of Frances presidential election on 23 April but losing the run-off vote in May.

Running in the name of the people, Ms Le Pen reaffirmed the FNs anti-immigration, protectionist, anti-European Union and populist stance.

The divide is not between the left and right anymore, but between patriots and globalists, she said.

Financial globalisation and Islamist globalisation are helping each other out. Those two ideologies want to bring France to its knees, she added.

Ms Le Pens 144 campaign commitments published this weekend include policies that would curb immigration to a maximum of 10,000 people per year, expel all illegal migrants and make certain rights now available to all residents, including free education, available to French citizens only.

Ms Le Pen also wants to pull out of the Euro to go back to francs, hold a referendum on EU membership within six months, and slap taxes on imports and the employment of foreigners.

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

She congratulated the British people for voting for Brexit and the Americans for the election of Donald Trump as choices for liberty and warned that times were changing.

The British have chosen liberty with Brexit and can congratulate themselves every day. The Americans have made the choice for their national interests. The awakening of the people against oligarchies can become a reality, and the impossible can become possible. This awakening marks the end of an era, she said.

A day before Ms Le Pens speech, Frances independent candidate Emmanuel Macron publicly criticised the FN and its leader, saying she betrays Frances historical values.

Also speaking in Lyon, Mr Macron, who did not directly name Ms Le Pen and the FN, said: They dont speak in the name of the people, they speak in the name of their bitterness, they speak for themselves, from father to daughter and daughter to niece.

They betray liberty by shrinking our horizons, they betray equality by stating that some are more equal than others, they betray fraternity because they hate the faces that dont look like theirs.

Mr Macron, who quit the Socialist government to create his own political movement En Marche!, recently surged in the polls after right-wing candidate Francois Fillon became embroiled in a scandal over payments to his wife for work she had allegedly never done.

Current polls suggest Mr Macron will win the presidential race in a head-to-head with Ms Le Pen in the second round.
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Marine Le Pen has launched her presidential campaign with a pledge to hold an EU referendum, ditch the euro, withhold free healthcare from illegal migrants and slash immigration.

The far-right leader of the Front National (FN) is hoping to capitalise on a scandal destroying the prospects of former election favourite Francois Fillon, who is embroiled in controversy over payments made to his wife.

But she faces renewed competition from Emmanuel Macron, the former finance minister who has created his own En Marche! party in a bid to reach the Elysee Palace.

Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron speaks at a rally in Lyon, France, on 4 February (AP)

The majority of opinion polls currently show Ms Le Pen, 48, winning the first round of Frances presidential election on 23 April but losing the run-off vote in May.

Her supporters, buoyed by the FNs move into the mainstream amid rising Euroscepticism, anti-immigration sentiment and terror fears, have been heartened by the shock votes for Brexit and Donald Trump.

We were told Donald Trump would never win in the United States against the media, against the establishment, but he won... we were told Marine Le Pen would not win the presidential election, but on 7 May she will win! Jean-Lin Lacapelle, a top FN official, told hundreds of party members at a rally on Saturday.

In 144 commitments published at the start of a two-day event in Lyon, Ms Le Pen proposes leaving the Eurozone, holding a referendum on EU membership, slapping taxes on imports and on the job contracts of foreigners, lowering the retirement age and increasing several welfare benefits while lowering income tax.

 Le Pen's security guards attack journalist after he asks difficult question

The heavily protectionist manifesto also proposes curbing several rights to French citizens only, while building new prisons, hiring thousands of police and leaving Natos integrated command.

Ms Le Pen wants to restrict universal rights including free education to French citizens, while making it harder to gain citizenship, limit migration to a net annual total of 10,000 and deport all foreign convicts and anyone under investigation for links with radical Islam.

The aim of this programme is first of all to give France its freedom back and give the people a voice, Ms Le Pen said in the introduction to the manifesto.

This presidential election puts two opposite proposals  the 'globalist' choice backed by all my opponents... and the 'patriotic' choice which I personify.

Despite the FNs attempts to distance itself from its racist and anti-Semitic past  with founder and Ms Le Pens father Jean-Marie convicted of both  immigration remains the main draw for members.

When Franck de Lapersonne, an actor and FN supporter, told the rally that author Victor Hugo did not learn Arabic at school and that makes me happy he received the loudest ovation of the day, with the crowd chanting the party's slogan on est chez nous, meaning this is our country.

The FN is facing scandals over assistants in the European Parliament and investigations over Ms Le Pens 2012 campaign financing, but they have been largely eclipsed by the storm surrounding Mr Fillon.

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 conservative candidate and former Prime Minister is facing mounting pressure from his own party to withdraw from the presidential race amid allegations he had paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros of public money for work she may not have done.

Senator Bruno Gilles, head of the Les Republicains influential Bouches-du-Rhone region, said members wanted a new candidate amid Penelopegate, as Mr Fillon maintains his wife contributed real work as his assistant.

This scandal is doing us more damage every day, and we can't wait another two weeks, Mr Gilles told France Bleu Provence radio. There are presidential and legislative elections at stake and, beyond that, the survival of our political party.

Mr Fillon is now set to place third behind Ms Le Pen and Mr Macron in the first round, with polls showing less than a third of French voters believe him to be honest.

On Saturday his campaign distributed 3 million leaflets entitled Stop the Manhunt, characterising the scandal as a left-wing conspiracy and declaring: Enough is enough.

Meanwhile, an estimated 16,000 supporters massed at a rally held by Mr Macron in Lyon.

The 39-year-old pro-European centrist candidate, and former investment banker, distanced himself from Francois Hollandes Sociality Party to create his own group last year.

Additional reporting by agencies
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Thousands of Nato troops have amassed close to the border with Russia as part of the largest build-up of Western troops neighbouring Moscows sphere of influence since the Cold War.

The Baltic states, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria are hosting soldiers from across Natos 28 member states, with more than 7,000 troops deployed in countries bordering Russia.

The UK is the lead nation in Estonia, where 800 soldiers are based at the Tapa base, about 50 miles from Tallinn, helped by French and Danish forces.

British soldiers are also deployed in Poland as part of a US-led Nato mission numbering some 4,000 troops, which is supported by the Romanian army.

 Poland's leaders hold ceremony to welcome US troops as part of Nato build-up

In Latvia and Lithuania, around 1,200 troops from Canada and Germany (respectively) are deployed alongside forces from across Europe.

Tanks and heavy armoured vehicles, plus Bradley fighting vehicles and Paladin howitzers, are also in situ and British Typhoon jets from RAF Conningsby will be deployed to Romania this summer to contribute to Natos Southern Air Policing mission.

This map, produced for The Independent by Statista, illustrates the scale of Nato's military build-up in Eastern Europe.

In the far north of the continent, more than 300 US marines are also on rotation in Norway, which shares a border with Russia inside the Arctic Circle.

Kremlin officials claim the build-up is the largest since the Second World War.

The extensive troop deployment comes as defence budgets in the Baltic States continue to rise.

Combined, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania spent little more than 900 million Us dollars on defence in 2005.

Fast forward to 2019 and that figure will have more than doubled to a little over two billion dollars.

Chart showing defence budgets rising in the Baltic States (Statista)

According to research by the US-based think tank Heritage Foundation, between 1950 and 2000 on average 22 per cent of all US troops were stationed on foreign soil.

The low point for US soldier deployments abroad came in 1995 as East-West tensions began to subside, with just 13 per cent of Americas armed forces serving abroad.

Now, Russia believes the US and its Nato partners are expanding.

The US is also increasing its presence in the Black Sea and in Western Europe at bases in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Tensions between Russia and the West have been heightened since the annexation of Crimea and the war in Syria, which put Washington and Moscow on opposing sides.

Russia blames the West for worsening relations and says the build-up of Nato troops in the Baltics is a provocation.

Moscow has criticised recent deployments as truly aggressive.
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An official in U.S. President Donald Trump's Cabinet and at least one of his advisers gave paid speeches for an Iranian exile group that killed Americans before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ran donation scams and saw its members set themselves on fire over the arrest of their leader.

Elaine Chao, confirmed this week as Trump's transportation secretary, received $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously called a "cult-like" terrorist group by the State Department. Former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani also was paid an unknown sum to talk to the group, known as the MEK.

More than two dozen former U.S. officials, both Republican and Democratic, have spoken before the MEK, including former House Speaker and Trump adviser Newt Gingrich. Some have publicly acknowledged being paid, but others have not.

While nothing would have prohibited the paid speeches, they raise questions about what influence the exiles may have in the new administration.

Already, a group of former U.S. officials, including Giuliani, wrote a letter to Trump last month encouraging him to "establish a dialogue" with the MEK's political arm. With Trump's ban on Iranians entering the U.S., his administration's call this week to put Iran "on notice" and the imposition of new sanctions on Friday, the exile group may find his administration more welcoming than any before.

Giuliani meets with the President-elect at Trump Tower (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty)

A potential alliance with the MEK would link the U.S. to a group with a controversial history that has gone against American interests in the past by supporting Iran's Islamic Revolution and the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran. After fleeing Iran, the MEK joined forces with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It later exposed details of the clandestine nuclear program run by Iran, which views the MEK as its sworn enemy.

"The Mujahedeen have backed the winning horse. They are going to have some at least entree into the administration," said Ervand Abrahamian, a professor at the City University of New York who wrote a book on the MEK. "I think it weakens the U.S. because the more they have access to the administration, the more people in Iran are going to be scared of anything the U.S. does."

"THE AYATOLLAH MUST GO"

The MEK long has cultivated a roster of former U.S. and European officials to attend its events opposing Iran's clerically-run government. It pays for the appearance of many.

Standing before a cheering crowd of MEK supporters in Paris in 2015, Giuliani didn't disappoint.

"The ayatollah must go! Gone! Out! No more!" Giuliani shouted in a speech as American flags waved behind him on giant screens.

"I will not support anyone for president of the United States who isn't clear on that slogan behind me. What does it say? It says regime change!"

Giuliani has acknowledged being paid for his appearances at MEK events. However, he hasn't filed a government disclosure form since his failed 2008 Republican presidential bid, so it's unclear how much the MEK has paid him in total. Giuliani did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment sent through his aides.

Chao oversaw a Department of Labor which was opposed to LGBT anti-discrimination protections. (Getty)

As Guiliani spoke in Paris, behind him were a host of other former officials on stage, including Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. A former director of the Peace Corps and a labor secretary under President George W. Bush, Chao gave a much more subdued speech focusing on women's rights.

"While discrimination against women (has) been outlawed in other countries, Iran has been legalising it," Chao said. "While other countries are empowering women, Iran has been penalising them."

Chao had a seat of honor at the Paris event next to Maryam Rajavi, the "president-elect" of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the MEK. She received a $50,000 honorarium from the MEK-associated Alliance for Public Awareness, according to a report she filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

Chao received another $17,500 honorarium for a March 2016 speech she gave to the Iranian-American Cultural Association of Missouri, which MEK opponents also link to the exile group. Chao did not respond to requests for comment.

Gingrich has also spoken to the MEK before, including at a gala in 2016, although it is not clear whether or how much he was paid. Gingrich could not be reached for comment. The White House also had no comment.

The MEK welcomes the incoming Trump government, as "some people within this administration" plan to change American policies toward Iran, said Mohammad Mohaddessin, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of its political arm.

"The core of the policy that we are advocating is to be tough with the Iranian regime, to not ignore its crimes against the Iranian people," Mohaddessin told the AP.

The U.S. Treasury briefly investigated the MEK's practice of paying American politicians in 2012. A Treasury spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment about the status of that probe.

"THE KILLING OF TWO AMERICANS, THIS WAS WORK OF MOVEMENT MUJAHEDEEN"

The MEK was formed by radicalised university students in 1965. It embraced both Marxism and the idea of an Islamic government after the violent overthrow of the American-backed shah. Their name, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, means "the People's Holy Warriors."

The group at one point successfully infiltrated the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, according to a State Department report. And a series of bombings attributed to the MEK accompanied visits by presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter to Iran, including one to target an American cultural center.

In 1973, MEK assailants wearing motorcycle helmets shot dead U.S. Army Lt. Col. Lewis L. Hawkins, the deputy chief of the U.S. military mission to Tehran, as he walked home from work.

In 1975, gunmen attacked a car carrying two American airmen, killing them. Hours later, American consular officials received a call claiming the attack for the MEK in revenge for Iran executing prisoners.

"This was work of Movement Mujahedeen of Iran," the caller said, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable.

In the three years that followed, the MEK killed three American employees of defense contractor Rockwell International and a Texaco executive.

"The Mujahedeen are xenophobic," a once-secret 1981 CIA assessment on the group said. "Anti-Americanism and anti-imperialism provide cornerstones for the policies."

The MEK, which now describes itself as being "committed to a secular, democratic, non-nuclear republic" in Iran, blames a Marxist splinter faction of the group for killing the Americans.

After joining in the Islamic Revolution and the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, the MEK quickly fell out of favour with Iran's first Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The MEK declared war on Iran in June 1981. Within days, a bomb exploded at the headquarters of the Khomeini-directed Islamic Republican Party in Tehran, killing at least 72 people. Both Iran and the CIA attributed the attack to the MEK, which never claimed responsibility for it.

A series of assassinations and attacks followed as MEK leaders and associates fled to Paris. Later expelled from France, the MEK found haven in Iraq amid its grinding, bloody war with Iran. Heavily armed by dictator Saddam Hussein, MEK forces launched cross-border raids into Iran.

After Iran accepted terms of a United Nations cease-fire in 1988, the MEK sent 7,000 fighters over the border. The attack further alienated the group from average Iranians.

The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001. But the U.S. Army's official history of the Iraq invasion in 2003 says MEK forces "fought against coalition forces" for the first weeks of the war, something the MEK denies.

Fourteen U.S. soldiers were killed and at least another 60 wounded escorting MEK members on supply missions, according to a RAND Corp. report prepared for the office of the U.S. defense secretary. The MEK itself became a target of violence, and in September 2013 at least 52 members were shot dead.

Thousands of MEK members were ultimately resettled in Albania.

"CULT-LIKE CHARACTERISTICS"

After siding with Saddam, the MEK's popularity in Iran plummeted. To boost its ranks, the group increasingly began targeting Iranians applying for visas abroad in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, promising them work, aid in moving to Western countries and even marriage, according to RAND.

"Most of these 'recruits' were brought into Iraq illegally and then required to hand over their identity documents for 'safekeeping,"' RAND said. "Thus, they were effectively trapped."

The MEK also forced its members to divorce their spouses and separated parents from their children, which the State Department described as "cult-like characteristics." The MEK dictates how much its members sleep, giving them busy-work tasks and controlling what outside news they consume, according to RAND and Abrahamian, the university professor.

For years, MEK leader Massoud Rajavi, the husband of Maryam Rajavi, hasn't been seen publicly and is presumed to have died, Abrahamian said. MEK members call him the "Hidden Imam" who will return to Earth as a messiah, Abrahamian said.

When French police arrested Maryam Rajavi in 2003 as part of a terrorism investigation, MEK members responded by lighting themselves on fire in Paris and other European cities. The MEK denies it is a cult.

Over the years, the MEK has been targeted in a series of investigations around the world for running charity scams.

An FBI probe found MEK members hustled travelers arriving to Los Angeles International Airport, asking them to donate after showing them binders of photographs of disaster or torture victims. The money instead went to banks in Belgium, France, Jordan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to "support MEK operations and activities, including terrorist activities," a 2007 indictment against seven members said.

In Britain, authorities dissolved a charity in 2001 allegedly associated with the MEK that had made an estimated 5 million pounds a year. Its investigation found some donors "were misled into believing they were personally sponsoring individual children when this was not in fact the case."

In the 2003 raids in France, police found $1.3 million, mostly in $100 bills, at MEK-affiliated properties.

Mohaddessin, the MEK foreign policy chairman, blames the investigations on a concerted misinformation campaign carried out by Iran. The Islamic Republic has imprisoned and executed the group's members for years.

"These allegations are absolutely false," Mohaddessin said. "There are many cases that were fabricated by the Iranian regime and their agents."

Iran also has alleged the MEK receives foreign support. After the assassination of four nuclear scientists, Iran accused Israel of training and equipping MEK fighters who committed the killings. The MEK called the accusation "absolutely false" at the time, while Israel declined to comment.

In recent months, Saudi Arabia increasingly has shown support for the MEK as it faces off with Iran in wars in Syria and Yemen. The kingdom's state-run television channels have featured MEK events and comments. Prince Turki al-Faisal, the nation's former intelligence chief, even appeared in July at an MEK rally in Paris.

"I want to topple the regime too," the prince said to cheers.

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

"SKILLED MANIPULATORS OF PUBLIC OPINION"

From protests at the United Nations to their Paris rallies, the MEK has proven over the years to be effective at getting attention.

RAND in 2009 called the group "skilled manipulators of public opinion." A U.S. diplomatic cable from February of that year released by WikiLeaks described their "extravagantly hospitable, exaggeratedly friendly, culturally-attuned manner." The cable also mentioned that the MEK had "a history of using intimidation and terrorism for its ends," which Mohaddessin called an allegation from the Iranian regime.

The MEK's success in getting former U.S. officials behind them could be seen in a letter dated Jan. 9 sent to Trump just days before his inauguration.

"We repeat the call for the U.S. government to establish a dialogue with Iran's exile resistance," read the letter, signed by Giuliani and others.

However, exile groups haven't always been proven to be reliable American allies in the Middle East. Exiled Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, for instance, heavily lobbied the administration of President George W. Bush to invade by pushing false allegations of weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaida.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

But while the MEK continues to pay former U.S. officials for their time, the family of the American lieutenant colonel killed in 1975 has filed a $35 million federal lawsuit in Colorado against the group andIran.

The reason for the lawsuit, Lt. Col. Jack Turner's family says, is simple: "Unlike the U.S. hostages, our father never had the chance to come home."

Associated Press
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Kuwait has denied imposing a travel ban on nationals from several Muslim-majority countries, a move that was praised by US President Donald Trump.

The story was propagated by news web sites popular with Mr Trumps supporters including Breitbart, Infowars and Sputnik.

The President hailed the purported ban as Smart! on his Facebook page and posted a link to an article by Jordan-based site Al-Badawaba, which claimed citizens from five majority-Muslim countries would no longer be able to obtain visas from the Gulf state.

 Comedian rips apart Donald Trump's 'Not-A-Muslim ban'

Citing unknown sources, the report alleged that Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans would no longer be able to enter Kuwait, "mirroring" the US President's immigration ban.

Yet a Kuwaiti foreign ministry spokesperson told state news agency KUNA the government categorically denies these claims and affirms that these reported nationalities [...] have big communities in Kuwait and enjoy full rights,.

Citizens of the five nations that would have been affected visit Kuwait regularly, it added.

The rapid roll-out of an Mr Trumps Muslim ban at the end of January caused travel chaos and protests at American airports, with citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen affected.

Pre-approved refugees, students and workers with visas and residency green cards were all initially barred from flights to the US.

The controversial ban has been condemned by numerous world leaders  including by those from within the affected region  yet Mr Trump claimed on Twitter he enjoyed support in the Middle East.

Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction! he said.

The United Arab Emirates was one country which did publicly give the ban a measured response. Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed called the ban an internal US matter which did not target Muslims.

Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban Show all 20 1 /20 Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-1 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-2 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-3 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-4 SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JANUARY 28: Demonstrators hold signs during a rally against a ban on Muslim immigration at San Francisco International Airport on January 28, 2017 in San Francisco, California. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that suspends entry of all refugees for 120 days, indefinitely suspends the entries of all Syrian refugees, as well as barring entries from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering for 90 days. Stephen Lam/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-5 A crowd of protesters gathers outside of the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse as a judge hears a challenge against President Donald Trump's executive ban on immigration from several Muslim countries, on January 28, 2017 in Brooklyn. The judge issued an emergency stay on part of Trump's executive order, ruling that sending refugees stopped at U.S. airports back to their countries would be harmful. Yana Paskova/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-6 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-7 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-8 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-9 Getty Images Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-10 Getty Images Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-11 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-12 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-13 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-14 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-15 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-16 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-17 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-18 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-19 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-20 Passengers wait in line to check in at the American Airlines terminal at JFK International Airport August 10, 2006 in the Queens borough of New York City. British authorities arrested 21 people and halted a anallegedly terrorist plot to use liquid explosives concealed in carry-on luggage to blow up airliners traveling between Britain and the U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said that the plot appeared to be directed at U.S. carriers flying out of Heathrow. such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines. Stephen Chernin/Getty

A federal appeals court denied the Presidents order on Sunday, causing the Department of Homeland Security to suspend all enforcement of the ban.

Mr Trump called the order from the so-called judge ridiculous, while the White House said the government would follow the courts ruling until the Justice Department intervened.
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Saudi Arabia has celebrated its own Womens Day, a first for the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom.

A three-day gathering was held at the King Fahd Cultural Centre in the capital of Riyadh.

It featured speakers who argued for womens rights to drive and called for an end to the country's male guardianship system.

Female members of the Saudi royal family also attended the event, with Princess Al-Jawhara bint Fahd Al-Saud hosting a discussion on womens roles in education.

We want to celebrate the Saudi woman and her successful role, and remind people of her achievements in education, culture, medicine, literature and other areas, Mohammed Al-Saif, a spokesman for the centre, told Arab News.

The kingdom has been heavily criticised for its record on womens rights, where women are severely restricted.

 Thousands of people share cartoon showing how ridiculous Saudi laws are for women

The World Economic Forums 2015 Global Gender Gap report ranked Saudi Arabia 134 out of 145 countries for gender equality.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are prohibited from driving and are unable to obtain a driving licence.

It also has a law stating that all women must have a male guardian, typically a husband, father or brother, who gives them permission to study, travel abroad or marry.

A Human Rights Watch report on male guardianship found a womans life is controlled by a man from birth until death in Saudi Arabia, as their ability to pursue a career or make life decisions is restricted.

Despite limited reforms in 2009 and 2013 to reduce male control over women, which included no longer requiring permission for women to work and making domestic abuse illegal, the report found the system remains largely in place.

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

Towards the end of last year, a Saudi man was jailed for a year after calling for an end to the system.

The kingdom is preparing to begin several cultural and economic reforms, known as Vision 2030.

However, the reforms have already been attacked by the countrys religious authority, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, who said legalising cinemas and concerts could lead to the mixing of sexes and atheistic or rotten influences.
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Turkish police have arrested 400 suspected Isis terrorists in a series of raids as part of a crackdown on terror across the country.

At least 60 suspects were detained in the capital Ankara, while 150 were arrested in Sanliurfa province near the Syrian border along with scores of others across the country during the past week, as security forces carried out the raids.

The arrests come a month after an Isis member carried out a terror attack at a nightclub in Istanbul, killing 39 people and injuring dozens more, in what was the first Isis-claimed atrocity to take place in Turkey.

Police detained the suspected attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, on 16 January. Authorities reported he confessed to the massacre.

Dozens of people were previously detained in connection with the attack, which Isis had cited as revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.

Following the attack on the Reina nightclub, Turkish President Erdogan said his country was determined to destroy the source of threats against it, saying the country would "fight to the end" against the terror groups and would "never give ground to such dirty games.

In addition to the latest arrests, Turkey says at least 780 people, including 350 foreigners, remain in detention  some of whom have been convicted  over suspected links to the jihadist group.

Despite various claims by that Isis is facing imminent defeat, the terror organisation appears to still be capable of fighting on multiple fronts, holding west Mosul in Iraq with a population of 750,000, ands having recaptured Palmyra in Syria in mid-December.
The Bank of Ireland has occupied the premises in Drogheda on a 25-year full repairing and insuring lease since late 2006

The Appian Burlington Property Fund has acquired the Bank of Ireland premises in Drogheda for 4.2m, exceeding the guide price of 4.08m.

The sale of the property, which was conducted by Ollie Lyons of TWM on behalf of the vendor Independent Trustee Ltd, marks the second time the premises has changed hands in recent years.

In 2012, the building was sold to the current vendor by Avestus Capital Partners (formerly Quinlan Private) for 3.5m.

Refurbished in 2006, the Bank of Ireland Drogheda branch is a landmark semi-detached Victorian building with a modern extension to the rear.

Bank of Ireland has occupied the property on a 25-year full repairing and insuring lease since December 2006 with no break options, which reflects a 15-year secure income stream on the duration of the lease. The investment also benefits from upward-only rent reviews with a contracted rent of 309,635 per annum providing the new purchaser, the Appian Burlington Property Fund, with a net initial yield of 7.05pc (assuming standard purchasing costs of 4.46pc).

Lyons said that the long, secure income and high yield had been the primary factors in achieving a sale price in excess of the guide.

Following the completion of the sale, the Appian Burlington Fund is continuing to target relatively high-yielding assets with good covenant strength and potential for capital appreciation outside the main Dublin market.

The Appian Burlington Fund was established in November after Appian Asset Management and Burlington Real Estate came together to invest 50m in commercial real estate across Ireland over an 18-month period. Appian is responsible for managing the fund, while Burlington Real Estate advises on the fund's property strategy and provides management services.

The fund has already been quite active. Only three weeks ago it agreed the acquisition of Fenward House, a 1,858 sq m (20,000sq ft) office building on Arkle Road, in Sandyford, Co Dublin, for around 5m. The property is let to a leading software company with a rent roll which is set to increase to 430,000 from this year.

The deal, which was brokered by agent CBRE, is set to deliver a yield of approximately 8pc.

The acquisitions of both Fenward House and the Bank of Ireland premises are in line with the Appian Burlington Fund's stated aim of focusing 80pc of its activity in the greater Dublin area, with the remainder being deployed in large regional cities.

Burlington Real Estate's managing director John Bruder expressed confidence last week in the prospects for Irish property in an interview with Irish Independent columnist Paul McNeive.

He said: "A lot of commentators have called the Irish market, as if it's had its run, but that's fundamentally wrong. Dublin is in the top five cities perceived by investors as having the most attractive prospects for 2017.

"Market perceptions tend to focus on Grafton Street, and offices in Dublin 2 and 4, which have recovered most, but that perception can miss very good value outside those areas. The IPD index showed total returns from property of 40pc in 2014, 24pc in 2015 and 12.8pc last year. So there has been significant moderation in returns, but they are still very healthy."
The rich ecosystem of Irish companies in the sector has evolved thanks to a favourable tax and regulatory environment at home that has facilitated the exploiting of opportunities afforded by huge changes in the size and structure of the airline business across the world (Stock picture)

The outstanding indigenous entrepreneurial achievement of this country is not to be found in the food or the hospitality or the still nascent tech sectors.

It is instead to be found in an industry that has a limited public profile - aircraft leasing. For a small country that played no role in the history of getting man airborne to become a global player in a competitive and highly capital intensive industry is really quite remarkable.

But that is exactly what has happened over the past four decades.

The economics profession hasn't paid much attention to the sector - until now.

A recent paper by economists at the Central Bank has done quite a bit to add to our understanding of the industry and its impact on the wider economy. The paper, which provides a basis for future study, is a welcome contribution to explaining and understanding the phenomenon of aircraft leasing in Ireland.

What is well known, at least to readers of these pages, is that the industry has come a very long way since Tony Ryan founded Guinness Peat Aviation 40 years ago. Back then the leasing of planes could hardly even have been described as a cottage industry - in 1970 only 17 civilian airliners were leased worldwide; today 40pc of the (massively increased) global fleet is leased, amounting to thousands of planes (see chart below).

What is far more phenomenal is that about half of the world's leased commercial aircraft, according to a variety of sources, are managed out of Dublin and Shannon. A factoid that those in and around the industry are wont to cite is that an Irish-registered plane takes off somewhere around the world every two seconds.

The rich ecosystem of Irish companies in the sector has evolved thanks to a favourable tax and regulatory environment at home that has facilitated the exploiting of opportunities afforded by huge changes in the size and structure of the airline business across the world.

One such change is how carriers view their most important assets - planes. Many have concluded that it makes more sense for their bottom line to lease these assets rather than own them outright. And even when they have not made this decision it has often been made for them - consistently poor and volatile profitability in the airline industry has made banks and other lenders more reluctant to finance carriers' aircraft purchases.

But the ultimate tailwind has been the increase in demand for air travel. Passenger numbers have soared in recent decades, as the sharp and continued decline in global poverty has pushed hundreds of millions of people into middle-class status. As this trend is expected to continue, the bourgeois travel bug is forecast to go on spreading. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts that passenger numbers will double over the next 20 years, reaching seven billion by 2035. Expansion is forecast to take place everywhere, but, as with many economic trends, much of the growth will take place in Asia.

Over the same time period, the global duopoly of plane makers, Airbus and Boeing, expect to build a mind-boggling $5-6 trillion worth of new aircraft. Plane makers think that about half of these new aircraft will be purchased by leasing companies, suggesting that the trend towards leasing over ownership by carriers will continue. That is view is supported by the utterances of industry insiders. Willie Walsh, the boss of IAG, has recently spoken of moving to a 50/50 split in leasing versus ownership of his group's fleet, compared to the current 30/70 ratio. There is, of course, always reason for caution, especially given ongoing political events. The by now multi-headed spectre of protectionism-inspired deglobalisation can only be a threat to globalised firms of all kinds, and few are more globalised than Irish plane leasers.

Another threat is how tax rules might change. The Central Bank paper highlights that depreciation on plane purchases can be done over a mere eight years under Irish law, despite the lengthening average working life of aircraft, which now stands at 25 years or more. Although there is no sign, that I am aware of, that such an accelerated, and very generous, depreciation schedule is being looked at askance by any relevant non-Irish authority, in the current climate around tax avoidance one never knows if it might become an issue in the future.

Many of the opportunities and threats to the industry were discussed at the Annual Airfinance Conference in Dublin in January. Potential headwinds specific to leasing included stricter bank lending rules and a possible bubble in aircraft prices. Another reported talking point was competition from hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore, which are offering better tax packages, particularly when it comes to personal tax.

All that said, the opportunities for the industry in Ireland would appear to be considerably greater than the threats. That augurs well for continued success.

With that upbeat observation, let us return to those drier matters raised in the recent paper by Central Bank economists Jenny Osborne-Kinch, Dermot Coates and Luke Nolan.

Measurement issues are looked at in some detail. Changes to international and European national accounting rules in 2010 meant that leased aircraft are now included in the capital stock of the country in which they are registered, regardless of where they are actually deployed. That means that an Irish-registered plane that flies around Asia for 30 years and never touches down in Ireland is counted as an investment when it is purchased, thus inflating GDP. It inflates other important metrics, including imports, although increased exports from operating leases offsets this effect over time.

In order to determine the significance of leasing, the Central Bank economists prepared a database of all Ireland-based firms. They were able to look at 848 entities linked to the industry, most of which lease planes in Europe and the Asia/Pacific region.

Many of these companies are long-established, but there has also been an increase in firms who are Irish-based for tax purposes. One in seven entities in the industry are configured as special purpose vehicles, structures that have at times been mired in controversies of various kinds in recent times.

The economists estimate that the book value of the aircraft owned by Irish lessors to have stood at 81 billion in 2014, which amounted to 40pc of the economy's then GDP. But the Central Bank economists reject the charge made in some quarters that the sector was the main cause of the 26pc spike in GDP growth in 2015.

That said, changes to how national accounts are compiled do mean that the purchase of lots of pricey planes by Ireland-based companies has a bigger impact on the level of GDP than in the past. And they will have an even bigger impact if the industry continues to grow.

That points to further turbulence in the numbers, something that discombobulates nerdy economists but is, in the grander scheme of things, a small price to pay for reaping the rewards of Irish companies leading the way in a high-growth global industry.
Books on self-help and business management have always been popular and many of them make useful reading, but one I picked up recently comes from a very different angle.

Given its intriguing title, How To Manage Your Slaves, one feels that had it been published 2,000 years ago, it might well have topped the bestseller charts. I couldn't resist buying it and found the content both amusing and well researched, with lots of interesting historical facts concerning the ownership of slaves.

Now before you explode in anger at my purchasing and enjoying a book with such a politically incorrect title, bear in mind that it was written by Dr Jerry Toner, an Irish professor of classics at Cambridge University, using the voice of Marcus Sidonius Falx, a fictitious Roman of noble birth and a wealthy slave owner, as the narrator.

It is Falx who gives us detailed advice on purchasing slaves, how to encourage them to work harder, how to punish them and, in general, how to ensure we can get the best out of them while taking care they don't murder us in the meantime.

It even touches on the delicate matter of controlling sex among slaves, as well as with their owners, and when to set them free, which was apparently quite a common reward for being a good slave. The content gives us an insight into what life was like when people had a very different mindset to today and should be read in that context.

One wealthy Roman apparently kept a slave solely to note and remember the names of all the people they met and then remind his master of whom they were when required. Now that would have been useful. How many of us encounter embarrassing moments when we cannot recall the name of someone we know well? Politicians and auctioneers take note.

I would imagine also that anyone involved in difficult negotiations with intransigent trade union leaders might yearn for a time when you simply told your slaves what to do and if they refused or made a botch of the task, you could have them whipped or even put to death.

While the narrator is a fictional character, the book contains fascinating historical data as well as some horrific descriptions of the treatment meted out to any slave who attempted to defy his or her owner. But there were also many who gained their freedom and even went on to become wealthy Roman citizens and slave owners in their own right.

How To Manage Your Slaves deals with the period when the Roman Empire was at the height of its powers, but we must also remember that slavery was the norm in Ireland and Britain from long before that time, and continued for many centuries.

In the early fifth century, St Patrick was captured and taken as a slave by Irish raiders while St Brigid was the daughter of Brocca, a Christian Pict and a slave in Ireland. Early Irish law also makes numerous references to slaves and semi-free sencleithe, and from the ninth to the 12th century, Dublin in particular was a major slave trading centre.

The King James I Proclamation of 1625 required Irish political prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies. By the mid-1600s, thousands of Irish men and women were sold to Antigua and Montserrat and by then, 70pc of the total population of Montserrat consisted of Irish slaves.

In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2,000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers. Some will argue they were "indentured servants" but, in reality, there was no difference.

The British were not the sole perpetrators of course and on June 20, 1631, the village of Baltimore in Co Cork was attacked by Algerian pirates from the North African Barbary Coast. They killed two villagers and captured almost the whole population of over 100 people, who were put in irons and taken to a life of slavery in North Africa.

It was only by the early 19th century that the ethics and morality of enslaving people was questioned and eventually banned, although it still continues to the present day in a more limited manner and under various guises.

Throughout the 'free' world, there are domestic servants still living in slavery and immigrants kept in awful living conditions. We are told that some are often paid virtually no wages, but are afraid to speak up for fear of being deported.

Send letters to: Farming Independent, Independent House, Talbot street, Dublin 1 or email: farming@independent.ie

The man who has nothing is truly free

Slavery comes in many forms and it is said that the only man who is truly free is the man who has nothing.

Some who own their homes become slaves to maintaining it and keeping up with mortgage payments.

Then there are wage slaves who spend their lives in the pursuit of money for status and to support and educate their families without spending time with their children, later realising it is now too late and life has passed them by.

Others, as they commute to work, might at times gaze in envy at a dropout from mainstream society living a simple life in the countryside. In the past, hermits and religious solitaries shunned wealth and chose poverty.

It is a form of freedom that Jesus, for one, recommended to his followers when he said: "Cast away your earthly goods and follow me."

So what is a slave? Many are slaves to alcohol and drugs, and most of us have become slaves to consumerism.

Just ponder on the aspirations of the average family in the 1950s and what they considered adequate for comfort and compare them to the same family today. It's a sobering thought.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny, launched 'Realising Our Rural Potential: Action Plan on Rural Development' last week. The 50m investment aims to create 135,000 new jobs in rural communities by 2020. So how realistic is the ambition to make rural Ireland great again?

When it comes to economic prosperity, the statistics on the rural-urban divide have been well aired and the ongoing demise of rural Ireland has been widely documented, perhaps prematurely some might argue.

But one may ask what can this plan deliver and what can drive economic growth in rural Ireland?

The Action Plan centres around three main engines of growth, foreign direct investment (FDI), tourism and the agricultural sector.

First looking at FDI, the plan presents the specific target of increasing FDI in rural areas by 40pc by 2020.

Yet Martin Shanahan (CEO of the IDA) has publicly acknowledged that it is "extremely challenging" to attract foreign companies to rural areas and that there is a "global trend towards favouring large urban centres".

Indeed parliamentary questions last autumn revealed that 94pc of all unoccupied IDA properties were located outside of Dublin.

Notwithstanding the difficulties of attracting foreign investment to rural areas, there are major unknowns on the horizon ahead that are likely to affect FDI in Ireland in general, namely Brexit and Donald Trump's US presidency.

Trump's proposal to reduce corporation tax from 35 to 15pc and to introduce punitive border taxes on the re-importation of goods produced by American companies abroad is worrying, especially when one considers that 70pc of IDA-supported jobs are in US companies.

Trump has singled out the pharma sector in this regard, which he says are "getting away with murder". More than 50,000 people are employed by pharma companies in Ireland.

Brexit, on the other hand, may be an opportunity for FDI companies seeking access to the large single European market who may favour Ireland over the UK.

A number of sectors have been cited as seeking to relocate their European headquarters to Ireland. Most have been in the professional services sector such as financial and legal services. It is most likely however, that such companies would be more at home in Ballsbridge than Ballinrobe.

So if FDI is challenging, then can agriculture be the driving force that is needed to make rural Ireland great again? The plan for agriculture is, for the most part, a rehash of the Food Wise 2025 report with little to no new initiatives.

Unlike FDI, primary agriculture is an indigenous sector which is already well dispersed geographically. While it may only contribute less than 3pc to gross domestic product nationally, its contribution to the rural economy is wide reaching.

The value of output generated by the agricultural sector is about 6bn and each year farmers spend almost 4bn in inputs, which include animal feeds, fertilisers, vet services, agricultural contractors and so forth.

Typically the inputs consumed by farmers are purchased locally and have a lower import content than inputs used in FDI sectors such as pharma or IT, for example.

Furthermore, the 2.5bn operating surplus (profit) earned by farmers is kept in the country, spent in the local community and used to keep rural businesses alive.

Contrast this with the repatriation of profits of foreign-owned companies and it is clear that the importance of agriculture to rural Ireland should not be underestimated.

There is little mention of the future Common Agricultural Policy reform in the Action Plan for Rural Development. The national collection of direct payments coming from Brussels, amounting to over 1.3bn per year, is hugely important and although directed to farmers, the payments support many businesses in the wider rural community.

A study by UCD concluded that each 1 of support in the form of direct payments underpins 4.28 of aggregate output in the economy and 2.37 of GDP.

Clearly, it is in the best interests of the wider rural economy to protect the value of these payments when entering the new round of CAP reform especially in the context of a declining EU budget following the departure of the net contributing UK.

The importance of FDI to the future of Ireland's economy is unquestionable but the contribution of agriculture and the direct support for agriculture to the vibrancy of rural areas is also critical.

Many have criticised the Action Plan as a repackaging exercise with many of the initiatives presented already contained in the Programme for Government.

Nevertheless, the focus on rural regeneration is to be welcomed and it is good to see the Government embracing a "spread the recovery" agenda rather than the controversial "keep the recovery going" slogan.

Thia Hennessy is Professor and Head of Food Business and Development at University College Cork
At the Greencore AGM last Tuesday, 40pc of shareholders voted against Patrick Coveney's new pay package. While the vote was non-binding, it was still too close for comfort, with chairman Gary Kennedy promising to consult with shareholders before next year's AGM.

The Greencore shareholders' register has been transformed by last December's rights issue, which increased the number of shares by 70pc to 702 million. Many of these new Greencore shareholders seem to have been among those who voted against Coveney's new pay arrangements last Tuesday. The rights issue, which raised 440m, largely financed Greencore's $745m acquisition of US company Peacock Foods.

Under the terms of the new performance share plan, senior Greencore executives may receive a bonus of shares worth up to twice their basic salary. Coveney's salary for this financial year is due to be 804,000, according to Greencore's last annual report. "These [share] awards are only worth something if the company performs extremely well", said Coveney after the AGM. "We will have to deliver very well on integration and on US performance."

For two decades after it was privatised in 1991, the former Irish Sugar Company, and its share price, went nowhere.

Things didn't change, at least not initially, under Coveney's leadership. The former McKinsey Ireland managing partner - and brother of Housing Minister Simon Coveney - joined Greencore as chief financial officer in 2005 before becoming chief executive three years later. It was only when Greencore acquired Uniq in 2011 and switched its listing to London the following year that things began to happen for the company, which delivered a total return, including dividends, of more than 500pc to its shareholders between 2011 and 2016.

However, the share price has languished over the past year. Before the AGM, Greencore shares were trading at 218p, down by almost a third over the previous 12 months, under-performing the FT Small Cap index by almost 40pc. While the recent Greencore share price performance has been distorted by the rights issue, it is clear that the shares have lagged behind the overall market. Investors have yet to fully buy into the Greencore story.

Greencore is now a very different corporate beast from the company that was privatised over a quarter of a century ago. It is the largest producer of ready-made sandwiches in the UK and is also a leading producer of ready meals and cakes. The group had sales of almost 1.5bn (Greencore reports its results in sterling) and operating profits of 102m in the year ended September 2016.

But Greencore's successful transformation into one of the UK's leading convenience foods producers was already in the share price. Investors are a pretty unsentimental lot. Eaten bread is soon forgotten and all eyes are now on the integration of Peacock.

The history of UK - or in the case of Greencore, UK-based - food producers and food retailers expanding into the US is littered with expensive disasters. Why should it be any different for Greencore? Peacock Foods is the largest producer of frozen breakfast sandwiches, children's snack meals and salad kits in the United States. It had 2016 sales of almost $1bn, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) of $72m and adjusted cash flow of $47m.

There are significant differences between the Peacock business model and that of Greencore's existing UK operations. Firstly, while most of the food Greencore supplies in the UK is either fresh or chilled, virtually all of Peacock's output is frozen. Secondly, most of Greencore's UK customers are large multiples to whom it supplies own-label sandwiches, ready meals and cakes. Its customers include Marks & Spencer, ASDA, Waitrose, Morrisons and Sainsbury's.

When you treat yourself to that expensive M&S prawn sandwich it almost certainly comes from Greencore. Peacock's main customers are not retailers but branded food companies including Tyson Foods, KraftHeinz, Kellogg's and Dole. The frozen breakfast sandwiches, kids' snack meals and salad kits produced by Peacock are sold under the customer's brand. It is perhaps best thought of as a kind of out-sourced manufacturing by the branded food companies, rather than UK or Irish-style private label.

When Peacock is added to Greencore's existing US business, which supplies Starbucks and SevenEleven, the combined entity will have annual sales of $1.2bn. The single biggest risk to Greencore on either side of the Atlantic is that it has only a handful of big customers.

If one of them chooses to take their business elsewhere, the impact can be severe. This risk of losing long-standing customers is particularly severe when a company changes hands.

Kingspan learnt this lesson the hard way in 2001 when, after paying $120m for US flooring company Tate, most of its customers followed the former owners out the door. Greencore points out that Peacock's relationships with its main customers are of long standing. It has been doing business with KraftHeinz for 27 years and for 12 years with Tyson.

"These are multi-annual long-term commercial relationships," says Goodbody Stockbrokers analyst Jason Molins. Greencore has also taken steps to cement these relationships by appointing former Peacock boss Tom Sampson to its board last week. Although ostensibly a non-executive, part of Sampson's brief as a director seems to involve overseeing those all-important customer relationships, with chairman Gary Kennedy saying Sampson brings "a wealth of insight and relationships to the group".

Despite these risks, Peacock is a major player in a high-growth market segment. The American convenience food market is growing by 5-6pc annually. Better still for Peacock is that the branded food producers are farming out an increasing proportion of their output with outsourced manufacturing growing at between 5pc and 7pc a year compared to just 3pc growth for the overall packaged food market.

Even before the Peacock acquisition the Greencore share price had weakened, mainly on fears of the impact that Brexit might have on the company. "Brexit is a very big deal for Irish food companies that manufacture in Ireland and sell into the UK. Greencore doesn't do that. The essence of our UK and US businesses is that we manufacture in-market with local product and local people for sale to local customers," says Coveney.

But, and it's a very big "but", between a fifth and a quarter of the raw materials used by Greencore in the UK are imported. These are now more expensive following the post-referendum collapse in the value of sterling. In addition, many of Greencore's UK workers are non-British EU nationals.

While Coveney is confident that Greencore will be able to recover higher raw materials costs from its customers, he admits to being concerned at the possible long-term impact of Brexit on its ability to recruit suitable staff.

So will Greencore buck the trend and make it in America? A trading update issued to coincide with Tuesday's AGM stated that the integration of Peacock was "on track" and that like-for-like revenues were up 9.1pc in the first quarter of Greencore's 2017 financial year.

The market seemed to like it with the share price jumping from 218p on Monday to 252p by Friday. If Coveney can make a success of the Peacock acquisition and sustain the share price increase shareholders may take a more positive view of his pay package at next year's AGM.
Mary Rose Burke previously worked as a pharmacist and ran her own business, before eventually becoming director of pharmacy at Boots

The new boss of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce is planning a "mass consultation" with the public in order to drive its advocacy agenda.

Mary Rose Burke said her vision for her new role is centred around the importance of Dublin to the Irish economy.

"If Dublin thrives, the country thrives... how do we imagine Dublin to be the best it could possibly be, so that it competes with international cities but doesn't become the same as them," she told the Sunday Independent.

"You have to be able to attract people to live in the city, you have to be able to house them, you have to be able to move them to and from, for work and for social activity.

"People want to live in Dublin at the moment, it's very multicultural, people enjoy living here, they do enjoy that sense of Irishness and the craic in Dublin. So it is attractive, but we now need to scramble to make sure that we don't lose that. The pressure that's coming on in terms of housing, the pressure that's there in terms of transport, the length of people's commutes, all of those, if they're not dealt with, could end up making it less attractive to live in Dublin and harder to attract business."

Burke said the planned consultation is designed to get people talking about the kind of city they want Dublin to be in the year 2050.

"Anything done in a five- or seven-year scale, people's views are framed by the limitations of what's possible now, or what they read in the papers. If you take it out more into the 'impossible future', anything becomes possible." She said policymakers need to "dream bigger".

"There's no reason now in a very modern dynamic and successful economy why we wouldn't have a big ambition and have that ambition to be a world-class city." Burke backed the construction of a rail link to Dublin Airport and the Dart Underground, adding that the city should look to have 40-to-60-storey "iconic buildings" in defined areas. Burke cited London and Boston as examples of Georgian cities with low skylines that had successfully built higher in certain areas.

Burke previously worked as a pharmacist and ran her own business, before eventually becoming director of pharmacy at Boots.

In the late 1990s, she ran two lingerie shops, one in Mallow and one in Tralee.

"I was probably a little bit ahead of my time. They went well, they were kind of a hobby thing to see if I could run a business... I was doing an MBA in UCC at the time and online was just beginning to emerge and it really would have been a perfect business to move online but I didn't have the skillset for that. I also didn't really have the interest in it - it was more of a hobby and the idea of scaling it wasn't really what I wanted to do."

Once the consultation is complete, the chamber will look to present its findings to policymakers at both national and local level.

Burke said persuading politicians of the merit of a lobby group's positions requires "coherent argument, structured engagement and repeated engagement".

"Sometimes you just have to keep going. I suppose lobbying on policymaking is a bit like sausage-making; it's not the most attractive thing but it is about having a clear position, principles-based. So you can follow it through all the way - just repeated engagement," Burke said.

"Like everything in the policy space, you can be lucky in terms of timing, and that's why you have to keep repeating it.

"It might not find fertile ground the first few times, but eventually the stars align and other things come into the space, and that's where you have to keep repeating the policy.

"A good idea will eventually find expression and that's what the system is set up to do."
ConnectIreland, whose website says it has more than 2,000 jobs pledged, refused to comment on the dispute (Stock image)

"Connectors" who say their high-level leads led to the creation of hundreds of new jobs under an IDA-supervised scheme are set to sue the State to recover their finders' fees.

Hundreds of "connectors" who secured jobs from target companies have been told they will not receive their rewards - up to 3,000 per sustainable job - following a decision by the IDA to end the Succeed in Ireland Programme backed by businessman Terry Clune.

An arbitrator is set to be appointed to attempt to resolve the bitter row between the IDA and Clune's company, ConnectIreland, which disputes the number of jobs the IDA claims it has secured under the Succeed in Ireland initiative.

The IDA, which has decided not to tender for a new Succeed in Ireland programme, has verified 527 jobs created via ConnectIreland and its leads.

It is understood Connect -Ireland, which is subject to a 10m fine if it is deemed to have breached a strict, one-way non-disclosure agreement imposed by the IDA, has protested that the agency has not verified an additional 1,000 jobs it has facilitated.

ConnectIreland, whose website says it has more than 2,000 jobs pledged, refused to comment on the dispute.

The IDA said it has paid some 2.06m to ConnectIreland as financial rewards under the initiative, adding that "jobs are verified only when ConnectIreland request a verification".

Clune's scheme, aimed at targeting the Irish diaspora, was hailed as one of the most successful ideas to emerge from the Global Irish Economic Forum set up in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.
Cybercriminals are hacking the email accounts of Irish solicitors in an attempt to steal tens of thousands of euro from unsuspecting home buyers, the Sunday Independent has learned. Stock photo: PA

Cybercriminals are hacking the email accounts of Irish solicitors in an attempt to steal tens of thousands of euro from unsuspecting home buyers, the Sunday Independent has learned.

The Law Society has confirmed a number of Irish-based legal firms have been subjected to this kind of high-tech assault.

Dubbed 'Friday Afternoon Fraud', the conveyancing scam has been known to take several forms, but generally occurs when the hackers intercept emails between home buyers or sellers, and their solicitors.

They generate lookalike emails which allow them to pose as the solicitor involved.

During the final stages of a property purchase or sale, they inform potential victims by email that certain bank account details have changed.

They then instruct that payments be moved to a different account, allowing the criminals secure control over deposits.

A solicitor's own email may be hacked or impersonated, so clients are directed to send money to accounts other than the solicitor's client account.

Alternatively, the lawyer may receive a telephone call, purportedly from the bank's anti-fraud team, asking for account details and passwords.

They may be told to transfer the contents of an account elsewhere. The criminals then withdraw the money.

The amounts involved can be substantial, representing a down payment on a property, or possibly the proceeds of a sale.

The activity typically takes place on a Friday afternoon, when the scammers know client accounts are likely to hold large amounts of cash.

This particular conveyancing scam is currently the number one cybercrime in the UK legal sector.

But it has now been confirmed that conveyancing fraudsters are also targeting Irish firms.

In a statement, the Law Society of Ireland said legal practices here have been subject to similar "attacks".

While it is believed the number is "small", the prevalence of such activity is unknown as "exact statistics are not available."

In order to "protect solicitors against these frauds" the society has launched a new cybersecurity section on its website, to advise members on how to protect themselves from cybercriminals.

A recent survey found a near 50pc increase in the number of cyberattacks reported by Irish firms in the past year. And three firms out of every 10 have been subject to a cyberattack in the past 12 months

Rory O'Neill, an investigating accountant with the society, says the continued integration of technology has "significantly increased the risk" of attacks.

He highlighted cases in which "external emails" between solicitors and their client have been "intercepted" and read by criminals.

"When a genuine email is sent with bank account details enclosed, the fraudster intercepts and amends the details of the bank account. This amended email is then forwarded to the appropriate recipient from the spoofed email account."

If the recipients "act on the emails", the money will be transferred to the fraudulent account.
Management at AIB must be wondering just how they could have been so lucky. Executives at Green Property must be wondering how they are going to spend all that money.

The story of how UK-based Greek fraudster, Achilleas Kallakis, defrauded AIB by borrowing over 700m on false pretences is pretty remarkable. But the fact that AIB and Green Property, to whom the bank sold on the properties in 2009, have made around 131m (151m) on it, is even more incredible.

At least Kallakis bought some good stuff with the money he borrowed from the bank. AIB discovered it had been duped by Kallakis, who had a previous fraud conviction, when it went to sell on some of its loans to him to other banks.

Some background checks by the other banks set alarming bells ringing.

It turned out that Kallakis had forged numerous documents to secure loans to buy the property portfolio.

It culminated in a trial of Kallakis in a London court in 2012 with the Greek, nicknamed 'the Don' landing an 11-year sentence.

But in the grim days of 2009, AIB sold on the portfolio of 16 British properties on which the loans were drawn to Green Property.

Green bought the loans with an interest-free loan from AIB and agreed to pay the bank 30pc of the profit it might make when the properties were sold on.

Green paid around 650m and AIB took a write-down of 56m (64m).

The last of those Kallakis properties, at St James's Square in London, was sold by Green during the week for 246m (285m).

Published estimates of the sale prices achieved by Green on other properties in the former Kallakis portfolio show what a great deal it was for Stephen Vernon's Green Property.

Aside from the 246m for seven and eight St James's Square, add on the 265m (307m) it got for the offices of the Daily Telegraph: the 100m (115m) it got for Apollo and Lunar House in Croydon in 2015: India Buildings in Liverpool for 17m (19m); Astral Towers in Crawley for 20m (23m); 35 Berkeley Square for 19.6m (22.7m) and Kings House and Queens House in Harrow for 23.8 (27.5m).

It also sold the former Market Towers site in London to Chinese property billionaire Dalian Wanda in 2013. He plans to build two enormous residential towers there which will become the tallest residential buildings in Europe. According to the Financial Times, this site was sold by Green Property for around 90m (104m).

Put them all together and you get 781m (904m) for 11 of the properties. Green paid around 650m (752m) for them all. This puts Green on track to have made a profit of at least 131m (151m), assuming it didn't lose money on the others.

Green's share of that profit would be around 70pc or roughly 91.7m (106m).

AIB would be entitled to 30pc or 39.3m (45.5m).

Talk about "getting out of jail" on a deal.

Coveney's Greencore pay attracts fresh attention

Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney took some flak from investors over his remuneration package at the annual general meeting on Tuesday.

Under a new deal, Coveney will be entitled to up to 200pc of his salary.

This annoyed some investors and 40pc of them voted against the new package.

It isn't the first time that Coveney's remuneration has attracted some attention. In 2015 he earned around 3.6m all in.

He has also generated substantial sums from selling shares including the disposal of over 3.8m worth of incentive shares that vested in 2014.

But Coveney has delivered for shareholders. The company has delivered on growth and the acquisition in November of Peacock Foods for 695m should take the business to a whole new level in the US.

The unease about the remuneration reflects a wider discomfort about how bonus or incentive share rewards are structured for chief executives.

It isn't based on the idea that he is simply paid too much money.

There is very little discussion about morality or fairness among institutional investors of PLCs in general.

The issue for them is that executive share rewards may not be hard enough won.

Long-standing shareholders in Greencore might be happy enough based on Coveney's very strong performance in recent years.

But newer investors who have bought into the stock at higher levels might be a little bit more edgy.

There is also a very different clamour about executive pay going on the UK and this is from lobby groups who believe chief executives are paid far too much in the first place. They want to see them earn a certain multiple of the average worker's salary at a firm.

Given that Greencore is in the low-pay lower-skilled end of the food business, it leaves Coveney open to criticism.

Back in 2014, he made the headlines for earning 160 times more than the lowest paid worker at the company.

But some FTSE 100 chief executives are north of 360 times.

It seems inevitable there will be low pay in the food-preparation business compared to other sectors.

For example, there is a job ad on the Peacock Foods website for 'packers and packagers'.

It says you can take a tour of the plant today and start tomorrow. Pay for a packer starts at $9 (8.33) an hour, but it does offer full-time staff health insurance, paid holidays (two weeks in the first year), a quarterly bonus of $500 and higher pay rates for working in the cold room.

It says you must be at least 18 years of age, able to lift at least 25Ibs, stand on your feet all day and have reliable transportation. It even sounds physically quite demanding: "While performing the duties of this job, the employee is subject to standing for prolonged periods; frequently grasps, lifts, holds, or feels objects, occasionally kneels, crouches or crawls."

I'm sure Coveney doesn't have to do any crawling in his job.

Sweetener helps Ryanair Israeli expansion

Ryanair's decision to launch 14 new routes to Israel was interesting, but it won't lead to a major bonanza.

Israel's tourism industry is not exactly booming. Security concerns are one big obvious issue. In 2000 Israel had 2.4 million foreign visitors. In 2015 the figure was 2.8 million. Revenues from tourism, including air fares, were $5.7bn in 2007 but just $3.47bn in 2014.

Ryanair seems to have set relatively modest targets for passenger numbers on the routes which include flights to Ovda Airport near Eilat from Baden-Baden, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Milan and three Polish cities.

There are also new routes to Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv.

According to Israeli media reports, the Tourism Ministry has been offering airlines a 45 subsidy for every tourist flying in through Ovda, in an attempt to boost Eilat. Now that does make it sound a little more worthwhile.
While print news needs to be celebrated for what it is, so too digital news products need to be seen for what they are (stock photo)

According to research released this week, print readers pore over the news in detail while news is no more than a dalliance for digital readers. The snappily-titled 'Newspaper consumption in the mobile age: re-assessing multi-platform performance and market share using "time-spent"' found that 89pc of the time audiences spend consuming news was in print, and 11pc was online.

What does that equate to in terms of minutes and seconds? Print newspapers are read for an average of 40 minutes per day. And online visitors spend an average of just 30 seconds a day on the websites and apps of the same newspapers.

"Time-spent data has been collected by many print readership surveys for some time as well as for internet users, but it hasn't become a standard metric for newspapers for a couple of reasons," said Neil Thurman, a Professor at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, and the author of the research. "Firstly, because of a natural tendency to stick with the status quo - publishers and advertisers are used to circulation, page impressions and so on. Secondly, because time spent reveals an inconvenient truth about online audiences: they spent far less time with newspapers' online editions than with their print versions."

Thurman's research relates only to UK newspaper brands, and is based on data from the UK National Readership Survey, the Audit Bureau of Circulations and Comscore. Interestingly, there seems to be a close correlation between audience attention and revenue. The News Media Association recently found that UK newspaper publishers made 88pc of their ad revenue from print and 12pc from online. That's surprisingly close to Thurman's 89:11 split for time spent consuming news.

Thurman believes many legacy publishers have forgotten their core product in favour of a shiny new digital bauble. "Legacy publishers understand the value of their print products very well," he says. "They are still responsible for a large majority of their advertising revenue. However, while chasing their digital dreams they have, perhaps, neglected print - their golden goose. They are starting to understand that there is not a bright digital dawn just over the horizon, and that it might be time to reinvent in print." Similarly, Thurman feels digital products can learn a lot from ink on paper.

"I do think that online newspapers should try to emulate some of the characteristics that make print so engaging," he says. "Its design, the sense of completion it gives, the focus it inspires. We're starting to see this now in the best mobile apps and e-paper editions."

But is this really possible? There is a vast difference between news as a printed product and news on a screen. Print is tangible and readers who buy a paper are making a commitment to spend time with it. This is nothing like the habits of a drive-by digital reader. It's also worth bearing in mind that digital readers face a lot more competition for their attention. They are, after all, consuming news on something that can butt in with emails, social messages, not to mention the odd phone call. Computers, tablets and phones offer a host of distractions. Newspapers never start ringing in your hand.

It's also worth remembering that there are more than just legacy publishers sharing information on the internet. Thurman's research only relates to data from 11 national newspaper brands in the UK. There are no digital pure-plays factored in. There's no accounting for broadcasters' online activities. And there's no mention of the elephants in the online room - the Googles, Amazons, Facebooks and Apples. "If you're a content company and you're not Facebook, Google or Snapchat, you're in the niche ads business," quipped Meredith Kopit Levien, Chief Revenue Officer of the New York Times at a recent AdExchanger event.

While print news needs to be celebrated for what it is, so too digital news products need to be seen for what they are. Thurman notes that online editions have doubled or tripled the number of readers that UK news brands now reach. And It's this reach and always-on availability that news publishers need to harness online, while increasing the attention gobbling potential of print.

If time on site as a measurement provides us with anything it's the understanding that news as a product is different depending on how its users access and consume it. The same articles that newspaper brands create need to be commercialized, distributed and measured differently on each channel.
Read it and weep: Award-winning author Donal Ryan says success in the literary world has not been enough to make a full-time living. Photo: David Conachy

He is loved by his readers, lauded by critics and is an award-winning author - but Donal Ryan has to return to his day job in the civil service so he can pay the mortgage.

The author of The Spinning Heart, named Book of the Decade at the Dublin Book Festival and short-listed for the Booker Prize, has said his success in the literary world hasn't been enough to make a full-time living.

"It's nearly impossible to make a living as a writer," he told the Sunday Independent this weekend, "You need to have something else on the go."

Ryan, who is returning to his full-time role in the Workplace Relations Commission, says romanticised notions of millionaire best-selling novelists aren't grounded in reality.

"You could take a chance and scrape a living through bursaries and writing books, but I'd get too stressed out. It just isn't worth it. I have two kids in school and I have a mortgage to pay," he said.

"I am lucky though. I loved the civil service. It was a job that I was good at and that I found fulfilling and challenging and I had an opportunity to help people and to make a little difference in the world."

Outlining the numbers that go into achieving a best-selling status, he explains: "If you look at the charts every week, in the autumn you need to sell around 1,000 books to be No.1. At the moment I suppose about 500 books would do it or 300 even - it depends on the time of year.

"I reckon I get about 40c per book. So I would need to sell a huge amount of books to make a good salary out of that."

But he says he is lucky to have the support of big publishers: "I can't complain. My publishers are fantastic.

"I have just signed a contract for three more books and my advances are really good but, still, I have to look at the long term and the fact that I have 20 more years of a mortgage, so you would need to sell a lot to earn a living from that alone."

From Nenagh, Co Tipperary, Donal worked as a civil servant with the Department of Enterprise for years before his debut novel The Spinning Heart was published in 2011. He then became a writer in residence at the University of Limerick. He has just published his third novel All We Shall Know about a married woman who becomes pregnant after an affair with a 17-year-old Traveller.

The 40-year-old lives in Castletroy with his wife Anne-Marie and their children, Thomas (8) and Lucy (6) and says he is grateful for his gift because it saved his family from tougher times.

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"When I got my first publishing deal, I was completely and utterly broke. I literally hadn't a penny.

"People working in the civil service were told we were on 'the pig's back' and that we supposedly had big salaries and parachute pensions. We were blamed for the crash and told the only way to get out of it was to crucify us.

"But to lose a quarter of your household income at the stroke of a pen was a pretty serious thing. All of a sudden we hadn't got enough money to pay for the messages. I literally could not pay the mortgage," he says.

"At the end of every month the outgoings as a family were more than what we were earning - there was no break from it, there was no end in sight. But then that spurred me on.

"I started writing at the time and I said to myself, 'I have to make this sellable', I have to create something that will make a bit of money'.

"I wrote The Spinning Heart in that frame of mind. From the point of view of a person who was broke, and I knew if I could get that advance, we would be out of that hole of debt. To be honest - being a writer literally saved me." Ryan - who received 47 rejections before finding a publisher - gives inspiration to young writers and explains that it was his self-belief that made him persevere.

"I remember getting one rejection from a major publishing house that was on a big A4 sheet of paper and all it said was 'sorry not for us' so I knew they hadn't even read it.

"I got another note from an agent, who told me: 'I'll take on three novels next year and they'll all be of a higher standard than this'. I just thought, 'he's wrong, he's wrong about this. I had a real serious belief in the novel The Thing About December and I still do.

''That novel for me just felt alright. And I knew in my heart that eventually it would work out and if I kept plugging away that eventually somebody would sit down and read it.

"There's often terrible advice given to young writers, starting off that they have to be selective with who they send their book to, but I think you should try absolutely everybody."

He also tells aspiring novelists that if they want to start then they need to get over their fear and put pen to paper. "The thing is it [success] came at the end of 10 years of trying to write and failing, but that's what you have to do. You have to practice writing. People think, 'I am good at it, I can just sit down and do it' but you can't. You have to fail and fail and fail and fail again before it starts to turn around." He describes writer's block as "a feeling of sickness'' that is so overt "you could puke" but he says once the magic comes together, "it gives you an immense feeling of pleasure. Nothing could ever compare to it".

Donal will be in conversation on February 26 with Cecelia Ahern at the Limerick Literary Festival and with Anne Enright at the Ennis Book Club Festival on March 3.
'It's dingy, it's smelly, it's damp, it's cold." Yes, architect Dermot Bannon has returned with yet another season of Room to Improve (RTE1), this time starting in Malahide, where Julie and Robbie were intent on turning a dilapidated cottage into the Taj Mahal.

Dermot started off with the above verdict, subsequently declaring himself "amazed" that Julie hadn't even seen inside the wreck when she and Robbie paid 420,000 for it. In fact, he was so amazed that he voiced his amazement four times in three minutes.

Happily, Robbie was a window cleaner by profession because Dermot was intent on devising an edifice with lots and lots of glass, that being Dermot's solution to every design challenge he has ever encountered.

First, though, there was a budgetary problem, with Julie and Robbie only having 180,000 to spare for their dream dwelling. "It's tight," Dermot grimaced, but then it's always tight on Room to Improve, with Dermot having to find ways of surmounting such obstacles, mainly through the use of glass.

"I'm gutted, I really am," said Julie on learning that her Taj Mahal plans would have to be somewhat modified, at which point I left them at it - safe in the knowledge that despite all the petty arguments and manufactured tension between Dermot and his clients, everything would be well in the end, with both Julie and Robbie marvelling at Dermot's ingenuity with surplus glass.

For myself, I can't help marvelling that this show is now in its 10th season, with Dermot fronting it from the outset. Surely the man deserves a rest, or maybe that's just the viewer.

Speaking of which, the ubiquitous Eva Orsmond narrowly escaped being voted off RTE1's Dancing with the Stars two Sundays ago, just as narrowly avoiding the same fate again last Sunday evening. But you can't keep a determined doctor down, or at least RTE can't, and last Monday night the Finnish bossyboots with the basilisk glare was to be found commandeering the schedules.

First up was Medication Nation (RTE1), in which the crusading medic (she's even billed as "Dr" in Dancing with the Stars) argued that the Irish are "consuming more and more pills to solve all of life's ills" and that this addiction to pharmaceuticals, whether prescribed or over the pharmacy counter, is at "a big cost to our physical and mental health".

The programme was quite engrossing, featuring scary statistics and equally scary stories, most strikingly from former government press secretary Shane Kenny, who told how the side effects from taking prescribed benzodiazepines for an inner-ear ailment "utterly destroyed my life".

But I didn't need to hear him again on the Claire Byrne Live show (RTE1) that immediately followed Medication Nation, and nor did I need to hear again from the Cork GP who had just featured in that programme, nor indeed from Orsmond herself, who was given pride of place in the half-hour devoted to the topic by Byrne.

And while I understand that with matters of crucial national interest - revelations of clerical abuse, say, or maltreatment in care homes - an immediate follow-up on shows such of this can be important, I couldn't see why Orsmond's film merited, or indeed needed, such instant analysis, especially when nothing new got said.

As for the final segment of Claire Byrne Live, which was devoted to Hughie Maughan's experience of racism against Travellers, would this have featured if the previously unknown Maughan hadn't just acquired a lot of publicity for his brief stint on Dancing with the Stars? Can't the Claire Byrne team come up with ideas of their own?

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In I Am Irish (RTE2), journalist Una Mullally interviewed young people about what it means to be a citizen of this country, while others contributed their experiences and views in video footage.

She herself had quite a lot to say, too, declaring near the outset that "we're a generation actively thinking about the meaning of our country, our Irish identity and the global context of our lives" - as if hitherto no one had ever pondered such matters.

Interesting things got said about religion, social justice, diversity, sexual equality and other topics, but it was all a bit smugly right-on, with no recognition that lots of people from an earlier generation had taken anti-authoritarian and questioning stances when it was more difficult and courageous to do so.

Francis Bacon: A Brush with Violence (BBC2) was a marvellous film that detailed all the gaudy excesses of the great painter's life while never sidelining the art itself.

Richard Curson Smith's 80-minute profile brilliantly used interviews with the man himself along with the reminiscences of those who knew him, including Terence Stamp, Marianne Faithfull, art critic John Richardson and old friends Michael Peppiatt and Nadine Haim.

There were fascinating stories here, not least about former RAF pilot Peter Lacy, a violent lover who regularly beat Bacon up and who was described by Richardson as "one of the most sadistic people I've ever come across". Subsequent lover George Dyer was a thuggish pal of the Kray twins and his sudden death in a Paris hotel room was concealed for two days - with the connivance of Bacon, who feared the scandal would affect the opening of a major retrospective of his work in the Grand Palais.

Oddly, there was no mention of Lucian Freud, another habitue of louche nights in Soho pubs and clubs, but the film was crammed with terrific anecdotes, along with telling insights into the creation of his masterly and unsettling paintings.
Through a busy hotel restaurant in Limerick, a waiter searches for an available table. We find actor Liam O'Brien, stealthily arrived as if through a secret door, already acquiring a spot.

O'Brien, a founder of Bottom Dog Theatre and its regular producer, has a businessman's suave. Whether greeting the hotel's proprietor (one of his theatre company's business partners) or listing off funding figures, his producer style is diplomatic and researched.

Those skills may have developed out of an acute survival instinct. "We've never had any regular funding, at all. It's rare that we can plan ahead", he says, preparing for the launch of Bottom Dog's ninth season.

On his route to the stage, he attended the local stage school, Expressive Arts ("They treated you like little actors. It was never the jazz hands-Billie Barry thing"), and later Trinity College, though he had to leave his course due to illness. "I intended to go back but I started working with Island Theatre Company."

Island Theatre emerged in the mid-1990s and was Limerick's leading company until its funding was cut in 2008. At the age of 19, Liam was cast in their production of Mike Finn's play Pigtown, a nostalgic journey through the city in the 20th century. It remains a significant event in local memory.

"In the 1960s and 1970s, Limerick was this immense theatre town. People kind of forget that. Pigtown felt like the first time in years that people went back to the theatre.

"It was about Limerick, and had a great script, cast and direction. But what I think made it so successful was that Island could afford to do long runs. In the first year, we were already booked for four weeks with an extension of one week. It allowed for word to get out there.

"What happens now in regional theatre is that a touring show will be here for one, maximum two or three nights. There isn't time to spread word of mouth."

O'Brien considers the company's closure as a major loss to Limerick's theatre industry.

"To go to work every night as an actor, and at the end of the week pick up your cheque - that hasn't existed in Limerick since Island. I feel there's a whole generation of people after me who never considered it viable to stay in Limerick."

He's determined to disprove that theory. O'Brien could likely get work anywhere. A casting agent who saw him in a Manchester production of Brian Friel's Translations got him a part in Emmerdale for three years. He's performed in the West End production of The Rat Pack. From a causal conversation with members of the UK company Propeller at the Galway International Arts Festival one year, he landed the clown role of Feste in their international tour of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. But Limerick is the draw for him: "I just want to work with people based here.

"After Island, a group of us knew that we had to keep things going. There's a line about Limerick in Pigtown: In this town, the bottom dog is always the bottom dog."

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Bottom Dog's record reads like a survival guide to theatre-making - each production seems to have been made possible by diverse grants. Their upcoming production of Eric Bogosian's Drinking in America, a one-man play in which O'Brien will play 12 damaged characters, has been funded by a new source, the Limerick Theatre Bursary, totalling 500. That will be used to pay a director and musician. O'Brien is taking a risk on box-office takings to pay himself.

"It was on the shelf when I heard Donald Trump say 'make America great again'. I thought: 'I'm pretty sure someone says something like that in the play."

Bottom Dog will also produce John Murphy's 2006 play Smallone, chosen for revival by its actor Michelle O'Flanagan. "John wants it to be a totally different production. The key to that is doing it somewhere on location; it's set in a bedsit".

Beyond that, O'Brien is hoping to receive an Arts Council Project Award to stage a new play by Myles Breen later in the year. "We're hopeful because they've already invested a development grant in it. Otherwise, the script will sit on the shelf; there are five actors in it and a very esoteric stage design."

Did the Limerick City of Culture do anything to improve artists' ability to work? "It certainly got people motivated again but they should have kept some money in the pot. I think the ball was dropped because they were using it as a template for the European City of Culture 2020 bid.

"There was talk of continuing some projects into 2020 regardless of additional funding but there wasn't a lot of consultation with the artists themselves.

"Then, a lot of councillors got involved for the first time and said 'we're not happy about that - let's talk to the artists'. Now, the council's agreed to approve a budget going forward that increases funding to the arts in Limerick."

That seems a promising sign towards a stable infrastructure. O'Brien, certainly positive, would be easily satisfied. Thinking back on a shrewdly organised tour of Bottom Dog's production of Tom Mac Intyre's What Happened Bridgie Cleary, he smiles. "Everybody got paid. That's my proudest moment."

Drinking in America runs at the Belltable in Limerick from February 7-9, before heading to St John's Arts Centre in Listowel (February 11), and Friars' Gate Theatre in Kilmallock (February 17)
U.S. President George W. Bush waves to supporters as he walks with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (L) and U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R) from the U.S. Capitol, March 15, 2001.

Former US President George Bush labelled Gerry Adams a "murdering thief" - Bertie Ahern has revealed.

The former taoiseach used this memory of his time in power to explain why it is absolutely necessary for Enda Kenny to visit the White House on St Patrick's Day.

Mr Ahern recalled the conversation which occurred when he visited Washington in 2001 for his first St Patrick's Day visit with President Bush.

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In his column in today's Mail on Sunday, Mr Ahern reveals details of the meeting with Mr Bush.

Mr Ahern detailed that Mr Bush said: "How about this guy Adams, my guy said he's a 'murdering thief'.

"I had to work hard to explains to him that yes, Gerry Adams had a past that was to do with the conflict and the IRA. But that we were making a lot of progress and there were a lot of reasons for that."

Mr Ahern said that he could not have explained the complexities of the situation over the phone but the St Patrick's Day access to the POTUS meant he could discuss the issue face to face.

The Mail On Sunday columnist said conversations such as this are the reason Enda Kenny must meet Donald Trump in the White House on St Patrick's Day.

The former Fianna Fail leader says there is no question that the current taoiseach should make the journey to Washington for the occasion as the access to the American President is unparalleled in Europe.

He recalled how he met Russian President Vladamir Putin and Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi while in power as Taoiseach and said it was necessary to meet with different administrations event if the policies of countries differ.

"As Taoiseach I met the US president of the day for 10 consecutive years, so I have a keen understanding of the magnitude of the importance of the visit.

"Leo Varadkar would have you believe there is nothing of substance other than the bowl of shamrock presentation. But then Leo was never there."

Mr Ahern said he felt the concept of a wall was unfair on Mexicans and had no benefit for the US.

He also said that the executive ban on refugees was in contravention of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
Two years after she began fighting for her daughter (9) to get the only drug in the World that can help her, Grainne Cogan has vowed to keep going.

"I am not going away or giving up, this is our daughters' life," the mum who is based with her family in County Monaghan says.

Expand Close Grainne Cogan says the drug is the only drug in the World which can help her daughter Grace (9) Photo: Ciara Wilkinson / Facebook

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Whatsapp Grainne Cogan says the drug is the only drug in the World which can help her daughter Grace (9) Photo: Ciara Wilkinson

An hour away in County Tyrone Aoife McGee, who is also nine, is receiving the drug and there has been a marked difference in her health.

Grace needs Vimizim, an expensive enzyme replacement drug, to treat Morquio, a lifelong condition which has left her as tall as a 2-3 year old and living with pain and fatigue that are getting worse.

Vimizim costs approximately 400,000 a year for an adult and the manufacturers, BioMarin made an application for it to be funded by the HSE.

As part of that process Vimizim was assessed by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE) who decided in December last year not to recommend it for reimbursement.

Expand Close Grace Cogan (9) has been waiting for two years for the life-changing drug she needs Photo: Ciara Wilkinson / Facebook

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Whatsapp Grace Cogan (9) has been waiting for two years for the life-changing drug she needs Photo: Ciara Wilkinson

Following the recommendation from the NCPE, the HSE examines all the evidence which may be relevant for the decision; the final decision on reimbursement is made by the HSE.

Grainne is continuing her campaign and is utterly frustrated that if she lived across the border, a short drive from their home in county Monaghan, her daughters life would be so different.

"We do not have any choices when it comes to treatments. This is the only drug in the World to treat Morquio. We do not have any alternative for Grace.

"It has been tested and cleared for use and it is used in lots of other countries and yet my daughter is suffering because it has not been approved for funding in Ireland."

Expand Close Aoife McGee lives one hour away from Grace and has been receiving the drug Vimizim since last June Photo: Ciara Wilkinson / Facebook

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Whatsapp Aoife McGee lives one hour away from Grace and has been receiving the drug Vimizim since last June Photo: Ciara Wilkinson

The family, from Carrickmacross, thought their prayers were answered last year when the HSE approved their application for Grace to receive the drug under the Treatment Abroad Scheme.

However it was an error because the drug is not approved for use in the Republic and as such the approval cannot be put into action.

Aoife McGee lives one hours drive from Grace in Cookstown, county Tyrone. She is also 9 but unlike Grace she began on Vimizim last June and her mum Seanin said, "there has been a marked difference in Aoife's stamina and overall health."

"Most significantly she used to be very prone to chest infections which resulted in hospital stays and very strong antibiotics. This hasn't happened at all since commencing the therapy."

Aoife has more energy and instead of being "completely exhausted halfway through the school day," she can keep going until teatime without feeling too tired.

Seanin said the primary benefit will be Vimizim contributing to Aoife continuing to growing which will help her curved spine to straighten.

"I find it utterly reprehensible that two children, separated by such a short distance, can be subjected to such a major difference in vital health care. There just aren't adequate words to describe how it feels."

"What possible justification can there be for one little girl to be denied the same level of access to a drug that has been proven so effective across the EU, in the UK and right here in Northern Ireland, a handful of miles over a border? There is no justification. None whatsoever."

Dermot Devlin,who also lives in Northern Ireland, began receiving Vimizim less than three months ago and said, "it works."

"My physical well-being has improved greatly over the last 11 weeks and will continue to do so. I've spoken and made others who were on the Vimizim trial for 5 years and you would not recognise the differences in them as their health has so greatly improved."

"It makes a great differences to quality of life too. I am now able to take part in things that I would have found difficult a few short months ago and I can do it for longer. As a result, people can see the difference in my personality.

"I have always been a happy, positive sort of man, but I'm absolutely buzzing these days. People don't deny Grace the same opportunities to live as I have recently been given. That would be a sin."

Grainne said, "I am not giving up. In the last few weeks Grace has more pain in her legs and she limps more than she used to.

"She is very tired in school and finds it really tough to concentrate at times. When I hear about the difference Vimizim has made for Aoife and Dermot, it is unbelievable. I want that for my daughter! She deserves it!"

There are two other children receiving Vimizim in Ireland because they were part of the original clinical trial and it is normal procedure for the pharmaceutical company to continue to provide it for them.

"I am so happy for everyone else who gets Vimizim but it is not fair that Grace is not getting it. It is just not good enough to say you are not getting the only drug that can help you.

"Two years after I started Campaign for Grace we are still waiting. There is no explanation for having a treatment and not giving it to someone who needs it."

In a statement the HSE said,"The HSE has met the company and no formal conclusion has been arrived at to date."
Undocumented Irish in the US are terrified there is going to be a sudden "round-up" of illegal immigrants by the authorities.

Some have already changed their phone number in a bid to protect themselves from a dawn swoop.

Parents of young families are especially concerned, fearing a 'doomsday scenario' might leave them separated from their children.

And in a chilling development, anybody with even a "minor" criminal conviction has now been advised not to return to Ireland before seeking legal advice - even if they are a Green Card holder - amid growing fears they may not be allowed back into the US.

It comes as concerns mount for the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish people in America following Donald Trump's new deportation and immigration crackdown.

The president has also announced plans for the authorities to publish a weekly list of crimes committed by illegal immigrants, claiming it would "enhance public safety".

Kieran O'Sullivan, an immigration and US citizenship counsellor with the Irish Pastoral Centre in Boston, said Mr Trump's hard line on immigration would drive the undocumented Irish "further underground".

"Life was difficult for them anyway - it will be even more so now. In the past, we've lost some undocumented people to depression and suicide. It wouldn't be huge numbers, but all this added pressure will lead to even more isolation and loneliness," he said. "Everything that's going on is contributing to an increased level of fear."

Mr O'Sullivan added there was a growing sense of fear and foreboding not only among the undocumented but among Green Card holders.

"People are scared. There are people here with children, and they're afraid of what's going to happen. Could immigration officials turn up at their house some evening?

"In some cases, the children don't know that the parents are undocumented.

"The kids are asking questions at the dinner table in the evening about this topic; parents are forced to keep their status to themselves.

"It's tremendously stressful for them. We've had parents come to our clinics asking what will happen to their children if they are picked up. They're asking if they'll be detained," he added.

"A lot of the undocumented are driving on either Irish or international licences. The fear of being pulled over is enhanced - because they feel there's now a greater likelihood it could mean they get turned in.

"Legal, permanent residents, who may have some old convictions, should check in with one of the Irish centres in the US, and speak to an attorney before leaving America to visit Ireland. There are concerns among the legal community that some residents may have cause to be worried, if they have old convictions on their records."

Mr O'Sullivan said that in general the "atmosphere has dramatically worsened" for immigrants in recent weeks.

He highlighted one case in which a fearful immigrant moved apartment and changed his phone number.

"Rumours were doing the rounds of some round-ups in certain areas," he added.

"That fear will continue to be there, until such time that we can convince the Trump administration to fix the system.

"We need some sort of reform. There are good, hard-working, tax-paying people here, filling jobs that the Americans won't do."

Leslie Alcock, executive director of the Irish Immigration Centre of Philadelphia, said it had experienced a 200pc surge in general calls in the space of three days.

"So much is unknown. Are there going to be raids again? Are people going to be directly targeted? There's just so much uncertainty, and as a result of that so much worry," he said.

"People are glued to the news in terms of what might happen next. Everyone is still reeling and in shock. People are trying to find practical things they can do - so that they can try and feel more secure. The undocumented are the most vulnerable, but the fear is across the board."

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said he was "optimistic" that immigration reform would be pursued by Congress in 2017.

"I can assure the undocumented Irish that as a Government we are doing everything we can to advocate for relief and a path to legalisation.

"I raised the issue at every meeting I had in Washington and we will continue our work until this matter is resolved.

"This affects families in my own constituency so I am well aware of the distress it is causing to families on both sides of the Atlantic, and I am committed to finding a solution," he added.
Powerful Irish-American Congressman Paul Ryan will be a strong ally as the Government grapples with how to approach the new Trump administration, ministers believe.

Amid fears that President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration to the US will impact on the undocumented Irish, Mr Ryan, the Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, is seen as sympathetic to Ireland. But the Government faces a challenging course as it attempts to navigate its relationship with a Trump administration which has already fallen out with allies such as Australia and Mexico.

Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan spoke of the need for Ireland to renew links with the Republican Party prior to his trip to Washington DC last week.

He met Mr Ryan, who he described as "one of the most influential politicians on Capitol Hill".

Mr Flanagan said he has had several discussions with Mr Ryan about Ireland's concerns and priorities.

"I believe he will use his significant influence to help advance some of our priorities in this Congress," he added.

The Wisconsin Congressman, who was the Republican candidate for vice-president in 2012, tweeted a photograph of his meeting with Mr Flanagan and spoke of his "great pride" in his Irish roots.

Former foreign affairs committee chairman Pat Breen met Mr Ryan on several occasions and said "he is a very strong ally".

The junior jobs minister expressed his confidence that Taoiseach Enda Kenny would manage what could be a tricky relationship with the Trump administration. He added: "I think with the help of Paul Ryan - who's the third most powerful person now in the Trump administration after Mike Pence - that relationship will settle and blossom."

The Taoiseach has faced calls - including from Independent minister Shane Ross - not to go to the White House for St Patrick's Day amid Trump's ban on immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Enda Kenny disagrees with the policy and has said he will raise the matter when he meets the US president. But he defended his plan to attend the traditional festivities as an opportunity to raise issues of importance to Ireland.

Mr Flanagan said he highlighted concern over Trump's executive order on immigration and its "damaging consequences in humanitarian terms" during his meetings with senior US politicians. He said it was "far more valuable" to engage with the administration than to "indulge in populist megaphone diplomacy".

Mr Kenny said he was considering inviting Trump to Ireland, a prospect Labour leader Brendan Howlin criticised as "beyond the pale" while the Muslim ban remained in place. Mr Flanagan didn't respond directly when asked if Mr Trump should be invited, but said: "Most American presidents in the last 50 years have been invited to Ireland".

Separately, Independent Alliance minister Finian McGrath denied the group was divided over Trump. He told RTE that while he, Sean Canney and Kevin 'Boxer' Moran believed the Taoiseach should go to the White House, they had agreed to differ with Mr Ross and John Halligan on the issue.

He said: "The overall view of the Independent Alliance is we're very critical of Trump."
The house where up to 70 tenants were living Inset: Christian Carter

Award-winning businesswoman Marissa Carter has condemned the actions of her younger brother after it emerged he had been overcrowding a house in Dublin with up to 70 people.

Independent.ie previously exposed through an undercover investigation how landlord Christian Carter (29) was pocketing thousands in rent each month from foreign nationals living in "dangerous" conditions in The Pines, Lehaunstown, Cabinteely.

Marissa (33), who runs the successful Cocoa Brown tanning range, has distanced herself from her brother's actions, claiming they "never saw eye to eye".

Mr Carter is due to appear in the Circuit Civil Court on Monday morning after he was ordered to find the remaining tenants alternative accommodation by 5pm on Saturday.

Expand Close The Pines, Lehaunstown, Cabinteely which had up to 70 people living there at one time Photo: Tony Gavin / Facebook

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Whatsapp The Pines, Lehaunstown, Cabinteely which had up to 70 people living there at one time Photo: Tony Gavin

Last week, the court heard how tenants had been living in "dangerous and unhealthy conditions," with Judge Jacqueline Linnane describing the house as an "unauthorised hostel."

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Mr Carter had been subletting the property from the owner and charged the tenants 200 per month to live in cramped conditions.

"Christian and I, sadly, haven't spoken in close to a decade," the tanning entrepreneur told the Irish Mail on Sunday.

"The first that I knew of the housing business was when I read it on a news website, and I feel awful for the tenants that are there. I just hope the situation gets resolved and that the tenants are looked after.

"He [Christian] was 19 or 20 when I last spoke to him. I have five brothers but unfortunately Christian and I never saw eye to eye and when I moved out of home we just drifted apart. I'm sad to say that we don't really know each other any more."

Ms Carter, who was awarded Image Business Woman of the Year 2016, further added: "I can only be responsible for my own actions and you can't live someone else's life for them."

Independent.ie broke the story in January this year and following an inspection by Dun-Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, the tenants were ordered to vacate the property.

"They would be safer sleeping on couches somewhere, than in that house," Judge Linnane remarked in court on Thursday.

The house was deemed to be a fire safety hazard and had significant sewage problems.

Jayne Dobson, an engineer with the council, carried out an inspection and said the septic tank was inadequate for servicing ten people, let alone over 60 residents.

Mr Carter told Independent.ie: "I take a lot of pride in making a good environment for tenants in affordable housing instead of hostels at 40 a night."
The spiralling bill for the new National Children's Hospital - now expected to cost at least 1bn - must be explained, Labour health spokesman Alan Kelly has said.

Kelly has demanded that Health Minister Simon Harris tell TDs why the cost has risen by more than 300m from an estimated 650m now that the preferred bidder to build the hospital has been selected.

He said that the ultimate cost will be 1.2bn after the hospital is kitted out with equipment and IT.

Kelly warned that other capital spending in the health service may suffer as a result and raised fears about funding for the planned National Maternity Hospital. He called on Harris to make a statement to the Dail setting out "why these costs have escalated" and "whose fault it is".

Increased construction costs due to the improving economy have been blamed for the rising cost of the project, which has a controversial history.

A site at St James's Hospital was selected after a previous location at the Mater Hospital was rejected by planners. Campaigners still argue it should be located at Connolly Hospital, in Blanchardstown.

The Irish Times reported that building firm BAM Ireland has been selected as the preferred bidder for the project. That is subject to a 14-day cooling-off period in case of objections or legal hurdles.

A Department of Health spokesman said that the children's hospital board completed an evaluation of tenders for construction work that includes two offshoot care centres in Connolly and Tallaght hospitals.

Proposed costs are included in a business case to be reviewed by the HSE and the department before being considered by the Government in the coming weeks. The department continues to work to "ensure that we deliver the world-class hospital".
A UNIVERSITY College Cork lecturer has criticised the term abortion on demand - stating terminations were not like "choosing from a menu" while a Dublin City University lecturer urged rape victims to give birth because abortions wouldn't bring "justice."

The two polar opposite views were presented by Dr Joan McCarthy, lecturer in nursing and midwifery at UCC and Dr Donal OMathuna, from the department of nursing and human sciences at DCU.

While Dr McCarthy gave her pro-choice view to the Citizens Assembly, who met in Malahide, Co Dublin, Dr OMathuna, focused on his pro-life stance, urging Irish people to follow the good life, even when it came to post-rape pregnancy.

"The phrase abortion on demand is a harsh description of the decision the woman has to make," Dr McCarthy said.

"She isn't choosing from a menu, she has to take in the constraints, other children, dependents, poverty, her health risks, her life risk."

Contraception, abstinence, are ways of avoiding reproduction, but contraception fails, Dr McCarthy told the 99 members of the Assembly.

Women can become pregnant from coercion or rape, women and men can make mistakes and theres bad luck.

Women can fall pregnant and they are unduly burdened. Pregnancy disproportionately places responsibility on women and girls...the psychological impact of a crisis pregnancy is burdensome.

"Women and girls are best situated in a moral view, to weigh all factors, because they are most interconnected to the foetus, the most well positioned to say what are the relative factors, responsibility to other children, dependent relatives, education or career.

"Because of the Eighth Amendmentclinical practices have posed serious risks to women, it tramples on their rights...I suggest we repeal and replace with rights that reconnect women and girls...create rules where children are wanted, cared for and loved.

"It places a double burden on women and girls who can't travel, they're forced to continue pregnancies and undergo risks, or try to gain illegal abortions.

"It discriminates against women in the asylum system, the traveling community, the ill, or those who have a disability which means they can't travel."

But Dr OMathuna gave a very different view to the members, echoing religious sentiment harking back to years gone by about morality and abstinence, even suggesting institutions and family should be there to help a woman and child post crisis pregnancy.

But the most shocking statement he made came when he referred to female victims of rape who find they have become pregnant as a result of a crime.

"Rape is abhorred," Dr O'Mathuna said, "But the unborn had nothing to do with the harm that was inflicted there, why should they be the ones who have their chance of life removed because of that terrible situation.

"Allowing the unborn to grow and develop, protecting and nurturing them, allowing them to become autonomous, the right thing in other situations, and how they came to be, should not be the determining factor of what determines their chance of life.

"This would be very difficult and challenging. I know some people born after rape and they are very happy with the lives they have and are very grateful for the choices their mothers made.

"Taking away the life of an innocent because of a man's crime is not going to take away any pain, nor is it going to promote justice. Allowing life to come from a heinous crime can let some good come out of a terrible situation."

He also spoke about sexual liberation in Irish society today, saying: "If we get into bed with someone else, we take on certain responsibilities, whether we acknowledge them or not. Intended or unintended, a pregnancy may result and that's why becoming sexually active is such a momentous decision in people's lives, whether they think about that or not.

"Societies have urged people to reserve sexual activity, until there is a committed, permanent relationship there, that's ready to welcome a child into society."

Dr OMathuna made such comments despite saying earlier it was a positive the "clergy and husbands" had less autonomy on the rights of women in Ireland today.

His notion of "the good life" in society, he said could include having money, a house and family, an "ideal" he had seemingly created. This was something he was questioned on by members of the Assembly, who suggested this view was not based on reality and Dr McCarthy said he was trying to "impose" his own ideas on others and that was not societal autonomy.

He accepted that many people today in Ireland didn't view sex as being directly connected to creating a life.

But he added, this view was a mistake because the two were connected and if Irish society wanted to put children first, this would be recognised and there would then be less crisis pregnancies.

Dr McCarthy said she was concerned by her counterparts description of forgiveness around women who have crisis pregnancies or abortions.

She stated the right to bodily autonomy for women was a human rights issue and nothing less.
Be honest with me here: You have one or even multiple friends, who always post their gym activity to Facebook. Or maybe that person is you.

"Ran 15 miles before work! Yeah" can be motivating to read in the morning, or incredibly annoying, depending on how much you hate that painfully overused flexed-biceps-emoji.

Researchers from the Brunel University in London have conducted a study as to why so many people share every workout on social media. The results are unflattering, to say the least.

Addicted to attention and esteem

People who are always keen on documenting their gym activities (or every time you simply go for a good, old-fashioned run) tend to be narcissists. According to the researchers, the primary goal is to boast about how much time you invest in your looks. Apparently, these status updates also earn more Facebook likes than other kinds of posts.

"Narcissists more frequently updated about their achievements, which was motivated by their need for attention and validation from the Facebook community", the study concludes. The high number of likes doesn't necessarily mean everyone loves seeing those bragging posts, though.

Dr Tara Marshal goes on saying, that "although our results suggest that narcissists' bragging pays off because they receive more likes and comments to their status updates, it could be that their Facebook friends politely offer support while secretly disliking such egotistical displays."

So, unless you get creative in your workout, maybe hold back on those daily Facebook updates on your progress in the gym. Your friends will thank you for it.
First-time buyers Aoife Manahan and Andrew Caulfield bought a three-bedroom semi in the first phase of Seagreen, Greystones, with Sherry FitzGerald, which at the time was priced from 395,000.

'We were living in Australia, and we came back in May 2015. We had been out of Ireland for a year-and-a-half. We were horrified at the rent prices. We had thought we'd come back, rent, and then save and buy. When we saw the rental prices we thought, we'll be renting for 10 years by the time we can afford to save a deposit.

"Luckily we have very patient and supportive parents so we both moved home. We thought, whatever we were going to put into rent, let's save it. So we met with a financial adviser. We thought if we want to move forward with this, we want to be in the best financial position possible. The financial adviser was able to say to us, 'Okay you need to do X, Y and Z.'

"You might think you're in great financial standing but there might be just one little thing that you're doing that needs to be tweaked. And if you can do that six to 12 months in advance of going for the mortgage, it just makes the process much smoother.

"In March last year, we had the deposit behind us, so we thought now is the time to look. And within the same week, the Seagreen development launched. I'm from Greystones, but we never thought we'd be able to live there from the start. We were really lucky. We met with the banks a week before it launched. We had our approval in principle sorted from a couple of lenders. I actually grew up in a Wood Group home myself - I had confidence in them. We ideally wanted something that was ready for us to move in to; we both have demanding jobs, we didn't want to have to put a lot of time into renovating the home.

"There is one thing I would advise any couple going through this to do: we opened a Dropbox folder online that we both had access to and we put all of our documents, like payslips, bank statements, proof of address, in there. So if a bank came back looking for things, we both had access to that. It just sped up everything from our side. Update it monthly with payslips and statements.

"On the day of the launch, I think it was starting at 1pm but we went up at 7am and there was already a queue at that point."
When the final figures come in, it is likely that 2016 will have seen 15,000 new dwellings completed. Stock photo: PA

Last year, 6,200 newly built homes were sold in Ireland, an increase of almost 100 on the total for 2015, and twice the number of new home sales seen in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Given the early part of 2015 was a period of significant activity - as borrowers rushed to use their mortgage approvals from before the Central Bank rules - the fact that volumes increased again in 2016 can only be viewed as a good thing.

So far, so good. However, the bulk of what is being built still does not come on to the market. When the final figures come in, it is likely that 2016 will have seen 15,000 new dwellings completed. Thus, out of every 10 dwellings built, only four ever come on the market - the other six are self-builds. Indeed, of the 80,000 new dwellings completed since the start of 2010, just 32,000 have come on the market.

This huge gap is not normal - in most countries, the bulk of new homes built would be for the market, rather than self-build. It reflects a long-standing problem with land usage in Ireland. Those building for themselves often do so on family land, which is free, or else as one-offs on cheap land far away from urban centres. Such building imposes huge costs on the rest of society, with knock-on effects for services, such as healthcare and broadband, which rely on density to be cheap.

Overcoming this problem will require a fundamental rethink about how we use land in Ireland. One aspect of this is about regional development. A narrative has emerged that "Dublin is too big". This misses the point completely that in any economy, and certainly in an economy the size of Ireland, leading cities determine the size of the rest of the economy: in simple terms, if we want our fifth, 15th and 50th biggest cities to be bigger, we need our biggest city to be bigger. This is not something we get to choose - these are the laws of economic geography.

In addition to rethinking the role of our cities, we also need bottom-up measures that encourage far better use of land. As I've written previously in this column, our cities and towns are riddled with "last use" rather than "best use" examples of land usage, with army barracks, industrial estates and bus depots taking up sites that would be far better used for residential or commercial purposes. To encourage public and private organisations to use land better, we need to introduce a land tax - a measure that would also penalise speculation, land hoarding and cynical vacancies.

But that is only part of the problem. A far bigger part of the problem is not that there are 9,000 self-builds but that there are only 6,000 dwellings built for sale. In a country growing as rapidly as Ireland, between 40,000 and 50,000 new homes are needed each year. Allowing 10,000 of those to be self-builds, this means that construction of homes for sale needs to be roughly five times the size it is now.

And that huge gap between what is needed and what is happening is due largely to the high level of construction costs in Ireland. This refers to hard costs, so issues around profit margins, VAT and site costs are contributing to this. Experts say that it costs roughly 50pc more to build a home of 100 square metres in Ireland than in other parts of Europe. This is the nub of the problem.

The second half of 2016 saw two important changes to the housing market. Firstly, first-time buyers of newly built homes were given access in the Budget to their past income tax, of up to 20,000, to lower the deposit needed.

Secondly, the minimum deposit requirement for first-time buyers was lowered even further by the Central Bank. These measures will boost prices and, in so doing, the argument goes, stimulate new supply.

Unfortunately, such measures do not address the underlying problem in the new home segment today. Ireland - with its rapidly declining average household size - desperately needs new homes other than three- and four-bedroom semi-detached houses in estates. It needs student bedrooms near universities, central apartments in high-rise blocks for young professionals, and suburban mid-rise apartments for well-to-do downsizers, as well as many more types of home.

Until the high cost of building in Ireland is addressed, though, we are likely to see only baby steps towards a sector building at least 40,000 dwellings per year.

The Minister for Housing announced an audit of construction costs in Ireland, compared to its peers, last October. The results of that study can't come soon enough.
APPEAL: The Kia Rio still has the tiger nose but the overall shape is on the conservative side

Competition has never been as keen in the supermini segment as Ford Fiesta, VW Polo, Toyota Yaris, Renault Clio and Opel Corsa battle it out. A new Micra has recently broken ground with a very grown-up feel so it is timely that Kia replaced its offering here with an all-new Rio.

The outgoing model had a facelift a few years ago but now the fightback from sluggish sales begins on March 1. High on the agenda for the older driver fans will be Kia's trump card, the seven-year warranty.

But for younger drivers, female drivers are being targeted, and style and advanced technology are critical elements in any campaign to win new fans.

The new model is longer, lower and wider now but the exterior styling is on the conservative side and not as stand-out as the target audience "young customers with style in mind" may appreciate.

The 'tiger nose' is still there with a bigger and bolder lower grille, new headlights but the overall shape is not as exciting as one would have liked, so Kia may have to play up the brand's long-recognised reliability.

The body lines are sleek and the rear shows wide light clusters but dramatic changes like we have seen in the Micra are missing.

On the inside, there are big improvements with 5" and 7" screens available, depending on trim levels.

The dashboard is well laid out and seats are comfortable and there is a choice of furnishings. Head height has been increased by 5mm, legroom by 8mm and the Rio is now 15mm longer so there is more interior space - a good point for supermini models.

There is now a bigger boot (two levels) which can extend from a larger-than-usual segment size of 325 litres to a full flat big load carrying area of 980 litres.

Build quality has also been improved, making the bodyshell 30pc stiffer and the Rio is 17kgs lighter which benefits fuel consumption and handling.

New also are the improved front suspensions, new steering geometry and new shock absorbers which all add to a smoother drive up front. But strangely on bumpy, winding roads the damping is not quite up to the same standard of comfort for rear-seat passengers.

Insulation is good with low levels of wind and engine noise penetrating into the cabin.

Prices are predicted to start at 5 below 16,000 for the entry level 1.2 petrol model in the basic LX trim.

This is ideal for driving around town where the Rio will be very much at home with a tight turning circle but those wanting a more energetic drive have two diesel options.

There is also a 1-litre turbo 3-cylinder available in the near future. The 1.2 litre petrol offering gives 84bhp with 4.8L/100kms with C02 levels of 106g/km.

The entry level 1.4 litre diesel gives 77bhp (92 g/km) while the 90bhp unit claims a fuel consumption of 3.8L/100km (80mpg) with 98g/km of C02.

The 1-litre engine, which is due in July production models, is currently used in the Hyundai i20 and Kia cee'd.

It has a 99bhp output and 102g/km of C02 with a claimed fuel consumption figure of 4.2L/100km (62mpg).

This gives a lively engaging drive and will be a favourite, although more costly.

A special automatic transmission is being developed for this engine which urban drivers will appreciate.

With the 1.2litre petrol engine, this will be the best seller at what we believe to be around 18,000. Prices and specifications will be finalised in the coming weeks.
Derry Clarke should be giving cookery lessons to the parents of Ireland, because if he could teach them all to prepare broccoli the way that he does at L'Ecrivain, there would be no problem getting children to eat their vegetables.

In among all the delights of a recent meal at the Michelin-starred restaurant, it was the broccoli that we were still talking about days later. I'm guessing that it was just blanched, and then tossed in brown butter and served with toasted almonds; I don't think that there was anything more complicated to it than that, but boy was it good. And the luscious butter did a fine job of escorting all those fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K from Leaving Cert biology memory) to where they were needed. Eat your greens? Yes please.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The broccoli was just one of many high points in an exemplary meal.

Derry and Sallyanne Clarke opened L'Ecrivain in 1989, and the fact that it is still going from strength to strength 27 years later is testament to the innate skill, charm and hard work of one of Ireland's great restaurant couples.

Clarke may have trained in the classical French tradition, but his food continues to demonstrate a willingness to learn and adapt, to move with the times without forsaking his roots. And whereas in the past I might have quibbled with over-formal service at L'Ecrivain, that too has softened, in keeping with contemporary preference. It's still impeccable, still polished, but more friendly, and the ambience of the room is more relaxed than I remember it.

On the Friday night of our visit, L'Ecrivain is busy with family tables and couples on date nights. It is - particularly at weekends - a restaurant in which to celebrate a special occasion. There's a happy buzz in the room that feels convivial without being shouty and, despite having booked 10 days or so in advance and this being the middle of January, the bleakest of months for restaurants, our table is up a flight of stairs to a mezzanine that overlooks the main room, opposite the enormous Knuttel artwork. It turns out to be a good spot from which to watch the comings and goings in the main dining room below, but I think that I'll request a table in the thick of things on my next visit.

At dinner, there's a choice between the 90 eight-course tasting menu, and a three-course dinner menu priced at 75. Difficult customers that we are, we choose the three-course option and then ask if it's possible to swap dishes between the two. It's not a problem. In the end, this being a Michelin-starred establishment and one that likes to treat its customers well, there are a few extra bits and bobs as well.

First up is an amuse bouche of salmon, offered as a dark-hued ballotine (beetroot-dyed perhaps?) alongside a tartare, flavoured with radish, citrus and dill. It's more than a throwaway mouthful, and a very good beginning.

A starter of roast scallops with Jerusalem artichoke in the form of puree and crisps, surrounded by a smoked butter dashi is lush in its umami-ness, while Flaggy Shore Oyster (the oysters come from where the hills of the Burren slope down to meet Galway Bay) combines a plump bivalve with smoked eel, celeriac, walnut and caviar in a dish that's light, sophisticated and full of flavour.

A delicate quenelle of foie gras parfait is accompanied by fermented plum and pain d'epices; a mouthful of chilled Recioto della Valpolicella, Classico, 2010, from Zenato by way of pairing is inspired and innovative compared to the usual white dessert wine. Generally, palate cleansers don't do much for me, but the combination of juniper, camomile, lime and tonic in a little glass of sorbet is like a G&T without the G, and it's rather lovely.

Main courses of Sika deer with juniper ash, gnocchi, chanterelles and navet (baby turnip), and wild Wicklow wood pigeon with beetroot puree and blackberry are gamey, earthy, and perfectly executed.

A pre-dessert of whipped goat's cheese with pear, candied walnuts and thyme is simple and simply lovely, while a chocolate mille feuille with blood orange puree and sorbet looks like a Salvador Dali painting and bears no resemblance to a Terry's Chocolate Orange. Cheeses in prime condition - Fourme d'Ambert, Pont L'Eveque, Cais na Tire and Durrus - are served with gooseberry chutney and a sharp piccalilli.

Our bill, with two bottles of water, two glasses of white wine to accompany the starters (the Assyrtiko Gaia 2015 from Santorini was smokily perfect with the Flaggy Shore oyster dish) and a bottle of Pinot Noir Eradus (60) (one of L'Ecrivain's 'house' wines available also by the glass), came to 244.50 to which a discretionary service charge of 12.5pc was added.

I wish more restaurants would do this (so long as it does go to the staff) as many Irish diners are still either clueless or mean when it comes to proper tipping. Building a service charge into the cost of the meal is a way to ensure decent wages for restaurant staff and do away with the daily lottery that goes hand in hand with working front of house in so many Irish restaurants.

THE RATING

9/10 food

9/10 ambience

9/10 value for money

27/30

ON A BUDGET

As with many Michelin-starred restaurants, lunch at L'Ecrivain is something of a bargain, coming in at 35 for two courses and 45 for three. Expect some crossover between dishes on the lunch and dinner menus.

ON A BLOW OUT

The dinner tasting menu with matching wines is 150 per head. Add service and you're looking at a bill for two of just under 340 including service. Of course, there is also a very grown-up wine list to explore.

THE HIGH POINT

The broccoli in brown butter.

THE LOW POINT

I'm not sure about the Knuttel.
Would you let a stranger stay on your couch? How about 100 strangers in a year? I did, and before you ask, no, it wasn't for the money. Circa 2011, it was before Airbnb had entered into the general lexicon. I was living in a shared house with three flatmates; Ronan, the Sydney-born mostly Irish-reared contrarian with a distinctive accent who often clashed with Frenchie, aptly named for his Gallic swagger and unapologetic Frenchness.

Then there was Polly, a Russian-speaking petite blonde who had spent the previous few years travelling the world with her boyfriend. Working full-time as an architect, she was suffering from an aching wanderlust that was compounded by her office job and would regale us with tales of other people's adventures. In an attempt to appease her gnawing travel bug, she propositioned the household to try couchsurfing and inexplicably, we all said yes.

For the uninitiated, Couchsurfing.com is like the lovechild of Facebook and Airbnb. Hosts and surfers both create profiles about themselves, the hosts describing their home and surfers describing themselves. Surfers contact hosts in the hope of staying with them and it is at the discretion of the host to accept or reject their request.

We added our names to Polly's existing account with a few photos and then selected the option to make the house 'available'. The requests began filtering in and we soon had our first surfers.

I don't remember much about those first guests except that they ignited something in us all that saw a constant flow of couchsurfers follow in their wake. There were musicians, nurses, fed up civil servants, students and full-time backpackers and they came from all over; Austria, Canada, Brazil, Poland, Estonia, Mexico, South Korea, Alaska, Bosnia and Switzerland.

There was Francesca, the vivacious Italian who cooked so much food every surface in the kitchen cradled a crispy-based pizza. Jakob and Holger, the six-foot Germans who would play ping-pong with Frenchie in the living room using saucepans or squash rackets in lieu of wooden paddles. Giles, who worked as a teacher in New Caledonia and spent his summers travelling the world. And Swann, the tiny Parisian artist whose couch I slept on the first time I went to Paris.

Expand Close Polly (centre) with a German and an American guest / Facebook

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James, a flame-haired Dubliner, has become a dear friend. He shared our futon with his Italian fling Antonio, a barber who offered haircuts by way of saying thanks for having him. Martina, the generous pretzel-baking Bavarian, ended up staying for six weeks sharing Polly's attic bedroom and invited us to her wedding last summer.

There was the Frenchman who had travelled through the Middle East literally dodging bombs with a guitar strapped to his back. The jovial Icelandic boys who wanted haircuts then sat patiently being shorn like sheep as we gave them buzz cuts. The Hawaiian guy who only had five days off and used them to travel the world.

While our home might have resembled a commune, its inhabitants living a frugal bohemian existence, we were either full-time workers or full-time students. We paid rent and bills while maintaining a home that just happened to be a temporary shelter for strangers.

What was intended as a brief dalliance for Polly's sanity resulted in a kinetic household of people and accents, backpacks and romance, food, music and mess. At times it was tiring but mostly it was addictive, this strange kinship heightened by the fleeting nature of travel. The tip-toeing courtesies that usually exist between strangers were very quickly forgotten when you'd heard them snore and they had seen your bed hair.

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It was a year of perfect chaos and I reflect on it in a climate of a mass upheaval for millions of displaced humans. Now, more than ever, we are told to fear the stranger who should not be allowed onto our shores let alone into our homes. Now, more than ever, I understand the importance of pursuing friendship with strangers not least because it reiterates the fundamentals of humankind but because it just might change your life.

Among all those souls that traipsed through our door I met the person who turned me into a traveller, the person who I packed my bags for and followed to Ireland - this new place I call home. While I understand most people are not in the position to welcome hordes of strangers into their open arms and open home, you really should forget everything you've been told about not talking to strangers. You should do it, often and with gusto.

And if you're wondering what the worst that could happen is, let me put your fears to rest. While living with 100 and more strangers there was not a single nasty event, aside from the occasional shortage of loo roll.
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Colm McCarthy Opinion Free money is not the way to head off a crisis

Managing the macro economy involves three perspectives. These are the short-term  the next six months or a year; the medium-term  the next four or five years; and the long-term  the issues that demand to be addressed decades in advance. From the perspective of Irish governments in recent times, only the short-term merits attention, with the medium-term left to the civil service and the long-term to sporadic commissions and academic worrywarts.
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Mary Kenny Opinion If men want to yammer on about sport, then let them  it helps them connect emotionally

I was travelling on a train from Dublin to Cork, and near me sat two Dublin men. Throughout the entire journey they managed to keep up a fluent dialogue about English football teams. From Aston Villa to Sheffield Wednesday, from Crystal Palace to Manchester City the conversation flowed eloquently. I was in awe at the minutiae of their knowledge and expertise. And if the topic of their discourse lacked a certain variety, it was nonetheless better than sitting in sullen silence, or glued to their phones.
'This day last year gangland figures armed with AK47s and dressed in mock Garda tactical uniforms stormed a hotel in broad daylight, opened fire and murdered a man, in the process sparking what is referred to as a 'feud', but which is out-and-out warfare'

Today marks the first anniversary of one of the most shocking events ever related to gangland culture in Ireland, a culture which has existed in Dublin, in particular, for several generations and has thrived to varying degrees at different times down the decades, extending its reach into other parts of the country. Gangland culture is not confined to Ireland, of course, but exists in many if not most developed countries worldwide, wherever the correlation between the illicit drug trade and crime has developed.

This day last year gangland figures armed with AK47s and dressed in mock Garda tactical uniforms stormed a hotel in broad daylight, opened fire and murdered a man, in the process sparking what is referred to as a 'feud', but which is out-and-out warfare, that has claimed the lives of many since, including people with no association at all with gangland crime, other than to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or to have spoken to the wrong person.

Law enforcement professionals worldwide have shown supreme dedication and face risks daily to defend citizens against such criminal activity, yet gangland culture continues to evolve with ever more degrees of sophistication and brutality. The mutual relationship between illicit drugs and crime is at the core of the problem. The gardai here, with their counterparts internationally, strive to contend with this issue by both enforcing the laws against drug use and also by disrupting supply. It is a never-ending battle, interrupted by occasional successes, before the many-headed serpent evolves and resumes as before.

It is truly a Herculean task that confronts the gardai, but one that they are often forced to tackle with a hand tied behind their back. To most effectively use the power of law enforcement, certain basics are required: international co-ordination and intelligence sharing, the use of better technology, equitable sentencing policies, and a focus on criminal targets that cause the nation most damage. These tenets of law enforcement have not always been available to the gardai, although to give the Government its due, a more sustained and properly resourced effort has been belatedly undertaken since those shocking events which took place at the Regency Hotel in Dublin last year.

The Kinahan and Hutch 'feud' has corroded communities with fear, violence and corruption, in some cases leaving residents afraid to go out of their homes, causing legitimate businesses to flee, and the quality of life to suffer for many ordinary, decent people. The outcome of the 'feud' to date has been one-sided, although the truth is that there are no innocent parties on either side at the centre of what has been a reprehensible display of death and destruction.

Community support is also critical to the success of law enforcement. When people lose confidence in the fairness and logic of the law, law enforcement efforts can suffer. In recent weeks, the gardai have had some success: there have been significant seizures of drugs and cash, and also of weapons, and arrests have been made. There may be an element of public relations management associated with some of these developments as the anniversary approached, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The community needs to be made aware of developments, however relatively small they may be when placed alongside the scale of the international operation against which the gardai are pitted.

At a broader level, however, it must be underwritten that Ireland and the wider European community is based on a rule of law designed to ensure the safety and security of all people. Indeed, the central figure in the events of the past year, Christopher Kinahan, is reputed to operate at an international level, across several continents. Therefore, it follows that it will require a co-ordinated international effort to take him down. Drugs and crime are among this country's most pressing social problems. Kinahan and his like have placed a tremendous burden on the economic and social conditions of our communities. The Garda investigation into his affairs will continue and is wished every success.
The Brexit vote, and the fall in the value of sterling, caused a 32pc drop in the number of property enquiries from the UK in the past year, a national estate agents' survey has found.

Almost 20pc of overseas enquiries about Irish property are now coming from the United States, from a negligible base two years ago, according to the Real Estate Alliance (REA) nationwide survey.

"Property buyers from the US are increasingly securing homes and investment properties in Ireland, buoyed by a strong dollar and the lure of a resurgent economy for emigrants," REA chairman Eamonn Spratt says.

Irish property vendors can take advantage of this demand by registering for the REA Irish Property Exhibition, which is being held in Boston on March 23 next.
Parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan struggled to dig out from heavy snow on Sunday, with dozens of people reported killed and some major highways closed.

Heavy snow also blanketed the Afghan capital of Kabul, where the government closed its offices.

In northern Afghanistan's Badakhshan province, over the past two days as many as 19 people were killed and 17 injured by avalanches, collapsed roofs and road accidents, said Naweed Frotan, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

The government was working to reach at least 12 districts in Badakhshan that had been completely cut off, he added.

On the other side of the border, at least nine people, including children, were killed by an avalanche in northern Pakistan's Chitral district, with as many as 14 residents believed to still be trapped in collapsed houses, said district official Syed Maghferat Shah.

"So far the rescue workers have recovered nine bodies and efforts are under way to retrieve more," he said.

The avalanche struck a small village of 25 houses, but evacuation operations were delayed by the weather, said Chitral deputy commissioner Shahab Hameed Yousafzai.

"There is no way to rush the injured persons to Chitral hospital because all roads in the valley have been blocked due to heavy snowfall," he said.

In a separate incident in the Chitral region, a government rescue worker was killed when an avalanche struck a check post near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the commanding officer told Reuters.

The snow wreaked havoc on major roads in Afghanistan, including the Kabul-Kandahar Highway, where police and soldiers had to rescue around 250 cars and buses trapped by the storm, said Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for Ghazni province, where as much as two metres of new snow was reported.

"Some people were carried to local residents' houses and some to military and police checkpoints," he said, noting that officials expected the road to reopen quickly. "Fortunately we arrived on time and there is not a single causality."

The Salang pass north of Kabul was also closed under as much as two and a half metres of snow, according to police general Rajab Salangi, who oversees the area.

"It will remain blocked until the snow is cleared from the main road, facilities are provided and it is safe to travel," he said.
The Louvre has reopened to the public less than 24 hours after a machete-wielding assailant shouting "Allahu Akbar!" was shot by soldiers in Paris.

In drizzly weather, tourists filed by armed police and soldiers outside the central Paris museum, which had been closed immediately after Friday's attack. The attacker was shot four times after injuring a soldier patrolling a shopping area beneath the museum.

An Egyptian interior ministry official confirmed the identity of the attacker as Egyptian-born Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy (28).

The official said the initial investigation found no record of political activism, criminal activity or membership of any militant groups at home.

Tweets about a trip from Dubai to Paris were sent from the Twitter profile of an Abdallah El-Hamahmy on January 26. In the profile photo, the man is seen smiling and leaning against a wall in a blue and white jacket. In another tweet, the user went on a rant, posting: "No negotiation, no compromise, no letting up, certainly no climb down, relentless war."

The assailant remains in a grave condition in hospital, according to French authorities who have yet to confirm the identification.

Louvre visitors expressed mixed feelings yesterday over the incident, with some tourists planning to leave Paris earlier than planned.

"We heard on the news that a terrorist attack took place... We stayed at the hotel and were thinking about cutting our vacation in Paris short," said Lucia Reveron from Argentina.

Others were stoic and felt safe because of the heightened security presence.

"I went around yesterday, in the evening, and security was everywhere. Even now when we arrived (at The Louvre) we were checked and it's secure. I don't feel any threats," said Kurt Vellafonde from Malta.

With the spate of attacks on the country in the last couple of years, many permanent residents have become resilient.

"There have been very good security measures taken, and it does not scare me at all," said Regine Dechivre. "It's the phenomena of a person a little bit disturbed. The investigation will tell us what exactly happened," she added.

The United Arab Emirates condemned the attack after a French official said on Friday night that the attacker was believed to have been living in that country. UAE officials offered no comment about his possible connection to the country.

The country, which includes the Middle East commercial hub of Dubai, is a major destination for guest workers from Egypt and numerous other countries.

"The UAE, while strongly condemning this hideous crime, affirms its full solidarity with the friendly French Republic in these circumstances and its support for whatever measures France may take to preserve its security and safety of its citizens and residents," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said in a statement.

The ministry called for an intensification of international efforts to fight extremism and terrorism, and praised French soldiers for their response to the attack.

"This terrorist attack on the Louvre Museum, the centre for human civilisation and heritage, exposed the darkness of terrorism and its ceaseless attempts to destroy the human heritage," it said.
Indian students hold up badges urging people to cast their votes, during an election awareness campaign in Allahabad, India (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi faces a test of his popularity this weekend in a series of key state elections following his surprise currency decree that sparked months of financial uproar.

Nearly three years ago, he won a sweeping national election victory with promises to develop the economy and root out corruption.

Now India is just emerging from the fallout of a November decision that withdrew India's two largest currency notes from circulation and caused weeks of chaos as people waited to get their money back in new bills.

Mr Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party hailed the move as a way to curb tax fraud and corruption and push India towards more digital spending.

Opponents say it was a self-inflicted blow on the world's fastest-growing economy, causing enormous hardship for the vast majority of Indians, who often rely completely on cash.

While the five state elections will not decide whether Modi remains in office, a loss would be seen as a serious blow to his political image.

Most important is the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, whose immense population of 204 million means state elections often help shape the national political agenda.

"In these elections, Uttar Pradesh is the real biggie," said Ajoy Bose, a political analyst in New Delhi.

"If the BJP were to lose in Uttar Pradesh, it would be a huge setback, both for the party and for Modi.

"It would destroy the myth of Modi, who has been projected as this political juggernaut of invincible proportions."

Elections were held on Saturday in the northern state of Punjab and the beach resort state of Goa.

Hundreds of paramilitary troops and police were posted near voting stations across Punjab to ensure security as voters stood in long queues to cast their ballots.

By evening, when voting ended in Punjab, around 83% of the state's eligible voters had cast ballots, with an even higher turnout in Goa.

In the next phase of the election, the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand votes on February 15, and remote north-eastern Manipur on March 4 and 8.

Elections in Uttar Pradesh begin on February 11, but because of the state's size, voting is divided into seven phases. Results from all the elections will be declared on March 11.

In Punjab the ruling coalition of the BJP and the regional Shiromani Akali Dal party faces the twin challenges of strong anti-incumbency sentiment and anger against the chaos unleashed by the currency withdrawal.

Voters appeared to hold Mr Modi responsible for the economic disruption that followed the abrupt removal of currency.

"The people's anger is directed against Modi and this will be reflected in the way they vote," said Mr Bose.

In Goa, the ruling BJP was beset with divisions among its political allies, while the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress were also putting up a strong fight.

Mr Modi's performance in the state-level polls is likely to determine his political strategy in the run-up to the next national elections due in 2019, when he is hoping to win a second term in office.

AP
A French soldier patrols in the courtyard of the Louvre museum in Paris on Saturday (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

An Egyptian man suspected of charging at soldiers at the Louvre museum in Paris with a machete has been questioned by French investigators for the first time since the attack.

The Paris prosecutor's office said the suspect, who allegedly shouted "Allahu akbar" while rushing towards the soldiers, and was shot four times after slightly injuring one, remained silent during the interview and will remain in custody.

The Louvre was closed immediately after the Friday attack, but reopened for the weekend.

French authorities so far have not named the suspect, but confirmed they thought he was Egyptian.

They are being more cautious than their Egyptian counterparts, who have identified the attacker as 28-year-old Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy.

His father spoke out on Saturday to say that his son was not a terrorist, but a family man who led a normal life with his wife and infant son.

Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy told The Associated Press that he trusts the French judiciary to find out the truth behind Abdullah's alleged involvement in the attack.

"If he is convicted, God be with us. But if he is innocent, they owe us an apology," the father said at the family home in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura.

"He is a very respectable man who never had a problem with anybody, he never had any sort of political views," he said.

"His main concern in his life was his work in the United Arab Emirates," he said, adding that his son had gone to France on a "work assignment".

Abdullah has lived in Dubai for the past five years, employed by what his father said was a law firm.

The Paris prosecutor's office says the attacker was shot after lightly wounding a soldier patrolling an underground mall near the museum, but that the injuries are no longer life-threatening.

Ibrahim Youssry, a close friend of Abdullah al-Hamahmy, said his behaviour on the day of the attack did not betray any intention to commit an act of violence.

"Before the attack, he commented on one of our friends' pictures on Instagram and liked some (other) pictures.

"He also called his father and asked him what to bring for him from France. All this contradicts the French story," said Youssry.

Two Egyptian officials said Sunday that local security agencies were continuing to gather information on Abdullah al-Hamahmy to help establish if he was a member of any militant groups or had been radicalised.

"We are trying to determine whether he was a lone wolf, worked with a group or he is innocent," said one of the officials, who is employed by the Interior Ministry.

"His tweets show a radicalised person. He supports the Daesh and other extremists in Syria," said the official, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

AP
French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen blasted globalisation and Islamic fundamentalism in her closing speech at a two-day National Front party conference.

She called them "two totalitarianisms" threatening France.

To applause and cries of "On est chez nous" (We are in our land), Le Pen served up the grand themes of the party that have made her a leader in early polls of the spring presidential election.

"We are at a crossroad. This election is a choice of civilisation," she said, asking whether her three children and other young citizens would have the rights and culture of the current generation.

"Will they even speak our French language?"

Le Pen on Saturday unveiled her 144 "commitments," a nationalist agenda that envisions a France unshackled from the European Union and Nato, and that ensures work, healthcare and other services for its own citizens amid drastically reduced immigration.

She said she is defending both France's material and immaterial patrimony, "which has no price" and is "irreplaceable".

Running on a campaign slogan of In The Name Of The People, Le Pen called for French "patriots" on the left and right to join with her.

In politics, "the division is no longer right-left (but) patriot-globalist," she said. "You have your place at our side."

The National Front has taken heart in the disarray of the left with the unpopularity of Socialist President Francois Hollande, who decided not to seek a new mandate.

The right's leading candidate, Francois Fillon, has been caught up in a corruption scandal, opening the way for maverick centrist Emmanuel Macron, who could face off Le Pen.

Le Pen has been a leader in early polls, which put her at the top in the April 23 first-round vote but not winning the May 7 run-off.

If elected, she envisions a "government of national unity" formed after June legislative elections.

Le Pen told the crowd at the congress centre in the south-eastern city of Lyon that globalisation is "erasing" France and Islamic fundamentalism is "planting itself in some neighbourhoods and vulnerable minds".

Le Pen listed Muslim veils, mosques or prayer in the streets of France as unacceptable cultural dangers that "no French person attached to his dignity can accept".

"When you arrive in a country, you don't start violating laws, demanding rights," she said, in reference to what she calls "massive immigration".

"There will be no other laws and values in France but French."

Among her 144 commitments is to limit immigration to 10,000 and restrain family reunification policies that have allowed many immigrants, mainly from former French colonies in north Africa, to bring in relatives.

She said she would arrange for foreigners convicted of crimes to serve their prison terms in their homelands.

Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the election of US President Donald Trump have boosted Le Pen followers, with many applauding in private Trump's election.

She said this revealed the "awakening of the people against oligarchies".

She praised Trump as a man who respects campaign promises and "acts quickly".

AP
A girl holds a banner that reads: "We have the right to justice!" during a protest in Bucharest, Romania (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Romania's government has repealed an emergency decree that decriminalises some official misconduct following days of mass protests and condemnation from abroad.

The government led by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu originally approved the plan on Wednesday, with no input from Parliament.

After repealing the decree on Sunday, Grindeanu asked the justice minister to prepare a draft law to be sent to Parliament for debate and approval.

The centre-left Social Democratic Party has a parliamentary majority with a junior partner. President Klaus Iohannis then needs to sign off on the legislation.

The country's Constitutional Court is still scheduled to rule on the legality of the original decree. It decriminalised official misconduct if the funds involved were worth less than 200,000 lei (38,000), which critics said would just encourage officials to steal on the job up to that point.

Grindeanu said the draft should respect the court's rulings, European directives and Romania's criminal code.

Protesters demonstrated over the ordinance for a sixth day on Sunday in the capital, Bucharest. The vast majority have expressed anger that the measure watered down the country's fight against corrupt officials, including the leader of the ruling Social Democrats' party.

For the first time, several hundred people rallied on Sunday in support of the government outside the presidential palace.

In an abrupt about-face, Grindeanu said on Saturday he would repeal the decree at an emergency meeting because he didn't want to "divide Romania ... Romania in this moment seems broken in two".

Liviu Dragnea, head of the ruling Social Democrats, is one of those who could have benefited from the decree. He is banned by law from serving as prime minister because he was handed a two-year prison sentence in April 2016 for vote-rigging.

AP
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The South Korean football governing body confirmed on Saturday the men's national team captain Son Heung-min had undergone successful surgery on fractures around his left eye, thou...

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"The Astronaut," the first official single by Jin of the K-pop supergroup BTS, has landed at No. 61 on the British Official Singles Chart Top 100. According to the latest chart ...
How much is your monthly expenditure? Okay, I know Ive touched a sore spot, but imagine if you get to spend 13.5 crores every month! No, Im not smoking anything folks, because thats how much Hollywood actor Johnny Depp spends in a month!

soposted.com

In an interesting turn of events, Depp recently fired his management firm TMG and also file a lawsuit against it for fraud.

Call it retaliation or something else, but TMG has now filed a cross-complaint alleging that Jonny Depp has an "ultra-extravagant lifestyle" and he spends close to $2 million (approximately, Rs 13.52 crore) monthly!

E! OnlineHere are the details of his overtly high expenditures:

1. $75 million (over Rs 500 crore) on 14 residences spread all across the world

2. An expenditure of $18 million (over Rs 120 crore) to buy and renovate a 150-foot yacht

3. $30,000 (Rs 20 lakh) a month on "expensive wine" that the Pirates Of The Caribbean actor gets flown from around the globe for his "personal consumption"

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4. Depp also paid over $3 million to blast from a specially made cannon the ashes of author Hunter S. Thompson over Aspen, Colo., the lawsuit also alleges.

5.In addition to the above, throughout the years, Depp supported his friends, family and certain employees at a cost of over $10 million

According to the firm, Depp not only fired the company but he also refused to pay back a loan worth $5 million (Rs 34 crore) that he owes to them.

He then went on to sue TMG accusing them of "self-dealing and gross misconduct."

aragreek.com

"Johnny Depp alone was solely responsible for his extravagant spending. Over 17 years, The Management Group (TMG) did everything possible to protect the actor from himself. In fact, when Depp's bank demanded repayment of a multi-million-dollar loan and Depp didn't have the money, the company loaned it to him so that he would avoid a humiliating financial crisis," states TMG in a statement provided to TheWrap.com website.

rolerboot.com

Depp is not new to scandals. Previously, he and his ex-wife Amber Heard were seen washing dirty linen in public before going their separate ways.
A stunning set of pictures has surfaced showing a harem of wives clicked by the 19th century Indian king, Maharaja Ram Singh II. Also famously known as the 'Photographer Prince', the Maharaja often clicked portraits of his wives when they weren't entertaining him in bed.

alinari via getty images

The Maharaja ruled the Pink City Jaipur between 1835 and 1880. He was a keen photographer who loved taking photos of his wives and also his inner circle that comprised of fakirs and other dignitaries.

alinari via getty images

The pictures that were taken between 1857 and 1865 show the wives looking fiercely into the camera. The glass negatives of the photographs were kept untouched for over a century.

alinari via getty images

The Maharaja, under the tutelage of British photographer T. Murray, shot to fame as India's first 'Photographer Prince' and got extremely interested in capturing ornate shots of things and people around him.

alinari via getty images

These photos were found in Madho Nivas Wing of the City Palace in Jaipur. Even as a child, he embraced modernity that helped him change the face of the city during his reign.

alinari via getty images

With his camera in hand, he never missed an opportunity to capture the culture and costumes of his people.

alinari via getty images
Police today registered a case against 30 activists of a local NGO for forcing an official of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to eat currency notes laced with pickle in front of TV cameras because he was allegedly corrupt.

ahmedabadmirror

As media was invited for the coverage, the incident was telecast by some local channels. On the complaint by the victim Dharmin Vyas, assistant manager with professional tax department of AMCs New West Zone, Vastrapur police registered FIR against 30-odd activists of `Lok Rakshak Seva Samiti.

President of the NGO Pruthvi Bhatt was arrested on the charges of rioting and assaulting a government officer on duty, said inspector B J Sarvaiya.

Vyas alleged that Bhatt and other activists, including women, stormed into AMCs New West Zone office and forced him to eat currency notes laced with pickle. When he resisted, Bhatt and others forcibly opened his mouth and manhandled him, said Sarvaiya.

Bhatt was arrested immediately, the inspector added.

BCCL/Representational Image

Before his arrest, Bhatt said he had not done anything wrong and would carry out such programmes in future too to teach a lesson to the officials.

A few days back we forced an AMC official to drink sewage water to make him realise how people were suffering due to his careless attitude and corruption, Bhatt said, alleging that Vyas was corrupt.

Vyas told media persons that he was targeted for no specific reason.

I had never met these persons in my entire life.They just barged into our office and forced me to eat notes and pickle.no one from the group told me what was their grievance against me, he said.
A Pakistan-born, 35-year-old woman who married a man living in Gurdaspur's Qadian town in 2003, was able to vote for the time ever in her life when Punjab went to polls to elect its next legislative assembly on Saturday.

TOI

Though Tahira Maqbool lived in Pakistan till the age of 22, she never cast her vote in the four years of her adult life because she belongs to the persecuted Ahmadiyya Muslim sect of Islam. As far as India is concerned, she got her citizenship in April 2016 and exercised her franchise at the first opportunity.

In the neighbouring country, Ahmaddiya Muslims are considered non-Islamic and are allowed to vote for a separate 5% electorate of minority communities. However, as she does not consider herself non-Islamic, Tahira chose not to register as a voter there.

On Saturday, there was a spring in Tahira's steps as she went to cast her vote to elect the MLA from Qadian. The mother of three returned from the election booth with an ineffable smile and showed off the ink on her finger with a gleam in her eyes. She cast her vote in Qadian assembly constituency of Gurdaspur district. "Polling day has come as Eid for me. After being an Indian citizen, now I am also a proud participant in the Indian democratic system," she said as tears welled up in her eyes.

TOI

Born and brought up in Faisalabad district of Punjab province in Pakistan, Tahira married Qadian's Chaudhary Maqbool Ahmad on December 7, 2003. She was granted citizenship in 2016 because of the democratic hurdles involved. "In Pakistan, Ahmadiyyas are not able to cast their vote as Muslims because they are categorized as non-Muslims. But, because I consider myself a Muslim, I did not vote," she said.

Adding to her joy, Tahira's serial number in the voter list was 786 (a number carrying immense significance in Islam). However, she said another 12 Pakistani women married to men in Qadian were awaiting Indian citizenship. "I have realized the power of the common man for the first time. I am going to take up cases of Pakistani girls who are married here but haven't got Indian citizenship. I wish they also had a similar experience and felt proud, like I am feeling today," she said.
So recently, we put out a story on these amazing goth chickens that had caught everyone's fancy. While these species - known as Ayam Cemani - belong to Indonesia, we were told that they have distant cousins in another part of the world. Can you guess where?

Our very own, India!

kadaknaths.com

Not many people know that another species of black chickens exist in Madhya Pradesh and are popularly known there as Kadaknath or Kali Masi. But our users were kind enough to enlighten to this fact.

These species are known for their adaptability, vigour, and delicious black meat. And similar to its Indonesian counterparts, the colour of the flesh is attributed to a harmless genetic mutation that causes the release of melanin pigment.

kadaknathchicken.blogspot.com

The birds - found both in Indonesia and India - are completely black inside out. From their plumage to their toenails, from their tongue to their internal organs, every feature is black.
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has hinted that Pakistan may be added to the list of countries whose citizens are barred from entering the U.S. While, senior Trump official did not identify Pakistan by name sources close to the Trump administration have said that it is a matter of time before Pakistan is included in the list of nations whose passport holders are barred from entering the US. U.S. sources say that the President is keenly aware about who gave Osama Bin Laden shelter and from where most of the Worlds terrorism has emanated.

AFP

Signals have already gone out to the Pakistani authorities about the impending decision which led to the current house arrest of LeT head Hafiz Saeed. But, senior levels of the Trump administration have not been taken in by this move by Islamabad which most officials write off as pulling wool and not a serious move which has convinced no one at the White House. Though not known to many, Kuwait, a Muslim-majority country has imposed ban on issue of visas to Pakistani nationals since 2011, along with Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Yemen.

Security concerns from radical elements and rising cases of drug trafficking from Pakistan were some of the reasons for it being placed on this list. Further, Kuwaits deepseated suspicion regarding the Pakistani governments links to terror groups has resulted in the country not providing visa waiver to Pakistani diplomatic and official passport holders, in contravention to the visa waiver agreement for these two categories of passports, signed by the two countries. And despite the Pakistani Foreign Office pursuing this matter with the Kuwaiti authorities for years, there has been no progress.

PTI/Representational Image

On the contrary, the involvement of three Pakistani nationals in the bombing at the Shia Imam Jafar al Sadiq mosque in Kuwait, that killed 27 persons on June 26, 2015 has further hardened Kuwaits stance vis-a-vis Pakistan. While there has been no public reaction to the Kuwaiti order, there was increasing concern among the Pakistanis after Reince Priebus, White House Chief of Staff, hinted that Pakistan may be added to the list of countries, along with Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, whose citizens are barred from entering the US.

The Pakistan government reacted to this possibility with a warning that in case of such a move by the U.S., it would reduce its cooperation with Washington in the fight against Islamist terror groups in case. However, Imran Khan, leader of the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party came out in support and hoped that the Trump administration would consider stopping visas for Pakistanis to travel to the US. In his view, such a move would help Pakistanis focus on developing their own country.

AFP

Similarly, Arif Jamal, a U.S. based security and Islam expert, responded to the Presidential order by stating that Trumps travel ban made no sense without Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on the list. With the country being more and more associated as the hub of terrorism, it is indeed surprising how Pakistan in the first place did not figure in the US list.

It has become increasingly imperative that in order to force countries like Pakistan to end sponsoring terror groups, tough measures like visa bans are implemented. Such bans would directly hurt the elite in the country, who in turn were likely to build pressure on policy-makers to do a re-think on terror-related policies.
A federal judge on Friday passed an order lifting US President Donald Trumps travel ban and warned the decision posed an immediate harm to the public.

With this, the judge also thwarted enforcement of an executive order and "Second-guesses the President's national security judgment about the quantum of risk posed by the admission of certain classes of (non-citizens) and the best means ofminimising that risk."

Reuters

On Saturday, the US Justice Department filed an appeal to restore President Donald Trump's immigration order barring citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries and temporarily banning refugees, even as travellers raced to enter the country while the ban was lifted.

Trump turned to twitter to denounce the ruling and also, as he put it, the so-called judge in a series of tweets on Saturday.

The appeal now goes to a three-judge panel which can act at any time to uphold the order or suspend it pending a full appeal.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment beyond the filing and the ruling could come at any time.

Reuters

Seattle US District Judge James Robart's decision barred the administration from enforcing the sweeping order that also indefinitely barred Syrian refugee admissions and prompted large protests across the United States.

Trump, whose personal attack on Robart, decrying his opinion as "ridiculous," went too far for some who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress, said he was confident the government would prevail.

"We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win," he told reporters in Florida.

Robart's ruling came in a case brought by the state attorney general of Washington state and was backed by major state employers Amazon.com Inc and Expedia Inc.

The lawsuit is one of several now filed against the Trump executive order around the United States, but it was the first case leading to a broad decision that applies nationwide.

The Justice Department appeal criticised Robart's legal reasoning, saying it violates the separation of powers and steps on the president's authority as commander chief. The appeal said the state of Washington lacked standing to challenge the order and denied that the order "favours Christians at the expense of Muslims."

Reuters

Congress gave the president "the unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class" of the visitor, the Justice Department wrote.

"Courts are particularly ill-equipped to second-guess the president's prospective judgment about future risks," the appeal said, calling the decision "vastly overbroad."

Washington state lawyers worked around the clock last weekend against the backdrop of turbulent scenes at U.S. airports, where immigrants were detained by federal officials unprepared to implement the president's directive.

A spokesman for Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson didn't immediately comment early Sunday.

The US State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with Robart's order and many visitors are expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expects to begin admitting refugees again on Monday.

A decision to reinstate Trump's order could again cause havoc at US airports because some visitors are in transit, as was the case when the order took effect on Jan. 27.

As the ban lifted Friday, refugees and thousands of travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by the executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States.

With inputs from Reuters
Many Americans got their first, confusing glimpse of the country's complex immigration system when President Donald Trump announced he was temporarily banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US and suspending the nation's refugee program.

AFP

Here's a look at the system:

What Is A Green Card?

A green card is a permit given to immigrants, who are approved to be in the country indefinitely and become known as permanent residents.

UStime

Obtaining a green card can take decades and involves a meticulous process. Some people never receive one.

About a million people are granted permanent residency in the US each year. A little less than half of them are sponsored by relatives who are American citizens, according to William Stock, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Stock says sponsors and applicants undergo interviews, criminal background checks, medical screenings and fingerprinting.

The process takes at least a year for the spouse of a US citizen who has never been in the country. Immigrants with more distant relatives can wait years longer.

``If it's a sibling, it's 20 to 30 years for most countries,'' Stock said, adding that people from Mexico and the Philippines can wait 75 years for green cards.

What Is Refugee Status?

Refugees from war-torn or dangerous countries must be diligently vetted before they can be resettled in the United States. The years-long process includes rigorous background checks for possible criminal and terrorist ties.

AFP

Refugees often live in camps outside their home country for years before the US decides whether to accept them.

Only about 1 percent of refugees in the world are resettled in new countries, and the US takes in about half of them, the State Department says.

The US accepted about 85,000 refugees in the year ending in September.

Refugees differ from asylum seekers.

Refugees must be approved to move the United States. Asylum seekers arrive on their own and then seek protection by the US government if they fear to return to their home country.

What Is A Non-Immigrant Visa?

Non-immigrant visas apply to people who come to the country on temporary status, including students, competitive athletes, tourists, human trafficking victims, au pairs and diplomats.

AFP

The category also includes foreign workers such as engineers and technical experts who work for Silicon Valley companies.

Some tech companies said they were dismayed by Trump's executive order because foreign employees represent a significant percentage of their workforces. Visas for such workers can usually be obtained within a year.

Which Visa Is Used For Iraqi Interpreters Who Aid US Troops?

The visa program for Iraqi and Afghan translators and interpreters and others who worked for the American government was created in 2006.

PTI

Iraqis and Afghans who apply for the visas are vetted in a similar way as refugees and are also entitled to the same public and private resettlement services.

There is a tight limit on the number of such visas granted. The government granted 37,000 Iraqis and Afghans special visas from 2007 to 2015, according to the Congressional Research Service, a non-partisan group.

The service says government officials try to balance the need to issue the visas in a timely fashion to protect applicants with conducting appropriate security screenings to identify threats.
Islamophobia has gripped many parts of the US. Since Donald Trump has become the President, there has been a rise in violence against Muslims, particularly women, who cover their head with a hijab. In a recent incident, a New York Police Department officer was attacked for wearing a hijab.

Danielle Alamrani who joined the department in 2006, was converted to Islam a year later. She started getting harassed, bullied  and even beat up  when she began wearing a hijab to work in 2008, according to a new lawsuit.

CNN

Her colleagues called her names like "terrorist" and "Taliban" and telling her "that she should not be a police officer," claimed in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.

According to reports, things got so bad that in 2012 she was "physically attacked" by two officers who "attempted to rip her Hijab off of her head," the New York Post quoted the lawsuit as saying.

The officers, including the equal employment opportunity liaison for her district, screamed "Muslim bitch" while they attacked her and said "I will punch you in the face," according to the lawsuit.

CNN

Alamrani said she has social media evidence of the harassment. She collected the evidence in 2015 after a fellow officer posted pictures of her in her hijab at the gun range on Facebook.

That prompted her co-workers, who didn't like what they saw, to make comments such as "fking disgrace." They also called her a "moving target," the lawsuit said.

"Many comments included threats of violence," said her lawyer Jesse Curtis Rose.

Alamrani said she is seeking damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
After the internet mocked the picture of US President Donald Trump signing the travel ban executive order, Swedish Deputy PM and Climate Minister has taken a dig at another similar picture.

Isabella Lovin posted a picture of her signing an order with a queue of female ministers standing behind her.

The image is seen as a parody of the picture of President Trump signing an anti-abortion executive order with a line of male ministers standing behind him.

AP

In her picture, Lovin was signing the proposal for Swedens new climate law. She posted the picture both on Facebook and Twitter and its gone viral since then.

Isabella Lovin

One Facebook user wrote, Wonderful image. I hope you sent it to the man on the other side of the ocean.

A local Swedish website asked the Deputy Prime Minister whether the image carried any undertones regarding Trumps picture and she said, We are a feminist government, which shows in this photo. Ultimately it is up to the observer to interpret the photo."

Lovin is surrounded by state secretaries, press secretaries and coordinators from her office, in the picture. The picture is representative of Swedens stance on leading the climate change dialogue, the Climate Minister explained.

There is a global demand for climate leadership. I want to show that Sweden is ready to take that leadership. The new climate law that was announced yesterday marks a new era in Swedish climate politics, she said.

US President Trump has consistently denied climate change and even vowed to cancel the Paris climate agreement, a treaty agreed by 200 countries including America in 2015.
Dicembre nero per le vendite al dettaglio. Lo rivela l'Istat, secondo cui a dicembre 2017 le vendite al dettaglio hanno registrato una diminuzione, rispetto al mese precedente, dello 0,3% sia in valore sia in volume. In particolare, rivela lo studio, sono diminuite sia le vendite di beni alimentari sia quelle di beni non alimentari (rispettivamente dello 0,2% e dello 0,3%, in valore e in volume).

Andamento trimestrale alterno

Considerando l'andamento trimestrale, nel periodo ottobre-dicembre l'indice complessivo registra, rispetto al trimestre precedente, una variazione positiva dello 0,1% in valore e una flessione dello 0,2% in volume. Nello stesso periodo, per le vendite di beni alimentari si rileva un incremento dello 0,2% in valore e una diminuzione dello 0,5% in volume; sostanzialmente stabile l'andamento dei beni non alimentari (-0,1% in valore, invariato il volume).

Meno del 2016

Rispetto a dicembre 2016, prosegue Istat, le vendite al dettaglio registrano una flessione dello 0,1% in valore e dello 0,9% in volume. Nello stesso periodo quelle di prodotti alimentari aumentano dell'1,2% in valore e diminuiscono dello 0,4% in volume, mentre le vendite di prodotti non alimentari registrano una diminuzione per entrambi gli aggregati (rispettivamente -0,7% e -1,1%).

Crescita modesta

Il 2017 si chiude quindi con una crescita delle vendite modesta (+0,2%), sintesi di un aumento dell'1,4% per la grande distribuzione (all'interno della quale emerge la crescita del 3,2% dei discount di alimentari) e una diminuzione dello 0,8% delle vendite delle imprese operanti su piccole superfici.

Esport in crescita

Buone notizie sul fronte esportazioni. In un quadro di forte espansione del commercio mondiale, prosegue l'Istat, continua l'andamento positivo delle esportazioni Italiane in tutti i settori eccetto quello manifatturiero, che ha registrato invece qualche segnale di rallentamento. In presenza di un aumento del potere di acquisto delle famiglie, e aumentata la propensione al risparmio. L'inflazione si conferma moderata e in ripiegamento.
A post-Brexit hard border would be a "disaster" for Ireland, former Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has warned.

Mr Ahern told RTE's The Week In Politics he believes "one way or another" there is going to be some sort of hard border between the North and South.

He said such a border "would be terrible for us".

"There will be a hard border of some sort and there will have to be checks, particularly on the southern side. That would be a disaster for us," the retired Louth TD said.

Mr Ahern added: "Whoever decided to put that referendum before the people in Britain didn't think out the implications for Ireland, both North and South.

"I think our Government are in a difficult position given that this has been foisted upon them against their will.

"Obviously they have to try and ameliorate the situation for our people. One way or the other, I think it is particularly bad news for border areas."

Meanwhile Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan has moved to reassure the public that the Gardai will maintain their close working relationship with the PSNI and with UK security services to tackle cross border crime, post Brexit.

"Obviously we have a very unique and very close working relationship with the PSNI and the UK security services. Those relationships will continue," Ms O'Sullivan said during an organised crime briefing recently.

She added: "I have met the Chief Constable of the PSNI and my counterparts in the UK in terms of making sure there will not be an impact. We are determined that nothing will really impact.

"We have to be mindful of whatever happens within the EU administration, the impact that it is going to have on European arrest warrants and operating systems for example. By way of reassurance to the public we will continue our relationship with the PSNI."

The Northern Ireland Police Federation, the body that represents rank and file officers, recently warned that a Brexit hard border would place police officers "in the terrorist firing line".

Head of the Federation Mark Lindsay said physical border posts would make officers easy targets for terrorists and harm relations between the police and communities.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has insisted that both the British and Irish governments want to see a "seamless, frictionless border".
The PSNI has strongly denied allegations that they provided public order training to officers from the Gulf state of Bahrain.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd has admitted that police facilitated a delegation of Bahraini officers on a study visit to Belfast during the marching season in 2015.

But he insisted that the PSNI "have never provided training to Bahrain police officers in Bahrain or Northern Ireland".

Human rights group Reprieve has criticised the PSNI for "sharing its expertise on gathering intelligence ahead of parades" with around half a dozen Bahraini police officers during the visit to Belfast in August 2015.

The visit was funded by the British Foreign Office.

Reprieve said that protesters in Bahrain, which has been heavily criticised for human rights abuses, have been targeted by police and tortured into falsely confessing to capital crimes.

The human rights organisation said the Bahraini delegation to Belfast followed the PSNI's Crimson Commander at the Royal Black Preceptory parade and the Henry Joy McCracken parade in Belfast.

The visit also included sessions on water cannons, dog handling and public order tactics.

It has been claimed that the training was prepared by PSNI officers during a week-long "scoping visit" to Bahrain between April and May 2015, where they assessed Bahrain's public order systems.

"The PSNI have never provided training to Bahrain police officers in Bahrain or Northern Ireland," insisted Mr Todd.

The Assistant Chief Constable said that the British Foreign Office, through Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas (NI-CO), made a request to the PSNI to facilitate a delegation of Bahraini officers on a study visit "to observe globally recognised best practice in human rights based public order policing".

He added: "The Bahrain delegation visited in August 2015 and, while in Northern Ireland, they observed a number of public order events and received a number of presentations on aspects of PSNI public order policing planning and delivery.

"At no time did the PSNI undertake any form of training with the officers. As an organisation recognised across the world for placing human rights at the centre of policing, the PSNI are often asked to host study visits from international policing bodies.

"This is viewed as part of our responsibility to participate in the development of global policing standards."

However, Reprieve director Maya Foa criticised the PSNI and the British Foreign Office for their involvement with Bahraini police.

She said: "Bahrain is notorious for arresting, torturing and sentencing to death people involved in protests, such as Mohammed Ramadan, a father of three who is held on death row and faces execution at any moment.

"By training Bahrain's police how to gather intelligence on protesters, there is a serious risk that Britain is helping them arrest and execute people who are guilty of nothing more than calling for reform.

"It is scandalous that the (British) government has sought to sweep this under the carpet."
Update 9am: President Donald Trump has lost an appeal against a court ruling blocking his travel ban on certain travellers and all refugees.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco instead asked both the state of Washington and the Trump administration early today to file more arguments by Monday afternoon.

The Trump administration had launched an appeal againt a federal judge's ruling that temporarily placed the ban on hold.

The higher court's denial of an immediate stay means legal battles over the ban will continue into the coming week at least.

Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco forcefully argued in the government's brief last night that presidential authority is "largely immune from judicial control" when it comes to deciding who can enter or stay in the United States.

Earlier: President Donald Trump has appealed against a court ruling blocking his travel ban, saying aliens have "no constitutional rights" to enter the US.

He acted after a judge in Washington state temporarily blocked his refugee and immigration ban, involving seven Muslim-majority countries in an extraordinary setback for the White House.

It was forced to suspend enforcement of the ban, and Mr Trump launched a series of vitriolic attacks on US District Judge James Robart.

The president told reporters, when asked about the appeal: "We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win."

The US Justice Department formally appealed against the judge's order at the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, citing the "sovereign prerogative" of a president to admit or exclude aliens.

The appeal says it is a basic principle that "an alien seeking initial admission to the United States requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application".

The Justice Department is asking that the judge's order be stayed pending appeal.
The Paris prosecutors office said the suspect, who allegedly shouted "Allahu akbar" while rushing towards the soldiers, and was shot four times after slightly injuring one, remained silent during the interview and will remain in custody.

The Louvre was closed immediately after the Friday attack, but reopened for the weekend.

French authorities so far have not named the suspect, but confirmed they thought he was Egyptian.

They are being more cautious than their Egyptian counterparts, who have identified the attacker as 28-year-old Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy.

His father spoke out on Saturday to say that his son was not a terrorist, but a family man who led a normal life with his wife and infant son.

Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy told The Associated Press that he trusts the French judiciary to find out the truth behind Abdullahs alleged involvement in the attack.

"If he is convicted, God be with us. But if he is innocent, they owe us an apology," the father said at the family home in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura.

"He is a very respectable man who never had a problem with anybody, he never had any sort of political views," he said.

"His main concern in his life was his work in the United Arab Emirates," he said, adding that his son had gone to France on a "work assignment".

Abdullah has lived in Dubai for the past five years, employed by what his father said was a law firm.

The Paris prosecutors office says the attacker was shot after lightly wounding a soldier patrolling an underground mall near the museum, but that the injuries are no longer life-threatening.

Ibrahim Youssry, a close friend of Abdullah al-Hamahmy, said his behaviour on the day of the attack did not betray any intention to commit an act of violence.

"Before the attack, he commented on one of our friends pictures on Instagram and liked some (other) pictures.

"He also called his father and asked him what to bring for him from France. All this contradicts the French story," said Youssry.

Two Egyptian officials said Sunday that local security agencies were continuing to gather information on Abdullah al-Hamahmy to help establish if he was a member of any militant groups or had been radicalised.

"We are trying to determine whether he was a lone wolf, worked with a group or he is innocent," said one of the officials, who is employed by the Interior Ministry.

"His tweets show a radicalised person. He supports the Daesh and other extremists in Syria," said the official, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

- AP
Tea has serious competition as the national brew. We have turned to coffee with a vengeance  and I speak not of the freeze-dried powdered muck.

The evidence is not just statistical but daily before our eyes, every second citizen sporting a paper cup of liquid caffeine.

A new wave of native roasters are producing world-class beans and Cork itself hosts a thriving network of local independent coffee houses and cafes.

On foot of last weekends splendid Cork Coffee Weekend, taking place in multiple Leeside coffee temples, it seems high time to take a tour. (Note to my cardiologist: This review was not conducted over a single day.)

Tucked into a cute faux-scruffy nook on College Rd, a thesiss throw from the main UCC campus, Id have relished Doppio (www.facebook.com/doppiocork) 30-odd years ago when first sallying forth through the groves of academe.

Nibbles are acceptable, if perfunctory (sausage rolls, pastries), the coffee choice between fine local roasters Golden Bean and Badger & Dodo. We stretch decent flat whites (Golden Beans Blackburn Estate, sweet, buttery caramel, soft acidity) over a pleasant hour.

The Bookshelf (www.facebook.com/thebookshelfcoffeehouse), on a corner off South Mall, is a fine high-ceilinged room. Decor is basic but comfortable, an oasis in the heart of the city.

They do a tasty if abbreviated weekend brunch menu but on the weekday we visit, along with well-poured milky flat whites, No 1 Son and I enjoy exquisite raspberry scones.

Alchemy and Alchemy 2 (www.facebook.com/alchemy) occupy separate sites on the southern fringes of the city centre, sharing a visual theme, distressed clutter combined with wordy bookishness, including an in-house library.

All beans are from Dublin-based roastery 3FE and the menu includes soup, salads, and sandwiches, while confections range cover both sinful sugar and virtuous vegan. I opt for syrupy orange cake nailed down with a fruity espresso. Both are friendly lounging spaces with regular live events and exhibitions a further draw.

Cork Coffee Roasters (www.corkcoffee.com) supremo John Gowan is the godfather of the citys modern coffee scene, starting back when a barista sounded like something a mumbling drunkard clung to when climbing up stairs.

Returning in 2007 to open his roastery, imbued with the spirit of the Seattle coffeehouse scene, he set about recreating it here. His coffee shops are tiny bespoke treasures, the Bridge St motherships window a perfect post for people-watching.

Sweet nibbles are thoughtfully chosen and we opt for dark, full-bodied Americanos of the Rebel City Roast.

Coffee Central (www.englishmarket.ie), established in 2001, is even older, a counter with a few stools and standing room only, sited on the main confluence of human traffic through the English Market.

There is no finer spot to take the citys pulse. It is a local institution where you cant fail to meet an old friend or make a new one.

A full-bodied espresso with a healthy spoon of sugar to counter old-school high-roasted acidic bite does the trick.

Filter has the clean, spare lines of a lab but none of the sterility and is Corks epicentre for serious coffee drinkers. Before La Daughter was first sentenced to hard time in the educational system, wed regularly breakfast on almond croissants, macchiatos, and hot chocolate.

Id be furnished with whatever always excellent pour-over brew was on that morning. Along with an extensive array of coffee-related kit, Filter carries a superb range of beans from top Irish roasters to titillate the obsessives. Yet it functions equally well as a coffeehouse for the general public.

In more recent years, proprietors Eoin and Alex established an off-site bakery, supplying the shop (and other coffee-houses) with an inventive range of breads, sandwiches, and snacks.

Today, with motor running and traffic warden lurking, I have the swiftest of espressos, a 3FE Malarkey Blend (Colombian Caturra and Nicaraguan Natural Bourbon), full, fruity with startling citrus notes.

Page space prohibits further details of my defibrillated tour but, if you remain unmoved, still loyal to the leaf, pretty much every one of the above, along with all other good, local coffee outlets, also serve a fine cup of tea  and not a teabag to be seen, foul abominations that they are!

THE TAB

Filter Opening Hours: Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm; Sat, 9am-6pm; Sun, 10am-5.30pm

2.50 (single espresso of featured coffee)

Coffee: 8/10 for todays espresso, generally 9.5/10

Service: 8.5/10

Value: 9/10

Atmosphere: 8.5/10

Filter, Georges Quay

www.facebook.com/FilterCoffee

Tel 021 455 0050
It will be a busy week in Genoa City. "The Young and the Restless" spoilers for Feb 6-10 reveal several fights are going to erupt -- between Gloria and Ashley as well as between Nikki and Sharon. Meanwhile, Chelsea and Nick will get closer and Victoria would not think the idea of Chelsea together with his dead husband's brother is crazy.

Gloria (Judith Chapman) and Ashley (Eileen Davidson) will have a messy fight. Celebrity Dirty Laundry reveals that Ashley will explode as Gloria push her buttons. She will warn Gloria to stay away from her family's company. However, it looks like Gloria won't back down. Gloria will advise Jack to watch GC Buzz.

More Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) and Nick (Joshua Morrow) moments are coming up in "The Young and the Restless." Spoilers from Soaps.com hints the two will "try something new." Maybe this has something to do with the promo featuring Nick in apron and chef's hat as if he's planning to cook something and surprise Chelsea.

There will be some sexual tension between the two as Chelsea tries a wedding gown she designed and Nick zips it up for her. It might be disheartening to see for fans who are eagerly waiting for Adam's return to the show. In a previous report, it was revealed that Michael Muhney is already in talks to reprise Adam's role.

Victoria (Amelia Heinle) will encourage Nick to pursue a relationship he wants with Chelsea. But it looks like Victoria has some issues to resolve on her own with Billy. The guy would come to Phyllis' rescue and Victoria will give him a reality check. Meanwhile, Victor will make his next bold move.

"The Young and the Restless" spoilers for Feb 6-10 also reveals there would be a fight between Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and Sharon (Sharon Case). Sharon has been having a hard time since Dylan (Steve Burton) left and Nikki is trying to support Sharon. However, Nikki will get too far, not giving Sharon enough space. Sharon will be on her limit and pour a pitcher of milk over Nikki's head.
Smartphones are one of the most highly fancied pieces of technology we own. They're super important for our day-to-day lives, but choosing the perfect phone for you is a tricky task. With MWC 2017 just around the corner, let's check out and see which smartphones launch this year. From Samsung Galaxy note 8 to HTC 11, Nokia P1 and LG G6 there are a lot of fantastic phones to look forward to in 2017.

The LG G6

Set to come with a 5.6-inch 4K display. As for the cameras, the rear camera of 24 MP and 7 MP front cameras. The upcoming LG G6 will feature Snapdragon Qualcomm Octa-core 3.0 GHz processor. and will run the operating system with latest Android nougat. G6 is also expected to have 64 or 128GB internal memory and which is expandable to more than 128 GB. Under the hood is massive 4200 mAh Battery life.

The HTC 11

HTC 11 will come with 5.5-inch QHD display. To run the latest Android 7.0 Nougat customized with the HTC's Sense 8 UI. As for the cameras, a 12-megapixel each on the rear side considering the front-facing camera is believed to be an 8-megapixel snapper for selfies with a dual-camera setup. The HTC 11 is expected to powered by the octa-core Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 835 CPU. It is expected to pack a beefier 8GB of RAM. Lastly, under the hood is 3700 mAh Battery life.

The Nokia P1

Said to come with a 5.3in display with Gorilla Glass 5 and IP57 protection. It's said to run Android Nougat and will be powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 835, the Nokia P1 is expected to get 6GB of RAM. A Carl Zeiss 22.6Mp camera may be found at the rear and under the hood is 3,500mAh battery with Quick Charge 4.0 inside.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Will feature a display around the 5.7inches mark, while rumors surrounding the Galaxy Note 8's screen suggests it could offer a bump in resolution. As for the processor's concern, the Galaxy Note 8 will more likely to pack the latest and greatest mobile processor, potentially Qualcomm's 10nm Snapdragon 835. We all also expect at least 6GB RAM and a beefy and hopefully non-exploding battery. The Galaxy Note 8 also will feature Google's Android 7.0 Nougat software. Moreover, Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 will ship with a sizeable 64GB of storage, with a spin-off 128GB.
The 2017 Mazda CX-9 has proven its worth once again as it bags the annual "Wheels Car Of The Year" award. The 2017 Mazda CX-9 went up against some of the best vehicles in the industry but it was able to achieve victory after a fierce battle.

The Annual 'Wheels Car Of The Year' Event

The "Wheels Car of the Year" is an annual event that started in 1963 where the top vehicles in the auto industry compete in terms of function, value, efficiency, technology and safety. According to report, the event was participated by a total of 28 vehicles that have been narrowed down to six contenders. Among those that made it to the top of the list include the Volkswagen Tiguan, Subaru Impreza, Holden Astra, Mercedes-Benz E Class, Audi A4 and the Mazda CX-9, which also happens to be the biggest of them all.

Earning The Coveted Award

The 2017 Mazda CX-9 was able to score high in terms of versatility and affordability. In addition, the 2017 Mazda CX-9 also gained added points thanks to its interior styling and technology features including the automatic braking system. It was mentioned that the vehicle has a few minor issues particularly in the braking distances and the steering but this did not stop the 2017 Mazda CX-9 from proving itself to be the best vehicle in its segment.

Mazda's Eighth 'Wheels Car Of The Year' Award

Apparently, this is not the first time that the Japanese automaker has won the "Wheels Car of the Year" award. Reports state that this is the eighth time that Mazda has won the coveted title. This puts the Mazda behind the Holden, which has won the title 10 times. The mere fact that Mazda has won this award many times says a lot about the Japanese automaker. The 2017 Mazda CX-9 is certainly one vehicle to be reckoned with and definitely one choice to be highly considered for those that are looking to get themselves a good reliable vehicle.
As you may have heard, Samsung is calling dibs on the Snapdragon 835 chipset for the Galaxy S8, while the other smartphone company may have to wait a little longer and delay the launch date of their smartphone or possibly settle for the older versions like the Snapdragon 820 or 821 chipset. With this being said, does hoarding the SD 835 ensure the Galaxy S8 the victory, making it the best phone or the world's finest phone of 2017?

Remember The Snapdragon 810

In paper or in theory, a processor can be the all-star when it comes to packing powerful specs and features. However in real life, it can also be a dud, such was the case when Qualcomm had ran into some heating problems with its SD 810 chip. During that time, Samsung went instead with its own Exynos chip for the Galaxy S6, which yielded some pretty awesome benchmarking speeds.

Exynos vs Snapdragon's Optimization

There is also the case with the Galaxy S7, specifically the US version packed with the SD 820 chip. According to some reports, the worldwide version that is packed with the Exynos 8890 performed better. It was not really clear as to why it did, but some suggest that it could be something that had to do with its optimization.

Many Features, Limited Space

A smartphone is not that big and phone manufacturers have to fit all of those cool specs and features into the limited space available. We have seen what happened on other smartphones brands when they tried to incorporate as many features as possible and they turned out to be - I think the perfect word would be complicated and bizarre at times. Sometimes it even ends up causing problems due to the complexity and the many features that the phone is harboring.

As for Snapdragon 835, the new chipset ushers in a lot of neat feature such as increased battery life, Quickcharge 4.0 (20 percent faster that 3.0), support for 4K Ultra HD videos, 802.11ad for gigabit LTW connectivity, better VR experience, Bluetooth 5.0, 3D Audio. It will also be smaller in size, making room to a larger battery or a slimmer phone, support for facial recognition and a lot more. However, as tempting as it looks, some of these features may not see the light of day.

No Real Difference

With most high-end smartphones these days, the difference in performance is hard to distinguish. Mostly, the one you will notice is the phone runs slightly faster or another one takes slight better low light photos. However, that's not something readily quantifiable in real-life usage.

While Samsung's move to have the Snapdragon 835 an exclusive (at least for now) feature of the Galaxy S8 is rather a wise business decision, the result may not be something the company expected. The would-be marketing line "first to have the SD 835" is not something that an ordinary consumer would understand, let alone the first feature they would put in consideration.

In the end, it all boils down to pretty much with a person's preference and budget. Yes, the budget, because not all can afford these premium-price smartphones or thinks that it is necessary to buy one when every month or two a new smartphone emerges.
On Wednesday, alien enthusiasts were even more perplexed after they have allegedly captured an image that would become a strong proof of UFO existence. A number of keen-eyed conspiracy theorists were reported to have spotted a strange circular object that was found on Google Earth satellite images of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles. Majority of these claims say that the mysterious object was a flying saucer that has been parked on the runway. Now, the bizarre internet conspiracy theory about NASA hiding a flying saucer in its not so publicly exposed Californian research lab has been finally been debunked.

Is Alien Mystery Finally Solved?

According to reports revealed by Daily Mail, after the spread of the speculations about the so-called UFO, NASA engineers have been quick in dismissing such claims by taking a selfie with the mysterious shape. Dr. Nacer Chahat, NASA scientist was said to have responded to a tweet who allegedly posted a link to an article on the so-called UFO claiming that what other people thinks to be a UFO was actually him. It was found that in Dr. Chahat's picture, it shows an image of him standing with a colleague near the object, which appears to be a storage container.

Selfie With The Alleged Alien

Apparently, as reported by The Sun, the UFO-hoax-buster's UFO Of Interest earlier claimed that the saucer was actually the Mesa facility's 3,000-foot range antenna. It was found that the JPL or Jet Propulsion Laboratory is in fact, home to the Mesa Antenna Measurement Facility, which is considered to track and send communications to aircraft. Ultimately, the JPL, near Los Angeles is also known to be the birthplace of the US' first satellite to orbit the Earth which now acts as the headquarters for exploratory missions to study distant planets and asteroids.
ZZZ Bears, based in Winston-Salem, has created a product that puts a fuzzy bear on duty to help protect children from bad dreams and monsters under the bed.

Say hello to Sgt. Sleeptight  a light brown, 15-inch teddy bear in military camouflage.

ZZZ Bears is a toy company that makes teddy bears for ages 3 to 11.

There are several versions of this plush animal. The original Sgt. Sleeptight wears a camouflage pattern that is not military branch specific. A Marines version, also called Sgt. Sleeptight, comes in a Marine desert MARPAT camouflage uniform. ZZZ Bears also sells a teddy bear dressed in a Navy uniform called Sailor Sleeptight and recently created Coastie Sleeptight, who wears a Coast Guard uniform.

The bears are sold on the companys website at zzzbears.com and on amazon.com. They are also sold in Marines Corps and Navy exchanges and will soon be in Coast Guard exchanges.

At retail, the bears range in price from $19.99 to $24.99.

Justin Baum, the owner of ZZZ Bears, who calls himself its ZZZEO, said a lot of teddy bears are sold in military uniform on U.S. bases.

But he said that a bear made by ZZZ Bears has a higher purpose.

Hes not just a bear in military uniform, Baum said. He solves a universal problem for parents, and thats children with nighttime anxieties that prevent them from going to sleep.

ZZZ Bears teddy bears come with their own Military-Grade Sleep System, a trademark name. In addition to the bear, the system offers a door sign that reads This Room Protected By Sgt. Sleeptight, a Sleeptight oath and five slumber star stickers shaped like military commendation medals.

Heres how it works:

A doorknob hang is placed on a childs bedroom door.

The parent and child read the Sleeptight oath.

Sgt. Sleeptight is put on duty.

The child is rewarded with the sliver slumber star for making it through the night.

Making a teddy bear

Born and raised in Ossining, N.Y., Baum, 45, said he fell in love with the South while attending the University of Alabama.

After graduating in 1993 with a bachelors in advertising and a minor in English, he lived in Atlanta for 15 years and had jobs with several advertising agencies, including JWT.

In 2009, while at JWT working as the agencys creative director on its U.S. Marine Corps account and writing their television commercials, Baum came up with the idea for ZZZ Bears.

Every time he went to a Marine Corps base to shoot a television commercial, he would bring home a present for his daughter, Emma, who was 5 at the time.

She was having trouble sleeping at night  typical problems of a 5-year old, he said. She was afraid of the dark.

During a visit to a Marine Corps Exchange, he saw a bear in a Marine Corps sweatshirt.

I had an epiphany, he said. I said, Even a 5-year old knows that a Marine or a soldier equals protection.

He took the bear home and told his daughter a story.

This is Marine Bear and he has defended the nation for more than 200 years, and now hes going to protect you while you sleep, he said to her.

What if he falls asleep? his daughter said.

Hes a Marine, Baum said. He would never fail his mission.

Then the bear was put on duty outside her bedroom door.

That night, she slept like a bear in hibernation, Baum said.

Years would pass before Baum did anything with his idea.

He moved his family to Winston-Salem in 2013 when he got a job with MullenLowe.

Baum said it wasnt until 2015 that the entrepreneurial bug hit him and he started thinking about how he could create a product and business that could help other children.

Because he didnt know how to make a teddy bear, he started researching online.

He determined that it would be cost prohibitive to manufacture the bears in the United States, but found a manufacturer in China willing to do a small run of teddy bears through alibaba.com.

But it was a scary situation, he said.

Youre wiring money to somebody you dont know in a foreign country and you never know what youre going to get back, Baum said. But it turned out the quality was good and we were happy.

What customers are saying

The Marine Corps Exchange started buying ZZZ Bears teddy bears for its stores in April 2016.

Our plush toys category has been challenging, said Eydie Quisumbing, a buyer for Marine Corps Exchange. We had a very limited assortment and the products were stale. ZZZ Bears offered something unique and interesting. It was also a plus that it had a military theme to it.

Quisumbing said she likes the teddy bears.

The product itself is well made and is of good quality, she said. I also like the award aspect of it and how it reinforces good sleep behavior.

Linda Rodriguez of Winston-Salem said she bought her daughter, Gia, one of the first bears that Baum designed and that the plush toy has held up well through a number of washes.

She wont go anywhere without her bear, Rodriguez said of her daughter, now 12. Shes a Girl Scout so she does Girl Scout camp every summer and she brings it with her. Whenever she has sleepovers with friends, she always brings him with her.

Gia Rodriguez renamed her bear Sgt. Drew in honor of her late grandfather, George Drew, who was a Marine.

Marcus Shapiro of Marietta, Ga., said he decided to buy a ZZZ Bears teddy bear last year because his son, Leyton, who was 10 at the time, was fearful at night and always coming out of his room.

We read the oath, and low and behold that did it, Shapiro said.

He believes the oath made a difference in helping his son, who has a lot of other plush animals, want to stay in his room.

It was unique, Shapiro said. It wasnt just a plush animal.

Giving back

Giving back to military families is a big part of ZZZ Bears, and the company has partnerships with two military charities, Baum said.

Each month the company donates a bear to children who have lost a parent in the line of duty through the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, known as TAPS.

ZZZ Bears also has bears in the Fisher House in Fayetteville through the Fisher House Foundation, which provides homes where military and veterans families can stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment.

Baum said that a sponsor in Fayetteville, a restaurant owner, paid for a years worth of bears for the Fisher House.

The next step

Baum said that while ZZZ Bears still has not made a profit, he is encouraged by new and potential sales opportunities.

He said his company has an order from the U.S. Coast Guard and expects his bears to be in every Coast Guard base by April.

He said he is in negotiations with Target to get his bears into the big-box chains stores.

ZZZ Bears is still part-time work for Baum, who runs his business out of his home.

He said he was recently laid off from his job at MullenLowe and is looking for a full-time job in advertising.

He gets help from his wife, Leslie, ZZZ Bears chief financial officer, and his daughter, who is often the model for his companys social media posts.

This is not full-time work yet, Baum said of ZZZ Bears. But the plan is to grow this into a full-time business.

He wants to design additional bears so that all branches of the U.S. military are represented and create a pink camouflage uniform for a female bear.

He is also considering nonmilitary bears, including police, firefighter and black belt bears, as well as accessories such as night lights, sleeping bags and dog tags.

One day, we hope to get big enough that we can actually hire some veterans to do work as well, he said.
If you were to picture Joe Faullins senior year at Reynolds High School, it would probably look pretty typical  the homecoming dance, final season of lacrosse and tossing his cap in the air at graduation.

Instead, Faullin finished his coursework over the summer and left all that behind for the adventure of a lifetime  a year in Indonesia.

The 17-year-old Winston-Salem native was one of 65 high school students from around the country selected for the U.S. Department of States YES Abroad program. Started after 9/11 as a cultural exchange between the U.S. and countries with significant Muslim populations, YES Abroad seeks to make connections and build understanding between the two cultures through their young people. Participants live with a host family and attend a local school, living in-country for about 11 months.

The program is funded by the U.S. Department of States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and covers nearly all costs associated with it, including airfare, room and board, visa fees and a small stipend for living expenses.

This year, especially, we were told its going to be a big challenge and a lot of responsibility, Faullin said. Its an interesting time to represent us to people in Indonesia. Almost no one has come to the states. For a lot of people Im the first American theyve met.

Its a healthy challenge, to represent America and myself.

Faullin is living with a family  husband, wife and 16-year-old daughter  in Bandung, an urban city on Java, Indonesias largest, most populous island.

The official language is Bahasa Indonesia, which Faullin has picked up to a degree, but many people speak English.

They always want to talk about politics, he said. Donald Trump is a very hot topic here.

Its an interesting time to be abroad as an American, especially in a predominately Muslim country.

The day after Faullins application for the YES Abroad program was due to the U.S. Department of State, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

A little more than a week ago, President Trump signed an executive order that banned travelers from seven majority Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days and halted the countrys refugee resettlement program.

None of the YES Abroad countries are on that list, but Faullin said that hasnt stopped the questions.

I do get a lot of questions, he said. The main question I get right now is Can I still come to America?

While home to the worlds largest Muslim population, Indonesia doesnt fall under Trumps travel ban. But the perception and worry are there, Faullin said, that Muslim people might not be welcome.

The travel ban has definitely disappointed me, he said.

It hurts, the slamming of a religious group where Ive definitely experienced the most welcoming love ever from people all over the religious board. Being predominately Muslim here, the people are very proud.

Faullin said his friends and host family have been open, sharing both their culture and religion, which is a big part of daily life.

Faullins parents said they also get asked a lot of questions about having their 17-year-old son abroad right now.

People sometimes look at us like, I cant believe you let him do that, said Elizabeth Faullin. My answer is always: How could we not? Its such a fantastic opportunity.

The Faullins said they couldnt deny their son this chance after seeing how committed he was to the program and to a future in international affairs.

When I listen to Joe talk about his host parents and sister and the people hes meeting, the family bond and relationships theyre building  its just awe-inspiring and life-changing, said Jeff Faullin.

Joe Faullin caught the abroad bug after a month-long trip to Argentina one summer. As an exchange student, he lived with a host family in-country. His host-brother later came and spent a month with the Faullin family in Winston-Salem.

That was his catalyst for really wanting to be this global citizen and wanting to explore the world and different cultures, Elizabeth Faullin said.

His excitement, and eagerness and energy around this opportunity was completely, just, overwhelming; and what he was willing to give up to me said so much.

Hes a take big bites out of life kind of kid.

Faullin is set to return in mid-July. Hell likely have a few weeks at home before heading off to college. He doesnt know where, just yet. The wait for college acceptances is one fact of life as a high school senior Faullin cant escape, even 10,000 miles away.
In the mid-1800s, the famous social reformer Dorothea Dix described living conditions in one of our countrys earliest asylums: More than nine-thousand idiots, epileptics, and insane in these United States, destitute of appropriate care and protection. Bound with galling chains, bowed beneath fetters and heavy iron balls, attached to drag-chains, lacerated with ropes, scourged with rods, and terrified beneath storms of profane execrations and cruel blows; now subject to jibes, and scorn, and torturing tricks, now abandoned to the most loathsome necessities or subject to the vilest and most outrageous violations.

More than 100 years after Dorothea Dixs observation  and 45 years ago this January  reporter Geraldo Rivera found similar horrifying conditions at a place called Willowbrook.

The Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, N.Y., was one of the largest institutions in the world housing people with all types of disabilities. As many as 6,000 people with disabilities lived there at one time.

The conditions in this facility were well below those in regular prisons of the time. It was overcrowded and very much understaffed. Less than 20 percent of the patients received an actual education. The place was often permeated with the stench of urine, feces and infection.

One of my favorite axioms from college journalism is, Sunlight is a great disinfectant. This means if you bring public attention to a problem, it often improves the situation because of mounting pressure. Thats what happened with Willowbrook and the entire system serving people with disabilities.

One brave doctor who had been recently fired from Willowbrook for encouraging the families to demand better conditions for their loved ones reached out to the local ABC affiliate. Rivera, then a young reporter, took the story. He produced a series of investigative exposes about the conditions of the facility, which aired in January 1972. The images shocked the citizens of New York and the nation.

Congress responded by creating the Protection and Advocacy (P&A) System in 1975. P&As  as the agencies that make up the system are called  exist to protect the civil rights of those with disabilities. They also have a sweeping power to advocate for people with every type of disability whose rights have been violated.

Every U.S. state and territory has a P&A, although they go by different names. North Carolinas P&A is Disability Rights North Carolina, a nonprofit organization that will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year. The staff changes lives every day for the better.

Not that long ago, I would have been considered a good candidate for an institutional placement. I have a disability that affects my ability to communicate and necessitates that I use a power chair to get around. For generations, that would have meant being locked away somewhere. Disability Rights North Carolina works to keep people like me out of institutions and in the community instead. To remain active in my community, I need services provided by the state through a Medicaid-funded program called the Innovations Waiver.

Recently, the state of North Carolina tried to implement a new policy that would have indirectly reduced services for people who received the Innovations Waiver. Disability Rights NC sued and eventually reached a settlement with the state that expands protections for waiver recipients.

Thanks to the settlement, people like me are empowered to request the services they need, in the amount they need them  without arbitrary limits. We now have stronger due process rights, so if our services are cut, we have the right and the opportunity to fight back.

Although we have made progress, Disability Rights NC must keep fighting against unnecessary institutionalizations and for the rights and independence of people with disabilities. For example, the organization recently worked with the N.C. Council on Developmental Disabilities to find individuals with developmental disabilities who are in adult-care homes and want to move into community settings and they are facilitating those moves.

P&As have been working for four decades under Democratic and Republican administrations. Much of their funding comes from the federal government. As the new administration takes the reins, its vital to the disability community that P&A funding is protected.

Disability is a bipartisan issue. We all need to remember that as we move forward.
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina is gaining a reputation as part of a vanishing breed: the politician working across the aisle.

I was thinking about that last week as Democrats picked up the obstructionist role with President Trump as heartily as Republicans had done with President Obama.

Tillis, a Republican, had a few stumbles during his first months in office in 2015. But now, hes hitting a stride thats needed more than ever.

Last year, he pushed through a bipartisan bill, signed into law by then-President Obama, that protected victims of forced sterilization programs whove been compensated from losing federal benefits. Last month, Tillis had the audacity to write a newspaper column in which he contended, gasp, that President Trump didnt really win a mandate and that the right and the left must work together. He ended January by calling for reasonable immigration reform, instead of Trumps wall, and by noting problems with the presidents temporary ban on immigrants from seven countries and refugees.

Wednesday night in a speech on the Senate floor, he called for bipartisanship.

For some of those efforts, Tillis has caught heck from fellow conservatives. And while some liberals remember his landmark leadership in the state House on sterilization compensation, many others remember him for conservative stances, such as opposition to gay marriage. Last week, people gathered outside his High Point office to protest the planned repeal of the Affordable Care Act and several of Trumps Cabinet nominees.

Tillis wasnt at the office. Tuesday, only three members of the protesting group were allowed inside to chat with Tillis regional rep, Nick Wilkerson, according to the News & Record of Greensboro, and reporters were not allowed in. The paper objected. I join our sister paper in that objection.

Daniel Keylin, Tillis communications director, told the paper that their office would review the protesting groups concerns.

Good. Obviously, Tillis wont retreat from the push to repeal Obamacare. That would be career suicide for any Republican now, regardless of the large Democratic opposition to repeal. But the protests may just make him push hard for a fast replacement to Obamacare, and speak out about that.

Increasingly, Tillis is breaking from the GOP pack to speak out on issues.

Heres what he said in that column about a mandate:

Since the election, Ive heard some of my fellow Republicans claim that the party received a decisive mandate from voters. Lets be clear: the American people didnt give the GOP a stamp of approval or a mandate to ram through an ideologically-driven, far-right agenda. If the election was a mandate for anything, it was for elected officials in both parties to break through the gridlock to finally start producing results  Republicans are in power and have the potential to deliver historic results  but only if we work together with the Democrats who also want to see progress.

Regarding immigration, The Wall Street Journal reported:

At a time when President Donald Trumps promise to build a wall along the southern border is dominating the immigration discussion, Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) has been talking with a handful of Democrats and Republicans to build support for a broader overhaul. His plan would aim to tighten border security and toughen enforcement of immigration laws  goals often cited by Republicans  while addressing the fate of the roughly 11 million immigrants currently in the U.S. illegally, a Democratic priority  The left will say it doesnt go far enough toward open bordersand then the other end of the spectrum, which is: We wont be satisfied until you collect everyone and send them home, which is just not practical nor, do I believe, in the best interests of the U.S., Mr. Tillis said.

And finally, regarding the entry ban, Tillis joined with two fellow members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, both Democrats, in an open letter to new Secretary of Defense James Mattis voicing concern about Trumps temporary entry ban. In the letter, Tillis, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Claire McCaskill of Missouri wrote:

As you know, the Presidents Executive Order prevents Iraqis who provided essential support to the U.S. mission in their country and face threats as a result from entering the United States ... we fear the U.S. will pay significant moral and strategic costs if it continues, particularly in terms of our ability to obtain necessary local support for U.S. military missions abroad. We respectfully request that you encourage the President to immediately ensure that properly vetted Iraqis who supported the U.S. mission in their country can continue to enter the U.S.

We need that kind of bipartisan spirit now. Perhaps Tillis is being practical, realizing that the pendulum will eventually swing back and he has a statewide re-election race to run in a few years. Perhaps he really believes in his latest efforts.

And sometimes, causes that are both practical and right have a way of aligning.
With decades of teaching experience in several capacities in Texas and over the past three years with The Flowertown Blossoms in Summerville, Anicia D. Brown is dead set on handing youngsters the tools to master stage acting and production, while also imparting impactful life lessons along t Read moreFlowertown Blossoms preaching the value of teamwork
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

In an interview with Bill OReilly airing Sunday afternoon, OReilly observes of Russian President Vladimir Putin:

Hes a killer, though. Putins a killer.

TRUMP: There are a lot of killers. Weve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our countrys so innocent?

As The Guardian points out, this exchange is reminiscent of one in summer of 2015 between Joe Scarborough and Trump about Putin:

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough: He kills journalists that dont agree with him. TRUMP: Well, I think that our country does plenty of killing, too, Joe.

At other times, Trump has said there is no proof that Putin killed anyone.

I dont have any way of knowing if Mr. Putin has ordered anyone to be rubbed out. It is pretty obvious that he has bullied Russias journalists into sullen submission or had them fired, and that some 26 have been killed since he came to power. The Russian Federation does not have a free press, and Putin played a role in derailing any movement in that more liberal direction.

However, I would like to point out that we do know who murders in the United States.

There is for instance, Dylann Roof , who murdered 9 Americans, including a sitting state senator. Roof was a big fan of of white supremacist and far right web sites of the sort promoted by Trumps Rasputin, the alt-Neo-Nazi Steve Bannon, former CEO of Breitbart.

When then South Carolina governor Nikki Haley was shamed by Roofs massacre into finally removing the confederate flag from the state capitol, a flag that stood for resistance to the abolition of slavery, Bannon wrote the headline, Hoist it high and proud: The Confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage.

Or there is William Sims, a talented young African-American musician in the Bay Area, snuffed out at the age of 28 just last November by . . . you guessed it, white supremacists.

As for journalists, we should never forget Alan Berg, the liberal radio commentator in Denver shot down in his driveway by The Order, a splinter group of the Aryan Nation white nationalist movement that financed its anti-government goals with bank robberies in the Pacific Northwest. Cute.

Guess who todays white supremacists supported for president?

Let us also not forget Paul Guihard, a French reporter for AFP shot in the back at close range during a segregationist riot against the admission of James Meredith to the University of Mississippi on September 30, 1962.

And if we reach back to the nineteenth century, there was Elijah Parish Lovejoy, an an abolitionist editor in Alton, IL, who was killed in 1837 by a white supremacist mob that favored introducing slavery in the north.

So yes, Mr. Trump, weve got a lot of killers and our countrys not so innocent.

Youre not so innocent, either, since you went out of your way to cultivate the groups out of which those killers emerged as one of your electoral constituencies. And youve got a man who tried to make them respectable there with you in the White House.



Related video:

White Supremacists Invigorated By Donald Trumps Win | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC
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TeleSur |  

The illustrator is a Cuban immigrant who put his views on Trump into a piece of art that is now on the cover of one of the worlds leading magazines.

The influential German news magazine Der Spiegel has released its Feb. 4 cover featuring a cartoon image of Donald Trump holding decapitated head of Lady Liberty, while the online version even offers an animated version, with the blood dripping from Lady Libertys severed head.

Ab heute uberall dort, wo es Zeitschriften gibt: Der neue SPIEGEL. Kostenlos durchblattern geht hier: https://t.co/N0k3HT6Dgt pic.twitter.com/yI64jDMZA4  SPIEGEL Medien (@SPIEGEL_Medien) February 4, 2017

Titled "America First," it shows a knife-wielding Donald Trump holding the Statue of Libertys head. The cartoonist Edel Rodriguez, says that he drew the image to convey the message that Trump was beheading American democracy, according to The Washington Post.

Rodriguez, who arrived to the United States as a refugee from Cuba in 1980, is the same illustrator who did the Time magazines famous "Meltdown" and "Total Meltdown" Trump covers last summer and fall that depicted Trumps face melting.

Rodriguez was angered by Trumps executive order temporarily banning entry to the U.S. for travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from around the world, which was why he chose to portray him as the stereotype of an extremist jihadist fighter.

In December 2015, after Trump called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, the New York Daily News pictured him beheading the Statue of Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty is seen as a symbol of the countrys immigrant tradition, and a testament to the millions whove come to the U.S. in search of a better life.

The ban and Trumps general rhetoric against Muslims and immigrants has sparked huge international criticism from the U.N. chief and several countries, including Germany and many Muslim-majority nations.

Many have criticized the retroactive nature of the travel ban, arguing it affects many who have legally made their way into the United States.

Trump has yet to publicly comment on the cover as of Saturday morning. However, he did take to Twitter to defend his executive order after a federal judge blocked it nationwide.

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security  big trouble!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

via TeleSur

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Related video added by Juan Cole:

Wochit News: Trump Beheads Statue Of Liberty On Respected Magazine Cover
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Mustafa Habib | ( Niqash.org ) |  

The biggest problem in eastern Mosul, post-extremists, is security. The Iraqi army needs to move on, to fight in western Mosul, but they cannot leave the eastern city to a variety of militias, fighting among themselves.

The praise for the hard fighting that Iraqs pro-government forces have done to free the eastern side of Mosul had hardly died down when it was announced that the military  and their enemy  was moving into position to begin the next stage of the battle. This will involve trying to push the extremist group known as the Islamic State, which has controlled the northern city since mid-2014, out of the western side of the city.



Iraqs counter-terrorism forces in Mosul, holding the IS flag upside down. (photo:   )

But before security forces even go any further  and by all accounts, there has been a high casualty rate among them as a result of the hard fighting in Mosul  the question of how to secure and stabilize the eastern side of the city remains. There is a need for urgent societal and political measures as well as state services and reliable security.

Police stations will be essential in keeping Mosul neighbourhoods safe. But the Iraqi government has yet to announce when they may re-open.

According to a member of the counter-terrorism forces, Saif al-Rubaie, the fighting in Mosul is different because of all the civilians who stayed in their homes during the battles. In other parts of the country, such as in Fallujah, Ramadi and Tikrit, most of the civilians left their homes and went to camps for displaced people. The majority only returned again once the fighting was finished and, al-Rubaie says, they were vetted before they were allowed to return.

There are now patrols roaming the liberated neighbourhoods of Mosul and they are going house to house verifying IDs and searching for IS members who might be hiding among the civilians, al-Rubaie told NIQASH. Weve been able to arrest a number of them and we have found weapons stores in abandoned houses too  the extremists would have used these later, to attack liberated neighbourhoods.

Al-Rubaies unit was involved in the fighting to push the IS group out of the central Iraqi city of Fallujah and after this task was more or less completed they were sent to join the fighting in Mosul. But he and his colleagues have been upset with the news coming out of Fallujah, about the fact there are still bombings going on there; there have been seven car bombs in the city, with the latest attack on Saturday.

His units biggest fear now is that after they cross the Tigris river to start fighting the IS group in western Mosul, the eastern side will be attacked again, and possibly they will have to fight a rear guard action too. The counter-terrorism forces are trying to prevent this happening by ensuring that the eastern side is secure.

Currently there are five different security forces in eastern Mosul. These are the counter-terrorism forces who led the fight against the IS group, the federal police, the local police of the province, the Iraqi armys quick response forces and the volunteer militias made up of locals. These forces, who are supposed to be in charge of maintaining security while more elite troops move on to battle in the west of the city, are varied, with a wide range of experience, armaments, strength among them, as well as differing ideas about how to interact with the civilians of the city.

Counter-terrorism forces are in charge of security in the central areas of eastern Mosul, federal and provincial police are in the eastern neighbourhoods of the city along with the quick response troops while local militias and other Iraqi army units are in the north.

Additionally, and unfortunately, the different groups dont always get along well. Last Friday Sunni Muslim politician, Atheel al-Nujaifi, the former governor of Ninawa who is allegedly in charge of the locally-created militias, said that the Iraqi government had given them the mandate to maintain security in certain neighbourhoods in Mosul, while the counter-terrorism troops were withdrawn to prepare for the battle for western Mosul.

But the Iraqi government backed off that plan within hours and said they would pull the local militias, made up of former police officers in Ninawa and Sunni Muslim tribal fighters, out of the city after complaints from Shiite Muslim politicians and Shiite Muslim militia leaders. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence also said that if al-Nujaifi tries to enter the city again he will be arrested.

Part of the reason for this is that the militias that al-Nujaifi has marshalled are backed by Turkey and both the federal police and Shiite Muslim militias in the area say they are not to be trusted. An official statement from a local Christian militia, the Babylon Brigades  made up of Christian Iraqis but also closely associated with two of the more forceful Shiite Muslim militias, the League of the Righteous and the Badr brigades, both of which have strong links to Iran  demanded that the government check the Sunni Muslim militia for any terrorists in their midst. The Christian militias statement also demanded that al-Nujaifi be arrested and that the Shiite Muslim militias be allowed to participate fully in the fighting for Mosul.

These kinds of political conflicts between the different forces led to Abdul Amir Yarallah, the commander of the military campaign in Mosul, to decide that it was best that the Iraqi army stay in charge of maintaining security in Mosul. But clearly the Iraqi military, and their elite counter-terrorism troops, cannot stay there forever and guard eastern Mosul if western Mosul is to be fought for. This means any further operations in Mosul could be delayed.

The other option for security in eastern Mosul comes from the local police. Before the IS group took control of the city in June of 2014, there were around 25,000 local police and 40,000 federal police. After the IS group arrived though, the local police force collapsed and today there are only about 8,000 police in action in Mosul  and many of these officers are not ready for the job.

Obviously police stations will be essential in keeping neighbourhoods safe and preventing the emergence of IS sleeper cells as well as to prevent reprisals against those locals accused of IS membership. The Iraqi government has yet to announce when any police stations will be re-opening in Mosul though.

So it seems those living on the western side of Mosul will continue to have to deal with the same issues civilians in other cities that the IS group has left, are  that includes Ramadi, Fallujah, Tikrit, Heet and Rutba. All of these towns and cities are among those where security is being controlled by a variety of militias with different attitudes, arms and military experience, none of which are under the direct control of Baghdad  and where killings and kidnappings continue, except now nobody knows who is behind them.

Via Niqash.org

AP: Mosul residents start clean-up after IS
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Maan News Agency |  

TEL AVIV (Maan)  Thousands rallied in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Saturday evening in protest of home demolitions targeting Palestinian citizens of Israel, with demonstrators calling the Israeli states demolition campaign racist and an act of incitement against Palestinian citizens.

Protesters reportedly called on Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan to resign for lying to the Israeli public, saying they held him responsible for the killings that took place during a raid to evacuate the Negev region Bedouin community of Umm al-Hiran last month.

Local math teacher in Umm al-Hiran Yacoub Abu al-Qian was shot dead on Jan. 18 by police before Israeli authorities demolishes more than a dozen structures in the village, with authorities claiming he was carrying out a deliberate vehicular attack, in contradiction to numerous eyewitness reports and video evidence that attested his car spun out of control only after Israeli police opened fire on him.



Some 5,000 Palestinian and Jewish citizens joined the march Saturday night, travelling from Jerusalem and across Israel to protest the demolitions and the Israeli states discriminatory policies against Palestinian citizens in general.

Members of a local committee from Umm al-Hiran also participated, with at least four busloads of Palestinian and Jewish citizens from the Negev arriving to join the rally. < Demonstrators raised posters in Arabic and Hebrew, including the slogans: "When the government is against the people, the people will be against the government," Enough of the government's racismwe demand equality," and "Jewish and Arabs together, we fight fascism." Abu al-Qians widow Amal Abu Saad addressed protesters, denouncing the Israeli government's policies of racism, whicht she said led to the unnecessary death of her husband and the Israeli police officer who died after being hit by Abu al-Qians car. She reiterated demands previously made by her family, calling for an investigation into the deadly raid and said that she still believed in the possibility of living together in peace and equality, in spite of her loss.

Since the incident, no one has spoken to us and explained what happened, Israeli news site Ynet quoted her as saying. We are citizens of Israel and we want to be treated with respect. I want to be like everyone else. I want the same respect they gave to residents of Amona. We demand to know the truth behind the incident.

After Israeli police evacuated Israeli settlers from the illegal Amona outpost in the occupied West Bank earlier this week, Palestinian leadership highlighted the double standard between use of force in Amona and Umm al-Hiran.

Ayman Odeh, the head of the Joint List coalition that represents Palestinian citizens of Israel in Israels parliament, the Knesset, also delivered a speech at the demonstration. Odeh was injured in Umm al-Hiran ahead of the demolitions there, saying at the time Israeli police shot him in the head with a sponge-tipped bullet as he joined locals to resist the evacuation raid.

He addressed demonstrators, calling for the end the illegal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory and for a truly equal society.

Umm al-Hiran must be a turning point  there should be no more racist demolitions. No more, he insisted, also accusing the racist and destructive Israeli government of lying to the public.

The event was organized by some 20 human rights organizations, including the organization Standing Together, the Council of Unrecognized Villages in the Negev, the leftist Israeli parties Meretz and Hadash, Rabbis for Human Rights, and others.

Earlier on Saturday, Secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO) Saeb Erekat denounced the Israeli government for its fascist and extremist escalation against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

This escalation, characterized by home demolitions and other restrictions against Palestinians in Israel, as well as in the West Bank, and Jerusalem, is a result of fascist alliances between (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and extremist forces in Israel, Erekat said at a gathering held to show support for the Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Demolitions in Umm al-Hiran and Qalansawe also came after demolitions of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem reached a record high over the course of 2016.

Right groups have argued that the aim of home demolitions is to forcibly displace Palestinians from the region, regardless of their status as residents of the occupied West Bank or East Jerusalem, or as citizens of Israel  despite the varying legal justifications used by Israel in each instance.

Via Maan News Agency
China said Sunday it would begin imposing harsh punishments [Reuters report] on those involved with illegal financing activities, with a particular focus on underground banking and the stock market, following a string of scandals. In particular, the state news agency released statements that the government would start to put the prevention of financial risk in an even more important position, through severely punishing the illegal collection of public deposits, fraudulent fund-raising and other economic crimes involving the public, in addition to cracking down on money-laundering, underground banks and online pyramid schemes. The news release also said an emphasis on curbing and punishing securities and real estate market crimes. The report did not say anything about the actual punishments that will be dealt, however, China has been criticized by the international human rights community in recent years for their handling of punishment.

Earlier this month a former Chinese senior energy official who had hoarded 200 million yuan ($29.99 million) was given a suspended death sentence [JURIST report] after being convicted of corruption. In August Chinese authorities released a prominent human rights lawyer from detention. Wang Yu was released on bail after confessing to subverting state power [JURIST report]. In July China was set to prosecute [JURIST report] a prominent human rights lawyer on charges of subverting state power. In September Amnesty International urged [JURIST report] Chinese authorities to end their ruthless assault against human rights lawyers and activists. In June a report claimed that China continues to harvest organs [JURIST report] from prisoners and those opposed to the Chinese Communist Party.
A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania [official website] on Friday ordered [text, PDF] Google [corporate website] to disclose certain information found in foreign-stored e-mails, as requested by an FBI search warrant. This decision conflicts with a previous Second Circuit Court ruling, which was most recently denied a rehearing [JURIST report]. By virtue of the way e-mails are distributed on Googles e-mail server, the tech corporation was unable to decipher whether certain sought-after e-mails were sent and received in the US and, following the Second Circuit ruling, refused to provide the FBI with the potentially foreign e-mails. The judge said, because the invasion of privacy will occur in the United States and the searches of the electronic data disclosed by Google pursuant to the warrants will occur in the United States, the requested information falls within an acceptable domestic use of the Stored Communications Act [materials]. In addition, the judge stated there was no seizure, as no meaningful interference with the e-mail account holders possessory interest.

Technology continues to raise important privacy questions. In April Microsoft sued [JURIST report] the US Department of Justice regarding the privacy of their customers e-mails. Microsoft filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington in an attempt to block authorities from taking customer e-mails without Microsofts knowledge. Also in April the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled [JURIST report] that obtaining phone location records without a warrant was not a violation of the Fourth Amendment. In November 2015 the US Supreme Court rejected a case [JURIST report] to determine whether it is necessary to obtain a search warrant when law enforcement requests access to cell phone location data. In October of 2015 California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law [JURIST report] the California Electronic Communications Act (CECA), a law that many are touting as a substantial step forward for digital privacy and protecting users rights. The law, which was approved alongside more than 10 other bills, bars any states law enforcement agency or other investigative entity from requesting sensitive metadata from persons or businesses without a warrant. Also in 2015 the European Court of Justice ruled [JURIST report] that EU user data transferred to the US by various technology companies is not sufficiently protected.
[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled Friday in favor of Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson [official websites] in issuing a stay [text, PDF] of President Donald Trumps controversial immigration restrictions. The nationwide temporary retraining order forbids government employees from carrying out Trumps executive order [text] barring immigration from certain states, based on the irreparable economic damage the states would incur from such a ban. Judge James Robart stated, [t]he executive order adversely affects the states residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations and freedom to travel, and added that [t]hese harms are significant and ongoing. The Trump administration responded, with the president tweeting, [t]he opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! and the White House releasing a statement,

[a]t the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate. The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people.

Robarts temporary restraining order will stand until the parties have an opportunity to fully litigate the issue or an emergency stay overrules it.

Trump signed the executive order [JURIST op-ed] in late January. Only a day later, a judge for the Eastern District of New York issued an emergency stay [JURIST report], temporarily preventing execution of the law, until the question of whether it applied to valid visa holders could be resolved. The issue was resolved by a district judge in Michigan, who ordered [JURIST report] that the travel ban could not be applied to legal citizens, including those holding visas.
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello [official website, in Spanish], on Friday approved [press release, in Spanish] a law [text, PDF, in Spanish] to hold nonbinding referendum that would allow the US territory to vote on statehood. The referendum, to be held in June, will allow the voters to choose between statehood and independence/free association. Those in support of Puerto Rican statehood believe approving statehood could help the country restructure its $70 billion in public debt and stave off further federal austerity measures. Functionally, if approved, Puerto Rican statehood would allow the state to receive $10 billion in federal funds per year, as well as allowing government agencies and municipalities to file for bankruptcy. Rossello called the vote a civil rights issue and said the US will have to respond to the demands of 3.5 million citizens seeking an absolute democracy. Though a US territory currently, Puerto Ricos citizenry are denied many of the benefits provided to citizens in US states, including equal access to Social Security and Medicare, despite paying taxes for these services. In addition, Puerto Ricos representative in Congress is only allowed to vote in a House committee meeting in which the representative is a member.

For several years, Puerto Rico has been facing a severe financial, economic and social crisis. The territory has been suffering from a massive recession [BBC report] since 2006. Currently, the island is no longer able to service its public debt of around $71.5 billion. The Puerto Rican legislature passed a bill [JURIST report] in April that would allow the island territory to enter into a state of fiscal emergency and begin the negotiation process toward a one-year debt moratorium. However, the Puerto Rico Electronic Power Authority, a major player in the economic crisis, reached a deal [Bloomberg report] to restructure its debt in December. This deal is the first of many restructuring plans to alleviate the governments debt. Last February the Puerto Rico Legislature passed a bill [text, PDF, in Spanish] that would restructure the islands debt, which was then estimated to be $9 billion [JURIST report].
Engineering Career Fair

Tuesday, Feb. 15 & Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022

K-State Engineering Complex

11 a.m. - 4 p.m. CST

Visit with a wide range of engineering companies looking for interns, co-op, and full-time employees.

Employers Attending

Search employers attending in Handshake

Student Support

Updating Handshake Profile Settings

Make sure you have a smooth experience the day of the fair by getting your Handshake profile ready.

What do I need to know about privacy settings? To participate in group sessions, you must set visibility to Community (this gives you access to Peer Messaging and makes you visible to other students and alumni across Handshake schools). To participate in one-on-one sessions, you must set your profile to Employers. Note: Handshake will prompt you to change your privacy settings if needed when you attempt to sign up for sessions.

Registering for the Career Fair

You can't participate if you don't register!

How do I find the career fair in Handshake? Log into your Handshake account. Go to the EVENTS page via the top menu bar. Select CAREER FAIRS.

How do I register for the fair? Once you have navigated to the fair by clicking EVENTS from the top menu bar, click on the name of the fair and then click the blue REGISTER button in the top right corner of the event page.

How do I know which employers will be participating in the fair? Once you complete registration for the fair, you will be able to scroll through the employers that have registered to attend.

Interacting with Employers

Be sure to make a great first impression - even with this new, online format.

Should I email my resume to the employer before the session? If an employer asks you to email your resume, yes, follow their instructions. However, best practice is to ensure you have uploaded an up-to-date version of your resume to your Handshake profile so that it can be viewed by an employer prior to a session.

What are best practices for researching an employer before the fair? Thoroughly prepare! Research the employer with Handshake, LinkedIn and social media platforms to get a well-rounded view of the employer. Specifically, look at the companys history, any descriptors of the culture, what the mission is, where their locations are, what kind of work they do, which clients or customers they serve and recent news about the company. This will help you answer questions like, What do you know about us as an organization?

Where do I find information in Handshake to be able to follow up with a recruiter after the fair? The company profile in Handshake should contain at least a generic email account that will allow you to follow up. However, it is best practice to end your session conversation by saying, Thank you for your time. Do you have contact information that will allow me to follow up with you once I apply? Use this contact information to send a quick thank you note to the employers you engage with during the online fair.

After the Fair
All information and data used are from reliable source(s) and subjected to extensive research after diligent and reasonable efforts to determine the soundness of the source(s). This analysis is not for the benefit of or discredit to any person, scrip or tradable instrument. The content(s) of this analysis shall not be construed as an advice or recommendation to trade. No relationship of client will be created between Business Recorder and user of this information. Professional advice must be taken by the reader before making investment/trading decisions. BR disclaims any liability for investment(s) made or liability accrued on basis of this analysis. The content(s) including all opinion(s), statement(s) and information are subject to change without prior notice and/or intimation.




NEW DELHI: The Chinese headline sponsor of the Indian Premier League, the worlds richest cricket tournament, is set to withdraw amid mounting hostility after a border clash between the Indian and Chinese armies, reports said.



Phonemaker Vivo was to pull out from backing at least this years tournament, which has been switched to the United Arab Emirates because of the coronavirus pandemic, the reports said.



There have been widespread calls for a boycott of Chinese goods in India since the June 15 clash in the Himalayas in which 20 Indian troops were killed.



Vivo paid $330 million for a five-year deal up to 2022 but has faced opposition since the deadly clash which also left an unknown number of Chinese casualties.



The Indian government has already banned dozens of Chinese smartphone apps, including the video sharing platform TikTok, and taken other measures that will restrict trade with China.



There was no immediate comment from Vivo or the Board of Control for Cricket in India but the reports said they were negotiating a way for the Chinese firm to exit the deal.



Press Trust of India news agency quoted a BCCI official as saying that both sides wanted an amicable escape route.



The BCCI had said after the clash that it would review its IPL sponsor deals. A backlash erupted on Sunday when it announced that Vivo would remain the main sponsor for the much-delayed tournament which will now start on September 19.



The Confederation of All India Traders, which claims 70 million small business members, said the Indian government should block the IPL tournament for showing utter disregard to public anger over the border deaths.



Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), the cultural arm of the influential Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is close to the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, threatened a boycott of the IPL unless the Chinese sponsor was dropped.



We want to urge the IPL organisers to reconsider their stand on sponsorship by Chinese companies, said an SJM statement. Please remember the nations pride and security above all, it added. There was also widespread social media outrage. Chinese officials have expressed concern and warned of reprisals over the measures already taken in India that is starting to freeze their enterprises out of the giant market of 1.3 billion people. AFP




Description

The New York Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation invites you to come in from the cold this winter and bask in the comfort and warmth of fine classical music on Sunday afternoons at the Upper Carriage House at Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River, New York.



The 2017 Winter Concert Series schedule is as follows:



February 5........................ Gemini Journey.........Violin & Cello

February 12 ......................Kaplan Duo..............Piano Duo

February 19......................Serenade Duo.............Flute & Guitar

February 26........................Trio Portinari............Piano, Violin & Cello

March 5........................... Canta Libre...............Flute, Harp & Strings

March 12..........................Cross Island............. Piano, Violin & Cello

March 19.......................... Bradley Burgess........Piano



All concerts begin promptly at 2:00PM. Seating is on first come, first serve basis and tickets will be distributed beginning at 12:30PM. The concerts, free to the public, are sponsored by the Islip Arts Council with funding provided by Bayard Cutting Arboretum, Natural Heritage Trust, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, New York State Council of the Arts, and Suffolk County under the auspices of the Office of Cultural Affairs.



For more information, please call the Islip Arts Council at (631) 224-5420. For information on the day of the concert, please call Bayard Cutting Arboretum at (631) 581-1002.
Four years ago, a judge ordered Catalina Diaz to pay $15,000 in restitution as part of her probation for embezzling from a temporary labor agency.Two years ago, the mother of five boys stopped making the monthly payments because she couldn't afford them.

Wednesday, though she admitted that she hadn't paid 90 percent of the restitution, a judge did not send her to jail.

The reason? There is no such thing as a debtor's prison in Nebraska.

Under state law, a judge cannot send someone to prison simply because they cannot pay restitution.

So Diaz, 46, walked out with tears on her face, her sons in tow, and no further consequences.

Douglas County District Judge Russell Bowie terminated her probation unsatisfactorily.

Her free pass came two months after The World-Herald explored how defendants often attempt to pay their way out of jail - sometimes by bringing a down payment on restitution to their sentencings. Forty percent to 50 percent of all white-collar thieves end up with probation.

The Diaz case shows the other end of the legal spectrum. Put simply, people who are too poor to pay restitution cannot be ordered to pay with prison time.

Douglas County Public Defender Tom Riley noted that there's a difference between someone who is broke and someone who simply blows off restitution payments.

"If there's a genuine demonstration of inability to pay, it would be unconstitutional to send them to prison," he said. "You can't get blood from a turnip."

Indeed, Nebraska appellate courts have made the distinction between debtors and deadbeats. In a 1992 case, the Court of Appeals wrote that prosecutors must prove that someone willfully refused to make restitution or to get a job.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said the Diaz case shows the folly of basing sentences on promises to make restitution.

"Sentences should be based on the crime committed - on what the person did to begin with," Kleine said. "They shouldn't be based on the person's ability to pay back the money."

Diaz's attorney, Kevin Ryan, said he had no doubt that Diaz received probation in part because of the prospect of restitution.

In April 2003, Douglas County District Judge Richard Spethman, now retired, sentenced Diaz after she and another woman pleaded guilty to theft by deception for stealing $108,000 from General Labor, a former employment agency.

Spethman required Diaz to pay restitution in $250-a-month increments over five years. By law, judges can order only amounts that they think defendants can afford to pay.

Diaz, who works as a hotel maid, made payments for a few months.

She then requested - and Spethman agreed - to lower the amount to $50 per month.

She made her last payment in September 2005, bringing the total she repaid to $1,435.

Several months later, the probation office noted her failure to make payments. In March, prosecutors charged her with violating her probation.

Diaz pleaded guilty to it.

The judge had choices. With probation violations, judges have the option of sentencing defendants under the original range - in this case, one to 20 years in prison.

Bowie also could have continued her probation. She had six months to go on a term that required her to obey the law and report monthly to probation officers. He also could have lowered her restitution payments.

Ryan urged the judge to let her go. He noted that Diaz was accused of no other violations. He pointed to probation officers' reports that Diaz was extremely remorseful.

Diaz's sons jammed a courtroom row - and watched their mom beg the judge not to send her to prison.

"I'll do anything I can," she said, wiping away tears. "I just don't want to go back to jail."

Bowie cut her loose. He didn't explain his decision.

Ryan said there was some parallel justice at work Wednesday. Just as the defendant who pays restitution shouldn't automatically get probation, the defendant who can't pay restitution shouldn't automatically get jail.

As for the victim, he has since sold the labor agency, Ryan said. Though it may be fruitless, he can still try to recover the debt through civil litigation.

"In these cases, is it justice for the victims? Sometimes not," Ryan said. "But I think it's justice overall."
Iranian-born bioengineer researcher Nima Enayati looks out at planes at the Milan's Malpensa International airport in Busto Arsizio, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017. Just hours after an appeals court blocked an attempt to re-impose the travel ban, Iranian researcher Nima Enayati checked in on an Emirates Airline flight direct from MilanAos Malpensa airport to New YorkAos JFK on Sunday afternoon. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
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On the eve of President Trump signing an executive order on immigration, I lay here awake, silently screaming for the Syrian children. What will become of the hundreds of children I met recently at the Zaatari camp in Jordan whose hopeful eyes searched my own for answers? Unable to return home because of a war that has stretched more than 5 years, where will they go if we turn our back on them? How do I make the world understand that these children are much like our own, with the same hopes and dreams of a brighter future?

As a pediatrician, I pledged my life to advocate for the well-being of children, regardless of race, gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. So here I am, at 2 a.m., begging for the world to not forget about the Syrian children.

Perhaps many are unaware that 58 percent of the population at the Zaatari camp in Jordan is children. This camp holds the largest number of Syrian refugees and is the second largest camp in the world. I had the opportunity to meet many of these children recently on a medical mission with the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), an extraordinary nonprofit organization that has worked on the front lines of crisis relief in Syria and neighboring countries since the beginning of the war.

At first, those I met reminded me of children back home, the streets ringing with laughter, the joy when presented with stickers. And yet so many of these children are aware that home is not the metal caravan they have been living in nor is the playground a patch of dirt enclosed by wired fencing. What was meant to be a temporary housing option graciously created by the Jordanian government in cooperation with the UN, has now turned into the only home many of these children have ever known. Still, they try desperately to live normal lives despite the extraordinary circumstances they are in. And yet, the laughter cannot hide the 7-year-old who has yet to speak or the 10-year-old who wets the bed every night.

Signs of PTSD are high amongst the children residing in these camps. Having been exposed to high levels of trauma while in Syria and with poor access to mental health care even the pictures they draw depict the death and destruction they have faced.

The Jordanian government has tried to provide structure for the refugee children by educating them and often diving the schools in two, with Jordanian children attending in the morning and Syrian children in the afternoon. However, a country with limited resources itself struggles to accommodate the growing number of refugee children that reside in the camps. Without an education, these children are left vulnerable to early marriage, child labor, and military recruitment.

As a pediatrician searching for ways to protect these children, I found solace in organizations such as SAMS who continue to strive to improve the condition of the Syrian people. But reading the headlines today, I hear the voice of a mother who as I was leaving said, Please dont forget us; there is no one else.

So I am left pondering in the middle of the night, that when we took the Hippocratic oath to do no harm will we be held accountable for our silence and inaction during the worst humanitarian crisis of our time.

Henna Qureshi is a pediatrician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Still Standing: Four the Moments legacy honoured at Nova Scotia Music Week

When a quartet of Halifax women began singing together a cappella in the name of social justice in 1982, there was little in the way of a music industry at play in Atlantic Canada. And even if there had been, its likely that Four the Moment would ...
PORT LOUIS, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The weighted average yield on Mauritius' 91-day Treasury bill fell to 1.96 percent at an auction on Friday from 2.27 percent at the previous sale, results of the auction seen by Reuters on Sunday showed.

The Bank of Mauritius sold all the 2 billion rupees ($56.43 million) worth of the debt it had offered. Complete auction results were as follows: MATURITY 91-DAY 182-DAY 364-DAY WEIGHTED AVERAGE PRICE This Auction 99.514 98.959 97.767 Last Auction 99.437 98.822 97.577 WEIGHTED AVERAGE YIELD (PCT) This Auction 1.96 2.11 2.29 Last Auction 2.27 2.39 2.49 BIDS ACCEPTED (MLN RUPEES) 1.087 523.9 388.3 ($1 = 35.4400 Mauritius rupees)

(Reporting by Jean Paul Arouff; editing by Elias Biryabarema and John Stonestreet)
Turkey transfers its Ziraat Bank, Istanbul bourse, Botas stakes to wealth fund



ANKARA, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Turkey has transferred its stakes in Ziraat Bank, the Borsa Istanbul stock exchange and state-owned pipeline operator Botas, among others, to a new sovereign wealth fund, the official gazette said on Sunday. Turkey is setting up the wealth fund - Turkey Asset Management - with initial paid-in capital of 50 million liras ($16 million), to be financed from the state privatisation fund. Its strategic aim is to generate annual growth of 1.5 percent over the next 10 years.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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.

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Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste / Courtesy of SPO



Virsaladze will be performing in Seoul for the first time

By Yun Suh-young





Georgian pianist Eliso Virsaladze

Classical music virtuosos will highlight the Seoul stage this month with performances of Schumann, Sibelius, Mozart, Mahler and Beethoven.

Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Georgian pianist Eliso Virsaladze will be performing this week and next, respectively, followed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding the following week. This is the first Seoul performance for the 75-year-old Virsaladze.

On Feb. 10 and 11, conductor Saraste will take the helm with violist Brett Dean and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in his fourth concert with the orchestra following his performances in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

The principal conductor of WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne will open the program with Sibelius, En Saga, Op. 9, a mystical piece spanning 20 minutes portraying the scenery of northern Europe. Saraste twice released the complete symphonies of Sibelius with Finland's Radio Symphony Orchestra and received rave reviews for his detailed and exact depictions of En Saga. He will also be leading Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60.

Saraste has worked with several noted orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra as principal guest conductor and as music director of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Australian violist, composer and conductor Brett Dean, who had a long career at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, will be performing his own piece, Viola Concerto, for the first time in Asia.

The programs for the two days are the same and the concerts will be held at the Lotte Concert Hall, Friday, and Seoul Arts Center, Saturday.

Celebrated pianist Virsaladze will be performing in Seoul for the first time on Feb. 16. Despite her many performances in Japan, she has never had the chance to perform in Korea.

She is known to be a Schumann specialist since her prize-winning performance at the age of 24 at the International Robert Schumann Piano and Voice Competition in 1966. Her Schumann performance was touted as the "best interpretation of Schumann of the century" by Svyatoslav Teofilovich Rikhter, and her albums of his work have been highly received by critics.

She is an interpreter of 18th and 19th century piano works from Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann as well as wide ranging repertoir from modern Soviet and Russian composers. She was awarded the "People's Artist of the Georgian SSR" in 1971, and of the "People's Artist of the USSR" in 1989.

At the age of 75, Virsaladze is still active, and since the late 1970s she has partnered with Natalia Gutman whom she has performed with for over 40 years.

Virsaladze will be opening the Seoul performance with Robert Schumann's Arabeske for piano in C major, Op.18, Schubert's Piano Sonata No.13 in A Major, D.664 (Op.120), and Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No.2 in d minor, Op.14. After the intermission more Schumann will follow. Schumann's Fantasiestucke for Piano, Op.12, is up first followed by Franz Liszt's Widmung, S.566 (LW A133) (arranged for Piano after R. Schumann), and Rhapsodie Espagnole for Piano, S.254 (LW A195). Her performance will be held at the Kumho Art Hall as part of its exclusive series.

Virsaladze has been teaching at Moscow Conservatory since 1967 and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich since 1995. Her students include renowned pianists Boris Berezovsky, Alexei Volodin, as well as Koreans, Park Jong-hwa and Kim Tae-hyung.

On Feb. 20, the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) will take the stage under the helm of principal guest conductor Daniel Harding. This is the orchestra's 10th visit to Seoul since its debut in 1964 and Daniel Harding's third with the LSO since 2014.

What is special about this year's tour is that the program features an exact replication of the regular concert at the London Barbican Centre. The regular repertoire for the LSO's 2016/17 season such as Mozart's Overture for The Marriage of Figaro, Mark-Anthony Turnage's Hakan, for trumpet and orchestra, and Mahler's Symphony No.4 in G Major will be performed.
Zin Ki-jong's "Freedom Fighter" on display at the PyeongChang Biennale 2017 / Courtesy of PyeongChang Biennale



By Kwon Mee-yoo

Lee Byung-chan's "Urban Creature  Calling for Mammon"





GANGNEUNG  A year ahead of the highly anticipated 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the region is bustling with test events and other activities gearing up for the Winter Games. The PyeongChang Biennale 2017, opened at the Gangneung Green City Experience Center in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Friday, puts a new perspective on contemporary art by discovering art within everyday life.

Themed "The Five Moons: In the East Sea, the Sky, the Lake, in the Wine Glass and in One's Eyes," the concept of the biennale was inspired by the nature of Gangwon Province, home of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games.

Kim Sung-yeon, executive art director of the biennale, organized the exhibit to take a step closer to the public. "I thought of the Five Moons to discover art from daily life. I tried to find a venue that can mingle more with citizens, but this was the best I could find," Kim said.

Kim successfully collected a handful of intriguing works of art using ordinary items such as fallen leaves, suitcases and water from the Gyeongpo Lake to emphasize that the omnipresence of art in life.

"I didn't care much about the profile of the artists, but was more interested in whether their works matched with the biennale's theme or not," Kim explained.

Indeed, many of the artists are from Gangwon Province or from lesser known regions, but their work bursts with freshness.



View of Gangneung Green City Experience Center in Gangneung, Gangwon Province



On the first floor are works of art challenging the perception of art by inviting the five senses, especially sound.

Korean artists Choi Bo-hee and Han Ji-won evoke wanderlust in everyone by playing sounds collected at various tourist destinations in dozens of suitcases in "Zwischenganger." Han Seok-kyung experiments with memory and sound through an old-fashioned telephone booth, now disappearing, which plays sound collected from Gangneung by people of Gangneung.

German artist Nils Volker attracts the viewers with a colorful kinetic installation "Bits and Pieces" and swelling and shrinking plastic bags of "8x16."

The largest piece on view would be Lee Byung-chan's "Urban Creature  Calling for Mammon," a floating sculpture made of black plastic bags. The alien-like object criticizes the fantasy of equality in the consumer society.

Artists observe their neighborhood closely on the second floor. Park Yong-seon's "Leaf" is a collection of fallen leaves, sewed together by the artists. Jo Yun-guk recreated his studio and groups of houses huddled together with cardboard, reminiscing about urban life.

A series of drawings by Polish artist Justyna Adamczyk shows how the artist dealt with her trauma through art.



Nils Volker's "Bits and Pieces"



German artist group JAK presents "Indescribable Scene," hanging cubes describing scenes from the group's upcoming film "Soul Blindness."

Anike Joyce Sadiq's "A Spoken  Word Piece for Three Spectators" has performative elements as the viewer has to take part in to make the artwork alive.

Japanese duo Junya Kataoka and Rie Iwatake's "Latent Constellation" literally creates five moons in the gallery. Everyday objects such as cellophane tape and crumpled paper create imagery similar to the moon and stars.

Commercial paintings by anonymous artists, often called "barbershop painting" in Korea, can be controversial as it is difficult to tell whether those are serious works of art or not. Director Kim said he thought it is incoherent with the biennale's theme as it was art in someone's life.

Works of art on display on the third floor speak more directly toward social issues. The exhibition hall is decked with scaffolds and artworks are installed on the scaffolds.

Kang Tae-hun's "Ghost" series and "Space of the Remainder #2" question the relations between society and art by using images of revolution and sound of a siren.



Outdoor exhibition featuring an abandoned bus / Courtesy of PyeongChang Biennale



French artist Thibault Laget-ro's paintings look colorful and bright, but in fact they describe refugees from Syria. Karel van Laere's video "Largo" captures apathy and the sense of alienation in modern society.

Seo Pyoung-joo's video "New Millennium Life Gym" questions helplessness of moderns by performing a military freehand exercise for nuclear explosion in front of a nuclear plant.

Kirsten Johnson "The Above" and Josh Begley's "Best of Luck with the Wall" reflect the artists' background as a journalist. "Their journalistic perspective was fresh to me as today's problem is reality the next day," director Kim explained.

The biennale runs for 24 days through Feb. 26. Admission is free. For more information, visit pcbien.org or call 033-243-0784.
By Yi Whan-woo



U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis' back-to-back visits to South Korea and Japan is expected to bring China and Russia closer together against the Washington-led alliance in Northeast Asia, according to analysts Sunday.



They said China also may loosen its noose on North Korea in defiance of the Donald Trump administration's strategy to contain Beijing on the one hand and ask it to exercise more leverage on Pyongyang on the other.



"The U.S. will put priority on holding off China in the region by bolstering the trilateral security alliance with South Korea and Japan, although it regards deterring North Korea's military threats as critical as well. And this is what I see as Washington's message shown through Mattis's visit," said Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA). "Against this backdrop, China will try to join hands with Russia to prevent the U.S. from intervening in Asia."



He cited that Mattis brought up a slew of thorny issues involving both the U.S. and China, such as the planned deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea, Beijing's claim over most of the South China Sea and territorial dispute over inhabited islands in the East China Sea, which Japan administers as the Senkaku islands but also has been claimed by China as Diaoyu.



Regarding THAAD, Mattis and Defense Minister Han Min-koo reaffirmed, Friday, that it would be deployed as scheduled despite China's opposition and economic retaliation taken against South Korea recently.



In a press conference with Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, Saturday, Mattis recognized Washington's long-standing policy on the Senkaku Islands in favor of Japan while criticizing China for "shredding the trust of nations in the region" over the South China Sea dispute.



The analysts said it will be China, not Russia, which will be more anxious to strengthen their security ties although Moscow also finds the THAAD deployment provocative.



On Friday, Russian Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Timonin warned that Moscow will have "no choice but to draw a certain conclusion once the THAAD installment is complete."



He, however, added that bilateral economic cooperation between Seoul and Moscow is as important as much as the THAAD issue and "it could be more important than that."



"I see Timonin's remark over THAAD as diplomatic rhetoric, nothing more or less," said Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University. "I don't believe Russia is as serious as China over THAAD, especially considering Trump is posed to mend Washington-Moscow ties."



Kim echoed a similar view.



"Russia is likely to maintain balanced diplomacy between the U.S. and China," he said.



Kim speculated that China may loosen its commitment to sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) on North Korea as another strategy to counter the Washington-led alliance.



Beijing was once suspected of being reluctant to implement the UNSC's nuclear sanctions against Pyongyang in defiance of the THAAD deployment.



According to diplomatic sources, China passed the Jan. 31 deadline for delivering its data on coal trade with North Korea from Nov. 30 to Dec. 31 as required by the UNSC.



The UNSC has limited North Korea's annual export of coal to $400 million or 7.5 million tons, whichever is lower in value, in its toughest-to-date Resolution 2321 passed Nov. 30.



All U.N. member, if there were any, were required to submit records of their coal trade with North Korea at the end of every month. China has been North Korea's largest coal buyer.



"China is believed to be negligent in submitting the data on time deliberately in protest of THAAD deployment," a source said. "It obviously wants to capitalize on the strategic importance of North Korea as the Washington-Beijing rivalry intensifies."




By Rachel Lee

The Ecuadorian Embassy is bringing premium chocolate maker Pacari to Seoul as part of its efforts to promote food and culture this year.

"Not only Ecuadorian cacao, but also our dark chocolates have become distinguished around the world," a spokesperson for the embassy's commercial office said. "Among many brands, Pacari, in particular, has established its reputation with numerous international awards. The company has also contributed to increasing the quality of cocoa famers in Ecuador through cooperation."

Pacari Chocolate is a family business created in 2002 by Santiago Peralta and Carla Barboto, with the aim of changing the history of chocolate in Ecuador. Pacari means "nature" in Quechua, a name chosen to evoke everything that represents the chocolate: the best products of the earth, according to the company website.

"We all knew that Ecuador produced the best cocoa, but we needed to develop something beyond what already existed," Peralta said.

According to the company, Pacari chocolates are made from organic ingredients  "grown and cultivated in areas dedicated to respecting the environment and nature."

This process  which has been in development for years  not only helps the environment but also the Ecuadorian economy. Pacari has managed to link more than 3,000 cocoa-farming families around the country.

Pacari makes 18 products that are exported to 25 countries.
Kuwaiti Ambassador to Korea Bader M. Al-Awadi, right, poses with Korea's Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Joo Hyung-hwan at the minister's office in Seoul on Feb. 1. The two discussed ways to enhance cooperation in business and investment between Korea and Kuwait.

/ Yonhap
People in South Korea took to the streets in central Seoul on Saturday calling for President Park Geun-hye's immediate resignation over an influence-peddling scandal involving her longtime friend.



This massive rally marked the 14th candlelight vigil that has been held almost every weekend since the scandal broke out. The gathering resumed after a break for the Lunar New Year holiday last week.



With over 2,100 civic groups claiming to join the rally, demonstrators took to the central streets of Seoul. They called for the president's immediate resignation and demanded the Constitutional Court speed up the impeachment trial.



The number of people gathered cannot be confirmed but the square near the presidential office was crowded.



The rally came a day after the special council team investigating the corruption scandal tried in vain to enter Cheong Wa Dae in a raid and secure necessary documents and evidence that could help back up charges against the president.



The investigation team sent a formal document to Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, asking him to authorize a search of Cheong Wa Dae, but it was known that he agreed with the presidential office's stance.



In a statement, the protest organizers called the presidential office a "crime scene" full of evidence, adding that it is an "abuse of power" to block the move to execute the court-approved raid.



The corruption scandal has engulfed the nation since late November, leading parliament on Dec. 9 to vote for impeaching Park. Close aides to the president, including her chief of staff, were arrested in connection with the scandal.



Park is suspected of being an accomplice in the scandal in which her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil allegedly meddled in state affairs and pressured conglomerates into making donations to two foundations controlled by her by using her close ties to the president.



The Constitutional Court is currently reviewing whether to unseat or reinstate her, and should make a decision within 180 days of the day Park was impeached. South Korea is expected to have a presidential election this year, earlier than expected, if the court approves the impeachment.



A rally was also held in southern Seoul, with people gathering in front of a court that rejected last month a request for an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-yong, the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co. and Samsung Group's de facto leader.



They demanded his immediate arrest to face a probe into his alleged involvement in the scandal. He is suspected of giving or promising to offer some 43 billion won ($37.5 million) worth of bribes to Park's jailed friend Choi in return for business favors.



Meanwhile, conservative civic groups supporting the president also gathered in central Seoul.



They argued that the scandal was politically motivated and based on fabricated evidence presented by the media, while demanding the impeachment be overruled and the special investigation team be disbanded.



The organizers claimed that around 1.3 million people gathered but it cannot be independently verified.



Police said that they deployed around 14,000 officers to maintain order and prevent clashes. No major incidents between pro- and anti-Park demonstrators have been reported. (Yonhap)




Special investigators get on their vehicle after being denied entry to Cheong Wa Dae, Friday. The investigators are now reviewing various options to secure evidence from the presidential office before questioning President Park Geun-hye. / Yonhap



Cheong Wa Dae officials may be arrested



By Jung Min-ho

Special investigators are preparing for face-to-face questioning of President Park Geun-hye who faces allegations of bribery, abuse of authority and mishandling of state information among others, between Wednesday and Friday, sources said.

Lawyers for the President said they will cooperate, but the two sides remain divided on how to proceed and where they will conduct the questioning.

While investigators prefer this to occur outside Cheong Wa Dae, the President's lawyers want it to be conducted secretly due to security concerns.

Either way, the questioning would mark the first time ever for a sitting President to be interrogated over criminal allegations.

Park is accused of colluding with her friend Choi Soon-sil and other top-ranking government officials in committing many crimes, including creating a "blacklist" to discriminate against artists critical of the government, and receiving bribes from conglomerates in return for business favors.

Park won't be prosecuted immediately regardless of what she says during the interrogation because of a Constitution clause forbidding the prosecution of a sitting president. But it may help investigators find the legal grounds to indict other key suspects in the scandal, including Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong who faces bribery charges linked to the President.

To prove bribery charges, experts say, investigators are required to question the givers and receivers, a process they have not accomplished so far due to the President's refusal to answer any legal interrogation.

Meanwhile, investigators investigating the massive influence-peddling scandal involving President Park and her confidant Choi are reviewing whether they can arrest those who blocked their entry into Cheong Wa Dae last week.

Following their attempt to search the presidential office, which they see as the root of the scandal-related crimes, the investigation team, led by special prosecutor Park Young-soo, is considering "various options" to carry out the search.

"A search is an inevitable process in our investigation," said Lee Kyu-chul, the spokesman for the team, during a media briefing Sunday. "We will await a response from acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn to our request to authorize a Cheong Wa Dae search, until today. And then, we may reveal the details of our options."

One obvious and powerful option is to request arrest warrants for Cheong Wa Dae officials who refused to allow investigators into the presidential office, Friday, for obstruction of justice.

According to the Criminal Law, investigators are not allowed to search places that hold secret government information without the approval of those who are in charge of them. But the law also states that searching of such places cannot be denied unless it harms the country's critical interests.

Investigators and Cheong Wa Dae apparently interpret the law differently.

Jung Youn-kuk, the presidential spokesman, even accused investigators of violating the Constitution, which states "a sitting President cannot be indicted."

But Lee denied the claim, saying that presidential immunity from prosecution does not mean immunity from investigation.
By Park Si-soo





Ko Min-jung / Korea Times file

Popular TV anchor Ko Min-jung has joined the campaign team of Moon Jae-in, the leading presidential contender of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea.

She is the first well-known TV personality to join the team, with the formal presidential race expected to begin in a few months.

"Ko, one of the leading figures of KBS, has joined the team to help Moon's victory," a camp insider said. "She recently quit KBS."

Ko said in a report that "(quitting KBS and joining the team) was not a tough decision to make. But I did so with hopes that I will be able to make some kind of contribution to the struggle to protect the freedom of the press."

President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached in December for her alleged involvement in a corruption scandal, has been accused of attacking media outlets and journalists critical of her and the government. Park's close aides were arrested recently for creating a "blacklist" of thousands of artists supportive of Park's political rivals.

Ko's exact role in the team is unknown. Officials said she will preside over big and small events for Moon.

Ko, who graduated from Kyung Hee University in Seoul, joined KBS, South Korea's biggest broadcaster, in 2004.
South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung speaks about his childcare policy pledges during a meeting with parents in northern Seoul, Sunday. / Yonhap



By Choi Ha-young

South Chungcheong Governor An Hee-jung is emerging as a possible game changer in the race for the presidency in which former opposition leader Moon Jae-in is maintaining a firm lead.

Since ex-U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon withdrew from the race last week, An has overtaken Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung as a distant runner-up in popularity polls largely thanks to growing support from conservative voters in the Chungcheong region.

Although it is too early to say whether An will be able to catch up with Moon, some analysts cautiously predict that there could be an upset in the Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) presidential primary.

The latest poll showed An's support rating at 11 percent, while Moon has 32 percent.

There are some reasons for predicting a surge by An down the road.

While Ban's sudden exit has left conservative voters bewildered, An struck a chord among them by promising to share power with conservative politicians, if elected, in an effort to unite the country that has been suffering from sharp ideological divisions.

Other liberal contenders, including Moon, have strongly denounced An, claiming he is seeking to give immunity to those who should take responsibility for "ruining" the country.

A sense of crisis is palpable in Moon's camp.

"I think An is capable of creating a dramatic victory in the party's primary," Rep. Woo Sang-ho, floor leader of the DPK said in a radio interview, Friday.

Traditionally, Moon has garnered wide support from party members, particularly those active online. "However, online voters are not necessarily inclined to be in favor of Moon," said Woo.

Facing An's growing popularity, Seongnam Mayor Lee lashed out Sunday at his promise to share power with conservatives. Two days before, An suggested cooperative governance in a radio interview, saying stable power is needed to push for reform.

"This is a betrayal of candlelit protesters," Lee, who gained public support through anti-President rallies, told a press conference at the National Assembly. "An signaled to the conservative Saenuri Party and loyalists of President Park Geun-hye, that they can be pardoned even if Park's impeachment is upheld."

Behind An's rise are his ideas that are also persuasive to centrists and some conservatives. Despite his hard-line background as a student activist against dictatorships in the 1980s, An has highlighted integration and cooperative governance with opponents in South Chungcheong Province, where conservatives are dominant.

Regarding the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, An emphasized trust in diplomacy saying, "I respect the agreement made in the alliance between the U.S. and South Korea," unlike other opposition hopefuls who have criticized the deal.

Labeling himself as a "democrat," he accepted the judiciary's decision to dismiss the arrest warrant for Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong.

"Of course, citizens have a big revulsion of this, but I believe we should always respect the judiciary in order to protect the rule of law," he said in a radio interview, after Lee left the detention center, Jan. 19.

This could be An's competitive edge against Moon, a recent poll has shown. In addition to his ardent supporters, Moon has considerable strength among other voters. According to Realmeter's Jan. 26 survey, 46.7 percent of the respondents viewed him favorably as opposed to the 46.6 percent who were against him.

Not only the second-largest opposition People's Party but also some DPK lawmakers like Rep. Kim Chong-in are unsure about Moon's competitiveness in the final.

An analyst said his regional powerbase, which overlaps with that of Ban, is an advantageous factor.

"Some of Ban's supporters based in his hometown in Chungcheong Province may have shifted to An," Bae Jong-chan, the chief director of pollster Research and Research, said, expecting An's popularity to grow further.





'Korean Obama'

At the same time, the 51-year-old governor has built a refreshing image of an up-and-coming politician. Instead of a typical press conference to declare his presidential bid, he talked with an audience for five hours at a theater in Hyehwa-dong, known as a street of youth culture.

"While Moon, former chief secretary for ex-President Roh Moo-hyun, has inherited some of his legacies including his mistakes, An, who also served Roh, has succeeded projecting a reformist image as a young leader," Bae added.

With casual attire and communication skills, he has been given the nickname, "the Korean Obama." Recently, he has been appearing on various TV talk-shows and comic video clips targeting young social media users. His remarks that he supports sexual minorities also went viral online.

However, a possible short warm-up time before the presidential election is an obstacle for An. With over a 30 percent approval rating, Moon is reinforcing his popularity by recruiting celebrities, such as respected soldier Chun In-bum and former announcer for KBS Ko Min-jeong to support him.
By Chang Se-moon



The idea underlying the January 8, 2017 article on page A17 of the Washington Post by former U.S. Secretary of Defense, William J. Perry, is quite similar to the proposal that I made to the then candidate Donald Trump upon request from someone who had direct contact with the Trump campaign. My proposal, which is highly unlikely seen by President Trump, was dated September 24, 2017. The article by Perry is titled "Confronting North Korea; Talk first, get tough later."



According to Perry, negotiations with North Korea during 1999 and 2000 appeared promising but ended when the George W. Bush administration "cut off the talks in 2001." At least at that time, it was easier for North Koreans to accept the denuclearization proposal, because all they had to do was to "forgo weapons they do not yet have."



Since they now have nuclear weapons, negotiations will have to be that much tougher. The problem is that North Korea is about to test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can deliver a nuclear bomb to the U.S. mainland.



The main concern by Perry is that although North Korea may not have plans to use nuclear bombs, North Korean leaders may "overplay their hand in a way that could (inadvertently) lead to a military conflict with South Korea." If during the conflict North Korea begins to lose the military conflict through non-nuclear weapons as many expect them to, "they might in desperation turn to their nuclear weapons."



Perry suggests diplomacy now. The U.S. will have to make it very clear that if diplomacy fails, non-diplomatic alternatives would be serious, which include much more punishing sanctions than those in existence. Perry concludes his article by stating that if we do not find a way to stop their nuclear program now, "this crisis could all too easily spin out of control, leading to a second Korean War far more devastating than the first."



The proposal that I made to the Trump campaign in September last year was the following.



The U.S. should ask North Korea to completely stop any more work on nuclear weapons or their delivery system and start a six-party talk within 60 days of Trump's inauguration as President. The U.S. should then give 7 working days for North Korea to respond unless extension is requested. The U.S. should also ask China's assistance on this request.



If there is no response or response is not clear within 7 days, the U.S. should dispatch no-nonsense envoy to North Korea to let them know that further development of nuclear weapons in North Korea issimply not acceptable.



Through the no-nonsense envoy, the U.S. should convey to North Korea that the U.S. would seriously consider reasonable demands of North Korea, including lifting of all sanctions, peace treaty, and massive economic assistance that will be paid mostly by South Korea,if they stop and reverse their development of nuclear weapons and delivery systems.



Note that no matter how costly the new economic assistance by South Korea to North Korea may be, it would be much less than the cost that would incur if there were a massive military conflict.



If North Korea sticks to their nuclear option and negotiation is deemed absolutely impossible, the U.S. should then notify South Korea as such so that South Korea can develop their own strategies under U.S. protection. The U.S. should also consult, simultaneously, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and especially the U.S. military leaders before selecting one of the following two policy options.



One is the status quo and tries to work within the six party talk even if it is expected to take a long time that may allow North Korea to complete their nuclear weapons combat ready. This option is in essence to wait for North Korea to implode.Stated more bluntly, this is really not an option, since it allows North Korea to be the leader and other countries to simply react to future demands from North Korea.



The other, more likely, option is to plan military actions to destroy nuclear facilities and other military targets that can completely freeze any retaliatory actions by North Korea. Any such strategy will closely be coordinated with South Korea. Undoubtedly, this is a dangerous option that unfortunately may have to be considered to prevent the potential catastrophe the present course of events may bring.



Stated in plain English, the sensible option is to offer a package of real incentives that leaders in North Korea find very difficult to ignore without risking mass revolt within North Korea. The package of incentives will have to be worked out by the U.S., South Korea, and possibly others in such way to benefit almost everyone in North Korea. It has to be sincere, massive, and simplistic in such way that everyone in North Korea can understand what is at stake.





Chang Se-moon is the director of the Gulf Coast Center for Impact Studies. Write to him at: changsemoon@yahoo.com.
Imagine a country where domestic violence is a crime only if, for example, a wrist is broken, a kidney is lacerated or a cuff to the head causes a concussion.



Hard to imagine, right?



Well, think of the land of Vlad, and you've hit pay dirt.



Russia is poised to enact a law that would decriminalize domestic violence. So, a black eye, a welt on the face and the trauma that comes with being struck by a loved one would yield a small fine, a short stay in a lockup, or a few weekends of roadside garbage pickup.



Existing law makes battery of a family member a crime that can mean up to two years in jail. Under this legislation, if it's a first offense, civil  not criminal  law would apply, provided that the abuse doesn't cause serious bodily harm. Abusers who meet conditions of the law would get what amounts to a slap on the wrist  a fine of up to $500, community service or, at the most, up to 15 days in jail.



Russia's parliament, the Duma, overwhelmingly passed the legislation Friday. It now comes up for a vote in the country's upper legislative chamber, the Federation Council, which routinely rubber stamps what the Duma passes. It then goes to President Vladimir Putin's desk for his signature.



Proponents of the bill say government should keep its nose out of family life. They also say it's too harsh to make domestic violence a crime for first-time offenders, if the act of violence is "committed in an emotional conflict, without malice, without grave consequences," Olga Batalina, a co-author of the bill, told The Associated Press. "Battery doesn't even involve grave bodily harm. We're only talking about bruises, scratches, which is bad, too, of course."



Oy! Now that's some Potemkin logic! Striking your spouse or slapping your kid for the first time isn't a crime, but doing it again is. Is there a Russian word for "mulligan"? Creating minimal consequences for a first offense sets the table for subsequent offenses and disregards the deep psychological harm caused by superficial injuries such as bruises and scratches administered by a loved one.



The push for this law reflects Russian society's long-standing ambivalence to domestic violence. Russian police often shy away from responding to domestic violence calls, preferring instead to leave disputes to families to work out. According to a survey conducted by state-run pollster VTsIOM, nearly 1 out of every 5 Russians says it can be acceptable to strike a wife, husband or child "in certain circumstances." The Russian Orthodox Church has weighed in, issuing a statement last year that characterized corporal punishment as an "essential right given to parents by God."



Statistics bear out the damage domestic violence does to Russian society. The Russian Interior Ministry estimates that 14,000 women die annually from injuries inflicted by their husbands or partners  nearly 40 per day. Human Rights Watch says 40 percent of all violent crimes in Russia are committed within the family.



Opponents of the law say the measure essentially excuses violent behavior in households. "It is clear that lawmakers recognized violence as a norm of family life," Svetlana Aivazova, a Russian gender studies expert, told The New York Times. "This shows that Duma deputies are not simply conservative or traditional, it shows that they are archaic."



The measure probably will soon reach Putin. Will he be modern or medieval? The right thing to do, Comrade Putin, is obvious  say "nyet" and veto the bill.





This editorial appeared on the Chicago Tribune and was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.




By John J. Metzler

UNITED NATIONS  Modest global economic recovery is expected, but a return to robust and sustained growth remains elusive, according to the World Economic Situation Report, the UN's barometer of international economic trends. The current survey states that while the world economy grew by a a modest 2.2 percent in 2016, this was the slowest expansion rate since the 2009 Recession. Though growth prospects for the new year are modestly better, the yet to be determined effects of the new U.S. Administration's economic and trade policies as well as the aftershocks of Britain's BREXIT remain unknown.

The Report adds that while moderate improvement is expected for 2017, this "is more an indication of economic stabilization than a signal of a robust and sustained revival of global demand."

"Weak investment has been at the foundation of the mediocre global economy," the survey warns.

The U.S. economy is expected to "have expanded at a modest pace of 1.5 percent in 2016."

Last year's lackluster growth was the lowest since 2010. While the study cautions that uncertainties concerning trade, monetary, fiscal, environmental and foreign policy prospects "have increased the margin of uncertainty," the survey adds, "a rise in infrastructure spending could accelerate growth in the United States in 2018."

GDP growth in Japan was expected to improve modestly to 0.9 percent in 2017; growth was 0.5 percent last year. "Economic activity in Europe will remain subdued, with growth expected to stay at 1.8 percent for the EU from 2016 to 2018," the survey says and warns that the United Kingdom growth rate of 2 percent in 2016 is expected to fall to 1.1 percent this year. Greece is expected to lift last year's negative growth of 0.3 percent to a robust gain of 1.7 percent this year, the first sizable uptick in nearly a decade.

While East Asian expansion has moderated to 5.5 percent, China still shows impressive numbers at 6.6 percent in 2016 with a slight decrease for 2017. South Korea's growth improved moderately to 2.8 percent. The survey adds that both Hong Kong and Taiwan "are estimated to have experienced the slowest growth among the largest economies in the region in 2016." Hong Kong grew by 1.4 percent while Taiwan reached only 0.9 percent.

South Asia remains the world's fasted developing region the report stresses, with India reaching an impressive 7.6 percent growth last year and 7.7 percent slated for this year. Pakistan's growth is expected to "remain robust, above 5 percent."

Given the fall in petroleum prices and continuing economic sanctions, Russia's growth remains negative 0.8 percent last year and is expected to reach only 1 percent this year. Ukraine's 2016 growth reached an anemic 0.8 percent but is expected to reach 1.9 this year.

The World Economic Situation Prospects laments that GDP growth in the least developed countries is projected "to remain well below the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) target of at least 7 percent." As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told global grandees assembled in Davos, "Without the private sector, we will not create enough jobs, we will not bring enough dynamism and stability to the societies that need to be enhanced with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals."

Equally poor growth in the Caribbean and Latin America over the past few years has turned around slowly. Oil rich but stubbornly socialist run Venezuela has hit negative 8 percent growth last year and this year is expected to moderate to minus 3.7 percent.

The Report underscores weak investment as a major cause of the slowdown in global growth.

Secretary General Guterres stressed, "Without the private sector we will not have the necessary innovation, we will not have the necessary capacity to discover new markets, new products, new services and to be able to develop new areas in the economy. "

Countering conventional wisdom, the new Trump Administration in the U.S. has been able to cajole manufacturers to keep industrial jobs in the USA and moreover been able to attract major

high tech investments. Foxconn a major Taiwanese electronics firm, is weighing whether to build a $7 billion display screens plant in the U.S. Given that the U.S. is the second largest market for televisions, the Foxconn investment could create between 30,000 and 50,000 American jobs. Earlier Japan's SoftBank, a major technology and information company, pledged to invest $50 billion in the USA.

Though the private sector plays a powerful if not the dominant role in job creation, nurturing the conditions and policy to encourage entrepreneurial investment and growth remains paramount.

John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. Contact jjmcolumn@earthlink.net.
The domestic shipping industry, which is already facing difficulty due to a long recession, has been hit by one of its biggest crises due to the collapse of Hanjin Shipping.



Pressed by snowballing debt, Korea's largest shipper filed for court receivership in August last year. In an effort to stay afloat, the company sold its core assets, including vessels that operate on its lucrative Asia-U.S. route. But last week, the Seoul Central District Court decided to end Hanjin Shipping's court receivership process and is expected to declare bankruptcy on Feb.17.



The collapse of Hanjin Shipping comes 40 years since its founding. After it was established in 1977, it grew into one of the world's top 10 container carriers in terms of capacity, operating about 60 regular lines worldwide. It is shocking that a firm that had been a crucial player in Korea's economic growth will go out of business.



The fall of Hanjin Shipping is a huge distress not just for the transport industry, but the entire Korean economy. According to figures by the Bank of Korea released last week, the balance of transport turned into a deficit of $630 million in 2016 from a surplus of $4.63 billion a year ago, recording the first deficit in 20 years. This led to a record deficit in the services balance last year, reaching $17.6 billion.



The fall of Hanjin Shipping is a result of poor responses by the top management as well as the government. It shows what can go wrong for an international transportation company when it is run by incompetent owners, such as former chairwoman Choi Eun-young, the widow of former Hanjin Shipping chairman Cho Soo-ho. Choi began leading the company after her husband died in 2006 and she admitted during a parliamentary hearing that since she had been a housewife before entering into business, she lacked expertise.



The government should swiftly prepare measures to help the shipping industry regain its global competitiveness.




President should give truthful account of her part in scandal



The special prosecutor's team investigating the massive scandal centering on President Park Geun-hye failed to search Cheong Wa Dae last week. Independent counsel Park Young-soo and his team obtained a warrant from the Seoul Central District Court and began their attempt to search Cheong Wa Dae at 10:00 a.m., but they had to leave after a five-hour standoff with security officials.



Citing security concerns, the presidential office denied entry to investigators who were aiming to get more data prior to a planned face-to-face questioning of the President. The presidential office said that the raid could harm the national interest, but such an explanation is not convincing because the probe team minimized the location and subject of the execution of the search warrant. Clearly, it is a grave infringement of judicial power to hamper with the execution of the warrant, which was issued after a sufficient review of relevant laws regarding the search and seizure of evidence at Cheong Wa Dae.



Since the warrant is valid until the end of this month, the team will make additional attempts to search the premises, and will ask for acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn's cooperation by sending an official letter. It remains to be seen what kind of decision Hwang will make.



The independent counsel team should have been more prepared before attempting a search of Cheong Wa Dae, which had also blocked entry to state prosecutors in October. Both sides should reach a reasonable conclusion on how to move the investigation along while ensuring that there are no leaks of classified information.



Cheong Wa Dae's repeated disruption of the investigations has fueled public rage and gives a strong impression that the President is trying to hide evidence of wrongdoing. She previously refused to be questioned by state prosecutors. The President has also been hit for trying to delay the impeachment trial in the Constitutional Court and making one-sided claims of her innocence through the media.



The team and presidential office are consulting over a date for face-to-face questioning of the President, which is likely to be sometime this week. If confirmed, it will be the highlight of the independent counsel's investigation. But given that Park has consistently denied all allegations against her on several occasions, the outcome of such an interrogation is questionable in getting to the bottom of the presidential scandal.



During an interview with a podcast program, she said she will comply with the independent counsel's request for questioning. Park should remember that her uncooperative stance toward the independent counsel will aggravate public opinion. The President should keep her word by being questioned by the special prosecutors and give a full account of her role in the influence-peddling and corruption scandal that led to her impeachment.




By Jason Lim





Angelina Jolie published an oped in the New York Times criticizing President Donald Trump's Executive Order restricting travel from certain countries. Jolie writes, "The global refugee crisis and the threat from terrorism make it entirely justifiable that we consider how best to secure our borders. Every government must balance the needs of its citizens with its international responsibilities. But our response must be measured and should be based on facts, not fear."

Jolie is absolutely correct that policies should be based on facts. And facts undoubtedly support her position that a travel ban on select refugees is not justified. Some of the more eye-popping statistics are:

For 30 of the 41 years between 1975-2015, no Americans died due to terror attacks by foreigners or immigrants.

Since 9/11, your chances of dying in a given year due to terrorism are 1 in 20 million.

You are more likely to be killed by your furniture falling on you, or in a car crash, or everyday street crime.

Your chances of dying in a terrorist attack by a refugee are 1 in 3.64 billion.

Your chances of being killed by a terrorist who is an illegal immigrant is 1 in 10.9 billion.

However, Jolie and others like her overlook that policies are mostly wrought out of a political process, and that politics is based on perception, not facts. In an often-cited example, the odds of dying in a motor vehicle accident are 1 in 98 for a lifetime; and air and space transport (including air taxis and private flights), the odds are 1 in 7,178 for a lifetime.

Despite this, we feel safer driving a car because we have more personal control. Also, plane crashes are so rare and catastrophic as to be huge media events, grabbing people's attention and making them more sensitive to the potential danger of flying. In comparison, car accidents are everyday and most often minor events, making their combined effects less noticeable.

When faced with someone who's afraid of flying, would the above statistics comfort those who are cowering in their airplane seats deathly afraid of being stuck, powerless, inside a giant metal tube that's about to take off into the blue yonder? Would shaming them about their irrational intransigency in the face of facts convince them of the error of their fears?

No, "facts" don't have the power to change one's risk perception because our perception is based on how we feel and what we believe about certain situations and groups.

These beliefs are partially driven by evolutionary psychology; our brains have evolved to quickly determine friends or foes based on whether someone looks physically similar to us or not, a useful adaptation when hunter and gatherer groups competed fiercely for scarce resources. Unfortunately, this tendency also makes us tribal, driving us to regard those who look similar to us as friends and those who don't as potential foes that we should be afraid of.

These beliefs are also formed by the prejudices and preconceptions that we learn as children before we develop any cognitive tools to gauge the legitimacy of the stories that we hear. While we may forget them as we grow up, they have already formed the subconscious basis of our worldview through which we perceive all situations.

Studies upon studies have proven that people dismiss facts when they don't agree with our worldview. Moreover, people dismiss facts and even our own worldview when they go against the judgment of a social group that we belong to. "In a fascinating study, Cohen (2003) manipulated message content and the supposed source of a message. When people were not given the position of their political party, they used their own beliefs as a source of information to guide their judgments. However, when informed how their political party voted or passed judgment, people went along with their political party, regardless of the message content and its relation to their own beliefs."

All this goes to show that sterile (and often laced with a sense of superiority) presentation of facts is powerless to affect people's subconscious worldview and respective social identities. Worse, don't guilt-trip people with facts. It's not only ineffective but also condescending. What's important is to package those facts into stories that can counter the ingrained perceptions that people carry with them. Convert the facts into narratives that speak to people on a personal level and make it easier to feel a sense of shared social identity with others.





Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture. He has been writing for The Korea Times since 2006. Reach him at jasonlim@msn.com, facebook.com/jasonlimkoreatimes or @jasonlim2012.
By Andrei Lankov

Most first-time Western visitors to Pyongyang tend to come back somewhat surprised. They had expected to see the very embodiment of a Stalinist hell. Well, you know the picture: soldiers on every street corner sporting machineguns, ready to mow down the masses, pedestrians in colorless clothing slowly moving amidst mammoth, concrete shells of buildings. Instead, what they see is a city of reasonably well-attired residents, a booming restaurant culture, and a diverse array of major Western brands on sale, all purchased with relative ease (once you have the money, of course).

Witnessing North Koreans enjoy fine dining while sporting Chanel handbags can be rather shocking. This often leads to the wrong conclusions: these people must all be "corrupt officials." It follows that anyone with money is in bed with the regime or, at the very least, has enough access to siphon money from state coffers enabling an opulent lifestyle. There are seeds of truth in such assumptions, but to ascribe such a degree of corruption to all North Koreans, even those in Pyongyang is misleading and factually wrong.

While some North Koreans whom one may encounter in the capital of the revolution are indeed high-level officials who help themselves to the state budget or are good at extracting bribes, a much larger number belong to North Korea's new rich, a new entrepreneurial class that rose from the devastation of the Arduous March in the 1990s. Since then, many businessmen and women have amassed significant fortunes.

Trade with China is their primary business activity, but many own restaurants and shops, operate mines, factories and fishing ships, and are even involved in transportation and logistics. Their activities (or most of them) are technically illegal, so they usually disguise their enterprises as state property, paying both bribes to officials and contributions to the state budget. But such legal niceties do not fool those in the know.

There is a new North Korean bourgeoisie whose economic wealth is growing fast. Indeed, the real estate market in Pyongyang has exploded over the last 10 years, with the price of a good apartment rising tenfold, from $5,000-$7,000 to $100,000 or more. Some private fortunes are now measured in millions of U.S. dollars.

But this raises an important question: How are the North Korean new rich (known as "donju" in Korean, literally, "lords of money") connected to the North Korean official class, the party apparatchiks?

In a recent conversation with one of these party officials, he said something I've heard many times before. He claimed, quite matter-of-factly, that "we are superior to them. These lords of money may be materially richer than us cadres, but at the end of the day, it is we who have the power."

It is indeed telling that children of the new rich still aspire to be party officials rather than start businesses of their own.

This not a new phenomenon, and in fact reflects similar characteristics of many pre-modern and poorer societies. Imperial China might be a good example. In the days of the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was no shortage of hardworking business people, many of whom pioneered what at the time were revolutionary new technologies. However, when it came to educating their children, the rich Chinese of this long-gone era did not typically want their sons (daughters seldom counted back then) to continue the family business. They went to great lengths to ensure that the next generation would successfully pass the state exams in order to become high-ranking officials.

Private sector activity has great limitations under a powerful state that does not believe in the legitimacy and power of enterprise  seeing it instead as merely a cow to milk (or to seek rent from). Historians have long studied the question of why China did not (or could not) revolutionize industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Like North Korea today, many point to the inferior position of the business class. Some researchers of post-colonial societies in Latin America and Africa come to similar conclusions.

This is not to say that a diminished position will necessarily prevent private actors from significantly contributing to North Korea's economic growth. However, technical innovation is not what drives the North Korea's "donju," and thus we should not expect a Northern equivalent of Silicon Valley to appear any time soon. The lack of formal legal protections or stable institutions for business is an extraordinary feature of contemporary North Korea. The new rich may be affluent with much economic clout, but the old-fashioned Stalinist apparatus is where the center of gravity still lies.

Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. Reach him at anlankov@yahoo.com.
Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari and his book "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind"



Harari blasts Trump for stoking nationalism

By Kang Seung-woo





The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and the widening technical gap between South and North Koreas will make unification of the two countries more difficult, said Yuval Noah Harari, author of the international bestsellers "Sapiens" and "Homo Deus."

"The rise of AI might make any future integration of North and South more difficult, for both cultural and economic reasons," the Israeli historian said in an exclusive interview with The Korea Times.

"AI is likely to transform the culture and even psychology of South Koreans, and if North Koreans do not undergo a similar revolution, the gap between the populations will become bigger than ever before."

He said the gap is widening every day.

"Just think of the cultural gap between a South Korean teenager glued to her smartphone, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, and a North Korean teenager who might well be dumbfounded to see people walking down the street and constantly looking at the small screens in their palms."

The fast technological advance would also weaken the lure of the much-touted benefits of unification  a cheap labor force in North Korea.

"There were potential economic benefits (of unification), because the North had one important economic asset to contribute to a united Korea: a disciplined and cheap workforce. However, AI is likely to make cheap labor irrelevant," he said.

As algorithms and robots replace truck drivers, factory workers and even doctors, cheap labor could lose its value, he said.

"That might make future integration even harder. South Korea might face a crisis taking care of its own unemployed masses; it will not want to take care of millions of Northerners too."












South Korea's duty-free outlets have sharply increased their sales but struggled to raise actual profits amid fierce competition, data indicated Saturday.

The combined revenue of local duty-free stores hit a record high of 12.2 trillion won ($10.4 billion) last year, according to the Korea Customs Service.

It marks a 33.5-percent rise from a year earlier. Their sales jumped to 8.3 trillion won in 2014 from 6.8 trillion won in 2013. Having suffered a fall in 2015, hit by the impact of MERS, their sales bounced back last year.

Despite growth in sales, business conditions for the nation's duty-free chains do not look rosy.

"Profitability has worsened due to an increase in costs in general amid deepening competition from a considerable rise in the number of duty-free stores in a short time," an industry official said. "Excessive competition is occurring as they are staging a reckless marketing campaign for survival."

Lotte Duty Free is projected to have reaped 5.9 trillion won in sales last year, a sharp rise from 4.3 trillion won in 2015. But its operating profit ratio has dropped to 6-7 percent from 8.9 percent in 2015.

Shilla Duty Free's operating profit declined to 79 billion won last year from 91.2 billion won a year earlier, although its sales expanded from 2.9 trillion won to 3.3 trillion won.

Another problem is the hefty commissions paid to travel agencies taking tourists to duty-free shops.

Last year, the operators of 22 duty-free stores nationwide paid a total of 967.2 billion won in such commissions, up 71.8 percent from a year earlier.

The amount has continued to surge from 296.6 billion won in 2013 to 548.6 billion won in 2014 and 563 billion won in 2015.

"Most of the commissions flowed into China," another industry official said, adding local duty-free outlets are excessively dependent on Chinese customers.

The stores are susceptible to a sudden drop in the number of Chinese tourists here, with Seoul and Beijing locked in diplomatic stand-offs over Washington's plan to deploy a THAAD missile defense system on the peninsula. (Yonhap)
The publisher of Ovation Magazine and a former presidential candidate, Mr. Dele Momodu, has criticised President Muhammadu Buharis government, describing members of his cabinet as timid and weak.

Momodu told Sunday Punch in a telephone interview that he disagreed with Buharis approach to fighting corruption.

The media guru further likened the Presidents anti-graft crusade to that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, noting the reason for the widespread corruption was being overlooked.

He said, Ive always expressed my view about fighting corruption. I think while it is very desirable and necessary, there are more ways and methodologies to deal with corruption. Firstly, we must ask ourselves, Why are people generally corrupt?



The definition of corruption in Nigeria is faulty. People think that you have to be a minister or governor to be corrupt. But if we all agree that corruption is endemic, then we must go to the root cause.

The root cause of corruption, in my view, begins with need before it graduates to greed. Can an average Nigerian survive on his income or salary? The answer is a big no.

He noted that people must make ends meet by all means because the natural instinct of man is survival.

When asked about his support for Buhari, he said, My support has never been a blank check. I gave my support; I still give my support. I will give him a chance. I believe he can still do something if he wants to.

As I have advised in my articles, he needs to jazz up his cabinet. I believe that his cabinet is very weak and ineffectual. That is my opinion and that of many people, including one of his biggest supporters, (Pastor)Tunde Bakare.

He needs to do something about his cabinet. He also needs to free them a bit. I think they are a bit uptight. They are too scared and timid. They look intimidated, like they dont have the freedom to initiate anything. It is (evident from) the body language of the president.

Momodu explained that in order to survive, an average Nigerian is forced to try anything available, adding that people fight and die for positions of authority and power in Nigeria because they know their lives will change once they get an appointment.

But the moment you make it (public offices) less attractive, and an average person can survive on his daily income, all those things will change. I believe Buhari is using the same methodology that someone like (former) President Obasanjo had established in his time.

The system is not too different from what Nuhu Ribadu was operating: arrest, investigate, prosecute; and a lot of the times, youve already destroyed the accused on the pages of newspapers. So, youre not sure if the person is innocent or not.

For me, that is not the way to do it. The best way to do it is to, first of all, have a uniform standards for all public officials so that nobody feels discriminated against, he said.

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Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, is expected to visit a former governor of the state and his political mentor, Chief James Ibori, who returned to Nigeria, Saturday, six years after he fled the country.

A confidant of the former governor told Vanguard on phone: Governor Okowa will come between 2.00 pm  2.30 pm after Church service today (Sunday).

Governor Okowa never hid the fact all the years that Ibori was away that the ex-governor is the head of the political family that runs the state, which he (Okowa) is privileged to be part of.



Besides coming to welcome Ibori home, both men, according to our source, will likely have a closed-door session to enable the governor keep him posted on certain happenings in the state.

Meanwhile, Ibori was said to be savoring his homecoming, as people are trooping from different parts of the state and country to rejoice with him.

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Turkish police have arrested 400 suspected ISIS terrorists in a major nation-wide anti-terror clampdown. At least 60 suspected jihadis were arrested in Ankara, just over a month after a terror attack on Istanbul which claimed the lives of 39 people.

The New Years Eve night club attack saw a gunman go on the rampage with a machine gun in the club. Most of the victims were foreign nationals.

Turkish security forces conducted a series of coordinated raids to arrest suspected jihadis.

This mornings raids saw Turkish police arrest the suspects including foreign nationals  who are believed to have been planning attacks.



The operation around the country saw 150 suspects detained in Sanliurfa in the southeast, 60 in the capital Ankara as well as dozens more arrests in provinces ranging from Bursa in the west to Bingol in the east, the Dogan and Anadolu news agencies reported.

The New Years Eve attack was the first time ISIS claimed responsibility for an atrocity in Turkey, although it had been suspected of several bombings during 2016.

Police detained the suspected New Years Eve attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, on January 16 after over over two weeks on the run and authorities say he has confessed to the massacre.

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Switzerland, a co-chair of the UN intergovernmental consultations on the modalities for the process for adoption of the Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, has commended the Abu Dhabi Dialogue (ADD) chaired by Sri Lanka, for its proactive action to seek close engagement in the process of development of the Global Compact on Migration (GCM). Mr. Pietro Mona, Deputy Head, Global Program on Migration and Development of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, acknowledged the leadership of Sri Lanka and the ADD troika, which also includes Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for initiating such a dialogue within the ADD, even before the resolution on modalities for the intergovernmental negotiation on the Global Compact was adopted by the UN General Assembly.

The Co-Chair made these remarks in response to an intervention made by Sri Lankas Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha at the informal dialogue of the Global Forum on Migration Development (GFMD) on the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, held in Geneva on Thursday (2nd February). The ADD, a Regional Consultative Process (RCP), between labour sending Asian States and labour receiving Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States, aims to foster dialogue on contractual labour mobility in the region.

Ambassador Aryasinha observed that given the significant labour mobility flows in the Asia-GCC corridor and the immense contribution the mobility of temporary contract workers make to the countries of origin and destination, the ADD Ministerial Meeting chaired by Sri Lankas Minister of Foreign Employment Thalatha Atukorale which concluded in Colombo on 24th January 2017, agreed to explore the prospects of engagement in international deliberations on the Global Compact (GCM). He said the ADD already has one of the lowest remittance transfer cost corridors, an active qualification recognition scheme, was using advanced technology in recruitment, had proven developmental impact in sending and receiving countries and have been engaging governments, business, academia and civil society in its programmes. Given these concrete pragmatic practices and effective solutions evolved within the region, he said the ADD is well positioned to make a valuable contribution to the Global Compact (GCM) consultation process.

While aligning himself with the intervention by Ambassador Aryasinha, the representative of the UAE noted that the ADD Troika has asked the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to facilitate the engagement of ADD in this international dialogue as a key Regional Consultation Process (RCP). He said IOM has agreed to work with the ADD Troika and eventually ADD Member States to define the process by which the group can be invited to engage and contribute, as per the modalities adopted. He said the goal is twofold - to seek to incorporate into the Global Compact the experiences, lessons learned and innovative solutions produced by our region, and to further improve the regional capacity to govern labor migration with a view to increase its development impact and implement the relevant SDGs in the UN Development Agenda.

The representatives of Qatar and the Philippines - ADD members, present at the meeting also associated themselves with these sentiments.

Following on the Ministerial Directive as outlined in the ADD Colombo Declaration, under the chairmanship of Ambassador Aryasinha, the ADD troika and representatives of the ADD Secretariat, met with the representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on the sidelines of the GFMD meeting in Geneva, to discuss the operational aspects of ADDs engagement with the GCM, for which the IOM has agreed to extend its support.

Following the Adoption of the modalities resolution on the GCM by the UNGA in March this year, the preparatory process is scheduled to begin in April this year with extensive consultations on related thematic issues, by involving the expertise in Geneva, New York and Vienna.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka

Geneva

03rd February 2017
The gig: David Glickman, 51, is co-founder and chief executive of Ultra Mobile, a prepaid mobile carrier that provides low-cost, no-contract SIM cards with a focus on immigrants living in the U.S. The Costa Mesa company leases wireless telephone and data infrastructure from T-Mobile.

The pitch: Glickman said Ultra draws customers who cant afford the high cost of overseas calls or who dont want the complications of using a calling card. The customer provides the phone and buys an Ultra SIM card from independent wireless stores or other retailers including Target, CVS and 7-Eleven. Plans start at $19 a month for, as Glickman puts it, unlimited everything in the U.S. and internationally.

Fast starter: Ultra Mobile topped Inc. magazines 2015 list of the nations fastest growing private companies, based on the firms 2014 revenue of $118 million after only three years of operation. It was the second time that the Los Angeles native received that accolade. Glickman also ran Inc.s fastest growing company of 1998, a telecom operation called Justice Technology.

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Affluenza vaccine: Growing up among children who seemed to have an endless supply of things, including cars, Glickman said he felt like the poorest kid in Beverly Hills. But his father, Albert, a real estate developer, and his mother, Judy, a homemaker for four children, were adamant. If I wanted it, I had to work to go get it. I learned at an early age to be an entrepreneur, Glickman said. Some of the teens who were receiving anything they ever wanted kind of thing ended up with afflicted with affluenza. It kills motivation.

Birdman: In addition to getting part-time work at a grocery store as a teenager, Glickman realized that pet stores were selling him the birds he loved for $20, but paying him $4 for their offspring. He wound up buying birds from importers for $2 each and selling them to pet stores for $4.

His calling: Glickman earned a bachelors degree in entrepreneurship from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a masters degree in educational psychology from UCLA. When I went to business school it was the easiest education of my life, he said. It was professors giving names to exactly the way that I thought about things.

Express education: After college, Glickman backpacked through South American for a few months, enough to become fluent in Spanish. He landed in Argentina, working for American Express. I did three months in every department, he said, and so now Im learning how big business works and every aspect of it through American Express.

Expat blues: Perhaps nothing motivates problem solving better than personal experience. For Glickman, it was phoning home to the U.S. at shocking expense because the Argentine phone service was a monopoly  $4 a minute to call the U.S., but just 50 cents a minute when the call originated in the U.S.

I came up with a little system where I would call a little box, let it ring once and let it hang up, Glickman said. The box was programmed to then call my phone number back in Argentina. Then I would answer it, and then I would from there do a three-way call and call whoever I wanted. I was paying U.S. rates while living in Argentina. I said, You know what? Why dont I do this for businesses?  Glickman said it saved American Express about $25,000 a month in long-distance calling.

Multitasking: The idea led him to start his own telecom company, TelePacific, in 1993. Just five years later, he had hired a new CEO, moved over to the TelePacific board and started Justice Technology. Other start-ups followed, with Glickman sometimes overseeing two companies at once. Hes doing it again now, having launched a company called Primo Connect in 2006.

Serial formula: Asked how he does it, Glickman makes it sound simple. I went to Wall Street, I raised a few hundred million dollars, and started a company, he said, referring to how he began TelePacific, his first telecom company, and went on to create others.

Practicing psychology: That masters degree, Glickman says, has helped him understand that what the other party wants is probably the most important lesson that Ive learned. Not trying to manipulate them or convince them or tell them they want something that they dont know that they want. Its more about providing a solution to what theyre already looking for.

Hands off: Glickman said his father had a way of telling someone not only what to do but precisely how he wanted it done. Glickmans rebellion was to develop a different leadership style. I will say, This is the result I want, and I dont really care how you do it. I dont really get involved with the details of how you get the job done, just the result. 

Team builder: I might have a great idea, but if I dont have really great people in the company implementing those ideas, then the company will not be as standout as these companies have been. Ultra Mobile has about 150 employees in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Personal: Glickman lives in Los Angeles County with his wife of nearly 19 years, Paige. They have four children ages 8 to 16. Glickman served for 11 years on the board that oversees the L.A. Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl. My wife and I love the Hollywood Bowl. Youll find us there maybe two to three times a week in the summer, he said.

ron.white@latimes.com

For more business news, follow Ronald D. White on Twitter: @RonWLATimes
Andy Puzder, the fast-food executive who is President Trumps nominee for Labor secretary, fondly recalls his first job: scooping ice cream at Baskin-Robbins for a buck an hour as a teenager near Cleveland.

I learned a lot about inventory and customer service, the chief executive of CKE Restaurants Inc. told The Times last year. But theres no way in the world that scooping ice cream is worth $15 an hour, and no one ever intended it would ever be something that a person could support a family on.

Those comments encapsulate the starkly different approach the Trump administration is expected to take on low-wage workers and their issues compared with the Obama administration.

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To President Trump and other Republicans, fast-food jobs and other low-paying work are largely for young people just getting started in the labor market. An increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 from the current $7.25 would reduce those opportunities, hurting workers and businesses, Republicans say.

That view is part of a broader Trump goal of slashing 75% of federal regulations and reducing regulatory oversight to try to stimulate economic growth and job creation.

Republicans and many business owners have criticized former President Obamas efforts to expand access to overtime pay. They complained that the Labor Department has been overly aggressive in seeking back pay from employers accused of wage theft, as well as in issuing guidance limiting the ability of companies to classify workers as independent contractors and making companies take more responsibility for actions by franchise owners.

Obama and his fellow Democrats viewed federal workplace regulation as a force to push back against the sliding fortunes of lower-rung employees. The share of overall U.S. income going to workers, rather than capital, has fallen steadily since 2001, for instance.

One manifestation of that trend, they argue, is that many low-wage workers these days are trying to support a family  and those workers need a higher minimum wage and strong federal policies to make ends meet.

This notion that the minimum wage doesnt need to be raised because all it is is pocket change for teenagers so they can go out and buy sneakers isnt reflective of todays labor market, said Tom Perez, who was Labor secretary under Obama from 2013 until stepping down last month.

These are breadwinners for families in many, many cases, he said.

Both sides can point to data to support their positions.

Republicans note that the Labor Department reports minimum wage workers tend to be young. In 2015, the most recent data available, workers under 25 years old made up only about one-fifth of hourly paid workers. But they were 45% of workers earning the federal minimum wage or less. (Some workers, such as students and those earning tips, are exempt from the minimum wage.)

Overall, there were about 2.6 million workers earning at or below the minimum wage in 2015, about 3.3% of hourly paid workers, according to Labor Department statistics.

If the minimum wage were raised, these individuals would have a harder time finding jobs, said Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a former Labor Department chief economist during the George W. Bush administration.

There will be more encroachment of technology into the low-wage jobs that have served as entry points for teens and low-skilled workers, said Furchtgott-Roth, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a free-market think tank. If you have $15 instead of $7.25 [minimum wage], then these low-skilled workers just arent going to get hired.

A 2014 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found there were pluses and minuses of hiking the minimum wage. The report determined that an increase to $10.10 an hour would cause the loss of about 500,000 jobs nationwide. But the increase also would boost the earnings for about 16.5 million low-wage workers.

Workers-rights advocates said the Labor Department statistics are misleading because they exclude many people who earn just above the minimum wage.

The UC Berkeley Labor Center said a better definition of low-wage workers is those earning less than two-thirds of the median hourly wage. In California, that meant earning less than $13.63 an hour in 2014, the most recent year analyzed.

About a third of workers in the state  roughly 4.8 million  earned less than that amount, the Labor Center said. The average age of those workers was 35.

The share of low-wage workers who were teens declined to 5% in 2014 from 16% in 1979; the share of low-wage workers ages 35 to 64 increased to 44% from 32%.

Working at Carls Jr.  one of the chains owned by Puzders CKE Restaurants  isnt a starter job for Nancy Hernandez, 34. She has put in seven years at the company, working at different locations across San Jose. Shes now a supervisor and makes $13 an hour. Hernandezs husband makes less than she does working at a Vietnamese restaurant.

We are living on this work, Hernandez said. I have to pay rent  $1,700 for a one-bedroom apartment  and pay bills and buy what the kids need. There are five, ages 1 to 16.

Some younger people at the restaurant move on to jobs that pay more, she acknowledges. But when presented with the argument that the minimum wage shouldnt go up because fast-food restaurants arent meant for long-term employment, Hernandez gets defensive.

They are rich, she says of business owners generally. They dont know anything about our lives, how we suffer to make the effort to make ends meet and live.

These are workers living paycheck to paycheck, and if they get cheated out of wages and overtime, they cant feed their families.  Tom Perez, former Labor secretary

The Obama administration unsuccessfully pushed for an increase in the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour and embraced the Fight for $15 movement. That effort, led by fast-food workers, unions and liberal activists, has produced state and local minimum wage hikes in California, New York and elsewhere.

Under Obama, the Labor Departments Wage and Hour Division forced employers to pay more back wages to their employees than under the Republican administration of former President George W. Bush.

In the first seven years of the Obama administration, through 2015, the division recovered $1.59 billion in back wages compared with $1.46 billion for all eight years of the Bush administration.

Perez said the Obama administration targeted low-wage sectors, such as fast food, because their workers were the most vulnerable. The garment industry, which has a major presence in Los Angeles, was another focus. Under Obama, the Wage and Hour Division conducted more than 1,000 investigations in Southern California alone, leading to workers getting more than $11.7 million in back wages.

Trump has sent mixed messages on a federal minimum wage increase but has been clear he doesnt support anything close to $15.

Puzder also has indicated hes open to a small minimum wage increase.

Instead of creating a living wage, the fight for dramatic minimum wage increases could leave millions with no wage at all, Puzder wrote in a Wall Street Journal column in 2015.

Trumps decision to nominate Puzder, whose Carpinteria-based company includes the Hardees fast-food chain as well as Carls Jr., outraged Democrats and worker-rights advocates.

Puzder has criticized new federal rules expanding overtime pay, which have been blocked by a federal judge. He also has infuriated worker-rights advocates by talking about the advantages of increased automation in the fast-food industry.

His nomination has triggered protests and an aggressive campaign to try to derail his confirmation. Puzders Senate hearing has been delayed four times as he works to divest his business interests to avoid conflicts of interest.

This isnt a man who has the needs of workers first and foremost in his mind, and thats what the Labor secretary should be, said Judy Conti, federal advocacy coordinator at the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for workers rights.

An analysis in September by Bloomberg BNA found that about 60% of Labor Department investigations of Carls Jr. and Hardees restaurants since 2009 resulted in at least one violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which covers minimum wage, overtime and other regulations.

But as Puzder and his supporters point out, that was one of the best performances by leading fast-food outlets.

In nominating Puzder, Trump said the fast-food executive would 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.

Even some business owners who arent enthusiastic about all of Puzders qualifications believe having a restaurant executive at Labor could be good.

Having someone who understands what its like to run a business and the challenges of todays economy, hopefully thats helpful, said Michaela Mendelsohn, who owns six El Pollo Loco restaurants in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

She has doubts about Puzders lack of government experience. And Mendelsohn, who is transgender, says shes particularly concerned about complaints lodged recently by employees of CKE Restaurants that they were discriminated against or sexually harassed. Still, she said, There is something to be said for the difficulties of the regulations.

But Democrats and workers advocates fear that Trumps Labor Department will reduce enforcement efforts designed to protect low-wage workers.

There was some criticism of the Labor Departments more aggressive actions. One labor attorney who represented employers told a 2011 House hearing that the Wage and Hour Division had developed a gotcha approach that was increasingly punitive.

But Perez, who is running for chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said the Obama administration was trying to protect Americans struggling to survive in low-paying jobs.

These are workers living paycheck to paycheck, and if they get cheated out of wages and overtime, they cant feed their families because they have no margin for error, he said.

Perez sees that approach changing under Trump.

I dont have a lot of optimism about the ability of low-wage workers who are victimized by systematic violations to have a receptive voice in this administration, Perez said.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

Follow @JimPuzzanghera on Twitter

Times staff writer Natalie Kitroeff contributed to this report.

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Music, we all know, can change moods. But can it change minds as well? Just how crazy is it to expect a single violin to coax us toward utopia?

That is the mission of Luigi Nonos 45-minute masterpiece, La Lontananza Nostalgica Utopica Futura: Madrigale per piu Caminantes con Gidon Kremer. The work for solo violin, eight channels of violin-irradiated electronic music and, importantly, eight to 10 music stands was given a rare and wonderfully convincing performance by Mark Menzies on Friday night at Art Share L.A. downtown.

There is a lot to unpack here. La Lontananza was written in 1989, the year before the avant-garde Italian composer died. Also dying at the time was communism, a movement to which the politically intent Nono was devoted. Nostalgic Distant Utopian Future suggests that through distance the hope of the future might be found in the past, or something like that. Nono then calls the score a madrigal for many travelers with Gidon Kremer.

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Kremer was the violinist not only for whom La Lontananza was written but with whose sound the piece is infused. Nono devised the eight-channel tape, operated live during performances, from recordings he made of Kremer improvising. The actual score leaves room for a soloist to find his or her own solutions, which means that each new violinist who takes on La Lontananza offers a new utopian vision applied to what went before in Kremers.

Mark Menzies performs La Lontananza at one of the music stands set up among audience members at Art Share L.A. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

The music stands are spread around the performance space, and the violinist moves from one to the next. Six of the stands hold the music for the six sections of the work. The additional two to four have dummy scores. The performers journey is not linear. Menzies lingered between sections. He zigzagged around the space, sometimes stopping at the dummy stands before reaching his destination. No one said Utopia is just around the corner.

The music itself is like an anatomical, physiological and spiritual examination of the violin: what the instrument can do and what it can do to a listener. An imaginative virtuoso is required. The dynamic range is from what is only audible to a dog to the loudest sounds the instrument can humanly make. Everything Nono could think of doing to a violin with a bow, he has the violinist do.

The result is complex and ever changing. There can be the effect of a sweet singing voice and the effect of horror. Pitches that are familiar contend with microtones that are not. The violin is caressed and attacked with every inch of the bow. Parts of the score are skittish. The second section ended with crunching effects.

For the third, Menzies stood directly behind me, playing ghostly calm drones of sustained harmonics that felt as they entered the mind as vibrations bypassing ear and auditory nerve. The room itself was suffused by waves of wondrous violin effects on the surround-sound loudspeakers. Rather than rely on the banality of virtual reality, Menzies and Nono produced virtual unreality, the feeling of levitation.

What is past and what is future, what is utopian and what is dystopian in this political theater of the violin and of the mind? Nono doesnt provide the answers. He shows us not where to go but how to go. Instead of being a destination, utopia is a process of opening up to experiencing the unfamiliar.

As to whether music can change minds, it can. John Cage happened to be at the London premiere of La Lontananza in 1990. Three decades earlier he had had a falling out with Nono, but Cage (who famously disavowed music as emotional expression) said after the London concert, I no longer hold a grudge against Luigi.

After 17 years on the faculty of CalArts and a mainstay in the L.A. new music scene, Menzies has returned to his native New Zealand. But he is back in town celebrating his 47th birthday with the ambitious series four in the time of seven, four solo violin and viola recitals of new and old music in seven days.

He had played La Lontananza here in 2003 at a Southwest Chamber Music concert. This time it was in collaboration with the new music collective wasteLAnd, and Menzies had the advantage of a room ideally reverberant and flexible. The executive director of wasteLAnd, composer Scott Worthington, handled the electronics with alluring flair.

The program began with two short pieces. Ching-Wen Chaos robustly enigmatic violin solo Elegy in Flight, evoking the Buddhist recitation for the dead, and the premiere of a winningly lyrical viola solo, Elegy, written for Menzies by Erik Ulman.

Menzies seven-day odyssey takes him to REDCAT Monday for a mixed program of New Zealand, European and American solo pieces and to Monk Space in Koreatown on Tuesday for three of Bachs solo sonatas and partitas, an early example of the violins penchant for utopian thought.

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

Mark Menzies

When: 8:30 p.m. Monday at REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., L.A. Also at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Monk Space, 4414 W. 2nd St., L.A.

Tickets: $10-$20

Info: (213) 237-2800 or www.redcat.org; (213) 925-8562 or www.monkspace.com

mark.swed@latimes.com
President Trumps executive order on travel may be temporarily halted, with visa cancellations reversed by the State Department for now, but that doesnt mean those affected by the ban are breathing a sigh of relief just yet.

On Friday, federal judge James Robart of Seattle issued a restraining order after deciding that the executive order  banning those from seven Muslim-majority nations entry into the U.S.  unlawfully discriminated against Muslims.

On Saturday, however, as protests raged at LAX, many in the L.A. arts community were still wary.

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There are a lot of people who are scrambling to travel right now while were in this limbo period, because they dont know what is going to happen next, said Alireza Ardekani, executive director of the L.A.-based Farhang Foundation, which presents work by Iranian artists.

It might be a temporary situation, we dont know, so people are trying to take advantage of it, Ardekani said. Or theyre moving their trips up because they think its a short window of opportunity.

If theres a single word that sums up what so many in the local Iranian community are feeling, it is uncertainty, said Roshi Rahnama, founding director of Advocartsy, a cultural organization dedicated to bringing awareness to Iranian contemporary art.

Whether they want to travel out of or back into the country, everyone is holding their breath to see how it will all unfold, she said. Even though theres this temporary hold [on the ban], certain damage has been done that cannot be rectified immediately. Weve always been blessed with the reliability of the laws in this country, and thats been shaken the past couple of weeks.

L.A. painter Amir H. Fallah, whos part of Advocartsys multimedia exhibition opening Feb. 10, Art Brief III: The (Un)Draped Woman, said hes felt a little relieved since the ban was lifted, but hes still skeptical. Fallah, the father of an 18-month-old, said the executive order, even if its never reinstated, has interfered with his family relations back in Iran.

I have two elderly grandmothers in Iran who have U.S. visas, he said, and they will probably never come back to America again  the journey is already so difficult for them, theyre in wheelchairs, and they cant risk that headache. They dont want to take the risk and then get turned around. It means my grandmothers wont get to meet their great-grandson, which is depressing.

Photographer Hadi Salehi, who also has work in the (Un)Draped Woman exhibition, echoes that sentiment.

I have a 15-year-old niece and was planning to bring her here this summer from Iran, he said, but I dont think thats going to happen now. That sort of shattered my dream. Im not too optimistic things will stay like this; I hope so. I am worried that the travel ban will come back.

Still, Salehi  who is 66 and immigrated to L.A. in 1978  said he makes an effort every day to be positive.

Its not easy living in America, he said, just being Iranian and different. Sometimes theres racism. But I love America, to tell you the truth. I really do.

deborah.vankin@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @debvankin

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Saturday night in Beverly Hills, La La Land director Damien Chazelle took home the top honor at the 69th annual Directors Guild of America Awards, further cementing his front-runner status going into this months Oscars.

I wrote this movie six years ago in a very different time, in what seemed for me a more hopeful time in the world, Chazelle said backstage, addressing national anxieties under President Trump that have seeped into Hollywoods glitzy awards season. I would hope that the movie gives some kind of hope.

DGA President Paris Barclay set the tone for a politicized show at the top of the non-televised awards, held inside the Beverly Hilton International Ballroom. In the same room exactly one week ago, the Producers Guild Awards ceremony played host to heightened emotions  and loud boos for the Trump-friendly The Apprentice producer Mark Burnett  from the podium.

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The DGA is and always will be a home for all directors, said Barclay, earning a standing ovation. If any person or any group of people, in the name of greater greatness, chooses to block, or to prevent, or to scapegoat, or to separate, or to divide the very people who are all about bringing people together, then we are going to stand with those people.

SIGN UP for the free Indie Focus movies newsletter 

Chazelles win solidifies his lead in the best director Oscar race, where hes up against DGA competitors Moonlight helmer Barry Jenkins, Manchester By The Seas Kenneth Lonergan, and Arrivals Denis Villeneuve, as well as Hacksaw Ridge director Mel Gibson, who was not nominated for the DGA.

Winning the DGA award for best dramatic series, Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik gave a shout-out to his crew, including cinematographer Fabian Wagner, who won across town at the ASC Awards the same night. Editor Tim Porter won the ACE Eddie award on the same Beverly Hilton stage last week.

Australian director Garth Davis, the only filmmaker nominated in two categories, won the first-time feature Award for Lion. Onstage he dedicated the award to the films young child actors, including 8-year-old star Sunny Pawar, who ascended a footstool later in the evening to introduce his director alongside co-star Nicole Kidman.

Ezra Edelman nabbed best documentary honors for his eight-hour nonfiction epic O.J.: Made In America  a prize presented to him onstage by The People vs. O.J. Simpson stars Cuba Gooding Jr. and Sarah Paulson.

Tina Mabry, a first-time DGA winner in the childrens program category for Amazons civil rights era-set An American Girl Story  Melody 1963: Love Has To Win, delivered the nights most powerful speech onstage.

This is a country that is for everybody no matter where you come from or who you are, Mabry said. This is a country that made my marriage legal.

Mabry spurred her audience of fellow directors toward putting concern into action.

1953 is starting to resemble 2017. Now the question is, what are we going to do about it? she said.

Another of this years victorious female DGA winners was Veep director Becky Martin, who took home the award for Best Comedy Series for her work on the Inauguration episode of the HBO show.

In an additional score for HBO, Steven Zaillian won in the movies for television and miniseries category for directing the crime program The Night Of.

Variety/Talk/News/Sports awards went to Glenn Weiss, director of CBS 70th Tony Awards broadcast (Specials) and 11-time nominee Don Roy King, who won for directing Saturday Night Live with guest host Dave Chappelle.

Also during the night, Gale Anne Hurd presented the Frank Capra Achievement Award to producer Marie Cantin; Christine Lahti introduced the Robert B. Aldrich Service Award to her husband, West Wing producer Thomas Schlamme; and Barclay, Michael Apted, Martha Coolidge, Taylor Hackford and Gene Reynolds presented the DGA Presidents Award to Jay D. Roth.

Billy Crudup, Michael Fassbender and Christopher Nolan came onstage to present Ridley Scott with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Scott, citing the nights many political speeches, declined to add his voice to the conversation:

Theres been a lot of talk about politics tonight and Im best off not talking about it, he said.

Plenty of other presenters and winners did opt to take advantage of their platform. Capping the evening, Oscar-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, proudly proclaiming his Mexican nationality, presented the final award to Chazelle with a message to his peers.

The story being written now is a bad remake  only way we will win and recoup a strong narrative is by telling good complex and truthful human stories, he said. No alternative facts or statistics will defeat that.

Mark.Olsen@latimes.com

Follow on Twitter: @IndieFocus

Jen.Yamato@latimes.com

Follow on Twitter: @jenyamato

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Smartphones have revolutionized nearly every aspect of our lives, making it easy to manage our finances, book a flight or take selfies at the touch of a finger.

Unfortunately, theyve also given TV writers an easy way to disguise otherwise uninspired shows.

Take APB, a drama premiering Monday on Fox that puts a high-tech spin on the well-worn big-city police procedural.

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The shows Gideon Reeves (Justin Kirk) is an eccentric tech billionaire  is there any other kind?  who decides to take over the crime-ridden 13th police district of Chicago after a friends murder.

Gideon throws $90 million or so of his own money into the experiment of urban policing, outfitting the district, seemingly over the course of a single weekend, with an array of gadgets and gizmos worthy of James Bond (think souped-up cruisers, extra-potent stun guns, futuristic-looking bulletproof uniforms, surveillance drones).

But Gideons most critical innovation is APB, an app that citizens can use to report crime instead of the inefficient 911 system.

As one might expect of a fictional engineering genius, Gideon is arrogant, overly confident about the powers of technology and not particularly good at the human side of his job. He meets his match in Theresa Murphy (Natalie Martinez) a hard-working, idealistic beat cop turned detective who prefers doing things the old-fashioned way. Not only does she complement his professional weaknesses but  bonus!  shes also single. You can see where this is going, reader.

If APB is a bit far-fetched in execution, the underlying premise is rooted in reality. The show is inspired by a 2015 New York Times Magazine article about Sidney Torres, a wealthy New Orleans entrepreneur who used his own money to launch an experimental private police force, activated via mobile app, in the citys French Quarter.

APB relocates the action to Chicago, whose crime problem has drawn national attention of late. It also happens to be the second show to premiere in the space of a week portraying tensions in the Windy City, following Superior Donuts on CBS. But aside from a power struggle with the mayor and the occasional accusation that Gideon is a dilettante playing games with the safety of Chicagoans, APB doesnt really consider the various implications of privatizing criminal justice.

Similarly, theres plenty of clunky dialogue like Your computers are great, Gideon, but youve got to let your cops do their jobs first, but the show doesnt have much to say about the most effective ways of fighting crime.

Instead, show runner Matt Nix (Burn Notice) is more invested in Gideons arsenal of fancy toys, which get silly fast (by episode 3, hes MacGyver-ing a lie-detector chair). APB is the latest network show to be afflicted by touchscreen-itis, a crippling dependency on the use of impractically large monitors to display mugshots, digital maps and criminal records (curiously, these supposedly cutting-edge computers constantly emit whirring noises, like hybrid cars).

It also has a premise almost identical to CBS Pure Genius, a short-lived medical drama about an eccentric tech billionaire who opens a state-of-the-art experimental hospital.

APB at least has the benefit of an appealing cast, and Kirk is especially good at the wisecracking banter thats become standard on network crime procedurals (thanks, NCIS). Theres a hint of Sleepy Hollow in the quasi-romantic sparks between Theresa, the straitlaced, diligent young cop, and Gideon, her oddball colleague. (Both shows share an executive producer in Len Wiseman.)

Unfortunately, the gimmicks and the solid cast arent enough to elevate the ho-hum storytelling. The cases at the center of each episode arent especially engrossing  another armed heist, yawn  and they inevitably seem to end up with police chasing suspects down ominous trash-filled alleyways. Dont be fooled by the upgraded packaging: APB is pretty much just a Network Cop Show 1.0.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

APB

Where: Fox

When: 9 p.m. Monday

Rating: TV-14-LV (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14 with advisories for coarse language and violence)

meredith.blake@latimes.com

Follow me @MeredithBlake
With satirical jabs at everything from the so-called Bowling Green Massacre to the travel ban on majority-Muslim countries, Saturday Night Live delivered one of its most hard-hitting, hilarious and ambitious episodes this weekend in a show revolving around President Trumps first two weeks in office.

Players and guests Kristen Stewart and Alec Baldwin riffed on the Mexican wall, the presidents disastrous phone calls with world leaders, his obsession with Celebrity Apprentice ratings and the influence of chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon  chaotic and seemingly made-for-comedy events that have marked the debut of Trumps newest public role, POTUS.

Saturdays had to be the commander in chiefs least favorite episode since Baldwin began lampooning his debate performances more than a year ago. (Awaiting his reaction tweet now.) From its cold opening in the Oval Office to a monologue by Stewart reading Trumps litany of real tweets about her former relationship with Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson.

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Donald Trump admits he likes Alec Baldwin, but not his mean-spirited SNL imitation 

But it was surprise guest Melissa McCarthys portrayal of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, in a skit about the administrations contentious relationship with the news media, that made the evening one of SNLs best since it began satirizing the new president and his Cabinet.

Dressed in a suit and armed with an adversarial attitude, she addressed the room full of reporters:

Myself and the press have gotten off to a rocky start, she said. And when I say rocky start I mean it in the sense of Rocky the movie because I came out here to punch you in the face Id like to begin today by apologizing on behalf of you, to me, for how you have treated me these last two weeks. And that apology is not accepted!

McCarthys Spicer then took questions from the reporters including one from the New York Times about the travel ban on Muslims.

Its not a ban. The travel ban is not a ban, which makes it not a ban, said McCarthy as Spicer.

But you just called it a ban replied Bobby Moynihan, portraying New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush.

Because Im using your words. You said ban. You said ban. Now Im saying it back, she retorted, and on it went until finally devolving into prop comedy.

The bit followed Stewarts monologue, during which she admitted she was nervous because she knew Trump was probably watching.

She then outlined Trumps interest  11 tweets  in her former relationship with Pattinson. We broke up and then we got back together and for some reason it made Donald Trump go insane, she said.

She continued: The president is not a huge fan of me. But that is so OK. And, Donald, if you didnt like me then youre really probably not going to like me now cause Im hosting SNL and Im like, so gay, dude.

(Later, near the end of the monologue, Stewart accidentally dropped an f-bomb that was unrelated to Trump.)

A skit starring Baldwin lampooned the relationship between Trump and his advisor Bannon, former head of the far-right website Breitbart News Network.

The skit played off of question of just who is in charge, Trump or Bannon. Pundits and many on Capitol Hill have increasingly questioned the amount of influence Bannon  a man with little more political experience than Trump  has now on forming policy and making critical national decisions.

In the skit, Bannon again was depicted as the Grim Reaper. He hovered in the background, encouraging Trump to pick up the phone and make impromptu calls to leaders of allied countries  Australia, Mexico, Germany. One by one, he alienated them as Bannon rubbed his skeletal hands together, as if his plan for mass chaos and destruction was well on its way.

Who could have guessed Americas least popular presidency would be a boon for SNL? Just about everyone.

lorraine.ali@latimes.com

@lorraineali

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Before a cheering throng at a local campus gymnasium, a team from Marshall High School on Saturday won the Super Quiz portion of the Academic Decathlon for the Los Angeles Unified School District. The overall winner will be announced Friday.

The Super Quiz is the one portion of the Academic Decathlon that is held in public, and various teams have supporters rooting them on as students tackle questions and scores are posted.

The decathletes from Marshall, which is in Los Feliz, nailed 67 points out of a possible 72, finishing one ahead of perennial powerhouse Granada Hills Charter High School, the defending national champion. In third was another familiar contender, El Camino Real Charter High School, with a score of 63. Both Granada and El Camino are located in the west San Fernando Valley.

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The local decathlon competition is split into two portions, one with schools from L.A. Unified and one with schools from other school systems in Los Angeles County. The county also staged its Super Quiz on Saturday. Finishing first was South Pasadena High School, followed by West High School in Torrance and Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra. The county competition was hosted by El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera.

This years study topic in both competitions was World War II.

Each tournament has 10 portions that contribute to the scoring, and all had to relate to World War II. The first day of L.A. Unifieds competition took place Jan. 28 at the Roybal Learning Center, west of downtown, with students demonstrating their skills at delivering a speech, participating in interviews and composing essays.

Saturdays wrap-up competition also was held at Roybal. In the morning, students tested in eight subjects: art, economics, language and literature, math, music, science and social science. The Super Quiz began in the afternoon.

Each school team comprises nine students: three with grade-point averages of 2.99 or lower; three with GPAs of 3.00 to 3.74 and three with 3.75 or higher.

The county competition involved 43 official teams and 17 junior teams from 26 school districts. In L.A. Unified, 62 teams participated.

The state competition will take place in March in Sacramento. Teams from L.A. Unified schools have claimed 17 national titles since 1987.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

howard.blume@latimes.com

@howardblume
They dressed like ninjas and marched onto UC Berkeleys Sproul Plaza like a paramilitary force armed with bats, steel rods, fireworks and Molotov cocktails, officials say.

The scheduled appearance Wednesday of conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was still two hours away, but it was precisely the time that most local television stations were beginning their live 6 p.m. broadcasts.

Within minutes, the group of 100 to 150 agitators had smashed half a dozen windows with barricades, launched fireworks at police and toppled a diesel-powered klieg light, which caused it to burst into flames.

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They didnt come to lock arms and sing Kumbaya, said Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor and spokesman for the UC Berkeley. They came to [mess stuff] up, he said, using stronger language.

While so-called black bloc agitators have become a fixture of Bay Area demonstrations in the last decade, their appearance at Berkeley on Wednesday and otherwise peaceful demonstrations threatens to inflame tensions in an already polarized nation.

After learning that Yiannopoulos talk was canceled, President Trump tweeted: If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view  NO FEDERAL FUNDS?

The self-described anarchists or antifascists have left school and law enforcement agencies struggling to cope with their tactics.

Moving officers into Wednesday nights melee, would have created a lethal, horror situation, said campus Police Chief Margo Bennett.

We have to do exactly what we did last night: to show tremendous restraint, she said.

UC Berkeley officials are now talking with federal and local law enforcement agencies about how to address black bloc tactics, which first appeared in Europe in the 1980s but have grown increasingly common in the United States in recent years.

To be sure, the University of California system has seen far larger disruptions by ordinary students. Window breaking and barricade tossing were common during Regents meetings when tuition was being raised significantly in the last decade, and protesters at UCLA trapped the Regents and other UC officials in a meeting building and garage.

But even though there was only one arrest Wednesday night, Berkeley officials insist the incident was something altogether new.

We have never seen this on the Berkeley campus, Mogulof said. This was an unprecedented invasion.

Mogulof said Berkeley administrators are dedicated to protecting the 1st Amendment and free speech, but certain events might need to have a closer look, especially if there is potential for major disruption and destruction on campus. School officials, he said, are reviewing their policing tactics as well as their policies and protocols for future events featuring controversial speakers.

He said its not about limiting free speech, but about protecting the students and campus.

The agitators, who keep their faces covered with bandannas, attach themselves to peaceful protests and then break out and start shattering windows and attacking cars, authorities say.

Police are investigating the groups tactics, and additional arrests could come in the future, officials said.

Members of the group seem to be most active in Oakland, which has long been a hotbed of the protest movement. In downtown Oakland, shopkeepers have taken to boarding up their windows before protests they believe will attract the anarchist element.

At UC Berkeley, Police Chief Bennett said she doubts it would come to that on campus, but did allow there might need to be some rethinking about allowing controversial appearances to take place at night.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA

UPDATES:

10:20 a.m.: This article has been updated with information about Oakland demonstrations.

This article was originally published at 9:30 a.m.
Thousands of people converged on downtown Los Angeles on Sunday to protest the proposed $3.8-billion Dakota Access pipeline, which activists across the country say threatens the water supply and sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota.

Organizers, gathering at Pershing Square, say this was the first anti-pipeline protest in Los Angeles since President Trump signed executive orders to fast-track construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.

I havent seen this kind of thing before and Ive been involved in protests since the 70s, said Karen Pomer of Labor for Standing Rock, one of the groups participating in the demonstration.

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The demonstration was the brainchild of Isaac Price, a Web designer in Long Beach who created a Facebook page after the executive orders were signed. Hed never organized a protest before, Pomer said.

 Thousands of people gathered Sunday in downtown Los Angeles to protest the proposed $3.8-billion Dakota Access pipeline, which activists across the country say threatens the water supply and sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dak

He thought he would have 150 people with picket signs here, and its grown and grown, said Pomer, who said several thousand people were expected to attend.

Indigenous, labor, environmental and veterans groups were involved in the effort, she added, pointing out that many participants have also been to the site of the Standing Rock protest in North Dakota.

The pipeline projects have become among the countrys most potent symbols of the clash between an oil and gas industry seeking to maintain the old order of energy production and the climate change movement pushing for a different direction.

The Dakota Access project more recently became a national rallying point not only for environmental groups but for Native American tribes who said it threatened grounds they hold sacred. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has set up a camp to protest the pipeline, and the battle over it has become violent at times, with protesters clashing with police.

Organizers said Sundays rally in Los Angeles may be the first but it probably wont be the last. They also pointed to the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers is taking public comment on the Dakota Access Pipeline through Feb. 20.

This is happening more and more, Pomer said. People who werent activists maybe two weeks ago are turning into activists today, and thats why were seeing so many people in the streets the last two weeks.... Its definitely a phenomenon thats going to continue for the next four years.

Protesters marched from Olive and 5th streets to the Roybal Federal Building on Temple Street, where they held a noon rally.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

amina.khan@latimes.com

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UPDATES:

11:35 a.m. This article was updated with more detailed information about march and size of crowd.

This story was originally posted at 10:30 a.m.
After the Department of Justice recently issued a scathing report saying police in the countrys third-largest city routinely violated the Constitution by using excessive force against residents, many activists cheered for the inevitable reforms  and federal oversight  they expected to follow.

The findings on Chicago officers set the stage for the city to negotiate a court-enforced agreement with the federal government, called a consent decree, to change how it polices while officials in Washington keep tabs. Police reform advocates applauded a similar pact Justice officials recently announced with Baltimore after the department found that citys officers discriminated against blacks.

Some police say the government has been heavy-handed, and that its agreements with cities have cost too much and taken too long to implement. Some activists say the agreements, which often require extra training in use of force and better tracking of personnel issues, dont go far enough.

But over the nearly 20 years the Justice Department has gone to court to force changes in police agencies in more than two dozen cities, the results have largely been positive, according to data and criminologists.

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Having been in policing for 34 years, consent decrees certainly do work, said Ronal Serpas, a criminal justice professor at Loyola University New Orleans who was the citys police chief in 2012 when it signed on to ongoing reforms. These agreements give you a road map, though it doesnt mean things change with the snap of a finger.

In Baltimore, a pending agreement with the Department of Justice that awaits court approval was announced amid ongoing tensions over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died from a spinal cord injury after his arrest in 2015. Among other things, the pact would require a community oversight task force for police in addition to officer training in deescalation and implicit bias.

But while the Justice Department rushed to release its Chicago report and make its Baltimore announcement in the waning days of Barack Obamas presidency in hopes of ensuring reforms, experts say the road ahead is unclear in the Trump administration.

There can be backsliding, said Samuel Walker, a former University of Omaha criminal justice professor who specializes in police accountability. One thing it often depends on is who is leading police and how much they invest in change.

On the national level, thats the attorney general, the top law enforcement official.

Under Obama, the Justice Department entered into agreements with 12 police departments, four times as many as under President George W. Bush.

Trumps pick for attorney general, Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, said during his confirmation hearing that current decrees with police departments would remain in force until and if they are changed, adding that they were not necessarily a bad thing.

But Sessions also said theres concern that good police officers and good departments get punished because of a few bad ones.

In 2008, he had stronger words. Consent decrees are dangerous, he wrote, calling them exercises of raw power that constitute an end run around the democratic process.

Serpas, who left New Orleans police in 2014, said that he understood concerns but that if policing improves in the end, its certainly worth it.

In its investigation of Serpas officers, the Justice Department said they had a pattern of racial profiling, excessive force and unconstitutional stops and arrests. In a September report, an outside monitor described a remarkable turnaround in how police worked with sexual assault victims and praised body camera efforts. The monitor also said police still needed to do more to improve community relations.

Experts say its too early to assess the results of consent decrees signed in recent years for cities such as Cleveland, or Ferguson, Mo., where the police shooting of Michael Brown fueled the Black Lives Matter movement.

An independent lawyer hired to monitor Fergusons progress said last month that the city had missed recent deadlines to set up new policies in basic policing issues but was still acting in good faith toward improvements, such as through a new policy on use of force and an ordinance from the city to create a civilian review board to look at police misconduct complaints.

While many pacts are set up for five years  with the costs of outside monitoring footed by the cities  they can be extended to last much longer if officers dont improve. In Oakland, police have worked for 13 years under monitoring stemming from findings of racial profiling and police brutality.

Congress gave the federal government the power to police local law enforcement departments in 1994, after national outrage grew over the 1991 beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. The law lets the government sue local police if they dont comply with reforms.

It was 1997 before Pittsburgh became the first city to enter a consent decree after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit over police abuses. The results there have been mixed. Use of force has gone up and down over the years, and a series of high-profile incidents, including a 2012 shooting of an unarmed black man that left him paralyzed, have tarnished the departments image.

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, pointed to a Department of Justice agreement with Los Angeles as a model.

The city was under monitoring for 12 years after investigations by the Justice Department over civil rights violations, including routine false arrests and excessive force. The agreement, which ended in 2013, pushed for better training of officers and tracking of misconduct, among other requirements.

In a 2009 review, Harvard criminal justice professors found the quality of enforcement activity among police had improved, with stops more frequently leading to arrests, and arrests more frequently leading to charges. Public approval had also gone up, with residents saying they were less fearful of crime and more trusting of police. Still, black and Latino residents were more likely than whites to say they were unsatisfied, and protests over police tactics and shootings have persisted.

The process with these can move much more slowly than the public demand, said Wexler. But often they achieve real results.

jaweed.kaleem@latimes.com

Jaweed Kaleem is The Times national race and justice correspondent. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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When the Boy Scouts of America announced last week that it would now accept transgender boys, it was the latest example of how the storied institution has transformed as the country changed around it.

Communities and state laws are now interpreting gender identity differently than society did in the past, Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh said in a statement. And these new laws vary widely from state to state.

In recent years the group has found itself embroiled in larger national debates about gender roles and sexual orientation. These debates, in turn, have led the Boy Scouts  which consists of about 2.3 million members  to examine long-held policies that date back to its founding days. In some instances, change has come swiftly. In others, it came only after years of legal battles.

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Here are some pivotal moments in the Boy Scouts transformation:

No women allowed?

The name speaks for itself: Boy Scouts of America.

The group, founded in 1910, was for boys and their male leaders, focused on promoting responsibility through an array of outdoor activities and educational opportunities.

Some boys came from single-parent households, and when their mothers volunteered to participate as Scoutmasters, they were rebuffed. Over the years, the group successfully defended the policy in court.

But in the 1980s, Catherine Pollard, a mother from Milford, Conn., sued the group to overturn the ban against women Scoutmasters, alleging it violated sex discrimination laws. The lengthy legal proceedings drew international attention, with attorneys for the Boy Scouts making a flurry of controversial comments during oral arguments.

A Scoutmaster has gone through the biological changes taking place in boys, thus making him more qualified to be a Scoutmaster, attorney George Davidson argued on behalf of the Boy Scouts during a 1985 a hearing in Connecticut.

While the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities sided with Pollard, the courts did not. Ultimately, Pollards case made it to the state Supreme Court in 1987, which upheld a lower-court ruling that sided with the Boy Scouts.

But Pollards fight caught the public imagination, and in 1988, as the Boy Scouts faced mounting criticism from civil rights groups, the groups national executive board voted to allow women in leadership positions  including Scoutmaster.

Pollard became the first female Scoutmaster, and today, according to the Boy Scouts, nearly a third of the groups volunteers are women.

What about gays joining the Scouts?

From its founding, the group had a strict policy: No openly gay members.

Boy Scouts of America, the group said, believes that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the obligations in the Scout Oath and Scout Law to be morally straight and clean in thought, word and deed.

The position reflected, in part, the sponsorship of Scout troops by churches. A lot of churches played a significant role in the Boy Scouts, said Jay Mechling, a professor emeritus at UC Davis and an Eagle Scout who has written books about the group. Churches still do play a role, but times have changed and views have changed.

In a 2016 Pew Research Center poll, 55% of Americans said they support same-sex marriage, compared with 37% who do not. (By contrast, a similar Pew poll in 2001 showed almost the opposite  57% opposed same-sex marriage, compared with 35% in support.)

The advent of the Obama administration led to several policies aimed at improving the lives of gays and lesbians, and the dont ask, dont tell policy that banned openly gay men, lesbians and bisexuals from military service was overturned in 2010.

That same year, the Boy Scouts of America executive board began what would become a two-year review of its policy on gays. It really was kind of a dont ask, dont tell in the Boy Scouts.  It mirrored the military policy, Mechling said.

Some Scout leaders opposed lifting the ban, and the board voted to retain its policy.

But in 2013, as the group faced criticism from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights groups that assailed it as pushing discriminatory policies, the Boy Scouts formally announced an end to its ban on gay Scouts.

What about gay adult leaders?

Well, that remained in place. This created a conundrum: Once a gay boy turned 18, he would be barred from the group.

Such was the challenge facing Pascal Tessier. In 2014, Tessier, a 17-year-old from Maryland, became the first openly gay Eagle Scout. He wanted to continue to be associated with the group once he turned 18, but couldnt.

Enter former Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who became president of the Boy Scouts of America. Gates, who served under President Obama when dont ask, dont tell was repealed, urged the group to end its ban on gay leaders.

I truly fear that any other alternative will be the end of us as a national movement, Gates said in a 2015 speech.

Eventually, the executive board sided with Gates and voted that year to end the policy on gay adult leaders.

The transgender debate

Rather than allowing any court battles or strong public pushback, the group this time looked to be preemptive as the debate over transgender rights continues to roar.

In North Carolina last year, lawmakers passed a bill that banned transgender people from using the bathrooms of the gender they identify with. And in Texas this year, Republican lawmakers have filed a similar bill that would require people to use the bathroom or locker room according to the gender on their birth certificates.

These laws continue to be castigated by the American Civil Liberties Union and LGBT rights groups, which call them discriminatory.

In December, the issue arrived before the Boy Scouts of America when an 8-year-old in New Jersey was asked to leave his Cub Scout troop after leaders and other parents found out he is transgender.

The group acted quickly.

After weeks of significant conversations at all levels of our organization, we realized that referring to birth certificates as the reference point is no longer sufficient, said Surbaugh, the groups executive. He announced the new inclusive policy Jan. 30.

Zach Wahls, who cofounded Scouts for Equality, a nonprofit group that advocates for stronger protections in the organization for gay and transgender people, lauded the move.

This is another historic day for the Boy Scouts of America. The decision to allow transgender boys to participate ... is an important step forward for this American institution, he said in a statement.

kurtis.lee@latimes.com

Twitter: @kurtisalee

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Donald Trump may not be able to forge peace in the Middle East, but he is doing wonders for relations between Jews and Muslims in the United States.

Jewish and Muslim activists in the United States are forging alliances like never before in reaction to the presidents rhetoric and action toward Muslim immigrants.

Many Jewish organizations have interpreted Trumps executive order banning entry by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries as a call to arms. Jewish delegations turned out en masse for a 10,000-strong demonstration Sunday night in New York. (Granddaughter of Holocaust survivors standing with refugees, Muslims immigrants, read one sign.)

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Almost every day in New York this last week there was an interfaith conference or prayer service  involving Christian groups as well as Muslims and Jews  devoted to the current crisis over predominantly Muslim immigrants and refugees.

We have common interests, said Al Hadj Talib Abdur-Rashid, the imam of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem. He was one of several Muslim leaders who appeared at a rally in Brooklyn in November after a playground was defaced with pro-Trump graffiti and swastikas. The same kind of people who bomb synagogues [also] bomb black churches and now mosques.

A Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council, made up of business and cultural leaders of both communities, both Democrats and Republicans, was formed days before the election and convened for its first regular meeting Wednesday in Washington to push the government for a coordinated response to hate crimes, up sharply against both Muslims and Jews.

The week after the election, Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, raised eyebrows when he declared at a meeting in New York that if Trump imposed a Muslim registry, this proud Jew will register as Muslim  a dramatic statement for the head of an organization founded to fight anti-Semitism and protect Jewish identity.

There has been an incredible coming together of synagogues around the country to welcome Muslim refugees. Jews really understand what it is to be the other.  Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, vice president for community engagement of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society

To many Jews, Trumps targeting of migrants from predominantly Muslim countries evokes painful memories of Jews who were forced to identify themselves with yellow stars before their extermination at the hands of Nazis  and of the countries that turned them away when they tried to flee.

It speaks to a lot of people very personally because their own families have stories about being refugees. There is a communal resonance, said Shuli Passow, a rabbi at New Yorks congregation Bnai Jeshurun, who recalled how her grandparents were hidden in barns and basements in Poland during the Holocaust.

In addition, Passow said there is a religious imperative to take in refugees. One of the core tenets of the Jewish religion is welcoming the stranger. That is a phrase that is repeated 36 times in the Torah, she said.

When a mosque in Texas was destroyed by fire on the same weekend that the immigration ban was announced, members of a nearby Jewish congregation offered the keys to their synagogue so their Muslim neighbors would have a place to pray.

Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, vice president for community engagement of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, was on the Greek island of Lesbos working with refugees when the news broke last week about Trumps executive order suspending immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries and halting all refugee admissions.

We are all heartbroken, said Rosenn. It is a betrayal of what America stands for, what we as Jews stand for, and is a terrible recollection of our own history.

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Societys work with Muslims predates Trumps presidency, although the organization is feeling added urgency now.

Formed in 1881 to resettle Jews fleeing pogroms in Europe, it has in recent years devoted itself to helping non-Jewish refugees. In the last year, it helped resettle more than 4,000 in the United States, about half of them Muslim. Rosenn said that 270 synagogues and thousands of congregants nationwide have volunteered their time to find housing and furniture for refugees, to teach them English and enroll their children in school.

There has been an incredible coming together of synagogues around the country to welcome Muslim refugees. Jews really understand what it is to be the other and to arrive in a strange country, said Rosenn.

One of the beneficiaries of their hospitality here is Ahed Festuk, who fled Syria in 2015 after being targeted by Islamic militants for driving a car and for her activism. Growing up in Aleppo, Festuk never met a Jew and never hoped to. Everything she had read in the public school textbooks was about the violence of the state of Israel.

Fleeing Syria: A desperate migration 

Once in New York, she started to meet Syrian Jews, who in turn introduced her to American Jews who were eager to help her get settled in her new life.

They told me that their families were refugees too. People helped them and that they would help me, said Festuk, 29, a bookkeeper who has flowing blond curls and wears skinny jeans.

Festuk has been studying English in a free program that is now housed in the basement of the Bnai Jeshurun synagogue, located on New Yorks Upper West Side. Her English is now good enough that she volunteers as a translator  and speaks out against the Trump travel ban.

Syrian people are victims, not criminals, she said.

Trumps executive order prompted almost universal condemnation from the leading American Jewish organizations, which often squabble among themselves on issues relating to Israel and gay rights. This time, it was not just from the predictable liberal groups, but also from more traditional groups such as the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America. Even the conservative synagogue in Washington, D.C., where President Trumps daughter Ivanka is sending one of her three children to school, spoke up against the ban.

It didnt help that the ban was issued on Holocaust Remembrance Day, timing which the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society called incredibly offensive and the Anti-Defamation League called tone deaf.

Trump also managed to offend some of his Jewish supporters by issuing a statement for the remembrance day that omitted mention of Jewish victims. Even Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, which has been staunchly pro-Trump, wrote that he felt compelled to express our chagrin and deep pain at the omission of any mention of the 6 million Jews who died at the hands of Nazi Germany.

On the Trump presidency so far, there is divergence on the question (posed so often that it is a cliche) of whether he is good or bad for the Jews.

Roughly 71% of Jewish voters opted for Hillary Clinton, but Trump has strong support from hardliners on Israel. (He also has two children who are married to Jews, including Ivanka, who converted to Judaism when she married Jared Kushner, now a senior White House aide.)

Trump has called for the U.S. embassy in Israel to be moved to Jerusalem, satisfying a long-standing demand of the Israeli government to recognize the disputed city as its capital, and his nominee to be ambassador, David M. Friedman, is an unabashed supporter of Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Within the Jewish community, differences come up about many issues, like how to bring peace and security to Israel, but almost universally we support religious pluralism and share the same concerns about religious prejudice, said Steven A. Fox, chief executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Despite New York Citys image as a melting pot, relations between Jews and Muslims are not always as harmonious as the citys boosters like to claim. Fighting in the Gaza Strip in 2014 led to sporadic incidents in Brooklyn, including one in which Orthodox Jewish teenagers waved Israeli flags outside a mosque where worshipers were observing Ramadan. Jewish groups have occasionally complained about anti-Semitic slurs linked to Palestinian activities at the City University of New York.

But over the last year, the strains between Jews and Muslims in the city have been dwarfed by the perception that both communities are under threat.

Khalid Latif, an imam and head of the Islamic Center at New York University, said that just after the election, pro-Trump graffiti was scrawled in a Muslim student prayer room, while Jewish students found their dorm room door covered with Post-it notes bearing swastikas, Trump slogans and messages such as Make America White Again.

In Social Justice 101, the fundamental concept is you dont put struggle in competition with each other. You are able to come together and collaborate and build solidarity to take on inequity in all of its forms, said Latif.

barbara.demick@latimes.com

Twitter: @BarbaraDemick

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The Seattle federal judge whom President Trump derided on Twitter on Saturday after blocking Trumps executive order restricting travel to the U.S. is known for his conservative legal views, for a record of helping disadvantaged children that includes fostering six of them, and for dramatically declaring black lives matter during a hearing on police reform in 2015.

District Judge James L. Robart, 69, was appointed to the bench by President Bush in 2004, following a distinguished 30-year career in private practice that included his selection to the American College of Trial Lawyers, an honor bestowed on less than 1% of lawyers.

The judge made the most high-profile ruling of his tenure Friday when he temporarily invalidated Trumps ban on travel to the U.S. from seven primarily Muslim nations. Washington state sued to block the order  with support from Minnesota and major corporations including Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia  arguing that its unconstitutional and would harm its residents, and Robart held that the state was probably correct.

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The ruling did not sit well with the president, who on Twitter called Robart a so-called judge and the ruling ridiculous. Trump later falsely claimed the decision meant anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.

The comments are unlikely to sway Robart, said those who know him.

Jim will give a wry smile, maybe adjust his bow tie a little bit and go back to doing his business, said former Seattle U.S. Atty. John McKay, who worked with Robart for a decade at the law firm of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky. Hes a very careful judge, and hes conservative in the sense he looks at the law and tries to determine what that is, not what he wants. Hes conservative in his review of the law, but courageous in his application of it.

Another former U.S. attorney in Seattle, Jenny Durkan, called Robart exacting: We won some in front of him and we lost some in front of him, but we knew anytime we walked into his courtroom wed better be prepared.

That was evident Friday when Robart grilled a Justice Department lawyer, Michelle Bennett, asking if there had been any terrorist attacks by people from the seven barred countries since the Sept. 11 attacks. Bennett said she didnt know.

The answer is none, Robart said. Youre here arguing we have to protect from these individuals from these countries, and theres no support for that.

Robart, a graduate of Georgetown Law School, is an expert in patent and intellectual property law, and he issued a landmark decision  later upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals  in a lawsuit between Microsoft and Motorola that provided guidance in how to calculate reasonable rates for use of another companys patents.

Hes considered a tough sentencing judge in criminal matters, especially in cases involving white-collar defendants, and he has overseen reforms at the Seattle Police Department since 2012, when it agreed to make changes in response to Justice Department findings that its officers were too quick to use force, especially in low-level situations.

Robart was holding a hearing in that case in summer 2015  a time fraught with tension over violence by and against police officers around the country  when he surprised the courtroom by quoting the slogan of protesters.

The importance of this issue to me is best demonstrated by the news, he said, shaking his head and sighing heavily. According to FBI statistics, police shootings resulting in death involve 41% black people, despite being only 20% of the population living in those cities. Forty-one percent of the casualties, 20% of the population: Black lives matter.
I dont need to tell people Im an immigrant: My accent does it for me. Over the years, when Americans would hear me speak, theyd ask about my origins and what I thought of the United States. But since Donald Trump took up residence in the White House, Ive gotten a new line of questioning: What can we do to protect and help immigrants and refugees in our towns and schools?

Everyone knows an ACLU lawyer isnt going to parachute down from the heavens every time a local thug eggs a car or screams at a woman in a hijab. For newcomers, the difference between dignity and humiliation, impotence and security is often an American whos willing to get involved.

I was 9 when my family fled Soviet Ukraine. We lived as refugees in Austria before finally coming to the U.S. I was young enough to assimilate quickly but old enough to understand that even in the land of immigrants, immigrants are not always welcome.

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Some people take out their fears and frustrations on foreigners because its easy: Any native-born American, no matter his actual circumstances, enjoys a tremendous power advantage over someone who cant speak English and whose citizenship status is uncertain. But the moment another fluent English speaker, another unquestioned American, enters the equation to help, that imbalance vanishes.

If you want to help immigrants erase that non-person status, acknowledge them as individuals with a life, a history, opinions.

The simplest course of action is the most effective: Ignore the attacker and address the immigrant. Literally stand with him or her. Introduce yourself but resist the temptation to ask Where are you from?  its a touchy question, especially now, with the travel ban. In my experience, the mere act of a friendly local engaging my family was all that was needed to make a tormentor slink away.

It surprises Americans that newcomers dont simply call the authorities when someone intimidates them or spray paints a slur on a garage door. Americans are taught from birth to assert their rights; most wouldnt hesitate to speak to a rude employees supervisor or call the cops. Immigrants and refugees are generally wired to do the opposite.

Chances are, theyve escaped from a region where avoiding people wearing badges was a matter of survival. This mindset lingers: My parents  my father is an engineer, my mother was a psychiatrist in Ukraine and became a security guard in the U.S.  have been here for two and a half decades, but theyre still terrified of even the most innocuous encounter with the police.

Instead of easing such fears, landing in America tends to burden newcomers with an additional reason to avoid entanglements with the authorities: The need to preserve a fragile existence in this country.

This doesnt just apply just to those who are in the U.S. illegally: No matter how they got here, most immigrants are acutely aware that they arent Einsteins; they arent prized entertainers or computer geniuses or vital to U.S. national security. When green card holders and Iraqi interpreters were detained last week, Americans understood what immigrants have long known: Unless you get citizenship, your stay can be jeopardized at any moment. The immigrants overwhelming priority is avoiding attention at all costs.

And the language barrier is crippling. The term barrier isnt strong enough: When you dont speak English, its as if youve suffered a debilitating stroke, except instead of being rushed to the hospital, you have to look for a job. What you value about yourself  your smarts, humor, honesty, eloquence  requires language, but its gone. You could be a poet in Arabic; in English, youre an idiot. Worse, when you cant communicate your thoughts to those around you, they can assume you dont have any in the first place. You disappear; youre a non-person.

If you want to help erase that non-person status, acknowledge immigrants as individuals with a life, a history, opinions  something other than the product of a godforsaken country whose chief export is helpless creatures. Along with introducing yourself, simple yes/no questions work wonders, considering that people can understand far more than they can express.

Lastly, please dont be offended if you dont get a thank you. Immigrants arent Disney princesses  being stuck in a humiliating, even terrifying situation that requires a stranger to intervene on your behalf isnt an occasion for rejoicing.

I didnt thank the young woman who gave me a jacket in a Viennese shelter because I couldnt comprehend that someone would hand out free clothing with no strings attached. I didnt thank the hotel owner who helped persuade the Austrian police to release my mother and sister who were detained for peddling trinkets because I was terrified beyond words. I didnt thank every sponsor who welcomed us to America because after six months of drifting through the world as a refugee, I was sick of being a damn charity case.

I didnt thank them, but I didnt forget them. Twenty-six years have gone by, and the honks and angry stares, threats and ridicule have faded like an old scar. But I can still see the people who helped us, vividly, brightly. I can see their faces from the brief interactions that enabled me and my family to materialize out the ghostly existence of statelessness and feel human. You dont forget the good ones.

Lev Golinkin is the author of the memoir A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
After three months wandering in a post-election wilderness, Democrats in Washington are coalescing around a new mission, courtesy of President Trump: Resist. Thats the one-word slogan progressives began using after Trumps election, but even establishment Democrats have begun to take it up.

Where we can engage, we certainly will, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said last week. But if cooperation is fruitless, she added, We must stand our ground  we must resist.

Democrats in Congress began the year less defiant, with a more tentative, case-by-case approach to an untested new president. They were ready to work with Trump, they said, if he met them halfway. Democratic senators confirmed a few of Trumps Cabinet nominees without much fuss.

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Then their base erupted.

Thousands of pink-hatted demonstrators poured into the streets to renounce the president and all his works. Democratic senators switchboards lit up with demands that they stop voting for Trumps nominees. Outside the Capitol, demonstrators crashed a speech by the Senate Democratic leader, Charles E. Schumer of New York, chanting Do your job. In Brooklyn, demonstrators gathered outside Schumers home, chanting Resist or resign.

If Democrats have a larger strategy, so far it boils down to this: Make the 2018 election a referendum on Trump.

Last week, Democrats showed they had heard the message. They walked out of committee hearings to advance Cabinet nominees, and Schumer threatened a possible filibuster against the Supreme Court nomination of Neil Gorsuch. That takes care of the Democrats immediate problem: Theyre restyling themselves in Congress as the party of no.

It wont stop Cabinet nominations from moving forward; there are 52 Republicans in the Senate, and only 50 are needed for confirmation. But it will make it difficult for the GOP to advance much in the way of new legislation, such as a replacement for President Obamas healthcare plan; that would require 60 votes.

And Democratic strategists say theres no political downside to being obstructionist. It didnt stop Republicans from winning in 2016, former Bill Clinton advisor Stanley Greenberg noted.

Resist is simple, punchy and clear  but its only the beginning of a strategy to revive the Democrats fortunes. Its not enough to win the real prize, which is to regain a majority in the House or the Senate two years from now.

Thats a daunting challenge. Democrats need to win another 24 seats to take back the House, no easy job when gerrymandering has turned many districts into single-party strongholds. The Senate looks even more difficult, because an unusually high number of Democrats are up for reelection, 10 of them in states Trump won.

Still, theres historical precedent on the Democrats side: The party that wins the White House usually suffers reverses in the congressional election that comes two years later. Thats what happened to the Democrats in 2010, after President Obama passed his healthcare plan.

If Democrats have a larger strategy, so far it boils down to this: Make the 2018 election a referendum on Trump, whose job approval is already slightly lower than it was on Inauguration Day.

You have to assume this is 2010 in reverse, said Greenberg, whos advising House Democrats. The Republicans succeeded in 2010 because they nationalized the election around Obama and Obamacare. The 2018 election will be about Donald Trump, and that changes everything.

One more factor thats buoying Democrats hopes: the enthusiasm of the anti-Trump demonstrators who have poured into the streets in recent weeks.

We have a well-known problem with turnout in congressional elections, said Guy Cecil, another Democratic strategist. But theres already a lot of energy out there. We need to find a way to harness it.

Already, the Democrats House campaign committee has released a list of 59 Republican-held districts it will target in the midterm, many in suburban areas that Trump lost to Hillary Clinton last year. In Southern California, one example is Rep. Ed Royces district east of Los Angeles, which Clinton won by almost nine percentage points.

But one challenge still bedevils the Democrats: coming up with a single, clear message about what their priorities are  beyond rejecting Trump.

At the moment, the party doesnt even have a chairman, and the race for that job has reopened old divisions. Last week, former Vice President Joe Biden endorsed former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who is widely seen as the candidate of Obama and Clinton loyalists. Bernie Sanders, who backs Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), responded with a tart statement: Do we stay with a failed status quo approach or do we go forward with a fundamental restructuring?

We need to talk about a vision for the country  the whole country, not just a confederation of demographic groups, Cecil said. There are going to be a thousand fights available. The fight needs to be focused, it needs to be consistent, and it needs to be electoral.

And yet, he conceded, Our success will depend on whether Donald Trump is a popular president.

The most important figure in the Democratic Party right now may be Trump. Hes a unifying figure, and theyre hoping his flaws will lead them to victory in the next election. But then, thats what they thought in 2016.

doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com

Twitter: @doylemcmanus

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook

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As the healthcare vote looms, Trump sees opposition from conservatives, both on Capitol Hill and in the media By Kurtis Lee Its a really important vote in President Trumps fledgling first term. Will House Republicans pass a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act  a promise from Trump on the campaign trail  or reject it? (House Speaker Paul D. Ryan rushed to the White House on Friday morning for a last-minute meeting with Trump as both attempted to corral enough votes.) Trump spent much of the week trying to win support from members of the Freedom Caucus, among the most conservative lawmakers, some of whom are holdouts because they believe the bill does not go far enough. After seven horrible years of ObamaCare (skyrocketing premiums & deductibles, bad healthcare), this is finally your chance for a great plan! Trump tweeted Friday. But even some in conservative media arent all that thrilled about the bill. Here are some of Fridays headlines: Polls: Ryancare even more unpopular than Obamacare and Hillarycare (Breitbart) So, its been clear in recent weeks that the right-wing website Breitbart does not like the new healthcare proposal. The news site has dubbed the current bill Obamacare-lite or Ryancare  an homage of sorts to Ryan, who helped craft the legislation  and argued it does not go far enough in its overhaul. Most conservatives want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, nicknamed Obamacare, they just differ on what the replacement should look like. For example, some on the far right want to see so-called essential health benefits, such as maternity and newborn care, stripped from the bill.) This piece highlights several of the dismal polls the legislation has received. Among them: A recent Fox News survey that showed 54% oppose the bill, compared with 34% who support it. The article also references an analysis of polling and data by FiveThirtyEight.com, which shows the GOP legislation is more unpopular than Obamacare and President Bill Clintons healthcare reform bill were when they were first introduced. A modest immigration proposal (Weekly Standard) Trumps recent immigration orders have left many immigrants on edge. Through social media and pop-up legal clinics, immigrant rights groups have doled out around-the-clock assistance, as families fear being separated. In this piece, Irwin Stelzer notes that at some point, our border will be secure, resistance to deporting felons will collapse, and we will have accepted the fact that Dreamers will be allowed to stay in this country, probably on a path to citizenship. He lays out his views of immigration reform, citing, among other things, setting an annual immigration limit and adopting a system that has the effect of enriching our citizens by filling that annual quota with immigrants who are likely to increase the well-being of the existing citizenry. Jeff Sessions is Rip Van Winkle on drug policy (American Conservative) Its clear from polls that most Republicans oppose marijuana legalization, while Democrats support it. However, libertarian-leaning Republicans often tend to support legalization. This piece highlights Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions recent comments in opposition to states legalizing pot. The attorney general regurgitates simplistic cliches right out of the 1970s and 1980s about marijuana use. I dont think America is going to be a better place when people of all ages, and particularly young people, are smoking pot, Sessions told reporters on February 26, the author, Ted Galen Carpenter, writes. He adds, Such comments confirm that critics may be right when they label him a drug war dinosaur. He seems either oblivious or scornful about the trend in public opinion regarding marijuana. Facebook

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FCC Chairman Pai wants to halt Internet privacy rules before they begin taking effect this week By Jim Puzzanghera (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) The nations new top telecommunications regulator wants to halt tough Internet privacy rules before they begin taking effect this week, arguing they would unfairly impose tougher requirements on broadband providers than on websites and social networks. Privacy advocates and a key Senate Democrat vowed Monday to fight the move as well as a separate effort in Congress to overturn the regulations, which were approved in October on a party-line vote by the Federal Communications Commission when it was controlled by Democrats under President Obama. Following President Trumps inauguration, control of the commission passed to Republicans and Ajit Pai took over as chairman. All actors in the online space should be subject to the same rules, and the federal government shouldnt favor one set of companies over another, a spokesman for Pai said Friday. Read More Facebook

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Trump says Hollywoods obsession with him led to best picture Oscar gaffe By Michael A. Memoli (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) President Trump is often loath to accept responsibility when things go wrong, but in the case of Sundays Oscars broadcast, he made an exception. As he explained it Monday, it was Hollywoods obsession with attacking him that contributed to the botched best picture announcement, calling the embarrassing episode sad, of course. Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has apologized for the mix-up that led Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway to announce La La Land as the winner of the top Academy Award prize, instead of Moonlight. But in Trumps eyes, the blame falls more broadly on an entertainment industry so preoccupied with politics that they didnt get the act together, he told Breitbart News. It took away from the glamour of the Oscars, Trump told a reporter from the website, which was once led by his chief White House strategist, Stephen K. Bannon. It didnt feel like a very glamorous evening. Ive been to the Oscars. There was something very special missing, and then to end that way was sad, he added. The ceremony did contain a number of slights at Trump during its telecast, some more subtle than others. Host Jimmy Kimmel openly at one point begged the president to weigh in by tweeting at him. Trump spent part of Sunday night hosting a black-tie dinner at the White House honoring the nations governors, who were visiting Washington for their annual winter meeting. But it appears from excerpts of the Breitbart interview that he may have spent at least part of the evening watching. Facebook

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Justice Department shifts course in closely watched Texas voter ID case By Del Quentin Wilber The Trump administration has scaled back its assault on a strict Texas voter identification law that federal courts have ruled discriminated against minorities, portending a shift in how the Justice Department plans to pursue allegations of voter suppression. The government revealed its decision in court papers filed in federal court Monday, dealing a blow to civil rights advocates who have relied on federal support to help them knock down the controversial Texas statute. Its a very concerning signal to American voters about the Department of Justices commitment to enforcing the Voting Rights Act, said Danielle Lang, deputy director of the voting rights unit of the Campaign Legal Center, which is suing Texas in the case. The administrations partial retreat in the dispute highlights how Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, a conservative Republican who has championed voter identification measures, is expected to handle such cases. The Obama administration had joined civil rights groups in aggressively challenging the Texas law and other such measures around the country. At issue in the case was how the Justice Department would proceed in a federal lawsuit that alleged the Texas legislature discriminated against minority voters when it enacted the strict voter identification law in 2011. Known as SB 14, the measure requires voters to present a specific form of government-issued photo identification - such as a drivers license, military ID card, U.S. passport or citizenship certificate - to be permitted to cast a ballot. The Obama administration and civil rights groups argued the state pushed the law, in part, to suppress the power of the states minority voters, who frequently dont drive or have a passport. State officials and lawmakers countered that the law was aimed at preventing voter fraud, though there is scant evidence that the problem exists. The law was challenged in court by civil rights groups and the Justice Department under provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was intended to help overcome legal barriers erected at the local and state level to keep African-Americans from the polls. Last July, a federal appeals court ruled that the Texas law had a discriminatory impact on minority voters. It told U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos to craft a temporary remedy in time for the November elections. Ramos subsequently ordered Texas to permit voters to present other forms of documentation to verify their identities. The judges order is expected to remain in force until she imposes a permanent remedy or Texas addresses the judges concerns. According to the court papers filed Monday, the Justice Department will continue to work with civil rights groups to address those issues but will seek to withdraw from another important aspect of the suit. In the same decision that found the Texas law had a discriminatory impact, the appeals court reversed Ramos finding that Texas legislators had intended to harm minority voters. It ordered Ramos to reconsider the evidence of that finding. If the judge determines discriminatory intent in crafting the voter ID requirements, she could throw out the entire law. Civil rights groups will continue to press that claim. In its court filing, the Justice Department asked Ramos to permit it to withdraw its claim that Texas acted with intent, arguing that it is best to give the Texas legislature time to address the matter. With the loss of their key ally in court, civil rights groups will argue on their own in an effort to prove that Texas acted with a discriminatory purpose in passing the law. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. Voting advocates complained that the Trump administration was backing away from a key safeguard of voting rights. The Justice Department decision defies rationality and stands diametrically opposed to positions they have taken at every stage of this litigation, Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a statement. This reversal of position was taken despite years of work and effort that the government has invested in fighting the Texas Voter ID law, one of the most discriminatory voting restriction of its kind. Facebook

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House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes warns against witch hunt over Trump-Russia ties By Sarah D. Wire House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) talks to reporters about his committees Russia investigation. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes said on Monday he has seen no evidence from the intelligence community that there was contact between Russia and the Trump campaign. I want to be very careful, we cant just go on a witch hunt against Americans because they appear in a news story, said Nunes (R-Tulare). We still dont have any evidence of them talking to Russia. He said the committee has been briefed on the highlights of what the intelligence community has found, but is still collecting evidence. The committees ranking Democrat, Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), quickly responded, saying the committees investigation is in its infancy and its too soon to reach conclusions about the evidence. We havent obtained any of the evidence yet, so its premature for us to be saying weve reached any conclusion about the issue of collusion, Schiff said. The most that weve had are private conversations, the chair and I with intelligence officials. Thats not a substitute for an investigation. The House and Senate Select Intelligence Committees are conducting separate investigations into Russias reported attempts to influence voters in 2016 in an effort to curtail Hillary Clintons chances and boost Donald Trumps. A leaked U.S. intelligence report on the attempts did not look at whether the effort succeeded. The House committee has expanded a previous ongoing investigation of Russia cyberhacking to include a look at efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, Nunes told reporters Monday. Though it is still in its early stages  the leaders of the committee are still discussing the investigations scope  Nunes said he expects the findings to be made public. Schiff and Nunes spoke separately to reporters Monday. Schiff said the two agreed privately that they would jointly address reporters about the investigation going forward. Nunes, who served as a member of Trumps transition team, said he continues to be concerned about leaks of classified and sensitive information from the White House and intelligence communities. The leaks  one of which resulted in a report about the FBI investigating Trump campaign officials  will be part of the committees investigation. A government cant function with massive leaks at the highest level, Nunes said. Facebook

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Appeals court denies Justice Department request to put appeal of travel ban on hold By Jaweed Kaleem (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the

Justice Departments request to pause proceedings in an appeal of President Trumps travel ban. The court in a filing Monday said its schedule for the governments appeal of a lower courts halt on the travel ban will proceed, with the first brief due to the appeals court on March 10. In early February, the Justice Department appealed a Seattle-based federal district judges order blocking enforcement of Trumps executive action. which established a series of immigration and refugee restrictions aimed at preventing potential terrorists from entering the country. Last week, government lawyers asked the appeals court to stop proceedings in the case because the president planned to issue a new executive order and rescind the original one. A three-judge panel of the court previously denied a request from the government to reverse a nationwide stay on the travel ban. The same panel on Monday ruled that the appeal will proceed. Trump has said he will sign a new executive order tailored to deal with court decisions that have largely gone against him. On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said he expected the order to be issued mid-week. Spicer has said Trump wants to fight for the current order while also issuing a new one, but the Justice Department has said in multiple court filings that the the current order will be undone after a new one is issued. The states of Washington and Minnesota, which brought the case in Seattle now under review, have pushed for courts to move forward on a review of the constitutional issues. Facebook

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No random ICE stops on streets of America, Homeland Security chief tells governor By Lisa Mascaro Gov holds closing media briefing on Capitol Hill to wrap up @NatlGovsAssoc Winter Meeting. pic.twitter.com/3mZMBA4S0o  Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) February 27, 2017 President Trump received some unsolicited advice at dinner with the nations governors when Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe told him he needs to do a better job explaining his policies regarding deportations. McAuliffe, a Democrat and chairman of the National Governors Assn., told the president that there has been a chilling effect going on as businesses stay away from his state and as immigrants fear being rounded up. If theyre not going to be deported, we need to hear that from the president, McAuliffe said, recounting his conversation from the governors Sunday night dinner with Trump. What I told the president is these actions are hurting us. McAuliffe, a longtime ally of Hillary Clinton, said Trump agreed in large part. McAuliffe also met privately with Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, and said the secretary assured him during an hourlong talk that Trumps enforcement actions were only targeting criminals -- despite widespread reports of otherwise law-abiding immigrants being detained for being in the U.S. illegally. He assured me there will be no random ICE stops on the streets of the United States of America, McAuliffe said, referring to the raids being conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. If thats the case, McAuliffe said, Trumps policy does not sound much different than the operations under former President Obama, whose administration deported more immigrants than its predecessors. Obama, however, explicitly put a priority on deportations of criminals, a distinction the Trump administration has done away with as part of the presidents executive action. My advice to him was he needs to let the American public know what theyre doing, McAuliffe said. Facebook

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Trump: I havent called Russia in 10 years By Brian Bennett President Trump rejected calls for an independent investigation of his ties to Russia, telling a group of business leaders Monday that he hasnt called Russia in a decade. At the start of a White House meeting with healthcare executives, a reporter asked Trump whether a special prosecutor should be assigned to investigate allegations of Russian meddling during the election. In response, Trump mouthed the word no to the executives. As reporters were led out of the room, Trump said: I havent called Russia in 10 years. Democratic lawmakers have ramped up their calls for additional investigations into allegations that Trump allies had been in contact with Russian officials during the election and inappropriately discussed U.S. sanctions against the Moscow regime during the transition. White House officials have denied reports that Trump associates were frequently in touch with senior Russian intelligence officials during the election. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had authorized an operation to damage Hillary Clintons campaign and tilt the 2016 election in Trumps favor. Facebook

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Trump: Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated By Michael A. Memoli View Twitter post President Trump promised the nations governors Monday that his yet-to-be-revealed replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act would give states greater flexibility and thanked some Republicans in the room who advised him on healthcare. Its an unbelievably complex subject, he said. Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated. The remark likely surprised state leaders; spending on Medicaid alone was the second-biggest driver of increased state general fund spending, according to the 2016 Fiscal Survey of States conducted by the National Assn. of State Budget Officers. And it was just eight years ago that Washington dove head-first into a raging debate over healthcare reform under President Obama, which simmered long after his signature health law was enacted. But the finer points of healthcare policy are likely new to Trump, who is immersed in discussions with Republican leaders and his senior staff on that and other subjects ahead of his high-profile address Tuesday to a joint session of Congress. Trump offered no hint as to the details. Republicans have vowed to repeal and replace Obamacare, but their effort has stalled as they debate how to do so and await word from the White House on what Trump wants to do. The president seemed keenly aware of the political ramifications of whatever steps he takes. As soon as we touch it, if we do the most minute thing, just a tiny little change, whats going to happen? Theyre going to say its the Republicans problem, Trump said after telling the governors the easiest thing for him to do would be nothing, and, in his view, watch Obamacare collapse. But we have to do whats right because Obamacare is a failed disaster. Facebook

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Trump wants to add $54 billion to defense budget while slashing domestic spending and foreign aid By Brian Bennett President Trump is proposing a massive increase in defense spending of $54 billion while cutting domestic spending and foreign aid by the same amount, the White House said Monday. Trumps spending blueprint previewed a major address that he will give Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress, laying out his vision for what he called a public safety and national security budget with a nearly 10% increase in defense spending. We never win a war. We never win. And we dont fight to win. We dont fight to win, Trump said Monday in remarks to the nations governors. So we either got to win or dont fight it at all. Trump noted that the U.S. has spent nearly $6 trillion on fighting wars since the Sept. 11 attacks but said that cutting military spending was not the answer. Instead, the increase he is proposing would be offset by cuts to unspecified domestic programs and to foreign aid, which would in turn be made up for in part by demanding that other countries pay more for security alliances that have historically been underwritten by the U.S. This budget expects the rest of the world to step up in some of the programs that this country has been so generous in funding in the past, an official from the Office of Management and Budget said, demanding anonymity to discuss the presidents spending plans. Foreign aid makes up about 1% of the budget. This budget speaks for itself, the official said. I dont think this budget has anything to do other than putting Americans first. Trumps call for deep cuts to spending at home is likely to set up major battles on Capitol Hill, where Democrats and even House Republicans will likely be reluctant to pass a spending bill that includes such major reductions in programs for their constituents. Facebook

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Trump says businesses cant borrow because of Dodd-Frank. The numbers tell another story By Jim Puzzanghera President Trump was preparing the first step in a key campaign promise  dismantling the 2010 DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act  when he repeated a frequent criticism of the law. We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank because, frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine that had nice businesses, they cant borrow money, Trump told leading corporate chief executives, including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Larry Fink of money management giant BlackRock Inc., meeting at the White House earlier this month They just cant get any money because the banks just wont let them borrow it because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank, Trump said. Shortly afterward, he ordered a wholesale review of the landmark act, which was passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. But a main reason for dismantling Dodd-Frank often cited by Trump and critics of the law  that its slew of tougher financial regulations have significantly restricted bank lending  isnt borne out by the data. Read More Facebook

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Another Trump nominee withdraws nomination to top national security post due to business interests By W.J. Hennigan Philip M. Bilden, President Trumps pick for Navy secretary, withdrew from consideration late Sunday, becoming the second White House nominee to bail on a top Pentagon position due to problems untangling his financial investments. After an extensive review process, I have determined that I will not be able to satisfy the Office of Government Ethics requirements without undue disruption and materially adverse divestment of my familys private financial interests, Bilden said in a statement. He did not detail the issues but he said he fully supported the presidents agenda  to modernize and rebuild our Navy and Marine Corps. Bildens withdrawal comes after billionaire investor Vincent Viola dropped out from becoming Army secretary after he decided his extensive financial holdings would hamper his ability to win Senate confirmation. The White House shot down reports that surfaced two weeks ago that Bilden was considering stepping down. Just spoke with him and he is 100% commited [sic] to being the next SECNAV pending Senate confirm, White House spokesman Sean Spicer tweeted on Feb. 18. Bilden, a venture capitalist and Army veteran, was a surprise selection from Trump but had the backing of Defense Secretary James N. Mattis. This was a personal decision driven by privacy concerns and significant challenges he faced in separating himself from his business interests, Mattis said in a statement. While I am disappointed, I understand and his respect his decision, and know that he will continue to support our nation in other ways. Bilden served ten years in the U.S. Army Reserve as a military intelligence officer from 1986 to 1996. He then co-founded private equity firm HarbourVest Partners LLC and spent 25 years there, mainly in the companys Hong Kong headquarters. He also serves on the board of directors of the United States Naval Academy Foundation and the board of trustees of the Naval War College Foundation. Mattis said he intends on recommending a replacement nominee to Trump in the coming days. The withdrawal marks another setback for Trumps national security team, which has struggled to find its footing since the fledgling administration began. Earlier this month, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was forced to resign after it became public that he held secret talks with a Russian ambassador and then misled Vice President Mike Pence about it. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster took the job last week after Trumps first choice to replace Flynn, retired Navy Vice Adm. Robert Harward, passed on the opportunity. Facebook

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New DNC chairman Tom Perez ridicules Trump tweet over rigged vote By Laura King Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez was chosen to lead the Democratic Party over a congressman backed by the progressive wing. (Branden Camp / Associated Press) President Trump claimed Sunday that the race for Democratic National Committee chairman had been rigged -- drawing a quick riposte from Tom Perez, who narrowly won the partys leadership race. Trump insinuated that Perezs DNC victory on the second ballot at a party conference in Atlanta on Saturday was because Hillary Clinton had backed Perez, a former Labor secretary in the Obama administration who was seen as representing the partys establishment forces. Clinton did not make a formal endorsement, but Perezs rival, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, was backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the partys more liberal wing. Bernies guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance, Trump tweeted early Sunday morning. Clinton demanded Perez! Perez, appearing on CNNs State of the Union on Sunday, told host Jake Tapper that he and Ellison got a good kick out of that, adding: Donald Trump, up in the morning tweeting about us. Sanders, appearing on the same show, said Trump doesnt have a point about the DNC vote. Moments after Perez beat Ellison by 35 votes out of 435 cast, he named Ellison as the deputy chairman of the party, leading to widespread applause. Perez is the first Latino to lead the Democratic Party, and he faces the challenge of trying to rebuild a party that suffered devastating losses in the 2016 election. Republicans now control not only the White House and Congress, but 33 governorships and dozens of state legislatures. In his CNN interview, Perez sarcastically suggested that Trump should address questions about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign rather than concerning himself with the DNC leadership battle. Frankly, what we need to be looking at is whether this election was rigged by Donald Trump and his buddy Vladimir Putin, he said. Facebook

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White House again bats away call for special prosecutor on Russia By Laura King A White House spokeswoman said Sunday that it was too soon to say whether a special prosecutor should look into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, while President Trump again inveighed against coverage of Russia-related queries as FAKE NEWS. Calls have grown louder from Democrats in Congress for U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the issue because of his role as a prominent Trump supporter during the campaign, and to appoint an independent special prosecutor to carry out a Russia probe. A few Republicans have joined in that chorus  some reluctantly. Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista, appearing on HBOs Real Time with Bill Maher, voiced support Friday for naming of a special prosecutor to probe the Russian connection, though he also said congressional intelligence committees should continue their work. He also said he considered Sessions a friend, but pointed to his role as a political appointee who had worked on the Trump campaign. Issa, who narrowly won reelection, was a vociferous critic of the Obama administration during his former tenure as head of the House Oversight Committee. In that post, he spearheaded an array of investigations on topics from Benghazi to bank bailouts. Some Republicans pushed back against the notion of Sessions needing to recuse himself. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on NBCs Meet the Press that he had seen no credible information about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians  and no allegations that rose to the level of criminal activity. If we get down that road, thats a decision that Attorney General Sessions can make at the time, said Cotton, who is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian intelligence agencies hacked Democratic Party computers and used other tactics last year to interfere with the election. The FBI is separately investigating whether anyone on Trumps campaign had improper contacts with Russian authorities during the campaign. On Sunday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said congressional investigations on Russia and the campaign should be allowed to go forward before a special prosecutor appointment was considered. I dont think were there yet, Sanders said on ABCs This Week. Lets work through this process. Echoing the previously stated White House stance, Sanders said the Trump campaign had not colluded in any Russian meddling. We had no involvement in this, she said. The president is known to keep a close eye on surrogates performances on the talk shows, and Sanders repeated a prime administration talking point: that questions about possible Trump campaign contacts with Russia amounted to Democratic excuses for losing the election. If Democrats want to continue to relive their loss every single day, by doing an investigation or review after review, thats fine by us, she said. We know why we won this race. Its because we had the better candidate with the better message. Trump himself underscored that notion with an afternoon tweet denouncing media coverage of the ongoing Russia investigations as FAKE NEWS put out by the Dems, and played up by the media, in order to mask the big election defeat and the illegal leaks! Facebook

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Whose news is fake? Heres the latest in Trumps war with the press By Kurtis Lee Every president since 1981 has attended the annual White House Correspondents Assn. dinner. That year, President Reagan missed out. The reason? He needed to recover after a would-be assassin fired a bullet into his chest a few weeks earlier. On Saturday, President Trump announced he will not be attending the annual dinner in April, long considered the premier social event of the Washington press corps and typically an evening of good-natured bantering between presidents and the Fourth Estate. Trumps announcement added to the ratcheting tensions between his administration and the media. Almost daily, in speeches or on Twitter, he calls particular news outlets fake, disgusting or dishonest  and news organizations have responded by digging in, standing united and devoting more resources to covering a president who has branded the press the enemy. Read More Facebook

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Crucial group of Americans like Trumps stands, not him, poll finds By David Lauter Trump still gets dismal ratings on temperament but is above water on economy, decision-making, promises of change. pic.twitter.com/Md0H096n9m  Carrie Dann (@CarrieNBCNews) February 26, 2017 With the public deeply split in its views of President Trump, one potentially key group stands out -- those who dislike the man, but approve of the direction in which hes moving. Thats a central finding of a new nationwide survey by NBC News and the Wall St. Journal. The new poll confirms what other major surveys have shown: Trump starts his administration with less support than any president in the seven decades of presidential polling. Asked if they approve or disapprove of the job Trump is doing, 44% approve, 48% disapprove. No previous president has begun his tenure with a net negative job approval. Trump has held onto the support of his ardent backers. At the other end of the spectrum, he gets almost no approval from Democrats. In the middle, the poll found, are many Americans -- just over a third of those polled -- who either voted for Trump with reservations, voted for a third party candidate or did not vote at all in 2016. Just over half of that group gives Trump positive marks, the poll found. Their support is enough, currently, to keep Trumps standing from collapsing, and holding them is likely key to his future. Just under one third of Americans say they like Trump and approve of his policies, the poll found. Another one in six approve of most of his policies even though they dislike him. Well over half, 59%, said they did not like him personally. On a separate question, only 43% of those surveyed have a positive view of Trump -- up from the low points of the campaign, but still far below the standing of most new presidents. By contrast, 86% agreed with one of the central lines of Trumps inaugural speech, that government insiders had reaped the rewards of government, while the people have borne the cost. On other issues, the public is more closely divided. The public splits evenly, for example, on Trumps proposed temporary ban on travel from seven mostly Muslim countries. Just over half of those surveyed, 52%, said that the problems Trump has encountered in his first month were unique to this administration and suggest real problems; 43% said they were growing pains similar to those other administrations have had. And by 51%-41%, the public thinks the press has been too hard on the new administration. The NBC/WSJ poll, run by a bipartisan team of two polling firms, was taken by phone, using cell phones and landlines, Feb. 18-22 among 1,000 American adults. It has a margin of error for the full sample of 3.1 percentage points in either direction. Facebook

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Trump appears to think Perez at head of Democratic National Committee is good news for Republicans By Evan Halper Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017 The Democratic Party put its faith in its old guard Saturday to guide it out of the political wilderness, choosing as its new leader an Obama-era Cabinet secretary over the charismatic congressman backed by the progressive wing of the party. Tom Perez, a former secretary of Labor with strong ties to unions, persuaded the spirited assembly of party delegates in Atlanta that he can best help harness a grass-roots outpouring of anti-Trump protest and anger into a Democratic resurgence at the ballot box. Read More Facebook

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Trump to Washington reporters: Not going to your dinner By Kurtis Lee I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017 The annual White House Correspondents Assn. dinner will be missing a key guest this year: President Trump. On Saturday, Trump tweeted he will not attend the April 29 dinner, considered the premier social event of the Washington press corps -- and typically an evening of good-natured bantering between presidents and reporters with a mix of celebrities watching. His announcement comes amid growing tensions between his administration and the media. Trump has decried stories he doesnt like as fake news, and described unnamed news groups as an enemy of the people. A day earlier, the White House barred reporters from several major news organizations, including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, CNN and Politico, from attending an off-camera press briefing. In a sign of the growing rift, several media organizations that traditionally sponsor lavish parties around the black-tie dinner had announced they would not do so this year. At the annual dinner, the president usually delivers self-deprecating jokes and often is roasted by a high-profile comedian. The president also greets students who win journalism scholarships and awards, a major part of the evening. Trump has been a frequent guest of media organizations at the dinner in the past, but he always sat at a table in the crowded ballroom, not up at the front dias. President Obama singled Trump out during the dinner several years ago, mocking Trump for raising doubts about whether Obama was born in the United States. This year, as we do every year, we will celebrate the First Amendment and the role an independent press plays in a healthy republic, the White House Correspondents Assn. said in a statement earlier this month about the upcoming dinner. Facebook

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Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez named Democratic Party leader By Evan Halper Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez (Branden Camp/Associated Press) The Democratic Party put its faith in its old guard Saturday to guide it out of the political wilderness, choosing as its new leader an Obama-era Cabinet secretary over the charismatic congressman backed by the progressive wing of the party. Tom Perez, a former secretary of Labor with strong ties to labor unions, persuaded the spirited assembly of party delegates in Atlanta that he can best help harness a grass-roots outpouring of anti-Trump protest and anger into a Democratic resurgence at the ballot box. We are suffering from a crisis of confidence, a crisis of relevance, Perez told delegates before they chose him in a down-to-the-wire contest with Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, whom the Bernie Sanders wing of the party had rallied round. We need a chair who can not only take the fight to Donald Trump.  We also need a chair who can lead a turnaround and change the culture of the Democratic Party, Perez said. The ascendance of an establishment liberal is certain to renew tension between veteran party stalwarts and the unruly progressive movement aligned with Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, both of whom backed Ellison. Some Ellison supporters erupted in protest as the final vote was announced. Perez quickly sought to unite the party by naming Ellison his deputy chair, a move unanimously approved by the 435 assembled delegates, who had supported Perez 235-200. Read More Facebook

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Trump chastises media for not reporting minor dip in national debt By Del Quentin Wilber President Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to blast the news media for not highlighting a minor dip in the national debt. The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo., he tweeted at 8:19 a.m. The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017 Trumps tweet came shortly after Herman Cain, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, made a similar comment on Fox News. While the numbers are accurate, Trumps tweet suggests he deserves credit for something that is largely beyond his control, especially since he hasnt yet given Congress any proposals to change tax laws or the financial industry. Considering that Trump hasnt enacted any fiscal legislation, its a bit of a stretch for him to take credit for any changes in debt levels, Dan Mitchell, a libertarian economist at the Cato Institute, told the fact-checking website Politifact. President Obamas first month in office in 2009 was largely taken up with spending bills aimed at easing the massive recession that he had inherited. Trump inherited an economy with low inflation, low unemployment and a booming stock market. The national debt, which stands at just under $20 trillion, is expected to rise by more than $500 billion in the fiscal year ending in September. Facebook

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Mexico rejects U.S. plan to deport Central Americans to Mexico By Patrick J. McDonnell Mexico has informed the Trump administration that it cannot accept non-Mexican nationals whom U.S. authorities arrest along the border and seek to remove from U.S. territory, the nations internal security chief said Friday. Earlier this week, the Trump administration rolled out a broad immigration crackdown that included a proposal to send non-Mexican detainees apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico border back to Mexico while their immigration cases were pending in the United States. The vast majority of non-Mexican nationals detained along the U.S.-Mexico border are Central Americans. They often travel overland through Mexico to reach the United States. In a fact sheet released Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said that releasing detained, third-country nationals to the foreign contiguous territory from which they arrived would save on detention and adjudication resources. The idea would be to keep them out pending their hearings on deportation, the fact sheet said. However, Mexican authorities have reacted coolly from the outset to the notion. Now, they appear to have formally nixed the idea. On Friday, Mexicos interior secretary, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, told a radio interviewer than Mexican authorities had informed a pair of visiting U.S. Cabinet officers  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly  that Mexico could not oblige the U.S. request. We told them that our legal framework doesnt allow this, Osorio Chong told Radio Formula, referring to the visit this week of the two Trump Cabinet officials.  We told them it is impossible. There is no way, legally, nor is there capacity. In recent years, non-Mexicans, mostly Central Americans, have become a larger proportion of illegal immigrants apprehended along the Southwest border as the relative number of Mexican nationals has declined. In fiscal year 2016, according to U.S. Border Patrol statistics, agents recorded apprehensions of almost 191,000 undocumented Mexican citizens along the Southwest frontier. In the same fiscal year, the Border Patrol said it registered 218,000 detentions of non-Mexican nationals, most of them Central Americans. Cecilia Sanchez of The Times Mexico City bureau contributed to this report. An earlier version of this blog post misspelled Miguel Angel Osorio Chongs name as Osorio Chung. Facebook

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Trump blasts FBI over Russia leaks after a brief Twitter hiatus By Kurtis Lee (Alex Wong / Getty Images ) After several days of relative silence on Twitter, President Trumps feed came alive Friday with a direct attack on the FBI. Yes, hes done this before. But recent news reports that suggest his administration pressed the FBI to quell claims that members of his campaign had contact with Russians throughout the 2016 election appear to have inspired a response. The FBI is totally unable to stop the national security leakers that have permeated our government for a long time, he tweeted. And conservative news was all over it. Here are some of todays headlines: Trump blasts FBI leakers (Fox News) Trump has assailed everyone from Democrats to intelligence officials for the leaks  which he often refers to as fake news  about his ties to Russia. Reports from several news outlets this week, citing anonymous sources, claim Trumps chief of staff, Reince Priebus, asked FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to publicly dispute media reports that Trumps campaign advisors frequently were in touch with Russian intelligence agents during the election. While some reports made it appear Priebus had contacted McCabe, this piece disputes that. Fox News has learned that McCabe indeed had initiated the conversation, asking to speak with Priebus for a few minutes at the end of an intelligence meeting last week, their article reports. Ed Schultz at CPAC: Trump promised Americas heartland a deal (Daily Caller) He was once among the top liberal voices in the country. Now, Ed Schultz, the former MSNBC anchor, is speaking glowingly about President Trump. Between covering high-profile speeches at the Conservative Political Action Conference from Trump and his aides, the Daily Caller popped into a panel at which Schultz provided commentary. Shultz, who now works with the Russian government-funded RT television network, blasted the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, asserting that Trumps claim that it would cost U.S. jobs was a game changer in the 2016 election. Trump went into Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin and he took down the progressive firewall, because he talked to the American people about a deal, Schultz said. It was a Wall Street deal, it was not a Main Street deal, he said, referring to the TPP. Trump is about blowing up Washington as it exists (Rush Limbaugh) Remember when Trump talked about draining the swamp? Since he entered the White House, some conservatives have wondered if Trump means business. Many members of his cabinet  including Priebus and Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions  are the ultimate Washington insiders. Still, Rush Limbaugh, one of the firebrand conservatives out there, is certain the president will blow up traditional Washington. Whats Trumps No. 1 obstacle? I have concluded that the media is the No. 1 obstacle because of the success they have, he said on his radio show this week. The people in Washington, media is every bit as big a part of the establishment as anybody else is. He added: The media is creating this narrative, if you will, and this picture  this series of pictures, this overall image  that Trump is stalled, that everybodys opposing him, that his agenda is backlogged. Facebook

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After Trump calls media an enemy of the people, White House bars many news outlets from briefing By Noah Bierman Fridays White House press briefing, normally an on-camera affair open to all reporters with press credentials, was turned into an exclusive event for certain outlets hand-picked by the administration. The action came after President Trump on Friday described the media and what he terms fake news as the enemy of the people."On the list were Trump-friendly outlets such as Breitbart News, the Washington Times and OANN, a conservative television network that employs former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as a commentator. Off the list were some of Trumps favorite targets, including the New York Times and CNN. The Los Angeles Times was also excluded. The off-camera briefing with Sean Spicer, the press secretary, was not solely for conservative outlets. Several mainstream reporters were also allowed in, including the three major broadcast networks and wire services, such as Bloomberg News. Also allowed in were pool representatives who transmit news events to a far larger group of reporters. The Associated Press and Time magazine were also invited but declined to participate in solidarity with other news organizations that were denied entry. The White House Correspondents Assn. protested, as did editors at several of the organizations that were excluded. In a statement, Times editor Davan Maharaj said that it was unfortunate that the Los Angeles Times has been excluded from a White House press briefing today. The public has a right to know, and that means being informed by a variety of news sources, not just those filtered by the White House press office in hopes of getting friendly coverage, Maharaj said. Regardless of access, The Times will continue to report on the Trump administration without fear or favor, he added. 12:30 p.m.: This post was updated with a statement from Times editor Davan Maharaj. Facebook

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Its a Russian flag! Trickster strikes CPAC before Trumps speech By Matt Pearce Crowd at CPAC waving these little pro-Trump flags that look exactly like the Russian flag. Staffers quickly come around to confiscate them. pic.twitter.com/YhPpkwFCNc  Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) February 24, 2017 As the crowd waited to hear President Trump speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, little red-white-and-blue flags appeared without warning, handed down the aisles by a man with a green bag, according to a witness. The flags said Trump. They also happened to be the flag of the Russian Federation. He was dressed like any one of us, said Tyler Dever, 20, a student at the University of South Florida in Tampa, who was wearing a suit. He passed them to me and was like, Pass them down, pass them down.  Dever, caught up in the moment, passed them down, before someone sitting next to him said, Oh, its a Russian flag! CPAC staff quickly recollected the flags. If it was just a red-white-and-blue flag, I would have picked it out, Dever said. He said it was his first time attending an event like CPAC and was surprised to see a provocateur in the audience, especially beyond the cordon set up by the Secret Service. Someone tried to victimize me, Dever said. You have Secret Service out here, and Id expect it to be fully screened. ... Thank God someone noticed. Facebook

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Trump still loves the USC/L.A. Times poll: What it got right and what it got wrong By David Lauter Throughout the fall campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump and his allies loved the USC/L.A. Times Daybreak poll -- the only major survey that consistently showed him winning. A couple polls got it right. I must say Los Angeles Times did a great job, shocking because, you know, they did a great job, Trump declared in his speech this morning at CPAC, the annual gathering of conservative activists. But did the poll get it right? In the simplest terms, no, and after considerble analysis, we know why. Read More Facebook

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A celebration, and wake, for a campaign legend and a Republican Party that is no more By Mark Z. Barabak (Steve Lopez/Los Angeles Times) It was a cool and rainy day when elders of the Republican tribe recently gathered to honor one of their own. The honoree, Stuart K. Spencer, was unmistakable in his white duck pants and a lime-green sport coat so bright it almost hurt to see. A reformed chain-smoker, he snapped merrily away on a wad of chewing gum. The event marked Spencers 90th birthday, but the mood beneath the surface conviviality was unsettled and gray, like the clouds fringing the mountains outside. If the occasion was intended as a personal celebration, it also had the feel of a wake for a time in politics long passed. Along with former Vice President Dick Cheney and former California Gov. Pete Wilson, veterans of the Reagan years turned out in force. It was Spencer, more than anyone, who took a political long shot and washed-up B-movie actor and helped transform him into the Reagan of legend. Read More Facebook

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CPACs reaction to President Trumps speech: Two thumbs up By Matt Pearce Supporters cheer President Trump as he speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., on Friday. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump loves CPAC, and CPAC loves Trump. As hundreds of Conservative Political Action Conference attendees spilled out into the hallways Friday after Trumps speech to the group, they had glowing reviews of the man who has been tormenting Democrats and the media and transforming the Republican Party. It was fantastic, unbelievable, absolute truth, said Shia L. Lome, 84, a retired Air Force colonel from Deerfield Beach, Fla., appraising Trumps remarks. If he carries through [his promises], this will be the greatest country ever. Lome added that there is no question about it, Trump is his own type of Republican. Whether its conservative or whatever you want to call it, Lome said he is happy as long as [Trump] causes the Democrats heartaches. Kayne Robinson, 73, a former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, said Trump was simply taking the party in the direction that people want it to go. I think the party is every bit as united behind him as it was behind either of the Bushes, Robinson said. Trump led a revolution in the party, very much like Reagan. ... I think Trump is doing just fine. Frank March, a 50-year-old Army retiree from Fairfax County, Va., emerged from the ballroom at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center wearing a red Make America Great Again cap, which carried Trumps jagged signature on the bill. Marchs daughter had gotten the hat signed when she previously met Trump, and he proudly showed off photos of that event. I recognize the signature! a woman exclaimed as she saw the hat. March praised Trumps follow-through and his commitment to workers as incredible. Hes bringing in new people to the party, March said. The hope is, by his follow-through, doing what he said he was going to do, then the non-Republicans who voted for Trump will stick. Helping workers will be one of the ways Trump can make that happen, he said. In politics, youre supposed to help people, March said. Workers are the people. Theyre people who earn money to take care of their families. Republicans should support those people because theyre the ones who make America run. Facebook

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Donald Trump shows up at conservatives most prominent gathering and defines a new GOP By Noah Bierman  President Trump shows up at conservatives most prominent gathering and defines a new GOP. President Trump made one of his strongest pitches Friday to unite the Republican Party and the conservative movement behind a nationalist, anti-globalist ideology that until recently would have been unthinkable for many Republicans. There is no such thing as a global anthem, a global currency or a global flag, Trump said to great applause from thousands of conservatives. Im not representing the globe. Im representing your country. He echoed ideas he has espoused in the past -- denouncing trade deals as the antithesis of economic freedom, warning that the great cities of Europe have been ruined by mass immigration, denouncing intervention in the Middle East by both parties. But while many of the words were familiar, the venue and the passion made Fridays speech remarkable. The comments came at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, just outside of Washington, D.C., the most prominent gathering of right-leaning groups and activists in the country. Such a speech would have been shocking from a conservative, much less the president, at almost any other time in the conferences history. Trump has been popular at CPAC in the past. He credits a speech there with launching his political career. But he snubbed last years event amid a heated primary in which many conservatives rejected his tone and the direction he was trying to move the GOP. I would have come last year, but I was worried that I would be at that time too controversial, Trump said in his speech, which lasted nearly an hour. Trump, the first president since Ronald Reagan to address the group during his first year in office, made clear that he is moving those once controversial ideas to the movements center. In addition to his usual critiques of the media and frequent references to his electoral success, Trump spoke directly of his ambition for reshaping the Republican Party to attract blue-collar voters, the forgotten men and women who helped propel his electoral victory. Im here today to tell you what this movement means for the future of the Republican Party and for the future of America, Trump said. The core conviction of our movement is that we are a nation that [must] put and will put its own citizens first. Later, he added that the GOP will be from now on also the party of the American worker. While Trump tried to unite conservatives, the speech made little effort to bridge the countrys larger political divide. For example, Trump dismissed people who have shown up at town halls around the country to protest reversal of Obamacare. Theyre not you, he said. Theyre the side that lost. Facebook

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Justice Department rescinds order phasing out use of private prisons By Del Quentin Wilber Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions has jettisoned an Obama administration order to phase out the use of private prisons to hold federal inmates. The new order reverses one issued by former Deputy Atty. Gen. Sally Yates in August that sought to eliminate the departments use of private for-profit prisons, which hold just over 10% of the current prison population. The Obama administration order changed long-standing policy and practice, and impaired the bureaus ability to meet the future needs of the federal correctional system, Sessions wrote Thursday to announce the reversal. Civil rights and prisoner rights groups decried the Sessions decision, saying private prisons are not as cost-effective or as safe as government-run facilities, citing numerous abuses in the past. The Bureau of Prisons houses about 21,000 of its 190,000 inmates in a dozen private prisons, including one near Bakersfield. Atty. Gen. Sessions has shown that he is not taking the mass incarceration crisis seriously, said Wade Henderson, who heads the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Continuing to rely on private prisons for federal inmates is neither humane nor budget conscious, Henderson added. We need a justice system that can work better for all people. Yates order did not affect facilities used to detain people in the country illegally. The use of private prisons is expected to surge under President Trumps promised crackdown on illegal immigration. Trump has signed an executive order calling for expansion of immigrant detention facilities and authorized the use of private contractors to construct, operate, or control facilities. Stocks in private prison companies have jumped on Wall Street since Trump won the presidential election, and they continued their rise on news of Sessions order. Facebook

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CPAC and conservative media prepare for Trump By Kurtis Lee The future path of the Republican Party is being debated in the halls of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland this week. Will it be the party of Donald Trump, an outsider of the GOP establishment, or House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, the definition of establishment? Or, perhaps, of Richard Spencer, a white nationalist leader of the so-called alt-right movement? (Spencer was kicked out of CPAC on Thursday.) Trump is set to address the conference on Friday, and the conservative media are ready for the much-anticipated address. Tomorrow it will be TPAC when hes here, Kellyanne Conway, a senior advisor to Trump told reporters Thursday. Here are some of todays headlines: Go Big, Go Bold: Walker, at CPAC, pushes GOP to carry out agenda as party controls Congress, White House (Fox News) Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, once a Trump foe, is urging conservatives to use the November election as a mandate. Do what you said you were going to do, Walker said to attendees. In the Fox News piece, which leads its website, it notes that leaders at the conference are hoping to use it to strategize about what they can accomplish and to better articulate their values at a time when the very definition of conservatism has seemed to waver. Sweden Democrats: Trump was right (Fox News) Remember last weekend when everyone  including many Swedish politicians  were really confused about Trumps comments at a recent rally? You look at whats happening last night in Sweden, Trump, at a rally in Florida on Saturday, said about the Scandinavian country that has accepted large numbers of refugees. Sweden. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible. Actually, not much happened in Sweden on Friday night. Trump said later that he had been referring to a broadcast on Fox News on that night. Still, recent riots in the country were covered extensively by conservative media. This post notes a recent op-ed penned by Jimmie Akesson and Mattias Karlsson, both leaders of the Sweden Democrats, in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday supporting Trumps characterization of a Muslim immigrant-led crime crisis in Sweden. In it they write, Trump did not exaggerate Swedens current problems.  If anything, he understated them. Trump Is Letting DREAMers Stay, And Rush Is Fine With That (Daily Caller) Hes an immigration hard liner, and, apparently, hes OK with Trump allowing DREAMERs to remain in the country. This piece highlights comments by Rush Limbaugh this week. A lot of people think that Trumps caving because if you allow the DREAMers to stay, were talking 750,000 DREAMers, kids, who each have two parents who could come in. Look, this is a-no-win, Limbaugh said this week. Nobodys gonna win anything by deporting a bunch of kids that we let in. Facebook

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Trump advisor Steve Bannon rails at corporatist, globalist media By Noah Bierman Steve Bannon to the #CPAC crowd: "If you think they're going to give you your country back without a fight, you're sadly mistaken" pic.twitter.com/ryw7iO0Snr  POLITICO (@politico) February 23, 2017 The two men with the most heavily dissected relationship in President Trumps White House held a rare public appearance together Thursday and agreed on one common enemy: the media. Reince Priebus, the chief of staff who is often described as embattled, said he has grown conditioned to the media counting Trump out: during the presidential campaign, the transition and the first month of the presidency. The biggest misconception is everything that youre reading, Priebus said. Steve Bannon, Trumps chief strategist, framed his complaint as an ideological war. He consistently called the media the opposition party throughout a 20-minute joint interview on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference just outside of Washington. Its not only not going to get better, it gets worse every day, Bannon said. Theyre corporatist, globalist media that are adamantly opposed to an economic nationalist agenda like Donald Trump has. If you think theyre going to give you your country back without a fight, he added. You are sadly mistaken. Bannon, former executive chairman of the far-right Breitbart News, seldom speaks in public. His nationalist rendering of Republican ideology is often seen in contrast to Priebus, the former chairman of the GOP, who is viewed as the more mainstream conservative advocate within the White House. The two men said the tension between them portrayed in the media is inaccurate. But as they praised each other, the men made clear that Bannon sees his role as dominant in shaping Trumps policy. Bannon praised Priebus for doggedly keeping the trains running -- one of the toughest jobs Ive ever seen in my life. Bannon talked about being in the first inning of shaping a new political order and beginning the deconstruction of the administrative state. Priebus used more prosaic language and spoke of Bannon as the one who pushes Trump to maintain his bold vision. He is very dogged in making sure that every day the promises that President Trump made are the promises were working on, Priebus said of Bannon. Facebook

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In Mexico, Homeland Security chief says there will be no mass deportations of people in U.S. illegally By Patrick J. McDonnell Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, left, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Mexico City on Thursday. (Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP/Getty Images) Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, on a visit to Mexico, said Thursday that there will be no mass deportations of people living in the U.S. illegally. Kelly also said U.S. military forces would not be used in deportation efforts and that any deportation cases would go through the U.S. legal system. No. Repeat, no use of military force in immigration operations, Kelly said at a news conference at the Foreign Relations Ministry in Mexico City. None. Well approach this operation systematically, in an organized way, in a results-oriented way, in an operation and and in a human dignity way. Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are in Mexico City to discuss a wide variety of issues, including immigration and security, with Mexican government officials. Kellys remarks came the same day President Trump called recent raids in the U.S. an unprecedented enforcement effort. You see whats happening at the border. All of a sudden for the first time, were getting gang members out, he said. Were getting really bad dudes out of this country, and at a rate that nobodys ever seen before. Read More Facebook

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Mexico bracing for long battle with Trump administration, foreign minister tells lawmakers By Patrick J. McDonnell Mexico Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray (Brian Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images) Mexico is preparing for a long battle with the administration of President Trump, its foreign minister reportedly told lawmakers in private comments, adding that the country was prepared to retaliate with new tariffs if necessary. We are here preparing for a battle that is going to be long, Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told federal deputies Wednesday, according to the newspaper La Jornada, which said it had obtained a copy of the comments. This is not going to be resolved in three days. In the reported remarks, Videgaray said Mexico was prepared to retaliate with new tariffs on U.S.-made goods should the Trump administration follow up on its threats to slap an export tax of 20% or more of goods imported from Mexico to the United States. There was no official response from the Mexican Foreign Ministry on Videgarays reported remarks. Videgaray was among the Mexican officials, including President Enrique Pena Nieto, who met this week with a pair of visiting White House Cabinet members, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly. The private remarks were apparently made on Wednesday, when the two Trump envoys were scheduled to arrive in Mexico City. Read More Facebook

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Homeland Security tried to downplay immigration raids as routine. Now Trump says theyre unprecedented By Michael A. Memoli (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) After nationwide immigration raids this month in which more than 680 people were arrested, the Department of Homeland Security issued a nothing-to-see-here statement downplaying the sweeps as strictly ordinary. ICE conducts these kind of targeted enforcement operations regularly and has for many years, the agency said last week, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But President Trump had a different take Thursday, labeling the raids an unprecedented enforcement effort. You see whats happening at the border. All of a sudden for the first time, were getting gang members out, he said before a roundtable on manufacturing. Were getting really bad dudes out of this country, and at a rate that nobodys ever seen before. Under President Obama, deportations peaked at 400,000 people in 2012, touching off widespread criticism from immigration advocates, which prompted Homeland Security to scale back deportations. Last year, deportations fell to 240,000 as the Obama administration focused on targets similar to what Trump described in the raids conducted under his authority: criminals, repeat immigration violators and recent arrivals. Trump also called the sweeps this month a military operation, even though no military resources were involved and the White House has pushed back aggressively on reports that the administration was considering seeking National Guard forces to assist in deportations. Homeland Security said the raids were conducted by ICE agents, U.S. marshals and state and local law enforcement agencies. What has been allowed to come into our country, when you see gang violence that youve read about like never before, and all of the things  much of that is people that are here illegally, Trump said. Theyre rough and theyre tough, but theyre not tough like our people. So were getting them out. Of the 680 arrests last week, 161 occurred in Los Angeles and surrounding counties. Three-quarters of those detained in the Los Angeles-area sweeps were from Mexico. Trump noted that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly traveled to Mexico this week on a tough trip. We have to be treated fairly by Mexico, Trump said. Facebook

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White nationalist leader Richard Spencer booted from Conservative Political Action Conference By Matt Pearce Reporters surround white supremacist Richard Spencer during the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 23, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) One of Americas most prominent white nationalists, Richard Spencer, was kicked out of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday after conference organizers gave him credentials to attend and then wavered on whether to let him stay. Spencer, who coined the term alternative right to describe his far-right views on separating the races, came to CPAC to attend a speech that was critical of the alt-right. CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp took pains to distance CPAC from the fringe Spencer represents. The alt-right does not have a legitimate voice in the conservative movement, said Schlapp, adding that nobody from that movement is speaking at CPAC. Read More Just talked to CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp. Said he didn't endorse Richard Spencer's ideas but won't kick him out of the conference.  Matt Pearce  (@mattdpearce) February 23, 2017 Basically their line on this is, if they actually agreed with his ideas, they'd put him on stage, but they don't, and it's a free country.  Matt Pearce  (@mattdpearce) February 23, 2017 Change of plans. Richard Spencer just got kicked out of CPAC.  Matt Pearce  (@mattdpearce) February 23, 2017 Facebook

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Obamacare 101: Are health insurance marketplaces in a death spiral? By Noam N. Levey (Don Ryan / Associated Press) Its been a rocky few months for the health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. Even if youre not one of the roughly 11 million Americans who rely on these online markets to get your health insurance, youve probably seen the headlines about rising premiums and insurance companies pulling out of the system. Last week, national insurance giant Humana announced it would stop selling plans on the marketplace. Aetnas chief executive claimed the marketplaces are in a death spiral. Republicans say the marketplaces are Exhibit A that Obamacare is collapsing. So whats the real story? Are these things really kaput or can they be fixed? Heres a rundown of where things stand. Read More Facebook

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Trump administration wants tax reform done by August, Mnuchin says By Jim Puzzanghera The Trump administration wants to overhaul the tax code by August, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday, laying out an aggressive timetable in his first significant public comments since taking office last week. Our economic agenda, the No. 1 issue is growth, and the first most important thing that will impact growth is a tax plan, Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC. So we are committed to pass tax reform, he said. We want to get this done by the August recess. Read More Facebook

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Loud and angry, protesters turn congressional town halls into must-see political TV By Mark Z. Barabak (Bill Pugliano / Getty Images) They came by the hundreds, in big cities and rural hamlets, to heckle, plead, badger and, in some instances, to protest the protests themselves. Congress is in recess this week, and a citizenry suddenly spurred to action used the opportunity to let their returning lawmakers know just how they feel about the tempestuous last month in Washington. Winners make policy and losers go home, a taunting Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, told an invitation-only gathering in his home state of Kentucky, as about 1,000 protesters gathered outside. Not exactly. The town hall meeting, a throwback to a time of more intimate connection, has become a political organizing tool in the social media age  a piece of performance theater and a worldwide stage. Obamacare, immigration, environmental regulation, Social Security, Russian meddling in the 2016 election and Trump, Trump, Trump  all poured forth this week in the form of questions, loudly and heatedly. Read More Facebook

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Trump administration rescinds guidelines on protections for transgender students By Michael A. Memoli The Trump administration rescinded an Obama-era directive Wednesday aimed at protecting transgender students rights, questioning its legal grounding. Under the guidelines, schools had been required to treat transgender students according to their stated gender identity, and either allow access to restrooms and locker rooms for the gender they identify with or provide private facilities if requested. The Obama administration had said that students gender identities were protected under Title IX requirements, which prohibit federally funded schools from discriminating on the basis of sex. But officials in the Education and Justice departments said that their predecessors failed to make their case, citing significant litigation spurred by the policy. Read More Facebook

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Americans in Mexico protest Trumps inflammatory rhetoric during Tillerson visit By Kate Linthicum A group of Americans living in Mexico is planning a protest Thursday to send a message to visiting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Their gripe? President Trumps inflammatory rhetoric. Thats according to a draft of a letter that several groups organizing the protest hope to deliver to Tillerson, who is in town along with Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly for talks with top Mexican officials. The letter, which will be cosigned by the Mexican chapter of Democrats Abroad, as well as other groups, complains about Trumps hostile attitude toward Mexico, which it says is engendering nationalistic sentiments in Mexico. Among Trumps hostile acts, the letter says, is Trumps vow to build a border wall and force Mexico to pay for it. The idea of building a wall ... frames Mexico and Mexicans as foreign invaders, the letter says. It also criticizes Trump for pledging to renegotiate NAFTA, saying, The U.S. and Mexico are deeply connected economies and it is in the interest of the United States to strengthen the regional production network to boost manufacturing employment in the U.S. and ensure the long-run competitiveness of manufacturing in the region. There are more than a million U.S. citizens living in Mexico, and many have been vocal since Trumps election. Last month, thousands turned out for a womens march outside the American Embassy that saw crowds chanting anti-Trump slogans. Facebook

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Mexico will never accept unilateral American immigration rules, foreign secretary says By Patrick McDonnell Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray said defending the rights of Mexican immigrants is the first point in the agenda for talks with U.S. officials. (Christian Palma / Associated Press) Mexico will reject any unilateral effort from the United States to impose immigration or other policies on the Mexican government, the countrys foreign secretary said Wednesday. I want to make clear, in the most emphatic way, that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept measures that, in a unilateral way, one government wants to impose on another, Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray said in public comments. That we are not going to accept. He spoke a day after the Trump administration unveiled tough new measures to enforce immigration laws and deport people who are in the country illegally  proposals that were widely portrayed in the Mexican media as a prelude to massive deportations. On Wednesday, two top Trump administration cabinet members  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly  were arriving in Mexico for talks with that nations officials, including Videgaray. Immigration, trade and law enforcement issues were expected to be discussed at a tense moment in U.S.-Mexican relations. In his reported comments, the Mexican secretary did not single out any specific U.S. proposal as objectionable. Mexican officials have acknowledged there is little they can do to counter U.S. immigration policies. Among other things, the Trump administration has proposed sending non-Mexican citizens detained along the U.S.-Mexico border back to Mexico. Mexican officials would presumably have to sign off on such a plan. Mexico already detains and deports thousands of Central Americans annually who cross Mexican territory with the hope of entering the United States illegally via the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. authorities have worked with their Mexican counterparts to halt the Central American influx. The Mexican foreign secretary made it clear that immigration would be at the top of the list of items to be discussed during meetings with the U.S. Cabinet secretaries. Defending the rights of Mexican immigrants is the first point in the agenda, said Videgaray. He also said Mexico could take the issue of the rights of Mexican immigrants to the United Nations and other international agencies. Facebook

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Both in power and in turmoil, conservatives head to Conservative Political Action Conference to see whats next By Matt Pearce Josh Platillero (Matt Pearce / Los Angeles Times) The eyes of men in crisp blazers darted toward passing faces and identification badges, looking for a familiar face, a famous name. As Fox News host Sean Hannity prepared to broadcast a live show from a ballroom, a brief chant burst out from the audience: U-S-A! U-S-A! Its that time of year again: Hundreds of Republicans began arriving Wednesday at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Md., just south of Washington, for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. CPAC, as its best known, is a place for conservative political figures and activists to gather, schmooze, hammer out new ideas and audition for starring roles in the Republican Party. And this year, CPAC attendees have a lot to talk about. Their party is in control of Congress, the White House and dozens of state governments across America, and yet not at all at peace with itself. President Trump is expected to address the conference later in the week after winning on a platform of populist nationalism that some conservatives have accused of not being conservative at all. Breitbart News, the brash rising star of right-wing media, is one of the conferences top promoters, but one of its staffers, Milo Yiannopoulos, lost his speaking slot at CPAC and resigned from the news organization after video circulated showing him appearing to promote pedophilia. Some conservatives had backed Yiannopoulos and cried censorship when the provocateur offended liberals at college speaking events, but now they had become offended themselves. Still, as CPAC began on Wednesday, the mood was upbeat. This was a victorious movement, after all. Many new guests were greeted by the sight of Josh Platillero, 23, wearing a cartoonishly large stovepipe hat and a suit the colors of the American flag. I love networking, said Platillero, who recently lived in Knoxville, Tenn., before moving to the D.C. area to work with a conservative nonprofit, the Leadership Institute. Its his second year attending CPAC, and he was excited about the lineup of speakers, which include some of the White House staff. I think our new president is not perfect, but I think hes doing good things, he said. Ariel Kohane, 45, who came from the Upper West Side in Manhattan, stood in the lobby holding signs that read, Jews for Trump, in both English and Hebrew. I love the fact that I can get together with many of my fellow conservative friends and colleagues and we can all be very proud of ourselves with all our accomplishments and the fact that we get to strategize and plan ways to further expand conservatism across America and across the whole world, Kohane said. Facebook

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Pence condemns Jewish center bomb threats and visits desecrated cemetery in Missouri By Jaweed Kaleem (Michael Conroy / Associated Press) Visiting Fenton, Mo., on Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence condemned a string of bomb threats against Jewish community centers around the nation and the desecration of a St. Louis-area Jewish cemetery over the weekend. Speaking just yesterday, President Trump called this a horrible and painful act. And so it was. That along with other recent threats to the Jewish community centers around the country, said Pence, who was visiting the headquarters of the Fabick Cat machinery company. He declared it all a sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil. We condemn this vile act of vandalism and those who perpetuate it in the strongest possible terms. The vice president said it was inspiring how the people of Missouri have rallied around the Jewish community with compassion and support. Among those showing solidarity with the Jewish community is a group of Muslims who launched an online fundraising campaign to help repair the cemetery. Donors had pledged more than $90,000 by Wednesday afternoon. Pence later visited the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, Mo., where nearly 200 tombstones had been toppled over the weekend. Facebook

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Trumps move on transgender bathroom access sparks interest By Kurtis Lee (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) For President Trump, commenting on social issues  such as same-sex marriage and abortion  has never seemed much of a priority. Indeed, throughout the campaign, Trump hardly discussed the topics. When asked about transgender bathroom access at a town hall in April 2016, Trump said people should be able to use whichever bathroom they choose. He then moved on from the question, offering little else. Now it appears his administration is set to wade into the controversy. Its a topic the conservative media loves to explore. Here are some of todays headlines: Return to normalcy: Trump readies reversal of transgender bathroom lunacy in public schools (Daily Caller) What will the Trump administration do about transgender bathroom access? The Caller highlights White House Press Secretary Sean Spicers pronouncement on the issue: This is a states rights issue and not one for the federal government, Spicer told reporters. The lunacy referred to is the federal guidance President Obama issued prior to leaving office directing schools that receive federal funding to allow transgender students to use restrooms and other facilities that match their gender identities. Several states filed suit to overturn the directive, and a federal judge issued a temporary injunction barring its enforcement, which remains in place. Several states, following the lead of North Carolina, are seeking to implement legislation that bans transgender people from using the bathrooms of the gender with which they identify. 66 percent of Trump voters change the channel when awards shows get too political (Daily Caller) When Meryl Streep criticized President Trump last month in her Golden Globes speech, he replied quickly. Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesnt know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes, Trump tweeted. Well, Trump can probably expect more barbs as actors (in overwhelmingly liberal Hollywood) take the stage at the Oscars on Sunday. Lots of Trump voters can be expected to change the channel, according to this piece, which highlights a new poll on the subject. The Hollywood Reporter says that 66% of Trump voters said they have stopped watching an awards show because a celebrity started talking about politics while accepting an award. By contrast, only 19% of Hillary Clintons supporters have done so. Trump talks tolerance, decries anti-Semitism, but media remain skeptical (Fox News) Well, Trump finally did say something to condemn the anti-Semitic vandalism and threats that have taken place since his presidential victory. Anti-Semitism is horrible, Trump said in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday. In the Fox News piece, Howard Kurtz argues the media should give the president more credit for speaking out. I always think its unfair to blame a political leader for violence or vandalism carried out by people who support him, he writes. I felt the same way about critics who blamed Barack Obama for urban riots or shootings of police officers. Facebook

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Among Republicans, Trump is more popular than congressional leaders By David Lauter Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) walk together. (Matt Rourke / Associated Press) Amid strain between the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, the White House holds the high ground, a new survey indicates. Among Republicans, President Trump has greater popularity than the partys congressional leaders. Asked specifically who they would trust if the two sides disagreed, most Republicans chose Trump over their partys leadership. The findings, from a new survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center underscore Trumps continued sway with the Republican congressional majority. Although the president has historically low job approval ratings among the public at large, he remains highly popular among Republican partisans and in Republican districts. As for Democrats, theyre strongly in an oppositional mood. Asked if they were more worried that Democrats in Congress would go too far in opposing Trump or not go far enough, more than 70% of Democrats said they feared their party would not go far enough. Only 20% said they worried the party would go too far. Republicans in Congress have eyed Trump warily on several fronts. His positions on trade and entitlement reform break with years of the partys positions. His reluctance to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin has generated tension. And the administrations lack of clarity on healthcare and tax policy have Republican leaders guessing which way to turn on major issues. But Republican partisans have fewer reservations than their elected representatives. Eighty-six percent to 13%, those who identify as Republicans or as independents who lean Republican have a favorable view of Trump, the Pew survey found. By comparison, 57% have a favorable view of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, with 22% unfavorable and 21% having no opinion. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is slightly better known, with 65% of Republicans holding a favorable view, 23% an unfavorable view and 13% having no opinion. Asked who they would trust if the two sides disagreed, 52% of Republicans said they would side with Trump and 34% with the Republicans in Congress. Republicans younger than 40 were the only major exception; 52% to 36%, they said they would side with Congress. At the same time, Republican partisans now have a warmer opinion of their party leadership than they had during most of President Obamas tenure. Republicans' approval of their congressional leaders has more than doubled since 2015 https://t.co/KSo1hRMhJj pic.twitter.com/WHTHxCNEFq  Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) February 22, 2017 During the Obama years, GOP partisans tended to be frustrated that their side could not reverse the presidents initiatives, even with a majority in the House, starting in 2010, and then in the Senate for Obamas last two years. Their view of the GOP leadership has rebounded strongly since the election. Democrats view of their congressional leadership has been more stable. And both sides widely dislike the other partys leaders. Facebook

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Supreme Court rejects use of racial stereotypes in death penalty cases By David Savage The Supreme Court rejected the use of racial stereotypes in death penalty cases Wednesday, reopening the case of a black man in Texas who was sentenced to die after his jury was told African Americans are more likely than whites to commit crimes. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said this testimony had no place in a sentencing hearing and appealed to the racial stereotype that black men are prone to violence. Our laws punish people for what they do, not for who they are, the chief justice said in the courtroom. The 6-2 decision faults Texas authorities for refusing to give a new sentencing hearing to Duane Buck, a Houston man who was convicted of shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend and seriously injuring her new boyfriend in 1995. Buck was found guilty of murder, but when his jury was debating his fate, his court-appointed defense attorney put on the witness stand an expert who cited statistics showing blacks are more likely to commit future crimes than whites. After hearing this testimony, the jury decided to sentence Buck to death. Years later, Texas state attorneys set aside the death sentences for six other black defendants whose juries heard similar testimony, but they refused to reopen Bucks case. In Buck vs. Davis, the high court said that was a mistake. The jury was deciding the question of life or death, and this is no place for the introduction of a particularly noxious strain of racial prejudice, Roberts said. The court sent the case back to judges in Texas to reconsider the death sentence. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, along with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Thomas said Buck was properly sentenced to die for a brutal murder, and he insisted the court should not have heard the case for procedural reasons. Having settled on a desired outcome, the court bulldozes procedural obstacles and misapplies settled law to justify it, he wrote. Facebook

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At Rep. Tony Cardenas town hall, Democrats worry about what Donald Trump may do By Kurtis Lee (Kurtis Lee/Los Angeles Times ) They arrived with soggy jackets, hats and umbrellas. The topic was supposed to be the Affordable Care Act. But many who attended Democratic Rep. Tony Cardenas town hall meeting Tuesday night in a crammed auditorium at the Cesar E. Chavez Learning Academies came with a question: What can we -- as Democrats -- do to help you? Show up and vote, said Cardenas, who represents a slice of the staunchly liberal San Fernando Valley. (Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump in this district by nearly 60-percentage points in the fall election.) Sign people up, get people involved, he said. At times the meeting had the feel of a therapy session for Democrats, wondering aloud how to function under a Trump administration. Where is the anger among Democrats? asked one man. I want to see more anger. Cardenas, standing at a lectern on an elevated stage, offered a stern look and nodded in agreement as rain could be heard splattering on the roof above. The complaints included Republicans efforts to repeal Obamacare and Trumps new immigration mandates. Trust me, Im pissed. Im upset, Cardenas said. But we have to act constructively. We have to be responsible. Last month, Trump signed executive orders directing the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize the removal of people in the U.S. illegally who have criminal convictions. In addition to speeding up the deportation of convicts, Trumps orders also call for quick removal of people in the country illegally who are charged with crimes and waiting for adjudication. And in recent days, a handful of people who have received protection under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents nationwide. Cardenas said that for him, the issue is personal. His parents were immigrants from Mexico, who lived in the San Fernando Valley for decades, raising 11 children, he said. Today his district is nearly 70% Latino. Im going to fight for you, he said. Im going to fight for the people who are my immigrant father. When a young man, a DACA recipient, asked him, via Twitter, if hell be safe in the weeks ahead, Cardenas seemed at a loss. I pray that [Trump] doesnt go after you, he said. Facebook

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Killing with kindness, GOPs McClintock faces down hostile questioners as town hall goes into overti
Drivers on sections of Laguna Canyon Road and South Coast Highway can expect lane closures at times on Tuesday as different agencies perform various tasks.

The California Department of Transportation will conduct an engineering study, forcing the closure of one northbound lane on Laguna Canyon Road near Canyon Acres Drive from 10 a.m. to noon, according to a city news release issued Thursday. Southbound lanes will not be affected.

Further details about the work were not immediately available because City Hall was closed Friday.

Also on Tuesday, one southbound lane of South Coast Highway near West Street will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. as San Diego Gas & Electric Co. performs utility undergrounding work, the release said. Minor traffic problems can be anticipated.

Then from Feb. 13 to 17, Caltrans will perform geotechnical work associated with crosswalk improvements on Anita, Brooks and Calliope streets and their intersections with South Coast Highway.

The work is anticipated to cause minor traffic and parking problems in these areas, according to the release.

Vehicle accidents involving pedestrians prompted the City Council in December to put pressure on Caltrans to install warning lights at Anita, Brooks and Calliope streets, the Daily Pilot reported. A Caltrans representative told the council it would take 18 months before crews could place blinking lights in the crosswalks, but the council wanted the work done sooner.

Caltrans plans to erect overhead arms with warning lights at Calliope and Anita and add lights to an existing arm over the crosswalk at Brooks.

bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce
My first trip to China 15 years ago came at a pivotal moment.

The country had just been admitted to the World Trade Organization. The largest construction project in the world  the Three Gorges Dam  was nearing completion.

A few months before my visit, Beijing had been chosen as the host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The writing was on the wall: China was on its way to solidifying its place as a world superpower.

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But when I returned home, the one question I heard over and over had nothing to do with Chinas future.

Did you see the Great Wall?

Im sure some people travel to Beijing and skip a visit to the wall, but there was no way I was going to visit China and overlook the countrys iconic monument.

Built over a period of 2,000 years, the wall traverses China from east to west, coursing more than 5,500 miles, depending on how you measure it.

Although much of the Great Wall has devolved into rubble, the section running through the mountains north of Beijing was built during the Ming Dynasty  1368-1644  and is among the youngest and least ravaged by the elements.

When the Chinese government decided to restore a part of the wall, it did so at Badaling, 43 miles northwest of the city. This is where President Nixon famously stood atop the Great Wall in 1972.

By the time I visited in early 2002, the trip from the parking lot to the Badaling ticket booth required navigating a warren of trinket and snack shops selling goods as varied as Dove bars and fake Mongolian coins.

Once at the wall, I headed right  the steeper choice and the less crowded option  but there was no avoiding the steady bombardment of sales pitches by postcard sellers and vendors waving I Climbed the Great Wall T-shirts.

The bricks used to build the wall were inscribed with thousands of Chinese characters  names of visitors, I assumed  etched into the masonry.

And then I heard something. Something disturbingly familiar.

Audio speakers, parallel to the edifice, pointed toward the wall and emitted music.

Improbably, Western music.

A Strauss waltz played on Chinese instruments.

A Chinese-Muzak version of Mendelssohns Wedding March.

The Lonely Goatherd from The Sound of Music.

It was definitely not the Great Wall I wanted to see, much less hear.

With the mystique and majesty of the monument neutered, I swore that my next visit to Beijing would see me on the wall in a place well off the beaten path.

It wasnt long after my first visit to China that I began to hear stories about the wild wall  unrestored sections of the Great Wall that were rugged and untamed, tantalizing hikers.

The Chinese government once forbade visits to the crumbling structure, but several hiking outfits have sprung up, providing easily arranged guided day hikes and overnight camping trips.

Spurred on by a glut of cheap airfares to China, in November 2015 I booked a flight for a quick trip to Beijing. The main focus of my five-day visit: an untouched section of the Wall called Jiankou.

My Lonely Planet guidebook promised I would find stupefying hikes along perhaps Beijings most incomparable section of wild Wall.

Who could resist?

The second visit

Although you can take a bus to some of the most-visited Great Wall sites, and theres even a train to Badaling today, I didnt want to fuss with transportation and directions on my short visit in November 2015.

I booked a day trip through China Hiking, a Beijing company that includes transportation from the city, lunch and a guided hike.

A couple of days before my flight, I looked up the weather for Beijing: Snowflakes dotted the forecast map. China Hiking assured me by email that the trip was still a go.

When I arrived in Beijing two nights later, the storms first snow was falling.

The designated meeting point the next morning was at the exit for Beijings Lama Temple subway station.

As promised, guide John He was waiting. He glanced at my shoes while welcoming me and then introduced three other hikers: an Australian woman on holiday and two businessmen from France and the Netherlands taking a day away from their work trip.

After lunch, well start walking, John said, as our driver pulled onto the busy road. Normally, the hike takes 3 hours, but well see.

He noted that he had checked in with the owner of the farmhouse where we were to have lunch. He said its snowing, but no wind. Well have fun.

The trip out of Beijing was a slog through slush and traffic, but within an hour we had entered the countryside. Soon after we were winding through a tranquil valley and up a driveway to a simple farmhouse surrounded by bare walnut trees.

For lunch, cooks from the kitchen loaded the ubiquitous Lazy Susan with plates of steaming mushrooms, cabbage, chicken, an omelet  all hearty and filling.

What were going to see today is a real piece of history, not something for tourists.  John He, China Hiking guide

By the end of our meal just before noon, snow had stuck and the accumulation could be counted in inches.

The gentle flurry showed no sign of abating.

The trailhead was a couple of minutes down the road, just around the bend in a narrow canyon, but the wall was nowhere to be seen through the fog and snow.

John opened the rear of the van to pull out gear for our hike. Each of us received walking poles and a pair of lightweight rubber crampons that could be pulled over the soles of our shoes for extra tread.

What were going to see today is a real piece of history, not something for tourists, John said, adding that although this section of the wall was among the best preserved, it was still about 500 years old.

The first sections of Chinas Great Wall were built in the 5th century BC, but that was only the first of three distinct building phases, each with its own architectural style, He explained.

Much of the wall in western China was built of mud bricks. Successive dynasties extended and reinforced the wall, particularly after the rise of Genghis Khan, who successfully invaded Beijing from the north 800 years ago.

This Ming Dynasty wall was the last to be built, John said. After that, there was no more need.

Many sections of the wall have become dust; recent calculations estimate the combined length of the various fragments and spurs at 13,114 miles.

The hiking was steep at first, through scrub and brush, but after about 15 minutes John stopped us and pointed.

Across the canyon, fewer than 1,000 feet away, fallen snow outlined a squiggly black line inching down the face of a mountain and then up the flanks of the hillside in front of us.

The Great Wall was revealed.

With more scrambling we came to the first watchtower. A short staircase climbed to the top of the wall, and I ran my hands along the cold brick as if to confirm it was real.

Besides being surprisingly steep, hiking along the top of the wall was more rugged than I imagined. The structure was actually two parallel brick walls, 24 feet tall and about 18 feet apart. In between was dirt and rock, capped with a layer of brick on which to walk.

Small trees had emerged along much of the ramparts, degrading the walkway. Even where the roof of the wall was intact, it was often so precipitous that slipping was a near-constant peril.

In some sections, parts of the outer wall had crumbled, requiring us to walk along paths only a foot or two wide, with one side dropping to the base of the wall and then down a steep mountain to terrain veiled by the clouds.

It was hard to imagine the life of soldiers living here.

For the most part the walk on the snowy wall was magical and would be difficult to re-create. Not one footprint lay in our path, and the mounding snow absorbed all sounds, creating utter silence.

The towers, every quarter-mile or so, were chilly, forlorn havens  a bare guardroom below capped by an observation platform from which trees sprouted.

It was hard to imagine the life of soldiers living here.

And yet, there was one thing I was missing: With the snow and cloud cover obscuring vistas beyond a couple of hundred feet, on this day I could only imagine the picture-postcard panorama of the Great Wall snaking over the hills into the distance.

No sooner were we trudging down the hillside back to the van than I was planning a return trip.

A third visit

My third visit to the Great Wall came 11 months later. I was headed to a convention in China, so I came a few days early to explore Beijing.

This time I booked a day trip with another tour company, Great Wall Hiking.

Gary Lee, the companys founder, told me in an email that he was running a trip to Jinshanling the morning after my arrival in Beijing.

It was restored in the 1980s, but its still spectacular, Lee said. Its my favorite part of the wall, and if you go during clear weather you can see 10 to 15 miles in either direction.

Jinshanling is also known for its high density of watchtowers, and each is unique, he said.

This time, the October skies cooperated perfectly. Beijing had been cloaked in smog the week leading up to my trip, but a day of rain had cleared the air just before landing, and intermittent sunshine was forecast.

I met a guide, Robert Luo, at a subway station along with four other hikers  three Australians and an Englishman visiting Beijing on business  and we headed off through the traffic to Jinshanling.

Owing to a longer, two-hour drive, Jinshanling was less crowded than other developed areas of the wall, Robert said.

Each year, Jinshanling gets about a half-million people, he said. But Badaling gets 8 million. (Badaling seemed to be the elephant against which all other wall sites were measured.)

Robert assured us that we would start our hike not at the main entrance but a trail from the east gate that would take us to an unrestored part of the wall, on the west side of a closed section called Simatai.

After just a few minutes on the trail, winding through a canopy of oak and chestnut trees, the wall came into view, topping a ridge that climbed up and east.

It was a not-insignificant climb to get to the structure. We arrived at the first watchtower 30 minutes later, panting  and awestruck.

From one side of the tower we could see the Great Wall roller-coastering to the west across hills and ridges, finally ascending a mountain miles away.

To the east, the wall fell away in ruin  the unrestored bit  with rubble and brush confined between the bricks and then to a rapid climb to breathless aeries, where ridges were crowned by watchtowers.

A hike along its crest would feel at times like walking on clouds.

Robert encouraged us to clamber east and negotiate some of the crumbling wall. We then circled back to make our way west on the ramparts toward Jinshanlings main entrance, four miles away.

The view was a succession of continuously evolving vistas  one moment the path before us would be a series of undulations topped by the towers, the next we would be staring down an impossibly steep, sloped staircase.

For the most part, the wall follows the highest ridges so a hike along its crest would feel at times like walking on clouds.

Although many stretches of the wall have succumbed to the elements naturally, Robert said that the Chinese government has played a role.

In the 1960s and 70s the governments official policy was let the past serve the present. Villagers were encouraged to build houses using bricks from the wall.

Mostly this happened at the lower elevations and passes.

Curiously, I could see how the quality of the restoration evolved as well. A short stretch at Jinshanling that was rebuilt by a Japanese crew felt authentic and real.

But Robert said a five-mile section of the wall in Suizhong county, 200 miles east of Beijing, was repaired by the local government in 2014 with unlovely results.

Photos show the edifice almost devoid of character, its ramparts looking like little more than an elevated concrete walkway.

A lot of people are very unhappy about this, he added.

Lately there are reports that other, formerly wild sections of the wall are being tamed  with cement, insensitive or sloppy rebuilding, and ticket booths. Wall-lovers say areas are being ruined through modernization.

The debate on ideal preservation methods for the wall will continue, probably beyond our lifetimes. But with sites such as Badaling receiving as many as 30,000 visitors in a day, the pressure to make this iconic UNESCO World Heritage site accessible to more visitors will only increase.

Although our group was almost alone when we began our traverse at the Eastern Tower with Five Eyes, as we continued west we started to meet more walkers. The mood was festive and joyous, and multiple school groups passed us on this crisp fall day.

After three hours of hiking and exploring 16 watchtowers, we arrived at a trail leading down to the main entrance.

I wasnt ready to go.

I could see the spine of the Great Wall coiling over the hillsides toward steeper mountains  I longed to explore more.

Robert saw me gazing wistfully.

You know, he said, we offer overnight camping trips on the wall, right?

If you go

The best way to Beijing

From LAX, Air China offers nonstop service to Beijing and Delta, All Nippon, United, China Eastern , China Southern, American, Cathay Pacific, Hawaiian, Asiana and EVA offer connecting service. Restricted round-trip fares from $749, including taxes and fees.

Entry requirements

A visa is required for U.S. citizens visiting China. Obtain one through the Consulate-General of the Peoples Republic of China, third floor, 500 Shatto Place, Los Angeles 90020. The cost is $140, whether for a single entry or for a multiple-entry visa. Valid for 10 years.

If you are staying in Beijing three nights or less and will be traveling to a third country (such as Japan or Hong Kong) you may be eligible for a free 72-hour transit visa, allowing you to visit Beijing (only) without a standard tourist visa.

TELEPHONES

To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international dialing code), 86 (the country code for China) and the local number.

Airport Express

WHEN TO GO

Weekends and public holidays draw many Chinese visitors to the Great Wall, particularly in summer; midweek visits are better.

The Great Wall usually receives snowfall just a few times each winter; summers can be quite hot and rainy. April and May and September and October are best for mild temperatures and clear skies.

HIKING THE GREAT WALL

The most accessible, restored places to walk on the wall are at Juyongguan, Badaling and Mutianyu  35, 45 and 55 miles from the city, respectively. All can be reached by taxi, and most hotels book private or modestly priced group tours. At Badaling and Mutianyu there are chair lifts to the wall, and both sites are moderately wheelchair-friendly. The Jiankou section is overgrown and particularly exposed (and technically, closed to hiking, but its not enforced). Sturdy footwear with solid grip is a must; hiking poles will come in handy. The Jinshanling wall is mostly intact but the hike still involves sections of uneven terrain.

To visit one of the unrestored sections of the wall, go with an established tour operator. Accidents on the crumbling edifice are not uncommon, and evacuation is difficult.

I had rewarding days with China Hiking, 156-52-200-950, and Great Wall Hiking, 158-114-44-863.

China Hikings Jiankou hike is $90, including transfer from Beijing, entrance fee, lunch and an English-speaking guide. Great Wall Hiking offers the Jinshanling day trip for $136 per person.

Both tours last about nine hours, and reservations in advance of your arrival in Beijing are recommended.

TO LEARN MORE

China National Tourist Office, 550 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 900, Glendale; (800) 670-2228.

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
Spirited protests against President Trump and his policies, particularly his administrations controversial travel ban, were held around the world and across the United States again Saturday.

The largely peaceful rallies overseas drew thousands of people in places such as London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Jakarta and Manila.

Marching in London behind a banner reading Stop Trumps Muslim Ban, tens of thousands of people first gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy and then paraded about two miles through the government quarter to the prime ministers residence at Downing Street to demand the British government withdraw Prime Minister Theresa Mays invitation to Trump to visit this year.

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Police in Berlin said 1,200 anti-Trump protesters took part in a rally through the center of the city that ended in front of the U.S. Embassy and next to the landmark Brandenburg Gate in the heart of the German capital where the Berlin Wall that divided the city once stood.

We say no to a ban on immigrants and we say no to walls, read one poster in Berlin, referring to Trumps vows to build a wall on the Mexican border.

The crowd in Berlin, where about 16,000 Americans and many former U.S. soldiers live, chanted, Refugees in, racists out, after one speaker told the gathering, We will fight with all our might to overturn this ban permanently.

There were also major demonstrations against the administrations travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries for a second weekend in a row across the United States in cities such as New York, Washington, San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Denver, Salt Lake City and Philadelphia.

The rallies took place even after a federal judge in Seattle on Friday issued a temporary restraining order against parts of Trumps week-old executive order, which affected travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The Department of Homeland Security said it had suspended any and all actions related to the controversial travel ban.

The Trump administration late Saturday filed a notice of appeal of the judges order and has said that the presidents actions were lawful.

Emotions against Trumps controversial policies are running high in many places that look to the United States for leadership and support.

Nerves are especially raw in Germany, a country where fears of war are traditionally high as a result of the devastation the Nazi regime caused during World War II.

Trumps actions and tough talk on a number of issues in his first two weeks have deeply unsettled many Germans, a sentiment reflected by Der Spiegel magazine with its publication of a cover illustration showing a Trump-like figure beheading the Statue of Liberty.

In France, where President Francois Hollande has spoken out against Trump, saying the new U.S. administration is encouraging populism and extremism, about 1,000 demonstrators and a large group of American expats took part in a march against Trump in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

In the Philippines, protesters burned a giant portrait of Trump at a rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Manila, the capital. Some protesters carried a large banner that read: Fight Trump! Resist fascism and imperialism!

In Indonesia, students and activists called on the government in Jakarta and the international community to intervene to thwart Trumps order to ban travelers from the seven countries.

Kirschbaum is a special correspondent.
Recently, Alma Siller Contreras traveled to the U.S. Consulate in the northern Mexican city of Hermosillo with a mission: to hand over her tourist visa, along with a handwritten message about U.S. President Trump.

This is my way of protesting against him and supporting my beloved country and its people, Contreras wrote.

She had long used her tourist visa to shop and visit family north of the border, but began contemplating giving it up when she and her husband watched Trump announce his candidacy with what she considered an odious attack on the character of the Mexican people.

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I said, He has a hatred in his soul; this isnt normal. Hes not prepared to be a leader of a country. This is dangerous, Contreras recalled. I said, If he wins, Im going to return my visa. My husband said, I dont think hell win, hes crazy. I never thought it would happen.

On Jan. 30, she made good on her pledge.

Through actions big and small, a wave of nationalism is rising in Mexico. Its not joyous or self-congratulatory. These expressions of patriotism appear defensive, uneasy and even mournful in tone, as Mexicans wait to see whether Trumps threats will turn to action. In the meantime, many here are asking themselves what they can do to support their fellow citizens. The answers take many forms.

For Luis Alberto Trasvina, a history teacher in Baja California, action meant bringing his family to the Mexican capital on vacation instead of going to the U.S.  a way to support the national economy and avoid anti-Mexican sentiment.

For chef Eduardo Garcia, owner of several restaurants in Mexico City, it meant offering free classes on using Mexican-produced ingredients. The first class instructed 50 students in how to choose and use Mexican avocados.

For a group of families from a Protestant church with Mexican and expat members in Mexico City, it meant organizing to protest anti-immigrant policies.

We want to do something, and people feel helpless, said Doug Keillor, a member of the group and founder of a nonprofit that advocates for juveniles in Mexicos criminal justice system.

Though Keillors wife was pushed and told to go back to the U.S. while she was shopping at a Wal-Mart in December, Keillor viewed the incident as an aberration. Most Mexicans, he said, are savvy about U.S. politics.

Keillor, who notes he and his wife are adopting a 2-year-old Mexican boy, added, If we eventually move back to the U.S., we come from a very homogeneous part of Minnesota, a very red, politically, part of Minnesota  are we going to be very excited to bring our Mexican son to live there?

A movement to buy Mexican products is also being pushed in friendly conversation and by government officials. President Enrique Pena Nieto relaunched the label Hecho en Mexico, or Made in Mexico, last week on Twitter, saying the label should signify quality and trustworthiness.

On social media, profile pictures have switched to Mexican flags. Hashtags such as #AdiosAStarbucks encourage consumers to boycott U.S. brands.

But some Mexicans find it all a bit silly.

Luis Padilla, a 20-year-old university student in Mexico City, has no plans to change his spending habits, or his brand of coffee.

I like their coffee, and simply not buying a cup of their coffee is not going to hurt the president over there, he said. Pragmatically, he would continue to buy the brands of clothes he preferred, whether from the U.S. or Japan or Mexico, and he expected that the trend to boycott U.S. products would pass among his peers as well.

Its not bad to experiment with the traditions of other countries. Its always good to learn, he said.

But it appears some Mexicans are steering away from U.S. products. The Alsea company, which owns the Starbucks brand in Mexico, has tried to communicate to consumers that its coffee is from Chiapas, that it employs more than 7,000 people in the country, and that its completely Mexican-owned.

At a Starbucks in Mexico Citys Condesa neighborhood, baristas seemed frazzled by the overnight shift in public opinion.

I dont think its well thought-out, barista Luis Maguey said of the trend. It was shocking to see  it made me sad. We work to support our families.

Kevin Ganser, a 29-year-old entrepreneur, said the election of Trump had prompted him to go all-in on a new startup that aims to link expats with housing in Mexico City. When Americans look up Mexico City, he wants them to be greeted with a warm and friendly face.

Some politicians have suggested that if Trumps policies inflict damage on Mexico, the country could rebound if Mexicans keep their heads down and work harder. That rhetoric frustrates Alfredo Perez, a 48-year-old engineer, who says it pre-supposes that Mexicans arent doing the the best they can for themselves and their families. The work week in Mexico is already six days long.

How are we going to work more? he asked.

As for Contreras, whose letter went viral after her cousin posted it on Facebook (Contreras herself doesnt have a profile), she has no regrets about what she considers a personal choice to stand up for her country.

Mexicans are good people. There are always exceptions anywhere, but in general, the humble people of Mexico have very good hearts. I am Mexican, and [Trump] cant generalize all Mexicans are this way or that, that all people from a country are the way that he imagines in his distorted brain, she said. This is a place of faith, and of hope.

Tillman is a special correspondent.

ALSO

Not just bad hombres: Trump is targeting up to 8 million people for deportation

Once again, the ACLU takes its place on the front lines of a liberal resistance

On Protest Saturday, more demonstrations against Trumps policies are rolled out around the world
Aleppo al Shabaa, Aleppo the White. That was the nickname its people bestowed upon it, a nod to the brightness of the marble used in the buildings of this once proud metropolis.

For at least 5,000 years, it has been a jewel in the crown of empires, a place that drew poets and polymaths, industrialists and artisans. A major terminus on the Silk Road, it was once viewed as second only to Constantinople in prominence.

But when Ziad Oubari remembers the city  the one that existed before Syrias civil war  he doesnt remember only the grand buildings or the proud history of one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on Earth. He remembers the Souk al Attareen, the perfumers market, where he would stroll through the arched stalls whenever he felt annoyed or exasperated, inhaling the melange of scents.

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Theyre always in my nostrils, said Oubari, a pharmaceutical goods manufacturer who is still in business in Aleppo.

And when Nour Kabbach, an aid worker from Aleppo now living in Istanbul, casts her mind back, she thinks of the citys famed 13th century Citadel, rising majestically above the Old City, but also of Qahwet al Qalaa, a working-class coffee shop at the foot of the fortress, where she and her friends would go after a day of shopping for soup or Aleppo specialties like dibs fleifleh, a sort of pepper paste.

It was the best one: right at the door, so you would have a full view of the citadel. Nothing is obstructing it, Kabbach said. It wasnt a very fancy place, she said. Still, Aleppans preferred to go there and not to the five-star hotel that was serving cocktails nearby.

After five years of war between forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad and the fractious opposition seeking his overthrow, their Aleppo is a city that in many ways no longer exists.

In December, the battle came to an apparent close after the rebels agreed to abandon their enclave in eastern Aleppo. The government, which had maintained control of western Aleppo, now controls the entire city.

It is a city shattered, its magnificent stone structures unable to withstand the weapons of modern warfare. Thousands of Aleppans, especially the citys Armenian Christian minority, are scattered as refugees across the globe.

The porticoes of the Great Mosque are singed black and pitted with sharp white tears in the rock. A shell has punched open a new skylight in an ancient structure. Wrecks of vehicles cannibalized for parts stand as sorry sentinels on tiled roads once alive with vendors and restaurants.

The ruins of one of the ancient marketplaces in the Old City of Aleppo in December 2016. (Nabih Bulos/Los Angeles Times /)

Still, the ghost of the vanished Aleppo endures, along with the pride (some might say arrogance) of those who once lived and thrived as part of the citys merchant and industrialist class. They sound a lot like the New Yorkers who say: If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

Just listen to Hagop Haddad, a furniture maker in the Midan district: In the past, he who could make it in Aleppo would prove his worth across other major cities on the Silk Road. Companies would have their administrative places elsewhere, but their factories stayed in Aleppo because the workers were better.

It is enough for me to be an Aleppan to be special, he said.

An undercurrent to this strong sense of belonging was an insular bent among Aleppans, almost a shunning of those who came from other parts of Syria, even Damascus, the capital.

Our identity was Aleppo, and we were unique in Syria, said Rashed Tabshi, a former interior designer from the Aziziyeh neighborhood now living in the southern Turkish border town of Gaziantep.

Aleppo, its accent was special. Its food was special. Even the way we look is different. And there was always political competition between us and Damascus. Its the political capital, but Aleppo was the economic as well as the Francophone capital of Syria.

The view over Aleppo from the Citadel in 2012. (Leisa Tyler / LightRocket via Getty Images)

Kabbach, the aid worker living in Istanbul, agreed.

In Damascus, you would hear different accents, but Aleppo wasnt a cosmopolitan city, and when they asked us, we would say were from Aleppo, not from Syria. Sometimes you wouldnt have to even ask because of the heavy accent of the hello, she said in a phone interview.

Thats why, even among Syrian communities in Turkey and elsewhere, Aleppans formed their own clique. We had our own food, our own music, our own rhythm, she said.

And unlike in Damascus, the powerful people in Aleppo were the industrialists.

One such businessman and now parliamentarian for Aleppo, Fares Shehabi, remembered his time in Club dAlep, an exclusive, members-only club opened in 1945 that hosted bridge games, among other activities. There, he said, amid cream-colored walls and elegant, decorated tiles, he spent some of the happiest moments of his childhood.

He rattled off the names of other areas in the Old City, like the Carlton and the Zamarya hotels  all destroyed in the war.

In 2011, Aleppo was one of the most beautiful cities in the world and we never thought of leaving it, he said.

Aleppo really came alive at night, residents recalled. Kabbach, for example, preferred the nightlife there to the fabled clubs of Beirut, where she went to university. In Aleppo, Even our weddings were special. They would kick off at 12 midnight and end in the morning, she said.

Tabshi and others now fear for the future of the ancient sites. They point to the souks in nearby Beirut, which were razed and rebuilt after being damaged in Lebanons 15-year civil war. Their reconstruction is considered by many to be a primer on how not to restore war-devastated areas.

Whenever I see pictures of the old city, I start crying. It burned my heart. If I see a picture of my deceased father I wouldnt cry like this, said Tabshi.

And it wont come back. Its a crime by both sides that its gone.

Bulos is a special correspondent

ALSO

Meet the culinary zealot fighting to preserve Syrian cuisine despite years of war

A bittersweet Aleppo story: Sir, do you know where I can find my mother?

The stunning beauty of Big Bend National Park stretches across two countries. Could it survive a wall?
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Honda Motor Corporation raised its estimated net benefit for a full-year operating profit for the second time, which referring the effect of positive foreign exchange rate after the yen debilitated with the election of President Donald Trump. Japan's third-biggest automaker said that its expected benefits for the year through March is 545.0 billion yen, and up from a formerly updated direction issued in November.

As what Business Insider reported, the analysts expect that the automaker will post the entire operating profit of 753.27 billion yen and net its net benefit of 533.44 billion yen. The yen has weakened about seven percent against the U.S. dollar after Trump swept to victorious in the U.S. presidential election.

Honda said that this week, Trump accused China and Japan of abusing by devaluing their currencies, which Japan denied the allegation. A lessening in selling expenses is likewise added to its lifting of the entire year profit forecast. The automaker based its entire year earnings forecast on 107 yen per dollar, that is compared with 103 yen per dollar on its past forecast made in October, Bloomberg reported.

A year ago, Honda sold a record number of vehicles in U.S. and China by the helped of demand of its Vezel hybrid and the new Civic sedan. The manufacturer posted a third-quarter net pay of 168.8 billion yen, which beats the expert's assessments of 118.4 billion yen. Meanwhile, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is setting up an appointment with Trump next week in Washington after pushing back its last's characterization of the U.S.- Japan car trade as "unfair."

Honda Executive Vice President Seiji Kuraishi have high hopes that the meeting will remove its misunderstanding. Honda sold around 70 percent of vehicles in U.S. in domestic plants, which the most astounding localization ratio after Ford Motor Co. Honda will respond to any U.S. protocol changes under Trumps administration, without explanation.
SB 54, authored by state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin deLeon (D, Los Angeles), is described by some as creating a "sanctuary state" in defiance of President Trump's Jan. 25 Executive Order which advises that state and local government entities could lose access to federal taxpayer dollars if they fail to comply with federal law and fail to assist federal authorities in enforcing federal immigration laws (details below.) In the "Fiscal Impact" section of their agendizing memo,, the four proponent Councilmembers state: "There is no fiscal impact at this time." Sponsor



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The Gonzalez-Pearce-Uranga-Richardson agendizing memo text states in pertinent part: On Wednesday, January 25, 2017, President Trump signed two Executive Orders related to immigration. The Executive Orders direct federal agencies and departments to "secure the southern border of the United States through the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border, monitored and supported by adequate personnel so as to prevent illegal immigration, drug and human trafficking, and acts of terrorism; and detain individuals apprehended on suspicion of violating Federal or State law, including Federal immigration law, pending further proceedings regarding those violations"; "Ensure that jurisdictions that fail to comply with applicable Federal law do not receive Federal funds", and "Ensure that aliens ordered removed from the United States are promptly removed". As a vibrant, multi-cultural city, Long Beach thrives on the ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and diversity of our immigrant communities and American-born residents. Over 40% of the Long Beach population identifies as Latino, and 12% identify as Asian. It is also believed Long Beach has the largest Cambodian population outside of Southeast Asia; and many Cambodians in Long Beach came to the United States as immigrants and refugees from 1975 to 1979. The United States Census Bureau reports 26% of Long Beach's population, between 2011-2015, stated they were foreign-born; this population includes anyone who was not a United States citizen at the time of birth regardless of whether or not they have become a United States citizen since. The diversity within Long Beach also includes diversity of religion. In California, we celebrate the rich cultural heritage and diversity of our residents. Freedom of religion and protection from discrimination on the basis of religion are founding ideals of our nation. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the free exercise and enjoyment of religion without discrimination. California must uphold the protection of religious freedom for all of its people, and the State has a moral obligation to protect its citizens from religious persecution. Since 2012, business in downtown Long Beach have doubled. In March 2016, the unemployment rate in Long Beach reached a nine-year low; and in 2016, revenue per available Long Beach Hotel room increased 8.8% over 2015 levels, reflecting an increase in tourism and convention attendance. Clearly, Long Beach is growing, and our economic is strong. President Trump's recent Executive Orders run counter to Long Beach's blue print for success. Neither immigration enforcement, or the collection of religious information are a local or State responsibility. Immigration is a federal policy issue between the United States government and other countries. Long Beach, along with other major cities and the State of California, believe enforcing immigration at the local level undermines the trust and cooperation with immigrant communities, which are essential elements of community oriented policing. Long Beach follows the California TRUST Act, and our current practice is not to hold individuals on immigration violations alone. Given the caustic directives being issued by our nation's newly elected President, it is important the City of Long Beach is clear on where we stand. Long Beach is a safe and welcoming City. We will protect the safety and well-being of all Californians by ensuring State and local resources are not used to support deportations, separate families, and ultimately hurt California's economy. The City also does not intend on using local resources to assist the federal government with the creation of a registry of individuals based on religious affiliation, national origin, or ethnicity for immigration purposes. FISCAL IMPACT There is no fiscal impact at this time. Sponsor

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As separately reported by LBREPORT.com, Councilmembers Gonzalez, Pearce and Uranga attended and spoke at a Jan. 31 rally outside City Hall protesting President Trump's recent Executive Orders [LBREPORT.com coverage here.] As also previously reported by LBREPORT.com, on Jan. 31 the CA Senate's Public Safety Committee voted 5-2 -- Dems "yes," Repubs "no" but suggesting an amendment might change their views -- to advance SB 54 to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is chaired by Senator Lara. Among the supportive witnesses at the Jan. 31 Sac'to Committee hearing was a son whose father illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico, was twice deported, returned to build a family, was stopped in Feb. 2016 by CSULB police for a broken headlight, held for federal immigration authorities (ICE) and deported the same night to Mexico based in part on a 20 year-old federal drug conviction. Sponsor



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SB 54 now awaits action in the CA Senate's Appropriations Committee whose focus is supposed to be on state budget impacts of proposed legislation (as opposed to bill policy)...and would presumably confront the extent to which SB 54 might affect CA access to federal taxpayer dollars under President Trump's Executive Order. Appropriations Committee chair Lara is a political ally of Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, who has no City Council vote but has a veto that requires six Councilmembers to vote to override. Mayor Garcia is a lawful naturalized immigrant from Peru and a Dem who voted to nominate Hillary Clinton (over Bernie Sanders) at the Dem Party's 2016 convention. Sponsor



On Jan. 28, 2017, Mayor Garcia wrote on his Facebook page: "Long Beach has an amazing Cambodian community because we welcomed them as refugees from a country torn apart by genocide. That's what America is all about. We stand up for others with compassion. This refugee and Muslim ban does not reflect the values of our country. 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.'" In 2013, California's legislature enacted the TRUST Act (AB 4) which took effect on Jan. 1, 2014. It prohibits law enforcement officials from detaining an individual on the basis of a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold after that individual becomes eligible for release from custody, unless certain conditions are met, including among other things that the individual has been convicted of specified crimes. On Jan. 25, the Long Beach Police Department released the following statement: [LBPD statement per City of Long Beach] Enforcing immigration at the local level undermines the trust and cooperation with immigrant communities, which are essential elements of community oriented policing. Long Beach follows the California TRUST Act, and our current practice is not to hold individuals on immigration violations alone. The Long Beach Police Department supports measures to either continue incarceration or to deport violent and serious offenders who pose a threat to our community. We evaluate our policies and procedures as any new legislation is enacted, but it would be premature to speculate on any changes, at this time. Policies of the City of Long Beach are determined by a majority of the LB City Council. City management departments (including LBPD through its Chief of Police) carry out Council-directed policies. Under LB's City Charter, LB's Mayor can recommend and suggest or veto but has no independent executive authority to make policy. Developing. View the discussion thread. blog comments powered by Disqus Recommend LBREPORT.com to your Facebook friends:

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Leicester Citys Daniel Amartey played another full 90 minutes as Ghana suffered a late 1-0 defeat to Burkina Faso in the third-place play-off at the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday night.

- Daniel Amartey played the full 90 minutes as Ghana suffered a 1-0 defeat to Burkina Faso

- The Leicester City man has been a reliable figure for Avram Grant's men at the Africa Cup of Nations

- The Black Stars finish in fourth-place in Gabon on the back of the play-off loss on Saturday

- Alain Traore scored a brilliant free-kick from 20 yards out with just one minute of time remaining





Leicester Citys played another full 90 minutes as Ghana suffered a late 1-0 defeat to Burkina Faso in the third-place play-off of the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday night.

The Foxes midfielder, utilised in defence for the Black Stars this winter, has been ever-present at AFCON but was unable to prevent Alain Traores 89th minute free-kick from securing victory for Burkina Faso this weekend.

Ghana, managed by former Chelsea manager Avram Grant, subsequently finished fourth in Gabon for the third time in the previous four tournaments following a , who meet Egypt in the final on Sunday evening.

Grants men were given little time to score an equaliser after Traores brilliant late effort, hammered in from the right of the 18-yard box, but Amartey has impressed many this month and will return to England later this week.

The 22-year-old could be in contention for City ahead of the Premier League clash with Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday 12 February before the UEFA Champions League last-16 trip to Sevilla on Wednesday 22 February (7.45pm kick-off).
Feb 5, 2017, 7:56am ET

VW-owned SEAT developing first EV?

The Spanish brand will allegedly introduce a battery-powered version of the Mii.

Volkswagen's Spain-based SEAT division is preparing to introduce its first-ever electric model, according to a recent report.

British magazine Auto Express has learned SEAT is secretly preparing a battery-powered version of the Mii (pictured), a tiny city car also known as the Volkswagen up! and the Skoda Citigo. Official specifications aren't available yet, but the connection to the up! gives us a good idea of what to expect.

The electric version of the up -- known as the e-up! -- uses an electric motor that provides about 80 horsepower and 155 pound-feet of torque. An 18.7-kWh lithium-ion battery pack integrated into the floor gives the e-up! a 93-mile driving range. Clearly, it was developed primarily with city driving in mind.

Volkswagen's smallest EV hits 62 mph from a stop in 14 seconds, and it goes on to a top speed that's electronically limited to 84 mph.

The all-electric SEAT Mii will debut in 2019 with a 20,000 (roughly $21,500) base price. In comparison, the standard gasoline-powered model starts at 9,765 (about $10,500). In many European countries, generous incentives awarded to motorists who buy an eco-friendly car will help bring down the EV's price.

The Mii EV will be the first part of SEAT's electric car offensive. It will quickly be joined by an all-new battery-powered model built on Volkswagen's modular MEB platform.
Two cats and a dog perished Sunday morning and two families totaling 14 people were displaced when a blaze gutted a row house in Allentown.

Fire Chef Lee Laubach said the initial call came in at 11:20 a.m. for the home, 414 Washington Street. The fire was contained to the first floor, but there was significant smoke damage on the second and third floors, he said.

Firefighters were able to keep the flames contained at 440 Washington and prevented fire damage at 416 Washington Street. That row house sustained some smoke damage, Laubach said.

A male tenant was able to escape unhurt, but his pets perished, Laubach said. His family consisting of three adults and three children were displaced, as well as another eight people in neighboring 416 Washington Street due to smoke damage, he said.

Crews brought the fire under control within a half hour and had it completely out within an hour, Laubach said. A firefighter was hurt due to burning on his ears, but remained on the scene, Laubach said.

"The guys did a very great job getting in there and putting it out," he said.

The house has since been deemed uninhabitable and the cause of the blaze remains under investigation. The Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley is assisting those who were displaced.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Bethlehem Area School District students are hosting a new show highlighting district news on RCN.

BASD District Insider airs on RCN.

BASD District Insider premiered at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb 2., on RCN channel 4/1004 and will air again at 6 p.m. Sunday.

The idea for the show sprung out of the extensive video library that Fountain Hill Elementary School technology teacher Tom Braun had compiled. Braun has a background in broadcasting and he's been doing in-house videos highlighting district events for more than a year.

The district wanted to give them a wider reach and get high school students involved to share their own video work, Braun explained.

"We are hoping this provides another resource where people get to go to and see what is going on in the district," Braun said.

A different student from Freedom and Liberty high schools will host the show on a rotating basis and the show will always feature a student-produced segment.

To find his first few hosts, Braun reached out to the high schools' theater departments and has a different student lined up for the next four months.

"My hope is a couple years from now, it is taken over by the high school kids," Braun said.

He envisions student video pieces dominating and the host writing and producing the show's script.

"We think it will be neat for them to see their work, knowing it is being put in everyone's home," Braun said.

The district sees the show as another avenue to spread all of the good news that happens in the district each day.

"When you truly see the amazing things going on in the district, you think: wow, this is really an amazing place to me," Braun said. "I am thrilled to be able to show this is a great place all the way K-12. The teachers are inspirational. The kids are dedicated to their classrooms and the community."

The show will regularly air at 6 p.m. each Thursday and Sunday. It is also available on demand. The district is in discussions with Service Electric as well.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
They say bookies are rarely wrong but Leitrim fans will hope they are when it comes to the odds for this years Allianz League Division 4 with the Green & Gold ranked joint fifth in the promotion race with Wicklow.

According to Paddy Power, Westmeath are slight favourites at 11/10 ahead of Wexford at 5-2 with Limerick third at 7/2. Carlow are ranked at 14/1 with Wicklow & Leitrim together on 16/1. Only Waterford (18/1) and London (150/1) are ranked below the Green & Gold.

And there is no doubt that there is a huge task ahead - the FBD League defeat against Galway was against one of the top sides in the country but the first half of the Sligo game was far more worrying as Leitrim would always feel they have the measure of their neighbours.

Brendan Guckian is introducing a lot of new faces, players who will undoubtedly be the backbone of Leitrim teams for the next ten years but replacing the likes of Paddy Maguire, Cathal McCrann, Darren Sweeney and Kevin Conlan is a huge task.

Dealing with the players' workload is another dilemma with only a one-week break in February rather than the usual two which, given eight U21s in the Leitrim squad, could test Leitrim's strength in depth.

Many fans feel that this year's U21 team have a great chance of Provincial glory. The U21 clash with Galway is scheduled for Saturday, March 11, with the winners facing Mayo a week later but balancing the work-load for these young players, many lining out with colleges, is a tough task.
This is the picture of a story from the Independent.

It concerns shocking figures unearthed by Scottish Lib Dem Health Spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton which show the terrible lengths of time people can wait for discharge from hospital in Scotland for health and social care reasons, There was one example where one person had to wait for almost a year and a half.

Alex said:

In November I asked the First Minister about a constituent of mine who had spent 150 nights in hospital due to delayed discharge. Nicola Sturgeon described the situation as unacceptable.What then are we to make of patients in hospital for up to 500 nights, perhaps because carers cant be found to visit them at home or there isnt a care home place available? Under the SNP, 1,000 beds were lost from Scotlands hospitals during the same three years. Our under-pressure NHS can ill afford delayed discharges on this extreme scale.

Our social care spokesperson, Karen Clark added:

For someone to be needlessly stuck in hospital for up to eighteen months is nothing short of a national scandal. Medical staff had declared these patients ready to leave. Seeing care packages fall through, time after time, causes patients and their families immense stress. And there can be no doubt that someone spending such a prolonged time in hospital when they should be at home will impair their mental and physical health. These statistics show the scale of the task that integrated joint boards faced when they took over. We urgently need to know what steps these boards and SNP ministers have taken to ensure that such waits are eliminated from the system.

Obviously, its good that the Independent published the story. But they have made a bit of a mistake with it. Can you see what it is?

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
You English were so lucky to have Norman Lamb and before him Paul Burstow as Health Ministers with mental health in their portfolios. In Scotland, we havent made the progress you have  even though I know that yours is nowhere near enough. We dont have the parity between physical and mental health that Norman Lamb and Nick Clegg drove through, even in principle.

During negotiations on this years Scottish Budget, Willie Rennie discovered that the mental health situation in Scotland was much worse than even he had thought. He told activists yesterday at the Kickstart training day in Perth:

Look at the terrible record of this SNP Government on mental health. They let the share of the budget spent on mental health drop by their own admission for years. The SNP let its mental health strategy lapse in 2015 with no replacement in place. Young people still have to wait more than a year for treatment. It became clear during our budget discussions with them that the SNP Government is much further behind on mental health even than we feared. The SNP were simply unable to make the changes to their budget towards what we know is important for mental health. We wanted a doubling of services for young people, comprehensive support at GP surgeries and comprehensive cover. We cannot let this drop. We cannot let the SNP and their neglect of mental health stand. They are letting people down. I want our council candidates to take our mental health campaign into the council chambers of Scotland. Liberal Democrat councillors will work in partnership with local health services for better support for people with mental health problems. Councils can patch up the provision that is neglected by the SNP Government. We can make sure local education services identify young people with mental health problems and help them get early support, and continue to help them as they transfer to adult services. We will make sure each council is a mental health champion, promoting good health and helping people back into employment. We can support voluntary groups that help people tackle loneliness and isolation. And we can use the influence of councillors on the Integration Joint Boards to make mental health support quick, effective and locally available.

For a time it looked like there might have to be another Scottish election as the SNP didnt look like they were going to get the agreement of any other party in the Parliament. The Tories and Labour wouldnt talk to them at all, much to their discredit. Willie spent a substantial amount of time in pretty open and honest (on both sides) negotiations with Derek Mackay, the Finance Minister, but there was no prospect of an agreement in sight. The Greens decided that they wanted a 60% tax rate and they werent budging on that.

Until Patrick Harvie, their leader, capitulated live on telly on Wednesday afternoon, muttering about how it would be irresponsible not to let the budget go through. Thats the voice of strong opposition for you. Maybe he was more worried about an election potentially removing the pro-independence majority in the Parliament.

It might have been ok if Patrick hadnt mucked it up so spectacularly before. In 2009 he voted against the Budget only to capitulate with nothing a few days later. You know what Lady Bracknell would say  once is unfortunate, twice is careless.

Anyway, as the Greens slunk off quietly, Willie talked about his reasons for voting against:

Today the SNP missed a huge opportunity to make Scotland a more liberal and economically strong country. Its a missed opportunity to meet the challenges of Brexit, a sluggish economy and slipping educational performance. Its a missed opportunity to see a transformational investment in education, a step change in mental health services and essential support for our police service. Liberal Democrats held firm on our reasonable and principled positions. Instead of delivering a bold and green country the Green Party have simply helped the SNP deliver a grey and timorous budget.

The SNP and Greens between them have delivered an austerity budget which is not what Scotlands ailing economy needs right now.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton is a vocal opponent of Donald Trump. Hes always had a massive interest in US politics. In 2008, he and his best friend Kevin Lang went out to Virginia to campaign for Barack Obama.

Hes written for the Scottish Lib Dems website to talk Trump and trade deals  specifically why we mustnt allow our commitment to human rights to be diminished.

Many have watched in horror as the progressive legacy of Barrack Obama has been comprehensively devoured in the early days of Donald Trumps post-truth presidency and with it, a cold awakening to a new kind of America. That matters. Much of the hopes of the Brexiteers were pinned on a swift and fulsome trade detail with America to mitigate the trade vacuum caused by us (somewhat rashly) pushing the ejector seat button on the Treaty of Rome. Trumps rhetoric in his inaugural address is a clear and present threat to that plan. In advance of her meeting with the 45th President, the Prime Minister said that in partnership with Donald Trump our two nations can lead the world again. Thats a bullish claim, and one designed to appeal to the Donalds sense of entitlement. But in these fractured times how can this be possible? The world is gazing at Brexit Britain, with a sense of alarm only tempered by their terror at the witness they bear to the birth of Trumps new order.

Trumps uncompromising America First rhetoric does not bode well for our future trade deal:

During the EU Referendum the Brexiteers called on the British people to take back control. But how much control are we going to have when we need to engage with a country whose leaders first impulse is to insert punitive, protectionist caveats into deals that put the interests of his country above all others? Put simply, Theresa May is leading Britain into a new alliance which affords us far less influence than we enjoyed within the EU. A partnership with a leader who fails to understand the simple definition of partnership will only take us for granted.

There isnt much hope from Theresa Mays Government:

My hope is that Theresa May will use these pillars of British sensibility to bring Trump and post-truth America to its senses. The signs arent encouraging: We have a Tory Government pandering to the xenophobic, insular right wing of its own party as it pirouettes over EU departure and if there was any resistance shown to Trump in the US last week it comes in the odd and highly inappropriate form of a state visit and holding hands. In that context I rather suspect that the world she talks of leading smacks more of days of empire and the 19th century, than of the cosmopolitan and liberal society that I want to help build.

You can read the whole article here.

* Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary in print, on air or online.
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 467th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere  Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (29 January  4 February, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Dont forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox  just click here  ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, lets start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

1. How joining the Lib Dems compares with joining Labour by Mark Pack on Mark Pack.

A lot of people are finding out at the moment, thanks to Corbyns cravenness on Brexit.

2. Lib Dems take seat from Labour with enormous 38% swing by Mark Pack on Mark Pack.

One thing that neither Mark nor I pointed out in our pieces on this was that in one ward, we got almost double the vote than we got in the entire Rotherham constituency in the General Election in 2015. Thanks, Kevin, for telling me that yesterday.

3. Conservative Home predicts advances for the Liberal Democrats in Mays local elections by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England.

Well, well. They must be feeling the yellow-hot heat.

4. There is another universe where the Lib Dems are in terrible trouble over Europe by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England.

Something that has occurred to quite a lot of us over the past few months.

5. How much trouble is Labour in in Stoke-on-Trent? by Peter Black on Peter Black.

Not a tiny amount, thats for sure.

And now to the seven blog-posts that come highly recommended, regardless of the number of Aggregator click-throughs they attracted. To nominate a Lib Dem blog article published in the past seven days  your own, or someone elses, all you have to do is drop a line to [email protected] You can also contact us via Twitter, where were @libdemvoice

6. Write, recommend and share to thwart Brexit: Above all, protest by Toby McDonnell on Medium.com .

Toby is not taking Brexit lying down

If global norms are coming to an end, and it may be inevitable, does the UK wish to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the free democracies of Europe as a guardian of rights, liberty and justice, or with the quislings who are dismantling these norms to return to 19th Century power-games, with all their murderous consequences?

7. What I did at Federal Conference Committee by Jennie Rigg aged 39 and a quarter on Sad Triffid just wants to dance.

What its like to be on a Federal Committee. The footnotes are the best bit:

When I said in the governance consultation that we ought to have it written into the constitution that we would have an biennial showcase debate on trident, at which wed all fail out and fail to come to agreement, I didnt think theyd take me seriously FFS. 7 Honestly, though, its at least a page too long, and full of Well, the sort of crap we always get in the biennial trident debate. I confidently predict the votell go 48/52% one way or the other, and whichever side loses will squeak about unfairness, and neither side will shut up about it, and round well go again in two years time. Its like the lib dem version of EU membership referenda, but more regular.

8. Moral outrage against Trump is distracting people from his incompetence by Matthew Green on Thinking Liberal.

The left is going to have to do better to beat the right both in the US and UK.

9. Defending our views, even when were wrong by Rebecca Plenderleith on Some Rambling .

We shouldnt rush to dismiss the accuser when someone we know is accused of sexual violence.

10. Federal International Relations Committee meets  some personal thoughts by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy.

The first meeting of the new Committee brings forth an existential dilemma for Mark.

11. Identity  my right, my choice, my decision by Stephen Glenn on Stephens Liberal Journal.

Stephen comes under attack from the editor of Conservative Home.

12. A present for my lovely friends on Liberal Democrat Voice by Jennie Rigg on Sad Triffid just wants to dance.

A helpful pro-forma for those of you who want to complain about us.

And thats it for another week. Happy blogging n reading n nominating.

Featured? Add this to your blog post!



<a href="https://www.libdemvoice.org/top-of-the-blogs-the-lib-dem-golden-dozen-467-53188.html"><img src="https://www.libdemvoice.org/images/golden-dozen.png" width="200" height="57" alt="Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice" title="Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice" /></a>

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
A fairly energetic band called Weapons Of Anew hit the Rebel stage promptly at 7pm and if you have ever been at any show anywhere you know bands are very rarely on time for some reason or another. Hailing from New York, they started their 20 min set with quite a bit of energy. Looking around the room I could see plenty of people nodding their heads to the beat of the music rolling off the stage. I am glad I made the opening band, knowing nothing about them I am going to have to check them out when I get home.

This is the second time I have seen NonPoint, once at a different venue in NY, and I am impressed with the stage presence these guys have. They gave it their all at both shows I witnessed. It was great to see the crowd wave their fists in the air getting right into the music of NonPoint. This is quite the feat for any opening act because most people are there to see the headliner. I loved the fact the drummer was faced sideways on the stage. Normally we do not get to see the drummer because they are usually buried behind the kit, but Rob Rivera made a point of being noticed, getting up from behind the kit and making sure we knew he was there. NonPoint is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and I will always wonder why bands leave their home to go on tour to colder climates, dont they know it is fairly cold here right now? That being said I hope these guys come back soon and I get the opportunity to see them again as you should. NonPoint has been around for quite some time and if you like an in your face, hard rock/heavy metal band with a whole lot of dreads, as well as, one who does a kick ass cover of In The Air Tonight by Phil Colins I may have found the band for you.

The crowd was ready for the headliner to hit the stage and take over Rebel and that is exactly what they did. Alter Bridge walked on stage and did what they do best, they played some great music and entertained an almost sold out venue. The night before they played in Niagara Falls NY, to a sold out venue which isnt that far from this Rebel so there is definitely a ton of Alter Bridge fans out there including myself. Arms were waving in the air to every one of Alter Bridges songs from the very beginning of the night right to the end and not much coaxing was needed by these hard core fans in attendance. I always get a kick out of watching fans sing the lyrics of the songs back to the artist and Myles Kennedy seemed to be enjoying the same. During Ghost Of Days Gone the audience sang at the top of their lungs and I am assuming Myles loved it too because I watched a small smirk run across his face.

After a small hello, Myles stated the band wasnt sure about how many people would be here due to it being a long time they have graced a Toronto stage and promptly as if on cue the fans chanted Alter Bridge, if that isnt a cue to come back I dont know what is. I was very thankful I didnt have to wait till the end to hear my favourite songs by them My Champion and The Other Side.

There was one cool thing I noticed after the initial, wow its Alter Bridge in Toronto, from the crowd the phones seemed to slowly lower from the hands of the people in the audience and disappeared. The fans focused on the actual show and not through a tiny screen, they lived in the moment for most of the show. I do have to say though as soon as Myles came out with his acoustic guitar to sing Watch Over You the women in the crowd very quickly had their phones handy to record the moment. The mood at Rebel didnt stay gushy for long though and the crowd was hopping again for The Other Side and for the rest of the evening the fans were singing along to every lyric.

Once again thanks to the crew because without them there is no show!
One hundred years ago today (Feb. 5), Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917, the first legislation to dramatically limit immigration into the U.S. It introduced rulings that singled out specific countries and ethnicities, and included conditions that favored privilege over need.

While many people view immigration as a cornerstone of America's journey and continued success as a country  a position outlined by White House representatives under President Barack Obama  sweeping restrictions such as those put forward in 1917 also shaped the United States' immigration story.

Decades after the 1917 act became law, its guidelines for inhibiting immigration persisted. And its legacy reverberated recently, when President Donald Trump issued a Jan. 27 executive order temporarily halting the acceptance of refugees from Syria, and forbidding people from several predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. [Refugee Crisis: Why There's No Science to Resettlement]

The Immigration Act of 1917, also known as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act, prohibited immigration from any country that was on or adjacent to Asia but was "not owned by the U.S.," according to a summary shared online by the University of Washington Bothell Library (UWBL). The Philippines was not included in the ban because it was a U.S. territory at the time, and Japan was excluded for diplomatic reasons.

The act also stated that all immigrants over age 16 would be required to pass a literacy test, demonstrating that they could read "not less than 30 nor more than 40" words in English or in "some other language or dialect." Further prohibitions expanded an existing list of "undesirables," adding epileptics, alcoholics, political radicals, anarchists, criminals, people suffering from contagious diseases or with mental or physical disabilities, and people who were merely poor, UWBL explained.

"A radical departure"

First proposed in 1915, the legislation was vetoed twice by then-President Woodrow Wilson, who declared in a message issued Jan. 28, 1915, to the House of Representatives that such a bill would be "a radical departure from the traditional and long-established policy of this country" to welcome immigrants. Congress overturned his second veto on Feb. 5, 1917.

The ban on people from most Asian countries was the first to target a specific geographical region, expanding on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882  the first legislation to deny immigration to a specific ethnic group. The act's momentum was driven by nationalist fervor, the propaganda machines of World War I and the anti-immigrant "100 percent Americanism" movement, according to Mae Ngai, a professor of history and Asian American studies at Columbia University.

It also reflected prevailing negative attitudes in the U.S. toward Chinese immigrants, and extended that prejudice to also exclude immigrants from South Asia, Rebecca Kobrin, an associate professor of history at Columbia University, told Live Science.

"This was a big move for restriction of immigration. It marked the move of America to think of itself as a nation defined by race, and it inscribed those racial hierarchies into law," Kobrin said. "There has always been demonization of groups in our history. At the time, Asians were seen as a hallmark of 'the other.'"

These immigration laws were paralleled by other forms of legalized racial discrimination across the country, Ngai told Live Science in an email.

"Asians suffered from state laws excluding them from various professions and occupations  such as teaching and commercial fishing  and from owning agricultural property," Ngai said.

The literacy test included in the Immigration Act of 1917 was also unfair because it offered immigrants a limited selection of languages to prove their proficiency, according to Kobrin. If an immigrant's native tongue didn't appear on that list, he or she would have been considered illiterate and denied entry, Kobrin said. [20 Startling Facts about American Society and Culture]

The political cartoon "The Americanese Wall, as Congressman Burnett Would Build It," by Raymond O. Evans, appeared in the satirical magazine Puck on March 25, 1916. It warned that a proposed literacy test would bar immigrant entry to the U.S. (Image credit: Library of Congress)

As harsh as the 1917 measures were, for many members of Congress, the restrictions didn't go far enough, and even stricter legislation followed, Maria Cristina Garcia, a professor of American studies at Cornell University, told Live Science in an email.

From 1921 through 1924, a series of quotas drastically reduced European immigration into the U.S., cracking down more severely on countries in eastern and southern Europe, who were not as well established in American communities as were people from western and northern Europe, Garcia said. Following the Immigration Act of 1924 (also called the Johnson-Reed Act), "Germany's quota stood at over 51,000, while Greece and Albania had quotas of 100 each," Garcia said.

And at the height of the anti-communist "Red Scare" during the 1950s, European immigrants suspected of communist sympathies or activities were punitively targeted with criminal charges and deportation measures, Ngai said.

Righting a wrong

Immigration quotas shaped by race remained in place until the Hart-Celler Immigration Act of 1965, which abolished quotas and prioritized uniting families by granting naturalized immigrants the ability to sponsor relatives in their native lands. When President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law, he praised it as correcting "a cruel and enduring wrong in the conduct of the American nation," according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

However, Trump's Jan. 27 executive order appeared to revisit an earlier time, when America's perception of immigrants was less welcoming. It suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for 120 days; prohibited entry to Syrian refugees indefinitely; suspended entry for 90 days to immigrants and nonimmigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen (countries that were identified later by the Department of Homeland Security in a fact sheet); and limited refugee admission to 50,000 people for the duration of 2017's fiscal year. This order was seen by many as prejudicial and racially motivated, The Atlantic reported.

Laws that legitimize discrimination on racial grounds can send a troubling message, fueling public fear that can spark violence and hate crimes toward targeted groups, Ngai told Live Science.

"Trump's executive order, and the stereotypes and discourses that circulated during the 2016 presidential election, more generally, are rooted in century-long conversations about who is 'worthy' of admission to the United States," Garcia explained.

"However, history also teaches us that, while some Americans are fearful, others are welcoming, and they challenge draconian immigration policies if they violate our most deeply held convictions about justice and equal opportunity," Garcia said.

Original article on Live Science.
The Washingtons Birthday Celebration Association together with Macys and Sames KIA showcased some of Laredos talented dance teams and cheerleaders in the WBCA Youth Song & Dance Festival held Saturday at the LISD Performing Arts Center.

"The WBCA Youth Song & Dance Festival has been a long time favorite of Laredo children and their families alike. It has come a long ways due to great sponsors like, Macy's, Sames KIA, and LISD, said WBCA President Eddie Villarreal. Macy's will be awarding two scholarships to deserving high school seniors. Sames KIA is donating funds through a drawing for participating teams. With such great support from our sponsors, along with the talented children from around Laredo, the WBCA's Youth Song and Dance Festival is definitely a must-see event.

In addition, Macys and the WBCA announced the recipients of the $1,000 academic scholarships awarded to two deserving seniors, courtesy of Macys.

Leonel Ayala Jr. and Ramon Alberto Garza were selected based on their academic merits, community involvement and extracurricular activities.

Ayala is a student from J.W. Nixon High School and Vidal M. Trevino School of Communications & Fine Arts with a 93.28 GPA. Upon graduation, he hopes to attend the University of Texas - San Antonio to pursue a bachelors degree. He is involved in numerous extracurricular activities such as dance, choir, senior class and crime stoppers president, Golden Spur manager and Band Color Guard.

Also a student from J.W. Nixon High School, Garza plans to attend Columbia College to pursue a degree in business management, biology and dance. A Turning Pointe Dance Studio elite member, Ramon dreams of one day being a choreographer at his own dance studio. Ramon is involved in numerous extracurricular activities such as the Dance Club, Accounting Club, Drama Club, Film Club, Spanish Honor Society, Science Honor Society, Chess Club and Drill Team. His current GPA is an A average with a 93.14.

Macy's Inc. is a premier national retailer that reflects the spirit of America, and the timeless values that made our nation strong are the same values that make our company strong, Macys General Manager Victor Zaldivar said. Chief among these is the responsibility we have to the cities in which we operate and to our community. We believe that contributing to causes, such as the WBCA, is a good business practice and the right thing to do for future generations. Macys and its employees support a wide variety of programs throughout the year and is proud to be a sponsor of the WBCA Youth Song & Dance Festival.

The three lucky participating teams that won a $500 donation, courtesy of Sames KIA, were Alma A. Pierce Elementary School Cheerleaders, Mary Help of Christians School Stallionettes and St. Augustine High School.

A Laredo staple since 1963, the WBCA Youth Song & Dance Festival allows enthusiastic drill teams, dance troupes, and perky high-kicking cheerleaders of all grade levels to participate in the excitement of the Washington's Birthday Celebration. Students also show-off their vocal talents and seniors from each high school and are invited to perform and volunteer to assist with the show.
Super Bowl Ads-Anheuser-Busch-Budweiser

This photo provided by Budweiser shows a scene from the company's commercial for Super Bowl 51, between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017. The scene depicts when Anheuser-Busch co-founder Adolphus Busch, foreground left, is welcomed to St. Louis after traveling by boat from Germany.

((BUDWEISER / ASSOCIATED PRESS))

Up popped a tweet on my Twitter feed this week reading: "Budweiser says its immigration-themed Super Bowl ad is apolitical. But is it?"

Really? Take a break, folks.

Not everything has to be political. Not everything needs to be scary. Not every advertisement carries a hidden message.

The Budweiser commercial, "Born the Hard Way," which you can watch tonight during the Super Bowl or catch online any time before or after the Big Game, relays the story of how Budweiser beer was founded by an immigrant to America, Adolphus Busch.

It portrays him as a new arrival to our country, being greeted by some who tell him, "You're not wanted here. Go back home," and later by others who welcome him to St. Louis, including the man who would become his business partner and father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser.

I understand immigration is a hot topic these days, and there are strong opinions on both sides. My work is to respect all opinions. My words today aren't intended to debate the issue nor to take a position.

For the record, this ad was filmed more than eight months ago, long before the November election and long before the latest presidential action regarding immigration that tossed our nation into a tailspin of angry and sometimes hateful discourse.

By Friday, there were media reports that Budweiser expected some backlash from the advertisement, but the opposition, including a suggested boycott, had not reached any monumental proportions. There was political posturing from both sides of the immigration issue, and there were reports, too, that the tale told in the ad may not have exactly been, well, historically accurate.

What's happened to the time when we could enjoy ads like this which share what Budweiser vice president Ricardo Marques describes as a "universal story." It's a concept path that's been taken many times previously by the company -- think Clydesdales, think World Trade Center, think poignant messaging.

Social media succeeds in its goal of engaging people in conversations each and every day, hour by hour, second by second. Its platforms have infiltrated our professional and personal lives. Young and old alike seem to grab onto the latest tweet or Facebook post to the point where many people don't know what's real and what's not.

Along the way, are we losing touch with some of the truly wonderful things in life, like, for instance, the American stories of immigration and dreams come true? After all, aren't most of us, save for the native Americans, immigrants to these United States?

A year ago in the dead of the winter of 2016, I spent many of my waking hours on Ancestry.com after having my DNA sample perused to trace my origins. It launched me on a fascinating journey, one which continues to this day.

Some of my own family members came to this country in search of religious freedom. From England, some arrived with the earliest settlers to Massachusetts. From Ireland, my father's grandparents came in the mid-1800s.

In the early 20th century, my mother's father, a Christian from what was then known as Persia, left behind family members in his native land as that country confronted a time of religious genocide. I've yet to fully connect with the paths taken here from central and eastern Europe by her mother's people, but my work continues. (Yes, just like another TV ad, one that plays on mistaken understanding of a family's history, I'm in search of how my family tree could possibly have roots in Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula.)

I've found both joys and sorrows in tracing my family's heritage, documenting their lives so my three nieces may know our story. The Simison story of immigration and the American dream continues into the 21st century. One of my nieces is married to an immigrant from Ireland, and the partner of another is here from Spain, studying so he may one day practice law in the U.S.

Yes, that Budweiser ad really does share a "universal story."

So, my advice for the Big Game is to leave the politics behind, sit back, relax for awhile and enjoy the company of good friends and family. Have a beer, too. (I don't, by the way, drink Bud, and you'll find me watching the latest installment of "Victoria" on PBS.)

Cynthia G. Simison is managing editor of The Republican; she may be reached by email to csimison@repub.com.
HAVERHILL A 68-year-old man was found dead in a burned-out apartment Saturday morning, the victim of carelessly discarded smoking materials, Haverhill fire officials said. The unidentified man was found in the burned-out remains of a first-floor apartment on Ford Street.

The Boston Herald reported that firefighters responded to a 911 cal at about 4:20 a.m. to find the first floor of the building fully involved. All residents except the first-floor tenant were able to escape the burning house.

The fire heavily damaged the two-story building.



Firefighters searched the building after flames were knocked down and found the remains of the victim. His name has not been released pending notification of next of kin.
Two more people were arrested in connection with the August fatal shooting of 28-year-old Jeffrey Kelly outside of a convenience store in Boston.

Boston police said they arrested Julio Pizarro, 43, of Quincy and Amanda Algarin, 26, of Revere over the weekend, but did not release any details about how the two people are connected to the fatal shooting. Both suspects will be charged with murder in Suffolk Superior Court.

Kelly, who used a wheelchair, was fatally shot outside the 7-Eleven on Centre Street on Aug. 27, 2016. The Jamaica Plain resident was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

"I've always said that we never forget a victim or the loved ones they leave behind," Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said after the arrests. "I want to commend everyone involved in this continuing investigation and hope that these arrests can help bring some small sense of comfort and closure to all those affected by this senseless act."

A third person, 28-year-old Amos Carrasquillo of Dorchester, was arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court in December on a murder charge in connection with Kelly's killing.

Carrasquillo showed signs of "hostility toward the victim" in the days before the killing, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.

Investigators allege Carrasquillo followed Kelly around in a vehicle before the killing, then approached Kelly and shot him as the 28-year-old left the convenience store.
Karina Vetrano

Karina Vetrano

(Change.org)

New York City police announced Sunday that they arrested 20-year-old Brooklyn resident Chanel Lewis in connection with the killing of Karina Vetrano, a 30-year-old woman who was beaten, strangled and sexually assaulted Aug. 2 in Queens.

New York City Police Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Sunday that charges are pending against Lewis, who was caught after police tracked down numerous leads and tips.

Subsequent to the investigation, Chanel Lewis, 20 y/o, is being held in connection to the homicide of Karina Vetrano. Charges are pending. pic.twitter.com/032ykQTn0d  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) February 5, 2017

NBC New York reports that Lewis was taken into custody Saturday night and made several "detailed incriminating statements and admissions" that connected him with Vetrano's killing.

Investigators believe Lewis grabbed Vetrano while she jogged at the park, the television station reports.

DNA samples found under Vetrano's fingernails, on her back and on her cell phone matched a DNA sample that Lewis voluntarily submitted to police on Thursday, the New York Daily News reports.

The newspaper reported that police recovered the DNA from Vetrano's body, but the DNA did not match anyone in a national DNA database or a New York database of convicted criminals.

Lewis could be arraigned as early as Sunday night.

In the beginning of their investigation, detectives in New York said they reached out to the Massachusetts State Police to see if there were any links between the killing of Vetrano and the killing of Vanessa Marcotte, a 27-year-old Google accounts manager who was found dead in Princeton on Aug. 7.

Authorities in New York did not say if there is any link. When asked if the Worcester County District Attorney's Office was reaching out to New York City investigators about the Lewis arrest a spokesman for Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. stated, "Investigators follow every lead in the Marcotte case."

Officials in Massachusetts said they are searching for a dark-colored SUV that was seen in Princeton around the time of the killing. Witnesses saw the SUV on Brooks Station Road on Aug. 7, the same day Marcotte was killed.

Marcotte was living in New York City, but had visited Princeton to see her mother. She went jogging on Aug. 7 and never returned home. She was found dead in the woods roughly a half-mile from her mother's home.

Authorities believe a man killed Marcotte and he may have been cut, scraped or bruised while she tried to fight him off.

In December, Marcotte's family announced a foundation in her memory and the creation of a website where updates to her case will be posted. The website posted a story recently about the Vetrano murder and her family's request for familial DNA testing to be conducted in the New York case.
Donald Trump

President Donald Trump takes the cap off a pen before signing executive order for immigration actions to build border wall during a visit to the Homeland Security Department in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

(Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

A federal appeals court denied the U.S. Justice Department's bid to have President Donald Trump's travel ban on nationals from seven predominantly Muslim nations restored after the department filed an emergency order Sunday.

The Justice Department filed an emergency order Sunday morning, but the appeal was denied and U.S. District Court Judge James Robart's suspension of the ban remains in place for the meantime, according to CNN.

Robart, a judge in Seattle, ordered a temporary, nationwide restraining order against Trump's travel ban on Friday.

In a lengthy filing, the Justice Department argued the halting of the travel ban harms the public. The filing also states Trump was given discretionary authority by Congress in the issue.

"Congress expressly granted the President broad discretionary authority, whenever he 'finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States'," the Justice Department wrote in the filing.

The order was issued to protect Americans from "terrorist attacks by foreign nationals admitted to the United States," the filing reads.

Trump's order, which began on Jan. 27, banned foreign nationals from Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days. All refugee entry to the country were suspended for 120 days and indefinitely suspended for Syrian refugees.

NBC News reports that the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has asked both sides to file legal briefs by Monday.
norman clement.jpg

Norman Clement

(Connecticut State Police)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - State Police arrested a 66-year-old protester who is being accused of blocking an ambulance carrying a critically-ill patient during a demonstration.

With the increase of demonstrations happening throughout the country, Connecticut State Police are reminding people that protests blocking any highway or roadway is a crime, can be dangerous and will not be tolerated.

Protesters opposing President Donald Trump's immigration policies, blocked the Exit 47 ramp from Route 34 westbound to Interstate 95 north at about 4:25 p.m. Saturday. Troopers responded and attempted to clear between 100 and 200 protesters who were blocking the roadway, police said.

"The protesters were in the process of being cleared from the highway, but not before they obstructed an ambulance carrying a critically ill patient. Due to this delay ambulance personnel were required to perform an emergency medical procedure in the ambulance instead of at the hospital," police said in a written statement.

After police cleared the roadway they identified the leader of the protest who was shouting though a microphone and loudspeaker.

State Police Troopers New Haven officers eventually located the leader of the protest on the corner, who was identified as Norman Clement, 66, of State Street, New Haven.

"Clement ran from law enforcement personnel through the crowd, knocking over several of his supporters, before being apprehended. Clement actively resisted arrest and was sprayed with (pepper spray)," police said.

Clement was eventually charged inciting a riot, disorderly conduct, interfering with an officer and reckless use of the highway by a pedestrian. He was released on $5,000 surety bond and is scheduled to appear at New Haven Superior Court on Feb. 13, police said.
Vehicle hits Merrimac home

(Courtesy photo given to Merrimac Police)

The driver of a vehicle was seriously injured Saturday night after he drove off of the road, through a parking lot and into a house in Merrimac.

Merrimac Police Chief Eric M. Shears said the driver of a 2007 Honda CRV went off of East Main Street around 8 p.m. after he failed to negotiate a turn. A police officer saw the Honda speeding east on East Main Street with its hazard lights on before the crash.

The officer tried to stop the Honda, but police said the driver sped toward the Merrimac Liquors plaza instead.

"The vehicle did not make any attempts to stay in the roadway and drove straight into the parking lot of Merrimac Liquors," police said.

The Honda crashed into two concrete barriers and then into a cage containing propane tanks. The vehicle rolled over several times through the parking lot and struck a wooden guardrail and a fence.

Police said the Honda then went over a wall and into the side of an unoccupied home.

The driver, who has not been identified publicly by police, was taken to an area hospital then flown by helicopter to a Boston hospital. The driver has serious injuries.

The Merrimac Police Department, Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section and detectives assigned to the Essex County District Attorney's Office are investigating.
Funding will strengthen Montanas economy and tourism infrastructure

Full Story: http://commerce.mt.gov/News/PressReleases/ArtMID/19685/ArticleID/5048/Governor-Bullock-Announces-Investments-in-Montana-Tourism-Communities

The Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development http://www.marketmt.com/ markets Montanas spectacular unspoiled nature, vibrant and charming small towns, breathtaking experiences, relaxing hospitality, and competitive business climate to promote the state as a place to visit and do business.
On mostly party-line votes, majority Republicans on Friday rejected Democratic Gov. Steve Bullocks attempt to force them to cut spending in the bill funding the 2017 legislative session.

The votes in the Senate Friday send the $11.5 million bill back to Bullock, who now must accept it or veto it outright, the latter of which could throw funding of the session into question.

"Im certainly disappointed in those legislators that think increasing their own spending 10 times more than the rest of state government is a wise idea," Bullock said in a statement.

By Mike Dennison  MTN News

Full Story: http://www.kbzk.com/story/34425619/lawmakers-reject-bullocks-cut-of-their-funding-now-what
Like many cities in southwest Montana, Dillon is looking to beef up economic development by revitalizing its downtown.

Lynn Giles, Vana Taylor and RayAnn Sutton of Dillon Main Street, LLC corresponded with The Montana Standard by email to discuss a new downtown master plan that they, along with Dillon city officials, released in February 2016.

According to the trio, the plan came out of several brainstorming sessions geared toward improving economic development.

Annie Pentilla [email protected]

Full Story: http://mtstandard.com/business/economic-outlook-series-dillon-has-new-downtown-master-plan/article_b4c023be-4bb9-51d4-86b1-a00a4c0331d8.html
Alain St.Ange, the popular former Seychelles Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine and now President of the Islands One Seychelles political party was on Emmanuel DOffays popular talk show explaining his vision for Seychelles.

St.Ange explained the need for more choice for the Seychelles electorate as he emphasized that politicians are employed by the people. Any Seychellois who is happy with his life should and must vote for a status quo and have more of the same for five more years. But if elected officials have not delivered on their electoral manifesto promises the people must be offered the chance to bring about change said Alain St.Ange as he confirmed that One Seychelles would be concentrating on explaining the party manifesto and will not be discussing what other existing political parties are doing or not doing.

One Seychelles is the latest political group to be gearing for the coming 2020 Presidential elections. The partys Secretary General is Peter Sinon, also a former Seychelles Minister and Director of the African Development Bank. This election will see the current President Danny Faure face the electorate for the first time ever having made it to the top job only when James Michel resigned from Office. Wavel Ramkalawan on the other hand is the Leader of the Opposition and has been contesting virtually every Presidential Election since the return of multiparty politics in Seychelles.

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Following latest reports from the meteorological services about cyclone Batsirai, Air Mauritius wishes to inform the public that the following flights have been postponed.

News Release- 02 February 2022- Flight disruptions due to thepassage of Cyclone Batsirai Bulletin 3



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Applications are now open for Future News Worldwide 2019, a prestigious international conference for the next generation of journalists run by the British Council in partnership with some of the worlds leading media organisations.

This is a fully-funded places opportunity for the brightest young student bloggers, vloggers, photojournalists and reporters from Mauritius to take part in the two-day event held at Thomson Reuters headquarters in London in July 2019.

With contributions from leading media organisations such as CNN, Reuters, Google News Initiative, Facebook and UK Schools of Journalism, the conference is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity for the next generation of top journalists to hone their skills and make global connections.

Last years event saw some of the most experienced and respected international editors, broadcasters and reporters share their knowledge and insights with delegates from 50 countries. Speakers included BBC News presenter and former BBC China Editor, Carrie Gracie; Reuters Global News Editor, Alessandra Galloni; and Yusuf Omar of Hashtag Our Stories.

Future News Worldwide 2019 will offer an equally rich and packed programme for the next generation of news makers and content creators. Judging by last years entries, which saw over 2500 applications received, competition for places will be strong.

Future News Worldwide 2018 attendee Nashreen Edoo Baccus, journalist at Lexpress, is encouraging all budding young journalists to apply: FNW18 was really one of its kind. It was an overwhelming and very humbling experience to share with so many brilliant budding journalists around the world! During those two days of intense training from wonderful mentors, many of us delegates bonded over shared experiences, fears and ambition. It has been a few months now and from our Scotland trip, so many bonds were and are still being forged, opportunities created and shared. FNW18 didnt end on 6th July. In fact, it had only just started!

The opportunity is available to individuals aged 18-25 years who are passionate about journalism. Applicants should be able to speak English at an advanced level and need to demonstrate that they are passionate about following a career in journalism.

Applications can be made by visiting www.britishcouncil.org/future-news-worldwide.

The deadline for applications is 21 March 2019.

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At the McDowell County Cattlemen's Association Annual Meeting that was held at Glenwood United Methodist Church on Thursday, Jan. 26, two awards were given and a new Board of Directors were installed.

The two awards presented were the Cattlemen of the Year that was given to Coy Fender, a producer. A Service Award was given to those who have excelled in their commitment to the people and communities of McDowell County, as well as their service to the McDowell County Cattlemen's Association. The service award was given to Justin and Megan Jornigan with Foothills Mobile Veterinary Services.
- By Dr. Paul Price



AMD - Is Barron's coming late to the party?





Experienced investors know that the words, "This time is different" can be very expensive. Most have been burned by paying up for shares after a large run-up. Analysts typically justify buying anyway with the idea that the good news is just getting started.

The latest example of this kind of optimism comes from the latest issue of Barron's. Columnist Tiernan Ray's headline says shares of AMD, already up to $12.24 from a 2016 low of $1.81, can double from here over the next 12 months.





Is it now smart to pay more than five times as much for AMD shares as traders did about one year ago?

I went directly to AMD's website to check out the firm's apparently incredible fundamentals. 2016 ended with a GAAP loss of $497 million. According to the company's website, that translated to a loss of 60 cents per share versus an even larger deficit of 84 cents per share, or $660 million in 2015.

True believers might have accepted management's non-GAAP adjusted figures. On that basis AMD still lost 14 cents a share in 2016 after blowing through just a $419 million deficit the year before.

Where is the huge revival Barron's was referencing?

Maybe it was hidden further in AMD's past. The data below extends back to 2006. AMD was a high-flyer back then, trading as high as $42.70 when EPS weighed in at 70 cents. AMD's book value on Dec. 31, 2006 closed at $10.58 per share. There were no cash dividends in 2006 and none paid since then, either.

Paying 61x earnings and more than four times book value for a volatile tech stock rarely works out well. It was a horrible disaster for AMD's holders over the next two years as profits morphed abruptly into losses.

AMD posted consecutive deficits of $2.87 and $2.20 per share during 2007 and 2008. A non-recurring loss of $2.90 per share was recorded, but footnoted, during 2008. Year-end 2008 book value dropped to negative 13 cents per share.

Story continues

How did the stock react to all that? It plunged about 96%, bottoming in late 2008 at $1.60.

Despite continued corporate losses, 2009's overall market revival sent AMD shares back to north of $10. Silly investors who chased momentum then watched saw tooth movements take their stock down to $1.80 in November 2012.

AMD failed to post profits during four of the last five years. I'm still looking for the turnaround Barron's is basing its recommendation on.

Consensus estimates for AMD's 2017 results on Yahoo Finance are more optimistic than Value Line's projection of a small loss. Yahoo average estimate now centers on a 6-cent profit (non-GAAP) in 2017 and a 28-cent per share tally in 2018.

Which of those numbers makes Barron's think AMD can rise to $24 or better by next year? Buying into AMD after sharp run-ups hasn't worked out in the past. Is this time really different?

Caveat emptor.

Disclosure: No positions in AMD shares or options.

Start a free seven-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.






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By comparison, 70% of those with no minor-age children say the risk of side effects is low, while 29% say the risk is medium or high. As far as potential benefits, 60% of parents with children four or younger say the preventive health benefits of the MMR vaccine are high, compared with 75% of parents with school-age children (ages five-17) and 76% of people with no children younger than 18."In addition to parents of young children, this analysis finds that adults under age 30, blacks and people with lower knowledge about science topics see a higher risk of side effects or lower preventive health benefits from this vaccine," said lead author and Associate Director of Research Cary Funk. "Public health benefits from vaccines hinge on very high levels of immunization in the population, so it's important to understand which groups hold reservations about the MMR vaccine," Funk said.The survey finds that public views of medical scientists and their research related to childhood vaccines are broadly positive, though mixed, regardless of parent status, race, ethnicity and experience using alternative medicine. The data:- 73% of U.S. adults believe that medical scientists should have a major role in policy decisions related to childhood vaccines.- 55% say they trust information from medical scientists a lot to give a full and accurate picture of the health effects of vaccines, 35% trust medical scientists some and just 9% have no or not too much trust in medical scientists. People are less trusting of other groups about this issue - just 13% trust information from pharmaceutical industry leaders about the health effects of the MMR vaccines a lot.- 52% of Americans say scientists' research on childhood vaccines is influenced by the best available scientific evidence most of the time, and 55% say such research is influenced by scientists' concern for the best interests of children's health most of the time.- 47% say medical scientists understand the health effects of the MMR vaccine very well, 43% say they understand this fairly well and just 10% say medical scientists do not understand this at all or not too well.- 55% believe that "almost all" medical scientists are in agreement that the MMR vaccine is safe for healthy children, while 28% say that more than half of medical scientists agree about this."This survey looks in-depth at people's views about vaccines to explore which groups have more reservations about the MMR vaccine and whether or not those views are connected with people's trust in medical science," said Funk. "One of the striking findings in this study is that parents of young children express more concern about the safety of the MMR vaccine. Yet, like other Americans, they hold broadly positive views about medical scientists and their research on childhood vaccines."The data show there are some generational differences in these views, with adults younger than 30 less likely to see medical scientists in a positive light. People who are generally less knowledgeable about science are much less trusting of medical scientists and see higher risk and lower benefits from the MMR vaccine.There are generational differences in views of the MMR vaccine and trust in medical scientists.- Seniors, ages 65 and older, support a school-based requirement for the MMR vaccine rather than leaving the decision up to parents by a margin of 90% to 8%. By comparison, 77% of adults ages 18 to 29 support a school-based requirement, while 21% of this group says parents should be able to decide not to have their children vaccinated even if that may create health risks for others.- Younger adults, ages 18 to 29, are a bit less likely than older age groups to say medical scientists understand the health effects of childhood vaccines very well and to perceive strong consensus among medical scientists that the MMR vaccine is safe. Some 47% of adults ages 18 to 29 think the best evidence influences research findings on childhood vaccines most of the time, compared with 60% of those ages 65 and older.Those with high science knowledge and higher incomes are especially likely to see high preventive health benefits of the MMR vaccine and to support school-based MMR vaccine requirements.- 91% of those with high science knowledge (based on a nine-item index across a range of science topics) rate the preventive health benefits of the MMR vaccine as high. By contrast, 55% of those with low science knowledge say the health benefits are high.- People with high science knowledge are more likely than those low in science knowledge to trust medical scientists and their research. About three-fourths (73%) of those high in science knowledge trust information from medical scientists about the effects of the MMR vaccine a lot, compared with 40% of those low in science knowledge; 72% of those with high science knowledge think the research findings on vaccines are influenced by the best available evidence most of the time, compared with 34% of those with low science knowledge on a nine-item index.- People with higher family incomes ($75,000 or more) are more inclined than those with lower family incomes to see high health benefits and low risk of side effects from the MMR vaccine. Those with higher family incomes are especially strong in their support for a requirement that all children be vaccinated against MMR in order to attend public schools.Groups with more concern about the MMR vaccine include those who have used alternative medicine and blacks. But political groups hold similar views on childhood vaccine issues.- The 8% of Americans who report never using over-the-counter medications for cold or flu symptoms and the 20% of Americans who have used alternative medicine instead of conventional treatment are more concerned about the risk of side effects from the MMR vaccine. These groups are comparatively more likely to think that parents should be able to decide whether or not to vaccinate their children even if that decision means increased health risk for others.- Blacks (56%) are less inclined than whites (79%) to see the preventive health benefits of the MMR vaccine as high. More blacks (44%) than whites (30%) see the risk of side effects from the MMR vaccine as medium or high.- Republicans (including Republican-leaning independents) hold roughly the same views as Democrats (including those leaning Democratic) about the health benefits and risk of side effects of the MMR vaccine. However, political conservatives are slightly more likely than either moderates or liberals to say that parents should be able to decide not to vaccinate their children - though seven-in-ten or more of all three ideology groups support requiring the MMR vaccine for all schoolchildren because of the potential health risk to others. A 61% majority of Americans give the media positive marks for their coverage of issues related to the MMR vaccine.- Half of Americans say they follow news about childhood vaccines very (13%) or somewhat (37%) closely.Most Americans see reports of conflicting health studies as part of the march of research progress.- Fully 74% of adults say conflicting news reports about disease prevention are understandable because "new research is constantly improving our understanding," while 23% of adults say such research "cannot really be trusted because so many studies conflict with each other."Most Americans who have visited a health care provider in the past year say they felt listened to and that the provider "really cared about their health and well-being."- 84% of those who have been to a health care provider in the past year for an ailment felt their provider "really cared about their health and well-being" and 80% say they got all the information they needed for further treatment and at-home care.- Only 23% of this group reports feeling rushed by their health care provider and just 15% felt confused about the instructions they received for further treatment or at-home care.- 30% of Americans say they "just ask a doctor for advice" when it comes to making decisions about treatment for a serious health problem, while 68% say they do their own research, either to check for other treatment options (21%), to understand potential side effects for a recommended treatment (9%) or simply to learn more about the recommended treatment (36%).These are among the key findings from the new report, which is based on a nationally representative survey conducted May 10-June 6, 2016, among 1,549 adults, 18 years of age or older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.Source: Eurekalert
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"It's early in our analysis, so we don't know yet what these changes mean," said Martha H. Vitaterna, study co-leader and research associate professor of neurobiology at Northwestern. "We don't know what it is about spaceflight that is driving the changes in gut microbes."The research team includes collaborators from Rush University Medical School and the University of Illinois at Chicago."We will be working closely with the other Twins Study teams to piece together a more complete picture of the effects of long space missions," Turek said. "What we learn will help us safeguard the health of astronauts, and it will also help us improve human health on Earth."Turek reported his team's preliminary research results at NASA's Human Research Program's annual Investigators' Workshop, held last week in Galveston, Texas. This was the first meeting where the researchers with the 10 Twins Study teams, which are looking at different aspects of the twins' physiology, could share their data with each other."We were very excited to learn what the other teams have discovered and to start thinking about how it fits with our findings," Vitaterna said. "This is a big milestone -- we now know things we didn't know before."The Northwestern study is unique: The researchers are comparing the effect of living at zero gravity for a year on a human's gut microbiota -- the 'bugs' found naturally in the gastrointestinal tract (GI) to aid digestion -- with the normal fluctuations in these populations over the same time period in an on-Earth identical twin.The team's findings include:There was a shift in the balance between the two dominant groups of bacteria (Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes) in Scott Kelly's GI tract when he was in space. The balance returned to pre-flight levels when Scott Kelly returned to Earth.Fluctuations in the same bacterial groups were seen in Mark Kelly, the control on Earth, but the fluctuations were not as great as those seen in Scott Kelly in space.Differences in the viral, bacterial and fungal populations between Scott Kelly and Mark Kelly were pronounced at all time points; however, this was expected when comparing different individuals, even identical twins.The surprise finding was that a change in diversity of gut microbes (the number of different species) was not observed in Scott Kelly while in space.The researchers cautioned that the findings are preliminary and that they have not had a chance to dig deeply to figure out what the data mean."This will happen in the coming months when we look at our findings in the context of what the other teams are finding," Vitaterna said. "Right now, we do not see anything alarming or scary -- the Kelly twins seem to have healthy gut microbiomes."Source: Eurekalert
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Better for bonding"It breaks my heart to see mother and baby separated right after birth," said Satyan Lakshminrusimha, MD, professor and vice chair of pediatrics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, chief of the division of neonatology at WCHOB and co-author of a commentary on related research published in British Medical Journal (BMJ) Evidence-Based Medicine last week as well as a paper published last fall in Karger Biomedicine Hub."Birthing is stressful enough," said Lakshminrusimha, also a pediatric neonatologist with UBMD Pediatrics. "It's further upsetting to a young mother, especially a first-time mother, if she is not able to breastfeed her baby because of low glucose so that the baby needs IV therapy."Dextrose gel was added to the existing hypoglycemia protocol for the newborn nurseries at two Buffalo area hospitals in 2014, an idea that came out of a journal club discussion facilitated by Lakshminrusimha and Munmun Rawat, MD, then a fellow in neonatology at UB, whom he was then mentoring, as well as colleagues at WCHOB and UB.The UB researchers wanted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of oral dextrose therapy combined with feedings to reduce the need for IV dextrose therapy in babies born at or near-term (35 weeks or more) and to evaluate how that therapy would influence feeding patterns for babies prior to discharge from the hospital.The UB team published their results last fall in Karger Biomedicine Hub, describing how the use of dextrose gel in asymptomatic babies with low blood sugar helped reduce overall NICU admissions at WCHOB for hypoglycemia from 42 percent to 26 percent. In a majority of babies - 74 percent - the sugar gel successfully addressed low blood sugars versus only 58 percent of babies who received regular feedings alone, prior to implementation of the new protocol.More sugar than milkThe results highlight a drawback of the use of feedings alone, according to Praveen Chandrasekharan, MD, research assistant professor of pediatrics at UB, attending neonatologist at WCHOB, pediatric neonatologist with UBMD Pediatrics and co-author on the paper."Dextrose gel is used in adult diabetics all the time," he said, "while in babies, the protocol was to just do feedings. There is sugar in milk, but 100 milliliters of breastmilk or formula has only 7 grams of sugar, while 100 milliliters of gel has 40 grams of sugar.""We found that when we used the dextrose gel, we could significantly reduce admissions to the newborn intensive care unit, improve the level of breastfeeding at discharge and reduce health care costs," he said. "Previously, if the baby didn't get better after three feeds, they automatically were admitted to the NICU."When Chandrasekharan presented findings on this research last spring at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting, the reaction was overwhelming. "There were so many attendees at the session, they had to open up an overflow conference room," he said. Interest in the new protocol continues to spread. The UB researchers have received requests for information from institutions in Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Connecticut and New York State.The findings are not only improving outcomes for hypoglycemic newborns, they are also leading to new ways to prevent hypoglycemia. Positive results were recently reported by New Zealand researchers studying how to preventively treat newborns at risk for hypoglycemia, such as infants of diabetic mothers, with one dose of oral dextrose. In their commentary accompanying that paper, UB researchers said this is "a novel approach that requires further investigation."Lakshminrusimha said it is worth noting that the protocol change in the Buffalo hospitals in treating newborns with hypoglycemia came about because of a journal club discussion about research that found dextrose gel could effectively address hypoglycemia in newborns. That discussion was initiated by Rawat, a neonatologist at WCHOB and UBMD Pediatrics, who was first author on the Biomedicine Hub paper. The recipient of a Dr. Henry C. and Bertha H. Buswell Fellowship Award at UB, she will be a research assistant professor in the UB Department of Pediatrics starting in March."As an academic health center, we see it as part of our mission to keep abreast of cutting-edge research so we can spread the benefits of research to the rest of our community," said Lakshminrusimha. "Journal club is one of the forums where UB medical faculty share ideas that may end up directly benefitting our patients."Source: Eurekalert
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They analyzed a national sample of data for over 1.2 million Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or older admitted to hospital with a medical condition in 2011-14 and treated by over 44,000 international or US medical graduates who were general internists.The primary outcome was 30 day mortality of patients. Secondary outcomes were 30 day readmission rates and costs of care.Compared with patients treated by US graduates, patients treated by international graduates had slightly more chronic conditions.After adjusting for factors that could have affected the results (including patient characteristics, physician characteristics, and hospital fixed effects), they found that patients cared for by international graduates had a lower risk of mortality (11.2% v 11.6%) than patients cared for by US graduates across a broad range of clinical conditions.The researchers say that for every 250 patients treated by US medical graduates, one patient's life would be saved if the quality of care were equivalent between the international graduates and US graduates.Readmission rates did not differ between the two types of graduates, whereas costs of care per admission was slightly higher for international medical graduates ($1145 v $1098). Further analysis to test the strength of the results made no difference to the overall findingsOne possible explanation, say the authors, is that the current approach for allowing international medical graduates to practice in the US may select for, on average, better physicians.They stress that this is an observational study so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. Nevertheless, they say their findings "should reassure policymakers and the public that our current approach to licensing international medical graduates in the US is sufficiently rigorous to ensure high quality care."Source: Eurekalert
The attack on Sanjay Leela Bhansali by the Karni Sena invited a lot of criticism from the film industry. Protecting against his film Padmavati', Karni Sena members assaulted Bhansali and vandalized the set of the film in Jaipur.

 Youtube

In a state of shock!deeply saddened and disheartened by yesterday's events!#Padmavati  Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone) January 28, 2017

Speaking at the success party of Dangal, perfectionist Aamir Khan talked about the Sanjay Leela Bhansali attack, Taking law in their own hands is not legal for anyone. What has happened is very wrong and saddening. The people of Rajasthan are very much loveable and sensible. My experience with the people and the place was very good." "When a small group does this kind of an act, then the entire population gets a bad name. This is regrettable.

 Twitter

Aamir has had his share of offending sentiments that led to him being branded as anti-national. Aamir had invited the wrath of many when he recollected his wifes anxious comment after a wave of intolerance overtook the country. Having learned that exercising your right to freedom of speech can be detrimental to your personal and professional life, Aamir seems guarded this time. Once bitten, twice shy, we guess.
(Adds quote, context)

ACCRA, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Ghana's new government will seek to enhance its relationship with China in order to help develop its economy, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta told reporters on Sunday.

He said the ministry would on Monday hold its second meeting with the Chinese embassy since President Nana Akufo-Addo was sworn in on Jan. 7, noting that loans would be on the agenda.

China Development Bank agreed a $3 billion loan facility with Ghana in 2011 but only about $1 billion was disbursed.

China plays a major role in Ghana's economy, both as a source of imports of consumer goods and also as an importer of Ghana's gold, oil and cocoa.

Akufo-Addo came to power after campaigning on promises to create jobs, restore fiscal discipline and promote development while seeking to restore Ghana to its position as one of Africa's most dynamic economies.

Since taking over the finance ministry, Ofori-Atta has said the budget deficit and government debt are much higher than had been expected, adding pressure to public finances.

(Reporting by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Joe Bavier and Louise Ireland)
The policy halo effect that provided ballast to the stock market and fueled investor optimism is already being dimmed by political realities, according to Goldman Sachs, which may have negative implications for economic growth.

In a note to clients on Friday, the investment bank noted President Donald Trump's agenda was already running into bipartisan political resistance, with doubts growing about potential tax reform and a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, among other marquee Trump administration initiatives.

Just two weeks into his tenure, "risks are less positively tilted than they appeared shortly after the election ," Goldman wrote. Growing resistance to Trump's executive orders on immigration and financial reform has galvanized opposition while dividing members of the president's own Republican Party.

It has also curbed the enthusiasm of investors, who sent stocks on a roller-coaster ride this week as they struggled to reconcile the new restrictions on immigration with Trump's professed pro-business bent.

"While bipartisan cooperation looked possible on some issues following the election, the political environment appears to be as polarized as ever, suggesting that issues that require bipartisan support may be difficult to address," the bank added.

The balance of risks "are less positively tilted than they appeared shortly after the election," Goldman said, which may blunt the force of future growth.

Amid reports that top GOP members are reportedly becoming nervous about the impact of a full-fleged repeal of health care, that political pushback "does not bode well for reaching a quick agreement on tax reform or infrastructure funding, and reinforces our view that a fiscal boost, if it happens, is mostly a 2018 story."



Indeed, Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said that he was "not very enthused" by the prospect of broad tax reform, The Associated Press quoted Hatch as saying. A politically thorny proposal for a "border adjustment tax" seen by some as a linchpin to force Mexico to foot the bill of building a border wall is also dividing members of the GOP.

Story continues

"Some of the recent administrative actions by the Trump Administration serve as a reminder that the president is likely to follow through on campaign promises on trade and immigration, some of which could be disruptive for financial markets and the real economy," according to Goldman, saying that the president's agenda "present risks in both directions."



Goldman still expects a modest fiscal policy boost of about 1 percent of gross domestic product via tax cuts next year, but doesn't believe a border adjustment tax will make it into tax reform. The bank also expects a boost on import tariffs, and lower levels of immigration.

Trump's polarizing travel restrictions on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries linked to terrorism have already had negative effects on the tech sector, as well as other visa holders.

Silicon Valley has largely denounced the travel ban , which now threatens to become ensnared in a protracted battle between the executive and legislative branches, and increasing generalized uncertainty.

"Immigration restrictions could lead to an overly tight labor market and a slowing in final demand, and trade restrictions could pose risks to corporate profits and ultimately to growth if trading partners retaliate," Goldman wrote.

--The Associated Press contributed to this article.





More From CNBC


EBRD reveals 2017 priorities in Azerbaijan

One of the main priorities of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in Azerbaijan for 2017 will be to support the local corporates with direct financing, Ivana Duarte, head of the banks Baku office, told Trend.The EBRD will also help partner banks in Azerbaijan in on-lending to micro, small and medium enterprises and in the development of new financial instruments to target improved access to finance, for example for agribusiness sector projects, according to her.The EBRD will continue to pursue investments in energy projects, especially where there is a gap to improve efficiency and energy security, Duarte said."We will also continue to invest into the road infrastructure as well as continue our work in natural resources sector.""Additional efforts will be made to improve the situation in the financial sector to boost confidence in lending in order to stabilize the business environment," she said, adding that EBRD will also continue to work with the authorities in the implementation of the structural reforms to improve the business environment.Duarte also spoke about the projects which were agreed on in 2016 and the Banks portfolio for Azerbaijan."In 2016, EBRD signed nine projects with Azerbaijan with the total amount of investments reaching 59 million euros," Duarte said.EBRDs portfolio in Azerbaijan currently includes 160 projects, with net investments equal to over $3 billion, she added."Energy sector investments account for a total of 43 percent of the Banks portfolio, followed by 40 percent into infrastructure development. Financial, manufacturing and services sectors jointly account for 17 percent of the portfolio," Duarte said.Azerbaijan has been cooperating with the EBRD since 1992. One of EBRDs main tasks is to ensure stable development of Azerbaijan's non-oil sector by investing in small and medium-sized private enterprises.
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D. VERYKIOS: Good morning. And let's go straight to the talk of the day with a central figure -- a discussion that will be very interesting, with none other than the Minister of Foreign Affairs, our dear Nikos Kotzias.



S. LAMBROU: Good morning.



N. KOTZIAS: Good morning to both of you, and good morning to our listeners.



D. VERYKIOS: A first comment on everything we have experienced over the past 24 hours, with our eastern neighbours.



S. LAMBROU: And on the latest comments from the Turkish Prime Minister.



N. KOTZIAS: I think no one chooses their neighbours. What one chooses is the manner in which one deals with them and how one decides to behave. Our neighbours, as I have been pointing out for over a year and a half now, are very restless. Many aspects of their foreign policy didn't go as they would have liked, and they have intense domestic problems. We are taking care that they understand that good neighbourly relations are needed, based on international law and European law, and that they shouldn't externalise their domestic crisis.



D. VERYKIOS: They accuse us of provoking them. Are we provoking them, or are they provoking us?



N. KOTZIAS: I would say this: they need to accuse some of their neighbours, but this isn't the best conduct. They have internal needs, that is, to react in this manner.



D. VERYKIOS: In your opinion, what do Turkey and Greece have to do to de-escalate the tension in the Aegean?



S. LAMBROU: To bring the tensions down a notch.



N. KOTZIAS: First of all, the tension in the Aegean is not the highest we have ever had. We have to say something that I underscore, even if we aren't always pleased to hear it: the fact that we have not had heated incidents in the Aegean during the Erdogan era. We have had these daily, annoying and often dangerous incidents.



The second thing I underscore is the need for us to keep open all of the channels of communication, so that a heated incident isn't caused by an accident.



And the third is that we need to continue the multifaceted development of our relations and of our economic and political consultations. We aren't backing off at all in this area, despite everything that happened in our neighbouring country. We are continuing to take care to keep these channels open so that the tensions can be brought down as much as possible.



It is a way to handle our neighbour's restlessness. I think that our neighbour, too, needs to see -- and often does see -- that good neighbourly relations with Greece are the only ones it can have at this time. Because, as you know, until a few months ago they were rowing with the Russians, rowing with Syria, rowing with Iraq, while they don't have much in the way of relations with the Armenians. Consequently, they have to see that we are the best neighbours they can have.



D. VERYKIOS: Traditionally, the Foreign Ministry and its representative, its head, the Foreign Minister, reassured us and said that "the country needs to be supported diplomatically regarding the issues with our eastern neighbour."



N. KOTZIAS: Every Ministry has a means by which it acts. Our means is called "diplomacy and negotiation.": The country is in good shape when our means, diplomacy and negotiation, are the means through which relations with the neighbouring country are developed.



D. VERYKIOS: But do you believe that the other Ministry, the Ministry of Defence, has to prepare and build defences? Does the country need to build its defences when you hear from the Government Council on Foreign and Defence Affairs (KYSEA) about strengthening defence. The Ministry of Defence has to do its duty with the means at its disposal, and always in the hope that those means will not need to be used.



D. VERYKIOS: Are you pleased, do you sleep soundly, Mr. Minister, with the way the Greek side is handling these issues in Greek-Turkish relations?



N. KOTZIAS: I think we are very, very clear. We have made it known to all our allies and partners in NATO and the European Union, as well as to the members of the Security Council, that Turkey sometimes behaves with a restlessness that does not meet the needs of normal development of bilateral relations.



S. LAMBROU: Does this mean that you also fear a heated incident? Because we see the Turkish Minister of Defence ...



N. KOTZIAS: I don't go as far as a heated incident. I would say that, at this time, Turkey has placed the domestic coup at the centre of the world. As you know -- I want to underscore this again -- from the outset we condemned the coup in Turkey. In no way do we like seeing tanks and aircrafts bombing Parliament, regardless of any weakness and side effects the functioning of this institution might have in Turkey.



D. VERYKIOS: Then why didn't we hand over "the 8"?



N. KOTZIAS: What I always stress is that we want to see the combating of any kind of military coup from the perspective of the defence of democracy and democratic rules, from the perspective of the strengthening of democratic institutions. This is our general view on coups globally.



D. VERYKIOS: And how do you respond to your colleague?



N. KOTZIAS: Fortunately, we have a clear separation of powers in this country. What I always answer is that democracy functions as foreseen by Montesquieu and Tocqueville, with the separation of powers. We need to ensure that this separation of powers is respected, not just in Greece -- where it is respected -- but also in every other country.



D. VERYKIOS: What did you think of Merkel's visit to Ankara yesterday and her meeting with Erdogan?



N. KOTZIAS: I think it is good for all European leaders to maintain open channels of communication with Turkey, to talk to Turkey about all of the problems or the possible solutions that we have before us, but without backing down -- and I don't think this happened -- from the principles of European rule of law.



S. LAMBROU: What's happening on the Cyprus issue?



N. KOTZIAS: The Cyprus problem is a very difficult issue. Some people told me that it should have been resolved by 19 January. That is, some people thought that the last day of the previous U.S. administration is also the last day of the existence of Cyprus. Naturally it wasn't. Some people elevated their personal careers to the main criterion for the resolution of the Cyprus issue.



We are clear on the Cyprus issue: when we talk about a solution, we also have to say what the problem is. Without defining the problem, you can't find a solution. I don't know any mathematician who doesn't write at the bottom of the page the function he has to solve to get a solution, saying "this is some abstract and non-existent function."



The Cyprus problem has two aspects. The one aspect is the relations between the two Communities, the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots. Let me also remind you here of the three religious groups, which we very systematically back as much as we can in the international environment: I am refereing to the Latins, the Armenians and the Maronites. But the Cyprus problem is mainly an issue -- and this is its core -- of the occupation of Cyprus by Turkish forces.



If we agree that, when we say 'the Cyprus problem', we mean the occupation, then the answer and the solution to the Cyprus problem, this difficult equation, cannot but include the elimination of the system of the Treaty of Guarantees. The right, that is, according to Turkey -- illegally of course, but this is Turkey's opinion -- to intervene on the island. Moreover, you cannot but include the removal of all of these occupation forces, which today are estimated at a little under 34,000.



Consequently, anyone who doesn't agree with the definition of the Cyprus problem in this way has to tell us what, in their opinion, the definition is. How many vetoes the Turkish Cypriots will have? This is one side and aspect of the Cyprus issue, but it is not its core.



S. LAMBROU: Following the developments we had with "the 8", do you think Erdogan will raise other issues? Will he throw up other impediments in the Cyprus issue?



N. KOTZIAS: Turkey has raised two issues on the Cyprus problem, becoming ever more "sincere". The one is that it is pursuing the continued presence of a portion of the Turkish army on the island. Initially it said this was only to protect the Turkish Cypriots, but of late, with greater sincerity, it is talking about reasons of geostrategic aspirations. The second, which we have been hearing for two months now, is that, in the context of the Cyprus issue, they want to ensure the interests of Turkish citizens: how they will travel back and forth and move as European citizens in Cyprus.



Thus, the Turks define the Cyprus problem as satisfaction of their own geostrategic aspirations. I have responded many, many times that all sides must make compromises on the Cyprus issue, so that Cyprus can take the course of a sovereign and independent -- truly independent and sovereign -- state. But in no case are we in the negotiations to resolve Turkey's geostrategic issues. These are Turkey's issues and they don't concern us in the context of the Cyprus issue. They concern us in the context of inter-state relations.



D. VERYKIOS: Does Nikos Kotzias have a clear conscience regarding what he has done to date, particularly behind the scenes in the Cyprus negotiations.



N. KOTZIAS: Yes. Not only is my conscience clear, but my conscience is the only one that feels good right now.



D. VERYKIOS: Why? Can you tell us?



N. KOTZIAS: Because I think that, for the first time, we changed the agenda of the Cyprus negotiations. As you know, in 2002-2004 the Greek state believed -- particularly with regard to the Annan plan -- that it couldn't substantially raise the issue of guarantees and Turkey's "rights" of intervention.



The same thing happened -- despite not coming to the surface very much -- in the negotiations that took place from 2008 to 2009-2010. Today, the agenda has changed for the first time, and it will stay this way. That is, we put the core of the Cyprus issue back on the table.



Second, this is the first time we have been so well prepared when going to negotiations. We have studied the international experience of all the cases of conflicts, the cases that bear similarity to the Cyprus issue or to aspects of the Cyprus issue: from East Timor to the negotiations for peace in Colombia; from how open-ended negotiations were carried out with Iran -- that is, if the negotiations stalled at some point, that didn't mean their collapse. We even studied the nature of the international treaties on the withdrawal of third-country forces. As I have already said, the best case is probable the agreement on the temporary stationing of Soviet forces in the process of their withdrawal from German territory.



Third, in the negotiations -- I will put this very colloquially -- we are not "chickens". We know that we are defending the goods of Law, human rights and state rights, and we are moving ahead with this without backing down. We are not dogmatic in our stances. We have the necessary flexibility for good compromises to be made, but we will not back down for bad and shoddy compromises to be made.



All of these are positive elements. And I should also tell you that Britain has made a major shift in the field of the negotiations. It has gone from a traditionally pro-Turkish stance to realising and now telling the Turks that they cannot maintain the guarantor and intervention rights. This is a very, very big result.



We have changed the agenda and we have strengthened our alliances. There is not a single EU member state that does not see how astute our stance is: that a member state of the European Union cannot be under occupation or be in a position where a third country has a right to intervene in it. We have shown on the international political stage that such a state of affairs would lead to other states demanding rights of intervention in smaller states where there is a population that shares their culture or speaks their language.



D. VERYKIOS: Are those who have been critical of Nikos Kotzias from time to time, regarding how you negotiate, the same people who wanted him to be a chicken?



N. KOTZIAS: I think they are the people who had got used to our being "chickens" and are annoyed when we aren't. We are a state with a foreign policy that is governed by an extremely scientific approach, dignity, persistence and patience -- and, I would say, to a degree, by insight. They had got used to Greece's accepting, by definition, the Turkish side's intervening in Cyprus whenever it wanted, also believing that rights of intervention in Cyprus were the solution. I don't get it! How is the Turks' right to intervene in the domestic affairs of Cyprus -- or to occupy part of Cyprus whenever they want -- a solution to the Cyprus issue?



I would say that there are some people who have a supposedly internationalist stance. That is, fundamentally they like patriotism, but what always impresses me is that -- while they raise the anti-nationalist flag to back the positions of third countries -- hiding behind this is essentially support for Turkey's nationalist goals.



Because what else is it but Turkish nationalism to want Turkey to have the right to intervene in a third state? And what else is it besides patriotism and internationalism to demand the implementation of international law?



D. VERYKIOS: Right.



N. KOTZIAS: And third -- I have to say this -- some of these people are caught up in international circles. I remind you that, in the discussion following the Annan plan, in 2004, it was shown that some of those who attacked me were funded by circles. I'm not insinuating anything.



D. VERYKIOS: NGOs?



N. KOTZIAS: You are an exceptional journalist. You can look into it.



I want to say one last thing. There are also people who criticize me from the perspective of their own composed thinking. Not from a bad standpoint. They are well intentioned and their criticism is always welcome. But I believe that the criticism of these people is incorrect.



Regarding the former -- those who do it out of expediency or to serve third parties -- the only thing I have to say is that they distort the facts. They take as reality any lie published by Turkey and, from there, in the international press. It is senseless for them to judge me based on these accusations.



And I'll give you a very simple example. We were invited to Geneva as the Foreign Ministry, to negotiate on Thursday and Friday, 12 and 13 January. I have the relevant documents -- and in fact I saw that your excellent colleague in the U.S., Mihail Ignatiou, made them public -- that show we were invited for two days.



We went there, they gave us the agenda, which said talks on a political level would take place on Thursday and Friday, and the UN Secretary-General opened the session saying that "the talks would take place Thursday and Friday on a political level." Suddenly Mr. Eide -- whom I will be seeing this afternoon -- said, on Thursday evening: "We will set up technical groups tomorrow." I answered him: "Why set up technical groups if we, the ministers, have the opportunity and the duty to continue our discussion?" And my colleague Cavusoglu got up and said: "I don't have time. I have other, more important things to do. I've made plane reservations and I have to leave early in the morning." So he left early in the morning, while we stayed to continue to explore the potential for a solution in Geneva, and, in fact, he stated in Ankara: "Kotzias said that he can't stay at the negotiations."



That's absurd. I was in Geneva when he said that, and he was in Ankara. So, some people in Cyprus and in Greece took this argument and, together with a Brussels newspaper with wide circulation, claimed that we did not stay at the negotiations.



S. LAMBROU: Mr. Minister, we would like one more comment, on Trump. And, additionally, are we perhaps afraid that the Turks will threaten us substantially via the refugee issue?



N. KOTZIAS: Trump is a new phenomenon in America. He formed a new alliance that proved to be a majority in 48 of the country's 50 states. The difference of 3 million he had with Mrs. Clinton was 6 million in two states, in New York and California. So in the other states he won the majority.



So he organized -- against the Democrats who had for many years the majority of African Americans, Hispanic voters and others -- the white working class majority. People who are unemployed or underemployed or work for very low wages were added to the middle classes. This new alliance expresses a repulsion to globalization, because its members feel defeated by it and, to a degree, fuels protectionism.



Instead of screaming about Trump from morning to night, the Europeans -- and I have told them this a thousand times -- would do well to correctly study the phenomenon and find a way to explain precisely what the European Union wants today and what its relationship with the U.S. should be.



I note that, for Greek foreign policy, the clash between the European Union and the U.S. is of no use. Because all of the major European powers, which are mid-level powers globally, work things out with the U.S. a few weeks or months after they clash, and we are left on the sidelines.



That's why I've told them that I will not follow such a confrontational tactic, based on "we don't accept the results of the elections," which, however, as they themselves know, are democratic results.



D. VERYKIOS: At any rate, you've found a modus vivendi with the Trump system.



N. KOTZIAS: No. We are in an open discussion. I also want to tell you -- because lately there has been a lot of noise about the refugee issue -- that we really must defend the human rights of all of these millions of people.

As Greeks, we have the right to talk about this, but the Europeans who closed the western Balkan route do not have that right.



S. LAMBROU: Right.



D. VERYKIOS: Thank you. A torrent of information once again. Thank you.



N. KOTZIAS: Have a good day.
jake tapper mitch mcconnell

CNN anchor Jake Tapper grilled Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over President Donald Trump's defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During an interview on "State of the Union" on Sunday, Tapper asked McConnell whether he agreed with the president's comments to Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Saturday.

Trump dismissed the description of Putin as a "killer," saying that he respected the Russian president, and that the US is not "so innocent."

"Does it trouble you that he said this? I'm trying to imagine your response if President Obama defended the murderous reign of Vladimir Putin by saying 'You think our country is so innocent?'" Tapper asked.

McConnell slightly distanced himself from Trump's comments, asserting that Americans understood the different between American democracy and Russia's semi-autocratic style of government.

"I'm not going to critique the president's every utterance. But I do think America is exceptional, America is different, we don't operate in any way the way the Russians do," McConnell said. "I think there's a clear distinction here that all Americans understand. And no, I would not have characterized it that way."

Tapper continued to press the Republican Senate leader, arguing that Trump's statement sounded like a talking point from Russian state-sponsored media outlet Russia Today.

"Are you confident that the president understands? He just said something that could've been broadcast on RT," Tapper said.

He added: "If Barack Obama had said this, I can't imagine there wouldn't be protests in the street."

"I can speak for myself, and I already have about Vladimir Putin and the way the Russians operate. I'm not going to critique every utterance of the president. I obviously don't see the issue the same way he does," McConnell replied.

Unlike most major American politicians, Trump has largely avoided criticizing the Russian president, who has garnered bipartisan criticism for the well-documented human rights abuses perpetrated by the Russian government against its own people.

Story continues

Putin has presided over Russia's transformation over the last several decades into a semi-authoritarian state. The autocrat's regime has openly jailed political dissidents, tortured prisoners, placed restrictions on freedom of speech and religion, and has been accused repeatedly of ordering the execution of journalists.

Watch the clip below, via CNN:

Jake: Trying to imagine your reax if Obama said USA wasn't innocent



McConnell: I'm not going to critique every utterance of the president pic.twitter.com/k26NeIpGxI  David Mack (@davidmackau) February 5, 2017

NOW WATCH: Watch protesters and Trump supporters get into a fiery argument on the National Mall right after the new president was sworn in





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mike pence

Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly refused to directly answer during a Sunday interview whether he believes the US is morally superior to Russia.

His dodges on the subject came a day after President Donald Trump rebuffed Bill O'Reilly when the Fox News host dubbed Russian President Vladimir Putin a "killer," reiterating that he respects Putin, and claiming that the US is not "so innocent."

Appearing on "Face The Nation" on Sunday, Pence defended Trump's comments, saying the president recognizes "the extraordinary superiority of the ideas of the American people" but that he was "bringing a healthy skepticism" to the US-Russia relationship.

"I simply don't accept that there was any moral equivalency in the president's comments. Look, President Trump, throughout his life, his campaign, and during his administration, has never hesitated to be critical of government policies by the United States in the past," Pence said. "What you heard there was a determination to attempt to deal with the world as it is. To start afresh with Putin, and to start afresh with Russia."

CBS host John Dickerson then asked directly whether the ideals of the US were morally superior.

"What you have in this new president is someone who is willing to, and is in fact engaging the world, including Russia, and saying, 'Where can we find common interests that will advance the security of the American people, the peace and prosperity of the world?' And he is determined to come at that in a new and renewed way," Pence replied.

Dickerson continued to press the vice president.

"But America morally superior to Russia? Yes or no?" Dickerson asked.

"I believe that the ideals that America has stood for throughout our history represent the highest ideals," Pence said.

When Pence went on to summarize his recent visit to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the US Constitution was crafted, Dickerson asked again.

"Shouldn't we be able to just say yes to that question?" Dickerson replied.

Story continues

"American ideals are superior to countries all across the world, but again, what the president is determined to do  someone who has spent a lifetime looking for deals is to see whether we can have a new relationship with Russia and other countries that advances the interests of America first and the peace and security of the world," Pence said.

Pence's comments came as many other top Republican leaders distanced themselves from Trump, who has repeatedly defied lawmakers and the US foreign-policy establishment by praising Putin. The Russian president's human-rights abuses have been roundly criticized by global watchdogs.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN's Jake Tapper that he did not agree with Trump's statement.

"I can speak for myself, and I already have about Vladimir Putin and the way the Russians operate. I'm not going to critique every utterance of the president. I obviously don't see the issue the same way he does," McConnell said.

And in a tweet on Sunday, Sen. Marco Rubio criticized Trump's comments, suggesting that US leaders do not poison political opponents, a seemingly abundant occurrence in Russia.

When has a Democratic political activists been poisoned by the GOP, or vice versa? We are not the same as #Putin. MR  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 5, 2017

NOW WATCH: Where the 'Thanks, Obama' joke actually comes from and how Obama made it his own





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Watch Super Bowl ads, TV shows, and more on Yahoo View.

Budweiser's Super Bowl ad has the beer brand in hot water.

On Tuesday, Budweiser released its Super Bowl ad online. The 60-second commercial follows Anheuser-Busch co-founder Adolphus Busch's journey to the US in the mid-1800s, highlighting Busch's struggles and the prejudice the German immigrant encountered.

"You're not wanted here, go back home!" one American yells at Busch as he arrives in New Orleans.

Budweiser has said the commercial was not intended to be a political statement. However, many people aren't buying it after it aired at the Super Bowl.

"I drank your product for 30 years and I will no longer drink it you liberal s--- heads," reads one such comment on Budweiser's Facebook page.

@Budweiser This Bud' s no longer for me. It is activist juice.  Lynn Sellick-Lane (@LynnSellickLane) February 1, 2017

@Budweiser @GoingCrazyMomma screw Budweiser. You should have learned from the response you got with Amy Schumer. No LEFTY political BS.  Delta MIKE Echo (@MetalMilitia74) January 31, 2017

The Super Bowl commercial dropped at a time when immigration is an especially hot topic in America. In late January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US for 90 days  a move that inspired protests across the country.

While Budweiser's ad was in the works long before Trump was inaugurated, some saw the timing of the commercial's release as a jab at the president's executive order.

Story continues

.@Budweiser You conflated the issue of stopping terrorists from infiltrating "Refugee" programs with legal immigrationthen, Budweiser died.  Katie Wagner-Fox (@KatieWagnerFox) January 31, 2017

Never drinking @Budweiser you should respect the AMERICAN president instead you mock with liberal propaganda #boycottbudweiser  lilojuicy (@lilojuicy) February 5, 2017

More than 14 million people have watched Budweiser's ad online, fueling the #BoycottBudweiser and #BoycottBud hashtags.

@xatzisotiris #boycottBudweiser - Budweiser is a Belgium - Brazilian brewery which no doesn't reflects Americans. Drink Samuel Adams!  Eric Thompson Show (@ETTalkShow) February 4, 2017

As is often the case with threats of boycott, many people are promising to buy more Budweiser to make up for those who are protesting.

@Budweiser not much of a beer drinker, but I will pick some up on the way home. The husband & I will be toasting to you tonight. Great ad!  J.Sandy Something (@VonnegutTattoo) February 3, 2017

Please everyone buy a case of Budweiser! Trumpkins are boycotting because of super bowl commercial.  KatVonB (@klbtweeter) February 5, 2017

Ricardo Marques, the vice president of marketing at Anheuser-Busch InBev, said there's no correlation between the ad and today's political climate.

This isn't the first time Budweiser has been criticized for attempting to tap into the American spirit in advertising.

Last May, the brand announced its labels would simply read "America" for the summer. While the campaign inspired mixed reactions, Marques revealed in January that Budweiser would bring back "America" cans and bottles again in summer 2017.

NOW WATCH: Watch Budweisers Super Bowl ad  it makes a strong statement on immigration



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Since Stuart Sternberg purchased the Rays in 2005, the franchise has lost money from every point in time you can pick, he told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. In spite of that, Sternberg has no interest in selling the team and is optimistic about keeping it in Tampa Bay with a new stadium to replace Tropicana Field. If we are going to propose it, it will be because we believe it works for generations, said Sternberg, who is encouraged that local politicians  including the mayors of both Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg  have been cooperative in the process. Sternberg & Co. are working on cutting down a half-dozen potential stadium sites to a pin-perfect choice. Hes also looking to land a new TV deal sometime in the near future, but he admitted it could be years before that comes to fruition.

More from around baseball:
DUBAI, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Qatar Airways launched its first service to Auckland, New Zealand on Sunday with the return leg set to be the longest scheduled commercial flight by flying time, according to the airline's website.

Flight QR920 departed Doha's Hamed International Airport, a spokeswoman confirmed, and was scheduled to arrive in Auckland on Monday at 0730 local time (1830 GMT).

The flight was expected to take 16 hours and 20 minutes and the return service, taking 17 hours and 30 minutes, would be the world's longest, according to flight tracking website flightradar24.

Qatar Airways is using a Boeing 777 on the 14,534 kilometre (9,031 mile) flight, its first service to New Zealand, it said. Improvements in technology over the last decade have allowed more efficient fuel use, encouraging longer flights.

The previous record for the world's longest scheduled flight by flying time was held by fellow Gulf carrier Emirates , which launched direct flights to Auckland from Dubai in March 2016.

Air India has a longer flight by distance, spanning 15,298 kilometres from Delhi to San Francisco; this takes 14 hours and 30 minutes, according to the Times of India.

Singapore Airlines may regain the top spot when it resumes non-stop flights to New York with an ultra-long distance variant of the Airbus A350 as soon as 2018. It has said the New York service, at around 19 hours, will start in 2018.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; editing by Andrew Torchia and Jason Neely)
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Ubers defiance of the US President Donald Trumps travel ban policies, its CEO Travis Kalanick stepping down from business council and the move to defy the ban with Karnataka government has a common thread.

Often open defiance of governments laws may be good for brand positioning, market share and sales. It makes complete economic sense. Heres how:

Ubers open defiance of repeated bans in Delhi and Karnataka, even by Courts, has led it to capture significant market share - both from existing taxi players such as Meru, Mega Cabs and local app based aggregator - Ola.

Had it complied with the ban and waited for judgements to turn in its favour, it would have lost out a lot of market share and thus on valuation of its business. It also points to a certain fact - which legislators should understand - laws will always lag technology around the world.





Just because something is written in a Constitution or legal framework of a country may not mean it remains relevant for its citizens spread across generations. A new service, technology, innovation or change in dynamics and culture of markets often make laws redundant.

Unless some entrepreneurs, thought leaders and companies revolt against existing laws even if it threatens security of their businesses, laws dont change.

A growing army of lawyers, lobbyists and a strong technology backend is a foundation on which Uber is able to pick up fights with various state governments even as its CEO hobnobs with Presidents and Prime Ministers of the same governments.





(Source: Tracxn)



Ubers recent India hire of Madhu Kannan, the former Public Affairs head at USD 100 billion Tata Group, is a testament to its growing need for strong public affairs teams.

Technology is also core to Uber. So much so that when Delhis Government wrote to Centres Ministry of IT asking for a ban the IP address of Ubers - it was unable to do so technically.

Pacifying the Chinese and the Saudis by distancing from Trump

Uber also played to the gallery with its CEO stepping down the Trumps Economic Council.

The stepping down of Travis Kalanick from Trumps economic council will signal a distancing from the Administration policies to global investors and the Silicon Valley community, upon whom Uber is largely dependent to raise funds.





Source: CrunchBase

Ubers large investors include foreign funds led by Chinese major Baidu as well as Muslim nation Saudi Arabias public investment firm that invested USD 3.5 billion in it. Trump has picked up fights both with China and Muslim nations around the world a few days within his presidency.

Its imperative for American tech entrepreneurs to keep the Saudis happy. Saudi billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal is an investor in Uber rival Lyft, as well as Apple and Twitter. Its imperative to note that Saudi Arabia - a major source of funds to terror groups was not mentioned in the travel ban.

Trumps travel ban on seven nations also led to protests by Silicon Valley CEOs. Major among them was Sergey Brin, who stood in protest at the San Francisco Airport. His firm - Googles investment arm Google Ventures is a major investor in Uber.

Its no secret that taxi industry is largely dominated by immigrants in any city in the world. Its one of the easiest skill to pick up and requires little investment.

This is what Uber CEO Travis Kalanick wrote in a post addressing and assuring drivers of compensation. Drivers who are citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen and live in the US but have left the country, will not be able to return for 90 days. This means they wont be able to earn money and support their families during this period.



Not only this step makes Ubers brand stand out in defiance of Trump, it also will make it attract drivers from rivals who will be assured of earnings in case of more immigrant bans going forward.

Of course, it also stops people from uninstalling Ubers app. Over 200,000 people are reported to have [deleted Uber from their smartphones via a Twitter campaign.

The developments by Uber show that sometimes refuting the governments in democracies can be good for topline.



(This is an opinion piece)
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* Donald Tusk branded Donald Trump a "threat" to EU

* Not all EU leaders shared summit chair's view

* French-led push for "strategic autonomy" from U.S.

* Merkel, others anxious not to alienate Washington

By Alastair Macdonald

VALLETTA, Feb 5 (Reuters) - "Our Donald", or "the other Donald"? European Union leaders meeting in Malta found themselves taking sides, between their summit chairman, "our Donald" Tusk, and the new U.S. president, Donald Trump.

But despite declarations of unity, EU states are split on how to respond to policies from a man who has reversed staunch postwar U.S. support for European integration and suggested others follow Britain out of a bloc he has called "a vehicle for Germany".

Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, said EU leaders gave him the "our Donald" nickname in Malta. He presented it as a sign of their support, saying before the summit that Trump posed a "threat" to the bloc, alongside Russia, China and violent Islam.

"The mood in the room was 'our Donald' and 'the other Donald'," said one person present at the talks, where Tusk also felt confident enough in his support to confirm he wants a second term as president of the European Council.

His political enemies in the Warsaw government publicly disavowed any sense of unanimity behind Tusk, however, calling his criticism of Trump a "gross abuse" and accusing him of "sowing fear" and "seeking confrontation".

Others, less publicly, said there was wider disquiet that the EU could turn its back on its Transatlantic relationship.

Such internal arguments pit historic unease, especially in France, over U.S. influence against fears of weakening a Western front against Russia and, increasingly, China. How they play out will help shape Trump's hopes, for example, of saving U.S. money spent on NATO and shifting world trade in Americans' favour.

They will also flavour the EU's Brexit talks with London - where Prime Minister Theresa May sees Britain being a bridge between Washington and Brussels - as well as efforts by some states to tighten cooperation on euro zone economic policies and other areas, notably an independent EU military capability.

Story continues

"STRATEGIC AUTONOMY"

As a Pole well aware it is U.S. forces that underpin NATO's security guarantees in eastern Europe, Tusk nuanced his call to Europeans to pull together to defend their independent interests against the "superpowers, the United States, Russia and China" with an appeal to Americans to preserve "the Transatlantic bond without which global order and peace cannot survive".

But some leaders worry Trump's coolness toward NATO and the exit of well-armed Britain will fuel ambitions for Europeans to loosen that bond - notably in Paris, which has often chafed at "Anglo-American" influence and where officials say Trump shows France has been right to seek "strategic autonomy" for the EU.

"The French ... are as usual saying 'It's just the European Union now; there's no such thing as the West'," said a senior eastern European diplomat, criticising Paris's view.

"The Germans are much more cautious. There is a clear issue to be decided on whether we should seek a common ground to engage with the United States, or turn our backs."

As EU leaders prepare to map out a post-Brexit strategy at a 60th anniversary summit in Rome next month, French President Francois Hollande criticised Trump and eastern European governments he accused of raking in EU subsidies but then breaking ranks and undermining the bloc by seeking special favour from Washington.

Many in the east are especially alarmed by Trump's warmer tone toward Russia but some back his entry ban on Muslims, which echoes their own criticisms of EU refugee policies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel took a less confrontational tone but stressed the need for "multilateralism" - a prod to Trump not to try and circumvent the EU by talking only to national leaders, and to Europeans to speak with a single voice.

Whether "the other Donald" gets that message is another matter, given a seemingly hazy grasp on who is who in Brussels. The tycoon-turned-president told an interviewer last month he had spoken to "the head of the European Union" and named his interlocutor as Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU chief executive.

In fact, however, he had spoken to "our Donald", Tusk.

"Sometimes I have an impression that the new administration does not know the EU in detail," Juncker said drily on Friday.

"But, in Europe, details matter." (Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Louise Ireland)
February 05, 2017

Russia, Ukraine - Neocon Ceasefire Sabotage Fails To Change Trump's Mind

There are serious signs that the Trump administration will continue to seek better relations with Russia. It declines to get involved in the hustling in Ukraine. It is ready to give up on the catastrophic regime-change agenda the neocons implemented in Kiev with the help of Ukrainian Nazi organizations.

Let us recap. On New Year the neo-conservative Senators McCain and Graham were in Ukraine to fire up Ukrainian troops at the front lines for a new fight with Russia supported rebels in Donetsk and Lugansk. A few days later then Vice President Biden also dropped in on Kiev. The three are declared enemies of Trump's more friendly position towards Russia. They obviously intended to reignite the conflict in Ukraine to sabotage Trump's new foreign policy.

The former Georgian President Saakashvilli has once fallen for the Bush administration's incitement and attacked Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. When that war went badly he received none of the hoped for backup from Washington and NATO.

Poroshenko should have learned from that. Instead he fell for the incitement and assurances from the senators and restarted the war with the separatist. Multiple news outlets and even Ukrainian generals first admitted that it was the Kiev government that started the current round of fighting by "creeping" into the no-man's zone that was supposed to separate the belligerents. But as usual the "western" media now try to change history and to put the guilt on Russia. They press for a U.S. "response" to the "Russian aggression".

At first it looked that this impressed the Trump administration. The new U.S. ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley held a speech that might have been written by her "wailing banshee" predecessor Samantha Powers. It condemned Russia for about everything and promised that sanctions on Russia would stay. But two days later she visited the Russian UN ambassador Churkin in his private home in New York city to make nice. The speech was probably just a head-fake or some uncoordinated screw-up.

The Ukrainian President Poroshenko had tried for several days to get a phonecall scheduled with President Trump. But on Thursday Trump met, very shortly though, Poroshenko's opposition in Ukraine Yuliya Tymoshenko. She is a former prime minister and - said mildly- a controversial figure: always scheming, lying and ready to be offered and take huge bribes. But with some help she could probably win an election in Ukraine should Poroshenko step down.

Only on Saturday Trump finally had a phonecall with Poroshenko. The very short readout is a blast. It speaks of "Ukraine's long-running conflict with Russia" and adds:

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," said President Trump.

Ukraine's conflict is not with Russia and the fighting is not along the border. It is a genuine civil war, ignited by a U.S. regime change operation in Kiev, in witch both side have external support. That Trump does not describes it that way leaves lots of room for interpretation. Is there a new "Russian border" along the current line of the ceasefire? What about the Minsk2 process which Ukraine has failed to implement? What about sanctions?

But the most important points: There is no mention of weapon or other support for Kiev. There is no blame on Russia for the renewed violence at the front-line.

My instant micro interpretation of the readout was:

Trump to Poroshenko (translated): I know you started this on order of McCain/Graham/Biden. Screw you. You will win nothing. You are out.

Poroshenko had fired up his troops and promised to fight the rebels throughout their autonomous area up to the Russian border. The intend behind that was to sabotage Trump's policies. Poroshenke will now have to revise those plans.

Trump topped the above readout in an interview with Fox news a part of which was previewed last night (partitial transcript):

Bill O'Reilly: Do you respect Putin? President Trump: I do respect him but - O'Reilly: Do you? Why? President Trump: Well, I respect a lot of people but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with him. He's a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us to fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world - that's a good thing. Will I get along with him? I have no idea. O'Reilly: But he's a killer though. Putin's a killer. President Trump: There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think - our country's so innocent?

Whoa - Trump is rejecting the U.S. national religion - exceptionalism. The Republicans would have eaten Obama alive had he ever said something like that. "Are you suggesting that Russia which is always killing civilians is morally equal to us who only kill terrorists?" Now the Republicans will be silent about this and the Democrats will howl.

Taken together the recent statements by the Trump administration are positive for renewed U.S.- Russian cooperation. The Ukraine case will be a non-issue. Poroshenko listened to the wrong master's voice. He will (have to) see the light and leave immediately or he will be kicked out of the way.

Posted by b on February 5, 2017 at 9:09 UTC | Permalink

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PBPA Top Hand banquet

The Permian Basin Petroleum Association held its 2016 Top Hand Award Banquet at the Petroleum Club on Jan. 19. This years honoree was Mack C. Chase, the founder of Mack Energy Corp. of Artesia, New Mexico.

The award recognizes someone who has a reputation of dedicated service to the oil and gas industry, demonstrates a history of leadership, significantly contributes to the industrys development and has a reputation of civic involvement and community development.

PBPA Chairman Clint Walker welcomed everyone and Past Chairman Danny Campbell gave the invocation. As guests dined on salad, filet mignon, green beans, mashed potatoes and an array of desserts, PBPA President Ben Shepperd introduced Richard Price of the Chase Foundation who spoke about Mack Chase/

A video presentation, which included interviews with industry leaders such as Peyton Yates and Tim Leach, highlighted the impact that Chase has had on the oil and gas industry, Artesia and the high school seniors who have benefited from his scholarship program.

Bill Munn of Mack Energy and Sean Potter of Nalco Champion spoke about Chase -- his humility, his willingness to help people and how much his employees enjoyed working for him.

Brews & Beethoven

The Midland-Odessa Symphony Young Professionals recently hosted Brews & Beethoven backstage at the Wagner-Noel Performing Arts Center. The evening consisted of beer tasting and snacks before the group got an exclusive sneak peek of the MOSC rehearsing Beethoven the night before the concert.

To have an event included in "Out and About," contact Julie Donnelly at mrtjulie@outlook.com.
AUSTIN -- Some lawmakers say 2017 is their best chance yet to finally pass a law preventing Texans from texting while driving -- a law already in place in all but four states.

On Thursday, they launched their latest effort to keep roads safe at the state Capitol before more than a dozen Texans who have lost loved ones in crashes that involved distracted drivers.

This is what drinking and driving was to previous generations, said state Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-Brownsville, one of several co-authors of a bill to ban texting while driving, during a press conference on the issue. I dont even think or assume when I see someone swerving that its alcohol related. I immediately assume its because they are distracted, because they are on their phones.

We will finish the fight. We will reach that finish line.

State Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-Brownsville, says of the bills prospects this year

We will finish the fight, he promised. We will reach that finish line.

But not all lawmakers are supportive, including Tarrant County Republican Sen. Konni Burton, who considers it unenforceable.

North Richland Hills Dee Davila-Estelle was among those listening to Lucio and his allies as they laid out their legislative battle plan.

She and her husband, Kevin, lost two of their three children in a deadly 2015 accident, when their familys 2011 Ford Fusion was hit from behind on Interstate-35 by a driver they were told was distracted by his phone while driving.

We went from a family of five to a family of three in the blink of an eye, Davila-Estelle said. It has been so hard. Our family motto used to be live, laugh, love. Our new motto is one step, one breath, repeat.

We couldnt breathe, we couldnt move. We didnt know how to function as half a family any more.

She and others say its past time for lawmakers to pass a law taking cell phones out of the hands of Texas drivers.

This is the fourth session in a row that state Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, has filed a bill banning texting while driving. Several House members, including Lucio and state Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, signed on as co-authors.

State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, filed an identical bill in the Senate.

Davila-Estelle said she will do whatever she can to help make this proposal law in Texas.

When I saw my kids for the first time after the accident, which was at the funeral home, I promised them I was going to make it right so no family has to feel like this again, she said. If the bill doesnt pass this year, they better get used to my face.

Ill be back at the Capitol until it does.

The proposal

At issue is House Bill 62, a measure banning texting while driving known as the Alex Brown Memorial Act, which is named for a 17-year-old Terry County high school student killed in 2009 when she crashed her truck. She was texting at the time.

Craddick has long said Texas needs a ban because many of the estimated 3,500 fatalities on Texas roads could be prevented.

There are state laws preventing texting in school zones and keeping both bus drivers with minor passengers and drivers younger than 18 from texting while driving.

Dozens of Texas cities from Arlington to San Antonio have already outlawed texting while driving. And while there are state laws preventing texting in school zones and keeping both bus drivers with minor passengers and drivers younger than 18 from texting while driving, there is no overall statewide ban.

HB 62, and its companion Senate Bill 31, would make it a criminal offense if someone uses a wireless communication device while driving to read, write or send an electronic message while operating a motor vehicle unless the vehicle is stopped.

Violations would be a misdemeanor crime, punishable by a fine between $25 and $99, unless the person already has been convicted of such an offense. Multiple offenses would draw fines between $100 and $200, according to the bill.

If approved by lawmakers, and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, this measure could become law by Sept. 1, 2017.

State Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, said this is the third time he has signed on as a co-author of this bill.

Im getting pissed, he said. This is outrageous. Its outrageous our state cannot do something as simple as dealing with distracted drivers.

Our roads are already dangerous enough.

Under the bill, Texas motorists would still be able to talk on the phone while driving, if motorists have a hands-free device that only requires them to briefly touch the phone or car to begin or end a call.

It also would not be a violation for a Texas motorist to summon emergency help, report illegal activity, read a text a driver reasonably believed concerned an emergency or communicate with a dispatcher while behind the wheel.

Critics say this isnt the best way to address texting while driving. They say such a proposal would be hard to enforce -- and would encroach on individual liberties.

Legislative battle?

Texas is among four states -- as well as Arizona, Missouri and Montana -- that dont have statewide bans on texting while driving, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Statistics show 14 percent, or 483, of the 3,534 deaths from traffic crashes in Texas in 2014 involved a distracted driver.

In Fort Worth, distracted driving factored in to 14, or 16.45 percent, of the citys 85 fatalities, in 2015, records show.

We must stop these tragedies from occurring, said Jennifer Smith, executive director of the StopDistractions.org advocacy group. Its no longer a question of whether this will happen to someone you love. Its when, if it hasnt happened already.

Last session, Burton, of Colleyville, was among those preventing a bill banning texting while driving from reaching the Senate floor for debate.

Concerns ranged from the bill violating the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, to the micromanagement of Texas adults. She and others refused to green light the bill in 2015.

Burton said last week that she still doesnt support a measure.

I continue to be against any bill that bans texting while driving, Burton said. It would be a wholly unenforceable law because an officer cannot reliably distinguish between a person texting on their phone or simply looking at a map, etc.

However, I am for what Texas current has on the books -- these laws already provide police ample reason to pull a driver over based on observable actions.

Texting while driving bans have been proposed through the years and one passed the Legislature in 2011. But then-Gov. Rick Perry vetoed the proposal, saying it was a way to micromanage the behavior of adults.

North Texas tragedy

Davila-Estelle said something must be done to prevent distracted drivers from claiming more lives in Texas.

She and her family -- husband Kevin and their three children, Alex, 23, Gabbi, 19, and Zac, 18 -- were all last together Dec. 21, 2015, when they went to The Texas Motor Speedway to see Christmas lights.

As they headed home, they found themselves in a situation many North Texans have experienced: stuck in a traffic jam on Interstate-35 near Heritage Trace.

We were just having a good time, listening to Christmas music, laughing, Davila-Estelle said. All of a sudden, it was like an 18-wheeler was pushing us forward.

I couldnt breathe, she said. It was just out-of-control chaos. I didnt understand what was going on and then everything went black.

When she woke up -- after her familys vehicle was propelled about 380 feet, from the outside lane to the inside lane, by a vehicle she was told had been traveling at least 65 mph -- she heard her youngest son say he was ok.

She saw her daughter laying face down between the driver and passenger seat and couldnt see her oldest son.

When she heard an emergency responder say that someone in the back of the car was DOA, she said she started screaming.

In the accident, Davila-Estelle fractured every rib in her body. Her husband cracked his back and broke ribs. And her youngest son, who was the farthest away from the impact, had various bumps and bruises.

Their physical injuries healed.

But the family will never get over the loss of the two oldest children, Alex and Gabbi.

After a year, it didnt get any better, Davila-Estelle said. It got worse because we realized theyre not coming back.

My daughter was my best friend. Ill never see her grow up, or get married or have children, she said. My son will never grow up and have a child.

Every day I pray that (a plan to outlaw texting while driving) becomes a law.

---

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.






It cannot have been an easy weekend for Judge Neil Gorsuch. At a time that ought to be one of the high points of his life, one wonders if the Colorado jurist tapped by President Trump to fill the empty seat on the Supreme Court might not be quietly second-guessing his decision to answer the phone when the White House called.

Gorsuch was already looking at a really, really painful confirmation process that could result in the Republican Senate majority invoking the so-called nuclear option to get him confirmed over Democratic objections. But on Saturday, Trump likely made the entire ordeal infinitely worse.

Related: Judge Grants Nationwide Temporary Restraining Order on Trump Travel Ban

At around the time people in Denver were getting up for breakfast on Saturday morning, Trump was rage-tweeting about a federal judge in Seattle. Judge James Robart, late Friday, issued a temporary restraining order blocking the enforcement of the key elements of Trumps executive order banning refugees and the residents of seven majority Muslim countries from entering the United States.

It would have been around 6:12 a.m. Denver time when Trump fired off a tweet that set the legal and political worlds ablaze. And if Judge Gorsuch found his cornflakes turning to ashes in his mouth at that moment, well, it would be no surprise.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

Trump, with his attack on Robarts as a so-called judge, had by most accounts crossed a serious red line. Presidents have often criticized judicial rulings. President Obama famously used a State of the Union address, with Supreme Court Justices arrayed in front of him, to blast their decision in the Citizens United campaign finance case.

Story continues

Related: Is Trumps Travel Ban Already Hurting US Tourism?

But criticizing a decision and questioning the legitimacy of the court are not the same thing. Writing for the Washington Posts Volokh Conspiracy blog -- hardly a bastion of liberal bias -- Will Baude, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School, seemed fairly stunned, calling the distinction deadly serious.

If the court has authority, then the parties are legally required to follow its judgment: even if it is wrong; even if it is very wrong; even if the President does not like it. But if the court does not have authority, then perhaps it can be defied. So the charge of a lack of authority is a much more serious one. It is the possible set-up to a decision to defy the courts  a decision that is unconstitutional if the court does indeed have authority to decide the case.

On Twitter, Baudes University of Chicago colleague, law professor Eric Posner, wrote, Neil Gorsuch must condemn Trump for so-called judge remark; his friends in the legal community must withhold their support until he does. When someone responded that Trump might revoke the nomination at such an affront, Posner said simply, Thats the price of integrity.

Integrity becomes an issue here because, while federal judges are appointed by presidents, they are not supposed to be beholden to them. And Trumps attack on Robarts, as Posner effectively makes clear, is going to require a response from Gorsuch. That response may come Sunday, or it may have to wait until his confirmation hearings, but at some point in the near future, Gorsuch is going to be asked to condemn the man who appointed him to the highest court -- and to do it in the most public of forums.

This isnt the first example of Trump attacking the legitimacy of a federal judge. Famously, during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, he spent weeks attacking Gonzalo Curiel, the District Court judge in California who heard a class-action suit against the now-defunct Trump University. Trump frequently claimed that Curiel, who was born in Indiana, could not be objective about the case because his parents came to the US from Mexico.

Related: Trump Inherits a Solid Job Market. Can He Really Make It Better?

All of this can only complicate the situation for Gorsuch. He is, by virtual acclamation of the legal community, a brilliant legal mind and an eminently qualified candidate for Supreme Court Justice. He is also, it would appear, a man with a conscience.

With his first phone call after the nomination was made official, he seemed to acknowledge that he knew he had already bitten into the fruit of a poisonous tree. That call went to Judge Merrick Garland, the eminently qualified candidate nominated by President Obama last year who was denied a hearing or a vote in an utterly unprecedented power grab by the Republican-led Senate.

Gorsuch himself had previously spoken out against unseemly partisan delays in the process of confirming judicial appointments, and his decision to call Garland, made out of respect according to the White House, looked to many like the act of a man at least troubled by the circumstances in which he finds himself.

Trump, furious at his first collision with the checks and balances built into the Constitution, did his first Supreme Court nominee no favors on Saturday.

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Donald Trump

Nikki Haley, the new US ambassador to the United Nations, took her first turn at the UN Security Council on Thursday and issued a familiar ring directed at Russia.

She was speaking at an emergency meeting of the council about a sudden uptick in violence in eastern Ukraine, amid more than two-year long battles in the region between Ukrainian fighters and Russian-backed separatists.

It is still unclear who reignited the violence around the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka last weekend, but Haley declared that "this crisis will continue" until "Russia and the separatists it supports respect Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity."

She issued a "clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions" there. And she said the US continues to condemn and call on Russia to return the peninsula of Crimea to Ukraine.

Haley's statement amounted to a stark departure from the Trump administration's rhetoric toward Russia. The Russian aggression has so far been met with silence by President Donald Trump, who has throughout his presidential campaign mused about restoring friendly relations with the nation.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said earlier this week that Trump was "being kept aware" of the developments in Ukraine and that the White House would "have further updates as we go on."

That Trump has demurred from commenting on the Ukraine violence  even as he risked igniting diplomatic crises with Mexico and Australia last weekend over a border wall and a refugee agreement  likely reflects Trump's desire to nurture his warming relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But that relationship will be tested as the violence escalates and calls grow from within his own party to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons to fend off Russian aggression.

A shift in tone

In a statement from Belarus on Thursday, Putin seemed to appeal directly to Trump when he said that Ukraine was only accusing Russia of reigniting violence because Kiev supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election and now needed to "present itself as a victim of aggression" to gain sympathy from Trump.

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In the early stages of his presidential campaign, Trump appeared sympathetic to Kiev's battle against separatists armed and funded by Moscow. He even traveled to Ukraine in September 2015 to speak at the Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting, where he said President Barack Obama "is not doing what he should be doing for the Ukraine," and condemned Europe for not "leading some of the charge" against Russia's aggression.

But his tone on Ukraine and Crimea appeared to shift after he hired Paul Manafort to manage his campaign in April 2016, as Politico's Michael Crowley has reported.

At the end of July, for instance, Trump told ABC that "the people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. And you have to look at that, also."

Days earlier, he had told reporters that he "would be looking at" the possibility of lifting sanctions against Russia for its annexation of Crimea.

Russian marines parade during the Navy Day celebrations in Sevastopol, Crimea, July 31, 2016.

Earlier that month, an amendment to the Republican Party's draft policy on Ukraine proposing that the GOP commit to sending "lethal weapons" to the Ukrainian army to fend off Russian aggression was changed to "provide appropriate assistance."

The original language  proposed by GOP delegate Diana Denman at a meeting of the party's national-security subcommittee in Cleveland just before the Republican National Convention last July  was watered down after two Trump campaign representatives asked the chairs of the committee to table the amendment and delay deliberations.

One of the representatives, JD Gordon, has denied intervening in the process.

"As the Trump campaign's national-security policy representative for the GOP convention, I never left my assigned side table, nor spoke publicly at the meeting of delegates during GOP platform hearing," Gordon told Business Insider in an email. "So yes, Ms. Denham's [sic] memory of events is inaccurate."

"Shame on him," Denman said in a later interview with Business Insider. "There's no sense in Mr. Gordon scrubbing the truth like this."

'I'm calling New York'

A party platform is reflective of a party's larger priorities and not binding. It is largely forgotten after the conventions end. But many find the document symbolically important: It outlines the parties' principles and policies, and lives on via the respective parties' websites.

Denman, the delegate who proposed amending the platform's policy on Ukraine to include a call for "lethal weapons" shipment, said that she "tried to be very balanced" when she wrote her plank.

"I understood that, yes, Ukraine is a fledgling democracy. There have been setbacks, there's corruption. But they're waving their flag to be free," Denman said. "I felt that if Ukraine needed resources then America should be willing to give them."

Denman's original amendment, which was corroborated by a separate subcommittee member who spoke to Business Insider, called for "maintaining (and, if warranted, increasing) sanctions against Russia until Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity are fully restored," as well as "providing lethal defensive weapons to Ukraines armed forces and greater coordination with NATO on defense planning" to combat "Russia's ongoing military aggression."

russia ukraine

The amendment seemed consistent with language used by a group of Republican senators as early as 2014, when many in the GOP were actively pressuring the Obama administration to send anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons and small arms" to the Ukrainian army to fend off Russian aggression. A bipartisan coalition in Congress ramped up that pressure in June 2015, and again 18 months later.

"We renew our call for the United States to increase political, economic, and military support for Ukraine,"a bipartisan group of high-profile senators wrote in December 2016. "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."

Denman said she read her amendment aloud at the subcommittee meeting, at which point "two men sitting over to the side of the room  I had no idea who they were, but later found out they were Trump representatives  jumped up and tore over to get behind the three co-chairmen."

Campaign representatives are allowed to sit in on subcommittee meetings, but they are not permitted to publicly debate the merits of an amendment.

"There was a lot of muted discussion among them," Denman recalled, "and then the men from the campaign approached me and asked if they could see my plank. So I gave them my copy. They read it, went back up to the chairmen, and the amendment was tabled."

Gordon, one of the representatives, then left the room to make a phone call, Denman said. Equal parts confused and angry over her proposal being scuttled, Denman said she confronted Gordon about who he was calling.

"I'm calling New York," Gordon replied, according to Denman.

"I work for Mr. Trump and I have to clear it," she recalled him saying, apparently in reference to the amendment.

'This change came from Trump staffers'

Theplatform ultimately passed with a provision to "provide appropriate assistance" to the Ukrainian army rather than provide it with "lethal defense weapons."

Gordon, in an email, said Denman "sought to significantly elevate the Ukraine-Russia issue beyond the already strong position of RNC and Trump campaign," so the language had to be watered down.

But a member of the committee present at the meeting, who requested anonymity to discuss the deliberations, said that "the language of Diana's original amendment didn't seem strong."

"It was controversial if you hold Donald Trump's express views on Russia, but it wasn't controversial with regard to GOP orthodoxy on the issue," the committee member said."This change definitely came from Trump staffers  not from RNC staffers."

Gordon, one of the staffers, denied that.

"To be clear, all the decisions made in the national security subcommittee of GOP platform week were all made by people in that Cleveland Convention Center room," Gordon said in an email. "Neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Manafort were involved in those sort of details, as they've made clear."

manafort

Manafort  who served as a top adviser to a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine from 2004 to 2012 and helped the Russia-friendly strongman Viktor Yanukovych win the Ukrainian presidency in 2010  has deniedhaving anything to do with the platform change.

But an unverified dossier presented to Trump, Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden early last month by top US intelligence officials alleges that Trump "agreed to sideline" the issue of Russian intervention in Ukraine during his campaign after Russia promised to feed the emails it stole from prominent Democrats' inboxes to WikiLeaks.

The dossier also claims Manafort was receiving "kickback payments" from Yanukovych's associates in Ukraine, where Manafort "had been commercially active ... right up to the time (in March 2016) when he joined campaign team."

Secret ledgers uncovered by an anticorruption center in Kiev and obtained by The New York Times last year revealed that Yanukovych's political party, the pro-Russia Party of Regions, earmarked $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments to Manafort  who claimed he never collected the money  for his work from 2007 to 2012.

Yanukovych informed Putin of the payments, the dossier states, on August 15, 2016, after the western media began digging into Manafort's ties to Ukraine. Putin became "worried" that Yanukovych had sufficiently "covered the traces" of Manafort's role as a liaison between the Trump campaign and Russia.

For Putin, the dossier states, the money trail "remained a point of potential political vulnerability and embarrassment."

Manafort resigned four days later, on August 19.

NOW WATCH: Here are all the musicians who declined to perform at Trump's inauguration so far





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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 []
Reactions from civic and community leaders are pouring in after Donald Trump's apparent threat to pull federal funding from U.C. Berkeley. Trump's comments came after the university cancelled an appearance by Breitbart editor and Trump supporter Milo Yiannopoulos, following a fiery protest by more than a thousand demonstrators. The protesters hurled smoke bombs, broke windows and sparked a massive bonfire to protest the firebrand editor's speech, scheduled for Tuesday night.

In a statement, university officials wrote, "UC Berkeley condemns in the strongest possible terms the action of individuals who invaded the campus, infiltrated a crowd of peaceful students, and used violent tactics to close down the event," adding U.C. Police "concluded that the speaker had to be evacuated from campus for his own safety, thereby bringing the event to an end."

In an early morning tweet Wednesday, Trump condemned the university:





According to the university's 2014-2015 Annual Financial Report, U.C. Berkeley received $466.5 million in federal funding. The number includes grants, contracts and bond subsidies.

Among the Democrats who fired back at Trump was Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), whose district includes the campus:

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin told CNBC that Trump's tweets could put U.C. Berkeley students on edge.

"It's a real concern. I think the university's been concerned ever since he took office that there would be deep cuts in federal funding, " said Arreguin. "It's really irresponsible for the President to make such a claim," he added.

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But Ed Wasserman, dean at U.C.Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, believes Trump's tweets shouldn't be taken literally.

"I don't think that Trump's implied threat should be taken seriously. I don't think 90 percent of his tweets should be taken seriously. He tweets the way someone doodles on a scratchpad when we're sitting in a meeting," Wasserman told CNBC.

The incident also touched off debate about freedom of speech. While Trump argued in his tweet that Yiannopoulos' freedom of speech was curtailed, critics of the Breitbart editor say Yiannopoulos' provocative language is hate speech.

Wasserman says in this case, the line between free speech and hate speech is murky.

"I'm reluctant to condemn it as hate speech...," said Wasserman, "but I would certainly say that I understand the discomfort that people feel about him, and understand people who feel that way not just because they don't like to be referred to in the ways that he refers to them, but they're very much afraid that other people will be emboldened by his words and act in ways that are genuinely harmful to them."

The university dean later pointed out to CNBC that while hate speech on its own is not illegal, it can be used as evidence of hatred, which can lead to stiffer punishments in certain hate-crime cases.

For his part, Wasserman worries that political divisions across the country will mute freedom of speech.

"It certainly doesn't look good right now," he said. "People aren't listening to each other, they're shouting at each other."

Correction: Ed Wasserman, dean at U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, says he misspoke in an earlier version of this article. It was updated to clarify that hate speech is not, on its own, illegal.


Thousands of protesters gathered Saturday afternoon in San Franciscos Civic Center Plaza, many gripping signs and cheering over more than three hours as they lambasted President Trump and his immigration policies.

The goal, according to organizers, was to rally in support of all cultures while opposing two of Trumps executive orders: one banning travelers and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries and another initiating construction of a wall at the Mexican border.

The turnout was diverse with families, people of all ages and large groups from Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries mingled on the plaza, taking selfies with strangers and complimenting each others protest signs.

After three hours of speakers, chants and cheers, the protest ended peacefully, with organizers urging participants to pick up their trash and be safe as they headed home.

The diverse crowd coming from BART trains started filling the plaza before the 3 p.m. start time, carrying a variety of signs ranging from No Ban, No Wall and Dont Piss on My Melting Pot to Never Again, United We Stand.

A large sign for Landscape Architects Against the Wall was among several carrying messages combining humor and politics. The rally, however, sought to send a serious message to federal officials and Trump, with organizers urging participants to continue their efforts even after they went home.

Call elected officials, Kayla Razavi, one of the organizers, said to the cheering crowd. Thats what theyre there for.

During the rally, demonstrators got word that the Department of Justice plans to challenge the ruling of a federal judge in Seattle who overturned, at least temporarily, the travel ban. But they were nonetheless optimistic about the initial court ruling.

Among the demonstrators was Salah Albakri, an immigrant from Jordan who is a U.S. citizen. He said peaceful democratic protest is what I signed up for when he moved to the country.

Whatever has been happening does not reflect what we are, Albakri said. I love this nation that has, inherent in its DNA, the value of social justice. Nobody can take that away.

Also in the crowd was Oakland resident Mohamad Abdul, a U.S. citizen who was born in Yemen. He said America is great, but the current policy proposals are not.

Im here to say no to building the wall, Abdul said. This is the United States of America, the greatest country in the world.

As he finished speaking, the crowd erupted into chants of, Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go.

Former Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, was among the speakers, sharing his familys story of the Japanese internment during World War II, an example of historical policies based on ethnicity or country of origin. He urged those present to speak out against injustice.

If you were there then, we would never have gone to camp, he told the protesters to loud applause. Asian Americans, Japanese Americans have not forgotten what happened to us. It should not happen again.

The protest, billed as a peaceful, inclusive event, was expected to draw at least 6,000, with more than 9,000 posting their plans to attend on Facebook, according to organizers. Several thousand turned out.

The event was the latest in a series of protests and marches across the Bay Area against Trump, starting with his inauguration. The efforts have focused on the presidents nominees for Cabinet posts as well as policy pronouncements on immigration, health care and the environment.

Saturday saw nationwide protests from Washington, D.C., to West Palm Beach, Fla., where marchers were bound for Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort while the president visited there for the weekend.

A rally Wednesday night in Berkeley, protesting the speaking engagement of right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos as well as Trumps policies, turned violent, causing an estimated $100,000 in damage and resulting in one arrest.

But organizers say peace was on the agenda for Saturday in San Francisco.

Rather than marching, the protest remained in Civic Center Plaza and was limited to a three-hour window. That was on purpose, organizers said, to ensure that the kinds of violent incidents experienced in Berkeley days earlier would not happen in San Francisco.

Im speechless. I cant believe how many people came, Razavi said as she sat on the stage watching the crowd disperse as City Hall lit up in pink and aqua behind her. They listened to everyones stories.

This is everything we wanted.

Jill Tucker and Jenna Lyons are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com, jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker, @JennaJourno
Danos names Permian area manager

Danos has promoted Jeremy Adkins to Permian Area Manager for the company's operations in the West Texas region. In this role, he will be responsible for overseeing daily operations of all service offerings, as well as leading a team of managers and local support staff based in Midland.

Danos recently relocated its Midland operations to a larger facility with 7,000 square feet of office, warehouse and shop space as well as a secured laydown yard. Since establishing a presence in the area four years ago, the company has grown to employ more than 200 field employees and a dozen support staff. Danos offers Permian customers integrated production, construction and automation services, plus instrumentation and electrical, construction and maintenance, control and system integration elements and cathodic protection services.

Adkins began his career with Danos in 2011 as a bidding and estimating manager in coatings services, where he eventually rose to the top position. He was named employee development manager in 2016.

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Appellate specialist joins Midland-based law firm

Texas appellate specialist Charles Skip Watson, formerly of Locke Lord LLP, will join Midland-based energy-law boutique Davis, Gerald & Cremers Austin office as a shareholder.

Watson has established a reputation for handling groundbreaking oil-and-gas appeals before the Supreme Court of Texas. He has recently argued five landmark oil-and-gas cases, two of which are pending before the Court.

Watson will be the fifth attorney in Davis, Gerald & Cremer's Austin office. Last month, Texas litigators Shannon Ratliff and Lisa Paulson joined the firm. Rounding out the Austin office are appellate attorney Ryan Clinton, a former Texas Assistant Solicitor General, and title attorney Lauren Shapiro, a former Assistant District Attorney.

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Vaquero Midstream closes revolving credit facility

THE WOODLANDS  Vaquero Midstream has closed a $40 million revolving credit facility, expandable to $150 million, led by LegacyTexas Bank and ABN-AMRO.

The revolver, which has a four-year term, is available for use in general corporate purposes, including overhead and construction of new facilities around Vaqueros assets in the Southern Delaware Basin. A portion of the facility will pay the initial costs associated with Vaqueros second cryogenic unit, which is set for delivery in the next few weeks. As Vaquero continues to grow its business, it expects to grow the size of the facility and add additional banks.

In addition, Vaquero has received an unfunded equity commitment of $40 million from its equity sponsors for future working capital and expansion opportunities.

Vaquero has completed Phase I of its development of a large-scale gathering and processing solution in Pecos and Reeves counties, said William Davis, Vaquero Principal. This financial support will allow us to continue to grow the assets. We are currently building laterals off the main gathering spine to attach recently completed and contracted production. We are also looking for opportunities to expand the gathering footprint into Culberson, Ward, and Loving counties, and to install additional processing capacity at the Caymus site, where we have room for a total of five 200 MMSCFD cryogenic units. The total of 1 BCFD of processing capacity we can ultimately install matches up well with the estimated 1 BCFD of gathering capacity we have installed.

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Dynasty Downhole Services acquisitions expand North American capabilities

Lafayette, Louisiana  Dynasty Downhole Services has expanded their North American services with the recent purchase of Key Fishing & Rental's Deepwater assets in Houma, Louisiana and Slaugh Fishing Services with services centers in Vernal, Utah, Ft. Collins, Colorado and Watford City, North Dakota. This brings the total number of Service Centers to eight.

The company offers a full line of fishing, rental and thru-tubing tools. Also, casing exits, reverse units as well as casing cutting and section milling and under reaming.

Dynasty locations include Dynasty Downhole Services in Midland and Liberty, Texas and Houma, Louisiana; Radco Fishing and Rental in Laurel, Mississippi; Romero Fishing & Rental Tools LLC in New Iberia, Louisiana and Slaugh Fishing Services Inc. in Fort Collins, Colorado, Vernal, Utah and in Watford City, North Dakota.

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North Texans for Natural Gas expands statewide

DALLAS  North Texans for Natural Gas is expanding its focus statewide, and will now be called Texans for Natural Gas. The change comes as the groups online base of support has surged to over 220,000 members, and now includes significant membership in the Permian Basin, South Texas, and along the Gulf Coast.

The goal from the very beginning was to give a voice to those who support energy development, said Steve Everley, spokesman for North Texans for Natural Gas. "Weve been amazed at how quickly people from the Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford region have not only discovered our campaign, but joined and actively participated in our advocacy efforts.

North Texans for Natural Gas launched in 2014, and by the end of its first year, it had already amassed a following of more than 100,000. By the end of 2016, the group had more than 200,000 members, with cities like Midland, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi representing some of the fastest growth.

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Gradiant Energy Services partners with Turnbridge Capital

DENVER  Gradiant Energy Services (GES), a provider of integrated water management solutions to the energy industry, has secured a capital investment from Turnbridge Capital LLC. The growth capital will help fund GES execution of new contracts and expansion into multiple basins around the United States.

GES is focused on deploying its three product and service lines in all major basins throughout the United States; Selective Chemical Extraction (SCE) is a clean brine treatment service that allows for reuse of flowback and produced water in hydraulic fracturing; Carrier Gas Concentration (CGC) is a mobile evaporative disposal service targeting disposal constrained environments; and Free Radical Disinfection (FRD) is a fully mobile, safe and effective on-the-fly disinfection service. These turnkey services are targeted and applicable for all E&P operators, from small independents all the way to super-majors.
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Elizabeth Sobol has been knitting since October.

At the beginning of her fifth month as the new executive director and president of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Sobol is unveiling the first season of classical programming developed under her leadership. It shows, she says, a goal of bringing together different strands of SPAC's resident companies, visiting performers and audiences to produce a larger thematic fabric.

To that end, the summer's shows reflect three broad cultural influences  American, Russian and French  that are manifested in programs by the New York City Ballet, Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Musical Society of Lincoln Center. The orchestra will devote each of its three weeks on music by composers from the trio of countries, chamber-music selections will showcase works from the nations, and dances by American, Russian-American and French choreographers are set to music by Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Richard Rodgers and others.

"Coming off such a successful 50th-anniversary season last year, which was largely focused on our past, I felt it was important to pivot immediately and show our audience how we're thinking about our future, the next 50," Sobol said during an interview last week.

Citing a summer of programs that balance traditionalist audiences' desire for story ballets and orchestral warhorses with requests for newer works and premieres, Sobol said, "As soon as people step on to the SPAC grounds, I want them to feel my commitment to honoring our past, our commitment to our classical history, as well as a feeling of newness, of where music is going."

A representative concert is the Philadelphia Orchestra's Aug. 10 performance, during a week of American music conducted by Marin Alsop. Although Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," a staple of the repertoire, is on that night's program, the star of the evening is not a piano soloist but the Marcus Roberts Trio, led by the eponymous pianist, who arranged the jazz concerto for his ensemble and orchestra.

More Information SPAC classical season For the complete SPAC classical season and ticketing information, call 584-9330 or visit www.spac.org. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Feb. 21. Orchestra and ballet tickets cost $35 to $100 per performance for inside seats, $15 to $55 for lawn admission. The lineup: New York City Ballet July 5, 8 p.m. - All American: Adams/Martins Fearful Symmetries; Deacon/Peck The Times Are Racing (SPAC premiere); Sousa/Balanchine Stars and Stripes. July 6, 8 p.m. - All Balanchine: Tchaikovsky/Balanchine Allegro Brillante; Gottschalk, arr. Kay/Balanchine Tarantella; Tschaikovsky/Balanchine Swan Lake; Stravinsky/Balanchine Stravinsky Violin Concerto. July 7, 8 p.m. - All American: same as July 5 program. July 8, 2 p.m. - All Balanchine: same as July 6 program. July 8, 8 p.m. - Gala, All Richard Rodgers: Rodgers, arr. Brohn/Wheeldon Carousel (A Dance); Rodgers, arr. Kelly, orch. Sebesky/Martins Thou Swell; Rodgers, orch. Kay/Balanchine Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. July 11, 8 p.m. - All Robbins/Chopin: Chopin/Robbins Dances at a Gathering; Chopin/Robbins The Concert. July 12, 8 p.m. - 21st Century Choreographers: Stravinsky/Martins Jeu de Cartes; Peck SPAC premiere; Ratmansky SPAC premiere. July 13, 2 p.m. - 21st Century Choreographers: same as July 12 program. July 13, 8 p.m. - All Robbins/Chopin: same as July 11 program. July 14, 8 p.m. - Balanchine Short Stories: Rieti/Balanchine La Sonnambula; Prokofiev/Balanchine Prodigal Son; Stravinsky/Balanchine & Robbins Firebird. July 15, 2 p.m. - All Richard Rodgers: same as July 8 evening program. July 15, 8 p.m. - Balanchine Short Stories: same as July 14 program. Che Malambo July 20, 8 p.m. - All-male Argentinian dance company: SPAC debut. Philadelphia Orchestra Aug. 2, 8 p.m.: Russian Festival Day 1 - Stephane Deneve, conductor; with New York City Ballet dancers. Tchaikovsky/arr. Stokowski Andante cantabile, from String Quartet No. 1; Tchaikovsky Selections from The Sleeping Beauty; Musorgsky/arr. & orch. Stokowski Boris Godunov: A Symphonic Synthesis; Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture. Aug. 3, 8 p.m.: Russian Festival Day 2- Stephane Deneve, conductor; Conrad Tao, piano; Glinka Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila; Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2; Shostakovich Symphony No. 5. Aug. 4, 8 p.m. - Cirque de la Symphonie Aug. 5, 8 p.m. - E.T. Under the Stars: Stephane Deneve, conductor; Williams E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (complete with film). Aug. 9, 8 p.m. - American Festival Day 1: Marin Alsop, conductor; Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine; Barber Symphony No 1; Dvorak Cello Concerto. Aug. 10, 8 p.m. - American Festival Day 2: Marin Alsop, conductor; Marcus Roberts Trio: Marcus Roberts, piano; Rodney Jordan, bass; Jason Marsalis, drums; Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue; Gershwin American in Paris; Gershwin Cuban Overture; Gershwin Porgy and Bess, A Symphonic Picture. Aug. 11, 8 p.m. - American Festival Day 3: Bramwell Tovey, conductor; Christopher Deviney, vibraphone; She-e Wu, marimba; Bernstein Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs; Metheny/arr. & orch. Deviney Duo Concerto for Vibraphone and Marimba; Ives Variations on "America"; Dvorak Symphony No. 9. Aug. 12 - Raiders of the Lost Ark: Williams Raiders of the Lost Ark (complete with film). Aug. 16 - Sophisticated Ladies: Steven Reineke, conductor; vocalists Montego Glover, Capathia Jenkins, N'Kenge. Aug. 17, 8 p.m. - French Festival Day 1: Yannick Nezet-Seguin, conductor; Stephane Tetreault, cello; Berlioz Le Corsair Overture; Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1; Berlioz Symphonie fantastique. Aug. 18, 8 p.m. - French Festival Day 2: Yannick Nezet-Seguin, conductor; Louis Lortie, piano; Chopin Piano Concert No. 1; Stravinsky Petrushka. Aug. 19, 8 p.m. - A Night at the Opera: Yannick Nezet-Seguin, conductor. Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Aug. 6, 3 p.m. - Schubert's Cello Quintet: Beethoven Quartet in G major for Strings, Op. 18, No. 2; Grieg Sonata in A minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 36; Schubert Quintet in C major for Two Violins, Viola, and Two Cellos, D. 956, Op. 163; Juho Pohjonen, piano; Jakob Koranyi, cello; Danish String Quartet: Frederik land, violin; Rune Tonsgaard Sorensen, violin; Asbjorn Norgaard, viola; Fredrik Schoyen Sjolin, cello. Aug. 8, 8 p.m. - Cultural Odyssey: Dvorak Selected Slavonic Dances for Piano, Four Hands; Sibelius Suite in A major for Violin, Viola, and Cello; Bartok Quartet No. 1 for Strings, BB 52, Op. 7; Brahms Quintet in F minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 34; Juho Pohjonen, piano; Wu Han, piano; Jakob Koranyi, cello; Danish String Quartet: Frederik land, violin; Rune Tonsgaard Sorensen, violin; Asbjorn Norgaard, viola; Fredrik Schoyen Sjolin, cello; TBD, violin. Aug. 13, 3 p.m. - In the Spirit of Beethoven: Beethoven Sonata in E-flat major for Violin and Piano, Op. 12, No. 3; Shostakovich Trio No. 1 in C minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 8; Rzewski "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" from Four North American Ballads for Piano; Beethoven Septet in E-flat major for Winds and Strings, Op. 20; Gilles Vonsattel, piano; Wu Han, piano; Paul Huang, violin; Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Richard O'neill, viola; Nicholas Canellakis, cello; David Finckel, cello; Joseph Conyers, double bass; TBD, clarinet; TBD, bassoon; TBD, horn. Aug. 15, 8 p.m. - Tchaikovsky's Idol: Mozart Fantasia in D minor for Piano, K. 397; Mozart Divertimento in E-flat major for Violin, Viola, and Cello, K. 563; Tchaikovsky Selections from Les saisons for Piano, Op. 37b; Tchaikovsky Trio in A minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 50 (1881-82); Gilles Vonsattel, piano; Wu Han, piano; Paul Huang, violin; Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Richard O'neill, viola; Nicholas Canellakis, cello; David Finckel, cello. Aug. 20, 3 p.m. - French Virtuosity: Debussy Danse sacree et Danse profane for Harp, Two Violins, Viola, Cello, and Bass; Ravel Sonata for Violin and Piano; Caplet Conte fantastique for Harp, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello; Chausson Concerto in D major for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, Op. 21; Elizabeth Hainen, Harp; Orion Weiss, piano; Wu Han, piano; Kristin Lee, violin; Sean Lee, violin; Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Matthew Lipman, viola; Dmitri Atapine, cello; David Finckel, cello; Joseph Conyers, double bass. Aug. 22, 8 p.m. - Brilliant Dialogues: Barriere Sonata in G major for Two Cellos; Leclair Sonata for Two Violins in E major, Op. 12, No. 2; Handel/Halvorsen Passacaglia in G minor for Violin and Viola (or Cello); Mendelssohn Andante and Allegro brillant for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 92; Brahms Scherzo, WoO 2, from "F-A-E" Sonata for Violin and Piano; Schumann Quintet in E-flat major for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 44; Orion Weiss, piano; Wu Han, piano; Kristin Lee, violin; Sean Lee, violin; Arnaud Sussmann, Violin; Matthew Lipman, viola; Dmitri Atapine, cello; David Finckel, cello. See More Collapse

Another significant example, Sobol said, is a new series called SPAC on Stage. Offered on four Mondays in August, the concerts, with performers and an audience of 250 to 300 all on SPAC's vast stage, will showcase emerging musicians who are classically trained but are taking music in nontraditional directions, Sobol said. (Acts and dates will be released in the coming months.)

"There's a whole swath of music we haven't been touching," Sobol said. "The question was how do we bring those artists and audiences together at SPAC? This is one way."

The changes for SPAC's 52nd summer, though significant, are not radical, Sobol said, noting that frequent and cherished cellist Yo-Yo Ma will be back, as will big ballets by Balanchine and Peter Martins. Audiences will be able to hear piano concertos by Rachmaninoff and Chopin; see the movies "E.T." and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with their John Williams scores played live by the orchestra and enjoy the SPAC premiere of a duo concerto for vibraphone and marimba based on the music of American jazz guitarist Pat Metheny; and close the orchestral season not with Tchaikovsky's "1812" Overture, as was the case for many years, but with a night of opera arias and ensemble numbers sung by up-and-coming stars of the Metropolitan Opera that were selected by Sobol and Yannick Nezet-Seguin, who is music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the music director designate of the Met. (Don't worry, purists: The "1812" Overture will still be heard, on the orchestra's opening night.)

Sobol credits her predecessor, Marcia White, who ran SPAC for 12 years, for providing the foundation on which Sobol can build. Noting that White stepped in when SPAC was in financial peril and enduring sharp criticism from the public and from state officials, Sobol said, "I never would have taken the job that Marcia did. What she accomplished was extraordinary."

Today, Sobol works in the office that was once White's. On its wall is a large poster promoting SPAC's first season, in 1966.

"I feel the weight of that history looking down on me every day," Sobol said. "My goal is to honor that tradition but also to bring us into the future."

sbarnes@timesunion.com  518-454-5489  @Tablehopping  http://facebook.com/SteveBarnesFoodCritic
Rick Castle

SCHUYLERVILLE  A Greenwich woman was arrested this week and charged with burglary after she was allegedly caught inside the home of an acquaintance.

Police from the Saratoga County Sheriff's Office responded to a call in the village on Thursday night. They arrested Lindsay M. Bucks, 30 and charged her with burglary, a felony, criminal contempt, criminal mischief, harassment and criminal trespass. She was arraigned in Saratoga Town Court and sent to jail for lack of bail money.
A classified ad that ran in last week's print edition of the Cleveland Advocate is causing a stir in the city of Plum Grove. The ad  a legal notice for the creation of Plum Grove Municipal Utility District 1 and Municipal Management District 1  was authorized by Colony Ridge, the New Caney-based real estate development company behind six subdivisions in and around Plum Grove.

The subdivisions have sparked controversy among local residents in the small rural community who fear their way of life is changing and that the population boom is overburdening schools and roads, and complain about the lack of building standards in the subdivisions' homes.

The special districts will create additional property tax revenue from the 17,500 lots that make up the Montibello, Bella Vista, Rancho San Vicente, Grand San Jacinto, Camino Real and Santa Fe subdivisions.

The MUD district, if created, would tax property owners inside the district an additional $0.35 for every $100 valuation, or $35 per $10,000 valuation. For a $30,000 lot, this would mean an additional $105 in property taxes every year. Properties valued at $50,000 would be taxed an extra $175 per year. The MMD would collect additional sales tax on purchases made inside the district.

Before the special districts can be created, a bill must be passed by the Texas Legislature and the majority of residents who live in the subdivisions must vote in favor of it. However, while hundreds of people already live in the subdivisions, which are growing by the day, only a fraction are actually registered to vote  around 158 people, according to Trey Harris, one of the owners of Colony Ridge. If that number is accurate, then only 80 votes would be needed to approve the districts.

"Originally we were going to establish only the MMD but now we are doing both. They will work together," Harris said. "The purpose of the districts is that this area is going to continue to grow fast and there are going to be issues in the future and there will be needs. For example, some of the roads in there may have no issues for five or 10 years but eventually repairs will be needed. We also have allocated space to build a four-lane road and the right-of-way is already in place with the county."

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Harris said the MUD district also will allow his company to recoup some of its infrastructure costs while providing funding for police, EMS, fire and trash service.

"A lot of times MUDs will reimburse the developer for the costs of water and sewer systems and improvements," he said. "My purpose for the MMD? The MMD is the commercial arm of the district. In the future the population here is going to grow so large that there will be a need for commercial demands, like grocery stores. I will be able to collect a sales tax and provide economic incentives to try to attract the major commercial retailers to Liberty County."

Harris feels confident he can get the votes if he wins the support of the City of Plum Grove and Liberty County and gets approval from the Legislature.

"If the county and city aren't interested in the district, then it won't pass. It's just about educating them about what exactly the purpose of the district will be," Harris said. "I think I will get approval from both."

Not so fast, say county leaders.

"The last thing I want to do is have the people believe the county had something to do with them being included in a MUD district when they didn't want to be," said County Judge Jay Knight. "To us, this is very preliminary. We've not seen a map of it. We've not seen a copy of what the bill would be. We don't know where the district is going to lie and until we see a map, I don't know how we can support it. We don't know who it is going to affect yet."

Knight said he also is waiting to see if the City of Plum Grove de-annexes the property and moves the city's jurisdiction out of the MUD district completely.

"I want to know if this is going to benefit the residents of the subdivision without causing any harm to anyone else," the judge said.

Pct. 2 Commissioner Greg Arthur agrees.

"I am pretty sure we (commissioners court) wouldn't support the creation of a MUD inside the city limits of Plum Grove. I know I wouldn't," Arthur said.

Even so, the county can do no more than offer a resolution of support.

Senator Robert Nichols, who represents Senate District 3, which includes Liberty County, says his office will only move forward if local support is demonstrated through resolutions.

"Roughly a year ago, Liberty County constituents contacted me with their concerns of growth in the area. I have been made aware of a public notice that has been posted in a local newspaper about potential creation of a municipal utility district," said Nichols. "To date, a legislative proposal has not been presented to me. Anytime there is a local request for legislation, I believe it is important for the community to fully understand and support. I have a standing office policy that anytime I file a bill that is local in nature, I request local resolutions of support to create an open and transparent process. This ensures the citizens, through local elected offices, have had open dialogue, made their thoughts known, and an opportunity for input in these decisions."

Local residents will have an opportunity to learn more about special districts at a workshop being planned by Liberty County.

"Our intention is education. There are so many walls that go up with the public. People lean on us to be the savior. In that same token, we have another group who says you are stepping on the rights of property owners. You just want to do the right thing and that is to educate the populace," said Knight. "We don't mind calling workshops and bringing in attorneys who specialize in MMDs, MUDs and revenue bonds, and to educate the people on what they are."

Once a meeting is scheduled, the date, time and location will be posted on the county's website, http://www.co.liberty.tx.us/, under the tab for public notices.
This week marks the end of the first month of the legislative session. Senate committees are beginning to hold hearings and the Capitol is buzzing with constituent groups and association visits.

Here are five things happening at your Capitol this week:

1.State of the State

On Wednesday, at a joint session of the Texas Senate and House, Governor Abbott gave the State of the State address. He began by sharing that Texas has remained "exceptional" and expressed optimism that Texas' economy, even with the recent oil downturn, continues to be strong and is the 10th largest in the world. We are also number two in the nation for the number of Top 500 companies in our great state.

The Governor laid out the emergency items in his budget, which included $500 million to improve and overhaul child protective services and ensure we are protecting the most vulnerable children of our state. He also shared a priority to ban sanctuary cities in Texas and his intention to maintain $800 million, which was allocated last legislative session, in spending on border security. His other emergency items included calling for a convention of states to amend the U.S. Constitution and a renewed effort to address ethics reform in the state.

2.Sanctuary Cities

As I mentioned above, Governor Abbott has added the ban of sanctuary cities in Texas to his list of emergency items. Senator Charles Perry has filed SB 4, which would ban entities, such as cities, counties and colleges, from implementing policies to refuse to enforce federal immigration laws. Entities would be denied state grant funds, if their law enforcement agencies failed to honor requests from Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to hand over immigrants in custody for possible deportation. There is also a top-down provision in the bill, which means that an entity in violation, could lose their state grant funds and cause every entity under them to lose their funds as well.

3.Small Schools Funding

This week, Representative Trent Ashby and I filed SB 678 and HB 1390, to correct the formulas which fund certain small schools at a lower level. Currently, if a school has an average daily attendance of 1,600 and covers less than 300 square miles, they receive a smaller portion of state funds than a district with the same attendance which covers more than 300 square miles. This bill will alleviate this practice and provide an equal funding formula for all schools in Texas. With an equal multiplier, many schools will be provided additional funding, which will go a long way in helping to improve the education of our students.

A change in the funding formula will affect approximately 450 schools across the state of Texas. This legislation would allow communities the option of maintaining local governance of their school board without having to work around a punitive formula.

4.Eminent Domain

Since entering the Senate, I have fought for the rights of private property owners. During the 81st Legislative Session, I sponsored the Landowner's Bill of Rights to guarantee property owners receive a complete and easily understandable description of their rights when facing the prospect of eminent domain. Because of this, I was happy to co-author Senator Schwertner's SB 626, SB 627 and SB 628, all bills which address eminent domain in our state.

SB 626 will help to strengthen private property rights by providing more information to landowners and require there be certain disclosures for condemning entities. SB 627 will update the Landowner's Bill of Rights to explain to landowners their right to negotiate survey terms and recover damages caused by the survey. SB 628 helps to reinforce the ability of a property owner to buy back condemned land by defining what information a condemning entity must show in order to keep the condemned land and prevent buy back.

5.Superintendents at the Capitol

The Texas Association of School Administrators held their midwinter conference in Austin this week. My staff and I had the opportunity to attend two of the Education Service Center Region breakfasts as well as welcome many Superintendents from East Texas to the Capitol office.

As Senate District 3, with its 101 school districts, is a predominantly rural area, the concerns and needs of its school districts vary from those of a more urban district. Because of this, I appreciate opportunities to talk with educators to better understand how decisions made in Austin are impacting local schools.
Grab your binoculars and your camera and be prepared for a glorious site. The Lower Trinity Valley Bird Club will be hosting a field trip to Anahuac Saturday, Feb. 18 and the public is invited to join them-and that includes novices who are curious to experience one of the many excursions taken by the club throughout the year.

The bird enthusiasts are not just any club, but actively helping in research, and volunteerism that helps the Trinity Valley National Wildlife Refuge and Audubon Society. And club members put their money where their mouth is with contributions to help fund research and much more.

The group was founded in the mid-1990s and has remained strong since.

"We are interested in preservation and identifying birds," said Gary Holmes, president of the club. And that, he says, is no easy task at times.

"Like a puzzle, some are easy and some are hard. The plumage is never perfect so it can be challenging," he said. But, that's part of the fun with the group, all contributing to finding the answer and identifying the fowl.

Holmes said they club is active in bird counting.

"We do the Christmas bird counts, two or three of those each year, and the Bird Sit-In during the fall and this month in the Great Backyard Bird Count," he said where birders will count the number of species and birds in their own yards.

More Information Want to go? Contact Gary Holmes at 281-576-0574 or email him at atgeholmes52@gmail.com See More Collapse

Each month the group takes a trip to a different area, like Anahuac, to explore around the area. Trips to the Katy Prairie, the lower Texas valley, Rockport and a day trip to King Ranch are among some of the places the group has been or will travel to during the year.

But the trips aren't limited to Texas only.

"We've been to Arizona, and taken major trips out of the country to Belize, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago just to name a few," Holmes said.

The trip is spent bird watching, which many find relaxing and rewarding.

Not only are the birds a joy to watch, but they have intrinsic value to people as threads in the earth's ecological tapestry, as pollinators, predators and prey.

The club meetings have the typical business aspects, but then focus on a special speaker who comes to share interesting and educational information with the members.

The February meeting will be on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 6:30 p.m. at the FLNB Corner, 1822, Sam Houston Ave. in Liberty across from the bank.

The guest speaker will be Lonnie Castleman and his presentation is on Eastern Bluebirds. Holmes said anyone who joins the Texas Bluebird Society ($15) at the meeting will receive a free bluebird nestbox and Castleman will teach everyone the correct way to mount and maintain the nestbox.

Castleman has an array of vast knowledge and experience with all things 'bluebird.' He is retired from Shell Oil and lives in Trinity and has been a board member, vice president and nestbox builder coordinator and distributor for Texas Bluebird Society and the North American Bluebird Society.

Holmes encourages everyone to come early for 'birder's chat' time.

Those planning on attending the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge trip will car pool from White Park off I-10 past Wallisville at 6:45 a.m. and stay most of the day at the Refuge exploring nature and watching birds.

"We get there early because they're excited when they wake up. The birds get up early and around noon they got to sleep and settle down," he said.

So, early bird really does get the worm.
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Technology at your fingertips is a main attraction of DaVinci Maker Labs, a nonprofit community workshop that opened recently at 100 N. Gordon St. in Alvin.

A monthly fee grants members access to thousands of dollars' worth of computers and 3D printers, software, lathes, engineering tools, crafts and electronics, DaVinci president Christopher L. Harris said.

"It's a cool name, because Leonardo da Vinci was a painter and inventor who was involved in multiple disciplines," said Harris, 41. "I appreciate that holistic view of arts and sciences fitting together to create awesome engineering feats of artwork."

The Alvin resident said DaVinci Maker Labs is an example of a "makerspace" - a facility where innovators and artisans of all ages share tools for engineering, computer programming, graphic design and other disciplines.

"They range in size from a garage where people get together and share tools, to a nonprofit like ours that covers almost 4,000 square feet," said Harris.

In the past few years, different types of makerspaces have opened at: Pearland High School's Searcy Library; Creatorspace, 15502 Texas 3, Unit 202 in Webster; and the Jocelyn H. Lee Innovation Lab at Clear Lake City- Freeman Library, 16616 Diana Lane.

At DaVinci, which is open but planning a grand opening in March, individuals who are at least 18 years old may buy a monthy membership for $75. Family memberships also are available.

Hours are described as fluid as DaVinci learns how to accommodate members' needs but a schedule is available on the group's website, davincimakerlabs.com.

"Anyone can be a maker," says signage on the glass windows of the Alvin center.

Inside, classes teach budding do-it-yourselfers, painters, sculptors, jewelers, engineers, fabricators and rocket enthusiasts how to use the machinery and equipment, said Harris, whose wife, Christy, is the office manager.

"I am most excited about our younger members," said Christy Harris, a former school teacher in Pearland ISD who graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelor of science degree in early childhood education.

"Some elementary school children show an interest in (computer) coding, but I also love crafts," she said.

Christopher Harris joined Andy Berger of Cypress and Randy Marek of west Houston to incorporate DaVinci as a nonprofit organization. The group's graphic artist is Jessica Rennie, 23, of Pearland, who plans to use equipment at the center to assemble a portfolio for her senior show in the graphics design program at the University of Houston.

Rennie said a number of other amenities, such as the center's network routing table, should attract fellow students who can complete class projects less expensively and more efficiently than on campus by getting a monthly membership at DaVinci.

Rennie also hopes to use DaVinci equipment to lay a foundation for starting her own graphic arts company.

Said Harris, "We hope to be a resource for incubating many small businesses, by helping them get past the capital hump aspect of starting a business. We also want to educate youth on using new technology, and re-energize middle-aged folks who might be looking to become entrepreneurs."

Harris graduated from Texas State Technical College in Waco, then parlayed his skills in laser-electric optics into a job in electrical engineering at Rice University.

"My friends at Tripoli Houston Rocketry Club and Innovation Spark have been instrumental in helping with this mission and getting DaVinci Maker Labs up and running," he said.

Tripoli Houston Rocketry Club is "a merry band of cloud shooters" who host launch activities on the second Saturday of each month at Hearne Municipal Airport in Robertson County.

Innovation Spark is a Sugar Land-based group whose purpose "is the development and delivery of programs and events that drive technical learning, innovation and creativity," per its mention at www.houstonservice.org.

For further information about DaVinci Maker Labs, visit www. davincimakerlabs.com and Facebook and Instagram, email info@davincimakerlabs.com or call 832-547-2522.

Don Maines is a freelance writer who can be reached at donmaines@att.net
Webb County Precinct 1 Commissioner Jesse Gonzalez, working with the Rio Bravo Police Department and the Webb County Sheriff's Office, announced plans to launch a neighborhood watch program in the City of Rio Bravo.

A presentation with safety tips and information on how to start a neighborhood watch program was provided by the Sheriff's Office on Thursday, Feb. 2 at the Rio Bravo Activity Center. The meeting, which was open to the public, saw a great turnout by the residents of Rio Bravo.
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By the time Beaumont ISD's board of managers learned about rampant mismanagement of the district's 2007 bond money, most of the statutes of limitations had run out, limiting possible criminal actions against former administrators and hired contractors, said Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham on Friday.

Wortham was quick to add that his office "has not closed any of our investigations" into wrongdoing.

Wortham's office has spent the past year reviewing a forensic audit, which was released this week, of Beaumont ISD's $388.6 million bond issue.

"A large percentage of the statute of limitations had already occurred by the time the audit was concluded," said First Assistant District Attorney Pat Knauth. "Discovering this kind of behavior is very challenging, white collar crime is very challenging," because it requires a quick identification of the possible crime and notification to a prosecutor, he said.

Auditing firm Weaver LLP identified at least $7 million in unauthorized spending of 2007 bond funds in its final report sent to BISD Superintendent John Frossard in October 2015.

Board president Jimmy Simmons said Thursday the managers have "pursued civil litigation on behalf of the district" but that he couldn't disclose details.

The criminal statute of limitations in cases related to the activities documented in the audit can range from two to 10 years, starting from "when

the wrongdoing occurs or when a reasonable person would have discovered it," said Assistant District Attorney Tommy Turner.

Turner, who began working for the DA's office in 2015, was tasked with reviewing Weaver's findings, which were turned over to him in November 2015.

That process took more than a year because it included reviewing all 2,700 pages of documents compiled for the audit, conducting witness interviews and determining what further information was needed to bring a case, he said.

Weaver's final report, dated Oct. 9, 2015, identified six individuals or entities referred to a joint federal and state task force for further investigation and "prosecutorial consideration."

One of those six was John Elamad, CEO of International Design and Consulting Group, who was hired as program manager for Smith and King middle schools' hurricane damage renovations in 2008.

"Statute of limitations was a problem" in the Elamad matter, Turner said.

Elamad was hired "to provide engineering and architectural services in relation to Hurricane Ike damages to BISD campuses," Weaver partner William Brown wrote in an August 2015 report to Frossard.

According to Brown, Elamad signed off on reports saying contractor HRE completed renovations when the company had not, and he potentially conspired with former BISD Superintendent Carrol Thomas and former Chief Business Officer Robert Zingelmann to cover up HRE's failure to finish the Smith project.

Elamad's contract was signed by Assistant Superintendent Terry Ingram without prior school board approval, the report said.

"But at the end of the day, his actions were approved, at least by omission," Turner said, because Elamad was acting under the approval of Thomas without the board intervening. According to the report, Elamad was paid more than $1.2 million from February 2009 to January 2011.

Wortham said his office could have had an "outstanding" case against insurance adjuster Scott Favre, one of the six Weaver referred to the task force for investigation.

Brown urged in August 2015 that "time is of the essence" in considering litigation against Favre to recover as much as $1.5 million in overpayment.

Favre managed grants from FEMA and the Texas Education Agency and according to the audit was paid at least $300,000 more than his contract called for.

Investigators were "pretty ecstatic" about a possible case concerning the use of the TEA grant, but an oversight by the state prevented it, Wortham said.

The state education agency gave funds to 16 school districts in the state for Hurricane Ike damage, with the intention of returning later to audit the money's use and determine if any was overspent. The amount provided was considered "an estimate."

Any overspending would then be deducted from future TEA payments to the district. But the state did not review the spending in any of the districts, leaving no oversight of the grant funds. Because the state never sought repayment, misuse of the "estimated" funds could not be proven, Wortham said.

It ultimately fell under the category of "poor management and poor oversight," Turner said.

Wortham said the previous school board, which was ousted in July 2014 by the state education commissioner and replaced with a board of managers, "did not authorize (school board) lawyers to pursue" investigations of the bond funds when taxpayers first started questioning how the money was being spent.

"Nobody was watching."

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/LizTeitz
KIEV, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed strengthening cooperation on Saturday in a telephone call that also addressed the need to resolve Ukraine's eastern conflict through diplomacy, Poroshenko said in a statement.

"The two sides discussed strengthening the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States," the statement said.

"Particular attention was paid to the settlement of the situation in the Donbass (in eastern Ukraine) and achieving peace via political and diplomatic means," it said.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets and Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Dan Grebler)
In the past week or so, the two U.S.-based supermajor oil companies have reported lower than expected earnings, and shares of both have paid the price. Since Chevron Corp. (CVX) reported earnings on January 27, its shares have dropped 3.1%. In the same period, shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), which reported earnings January 31, have dropped by 2.1%.

Chevron reported a net loss of $0.27 per share for 2016 and and revenues of $114.47 billion compared with 2015 earnings per share (EPS) of $2.45 and revenues of $129.93 billion. Analysts had forecast EPS of $1.38 and revenues of $117.12 billion.

For the full year Exxon reported EPS of $1.88 and revenues of $226.09 billion compared with 2015 EPS of $3.85 and revenues of $268.88 billion. Analysts were forecasting EPS of $2.19 and revenues of $230.92 billion.

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Analysts' reactions to the quarterly and full-year results varied, with many looking favorably at Chevron while looking less favorably at Exxon. Production is expected to rise at both companies and so are margins as commodity prices rise.

Edward Westlake at Credit Suisse rates Chevron as Neutral with a price target of $120. Here's how he sees Chevron going forward:

[Chevron is e]ntering A Period of Stronger Free Cash Generation Despite 4Q... LNG Doing Well, Permian ramping up... CVX have worked hard through the downturn to lower costs, cutting capex and opex by $11.6b and $2.5b respectively in 2016. Cash flow is rising as cash margins expand... Bottom Line: 4Q16 cash flow was somewhat of a sticker shock at $3.2b, below consensus and our estimates. At first glance it might be a stretch to see how CVX can reach cash flow neutrality in 2017, having to fund $23b of "cash capex" and dividends. However, as upstream margins improve, volumes ramp (4-9% in 2017 before disposals), one-offs move into the rear view, and as commodity prices recover, then cash flow should expand, while at the same time capex and opex continues to decline.

Story continues

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BofA/Merrill Lynch raised its rating on Chevron to Buy in December and recently raised its price objective from $130 to $145 a share. Analyst Doug Leggate said:

CVX is poised to accelerate a strategic shift to short cycle dev[elopment] that doubles current Permian prod[uction] targets within 5 yrs. After a decade of major project spending this improves capital flexibility vs super major peers. We recently raised our PO to $145 and suggest CVX as the best route to reweight energy portfolios amongst the oil majors.

Among other analysts, Independent Research rates Chevron a Buy and raised its price target from $130 to $131. Goldman Sachs also rates the stock a Buy, but cut its price target from $127 to $126 per share.

Credit Suisse's Westlake reiterated the firms Underperform rating on Exxon, but raised the price target from $75 to $78. Here are his comments on the company:

It continues to be a source of annoyance to investors that some US majors do not include a full cash flow statement in their release. The European Majors do so. Deferred taxes have been a drag on cash flow in 2016 across the group. XOM's 4Q16 cashflow was $7.4bn and this was depressed by $2.4bn of "working capital/other." This was likely deferred tax losses. We will only know when we get the 10-K. Even in the 10-Q at 3Q16, XOM lumped 19% of cash flow into "all other items"  disclosure should be more granular. Brent was $50/bbl in 4Q16. As XOM get the benefit of slightly higher commodity prices, then deferred taxes could become a neutral and then a positive. There is a tail wind from legacy project startups, and shale growth. However, it makes a big difference to XOM's oil price breakeven to annualize $7.4bn of 4Q cashflow ($29.6bn) or $9.8bn ($39.2bn) when the cash dividend is $12.5bn and headline 2017 capex is $22bn. On the reinvestment side of the ledger, the recently acquired shale assets could grow to 350,000 [barrels per day] over time. XOM produced 4.1 [million barrels per day] in 2016 with a 3% mitigated base decline. Hence, this shale growth could help offset 3 years of decline. Aside from shale, XOM also has lower cost resources to develop e.g. in Guyana, Papua New Guinea, Aspen solvent-assisted SAGD in-situ oilsands (subject to BAT), Romania, and has downstream.

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Merrill Lynch's Doug Leggate offered this comment:

In our view 4Q16 results were operationally in-line with Street expectations and relatively light on new news. 2017 capex of $22bn looks in-line with previous guidance. Additional updates will need to wait for the March 1st Analyst Day. With limited upside from current levels we reiterate our Neutral rating and PO unchanged at $95.

S&P Global maintained its Hold rating and cut its 12-month price target from $92 to $87. The firma also noted:

We cut our '17 EPS estimate by $0.02 to $4.21, and initiate '18's at $4.81. Our 12-month target of $87, cut $5, reflects a 10X multiple of price to projected '17 operating cash flow, slightly above XOM's historical forward average. Q4 EPS of $0.89 before a $0.48 impairment charge, vs. $0.67, beating the Capital IQ consensus view by $0.19. Excluding the impairment charge, upstream segment earnings more than doubled vs. Q3, mainly on better realized prices and volumes. We see XOM's dividend payout ratio returning to manageable levels in '17 and see Permian Basin as a key catalyst.

ALSO READ: The Most Dangerous Cities in America

Other ratings included:

J.P. Morgan cut its price target from $94 to $93

Independent Research rates the stock a Hold and cut its price target from $90 to $87

Goldman Sachs cut its price target from $93 to $89 and rates the stock Neutral

Barclays rates the stock Equal Weight and cut its price target from $97 to $94

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Eighteen-year-old Follow Me raised her arms above her head, her feet sashaying in rhythm, dancers from her troupe all around her. Once the music stopped, Me and the dancers lined up to the salute the crowd gathered at the 30th annual Asian Festival on Saturday.

About 12,000 people were expected to celebrate the Year of the Rooster at the festival, located on the grounds of the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures. The sounds of dancing and drums rose above the crowds as the smell of different oils cooking foods from around the world competed against each other.

Her cheeks flush with excitement, Me told the crowd she was proud to be a member of the ethnic Karen. Her family fled civil war in Burma, and she and the other Burmese dancers arrived in San Antonio as refugees.

Saturdays dance was the fifth for Me, whose story begins in a time of torture and land mines. A long-running civil war in Burma displaced thousands of families into Thailand and Malaysia. Me, like many other Karen refugees, was born in one of the often squalid refugee camps in Thailand.

Me started dancing in the camps, she said. Bad conditions there meant a life of low expectations for most.

We didnt have anything, said Me, who dreamed of becoming a doctor.

Nine years ago, she arrived in America through efforts by the United Nations refugee resettlement programs, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, and the Resettlement Agency of Catholic Charities in San Antonio.

They had good pizza in America  thats the only thing Me said she knew about America.

It was a rough transition at first, she said. Her first month, she dreamed of Thailand. In one dream of the refugee camps, she heard a voice in her native Karen language say, When you wake up, youll be in America.

The Americans were strange, she said, in the way they allowed their children to date before college and in the disrespectful ways they talked to their teachers.

But art was her way of fitting in, Me said. She found her home in arts clubs, in drawing and watercolor painting.

She met other Karen refugees like June Say, 18. The two were friends throughout high school and helped each other adjust to America. When Say learned guitar, Me learned guitar, too.

Some days were harder than others. Say recalled a teacher talking about how immigrants were taking jobs from him. In the ninth grade at the time, she didnt think the teacher was directing his conversation at her, but the statement stung.

I felt like I was a burden to him, Say said. Being an immigrant, youre always thinking like youre lower than everyone else.

There are other ethnic minorities from Burma who have settled in San Antonio, such as the Karenni, the Chin, the Mon and the Rohingya, said Rey Lopez Mader, who volunteers for Catholic Charities.

These refugees include Mary Kuee, 21. Clad in red to reflect her Karenni heritage, Kuee danced in her first public performance with the group. The newly hired dental assistant began practicing last Christmas.

Overall, theyre adjusting really well, Mader said. Family and education are so important to them, and they share so much with each other.

Refugees from Burma are given Social Security cards and after a year apply for green cards. After five years they can apply for citizenship, Mader said.

Me still plans to be a doctor and is a student at UTSA. Say is now a student at San Antonio College.

Theres nothing we cant do, Say said.

Sometimes, Me will hear a fellow refugee, newer to the country, say a phrase tinged with an accent from the old country. Shell judge them, even though she knows its a bad thought, knowing she was in that spot years before.

Becoming American is complicated. The annual dance at the Asian Festival is Mes way of maintaining her connection to her roots. She teaches others how to dance now.

This is a way of showing off the culture, Me said, but also to remember what we are.
Phyllis Riley Gustafson impacted many people with her service and compassion.

Her mission in life was to look for any opportunity to connect people with those who could help them, husband Carl Gustafson said. Caring and empathy drove her.

Gustafson died unexpectedly on Feb. 2 at the age of 64.

Born in Ankara, Turkey, to an Air Force family, her early years were spent overseas.

She lived in a home that encouraged giving and sharing, and her love for traveling probably came from those times, Carl Gustafson said.

Gustafsons family moved to San Antonio when she was in grade school.

We initially met at John Marshall High School, her husband said. Gustafson had just transferred to the school in her junior year. We are seven days apart in age and were in the same class, her husband said.

Although new to the school she quickly became a part of the culture. An honors student, she joined the cheerleading squad and was voted homecoming queen for her 1970 graduating class.

She left to get a degree in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1974. It would be 20 years before she and her husband reconnected.

Gustafson started a career in social work after college, helping families and children, her husband said. She left to become a sales representative for various companies. It was during that time that she met her husband, in 1990, at a First Baptist Church singles group. Her compassion drew her to him, he said.

More Information Phyllis Riley Gustafson Born: May 31, 1952, Ankara, Turkey Died: Feb. 2, 2017, San Antonio Survived by: Husband Carl Gustafson; parents Joe and Avis Riley; sisters Pam Henley and brother-in-law Steve and Julie Riley Delpho and brother-in-law Jon; daughter Amanda Pignato and son-in-law John; three grandchildren and numerous family and friends Services: Visitation 6 p.m. Monday at Porter Loring Mortuary North, 2102 North Loop 1604 East. Memorial service 9:30 a.m. Tuesdayat Community Bible Church, 2477 North Loop 1604 East, followed by burial at Mission Burial Park North, 20900 IH-10 West. See More Collapse

The couples 24-year marriage started in 1993. Gustafson continued to work in sales, selling supplemental medical insurance to the elderly. She later left, to take a marketing position at Ace Mart Restaurant Supply where her husband is part owner. Not only did the couple work together at the company but they were active church members.

At Community Bible Church, she was a group facilitator of Grief Care, a group that helps people going through hard times, her husband said. She also traveled to Chiapas, Mexico, and Guiana to help others.

Gustafson also volunteered at the San Antonio Pregnancy Care Center.

Phyllis was on the front lines with the late-night calls and making appointments for the girls to meet with a counselor at the center, her husband said.

The organization reported at their annual banquet that over 300 women decided to keep their babies, he said.

She made a tremendous impact on a lot of lives.

iwilgen@express-news.net
Randy Sedlacek, president of the Denison Independent School District board of trustees, makes clear that he opposes school choice (Vouchers will rob public schools, Another View, Jan. 18), but he is mistaken about the nature and purpose of school choice.

Sedlacek argues that $5,000 is insufficient to cover the cost of schools that charge $12,000 in tuition, and thus they will not accept a child with only a $5,000 voucher.

There are about 1,800 private schools in Texas, each with different tuition. In San Antonio, Little Flower Catholic School charges just over $4,000 in tuition annually for kindergarten through eighth grade; tuition is just over $5,000 at St. Matthews Catholic School for elementary school. Sibling discounts and parishioner discounts reduce the cost of the education.

In Nevada, education savings accounts, or ESAs, cover roughly 70 percent of tuition for grades six through eight and 73 percent of tuition for grades nine through 12 ($5,100 for middle- and upper-income students, and $5,700 for low-income and special-needs students).

More significant, education  both public and private  does not exist without generous subsidies. The public system is a transfer from taxpayers to schools, supplemented by fundraising efforts; many private schools make needs-based assistance available to cover tuition and other expenses. Hope for the Future, for example, provides needs-based tuition assistance for students in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

Sedlacek parrots the claim that private schools get to choose whom they let through their doors, the implication being that theyll discriminate or skim the best students. Nationally, EdChoice has examined the literature on school choice in A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on School Choice (updated in May), which identifies 10 empirical studies that have looked directly at racial segregation in school choice programs. Eight of those 10 studies found that choice programs decrease segregation by moving students from more segregated public schools to less segregated private schools.

This makes sense. Private schools have the incentive to value diversity in the student body where public schools, because their populations are based solely on geographic boundaries, cannot. For example, St. Thomas Moore Catholic School admits any student regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, or political belief.

Sedlacek insists that when a school district loses 100 students, other students will suffer because the district loses that funding. This sets aside the fact that schools now lose funding when students leave (a parent accepts a job transfer; a student drops out). Of course, school choice programs benefit students using those programs, but 31 of 33 studies looking at the impact school choice programs have on public schools found that the competitive effects led to improvement in public schools academic performance.

One place where Sedlacek is correct is his recognition of Texas constitutional obligation to provide an efficient system of public free schools. The Texas Supreme Court recently ruled that the Legislature is meeting its constitutional obligation, and the Legislature has the authority to create additional education programs that complement its constitutional mandates, including school choice.

In the unanimous decision, Justice Don Willett pointed out that school choice has proven to be smart policy and, he wrote, We hope the Legislature will consider these and similar suggestions.

As EdChoice highlights: The research consensus in favor of school choice as a general policy is clear and consistent.

John D. Colyandro is executive director and Russell H. Withers is general counsel at the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute, a public policy organization based in Austin.
It has been said that our national parks are Americas best idea. As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, we should reflect on these words and recognize that our national parks need our help.

As record-breaking crowds are visiting parks, the service is facing a serious challenge: a $12 billion backlog of infrastructure repairs.

Projects range from unmaintained trails to crumbling roads to visitor centers built more than 50 years ago in desperate need of updating. Some would cost just a few thousand dollars to fix, while others could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Some things can be replaced, while others, such as historical buildings, cannot. All jeopardize not only the future of these treasured pieces of Americas heritage but also the local economies of cities such as San Antonio.

In Texas, national parks are not just important pieces of our heritage, theyre also major economic engines. According to the National Park Service, in 2015 visitors to Texas parks spent an estimated $262.5 million in local gateway regions, supporting more than 4,000 jobs and adding roughly $372.6 million in economic output to the Texas economy.

But these contributions to Texas local economies are dependent on continued visitation to our national parks.

Take San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. In 2015, more than 1 million people visited the park, infusing money into San Antonios tourism industry. But the park, named a World Heritage Site in 2015, has $7.2 million in needed repairs that the National Park Service cannot afford to make. Rangers and other park staff do the best they can, but if left unaddressed, these issues could negatively impact visitor experience and ultimately mean fewer visitors to the park. As long as the backlog continues, the future of businesses and gateway communities that depend on national parks remains threatened.

For Visit San Antonio, the primary tourism and hospitality arm of the city  and for my Council District 3  this is a particularly vital discussion. The World Heritage Site designation will be a notable catalyst for San Antonio tourism in coming years, especially with international visitors. According to studies, those guests, expected to arrive from Mexico, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and Asia, among so many other places, will stay longer and spend more than other visitors.

While numbers are still being compiled in this early stage of the World Heritage designation, anecdotal evidence indicates increased visits to the mission sites from around the world. The Visit San Antonio website has shown increased traffic from the countries projected to provide visitors whose primary interest is World Heritage travel.

In San Antonio, tourism is a $13.6 billion economic engine each year. Nearly 21 million overnight leisure visitors experience our city annually. Maintaining our most valuable assets, including San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, is a mandate. Consider that a study commissioned by Bexar County forecasts the World Heritage Site to generate up to $105 million more in economic activity, with more than 1,100 newly created jobs, for San Antonio and the county by 2025.

Our national parks face these challenges in large part because Congress has not made them a funding priority. The entire National Park Service budget makes up just 1/14th of 1 percent of the federal budget, yet it continues to decline.

Congress created the National Park Service a century ago to protect Americas treasured natural, historical and cultural sites, and to ensure that Americans can enjoy these treasures. It is Congress responsibility to ensure the agency has the resources it needs to fulfill that mission.

Our representatives in Congress need to work together to make funding our parks a priority again. In this centennial year of our National Park Service, Congress must commit to making sure San Antonios missions and all our parks have the resources and support they need to continue protecting Americas favorite places.

Rebecca J. Viagran, District 3 City councilwoman, is a member of the Visit San Antonio board of directors.
I heard Rep. Lamar Smith refer to people who object to President Donald Trumps executive order on immigration as intellectually dishonest.

This is the same Lamar Smith who questions global warming, regardless of the scientific data. Hearing Rep. Smith accuse others of being intellectually dishonest seems ironic.

Andy Parsons

Remedial science

Our congressman, Lamar Smith, heads the house Science and Technology committee (go figure), but obviously misunderstands the science of nature, which goes as well for so many pols of his ilk (Climate change hysteria misleads, Other Views, Dec. 28).

Another Republican member, Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, says the Endangered Species Act has never been used for the rehabilitation of species. Its been used for control of the land (Republicans are targeting Endangered Species Act, Politics, Jan. 18).

Does Congress need to go to middle school again? Or maybe retake biology 101. Obviously for some, the lessons didnt stick. Or did these Republicans miss that day?

Species extinctions may be a gauge of how were doing regarding the balance of nature. This is the principle of the canary in the coal mine. The web of life. Remember?

Bill Hurley

The true measure

Throughout history, leaders have led their people to attain certain goals that vary from leader to leader, but the true measure of leadership is whether, in pursuing his goals, the leader brought out the very highest and noblest  or the very meanest and worst  in his people.

G.L. Lamborn

Taking a pass

I ignored the inaugural ceremony. I knew my president, President Barack Obama, was representing me and was doing it with far more class than I could have mustered.

Robert Paul

Geographic issues

I think it is time to have your GPS checked. You are a newspaper in San Antonio, not New York or Hollywood. Please at least pretend to have even-handed coverage and columnists.

Penelope Talley
MDC leader Nelson Chamisa called his deputy Elias Mudzuri to order during the partys national standing committee meeting held at the party headquarters, Morgan Tsvangirai House in Harare recently for engaging in perceived acts that could undermine unity in the party.

This was after Mudzuri had been linked to a controversial Twitter post expressing the desire to challenge Chamisa at the partys elective congress due next year.

While Mudzuri disowned the Twitter account as fake, MDC insiders told the Daily News that Chamisa confronted him, seeking an explanation from his deputy about the post.

The president asked him what he was communicating to the party given that nothing about congress had been discussed so far in terms of canvassing for support, the source said.

In his defence, Mudzuri apologised saying that he suspects that his account was hacked by people who want to tarnish his name and that he would never do such a thing as a senior party official.

Contacted for comment Mudzuri confirmed that the issue was indeed discussed, but said the allegations were the work of his detractors who are bent on causing problems in the party.

I am not keen on commenting on such issues because my name has been abused for a long time by people who say things they do not know. Those who bring it to the party are the ones who are behind it just to tarnish my name but I have my own thinking regarding that and I am old enough that I dont need anyone to say things on my behalf. I will say what I think when the time comes otherwise I will make them happy by responding, Mudzuri said.

Mudzuris name has always popped up each time there is talk about succession in the MDC.

When MDC founding president Morgan Tsvangirai was on his deathbed early this year, Mudzuri, Chamisa and Thokozani Khupe engaged in an ugly succession fight, which led Khupe to break away from the party.

On one occasion, Chamisa and Mudzuri engaged in a public spat at an MDC Alliance rally at Huruyadzo Shopping Centre in Chitungwiza after the former barred the latter from speaking on behalf of the party, claiming he was anointed by Tsvangirai to lead the grouping.

Before Tsvangirais death, Mudzuri was the acting president, while Chamisa was leading activities to do with the Alliance, which led to serious power struggles in the former labour-backed party ahead of the 2018 polls.

However, the two managed to bury the hatchet later and after the national council endorsed Chamisa.

Mudzuri had not publicly contested Chamisa since the meeting of the national council and the subsequent consultative meeting of the party which was held in Harare.

Mudzuris ambitions can be traced back to 2014 when he threatened to challenge Tsvangirai at an MDC congress.

Ahead of that congress, he had said he would not turn down the call to lead the party if the opportunity arose.

Do you intend to become the editor of your paper one day? Mudzuri asked. If you do, then that is what applies to everyone. When that position is vacant, then it is a possibility but at the moment there is no vacancy.

Before the 2014 MDC congress, he was fingered by Tsvangirais loyalists to have been part of a group led by the partys former treasurer Roy Bennett  now late  which was advocating for leadership change in the party.

 DailyNews

Breaking News via Email
Former President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe will not quit politics and he will now be appointed an active statesman, it has emerged.

Mugabe will continue to have a role to play in Zimbabwean politics, according to Father Fidelis Mukonori of the Roman Catholic Church.

Mukonori said Mugabe would provide advice to President Emmerson Mnangagwa as a statesman. Mukonori was one of the mediators in negotiations between Mugabe and the army.

Mugabe, (93) resigned on Tuesday following a military intervention and days of mass protests in Zimbabwe.

Mukonori said he could not confirm reports that the former President was granted $10m to ease him out of office.

Mnangagwa was sworn in to replace Mugabe as President on Friday.

Mnangagwa, known to be Mugabes right hand person for four decades described Mugabe as his father, mentor, Comrade in arms and leader.

He also said Mugabe and his wife Grace would remain at their house in Harare. He added the former Head of State had no plans to leave the country.

We did not offer him anything, He resigned for the good of Zimbabwe, he said.

He added:What I have read in the newspapers is about immunity from prosecution and that he will be looked after like any other former head of state.

Breaking News via Email
With heavy hearts, family and friends gathered Saturday to pay tribute to a 5-year-old boy and his caregiver, both killed when they were swept into a rain-swollen creek last month amid strong winter storms.

A "Celebration of Life" ceremony was held at SonRise Christian Fellowship in Fallbrook, in San Diego's North County, for pre-school student Phillip Campbell and the man he lovingly called Pappy, Roland Phillips, 73.

Touching tribute videos were shown at the memorial service, one for Phillip and one for Roland. One by one, family members shared stories of both of their lives, many fighting back tears.

Although Phillip and Roland weren't related by blood, the pair were best friends. Roland and his partner, Tracy, helped care for Phillip.

Phillip's family told NBC 7 the boy and his "Pappy" were inseparable and did everything together.

"He followed him everywhere, everywhere," Phillip's grandmother said of the boy's friendship with Roland.

Phillip's uncle, Anthony Campbell, said what he will miss the most about the boy is his "wonderful smile and love."

"He would greet you with a hug; he didn't care to shake hands. He would want to give you a hug and a kiss," Anthony said. "He made you laugh -- in his own way -- just a silly little boy."

Anthony said it's an emotional time for his family, but they are grateful for the outpouring of support from the community.

He said Saturday was all about finally letting Phillip rest in peace.

We just need to get to the cemetery and put his little body in the ground and put him to rest, said Anthony.

Phillip's uncle also said Roland was "a very good man" who dedicated a lot of time, along with Tracy, to helping raise Phillip. Roland was kind and generous, and those traits rubbed off on Phillip.

He called the connection between Phillip and Roland unique and their bond unbreakable.

"It was an awesome relationship. They went everywhere together," he added. "They were two great people."

On Jan. 22, Roland and Phillip were driving to Riverside to look at a car that was for sale. It was the weekend that a series of powerful winter storms hit San Diego County, causing flooding in many parts of the county.

As Roland's Toyota Camry approached the area of Fifth Street, east of Interstate 15 in Rainbow, California, the car was carried away by rising water from Rainbow Creek -- a normally small creek running across San Diego's North County to the Pacific Ocean.

The boy and Roland disappeared into the water.

Cal Fire and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSO) launched an extensive search for them that lasted five days. Winter storm conditions and water levels in the creek made the first few days of the search extremely difficult and dangerous.

The following day, Jan. 23, Rolands body was pulled from the creek. However, Phillip was nowhere to be found.

One Rainbow resident told NBC 7 that she saw the boy clinging to a tree limb before disappearing downstream on Jan. 22. The ME's report said other witnesses called 911 to report the child floating in the creek.

The searched pressed on  by ground and air  over the next five days. On Jan. 24, SDSO officials searched by helicopter from the point where Rolands vehicle was believed to have entered the creek to the ocean. A crew flew low enough for searchers to try and spot any sign of the child.

Again, nothing.

Deputies said their mission was a recovery effort, not a rescue, as Phillip was presumed dead. As the rain stopped and water levels dropped, the search resumed on Jan. 25 and again on Jan. 26.

Four swift water teams moved up and down the creek. SDSO search and rescue teams canvassed the area.

Finally, on Jan. 26, just after 11 a.m., Phillip's body was found in the water, buried under 6 to 8 feet of debris.

Cal Fire Division Chief Nick Schuler said the boy was found in very thick brush and trees, in an area referred to by officials as a strainer.

Schuler said strainers are areas where large trees have fallen across the creek and where debris and brush has gotten hung up as the water rushes through.

He said Cal Fires inmate hand crews were removing debris and brush in a heavily-wooded strainer area when they noticed a small shoe lying in the brush. As they removed more debris, they uncovered the body of a little boy.

The area where the body was found is near Moon Valley Nurseries on the west side of Interstate 15.

Schuler said the area was difficult to access, making for a very technical search  very complicated and dangerous.

[The creek] probably flowed in excess of 15 to 18 feet deep and 80 feet wide, he explained. He was buried in approximately 6 to 8 feet of debris.

It literally was like a needle in a haystack to try and find this little boy, he added.
Taco Tuesday just received a spicy twist.

President Donald Trump's travel ban has sparked Comal, a Berkeley restaurant, to sell taco bowls in exchange for money that will be used to support immigrants and refugees from the seven Muslim-majority countries impacted by the executive order.

The eatery's head chef, whose ancestors migrated to the United States from the former Soviet Union, spearheaded the idea. Andrew Hoffman, the restaurant's co-owner, helped put the plan into action.

"It's really about our staff," Hoffman said. "Half of the 70 people who work here are immigrants, and we want them to know that we are standing with them, and this is a small way that we can use our influence as a restaurant to bring some money and attention to a good cause."

Comal plans to dish out the plates every Monday and Tuesday. The proceeds from each sale will specifically benefit the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, a nonprofit group that issues legal guidance and supportive services to immigrant and refugee communities.

Aside from tackling Trump's executive order, the campaign also appears to take a slight jab at the president directly. During his campaign, the Republican candidate on Cinco de Mayo tweeted a picture of him enjoying a taco bowl.

The status of Trump's travel ban remains in limbo as of Saturday. A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the order, allowing visa holders from the seven majority-Muslim nations to cross the United States' borders without trouble, but the Justice Department on Saturday filed an appeal to that ruling.
Betsy DeVos is primed to be nominated as the next secretary of education, but some California educators are not pleased with that potential reality.

Roughly one thousand administrators and teachers representing the Golden State on Saturday gathered at a conference in San Jose to beg Congress to reject DeVos' nomination. That request came in the form of a petition, which urged lawmakers to protects students and their education.

The fact that DeVos, who is an advocate for charter schools, has never worked at, attended or sent her own children to public schools worries Gayle Bilek, a member of the California Teachers Association Board of Directors.

"She's not qualified," Bilek said. "She has had no experience in public education. We are totally against someone leading education that has no experience."

DeVos' confirmation vote could come as soon as Tuesday.
Bummer.

Titans of Mavericks, one of the most thrilling and pulse-pounding surfing competitions on the planet, will not be taking place this year, according to The New York Times.

The reported cancellation comes on the heels of Cartel Management Inc. and Titans of Mavericks LLC, the contest's two main organizing entities, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week.

In a statement sent out Wednesday, the entities said they had lost up to $3 million since 2014 into developing the brand and staging of the annual event.

The world-renowned Mavericks big-wave surf contest appears to be in jeopardy as organizers seem to be drowning in debt. Pete Suratos reports.

The surf contest attracts the world's top surfers when ideal conditions align, prompting towering swells to pound the shore at Pillar Point Harbor, near Half Moon Bay. The contest's window of operation usually lasts between the beginning of November and late March, but it appears the doors have been slammed shut on this year's event.

As NBC Bay Area reported, the financial problems of the organizers were starting to create doubts about this year's run.

The most recent financial setback was a $1 million lawsuit Cartel lost in Los Angeles late last year. It was not related to the Mavericks contest.

The dispute over Cartel assets revealed other problems, including unpaid bills, unpaid contest permits and a lawsuit filed by former sponsor Red Bull earlier this month.

The world-renowned Mavericks big-wave surf contest appears to be in jeopardy as organizers seem to drowning in debt. Ian Cull reports.

Some surfers had told NBC Bay Area they were concerned after surf conditions seemed ideal last week and organizers passed on green-lighting the contest.

A San Mateo County Harbor commissioner, Sabrina Brennan, said she wasn't surprised by the bankruptcy filing and predicted "there will not be a contest this year."

"I'm disappointed, and a lot of other people in the surfing community, surfers and fans, will be as well," Brennan said earlier this week. "This was the first year that Mavericks was going to feature a women's heat. Now that opportunity is gone for now."

"A lot of surfers, men and women, worked very hard to get ready for this contest," she added. "It's a real letdown to hear about these financial problems."

The surf shop doesn't know what's next and employees there were completely blindsided by the organizer filing for bankruptcy. To be clear, Cartel Management is a separate entity from the surf shop.

Michelle Cleave, a longtime surfer and friend of the Mavericks surf shop owners, has attended every Mavericks competition to date. She said there is the possibility of locals coming together to put on a surf competition, an idea that's been tossed around for a while.

"Theres been other organizations that werent able to sponsor the contests on a continual basis," she said earlier this week, "so its had some different iterations. It will continue on."

NBC Bay Area's Pete Suratos contributed to this report.
Officers with the California Highway Patrol in Oakland on Sunday arrested a 20-year-old transient accused of setting fire to a parked car, police said.

Jose DeJesus Hermosillo faces multiple charges, including arson, after police determined that he torched a car on Fruitvale Avenue and East 7th Street Sunday morning, police said.

The damaged vehicle has not been reported as stolen as of Sunday afternoon, according to police. Authorities are attempting to locate and speak with the owner.

Police credit a nearby witness for reporting the fire to authorities and providing useful information pertaining to the suspect in question.
The Mexican government's representative in Silicon Valley says that President Trump's "extreme vetting" of seven Muslim-majority nations has extended to Mexican immigrants.

Ambassador Mauricio Toussaint claims that "Mexicans have been detained or delayed under surveillance at the airports" in the wake of the Trump's immigration order, which has led to the thorough screenings of travelers entering the United States from certain nations in the Middle East and North Africa.

When discussing specifics, Toussaint says Mexicans with visas or green cards are among those being targeted. He stopped short of saying America is looking to ban Mexican travelers altogether.

"Not officially, but that happens in the airport and along the border," Toussaint said.

A spokesperson from the Office of Customs and Border Protection was questioned about the claim, but he said he was unaware of such vetting.

"All persons entering the United States, including U.S. citizens, are subject to examination and search by CBP officers," the spokesperson said in a statement. "In some cases, this process may cause travelers to be delayed while CBP officers interview and determine admissibility. It is not the intent of CBP to subject travelers to unwarranted scrutiny. The case you mentioned appears to be an isolated situation involving a single individual."

Mexican officials will investigate the allegations.
A two-alarm fire that broke out at a Chinatown building Friday morning displaced 25 people, a fire spokesman said Saturday.

The blaze was first reported at about 7:45 a.m. at 1199 Stockton St., according to fire spokesman Jonathan Baxter.

The building is a two-story building with several businesses on the first floor and 28 residential units on the second floor, many of which are single room occupancies, Baxter said.

The victims are being assisted by both the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

"Keeping this community close to its home is so important for their recovery in this incident," Director for the Salvation Army's Emergency Disaster Services John McKnight said in a statement.

The victims, most of whom are senior citizens, are currently staying at the Salvation Army's Chinatown Corps, located at 1450 Powell St., Salvation Army officials said.

"Following the closure of the shelter, we will continue to support these folks as we know recovery will take time," McKnight said in the statement.

A temporary evacuation shelter was initially set up Friday at the Betty Ong Recreation Center, at 1199 Mason St. Additionally, Mayor Ed Lee's office sent Mandarin and Cantonese translators to assist the victims.

Lee himself also visited with the victims and thanked all the first responders for their work.

In addition to the displaced victims, seven businesses on the first floor were also affected. Those businesses are being helped by the city's Office of Economic and Workforce Development.

"It's important that San Francisco small businesses know that the city is here to help when they face unforeseen events," Lee said in a statement. "Through the Small Business Disaster Fund, the small businesses impacted by the fire in Chinatown will get the resources and assistance they need to recover quickly and resume operations."

One man suffered minor smoke inhalation during the incident, however he was not hospitalized. No other injuries were reported, Baxter said.

Firefighters took about six hours to contain the fire. A large majority of the fire was located in the building's basement, according to Baxter.

Firefighters were able to prevent the blaze from spreading to neighboring buildings.

A cause of the fire has not been determined and an investigation into the incident could take some time, Baxter said.
Days after deciding to sue Donald Trump over his controversial immigration executive order, Santa Clara County followed through.

County officials on Friday officially filed a lawsuit against the new leader of the United States, citing the order's "unconstitutional" methods as well as arguing that the ban harmfully targets jurisdictions classified as "sanctuary cities" by pulling federal support funds.

"The Presidents order is an unconstitutional attempt to coerce state and local governments into assisting with mass deportation," County Counsel James R. Williams wrote in a statement. "We will resist any effort to illegally withhold funding for critical county services that support the health, safety, and well-being of all our residents."

Board of Supervisors President Dave Cortese offered a similar sentiment.

"Santa Clara County, the home of Silicon Valley, is a welcoming community that embraces immigrants and we will resist any effort to divide us," he said in a statement. "Immigrants contribute to the very fabric of our nation and we will not stand by while the Trump administration seeks to impose un-American and illegal policies that undermine our values."

After a brief closed-session meeting Tuesday, Santa Clara County leaders decided to file a lawsuit against President Donald Trump over his executive orders related to immigration. Terry McSweeney reports.

After a brief closed-session meeting last Tuesday, Santa Clara County leaders announced the decision to file a lawsuit against Trump.

The Board of Supervisors discussed possible legal action against the federal government behind closed doors in the afternoon, then approved the lawsuit Tuesday evening in open session. Supervisors are upset with Trump's signed executive orders that require compliance with federal Immigration Customs and Enforcement officials and other security agencies in order to receive $300 million in promised federal funds.

Supervisors said they've been preparing for some time for such an action.

"We've been gearing up for the last two months, anticipating this kind of coercion, almost extortion, from the federal government," board President Dave Cortese said earlier this week. "You know, 'We're going to hold your $300 million, we're going to starve out your citizens in terms of federal money if you don't behave the way we want you to behave.'"

Cortese compared the legal action to what the ACLU did when it sued the Trump administration after the president's immigration ban.

"I know it sounds unorthodox that a little county like Santa Clara County could get a restraining order to stop the federal government from doing something like an executive order," Cortese said. "The fact of the matter is the judicial branch is available to us, and it's a very effective way to slow things down and get a neutral party to start looking at what's going on here before all hell breaks loose."

The board president also pointed out that the action isn't designed as a political statement, saying the loss of $300 million would impact programs that affect almost everybody.

County officials said later Tuesday the loss could be up to $1 billion when matching funds are considered. And if the county does lose that money, there would be cuts to services from hospitals and parks to employees in the county building.

Fariba Nejat of the Iranian federated women's club said she can't imagine the impact the budget cuts would have on the quality of life in the county.

"It's about people's lives, the heart of the people who built this county, and it's going to be a real disaster," she said.

It could come down to this for Santa Clara County: Go along with the president or lose all that money, according to legal experts.

"I'm hoping that they stay strong and protect people and the pressure from the federal government doesn't cause them to wobble at all," said Ruth Silver Taube of Santa Clara University Law School.

Cortese said the cost of the lawsuit will be minimal. Pro bono law firms and the county Impact Litigation department will handle it, and they may join with lawsuits from other government entities down the road.
Republican Congressman Tom McClintock on Saturday faced a rowdy crowd at a packed town hall meeting in Roseville, and had to be escorted by police as protesters followed him shouting "Shame on you!"

McClintock was constantly interrupted and booed as he defended his party's national agenda during the hourlong event at a theater in downtown Roseville, the population center of his sprawling congressional district, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Hundreds of protesters stood outside chanting "Vote him out," while those inside the theater held signs that read "Resist," "Dump Tom McTrump," and "Climate change is real."

"I understand you do not like Donald Trump," McClintock said. "I sympathize with you. There have been elections where our side has lost ... Just a word of friendly advice: Remember that there were many people in America who disagreed with and feared Barack Obama just as vigorously as you disagree with and fear Donald Trump."

A video posted on the newspaper's website shows a demonstrators chanting "Shame on you!" as they follow McClintock who walks to a waiting car surrounded by police officers.

"I can no longer just sit back. I believe in the Constitution. I was an infantryman in Vietnam. I fought for this. These people need to understand, we want them out," said Vietnam War veteran Lon Varvel, referring to Trump and McClintock.

Trump supporters also attended the town hall. David Ramsey said he volunteered for McClintock's 2008 campaign and voted for Trump in November.

"President Trump is doing what he said he was going to do," Ramsey said. "I like what he's talking about  securing our borders and vetting immigrants. Hopefully, he'll lower taxes, and reduce big government and regulation."

McClintock's district is solidly Republican and incorporates all or part of 10 counties spanning from Tahoe to Yosemite.
With President Donald Trump's travel ban temporarily lifted, a 12-year-old Yemeni girl is coming back to the United States to be reunited with her family.

Eman Ali, who has spent the last week struck in Djibouti, is slated to land in San Francisco on Sunday after a federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Since Saturday, the girl and her father, Ahmed Ali, have been in limbo, blocked from coming to America, despite going through all the necessary legal steps.

The family's attorney Katy Lewis said the duo will board a flight in under six hours. Then, at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, a Turkish Airlines plane will transport them to San Francisco International Airport.

Seattle-based U.S. District Judge James Robart's temporary restraining order, allowed Eman and Ahmed Ali to board the flight, according to Lewis.

The judge's temporary ruling was countered Saturday when the Justice Department appealed the decision, arguing that Friday's injunction "immediately harms the public by thwarting enforcement of an Executive Order issued by the President, based on his national security judgment." Hours later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in San Francisco, denied the Justice Department's request to reimplement the travel ban. Nothing will change in court until, at the very earliest, Monday morning.

The uncertain state of the travel ban has immigration and civil rights attorneys clamoring travelers to make a beeline for the states before any new changes to the order are implemented.

"We are advising people to get here as soon as possible," Brittney Rezaei, a civil rights attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Saturday.

Eager family members of travelers on Sunday waited outside the international arrivals section of SFO holding welcome signs.

Others flashed banners offering legal assistance. A number of lawyers are expected to offer legal guidance throughout the day to those with questions about the immigration order.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Trumps travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries, and that means 12-year-old Iman Ali of Yemen will be able to travel to Los Banos to be with her family. She has spent the last week stranded in Djibouti and will land at SFO this weekend. Jean Elle reports.

A Southern California district court's temporary restraining order against the immigration order gave the Ali family some hope earlier in the week. But Lewis said it was not as simple as showing a travel document to airport officials and getting on a plane. There's been too much confusion about how the executive order works.

So the duo were forced to stay in Djibouti.

"She is really sad," Ahmed Ali said at the time. "She is expecting to go to the USA to see her mom, her sisters and everything will be OK."

From his hotel room, stuck in Djibouti, Ahmed told NBC Bay Area how he and Eman were steps away from boarding a plane Saturday, only to be turned away because of the president's order. The rest of Iman's family lives in Los Banos, citizens of the United States. Eman was born in Yemen.

Meanwhile, Stanford University student Hadil Al-Mowafak is hoping the ban is lifted for good. The 21-year-old is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed Friday in San Francisco by the ACLU.

Arguing that the travel ban is unconstitutional, Al-Mowafak said it will prevent her from being able to go home to Yemen and see her husband while pursuing her education in the United States.

"I can't imagine not seeing [him] for a year, let alone four years, she said.

For her part, Al-Mowafak says she is proud to fight for travel freedoms.

"I am holding on to hope," she said.
Hundreds of people attended Saturday's Sanctuary Cities and inclusion rally in Somerville, Massachusetts.

The rally, hosted by the city of Somerville and The Welcome Project, started at 10 a.m. outside of Somerville High School.

The purpose was to stand in solidarity with and in support of the city's commitment to its residents while remaining a sanctuary city.

"I'm going to stand up for them, this is a sanctuary city and we are going to protect with all we can to make sure our families don't get separated and that the integrity of Somerville doesn't get destroyed," says Bambi Best of Somerville.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, Rep. Michael Capuano (D), and immigrant refugees were among those expected to deliver speeches. Curtatone vowed to maintain the city's status regardless of the cost.

The rally also included performances by local music and dance groups.

Somerville is among one of many cities that protects immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

President Donald Trump recently threatened to cut off millions in federal funding to such communities. Many cities like Somerville and Boston have vowed to take legal action, arguing that the threatened punishment would be unconstitutional.
First we warm-up then we cool off, then we snow, then we ice, then we rain.

On this Super Bowl Sunday, also the anniversary of The Blizzard of 1978, we are fairly quiet in New England.

Low pressure to our north is creating gusty wind from the southwest, warming us back up to the 40s in southern New England, 30s in northern New England. Wind is gusting past 25 miles per hour through sunset.

A storm is forming to the east of New England tonight, that storm merges with the low pressure system in Quebec and pushes a new batch of Canadian cold air into New England for our Monday. Wind shifts to northwest, increasing to 20-30 mph overnight and early Monday morning.

With a return to sunshine, we get to the low 30s south, and 20s north tomorrow afternoon, with wind diminishing to near calm by sunset.

After a brief lull, the west coast of the United States is once again enduring an onslaught of one storm after another from the Pacific ocean. At the same time, we have the coldest air in southern Canada that we have seen in nearly a month. The combination of the cold in Canada and the storms off the Pacific mean we are in for a busy period of weather the next couple of weeks here in New England.

The action begins tomorrow night with a warm front bringing a period of snow to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, leading to a slippery Tuesday morning commute for northern New England.

At the same time low pressure over Illinois has another warm front getting into Pennsylvania, with an area of snow, ice, and rain moving into New England from the Southwest.

By noon time the northern system and the southern system begin to merge and we have a widespread wintry mix across New England Tuesday afternoon and night.

It looks like the rain snow line will be north of the Massachusetts Turnpike for the evening commute Tuesday, but it's going to be close.

North of the rain/snow line we expect moderate to heavy snow, sleet, and perhaps freezing rain.

Along and south of the Massachusetts Turnpike it should be mostly wet by sunset, but the temperature is still close to 32.

The boundary between rain south, and snow & ice north, will slowly move toward Canada Tuesday night into early Wednesday.

Wednesday morning should be OK for most of southern New England with temperatures in the 40s and just wet roads. But from the Berkshires to the Merrimack Valley New Hampshire and points north through most of Vermont, New Hampshire, and much of the state of Maine - Wednesday morning could be an icy mess.

It now looks like somewhat dryer air should come in during the day Wednesday, with temperatures just warm enough that we see some melting. Highs Wednesday afternoon in the 30s north, 40s south.

A cold front races by on Wednesday evening with much colder air coming in at night, and a rapid refreeze leading to icy roads again on Thursday morning.

In addition, another low pressure system may form south of New England and race along the front just off our south coast, with the period of snow and ice for southern New England early Thursday.

A net gain of 5-10" of snow, coated with sleet, an perhaps significant freezing rain, is likely in the north. A coating to 4 inches of snow and ice, with more than one inch of liquid equivalent/melted/rain is likely south.

By Thursday afternoon we should all be windy, colder, and drying. High temperature mostly in the 20s to low 30s Thursday afternoon.

Friday looks cold and dry.

Next weekend we have a similar situation, with warmer air trying to come north, meeting resistance by the cold air in Canada. That means another wintry mix is possible before next weekend is over. The very early outlook for the time around Valentine's Day is for another powerful East Coast storm, with a mix of snow, ice, and rain for the Northeast.

So far we don't see anything close to resembling the blizzard of 1978, but there are a lot of players on the field that we have to keep a close eye on.

You know we love that job! More updates soon.
Nearly 30 years after starting the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the organizations founder and president, Barbara Blaine, has stepped down.

Her resignation came as SNAP is embroiled in new legal action, just weeks after a former employee filed a lawsuit alleging the organization engages in a kickback scheme with attorneys.

An email sent to SNAP members on Saturday announced Blaine's resignation, which was effective as of Friday.

"It has been the greatest honor of my life to have found and been your president for the past 29 years," Blaines message reads. "Please know that I leave with love in my heart for each of you. I remain your friend."

Blaine founded SNAP in 1988, according to the organizations website, which says it is the nations oldest and largest self-help organization for victims of clergy sexual abuse.

A survivor of assault herself, Blaine first began holding SNAP meetings in a homeless shelter she ran in Chicago. She told NBC 5 that she made the decision to resign because its "time for a break."

"I've been doing this for 29 years," she said, adding that "theres no right time" to step down.

"I'm going to take a break, I'm committed to exposing truths," Blaine told NBC 5 over the phone Saturday. "But the day to day, I need a break."

Blaine was named as a defendant, along with SNAPs outreach director Barbara Dorris and former executive director David Clohessy, in a lawsuit filed by former director of development Gretchen Hammond.

Hammond filed the suit in Cook County Circuit Court on Jan. 17, alleging that the organization referred victims of abuse by clergy members to attorneys in exchange for financial kickbacks from the ensuing settlements.

Clohessy announced his resignation from the organization the following week, though SNAP said in a statement that his resignation, effective Dec. 31, was submitted "long before the lawsuit was filed."

"The lawsuit had nothing to do with me stepping down," Blaine told NBC 5 on Saturday, echoing SNAPs statement following Clohessys departure, adding "This is something that has been in the works for a long time."

"We have been sued so many times, every time we win," she said. "It takes awhile for the lawsuit to work their way through the court; they haven't even served us yet."

"Please know that the recent lawsuit filed against SNAP, as the others in the past which have no merit, had absolutely no bearing on my leaving," Blaines email to SNAP members concludes. "The discussions and process of my departure has been ongoing."

According to her email, SNAP will be moving from a "founder led organization to one that is board led."
A Rocky Hill man has been arrested after a toddler was brought to the hospital with serious burns Saturday morning, according to police.

According to authorities, the Rocky Hill fire Marshals office was alerted after a two-year-old was brought to Connecticut Childrens Medical Center with serious burns, originally reported to as being caused by an electrical fire.

Rocky Hill police and fire departments were also alerted and said they responded to the Cold Springs Road apartment and to the hospital to investigate.

According to police, during the investigation, detectives learned statements and evidence taken from witnesses, the apartment and the hospital were inconsistent.

Police said the investigation led them to the last adult to have contact with the toddler, and resulted in the arrest of 27-year-old Michael Shamel Davis.

Police did not elaborate on Davis's relationship with the child.

David is charged with risk of injury to a minor, reckless endangerment in the second degree, interfering with police, tampering with evidence, arson in the third degree and issuing a false statement. He is being held on $100,000 bond and is due in New Britain Superior Court on Monday, Feb. 6.

Police said the incident is under investigation by the departments criminal investigation unit, the fire marshals office and DCF. Anyone with information regarding this incident should contact the Rocky Hill Police Department at 860-258-7640.
Fire severely damaged a home in Farmington early Sunday morning while the homeowners were vacationing in Virginia, according to fire officials.

Firefighters responded to a call of a fire on Route 10 before 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning. Fire officials said that when crews arrived the entire road was blacked out with smoke and they had to shut down the road.

When they arrived the entire road was completely blocked with smoke. The building was almost hard to see because the smoke was so thick, and when they got closer to the building and opened the door they realized that the fire was just too intense inside so they went into a defensive mode and they fought the fire from the outside of the building, said Mary-Ellen Harper, the Farmington Director of Fire and Rescue Services.

It took crews around two and a half hours to put the fire out.

The homeowners were on vacation when the fire broke out and no one was inside, officials said. Officials have been in contact with the residents and they are heading home. Until then, investigators cant get inside the home to continue the investigation.

Officials said the fire did so much damage it could take days to determine the cause. At this point, authorities dont even know where the fire started.

The home, which is considered historic, was built in 1875 and was known as the Henry Lewis House.
Protesters opposing President Donald Trumps immigration policies blocked the road on the Route 34 connector and backed traffic up near Interstate 91 in New Haven Saturday, leading several arrests, according to police.

A group of approximately 100 protesters took to the streets Saturday afternoon, at one point blocking traffic on the Route 34 connector. Local and state police responded to move the marchers to the side of the road to clear a path for traffic.

Protesters opposing President Donald Trumps immigration policies blocked traffic on the Route 34 connector and backed it up near exit 1 on Interstate 91 in New Haven, according to an NBC Connecticut crew on scene.

Protesters said they wanted to make a statement against a list of grievances including concerns with the new Trump administration.

This administration is attacking the people and this is a unity demonstration. Like we bring in the Latinos, that white people, the black, the Muslim, to work together, said protest organizer John Lugo.

Blocking the highway is a crime and state police said the group blocked an ambulance from reaching the hospital, delaying treatment of a critically ill patient.

State police arrested Norman Clement, 66, of New Haven, who they identified as the leader of the protesters. He was charged with inciting a riot, disorderly conduct, interfering with an officer and reckless use of the highway by a pedestrian.

Clement's attorney Patricia Kane said a second man also faces charges, and a third was detained but was released without being charged.

Rallies protesting President Donald Trumps policies on immigration continued across the country Saturday even after a federal judge blocked the order Friday and the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department announced they were not enforcing the order.
For the second day in a row protesters gathered in New Haven to demonstrate against President Trumps policies on refugees Sunday.

The event, named the March for Refugees by organizers, started at Wilbur Cross High School around noon and followed the IRIS Run for Refugees, an annual event to raise awareness and funds to help refugees who settle in Connecticut each year.

A variety of officials and refugee activists were in attendance, including Mayor Toni Harp (D), Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), IRIS Head Chris George, and several refugee families from Syria, Iraq and Sudan. New Haven police estimate that approximately 2,000 people were there.

On Saturday, another group of protesters blocked the Route 34 connector and police made several arrests.

Rallies protesting President Donald Trumps policies on immigration continued across the country this weekend even after a federal judge blocked the order Friday and the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department announced they were not enforcing the order. The Justice Department fought back - requesting an immediate reinstatement of the president's ban, but that request was denied by a federal appeals court.
A top rebel commander in eastern Ukraine was killed along with another person when their car exploded, rebels said Saturday, blaming Ukraine's special services for the blast.

Ukraine's military, meanwhile, said three soldiers were killed in shelling over the past day.

Fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels has escalated over the past week in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 33 people, including civilians, and wounding several dozen. More than 9,800 people have died since the war began in April 2014.

The rebels' Lugansk Information Center reported Saturday that Lugansk People's Militia commander Oleg Anashchenko died in the explosion along with an unnamed person.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spoke late Saturday with President Donald Trump, who he said expressed "deep concern" over the escalation.

The surge in violence began the day after Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with Trump for the first time since Trump entered the White House. Poroshenko has cast the outburst of fighting as an argument for continuing Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its actions in Ukraine.

During Saturday's call, a statement issued by Poroshenko's office said the two leaders "noted the urgent necessity of establishing a complete cease-fire." The Ukrainian president thanked Trump for his "strong support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."

The White House said Trump had a "very good call" with Poroshenko. "We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said in a statement.

The government-held town of Avdiivka, just north of the main rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, has been the focus of the fighting. A temporary cease-fire had been called to allow workers on both sides to restore electricity to freezing residents as shelling eased for much of the day. But the Ukrainian military said rebel forces began a mortar barrage of Avdiivka in the evening.

The daily shelling has left locals in the industrial town of about 35,000 traumatized.

Olga Duzhikova's apartment was hit by a shell.

"I lost my head. I don't know what I felt  I took my kids to hide them and I was waiting for someone to help me leave the place," she said.

Trump's repeated promises to improve relations with Russia have fueled concern in Ukraine that Washington would back off some of the sanctions. But the new US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has said sanctions imposed for Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea will remain.
Vice President Mike Pence came to Philadelphia to address the city's chapter of the Federalist Society and give his support to President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick.

Pence spoke Saturday afternoon at Congress Hall after a quick visit Saturday morning to the iconic Liberty Bell.

Couldn't pass this close to the Liberty Bell  without stopping by to see this symbol of American Freedom for myself. pic.twitter.com/b8L8rIIQzG  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) February 4, 2017

Pence pledged that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch will be seated on the high court "one way or the other."

Pence's comments during a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, echoed Trump's comments from earlier in the week. Trump urged the Senate's Republican leader to scrap longstanding rules and "go nuclear" if Democrats block Gorsuch.

Pence says the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Justice Antonin Scalia's death belongs to the American people. The vice president says he and Trump will work with the Senate to ensure Gorsuch gets an up or down vote.

"Rest assured, we will work with the Senate leadership to ensure that Judge Gorsuch gets an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor -- one way or the other," Pence said. "This seat does not belong to any party or any ideology or any interest group. This seat on the Supreme Court belongs to the American people, and the American people deserve a vote on the floor of the United States Senate."

Pence said the Senate had voted unanimously to confirm Gorsuch to his current post, and that nearly a third of the senators who voted back then remain in the Senate. The Senate's vote on Gorsuch in 2006 was by unanimous consent, or voice vote. It was not a recorded vote.

The event was not open to the public but that didn't stop protesters from marching near Independence Hall. [[412780963, C]]

Congress Hall was the meeting place for the U.S. Congress from 1790-1800. Among the historic events held there was George Washington's second inauguration.
Answers could finally come Monday for the family of ZuZu Verk, the 22-year-old college student who disappeared last October.

Remains, believed to be Verks, were found in a shallow grave near her university in Alpine, Texas. A forensic team at the University of North Texas Health and Science Center will be working to confirm a positive identification of the remains this week.

On Sunday, the family of missing 22-year-old college student ZuZu Verk issued a statement on new developments in the case. The statement reads in part:

"As our family awaits the likely news that our worst fears have been realized, our sorrow has grown alongside a sense of relief from the constant state of not knowing. Zuzu has been a bright light in our lives. It has been our greatest challenge to go forward these last months without her joyous laugh, fierce idealism and heart-melting smile, knowing we may all never have them again. We could not have maintained our strength without the comforting embrace of our family, friends and community."

As our family awaits the likely news that our worst fears have been realized, our sorrow has grown alongside a sense of relief from the constant state of not knowing. Zuzu has been a bright light in our lives. It has been our greatest challenge to go forward these last months without her joyous laugh, fierce idealism and heart-melting smile, knowing we may all never have them again. We could not have maintained our strength without the comforting embrace of our family, friends and com"As our family awaits the likely news that our worst fears have been realized, our sorrow has grown alongside a sense of relief from the constant state of not knowing. Zuzu has been a bright light in our lives. It has been our greatest challenge to go forward these last months without her joyous laugh, fierce idealism and heart-melting smile, knowing we may all never have them again. We could not have maintained our strength without the comforting embrace of our family, friends and Verk, of Fort Worth, was attending Sul Ross State University in Alpine when she disappeared Oct. 12, 2016.

Verk, of Fort Worth, was attending Sul Ross State University in Alpine when she disappeared Oct. 12, 2016.

On Saturday, February 4, police arrested her boyfriend Robert Fabian, who reported Verk missing. Officers accused him of "tampering with or fabricating physical evidence by concealing a human corpse."

Verk's family said they are grateful for the support from the community.

"Our sorrow has grown alongside a sense of relief from the constant state of not knowing. Zuzu has been a bright light in our lives. It has been our greatest challenge to go forward these last months without her joyous laugh, fierce idealism and heart-melting smile, knowing we may all never have them again. We could not have maintained our strength without the comforting embrace of our family, friends and community."
There were no injuries after a fire destroyed two homes in Dallas County overnight Saturday.

Around 2:00 a.m., Sunnyvale firefighters arrived at a home in the 200 block of Tripp Road.

The residents of the one-story house escaped without injury.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Firefighters from Mesquite, Garland and Dallas helped Sunnyvale bring the fire under control.

Two hours later, Dallas firefighters arrived at a home in the 400 block of Woodmont Drive.

The residents of the one-story home also escaped without being hurt.
Two weeks into President Donald Trumps administration, demonstrations continue across the country.

On Saturday, members of the LGBT community marched in Dallas protesting the President's executive actions.

More than 100 people attended to a "Not Going Back" rally at Resource Center in Oak Lawn.

"LGBT folks are not going back in the closet. Immigrants are not being banned from our shores," said Rafael McDonnell, the communications & advocacy manager at Resource Center.



The rally was followed by a march down Cedar Springs Road to the Legacy of Love Monument.



Demonstrators showed opposition to President Trumps executive order on immigration. They also protested a so-called bathroom bill making its way through the Texas legislature. The bill would require people to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender at birth rather than their gender identity.

"We have seen cases of kids in schools that are literally getting sick because they've not been able to use the bathroom all day," McDonnell said.

Despite the turn out, not everyone in the LGBT community is in agreement.

Nick and Paul Broxton are trump supporters at odds with their community's message of acceptance.

"Almost fist fights have occurred over discussing being a republican and supporting Trump," Nick Broxton said.

"If I voice my opinion about Donald Trump or my support for him, then I'm automatically ostracized from my own community just because I don't agree with the same political views that they agree with," Paul Broxton said.
A man apparently fell four stories to his death early Saturday at an apartment complex in San Diegos Rolando.

San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Lt. Mike Holden, of the Homicide Unit, said the circumstances of the mans death are considered suspicious.

At around 2:50 a.m., the police department received a call reporting a man hurt near an apartment building in the 4600 block of 63rd Street. The man had apparently fallen from his apartment -- a unit located on the 4th floor of the building.

When officers arrived at the complex, they found the 25-year-old man unconscious in the courtyard. He was bleeding from a severe head injury, Holden said.

The man was rushed to a local hospital, but he died shortly thereafter.

Liberty Zabala

The SDPDs Homicide Unit is handling the case due to the suspicious nature of the mans death. The victims name has not yet been released.

Hours later, investigators remained at the scene collecting evidence.

Holden said two people were arrested at the complex Friday night; somehow, those people are connected to the victim. Holden said the victim had outstanding warrants for his arrest.

One of the people arrested lived in the apartment with the victim, the lieutenant confirmed. Holden could not release additional details, as the investigation is ongoing. The names of the people who were arrested were also not immediately released.

Neighbor says she heard loud thud & screams last night when 25yo man fell from his 4th floor apartment. Police say death is suspicious #NBC7 pic.twitter.com/Ggh2rwv1CJ  Liberty Zabala (@Liberty_Zabala) February 4, 2017

Sydney Feese, who lives at the apartment complex, said she heard a thud and when she walked onto her balcony and looked down into the courtyard, she saw the victim unresponsive on the ground.

"I heard a person yelling, 'Call 911.' My boyfriend was with me and he said he heard those same voices yelling, 'He fell off the balcony," Feese recounted.

Feese said she saw three men rush to the victim's aid, trying to help him while they called the police.

NBC 7 spoke with other Rolando residents who said the apartment complex is heavily occupied by college students and tends to attract a lot of college-age visitors.

Neighbor William Hintzman said there are a lot of parties at the complex and drinking and rowdy behavior are frequent occurrences at the building.

Im not exactly surprised. Its unfortunate that it happened but theres a lot of drinking going on, a lot of partying [at this complex], he told NBC 7. These are young people who are away from home, away from their parents, away from normal constraints  and this sudden freedom, it seems to affect some of them to excess.

Kelly Verakis has lived at the building since the beginning of San Diego State University's fall semester. She also said the complex hosts a lot of college students.

Theres always partying and reckless behavior inside and around the complex, she explained, adding that its sad to this behavior can lead to such a devastating outcome.

Resident and college student Saba Abri described the atmosphere of her apartment building as "light, fun and playful," due to how many students live there. She said this incident is tragic.

"It's very, very sad incident, and it doesn't deserve to happen to anyone," Abri added.
College campuses are hotbeds of political discussion and disagreement but the latest debate spreading through University of California Riverside has a surprising source: hummus.

On Wednesday, the Associated Students of UC Riverside voted 13-0 in favor of a resolution which calls for the removal of Sabra hummus from all campus dining services. One senator abstained. Despite the vote, the UC Riverside administration said it has no plans to remove Sabra hummus from shelves.

In a statement to the UC Riverside student newspaper, The Highlander, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Campus Spokesman James E. Grant said the administration was aware of the resolution but, the University has no plans to change brands offered for sale or consumption in its stores and dining facilities.

The resolution came about in response to media reports that Strauss Group, joint owner of the Sabra Company, provides financial support to the Israeli military.

Sabra is a U.S. based company with offices and facilities in New York, California and Virginia.

"Sabra Dipping Company is owned by two independent global food companies- PepsiCo, based in the U.S. and Strauss Group, which is headquartered in Israel," Sabra Spokeswoman Ilya Welfeld said in a statement to NBC4.

"Each company is a separate entity and independent company," she said, adding that Sabra has "no political positions or affiliations."

The resolution at UC Riverside said that by serving Sabra the university was prioritizing loyalty and obedience to pro-Israel interests rather than the interests of their students, faculty, and overall campus community, especially when involved in pro-Palestine activism.

UC Riverside briefly decided to stop selling Sabra in 2015, but later reversed course.

The product was changed due to consideration for student preferences without consideration of the political issues raised, the university said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times at the time. However, we made a mistake in agreeing to replace one brand with another.

UC Riverside could not be reached for comment.

The new resolution says criticism of Israeli policy should not be conflated with anti-Semitism but leaders of the Jewish community on campus felt the message was clear.

Jewish students are afraid; they are disturbed, Chabad on Campus director Rabbi Matisyahu Devlin told The Algemeiner Jewish newspaper prior to the vote last week. If the motion passes, the message is clear: We dont want you here, even your hummus.

Julia Schemmer, the UC Riverside National Affairs Director told The Highlander she was, thrilled to see the UCR administrations support for the livelihood and wellbeing of both current and future Jewish Highlanders.

But students who supported the resolution are unhappy with the administration's response and have vowed to continue fighting.

"Its unfortunate that the UCR administration has decided to turn its back on its students once more," ASUCRs Vice President of External Affairs Oscar Loera Gonzalez, who sponsored the resolution, told The Highlander. It is clear that the UCR student representatives want Sabra hummus off the shelves.

The UCR administration has been failing our community, our faculty, and our students for a very long time, Gonzalez added.

In recent years, students at DePaul and Princeton University made similar but ultimately unsuccessful efforts to boycott Sabra hummus. Student government officials at other UC schools have made efforts to encourage boycotting and divestment in companies that they say enable Israels mistreatment of Palestinians.
It might be called the art of the drug deal: Florida authorities seized scores of individually wrapped heroin packets stamped with the image of President Donald Trump.

As Tampa news station WFLA reports, law enforcement officers seized 5,550 packages of heroin Jan. 27 in Hernando County, culminating a months-long investigation into heroin distribution in the area.

Some of the packets bore the names or likenesses of other notorious figures, such as Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Authorities couldn't explain the markings' purpose. Dealers often stamp heroin bags with street "brand names."

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More

Police arrested 46-year-old Kelvin Scott Johnson on suspicion of heroin trafficking and other charges. His bail is set at $75,000.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said the dealer "made a big mistake" using Trump's picture.
Police are investigating an armed robbery that left a 19-year-old woman shot outside a home in Northwest Miami-Dade Sunday.

Investigators say around midnight, Jessica Salazar was sitting inside her car waiting for a friend when two black men armed with guns approached her and demanded her to open the door. When she refused one of the men shot through the window striking her in the leg.

Kristen Torres says she then heard two more gunshots and immediately called police.

"I heard a gunshot and then I heard a woman screaming, just screaming very loudly," she said.

Police say the men grabbed the victim's purse and pulled her out of the car. She then began struggling for her purse, when a neighbor walked out and saw what was happening. According to officials, the robbers also pointed the gun at the neighbor as he approached.

Salazar was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital Ryder Trauma Center where she remains in stable condition. Neighbors are shocked such a violent robbery happened on their block.

"I saw the blood that was on the floor and a belt that they were trying to hold her thigh... because she was shot in the thigh," Torres said.

Police believe the armed robbers fled the scene on foot and describe them both as having a thin build, between the ages of 17 to 20.

This is an ongoing investigation.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact CrimeStoppers at (305)471-TIPS (8477) or (866) 471-(8477).
A 22-day-old baby was in critical condition Sunday after being ejected from a vehicle in a hit-and-run crash in Miami, police say.

On Saturday at around 1:16 a.m., Miami Police Department officers responded to the crash involving two vehicles located along Southwest 17th Avenue and 7th Street.

According to police, officers discovered that a 22-day-old baby had been ejected from one of the vehicles.

Authorities say a vehicle ran a red light striking another vehicle with a female passenger and the baby.

Rescue crews responded and transported the baby to Jackson Memorial Hospitals Ryder Trauma Center where the he remains in critical condition. The female victim, who is the babys mother, was also transported to Jackson Memorial Hospitals Ryder Trauma Center where she currently remains in stable condition.

Detectives are currently investigating the crash and are looking for a Ford Econoline cargo van, white in color, possibly a 2004 to 2007 with extensive front end damage.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Miami Police Department at (305) 603-6350. Those with information that wish to remain anonymous can contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.
About three thousand demonstrators marched Saturday near President Donald Trump's Florida estate to protest his now-blocked executive order temporarily limiting immigration.

The protest began with a rally outside Trump Plaza in West Palm Beach. They marched two miles to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, where the International Red Cross was holding a fundraiser.

Protesters shouted anti-Trump slogans and set up a flag-draped coffin that they said represented the death of democracy.

Shortly before 8 p.m., several hundred people crossed a bridge and demonstrated in front of Mar-a-Lago. About two dozen law-enforcement officers in riot gear blocked the end of the bridge but there were no arrests. The protest ended around 9 p.m.

Erica Rudolph, a West Palm Beach private investigator, said if Trump has no opposition he'll turn the U.S. into Russia where dissent is not allowed.

"It is time for all of us to stand up and shout and say 'We are not going to let you take our rights,'" Rudolph said. She held a placard reading "Too many issues for just one sign."

Alison Corin, a Delray Beach homemaker, said that as an immigrant from England she needed to stand up for refugees. She held a sign saying, "Remember the St. Louis," referring to a ship carrying Jewish refugees that the U.S. turned back and returned to Nazi Germany.

"I'm married to a Jewish guy so this is important to me," she said. "There's the whole vulgarity of (Trump). He's nasty."

Some pro-Trump counter-demonstrators also came out. They included a group of about five students from Palm Beach Atlantic University, an evangelical Christian school.

Travis Miller, a student from Council Bluffs, Iowa, said, "They have a right to protest, but we've come out here to show our patriotism. Trump just got elected and we are all for America."

About 700 guests were expected to attend the white-tie fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. Women arrived in sequined ball gowns, some wearing tiaras on their heads and hefty diamonds on their fingers. One man lifted his pants leg to reveal a pair of Trump socks.

Cocktail hour on the lawn ended with fireworks before the guests slowly filed in to the ballroom for the main event, followed by the president and first lady.

A federal judge in Seattle on Friday temporarily invalidated Trump's ban on travel to the U.S. from seven primarily Muslim nations. Trump replied Saturday on Twitter, calling Judge James L. Robart a "so-called judge" and the ruling "ridiculous."

The protest was organized by Women's March Florida and South Florida Activism.
Update: Asali family shares emotional reunion, plans in United States.

A Syrian family denied entry into Philadelphia hours after President Donald Trumps executive order suspending Americas refugee program and halting immigration to the U.S. from seven countries has made the journey to the United States, after a federal judge temporarily blocked Trumps executive order. [[412889853, C]]

Six members of the Asali family left Syria and passed through preclearance in Abu Dhabi Sunday, arriving at JFK International Airport in New York Monday ahead of a 9:25 a.m. arrival time, their attorneys said.

They arrived to hugs from family and supporters. [[412889713, C]]

"I'm very happy to help," said U.S. Rep Charlie Dent, R-Pa, as he greeted the Asalis Monday. "We have a very large Syrian community in the Allentown area, I've gotten to know many of them over the years."

Dent helped with the negotiations that allowed the family to leave, according to a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

"We are grateful for Congressman Dents leadership and his efforts to right this wrong for the Asalis," said Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. "The executive order is illegal, and its implementation was botched from the start. The ACLU will continue to challenge this order until it is ultimately overturned."

The Asalis, a Christian family with relatives in Allentown, waited more than a week to leave Damascus for Pennsylvania. Despite having obtained visas and passports prior to their departure, the six relatives were deported upon arriving in Philadelphia International Airport just hours after Trump issued the travel ban. [[412840633, C]]

Almost immediately, the Asalis became entangled in a messy legal battle between the White House and its opponents. On Saturday, the government officially suspended the ban's enforcement in compliance with the order of U.S. District Judge James Robart.

After the temporary block was issued, visa holders from the countries impacted by Trumps order hurried to board U.S.-bound flights, fearing they might have only a slim window through which to enter the country.

"I thought at first, not realizing what was happening at that moment, that it was just people delayed and they would be detained and we could just sort through it," Dent said. "By the time we finally started figured things out the family had already been returned... so we've been working on it ever since."

The legal battle continues as the Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal in an attempt to immediately reinstate Trumps order.

Despite the legal quagmire, lawyers for the Asali family do not anticipate the appeal will directly impact travel arrangements.

You never want to say for sure, but I think we should be fine, Hohenstein said.

Despite the legal quagmire, lawyers for the Asali family did not anticipate the appeal will directly impact travel arrangements.



You never want to say for sure, but I think we should be fine, said Joseph Hohenstein, an attorney for the Asali family

A federal appeals court denied a request to reinstate Trumps order early Sunday.

The Asalis' relatives in Allentown described long days filled with uncertainty, confusion and heartache.

We are very excited, but very nervous at the same time, Sarmad Assali said before they arrived. Until we have them in our arms, Im a little on edge.

[NATL] Trump Immigration Order Triggers Protests Across US

She added, "We can hear it in their voice that they're so afraid that something might go wrong."

The last names of the family members living in Allentown are spelled differently due to a name change at the time of their immigration into the U.S., a spokesman for the ACLU said.

The relatives  four adults and two children  planned to settle in Allentown, 60 miles outside of Philadelphia, where family members who are U.S. citizens had purchased a home for them. It took the family 13 years to secure visas and passports to relocate to the U.S.

After arriving at the Philadelphia International Airport last Saturday, the Asali family was met by two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. The six were removed from the plane, detained and told they could either leave the U.S. on the same plane or stay and be arrested, according to court documents.

Their legal paperwork was physically revoked, they were denied phone calls and they were prevented from speaking to relatives waiting at the airport. They were sent back to Syria that same day.

Immigration lawyers representing the family filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday, accusing the Trump administration of violating several constitutional guarantees, including those belonging to members of a protected class and the right to due process.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said he and his wife are "thrilled and relieved" the family will be able to return to the United States.

"The federal government barring these legal immigrants from living in Pennsylvania, despite doing everything the right way, was short-sighted and unfair," he wrote.

"We look forward to welcoming these families back to Pennsylvania. Our commonwealth, which was founded by immigrants escaping persecution, has always welcomed people from all over the world to share in realizing the American dream.
What to Know Karina Vetrano's beaten body was found Aug. 2 in a marshy park in Queens.

Prosecutors say Chanel Lewis confronted, attacked and strangled Vetrano while she was jogging.

Lewis is charged with second-degree murder. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years to life in prison.

UPDATE: Mother of Slain NYC Runner Stares Down Alleged Killer, Says He Should Burn



A Brooklyn man was charged Sunday with second-degree murder in the strangling of Karina Vetrano, whose death while jogging in Queens shocked the community and set off a six-month search for a suspect.

Chanel Lewis, 20, of East New York, was arraigned later Sunday and ordered held. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years to life in prison.

"This defendant admitted to attacking the victim, admitted to beating her, to strangling her and dragging her body in the weeds," Queens assistant district attorney Michael Curtis said.

In Photos: The Investigation of Karina Vetrano's Death

Forensic evidence found during a follow-up investigation also implicated Lewis, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.

Lewis has two attorneys through Legal Aid. His father described him as a "humble kid" who was a good student and wanted to go into social work.

Outside court on Sunday, Vetrano's mother Cathie shouted, "He's a demon! He's a demon, he can burn in hell.

Investigators developed a profile of Lewis within the past 10 days that revealed a host of summonses, but no previous criminal history, officials said.

Authorities believe Lewis snatched Vetrano near an area connecting the remote Howard Beach route she jogged to an East New York bicycle path that runs along the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn.

[[393168581, C]]

The discovery led authorities to Lewis' home, where they placed him under arrest. Police said they don't believe he and Vetrano knew each other prior to the crime.

Vetrano, a 30-year-old avid runner, was beaten, strangled and sexually assaulted on Aug. 2 in Howard Beach. Her father Phil usually ran with her, but stayed home with an injury the day she was killed. Her father found her body later that day, about 15 feet from the running trail.

Detectives found Lewis with the help of forensic evidence after sifting through more than 250 leads from the public and over 1,700 investigative reports. Police sources say his DNA matches the DNA profile retrieved from Vetrano's body.

"You gotta remember Karina helped us identify this person," Boyce said. "She had the DNA under her nails. She had touch DNA on her back and there was more DNA on her cellphone. That's how we were able to bring this profile up. And that's how we made the link."

Lewis allegedly volunteered a DNA sample and the results came back Saturday, sources say. Vetrano's parents had asked the state for additional DNA testing on Thursday. Her family held a rally that day to mark six months since her death.

A video released in September shows Vetrano jogging near her Howard Beach home the day she disappeared. Her body was later found in a marshy area just off the trail at Gateway National Recreation Area.

A GoFundMe page set up after Vetrano's death has raised nearly $290,000 toward the investigative effort.

Phil Vetrano said he was at a loss for words, but thanked police for their investigative efforts in piecing together the clues of his daughter's death.

"We hoped to get to this point, one day," he said. "I am not going to say it's good, but we can move forward now. We are in a place we were never at, we know who did this."

Top Tri-State News Photos
What to Know Karina Vetrano's beaten body was found Aug. 2 in a marshy park in Queens.

Her family and supporters rallied on Thursday to mark six months since her death.

Police say a person is in custody, but didn't release any further details.

A man is in custody Saturday in the death of Karina Vetrano, who was killed while jogging in a park in Queens, police sources tell NBC New York.

Vetrano, a 30-year-old avid runner, had been beaten, strangled and sexually assaulted on Aug. 2 in Howard Beach.

Detectives found the man in Brooklyn with the help of forensic evidence after looking at more than 200 suspects that fit a certain profile. Police sources say the person's DNA matches the DNA profile retrieved from Vetrano.

The man was interviewed on Tuesday, and he volunteered a DNA sample and the results came back Saturday, sources say.

Police sources say that the person in custody has an arrest history, but nothing of a sexual nature that would have made detectives focus on him specifically.

Vetrano's father Phil usually ran with her, but stayed home with an injury the day she was killed.

A video released in September shows Vetrano jogging near her Howard Beach home the day she disappeared. Her body was later found in a marshy area just off the trail at Gateway National Recreation Area.

A GoFundMe page set up after Vetrano's death has raised nearly $290,000 toward the investigative effort.

Her family held a rally on Thursday to mark six months since her death, and asked the state for additional DNA testing that day.

Phil Vetrano didn't immediately respond to a phone message and text seeking comment Saturday night.
Authorities say a man who allegedly fled a traffic stop on foot and fired at police before barricading himself inside his home for several hours has surrendered peacefully.

The standoff in West New York began shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday and lasted for nearly 12 hours. Dozens of residents who live nearby were evacuated as a precaution while authorities worked to negotiate a peaceful conclusion.

Officials say the man is a military veteran who had weapons inside the home, but further details were not disclosed. They say the standoff ended after police negotiators, the man's relatives and the town's mayor convinced him to surrender.

It wasn't immediately clear what charges the man may face. His name has not been released.

No injuries were reported in the standoff.
Police arrested a brother and sister accused of shooting a man, robbing him and stealing his car in Paulsboro, New Jersey last year.

Police say Donnell Scruggs, 36, of Glassboro, his sister Renae Scruggs, 34, of Paulsboro and Ryan Williams, 38, of Paulsboro approached a 39-year-old man in the parking lot of a convenience store on Billings Avenue back on April 22, 2016. The suspects allegedly shot the man once in the chest, stole cash, his wristwatch and cellphones and then stole his vehicle. The victim survived the shooting.

Williams was arrested back on May 26, 2016 and charged with attempted murder, robbery, unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and aggravated assault. He is currently jailed in default of $750,000 bail.

Renae Scruggs was arrested on January 10 while Donnell Scruggs was arrested on February 1. The brother and sister are both being held without bail on attempted murder, robbery, carjacking, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit carjacking charges.




Police are searching for a man who they say stole money from a Girl Scout who was selling cookies in Center City.

The 9-year-old girl was selling Girl Scout cookies on the 400 block of South 16th Street around 4:40 p.m. Saturday when she was approached by an unidentified man. Police say the suspect stole around $50 in cash before leaving the scene.

The girl was not injured during the incident. The suspect is described as a clean shaven black male in his late teens to early 20s who was wearing a gray sweat jacket. If you have any information on the theft, please call Philadelphia Police.




The American Bar Association (ABA) honored San Diego Superior Court Outreach Coordinator Julie Myres with its Burnham Hod Greeley Award. The Court announced in press release Myers received the award at the ABAs mid-year conference on Feb. 3.

The annual award is given to  a person or organization who has made a significant positive impact on public understanding of the role of the judiciary in a democratic society and importance to the rule of law.

As Outreach Coordinator, Myres leads the San Diego Superior Courts Community Outreach and Education programs.

I am honored and thrilled to receive this award on behalf of the San Diego Superior Courts Community Outreach and Education program, Myres said.

The outreach program Myers oversees is one the largest in the nation with 15,000 people participating in the initiative, according to the Court release.

Our Court is committed to educating our community, especially our youth, about the important role the judicial system plays in a thriving democracy, she said.

Each year students in fifth through 12th grade meet with judges and experience the entire judicial systemincluding sitting in on trials.

It is important for people to literally walk the halls of a courthouse and observe a court hearing, Myres said. This personal contact makes a real impact.

Programs she has worked on include Passport to Life, Justice 101, and the San Diego County Mock Trial Competition.

Julie Myres has been an innovator for the San Diego Superior Court and the legal community in creating outreach programs for the students of San Diego County, said San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Barton. She has brought tens of thousands of students into our courts and has greatly expanded awareness of the role of the third branch of government and the rule of law.

Myers accepted the Associations award during the Judicial Division Welcome Breakfast. The award honors the late Hawaiian attorney Burnham Hod Greeley.
For the last seven years, Amir Bahdors dream has been to live in the United States.

Five years ago, his mother, a green card holder who lives in Atlanta, petitioned to bring him here.

After finally obtaining an immigrant visa, Bahdor went to the airport Monday, only to be turned away because of President Trumps executive order, banning travel from seven predominately Muslim countries.

We tried to get him on British Airways and they wouldn't let him on the plane, Bahdors lawyer Carl Balediata tells NBC 7. He was vetted by Department of State. They issued him the visa before the ban started.

Balediata says they called the airline again. "This time they said [the Border Patrol] wouldn't let him on the plane because the ban was still in effect." His lawyer says the main problem was confusion.

This time they said CBP wouldn't let him on the plane because the ban was still in effect.This time they said CBP wouldn't let him on the plane because the ban was still in effect. but the main problem was confusion.

But once they found out a federal judge in Washington state had temporarily suspended the ban, their next plan was the fly from Iran to Munich to Boston and finally to San Diego.

When he told me he landed we both shed a tear. We were crying you know, it was amazing, Balediata said emotionally.

After seven years of hope was realized when Bahdor landed at Lindbergh Field, he says there's one thing he wants Americans to understand about Iranians.

We have a very good culture, he says. We are not terrorists. We are good person.
Its called Operation Homeless Cookie and its mission is to collect 30 boxes of Girl Scout cookies for local homeless people.

Demirae Humphries, the seven-year-old Girl Scout who started the initiative, is collecting donations for the charity cookies. Donations for a box of Smores or Toffee-tastic cookies are $6, and every other kind is $5.

Humphries, who lives in Chula Vista, says while her goal is 30 boxes, she hopes she can raise enough for more, proving, as the Girl Scouts slogan reminds, what a girl can do.

San Diego Girl Scouts have been donating cookies to troops deployed overseas with Operation Thin Mint since 2002.
In the northwest corner of Mission Bay, residents celebrated the 11th annual Love Your Wetlands Day by taking a little trek through the Kendall-Frost Marsh Preserve  the last remaining 40 acres of what used to be 4,000 acres of wetlands.

The marsh is off-limits to the public 364 days a year, for the protection of the wildlife and plants, including several federal and state listed endangered species.

So its kind of that stronghold of natural habitat here in the bay. The existing marsh is so small and so threatened that we dont really have a lot of opportunities for people to get out into it, Director of Conservation for San Diego Audubon, Rebecca Schwartz Lesberg, says.

With the project ReWild Mission Bay San Diego Audubon hopes to restore up to 170 acres of wetlands in the bay.

We would love to have people here every day, Lesberg says. Right now the marsh exists behind a chain-link fence, and there are people who live a couple blocks away who dont know theres a wetland here, and thats a problem. People need access to nature, and the wetlands need advocates. So if we could expand the marsh and have people out here every day on boardwalks, overlooks, it would really benefit both the habitat and our community.

Wetlands provide stopover points for migratory birds, nursery habitat for fish, and filter out pollutants in water that comes through the watershed before it gets to the bay. They also stabilize the coastline by acting like a sponge during high tide to protect it from storm surges.

The Kendall-Frost Reserve represents the last five percent of wetlands that used to be in Mission Bay.

To learn more about the marsh go to ReWild Mission Bays website.
The San Ysidro Port of Entry has reopened after closing due to protests, the California Highway Patrol confirmed.

This is the 5th consecutive weekend that the Port of Entry has been closed.

WB 905 to SB 805 is closed, WB 905 to SB 5 is closed. Due to police activity.#SDCaltransAlert  Caltrans San Diego (@SDCaltrans) February 5, 2017

CalTrans announced other road closures in the area, including westbound State Route 905 to southbound Interstate 805, and westbound SR 905 to southbound Interstate 5.

Residents of Tijuana and other cities in Mexico called for a "border boycott", and said they would not cross the border into the United States from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The boycott was scheduled for today, Sunday, Feb. 5, due to its significance in Mexico. It commemorates the promulgation of the Mexican Constitution on Feb. 5, 1917, which is currently in place.

Participants in the boycott are also trying to emphasize the impact they have on San Diego-area economy.

Protesters continue to voice their objections to a sudden hike in gas prices in Mexico: 20 percent in one day, as well as recent executive actions signed by President Trump regarding border security.
A Libyan student at George Mason University who was banned from reentering the United States under President Donald Trump's executive order is back in Virginia after a federal judge's ruling to block the order.

Najwa Elyazgi was on an airplane when President Trump signed the executive order a week ago. By the time she connected in Istanbul to fly back to the Washington, D.C. area, she was told she couldn't board.

"It cannot be described. It's very difficult to go through this. I literally just didn't know what to do," said Elyazgi, a senior at GMU. "I mean, it's my future. It's my last year."

Elyazgi said when she was stuck in Turkey she panicked and researched other schools outside the U.S. she could attend.

"I searched for other universities, tried to apply to different places because I [thought I] may never be back here again and I want to finish my bachelor's degree," she told News4.

"I think at times it's been an emotional roller coaster for her not knowing whether she was wanted here in the U.S.," her attorney Kevin George said.

On Friday, a federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked the ban.

Visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries affected by Trump's travel ban hurried to board U.S.-bound flights Saturday, fearing they might have only a slim window through which to enter the country. Elyazgi has a student visa.

After a week of being in limbo, Elyazgi arrived to Dulles International Airport on Saturday.

"The nightmare's over," she said. "I'm glad I'm finally here."

Elyazgi said she was heartened by the welcome she received and the thousands of people who have protested the immigration order.

"I felt loved. The American people are really nice. They stand for others," she said.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring was at the airport to greet her. He had been in court in Alexandria Friday as the state joined a lawsuit to block Trump's immigration order.

"I thought it was really important to welcome her back and let her know we are glad she's back in Virginia, glad she's gonna be back at George Mason and we're gonna work to get other Virginia residents back as well," Herring said.

Elyazgi is studying international relations. She said she hopes to one day improve diplomacy between Libya and the United States.
A college student from Rockville, Maryland, was found dead after a fight with a fraternity brother on a Pennsylvania campus, according to police.

Caleb Zwieg, 20, died Saturday morning at the Indiana Regional Medical Center. Police said Zwieg was choked out during a fight Friday night with Brady DiStefano, 19, according to a report by WPXI in Pittsburgh.

According to a criminal complaint, a witness told police DiStefano was spotted on top of Zwieg, choking him. The witness said he broke the two up and tried to save Zwieg.

An autopsy and toxicology results are pending, and Indiana County Coroner Jerry Overman Jr. has not ruled a cause of death, reported WPXI.

DiStefano is being held on charges of aggravated assault, but the district attorney said more charges could be filed after the coroners report is complete.

Zwieg and DeStefano were members of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The fraternity issued a statement on Sunday.

"Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity was deeply concerned and saddened by the tragic passing of Brother Caleb Zweig. We offer our deepest condolences to Calebs family and friends, the Men of Pennsylvania Lambda, and the IUP Greek Community on the loss of Brother Zweig. As new details emerge, we will continue to monitor and review the situation along with local and university officials."
One person was killed and three others injured following a single-vehicle crash early Sunday morning in Kingston, Massachusetts.

Kingston Police and Fire Departments responded to the area of 38 Winthrop Street at 1:13 a.m. after receiving numerous 911 calls. When authorities arrived to the scene, they saw that the vehicle had somehow left the roadway and struck multiple trees and several large rocks.

Police said one person was pronounced dead at the scene. Their identity has not yet been released.

Two occupants were taken to South Shore Hospital and one was taken by medical helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital. Their injuries are unknown.

It's unclear who was driving.

The exact crash of the crash is under investigation by the Kingston Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police.
Bostons Logan International Airport was filled with cheers, tears, and hugs as detained refugees and immigrants returned to the United States.

Saira Rafiee, a doctoral student at the City University of New York, spent 18 hours held in Abu David before being sent back to Iran.

It was really frustrating because I was in line checking in when he signed the order, Rafiee explained. I had no clue whether I could continue my studies.

But after a federal judge granted an emergency restraining order against the travel restrictions, several travelers are relieved they can finally come home.

Just now that I see her I feel comfortable with the whole chaos, added Hooma Koohi, who had been separated from her mother.

Now, after a week of uncertainty, families are able to reunite.

Immigration lawyers continue their "public practice" with free legal help to those flying in from the seven countries listed in the travel ban. Today they say there has been no issue getting people into the country.

"We really needed that ruling because today, we met people who had flown here from California, from Oregon just to meet their family. Now they have to fly back across the country, said Dierdre Giblen, an immigration lawyer.

"The Seattle ruling is great and fortunate. Our temporary restraining order will expire at the end of Sunday, but because of the Seattle order, we don't expect to see any changes in Boston, says immigration lawyer Kerry Doyle.

The Department of Homeland Security says after the Seattle ruling, they have suspended any and all actions implementing the president's executive order.

It's as if it never happened, says Love Macione, another immigration lawyer. Tomorrow might quiet down here, but who knows what's going to happen next week cause everyone is going to be flying into the various airports once the travel ban's been lifted.
At Boston Logan airport, immigration lawyers have been continuing their "public practice" with free legal help to those flying in from the seven countries listed in the travel ban. Today they say there has been no issue getting people into the country.

Last weekend, two federal judges in Boston ruled to put the travel ban on hold locally.

"We really needed that ruling because today, we met people who had flown here from California, from Oregon just to meet their family. Now they have to fly back across the country, said Dierdre Giblen, an immigration lawyer.

Its now nationwide, after a federal judge in Seattle ruled to temporarily lift the travel ban across the country.

"The Seattle ruling is great and fortunate. Our temporary restraining order will expire at the end of Sunday, but because of the Seattle order, we don't expect to see any changes in Boston, says immigration lawyer Kerry Doyle.

The Department of Homeland Security says after the Seattle ruling, they have suspended any and all actions implementing the president's executive order.

It's as if it never happened, says Love Macione, another immigration lawyer. Tomorrow might quiet down here, but who knows what's going to happen next week cause everyone is going to be flying into the various airports once the travel ban's been lifted.
Massachusetts police are searching for a man wanted in connection with a bat attack on another man in Chelsea on Saturday morning.

Police said officers were called to 85 Congress Ave. at 7:45 a.m. where the victim was found.

The victim, whose identification is being withheld, was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital with serious injuries.

Witnesses told police the assailant fled the scene on foot after the attack. He was wearing a camouflage jacket.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Chelsea Police at 617-466-4800.
First we warm-up then we cool off, then we snow, then we ice, then we rain.

On this Super Bowl Sunday, also the anniversary of The Blizzard of 1978, we are fairly quiet in New England.

Low pressure to our north is creating gusty wind from the southwest, warming us back up to the 40s in southern New England, 30s in northern New England. Wind is gusting past 25 miles per hour through sunset.

A storm is forming to the east of New England tonight, that storm merges with the low pressure system in Quebec and pushes a new batch of Canadian cold air into New England for our Monday. Wind shifts to northwest, increasing to 20-30 mph overnight and early Monday morning.

With a return to sunshine, we get to the low 30s south, and 20s north tomorrow afternoon, with wind diminishing to near calm by sunset.

After a brief lull, the west coast of the United States is once again enduring an onslaught of one storm after another from the Pacific ocean. At the same time, we have the coldest air in southern Canada that we have seen in nearly a month. The combination of the cold in Canada and the storms off the Pacific mean we are in for a busy period of weather the next couple of weeks here in New England.

The action begins tomorrow night with a warm front bringing a period of snow to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, leading to a slippery Tuesday morning commute for northern New England.

TELEMUNDO 40

At the same time low pressure over Illinois has another warm front getting into Pennsylvania, with an area of snow, ice, and rain moving into New England from the Southwest.

By noon time the northern system and the southern system begin to merge and we have a widespread wintry mix across New England Tuesday afternoon and night.

It looks like the rain snow line will be north of the Massachusetts Turnpike for the evening commute Tuesday, but it's going to be close.

North of the rain/snow line we expect moderate to heavy snow, sleet, and perhaps freezing rain.

Along and south of the Massachusetts Turnpike it should be mostly wet by sunset, but the temperature is still close to 32.

The boundary between rain south, and snow and ice north, will slowly move toward Canada Tuesday night into early Wednesday.

Wednesday morning should be OK for most of southern New England with temperatures in the 40s and just wet roads. But from the Berkshires to the Merrimack Valley New Hampshire and points north through most of Vermont, New Hampshire, and much of the state of Maine - Wednesday morning could be an icy mess.

It now looks like somewhat dryer air should come in during the day Wednesday, with temperatures just warm enough that we see some melting. Highs Wednesday afternoon in the 30s north, 40s south.

A cold front races by on Wednesday evening with much colder air coming in at night, and a rapid refreeze leading to icy roads again on Thursday morning.

In addition, another low pressure system may form south of New England and race along the front just off our south coast, with the period of snow and ice for southern New England early Thursday.

A net gain of 5-10" of snow, coated with sleet, an perhaps significant freezing rain, is likely in the north. A coating to 4 inches of snow and ice, with more than one inch of liquid equivalent/melted/rain is likely south.

By Thursday afternoon we should all be windy, colder, and drying. High temperature mostly in the 20s to low 30s Thursday afternoon.

Friday looks cold and dry.

Next weekend we have a similar situation, with warmer air trying to come north, meeting resistance by the cold air in Canada. That means another wintry mix is possible before next weekend is over. The very early outlook for the time around Valentine's Day is for another powerful East Coast storm, with a mix of snow, ice, and rain for the Northeast.

So far we don't see anything close to resembling the blizzard of 1978, but there are a lot of players on the field that we have to keep a close eye on.

You know we love that job! More updates soon.
Two Massachusetts men were killed Saturday night in Rhode Island after their vehicle struck another vehicle on Interstate 95 in Hopkinton.

State Police said the crash happened at 9:50 p.m. on the southbound side of the highway, about one mile south of exit 3.

An initial investigation revealed that Sean McCarriston, 32, of Fitchburg, was traveling at a high rate of speed when he struck the back of the other vehicle, causing him to strike a barrier and roll over several times. McCarriston and his passenger, Ryan J. Gromada, 23, also of Fitchburg, were ejected.

State Police said it appeared neither men were wearing seat belts.

Gromada was pronounced dead at the scene. McCarriston was taken to Kent County Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The driver of the other vehicle was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at Westerly Hospital. His name was not released.

Police said the crash remains under investigation but at this time, it does not appear that drugs or alcohol were factors.
Sesa sen By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: It is common knowledge that large information technology companies use big datalarge sets of information culled from various sourceswhich are then analysed to forecast trends in industries, businesses and even human behaviour. What is not widely known, however, is just how much the healthcare sector is relying on the same. Not just for day-to-day business, but also for developing cures for the worst of diseases.

Globally, medical institutions are using big data analytics to sequence DNA and develop treatment plans. The concept has been adopted in India, too, but the country is yet to catch up with the rest.

Applying analytics to human DNA and the DNA of cancer cells is a promising frontier of cancer research, say experts, offering cancer patients better treatment options for the type of cancer they have, minimising any negative impacts in treating them.

Running analytics on a large amount of organised data can identify specific characteristics and treatments for different types of cancers, says Mike Upchurch, chief operating officer of Fuzzy Logix, an US based company with an office in Bangalore, that specialises in high-performance analytics solutions as well as research in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The road ahead

Technology is already producing results. The adoption of big data analytics has already shortened the time take to customise treatments for cancers from six weeks to just 7 minutes. If it takes 6 weeks to analyse small groups of patients, its going to be months before a treatment can be identified, points out Upchurch.

Vijaygopal of Innov4Sight, which focuses primarily on cancer analytics, opines that a human mind is constrained and can analyse only a limited number of data points whereas big data solutions have no such limitations. According to industry players, a doctor can analyze approximately 400 records in the same time it takes a data tool to identify the best course of treatment for millions.

Innov4sight is currently working with about 300,000 cancer records and is targeting hitting two million by December 2017. An average estimated life-time revenue per record is in the range of $40-45 over a 3 year period, explains VijayGopal. From a gross revenue of just `1.7 crore in 2015-16, it is expected to close 2016=17 at `3.5 crore.

How Does It Work?

Data from various sources, such as patient history, biopsy treatments, wearable sensors, genetic data and even social media posts, are unified and analyzed to draw a comprehensive picture of the patient.

This is then compared alongside thousands of others, highlighting specific gaps and issues through patterns that emerge during the comparison, enabling doctors to assess the likely result of different treatments, backed up by the data from other patients with the same conditions.

This aggregate data is then used by researchers, pharmaceutical companies and other peers of the medical and research community. Transaction of data also paves way for more revenues. Some hospitals, including Apollo and Manipal, have been using electronic health records (EHR) and hospital information systems (HIS). However, the majority still dont.

In Kerala, state capital Thiruvananthapuram regularly publishes information on magnitude, pattern, diagnostic details, stage of diagnosis and treatment modalities of patients reporting to the Regional Cancer Centre.

The data in turn is used for further epidemiological research on cancer. The National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP), initiated by the Indian Council of Medical Research in Bangalore is also using a network of cancer registries across the country. tries across the country.

Cancer care led by data analytics and health information technology, experts say, can make significant inroads in increasing patient survivability.

CHENNAI: It is common knowledge that large information technology companies use big datalarge sets of information culled from various sourceswhich are then analysed to forecast trends in industries, businesses and even human behaviour. What is not widely known, however, is just how much the healthcare sector is relying on the same. Not just for day-to-day business, but also for developing cures for the worst of diseases. Globally, medical institutions are using big data analytics to sequence DNA and develop treatment plans. The concept has been adopted in India, too, but the country is yet to catch up with the rest. Applying analytics to human DNA and the DNA of cancer cells is a promising frontier of cancer research, say experts, offering cancer patients better treatment options for the type of cancer they have, minimising any negative impacts in treating them. Running analytics on a large amount of organised data can identify specific characteristics and treatments for different types of cancers, says Mike Upchurch, chief operating officer of Fuzzy Logix, an US based company with an office in Bangalore, that specialises in high-performance analytics solutions as well as research in Artificial Intelligence (AI). The road ahead Technology is already producing results. The adoption of big data analytics has already shortened the time take to customise treatments for cancers from six weeks to just 7 minutes. If it takes 6 weeks to analyse small groups of patients, its going to be months before a treatment can be identified, points out Upchurch. Vijaygopal of Innov4Sight, which focuses primarily on cancer analytics, opines that a human mind is constrained and can analyse only a limited number of data points whereas big data solutions have no such limitations. According to industry players, a doctor can analyze approximately 400 records in the same time it takes a data tool to identify the best course of treatment for millions. Innov4sight is currently working with about 300,000 cancer records and is targeting hitting two million by December 2017. An average estimated life-time revenue per record is in the range of $40-45 over a 3 year period, explains VijayGopal. From a gross revenue of just `1.7 crore in 2015-16, it is expected to close 2016=17 at `3.5 crore. How Does It Work? Data from various sources, such as patient history, biopsy treatments, wearable sensors, genetic data and even social media posts, are unified and analyzed to draw a comprehensive picture of the patient. This is then compared alongside thousands of others, highlighting specific gaps and issues through patterns that emerge during the comparison, enabling doctors to assess the likely result of different treatments, backed up by the data from other patients with the same conditions. This aggregate data is then used by researchers, pharmaceutical companies and other peers of the medical and research community. Transaction of data also paves way for more revenues. Some hospitals, including Apollo and Manipal, have been using electronic health records (EHR) and hospital information systems (HIS). However, the majority still dont. In Kerala, state capital Thiruvananthapuram regularly publishes information on magnitude, pattern, diagnostic details, stage of diagnosis and treatment modalities of patients reporting to the Regional Cancer Centre. The data in turn is used for further epidemiological research on cancer. The National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP), initiated by the Indian Council of Medical Research in Bangalore is also using a network of cancer registries across the country. tries across the country. Cancer care led by data analytics and health information technology, experts say, can make significant inroads in increasing patient survivability.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The city police who are probing the shootout case of Kadabagere Srinivas questioned more than 70 suspects, including a few gangsters around Nelamangala Rural on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Amith Singh, Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru Rural, along with senior police officials paraded nearly 220 rowdy-sheeters in the jurisdiction of Nelamangala Town, Nelamangala Rural, Madanayakanahalli, Dobbspet and Thyamagondlu police stations to gather information about the possible involvement of the accused behind the attack on Srinivas.

On Friday, Srinivas, the president of Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) sustained bullet injuries when a gang of unidentified men opened fire at him. He is undergoing treatment at a private hospital and his condition is said to be critical.

Speaking to Express, a senior police officer, said, There are no clues about the accused yet. We need some more days to establish the identity of the accused. On Friday evening an abandoned bike was found near a toll booth on Airport Road and we were alerted about it.

But, when we examined the details it was not the vehicle used by the accused. More then 40 policemen, including senior officials are looking for the assailants and they will be nabbed soon, the officer added.

Contract killers behind the attack?

According to sources, the police questioned a former BBMP corporator in connection with the attack on Srinivas. Preliminary investigations revealed that the assailants must be contract killers as they followed his (Srinivas) movements. They opened fire at him using country-made pistol.

BENGALURU: The city police who are probing the shootout case of Kadabagere Srinivas questioned more than 70 suspects, including a few gangsters around Nelamangala Rural on Saturday. Meanwhile, Amith Singh, Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru Rural, along with senior police officials paraded nearly 220 rowdy-sheeters in the jurisdiction of Nelamangala Town, Nelamangala Rural, Madanayakanahalli, Dobbspet and Thyamagondlu police stations to gather information about the possible involvement of the accused behind the attack on Srinivas. On Friday, Srinivas, the president of Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) sustained bullet injuries when a gang of unidentified men opened fire at him. He is undergoing treatment at a private hospital and his condition is said to be critical. Speaking to Express, a senior police officer, said, There are no clues about the accused yet. We need some more days to establish the identity of the accused. On Friday evening an abandoned bike was found near a toll booth on Airport Road and we were alerted about it. But, when we examined the details it was not the vehicle used by the accused. More then 40 policemen, including senior officials are looking for the assailants and they will be nabbed soon, the officer added. Contract killers behind the attack? According to sources, the police questioned a former BBMP corporator in connection with the attack on Srinivas. Preliminary investigations revealed that the assailants must be contract killers as they followed his (Srinivas) movements. They opened fire at him using country-made pistol.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The secretary of the Uganda High Commission here met city Police Commissioner Praveen Sood on Saturday in connection with the murder of a Ugandan student in Kothanur police limits on Thursday.

On Thursday, Nakayaki Florence (24), a BBM student at a private college and resident of Thimmegowda Layout, was stabbed multiple times by Ishaan, an M Tech graduate who lived in city. A police source said the woman was killed over a financial dispute.

The secretary met the police commissioner after a few other students from Uganda posted that the woman was raped and killed, and that it was an act of racism. However, Praveen Sood clarified that it was a clear case of murder with no racism angle, said a police official.

Praveen Sood later tweeted, Secy from Uganda High commission met us. Feel sorry for murder of their citizen.Accused being charged with cold-blooded murder.

BENGALURU: The secretary of the Uganda High Commission here met city Police Commissioner Praveen Sood on Saturday in connection with the murder of a Ugandan student in Kothanur police limits on Thursday. On Thursday, Nakayaki Florence (24), a BBM student at a private college and resident of Thimmegowda Layout, was stabbed multiple times by Ishaan, an M Tech graduate who lived in city. A police source said the woman was killed over a financial dispute. The secretary met the police commissioner after a few other students from Uganda posted that the woman was raped and killed, and that it was an act of racism. However, Praveen Sood clarified that it was a clear case of murder with no racism angle, said a police official. Praveen Sood later tweeted, Secy from Uganda High commission met us. Feel sorry for murder of their citizen.Accused being charged with cold-blooded murder.
Zumbish By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: despite a US federal judge ordering a temporary halt to President Donald Trumps ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries, confusion, skepticism and anger still continues to haunt students from these countries studying in the City.

Hyderabad hosts one of the largest populations of students studying in India from the seven countries - Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Iraq, who are confused regarding their dream of pursuing higher studies in the US.

Hend-al-Borsan, a Syrian student who has completed her Masters from English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) said that after the ban, it will be against her dignity to head to the US. The political atmosphere in Syria is not peaceful enough and that compels me and my people there to move to other countries for a secured future, she said. The ban made me cry as I had plans to migrate to US for career. I will not want to go to US now, it will be against my dignity, she said.

Hamed Sofyan Almaqrami, a Yemeni student who has finished his Masters in Linguistics from Osmania University was scheduled to head to Malaysia for an interview is now confused. I had plans to go to the USA for my PhD and was selected for diversity visa to the country, said Almaqrami. 

City students too expressed similar views. Sabi Sheik, a Hyderabadi, is an MBA graduate from ICFAI Business School awaiting admissions in the US. America is a land of opportunities but heading there now seem like being an unwanted guest. Terrorism has no religion. Trump should look at policies to counter terrorism than spread hatred, said Sheik.

It is a blot on the worlds oldest democracy, said advocate Mounis Abidi. For a country which calls itself champion of human rights, the latest order would act as a catalyst for rise in extremism and hatred, he said.

HYDERABAD: despite a US federal judge ordering a temporary halt to President Donald Trumps ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries, confusion, skepticism and anger still continues to haunt students from these countries studying in the City. Hyderabad hosts one of the largest populations of students studying in India from the seven countries - Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Iraq, who are confused regarding their dream of pursuing higher studies in the US. Hend-al-Borsan, a Syrian student who has completed her Masters from English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) said that after the ban, it will be against her dignity to head to the US. The political atmosphere in Syria is not peaceful enough and that compels me and my people there to move to other countries for a secured future, she said. The ban made me cry as I had plans to migrate to US for career. I will not want to go to US now, it will be against my dignity, she said. Hamed Sofyan Almaqrami, a Yemeni student who has finished his Masters in Linguistics from Osmania University was scheduled to head to Malaysia for an interview is now confused. I had plans to go to the USA for my PhD and was selected for diversity visa to the country, said Almaqrami.  City students too expressed similar views. Sabi Sheik, a Hyderabadi, is an MBA graduate from ICFAI Business School awaiting admissions in the US. America is a land of opportunities but heading there now seem like being an unwanted guest. Terrorism has no religion. Trump should look at policies to counter terrorism than spread hatred, said Sheik. It is a blot on the worlds oldest democracy, said advocate Mounis Abidi. For a country which calls itself champion of human rights, the latest order would act as a catalyst for rise in extremism and hatred, he said.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: The DYFI will amend its constitution so as to ensure 20 per cent representation for women in committees at various levels and in primary membership.

The decision was taken at the ongoing national conference of the organisation here on Saturday. We will increase the participation of women starting from primary membership to the committee level, said DYFI national president M B Rajesh.

According to him, the central committee to be elected at the national meet will witness the entry of more women leaders.

Admitting the national meet had evoked self-criticism for dwindling membership, Rajesh said DYFI activists would address the challenges posed by the political situation prevailing in the country.

We will bring innovation to our agitations and revise slogans to attract more youths to the organisation. The situation has changed a lot since inception of the DYFI in 1980, he said.

On Saturday, the fourth day of the meet, the political report was passed. The meet also passed resolutions on various issues, including the demand to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Jammu and Kashmir. M B Rajesh moved the organisational resolution.

We demand constitution of a commission headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge to investigate the recent civilian killings in Jammu and Kashmir. The Central Government should initiate a structured dialogue with all stakeholders, reversing the erosion of Article-370. The three regions - Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh - should have autonomous status within the state of Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

The meet also passed a resolution against the alleged haunting of Muslim youths in the name of terrorism. Data available with the National Crime Records Bureau show 15.8 per cent of all convicts lodged in Indian jails are Muslims, of which 20.9 per cent are under-trial prisoners. The total population of Muslims in the country is only 14.2 per cent, he said.

KOCHI: The DYFI will amend its constitution so as to ensure 20 per cent representation for women in committees at various levels and in primary membership. The decision was taken at the ongoing national conference of the organisation here on Saturday. We will increase the participation of women starting from primary membership to the committee level, said DYFI national president M B Rajesh. According to him, the central committee to be elected at the national meet will witness the entry of more women leaders. Admitting the national meet had evoked self-criticism for dwindling membership, Rajesh said DYFI activists would address the challenges posed by the political situation prevailing in the country. We will bring innovation to our agitations and revise slogans to attract more youths to the organisation. The situation has changed a lot since inception of the DYFI in 1980, he said. On Saturday, the fourth day of the meet, the political report was passed. The meet also passed resolutions on various issues, including the demand to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Jammu and Kashmir. M B Rajesh moved the organisational resolution. We demand constitution of a commission headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge to investigate the recent civilian killings in Jammu and Kashmir. The Central Government should initiate a structured dialogue with all stakeholders, reversing the erosion of Article-370. The three regions - Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh - should have autonomous status within the state of Jammu and Kashmir, he said. The meet also passed a resolution against the alleged haunting of Muslim youths in the name of terrorism. Data available with the National Crime Records Bureau show 15.8 per cent of all convicts lodged in Indian jails are Muslims, of which 20.9 per cent are under-trial prisoners. The total population of Muslims in the country is only 14.2 per cent, he said.
By PTI

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat High Court has asked a family court to decide expeditiously the application of a Muslim woman who wanted a formal divorce deed saying that her husband had given her 'triple talaaq'.

While the couple opted for triple talaaq consensually, the lower court denied a deed of divorce to the applicant Rashidaben Rassiwala under the Civil Procedure Code, saying this kind of talaaq was not legally valid. Justice Sonia Gokani quashed family court's order and directed it to decide the application afresh in eight weeks.

Rashidaben married Abbas Latiwala in 2002. From 2010 they began to live separately, with Abbas marrying another woman. In 2015, Rashidaben filed a suit for a deed of divorce to formalise the 'triple talaq' given by her husband. Abbas endorsed her claim that they were divorced by mutual consent, using the triple talaaq procedure under the Sharia law.

The family court, however, rejected the application saying the 'triple talaaq' had no legal validity, and she had not furnished a clear proof of divorce. Rashidaben then moved the High Court, which in its order on January 25 set aside the family court's order.

"The petitioner lady is educated and is working as a teacher. The husband has already remarried after they separated. There is no dispute with regard to the fact that word 'talaq' has been thrice uttered," the HC said, also noting that it had spoken to the couple to ascertain their wishes. "They both needed this decree for the purpose of preparation of official documents. In absence of any provision like section 13-B of Hindu Marriage Act when decree by mutual consent is permissible...they adopted this (course of action)," the HC observed.

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat High Court has asked a family court to decide expeditiously the application of a Muslim woman who wanted a formal divorce deed saying that her husband had given her 'triple talaaq'. While the couple opted for triple talaaq consensually, the lower court denied a deed of divorce to the applicant Rashidaben Rassiwala under the Civil Procedure Code, saying this kind of talaaq was not legally valid. Justice Sonia Gokani quashed family court's order and directed it to decide the application afresh in eight weeks. Rashidaben married Abbas Latiwala in 2002. From 2010 they began to live separately, with Abbas marrying another woman. In 2015, Rashidaben filed a suit for a deed of divorce to formalise the 'triple talaq' given by her husband. Abbas endorsed her claim that they were divorced by mutual consent, using the triple talaaq procedure under the Sharia law. The family court, however, rejected the application saying the 'triple talaaq' had no legal validity, and she had not furnished a clear proof of divorce. Rashidaben then moved the High Court, which in its order on January 25 set aside the family court's order. "The petitioner lady is educated and is working as a teacher. The husband has already remarried after they separated. There is no dispute with regard to the fact that word 'talaq' has been thrice uttered," the HC said, also noting that it had spoken to the couple to ascertain their wishes. "They both needed this decree for the purpose of preparation of official documents. In absence of any provision like section 13-B of Hindu Marriage Act when decree by mutual consent is permissible...they adopted this (course of action)," the HC observed.
Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: Police has arrested several people on Sunday in connection with the alleged leak of question papers for the second phase of combined recruitment examinations conducted by the Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC).

Police in Nawada district arrested 27 people allegedly involved in helping candidates write the correct answers while in Patna, they have arrested five candidates for alleged cheating.

Since morning, reports have circulated about question papers and sheets with answers being sold in the market at prices ranging between Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000.

The reports were confirmed when comparisons were made between the question papers provided to candidates in the examination hall and those sold in the market.

Even as opposition parties attacked the Nitish Kumar-led government for irresponsibility in conducting the examination and bringing dishonor to Bihar, BSSC authorities denied the sanctity of the examinations was compromised by any leak of question papers.

There was no leak. All this was a rumour spread by those with vested interests in order to distract and mislead the candidates, said BSSC secretary Parameshwar Ram to The New Indian Express.

Meanwhile, hundreds of candidates protested outside the headquarters of BSSC in Patna demanding cancellation of the examinations. Similar claims of question paper leak had surfaced during BSSCs first-phase examinations last Sunday, but the authorities had rejected them.

Ram has asserted there are no plans to cancel the examinations over such claims.

These examinations are not conducted by the education department, but I still have to answer questions from the concerned people and the media, said education minister Ashok Chaudhary. The general administration department conducts this examination, but as a minister, I assure that claims of the leak will be probed and strong action will be taken against the guilty, he added.

In Nawada, police have seized 12 laptops, over 12 mobile phones, some electronic devices, and over 18 bikes from the 27 people arrested during a raid in Warsliganj area. A day before the examination, police in Patna had arrested three people and claimed to have busted a racket engaged in leaking question papers.

As many as 18.5 lakh candidates appeared in the BSSC examinations at 742 centres spread across Bihar on Sunday. The third and fourth phases of the examinations are scheduled on February 19 and 26 respectively.

PATNA: Police has arrested several people on Sunday in connection with the alleged leak of question papers for the second phase of combined recruitment examinations conducted by the Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC). Police in Nawada district arrested 27 people allegedly involved in helping candidates write the correct answers while in Patna, they have arrested five candidates for alleged cheating. Since morning, reports have circulated about question papers and sheets with answers being sold in the market at prices ranging between Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000. The reports were confirmed when comparisons were made between the question papers provided to candidates in the examination hall and those sold in the market. Even as opposition parties attacked the Nitish Kumar-led government for irresponsibility in conducting the examination and bringing dishonor to Bihar, BSSC authorities denied the sanctity of the examinations was compromised by any leak of question papers. There was no leak. All this was a rumour spread by those with vested interests in order to distract and mislead the candidates, said BSSC secretary Parameshwar Ram to The New Indian Express. Meanwhile, hundreds of candidates protested outside the headquarters of BSSC in Patna demanding cancellation of the examinations. Similar claims of question paper leak had surfaced during BSSCs first-phase examinations last Sunday, but the authorities had rejected them. Ram has asserted there are no plans to cancel the examinations over such claims. These examinations are not conducted by the education department, but I still have to answer questions from the concerned people and the media, said education minister Ashok Chaudhary. The general administration department conducts this examination, but as a minister, I assure that claims of the leak will be probed and strong action will be taken against the guilty, he added. In Nawada, police have seized 12 laptops, over 12 mobile phones, some electronic devices, and over 18 bikes from the 27 people arrested during a raid in Warsliganj area. A day before the examination, police in Patna had arrested three people and claimed to have busted a racket engaged in leaking question papers. As many as 18.5 lakh candidates appeared in the BSSC examinations at 742 centres spread across Bihar on Sunday. The third and fourth phases of the examinations are scheduled on February 19 and 26 respectively.
By PTI

RAIPUR: The inmates of Chhattisgarh jails will soon get rid of their stinky and dirty blankets as the state Home department has decided to get them washed.

The decision to this effect was taken after several complaints of skin-related diseases and allergy to prisoners.

"We have permitted to procure washing machines at a cost of Rs 40 lakh. Very soon, washing of blankets will be started in jails," Director General (Jail) Girdhari Nayak told PTI today.

The step is expected to have a positive impact on the mental as well as health condition of the prisoners, he said.

"The effort is being made under 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan'. We want to improve the conditions in jails so that the inmates become good citizens. For the purpose, it is necessary that they should be both physically and mentally fit," the DG said.

Another jail department official, on condition of anonymity, said, "The department recently conducted health examination of 22,000 prisoners lodged in separate jails of the state by holding camps during which it was found that most of them were suffering from skin-related diseases and allergy. During investigation, dirty blankets used by them were found to be a major reason behind it."

Surprisingly, it later came to light that the blankets were never washed. To prevent them from fungus, they were just kept in open when the sun is out. Keeping this in view, it has been decided to procure industrial washers for cleaning the blankets, he said.

As per statistics, the state has five central jails, 12 district jails and 16 sub-jails where more than 18,000 inmates are lodged. Of them, around 10,000 are undertrials while 8,000 are convicts.

Each prisoner is given 2-3 blankets and in this way, total 54,000 blankets are being used in jails of the state. One blanket is used for atleast five years by several inmates. During this period, neither the blanket is cleaned nor washed.

Though sometimes they are kept out in the sun, the official said, adding that "these unhygienic blankets now have become source of disease for the users".

"The department has planned to wash all blankets and for the purpose has given permission to buy industrial washers in five central jails - Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg, Ambikapur and Jagdalpur. Very soon it will be procured," he said.

The washing machines will have the capacity to wash 20 kg clothes at a time, and thereby around 500 blankets will be cleaned in a day. The entire task will be completed in about four months, he added.

RAIPUR: The inmates of Chhattisgarh jails will soon get rid of their stinky and dirty blankets as the state Home department has decided to get them washed. The decision to this effect was taken after several complaints of skin-related diseases and allergy to prisoners. "We have permitted to procure washing machines at a cost of Rs 40 lakh. Very soon, washing of blankets will be started in jails," Director General (Jail) Girdhari Nayak told PTI today. The step is expected to have a positive impact on the mental as well as health condition of the prisoners, he said. "The effort is being made under 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan'. We want to improve the conditions in jails so that the inmates become good citizens. For the purpose, it is necessary that they should be both physically and mentally fit," the DG said. Another jail department official, on condition of anonymity, said, "The department recently conducted health examination of 22,000 prisoners lodged in separate jails of the state by holding camps during which it was found that most of them were suffering from skin-related diseases and allergy. During investigation, dirty blankets used by them were found to be a major reason behind it." Surprisingly, it later came to light that the blankets were never washed. To prevent them from fungus, they were just kept in open when the sun is out. Keeping this in view, it has been decided to procure industrial washers for cleaning the blankets, he said. As per statistics, the state has five central jails, 12 district jails and 16 sub-jails where more than 18,000 inmates are lodged. Of them, around 10,000 are undertrials while 8,000 are convicts. Each prisoner is given 2-3 blankets and in this way, total 54,000 blankets are being used in jails of the state. One blanket is used for atleast five years by several inmates. During this period, neither the blanket is cleaned nor washed. Though sometimes they are kept out in the sun, the official said, adding that "these unhygienic blankets now have become source of disease for the users". "The department has planned to wash all blankets and for the purpose has given permission to buy industrial washers in five central jails - Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg, Ambikapur and Jagdalpur. Very soon it will be procured," he said. The washing machines will have the capacity to wash 20 kg clothes at a time, and thereby around 500 blankets will be cleaned in a day. The entire task will be completed in about four months, he added.
By Associated Press

AKRON, Ohio (AP)  Wire recordings of Holocaust survivors singing melodies at a refugee camp in France in 1946 are being heard for the first time in decades, thanks to university employees in Ohio who pieced together a device to listen to them.

University of Akron officials say the six songs were sung by survivors in Henonville, France, for psychologist David Boder, who was among the first to record Holocaust survivors telling their stories during the 1940s. He recorded on steel wire, capturing the melodies with lyrics in Yiddish and German.

"Dr. Boder was determined to give the survivors a voice," said David Baker, a UA professor of psychology and executive director of the Center for the History of Psychology. "Dr. Boder is credited with being the first person to record testimony of Holocaust survivors."

Boder conducted numerous interviews on wire recorders, which were considered state-of-the-art equipment at the time. He also recorded religious services, folk songs and counseling sessions in addition to his work with Holocaust survivors.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports that one woman sang melodies that had been sung in a Polish ghetto and a forced-labor camp.

Some of Boder's spools were donated to the university in the 1960s and archived, but the content wasn't discovered until a recent project to digitize the recordings.

"It's the most significant discovery from our collections in our 52-year history," Baker said. "That we could give the world the melody to a song sung by those sentenced to their death through forced labor during one of the most unspeakable horrors and trauma of the 20th century is remarkable."

Boder's recordings are also held in the Library of Congress and at UCLA in California. The University of Akron has shared its collection with the national Holocaust Museum in Washington.

AKRON, Ohio (AP)  Wire recordings of Holocaust survivors singing melodies at a refugee camp in France in 1946 are being heard for the first time in decades, thanks to university employees in Ohio who pieced together a device to listen to them. University of Akron officials say the six songs were sung by survivors in Henonville, France, for psychologist David Boder, who was among the first to record Holocaust survivors telling their stories during the 1940s. He recorded on steel wire, capturing the melodies with lyrics in Yiddish and German. "Dr. Boder was determined to give the survivors a voice," said David Baker, a UA professor of psychology and executive director of the Center for the History of Psychology. "Dr. Boder is credited with being the first person to record testimony of Holocaust survivors." Boder conducted numerous interviews on wire recorders, which were considered state-of-the-art equipment at the time. He also recorded religious services, folk songs and counseling sessions in addition to his work with Holocaust survivors. The Akron Beacon Journal reports that one woman sang melodies that had been sung in a Polish ghetto and a forced-labor camp. Some of Boder's spools were donated to the university in the 1960s and archived, but the content wasn't discovered until a recent project to digitize the recordings. "It's the most significant discovery from our collections in our 52-year history," Baker said. "That we could give the world the melody to a song sung by those sentenced to their death through forced labor during one of the most unspeakable horrors and trauma of the 20th century is remarkable." Boder's recordings are also held in the Library of Congress and at UCLA in California. The University of Akron has shared its collection with the national Holocaust Museum in Washington.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray today raked up the 2001 "bribery" episode involving then BJP president late Bangaru Laxman to attack the estranged ally which has made "transparency" as its main plank for the BMC polls.

Addressing a poll rally in suburban Bhandup, Uddhav said, "The party whose chief was caught while accepting bribe should not demand transparency in governance from the Sena.

"(Bangaru) Laxman's acceptance of bribery is not just one case of non-transparent governance. There is a proposal to deploy power-generation machinery at the Madhya-Vaitarna dam."

Laxman was caught on camera taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh to push a fictitious defence deal. He was convicted by a CBI court in April 2012 and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. He died in Hyderabad in March 2014.

"Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had assured of clearing the proposal, but till today, there has been no development on the same. Similarly, the Centre has not yet given its green signal for the coastal road. Still, the same BJP taunts Shiv Sena for non-transparency in BMC," said Uddhav.

The 227-seat BMC will go to polls on February 21.

The Sena chief also mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his style of delivering speeches and asked people that if they happen to hear words like "Mitron", and "Bhayion aur Beheno", then they should not believe in it.

"He (Modi) made tall claims during the 2014 Lok Sabha election, but he could deliver nothing," claimed Uddhav.

Taking on BJP over demonetisation of higher vale currency notes, the Sena chief said, "The decision has left many people jobless and created a law and order situation in Aurangabad.This is sheer pick-pocketing".

"We saw no rich person in the (bank) queue; whereas the poor were forced to stand in a queue and they had to deposit their own money into banks," he added.

"The transparency has to be there from top to bottom. Where is the transparency in state Cabinet meetings?" questioned Thackeray, whose party shares power with BJP in Maharashtra.

"There should be transparency in the way state Cabinet meeting is held. The Minister of States should be allowed to sit along with the Leader of Opposition and journalists in the Cabinet meetings. Then there will no scams like 'chikki, and fake degree controversies," he added.

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray today raked up the 2001 "bribery" episode involving then BJP president late Bangaru Laxman to attack the estranged ally which has made "transparency" as its main plank for the BMC polls. Addressing a poll rally in suburban Bhandup, Uddhav said, "The party whose chief was caught while accepting bribe should not demand transparency in governance from the Sena. "(Bangaru) Laxman's acceptance of bribery is not just one case of non-transparent governance. There is a proposal to deploy power-generation machinery at the Madhya-Vaitarna dam." Laxman was caught on camera taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh to push a fictitious defence deal. He was convicted by a CBI court in April 2012 and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. He died in Hyderabad in March 2014. "Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had assured of clearing the proposal, but till today, there has been no development on the same. Similarly, the Centre has not yet given its green signal for the coastal road. Still, the same BJP taunts Shiv Sena for non-transparency in BMC," said Uddhav. The 227-seat BMC will go to polls on February 21. The Sena chief also mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his style of delivering speeches and asked people that if they happen to hear words like "Mitron", and "Bhayion aur Beheno", then they should not believe in it. "He (Modi) made tall claims during the 2014 Lok Sabha election, but he could deliver nothing," claimed Uddhav. Taking on BJP over demonetisation of higher vale currency notes, the Sena chief said, "The decision has left many people jobless and created a law and order situation in Aurangabad.This is sheer pick-pocketing". "We saw no rich person in the (bank) queue; whereas the poor were forced to stand in a queue and they had to deposit their own money into banks," he added. "The transparency has to be there from top to bottom. Where is the transparency in state Cabinet meetings?" questioned Thackeray, whose party shares power with BJP in Maharashtra. "There should be transparency in the way state Cabinet meeting is held. The Minister of States should be allowed to sit along with the Leader of Opposition and journalists in the Cabinet meetings. Then there will no scams like 'chikki, and fake degree controversies," he added.
By PTI

LONDON: Scientists have found what they believe is the world's oldest emoji - a smiley face scrawled in a legal document dating back to 1635. A lawyer reviewing municipal account documents in a village next to the Strazov Mountains of Slovakia, signed his go-ahead by drawing a small circle with two dots and a line - an image recognised today as a smiley-face emoji.

The discovery makes it the world's oldest known emoji. "I do not know if it's the oldest Slovakian smiley or the world's oldest. But it is certainly one of the oldest in the Trencin region," said Peter Brindza, head of the National Archives in Slovakia.

Previously, the oldest known smiley face was in a 1648 poem, "To Fortune" by Robert Herrick, from England in 1648. The new find beats that by 13 years.

Though the drawing could also be interpreted as a straight-face expression, the picture follows a passage that states the lawyer had no problems with the accounts, Brindza said was quoted as saying by the 'New York Post'.

Archivists also discovered within the documents a drawing of pointing clown's hand, but they are not sure of its context.

LONDON: Scientists have found what they believe is the world's oldest emoji - a smiley face scrawled in a legal document dating back to 1635. A lawyer reviewing municipal account documents in a village next to the Strazov Mountains of Slovakia, signed his go-ahead by drawing a small circle with two dots and a line - an image recognised today as a smiley-face emoji. The discovery makes it the world's oldest known emoji. "I do not know if it's the oldest Slovakian smiley or the world's oldest. But it is certainly one of the oldest in the Trencin region," said Peter Brindza, head of the National Archives in Slovakia. Previously, the oldest known smiley face was in a 1648 poem, "To Fortune" by Robert Herrick, from England in 1648. The new find beats that by 13 years. Though the drawing could also be interpreted as a straight-face expression, the picture follows a passage that states the lawyer had no problems with the accounts, Brindza said was quoted as saying by the 'New York Post'. Archivists also discovered within the documents a drawing of pointing clown's hand, but they are not sure of its context.
By Express News Service

ELURU: A minor girl was locked up in a room and beaten up by her owners son in the city on Friday. The incident came to light on Saturday, when the victim lodged a complaint with Eluru One Town Police demanding the arrest of her owners son.

According to police, Sk Afsara (13), a resident of Madepalli village in Eluru mandal had been working for the last four years at Sri Rama Cool Drinks Shop located at Main Bazar in Eluru One Town. The shop owner is also a wholesale merchant of paper plates and plastic glasses. On Friday, owners third son K Kranthi noticed that some plates and glasses were missing and threw the blame on Afsara. On the same day evening, Kranthi locked up Afsara in a room and beat her with a broomstick.

Noticing the wounds on Afsaras body on Saturday morning, her mother Sk Nagoorbi enquired of her what exactly had transpired. Afsara broke down and told her mother the travails she had undergone the previous day. Later, with the help of village elders, Afsara lodged a complaint with Eluru One Town Police.

ELURU: A minor girl was locked up in a room and beaten up by her owners son in the city on Friday. The incident came to light on Saturday, when the victim lodged a complaint with Eluru One Town Police demanding the arrest of her owners son. According to police, Sk Afsara (13), a resident of Madepalli village in Eluru mandal had been working for the last four years at Sri Rama Cool Drinks Shop located at Main Bazar in Eluru One Town. The shop owner is also a wholesale merchant of paper plates and plastic glasses. On Friday, owners third son K Kranthi noticed that some plates and glasses were missing and threw the blame on Afsara. On the same day evening, Kranthi locked up Afsara in a room and beat her with a broomstick. Noticing the wounds on Afsaras body on Saturday morning, her mother Sk Nagoorbi enquired of her what exactly had transpired. Afsara broke down and told her mother the travails she had undergone the previous day. Later, with the help of village elders, Afsara lodged a complaint with Eluru One Town Police.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has opposed the restrictions imposed on the number of attempts for students appearing in the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG). In a letter to Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda, the Chief Minister expressed concern over limiting the number of attempts, which a candidate can avail to appear in the NEET-UG examination, to three.



It is surprising to note that before taking such an important decision which will decide the future of a large number of students, the views of the State Government have not been sought, he said.



The Chief Minister said such a restriction imposed on the eligibility criteria for seeking admission to pursue higher education through competitive examination undermines the right of the student community, especially those belonging to the weaker sections of society.

Such a restriction will deprive a huge number of students from pursuing medical/dental courses leading to widespread resentment amongst them, he said. Naveen requested for the personal intervention of the Union Minister in the matter for removing the restriction on the number of attempts in the larger interest of the student community.

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has opposed the restrictions imposed on the number of attempts for students appearing in the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG). In a letter to Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda, the Chief Minister expressed concern over limiting the number of attempts, which a candidate can avail to appear in the NEET-UG examination, to three. It is surprising to note that before taking such an important decision which will decide the future of a large number of students, the views of the State Government have not been sought, he said. The Chief Minister said such a restriction imposed on the eligibility criteria for seeking admission to pursue higher education through competitive examination undermines the right of the student community, especially those belonging to the weaker sections of society. Such a restriction will deprive a huge number of students from pursuing medical/dental courses leading to widespread resentment amongst them, he said. Naveen requested for the personal intervention of the Union Minister in the matter for removing the restriction on the number of attempts in the larger interest of the student community.
Siva Sekaran By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The state government has notified the amended Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act thereby revising the existing court fees and stamp duty structure.



Originally, while passing interim orders on a PIL, the first Bench of the Madras High Court comprising Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana had formed the committee under the chairmanship of Justice K Sampath, a retired judge of the High Court, to suggest the rationalisation.



Justice Sampath, who died on December 7 last year, had studied the structure, conducted thorough discussions with the stake-holders, and had addressed the anomalies in the Act. The panel submitted its recommendations to the High Court in September 2016 for the amendment of the Act.



The High Court, in turn, directed the Government to pass the necessary orders on the recommendations of the Sampath panel. Based on the panel's suggestions, the Government made changes in the Act, and eventually passed the Bill in the Assembly on January 30.



Among other things, the committee recommended a uniform reduction in the court fees between 2% and 3% for civil suits. It noted the existing fee of 7.5% of the value of the subject matter made a litigant spend more than 30% of the value of the property.



On the fee payable on writ petitions, it wanted the existing Rs 200 increased to Rs1,000.



It had also recommended an increase in the fee for criminal complaints under Sec 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act to 5% ad valorem, subject to a maximum of Rs10,000, taking into account the time taken by these complaints.



The Sampath committee said its approach was to ensure revenue neutrality. It noted that its recommendations for reducing the ad valorem court fees was expected to reduce court fees collected on plaints and appeals (at current levels of filing) by 86.7% if the court fee was reduced to 1% ad valorem; 73.7% if the court fee was reduced to 2% ad valorem; and 60% if the court fee was reduced to 3% ad valorem. The panel had said the decrease in the rate of court fee was expected to be offset by an increase in fixed court fees payable for writ petitions, writ appeals, or original side appeals, civil miscellaneous appeals, and civil revision petitions.

CHENNAI: The state government has notified the amended Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act thereby revising the existing court fees and stamp duty structure. Originally, while passing interim orders on a PIL, the first Bench of the Madras High Court comprising Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana had formed the committee under the chairmanship of Justice K Sampath, a retired judge of the High Court, to suggest the rationalisation. Justice Sampath, who died on December 7 last year, had studied the structure, conducted thorough discussions with the stake-holders, and had addressed the anomalies in the Act. The panel submitted its recommendations to the High Court in September 2016 for the amendment of the Act. The High Court, in turn, directed the Government to pass the necessary orders on the recommendations of the Sampath panel. Based on the panel's suggestions, the Government made changes in the Act, and eventually passed the Bill in the Assembly on January 30. Among other things, the committee recommended a uniform reduction in the court fees between 2% and 3% for civil suits. It noted the existing fee of 7.5% of the value of the subject matter made a litigant spend more than 30% of the value of the property. On the fee payable on writ petitions, it wanted the existing Rs 200 increased to Rs1,000. It had also recommended an increase in the fee for criminal complaints under Sec 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act to 5% ad valorem, subject to a maximum of Rs10,000, taking into account the time taken by these complaints. The Sampath committee said its approach was to ensure revenue neutrality. It noted that its recommendations for reducing the ad valorem court fees was expected to reduce court fees collected on plaints and appeals (at current levels of filing) by 86.7% if the court fee was reduced to 1% ad valorem; 73.7% if the court fee was reduced to 2% ad valorem; and 60% if the court fee was reduced to 3% ad valorem. The panel had said the decrease in the rate of court fee was expected to be offset by an increase in fixed court fees payable for writ petitions, writ appeals, or original side appeals, civil miscellaneous appeals, and civil revision petitions.
Mouli Mareedu By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Security has been beefed up for chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao following an alert from the intelligence wing that there is a threat to him from the extremists.

The Intelligence Security Wing (ISW) officials who reviewed the security arrangements being provided to the chief minister on Saturday, have decided to strengthen the security cover for Rao by providing additional vehicles to his convoy.

Besides strengthening the operation of bullet-proof firefighter vehicle, that was specially designed with high security, the ISW officials would also enhance the number of forces to the chief minister and his convoy.

After the chief ministers recent visit to Khammam district, we got inputs from intelligence personnel of possible threat to him from the extremists. Keeping this in view, we have decided to beef up his security, officials told Express.

The ISW officials also directed the SPs of all districts to be vigilant while identifying places for public meetings of the chief minister.

The ISW officials also enhanced security forces at the chief ministers camp office. Some restrictions were being imposed on regular visitors to keep a close watch on movements of suspicious persons.

HYDERABAD: Security has been beefed up for chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao following an alert from the intelligence wing that there is a threat to him from the extremists. The Intelligence Security Wing (ISW) officials who reviewed the security arrangements being provided to the chief minister on Saturday, have decided to strengthen the security cover for Rao by providing additional vehicles to his convoy. Besides strengthening the operation of bullet-proof firefighter vehicle, that was specially designed with high security, the ISW officials would also enhance the number of forces to the chief minister and his convoy. After the chief ministers recent visit to Khammam district, we got inputs from intelligence personnel of possible threat to him from the extremists. Keeping this in view, we have decided to beef up his security, officials told Express. The ISW officials also directed the SPs of all districts to be vigilant while identifying places for public meetings of the chief minister. The ISW officials also enhanced security forces at the chief ministers camp office. Some restrictions were being imposed on regular visitors to keep a close watch on movements of suspicious persons.
Kanu Sarda By

NEW DELHI: Sixty per cent or 12 lakh of the 20-odd lakh lawyers practicing in India are fake. The number doubled after the Bar Council of India made it mandatory for advocates to renew their licence every five years. To weed out fraud lawyers from the system and strengthen the verification process of practicing advocates, BCI has written to all State Bar Councils to charge enrollment fees. Their university and college degrees will be sent to it for verification.

The Council has discovered that a large number of lawyers without proper certificates are working in courts. Last year, it had informed the Supreme Court that 30 per cent of lawyers from the 20 lakh registered in India hold fraudulent degrees.

To stem the rot further, the BCI has written to all State Bar Councils to charge lawyers `2,500 as enrolment fees. Under the new guidelines, an advocate is required to submit documents of all educational degrees at the time of enrollment to the State Bar Council, which in turn will send the copies to the concerned board/university for verification within five days of their submission.

Enrollment to the State Bar Councils will be completed only after an official reply, in the absence of which, candidates may be granted provisional enrolment for six months.

The State Bar Councils can interview them first before sending out the enrollment certificates. They are then required to send the details of the enrolled candidates to the BCI within 10 days. Recently, Chief Justice of India J S Khehar expressed concern over the hike in number of fake lawyers, saying, It is not only about people with fake degrees, but also about those with no degrees. These people work without a licence. They go to court and practice without any authority.

NEW DELHI: Sixty per cent or 12 lakh of the 20-odd lakh lawyers practicing in India are fake. The number doubled after the Bar Council of India made it mandatory for advocates to renew their licence every five years. To weed out fraud lawyers from the system and strengthen the verification process of practicing advocates, BCI has written to all State Bar Councils to charge enrollment fees. Their university and college degrees will be sent to it for verification. The Council has discovered that a large number of lawyers without proper certificates are working in courts. Last year, it had informed the Supreme Court that 30 per cent of lawyers from the 20 lakh registered in India hold fraudulent degrees. To stem the rot further, the BCI has written to all State Bar Councils to charge lawyers `2,500 as enrolment fees. Under the new guidelines, an advocate is required to submit documents of all educational degrees at the time of enrollment to the State Bar Council, which in turn will send the copies to the concerned board/university for verification within five days of their submission. Enrollment to the State Bar Councils will be completed only after an official reply, in the absence of which, candidates may be granted provisional enrolment for six months. The State Bar Councils can interview them first before sending out the enrollment certificates. They are then required to send the details of the enrolled candidates to the BCI within 10 days. Recently, Chief Justice of India J S Khehar expressed concern over the hike in number of fake lawyers, saying, It is not only about people with fake degrees, but also about those with no degrees. These people work without a licence. They go to court and practice without any authority.
Yatish Yadav By

NEW DELHI: Majority of districts in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh have witnessed a decline in proportion of Hindu population. When parties across the political spectrum are engaged in mudslinging over Hindu-Muslim population in the state to gain electoral mileage, the district as well as tehsil-wise data of the Census Office, exclusively accessed by The Sunday Standard, presents the true picture of the states changing demography.

According to 2011 Census, Uttar Pradesh has a population of 199,812,341, of which Hindus are 159,312,654 and Muslims 38,483,967. In 2001, Hindus constituted 80.61 per cent of the states population while Muslims were 18.50 per cent. In 2011, the proportion of Hindus declined to 79.73 per cent while that of Muslims it went up to 19.26 per cent.

Proportion provides the real demographic scenario or pattern. The decline in proportion shows the growth is not at the same rate as it was in 2001 and went into negative during the gap of 10 years when the two censuses, 2001 and 2011, were conducted. It is a government data and reported by the District Magistrate so there should not be any politics over it, government sources said.

For example, data of Saharanpur district shows 2.74 per cent decline in proportion of Hindu population between 2001 and 2011. The proportion of Hindus in the district was 59.49 per cent in 2001 which went down to 56.74 per cent in 2011. Muslims comprised 39.11 per cent in 2001 which shot up to 41.95 per cent in 2011.

As political parties desperately try to cash in on the caste and community equations in Uttar Pradesh, situations on the ground show a seismic change. Deoband tehsil in Saharanpur district witnessed a decline of 10.39 per cent in proportion of Hindu population from 70.19 per cent in 2001 to 59.80 per cent in 2011. On the other hand, Census data says the proportion of Muslim population in Deoband went up by 10.68 per cent in 2011 compared to 2001. In 2001 the proportion of Hindu population in the district was 59.49 per cent, which slipped to 56.74 per cent in 2011. Over all in Saharanpur district, Muslim population increased by 2.84 per cent, reveals the Census figure.

As many as 57 districts of 70 districts analysed by the Census Office show that the proportion of Hindu population is on decline. In communally-charged Muzaffarnagar, Hindu population declined by 3.20 per cent in 2011. According to 2011 census, Muslim population in the district grew by 3.22 per cent. Kairana tehsil, which led to a heated political debate over alleged exodus of Hindu families, witnessed 4.16 per cent decline in proportion of Hindu population. According to 2001 census data, Kairanas Hindu population was 49.54 per cent which plunged to 45.38 per cent in 2011. However, proportion of Muslim population went up to 52.94 per cent in 2011 from 48.61 per cent in 2001 census.

In Bijnor district, the decline in the Hindu population proportion was 1.23 per cent while the fall was 1.70 per cent in Moradabad and 1.07 per cent in Rampur district. During the same period, proportion of Muslim population grew by 1.33 per cent in Bijnor, 1.58 per cent in Moradabad and 1.44 per cent in Rampur district. The demographic narrative is more or less similar in Jyotiba Phule Nagar or Amroha, which has three tehsils. Hindu population declined in 2011 by 1.45 per cent with maximum decline of 2.38 per cent in Amroha tehsil.

There could be various reason for decline in proportion of Hindu population, including migration to cities. Similarly, the growth in Muslim population could be because of several factors, including lack of education, healthcare etc. The data needs to be analysed at micro level with other indicators to figure out whether one community is deprived of the fruits of development, an official said.

The proportion of Hindu population witnessed a fall in all three tehsils of Meerut district. In Sardhana, the decline was 3.58 per cent in 2011.

Baghpat witnessed 3.02 per cent decline in Hindu population. In Baghpat tehsil, the decline was 7.49 per cent, and in Baraut tehsil, the rate was 2.21 per cent in 2011.

All five tehsils of Allahabad district registered decline in proportion in Hindu population with maximum 2.24 per cent in Allahabad and 1.28 per cent in Handia. Rath and Maudaha tehsils of Hamirpur district show a fall of 2.86 per cent and 1.69 per cent respectively.

NEW DELHI: Majority of districts in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh have witnessed a decline in proportion of Hindu population. When parties across the political spectrum are engaged in mudslinging over Hindu-Muslim population in the state to gain electoral mileage, the district as well as tehsil-wise data of the Census Office, exclusively accessed by The Sunday Standard, presents the true picture of the states changing demography. According to 2011 Census, Uttar Pradesh has a population of 199,812,341, of which Hindus are 159,312,654 and Muslims 38,483,967. In 2001, Hindus constituted 80.61 per cent of the states population while Muslims were 18.50 per cent. In 2011, the proportion of Hindus declined to 79.73 per cent while that of Muslims it went up to 19.26 per cent. Proportion provides the real demographic scenario or pattern. The decline in proportion shows the growth is not at the same rate as it was in 2001 and went into negative during the gap of 10 years when the two censuses, 2001 and 2011, were conducted. It is a government data and reported by the District Magistrate so there should not be any politics over it, government sources said. For example, data of Saharanpur district shows 2.74 per cent decline in proportion of Hindu population between 2001 and 2011. The proportion of Hindus in the district was 59.49 per cent in 2001 which went down to 56.74 per cent in 2011. Muslims comprised 39.11 per cent in 2001 which shot up to 41.95 per cent in 2011. As political parties desperately try to cash in on the caste and community equations in Uttar Pradesh, situations on the ground show a seismic change. Deoband tehsil in Saharanpur district witnessed a decline of 10.39 per cent in proportion of Hindu population from 70.19 per cent in 2001 to 59.80 per cent in 2011. On the other hand, Census data says the proportion of Muslim population in Deoband went up by 10.68 per cent in 2011 compared to 2001. In 2001 the proportion of Hindu population in the district was 59.49 per cent, which slipped to 56.74 per cent in 2011. Over all in Saharanpur district, Muslim population increased by 2.84 per cent, reveals the Census figure. As many as 57 districts of 70 districts analysed by the Census Office show that the proportion of Hindu population is on decline. In communally-charged Muzaffarnagar, Hindu population declined by 3.20 per cent in 2011. According to 2011 census, Muslim population in the district grew by 3.22 per cent. Kairana tehsil, which led to a heated political debate over alleged exodus of Hindu families, witnessed 4.16 per cent decline in proportion of Hindu population. According to 2001 census data, Kairanas Hindu population was 49.54 per cent which plunged to 45.38 per cent in 2011. However, proportion of Muslim population went up to 52.94 per cent in 2011 from 48.61 per cent in 2001 census. In Bijnor district, the decline in the Hindu population proportion was 1.23 per cent while the fall was 1.70 per cent in Moradabad and 1.07 per cent in Rampur district. During the same period, proportion of Muslim population grew by 1.33 per cent in Bijnor, 1.58 per cent in Moradabad and 1.44 per cent in Rampur district. The demographic narrative is more or less similar in Jyotiba Phule Nagar or Amroha, which has three tehsils. Hindu population declined in 2011 by 1.45 per cent with maximum decline of 2.38 per cent in Amroha tehsil. There could be various reason for decline in proportion of Hindu population, including migration to cities. Similarly, the growth in Muslim population could be because of several factors, including lack of education, healthcare etc. The data needs to be analysed at micro level with other indicators to figure out whether one community is deprived of the fruits of development, an official said. The proportion of Hindu population witnessed a fall in all three tehsils of Meerut district. In Sardhana, the decline was 3.58 per cent in 2011. Baghpat witnessed 3.02 per cent decline in Hindu population. In Baghpat tehsil, the decline was 7.49 per cent, and in Baraut tehsil, the rate was 2.21 per cent in 2011. All five tehsils of Allahabad district registered decline in proportion in Hindu population with maximum 2.24 per cent in Allahabad and 1.28 per cent in Handia. Rath and Maudaha tehsils of Hamirpur district show a fall of 2.86 per cent and 1.69 per cent respectively.
Amit S Upadhye By

LONDA, BELAGAVI: Far from the maddening crowds of cities and towns, lies Londa village in Belagavi district nestled in the forests of Western Ghats. And this proximity to nature and animals is said to have given the village its most revered deitythe tigerat the Vyagreshwar or Wagoba temple.

Tigers are generally worshipped as vahana or vehicle of goddesses. But in Londa, the tiger is worshipped by several families, especially those from Kunabi community who have lived in the surrounding forests for decades.

A century ago, when the Britishers were yet to built a railway track through these jungles to connect Goa with Karnataka, the tiger population was very high. Fearing attacks on cattle and villagers, a temple was built and dedicated to the big cat. Legend has it that the tiger attacks went down after the temple was built. Elders in the village say that it has become customary for a tiger to show up whenever a procession was taken out from Londa to nearby villages during the temple festival. Villagers also believe the deity protects villagers from evils. Even today, the area where the temple is located abuts a wildlife sanctuary that has a decent tiger population.

Villagers from surrounding areas come to offer prayers at the Wagoba temple. There is another temple dedicated to tiger called Wagoba Mandir near Pune as well. Around 1950s, villagers in Londa renovated the temple and more structures were added to it. Elders in my family have recalled that the tiger deity has been in Londa for many years, says Nitin Mirashi, priest at the temple.

Once in three years, the temple authorities conduct a gondal or a fair. Thousands of devotees from Maharashtra, Goa and from across Karnataka travel to this hamlet to take part participate in the fair. A Londa villager said the entire village takes part in the carnival.

LONDA, BELAGAVI: Far from the maddening crowds of cities and towns, lies Londa village in Belagavi district nestled in the forests of Western Ghats. And this proximity to nature and animals is said to have given the village its most revered deitythe tigerat the Vyagreshwar or Wagoba temple. Tigers are generally worshipped as vahana or vehicle of goddesses. But in Londa, the tiger is worshipped by several families, especially those from Kunabi community who have lived in the surrounding forests for decades. A century ago, when the Britishers were yet to built a railway track through these jungles to connect Goa with Karnataka, the tiger population was very high. Fearing attacks on cattle and villagers, a temple was built and dedicated to the big cat. Legend has it that the tiger attacks went down after the temple was built. Elders in the village say that it has become customary for a tiger to show up whenever a procession was taken out from Londa to nearby villages during the temple festival. Villagers also believe the deity protects villagers from evils. Even today, the area where the temple is located abuts a wildlife sanctuary that has a decent tiger population. Villagers from surrounding areas come to offer prayers at the Wagoba temple. There is another temple dedicated to tiger called Wagoba Mandir near Pune as well. Around 1950s, villagers in Londa renovated the temple and more structures were added to it. Elders in my family have recalled that the tiger deity has been in Londa for many years, says Nitin Mirashi, priest at the temple. Once in three years, the temple authorities conduct a gondal or a fair. Thousands of devotees from Maharashtra, Goa and from across Karnataka travel to this hamlet to take part participate in the fair. A Londa villager said the entire village takes part in the carnival.
Kumar Vikram By

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Delhi civic polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modis flagship programme Swachch Bharat Mission has flopped in Delhi. Leaders of BJP-ruled MCD allege Arvind Kejriwals government is sitting on around Rs 330 crore of the total Central government funding sanctioned for the project.

The state government, instead, blames MCD for not spending the money. MCD, whose responsibility it is to implement the drive, could only spend just above Rs 2 crore on making the capital spotless. The Centre has given us the approved money. But it has not been released by the state government to us, said state BJP leader Subhash Arya.

Garbage piles up in a Delhi locality | Shekhar Yadav

The latest data compiled by the Urban Development department of Delhi government states that out of the Rs 65 crore allotted by the Modi government, SDMC has spent only Rs 1.85 crore till 2016-17. Arya said, Delhi will be clean, and salaries of all sanitation workers will be paid if the Delhi government releases municipal funds which are stuck for years.



Similar is the claim of Sanjay Jain, leader of the house, East Municipal Corporation of Delhi (EMCD). The Centre does not release funds directly to the local bodies. Funding for schemes like midday meal, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and others reach us through the state government, Jain said.



While EMCD share comes out to be about Rs 83 crore, the civic body could not make any headway into the project in absence of money.

North MCD Leader of the House Vijay Prakash Pandey said, We have Rs 40 lakh, which we plan to utilise for the mission, he added.



Total fund allocated for the North MCD is Rs 91 crore, while the expenditure is zero.



A senior official of the Union Urban Development Ministry said there were guidelines to implement different programmes under the mission. For the construction of an individual toilet, the Centre gives Rs 4,000 and the state government gives Rs 1,333. And we are aware that municipal bodies have not spent much in Delhi, he added.

The Delhi government blames MCD for non-implementation. Swachh Bharat has a dedicated fund, so why did not they use it? If Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board can spend money on combating malaria, chikungunia and dengue, why cant municipal bodies do the same? asked Nagender Sharma, who is media adviser to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals.



Vijender Gupta, Leader of the Opposition, Delhi government, blames the state government for preventing MCD from implementing a central programme.

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Delhi civic polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modis flagship programme Swachch Bharat Mission has flopped in Delhi. Leaders of BJP-ruled MCD allege Arvind Kejriwals government is sitting on around Rs 330 crore of the total Central government funding sanctioned for the project. The state government, instead, blames MCD for not spending the money. MCD, whose responsibility it is to implement the drive, could only spend just above Rs 2 crore on making the capital spotless. The Centre has given us the approved money. But it has not been released by the state government to us, said state BJP leader Subhash Arya. Garbage piles up in a Delhi locality | Shekhar Yadav The latest data compiled by the Urban Development department of Delhi government states that out of the Rs 65 crore allotted by the Modi government, SDMC has spent only Rs 1.85 crore till 2016-17. Arya said, Delhi will be clean, and salaries of all sanitation workers will be paid if the Delhi government releases municipal funds which are stuck for years. Similar is the claim of Sanjay Jain, leader of the house, East Municipal Corporation of Delhi (EMCD). The Centre does not release funds directly to the local bodies. Funding for schemes like midday meal, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and others reach us through the state government, Jain said. While EMCD share comes out to be about Rs 83 crore, the civic body could not make any headway into the project in absence of money. North MCD Leader of the House Vijay Prakash Pandey said, We have Rs 40 lakh, which we plan to utilise for the mission, he added. Total fund allocated for the North MCD is Rs 91 crore, while the expenditure is zero. A senior official of the Union Urban Development Ministry said there were guidelines to implement different programmes under the mission. For the construction of an individual toilet, the Centre gives Rs 4,000 and the state government gives Rs 1,333. And we are aware that municipal bodies have not spent much in Delhi, he added. The Delhi government blames MCD for non-implementation. Swachh Bharat has a dedicated fund, so why did not they use it? If Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board can spend money on combating malaria, chikungunia and dengue, why cant municipal bodies do the same? asked Nagender Sharma, who is media adviser to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals. Vijender Gupta, Leader of the Opposition, Delhi government, blames the state government for preventing MCD from implementing a central programme.
Ritu Sharma By

NEW DELHI: India does not have much in its repertoire of foreign policy responses in case the H1B visa reforms bill is passed in the US. New Delhis alignment with the Obama administration and failure to grasp the seriousness of Donald Trumps pre-election promises has left its response strategy in disarray.

The watcher of the Indo-US relations see that the Indian diplomats inability to read the political developments in the US election that culminated with Trumps victory and misreading his teams agenda as mere pre-poll gimmicks. It seems the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) did not see the H1B visa fiasco coming. It did not realise Trump was coming to power and what after he comes to power, a government source said.

Now the Trump administrations policy of protectionism stands to adversely impact the Indian IT sector, but all the MEA is doing is wait and watch. Three private bills have been introduced in the US House of Representatives. So let us not pre-judge the outcome because we have seen what has happened to similar bills in the past. If and when an Executive Order is passed, we will certainly give our reaction, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.



Credible sources with the government indicate that New Delhi had gone too far to accommodate the Democratsthe Team Obama. This translated into the fact that Delhi took a long time to open communication channels with the Trump team. In diplomacy one cannot be seen too close to one of the stakeholders. The fallout is that we do not have concrete response to what will happen if the visa revamping bill is passed, a former foreign secretary said.

In the present world order India has put a lot at stake to come closer to the US. It has forgone the exclusivity of its relation with Russia that has for the first time started engaging with Pakistan militarily. It aligned itself with Obamas Pivot to Asia policy and positioned itself as counter-balance to China. In case US President Donald Trump decides to withdraw his country from the strategic alliance, India will be left in the lurch.

NEW DELHI: India does not have much in its repertoire of foreign policy responses in case the H1B visa reforms bill is passed in the US. New Delhis alignment with the Obama administration and failure to grasp the seriousness of Donald Trumps pre-election promises has left its response strategy in disarray. The watcher of the Indo-US relations see that the Indian diplomats inability to read the political developments in the US election that culminated with Trumps victory and misreading his teams agenda as mere pre-poll gimmicks. It seems the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) did not see the H1B visa fiasco coming. It did not realise Trump was coming to power and what after he comes to power, a government source said. Now the Trump administrations policy of protectionism stands to adversely impact the Indian IT sector, but all the MEA is doing is wait and watch. Three private bills have been introduced in the US House of Representatives. So let us not pre-judge the outcome because we have seen what has happened to similar bills in the past. If and when an Executive Order is passed, we will certainly give our reaction, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. Credible sources with the government indicate that New Delhi had gone too far to accommodate the Democratsthe Team Obama. This translated into the fact that Delhi took a long time to open communication channels with the Trump team. In diplomacy one cannot be seen too close to one of the stakeholders. The fallout is that we do not have concrete response to what will happen if the visa revamping bill is passed, a former foreign secretary said. In the present world order India has put a lot at stake to come closer to the US. It has forgone the exclusivity of its relation with Russia that has for the first time started engaging with Pakistan militarily. It aligned itself with Obamas Pivot to Asia policy and positioned itself as counter-balance to China. In case US President Donald Trump decides to withdraw his country from the strategic alliance, India will be left in the lurch.
Dileep V Kumar By

KOLLAM: With Kerala facing a threat of the worst-ever drought this year, the state government is planning to kick-start a massive anti-drought campaign.

The state was declared drought-hit in October 2016. The gravity of drought is such that its the worst one to have hit the state in 115 years.

As part of it, starting February 1, the chief minister, revenue minister and the chief secretary will become the star campaigners of drought awareness programmes.

The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), which is chalking out the awareness campaign, plans to use the voices of the three campaigners as they address the public from various FM radio stations.

The two-point agenda of the campaign is Respect Water. Reduce Drought. The problem with the state is that we are yet to understand the need for conserving water. Considering the severity of the drought, it is high time that people are sensitised on the issue and water-conservation activities.

As part of the campaign, we will reach out to the people through FM channels, cinema theatres, KSRTC buses, print and electronic media. For the purpose, we have already got an amount of `83.58 lakh from the government, said Sekhar L Kuriakose, member secretary, SDMA. According to him, the voices of the chief minister, revenue minister and the chief secretary will be used as jingles in the FM channels as they would stress upon the need to protect water resources and its use judiciously.

Earlier, the SDMA had mooted a plan to document drought and the task was entrusted with Venu Nair, a documentary filmmaker. When asked about it, the SDMA member secretary said that preliminary works in this regard have already been started and the filmmaker has been asked to submit the script of the documentary. A committee comprising officials from the SDMA and the Public Relations department will monitor the making of the documentary film, he said.



This kind of drought is a one-time phenomenon. Moreover, it is the worst one to hit the state in 115 years. Thus, to document it is of great importance. We could use the document in future. The focus will be on the lessons we learn in the time of distress. The film will be more of an educative kind, Sekhar said.

KOLLAM: With Kerala facing a threat of the worst-ever drought this year, the state government is planning to kick-start a massive anti-drought campaign. The state was declared drought-hit in October 2016. The gravity of drought is such that its the worst one to have hit the state in 115 years. As part of it, starting February 1, the chief minister, revenue minister and the chief secretary will become the star campaigners of drought awareness programmes. The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), which is chalking out the awareness campaign, plans to use the voices of the three campaigners as they address the public from various FM radio stations. The two-point agenda of the campaign is Respect Water. Reduce Drought. The problem with the state is that we are yet to understand the need for conserving water. Considering the severity of the drought, it is high time that people are sensitised on the issue and water-conservation activities. As part of the campaign, we will reach out to the people through FM channels, cinema theatres, KSRTC buses, print and electronic media. For the purpose, we have already got an amount of `83.58 lakh from the government, said Sekhar L Kuriakose, member secretary, SDMA. According to him, the voices of the chief minister, revenue minister and the chief secretary will be used as jingles in the FM channels as they would stress upon the need to protect water resources and its use judiciously. Earlier, the SDMA had mooted a plan to document drought and the task was entrusted with Venu Nair, a documentary filmmaker. When asked about it, the SDMA member secretary said that preliminary works in this regard have already been started and the filmmaker has been asked to submit the script of the documentary. A committee comprising officials from the SDMA and the Public Relations department will monitor the making of the documentary film, he said. This kind of drought is a one-time phenomenon. Moreover, it is the worst one to hit the state in 115 years. Thus, to document it is of great importance. We could use the document in future. The focus will be on the lessons we learn in the time of distress. The film will be more of an educative kind, Sekhar said.
Namita Bajpai By

ETAWAH: Nearly 12 years after Nirbhay Gujjar, the last of the big brigands, was killed, the ravines of Chambal valley in Etawah still resonate with stories of dread and Godfather-style admiration tinged with fear.



Till a decade ago, guns were a way of life here and diktats of baaghislocal parlance for dacoitswere the law of the land in Udi, Chakarpur and Dibhauli Ghat. The names and deeds of Maan Singh, Malkhan Singh, Phakkad, Lala Ram, Vikram Mallah, Phoolan Devi and Nirbhay Gujjar are still spoken in awe here, particularly at poll time. Sixty-nine-year old Tribhuvan Singh Chauhan, former block pramukh of Dibholi Ghat who now runs a huge four-storey degree college in this ravine country, remembers, Their decree used to be the final word for people and nobody had the courage to flout it.

An active politician-dacoit nexus existed in these ravines. It flourished till the last of the moustached men Nirbhay Gujjar was killed in an encounter in 2004. Until then, dacoits influenced poll results in a big way. Politicians approached them to secure favourable farmaans and the brigands advised them on what they want done in return.



Usually, they would support candidates belonging to their own caste, says Satendra Yadav, a village leader. Baaghis were Robin Hoods, especially if you were from their caste. The outlaws were better than the policemen of now. They supported girls marriage and treatment of the poor. They helped release lands of small farmers from the clutches of landlords.

With the passage of time, as infrastructure developed and towns expanded, gangs operating in Chambal valley stopped raiding villages. They metamorphosed into looting for survival and led to a culture of highway dacoity and then to abductions for ransom, locally called the pakad (captive).



Nirbhay was among the most feared dacoits with 205 criminal cases against him. At the fag end of his domination of the ravines, local elders tried to persuade him to surrender.

He fantasised about flying around in a chopper. When he finally came round to the idea of surrendering, he insisted on doing so flying in a chopper, says Chauhan. He was killed in a police encounter before he could live his dream of flying.

ETAWAH: Nearly 12 years after Nirbhay Gujjar, the last of the big brigands, was killed, the ravines of Chambal valley in Etawah still resonate with stories of dread and Godfather-style admiration tinged with fear. Till a decade ago, guns were a way of life here and diktats of baaghislocal parlance for dacoitswere the law of the land in Udi, Chakarpur and Dibhauli Ghat. The names and deeds of Maan Singh, Malkhan Singh, Phakkad, Lala Ram, Vikram Mallah, Phoolan Devi and Nirbhay Gujjar are still spoken in awe here, particularly at poll time. Sixty-nine-year old Tribhuvan Singh Chauhan, former block pramukh of Dibholi Ghat who now runs a huge four-storey degree college in this ravine country, remembers, Their decree used to be the final word for people and nobody had the courage to flout it. An active politician-dacoit nexus existed in these ravines. It flourished till the last of the moustached men Nirbhay Gujjar was killed in an encounter in 2004. Until then, dacoits influenced poll results in a big way. Politicians approached them to secure favourable farmaans and the brigands advised them on what they want done in return. Usually, they would support candidates belonging to their own caste, says Satendra Yadav, a village leader. Baaghis were Robin Hoods, especially if you were from their caste. The outlaws were better than the policemen of now. They supported girls marriage and treatment of the poor. They helped release lands of small farmers from the clutches of landlords. With the passage of time, as infrastructure developed and towns expanded, gangs operating in Chambal valley stopped raiding villages. They metamorphosed into looting for survival and led to a culture of highway dacoity and then to abductions for ransom, locally called the pakad (captive). Nirbhay was among the most feared dacoits with 205 criminal cases against him. At the fag end of his domination of the ravines, local elders tried to persuade him to surrender. He fantasised about flying around in a chopper. When he finally came round to the idea of surrendering, he insisted on doing so flying in a chopper, says Chauhan. He was killed in a police encounter before he could live his dream of flying.
Namita Bajpai By

LUCKNOW: With the first phase of polls in 73 Assembly constituencies across 15 western UP districts just a week away, the major players have gotten into battle mode with multi-pronged combat strategies. War rooms have come up to attack rivals in the countrys biggest political battleground.



The hi-tech war room of the Samajwadi Party (SP), armed with a huge fleet of digital warfare, is abuzz under supervision of a brigade of techies and poll strategists here.

While newly-anointed SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is traversing western UP with ally Congress in tow, party warriors are holding command in the three-room office in the Janeshwar Mishra Trust complex war room by putting up a spirited digital campaign through Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.



Akhileshs MP wife Dimple Yadav is entrusted with mobilising the women electorate by connecting with them through WhatsApp and making them aware of the women-specific policies of the SP government and its achievements.

The team of professionals overseeing the campaign has its eyes on the activities of the 1.6 lakh booth-level workforce, electorates feedback on the party manifesto, social media and call centre functioning.



The war room has five sectionsresearch and analysis, social media, media monitoring, digital content (audio-video) and feedback through call centres. Akhileshs campaign is also looked after here. The strategists also take out finer details of local issues of areas where the CM has to address rallies.

According to war room head Ashish Yadav, who was a communication expert on government programmes with the BBC for 12 years before joining the SP chief, Through call centres we keep in direct touch with candidates and workers and guide them from here.



Anshuman Sharma, who also quit BBC to join Ashish, heads the research wing team, which plans the party campaign and the party chief in particular, apart from collecting campaign feedback.

The other most important wing of the war room is its social media section, which claims to have a reach of 1.2 crore people. According to Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, who controls social media ops, such a gargantuan reach makes the task more challenging. Aftab has been running countrys one of the largest independent digital agencies in Mumbai.



The media monitoring cell tracks development throughout the day across news channels, newspapers and online news. It is entrusted with preparing a team of party spokespersons to participate in debates on TV channels.

LUCKNOW: With the first phase of polls in 73 Assembly constituencies across 15 western UP districts just a week away, the major players have gotten into battle mode with multi-pronged combat strategies. War rooms have come up to attack rivals in the countrys biggest political battleground. The hi-tech war room of the Samajwadi Party (SP), armed with a huge fleet of digital warfare, is abuzz under supervision of a brigade of techies and poll strategists here. While newly-anointed SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is traversing western UP with ally Congress in tow, party warriors are holding command in the three-room office in the Janeshwar Mishra Trust complex war room by putting up a spirited digital campaign through Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. Akhileshs MP wife Dimple Yadav is entrusted with mobilising the women electorate by connecting with them through WhatsApp and making them aware of the women-specific policies of the SP government and its achievements. The team of professionals overseeing the campaign has its eyes on the activities of the 1.6 lakh booth-level workforce, electorates feedback on the party manifesto, social media and call centre functioning. The war room has five sectionsresearch and analysis, social media, media monitoring, digital content (audio-video) and feedback through call centres. Akhileshs campaign is also looked after here. The strategists also take out finer details of local issues of areas where the CM has to address rallies. According to war room head Ashish Yadav, who was a communication expert on government programmes with the BBC for 12 years before joining the SP chief, Through call centres we keep in direct touch with candidates and workers and guide them from here. Anshuman Sharma, who also quit BBC to join Ashish, heads the research wing team, which plans the party campaign and the party chief in particular, apart from collecting campaign feedback. The other most important wing of the war room is its social media section, which claims to have a reach of 1.2 crore people. According to Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, who controls social media ops, such a gargantuan reach makes the task more challenging. Aftab has been running countrys one of the largest independent digital agencies in Mumbai. The media monitoring cell tracks development throughout the day across news channels, newspapers and online news. It is entrusted with preparing a team of party spokespersons to participate in debates on TV channels.
Richa Sharma By

Union Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari has spoken to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal about work on Delhi-Agra water connectivity on Yamuna. Talking to Richa Sharma he said that he was hopeful that the tender will be out soon.

What is the progress on the ambitious Delhi-Agra water connectivity plan?

I have spoken to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal about this. The Delhi Jal Board has to stop flow of untreated water and sewers into the river. We have told the Delhi government that we will carry out dredging of Yamuna and the dredged sand can be used in highway construction. And to carry out the work we need to hold water at some places and Delhi has agreed to support us. We will soon start the first water connectivity project on Yamuna between Palla and Wazirabad and tender will be out soon.

How does the ministry plan to run driverless pods in Delhi, NCR to ease traffic?

Initially, there were safety issues with Metrino technology. Safety norms have to be made country-specific and so we are consulting with countries that use the technology.

Any new plans for metropolitan cities?

We have proposed multi-modal transport hubs wherein state transport, water transport, airways and railways will be integrated. We are also looking at mass rapid electric transport such as cable cars, driverless pods that is cost effective and pollution free. And for this we have started assessment in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.

The Motor Vehicle Act to check traffic violations is still pending with Parliament?

The bill is pending with the Parliamentary Standing Committee and I request it to submit the report at the earliest so that we can introduce it in the Budget Session. Over 1.5 lakh people were killed in accidents in 2015. By passing the law, we will be able to save many lives.

What do you have to say about the slow progress in highways sector?

We are behind our target of constructing 40-km road every day, which was a very ambitious target. By March, we want to touch the 30 km per day target, which will also be a record.

Union Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari has spoken to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal about work on Delhi-Agra water connectivity on Yamuna. Talking to Richa Sharma he said that he was hopeful that the tender will be out soon. What is the progress on the ambitious Delhi-Agra water connectivity plan? I have spoken to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal about this. The Delhi Jal Board has to stop flow of untreated water and sewers into the river. We have told the Delhi government that we will carry out dredging of Yamuna and the dredged sand can be used in highway construction. And to carry out the work we need to hold water at some places and Delhi has agreed to support us. We will soon start the first water connectivity project on Yamuna between Palla and Wazirabad and tender will be out soon. How does the ministry plan to run driverless pods in Delhi, NCR to ease traffic? Initially, there were safety issues with Metrino technology. Safety norms have to be made country-specific and so we are consulting with countries that use the technology. Any new plans for metropolitan cities? We have proposed multi-modal transport hubs wherein state transport, water transport, airways and railways will be integrated. We are also looking at mass rapid electric transport such as cable cars, driverless pods that is cost effective and pollution free. And for this we have started assessment in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. The Motor Vehicle Act to check traffic violations is still pending with Parliament? The bill is pending with the Parliamentary Standing Committee and I request it to submit the report at the earliest so that we can introduce it in the Budget Session. Over 1.5 lakh people were killed in accidents in 2015. By passing the law, we will be able to save many lives. What do you have to say about the slow progress in highways sector? We are behind our target of constructing 40-km road every day, which was a very ambitious target. By March, we want to touch the 30 km per day target, which will also be a record.
By AFP

DUBAI: A bomb exploded on the main street near the Bahraini capital Sunday, causing no casualties in what the government described as a "terrorist" act.

"Terrorist bombing on Budaya Street damages multiple cars without casualties," read a tweet by the interior ministry.

No further details were available.

Bahrain has been rocked by unrest since Shiite-led protests in 2011 were put down by authorities in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state.

The country, ruled by the Al-Khalifa dynasty for more than two centuries, has a majority Shiite population which has long complained of marginalisation.

Bahrain last month executed three men found guilty of killing policemen, including an Emirati officer who was part of a Gulf force that entered the kingdom to help quell protests.

A policeman was also shot dead in a Shiite village last month. Authorities described the shooting as "terrorist."

DUBAI: A bomb exploded on the main street near the Bahraini capital Sunday, causing no casualties in what the government described as a "terrorist" act. "Terrorist bombing on Budaya Street damages multiple cars without casualties," read a tweet by the interior ministry. No further details were available. Bahrain has been rocked by unrest since Shiite-led protests in 2011 were put down by authorities in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state. The country, ruled by the Al-Khalifa dynasty for more than two centuries, has a majority Shiite population which has long complained of marginalisation. Bahrain last month executed three men found guilty of killing policemen, including an Emirati officer who was part of a Gulf force that entered the kingdom to help quell protests. A policeman was also shot dead in a Shiite village last month. Authorities described the shooting as "terrorist."
By Associated Press

IRVINE: The travel ban on refugees and citizens of seven countries has rattled many immigrant families, but its effects are perhaps most widespread among the Iranian-American community.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates there are nearly 370,000 Iranian immigrants living in the United States.

And while Tehran and Washington have a lengthy history of friction, personal ties between residents of the two countries have held strong.

Many Iranian Americans travel back to visit family or bring aging parents to join them in the U.S.

Iranian American supermarket supervisor Alan Tahmasebi says he and his wife have spent more than $7,000 on green card applications for their parents.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the ban following a lawsuit by Washington state and Minnesota that said Trump's order is causing significant harm to residents and effectively mandates discrimination.

IRVINE: The travel ban on refugees and citizens of seven countries has rattled many immigrant families, but its effects are perhaps most widespread among the Iranian-American community. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates there are nearly 370,000 Iranian immigrants living in the United States. And while Tehran and Washington have a lengthy history of friction, personal ties between residents of the two countries have held strong. Many Iranian Americans travel back to visit family or bring aging parents to join them in the U.S. Iranian American supermarket supervisor Alan Tahmasebi says he and his wife have spent more than $7,000 on green card applications for their parents. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the ban following a lawsuit by Washington state and Minnesota that said Trump's order is causing significant harm to residents and effectively mandates discrimination.
By Associated Press

LYON: French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen blasted globalization and Islamic fundamentalism in her closing speech Sunday of a two-day National Front party conference, calling them "two totalitarianisms" threatening France.

To applause and cries of "On est chez nous" (We are in our land), Le Pen served up the grand themes of the party that have made her a leader in early polls of the spring presidential election.

"We are at a crossroad....This election is a choice of civilization," she said, asking whether her three children and other young citizens would have the rights and culture of the current generation. "Will they even speak our French language?"

Le Pen on Saturday unveiled her 144 "commitments," a nationalist agenda that envisions a France unshackled from the European Union and NATO and that ensures work, health care and other services for its own citizens amid drastically reduced immigration.

She said she is defending both France's material and immaterial patrimony, "which has no price" and is "irreplaceable."

Running on a campaign slogan of "In the Name of the People," Le Pen called out for French "patriots" on the left and right to join with her.

In politics, "the division is no longer right-left (but) patriot-globalist," she said. "You have your place at our side."

The National Front has taken heart in the disarray of the left with the unpopularity of Socialist President Francois Hollande who decided not to seek a new mandate. The right's leading candidate, Francois Fillon, has been caught up in a corruption scandal, opening the way for maverick centrist Emmanuel Macron -- who could face off Le Pen.

Le Pen has been a leader in early polls, which put her placing at the top in the April 23 first-round vote but not winning the May 7 runoff.

If elected, she envisions a "government of national unity" formed after June legislative elections.

Le Pen told the crowd at the congress center in the southeastern city of Lyon that globalization is "erasing" France and Islamic fundamentalism is "planting itself in some neighborhoods ... and vulnerable minds."

Le Pen listed Muslim veils, mosques or prayer in the streets of France as unacceptable cultural dangers that "no French person ... attached to his dignity can accept."

"When you arrive in a country, you don't start violating laws, demanding rights," she said in reference to what she calls "massive immigration."

"There will be no other laws and values in France but French."

Among her 144 commitments is to limit immigration to 10,000 and restrain family reunification policies that has allowed many immigrants, mainly from former French colonies in North Africa, to bring in relatives.

She said she would arrange for foreigners convicted of crimes to serve their prison terms in their homelands.

Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the election of U.S. President Donald Trump have boosted Le Pen followers, with many applauding in private Trump's election.

She said this revealed the "awakening of the people against oligarchies." She praised Trump as a man who respects campaign promises and "acts quickly."

Le Pen's top lieutenant said earlier Sunday that Brexit and the Trump election have given the French a "reason to vote" because it can result in real change.

Florian Philippot said people who thought voting "served nothing" now have proof that an alternative is possible.

He claimed that National Front membership rose after Brexit and again after the Trump victory but gave no figures.

Philippot conceded Sunday that Le Pen's program would mean a "slight increase" in the nation's debt in the first year if she is elected in the two-round presidential election.

Le Pen's plan calls for adding 15,000 police, 6,000 customs officers to guard borders and more hospital workers.

LYON: French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen blasted globalization and Islamic fundamentalism in her closing speech Sunday of a two-day National Front party conference, calling them "two totalitarianisms" threatening France. To applause and cries of "On est chez nous" (We are in our land), Le Pen served up the grand themes of the party that have made her a leader in early polls of the spring presidential election. "We are at a crossroad....This election is a choice of civilization," she said, asking whether her three children and other young citizens would have the rights and culture of the current generation. "Will they even speak our French language?" Le Pen on Saturday unveiled her 144 "commitments," a nationalist agenda that envisions a France unshackled from the European Union and NATO and that ensures work, health care and other services for its own citizens amid drastically reduced immigration. She said she is defending both France's material and immaterial patrimony, "which has no price" and is "irreplaceable." Running on a campaign slogan of "In the Name of the People," Le Pen called out for French "patriots" on the left and right to join with her. In politics, "the division is no longer right-left (but) patriot-globalist," she said. "You have your place at our side." The National Front has taken heart in the disarray of the left with the unpopularity of Socialist President Francois Hollande who decided not to seek a new mandate. The right's leading candidate, Francois Fillon, has been caught up in a corruption scandal, opening the way for maverick centrist Emmanuel Macron -- who could face off Le Pen. Le Pen has been a leader in early polls, which put her placing at the top in the April 23 first-round vote but not winning the May 7 runoff. If elected, she envisions a "government of national unity" formed after June legislative elections. Le Pen told the crowd at the congress center in the southeastern city of Lyon that globalization is "erasing" France and Islamic fundamentalism is "planting itself in some neighborhoods ... and vulnerable minds." Le Pen listed Muslim veils, mosques or prayer in the streets of France as unacceptable cultural dangers that "no French person ... attached to his dignity can accept." "When you arrive in a country, you don't start violating laws, demanding rights," she said in reference to what she calls "massive immigration." "There will be no other laws and values in France but French." Among her 144 commitments is to limit immigration to 10,000 and restrain family reunification policies that has allowed many immigrants, mainly from former French colonies in North Africa, to bring in relatives. She said she would arrange for foreigners convicted of crimes to serve their prison terms in their homelands. Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the election of U.S. President Donald Trump have boosted Le Pen followers, with many applauding in private Trump's election. She said this revealed the "awakening of the people against oligarchies." She praised Trump as a man who respects campaign promises and "acts quickly." Le Pen's top lieutenant said earlier Sunday that Brexit and the Trump election have given the French a "reason to vote" because it can result in real change. Florian Philippot said people who thought voting "served nothing" now have proof that an alternative is possible. He claimed that National Front membership rose after Brexit and again after the Trump victory but gave no figures. Philippot conceded Sunday that Le Pen's program would mean a "slight increase" in the nation's debt in the first year if she is elected in the two-round presidential election. Le Pen's plan calls for adding 15,000 police, 6,000 customs officers to guard borders and more hospital workers.
By PTI

LAHORE: Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Falah-e-Insaniyat, recently placed under "watch-list" and against whom Pakistan government launched a crackdown, today held rallies in parts of the country under the banner of Tehreek Azadi Jammu Kashmir (TAJK).

The rallies were organised just days after the JuD's chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed was put under "house arrest" in Lahore under the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act by Pakistan government.

Saeed had indicated a week before his "house arrest" that he might launch TAJK to "expedite the freedom of Kashmir". The Interior Ministry had also placed Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF members on Exit Control List, barring them from leaving Pakistan.

At the rallies in several parts of Pakistan today, the participants demanded the immediate release of Saeed.

In Lahore, Yakjahtee (solidarity) Kashmir Conference was held at Nasser Bagh in which a large number of activists of JuD and FIF participated. They shouted slogans against Pakistan, Indian and the US governments for detaining Saeed, and said the Nawaz Sharif government was damaging the country's image by maintaining friendship with the Narendra Modi government.

"Pakistani nation is united for Hafiz Saeed's release," said JuD central leader Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, who is also the brother-in-law of Saeed. He said unfortunately due to Saeed's detention "our message of solidarity to Kashmiris is not that powerful and encouraging this year".

The Sharif government, he said, should make its stance clear on Kashmir and tell the people of Pakistan that it is loyal to Kashmiris, and not India.

Makki said trade of potato and onion with India is not right. "Treacherous plot of giving India the Most Favoured Nation status will not be successful," he said.

LAHORE: Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Falah-e-Insaniyat, recently placed under "watch-list" and against whom Pakistan government launched a crackdown, today held rallies in parts of the country under the banner of Tehreek Azadi Jammu Kashmir (TAJK). The rallies were organised just days after the JuD's chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed was put under "house arrest" in Lahore under the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act by Pakistan government. Saeed had indicated a week before his "house arrest" that he might launch TAJK to "expedite the freedom of Kashmir". The Interior Ministry had also placed Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF members on Exit Control List, barring them from leaving Pakistan. At the rallies in several parts of Pakistan today, the participants demanded the immediate release of Saeed. In Lahore, Yakjahtee (solidarity) Kashmir Conference was held at Nasser Bagh in which a large number of activists of JuD and FIF participated. They shouted slogans against Pakistan, Indian and the US governments for detaining Saeed, and said the Nawaz Sharif government was damaging the country's image by maintaining friendship with the Narendra Modi government. "Pakistani nation is united for Hafiz Saeed's release," said JuD central leader Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, who is also the brother-in-law of Saeed. He said unfortunately due to Saeed's detention "our message of solidarity to Kashmiris is not that powerful and encouraging this year". The Sharif government, he said, should make its stance clear on Kashmir and tell the people of Pakistan that it is loyal to Kashmiris, and not India. Makki said trade of potato and onion with India is not right. "Treacherous plot of giving India the Most Favoured Nation status will not be successful," he said.
By AFP

PARIS: French investigators Sunday began questioning a suspect in the attack on troops outside the Louvre Museum in Paris, but the man refused to speak, a judicial source said.

The suspect, believed to be an Egyptian national, was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded after lunging at soldiers with two machetes on Friday.

Investigators decided to question him in hospital after his condition improved, the source said.

The man "is refusing to speak to investigators for now", the source added.

The suspect has been held at a Paris hospital since Friday's attack near the historic museum, which thrust the issue of security back into the headlines three months ahead of the French presidential election.

Based on his phone and visa records, he is thought to be Abdallah El-Hamahmy, a 29-year-old Egyptian national living in the United Arab Emirates, who entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26.

Investigators believe Hamahmy rented an expensive apartment near the Champs Elysees.

- 'No sign of radicalisation' -

Police were examining Hamahmy's Twitter account after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic just minutes before the attack.

"In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world," he wrote, before referring to the Islamic State jihadist group in another tweet a minute later.

Speaking to AFP in Cairo on Saturday, a retired police general, Reda El-Hamahmy, said he believed the wounded suspect was his son, Abdallah, who had been in Paris on a business trip.

But he said there were no signs his son had been radicalised.

"He went on a company trip and when it was over visited the museum. He was supposed to leave on Saturday," he told AFP, saying his son was married and his pregnant wife was currently staying in Saudi Arabia with their seven-month-old son.

"He is a simple guy," he said. "I can show you pictures where he has no beard," he said. Beards are often grown by devout Muslims.

Over the past two years, France has suffered a string of bloody attacks by Islamic extremists and has been under a state of emergency since November 2015.

Security, immigration and the economy are all major issues for voters ahead of this year's presidential and parliamentary elections which are expected to confirm the country's shift to the right after five years of Socialist rule.

PARIS: French investigators Sunday began questioning a suspect in the attack on troops outside the Louvre Museum in Paris, but the man refused to speak, a judicial source said. The suspect, believed to be an Egyptian national, was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded after lunging at soldiers with two machetes on Friday. Investigators decided to question him in hospital after his condition improved, the source said. The man "is refusing to speak to investigators for now", the source added. The suspect has been held at a Paris hospital since Friday's attack near the historic museum, which thrust the issue of security back into the headlines three months ahead of the French presidential election. Based on his phone and visa records, he is thought to be Abdallah El-Hamahmy, a 29-year-old Egyptian national living in the United Arab Emirates, who entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26. Investigators believe Hamahmy rented an expensive apartment near the Champs Elysees. - 'No sign of radicalisation' - Police were examining Hamahmy's Twitter account after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic just minutes before the attack. "In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world," he wrote, before referring to the Islamic State jihadist group in another tweet a minute later. Speaking to AFP in Cairo on Saturday, a retired police general, Reda El-Hamahmy, said he believed the wounded suspect was his son, Abdallah, who had been in Paris on a business trip. But he said there were no signs his son had been radicalised. "He went on a company trip and when it was over visited the museum. He was supposed to leave on Saturday," he told AFP, saying his son was married and his pregnant wife was currently staying in Saudi Arabia with their seven-month-old son. "He is a simple guy," he said. "I can show you pictures where he has no beard," he said. Beards are often grown by devout Muslims. Over the past two years, France has suffered a string of bloody attacks by Islamic extremists and has been under a state of emergency since November 2015. Security, immigration and the economy are all major issues for voters ahead of this year's presidential and parliamentary elections which are expected to confirm the country's shift to the right after five years of Socialist rule.
By AFP

WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department on Saturday appealed a temporary block of Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries, after the president unleashed a fiery tirade and those with valid visas started arriving on American soil.

It was just the latest in a series of dramatic twists since the Republican billionaire leader issued his immigration order a week ago.

On Friday, a federal judge in Washington state put a temporary stay on the measures pending a wider legal review, prompting government agencies and global airlines to cease enforcing the ban.

Thousands of people from London and Paris to New York and Washington staged fresh protests against Trump, who took office on January 20 -- little more than two weeks ago.

The Manhattan property mogul-turned-president, who was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago vacation retreat in Florida, unloaded a barrage of angry tweets throughout the day.

He specifically targeted US District Judge James Robart -- an appointee of Republican president George W. Bush -- in an extremely rare attack on a federal judge from a sitting president.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump tweeted early in the day.

In the evening, he posted: "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!"

Late Saturday, the Justice Department filed its motion to appeal. The case will now move to a federal appeals court.

Nevertheless, government authorities began complying with the lower court judge's ruling, reopening the borders to those with proper travel documents.

The State Department told visa holders from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen that they are again allowed to travel as long as the documents had not been "physically cancelled."

The department earlier said up to 60,000 people had their visas revoked as a result of Trump's order, although a Justice Department attorney put the number at closer to 100,000.

The Department of Homeland Security -- which runs border agencies -- also said it would cease implementing the order.

Contemptuous

The restrictions on all refugees and travelers from the seven countries went into effect a week ago, wreaking havoc at airports across America and leaving travelers trying to reach the United States in limbo.

The political backlash for Trump has been equally severe, with the order fueling numerous mass protests and internal White House infighting.

In Washington, hundreds of demonstrators marched from the White House to Capitol Hill, chanting "Donald, Donald, can't you see -- we don't want you in DC!"

About 3,000 people rallied in New York, while an estimated 10,000 people turned out in London, and smaller gatherings took place in Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and Barcelona.

Trump was forced to defend a botched rollout of the plan -- which called his government's competence into question -- and fired the government's acting attorney general for refusing to defend the order in court.

His approval rating has sunk to the lowest level on record for any new president.

His latest rhetorical outburst is only likely to stoke the controversy.

Presidents from Thomas Jefferson to Barack Obama have criticized court rulings, but have rarely, if ever, criticized individual judges.

"I can't think of anything like it in the past century and a half at least," constitutional scholar and Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe told AFP.

"It's not exactly contempt of court, but it certainly is contemptuous," said Tribe, who taught two sitting Supreme Court justices as well as Obama -- whom he later advised.

"It conveys a lack of respect for the independent judiciary that bodes ill for the country's future as long as Trump occupies the presidency," Tribe said.

Big trouble!

Democrats in Congress were swift in their condemnation of Trump's remarks, while Republicans notably did not rush to his defense.

"This 'so-called' judge was nominated by a 'so-called' President & was confirmed by the 'so-called' Senate. Read the 'so-called' Constitution," tweeted California Democratic lawmaker Adam Schiff.

The White House has argued that the travel bans are needed in order to prevent terror attacks on the United States.

Experts from the fields of intelligence, counterterrorism and diplomacy say the ban is at best ineffective and at worst fuels hatred of the United States in the Middle East.

But cracking down on Islamist terror has become an organizing principle for Trump supporters and the White House has consistently sought to underscore the risks posed to Americans.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed 48 percent of voters favored "suspending immigration from 'terror prone' regions."

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!" Trump tweeted Saturday.

WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department on Saturday appealed a temporary block of Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries, after the president unleashed a fiery tirade and those with valid visas started arriving on American soil. It was just the latest in a series of dramatic twists since the Republican billionaire leader issued his immigration order a week ago. On Friday, a federal judge in Washington state put a temporary stay on the measures pending a wider legal review, prompting government agencies and global airlines to cease enforcing the ban. Thousands of people from London and Paris to New York and Washington staged fresh protests against Trump, who took office on January 20 -- little more than two weeks ago. The Manhattan property mogul-turned-president, who was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago vacation retreat in Florida, unloaded a barrage of angry tweets throughout the day. He specifically targeted US District Judge James Robart -- an appointee of Republican president George W. Bush -- in an extremely rare attack on a federal judge from a sitting president. "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump tweeted early in the day. In the evening, he posted: "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" Late Saturday, the Justice Department filed its motion to appeal. The case will now move to a federal appeals court. Nevertheless, government authorities began complying with the lower court judge's ruling, reopening the borders to those with proper travel documents. The State Department told visa holders from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen that they are again allowed to travel as long as the documents had not been "physically cancelled." The department earlier said up to 60,000 people had their visas revoked as a result of Trump's order, although a Justice Department attorney put the number at closer to 100,000. The Department of Homeland Security -- which runs border agencies -- also said it would cease implementing the order. Contemptuous The restrictions on all refugees and travelers from the seven countries went into effect a week ago, wreaking havoc at airports across America and leaving travelers trying to reach the United States in limbo. The political backlash for Trump has been equally severe, with the order fueling numerous mass protests and internal White House infighting. In Washington, hundreds of demonstrators marched from the White House to Capitol Hill, chanting "Donald, Donald, can't you see -- we don't want you in DC!" About 3,000 people rallied in New York, while an estimated 10,000 people turned out in London, and smaller gatherings took place in Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and Barcelona. Trump was forced to defend a botched rollout of the plan -- which called his government's competence into question -- and fired the government's acting attorney general for refusing to defend the order in court. His approval rating has sunk to the lowest level on record for any new president. His latest rhetorical outburst is only likely to stoke the controversy. Presidents from Thomas Jefferson to Barack Obama have criticized court rulings, but have rarely, if ever, criticized individual judges. "I can't think of anything like it in the past century and a half at least," constitutional scholar and Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe told AFP. "It's not exactly contempt of court, but it certainly is contemptuous," said Tribe, who taught two sitting Supreme Court justices as well as Obama -- whom he later advised. "It conveys a lack of respect for the independent judiciary that bodes ill for the country's future as long as Trump occupies the presidency," Tribe said. Big trouble! Democrats in Congress were swift in their condemnation of Trump's remarks, while Republicans notably did not rush to his defense. "This 'so-called' judge was nominated by a 'so-called' President & was confirmed by the 'so-called' Senate. Read the 'so-called' Constitution," tweeted California Democratic lawmaker Adam Schiff. The White House has argued that the travel bans are needed in order to prevent terror attacks on the United States. Experts from the fields of intelligence, counterterrorism and diplomacy say the ban is at best ineffective and at worst fuels hatred of the United States in the Middle East. But cracking down on Islamist terror has become an organizing principle for Trump supporters and the White House has consistently sought to underscore the risks posed to Americans. A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed 48 percent of voters favored "suspending immigration from 'terror prone' regions." "When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!" Trump tweeted Saturday.
DUBAI: An official in U.S. President Donald Trump's Cabinet and at least one of his advisers gave paid speeches for an Iranian exile group that killed Americans before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ran donation scams and saw its members set themselves on fire over the arrest of their leader.

Elaine Chao, confirmed this week as Trump's transportation secretary, received $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously called a "cult-like" terrorist group by the State Department. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also was paid an unknown sum to talk to the group, known as the MEK.

More than two dozen former U.S. officials, both Republican and Democratic, have spoken before the MEK, including former House Speaker and Trump adviser Newt Gingrich. Some have publicly acknowledged being paid, but others have not.

While nothing would have prohibited the paid speeches, they raise questions about what influence the exiles may have in the new administration.

Already, a group of former U.S. officials, including Giuliani, wrote a letter to Trump last month encouraging him to "establish a dialogue" with the MEK's political arm. With Trump's ban on Iranians entering the U.S., his administration's call this week to put Iran "on notice" and the imposition of new sanctions on Friday, the exile group may find his administration more welcoming than any before.

A potential alliance with the MEK would link the U.S. to a group with a controversial history that has gone against American interests in the past by supporting Iran's Islamic Revolution and the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran. After fleeing Iran, the MEK joined forces with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It later exposed details of the clandestine nuclear program run by Iran, which views the MEK as its sworn enemy.

"The Mujahedeen have backed the winning horse. They are going to have some at least entree into the administration," said Ervand Abrahamian, a professor at the City University of New York who wrote a book on the MEK. "I think it weakens the U.S. because the more they have access to the administration, the more people in Iran are going to be scared of anything the U.S. does."

The MEK long has cultivated a roster of former U.S. and European officials to attend its events opposing Iran's clerically run government. It pays for the appearance of many.

Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, spoke before an MEK conference in 2015 in Paris. She also had a seat next to Maryam Rajavi, the "president-elect" of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the MEK.

Chao received a $50,000 honorarium from the MEK-associated Alliance for Public Awareness, according to a report she filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Chao received another $17,500 honorarium for March 2016 speech she gave to the Iranian-American Cultural Association of Missouri, which MEK opponents also link to the exile group.

The Department of Transportation said in a statement that Chao has a "strong record of speaking out in support of democracy and women's rights in the Middle East," but "has not spoken to MEK events."

It added that her speeches were delivered alongside bipartisan members of Congress, governors, prime ministers, ambassadors, generals, former FBI Directors and "many other influential voices."

Giuliani has acknowledged being paid for his appearances at MEK events. However, he hasn't filed a government disclosure form since his failed 2008 Republican presidential bid, so it's unclear how much the MEK has paid him in total. Giuliani did not respond to an AP request for comment sent through his aides.

Gingrich has also spoken to the MEK before, including at a gala in 2016, although it is not clear whether or how much he was paid. Gingrich could not be reached for comment. The White House also did not comment.

The MEK welcomes the incoming Trump government, as "some people within this administration" plan to change American policies toward Iran, said Mohammad Mohaddessin, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of its political arm.

"The core of the policy that we are advocating is to be tough with the Iranian regime, to not ignore its crimes against the Iranian people," he said.

The White House had no comment.

The MEK formed in 1965. They embraced both Marxism and the idea of an Islamic government after the violent overthrow of the American-backed shah who ruled Iran at the time. Their name, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, means "the People's Holy Warriors."

They carried out a string of targeted assassinations hitting Iranian officials, as well as Americans. However, the MEK today blames a Marxist splinter faction of the group for killing the Americans.

The MEK fled Iran and later found refuge from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Heavily armed by Saddam, MEK forces launched cross-border raids into Iran during its with war with Iraq, further alienating the group from average Iranians. The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001.

The State Department has described the MEK as having "cult-like characteristics." When French police arrested Rajavi in 2003 as part of a terrorism investigation, MEK members responded by lighting themselves. At least two people died.

Over the years, the MEK has said their organization receives money from Iranians to fund their operations. However, the group has been targeted by a series of investigations around the world for running charity scams.

Mohaddessin blames the investigations on a concerted misinformation campaign carried out by Iran.

The MEK's success in getting former U.S. officials behind them could be seen in a letter dated Jan. 9 sent to Trump just before his inauguration.

"We repeat the call for the U.S. government to establish a dialogue with Iran's exile resistance," read the letter signed by Giuliani and others.

Whether Trump's administration forms closer ties to the MEK is yet to be seen. However, exile groups haven't always been proven to be reliable American allies in the Middle East. Exiled politician Ahmad Chalabi heavily lobbied the administration of President George W. Bush to invade Iraq by pushing false allegations of weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaida.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

But while the MEK continues to pay former U.S. officials for their time, the family of the American lieutenant colonel killed in Iran in 1975 has filed a $35 million federal lawsuit in Colorado against the group and Iran.

The reason for the lawsuit, Jack Turner's family says, is simple: "Unlike the U.S. hostages, our father never had the chance to come home."

DUBAI: An official in U.S. President Donald Trump's Cabinet and at least one of his advisers gave paid speeches for an Iranian exile group that killed Americans before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ran donation scams and saw its members set themselves on fire over the arrest of their leader. Elaine Chao, confirmed this week as Trump's transportation secretary, received $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously called a "cult-like" terrorist group by the State Department. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also was paid an unknown sum to talk to the group, known as the MEK. More than two dozen former U.S. officials, both Republican and Democratic, have spoken before the MEK, including former House Speaker and Trump adviser Newt Gingrich. Some have publicly acknowledged being paid, but others have not. While nothing would have prohibited the paid speeches, they raise questions about what influence the exiles may have in the new administration. Already, a group of former U.S. officials, including Giuliani, wrote a letter to Trump last month encouraging him to "establish a dialogue" with the MEK's political arm. With Trump's ban on Iranians entering the U.S., his administration's call this week to put Iran "on notice" and the imposition of new sanctions on Friday, the exile group may find his administration more welcoming than any before. A potential alliance with the MEK would link the U.S. to a group with a controversial history that has gone against American interests in the past by supporting Iran's Islamic Revolution and the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran. After fleeing Iran, the MEK joined forces with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It later exposed details of the clandestine nuclear program run by Iran, which views the MEK as its sworn enemy. "The Mujahedeen have backed the winning horse. They are going to have some at least entree into the administration," said Ervand Abrahamian, a professor at the City University of New York who wrote a book on the MEK. "I think it weakens the U.S. because the more they have access to the administration, the more people in Iran are going to be scared of anything the U.S. does." The MEK long has cultivated a roster of former U.S. and European officials to attend its events opposing Iran's clerically run government. It pays for the appearance of many. Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, spoke before an MEK conference in 2015 in Paris. She also had a seat next to Maryam Rajavi, the "president-elect" of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the MEK. Chao received a $50,000 honorarium from the MEK-associated Alliance for Public Awareness, according to a report she filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Chao received another $17,500 honorarium for March 2016 speech she gave to the Iranian-American Cultural Association of Missouri, which MEK opponents also link to the exile group. The Department of Transportation said in a statement that Chao has a "strong record of speaking out in support of democracy and women's rights in the Middle East," but "has not spoken to MEK events." It added that her speeches were delivered alongside bipartisan members of Congress, governors, prime ministers, ambassadors, generals, former FBI Directors and "many other influential voices." Giuliani has acknowledged being paid for his appearances at MEK events. However, he hasn't filed a government disclosure form since his failed 2008 Republican presidential bid, so it's unclear how much the MEK has paid him in total. Giuliani did not respond to an AP request for comment sent through his aides. Gingrich has also spoken to the MEK before, including at a gala in 2016, although it is not clear whether or how much he was paid. Gingrich could not be reached for comment. The White House also did not comment. The MEK welcomes the incoming Trump government, as "some people within this administration" plan to change American policies toward Iran, said Mohammad Mohaddessin, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of its political arm. "The core of the policy that we are advocating is to be tough with the Iranian regime, to not ignore its crimes against the Iranian people," he said. The White House had no comment. The MEK formed in 1965. They embraced both Marxism and the idea of an Islamic government after the violent overthrow of the American-backed shah who ruled Iran at the time. Their name, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, means "the People's Holy Warriors." They carried out a string of targeted assassinations hitting Iranian officials, as well as Americans. However, the MEK today blames a Marxist splinter faction of the group for killing the Americans. The MEK fled Iran and later found refuge from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Heavily armed by Saddam, MEK forces launched cross-border raids into Iran during its with war with Iraq, further alienating the group from average Iranians. The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001. The State Department has described the MEK as having "cult-like characteristics." When French police arrested Rajavi in 2003 as part of a terrorism investigation, MEK members responded by lighting themselves. At least two people died. Over the years, the MEK has said their organization receives money from Iranians to fund their operations. However, the group has been targeted by a series of investigations around the world for running charity scams. Mohaddessin blames the investigations on a concerted misinformation campaign carried out by Iran. The MEK's success in getting former U.S. officials behind them could be seen in a letter dated Jan. 9 sent to Trump just before his inauguration. "We repeat the call for the U.S. government to establish a dialogue with Iran's exile resistance," read the letter signed by Giuliani and others. Whether Trump's administration forms closer ties to the MEK is yet to be seen. However, exile groups haven't always been proven to be reliable American allies in the Middle East. Exiled politician Ahmad Chalabi heavily lobbied the administration of President George W. Bush to invade Iraq by pushing false allegations of weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaida. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. But while the MEK continues to pay former U.S. officials for their time, the family of the American lieutenant colonel killed in Iran in 1975 has filed a $35 million federal lawsuit in Colorado against the group and Iran. The reason for the lawsuit, Jack Turner's family says, is simple: "Unlike the U.S. hostages, our father never had the chance to come home."
By Associated Press

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump's unpredictable foreign policy could hamper long-standing U.S. intelligence-sharing partnerships as countries react to a president who seeks closer ties to Russia and is unafraid to offend American allies by cracking down on immigration or getting angry with friendly leaders.

Veteran spies say intelligence relationships are built to weather storms between political leaders. Even in the worst of times, allies share intelligence to thwart threats. But the lack of understanding about Trump's foreign policy direction and his potential new friendship with Moscow are creating jitters across the Western world.

"We are facing an unprecedented level of uncertainty today," said John Blaxland, a former Australian intelligence official and professor at Australian National University. He said there is mutual benefit to these "broad, deep" intelligence sharing relationships, but added: "It is hard to calculate just how much damage the new president's approach may have."

"It will be felt," Blaxland predicted, "and it won't be good."

Russia is a main concern.

If Trump moves forward with efforts to improve U.S.-Russian relations, European allies in particular will probably question how safe their intelligence is in American hands. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and threatening movements near the borders of NATO members in Eastern Europe have contributed to the perception of Moscow as a threat to national sovereignty.

If American intelligence agencies are instructed to enhance cooperation with Russia, U.S. allies see "significant counterintelligence threats that come with that," said Steven Hall, a retired CIA chief of Russia operations. He said they "will be much more careful in the future."

As candidate and president, Trump has sparked widespread international unease by questioning the value of U.S. military alliances, if not necessarily intelligence partnerships. He called NATO "obsolete" and challenged countries such as South Korea and Japan to assume greater self-defense responsibility. In the last weeks, however, Trump advisers have gone out of their way to stress the durability of such arrangements and America's commitment to its friends.

Detente between Washington and Moscow is no sure thing, despite Trump's intentions. Under President Barack Obama, relations between the former Cold War foes strained dramatically over Syria, Ukraine and alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election after initially improving under a "reset" policy. In recent days, Trump's administration has reverted to criticizing the Kremlin after a flare-up of violence involving Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Regardless of Trump's new direction, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, a former CIA officer and new member on the House Intelligence Committee, said American intelligence professionals recognize the need to protect information they receive. "The point at which our allies will get concerned is if they believe that our intelligence professionals do not view Russia as an adversary," he said.

Trump's sometimes impulsive style and lack of experience handling classified information also have foreign officials concerned.

Mark Galeotti at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, said European intelligence officials worry that Trump or his advisers will "blurt something out at the wrong moment or to the wrong person."

Allies might curtail what they share as a result, said Galeotti, who talks with intelligence officials in Europe and Russia.

"It's not so much about how much," he said. "It's precisely how heavily edited it is, how carefully it's scrutinized to absolutely make sure that there is nothing that you are worried about leaking."

Former French internal intelligence chief Louis Caprioli said European countries might hold information related to Ukraine or other issues closer, given the uncertainty of Trump's relationship with Putin. But he said intelligence sharing will continue in critical areas, such as counterterrorism.

"Intelligence services go beyond the political world," Caprioli said.

Still, allies fret about politics seeping into U.S. intelligence findings.

Trump has disparaged U.S. intelligence agencies for past failures and publicly challenged their assessment that Russia meddled in the presidential election. A day after he was inaugurated, Trump delivered an unusual speech at the CIA headquarters criticizing the media's coverage of his inaugural crowds.

Wesley Wark, a University of Ottawa professor and national security expert, said U.S. allies may ask more questions about the source of American intelligence products. For example, he said, they might think a certain piece of intelligence is from Trump's strategic adviser Steve Bannon, a conservative media executive who now sits on the National Security Council.

"There will be a growing concern about politicized  as opposed to truthful, objective  judgments and reports," Wark said.

Last weekend's testy conversation between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull concerned a refugee deal Trump inherited from Obama. It didn't relate to the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing program the U.S. has with Australia, Canada, Britain and New Zealand.

Nevertheless, California Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said the spat can't be dismissed as simply "Trump being Trump."

Schiff said Australia shares America's interest in fighting terrorism and countering Chinese actions, and stood alongside the U.S. in every war of the last century. "This is not a relationship to be taken for granted or abused," he said.

The committee chairman, GOP Rep. Devin Nunes of California, isn't worried: "I have no doubt that intelligence sharing with our allies will continue to be robust and productive."

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump's unpredictable foreign policy could hamper long-standing U.S. intelligence-sharing partnerships as countries react to a president who seeks closer ties to Russia and is unafraid to offend American allies by cracking down on immigration or getting angry with friendly leaders. Veteran spies say intelligence relationships are built to weather storms between political leaders. Even in the worst of times, allies share intelligence to thwart threats. But the lack of understanding about Trump's foreign policy direction and his potential new friendship with Moscow are creating jitters across the Western world. "We are facing an unprecedented level of uncertainty today," said John Blaxland, a former Australian intelligence official and professor at Australian National University. He said there is mutual benefit to these "broad, deep" intelligence sharing relationships, but added: "It is hard to calculate just how much damage the new president's approach may have." "It will be felt," Blaxland predicted, "and it won't be good." Russia is a main concern. If Trump moves forward with efforts to improve U.S.-Russian relations, European allies in particular will probably question how safe their intelligence is in American hands. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and threatening movements near the borders of NATO members in Eastern Europe have contributed to the perception of Moscow as a threat to national sovereignty. If American intelligence agencies are instructed to enhance cooperation with Russia, U.S. allies see "significant counterintelligence threats that come with that," said Steven Hall, a retired CIA chief of Russia operations. He said they "will be much more careful in the future." As candidate and president, Trump has sparked widespread international unease by questioning the value of U.S. military alliances, if not necessarily intelligence partnerships. He called NATO "obsolete" and challenged countries such as South Korea and Japan to assume greater self-defense responsibility. In the last weeks, however, Trump advisers have gone out of their way to stress the durability of such arrangements and America's commitment to its friends. Detente between Washington and Moscow is no sure thing, despite Trump's intentions. Under President Barack Obama, relations between the former Cold War foes strained dramatically over Syria, Ukraine and alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election after initially improving under a "reset" policy. In recent days, Trump's administration has reverted to criticizing the Kremlin after a flare-up of violence involving Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Regardless of Trump's new direction, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, a former CIA officer and new member on the House Intelligence Committee, said American intelligence professionals recognize the need to protect information they receive. "The point at which our allies will get concerned is if they believe that our intelligence professionals do not view Russia as an adversary," he said. Trump's sometimes impulsive style and lack of experience handling classified information also have foreign officials concerned. Mark Galeotti at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, said European intelligence officials worry that Trump or his advisers will "blurt something out at the wrong moment or to the wrong person." Allies might curtail what they share as a result, said Galeotti, who talks with intelligence officials in Europe and Russia. "It's not so much about how much," he said. "It's precisely how heavily edited it is, how carefully it's scrutinized to absolutely make sure that there is nothing that you are worried about leaking." Former French internal intelligence chief Louis Caprioli said European countries might hold information related to Ukraine or other issues closer, given the uncertainty of Trump's relationship with Putin. But he said intelligence sharing will continue in critical areas, such as counterterrorism. "Intelligence services go beyond the political world," Caprioli said. Still, allies fret about politics seeping into U.S. intelligence findings. Trump has disparaged U.S. intelligence agencies for past failures and publicly challenged their assessment that Russia meddled in the presidential election. A day after he was inaugurated, Trump delivered an unusual speech at the CIA headquarters criticizing the media's coverage of his inaugural crowds. Wesley Wark, a University of Ottawa professor and national security expert, said U.S. allies may ask more questions about the source of American intelligence products. For example, he said, they might think a certain piece of intelligence is from Trump's strategic adviser Steve Bannon, a conservative media executive who now sits on the National Security Council. "There will be a growing concern about politicized  as opposed to truthful, objective  judgments and reports," Wark said. Last weekend's testy conversation between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull concerned a refugee deal Trump inherited from Obama. It didn't relate to the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing program the U.S. has with Australia, Canada, Britain and New Zealand. Nevertheless, California Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said the spat can't be dismissed as simply "Trump being Trump." Schiff said Australia shares America's interest in fighting terrorism and countering Chinese actions, and stood alongside the U.S. in every war of the last century. "This is not a relationship to be taken for granted or abused," he said. The committee chairman, GOP Rep. Devin Nunes of California, isn't worried: "I have no doubt that intelligence sharing with our allies will continue to be robust and productive."
By PTI

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump's latest remarks drawing an equivalence between America and its arch- enemy Russia has drawn the ire of Republicans, with a top Senator today questioning the new administration's friendly postures towards Moscow.

"Well, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is a former KGB. He's agent. He's a thug. He was not elected in a way that most people would consider a credible election. The Russians annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, and messed around in our elections," the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN in an interview.

He was responding to a question on Trump praising Putin in an interview to Fox News in which he also compared the US with Russia.

"No, I don't think there is any equivalency between the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does," McConnell said.

"I'm not going to critique the President's every utterance, but I do think America is exceptional. America is different. We don't operate in any way the way the Russians do. I think there is a clear distinction here that all Americans understand," he said. On Trump's travel ban, McConnell ruled out offering legislation to carry out the ban through the Senate.

"Well, I don't know if that is necessary. I mean, the courts are going to decide whether the executive order the President issued is valid or not. We all follow court orders. The administration is following the court order, as I understand it," he said.

"The courts will ultimately determine the validity of it. But there is a fine line here between proper vetting and interfering with the kind of travel or suggesting some kind of religious test. And we need to avoid doing that kind of thing," McConnell said.

"We all want to try to keep terrorists out of the United States. But we can't shut down travel. We certainly don't want Muslim allies who have fought with us in countries overseas to not be able to travel to the US," he said.

Responding to a question on Trump slamming the federal judge who halted his executive order, McConnell said it is best not to single out judges for criticism.

McConnell, however, praised Trump for his Supreme Court pick.

"The search was handled extremely well. I want to commend the administration for that. He picked an outstanding nominee, who has got a sterling background, outstanding accomplishment at every phase of his life. And I'm very confident he will be confirmed," he added.

The Senate majority Leader said the Trump Administration will have a look at the Iranian nuclear deal. "It was an executive agreement only. It was not a treaty. So, the Trump administration is going to have to take a look at this and decide whether they want to continue it," he said.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump's latest remarks drawing an equivalence between America and its arch- enemy Russia has drawn the ire of Republicans, with a top Senator today questioning the new administration's friendly postures towards Moscow. "Well, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is a former KGB. He's agent. He's a thug. He was not elected in a way that most people would consider a credible election. The Russians annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, and messed around in our elections," the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN in an interview. He was responding to a question on Trump praising Putin in an interview to Fox News in which he also compared the US with Russia. "No, I don't think there is any equivalency between the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does," McConnell said. "I'm not going to critique the President's every utterance, but I do think America is exceptional. America is different. We don't operate in any way the way the Russians do. I think there is a clear distinction here that all Americans understand," he said. On Trump's travel ban, McConnell ruled out offering legislation to carry out the ban through the Senate. "Well, I don't know if that is necessary. I mean, the courts are going to decide whether the executive order the President issued is valid or not. We all follow court orders. The administration is following the court order, as I understand it," he said. "The courts will ultimately determine the validity of it. But there is a fine line here between proper vetting and interfering with the kind of travel or suggesting some kind of religious test. And we need to avoid doing that kind of thing," McConnell said. "We all want to try to keep terrorists out of the United States. But we can't shut down travel. We certainly don't want Muslim allies who have fought with us in countries overseas to not be able to travel to the US," he said. Responding to a question on Trump slamming the federal judge who halted his executive order, McConnell said it is best not to single out judges for criticism. McConnell, however, praised Trump for his Supreme Court pick. "The search was handled extremely well. I want to commend the administration for that. He picked an outstanding nominee, who has got a sterling background, outstanding accomplishment at every phase of his life. And I'm very confident he will be confirmed," he added. The Senate majority Leader said the Trump Administration will have a look at the Iranian nuclear deal. "It was an executive agreement only. It was not a treaty. So, the Trump administration is going to have to take a look at this and decide whether they want to continue it," he said.
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Raipur:Man accused of killing live in partner allegedly confessed abt killing parents;Police dug out parents' bodies fr probe;2 skulls found pic.twitter.com/fIB2EUjegW  ANI (@ANI_news) February 5, 2017

: A joint team of West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh Police has recovered the bodies of parents of a Bhopal resident, earlier arrested on charge of murdering his live-in partner and entombing her body in his Bhopal house, the police said on Sunday."We have found two human skeletons during digging at the family's Raipur house. We will now conduct a DNA test on the human remains. Udyan Das will also be brought to Raipur with court permission and questioned regarding the murder of two elderly persons in DD Nagar police station area in the Chhattisgarh capital," said Raipur Superintendent of Police Sanjiv Shukla, who was present when the two skeletons were unearthed in the city's Sundar Nagar area.The skeletons were stuffed in rucksacks before these were buried in eight-foot pit, the police said.One of the human remains still had gold bangles and other jewellery on it, leading to suspicion that it could be of Das' mother Indrani. The other skeleton could be of his father V.K. Das.Das told the police that he committed the two murders as his parents constantly nagged him regarding his job placement even though he had failed the engineering course which he was pursuing from a private institution. He had not told his parents about his failure in exams.Das earlier told the police in Madhya Pradesh capital city Bhopal the details of murder of his live-in partner Shweta Sharma (28).He also told his interrogators that he murdered both his parents in 2010 and interred the two bodies in their Raipur house in a way similar to what he did in the case of Shweta, Madhya Pradesh Superintendent of Police Sidhartha Bahuguna told IANS on Saturday.A police team was dispatched from Bhopal to Raipur to check the veracity of Das' statement regarding his parents' murder. A native of Raipur, Das was the only son of his parents.Das had come in contact with Shweta, who hailed from Bokaro in West Bengal, through a social networking site and was living with her at his Saket Nagar residence since June 2016. Both had a fight in December 2016, following which he allegedly murdered her.He built a concrete platform in his first floor house over Shweta's body to conceal his crime.The murder came to light after he was questioned by the police after the tower location of Shweta's mobile phone was located to Saket Nagar area in Bhopal.Shweta's family had registered a missing complaint with Bankura police in West Bengal.The Gobindpura police said the concrete platform was broken on Thursday night and the body of Shweta buried underneath was recovered.
New Delhi: In the last two years of the Narendra Modi government, only one-third of assurances given by ministers in Parliament has been implemented, while almost one-fifth of these been dropped.



According to official data, the ministers gave 1,877 assurances during two years -- 2015 and 2016, out of which only 552 were implemented.



While 392 assurances were dropped, the remaining 893 were still pending.



The responsibility of implementation of assurances primarily lies with the ministries or departments concerned with the assurances.





However, the ministry does not peruse individual assurances.



While forwarding the extracts of each assurance, the ministry informs that the assurance is required to be fulfilled within a period of three months from the date of assurance and the time limit has to be strictly adhered to.



The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs also holds meeting with officers of various ministries or departments from time to time to review the pendency position of the assurances with a view to expediting their implementation.



Besides it, there is also a 15-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Lok Sabha on government assurances.



This parliamentary panel looks into the assurances which have not been fulfilled. It also calls the officials of the ministries to appear before it for the same.


Bhubaneswar: A special court on Sunday sent chit fund company Green Ray International Ltd. (GRIL) Managing Director Mir Shahruddin to six-day custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).



The CBI had sought a 10-day remand of the accused in court.



The agency earlier brought Mir to Bhubaneswar on a transit remand from Kolkata, where he was arrested on Friday.



A native of Balasore district, Mir returned to India from Nigeria a few days ago on a Bangladeshi passport by impersonating as Ahmed Hussain, CBI sources said.



The CBI said GRIL tied up with a company in Nigeria where it acquired an iron ore mine on lease.



The dubious chit fund firm is accused of duping gullible investors of Odisha and 13 other states of nearly Rs 1,000 crore by promising good returns.



In October 2014, the Chhattisgarh Police had arrested another Grill director Ayub Shah from Ajmer in Rajasthan while he was trying to flee to Nigeria via Bangladesh.



The state Crime Branch, which was probing the case, confiscated 20.68 acres of land belonging to the company, besides freezing cash deposits of Rs 57 lakh in 46 accounts. The CBI took up the investigation in May 2014.
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Mumbai: Superstar Aamir Khan has condemned the recent attack on filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the sets of Padmavati, saying it was "very unfortunate."



Bhansali and the team of Padmavati were roughed up by members of the Rajput Karni Sena for allegedly presenting "distorted facts" in the movie. The group even stalled the shooting by vandalising the set at Jaigarh Fort.



Last night, at the success party of Dangal, Aamir said he had been to Rajasthan for shooting but never had such an experience. "What has happened is very unfortunate. I think no one should take the law in their hands. What has happened is wrong," Aamir said.



"I have shot in Rajasthan and the people over there are nice and lovable. I have had good experiences only but if you hear negative things you do feel bad. It's sad," he said.



The period drama, scheduled to release this November, stars Deepika in the lead role of queen Padmavati and features Shahid Kapoor as Raja Ratan Singh.Ranveer Singh is essaying the role of Alauddin Khilji.




Mumbai: On the completion of 12 years of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black on Saturday, megastar Amitabh Bachchan revealed that he didn't take any salary to work in the project as just working with the filmmaker in such a project was "sufficient fees".



Black, which released on February 4, 2005, revolves around a blind, deaf girl (played by Rani Mukerji), and her relationship with her teacher (Amitabh) who himself later develops Alzheimer's disease.



"I had just wanted to work with Sanjay, after seeing all other works he had done. And when the opportunity came, it was quite overwhelming. I did not take any salary for the film. Just being a part of such an enterprise, was sufficient fees," Amitabh posted on his blog.



The 74-year-old further said that when a fire damaged the set of the film during its production, he and Rani visited Bhansali's house and got ready to do all the scenes again.



"He (Bhansali) built the first set of the house at a new floor at Film City, the first set to be put up at this floor. I was shooting for Kaun Banega Crorepati' in Film City and Bhansali invited me to come over and see the set.



"It was magnificent! And just before I entered, Bhansali had lit up the place with candles. It looked heavenly," said Amitabh, who won a National Award for Best Actor for his role.



However, Amitabh went on to add that when they were "half way through the schedule", one morning they got to know about the "tragedy -- a fire on set, and the entire set burnt down".



"Rani and I sped across to Sanjay's home to hold his hand that morning to reassure him that we would re-shoot what had been lost, again. He was quite obviously distraught and broken, but never too much to not get back up on his feet. He did. We did. And the results are there to be seen," Amitabh added.



Amitabh said Bhansali asked him to read the story of the film on his own as the director called himself a "bad narrator".



"It was special from the very first day of its shooting. Bhansali came to Nasik where I was shooting for Khakee' to narrate the script to me, started reading from a very well bound black file, read a few sentences, and then stopped. I am a bad narrator Amitji, you read the script...' and left for Mumbai," Amitabh said.



Further praising Bhansali, Amitabh said: "Sanjay's attention to detail, his creating an ambiance to enhance performances, was simply breathtaking".



The movie also gave Amitabh a chance to realise a childhood dream.



"At the premiere when we all saw the film, there were just those tears of joy within me, and of course the fact of having Dilip saheb (Dilip Kumar) in the audience was a childhood dream coming true," Amitabh said.



"When the film got over, he stood outside the hall, held my hands and just looked into my eyes. It was, what I could have allowed, to last for a lifetime," he added.






Los Angeles Actor Brad Pitt has reportedly refused to pay his estranged wife Angelina Jolie $100,000 in child support.



According to a source, Pitt "has no issue taking care of" their six children- Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Vivienne and Knox, but he will not pay her money to take care of their children, reports aceshowbiz.com.



The source said $250,000 will be put in each child's trust fund every year, which will be capped off at $5 million.



"This will pay for all of the kids' expenses as well as set up a trust fund for each child," the source told InTouch magazine.



Jolie is said to be hoping to get the divorce finalised in the next 90 days.



"Angie wants the divorce finalised within the next 90 days, including custody and property settlements. But with everything she's asking for, it's unlikely that will happen. She's making ridiculous financial demands," the source added.




Lucknow: Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday charged the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh with failing on all fronts, specially safeguarding the interests and honour of women.



Addressing reporters at the party headquarters, Irani also said the Samajwadi Party government in the state had not utilised funds sent by the central government.



"On many occasions, I have written to the Chief Minister but got no response... it was suggested that the state government is not serious about welfare programmes like the Swacch Bharat Mission," she said.



On the issue of triple talaaq, she said: "I, Priyanka Vadra and Dimple Yadav were of the same age and should come together to elaborate on the issue."



She, however, added in the same breath the free thought process was blocked by vote bank politics where leaders only react when it is to their benefit.



"Are rights of Hindu women and Muslims different?" she questioned while adding in Uttar Pradesh, FIRs were not lodged in police stations, women are being gang-raped and eve teasing has become order of the day.



Listing various promises made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its manifesto for the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, she said that after it was voted to power, these would be implemented in a fixed time frame.


Chinnamma all set to become the Next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.  AIADMK (@AIADMKOfficial) February 5, 2017

VK Sasikala, aide of the late J Jayalalithaa, was elected the AIADMKs Legislature Party leader on Sunday, paving the way for her elevation as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, replacing O Panneerselvam.O Panneerselvam tendered his resignation from the post citing 'personal reasons' and setting the stage for takeover of VK Sasikala."Due to my personal reasons, I am tendering my resignation from the post of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Kindly accept my resignation and relieve the Council of Ministers of Tamil Nadu appointed by me on December 6, 2016," he said in a letter addressed to Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao.At a meeting of party MLAs here, he proposed the name of Sasikala as legislature party leader. Sasikala, also called 'Chinnamma', later drove to the party headquarters where she was greeted by Panneerselvam and senior party leaders."It was Panneerselvam who had first persuaded me to become the chief minister and general secretary as well when Jayalalithaa passed away," Sasikala told party legislators. Prior to the meeting, Panneerselvam had arrived at the Poes Garden residence to meet Sasikala.After being elected legislature party leader, Sasikala said the AIADMK would strive for the welfare of the people of Tamil Nadu.Earlier in the day, DMK Working President MK Stalin had opposed any such change of guard in Tamil Nadu. The people of Tamil Nadu did not vote for anyone from Jayalalithaas household to become the CM, he had said.Ever since Jayalalithaa's death in December, there had been a clamour that Sasikala should follow the practice of both the party general secretary and the chief minister's post being vested in the same person.Among others, Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai had backed Sasikala for the Chief Minister's post.Sasikala was appointed as General Secretary by AIADMK's top decision-making body General Council on December 29. She took charge of the post on December 31, pledging to take forward the legacy of Jayalalithaa.(With agency inputs)
is in Uttar Pradesh campaigning for BJP as India's most populous state enters the last week before polls. In this interview with, the Union minister for textiles talks about her plans for the Nehru-Gandhi pocket borough Amethi, which is still her second home although she lost to Rahul Gandhi in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Smriti here also takes on political attacks that border on misogyny, and argues for a round-table between all political parties to address this issue.I dont think there is any enigma here. I think that when you do not belong to a very, very successful economic stratum and you make it from scratch, there is always a chip on your shoulder and I think that chip on your shoulder becomes a combative element in your personality. So anybody who sees you in that position, where you fight out on every small thing, they tell you that Oh, take it easy. Why do you have to take a stand on every issue?But then I came into politics because I wanted to take a stand. I didn't want to be a silent bystander and so here I am. So anybody who is not silent enough or coy enough is called combative.I went to Amethi in 2014 because the party decided to field me from that Lok Sabha constituency. I took it upon myself to re-instill faith in the fact that not every leader promises you the world and then disappears for the next five years. So my staying back even after losing the elections is only for that. Its a personal intervention. Its not that my party dispatches me every time to Amethi. I go there of my own volition, but I go there only so that people understand and they believe that not every leader deserts you like the Gandhi family does.I think Congress posters have kind of journeyed from '27 saal behal (27 years of misrule) to UP ko yeh saath pasand hai'. So UP has seen a lot of proverbs, the old folks use to say thieves are cousins, now SP and Congress are saying UP likes this duo. I think ultimately what the voter will test you on is whether youve delivered on the issues of development.No. I think that the very fact that these two parties had to come together to combat the BJP is a sign that it is they who are jittery, and not us.I think he also said that politics sabki pant mein hain, aapki shirt mein hai (politics is in your shirt and pants). So he has a different definition of politics with every election and I dont think people subscribe to his definition or his understanding of politics. After all, this is a gentleman who came out and said Ive got to journey across the country and find my version of India. I dont know whether he has found it or not. In that journey, I dont know whether he has passed through every village, every block of Amethi. Because the people have definitely not benefitted from his journey or from his understanding of politics. Because the ground reality of Amethi is of neglect, of a leadership that is totally redundant and does not deliver on promises of development.I am not contesting this election.Recently, SP leader Gayatri Prajapati gave a statement to the press and said that in 2014 we helped him win so now he should help us win. So Rahul needed their help even then to fight and win Amethi. So he had 2G, he had CWG and he had Gayatriji and that is how he managed a victory. He didnt win on the basis of the strength of his own leadership. I am here as a party worker campaigning. I had been to Goa and Punjab, too.Well, you know, I am 40, and he is older than me. So this is like an evergreen youth, God bless him, but I think that politics should not be about I am this old, so I will deliver better.This is promise of youth was made to the people of UP even before this election. But not much has changed for the people of UP. In the last Assembly polls, they were given this promise of young CM and that everything will change overnight. But nothing changed. Like I said, Rahul Gandhi is much older than I am. But I am the aunty-national.If he was astute, would you ask me that question? You wouldnt because you would know that as a fact. So the very fact that you are asking me this means you're still in a maze as to whether Rahul Gandhi is actually... whether he has grown into his own space, but thats for him to work around. It is for his party to be bothered about, not for us.I think that people understand that it is the same family, same party, and they will bring back the same goonda raj. But lets talk on specific issues. For instance, the PM was campaigning in UP and he spoke about allocations to the state for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, allocations for health in UP and the fact that the state government has managed to spend only less than 10%. So let's talk about those issues instead of getting into a fancy, melodramatic posturing of bhai, bhatija, young and old. Let's talk about issues. When it comes to issues, did this so-called young leader deliver?Well, the numbers say otherwise. Like I said, if you have Rs 950 crore for Safai Abhiyaan and you have spent only Rs 40 crore, is that delivering on a promise? There's a newspaper article, which says I started a womens cell and they're calling and they're complaining and there are 6.5 lakh complaints and the officer talks to the reporter and says, "Har romeo ko thodi na jail mein daal sakte hain, toh UP ke saare jail bhar jaayenge (Cant put every Romeo in jail, UPs jails will be full then)". Is that governance?I feel the BJP is fighting this election for a better tomorrow, for the people of UP. It isn't fighting the elections for one particular face to be projected. When you see this combination of Rahul and Akhilesh coming together, it is for their political survival. And here in the BJP we are talking about better survival prospects for the people of UP. And I think that is where we have a different approach of looking at the election. So in any public stage, you see Akhilesh talking about himself, his family, his troubles within his own family. Rahul will sometimes talk about some crores, sometimes about dont be afraid, ducking the basic issues.If Congress, SP or Mayawati, or, in fact, anybody in this country has to fight even a street election, they'll call it a referendum on Modi. It's become a fancy way of targeting the PM and saying this is a referendum on you. I think the referendum on Modi was in 2014, and the next one will come in 2019. I will only say that there have been surveys done on the PM's popularity index and I think there is a dead silence when it is said that even today if there were Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi, and under his leadership, the BJP-led NDA will smash all records and get a record victory again.I personally saw to it that in my department, if an employer said nahi ji, I can't give them a salary demonetisation ke baad kyunki unke paas account hi nahi hain. I would go and say, Aap bank ka branch bataayien account khulwa ke dete hain. Please transfer the entire amount to the worker. And we've seen that benefit accruing to workers saying Dhaayi lakh hamaare naam se bolte the account khula hain. Ek paisa bhi nahi mila. And now we are getting our haq ka paisa, plus the provident fund cover that every worker needs for a future saving'.But the immediate impact of demonetisation... would you say that it would be a referendum on that issue in UP?I think that the PM was very clear in his communication to the country. He said it would be difficult for the first 50 days. This is the biggest financial exercise done in our country and in the world. Such a large democracy, large number of people, varied culture, different states... but the process involved is about engaging with every state and I've personally seen where the Government of India told every state, you tell us where you're facing a challenge and we will step in to help out.I personally held a meeting of 15 national banks. I said I will identify 15 weaver clusters for you. Please go and open mini ATMs, please go and issue debit cards. If you need help on the ground, we will ensure that an officer standing next to you deals with weavers every day to ensure that the weaver gets that benefit. For the first time, we are ensuring that individual weavers and artisans are identified. Their children get money for their own education. Schemes like Mudra Yojana are directly given to weavers. So we are giving the benefit directly to those who need it the most. This is a system, which was not as transparent before. There were announcements, but the implementation was very shoddy.I dont think any working woman would say that Oh yeah, lets celebrate the fact that I am only beautiful but not talented and not hard-working enough and havent made a niche for myself. But I want you to do something today. Its a bit unpalatable, but I want you to read something...I want you to read something, just read this part (shows her mobile phone). Its from a Twitter handle, I want you to read this part first. This happened when I was the HRD minister.This happened in February 2016 when universities had said lets fly the national flag because that was the decision taken by universities... Look at the comment made here.Erect in inverted commas...And who is the person who has done this?And who is this Poonawalla?So this is a gentleman who must have spoken to many women like this. Of course, he is related to Vadra, so he can obviously take that liberty. He must have thought that I talk like this to every woman, I can talk like this to Smriti too. After all, nobody will come screaming that there is misogyny from the Vadra family. And nobody spoke... it's been one year. This is February right? So if we want to talk about women's rights in UP especially, I think if Akhilesh, Rahul... all these young leaders like Dimple, Priyanka... We all should come out on an open platform. Possibly your network can host a show, we can all sit together...It is not a challenge, I think that in 2014 I said you want a debate, Mr Rahul Gandhi, and I was rightful in that context. I was a candidate from Amethi, I think that today if you like to talk about women's rights, lets all sit in UP and have a chat... Akhilesh or Rahul or Priyanka or Dimple because sometimes they bring Priyanka into the poll and then they push it on the backburner... I dont know what they are doing, but I am saying that these are four people I am willing to sit with. No audiences, lets sit and talk about these issues.Akhilesh, if he is a man of principle, if he is a man who does not believe in goonda raj, then let him first come to Amethi and then return the Samrat cycle land to the farmers, which is being used by the Gandhi Foundation. Will he do it? He will not, he had enough time, he did not. So what did he do instead? He went to Sultanpur and said 'Gayatri Prajapati ko jitaeye, ahem seat hai' (help Prajapati win, it is an important seat). Thats why I said it is a dynastic party with ties to the land mafia.I think you need to read the manifesto, he is very clear about police stations. This is very clear, this is a state where a woman goes to rescue her husband from the police station and gets raped, so what has the BJP manifesto said... that we will ensure that there will be more and more presence of women in the police squad, we will ensure that there will be women police stations. But we will also ensure fast track courts, at least a 100 of them because we know that just filing a complaint will not ensure justice. It has to reach its ultimate conclusion in a court of law.This is not about me, my question, when we began this interview, was the same as it is now: how come only we are talking about the issues that matter? We talk about law and order, we talk about women's issues, we are talking about health issues and all they are talking about is dont be afraid.I have given you an example, forget trolls. This is a party representative. How come my good colleague Derek OBrien never stood up when this kind of filth was said about me? I am his colleague in the Rajya Sabha, I didnt see anybody. I didnt ask for help, but how come he is not active enough to hear every other voice?No, no. I dont need Dereks help to stand up for myself. I am just saying that I filed a case in the court of law against a Congress person who publically was not only misogynistic... he attacked me on my job. And what did the Gandhi family do? They made him the president of an entire unit, so I dont need to be lectured on misogyny. I live it every day.I thought it was Soniaji. All I care about is what future do you construct for the people of UP. For me that is the only concern.
Mumbai: Slamming BJP president Amit Shah, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said the upcoming electoral battles are no "friendly matches" and the BJP has lost a "staunch supporter" who backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi even after the Gujarat riots.



"The BJP President says this is a friendly match between them while the state leaders call this a 'Mahabharat' between 'Kauravas' and 'Pandavas'. I want to tell Amit Shah this is no friendly match now," Uddhav said in his first BMC poll rally.



"You have lost one who has always backed you and has been your staunch supporter. A supporter who backed (PM Narendra) Modi after the Gujarat riots when everybody was against him," he said.



Shah had last Sunday said there were no differences with the Sena and that he hoped its decision to contest the Maharashtra civic polls independently was not going to cause damage to the alliance.



Thackeray said he does not want to play the politics of alliance anymore after having seen the behaviour meted out to the Sena.



"In future Sena will be alone only on the support of the Shiv Sainiks," he said.



Quoting Shah, Thackeray said when he says there are no differences and only 'manbhed' (differences of the heart) between the estranged allies, the BJP should come clean on the issues on which there is a 'manbhed'.



"We will not leave the cause of Hindutva. If you do, there is 'manbhed'. If you do not stop the atrocities being conducted by Pakistan, there is 'manbhed'. If you give money to the family of Burhan Wani after he was killed, there is 'manbhed'. If farmers land is snatched and given to industrialists and if people are made to stand in long queues due to demonetisation, there is 'manbhed'," the Sena chief said.



Thackeray said the "mask" of transparency the state BJP leaders had been wearing all along has been removed by its own government at the Centre as the Economic survey tabled in Parliament has ranked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation as the most transparency body in the country.



"Chief Minister (Devendra Fadnavis) said he will show the Sena its place on the day of results. I thank him for saying so as he has sealed our win with these comments. Even during the previous polls, the then Chief Minister had said Sena will nowhere be seen but today that Chief Minister is nowhere to be seen. We are here," he said.



"Recently when I had met the Chief Minister (Fadnavis) during a BMC programme, I had told him we are ready to give him credit even though no work has been done by them. But one should have the capacity to take free credit as well," Thackeray said.



He said historically, the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister do not go for campaign for local polls, but the current PM and the CM have no time to administer as they are busy campaigning for as small as society polls.



"How and when will they administer then?" he questioned.



"What kind of administration is this? Make big promises before polls and forget all of them later. This culture was never seen before and will never be seen in future as well," he said.



Referring to the foundation stone laying ceremony of a memorial for Chhatrapati Shivaji, Thackeray said it has been over a year since the foundation stone for Babasaheb Ambedkar's memorial was laid by the PM at Indu mills, but not a single brick has been laid as yet.



Referring to the BJP's call for suggestions for its manifesto, Thackeray said they have not understood Mumbai and wants to understand it from the citizens and are thus asking for suggestions.
Mumbai: Predicting defeat of BJP in ensuing elections to state Assemblies, Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said Mumbai is a "mini India" and results of the civic polls will send out a strong message to the entire country.



Launching NCP's campaign for the BMC poll in Mumbai, Pawar said, "Political situation in the country is changing."



"Lives of working and labour classes in Mumbai have been severely affected due to demonetisation. In state Assemblies where elections have taken place and will take place, BJP's defeat is certain," he said.



The former Union Minister also took a dig at the "transparency agenda" of the BJP to corner Shiv Sena and said both parties were in power in BMC for the last two decades and were responsible for the decay in civic amenities in the megapolis.



He said change in the civic body was the only option to develop Mumbai.



Pawar further said NCP-controlled Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Navi-Mumbai civic bodies were better run than Mumbai. The party should be given a chance in Mumbai as well, he added.



"NCP's clock will repair the country's current bad time," he said.



The former Maharashtra Chief Minister also lashed out at BJP for inducting people with criminal record. "BJP thinks those with criminal background when inducted into their fold are purified," he said.



Pawar said, "NCP wanted to protect the interests and work for welfare of Marathi people as well as those who came from different parts of the country and toiled hard to contribute to the city's prosperity."



"Demonetisation has hit hard the poor, farmers, industrial workers," said the Maratha strongman.



Pawar said his party has taken care of providing clean drinking water in Navi Mumbai and in Mumbai not even a half-heartened effort is being made in this regard.



The Sena and BJP were ruling the BMC for 25 years and they have not solved the recurring drinking water issue, claimed the NCP chief.
Puducherry: Former Rajya Sabha MP P Kannan on Sunday announced his resignation from the AIADMK.



He told reporters here that he did not want to disclose the reason for his quitting AIADMK.



But when reporters kept on asking him for the reason, he said "everything is obvious".



The resignation comes at a time when AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala was elected as Legislature party leader at a meeting of legislature party meeting in Chennai earlier in the day.



Kannan joined AIADMK after quitting Congress on February 14 last year ahead of the Assembly polls. He enrolled himself as member of AIADMK then in the presence of then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa at Chennai.



Kannan was defeated by Congress candidate K Lakshminarayanan in the May 16 assembly polls.
"I have decided to resign from post of National President Legal Wing SP and all posts. Forwarding my resignation to Netaji (Mulayam) and Akhilesh Yadav ji," he tweeted.

I have decided to resign from post of National President Legal Wing SP and all posts. Fwding my resignation to Netaji & @yadavakhilesh ji  Gaurav Bhatia (@gauravbh) February 5, 2017

In a significant political development ahead of Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Gaurav Bhatia, the national president of the Samajwadi Party's legal wing, resigned from the party on Sunday.Speaking to CNN-News18 Bhatia cited recent development in the government and the party as the reason behind his move, but refused to elaborate."I resigned because of recent developments in the government and the party. Not specifying the reason at this moment, he said.He tweeted that he had sent his resignation letter to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav."My father late Virendra Bhatia had contributed a lot to the party and the government. For me both Netaji (Mulayam) and Akhilesh ji are important and hence I have sent resignation to both, he told CNN-News18.He also clarified that he was not joining any other political party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav addressed rallies in Uttar Pradesh, which will vote in the first phase of Assembly elections on February 11.

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The federal judge in Seattle on Friday blocked Trump's week-old order to stop people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from traveling to the United States as his administration develops stricter vetting rules for immigrants and travelers that Trump says are needed to prevent attacks.

On Saturday, a small group of immigration lawyers, some holding signs in English and Arabic, gathered at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, offering services to passengers arriving from overseas destinations.

Trump's order also put a 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee admission program and barred Syrian refugees indefinitely. With Friday night's restraining order on the ban, refugees who have been cleared can now board planes.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday denounced a judge who lifted a travel ban for citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries, vowing that his government would reinstate it as affected travelers scrambled for tickets to try to quickly enter the United States.The Washington state lawsuit is the first to test the broad constitutionality of Trump's travel ban, which has been condemned by rights groups that consider it discriminatory."The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said on Twitter. It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which is an independent arm of the U.S. government."When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!" Trump tweeted.Because of the temporary restraining order, the U.S. government said travelers with valid visas would be allowed to enter the country. The State Department said almost 60,000 visas had been suspended because of Trump's ban.The order had set off chaos and moved thousands of people to protest at airports across the United States last week."I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Fuad Sharef, an Iraqi with an immigration visa who was prevented from boarding a flight to New York last week."I didn't surrender and I fought for my right and other people's right," Sharef told Reuters as he and his family prepared to fly from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to Istanbul and then to New York, before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.Virtually all refugees also were barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the United States."This is an instance where people could really slip through the cracks and get detained and nobody would know," said John Biancamano, 35, an attorney volunteering his services.At Dulles International Airport outside Washington, volunteer lawyers also were in place to help travelers and monitor how visa holders and permanent residents were being treated as they arrived.The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travelers but that the Trump administration would fight to overturn Friday's ruling."At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the president's executive order, which is lawful and appropriate," DHS spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said a statement.Some travelers told Reuters they were cautious about the sudden change. Overnight, some international airlines were uncertain about whether they could sell tickets to travelers from the countries in Trump's ban."I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes," said Josephine Abu Assaleh, who was stopped from entering the United States after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family.Abu Assaleh, 60, and her family were granted U.S. visas in 2016, some 13 years after they initially made their applications."We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been canceled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone.Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab, 52, told Reuters in Lebanon: "If it really has been frozen, I thank God, because my wife and children should have been in America by now."He said his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on Jan. 31. The trip was canceled two days before that and he was now waiting for a phone call from U.N. officials overseeing their case."It's in God's hands," he said.
Chicago (US): Visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries affected by President Donald Trump's travel ban hurried to board US-bound flights, fearing they might have only a slim window through which to enter the country after a federal judge temporarily blocked the ban.



Those who could travel immediately were being urged to do so because of uncertainty over whether the Justice Department would be granted an emergency freeze of the order issued Friday by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle.



The government yesterday suspended enforcement of the week-old ban as it scurried to appeal Robart's order, although an immigration lawyer said passengers in at least one African airport were told they couldn't get on the planes.



Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan, told The Detroit News that her group is advising people to hurry.



"We're ... instructing people who can travel immediately to the United States to basically go ahead and do that before anything further happens," Aoun said, adding that one family intends to fly back from Egypt today. Another woman in Egypt, who had been denied a visa, is booking her flight to come as soon as possible, said Aoun, whose group filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Detroit asking a judge to declare Trump's immigration order unconstitutional.



US officials have said up to 60,000 foreigners had their visas "provisionally revoked" to comply with Trump's order.



Among them was Ammar Alnajjar, a 24-year-old Yemeni green card holder and student at Southwest Tennessee Community College who had traveled to Turkey to visit his fiancee and planned to stay for three months. When he heard the ban was lifted, he paid USD 1,000 to come back immediately. He arrived at John F Kennedy International Airport yesterday.



"I got to study. I got to do some work," said Alnajjar, who said he fled civil war in Yemen and moved to the US from Turkey in 2015. "I'm Muslim. I'm proud of it. Islam means peace."



Although the government suspended enforcement of the travel ban while it sought an emergency stay of Robart's order, some airlines reportedly still weren't letting some people from the seven countries board their planes, at least initially.



Royal Jordanian Airlines, which operates direct flights from Amman to New York, Chicago and Detroit, said it would resume carrying nationals from the seven countries as long as they presented a valid US visa or green card.



But in the African nation of Djibouti, immigration attorney Julie Goldberg said a Qatar Airways representative told her that immigrants from all seven countries affected by the ban Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Somalia were not allowed to fly yesterday afternoon. A Qatar Airways spokeswoman said the airline would begin boarding travelers from those countries.














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Four paralyzed patients unable to communicate for years were finally able to do so through a potentially groundbreaking brain-reading system. And it turns out that one of them really didn't want his daughter to marry her boyfriend. The patients all had advanced ALS and were unable to control even their eyes, reports the Guardian. In other words, they had "locked-in syndrome," meaning total motor paralysis in spite of normal cognitive and emotional processing. Researchers at the University of Tubingen in Germany fitted the patients with caps through which they could observe changes in blood flow in different parts of the brain, they explain in the journal PLOS Biology. They first asked the patients to think yes or no in response to simple statements such as their spouse's name, and moved on to more personal questions when that was mastered.

Its the first sign that completely locked-in syndrome may be abolished forever, because with all of these patients, we can now ask them the most critical questions in life, says researcher Niels Birbaumer. The patients, all of whom are on ventilators and being cared for at home, range in age from 24 to 76. The team did stumble on a couple surprises. For instance, all four patients suggested they were "happy" with their lives in spite of being locked-in. (Birmbaumer suggests this might be because of something akin to meditation.) And one patient, who is 61, answered "no" nine times out of 10 when his 26-year-old daughter asked if she should marry her boyfriend Mario. "But they got married," one of the researchers tells the BBC. "Nothing can come between love." (Researchers can't explain how Stephen Hawking has lived this long.)
The flu is marching across the US, with 40 states now reporting widespread activity. In addition, the CDC says 15 pediatric deaths have been reported across the US, seven of them in the past week, reports CNN. Hardest hit are New Jersey, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, New York, and South Carolina. "We are hitting the peak right now," says Dr. David Topham of the University of Rochester, and that means it's time for the medical community to make its annual appeal to flu-vaccine holdouts. "It's not too late," says Dr. James Steinberg of Emory Healthcare. "It wasn't an early season (and) there's still time." See the CDC's website for a map of flu activity and more. (Read more flu stories.)
Scores of individually wrapped heroin packets seized during a Florida drug bust featured a certain famous likeness: that of President Donald Trump, the AP reports. According to the Tampa Bay Times, law enforcement officers seized the drugs Jan. 27 in Hernando County. Packets weren't only stamped with Trump's image and name; others bore the names or likenesses of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. Authorities couldn't explain the purpose of the markings. The drug bust netted a total of about 5,550 heroin doses. Police arrested 46-year-old Kelvin Johnson on suspicion of heroin trafficking and other charges. Authorities say Johnson came to their attention in May 2016, after the US Postal Service intercepted a package containing heroin. (Read more heroin stories.)
The legal fight over President Trump's ban on travelers from certain countries continued into the wee hours Sunday morning with yet another court ruling. Where things stand as of 5am Eastern: The ban is not in effect, meaning travelers from the seven countries named in the executive order are free to enter the country. If you missed the latest back-and-forth: On Friday, a federal judge in Seattle blocked the order nationwide. Late Saturday, the Justice Department asked that the ban be immediately reinstated. And early Sunday, a federal appeals denied that request, reports AP. In its ruling Sunday, however, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco asked the Justice Department to file its counter-response by Monday afternoon.

"We'll win," said President Trump upon arrival at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday, per the New York Times. "We'll win for the sake of the country." Earlier, the Justice Department argued that the Seattle judge who blocked the decision, James Robart, had overstepped his authority, calling his ruling "judicial second-guessing." The "power to expel or exclude aliens is a fundamental sovereign attribute, delegated by Congress to the executive branch of government and largely immune from judicial control," says the brief from acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco. (Trump lashed out at the Seattle judge.)
Vice President Mike Pence came to his boss' defense Sunday over the president's scolding of a federal judge. "The president of the United States has every right to criticize the other two branches of government," Pence said on NBC's Meet The Press. The VP had been asked about Trump's criticism of James Robart of Federal District Court in Seattlethe judge who has, for now, blocked the president's travel ban on people from seven countries. (Trump referred to him as a "so-called judge" in a Saturday morning tweet.) "I think people find it very refreshing that they not only understand this president's mind but they understand how he feels about things," says Pence. "He expresses himself in a unique way." Related coverage:

But it's not just Democrats criticizing Trump. "It is best not to single out judges," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on CNN. "We all get disappointed from time to time. I think it is best to avoid criticizing them individually." See Politico.

"We don't have any so-called judges, just real judges," said GOP Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, per the Hill.

So who is Robart? It turns out the 69-year-old was appointed by George W. Bush and is seen as a "mainstream" Republican. The New York Times has a profile.

Robart made headlines last year when he declared that "black lives matter" in court, notes the Seattle Times. Its profiles also notes that he is highly regarded and was confirmed unanimously to the post.

The National Review looks at the nuts and bolts of Robart's move and notes that his decision could be the final sayif it reaches the Supreme Court when the court still has just eight justices. Read it here.

This opinion piece at CNN calls Trump's tweet about the judge his "most bone-chilling" yet.

(Read more President Trump stories.)
A Chicago woman imprisoned in Indonesia for the 2014 killing of her mother says in videos posted on YouTube that she acted alone and her boyfriend only helped her cover it up because she threatened him. In a series of three videos that were posted last week, 21-year-old Heather Mack says her then-boyfriend Tommy Schaefer falsely confessed to striking her 62-year-old mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, in the head with a metal fruit bowl during their trip to Bali. She says he only helped her stuff the body in a suitcase and clean up because she threatened to tell police that he committed the crime. Authorities have said that the two discussed killing von Wiese-Mack in text messages, but in the videos Mack says that she took his phone when he was asleep and exchanged text messages with herself to make it appear the two were texting each other.

She says when she asked Schaefer to help her find someone who would kill her mother for $50,000 he refused. "Tommy's an innocent man," says Mack, who has cellphone and internet access in prison. She says one reason she framed Schaefer was because she knew there was a chance she would be arrested after she killed her mother and "I didn't want to get arrested by myself in a different country." Schaefer was in 2015 sentenced to 18 years in prison and Mack received a 10-year prison sentence, reports the AP. The motive for killing von Wiese-Mack was revenge, suggests Mack in the videos: The Chicago Tribune reports she says "two weeks before I came to Bali, I found out that [my mother] killed my father" in a hotel in Athens. Mack gives no additional detail; her father, well-known jazz composer James L. Mack, died on vacation in 2006. (Read more Heather Mack stories.)
President Trump has taken 19 executive actions since taking office, the AP reports. Rep. Rob Bishop has a No. 20 in mind. NPR reports on the Utah Republican's push to undo the Bears Ears National Monument created by Barack Obama during his last days in office. It was a highly controversial move that bans new development (think oil, cattle grazing) across its 1.3 million acres. The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition pushed Obama to use the power granted to him under the 1906 Antiquities Act to make the land a national monument, and the president did exactly that. Bishop wants Trump to strike the move, or reduce Bears Ears' scope.

But as NPR reports, undoing a national monument so big wouldn't just be unprecedentedit's also unclear if Trump can do it. The Act gives Congress alone the power to undo a designation, giving presidents just to power to designate. "Legally, it's untested," said Interior Secretary nominee Ryan Zinke during his Senate confirmation hearing. Bishop isn't the only one asking, though: On Friday Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed House Concurrent Resolution 11, which asks Trump to undo the monument. Fox13 relays some hearsay: Herbert says he heard Trump could make a move on the monument this coming week. The Native American tribes who fought for the monument say they'll sue if that does come to pass. Read more on the battle for Bears Ears here. (Read more Bears Ears stories.)
A Georgia sheriff's office would really appreciate it if the population it serves could manage to refrain from criminal activity during Sunday night's Super Bowl. In a cheeky Facebook post, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office explains "we all want to witness history here in Georgia this evening." History would be an Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl win: USA Today reports they're one of 13 teams to have never won the big game. And so the sheriff's office would be very appreciative if those in the north central county could do five things during the hours of 6pm and 10pm ET. Its list:

"Not to steal anything." "Get along with your spouse. YES, you can do it." "Drive cautiously and sober and not have an accident." "Refrain from loud noises that disturb your neighbors so much they call 911 (unless cheering a FALCON score of course)." "All other acts that lack general common sense and generate 911 calls."

One commenter presented a list of her own for those who do force an officer to show up:



"You better have the game on" "There better be a buffet" "You should be prepared to host said officer until the end of the game"

(Read more Super Bowl LI stories.)
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New Delhi:

The world's most valuable brand list is out and once again the leading tech giants of the world have bagged the top two positions.

US tech major Google tops the list as the most valuable brand followed by arch-rival Apple. Google's brand value surged to $109 billion from $88 billion last year. Meanwhile Apple's lost out of its Numero Uno position to Google. Its brand value fell to $107 billion this year from $145.9 billion in 2016.

It is notable that Apple for the last five years held sway as the world's most valuable brand.

Tata Group moved down to 103rd position from 82nd last year in the Brand Finance Global 500 2017 report. The $100 billion conglomerate has been badly shaken by a bruising months-long fight between former Chairman Cyrus Mistry, ousted in October last year, and patriarch Ratan Tata.

Among other Indian brands, Airtel has improved its ranking to 190 from 242 last year, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) stood at 222 from 283, and IT major Infosys ranked at 251 from 301 in 2016, the report said.

"Apple has struggled to maintain its technological advantage, with new iterations of the iPhone delivering diminishing returns, while the Chinese market is now crowded with local competitors.

Apple has been living on borrowed time for several years by exploiting its accumulated brand equity. This underlines one of the many benefits of a strong brand, but Apple has finally taken it too far," said David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance.
New Delhi:

Aam Adami Party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is unwell is about to leave for treatment, sources said.

According to sources, Delhi CM Kejriwals blood sugar level is presently highly. He, in fact, has to administer insulin three times a day.

AAP chief is likely to leave for Bangalore on February 7 and will remain in treatment for 10-12 days. He will go through naturopathy, sources said.

For past two months, Kejriwal has been actively campaigning for his party in Punjab and Goa assembly polls, both of which voted on February 4. However, his absence from political scene for next few days will not be missed as the results of the polls are not due until March 11.

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New Delhi:

Congress on Sunday launched its manifesto for the upcoming Uttarakhand assembly elections 2017. Uttarakhand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay, Chief Minister of state Harish Rawat, Ambika Soni and Kumari Shelja were present at the launch.



The Congress manifesto comes a day after BJP launched its vision document for the state on Saturday.



The document promised a slew of freebies for the education sector including distribution of free laptops and smartphones among meritorious students besides giving a boost to health facilities and making them available to every section of society.



The state will go to polls on February 15.

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New Delhi :

During Jallikattu festivities in Madurai's Avaniapuram, 37 bull-tamers have been injured till now. Out of them 9 have been admitted to the hospital while rest have been given first aid. Over 1,200 bull tamers and around 950 bulls are taking part in the mega event.

Earlier, after getting a nod from the government and Supreme Court to organise the bull taming sport, Jallikattu is taking place in Avaniapuram district on Sunday.

As many as 20 ambulances and 15 medical teams have been proving assistance to ensure security and safety of the participants taking part in the event.

The bull-taming sport was formally inaugurated by Revenue Minister R B Udhayakumar and District Collector Veeraraghava Rao.

Notably, Jallikattu resumed in Tamil Nadu after the government intervened in the matter of ban imposed by Supreme Court on the bull taming sport.

The next round of Jallikattu festivities will be held in Madurais Alanganallur on February 10 where organisers are luring participants with attractive prizes. Winners can even stand a chance to win a car.

Madurai (TN): Bull-taming sport #Jallikattu underway in Avaniapuram; 1200 tamers and 950 bulls participating. pic.twitter.com/mO6IJzbik7  ANI (@ANI_news) February 5, 2017

Other gifts include the likes of Royal Enfield bikes, tractors, gold coins and other mega prizes.

Also read: Cyclone Vardah, Jallikattu protests to oil spill: Marina Beach turns playground of natural disasters and cultural movements

Significantly, the Alanganallur area is famous for its Jallikattu which every year attracts a large number of visitors including foreign spectators as well.

With the government of Tamil Nadu promulgating an ordinance and subsequently getting a Bill passed in the assembly to let Jallikattu happen in several parts of Tamil Nadu in past few days.

Usually held during the harvest festival of Pongal in mid-January, Jallikattu was not organised for past three years in view of the ban on the sport by Supreme Court.

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New Delhi :

There could be a change in the guards of Tamil Nadu politics as a section of ruling AIADMK MLAs are likely to urge VK Sasikala, a close aide of late J Jayalalithaa, to take over the reins of the coastal state's government at a meeting in Chennai on Sunday.



However, the sources did not commit on the agenda of the meeting and declined to confirm reports that the TN MLAs would urge Sasikala, the AIADMK General Secretary, to take over as Chief Minister.



It is is all your imagination and guesswork, a senior AIADMK leader said when asked about reports of Sasikala taking over from current Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.



Among others, Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai has backed VK Sasikala for the Chief Ministers post.

Also read: AIADMK General Secretay Sasikala names newborn as Jayalalithaa

Following late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaas death on December 5 2016, VK Sasikala was appointed AIADMK's General Secretary.



On Friday, Sasikala had appointed senior leaders, including some former Ministers and a former Mayor, to key party posts.Former Ministers K A Sengottaiyan, S Gokula Indira and B V Ramana, besides ex-Mayor Saidai S Duraisamy were made the AIADMKs Organisation Secretaries.



The appointments also included that of Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar to a key party post in the government.



She had also announced removal of Ambattur MLA V Alexander as AIADMKs MGR Youth Wing Secretary.



He will, however, continue as the partys Tiruvallore (East) District Secretary, Sasikala had said in a statement.



Last month, Thambidurai had said that the leadership in both the party and governance should be with one person, while urging Sasikala to take over as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.



He had cited the political tussle in Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh to drive home his point that the control of government and party should vest with the same person.



Sasikala was appointed as General Secretary by AIADMKs top decision-making body General Council on December 29. She took charge of the post on December 31, pledging to take forward the legacy of Jayalalithaa.



In December 2016, four state ministers had asked Sasikala to become the Chief Minister, besides AIADMK General Secretary.



A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting of Tirunelveli Urban Jaya Peravai (Forum), led by state AIADMK secretary and revenue minister R B Udhayakumar on December 17.



The other ministers who participated in the meeting were V M Rajalakshmi, Sevoor Ramachandran and Kadambur Raju.



Sasikala, 62, had been a close aide of J Jayalalithaa for three decades and was always seen as a power centre in AIADMK party.

(With inputs from PTI)

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New Delhi:

The man who had allegedly entombed the body of his live-in partner after murdering her in Raipur has now told police that he had also murdered his parents six years ago and buried them in their house in Raipur.

Police have been verifying the claim that 32-year-old Udyan Das has made. During the interrogation Das told police that he had strangulated his mother and father in 2010-11 and buried them in the compound of their house in Raipur.

We are sending a police party to Raipur. We cannot rely on his statement as he is changing them frequently, South Bhopal Superintendent of Police (SP) Sidharath Bahuguna told PTI.

During the interrogation, Das told police that he murdered his parents after he got flunked in his exams for BIT Bhilai. When he failed in the last semester also, he lied to his parents that he had passed. When his parents began asking him to get job without realising that he had no degree to manifest his qualification, he murdered his parents and buried them in their Raipur house.

ALSO READ | Man murders live-in partner, entombs body under marble platform in Bhopal

Earlier, in his statement to police, the accused had said his father P K Das, a retired officer of Bhopal based BHEL who ran a factory after superannuation, had died of heart attack in 2010 at a Raipur hospital, Bhopal Govindpura area City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Virendra Mishra, under whose jurisdiction the crime was committed, said.

Initial investigations reveal that Udayan was a Class XII passout from a school in Raipur and not an IITian as he had claimed earlier, police said.

Picture and Video Credits: Neeraj Srivastava (Reporter)

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New Delhi:

Addressing a joint rally in Kanpur Chief Minister Akhilesh and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi urged voters to ensure that the outcome of Bihar election is repeated, where BJP was trounced by a coalition led by Nitish Kumar.

Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'SCAM' jibe, Rahul alleged that one who is in the wrong sees the scam in everything while he stressed that for me SCAM is Seva, Courage, Ability, Modesty.

Whenever Modi is nervous, he starts giving labels PPE, ABC, DEF, GHY. Now this SCAM.... A person, who is in the wrong, sees scam everywhere because this is his reality," he said, adding that the Congress-Samajwadi alliance in the state had made Modi jittery.

So in fact stands for 'service', C for 'courage', A for 'ability' and M for 'modesty', he said at the rally in government inter-collge ground here, giving his own coinage for the acronym.

ALSO READ | PM Modi at Aligarh rally: 'UP needs employments, education, development; UP needs to remove 'SCAM' and elect Lotus'

Rahul attacked Modi over note ban saying that demonetization has hurt the poor most. Akhilesh Yadav also took on the Prime Minister for his yesterday's SCAM taunt, where Modi had asked people of Uttar Pradesh to rid the state of SCAM - S for Samajwadi (party), C for Congress, A for Akhilesh (Yadav) and M for Mayawati.

With PTI Inputs

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Los Angeles :

Scientists have discovered a new shark species with rabbit-like buckteeth and a bulky head, which is the 50th ghost shark species known to science.

At nearly one metre in length, the new creature is the second largest species of ghost shark ever discovered, the researchers said.

(Ghost sharks) in general have a pretty big head and their body tapers to a thinner tail. This one was really chunky in the front, and just a big bulky specimen, said Kristin Walovich, a graduate student at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in California.

Like some other ghost sharks, the newfound species has rabbit-like buckteeth, prompting researchers to put it in the genus Hydrolagus, which translates towater rabbit or water hare.

The species name erithacus is the genus name for robin birds, a science portal reported.

Also read: Low level of atmospheric oxygen held back evolution for two billion years: Research

There are already three known species in the genus Hydrolagus that live in the same region as the new find, between South Africa and Antarctica in the southeastern Atlantic and southwestern Indian Oceans, the researchers said.

Two of the specimens in the new study came from deep-sea fishermen who mistakenly caught the animals as bycatch. But the other specimens included in the study had been sitting in a museum for years, Walovich said.

The scientists and the fishermen in South Africa knew this was not the same species because Hydrolagus africanus is small, its brown, and this one was huge and really dark in colour, Walovich said.

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:

The government has suspended enforcement of US President Donald Trumps refugee and immigration ban and filed notice it would appeal a judges order, plunging the new administration into a crisis that has challenged Trumps authorityand ability to fulfil campaign promises.



The stand-down, a day after a federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked the ban, marked an extraordinary setback for the White House.



Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend Americas refugee program and halt immigration to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.



As the White House worked to reinstate the ban, Trump mocked US District Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W Bush, as a so-called judge whose ridiculous ruling will be overturned.

Read | US revokes suspended visas after court stayed Trump's order, giving relief to travellers from 7-Muslim nations



He added in a subsequent tweet: Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision.



Trumps direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a Trump University case.



Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for his words as the travel ban case reaches the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.



The order had caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompted protests across the United States and led to multiple court challenges.

Read | President Trump justifies his controversial immigration ban, says signed order to keep terrorists out

Demonstrations took place outside the White House, in New York and elsewhere. One was planned later today near the estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was spending the weekend and where the American Red Cross scheduled its annual fundraising gala.Robarts ruling, which the White House said the Justice Department would challenge, led federal agencies to unwind enforcement of Trumps executive order. Justice filed notice Saturday it would appeal the ruling.The State Department, after initially saying that as many as 60,000 foreigners from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen had their visas canceled, reversed course on Saturday and said they could travel to the US if they had a valid visa.

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Istanbul:

Turkish police on Sunday detained hundreds of suspected members of the Islamic State extremist group in nationwide raids, just over a month after an attack on an Istanbul nightclub claimed by the jihadists.

Among around 400 detained in the biggest operation so far against IS after the New Year attack were foreigners and those suspected of planning attacks in Turkey, the Dogan and Anadolu news agencies reported.

The operation around the country saw 150 suspects detained in Sanliurfa in the southeast and 47 in the nearby city of Gaziantep close to the Syrian border which has a known jihadist presence, Dogan said.

Sixty suspects, mostly foreigners, were detained in four districts in the capital Ankara.

Dozens more arrests were made in provinces ranging from Bursa in the west to Bingol in the east.

In the usually peaceful Aegean city of Izmir, nine people suspected of travelling to and from Syria and planning attacks in the city were detained, Anadolu said.

Eighteen people were detained in Istanbul and the neighbouring province of Kocaeli on suspicion of planning attacks. Another 14 foreigners were due to be deported, including 10 children.

Thirty-nine people were killed, mainly foreigners, on New Years night when a gunman went on the rampage inside a plush Istanbul night club.

IS claimed the massacre, its first clear claim for a major attack in Turkey although it had been blamed for several bombings in 2016.

Police detained the suspected attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, on January 16 after over two weeks on the run and authorities say he has confessed to the massacre.

The Hurriyet daily reported after the attack that IS also planned a simultaneous New Years strike in Ankara but dropped the plot after arrests by the Turkish authorities.

Turkey was in 2016 shaken by a string of attacks blamed on IS and Kurdish militants that left hundreds dead.

It is also engaged in a battle with IS to take the Syrian town of Al-Bab, in the fiercest fighting yet of the Turkish militarys campaign inside Syria that started in August.

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Fake military.U.S. military scrambles to explain why it posted a 10-year-old video to show its Yemen raid was a successThe U.S. military released a compendium of jihadi video Friday that it said showed the sort of intelligence information Navy SEALs seized in a deadly Jan. 29 raid in Yemen. There was just one problem: The clip included 10-year-old footage.The video was released to the media midday as U.S. military officials said it was obtained in the search of a compound operated by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a terrorist group that has previously planned attacks in Western nations.The videos released today are samples of a series of detailed, do-it-yourself lessons intended for aspiring terrorist bomb-makers and included an exhortation to use those techniques to attack the West, U.S. Central Command officials said in a news release. The full-length videos, from which these clips were extracted, were taken from a computer seized by U.S. Special Operations service members during the raid.Air Force Col. John J. Thomas, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said the video was taken down based on the reaction it received through social media. One clip in particular was previously published in 2007. The Pentagon had scheduled a 2 p.m. news briefing to discuss the raid, but canceled it after realizing the problem with the video, which already had aired on cable television news broadcasts and circulated online.I didnt want it to appear like we were passing out old-as-new information, Thomas said. Were not trying to get into a political discussion or influence anyones thinking. Were just trying to [do] due diligence and help explain the kind of data we exploit at sites like this.Other information gathered in the raid is classified, but missions like it typically focus on expanding the U.S. militarys knowledge base about a terrorist organization.A Navy SEAL, Chief Petty Officer William Ryan Owens, 36, was mortally wounded in a firefight and three other SEALs also were hit by gunfire. The unit called for support, and U.S. aircraft opened fire from the air, likely killing both militants and civilians, U.S. officials said. Among the dead is said to be Nawar al-Awlaki, the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric who joined al-Qaedas affiliate in Yemen and was later killed in a 2011 U.S. drone strike.Central Command said Friday that post-raid analysis has determined that several of the 14 militants killed were terrorist network leaders or facilitators. They include Abdul Raouf al-Dhahab and Sultan al-Dhahab, whom the military described as long-standing AQAP operational planners and weapons experts.Central Command said the video it released was a sampling of detailed, do-it-yourself lessons intended for aspiring terrorist bomb-makers and included an exhortation to use those techniques to attack the West. The full videos were taken from a computer seized by the SEALs during the raid.The videos were released after questions about the raids planning  the first of the Trump administration  were raised in the media. U.S. military officials have denied that the mission was compromised.
Washington:

Donald Trump has agreed to attend the G-7 Summit in Italy in May during his telephonic conversation with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, in what could be his first visit to Europe as US president.

They discussed the bilateral relationship, the importance of the NATO alliance and threats to common security.

Trump agreed to attend the G-7 Summit in Taormina, Italy in May, and said he looked forward to meeting with the Prime Minister at that time.

During the phone call, Trump discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation across a range of shared interests, including security and counter-terrorism.

President Trump reiterated the US commitment to NATO and emphasised the importance of all NATO allies sharing the monetary burden of defence spending, the White House said in a readout of the phone call.

The two leaders agreed to continue close coordination and cooperation on efforts to eliminate ISIS and other terrorist organizations, it said.

The leaders discussed Libya, the influx of migrants and refugees into Europe, as well as Italys priorities, and the upcoming G-7 meeting in Italy, it added.

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In 2009, while readying an exhibition about Charles Darwin and Yale scientists including geologist James Dwight Dana, the staff at Yales Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven did some research into its enormous collection of specimens.

Their sleuthing led to a very nice discovery. There, hidden in plain view, were two coral specimens, collected and notated by Darwin himself.

Ive been here for 25 years, and I didnt know they were here, said Eric Lazo-Wasem, senior collections manager at the Peabody. But they were there on a shelf, just as they should be.

A week from today, on Feb. 12, we can all do some celebrating, and maybe, some cerebrating. Its International Darwin Day, marking the great naturalists 216th birthday.

There will be lectures and dinners marking the day around the world. Two Connecticut legislators  U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Rep Jim Himes, D-4th District  have introduced a bill to have Congress recognize the day.

In our modern political climate, when the very facts and truths reveled by science are under attack, honoring the scientists, the true heroes of human history is vitally important, Himes said in an emailed statement. Honoring Darwin, he said, is to send a message that we value education, knowledge and science as guiding principles.

Scientists overwhelmingly accept those principles.

The Darwinian theory of evolution, in very basic terms, is this: Species, rather than being static, evolve over time to adapt to environmental pressures. That evolution is ruled by natural selection, by which inherited traits allow some species to survive and pass those traits on to the next generation, while other species falter and become extinct

It is the conceptual glue that holds all the biological sciences together, said Thomas Philbrick, professor of botany at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury.

It allows us to understand the fossil record, Philbrick said. It allows us to look into the future.

It also allows us to understand current scientific phenomenon.

Look at antibiotic resistance in hospitals, Philbrick said. Its a perfect example.

It works, Lazo-Wasem, who lives in Redding, said of the mechanics of evolution. That, in itself, is enough.

Rachel Prunier, an assistant professor who teaches genetics in Westerns department of Biologic and Environmental Sciences, said while there may be individuals who resist the theory of evolution, it is an essential part of scientific teaching today.

Theyre considered controversial, she said of Darwins ideas. Theyre absolutely not.

And yet the public still wrestles with the idea. A 2014 poll by the Pew Research Center on religion and public life found that 34 percent of Americans believe that human life has always existed as it exists today. While 62 percent of those polled say they believe in evolution, 25 percent say that a supreme being has guided that evolutionary change.

Which is why there is an international Darwin Day, and not an Isaac Newton Day or an Albert Einstein Day. People accept the theories of gravity and relativity. They still have trouble with evolution.

Were the last major post-industrial society that still questions it, said Matthew Bulger, legislative director for the American Humanist Association. The association supports atheism, agnosticism and free thinking in general and has been the group responsible for supporting Darwin Day.

Bulger points out that there really isnt a great controversy in many religious circles about Darwin. As far back as 1950, Pope Pius XII wrote in his encyclical Humani Generis that the Roman Catholic doctrine does not forbid research and discussions of evolution. Subsequent popes have confirmed that teaching.

And subsequent scientific research  from the pioneering work in genetics done by Gregor Mendel to the discovery of DNAs double helix structure  have only confirmed Darwins basic ideas.

DNA just adds more fodder, Philbrick said. We now know how evolution happens.

Darwin studied to be a clergyman before shipping out as a naturalist on the HMS Beagle. That five-year journey to South America and the Galapagos Islands let Darwins thinking to evolve over time to see a world governed by its own rules and not the hand of The Almighty.

He was very troubled by that, Philbrick said.

And yet he persisted in thinking those thoughts, which changed the world irrevocably.

Which, Bulger of the Humanist Association said, is why we celebrate Darwin and science in general.

Its a search for the truth, he said, no matter where it takes us.

Contact Robert Miller at earthmattersrgm@gmail.com
VANCOUVER, Jan. 30, 2017 /CNW/ - Goldgroup Mining Inc. ("Goldgroup" or the "Company") (TSX:GGA, OTC:GGAZF, BMV SIX:GGAN.MX) announces David Laurence Ingram, a member of its Board of Directors, passed away at the age of 76.

Keith Piggott, Chairman and President of Goldgroup commented: "We are deeply saddened by David's untimely passing and extend our sincere condolences to his family. He will be greatly missed as he was a good friend and a valued colleague to many of us at Goldgroup." Mr. Ingram was a co-founder of the Company and served on the Company's Audit, Governance and Compensation Committees.

About Goldgroup

Goldgroup is a Canadian-based gold production, development, and exploration Company with a significant upside in a portfolio of projects in Mexico and Ecuador, including a 50% interest in DynaResource de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., which owns 100% of the high-grade gold exploration project, San Jose de Gracia located in the State of Sinaloa. The Company operates its 100%-owned Cerro Prieto heap-leach gold mine, in the State of Sonora, Mexico, and is continuing the environmental assessment and permitting processes to advance to production the El Mozo property in Ecuador.

Goldgroup is led by a team of highly successful and seasoned individuals with extensive expertise in mine development, corporate finance, and exploration in Mexico and Ecuador. Goldgroup's mission is to increase gold production, mineral resources, profitability and cash flow, with a view to building a leading gold producer.

For further information on Goldgroup, please visit www.goldgroupmining.com

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Mr. Keith Piggott, Chairman and President

Tel: 1-520-247-5753

Investor Relations

Toll Free: 1-877-655-ozAu (6928)

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain information contained in this news release, including any information relating to future financial or operating performance, may be considered "forward-looking information" (within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities law) and "forward-looking statements" (within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Actual results could differ materially from the conclusions, forecasts and projections contained in such forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements reflect Goldgroup's current internal projections, expectations or beliefs and are based on information currently available to Goldgroup. In some cases forward-looking information can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "projects", "potential", "scheduled", "forecast", "budget" or the negative of those terms or other comparable terminology. Certain assumptions may have been made regarding the Company's plans at the Cerro Prieto project. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Goldgroup and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to materially differ from those reflected in the forward-looking information, and are developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors including, without limitation: uncertainties related to actual capital costs, operating costs and expenditures, production schedules and economic returns from Goldgroup's projects; uncertainties associated with development activities; uncertainties inherent in the estimation of mineral resources and precious metal recoveries; uncertainties related to current global economic conditions; fluctuations in precious and base metal prices; uncertainties related to the availability of future financing; potential difficulties with joint venture partners; risks that Goldgroup's title to its property could be challenged; political and country risk; risks associated with Goldgroup being subject to government regulation; risks associated with surface rights; environmental risks; Goldgroup's need to attract and retain qualified personnel; risks associated with potential conflicts of interest; Goldgroup's lack of experience in overseeing the construction of a mining project; risks related to the integration of businesses and assets acquired by Goldgroup; uncertainties related to the competitiveness of the mining industry; risk associated with theft; risk of water shortages and risks associated with competition for water; uninsured risks and inadequate insurance coverage; risks associated with potential legal proceedings; risks associated with community relations; outside contractor risks; risks related to archaeological sites; foreign currency risks; risks associated with security and human rights; and risks related to the need for reclamation activities on Goldgroup's properties, as well as the risk factors disclosed in Goldgroup's Annual Information Form and MD&A. Any and all of the forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by these cautionary statements. Although Goldgroup believes that the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on reasonable assumptions, readers cannot be assured that actual results will be consistent with such statements. Accordingly, readers are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking information. Goldgroup expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except as may be required by, and in accordance with, applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Goldgroup Mining Inc.

To view this news release in HTML formatting, please use the following URL: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2017/30/c2558.html

For further information: Mr. Keith Piggott, Chairman and President, Tel: 1-520-247-5753; Investor Relations, Toll Free: 1-877-655-ozAu (6928)
Africa is urbanizing at an alarmingly fast rate, nearly twice the rate of China. According to the African Development Bank, over five hundred million people will move into Africas cities in the next thirty-five years. Nigerias commercial capital, Lagos, is urbanizing at a rate quadruple the global average. Urbanization has had a tremendous effect on increased productivity. It has reduced transaction costs and increased access to more educational, medical and sanitation facilities.

Can Africa become the next big economic success ?

* Africa needs infrastructure development to match urbanization rates

* Africa needs education to increase and match its growing population

* Africa needs to leverage new technology that can enable it to leapfrog over gaps

Rapid Urbanization + insufficient infrastructure investment = Giant urban slums

In 2009, a World Bank Analysis indicates that Africa needed $93 billion per year to fill the infrastructure gap In 2015, a study tracked a surge in funding for Africa. The key finding is that, despite the progress in raising fiscal revenues, sub-Saharan African countries need to raise more domestic financeand more generally create fiscal spaceto meet the infrastructure gap. While tax revenues to GDP have increased across sub-Saharan Africa to over 20 percent more recently, this increase is mainly attributable to the resource-rich countries. However, tax revenue to GDP varies across the boardranging from 25 percent in South Africa to 2.8 percent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition to raising tax revenues, sub-Saharan African countries have increasingly accessed international capital markets with 13 countries issuing $15 billion worth of international sovereign bonds since 2006.

While financing flows seem to be relatively well-distributed across countries and sectors, infrastructure needs and financing options at the sub-national level, especially for growing urban areas, have been largely ignored in the various studies and reports. This lack of discussion was a weakness in the 2009 World Bank Report, and it remains a substantial blind spot in the infrastructure dialogue in sub-Saharan Africa. Compared to other regions, sub-Saharan Africa is still predominantly rural, but that is changing rapidly, with some estimates noting that by 2035 50 percent of the population will live in urban areas. In many cities, the challenge of urbanization and the need for critical infrastructure is already evident. One-third of urban residents in sub-Saharan Africa are located in 36 cities, each with more than a million inhabitants. The United Nations estimates that by 2025, the population in Lagos and Kinshasa will reach 18.9 million and 14.5 million, respectively

The overall numbers indicate four significant trends:

* All major sources of external financing have appreciably increased their annual commitments. From $5 billion in 2003, commitments have risen to almost $30 billion per year in 2012.

* ODF (Official Development Finance) investments, though not as dominant a source of infrastructure financing in sub-Saharan Africa as in the 1990s, have grown appreciably since 2007 and represents 35 percent of external financing.

* PPI has been the largest financing source since 1999accounting for more than 50 percent of all external financing. Its overall level has remained remarkably stable and unaffected by the recession in 2008.

* Official investments from China have increased from what was virtually insignificant to about 20 percent of these three main sources of external finance

Technologys Tipping Point

Africa is full of new technologies, particularly those that make social interaction and transactions easier. They have enabled people in rural areas to access information almost instantly, and allowed for millions to begin banking and for millions more to follow current events as they happen. The use of technology for interaction and communication is growing quickly.

Middle East and Africa: Saudi Arabia and Nigeria weigh down smartphone growth

Smartphone demand totaled 42 million units (in the their quarter of 2016), up two percent quarter-on-quarter and four percent year-on-year  the slowest ever year-on-year increase in the region. This was due to year-on-year demand declines of 29 percent in Saudi Arabia and 17 percent in Nigeria. Despite recent political turmoil in Turkey, smartphone demand remained positive, albeit moderating to three percent growth year-on-year. GfK forecasts smartphone demand in the region to grow year-on-year in 2017, with figures to follow next quarter.

A GSMA study The Mobile Economy: Africa 2016  reveals there were 557 million unique mobile subscribers across Africa at the end of 2015, equivalent to 46 per cent of the continents population, making Africa the second-largest  but least penetrated  mobile market in the world.

With much room for potential growth, the report sees the number of unique mobile subscribers hitting 725 million by 2020, accounting for 54 per cent of the expected population by this point.

By then, smartphone connections in Africa will have more than tripled, rising from 226 million in 2015 to 720 million in 2020.

Last year global smartphone penetration stood at 45 per cent, with Africa trailing at 23 per cent.

The more than 450 million additional new smartphones in Africa will be driven by cheaper devices (sub $50 smartphones are now available), a robust second-hand mobile device market, and the continued expansion of mobile broadband networks.

Education

In thirty-five years, Africa will have the largest labor force, larger than those of India and China. It will be the workshop of the world. Already, the benefits are accruing: vast investment in incipient manufacturing in Ethiopia is flowing in from China. The same is emerging in Rwanda and Kenya. Africa wont have the problems Japan and Europe have, with a limited working-class population supporting a rapidly retiring workforce. In fact, Africas pension funds are growing at extraordinary rates, and the proceeds are being used to fund national development programs. As the population urbanizes and the labor force continues to formalize, pensions will grow even faster. This bodes well for the population. But other institutions need to step in to make sure that the labor force can achieve its full potential. Of primary importance are educational institutions, particularly at pre-university levels. Urbanization may make it easier to create strong schools. For example, it is easier to find teachers willing to work in cities than it is in rural areas. Also, the higher concentration of students and resources makes it easier to use scale as an advantage. Education is still lacking, though. In 2012, projections by the Brookings Institution suggested that there was a rising number of primary-school age children across the continent who were out of school. Africa may have the largest labor force in the near future, but if it isnt educated as well as it can and should be, then advancements will be limited.
Tuface Innocent Idibia

Tuface cited security concerns for the cancellation though he initially insisted on going ahead with the marches scheduled for Lagos and Abuja in spite of repeated warnings from the Lagos State Police Command and Nigeria Police High Command.

After due consultations, it has become clear that the One Voice Nigeria protest scheduled to hold in Lagos and Abuja on Monday the 6th of February is under serious threat of hijack by interests not aligned with our ideals, he said in a video post on his Instagram page.

Public commentary on Nigerian social media say the whole essence of the protest was neutralized with the involvement of youth group  Enough is Enough (EiE) who hijacked the protest from Tuface.

What I have learnt today is: Leadership Matters, a whole lot. People trusted Tuface MORE than EiE Nigeria. People seek trustworthy leaders..  Juliet 'Kego (@julietkego) February 4, 2017

I feel EiE is the major reason TuFace cancelled the protest. Those ones have their own agenda, better not be a part of it.  Oluwamayowa (@ThatWILDlove) February 4, 2017

TuFace had his agenda before EiE managed to convince him that it has a platform to reach the youth. Now the protest has been neutralised. https://t.co/CfEAitnAk9 February 2, 2017

To be clear,d #IStandWithNigeria protest is abt Buhari & his misgovernance. Ignore attempts by @EiENigeria to derail d protest's objectives February 3, 2017

pic.twitter.com/7XCvni1TdW Dump GEJ in 2015 after contract to promote Buhari. Resign from EiE to execute contract. Use EiE against Buhari in 2017. #UStandWithYourBelly February 3, 2017

It is funny how we say govt is anti-democratic for trying to stop protest and then some of us say a particular party cannot join protest.  Yomi | #OGPNigeria (@akintonmide) February 3, 2017

Are you aware that the CSOs called out people? Why can't Nigerians also hold them to account? @EiENigeria is derailing the protest. https://t.co/7AU8QhUg8Y February 3, 2017

Further checks on the history of EiE Nigeria reveals that two of the founding board members of EiE Nigeria Adebola Williams and Chude Jideonwo were consultants who worked for the election of Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 through their company StateCraft Inc and only resigned from the board of EiE Nigeria shortly before the 2015 presidential elections. The involvement of EiE Nigeria thus fuelled a lot of suspicion about the protest being hijacked for an ulterior agenda.

Femi Kuti, a prominent musician and son of Africas music legend, Fela Anikilapo-Kuti described the planned protest as fishy, not because it was being organized by Tuface Idibia but the involvement of certain vested interests.

President Buhari is expected back in Nigeria Sunday after a long medical vacation abroad and the planned protest has also been seen in some quarters as a potentially embarrassing welcome for the President, creating stronger incentives for establishment forces to either derail or completely neutralize the protest working closely with their civil society collaborators.

Nigerian police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, cited negative security implications of the protests for the reason the police advised Tuface and other groups not to proceed with their plans.

The Nigeria Police Force is currently in possession of credible intelligence reports that other interest groups are equally planning to hold a counter protest/marches on the same days at the same places/cities as the Tuface group, Moshood said in a statement on Friday.

If these various planned protests/demonstrations are held as scheduled, there may be a breakdown of law and order, with attendant loss of lives and property, the statement added.

This article originally appeared on Signal

The popular narrative in the social media reflects that Tuface initially had an idea which was based on the economic hardships in the country and disapproval with the approach of the Buhari administration towards tackling the problems facing Nigerians. Millions of Nigerians keyed into the protest because of this objective until the involvement of EiE Nigeria.The involvement of EiE Nigeria created much public disaffection with the protest further accentuated with the online attacks launched at leading opposition voice and Ekiti State governor Ayodele Fayose after he disclosed he was backing the protest.
Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has said that the country is in trouble, after news broke out that President Muhammadu Buhari has extended his vacation indefinitely This was contained in a statement signed by the Presidents Special Adviser on Media, Femi Adesina, who said his principal has written to the National Assembly to notify them of his desire to extend his leave in order to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors.The President had planned to return to Abuja this evening, but was advised to complete the test cycle before returning. The notice has since been dispatched to the Senate President, and Speaker, House of Representatives.Mr. President expresses his sincere gratitude to Nigerians for their concern, prayers and kind wishes.Tweeting moments after the news, Fani-Kayode stated that it is now obvious that Buhari is sick and Nigeria is in trouble.Buhari has finally acknowledged that he is sick and has extended his stay abroad indefinately. It is now clear that Nigeria is in trouble, he wrote.The President left the country on a 10-day vacation on January 19 .
Nigerian music superstar, 2face Idibia on Saturday night cancelled the planned protest against FG due to security concerns and safety con...

Dear Nigerians!!! Due to security concerns and public safety consideration. I hereby announce the cancellation of the planned March. A video posted by Innocent Idibia (@official2baba) on Feb 4, 2017 at 1:59pm PST

 Dear Nigerians, after due consultations, it has become clear that the one voice protest scheduled to hold in Lagos and Abuja on Monday, February 6 is under serious threat of hijack by interests not aligned with our ideals.

 The point I am intent on making is not worth the life of any Nigerian. It is motivated by the need to negotiate a better deal for the ordinary Nigerian.

 I therefore announce the cancellation of the planned protest.

We would share further information in due course. We appreciate the massive support .

I am convinced our voices have been heard.

May God bless you all, may God bless Nigeria.

2face wrote on his social media handle alongside a photo of him looking downcast, he wrote,Full text of his announcement follows:On Saturday TuFace had said astronomical increment of goods and services as major reasons for the nationwide protest slated for tomorrow.In a Facebook post, the musician listed prices of 22 basic items that have increased by over 100 percent since President Muhammadu Buhari took over.The post had been shared by over 2,000 Facebook users as at 9:45pm yesterday with many of them expressing support for the exercise.He insisted the anti-Buhari protest on despite warnings by police authorities.Some of the items include rice, cement, gas, fuel, flour, sugar, milk and guinea corn, among others.The protest under the One Voice Nigeria initiative, according to him, will draw attention to the sufferings of Nigerians with a view to forcing government to ameliorate them.Tu Face urged protesters to wear clothes with colour green and troop out in their thousands on the streets nationwide for the march.
The President is ill but is recovering, Nigerians should please continue to pray for our president, and not spread death rumours Exclu...

The President is ill but is recovering, Nigerians should please continue to pray for our president, and not spread death rumoursExclusive reports reachinghas it that President Muhammadu Buhari who is expected back in Nigeria on Sunday after his 10-day vacation in London will not return as scheduled.A competent source in the presidency confirmed toon Sunday that the president received medical advice to remain in London while the results of some tests are being awaitedMr president is doing fine, and was ready to return to the country on Sunday as planned, but he was advised to run a few more medical tests which will mean, he will not be back on Sunday again the source said.The source continued 'As soon as the test results are out, Mr president will be back in Nigeria, Nigerians should please continue to pray for our president, and not spread death rumours, he is doing very fine, and he will be back soon'Buhari had penultimate Thursday departed Nigeria for London for a 10-day vacation and was expected to resume work on Monday, February 6.He had informed the lawmakers that Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo would be performing the duties of the President in acting capacity while he would be away.This is the third time Buhari would embark on vacation in one year.He had earlier embarked on a six-day vacation between February 5 and 10, 2016 in London.He had also embarked on another 10-day vacation on June 6, 2016 to treat an ear infection.
A medical doctor who has been President Donald Trumps doctor for 37 years claims to have the inside track on his health.

A medical doctor who has been President Donald Trumps doctor for 37 years claims to have the inside track on his health.Dr. Harold N. Bornstein told the New York Times that Trump takes a prostate-related drug, Propecia, to prevent hair loss and male pattern baldness.The drug is said to have a 90 per cent success rate.The doctor warns, however, The bad news is that once the treatment is completed, it only lasts for six months.Reported side effects of Propecia include mental confusion and permanent sexual dysfunction.Bornstein also revealed that Trump took antibiotics to control rosacea, a common skin problem, and a statin for elevated blood cholesterol and lipids.
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, on Saturday said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had again frozen his personal accoun...

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, on Saturday said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had again frozen his personal accounts with Zenith Bank.The governor said the bank refused to honour his cheque based on a directive from the EFCC when he went there on Friday.This came three days after a Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti, dismissed a motion for stay of execution of the judgment unfreezing the accounts for lacking in merit.Justice Taiwo Taiwo while ruling on the motion filed by the EFCC against his judgment unfreezing the accounts and delivered on December 13 said that once a judgment is being executed, you cannot stay the execution again.Fayose said, This is the impunity we are condemning. The bank and the EFCC got all the judgments of the court, but the agency still harassed the bank to act against the law. If I sent somebody with a cheque, they could give excuse but I was there myself; acts of impunity such as this cannot continue. We will challenge them.He added that he had received revelations that he would be number one in the country.Have you noticed that every attempt to impeach me has failed? How I will get there dont ask me.On his recent election as the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Partys Governors Forum, Fayose said,  By the grace of God, we are going to reposition our party. The PDP is only a sleeping giant and when it wakes up, those mocking us now will quake. Charlatans who are one leg in, one leg out and causing confusion in the party would have to decide where to belong.In a related development, the governor has called on the Federal Government to review corps members monthly allowance from N19,500 to N50,000.According to him, the current allowance can no longer sustain them as Nigeria continues to grapple with recession.Fayose also decried the deplorable state of the Ekiti National Youth Service Corps orientation camp in Ise/Emure, pledging an immediate release of N20m for its renovation.
Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has returned to Nigeria after a 7-week medical vacation in the Swit...

Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has returned to Nigeria after a 7-week medical vacation in the Switzerland. He arrived Minna International Airport on Saturday evening at 6.45 pm.Alighting from the aircraft, General Babangida expressed gratitude for prayers and goodwill messages from different quarters during his vacation.He said: I am feeling stronger and better now. I must thank Nigerians immensely for the prayers and concerns over my health. I must use this opportunity to also call on Nigerians to continue to pray for the leaders and the country to move forward in positive direction.We should remain united and work collectively towards the progress of our nation by thinking positively about the leaders and providing constructive criticisms and solutions to any challenge we may face. On the situation in the country, IBB said the current economic recession is not peculiar to Nigeria.He said I am aware that other countries face different political, social and economic challenges. I believe the current government is working assiduously towards addressing some of the issues.We need to support all arms and tiers of government in their efforts to ensure economic recovery and political stability, He concluded General Babangida left the country for medical vacation in Europe on December 18, 2016.
Ex-Delta State Governor James Ibori returned to Nigeria unannounced yesterday six years after he first fled into exile in Dubai and four...

Ex-Delta State Governor James Ibori returned to Nigeria unannounced yesterday six years after he first fled into exile in Dubai and four years after his imprisonment in the United Kingdom for corruption.He arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja early yesterday aboard a British Airways plane into the waiting hands of operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) who drove him to their Abuja headquarters for interrogation.The DSS Director General, Mr. Lawan Daura, described his meeting with Ibori as a short debriefing session.The British High Commission in Nigeria said Iboris return home will not stop the legal process to confiscate and return to Nigeria the ex-governors assets accumulated in London with stolen public funds.It was only a matter of time before the news of Iboris arrival in Nigeria swept across the country.But what was not immediately clear was his movement plan after leaving Abuja.A report at about 10am yesterday suggested that he was heading towards his Oghara home town in Delta State via the Osubi Airport in Warri.Hundreds of relations, political associates and supporters who heard the information quickly besieged the airport waiting for him only to be informed later that he had altered the plan by which he would proceed to the Benin Airport which is a mere 30 minute drive from Oghara.The crowd was informed of the change in the flight of the former governor at about 2:30pm.He had landed in Benin, they were told.A mild drama ensued as the people went into a frenzy, scampering to leave the airstrip, heading out to Oghara.Some of those at the airport to receive the former governor were council chairmen, members of the House of Assembly, appointed office holders, traditional rulers, youths and other social bodies.They included the Secretary to the State Government, Victor Ovie Agas; Commissioner for Environment, John Nani; chairman of Sapele council area, Ejaefe Odebala; chairman of Ethiope West, Solomon Golley; chairman of Okpe council area, Prince Godwin Ejinyere.Others were the Managing Director of DESOPADEC, William Makinde; Pius Ovbije (POC), a commissioner on the board of DESOPADEC, Chief Emmanuel Ighomena, a Senior Special Assistant to the governor; Chief Emmanuel Ganiga, National President of the UK branch of UPU; Chairman of DSIEC, Mr Moses Ogbe; member representing Okpe constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly, Sheriff Oborevwori.Iboris supporters who were in Benin or closer to the city began finding their way to the airport there.His chartered plane, a Challenger 60 run by IZYAIR and bearing registration number India Zulu Yanky (5NIZY) finally landed at the Benin airport at about 2.25pm.Aboard the plane were nine other passengers.As soon as the plane came to a halt on the tarmac, Ibori quietly disembarked and walked straight into his waiting car and the journey to Oghara resumed in earnest.Trailing his car was a long convoy of other vehicles.By 3:30pm Ibori and his entourage were in Oghara.The transition from down town to his private residence took quite some time as the roads were taken over by hundreds of people who had painted their faces with chalk and carried leaves in solidarity with him.Music blared from loudspeakers placed along the streets by different bands.His house was jam packed by well wishers and political associates, who came to rejoice with him.Giving an insight into his meeting with Ibori yesterday, the DSS DG said the session was mainly to debriefing the ex-governor and to discuss the way forward.He said: He met me for a short debriefing session and way forward. Also, to welcome him back to his fatherland.We are also meeting soon to discuss issues of interest affecting the nation.The British High Commission said in a statement in Abuja that despite Iboris return, the United Kingdom will continue to pursue the confiscation of his assets.It said the UK is determined to lead the way in a coordinated global effort to bring the corrupt to justice.The High Commission in the statement by its Press and Public Affairs Officer, Mr. Joe Abuku, said: Having been jailed for his crimes in the UK and served his sentence, Mr Ibori has returned to Nigeria.The UK will continue to pursue, vigorously, the legal process to confiscate and return to Nigeria, Iboris criminal assets.The UK is determined to lead the way in a coordinated global effort to bring the corrupt to justice.That is why it was vital we sent a clear message to the world that James Ibori, a man who stole millions from the Nigerian Government and laundered those proceeds in the UK, has been held to account.Mr Iboris return will not prevent prosecutors from pursuing confiscation proceedings against him.?Chief Ighoyota Amori, a former senator representing Delta Central, said Iboris return was a good omen to the people.We are happy that Ibori is back, people are jubilating, the crowd you see here and the enthusiasm that has been displayed today showed that we really missed him.This is the only way for us to appreciate that our leader who left us long ago is back.His coming is a beginning of so many good things to come, by his presence today, lm sure we are gaining back all we have lost.Ibori remains in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but it is not time to discuss politics. All his followers around are members of PDP.Mr. Lovett Idisi, member representing Ethiope East and Ethiope West Federal Constituency, thanked God for the safe return of Ibori.We prayed that all our PDP faithful should be steadfast now that we have a pure political direction.Their support has not been in vain. I believe now that our leader is out, we will have a sense of direction. We are a sheep with a shepherd right now.In my constituency, we now have somebody to consult without travelling overseas, Idisi said.One of Ogharas youth leaders, Mr Efe Moses said the return of Ibori would turn things around for the good of the town.We are grateful to God for the return of our chief (Ibori). Sure things will turn around for better from now on in Oghara.Ibori is our father and we can die because of him, Moses said.Iboris arrival yesterday caught many people by surprise even after he had hinted earlier in the week that he would return within days to Nigeria.He was released from prison in December after serving half of his 13-year sentence, taking into account pre-trial detention.Ibori plans to appeal his conviction based on an allegation made by one of Iboris former associates that a British police officer had taken bribes in return for inside information on the case before Iboris conviction and that prosecutors had covered it up.His road to prison began in 2007 after the Metropolitan Police raided the London offices of lawyer Bhadresh Gohil where they found in a wall behind a fireplace computer hard drives containing details of a myriad off-shore companies run for Ibori by Gohil, fiduciary agent Daniel Benedict McCann and corporate financier Lambertus De Boer.All of these men were later jailed for a total of 30 years.Following these corruption allegations, the United Kingdom courts froze Iboris assets there, valued at about 17 million in early August 2007.Iboris wife, Nkoyo, was arrested at the Heathrow Airport in London on 1 November 2007, in connection with the probe of the assets of her husband, particularly in the United Kingdom.[6] She was released after being questioned.Ibori himself was later arrested on December 12 2007 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Kwara State Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja.He was subsequently slammed with charges bordering on theft of public funds, abuse of office, and money laundering.The then EFCC Chairman, Malam Nuhu Ribadu also alleged at the time that Ibori attempted to bribe him to drop the charges with a cash gift of $15 million, which Ribadu claimed to have deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as exhibit.A Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State, discharged and acquitted Ibori of all 170 charges of corruption brought against him by EFCC on December 17, 2009But in April 2010, about three months after the assumption of office by the then President Goodluck Jonathan, a fresh charge of embezzlement of N40 billion was pressed against him.He soon fled the country and headed to Dubai where he was arrested on May 10, 2010 by the International Police and extradited to the UK.On 1st and 2 June 2010, UK jurists found James Iboris sister, Christine Ibie-Ibori and his associate, Udoamaka Okoronkwo, guilty on counts of money laundering, in a verdict delivered at the Southwark Crown Court, London.They were sentenced to 5 years in prison each on Monday 7 June 2010.On 27 February 2012, accused of stealing US$250 million from the Nigerian public purse, Ibori pleaded guilty to ten counts of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud at Southwark Crown Court, London.On Tuesday, April 17, 2012, Ibori was sentenced to 13 years by the Court for his crimes.James Ibori was released from prison in December 2016 after a court order. He served four years out of the 13 years he was sentenced to.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has laid the foundation stone for the Forward Operation Base (FOB) of 2 Battalion of th...

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has laid the foundation stone for the Forward Operation Base (FOB) of 2 Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Zango Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna state.The Nigerian Army School of Artillery in Kachia Local Government Area of the state had been the military formation in Southern Kaduna.Speaking at the occasion, Buratai said the army was committed to peace and security in all parts of Nigeria.He said the need to find a lasting solution to incessant herdsmen/farmers crises rocking Southern Kaduna in recent times necessitated the setting up of the base.Buratai urged Nigerians to learn to co-exist peacefully, adding we need each other.Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state in a remark noted that 11 similar clashes had been recorded in the state, but vowed to put an end to it.He said all those behind the recent farmers/herdsmen crisis will be brought to book no matter how highly placed.untitledburutai-2Whether they are my son or daughter or relations, whether they are Muslim or Christian, someone will be jailed to put an end to the crisis. And this will be the end of the crisis in the state, El-Rufai said.Earlier during a courtesy visit to the Emir of Jamaa, Alhaji Muhammadu Isa Muhammadu, the chief of staff directed troops stationed in Southern Kaduna to move deep into the forest to fish out perpetrators of violence in the state.The troops have been working seriously to ensure that attacks and counter attacks are brought to an end.Buratai also visited the Chief of Kagoro, Dr Ufuwoi Bonet, and appealed to the traditional ruler to assist in finding a solution to the crisis in the area.He also visited Ninte village, the scene of the most recent herdsmen/farmers clash, where he addressed troops of 101 Special Force battalion stationed in the community.He noted that the Hausa and Fulani had been living together in the community for centuries, but wonder why they resorted to killing themselves.There is a need for understanding. It is a family issue that can be resolved amicably, warning, however, that those responsible for killings and violence would not go unpunished.We will deal with anyone that foments trouble, he further warned and called on traditional rulers and other leaders to join the effort to bring peace to the area.The army chief charged the troops to be professional and respect human rights in the discharge of the duties.
Several Nigerians have taken to social media to express disappointment after Nigerian superstar musician, 2Face Idibia in a shocking ...

Dear Nigerians!!! Due to security concerns and public safety consideration. I hereby announce https://t.co/35HsVCQGfB February 4, 2017

This a pro-NIGERIA march. We talking to all the enemies of nigeria's progress including us, the people. Pls lets do it peacefully. One love! pic.twitter.com/lWkJUmrjX4 February 4, 2017

Few hours ago the musician tweets were still strongly in support of the protestSee the video before he cancelled the protest belowSeveral Nigerians have however taken to social media to express their disappointment at the sudden U-TURN with many suggesting that he was threatened by the Buhari-led government, while others believed he was bribed.
A furious President Donald Trump yesterday blasted a so-called judges decision that temporarily overturned his executive order tha...

A furious President Donald Trump yesterday blasted a so-called judges decision that temporarily overturned his executive order that banned refugees and nationals from seven countries from entering the United States.Trump vowed in a series of tweets that the Friday ruling by Federal Judge James Robart would be reversed.When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in and out, especially for reasons of safety and security  big trouble! Trump said in the first of the Tweets to react to the ruling by a Seattle judge in the state of Washington, James Robart.He followed it up with: Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in its death and destruction!And later this: The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!The White House itself had insisted, in reaction to the ruling late Friday that the ban was lawful and appropriate.It branded the court ruling outrageous.Moments after that, it issued a fresh statement with the same wording but removed the word outrageous, according to the CNN.It said Department of Justice would file an emergency appeal.The Customs & Border Protection (CBP) subsequently informed U.S. airlines to start boarding travelers who had been previously barred by the executive order.The CBP gave the airlines the green light to operate just as they had before the order.In effect, individuals from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen with valid visas can now board U.S.-bound flights and airlines are working to update their websites to reflect the change.Judge James Robart said his ruling took immediate effect.He ruled that Washington state and Minnesota had standing to challenge Trumps order, which government lawyers disputed, and said they showed their case was likely to succeed.The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury, Robart said.This TRO (temporary restraining order) is granted on a nationwide basis Trumps order penultimate week sparked protests across the world and confusion at airports, especially in the US where some travelers were detained.The judges written order, released late Friday, said its not the courts job to create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches of government.The courts job is limited to ensuring that the actions taken by the other two branches comport with our countrys laws.Robart ordered federal defendants and their respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys and persons acting in concert or participation with them are hereby enjoined and restrained from enforcing the executive order.Up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven majority-Muslim countries had their visas canceled because of the executive order, the State Department said Friday.That figure contradicts a statement from a Justice Department lawyer on the same day during a court hearing in Virginia about the ban. The lawyer in that case said about 100,000 visas had been revoked.The State Department clarified that the higher figure includes diplomatic and other visas that were actually exempted from the travel ban, as well as expired visas.Ferguson, a Democrat, said the order is harming Washington residents, businesses and its education system.Washington-based businesses Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft support the states efforts to stop the order. They say its hurting their operations, too.Eric Ferrero, Amnesty International USA spokesman, lauded the short-term relief provided by the order but added: Congress must step in and block this unlawful ban for good.Thousands of protesters marched on Parliament in London yesterday demanding the cancellation of the British Governments invitation to U.S. President Donald Trump for a state visit.The protest involved a three kilometer march of several thousand people from the U.S. embassy to the Houses of Parliament.Protesters chanted Theresa May, shame on you!Lawmakers are expected to debate British plan to invite Trump later this month.
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday vowed that perpetrators of the Southern Kaduna killings will go to prison. He spoke d...

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday vowed that perpetrators of the Southern Kaduna killings will go to prison.He spoke during the stone-laying ceremony of two military formations in Kafanchan by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai.The governor lamented that the recent unrest in Southern Kaduna was the 11th in series since 1980 without the prosecution of anyone for the killings and destruction of properties.Speaking on the military formations, El-Rufai said the state will provide the army with a temporary facility for immediate take-off of the Forward Operation Base (FOB) pending completion of the permanent site.He pledged the state will immediately commence survey of the military formation site land with a view to handing the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) to the army authorities.Buratai said the Army is in Southern Kaduna to restore peace and promised soldiers will not take sides while discharging their responsibility.While assuring that the Forward Operation Base will be ready in the next three months, the Chief of Army Staff said his men will not spare any trouble maker, no matter how highly or lowly placed.We are not going to spare anyone that is fomenting trouble in the area no matter his standing, the army chief said.Buratai also paid courtesy visits to the Chief of Kagoro, Ufuwai Bonet and Emir of Jemaa, Alh Muhammadu Isah Muhammadu at their palaces.According to him: The present crisis is coming to an end. Now, we have restored normalcy in the troubled areas. People have started coming back to their homes.I was in Ninte this morning. I saw the farmers and the Fulani. I spoke with them on the need to live in peace with one another.You cant separate the farmers and the herdsmen. They have a long history of co-existence. So, they must live together. The better they live together the better for them and everyone, he said.
President Donald Trump has rebuffed calls for a tougher stance on Russia, playing down political assassinations inside the country and M...

President Donald Trump has rebuffed calls for a tougher stance on Russia, playing down political assassinations inside the country and Moscows invasion of Ukraine.Trump  now two weeks into his four-year term  showed no signs of yielding to demands from within his own Republican Party to distance himself from President Vladimir Putin.I do respect him. Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesnt mean Ill get along with them, Trump said in an excerpt of a Super Bowl interview with Fox Newss Bill OReilly that will air in full on Sunday.When pressed in relation to Putins alleged links to the extrajudicial killing of journalists and dissidents, Trump said, There are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers.You think our country is so innocent? Trump asked rhetorically.Michael McFaul, a former ambassador to Russia and advisor to former president Barack Obama, described Trumps comments as disgusting.This moral equivalency that Trumps continues to draw between the USA and Russia is disgusting (and inaccurate), he said on Twitter.Mainstream Republicans have repeatedly called on Trump to distance himself from Putin, with little impact.Throughout the election campaign, Trump refused to criticize the Russian leader, saying better relations with the Kremlin would be in the US national interest.The new president has advocated working with Russia to combat the Islamic State group in Syria, where Moscow has deployed aircraft, naval assets and troops to support Bashar al-Assads regime.In December, US intelligence agencies went public with their view that Russia conducted a hack-and-release campaign aimed at swinging the US election in Trumps favor.Trumps repeated criticism of NATO  a common target for Putin  has only fueled suspicions that Trump is ready to side with Moscow over allies in Europe.Across Europe, there are growing concerns that the continent might be wedged between a hostile Russia and a hostile United States.Trumps stance on Ukraine has also raised eyebrows. After a call with Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko on Saturday, the White House said the pair addressed Ukraines long-running conflict with Russia.Russia annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea in March 2014 and has supported separatists in the east of the country.Former national security advisor Susan Rice publicly criticized Trumps framing of the situation.This distortion of even recent history is deeply troubling, she tweeted. Were watching Trumps Vice President Mike Pence tried to explain the administrations approach to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which had flared after Trump and Putin spoke by telephone a week ago.Were watching, and (were) very troubled by the increased hostilities over the past week in eastern Ukraine, Pence told ABCs This Week news program.During the Trump-Putin call, the Kremlin said the two men had discussed improving economic relations, a potential signal of Trumps willingness to lift sanctions on Russia.Asked whether the administration would be willing to ease sanctions while Russia is violating ceasefire agreements, Pence demurred.I think thats a question that will be answered in the months ahead. And it just simply all depends, he said.If we have opportunities to work together, I think the president is looking for an opportunity to begin that relationship anew.But make no mistake about it  those decisions will await action. And theyll be very dependent on how the Russians respond in the days ahead.AFP
President Donald Trump drew fire from Republicans and Democrats alike Sunday, after he defended a softer stance on Russia, playing down p...

President Donald Trump drew fire from Republicans and Democrats alike Sunday, after he defended a softer stance on Russia, playing down political assassinations and Moscows invasion of Ukraine.Trump  now two weeks into his four-year term  showed no signs of yielding to demands from within his own Republican Party to distance himself from President Vladimir Putin, plunging himself into a fresh political firestorm.I do respect him. Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesnt mean Ill get along with them, Trump said in an excerpt of a Super Bowl interview with Fox Newss Bill OReilly that will air in full on Sunday.When pressed in relation to Putins alleged links to the extrajudicial killing of journalists and dissidents, Trump said, There are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers.You think our country is so innocent? Trump asked rhetorically.Trumps fellow Republicans, including Senate leader Mitch McConnell, were quick to criticize the presidents remarks.I dont think there is any equivalency with the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does, McConnell said.He is a former KGB agent, a thug, not elected in a way that most people consider a credible election, he told CNN.That criticism was echoed by Michael McFaul, a former ambassador to Russia and advisor to former president Barack Obama, described Trumps comments as disgusting.This moral equivalency that Trumps continues to draw between the USA and Russia is disgusting (and inaccurate), he said on Twitter. Major fight against IS Mainstream Republicans have repeatedly called on Trump to distance himself from Putin, with little impact.Throughout the election campaign, Trump refused to criticize the Russian leader, saying better relations with the Kremlin would be in the US national interest.The new president has advocated working with Russia to combat the Islamic State group in Syria.If Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all around the world, major fight. Thats a good thing, Trump told Fox.Moscow has deployed aircraft, naval assets and troops to Syria, but has so far trained its fire on rebels with the aim of propping up Bashar al-Assads regime.In December, US intelligence agencies went public with their view that Russia conducted a hack-and-release campaign aimed at swinging the US election in Trumps favor.Trumps repeated criticism of NATO  a common target for Putin  has only fueled suspicions that Trump is ready to side with Moscow over allies in Europe.Across Europe, there are growing concerns that the continent might be wedged between a hostile Russia and a hostile United States.Trumps stance on Ukraine has also raised eyebrows. After a call with Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko on Saturday, the White House said the pair addressed Ukraines long-running conflict with Russia.Russia annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea in March 2014 and has supported separatists in the east of the country.Former national security advisor Susan Rice publicly criticized Trumps framing of the situation.This distortion of even recent history is deeply troubling, she tweeted.AFP
A US court last Thursday sentenced a Nigerian, Olayinka Ilumsa Sunmola, to 27 years in jail for international romance scam he perpetrate...

A US court last Thursday sentenced a Nigerian, Olayinka Ilumsa Sunmola, to 27 years in jail for international romance scam he perpetrated from 2007 to 2014.Lagos-born Sunmola, who was the ringleader of a love scam organisation based in South Africa, was also ordered to repay $1.7m.Judge David Herndon of a US district Court in East St. Louis heard how Sumola and others scammed many American women of millions of dollars while parading themselves as American soldiers stationed overseas or engineers working on a large government contract in South Africa.They cultivated romantic relationships with dozens of women using pictures of men they found online, sometimes pictures of dead servicemen from memorial websites.Prosecutors said Sumolas activities drove some to bankruptcy and at least one to the brink of suicide.The 33-year-old showered the women with poetry, cards, flowers, stuffed animals and chocolates until he has successfully entrapped them.Once his target his entrapped, Sunmola began to manufacture emergencies, each of which required increasingly large amounts of money from his victims.Sunmola used their money for lavish parties, two Range Rovers, four properties in South Africa and a $363,000 home in Nigeria, prosecutors said.A federal grand jury sitting in East St. Louis indicted Sunmola in November 2013 on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, and interstate extortion.After two days of a jury trial, Sunmola pleaded guilty to eight felonies, including mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, and interstate extortion.In his ruling Judge Herndon said, Conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, and interstate extortion hardly sound like the kinds of crimes that leave broken lives, wrecked women, fractured families, devastation, desires to die, humiliation and shame so extreme.But then, his charm turned to bullying, name calling, extortion, unthinkable demands and threats. Thoughts of paradise turned into thoughts of hell and, for some, thoughts of suicide. The most devastating crime one could ever imagine without laying hands or even eyes on another human being.When Sunmola completes his 27-year prison term, he will be deported to Nigeria.
Sean Spicer, who started his career in New Jersey working for U.S. Rep. Michael Pappas, got the Saturday Night Live treatment in an episode hosted by Kristen Stewart.

Melissa McCarthy made a special appearance as the spokesman for Donald Trump.

McCarthy, as Spicer, delivered a shrill attack on the White House press core.

"I came out here to punch you in the face. And also I don't talk so good," Spicer says.

The sketch also poked fun at Spicer's avowed habit of chewing and swallowing gum, with McCarthy pouring several pieces into her mouth at the lectern, chewing a bit then storing the wad for later.

A hostile back-and-forth with the press ensues, with Spicer taking a vote on how many in the room hate a reporter who asks about a "Muslim ban."

"Let the record show that everyone raised their hands because everyone hates Glen, so print that. That's your story."

Spicer eventually turns a water gun and the lectern itself on the press.

Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the number of homicides in Morris County and the total number of homicides for the state.

Homicides in New Jersey declined by roughly 4 percent in 2016 over the prior year, according to an NJ Advance Media survey of county prosecutor's offices.

New Jersey county prosecutors reported 362 homicides last year compared to 375 in 2015, the NJ Advance Media tally showed.

Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino pointed to the state's focus on combating violent crime and drug addiction, but added that causes of homicides vary.

"We must always be cognizant of the fact that the contributing circumstances for increases and decreases in crime are multi-faceted, and more must be done," Porrino said in a statement. "We will continue to aggressively crack down on violent crime and the drug trafficking trade, as well as to take steps to prevent addiction before it starts."

Some of the state's most historically violent urban centers saw declines last year, including in Newark and Irvington. Killings plunged from 14 in 2015 to four homicides last year in Irvington, the lowest number of homicides the city saw in at least four decades, according to police records.

Irvington Mayor Tony Vauss, who was elected in 2014, said his administration has focused on lowering crime in the Essex County township of about about 55,000 residents. Lowering violent crime also allowed the town to work to attract new businesses.

"I can't bring a developer in here to build if it's not clean and it's not safe," Vauss told NJ Advance Media in an October interview. "Once you start to tackle those two important facets, everything else will fall into place."

To achieve the reductions, officials said the town's 157-member police force focused on using intelligence to deploy officers in crime hot spots, and formed specialized teams of investigators to target known violent criminals.

Approximately a third of the state's homicides occurred in Essex County, where the prosecutor's office reported 126 killings, down from 143 in 2015.

View 2016 New Jersey Homicides, by county in a full screen map

Newark logged 94 murders in 2016, compared to 106 in 2015, according to city police. Non-fatal shootings also dropped 22 percent from 329 in 2015 to 257 last year in the state's largest city. Mayor Ras Baraka and Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose have hired more officers after massive layoffs, and the city overhauled its police force under a public safety department early last year.

Ambrose also credited a contingent of state troopers will helping city police push down the violent crime.

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray said policing strategies driven by intelligence likely helped to prevent some killings and credited the work of the prosecutor's office Homicide Task Force. Still, Murray said there was more work to be done.

"We are pleased that [the numbers] are lower," the prosecutor said in an interview. "We are not satisfied by any stretch of the imagination with having 126 homicides in the county, but we are going to do our level best in each case to bring some measure of justice to those situations, while trying to play our part in having a greater reduction this year."

The county's Homicide Task Force, which includes prosecutor's detectives and local police, has helped secure better evidence and convictions, Murray added. Last year also saw 79 killings outside, compared to 106 outdoor homicides in 2015.

"I think that directed, intelligence-led policing may be causing our police to be in more of the correct locations outside to therefore to suppress more of those perhaps impulsive acts of gun violence that make homicides," the prosecutor said.

The declines were not uniform in jurisdictions across the state. Burlington County saw a surge in deadly shootings, pushing its homicide total to 19 for 2016, more than three times as the six slayings the county logged in 2015.

Willingboro police Lt. Christopher Vetter told NJ Advance Media the Burlington County community of about 31,000 residents saw three shooting homicides in just over a month, and all remained unsolved.

"It just seems like this generation now settles their issues with guns," Vetter said.

Residents are often reluctant to speak with authorities and fear retaliation, he added.

"We're actively working to improve our relationship with the public," Vetter said. "A lot of times we try to investigate or talk about these issues and they're extremely worried about sharing with us."

In Camden, there were 44 homicides in 2016, higher than totals in 2015 and 2014.

"Camden has some unique struggles that other cities don't have," Camden County Prosecutor's Office Capt. William Townsend said in an interview late last year. The captain cited witness intimidation among roadblocks investigators face.

The Camden County Police Department metro division, formed in 2013 and responsible for policing the city, also faced a staffing shortage during the period from late March to late May, when nearly half of last year's murders occurred, according to Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli.

"We know that there is an imperative to continue to get illegal guns off our streets and focus on decreasing homicides," Cappelli said in December.

Officials in Union County have echoed concerns about a lack of cooperation from witnesses in solving killings.

"We have people who were at the scene, shot at, injured, who will not talk to police," Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park told a community forum held in response to an increase in homicides in Plainfield earlier this month. "My message to you is, if you want to help your community, you have to help police solve these serious, serious tragedies and bring justice to those victims."

The totals tallied by NJ Advance Media differ from the official State Police Uniform Crime Report, which tracks murder in line with federal guidelines. State Police reported 369 murders in 2015 and last year's statistics have not yet been verified against those guidelines, a state Attorney General's Office spokesman said.

The variation in totals stems partially with a difference between the definition of homicides and murders. Some counties include cases where police officers fatally shoot a suspect or other justifiable killings in homicide counts, which can inflate totals. Justifiable homicides, however, are not counted in the murder category under FBI crime reporting guidelines.

Greg Adomaitis, Rebecca Everett and Jessica Remo contributed reporting.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Carol G. Mattis (Photo: Dept. of Public Safety)

NEWARK

-- A Newark resident was charged with running an illegal basement bar at his West Ward home, where a

, authorities said Saturday.

Carol G. Mattis, 62, was arrested by members of the Newark police division's Special Investigation Bureau late Thursday night after investigators served a search warrant at the Norwood Street house in the ongoing homicide probe, according to city Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose.

The illegal after-hours bar was "causing havoc to the Norwood Street community," Ambrose said. "I will personally work with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office to seize his property."

Detectives seized more than 100 bottles of alcohol from the residence, according to police. Prosecutor's office investigators and city police searched the home as part of their investigation into the shooting death of Isaac D. Brown.

Brown, 40, of Newark, was shot in the illegal bar Thursday morning, authorities said. He was declared dead at the scene around 8:40 a.m. that day and the investigation was continuing.

Ambrose said the 60 Norwood Street bar has long been a drain on police resources. Since 2012, officers have responded to the address about 45 times for a range of problems, including a suicide in the bar, three shootings, two robberies, auto theft and theft from a vehicle, he added. The location was also previously cited for maintaining a nuisance.

Mattis faces a range of charges, including maintaining an unlicensed liquor establishment and illegal sale of alcohol there, according to Ambrose. He was also given summonses for not having a certificate of occupancy and not having a dance hall license.

No charges have been filed in Brown's death, a prosecutor's office spokeswoman said late Saturday.

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office urged anyone with information call 1-877-TIPS-4EC or 1-877-847-7432.

Brown was the fifth person slain in Newark this year compared to 12 murders through Jan. 29 last year, according to police records.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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.
SHENANDOAH  A barbecue sauce company started by two Iowa State University students has made its way to every Fareway Food Store in Iowa as well as 20 Iowa Hy-Vee Food Stores.

What is even more captivating is that the gluten-free sauce is bottled in Shenandoah at Triple K Manufacturing.

Michael Hanstad of Johnston and Tyler DeVos of Le Mars, both business majors, started DeadEye Premium Barbecue Sauce two years ago during their freshman year.

The two were in the same business classes and were housed in the same dorm.

They were also both interested in starting their own business.

We got together and started talking, Hanstad said. Tyler said his family had a barbecue recipe they used at family gatherings. He then took me to his uncle Rich Kneifls house to try some. The first time I tasted it I remember thinking, This stuff is really, really good.

Hanstad said he and DeVos agreed that they were young and, if they were going to shoot for the moon by starting their own business, it was the right time.

When we looked around for a place to have it bottled, we found Brian at Triple K. He knew we hadnt filled a single bottle of sauce yet and wanted to help us get things rolling, Hanstad said. We had no idea what we were doing, and Brian really helped us a lot. He really wanted to work with us and help us get started.

Once given the recipe, Brian Maxine, who operates Triple K Manufacturing, agreed to make the sauce. After a nondisclosure agreement was signed, Hanstad said Maxine sourced everything for them.

We told him the bottles we wanted and the caps and had our labels done elsewhere, but Brian does everything for us, Hanstad said. He puts the ingredients together, mixes it, heats it, bottles it, seals it, labels it, puts it in a box and ships it to us here in Des Moines.

Hanstad added, We wouldnt be where we are today if it werent for Brian helping us out in the beginning.

With two sauces, Regular and Magnum, Hanstad said they started by selling their bottled sauces at area farmers markets. From there, they agreed to try grocery stores and started with the Iowa chain, Fareway.

Our first Fareway was in Marshalltown and then Ankeny, Hanstad said. Soon we had 10 stores and now, we are in all of them throughout the state.

As for the name, Hanstad was somewhat hesitant to confess, as it comes from the nickname of a friend.

He said Kneifls longtime good hunting buddy is Aaron Chapman. Aarons brothers nickname is DeadEye, as he has only one eye that he can see with.

When the three of them were hunting one day, they were also trying to come up with unique names for the sauce. Chapman asked DeadEye what he thought the name should be, DeadEyes response, Name it after me.

Hanstad, who graduates in December with a degree in business marketing, said he has learned to juggle the business and classes. He did add that it helps when the two cross over.

Im crazy busy but I do well in school. Im actually graduating a semester early, he said. I take my classes on Monday and Friday mornings so I can do demos and deliveries in the afternoons.

DeVos is working full-time for the business as well as Lolas Fine Hot Sauce, also based out of Des Moines.

I was hoping, crossing my fingers the business would go somewhere but not to the level it is now. I never saw 150 stores within a couple years, Hanstad said.

Hanstad said they will always remember the kindness and generosity shown to them by Maxine and their home state of Iowa.

We are made in Iowa, which is a big thing for us and we will continue to have it made in Iowa for as long as we can, Hanstad said.
Anna Houvenagle wants to conquer a mountain. And shell help a lot of people along the way.

The Council Bluffs woman will climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in early August. Shes currently working to raise $1,500 for Compassion Internationals Water, Sanitation and Hygiene  or WaSH  initiative.

The climb is part of a Compassion Trek organized through the charity.

Were raising money for their WaSH campaign: water, sanitation and hygiene. It provides access to clean drinking water, properly dug latrines and hygiene education, said Houvenagle, 29. Most of us have access to that every day. People often dont think about it, about people in other countries have issues with access to clean water. People forget about the issue. You need something big to bring people back to the problem of water.

Houvenagle added, Climbing Kilimanjaro is an attention-grabbing thing to bring attention back to the real problem.

The mountain, the tallest summit in Africa, is 19,341 feet high and will take six days to climb.

Im really excited about seeing the view, she said of reaching the top of the dormant volcano.

Houvenagle faces a two-day trip to reach Tanzania. The trek will be the 2006 Thomas Jefferson High School grads third trip to east Africa.

Most of the people Ive met are very friendly, very welcoming, she said.

She spent a winter term in Tanzania while pursuing her degree at the University of Iowa in 2010. In 2014, she spent six months in Kenya with Silver Cord Ministries of Minnesota, working with area seniors on a variety of health education issues.

We work on the basic stuff  what Alzheimers is, dementia, diabetes, she said. In that part of Kenya, the elderly dont necessarily get the help they need.

Houvenagle is a sponsor of a Ugandan child through Compassion International. The faith-based organization works to ensure children have access to education. Through her involvement with the charity, Houvenagle learned about the Compassion Treks and Kilimanjaro piqued her interest.

She said her time in Kenya showed her how critical the need for clean water is.

In slums across the world, theres not a lot of good, safe places to get water from. Sanitation is non-existent in areas, she said. When I went to Kenya a man didnt have an outhouse so he was going in his house. It was a mess. It wasnt safe for him to live in his house.

The money that I raise for this trip will go toward that  wells for fresh water, education on wow to keep yourself clean, why its important to wash your hands. And information and help in digging latrines for toilets.

Houvenagle is a classroom associate at the Heartland Family Service Therapeutic School on Ninth Avenue in Council Bluffs, where she works with lower-functioning students on life and vocation skills.

Houvenagle said climbing the mountain is a chance to raise money for a good cause and to also prove something to herself (and others). She noted a negative leader in Kenya who told her, that Im not a self-starter, that I wont amount to a whole lot.

Im looking forward to be able to say I did this, she said.

Houvenagle is currently at $100 of her $1,500 goal for the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene campaign, details are available at goo.gl/zfWzO3. Houvenagles Go Fund Me to help cover the cost of the trek is at goo.gl/WQB9uV.
crews complete the connection of the ramp to newly constructed interstate lanes.

Imagine a large puzzle with the pieces beginning to fall in place offering a glimpse of what the final picture will be.

In a way, thats what motorists will notice this year concerning the massive interstate highway reconstruction project around Council Bluffs.

Youll start to see it forming, said Mark Pohlmann, design coordination manager for the Iowa Department of Transportation. Youll start to see what its going to eventually be.

Interstate bridge work connecting with new lanes in the eastern portion of the city is much of the focus this year, Pohlmann said.

This involves construction of a westbound bridge on Interstate 80 over Harry Langdon Boulevard and a westbound bridge on I-29/80 over the South Expressway. When finished, the westbound traffic will shift to these new lanes located north of the lanes motorists are currently using.

This fall, the westbound loop ramp onto the South Expressway will close for up to 60 days to better accommodate continued interstate in that area, he said. Motorists impacted by this closure will be detoured south to Veterans Memorial Highway where they can get off and head west to the South Expressway, Pohlmann said.

During that same period, the Madison Avenue westbound on ramp to the interstate will be closed for about a month to again allow for construction in that area.

Additionally, sometime in late May or early June, eastbound I-80 traffic beginning just east of the Missouri River will be shifted to new lanes to the north  the eventual westbound express lanes  to allow for the start of the widening of eastbound I-29/80 that will eventually have six lanes, just like westbound I-29/80.

This shift to the north will stretch to just east of Indian Creek where traffic will then move back to existing eastbound lanes, Pohlmann said. The project should give motorists a good view of how wide that interstate stretch will eventually be, he said.

It will start to make sense to what were doing, Pohlmann said.

Wendy Thompson, the projects public information officer, agreed.

The puzzle pieces will start coming together, she said.

A milestone in this overall project occurred recently, Pohlmann said, with the opening of a new stretch of 23rd Avenue extending east of the South Expressway that provides a new route for trucks in and out of the various industries in that area. This replaces the quick turn-in off of the South Expressway allowing for that new bridge over the expressway, he said.

Even though the pieces of this project are coming together, its still quite a few years away from total completion. But, five years from now, all 12 lanes of the I-29/80 corridor  perhaps the centerpiece of this project  should be either completed or close to it, Pohlmann said.

Other projects down the road, pardon the pun, include I-29 interchanges with West Broadway, Avenue G, Ninth Avenue and 41st Street.

The purpose of this overall project is to meet the demand of ever-increasing interstate traffic providing motorists with improved mobility and safety.

This could provide an added bonus  economic development.

Enhanced mobility is imperative for business and industry to locate in Council Bluffs, Pohlmann said.

Mayor Matt Walsh agreed and added that three different developers he met are also impressed with the interstates potential.

It will be an amazing economic driver for Council Bluffs, Walsh said.
Editors Note: The Dodge Connection is an ongoing series of articles tracing the history of Gen. Grenville M. Dodge, one of Council Bluffs most famous residents, as well as the varied connections of Dodge and the Dodge family members to the residents and businesses in the Omaha-Council Bluffs community.

One of the most important events in the history of Council Bluffs took place in August of 1859. For those who might not know, this is when Abraham Lincoln visited.

A few of the townspeople took Lincoln to a high-point in the city to look over the great Missouri Valley, and Mr. Pusey introduced Abraham Lincoln to a young surveyor, Grenville M. Dodge.

In 1909 to honor the 50th anniversary of this historic occasion Lincoln Park was dedicated.

M. F. Rohrer and Leonard Everett of Council Bluffs donated tracts of land at the head of Oakland Avenue, to be used for park purposes. What was known as Rohrers Park had been opened to that point, but Rohrer consented to give additional ground.

Everett donated another tract on condition that the entire area, including Rohrers Park be named Lincoln Park, and both donors made it a condition in their deeds of the property to the City, that the park board expend not less than $1000 on the new park within the period of a year.

Exercises were held on August 13, 1909 in celebration of Lincolns visit to Council Bluffs and the formal presentation of Lincoln Park to the board of park commissioners for the use and enjoyment of the people of Council Bluffs.

The event was held on the grassy slope of the park and was attended by several hundred people. The speakers and the band occupied a temporary platform perched on the side of the bluff almost level with the tops of the trees growing below, while the slope higher up formed a natural amphitheater where the audience gathered.

The program was opened with a musical selection by Colvalts band, followed by the invocation by the Rev. J. M. Williams, pastor of the Broadway Methodist Church, and a descendant of one branch of Lincolns family.

After an introduction by Congressman Smith, chairman of the occasion, the principle address was given by Charles Harl.

Smith spoke briefly to the significance of the occasion, and particularly to the historic interest and the sentiment arising from the fact that Lincoln, 50 years before, had stood on the bluff at the summit of the park to view the then undeveloped valley and the neighboring Nebraska hills.

Harl also spoke of the fact that 1909 had witnessed the celebration of the centennial of Lincolns birth, adding to the interest of the special observance of Lincolns visit to Council Bluffs.

After another musical selection, Dr. Charlotte McClusky, representing the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, spoke, revealing that the Council Bluffs Chapter of the D.A.R. planed to erect a memorial to Lincoln at the summit of the park.

McClusky declared that Lincolns visit made the place a hallowed spot for all patriots. No nobler monument to the martyred President could be erected than this park bearing his name.

Mayor Maloney, on behalf of the city, made the formal presentation of the deed to the board of park commissioners, represented by A. C. Graham, president of the board and father of the park system.
The first phase of a five-phase, five-year construction project to rebuild and improve West Broadway from 15th Street west to 36th Street  the first such effort since 1950  will get underway sometime next month, weather permitting.

The current cost estimate is approximately $26 million for the five-year reconstruction program, with $20 million of the total coming from the state of Iowa.

Last year, Council Bluffs assumed ownership of West Broadway west of 15th Street from the Iowa Department of Transportation, which gave the city $20 million to help with reconstruction and maintenance costs.

The $20 million payment also called for the city to take over North 16th Street from West Broadway to the northern city limits.

One of the key elements of the reconstruction project will be the installation of a storm sewer system through the 20-block stretch that should alleviate flooding issues that have plagued the corridor.

Terry L. Smith, an engineer with HGM Associates, said one of the problems facing engineers planning the reconstruction was the extreme flatness of the West Broadway corridor. When completed, West Broadway will appear to be wavy, he said, allowing storm water to flow from the high points to storm sewer inlets that will be located in the lowest points of the undulations.

The City Council will be asked to approve the lone bid for the first phase of the project at its meeting on Monday, Feb. 13. If the bid from Hawkins Construction is approved, the current schedule calls for construction to begin sometime in March.

The first phase of the project will stretch from 36th Street east to near 32nd Street. This phase has a budget of $4.5 million from the state funds and $1.5 million in sales tax funds. The Iowa West Foundation has agreed to provide funding for the streetscape amenities estimated at $1.2 million.

Terming the first phase an extremely challenging project, City Engineer Matt Cox said the Hawkins bid the council will be asked to approve was within 1 percent of the cost estimate for the project.

Council Bluffs Mayor Matt Walsh said that while he would have preferred multiple bids for the project, he was pleased that the Hawkins bid was very close to the engineers estimate.

I think that some of the clauses included in the request for proposals to protect business owners might have scared off companies that otherwise might have bid, Walsh said.

The first phase of the project does not include any raised medians, which have drawn criticism from some business owners along the West Broadway corridor.

Phase 1 will cover about 2,000 feet on the west end of the corridor, with each of the remaining four phases of the reconstruction project also expected to address about 2,000 feet.

Although engineering for reconstruction of any of the remaining four phases has not been completed, Walsh and Cox said current thinking calls for medians intended to reduce traffic accidents along the busy corridor to be features in four or five blocks of the later phases. Cox and HGMs Smith said records show about twice as many crashes on West Broadway as the statewide average for similar roadways.

The first phase of the five-year project should take place on this timetable:

 In March and April, a new water main will be built in the north sidewalk area from 36th Street to near 32nd Street. During that phase of the construction, the north (curb) westbound lane will be closed. All other lanes will remain open.

 From April to July, the new storm sewer will be constructed along with a new westbound lane on the north. Work will also be completed on driveways and sidewalks on the north side.

Existing westbound lanes will close to traffic and local West Broadway traffic will use the south side for both westbound and eastbound traffic. Traffic will be converted to one lane in each direction, with a center turn lane.

Intersection closures at 36th Street and 34th Street will be alternated with 35th Street. Due to less traffic at night, overnight westbound or eastbound closures will occur during this stage to construct water main and storm sewer crossings.

 From July through September, reconstruction will move to the south side of the street, with a new eastbound lane on the south side being constructed along with driveway and sidewalk work on the south side of the street. Existing eastbound lanes will close to traffic and local West Broadway traffic will use the north side for both eastbound and westbound travel.

Again, intersection closures of 36th and 34th streets will be alternated with 35th Street.

 During October, the middle lanes of West Broadway will close, with traffic shifting to one lane on the south heading eastbound and one on the north heading westbound. Intersection closures at 35th and 34th streets will be alternated.

Nighttime westbound and eastbound closures will also take place in October.

 In November and December, the final stage of the first phase of the reconstruction will focus on aesthetic improvements including lighting and landscaping. During this time, outside lanes and sidewalks may close intermittently for construction access.

Throughout the reconstruction in the first phase of the project, local West Broadway traffic will be able to access businesses through existing driveways or by using designated alternate routes.

Those traveling westbound are urged to use Avenue A as an alternate to driving on West Broadway. Likewise, those driving eastbound are encouraged to use Second Avenue as an alternative.

To provide more timely information on an ongoing basis, residents can ask to be added to a mailing list by going to www.wbreconstruction.com.
SIOUX CITY -- Though attendees of Thursday's rally for former President Donald Trump at the Sioux Gateway Airport came from a variety of cities and states, his supporters all had very similar answers when asked whether or not they would back a 2024 run by him.
Winter is not over yet, as we saw earlier this week. Whether you are planning a trip into the backcountry or just driving across Nebraska, you need a few basic items for survival. Accidents and emergencies can happen anywhere, anytime.

Read any book on survival, and it will tell you that you need four basic things: shelter, water, fire and food. For most survival situations that the majority of people find themselves in today, food is actually the last thing you need to think about. Most survival situations last only a day or two, so food is not the most critical element. In Nebraskas wintertime, shelter, not food, is probably your biggest concern.

Here is the scenario: You are driving along a snow packed road on your way to your grandmas house, and you slide off the road and roll over a couple times in the ditch. A couple windows get broken out of your vehicle. It is 20 degrees, and the wind is blowing. What do you need most: shelter or a Big Mac?

Simply wearing adequate clothing goes a long way to help you survive. Your vehicle, regardless of what you drive, is shelter from wind, snow and rain. Staying with your vehicle provides you two advantages. It gives you the shelter you need, and it is easier to see a vehicle than a single person. You will probably be rescued faster if you stay with your vehicle.

A simple item you need to carry in your vehicle is a small poly-tarp  one that is 8-foot by 10-foot is adequate. This can help with shelter, like blocking off broken windows in the scenario above, and you would be surprised how warm you can stay by wrapping up in a tarp like this.

A candle, one of those big ones in a jar, is a nice thing to have in your vehicle. If you are stuck in a ditch overnight  a cold night  a candle can make a lot of difference. A candle will provide light, not only so you can see, but also so people can see you. It can also provide a lot of warmth in a closed vehicle. You just need a small opening somewhere to get some fresh air in and make sure carbon monoxide doesnt build up.

Being able to make fire for warmth is a pretty big item to consider. I carry several methods of starting a fire with me all the time. I personally carry a lighter and my vehicles have a couple lighters tucked into glove boxes and center consoles. Not just any lighter though, although any lighter is better than nothing; I prefer the Scripto disposable lighters. They are designed so that it is very difficult to open the valve and let the fuel out accidently. I have found that BIC lighters are notorious for being empty when you need them.

You can buy waterproof matches, but you pay a lot for something you can easily make yourself. Youll need some strike anywhere matches (this may be the hardest item to find in this list) and fingernail polish. Just dip the head of each match in the polish and let it dry. You now have a waterproof match that you can strike on any hard/rough surface. Pretty simple.

If you read the caution statements on many of the adhesives you have for jobs around the house, many of them are very flammable. Squeeze out a ribbon of such an adhesive on the ground, even in a puddle of water as long as some portion of the adhesive is above the surface of the water and it will burn. A couple inches of adhesive will burn about 10 minutes. You can get the wettest wet tender to burn in that amount of time!

One more easy way to start a fire is to make your own fire balls. Take a cotton ball and coat it with Neosporin. Not only will you have an excellent fire starter, youll also have a ready treatment for minor cuts and scrapes.

You should have a knife. You dont need a Rambo knife, but a sturdy knife with at least a 4-inch blade is about right. A 6-inch fixed blade hunting knife is a good choice, too. There are a thousand uses for a knife, but you have to have one with you.

I also recommend that you carry about 50-feet of a small diameter rope. You dont need anything real heavy, just something you can use to tie up the corners of your tarp, or lash a set of boards around a broken leg. Rope has many uses!

I like to keep a few canned goods in my vehicles. Most canned goods will stand up to some freezing and thawing and normally have long shelf lives. I carry a couple cans of canned meat and something like apple pie filling. I have adequate protein with the canned meat and lots of energy in the pie filling. You will need extra energy to stay warm.

And  if you have cans, you need a can opener. The simplest can opener I ever saw was given to me by the Marine Corps. I think everyone who has been in the military will recognize it. It is called a P-38. Great invention, works every time  never needs batteries  but your knife is the backup can opener.

I hope you never need to depend on any of these items, but if you have them with you, you will be ready to handle the situation.

NWTF Banquet

The Twin River Longbeards chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation will be hosting its annual banquet and auction on Friday. The event will be held at Harbor Lights Gatherings near Lake Maloney. Doors open at 5 p.m..

Tickets for the event are $50 for an individual or $65 for a couple. You can buy a Sponsor ticket for $300, which gives you more chances to win some great items.

There is an Early Bird Raffle Pack which gives you $400 worth of raffle tickets, two gun of the year tickets (the Beretta A 300) and a NWTF Limited Edition knife.

For more information, reservation and purchase of the Early Bird Raffle Pack, contact Tim Hinde at 308-520-4750 or Crystal Adams at 308-737-7227.
High school students across the country are told they must be prepared for postsecondary education or a skilled profession in the workplace. The phrase used is college and career readiness. What does this expression mean to students, parents and educators? The meaning remains unclear to many.

The American Association of School Administrators has initiated a national campaign to redefine college and career readiness called Redefining Ready.

Redefining Ready is a national campaign launched by the AASA to introduce new research-based metrics to more appropriately assess that students are college ready, career ready and life ready.

On its website, redefiningready.org, it says: Standardized test scores  traditionally used as the primary readiness indicator  do not always provide an accurate representation of our students potential. Like the global economy, todays students are driven by ideas and innovations. They should not be reduced down to, or defined by, a single test score.

College and career readiness presumes that students know more than just content knowledge. They can demonstrate what they know and are able to use and build upon that knowledge to solve problems. They are able to communicate effectively and work collaboratively, competitively and productively in a school or work environment. A student who is prepared possesses academic skills and technical skills along with a strong work ethic necessary for a career beyond the classroom.

In the traditional educational system, students readiness is measured by school attendance, courses completed, grade level completion, grades on report cards, grade point averages, number of assignments/worksheets completed and local, state and national tests. So instead of learning how to learn and be ready for the next phase of life after high school, many kids are learning how to be good at going to school. The straight-A student is, in nearly every traditional educational setting, the one who has figured out what the teacher wants and how to deliver it.

Most children come to school filled with questions, are excited about learning and are engaged in their learning but exit years later asking very few questions, feeling less excited and being less engaged. Students interest and engagement begin to decline as students transition to the next grade levels, and the reason isnt that a childs desire for knowledge has been fulfilled or they know everything they want or need to know. Its because students begin to think that school is a place where one learns how to be good at going to school.

The bottom line is that all high school graduates need to be prepared for some postsecondary education and/or training if they are to have choices and opportunities in the job market. As such, our education system should be preparing students to learn how to learn and how to enjoy it. The world is changing so rapidly that by the time a student graduates from a postsecondary institution, some of what he or she learned may not be relevant.

What a student needs to know is not what to think but how to think in order to face new challenges and solve new problems. Being college and career ready in the end means that students are prepared for their next steps, resulting in the understanding that all options remain open to them as they continue to pursue their education and their careers.

The North Platte School Districts purpose is to prepare our students to become productive, responsible citizens. As the district and community work collaboratively to accomplish this purpose, the district is currently working on redefining what it means to be college and career ready by involving students, teachers, parents and businesses.

All students should graduate from high school ready for college, careers and citizenship.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will host three outdoor events at Lake Ogallala State Recreation Area and the Lake McConaughy Visitor Center in February.

The Great Backyard Bird Count Workshop will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Lake McConaughy Visitor Center. The Great Backyard Bird Count is a project that gathers birding data from all over the world. The park naturalist will be giving a presentation on how you can report bird sightings, and what bird species you may see in your own backyard.

A Nature Journaling Walk at Lake Ogallala SRA will be at 2 p.m. on Feb. 12. Participants will meet at the Lake McConaughy Vistor Center. Those participating are encouraged to wear good walking shoes/boots and bring a favorite journal or notepad for a nature walk with the park naturalist. Instruction on the basics of nature journaling will be followed by a hike in the Lake Ogallala SRA primitive campground area.

A Bird Walk at Lake Ogallala SRA will be at 2 p.m. on Feb. 25. Come and observe birds with the park naturalist. Participants will meet at the trail in the Lake Ogallala SRA modern campground. Binoculars, bird guides and checklists will be provided.

These events are free and open to the public. A park entry permit is required at the SRA. All times are Mountain time. For more information, contact Alison Bleich at 308-284-8800 or alison.bleich@nebraska.gov.
Miss America 2015 Kira Kazantsev traveled the world during her reign, but she never had the chance to stop in Nebraska. This week, Kazantsev joined young women from across the Midwest at the Quality Inn and Suites for the 2017 Crowns and Gowns event.

Kazantsev made a stop in Gothenburg on Friday to discuss bullying and issues that teens are facing. She was bullied as a teenager and, like many Miss America title holders, found the online community wasnt shy about saying mean things about her on social media.

Kazantsev said she wanted to talk to area students because she knew that there had been a lot of teenagers in the region whove been struggling.

I know theres been some hardships in Nebraska recently, with some suicides in the area, Kazantsev said on Saturday.

She said that she wished high schoolers understood that the negative things happening in their lives now probably wont matter down the road.

I wish I could go back and talk to 15-year-old Kira and tell her its gonna be OK, Kazantsev said. Id like to convince those kids that theyre going to be just fine. ... In five years, theyll look back and laugh.

She said that being able to give students words of encouragement is one of the benefits of being a Miss America titleholder.

Kazantsev entered the world of pageantry in an effort to earn scholarships.

I always had this pipe dream of wanting to be Miss America, Kazantsev said.

During her first year competing in the Miss New York pageant, she placed in the top 10. That year, Nina Davuluri became the second Miss New York in a row to take the Miss America title.

When Kazantsev was crowned Miss New York the following year, she didnt think shed have a shot at the Miss America crown.

I definitely wasnt going to win, Kazantsev said, adding that Miss New Yorks taking the title three years in a row was a long shot.

And then they called her name.

Kazantsev said she thinks part of it was because she did what she wanted to do on stage. Her talent didnt quite line up with the other competitors. She sang, something common among pageant contestants, but as she performed Happy by Pharrell she incorporated a red cup similar to the way Anna Kendrick did in Pitch Perfect.

I did what Kira wanted to do, Kazantsev said. Its all about authenticity.

Kazantsev also chose a platform she truly cared about: Love Shouldnt Hurt.

I had an experience with domestic violence, Kazantsev said. It was scary to open it up to the entire world.

Its been worth it, though, she said. Men, women and children from across the country have told her that her story gave them hope.

Its amazing what the power of communicating and listening can do, Kazantsev said.

Its also amazing what young women can do. She said that there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding pageantry but the truth is: Contestants get stuff done.

I think people kind of get distracted by the swimsuit competition or hoping for a flub in the on-stage question, she said. Give me five minutes ... and I will change your mind about pageantry.

She said that because of her time as Miss America, she was able to spread awareness about domestic violence, visit military members as part of the USO and bring attention to Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals. The positive impacts of being a title holder start in the community and spread across the nation, she said.

I think the world would be a better place if people tried as hard in their community as pageant girls, Kazantsev said. They have the power to make a tremendous impact.

Kazantsev also believes everyone has the power to make a difference. She once worked for U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and said that the senator talked a lot about getting off the sidelines.

Its really easy for all of us to sit back and criticize, Kazantsev said. You cant do that unless you get off the sidelines and youre contributing.

It doesnt require a crown and sash or being an ambassador for a childrens hospital. Kazantsev said it starts with being a good person and instilling good values in others.

I always tell people, Just be nice, she said.

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Chocolates and roses are among the most popular gifts given among couples each year on Valentines Day.

The annual holiday, however, is also a great time to celebrate family and friendships, with many parents and children opting to give gifts to one another.

Need some ideas beyond a flower bouquet and box of chocolates?

Susie Cusick, owner of Evolution Artisan Collections in Valparaiso, said there are several unique options for families that still include chocolate. One of the most popular items the store offers is chocolate on a stick, often bought by parents for their children because they come in the shape of lips, a horse, Hello Kitty, dinosaurs and a motorcycle.

Boys especially like the chocolates that look like a frog and come in a green box, while girls love macaroons, she said.

Children tend to gravitate toward the berry tarts for their parents because of their eye-catching red and white colors, while a chocolate high-heeled shoe filled with macaroons is a favorite for moms, she said. Cereal clusters and heart-shaped chocolates are other favorites as well.

Also in Valparaiso, Ceramix 101, a paint-your-own ceramics studio, offers unique Valentines Day gift ideas.

Owner Penny Bruno said children often paint a plate, mug or picture frame for their parents, personalizing them with their hand or footprints.

While parents like making a bowl or plate with their childrens name on it and painted in their favorite color, Bruno said parents also often opt to allow children to paint their own piggy bank or other ceramic piece as their gift.

Looking for something online? Here are a few unique options.

Bear with a cause  Bears for Humanity is social commerce company sells organic plush animals made by at-risk women from welfare-work programs outside of San Francisco. When a bear or other plush animal is purchased, the company donates another to a child in need. Bearsforhumanity.com

Customized necklace  Owned by a mompreneur, Love Your Bling offers a necklace customized with childrens initials. Loveyourbling.com

Daily love reminder  A perfect gift for moms, a rose gold heart trinket dish serves as a daily reminder of love. Francescas.com

Meaningful scarves  Phunkshun Wear makes winter accessories for both children and adults, but this gift keeps giving. The company also donates a portion of proceeds from each item to the High Fives Foundation, which supports winter athletes who suffer life altering injuries. Phunkshunwear.com
Theatre at the Center presents the musical revue, My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra, Feb. 9 through March 19. My Way relives the legendary crooners career as four actors share more than 50 of his beloved hits, spanning the breadth of Sinatras career from the 1950s to '90s. The production includes Fly Me to the Moon, Chicago, New York, New York and Thats Life, among many more. Set in an elegant old Hollywood nightclub, My Way was originally conceived from a songbook of 1,300 tunes. 219/836-3255 or www.theatreatthecenter.com

A Black History Month Film Series

Indiana University Northwest celebrates Black History Month with the screening of three important documentaries. Bridging the Divide (2/8) is the story of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, the first African-American mayor elected in a major U.S. city with an overwhelmingly white majority. Serving for 20 years (1973-1993), Bradleys extraordinary multiracial coalition ushered in police reform and transformed the national dialogue on race. Race Against Prime Time (2/15) scrutinizes the way television news represents African-Americans, looking behind the scenes at the newsrooms of three network affiliates during the Liberty City uprising in Miami, which left 18 dead. The Road to Brown (2/22) tells the story of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling as the culmination of a brilliant legal assault on segregation that launched the Civil Rights movement. Capping off the month is the IU Northwest Jazz History Concert on Feb. 28, featuring the Billy Foster Quartet tracing the history of jazz music and its genres from the early 1900s to the present day. 888/968-7486 or www.iun.edu/diversity

Chicago Kingsnakes Duo

Playing and touring for more than 20 years, the Kingsnakes come with a laundry list of credentials. Their songs are original, and their music is easy to enjoy with a mix of influences from soul to R & B. Fans of Chicago Blues will enjoy the numerous references that are instantly recognizable to Chicago area audiences. The Kingsnakes will be at Front Porch Music in Valparaiso on Feb. 18. 219/464-4700 or www.frontporchmusic.com

Celebrating 75

As the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra continues to celebrate 75 years of providing classical and pops music to the Region, beginning with its very first concert in Gary on Pearl Harbor Day 1941, the public is encouraged to show its support for one of our greatest cultural assets by joining the symphonys 75th Anniversary Club. With a donation of $75 (per person/$150 per couple), $750, $7,500 or even $75,000, you will be recognized on the 75th Anniversary Honor Roll at all 2016-17 concerts and invited to a special season-end party after the final concert, featuring Under the Streetlamp, on April 27 at the Star Plaza Theatre. 219/836-0525, x200 or www.nisorchestra.org
This Presidents Day, explore the homes where three United States presidents  William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Harrison  lived during their time in Indiana.

William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, was appointed as the governor of the Indiana Territory in 1800, moving to Vincennes in 1801 (remember Indiana didnt become a state until 1816). He built Grouseland, a Georgian/Federal-style home completed in 1804. Set on 300 acres along the Wabash River, it was the first brick home in the state.

Harrison was also a military man, leading his troops against Tecumseh, who is considered one of the great Native American leaders. In 1811, while still serving as governor, Harrison defeated Tecumsehs brother at the Battle of Tippecanoe. The name so resonated that when he ran for president, one of the enduring slogans of the campaign was Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. The latter referred to John Tyler, who was a captain in the War of 1812.

Winning the presidential election in 1840, Harrison only had 31 days to enjoy his new role. When he died, Tyler took over, serving until the end of the term in 1845.

But Harrison wasnt the only family member to become president. His grandson, Benjamin Harrison, an Indianapolis attorney became the 23rd president in 1888, often campaigning from the porch on his two-story brick home in Indianapolis. In an interesting parallel to modern times, though he lost the popular vote, Harrison won the needed electoral votes.

His home, a National Historic Landmark, is now a house museum that is open to the public.

Abraham Lincoln came to Indiana from Kentucky, settling in what is now Spencer County. The family was poor and Lincoln attended school only sporadically, though he studied law by reading law books lent to him and also walked miles and miles to attend trials in Rockport, where the county courthouse is located.

Lincoln would live in Indiana from ages 7 to 21 before moving to Illinois with his family, but he returned to campaign for his friend Henry Clay when Clay ran for president in 1844. A replica of the Lincoln Farmstead is part of the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City. The gravesite of his mother, Nancy Hanks, is also located there.

In nearby Gentryville, the 1834 home of Col. William Jones is also a house museum. Its said that Lincoln read every book he had and it was Jones, a merchant, who hired Lincoln to travel down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, where the young impressionable man saw slave auctions. It was a defining moment in his life. Also check out the Log Inn near Evansville, which opened in 1825 and is the oldest restaurant in the state. Lincoln stayed here when campaigning for Clay in 1844.

Besides three presidents, six vice presidents have lived in Indiana: Schulyer Colfax; Thomas Hendricks, who is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis; Charles Fairbanks, an Indianapolis attorney and newspaper owner; Thomas R. Marshall; Dan Quayle; and Mike Pence, the current vice president.
LANSING, Mich.  Tired of all the rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air around the Fourth of July? You're not alone.

Eleven of Michigan's state parks and recreation areas are offering fireworks-free camping from July 1-4. Participating campgrounds are located a good distance away from traditional community fireworks displays.

DNR Parks and Recreation Chief Ron Olson says the quiet alternatives were designed especially with veterans and pet owners in mind.

Fireworks and other loud, unexpected noises can trigger intense discomfort for former military personnel dealing with post-traumatic stress. They can cause misery for sensitive animals as well.

Camping reservations for the no-fireworks period can be made up to six months in advance by calling 1-800-447-2757 or visiting http://www.midnrreservations.com.
GARY  Zolo Agona Azania is set to be released early from an Indiana prison Monday  nearly 35 and a half years after he murdered a city police officer.

Azanias early release from prison  his 74-year sentence for the Aug. 11, 1981, fatal shooting of Gary police Lt. George Yaros was shortened for good behavior in prison  is a surreal time for the officers family, they say. Azania, 62, avoided three death sentences over the course of his time served for bank robbery and murder.

This man is going to be out walking the streets, the same streets my dad patrolled for 30 years of his life, Tim Yaros, a son of the fallen officer, said Saturday in a phone interview from his Valparaiso home. My dad was the backbone of my life. He was the best man in my wedding. ... I feel like I let my father down.

Tim Yaros is referring to how  shortly before a third death penalty trial was to begin in 2007  the family agreed to let Lake County prosecutors drop the capital punishment request in return for Azania accepting a 74-year sentence the Yaros family had hoped would be tantamount to a life sentence.

The sentence was shortened, however, because Azania earned credit for the prior years he had served for good behavior in prison.

Before changing his name, Azania was known as Rufus Averhart by Gary police who chased him with guns blazing in August 1981 after George Yaros, a 57-year-old police veteran, died in the line of duty outside the Gary National Bank branch near 37th and Broadway.

In a 2016 interview with The Times from the Miami Correctional Facility near Bunker Hill, Indiana, Azania said he will leave prison a changed man.

Ive learned some things I wouldnt have, if I had not gone through this. Ive seen people just give up on life. I dealt with the situation as it faced me. I never gave up hope. I try my best to be a positive individual, to have something positive to say. Perhaps I can help someone," he said previously.

Yaros daughter-in-law, Lavonne Yaros, said Saturday the family is skeptical  calling him a cop killer" and a "cold-hearted murderer."

I hope to God he doesnt hurt anyone again, or use anyone to his benefit, and that he just finds peace within himself. Its a higher form that he is going to have to answer to, Lavonne Taros said.

Tim Yaros said he never missed a day in court.

"My dad would have done the same thing for me. That's the way my father was. If that would have been me, shot, my dad would have been there every second," he said.
MUNSTER  Two Illinois men face multiple charges in connection with the shooting that took place early Friday at the Fed Ex Distribution Center on 45th Avenue, police said.

Roberto Pierre Pettigrew-Sanders, 25, of Dolton, faces charges of attempted murder, armed robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, carrying a handgun without a license and battery by means of a deadly weapon. Randall C. Hexadore, 22, of Chicago Heights, faces charges of attempted murder, armed robbery and battery by means of a deadly weapon.

Munster police responded at 5:40 a.m. Friday to the Fed Ex Distribution Center, 101 45th Ave., for a report of a shooting victim. Officers found the female victim who had been shot once. She was transported by ambulance to Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary for treatment.

While investigating the shooting, police received a call from the Family Christian Center, at 45th Avenue and Margo Lane, for a report of two suspicious subjects running east in the area of the church.

Munster police, along with officers from Highland, Dyer and Lansing, responded to the area.

Police received a third call regarding two suspicious subjects in the area of the 500 block of Progress Avenue. They then received a fourth call for two subjects acting suspiciously at Fitness Pointe, 9950 Calumet Ave.

Police responded to Fitness Pointe and took two persons of interest into custody at 6 a.m. A weapon was recovered from one of the subjects.

Police said the shooting was not a random act and the victim and suspects know each other.

Anyone with further information is asked to call the Munster Police Department's Detective Bureau at 219-836-6632 or the anonymous tip line at 219-836-1010.
MUNSTER  North Township Trustee Frank J. Mrvan launched a campaign last week to address child sexual abuse in Northwest Indiana.

Mrvan said the No More Secrets campaign is intended to increase awareness about the issue and promote legislation to combat it.

He hopes to create a hotline, in partnership with other organizations, to report child sexual abuse and a support group for abuse survivors.

One act causes an enormous wave of family destruction and, more than likely, emotional and physical abuse going forward into the future that tears at the fabric of society, Mrvan said. If we are going to boast about bringing in new businesses and improving quality of life, this is one topic that needs to be discussed.

Education is 'best weapon'

Partners in the No More Secrets campaign include Prevent Child Abuse Indiana, Geminus Corp., WJOB, the Regional Mental Health Center, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Indiana, the Lake County Prosecutor's Office and The Times Media Co.

Mrvan said he was inspired to create the campaign after he read a September 2015 editorial in The Times of Northwest Indiana.

The editorial focused on a report by the Global Health Communication Center at Indiana University, which found Indiana had the second-highest rate of forced sexual intercourse among high school females in the nation.

The report indicated a number of factors contributed to the state's inability to effectively address child sexual abuse, including a lack of education for students and teachers, and spotty reporting of relevant data by state and local agencies.

Sandy Runkle, director of programs for Prevent Child Abuse Indiana, said approximately 1 in 10 children in the United States experience physical sexual abuse, a crime that is often underreported due to the coercion, secrecy and shame that is inflicted on the child by the abuser.

Mrvan, U.S. District Attorney David Capp and a mental health advocate will tour high schools March 13-17 in North Township to educate students about sexual abuse and how to report incidents, among other issues. A sexual abuse survivor also will speak at the schools about her experience.

On March 18, a symposium will take place at Purdue University Northwest's Hammond campus.

Erin Merryn, a child sexual abuse survivor, will discuss her campaign to promote Erin's Law, legislation that mandates sexual abuse prevention curriculum in schools. The symposium also will feature two workshops on child sexual abuse and human trafficking.

Legislation clears committee

The campaign promotes Senate Bill 355, which would implement a version of Erin's Law in Indiana.

The law would require the Indiana Department of Education to make available by July 1, 2018, educational materials to assist schools in implementing child abuse and sexual abuse education programs in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Schools would be required to provide such instruction by Oct. 1, 2018, as well as train certain employees and volunteers how to respond and report incidents of child abuse and child sexual abuse.

Current law requires the Department of Education to make child abuse and sexual abuse information available to schools for programs in second through fifth grade, but implementing such curriculum is not required.

The bill is co-authored by Mrvan's father, state Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond.

Both men testified Thursday in favor of the bill at a hearing of the state Senate Family and Children Services Committee.

The younger Mrvan told the senators he visited high schools in the five municipalities that compose North Township and only one school  Highland High  had implemented curriculum to prevent child sexual abuse. Other school officials were excited about such a program being implemented, he said.

The issue is personal for Mrvan and his father.

I had a sister-in-law that was abused, and turned to opiates for relief, Frank J. Mrvan said. And she is no longer with us.

The committee voted unanimously to approve the bill, which will now be sent to the full Senate for a first reading.

I'm excited about the unanimous vote, the trustee said. It's the first step. Education is the best weapon against a skilled predator.

Two part-time trustee employees, Mayra Rodriguez-Alvarez and Isha Haley, assisted Mrvan in creating the campaign.

Haley shared with senators at Thursday's hearing her experience as a survivor of sexual abuse.

She said in an interview that Frank J. Mrvan's decision to promote this issue spoke to his character.

This is not about politics, Haley said. This is about people, and people are hurting.
EAST CHICAGO  The East Chicago Public Library, in collaboration with I Too Sing America, Inc. will host a program celebrating Black History Month. Freedom of Religion  A Historical View of James Weldon Johnsons Gods Trombones, will feature a stage production of the book and highlight the heritage and history of the African American church community in East Chicago. The program will be held at 1 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Main Library, 2401 E. Columbus Drive. The program will also pay tribute to a historical overview that has inspired and united African-Americans over the years through religion.
ST JOHN  Lake Central celebrated 24 years of Excellence on Saturday.

The high school hosted the 24th annual Lake Central Dance Invitational throughout the morning and afternoon, drawing teams from around the state, and around the Region, which competed in various dance categories for both bragging rights and trophies.

Fans crowded the parking lot and the high school gymnasium and could shower their favorites with shout-outs announced on the PA systems, stuffed bears, candy and carnations available for sale at tables outside the gym entrance.

The audience was its usual enthusiastic self, shouting cheers, sporting signs and lending support to competitors. It was a family-run show as well, with Lake Central parents at the ticket table and organizing admittance to the bleachers.

This years competition featured two teams from the Lake Centralettes, themselves state and national jazz champions, and state hip-hop champs. Teams from Hanover, Munster, Highland, Hebron, Merrillville, Schererville and Dyer performed. Categories this year included pom, jazz and hip-hop. Non-region teams hailed from Mishawaka, Indianapolis, Shawnee, Kokomo and other Indiana communities.

The hip-hop category dominated the early afternoon, with Kahler Middle School taking center stage with a routine that incorporated numerous, heavily synchronized tumbling moves, its 10 dancers dressed in blue and white uniform-like costumes that buttoned down the front. Lake Centrals JV team wore glittering black, purple and green costumes as it performed its high-energy dance moves.

One well-received routine was delivered by Pike High from Indianapolis, which revved itself up with a rousing cheer on the sidelines. The team wore red and black checked outfits and red bandannas, and wowed with a hip-hop attitude and moves that might have done justice to a music video.
Parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan are struggling with heavy snow as dozens of people were reported killed and major highways were closed.

At least 37 people have died due to heavy snowfall, rain, avalanches, and severe cold in several regions of Afghanistan over the past three days, an official said on February 5.

Omar Mohammadi, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Natural Disaster Management Authority, said that 16 people were also injured in 25 provinces in Afghanistan.

Heavy snow was also reported in the Afghan capital of Kabul, where the government said it had closed its offices.

Naweed Frotan, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Afghanistan's northern Badakhshan Province, said the government was working to reach 12 districts that had been completely cut off.

As many as 19 people were killed and 17 injured by avalanches, collapsed roofs, and road accidents in the province.

Across the border, in northern Pakistan's Chitral district, at least nine people were killed by an avalanche and as many as 14 residents are believed to be trapped in collapsed houses.

Police and soldiers had to rescue around 250 cars and buses trapped by the snowstorm on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, said Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for Ghazni Province, where as much as 2 meters of new snow was reported.

The Salang highway connecting northern and central Afghanistan and crossing high mountains was also closed and will remain blocked until the snow is cleared from the main road, said police general Rajab Salangi, who oversees the area.

The central government in Afghanistan declared a nationwide holiday and Kabul's international airport was closed.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa
ST. JOHN  Levin Tire & Service Center has seven locations in Northwest Indiana. It's having trouble finding its eighth.

Owner Barry Levin and developers appeared again before the town's Board of Zoning Appeals recently seeking variances for a new building on the northeast corner of U.S. 41 and 85th Avenue, just east of Bingo Lake.

They would like the building to face U.S. 41 and to allow parking between the front door and the roadway. Members of the BZA would like them to change the direction of the store because of the strict standards in the U.S. 41 overlay district there.

The site on which Levin wants to build is a "very odd, irregular-shaped parcel," said Jeff Ban, president of Development Visions Group which is developing the project.

There is also a transcontinental pipeline on the northern half of the property that makes development difficult, Ban said. The town is also asking them to account for a future road that would run along the west side of Bingo Lake, between the Levin development and the lake. It would run from 85th Avenue to the development north.

"Which again creates more hardship for the development of this parcel," Ban said. "It narrows it even further."

Ban told the board that even a bank or other building would require the same requests and variances.

Levin Tire & Service is part of the Goodyear Tire and Service Network. Ban said they took the board's recommendation from a previous meeting to put the building close to U.S. 41 and put the main entryway and parking on the east side to Goodyear, which said "no way that can work for us."

Ban said Goodyear told them they don't have another store like that in the country.

"It's very important to have the front door visible to U.S. 41 to run the economics of his business," Ban said. "To put the front door on the backside of the building would be problematic and he would most likely fail  is the opinion of Goodyear.

"We are asking you to accept the variances as we originally presented."

Ban also said the service Levin would bring should be welcomed to the community.

"He does a great job in the Region," he said. "He's been around a long, long time. He has a great reputation and would like to be a businessman in this town."

Board member Paul Panczuk expressed concern over a funeral home across the street and how people there will hear impact wrenches and service work being done. He said flipping the building around and putting the doors in the back make it palatable to him.

"It's still not ideal but palatable," he said. "But now we still have parking all out in the front. It's a repair facility right out on our front porch basically. I don't know if there is any way to hide that with landscaping. Turning the building around would have accomplished that.

Panczuk said there are maybe other places in town where it's more suitable for that type of business where all the parking would be behind it.

Board member Jason Williams said flipping the business around would give customers in the waiting room a view of "beautiful Bingo Lake" instead of U.S. 41.

Band told the board "with all due respect" that "activity breeds activity." He said travelers up and down U.S. 41 are more likely to take their vehicles to Levin if they see the store's customers and activity.

"That's an important part of the business model," he said.

Levin addressed the board and said his Crown Point and Valparaiso stores are in residential neighborhoods and they've never received a complaint about noise. He said the traffic on U.S. 41 would be louder than that of the store.

In the end, the board made a recommendation that Levin turn his building north/south instead so that the front door faces north.

Ban said they will look at a sketch made by the board in great detail and see how it fits.

"That is not the alternative we did when we took it to Goodyear," he said. "They may be OK with what was sketched out."
GARY  Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board of Chicago, is guest speaker for the Gary Chamber of Commerce general membership luncheon Feb. 13.

The 11:30 a.m. event is at the Gary SouthShore RailCats administration building, second floor, 1 Stadium Plaza. Networking begins at 11.

Preckwinkle will discuss some of her innovative programs and successes on behalf of residents of Cook County and the state of Illinois.

The cost of the luncheon is $20 per person in advance, $22 at the door.

Call the chamber office at 219-885-7407 to reserve a spot.
MILL CREEK  He's 73 and doing all of the work himself, but that hasn't stopped a LaPorte area man from his mission to convert an old, abandoned school into a library to help bring life to a small farm community.

Carl Carder is four years into his project and still has a long way to go.

He feels enough of the restoration has been done, though, for him to open a library in one section of the building as soon as the spring.

He's already collected tens of thousands of donated books and plans to have computers and other technology in the former Lincoln School in Mill Creek.

Carder has gone through much of his life savings and takes out what he can from his Social Security checks to keep striving toward the finish line with the 1940s single-story brick structure.

"I feel pretty good. I'm used to working long, hard hours," said Carder, a retired machinist and shift leader at ITW Red Head in Michigan City.

The almost daily task at a facility not used for about the past 30 years has been far from easy.

He bought the building from a farmer who, after hosting events in the structure, let it sit empty for years and fall into disrepair.

Carden said he started by putting a new roof on the gymnasium where rain poured in through large holes and replacing the water logged floor.

He also restored the lawn by removing the many trees and high weeds that were taking over the property.

Currently, he's ripping out the old lockers and tearing down walls covered with lead-based paint.

The roof still leaks in spots, but once the library opens in one of the dry sections of the building, he'll get around to fixing those leaks and doing the other work still left to do, then expand the library into those areas as they're being completed.

"As I get that opened up, I'll let somebody come in and run the library while I work on the rest," said Carder.

His drive comes from wanting to provide children in the small town of about 1,000 people with something to do besides videogames at home  and a place to grow instead of getting into trouble.

Carder also said his four children, including one who owns a dairy farm in Arizona, are well-off and don't need help from him financially.

"What am I going to do with my money? My kids don't want it. My youngest son is a millionaire," said Carder.

His nephew, Reuben Carter, 46, who grew up in Michigan City said he's amazed by how there seems to be no stop in his uncle who doesn't want to just sit and wait to die.

"He just runs circles around me," Reuben said.

Carl also plans to relocate the ferris wheel and other carnival rides he restored at his residence near Springville to the 13-acre grounds of the school someday.

He acknowledged he could use some help, but if he has to keep going at it alone expects it will take a couple more years to get it all done.
Strong vision and hard, efficient work are the stuff of community growth and success  the qualities of solid leaders.

But those qualities can't elevate leaders  regardless of their past successes  beyond the specter of a felony indictment alleging personal enrichment and abuse of public trust.

Innocent or guilty, and he'll get his day in court at some point, Portage Mayor James Snyder is learning this social and legal truth the hard way.

The stifling stranglehold such accusations place on a leader continue to multiply in their effect on Snyder's ability to lead.

They will continue to do so until and unless he resigns or is exonerated of felonious wrongdoing.

It's a painful truth for many in Portage  and elsewhere in the Region  to consider given Snyder's many successes at the helm of the city's executive office.

Portions of our Region are blessed with an idyllic mix of industry, stunning natural lakefront and promising development.

In my 13-plus years living in Northwest Indiana, I've watched Portage become the epitome of all of these qualities.

Business and warehousing developments around the Bass Pro Shop off the interstate, along Central Avenue near City Hall and newer, cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing municipal buildings help define the Portage landscape.

The city's tax base, and therefore its residents, are the direct beneficiaries.

The Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk is a National Park Service facility made into an eye-popping recreational and natural wonder through the collective vision and funding of many entities.

Much of what we see in Portage is due, at least in part, to the strong vision of Mayor Snyder.

A desire to continue that vision is a major reason why Snyder says he won't resign office in the wake of the federal felony bribery indictment he faces.

Federal prosecutors allege he solicited self-enrichment through bribes paid by city towing contractors. Snyder also is accused of tax evasion.

Snyder continued to contend his innocence Friday when I met him for a tour of the city and an interview in his office.

Innocent or not  and I'm neither prosecutor nor judge  I've contended in the past that the shadow of the federal accusations are too great a distraction to city business. I've argued, as has The Times Editorial Board, that Snyder should step down and focus on his legal defense.

Evidence of this immense distraction grew evermore apparent earlier this week when controversy erupted over a recent taxpayer-funded trip Snyder and two top police officials took to Washington, D.C.

The primary purpose was Snyder's attendance at the United States Conference of Mayors, a staple and typically innocuous event attended by many mayors throughout the country.

Mayors and other municipal officials attend the conference to glean ideas of best practices they can then bring home with them.

Snyder told me he opted to bring police Chief Troy Williams and Assistant Chief Ted Uzelac Jr. with him because community policing topics were included on the conference agenda, and police acting as security for their respective mayors could attend the conference free of the $1,200 individual registration fee.

The conference was contiguous with President Donald Trump's inauguration, so Snyder and the two police officials attended that historic event as well.

None of the trip, on its face value, would have stirred much controversy had Snyder not been under the weight of a federal bribery indictment.

But he was and is.

Some Portage officials went on the attack last week, criticizing the mayor for seeking and receiving taxpayer reimbursement for a $539-per-night hotel suite, rather than a cheaper $429-per-night standard room, while he attended the conference.

Snyder said his staff booked the more expensive room because his wife and children traveled to D.C. with him, largely to witness the Trump inauguration.

It's a $110-per-night quibble that Snyder could easily have satisfied by knocking the difference off the amount he requested for reimbursement. After all, taxpayers shouldn't be expected to pick up the bill for the mayor's family to attend.

But he didn't. All told, Snyder was reimbursed $3,892.64 from city coffers, which included the cost of the nicer accommodations, the conference registration and valet parking.

It's not really the stuff of intense scandal, however. In fact, Snyder argues he could have charged the city a per diem for his meals but did not.

Portage Clerk-treasurer Chris Stidham also accused Snyder of taking along taxpayer-funded bodyguards by bringing along his police chief and assistant chief. Chief Williams and Assistant Chief Uzelac collectively rang up another $5,303.52 in hotel, travel and meal charges to be reimbursed by the city, documents provided by Snyder show.

Though they attended registration-free under the "security" clause of the event, it's easy to see why Stidham and other officials would get worked up over the city paying for non-mayors to attend a mayoral event.

Clearly, Snyder didn't need a security detail. The mayor, of course, argues his top cops benefited from connections made at the event and the topical nature of some of the event themes.

All of that may be true, just as Snyder may be innocent of the bribery charges he faces.

But he'll continue to face such intense scrutiny as long as he remains under indictment. This uncertain veil will choke out his ability to lead the way he otherwise could. It will continue to hang like an albatross around the necks of the mayor's staff and other city officials aligned with him.

Snyder acknowledged Friday the indictment is deeply affecting staff morale. How could it not?

Council members of both political parties recently implored the mayor to resign. Other entities have done so as well.

Regardless of the good he's done for Portage, it may be time for Snyder to listen.
Crossing the line separating Indiana and Illinois sometimes means dealing with different laws and customs. Readers are asked to share ideas for this weekly feature. This week: Tampon tax.

While individuals usually find lower sales tax rates on items purchased in Indiana, consumers buying feminine hygiene products might find it in their financial best interest to shop in Illinois.

An Illinois law that took effect Jan. 1 exempts tampons, menstrual pads and menstrual cups from state and local sales taxes of up to 10.25 percent that previously were applied to those products.

Illinois was among three states last year that eliminated sales tax on feminine hygiene items as part of a national fairness initiative that seeks to remove taxes from necessities used by only one gender.

Hoosier lawmakers in 2016 rejected multiple attempts to exempt menstrual products, along with diapers, from the state's 7 percent sales tax.

No Indiana lawmaker this year has filed a so-called "tampon tax" proposal, though it's possible to still try to attach the exemption onto other tax measures moving through the Republican-controlled Legislature.
A CUNY graduate student from Iran is back in the United States after being denied entry in the wake of the travel ban.

Saira Rafiee, 30, arrived at Logan International Airport in Boston on Saturday morning.

She left Tehran last week, but was not allowed to fly to New York from Abu Dhabi.

Rafiee says she and 11 other Iranians were detained for nearly 18 hours before being sent back home.

CUNY Citizenship Now! attorney Isabel Bucaram told NY1 on Saturday night that family and friends greeted Raifee when she arrived, and she is in good spirits.

"She was bit overwhelmed of their support. She was soft-spoken, and this is still something of a shock for her and others like her, when they finally do arrive," Bucaram said in a phone interview with NY1. "It was lovely to see her. It was a good hug that we had."

Dozens of CUNY students and staffers rallied outside Brooklyn federal court Monday in her support.

A spokesperson for the university released a statement, saying in part:

"While the executive order's long-term repercussions on the academy remain cause for concern, today we take a brief moment to celebrate and very much look forward to welcoming Ms. Rafiee back to campus."
Immigration lawyers continued to set up shop at points of entry around the country Saturday night, including at Kennedy Airport, as the battle over the future of President Trump's travel ban continues.

They say they will keep offering help to people flying in from any of the countries included in Trump's executive order.

"We're still here," said Camille Mackler, the director of legal initiatives for the New York Immigration Coalition. "We're trying to reach out to people who reached out to us before, who they said relatives and other people stranded abroad; we're trying to help them out.

"We're trying to monitor what's happening, trying to make sure that the court order is abided by, trying to answer questions of people that have been affected.

"So nothing has changed, really, in that sense," Mackler said. "We're still getting people asking us questions."

The New York Immigration Coalition said lawyers will be at Terminal 4 through the weekend for anyone who needs their services.

Saturday, the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to set aside a judge's order that temporarily blocked the Trump ban.

The federal government's request for an emergency stay was filed Saturday night with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The filing asks the court to lift an order from a day earlier from a judge in Washington State.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge James Robart temporarily halted a Trump administration executive order that suspended America's refugee program and halted immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The administration on Saturday moved to suspend enforcement of the travel ban as the Justice Department readied its legal challenge.

Donald Trump had lashed out at Robart on Twitter, calling him a "so-called judge."

Trump's order, which he signed Jan. 27, had banned entry to the United States by residents of seven Muslim-majority countries  Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen  for 90 days.

The Queens native's executive order had also banned U.S. entry of those fleeing war-torn Syria indefinitely, and bans the admission of all refugees for the next four months.
A CUNY graduate student from Iran is back in the United States after being denied entry in the wake of the travel ban.

30-year-old Saira Rafiee arrived at Logan International Airport in Boston yesterday morning.

She left Tehran last week, but wasn't allowed to fly to New York from Abu Dhabi.

Rafiee says she and 11 other Iranians were detained for nearly 18 hours before being sent back home.

CUNY Citizenship Now! attorney Isabel Bucaram says Raifee was greeted by family and friends when she arrived, and is in good spirits.

"She was bit overwhelmed of their support, she was soft-spoken," said Bucaram. "This is still something of a shock for her and others like her when they finally do arrive. It was lovely to see her and it was a good hug that we had."

Earlier this week, dozens of CUNY students and staffers, along with Brooklyn Borough president Eric Adams, rallied outside Brooklyn federal court in her support.

A CUNY spokesperson released a statement saying in part:

"While the executive order's long-term repercussions on the academy remain cause for concern, today we take a brief moment to celebrate and very much look forward to welcoming Ms. Rafiee back to campus."
Several straphangers joined forces Saturday night to scrub away swastika symbols and anti-Semitic messages on a train in Manhattan.Attorney Gregory Locke posted about the incident on Facebook around 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

He says he got on the Bronx-bound 1 train at 50th street and found graffiti covering every advertisement and window.

A few minutes later, he said riders used hand sanitizer and tissues to get rid of the graffiti.

Locke says all of it was gone by the time the train reached 72nd Street.

A similar incident happened on a B train.

Governor Cuomo says a straphanger saw a swastika symbol on the train car, and used a marker to box it out and spell the word "love."

In a statement, Cuomo said: "This is what New Yorkers do  we turn hate into love."

The MTA says both incidents of graffiti are being investigated.
Ms. Zonya (Z) Gail Carter (Sasser), 72, died at home, with her family in Cambria, California on Thursday, February 2, 2017. Born in Hartford, AL, oldest child of six from the union of USAF Tech Sergeant G.W. Sasser and Zona Lee Sasser (Sawyer), AKA "Mema." She spent many happy summers at her grandparents' sharecrop farm where she gained a work ethic picking cotton which never left her. The family moved to Sunnymeade, CA (Moreno Valley) where she graduated from Polytechnic High School, Riverside CA in 1962. She was a true beauty and won the title of "Miss Flame" of March AFB, CA. Beauty and brains, she won a scholarship to Warren S. Candler School of Nursing in Savannah, GA and graduated in 1966. Dedicated to service she joined USAF in 1971 as a 1st LT. and met her second husband Dr. William Walters II, father of her only child William (Tad) Walters, while nursing at Lackland AFB. Returning to the South, she continued her career in nursing in Columbus, GA and then moved to Auburn, AL and married her last husband Richard Carter. At EAMC she became a touchstone for so many people through her life long career as a nurse, working from 1981-2004. It was here she made her second family. A world traveler, sailor, and Peace Corps volunteer, she has lived in and visited far flung corners of the world like, Egypt, Italy, Samoa, Hawaii, Uzbekist n, Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras, Mxico, Grand Cayman, and Panama. She is survived by her beloved son Tad, her daughter-in-law Hilary, and grandchildren Ethan Everett (16) and Eithne Rose Ruth (12); her sisters Carrol Oliver (Dick), Glorya Satcher (David), Denise Burkhalter (Allen) and her brother David Wayne Sasser (Merritt); Her Aunt Martha (Mot) Farmer, nieces and nephews: Tracey, Charlie, Stephanie, G.W., Dustin, Terry, and Julie; Her best friends "The Yo's," her EAMC family, and her dedicated companion, her dog, Mr. Grim. She is preceded in death and is reunited with her grandparents Bud and Vassie Sawyer, her parents Mema and Poppi, cherished sister Faye Cox (Roddy) (Dec. 2008), and her beautiful niece Christina Satcher (Dec. 2016). In a final sacrifice, she has donated her body to further medicine, believing herself to be a "good study." A celebration of her life will take place when the Azaleas are in bloom, please watch for details to follow. If you wish to make a contribution, a nursing scholarship fund in her name will be opened early next week at Charter Bank. A recent quote from the pages of her journal reads "My life has been full of wondrous sights and sounds and a variety of culturally different peoples. I have had an exciting and stimulating life."
The Iowa Pork Producers Association, or IPPA, is partnering with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship to offer additional cost-share dollars to pig farmers installing new nutrient loss-reduction technologies.

Through this program, IPPA will provide up to $25,000, throughout the next year, to offset up to 50 percent of costs for pig farmers to install saturated buffers or bioreactors on their farm land. Sites will be selected based on greatest opportunity for nitrate reduction and be geographically dispersed throughout the state to aid in education and demonstration opportunities.
Bruno Serato planned to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the Anaheim White House this year the only way he knew how: giving away food.

Just this past week, he said he would provide a free entree to anyone turning 30 this year.

Now, all dining celebrations are on hold.

As longtime diners learned of the fire, their memories of the restaurant and the sorrow they feel poured in on various social media channels:

Just last year we were there celebrating my parents 50th wedding anniversary and at the same time my niece got engaged to be married. Was a wonderful day. Bruno stopped by the table to say hi and made sure everything was good. Love that place and Bruno. Such a sad thing to have happened but after the mourning Bruno will be back at it because his heart is bigger than any tragedy.

 Travis Longworth

So many wonderful memories! My two favorite are celebrating my daughters high school graduation there and I shared an amazing lunch with my mom a short time before she passed away in 2014.

 Rosalinda Charlene Littlejohn

I remember my parents celebrating a few wedding anniversaries there. They lived in Anaheim for 36 yrs and my dad worked for the city for 25 yrs. They always loved going there.

 Patti Bout Morrison

I am so sad to hear of this. Many fond memories of special occasions at the Anaheim White House. It was not only a wonderful restaurant, it was a cherished part of Anaheims history. So sorry for Bruno and all those who worked to make it such a special place.

 Jack White

Extremely sad news. It was a great venue for business functions  even the prix fixe menu offerings were good and the staff provided wonderful service and a warm atmosphere. Best wishes to Bruno, his staff and all others affected by this tragedy.

 Charlie Carter

Oh no! I had dreamed of one day taking my wife there when we get back to America. Sad for Bruno. His restaurant was an icon. Happy that nobody was hurt.

 Ryan Zacher

This absolutely breaks my heart. Im in shock.

 Traci Tran





Register staff writers Paul Hodgins and Anne Valdespino contributed to this report.
California didnt go for President Donald Trump, but one consumer confidence index suggests the states shoppers are seeing opportunities from his administration.

The Conference Boards consumer confidence index for California rose in January to its highest level since May 2007 and was 10 percent higher than the index average for all of 2016. Trump won the White House in a November upset over Hillary Clinton, who easily won California.

Californians bolstered confidence as Trump took office is tied to positive thoughts on the business climate and an overall upbeat outlook.

The Conference Board survey found Californians rated current economic conditions as the second best in nine years. Only December 2016 scored higher. And Californias outlook for the economic future drew the highest rating since the index started in 2007.

Confidence has largely been on the upswing since the recession ended, but renewed optimism should be good news for local merchants and those who profit from retail spending. But that same surge in consumer hope also raises the performance bar for the new president.

Nationally, confidence is lofty, but it dipped from last month. Consumer confidence fell in January, off Decembers 15-year high. Minus December, the latest index was at a 10-year high.

The decline in confidence was driven solely by a less optimistic outlook for business conditions, jobs, and especially consumers income prospects, wrote the Conference Boards Lynn Franco.

Five of the other seven states tracked by the board started the year with a confidence bump, with all seven posting January confidence levels above the 2016 average.

New Yorks confidence was up for the fourth straight month, with its index 12 percent above 2016. Florida rose for the third consecutive month to a January level 10 percent above 2016.

Illinois also rose for three straight months, putting its index 11 percent above 2016s average. Ohio was up for the second time in three months, putting its confidence 10 percent above 2016. Pennsylvania rose for the first time since the election. Its index is 23 percent above 2016.

Texas fell after five months of consecutive gains, but its index is still 18 percent above last years average. And Michigan fell after three months of gains as confidence in January ran 15 percent above last years average.

Californias high consumer confidence also was reflected in another shopper optimism ranking by Gallup.

In Gallups ranking, California tied Hawaii, Maryland and Washington for the second-highest confidence scores. Massachusetts had the best score. For 2015, California also ranked second, behind Minnesota.

Perhaps Gallups 2016 confidence math helps explain the presidential election results: The 10 states with the most optimism went for Clinton. The 10 most pessimistic states went for Trump.

Contact the writer: jlansner@scng.com
You know exactly where youre going.

Youre pointed in the right direction, thanks to a compass thats moral, innate, or in your pocket. Youre traveling at just the right pace and nothing can deter you  except, as in the new novel Silver City by Jeff Guinn, the man whos about to kill you.

Cash McLendon hated the Western frontier.

Not only was it dry and dusty, but it reminded him of a time when he lost the woman he loved and almost lost his life. The only good thing about it was the frontier  Mountain View, Arizona, to be specific  was where that same woman lived now, and Gabrielle was willing to give him another chance.

Hed just fought a ferocious battle against the Indians at Adobe Walls, and fighting left him more settled now, more mature and less impulsive. McLendon was sure he could win his lady back.

Patrick Brautigan knew the rules.

He understood that businessman Rupert Douglass didnt want any laws broken. No fuss, just efficiency when evening a score or taking revenge. Its what the Boss demanded, just like he demanded that Cash McLendon hauled back to St. Louis .

Years ago, McLendon married Douglass only daughter and when she committed suicide, Douglass blamed McLendon. If Brautigan succeeded in bringing McLendon back alive, and in a timely manner, Douglass might even let him watch McLendon die.

But catching McLendon wouldnt be easy; the man was sociable and always surrounded by people, so Brautigan had to hire help in the form of Ike Clanton, who flapped his gums too much.

Even so, Clanton could take Brautigan through Apache country, to Mountain View from Silver City, a lawless and corrupt new settlement where Brautigan had recently arrived to study the situation.

Brautigan figured that capturing McLendon would surely be easier if McLendons woman was taken first. Capturing McLendon and getting him back to Silver City, however, would be a whole different matter

Every time a western cycles to the top of my reading list, I realize anew how much I love them  although Silver City, set in the late 1870s, is a puzzler.

Though you could read it by itself, its characters have been featured in past books and, as such, author Jeff Guinn spends too much time explaining their back-story here; that gets to awfully wordy and pretty tiresome.

Cash McLendon is a good-enough hero, although not scruffy enough for my tastes: hes too clean-cut, too gosh-darn nice, a bit of a dandy. And oh, my goodness, the characters urinated a lot in this book.

Didnt need that.

To the good, however, Guinn gives readers a good chase up and through the Arizona desert, an exciting fight with a young Geronimo and his men, and a scrappy new heroine with a definite mind of her own  which is not a bad thing.

Overall, neither is this book: its got its flaws, but its also got its moments. Ignore the former, revel in the latter, and  Silver City  is where you should be going.
Deepa Bharath covers religion for The Orange County Register and the Southern California Newspaper Group. Her work is focused on how religion, race and ethnicity shape our understanding of what it is to be American and how religion in particular helps influence public policies, laws and a region's culture. Deepa also writes about race, cultures and social justice issues. She has covered a number of other beats ranging from city government to breaking news for the Register since May 2006. She has received fellowships from the International Women's Media Foundation and the International Center for Journalists to report stories about reconciliation, counter-extremism and peace-building efforts around the world. When she is not working, she loves listening to Indian classical music and traveling with her husband and son.
BUCHAREST, Romania  After five straight days of spirited mass protests, and predictions that a half-million or more people might take to the streets on Sunday, Romanias month-old government backed down Saturday and withdrew a decree that had decriminalized some corruption offenses.

We will hold an extraordinary meeting on Sunday to repeal the decree, withdraw it, cancel it, Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said late Saturday evening.

It was a remarkable and rapid turnaround for a government that had shown every sign of holding firm against the protests.

As recently as Thursday, Grindeanu said, We took a decision in the government, and we are going to press ahead.

As word of the governments retreat spread through the Piata Victoriei  the square outside the main government building that has been the center of the protests  a subdued wave of celebration passed through the throng of more than 100,000 people, mixing with grim determination to continue the fight, if needed.

I feel a bit better, but it isnt enough, said Mihai Saru, 20, a student. They lost our trust when they released this emergency ordinance in the night. How do we know it wont happen again in two weeks, a month?

But tonight is a little victory.

Chants mixed with blaring horns as protesters listened to the prime ministers announcement on their phones. Thieves! many yelled. In a show of patriotic solidarity, the crowd broke into the national anthem, but the demonstrations continued into the night.

This doesnt change anything, said Diana Popescu, 42, an economist. They still lied. This government isnt honest. We dont want to be represented by a government of liars.

The combination of the mass protests, which showed no signs of abating, and growing international condemnation seems to have weakened the governments resolve.

Even the Romanian Orthodox Church, normally a solid supporter of the government, criticized the decree.

The United States is deeply concerned about the government of Romanias recent measures that undermine rule of law and weaken accountability for financial and corruption-related crimes, Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, said Thursday.

The first cracks in the governments resolve appeared Saturday afternoon, when Liviu Dragnea, the president of the governing Social Democratic Party and its most powerful figure, told a local news outlet that the decree could well be withdrawn in an attempt to avert civil conflict. Dragnea said he was not sure he could keep in check his own partys supporters.

Romania needs peace and stability in order to move towards prosperity, development and democracy, he said.

The emergency decree was to take effect at midnight Friday. The constitutional court said it would try to issue its ruling before then, but the looming deadline added energy to the protests.
In comparison with Barack Obama, who was well regarded in the foreign media, Donald Trump does not come off as a good guy. He is also clearly redefining the countrys identity and global focus. The first American president since the 1920s to walk away from a role as global pooh-bah, Trump instead defines his job as helping the people who elected him.

Trumps new nationalism, spelled out in his inauguration speech, effectively rejects both the progressive globalism of the Obama years and the conservative idealism associated with George W. Bush. In the process, Trump has managed to outrage virtually the entire foreign policy establishment, including the CIA deep state, and more than a few foreigners as well. Everywhere in the mainstream media, here and around the world, Trump is portrayed as a destroyer of ideals, institutions and alliances bringing, in the words of the Atlantic, the end of the American century.

Failure of the globalists

Yet, as Larry Summers has pointed out, theres a reason for the rise of populist authoritarianism. What he calls global elites have been more focused on working with their foreign counterparts than helping their own middle- and working-class populations.

The old order is not working out all that well. The foreign policy establishments of both parties have ended up producing an America that is perhaps the weakest it has been since the end of the Vietnam debacle. George W. Bush launched a disastrous war in Iraq, which drained the countrys riches, bled its military and, in the end, left Iraq as a de facto Iranian vassal. For good measure, he pushed the expansion of trade in ways that accelerated the decline of many American industries, particularly in the Midwest, while helping boost China as our most formidable rival since the fall of the Soviet Union.

If, as Council on Foreign Relations President Richard N. Haass has suggested, Bush did too much, Obamas response was to do too little. By his prevarications and refusal to acknowledge the world as it is, Obama has left behind a disastrous reality. Despite engaging in several armed conflicts and increasingly lethal drone attacks, U.S. influence in the Middle East has weakened while that of Iran and Russia has soared. To be in second place to Russia  with an economy about the size of that great economic superpower, Italy  in the Middle East owed little to hacking, but much to greater skill at outmaneuvering the Obama administrations diplomacy.

The real challenge: China

Despite the progressive hyperventilation about Russia, the real policy challenge lies with China, the only country that presents a serious economic and, ultimately, military threat. Despite Obamas pivot to Asia, the U.S. position has demonstrably weakened there as well. China has shifted the rules of trade in its favor, built islands to gain control of the South China Sea, upgraded its military and won over old allies such as the Philippines. It is making huge inroads in Africa, and even in Latin America.

Now Trumps often unfocused belligerence opens the door for Chinese President Xi Jinping to posture himself as the new enlightened global hegemon. Heres the man who heads up the worlds biggest emitter of greenhouse gases  a country committed to building more coal plants and not halting emissions growth before 2030  preening as the enlightened son of science. A dictator who increasingly adopts an authoritarian Maoist ideology while bolstering a crony capitalist empire, Xi has convinced some progressives that he is a great advocate of free trade, something he and his country have not embraced in the real world.

Shooting the wrong target with the wrong bullets?

Rather than take on China in his first weeks, Trump has followed his bullys preference by beating up a weaker rival, Mexico. To be sure, U.S. trade with Mexico has hurt some American workers, and abuses should be constrained, but the trade deficit with Mexico in 2015 was less than $61 billion, while China accounted for a $367 billion deficit, nearly 40 percent of the total U.S. trade deficit.

More importantly, Mexico is a natural ally, like Canada. Not only are we tied by geographic, cultural and familial ties, but these countries could serve as linchpins in a common North American alliance that could stand against a Chinese-dominated Asia and the infantilized, but still economically consequential, European Union.

More than anything else, Trump needs to face the world as someone running not a declining power, but rather a potentially ascendant one. The U.S. economy may not be, as MSNBC insists, the envy of the world, but the United States does possess better fundamentals than any of its rivals  technology, a stronger military, a greater array of basic assets from minerals and food and, critically, enormous energy resources. We also spend more on defense than the next seven countries combined, including Russia and China.

Trump needs to downsize his paranoia and better comprehend the nature of the country that he leads. A strong America should follow Theodore Roosevelts suggestion to speak softly and carry a big stick. A loud Twitter account and an inclination to beat up people weaker than us is no worthy successor.

Joel Kotkin is the R.C. Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange and executive director of the Houston-based Center for Opportunity Urbanism (www.opportunityurbanism.org).
An OC Public Works project set to get underway today is expected to displace hundreds of homeless people living in tents and shelters built from tarps on the east bank of the Santa Ana River south of Angel Stadium.

But a showdown could be in the making over plans to turn property adjacent to a county maintenance road from Chapman to Orangewood avenues into a storage area for tons of sand and boulders used in flood control.

Homeless advocates have vowed to show up early in the morning, along with representatives of legal organizations worried about civil rights violations.

UPDATE: Rain delays project that would force out homeless living along Santa Ana riverbed

For months, the number of makeshift dwellings staked out in a motley line parallel to the southbound 57 Freeway has grown by the dozens, a de facto community of homeless people who say they have nowhere else to go.

Estimated at several hundred people, many of the homeless had been living down in the sand of the river bed until the storms of winter arrived.

The homeless mostly have been left alone by law enforcement and OC Public Works crews, who maintain the access road and the grounds next to it.

Until now.

Bulldozers were moved in last week, ready to shift mounds of sand trucked in from other watersheds and drop huge rocks called riprap  materials to be used in flood control  where the tents and tarps are. Some grading and storage of the boulders also began on the edges of the tent encampments.

Notifications warning of the impending work have been staked in the ground and taped to the concrete of freeway underpasses over the past two weeks.

Information about the winter shelters at the Fullerton and Santa Ana National Guard Armories was included with the notices, and county health care workers, who routinely visit the area, stepped up efforts to provide information.

But limited shelter space and restrictions, such as a prohibition on pets, leave many homeless people little or no choice but to remain outdoors.

Whats posted right now says people can go to the armories, said Morgan Denges, who planned to demonstrate along with members of the Orange County Poverty Alleviation Coalition and other groups. But they fill up too fast and also they prioritize who gets in and who doesnt. So its not a real solution. They are essentially being displaced with no place to go.

The reaction of the homeless inhabitants  on both sides of the river  ranges from shrugs to anxious tears. In the days before the bulldozers arrived, many werent taking the notices seriously, pulling them up out of the ground after the departure of county workers, who returned daily to replace them.

Its just a scare tactic, said Shawn Chowda Carroll, whose nickname harks to his New Hampshire roots. He set up a tent halfway between Chapman and Orangewood back in July and has seen similar notifications posted to no effect.

Theyre just giving us free firewood.

The county initially gave notice last year, but postponed the work.

The maintenance project involves relocating 370,000 cubic yards of sediment and sand scooped from such places as the San Diego Creek watershed in Irvine, said Shannon Widor, public information officer for OC Public Works.

About 5,100 tons of the dark riprap boulders will be stockpiled with the sand.

The countys plans also call for installing cemented rocks below the east side of the 22 freeway south of the storage area and repairs to both sides of the levee slopes beneath the 5.

The county plans to fence off the storage area with taller and heavier gauge wire and new gates to prevent the vandalism evidenced by holes cut in the existing chain link fencing that has given the homeless and others access to the property.

The location, Widor said, affords a central staging ground for public works crews to easily ship flood control materials to other parts of the county. The sand can be used to fill sandbags or repair beach erosion.

Widor insists there will be no sweep of the homeless encampments to clear people out all at once.

The current plan is to start around Chapman Avenue and gradually move south, then come back to the Chapman Avenue area moving north, Widor said. Were trying to give people plenty of time and not impact the entire area at the start of the work.

The homeless and their supporters see the impending project as an excuse to remove them.

They dont want us here, Carroll said of adjacent business and property owners. I understand that. They dont want us at their shopping malls. They dont want us by their property.

Carroll, 48, said he became homeless when his car was towed a year ago. Carroll plans to take his dog, Honey Cup, and go across the way or if the waters gone, Ill move back down into the river bed.

The tent encampment has angered residents of the gated Renaissance at Uptown Orange apartment community tucked up against the west bank of the river at Chapman Avenue. They complained to police and Orange city officials.

They blame homeless intruders for car break-ins, bicycle thefts, vandalized snack machines, unauthorized use of showers and the jacuzzi in the pool area, loud partying, open drug use, public sex acts and constant litter.

Keith Alves started a petition early last year on Change.org addressed to the county, the city and the sheriffs department, demanding the removal of the homeless encampments along the riverbed adjacent to Renaissance. The petition has more than 1,600 signatures, including from people who live in other cities.

Alves, who is disabled, moved into the apartment complex four years ago with his wife and pays $1,800 a month in rent. There were no homeless people camped out then, he said, but the population has ballooned in the past two years.

We have compassion for them, but it could be handled better  and its not, said Alves, who has taken food and clothing down to the river but is tired of the growing scene and the problems he says have come with it.

Theres a mess here. I dont pay nearly $2,000 a month to look at that.

His worry that the homeless dislocated by the county works project will simply move to his side of the river, closer to Renaissance, is shared by other homeless people whose tents were among a scattered few on the west bank until recently.

Sharon Sweat, a 48-year-old homeless woman who has lived with her dog under the 5 since October, said she bothers no one and is concerned for her own safety. Sweat has stayed at different spots along the river for 16 years, describing herself as shocked by the explosion of tents across the way.

This is no party place, she said, crying. Some of us out here really have no place to go. Some of these other people have places to go. They just want to come out here and party up. Oh, my God, it just floors me.

We just want to be left alone.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7793 or twalker@ocregister.com or on Twitter @TellTheresa
BUENOS AIRES  Argentina is so used to celebrating immigration as a cornerstone of society that a 19th-century saying  to govern is to populate  remains in use today.

But in an abrupt shift coinciding with the immigration restrictions put in place by the Trump administration, President Mauricio Macri has issued a decree curbing immigration to Argentina, with his government declaring that newcomers from poorer countries in Latin America bring crime.

The measures announced by Macri in recent days made it much easier to deport immigrants and restrict their entry, prompting comparisons to U.S. President Donald Trump and igniting a debate over immigration.

A decree like this scares people, said Arfang Diedhiou, 33, a Senegalese immigrant who runs a clothing store in Buenos Aires. It came out just after what Trump did, a coincidence that seems very strange to me.

Argentinas president, the son of an immigrant, has echoed some of Trumps America First theme, making it clear that his first concern should be caring for Argentines, caring for ourselves.

We cannot continue to allow criminals to keep choosing Argentina as a place to commit offenses, Macri said during a news conference.

His decree has also rekindled criticism of his ties to Trump, whom he calls a friend. In the 1980s, Macri worked with his father, an Italian immigrant and industrial magnate, on a real estate project in New York that the family ended up selling to Trump.

Macris measures, while not as far-reaching as Trumps decision to halt refugees from around the world and freeze visas from seven predominantly Muslim nations, are raising diplomatic tensions in the region.

But opinion polls in Argentina showed support for limiting immigration, and some say the new decree does not go far enough. One right-wing congressman is calling for a wall to be built on the border with Bolivia.
Westside Rentals, a popular rental service used widely across Southern California, has been acquired by Apartments.com, a division of CoStar Group. Terms were not disclosed. Westside Rentals has been operating in the Southern California market for 20 years. The company had some 85,000 members in 2016 seeking rentals in the region and more than 350,000 Southern California landlords. Westside Rentals will continue to operate out of its Santa Monica headquarters, and their rental listings will be channeled into the Apartments.com network. The deal means Westside Rentals will no longer focus on brokerage sales and leasing services, which it launched last year.

Santa Ana-based SVA Architects on Feb. 16 will take part in a groundbreaking for a mixed-use apartment community it designed in El Monte. The firm will be joined by officials with the city and the El Monte Gateway development team. The project, also known as Parcel 4, is composed of market-rate apartments with ground floor commercial and retail uses. It is part of the El Monte Gateway Master Plan  a walkable and transit-friendly district with linkage to bike trails along Rio Hondo River. The four-story building on 2.33 acres will have two levels of parking (one underground). It also includes large outdoor dining and sitting areas adjacent to retail.

Matthews Real Estate Investment Services in El Segundo is expanding to Costa Mesa. The new office will help facilitate the companys growth plan. Leading the Costa Mesa location will be Aron Cline, senior vice president and senior director . The office is at 3200 Park Center Drive, Suite 520.

Transactions

Cushman & Wakefields Irvine office negotiated three deals in recent days. They include:

 The sale of Taylor-Dunns industrial site in Anaheim to Costa Mesa-based S&A Management. Jeff Chiate and Mike Adey with Cushman & Wakefields National Industrial Advisory Group in Irvine represented both buyer and seller in the transaction, with Rick Ellison and Randy Ellison, also of the firms Irvine office, providing local market input. Situated on a 7-acre industrial site, the facility includes a two-story office building at 2100 West Ball Road and a 156,054-square-foot manufacturing building at 2114 West Ball Road. The deal should not have any impact on the operations at Taylor-Dunn, which has been engineering and manufacturing vehicles from its location on West Ball Road for over 65 years.

 Terreno Realty Corp. has fully leased an 89,919-square-foot industrial building in Corona to Wellco Industries. Rick Ellison and Brett Lockwood of Cushman & Wakefields Irvine office represented the undisclosed landlord in the transaction. Vista-based Wellco creates and promotes products for construction, electricity and landscape design. It signed a long-term deal and will use the facility for e-commerce.

 Phoenix-based Climatec signed a lease at Axis, a five-building office campus in Anaheim. The privately owned building-technologies provider will be relocating and expanding its local office from nearby Irvine. Axis, owned by the Seligman Group, is run by Pendulum Property Partners  a newly formed owner, operator and developer. John Harty and Jason Ward with Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord. Terms were not disclosed.

People in Real Estate

Scott Stowell has been appointed board chair for HomeAid America, a building industry charity in Newport Beach. Stowell is the executive chairman of the board for CalAtlantic Group, a publicly traded homebuilder. He was instrumental in the creation of CalAtlantic through the merger of Standard Pacific Homes and Ryland Homes in 2015.

Tyler Martin has been hired at Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap in Newport Beach. Martin will be an IPA multifamily adviser focusing his efforts in the Orange County institutional market. He will partner with Alexander Garcia Jr. and Christopher Zorbas, both IPA senior directors, and David Sperling, IPA director, covering the Inland Empire and San Diego.

Coming Up

NeighborWorks Orange County in Orange is hosting an Individual Development Empowerment Account Open House for all community partners such as lenders, Realtors and other nonprofits. The open house is from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Multipurpose Room at NeighborWorks, 128 East Katella Ave. in Orange. For more information, contact education manager Sahara Garcia at 714-408-9333 or email her at saharag@nwoc.org.

Mission Viejo residents with low to moderate income can get help from the citys Housing Rehabilitation Program. Residents can make heating, plumbing and driveway repairs, install new roofs, add a new coat of exterior paint to improve the homes appearance, replace windows and doors and make energy-conservation repairs, among others. The program provides technical and financial assistance to qualifying residents who are owner/occupants of single-family homes in the city. Participants can get zero percent financing (up to $25,000) for home repairs and do not have to pay monthly payments; the loans are paid back when the home is sold or refinanced, title is transferred or the owners no longer reside in the home. For information about the program, call 949-470-3026.

The briefs are compiled by contributing writer Karen Levin and edited by Samantha Gowen, business editor at the Register.

Send related real estate items to

sgowen@scng.com. Allow one week

for publication. High-resolution photos

also can be submitted.
Alternative facts

Re: Do you support Trumps new travel and refugee restrictions? [Opinion, Jan. 31]: I subscribe to if it works, dont fix it. President Trump says he seeks to ensure the safety of American citizens  a noble effort. His fix implies that the fix was necessary because vetting rules already in place were either not adequate or non-existent. This has been proven to be an alternate fact.

In How much is Trumps order like Obamas? [News, Jan. 31], we learned that prior to Trumps action it took 18 months or longer for a Syrian refugee to get the OK to stay in the U.S. We also know, if only by observation, that under the laws, rules and regulations in existence before Trumps order there had been few attacks within our borders by nationals from other countries. In other words, what we have been doing is working. Why fix it without at least a study of what may need to be done to improve it, if anything? Why unnecessarily disrupt the lives of so many innocent people just to appease your voting base?

 Barbara J. Oliver, Lake Forest

Nation of immigrants

My biggest concern is homeland security. As such, I support legal measures taken by the government to keep our country safe. However, Im concerned whether the presidents recent travel bans exceed what is constitutionally permitted. In addition, it may be sending the wrong message to other countries.

The U.S. is a nation of immigrants, and most foreigners arrive with dreams of hope and prosperity. It is a select minority which are terrorists. Stopping those evil people at home and abroad is where we should focus our energies. We must keep America safe but dont tarnish our image as the welcoming place best symbolized by the Statue of Liberty.

 Eric Glicker, Huntington Beach

Safe or sorry?

The real question is do you want to keep America safe? For those who say this is about Muslims, havent almost all acts of terror around the world been perpetrated by Muslims? I think youll have to agree the answer is yes. Dont read from the liberal playbook that Muslims are being persecuted. Theyre not. This is only a temporary ban on their travel plans. If I had the data, Id check to see how many foreigners from these countries have overstayed their visas. That would prove this is a good idea. Also, how many of these seven countries have refused to take back those waiting for deportation. Another reason not to grant travel visas to the United States.

I think the judge who stopped deportations is wrong, too. Some House Democrats see this ban as a recruiting tool for ISIS. Why are you putting any stock in what ISIS says via social media? If you want to put this discussion on a religious level, why didnt the Obama administration approved more Christian refugees to be admitted? I favor a ban on Syrian refugees until a more effective vetting process is in place.

 Bob Kohler, Irvine

Not a Muslim ban

The general population seems to be horribly misinformed and it appears to me that virtually all branches of the mainstream media seem to be facilitating misinformation. Over and over I see reports of people holding signs protesting against the supposed Muslim ban. The ban affects seven Muslim-majority nations. Perhaps it would be helpful if some media outlet, any media outlet, could simply inform the American populace that there are a total of 47 Muslim-majority nations on Earth. This inconvenient fact clearly contradicts the narrative that it is a ban on Muslims.

 Charles T. Kelly, Aliso Viejo

Political pandering

Putting aside all legal and constitutional questions, the executive order on travel is a solution in search of a problem. Any new vetting procedures could have been accomplished through a careful review by appropriate agencies. The 120 day pause accomplished nothing except appeasing the racists and xenophobes that played a significant role in Trumps election. In that respect it was a promise kept, but it could have been handled much more capably if not for the lack of government experience in the White House.

 Tom Chapman, Huntington Beach

Safety isnt anti-Muslim

I think the travel restrictions are a sensible way to help protect us. Its not anti-Muslim. The restrictions are to make sure we know who is entering our country. Those with valid visas and passports can still be admitted.

 John Whited, San Juan Capistrano

No Saudi Arabia?

As a retired political science teacher, how can I justify this thoughtless and somewhat sudden ban on travel from seven Muslim countries? And why wasnt Saudi Arabia included, as 15 of the original 17 9/11 attackers came from that country? This executive mandate is not only against all that the U.S. stands for, but it has separated families and has caused much grief and confusion. Im sure ISIS is using this travel ban to its full advantage.

Im ashamed of this miserable attempt to protect us from terrorists invading our country when these people are fleeing for their lives. Trump also forgets they have been vetted in a very long process just to get their visas only to face long lines and endless delays as they face more questions. Shame on Trump for not thinking through all the important details and possible consequences of this travel ban.

 Caroline Scandura, Irvine

Political not patriotic

Re: Why I am part of the lawsuit against President Trump [Opinion, Feb. 2]: I am disappointed in Erwin Chemerinsky. As dean of the UCI School of Law, I expected more from him. For example, it would have been helpful to hear his argument regarding the fact that Title 18, Section 208 of U.S. Code exempts the president and vice president from conflicts of interests  the presumption being that these leaders would indeed have business relations, and could be trusted to exercise good judgement based on their ability to be elected to the highest office in the land. It would have also helped to hear him address the argument that the emolument clause is related to the exercising of the duties of an office, not a business; i.e., it is not intended to deny the fair value exchanges found in business transactions. And I found it revealing that he referenced Trumps refusal to release tax returns  something Trump is entitled to do. It suggests to me that Chemerinskys motivation is not as patriotic as he claims in that last paragraph.

 Jane Terry, Newport Beach

Selective concern?

I always enjoy reading Dean Chemerinskys opinion because he does not hide his politics. I immediately thought about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation and if there was a similar lawsuit citing the emoluments clause. In November of 2011, there was a similar lawsuit. Funny, Dean Chemerinsky was not part of that effort. I wonder why not?

 Mark Telles, Santa Ana

Not worth the tuition

You really have to admire todays brilliant college students. When confronted with the possibility of listening to someone who doesnt agree with them, they riot  Berkeley. And setting fires and breaking windows is a riot. It is not a simple protest. Or, they walk out of the classroom. They must learn a lot that way. No wonder they think tuition is too high. For what these spoiled darlings are getting out of it, any price would be too high.

 Sandra Stubban, Stanton

Hurting their cause

Berkeley students had every right to protest the repulsive, racist and misogynistic ideology of Milo Yiannopoulos, the Breitbart editor, but they were wrong to attempt to censor his ability to speak. Our right to freedom of speech is precious and it applies to him as well as to everyone else. This revered right applies not only to those speakers and ideologies with which we agree, but, even more importantly, it applies to those speakers with whom we disagree and whose speech we even find repulsive.

Those who would shut down this mans right to speak do not appreciate the content of our First Amendment which is probably the most important one in the Bill of Rights. By doing this, they gave him more publicity than he would otherwise have had and undermined the validity of their cause.

 Milt Rouse, Dana Point
For as long as Dwayne Shipp can remember, Orange Countys Black History Parade has been a family affair.

Often joined by his siblings, Shipp has never missed the annual parade that his mother, Helen Shipp, founded in 1980.

The 40-year-old Santa Ana resident recalled riding on a float in the parades inaugural year amid a sea of oohs and ahhs from the crowd, as the procession winded through neighborhoods.

It was a great experience as a kid being on a float and waving at people, he said.

On Saturday, at the 37th annual parade, Shipp helped set up for the days festivities as onlookers crowded Anaheim Boulevard to see dozens of parade entrants.

Motorcycle engines revved, student bands played and chauffeured guests such as Garry Templeton, a Santa Ana Valley High alum and a member of the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame, all drew cheers and applause.

Shipp said the event has continued its focus on unity and community building. As the youngest of 10 children, he said the most important tradition his mother passed down was to get out and be a part of your community.

Many of his family members, including his mother and brother Curtis Shipp, 55, were in Anaheim for the event.

This days success is determined (by) the people that come here to treasure the ideal of coming out and celebrating life, Curtis Shipp said.

A fixture in Orange County for decades, the countys only Black History parade has endured several changes.

The events peak was around 1986 when approximately 20,000 spectators turned out. It endured a brief name change in 2004 to Orange County Multicultural Parade and Faire, which some in the African American community said distanced the event from its original purpose.

The parade moved to Anaheim in 2012 after Santa Ana could no longer provide subsidies to an annual event that cost more than $25,000.

Chino resident Tracy Felton, 38, had her 7-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son in tow on Saturday.

I like to bring my kids to get them a glimpse of heritage and legacy, she said.

She was impressed with college booths offering information on academic programs. She said shell bring the kids back.

They are already talking about next year, she said.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7844 or snewell@scng.com
With more than 17,000 college students in the United States coming from the seven countries impacted by President Trumps refugee ban, it was no surprise that the move earned him strong rebuke on campuses across the country. The shocker, however, was that so much of the criticism came from the top.

Michigan State President Lou Anna K. Simon was typical of her administration brethren when writing: President Trumps executive order on immigration is deeply concerning as it runs counter to the global nature of our communities and our nation. At MSU, our core values are quality, inclusiveness and connectivity, and this action is an impediment to each. I am keenly aware of the need to address genuine risks to our nation but this order, and the manner it was implemented, is not the best approach.

One MSU trustee, Mitch Lyons, disagreed in a tweet: An impediment to quality, connectivity and inclusiveness at MSU is a terrorist blowing himself up on campus #SecureTheBorder. Lyons later deleted the message and issued a statement of clarification in which he said, in part: I dont claim to have the expertise to know whether or not it is needed or the best way to stop terrorism coming from outside our borders. My tweet was simply to illustrate my support for making the U.S. safer from external terror organizations.

But the debate at MSU is hardly unique. Dozens of university presidents have sparked a dialogue about the ban by voicing their disagreement. And its not just the usual Northeastern, liberal suspects, although they are well represented. That Penns Amy Gutmann was vehement in her response might be expected, but being joined by the likes of Notre Dames Father John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., was not.

Gutmann wrote: President Trumps recent Executive Order is injurious to our work and inimical to our values. The damage already done to the lawful freedoms and opportunities of our students and colleagues, here and around the world, is undeniable and indefensible. This Order will weaken the promise of educational opportunity, intellectual discovery and global engagement that so distinguishes American universities.

And her statement was more personal than most: I am the daughter of a Jewish immigrant who fled Nazi Germany. My grandfather was an immigrant. My son-in-law is an immigrant. My familys story is part of a proud and productive American story, as is all of yours.

Six hundred and seventy miles away in South Bend, Ind., Father Jenkins saw it much the same way: If it stands, it will over time diminish the scope and strength of the educational and research efforts of American universities, which have been the source not only of intellectual discovery but of economic innovation for the United States and international understanding for our world; and, above all, it will demean our nation, whose true greatness has been its guiding ideals of fairness, welcome to immigrants, compassion for refugees, respect for religious faith and the courageous refusal to compromise its principles in the face of threats.

Some schools have made clear their support for both students and national security. That was the approach taken by Oral Roberts University President William M. Wilson, who said: We stand with our students and also support our nations attempts to protect its citizens through a thorough vetting process.  We are a global university with 90 nations represented and will continue to work with U.S. immigration to do whats best for the United States and for those seeking an education here.

Regardless of location, academic emphasis or even religious affiliation, the expressions have been nearly uniform in their concern for both students and faculty unable to gain entry to continue their work. And many presidents noted their membership in the Association of American Universities, whose own president, Mary Sue Coleman, issued a statement of her own, saying in part: We recognize the importance of a strong visa process to our nations security. However, the administrations new order barring the entry or return of individuals from certain countries is already causing damage and should end as quickly as possible.

There was one argument missing from the many statements I read: We are losing, perhaps poisoning, the ambassadorial role played by foreign students who come from places where America desperately lacks foot soldiers to properly present our way of life to individuals who lack access to an honest flow of information. Ask yourself, would you rather have Iranians gaining their information and insights about the United States from their supreme leader, or from the more than 12,000 Iranian students who study here?

Michael Smerconish can be heard from 9 a.m. to noon on SiriusXMs POTUS Channel 124 and seen hosting Smerconish at 9 a.m. Saturdays on CNN.
Bruno Serato is devastated by the fire that ravaged his Anaheim White House restaurant on Saturday.

But firefighters were able to salvage at least one singular, precious item.

At Seratos behest, they managed to work their way through the fires disastrous ruins and recover a rosary that Pope Francis once gave the philanthropic restaurateur.

Firefighters dug through the rubble on their hands and knees and were able to find the rosary and return it to Bruno, Anaheim Fire & Rescue announced on their Facebook page early Saturday afternoon.

The celebrated chef has said he attributes his success to God.

He is my boss, Serato told Religio Magazine in 2016. I only have one boss. I better listen to him because he can fire me anytime he wants to. I am lucky to have faith in God.

The interviewer asked Serato who in biblical history he would like to cook for.

My dream is to cook pasta for Jesus! Serato responded. But also I would like to cook for the Virgin Mary. It would be a gift to cook for God as well. One day I will. I know that when it is my time I will cook pasta for him.

I would also love to cook for Moses, Serato added. There are a lot of people in biblical history that I would love to cook for.
JOHNSTON | Although she said legislation to rebalance Iowas collective bargaining laws is nearly ready for consideration, House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, shared few details about what changes legislative majority Republicans have in mind.

Were very close to having a bill ready that we can look at, Upmeyer said during taping of Iowa Public Televisions Iowa Press Friday. Speculation around the Capitol is that Republicans, who control the House, Senate and Governors Office, will unveil their plans as soon as Monday.

Its been 40 years since Republican Gov. Robert Ray and the Legislature wrote Chapter 20 of the Iowa Code that sets out the collective bargaining process for local and state governments and public employees.

Since then, Upmeyer said, the balance has tipped in favor of between public employees.

Over the years, every time weve created a new mandate, every time a contract is reviewed, it is one more finger on the scale, she said. So what wed like to do is rebalance this a little bit.

Specifically, Republicans want to look at the arbitration process. Although both the public sector and private sector compete for the best and brightest minds, arbitrators are limited in comparing public employee wages to private sector wages when settling contracts.

That, Upmeyer said, turns taxpayers into an ATM machine. Rebalancing that a little differently would create a little more fairness.

Following the Senates lead, Upmeyer expects the House to Approve Senate File 2 to earmark about $3 million in state money to fund womens health-care clinics that do not offer abortion  a change opponents claimed would result in more unplanned pregnancies and fewer services in a political move to target Planned Parenthood.

Thats not a new position for House Republicans, Upmeyer said.

Weve passed this legislation, very similar wording, in our budget bills through the House in the past, she said. There are some new members of the GOP caucus, but she expects all of them will support SF 2 because it exactly what our supporters, the people at home, have asked us to do and that is not add dollars to abortion providers.

Iowa Press can be seen at noon Sunday on IPTV and at www.IPTV.org.
SACRAMENTO  The governments foremost responsibility is to administer a system of justice. Without a just system  due process for the accused, trustworthy trials, fair-minded judges, police and prosecutors  our society is at risk of unravelling. We need only consult the history books, or news stories from other lands, to see what happens when rule of law breaks down. Even if society survives such corruption, individuals suffer grave injustices.

Yet in my years of writing about the criminal-justice system, Ive found the public generally shrugs at these types of scandals. I blame two factors. First, the allegations typically are so complicated its hard to fully understand whats going on and the details often are shrouded in official secrecy. Second, law-abiding folks are so happy to see the bad guys get their just desserts that they arent too worried if the good guys dont play by the rules.

The result of such indifference is on display in Orange County, which stumbles from one law-enforcement scandal to another. Internal reviews are launched. Outside authorities are consulted. Investigations drag on for years. Few people are punished. No matter how compelling the evidence, things always return to the same old place: business as usual.

The latest eye-opening news came last month when Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals found the compelling evidence presented to the court related to serious misconduct engaged in by prosecution team members in an ongoing murder trial. He recused two prosecutors from the case  a moot point, given that they both have since been elected as judges.

Both deny knowing about an allegedly altered police report that is at the heart of the allegations, but the judges decision is the latest black eye for the district attorneys office. The case involves Cole Wilkins, a Long Beach man facing a murder trial after a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff died in a car wreck after swerving to avoid a stolen stove that fell off Wilkins truck.

The original California Highway Patrol report blamed the victims speed, according to a Register report. A CHP officer changed it to say that the accident wasnt the fault of the deputy who was driving and thus bolstered the charge against Wilkins. Goethals slammed the DAs office for failing to tell Wilkins lawyers about the original report, saying it was exculpatory. The DAs office said that even if they had known about it the information was immaterial to the case.

This latest news adds to the concerns expressed by the public defenders office and some prominent legal scholars, who have questioned the integrity of the Orange County criminal-justice system in light of the ongoing snitch scandal.

As the Register has reported, the law only allows informants to get confessions from inmates who dont have lawyers and have not been formally charged. Yet the newspaper revealed a secret and well-organized network of snitches, some paid, operating among the countys nearly 5,000 inmates, a world where some jailhouse informants essentially serve as undercover agents for law enforcement. Prosecutors also have been accused of another kind of illegal practice: withholding information about jailhouse informants from defense lawyers in violation of discovery laws.

The revelations have undermined quite a few of the DAs criminal cases, and caused Judge Goethals to remove the entire district attorneys office from the penalty phase of the trial in the case of the countys worst mass murder. Goethals issued an astounding rebuke to the local justice system.

The scandal evoked national media attention and even a scathing editorial in the New York Times, which complained about blatant and systemic problems in the DAs office while calling for a federal investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice. A group of 31 prominent law professors and attorneys and six national legal organizations in 2015 cited that Times article as part of their letter to then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch calling for a federal investigation of the Orange County justice system. Compelling evidence of pervasive police and prosecutorial misconduct in Orange County  has caused us great concern, they wrote.

This is a county where former Sheriff Mike Carona served 52 months of a 66-month sentence for felony witness tampering. In 2007, the DAs office released a grand jury inquiry into the beating death of John Chamberlain in the Theo Lacy jail that documented appalling behavior by the deputies. These cases are worth revisiting, given that the system continues to be plagued by scandal. When will enough be enough?

Its unlikely DA Tony Rackauckas will follow Chapman University law professor Mario Maineros suggestion he resign and be replaced by a political caretaker until the 2018 election. The Office of Independent Review has proven itself nearly worthless. Im unaware of any easy answers, as the federal investigation gets going and court cases unfold. But maybe if Orange County residents got a little more agitated at the situation, thered be more pressure for a solution.

Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute. He was a Register editorial writer from 1998 to 2009. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org.
By nearly every measure, Chief Petty Officer William Ryan Owens was exceptional. The 36-year-old, who was killed by enemy fire during a raid in Yemen last week, was a team leader in the Navys most elite commando force, SEAL Team 6, and had earned numerous awards for heroism under fire during a dozen deployments.

He was, one former SEAL Team 6 official said, a blooming star.

But on the night when gunfire erupted as he approached a suspected terrorist compound, hitting him in the chest, he joined a group in which he was suddenly more typical. Two-thirds of the troops killed in action in the last 12 months served in Special Operations units. Like Owens, they were the cream of the militarys crop  older and more experienced than the vast majority of troops, better trained and more decorated.

Over the last year, Special Operations troops have died in greater numbers than have conventional troops  a first. The fact that they now fill nearly the whole casualty list shows how the Pentagon, hesitant to put conventional troops on the ground, has come to depend almost entirely on small groups of elite warriors.

Weve moved out of the major combat operations business, said Linda Robinson, a counterterrorism expert at the Rand Corp. In recent years, she said, the military has effectively outsourced rank-and-file infantry duties to local forces in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

This counterterrorism model is much more efficient, Robinson said, noting that it avoids the economic entanglements of a yearslong occupation, and eliminates the need for complicated exit strategies. But the flip side, she said, is that the U.S. troops left in harms way are elite.

To be sure, the number of U.S. troops killed in combat has plunged in the last five years, as President Barack Obama brought home more than 200,000 troops. In 2010, more than 500 service members were killed in action. Since the beginning of 2016, 18 have died. But 12 of them were elite trainers and commandos. Special Operations troops make up about 5 percent of the military.

The Pentagon has more than doubled the number of Special Operations troops since 2001 and has offered generous re-enlistment bonuses to keep valued members from leaving, but many say the demands on Special Operations units are hard to sustain.

These are the most impressive guys youll ever meet in your life, said Jim Moriarty, a trial lawyer in Houston who served three tours with the Marines in Vietnam. They are extremely competent. His son, Staff Sgt. James Moriarty Jr., 27, was killed in November with two other Green Berets in Jordan, where they were training Syrian rebel fighters with the Armys 5th Special Forces Group.

At the funeral, Moriarty spoke to other members of his sons team and found them showing the wear of constant deployment. Many were divorced; others talked about getting out of the Army.

I worry all this reliance on them is really using them up, he said.

Many of the troops killed last year had been deployed to war zones for the better part of a decade. Elijah Crane joined the Navy in 2001 and got out of the military in 2014. One of his best friends, Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Charles Chuck Keating IV, 31, stayed. Keating was killed last spring fighting Islamic State fighters in Iraq.

Between training and deployments, SEAL team members are often away from home 280 days a year, Crane said, and the pullback of conventional forces has made the job that much more hectic. But, he said, the retention rate for the units is still one of the highest in the Navy.

Guys like Chuck, they are doing what they want to do. Its not about money or recognition, its about making a difference, he said. It can be a strain, but as SEALs, we know the deal. There are a lot of people out there that want to hurt Americans. If it comes down to us over there or someones grandma over here, wed rather it be us.
President Donald Trump, asked by an interviewer Saturday whether he respected President Vladimir Putin of Russia even though he is a killer, seemed to equate Putins transgressions with past actions by the U.S.

You got a lot of killers, he told the interviewer, Bill OReilly of Fox News. What, you think our countrys so innocent?

Trump has long expressed his admiration for the Russian leaders strength. But his willingness to seemingly draw a moral equivalence to actions by Putin, who has brutally suppressed dissent by eliminating political enemies, led to an eruption on social media.

Many asked how conservatives would have reacted had President Barack Obama, or other Democrats, compared U.S. actions to Putins.

The exchange surfaced Saturday night in an excerpt from the interview, which is to be broadcast before the Super Bowl today. What Trump was specifically referring to, or whether there was added context that came after his comment, was not immediately clear based on the excerpt that was made available.

In the interview, Trump said he respected Putin, adding that he respected a lot of people, but that doesnt mean Im going to get along with him.

Trumps campaign pledge to mend ties with Moscow has raised questions over his administrations commitment to maintaining sanctions against Russia for its involvement in the fighting in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea.

He said he was willing to work with Kiev and Moscow to resolve a separatist conflict in Ukraine, after a phone call with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday, Reuters reported.

In another excerpt from the Fox interview, Trump was asked whether it was irresponsible for him to say that 3 million illegal immigrants voted in the election while lacking the evidence to support that assertion.

When you see illegals, people that are not citizens and theyre on the registration rolls, he started to say before shifting. Look, Bill, we can be babies, but you take a look at the registration, you have illegals, you have dead people, you have this  its really a bad situation, its really bad.
WESTMINSTER  A construction worker honors his father by rebuilding classic motorbikes and Vietnam War-era military jeeps.

A high school sophomore connects with her Vietnamese culture by dancing in a lions costume amid the smoke and rat-a-tat-tat of firecrackers.

A Little Saigon outsider, who carried his daughter on his shoulders as he watched the Tet Parade for the first time, wants to expose her and his toddler son to the Vietnamese side of their heritage.

The annual Tet Parade, celebrating the Lunar New Year, marched down Bolsa Avenue in Westminster Saturday morning, a Little Saigon rite that is equal parts well-wishing for the year ahead, and commemoration of ancestors, soldiers who died fighting communism and a homeland that, in many ways, ceased to exist when Saigon fell nearly 42 years ago.

Since the end of the Vietnam War, the spirit of that homeland  the Republic of South Vietnam  has lived on in Little Saigon, the largest concentration of Vietnamese-Americans in the United States and the heart of the Southeast Asian nations diaspora. The Tet Parade  with its lion dancers, veterans in military fatigues and youthful marching bands  is an annual retelling of this communitys journey from homesick refugees to struggling immigrants to essential stitches in the American fabric of diversity.

We celebrated the New Year like this in Vietnam, said Tan Tinh Chiu, 82, a colonel in the South Vietnam Marines, sitting in a 1971 General Motors military Jeep with his wife, Da Ly, before the parade. To be in the parade means a lot. Im a little nervous.

8 A.M.

Vincent Le, 45, crouched on the sidewalk, wrench in hand.

He was tuning up a black 1964 French Velosolex. The Velosolex is a motorized bicycle  yes, it has pedals  that was popular in Vietnam in the mid-20th century, perfect for navigating the narrow, rules-be-damned chaos of Saigons streets.

Id say 90 percent of people here used one of these bikes, said Le, a Fountain Valley resident. Seeing them helps them remember what it was like.

Le, a construction worker, rebuilds the classic motor bikes as a hobby. He owns several  as well as two military Jeeps, which he loaned out to parade organizers, including the one Col. Chiu drove in.

He rebuilds them, he said, to honor his father, who fought in the Vietnam War, and other veterans.

When he was younger, his dad, who is 77, never spoke of the war. But since he started rebuilding motor bikes several years ago, his father has opened up to Le. His father, Le said, is proud of him  and was in the crowd to watch his son ride down Bolsa.

I dont know why he started telling me his stories, Le said. I think he wants me to be a good father to my own children and thats why.

Dressed in military fatigues as an homage to those who fought, Le said that honoring Vietnam veterans is more important than ever  as, like the World War II generation, they are getting older and increasingly dying.

Each year, there are less and less at the parade, Le said. We have to honor those who died and those who came before us. That is what this day is all about.

9:30 A.M.

Diana Nguyen lifted an oversized, intricately designed lions head into the air and carefully placed it over her own. Her partner, a fellow high school student, slid under the tail as if it were a cape.

The emcee said something in Vietnamese over the loudspeakers as politicians and other prominent community members held ignition switches. The VIPs hit their ignitions and shuffled backward.

Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat: Empty firecracker shells pelted the audience in the front row, smoke billowed into the air  and evil spirits, as tradition has it, fled in fear.

But Nguyen, and her fellow lion dancers, rushed toward the firecrackers, shaking the feline heads and lifting their partners onto their shoulders.

I was scared the first time I did it and got hit a lot (by the shells), said Nguyen, 15, a Westminster High student who was one of the lion dancers during the opening ceremonies. Im not scared anymore. Its an adrenaline rush, in a good way.

Nguyen, a second-time dancer at the parade, advised that the most important thing when dancing under firecrackers as they explode up a stick of bamboo is to remember your smoke mask and earplugs.

Being in front of all those people connects you to your city and your culture, Nguyen said afterward, her parents somewhere in the throng of thousands. It makes you feel special.

11 A.M.

Robert Jerald, 45, held his daughters ankles as she sat on his shoulders. Diella, 3 1/2 years old, donned a red ao dai dress.

Jerald, a San Pedro resident, moved his shoulders side-to-side  Diella, smiling, enjoying the ride  as he watched a procession of veterans march along Bolsa. It was his first time at the Lunar New Year Celebration.

Its great, he said. It opens your eyes to other cultures.

Jerald is African-American. His wife, Tuyet, is Vietnamese  born in Miami, raised in Houston (home of another populous Little Saigon), the daughter of refugees who made it on to one of the last planes out of Saigon.

Jerald, who is still learning about Vietnamese culture and those who fled their homeland, said its important to him that his children learn about both their African-American and Vietnamese cultures  adding that he wants Diella and 1-year-old Kai to speak Vietnamese so they can better communicate with their aunts and uncles, who live in Westminster.

My entire life, I only knew of one new year, he said. But being here, I realize that every culture can have its own idea about when a year starts and ends. Its important, in America, to recognize these different cultures.

Tuyet Jerald, 36, who moved to California a decade ago and married Robert five years ago, said its nice having different cultures  and being a part of different cultures  in America.

Not everyone gets to be Vietnamese, she said. As far as inculcating her children into Vietnamese and African American cultures, Tuyet said: You dont teach them. They just are. Theyre a part of it.

Tuyets definition of the Lunar New Year illustrates, in essence, the story of Little Saigon.

To me, she said, its about rebirth.

Contact the writer: 714-796-6979 or chaire@scng.com
NATICK, Mass.  Ronald Arlie Christensen died Aug. 11 2016, at Natick, Massachusetts.

Born Nov. 29, 1937, in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, to Arlie and Elinore (Smetana) Christensen, the eldest of four children. He grew up in Mason City, Iowa, and graduated from Mason City High School as valedictorian. He went on to earn a B.S. in electrical engineering from Iowa State University, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from California Institute of Technology, a J.D. from Harvard University Law School, and a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of California at Berkeley.

He worked for IBM in Germany, the Rand Corp., the US Department of Justice's newly created Science and Technology Section during the Johnson administration, and Arthur D. Little Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before establishing his own statistical analysis consulting firm, Entropy Limited in Massachusetts.

He was a true Renaissance man with an insatiable curiosity about the world around him. Scientist, writer, teacher, artist, piano student, avid collector of books, music,and movies. Later in life he traveled the world. He was on the board of directors of the Whale Institute. He enjoyed monthly meetings of like-minded friends in a science club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also enjoyed attending musical events at Boston Symphony Hall and Tanglewood.

Ronald loved to play chess, GO, and pool with his two grandsons, whom he adored.

He was a gentle soul, loved by many, always fun to be with.

He is survived by his beloved long time companion and best friend, Barbara Hogan, his children Shaun Cutts and Joanna of Allston, MA, and Shannon Cutts of Coventry, RI, his grandchildren, Morgan and Oliver Cutts, his brothers Dennis Christensen of Cedar Rapids, IA, and Larry Christensen of Victor, Idaho, and sister Mary Lou Christensen and John Swenson of Medford, MA, as well as many nieces and nephews and dear friends.
The first thing you might notice about an Omaha boy named Ghaith is that hes very well-behaved.

He sits with his mom, Sahar, and his dad, Ahmed, on a donated couch in a donated house on a quiet old street in Elkhorn. He does not squirm or whine or ask to play Minecraft or complain about the strangers in his living room asking questions in a language he is just beginning to learn. He does not sulk the way a kid might after being warned to be good.

Watch as Ghaith patiently sits through a laborious interview that takes twice as long because of the Arabic translation. You may wonder how his parents do it. You may think: My 8-year-old cant sit still like this.

Then, once the grown-ups are done, the second thing you notice about the eldest of the Al Kango children is that Ghaith positively glows. He could be on a cereal box. A real scrubbed-cheek American kid picture of health. Bright eyes. Darling smile. A face that shines when  and only upon request, because hes not a show-off, but he IS proud  he recites what he has learned since coming here at Christmastime. The ABCs. Numbers. Words like horse and elephant and zoo, which he has visited here.

Good job, you say.

Thank you, he replies, clear as a bell and so eagerly you think, OK. This Syrian refugee kid is going to be all right.

Hell be all right for a number of reasons, not the least of which is this: Ghaith Al Kango and his family got into the United States right before the door behind them slammed shut. Ghaiths aunt and uncle are going to be stuck in their refugee home in Turkey indefinitely. President Donald Trumps temporary executive order banned refugees for 120 days and Syrians for an indefinite period. A federal judges ruling appears to reopen the door, but no one knows for how long given the administrations appeal.

I first met the Al Kangos at Eppley Airfield two days before Christmas, when welcomers from St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church greeted them. The west Omaha parish sent its pastor and two dozen parishioners holding balloons, signs, flowers, toys. Ahmed and Sahar, who is pregnant, and their three sons were absolutely stunned. They were tired and overwhelmed but wore faces of astonishment.

The greeting, which continued in the Elkhorn home with a hot meal on the stove and loaded fridge, new pajamas on freshly made beds and new toys, made such an impression that, five weeks later, they were still talking about it.

We saw how the people received us in a great way, Ahmed said through a translator. We were so, so happy. We saw that the American people, they treated us very well. I really cannot describe how nice the people welcomed us, how they treated us. I felt safety. I felt relaxed. It was good, good.

Sahar added that her children  Ghaith; Mohamad, who is turning 7 this month; and toddler Abdulrazzaq  love the women from St. Wenceslaus who come to visit. The kids cry when they leave.

We didnt expect all that, Sahar went on. They hugged us. They called us by names. We didnt know what to say or do. I was so happy I was laughing. Nobody hugged us like that in Turkey.

What did they think of Trumps order?

Ahmed and Sahar said they could understand why Americans might fear people from places that are riven by violence. They get how terrorist attacks make people afraid. They believe its important to vet newcomers to the United States, as they were. It took four interviews, an ultrasound to confirm Sahars pregnancy and multiple document checks over the span of 15 months for them to come here.

I think theyre right to be worried until they can trust. Because they dont know, Sahar said through the translator.

But they wish Americans could understand just how awful things are in Syria so they could truly appreciate why people who otherwise would want to stay put have uprooted themselves at great peril.

Ahmed tried to explain.

The Syrian people are living in very hard times  like bombing from airplanes. Food is very scarce. Children are being killed daily. Many of the children dont go to school, he said. The Syrian people are really traumatized. They are really in a big disaster.

He added: By nature, the Syrian people are very peaceful people, not violent in their nature.

Ahmed explained how his brother and his wife were killed by a bomb, leaving their little girl an orphan. He explained how his father in Syria needed cancer treatment but had to travel to Turkey to get it. And Turkeys got plenty of problems of its own, including a scarcity of jobs. A man might get lucky to find work that pays $200 a month, and thats not enough there to cover needs.

The life of a refugee in Turkey is very tough, he said.

Ahmed has another brother, married to Sahars sister, and their family hopes to come to the United States. Everyone was heartbroken when Trumps order was issued.

Ahmed tells his brother that Trumps order does not reflect the wishes of many Americans. He tells his brother about the airport protests and pro-immigrant rallies in cities including Omaha. And he holds up the warm welcome the family received as further proof of the kindheartedness of Americans and their willingness to welcome the outsider.

Mostly, the Al Kangos discussed how theyve settled in. They depend on their St. Wenceslaus friends for rides everywhere because they have no car yet and because their Elkhorn location makes public transportation impossible. They are still waiting for a doctor appointment so their two older boys can get vaccines and get into school. (The long wait is a typical hardship for newly resettled refugee children in Omaha because there is only one clinic handling all refugees.)

Ahmed has had one job interview and plans to work the first job he can get. Meanwhile, he and Sahar have already taken some English classes, but their out-of-the-way location makes it difficult. Their St. Wenceslaus helpers have kept the kids busy with games, educational videos and trips to the Henry Doorly Zoo and Childrens Museum.

Were just so happy theyre here, said Kaela Volkmer, who is coordinating the parish care of this family and is personally hosting a birthday party at her home for Sahar. She is also arranging a parish friendship party on Feb. 12.

The help that Kaela and the other parishioners has given is more extensive than typical for other Omaha refugees, said translator Magid Girgis. He sees many refugee families arrive with no sponsors at all, just the already-strapped staff of resettlement agencies. Magids phone rings constantly with people in need.

On this quiet street in Elkhorn, it is not hard to see how an investment like the one St. Wenceslaus has made is paying off. The Al Kango family appears settled, stable and launched in the kind of way youd hope. One look at Ghaith shows why.

In rapid-fire English, he says:

What is your name?

How are you?

And then, in a gesture we have long associated with American openness, Ghaith stood, waved his arm and said: Come.
Kiersten Miles had been nannying for only three weeks when she made the decision.

The baby girl for whom Miles had started caring had a rare, life-threatening liver disease in which her liver's central bile duct had been inexplicably destroyed and bile was building up into her liver, the baby's mother said.

The whites of her eyes were gray.

Her skin was yellow.

And some doctors predicted that the child might not live past her second birthday.

But 22-year-old Miles had a solution: She would give the girl a piece of her own liver.

"Especially for a baby who can't really ask for help, it didn't seem like that much of a sacrifice," she told The Washington Post, "because I'd be saving a life."

Earlier this month, Miles donated a portion of her liver to Talia Rosko  a priceless gift that the child's family says saved the 16-month-old's life.

George and Farra Rosko, of Jackson, New Jersey, hired Miles in summer 2016 to take care of Talia, as well as Talia's two older siblings.

Just weeks after Miles took the job, she said, she started thinking about Talia's condition and how she might be able to help. She said she started researching living organ donation because "I was just curious, I guess," and she thought she might be a good candidate because she knew her blood type was O, which is compatible with all other blood types, according to the American Red Cross.

Almost immediately, Miles said, she knew she wanted to see if she could do it.

She said she talked to her own mother, then prepared to sit down with Talia's parents.

"I was nervous for some reason  I'm not sure why," Miles said about the conversation with Farra Rosko. "I just told her I had done some research, and I wanted to fill out the paperwork to see if I was a match."

The first thing Rosko asked her was whether she had spoken to her own parents about it.

"This is a serious thing," Rosko said she told Miles. "This is not like donating blood."

"I was very taken aback," Rosko told The Post. "I didn't know that she was this selfless  I've come to find out that this is who she is. She really is an angel on earth; I know that sounds silly, but she really is."

Over the next several months, Miles, of Wall, N.J., underwent rounds of testing to determine whether she was eligible to be Talia's donor. When she discovered she was, she made a "surreal" sacrifice, Rosko said.

When Talia was 9 weeks old, Rosko said, her pediatrician noticed that her eyes "were off" and sent her to a specialist for further testing and a liver biopsy. It was determined that the infant had biliary atresia, "a life-threatening condition in infants in which the bile ducts inside or outside the liver do not have normal openings," according to National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

It states:

"With biliary atresia, bile becomes trapped, builds up, and damages the liver. The damage leads to scarring, loss of liver tissue, and cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is a chronic, or long lasting, liver condition caused by scar tissue and cell damage that makes it hard for the liver to remove toxins from the blood. These toxins build up in the blood and the liver slowly deteriorates and malfunctions. Without treatment, the liver eventually fails and the infant needs a liver transplant to stay alive."

Rosko said that Talia's central bile duct was "obliterated" and that she was eventually put on a transplant list, though Rosko explained that it can take much more time to find a liver for a small child.

The Roskos met Miles about the same time their daughter was placed on the list.

On Jan. 11, medical teams removed a portion of Miles' liver at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and rushed it next door to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where they implanted it in Talia.

"Once they had taken [the piece of] the liver out, they told us," Rosko said. "That's a pretty powerful moment. When it was happening, it was surreal."

It was a moment that Rosko said she never really expected to come.

"We didn't even know her," Rosko said of Miles. "I thought it was wonderful that she offered, but I didn't really think it would go through. It's not something that people do every day."

But it did  and when Talia woke up, she first asked for her mom.

"She looked up and said, 'Mama,' " Rosko said. "It was miraculous."

Not far away, Miles was also recovering, from her liver donation.

She said the most emotional moment for her was shortly after she woke up from surgery. She said she had been concerned that something would go wrong with her liver and it wouldn't work inside Talia's small body.

"I don't know if it was all the emotions building up over time, but I asked one of the surgeons if I could see Talia," Miles said. "He told me that I could definitely see her in the next couple of days. He said she was doing great. And when he left, I just started bawling.

"I think I was just really happy and really relieved at the same time."

Later on, when they reunited, Rosko said, "It was a magical moment."

"When I saw Kiersten come in, my heart skipped a beat," Rosko said.

"It was like a movie star coming in," she said of Miles. "Even the doctors and the nurses were saying, 'Is this your live donor? Oh, my God, tell me the story.' Everybody was just so taken aback by her generosity."

Miles said when she saw Talia, "It just reminded me why I did it all."

Talia's mother said the baby girl will be able to taper off medications over the next year, though she will likely have to take anti-rejection drugs the rest of her life.

Miles, a college student studying special education, said she has a five-inch scar and can never again donate part of her liver, even if it's a perfect match for one of her own family members in the future.

But she said she doesn't mind.

After their surgeries, she said, Talia smiled at her, and "it just made everything worth it."

She said she has been overwhelmed with the response she has gotten, even from strangers.

"I'm overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support I've received over the past few weeks and continue to receive," Miles wrote on Facebook on Saturday. "So many people, many whom I don't even know, have shared the story of my donation to Talia. I've tried to at least 'like' every post I've seen but I just wanted to say THANK YOU! Thank you so, so much. Every share spreads more awareness about living liver donation and organ donation in general. Once again, I really appreciate all of the shares and messages. They mean so much to me. You all are the absolute best!"

Rosko said that she doesn't know what would have happened to her daughter if Miles hadn't come into their lives when she did.

"I think people need to know that prayer does work, angels do exist and miracles happen every day," she said. "I don't know where we would be without Kiersten."
Halfway around the world, on the developing island of Madagascar, scientists from the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium are establishing one of the largest and most successful reforestation programs of any zoo in the world.

The Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership aims to restore lost habitat  primarily in the form of native trees  for endangered lemurs. After five years, the program planted its 1 millionth tree in December.

Its amazing that this has happened, said Dr. Edward Louis Jr., founder and director of the partnership. We have hilltops that were completely barren  they had mostly ferns before  and now they have trees and lemurs in it.

The partnership was born out of research on the island by Louis, the zoos director of conservation genetics. He and his team of employees here at the zoo have been studying lemurs on Madagascar for almost 20 years. As several of the native primates continue to fight the threat of extinction, Louis research has helped identify the ways to best protect those species, including reforestation.

During his time in Madagascar, Louis has described more than 20 species of lemur, elevating several others from subspecies level to species. Along the way, his team learned that seeds for some of the islands trees have a terrible germination rate, except when they pass through the guts of certain species of lemur.

So Louis organized the partnership, a nongovernmental organization owned and operated mostly by local residents. They plant corridors of young trees using seeds found in lemur poop and prioritize trees that meet the needs of the local people by providing lumber and fruit.

Louis and his team are rebuilding lemur habitat lost to agriculture, mining and other causes, and theyre doing it overwhelmingly with the help of the local people.

The partnership currently employs more than 40 people dedicated to reforestation, and the program works with more than 2,000 local people who planted more than 400,000 trees in 2016.

Malagasy people are embracing the program not only for employment but also because of what it means for Madagascars habitat and the pride they attach to it, said Fredo Tera, the programs reforestation community liaison and manager of the Kianjavato Ahmanson Field Station.

We call our country the green country, Tera said. I want to keep Madagascar green. That is important to me.

The partnership has four reforestation sites: Montagne des Francais, Kianjavato, Andasibe and Lavavolo.

In Kianjivato, a community of about 12,000 people in intimate villages among wild coffee, cinnamon and mangos, single mothers came together to form the Vehivavy Vonona association, which works with the MBP to maintain the nurseries and the plants. Men often tote supplies, aid with construction and dig the holes.

There, Louis and the partnership established or upgraded 18 nurseries and started a conservation credit program. Workers earn a competitive daily wage and, in addition, gain credit for a percentage of the trees planted on a given day, which they can then exchange for rocket stoves, backpacks, solar panels and other supplies.

They say I would not be alive if it wasnt for the MBP, I can send my five kids to school now, I couldnt do that before,  Louis said. You sit there and go This is ridiculous. Its very humbling that you could have that big of an impact on this local community.

The operation runs all week long, but trees are planted only on Wednesdays and Fridays for two hours in the morning. When its time to plant, its like an assembly line. A machine, as Louis described it.

That machine keeps getting better and better. The program has drastically increased production, doubling the number of trees it plants almost every year.

In December the workers planted what they thought was the programs millionth tree, but a counting mistake meant they were about 3,500 trees short. Instead of waiting until planting resumed in 2017, they sprang into action the very next day.

All the nursery managers were really disappointed, so they just got together and they planted more than 3,500, Louis said. Everyone mobilized and did it. Theyre proud of this program.

So is the zoo. Dr. Lee Simmons, former zoo director and chairman of the Omaha Zoo Foundation, said he supported Louis work early not because Madagascar was necessarily a target by the zoo but because he knew Louis had a passion for the island and would do good work.

We were smart enough to see thats where the fire in his belly was and we supported it, Simmons said.

Louis work in Madagascar is the zoos most expensive conservation effort, accounting for $1.2 million of the zoos estimated $1.7 million conservation spending in 2016.

Our Madagascar program is a cornerstone of our entire conservation portfolio, said Dennis Pate, the zoos executive director and CEO. Dr. Louis and his staff have earned highest honors as the top international conservation program among accredited zoos, and we are all very proud of his extraordinary commitment to saving lemurs.

The Association of Zoos & Aquariums, which oversees American zoos, awarded the project its 2010 AZA International Conservation Award and has given the partnership its Conservation Grants Fund grant twice, totaling more than $25,000.

Dr. Louis does excellent work and works with communities to help guide his approaches and activities in conservation and science, said Rob Vernon, senior vice president of external affairs for the association. Only the strongest projects most likely to be successful receive funding support.

In 2014, the Nebraska-based Arbor Day Foundation got involved with the project. The foundation sent an email to gauge the interest of its members, and the response was a resounding yes. To date, the foundation has funded more than 600,000 seedlings.

Our members love this, said Woodrow Nelson, the foundations vice president of marketing communications. I dont see that anything is going to slow down. Were able to help Ed more and more every year.

When Louis retires or leaves the island  a not-too-distant reality for the 57-year-old  he wants to ensure the partnership will be in good hands.

Currently hes the only non-Malagasy person in an executive position with the organization, and when he steps down hell hand over control to the locals. He has been building it that way on purpose.

The whole idea is to transfer all this stuff, that we can spread the word and the methodology and other people can get involved and do this, Louis said. Thats the whole point besides helping the local people and the local animals there.

Hand in hand with that mission, Louis wife, Susie McGuire Louis, heads the separate international NGO Conservation Fusion, which is focused on education at primary, secondary and university levels. Theyre teaching kids, and adults, how to live alongside the wildlife in a way that benefits all.

When we first got there, when we asked the kids Who are hunting and who are eating lemurs?  said Tahiana Andriananjamanantsoa, a Ph.D. botanist and Madagascar native who is currently a supervisor in the MBP, most of them raised their hands. But after the education class, etc., now we can say that all of the people in the area that got the information, none of them are doing the hunting anymore.

Of course, they have a long way to go. The push to promote habitat gain is about so much more than just planting trees.

For instance, the partnership is heavily reliant on grant funding. Its something Louis hopes to change before hes done.

They could sell some trees from their nurseries, propagated using lemur poop, to raise funds. But the real untapped opportunity, Louis said, is ecotourism.

His sites offer some of the highest chances to see an aye-aye  the worlds largest nocturnal primate  in the wild, he said. But the tourism infrastructure is poor: Not only does the island lack hotels and restaurants, but also in many places restrooms and roads.

The process starts by earning official protection for some of its worksites. From there they can further develop the areas and try to bring in some revenue to expand the reforestation program. That, of course, takes time.

What we have now is just the beginning, Andriananjamanantsoa said. We hope that we will bring sustainability to the local people because this is still a huge deal and a huge challenge for us. The whole goal is to have the local community self-sufficient.

Right now, we can say that we didnt reach the target yet.

Just as with reforesting the lost habitat on the island, the conservation war is fought and won with small battles. Each seed planted and every scoop of lemur poop is a step in the right direction.

Its a long process. An exhausting one.

But that hard work is already showing results.

Im walking under 5- or 8-meter (26 feet) forests in some areas now, its crazy, Louis said. There was nothing there, and now theres a forest.
A study this year will assess whether the Bellevue Bridge is still needed, and if not, how much life it has left.

Don Fenster, chairman of the Bellevue Bridge Commission, said the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency has been asked to perform a needs study as the first step toward receiving state or federal funds to repair or replace the bridge.

Sue Cutsforth, MAPA spokesperson, said the regional planning organization has agreed to conduct the study once the project makes its way through normal MAPA procedures and funding is secured. No contract has yet been signed with the Bellevue Bridge Commission or any other body, she said.

Fenster said the bridge, which has been an inseparable part of Bellevues image since its construction in 1950, will be inspected this summer. He hopes it will be found to have 20 years of life left.

Well have to see, he said.

One problem facing the bridge, Fenster said, is that the road on the Iowa side is no longer designated a highway and is ineligible for state or federal funding.

But first, he said, we have to decide if there is a need for the bridge. Thats what MAPA will do. That will decide whether we do away with it, build a new one or do something else.

Papillion Fire Department sets record for calls

The Papillion Fire Department responded to a record number of calls in 2016.

The number of fire and rescue runs made over the year  3,940  is an increase of 470 from 2015.

Fire Chief Bill Bowes said a number of factors contribute to the record number, the most obvious being an increase in the population.

Weve typically seen about 10 percent growth in the number of calls from year to year, but this was higher than normal, Bowes said.

But Bowes said that when you compare the departments coverage area, which includes about 65,000 people, with similar areas, the volume of calls is far fewer.

In comparable population areas our call volume is much lower, and Im not exactly sure what that is, he said. One positive is that it means our citizens are taking care of themselves a little better than in other places.
WASHINGTON  Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., took issue Sunday with the way President Donald Trump called out the federal judge who blocked his temporary ban on immigrants and refugees from seven largely Muslim countries.

George Stephanopoulos, host of ABCs "This Week," asked the senator about a presidential tweet stating that the so-called judge had issued a ridiculous order that would be overturned.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

I dont understand language like that, Sasse said. We dont have so-called judges. We dont have so-called senators. We dont have so-called presidents. We have people from three different branches of government who take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. And its important that we do better civics education for our kids. So we dont have any so-called judges. We have real judges.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle suspended the presidents travel ban, and early Sunday a federal appeals court denied the Trump administrations request to set aside the ruling.

Sasses appearance was his first on one of the Sunday shows since he was sworn in in 2015. His last appearance was as an incoming freshman, after the election but before taking office.

Joining the program by video feed from Nebraska, Sasse wore a dress shirt without a jacket or tie. He referred at one point during the interview to his 5-year-old son running around in the background getting ready for church.

Stephanopoulos asked about comments Trump made regarding Russian leader Vladimir Putin during an interview with Fox News Bill OReilly, which was set to air later Sunday.

OReilly pressed Trump about his statements of respect for Putin and said that Putin is a killer. Trump responded by saying that we have a lot of killers and rhetorically asked if the United States is so innocent.

Sasse noted that he had seen only short clips of the interview in question, so he was unsure whether there was additional missing context for the presidents statements.

But he said that the United States believes in free speech and free press and that it celebrates religion and political dissent. Putin is opposed to those values, he said.

There is no moral equivalency between the United States of America  the greatest freedom-loving nation in the history of the world  and the murderous thugs that are in Putins defense of his cronyism, Sasse said. Theres no moral equivalency there.

More broadly, Sasse said he doesnt understand Trumps position on Russia, which Sasse said is a great danger to its neighbors as it tries to break up one of the greatest military alliances in history  NATO.

Putin is a mess, hes committed all sorts of murderous thuggery, and I am opposed to the way Putin conducts himself in world affairs, and I hope that the president also wants to show moral leadership about this issue, he said.

As a new member of the Judiciary Committee, Sasse will help review Neil Gorsuch, Trumps nominee for the Supreme Court. Sasse reiterated his strong support for the nomination.

Judge Gorsuch is a rock star and I applaud the president for this pick, Sasse said. This is the kind of guy that the founders envisioned serving as a judge. He affirms the three branches of government and wants to defend individual rights and uphold the Constitution. Everybody across the political spectrum should celebrate him.

Sasse was an outspoken critic of Trumps during the presidential campaign and refused to vote for him, instead writing in the name of Vice President Mike Pence.

Stephanopoulos asked Sunday whether the first weeks of this presidency have increased his confidence in Trumps leadership.

Sasse said its important to distinguish between campaigning and governing and that its most constructive to vigorously debate specific areas of disagreement on a case-by-base basis, all while hoping the president does a good job and recognizing success.

When the president does something great like he did in nominating Neil Gorsuch, absolute rock star, Im going to applaud him and salute it and celebrate it and try to campaign hard for Gorsuch to get confirmed, Sasse said.

This report includes material from the Associated Press.
WASHINGTON  When President Barack Obama was blocked by Congress on issues ranging from gun control to immigration, he turned more than once to executive actions to get his way.

In response, congressional Republicans complained that Obama had overstepped his authority  ruling by executive fiat instead of working with Congress to set policy. And they cheered when judges reined in some of Obamas orders, such as those dealing with immigration.

But as President Donald Trump starts his administration with his own stream of executive actions, many of his fellow Republicans have been more willing to go along with the way Trump is exercising authority.

There is a certain irony here in that me and others were very acutely aware of the grasping of more and more presidential power by President Obama and exercising it through executive orders, said Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb. President Trumps use of the executive order has also been robust.

Fortenberry said the executive branchs power has been expanding for a century or more, and that many Americans today have the erroneous belief that Congress is supposed to do what the president tells it to do.

Midlands lawmakers object to that idea. They consider the legislative branch to be equal to the executive and dont want presidents to set important policy with only the stroke of a pen rather than a congressional vote.

Still, Fortenberry and several other Nebraska and Iowa members of Congress told The World-Herald that they were willing to give Trump some latitude because some of his executive orders are aimed at rolling back Obamas policies. They said they had not seen him overstep any legal boundaries yet.

Besides, they added, Trump is moving swiftly to implement what he told voters he would do.

Said Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb.: Its not a surprise  or it shouldnt be a surprise to anybody.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has praised the president for using executive action to essentially implement legislation she and other Midlands lawmakers sponsored known as Sarahs law. That measure would require immigration officials to hold onto individuals in the country illegally if they are accused of crimes resulting in death or serious injury.

Theres a number of things that youll see the American people are behind, and thats what were trying to promote, Ernst said.

Simply comparing the numbers of executive orders between administrations can be misleading, because those orders can range from relatively minor matters to sweeping initiatives on hot-button topics. And some executive actions arent officially orders but rather are classified as memoranda.

A number of Trumps executive orders have gone beyond merely reversing the actions of his predecessors orders  something that often happens when the White House changes hands.

When Trump set out his administrations approach to immigration enforcement, he also penned language cracking down on sanctuary jurisdictions by withholding their federal funds.

Court challenges to that move are expected.

Trump also signed an order calling for expedited approval of pipelines such as the controversial Keystone XL, which Obama had rejected.

Given support for the project in Congress, Trump likely could have waited for bipartisan legislation. Instead, he did it on his own  and also made clear his additional condition that the project should use materials made in the United States.

Midlands lawmakers said they plan to keep an eye on Trumps actions. But so far, they seem satisfied that he is coloring inside the lines with his orders.

Its been appropriate, the use that hes had of them so far, Fischer said. Am I watching it? Yeah, Im watching it. I am a proponent of co-equal branches of government, so Im watching it.

Fischer and her GOP colleagues were less happy with Obamas executive actions.

Its the presidents responsibility to abide by the Constitution he swore to protect and defend  that means faithfully executing our nations laws, Fischer once said of Obama. Unfortunately, what the American people have seen from this administration is an unprecedented level of government overreach and too many efforts to work around Congress through executive orders.

On gun control, Ernst previously said she opposed Obamas overreaching and unilateral actions and stressed that the American people must have a voice through their elected representatives in Congress.

Former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., said the process of consolidating power in the executive branch has been going on for years.

While Kerrey backed Obama for president, he said he was unhappy with Obamas use of unilateral action when he couldnt get a measure through Congress. Kerrey said he hopes Republicans will stand up to Trump if he does the same.

Kerrey said Trumps action imposing a hiring freeze is well within the presidents purview. But other actions that Trump has taken go too far, Kerrey said, and Congress risks making itself less and less relevant if it doesnt speak up.

When the president starts to write law  which he did with that Keystone executive order  Congress needs to object, Kerrey said, because otherwise they might as well just go home.

The legislative process is messy and slow by design, Kerrey said, and its accountable to the people.

I dont know how they could have criticized President Obama for being an imperial president  and that was the language they used  and not do the same now, he said.

One Senate observer, Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report, suggested Republicans on Capitol Hill might look to judges as a check on Trump rather than fight him directly.

I think congressional Republicans, particularly the leadership, are picking their battles. And the executive orders probably arent among them if there is a good chance that the courts will overturn them or at least stay them, Duffy said.

If courts do rule against some of Trumps orders, she said, then congressional Republicans will have proven the point about presidential overreach under two presidents.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., was among those Republicans outspoken in criticizing Obamas actions, and hes also speaking against unilateralism by a Republican president.

Sasse opposed Trump in the campaign, and after the November election he penned an essay about the importance of standing up to the executive branch.

Im hopeful that my Democratic colleagues  who swallowed their whistles while President Obama expanded the powers of the executive and ran roughshod many times over the Constitution  will learn this lesson, he wrote. And Im equally hopeful that my GOP colleagues who rightly decried President Obamas use of unilateral executive power will be equally quick to challenge executive overreach even when its done by a Republican.

In an interview, Sasse noted that there is a difference between questioning whether an executive action is prudent or constitutional.

An example of questioning whether a policy is prudent, Sasse said, would be his criticism of Trumps travel ban on the basis that it was too broad. Sasse said he is sympathetic to the administrations goal of bolstering the vetting process from countries that have significant terrorist activity, but said hes also worried that a broad, clunky approach risks hurting long-term strategy by signaling that the United States is in conflict with all Muslims.

So far, Sasse said, he has no specific objections to Trumps orders on the basis of legality. But he stressed that he and his aides are still studying them to see if they stretch executive power too far.

He recently joined the Senate Judiciary Committee and holds a gavel of an oversight subcommittee of that panel. He said he would use that power to keep an eye on the administration.

People need to be able to ask hard questions of people that are wearing the same party label, he said.
About 50 protesters, most wearing black and covering their faces, gathered at Gene Leahy Mall on Saturday before marching through the Old Market yelling No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA!

The rally, organized by the groups La Alianza, Antifa Nebraska and Nebraska Left Coalition, was to show resistance against President Donald Trumps immigration and refugee policies. Most of the protesters described themselves as anarchists.

The protest stayed mostly peaceful, dispersing shortly after a passer-by walked through the protesters and allegedly pushed one of them. More than 20 Omaha police officers moved in to separate the passer-by and the protesters.

No arrests were made.

Earlier, a driver in a passing car threw a cup of coffee at the group.

Wearing all black and concealing their faces are tactics called black bloc, meant to give the protesters anonymity. The tactic has been around for decades but has made headlines recently as black-clad groups in other cities have provoked police and started fires at otherwise peaceful protests of Trumps election and inauguration.

On Wednesday, protesters in black broke windows and set fires at the University of California Berkeley, to protest a planned speech by conservative Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos at the campus. The speech was called off.

Many people have misconceptions about groups that align with anarchistic ideas, said one protester, who declined to give his name.

We want to be peaceful  we arent here to smash windows or hurt anyone, he said. But we will promote militant self-defense for ourselves and our communities.

The rally was monitored by police officers, several on horseback or on bicycles. When a police helicopter circled the area and an armored vehicle drove by, the protesters waved.

As the protesters arrived at the Old Market, Lisa Melton  who said she disagrees with their tactics  confronted them.

This is disruptive and inappropriate, she said, complaining about the profanities in the chants and on many of the protesters signs. Theres a right way to do this, and this isnt it.

For Nick Koehler, 17, participating was his way to protest a president he wasnt old enough to vote against. He plans to go into politics, but said he wants his voice heard now.

This is about fighting for our right to disagree, he said. Im really happy to see people that arent willing to sit back and take it. We are making progress by showing up and doing this.
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aerojet Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AJRD), announced today that its propulsion systems supported the first intercept flight test of Raytheons Standard Missile-3 Block IIA guided missile.



During the SFTM-01 flight test conducted by the U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency, the SM-3 Block IIA interceptor was launched from the USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53). The intercept test was designed to prove the effectiveness of the larger and faster SM-3 Block IIA variant in intercepting a medium range ballistic missile.

Aerojet Rocketdynes MK 72 booster provided the first-stage propulsion on the SM-3 Block IIA and the companys Throttling Divert and Attitude Control System (TDACS) maneuvered the kinetic warhead to successfully impact the ballistic missile target.

Aerojet Rocketdyne recently completed a successful altitude test of the Qual-2 TDACS at the companys Sacramento, California, facility in September. This was the first of two planned qualification tests, and was a pivotal milestone leading to the successful intercept test.

The SM-3 Block IIA TDACS is the next evolution of the extremely successful SM-3 Block IB TDACS, said Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and President Eileen Drake. The SM-3 Block IIA TDACS allows a significantly greater area to be defended and is more producible.

The SM-3 Block IIA represents the newest generation of U.S. missile defense capabilities and is a key component of the European Phased Adaptive Approach for deployment at-sea and ashore. Larger rocket motors and key technology improvements increase the area that can be defended by missile defense efforts and increase the probability of intercept against a larger threat set. With the success of this intercept flight test, the SM-3 Block IIA is on track for deployment on land and at sea in 2018.

Aerojet Rocketdyne is an innovative company delivering solutions that create value for its customers in the aerospace and defense markets. The company is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader that provides propulsion and energetics to the space, missile defense and strategic systems, tactical systems and armaments areas, in support of domestic and international markets. Additional information about Aerojet Rocketdyne can be obtained by visiting our websites at www.Rocket.com and www.AerojetRocketdyne.com.
Air Force declines to share details on Rafale deal

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 5: Details of the agreement signed between Indian and French authorities regarding supply of 36 Rafale aircraft cannot be disclosed as they are confidential in nature, the Air Force has said.

An Inter-Governmental Agreement was signed between the governments of India and France on September 23, 2016 for supply of the Rafale aircraft, initial consignment of weapons, long-term maintenance support through performance-based logistics, simulators with annual maintenance and associated equipment.

Replying to an RTI query, the Air Force said the details are held by it in fiduciary capacity. The information sought is confidential in nature and public revelation of the same may lead to its subsequent availability to our adversaries, it said.

"Further, the information sought is also held in fiduciary capacity and no larger public interest is served by disclosure of such information. Hence, the same is denied," the Air Force said in reply to the application filed.

The Defence Ministry was asked to provide copies of the agreement and price of the Rafale deal. The query was then forwarded to the Air Force for providing the reply. The delivery of 36 Rafale aircraft, weapons and associated equipment to India will commence from September 2019.

The deliveries are spread over two and half years, with the last aircraft delivery scheduled in April 2022.

PTI
BCAS suspends IndiGo's security training centre licence

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 5: Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has suspended the licence of budget carrier IndiGo's aviation security training facility for alleged lapses in the examination system conducted by it.

The orders issued by the apex aviation security agency BCAS last week bar the Gurgaon-based airline from conducting security training programme for its employees any further, sources said. The training academy is run by IndiGo's parent company, InterGlobe Aviation.

BCAS has suspended the licence of IndiGo's aviation security training centre on Friday after several lapses were detected in the examination procedure that it was following. This is a serious issue, the sources said.

Following the suspension of licence, IndiGo would have to outsource the training programme, which would result in additional cost for the carrier, they said. When contacted, an IndiGo spokesperson said the airline was in discussions with BCAS to resolve the issue.

"Any lapse on the security front can have major ramifications for the country's aviation sector. At sensitive airports like Srinagar, a secondary ladder point check of passengers is carried by airline security staff," sources said.

"This major responsibility is entrusted on the airline security staff on the premise and assurance that they would execute this duty in a responsible manner," the sources said. "If security training is being compromised, it raises serious questions," they added.

The move comes at a time when the airline is already facing frequent glitches in its aircraft, resulting in delay in its flights and inconvenience to the passengers.

Regulations make it mandatory for all scheduled airlines to impart aviation security training to its security staff, cockpit and cabin crew either through their own BCAS approved facility or any other similar authorised centre.

Besides, BCAS also conducts such training programmes for airlines and other stakeholders at all its regional offices. While cockpit and cabin crew are imparted a one week training in various aspects of airline and airport security, for those deployed in other jobs it runs for more than a week.

PTI
Comedian Atul Khatri's joke on seatbelt becomes one on him as Mumbai Police responds

BJP accused Shiv Sena and Congress of match fixing for 42 BMC wards

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, Feb 5: BJP today claimed a "match-fixing" between the Congress and Shiv Sena in 42 wards for the BMC elections, scheduled later this month.

"Leaders of both these parties have fielded weak candidates in these wards to benefit the other," city unit BJP president Ashish Shelar said. BJP today kick started its campaign by first offering their tributes at Hutatma Smarak, where 107 people martyred for unification of Mumbai with Maharashtra before 1960.

Sena, BJP's partner in Central and state governments, is contesting the municipal polls solo sans any alliance. Both the saffron parties have been in power in BMC, country's richest civic body, for two decades. The election to 227-member BMC is scheduled on February 21.

Addressing a rally of the BJP candidates, Shelar said, "Shiv Sena and the Mumbai unit of Congress led by Sanjay Nirupam have entered into some kind of match fixing. Their agenda is to defeat BJP. It also means they have admitted their defeat. This is s treachery to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, to Mumbai and to Maharashtra as well."

In a veiled dig at senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut, a confidante of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, Shelar said the leader continues his mischievous acts and for that sometimes he needs NCP chief Sharad Pawar and sometimes Sanjay Nirupam. Referring to Nirupam's past association with Sena, Shelar said finally "old shiv sainik" has come to help.

"I am ready to debate over these 42 seats where Shiv Sena and Congress have reached an understanding," he said.

PTI
Breakthrough in ATM attacker case: Accused in Andhra Pradesh police net

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Bengaluru, Feb 5: After three long years, the Andhra Pradesh police on Sunday arrested the culprit from Nimmanapalliki village under Madanapalle division who brutally assaulted a woman bank manager inside an ATM kiosk in broad daylight on November 19, 2013.

The accused has been identified as Madhukar Reddy. Confirming the arrest, Chittoor SP G Srinivas said that Madhukar Reddy, who was earlier convicted in a murder case by a local court in 2005, had absconded in 2011. He had again committed a murder in 2013 in Dharmavaram of Andhra Pradesh. Again he had attacked the lady in a Bengaluru ATM on Nov 19.

It may be recalled that the the 44-year-old Jyothi Uday, a manager in the bank's Mission Road branch, was attacked by the assailant was found unconscious in the blood-stained kiosk nearly three hours after the assailant disappeared with her cash (Rs.2,500) and mobile handset. No security guard was present at the kiosk when the horrifying incident took place, which sent shock waves across the city after the police released the CCTV footage.

Eight police teams were hunting for the assailant in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The mobile phone of the victim which the attacker had stolen from her was recovered in Andhra Pradesh but there was no trace of the man yet.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Sunday, February 5, 2017, 9:32 [IST]
UP: SP leader's car hit by truck, dragged for more than 500 meters in Mainpuri | VIDEO

Gaurav Bhatia resigns from all posts of Samajwadi party

India

oi-Anusha

New Delhi, Feb 5: Gaurav Bhatia, Samajwadi party's spokesperson and president of its legal wing announced his decision to resign from all posts of the party on Sunday.

I have decided to resign from post of National President Legal Wing SP and all posts. Fwding my resignation to Netaji & @yadavakhilesh ji  Gaurav Bhatia (@gauravbh) February 5, 2017

Bhatia took to Twitter to announce that he was forwarding his resignation letter to Akhilesh Yadav as well as party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. His move comes just days ahead of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Bhatia has been the party's face in public and television debates and had hailed the alliance with the Congress in most of his recent interviews.

While he has specified that he was resigning from the post of National president of the legal wing, he also added that he would resign from, all posts, effectively meaning that he will no longer serve the party as its spokesperson. While no mention of his resignation from the party has been made, his tweet reflected disappointment.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Sunday, February 5, 2017, 14:06 [IST]
Jawan injured in IED blast triggered by Naxals in C'garh

India

oi-PTI

Raipur, Feb 5: A District Reserve Group jawan was on Sunday injured when a pressure bomb laid by Naxals went-off in a forest of Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, police said.

The incident took place in the wee hours between Nayanar and Gatam villages under Katekalyan police station limits when a team of security men was out on an anti-Naxal operation, SHO Katekalyan police station Vijay Patel told.

While they were cordoning-off a forested patch near Nayanar, a jawan inadvertently stepped over the pressure IED (improvised explosive device) connection, triggering the blast that left him injured, he said. The security personnel were out on the operation since last night in the interiors of Katekalyan, located around 400 kms from here.

"Constable Pratap Singh Markam, belonging to DRG, sustained injuries on his legs in the blast," the SHO said. Soon after the incident, reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the injured jawan was evacuated to Katekalyan from where he was shifted to Dantewada for treatment, he said adding that the operation was still underway in the region.

PTI
Induction of Congress MLAs into BJP is death of Parrikar's legacy, says outgoing Goa deputy CM

Parrikar blames 'wrong translation' in his reply to EC

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Feb 5: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who was sent a notice by Election Commission for allegedly "abetting the offence of bribery during electoral process" in Goa has puportedly told the poll panel that his words were wrongly translated, informed sources said.

On January 29, while addressing a gathering in North Goa, Parrikar said: "...Now also someone will give you Rs 1,000... We give Rs 1,500 every month. After five years, 1,500 will become 90,000 and this will also increase."

"Today, take from anyone Rs 2,000 and vote for them... There is no problem if somebody roams around by taking Rs 500 but just vote for the Lotus."

Parrikar was speaking in Konkani language, and was reported by the District Electoral Officer of North Goa. The EC had sent a notice to Parrikar and sought his explanation by February 3.

Informed sources in the poll panel said Parrikar in his reply said what he meant to say was changed due to incorrect translation from Konkani to English.

The EC is "examining" Parrikar's reply and would decide further action in due time, the source said.

IANS
Why is the DMK continuing to oppose the imposition of Hindi? - 50 years of struggle and the truth!

Stalin: Decision to make Sasikala CM, against people's wish

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Chennai, Feb 5: DMK Working President M.K. Stalin said the election of AIADMK General Secretary V.K. Sasikala as the party's legislature party leader on Sunday was against people's wishes.

Stalin told reporters at Thiruvarur, around 330 km from here, that when Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa was jailed for corruption, she told O. Panneerselvam to head the government. Similarly, when Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospitals where she died in December, Panneerselvam again looked after the administration.

"Till Jayalalithaa was alive, she did not give any post either in the party or the government to Sasikala," Stalin said. According to Stalin, the decision to elevate Sasikala for her to become the Chief Minister was against the wishes of the late Jayalalithaa.

IANS
Why is the DMK continuing to oppose the imposition of Hindi? - 50 years of struggle and the truth!

Tamil Nadu: Heavy rains in several parts of Tamil Nadu in next 2 days

Chennai oil spill: TN CM announces compensation for fishermen for loss

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Chennai, Feb 5: Tamil Nadu CM O Panneerselvam on Sunday visited Ennore Port to review the clean-up operation that is still on.

Will give compensation to fishermen for loss;Fishes caught from this region found fit for consumption;No impact on marine flora &fauna-TN CM pic.twitter.com/uIyMtjxCzc  ANI (@ANI_news) February 5, 2017

Speaking to ANI, Panneerselvam said that its an extraordinary situation that Centre and state government are working together. So, far more than 5700 people took part in clean-up operation. The clean-up operation will complete in 1-2 days and all the efforts are being taken to safeguard fishermen's livelihood.

He further said that the oil spill will be cleared in the next few days. Spill cleared largely in Kanchipuram coast.

Announcing compensation for fishermen, Pannerselvam said,''Will give compensation to fishermen for loss. Fishes caught from this region found fit for consumption. No impact on marine flora &fauna.''

It may be recalled that the two cargo ships collided off Chennai coast on January 29 resulting in heavy oil spilling at the coast area. The coastguards involved in the clean-up believe that it may take up to 12 days to clear the sludge from Ennore port.

OneIndia News
FORT WAYNE, Ind., Feb. 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Josh Bell and Dr. Chris Foust lead the chiropractic team at the new walk-in clinic in Ft. Wayne. This walk-in clinic is a convenient and affordable option for chiropractic and wellness patients who are addressing health issues or seeking preventative care. The doctors at Stellhorn Chiropractic achieve the same, if not better results, than at the high-tech rehabilitation and medical facilities where they did previous work. Patients who walk into the clinic can expect comprehensive patient education, as well as additional services such as home and corrective exercises and lifestyle and nutritional advice to support wellness goals. Hands-on chiropractic adjustments are offered at a low-cost, even lower than most co-pays, at $22.



Patients of any age can receive treatment at this walk-in clinic. From babies to those with chronic conditions, this family chiropractic office offers a range of techniques uniquely suited for specific conditions and wellness goals. Services at Stellhorn Chiropractic include the Webster technique for prenatal care and both chiropractic doctors have extensive experience working with several medical and rehabilitation cases.

Dr. Josh Bell graduated from Purdue University and Logan College of Chiropractic. He has received special wellness certifications and offers clients the Webster technique when needed. Dr. Bells previous experience includes providing services in a high-tech rehabilitation facility. Dr. Chris Foust graduated from the University of Utah, followed by Logan College of Chiropractic. He has had specialized training in anatomy and neurostructural chiropractic and has delivered patient care at a medical facility. Stellhorn Chiropractic relies upon the expertise of these two doctors to provide effective chiropractic care that addresses the underlying reasons for specific conditions. Manual manipulations and a range of complementing services assist the body in the healing process. Patients often find a reduced need for pain medications with regular chiropractic care.

Chiropractic patients receive a positive experience from our experienced staff, said Dr. Josh Bell. Not every patient can afford to wait for treatment or to pay high out-of-pocket costs that may be associated with chiropractic treatment at other clinics. Our walk-in clinic offers patients immediate care at low-cost rates that make necessary treatment and follow-up care within the range of those that need it most. We always put the needs of our patients first at Stellhorn Chiropractic and look forward to serving the needs of residents in our community.

Dr. Josh Bell and Dr. Chris Foust, chiropractors at Stellhorn Chiropractic, serve the residents of Fort Wayne and the surrounding area. Patients can expect the highest standard of care and achieve wellness goals at Stellhorn Chiropractic. Their Ft. Wayne chiropractic services include hands-on chiropractic adjustments, chiropractic wellness advice, nutrition advice, and at-home corrective exercises.

Call (260) 485-1433 to speak with a knowledgeable associate about the services at the new walk-in chiropractic clinic. Visit http://stellhornchiropractic.com/ for more details on their hours, services, and location.
Uttarakhand- BJP expels members for anti party activities

India

oi-PTI

Dehradun, Feb 5: As BJP expelled 17 rebels for fighting against the party's official nominees in Uttarakhand polls, state party chief Ajay Bhatt has described them as "over-ambitious people" and said their exit will not impact the saffron party's prospects in the assembly election.

He downplayed claims of discontent among party leaders over allocation of tickets to Congress rebels who joined the BJP and asserted that "Modi wave" will be one of the important factors in the polls in Uttarakhand where the party is fighting the election on development agenda. "BJP is a party of principles and its activists work with loyalty. Those who were over-ambitious have rebelled and are fighting against the party. There won't be any effect on the party with the exit of such over-ambitious people," Bhatt told PTI.

Taking action against the rebels who have chosen to remain in the poll fray as Independents despite the party's efforts to cajole them to withdraw, the BJP has suspended as many as 17 such rebels for six years. On the other hand, over a dozen prominent Congress faces have rebelled and joined the BJP which has fielded former Congressmen from 13 seats in the election to 70-member assembly in Uttarakhand on February 15.

"These people left Congress as they were feeling suffocated in the party due to anti-people policies of Harish Rawat government and central leadership of the party. They were also feeling that only Modiji and BJP can deliver development to Uttarakhand. That's why they left Congress," the state BJP president claimed.

Pointing out the reason for not projecting any chief ministerial face ahead of the polls in the state, Bhatt said political strategy changes from time to time depending on the circumstances and the party has opted for collective leadership for the polls in Uttarakhand.

BJP sometimes projects a face and sometime we do not and work under a collective leadership. We have examples of both types. In Haryana, we did not project any face and results were favourable.

"This time party has not projected any face in Uttarakhand and we have adopted the strategy of collective leadership. On the other hand, we have our Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is a great leader and has no parallel. He covers all faces," he said. Bhatt claimed BJP is going to form the government in Uttarakhand with two-third majority.

"The first reason is the desire of common man for development. Now, they have understood that BJP is the only political party which can deliver. Simultaneously people have faith in the leadership of Modiji. Also, people are now fed up with Congress and its leadership. Corruption of Congress government and involvement of Chief Minister Harish Rawat has been exposed and now people of Uttarakhand has decided to get rid off Congress," he claimed.

PTI
Villagers allege lockup death, vandalised police station in Karnataka

India

oi-Anusha

Gadag, Feb 5: Irate mob vandalised a police station and set police vehicles ablaze in Gadag district of Karnataka on Sunday. Relatives of a suspect who died while in police custody alleged that it was a lockup death and vandalised the Lakshmeshwara police station. Bandh-like situation prevails in the village.

Shivappa who was arrested by the police on Saturday was allegedly transporting illegally mined sand. While in custody, villagers allege that he was beaten to death by the police while police maintain that he fell ill after which he was shifted to a hospital. Getting wind of him being shifted to the hospital villagers visited there to learn that he has passed away. Angered, the deceased kin protested outside the police station with his dead body. Situation turned violent after some protesters vandalised the police station and set vehicles ablaze.

Windows were shattered, furniture damaged and documents torn up by an irate mob. Senior officials rushed to the spot while the local police fled from the station premises after violence broke out. Situation remains grim in the village and bus services have been halted. The deceased's body has been sent for post mortem.

OneIndia News
Indian scientists welcome stranded peers after Trump's visa ban

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Kolkata, Feb 5: Refusing to bow before US President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban, scientists across the world, including India, have opened up their lab spaces to counterparts stranded outside America.

Under the Science Solidarity List initiative, researchers from over 30 countries have agreed to host the affected. What began on social media as spontaneous offers of help from scientists to accommodate banned peers awaiting US clearance, following Trump's January 27 order, has emerged as a clarion call to support those in need of immediate work spaces.

Anchored by the European Molecular Biology Organisation, the SSL is a "list of scientists offering temporary bench or desk space, library access and possibly even accommodation for US-based scientists who are stranded abroad due to the White House Executive Order 13769, 'Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States' of 27 January, 2017."

On Friday, a US judge in Seattle issued a temporary nationwide block on Trump's ban on travellers from seven Muslim nations. However, the White House said the Justice Department will challenge attorney's decision. Offers continue to pour in as science, literally, attempts to trump the ban. There are currently over 800 offers of assistance and the list gets a new entry every five minutes or so.

"We felt we had to do something. It is very discriminating. This impacts science a lot. It impacts the work of the lab. Their projects do not get done because the scientists are missing. It impacts everyone," Maria Leptin, director EMBO, told IANS over the phone from Heidelberg, Germany. "We (scientists) see ourselves as a worldwide community and it is a completely natural thing for us to do," she said. EMBO is an organisation of more than 1,700 leading researchers that promotes excellence in life sciences.

Its programmes and activities are funded by the European Molecular Biology Conference . The EMBC, founded in 1969, is an inter-governmental organisation comprising 33 member- and partner-states, including India, which came under its fold in February 2016. The solidarity list comprises offers from both EMBC and non-EMBC countries. Leptin was the first to join the list, extending help to host stranded researchers in her own lab at the University of Cologne.

While most of the host offers are from Europe, the list includes labs in India, Canada, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Singapore, Brazil, and China. The "overwhelming response" from the fraternity is trending under the hashtag ScienceShelters. Among the first to make personal offers of assistance via Twitter were population geneticist Magnus Nordborg and plant biologist Jurgen Kleine-Vehn from Austria. A look at some of the tweets reflects the gravity of the situation, relegating scientists to an almost refugee-like status.

"Another example of consequences... biology postdoc meant to join our School w/new faculty has visa but cannot come -- Iranian passport," tweeted Georgia Institute of Technology Professor Joshua Weitz. "I was pretty excited to join @soumya_boston's lab but denied boarding due to my Iranian nationality. Feeling safer?" tweeted Samira Asgari. The Kleine-Vehn Lab tweeted in response to an update of 420 offers of assistance: "Took less than 24h, reflecting the strong political statement!#ScienceSheltersAagainst Trump's immigration ban and discrimination!"

Coming to the rescue of their peers are also scientists from India. Till February 4, three offers were made from the country, all of them from Bengaluru-based National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS). Theoretical physicist Sandeep Krishna has proferred desk space and access to computers, while Shashi Thutupalli's lab, dealing with experimental physical biology, is also available.

"Can provide experimental facilities, desk space, lab space, library access and a warm welcome." NCBS's Arati Ramesh has stepped forward with "desk space, lab bench space, access to lab equipment and computers" in her lab that works on RNA biology. "I am a theoretical physicist who uses tools and ideas from physics and maths to try and pose new kinds of questions about basic processes in biological systems. Thus, what I can offer is simply desk space and access to computers and a scientific environment where a stranded scientist can continue their work, at least to some extent," Krishna told IANS.

Expressing his views on the "Muslim ban", Krishna reckons it would do more harm than good to the US. "I have no doubt it is really a a Muslim ban, whatever legal devices they use to cloak it and justify it. As such, it seems to me quite against the Constitution of the USA, and practically speaking I would predict would do more harm than good to that country. Think this will simply spawn another generation of hurt and disgruntled young people who could be exploited by extremists," he said.

He added: "In India, though we can hardly take the moral high ground here because our governments similarly fail repeatedly, in my opinion, to protect the rights of minorities, including Muslims, and do not have a humane approach to immigrants or even a consistent political and legal framework for them."

IANS
Pakistan thanks India for reuniting son with mother

International

oi-PTI

Islamabad, Feb 5: Pakistan has thanked India for its cooperation in reuniting a five-year-old boy with his Pakistani mother nearly a year after he was taken to India on the sly by his father.

"We are thankful to Indian authorities for their cooperation in this humanitarian matter," Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit tweeted. The boy, Iftikhar Ahmed, was yesterday handed over to Pakistan Rangers by Indian authorities at Wagah where his mother was waiting for him for several hours.

"I am extremely happy to have my son back. I am thankful to the Pakistani government for its help for return of my child," Iftikhar's mother Rohina Kiyani had said yesterday at Wagah. "I had lost all hope of getting my child back. It's not a less than a miracle for me," she said.

The boy's mother alleged that her estranged husband, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, had lied to her that he was taking the child to a wedding along with him as he took him to Dubai and from there to Kashmir in March 2016. Rohina with the help of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi had filed a custody case in an Indian court.

After the case was taken up by the Pakistani High Commission and proven that Iftikhar was a Pakistani by nationality, the court ruled in her favour and ordered that the child should be returned to his mother in Pakistan. Due to border tensions, it took eight months for the mother to get the good news of seeing her son.

PTI
US court refuses to reinstate Donald Trump's travel ban

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Washington, Feb 5: A US court has rejected the Justice Department's appeal asking to pause the sweeping decision that temporarily halted enforcement of President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

The Ninth Circuit Court has asked to file legal briefs before it makes a decision, CNN reported. Just after midnight on Sunday, the Justice Department filed an appeal asking the court to put on hold its sweeping decision that temporarily halted enforcement of Trump's travel ban nationwide, saying in a strongly-worded filing that blocking the travel ban "harms the public" and "second-guesses the President's national security judgment".

The legal battle, which now moves up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, surrounds a Friday ruling issued by US District Court Judge James Robart, who halted the implementation of several key provisions of Trump's executive order. Trump's policy banned foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority -- Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen -- countries from entering the US for 90 days, suspended all refugee entry to the US for 120 days, and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrian refugees.

The government's emergency motion sets forth a mutli-pronged attack on Robart's decision, emphasising the President's broad authority in the immigration context. "(Robart's ruling) contravenes the considered judgment of Congress that the President should have the unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class of aliens," the Justice Department wrote in its appeal.

The department further argued that the parties who filed the lawsuit -- the attorneys general of Washington state and Minnesota -- lack the authority to sue in federal court because their alleged harms are too "speculative". The three judges on the Ninth Circuit who will likely hear the case -- assuming no one has to step aside over any conflicts -- are Judge William Canby, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter; Richard Clifton, who was appointed by George W. Bush; and Michelle Friedland, a President Barack Obama appointee, CNN said.

When the President was asked at a gala in Florida whether he was confident his administration would prevail in the appeal, Trump replied, "We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win." On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended "any and all" actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travellers, as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban.

IANS
Will work to restore peace along Russia-Ukraine border: Trump

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Feb 5: US President Donald Trump has assured his Ukrainian counterpart to work with all parties to end bloodshed and restore peace along volatile Russia-Ukraine border, amid escalation in violence in the region.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said in his phone call with the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, according to the White House. The White House said Trump had "a very good call" with Poroshenko to address a variety of topics, including Ukraine's long-running conflict with Russia.

Ukrainian President first conversation with the new US leader, whose aim to improve relations with the Kremlin has alarmed Kiev while the nearly three-year-old conflict remains unresolved. The discussion came during a sharp escalation in violence in the Russian-backed separatist east that has claimed 35 lives in the past week.

They discussed the potential for a meeting in the near future. On Thursday, Trump has promised former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko that the US would not lift sanctions from Russia until it pulls out of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Trump has said that he does "respect" Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that respect does not mean they will get along and has sought Russian help in defeating the dreaded ISIS. "I say it's better to get along with Russia than not.

And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world -- that's a good thing," Trump told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly in an interview, which is scheduled to air today. I respect a lot of people but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with him," Trump said. "He's a leader of his country," Trump said according to an excerpt released yesterday.

When asked about Putin's history of violence, the President indicated that the same could be said about the US too. "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?" he asked.

PTI
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LAS VEGAS, Feb. 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In honor of National Pet Dental Month, pet owners and their felines can benefit from All About Cats Veterinary Hospital discounted dental services till March 31st. The staff offers high-quality dental care and specialized attention to cats and their owners. Dental disease can go beyond making eating and grooming difficult, and may negatively affect other areas of a cats health. Discounts on dental services such as dental exams, checkups, and cleanings make it more affordable for pet owners to address dental needs in a beloved pet. The veterinary team at All About Cats Veterinary Hospital are dedicated to supporting the needs of Las Vegas cats and their owners.



Periodontal disease is the most frequently seen dental issue veterinarians address in cats. According to the American Veterinary Dental Society, more than 7 in every 10 cats will have symptoms of periodontal disease by the age of three. Many pet owners think that bad kitty breath is normal. However, bad breath might be an early warning sign of dental disease. Other symptoms include red or swollen gums, pus surrounding the teeth, unusual pawing at the face, drooling, and yellow deposits on teeth.

Unaddressed plaque buildup may develop into tartar, becoming a breeding ground for bacteria and creating rough surfaces that invite additional bacteria growth and buildup. In response, the feline immune system may respond with gum inflammation and deeper pockets may develop that allow bacteria to get under the gums and loosen the gums hold on a pets teeth. Gingivitis can advance to periodontitis, resulting in potential gum infections and loose or decaying teeth.

A feline dental exam and cleaning involves the removal of plaque and tartar during anesthesia. This allows any developing pockets to lessen and perform their necessary functions, including being a barrier for bacteria and toxins from entering the bloodstream. X-rays also provide necessary information about the health of teeth.

Pet owners need to be concerned about the cats dental health and understand how to prevent periodontal disease, said Dr. Terri Koppe. Pet owners can avoid symptoms of periodontal disease in kittens and cats with regular cleanings and exams. Our promotion provides additional incentive for pet owners to address any outstanding dental needs and maintain a cats good oral health.

Dr. Alissa McCormick, Dr. Terri Koppe, Dr. Cathy Berquist and Dr. Laura Klaassen, the veterinarians at All About Cats Veterinary Hospital, serve cats and owners in and around Las Vegas at this feline-only veterinary hospital. The staff caters to the specific needs and health concerns of cats with compassionate and high-quality veterinary care. Services include cat dental examinations and cleanings, vaccinations, and annual exams.

Call (702) 257-3222 to learn more about feline dental health and receive discounted dental services at All About Cats Veterinary Hospital. Visit http://allaboutcatsonline.com/ for more information.

All About Cats Veterinary Hospital, (702) 257-3222
by  Graham Pierrepoint



While the new Trump administration continues to arguably unite supporters and divide pretty much everyone else, those opposed to the new US Presidents policy-making are taking action in varying ways. For some, this means protest  some of which is thought to have had an effect already  while others have chosen to take drastic measures. In the past few weeks, a Twitter account going by the handle @RoguePOTUSStaff has been tweeting regularly, allegedly spilling secrets from inside the White House compound. Who is it that is spilling the information? No one knows  and theyre defending their rights to keep it that way.

The Rogue POTUS account is still tweeting on a daily basis with takes on various behind-the-scenes discussion between Trump and his staff. Allegations regarding the President include his desire for female staff to dress feminine at all times, and that he was persuaded by his advisors that Vice President Mike Pence sit in on his recent telephone call to Russian head Vladimir Putin. Add this to recent chatter regarding a supposedly angry conversation he was alleged to have cut short with the Australian Prime Minister, along with a vague tweet arguing that Iran as a country had been put on notice for testing a missile, its not hard to understand why the account is being followed so fervently  and that its content is widely being believed.

There are, naturally, two schools of thought on the account. One alleges that the tweets they send are entirely fabricated  based on widely available information and simply in place to stir up drama. Some journalists have even posited that the account may be a hoax put in place by one of Trumps loyal staffers to throw people off the scent. The other side of the coin argues that its a legitimate feed  with the account having predicted Trumps Supreme Court pick and having suggested that LGBT rights would be next to come under an executive order (such proposals were, it seems quashed  as policies put in place by Barack Obama will stand). There is also an argument, too, that the account is hardly one of comedy  the issues it raises and statements it makes are relatively mundane, with the odd alleged sound bite or two raising eyebrows.

Whether or not the Rogue POTUS tweeters are real, they are providing intriguing reading for many people still coming to terms with Trumps presidency and recent changes his team are drafting in. Will the account be exposed as a mole, or as an elaborate hoax? Time will tell  for now, however, it continues to offer worthwhile reading if, for you, Presidential fatigue is already setting in.
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(Image by Egberto Willies) Details DMCA



Recently Chuck Todd has been doing his job in reducing the spin by pointing out unadulterated facts when Republicans enter their lying mode. He used Mike Pence's words against him. What is amazing is Pence's inability to break the narrative.

When Chuck Todd used Mike Pence's words against him, he displayed an embarrassed smile but amazingly expectedly to form after a few seconds.

"There is a tendency here to just not take criticism constructively or seriously," Todd said. "Chuck Schumer having fake tears, it's like anytime he gets some sort of critique, he wants to demean-ify them, make them go away. Is that helpful?

"Well look, the President of the United States has every right to criticize the other two branches of government," Mike Pence said. "We have a long tradition of that in this country."

Todd asked if that is the best way to do it. Pence said the American people find it refreshing.

"On this issue of criticism," Chuck Todd continued. "I found something you said about President Obama seven years ago. Take a listen.

"This president has shown an unusual interest in commenting on his critics in the media and here on Capitol Hill," Pence said about Obama in the clip Todd played. "The American people don't want to hear the President's reflections and commentary on criticisms."

"That is what Congressman Mike Pence thought of when Presidents got too caught up in their criticism," Chuck Todd said. "Should the President take the advice of Congressman Mike Pence?"

A visibly blushing Pence started his response with a silly statement about the sameness of his hair color then and now. He then reverted to remorseless form.

"The prerogative the President has to be able to respond to their critics," Pence said. "Look, the President of the United States represents all the American people. And in President Donald Trump, just like his predecessor, he is going to exercise the prerogative to criticize other branches of government when he thinks they are not acting in a way that is consistent with the best interest of the American people."

Of course, this is the height of bald face hypocrisy. And the Right is so much better at it.
From Counterpunch

US President Donald Trump promises to be pro-Israel in every aspect.

"I'm the best thing that could ever happen to Israel," he boasted at the Republican Jewish Coalition's Presidential Forum in Washington DC, in December, 2015.

For a brief moment, Trump appeared as if rethinking his unconditional support for Israel, when in February 2016, the Republican presidential nominee pledged "neutrality" between Palestinians and Israelis.

"Let me be sort of a neutral guy," he said during an MSNBC town hall meeting.

Since then, this position has been surpassed by the most regressive rhetoric, beginning with his speech before the Israeli lobby (AIPAC) conference, the following month.

As for Israel, its expectations of the US President are very clear: unconditional financial and military support, blank check to expand illegal settlements in Occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and an end to any form of political "pressure" through attempting to revive the so-called "peace process."

Not that Trump has had any qualms with these expectations. The real challenge was that his main rival, Hillary Clinton, was an unprecedentedly ardent supporter of Israel.

She was completely brazen in her groveling before the pro-Israel lobby.

Reflecting on the death of former Israeli President Shimon Peres, she told Jewish leaders, "When he spoke, to me it was like listening to a psalm, and I loved sitting and listening to him whether it was about Israel, the nation he loved and did so much to defend, or about peace or just about life itself."

She promised them to "protect Israel from de-legitimization," as reported in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz -- "De-legitimization" meaning the attempts by civil society groups around the world to boycott Israel for failing to respect international law and the rights of occupied Palestinians.

This is the kind of political landscape that Trump, essentially a businessman not a politician, needed to navigate. In a foray of hasty moves, he has agreed to give Israel what it sought, but going even further than any other US president in modern history by promising to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

It was a clever move at the time, enough to match Clinton's love offerings for Israel and make Trump the darling of Israel's right-wing politicians, who now control the government.

The fall-out of that promise, if implemented, however, will prove very costly.

If Trump goes through with this, he is likely to unleash chaos in an already volatile region.

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Conservative Republican Consultant Rick Wilson should have been making the statements he made in this video snippet long before the election to folks in coal country. They should have heard the truth he is now telling them then.

Donald Trump played games with the residents of coal country. What will they do when they realize they were used and will get hurt by his policies?

"You know there are five times more solar workers than coal miners," Maher asked Tomi Lahren. "Do you know that?"

"Tell this to the coal miners," Lahren replied. "They are out of business in West Virginia and Pennsylvania."

"Why do we have to cling to the worst job ever?" Bill Maher asked.

Lahren responded that coal is all they know. Maher suggested retraining. But Rick Wilson had the best response that coal country should have been told years ago.

"This is out of a hazy nostalgia," Rick Wilson said. "for things like when Trump says things about ironworks and shipyards and coal miners. These are things, we might as well get our buggy whip industry back together again. It's this retrospective fake past that doesn't even exist anymore. And these guys, God bless them. They worked their asses off for generations. And you know what? natural gas took their jobs, not Barack Obama. Tell them the truth. Everyone has been in favor of natural gas for a very long time, left and right because it is awesome."

Donald Trump played on these people's fears. He abused their trust. The problem he does not have a solution. The Progressive solution that included retraining and subsidizing these families given the current economic disruption is the answer. Nobody wants to live on the dole. But a helping hand up to is humane, good for families, and good for the country. We must reach out to those who voted against their own interest and detail our policies in a manner for them to see how it materially affect their lives.
From Counterpunch



Torture - America's Shame

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The Trump administration has signaled that it is willing to return to the heinous crimes of the past two decades, including torture and abuse, secret prisons, and extraordinary renditions. The appointment of Gina Haspel as the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency clearly indicates that the use of torture, including the use of waterboarding, which has been endorsed by the President, the national security adviser, and the CIA director, could once again be a major part of the U.S. campaign against international terrorism.

Haspel was a central figure in the CIA's criminal behavior during the Bush administration. She ran the CIA's first secret prison in Thailand, where the brutal interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri took place. No intelligence was gleaned from the use of torture in these interrogations. When the head of the Counterterrorism Center, Jose Rodriguez, ordered the destruction of the videotapes of the torture, it was Haspel who drafted the cable that ordered the destruction. This was clearly evidence of obstruction of justice in view of the investigation of torture and abuse that had already begun.

When former CIA director John Brennan tried to make Haspel the deputy director for operations in 2013, the chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein, blocked her assignment. Currently, the Senate intelligence committee is under the stewardship of Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), who has blocked all attempts to circulate Feinstein's authoritative account of the CIA torture program. And the current CIA director, Mike Pompeo, does not even believe that waterboarding is an act of torture and has referred to those who conducted waterboarding as "patriots."

Haspel was also a leading voice for extraordinary renditions, which involved the "capture" or kidnapping of individuals suspected of acts of terrorism. When the CIA concluded that these victims had no important information to reveal, they were turned over to foreign intelligence services, such as those in Syria and Jordan, that conducted their own methods of torture and abuse.

Nevertheless, the New York Times refers to the promotion for Haspel as an example of the CIA's "ambivalent attitude" toward torture and abuse because former intelligence officials, such as intelligence tsar James Clapper and acting director Michael Morell, have praised the appointment. But Clapper has been known to lie to the Senate intelligence committee about the massive surveillance program of the National Security Agency, and Morell used his own book to lie about the so-called intelligence that was gleaned from so-called "extraordinary interrogation techniques."

There is no ambivalence here. This is simply one more example of the CIA promoting those officers who committed crimes on behalf of the agency. The intelligence officers who were held accountable in the Inspector General's report on the 9/11 intelligence failure ultimately received promotions and rewards from the agency. The intelligence officers who participated in the politicization of intelligence in the 1980s similarly received promotions and rewards. And now we have another example of the "worst of the worst" at the CIA becoming the second most important official of our leading civilian intelligence agency. There is no better way to create cynicism within the intelligence community and the larger political community than to reward the very people who tarnish the moral compass of the CIA.

The title character of John le Carre's The Honorable Schoolboy never wanted to deal with problems of ethics and morality. "Point me and I'll march," he said to spymaster George Smiley. "Tell me the shots, I'll play them," he added. Once again, the CIA is being led by officials who have never accepted or understood the Supreme Court's 2006 decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that declared CIA's torture program a violation of Geneva Conventions. This decision should have made those who conducted torture subject to the federal War Crimes Act.

Perhaps if former president Barack Obama had sought accountability and responsibility for the crimes of torture, then we would not be witness to the return of war criminals to positions of responsibility.
By Edward Curtin

From Global Research

In 1929, Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew, U.S./CIA war and coup propagandist, and the founder of public relations, conducted a successful mind-manipulation experiment for the tobacco industry. In those days there was a taboo against women smoking in public, and Bernays was hired to change that. He consulted a psychiatrist, A. A. Brill, who told him that cigarettes represented the penis and were a symbol of male power. If women could be tricked into smoking, then they would unconsciously think they "had" their own penises and feel more powerful. It was irrational, of course, but it worked. Bernays had, in his words, "engineered the consent" of women through symbolic prestidigitation. The age of the image was launched.

He did this by having a group of women hide cigarettes under their clothes at a Big Easter parade in New York. At a signal from Bernays, they took out and lit up what he called "torches of freedom" (based on the Statue of Liberty). The press had been notified in advance and dutifully photographed and reported the story. The New York Times headline for April Fool's Day 1929 was entitled "Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of Freedom." This fake news story made cigarettes socially acceptable for women, and sales and advertising to them increased dramatically. The institutional power structures smiled and continued on their merry way. Women were no freer or more powerful, but they felt they were. A symbolic taboo was breached as women were bamboozled. Image triumphed over reality.

We have moved on from the symbol of the penis to that of the "p*ssy," and now the symbol is displayed openly as an ironic postmodern spectacle in the form of a sea of pussyhats.

And the fake news stories continue apace; the mind manipulators labor on and are still successful.

Genitalia remain the rage. In the 1920s there was no overt talk of the penis; the idea then was that there was an unconscious association that could sway women to smoke. Today subtlety is gone. "p*ssy" power is out there, cutely symbolized by pink pussyhats, promoted by a group called the Pussyhat Project that on its website praises the Washington Post and the New York Times for their "high quality journalism" and "integrity." "In the midst of fake news sites," the Pussyhat Project claims, "we need high quality journalism more than ever...newspapers that have integrity...[that] can continue reporting the truth" -- i.e., the Times and the Post.

By "truth" and "integrity" do the women running the site mean that the Russians are behind Trump's election, Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and there are 200 or so alternative websites that repeat Russian propaganda, a few of the lies reported by these papers of "integrity"? Or do the Pussyhat women have something else in mind?

Most women demonstrators who marched against Trump were no doubt well intentioned within their limited perspective. At the call of organizers, they were roused from their long liberal naps. Reacting to Trump's gross comments about "grabbing p*ssy" -- sick words, macho aggressive in their meaning -- they donned their pink hats, made signs, and took their newly awakened outrage to the streets. Rightly disgusted by being verbally assaulted and afraid that their reproductive rights and services were threatened, they pounced like tigers on their verbal attacker. Massive, very well organized, media friendly marches and demonstrations followed. It was a hit parade.

Yet as others have forcefully written, something is amiss here. During the Obama years of endless wars, drone killings, the jailing of whistleblowers, including Chelsea Manning, etc., these demonstrators were silent and off the streets. A large number of the women (if not the vast majority) who marched against Donald Trump -- and the recent women's marches can only be described as anti-Trump marches -- were Hillary Clinton supporters, whether they would describe their votes as "the lesser of two evils" or not. Thus, opposition to Trump's aggressive statements toward "p*ssy" was implicit support for Clinton's and Obama's "feminism." In other words, it was support for a man and a woman who didn't publicly talk aggressively about women's genitals, but committed misogynist and misandrist actions by killing thousands of women (and men and children) all over the world, and doing it with phallic shaped weapons. Trump will probably follow suit, but that possibility was not the impetus for the marches. The marches centered on Trump's misogynist, macho language, and his threats to limit women's access to health services -- i.e., family planning and abortion.

Since the women who recently marched didn't march against Obama and his Secretary of State Clinton while they slaughtered foreigners (others) and Clinton exulted at the sodomized killing of Muammar Gaddafi, it is quite clear the focus of their anger was a sense of personal outrage at Trump's insulting remarks.

Where were they these last eight years?

Mike Whitney recently said it perfectly. "They were asleep. Weren't they? Because liberals always sleep when their man is in office, particularly if their man is a smooth-talking cosmopolitan snake-charmer like Obama who croons about personal freedom and democracy while unleashing the most unspeakable violence on civilians across the Middle East and Central Asia...No one seems to care when an articulate bi-racial mandarin kills most people of color, but when a brash and outspoken real estate magnate takes over the reigns of power, then 'watch out' because here comes the protesters, all three million of them!"

Obviously partisan politics, self-interest, hypocrisy, and incredible ethnocentrism are involved. Would women's marches have occurred if Hillary Clinton had been elected? Of course not. She would have been applauded and regaled as the first woman president, and her war-mongering history against women and men would have been excused and supported into the future, just as Obama's has been.

This is liberal war porn by default; complicity through silence.

"Hands off my p*ssy." "My p*ssy bites back." These are funny repartees to Trump's comments, but they are totally ineffectual and harmless. Trump's objectives are larger, as were Obama's and Clinton's. Symbolic protests attract attention, but result in the stasis of structural power arrangements, or worse. Edward Bernays' "torches of freedom" campaign resulted in more women smoking, more disease, and more profits for the tobacco companies. He preyed on the gullible. What was learned?

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From Smirking Chimp

Why did President Donald Trump fire off an angry and threatening tweet early Thursday morning following the violent protests that had broken out the night before on UC Berkeley campus? Here's a copy of Trump's tweet:

"If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view -- NO FEDERAL FUNDS?"

Maybe the impulsive President was just angry that a controversial, rightwing speaker like Milo Yiannopoulos was unable to deliver his presentation because masked agitators began to rampage across the campus breaking windows, burning signs and wreaking havoc. That's certainly one possibility, but there are other more intriguing explanations that seem equally likely.

Consider this: Like most Americans, Trump knows that these anarchist groups show up routinely at peaceful demonstrations with the intention of raising hell and discrediting the groups that peacefully assemble to express their opinion on one issue or another. In this case, the protestors had gathered in opposition to a man who seemingly advocates religious intolerance and Islamophobia. Trump was well aware of this.

He also knew that the UC Berkeley Chancellor and his staff did everything in their power to provide security to both the speaker and the groups that had gathered for the event. Check out this excerpt from an article at Bloomberg:

"Some advocates for universities and education said they were surprised by Trump's tweet... "'I have never seen anything like this,' said John Walda, president of the National Association of College and Business Officers. 'Why would you infer that you want to punish a university' when it was only trying to protect people. The university 'did exactly the right thing,' he said... "The university said Chancellor Nicholas Dirks had made clear that Yiannopoulos' 'views, tactics and rhetoric are profoundly contrary to those of the campus,' but that the university is committed to 'enabling of free expression across the full spectrum of opinion and perspective' and condemned the violence. "'Berkeley seems to have done everything it can to protect students' First Amendment rights,' Cohn said." ("Trump Threatens U.C. Berkeley Funding Over Violent Protests," Bloomberg)

So if the Chancellor had already gone the extra mile to protect free speech, then why did Trump decide to lower the boom on him? Was he genuinely angry with the Chancellor's performance or did he interject himself for political reasons? In other words, how did Trump stand to benefit from getting involved in this mess?

Isn't his tweet crafted to win support from his red state base who identify Berkeley with the erratic behavior of the "loony left" that burn flags, spit on veterans, and hate America? Isn't it designed to discredit the millions of liberal and progressive protesters who have peacefully participated in pro-immigration demonstrations or anti-Trump marches across the country? Isn't Trump's interference intended to make him look like a strong, decisive leader willing to defend free speech against hypocritical leftists thugs who violently oppose anyone who doesn't share their narrow "librul" point of view. Isn't the action part of a broader plan to reinforce a stereotypical view of liberals as sandal clad, fist pumping, Marxist firebrands who want to burn down the country so they can create their own Soviet Utopia?

Isn't this really why Trump decided to parachute into the event, to enlarge and polish his own image while exacerbating existing political divisions within the country?

Trump's reaction to the incident in Berkeley is worth paying attention to if only to grasp that --what we are seeing-- is not the random act of an impulsive man, but a governing style that requires an identifiable threat to domestic security, "the left." A divisive president only prevails when the country is divided, when Americans are at each others throats and split between Sunni and Shia. That's the goal, driving a wedge between people of differing views, exacerbating historic animosities in order to enhance the authority of the executive and usurp greater control over the levers of state power.

Once again, we're not excluding the possibility that Trump's tweet may have been a "one off" by an impulsive man but, by the same token, it might be an indication of something more serious altogether.

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From Consortium News



King Salman of Saudi Arabia and his entourage arrive to greet President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 27, 2015.

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The long-running U.S.-backed Saudi war against a Yemeni rebel group has led to mass hunger and civilian slaughter -- suffering comparable to the humanitarian crisis of Aleppo in Syria though treated very differently by the U.S. establishment, according to investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter.

I spoke with Porter, who has written extensively about U.S. policies toward Iran and is the author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare, on Jan. 31.

Dennis Bernstein: You said today -- if I have this right -- the U.S. media covered Russian/Syrian air-strikes in Aleppo were reported as the worst air campaign in an urban area in modern post-World War II history, highlighting the suffering of civilians, and especially, of children. Then you go on to say, "Now it has been revealed that millions of Yemenis are suffering starvation because of the almost complete disruption of Yemenis society from Saudi-led coalition air strikes." You say, "Children are suffering the most horrible starvation."

So, this needs to be a bit of a primer, Gareth. Please start by outlining the situation on the ground in Yemen. And then please explain what exactly does the United States have to do with what is being reported as a wide ranging Saudi bloodbath?

GP: Well, those are two very big questions. Each of which requires a bit of explanation. Let's start with the situation on the ground. That is that there are millions of Yemenis in areas of the country which have been under bombardment by the Saudi led coalition.

And as a result of that bombing, which has been going on now since March of 2015, there has been a huge and very deep disruption of normal life, throughout a huge part of Yemen, the part of Yemen that was under the control of the Houthis, as well as their allies, coming from the old... the military that was associated with the previous regime -- the Saleh regime -- which the United States had been supporting for many years. So, this is a large part of the territory of Yemen.

And what we know is that some millions of people have been, to some extent, suffering from lack of adequate food. And particularly, of course as is usually the case, children are the ones who are suffering the most. The stories that I ... sighted and tweeted yesterday [January 30], had figures that showed that 31% of children under the age of five are now suffering from acute malnutrition.

And, of course, that's the category that includes people who are really starving to death, or close to death, as well as those people who are in the process of moving towards that condition. So those are the worst hits.

At one point, that would be -- according to my estimate looking at the age distribution of Yemen -- that would be about 1.7 million children under the age of five in Yemen who are either ... in an advanced stage of malnutrition, or who are headed very far, and have gone very far in that direction.

And the same article used the figure of 7 million people who are in what they call "severely food insecure areas" of the country. Meaning that these are areas that have been bombed severely, and where the food production has been, virtually, brought to a halt. It's been extremely limited, and therefore, access to food has been very limited. So, that's an extremely serious situation.

It's a humanitarian catastrophe, there's no doubt about that. And, it is certainly on a scale similar to Syria, and in many ways, maybe worse than the catastrophe that has occurred... humanitarian catastrophe that has occurred in Syria. And I say that because, as I go back and look at the coverage of starvation, malnutrition in Syria, the only place where it has been reported that there were cases of such severe malnutrition that people were starving to death, was in a town called Madaya, which was subject to being besieged by the Assad government troops.

And now there may be other places, but there certainly has not been other widespread coverage of this kind of severe malnutrition in Syria over the last couple of years. So that is a picture of, you know, a real catastrophe which, I must say, has not been covered by the U.S. press...

DB: Okay, now let's talk about... you say the United States is complicit in this crime. I guess you mean war crime. Explain the U.S. role, and why the U.S. is involved.

GP: Well, first of all, the complicity begins with the fact that the Saudi government, which, of course, is the primary national entity behind ... carrying out this bombing campaign against the Yemeni people, approached the Obama administration before it went to war. Before it started the bombing campaign, it went to the Obama administration, told the administration what it wanted to do, and that administration said, "Okay, yes, we'll support you."

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Drapchi prison in Lhasa is the Auschwitz of China's occupation of Tibet, this abused abandoned-by-the-rest of the world nation. Like Germany in the 1940's, China has many more prisons and concentration camps:

Here is a list of some of them, and they all hold political prisoners.

Powo Tramo, Chushur Prison, Delapuxie Prison,Lhasa Juvenile Offender Detachment, Xizang Autonomous Region Prison, Karze Prison, and Trisam Prison



for more details: click here

I strongly encourage Secretary Tillerson in this article to press the Chinese on these prisons/concentration camps, and to ask for International monitoring. Maybe it is too much to ask and too soon, but what a message it would send if he were to visit Drapchi Prison in Lhasa Tibet, in addition to those stuffy formal boring state dinners in Beijing with all sort of bloviating speeches of course intent on covering up the genocide of Tibetans that has killed 20% of their population since 1959, and to keep up the tenor of responses, and not let our foreign policies re: Tibet and China devolve into mere corporate subservience.

For Tibetans, this situation is awful, but will get worse and worse. The US doesn't use the Dalai Lama to "stir up trouble"; but only those few American with international knowledge combined with a sense of Justice and Compassion, have been outspoken about China's abuse of Tibetans, the genocidal tragedy that goes on an on, like a broken record with only noisy oblivious hostility from Beijing.

I directly helped 6 to 8 Tibetan political prisoners get released from Chinese prisons, which are all over Tibet (like the concentration camps were all over Germany), so indeed I know of what I speak.

The strategy involved extensive correspondence in Mandarin pressuring the Chinese government through its Ambassadors in every nation in the world, to not continue its stupid and obvious genocide of Tibetans, that they weren't foooling anyone, despite having learned from the Germans' genocide to do it much more slowly, hide it much more secretively, and to label it as "re-education," concentrating on other methods like intentionally spreading AIDS and punishing any demonstration whatsoever of loyalty to the Dalai Lama.

Maybe some in other nations will listen. The only one I distinctly remember as understanding these "non-professional" strategies of mine was Erkki Tuomioja when he was Foreign Minister. from 2000 to 2007 and 2011 to 2015. He is now a member of Finnish Parliament, and could far better and more effective advice to Secretary of State Tillerson than let's say the more likely prospects of listening to the CEO's of Walmart and other nations who do billions of dollars of business with China on a daily basis.

I am truly gratified, surprised, and encouraged by Secretary of State Tillerson's response to written questions posed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but thus far, I feel uncertain that Trump will do nothing specific to help Tibetans in any way. By doing nothing in the White House, the Chinese will feel emboldened to step up their psychotic pathological lying genocidal oppression of Tibetans, unabated.

For more information, please read what the International Campaign for Tibet has to say, especially in the realm of writing about political prisoners. See also more videos at the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy:

www.youtube.com/channel/UC_9QFpxMagGk6mWAU7xB8vg

also: just google this title to see the video:

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From Smirking Chimp

Donald Trump just pulled off the biggest bait-and-switch in American history.

Back when he was a presidential candidate, Trump said things about the big banks that made him sound like a Bernie Sanders Democrat.

In his final ad before Election Day, for example, he blasted the "global power structure" that he said was robbing the country blind and enriching the wealthy at the expense of working Americans.

That campaign ad -- and really the entire Donald Trump campaign -- will now go down in history as a con job of epic proportions.

All that populist talk about fighting; "draining the swamp"?

It was another one of those pesky little "Alternative Facts" Kellyanne Conway is always talking about.

It was a lie.

Instead of fighting the "global economic power structure," Donald Trump is now hard at work making it even more powerful.

For example, he's now asking the Labor Department to scrap the so-called fiduciary rule, which requires investors who manage retirement accounts to act in the best interest of their investors -- not Wall Street.

Sounds pretty good, right?

Not for the banksters.

They hate the fiduciary rule because it prevents them from ripping people off - and they've spent millions lobbying against it over the past few years.

As Trump administration Economic Adviser and former Goldman Sachs second-in-command Gary Cohn told the Wall Street Journal, "[the fiduciary rule] is like putting only healthy food on the menu, because unhealthy food tastes good but you still shouldn't eat it because you might die younger."

Scrapping the fiduciary rule is just the start of Trump's big plan to help Wall Street.

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From Reader Supported News

President Donald Trump's appointment of Gina Haspel as deputy director of the CIA is the clearest sign yet that the president has come down on the side of those at the Agency who were the architects of the Bush-era torture policy. Haspel was a protege of Jose Rodriguez, the CIA's notorious former Counterterrorism Center (CTC) director and, according to The Washington Post and The New York Times, she was the chief of the secret prison where Abu Zubaydah and others were tortured. Furthermore, the Times reports, it was Haspel who ordered the destruction of video tapes showing the Abu Zubaydah torture sessions, on orders from Rodriguez.

Described in the media as a "seasoned intelligence veteran," Haspel has served in the CIA for more than 30 years, both at Headquarters and in senior positions overseas. CIA director Mike Pompeo lauded her "uncanny ability to get things done" and said that she "inspires those around her." Maybe. But many of the rest of us called her "Bloody Gina," and we kept our distance.

Trump could have chosen anybody to be deputy CIA director. Perhaps recognizing the fact that Pompeo has only four years of peripheral intelligence experience (he did two terms on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as a junior member and has no other professional intelligence experience), the president thought he ought to appoint somebody who could be the adult in the room. Previous presidents have done the same thing, naming career analysts or operators to the position. But nobody in recent memory has brought as much baggage to the position as Haspel.

It was Haspel who was Rodriguez's handpicked warden of the first secret prison the CIA created to handle al-Qaeda detainees. It was Haspel who oversaw the staff, including discredited contract psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, the notorious pair who came up with the torture techniques and who actually carried out torture on prisoners. It was Haspel who videotaped the torture of Abu Zubaydah. And it was Haspel who carried out her master's instructions to destroy the tapes, despite being specifically told by the White House Counsel to preserve them.

I would call that "obstruction of justice" and "destroying evidence." And the last time I checked, those were felonies.

It is a travesty that somebody like Haspel would be rewarded with the second-most-important position at the CIA. But what is worse is the message that Trump is sending to the CIA workforce: Engage in war crimes, in crimes against humanity, and you'll still get ahead. Don't worry about the law. Don't worry about ethics. Don't worry about morality. We'll take care of you. You can still make it to the top.

Haspel's appointment is also an insult to the likes of Defense Secretary James Mattis, the retired four-star general who told Trump to his face that torture doesn't work, and to Pompeo himself, who said in his confirmation hearings that he was opposed to the torture program and would not reinstate it, even if ordered to do so by the president.

The appointment also signals Trump's willingness to provoke a fight. Christopher Anders, the deputy director of the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union, told The New York Times that the appointment left him "gravely concerned." Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in 2013 objected to Haspel's temporary appointment as director of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, the Agency's operations directorate, thus denying her the position on a permanent basis. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), said that while he appreciated Haspel's "many years of service at the CIA," he wanted assurances that she intends to comply with the spirit and letter of the law banning torture. She has yet to make any public statement.

The SSCI will have a chance to weigh in on Haspel's nomination. But don't expect much in the way of leadership there. The Democrats on the SSCI have been complicit in many of the CIA's worst programs since the September 11 attacks, including the torture program and secret prisons. I seriously doubt that Democrats will mount much of a challenge to her.

For the rest of us, the message is clear. If Trump wants to bring torture back, he will have the infrastructure and staff in place to do it. We have to remain vigilant.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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From Mondoweiss

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in danger of being brought down, possibly soon, over what initially appears to be little more than an imprudent taste for Cuban cigars and pink champagne.

In truth, however, the allegations ensnaring Netanyahu reveal far more than his personal flaws or an infatuation with the high life. They shine a rare light on the corrupt nexus between Israel's business, political and media worlds, compounded by the perverse influence of overseas Jewish money.

Of the two police investigations Netanyahu faces (there are more in the wings), the one known as Case 1000, concerning gifts from businessmen worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, is most likely to lead to his downfall.

But it is the second investigation, Case 2000, and the still-murky relationship between the two cases, that more fully exposes the rot at the heart of Israel's political system. This latter case hinges on a tape recording in which Netanyahu plots with an Israeli newspaper tycoon to rig media coverage in his favor.

Leads from both cases suggest that Netanyahu may have been further meddling, together with his billionaire friends, in the shadowy world of international espionage.

Netanyahu's appetite for a free lunch has been common knowledge in Israel since his first term as prime minister in the late 1990s. Then, he was twice investigated for fraud, though controversially charges were not brought in either case. Police discovered along the way that he and his wife, Sara, had horded many of the gifts he received during state visits. More than 100 were never recovered.

The clarifications that were issued more than 15 years ago, as a result of those investigations, make it hard for Netanyahu to claim now that he did not understand the rules. According to justice ministry advice in 2001, government and state officials cannot keep gifts worth more than $100 without risking violating Israeli law.

The gifts Netanyahu received from one of the Israeli businessmen involved in Case 1000, Hollywood film producer Arnon Milchan, amounted to as much as $180,000. Netanyahu has argued that these presents, ranging from cigars to jewelry, were expressions of a close friendship rather than bribes to him in his capacity as prime minister.

The problem, however, is that Netanyahu appears to have reciprocated by using his position as head of the Israeli government to lobby John Kerry, the then U.S. secretary of state, to gain Milchan a 10-year U.S. residency visa. He may have done more. We will return to that matter later.

Also being investigated are his family's ties to a friend of Milchan's, Australian billionaire James Packer, who made his fortune in the media and gambling industries. Packer has similarly lavished gifts on the Netanyahu family, especially Yair, Netanyahu's eldest son.

At the same time, Packer, now a neighbor of the Netanyahus in the coastal town of Caesarea, has been seeking permanent residency and the enormous benefits that would accrue with tax status in Israel. As a non-Jew, Packer should have no hope of being awarded residency. There are suspicions that Netanyahu may have been trying to pull strings on the Australian's behalf.

Many of these gifts were apparently not given freely. The Netanyahus asked for them. Indicating that Netanyahu knew there might be legal concerns, he used code words -- "leaves" for cigars and "pinks" for champagne -- to disguise his orders to Milchan.

Police are reported to be confident, after questioning Netanyahu three times, that they have enough evidence to indict him. If they do, Netanyahu will be under heavy pressure to resign.

Disturbing as these allegations of corruption are, Case 2000 indicates that this is about more than one prime minister's dubious ties to wealthy patrons.

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Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall shows us that the high-tech information revolution set the stage for a political and social evolution, the connectivity of which has the capacity to transform everything, everywhere. We have only to say 'yes' to tap [into] the power of this interconnection, participating in it from where we stand."



Dennis Kucinich, former U.S. Representative (D-OH) and 2004 and 2008 Democratic presidential primary candidate
From Consortium News



Nikki Haley of South Carolina speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. March 15, 2013. Haley is now U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

(Image by (Flickr Gage Skidmore)) Details DMCA



Well, that didn't take long, did it? The Trump administration hadn't even reached its two-week mark when it surrendered a major portion of its independence and fell in behind the reigning Washington orthodoxy. The turning point came at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday when Ambassador Nikki R. Haley blasted Russia for the upsurge of violence in the eastern Ukraine.

Haley's statement could hardly have been stronger. She not only assailed Russia for its "aggressive actions," but described them as "a replay of far too many instances over many years" when it has behaved the same. She called for a "clear and strong condemnation," declared that the crisis would not end "until Russia and the separatists it supports respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," and demanded the return of Crimea as well.

"Crimea is a part of Ukraine," Haley said. "Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control over the peninsula to Ukraine."

This must be disappointing news for New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, among others, who has long bashed Trump as a "Siberian candidate" and on Friday accused him of stirring up trouble with everyone except puppeteer Putin. "[T]he war with China will, it seems, have to wait," he wrote. "First comes Australia. And Mexico. And Iran. And the European Union. (But never Russia.)" Thanks to Haley's stirring call to arms, it looks like Moscow is now in America's sights as well.

What does it mean? Simply that Trump's foreign policy has already lost an engine before it has gotten off the ground. The man is a bully, a racist, a xenophobe, and more than a bit crazy to boot. But despite all that -- or perhaps because of it -- he has shown an ornery streak in some of his thinking about foreign policy that placed him sharply at odds with Washington's vast pro-war establishment. He favored a rapprochement with Russia, for example, as well as a new approach in Syria in which the problem of Bashar al-Assad would be put off in order to concentrate on fighting ISIS and Al Qaeda.

As he told the Times last March: "Well, I thought the approach of fighting Assad and ISIS simultaneously was madness and idiocy. They're fighting each other and yet we're fighting both of them. You know, we were fighting both of them. I think that our far bigger problem than Assad is ISIS, I've always felt that. Assad is -- you know I'm not saying Assad is a good man, 'cause he's not, but our far greater problem is not Assad, it's ISIS."

This was not very different from what Bernie Sanders was saying about the dangers of U.S.-imposed regime change in Syria, but utterly at odds with Hillary Clinton's insistence that Assad had to go because he was somehow aiding ISIS and Al Qaeda, when in fact he was engaged in a life-or-death struggle with both entities.

One Slim Reed

So amid all the bluster and braggadocio, racism and Islamophobia, there was one slim reed to hold onto: Trump seemed to be capable of at least a modicum of realism when it came to one or two trouble spots around the globe.



Retired U.S. Army lieutenant general Michael Flynn at a campaign rally for Donald Trump at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Oct. 29, 2016.

(Image by (Flickr Gage Skidmore)) Details DMCA



But then came the post-election back-tracking. On Nov. 18, Trump named Michael Flynn, a former chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency, as his national security adviser even though Flynn is renowned for his fierce anti-Russian views. Two weeks later, he named the no-less-hawkish James Mattis as his Secretary of Defense. At his confirmation hearing, Mattis described Russia as a "principal" threat to U.S. interests and declared that the U.S.-led world order was "under the biggest attacks since World War II from Russia, terrorist groups, and China's actions in the South China Sea."

After once predicting that Clinton's proposal for a Syrian no-fly zone would "end up in World War III," Trump also vowed to fix "what's going on in Syria" by building "safe zones ... so people can have a chance." Then, just this past Sunday, he telephoned King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of neighboring Abu Dhabi to obtain their political and financial support.

"The President requested and the King agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen," a White House statement said, "as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts." Where Hillary Clinton had called for just one no-fly zone, Trump was now committing to two.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Trump also gave the go-ahead for last Sunday's disastrous raid on a reputed Al Qaeda hideout in southern Yemen that ended with one American commando killed along with as many as 30 civilians, including the eight-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Al Qaeda propagandist and U.S. citizen who was eliminated in a drone strike in 2011.

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"Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti- war rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances," Illinois State Senator Barack Obama said in 2002. Later in the same speech: "What I am opposed to is a dumb war."

Although elected president at least in part on his image as "the peace candidate," Obama owned eight years of constant war. He waffled on then partially reversed the withdrawal from Iraq negotiated by his predecessor. He stretched the eight-year Afghanistan war to 16 years and counting. He began or expanded operations in Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen, escalating even to extra-judicial assassinations of American citizens.

On foreign policy, Obama served George W. Bush's third and fourth terms. Now Donald Trump looks set to serve Bush's fifth term and/or Obama's third.

During the 2016 campaign, Trump threaded the same rhetorical needle as pre-presidency Obama, referencing "bad deals" instead of "dumb wars." Like Obama, he touted his disapproval of the Iraq war. He took Bush's "humbler foreign policy" campaign rhetoric a step further and publicly floated the possibility of dissolving NATO. Even the future of US military support and financial aid to Israel seemed to be (briefly) up for discussion.

Those watching closely noticed, of course, that Trump was very much back and forth on foreign policy.

One minute he talked like a non-interventionist. The next minute he railed about "rebuilding" a US military that's already the most powerful and expensive war machine on the face of the earth and has been since World War II.

One minute he was for good relations with other countries, the next he was threatening to reverse Obama's two real foreign policy successes, the nuclear deal with Iran and the thawing of relations with Cuba.

He soothed the Israel lobby with a speech to its main organization, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), reversing his previous claim to "neutrality" in the Arab-Israeli conflict in Palestine and promising eternal support for the Israeli (read: for Likud) side of that conflict.

Trump is nothing if not a masterful performer. He managed to play both sides of the foreign policy coin, signaling "business as usual with extra jingoism" to hawks and "less interventionism" to doves.

Unfortunately, as with Obama, many doves -- even some libertarians, who ought to have known better -- fell for it. And some of them still ARE falling for it.

Since taking office, Trump has proven beyond a shadow of doubt that it is indeed business as usual. The drone strikes continue. Navy SEALs have murdered dozens of civilians including an 8-year-old American girl in Yemen. Instead of withdrawing US troops from Syria, Trump touts escalation of American involvement with the establishment of "safe zones" to corral war refugees. He's even turned on his supposed friend Vladimir Putin, promising an extension of sanctions against Russia on behalf of Ukraine's regime.

Time to take off the rose-colored glasses. Donald Trump is the War Party's dream president.
UPDATE: Nomination deadline extended to April 21

We all have go-to places that make our lives better. Maybe it's the tire shop that has your car ready when it says it will, or the financial planner who finally got you to commit to a retirement plan. Best yet, maybe you work at such a place.

If so, we want to hear from you.

The Oregonian/OregonLive wants your help identifying the best places to work in Oregon and southwest Washington for our sixth annual Top Workplaces awards. You can nominate your company or the business that suits you so well you don't bother Googling the latest reviews before going in.

We're talking about employers who know what sparks innovation, what engages their staff and what elevates them as institutions.

We recognized 100 workplaces last year after our research partner, WorkplaceDynamics, surveyed more than 25,000 workers. The happiest among them commonly said they felt appreciated, were doing meaningful work and knew what direction their companies were headed.

Financial adviser Robin Jacobson counts herself in that group.

"It was everything I thought it would be and more," she told The Oregonian/OregonLive after her company, Edward Jones, was honored for the fifth consecutive time last year.

"I don't have a Plan B. This is my forever spot."

The nomination process is simple and free: Submit the name of any employer with at least 35 people on its payroll in Oregon or in Clark, Cowlitz or Skamania counties in Washington. We're looking for organizations of all types: public or private, for-profit or nonprofit, retailer or manufacturer. You get the gist. Then tell us what traits you think drive their success.

In the months ahead, our research partner will ask employees to take part in a 24-question survey. All responses are anonymous. WorkplaceDynamics, which conducts Top Workplaces surveys for more than 45 major metropolitan news organizations, polled more than 2.8 million employees at nearly 7,000 organizations in 2016.

Employers with the highest scores will be featured on oregonlive.com/topworkplaces and will included in The Oregonian/OregonLive's Top Workplaces 2017 special section published on Oct. 1.

In September, we will host a celebration in downtown Portland, showcasing the employers who embody the best of the Pacific Northwest.

Submit your nominations at oregonlive.com/nominate or by calling 503-427-1666. The deadline is March 17.

Questions? Email them to rdimesio@oregonian.com.

-Robbie DiMesio
A driver suspected of fleeing after he struck two pedestrians -- one of whom later died -- was booked into Clark County jail on criminal charges.

Ernesto N. Estrada-Tapia, 24, of Vancouver, is accused of hit and run and vehicular homicide while driving under the influence in connection with the Jan. 11 collision in Vancouver. Court records show Estrada-Tapia is on probation in connection with a 2016 crash in North Portland.

Vancouver Police said Estrada-Tapia lost control of his vehicle on a snow-covered road and veered off the road, striking a man and a woman who were walking on the sidewalk. The driver fled the scene, near the Southeast 10th Street overpass above Interstate 205.

Both pedestrians were hospitalized, treated for their injuries and released, said police spokeswoman Kim Kapp. However, one victim, Christian Walton, died at home Jan. 27.

Investigators determined the 27-year-old likely died as a result of the crash, Kapp said, although the medical examiner has not yet issued an official ruling.

On an online fundraising site, Walton's family described him as "a wonderful person with a kind and gentle soul that will be missed dearly." Relatives are trying to raise money to transport Walton's body to New York for burial.

It's unclear what led police to Estrada-Tapia.

Police seized the car involved in the crash Wednesday and arrested Estrada-Tapia two days later, Kapp said. He is being held without bail at the Clark County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.

The crash occurred two months after Estrada-Tapia pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a May 2016 collision. A witness told police Estrada-Tapia was driving recklessly in the parking lot of the Jubitz Truck Stop in North Portland, then sped into traffic without stopping, according to a probable cause affidavit.

His truck ran into a semitrailer, then jumped over a curb and came to rest on the sidewalk. The witness went to help him and smelled alcohol on his breath. Four bystanders detained Estrada-Tapia until police arrived.

Portland Police Officer Michael Close reported Estrada-Tapia appeared unconscious, but then awoke and struggled to get free, the affidavit said.

While being driven to a hospital, Estrada-Tapia "violently grabbed" and twisted a paramedic's arm. His blood alcohol content was later measured at 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit.

Estrada-Tapia pleaded guilty in November to two counts of criminal mischief and one count of harassment. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation scheduled to end in May 2018.

He had also faced charges of reckless driving and driving under the influence. He was allowed to enter a diversion program and ordered to attend driver-safety and anger management courses.

Court records show his license was reinstated in November, and he attended a required traffic class in December.

-- Molly Young

myoung@oregonian.com

503-412-7056

@mollykyoung
Todays announcement is only for the short story category. The other categories will be announced in coming days. We are in debt to the generous support of Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd for their recognition of the need to develop literature in Papua New Guinea.

CONGRATULATIONS to the writers who participated in the 2016 Crocodile Prize. The voluntary committee and its supporters together with the sponsors are excited to announce the winners of the Prize. Thank you everyone for the contributions, the competition and the literary pieces.

The Crocodile Prize 2016 has been a long hard battle with Emmanuel (Manu) Peni  struggling almost alone at the business end of the contest, the majority of the support team having drifted away. Manu has been assisted in fine fashion by Phil Fitzpatrick at Pukpuk Publications, which was able to publish the 200 page anthology at very short notice. Over the next period well be featuring the decisions of the judges about shortlisted contenders for the 2016 awards..

The short story category attracted 54 entries: 23 from women and 31 from men, Of these, the independent judges have shortlisted five and the winner will be selected by Kumul Petroleum Holdings.

The entries were of very high quality and touched upon many aspects and facets of our lives. Many of the stories sent in, although fiction, resonated with our everyday lives and experiences in PNG.

Violence was a recurring theme and death, illness, sadness, loss, troubles, worry, bleak experiences and disillusionment were not in short supply. The entries painted a vivid if grim mosaic of the current daily narratives of Papua New Guineans.

However, there were also sparks in creative and quite unconventional imaginative pieces that pushed comfort zones, like the lives of people living on and profiting from illicit drugs. There was certain unease that such stories may have told of the experiences of the authors. But at least this created great interest.

The love stories offered depth and colour and a reflection of our PNG cultures, which still need to be a little more progressive in the expression of sex and sexuality. Perhaps there is a readership for stories of explicit romance.

Other stories really put a spotlight on the development status and struggles especially of remote areas or certain domains of governments. Kevin Pondikou, a talented writer, painted some intensely stunning detail in his gripping stories of life as a medical professional in some of the most remote places in the world.

The judges expressed the view that the stories were inspiring and of high quality. It was a difficult task of shortlisting. The Crocodile Prize committee congratulates all people who sent in entries. Every one of them is a writer. The literary landscape has been enhanced by these writers contributions.

The shortlist for the short story category of the 2016 Crocodile Prize:

Old man's tears [published in PNG Attitude as Silent Tears] by Alexander Nara A morning to remember by Alison Kult The pulse of PNG by Kevin Pondikou PNG echo by Kevin Pondikou Thinking of Yehebi [published in PNG Attitude as Today a woman died] by Kevin Pondikou

The committee will announce the winner soon.
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Rosie Cottingham (center), math teacher, helps student Jayden Miley during Oregon City Success Seminar. Oregon City High School had a 94 percent graduation rate, crediting efforts such as the seminar class.

(Stephanie Yao Long/Staff)

Publicizing success: The article about Oregon City High School was the best description of a successful school I've ever seen ("Oregon school success story: How Oregon City High got 94 percent of students to graduation," Jan. 31). Instead of just heralding the school's high 2016 graduation rates, the article described at length the principal's and teachers' recent efforts to motivate and support all students. It also included several student quotes showing their appreciation of teachers' efforts and their new positive feelings about school. In covering both the teachers' and the students' views, the article did an excellent job of helping readers to understand how a school's actions can make a big difference in student performance.

For far too long, media all over the U.S. have fed the public a story about our failing schools, highlighting their low test scores and graduation rates without looking into why those things were happening or how they might be changed. I applaud Betsy Hammond and The Oregonian/OregonLive for showing us how at least one school has found its way to producing student success.

Joanne Yatvin, Southwest Portland

Earned Fs: Regarding the article about the principal addressing the staff at Oregon City High School where the staff were told that they had "given" over 1,000 Fs: I would prefer to think that over 1,000 students earned failing marks. After teaching for more than 30 years, I can tell you that pressure by parents, counselors, and administration for teachers to pass students or to give them As is plentiful. Just showing up to class is no reason to pass. Did the student actually learn something?

David Fletcher, Damascus
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In this file photo from last year, Women's Foundation of Oregon director Emily Evans is seen driving across Oregon to interview women and girls.

(Courtesy Dawn Jones Redstone )

Emily Evans

The numbers are shocking: Perpetrators have sexually or domestically assaulted more than half of Oregon's women and girls. Oregon families face some of the least affordable childcare in the nation. And Oregon women have the highest rates of depression in the country.

These are just a few of the findings across "Eight that can't wait" pressing issue areas of "Count Her In," the first report on the status of Oregon's women and girls in two decades.

The urgency in Oregon couldn't be more clear, and the national context couldn't be more dire. The catastrophic rollback of rights and opportunities for women and girls across the nation has already begun.

But Oregon won't go back. Oregon must go forward.

Our collective desire for change is undeniable. Two weeks ago, approximately 130,000 eople participated in the Women's Marches across our state. From Ashland to Astoria, Bandon to Bend, Portland to Pendleton, Oregonians marched in record numbers to make it clear they want to live in a state and a nation where every woman and girl can thrive.

For that to happen in Oregon, women and girls need to have equitable access to educational, social, political and economic opportunities. But right now, many of Oregon's women and girls, particularly women and girls of color, do not.

Oregon's lawmakers -- past and present, Democrat and Republican -- have much to be proud of when it comes to supporting gender equity in our state. The 2017 legislative session is filled with chances to lead again.

At the Women's Foundation of Oregon, we've worked with experts, advocates and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to assemble a set of evidence-based and common sense policies that are already working elsewhere to address the "Eight that can't wait." These promising policies include:

-- Sufficient, culturally competent services for sexual and domestic violence survivors so no one is turned away from a hospital or shelter.

-- Basic prevention education in schools so violence doesn't happen in the first place.

-- Family and medical leave so all working Oregonians can recover from illness or care for loved ones without jeopardizing their paycheck.

-- Health care equity so every Oregonian has their health needs met, including reproductive and mental health needs, regardless of location, citizenship status, gender identity or type of insurance.

-- Updated employment laws so women, people of color, LGBTQ and other marginalized Oregonians can earn equal pay for comparable work.

The data is stark, and the stories speak for themselves. We live in a state that can't wait. Oregon's leaders have a clear mandate to craft public policies that address the systemic nature of the gender and racial inequities found in "Count Her In."

Regardless of budget deficits, federal government upheaval or partisan gridlock, Oregon's leaders must lead the nation by asking themselves a simple question before every decision this session: Is this action good for all women and girls?

Otherwise, to paraphrase Portland civil rights leader Kathleen Saadat, the largest demonstration in Oregon's history was just a long walk in the rain.

Let's get to work.

Emily Evans is the Executive Director of the Women's Foundation of Oregon.
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Demonstrators congregate Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017, at Portland International Airport. It was the second day of protests regarding President Donald Trump's order barring refugees from certain nations entry to the United States.

(Mark Graves/Staff)

Liberals and the liberal main-stream media are once again distorting the facts concerning actions taken by the Trump administration. The immigration ban for the seven war-torn terrorist countries (the same countries listed by Obama) is temporary and was done to allow time to develop proper vetting procedures to ensure that those terrorists and anti-America immigrants bent on attacking us are barred from entering our country. And remember, Obama barred Iraqi refugees for 6 months in 2011. Where was the outrage then?

The temporary ban on refugees from these specific countries is being done for the same reason - to correct the lax vetting standards of the Obama Administration. Obama was the cause of the Syrian refugee crisis and now he is decrying Trump while President Trump is simply trying to rectify refugee problems caused by Obama.

The liberal media spews out that this is a ban on Muslims and is un-American. Not so! There are 50 Muslim-majority countries in the world and only seven countries fall within the temporary ban, thus a ban on all Muslims is erroneously proclaimed. Quit with the moral outrage and understand that President Trump has issued this temporary immigration ban within the supreme responsibility of the executive office - protecting all citizens of the USA.

Dennis Ortega, Woodburn
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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown speaks to media representatives in Salem on Jan. 26.

(AP Photo/File)

Few people in the progressive Oregon that voted for Hillary Clinton misread the conservative campaign priorities of candidate Donald Trump: He'd shouted them out. But few Oregonians, like many across the country, could foresee the daily carnival attending the implementation of executive orders and directives from President Donald Trump.

Thousands across Oregon have protested and otherwise derided Trump as a self-aggrandizing ignoramus whose degradation of women, ban on Muslims and estrangement of international allies, among other things, push the country in the direction of chaos. Disruption often brings chaos. But as a steady state, chaos is dangerous.

Portland and Oregon watch warily. With the exception of Republican Congressman Greg Walden, who has Trump's ear, Oregon's congressional delegation has taken a pitched stand against Trump's actions so far and many of his cabinet nominees. Separately, Gov. Kate Brown last Thursday issued her own executive order to strengthen Oregon's sanctuary laws while requesting that the state's attorney general find ways to sue the White House to find remedies to resist the travel ban.

It's good we have such scruples. But are they handled in such a way as to make good government? Oregon lumbers forward facing a $1.8 billion hole in its budget and the need to fund transportation upgrades and to address the money-eating Public Employees Retirement System. A beset Legislature just convened.

Yet some dots do connect. Oregon found itself off Trump's list of states provisionally approved for transportation project funding. That could change, and millions of infrastructure dollars are viewed not only as bringing capital improvements to Oregon but jobs and revved-up economic activity.

Enter Walden. Brown publicly described Walden as "very well-placed to deliver to Oregon and Oregonians, and we will work very closely with our federal delegation to make sure Oregon gets its fair share of federal dollars." No pressure, Walden, but the governor's assertion came as the Oregon delegation hammered the Trump White House as doing nothing less than pose a threat to democracy. Meanwhile Brown, in a moment of misplaced attention, allowed her campaign folks to launch a social-media-driven call for a "Social Action Team" to resist Trump - as if votes for her reelection are to be found in the Trump-news-is-trending moment.

Walden met for more than an hour with Trump in the Oval Office last week, mainly on the subject of reducing the high cost of pharmaceuticals. But he snagged the president at the end of the meeting to suggest forest management was a particular challenge at home, in Oregon. A Walden spokesman told The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board last week that Trump told Walden that once Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke is sworn in as Secretary of the Interior, the three of them should sit down and discuss more intensive management of forests nationally and in Oregon. That sounds like code speak for increased logging on public lands.

But it could suggest other things, too. Last year Walden unsuccessfully advocated in Klamath Basin legislation for the transfer of federally owned forests to counties; Zinke, however, has a record of opposing the transfer or sale of federally owned lands. In any event, it means Walden, a leading voice against Obamacare, is a trusted voice in the White House. Tactical snag: Official Oregon, for the most part, hates and fears Trump. Tactical question: Should Oregon lean on Walden to make deals with the person its leaders deride as being bent on destabilizing the nation?

Complication extends to Portland, a sanctuary city whose budget features millions of federal dollars. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this year called for a $1 billion-plus cleanup of Portland Harbor under Superfund regulation. The EPA's plan was 16 years and more than $100 million in the making. But will it actually happen? Will the health threat driven by river-bottom toxics ever be reduced?

Oregonian editorials

Editorials reflect the collective opinion of The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board, which operates independently of the newsroom.

Members of the editorial board are Laura Gunderson, John Maher, Helen Jung, Mark Katches and Len Reed.

To respond to this editorial:

Post your comment below, submit

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If you have questions about the opinion section, contact Laura Gunderson, editorial and commentary editor, at 503-221-8378 or lgunderson@oregonian.com.

Portland officials have no clue. An EPA official in Seattle told the editorial board the agency had heard nothing. Retiring Washington Sen. Don Benton, formerly Clark County's director of environmental services and now senior adviser to Trump on the EPA's transition under a new director, told the editorial board only that the agency would likely reduce costs and regulation while improving results. Whatever that means.

Things are so foggy in governance that this much is clear: Reaction will no longer do. Elected leaders at cross-purposes can hurt. City and state leaders must join with the congressional delegation in forging a new conversation in which all parties are equally informed in real time - and in which the Trump spectacle can be separated from the difficult business of government. Leaders need to be as smart as they are angry, as wise as they are surprised, as considered as they can be impetuous.

All Oregonians deserve a government that withstands even the most difficult of tests and finds the resources necessary to support its best purposes.

-The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board
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Rep. Greg Walden speaks during a news conference in this January 2016 photo.

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Testing character: I came across a quote from Abraham Lincoln that is certainly applicable in our current political times: "Nearly all men can stand adversity - to test a man's character, give him power."

Now that Mr. Trump has his power, we are seeing more and more of his character, which is frightening.

Ruth Tooze, Clackamas

A glimpse of what's to come: Regarding "Walden backs Trump's plan, not the delivery" (Feb. 1): In his defense of President Trump's executive order curtailing immigration and refugee programs, Rep. Greg Walden simply states the obvious and narrows the conversation by saying that he supports protecting the nation from foreign threats. What we would like to know from Walden is how is he going to protect the nation from the internal threat posed by the abuse of power of the presidency?

His response to Trump's immigration crack down gives us an idea of what we can expect.

Kim Barigar, Southeast Portland

Walden's disappointing stance: I was disappointed to learn that Rep. Greg Walden supports Trump's Muslim ban. Stopping people from coming to the United States simply because you think they might possibly, maybe, be a threat is just plain wrong and unAmerican. Using that logic, then why not start banning people from leaving the state of Wyoming, since they have the highest per capita gun ownership rate and, therefore, might be a threat to the rest of the country? It makes no sense.

Whether it was "well handled" or not is irrelevant. It's a hateful policy that never should have been implemented in the first place. I have always thought that Mr. Walden was a reasoned and moderate voice of the Republican party, so it comes as unfortunate news to learn that he is willing to blindly follow the Trump administration's intolerant and racist policies, no matter how unconstitutional or immoral they may be. Sad!

Mark Docherty, Beaverton
Ammar Alnajjar,Fahd Alfakih

Ammar Alnajjar (left) shakes hands with his cousin, Fahd Alfakih, after coming into New York's JFK International Airport on a flight from Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. The government on Saturday suspended enforcement of President Donald Trump's refugee and immigration ban, enabling Alnajjar to return from Turkey where he was visiting his wife.

(AP Photo/William Mathis)

CHICAGO -- Visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries affected by President Donald Trump's travel ban hurried to board U.S.-bound flights Saturday, fearing they might have only a slim window through which to enter the country after a federal judge temporarily blocked the ban.

Those who could travel immediately were being urged to do so because of uncertainty over whether the Justice Department would be granted an emergency freeze of the order issued Friday by U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle. The government on Saturday suspended enforcement of the week-old ban as it scurried to appeal Robart's order, although an immigration lawyer said passengers in at least one African airport were told they couldn't get on the planes.

Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan, told The Detroit News that her group is advising people to hurry.

"We're ... instructing people who can travel immediately to the United States to basically go ahead and do that before anything further happens," Aoun said, adding that one family intends to fly back from Egypt on Sunday. Another woman in Egypt, who had been denied a visa, is booking her flight to come as soon as possible, said Aoun, whose group filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Detroit asking a judge to declare Trump's immigration order unconstitutional.

U.S. officials have said up to 60,000 foreigners had their visas "provisionally revoked" to comply with Trump's order.

Among them was Ammar Alnajjar, a 24-year-old Yemeni green card holder and student at Southwest Tennessee Community College who had traveled to Turkey to visit his fiancee and planned to stay for three months. When he heard the ban was lifted, he paid $1,000 to come back immediately. He arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday.

"I got to study. I got to do some work," said Alnajjar, who said he fled civil war in Yemen and moved to the U.S. from Turkey in 2015. "I'm Muslim. I'm proud of it. Islam means peace."

Although the government suspended enforcement of the travel ban while it sought an emergency stay of Robart's order, some airlines reportedly still weren't letting some people from the seven countries board their planes, at least initially.

Royal Jordanian Airlines, which operates direct flights from Amman to New York, Chicago and Detroit, said it would resume carrying nationals from the seven countries as long as they presented a valid U.S. visa or green card.

But in the African nation of Djibouti, immigration attorney Julie Goldberg said a Qatar Airways representative told her that immigrants from all seven countries affected by the ban -- Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Somalia -- were not allowed to fly Saturday afternoon. A Qatar Airways spokeswoman said the airline would begin boarding travelers from those countries.

Goldberg said she was trying to arrange flights for dozens of Yemeni citizens who have immigrant visas and were stranded there. She said a supervisor at Turkish Airlines told her that people holding immigrant and non-immigrant visas from the seven countries still were being banned unless they had a special email from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection with the person's name and passport number.

A 12-year-old Yemeni girl whose parents and siblings are U.S. citizens living in California was finally allowed to depart after "an hour-and-half of fighting" with officials, Goldberg said. It was unclear when she would arrive.

"Her mother is on pins and needles ... her father is on the plane with her," Stacey Gartland, a San Francisco attorney who represented the girl, said in an email.

The fate of some refugees still was in limbo.

A Somali refugee said about 140 refugees whose resettlement in the U.S. was blocked by Trump's executive order were sent back to their refugee camp and it was unclear if or when they could travel.

Nadir Hassan said the group of Somali refugees was relocated to Dadaab camp in eastern Kenya on Saturday. They had been expected to settle in the U.S. this week and had been staying at an International Organization for Migration transit center in Nairobi. Officials at the International Organization for Migration could not immediately be reached for comment.

"I was hoping to start a new life in the U.S." Hassan said. "We feel bad."

American businesses affected by the ban also were jumping into action. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who quit Trump's business advisory council this week under criticism of his initial response to Trump's ban, said his company is buying plane tickets for some of its drivers who are stranded, tweeting Friday night that the head of litigation for the ride-hailing app is "buying a whole bunch of airline tickets ASAP!"

Meanwhile, legal advocates waited at airports to offer assistance to new arrivals in case anything went wrong.

Volunteer attorney Renee Paradis was among 20-25 lawyers and interpreters who stationed themselves inside JFK's Terminal 4 in case anyone arrived Saturday needing help. They were carrying handmade signs in Arabic and Farsi "that say we're lawyers, we're here to help. We're not from the government," Paradis said.

"We're all just waiting to see what actually happens and who manages to get through," she said.

-- The Associated Press
"Grimm" continued mixing Monster of the Week murder investigations with dribs and drabs of ongoing storylines in "The Seven Year Itch," Episode 5 in this sixth and final season of the filmed-in-Portland show.

The episode offered some funny lines, a Wesen killer who was especially outrageous, and a history lesson about Portland that probably doesn't show up in the Portland Public Schools curriculum.

Overall, it was a good "Grimm" episode, but with time running out on the show, I'm craving more development in the magic stick department. And we know Diana (Hannah R. Loyd) will have more to do, so these Wesen crime episodes feel a bit like stalling.

Note: Spoilers are coming, so if you haven't yet seen the episode -- which was delayed until Saturday night to make way for a Blazers game on KGW Friday -- you know what to do. And what are you waiting for, anyway? Get on the stick. Well, not that stick.

Here are highlights from "The Seven Year Itch":

Portland history shocker: The Wesen killer this week was a huge cicada insect that climbs out of the ground once every seven years and has one day to find a substantial human to feed on for the next seven years, until it's feeding time again. Ick. Even more disturbing, the big bug -- who's also quite a Dionysian party animal, in a detail that didn't really get developed -- is none other than William Stillman, a Portland founding father. For you non-Portlanders, Stillman is fictional, and we don't have a park named after him, with a statue looming. But it was nice to see "Grimm" back in Portland's woodsy parks, a hallmark of the show that I missed last season, with all that hanging around the gloomy Hadrian's Wall headquarters.

I wasn't sure which park this episode was filmed in. Any guesses? My personal favorite, Southeast Portland's Mount Tabor Park, also has a statue, of Harvey Scott, who edited none other than The Oregonian newspaper, from 1865-1872, and from 1877 to 1910. You can read all about it at the Portland Parks & Recreation website for Mount Tabor Park.

Near the end of "The Seven Year Itch," Stillman the Bug Wesen is in human form, trying to woo a curvy local lady, who he intends to chomp on for the next seven years. They walk at night through "Stillman Square Park," as Stillman blathers on about the wonderful gift of the park to the city.

"I wonder what Portland was like back then," the curvy gal says.

She would have stood out, Stillman the Bug Wesen says. "In 1850, this was a frontier town" so "there were five men to every woman."

Curvy Portland Gal would like to meet just one, she muses.

Stillman the Bug Wesen attacks Curvy Portland Gal, and Nick (David Giuntoli), Hank (Russell Hornsby) and Wu (Reggie Lee) arrive just in time, and fight with the creature, who is surprisingly strong for a big ol' bug.

When things look dodgy, suddenly a hippo-headed Wesen appears behind Stillman the Bug Wesen and chomps his head off. Surprise! The hippo-headed Wesen is actually Curvy Portland Gal.

"You're the Grimm," she calmly says to Nick, who's staring at her.

"Yeah," Nick says, matter-of-factly.

Just another day in Portland. I loved that the intended victim stopped her attacker in such a conclusive way, and this is another sign that, in the "Grimm" world, nearly every Portlander seems to be a Wesen. I did think making Curvy Portland Gal a hippo-like Wesen was a bit of a cheap shot, though.

Renard's ghost problem: Renard (Sasha Roiz) has yet another spiffy new place, with fabulous views of Portland. He and Diana seem comfortable there, but Renard gets uninvited visits from Meisner (Damien Puckler), that pesky ghost. Determined to find out if he's really being haunted by a spirit of if he's just losing his marbles, Renard consults a local pawnbroker, who apparently, dabbles in Wesen magic. Renard gets into a glass thingy that looks like a cast-off fortune-teller booth from a traveling carnival, and spirit vapor appears to leave him. Meisner then appears, and taunts Renard, who looks tormented. Oh, did I mention that Renard is also shirtless?

Eve finally escapes the tunnels: So, Eve (Elizabeth Tulloch) is finally rescued from her tunnel tomb below Nick's loft, when Diana senses that Eve is trapped down there. I didn't realize she was trapped -- she tells Nick that she couldn't get her body to move to get the heck out. And she spent her time down there carving on the walls those strange symbols from the cloth that the magical stick was wrapped in. And when Diana goes down for a look, her eyes glow purple and the symbols grow purple. Huh?

Monroe and Rosalee's baby news: Since Diana told Rosalee (Bree Turner) that there was more than one baby inside her, she and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) visit a doctor to confirm. Oops! Turns out Rosalee is carrying not twins, but triplets.

Lines of the Week

"I don't like dead bodies on an empty stomach" -- Hank to Nick, as the two have to leave Fuller's Coffee Shop to investigate yet another Portland homicide.

"This is Portland. I might have to narrow that down" -- Wu to Nick, after being asked to see if there were other reports of a naked man in the park the previous night.

Nick suggests the naked dead man in the park might be there because of a "sadistic sexual encounter gone bad." "Really?" Hank asks. "No," Nick says. "It's Wesen."

"What's a girl gotta do to find the right guy in this town?" -- Curvy Portland Gal to Nick, Hank and Wu, after she woged and bit off the head of her Wesen attacker.

"So, Portland's celebrated pioneer was a 200-year-old cicada Wesen" -- Hank, to Nick after finding out that the big bug Wesen was, in fact, William Stillman.

"A mind is a terrible thing to lose."-- Meisner's ghost to Renard.

-- Kristi Turnquist



kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist
Brandon Fisher, of Midland, was among the more than 3,900 students who earned semester honors from Kansas State University for their academic performance in the fall 2016 semester.

Students earning a grade point average for the semester of 3.75 or above on at least 12 credit hours receive semester honors along with commendations from their deans. The honors also are recorded on their permanent academic records.
The Humane Society of Midland County has been ramping up its fundraising and adoption activities for 2017.

As of December 2016, the locally supported 501c3 non-profit which receives no state or local funding, has placed more than 13,000 animals through adoption, foster care and rescue homes.
Michelle Schuch, EMT of MidMichigan Medical Center  Emergency Medical Services, is no stranger to helping people  shes been doing it for almost two decades. But when it came to blood donation, the EMT didnt think there was a great need.

I used to think there was a bank full of blood bags sitting on shelves in a freezer, she said. But then I was told thats not true; every pint of blood donated is already spoken for. That blew my mind.

The short-haired, bright-eyed mother of four is now much more familiar with the constant need. Her brother needed blood transfusions while battling leukemia, which inspired her to donate more regularly. Thirty-three percent of all blood donations go to people being treated for cancer. Unfortunately, her brother passed away nearly 10 years ago from complications related to the blood cancer. He was only 20 years old.

(Donated blood) helped prolong my brothers life; it helped give him the fight he needed, Schuch said. For that simple act of kindness, Im forever grateful.

After he passed away, Schuch and her family continued to donate blood whenever possible. Collectively, theyve donated more than 16 gallons of blood. It became such a way of life that she, her husband and their son even got matching tattoos: three drops of blood.

Its a stark difference from the life she had before her brother was diagnosed with cancer. Back then, Schuch said donating blood wasnt a priority. In fact, around 17 percent of people say they dont give blood because they dont think about it. Thats something the mom of four is trying to change.

Until that reality (of someone you love needing blood) hits, its just not something that people think about, she said. Its one of my life goals to help raise that awareness.

Now, Schuch is taking it a step further and organizing a blood drive with the help of her employer, MidMichigan Health. She hopes that people recognize how many lives they can change with only an hour of their time.

If everybody were to think that way, we definitely would have that freezer full, she said.

In partnership with Schuch and MidMichigan Health, Michigan Blood will begin holding monthly blood drives on the campus of MidMichigan Medical Center  Midland on the last Friday of the month. The next blood drive will be held Friday, Feb. 24, from 10 a.m.  3 p.m., in the Healing Arts Gallery of the Towsley Building. Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments are preferred. Those who attempt to donate will be entered to win a $100 Meijer gift card.

Those who would like to make an appointment may call (866) MIBLOOD (642-5663) or visit www.miblood.org
Sentences may vary based on previous offenses committed by the defendant.

Some sentences include other fees imposed by the state. Unless otherwise noted, defendants are from Midland.

The following people were sentenced recently in Midland Countys 42nd Circuit Court by Judge Michael J. Beale or Judge Stephen P. Carras:

 Terrence Delon Harris, 49, Saginaw, was sentenced for third-offense domestic violence. The offense occurred on May 18 in Ingersoll Township. Beale sentenced Harris to 10 months in jail with credit for 232 days.

 Natasha Leeann Kolba, 27, Bay City, was sentenced for first-degree retail fraud. The offense occurred on April 19 in Midland. Beale sentenced Kolba to one year in jail with credit for 262 days, $750 costs, $1,062 restitution, three years probation and to attend a treatment program.

 Jacob Christopher Loose, 35, Auburn Street, was sentenced for third-offense drunken driving. The offense occurred on Sept. 21 in Midland. Beale sentenced Loose to $1,250 fines and costs, and one year probation. Beale also granted a one year sentence delay. Loose previously was convicted of drunken driving on Oct. 28, 2004, in the 11th Judicial Circuit of Missouri, and Sept. 13, 2012, in the Midland County District Court.

 Theresa Rose Miller, 43, Saginaw, was sentenced for third-offense drunken driving. The offense occurred Jan. 31, 2013, in Midland. Carras sentenced Miller to one year in jail with credit for 97 days. Miller previously was sentenced for drunken driving on June 6, 2011, in the 55th Circuit Court, and on Feb. 6, 2006, in the 28th Circuit Court.

 Yolonda Marie Sweet, 36, Mount Pleasant, was sentenced for possession of a controlled substance, second-offense driving while license suspended and driving with a forged, altered or false identification. The offenses occurred on Aug. 7 in Midland, and Sweet possessed cocaine. Carras sentenced Sweet to one year in jail for the first count and to three months for each of the remaining offenses, with the terms to be served at the same time, and credit for 159 days.

 John Vincent Timmons, 56, Coleman, was sentenced for delivery or manufacture of marijuana and possession of marijuana. The offense occurred on July 22 in Coleman. Beale sentenced Timmons to one day in jail with credit for time served, $500 costs, a $500 fine which is suspended and one year probation. Beale also granted a one year sentence delay.

 Norman Paul Veit, 63, Coleman, was sentenced for second-degree criminal sexual conduct. The offense occurred on Aug. 14, 2015, in Coleman. Beale sentenced Veit to between 38 months and 15 years in prison with credit for 301 days, to register as a sex offender and to lifetime electronic monitoring upon his release from prison.

 Sean Patrick Walsh, 39, Damon Drive, was sentenced for failing to pay child support. The offense occurred on Feb. 2, 2016, in Midland County. Beale sentenced Walsh to 22 days in jail with credit for time served, $250 costs, a $500 fine which is suspended. As of April 6, Walsh was $13,813.06 behind in child support payments.
Welcome to the term of President (Clueless) Trump. Never has a president been less prepared to lead our country. While repeating his catchphrase that he will make America great again, I think he is referring to a return to the era of the robber barons like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Mellon and others, in which every industry was a monopoly, and the owners made huge amounts of money but did not share it with their workers. America was great for them, but not for the vast majority of workers.

It took Republican President Teddy Roosevelt to bust up the trust monopolies who jacked up prices and hurt the middle and lower classes.

Trump is a business predator who used other people and other peoples money to put money in his own pocket. And when he made bad decisions, he declared bankruptcy several times, leaving his partners in the lurch. This is a business genius? No, this is a business predator.

Trump has no experience in any aspect of government except the courts where he has over 1,000 lawsuits brought against him for not paying his bills, for ripping off students in his fraudulent university, and cheating the workers in some of his businesses.

Donald Trump is not a success, he is a failure. And now he has a chance to fail and hurt the whole country.

I thought the Republicans wanted fiscal responsibility. For the last eight years they have harped about the deficit and the debt, which has gone down under President Obama in spite of an obstructionist, do nothing Republican Congress. But Republicans are apparently OK with Trumps ridiculous Wall which could cost between $8 and $24 billion. What a waste!

And immigrants. People want to come to this country to have an opportunity to live in safety and work, not to take advantage of the social safety network. A lot of jobs in agriculture, construction, food service and lawn care that immigrants readily accept, a lot of Americans wont do. Those jobs are too hard or they dont pay enough for able bodied Americans who would rather rely on the safety net.

We are an immigrant nation. Unless you are Native American, your ancestors came from some place else and survived and thrived in this country, contributing to its success. Embrace immigrants from all countries. They want to be here and want to work no matter what the industry or job, whether in Silicon Valley, in manufacturing, in agriculture, in services, in construction.

Trumps paranoia about Muslims is like the McCarthy witch hunt in the 1950s looking for communists. There has never been a presidential candidate (and now president) that has so stirred up racist, religious, misogynist hatred like he did and does, vilifying immigrants and refugees, mocking minorities, mocking the disabled, mocking the veterans who suffered in POW camps or with mental illnesses from war, mocking women, or anyone who disagrees with him. He thinks he can bully anyone and everyone, even other countries that are our allies, while cozying up to Putin, the butcher of the Ukraine, Crimea, Chechnya and Syria. Putin is a repressive dictator who stifles dissent and the press and human rights. Putin has stolen the resources and wealth of his country for himself and his friends. He is a brutal dictator and thats who Trump wants to be his buddy? Does Putin have something on Trump that he has hacked?

Trump has no understanding about the environment and the damage we are doing to the climate. He has no clue how to improve the economy. Lower taxes? Look at Kansas. Their governor lowered taxes on business and residents and the state is now stuck with an almost $1 billion deficit. Lowering taxes does not result in economic growth. Lowering taxes does not guarantee business investment in capital or people. Kansas is a failed experiment. Does Trump have to inflict that financial disaster on the whole country?

Trump wants to spend billions on infrastructure. How is that going to be paid for? Suddenly the Republicans seem to be blind to Trumps financially irresponsible deficit spending programs.

Oh, but maybe Trump will come up with a scorch and burn healthcare replacement plan that leaves all of us with higher deductibles, higher premiums, and poorer coverage (if any at all) that saves money for his Wall of Shame.

Charles Krauthammer, a contributor to Fox News, said in an article in the Jan. 27 Midland Daily News that Trumps foreign policy is a disaster with Trump acting as if it is the U.S. against everybody else. There are apparently no allies in Trumps world (maybe Putin?). Ever since the end of World War II, the U.S. has crafted treaties and relationships with our allies to bolster trade and ensure security against countries like Russia and China who have expansionist intent. The United Nations and NATO have been a bulwark against Russian expansion and countries trying to hurt other counties or their own people.

The world is global and the U.S. cannot isolate itself economically or militarily from the rest of the world. If the U.S. puts tariffs on goods from other countries, those countries will do the same to the U.S. U.S. export goods like agricultural commodities, farm and construction equipment, aircraft, autos and electronics will have tariffs slapped on them by other countries and will not be as competitive on the world market. If the U.S. puts tariffs on goods from Mexico and other countries, the prices of those products will go up for U.S. consumers. That $800 iPhone may then cost $2,000 with all American parts. By the way, any new auto plants put in the U.S. might be staffed by robots because they are cheaper than people for auto assembly. Many of the manufacturing jobs lost in this country are because of technology, not because of trade agreements.

All this is thanks to the Americans who voted for a person with no experience in any phase of the presidents job. A person who changes his mind on a daily basis, who has no concept of protecting the environment for the future, knows no science, who has no understanding of economics beyond bankruptcy, who has no ethics, who will not reveal his tax returns or separate himself from his businesses to prevent conflicts of interest, who has flooded the airwaves and media with racist, misogynist, hateful, bullying statements, who has the temperament of an elementary school yard bully who pouts and assaults others when he does not get his way, who discounts the wisdom of those who have gone before him in foreign relations, the military, economics, business, law enforcement, healthcare, support for those that are struggling, for immigrants, for religious freedom. A person who with a tweet could destroy relationships with other countries or start World War III.

Make America great again? America is already great. Dont make it worse. Trump is headed for disaster. Are the Republicans in Congress going to sit and watch Trump destroy America? Or are they going to raise their voices and call him out like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and maybe Marco Rubio to mention a few?

And what is U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar going to do? So far he has been unable to stand in front of constituents in Midland in an open forum and explain what he believes and why, answering all questions from the audience. What is this great replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that he so much wants to repeal? How are Republicans going to provide healthcare for all those that were able to get coverage through the ACA and expanded Medicaid in Michigan, supported by Gov. Rick Snyder and the Michigan legislature, but not by Moolenaar?

Moolenaar needs to repond to Eric Anders letter calling for a town hall meeting in Midland (like at the Midland library auditorium) to explain to constituents who will lose their healthcare with a repeal of ACA how they will have that same coverage under the unidentified Republican replacement healthcare plan. And, by the way, what does Moolenaar want to do with Medicare and Social Security?

Rep. Moolenaar, tell us specifically how you are going to make America, Michigan and Midland better.

Ron Parmele is a Midland resident.
Of all the words used to describe President Donald J. Trump during his first days in office  bold, boastful, alternative facts  here are two that almost no person or pundit uttered: promise keeper.

Love him or loathe him, Trump took no time in checking off key items from his unconventional campaigns list of unconventional promises.

Toss out the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): check.

Start process to build a wall: check.

Impose extreme vetting on immigrants and refugees from various Muslim-majority countries: check.

Gut the Environmental Protection Agency: check is on its way.

Congressional Republicans kept their mouths politely shut when the president acted on the lists first two items. Free trade and free access to much needed, cheap labor  legal, reportedly legal, or other-than-legal  are core conservative principles but, their silence seemed to say, its the presidents first week so well act like we didnt hear him.

Farm leaders, however, with both more to lose and more courage than their Trump-shrunk congressmen and senators, howled when Trump announced his TPP-killing action.

These Big Ag, mostly Trump backers very well knew Candidate Trump had made that promise but they very well didnt know President Trump would keep his promise. What backslapping politician ever does?

But Trump doesnt see himself as a politician. In fact, neither do most farmers and ranchers who overwhelmingly voted for him because, as they said in poll after poll, Hes not a politician; hes like us, a businessman.

They were right  on both counts. So, stick a fork in TPP; its cooked because Trump thinks its bad business.

He later signaled the same fate for T-TIP, the not-yet-finished Euro-centered Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the U.S. and the European Union.

If these trade-smacking moves were too subtle to ags free traders, the president gave all another red-hot dose of his promise-keeping serum Jan. 26 when he endorsed a 20 percent border tax on imports entering the U.S from our free trade partner Mexico.

The border tax, explained White House press secretary Sean Spicer, is less about our ridiculous  yes, he said ridiculous  free trade policy and more about, well, one tall, beautiful wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

 Right now our countrys policy, said Spicer, is to tax exports and let imports flow freely in, which is ridiculous. By doing that [20 percent border tax] we can easily pay for a wall just through (sic) mechanism alone.

A border tax to pay for a border wall, however, wasnt one of his bosss campaign promises and it caught American Big Ag leaders and Enrique Pena Nieto, the president of Mexico, flatfooted. Nieto immediately cancelled a planned White House meeting with Trump.

Still, after so much awful ag-related trade news from the White House, there is good news in its terrible border tax idea, says New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and no Trump acolyte (he calls President Trump Agent Orange).

First, explains Krugman, any border tax cant be country specific  aimed solely at, say, Mexico  therefore it cannot be imposed and will never pay for any border wall anywhere.

Second, a border tax might well be considered WTO-illegal because the World Trade Organization often views it as a combined export subsidy and import tariff. Neither is allowed under WTO rules signed by both Mexico and the U.S.

So, a border tax is no bueno no matter what the White House says.

But that fact wont quiet American farmers and ranchers. They made a quid pro quo when they voted for the non-politician Trump: Well risk your populist, anti-trade babble in return for a favorable rewrite of the tax code, a dehorning of the EPA, and a 2018 extension of todays revenue-based crop insurance programs.
CLINTON  Representatives of a Kansas-based wind farm continue to stay in touch with DeWitt County officials, but a proposed wind farm is at least a year away from breaking ground.

Currently, there are no wind farms based in DeWitt County, but Trade Winds Energy of Lenexa, Kan., began meeting with local officials a decade ago about launching a project. And they remain interested.

Jeff Hammond, a project manager for the company, visited with DeWitt County representatives and prospective landowners about a year ago, said DeWitt County zoning administrator Angie Sarver.

They keep in touch, but they have not yet submitted any kind of special use permit with the land use committee, which would enable them to move forward, she said.

Still, the project is listed as In development on Trade Wind Energys website as a potential project. According to the company website, about 18,000 acres have been secured involving about 143 individual landowners.

Tradewind Energy is in ongoing conversations with landowners in rural DeWitt County regarding the proposed Alta Farms II Wind Project, said development director Gina Wolf. We hope to have the opportunity to bring economic development to the area through the potential wind project.

According to the website, the project would be in western Dewitt County and extend partly into eastern Logan County.

If it is built, power would be sold to regional utility companies and is expected to produce enough power for about 60,000 homes.

Also, according to the website, the project would utilize significant local labor for construction and operations.
NORMAL  The Twin Cities gained 103 potential heroes on Saturday.

A large crowd registered for the second annual free class for CPR/AED certification taught by volunteers at Heartland Community College. The event was sponsored by Illinois Heart & Lung Foundation, Advocate Heart Institute at Advocate BroMenn Medical Center and Heartland Community College.

Nearly 85 percent of people who go down with cardiac arrest are away from a hospital, spending time with their family and friends. Now there are 103 more people in the community who could help save a life or take action in a crisis, said Kathi Franklin, executive director of the Illinois Heart and Lung Association.

Yolanda and Michael Powe of Bloomington took the three-hour class with their children, Kyla, Brandon and Mya.

Its a good thing for the kids to learn in case they have to use it on one of us or their friends, said Yolanda Powe. You never know what can happen when youre out at the mall or swimming at the pool.

Michael Powe said the class was excellent and the instructors made it a great experience.

Its excellent to learn CPR as a family, just in case, said Brandon Powe.

After finishing training to be a certified clinical medical assistant, Tara Hall of Farmer City took the CPR class to refresh her skills.

CPR certification has to be renewed every two years.

Ive taken CPR classes before and I think I learned more from this one than any others. I feel more confident, said Hall.

Pam Etcheson of Normal works in schools and wanted to be trained for her students and family members.

I cant thank BroMenn enough for providing this class free of charge. I was nervous going into it, but now Im confident. The instructors did a great job, said Etcheson.

Franklin said the number of people who attended the class and volunteered to teach was higher than last year.

The volunteer instructors are from all around the county and they arent being paid. Theyre just choosing to help because they care, said Franklin.

Matt Jones of Normal, who works at State Farm and is a volunteer firefighter, chose to spend his day teaching life-saving skills.

The more people that know CPR means there are more people who could save my life if I go down, or the lives of my family, said Jones.

Other volunteers chose to help after seeing family members who were saved via CPR  or because they lost family in situations where CPR wasnt given correctly.
BLOOMINGTON  Concerns of a local environmentalist and a homeowner's group have been eased after the city provided more details about plans to drill new test wells in the Lake Bloomington area to secure an additional water source.

"I came away convinced that  the St. Peter aquifer is not connected with any of the residents' aquifers; hence neither the residents' (water) quantity nor quality would be impacted by the project," Angelo Capparella said in an email sent to The Pantagraph.

The type of casing being used for the test wells will prevent any accidental interconnection or other problem, said Capparella, conservation chairman of the John Wesley Powell chapter of the Audubon Society.

Laurie Peterson, a representative of Protect Our Underground Resources (POUR), agreed.

POUR was formed in 2009 by a group of residents, many in the Hudson area, because they feared a previously proposed city well in the lake area would drain their private wells by tapping into the same aquifer they use.

In July, the City Council voted unanimously to spend nearly $107,000 for Baxter & Woodman Inc. of Crystal Lake to drill two test wells that would draw water from a different aquifer  the deeper St. Peter aquifer.

Construction of the test wells is set to begin this summer on city-owned property next to the city's water treatment facility at the lake.

At a Jan. 18 meeting, Bloomington Water Director Bob Yehl, Eric Murauskas of Baxter & Woodman, and George Roadcap of the Illinois State Water Survey presented project details and answered questions from Caparella and some of the 75 to 80 people who attended.

The city has been trying to solve two long-standing issues related to its water supply: concerns over high nitrate levels in drinking water at its two reservoirs, Lake Bloomington and Evergreen Lake; and creating a supplemental water supply for use during periods of drought.

Ever since the devastating 1988 drought, the city, Normal and McLean County, have talked on and off about tapping into the Mahomet Aquifer near the border of McLean and Tazewell counties.

But the St. Peter aquifer could be a cheaper alternative because it is closer to Bloomington, Yehl said.

The St. Peter aquifer is part of a groundwater system that includes Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Other nearby communities that tap into the aquifer include Chenoa and Minonk.

"I don't see any way this could affect us," said Peterson. "I'm not a geologist, but I trust the information that was given to us."

The St. Peter aquifer is generally around 1,600 feet deep in this area; residents' wells are less than 500 feet deep, according to water officials.

The St. Peter sandstone formation is separated from the private well aquifer by impervious barriers known as aquitards.

"These impervious layers prevent any change in water levels in the St. Peter aquifer from affecting the water levels in the upper level," said Yehl.

Capparella urges concerned residents to take the city up on its offer to provide free evaluations of their private wells, including current water levels that could be compared with later levels.

Previously, POUR was concerned over what it said was the city's lack of transparency over the earlier lake project; the city abandoned the project and looked for alternatives.

"I think we've found a solution that meets some or our needs and avoids the impacts that were potentially there from our last foray," said Yehl.

Capparella said he was pleased with how thoroughly water officials answered his questions, but answers about the quality of ground water from the St. Peter aquifer await the results of the test wells.

They could contain two natural contaminants, radium and chloride, and Capparella wants to know how those contaminants, if found, would be removed or reduced from the water without causing any environmental risk.

"At that point, we'll determine what additional treatment methods are available to bring everything into regulatory compliance," said Yehl.
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of stories The Pantagraph will publish on the challenges facing people after their release from prison, including issues they confront in housing and employment, and re-entry efforts at the state and federal levels.

BLOOMINGTON  Michelle Cook has never lived behind bars, but she knows the uphill battle people face when they step back into society in search of a place to live and a job  when they are not always welcome.

As director of the Bloomington's Jobs Partnership program, Cook has spent seven years working with hundreds of people starting over after a life-altering stretch of bad fortune and bad choices.

For some, it was the trauma of divorce or addiction. For others, the process of rebuilding is a mix of losses made more difficult by the stain of a criminal conviction.

As they gather two nights a week around an oversized square of tables at the Washington Square East building near downtown, participants learn life skills to help them succeed. They also support each other through the daily ups and down of a new life diminished in some way by past mistakes.

A retired nurse who moved to Bloomington 20 years ago, Cook considers her experiences growing up as a black child on a farm east of Springfield as part of her training for a ministry of helping others. Being forced to stand on a school bus was one of those lessons.

"When I was 5, some high school guys decided to rip my clothes off me. They left me standing on the bus in my underwear, lace anklets and shoes. The bus driver put me off and left me in the ice and snow. So, God was preparing me all my life to do this type of program," recalled Cook, now 75.

Since Cook has led the jobs program sponsored by the Joy Care Center, more than 700 men and women have participated and only 15 have returned to the Department of Corrections, according to the faith-based agency that helps ex-offenders avoid returning to prison and become productive members of society.

Cook points to an 89 percent employment rate  a success she attributes to the relationship the group has with about 70 local employers willing to give ex-offenders a chance.

"Everybody is in a phase of forward movement," said Cook.

At a recent meeting, several people spoke of newly-acquired jobs in retail, trucking and at restaurants. Longtime members serve as mentors for new, former offenders.

Ron Wegner joined the program about five years ago as part of his spiritual growth and recovery efforts.

"I feel like I'm a survivor. I had to be the best at being the worst. Now I just want to be involved," said Wegner, who plans to lead the group when Cook steps back from her role in several months.

Wegner, who struggled with drug use for decades, would like to see more housing made available for ex-offenders.

"Housing is the biggest issue. I'd like to have transitional housing to help people get on their feet," he said.

Sue Epstein, a retired nurse who work with Cook in Chicago, became involved with the program in 2011 after she moved to Bloomington.

"This group represents amazing people who are an inspiration to me. You see God's work in their potential," she said.

Cook was one of the first people Karrissa Meredith met when she was arrested in 2012 for criminal drug conspiracy. The 20-year-old had skipped work that day  a combination of nice weather and self-indulgence  and was in her apartment when Bloomington police arrested her roommate for dealing cocaine.

Meredith claims she was not part of any drug activity involving the roommate, who avoided charges by cooperating with police on other drug investigations.

A plea to a lesser drug charge included probation, almost $5,000 in fines and a felony record for Meredith who describes the situation as "being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I lost everything. I had to start over and prove myself," said Meredith, now 25 and nearing graduation from Heartland Community College where she is studying to be a paralegal.

After two months in jail, Meredith was able to return to her job with a gourmet coffee store, but her supervisory position had been filled.

"I came back at the lowest level. I went from supervising people to emptying garbage cans," said Meredith. But in a few months, Meredith had moved up the ladder again and was chosen to help with the opening of a new store in Peoria.

Meredith has kept her connection with Jobs Partnership and plans to attend a job fair sponsored by the group after she graduates, when she will start looking for another job.

She knows there will be challenges.

"It still affects me to this day. You have to prove to society every single day you're not (a) mistake. I have to work 10 times harder when I get a job," she said.
What are we to make of a man who seems unable to keep himself from making false statements, yet fundamentally keeps his word?

Donald Trump as president is something that we've rarely seen before: A self-styled straight-talker who didn't disappoint his most fervent supporters by tacking to the center after claiming victory.

After the election, the gem that Trump's detractors took him "literally but not seriously" and his supporters took him "seriously but not literally" made the rounds.

The seriousness came through loud and clear on a recent press call with immigrant advocates who were apoplectic, and seemingly a little shocked, about the president following through on one of his core campaign promises.

The president's executive orders on immigration and the building of the border wall "are a direct attack on children, families and all immigrant communities," said Hector Sanchez, chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and executive director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. "If the president aims to unify the country, he should be focused on building bridges, not walls."

The only bridges Trump has sought to build, however, are the ones between himself and disaffected white voters who ranged from the merely economically marginalized to those actively disgusted by minorities  whether from south of the border or from war-ravaged countries.

Last September, I wrote, "After flipping and flopping on the topic of immigration, perhaps Donald Trump has learned this lesson: His fans are not thirsting for a more humane, welcoming Republican candidate. Trump's supporters like him when he is at his most bigoted and most xenophobic. They adore his finger-pointing rants. And they love him specifically because he called Mexicans 'rapists' and 'murderers'  normalizing open hostility toward all immigrants, legal or not."

When Trump signed another executive order, this one barring refugees from Syria and residents from predominantly Muslim Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, it was just another campaign promise fulfilled.

While these actions are sowing fear and confusion for those affected by them, Trump's supporters are uplifted by his words of reassurance. As he introduced his executive vow to build the border wall, Trump said: "For years, the media has largely ignored the stories of Americans and lawful residents victimized by open borders. To all of those hurting out there, I repeat to you these words: We hear you, we see you and you will never ever be ignored again."

This is incredibly powerful stuff.

Those who voted for Trump must be feeling an elated mix of vindication and incredulity that a politician did exactly what he said he was going to do.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of a restrictionist immigration think tank, the Center for Immigration Studies, wrote admiringly on his blog: "Trump campaigned as an immigration hawk and seems determined to actually govern that way. There will be plenty more tests of his commitment to following through  defiant sanctuary cities, greedy employers, leftist lawfare warriors, oleaginous lobbyists. But the new administration's immigration kickoff is a resounding success."

In politics, however, getting your way can be a double-edged sword.

Drastic actions  like the temporary ban on arrivals from certain predominantly Muslim countries  bring with them the potential for backlash that is greater than the affections of those who are pleased with them. After the ban, when even green card holders were stuck in airports, unable to re-enter the country after having traveled overseas on business, study or vacation, the results were messy and angry.

The bungling of the ban's immediate logistics, subsequent legal injunctions and eventual backpedaling on restrictions for legal permanent residents have become an embarrassing boondoggle for the nascent administration. And Trump quickly replaced the acting attorney general who said she would refuse to enforce the immigration orders.

Our country's new antagonistic posture toward Mexico is already spurring specifics about how American lives could be affected by the costs of the wall. The Washington Post says that about 80 percent of Mexican exports  including food, electronics, medical equipment and cars  are sold to the U.S., and NBC News reports that consumers would see about a 10 percent price hike from a 20 percent tariff on these goods.

President Trump's campaign promises have yet to show the true extent of their ugly and unintended consequences. But they are ripe with the potential to prove that "straight talk" has its limits if it also happens to be crazy talk.


BENDING TOWARD JUSTICE

Theodore Parkers Religion, and Ours



James Ishmael Ford

A Sermon

5 February 2017

Unitarian Universalist Church

Long Beach, California

Theodore Parker was born on the family farm in Lexington, Massachusetts, on August the 24th, 1810. His paternal grandfather, John, was in command of the Minutemen on that day thirty-five years earlier. When the Minutemen confronted the British regulars, he declared, If they mean to have war, let it begin here. And there it began.

So, Theodore was born to American aristocracy, if you will  although, it wasnt a family that actually profited out of their place in our history. In fact farming in that rocky New England soil was pretty hardscrabble. Theodore was the ninth child in the family, of which only five survived to adulthood. His mother died when he was eleven, and his father struggled to keep the family going.

Everyone quickly noticed Theodore was brilliant. He quickly moved beyond what was offered at local schools, teaching himself advanced math, Latin, Hebrew, and whatever else caught his interest. At sixteen he began teaching school, and between what he earned and what little the family could raise, at nineteen Theodore went off to Harvard, if only as a day student, which meant not eligible for a degree.

He quickly found himself moving in very interesting circles. Among his friends and mentors were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, and Maria Lydia Child. Pretty much all his friends encouraged him to enter the ministry. Around the same time he met Lydia Dodge Cabot of, yes, those Cabots, of whom it was later said, the Lowells talk only to Cabots, and the Cabots talk only to God. They fell in love, and promised themselves to each other. But, he had to have a profession to support his family. And, everyone knew what that profession should be.

Theodores parish minister Convers Francis found most of the necessary money, although the Cabot family appears to have helped, as well, to send him to Harvards divinity school. In 1837, having graduated he and Lydia married and he was called to his first church, a tiny congregation of some sixty souls. The congregation was, as was he, Unitarian.

Now, the first wave of Unitarianism that had emerged a generation earlier was highly rationalist, sparking a current that continues a central part of who we are right to this day and this place. However, only a generation from its differentiation out of orthodox Christian congregationalism, there was a sense the emerging tradition wasnt complete. There was a sense that as valuable as it was, reason wasnt fully enough.

Seeking a fuller view, a more comprehensive spirituality, American Unitarianism would birth the Transcendentalist movement. Now, Transcendentalism was a literary phenomenon for America writ large, and critical to establishing our American intellectual culture. But at heart it was a burning theological concern among our direct spiritual ancestors. Not unlike, I notice, how the spirituality of Zen Buddhism would also help shape Japanese culture.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was the leading light of that movement. But, Parker, widely read, multi-lingual, and by common ascent usually the smartest person in the room, was quickly seen as Emersons equal among the principal Transcendentalists. His place as a signal figure in our movement was secured with one sermon, which he preached in 1841 for the ordination of Charles Shackford at the Hawes Place Church, in Boston. It was titled A Discourse on the Transient and Permanent in Christianity. And with it we can say the second wave of Unitarianism was full upon us, a spiritual tidal wave.

Parker preached an absolute religion, where God was immanent in matter and man, totally accessible to each of us as our natural right directly through what was called both reason and now intuition. The discovery through this faculty with both those names was itself a turning of the heart, revealing God was in everything. Including, of course, you and me. The consequences of this assertion are many. In the same sermon, following Emersons even more famous Divinity School Address, as a central theme Parker dismissed biblical miracles, indeed any miraculous authority ascribed to the Bible or Jesus. Instead authority was seated in the human mind, or, for the Transcendentalists, equally good language, the human heart.

Again, I find a fascinating parallel in the Chinese word Xin (in Pinyin, Hsin in the Wade Giles transliteration), a term critical in properly understanding Zen, which means both mind and heart. Asserting mind and heart as one thing opens wide the doors of possibility. Each angle on this amazing human faculty becomes a corrective for the excesses of the other. And together, we find a dynamic engagement with this world.

I cannot overstate the importance of that sermon. Or, the controversy it sparked. On the one hand Parker was denounced by both the orthodox and many of first wave Unitarians, even to the point of being denied pulpit exchanges with colleagues for many years. While on the other hand, his congregation, as I mentioned when he arrived counted sixty souls grew to several thousand, and swelled up to seven thousand when he preached on particularly controversial subjects.

While Parkers Transcendentalism, like Emersons owed much to Platonism, with a constant call to some ideal beyond the body, there were at the same time other Transcendentalist currents, such as Thoreaus attention to the thing in itself, an even more naturalistic view, with which I personally find more affinity. That comprehensiveness, that willingness for a level of ambiguity is also critical to our emerging spirituality. And, something that continues to this day.

But, whether it was Emerson and Parkers Platonic idealism or Thoreaus more naturalistic mysticism, Transcendentalism called us to examine our own hearts and the world through that faculty, which in our inheritance can be called either reason or intuition. I find it really important how for them there was no particular difference between the two, reason from this angle, intuition from that. This is a much richer understanding of how we actually come to know things than many of us tend to notice. Perhaps we can unpack that further at some other time.

Here lets explore just a little what this meant for Parker. In that sermon sorting the transient from the permanent, he proclaimed, Christianity is not a system of doctrines, but rather a method of attaining oneness with God. (And a quick pause. Take that word as an invitation to whatever ultimate values you hold, be it higher power, intimate love, or, as I personally prefer, the totality of the world. That oneness with what we find divine) demands, therefore, a good life of piety within, of purity without, and gives the promise that whoso does Gods will, shall know of Gods doctrine. With this Parker articulated a radical doctrine, declaring we are our true selves when we have nothing between God and us, between the ultimate and me, between the world writ large and you.

If his life stopped there, Theodore Parker would be assured a place in our liberal spiritual pantheon.

But there was also that man who hid runaway slaves in his home and who wrote his sermons with a loaded pistol resting on his desk, knowing his house could at any tie be assaulted by slave catchers. He was a member of the Secret Six, who if youre unaware of them, were prominent New Englanders who underwrote John Browns abortive attempt to arm a slave rebellion. In fact in the wake of the attack on Harpers Ferry and its failure, several of the six fled to Canada. Parker, as circumstances had it, had developed tuberculosis which had previously claimed many members of his family, and was in Europe, at the time, and where he died. Otherwise, who knows, he could have been arrested and charged with treason, today, perhaps abetting terrorism. I think of that old line about freedom fighter and terrorist and the eye of the beholder, and I very much find myself thinking about our ancestor Theodore Parker.

Parkers sense was that his direct encounter with the divine also called him into a life of action, to see the divine everywhere, to perceive a divine harmony with ones self, and then to act in its service. One biographer noted his advocacy for temperance, education, the condition of women, penal legislation, prison discipline, the moral and mental destitution of the rich, (and) the physical destitution of the poor. He also called for universal suffrage for both women and African Americans. Now, his views on race were in fact complicated, and evolved throughout his life. No one rises completely out of their time and place. But, oh my, were talking about someone living in the first half of the Nineteenth century, advocating for things we mostly assume as natural human rights, but then, were not. Absolutely were not.

My own path is more wary of weapons than Theodore Parkers, although I dont and honestly cant claim to be a pacifist. I think pacifism can be an ethical, moral, and spiritual discipline that one can consciously embrace. And I think the unintended consequences of violence are too many, and too ugly to argue for arms in any but the most extreme circumstances. But those circumstances exist. And the horrors of chattel slavery are a really good example from that time and place. And that pistol on that writing desk made a lot of sense. So, complicated. Our spiritual way calls for moderation in all things, including as the old saw goes, moderation itself. But. And. The conundrums of life lived. Life is complicated.

And Theodore Parker was a complex person. He did not, I gather, play well with others. And this caused a lot of unnecessary hurt. But, he also pushed our association of congregations toward an ever-larger faith, one that would allow in good time, us, who we are today in all our wild glory. When he died in Florence, he was not quite fifty years old. On occasion I wonder, what if? Beyond the possible trial for sedition or treason, what if that fertile mind continued for another decade or two or three?

I find him enormously attractive, and so important. And he certainly challenges us, even today. For instance, in 1853, Theodore Parker had preached another sermon, Justice and the Conscience. There he proclaimed, I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; (but) I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.

A century and almost a decade later, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, another admirer of Parker, who often cited the old Transcendentalist in his sermons, called out to us, I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth crushed to earth will rise again. How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever. How long? Not long, because you shall reap what you sow. How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

And Parkers influence continues, modified, corrected, expanded. Four decades and three years after Dr Kings words, our former, and as far as Im concerned at least in my heart still president Barack Obama, speaking on the anniversary of Kings assassination, proclaimed, Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. It bends towards justice, but here is the thing: it does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice.

Here I think we find what Theodore Parker called us to: To see the connections, to reflect on those connections, and then to act in the world inspired by those connections, each of us, in our own way.

I think about how we still live with the unfolding consequences of slavery and how we drew short at the moral repair called for in reconstruction. With terrible consequences, so that even today a rite of adolescence for a black adolescent male is for his parents to have what they call the talk, about how to survive when going out in public in their, in our nation. Here in this country where slights and prejudice and a vastly greater likelihood of poverty follow being black like night follows day. And, with all of this, I find myself thinking of those young hotheads who put it all on the line in that loose alliance we call Black Lives Matter. And I think of what Reverend Parker would likely have said, and done. And I think about me, and I think about us.

And now a great tragedy has overtaken the Republic. We have someone with no moral compass as our president. We have someone who ran a campaign disparaging all who might be perceived as others. His propensity for scapegoating the powerless and now apparently implementing that as policy runs cold in my heart. And, I think about me, and I think about us.

So, what does it mean to be a Unitarian Universalist in this time, and in this place? What does it mean to be a spiritual heir to Theodore Parker?

Well, you know, if you look through the dust flying around its pretty straight-forward. We commit to looking at ourselves and the world, as deeply as possible. We commit to seeing the connections. And we commit to putting our hand on that arc. Of course we will make mistakes. I look at the young people who are loudly and sometimes unpleasantly pushing us to look at the sins of our time and place, and calling us to correct this based in their knowledge, their body knowledge of mutuality, of interdependence, of our accountability to each other, and I know they are going in the right direction.

This is the very same direction that informed Theodore Parker, and which informs our spiritual way. If you have the moral compass, if you see our essential connection with each other is nothing less than the divine itself, then with false steps and mistakes along the way, of course with false steps, we will nonetheless go in the right direction. We will bend that arc.

Our way is about paying attention, acting, correcting, reflecting, and acting again. And, heres some good news: so far as our human lives are concerned, we do this, and on balance, on balance, mysterious, wondrous, joyful things will emerge. Our hands will join together on that arc, and bend it toward justice.

We do this, and not only will our own hearts find healing, but, our world itself, and the arc of history might indeed, be bent in that divine direction.

This was Theodore Parkers faith. And, dear ones, no doubt, it is ours.

Amen.
One of the saddest and most overlooked tales in history is the demise of the Native American population during the late 1400s in North America. It could be argued that if the Native Americans were not already divided amongst themselves, they could have successfully resisted colonial efforts of the Europeans.

Christopher Columbus may have mistakenly called the Native Americans "Indians", but the true Indians were facing similar issues due to lack of unity. The people of Bihar face immense challenges on multiple levels. The region fails to thrive due to very limited employment and educational opportunities, entangled local politics, and poor infrastructure.

It is a known fact that unity within communities produce better outcomes for its citizens. Remaining divisive on important issues and supporting agendas that benefit only a fraction of the population does more harm than good. On a national level, India is a diverse country, with principles founded in democracy and diversity. However, there are local politics, namely those in places like Bihar, that cause a rift in the overarching theme of unity, prosperity, and opportunity for everyone.

Bihar continues to be one of the most impoverished regions in the country. The wage gap and income disparity are immense. Additionally, the area suffers from low education rates, weakened and outdated infrastructure, and high outward migration. When the political situation is analyzed, it unsurprisingly highlights the ill-effects of utilizing the caste system, engaging in religious politics, and supporting candidates that do not propose clear and effective solutions to the issues plaguing the region.

Muslims in Bihar are divided and coerced into supporting agendas that only damage relationships and community ties with non-Muslims residents. These agendas are formulated to create emotional responses and rhetoric, not yield results that promote inclusiveness and progressive outcomes for the region. For the betterment of everyone, Muslims should seek to support agendas and reforms that are beneficial to people of all faiths living in the region. Supporting agendas that promise change based on religious exclusivity is detrimental to the overall growth of the area. As we can see now, the region does not benefit from this type of politics.

The Hindus living in Bihar are facing similar, self-inflicted obstacles. They are divided amongst themselves, supporting counterproductive concepts such as the caste political system. This practice eliminates opportunities for driven and intelligent individuals. Those born in the "wrong family" lack access to education, training, and better employment. Those in the lower caste are forced to move abroad to have access to opportunities they are not afforded in Bihar. Oftentimes, many of the people that flock to other places are very intelligent and would have been a catalyst for change in the local political climate. When they leave to pursue better opportunities, they take their ideas, skills, and abilities with them, leaving Bihar left with stagnant growth. The continued outward migration continues to leave Bihar in a destitute position, especially when compared to the rapid economic growth in other parts of India. If the brightest minds can emerge from the shadows that were created by the caste political system, all people of Bihar can be equally represented in the political spectrum and contribute to the success of the region.

India, as a nation, is emerging as a superpower and is continually gaining international influence. The nation is experiencing economic, educational, and infrastructural growth, which is excellent for investors and citizens. The situation in Bihar does not reflect the growth that is occurring around the nation and can be considered lagging behind. It is warranted for Hindus and Muslims in Bihar to work together to create a united front in tackling the issues in the region. If they continue remaining divisive and using outdated practices, the people of Bihar will not have the share of same growth as others in the nation. As stated above, a united front creates a stronger community.

Dr. Abedi is the founder of LADI, an Indian-American writer countering extremism as a Muslim crusader.
Trump to Iranian People: Drop Dead

02/04/17

By John Limbert (source: LobeLog)



Source: Cover of Iranian magazine 40Cheragh



The shameful episode of Trump's January 27 executive order and Muslim travel ban has turned on its head decades of American messages about Iran. This step-apparently the brainchild of the "torturer's apprentice" Steve Bannon-has been a bizarre reversal of America's policy. We now say nothing about the Islamic Republic's government but express our public disdain for its people.

For better or worse, until 2009 American official statements about Iran were full of kind words about the Iranian people and their great culture and full of denunciations of the government that (mis)ruled them. The message to Iranians was: "We love you, but we hate your regime." From some quarters the corollary was, "We love you so much we may have to bomb you. But don't worry. The bombs will just prove how much we love you."

As could be expected, such words failed to persuade the Islamic Republic to stop following hostile policies or mistreating its citizens, particularly its women and intellectuals. Nor did this song inspire ordinary Iranians to pour into the streets and overthrow the theocracy. The best that could be said about such a message is that it let American officials indulge in what President Obama aptly called "the satisfying [and futile] purity of indignation."

Beginning with his Nowruz (Persian New Year's) greeting of March 2009, President Obama changed the American message into something more productive that also recognized reality. When he said, "I want to speak directly to the people and government of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he was abandoning the old formula and trying something new. He was saying in effect: "We still love you, the Iranian people, and admire your great culture. I will even quote some poetry from your beloved Sa'adi. Whatever we think of your government, we are not going to delude ourselves that it is going to disappear soon or waste any more breath on useless denunciations. Like or dislike each other, we have things to talk about."

This new approach first caught the Iranians off balance. To American condemnations they knew well how to respond and had been doing so for decades. To this new message they had no answer. For four years, between 2009 and 2013, the Iranians could not take "yes" for an answer. In meetings had nothing to say and, knowing they had nothing to say, spent their time avoiding talking with their American counterparts.

Donald Trump's misguided executive order officially applies to citizens of seven countries. Iranians are most affected, however, because of their large population, the size of their community in the United States and because of that community's frequent international travel. It also sends a message that contradicts what Obama and his predecessors were saying. Now the message is: "We don't care about your appalling government. Instead we will now punish you for being Iranian."

In this strange world of alternative facts, keeping out the Iranian scientist, the businessperson, the professor, the Oscar-winning film director, the grandparent, and the child now somehow becomes a means to keep Americans safe. Compounding the damage is the obvious hypocrisy of claiming that the order is not a ban on Muslims' entry. Such statements only insult a world audience by assuming it is so stupid that it would believe such an obvious untruth.



About the author:



John Limbert served 34 years in the Foreign Service, including 14 months as a hostage at the American Embassy in Tehran and as a senior state department official responsible for Iranian affairs. He has recently authored Negotiating with Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of History for the US Institute of Peace. Photo of DC demonstration against travel ban by Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr.
Thoughts on Iran, Obama, and Trump

02/04/17

Opinion article by Mahmoud Omidsalar



source: Cover of Iranian magazine Mosalas



Donald Trump's election after a comical and combative presidential contest, carried America's politics from the farcical side of the Rubicon to its tragic shore, straight into the arms of the country's Radical Right. Marx's famous dictum that history is repeated first as tragedy, and then as farce, may have been turned right-side-up. Somewhere up there, Hegel must be terribly amused. What is equally amusing is the outrage of Hillary Clinton's supporters and their claim that Russia meddled in America's elections and paved the way for Trump's victory. These claims are hard to prove; but let's assume that they are right and the Russians did meddle in America's internal affairs. If they did, they did no more than what the United States has been doing around the world for a very long time. Russian interference, in other words, is a bit of America's own medicine.

American administrations-both Democrat and Republican-have a long history of meddling in other nations' elections. Countries from Latin America to Asia and from Europe to Africa have experienced the bloody side-effects of America's intrusion into their political processes. In her memoirs, Hard Times (2014), Mrs. Clinton acknowledges the U.S.'s interfering with the Iranian elections of 2009, and writes: "Behind the scenes my team at the State Department stayed in constant contact with activists in Iran and made an emergency intervention to prevent Twitter from shutting down for maintenance, which would have deprived protesters of a key communications tool" (p. 423).

Instances of America's interference with the domestic affairs of countries throughout the world are too well known to require documentation. These activities have gone far beyond spying on the confidential communications of political parties. According to The Guardian, in Cuba alone, the number of American assassination attempts against Fidel Castro's life exceeded six-hundred. More recently, in Libya, Hillary Clinton promoted the overthrow of the government, which destabilized North Africa and created a serious refugee problem for Europe. Following Qaddafi's capture and murder by a band of rebels who were supported by NATO, she laughingly said in a TV interview: "We came, we saw, he died." In her channeling of Julius Caesar, she failed to mention that Qaddafi's captors gruesomely murdered him, sodomizing their prisoner by a blade, and subsequently posting the photos on the Internet. Qaddafi's grisly execution took place during Obama's "Democratic" administration, when Clinton was his Secretary of State. Therefore, whatever the Russians may have done to Clinton in the recent U.S. elections pales in comparison with the barbarity of what Clinton and the Obama administration facilitated in North Africa and elsewhere.

The present chaos in Syria, the bombing of Yemen, and the destabilization of Libya and large regions of North Africa are all Obama's own contribution to the raging bloodshed in these areas. In the two wars that he inherited from George W. Bush, Obama revived U.S. involvement in Iraq and upped the ante in Afghanistan. In fact, in drone warfare and Special Forces operations that usually result in large numbers of civilian casualties, he actually broke George W. Bush's record, even bragging: "I'm really good at killing people," (Washington Times). This brings me to the implications of Donald Trump's election for U.S. policies in Western Asia, especially for Iran.

Trump has not been in power long enough to do any real damage beyond what Bush and Obama have already done. It is likely, however, that he will continue the destructive policies of his predecessors because the foreign policy of the United States is not determined by the country's President alone, but by a "foreign policy elite," whose members rotate between government, think tanks, and the academy. This elite operates on two basic assumptions. The first assumption, best known as "American Exceptionalism," posits that the U.S. is a special country that has a responsibility to lead the world, and that the world would be worse off without its leadership. The second is the assumption that America's military might is the main means of resolving foreign policy issues.

The first idea, the myth of American Exceptionalism, is deeply rooted in the American psyche. In 1630, drawing on a phrase from Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matthew 5:14), John Winthrop (1587-1649), the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, said in a sermon of his own: "We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us" (Pfaff, The Irony of Manifest Destiny 2010, p.23). This idea of uniqueness of the American experience, as Professor Bacevich points out in his American Empire (2002, p.43), was expressed by one of America's most iconic literary figures, Herman Melville (1819-1891), in the 1850s:

... We Americans are driven to a rejection of the maxims of the Past, ... There are occasions when it is for America to make precedents, and not to obey them ... Escaped from the house of bondage, Israel of old did not follow after the ways of the Egyptians. ... And we Americans are the peculiar, chosen people-the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the world. ... God has given to us, for a future inheritance, the broad domains of the political pagans, that shall yet come and lie down under the shade of our ark. God has predestined, mankind expects, great things from our race; and great things we feel in our souls. The rest of the nations must soon be in our rear. ... Long enough have we been sceptics with regard to ourselves, and doubted whether, indeed, the political Messiah had come. But he has come in us, if we would but give utterance to his promptings. And let us always remember that with ourselves, almost for the first time in history of earth, national selfishness is unbounded philanthropy; for we cannot do a good to America, but we give alms to the world (White Jacket or The World in a Man-Of-War, 1922, p.189).

More than a hundred and fifty years later, President George W. Bush's advisor Carl Rove was quoted in the New York Times Magazine, expressing similar sentiments: "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. ... We're history's actors ... and you, all of you will be left to just study what we do." Of course, this type of arrogance is not limited to Republican politicians. Madeline Albright, President Clinton's Secretary of State, conveyed the same idea on NBC's Today Show (February 19, 1998). She said: "If we have to use force, it is because we are America. We are the indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future." As recently as January 27, 2017, Richard Haass, the president of the influential Council on Foreign Relations and a former special advisor to President Bush, Sr. and to Colin Powell, said in a TV interview that the world is better off with America's leadership and as proof, he pointed to the "Middle East," saying, imagine how terrible the conditions would be without the United States. Apparently Mr. Haass believes that the United States had nothing to do with the destabilization of the region or with the creation of ISIS. However, those of us who live on this side of the proverbial looking glass, have read of America's role in facilitating the creation of terrorist organizations in Western Asia. In an ironic twist of fate, Haass said this on Bill Maher's comedy show.

America's foreign policy is not driven by party affiliation. It is born of an ideology that is expressed in what is called "liberal hegemony" and is shared by the people who constitute its foreign policy elite. In an essay entitled "Liberation or Dominance? The Ideology of U.S. National Security Policy" (2007), Arnold A. Offner writes:

Ideology matters greatly in the formulation of national security policy. Americans have always been imbued with a sense of exceptionalism and mission, and their leaders have often summoned them to make the world safe for democracy or promote freedom globally. Presidents have also proposed that the United States become the "great arsenal of democracy," establish a permanent preponderance of power, and maintain credibility long after political-military undertakings have been shown to be misguided or hopeless. (See Offner's essay in The Long War, A New History of U.S. National Security Policy since World War II, edited by Andrew J. Bacevich, 2007, p.40).

Nothing demonstrates the continuity of this brutal tradition better than the fate of the Arab-American family of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen born in Arizona from Yemeni parents in 1971. He was assassinated in 2010 by a drone strike that was ordered by President Obama. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued president Obama on the grounds that Mr. al-Awlaki was deprived of due process before being extrajudicially murdered. The lawsuit was dismissed. Two weeks later, al-Awlaki's 16-year-old son Abdurrahman, a second generation American citizen, was also murdered in a separate CIA drone strike in Yemen. A number of other innocent civilians also died as a result of the strike. In a "hideous symbol of the bipartisan continuity of U.S. barbarism," writes the investigative journalist and lawyer Glenn Greenwald, Anwar al-Awlaki's 8-year-old daughter was killed during a Seal Team 6 raid on a compound in Yemen on Sunday January 29th. Some 30 other people, including 10 women and children were also murdered during this raid that was authorized by President Trump.

The notion that Donald Trump would be recklessly dangerous in foreign policy because he is reckless and radical in domestic policy is not necessarily true. Nor is the notion that a Democrat president is less likely than a Republican chief of state to get involved in wars or to threaten the safety of other nations. America entered both World Wars when Democrats Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), and Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945) respectively, were in office. It dropped two unnecessary atomic bombs on Japan during the presidency of another Democrat, Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), and the Vietnam War really got going during the Democratic administration of Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973).

The "Carter Doctrine," i.e., the doctrine that declares America's willingness to go to war over the Persian Gulf, was formulated during the democratic administration of President Jimmy Carter. Andrew Bacevich has shown that confronting threats before they emerge, namely the idea of preemptive war, or the "Bush Doctrine," did not appear out of thin air, but "might be a bastard child of the Carter Doctrine" (America's War for the Greater Middle East 2016, p.245). And finally, it was President Barack Obama who overthrew the Qaddafi regime, helped launch the Syrian blood-bath, has been facilitating the Saudis' genocidal war against Yemen, and has intensified America's use of drones and Special Forces operations to unprecedented levels.

At least since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, America's wars around the globe have been wars of choice. Protected on its flanks by two great oceans that act as its "moats," and lodged between two friendly and weak allies on its northern and southern borders, the United States hardly faces any existential threats. President Bush's claim that "we fight them there so that we don't have to fight them here" is as meaningless as Israel's pretense of being "existentially" threatened by its weak Arab neighbors, in spite of its prodigious nuclear arsenal.

Chances are that once Trump gets used to being a president and is talked down from his hysterical reaction to everything, the change in the U.S. foreign policy toward Western Asia in general (and Iran in particular), will probably be in nuance rather than in substance. In this region of the world, the policies of a President Donald Trump would not be noticeably different from those of a President Hillary Clinton. Indeed, a case may be made that Clinton, as Professor Foad Izadi has already observed, would have been more successful in creating international alliances against Iran. Even allowing for the hawks that he has gathered around him, Trump, by contrast, would be less likely to succeed in such an undertaking because of his character and erratic behavior. In fact, several European leaders have already shown their impatience with the way that he conducts himself and have publicly stated their opposition to his recent executive order banning citizens of several Muslim countries from entering the United States. Being appealing to American rednecks does not necessarily translate into acceptability in the eyes of European leaders. For old or new sanctions against Iran to be effective, Trump needs the full cooperation of the Europeans. Chances are that he will not get it. But what of the so-called Nuclear Deal between Iran and the 5+1? How will it fair under Trump?

Donald Trump's election was something of a gift to the Iranian diplomats who negotiated the Nuclear Deal with the 5+1 countries. Shortly after the signing of the agreement, Americans began to renege on the deal. The United States Congress passed a number of anti-Iranian bills and the Obama administration began to make new and unacceptable demands about Iran's various military tests and capabilities. Trump is likely to either continue or intensify his predecessor's policies by sticking to his campaign promise of rejecting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA). If so, the Europeans may be reluctant to go along with him, and without them, the sanctions regime will largely collapse. Therefore, if one of the goals of Iranian diplomacy was to drive a wedge between the U.S. and its European allies, that goal would have a better chance of realization under a Trump administration than it would with Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.





About the author:



About the Author: Mahmoud Omidsalar obtained his Ph.D. in Persian Literature from the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley, where he also studied Folklore under Alan Dundes. In addition to publishing many essays on Persian literature and folklore, he has also edited the 6th volume of the new critical edition of the Shahnameh, under the general editorship of Professors Khaleghi-Motlagh and Ehsan Yarshater. He has served on the editorial board of the Encyclopedia Iranica since 1990, and was appointed to the Supreme Council of the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia (Tehran) in 2006. In 2004, the first volume of his collected English and Persian papers received the book of the year award of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Iran. His most recent English book, "Iran's Epic and America's Empire" was published by Afshar Publishing in 2012



Iran's Epic and America's Empire by Mahmoud Omidsalar

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Trumpian Follies & Iran's Options

02/05/17

By Kambiz Zarrabi



Cartoon by Mohammad Tahani, Iranian daily Ghanoon



This Emperor does have clothes, lots of it, closetsful, but seems to be lacking in some more important attributes. He has done it again; this time he has put Iran "on notice", no less!

Is Mr. Trump a savvy diplomat, a good politician, or is he simply a good businessman, a deal maker? The answer to the first two questions is an absolute NO. About being a good deal maker/businessman, well, having a lot of money is not a convincing criterion; that is if honesty and fair play are to be regarded as prerequisites. The Sultan of Brunei could buy out Mr. Trump with his pocket change; and so could several international traders of "substances". We don't need to go there.

All of that would be OK if the now President Trump could finally come to term with the fact that, beyond his own expectation and much to the surprise of millions, including me, he has become the Chief Executive of the richest and the most powerful empire on earth. This is a big job, Donald; world affairs do not take place in some virtual reality computer game, and you are not the MC of some television show; get real - that is if you can!

I, like many anxious observers, hope that the President is not delusional enough to really fall for the image he so transparently tries to portray publicly, especially when his show of arrogance actually betrays his deep-seated lack of self-confidence. His intolerance and vindictive response to any criticism or anything that challenges his egocentric narcissism is certainly not what is expected of the holder of such a high office. But he got elected because about one-half of the voting population identified with whatever he was portraying; so, what people like me say about the entire scheme of things does sound like sour grapes to his fans; so be it.

I, as did many others, were hoping that once the reality of having won the elections sets in, he would acknowledge his own lack of expertise in dealing with world affairs, and other areas for that matter, and would choose experts and people of substance to advise him on vital issues. However, handicapped by his lack of political experience, opportunistic influence peddlers, special interest groups and sycophants have been taking advantage of his character flaws and vulnerabilities to push their own respective agendas.

Thus, a shadow government seems to have been gelling around him behind his official administrative team and Cabinet picks, who are the puppet masters that have gained the President's trust as personal advisors and confidants.

Among the Executive Orders that the President has signed thus far, the travel ban against the citizens of seven Middle Eastern and African Moslem-majority states has been the most controversial. Why did he do it?

The supporters of that decision give Mr. Trump credit for living up to his anti-Islam rhetoric during his campaign for the presidency, and hail him as a man of his words. Well, many observers, including me, were thinking that the then candidate Trump was just shooting off his mouth without any thought of the ramifications of his statements. After all, his campaign strategy was to appeal to the fears and anxieties of mostly the more conservative and typically less educated, xenophobic blue-collar masses; and it worked. Well, he was just shooting off his mouth, but his handlers have now convinced him to reiterate those unmeasured lines more seriously as the policy of the new administration, even if with minor adjustments.

The principle reason for this Executive Order was supposedly to safeguard America's security against potential terrorism by the travelers and immigrants from the states that breed anti-American sentiments and are terrorist havens; which just happen to be Moslem-majority states of Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and, of course, Iran.

There are great problems with this claim: 1- There is no record of any act of terrorism on the US soil committed by a citizen of any of these seven countries. 2- None of the states whose citizens have been responsible for terrorism on the American soil or even in Western Europe are included in that list. Saudi Arabia and Qatar, for example, are directly arming and funding the so-called Islamic Sate terrorists (Da-esh, Al-Qa-eda, etc.), groups that are also inspiring home-grown lone-wolf terrorists here and in the heart of Europe. The group that carried out the 9/11 attack against America consisted solely of Saudi and Egyptian citizens. So, why are the Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf Emirates, Egypt or even Pakistan and Afghanistan not included in the list? As I write these lines, the news broke out that an Egyptian who obtained a visa in Dubai to travel to Europe was the person who attacked some soldiers in front of the Louvre Museum in Paris yesterday.

This proves that this Executive Order had nothing to do with homeland security concerns, but was a purely political ploy, which was likely prompted by the "shadow" cabal that is trying to steer the new administration in a certain direction. On the surface it appears as though the President is living up to his hyper-patriotic campaign promise of getting tough against Islamic terrorism. In actual fact, the travel ban against principally Islamic countries is a sure way to radicalize and encourage lone wolf elements within the United States to find even more excuses to cause problems right here at home.

However, as it is turning out, the principle objective, perhaps unbeknownst to Mr. Trump, I believe, was to bring Iran into the fold for further treatment!

Why Iran?

One of candidate Trump's first boisterous gestures after promising to make "America great again" was to tear up the nuclear agreement with Iran. What he did not know then, and is just beginning to find out now, is that the nuclear accord was negotiated between Iran and five other world powers beside the United States, and not the US alone for him to renege on! However, the Iran issue, whether he understood it or not, had been, and continues to be, of great concern for the new Commander-in-Chief's shadow handlers.

There are multitudes of issues regarding internal policies, as well as dealing with America's foreign relations and involvements, which are the subject of disagreement and debate between the Republicans and the Democrats. However, and quite interestingly, there is no disagreement among or between the two Parties when it comes to dealing with Iran. Therefore, whatever the new administration decides to do to further threaten and pressure Iran will be welcomed by the Congress, as well as the mainstream American propaganda media, and by extension, the majority of American citizens. The portrayal of Iran as a regional troublemaker, the biggest state sponsor of international terrorism and a destabilizing force in that part of the world, has been so successful that any change in that attitude here would either require Divine intervention or a total capitulation by the Iranian regime and the collapse of the Islamic Republic. I do not believe in Divine intervention; and I don't see any likelihood of the Iranian regime throwing in the towel and joining the list of client states of the Arab world anytime soon.

If Mr. Trump does not understand how world affairs are conducted, no doubt his advisors, especially those behind the scene around him, do. They know that imposing more economic sanctions against Iran has no more effect than pouring some salt on old wounds. All it would do is aggravate the situation and prolong what the United States considers to be Iran's belligerence and the so-called provocative behavior.

So, what might be the advantages in fanning the flames of mistrust between the two countries? Was Iran's ballistic missile test a bona fide reason to ring the alarm bells on both sides of the isle in the Congress? This test, the most recent one of several carried out in the past couple of years, was in no way a violation of the UNSC's resolution against the development of missiles that could deliver nuclear weapons. Iran's ballistic missiles are short-range and not intercontinental or ICBMs capable of reaching too far beyond Iran's borders. They are purely defensive, conventional weapons that Iran needs to safeguard its security against military threats. Furthermore, under the nuclear accord signed by the P5+1 world powers and Iran, and with constant monitoring by the IAEA, Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program to worry about. So, what was the big deal that prompted President Trump to put Iran on notice?

To answer that question, let us look at who profits from the portrayal of Iran as a source of threat to the region and the world:

Israel: As long as the Jewish state can point to Iran as the biggest existential threat to its very existence, its interests are covered on two fronts: First; the pro-Zionist dominated US Congress beholden to the powerful Israel lobbies will not hesitate to provide financial and diplomatic support with the blessing of the mainstream media. Second, supposedly being under the constant threat by Iran, Israel's violations of UN resolutions, as well as America's demands, to halt the illegal expansion of Jewish settlements in the illegally occupied territories; its international aggressions and acts of terrorism, as well as its violations of the rights of the Palestinians, go unnoticed; and any condemnation by the international community, or economic divestment by American businesses, face the wrath of American government and the local authorities in the United States.

Saudi Arabia and other Arab state of the Persian Gulf area: A Shi'ite expansion spreading from Iran through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, meaning Iran's regional political and sociological influence in the Middle East, would certainly be of great concern to the despotic Sunni Arab regimes. The one Gulf Arab regime with any population to speak of, the Saudi Kingdom, is teetering at the verge of economic meltdown due to the drop in oil prices, its only source of export revenue. The Shi'ite populations that man the oil fields are another source of potential trouble for the ruling Sunni regime. In the south, the Houthis, a powerful Shi'a tribe in the neighboring Yemen, are at war with the Saud clan. Without American military help, the Houthis and other influential Shi'a groups in the Saudi Kingdom, the Saud clan would face dire circumstances. The Saud regime, along with the oil rich Qataris, have been supporting the Wahhabi extremist terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria to establish a Sunni caliphate to counter Iran's domination of the states north of the Persian Gulf between Iran and the Mediterranean.

Other major beneficiary of the policy of demonizing Iran: To defend against a threatening, belligerent Iran, the Gulf Arab states are coerced into purchasing tens upon tens of billions of dollars' worth of arms from the United States and Western European arms suppliers; an extremely lucrative deal.

So, what are Iran's options?

Let's look at some alternatives:

Start mass prayers for some Divine intervention to enlighten Mr. Trump and generate some mercy in his heart. Give up the struggle, capitulate, roll over and die! Look to the northern friend, Russia, for help and protection. Lobby forcefully for the formation of an economic block with Russia, China and India, breaking the dollar monopoly and dependence on trade with the West. Continue the course and disregard the saber rattling by the new American administration. Tear up the nuclear agreement, get out of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, and start developing a nuclear arsenal to gain parity with the likes of Israel and Pakistan; come what may!



Options 1 and 2 are meant as a joke.

Option 3, looking to Russia for support against the might of the United States, will prove futile. Russia is worried about its own declining economy and future. Forget about Mr. Trump's innuendos toward Mr. Putin; he is simply having fun playing another one of his games, while the cunning minds behind him are plotting to declaw the Russian bear. Trump might remove some of the less effective sanctions against Russia but, at the same time, increase the military strength of NATO and keep on encroaching upon Russia's frontiers more aggressively. This would force Russia to beef up its own military strength along its Western borders, sapping its financial resources, especially if the price of oil plunges further through America's manipulation of the global market.

Russia under severe pressure might look to China for an alliance of convenience. But China, like everyone else, will be watching for its own advantage in the global chess game. As America's biggest trade counterpart, accommodating America's interests, in exchange for American acceptance of the Chinese strategic regional and global agendas, China would not opt for a strategic alliance with economically strapped Russia. What Mr. Putin would likely decide to do in order to improve its economic conditions is to reach an understanding with the United States whereby America's real interests would be best served. The main area where Russia's cooperation would be welcomed is Syria, where America's entanglement has been costly, counterproductive and very unpopular at home. As a result, Syria might fragment into some kind of federation, like the former Yugoslavia, and Iran would be forced out of the region, much to the delight of both Israel and the Arab states.

Option 4 is a long-term dream that is not likely to come about soon enough to shift the current balance of power.

Option 5 is, in my opinion, the only thing Iran can and should do. Playing the role of the regional pariah may not be so distasteful if Iran continues to diligently beef up its defensive capabilities to discourage any aggression by its regional antagonists while, at the same time, opening new trade channels with countries that find it safe to defy economic and trade sanctions imposed by the United States. Let us not forget that even short to medium range conventionally armed missiles legally manufactured in Iran have a long enough range to reach any potential aggressor in the region, and that includes Israel.

Option 6 opens up a very intriguing scenario for serious consideration. I don't think this option should be disregarded out of hand! Pointing to this possibility as a real option for Iran might actually work as a deterrent to further threats of any military action against the Islamic Republic. I don't believe anyone would benefit from opening the gates of hell and entering another counterproductive war.

Finally, America's own national interests are not served by its military involvements or even long-term presence in the Middle East region. America's support for despotic Arab regimes are also unnecessary and have proven counter to America's best interests. If the power and influence of the pro-Israel Zionist lobbies make it impossible for the United States to break this umbilical cord, dropping the alliances with the likes of the Saud regime are long overdue. A fresh look at the current list of friends and foes and a readjustment of American alliances would be much more fruitful than the continuation of the status quo by default.



About the author:



Kambiz Zarrabi is the author of In Zarathushtra's Shadow and Necessary Illusion.He has conducted lectures and seminars on international affairs, particularly in relation to Iran, with focus on US/Iran issues. Zarrabi's latest book is Iran, Back in Context.


Two burglary suspects accused of stealing property from several vehicles in the Orangecrest neighborhood were in custody Saturday, Feb. 4, in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Riverside police officers were dispatched at 4 a.m. Friday to the 8100 block of Palm View Lane after receiving reports of vehicles being broken into.

There they encountered one of the suspects, who told officers he drove to the neighborhood in his vehicle and it was parked around the corner, according to police.

Officers took the suspect to his car, where they found a second suspect. After searching the suspects vehicle, police say they found a variety of stolen property inside.

After canvassing the neighborhood, authorities determined that there had been five victims of vehicle burglary and theft.

Officers arrested the suspects, Tyler Eagle, of Yucaipa, 19, and Anthony Kleeman, of Redlands, 20.

The pair were booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center on suspicion of vehicle burglary, identity theft and conspiracy to commit theft.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The government on Saturday suspended enforcement of President Donald Trumps refugee and immigration ban and filed notice it would appeal a judges order, plunging the new administration into a crisis that has challenged Trumps authority  and ability to fulfill campaign promises.

The stand-down, a day after a federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked the ban, marked an extraordinary setback for the White House. Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend Americas refugee program and halt immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.

Previously: U.S. judge temporarily blocks Trumps travel ban nationwide

As the White House worked to reinstate the ban, Trump mocked U.S. District Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, as a so-called judge whose ridiculous ruling will be overturned. He added in a subsequent tweet: Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision.

Trumps direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a Trump University case. Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for his words as the travel ban case reaches the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The order had caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompted protests across the United States and led to multiple court challenges. Demonstrations took place outside the White House, in New York and elsewhere. One was planned later Saturday near the estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was spending the weekend and where the American Red Cross scheduled its annual fundraising gala.

Robarts ruling, which the White House said the Justice Department would challenge, led federal agencies to unwind enforcement of Trumps executive order. Justice filed notice Saturday it would appeal the ruling.

Well win, Trump told reporters Saturday night as he attended the annual gala of the American Red Cross at his private club. For the safety of the country, well win.

The State Department, after initially saying that as many as 60,000 foreigners from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen had their visas canceled, reversed course on Saturday and said they could travel to the U.S. if they had a valid visa.

The department on Saturday advised refugee aid agencies that refugees set to travel before Trump signed his order will now be allowed into the United States. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government was focusing on booking refugee travel through Feb. 17 and working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trumps order from boarding U.S.-bound planes. The agency said it had suspended any and all actions related to putting in place Trumps order, which the White House argued was intended to protect the homeland.

The Justice Department was expected to ask the 9th Circuit to set side Robarts ruling so the ban could go back into effect.

Trump made clear what he thought of Robarts action.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned, Trump tweeted. When a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security  big trouble!

After a pause of several hours, the president returned to Twitter: What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized Trump for attempting to bully and disparage yet another federal judge and said he seemed intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis. Trumps rhetoric also could put government lawyers defending his order in a tough spot.

Either they have to defend the statements that Judge Robart is a so-called judge, which you cant do, or they have to distance themselves from the president, who is their boss, said University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman.

With legal challenges pending, two prominent Middle Eastern air carriers announced they would resume carrying passengers from the seven affected countries. Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, said U.S.-bound travelers from those countries with valid visas would be allowed to board.

In Egypt, Cairo airport and airline officials said they have received instructions from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend President Trumps executive order.

Government-backed Qatar Airways is one of a few Mideast airlines operating direct daily flights to multiple American cities. Its U.S. destinations from its Doha hub include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington.

At New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport, volunteer lawyer Renee Paradis said most of the flights involving passengers from the affected countries were to arrive later Saturday.

Anybody who comes here on a visa is supposed to be allowed in, so we would anticipate that somebody who is in the air would be able to land and enter, she said. Of course, as with everything this week, it remains to be seen what happens on the ground.

The executive order has caused chaos within the government and the courts. Trump fired Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover who was serving as acting attorney general, after she said the Justice Department would not enforce it. In Washington on Saturday, demonstrators chanting No hate, No fear, Refugees are welcome here walked from the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Hearings have also been held in court challenges nationwide.

In arguments to the court, Washington state and Minnesota said the temporary ban and the global suspension of the U.S. refugee program harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

But in his written order Friday, Robart said its not the courts job to create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches, but rather, to make sure that an action taken by the government comports with our countrys laws.



Associated Press writers Alicia A. Caldwell, Mark Sherman, Matthew Lee and Jessica Gresko in Washington, Martha Bellisle in Seattle, William Mathis and Julie Walker in New York, Susannah George in Baghdad, Hamza Hendawi in Cairo and Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional details about the rescue operation.

Three hikers and one dog were rescued Sunday morning, Feb. 5, after spending the night on Mount San Jacinto.

One hiker who was wearing only a T-shirt and shorts, and had his dog with him, contacted authorities about 4 p.m. to say he was trapped on a snowy and icy trail, according to Mount San Jacinto State Park officials.

UPDATE: How three hikers and a dog came to spend a night on a snowy mountain

Two other hikers in a different group stopped to help him. A ranger hiked down from the Long Valley Ranger Station and provided medical aid to the man.

Strong wind prevented a sheriffs helicopter from carrying out a rescue Saturday night, and once darkness fell, the other two hikers opted to stayed as well. The Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit, a group of volunteers, provided alternate rescue plans, parks officials said.

First thing in the morning, a helicopter was sent to the mountain and the hikers and their dog were hoisted to safety.

Based on preliminary information, a sheriffs spokesman had said Sunday morning that all three hikers had been lost and needed rescue.
Liberal hypocrisy

The line between terrorism and liberalism is getting blurred. Liberal hypocrites have the gall to call anyone who likes Trump a Nazi, but in their hypocritical way are using Nazi tactics to silence anyone who does not agree with their warped way of thinking.

The millennial generation is being brainwashed in our universities by far-left liberal professors. Less than 30 percent think socialism is bad. Up to 80 percent voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders because he was a socialist.

I do believe this generation will be the demise of America. The Democrats will tap this generation and turn them into the Socialist Democratic Party.

 Al Wohlfarth, Hemet

Order an abomination

The travel ban is an absolute abomination. It codifies religious discrimination in our laws, turns Americas back on some of the worlds most vulnerable people, and scapegoats Muslims as the root of Americas problems. It separated families with no notice, and punished people who have followed all immigration laws and have committed no crimes. It also will not make America safer. Instead, it will provide recruitment material to ISIS propagandists.

With this order, President Trump effectively agreed with ISIS that the West really is at war with Islam. I have no doubt people will die because of this order, be they refugees desperate to escape persecution, children turned away at airports who had obtained visas to come to the U.S. for medical treatment, American Muslims targeted by bigots emboldened by the presidents order, or the American public at large targeted in retaliation for the presidents cruelty.

 Mickey Donovan-Kaloust, Riverside

Endangering Americans

According to a libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, our chances of being killed in a terrorist attack by a refugee are 1 in 3.6 billion. There have been zero terrorist attacks from any of the seven Muslim-majority countries that are banned by President Trumps order. Terrorists originating from Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, which is not part of the travel ban, have been responsible for 2,369 American deaths. That country, as well as the other Muslim-majority countries that are not part of the travel ban, incidentally, are countries where there are Trump hotels and businesses.

Besides these factual statements, we should consider what our country stands for. We have always been the leaders of the free world whose compassion extends out to refugees and immigrants around the world. The diversity of our countrys inhabitants is part of what makes us strong. These people have contributed much to us. Many of them are doctors, lawyers, small business owners, as well as laborers taking jobs that most other Americans would rather not do. This is not an order which will keep us safe, as it endangers our soldiers fighting next to Iraqis in Iraq who see this as an affront to their people and country. It also provides fuel to terrorist groups who can use this in their propaganda to demonstrate that Muslims cannot rely on the U.S. to protect them. This is a useless, dangerous order.

 April Wilson, Riverside

Tempted to follow Chabot

Re: Paul Chabot is moving to America, and its not California [News, Jan. 15]:

I commend Paul Chabot for caring enough about his family to pack them up and move them to Texas. Who in their right mind would want to raise their kids in this state? Under the leadership of the liberal Democrats, California has become the very worst state to do business in and now has the worst poverty level in the entire nation.

They tell us we have a balanced budget, which is a huge crock after you figure in the CalPERS pension obligations. The Democrats have to own this as the Republicans dont even have a vote in Sacramento. With the mess California is in, one of the biggest pieces of legislation out of Sacramento last year was making denim the official state fabric. Are you kidding me? Part of me wishes California would secede and become their own country. That would give me the final nudge I would need to join Chabot in Texas.

 Redgie Snodgrass, Redlands

No drought planning?

Re: Should California call off drought emergency? [Opinion, Jan. 23]: I am so confused. Please help me understand. California has been in its drought cycle for quite a while. It now looks like that cycle may be coming to an end. What I really dont understand is why the bigwigs up in Sacramento didnt prepare reservoirs and places like Silverwood Lake while the drought was upon us.

Why not have things in place for when the rain cycle began? Instead, they all sat around wringing their hands and telling us to save water while at the same time allowing more housing to be built. I know there are others who would like to ask them this question, too. Are they just dumb and dont think ahead? It sure looks like that.

 Jean Fry, San Bernardino

Recall Fontana mayor

Re: Attempted recall of Fontana mayor a waste of effort (Editorial, Jan. 19):

You called the recall effort of Fontana Mayor Acquanneta Warren a waste of time and silly. Do any of you live in Fontana? And if so, have you traveled our streets?

Have you attended a mayors round table meeting to supposedly discuss plans for future downtown renovations and not been allowed to speak?

The audience sat at round tables and were not allowed to speak and if they did speak they would be removed by police officers standing at the exits.

The abuse of power this mayor has forced upon the citizens of Fontana is not silly. Have you heard or listened to her declare war on her enemies? She is a bully.

I could fill a page of your newspaper with stories of abuse but whenever I have contacted your offices no one was interested in covering those stories.

Can Fontana take another 22 months of Warren and her cronies turning our city into a warehouse slum with huge trucks and dirty air for our children to breathe? Can we take 22 more months of her traveling all over the country with no accountability?

She has broken the camels back and we cannot waste another day watching our city go down the drain. Why would any reputable newspaper support this kind of behavior?

 Karen Coleman, Fontana

Nation of laws

As we watch the news today, it is part and parcel to enabling a feeding frenzy. After all, that is what the media is famous for doing. Our beloved country is a country founded on specific principles, one of which is law-abiding. We have laws that have guided us in becoming what we are today.

Of late we seem to think it is okay to be selective in which laws to follow and which ones to ignore. That is the making of our self-destruction. We have laws on immigration. Are they followed or enforced? If they had been would we be in this tumultuous situation found today?

President Donald Trump is just trying to call a time-out to get America back on track and follow our basic principles. Yes, the Muslim nations have been singled out. Why? When was the last time Israel or a Christian nation attacked us? How quickly we forget.

 R. Edwards, San Bernardino

Unite and restore peace

Re: Why I am part of lawsuit against President Trump [Erwin Chemerinsky, Feb. 2]:

In his commentary, Erwin Chemerinsky explained that he supports the Emoluments Clause, which prohibits a government official from benefiting from a foreign government while in office.

I agree that this is an important safeguard for the American people and it should be watched closely in regard to President Donald Trumps business affairs. I would like to ask Mr. Chemerinsky, however, if he has also joined a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, who received foreign money through her Clinton Foundation. She was secretary of state at the time (i.e., a government official).

My point is  it is time for biased and unbalanced criticism to stop. I dont like everything about President Trump and, yes, he has said some stupid things. He is our president, however, and it is time for all of us to try to put this country back together.

There are ways to fix the conflicts we have, but it will not happen with biased attacks. Attacking our leaders through biased or distorted assertions does not bring us together. It only perpetuates ignorance and hate. It is time for all sides to bring honesty and civility to the game.

 Mark Gifford, Upland
Sophia Langan secured the perfect spot on Eureka Street in Redlands to view the Lincoln Pilgrimage as it made its way from Redlands High School to Smiley Park.

This years event  held Saturday  marked the first time the Moreno Valley womans grandchildren took part in the long-standing tradition, which celebrates President Abraham Lincolns life and legacy.

Langan wanted to walk in the pilgrimage, but a bad knee sidelined those plans. Still, she happily captured scenes from the event on her smartphone, as did others waiting for hundreds of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to arrive at the park.

Photos of Redlands Lincoln Pilgrimage, shrine open house

We feel so honored to be here today to participate, Langan said with a smile.

The California Inland Empire County Boy Scouts of America hosts the pilgrimage every year. For the 78th annual affair, organizers partnered with Lincoln Memorial Shrine to host the event in Smiley Park as opposed to the Redlands Bowl across the street.

The partnership did two things  place the lessons on all things Lincoln and the Civil War in a more intimate setting and get visitors excited for the Shrines 45th annual Open House, which took place immediately following the Pilgrimages close. Close to 400 participants took part in the pilgrimage, said event chairman Mark Shaffer,

The pilgrimage included remarks from Mayor Paul Foster, who thanked everyone for attending Saturdays event, and a Lincoln re-enactor who spoke about the presidents compassion for animals.

A prayer and the placing of flowers at the bust of Lincoln inside the museum marked the pilgrimages close, but the festivities continued for a few more hours with the open house.

Activities for all ages included re-enactments of Civil War-era medical care, an artillery demonstration from the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, and the reciting of the Gettysburg Address by Lincoln presenter Robert Broski.

The shrine was opened for tours and the viewing of the museums latest exhibit featuring a new timeline of Lincolns life and pieces related to the history of slavery.

Within an hour of the open house, 500 had already visited the site, said Maria Carrillo, the shrines associate archivist.

Im surprised every year at how many people come to this event, she said. Weve been doing this for 45 years and it seems to be growing each time.

The pilgrimage and the open house marked the start of Lincoln season in Redlands. Things come to a close on Feb. 12 with the 2017 Lincoln Dinner in the Orton Center at the University of Redlands, 1200 E. Colton Ave. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. Dinner follows at 6:30 p.m.

Historian Catherine Clinton, author of Mrs. Lincoln: A Life, is the keynote speaker. Her talk, The Loss of Lincoln, will examine Lincolns assassination and how the nation and his family mourned his loss, according to a news release.

Dinner tickets are $47 for Lincoln Memorial Association members and $57 for the general public. Reservations may be made by emailing heritage@akspl.org or by calling 909-798-7632.

To learn more, go to www.akspl.org.

Contact the writer: khernandez@scng.comTwitter: @TheFactsKris
Dont be surprised if its hard to get a hold of your congressional representative these days.

Since Donald Trump won the White House, Republicans and Democrats in the Southern California delegation to Capitol Hill have seen a spike in phone calls, emails, letters and visits from constituents, many of whom worry about what the coming weeks and months will mean for their health care, the environment and other matters.

Ive never seen anything like it, said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, who is in his eighth congressional term. Hundreds and hundreds of calls and emails from constituents who are desperately concerned about the direction of the country under President Trump.

Callers describe losing sleep or their appetite over the election, Schiff said.

Certainly it reflects my own sense of urgency after the election, he said. I can certain understand peoples compulsion to be involved because otherwise its paralyzing.

Trumps presidency has inspired a groundswell of resistance that motivated an estimated several million people to attend womens marches nationwide Jan. 21. Thousands more picketed airports on the last weekend in January following an executive order that temporarily banned citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.

The protests echo the tea party movement that followed President Barack Obamas election in 2008. Tea party activists pressured Republican incumbents to fight Obamas agenda and showed up at congressional town hall meetings to oppose Obamacare.

The tea party movement is credited with helping the GOP take control of Congress during Obamas tenure.

Anti-Trump sentiment fuels the Indivisible movement, a grassroots network organized by congressional district to fight the new presidents agenda. Indivisible 42 paid a visit Thursday, Feb. 2, to the Corona district office of Republican Ken Calvert, who represents Californias 42nd Congressional District.

About two dozen people stopped by the office, and eight met with Calverts staff to discuss their concerns about GOP efforts, supported by Calvert, to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Indivisible 42 also accuses Calvert, who was first elected in 1992, of not holding a town hall meeting since 2009.

Calverts spokesman, Jason Gagnon, said the congressman held a town hall meeting in Menifee last year and also took part in a water forum in Temecula in 2016. A smaller group previously visited the Corona office to arrange Thursdays meeting, Gagnon said.

Several of those who visited Calverts office Thursday said they dont have a history of political activism. Ted DiPadova of Corona is worried about his 9-year-old grandson, a brain cancer survivor.

Because of that pre-existing condition, DiPadova worries his grandson could be denied health insurance coverage if Obamacare is repealed.

This election is a wake-up call, he said. Ive never witnessed an election in which a more frightening person became president of the United States.

Gagnon said Calverts office has received almost 5,000 emails since Election Day.

We are receiving communications from constituents both in favor and opposed to the major actions taken by the Trump administration in its early days, he said. Out of all of the subjects, health care is the subject of the most communications.

Gagnon added: Congressman Calvert will continue to advocate for policies that he has long-supported and campaigned on to keep Americans safe and help grow our economy and create jobs.

While the visit to Calverts office occurred without incident, sign-waving protesters recently sought meetings with Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa and Mimi Walters, R-Irvine.

Property managers at Rohrabachers Huntington Beach office called police after protesters barricaded the entrance and blocked hallways, according to the congressmans spokesman. Rohrabacher and Walters represent districts carried by Hillary Clinton in November.

Not every Republican is feeling the heat. A spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine said his level of contact with the public hasnt changed since Trumps election.

Hunter was one of the first congressmen to endorse Trump during the presidential campaign. His district, which includes most of Temecula and northeastern San Diego County, went solidly for Trump.

CALLS TO DEMOCRATS

Congressional Democrats also are seeing a surge in public feedback. Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, has received a significant amount of phone calls, mail and contact through social media in recent weeks related to Trumps actions, said Sarah Weinstein, Aguilars spokeswoman.

The calls and messages Rep. Aguilar has received are advocating for positions he currently holds, which is important because its a reflection of how hes ensuring San Bernardino County voices are heard, Weinstein said.

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, said those contacting his office are expressing serious concerns regarding the presidents cabinet nominees, the role of senior White House strategist Steve Bannon, and the Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Anna Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Rep. Norma Torres, D-Pomona, said the congresswomans office (has) seen an increase in calls and emails concerned about the new administration and asking what they can do to oppose it. Our office has also done proactive outreach to communities that feel vulnerable and under attack.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@scng.com
Student musicians from across San Bernardino County came together Saturday night to play a mournful new song remembering the victims of the Dec. 2, 2015, San Bernardino terrorist attack.

Moments of Silence  an Elegy for Wind Ensemble was performed by the high school Basin Honor Band  made up of students who perform at their public schools ensemble  at the University of Redlands Memorial Chapel.

This is the first time anything like this has happened in San Bernardino, said Eddie Smith, director of bands for the University of Redlands, who conducted the performance of Moments of Silence. This is not just any performance  this is a new work, of significance.

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Moments of Silence, dedicated to the victims and family members of the attack, was composed by Andrew Boss, at Smiths request.

The piece started off somber and grew steadily darker before exploding in a climax of percussion and discordant noises, evoking the violence of the attack, before slowly receding into silence and a few hopeful notes at the end.

This is significant, Boss writes in his score, as one thread of hope is all it takes to make a difference.

On Dec. 2, 2015, Redlands residents Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, opened fire at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. The targets were Farooks fellow employees at an off-site combination training session and holiday party for the San Bernardino County Environmental Health Department, where he worked as a health inspector.

Chicago-born Farook and Malik, a Pakistani who came to the United States in 2014 to marry him, killed 14 people and wounded 22. About 80 people were gathered in the meeting room at the time of the attack.

The couple died in a firefight with law enforcement officials near San Bernardino Avenue and Richardson Street about five hours after the original terrorist attack.
Madam Lulu Xingwana, the South Africa High Commissioner, has called on African business leaders to consider rural areas in their investment options.



She said the business community should look at projects, which could be operated in the rural areas to create the needed development to their various countries.

Madam Xingwana was speaking during a business panel discussion on how the Gauteng Province, from South Africa could do business with their Ghanaian counterparts in Accra.

She commended Ghana for being one of the best countries on the African continent for its stable good governance and peaceful transition.

She also lauded government for its efforts to promote high quality of education in the country and expressed the hope that more areas of the economy would also get the needed attention.

She said the business delegation from the Gauteng Province was looking to invest in Ghana and use the country as an extension to other parts of the West Africa Sub-region.

The High Commissioner urged investors from the Province to invest in the areas of energy, oil and gas and other areas that interest them.

She called on Ghanaian businesses looking forward to invest in South Africa to direct their attention to the information communication technology sector.

Mr Saki Zamxaka, the CEO of Gauteng Growth and Development Agency said like South Africa, Ghana was one of the most fascinating economics on the continent.

He said the reasons for investors from the Province wanting to invest in Ghana were the countrys reforms, robust democracy, which had ushered the country into a number of peaceful change of leaderships.

He said: This has been exactly the kind of stability foreign investors we are looking for.

Mr Zamxaka, who is also the leader of the delegation said intra-Africa trade had been low on the Africa continent and it was time for Africans to do business with each other to grow and develop the continent.

He said as a Province, they were looking for investment opportunities outside their country, where they could learn innovative ways of doing business from the East to the West of the continent.

The CEO called on governments across the continent to formulate good policies that would create and provide confidence for investment opportunities for investors.

Mr Karl Nelson, the Chief Operating Officer, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, said Ghana had clear laws protecting foreign investors and encouraged investors not to entertain any fear in investing in the country.

He said the Centre had restructured their investment drive more towards specific and targeted projects to draw investors into the country.

He said more attention had been shifted to promoting local business to enable them contribute their quota to the development of the economy.

Source: GNA









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.

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Funds transfer and electronic payment in Ghana is expected to be enhanced soon when the Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure project takes off.



Interoperability from a financial perspective involves the ability of a computer system to run application programs from different vendors and to interact with other computers across local or wide-area networks regardless of their physical architecture and operating systems.



Sibton Switch Systems Limited (SSSL); a wholly Ghanaian owned company has been licenced by the Bank of Ghana to implement and manage the retail payment systems infrastructure for the entire ecosystem of which interoperable is a function to be performed by the company for banks and non-bank financial institutions in Ghana.



The SSSL has been authorised by the Central Bank of Ghana to begin work on transactional interoperability across the retail space.



SSSL will initially be required to provide this service to the mobile money markets by helping them to be more convenient, secure and swift, the use of a mobile phone in order to transfer funds between banks or accounts, deposit or withdraw funds or pay bills.



SSSLas Ms. Keiko Watanabe indicated: asthe company has been working and readying itself to begin the Systems platform interoperability together with our partners at Sibton Communications here in Ghana and even more importantly with our valued global clients like those in East Africa, Middle East, Europe and other parts of the world where there has been success storiesat.



asWe are also looking into the broader realm of electronic commerce; thus the use of a mobile device to purchase items, whether physical or electronic, at least locally to begin with in Ghana, but we are always thinking global here, always.at Ms. Watanabe says.



What Sibton Switch Systems intends to do



The Bank of Ghana before giving the company the nod ensured all the necessary financial and banking compliance were adhered to as stipulated by Ghanaian and international laws. The source also revealed that the company has gone ahead to engage financial, none financial institutions, merchant and aggregators about the process of partnering with them on interoperability as facilitated by the regulator.



SSSL says the system they are introducing into Ghana is a flagship brand and first of its kind in the Africa region although it is available in places like Asia, the US, the Middle East and the UK. The system will enables retail transfers to over 90 partner banks in 6000 locations worldwide.







Since the platform does not use SWIFT protocol through correspondents, it significantly brings down costs which translate into a more affordable solution for the potential customer. The company said its objective is to mainly provide an alternative at a cutting edge to enhance competition and increase customer satisfaction.



What makes SSSL an option for Ghanaas markets



What makes SSSL different innovation of interoperability as far as the Ghana mobile money market matters is the enormous social benefits of financial inclusion from grass roots level and job creation. The new services would also help improve fraud management. The detection and prevention of transaction fraud in a payment would be best managed centrally and per the laws of Ghana governing the financial sector.



asAll transaction conducted by participants within the scheme must go through the switch to ensure security compliance. As regulators, the central Bank, as part of its functions, would be provided with the ability to monitor all transactions, we have been contracted to fulfil that requirement based on our expertise in the industryat .



How different will the interoperability platform be from already existing systems in Ghana?



The new system will allow the banks to launch a retail remittance service without heavy investments in capital infrastructure, software development, human resource and processes, AML adherence and customer support.



The Ghana money market and mobile money



Interoperability is the way right now, which is why Sibton Switch is excited about the opportunity to help the country embraces it as a global trend to begin an improved access and networks effects, increase market competition and allow the benefits to be seen in service quality. asThis is just the beginning, we are looking forward to seeing other firms like us emerge as well, all for the benefit of the countryat, Ms Watanabe said.



The growth of mobile money markets globally means more work and research is needed for this rapidly growing and ever-changing area of Ghanaas economy. Another important role of the company is to ensure that complexities are removed as a result of which there will be growth so the client and customers are not supposed to go through the frustration of dealing with inconvenience in transactions.



The company believes all must enjoy the utmost benefit of digital funds in real-time. For example, there is a shared fraud management per industry recommendation internationally that will be replicated in deploying the switch by Sibton. The infrastructure by Sibton will be able to detect and prevent transaction fraud during payment transfers because the system is developed to identify and avert such transactions which is best managed centrally by the switch for it participant. Thus all transaction conducted by participants must go through the switch to ensure security compliance.



Global Standards require that most payment systems require all transactions to flow through a switch, this type of transaction is called as an ason usat transaction. In Ghanaas case, sender and recipient revenue goes to the one provider and the switch fee remains.



The Bank of Ghana, as part of its regulatory function, will monitor all transactions to enable evaluations of participants in the industry. To ensure policy makers have adequate data and insight on the actuals of transactions that are processed with the industry, Sibton Switch is deploying the most advance infrastructure that meets internationals standards since it will also work with other international certifications and licensing bodies. The Switch will deploy nothing less than quality, efficiency and longevity.









Source: Africandream.net









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.

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Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos confirmed on Friday he will not run in this years presidential election, calling an end to almost 38 years as head of state.



He said that he will retain control of the powerful ruling party.



Dos Santos, aged 74, said in March 2016 he would not run in elections due in August but opponents remained suspicious given he had reneged on similar pledges during the nearly four decades he had spent running the country.



Defence Minister Joao Lourenco will be the presidential candidate for the ruling Peoples Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), dos Santos said ahead of a party meeting where candidates for the vote will be confirmed.



Dos Santos, will remain president of the MPLA, retaining sweeping powers that include choosing parliamentary candidates and appointing top posts in the army and police.



His inscrutable public demeanour belies his tight control of Angola, a former Portuguese colony where he has overseen an oil-backed economic boom and the reconstruction of infrastructure devastated by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.



The MPLA won parliamentary majorities in the three elections since the end of the war. Lourenco, deputy president of the MPLA, is viewed as a dos Santos ally.



Angola, an OPEC member and Africas second biggest oil exporter, has been hit hard by the slump in global crude prices in the last two years. Oil export revenues account for more than 90 percent of foreign exchange revenues.



Despite its oil wealth, most people live in poverty and critics accuse dos Santos of enriching himself and his associates, including his billionaire daughter, Isabel, named by Forbes as Africas richest woman.



Isabel was appointed by her father as head of the states oil company Sonangol last year and his son, Jose Filomeno is chairman of Angolas sovereign wealth fund.

Source: reuters.com









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The Board of Directors of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has praised the ECOWAS for its commendable efforts in ensuring the peaceful transfer of power from ex-President Yahya Jammeh to President Adama Barrow.



In a 10-point resolution issued at the end of a two-day meeting of the Board in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, the Board indicated that ECOWAS action on the Gambian situation was one that will help strengthen and consolidate democratic governance across West Africa.



It congratulated the new Gambian President and urged him to undertake urgent reforms that will help ensure good governance, and respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Gambian people.



As a commitment to the human rights reform agenda, the Board further calls on President Barrow to take urgent steps to unconditionally release all political prisoners and detainees under the Yahya Jammeh regime. A similar gesture should be extended to journalists who were arbitrary detained or imprisoned under the regime, the resolution stated.



Below is the full 10-point resolution issued by the Board



Board Resolution



By the Board of Directors of Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) at its Meeting held in Dakar, Senegal, on January 25 & 26, 2017.



On January 25 and 26, 2017, the Board of Directors of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) Chaired by Mr. Edetaen Ojo, met in Dakar, Senegal, to discuss and approve the organisations work plan and budget for 2017.



On the second day of the meeting, the Board held discussions with Gambian media experts, editors and the leadership of The Gambia Press Union (GPU) on the recent political challenges in The Gambia. The meeting discussed the prevailing context of press freedom and freedom of expression in The Gambia as well as the challenges and prospects for improving the media and freedom of expression landscape in the post-Jemmeh era.



At the end of the two-day meeting, the Board unanimously adopted and issued this 10-point resolution:



The Board highly commends the ECOWAS for its resilient efforts that ensured the resolution of the Gambian political crisis and the peaceful transfer of power to H.E. President Adama Barrow who won the December 1, 2016 presidential elections. This, the Board notes, is a commendable effort on the part of ECOWAS that will ensure democratic development and consolidation not only in the Gambia but the West Africa region as a whole.



It congratulates President Barrow on his victory and ascension to the high office. It also calls on the President to urgently undertake the necessary reforms to ensure good governance, and respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Gambian people.

The Board further commends the people of The Gambia for their resort to peace and dialogue during the transitional process and for remaining resolute in their quest for democratic consolidation and respect for human rights.



Mindful for the very repressive press situation and freedom of expression conditions in The Gambia under the 22-year rule of President Yahya Jammeh, the Board calls on President Barrow to undertake urgent reforms that will promote, protect and defend the rights of the Gambian people to freely express themselves and to guarantee press freedom in the country. Such reforms will include the repeal of laws that criminalise speech offences and the passage of a Right to Information (RTI) legislation.



As a commitment to the human rights reform agenda, the Board further calls on President Barrow to take urgent steps to unconditionally release all political prisoners and detainees under the Yahya Jammeh regime. A similar gesture should be extended to journalists who were arbitrarily detained or imprisoned under the Jammeh regime.



In view of the crucial role of the media in the democratic transition and consolidation processes, the Board urges the new administration to support media sector reform measures such as building the capacity of journalists, improving journalism training institutions, strengthening and reforming the Gambian Television and Radio Service (GRTS), and other initiations that will ensure a vibrant, pluralistic and professional media landscape that will support participatory and accountable governance.



On the regional front, the Board reiterates its deep concern about the slow pace of digital migration among countries in West Africa, including the low level of public awareness of the digital migration process and its potentially massive implications for access to information and the right to freedom of expression.



Mindful of the fact that digital migration will require policy, legal and regulatory reforms, the Board calls on governments to adopt a multi-stakeholder and consultative approach in all policy, legal and regulatory reform processes associated with digital migration so that all critical stakeholders can be effectively engaged.



The Board welcomes the generally noticeable decline in the most egregious forms of attacks on journalists and the media in the region. The Board, therefore, commends the management and staff of the MFWA and its national partners in the region for their significant contributions towards achieving the current generally improved conditions of freedom of expression in West Africa. It urges the secretariat to continue to work closely with it partners to further improve the situation and strengthen the medias capacity to support transparent and accountable governance in the region.



On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the MFWA, which is this year - 2017, the Board expresses gratitude to the organisations past and present funders and partners for their commitment and support for the organisation and its work over the years. To formally mark the occasion, the Board announces a two-day anniversary celebration in the form of a regional conference and awards to be held on October 27 and 28, 2017 in Accra.

Source: Peacefmonline









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The Gambia's new president has scrapped the four-day week introduced by his predecessor Yahya Jammeh.



In a statement Adama Barrow said that public sector employees would now have to work a half-day on Fridays too.



Four years ago, Mr Jammeh had said the country's mainly Muslim population should use Fridays to pray, socialise and tend to fields.



However, under the new rules, the working week is actually officially shorter by three-and-a-half hours.



Official working hours are now 08:00 to 16:00 from Monday to Thursday and 08:00 to 12:30 on Friday - making 36-and-a-half hours a week.



Previously public sector employees were meant to work 40 hours a week, from 08:00 to 18:00, Monday to Thursday.



BBC Africa's Umaru Fofana says the four-day week had its critics, but under the former government, publicly expressing criticism of official policy could lead to severe punishment.



"Now we have rejoined the civilised world," Allieu Ceesay, a trader in Serekunda, The Gambia's largest town, told our correspondent by phone.



The new directive comes less than two weeks since Mr Jammeh went into exile in Equatorial Guinea - and within a week of President Barrow's return from Senegal to assume power.



Mr Jammeh had initially accepted defeat in elections in December, but then tried to have the results annulled.



Mr Barrow went to Senegal for his safety as the regional bloc Ecowas intervened to end the crisis.



Regional troops were deployed to The Gambia when Mr Jammeh's term of office officially ended last month and his exit was negotiated by West African leaders.

Source: BBC









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.

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Saturday laid a wreath to mark the 52 anniversary of the death of Dr JB Danquah at a ceremony at the Presbyterian Church Cemetery at Kyebi in the Eastern Region.



An emotional President Akufo-Addo who joined family, friends and well-wishers at the ceremony, eulogised the Statesman, Pan-Africanist, Lawyer and Historian, saying: We came here to let you know how much we value the work of your life Your contribution to the nation Ghana would not be forgotten.

The work you did, the values you stood for are today the principles on which our governance is founded You are indeed the light of our nation, he said, drawing affirmation from those gathered at the tomb of Dr Danquah.

Your life was about service to the nation; as a result we are called Ghana today. We will never ever forget you. Your departure has left footprints in the hand of time There can never be bigger footprints that what you have left and we are grateful for your life, he said.

President Akufo-Addo said Dr Danquahs teachings have had an immense impact on Ghanas democracy and that he would ensure, that the principles that he espoused were upheld for the benefit of the country.

He said: We can never thank you enough for the sacrifice you made We would continue to make sure that your principles guide us and provide the strength for what we do.

The President said like Dr Danquah, whose considerations were not on amassing wealth, his government would not use the mandate given by Ghanaians for wealth and personal aggrandisement but render sacrificial service to better the lot of each and every Ghanaian during his tenure in office.

Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, the MP for Abuakwa said Dr Danquahs life and successes cannot be catalogued without seeing him as a redemption sacrifice in Ghanas politics.

He said there was no denial of fact that Dr Danquah was the president Ghana never had and that it seems to me that all that he did has paid off with the overwhelming victory of President Akufo-Addo.

I said and keep saying that God is just. I saw that this man was insulted and vilified and I saw President Akufo-Addo being insulted and vilified. Some people said this man was not worthy to be the president of Ghana, they said all manner of things but I also saw the same iron will that Dr Danquah had Nana Addo had itthe capacity not to quit that Dr Danquah had, our President had it.

Now its come to the point that 70 years down the line, here stands your grandson Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as your abundant compensationAll that you could not achieve, you have found fulfillment in your grandson, he said.

Mr Akyea said he was confident that President Akufo-Addo held the same ideals as Dr Danquah, adding: I trust God that Nana Addo will never be an ordinary President as Dr Danquah was never an ordinary man.

Other wreaths were laid on behalf of the family, the New Patriotic Party and the people of Abuakwa.

Some Ministers of State as well as senior party officials attended the programme.

Source: GNA









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First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo yesterday launched the Floating Production and Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessel, John Agyekum Kufuor, at the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore.



The vessel, named after former President John Agyekum Kufuor, will operate in the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) oilfields in the Western Region.

It is the largest of the three FPSOs in Ghana and the first that has been equipped to convert both gas and oil on the same platform, a statement signed by Frank Agyekum, Spokesperson for the former president, has indicated.

Mrs. Akufo-Addo, who was the special guest of honour, commended Mr John Agyekum Kufuor for his foresight in restructuring the oil sector during his administration, which led to the discovery of oil in commercial quantities  for the first time in Ghana  about 10 years ago.

She noted that naming the vessel after former President Kufuor was well-deserved, as it showed the appreciation of Ghanaians for his good deeds which transformed Ghana from a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) to a lower middle income-earning country in a record time of about six years.

President Kufuor expressed his appreciation to Ghanaians for the honour done him and praised the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, led by President Mahama, for proposing to name the vessel after him.

He also commended the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, led by President Nana Akufo-Addo, for carrying the proposal through.

President Kufuor traced oil exploration in Ghana from the 1890s through various governments till 2007 when the first commercially viable quantity of crude was found under his administration; but lamented the fact that Ghanaians have not as yet fully realized the benefits of the find.

Although Ghana is now counted among the oil-producing countries in the world, our country is yet to become the land of milk and honey that many pray for.

We still grapple with a lot of economic and social difficulties in our bid to make our oil find a blessing and not a curse, former President Kufuor said, and hoped that with efficient management, the FPSO, with capacity to process 58,000 barrels of oil and 98 million standard cubic feet of gas a day, will help to turn things around for the country.

He expressed optimism that the new government under President Akufo-Addo will expand the enabling atmosphere with best practices and policies for the concept of Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) to be realized to achieve the social and economic transformation for all citizens of our nation in the shortest possible time.

FPSO John Agyekum Kufuor, expected to sail into Ghanaian waters by April 2017, is operated by ENI Petroleum, Ghana Limited; Vitol Upstream Ghana Limited and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

Source: Daily Guide









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Three staff of the Eastern regional Government Hospital in Koforidua have been dismissed for extorting monies from patients.



The staff were dismissed after management found them guilty of the act.

The modus operandi of one of the dismissed staff was that, he collected extra monies from patients as their medical bills, but ended up pocketing the change after making the actual payment without giving receipts to the patients.

The Medical Director of the Hospital Dr.Kwame Anim Boamah told Ultimate News during encounter with the media that the management of the hospital investigated the illegal acts of the staff and dismissed them after they were found guilty.

According to him, the hospital has since instituted measures to reduce the human interface by introducing onsite banking system to prevent staff from collecting monies directly from patients.

He explained that the hospital has merged with the Umb bank, which has established a financial post at the hospital to collect medical bills from patients on behalf of the hospital with automated receipt.

The modus Operandi of one of the staff we had to dismiss is that he worked out your bill alright, lets say may be GHC30.00 but collects may be GHC50.00 from the patient; pays actual bill of GHC30 then pockets the rest so we want to advise that, insist on your receipt whenever you attend hospital, he advised.

He said any patient who is made to pay monies outside the banking system at the hospital should report to authorities.

Meanwhile, the hospital is striving to be a leading medical centre of excellence in Ghana and in Africa.

It is aiming to become a postgraduate training center for West African and Ghana Colleges of Physicians and a teaching hospital for undergraduate training of doctors through the collaboration of Mountcrest University (Ghana) and Penn State in USA.

Source: Ultimatefmonline









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New guidelines from the WHO launched on World Cancer Day on February 4, aims to improve the chances of survival for people living with cancer.



It would ensure that health services could focus on diagnosing and treatment of the disease earlier.

New WHO figures released this week indicated that 8.8 million people died from cancer annually, mostly in low- and middle-income countries.

A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency said the problem was that many cancer cases were diagnosed rather too late.

It said even in countries with optimal health systems and services, many cancer cases were diagnosed at an advanced stage, when they were harder to treat successfully.

Dr Etienne Krug, Director of WHO's Department of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention said:" Diagnosing cancer in late stages, and the inability to provide treatment, condemns many people to unnecessary suffering and early death.

"By taking the steps to implement WHOs new guidance, healthcare planners can improve early diagnosis of cancer and ensure prompt treatment, especially for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers.

This will result in more people surviving cancer. It will also be less expensive to treat and cure cancer patients."

All countries can take steps to improve early diagnosis of cancer, according to WHOs new Guide to cancer early diagnosis.

The three steps to early diagnosis are:

improve public awareness of different cancer symptoms and encourage people to seek care when these arise; invest in strengthening and equipping health services and training health workers so they can conduct accurate and timely diagnostics and ensure people living with cancer can access safe and effective treatment, including pain relief, without incurring prohibitive personal or financial hardship.

WHO encourages these countries to prioritise basic, high-impact and low-cost cancer diagnosis and treatment services.

The Organisation also recommends reducing the need for people to pay for care out of their own pockets, which prevents many from seeking help in the first place.

It said detecting cancer early also greatly reduces cancers financial impact: not only is the cost of treatment much less in cancers early stages, but people can also continue to work and support their families if they can access effective treatment in time.

It noted in 2010, the total annual economic cost of cancer through healthcare expenditure and loss of productivity was estimated at $ 1.16 trillion.

Strategies to improve early diagnosis can be readily built into health systems at a low cost.

In turn, effective early diagnosis can help detect cancer in patients at an earlier stage, enabling treatment that is generally more effective, less complex, and less expensive.

For example, studies in high-income countries have shown that treatment for cancer patients who have been diagnosed early are two to four times less expensive compared to treating people diagnosed with cancer at more advanced stages.

Source: GNA









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Only 52 per cent of newborn babies in Ghana are exclusively breastfed from birth to six months while 56 per cent of babies are initiated to early breastfeeding within the first hour of birth.



Both figures for the former and the latter fall short of the national targets of 85 and 80 per cent respectively.

This was made known at a stakeholder, dissemination meeting on a Breastfeeding Friendly Country Index (BFCI) project in Accra.

It was organised by the University of Ghana School of Public Health in conjunction with the Yale University with sponsorship from the Family Larsson Rosenquist Foundation, an independent charitable organisation based in Switzerland.

Pilot

Presently, the project is being piloted in Ghana and Mexico and is expected to be scaled up to six other countries by 2019.

The goal of the BFCI project is to develop an evidence-based metric that can help decision-makers to understand the current status of breastfeeding programmes.

It is also to provide step-by-step criteria and examples to guide decision-makers in scaling up breastfeeding programmes as well as identify concrete measures that a country can take to sustainably increase its breastfeeding rates.

Situation

Giving the breastfeeding situation in Ghana, a member of the BFCI project team, Dr Gifty Margaret Donkor, said the Ashanti and Northern regions were currently lagging behind in breastfeeding.

She said although the law on Breastfeeding Promotion Regulation (LI 1667) was being implemented nationwide, there was the need for more work to be done in the area of dissemination.

Dr Donkor said the country was also yet to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Maternity Convention 183, which gives a minimum of 14 weeks paid maternity leave to mothers.

She bemoaned the low exclusive breastfeeding rates in the country, noting that there was inadequate investment in scaling up operations at all levels.

Advocacy

The Project Coordinator of BFCI in Ghana, Dr Richard Aryeetey, in a presentation on Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF), said the process did not only assess measures, but also supported countries to scale up breastfeeding programmes through step-by-step criteria.

He said key recommendations under the BBF were for the country to strengthen breastfeeding advocacy efforts as well as empower potential promoters.

The coordinators further called for the strengthening of breastfeeding monitoring and reporting and also maintaining surveillance of trained personnel and training activities, among other activities.

The projects lead researcher, Professor Rafael Pyrenes-Escamilla of the Yale University, said breastfeeding was one of the most cost-effective maternal-child-nutrition interventions ever documented, given the many benefits.

A panel of discussants called for more commitment on the part of the government to ensure that breastfeeding was included in the national agenda.

Source: Daily Graphic









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Prophet Badu Kobi, the founder and General Overseer of the Glorious Wave Church has admonished Kofi Adams, National Organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to be fervent with prayers.





The Prophet had earlier in an interview with Rainbow Radio 87.5FM prophesied that Kofi Adams will be among some of the officials of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who will be jailed by the ruling New Patriotic Party.

Kofi Adams in his response to the prophecy said he was not sure he will be jailed since he has not done any work for government or embezzled funds to warrant his imprisonment.

Kofi Adams said: "I have done no wrong to go to jail. I had no contract with government and so we will wait and see.

But Prophet Kobi has insisted that Kofi Adams must not joke with prayers since that will be the only way he may escape the jail.

"If you meet Kofi Adams, tell him to pray without ceasing because you may have good thoughts but people may think evil for you. Tell him to be prayerful. I know of a guy who was wrongfully jailed for 10 years. He never committed the crime, it was an allegation so I will tell him to be more prayerful.

The man of God said he was not against the decision by the state to retrieve state property from former officials who are alleged to have stolen them, but the procedure should be our area of interest.

He said, the rambo style of retrieving state property from former officers should stop and a more appropriate means used.

"If we do not stop the 'rambo style' of seizures, it will continue. It happened in 2008 but I thought it was not going to happen again. So I am surprised. This shows that we must stop this kind of seizures. No matter what we do, Ghana is now about NDC and NPP and so we have to be careful.

Source: rainbowradioonline









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General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketia popularly known as General Mosquito, has enrolled in a military school to pursue a masters degree course.



The tough-talking politician is among 43 others who were officially admitted to the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) in Accra yesterday.

They are to undertake a one-year weekend Master of Science course on Defence and International Politics.

Speaking at the matriculation ceremony for General Mosquito and colleagues, Commandant of GAFCSC at Out Barracks, Teshie, Rear Admiral Seth Amoama, explained that the masters programme is aimed at equipping learners with the tools they need for analytical thinking and good judgment skills in issues of defence and global politics.

According to him, the objective of the course is to equip students with the highest professional standards in defence, security management and international politics.

The usual excitement associated with being in a new school on the first day could be seen on the face of General Mosquito as he was holding his learning materials and sharing fun with his classmates.

Air Vice Marshal Issifu Sakib Kadri encouraged the matriculants to take matters of defence and global politics seriously

I have no doubts in my mind that this carefully and thoughtfully crafted programme is all that you need to be real masters of the pervasive national and global problems of our time, he told the matriculants in the Hamidu Hall of the college.

However, it is my hope that the core values of integrity, honesty, dedication and discipline that will be inculcated in you during your association with the college will enable you to overcome these challenges, he expressed.

Source: Daily Guide









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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.
A 20-year-old woman from Victoria has been killed in a jet ski accident in the waters off the Thai tourist island of Phuket.

Emily Jayne Collie, from Kyabram, was reportedly killed when her jet ski collided with another jet ski at high speed. It is believed that the second jet ski was driven by her husband, who sustained minor injuries in the collision. Collie suffered severe neck and shoulder injuries.

The jet skis had been hired earlier on Sunday from a vendor on a nearby beach. Under Thai law, anyone piloting a jet ski is supposed to have a captains permit, but vendors often disregard this requirement in order to lease them out to tourists.

The Bangkok Post reports that Collies husband told Thai police that the brightness of the sunlight reflecting on the water made it difficult to see, which led to the crash.

Emily Jayne Collies death certificate

Well keep you posted.

Source: News.com.au.

Photo: Facebook.
Its been an eventful week for Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Like, one of those weeks that may well come to define his tenure as the leader of the nations ruling party.

You can bloody well bet 60 Minutes political heavy hitter Laurie Oakes recognised that fact, so its just as well he had a chance to sit down with the PM himself after seven absolutely chaotic days.

Oakes opened strong on tonights show, asking how Prime Minister Trumble was doing.

Turnbull smiled through that immediate salvo, before explaining his take on that disastrous phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump  and the bumbling follow-up from White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

Turnbull maintained Trump didnt hang up as per reports, and that the important thing is results, Laurie. I advanced Australias case, we secured the commitment we wanted from the president, and I thank him for it.

Its a bit offensive too isnt it that the White House spokesman doesnt bother to get your name right? | @TurnbullMalcolm NOW on #60Mins pic.twitter.com/Eg4YsW2wsl  60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) February 5, 2017

Thats definitely up for debate, and Oakes didnt relent. He asked Turnbull if that refugee deal Australia signed under the Obama administration would come with caveats that may send our nation up shit creek.

Turnbull stuck to his take that Trump  the man whose brand was propped up by a book named The Art Of The Deal  wouldnt ask us to pony up anything extra in exchange for the U.S. taking on 1,200-odd refugees currently in Australian detention facilities:

You know that I always stand my ground, I defend my position, my nations position. Ive stood up for Australia, and the president has given us a commitment to honour the deal entered into by his predecessor, and we thank him for that.

Hell, the PM went even further than that to describe how stoked he is on the current diplomatic relationship. He doesnt think there has ever been more public support for Australia than what weve seen this week, and that dozens and dozens of congressman and senators are talking about how important the alliance is.

Sure. Cool.

It wasnt only international issues Oakes pressed Turnbull on, either. Talk of the same-sex marriage plebiscite reared its ugly head once more, and the PM maintained that its still his partys stance that it should be put to a plebiscite.

Of course, unless Opposition Leader Bill Shorten suffers some kind of massive amnesia-inducing democracy-snag mishap, it seems unlikely the Labor Party will relent on its stance to block the plebiscite when parliament resumes next week.





Only reason gay couples will not be able to get marriedis because of @billshortenmps totally political approach.  @turnbullmalcolm pic.twitter.com/g934hgVZwt  60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) February 5, 2017

Somehow, news that Turnbull donated over a million dollars of his own money to the Liberal Party only warranted a side-note in this cordial but intense exchange.

Just make this show sixty whole minutes of Oakes chatting with the PM, please and thanks  especially after nightmare weeks like this.

Source: 60 Minutes / Channel 9.

Photo: 9Play.
In an interview with The Courier Mail, One Nation founder Pauline Hanson gave a list of the things she would do as Prime Minister, and look, you might as well take a gander in case that disturbing reality comes to pass.

Her proposed agenda is basically a Cadbury Snack Block of nonsense, that includes a few old favourites, like her royal commission into Islam, and a few tasty new ones, like a drastic overhaul of foreign ownership laws.

Speaking to the newspaper, Hanson said that her vision for a better Australia would include cutting the number of politicians, introducing a national identity card, limiting migration, getting rid of the GST, and a possible flat two percent tax rate.

She also said that One Nation would force all foreign companies that own Australian infrastructure such as ports to sell them back to the commonwealth (good luck with that), and introduce California-style citizen-initiated referendums.

Pauline Hanson appears to have stolen her citizen-initiated referendums idea from my eBook ($6 at https://t.co/3AXTE8zpbJ) pic.twitter.com/wp1VRmvErx  Tony Martin (@mrtonymartin) February 5, 2017

One of the most sweeping aspects of Hansons policy platform is her stance on marriage  specifically, a plan that would make couples sign pre-nuptial agreements before getting married. She said:

Family law is high on my agenda. I just think it needs a complete overhaul. It needs court-approved premarital agreements on finance and parental issues. So before someone goes into a relationship or a marriage, you must have a premarital agreement. It would be confidential (and lodged with courts). Weve got to free up our court system. Its overloaded. A lot of judgments arent being handed down for years.

This would presumably be another stage in Hansons play to do away with the Family Court system entirely, and replace it with a system of tribunals made up with people from mainstream Australia.

One Nation recently tried to make candidates in WA sign an agreement to pay a $250,000 administration fee if they defected from the party after being elected, but have since withdrawn this on legal advice.

Its almost like theyre just making this stuff up as they go along.

Source: The Guardian.

Photo: Bradley Kanaris / Getty.
DFW Airport the latest hot spot for detaineed from Syria. A family says they've

Protestors demonstrate against President Donald Trump's travel ban barring citizens of seven predominantly Muslim nations entry into the U.S., at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Brandon Wade/Star-Telegram via AP)

(Brandon Wade)

(Editor's Note: The below is satire, and not the words of the Mexican president)

Enrique Pena Nieto, president of Mexico has announced a new program to protect his country's northern border with the United States. He stated that "The United States is sending rapists and murderers across the border."

Nieto announced that he would hire 100 border guards to prevent American terrorists and drug dealers from crossing the border into Mexico. He is demanding that the United States pay for the cost of the border guards.

One other duty of the guards is to stop Americans from crossing his border to take jobs in Mexico. "These Americans take jobs away from Mexican citizens,"Nieto stated.

The Mexican President noted that he had considered inviting President Donald Trump to Mexico, but the vast majority of Mexicans disapproved. "The United States used to be a great country" Nieto stated. He said he hoped the United States would get new leadership that "would make America great again."

MICHAEL SAND, Susquehanna Township
Marcellus Shale gas extraction in northern Pennsylvania

A Seneca Resources drilling rig completes the fourth of six wells at a Marcellus Shale gas well pad in Shippen Township, Cameron County. Seneca Resources gives a tour of Marcellus Shale gas drilling operations in Elk and Cameron counties in northern Pennsylvania, May 14, 2015. Dan Gleiter, PennLive.com

(Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.)

By Joseph Minott

While the eyes of a nation are on the unfolding of the Trump administration, our legislature in Pennsylvania is quietly doing the bidding of the natural gas industry as it seeks to preempt sensible protections from rampant air pollution resulting from natural gas development.

Make no mistake: The effects of this pollution affect all of us across the Commonwealth.

Pennsylvania is the nation's second largest producer of natural gas.

While the surge in natural gas production has displaced coal for electricity generation and lowered the Commonwealth's emissions of carbon dioxide, its production and transmission to markets has increased the amount of methane - the primary constituent of natural gas - that's emitted into the atmosphere.

Combine these leaks of methane - which is 86 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time period - with the carbon dioxide emitted during combustion at power plants, and natural gas is not only looking bad for climate change, but potentially even worse for our climate than coal.

Just this week, it was reported that 2016 is now the hottest year on record. Record-breaking heat three years in a row is not a coincidence.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), in 2014 the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania emitted 115,000 tons of methane. DEP has said that estimate - based on industry self-reported engineering calculations, not actual measurements - could actually be many times higher.

Reducing methane leaks from the oil and gas sector, the largest source of methane pollution in the country, is an essential step in combatting climate change. It's critical that Pennsylvania take action on this issue, and as soon as possible.

Last January, Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled a four-point plan to sharply curtail methane emissions from natural gas production in the Commonwealth.

The plan is smart because it's based on effective measures that are already being used by industry-leading companies, or mandated by other gas-producing states.

A 2014 study by the highly-respected consulting firm ICF International found that by adopting available technologies and operating practices - the same kinds of measures that Wolf is proposing to require in Pennsylvania - the oil and gas industry could cut methane emissions by 40 percent at minimal cost.

ICF said those measures would cost just a little over a penny per 1,000 cubic feet of produced gas - even at today's depressed gas prices. ICF further noted that the most cost-effective methane reduction opportunities would actually save operators over $164 million after the costs of the measures were paid off.

ICF also found that deploying those cost-effective measures would save the U.S. economy and consumers over $100 million per year. And the adoption of some of those measures would also reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants that harm human health.

The adoption of these sensible, already-in-use measures - and, it's fair to say, the governor's proposed plan - would provide a high return on investment to industry, save consumers money, and protect public health.

So, the plan is reasonable - maybe even a no-brainer, right? Not according to some in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Last week, a group of state senators put their names to legislation sponsored by Sen. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Allegheny, seeking to prevent DEP from imposing any controls on methane emissions that are more stringent than federal requirements.

If all that's not bad enough, remember that the Trump administration has singled out federal regulations on methane emissions - as well as other environmental rules - for rollback or outright elimination. If the federal government won't act, the state must.

So, will the nation's second largest natural gas producing state take reasonable action to curb methane emissions, improve public health, save industry and consumers money, and protect the damaged global climate? Or will Pennsylvania deny climate reality and continue to allow climate-altering methane to leak away when it could be so easily and cheaply controlled?

It certainly seems like a no-brainer. But how Pennsylvania answers that question depends on all of us. The public must support these commonsense regulations and make their voices heard on this critical issue.

Joseph Minott is executive director and chief counsel of The Clean Air Council. He writes from Philadelphia.
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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.
The quietly stirring arrangement of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that opens two Curtis Institute of Music orchestra concerts this weekend is one of the most unusual takes on the national anthem outside of Jimi Hendrix.

The character of the orchestration, written by the conservatory's late German-born conducting and orchestral pedagogue, Otto-Werner Mueller, is so different from the one Americans usually hear that it raises a question about the very character of our country.

Curtis pulls out the orchestration often. But the context of the times matters enormously, especially given how strikingly emotional this version is. Played in 2001 and 2002 after 9/11, it carried listeners from mourning to hope in two minutes. What Mueller's arrangement will mean now, given the political tumult of the past few weeks, is very much in the ear of the beholder, but the music itself promises to nudge perceptions strongly.

"Music that had a militaristic, aggressive nature was something that he hated," said Mueller conducting protege David Hayes, music director of the New York Choral Society. "I think that very much had to do with growing up under the Nazi regime and endlessly hearing all those nationalistically aggressive military marches that saturated the soundscape of Germany in that period."

Mueller's widow, Virginia Allen, who formerly taught conducting at Curtis, said her husband considered the lyrics first and foremost. "His arrangement opens with a solo trumpet quietly asking this question"  O, say can you see   "and the sound rises out of nowhere, similar to the light of dawn," she says. "He builds the textures in the brasses and bassoons to reflect different phrases of the lyrics before the full orchestra enters"  the rockets' red glare.

Mueller chose to put the arrangement in the key of C  B flat is common  she said, to purposely make it "even more difficult for the audience to sing, so that they would instead listen to the music and reflect on the lyrics."

Hayes says the build from lone trumpet to full orchestra represents the concept of out of many, one. "E pluribus unum, indeed," says Hayes. "He was never a fan of Hollywood-style splashy effects. I think his version of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is the way he saw so many things musically: tasteful, having a beautiful sense of sonority, ennobling."

Mueller and Hendrix both re-crafted "The Star-Spangled Banner" in their own image at about the same time. Hendrix famously played his at Woodstock in 1969. Mueller wrote his for the opening of a new humanities building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was teaching.

"They were going to dedicate the new building the same week as the Moratorium in Washington, D.C., and quite a few orchestra members were planning to go," says Ann Drinan, a violist and student at the school at the time, referring to the massive Vietnam War peace march on Nov. 15, 1969.

Asked to play "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the beginning of the concert, students refused, said Drinan. "So Maestro Mueller made a deal with us. He said he would rearrange it to make it nonmilitary  no snare drum at the beginning. In order to keep his orchestra in Madison, he agreed that we could have a dignified demonstration during the concert, and he would rewrite 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' "

Curtis' concerts this weekend are dedicated to the memory of Mueller, who taught at the conservatory from 1986 to 2013 and died last February at age 89. Inclusion of his "Star-Spangled Banner" was long planned, and not intended to make a political statement.

Still, having the work played at this moment, "I think somehow he would think of it as standing up for the ideals of the country," said his son, Peter Mueller. "Dad was an immigrant, and a proud American, although when he made this arrangement he was still Canadian. He always felt an affinity to other immigrants, wherever they were from. He explained to me when I was little how this arrangement began, symbolically, with the strong voice of an individual, gradually being joined by many other different kinds of instruments, different families of instruments, working together to make something beautiful  something not in unison, but harmonious."

Peter Mueller, who was in fifth grade at the time of the premiere, recalls how his teacher went to the concert, "and came back and made a point of telling the class how much it meant for her, that arrangement. She was the wife of a Green Beret in Vietnam, and it just really struck her."

"There is a poignancy and meaningful quality to the music that does speak out in tumultuous times like 1969," says composer David Ludwig, Curtis' dean of artistic programs and performance. "I think there is something in the music that is not about chest-beating, but is about dignity and respect and really a lot of the values that we associate with our best selves  the way we would like to define ourselves in this country. It's amazing that you can take the same tune and that the sensitivity with which he treats this arrangement can convey a powerful message of hope and humility and respect all at the same time."

Ludwig says there is also empathy in it. "I think a lot about the pride that immigrants feel coming here  certainly in my own family they did, and I feel like you hear that from the page." One of Ludwig's grandfathers was a pianist who fled Europe: Rudolf Serkin.

Asked what Mueller might think the effect his orchestration would have now, given the state of the country, Allen said: "I think he would hope that it would inspire people to put politics and differences aside and reflect on how fortunate we are to be part of this great country."

The Curtis Symphony Orchestra, led by Miguel Harth-Bedoya and conducting fellow Carlos Agreda, performs Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. in Verizon Hall, and Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m at Immaculata University. The program features oboist Richard Woodhams in Barber's Canzonetta and Jean Francaix's L'Horloge de flore, plus Strauss' Don Juan and Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2. www.kimmelcenter.org, 215-893-1999; and Immaculata.edu/Curtis-Orchestra.
ASIA PACIFIC REPORT

REPORTS of the sacking of nine civilian staff of Papua New Guineas Defence Department should be of concern to all public servants and the general public, says Transparency International PNG.

The nine staff reportedly spoke out about issues of maladministration, mismanagement and misappropriation within their department, said Transparency International PNG chairman Lawrence Stephens.

It is concerning to read about any threat, suspension or sacking of people who draw attention to illegality, whether it be real or alleged.

Witness accounts are powerful tools in exposing corruption, fraud and mismanagement. Raising the alert of authorities when corruption occurs, is an obligation for all public servants.
In this time of great crisis in Albany, both houses of the state legislature have been able to come together on an important agreement to strip New York City of home rule and prevent the city from implementing its five cent fee on the distribution of plastic bags in grocery stories.

The Times reports that in the wake of the state Senate passing a bill that prevented any city of over one million people (New York City being the only such city in the state) from imposing bag taxes or fees, the Assembly has crafted a different bill stopping the fee that both houses have agreed to pass. Under the terms of the Assembly bill, the fee, which was set to go into effect on February 15th, will be delayed until January 2018. At that time, the City Council will be allowed to revisit the idea of actually instituting the fee.

Lawmakers opposed to the bill have suggested its a backdoor tax on the poor, and have also suggested that having to pay for plastic bags from the grocery store would leave dog owners shit out of luck when they need to clean up after the dogs. Bag fee advocate and Bushwick City Councilmember called said argument, "a pile of dog poop" at a previous City Council hearing.

According to the News, the Assembly and state Senate will vote on the bill on Monday, and the terms of the bill actually prevent the City Council from automatically implementing the fee after the moratorium is over. Instead, the council will have to vote on the fee again if legislators want to implement it. While Governor Cuomo hasn't taken a position on the bill, Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn told the paper he believes there are enough votes in both houses to overturn a veto.

Advocates for the bag fee have argued that it would reduce the usage of plastic bags in the city by 60%, which would in turn save the city $12.5 million in sanitation fees as well as help to prevent more plastic bags from getting caught in drainage systems or become floating ocean garbage.

Advocates for the bill in the City Council put out a press release yesterday asking the Assembly not to consider getting involved in overturning the city's law. They argued that they took to make the law more equitable to the poor, that other municipalities in New York have instituted the same five cent fee, and that the legislature's bill could violate the New York State Constitution's prohibition "on 'special laws' that affect only one jurisdiction in the state."

With the news that the Assembly joined the movement to overturn the city's law anyway, advocates are now holding a rally on Sunday afternoon on the steps of City Hall in support of the law.
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Last November, as the presidential campaign season wound down, President Barack Obama, speaking at a rally for Hillary Clinton, found himself confronted by a man peacefully holding up a sign promoting Donald Trump. When the crowd heckled the man, Obama calmed and then admonished the crowd, defending the protesters right to free speech in America. He urged the crowd, not to boo, but to vote, to actually partake in democracy.

Donald Trumps treatment of protesters at his rallies, you may recall, stood in stark contrast to Obamas encouragement of democratic process. He infamously incited his supporters to remove protesters, violently if necessary, offering to pay their legal fees if sued.

The bottom-line policy for Trump? Dissent is not allowed and must be suppressed by any means necessary.

This behavior on the campaign trail certainly prefigured his administrations modus operandi, as evidenced by the series of unfortunate events of the last week.

For example, as disconcerting, if not horrifying, as Trumps effective Muslim ban was, equally troubling was the administrations reaction to conventional expressions of disagreement carefully and intentionally enabled, encouraged, and protected in the structures of our democratic government.

As Sean Colarossi reported in the pages of PoliticusUsa.com, when hundreds of diplomats from the U.S. State Department collectively signed on to a letter expressing dismay and dissent to the executive order, Trumps press secretary Sean Spicer chillingly told the press, These career bureaucrats have a problem with it? They should either get with the program or they can go.

Get with the program or go?!? Sound familiar? Its the refrain from Trumps campaign rallies, encouraging that any act or expression of dissentbehaviors vital to democracybe met with violent suppression.

It is important to note, too, that the State Department has actually established specific procedures to allow and protect the expression of dissent among its ranksthat is, to institutionalize democracy. The procedure entails filing an official form which cannot be submitted anonymously, and the process offers strenuous assurances against reprisal.

Why is this process in place? As any American citizen who truly respects our institutions and country should know, our founders established a system with checks and balances so we would have a deliberative democracy, one in which enormous decisions impacting the lives of our multitudes would be subject to robust discussion and careful consideration that entailed taking into account a full range of perspectives, especially dissenting ones. Hence, Thomas Jefferson declared dissent to be the highest form of patriotism.

Last week, though, we saw Trump had little, or no, respect for Americas hallowed system of checks and balances; and he certainly demonstrated he has no intention of refraining from seeking reprisal against those who dissent.

His Apprentice-like firing of Attorney General Sally Yates made that point loudly and clearly.

And what did Sally Yates do? She did her job within our democracy to provide a check and a balance to an authoritarian imposition of an unlawful policy. She expressed this understanding quite clearly when she explained her position in the governmental process of the executive branch:

. . . [I]n litigation, DOJ Civil Division lawyers are charged with advancing reasonable legal arguments that can be made supporting an Executive Order. But my role as leader of this institution is different and broader. My responsibility is to ensure that the position of the Department of Justice is not only legally defensible but is informed by our best view of what the law is after consideration of all the facts. In addition, I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institutions solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right. At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the Executive Order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the Executive Order is lawful.

But Trump shows no interest in honoring or adhering to the sacred system our founders carefully crafted as an alternative to and safeguard against authoritarian rule. Theres not a new sheriff in the capital. Theres a new CEO trying to run a business, not govern a democratic polity with rules.

Even Republicans, intent on repealing the Affordable Care Act against what polls show is the will of the people, have fumed over Trumps refusal to consult them and key committees and agencies before issuing the executive order banning refugees from seven countries with largely Muslim populations.

And, as Paul Krugman has pointed out, the Trump administrations willingness to entertain and give voice to the possibility of implementing a 20% tax on Mexican imports to pay for the infamous wall, underscored the administrations flouting and complete ignorance of rules and treaties already in place and established through negotiation and deliberation nationally and internationally. Krugman explains,

International trade policy is governed by rules  originally the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade [GATT], now folded into the WTO [World Trade Organization]. A key part of these rules is that countries agree NOT to just impose new tariffs or import quotas unilaterally. So if the US just goes ahead and imposes a 20 percent tariff on Mexico, it has in effect repudiated the whole system (which it built!).

Trump simply shows no regard for rules or decisions arrived at through collective and diplomatic deliberation. We are seeing in full force the problems of Trumps temperament raised in the campaign. It threatens deliberative democracy itself.

When James Madison penned Federalist Paper No. 10, he underscored the importance of representatives who would act at some distance from the passions of the people and thus be capable of enacting a deliberative democracy. For Madison, the representatives should be able to withstand the temporary delusion to give time and opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection.

Unfortunately, it is now the people who need protection from the delusions and impulsive passions of its chief representative, President Trump.

When Obama declared last October that Democracy is on the ballot, he wasnt kidding. A minority of Americans voted in a President who wants to destroy it. It is one of the few things he wants to do deliberately.
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First, we have Germanys Der Spiegel present us with Trump decapitating the statue of liberty and holding her severed head like a trophy. Britains The Economist has raised also a few eyebrows with its cover showing Donald Trump armed with a Molotov cocktail titled An Insurgent in the White House, telling us that WASHINGTON is in the grip of a revolution.

The bleak cadence of last months inauguration was still in the air when Donald Trump lobbed the first Molotov cocktail of policies and executive orders against the capitals brilliant-white porticos. He has not stopped.

The mainstream media is not used to such blatant criticism of Donald Trump. This was the reaction of The New York Times John Schwartz:

The Economist, holy cow, guys pic.twitter.com/0yPiLiqru5  John Schwartz (@jswatz) February 4, 2017

The magazines own tweet advertising the editorial explains that Donald Trump needs to be persuaded that alliances are Americas greatest source of power.

The editorial goes on to explain,

To understand Mr Trumps insurgency, start with the uses of outrage. In a divided America, where the other side is not just mistaken but malign, conflict is a political asset. The more Mr Trump used his stump speeches to offend polite opinion, the more his supporters were convinced that he really would evict the treacherous, greedy elite from their Washington salons.



His grenade-chuckers-in-chief, Stephen Bannon and Stephen Miller, have now carried that logic into government (see Briefing). Every time demonstrators and the media rail against Mr Trump, it is proof that he must be doing something right. If the outpourings of the West Wing are chaotic, it only goes to show that Mr Trump is a man of action just as he promised. The secrecy and confusion of the immigration ban are a sign not of failure, but of how his people shun the self-serving experts who habitually subvert the popular will.

The Economist is certainly  in contrast with the American press  unafraid to criticize Trump in the strongest possible terms. The conclusion of the editors that A web of bilateralism and a jerry-rigged regionalism are palpably worse for America than the world Mr Trump inherited is undeniably true, as is their stark warning, that,

It is not too late for him to conclude how much worse, to ditch his bomb-throwers and switch course. The world should hope for that outcome. But it must prepare for trouble.

Indeed, and worse things have been said of Trump by others. One GOP consultant, Cheri Jacobus said in a series of tweets that the press must call out Trump for his lies and extremism and that When they are treasonous, say so. Loudly.

So far, Trump has managed to make things worse every single day of few short days of his administration. He has elicited a great deal of well-deserved mockery and shocking images like this, which present Trump not as the victim of anarchist, but as an anarchist himself, firebombing the world order in a rage made only worse by each criticism of his actions.

As The Economist says, if for Trump chaos seems to be part of the plan, then the world must prepare for trouble.

Photo: Twitter @TheEconomist
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*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*

To get a really good idea of how mainstream media is normalizing a really bad administration, it is worth looking at a really unprecedented government exodus that was not really big news; in fact, it was hardly reported at all.

Its little surprise that experienced people would be hesitant to have their names be connected with, or work for, an incredibly incompetent and inexperienced administration ruled over by a sophomoric leader dependent on conspiracy theorists, religious fanatics, and alt-right Nazis as his most senior policy advisers. It is just that situation that likely contributed to a departure of senior officials at the State Department that doesnt bode well for American diplomats; not that anything remotely connected to Trump bodes well for anyone.

Last week, four of the State Departments highest level administrators abruptly resigned and walked away from their jobs to avoid being any part of the Trump administration; and who could possibly blame them? They would be working for a Vladimir Putin associate whose only foreign policy experience is being a close friend and confidante of Russias dictator and a director of a Russian oil company. They would also be working for and be part of an administration that is already predicting wars with China and in the Middle East and it informs that there isnt going to be much need for experienced diplomats when predicting and preparing for wars is foreign policy any more than threatening to send the American military into a neighboring country, and an ally.

The Washington Post reported that the State Departments entire senior administrative team just resigned, but it was business as usual for the Trump. Apparently, Vladimir Putins friend and newly confirmed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was at State Department headquarters when the long-serving undersecretary for management, Patrick Kennedy, and three of his top officials abruptly walked out. Mr. Kennedy was joined by Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr, Assistant Secretary of State for consular Affairs Michele Bond, and Ambassador Gentry O. Smith, director of the Office of Foreign Missions. This is a really big deal because all four of the diplomats are career Foreign Service officers with years of service in Republican and Democratic administrations. It is a bad sign that these four would rather leave their admirable service to America rather than be a part of serving under Trump.

According to former Secretary of State John Kerrys chief of staff, the exodus is beyond remarkable. David Wade said:

Its the single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that anyone can remember, and thats incredibly difficult to replicate. Department expertise in security, management, administrative and consular positions, in particular, are very difficult to replicate and particularly difficult to find in the private sector.

Diplomatic security, consular affairs, theres just not a corollary that exists outside the department, and you can least afford a learning curve in these areas where issues can quickly become matters of life and death. These are very difficult people to replace.

Another foreign service expert and diplomat, Ambassador Richard Boucher, who served as State Department spokesman for both Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, said that a new administration does bring turnover, but thats not what happened this time. Mr. Boucher added:

You dont run foreign policy by making statements, you run it with thousands of people working to implement programs every day. To undercut that is to undercut the institution.

Boucher is certainly referring to Trumps constant undercutting the United States foreign policy establishment throughout the presidential campaign, and then appointing a secretary of state with no government or foreign policy experience as why the people that actually know what theyre doing jumped ship. Boucher also noted just how crucial it is to have career Foreign Service officers in charge and not some reality show contestant or any other Trump amateur.

The officials who manage the thousands of overseas diplomatic posts are charged with taking care of Americans overseas and protecting U.S. diplomats risking their lives abroad.

It is exactly what makes the senior officials sudden departure all the more important and cause for concern, but not to Trump and certainly not to the media, or it would have been a major story instead of religiously keeping tabs on Trumps Twitter activity.

As WaPo noted in its opinion piece, this sudden departure of the entire senior management team running the State Departments is disruptive enough, but in the context of a White House occupant who has shown no interest in, or any use for, the nations all-important foreign policy and diplomatic agency, the vacancies should be extremely disconcerting. But with an administrations senior foreign policy advisor predicting a couple of wars, and an illegitimate presidents stated crusade against a major world religion, it is likely that America will have no need for a state department or diplomats; not when America is flush with bombs, bullets, and bibles.

The above commentary is the opinion of the author.
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In a very persuasively argued piece, Robert Reich asks if The events at Berkeley Wednesday night may have been part of a Donald Trump plot, a false flag operation  by Milos Yiannopoulos, of Breitbart News, and Steve Bannon  to control American universities.

As Reich explains, The events at Berkeley Wednesday night have been a boon to Milos Yiannopoulos, of Breitbart News, and to Steve Bannon, formerly head of Breitbart News and now Trumps consigliere.

As you may know, on Wednesday night, February 1, Berkeley gave Yiannopoulos a major forum to spout his racist and misogynistic vitriol. But police had to cancel the talk because about 150 masked agitators threw Molotov cocktails, smashed windows where Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak, and threw rocks and fireworks at the police  delivering made-for-TV images of a riot.

Reich raises the possibility that Yiannopoulos and Brietbart were in cahoots with the agitators, in order to lay the groundwork for a Trump crackdown on universities and their federal funding.

We all saw Trumps threat, issued, as usual, via twitter:

If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view  NO FEDERAL FUNDS?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017

Reich writes that,

Thursday night on CNN, I said I wouldnt bet against that possibility. Almost immediately an indignant article appeared in Breitbart News, misleadingly headlined Robert Reich Lies, Claims Breitbart News Organized Berkeley Riots.

Considering all the facts, Reich says he still wouldnt bet against the likelihood of such a scheme given this very conspiratorial administration, and it is frighteningly in line with totalitarian schemes of the past, where seeming lack of control gives the totalitarian regime a much-needed excuse to exert  or rather  impose control.

There is another interesting detail to be noted here: remember when Donald Trump took his cue from Bill OReilly in threatening to invade Chicago? The Washington Post points out that just before Trump issued his threat, Fox News Todd Starnes had called on him to do just that:

Perhaps the president had started his morning by tuning in to Fox News. Shortly before Trump sent his tweet, commentator Todd Starnes had said that President Trump should immediately issue an executive order blocking Berkeley students from receiving any federal funding. Same goes for any other public university that wants to silence conservative voices. Free speech for all or no federal money, not a single taxpayer penny, period.

The only argument against such a plot is that if plot it is, Trump actually pulled it off. But even the catastrophically incompetent will occasionally get something right.

Conservatives have taken full advantage of the riot, of course, claiming you cant make this stuff up but if Reich is correct, you can. You can even stage it.
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By Julia Edwards Ainsley and Kinda Makieh

WASHINGTON/DAMASCUS (Reuters)  U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday denounced a judge who lifted a travel ban for citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries, vowing that his government would reinstate it as affected travelers scrambled for tickets to try to quickly enter the United States.

The federal judge in Seattle on Friday blocked Trumps week-old order to stop people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from traveling to the United States as his administration develops stricter vetting rules for immigrants and travelers that Trump says are needed to prevent attacks.

The Washington state lawsuit is the first to test the broad constitutionality of Trumps travel ban, which has been condemned by rights groups that consider it discriminatory.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Trump said on Twitter. It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which is an independent arm of the U.S. government.

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security  big trouble! Trump tweeted.

Because of the temporary restraining order, the U.S. government said travelers with valid visas would be allowed to enter the country. The State Department said almost 60,000 visas had been suspended because of Trumps ban.

The order had set off chaos and moved thousands of people to protest at airports across the United States last week.

I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it, said Fuad Sharef, an Iraqi with an immigration visa who was prevented from boarding a flight to New York last week.

I didnt surrender and I fought for my right and other peoples right, Sharef told Reuters as he and his family prepared to fly from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to Istanbul and then to New York, before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.

Virtually all refugees also were barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the United States.

On Saturday, a small group of immigration lawyers, some holding signs in English and Arabic, gathered at New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport, offering services to passengers arriving from overseas destinations.

This is an instance where people could really slip through the cracks and get detained and nobody would know, said John Biancamano, 35, an attorney volunteering his services.

At Dulles International Airport outside Washington, volunteer lawyers also were in place to help travelers and monitor how visa holders and permanent residents were being treated as they arrived.

REFUGEES ENSNARED

The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travelers but that the Trump administration would fight to overturn Fridays ruling.

At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the presidents executive order, which is lawful and appropriate, DHS spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said a statement.

Some travelers told Reuters they were cautious about the sudden change. Overnight, some international airlines were uncertain about whether they could sell tickets to travelers from the countries in Trumps ban.

I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes, said Josephine Abu Assaleh, who was stopped from entering the United States after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family.

Abu Assaleh, 60, and her family were granted U.S. visas in 2016, some 13 years after they initially made their applications.

We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been canceled, we will decide whether to go back or not, she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone.

Trumps order also put a 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee admission program and barred Syrian refugees indefinitely. With Friday nights restraining order on the ban, refugees who have been cleared can now board planes.

Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab, 52, told Reuters in Lebanon: If it really has been frozen, I thank God, because my wife and children should have been in America by now.

He said his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on Jan. 31. The trip was canceled two days before that and he was now waiting for a phone call from U.N. officials overseeing their case.

Its in Gods hands, he said.

(Additional reporting by Issam Abdullah in Beirut, Dan Levine in Seattle, Alana Wise in New York and Yegenah Torbati in Washington; Writing by Roberta Rampton and Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Louise Heavens and Bill Trott)
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The following post, written by The Rev. Robert A. Franek, is a part of Politicus Policy Discussion, in which writers draw connections between real lives and public policy.

Has it only been two weeks, well two weeks and two days? Already the cost of the new administration on the lives of ordinary people is beyond belief. And I dont just mean the financial costs whether of security at Trump Tower in New York City, his reckless executive orders, or his vacation this weekend. Keeping track of these costs is important and necessary, especially since this is the party that claims to value fiscal responsibility and reduced government spending (or does that only apply when speaking of those who are poor, disenfranchised, and caught in a system of oppression).

In addition to financial costs, there are also human costs in worry, stress, and fear. There are the opportunity costs of protesting his incompetent and irresponsible actions rather than advocating for positive change. There are costs to the environment that impact the ecosystems of plants and trees, rivers and lakes, fish and animals which ultimately affect the lives of every person on the planet.

Donald Trumps now temporarily blocked Muslim ban created chaos at airports, tore families apart, and kept refugees from reaching safer communities. More at least one child was delayed getting much needed medical care. So much needless human pain and suffering caused by an illegal, unconstitutional, and immoral executive order hastily implemented and with no factual basis in achieving the intent to keep Americans safe.

Keeping Americans safe is easier said than done by this new administration. In his first operation as Commander-in-Chief Trump ordered a raid in Yemen without sufficient intelligence, ground support, or adequate backup preparations according Reuters. The decision reportedly made over dinner in conversation with political advisors and not intelligence and military experts led to the death of Navy SEAL William Ryan Owens along with other non-combatant civilians including women and children. An untold amount of suffering and grief is causing distress among family and friends from Peoria, Illinois, to Yemen largely because Trump failed to fully prepare for this operation in consultation with experts in multiple fields and heeding their reports.

It is bad enough this administration is having a hard time consulting and trusting intelligence and military experts and the reports they provide. But when all goes bad rather than taking responsibility they blame Obama in another attempt to rewrite history.

The human costs in anxiety and anger are adding up along with hours invested in protests and in calling U.S. Representatives and Senators to protests many of Donald Trumps executive orders like his border wall and Muslim ban as well as cabinet nominees, not the least of which are Betsy DeVoss and Senator Jeffery Sessions. As Sarah Jones reported, It is vital that senators be accessible to their constituents at such a critical time of Trump-caused upheaval. People are afraid, they need to be heard.

More, Trumps nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and the House Republicans voting to allow the mentally ill to have guns and that coal mines can poison our water is causing distress and outrage across the nation.

There is also the time and energy the media must spend debunking alternative facts known to the rest of reality as lies. Add to that the countless hours of energy spent by people on social media engaging in debates over reality. No doubt, the barrage of propaganda and fake news needs to be debunked and the truth told both by the professional media and everyday people on social media and in personal social circles. Still, it is shocking that the new leader of the free world and his associates are causing debates over observable facts and reality itself.

It is difficult to measure the toll of gas lighting the nation on a regular basis, however the effects can already be seen.

In little more than a dozen days and with polling to prove it, the American people are not happy and are coming out in droves to protest the taxing effects of the new administration on the people of this country and around the world.

Like the financial costs to the taxpayers of this country, these human costs will continue to add up, and for anyone with a moral compass these costs are far more concerning and troubling.

The moral resistance to the new administration has at its heart the human costs to people in this country and around the world. The resistance will not stop until the fundamental human rights of all people are assured and no longer under threat.
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Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) shook up Super Bowl Sunday by demanding a full FBI probe into what the Russians have on President Trump during an interview on Meet The Press.

Video:

Transcript via Meet The Press:

NANCY PELOSI:

Well, but they have. Lets see the record. The record is that what did we do? We bailed out the auto industry, saving so many jobs, millions, when you take the indirect increase in jobs in that area. The Republicans, at the time, said this would be interfering with the free market system if we bailed out the auto industry. They were on their heels. Theyre now on top of the world.

But let me just go back to the first part of the Senators statement. I want to know what the Russians have on Donald Trump. I think we have to have an investigation by the F.B.I. into his financial, personal and political connections to Russia.

CHUCK TODD:

Okay.

NANCY PELOSI:

And we want to see his tax returns so we can have truth

CHUCK TODD:

Right.

NANCY PELOSI:

in the relationship between Putin, whom he admires, and Donald Trump.

Pelosi wasnt alone on the idea that an FBI investigation is required on the Trump/Russia connection. As Trump continues to lavish praise on Putin and Russia, Democrats sound a lot like Leader Pelosi. Democrats want to know what Putin has on President Trump.

Democrats arent letting up on Trump. They arent going to allow him to praise Russia during his Super Bowl interview without consequences. The idea that the president is compromised in some way could be a powerful tool to get Democratic voters out to the polls in 2018.

Rep. Pelosi knows that she has little power to get an investigation going in 2017, but as Speaker of the House, she would be able to carry out a full investigation of Trump.

Even on Super Bowl Sunday, the dark cloud of the Russian role in the 2016 election lingers over the administration of Donald Trump.
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Nearly 13 percent of registered voters in South Carolina have already cast ballots for the 2022 general election after the state opened up no excuse early voting to all for the first time. More than 438,000 votes were in as of the end of Thursday, which was the 10th day of early voting, according to statistics from the South Carolina Election Commission. Read more13% in SC have already cast ballots with new early voting
Gene Sapakoff column: There's a gap between Aliyah Boston and the defending national champs and everyone else, but beware of these teams from here to March Madness. Read moreSapakoff: Antonelli on how to upset the Gamecocks, and teams capable
About a year-and-a-half ago, Rochester Public Schools revealed a finding that its students of color were disproportionately disciplined.

Though the root cause of those disparities has been a contentious topic, it's clear that race was indeed a significant factor, even after considerations such income were accounted for.

That's according to an analysis done by former Rochester-Olmsted Planning Director Phil Wheeler on behalf of the Rochester NAACP. The results were presented Saturday to more than 100 people during a community forum.

"Our problem is not that simple, it is exacerbated by the fact that even after we account for income we have a disparity that's due to race," Wheeler said. "The disparities are widespread in our school system, but they're not universal."

Part of the reason for that disparity, according to Wheeler's analysis, is that Rochester schools are segregated by race and income. The majority of Rochester schools are neighborhood schools, so that leads to some segregation by income throughout neighborhoods, he said. But the segregation is "exacerbated" by attendance boundary decisions made by the school board.

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Another major finding: while the disparities are widespread, they're not at all the district schools.

For example, race was a significant factor in referral rates in seven elementary schools, but in five other elementary schools it did not have a separate impact, according to Wheeler's analysis.

Of the district's 17 elementary schools, just two  Gage and Riverside  accounted for 56 percent of all referrals at the elementary school level.

"A lot of the difficulty we have around the issue is actually calling it what it is," said Kamau Wilkins, co-founder of Rochester for Justice. "That's racism."

The discipline disparity has been the topic of community conversation for 18 months, and a community group has formed to help seek solutions, in addition to the federally mandated changes put forward by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

The "Community Focus Team" made up of community members, and school staff came up with recommendations in August , that included a focus on getting more students of color into honors and AP classes, reviewing the curriculum and educating staff members on bias.

"This forum is an opportunity for us to say to the public schools: 'We have serious problem, and we would like to examine it more closely to see the data, educate ourselves, and then determine how together we can work toward closing this gap,'" said W.C. Jordan, president of the Rochester branch of the NAACP.

Rochester schools Superintendent Michael Munoz and Assistant Superintendent Brenda Lewis noted the progress made at the high school level, where discipline referrals and disparities have dropped dramatically; though work still needs to be done at the middle school level and at some of the elementary schools.

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The district has employees dedicated to gathering and analyzing student discipline data. They meet monthly to talk about results at each school, as well as with individual students.

A second look at 'discipline'

Last year, the majority of student discipline fell into the "disorderly conduct" category, a subjective label that accounts for a range of offenses, said Marika Pfefferkorn, program director with Minnesota Education Equity Partnership, a Twin-Cities organization that advocates for a number of race-related education issues.

If you're able to remove the subjectivity from discipline, that helps, she said, but that's not the entire solution. It's clear, she said, that traditional discipline methods haven't served students well.

Pfefferkorn pointed to efforts to remove the subjectivity in discipline with programs such as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. PBIS aims to proactively teach appropriate behaviors, rather than punish students after the fact. Bad behavior is approached using an "instructional response," so that students learn why what they did was wrong, and so they understand what behavior expectations are throughout the building.

It's growing in popularity as schools are changing how they approach discipline .

But this doesn't always work if teachers or principals don't buy into the program or implement it incorrectly, Pfefferkorn said.

There's so much disagreement about what "misbehavior" is and what the response to that should be, she said, so it's not surprising people are misusing discipline across the state and country.

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During the last year, the conversation has often pointed to the students' family lives as the roots of behavior issues. But Pfefferkorn said it's more about the relationship between the student and the teacher, and the level of trust between the school and home, she said.

What's next?

Rochester for Justice, the Rochester branch of the NAACP and other organizations are calling for quarterly reporting of the district's discipline figures in an effort to track the district's efforts. They want to add people to the "Community Focus Team." And they called on the district to take diversity training seriously.

Pfefferkorn said that creating strong relationships between teachers and students tends to improve behavior, because then students don't want to misbehave or disappoint the teacher.

Others at the forum raised concerns about teacher hiring  asking the district to hire more teachers of color, specifically Somali teachers.

Still there are things that need to be discussed, Wheeler said, like the impact of being in one of the elementary schools with a highly disproportionate discipline referral rate, and how do those referrals affect academic achievement.

"We are all on the same side, we're trying to address the causes of the discipline disparity," Wheeler said.
Jerome Woehrle at Liberty Unyielding provides a revealing look at James Robart, the federal judge who enjoined President Trumps executive order temporarily restricting entry to the U.S. from seven highly problematic nations. Scott has observed that Judge Robarts opinion is nearly devoid of legal analysis. Woehrle expands on this criticism:

Judge James Robarts order has no legal basis, and barely pretends to. [The] order against Trump sheds little light on his thinking. But at an earlier hearing on Washington States motion for a temporary restraining order, he asked what rational basis the government had for restricting entry from the seven violence-wracked countries covered by Trumps order: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen. As NPR notes, these seven countries were previously singled out by Congress for milder restrictions on visas. Congress did so after terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, in a 2015 law tightening up the Visa Waiver Program that was signed by President Obama. Critics argue that there was no rational basis for restricting travel from these countries but not other countries in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia. This argument is silly, since America has deep economic links and security ties with Saudi Arabia that it lacks with the seven countries subject to the 2015 law and Trumps executive order. America need not antagonize a key ally when it takes steps to increase border security. Perhaps for this reason, Judge Robarts order in State of Washington v. Trump does not even make this argument, simply suggesting that for some unexplained reason the executive order may violate the Constitution.

The seven countries at issue are: Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and Iran. The first six are all failed, chaotic states that have produced terrorists. The problems with effectively vetting people from these countries are obvious.

The seventh country is Iran. It exports terrorism. Though not a failed state, our relations with the mullahs are such that effective vetting may be well nigh impossible.

Saudi Arabia is neither a failed state nor a nation with which we have essentially no relations. Same with Pakistan. We can expect, or at least plausibly hope for, meaningful assistance from the government in vetting potential entrants to the U.S.

Im not saying that this provides the assurance we need, but it does provide a higher level of assurance than we have with the seven nations on the list. Or so it rationally can be argued.

Thus, even apart from what Congress did in the 2015 law tightening up the Visa Waiver Program, there is a rational basis for picking the seven countries and not states like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Woehrle continues:

To cover up the embarrassing weakness of Judge Robarts temporary restraining order, reporters at the Washington Post and elsewhere have trumpeted the fact that Robart was nominally appointed by President George W. Bush. They have done this to suggest that his ruling must have merit, because otherwise he would not have ruled against a President of the same party as the man who appointed him. But this is misleading, since Robart is a staunchly liberal judge whose appointment was effectively forced on Bush by liberal Senator Patty Murray in 2004, when Washington State had two liberal Senators.

How did this happen? Woehrle explains:

Robarts appointment as a federal judge was championed by liberal Senators like Patty Murray, who used Senatorial custom allowing senators to veto Presidential appointments of trial judges to obtain the appointment of liberal trial judges like Robart in Washington State. An April 13, 2005 press release by Murray touts Robarts appointment as the bipartisan result of using a state commission to select federal trial judges in Washington, whose appointment Bush then rubberstamped. This Senatorial veto power, known as the blue slip, is an old tradition, dating back to at least 1917, that lets senators have a say on which trial judges are appointed to courts in their home state.

On the bench, Robart has lived up to Patty Murrays expectations. He has a history of not just liberal rulings, but oddball ones. Woehrle quotes one observer who said this about the judge:

Judge Robart. . .is the same guy who issued [a] bizarre college sexual assault ruling. . .He ruled a falsely-accused male student could not depose or obtain relevant documents from the female student who got him expelled because that would traumatize her (never mind that it was SHE who performed a sex act on him when he was blacked out, meaning that if anyone was guilty of sexual assault it was HER). Reasons article about it can be found here. Robart also bellowed Black Lives Matter in open court, as the Daily Caller noted (in a context in which it made little sense).

Robarts ruling on Trumps executive order doesnt even attempt to make sense. It is basically ipse dixit.

Unfortunately, the left-wing Ninth Circuit is unlikely to disturb anything Robart does on this matter. And in the Supreme Court, there are probably four votes (minimum) in favor of stopping the Trump order.

Four votes would be enough to affirm the Ninth Circuit right now. Thats why Scotts immigration lawyer friend was wise to say Get on with the Gorsuch confirmation. Fast.
A just-retired scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has blown the whistle on a scandal of epic proportions involving fake news ginned up by climate scientists. Dr. John Bates, who until the end of 2016 was one of NOAAs top scientists, told the story to the Daily Mail:

The Mail on Sunday today reveals astonishing evidence that the organisation that is the worlds leading source of climate data rushed to publish a landmark paper that exaggerated global warming and was timed to influence the historic Paris Agreement on climate change. A high-level whistleblower has told this newspaper that Americas National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) breached its own rules on scientific integrity when it published the sensational but flawed report, aimed at making the maximum possible impact on world leaders including Barack Obama and David Cameron at the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015. The report claimed that the pause or slowdown in global warming in the period since 1998  revealed by UN scientists in 2013  never existed, and that world temperatures had been rising faster than scientists expected. Launched by NOAA with a public relations fanfare, it was splashed across the worlds media, and cited repeatedly by politicians and policy makers. But the whistleblower, Dr John Bates, a top NOAA scientist with an impeccable reputation, has shown The Mail on Sunday irrefutable evidence that the paper was based on misleading, unverified data.

NOAA violated its own rules by publishing the report without subjecting it to required verification proceduresprocedures that were designed by Dr. Bates himself.

His vehement objections to the publication of the faulty data were overridden by his NOAA superiors in what he describes as a blatant attempt to intensify the impact of what became known as the Pausebuster paper.

Of all the fake news stories that emerged in the last two years, this is undoubtedly the most important. More:

NOAAs 2015 Pausebuster paper was based on two new temperature sets of data  one containing measurements of temperatures at the planets surface on land, the other at the surface of the seas. Both datasets were flawed. This newspaper has learnt that NOAA has now decided that the sea dataset will have to be replaced and substantially revised just 18 months after it was issued, because it used unreliable methods which overstated the speed of warming. The revised data will show both lower temperatures and a slower rate in the recent warming trend. The land temperature dataset used by the study was afflicted by devastating bugs in its software that rendered its findings unstable.

This is just one of the tricks the NOAA scientists employed to exaggerate warming:

The sea dataset used by Thomas Karl and his colleagues  known as Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperatures version 4, or ERSSTv4, tripled the warming trend over the sea during the years 2000 to 2014 from just 0.036C per decade  as stated in version 3  to 0.099C per decade. Individual measurements in some parts of the globe had increased by about 0.1C and this resulted in the dramatic increase of the overall global trend published by the Pausebuster paper. But Dr Bates said this increase in temperatures was achieved by dubious means. Its key error was an upwards adjustment of readings from fixed and floating buoys, which are generally reliable, to bring them into line with readings from a much more doubtful source  water taken in by ships. This, Dr Bates explained, has long been known to be questionable: ships are themselves sources of heat, readings will vary from ship to ship, and the depth of water intake will vary according to how heavily a ship is laden  so affecting temperature readings. Dr Bates said: They had good data from buoys. And they threw it out and corrected it by using the bad data from ships. You never change good data to agree with bad, but thats what they did  so as to make it look as if the sea was warmer.

The Earths surface temperature record has been so hopelessly corrupted by adjustments made for political purposes by NOAA and other agencies that it likely can never be accurately reconstructed. This is a great loss to science. The Mail story suggests that evidence may have been destroyed to cover the tracks of NOAAs activists:

Then came the final bombshell. Dr Bates said: I learned that the computer used to process the software had suffered a complete failure. The reason for the failure is unknown, but it means the Pausebuster paper can never be replicated or verified by other scientists.

Sounds like they borrowed the computer from the IRS.

NOAA is a rogue, politicized agency, like so many others. It has defied a Congressional committees subpoena, and apparently lied to the committee:

NOAA not only failed, but it effectively mounted a cover-up when challenged over its data. After the paper was published, the US House of Representatives Science Committee launched an inquiry into its Pausebuster claims. NOAA refused to comply with subpoenas demanding internal emails from the committee chairman, the Texas Republican Lamar Smith, and falsely claimed that no one had raised concerns about the paper internally.

Heads need to roll. Donald Trump has his work cut out for him, to put it mildly.
Power Line readers who mischievously pull for Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Keith Ellison to emerge victorious in his bid for the chairmanship of the DNC are not alone. We have noted that former Obama administration green jobs commissar and Mao man Van Jones is with you. We have noted that Voxs Matthew Yglesias has joined you. We have also noted that 300 Jewish leaders are with you.

Now the editors of The Nation join you as well. In a February 2 editorial The Nation declares Ellison the man to lead Democrats back to the promised land:

The Democratic Party hasnt faced this serious a crisis of confidence and direction since the 1920s. Republicans control the White House, Congress, 33 governorships, and 67 of 98 partisan state legislative chambers nationwide. Even as Americans fill the streets demanding resistance to the extremist agenda of Donald Trump, congressional Democrats often lack the numbers for the pushback. The right response to this crisis is a retooling of the Democratic National Committee to align it more closely with movements for social and economic justice. The party must make the inside/outside connection that will strengthen immediate resistance to the Trump regime, while improving the long-term electoral prospects of Democrats. Keith Ellison, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is prepared to do just that. In an impressive field of contenders for the position of DNC chairincluding party leaders that The Nation has often praised, like former labor secretary Tom Perez, as well as energetic newcomers like Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indianait is Ellison who combines the ideals, skills, and movement connections that will revitalize the party. Thats why The Nation enthusiastically endorses Ellison in the contest to lead a DNC that must repurpose itself in order to derail Trump, while at the same time speaking to young voters who wont settle for anything less than an aggressively progressive opposition party

You are not alone, but you are not necessarily in good company.
The behavior of many liberals since Donald Trumps election has been appallingnot to mention, in some cases, criminal. It is also, in some respects, puzzling. A case in point was a town meeting conducted last night by Congressman Tom McClintock in Roseville, California. Liberal activists attended the meeting and behaved so boorishly and so threateningly that the Congressman had to be escorted from the hall by armed policemen.

Another disgusting moment in the history of liberalism, but this is what I find mystifying:

I can no longer just sit back. I believe in the Constitution. I was an infantryman in Vietnam. I fought for this. These people need to understand, we want them out, said Vietnam War veteran Lon Varvel, referring to Trump and McClintock.

We want them out? There is a mechanism for that. It is called an election. In fact, McClintock is just two weeks into his current term. He was re-elected in November, with more than double the vote total of his nearest Democratic challenger. Obviously, a majority of McClintocks constituents dont want him out.

Likewise with Donald Trump. He is a mere two weeks into his four-year term. They need to understand we want them out? No. The Democrats need to understand that when you lose an election, the other guys get to take office. You dont stamp your feet and demand that they quit.

Two weeks into Barack Obamas first term, I wanted him out, too. But so what? He won the election, and he served his term in office. Do Democrats seriously not understand this? Or is the problem that they reject the most basic principles of democracy?
I read this rather brilliant short essay by Kevin Williamson in National Review while I was on vacation last week, and am now getting around to writing about it. Williamson takes off from the observation that the Democrats are not making any serious effort to block such Trump nominees as Satan Jeff Sessions, but instead have trained their guns on the seemingly-innocuous Betsy DeVos. His argument is that a familiar slander against the Republican Party may actually be true as applied to the Democrats:

The popular progressive understanding of the Republican party and conservative movement is something like this: It is, at heart, a conspiracy of corporate oligarchs who use a collection of so-called social issues  religion, bigotry, racial resentment, anti-immigrant sentiment  to stir up the rubes in support of its own parochial economic agenda, tricking them into voting against their own interests in the popular progressive phrase. Wall Street guys pulling the strings and writing the checks, foot-washing snake-handlers manning the barricades. This isnt really true, of course, as anybody who ever has spent any time around actual Republican politicians or conservative activists knows. But might something similar actually be true of the Democratic party?

The serious money in the Democratic Party comes from public sector unions, especially teachers unions:

Here is one possibility: The Democratic party in reality is the cartoon version of the Republican party stood on its head, with cold-eyed self-serving economic interests using the so-called social issues to stir up the rubes while they go about seeing to their own paydays and pensions. The economic interests attached to the Democratic party are fairly easy to identify: people who work for government at all levels. You may come across the occasional Ron Swanson in the wild, but when it comes to the teachers unions  which are the biggest spender in U.S. politics  or the AFSCME gang or the vast majority of people receiving a taxpayer-funded paycheck, the politics of the public sector is almost exclusively Democratic. And what they care about isnt social justice or inequality or diversity or peace or whether little Johnny can use the ladies room if his heart tells him to  they care about getting paid.

Do the people who run the Democratic Party really care about the social issues, other than as a cynical means to fire up their base? The evidence suggests that the answer is No:

Heres an interesting point of comparison. When Barack Obama was running for president in 2008, he opposed gay marriage. So did Hillary Rodham Clinton, but Obamas opposition was especially interesting in that he cited religious doctrine in support of his position: My faith teaches me . . . that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. For me, as a Christian, it is also a sacred union  Gods in the mix. George W. Bush, who was derided as a fundamentalist bigot by lifestyle liberals, never said anything like that. (Dick Cheney was well to the left of the Democrats on the question.) But there was barely a murmur of opposition to Obamas staking out this ground on the wrong side of history. Social issues are for the naifs.

School reform, on the other hand, is a matter of life and death to the Democrats:

During the 2008 Democratic primary, Obama gave an off-the-record speech to a group of Wall Street financial executives in which he shared his frustration with the sclerotic and bureaucratic state of American education, and declared that he was close to publicly endorsing a nationwide school-choice program. (This is according to one of those in attendance.) The moneymen were enthused by this, but nothing ever came of it. In fact, Obama went hard in the opposite direction, working to gut the school-choice program in Washington, D.C., a popular program, which benefited urban black families almost exclusively. You dont have to be a hard-boiled cynic to suspect that this has to do with the manpower and money-power of the teachers unions, who could have done a great deal more than they did to elevate Hillary Rodham Clinton over Barack Obama that year. Think about that: If you are the candidate of the Left running in the party of the Left, you could, in 2008, run against equal rights for gay people  but you could not, if you had any sense of self-preservation, run in favor of school choice. Justice is one thing, but getting paid is the real issue. That probably explains why Betsy DeVos is getting the business and Jeff Sessions really isnt.

I am not a cynic, and I dont believe that follow the money is the universal guide to human behavior. But I do think that it explains quite well the behavior of the Democratic Party. Williamsons conclusion:
I am offering the solution to a problem most Republicans don't know they have -- that they can be outmaneuvered and thrown on the defensive endlessly, on nearly any issue, because they accept as true Democrat lies about the Republican Party. To correct that misperception and to help the Republican Party get 'back to basics' is why I'm a man on a mission.

A few years ago, after one of my speeches, a man told me "Do you know what your problem is? You're too far ahead of your time!" My efforts to show Republicans how they would benefit from celebrating the heritage of our Grand Old Party have been arduous, but if this were easy someone else would have already done it.

Among my speech topics are Reconciling the Tea Party and the GOP; Barack Obama, the Worst President Ever; Socialism, the new Slavery; Appreciating the Heritage of our Grand Old Party; Returning to the Founding Principles of the United States; The Womens Rights Achievements of our Grand Old Party; Abraham Lincoln, Republican; Frederick Douglass, Republican; Martin Luther King and the Republican Civil Rights Legacy.
MAURICE RIVER TOWNSHIP  The state has added 204 acres along Delaware Bay near the Maurice River and Moores Beach as protected habitat at its Heislerville Wildlife Management Area.

The sites recently purchased increase the amount of land protected in 12 state wildlife management areas in Cumberland County to almost 49,000 acres, or about 16 percent of the county.

Cumberland also shares two wildlife management areas with Salem County and one with Cape May County. Those wildlife habitats cover 40,000 acres in all three counties.

The 204 acres of bay wetlands and upland buffers cost $620,000, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. DEP said it used $158,000 from its Green Acres program and $462,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to buy the land.

We are very happy to preserve this land for use by a wide variety of wildlife species, including various types of waterfowl, shorebirds, birds of prey and wading birds, said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin. The Delaware Bay region is truly a special place, remarkable for its beauty and opportunities for diverse wildlife-related activities, including hiking, fishing, hunting and bird watching.

According the DEP, the purchase includes two major sections.

One section flanks the east bank of the Maurice River and fronts a portion of Delaware Bay known as Thompsons Beach. The other section is just to the east, along what DEP is calling a swath of nearly pristine bay front that includes Moores Beach.

The Heislerville Wildlife Management Area currently protects 7,231 acres of Delaware Bay shoreline, wetlands and uplands. DEP said the area includes beaches used by migrating shorebirds such as red knots. Red knots fuel up on horseshoe crab eggs as they fly to breeding grounds as far north as the Canadian Arctic, the agency said.

The acquisition of this sensitive habitat is a win for both wildlife and the residents of New Jersey, said Edward Markowski, environmental projects president for the New Jersey Outdoors Association.

State officials say the purchase should also bolster the regions ecotourism industry. That includes tourism linked to some of the highest concentrations of bald eagles in New Jersey.

Cumberland, Salem and Cape May counties are home to about half of the states 172 pairs of nesting eagles. Those nests are clustered near Delaware Bay.

Saturday marked the 17th annual Cumberland County Winter Eagle Winter Festival. The number of persons attending the annual event began to increase sharply during the past five years. More than 1,200 people now participate, organizers said.

Overall, the ecotourism industry is worth an estimated $500 million in Cape May County.

A federal study estimates the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Galloway Township, Atlantic County, alone is at least partly responsible for $8 million worth of Atlantic Countys economy. That includes visitors who spend money at hotels, restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores and retail shops.
1. Fill in your name or an alias. Do not leave blank or use the name 'guest' or 'anonymous'.

2. No Nivul Peh. Profanity will be deleted.
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.




DUBAI, UAE, February 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Dubai Municipality on Sunday launched the eighth "Car Free Day" with the participation of government, semi-government and private organizations and a number of dignitaries, including heads of government departments and various sectors such as education, real estate, retail, hotels, banks and people with special needs, ensuring comprehensive support for the initiative.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/464753/Dubai_Municipality_Logo.jpg )



(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/464752/Government_of_Dubai_Logo.jpg )

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/464931/Car_Free_Day_1.jpg )

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/464932/Car_Free_Day_2.jpg )

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Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality stressed on the constant efforts of the Municipality to raise Dubai's profile among the world's eco-friendly cities by finding all sustainable and effective solutions to meet the various environmental challenges, most notably air pollution and increase in the carbon footprint resulting from vehicle emissions.

"Each vehicle, with a full tank fuel size of 15 gallons, emits nearly 140 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the air, taking the annual emissions to four tons, contributing towards global warming. The campaign will contribute in achieving our objectives of UAE National Agenda 2021 in preserving air quality and reducing carbon footprint," said Lootah.

He said that the initiative will effectively contribute towards promoting the use of public transport instead of using personal vehicles to get to work. "It shows Dubai's commitment to international climate change agreements on reducing emissions of gases that causes global warming," he said.

Lootah revealed that this year the initiative has been linked to the Year of Giving by having specialists in the Municipality calculate the carbon footprint and convert it into cash and donate it to charity work in line with the Year of Giving that was announced by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"From two organizations during the first Car Free Day, the participation has grown to 1,070 last year. The environmental results achieved have also multiplied. Compared to 1,000 people in the first year, 30,000 people abandoned personal vehicles and turned to environmentally-friendly transport instead," said Khalid Sharif, Assistant Director General for Environment, Health and Safety Control.

He said that the exhibition, held alongside the eighth event, displayed environmentally-friendly vehicles, which run on alternative fuel sources, whether solar or electric power or biofuels. "It also showcased the latest practices, techniques and achievements related to air quality and the conservation of natural resources," said Al Awadhi.

For more information, please contact:

Ismail Meladi

Senior Media Officer

Media Section, Corporate Marketing & Relations Department

Dubai Municipality Ph: 04-2064634 Mob: 052-1080895

Email: ipparambil@dm.gov.ae





SOURCE Dubai Municipality
DUBAI, UAE, February 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

At Fresh Del Monte Produce ("Del Monte"), we strive to be one step ahead. From innovative products, to environmental friendly initiatives and new activities development, we truly care about our clients.



(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150203/728049-a )



(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/461217/Del_Monte_2together.jpg )



Due to high demand from our clients such as Large corporations, Governmental, Educational and Medical institutions, Del Monte decided to extend its services by launching catering activities in KSA and UAE. This operation requires a team of more than 300 professionals dedicated solely to production and sales as well as a fleet of 50 trucks for distribution and cash-van operations.

Mohammed Abbas, Del Monte's Vice-President in the MENA region, said: "This is a natural evolution from our extensive knowledge and experience built up over years in handling delicate ready to consume fresh products such as fresh cut fruits, salads, vegetables, and freshly squeezed juices. With our facilities and operations spread across the GCC we can take advantage of the proximity to our customers to accommodate and offer a diverse offering on a daily basis."

In the search of environmental friendly alternative energy source, Biodiesel came under the spotlight. Del Monte is now operating more than 45 trucks of its fleet on biodiesel, reducing the carbon dioxide emission by 80 percent. The saving process transforms the used cooking oil from restaurants into biodiesel exclusively for diesel engines.

From the product side, 5 exquisite low calorie meals are now on shelves.

With less than 400 calories, our customers can indulge in a savoury yet healthy experience. Available in fish, chicken and veggie, the recipes were created to satisfy all tastes.

All these latest initiatives are in line with Del Monte's commitment to grow, produce and distribute premium quality products for healthier generations.

Our strategy ahead remains firm on diversifying our product offering but also expanding geographically.

About Fresh Del Monte Produce

Fresh Del Monte Produce is one of the world's leading vertically integrated producers, marketers and distributors of high-quality fresh and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, as well as a leading producer and distributor of prepared food in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the countries formerly part of the Soviet Union. Fresh Del Monte Produce markets its products worldwide under the Del Monte brand, a symbol of product innovation, quality, freshness and reliability for more than 120 years.

For more information on Fresh Del Monte Produce in the Middle East please contact Heloise Buzet, +971-4-3333801, info@freshdelmonte.com or visit http://www.delmontearabia.com

SOURCE Del Monte Foods (U.A.E) FZE
DALLAS, Feb. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Marcus Hiles, Texas property developer and investor, has always shown profound commitment to supporting less fortunate individuals and building a better life for them and their families. Coming from humble beginnings himself, Hiles has over the past two decades contributed a sum of more than $600,000 to programs for disadvantaged women.

"Within every age group, Texas women have a higher poverty rate than their male counterparts," noted Hiles. Data indicates that, while women are heads of household in only 20 percent of Texas homes, 51 percent of poverty-stricken families are led by women. "The three poorest metropolitan areas in the U.S. are located in Texas," he stated. Marcus Hiles understands the broader implications for society of women who don't have the means to support their families. They are more likely to have babies with low birth weights, which increases the likelihood of developmental disabilities. Children born into poverty aren't as well educated as their more well-to-do peers, and are less likely to have steady employment in their adulthood.

According to Hiles, Texas women who face economic challenges need a hand up, not a handout. Because women make up half of the U.S. workforce, Hiles believes it is critical to leverage resources in order to maximize earning potential. His philanthropic donations to career service centers support women in exploring nontraditional jobs that typically offer higher pay and better benefits. To lay the groundwork for success for future generations of young women, Marcus Hiles has donated 200 new DELL computers and monitors for students in urban Texas areas. The real estate developer's commitment to helping women and children is unwavering.

Marcus Hiles, Dallas property entrepreneur, has spent over two decades developing real estate communities that epitomize his vision of luxury living. Today, his companies manage over 15,000 Texas upscale residential townhomes and apartments that include affordable world-class amenities and a focus on a healthy lifestyle with ecological public spaces, top school districts, and recreational locations at the core of their design.

Marcus Hiles - Chairman & CEO of Western Rim Property Services: http://www.MarcusHiles-News.com

MarcusHilestx (Marcus Hiles) - DeviantArt: http://marcushilestx.deviantart.com

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

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Islamabad, Feb 2 : Pakistan has neglected to address trans-border water issues and delayed presenting the cases of dispute with India to the Indus Water Commission related to the Indus Water Treaty, Dawn quoted a United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) report as saying.

"Pakistan's negligence in conducting a sound analysis of trans-boundary water issues and delays in presenting the cases of dispute with India to the Indus Water Commission or the World Bank on the issues related to the Indus Waters Treaty have caused the issues to linger on and remain unaddressed," Dawn News said on Thursday.

The report titled "DevelopAment Advocate Pakistan" was released by the UN global development network on Wednesday, it said.

"An increase in water stress in the basin states since the early '90s has brought the treaty under strain," the report added.

It added that Pakistan has gone as far as calling the treaty an "inefficient forum for resolving water issues, elevating the water issue to a core issue and including it in the composite dialogue".

"But India has refused to include the issue in the composite dialogue because it is not ready to discard the treaty," Dawn said in its report.

The treaty permits India to create storages on the western rivers for power and flood storages.

The report says: "A clear ambiguity in the treaty occurs in its permission to be interpreted differently, thereby creating conflicts between Pakistan and India. The treaty also fails to clearly address India's share of shortages in relation to storage dams on the western rivers, an issue of major concern."

Pakistan, as per the treaty, is not allowed to prohibit construction of hydropower dams by India.

Although Pakistan benefits from international legal frameworks for water resources management, it is largely dependant upon the treaty for resolving trans-boundary water conflicts with India, the report points out.

As bilateral ties plummetted in 2016, India said it will utilise its share of upstream water as per the treaty, which it has not done for so many years.

Both sides have been locked in a dispute over the Kishanganga and Ratle projects that India is building in the Indus river basin.

Pakistan maintains the projects violate the Indus Waters Treaty, under which waters of Indus, Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Chenab and Jhelum rivers are to be shared between the two countries.

Waters of eastern rivers A Beas, Ravi and Sutlej A are allocated to India, while the bulk of water from the three western rivers is for Pakistan.

Pakistan maintains the Kishanganga project, coming up on Jhelum river, will reduce by 40 per cent the water flowing into its territory. It also wants the storage capacity of the reservoir of the Ratle project, coming up on Chenab, to be reduced.

India says the two projects do not violate the treaty.

Last week, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met the World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva and raised the Indus Water Treaty dispute.

Sharif expressed hope that a Court of Arbitration would solve the Indus Water Treaty dispute with India. New Delhi has requested the World Bank to appoint a 'neutral expert' to resolve the water-sharing disagreement.
Manila, Feb 5 : Dozens of people in the Philippine capital marched in front of the United States Embassy to protest the policies of the new US president.

Almost 100 people joined the protest on Saturday, which consisted of members of various groups including the League of Filipino Students and the left-wing New Patriotic Alliance, Efe news reported.

As they marched, they carried placards featuring the image of Donald Trump which read "No deportations", and several people held up a wide banner with the message "Fight Trump! Resist fascism and imperialism!"

The groups chanted and denounced Donald Trump's executive order barring entry to the US of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, and criticized the joint US-Philippine military exercises that have been held in the Southeast Asian country.

The protesters also urged Trump to remove from the US list of foreign terrorist organisations the New People's Army, the guerrilla wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Around 200 police officers, some armed with anti-riot gear, stood guard near the marchers and gave an ultimatum calling on the people to disperse by 12 pm local time. The protesters agreed and there were no arrests.

Saturday's protest coincides with the 118th anniversary of the start of the Philippine-American War, which the US won and which led to the US administering the archipelago as an American territory until 1946.
Beirut, Feb 5 : British Secretary of State for International Development Priti Patel and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi called for urgent international support to Lebanon and Syrian refugees here.

According to a statement by the UNHCR, Grandi said following a joint visit to the Bekaa valley in east Lebanon that "the humanitarian situation for Syrian refugees in Lebanon remains very serious", Xinhua news agency reported.

"They are stretched to breaking point. The international community needs to redouble its support to Lebanon during this critical time and share responsibility for refugees and host communities," Grandi said.

Grandi made his remarks during a stop at an informal settlement in Taalabaya, central Bekaa, where the delegation met with refugee families who spoke about their worries and concerns.

The settlement, which hosts nearly 60 families, is one of 1,500 informal settlements in the area where UNHCR provides winter assistance including shelter kits and cash.

The delegation also discussed the needs of the Lebanese education system with Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh during a visit to Taalabaya Intermediate Public School where 600 Syrian students are enrolled in the morning and afternoon shifts.

For her part, Patel said: "UK has delivered on the promises we made last year, reaching hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and refugees -- now it is essential that the international community and hosting governments alike step up with the funding and reforms needed to complete the ambitious agenda agreed in London."

Lebanon has been at the forefront of one of the worst humanitarian crises worldwide. The country's population has grown by 28 per cent in less than five years with a ratio of one refugee to every four Lebanese.

The government of Lebanon and its national and international partners last month appealed for $2.8 billion to provide critical humanitarian assistance and protection as well as invest in Lebanon's public infrastructure, services and local economy in 2017.
Ottawa, Feb 5 : Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his British counterpart Theresa May have vowed to counter all forms of radicalisation, the media reported.

In a telephonic conversation on Saturday, May offered her condolences over the tragic shooting at a mosque in Quebec on January 29 that killed six people, according to the Canadian Prime Minister's Office.

"They agreed on the importance of working to tackle violent extremism in our societies," Xinhua news agency reported citing the office as saying.

The two prime ministers also reaffirmed their shared commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the G7 and the G20.

They discussed their commitment to promoting progressive free trade and investment, including the timely ratification and implementation of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the office said.
Washington, Feb 5 : US President Donald Trump has vowed to restore "peace" along the Russia=Ukraine border, the White House announced.

Trump had a "very good call" with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday addressing "a variety of topics, including Ukraine's long-running conflict with Russia", the White House said in a statement.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said.

The White House also noted that the two leaders discussed "the potential for a meeting in the near future", The Hill magazine reported.

The call came as the situation in eastern Ukraine worsened last week, after Ukrainian forces clashed with Russian-backed separatist groups.

Also on Saturday, Trump spoke with the Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni about strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries and has agreed to attend the G-7 summit in Italy in May, the White House said.

Trump reiterated his commitment to NATO to the Italian leader, with whom he is expected to meet at the summit, the statement added.
Chennai, Feb 5 : Employees of the IDBI Bank will strike on Monday pressing demands like wage revision, opposing out sourcing and others, said a top leader of All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA).

"The conciliation meeting was held in Mumbai for the past three days but despite the reasonable stand of the Union (All India IDBI Employees Association) to find an amicable solution, the IDBI management took a negative approach. As a result there was no agreement forcing the union to go on strike," C.H.Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA told IANS on Sunday.

"Around 2,000 employees-clerks and sub-staffs-will be on strike in IDBI Bank on Monday," Venkatachalam said.

According to Venkatachalam, the IDBI Bank had always signed a separate wage agreement with the unions and is not part of the industry wide wage agreement.

"Normally they would get a better deal. But this time around the IDBI Bank management's offer is lesser than what bankers in other banks are getting," Venkatachalam said.
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 5 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should apologise for his rude remarks against former minister P.S. Nataraja Pillai, the state Congress demanded on Sunday.

State Congress President V.M. Sudheeran told the media here that Vijayan's remark was not acceptable from a Chief Minister.

"The best that Vijayan can do now and that too at the earliest is to apologise to Pillai's family. It is most unfortunate that Vijayan addressed Nataraja Pillai 'as some Pillai'," said Sudheeran.

Vijayan made the rude reference to Nataraja Pillai on Saturday when he was asked to comment on a row over the nearly 12 acres of land that is in possession of the Kerala Law Academy located in the capital city.

The academy's students are on an indefinite protest, demanding the resignation of its principal Lekshmi Nair for her mismanagement and rude behaviour.

The land in the possession of the academy originally belonged to Nataraja Pillai and was taken over by the then Diwan of Travancore C.P. Ramaswamy as a punishment to Pillai for participating in the freedom struggle.

Pillai, a respected figure in the state politics, served as a state Minister for Finance for Travancore-Cochin (1954-55).

He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly (1948-50), the Travancore legislative assembly (1944-47 and 1948-50), and the Travancore-Cochin legislative assembly (1951 and 1954-57).

Pillai also represented the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency in the third Lok Sabha as an independent candidate. He passed away in 1966.

Last week, Nataraja Pillai's son N. Venkatesan asked the government to cancel the assignment of the 11.49 acres of land with the privately-run Kerala Law Academy, and take over its possession since the academy was trying to put it to commercial exploitation.

Vijayan said his government has no plans to do anything of the kind as the family members of "some Pillai" asked for.
Los Angeles, Feb 5 : Actor Ryan Reynolds declared his wife Blake Lively as a better kisser than friend Andrew Garfield while being honoured by Harvard Universitys Hasty Pudding Theatricals group.

"I'm going to go with my wife on that one, for a number of reasons," he answered when asked whether Lively, 29, or Garfield, 33, was the better kisser.

"Make no mistake, Andrew Garfield is a wonderful kisser. Very generous. A real darting tongue," he added, reports usmagazine.com In January, the "Deadpool" actor made headlines after he was caught locking lips with the "Hacksaw Ridge" star Garfield at their table after he lost out to Ryan Gosling in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy category at the Golden Globes.

Reynolds, 40, was being honoured Friday as the theater group's Man of the Year, a title given in the past to stars including Justin Timberlake, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Pratt, Robert De Niro and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Mumbai, Feb 5 : Megastar Amitabh Bachchan is in celebratory mood as his son and actor Abhishek Bachchan turned 41 on Sunday.

Big B went back to the time when his wife and actress Jaya Bachchan "struggled with her labour" at a hospital here.

Along with a few images of the father and son, Amitabh wrote on his blog: "Once he was at the verge of being born as I had rushed to the Breach Candy Hospital in 1976. Then, he grew and grew to become what he became as in the first pictures.

"I was born, Bachchan ji's (poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan) son. A celebrity even before I knew how to spell the word. Abhishek was born as Amitabh Bachchan's son. A celebrity even before he could find out what it meant."

He said since his father was a known and respected person, there was always "those unwritten behavioural compulsions that were needed to be adhered to... to follow certain social norms, moral and cultural in keeping with the surname".

And Abhishek had to go through the same..."and still does".

Big B "cannot imagine the time passed... those hours at the Breach Candy Hospital... That OPT door opening and Shah, our family doctor, poking his head out of the door and asking - 'What did you want?'

"His anticipated smile giving away that a son had been born... the champagne bottle opened, the nurse and sisters on duty were given a sip each much against their wishes and protocol but there it was an excitement and the joys of another addition to the family," wrote Amitabh, who also has a daughter, Shweta.

Back to present, as the clock struck 12, the Bachchan family - Abhishek, his wife Aishwarya, Shweta and Big B, celebrated the "Refugee" star's birthday with a barfi cake.

Amitabh even tweeted a black and white photo of his children and captioned it: "A Chelsea win... a Pizza from daughter's favourite, a wishes at 12 and another year for Abhishek gone by. Happy birthday AB."

Other celebrities also wished Abhishek, who made his acting debut in 2000 with "Refugee" and went on to star in films like "Yuva", "Dhoom" and "Paa".

Here's what some of them tweeted:

Rishi Kapoor: Happiest Birthday dear AB Jr. Much love and blessings!

Uday Chopra: Happy birthday master Jedi Jworrh Junior Bachchan. The force will be strong with you!

Karan Johar: Love you Ab! Happy Birthday...to the memories and all the best moments we have shared! And to many more.

Anil Kapoor: With an infectious smile and a genuine heart Junior Bachchan you are one of the kindest people I know! Happy Birthday 'Bhaiya'! God bless!

Suniel Shetty: Happy Birthday. Hope you have an amazing 41st. Always wish the very best for you. Stay blessed.
New Delhi, Feb 5 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has thanked everyone who worked for the AAP in Punjab and Goa, saying he was feeling "overwhelmed".

"I am truly overwhelmed," a visibly tired Kejriwal said in a video message in a choking voice late on Saturday. "We will surely win, people will surely win."

The Aam Aadmi Party leader thanked the people of Punjab and Goa, the two states which voted on Saturday, party volunteers, donors and NRIs who campaigned for the AAP.

"People fought this election, not the AAP," Kejriwal said, describing the election in both the states as an "andolan" (movement).

He profusely thanked both the volunteers and the NRIs. "You guys are just amazing."

Kejriwal said those who donated to the AAP showed courage because the Narendra Modi government, he pointed out, hounded virtually everyone who gave money to the party.

Some election watchers and opinion polls have said the AAP will finish on top in the Punjab battle also involving the Akali Dal-BJP combine and the Congress.

In response to election specialist Prannoy Roy's prediction at the end of polling that the AAP's chances of forming a government in Punjab was 55-60 per cent compared to the Congress' 30-35 per cent, Kejriwal said: "This is huge. Unbelievable."
Mumbai, Feb 5 : He has given a luxurious twist to the dying art of weaving and popularised the use of Khadi. Award-winning textile designer Gaurang Shah is more than happy that the Indian fashion industry has welcomed handlooms.

"As a textile designer, I would like to say the indian fashion industry has embraced handlooms with lot of admiration and helped revive our ancient traditions of weaving art, like the jamdani weaves, that we use in creating our fashion pieces," Shah told IANS.

"It also reinforced its unparalleled beauty around the world," he added.

The designer says that one must acknowledge the passion and intense amount of production hours every weaver at the looms puts to bring out timeless pieces of handlooms.

"The fashion industry did contribute to bring them back into vogue in recent years," he said.

Shah showcased his latest collection of 40 garments titled Muslin at Lakme's Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2017. His anthology for the gala was inspired by romance of nature.

Giving details about his range, he said: "Our collection incorporates weaves and techniques from West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The amazing all-in-whites collections integrate gorgeous Mughal motifs and geometric patterns on Khadi, chikankari embroidery and Parsi gara."

The designer's collection involved 50 weavers working relentlessly for over six months.

Shah, whose handloom creation made its way to the 69th Cannes Film Festival when Deepshikha Deshmukh, producer of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starrer "Sarbjit", stepped out in an ensemble featuring Paithani and Kanjeevaram details, says that handlooms are a glorious heritage of India and it is important to preserve and help the artists' community grow.

"I would like to add that a few years ago this beautiful art was fading away. Thanks to persistent effort and motivation from label like ours, followed by the efforts of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that pushed indian handlooms to higher level of acceptance," he said.

Shah began his journey in the textile world with just two weavers and today the label works with 700 weavers, and the number is still growing.

"The biggest contribution we as a designer can make is to keep our artisans motivated and also help them gain confidence that it is a highly profitable profession," said the designer, who has styled the stars like Vidya Balan, Sonam Kapoor and Kirron Kher.

(The writer's visit is at the invitation of Lakme Fashion Week organisers. Durga Chakravarty can be contacted at durga.c@ians.in)
Kolkata, Feb 5 : Refusing to bow before US President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban, scientists across the world, including India, have opened up their lab spaces to counterparts stranded outside America.

Under the Science Solidarity List (SSL) initiative, researchers from over 30 countries have agreed to host the affected.

What began on social media as spontaneous offers of help from scientists to accommodate banned peers awaiting US clearance, following Trump's January 27 order, has emerged as a clarion call to support those in need of immediate work spaces.

Anchored by the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), the SSL is a "list of scientists offering temporary bench or desk space, library access and possibly even accommodation for US-based scientists who are stranded abroad due to the White House Executive Order 13769, 'Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States' of 27 January, 2017."

On Friday, a US judge in Seattle issued a temporary nationwide block on Trump's ban on travellers from seven Muslim nations. However, the White House said the Justice Department will challenge attorney's decision.

Offers continue to pour in as science, literally, attempts to trump the ban.

There are currently over 800 offers of assistance and the list gets a new entry every five minutes or so.

"We felt we had to do something. It is very discriminating. This impacts science a lot. It impacts the work of the lab. Their projects do not get done because the scientists are missing. It impacts everyone," Maria Leptin, director EMBO, told IANS over the phone from Heidelberg, Germany.

"We (scientists) see ourselves as a worldwide community and it is a completely natural thing for us to do," she said.

EMBO is an organisation of more than 1,700 leading researchers that promotes excellence in life sciences.

Its programmes and activities are funded by the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC). The EMBC, founded in 1969, is an inter-governmental organisation comprising 33 member- and partner-states, including India, which came under its fold in February 2016.

The solidarity list comprises offers from both EMBC and non-EMBC countries.

Leptin was the first to join the list, extending help to host stranded researchers in her own lab at the University of Cologne.

While most of the host offers are from Europe, the list includes labs in India, Canada, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Singapore, Brazil, and China.

The "overwhelming response" from the fraternity is trending under the hashtag ScienceShelters.

Among the first to make personal offers of assistance via Twitter were population geneticist Magnus Nordborg and plant biologist Jurgen Kleine-Vehn from Austria.

A look at some of the tweets reflects the gravity of the situation, relegating scientists to an almost refugee-like status.

"Another example of consequences... biology postdoc meant to join our School w/new faculty has visa but cannot come -- Iranian passport," tweeted Georgia Institute of Technology Professor Joshua Weitz.

"I was pretty excited to join @soumya_boston's lab but denied boarding due to my Iranian nationality. Feeling safer?" tweeted Samira Asgari.

The Kleine-Vehn Lab tweeted in response to an update of 420 offers of assistance: "Took less than 24h, reflecting the strong political statement!#ScienceSheltersAagainst Trump's immigration ban and discrimination!"

Coming to the rescue of their peers are also scientists from India.

Till February 4, three offers were made from the country, all of them from Bengaluru-based National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS).

Theoretical physicist Sandeep Krishna has proferred desk space and access to computers, while Shashi Thutupalli's lab, dealing with experimental physical biology, is also available.

"Can provide experimental facilities, desk space, lab space, library access and a warm welcome." NCBS's Arati Ramesh has stepped forward with "desk space, lab bench space, access to lab equipment and computers" in her lab that works on RNA biology.

"I am a theoretical physicist who uses tools and ideas from physics and maths to try and pose new kinds of questions about basic processes in biological systems. Thus, what I can offer is simply desk space and access to computers and a scientific environment where a stranded scientist can continue their work, at least to some extent," Krishna told IANS.

Expressing his views on the "Muslim ban", Krishna reckons it would do more harm than good to the US.

"I have no doubt it is really a a Muslim ban, whatever legal devices they use to cloak it and justify it. As such, it seems to me quite against the Constitution of the USA, and practically speaking I would predict would do more harm than good to that country. Think this will simply spawn another generation of hurt and disgruntled young people who could be exploited by extremists," he said.

He added: "In India, though we can hardly take the moral high ground here because our governments similarly fail repeatedly, in my opinion, to protect the rights of minorities, including Muslims, and do not have a humane approach to immigrants or even a consistent political and legal framework for them."

(Sahana Ghosh can be contacted at sahana.g@ians.in)
Agartala, Feb 5 : A young woman and her six-year-old son were among three Indian nationals freed by Bangladeshi authorities, police said on Sunday.

"The woman had eloped with a youth and crossed over to Bangladesh in February last year. They were apprehended and jailed," a police official said here.

After being in jail for a year, the three returned to their homes in Belonia in southern Tripura.
Bhubaneswar, Feb 5 : A special court here on Sunday sent chit fund company Green Ray International Ltd. (GRIL) Managing Director Mir Shahruddin to six-day custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI had sought a 10-day remand of the accused in court.

The agency earlier brought Mir to Bhubaneswar on a transit remand from Kolkata, where he was arrested on Friday.

A native of Balasore district, Mir returned to India from Nigeria a few days ago on a Bangladeshi passport by impersonating as Ahmed Hussain, CBI sources said.

The CBI said GRIL tied up with a company in Nigeria where it acquired an iron ore mine on lease.

The dubious chit fund firm is accused of duping gullible investors of Odisha and 13 other states of nearly Rs 1,000 crore by promising good returns.

In October 2014, the Chhattisgarh Police had arrested another Grill director Ayub Shah from Ajmer in Rajasthan while he was trying to flee to Nigeria via Bangladesh.

The state Crime Branch, which was probing the case, confiscated 20.68 acres of land belonging to the company, besides freezing cash deposits of Rs 57 lakh in 46 accounts. The CBI took up the investigation in May 2014.
New Delhi, Feb 5 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is expected to visit Bengaluru to get his high blood sugar treated, an official said on Sunday.

The Delhi government official said Kejriwal's sugar level is "quite high", and he will be visiting Bengaluru for treatment on February 7.

The Chief Minister is expected to return to the national capital after 10-12 days, the official said, adding that Kejriwal, who was vrelentlessly campaigning in Punjab over the last one month, has been on three doses of insulin a day.

The Delhi Chief Minister has visited Bengaluru for his medical treatments earlier also.

He underwent a naturopathy treatment for his chronic cough problem in the city last year in January.

In 2015 too, Kejriwal was admitted to the hospital for 12 days for treatment of his chronic cough and high blood sugar.
Kolkata, Feb 5 : Indian newspapers, in their coverage on China, have moved away from a "single-minded concern" with the border issue and now devote more attention to its status as a rising power, an analysis said on Sunday.

The focus is also on emerging issues like river water sharing and climate change, according to a report titled "Indian Media's Perception of China: Analysis of Editorials", published by think tank The Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

The report, which examines the data collected from select national newspapers, covering a period of three years from 2012 to 2014, says: "The newspapers devote more and more attention to China's status as a rising power or to emerging issues like river water sharing, environment protection and climate change or trade between the two countries and have moved away from a single-minded concern with the border issue."

"While the border remains a sensitive issue, the newspapers are of the view that there are multiple areas in which India can move forward in its relations with China."

The report authored by Rakhahari Chatterji and Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury is part of a larger study of public perception of India-China relations.

The two countries fought a brief war in 1962. The 3,488-kilometre-long Line of Actual Control (LAC), remains undefined between the two neighbours. China claims India's Arunachal Pradesh as its own while New Delhi calls Chinese-occupied Aksai Chin.

China, the world's second-largest economy, is the No. 1 trading partner of over 120 countries.

The national newspapers chosen from India are The Times of India, The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Economic Times and The Financial Express.

In each of the newspapers, the authors looked at the editorial pieces relating to China - "as these articles are indicative of a newspaper's overall perception".

Their report said the media devoted considerable time and space to China-related matters even though its concern with China is not overwhelming, while it further showed that though the border still remains a "very sensitive issue" for India in particular, the newspapers do not allow it to hijack all other issues.

The researchers found the print media's interest in China is expanding to cover its domestic issues as well.

"Despite this, it is apparent that the media's sensitivity to the border issue determines it's perception about, and projection of, China," it added.
New Delhi, Feb 5 : The ninth edition of the India Art Fair may have been a paradise for art lovers who witnessed some excellent pieces of work, ranging from contemporary to historic art pieces and paintings, but for international participants, it was more of a platform for expanding business and creating a base in South Asian countries.

Like RedSea Gallery from Singapore whose representatives were here for the second time because last year they "managed to build a lot of contacts".

"Now we know many people in India now who are keen towards art through the fair. People here are very much into art and we have even already sold some from our collection," Erin Taylor, Manager at RedSea Gallery told IANS.

The booth from Singapore gained much attention owing to its colourful display of Chinese paper work done by artist Zhuang Hon Yi. From contemporary to historic, the booth displayed their variety keeping in mind the preference of Indian people.

"We are trying to enter the Indian market, we want people over here admire the art we have. We are also looking for gallery owners and curators to purchase some of our art," Taylor added.

Similar thought was conveyed by Lukas Feichtner who owns a art gallery back in Vienna.

Feichtner, who is here for the first time, travelled came with a motif to expand his business in Asian countries, hoping to rope in some Indian artists and their collection for his gallery.

"India has got a potential market for art and I am surprised to see so many people coming here. I am getting to know a lot of artists and their work. I have met many art collectors, curators, gallery owners who have expressed their desire to expand their business with us," he said.

Diego Alonso, Director of Madrid-based gallery Mondo Galeria finds Indian art is gradually making its place in international market and the fair gave him a chance to understand the creativity of Indian artists in a better way.

"Art has got no boundary, no language. At this fair, I got to see some brilliant art work by M.F Hussain and know about him. The Asian market has got immense talent and the South Asian market is growing and gradually gaining attention in European countries owing to its rich collection of art," said Alonso, who has collaborated with a Mumbai art gallery.

For Colomb- based Theertha International Artists Collective, this art fair is a big platform to make business as people hardly come to Sri Lanka for purchasing art or interacting with any artists.

"Nobody would have come had this kind of event being organised in our country. This fair is giving us the opportunity to expose and highlight our art and sell, not just to the Asian countries but to European and American nations as well," said the Collective's Lalith Manage.

But simultaneously, the international gallery representatives pitched their disappointment on a common note - lesser number of participants from other nations.

"If they are keen on taking Indian art to abroad and seeking more international investment then there should be more galleries from abroad, they should invite more artists," lamented Baudoin Lebon, owner of a Paris gallery.

The three day long India Art Fair, which is being organised at the NSIC ground in the national capital ended on Sunday.

(Somrita Ghosh can be contacted at somrita.g@ians.in)
Kathmandu, Feb 5 : Thirty-seven Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested on Sunday from Thamel, Kathmandu's tourist hub, for illegally entering Nepal, police said.

Somendra Singh Rathaur, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Sorukhutte police station, told local media that the police have launched a probe against those detained Bangladeshi nationals, Xinhua reported.

Most of the arrested Bangladeshi nationals - who had entered Nepal via India-Nepal Kakarbhitta-Panitanki border point a few months ago - were involved in small-scale business like weaving and crafting clothes in Thamel area, the police said.

Police will hand over the arrested Bangladeshi nationals to the Department of Immigration on Monday for further investigation.

The arrested Bangladeshi nationals have failed to produce their travel documents during the interrogation, local media reported citing police sources.

They will be deported to Bangladesh soon after the investigation, according to police sources.

The police have suspected that as many as 4,000 Bangladeshi nationals were illegally working across the capital city of Kathmandu for the past one year.
New Delhi, Feb 5 : Attacking the AAP government over the deaths at a Delhi children's home, the BJP on Sunday demanded resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who holds charge of the department concerned.

The BJP also demanded that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should own moral responsibility of the death of the 11 children and set up a high power committee to improve the living condition at Asha Kiran Homes.

"The Delhi government is responsible for the death of 11 innocent children inmates of Asha Kiran Homes and it is now trying to evade responsibility and mislead the people," Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Manoj Tiwari told reporters here.

"Sisodia, who is looking after the Social Welfare Department should own responsibility for the death of 11 children at Asha Kiran Homes and resign," he demanded.

"Had Sisodia acted fast after the first death was reported may be other children could have been saved."

Lashing out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, Tiwari said: "The Social Welfare Department of Delhi government which runs the Asha Kiran Homes has never cared for the poor inmates."

"And the callousness of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by keeping the social welfare department without a Minister led to a total chaos," he alleged.

Hitting out at the AAP government for serving notice to the officials of the department by the Delhi Commission of Women chief Swati Maliwal, the BJP leader said: "Delhi Commission for Women notice itself is a proof of Kejriwal government's efforts to evade responsibility as had the Government been sincere, the notice should have gone throughAChild Welfare Board."
Get Polished

20 Lounge, Inc., one of the Southwests premier upscale beauty bars, is excited to announce it is partnering with Upside Group Franchise Consulting (USG) to offer franchise opportunities to entrepreneurs interested in providing their clientele with a unique menu of impeccably executed essential beauty treatments at an incredible price and the newly launched On The Go menu complete with express services for the woman on the run.

Valerie Griggs, the owner of 20 Lounge, started the business as a place where clients could receive a variety of beauty treatments in an uber-clean, hip and contemporary environment. A mom herself, Griggs understood the importance of having a place to relax and rejuvenateeven if only for an hour. However, she felt that most salons seemed to want to get clients in and out the door and the process felt more rushed than specialized. She envisioned an atmosphere where women (and men) could receive essential nail and spa services for an affordable price and where the atmosphere felt more like a community than a business.

Today, 20 Lounge is an affordable luxury beauty bar that revolutionizes the beauty experience. Some of the salons unique offerings include scientific sanitary practices, special benefits for VIP Lounger Loyalty Rewards members and a team of friendly and artistic beauty expertsall in a beautiful, modern lounge environment. All of 20 Lounges services utilize products that steer free of known carcinogens to protect clients and staff, and they use only the best organic lotions and scrubs. Most importantly, using music, refreshments, and retail shopping, 20 Lounge provides a completely individualistic, personalized experience for each client. In addition to manicures and pedicures, clients can choose from a broad selection of services: paraffin and callus treatments; lip, chin, eyebrow and bikini waxing; gel enhancements; lash extensions and even a Mommy and Me package. They also offer manscaping services for salon-savvy men.

Currently, three 20 Lounge spas are in Arizona and California with several more presently in development.

Griggs believes that through her partnership with Upside Group, she will be better equipped to replicate the 20 Lounge brand identity and ensure that their beauty lounges and polish bars provide only the highest quality products and treatments to their clientele. With this expansion, Griggs will be navigating diverse distribution channels and successfully overcoming the challenges of the marketplace like never before.

20 Lounge prides itself on continually striving to understand the ever-changing needs of its clients and to gently and effectively address each persons beauty concerns. While Griggs expands into the exciting realm of franchising, she guarantees 20 Lounges nourishing and innovative products will retain their quality.

About 20 Lounge:

20 Lounge is a lifestyle brand. When you think of 20 Lounge, you think of your one stop destination for affordable, essential beauty services. Our core philosophy is that amazing service can be affordable. We believe in luxury, innovation, quality, personalized services, and a sense of community. We believe that everyone deserves a place at our beauty counter. Our mission is to revolutionize the service industry with a hip and approachable brand of salons and polish bars.

To learn more, please visit: http://www.20lounge.com/

About Upside Group:

Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Upside Group Franchise Consulting (USG) is a full-service, boutique franchise consulting firm with offices across the country. They have a handpicked, professional staff with decades of franchise experience from all disciplines of the franchise industry. Upside Group Franchise Consulting offers their clients a full suite of franchise services including innovative franchise marketing programs, outsourced franchise sales, franchise sales training, franchise lead screening, franchise manuals, franchise marketing collateral, and award winning web design.

To learn more, please visit: http://www.upsidefranchiseconsulting.com
Whitman Publishing announces the release of "Donald Trump: 45th President of the United States Collectors Vault," an illustrated coffee-table biography that includes more than three dozen commemorative souvenirs from the life and times of President Trump. The book is available from Barnes & Noble, Sams Club, Wal-Mart, Meijers, and other book sellers, and online including at Amazon.com and Whitman.com, for $49.95.

On November 8, 2016, Donald J. Trump addressed the nation as the first non-politician to be elected president of the United States since General Dwight D. Eisenhower. His historic election came at the end of a political campaign that was the most dramatic the country had ever witnesseda race of unprecedented firsts.

This richly illustrated memory-book showcases the life of President Trump from his childhood in New York to the 2016 presidential campaign. Tucked among its pages is a treasure trove of memorabilia: replicas of souvenirs such as campaign buttons, posters, cartoons, autographed presidential portraits and letters, concert and sporting event tickets, and more.

Documents can be pulled out and examined . . . speeches unfolded from their envelopes . . . posters removed and proudly displayed. Among the 40 replicas of historical artifacts are the first page of the U.S. Constitution, currency notes from where the president and First Lady Melania Trump grew up, a cardstock portrait of President Ronald Reagan, blueprints of Mar-a-Lago and the White House, and President Trumps November 9, 2016, victory speech. These are set amidst a vivid narrative and scenes from around the Trump empire and on the campaign trail.

Readers will meet Donald Trumps immigrant grandparents, who laid the groundwork for the familys success in America . . . walk the campus of New York Military Academy . . . go behind the scenes of Trumps early businesses . . . meet the beauty-pageant winners and famous celebrities who make up his star-studded life . . . watch his rise to the top of the national scene . . . and ride along as he campaigns to the White House.

This "Collectors Vault" book offers an unforgettable portrait of a hard-working, remarkable American, from his hopeful beginnings to his triumphant victory in the presidential arena.

# # #

Contact: Whitman Publishing Press Office, info(at)whitman(dot)com

"Donald Trump 45th President of the United States Collectors Vault"

By Brandon C. Hall

Hardcover coffee-table book in a slipcase; 144 pages; in full color, including 40 replicas of historical memorabilia

Retail $49.95 U.S.
Entries are now being accepted for the 9th annual PM360 Trailblazer Awards, which recognize excellence and innovation in healthcare marketing. The PM360 Trailblazer Awards honor the industrys most innovative people, companies, teams, and initiatives in six categories: Companies of the Year, Brand Champions, Marketer of the Year, Marketing Team of the Year, Initiative Awards, and Lifetime Achievement.

The Trailblazer Awards continue to serve as one the preeminent honors recognizing the achievements of people working in the pharma, biotech, and medical device industries, says Anna Stashower, CEO and Publisher, PM360. Each year the quality of the submissions improves in terms of both quality and quantity, so we fully expect 2017 to be our most competitive year yet.

To enter or view the complete list of this years PM360 Trailblazer Awards categories and nomination criteria, go to: http://www.pm360online.com/trailblazerawards.

Entries must be submitted no later than Friday, May 12, 2017. Submissions will be judged and the winners selected by the PM360 Editorial Advisory Board. Any member of a pharmaceutical, biotech or medical device product team, agency, supplier, or vendor can submit a nomination under any category.

The award winners will be announced during this years annual gala at Gotham Hall in Manhattan on Thursday, September 14. The annual gala attracts more attendees from pharmaceutical and medical device companies than any other industry awards event.

For more information about the PM360 Trailblazer Awards, contact Aaron Edmiston, Event Coordinator, PM360, at aaron.edmiston(at)pm360online(dot)com.

About PM360

PM360 is the premier, must-read magazine for marketing decision makers in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device industries. Published monthly, PM360 is the only journal that focuses on delivering the full spectrum of practical information necessary for product managers and pharmaceutical marketing professionals to succeed in the complex and highly regulated healthcare environment.

The journals targeted and insightful editorial focuses on issues that directly impact critical decision making, including: Planning and implementation of cutting edge strategies, trends, the latest technological advances, branding/marketing, advertising/promotion, patient/professional education, sales, market research, PR, and leadership. Additionally, the 360 in the title signifies the span of this critical, how-to info with personal and career insights for an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

By providing the full circle of enriching content, PM360 is truly an indispensable tool for busy and productive marketing professionals to stay at the top of their game.

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Whole Foods CEO John Mackey urged entrepreneurs at a Dallas trade show to recast the media-driven narrative of business as greedy, selfish and exploitative and instead consider it the greatest value creator in the world.

Business has the power to create win-win-win-win propositions for leaders, employees, investors, communities and society as a whole, said the entrepreneurial capitalist, who cofounded a natural foods supermarket in 1980 and helped grow the Texas-based chain to a $16 billion enterprise.

I think love is the most underrated quality in business in the 21st century, said Mackey, 63, who champions Conscious Capitalism and Conscious Leadership, which calls on businesses to create good in the world. Business, he said, has a great potential for a higher purpose.

Mackeys thoughtful message resonated with the audience at the show, hosted by the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), the largest member organization in the $22.9 billion promotional products industry.

The keynote this morning was beyond awesome, said Tina Goss, of Studio Graphics Inc. It was great to hear someone talk about spirituality, loving people and the positive side of business, instead of the dog-eat-dog world.

ASIs three-day trade show ended Friday at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, after attracting nearly 3,000 distributors and over 400 suppliers of logoed products from 40 states and six countries.

The show took place in the countrys No. 1 region for promotional products, with Texas alone scoring $2.6 billion in sales in 2015 (the latest available figures).

The show featured 61 Texas-based companies, 40 women-owned companies and 57 minority-owned businesses. In addition, 15 companies chose Dallas to host large sales meetings.

Thursday, former Navy Seal Chris Gomez inspired distributors during a motivational breakfast, urging them to remember that adversity and failure are inevitable, but also teach valuable lessons, resiliency and humility. You must choose, Gomez said, to execute better every single day.

ASI President and CEO Timothy M. Andrews said, A successful trade show experience boils down to a willingness to go outside your comfort zone, introduce yourself to new ideas and business contacts and make the most of your time on the show floor.

About ASI

The Advertising Specialty Institute serves a network of 23,500 suppliers, distributors and decorators in the promotional products industry.
Mark Homicz, MD Dr. Mark Homicz has been selected for this honor by San Francisco Magazine for two years

San Francisco Magazine recently queried area doctors to nominate their choice of best physicians in eight Bay Area counties for 2017. Almost 1,000 nominations were submitted and a little over 500 physicians were selected by the healthcare research company managing the award process. Results were announced in the magazines most recent issue.

Under the category of Otolaryngology Northern California Medical Associates Otolaryngologist Dr. Mark Homicz has been selected for this honor by San Francisco Magazine for two years. This years award notes these specialties performed by Dr. Homicz:



head & neck cancer

salivary gland tumors & surgery

sinus tumors

skull-base tumors

About Dr. Homicz

Dr. Mark Homicz graduated from the prestigious Yale Medical School in 1998 and conducted his internship training in general surgery at Stanford University. He completed a residency in Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Homiczs training included an intensive focus on head and neck cancer and thyroid/parathyroid surgery. He has received national awards from the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery, American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery, and the Triologic Society for academic achievement and research during training.

Dr. Homicz joined NCMA and the Santa Rosa Head & Neck Surgical Group in 2004. He is board certified in his field and practices all areas of ENT  Ear, Nose, Throat and Head & Neck Surgery. Particular areas of interest and expertise include thyroid/parathyroid surgery, head and neck cancer, facial plastic/reconstructive surgery, and nasal/sinus surgery. Dr. Homicz also serves as Director of the NCMA Thyroid Center.

About NCMA Santa Rosa Head & Neck Surgery

Santa Rosa Head and Neck Surgical Group (SRHN) offers expertise in the medical and surgical treatment of patients with a wide variety of disorders of the head and neck including; hearing and balance problems, nasal/sinus disease, snoring, voice disorders, and swallowing problems. All SRHN physicians are recognized for their expertise in the management of cancers of the nose, mouth, throat, neck, facial skin, and thyroid. They have also been extensively trained in cosmetic and reconstructive procedures of the face and neck. Listed below is more information on the services offered:

The Hearing Center at SRHN

Nose/Sinus

Throat/Voice/Swallowing/Snoring

Head & Neck Tumors

Thyroid/Parathyroid

Facial Plastic/Reconstructive

Skin Care

The Allergy Center at SRHN

NCMA Santa Rosa Health & Neck Surgery is located at 1701 Fourth St. Suite 120 in Santa Rosa, CA. For more information about Dr. Homicz and SRHN surgery, visit our website. Call (707) 523-7025 to make an appointment.
Kimberley Process Our belief is that everything we do in the Kimberley Process must support and direct work that is largely in the developing world.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Kimberley Process Chair (KP Chair 2016), delivered a speech on the draft resolution The Role of Diamonds in Fueling Conflict at the UN General Assembly 69th plenary meeting, 71st session, on February 2nd, 2017.

The UAE led resolution on The Role of Diamonds in Fueling Conflict includes important decisions of the Kimberley Process, which were made by consensus during UAE KPs tenure as the KP Chair in 2016.

Adopted by the UN and co-sponsored by 41 countries, the resolution notes that the KP plenary took note of the UAE's proposal to develop a methodology on the valuation of rough diamonds, welcomed the proposal to establish a Permanent Secretariat for the Kimberley Process, and welcomes that the plenary acknowledged the proposal of the KP Chair 2016 to set up a multi-donor trust fund for the civil society. This work will now continue under the leadership of Australia, who takes over as KP Chair in 2017.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, KP Chair, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, said:

Representing the governments, the industry and the civil society that are involved in the diamond trade, I was able to visit more than 20 countries  both existing and prospective Kimberley Process members. Our belief is that everything we do in the Kimberley Process must support and direct work that is largely in the developing world. During my chairmanship, I have been proud to represent the officials who regulate the diamond trade in the producing countries. My trip to the Central African Republic, a country that had been excluded from the Kimberley Process, was particularly important in providing assistance to the country in meeting its Kimberley Process requirements, and enabling the resumption of the countrys export of rough diamonds from newly compliant zones.

The UN also expressed its appreciation to the plenary meeting of the Kimberley Process for welcoming the resumption of participation in the Process by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and its commitment to hosting a review visit.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem highlighted three specific proposals that were made by the UAE as Chair in 2016 that were also reflected in the resolution:

First, the Kimberley Process suffers from a structural deficit, which is the lack of any form of Permanent Secretariat, with professional skills and resources that will outlive the rotation of country Chairs. For example, the Kimberley Process family has worked hard with the Central African Republic authorities to bring back a legitimate diamond industry. But our working groups and teams are all volunteers, working without administrative infrastructure. Ideally, we should have been able to work to a higher standard of speed and effectiveness, but that cannot be done without moving towards a Permanent Secretariat. I am pleased that the UAE proposal to establish a Permanent Secretariat has been welcomed and is included in the draft resolution.

"Second, the participation of the civil society is vital to the success of the Kimberley Process, but many very experienced NGOs are effectively excluded because they lack direct access to the funding to take part. For this reason, the draft resolution welcomes the willingness of the Kimberley Process to further discuss the UAE proposal to establish a multi-donor trust fund or similar mechanisms that would financially support the participation of a wide range of Civil Society in the Process.

"Third, undervaluation and overvaluation undermines the accuracy of the information on Kimberley Process certificates. During our chairmanship, we initiated a series of workshops to develop a uniform methodology on the valuation of rough diamonds. Although no consensus has been reached on a detailed proposal, the draft resolution includes elements that a methodology could comprise. The UAE, in its capacity as a member of the Kimberley Process, will continue to explore ways to improve the valuation capability of producing nations so that they are able to obtain the fairest value for their natural resources. We are profoundly grateful that these initiatives have been recognised by the draft resolution and will be discussed further under the incoming Chair.

Other nations speaking at the UN General Assembly commended the UAE for its work as KP Chair during 2016:

An EU representative said: The European Union and its Member States which acts as a single Participant in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) would like in the a first place to congratulate the United Arab Emirates for its Chairmanship of the Kimberley Process, and to welcome the results achieved towards strengthening the Kimberley Process and to confront the challenges of the future, and added The EU welcomes that over the past twelve months the issue of valuation of rough diamonds, in particular the development of a uniform methodology has been treated with high priority. We strongly support the efforts of the KP towards creating fair living conditions for people at the beginning of the diamond pipeline.

A representative for Australia stated: Let me begin by expressing Australias deep appreciation to the United Arab Emirates for its efforts as Chair of the Kimberley Process in 2016. We thank the UAE for its generous hosting of Kimberley Process meetings and for organising additional special forum meetings, and later added: The CAR monitoring team has undertaken important work in 2016, including through its ongoing efforts to ensure compliance with the KP through designated compliant zones.

A representative of Angola said: I would like to express my delegations appreciation and gratitude to the United Arab Emirates, the outgoing Chair of the Kimberley Process for its distinguished leadership and for its hard work in facilitating and coordinating the negotiations on the draft resolution we will adopt today.

A representative of Botswana said: Let me express our profound gratitude and appreciation to the United Arab Emirates for the able manner in which they conducted the affairs of the KP process during their tenure as chair in 2016. We commend them for their leadership in contributing towards the KPs ideals, as well as for being part of the KP architecture which strives to transform and reform itself. And later said: For us diamonds are a source life. They bring food to the table, help invest in our children through education and training, as well as create human technical and promote inclusive development for sustainable development.

A Botswana UN representative concluded his speech by welcoming the report and noting with satisfaction that the KP continues to make significant strides in regulating trade in rough diamonds.

The United Arab Emirates will continue to play an active role in the Kimberley Process and will also Chair the Committee on Participation and Chairmanship (CPC) in 2017.

-Ends-
Three months after U.S. Rep. John Katko won re-election in the 24th Congressional District by 22 points, Democrats have officially launched their latest attempt to unseat him.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee issued a memo last week outlining its targets in 2018. Katko, R-Camillus, is one of six incumbent Republicans from New York on the list.

"House Democrats are starting the 2018 election cycle on offense," said Dan Sena, executive director of the DCCC.

"Republican incumbents across the country are damaged after unexpectedly close 2016 contests, dozens find themselves defending seats where Donald Trump is already deeply unpopular and together the House Republicans and Trump administration are pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that threatens their standing from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt."

Democrats believe the GOP will be on defense in 2018. The DCCC's memo noted that the president's party has gained seats in the first midterm election on only three occasions. Since 1982, the DCCC noted that the president's party has lost an average of 28 seats in the first midterm election.

President Donald Trump will be a major part of any Democratic strategy to defeat Republicans. Trump, a Republican, wasn't a liability in 2016 as his party's standard bearer. In the 24th Congressional District race, Democrats attempted to tie Katko to Trump, but Katko didn't support Trump and eventually revealed that he wasn't going to vote for the GOP nominee.

Chris Pack, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, dismissed the Democrats' memo. He called it the "same failed playbook."

"Just like in 2016, they say Katko is in trouble thanks to Donald Trump at the top of the ticket," Pack said. "So how that strategy work for DCCC in 2016?"

Pack added that Katko won his district by more than 20 points. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton beat Trump in the same district by 4 points.

So far, a Democratic candidate hasn't emerged in the 24th District race.

Before Katko's win in 2016, the seat has changed parties every two years since 2008. He became the first incumbent to win re-election in this Syracuse-area seat since Jim Walsh won in 2006.
Names and faces

Jessica Mosby joined Opportunity Bank of Montana as Helena retail area manager. Mosby has more than 11 years in the financial industry and most recently held an operations manager position. She attended Carroll College where she received her bachelors degree in business administration with a concentration in management. She has been involved in many young professional groups.

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Sharon Koenig joined Opportunity Bank of Montana as a vice president and loan servicing officer. Koenig has 26 years of experience in financial data processing. She specializes in loan servicing, conversions and financial software consultation.

Awards and honors

Mark Bellon and Dominic Goble of Territorial-Landworks Inc. were awarded the 2017 Associate Award from the Montana Contractors Association at the annual conference held in Helena. Over the past year, Territorial-Landworks has partnered with the MCA to provide SWPPP Certification Training Courses across the state of Montana and has played an active role in MCA events and efforts. Territorial-Landworks, Inc. is a Montana-based civil engineering, surveying and land use consulting firm with locations in Missoula, Billings, Helena, the Flathead Valley and the Bakken.

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Guidelines

The IR welcomes reports of hiring, promotions, awards, recognition, learning opportunities and other news from local companies and nonprofits. We accept press releases and photos (digital images at 300 dpi or more are preferred, but we can also use regular photos; we dont guarantee return of these).

There is no charge for items appearing in the Business Briefcase. Items are run on a space-available basis, and we reserve the right to edit and use information as we see fit.

The deadline is Tuesday at noon to be considered for publication the following Sunday.
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Home Regional News East
With the unusually intense winter weve been having in Helena this year, construction projects have slowed considerably. Im sure when we start to get some warmer weather, you will start to see projects progress.

The Hilton Home 2 Suites Hotel with 95 rooms is nearly ready to move forward in the Trinity Center north of Lowes. The city is working with them on infrastructure plan approval at present.

Mann Mortgage has moved from the Great Northern Town Center to a new office complex located at 3345 Colton Drive, off of McHugh Drive. Owner/Branch Sales Manager Corey Hill is excited about their new location and invites people to stop by and check out their new digs. They can assist you will all your home mortgage needs including conventional, FHA loans, VA loans, RD, reverse mortgage, First Time Home Buyer, and much more. Their phone number is 457-5205.

The remodel on the old state liquor warehouse (just north of the Best Western Premier Great Northern Hotel) is moving forward with So-Fi taking the top two floors and three tenants on the lower floor.

Green Meadow Subdivision is starting phase II of their project and will be adding more homes starting this spring.

The Winco store is still in the works for the property just west of the new Planet Fitness (where Office Depot used to be), and it looks like that project is projected to get started late spring.

Denver Mattress is currently working on remodeling the former Goodwill store near Ashley Furniture HomeStore and will open in that location in the coming months.

Buffalo Jump Archery is planning a move to a new location near Tuff Sheds on Highway 12 East. The move will be completed later this spring.

Also new to Helena is Mathis Insurance Agency LLC. Roger Mathis is the owner and you can find their office at 1030 N. Montana Ave. They are a Farmers Insurance agency and you can reach Roger at 442-9680 or rmathis@farmersagent.com.

Ameritas Financial Services is open for business in Helena! David Kuykendall (district manager) can be reached at (406) 422-4486, his cell at (817) 239-0795 or dkuykendall@aicinvest.com. The office is located at 2220 Alpine Drive Suite E. Call David to discuss your investment and retirement needs.

New to Helena is Child Care Connections owned by Jane Schumacher. This new center will assist parents in finding daycare options and is located at 901 N. Benton Ave. You can contact Jane at (406)587-7786 EXT 109 or by email at jane@bozemanccc.org.

Territorial Landworks Inc. is a new engineering/surveying firm. Project Manager Shawn Rowland can be reached at (460) 721-0142 or (406) 270-5501. His email is shawnr@territoriallandworks.com.

Summer Star Ranch, located at 7451 Owl Gulch Road, offers horseback riding, retreats, a wedding venue and assistance with parties and group events. The owners are Matt and Star Daw and they can be reached at (406) 461-2659.

Interested in buying a local business? Murphy Business & Financial can assist interested investors and persons wishing to purchase commercial properties in the area in getting business evaluations. Call John Maslanik at (406) 926-1996 or email him at Maslanik@murphybusiness.com.

The Legal Tender Pub and Grill in Clancy is proud to announce they have a new chef, Rusty James, and he will be presenting a brand new menu on Feb. 8th. They invite you to drive out and check out some new entrees!

Southwestern Montana Financial Center Inc. is placing an office in Helena. Give them a call to find out how they can help you obtain the most competitive quote for your insurance needs. They can obtain quotes from most insurance carriers in Montana. Sheryl Sharbono is the local agent in Helena to help with your financial planning and she can be contacted at (406) 581-6392 or ssharbono@swmtfinancial.com, or owner Julie Blockey can be reached at (406) 388-7633 or Blockey@swmtfinancial.com.
About 200 people braved wind and cold to stand outside the U.S. Federal District Court in Rock Island Saturday to rally against President Donald Trump's travel bans on refugees and immigrants.

Cheering and chanting along with speeches, songs and poetry, the crowd expressed a position counter to Mr. Trump's intention on refugees, saying: "Let them in!"

Last week, Mr. Trump signed an order to suspend the entry of all refugees into the country for 120 days, bar entry for three months of anyone from seven Muslim-majority countries and indefinitely ban refugees from Syria. The government stopped enforcing the bans on Saturday after a judge in Washington state ruled that they be temporarily lifted.

Despite the reversal, rally-goers felt protest actions against Mr. Trump are necessary.

"Do you think that will stop Donald Trump?" rally organizer Laura Winton asked the crowd. She received a vigorous "No!" in response.

The rally opened with prayers from Lisa Killinger, president of the Muslim Community of the Quad-Cities, and Rev. Rich Hendricks, of Metropolitan Church of the Quad-Cities. Both received strong responses from the crowd, as did every speaker afterward.

Chris Dunn, of Rock Island, a homeless outreach worker at The Center in Davenport, sang a song of his own composition, with the crowd singing the repeated refrain (and title), "We Can Get Along."

"If you are an immigrant -- we can get along

I know your rights are heaven sent -- we can get along

If you are a refugee -- we can get along

We want you here, as you can see -- we can get along"

Lucie Vanhecke, from the office staff of U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, read a letter from Rep. Bustos who expressed regret at not being able to attend.

In the letter, Rep. Bustos said the president's actions have been "driven by his profound insecurities rather than what's best for hard-working Americans."

"Every day, President Trump has undermined our national security, our health securities and our economic security," the letter stated. "... It will take all of us standing firm, staying engaged and speaking out to hold the president accountable. It's not going to be easy, but together we will resist efforts to undermine hard-working families and to ensure a better future for our children."

Galen Leonhardy, of Moline, an English professor at Black Hawk College, sang a wordless Nez Perce "honor song," and said of the rally: "We needed this."

Grant Curtis, president of Quad-Cities Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, said America has long been called a melting pot, and added, "We still are. We need to be open and welcoming to everybody. So please, extend that hand."

Mr. Curtis invited the crowd to a meeting of a recently-formed group, One Human Family, at noon on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at Temple Emmanuel in Davenport.

Ellonyia Yenney, of Bettendorf, stood against a no-parking sign in front of the courthouse holding a homemade cross-stitched fabric sign saying "History is Watching."

"I think the ban, while it is said it's about immigration, I think it's really about religion and banning people that are different from us," Ms. Yenney said. "And I don't think that's what your country is made of."

Protests being held here and around the country are important because "I think it lets other people know that they're not along in their feeling that this is wrong and unacceptable," she said.

Tabinda Cheema, of Bettendorf, is a Muslim from Pakistan who has been here for 15 years and is a citizen. Her husband, Ahmad Cheema, is a physician.

"What he's doing is totally wrong," she said of the president's ban. Immigrants come to the U.S. for freedom and opportunities and contribute to the county as well, she said.

"We have been so happy in this country," she said. "American people are so good. Everywhere, people are so nice here. So why is he changing people's minds? This is not good. This country welcomes everybody, every religion, every color. Let them live in peace. We don't hate Trump, we are against his policies."
WASHINGTON (AP)  Donald Trump's unpredictable foreign policy could hamper long-standing U.S. intelligence-sharing partnerships as countries react to a president who seeks closer ties to Russia and is unafraid to offend American allies by cracking down on immigration or getting angry with friendly leaders.

Veteran spies say intelligence relationships are built to weather storms between political leaders. Even in the worst of times, allies share intelligence to thwart threats. But the lack of understanding about Trump's foreign policy direction and his potential new friendship with Moscow are creating jitters across the Western world.

"We are facing an unprecedented level of uncertainty today," said John Blaxland, a former Australian intelligence official and professor at Australian National University. He said there is mutual benefit to these "broad, deep" intelligence sharing relationships, but added: "It is hard to calculate just how much damage the new president's approach may have."

"It will be felt," Blaxland predicted, "and it won't be good."

Russia is a main concern.

If Trump moves forward with efforts to improve U.S.-Russian relations, European allies in particular will probably question how safe their intelligence is in American hands. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and threatening movements near the borders of NATO members in Eastern Europe have contributed to the perception of Moscow as a threat to national sovereignty.

If American intelligence agencies are instructed to enhance cooperation with Russia, U.S. allies see "significant counterintelligence threats that come with that," said Steven Hall, a retired CIA chief of Russia operations. He said they "will be much more careful in the future."

As candidate and president, Trump has sparked widespread international unease by questioning the value of U.S. military alliances, if not necessarily intelligence partnerships. He called NATO "obsolete" and challenged countries such as South Korea and Japan to assume greater self-defense responsibility. In the last weeks, however, Trump advisers have gone out of their way to stress the durability of such arrangements and America's commitment to its friends.

Detente between Washington and Moscow is no sure thing, despite Trump's intentions. Under President Barack Obama, relations between the former Cold War foes strained dramatically over Syria, Ukraine and alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election after initially improving under a "reset" policy. In recent days, Trump's administration has reverted to criticizing the Kremlin after a flare-up of violence involving Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Regardless of Trump's new direction, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, a former CIA officer and new member on the House Intelligence Committee, said American intelligence professionals recognize the need to protect information they receive. "The point at which our allies will get concerned is if they believe that our intelligence professionals do not view Russia as an adversary," he said.

Trump's sometimes impulsive style and lack of experience handling classified information also have foreign officials concerned.

Mark Galeotti at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, said European intelligence officials worry that Trump or his advisers will "blurt something out at the wrong moment or to the wrong person."

Allies might curtail what they share as a result, said Galeotti, who talks with intelligence officials in Europe and Russia.

"It's not so much about how much," he said. "It's precisely how heavily edited it is, how carefully it's scrutinized to absolutely make sure that there is nothing that you are worried about leaking."

Former French internal intelligence chief Louis Caprioli said European countries might hold information related to Ukraine or other issues closer, given the uncertainty of Trump's relationship with Putin. But he said intelligence sharing will continue in critical areas, such as counterterrorism.

"Intelligence services go beyond the political world," Caprioli said.

Still, allies fret about politics seeping into U.S. intelligence findings.

Trump has disparaged U.S. intelligence agencies for past failures and publicly challenged their assessment that Russia meddled in the presidential election. A day after he was inaugurated, Trump delivered an unusual speech at the CIA headquarters criticizing the media's coverage of his inaugural crowds.

Wesley Wark, a University of Ottawa professor and national security expert, said U.S. allies may ask more questions about the source of American intelligence products. For example, he said, they might think a certain piece of intelligence is from Trump's strategic adviser Steve Bannon, a conservative media executive who now sits on the National Security Council.

"There will be a growing concern about politicized  as opposed to truthful, objective  judgments and reports," Wark said.

Last weekend's testy conversation between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull concerned a refugee deal Trump inherited from Obama. It didn't relate to the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing program the U.S. has with Australia, Canada, Britain and New Zealand.

Nevertheless, California Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said the spat can't be dismissed as simply "Trump being Trump."

Schiff said Australia shares America's interest in fighting terrorism and countering Chinese actions, and stood alongside the U.S. in every war of the last century. "This is not a relationship to be taken for granted or abused," he said.

The committee chairman, GOP Rep. Devin Nunes of California, isn't worried: "I have no doubt that intelligence sharing with our allies will continue to be robust and productive."

___

Associated Press writer Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report.
What you see is what the National Weather Service is predicting well get: snow.

Helena was contained in a large swath of central and north-central Montana color coded blue for a winter storm watch, which the Weather Service website explained as meaning there is a potential for significant snow accumulations that may affect travel.

The winter storm watch wouldnt take effect until 6 p.m. on Sunday for Helena and was projected to last through Monday, said Paul Nutter, a meteorologist with the Great Falls office of the National Weather Service.

The coming winter storm was anticipated to bring between 2 and 4 inches of snow to the Helena area, he added.

Monday holds the greatest concern, he continued and explained that perhaps 1 to 3 inches of snow could fall during daylight hours.

The high water content in that snow could contribute to some icy roads, he cautioned of the morning commute to work.

While the storm is typical for the Helena area, its effects would be highly unusual for northwest Montana, Nutter noted.

Between 18 inches and 2 feet of snow is forecast for the Flathead Valley, he said.

Between 2 and 5 feet of snow is forecast over Glacier National Park, and new snow over Marias Pass, elevation 5,280 feet and along the national parks southern boundary, could see from 2 to 3 feet of snow.

Mondays high temperature of 26 degrees for Helena is envisioned to fall to a low of 9 degrees that night with a high on Tuesday of 16 degrees.

The second half of this month is anticipated to bring warmer weather with temperatures higher than typical.

Nutter recommended clearing culverts and storm drains in preparation for the warmer weather that could create ponding on streets as some of the 8 to 12 inches of snow in the Helena Valley melts.

He also called for awareness of the potential for flooding caused by ice jams.

The coming storm with its wet snow could help build the mountain snowpack that a Feb. 1 report from the Natural Resources Conservation Service said had declined from its Jan. 1 report.

January saw well below average temperatures with dry conditions that contributed to most major river basins Feb. 1 snowpack being well below average.

Only two meaningful storms brought snow to the state during the month, the report stated.

The upper and lower Yellowstone River basins are both above normal for this time of year and well ahead of last year  the lower Yellowstone River basin is 184 percent of last year at this time  but others in the state are below normal, according to NRCS data.

By Feb. 1, between 55 percent and 65 percent of the mountain snowpack should be in place.

While this leaves some room for improvement,  a major change will need to occur and yield above average snowfall for the remainder of the winter, and through the spring months, the report noted.

The Missouri River basin was 80 percent of normal and 81 percent of last year on Feb. 1. Contributing to the rivers flow in this part of the state is the Jefferson River which is 79 percent of normal and 71 percent of last year, the Madison River which is 87 percent of normal and 92 percent of last year and the Gallatin River thats 78 percent of normal and 80 percent of last year.

Mountain snows in this part of the state are detailed by automated data collected sites operated by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and available online at https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/snow_map.html.

The automated site at Frohner Meadow, elevation 6,480 and located southwest of Helena in Jefferson County, had the 23 inches of snow as of Saturday that contained 5.2 inches of water that was 113 percent of the median based on the years 1981 through 2010.

The automated site at Nevada Ridge, elevation 7,020 and located northwest of Helena in Lewis and Clark County, had 8.3 inches of water in 33 inches of snow. Water contained in the snow was 92 percent of the median based on the years 1981 through 2010.

South of Helena at Tizer Basin, elevation 6,880 and located in Jefferson County, the 24 inches of snow contained 5.7 inches of water that represented 93 percent of the median based on 1981 through 2010.

The automated snow data collection site at Boulder Mountain, elevation 7,950 feet located east of Helena in the Big Belt Mountains in Meagher County, recorded 4.9 inches of water representing 49 percent of the 30-year median contained in 25 inches of snow.
President Donald Trump has promised to eradicate Islamic extremism. This is a goal nearly all of humanity shares, as there is nothing redeeming and everything abhorrent about extremist groups like the Islamic State group. However, American policymakers, starting with Trump, need to grapple with real-world constraints, lest the efforts to attain this objective be counterproductive.

Bold pronouncements obscure the risk that a campaign which skips key steps to eradicate the Islamic State group would do more harm than good. Combating the Islamic State group requires a coordinated strategy that proceeds on multiple fronts, targeting the group's ability to recruit, finance, move material and fighters, plot attacks and hold territory. The military aspects of the campaign against the group, which include airstrikes, special operations forces raids, intelligence sharing and building partner capacity, contribute to these goals, however, they are insufficient.

Defeating ISIL is only possible if political conditions change in the Middle East, North and West Africa, and South Asia, and in ways that are exceedingly unlikely.

They're insufficient because defeating the Islamic State group is only possible if political conditions change in the Middle East, North and West Africa, and South Asia, and in ways that are exceedingly unlikely. It is not a coincidence that the Islamic State group's origins are found in two states in which Sunnis are aggrieved. Iraq, where a Shiite dominated central government has turned the tables on the previous Sunni-led order. And Syria where an Alawi-dominated regime has long sought to protect its minority rule at the expense of the country's Sunni majority. Iraq and Syria share the common affliction of being weak states which cannot govern by consent nor exert control over the entirety of their territory.

Iraq and Syria may be particularly egregious examples, but their situations are not unique in the regions where the Islamic State group operates. It would be a herculean task to change underlying conditions in these two states, let alone in an area that spans Nigeria to Bangladesh.

The situation is further complicated by the conflicting priorities of actors within the Middle East. Regional governments agree on the goal of eliminating the Islamic State group, a self-declared caliphate which challenges the state system they are naturally invested in. But that doesn't mean the group is their top priority. Indeed, Ankara prioritizes containment of Kurdish autonomy over the campaign against the group, whereas political elites in Baghdad and Damascus prize consolidation of authority in strategic, resource-rich areas over rolling up the group in Sunni backwaters. That doesn't mean the United States should resign itself to the Islamic State group, but rather that the U.S. needs a thoughtful counterstrategy that appreciates the magnitude of the challenge.

The strategy we put forward begins from two principles. First, the U.S. needs to align resources against the different threats posed by the Islamic State group, and protection of the homeland is the top priority. This means coalition activities should focus on reducing the group's ability to conduct external attacks. Since promoting regional stability is illusory, we urge investment in aspects of the campaign that reduce the risk of Islamic State group-directed and -inspired attacks here at home. We believe this can best be achieved by targeting transit hubs through which the group moves people, money and material.

Our strategy in Iraq and Syria calls for steps to remove the underlying conditions that feed Sunni grievances, e.g., by pressing the Iraqi central government on inclusivity and reconciliation, and balancing support for the Kurds with avoidance of fueling regional conflicts. To be clear, this could slow the liberation of territory from the Islamic State group's control, but with the advantage that once liberated, areas would be less vulnerable to subsequent reversals.

We think the force limitations set out by the previous administration were a wise obstacle to the proverbial slippery slope. Those limitations are even more important at a time when political leaders are attempting to outbid one another on who is tougher against the extremist threat. Yes, strategy design should reflect mission requirements, but it should also be based on the scope of interests at stake and the risk the United States is willing to bear to advance those interests.

Jeffrey Martini is a senior Middle East analyst and Lynn E. Davis is a senior fellow at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.

This commentary originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report on February 1, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
IWPR, February 5, 2017

By Hamid Shirzai

A profusion of local militias in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan are presenting a serious threat to security, according to participants in a recent IWPR debate.

The situation is further complicated by the semi-legal status of some of the armed groups, recruited by the government to try and help keep order.

In many parts of Afghanistan, villagers organised local units to resist the Taleban, improve security and allow reconstruction work. These irregular forces became known collectively as the National Uprising Movement. Some were absorbed into the Afghan Local Police (ALP), separate from the regular national police but formalised to bring them under the authority of the interior ministry.

Zabeullah Shejah, head of press at Baghlan police headquarters, acknowledged that there was a confusing array of groups operating in the province.

National Uprising groups are people who support the security forces, and these groups are ready to defend and protect Baghlan province, he said. The Uprising groups are under government control. Baghlan police want to stop those armed people who are without [local] police uniforms.



Militia members and police officers in Kunduz Province. The Afghan government has enlisted hundreds of militia fighters to battle Taliban militants near the city of Kunduz, officials said. (Photo: Reuters) Militia members and police officers in Kunduz Province. The Afghan government has enlisted hundreds of militia fighters to battle Taliban militants near the city of Kunduz, officials said. (Photo: Reuters)

Other, more problematic militias were operating in more remote parts of the province, he told more than 130 attendees at the January 24, 2017 debate.

Illegal armed groups can be found in Burkah, Dahanah-ye Ghori, Nahrin, and Andarab districts and in some other areas of Baghlan, Shejah said. These groups want to create chaos in these areas, but Baghlan police is committed to stop their illegal activities.

Afghanistan has a troubled history of militia groups in its recent past, and Baghlan provincial council member Bismillah Attash warned that although local police received funding from central government they could endanger the countrys future security.

Legal expert Ghulam Rabani Fayaz agreed that formal oversight was essential.

Groups who are willing to support the people and security forces should be organised by the government after going through due legal process so they can work according to the laws of the country, he said. The activities of such groups should be monitored. If the government doesnt monitor them, they will start killing people and will create chaos in the region.

Civil society activist Hameed Sherzai backed up these concerns, adding, We have received reports claiming that illegal armed groups are involved in killings and violence, but the government has been unable to stop them.

He continued, In some Baghlan districts the illegal armed groups outnumber the security forces and they are more powerful and more dominant.

The actvist described one incident in which a local strongman had unilaterally acted to block the water supply system to 3,000 families.

When the government cannot stop an armed man, how will it stop the activities of hundreds of armed groups? he asked.

Sherzai also reported that a leading businessman had been recently shot to death near the local National Directorate of Security office. The same gang had reportedly then killed another person in Pul-e Khumri, he said, adding, These cases have not been investigated yet.

Debate participant Anita asked whether the proliferation of local militia was a recent development for Baghlan.

There did not used to be many illegal armed groups in Baghlan in the past, but now the activities of these groups have increased in many areas of the city and the districts, Sherzai replied. After they were sanctioned under the name of the National Uprising forces, illegal armed groups have increased in Baghlan and are now a big problem.

Debate participant Farhanaz said that the event had been enlightening.

Many of the problems people in Baghlan face were raised during this debate, she said. We believe that government officials will focus more on their duties and responsibilities after listening to the ideas we discussed.

Her fellow participant Anosha praised female involvement in the debate, adding, Todays event will surely affect peoples lives. The residents of Baghlan are so worried right now about security problems. Security in Baghlan province, especially in Pul-e Khumri, has become really precarious.

Originally published on Jan. 31, 2017
Mr Xiao was abducted from the Four Seasons hotel in central Hong Kong in the early hours of January 27 by a group of Chinese public security agents, according to people briefed on the incident. At a time when he should have been preparing to celebrate Chinese new year with his family, he was instead whisked across the border into mainland China.
The so-called red line episode in September 2013, when, in a last-minute decision, President Barack Obama called off U.S. air strikes in Syria,1 has continued to shape his legacy. Instead of striking the Syrian government in retaliation for a nerve gas attack near Damascus, Obama took Russian President Vladimir Putin up on an offer to peacefully dismantle the Syrian chemical weapons program and craft a United Nations resolution2 to make sure no gas attacks ever occurred in Syria again.
Property details:

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In its first session of the year the Student Government Association at the University of Georgia met with two directors of Auxiliary Services to hear about the changes in store for the university in the coming semester.
The song's lyrics urge India to leave Kashmir.

In an unusual move, Pakistan Army released a video song (external link) in solidarity with the people of Kashmir, hours ahead of Kashmir Day which is observed annually in the country on February 5.

The song was released by army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations on social media.

Titled Sangbaaz (stone-pelters), the song expresses solidarity with the youth of Kashmir.

Its lyrics urge India to leave Kashmir.

The video shows that the song was likely picturised using actual footage from Kashmir.

Tensions between Pakistan and India have been running high, with an escalation in ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and Working Boundary.

Earlier on Saturday, Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with Indian security forces on July 8 last year was a "turning point" for Kashmir.

He also termed the ensuing violence in the Valley an "indigenous youth-led movement" triggered by India's "misguided efforts" to change the state's demography.

Representative Image: Reuters
In the last two years of the Narendra Modi government, only one-third of assurances given by ministers in Parliament has been implemented, while almost one-fifth of these been dropped.

According to official data, the ministers gave 1,877 assurances during two years -- 2015 and 2016, out of which only 552 were implemented.

While 392 assurances were dropped, the remaining 893 were still pending.

The responsibility of implementation of assurances primarily lies with the ministries or departments concerned with the assurances.

However, the ministry does not peruse individual assurances.

While forwarding the extracts of each assurance, the ministry informs that the assurance is required to be fulfilled within a period of three months from the date of assurance and the time limit has to be strictly adhered to.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs also holds meeting with officers of various ministries or departments from time to time to review the pendency position of the assurances with a view to expedite their implementation.

Besides it, there is also a 15-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Lok Sabha on government assurances. This parliamentary panel looks into the assurances which have not been fulfilled. It also calls the officials of the ministries to appear before it for the same.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar adding 'colour' to a 'lotus' painting, drawn by famous Madhubani artist Baoa Devi at the Patna Book Fair on Saturday, has triggered speculation among political circles whether the

Janata Dal-United and the Bharatiya Janata Party may come together again.

Both the BJP and Kumar's party JD-U, which is ruling the state in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, rubbished any such possibility saying not much should be read in the act.

JD-U spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar said it was a "non-issue" and no political meaning should be read in it (adding colour to lotus).

"This is nothing. It is a non-issue. No political meaning should be read in it... The CM goes to the book fair every year and he was invited by the noted Mahdubani artist to paint her drawing this time and he painted it," Neeraj said.

Coming to the issue of 'saffron' colour, Neeraj said "it is very much part of our national flag."

Kumar had added colour to 'lotus', election symbol of the BJP, when Devi had invited him at 23rd Patna Book Fair on Saturday to paint her drawing.

This gave rise to speculation with some even conjecturing whether the colour the chief minister was using in the drawing was indeed saffron or red.

The BJP too dismissed any such speculation of the JD-U joining hands with the saffron forces once again.

"We have supported each other on good work -- like Nitish Kumar having supported demonetisation -- and we supported prohibition. PM Modi believes in Team India and Nitish Kumar, being the CM of a prestigious state, is also the part of Team India..." senior BJP leader and spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said.

"But so far as alliance is concerned, there is neither any discussion on it nor do I have any information in this regard. He (Kumar) is working on his party's agenda," he said.

The JD-U national president, Kumar, has time and again extended his party's support to the BJP-led government at the Centre that was reciprocated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As Kumar extended his unwavering support to the Centre's decision to demonetise high value currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500, his allies Congress and RJD were staunchly opposed to the move.

The PM returned Kumar's favour by heaping praise for his (Kumar) commitment to de-addiction and prohibition.

IMAGE: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar paints a lotus during the inauguration of 23rd Patna Book Fair at Gandhi Maidan in Patna. Photograph: PTI Photo
Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'SCAM' jibe, Rahul Gandhi on Sunday alleged that one who is in the wrong, sees scam in everything while ally and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the acronym stood for "save country from Amit Shah and Modi".

Addressing a joint rally in Kanpur with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh, Rahul urged voters to ensure that the outcome of Bihar election is repeated, where the Bharatiya Janata Party was trounced by a coalition led by Nitish Kumar.

"Whenever Modi is nervous, he starts giving labels PPE, ABC, DEF, GHY. Now this SCAM.... A person, who is in the wrong, sees scam everywhere because this is his reality," he said, adding that the Congress-Samajwadi alliance in the state had made Modi jittery.

"S infact stands for 'service', C for 'courage', A for 'ability' and M for 'modesty'," he said at the rally in government inter-collge ground, giving his own coinage for the acronym.

Attacking Modi over note ban, the Congress vice president said, "Demonetisation has hurt the poor most. Do not raise these slogans (denouncing Modi) but vote for Congress-SP alliance and ensure that Modi never utters the name of Uttar Pradesh again, like he forgot to say Bihar after the Assembly elections there".

Rahul said that Modi is "afraid of the youths, who will give a befitting response to him in UP elections as he gave the slogan of Make in India, made promises, but provided no jobs".

Akhilesh Yadav, who reached an hour ahead of Rahul, also took on the Prime Minister for his SCAM taunt, where Modi had asked people of Uttar Pradesh to "rid the state of SCAM - S for Samajwadi (party), C for Congress, A for Akhilesh (Yadav) and M for Mayawati".

The SP leader said, "SCAM means 'save the country from Amit Shah and Modi'. But why has Modi included 'bua' Mayawati's party as it was the BJP which had thrice formed government with the BSP and both of you have amiable ties."

He alleged that the Modi government has given nothing to the people but false promises in its tenure while the Samajwadi Party had delivered in Uttar Pradesh.

Hailing the Congress-SP tie-up, Akhilesh said, "A true friend is one who is big hearted. If you befriend a mean person, you will only suffer. We had an alliance with the Congress because both of us are large hearted. We are confident of forming a government in the state to complete the work left unfinished."

The SP leader too raised the note ban issue, saying the BJP should tell the country how much blackmoney has been unearthed.

"No blackmoney has returned, but people have died while standing in queues outside banks and ATMs. We gave Rs two lakh to families of these victims but the Centre did nothing," he said.

"BJP leaders betray the people, they will show you dreams and will try to mislead you but do not fall for it. For the last three years, the BJP is only making promises and has done nothing for the people," he said.

In contrast, his government has given Uttar Pradesh "metro, expressway, pension for the poor, laptops among other things", Akhilesh said.

Rahul targeted the Prime Minister during most of his speech saying the people have realised the reality of the note ban.

"Modi thinks that he is the only one in the country and the world who knows everything and speaks the truth while the people of India are foolish and ignorant.

"One man cannot run this country. He cannot keep manufacturing falsehood," the Congress leader said and alleged that Modi has been working to benfit his "fifty friends" like Mallaya who have taken loans from banks.

"Modiji is taking care of rich friends because during elections they give him money to spend," he alleged.

He said the SP-Congress alliance government will work for youths, farmers, poor and the women.

The BJP had stepped up its attack on the SP-Congress alliance in recent days with party chief Amit Shah saying that two "good-looking princes" involved in corruption are now out to mislead the people of Uttar Pradesh.

"Both are 'khoobsurat shehzade' (beautiful princes) who are out to mislead the public.

"Mother is fed up with one and father is fed up with the other. How will they help Uttar Pradesh? One has looted the country while the other has looted the state. Beware of them," Shah said in Mathura.
In a major blow to President Donald Trump, a United States federal appeals court on Sunday rejected a request by his administration to immediately reinstate travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

The Justice Department had made the request with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco as part of an appeal against a lower court order halting the travel ban on people from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.

The court asked challengers of the ban respond to the appeal, and for the Justice Department to file a counter-response by Monday.

Citing the president's "sovereign prerogative" to admit or exclude aliens, lawyers for the Department of Justice earlier told the court that the states of Washington and Minnesota should not have been allowed to challenge the ban, and that a judge was wrong to stop Trump's executive order.

Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco said the president alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the US.

"Judicial second-guessing of the President's determination that a temporary suspension of entry of certain classes of aliens was necessary at this time to protect national security would constitute an impermissible intrusion on the political branches plenary constitutional authority over foreign affairs, national security, and immigration," Francisco said.

The administration was fighting Seattle federal judge James Robart's decision on Friday that imposed a temporary, nationwide halt to Trump's order barring refugees and those from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the country.

Soon after Robart's ruling, Trump attacked the judge, a George W Bush appointee, on Twitter, calling him a "so-called judge" and saying his opinion was "ridiculous and will be overturned".

Trump's executive order banned travel to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, suspended all refugee entry to the US for 120 days and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrian refugees.

After Friday's ruling, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended all actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travellers as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban. At the same time, it urged the Justice Department to challenge the ruling "at the earliest possible time".

Trump had exuded confidence that his administration would prevail in the government's appeal of the ruling.

"We'll win," Trump had told White House pool. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

"The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" Trump had said, expressing his clear displeasure over Robart's ruling.

"What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into US ?" he had asked in another tweet.

"Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision," he had tweeted to his 23.7 million followers.

Experts said that the US had been brought to the brink of a full-blown constitutional crisis.

"This is an epic confrontation between the presidency and the constitution," said Marci Hamilton, a constitutional lawyer and scholar of religion at the University of Pennsylvania.

"The moment Trump suggests anyone disobey the federal court order then we will be in a constitutional crisis."

Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, said in a statement that Trump seemed intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis.

"The president's hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it's dangerous," Leahy said, calling the travel ban an "arbitrary and shameful" attempt to discriminate against Muslims.

The State Department said that those with valid visas could enter the country.

Advocates encouraged travellers from the affected countries who qualified for entry to get on planes as soon as possible because of the unpredictable legal terrain.

More than a dozen legal challenges have been filed around the country, and only one judge so far has indicated that he was willing to let Trump's order stand.

It is somewhat unusual for a district judge to issue an order that affects the entire country, but Robart said it was necessary to follow Congresss intention that "the immigration laws of the US should be enforced vigorously and uniformly."

He was quoting from a 2015 appeals court ruling that had blocked former president Barack Obama's executive action that would have made it easier for undocumented immigrants in this country to remain. It was never implemented because of legal challenges.

While the losing side can then request intervention from the Supreme Court, it would take the vote s of five justices to overturn the panel decision, Washington Post said.

Meanwhile, thousands of people from London and Paris to New York and Washington staged fresh protests against Trump, who took office on January 20.
When the air is still and stagnant, smoke from wood burning stoves across Helena and the valley can do more than just create a visible haze.

On those days when inversions leave the community breathing the byproducts of combustion, Helenas chance of exceeding the federal limit for air quality increases.

And rising with the smoke and local health risks when wood-stove emissions, automotive exhaust and other pollutants are trapped over Helena, is the potential for an economic threat to the communitys future.

On Wednesday, representatives from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality met with Lewis and Clark County officials to discuss Januarys air quality where 15 days exceeded a local standard and among them 10, as measured by DEQ, failed to meet the federal Environmental Protection Agency standard.

The two standards are different because the countys air-quality threshold is intended to trigger regulatory action before the federal limit, which focuses on health risks, is exceeded, said Kathy Moore, the countys environmental division administrator.

The county issues a poor-air alert when particulate matter in the air averages 28 micrograms per cubic meter of air based on an eight-hour period. The EPA threshold for air quality is 35 micrograms over a 24-hour period.

Before a county is labeled a nonattainment area for failing to meet the EPA air-quality standard, a three-year average of air quality data is reviewed. That data is based on the eight worst days in each of those years, according to the DEQ.

While Lewis and Clark County has a three-year average of 36 micrograms per cubic meter of air based on 2015, 2016 and 2017 data and exceeds the EPA standard, a triggering action would be needed for the federal agency to look at county air quality data and make a call for designating nonattainment areas, according to Kristi Ponozzo, the DEQs public policy director.

A triggering action for the EPA would be when it revises its air-quality standard, Ponozzo noted in an email.

DEQ does not have any indication that EPA will be doing this in the near future, she added.

Should something trigger a review of air quality data, EPA and DEQ would then consider factors such as meteorological episodes that would include strong inversions that trap emissions.

The countys participation in PM Advance, a federal program aimed at reducing pollutants such as those from wood-burning stoves, would also be considered before labeling the county as a nonattainment area.

Improvements in air quality that result from participation in the program could better position the area to achieve air-quality concentrations that enable it to avoid a nonattainment designation with respect to any future revised air quality standards, Ponozzo concluded.

Science of clean air

Air quality is measured in micrograms per cubic meter. A microgram is one millionth of a gram. The EPA daily air-quality standard for the finest particles in the air is 35 micrograms per cubic meter.

A microgram, Moore explained, would be far smaller than a mote of dust. An EPA fact sheet says dust and pollen would be 10 times the size of a microgram.

The finest of particulate matter in the air is designated PM 2.5 -- each of the particulates being 2.5 micrograms or smaller in size.

But even though a microgram-sized particulate is invisible without magnification, it can hurt people, Moore said.

Because these particulates are so small, they can be inhaled and once in the lungs can migrate into the bloodstream, according to an EPA explanation.

If you imagine a beautiful spring day, pretty crystal clear, its between 3 and 5 micrograms, Moore said.

Annually, the EPA wants a communitys air quality to contain 12 micrograms or fewer per cubic meter of air. The countys annual average, according to DEQ, is 8 micrograms.

Helenas air quality is monitored from the countys sole station at Rossiter School on Sierra Road in the Helena Valley.

County regulation limits wood-burning stove use to only those that are EPA certified or burn wood pellets for fuel when the level of particulate matter reaches 28 micrograms per cubic meter of air, which signifies poor air quality.

During several days in January, local air quality failed to meet the EPA standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter of air. The 24-hour average for those days ranged from 58.5 micrograms on Jan. 13 to 48.5 micrograms on Jan.18, according to the DEQ website found online at http://svc.mt.gov/deq/todaysair/AirDataMap.aspx.

The worst day among them was Jan. 17 with a 24-hour average of 65.1 micrograms.

Once the amount of particulate matter in the air reaches 55.5 micrograms, the air is deemed to be unhealthy. The DEQ website warns that people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children, and people of lower SES (socio-economic status) should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion while everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.

The health effects from breathing air tainted to this level include increased aggravation of heart or lung disease and premature mortality in people with cardiopulmonary disease, older adults and people of lower SES. Increased respiratory effects for the population in general are also a concern, the website noted.

A 2015 community health report assembled by Lewis and Clark Public Health and St. Peters Hospital found that 15.1 percent of county residents, based on 2011-1013 data, reported ever having been diagnosed with asthma.

Data gleaned from this time period also found 860.1 people per 100,000 reported inpatient admission for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung disease that interferes with normal breathing and is not fully reversible.

The local number was higher than the 716.8 people per 100,000 between 2011-2013 tallied statewide.

There are health effects on the residents of our community, Moore said of the consequences from wood-burning stove emissions.

We worry about that because we know there are health impacts. Theyre measured, and therere peer-reviewed scientific studies that report the correlation between poor air quality and personal health, she explained.

There are costs that add up. These are costs for people like our parents, our older folks that live in our community, our immune-suppressed people, our children. Childrens lungs are still developing and air quality, this particulate pollution, can actually effect the development of young lungs, which is why the health department makes such a big deal of getting kids in on poor air quality days.

Active enforcement

As a result of the discussion between DEQ and the county, DEQ staff is recommending the county focus on three or four key areas in the coming 12 to 18 months, according to Moore.

These recommendations from DEQ will have to be approved by the Lewis and Clark City-County Board of Health and the countys health officer, Melanie Reynolds, before being implemented.

Among the DEQ suggestions for improving air quality is that the county becomes more active in efforts to control emissions, Moore said.

She, like the DEQs Ponozzo, sees the countys enrollment in the federal PM Advance program as potentially helping to avoid being labeled as having failed to meet the EPA air-quality standard.

Increasing local air-quality enforcement could be another consideration benefiting the county.

That may weigh in our favor, Moore said. That may help us avoid a nonattainment designation.

Currently, the county is actively searching for homes where wood-burning stoves produce too much smoke, a practice that in the past had been limited to only days when the air quality was determined to be poor.

A change in regulation could see county staff actively looking for improper wood-burning stove use during winter months on all days.

County sanitarians issued 89 notices of violation in January to residents whose wood-burning stove emissions violated local air-quality regulations. Another four notices were issued in December.

A second violation comes with a $100 fine and a third offense is scheduled to cost $250. A fourth violation carries a $500 fine as does each subsequent violation in the same calendar year.

However, the county attorneys office has said it would take persistent violators to court so it would be the court and not the county that enforces local regulation, Moore said.

The use of wood-burning stoves and fireplaces is banned by local regulation when the air quality is deemed poor. Even people who invested in EPA-certified wood-burning stoves -- these can be used when other stoves are prohibited -- could be cited for air-quality violations if theyve reduced the air flow into the stove so stove produces more smoke as the wood burns slower.

Should the county revise its regulation and actively look for violators without waiting for complaints as is typically the practice until the air is labeled as poor, additional staff would have to be trained, Moore said.

Both state law and county regulation allow for notices of violation to be issued and not just on poor air-quality days, she noted and added that complaints from neighbors would drive enforcement efforts during other times of the year.

Bad for business

A third priority suggested by DEQ is to help the public better understand the effects of poor air quality. Health effects are only part of the overall consequences, Moore noted, just as is diminished local regulatory control.

Air quality is important to business, and Moore gave an example of that relationship. A manufacturer of wood pellet fuel for stoves considered moving to Lewis and Clark County several years ago.

Both the effect of that business on air quality was discussed as was the effect that air quality could have on operation of that business such as it potentially having to cease operation on poor air quality days, Moore said.

They were very interested in air quality, she continued and added that the business did not move here although she was not provided with a reason for that decision.

The potential for a countywide economic effect is also echoed by Brian Obert, executive director of the Montana Business Assistance Connection. His job is to help bring new business to a three-county area and help owners of existing businesses that want to expand.

Currently, only Libby has been branded as a nonattainment area for PM (particulate matter) 2.5 -- the finest of particulate matter, according to DEQ.

Should Lewis and Clark County be branded as a nonattainment area, that would affect business, Obert said.

Any business that has an air-quality permit, such as the Ash Grove cement plant in Montana City, could be affected by a Lewis and Clark County nonattainment designation, he said.

Reopening of an air-quality permit as part of a plan for expansion or modernization brings risk, Obert said and asked, So why would you want to open up that air permit?

Ash Grove is not our problem here, he continued. Theyre just one of those that could get wrapped into it.

Businesses that dont rely on air-quality permits for their operations arent necessarily affected, he noted.

But some businesses, such as data centers, might shun Lewis and Clark County if it were to be labeled as a nonattainment area.

Air quality, Obert said, its one of those things that is on their checklist.

These businesses need air and water for their cooling systems, and they will avoid areas that have bad air quality, he explained.

Nonattainment could potentially have some damaging effects on trying to attain that sector.

Its a stigma, he sid. We try to pitch our community as a more healthy location with a better environment.

Its not an end-all, be-all, he said, but it doesnt help.

Of being listed as a non-attainment community, Moore said, it becomes impossible to remove yourself from that list, and it haunts you. It haunts your community.

Rewriting the rules

Another of the outcomes from the countys meeting with DEQ was to consider revising local regulations -- a complicated process that would involve the local board of health and then the county commission with opportunities for public comment before seeking state Board of Environmental Review approval.

This is what DEQ has suggested that we do, Moore said.

Among changes that could result from that regulatory rewrite is to prohibit use of all wood-burning and wood pellet stoves on poor air-quality days.

Another possible change would be to update what is an EPA certified wood-burning stove to reflect the revised standard.

An EPA certified stove now has to meet new and more stringent requirements, she said and added that those that formerly met the standard would lose that certification through an update.

Yet another of the issues discussed between county and DEQ staffs was the area that affects Helenas and the Helena Valleys air, which includes northern Jefferson County.

Lewis and Clark Public Health has no intention of doing any regulation for Jefferson County, Moore said.

If people in Lewis and Clark County are going to be regulated, then all people who are contributing to pollution in that air-shed must all be regulated. We feel its only fair.

For me, thats critically important, she said and explained it wasnt fair or equitable to limit regulation to only Lewis and Clark County nor would that alone help control air quality in the county.

Portable air-quality monitors could be used in strategic locations to gauge what effect northern Jefferson County has on the air in this part of Lewis and Clark County although its not certain if this will happen, Moore said.

I was very happy about that. If were really going to address public health and air quality issues, we need to address it regionally because its affecting people regionally and that seems fair.

DEQ staff said this idea was new, not on their radar, and hadnt been discussed internally.

Outreach and education

Another suggestion from DEQ was for the county to conduct a survey that would allow local air-quality protection efforts to be focused more effectively, Moore said.

Learning what people know would help educational efforts on improving the publics knowledge on air-quality.

Some of the questions would be based on a previous survey that will determine if there have been changes in attitudes, she said.

The previous survey was in 2012 and involved 270 residences of which 31 percent were in Helena.

When it comes to opinions and beliefs about local air quality, an overwhelming 83 percent of respondents do not think there is an air pollution problem in the area, the surveys findings stated.

Among the 16 percent who do feel there is an air pollution problem, 49 percent say its not serious.

While 58 percent of respondents said wood smoke was a main or significant cause of local air pollution, the study also found 26 percent rated it as insignificant or not a factor.

Two-thirds of the survey participants said they didnt know if wood smoke posed any health issues while 22 percent said it may be a problem for some people.

The results, said Reynolds, the countys health officer, was eye-opening for us.

It confirmed that additional education is needed, she added.
US President Donald Trump has slammed federal judge James Robart who lifted the travel ban he had imposed on citizens of seven mainly-Muslim countries, taking an unusual jab at an independent branch of the US government as he vowed to bring back the restrictions.

Trump's personal attack on US District Judge James Robart went too far for some who said he was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress.

As the White House worked to reinstate the ban, Trump mocked US District Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W Bush, as a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling "will be overturned."

In a series of tweets hours later, Trump said: "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into US?"

"Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision. Why aren't the lawyers looking at and using the Federal Court decision in Boston, which is at conflict with ridiculous lift ban decision," he asked.

"The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy," he added.

Trump's tweets criticising the judge's decision could make it tougher for Justice Department attorneys as they seek to defend the executive order in Washington state and other courts, said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, adding that presidents are usually circumspect about commenting on government litigation.

"It is hard for the president to demand that courts respect his inherent authority when he is disrespecting the inherent authority of the judiciary. That certainly tends to poison the well for litigation," Turley told Reuters.

US immigration advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and International Refugee Assistance Project on Saturday in a joint statement urged those with now valid visas from the seven nations "to consider rebooking travel to the United States immediately" because the ruling could be overturned or put on hold.

Trump's administration has appealed a federal judge's order that blocked the US president's ban.

The Justice Department appeal on Saturday came one day after a US district judge filed a nationwide order halting the ban's implementation. Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has reverted to standard, previous procedure in admitting people from the affected countries.
BUTTE -- Its been 15 years since Veralee Jordans pet pig passed away, but she says not a week goes by when someone in Butte doesnt ask her about Norton.

He was not only a celebrity, she says, he was a legend  so much so she had him stuffed after he died in 2003. Why, he was even known outside of Montana.

There were a couple of older ladies from California who walked by one evening and stopped, Jordan said. They couldnt believe it.

They took pictures with Norton that day and returned every year when back for visits.

They were always dressed to the nines, and they always stopped by and got their pictures taken with him, she said.

For all 13 years Norton lived with Jordan on Yale Street in Butte  from his first days at 9 pounds to his last at 250  she says not one person complained. An animal control officer even led him back home with crackers one day and was glad to do it, she says.

So she was surprised to learn last month that county officials had told Butte resident Nicole Prather to get rid of her mini pig Pumpkin.

I dont know what the deal is, because there are lot of people in town with pigs, she said. Theyre all just miniature pigs. The ones that have them now probably have them in hiding because they think someone is going to come and take them away.

The issue surfaced recently when Prather asked that Buttes animal-control ordinance be changed so she and others could keep mini pigs in town. Local law doesnt allow pigs in Butte-Silver Bow unless theyre on lots of five acres or more.

Potty-trained pig

Prather said a neighbor complained about Pumpkin and animal control told her to get rid of it. She wrote a letter to commissioners and started a petition on Facebook saying her pig was clean, potty-trained, and a family member, so the law should be changed.

She talked to The Montana Standard by phone once in early January and was scheduled to meet with a reporter and photographer at her home a few days later, but she wasnt there. She has not returned several phone messages since.

Ed Randall, the countys animal services director, said a few weeks ago that his department had given Prather ample time to find another home for Pumpkin and planned a follow-up visit to make sure she had.

Theyve been unable to locate her since then, he said late last week, and there have been no signs of the pig, either. They believe through Facebook postings that Pumpkin has found a new home elsewhere.

Prathers request will still be addressed when the Animal Services Board meets Feb. 16, and Randall says hell accept whatever recommendation it makes and take it to Chief Executive Dave Palmer and the Council of Commissioners.

But he said last month he will oppose it, and he hasnt changed his mind.

I think we have come a long way as a community, but I think we have a long ways to go as far as caring for animals, he said.

We have had problems with pigs and some of their owners, he said. I can say that, before I started, things were a lot looser, and because of that, we had an animal problem. I think anyone who lived here many years ago can tell you it was completely out of control.

Because many houses in Butte are close to each other, especially Uptown, the ordinance was written to prohibit pigs, goats, or more than one rabbit unless on lots of five acres or more.

We didnt want someone that doesnt want to hear a pig or smell a goat living next to them, Randall said.

The days of dogs running loose in packs are over in Butte, but there are still irresponsible owners who dont pick up their dog's mess, even though the law requires it, Randall said. There are those who ignore other animal ordinances, too.

Randall said he appreciated Jordans story about an animal control officer leading her pig back home one day years ago. Thats how it used to be done in the old days, he said.

But things have changed, and people expect more (enforcement), and we are doing more, he said.

Smart Norton

Jordan said mini pigs wont get much above 75 pounds if they are not overfed. Norton was overfed, she says, in part because neighbors and kids would throw food over the fence to him.

And in part because he was so smart.

When trying to nose under the refrigerator one day for a loose Cheerio, he accidentally popped the door open. He learned from it immediately.

Thats when the raiding of the refrigerator began, Jordan said.

Yes, he spent lots of time in the house, just like most dogs. And just like other mini pigs, Jordan said, he was clean, potty-trained, didnt smell, and was never loud.

These pigs are getting a bad rap, she said.

She said she supports an ordinance change, too, and is prepared to go to bat for one.

Most definitely, because I want to get another one (pig) someday, she said. I never thought there would ever be a problem with it.

The Animal Services Board is set to meet at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16, in the first-floor conference room of the Butte-Silver Bow courthouse. The board is also expected to discuss a request to change Buttes animal-abuse ordinance.
MISSOULA  The former CEO of Vann's Inc. has been found guilty of conspiracy and 172 fraud charges alleging his actions helped drive the electronics and appliance store founded by his father-in-law into bankruptcy.

Jurors returned their verdict against George Leslie Manlove on Friday evening after a two-week trial. The same jury ruled Saturday that Manlove has to forfeit $2.4 million, according to court records.

Prosecutors alleged Manlove spent company money on personal expenses  including vacations, membership fees and $200,000 to get his master's degree in business administration  without the approval of the board of directors.

The charges also said Manlove and former CFO Paul Lyn Nisbet conspired to create holding companies to buy buildings that would house Vann's stores, then leased them to Vann's at above-market rates to pay off the loans and gain ownership of the buildings.

After the company filed for bankruptcy in 2012, Manlove filed a $2.4 million claim for unpaid rent even though a written lease did not exist, prosecutors argued.

When asked about the rent payments, Manlove testified last week that "nobody asked for it back."

Under questioning from his attorney, Michael Sherwood, Manlove said it was "impossible" that he intended to defraud the company, the Missoulian reported. Sherwood also asked if Manlove had used a company credit card to pay for his class ring after receiving his MBA.

"I may have used the wrong credit card," Manlove said.

Manlove was convicted of conspiracy, 75 counts of wire fraud, four counts of bankruptcy fraud, 87 counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to a bank and one count of bank fraud. He was acquitted on 41 counts including three counts of tax fraud, the Missoulian reported.

He was allowed to remain free pending his sentencing on May 19, but he must surrender his passport, cannot open any new lines of credit and cannot sell or transfer any of his assets.

The employee-owners of Vann's filed a civil lawsuit against Manlove and Nisbet that argued their actions led to the bankruptcy that made their $9.2 million in stock worthless. The lawsuit was settled for $7.3 million paid by business insurance policies. The bankruptcy estate received an additional $3 million, and attorneys received about the same.

Nisbet pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and was sentenced in October to 14 months in prison. He also admitted to a forfeiture allegation that required him to give up $122,250.
STEVENSVILLE -- This has not been an easy winter for George Thomas.

The long bout of frigid cold has made his job of keeping water flowing to homes in Stevensville a challenge that hes ready to see come to an end.

And hes not alone.

The folks manning the phones at the Ravalli Electric Co-op and Northwestern Energy have been getting an earful from customers wondering why their bills have been much higher than years past.

Ive been told this is the third-coldest winter in Montanas history, said Melissa Greenwood of Ravalli Electric. We have been getting a lot of calls from people who have been wondering whats going on with their bills.

In Stevensville, Thomas has been battling a main line that runs along the edge of the towns Main Street that keeps freezing.

The frost has reached four to five feet down in some places, said the towns water and wastewater supervisor. Thats created some problems for us.

A number of homes, especially in the older section of town, have had their water lines freeze solid. It got so bad at one point that the town asked people to let their faucets trickle to keep the water from freezing.

At one point, Thomas said he had 10 homes with frozen water lines. As of Friday, all but three are thawed out.

The biggest challenge has been keeping that main line running. While most of the water lines in town are afforded some insulation from the snow covering the ground, Main Street is plowed and the traffic tends to drive the frost deeper into the ground, Thomas said.

The town had to resort to renting a ground-thawing machine at $2,000 a week to thaw out a few sections of the pipe this winter.

Freezing water pipes isnt anything new for Stevensville.

Thomas has heard rumors that years ago people hooked welding units to the pipes to thaw them out.

We find wires on some them that tells us that method has been used before, he said.

These days, the community sometimes uses a pipe-thawing machine that can run an electrical current through metal pipes while creating a vibration that helps break up the frozen water.

We do what we can to keep the water running, he said.

People dont realize how much water they use in a day until they dont have access to it.

The national average is 100 gallons a day, he said. The weather is supposed to change this week. Im not looking forward to the rain, but the warmer temperatures will be nice.

Those warmer temperatures in the forecast will also be a relief to peoples pocketbooks.

NorthWestern Energy said temperatures have been 16 percent colder in December and 26 percent colder in January than normal in the area it services. As a result, the company set a record for deliveries of natural gas to its customers in December. Its electric system also hit a new peak load in mid-December.

That increased demand has shown up on customers bills these past two months.

Closer to home, Greenwood said Ravalli Electrics customers had deal with a stretch of 18 days with single-digit or below-zero temperatures.

Just the fact that this winter has been so much colder than what weve seen the past few years has caught people off guard, Greenwood said. People have known that its really cold, but they dont realize how cold its been until they get their bill. This has definitely been one of the highest years for power demand that weve ever seen.

Ravalli Electric has tried to offer some tips to help keep those power bills at a minimum.

Everyone is trying to stay warm, Greenwood said. Unfortunately, if they are running space heaters all day long, that can add up costs quickly. The same goes for block heaters on vehicles. We encourage people to use overnight timer versus running those continually.

We are trying to be as helpful as we can to keep those costs lower, she said. We have definitely been hearing a lot of concerns about that this winter.
MISSOULA  Carolyn Maier, executive director of the Silver theater, was in the building Saturday afternoon preparing for the upcoming Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, when she and others noticed water coming into the main theater. Some ceiling tiles had fallen.

She ordered everyone out. They stood in the street, Maier dialing 911 as the roof began to buckle.

We had just bought a brand-new commercial projector, and just had it mounted. The sound guy was like, Im going in.  But I made the call no one was going back in.

Fifteen minutes later, it came down. We warned everyone, warned the neighbors, got everyone out of the way and watched it go.

No one was injured in the collapse, which occurred at about 3:15 p.m., according to the Missoula Fire Department.

Battalion Chief Derek Mullins said the likely cause appears to be heavy snow buildup on the roof, and indeed Maier said her staff had cleaned snow away earlier in the week.

But with new snow and rain, it got heavy, she said.

Previously called the World, the theater in the 2000 block of Higgins Avenue was renamed after being purchased by the Morris and Helen Silver Foundation in 2015 to be used in part as a community space for performing and visual arts.

The theater was scheduled to host screenings during the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, which begins Feb. 17.

Bitter, bitter, Maier said of her feelings as she watched the roof crumple. The theater was nearing completion of a remodel, with only touches such as bathroom mirrors and new kitchen appliances remaining.

In six weeks, it was going to be done, she said.

Maier said shes notified the film festival. Were doing what we can to secure another venue and as soon as we know more, we will let everyone know.

In the meantime, she said that Id like people to know that a lot of people loved this theater. Everyone always talked about the nostalgic moments they had. Its kind of the end of an era.
The regional police chief in the north of Kosovo has been suspended after he was accused of refusing to implement the government's policy on phasing out license plates issued by Serbia when Kosovo was still part of the country.

Nenad Djuric was suspended after the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo announced on November 3 that he is suspected of criminal offenses related to his refusal to implement the plan.

Minister of Internal Affairs Xhelal Svecla said that the refusal to implement the governments decisions represents a serious threat to the security and stability of Kosovo.

The Kosovo police is one [force] and all its members should have the same mission: the rule of law and the creation of a safe environment for all citizens regardless of difference, Svecla said on Facebook. We will not allow any action that violates this mission, and together with the Kosovo Police we will continue its implementation.

The main party representing Serbs in Kosovo, Serbian List, said that the decision to suspend Djuric was illegal.

Goran Rakic, chairman of the party, said that the Serbs should "strengthen and build" their own institutions in northern Kosovo in cooperation with Serbia.

Rakic said that he has called an extraordinary meeting of the Serbian List with the mayors of four municipalities in the north of Kosovo with Serbian majorities. The meeting will be held after the "illegal and anti-Serbian decision" to suspend Djuric, he said.

Radic said he will call on Serbs to vacate institutions in the north, including judicial, police, and other institutions.

Meanwhile, the head of the office for Kosovo in the Serbian government, Petar Petkovic, told a news conference on November 3 that Djuric was suspended because "he stood in defense of the Serbian people."

He questioned what mistake Djuric had made by refusing to participate in the decisions of Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti, which are political."

Djuric said on November 2 that the police in the north would not implement the government's decision to issue warnings to drivers who have cars with license plates issued by Serbia.

Djuric was appointed regional police commander in the north in June 2013 after Kosovo and Serbia reached the first agreement on the normalization of relations in the dialogue mediated by the European Union.

The agreement stated that the regional commander in the four municipalities with Serbian majority is to be appointed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo.

Kosovo has attempted several times this year to require its Serb minority to change their old car plates from before 1999 when Kosovo was still part of Serbia. Authorities began implementing the latest plan to phase out old vehicle license plates on November 1.

Kurti announced the plan last week, saying drivers would first be given warnings during an initial three-week period starting on November 1. That is to be followed by a two-month period when 150 euro ($149) fines will be issued. There will then be another two-month period during which temporary license plates will be valid.

If drivers do not change their plates by April 21, their vehicles will be confiscated, according to the government decree.

Kosovo and Serbia fought a war in 1998-99, with Kosovo eventually declaring independence from Serbia in 2008.

Ethnic Serbs in the north of Kosovo have been using car plates issued by Serbian institutions since the end of the war with the acronyms of Kosovar cities such as KM (Kosovska Mitrovica), PR (Pristina), or UR (Urosevac).

The government in Kosovo regards the plates as illegal but until now has tolerated them in four northern municipalities with Serb majorities.
The new U.S. administration has a lot of people guessing, watching, and trying to predict what President Donald Trump's position will be on a myriad of issues.

In the case of relations with, for example, China, Russia, and Mexico, there are already signals about Trump's policy toward those countries.

The new U.S. president has not commented directly on Central Asia yet, but a January 31 article in Foreign Policy magazine titled Central Asian Autocrats Welcome The Age Of Trump explored some of the possibilities of the ties between the United States and the five Central Asian states in the coming months.

It's a good topic, so RFE/RL organized a Majlis, or panel, to talk about what U.S. policy toward Central Asia under new President Donald Trump might look like and what the Central Asian states can realistically hope for from the new U.S. administration.

Moderating the discussion was RFE/RL Media Relations Manager Muhammad Tahir. Joining him at RFE/RL headquarters in Washington to take part in the discussion was a former U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, and currently a senior fellow at the Rand Corporation, William Courtney. Also participating from Washington was the author of the above-mentioned article in Foreign Policy magazine, Reid Standish. Good topic, like I said, so I was happy to jump into the conversation also.

So what can we expect the Trump administration to be looking for in U.S. ties with Central Asia?

The Trump administration has not made any direct statements about Central Asia as yet. But Standish noted there were people in Trump's administration who know something about Central Asia. "[Secretary of State] Rex Tillerson, earlier he was the CEO of ExxonMobil, obviously from his background as an oilman knows what's happening in the region in terms of energy," he said.

And Standish noted, "James Mattis, secretary of defense, was the head of CENTCOM, so he obviously has some pretty acute knowledge of the security situation in the region."

It's clear the Trump administration has "an intense focus on fighting Islamic extremism," Standish explained.

The Central Asian governments have been saying for many years, with some reason, that they are threatened with Islamic extremism. One of the region's southern neighbors is Afghanistan and between 2001 and 2014, all five of the Central Asian countries made some contribution to the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan.

The situation in the northern Afghan provinces bordering Central Asia has been getting progressively worse during the last three years, with fighting moving at times to within easy earshot of people north of the Central Asian border.

Iran Sanctions

But if Trump's tough policy toward Islamic extremism might be a comfort to Central Asian governments, his views on Iran promise to complicate Central Asia's relations with its other southern neighbor.

"We saw...Mike Flynn, Trump's national security adviser, came out and said that Iran was being put on notice," Standish said, and, "General Mattis...is also quite hawkish on Iran."

The lifting of some international sanctions on Iran after Tehran's conclusion of a nuclear deal with major world powers offered the Central Asian states the possibility of a new trade route to the southwest. Heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran would complicate the realization of this opportunity.

Courtney said there were some important aspects of U.S. policy toward Central Asia that were not likely to change under the new administration.

"For the quarter-century since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West and the United States have strongly supported the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all of the new republics of the former Soviet Union," Courtney explained.

That certainly should be important to the Central Asian governments considering they are surrounded by giant neighbors China, Russia, and Iran immediately, and Pakistan and India not much farther away.

Russia Up, China Down

However, the Trump administration's policies toward Central Asia's leading trade and security partners -- Russia and China -- are very different and this could prove problematic for Ashgabat, Astana, Bishkek, Dushanbe and Tashkent to navigate through.

As Courtney pointed out, "What we've seen so far in President Trump's desire to improve relations with Russia is a question whether he might be willing to lift or ease sanctions unilaterally on Russia with regard to its aggression in Ukraine. If that were the case," he added, "then that would have troubling implications for Central Asia."

There have been worries in Kazakhstan in particular that a Ukrainian scenario was possible in the north of the country, along the border with Russia, where there is an ethnic Russian majority.

Standish did not think any tensions between Washington and Beijing would complicate the foreign policies of Central Asia too much, saying that if it did "that's a sign that relations between Washington and Beijing elsewhere have gotten pretty bad."

One of the big questions is whether the Trump administration would be willing to focus on security issues in Central Asia at the expense of pressing governments there to improve their poor records of respecting basic human rights.

Standish suggested it was probable that "human rights concerns won't prevent a deal, to use Trump parlance, between Washington and the Central Asian countries."

Courtney said, "More respect for human rights is something that Central Asia really can and should do," and pointed out that Central Asian governments should not forget there will be some in the United States who would insist on Washington pushing the governments there to show greater respect for basic rights.

"To expect the Trump administration to go against the will of Congress and counter a number of NGOs who are in favor of human rights, political liberties, that's really not so realistic," he said.

What the Trump administration's policy toward Central Asia is might not be clear but it is clear Central Asia will not be forgotten by the new U.S. president and his team.

Courtney recalled: "The United States developed reasonable relations with Central Asia before 9/11. No one had any idea how important those relations with Central Asia would become after 9/11 and U.S. engagement in Afghanistan."

And Standish noted that Central Asia "is a very important and strategically vital part of the world where relations with China, relations with Russia, energy security, Islamic extremism, all sorts of things intersect here," so the region is unlikely to fall off the Trump administration's radar.

The panel discussed these and many other issues concerning the Trump administration and Central Asia. You can listen to the full discussion here:

Listen to or download the Majlis podcast above or subscribe to Majlis on iTunes.
Romanians rallied for a fifth day of protests on February 4 as tens of thousands of citizens came out in cities across the country to protest against the government's emergency decree decriminalizing some official misconduct. More than 100,000 people gathered in Bucharest's main square, carrying banners such as "Resist" and "Make Dragnea nobody again." Romania's Social Democratic Party leader Liviu Dragnea would be one of the top beneficiaries of the decree as he has been convicted of abuse of office and is under investigation in a separate case. During the protest rally in Bucharest, Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu announced that his cabinet would meet to repeal the decree, which was confirmed on February 5. (RFE/RL's Moldovan Service)
One hundred years ago this month, the legendary St. Petersburg firm of Peter Carl Faberge put the finishing touches on the last imperial Easter egg it ever produced: the so-called Karelian Birch Egg. Before it could be delivered to the palace, however, Russia was rocked by the upheaval of the February Revolution and Tsar Nicholas II's abdication on March 15, 1917.

That egg is now in the collection of the Faberge Museum in Baden Baden, Germany -- along with the unfinished Constellation Egg -- an elegant, mute symbol of an irretrievable era.

"In addition to its mass-market production, Faberge created some very expensive masterpieces," says Aleksandr Ivanov, a Russian billionaire who built the Baden Baden museum to house his personal Faberge collection. "Everyone talks about the imperial Easter eggs. Why are they so expensive? First, there are very few of them. Second, over the last 100 years, no one has been able to equal or surpass them."

A total of 54 eggs were made for the Russian imperial family between 1885 and 1917, of which 43 are accounted for today. The tradition began under Tsar Alexander III, who anointed Faberge as "goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown." Nicholas II had a standing order for two eggs each year, one for his wife, Alexandra, and one for his mother, the dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna.

The only condition the Romanov tsars made was that each egg contain a surprise. Otherwise, Faberge's craftsmen had complete creative freedom.

A 'Genius Of Administration'

Ivanov, 54, has been collecting Faberge creations full-time since the late 1990s. Although the Easter eggs are scattered in museums and collections in Russia and around the world, Ivanov boasts the widest-ranging Faberge collection in the world, his museum comprising more than 700 pieces, as well as archives and other artifacts.

The only rival collection belongs to Russian oil billionaire Viktor Vekselberg and is on display at the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg. In 2004, Vekselberg bought the collection of U.S. publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes, which included a staggering nine imperial eggs.

Although the Baden Baden museum has only one finished egg, it is a unique homage to the Faberge legacy. "The Faberge Museum is not just an exhibition," Ivanov tells RFE/RL's Russian Service. "It is also dedicated to the history of the Faberge company and the Faberge family. We have many documents that have never been published before."

The Faberge company itself was the true work of art, Ivanov says. "Carl Faberge was not a jeweler," he says. "We do not know of a single piece produced by his hand. He was a talented administrator. He created the company and surrounded himself with the greatest craftsmen, giving them complete freedom."

Ivanov calls it "the ideal capitalist enterprise."

"He didn't get involved with the craftsmen; he took care of administrative matters and orders. He was a genius at organizing the production," he says. "I doubt that anything like it could be created today. And, of course, there aren't any craftsmen like that anymore."

'Massive Market' In Fakes

After the October 1917 Bolshevik coup, the firm was nationalized and broken up. Faberge fled the country and ended up in Switzerland, where he died in 1920 at the age of 74. His son, Agafon, tried to survive under the new regime in Russia, although he was periodically arrested and jailed. In 1927, with one suitcase -- itself also now in the Baden Baden collection -- Agafon escaped in a sleigh across the frozen Gulf of Finland carrying the unfinished Constellation Egg and a collection of postage stamps that financed his new life in the West. He died in Helsinki in 1951.

Ivanov says that a major part of his museum's work in guarding Faberge's legacy is combating the massive market in fakes. He has challenged as fakes items for sale at major London auction house Sotheby's and says the museum constantly receives authentication requests from dealers in France, Germany, and other countries.

"We simply cannot manage to give a consultation to everyone," Ivanov says. "There is a huge market of fake Faberge." The highest-quality fakes, he says, are usually the products of Faberge's contemporaries that unscrupulous people have stamped with Faberge's hallmark.

But there are also a lot of real Faberge pieces yet to be discovered. Ivanov estimates the firm produced about 120,000 "high-quality" pieces, of which the whereabouts of only some 20,000 are currently known.

Moscow's 'Very Particular' Market

Asked about the market for Faberge in Moscow, Ivanov laughs. "You can't buy in Moscow," he says. "Even I can't buy in Moscow."

"Who are the main purchasers in Moscow?" he asks. "Bureaucrats and people who don't want to advertise their income. They are people with small salaries and bank accounts in the millions. For these people, it doesn't matter if they pay $5,000 or $50,000 or $100,000 or $1 million. These are very particular buyers."

Such buyers also influence the international market for Faberge, Ivanov says. His main competitors at the London auctions are "dealers working on behalf of [Russian] government officials."

When he decided to create his museum, Ivanov initially wanted it to be in Moscow. At the time, he says, under then-Mayor Yury Luzhkov, the city was not welcoming. "It was impossible to purchase a building or get official status for the museum without the right connections," he says.

Instead, he settled on Baden Baden, where local officials offered complete support and the museum was granted federal status.

Ivanov sees himself as the protector of Faberge's legacy. "In another 100 years," he says, "people will speak of Faberge in the same terms as [Italian Renaissance sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto] Cellini. He has left his mark on the history of the decorative arts. Already Faberge's art is not just Russian. It is part of the global cultural tradition because there are many times more Faberge pieces in the West than in Russia."
AUBURN  The staff of the new Underground Bottle Shop knows many of their customers will walk in with no idea what wine, cider or spirit they want to buy.

And that excites them.

Gathered in the East Hill shop's lantern glow Thursday morning, jazzy piano lacing the air, manager Rob Hickson and sales staff Eden Mayora and Anastasia Benson said the best thing an Underground customer can tell them is "I don't know anything about wine."

"Because these aren't wines you can find in every single wine shop, you're going to come in and you're going to actually need our help," Mayora said. "Which is good."

"You have a handful of nerds at your command," Benson added. "We're here for you."

The Underground, which opened Jan. 27, carries wine, cider and spirits that, almost entirely, can't be found anywhere else in the Auburn area. But being adventurous can still be affordable: Many of the shop's bottles, whether it's a cider from the Finger Lakes or a wine from the tiny Cotes du Rhone region of France, sell for less than $15. Along with regular tasting events, The Underground's accessibly priced selection positions the shop to both expose and educate palates, its staff hopes.

Hickson, Mayora and Benson are founding members of a weekly Ithaca-area wine tasting group and friends with Underground owner Mike Mellor, who was in France when the interview took place.

The three share decades of industry experience. Hickson and Benson have worked a few Finger Lakes harvests, and Hickson and Mayora have sold fine wine in retail and restaurant settings for several years. Each has tasted and knows the flavor profile of every bottle the Underground carries, they said. Benson even leaves for Boston Sunday for her first sommelier certification exam.

As the shop's name suggests, the Underground stocks mostly lesser-known producers that are small in scale, and use sustainable and organic practices. Locally, the shop's brands include Heart & Hands Wine Co. in Union Springs, Grisamore Cider Works in Locke and Finger Lakes Distilling in Burdett.

The wines, which evenly range worldwide, also come from countries like France and Spain. The former's highly regarded Burgundy grand cru vineyards are represented at the Underground alongside tiny family-owned estates like Francois Chidaine in the Touraine region, the staff said. The latter, Hickson continued, is represented by iconic, old-world producers whose output dates back to the 1800s alongside wines from Spain's Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa, that were made from its native listan negro grape.

"Within the sections there are safe, tried-and-true styles of wine," Hickson said. "But within the countries we have these more obscure areas that even the nerdiest of nerds might not have had exposure to."

Whether it's citrus, black pepper or jammy berry, the wines of the Underground chart an expansive map of flavor, Mayora said.

"You can get flavors in some of these wines from different regions that you wouldn't necessarily find on their own, or as expressively demonstrated, in mass-produced, more homogeneously likable wines," he said.

In the case of the shop's ciders, which come more concentratedly from the Finger Lakes, it's sometimes "the guy that pruned the trees" who drops off the shipments, Benson said. But the Underground also carries French ciders from Normandy, as well as Spanish sidra, whose classically tart character might appeal to fans of sour craft beers. Those and the shop's other ciders will explode the conception of the beverage among those only familiar with Stella Artois Cidre or Angry Orchard, the staff said.

The shop's relationship with local cider producers is evident at the Underground's eight rotating draft taps: The shop will often feature custom blends from local cideries, like the one it's currently pouring from South Hill Cider in Ithaca. Though staff can't serve by the glass, they can give customers two or three tiny samples before filling a 32-ounce growler. Customers can bring their own growlers, staff said, or buy an Underground-labeled one for $5.

Free samples will also be served from 5 to 8 p.m. every Friday at the shop, once a month as part of downtown Auburn's First Friday program. Hickson said the four-part tastings will focus on wine at first  often two reds and two whites  but will soon fold in ciders and spirits. They'll often be themed by grapes, regions or importers, he added.

The Underground will also host events with producers that fall outside the Friday tasting schedule, staff said. A guest pourer from South Hill will be joined by one from Barry Family Cellars in Burdett and an importer with Polaner Selections at the shop's grand opening celebration, which begins with a 4 p.m. ribbon-cutting Friday, Feb. 10. Tastings start at 5 p.m.

Inside the exposed brick downtown space, prepared by the Bartolotta family's R&M Real Estate Group, the staff of the Underground hopes their selection slots right into Auburn's burgeoning craft beverage scene. Though they're eager to curate the shop's wine, cider and spirits, they're ready to accommodate shy browsers, too: All of the shop's bottles come tagged with tasting notes.

WHAT: The Underground Bottle Shop

WHEN: Open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays

WHERE: 29 E. Genesee St., Auburn

INFO: Call (315) 262-5896 or visit undergroundbottleshop.com or facebook.com/undergroundbottleshop
DECATUR  For more than a year, the staff of Consociate has joined together towards a common goal  health.

Employees have taken part in several health incentives at work, like challenging themselves to log 160,000 steps in four weeks.

We had a total of million for that challenge, said Tina Suzewitz, head of human resources. It awakened the competitive spirit in them.

Of their 75 employees, 80 percent have participated in the health programs and events. And those programs have paid benefits, according to company president Darren Reynolds.

Some employees have been taken off of medications and gotten healthier, he said. Those achievements have ignited his employees to succeed, Reynolds said.

That healthy attitude has also spread to Consociate's sister business, Dansig, which offers its own health incentives.

Travis Schmid, vice president of marketing at Dansig, was one of the employees who benefited from his company's programs.

During a health screening offered at his workplace, Schmid learned his blood pressure was high. He also had bad cholesterol levels.

Now, two years later, he has dropped more than 90 pounds, cut his cholesterol levels in half and eliminated regulatory medicines. His progress continues as a lifestyle change.

I don't remember the last time I bought from a vending machine, he said. I try to stick with natural foods and whole grains like quinoa.

Employees in both companies are encouraged by each success story. They often come together, creating groups to support others in the community.

It has made our employees more action-oriented, Reynolds said.

Production is up and so is morale, Suzewitz said. They enjoy the challenges.

Consociate continues to lead a healthy lifestyle by being a positive example. The company has provided healthy living vending machines with protein bars and healthy drinks.

We are positive about having health and wellness in our company, Reynolds said. It lets employees know we are invested in their health.

And results like that can help improve a companys bottom line. With a reduction in illnesses, injuries and disabilities, businesses don't have to pay out as much in medical spending.

According to Vince Noel, vice president of Business Development and Strategy for HSHS Medical Group, health concerns remain a top issue with businesses.

It affects absenteeism, health care claims and overall work progress, he said.

Health screenings and fairs, like the one that alerted Schmid to his health issues, are commonly used by businesses for statistical purposes. Although the employers are not given information about a specific employee, they are given an overall evaluation of their employee's health.

Health fairs are an important tool in encouraging healthy eating and proper exercise and also keeping people informed. They are so helpful, in fact, that Dan Reece, director of LeadWell, a health and wellness program through HSHS Medical Group, refers to them as warning clinics.

And many of the health screenings offered at such event, including blood pressure, thyroid and bone density screenings and a blood-draw screening testing for 35 different diseases and conditions, give warning signs to individuals who might not see a doctor regularly.

This increases awareness and provides a health goal, said Lindsey Whitfield, DMH Corporate Health Business Manager.

Companies can utilize these events on a yearly basis or they can take part in monthly periodic health risk assessment clinics. Those clinics often focus on specific illnesses. For example they offer skin screenings, mammograms or nutrition and exercise classes, Reece said.

Screenings arent the only tool in a businesss health arsenal. Motivational speakers can also provide a positive incentive to get healthier.

Biggest Loser contestant Sonya Jones has visited several businesses and organizations promoting healthy living.

I'm just there to inspire motivation and give tools, she said. And people love to hear about Hollywood.

And Jones, who has struggled with her weight before and since her appearance on the show two years ago, understands her experience can be helpful to others by offering motivation. However, she says, its up to them how they get healthy, she said.
Fighting has appeared to subside in the Ukrainian town of Avdiyivka after a weeklong surge, as U.S. President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko the United States will work to end the deadly conflict near the Russian border in eastern Ukraine.

The late February 4 call came as an upsurge in fighting killed at least 35 in a week of escalated fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military said on February 5 that two soldiers were wounded in fighting but no soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours for the first time since fighting over the frontline flashpoint city of Avdiyivka escalated.

Ukraine said that artillery attacks had significantly lessened, while the separatists reported scores of mortar and tank barrages by government forces.

The streets of Avdiyivka, an industrial city near the separatist stronghold of Donetsk, were quiet and no shelling was heard, according to AFP reporters.

A statement by Poroshenko's office said the two leaders "noted the urgent necessity of establishing a complete cease-fire" in the region.

Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Klymenko told AFP that a cease-fire agreed by both sides came into effect from 8 a.m. local time but it was only a verbal deal.

The pause was aimed at allowing workers to fix broken power lines after days without power or heat in the town of 25,000.

More than 9,750 people have been killed since the conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted in April 2014.

Ukraine has expressed concern that Trump could roll back some sanctions imposed on Russia after its illegal 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and in retaliation for Moscow's military, economic, and political support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Based on reporting by AFP
Over the past five years, Iranian officials and state media have touted the "indigenous" ingenuity in the Islamic republic's mass-produced Mohajer-6 combat drone, which Russia has deployed in its war against Ukraine.

But a new investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, has found that electronic components underpinning Tehran's production of the Mohajer-6 are far from homegrown.



The Mohajer-6 drones contain components produced by companies from the United States and the European Union, both of which have sanctions restricting the export to Iran of such technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes  dual-use technology.

The presence of these components in the Mohajer-6 does not mean their producers are in violation of U.S. or EU sanctions, and RFE/RL does not have evidence that this is the case.

The investigation also found Mohajer-6 components produced in China, including a real-time mini-camera made by a Hong Kong firm that said it was "very sorry" that its products were being used in war.

At least one major foreign-produced component of the Mohajer-6 has previously been identified by reporters in a Mohajer-6 recovered from the battlefield by the Ukrainian military: an engine made by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Bombardier Recreational Products.

But Ukrainian intelligence assesses that the Iranian combat drone contains components from nearly three dozen different technology companies based in North America, the EU, Japan, and Taiwan, the Schemes investigation has found. A majority of these companies are based in the United States.



A Schemes reporter who personally inspected the foreign-made drone parts identified components produced by at least 15 of these manufacturers.

These include parts made by the U.S. technology firm Texas Instruments, which said in a statement that it does not sell into Russia or Iran and complies with applicable laws and regulations.

To identify these components, Schemes reporters examined parts of the Mohajer-6 drone that the Ukrainian military shot down over the Black Sea near the Mykolayiv region coastal town of Ochakiv. They also reviewed Ukrainian intelligence records on the sources of these components.

The drone also contains a microchip bearing the logo of a California technology company and a thermal-imaging camera that Ukrainian intelligence says may have been produced by a firm based in Oregon or China.

Both Western officials and experts on illicit technology transfers say Iran has built a broad, global procurement network using front companies and other proxies in third countries to obtain dual-use technology from the United States and the EU.

"Exporters will look at the request coming from the [United Arab Emirates] or another third country, and they'll think that they're selling to an end user based there, when really the end user is in Iran," Daniel Salisbury, a senior research fellow with the Department of War Studies at King's College London, told RFE/RL.

In September, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions specifically targeting Iranian companies that Washington links to the production and transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia for deployment in its war on Ukraine. Fighting rages with no sign of an end more than eight months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked invasion on February 24.

"Non-Iranian, non-Russian entities should also exercise great caution to avoid supporting either the development of Iranian UAVs or their transfer, or sale of any military equipment to Russia for use against Ukraine," U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement announcing the sanctions.

Chinese Cameras, California Chips

Development of the Mohajer-6, the latest model in a series of drones Tehran has used since the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, began in 2017, while mass production began the following year. During a ceremony commemorating the Islamic Revolution, then-Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said that the new tactical drone could perform surveillance, reconnaissance, as well as help destroy targets.

Hatami extolled what he described as the drones domestic design, a portrayal echoed in later reports by Iranian media.

"The homegrown drone was made through cooperation among the army, Defense Ministry, and Quds Aviation Industries," the English-language Tehran Times quoted an Iranian military official as saying in July 2019.

The dismantling of the Mohajer-6 drone recovered by the Ukrainian military shows that the UAV is packed with foreign components.

One of these parts is a bright-orange real-time mini-camera produced by the Hong Kong-based company RunCam Technology. Documents seen by Schemes show that Ukrainian intelligence has also identified RunCam as the producer of the camera, which likely assists in remote guidance of the drone.

Founded in 2013, RunCam is involved in the development and production of so-called "first-person-view" real-time cameras. "Our users are our friends," the company's website states. The site says that RunCam has two authorized Iranian dealers.

Reached by Schemes for comment about the use of its camera in the Iranian drone deployed by Russia in its war on Ukraine, RunCam said in an e-mailed response: "We are very sorry to know that RunCam's products were used in warfare. RunCam is specialized in producing products for model aircraft hobby. We never contact any customer related to military."

The provenance of the Mohajer-6 drone-s thermal-imaging camera is more difficult to determine. A Ukrainian intelligence assessment reviewed by Schemes indicates it could be the Ventus Hot model produced by Sierra-Olympic Technologies, based in the U.S. state of Oregon, but that it also resembles a cheaper analog available for sale by the Chinese company Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology.

Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology said in an e-mailed statement that the company did not "have any business with Iran," because "it will affect our business." The company said it specializes in marine services and is not involved in manufacturing. It also said that it did not have a single successful order for its online advertisement of the thermal-imaging camera resembling the one recovered from the Iranian drone.

Sierra-Olympic Technologies did not respond to a request for comment on the possible use of its thermal-imaging cameras in Iranian combat drones in time for publication.

Microchips recovered from the drone also featured the logos of the California-based company Linear Technology Corporation and its parent company, the Massachusetts-based semiconductor company Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI). ADI did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment on the possible use of its technology in the Iranian combat drone.

Schemes reporters also observed among the components of the Iranian drone a voltage step-down converter produced by Texas Instruments. The company said in an e-mailed statement that it "does not sell into Russia, Belarus, or Iran."

"TI complies with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, and does not support or condone the use of our products in applications they weren't designed for," Texas Instruments said.

Schemes reporters also saw several components produced by the California-based technology manufacturer Xilinx, whose parent company is the multinational semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), also based in California.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, one of these Xilinx components was integrated into a video data-link module located in the wing of the Mohajer-6 that helped carry out attack missions.

"This module transmits information from the board to the missile head. That is, guidance for the missile. With the help of this module, it was possible to guide the missile to the target," a Ukrainian military intelligence representative told Schemes.

AMD did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

'No Authorization'

Previous media reports about the components of the Mohajer-6 drone, including by CNN, have shown evidence that its engine was produced by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, whose parent company is the Quebec-based Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP).

The Canadian company responded to the reports on October 21, saying in a statement that it "has not authorized and has not given any authorization to its distributors to supply military UAV manufacturers in Iran or Russia."

"As soon as we were made aware of this situation, we started an investigation to determine the source of the engines," BRP said. .

But Schemes reporters found that the authorized Rotax distributor listed on the Austrian manufacturer's website advertised itself as a Rotax aircraft engines distributor for Iran as recently as December 2020.

The distributor, the Italian company Luciano Sorlini S.p.a., has posted multiple magazine advertisements on its websites in which it describes itself as a Rotax distributor for numerous countries. Prior to January 2021, Iran was listed among these countries.

The Rotax website also lists a Tehran-based company -- MahtaWing -- as an official service center for its engines. The company, known in Persian as Mahtabal, conducts repairs of Rotax engines, including the Rotax 912 iS, the engine that was found in the Mohajer-6 combat drone recovered in Ukraine.

BRP said in an e-mailed statement on November 4 that while Luciano Sorlini S.p.a. is the appointed distributor of Rotax aircraft engines in Iran, "since 2019, no Rotax engines have been sold in Iran, and we will not sell any engines to Iran moving forward."

The Canadian company said it had "internal controls" that "significantly" restrict the sale of its products for military purposes.

"For example, the sale of any BRP product to operators with any military activity in Iran, Turkey, and Russia is strictly prohibited," BRP said. "We conduct our business in compliance with all EU, Canadian, and U.S. applicable regulations."

BRP described the Iranian company MahtaWing as a "local service center" that "offers maintenance services for previously sold aircraft engines."

Shahriar Siami of RFE/RL's Radio Farda contributed to this report.
No one was injured in the accident, which happened about 1:15 a.m. at mile marker 51, Virginia State Police said.
DECATUR -- Thumbing through the scrapbook of a teenage girl from 1925, the last thing Karen Anderson expected to see was an invitation to a hanging.

Anderson, the Macon County Historical Society Board president and history museum volunteer, has been combing through museum archives and found some interesting stuff in recent months, including authentic signatures on land grants by former U.S. Presidents Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland.

Recently she found a scrapbook belonging to Mary Katherine Eisele. Many of the pages were blank, but there were pages that included her lunch ticket from Roosevelt Junior High School, old newspaper clippings about Camp Seymour and a pressed flower from a bridge luncheon.

We love to find scrapbooks because theyre a snapshot of what people are going through at the time, Anderson said. There wasnt much in it as I first looked through it.

But on the page opposite of the lunch ticket was a rectangle card with the words: Execution of John Stacey. February 13, 1925 at 12 OClock Noon. Admit Mr. Henry Eisle. Printed at the bottom was the name of the man who sent out the cards: W.A. Underwood, Sheriff.

Pretty gruesome, Anderson said.

Henry Eisele was Mary Katherines father -- his name is spelled wrong on the invitation. Henry was an assistant superintendent in the locomotive department of the Wabash Railway Company.

The scrapbook was originally discovered by Paul Woolard but it was lost in the museum archives until Anderson came across it.

The hanging of John Stacey already held a prominent place at the Macon County History Museum. A large photo of the gallows hangs near what museum director Nathan Pierce said is the actual noose used in the hanging.

It all started with the murder of Haman Rubenstein (the spelling of his first name was also reported as Hyman and Hamen in various accounts) -- a Russian immigrant and former member of the military guard of the Czar who owned a shoe store at 835 N. Water St.

According to the Nov. 26, 1924 Decatur Daily Review, at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 25, Rubenstein was shot and killed inside his shoe store. Two women, Dorothy Daniels and Mary Baldwin, heard a shot in the store as they were passing and looked through the door to see Rubenstein struggling with a man.

Daniels and Baldwin ran across the street to the Elliott filling station at the corner of Water Street and Central Avenue and alerted attendant J.D. McCool, who was a special officer and carried a revolver as a result of having been held up twice himself.

What happened next sounds like something out of a black and white movie. McCool grabbed his gun and crossed the street. The door of Rubensteins store was locked, but he placed the muzzle of the revolver against the glass in the door and shouted to the shooter: Stick em up or Ill kill you where you are.

Still standing over Rubensteins body, the shooter slowly put his hands up. Two other officers, who happened to be passing by, helped break down the door. McCool went in, grabbed the man by the collar and put his revolver into the mans side.

Rubenstein was taken to the Decatur and Macon County Hospital by ambulance and gave a statement during the ride. He said he was sitting in the store waiting for his son to return from supper when the man came in the front door, shut it and locked it. Rubenstein got up to wait on the man and was told to put his hands up. Before Rubenstein could raise his hands, the man shot him. Then the man grabbed Rubenstein and shot him again.

Once apprehended, the man told them his name was John Stacey and he was from Louisville, Ky. He told them he had eaten fifteen cans of canned heat during the day. Canned heat is an alcohol-based fuel sold under the brand name Sterno, usually used to cook. During prohibition it was popular as a surrogate alcohol, but there were many cases of death, severe sickness and erratic behavior from those who consumed it.

At the trial, Stacey tried to claim self-defense but statements he made after he was apprehended contradicted his defense and jurors quickly returned a guilty verdict. He was sentenced to hang.

There had only been two legal hangings in Macon County history -- William Crawford in 1891 and Charles Pacer Smith in 1895. Many later speculated the famous Leopold and Loeb case may have played a role in Macon County States Attorney John Evans recommendation to hang Stacey. Leopold and Loeb were two wealthy University of Chicago students who kidnapped and murdered a 14-year-old boy but were spared hanging by attorney Clarence Darrows argument against capital punishment. It sparked outrage nationwide when the rich students were spared and sentenced instead to life in prison.

Stacey, though, had an extensive criminal record and no money to hire an attorney the likes of Darrow.

The hanging sparked much local interest. Sheriff William Underwood had gallows built for $300 and ordered a special rope from Chicago made of cotton instead of sisal for the noose. He also had 50 pasteboard cards printed and issued to those who would be allowed to view the hanging -- mostly sheriffs and deputies from other counties.

Its unclear why Eisele was among those issued an invite. The Decatur Herald reported there had been more than 700 requests made to witness the hanging, with most of those requests by women according to Underwood. He said no women would be allowed to witness the hanging.

At just before noon on Feb. 14, 1925, Stacey was marched up to the gallows. He said: Goodbye to all. Best wishes, then whispered a prayer as two deputies strapped his legs at the ankles and knees. The noose and black hood were applied and the button was pressed that opened the trap. The Decatur Herald reported: A wail from the four women who had occupied the cell above the condemned man for the past month split the deadly silence.

Staceys body hung from the rope for 15 minutes before his heart quit beating. Despite the 50 invitations, it was estimated 3,000 people -- men, women and children -- gathered around the courthouse.

It was the last hanging to take place in Macon County. In 1928, Illinois law replaced death by hanging with the electric chair for capital punishment.
Simone Sima Golub Schwarz, was born in the shtetl Krewo in eastern Poland on Sept. 8 in 1927  or 1929, according to her eldest sister.

She was one of five children of Sara Gershonowitz Golub and Moisze Laizer Golub, who ran a shoe store and a leather store. She was among 1,000 Jews whose worship required two synagogues.

They had a home where they lived and employed a maid, and another they rented, prompting anti-Semitic comments from townspeople. The children attended a public school.

Mrs. Schwarz was 10 or 12 when Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, precipitating World War II.

In 1941, when Adolph Hitler broke the pact with Stalin that divided Poland, Krewo, in the Oszmiany District of the Vilnius province of Poland, had been under Russian control for two years. We were well off, but the Russians took away from us everything, Mrs. Schwarz recalled in a 2012 interview for the Virginia Holocaust Museum.

She remembered the day the Germans knocked on their front door. My father ran to the back, she said. Caught and savagely beaten, he died from his wounds after the family was forced into the Krewo Ghetto in 1941.

She was the youngest of four daughters  the others being Rachke, Beilke (called Bela) and Michle  as well as a brother, the youngest of the family, named Szimenele.

Within a year, as the family was transitioning to the Plaszow concentration camp, Bela, who was 17, and her boyfriend were executed while attempting to flee.

The rest of the family went to camps in Riga and Estonia before going to Stutthof, where Sara and 6-year-old Szimenele died.

Michle and Mrs. Schwarz were sent to three German camps: the Kaufering section of the Landsberg-Kaufering camp in the Dachau network, Dachau itself and Bergen-Belsen.

Mrs. Schwarz, liberated by the Russians and British at Bergen-Belsen with her sister Michle in 1945, was honored at funeral services at Blileys Funeral Homes Central Chapel and at Richmond Beth-El Cemetery at Forest Lawn on Friday.

She died of complications of dementia Thursday in a Henrico retirement community at the age of 89 (or 87).

During her four years in camps, Mrs. Schwarz remembered walking days and nights with little food, going from one camp to another. She wore a big blue-and-white-striped shirt, pants and hat. She wore nothing underneath. Her head had been shaved to deter lice. Her shoes had holes. She had no coat.

Duties ranged from harvesting potatoes to shoveling sand from a boxcar.

I had a raw potato in my hand when a Nazi looked away. (She began eating it.) When he looked back, he beat the hell out of me, she said.

Other beating offenses included looking at Nazi guards, talking with fellow inmates and wetting beds at night when they were unable to make it outside.

Always hungry, she remembered being given a little piece of bread, which she would put under her wooden pillow on her slatted bunk at night. If you didnt eat it right away, someone stole it, she said.

I never thought I would make it, said Mrs. Schwarz, who still sobbed at the thought of mountains of dead bodies with yawning toothless mouths piled five or six stories tall along her path to work. I thought, This is the end. My mothers dead. My fathers dead. My little brothers dead. Theres no hope for me. 

She considered suicide, but I thought about my mother, my father, my grandparents. This kept me going, she said.The only way to survive was to go to work.

In 1945, Russian and English troops liberated Bergen-Belsen. Inmates were quarantined until an outbreak of typhus passed.

The facility became a displaced persons camp where she met her husband, Kalman Schwarz, who had come looking for family survivors (he was reunited with three sisters and two brothers), and offered to protect her and Michle. Although 12 years her senior, he saw me in the hall and never let me go, she said.

In 1946, they married in Bayreuth, Germany. They had sons Maurice and Harry, immigrated to the United States in 1951, and had a daughter, Susie, in Richmond, where they settled. They eventually opened Richmond Food Market, a small grocery that she helped her husband operate on West Clay Street for 20 years. She spent another 10 years working for La Vogue womens apparel store. He died in 1988.

Regarding her memories, he told her, Dont talk about it. Were going to make a life of our own. Dont tell the children nothing. They have to know a better life than we had.

On nights when terrible memories kept her awake, The only way for me to survive was to forget everything and go on with my life, she said. She would tell herself, It didnt happen. Its not true. I forgot it.

Michle returned to Poland to look for family survivors. She found Rachke, who had been studying in Russia before the war and never had been in a camp. Rachke and her family immigrated to what became Israel.

One of Simas passions was the continuation and prosperity of the Jewish people, said Matthew Simpson, director of guest services at the Virginia Holocaust Museum. She told her kids, Marry Jewish. Stay Jewish.

Another was education. She took classes locally and encouraged people to get the college education she never had.

She served on the board of the Virginia Holocaust Museum since its inception. She was a member of Temple Beth-El and the Jewish Womens Club.

She had a lust for life, Simpson said. She said, I never want to die, not because she was afraid of dying but because she was scared of missing out on something.

Mrs. Schwarz rarely spoke about the Holocaust until a grandson volunteered her, without first asking, to speak at his school.

The questions overwhelmed her, and she started to cry, as she often did, but she realized the importance about speaking about her experience, Simpson said.

A frequent speaker to classrooms, her message was simple, Simpson said: No ones born hating anyone. You cant hate anybody. Everyone is your brother.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
While the burgeoning craft beer scene is the talk of the Roanoke region, the craft cocktail has found its own niche market.

Liquor sales in the Roanoke and New River valleys were up last year, and area bartenders say more drinkers are flocking to personalized, locally made cocktails.

The craft cocktail movement is driving interest in all spirits, and particularly in higher-end spirits, said Virginia ABCs marketing director, John Shiffer. There is also a movement toward craft distilleries, similar to what we have seen in craft brewing. Millennial consumers are looking for new products and are drawn to the authenticity that craft products offer.

Virginia ABCs gross sales statewide increased to $898 million, up $49.4 million over the previous year. Sales at ABC stores in the Roanoke and New River valleys topped $45.6 million in fiscal year 2016, which ended June 30. Thats up from $42.5 million in 2015, an increase of 7.3 percent. Part of that boost comes from a new store in Floyd County, which generated close to $600,000 in sales.

A lot of the liquors being stirred into trendy new cocktails were more likely to pop up at the bottom of the list of best-selling libations, since many of them are rarer and are less available. As usual, the classic brown liquors ruled in Southwest Virginia.

Hennessy cognac remains the top-grossing liquor in the Roanoke Valley, accounting for more than $1 million in sales last year. It was also the top-selling brand in 2015, bringing in more than $887,000 in Roanoke-area stores, and its on pace to be the top-selling liquor of 2017, with more than $600,000 in sales from July to December. Statewide the cognac had the best sales year jump year over year of any liquor. Shiffer said the brand has been aggressive in its promotional campaign, especially as it celebrated at 250th anniversary in 2015.

Jack Daniels whiskey was the top-grossing brand in the New River Valley, which has a younger drinking crowd, and was in the No. 3 spot in Roanoke stores. Jim Beam bourbon was in second place in both New River and Roanoke valley sales.

While there have been relatively few changes in brands at the top of the list over the past several years, what has been changing is the types of cocktails people are making.

Ashley Vinci, a bartender for four years at Billys in downtown Roanoke, said she has seen a resurgence in classic cocktails  drinks like the Old Fashioned, which had a revival of sorts as the signature drink of Mad Mens Don Draper.

Vinci said Billys caters to an older, more professional crowd that likes the classics but also wants something authentic. House-made additions like bitters, syrups and fruit garnishes are trendy, she said; she creates her own simple syrups to use in cocktails.

Vinci said her patrons tend to be more educated about cocktails than in the past. She said they are more aware of brands and ingredients and want to learn.

Before people would be like, I want a Cosmo and they didnt care what was in it, she said. And now they can customize their own drink. Its really interesting how people have evolved.

Several restaurant owners said liquor is going the way of food and beer: Patrons want something authentic and they want to know where its ingredients come from.

Andy Schlosser, the owner of Metro, said crafting cocktails with homemade ingredients is more expensive, but its what customers want. A typical craft cocktail in Roanoke runs $10 or more.

He, too, is seeing growth in old-fashioned drinks with some new twists. One of the most popular cocktails at Metro is the Fizzy Aviation, a modern play on the classic gin-based cocktail. He said he encourages his bartender to come up with new cocktails and to keep the ingredients simple, but with creative additions. Metro makes its own grenadine from scratch.

In Blacksburg, the Social House restaurant and bar has carved out a niche in the land of college bars as a place for creative Asian fusion food, wine and cocktails. Bartender Chis McDonough said he has seen more higher-end whiskey drinkers as well as an entire subculture that is very interested in the history of craft cocktails and the new types of drinks being served. One of the Social Houses most popular drinks is Frazzle Berries: raspberry vodka, sour and ginger beer with fresh raspberries and mint for garnish.

Shiffer, the ABC spokesman, said Virginia has seen a rapid expansion of in-state distilleries as well  from 10 in 2008 to more than 40 today. And perhaps because of the growing popularity of craft cocktails, larger suppliers are making more limited-edition, small-batch products that are harder to find, he said.

The trend is even changing the way some people take shots.

Fireball, the cinnamon-flavored whiskey that was one of the top-grossing liquors of the past four years, has been one of the few new brands to really disrupt the market in recent years. But the popularity of the Fireball shot  mostly served chilled, just a few ounces at a time  seems to be declining. It dropped one spot to be the fourth best-selling liquor in Roanoke. And it fell two spots in the New River Valley, where it was once the top-grossing brand among frugal college students.

Some of this could be attributed to more competition among inexpensive flavored whiskeys. Bartenders said shots of Jim Beam Apple and Jack Daniels Honey have been requested more by the same crowd. And sales data from Virginia ABC show their sales numbers soaring.

Jason Martin, the owner of Martins Downtown in Roanoke, said hes seen sales of Fireball slow down. Hes seeing more tequila and unflavored bourbon going over the bar these days. Uniquely crafted shots, such as Martins Pickle Shot, have also been popular. It infuses Titos Handmade Vodka with dill pickle juice.

Titos is one of the new brands to enter the list of top-selling liquors in Roanoke, selling about $400,000 worth in area stores in the last fiscal year. Its on pace to sell far more than that this year, sales data show. The Texas-based brand is made with corn mash and is gluten free. Vinci said she used to keep just a few bottles on hand per week at Billys but now buys it by the case.

Danielle Gonzalez, the general manager of Tucos Taqueria Garaje, which opened last year in downtown Roanoke, said customers have been receptive to trying the restaurants 100 tequilas and mezcals. They arent just ordering margaritas but are exploring the unfamiliar liquor brands that the restaurant stocks.

People are timid about tequila because they had some bad night with Jose Cuervo, she said. But now people are trying the mezcal. Theres a lot more trust to allow [a bartender] to choose for them.

She said she plans to introduce tequila flights and offer tastings because many people have asked for it.
DECATUR -- The Rev. Courtney Carson took the podium at Saturdays annual Black Heritage Breakfast of the Decatur NAACP and looked over at event emcee Mildred Bond, whom Carson had just given a big hug.

I am a Baptist preacher and my sister Mildred Bond, who taught me when I was a kid, told me I only had 15 minutes, Carson said. And you know when you give a black preacher a time limit, its like kryptonite. I cant get my Superman on with that kind of kryptonite.

Carson didnt stick to 15 minutes, but he did deliver a powerful message to the packed room at the Main Street Church of the Living God about learning from the past.

If we want progress in the country, we have to come together the way a black preacher named Rev. Jackson challenged and worked with a white president by the name of George Bush to ratify the Voting Rights Act -- progress in the country, Carson said. And the way a black preacher named Rev. Dr. King worked with white presidents named Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy on desegregation and our right to vote -- progress in our country. And the way a black preacher named Rev. Frederick Douglass challenged and worked with a white president by the name of Abraham Lincoln and that produced the Emancipation Proclamation -- progress in our country.

Its time to come together for the fight. And I dont mean in war. We have to come together to do what is morally right in this country. Together we can make this community and this country better, and our children can grow and become better than they could ever imagine. Its our responsibility to come together.

Bart Bradford of Decatur said Carsons message was timely after the divisive election season.

He was able to look at some of the things that have happened in the past and relate them to the present, Bradford said. We can look at some of the challenges weve overcome and learn from them. Because if we dont take action now, the problems were having are only going to get worse.

During Carsons presentation, he addressed President Donald Trump and the divide his election has caused. James Staples, an 80-year-old former Marine and Macon County deputy sheriff, said that divide is hurting the country.

What (Carson) brought up is true -- we need to work together and not apart, Staples said. Theres too much separation.

Virginia Tyson of Decatur said she was inspired by Carsons presentation and by the size and makeup of the crowd.

One of the reasons I come is the unity at this event -- no matter what race you are, we all come together in harmony at this breakfast, Tyson said. And it was good to hear such a bold presentation. Rev. Carson made a statement about where weve come from and how far we still have to go.

Carsons speech focused on the word remember and hit on a variety of subjects. He said Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle said, The only thing we learn from history is that we dont learn from history.

I want to wrestle with that challenge here today, maybe in 15 minutes, if the Lord allows, Carson said to laughter. I want to bridge the gap between our past and our present.

Though slavery was abolished in 1865 with the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution -- two years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation -- blacks in the U.S. didnt have the same rights as whites until the laws passed during the Civil Rights movement in the mid- to late 1960s.

You must remember, or is it too painful to remember, or have you chosen to forget? Carson said. We must remember that there was Jim Crow, there was and is apartheid, there was and is racism, there was and is white supremacy, there was and is slavery, and there was and is discrimination.

Though he praised men such as Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson for helping usher in blacks rights in America, he also said from time to time he has to have a spiritual conversation with those men and others from the countys past.

Thomas Jefferson coined that immortal declaration: All men are created equal, Carson said. I have to raise him up from the dead and ask him: Why is it that we need a Civil Rights Act between us to govern us? Why is it that I need a 13th Amendment to be human? Why is it that I need a 14th Amendment to be protected? Why is it that I need a 15th Amendment for my right to vote? You told me all men were created equal. Why is it that, to be a human being, I need a piece of paper.

Carson slammed on the podium and said: Theres something wrong with that picture.

Carson later quoted mid-20th century civil rights leader Howard Thurman: We need a healthy sense of history, because if a man does not know from which hes come, hes doomed to mistreat where he is. And if mistreats where he is, he cant figure out where he needs to go.
PEORIA  Despite the lack of a state budget and a slow response to employment ads looking for hundreds of new workers, the Illinois Department of Corrections is making progress in its efforts to improve conditions for 11,000 mentally ill prisoners, according to reports provided Friday in federal court.

Lawyers for the state and inmates outlined improvements, including mental health assessments conducted of new inmates and the hiring of about 250 mental health workers, in an appearance before U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mihm.

Still, both sides agreed with a state-appointed monitor that substantial work remains in order for the state to comply with a May 2016 settlement of a landmark lawsuit.

The agreement calls for new residential treatment units in three prisons  Pontiac, Logan and Dixon correctional centers  and the former Illinois Youth Center in Joliet. An additional 300 clinical staff members to treat seriously mentally ill inmates and 400 new security staff members for the treatment units also must be hired.

The total cost to implement the mental health upgrades is about $80 million.

In a phone call to the courtroom, independent monitor Dr. Pablo Stewart cited the state's "budget realities" as one of the causes of the state's struggle to comply with the agreement. Unfilled staff positions "have a significant impact on every aspect of the settlement agreement," said Stewart.

IDOC lawyer Terence Corrington said renovations are expected to be completed in June on portions of the Elgin Mental Health Center to make room for 22 male and 22 female inmates whose mental illness requires hospitalization. The lack of a facility for inmates with the greatest treatment needs was a major stumbling block in reaching the settlement.

Alan Mills, one of the lawyers for inmates, said the development of treatment plans is "a good step forward," but the response to calls for inmates having a mental health crisis remains an issue.

Lawyers for inmates and the state also reached an agreement that requires the state to pay $3.8 million in legal fees in connection with the eight-year court battle.

In their initial request for legal fees, four law firms requested $6 million in fees but agreed to the lower amount.

Under the agreement, the law firms will be paid $1.9 million, but the balance will be set aside and paid only if the DOC fails to comply with the order. The arrangement is an incentive for the state to follow through with its obligations and provides the state with $1.9 million to use toward the improvements, said Mills.

The Chicago law firms spent almost 11,000 hours on the case, according to the request for fees. Fees will be divided among four legal groups: Dentons US, Equip for Equality, Mayer Brown and Uptown Peoples Law Center, all of Chicago.
DECATUR  Two Decatur women are facing Class X armed robbery charges for allegedly holding up an eastside convenience store by brandishing a knife that resembled a firearm.

About 5 a.m. Jan. 15, a woman entered the Circle K, 1685 S. Baltimore, and displayed a weapon, which the 52-year-old female store employee believed was a small handgun.

The handgun was later determined to be a knife with an approximately 3-inch blade, fashioned to resemble a small handgun, said an affidavit by a Decatur patrol officer.

The employee feared for her life and believed the handgun to be real.

As store surveillance cameras recorded the incident, Leica A. Edwards, 48, proceeded behind the counter, where she stole three cartons of Newport 100 cigarettes.

When Edwards left the store, the employee followed her outside. She observed Leica get into a gold-colored car parked in the 3800 block of East Fulton Avenue with its hazard lights on. The vehicle was parked about a half block from the store, where it could not be seen from inside the store.

The employee called 911, informing the dispatcher that the car headed west on Fulton.

Officers conducted a traffic stop in the 1400 block of South Lost Bridge Road, about 1 miles from the Circle K.

The driver of the vehicle was identified as Kimberly S. Harris, 50. Edwards was a passenger in the car.

In a police interview, Edwards voluntarily admitted that she and Kimberly had planned to rob the Circle K, the affidavit said. Leica stated they had been using crack cocaine to 'get high' all night but had run out. Leica advised they planned to use the items they obtained from the robbery to trade for crack cocaine.

Edwards and Harris were booked into the Macon County Jail, where they are being held on bonds of $50,000 and $20,000, respectively. They were each arraigned Jan. 13 on one count of armed robbery, punishable by six to 30 years in prison. Edwards is due in court for her preliminary hearing on Wednesday, Harris' hearing is scheduled for Feb. 22. Both defendants are represented by public defenders.

Since 1992 Edwards has 27 criminal convictions, including 12 felonies, for charges including robbery, theft, and forgery, mostly in Cook and Macon counties. She has served six terms in the Illinois Department of Corrections and numerous jail sentences.

Harris served a two-year federal prison sentence for cocaine distribution the 1990s. She is serving a one-year court supervision term for a 2016 misdemeanor conviction of possession of drug paraphernalia.
All last year, the entire diamond industry was riveted to the scandal in the Kimberley Process (KP) - someone feeling indignation, some being puzzled, and some openly sympathizing. It was the first time in the history of the KP that it was declared a boycott by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) within the Civil Society Coalition (CSC). Disagreed with the chairmanship of Dubai in the KP, they put forward demands and did not stint on accusations. Against this background, various reflections on the activities and future of the Kimberley Process, which usually do not interest the average man in the street, once again hit the pages of international press.

I hope no one of the industry stakeholders will get hurt if I will voice the well-known truth: When the chairmanship of Dubai in the KP ceased and moved to Australia, the majority in the industry was relieved. It is not because the activities of the United Arab Emirates as Chairman of the KP was not appreciated (on the contrary, many considered this period of the KP existence to be one of the most effective), but simply because any conflict situation is exhausting and hampers constructive work in one way or another.

However, these hopes for a peaceful life were premature. At the end of last week, the CSC met for a regular closed meeting to discuss the KPs complete inefficiency and raise the question of delivering new ultimatums or completely withdrawing from this organization.

We do not yet know what was the outcome of this meeting. But the fact is that this story seems less and less like an attempt to improve the activities of the KP or the situation in the diamond trade in the UAE, while it looks more and more like a banal massive PR-campaign organized to achieve quite other goals.

The Coalition announced its intention to boycott the KP as early as 2015. The CSC expressed its disagreement with the chairmanship of the United Arab Emirates, accusing Dubai of transfer pricing encouraging the penetration of conflict diamonds into the market. Then the Coalition put forward a number of demands, agreeing to return to dialogue after they would have been satisfied and citing among them the establishment of a system of internal controls to prevent undervaluation of diamonds; enforcement cooperation with trading partners; greater vigilance to prevent illicit diamonds from entering the supply chain; and engagement with watchdog groups.

Alan Martin, the head of the CSC interviewed by mass media has repeatedly said that none of the Coalition's requirements have ever been met. He says in the invitation to the above NGO meeting that the disrespect shown by the UAE KP Chair to the KP coalition in 2016, and our unprecedented boycott of their Chairmanship, underlined how far respectful relations and standards have deteriorated within the KP. It looks a bit strange, taking into consideration that in 2016 the KP was busily dealing with diamond evaluation issues and started to organize forums of observers and even proposed to establish an independent fund, which could finance the participation of NGOs in the KP activities, including an opportunity to fully participate in review missions. Actually, the fact that the requirements had been met was recognized even by the members of the Coalition - for example, by the representative of CENADEP, who was immediately suspended from work for 15 days after this statement by Alan Martin.

After these statements, there was a feeling that the issues of transfer pricing and better control in Dubai were of no great interest to the CSC from the very start. This feeling is only strengthened when you read the new list of demands to the KP, which the Coalition discussed last week - there is not a word about transfer pricing and the UAE, but instead they insist on:

- Participation (of NGOs) in decision-making;

- Broader definition of conflict diamonds;

- Clarity on the role of the KP in preventing / responding to systematic violence in the diamond supply;

- Revised minimum requirements and independent, third-party assessments of compliance with minimum requirements;

- Inclusion of polished diamonds in the KP mandate;

- Revised governance model;

- Multi donor trust fund (to finance NGOs within the KP).

All are equal, but some are more equal than others

Defending its position last year, Alan Martin repeatedly asserted that the UAE would attract friendly and fake NGOs to defend it and simulate an independent third-party view on the problem (which, incidentally, did not happen). However, a closer look at the CSC itself makes one ponder in earnest over what is to be considered a fake.

The CSC, consisting of 10 non-governmental organizations, conducts official meetings of its members and issues official statements. At the same time, the Coalition does not even have an official website, on which it could be possible to get acquainted with these statements, or at least with the participants of the Coalition - this information is available only on the Kimberley Process website. All the activities of the CSC are coordinated by one organization, which is Partnership Africa-Canada (PAC). Alan Martin is considered to be the leader of the whole Coalition, he makes statements on behalf of all its members and attends all the events of the KP solo.

It is not so simple to find information about the remaining 9 members of the CSC: three organizations out of total 10 have no own websites either, while another two allegedly have, but their websites are idle. As for the remaining four, it was possible to find out the following:

Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD) operating in Sierra Leone is mainly engaged in preventing Ebola, organizing volunteers and giving lectures on human rights to the local population. The 25-page report on the NMJD activities mentions the Kimberley Process and diamonds in just one paragraph.

Green Advocates Liberia, the official name of which is the Association of Environmental Lawyers of Liberia, handles cases related to environmental protection and also is engaged in protecting the rights of local tribes over natural resources (for example, it deals with attempts to challenge mining concessions). You will never see the word "diamond" on the entire website of Green Advocates.

RELUFA Cameroon implements many social initiatives: it organizes micro-credits for citizens, public banks of grain, and projects to support farmers. However, once again the list of programs implemented by RELUFA does not contain a single word about diamonds. Although the Kimberley Process is mentioned on the website  due to the recent reports about Cameroon being involved in the export of conflict diamonds from the Central African Republic.

Actually, there are only two out of ten organizations officially dealing with diamonds and these are PAC and the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), the latter historically insisting that the money gained from mining operations in Zimbabwe should remain in the country.

I do not want to diminish the activity of the other eight organizations in any way. In my opinion, they are doing very important work, trying to make people's lives better in their countries and protect their rights. But the fact remains that diamonds and the Kimberley Process for the majority of the Coalition members are far from being a priority.

In his recent review, PAC Unpacked, Chaim Even-Zohar argued that the PAC has a priority (if not the only) voting right in the CSC, because it has the ability to financially help the African NGOs. The African NGOs have practically no money even for their core activities - not to mention the fact that they, for example, cannot pay for a trip to join a the KP review mission. If this is the case, then there is no one to lose: small NGOs receive additional funds for social programs, while the CSC achieves an illusion of numerous representation.

But PACs activities are also financed by some source (and this was disclosed by Chaim Even-Zohar, as well as by the recently released annual report of PAC). PAC - and therefore the entire CSC - lives at the expense of government money from other countries. In 2015, one third of the PAC budget was financed by the European Union, one third by the US government (through USAID), and 20% through Australia (AusAid). At one time, Chaim Even-Zohar had expressed the hope that Canada would renew its funding of Partnership Africa Canada - and Canada did it in 2016, after which the annual budget of PAC almost doubled.

As is known, he who pays the piper calls the tune. But what kind of tune?

The claim, which vanished into thin air

In 2015, the CSC was pro-actively advocating for Australia to chair the KP instead of the Emirates. In 2016, it was pro-actively trying to deprive the UAE of its chairmanship accusing Dubai of transfer pricing. In 2017, after Australia assumed office, the CSC suddenly excluded transfer pricing and diamond valuation from its demands, as if these issues had never existed. Although it would seem that the new chairman has no "conflict of interest" and could solve this problem!

You can even guess why this happened in this way.

Any transaction always involves at least two parties - a seller and a buyer. If we are talking about the practice of transfer pricing, then it means that someone has imported diamonds from one party at a low price and sold them to the other party at a high price. In a series of mutual accusations market stakeholders are discussing the fact that diamond prices in Dubai go up, but somehow omitting one important detail - Who are these mysterious traders?

By far not all diamond hubs publish trade statistics for rough diamonds. And even more so, they avoid giving a breakdown of importing and exporting countries in such statistics. However, some information can be found even in public sources. For example, in the annual report of the European Union on the KPCS implementation in 2015, officially published on the KP website.

Number of KP certificates for rough imports into the EU in 2015 (by countries that issued certificates):

Source  KPCS EU Annual Report 2015



Speaking about the EU, it should be understood that it is Antwerp, which counts in the first place. If we compare the trade statistics of the EU and that of AWDC published on their official website, it becomes obvious that Antwerp accounts for about 90% of the EU's diamond trade.

Thus, by the number of registered certificates Dubai is a major importer of diamonds to Belgium, accounting for 23% of the total imports. Israel and the Russian Federation (the latter being traditionally called "the main trading partner of Antwerp") account for lesser and roughly equal shares - about 16%.

However, the real magnitude becomes clear when you look at the volume of trade. According to the KP statistics, the EU has significantly reduced its export of diamonds to China, India and Israel over the last five years and significantly increased such export to Dubai. A similar situation exists with the import of rough diamonds.

If you know these details, the situation looks quite different. When someone tries to unseat the unwanted Chairman of the Kimberley Process accusing him of transfer pricing and blood diamond encouragement, it is one thing. Although, strictly speaking, free trade zones have been in use from the middle of the 20th century, today there are thousands of them across the world, and they are dealing with quite a variety of goods and services, not only with rough and polished diamonds. Duty-free trade and low tax rates are sometimes subject to criticism, but nevertheless they are practiced worldwide, and nowhere legally prohibited.

But it is quite another thing, when the European Union is financing a NGO, which is accusing of transfer pricing the Dubai Exchange, whose main trading partner is the European Union... If transfer pricing is a horrible, unacceptable act that encourages conflicts, then the European Union should have first punished itself in an attempt to punish businesspersons involved in this practice.

But this, of course, only if it really had to punish anyone. However, a ban on trade in the free zone of Dubai is disadvantageous primarily to European diamantaires. The AWDC management itself declared that Antwerp now has to compete with other trading platforms (Dubai, India, Israel, Hong Kong) as they practice free trade, far more lenient taxation and regulation. For example, the corporate tax in Antwerp was 33.9% before 2017, whereas Dubai and Hong Kong residents have to pay significantly less - 16.5%.

Therefore, if last year the attempt to evict the UAE from the KP chairmanship failed, there is no use to take pains this year. Any further debating of the subject is completely useless for the countries, which are donors to the CSC. And the claim advanced by PAC dissolves in the air as quickly as it emerged.

Self-harm

We cannot blame PAC in lobbying for the interests of individual countries. Any independent activities are possible only if you have your own money. But if someone pays you, you will have to do what you are ordered. In this regard, PAC is no different from any office clerk.

But the actions of all other participants in this story cause some confusion.

First of all, the actions of the countries that finance the activities of the CSC  the European Union, USA, Canada and Australia. If last year the CSC found it enough to boycott the KP, this year it is already busily discussing the possibility of exiting from this organization. The Kimberley Process is based on the cooperting triumvirate of diamond mining countries, diamond business and civil society. The exit of NGOs will automatically mean the loss of confidence towards the Kimberley Process, and hence to its certificates. Do we understand it correctly that four members of the Kimberley Process are financing the collapse of the Kimberley Process?

In what way exactly is the esteemed public in these countries going to sell diamonds, if the Kimberley Process will lose public trust and its certificate will cease to be a guarantee of origin for the user? It is possible, of course, to assume that the law on conflict minerals will be broadened to embrace diamonds. But to perceive the new law, consumers need time. Instead, they may prefer synthetics guaranteed to be conflict-free, rather than try to understand what happened to the KP and why it is now replaced by some other system.

The actions undertaken by the Coalition  including all the African NGOs, except PAC - are puzzling. There is a feeling that they do not fully understand what kind of demands they are supporting putting their signatures under them and what kind of consequences this may have.

The demand to expand the definition of conflict diamonds to include human rights violations will primarily hit African countries themselves. Diamond-mining companies and dealers are used to mix diamonds coming in different parcels and then keep them in their inventories for a long time, releasing for sale in sync with market trends, rather than the date of their production. If today, some dealer sells a parcel of diamonds from Zimbabwe, it does not mean that it was produced this year and not ten years ago.

Africa is a continent known in the mass consciousness as a place of multiple civil wars and peoples oppression. If necessary, it will be possible to recall the civil war in Angola, and the apartheid regime in South Africa  Were human rights not violated there in those periods?

What is most interesting  and it seems that the CSC members do not understand this either  is that expanding the definition of conflict diamonds will not lead to an improvement in the human rights situation. The KP does not have and will never have the right to carry out reforms in a given country (because it is the prerogative of the authorities of that country) or make judicial verdicts and prosecute by any means other than embargos (because it is the prerogative of national or international courts). The only thing which will result from the expansion of the definition will be a total ban on diamond exports from those countries, where respect for human rights is today questionable. If desired, signs of such violations can be found absolutely in any African country, where the NGOs are now trying to expand the mandate of the Kimberley Process. And then what? If now these countries do not have enough money for economic development, they will even more so fall short of funds if diamond mining and diamond export are stopped.

The demand to expand the definition of conflict diamonds set forth by the African NGOs may be compared with an obsessive desire to shoot oneself in the foot. The desire to provoke collapse of the Kimberley Process is also, to put it mildly, too far from being constructive. Well, self-harm is a fairly common phenomenon in psychology. It usually ends in adolescence, but it can happen to an adult as a result of stress and social pressure. It is hoped that all the participants of this story will have enough self-control and patience to overcome this and avoid steps, which may be regretted later.

Elena Levina for Rough&Polished




Ahmed Bin Sulayem, KP Chair 2016, delivered a speech on the draft resolution The Role of Diamonds in Fueling Conflict at the UN General Assembly 69th plenary meeting, 71st session, on February 2nd, 2017, says a Press statement from the organisation.

The UAE led resolution on The Role of Diamonds in Fueling Conflict. It includes important decisions of the Kimberley Process, which were made by consensus during UAE KPs tenure as the KP Chair in 2016.

Adopted by the UN and co-sponsored by 41 countries, the resolution notes that the KP plenary took note of the UAE's proposal to develop a methodology on the valuation of rough diamonds, welcomed the proposal to establish a Permanent Secretariat for the Kimberley Process, and welcomes that the plenary acknowledged the proposal of the KP Chair 2016 to set up a multi-donor trust fund for the civil society. This work will now continue under the leadership of Australia, which takes over as KP Chair in 2017.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, KP Chair, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, said: During my chairmanship, I have been proud to represent the officials who regulate the diamond trade in the producing countries. My trip to the Central African Republic, a country that had been excluded from the Kimberley Process, was particularly important in providing assistance to the country in meeting its Kimberley Process requirements, and enabling the resumption of the countrys export of rough diamonds from newly compliant zones.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem highlighted three specific proposals that were made by the UAE as Chair in 2016 that were also reflected in the resolution.

"I am pleased that the UAE proposal to establish a Permanent Secretariat has been welcomed and is included in the draft resolution. Second, the draft resolution welcomes the willingness of the Kimberley Process to further discuss the UAE proposal to establish a multi-donor trust fund or similar mechanisms that would financially support the participation of a wide range of Civil Society in the Process. Third, during our chairmanship, we initiated a series of workshops to develop a uniform methodology on the valuation of rough diamonds," he added.

It was also announced at the Plenary that the United Arab Emirates will continue to play an active role in the Kimberley Process and will also chair the Committee on Participation and Chairmanship (CPC) in 2017.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished




The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has announced that it will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Germany on May 11. The city of Pforzheim, jewellery and watch industry centre of the country, is to host RJC's meeting with its members and various stakeholders.

RJC will hold its AGM proceedings on Thursday, 11 May for members only. Following the AGM, RJC will host a full day stakeholder engagement session that is open to the jewellery industry and all interested parties.

2017 marks the 250th anniversary of the jewellery and watch industry being established in Pforzheim, which bears the nickname of 'Golden city'. The RJC members can join the gala evening on May 12.

Earlier, RJC held a series of events in Mumbai and JCK Las Vegas, and now it returns to Europe again in 2017.



Theodor Lisovoy, Rough&Polished, Moscow




Dominion Diamond Corporation announced that Brendan Bell will step down from his role as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company and a member of the Board of Directors. Bell has agreed to continue to serve in his role as CEO of the Company until June 30, 2017, which allows for a successor to be identified and ensures a seamless transition in management.

The Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee of the Board of Directors has begun the process of identifying potential candidates to assume the role of CEO, and has engaged Korn Ferry in this regard.

Mr. Bell stated, "Both the Board of Directors and I agreed that this is an appropriate time for me to hand the reins to someone else. The decision to move the corporate offices of Dominion from Yellowknife to Calgary was necessary in order to reduce operating costs and support the long-term strength of the Company, and is one that I continue to support. For personal reasons, however, this is not the right move for my family. It has been a pleasure working with the Company's senior management team, and I will continue to do so until a successor has been identified."

Dominion Diamond Corporation is the world's third largest producer of rough diamonds by value. Both of its production assets are located in the low political risk environment of the Northwest Territories in Canada.

The Company operates the Ekati Diamond Mine and also owns 40% of the Diavik Diamond Mine. Dominion supplies premium rough diamond assortments to the global market through its sorting and selling operations in Canada, Belgium and India.



Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels




DECATUR  Sometimes, children just need somebody willing to listen.

That's the idea behind the row of cups in Kristin Portis' classroom at Franklin School. Each cup represents a different mood, and each child has a Popsicle stick with his or her name on it to place inside the cups in the morning to show how they feel.

If I notice that kids are mad or upset, I will pull them aside one by one first thing in the morning and have a conversation with them about their feelings, so they can express their emotions, Portis said.We get on a personal level and build relationships, so they know we're not just teachers. We're also people that care about them.

Six schools in Central Illinois are part of a pilot project in trauma-informed schools, helping not only teachers and administrators, but all adults who work with kids, to see through a trauma-informed lens, as it's known. The schools are Franklin and Muffley Schools, Phoenix Academy, Argenta-Oreana, Sangamon Valley and Deland-Weldon schools. The hope is to expand the pilot project next year until all area schools are involved.

Kids who are affected by trauma react differently. Their brains develop and are wired differently from children who have not dealt with trauma.

It's not just one incident, said Stephanie Strang, principal at Franklin. It's a series of incidents. We're all trying to get our minds around it. It's complicated.

Heather England, also a teacher at Franklin, uses tried-and-true card games like Go Fish as a way to engage students' brains and have some fun with them. She said that when kids act out in class, she first tries talking to them, letting them tell her what's upsetting them, instead of sending them out of class. It could be as serious as that their parents are divorcing, or as simple as they had an argument with another child, but upset kids can't concentrate on learning.

Sometimes I just want someone to listen to me, she said. I just want to complain for a minute and I'll move on, and the kids are the same way. They just want to hear that their feelings are acknowledged. I'll tell them, 'I'm really sorry that happened to you.'

The Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration has awarded a grant to provide training and awareness activities to teach school district personnel and community members how to approach their work with this awareness. Trauma can affect brain development, emotional and physical health, and weaken the immune system.

The agency's statistics show that nationally, six in 10 youth have been exposed to violence in the past year. That includes witnessing violence, assault with a weapon, sexual victimization, child maltreatment, and dating violence, with 1 in 10 suffering an injury. Cost to the health care system as a result of violence and abuse is $333 billion to $750 billion annually, and 75 to 93 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system have experienced some degree of trauma.

Social worker Frances Godfrey at Enterprise School has had to help an abused child who was removed from his home, who is no longer attending Enterprise, and other kids facing trauma of all kinds. Listening is the main way to help, she said, recognizing that a child is having a particularly hard day, and letting that boy or girl sit in her office and talk it out.

They just need to know that somebody cares, she said. For some of them, school is their only safe place.

The grant for Project Aware has two components, said Brooke Harris, project manager for Decatur's schools. The first is providing mental health services, including prevention and early intervention. The second is teaching adults about Youth Mental Health First Aid, training them to spot red flags that something may be going on with a child. It's not diagnosing or treating in any way. Harris likened the process to knowing CPR and handing the person over to the professionals as soon as they can get there, but providing first aid until then.

An eight-hour training curriculum is free to anyone interested in it, thanks to the grant, she said. They've reached out to teachers, churches, the Boys and Girls Club, everywhere kids might spend time, and parents are encouraged to consider it, too.

It's really about creating trauma-sensitive environments, Harris said. It's making sure our students are able to receive the care and access the care they'll get in the school system. We want to make sure they know they can get that care outside the school system.

Trauma, as it's being used in this context, doesn't necessarily mean a big life event, though it can. It's not only applicable if a child's parent has died, or the family has had a house fire, or the child is the victim of abuse or neglect. Children growing up in poverty, who worry about having clean clothes, enough to eat and whether the electricity will still be on when they go home from school, are also experiencing trauma. Children and adults who are under unrelenting stress, no matter the cause, react differently, and a situation or event that they might otherwise handle easily can cause a violent flight-fight-flee reaction due to stress-related changes in brain chemistry.

Decatur schools have 70 percent poverty on average, said Lawrence Trimble, director of Student Services, and while many people believe that county and rural schools escape most of the problems of an urban district, those areas have a lot of the same problems with poverty and chaotic home lives that Decatur has.

Adults have coping skills that children lack, techniques to calm toxic stress reactions. Kids often lack executive function, using the frontal cortex, and instead react emotionally and instinctively. Trauma can cause post-traumatic stress disorder in children, too, which is defined as anxiety and flashbacks triggered by a traumatic event.

It's not that schools are being instructed to not correct misbehavior, Harris said. It's that the trauma-informed mindset will help the adults recognize that the behavior might well be a symptom and not the problem, and to deal with it accordingly.

It's discipline versus punishment, Trimble said. (Senate Bill 100) is about restoring and repairing, not labeling.

That bill, which sharply curtails suspension and expulsion and went into effect last year, requires schools to exhaust all other avenues before resorting to those measures. When a kid's behavior is not willful disobedience and disruption, but emotional distress he or she lacks the tools to handle, punishment doesn't help. It only adds to the distress the child is already feeling.

At the same time, Trimble said, teachers and other adults risk compassion burnout, pouring so much into trying to help that they deplete their own reserves, and that's not good, either. Part of the training is to teach the helpers how to avoid that, with mindfulness and rest for themselves as needed. Teachers learn relaxation techniques and yoga.

Books that help create the trauma-informed mindset, which are being used in training at the pilot schools, include Lost at School by Ross W. Greene, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, by child psychiatrist Bruce D. Perry and Help for Billy by Heather T. Forbes.

All kids can do well, Trimble said. This is a lens, not a program. It's a theory of thought, a way of doing business, a viewpoint and a mind shift.
One of Target's trademark two-ton red ball used as a bollard outside its stores got dislodged and hit a moving vehicle.

The incident happened at a Target location in Paramus, New Jersey. The red ball became free after a pickup truck hit it. The ball then rolls into the parking lot striking into shopper Eileen Grady's Nissan Rogue, causing about $3,500 in damages.

A surveillance footage recovered from the parking lot camera, shows that the ball ricocheted off Grady's car and kept rolling. A man jumped out of his car, followed by his dog, to stop the ball. Three men then roll back the ball across the parking lot to the store entrance, where an employee placed a cone nearby.

Meanwhile, Target is refusing to pay an compensation to Grady, citing the pickup truck driver as the culprit.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
The National Coalition of Sinjar Yezidis reports that the Yezidi-populated village of Tlik, located just this side of the barbed wire that stretches along on the banks of the Akhouryan River that separates Armenia from Turkey, has been without non-potable water due to a broken pump and that Russian border guards have prevented residents from replacing it.

Boris Mourazi, who heads the Coalition, says that the soldiers have told residents of the Aragatsotn village of 18 families that they need an entry permit to get to the site of the pump close to the border.

Mourazi says residents requested a permit from the National Security Service (NSS), but have yet to receive an answer.

Provincial authorities seem to be sitting on their hands, says Mourazi. I ask all legal organizations and the media to focus on this problem.

The village hasnt had any drinking water since 1993. Residents are forced to buy it. The pump provided water for the animals and for doing laundry.

Update: Alik Mstoyan, who teaches Yezidi language and literature in Tlik, has told Hetq that residents have purchased a new pump for $875 and that the NSS has issued an entry permit for an electrician to install the new pump.

Every year, the NSS issues entry permits to residents to descend to the river. Mstoyan says that when residents went to fix the pump, they realized they needed the professional help of an electrician. Since the electrician did not have a permit, the border guards were legally obliged not to let him into the restricted area where the pump is located.
Bill Self, Kurtis Townsend won't be on sidelines for KU's first four games
The undeniable truth is this. Respect for the rule of law, justice and freedom of choice and association are paramount principles to adhere to if people of any country want to co-exist peacefully.

During the past few days, these issues have been the focus of much public debate, especially in light of the governments push to declare Samoa as a Christian state.

If we were to take the official line being toed by the government as gospel truth, as a Christian, youd have to say there is invigorating hope.

We say this because from a Christian perspective, Samoa is treading waters other nations fear. Whether its necessary though, thats another question.

You see, Samoas independence is turning 55 years old this year. And since this country became politically independent, our people have been enjoying peace and freedom protected by justice, freedom and the respect for the rule of law.

The threat of another religion overtaking Christianity in Samoa has never been an issue. The only thing threatening when it comes to religion is our people enslaving themselves through selfish ambitions and poor decision-making.

If there is a threat that needs to be addressed, it is that. We say this because while the government is coming up with one law change after another, these are the real issues staring us in the face that must be dealt with immediately if we want our people to continue to enjoy their freedom.

A few years ago for instance, the Supreme Court through Justice Pierre Slicer delivered a ruling on the outcome of a legal claim by a family at Tanugamanono who were bullied out of their home by the Village Council.

For the uninitiated, Afu Faumuina Tutuilas family was evicted from their home as a result of a bitter dispute involving the Tanugamanono Village Council and their neighbour, the E.F.K.S Church. The details of the row are well known.

But some parts are worth revisiting.

This has been a very long drawn out process, Afu said then. Weve suffered so much, weve been humiliated by our village and weve been made to look like we are bad people.

Yet this was a case about a family being bullied by people who think they are above the law. Its been an emotional rollercoaster for our family. Weve cried so many times from the hurt, weve been hurting for a very long time.

The question we asked then and we continue to ask now is how was this allowed to happen? How did this country reach the point where Samoans are allowed to boot other Samoans from their home and land?

Isnt every Samoan afforded the privilege of belonging to this great land we call Samoa under the Constitution? Imagine then having to suffer in silence the indignity of becoming displaced nomads in your own country?

The fact is Afu and her family were not the first Samoans to be forced into a life of exile in this free country. Trust me, I know the feeling. It has got to be the most enfeebling experience a Samoan must have to endure.

Over the years, similar punishments have been meted out in the name of village law and order.

Some years ago, a man was shot dead in Upolu. Elsewhere, an elderly father was hog-tied and placed near the road for defying the village in the way he worshipped his God. His house and properties were set alight.

Freedom? Justice? Rule of law?

Absolutely not.

And yet this is what we should be more concerned about.

Foreign beliefs religions dont threaten our people as bad as our people enslaving ourselves.

Part of the problem we believe is the Village Fono Act. This is a law that arms Village Councils with unquestionable power over their subjects. They are so taken by the power this law gives them they dont really care who they hurt.

Weve said before that in some cases, this drug called the Village Fono Act has led some matai councils to question the governments authority. The Police would know. They have been at the receiving end of threats from different villages at one time or another.

Weve seen this time and time again. Its not just at Tanugamanono. Its happening all over the country.

Every week there is a man being booted from his village, there are families being forcefully removed without question.

Somewhere out there, there are greedy matai who are using this law to serve their petty and dirty agenda.

How long will this country allow this to continue?

As your newspaper has said time and time again, perhaps what this country needs is a law requiring all matai to think of the Constitution as their second Bible. In other words, matai need to read the Constitution and understand what it says so that they treat their fellow villagers with respect and humanity.

Which follows that its time for the government to reconsider punishments such as ostracism, torching of all properties, destruction of assets among others with a view to getting rid of it. This will benefit our people far better than making Samoa Christian state.

These penalties are both outrageous and barbaric. They are inconsistent with the so-called Christian principles and values we have come to embrace. We cannot have both. What do you think?

Have a peaceful Sunday Samoa, God bless!
Re: Govt. move threatens religious freedom

If you really understand religion you would never make this amendment to the constitution.

The writers of the constitution were very wise in saying that Samoa will be founded on God because if you read the Bible you will know that when Jesus returns, he will return by a different name.

The reality therefore is that at that time and if we accept Jesus on his return, Samoa will no longer be a Christian nation but a nation following the new name of the Lord. By making this amendment we are effectively saying that we will reject Jesus when he returns.

I hope someone in the Clergy will be able to explain this to our political leaders.

E.T.
The life of a senior Pastor of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa was remembered and celebrated when the nation paused to pay tribute to his service on Friday.

Reverend Faapaia Tariu was still serving Vailoa-uta church when he was called home on 21 January 2017. He was 65.

Married to Sinavaiui Toelupe, he is survived by his seven children and grandchildren.

Among the mourners was the Member of the Council of Deputies, Le Mamea Ropati, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and leaders of C.C.C.S from all over Samoa.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa paid tribute to Rev. Faapaias courage. He recalled an incident where Rev. Faapaia went against the leadership of the church by organising a dance group from his church for the Teuila Festival.

He knew it will be against the churchs rules but he still went ahead and did it because he was a number one supporter of the government and culture, Tuilaepa said.

Even though he got in trouble from the Elders for participating in the Teuila it didnt worry him because he knew he was standing for what he believes is right.

Tuilaepa said church Ministers should follow Rev. Faapaias footsteps in leading by example.

He supports the children of Samoa and I want to encourage all the ministers of churches in Samoa that our work is not only in the church but also in the country as well.

Rev. Faapaias son, Loli Liki Tariu, remembered his father as a loving person.

In our fathers eyes we are all the same, his own children, his church children we are all the same. He loves our mother very much they have a special bond that nobody could ever break, Loli said.

His wife Sinavaiui Tariu fondly recalled their relationship, dating back to 18 February 1984 when they were married.

As we were preparing for our wedding, we promised each other that for as long as we are together we will never fight, she said. And from that day until now our love for each other has grown stronger. We loved each other so dearly."

Mrs. Tariu said Rev. Faapaias were always proud of his upbringing, even though it was a tough one.

He always mentioned that his mother was poor but a fighter. This is what we talked about everyday when he thought of his mother."

He is the son of a poor woman but God enriched her through her son.

He is the son of the woman who fears God and she relied on God when she didnt have much.

She still had faith and relied on God that her son will get a better life and succeed in school and become an instrument of God.

He is the best gift to me, my children and my family.

Rev. Faapaias final resting place is at his Vaitele residence.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has defended the Attorney Generals decision to acquire another foreign prosecutor to pursue the second round of of charges against the suspended Police Commissioner, Fuiavailili Egon Keil.

Last week, Attorney General, Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff, told the Sunday Samoan that a New Zealand lawyer, Nigel Hampaton QC, has been appointed to handle the hearing.

The decision though has been questioned by some critics who argue that a local lawyer could have done the job, saving taxpayers money.

But Tuilaepa, who is also the Minister responsible for the Office of the Attorney General, defended the decision.

When cases such as this involving heads of government bodies arise, the Attorney General will not take it lightly in terms of the preparations that needs to be done, he said.

They should bring in the big fish (lauia), they have a lot of experience and they know how to deal with these difficult cases. What I mean is that not all lawyers are the same.

Tuilaepa said this has always been the governments policy.

Remember there was a matter during the time of Tofilau when there was a court case between the newspaper and the Prime Minister, he explained.

We brought in the big fish from overseas. These are people whose sphere of expertise could not be found locally especially when we are faced with major issues such as the one that led to the court case against the Samoa Observer for defamation."

Even the Samoa Observer went and hired a very expensive lawyer from overseas because with these things, you dont take them lightly."

So although it is expensive, it is money worth spending in the pursuit of justice and the truth.

Told that a local lawyer could have easily done the job, Tuilaepa responded: The government must be prepared to spend money to seek the truth, especially since we are talking about the head of this particular government body. We want to find the truth and seek justice."

Its not that we dont have local lawyers who are big fishes but the government cannot be slack in this matter.

There are more than 200 charges filed against Fuiava by the Ministry of Police in relation to fire arms and one of incite to murder. The suspended Commissioner has vehemently denied the allegations through his lawyer, Leiataualesa Komisi Koria.

According to Attorney General, Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff, Nigel Hampaton QC comes highly recommended.

I can confirm that an independent prosecutor has been engaged to take full carriage of the charges against the suspended commissioner of Police, said Lemalu.

He is Mr. Nigel Hampton QC, a highly respected barrister of over 30 years experience. He has been given the file sent to him directly from the N.P.O office and he will appear when the matter is called 20 February 2017.

Mr. Hampton was the first New Zealand lawyer to work with the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) in The Hague as an alternate member of the Disciplinary Appeals Board. He has also had a stint as a Chief Justice of the Kingdom of Tonga from 1995-1997.
Last week, we got a phone call from one of our readers reporting that the Vaisigano River had become something of a tourist attraction.

Sadly it was not for any good reason.

A cruise ship had berthed at the Motootua Wharf and many of its passengers were taking a stroll towards the centre of Apia.

However some of them were grouped on the bridge beside the Sheraton and seemed to be mesmerized by something in the water.

It was definitely one of those Is it a bird, is it a plane? moments.

It wasnt till our reader stopped his car and looked over the bridge that he saw what had captured their attention.

It was a flotilla of the white polystyrene containers used to package food and particularly popular for weddings and faalavelave.

Maybe somewhere up the river there had been an event after which the polystyrene rubbish were been tossed into the river.

Or perhaps with the recent heavy rain, a rubbish site beside the river may have flooded causing the containers to float down to the sea.

Either way, it was a case of out of sight and out of mind  for those people at least.

But what, we wonder was going through the minds of the cruise boat passengers minds whose lasting memories of their short stopover in Samoa were now going to be about the sight of plastic trash floating down the river and eventually out to sea?

So much carelessly discarded, visible rubbish is very much at odds with the common sight of most of our population sweeping up the grass cuttings on their properties, trimming trees and hedges and weeding along the driveways and roadside verges.

These unsightly sights also do little to support or promote our image and that espoused by the Samoa Tourism Authority to the world about our clean, green, natural, pristine waters etc.

There is also the added, and often overlooked problems associated with illnesses arising from water borne and air borne rubbish.

In our front page story today there is a familiar tale about flooding along the very same Vaisigano area. And again there seems to be no successful solution from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to combat the annual flooding and destruction of peoples homes and belongings.

It seems that despite knowing every year that there will be torrential rain, nothing is done to address the issue except for short stop gap measures after which the problem resumes.

In and around the new market area, the problem with inadequate drainage also recurs every year. This is usually exacerbated because the drains have not been cleared of debris and blockages occur after the first showers causing flooding and the deterioration of the roads.

So what can be done?

Government can provide rubbish dumps; contract rubbish collectors and provide receptacles so people dont drop their rubbish; government departments can plan better and those assigned to clearing out existing drains, can do so.

Oh and we, can dispose of our rubbish appropriately so that tourists visiting Samoa will be mesmerised by something other than rubbish floating on our rivers out to sea.
Although the wet season is underway and flooding being experienced in some parts of Samoa, there are some residents far worse off than others.

Residents in the Vaisigano area fall into this category.

They have to be cautious every time heavy rain falls because next to the Sheraton Hotel, is the Vaisigano river that overflows once the rain starts coming down strong.

The villagers said the flooding is like being in a swimming pool.

The water doesnt flow to where it used to before and that was towards the Police Station. There were drains at the Aai O Niue that the flood goes through but people have buried them. Thats why the flood comes here. Even the Sheraton has put up a big fence as a protection from the flooding for them but it just makes the level get higher and itaffects all of us more,  the village chief, Seumanutafa Aeau Tiavolo said.

Seumanutafa spoke of how M.N.R.E. (Ministry Of Natural Resources and Environment) visited their village and informed them about their programme to stop the flooding. The proposed programme includes the building of a pipeline that goes through Sheratons grounds taking in all the water and diverting it out to the river. We have never said anything after they (M.N.R.E.) informed us about this programme because they said if we ever interfere with their work, they would take their money back. So now I dont know.

Chris Talauati, one of the villagers, said on Wednesday night, the river overflowed causing severe flooding. He said he is always worried about his little children when this happens.

Not only did we worry about the time when the flood just started but also when it finished because theres a lot of rubbish and waste left behind and that can cause us to get sick. By the time the flood settles down and goes away, theres way too much dirt, he said pointing to the cleaning process done by his family.

The governments programme that they said they were going to do, its still not happening yet. They only come and measure how deep the water is so maybe in another 10 years, it should be ready.

Most of the villagers have been staying in Vaisigano their whole lives so every time the heavy rain falls, being cautious is all they can be. Most of them dont have anywhere else to go.

Another villager, Talauati Tolovae said, We are used to this situation. All we do when it come is just be prepared. We have nowhere else to go, which was why we built our other house with a higher foundation to stay in when it floods. Theres a big wall between us, Eveni and the Sheraton, so the flood just fills up back here where we stay. We are going to live like this because theres nothing we can do about it.
Think a minuteYouve heard the expression What you see is what you get. Psychologists tell us that nothing controls our lives more than our self-image. We live like the person we see in the mirror. We are what we think we are. If you dont think youll be successful, you wont. You cant be it if you cant see it. Your life is limited to your vision. So if you want to change your life, you must change your vision of your life.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was not that famous in 1976 when he met with a newspaper reporter. The reporter asked Schwarzenegger: Now that youve retired from bodybuilding, what do you plan to do next? Schwarzenegger answered very calmly and confidently: Im going to be the #1 movie star in Hollywood. The reporter was shocked and amused at Schwarzeneggers plan. At that time, it was very hard to imagine how this muscle-bound bodybuilder, who was not a professional actor and who spoke poor English with an Austrian accent, could ever hope to be Hollywoods #1 movie star!

When the reporter asked Schwarzenegger how he planned to make his dream come true, Schwarzenneger replied: Ill do it the same way I became the #1 bodybuilder in the world. First I create a vision of who I want to be, then I start living like that person as if it were already true. Sounds almost childishly simple, doesnt it? But it worked! Schwarzenegger DID become the #1 highest paid movie star in Hollywood! Remember: If you can see it, you can be it.

A successful businessman I know wears a shirt with these words on it: Dont pursue your dreams. Chase em down and tackle em! You only get one life to live, so why not live the best life possible? And doesnt it make sense that the One Who invented it is the One Who knows the best way to live it? So ask Jesus Christ to forgive you for living your own way, and to take charge of your life every day. Hell help you start seeing and being the success He created you to beso you can be fully satisfied with what you see and get in life. Just Think a Minute
About eight years ago, ViaSat Chief Executive Mark Dankberg bet the company he co-founded on satellite broadband, eventually spending $1 billion to transform a technology considered barely better than dial-up into a service that smoothly streams YouTube video.

At the time, the space industry didnt believe ViaSat could build a satellite with more capacity than all the other Internet satellites in orbit combined.

Advertisement

And even if it did, there wasnt enough demand to justify the cost of the satellite and distribution network needed to sell satellite Internet service which, while better, still fell short of cable and many telephone company alternatives.

Today ViaSat-1, which launched in 2011, is full with 700,000 Internet subscribers. In addition, the satellite powers in-flight Wi-Fi on more than 500 commercial aircraft from JetBlue, American Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin America, delivering video streaming speeds to each seat. ViaSat-1 also provides in-flight Wi-Fi to Air Force One and other government VIP aircraft.

The uptake for ViaSat-1 affirmed Dankbergs belief in satellite broadband. So the company has doubled down, and then some. It plans to launch ViaSat-2 in late March/early April. The satellite will blast off from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket.

At around 300 gigabits per second capacity, the new satellite has about twice the bandwidth of ViaSat-1. The added horsepower will enable faster speeds and bulked up monthly data allowances so subscribers can watch more online video.

There are more and more over the top services  DirecTV Now, HBO Now, said Dankberg in an interview. There is just an enormous demand for bandwidth.

The new satellite also will expand coverage beyond North America and into Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, parts of South America and over the Atlantic Ocean.

ViaSat-2 represents the latest test to Dankbergs strategy of engineering satellites to maximize speed and economical bandwidth in hopes of mitigating the Achilles heel of satellite Internet  costly ground equipment/installation, data usage caps and latency.

We are not perfect but we are markedly better than (satellite Internet) used to be, said Dankberg. With ViaSat-2, we will be a lot better than ViaSat-1.

If ViaSat gets it right, the market for satellite Internet might expand beyond its traditional niche of farms and mountain cabins.

The better we can make our service, the bigger our market, said Dankberg. But that doesnt mean we are going after people who have Google Fiber. What we are trying to do is go after a bigger segment of people who dont have those speeds.

ViaSat-2 is the second act in ViaSats plan to dramatically expand bandwidth in orbit. The third act is being pieced together at a company-owned facility in Arizona, where workers are assembling payloads for ViaSat-3  a three satellite constellation slated to begin launching in 2019.

Each ViaSat-3 satellite will have 1 terabit-per-second maximum capacity  more than triple that of ViaSat-2. When all are in orbit, the company will have near global coverage. Boeing will build the satellites to carry ViaSat-3s broadband payloads into space.

According to ViaSat, the first two ViaSat-3 satellites will have twice the combined capacity of the 400 communications satellites in orbit today

Meanwhile, the all-in cost of building, launching and insuring each ViaSat-3 satellite is expected to be the same as the all-in cost of ViaSat-2, or around $625 million.

In theory, that should allow ViaSat to deliver more bandwidth to customers at good prices.

I think the pace of innovation has been faster in satellite than in terrestrial communications, said Michael Crawford, an analyst with B. Riley & Co. ViaSat has been very disruptive.

Some analysts are skeptical of ViaSats broadband ambitions, however. Wilton Fry of RBC Capital Markets wrote in a research report that the company initially believed it could pack 1.5 million subscribers on ViaSat-1. It ended up filling the satellite with just 700,000 subscribers  perhaps signaling that the company had to serve up more bandwidth than expected to subscribers to counter competitive pressure from non-satellite alternatives.

Dankberg said the company is far more concerned with the financial results than the number of customers we have. One of the things that has worked well for us is we have given more bandwidth to fewer people.

ViaSat faces direct competition from Hughes, owned by EchoStar. Hughes launched its second high capacity Jupiter-2 satellite in December, with an estimated throughput of roughly 200 gigabits per second. It will be delivering Internet service months before ViaSat-2 is up and running.

Longer term, skeptics contend cable and fiber optic lines eventually will branch out beyond cities and into satellites rural stronghold.

In addition, the roll-out of 5G cellular will beef up download speeds and capacity on terrestrial wireless networks, providing an alternative to satellite.

And there are new competitors such as OneWeb, which in December got a $1 billion investment from Japans SoftBank. It proposes a constellation of 900 small, inexpensive low-orbit satellites globally with 10 terabits per second total capacity. They would offer low latency compared with bigger, high orbit satellites such as ViaSats. San Diegos Qualcomm is an investor in OneWeb.

ViaSat faces a triple whammy over the next 15-plus years, the lifetime of a satellite: Fixed-line coverage build-out, mobile technology (7G by 2030?) and low earth orbit satellite systems designed to bring global broadband coverage, said Fry, the RBC analyst.

Dankberg has doubts about the business models, timing and capabilities of some rival solutions. Even so, he thinks there is plenty of demand for bandwidth to go around  not only from households but also from airlines for in-flight Wi-Fi, high-speed connectivity for cruise ships at sea, oil and gas exploration data streaming, border surveillance video monitoring and other government demands.

In 2020 if things go well, well have three or four terabits up there, he said. The world market for bandwidth is probably going to be over 1,000 terabits.

At the cavernous Boeing Commercial Satellite Systems factory in El Segundo, everything seems super-sized: Ceilings seven stories from the floor, a 100-ton door guarding a thermal chamber that mimics the extreme temperatures in space, a pool size vibration table to simulate the violent shaking during launch.

Even here, ViaSat-2s size stands out compared with the other satellites under construction. It weighs as much as 4.5 Toyota Camrys. When fully deployed, its solar panels equal the wingspan of a 767 airliner, generating power equivalent to 300 60-watt light bulbs. It contains 23 miles of electrical wiring.

ViaSat forbid pictures of the satellite. Four years ago, the company filed a lawsuit against the builder of ViaSat-1, Space Systems Loral of Palo Alto. It charged Loral with copying ViaSats patented payload designs and giving them to arch rival Hughes.

In 2014, a San Diego jury found in ViaSats favor and ordered Loral to pay $283 million in damages. After a federal judge called for a new trial on the damage award, the companies settled for $100 million.

ViaSats current residential Internet plans start with 12 megabits per second download speeds for $60 a month.

For residential subscribers, there are usually data usage caps for satellite Internet hovering in the 10 to 30 gigabits per month range, which can be gobbled up quickly for subscribers who stream Netflix regularly.

Still, satellite Internet is winning market share in rural areas, where speeds for wire line DSL can top out at 2 megabits per second, said Llluc Palerm, senior analysts with Northern Sky Research.

About 14 million U.S. households are outside the cable/DSL footprint or have slow DSL service, according to industry estimates.

ViaSat and Hughes combined have only about 1.7 million subscribers on their current ViaSat-1 and Jupiter-1 satellites.

The market penetration is still tiny compared with the total addressable market, said Palerm. ViaSat-2 and Jupiter-2 might be able to support 1 million extra subscribers each. So even after these new launches, there is still more market to cover.

ViaSat hasnt disclosed details of the Internet plans it will offer with ViaSat-2. But analysts speculate they could start at 25 megabits per second. As for monthly data caps, Dankberg said the company hopes to have enough bandwidth so usage limits wont be an problem for most subscribers.

We would like to make it where 85 percent or 90 percent of people would never go above them, he said.

One way ViaSat aims to ease the data-cap problem is with flexibility. It has designed ViaSat-2 so some of its bandwidth can be directed where there is peak demand, which usually occurs between 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The bandwidth in the evening rolls across the country from East Coast to West Coast as people watch Netflix, said Crawford, the B. Riley & Co. analyst. You can move some beams around to where there is demand.

ViaSat is more than an Internet service provider. Its Satellite Services division accounts for just 40 percent of $1.48 billion trailing 12 months revenue as of Sept. 30.

The company also has large government/defense communications hardware and services arm, which provides 43 percent of revenue. And it designs airborne antennas and ground equipment for itself and other commercial satellite operators globally.

Satellite Internet and defense, however, have been the main drivers of the companys 52 percent increase in revenue since ViaSat-1 entered orbit in the fall of 2011.

There is a pent up appetite in the U.S. for satellite Internet, since existing satellites have been full for more than a year, said Tim Farrar of Telecom Media and Finance Associates.

The purpose of the ViaSat-2 launch is to get back on track where they can add customers and also improve the service to keep pace with the improvements in terrestrial technology, he said.

With the upcoming ViaSat-3 launches, however, its less clear if there is a market globally, said Farrar.

Some 470 million people worldwide dont have good Internet access, according to industry estimates. But many of them cant afford to pay hundreds of dollars for ground equipment and installation, plus a $50-$60 per month subscription fee..

Maybe they only have $20 a month, said Farrar. So a lot of things ViaSat has done in the U.S., it is really unclear whether they can take those lessons and apply them directly to the broadband market in other parts of the world.

The first two ViaSat-3 satellites  aimed at the Americas and Europe/Middle East/Africa  are slated to launch six months apart starting in 2019. These satellites will be able to deliver 100 megabit per second residential Internet service  enough to power 4K video streaming.

The third satellite is targeting Asia with an undetermined launch date.

ViaSat-3 satellites are expected to have a lower cost per bit than ViaSat-2. That could benefit ViaSat as it figures out how to serve global markets where affordability is key, according to analysts.

One example of a potential business model is creating satellite Wi-Fi hotspots in villages. Residents could tap into the hotspots using their smartphones, prepaying for data use in a way similar to prepaid cellular plans, said Dankberg.

You can see in the poorest towns in Mexico, the kids have smartphones, he said. They want to do the things that other kids do. The underlying demand is universal. The way you package and fulfill that demand will be different than in other markets. But to me those are more tactical issues than fundamental issues.

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mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

760-529-4973
Gary Kreep came out of nowhere five years ago, a candidate who decided almost at the last minute to run in a down-ballot race for an open judicial seat. He was widely believed to have no chance of defeating the establishment choice.

Kreep was an activist lawyer who had made his name by taking on conservative legal causes and spearheading the failed birther legal fight that erroneously challenged President Barack Obamas citizenship.

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But win a seat on the San Diego Superior Court is exactly what Kreep did in June 2012, defeating then-Deputy District Attorney Garland Peed by nearly 1,600 votes in one of the biggest local upsets in recent judicial history.

Now, Kreep is facing an even bigger battle  one to hold on to his seat amid allegations of judicial misconduct.

A public hearing by the state Commission on Judicial Performance will begin Monday on the misconduct charges. It will be the first time that allegations against Kreep, who has been the target of complaints since 2013, will be aired by commission lawyers and countered by the judge.

A panel of three judges acting as special masters will convene in the downtown San Diego courtroom of the state 4th District Court of Appeal for what is expected to be a two-week hearing into charges that Kreep violated ethics rules during his 2012 campaign, and in a series of comments and actions he took while on the bench.

The proceedings are rare: Last year, the commission had three official formal proceedings out of some 1,245 complaints it received about conduct by state judges.

In San Diego, they are even rarer. The last judge to have such a hearing was in 1993  and it was closed to the public.

Kreeps fate wont be known for a while. Under the commissions procedures, after the hearing the judges will write a report with their findings and conclusions.

That report, along with responses to the conclusions from each side, will then go to the 11-member commission, which decides on any possible punishment.

The stakes are high for Kreep because punishment ranges from public censure to being removed from the bench.

Kreep declined a request for an interview. He is currently working in the downtown courthouse hearing landlord-tenant dispute cases and other matters. His attorney, James A. Murphy, did not respond to a message left at his San Francisco office.

The hearing could be a bruising affair for the local judicial bench. In addition to refuting the specific allegations against him, Kreep has said the charges are a product of a campaign of harassment by the courts power brokers to drive him off the bench.

In a pre-hearing brief filed in January, Kreep singled out Superior Court Judge Robert Trentacosta, who was the presiding administrative judge for the courts when Kreep joined the bench.

Kreep said that Trentacosta had it out for him, and starting in August 2013 compiled a magnum opus of accusations against the judge  using court staff time and resources to do so.

Trentacosta, now a judge in Juvenile Court, declined to respond to the allegation. As this is a pending case, I cannot comment on the matter per the judicial cannon of ethics, he said through a court spokeswoman.

But hell have a chance during the hearing. Trentacosta is one of a dozen judges on witness lists submitted by Kreep and the commission for the hearing.

The lists also include deputy public defenders who had cases in his courtroom, Legal Aid lawyers, prosecutors from the City Attorneys Office, Primary Public Defender Randy Mize and former San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith.

Goldsmiths office had a dispute with Kreep when he was handling misdemeanor criminal cases in 2013, boycotting his courtroom and forcing the judge to be temporarily reassigned to traffic court.

In addition to testimony, the judges will hear lengthy excerpts from hearings Kreep presided over in which he is accused of using improper language and inappropriate remarks.

The charges against Kreep, filed in October, say he committed willful and prejudicial misconduct, and took improper actions. Hes charged with making misrepresentations on his campaign website, violating campaign finance and disclosure rules, and campaigning against Obamas 2012 re-election while he was a candidate for judge by signing three fundraising letters as the head of the U.S. Justice Foundation, the legal group he founded years ago.

Judicial canons  or ethics rules  prohibit judges and judicial candidates from endorsing or opposing candidates for office.

Kreep contends the campaign website and reporting errors were innocuous and unintentional mistakes. In his brief for the hearing, he said the letters were public issue education messages addressing an important issue of constitutional law, and not the kind of political message prohibited by judicial rules.

A second and larger group of accusations cover a series of remarks and comments Kreep made while on the bench to defendants, lawyers, litigants and court staff. Some comments were on the attractiveness of women, such as during a July 2013 court session when he referred to a deputy public defender as a pretty girl. He later remarked: Weve got all sorts of young, attractive PDs around here.

Those comments are alleged to have violated rules against judicial decorum, and the comments to and about women violated rules against sexual harassment.

Kreep is expected to argue they were not meant to be disrespectful, and he was just trying to build a relaxed and welcoming environment in his courtroom.

Some lawyers who were the subject of the comments are expected to testify they were not offended, and longer excerpts of court hearings will be presented by Kreeps side to show the context in which they were made, his lawyer said in a pretrial brief.

The hearing is much like a trial, attorney Charles Grebing said. He represented then-San Diego Superior Court Judge G. Dennis Adams in the last disciplinary hearing in San Diego in 1993.

Adams was charged with taking gifts from lawyers and doing business with a car dealer whom he had awarded $5 million in a case he presided over.

That hearing was closed to the public. In 1995, the commissions rules were changed to make the hearings open to the public. That same year, Adams was removed from the bench by the state Supreme Court.

Its very much like a civil court trial, Grebing said. The commission is represented by its own lawyers, each side calls witnesses and normal rules of evidence are applied, he said.

Kreep has declined repeatedly to comment or discuss the commission allegations against him, except through filings by his lawyer. However, he also is listed as a potential witness on his behalf and may take the stand.

Previously:

Judge Kreep faces discipline from state judicial commission

Judge Kreep says judicial watchdog agency targeted him, wants him to quit

Fine may not be last problem for Kreep

Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com
Judge Ross Tharp, who served on the San Diego Superior court bench for 19 years and once served as a San Diego city councilman, has died. He was 88.

He passed away at his longtime Point Loma home on Friday from complications from cancer, his eldest daughter, Robin Tharp Nordhoff, said.

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As a jurist, Tharp was known for being hard on people in his courtroom, at one time responding to criticism by saying: A lot of lawyers dont like hanging judges, and Im a hanging judge. He was also gregarious, intellectual and proud of his conservatism.

He was unique, said Judge Judith McConnell, administrative presiding justice for the state 4th District Court of Appeal. McConnell was the Superior Courts presiding judge when Tharp retired. She described him as an elegant, impeccably dressed man who ruled with a bit of panache.

She recalled the term used among courthouse regulars: being Tharped.

That meant youd been in his court and had been taken down a notch, she recalled.

He had a certain reputation for being very solicitous to juries, she said. He didnt allow sidebar conferences because he didnt believe you should whisper in front of jurors.

Ross Gene Tharp was born in San Fernando on Jan. 10, 1929, and grew up in San Pedro. He graduated from Loyola University and its law school, meeting his wife Charlotte Betty Steeger Tharp when he was a boarder in her home. The couple raised five children.

Tharp came to San Diego during the Korean War as a staff judge advocate at MCRD and decided to stay after leaving the military. He set up a law practice in 1955 and dabbled in commercial real estate development on the side.

He served on the City Council from 1957 to 1961, losing re-election to Helen Cobb, the first woman to be elected to the council.

During his tenure he argued for Mission Valley to retain its pastoral nature and remain a green belt, fearing developers would turn it into a strip of car lots and neon signs as seen along El Cajon Boulevard, his daughter recalled. He was a very early environmentalist, she said.

He served on the Municipal Court for two years and was appointed to the Superior Court in 1971 by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan.

His combined experience as a politician, attorney, judge and businessman helped earn him a reputation as an effective mediator who took a more aggressive than back-seat approach to settling cases.

In 1985, Tharp tried to mediate a settlement in the criminal case against then-Mayor Roger Hedgecock after a mistrial, but the effort was unsuccessful. Hedgecock was retried and convicted of conspiracy and perjury relating to campaign contribution violations. Hedgecocks perjury convictions were overturned on appeal and the conspiracy charge later dismissed.

Tharp went for a political seat again in 1980, running for the 78th Assembly District as the Republican candidate. He lost the bitter campaign to Democratic incumbent Larry Kapiloff  who later became a judge and shared the Vista courthouse with his one-time opponent for a while.

Tharp got some flak at the time for his decision to take a leave of absence rather than resign from the bench during the Assembly campaign.

He retired in 1990. Judge Frederic Link, then a municipal judge, was appointed to fill the vacant seat.

Tharp returned to Superior Court often after retirement on special assignment by the Judicial Council in Southern California. He also continued to help settle cases as a special master by appointment of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

The Tharps were frequently mentioned in local society columns and widely known for their Oktoberfest parties at their home that benefited the Marine Corps Museum. The couple was also involved in several organizations and charities, including the Marine Corps Historical Society, American Heart Association, San Diego Historical Society and March of Dimes.

At one point, Tharp kept a 1-ton replica of a Civil War cannon in his front yard. My wife, Betty, is a Southern belle, and the cannon keeps Yankee invaders away, he told The Evening Tribune in 1986.

The Federal Aviation Administration apparently told him that the cannon, visible from the flight path of the San Diego International Airport, was freaking out pilots and asked that he remove it, his daughter said.

Tharps wife of more than 60 years passed away in 2011 after several years of being ill.

He was a wonderful husband to my mom, especially in the later years, Tharp Nordhoff said.

She said the last year of her fathers life was amazing, spent with family around the country and travels that included Disneyland, the Super Bowl and wine tasting.

He just wanted to live life on his terms, she said.

Tharp was predeceased by a daughter, Sarah Sally Tharp Fisher.

He is survived by his daughters Robin Tharp Nordhoff of Del Mar, Deborah Tharp Allen of Point Loma, and Betsy Tharp Dingman of the Bahamas, and his son, Robert Tharp of San Diego, as well as 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Feb. 13 at Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Mount Soledad Memorial Association.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
A North County man at the center of a Panamanian murder investigation pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court Wednesday, admitting to fatally stabbing his girlfriend, dismembering her body with a machete and dumping her remains in the jungle.

Brian Brimagers plea comes three weeks after the FBI Laboratory concluded that blood found under the handle of a machete he owned matched the victims DNA.

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The retired Marine pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree foreign murder of a U.S. national, a rarely used charge that must be approved at the highest levels of the Justice Department. To bring the charge, both the defendant and victim must be U.S. citizens, and the defendant must have since left the country where the crime was committed, as in the 2011 case.

Brimager had previously been facing a first-degree charge, which meant prosecutors would have had to prove premeditation if the case had gone to trial.

Family members of the slain woman, Yvonne Baldelli, sat in the front row of the packed courtroom Wednesday, eager to hear Brimagers admissions once and for all.

In the plea agreement read aloud by the judge, Brimager, 39, admitted stabbing Baldelli, 42, in the left side of her back with a knife, using a machete to dismember her body, stuffing the remains in a green military-style backpack and hiding the bag in the jungle.

The plea agreement calls for a recommended sentence of 20 to 30 years, although U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller has the discretion to sentence him up to the maximum of life in prison. Sentencing has been set for May 25. With the plea, Brimager also largely gave up his right to appeal the conviction.

With Brimager pleading guilty to all the things he did, it was good for us, Baldellis father, James Faust, said after the hearing. Its been 4 1/2 years of torture not knowing what really happened.

What continues to haunt the family is motive. The couple wasnt married, had no communal property. Why murder?

He couldve just walked away. She couldve just walked away... Faust said.

The Orange County couple moved to Isla Carenero off Panama in September 2011 for a fresh start after Brimager had left the Marines. Baldelli, with sewing machine in tow, had planned to start a bathing suit line in the tropics. Brimager would sing and play guitar in bars.

But paradise didnt last long, with witnesses later reporting that Brimager appeared to be abusing Baldelli. Shortly after arriving on the island, Brimager also began communicating with the mother of his child back in San Diego County, prosecutors said. Brimager promised to return to the U.S. to join them.

Prosecutors said Brimager was known to buy large amounts of cocaine for people on the island, and told one acquaintance that he had to leave the island because his nose was going to fall off.

Baldelli was last seen November 2011.

Brimager admitted concealing and destroying evidence of the Nov. 27 murder, including dumping a bloody mattress from their hostel in the ocean after the slaying, getting rid of Baldellis beloved King Charles spaniel and giving away many of her belongings.

Baldellis computer included a search for washing mattress blood stain, prosecutors said.

He also allegedly gave his machete to a neighbor before leaving Panama, and it was put up for sale online. Brimager is accused of posting a comment on the ad saying the machete had been his: Dont worry, I only dismembered one stripper with it so its hardly used ;), prosecutors said.

Over the next several months, Brimager sent emails from Baldellis computer pretending to be her, telling her family and friends she had happily left for Costa Rica with another man, according to the plea agreement. Brimager even traveled to Costa Rica and withdrew money from her bank account while there, he admitted.

Brimager headed back to San Diego, marrying the mother of his child within weeks and settling in Vista. He fathered a second child with her.

Baldellis family soon became suspicious and launched an investigation, eventually getting the FBI and Panamanian authorities involved. They traveled to Panama and organized search parties for her, coming up empty handed but convinced she was dead.

Meanwhile, Brimager continued to obstruct the investigation, lying to the FBI when questioned about the disappearance, the plea agreement states.

Two years after Baldelli went missing, a farm worker clearing brush in a swampy part of the island uncovered her remains, in the military-style backpack.

By then, Brimager had already been arrested in the case, on charges of lying to federal agents. A charge of foreign murder of a U.S. national was then added.

Authorities put little credence into an anonymous caller who told Panamanian investigators in 2012 that hed helped a man dispose of a missing foreign womans body in the jungle.

We dont believe anyone else was involved, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Conover.

Brad Patton, one of Brimagers defense attorneys, said a number of factors led to a change of plea but did not go into detail, noting more would be revealed at sentencing.

He wanted to resolve this matter and take responsibility for his actions, Patton told reporters outside the courthouse.

He described Brimager as a devoted husband and father who served honorably in the Marines. He said Brimager wanted to express deep condolences to Baldellis family and friends.

Brimagers wife continues to support him, Patton said. She has attended just about every, if not every, court hearing since his June 2013 arrest.

The case has made international headlines, including a 48 Hours episode on CBS that took an in-depth look at the investigation.

Brian Brimager took a young womans life in a heinous way and then further victimized her family by creating a cruel lie that she was happily traveling the world with another man, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a statement Wednesday.

Now that Brimager has finally admitted his crime, we hope that the truth, and knowing that their daughters murderer will serve decades in prison, will give this grieving family a sense of justice and peace.
Three years ago Olive Peirce Middle School Principal Pauline Leavitt talked to Ramona Unified School District trustees about the number of college graduates prepared for jobs that no longer exist.

When Im looking into the faces of our families and our students, Im thinking, what am I doing to make a difference so that when you go out in the world you can do the job, she said in July 2013.

During the trustees Jan. 19 meeting, Leavitt and math teacher Karin Yuhl outlined the math changes at the school since the states Common Core math standards started, changes they said result in students learning and thinking about math differently and indicate a growth mindset.

Three years ago we began this big journey: How would we implement the new state standards, said Leavitt. Our CAASPP (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress) scores dropped, our GPAs were lower than what we were used to in the areas of math, so as a team we had to say, We have to do something different. Were not going to allow our students to fail. Were going to work as a team together to think about how to support every student so they can succeed in math.

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About 90 percent of the schools eighth-graders have attended Ramona schools since kindergarten, so theyve had Integrated Math for about two and a half years, she said.

Educators cant stay with traditional math for several reasons, Leavitt said. The purpose of education is to prepare students to be productive citizens who can work and be part of the community in a positive way, she said, noting that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 10-year projections show the top three employment growth areas are management, scientific, and technical consulting services.

Her PowerPoint presentation showed a list of soft skills employers say they want in employees. Among them are: problem solving, communication, adaptability, research, project management, emotional intelligence, and a strong work ethic. In addition, the math portion of college entrance examinations now has integrated math questions, said Leavitt.

Students receive three levels of math support. In Tier 1, mastery is the goal, so students are retaught and retested, said Yuhl, adding that not every student enters the school with the same level of math proficiency.

Our students need to know where they had gone wrong, wheres the misstep, and we need to help get them there and overcome that, she said.

Part of the presentation was short videos of student comments and answers to questions. In one video, Leavitt asked: Do you think test make-ups help you to understand the math in a different way?

Yes, because the mistakes you have on your test you redo on the correction sheet and you start to understand what you messed up on and what you can redo, the student responded.

Teachers meet at least once a week and track each students progress. Students needing more support go to Tier 2 support that offers a Gateway to Math class and Intervention class with fewer students.

One student in Gateway to Math explained in the video how the class helps him. He said math is easier for him now, and he is able to help other students.

Tier 3 provides more intensive support and a mentoring program.

We have a quote: To develop understanding of a subject area, one has to engage in authentic intellectual activity, said Leavitt. This is not copying off a board. This is not filling in the bubble. This is problem solving, collaborating with groups, really thinking like mathematicians.

This all sounds fantastic, and its great that we have all this support for the math students, said parent Kim Newcomer. As a taxpayer Im thinking, how much more are we putting into this than we have in the past  just so were real clear that were improving because were applying more money to the problem  and how does this translate to better test scores?

Students showed a 10 percent increase in the past year in seventh and eighth grades at the middle school, and 85 percent of the students are earning a C or better in math and better able to address math, responded Leavitt.

One of the biggest ways is theyre engaged, theyre talking, theyre learning, and theyre beginning to have a growth mindset that they believe that they can do that, added Leavitt.

The bigger issue is can the students communicate, explain, problem solve, and work together, and were seeing great gains in those areas, she said.

In other business at the meeting, trustees voted 3-2 to approve salary increases for management and confidential employees that match the increases teachers, support staff, and other employees represented by one of the two union groups received in December: 2.1 percent raise effective Jan. 1, 2017, and 2.3 percent bonus retroactive from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2016.

Trustees Bob Stoody and Dawn Perfect voted no.

Its not that I dont want there to be compensation increase where warranted, but to just give it automatic across the board, especially when its in a management type position, Im really opposed, so I would rather see us table this and try and come up with something that is more production based, said Stoody.

Is there a way to incentivize great performance? asked Perfect.

The way their contracts are structured, management and confidential employees are hired on a salary schedule, said Superintendent Anne Staffieri, Ed.D.

So were not able to take a certain person in a position and give them a raise? It has to be done on a schedule? asked Perfect.

As its currently structured, yes, responded Staffieri.

One of the problems trustee Daryn Drum said he has with treating people in a leadership position as individuals is its very hard to lead your personnel if youre getting a 5 percent pay raise and theyre getting a 2 percent raise, very difficult to justify that youre not out for your own good  so thats why I support mirroring those pay raises. I dont want our leadership team to have to deal with that type of potential conflict.

Just a blanket raise across the board for everyone doesnt do for those who are doing an exceptional job, said Perfect. In regular industry there would be ways to reward that work, and Im wondering if theres a way here in Ramona Unified to do that.

I believe there is, said Stoody.

Saying she would like to learn if other districts have a different system, Perfect added, I cant imagine that were the first board to have this conversation.

Rodger Dohm, board president, said he agrees and asked Staffieri to research the issue.

It may be a dead end  we just cant do it, but Id like to know, said Perfect.
Eleven-year-old environmentalist Sree Kandhadai is one of the kind. But she doesnt have to be.

Thats the message behind the annual Love Your Wetlands Day, now in its 11th year, which grants the general public access to 40 acres of typically restricted wetlands housing endangered species at the Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve at Mission Bay.

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The free event, hosted by the San Diego Audubon Society and the U.C. Natural Reserve System, is meant to foster interest in protecting the region and, as the name implies, engender affection for natural habitats.

Kandhadai wasnt the youngest participant at Saturdays affair, but she likely was the most enthusiastic. The girl, who also volunteers as a Tern watcher with the local Audubon group, gleefully participated in the mornings first walk around the marsh. She helped to pick up trash and collect water samples, venturing into some of the muddiest regions where others were too afraid to follow.

Love Your Wetlands Day seeks to educate and inspire San Diegans young and old with guided tours through the marsh and a midday showcase of the raptor, a bird of prey that calls these wetlands home. Volunteers like Roy Little, an expert on the Ridgways Rail bird, also helped to provide additional color on the regions wildlife. And boots were provided to tour-goers who traversed the waterlogged region.

The area is normally restricted to protect the habitat, as it houses several endangered species, including the Ridgways Rail. The birds population, measured in pairs, had eroded to just three pairs in the marsh as of December, down from 30 pairs in the spring of 2016, Little said.

I just feel a real love for these kinds of environments, said Beth Sundheim, 66, of nearby Crown Point, who cleared her schedule to attend the event. I was really anxious to get out here and get a guided tour, because Ive only observed it from (afar).

Event organizers said they expect a similar turnout to last years Love Your Wetlands Day, which attracted around 200 people.

This years celebration has added significance, said Rebecca Schwartz Lesberg, the director of conservation for the San Diego Audubon Society, because neighboring regions are in the process of being reclaimed as protected wetlands.

Prior to large scale alteration, Mission Bay wasnt a bay at all. It was about 4,000 acres of salt marsh, she said In the 40s, 50s and 60s, the city and state worked together to dredge all that salt marsh out to create the islands and peninsulas we see today. In doing so, they created an amazing recreational facility  but they destroyed a lot of the habitat thats here for the native wildlife. All thats left of those 4,000 acres are these 40 acres.

Now, however, the Kendall-Frost reserve is looking to incorporate the adjacent site of Campland on the Bay, as its lease with the city is expiring later this year.

The master plan for Mission Bay recommends restoring Campland back to marsh because thats the property that sits between the existing marsh and Rose Creek, Schwartz Lesberg said. It really gives us a chance to reconnect a broken system and bring that fresh water source into the marsh, and have the marsh filter that water before it reaches the bay.

Plus, should the area get restored as planned, Love Your Wetlands participants in years to come may get to experience even more of a vital San Diego marsh usually closed off to the public.

jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin
Los Angeles police said Saturday that multiple people have been arrested in connection with a devastating 1993 fire that killed 10 people, including seven children and two pregnant women, in a Westlake district apartment building.

The fire, in an old apartment building packed with immigrants from Latin America, stunned the city, exposed flaws in fire inspection procedures and prompted reforms. Police have long believed the fire was arson, started by gang members possibly angry at not being allowed to deal drugs in the building.

Officer Aareon Jefferson, an LAPD spokesman, said Saturday he did not have the names of the suspects who had been arrested. He declined further comment on the case.

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But a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said three arrests were made in connection with the deadly fire. LAPD homicide detectives arrested two men Friday on conspiracy to commit murder, while a female suspect already was in custody on suspicion of murder.

A fourth male suspect remains at large.

All of the suspects are tied to the 18th Street gang, according to multiple sources. The motive for the fire apparently was part of an effort by the gang to keep control of the narcotics business in the neighborhood, officials said.

Several detectives have spent years trying to build a criminal case against those they say are responsible for one of the citys deadliest fires.

LAPD has scheduled a news conference on the case for Monday.

Prosecutors previously had accused two gang members of starting the fire but eventually dropped the charges.

About 75 men, women and children  most of them poor Latino immigrants  fled in terror from the three-story building when the blaze erupted on May 3, 1993. Some leaped from windows. Others clambered down metal fire escape ladders. Still others lowered themselves down sheets tied to wrought-iron balcony railings.

By the time firefighters arrived, neighbors had formed a human chain clinging to the side of the building, passing small children hand to hand to those below. Despite their efforts, many residents fell victim to the smoke, which filled hallways and rooms, reducing visibility to near-zero.

The fire exposed the substandard conditions of many buildings crammed with immigrant families in the Westlake-Pico Union area. A Los Angeles Times investigation revealed that the Fire Department inspected the area infrequently and haphazardly. Fire officials failed to follow procedures in ordering the building owner to address violations that officials said contributed to the 10 deaths.

Many of the buildings had serious fire safety violations, such as missing fire extinguishers and padlocked emergency exits, The Times investigation found. The building in the 300 block of South Burlington Avenue that was the site of the fatal fire had earlier been the target of a suspected arson, and inspections had detected a series of safety violations there  but they were not corrected.

In 1998, prosecutors filed multiple murder charges against two members of the notorious 18th Street gang. They alleged that Rogelio Andrade and Allan Lobos started the fire to intimidate an apartment manager who had tried to drive drug dealers off her property.

But two years later, the charges against the men were dropped, with prosecutors saying there was a lack of evidence.

It wasnt clear these were the right guys, Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph Esposito, who was prosecuting the case, said at the time. No one is thrilled with the idea [of dropping the charges], but we dont want to prosecute innocent people.

The 69-unit apartment building was one of many in the Westlake community beset by gang activity at the time. Just hours before the blaze erupted, the apartments manager ordered two men out of the building, suspecting that they were dealing drugs. Police said at the time that dealers in the neighborhood were selling thousands of dollars worth of drugs a day, much of it coming from the Burlington building.

cindy.chang@latimes.com

richard.winton@latimes.com
The U.S. Justice Department filed a formal notice of appeal Saturday afternoon, seeking to overturn a federal judges order to halt major parts of President Trumps travel and refugee ban.The filing provides notice that the government will ask a federal appeals court to reverse U.S. District Judge James L. Robarts temporary restraining order that blocked enforcement of the controversial immigration restrictions pending further review of the legal issues raised in a suit filed by the states of Washington and Minnesota.

Attorneys for those states have argued that the order discriminates against Muslims. It blocks all arrivals from seven predominantly Muslim countries, and suspends all refugee resettlements.

Members of persecuted religious minorities are given some preference.

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The case heads next to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for a decision on whether or not the travel ban can be enforced.

This is just a notice that they are appealing. The U.S. will now file some type of motion requesting a stay, and a brief which argues why the 9th Circuit should grant it, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia who has been following the litigation.

Margo Schlanger, a University of Michigan law professor and former civil rights official in the Obamas administrations Dept. of Homeland Security, also emphasized that the Seattle judges order blocking the ban remains in place.

Its not a stay application. An appeal leaves the order in place while the appeal is processed -- unless theres a stay, she said.

Legal experts say the case, or one of the others filed challenging the ban, is likely to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The first new moon of the year passed a week ago, but the celebration of Lunar New Years was still in full swing this weekend at the Tet Festival at San Diegos Qualcomm Stadium.

Thousands of people attended the festival Saturday morning in a fenced-in area of the stadium parking lot to celebrate the holiday, called Tet in Vietnam. The annual three-day festival, organized by the Vietnamese community group Little Saigon San Diego Foundation, kicked off the new year with food, cultural displays, firecrackers, Lucky Lion dancers, carnival rides and more.

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We work so hard all year, so we celebrate what we have and each other, and reflect on it and make plans for next year, Su Nguyen, co-founder of the Little Saigon Foundation, said of the holiday. We visit family. It takes like a whole month to celebrate.

Nguyen said this years festival was the biggest yet, and there were some new features, including two 20-foot-long inflated gold dragons, which the foundation had custom made. Some 30,000 people were expected to attend over the weekend.

Numerous Asian countries  including China, Mongolia, Korea, Laos and Singapore  celebrate the Lunar New Year.

1 / 15 The San Diego Lucky Lion Dancers perform during the second day of the three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 15 Mai, Thanh Long sings traditional Vietnamese songs celebrating spring during the second day of the three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 15 The San Diego Lucky Lion Dancers drummer Markus Quon, along with other member of the group perform Saturday during the second day of the three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 15 The three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster continues through Sunday. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 15 Members of Bird of Paradise Chinese Costume Group, wearing Chinese ethnic costumes perform during the second day of the three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 15 Dharma Pham catches bubbles during the second day of the three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 15 The three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster continues through Sunday. The event is presented by the Little Saigon San Diego Foundation. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 15 American and Vietnamese flags line the fence at the three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 15 Vivian Schwartz creates bubbles during the second day of the three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 15 Larry Tran carries his son, Alex on his shoulders while visiting the second day of the three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 15 The three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster continues through Sunday. The event is presented by the Little Saigon San Diego Foundation. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 15 The three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster continues through Sunday, February 5. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 15 Dharma Pham, her brother, Chopra Nguyen, and Wesley Hardin get a up close look at a replica of the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon while visiting the second day of the three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 15 The three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster continues through Sunday and is presented by the Little Saigon San Diego Foundation. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 15 / 15 A wooden cutout of Vietnam is near the entrance to the three-day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium, celebrating the 2017 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune)

This years festivities honored the Year of the Rooster, one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. The animal is associated with characteristics that include courage, responsibility, resourcefulness and hard work.

Jackie Silva, 34, of San Diego said the zodiac animal theme is part of what makes the holiday, and the festival, fun.

I like to come see various events, and its a fun excuse to bring the dogs with their costumes, Silva said.

This year, Silva dressed her dog, Sammie, in a homemade rooster costume. Last year, she made him a monkey outfit to celebrate the Year of the Monkey.

The Tet Festival typically includes traditions to preserve luck, and Saturdays party was no exception. The day opened with the San Diego Lucky Lion Dancers, a group who performed traditional dances to drum beats and cymbals beneath colorful, furry, sequined lion costumes.

Lions, like other common symbols such as dragons and firecrackers, scare away bad luck and offer protection from it, said Nguyen.

Alexandra Honore, 15, of San Diego played the Chinese Lion Dancing drum for the performance. She said she got involved in lion dancing about eight years ago with encouragement from her mother, who is Chinese.

We thought it would be cool to embrace my heritage and learn a little bit about my culture, Honore said.

It took a while to earn her status as a drummer, because she, like most dancers, had to start out learning other instruments, then work her way up from the tail-end of the lion costume, Honore said. About a year and a half ago, she graduated to drumming, a key role that directs the lions movements.

Only a few people can do it, Honore said of drumming. Im still learning the more complicated beats, but Im getting there.

The festival continues Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Admission is $4-6.

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morgan.cook@sduniontribune.com
AUBURN  Nine-year-old Acheron Hilton said the best part about being a Boy Scout, for him, is helping people.

Hilton has participated in many activities in his four years as a Scout, such as Pinewood Derby races. He said he has also learned how to use a knife safely as well as traffic safety guidelines, like not accepting rides from strangers.

But his favorite part about being a Boy Scout, he said, is going door-to-door and collecting food for homeless individuals. The annual Scouting for Food program, which occurs around Thanksgiving for some local packs, sees Scouts collect canned goods as part of a nationwide food drive.

"I like that we can help everybody out with other stuff either if they need something or if they're homeless," Hilton said.

Hilton was among several Scouts who attended Auburn's Westminster Presbyterian Church on Sunday for a special service in honor of the Scouting mission.

Scout Sunday is a special Scouting tradition observed the Sunday before Feb. 8, the anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America organization, said Aaron Creighton, a pack leader. The Westminster Presbyterian Church hosted dozens of people Sunday morning, including representatives from several troops of Boy and Girl Scouts in the Auburn area, to recognize participants and parent volunteers.

The ceremony saw all of the Scouts given gifts including compasses, while several Scouts took turns to describe what they like best about Scouting.

The purpose behind Scout Sunday is to recognize Scouting services to the community and for participants to fulfill their duty to God as part of their oath, Creighton said.

Creighton thanked the church for its help organizing a local Scout Sunday event as well as Westminster's financial contributions to the Scouting program. Westminster Presbyterian Church offers a scholarship for the local scout program, said the church's pastor, the Rev. Patrick Heery.

"This is the leadership of this community and many other communities like it in the future," Creighton said about the Scouts. "We thank you for giving us that chance."
State Sen. Hugh Leatherman, president pro tempore of the Senate, never made it a secret that he didnt want to be lieutenant governor.

When elected by Democratic and Republican colleagues a couple of years ago to the top organizational job in the chamber, he made it crystal clear that if a vacancy was imminent in the lieutenant governors position, he would step down as pro tem to remain chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

After the November election, the Florence Republican recited the same mantra, despite the clear possibility that then-Gov. Nikki Haley would step down one day to become part of President Donald Trumps leadership team, thereby elevating Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster to the governors office and creating a path for the pro tem to become lieutenant governor.

Nevertheless in December, Leatherman kept both leadership jobs: president pro tem, which organizes Senate business, and Finance chair, which is key in setting priorities by allocating tax dollars.

Lo and behold, Haley resigned and McMaster became the states new governor. And Leatherman, as expected, resigned from the pro tem job to ensure that he didnt have to accede to a mostly ceremonial role that has little of the strategic power of the Finance Committee chairmanship.

Alls good, right? With a vacancy in the pro tem position, state Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, was elected Senate president pro tem, held the position for a microsecond and then became the states lieutenant governor. Which left another vacancy in the pro tem position. Which Leatherman ran for and won, despite competition that peeled 16 GOP votes from more conservative senators who didnt like the musical chairs and thought Leatherman was avoiding his constitutional responsibility to step up to the states No. 2 spot.

Hogwash. Leatherman made it clear from the get-go that he wanted to remain in the Senate, to which he has been elected from the Florence area since 1980, and use his skills as chairman of the Finance Committee to help the state push forward.

Frankly, were lucky to still have him in that job. While there are 170 legislators in the Statehouse, few have the strategic vision to steer where South Carolina needs to head. As weve long lamented, theres no real long-term strategy that guides members of the General Assembly. Rather, lawmakers generally react.

Leatherman is different. Through the years, he has set his eyes on certain targets, whether fixing the states procurement code, pushing for tort reform to limit liabilities for businesses, focusing on making higher education more affordable for families or working with countless companies to lure them to locate hundreds of millions of investment dollars and thousands of jobs in the Palmetto State.

Were lucky to have him where he is. At 85, his hearing is sometimes a little off, but his mind is sharp as a tack.

Hes worked across the aisles with Democrats and Republicans, said former Democratic state Rep. Vida Miller of Pawleys Island. Thats the type of leadership we need in Columbia  folks who will work across the aisle who are willing to help the whole state, not just one community. Hes a great asset to the state and a wealth of historical, institutional knowledge that often is so lacking.

Former GOP Sen. Larry Martin of Pickens saw Leathermans hard work behind the scenes.

Although hes accused of hauling large aid back to Florence County  and Florence County has benefited from his service  he does have the statewide view, Martin said. One only has to look to Boeing to see that. It wasnt coming to Florence. It was going to Charleston, and he had a huge role to play at that.

To critics who say Leatherman has too much power in his hands, Martin noted, Theyve been good hands for the state.

Leatherman, a North Carolina native who came to the Palmetto State in 1955, explained in an interview why he kept plugging away as chairman of the Finance Committee.

It might sound corny, he said, (but) I really want to leave this state better than I found it. If I do that, Ive been very successful. I love this state, and Ill continue to do what Im doing as long as my people keep electing me.

Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
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What does it take for an actor or actress to win an Oscar? The best acting school? The right agent? The perfect script? A revered director? A new study conducted by the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland in Australia demystifies the magical formula: It takes being an American actor in a film that portrays American culture.

The results have implications beyond Hollywood. That's because Niklas Steffens, lead researcher and a postdoctoral research fellow and lecturer at The University of Queensland, and his team found that who wins an award, whether film or some other creative endeavor, my depend more on who's giving it and whether the two groups have things in common.

Since 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Academy Awards have recognized excellence in cinematic achievements in the United States. (Fun fact: rumors suggest that the mystery model behind the Oscar statuette is Mexican actor and director Emilio Fernandez, who was living in Hollywood at the time.)

To be eligible for any of the award categories, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor or Best Supporting Actress for an American-made film or foreign language performance in a film produced outside the U.S., the film must have been commercially released in Hollywood and have included English subtitles.

On the surface, the rules seem to provide and even playing field. But when Steffens looked at the data, he found something else.

Steffens and his colleagues analyzed 480 Oscar nominees from the Los-Angeles based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and 428 nominees for best actor and/or best actress in a leading role by the London-based British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTAs) dating back to 1968, when BAFTA first began awarding prizes. The data included 908 nominees in total, including all winners.

The researchers then analyzed how many awards and nominations were won by in-group artists (U.S. artists in the case of Oscars and British in the case of BAFTAs) and out-group artists (non-U.S. artists in the case of Oscars and non-British in the case of BAFTAs). They also examined the influence of the value of a prize - in other words, whether people ended with a nomination or an award - as well as the national culture that a given movie portrayed.

The results showed that U.S. actors dominated the awards, even in England, winning more than half of all prizes across the Oscars and BAFTAs.

In addition, actors were more likely to win when they shared social group membership with the judges. For example, American actors won 52 percent of all BAFTAs but 69 percent of all Oscars. British actors, on the other hand, took home 18 percent of all Oscars but 34 percent of all BAFTAs.

Steffens explained that he was particularly surprised that "U.S. actors win about one out of two of all BAFTA nominations and awards but two out of three of all Oscar nominations and awards."

"It is interesting that sharing membership in a social group has a particularly strong impact when we establish whether a performance is not just excellent, but outstanding," he said.

These findings have broader implications beyond our recognition of performance in the acting profession, according to Steffens. He believes it also has implications for the recognition of creativity and extraordinary performance - not just for Hollywood but across all types of professions.

"What this research demonstrates is that there is an important social, collective dimension to judgements of originality and extraordinary performance," he said.

"In particular, our evaluations of what is creative is not simply a function of its objective features but is to a large part determined by the social groups that we are members of and that provide a lens through which we perceive and make sense of the world."

With this in mind, Steffens has some predictions about what take top honors at the upcoming Oscars on February 26, 2017.

"Once we understand that the recognition of creativity is enhanced when perceivers and artists share group memberships, then it is clearly not a coincidence that a movie that deals with the struggles of the life of performers in Hollywood - 'La La Land' - is tipped to win a lot of major awards in the U.S.," he said.

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Press Release

February 5, 2017 Hontiveros: Bluring police and military functions, a throwback to Martial law times The plan by President Rodrigo Duterte to let the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) lead the government's anti-drug campaign is not new. PDEA has the mandate to push for efficient law enforcement in the fight against illegal drugs. "Automatic na yan." However, unless the government's current strategy to respond to the country's drug problem is radically overhauled and the country's security forces are thoroughly cleansed of scalawags, whether it is the PDEA or Philippine National Police (PNP), the anti-drug campaign will continue to be abusive and corrupt-prone. Hindi lang implementers ang may problema. Mas lalo na ang polisiya. Also, the government's plan to include the military will add to the already chaotic situation. It will roll back the important gains in security sector reforms in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). It could also lead to unnecessary clashes between the military and PDEA. I am wary that allowing the AFP to implement a flawed and abusive style of war on drugs will only subject it to the same fate as the PNP. May I remind the government that the military has a different mandate and orientation. It should not be dragged into civilian policing. While the military and PNP are both 'legal bearers of arms' they have different roles and training. The police force is for law enforcement and apprehension. The military is trained for combat duties. To blur these lines is not only dangerous, it is a throwback to Martial Law times. It is a nod to authoritarian leadership.
Press Release

February 5, 2017 Despite 'toknaps', 1.5 M Korean tourists spent P70B last year--Recto Tourist arrivals last year hit a record-high 5.967 million on the back of a surge in Korean visitors, close to 1.5 million of whom flocked here for "sun, sea and shopping", which should "prompt the Philippines to assure its number one source of tourists that its citizens are safe here." The call was made by Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto, who warned the government "that any impression that Koreans are being killed here will kill the goose that lays the most eggs in our tourism nest." From 1 million in 2012, the number of Korean tourists soared to 1.475 million in 2016, the first market to breach the 1.4 million mark, he said. "Kahit naha-harass ang ilan sa kanila, kahit biktima ng extortion at toknap, o tokhang for kidnap, half a million more of them visited us during the past four years," Recto said. "Buti na lang, the beauty of the Philippines and their desire to come here have not been overpowered by news on KIAs - Koreans in Abductions," he added. One in four tourists are Koreans, "and this big footprint is reflected in tourism income," Recto explained. By Recto's count, Korean tourists had spent P200 billion locally from 2014 to 2016. "They're pouring in P60 to P70 billion a year. If they were a corporation, they'd certainly land in the top 50 biggest," Recto said. The 143,380 Korean tourists who were here in December last year were estimated to have spent about P5.6 billion. In November 2016, a Korean tourist on the average spent P44,200 while here. This slightly dipped to about P39,000 the following month. At the minimum, 30 percent of tourism receipts are courtesy of Koreans, Recto said. Tourism receipts reached P230.1 billion in 2016, P227.6 billion in 2015, P215 billion in 2014. But keeping "this big Korean slice in the tourism pie" would require moves by Philippine authorities to calm any jitters caused by reports that some Korean nationals have fallen prey to rogue cops who shake them down for money, Recto said. Recto is batting for "security and assistance programs tailor-made for Korean tourists," like close linkages between the national police and Korean embassy personnel. "Kung pwede nga isang dedicated 24-hour hotline in Crame manned by a Korean-speaking personnel," Recto said. He also proposed a bigger advertising and promotions budget for the Korean market. This is a P5 billion a month market, and growing. We should finance market protection and promotion drives. It is a worthy investment."
Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

Amid the tumultuous changes in Washington and her sudden job promotion, Oaklands new interim schools superintendent, Devin Dillon, emailed the Oakland Community on her first day to describe how jarring transition typically is.

One example, she wrote: her experience after spending a month at a silent meditation retreat.
The chatter among Democrats is all about how strongly to oppose the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, President Trumps nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

One side says fire all torpedoes and try to filibuster him to death. The other says that will make Democrats look just as mindlessly partisan as the Republicans were when they wouldnt even consider President Barack Obamas nomination of Merrick Garland.

Theres a better reason not to go that route: Its suicide.

Not because of the electoral map in 2018, when a number of Democratic senators from states that went for Trump will be up for re-election. They may be scared now, but my bet is that by then, Trump will have lost a lot of his flavor with the public. He may even be a liability to Republicans.

The real problem is that in politics, the most important question to start with when it comes to tactics is: Will this work? And filibustering Gorsuch wont work  Trump has made it clear that hell want Republicans to do away with the 60-vote requirement to end a filibuster and ram Gorsuch through on a straight party-line vote.

So the next time Trump gets an appointment  maybe a truly odious one who could tip the courts ideological balance, instead of just replacing one conservative (Antonin Scalia) with another (Gorsuch)  Democrats wont have a torpedo in their submarine.

True, if the Democrats try a filibuster then, maybe the Republicans will just go nuclear at that point and change the Senates rules to end the 60-vote requirement. Or maybe Trump will have worn out his welcome, and traditionalists like Mitch McConnell wont want to blow up the Senate for his sake.

It will be interesting, by the way, to watch Sen. Dianne Feinstein as the Gorsuch confirmation unfolds.

Republicans, of course, not only wouldnt hold hearings on Garland  they wouldnt even meet with him. It was a terrible precedent and one that Feinstein took personally, because she was the one who tried to set up the meetings.

Shes still ticked at the discourtesy that the Republicans showed to Garland, and to her.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi really got Trumped the other night.

She was booked for a nationally televised town hall meeting on CNN, only to have the White House announce an hour before showtime that the president was going to introduce his Supreme Court pick at 8 p.m. EST  the very hour she went live.

I havent seen Nancys ratings, but I imagine they were about what the Pleasant Hill City Council draws for its meetings on the public access channel.

On Sunday, Pelosi is the scheduled guest on Meet the Press. She goes on at 9 a.m. EST.

I expect that will be the time the White House hosts the premiere of Celebrity Chefs  West Wing Edition.

Maria Shriver was in top form at lunch at Le Central the other day. The subject of a certain former governor never came up, in part because she was so busy talking about voting.

Like a growing number of people, lifelong Democrat Shriver has considered reregistering as an independent. And like so many who want to make that switch, she found out independent isnt an option. That word already belongs to the right-wing American Independent Party.

The only option available for people like Shriver is decline to state. Heres her point: The word independent brings to mind being free, principled and standing on your own. Decline to state, on the other hand, smacks of passivity, uncertainty and the inability to make up your mind.

Maybe this is an instance where the state could trust voters to know what theyre doing and offer them the choice that reflects their actual intention.

Have you heard about these restaurants that are now charging you for the meal before you even walk through the door?

You go online and book your seating as if youre making a flight reservation. The places Ive seen have two seatings a night. Prices run $185 to $200 a head. You get a 15-course meal, none of them more that a couple of bites, and wine tastings.

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.

And just like with an airline, you pay for it in advance. If you cancel, you wont get your money back.

Of course, if the restaurant is hot enough, you can also scalp your reservation and make a tidy profit.

Chinese New Year kicked off in great style at the Portsmouth Square celebration. I counted six members of the Board of Supervisors, the mayor, the police and fire chiefs and Public Works chief Mohammed Nuru, who was holding a live rooster, signifying the Year of the Rooster.

The lion and dragon dancers were resplendent in their bright new outfits. You probably cant see it from here, but every one of those new outfits has a tag on it that says Academy of Art University, said Mayor Ed Lee.

Guess that settlement of the citys lawsuit over the universitys illegal building conversions paid off after all.

You know whos going to pay for the Mexico wall? Lee Houskeeper asked me.

Who?

No one. Trump is going to do what he always does with builders. Stiff em.

Want to sound off? Email wbrown@sfchronicle.com
A young man died early Saturday after a shooting in Oaklands Laurel District, police said.

Officers received reports of a shooting on the 4200 block of MacArthur Blvd. about 1:20 a.m., said Officer Cynthia Espinoza of the Oakland Police Department.

The man, who was not identified, died from his gunshot wounds, she said.

No suspects have been identified in the shooting. Police did not release further details.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
VISALIA, Tulare County  President Trumps first actions in the White House, from ordering up a border wall and banning refugees to fixating on crowd sizes and attacking Saturday Night Live on Twitter, have drawn howls of protest across much of California.

But here in the states fertile interior between Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, Trumps frenetic fortnight didnt rattle many.

I like the fact that hes taking action, said Brice Parish, who on a recent weekday enjoyed the seared lamb special at Tazzaria, a popular lunch spot in downtown Visalia.

We all knew he wouldnt be your standard president and wed have to put up with some shenanigans, said the 41-year-old pharmacist. But it might be a positive for the country to have someone whos not a polished politician in office.

Much of the San Joaquin Valley  home to nearly 4 million people, though dwarfed by Californias more liberal coast  supported Trump in the November election, in spite of Democrat Hillary Clintons landslide victory statewide. In Visalia, a city of 130,000 about 45 miles south of Fresno, the Republican billionaire won 52 percent of the vote, to Clintons 38 percent.

But even as the region runs defiantly red, its politics are not the conservatism of Middle America. Agriculture is king here and the communities generally embrace a melting pot of cultures, with Latinos outnumbering whites sometimes 2 to 1. That leaves farming and immigration driving the debate, sometimes on an inevitable course for collision.

Parish, whose family owns 7 acres of walnut trees, got engaged the week after the election to a Mexican American woman who detests Trump and his crackdown on immigrants. Her parents live in the area but are not U.S. citizens.

We didnt agree on the presidential candidate, Parish said, stating the obvious as he sipped iced green tea at a patio table shaded from the warm winter sun. Often, you just dont talk about politics around here. Everyones coming from a different place.

Inside the restaurant, which caters to the citys professional class with its homemade pastas and locally sourced salads, financial services broker Lauren Ziessler, 30, was initially hesitant to discuss the president. But she capitulated and said her vote for Trump was purely business.

Im hoping he doesnt go on some social crusade and can just focus on financial issues, she said, noting that her top priority is a fiscally sound government that doesnt burden the economy with regulation.

Yeah, his comments have been offensive to me as a woman, she added. But we didnt elect him for his bedside manner. ... As long as it doesnt affect my ability to be a successful businesswoman.

On the north end of the city, Visalias leafy streets and sidewalks suddenly give way to a seemingly endless expanse of orchards and field crops with the snowy Sierra beyond.

On the farm of Luis Gonzalez, 42, whose parents emigrated from Guadalajara, Mexico, the issues of agriculture and border policy could not be more entwined. Because the major political parties dont represent his views  neither supports both farming and immigration to his liking, he said  hes registered as an independent.

Were worried about water, and were worried about our families, explained Gonzalez, who grows grapes, plums and alfalfa with his brothers. Nobody seems to get it right.

Gonzalezs distaste for the presidential candidates prompted him to sit out the election for the first time in his life.

Now Im just like, Lets wait and see what happens, he said.

Since Trump visited the region last year, famously telling thousands at a Fresno campaign rally  incorrectly  that there was no drought in California while promising to turn on the spigots if elected, the agricultural community has stood behind him, albeit reluctantly.

Almost nobody who voted for Trump would say so before the election, said Dusty Ference, 32, a Visalia resident who heads the farm bureau in neighboring Kings County. They could be called a racist or something else. Now, I would say people are cautiously optimistic that he will do some of the things he promised he would do.

Rolling back the federal Endangered Species and Clean Water acts, giving farms more river water instead of leaving it for fish, would be the most welcomed move.

Growers across the valley, from the almond orchards to the tomato fields to the vineyards, had less to irrigate with during the five-year drought and had to settle for lower crop yields.

Nowhere is the frustration more explicit than on a billboard along Highway 99, one of the main arteries through the region, which reads, Mr. President, we need 1.) Water, 2.) Dams, and 3.) Fish. The word Fish is crossed out in red ink.

But look farther to the fields beyond the highway, and much of the agricultural workforce is made up of people from Mexico and Central America. Many are undocumented, and border restrictions could disrupt the labor supply.

Here, some farmers make a political calculation. Few believe Trumps tighter immigration policy, with the wall as its centerpiece, will actually halt cross-border traffic.

Nobody has seen a plan thats much different than previous (presidential) plans, Ference said.

Some Trump supporters, though, are more believing. At A-1 Food and Gas, a convenience store on a dusty corner where farmworkers stop to buy soda and chips, owner Jerry Singh, 28, said the presidents early actions suggest hes committed to stopping illegal immigration.

If they want to come here, they should come here legally, Singh said.

Singh, himself an immigrant from India, said its not fair to be taxed on his earnings only to subsidize others who take advantage of Americas goodwill.

They come here, they have kids, they get food stamps, he said. Then who pays for all that? We do. Small business.

Underlying the valleys ideology, and complicating its view of Trump even further, is the brutal economic reality of the place. Poverty and unemployment rates are among the nations highest and many feel theyve been left out of the prosperity enjoyed elsewhere.

In Tulare County, 1 in 4 people live below the federal poverty level and unemployment exceeds 10 percent.

While for some, this has prompted an embrace of Trumps pledge to get government out of the way and help the private sector create jobs and wealth, for others, it has meant a simple withdrawal from politics.

I dont want to think about that (the election) here, said Jonathan Cuellar, 25, a barber in downtown Visalia, who sees Trump as a racist but didnt vote because neither candidate offered him much hope of improvement. I think its just going to get worse.

Amy Pritchett, 46, who teaches political science at Visalias College of the Sequoias, said the election results in Tulare County would have been far different if more people went to the polls.

Many of the countys Latino residents, who make up almost two-thirds of the population and tend to favor Democrats, either were not eligible to vote or didnt turn out, Pritchett said. A few, she said, might have voted Republican for religious reasons, like an antiabortion stance.

If you look at the socioeconomic stats and the ethnic makeup, you would think we were more liberal, Pritchett said. In some ways, you really dont know what to expect here.

Aside from the presidential race, one local contest last year surprised city residents. Visalias 12-year incumbent on the county Board of Supervisors, a conservative businessman who runs a paintball supply store, was upset by an openly gay Armenian American woman who supported Clinton.

The rest of the state just thinks were a Podunk redneck area, said the new supervisor, 54-year-old Amy Shuklian, dismissing such classification. Sure, our area is more toward the conservative side  (but) you see with Trump, there are people who are very happy as well as people who are very afraid.

For me, she said, Its still so surreal.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander
How, exactly, does one become an international fitness guru? For Aussie Kayla Itsines, it started with a 28-minute Bikini Body Guide workout she developed while working as a personal trainer at a womens gym. That led to two ebooks, a hardcover book, a Sweat with Kayla iOS app, and most recently, an Apple Watch app.

Along the way, shes picked up 6.3 million Instagram followers. A search for her hashtag #BBG pulls up an endless stream of post-workout selfies, impressive before and after shots, and inspirational quotes such as: Empowered women, empower women and She believed she could so she did.

Last month, Itsines was welcomed like a rock star at the Apple store in Union Square, where she met over 400 women from her BBG community. In the Bay Area, the communitys core is made up of professional women in their 20s and busy mothers who dont have time for a gym membership.

The other night I didnt feel motivated to work out, but I saw that another BBG girl (on Facebook) had just finished the workout I was planning to do and it pushed me to just get it done, said Lindsay Kopecky, a Lafayette working mom who uses the Sweat With Kayla app to get strong after having her second baby.

The Chronicle sat down with Itsines, her boyfriend and business partner Tobi Pearce, and Apples Director of Fitness for Health Technologies Jay Blahnik to talk about Itsines new ventures and the importance of creating community.

Q: What additional features can fans of your ebooks find in the apps?

Itsines: With the book, its steps with photos. So if youre doing a burpee for the first time, its kind of confusing and youd kind of have to read the cues. With the Apple Watch and iPhone apps, its a video, so you can see exactly how to do it and follow the steps easier.

Q: You created Sweat With Kayla in-house. What was your process and what kind of feedback did you consider when building the apps?

Pearce: We were proactive in terms of where we wanted it to go, but the consumer is still No. 1. When we built our first version we spent weeks talking to people on social media, asking them: How do we make the product better? So its been quite a collaborative development process.

Q: How is the user experience different with the Apple Watch app compared to the iOS iPhone app?

Pearce: You can do the workout completely independent of the phone with your watch. We found that the latest version of the WatchOS 3 is the best thing ever, because it allows our users to work out without having to hold anything. On top of that, the device has all of the capabilities of a normal fitness wearable, like heart-rate monitoring, step tracking and GPS. And in the latest versions, well integrate even more with the Apples native health and fitness tracking.

Q: One of the reasons people get personal trainers is to prevent injuries. Do the apps address that aspect?

Itsines: One hundred percent, yes. Because the exercises dont require equipment, you cant possibly injure yourself. Its your own body weight so its really easy. If you havent worked out before, you can watch the videos and read the step-by-step guides. And we found that injury happens when you dont have a chance to stretch properly, so we have a recovery built into the app immediately after the workout.

Q: What makes Sweat With Kayla and Apple a good partnership?

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.

Blahnik: Her team is very tech-savvy and understands that technology is a big part of the lives of the groups of people shes trying to reach. Shes made advancements  going from the PDF right to the app and then building a watch app. She really understands that people are going to enjoy participating in different ways, but theyre going to be very connected to their technology now and even more so in the future. But all the while, its not just about a metric. Everything that Kayla is doing is about community, soul and humanity. And thats really what Apple was built on. So when we think about partners in this space, she just exemplifies everything that we care about.

Q: With all of the stories you hear from your community, which have been the most inspiring?

Itsines: There was a lady who I just recently met in Texas who looked amazing and I told her, You look so strong. And she said, Thank-you. I didnt want to dump this on you, but my husband just left me, Im a single mom, I have leukemia and I do your program, and its the only thing getting me through. ... Its changed the way I look at peoples lives, and its made me appreciate where I live. I lived in a bubble, I had a beautiful, big Greek family. And hearing peoples stories really puts things into perspective.

Valerie Demicheva is a San Francisco freelance writer. Email: vdemicheva@sfchronicle.com

Resources

Sweat With Kayla app $19.99, Apple Store

The Bikini Body: 28-Day Healthy Eating & Lifestyle Guide: 200 Recipes and Weekly Menus to Kick Start Your Journey, $28.44. www.kaylaitsines.com.
Last fall the Environmental Protection Agency announced new rules to reduce toxic air pollution from oil refineries by forcing operators to adopt new technology that better monitors and controls emissions. The rules for require refineries to monitor levels of benzene, a cancer-causing compound. Will that be one of the rules that the Trump administration rolls back?
Titans of Mavericks has officially been cancelled, the the New York Times reports. The surfing event entered rough waters after organizers filed for bankruptcy upon being sued by their sponsor.

The event takes place at Pigeon Point, a half-mile off of Half Moon Bay, where waves can reach 60-feet and even the most seasoned surfer will face adrenaline-inducing swells.
A San Francisco man was critically injured after a fire broke out inside his Mission District apartment unit Saturday afternoon, fire officials said.

Firefighters received a call about 1:18 p.m. of a blaze on the third floor of an apartment complex at 255 Dorland St., said Lt. Jonathan Baxter, a San Francisco Fire Department spokesman.

The address is listed online as a senior apartment complex, but the victims age was not released by officials.

When the man was rescued from his burning unit, officials said, he initially did not have a pulse. A firefighter paramedic from Engine 7 arrived at the scene and was able to immediately perform CPR after the victim was pulled from the building, Baxter said.

The victim was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was taken to the intensive care unit.

A shelter-in-place order for the surrounding area lasted about a half-hour. The fire was isolated to the single residence and contained by 1:26 p.m., Baxter said.

The cause of the fire, which originated in the victims unit, was under investigation.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
Plans call for a bridge to move Verona Road traffic over Highway PD, but given the shortfalls in the state transportation budget, it's not clear when a bridge will be built.
About five years ago, when diesel prices were averaging around $4 a gallon, John Sheehy began looking into alternative-fuel vehicles as a potential solution to rein in his trucking companys rising costs.

He recalled some skepticism initially whether trucks equipped with engines fueled by compressed natural gas (CNG) could perform as well as a traditional diesel-powered semi. The gamble paid off and now is considered a trailblazing decision.

Today, nearly all of the 100 trucks used by Waterloo-based Sheehy Mail Contractors Inc. run on CNG. The company recently was presented the Forward Fleet Award by Wisconsin Clean Cities for its use of alternative fuels and leadership in the field.

Weve made the investment and its turned out well for us, said Sheehy, CEO of his fourth-generation family trucking business, which launched in 1952.

Federal regulatory requirements to lower greenhouse gas emissions also have pushed the transportation industry to explore an assortment of cleaner burning fuels including CNG and propane. Even as air quality standards became more stringent, trucking companies sought cleaner vehicles that could rival the performance of traditional equipment that ran on widely available fuels.

Sheehy said companies including engine producer Cummins have stepped up to develop technology that could deliver performance as well as take advantage of cleaner fuels.

Growing use of alternative fuels also has led to private investment in networks to provide these fuels to customers in recent years. Use of CNG alone has grown at an average annual rate of 30.6 percent since 2000, according to industry estimates, though network expansion has slowed recently because of falling prices for traditional fuels.

Despite diesel costs falling from nearly $4 to a recent national average of about $2.56 per gallon, Sheehy said it still makes sense to invest in trucks that run on CNG. He said a traditional diesel truck may cost about $120,000 while a truck that runs on CNG may add another $50,000 or more to that price.

CNG today costs about $2.11 per gallon nationally, CNGNow.com reports. Sheehy said he contracts with CNG suppliers on routes regularly used by his firm to get the best pricing possible for his fleet.

As we use these (CNG trucks) for long hauls, (CNG) still is the perfect fuel for us because well spend about half the price on fuel than we would on diesel, he said.

Controlling costs

Because CNG burns cleaner than traditional fossil fuels, that translates to lower carbon emissions, which means less residue buildup and wear on an engine. It also means longer engine oil life, resulting in lower maintenance costs.

Dane County began incorporating CNG vehicles into its fleet about six years ago. Today the county has about 75 CNG vehicles, which include snow plows and some vehicles used by the parks department.

The county also has the advantage of being able to fuel its vehicles a majority of the time with CNG collected through a biogas system fed by the county landfill in the town of Cottage Grove.

Bio CNG costs us about the equivalent of about $1.50 a gallon (in gasoline), said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. So even when gas prices were dropping, using CNG was still a less expensive option for us.

The county estimates use of CNG saved about $50,000 in fuel costs in 2016, a figure that could hit $150,000 by 2018.

Parisi said county staff who would use the CNG vehicles for work tested the vehicles before any decision was made to adopt the technology.

Were continually looking at ways to do things more efficiently and, as with any new technology, there may be some skepticism, but were always open to innovation, he said.

Early adapters

Tom Melms began using alternative fuels decades before it became an emerging trend. Less than three years after he purchased Badger Cab Co. in Madison in 1978, he had the companys fleet of cabs running on propane.

At the time, the decision to convert to propane was to use a cheaper fuel source, Melms said. He said he couldnt just raise fares to compensate for rising fuel costs because that meant getting state and city approvals, which would have taken months, so Melms sought a different solution.

He partnered with a company in New Holstein that was converting school buses to run on propane. His own team of mechanics eventually learned how to convert gasoline engines to run on propane.

Melms said that in the 1980s, it cost about $1,200 to convert a gasoline engine to run on propane. A conversion today may cost between $2,500 and $3,000.

The investment is worth it, Melms said. Similar to CNG, propane burns cleaner, which means longer engine life.

We usually can double the oil life in our cabs, Melms said. Theres a lot of other savings besides the fuel costs.

Melms keeps a 30,000-gallon propane tank at his business, which allows his company to buy fuel at a cheaper bulk rate. Wholesale propane is selling for about 88 cents a gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Though Melms advocates use of propane as a clean and affordable fuel, he admits it may not be the right option for businesses with large fleets or individual drivers looking to save on fuel costs. He said a propane-fueled cab has a range of about 200 miles, which works fine for his company since most of his business is conducted within a 30-mile radius of Madison.

It makes sense for a business if your fleet travels in a confined area, because there just isnt as many places to fill up with propane like you can with CNG or other fuels, he said. But if your fleet is confined to a specific area, it boggles my mind why people would not do it.

Assistance available

Lorrie Lisek, executive director of Wisconsin Clean Cities, said Wisconsin has been progressive in its adoption of alternative fuels.

There are several major fleets operating in Wisconsin that use CNG on a daily basis, she said. When diesel fuel prices were topping $4 a gallon, there was much interest in CNG vehicles, especially in trucks that could deliver comparable performance as traditional diesel trucks.

While technology advancements answered performance concerns, the cost of CNG trucks versus diesel trucks deterred some companies from making the switch, Lisek said. The cost differential could range between $50,000 and $100,000 per truck.

Wisconsin Clean Cities, which grew out of a Department of Energy initiative, launched a program a few years ago that provided grants to trucking companies to help offset the additional cost of a CNG truck. The group is working to secure additional funds for this effort.

Lisek said some Wisconsin trucking companies, including Sheehy, made the investment in CNG equipment even without grant support, simply because it was the right thing to do.

Lisek said numerous studies have shown how businesses saved money turning to CNG.

Paper Transport Inc. in Green Bay found between 2011 and 2012, a standard diesel truck used between 16,000 and 18,000 gallons of diesel fuel. A comparable amount of CNG would have cost about $1 less per gallon at that time. The company said the lower fuel and maintenance costs on a CNG truck would help it recover the higher cost of the equipment over the life of the vehicle.

Lisek said federal rules requiring businesses to lower emissions and decrease their carbon footprints have spurred them to hire transport companies that are making similar efforts.

For that purpose, many transport companies are switching to CNG, she said. Its also allowed for smaller companies to haul for bigger clients.

Sheehy estimates his companys use of CNG vehicles has reduced its carbon footprint by more than 50 percent.

Sheehy also serves as president of the National Star Route Mail Contractors Association and said the group is working to encourage its members to consider converting to CNG.

Sheehy said the U.S. Postal Service accounts for about 50 percent of his companys business. He said the postal service wants its contract firms to increase use of clean fuels.

Now when contractors bid on postal service work, part of that proposal has to include sustainable clean energy use, Sheehy said. Weve proved it can work.

Hurdles and triumphs

Momentum may be returning to alternative fuel use, but some organizations still need convincing.

Madison Gas and Electric Co. said low gasoline and diesel fuel prices have waned interest in CNG vehicles, but those who maintain fleets continue to support the technology.

MGEs involvement right now is really in a role of education, said Steve Schultz, MGE spokesman. We do work with businesses to help them figure out if it makes sense from an economical/business/environmental standpoint to make a switch.

There are 948 locations in the U.S. where CNG is commercially available, the Alternative Fuel Data Center reports. A total of 44 of those sites are in Wisconsin.

La Crosse-based Kwik Trip sells CNG at 34 locations spread across Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Three of its Madison-area locations  Lake Mills, Windsor and Verona  sell CNG.

Joel Hirschboeck, spokesman for Kwik Trip, said the company has no immediate plans to expand its CNG network, though if demand rises or fleet-specific need warrants an additional site, the company will review it.

Demand has been stable in our footprint, he said. Fleets and vocational operators have the most interest in CNG.

Lisek said the Illinois-based Gas Technology Institute recently was awarded a $4.9 million Department of Energy grant to kick-start development of multi-fuel stations along a stretch of Interstate 94 between Michigan and Montana. CNG and charging stations for electric vehicles would be among the options offered.

Some people have been reluctant to buy alternative fuel vehicles simply out of concern of limited availability of places to fill up, Lisek said. Creation of a clean fuel corridor across several states would be a step to curb that fear.

For the past few years, weve been working with many partners to see where these kinds of stations are needed to help (trucking) companies fill those gaps in their routes, she said.

[Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect a correction. In the original, the first name of Wisconsin Clean Cities executive director Lorrie Lisek was misspelled.]
Madisons city attorney says calling the City Council office a safe place could give a false sense of security to community members concerned about President Donald Trumps executive orders on immigration.

In a memo to City Council members, City Attorney Michael May said a substitute clause to a proposed resolution by Ald. Shiva Bidar-Sielaff is misleading because it would do nothing to protect immigrants from law enforcement.

Bidar-Sielaffs resolution condemns Trumps executive orders on immigration, reaffirms Madisons stance of welcoming immigrants, and designates the City Councils office a safe place where all residents may readily obtain phone interpreter services and immigrant rights information.

May said an earlier version of the clause  in which Bidar-Sielaff called the councils office a safe space where all residents may enter and will be safe and protected  was so vague as to be almost meaningless.

Mayor Paul Soglin has said he supports the resolution overall, but that he would veto it if it contained the original safe space clause. He said Saturday that he had not read the substitute.

Bidar-Sielaffs proposal comes as a response to three of Trumps executive orders that would allow the immediate construction of a wall along the United States-Mexico border, bar federal funds from cities that refuse to aid in immigration enforcement, and temporarily ban travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim nations. The ban on travelers and immigrants was halted Friday by a federal judge.

May addressed the implications of both versions of the resolution in a memo sent to City Council members Friday.

I still caution that use of the word safe does not add anything, and does not change what the City will do with respect to immigration enforcement, May said. My concern remains that this language may mislead some members of the community to expect something the City will not deliver.

May added that the wording in the second version would make it clearer to the community that the safe place at the councils office is only a place to seek services rather than to seek refuge.

Attorney May offers a narrow legal perspective, Bidar-Sielaff said. I continue to think that having a safe place to obtain assistance as outlined (in the proposal) is important from a symbolic and practical perspective.

May emphasized in the conclusion of the three-page memo that anyone, including immigrants, who wants to avoid invasions of privacy should stay in his or her home as the Fourth Amendment protects homes from unreasonable search and seizure. City offices do not provide that same protection.

Bidar-Seilaff said the intent of the clause is not to tell people they are not safer at home, but to make it apparent if they happen to be in or around the City-County Building, need immediate assistance, information, etc., they can go to the council office to get assistance.

City Council President Mike Verveer said he agrees with Mays opinion. While he supports the proposal and is a co-sponsor, he said he is concerned the term safe place may be misleading.

Michelle Brandemuehl, vice president of UW-Madisons Latino Law Students Association, said even a symbolic gesture is appropriate to support immigrants in Madison.

The overwhelming feeling we felt from the immigrant community was fear, Brandemuehl said about the reaction to Trumps executive orders.

Brandemuehl said she fully supports the resolution, and the Latino Law Students Association plans to submit a letter to UWs Board of Regents with similar language asking for university-affirmed support of immigrants.

Verveer said he expects other substitutions to the safe place clause to be proposed at Tuesdays City Council meeting but would not say who would propose those changes.

While Mays concerns focus on community perceptions, Soglin fears safe space language could make Madison a target of state legislators.

A bill sponsored by Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, would prohibit a municipality from creating ordinances, resolutions or policies that would make it a sanctuary city, or prevent employees from inquiring about immigration status and assisting with immigration enforcement. The penalty for violating the law would be a loss of $500 to $5,000 a day in state funding.

While Bidar-Sielaffs proposal does not offer any new services or provide a sanctuary to immigrants avoiding deportation, Soglin has said labeling the council office a safe space is reckless.

We have made the point that we are a sanctuary city, he said, adding that the safe space clause was a futile gesture.
I am an immigrant born in Holland. I became a U.S. citizen at 17. My father was also Dutch; he was a young teenager in Holland during World War II. He saw the Jews leaving their homes and boarding the trains never to be seen again. He heard the Nazis marching on the streets from darkened windows. He ate tulip bulbs and potatoes for nourishment. He lived for years without his father or older brother who had joined the Underground. These images haunted him all his life, and when we attacked Iraq the first time and he saw the bombs dropping, he could no longer deal with his childhood nightmares and took his own life.

We cannot let another people be demonized because of the color of their skin, their religion, their nation of origin, their sexual orientation, physical and/or mental challenges ever again.

The vast majority of the millions of Muslims in our country and the hundreds of millions of Muslims in the world are peaceful. We cannot judge an entire religion based upon the actions of a few. If we did, Christianity would have been banned 1,000 years ago.

Most mass murders in this country were at the hands of a white man with an untreated mental illness and easy access to assault weapons. Others were fueled by extremist racism, anti-homosexuality, or ISIL sentiments.

As a Christian minister, I take the teachings and example of Jesus life seriously. He was always eating and drinking in solidarity with the poor, the sick, the stranger in the land. The story of the Good Samaritan is one of several stories in the Bible that highlights the fact that people of other faith traditions are often the example of how we should behave toward one another. The only time Jesus was angry was when he saw the rich making money off the backs of the poor in the temple. Though homosexuality was common in first century Rome, Jesus never mentions it, but he does tell us to remove the log from our own eye.

Ours is a country of immigrants seeking a better life for their children. Why would, I, an immigrant  why would any of us who are decedents of immigrants  deny that opportunity to others?

We cannot let our children be haunted all their lives by witnessing other human beings treated without compassion and without reason. We cannot.

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
State investigators have revoked the licenses of a longtime Madison-area financial adviser after discovering he set up a phony investment venture and used hundreds of thousands of investors dollars to pay personal bills.

James P. Kolf of Sauk City, had been a state-registered broker-dealer from 1981 to Aug. 29, 2016, and an investment adviser from 2009 to 2016. He worked at several national companies Madison offices and also set himself up as sole proprietor of SFN Financial Network, which investigators for the Department of Financial Institutions called a fictitious company.

Between 2011 and 2016 he defrauded 14 investors out of $905,000, in amounts from $9,000 to $150,000, promising to invest the money in energy companies and produce returns of 6 to 8 percent annually. DFI reported the customers were reimbursed by Kolfs employer. At least eight of his customers liquidated accounts to move the money to Kolfs fake investment.

Attempts to contact Kolf for comment were unsuccessful.

According to the consent order signed by Kolf in December, he provided his customers with marketing materials for the similarly named FS Investment Co., an approved product offered through New England Securities, which employed Kolf until 2015. He told investigators he used it because the name sounded similar, so was intended to boost the appearance of legitimacy and credibility to the investors.

Kolf paid $47,572 in phony interest payments to convince early investors they were making money and mailed false account statements to investors reflecting re-investments of their interest, according to the consent order.

But the rest of the money was used to pay the full $280,534 price of his Sauk City home, home improvements of $15,935, credit card payments of $74,298, $4,957 for a car, legal bills of more than $40,000 and a federal tax bill of $152,640.

In September he was permanently barred from the broker business by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Wisconsin financial regulators found he had violated three state laws requiring brokers to tell the truth and not misappropriate investments.

DFI has not taken any further action against Kolf since the December consent order, spokesman George Althoff said, but we still consider that an open case.

It has been referred criminally, but because it is an open case we are choosing not to comment, he said.

There was no record of state criminal charges filed as of Friday, and the state Department of Justice said it was not investigating Kolf.

Kolfs activities were brought to the agencys attention by his employer, Althoff said.

According to FINRA records, in 34 years Kolf has worked for five companies, including New England Securities from 2009 to 2015, MetLife Securities from January 2015 to May 2016 and NYLife Securities from May 2016 to August 2016.

Complaints from customers have continued to be filed with FINRA as recently as last month.

He also had a license to sell insurance in Wisconsin that lapsed at the end of 2016.
Heres an idea for tormented progressives looking for a way out of their post-election wilderness: Look back to a Democratic icon of half a century ago who was on the cusp of uniting precisely those angry working-class whites who rallied to Donald Trump with Hillary Clintons coalition of minorities and liberals.

The Robert F. Kennedy who ran for president in 1968 was a racial healer, a tribune for the dispossessed, and an uncommon optimist in an age of political distrust.

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, Bobby Kennedy reminded us, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

No wonder audiences swooned. And his words seem even more resonant in this Era of Trump.

The first key to Kennedys broad appeal was that our favorite liberal began life on the other side of the ideological chasm. He was nurtured on the rightist orthodoxies of his dynasty-building father and he kick-started his public career as counsel to Wisconsins left-baiting U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Kennedys early conservatism made him an idol to a young Rudolph Giuliani and younger Bill OReilly, and ensured that blue-collar whites stuck with him as he moved ever leftward.

In his first contested presidential primary, in Indiana, Kennedy won the seven largest counties where the racial-backlash candidate George Wallace had done best in 1964 even as he was scoring a crushing 85 percent of votes in African-American districts. The upshot for contemporary Democrats: Worry less about ideological purity and more about finding someone with Kennedys populist passion.

Lesson two for todays hyper-partisan politics is the way Sen. Bobby Kennedy fashioned bold bipartisan solutions to nagging problems such as rebuilding the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Americas biggest ghetto. Washington would pay for training unemployed adults and other classic liberal initiatives. Tax breaks would lure big business to build industrial plants and shopping centers, an idea that drew raves from conservatives. And borrowing an approach from the New Left, local residents would exercise unprecedented self-governance.

We are striking out in new directions, the New York senator said, perhaps without map or compass to guide us.

Half Che Guevara, half Niccolo Machiavelli, Kennedy was a shaker-upper dedicated to the art of the possible.

It doesnt take much imagination to know where Kennedy would have stood on President Donald Trump. As a Harvard undergraduate, Kennedy took on the anti-Semitic demagogue Father Leonard Feeney. As attorney general, he stood down the segregation-forever Gov. Wallace. The only figure who ranked ahead of those two on Kennedys most-hated list was Roy Cohn, the protege of Sen. McCarthy who, as an old man, served as a mentor to the young Donald Trump.

The truest key to Bobby Kennedys political success was his authenticity. Over the course of his 82-day campaign for president, he defied the prototype of the pandering politician. He made sure that every speech on crime included a call for justice. He told college kids everywhere he went that they could change the world, so why werent they?

It happened again at a luncheon of Civitans, a mens service club. As his audience chewed on Salisbury steaks, he took the requisite questions on gun control and daylight saving time. Then he turned to his biggest issue  American children, starving in America  and asked, Do you know, there are more rats than people in New York City? Hearing guffaws, this senator who was kept up nights by images of the hungry children hed met in the Mississippi Delta grew grim: Dont ... laugh.

Thomas Congdon, Jr., an editor at The Saturday Evening Post who had started as a Kennedy cynic, attended the lunch and was struck by what he witnessed: He was telling them precisely the opposite of what they wanted to hear. It was demagoguery in reverse. Are you listening President Trump and Gov. Scott Walker?

What Bobby accomplished in 1968 could be a beacon for today. America was as divided then as it is now, and as tempted by divisive bullies. Race riots were igniting the cities, and overseas tensions were widening the split between parents and children. There was no national consensus anymore  and nobody in American politics more determined to build bridges between the alienated and the mainstream than Kennedy, who had lived on both sides.

Hed laid claim to a rare piece of political ground as a pragmatic idealist. While some remained skeptical, others were dazzled by the possibilities of a standard-bearer with that blend of tenaciousness and gentleness. Bobby Kennedy understood that a reformist revolution had to start from the ground up, but he also understood the need for leadership.

One of the reasons, I suspect, that some people are puzzled by Senator Kennedy is that he is a tough-minded man with a tender heart, said Sen. George McGovern, who stood with Kennedy against both hunger in America and American involvement in Vietnam. He is, to borrow Dr. Kings fitting description of the good life, a creative synthesis of opposites.
The election isnt over. Its just beginning.

Wisconsins spring primary is only two weeks away on Feb. 21, followed by the April 4 election.

If you want to influence your leaders, vote. Far too many people fail to cast ballots if the White House or governors office isnt at stake. Local elections and the candidates who win will influence your community and state, which influences Washington. So dont skip this opportunity.

Voters this spring will pick a state school superintendent and local school board members with lots of say over public education here.

Voting will influence even those elected officials who arent on the spring ballot. Thats because every election sends a message about the mood of the electorate.

About 75,000 to 100,000 people packed the Capitol Square in Madison Jan. 21  the day after President Trumps inauguration  as part of a global Womens March. It was an impressive show of people power. Yet if that many people showed up at the polls in Dane County Feb. 21, it would shatter the record for turnout and easily decide who wins.

Public demonstrations have the potential to change history. Yet giant protests at the statehouse in 2011 failed to stop Gov. Scott Walkers union restrictions and helped turn him into a national conservative hero.

Below is contact information for Wisconsins congressional delegation. Call your representatives with your concerns. Send a personal letter. Or better yet, attend a town hall meeting or district office hours to visit with them in person. Be polite, succinct and sincere.

Follow your representatives on social media and comment on what they post.

Join a group. Donate to causes or candidates. Volunteer for campaigns or run for public office yourself.

Read the newspaper to stay well informed, and write a letter to the editor.

Harness the power you have locally to impact your community and world.
President Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of "fake news," but now the president is under fire for sharing an apparently false news story on his own Facebook page.

First, it's important to clarify that President Trump has co-opted the term "fake news" from its definition of a fabricated post designed to look like a legitimate story in order to mislead for political or financial gain, to mean simply any news he doesn't like. He's even gone so far as to repeatedly call CNN and other legitimate news outlets fake news organizations.
CANBERRA, Australia  The nations prime minister ruled out any new deal Sunday to get the United States to honor an agreement to resettle hundreds of Muslim refugees that President Trump has described as dumb.

Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull also dismissed a Nine Network journalists suggestion that he should be offended that White House spokesman Sean Spicer has repeatedly called him Trumbull in press briefings. Turnbull said, The important thing is results.

Spicer says Trump has agreed to honor an Obama administration deal to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers rejected by Australia. Trump made the agreement during a conversation with Turnbull last weekend but has since tweeted, I will study this dumb deal!

Turnbull said Trump had asked for nothing in return for resettling the mostly Muslim refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Australia pays the impoverished Pacific countries of Nauru and Papua New Guinea to keep the refugees in camps.

Absolutely not, Turnbull said. Its a deal obviously that President Trump has said he wouldnt have entered into, but he has committed to honor it.

Turnbull said there would be no link between the refugee resettlement and any future U.S. request for military help in the Middle East or the South China Sea.

Australia is one of the largest contributors to the U.S.-led military campaign in Iraq and Syria. It has resisted U.S. pressure to conduct freedom of navigation exercises close to artificial islands created by China in the contested South China Sea.

The Obama administration agreed to resettle Australias refugees after Australia agreed in September last year to accept Costa Rican refugees fleeing drug wars.

Australian media have described the disagreement over the refugee deal as the lowest point in the bilateral alliance since 1973, when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam clashed with President Richard Nixon over a series of bombings during the Vietnam War.

Turnbull has welcomed U.S. support since media reports emerged of his disagreement with Trump during their first conversation.

I dont think there has ever been more public support for Australia than there has been his week, Turnbull said. This has been a very good week for Australia.

Rod McGuirk is an Associated Press writer.
LYON, France  Marine Le Pen, the far-right presidential candidate, introduced her platform Saturday at the start of a weekend conference, envisioning a thriving nation made in France. That means a state with its own borders to guard, its own currency to spend, its own defense and its identity unchanged by immigrants, refugees and globalization.

On full display for two days is the proud nationalism of the National Front party candidate. The timing could not be better for Le Pen, a leader in early polls for the April 23 and May 7 elections.

The British decision to exit the European Union and the election of U.S. President Trump could inspire would-be voters and provide a morale boost for her backers attending the event in the southeast city of Lyon.

The entire world, its true for Brexit, its true for Mr. Trump, is becoming conscious of what weve been saying for years, she said in a television interview.

Le Pen denounces what she calls the ultraliberal economic model  globalization, open borders and massive immigration, notably of Muslims. In her view, immigrants take jobs from the French, raise the risk of terrorism, and steal away the identity of France.

Among Le Pens 144 commitments revealed Saturday: No more membership in NATOs integrated command. No more euro currency, European Union or open borders. And no more second chance for foreigners under surveillance as suspected potential terrorists  those thousands would be expelled.

The election pits good versus evil, National Front official Jean-Lin Lacapelle said at the start of the conference. The survival of France is at stake. Its the first time weve been so close to the goal.

Unlike Trump, Le Pen is not a new quantity in French politics  she has headed the National Front since 2011  but they share a belief in what she calls economic patriotism and intelligent protectionism.

This is Le Pens second bid at the presidency after placing third in 2012. Early polls consistently show her among the two top candidates, but suggest shell lose by a wide margin in the runoff. But the unexpected is becoming the new normal, bolstering hopes.

Parisian baker Walter Fraudin, 44, a National Front member, said Trumps victory might motivate the French to undo a system in which political promises never leave the wish list.

He does what he says, Fraudin said. If youre on a battlefield youll follow him. ... Marine Le Pen, I would follow her.

Frances longstanding jobless rate of 10 percent, growing disgust with politics as usual and the disarray of the political establishment, on right and left, have added voter appeal to a party once seen as a pariah for its racist, anti-Semitic profile under the leadership of her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Elaine Ganley is an Associated Press writer.
1 Paris attack: The Louvre Museum reopened to the public Saturday, less than 24 hours after a machete-wielding assailant shouting Allahu akbar! attacked French soldiers guarding the sprawling building. The attacker was shot four times after slightly injuring a soldier, but his injuries Saturday were no longer life-threatening, the prosecutors office said. French President Francois Hollande said there is no doubt the suspects actions were a terror attack. An Egyptian Interior Ministry official confirmed to the Associated Press that the attacker is Egyptian-born Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy, 28. The official said an initial investigation found no record of political activism, criminal activity or membership in any militant group by him.

2 Syria fighting: U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters in northern Syria have launched a new offensive that seeks to capture towns and villages east of the Islamic State-held northern city of Raqqa. The aim of the operation announced Saturday is to isolate Raqqa from the rest of Islamic State territories before storming the city itself. The announcement came a day after aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition destroyed two bridges on the southern edge of Raqqa.
MANILA  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned Sunday that the military is ready to respond with air strikes and new offensives if communist rebels launch attacks after both sides lifted separate cease-fires and peace talks were scrapped.

Duterte, speaking at a news conference, called the rebels terrorists as months of steady progress in talks brokered by Norway rapidly turned hostile after New Peoples Army rebels killed six soldiers and kidnapped two others in fresh violence that enraged the president.

It seems to me that these terrorists want another 50 years of war, of killing of Filipinos, Duterte said after attending the wake of three of the slain soldiers in southern Cagayan de Oro city.

With my lifting of the cease-fire, they can begin their attacks and we are prepared and I will use the assets, he said. We have so many planes now, we have jets, I will drop all the bombs.

Duterte lifted the governments 6-month-old cease-fire with the rebels Friday and ordered troops to prepare for new fighting after the guerrillas abandoned their truce two days earlier and killed the six soldiers.

He said Saturday that he is scrapping the talks with the rebels and will order government negotiators not to participate in negotiations for a joint cease-fire accord scheduled this month in Norway, adding that peace with the communists might not come in this generation.

Despite his tough talk, Duterte asked thousands of guerrillas to abandon the nearly half a century of bloody rebellion in the countryside with an offer of land reform and housing.

Im offering you peace, he said. You should just come down and I will look for money to place you in settlements and I will proceed with the land reform.

Duterte said several rebel leaders who were temporarily freed to join the peace talks in Europe should immediately return to the Philippines and go back to prison, warning that he would cancel their passports and order them to be arrested. The rebel leaders, he said, could also apply for asylum in Europe and opt to die far from their homeland.

The setback in the talks is the latest reality check for Duterte, whose campaign against illegal drugs has killed thousands of suspects since he took office in June. The crackdown, however, faces a new impediment.

Duterte prohibited the 170,000-strong national police and the National Bureau of Investigation, another key law enforcement agency, from enforcing his campaign amid an extortion scandal that was sparked by the killing of a South Korean businessman by police officers involved in the fight against drugs.

Jim Gomez is an Associated Press writer.
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An overgrown pile of paperwork is the welcome back to work that most Canberrans look forward to after the summer holidays.

For Renee Osterloh it is an excited singing capuchin monkey spraying urine on her neck and arms to re-mark its territory.

Renee Osterloh, operations manager of the National Zoo and Aquarium, cleaning the inside of one of the aquarium's exhibits. Credit:Jamila Toderas

When most people are drinking a second coffee, Ms Osterloh the operations manager at Canberra's National Zoo and Aquarium, is feeding wild animals and giving giraffes daily pedicures as part of the zoo's training and conditioning program.

Diving into a fish tank full of the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef was all it took to open Ms Osterloh's eyes to the wild world of zookeeping at Canberra's National Zoo and Aquarium.
A "damning" report into lending practices by the big banks to small business has fuelled calls for a royal commission into the financial services sector.

A report by the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman released late last week found a range of lending practices by Australia's banks to small business could be improved.

Ombudsman Kate Carnell made 15 recommendations to level the playing field for small business borrowers. Credit:Vince Caligiuri

The inquiry considered the submissions of 23 affected customers finding that one third "were representative of poor bank practices and possible unconscionable conduct on the part of the banks involved".

Opposition spokeswoman for small business and financial services Senator Katy Gallagher said the report was "damning" and highlighted how the banks had been "unfair in their dealings with small and medium businesses in loan contracts and are refusing to change their ways".
There is exciting news that chief minister Andrew Barr is flirting with the possibility of (at last!) allowing our drab-looking city to be decorated with some billboards.

At their creative very best billboards can be witty and startling works of art. They can cheer up an otherwise drab cityscape in the same way in which some jazzy earrings or a rainbow-coloured beanie can enhance an otherwise average human face and head.

Discerning billboard enthusiasts post galleries of great billboards online. Readers whose minds are ajar on this subject might like to begin their homework with the stimulating website 50 Extraordinary and Attractive Billboards.

The usual puritanical "keep Canberra the way it's always been and as little like a real city, especially wicked Melbourne, as possible" miserabilists have been quick to condemn the government's billboard flirtations.

The Greens' planning committee chair Caroline Le Couteur has moaned that "We love living in Canberra, it's the bush capital of Australia and such a liveable city. Not being bombarded with big business advertising 24/7 is part of what makes our city such a great place to live."
The parliamentary year resumes this week and unless Malcolm Turnbull is lucky it will be his final one as Prime Minister. There are regrets, doubts and, worst of all, dark forebodings. Having sacked a PM only two years into the job, the Liberal Party now finds itself in political trouble.

The problem is Turnbull. He is not popular among his party members and, according to polls, among many who have no such allegiance. Nor does he resonate with small-l liberals who once assumed he was the second coming of Gough Whitlam. Simply put, in the 16 months he has been Prime Minister Turnbull has not lived up to expectations.

He came to power on a wave of personal popularity, but has lacked political conviction or insight in office. Last winter he opted for a laggard election campaign that just drove about a million conservatives away from the party of Menzies. We are only in February, but already his government has lost a senior minister in the expenses scandal.

Add to this the controversy surrounding Turnbull's $1.75-million Liberal Party donation and it is no wonder authority is draining away from "Mr Harbourside Mansion" as if from an open wound.
April is the cruellest month, wrote the poet T. S. Eliot (somewhat cryptically) in 1922. But February is the warmest and driest, at least in Melbourne. Bureau of Meteorology climate data since 1981 shows that February's daily average maximum and minimum temperatures are higher than any other month; rainfall is lower; there are fewer cloudy days, and more sunny ones. February has, on average, more days with a maximum over 30C, and holds the record for the hottest maximum (46.4C on February 7, 2009) and the lowest rainfall in any single month  just 0.6mm in 1991. January is a terrible month for a summer holiday. Credit:Kay and Burton Warm days, balmy nights, plenty of sunshine and next to no chance of rain  sounds like the perfect time for a summer holiday, really. Which is why in Melbourne we spend the first week of the second month of the year back at work and school with the air-conditioning cranked up and the sun beating down outside.

Europeans have the right idea. They take their summer holidays in August, the last month of summer, and the warmest in many parts of Europe. You don't really understand the etymology of the American word for "holiday"  vacation  until you've visited, say, Milan during the summer vacanze: evacuation is more like it, with most locals decamped to the seaside or the mountains for the duration of August. The reverse applies at the beginning of September, with everybody returning as one to the city for work, school and university just as autumn arrives. Our summer holidays are a quirk of the calendar, the result of transplanting an obscure northern hemisphere mid-winter festival to the south side of the globe, where we've made it the start of our summer holidays. Too bad that the best of summer, in southern Australia at least, comes after the holidays have finished. February takes its name from a Roman festival of purification that took place on the 15th of the month: what better way to purify yourself than with a month off work? Victoria could take a lead here, as we did with Federation, and declare February the official summer holiday. We could take a break at Christmas-New Year, then go back to work for a few weeks through the dodgy January weather before the real summer holidays start.
Climate science at the CSIRO is bouncing back one year after executives modelled its demise, securing new revenue streams in the Pacific and China, and looking to hire new staff.

On February 4 last year, chief executive Larry Marshall shocked staff in the country's premier research body by stating that because the question of whether the climate was changing "has been answered", it was time to deploy resources elsewhere.

At the time as many as 110 of the 140 staff in the Oceans & Atmosphere unit were considered for the axe as part of broader cuts of 350.

Amid a realisation that other agencies  from NASA to the Australian Antarctic Division  depended on CSIRO colleagues and couldn't be easily cut, and a public uproar at home and abroad, the number of redundancies was whittled back.
Cory Bernardi is set to upend centre-right politics in Australia and announce on Tuesday that he is resigning from the Liberal Party to head his own conservative movement in a stunning move that will rock the Turnbull government as Parliament returns for the new political year.

Fairfax Media has learnt that in recent days Senator Bernardi informed his staff of his decision to defect from the party he has represented in the Senate for a decade. He will join the crossbench as an independent conservative senator for South Australia, fearing that populist parties will continue to rise if right-wing voters aren't given a viable alternative.

It's understood Senator Bernardi will phone Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the morning, before delivering his resignation to the Senate after midday.

His resignation will emulate Don Chipp's in 1977, when the former Liberal minister sent shockwaves through the Coalition by quitting the party and founding the Australian Democrats. There are now fears other MPs could follow Senator Bernardi out the door, along with Liberal Party donors and voters. The outspoken conservative Nationals MP George Christensen has previously said he would use the summer break to also consider his future but has so far ruled out a switch.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has praised Russian president Vladimir Putin, calling him "a strong leader", while also entertaining the prospect she could one day become prime minister of Australia.

The comments drew immediate repudiation from Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, who said the families of Australians killed on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down over Ukraine wanted justice, not praise for Mr Putin from politicians.

US President Donald Trump attracted criticism on Sunday for saying he had respect for his Russian counterpart and wanted a constructive relationship, despite agreeing the former KGB official had killed people.

Asked about Mr Putin on Channel 9, Senator Hanson praised the Russian President as a man "standing up for his nation".
What do Donald Trump, Nick Xenophon, Pauline Hanson and 83 per cent of Australians have in common?

In a survey covering dozens of hot-button issues put to a representative sample of Australian voters, a desire to rely less on imports and to manufacture more at home stood out as the number one thing most people agreed on.

In the aftermath of Mr Trump's US election victory, where he strongly advocated reviving that nation's manufacturing industry, nearly 83 per cent of surveyed Australian said they strongly agreed (42 per cent) or agreed (40.5 per cent) with the notion we are too reliant on foreign imports. Only 6 per cent disagreed.

Support for an expansion of Australia's manufacturing sector was robust regardless of age, gender, income or locality.
Malcolm Turnbull has dismissed suggestions Australia will be indebted to US President Donald Trump if he proceeds with the refugee resettlement deal, insisting there is no quid pro quo for future military support.

The Prime Minister says Mr Trump has "absolutely not" asked for anything in return for US help in resettling up to 1250 refugees languishing on Manus Island and Nauru, despite making it clear during the pair's now infamous phone call  and publicly via social media  that he dislikes it.

Mr Turnbull's latest comments came as Mr Trump vowed to fight and win an appeal against a judge's order that lifted his controversial ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations.

But in a blow to Mr Trump's hopes of a quick resolution, a federal appeals court late on Saturday denied the Justice Department's request for an immediate reinstatement of the ban.
A lot can change in 20 years  and a lot can stay the same.

I'm organising my class of 1997 high school reunion  our first since graduation  so naturally memories of school are top of mind.

German model and blogger Alexandra Lapp rocks the Gucci T-shirt. Credit:Christian Vierig

The Jason Priestly poster in my locker, my eight-up Doc Martens school shoes (an act of defiance against Clarks, I seem to recall) and lots of large logo T-shirts.

While we haven't seen much of Brandon Walsh in recent years, the Docs and the logo tees are back with a vengeance.
Sydney: Australian Federal Police have arrested six people in relation to a cocaine haul which is believed to be among the largest in recent Australian history.

Authorities intercepted a yacht off the NSW south coast a few days ago, which was the result of a two-and-a-half year investigation.

Footage released by the AFP shows officers removing several large bags of evidence from a boat and placing them into the back of the truck.

Two men are also shown being led away in handcuffs from the scene. One of the men arrested is believed to have worked at a St Georges Basin maritime training facility.
The myth that herbal medicines do not have adverse health impacts is having its own dire side-effects, according to a new study.

The review, conducted by pharmacology researchers at the University of Adelaide, Murdoch University and Curtin University, points to a regulatory system that it says does not ensure the safety of products, and leaves consumers and health professionals in the dark about some of the potential effects of herbal remedies.

St John's Wort is a flowering plant which some studies have shown to be effective in the treatment of mild to moderate depression.

It found that some traditional herbal preparations contain toxic chemicals, heavy metals and pesticides.

The paper, published in Medical Journal of Australia on Monday, also found that many commonly used herbal medicines such as St John's wort, ginseng and evening can have adverse pharmacological interactions with prescription drugs and interfere with the outcome of surgical procedures.
"In some cases the whole of the dividend was appropriated on account of costs and disbursements," the tribunal found.

Clients had agreed only to pay a one-off fee of $550, plus legal costs "as the court may allow" if the claim was successful, and were not told the total amount they had received in dividends before costs were deducted.

The tribunal said clients had "not only experienced the substantial losses they suffered as investors ... but also suffered the further indignity of being deceived regarding the fees they would be charged, and having their dividends milked for additional fees" without disclosure or compliance with trust accounting rules.

In a defamation case against Fairfax Media, Mr Hocking was found to have misappropriated money owing to barristers who were briefed to appear.

The tribunal said the money was used to "prop up" the firm's office account, which was "in overdraft to a significant amount", and was not paid to the barristers for several months.
The barriers are in place and pay stations installed ahead of Toowong Village introducing paid parking on Tuesday, following suit with other inner-city shopping centres.

The new system will offer two hours free parking, no charges if entering the car park after 6pm and free parking can also be given by the customer service desk until 6pm for those customers who spend $150 or more in the centre.

Commuters, university students and the surrounding business district are to blame for Toowong Village finally giving in to paid parking. Credit:Robert Shakespeare

There will be no tickets, instead a number plate recognition system would be used which centre manager Kerri Jones said would make parking easier.

"The new system is aimed at deterring non-genuine customers from parking at the centre so that we can ensure that we provide the best customer experience for genuine shoppers," Mrs Jones said.
Road down R&D Louise, who had formerly specialised in hedge funds and derivatives was looking for something without alcohol, sugar or additives but still with the sensory pleasures of wine. Louise started experimenting with various iced teas and other extraction-based beverages. "I had some prototypes tested by a health food store and Vue de Monde, and that's when I turned it into a concentrate almost like a cordial but with no sugar. I played around with adding still and sparkling water and found the sparkling water made it more sensory and it was even more like wine," she said. Louise said a little while later she was doing her morning skin care routine when she had a cliche lightbulb moment. "I noticed all the rose water in my skin care and it just clicked. I started researched the beauty and skin benefits of digesting rose water and I thought maybe this could be more than a health drink, maybe I could innovate a beauty drink."

Can you really drink beauty? If you were to be innovative in the beauty drink industry, now is not a bad time to start. One report claims it is the largest growing category in the so-called "nutricosmetics" industry, which is set to be worth $7.4 billion in the next four years. Another report by Stylist in Britain says beauty consumables will go from a virtually non-existent market to be worth $1 billion in three years. "I don't just plan to have 1 per cent of that, I plan to have a decent chunk of that market," she said.

What's easy to confirm is that the Asia-Pacific region is the greatest growth zone for this sector, which is why Louise turned down one major US department store as a stockist. "I need to focus on Asian markets right now. Next week I'm flying to Hong Kong to meet with two companies who approached me about licensing and distribution of my product to mainland China." Collagen-based drinks are already popular in many Asian countries for the prevention of wrinkles and for promoting a radiant complexion and whitening. They include brands such as Skinade, Aneva Derma internationally and, in Australia, products such as Fountain's "anti-ageing beauty drink". Australian celebrities have even come under fire in recent years from doctors for promoting some beauty drinks. Taut, which contains shark cartilage, was promoted for anti-ageing qualities described as "bordering on absurd" by doctors.

Louise says she is careful not to promise anything too specific about Cilk Rose Water or say it too loudly. "We say that it can aid dermal regeneration. Even if we knew that it did with 100 per cent certainty we would still be cautious. "We have done testing at Southern Cross University that found the antioxidants are active at high level and we will be doing more clinical testing this year," she said. Forget social While Cilk doesn't present itself as a cure for ageing, or skin ailments, Louise says her clients are mostly high-earning educated women who have become return customers.

How has she achieved that without any marketing spend? "My customers aren't the kinds of people who need to be told to 'buy right now' in an Instagram post," Louise said. "There are so many beauty products out there who rely purely on social media without looking at the bigger picture." Louise, who still does everything herself, chose to put her efforts into long-term sustainability and scaleability. She found certified organic roses from Bulgaria and a manufacturer who aligned with her values in Melbourne. "It was a plant which normally did herbal tinctures and they had never done anything like this before but they thought it was cool and wanted to work with me."
Victoria's major container transport companies have resolved to pass on a hefty hike in CityLink truck tolls to their customers, in a move they warn will ultimately raise the cost of household goods.

Tolls for heavy vehicles using CityLink and the Monash Freeway will rise as much as 125 per cent on April 1, when a deal struck between Transurban and the Andrews government to help pay for the $1.28 billion widening of the Tullamarine Freeway and CityLink takes effect.

Heavy vehicle operators have cried foul over the looming jump in CityLink costs Credit:Craig Abraham

Heavy vehicle operators have cried foul over the looming jump in costs, which will not affect private motor cars, and have agreed to pass the charge straight onto their customers in the form of a new "toll surcharge" on invoices.

Trucks will be charged three times the daytime rate for cars, and double the night-time rate, when the new charges are introduced on April 1.
Hundreds of homes have been damaged as Melburnians endured almost a month's worth of rain in a single evening on Sunday.

As torrential rain gushed across the state, emergency crew members fielded more than 400 calls  half of which concerned flooding.

"Lots of people called reporting water coming through their roof, whether it was from loose building materials or blocked gutters," a State Emergency spokeswoman said.

Nearly 5000 homes were without power on Sunday evening, and cinema-goers were disappointed when Readings Cinemas in Waurn Ponds was forced to close due to storm damage.
Two men have been charged over an alleged brawl outside an Ellenbrook pub on Friday that left Perth father Diego Hulton fighting for his life and another injured.

Police were called to The Brook Bar and Bistro - where many patrons had gathered to watch the Anthony Mundine and Danny Green fight - around 10.30pm.

Diego Hulton has died in hospital from injuries suffered during a fight outside an Ellenbrook pub. Credit:Facebook

Paramedics treated the unconscious 37-year-old at the scene before he was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital with life threatening injuries.

He remained in a critical condition on Sunday morning.
If their opening speeches are anything to go by, here is the list of the buzz words you can expect to be hearing a whole lot more from WA's political party leaders as the March 11 state election edges closer.

The words were said by Liberal leader Colin Barnett, WA Labor leader Mark McGowan and Nationals leader Brendon Grylls shortly after the signing of the writs on Wednesday marked the official start of the election campaign.

At a glance: what are the government and the opposition promising us?

Or as Mr Barnett so eloquently put it, it's now "game on".

And kicking us off was opposition leader Mr McGowan who used the term "fresh approach" during his speech more than any other phrase  reinforcing a key strategy for his party's campaign in that they are not the Liberals and he is not Colin Barnett.
West Palm Beach, Florida: US President Donald Trump has long been effusive in his praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

In an interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, which will air ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, Trump doubled down on his "respect" for Putin - even in the face of accusations that Putin and his associates have murdered journalists and dissidents in Russia.

Election-era street art in Lithuania purports to show the extent of the special relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Credit:AP

"I do respect him. Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'll get along with them," Trump told O'Reilly.

O'Reilly pressed on, declaring to the President, "Putin is a killer."
Paris: Far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon embraced technology during the launch of his presidential campaign at a rally in Lyon on Sunday, with a 3D hologram of him making his speech appearing at the same time at another rally in Paris.

Melenchon, wearing a Nehru-style jacket, tried to use the hologram technology give a modern look to his launch, which coincided with that of the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Melenchon is certainly not the first politician to employ such technology - in 2014, then-Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan used a huge hologram of himself to attract wider support, while India's Narendra Modi trounced the opposition with a campaign that included holograms of his speeches in villages across the country.

Melenchon tried to position himself on Sunday as a key adversary of Marine Le Pen, choosing Lyon - and almost the same timing - for the launch of his campaign.
An interfaith prayer service and rally at John F. Kennedy Airport on Friday. Credit:Bloomberg A Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council, made up of business and cultural leaders of both communities, as well as both Democrats and Republicans, was formed days before the election and convened for its first regular meeting Wednesday in Washington to push the government for a coordinated response to hate crimes, which are up sharply against both Muslims and Jews. The week after the election, Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, raised eyebrows when he declared at a meeting in New York that if Mr Trump imposed a Muslim registry, "this proud Jew will register as Muslim"  a dramatic statement for the head of an organisation founded to fight anti-Semitism and protect Jewish identity. To many Jews, Mr Trump's targeting of migrants from predominantly Muslim countries evokes painful memories of Jews who were forced to identify themselves with yellow stars before their extermination at the hands of Nazis  and of the countries, including the United States, that turned them away when they tried to flee. "It speaks to a lot of people very personally because their own families have stories about being refugees. There is a communal resonance," said Shuli Passow, a rabbi at New York's congregation Bnai Jeshurun, who recalled how her grandparents were hidden in barns and basements in Poland during the Holocaust.

In addition, she said there is a religious imperative to take in refugees. "One of the core tenets of the Jewish religion is welcoming the stranger. That is a phrase that is repeated 36 times in the Torah," she said. When a mosque in Texas was destroyed by fire on the same weekend that the immigration ban was announced, members of a nearby Jewish congregation offered the keys to their synagogue so their Muslim neighbours would have a place to pray. Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, vice-president for community engagement of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, was on the Greek island of Lesbos working with refugees when the news broke last week about Mr Trump's executive order. "We are all heartbroken," she said. "It is a betrayal of what America stands for, what we as Jews stand for, and is a terrible recollection of our own history." The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society's work with Muslims pre-dates Mr Trump's presidency, although the organisation is feeling added urgency now.

Formed in 1881 to resettle Jews fleeing pogroms in Europe, it has in recent years devoted itself to helping non-Jewish refugees. In the last year, it helped resettle more than 4000 in the United States, about half of them Muslim. Ms Rosenn said that 270 synagogues and thousands of congregants nationwide have volunteered their time to find housing and furniture for refugees, to teach them English and enroll their children in school. "There has been an incredible coming together of synagogues around the country to welcome Muslim refugees. Jews really understand what it is to be 'the other' and to arrive in a strange country," she said. One of the beneficiaries of their hospitality is Ahed Festuk, who fled Syria in 2015 after being targeted by Islamist militants for driving a car and for her activism. Growing up in Aleppo, Ms Festuk had never met a Jew and never hoped to. Everything she had read in the public school textbooks was about the violence of the state of Israel.

Once in New York, she started to meet Syrian Jews, who in turn introduced her to American Jews who were eager to help her get settled in her new life. "They told me that their families were refugees too. People helped them and that they would help me," said Ms Festuk. She has been studying English in a free program that is now housed in the basement of the Bnai Jeshurun synagogue, located on New York's Upper West Side. Her English is now good enough that she volunteers as a translator  and speaks out against the Trump travel ban. "Syrian people are victims, not criminals," she said. Mr Trump's executive order prompted almost universal condemnation from the leading American Jewish organisations, which often squabble among themselves on issues relating to Israel and gay rights.

This time, it was not just from the predictable liberal groups, but also from more traditional groups such as the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America. Even the conservative synagogue in Washington, DC, where Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka is sending one of her three children to school, spoke up against the ban. It didn't help that the ban was issued on Holocaust Remembrance Day, timing which the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society called "incredibly offensive" and the Anti-Defamation League called "tone deaf". Mr Trump also managed to offend some of his Jewish supporters by issuing a statement for the remembrance day that omitted mention of Jewish victims. Even Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organisation of America, which has been staunchly pro-Trump, wrote that he felt "compelled to express our chagrin and deep pain" at the omission of any mention of the 6 million Jews who died at the hands of Nazi Germany. On the Trump presidency so far, there is divergence on the question (posed so often that it is a cliche) of whether he is good or bad for the Jews. Roughly 71 per cent of Jewish voters opted for Hillary Clinton, but Mr Trump has strong support from hardliners on Israel.

He also has two children who are married to Jews, including Ivanka, who converted to Judaism when she married Jared Kushner, now a senior White House aide. Despite New York City's image as a melting pot, relations between Jews and Muslims are not always as harmonious as the city's boosters like to claim. Fighting in the Gaza Strip in 2014 led to sporadic incidents in Brooklyn, including one in which Orthodox Jewish teenagers waved Israeli flags outside a mosque where worshippers were observing Ramadan. Jewish groups have occasionally complained about anti-Semitic slurs linked to Palestinian activities at the City University of New York. But over the last year, the strains between Jews and Muslims in the city have been dwarfed by the perception that both communities are under threat. Khalid Latif, an imam and head of the Islamic Centre at New York University, said that just after the election, pro-Trump graffiti was scrawled in a Muslim student prayer room, while Jewish students found their dorm room door covered with Post-it notes bearing swastikas, Trump slogans and messages such as "Make America White Again".
Portland, Oregon: A lawyer for the family of an Iranian infant who was temporarily banned from coming to the United States for life-saving heart surgery says they're "overwhelmingly relieved and thrilled" the child will now be able to have the treatment.

Jennifer Morrissey, a lawyer representing the family of Fatemeh Reshad, said she wasn't sure where the family was on Saturday, but they had been expected to travel to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for pre-clearance after a Seattle judge blocked enforcement of US President Donald Trump's immigration and refugee ban.

Fatemeh Reshad is travelling to the United States for heart surgery. The display dish on the left has the word "Allah" at the centre. Credit:YouTube

Morrissey spoke at a news conference on Saturday at Oregon Health Sciences University's Doernbecher Children's Hospital, where Fatemeh will be treated.

She said the girl's case is "an extremely poignant example of the impact of the ban".
Washington: A trio of Republican senators have reacted sharply to President Donald Trump's latest apparent defence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, rejecting Trump's suggestion in an interview that America cannot claim moral superiority to Putin's Russia.

Trump's remarks came in an interview with Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly that was previewed on Saturday and is set to be broadcast in full on Sunday evening before the Super Bowl.

In the clip, Trump repeated his past praise for Putin, saying "it's better to get along with Russia than not", which prompted O'Reilly to press him: "But he's a killer, though. Putin's a killer."

"There are a lot of killers," Trump said. "We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?"
London: Sex worker and law graduate Laura Lee is due to appear before Northern Ireland's High Court on Monday to challenge a law making it illegal to pay for sex.

Northern Ireland criminalised the purchase of sex in 2015 - the first part of the United Kingdom to pass such a law - in a move some advocacy groups said would help stamp out sex trafficking.

Sex worker and rights activist Laura Lee in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last year. Credit:Getty Images

Other groups have criticised the law, saying it will drive the sex trade underground and increase the risk of violence women face.

"I'm challenging this bill because it creates an extremely dangerous environment for sex workers," Lee said.
A US federal appeals court has denied the Justice Department's request for an immediate reinstatement of President Donald Trump's ban on accepting certain travellers and all refugees.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco instead asked challengers of the ban to respond to the appeal filed by the Trump administration late on Saturday night, and for the Justice Department to file a counter-response by Monday afternoon.

The Trump administration declared that a federal judge in Seattle overstepped his authority by temporarily blocking the ban nationwide.

Now the higher court's denial of an immediate stay means the legal battles will continue for days at least.
Handout satellite images of two villages in Rakhine state, Myanmar, before and after they were destroyed: Kyet Yoe Pyin is shown at left on March 30 and November 10, 2016, and Wa Peik in 2014 and on November 10, 2016. Credit:Human Rights Watch/New York Times It states that for decades almost one million Rohingya in Rakhine have suffered systemic discrimination and policies of exclusion and marginalisation. For months Myanmar's government has denied almost all allegations of human rights abuses in Rakhine, claiming a lawful counter-insurgency operation is underway after attacks on police posts in early October. Patients are treated at a medical centre of the International Organisation for Migration in the Leda Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf, Bangladesh. Credit:Getty Images But the report crushes expectations that Myanmar's decades of military-led repression had come to an end when a pro-democracy movement led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide election in late 2015.

The report's release in Geneva comes at a time of heightened religious and communal tensions in the Buddhist-majority country following the assassination last week of Ko Ni, a prominent Muslim lawyer and key member of the ruling National League for Democracy, who was drafting democratic reforms to Myanmar's military-authored Constitution. A family who fled violence in Salipara village in Myanmar sit at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. Credit:Getty Images And security analysts fear the treatment of the Rohingya will lead to a new long-term insurgency emerging in South-east Asia, backed by international Islamic extremists. Zeid bin Raad al-Hussein, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, has called for the perpetrators of what he called the Rakhine "horrors" to be held to account, possibly through the establishment of an international commission of inquiry or the involvement of the International Criminal Court. The UN's report includes testimony regarding the murder of Rohingya children. Credit:Getty Images

"The devastating cruelty to which these Rohingya children have been subjected is unbearable," he said. "What kind of hatred could make a man stab a baby crying out for his mother's milk?" Prince Zeid said Ms Suu Kyi, who has been widely criticised for failing to stand up for Rohingya, promised to investigate after he telephoned her on Saturday (Australian time) and urged her to use every means available to exert pressure on the military and security forces to end their operations in Rakhine. Rohingya fishermen pull a raft made of empty plastic containers along the coastline of the Bay of Bengal in Maungdaw, western Rakhine state after fishing boats were outlawed s part of a counter-insurgency campaign. Credit:AP "She said they would require further information," he said. The military still wields enormous power in Myanmar and Ms Suu Kyi's relationship with the generals who control key security ministries remains fragile.

Rohingya girls join a basic mathematics class in a school run by an NGO in Penang, Malaysia. Credit:Getty Images In Yangon, presidential spokesman Zaw Htay said "these are extremely serious allegations, and we are deeply concerned". He said they would be probed by an already established investigation commission which in January downplayed reports of human rights abuses in Rakhine, despite the fact that more than 60,000 Rohingya had fled their homes since October, and the publication of numerous detailed reports of military killings and abuse in the state, including by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which obtained satellite images of the widespread destruction of Rohingya villages. Yanghee Lee, UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur to Myanmar. Credit:AP UN investigators gathered the evidence in the camps after Myanmar's government refused them unfettered access to the worst-affected areas of Rakhine.

They obtained images and videos of bullet and knife wounds, burns, and other serious injuries from people they said were deeply traumatised. Victims told how hundreds of Rohingya houses, schools, markets, shops and mosques were burned by police, the army and sometimes civilian mobs. They described the destruction of food and food sources, including paddy fields, and the confiscation of livestock. "Testimonies were collected of several cases where the army or Rakhine villagers locked an entire family, including elderly and disabled people, inside a house and set it on fire, killing them all," the report said. The report said the violence raises serious concerns that Myanmar forces are engaged in "ethnic cleansing" to force Rohingya from Rakhine, where they have lived for generations.

Many Burmese ultra-nationalists claim the Rohingya are illegal immigrant "Bengalis" with no cultural, religious or social ties to Myanmar. Rohingya are routinely denied freedom of movement and other basic rights, including citizenship, in the country. More than 600 Rohingya have been arrested in the latest operations, and some are believed to have been released, but no details have been released of their fate. Loading Intermittent violent clashes between Buddhist nationalists and Rohingya have erupted in Rakhine since 2012, forcing tens of thousands of Rohingya into squalid camps.
Trump has said "extreme vetting" of refugees and immigrants is needed to prevent terrorist attacks. Throughout the day, Trump continued to criticise the decision in tweets. Late on Saturday, Trump showed no signs of backing down. "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" he tweeted. Trump's tweets criticising the judge's decision could make it tougher for Justice Department attorneys as they seek to defend the executive order in Washington state and other courts, said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, adding that presidents are usually circumspect about commenting on government litigation. "It's hard for the President to demand that courts respect his inherent authority when he is disrespecting the inherent authority of the judiciary. That certainly tends to poison the well for litigation," Turley said.

It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the US Constitution designates as a check to the power of the executive branch and Congress. Reached by email on Saturday, Robart declined to comment on Trump's tweets. Democratic US Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in a statement on Saturday that Trump's "hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it is dangerous. He seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis." "Read the 'so-called' Constitution," tweeted Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee. In an interview with ABC scheduled to air on Sunday, Vice-President Mike Pence said he did not think that Trump's criticisms of the judge undermined the separation of powers.

"I think the American people are very accustomed to this President speaking his mind and speaking very straight with them," Pence said, according to an excerpt of the interview. The court ruling was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges to Trump's push to clamp down on immigration. His order set off chaos last week at airports across the United States where travellers were stranded and thousands gathered to protest. Americans are divided over Trump's order. A Reuters/Ipsos poll during the week showed 49 per cent favoured it while 41 per cent did not. Wes Parker, a retiree from Long Beach, California, held a sign saying "Trump is love" at the Los Angeles International Airport, and said he supported the tighter measures.

"We just have to support the travel pause," Parker, 62, said. "If you were a new president coming in, wouldn't you want what you feel safe with?" Rights groups, Democrats and US allies have condemned the travel ban as discriminatory. On Saturday, there were protests against the immigrant curb in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and other cities. At the White House, hundreds of protesters chanted "Donald, Donald can't you see? You're not welcome in D.C."

The sudden reversal of the ban catapulted would-be immigrants back to airports, with uncertainty over how long the window to enter the US will remain open. US immigration advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, on Saturday urged those with now valid visas from the seven nations "to consider rebooking travel to the United States immediately" because the ruling could be overturned or put on hold, while a US State Department official said the department planned to admit refugees on Monday. In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Fuad Sharef and his family prepared to fly to Istanbul and then New York on Saturday before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee. "I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Sharef, who was stopped from boarding a New York-bound flight last week. The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travellers but that the Justice Department would file for an emergency stay of the order "at the earliest possible time".

Some travellers told Reuters they were cautious about the sudden change. "I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes," said Josephine Abu Assaleh, 60, who was stopped from entering the US after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family. "We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been cancelled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone. Virtually all refugees were also barred by Trump's order, upending the lives of thousands of people who have spent years seeking asylum in the US. Friday night's court decision sent refugee advocacy and resettlement agencies scrambling to help people in the pipeline.
SEHOS and Inspectorate remains mum

WILLEMSTAD/PHILIPSBURG:-- The board of the St. Elizabeth Hospital (SEHOS) has terminated the contract for Dr. Patrick Fa Si Oen, an unregistered surgeon who practiced at the institution for the past 14 years. Some two weeks ago SMN News broke the news that SEHOS had an unregistered surgeon working at the institution for the past 14 years. SEHOS made the discovery after they began investigating another surgeon for carelessness.

When the news broke the management of SEHOS sent Fa Si Oen on two weeks mandatory vacation in order for him to travel to Belgium to see if he could get this registration in order. Already in 2014 Fa Si Oen tried to register in Belgium and the Netherlands where he studied but was denied. However, recently the specialist registration council of the Netherlands dispatched a letter to SEHOS informing them that Fa Si Oen was not a registered surgeon and that if he wants to register he must undergo training. Due to all of this, SEHOS and the inspectorate has no choice but to terminate Fa Si Oen when he could not produce a registration from Belgium last week. Besides that, if SEHOS did not take the necessary measures they would have run a risk with their medical liability insurance company.

While all of the above transpired this past week the board and management of SEHOS are doing their best to hide their decisions under the preverbal carpet while refusing to take calls from media personnel.

Even the Inspector in Curacao began playing a cat and mouse game since he chose to leave management and board of SEHOS handle their affairs. SMN News further learned that Dr. Patrick Fa Si Oen has to return to Belgium for surgery training if he wants to register as a surgeon there. However, SMN News learned that Fa Si Oen opted for a court battle against SEHOS and the Inspectorate after lying on several radio stations and newspapers when SMN News broke the story two weeks ago.

In the meantime, the investigation involving Dr. Michel Berry is yet to be concluded.

Due to the lack of surgeons now at SEHOS a well-known and most qualified surgeon on St. Maarten is seeking employment at SEHOS since management of St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) chose not to renew his contract.

While SEHOS clearly took the necessary actions against unregistered specialists the management and Supervisory Board of SMMC is yet to do anything with the quacks they have working at SMMC. Several specialists working locally are also not registered as some specialists also did their specialty in Belgium, Cuba, USA, Ukraine, and other foreign countries but chose not to comply with the requirements to get registered where they studied and based on the current vetting on St. Maarten it is not clear if the foreign specialists or those that are not registered have the equivalent education and training based on the requirements of the Dutch law. One surgeon that is practicing at the SMMC who is not registered is Dr. Felix Holiday, based on the BIG registry Dr. Holiday is only registered as a basic doctor while he has been practicing for years on St Maarten as a surgeon. Another surgeon that has to complete a re-entry program on St. Maarten is Dr. Luc Mercelina in order for him to be able to practice as a full-fledged surgeon that is up to par with current surgical procedures. Even though SMMC and its director have agreed to have Mercelina do the re-entry program he is doing it under the guidance of an unregistered surgeon. It is left to be seen what actions the Minister of Health Emil Lee will take against the unregistered specialists practicing at SMMC to ensure that the people of St. Maarten receives quality health care. It should be noted that the Inspectorate of Health of the Netherlands have been using their microscope to look down at SMMC since patients from the BES islands travel to St. Maarten for medical treatment. SMN News learned that at least 40% of the specialists working at SMMC are not registered where they studied and most of the foreign specialists cannot meet the Dutch (EU) medical criteria to practice medicine within the Kingdom and its countries. At SMMC a radiology technician is practicing as a radiologist who have made gross mistakes causing severe damage to patients, the anaesthesiologist who hails from Ukraine cannot even speak English or Dutch, while there are gynecologists that are not registered.

SMN News will bring more information when the medical director of SEHOS Franke Scheper could be reached by Monday.
The construction of new multi-family units are starting to edge out construction of single-family homes in Flagstaff. According to the December 2016 monthly building permit report from the city of Flagstaffs Community Development Division, 239 permits were issued last year for single-family homes and townhomes worth a total of $52.7 million. At the same time, six permits for 241 multi-family units were issued worth a total of $41.3 million.

In 2015, the city saw 206 permits issued for single-family homes, townhomes and duplexes worth $43.1 million and 16 permits for 192 of multi-family units worth $16.5 million.

The boom in multi-family units comes from the new Mountain Trails Apartments on Forest Meadows Drive and Highland Mesa Road and Fremont Station, a new apartment complex geared toward students across the street from Kohls on Forest Meadows Drive.

Mountain Trail Apartments is expected to have 160 units completed in March. Chason Affinity Companies, the developer of the apartment complex, which is not geared toward college students, is also planning to build another 111-apartment project called Trailside Apartment on University Heights Drive and Beulah Boulevard. Construction on that development, also not geared toward students, is expected to start in March or April and open in the fall of 2018.

Fremont Station is expected to have 230 units for rent. The complex will offer flats, apartments and townhomes. The apartments will range from one to four bedrooms and the townhomes will have four to five bedrooms. The developer Capstone Collegiate Communities is already selling leases for the fall of 2017 and expects the building to be finished by summer. The building will also have about 1,200 square feet of retail shop space on the ground floor.

The city is also awaiting the start of construction on two other student-oriented apartment complexes, The Hub and The Standard. The Hub, located at the corner of Phoenix Avenue and Mikes Pike, is expected to have 206 units for rent and be geared toward college students. Core Campus, the developer of the project, struggled to get approval of the project from the city after residents in the neighborhood objected to the size and mass of the building, which rises to five stories in places. Core Campus has zoning approval for the project, but a group of residents called Stand Up for Flagstaff has filed a lawsuit to stop the project in Coconino County Superior Court.

The Standard by Landmark Properties is slated for 4.8 acres on West Route 66 west of Blackbird Roost. It will not include the Arrowhead Village trailer park but it will have 160 units and nearly 18,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor.

Vintage Partners is also expected to start construction in the new year on Mill Town, a 235 unit apartment complex on Milton Road where the current Arizona Department of Transportation building is located. The complex is the third part of a trio of projects by Vintage that moved the Harkins Theater from Woodlands Village Boulevard to its new location behind the Flagstaff Mall. The next phase of the project involves renovating the old movie theater to accommodate the ADOT offices and then razing the old ADOT offices and realigning University Avenue to create space for Mill Town.

On the single-family home side, new homes are being built in the Juniper Point, Canyon Del Rio and Presidio in the Pines subdivisions. Council also approved a new subdivision, Timber Sky off Woody Mountain Road. It will have 1,300 housing units, including single-family homes, condos and townhomes. Vintage Partners is offering 100 of the units as affordable housing.

On the commercial side of things, the city saw a 21 percent drop in the number of commercial permits issued in 2016, but a 101 percent increase in the value of commercial construction from $17,075,186 in 2015 to $34,445,155 in 2016.

The majority of that construction value, $17,500,000, comes from the construction of the new Guardian Medical Transport facility on Gemini Drive and a permit for the Rehabilitation Hospital of Northern Arizona on North Gemini Drive.

Another $9,300,000 comes from permits for three new hotels that are already under construction. The new Marriott Residence Inn is under construction in downtown Flagstaff and will have 100 rooms. The new Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn on Country Club Drive are under construction and will have 198 rooms total.
Weather update: Notre Dame places tailgate restrictions as result of NWS wind advisory

As the result of a wind advisory issued by the NWS for the South Bend area Saturday, Notre Dame has placed restrictions on tailgate activities.
The days of playing second fiddle to Cardiff's food scene are on their way out as the last few years have seen a big surge in the quality on offer for people looking for good food in Swansea.

New restaurants have opened, sure, but a slew of new opportunities have appeared too, ones that showcase the quality that's existed for some time but is only now coming to light.

Here, Swansea food blogger Nathan Lloyd takes a look at the established, the new and the exciting delights for a foodie in Swansea.

(Image: Nathan Lloyd)

New opportunities

One welcome new addition to the Swansea food scene are the markets that have sprung up in the Uplands, the Marina and Morriston. We may never know what magic was needed to convince the council to close down Gwydr Square and Woodfield Street for one afternoon every month but thank heavens it happened. These markets have everything from heritage vegetables from West Wales, artisan breads and pastries to hand-crafted confectionery and cakes. Small, local businesses like Popty Pizza and Mr Nice Pie have jumped on the opportunity to trade in these markets.

It may come as a surprise to many that the sheer quality of what is on offer is as high as it is. Regardless of whether you're looking for some nice ingredients for a party or just want to sample something surprising and delightful, the new markets have a lot to offer. With homemade baklava and Persian delights from a Taste of Persia and killer fresh coffee from Cafe Piccolo there are plenty of treats to discover as you walk around.

In a similar vein Swansea Vegfest have been running events and festivals in Swansea's Brangwyn Hall and Waterfront Museum for the last couple of years. With their tent pole events in July and December they're a great way of buying from local producers while also supporting an ethical and environmentally responsible cause. Many of the small businesses that appear in the markets also appear at Swansea Vegfest. Founded by a dedicated group of volunteers, the Vegfest aims to promote the cause while offering a varied and exciting range of animal friendly delights. The result is more great local produce to expand your horizons or enhance your cooking.

Slice

A relative newbie, Slice in Sketty offers fine dining a little bit closer to town.Owned and run by Adam Bannister and Chris Harris they've already garnered the attention of the Michelin Guide and the Good Food Guide (you may even have seen Adam on the Great British Menu). With the lunchtime 3 course menu starting at 30 a head you'll be eating well but not breaking the bank.

Expect mackerel, bass, pigeon and steak to be on the menu, cooked with a local flair. It's a small restaurant so you'll need to book in advance and make sure your party is on the intimate side.

Hanson at the Chelsea

The Hanson seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue at the moment and it's no wonder when the Good Food Guide and the AA are raving about it too. With its 2 AA rating and the AA fish restaurant of the year for Wales 2005 award, it has a long and established reputation that's well earned.

Snuggled just away from the hubbub of Wind St, Hanson at the Chelsea offers a cosy and relaxed atmosphere. Suitably for Swansea the menu is packed with seafood and their emphasis on quality, well sourced ingredients sings from their diverse and reasonably priced menu.

Fairy Hill

Fairy Hill is an established part of Swansea's food spectrum but that doesn't mean to say it's become old hat or out of touch. Recently acquired by burgeoning wedding giant Oldwalls, the restaurant is poised to continue its reign as one of Swansea's big players.

It's long offered some of the best dining in Swansea and is situated in one of the most scenic areas of South West Wales. After a stroll around Rhossili to see Worm's Head why not stop in Bury Green? With AA and Good Food Guide recommendations, this one is a 'cannot be missed.'

The King Arthur Hotel

This is a real gem, nestled in the heart of Gower and very, very popular with locals for everything from Saturday lunch to full blown weddings. The King Arthur is a proper old fashioned country pub that does great food and has a brilliant atmosphere. Curl up in the front bar next to the log fire and soak up the atmosphere while you're waiting for some reasonably priced pub grub.

The menu is stocked with some corkers - the bangers and mash is always made with local sausages while the lamb burgers are worth the drive by themselves. Go off piste with the specials menu if you want a wider range of fish or meat dishes. Beloved by TripAdvisor and anyone with any sense, you'll leave with smiles on your faces and the belt knocked down a notch or two.
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500-million year-old species offers insights into the lives of ancient legged worms



by Staff Writers



Toronto, Canada (SPX) Feb 01, 2017



A new species of lobopodian, a worm-like animal with soft legs from the Cambrian period (541 to 485 million years ago), has been described for the first time from fossils found in the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Details of the new species, called Ovatiovermis cribratus, are being published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology this week.

Dr Jean-Bernard Caron, senior curator of invertebrate paleontology at Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), associate professor at the University of Toronto in the Departments of Earth Sciences and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and lead author of the study, said: "Ovatiovermis is no longer than my thumb with all limbs stretched out and is only known from two specimens.

"However this new species provides fantastic new insights into the ecology and relationship of lobopodians, a group of mainly Cambrian marine invertebrates which are key to our understanding of modern tardigrades, onychophorans and the largest group of animals on Earth - the arthropods."

The researchers believe that strong recurved claws on the back limbs may have allowed Ovatiovermis and other related lobopodian species to anchor themselves on hard surfaces and stand more or less upright. Two long pairs of spinulose (hairy or spiky) limbs towards the front of the body would then have been used to filter or collect food from water and bring it closer to the animals' mouth.

Cedric Aria, a doctoral candidate from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto and co-author of the study, explained: "The various adaptations of this new animal to anchored particle feeding are reflected in its name. The species, cribratus, is the Latin for 'to sieve', while the genus name, Ovatiovermis, refers to that posture it must have ordinarily adopted: a worm-like creature that stood in perpetual ovation."

Even though lobopodians have long been known and studied, and occupy an intriguing position in the tree of life of invertebrate animals, their ecology had remained poorly understood. The authors of the study believe that their findings provide new views on the evolution of lobopodians and their relatives.

Aria added: "We think that suspension feeding was common among lobopodians and turned out to be important in the initial evolutionary 'burst' of that colossal group of organisms that gave rise to water bears, velvet worms and arthropods. Interestingly, today, skeleton shrimps (Caprellidae), which are arthropods and thus much more complex living relatives of the lobopodians, have adopted a very similar lifestyle, and you can see them waving in the drifting water possibly much like Ovatiovermis used to. "

Dr. Caron further stated: "These results contribute further evidence that suspension feeding was already a widespread mode of life during the Cambrian period. Its emergence has been important for the origin of modern marine ecosystems, and must have played a role in the rapid diversification of the first animals. "

The researchers were surprised to find that unlike other suspension feeding organisms, O. cribratus, did not have any hard structures to protect its body. Dr Caron said: "Contrary to its relatives, this species does not have any spines or plates on its body for protection. Its 'naked' state begs the question of how it was able to guard against predators."

The lack of body protection in O. cribratus demonstrates that organisms that lived in the Cambrian period did not exclusively develop hard defensive structures. The researchers speculate that O. cribratus may have lived in sponge colonies to avoid predators, or that by analogy with modern animals it used camouflage or was toxic or distasteful to predators. "However, this is a question that is difficult to solve with fossils, and it may remain forever one of Ovatiovermis' secrets," Dr Caron added.

The new species is only the third lobopodian that has been formally described from the famous Burgess Shale site in Yoho National Park (British Columbia). It is one of the rarest species found there, and the only two known specimens of this species are now in the collections of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

Research paper
Among the things that counted as true progress during the 20th century were multilateralism and free trade. The world has become so complex that no single country can solve the major problems on its own -- that was our recognition. Organizations like the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, NATO and the EU were all created for this reason. None of these organizations is perfect, but they are what we launched -- and we do need them. Bannon now wants to wipe them away, and either Trump is executing Bannon's intentions or he shares them.

That's why under President Trump, both the justified and the contemptible will be melded. Injustice is a major issue of our times, as are fears of digitalization and globalization -- and rightfully so given that the division of society and the speed of modern life is, in fact, extreme. Trump fuses these worries of his voters with nationalism and xenophobia. That's how demagogues work and it is how they become effective. The fact that the United States, a nuclear superpower that has dominated the world economically, militarily and culturally for decades, is now presenting itself as the victim, calling in all seriousness for "America first" and trying to force the rest of the world into humiliating concessions is absurd. But precisely because this nonsense is coming from the world's most powerful man, it is getting trapped by him.
London, February 04, 2017 (SPS)  Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) welcomed the European Union's decision to respect "the separate and distinct status" of the territory of Western Sahara, when considering its energy imports from Morocco.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) underlined in a statement the "shift in the EU Commission's position vis-a-vis Western Sahara, where before, the Commission would consistently state that Western Sahara is de facto administered by Morocco."

In his response to EU deputies on how does the EU Commission plan to ensure that its renewable energy trading with Morocco complies with the EU obligation to uphold international law and United Nations principles, the European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Canete said that the EU would henceforth "take into account the separate and distinct status of the territory of Western Sahara under international law."

Canete's written reply includes a reference to the 21 December 2016 ruling by the EU Court of Justice, concluding that the EU-Morocco Association and Liberalization Agreements cannot be applied to Western Sahara, as it is not part of Morocco, said the NGO.

WSRW underlined that this "first on-record recognition" of the "separate and distinct status" of the territory of Western Sahara, comes from Miguel Arias Canete, who in his previous position as Spain's Minister for Fisheries campaigned tirelessly for the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement, which is applied in the waters of Western Sahara.

However, the NGO expressed concerns over the implementation of the decision for future Morocco's energy projects in the Sahrawi occupied territories.

In this regard, WSRW said "it is not clear from the Commissioner's statement how energy developed in occupied Western Sahara could be avoided in practice, if Morocco would connect the territory's energy plants to its own national grid."

"By 2020, more than a quarter of Morocco's entire green energy production will be located in Western Sahara," said the NGO, adding that this would "further complicate an already arduous peace process." SPS

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TRUMBULL  St. Joseph in Shelton and St. Jude in Monroe are the latest victims of declining Catholic school attendance and growing deficits.

Bishop Frank Caggiano, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, told more than 300 parents and staffers meeting at St. Joseph High School on Friday night that the two schools would close and their students would be merged into an new academy to be named later at what is now St. Lawrence School in Shelton.

The change will be effective for the 2017-18 school year.

Caggiano said the goal is to allow a parent who enrolls a 4-year-old in pre-kindergarten at the academy to reasonably expect that child to graduate eighth-grade from the same school.

He believes the academy with about 240 students paying tuition beginning at $6,000 for one child, but encompassing decreased family rates, will reap a $24,120 surplus that will be used by that school. That is opposed to the combined deficit of more than $500,00 the three schools are running.

Still to be determined is which administrators and teachers will staff the academy at St. Lawrence in the fall. The process of sorting that out will start in the coming weeks.

What impressed me most was the way the bishop handled this, said Vincent Averaimo, of Milford. If the announcement had been handled the way was at St. Gabriels (in Milford) last year, I would have taken my children out of Catholic education.

More Information The schools involved ST. JOSEPH Address: 430 Coram Avenue, Shelton Opened: 1928 Students: 127 Tuition: about $6,000 for one student. ST. JUDE Address: 707 Monroe Turnpike, Monroe Opened: 1962 Students: 80 Tuition: $5,590 for one student ST. LAWRENCE Address: 530 Shelton Avenue, Shelton Opened: 1965 Students: 170 Tuition: $6,365 for one student See More Collapse

His two children were at St. Gabriels, which closed at the end of the last school year. They are currently at St. Lawrence. Its difficult to relive something that was very traumatic for my children and my family.

The consolidation is the latest in a whirlwind week of announcements made by Caggiano on the fate of Catholic schools in Fairfield County. He is scheduled to meet with parents and staff at St. Joseph School in Brookfield at 9 a.m. Saturday, to discuss challenges that school is facing.

Falling enrollment

The diocese has seen Catholic elementary school enrollment continual decline in Fairfield County, dropping from 7,700 in 2009 to 6,400 now. Most of the schools are running deficits.

Over the past 15 years, the diocese has picked up about $24 million in debts to keep our Fairfield County schools up and running, said Brian D. Wallace, a diocese spokesman. He explained that once a school closes, its debt is discharged.

On Monday, the bishop told a cheering crowd of about 150 people at St. Peter Church in downtown Danbury that none of that citys three Catholic schools  St. Peter, St. Gregory and St. Joseph  would close. The bishops decision to keep St. Peter School open came as a surprise to some, since it is running a $200,000 deficit. It may have been saved by an anonymous donor who offered $150,000 in scholarships over the next five years.

The situation was different Wednesday night in Stamford, when Caggiano unveiled a three-year plan that ends with all three Catholic elementary schools in that city being closed.

For at least next year, St. Cecilia on Stamfords Newfield Avenue will remain open, and house students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. In 2018, Trinity Middle School students are to move into the lower level of Trinity High School while renovations are made to the middle school. In 2020 the Middle School takes in elementary school students.

The three latest affected schools  St. Joseph, St. Jude and St. Lawrence  are running a combined $526,788 deficit, according to the diocese. St. Jude had the largest deficit, at $250,650, followed by St. Joseph, at $177,418.

Money troubles

One factor that led Caggiano to keep the school in Shelton is that Shelton residents made up 85 percent of St. Lawrences enrollment, 61 percent of St. Josephs and 31 percent of St. Judes. Only 40 percent of St. Judes enrollment comes from Monroe.

Additionally, St. Lawrence on Shelton Avenue in Shelton, is the newest of the three, has the most students at 170 and the lowest deficit, at $98,720.

St. Joseph, built in 1928, is the oldest and has 127 students while St. Jude has only 80 students.

Neither the Bridgeport Diocese or the Hartford Archdiocese, which includes the Valley municipalities and Milford, have been hesitant in closing or combining underperforming schools or churches.
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SHELTON  Three may become two, or even one.

But just how many, or which of the three Catholic schools will remain in the Shelton-Monroe area rests in the hands of Bishop Frank J. Caggiano, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport.

Caggiano is expected to announce his decision Feb. 3 at 6:30 p.m. during a meeting with parents, teachers, administrators and interested parties at St. Joseph High School in Trumbull.

At that time, he will discuss his plan to keep Catholic education alive and flourishing.

We have three schools, each with declining enrollment, said Brian D. Wallace, spokesman for the diocese. The enrollment does not support operating three separate schools. ... Weve been living check to check.

St. Joseph, built in 1928, has about 127 students with a tuition cost of just under $6,000 per student.

St. Lawrence School, at 530 Shelton Ave., which opened in 1965, is the largest with about 177 students and a tuition of $6,365 per student.

St. Judes at 707 Monroe Turnpike, Monroe, which opened in 1962, is the smallest with about 80 students and a $5,590 tuition.

Caggianos decision follows a meeting with parents and teachers on Jan. 17. The bishop met with the group at St. Joseph School.

He discussed his concerns and listened to those of the parents. The dioceses Superintendent of Schools Steven Cheeseman conducted a similar meeting at St. Lawrence School.

Monsignor Thomas Powers, the dioceses vicar general, did the same at St. Jude School.

He (the bishop) said there were a lot of factors that will go into his decision, said a St. Joseph parent who asked not to be identified. Demographics and space were two of them. He wants his Catholic schools to grow with emerging technology and the best possible teachers.

The parent left with a good feeling.

The bishop has made it clear that its not about retreating, but moving forward, said Wallace. We want to get it right. We want it so that if a parent puts their child into kindergarten this September, that same child will graduate eighth grade from the same Catholic school.

Closing and consolidation

While the bishop has not made a decision, the consensus among many Shelton residents is that St. Joseph, the oldest of the three, is the most likely to close.

That would be bittersweet, said John Zaleski, director of the Wakelee Memorial Funeral Home in Ansonia and a 1982 graduate of St. Joseph. If theres any kind of upside, its closing would alleviate the financial drain on the parish. But its difficult to see something that has been in existence so long close.

St. Joseph faced serious financial issues last year. But then Robert Scinto, the multimillionaire Shelton developer, stepped in and provided 35 scholarships, each for $2,000, to new students. Students who receive the scholarship are required to update Scinto on their scholastic and personal progress, and maintain a B average.

Still, Wallace said operating on a pay-as-you-go basis is not working for the Catholic schools.

Everything is enrollment-driven, said Mayor Mark Lauretti, who said Shelton has seen its public school enrollment drop by 900 students in recent years.

In a worst-case scenario, with both St. Joseph and St. Lawrence closing and parents deciding to send those 300 or so students to public schools, Lauretti said the city could handle the influx.

But remember, not all those students are from Shelton. Some are from the surrounding area, he said.

As a result, he said, the bishop will announce the creation of Foundations in Education on Feb. 1 at 11 a.m. at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.

This creates a more long-term program with support from business, corporate and institutional leaders and organizations, Wallace said. It will be a fully independent philanthropical foundation.

There are three aspects to it, he said.

The first involves creating an endowment that will fund scholarships and programs. The $2.2 million raised for Catholic education through the bishops annual appeal will go to the foundation, Wallace said.

Additionally, there is an innovation aspect, which will allow the remaining schools to bring in the best technology and most advance curriculum to prepare our students for the future.

Finally, there will be grants available for professional development

One option would be to use the academy model we have in Bridgeport, Wallace said. The three schools could consolidate into one with two campuses  or all three into one.

From day one, the bishop has been concerned with education. He spent a huge amount of time to determine what can be done and how to move forward.
STAMFORD  More than 110 students from 25 independent schools gathered at King School this weekend for the inaugural Global Education Leadership Symposium.

Faculty and high school student leaders from across Connecticut and New York met at the Newfield Avenue school on Saturday for a day of interactive workshops and presentations on topics like service learning, diversity and inclusion, leadership, sustainability and global education.
If politics and religion didnt mix, presidents wouldnt put a hand on the Bible while being sworn in.

Still, I notice the only overtly political question I pose to Bishop Frank Caggiano is the one that gives him pause.

Caggianos name is among 3,500 fellow members of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition who objected last week to President Donald Trumps memorandum restricting refugees from entering the United States.

The head of the Bridgeport diocese does not mention any elected officials during our half-hour conversation at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield Wednesday, which followed the formal launch of Foundations in Education, which is designed to frame and fund a vision of the modern Catholic classroom. Still, his response is the sort you wish would come from a politician.

There are two goods we need to hold together as a country. We need to always be open to immigrants. Because thats who we are. But we also are a nation of laws and we need to respect and reform our laws. Caggiano leans forward and puts his hand to his chin. I dont see a lot of leadership on any level having these sort of more nuanced (discussions). Its just reduced to yelling at each other.

As immigration inspired a philosophical civil war in America in recent days, it was also at the heart of perhaps the most trying week of Caggianos four-year tenure. He announced the closure and consolidation of several Catholic schools. In Stamford, Holy Spirit, Our Lady Star of the Sea and St. Cecilia elementary schools will be merged with Trinity Catholic Middle School.

The bishop will witness the Stamford initiative first-hand, as he plans a move to the city in the fall. The move will also enable him to be closer to seminarians at St. John Fisher Seminary Residence on the Trinity Catholic High School campus. In his own way, Caggiano acknowledges that he can seem like a rock star to seminarians (It will break down the barrier of  Ohh, its the bishop,  he says).

As Caggiano, 57, shepherds the decision to shutter schools that have served generations of students, I ask him to reflect on his own Brooklyn, N.Y., boyhood, where he was taught by Dominican nuns at Saints Simon and Jude School until the fifth grade. He may be a man of rituals, but clearly sees no advantage to letting Catholic schools become vinyl records in a digital world.

You need to honor the history and the tradition and peoples emotional attachment, and I hope and pray we can do that with dignity, but for the sake of our children we cannot allow nostalgia to become a noose, he said in a voice that still reveals its Gravesend, Brooklyn, roots.

There was a quick moment at the finale of the Sacred Heart program when Caggiano was slated to lead a prayer before a performance by a chorus of students from St. Theresa School in Trumbull.

First the children, then the bishop, Caggiano said with a smile.

First the children. Its the subtext of our conversation, and of speeches he made to anxious parents and educators in different communities last week. Hes not worried about the children integrating, but our species seems to lose the ability to adapt with age.

When Caggiano announced in Danbury that the areas Catholic schools would be spared consolidation, he was aided by Portuguese and Spanish translators, reflective of evolving neighborhoods.

The bottom line is the integration of that part of the Danbury community is happening in the schools, he says. These young people are growing up side-by-side and the distinctions that we make such a big deal about they dont.

The Catholic schools dilemma is a microcosm of the income gap that has a stranglehold on Connecticut, and on our evolving population. Caggiano says he routinely hears from parents who want to send their children to Catholic schools, but lack the resources. The Bishops Scholarship Fund last awarded $2,300,000 annually, but Caggiano says the real need for those families is closer to almost $10 million. Fund those students, and empty classroom seats will be filled.

Caggiano says he wants to ensure Catholic education is not a door thats only open to affluent residents in Fairfield County.

The middle class and working class are many times in equal need with the poor, he says. Thats a whole other political question thats above my pay grade to answer.

Ahh, politics again. As I ask Caggiano about poverty, I realize Im mixing another potent cocktail of politics and religion. Im also aware he started his days at Yale University as a political science major. He seizes the opportunity to present his theory that Americas most effective anti-poverty program was the Catholic school system.

It was created for immigrant needs. It has served waves and waves and waves of immigrant families through the generations, he says with the same enthusiasm in our room of two as if he were trying to sway a crowded classroom or church congregation. ... Four generations escaped poverty because of Catholic education.

He slices a hand through the air to punctuate the point: Government hasnt dreamt of anything of that scale.

Caggiano isnt shy about declaring himself an example of how well the program can work.

Youre looking at the son of immigrants who came from Italy. My father had a third-grade education. My mother had an eighth-grade education. And yet youre looking at their son who now is the bishop of Bridgeport.

And he knows hes looking at a journalist who rode the Catholic school train from Kindergarten through college. My Westchester County elementary school is gone now. So is my high school. They, too, were unable to adapt.

In the end its all about our children, Caggiano repeats. Its not about institutions and its not about buildings.

Were just a couple of Catholics talking education, real estate and politics, so Caggiano cuts to shorthand to express his faith.

We are poised for a qualitative leap forward in Catholic education. Like anything else thats Catholic theres a dying and a rising.

John Breunig is editorial page editor of The Advocate and Greenwich Time. Jbreunig@greenwichtime.com; 203-964-2281; twitter.com/johnbreunig.
P olice have launched a fresh appeal for witnesses after a 14-year-old boy was stabbed in the neck during an alleged gang brawl in a busy street in south London.

Witnesses described seeing a boy pull out a knife and stab another boy as a group of fighting teenagers loitered around Poplar Walk in West Croydon.

Police were on routine patrol in the area at around 4.30pm when they came across the large gang of youths.

Officers discovered one of the boys, aged 14, had been knifed in the neck.

An air ambulance was scrambled and officers gave first aid to the injured boy while they waited for paramedics.

The 14-year-old was taken to a south London hospital by the London Ambulance Service where he remains in a stable condition.

Police cordoned off the road with tape by the Santander at the corner of Poplar Walk and North End, near to West Croydon bus station.

Soon after four teenage boys were arrested on suspicion of affray in connection with the incident on a route 198 bus on the nearby London Road.

Police said they have since been bailed to a date in a late March pending further enquiries.

A weapon was found dumped in West Croydon bus station, police said. It has been sent off for forensic testing.

Police from the Trident and Area Crime Command are investigating the incident and are appealing for any witnesses to come forward.

Anyone that can assist the investigation can contact Trident detectives via 101, or by tweeting @MetCC

To give information anonymously Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111 or at www.crimestoppers-uk.org
T wo men were rushed to hospital after a double stabbing in Harringay.

Police were called to reports of a stabbing under the railway bridge opposite Harringay Green Lanes Overground station.

Police initially said the two men - aged 26 and 29 - suffered life-threatening injuries but by 7am on Sunday their conditions were described as non life-threatening and non life-changing.

Traffic on Green Lanes was brought to a halt as ambulances and police cars rushed to the scene.

Police cordon: The road was taped off outside the restaurant

The road was cordoned off at around 10.45pm as officers scoured the scene but the suspects fled before police arrived.

Halil Ozbek, the owner of a nearby shisha bar Rakkas, told the Standard: "Some people had a fight under the railway bridge and then two of them were stabbed.

"They called to our security guards who phoned the police and ambulance and we loked after themt."

An eyewitness, who did not want to be named, told The Standard he had been in the restaurant but it was evacuated when the area was flooded by police.

Police cordon: The suspects fled before officers arrived

A police statement said: "Police were called on Saturday, 4 February, at 10.45pm to Green Lanes to reports of a stabbing.

"Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service and found two men suffering from stab injuries.

"The men - aged 26 and 29 - were taken by LAS to an east London hospital.

"The suspects made off prior to police arrival. No arrests have been made.

"Officers remain on scene and there is currently a cordon in place."

Any witnesses or anyone with information should contact police in Haringey on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
T he Mets gang unit have launched an investigation after a man was shot in Ilford.

The man was found with gunshot and knife wounds in a car in the town centre during the early hours of Sunday morning.

Eyewitnesses described the area as being like a war zone as police vans and cars stormed High Street.

Officers found the 22-year-old man - who is believed to have been shot and had also sustained minor knife injuries  and he was rushed to an east London hospital.

One bystander, Samuel Kelley, tweeted: War zone in Ilford this morning. Loads of police vans, police cars and ambulances and people. The joys of getting the night bus to work.

Roads in the area were closed off as officers scoured the scene and one person was arrested on suspicion of affray.

A police spokesman said: At 4.57am on February 5 police were called by the London Ambulance Service to a man injured in High Road, Ilford.

Officers attended along with LAS and found an injured 22-year-old man inside a car. He was taken to an east London hospital where he remains with serious injuries.

The man is believed to have been shot and also sustained minor knife injuries. His condition is not believed to be life-threatening.

Detectives from the Trident and Area Crime Command  the Mets gang unit - are appealing for information about the incident.

Any witnesses, or anyone with information is asked to call officers from the Trident East Reactive Team on 101 or contact police via Twitter @MetCC or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
I lford town centre was described as a war zone on Sunday after police stormed the area and found an injured man in a car.

Officers from the Met's gang unit found the 22-year-old man with life changing injuries in a car on High Road just before 5am.

He was rushed to an east London hospital.

One bystander, Samuel Kelley, tweeted: War zone in Ilford this morning. Loads of police vans, police cars and ambulances and people. The joys of getting the night bus to work.

Officers arrested one person but no further details about the arrest were given.

A police spokesman said: Police were called by the London Ambulance Service on Sunday, 5 February at 4:57am to High Road, Ilford following a report of a man injured.

Officers found a 22-year-old man injured inside a car. He was taken to an east London hospital where he remains with life changing injuries.

One arrest (no further details) has been made and they are currently in custody at an east London police station.

Detectives from the Trident and Area Crime Command  the Mets gang unit -are investigating.

They have asked anyone who witnessed the incident or has information to contact police on 101 or via Twitter @MetCC, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


P olice descended upon an illegal rave in north-west London in the early hours of Sunday morning, seizing sound systems and shutting down the party.

Officers swooped on the property in Wembley High Road shortly before 1.30am.

Pictures show police vans lining the street near the property and officers hauling huge speakers down stairs.

Another photo showed the empty room with sound systems and lighting equipment sprawled across the floor.

Police carry out speakers from the premisis / Met Police

Police said the occupants of the building engaged with officers and there were no reports of disorder.

No arrests were made.

Brent police tweeted just before 3am: "Officers are currently on scene at an unauthorised event High Street, Wembley.

Sound system and lighting strewn across the floor / Met Police

"Those planning to attend will be turned away."

It comes after five police officers were injured as rioting broke out when police shut down another illegal rave in south-east London last month.

Gangs of revellers wreaked havoc as police officers were targeted while trying to shut down the illegal music event inside a disused bank in Deptford on January 20th.

Police said officers were punched in the head, spat at and burnt with cigarettes when a large crowd rushed forward and attacked them in Deptford High Street.
A British town is being plagued by pop-up brothels, with 30 of the illicit sex dens opening every single week.

Wiltshire Police warned up to 40 sex workers, mainly trafficked into the country from countries like Poland and Romania, were offering their services in Swindon during a typical week.

It is claimed the women rent properties on a short term basis for just a few days before moving on.

Detective Sergeant Chris Hitchcock told the BBC: "Many of these women move between addresses within the town as well as outside of it.

"Of these 40, we estimate they populate 20 to 30 brothels in short-term to medium-term rental properties."

According to police statistics, the number of brothels in the town nearly doubled between 2014 and 2015.

The warning comes after the seaside town of Newquay was also overrun by temporary brothels.

Pimps and prostitutes allegedly come to the town in south west England, set-up shop for a week and then disappear.
A host of street artists have spruced up a north London housing estate in a bid to live in painted cities.

Well-known artists including Gary Stranger and Pref, Sokar Unio and ATM painted Ferdinand housing estate in Chalk Farm transforming the drab, grey buildings into a vibrant kaleidoscope of different colours.

Artists from more than 10 countries and from across the UK painted 30 murals in their own styles on walls and doors with the permission of Camden Council.

Before and after shots of Ferdinand Estate, home to some 900 residents, show buildings in disrepair rejuvenated into vibrant collages.

Chalk Farm Housing Estate 1 /46 Chalk Farm Housing Estate International graffiti artists painted Ferdinand Estate in Chalk Farm. What follows is a series of before and after photos. Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by British artist Doodleman Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by Belgian artist Spear Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by German artist Sokar Uno Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by Mexican artist Said Dokins Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by French artist Nerone Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by British artist Naomi Edmonson Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by British artist Jerry Rugg Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by Italian artist Hunto Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by British artists Ed and Jo Hicks Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by British artists Gary Stranger and Pref Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by Brazilian artist Flop Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by Malaysian artist Cloakwork Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by Swiss artist Luna Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by British artists Zadok and Sapore Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by Brazilian artist Waleksa Nomura Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by Italian artist Valeria Lattore Global Street Art Before Global Street Art After by British artist Tizer Global Street Art

The project, led by organisation Global Street Art, took over a year to complete with the final mural painted by Luna, a graffiti artist from Geneva, last week.

Artist Ed Hicks, who painted part of the estate, said the residents reaction to the art had been heart-warmingly positive.

He said: The thing people always comment on is how important colour is. To be surrounded with vibrancy all year round has great benefits.

Lee Bofkin, co-founder of Global Street Art, said the Chalk Farm estate project was a pilot for a wider programme called Art for Estates. The initiative is free and aims to increase the amount of public art in London housing estates.

He told the Standard: Weve started speaking with other estates around London and were looking to expand the programme.

London is a great city with a lot of great artists living here and visiting from all over the world. It has been historically difficult to provide artists with great walls to paint.

There is an opportunity to do two really good things at once- provide estates with great art and provide artists with great walls.

Councillor Pat Callaghan, Cabinet Member for Housing at Camden Council, said: This is a community led initiative, which has seen residents and artists working closely together to produce this striking artwork.

"Were always happy to see these sorts of ideas come to fruition as they help create clean, safe and pleasant environments on our estates, and reflect the creativity Camden Town and its environs are famous for.
S ome of Britains best-loved chocolate bars could see their sizes shrink by 20 per cent in a clampdown on sugar.

Mars, Nestle  which produces KitKats  and Cadbury owner Mondelez are all preparing to slash the size of their products, according to the Sunday Times.

The manufacturers move follows meetings with Public Health England (PHE), the paper reported.

Officials suggested cutting back sizes by 20 per cent  the amount by which the agency wants to cut sugar intake across UK products.

PHE is preparing to publish a series of reports on child obesity that will see it name and shame the companies with the most sugar in their wares.

Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at PHE, said: Parents want help to make healthier food choices and for their children to eat less sugar.

We're supporting all sectors of the food and drink industry to lower how much sugar children get from everyday products, either through reformulation, portion sizes or encouraging parents to buy products with less sugar in them.

A spokesman for Nestle told the paper that reducing the size of its chocolate was an effective way to reduce sugar.
Q ueen Elizabeth II is set to become the first British monarch to reach her Sapphire Jubilee on Monday, as she celebrates 65 years on the throne.

Royal gun salutes will be fired across the capital to mark the anniversary of her ascension, as is tradition.

A 41-gun salute will take place at noon by the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery in Green Park and the Band of the Royal Artillery will play a selection of celebratory music close to the firing position.

A 62-gun salute by the Honourable Artillery Company will be fired at the Tower of London at 1pm.

Queen Elizabeth II Sapphire Jubilee: 30 looks in blue 1 /40 Queen Elizabeth II Sapphire Jubilee: 30 looks in blue October 9, 1989 Visiting British Queen Elizabeth II (R) chats with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew when he pays a courtesy call on her at the Presidential Palace Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images June, 1993 A portrait of Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II in an open carriage during Royal Ascot Chris Cole/Allsport/Getty Images 19 February, 1994 An Anguillan resident points her camera at Queen Elizabeth II as she greets residents and tourist lined up at a downtown street Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images March 5, 1997 Queen Elizabeth with President Mugabe of Zimbabwe and his wife, pose for photographers after being the Queen's guest at Buckingham Palace Johnny Eggitt/AFP/Getty Images November 20, 1997 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in jovial mood after thanking the Dean of Westminster for a special service at Westminster Abbey to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary, leave the Westminster Abbey Gerry Penny/AFP/Getty Images May 13, 1998 Queen Elizabeth II and the Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien (2L) inspect the honor guard at Buckingham Palace Dylan Martinez/AFP/Getty Images November 7, 1999 Queen Elizabeth II and Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings walk together upon the Queen's arrival for a state visit to the former British colony Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images February 23, 2000 Queen Elizabeth talks with Princess Anne (right) and Dame Helen Reeves (left), Chief Executive of Victim Support, during a meeting with members of the voluntary sector in the London Marriott Hotel, County Hall Adrain Dennis/AFP/Getty Images July 14, 2000 Queen Elizabeth II arrives for the Service of the Order of St Michael and St George at St Paul's Cathedral in London Micahel Stephens/AFP/Getty Images October 8, 2001 Queen Elizabeth II holds a hi-tech baton, designed to relay the Queen's opening message to the Golden Jubilee Commonwealth Games in Manchester next year, which was presented to her at Buckingham Palace, London Fiona Hanson/AFP/Getty Images April 30, 2002 Queen Elizabeth II is escorted by Speaker of the House Michael Martin (right) through Central Lobby at The Houses of Parliament after making an historic address at the start of her Golden Jubilee celebrations in London Adrian Dennis /AFP/Getty Images June 4, 2002 Queen Elizabeth II waving to the crowd as she rides in the Gold State coach from Buckingham Palace to St Paul's Cathedral for a service of Thanksgiving to celebrate to her Golden Jubilee PA July 6, 2004 Domenica Lawson (L), god daughter of the late Princess Diana presents a posy to Queen Elizabeth ll and the Duke of Edinburgh (R) after the unveiling ceremony for the Princess Diana memorial fountain in London's Hyde Park Arthur Edwards/AFP/Getty Images December 5, 2006 Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh leaving The Ritz in Londo PA October 21, 2008 Queen Elizabeth II inspects an honour guard during a welcoming ceremony at Brdo castle, some 50 kilometers north of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana Hrvoje Polan/AFP/Getty Images October 11, 2010 Queen Elizabeth II looks at a newly commissioned portrait of herself in The Queen's Room as she is given a tour of the Cunard's new cruise-liner Queen Elizabeth II in Southampton Docks in Southampton Arthur Edwards/WPA Pool/Getty Images April 27, 2011 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh arrive to open the Sainsbury Laboratory for Plant Sciences in the University of Cambridge Botanic Garden in Cambridge Andrew Winning/WPA Pool/Getty Images July 28, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II visits the Aquatics Centre on day one of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Park in London Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images November 14, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II meets the crowd after her visit to the Royal Commonwealth Society on in London Ian Gavan/WPA Pool/Getty Images December 25, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II leaves St Mary Magdalene Church after attending the traditional Christmas Day church service in Sandringham, near King's Lynn Chris Jackson/Getty Images June 2, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh arrive at The Derby in Epsom Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images December 18, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II leaves Number 10 Downing Street after attending the Government's weekly Cabinet meetingon in London Chris Jackson/Getty Images April 29, 2014 Queen Elizabeth II during a visit to the Chapel to view the restoration and meet local people involved with the project at the Royal Dockyard Chapel during an official visit in Pembroke Dock Bethany Clarke/Getty Images June 16, 2015 Queen Elizabeth arrives in the royal carriage for day 2 of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot Chris Jackson/Getty Images April 5, 2015 Queen Elizabeth II leaves the Easter Sunday service at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, Neil Hall/WPA Pool/Getty Images March 26, 2015 Queen Elizabeth II smiles at schoolchildren as she leaves the National Memorial to the Few after opening a new wing in Folkestone Chris Jackson/WPA Pool/Getty Images April 30, 2015 Queen Elizabeth II reacts after presenting New Colours to the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards at Windsor Castle in London Cathal McNaughton/WPA Pool /Getty Images March 8, 2016 Queen Elizabeth II smiles as she meets people being helped by the Prince's Trust at the Prince's Trust Centre in Kennington in London Chris Jackson/Getty Images December 24, 2016 Queen Elizabeth II sits at a desk in the Regency Room after recording her Christmas Day broadcast to the Commonwealth at Buckingham Palace in London Yui Mok/WPA Pool/Getty Images March 14, 2016 Queen Elizabeth II smiles as she arrives at the annual Commonwealth Day service on Commonwealth Day in Westminster Abbey, London Geoff Pugh/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Otherwise there are no grand festivities planned to mark the head-of-states new milestone and the Queen is not due to be out and about on official engagements on the landmark day.

As is usual on Accession Day, the monarch will be spending it privately at her Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

Sapphire Jubilee: The Queen in numbers

The sovereign, who missed church over Christmas due to a heavy cold, will undoubtedly be matter-of-fact about this historic occasion.

In 2015, when she thanked the nation for its kind messages after overtaking Queen Victoria to become the longest-reigning monarch in British history, she admitted bluntly that the royal record was "not one to which I have ever aspired".

She added: "Inevitably, a long life can pass by many milestones. My own is no exception."

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The Queen celebrated her 90th birthday last year and had a busy schedule commemorating the occasion, with a walkabout, beacon lighting and a black tie dinner for family and friends in Windsor on her actual birthday.

A weekend of national celebrations, including a party on The Mall, was held for her official birthday in June.

It is likely that any large-scale jubilee celebrations will be reserved for the Platinum Jubilee in 2022 - although any events will take into account the fact that Queen is due to turn 96 that year.

The anniversary of Elizabeth II's accession to the throne in 1952 is a poignant time for the Queen, marking the day her father George VI died.

She often spends Accession Day privately at Sandringham, staying there through the Christmas period. She usually makes her return to Buckingham Palace a few days later.
F or the Queen, February 6 denotes the very beginning of her reign and a great sadness at the death of her beloved "Papa".

George VI, who was suffering from lung cancer, died unexpectedly, but peacefully, in his sleep at Sandringham in 1952.

The Queen normally spends the joint anniversary of her accession to the throne and her father's death in private at the Norfolk retreat, staying out of the public eye.

This year, February 6 will officially signify the monarch's Sapphire Jubilee - 65 years to the day that she became sovereign.

Sapphire Jubilee: The Queen in numbers

When her father died, Princess Elizabeth was thousands of miles away in Kenya, watching big game in the Treetops Hotel with the Duke of Edinburgh, unaware of the duty that had fallen upon her shoulders.

Coronation: Queen Elizabeth II wearing the St. Edward Crown and carrying the Sceptre and the Rod / PA

They were resting after returning to the Sagana Lodge which had been given to them as a wedding present by the people of Kenya when the message was given to Philip by his equerry and friend Mike Parker.

The Duke looked as if half the world had been dropped on him, his close aide once said.

Philip broke the sad news to his wife while they were alone. Princess Elizabeth, now Queen, was ready to fulfil her duty.

Close to her father as a child, Elizabeth was said to be similar to him in character and, according to royal author Sarah Bradford, they shared a "dedicated professionalism".

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Lord Charteris, her then-private secretary, remembered seeing her seated at her desk in the Lodge appearing "very composed, absolute master of her fate".

Asked what name she wished to use as Queen, she is said to have replied simply: "My own name, of course."

The remainder of the Commonwealth tour was immediately cancelled and swift arrangements were made for their return home.

After a long plane journey, the young Queen - a slim, pale figure, dressed in mourning black - made her way down the steps, ahead of the Duke of Edinburgh, and set foot on British soil on February 7 for the first time as sovereign. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was the first to greet her on the runway at London Airport.

Elizabeth had left as a Princess and returned as a Queen at the age of just 25.

Crowds gathered in the streets to solemnly watch the new monarch being driven past in a black Rolls-Royce.

On February 8, Elizabeth II was formally proclaimed Queen in St James's Palace at a meeting of the Accession Council to which all members of the Privy Council were summoned.

In recognition of her 50 years on the throne in 2002, the Queen spent the Golden Jubilee accession day opening a cancer unit in memory of her father.

In 2012, on her Diamond Jubilee accession day - 60 years as monarch - she issued a message in which she promised to renew her pledge to serve the nation and its people, and visited a primary school near Sandringham.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
T he Queen made history this year as she became the first British monarch to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee - 70 years on the throne.

She became the longest-reigning British monarch in September 2015, when she surpassed the reign of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.

Elizabeth II and Victoria have been the only two British monarchs to reach their Diamond Jubilee.

But six sovereigns have ruled the country for 50 years - reaching their Golden Jubilee.

Queen Elizabeth commerorates the opening of her eponymous Tube line / Richard Pohle / WPA Pool/Getty Images

The nation's longest-reigning monarchs include:

Edward III

Kind Edward III reigned for more than 50 years / Shutterstock / Georgios Kollidas

Edward III became king when he was 14 in 1327, and reigned for 50 years and 148 days.

He was the monarch who first created the Duchy of Cornwall to provide his eldest son, Edward, the Black Prince, with an income - just as it is still used today for heir to the throne, the Prince of Wales.

He also introduced the Order of the Garter. It remains the highest British order of chivalry, awarded by the sovereign for outstanding public service and achievement.

Edward III's reign saw the beginning of the Hundred Years War against France.

Henry III

Henry III ruled for 56 years / Shutterstock / Georgios Kollidas

Henry III ruled for 56 years and 28 days.

The 13th-century king was only nine when he became monarch in 1216. The country was ruled by a series of regencies until 1234, when Henry took over. His reign was marked with rebellions by barons.

James VI of Scotland

The Wisest Fool in Christendom had a long reign / PA

James VI was King of Scotland for 57 years and 246 days.

His mother Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate in favour of her infant son in 1567, when James was one. He took full control as a teenager.

He also later became King James I of England and Ireland when Elizabeth I died, and was the assassination target of the Guy Fawkes gunpowder plot.

He was nicknamed The Wisest Fool in Christendom and was the father of Charles I.

George III

George III ruled for nearly 60 years / PA

George III reigned for 59 years and 96 days - missing out on his Diamond Jubilee by around 10 months.

But, for the last nine years of his life, he was declared mentally unfit to rule, and his son, the Prince of Wales - later George IV - acted as Prince Regent.

George III is widely remembered for two things: losing the American colonies and his so called "madness" - although he is now actually thought to have suffered from a hereditary physical disorder called porphyria.

He died in 1820, when he was 81.

Queen Victoria

An 1897 photo of long-lived Queen Victoria / PA

Victoria's reign of 63 years and 216 days saw great economic, social and political change.

She was Queen at the age of 18 in 1837 and her time on the throne spanned the rest of the century. She became the figurehead of a vast empire.

Victoria married Prince Albert and had nine children, but mourned her husband's early death for the rest of her life.

She was in ill health by the time she reached her Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and died in 1901, at the age of 81.

Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth celebrated her platinum jublilee / Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The Elizabeth II became Britain's longest-reigning monarch in 2015.

She overtook the previous record set by her great-great grandmother Victoria at around 5.30pm on September 9, 2015, at the age of 89 - having been head of state for 23,226 days, 16 hours, and some 30 minutes.

Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from The Queen's Wardrobe 1 /13 Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from The Queen's Wardrobe Royal Collection staff member Roxy Gilhooley arranges pantomime outfits worn in the 1943 production of Aladdin, Steve Parsons/ PA Curator Caroline de Guitaut arranges an evening gown worn by The Queen, in the Green Drawing Room Steve Parsons/PA A member of staff from the Royal Collection walks past a selection of hats worn by The Queen, Steve Parsons/PA Royal Collection staff member Roxy Gilhooley arranges an evening gown in the Crimson Drawing Room Steve Parsons/PA A member of staff from the Royal Collection arranges a white silk-crepe gown featuring 2,091 chiffon shamrocks worn by The Queen during the historic first State Visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011 Steve Parsons/PA selection of hats worn by The Queen, during a press preview for Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from the Queen's Wardrobe, an exhibition at Windsor Castle in Berkshire Steve Parsons/PA urator Caroline de Guitaut arranges a selection of dresses worn by The Queen, in the State Dining Room Steve Parsons/PA A selection of hats worn by The Queen, during a press preview for Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from the Queen's Wardrobe, an exhibition at Windsor Castle in Berkshire. Steve Parsons/PA Curator Caroline de Guitaut arranges an evening gown worn by The Queen, in the Green Drawing Room Steve Parsons/PA Royal Collection staff member Roxy Gilhooley arranges a selection of dresses worn by The Queen, in the State Dining Room Steve Parsons/PA

At 90, she is also the world's oldest monarchs and, following the death of the king of Thailand last year, the world's longest-reigning living monarch.

But the Queen has some way to go before she becomes the world's longest-reigning monarch in history.

Our Queen ruled for 23,226 days / PA Wire

King Sobhuza II of Swaziland, who died in 1982, holds that title - he was just four months old when he became king and ruled for 82 years and 253 days.

It was estimated that he had about 210 children from at least 70 wives an,d by the time of his death, had more than 1,000 grandchildren.
T he Archbishop of Westminster has warned that Donald Trump's controversial travel ban on seven mainly Muslim countries risks exacerbating the dangers faced by Christians in the Middle East.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols - the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales said the ban encouraged the "false notion" of a conflict between Christians and Muslims.

He also argued the Presidents policy promoted the idea of Christianity as a "Western phenomenon".

His interventions came as the US president received a further setback when a federal appeals court rejected a request by the Justice Department to reinstate the ban, after a federal judge ordered a temporary suspension.

President Donald Trump lashes out at US judge on Twitter

The Cardinal said he did not believe the ban would add to security in the United States or the Middle East.

"I don't think it increases security at all frankly because I just think it is likely to increase the determination of terrorists to make US objects a target," he told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour.

"Safety in the long run is not secured by fear. It's secured by improving relationships. It's secured by getting to know people around you and in that sense opening up things and not shutting them down.

"The second thing it does is it increases the risk faced by Christian communities in the Middle East because it implicitly backs a false notion that this is conflict between Christians and Muslims, and it increases the image of Christianity as a Western phenomenon."

Thousands to protest Donald Trump on day of MPs' debate on state visit

The Cardinal, nevertheless, said that he hoped Mr Trump's state visit to the UK would go ahead as planned, despite strong opposition from sections of the public.

"Diplomatic relationships are about talking to each other. I don't think it's part of the best of the tradition of this country to meet negative factors with purely negative factors," he said.

"I would be very surprised and I would be personally disappointed and I would consider it to be a failure if a formal visit by the president of the United States was unacceptable in this country. That would be a failure on our part."
G ermanys influential weekly magazine Der Spiegel has sparked controversy after it published a cover illustration of Donald Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty.

The image set off a debate on Twitter with some of Germanys newspapers criticising the cartoon, while the German vice president of the European Parliament describing it as tasteless.

It depicts a cartoon figure of Mr Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statue's head, dripping with blood, in the other and carries the caption: "America First".

The artist who designed the cover, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban who came to the United States in 1980 as a political refugee, told The Washington Post: "It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol."

The cover in full / REUTERS

German tabloid Bild said the cartoon compared the US president to Isis killer Jihadi John and said Der Spiegel has been accused of anti-Americanism in the past.

Broadsheet Die Welt argued the cover damages journalism because it confirms many peoples preconception that the mainstream media does biased reporting.

The White House has previously accused the liberal media of publishing false reporting deliberately designed to discredit Mr Trumps presidency.

The cover also follows a series of attacks on Berlin's policies by Mr Trump and his aides, marking a rapid deterioration in German relations with the United States.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was the go-to European ally for former U.S. president Barack Obama, who praised her as "an outstanding partner".

Last month, Mr Trump said Ms Merkel had made a "catastrophic mistake" with her open-door migration policy, and this week his top trade adviser said Germany was using a "grossly undervalued" euro to gain advantage over the United States and its European partners.

No one was available for comment on the Spiegel cover at the US embassy in Berlin.
D onald Trump has launched an appeal against a judges ruling that his refugee and immigration ban is unconstitutional.

The Justice Department filed the appeal late on Saturday saying its the sovereign prerogative of a president to admit or exclude aliens in order to protect national security.

It added that it is a basic principle that an alien seeking initial admission to the United Sates requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application.

The White House asked that the federal judge's order be stayed pending resolution of the appeal, arguing the ban is necessary "to ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism."

Earlier Saturday, the government officially suspended enforcement of the ban in compliance with the judge's order, which plunged the new administration into a crisis that has challenged both Mr Trump's authority and his ability to fulfill campaign promises.

That stand-down marked an extraordinary setback for the White House. Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend America's refugee program and halt immigration to the U.S. from seven predominately Muslim countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.

Mr Trumps January 27 executive order banned all immigration from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The appeal says the temporary restraining order by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle is a broad overreach of judicial authority.

"Judicial second-guessing of the President's national security determination in itself imposes substantial harm on the federal government and the nation at large," it says.

The order also imposes harm on U.S. citizens "by thwarting the legal effect of the public's chosen representative," it says.

On Twitter, Mr Trump mocked Judge Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, as a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling would be overturned.

He added in a subsequent tweet: "Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country.

"A terrible decision."

The ban has caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompting protests across the United States and Europe and leading to multiple court challenges.

Thousands of Londoners gathered outside the US embassy in London on Saturday before marching on Downing Street in protest against the ban.

But Mr Trump remained defiant telling reporters on Saturday night: "We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win."

Judge Robarts temporary suspension of the travel ban prompted a rush of visa holders from countries affected by the policy to board US-bound flights on Saturday.

Those who can travel immediately were urged to do so because of uncertainty as to how long the ban would be suspended.
J udges have rejected Donald Trumps appeal to have his travel ban immediately reinstated.

Judges at the 9th US Circut Court of Appeals in San Francisco instead asked the Trump administration and the state of Washington to file more arguments by Monday morning.

The ruling comes after Mr Trump launched an appeal against a Washington state federal judges ruling that his refugee and immigration ban is unconstitutional on Saturday.

The US President demanded that the Seattle judges order be stayed pending resolution of the appeal.

Mr Trump argued that the ban is necessary "to ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism."

But the higher court's denial of an immediate stay early on Sunday means legal battles over the ban will continue into the coming week at least.

Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco forcefully argued in the government's brief on Saturday night that presidential authority is "largely immune from judicial control" when it comes to deciding who can enter or stay in the United States.

In the appeal the Justice Department argued its the sovereign prerogative of a president to admit or exclude aliens in order to protect national security.

It added that it is a basic principle that an alien seeking initial admission to the United Sates requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application.

Earlier Saturday, the government officially suspended enforcement of the ban in compliance with the judge's order, which plunged the new administration into a crisis that has challenged both Mr Trump's authority and his ability to fulfill campaign promises.

That stand-down marked an extraordinary setback for the White House. Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend America's refugee programme and halt immigration to the U.S. from seven predominately Muslim countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.

Mr Trumps January 27 executive order banned all immigration from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The appeal says the temporary restraining order by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle is a broad overreach of judicial authority.

"Judicial second-guessing of the President's national security determination in itself imposes substantial harm on the federal government and the nation at large," it says.

Taking to social media on Saturday Mr Trump mocked Judge Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, as a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling would be overturned.

In a flurry of tweets he posted: "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into US?"

He later posted: "Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision."

Adding: "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!"
A manda Redman and Neil Morrissey star in a brand new medical drama, which wings its way to ITV on Sunday nights.

The Good Karma Hospital, part Indian Summers and part Call the Midwife launches this week and will fill the coveted 9pm slot for the next six weeks.

Set in a coastal town in tropical South India, the series follows British-Asian junior doctor, Ruby Walker, played by Amrita Acharia as she arrives at the run-down hospital to help the over-worked medics.

Heres what you need to know about The Good Karma Hospital.

Stars: Neil Morrissey and Amanda Redman / ITV

It stars Game of Thrones actress Amrita Acharia

Acharia, who takes on the lead role in the new six-part series, is best known to TV fans for playing Irri in the award-winning Game of Thrones.

The shows very bold, she told The Independent. It doesnt shy away from the shit in life and from the socio-economic situations in India and why the decisions Ruby made there arent the same as she would be made here.

When people ask is it the same as Casualty, I go no, it's nothing like that.

It was filmed in Sri Lanka

The cast shot the new series over three months in Sri Lanka, which stood in for Kerala.

It was interesting being in Sri Lanka because I almost felt that I reconnected with that [Nepalese] part of myself, having been brought up in the western world since the age of seven, said Acharia.

The biggest and best TV shows of 2017 1 /13 The biggest and best TV shows of 2017 Doctor Who The classic sci-fi show got a new lease of life with new companion Bill Potts BBC Line of Duty The BBC's acclaimed crime drama moved up to BBC One with more twists than ever before World Productions / BBC / Aidan Monaghan Broadchurch Chris Chibnall's mystery drama came to a close with a compelling final series ITV The Moorside Sheridan Smith puts in a stellar performance as she returns to TV in the BBC's Shannon Matthews drama Stuart Wood/ITV/BBC Apple Tree Yard Emily Watson starred in the BBC's gripping psychological thriller BBC/Kudos/Nick Briggs Fortitude, Series 2 Sky Atlantic's original Nordic noir-inspired chiller is back for more bloody mysteries Sky Atlantic Sherlock, Series 4 Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman return as Holmes and Watson in the BBC's mega hit PA Taboo Tom Hardy's dark thriller is unlike any period drama you've seen before FX Networks No Offence, Series 2 Paul Abbott's comedy-drama continues to walk a tonal tightrope with total ease Channel 4/Ian Derry The Voice A move to ITV has given singing contest The Voice a new lease of life ITV

Its about the struggles of an under-funded, run-down hospital

Redman plays Lydia Fonseca, who runs The Good Karma Hospital, an under-funded but creatively resourceful cottage hospital.

Ruby Walker is drafted in to help the dedicated team as they battle to help the local community.

Its from Ripper Street producer Stephen Smallwood

Smallwood is on board as producer, while the drama has been created and written by Dan Sefton, with scripts also from Vinay Patel and Nancy Harris.

The first episodes are directed by Gothams Bill Eagles.

ITV, 9pm.
Three feet of snow blanketed northern Arizona during a late-January storm, snarling traffic across the state. Among the delayed was a group of 10 Tucson artists and staff whod raised enough money to venture north in time to open their exhibition, Through Our Eyes.

With the trip postponed, the lessons they have to impart surrounding this multi-level educational experience had to wait  until now.

Through Our Eyes is open now through Feb. 24 at the Hozhoni Art Gallery at 2133 N. Walgreen Blvd. An opening reception with the artists will take place Feb. 11 from 12-2 p.m. Learn more at HozhoniArtists.org and FCM.Arizona.edu/ArtWorks.

Point and process

The 26 featured artists are part of ArtWorks, an outreach program housed in the Sonoran University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at the University of Arizona. The program, founded by Sister Jeanne Carrigan in 1994, partners artists with educators and experts in the field.

But Through Our Eyes is both a process and an end result, and something never attempted in Tucson, explained Art Works Director, Dr. Yumi Shirai.

One of my graduate students, she was interested in museum education and her thesis was on person-centered museum visits and how that impacts folks with IDD, Shirai said. We have the connections with the museum, so we wanted to expand that museum educational program, but we wanted to do something more.

The process started in early 2016 with UAMAs Chelsea Farrar learning from ArtWorks staff more about the artists: their favorite color palettes, media and imagery. They then found sections in the museum that captivated their interests.

Here, some met Mark Rothkos abstractions and Georgia OKeefes famous blooms, inspired by their color and form. And with the Coconino Center for the Arts Fires of Change exhibition visiting Tucson at the time, some even connected deeply with sculptures forged in Flagstaff.

Artist Paul McLaughlin created Pauls Skunk Puzzle after viewing Bryan David Griffiths painting made of beeswax and smoke, Severance. Jen Leon, too, was inspired by Flagstaff artist Helen Padillas rolls of red fabric in her piece, Red Flag.

After a series of museum visits at UAMA, and with the help of ArtWorks facilitators, they took to their studios for eight weeks to create.

Examining effect

In the months since, artists and facilitators alike have been examining the far-reaching impact this exhibition made on the greater art community as they hope to use Through Our Eyes as a model in the future of expressive art therapy.

Artists challenged themselves to use a medium or technique theyd never attempted before, brushed up on their public speaking at the original opening, and were introduced to the ways of a working artist.

Somehow our people really excel at the microphone. They had fantastic presentations where they explained about their art, their process and what this art means to them, Shirai said, noting they will bring their presentations to the Hozhoni gallery, too.

They also learned how to crowdfund. Shirai explained ArtWorks had previously been supported by state grants and a major benefactor in Mary T. Paulin who passed away last year, though many of her ideas came to fruition in Through Our Eyes.

Crowdfunding was a learning process, but it involved our artists in the process, and I think we were able to reach out to the larger community rather than our small network, she added. It was a great opportunity for our artists to expand their comfort level as well as awareness in the community.

Shirai, too, commended the regional community for its support, noting this connection to groups that truly value art and are enlightened by the data suggesting expressive arts therapy boosts cognition helps these programs continue and has, in turn, cast the net out to a wider network.

This network of support also led to Terri Engel, Hozhoni Foundation Day Program Administrator. When she happened to be visiting Tucson in March of last year, she found Though Our Eyes hanging at UAMA. That impression brought her to ArtWorks just a couple blocks away.

I met with Yumi and invited them to show Through Our Eyes at the Hozhoni Artist Gallery for the Flagstaff community to see this great exhibit, and for the artists to get the exposure they so deserve, she explained, noting Hozhonis gallery hosts exhibits from all over the country.

And the proceeds from sales of these pieces split between the artist and ArtWorks, it ensures artists will continue to experience the benefits of art and, as Shirai noted, all communities can come together.

No one is better than another, she added. They can be the ones who can have equal partnerships among other artists.
With one hand holding a bottle of champagne and the other an oversized certificate declaring him the winner of $1 million from Publishers Clearing House, Bruce Saunders stood on the front porch of his western Davie County Monday and rattled off a list of things he plans spend his spend money on  medical bills, fixing his lawnmower and helping family members.
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Approximately 200 people are attending a protest, on Sunday afternoon, outside the Cotroceni Palace.

The demonstration is not authorized by the City Hall, according to the information provided by the municipality. The people are on the sidewalk and the gendarmes have surrounded the area with fences.

The people are chanting "Down with Iohannis!" and have placards reading: "Resign!," "We support the Government."

Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Liviu Dragnea, announced that the demonstrations are not organized by the party he leads.

"The PSD is not organizing today any meeting or public demonstration. The gather-up messages which appeared on the social networks are not from the PSD," the PSD leader wrote on his Facebook page.

The piece of information was also taken and published on the social network page of General Mayor of Bucharest, Gabriela Firea.
A pension fund in Cleveland became the first plan to approve benefit cuts for current retirees  before the plan has run out of money. The move, some critics say, could open the door for other troubled pension plans to follow suit.

Roughly half of the 2,000 participants in the Iron Workers Local 17 Pension fund are seeing their pension benefits cut. The cuts are part of an effort to keep the fund from going under.

Under the plan, benefits will be cut by 20 percent on average. Some retirees are exempt from the cuts because of their age or a disability, but others are seeing dramatic reductions.

Larry Burruel, 68, said his pension check is being cut in half. Ive been sort of sitting here staring off in the distance, he said after learning the results of the vote.

Burruel, who worked for nearly 30 years welding metal and manning construction sites, said he is worried he and his wife will struggle to afford their medical bills with the smaller paycheck. Were going to have to make a lot of cuts, he said.

The reductions were made possible under a 2014 law that, for the first time, allowed troubled pensions to shrink payments to retirees if it would improve the health of the fund. Prior to the law, troubled pension plans could only cut benefits for current workers. Reductions for retirees were only possible after a fund had become insolvent.

Retirees ... performed dangerous work counting on the promise of their pensions, said Karen Ferguson, director of the Pension Rights Center. It is simply wrong that after their years of backbreaking work, they have been left out in the cold.

The funds proposal was green-lighted by the Treasury Department late last year. The plan was then put up for a vote by the members of the pension fund.

The iron workers make up a small portion of the roughly 1 million workers and retirees in pension plans that are on track to exhaust funds within two decades, according to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which insures private pensions.

The Central States Pension Fund, one of the largest multiemployer pension plans in the country, became the first pension fund to apply to cut benefits under the law with a proposal that would have affected nearly 300,000 current and retired truckers. But the Treasury Department rejected that application in the spring, saying the changes would not be enough to save the financially struggling fund.

The leaders of the iron workers fund said making cuts now could prevent the need for more dramatic reductions in the future. The suspension plan, while reducing their pensions now, is a better alternative than letting the pension fund become insolvent, the trustees of the fund said in a statement.

Without changes, the fund was on pace to run out of cash by 2024. At that point, the plan would have had to rely on the federal insurance program meant to protect multiemployer plans. But that program is also facing steep shortfalls and is on track to run out of money by 2025.

Ferguson and other consumer advocates argue that rejecting the cuts would have given lawmakers more time to come up with another plan for shoring up pension funds. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who is critical of the cuts, called on Congress to find a long-term fix. Too many retirees across Ohio face uncertainty over the benefits theyve earned, he said. We need to work on a bipartisan solution to protect Ohio workers from the mistakes made by those managing their funds.
Your mothers maiden name is probably not a secret. Neither, necessarily, is your high school mascot or the size of your car payment. But some banks and brokerages still pretend this is information only you would know, and that could be putting your money at risk.

So-called security questions long ago outlived their usefulness, since they can be hard for the right people to remember and easy for the wrong people to guess or steal.

Relying on questions and answers is absolutely brain-dead, but a lot of banks do it because theyre not equipped to implement anything else and regulators arent mandating alternatives, says security expert Avivah Litan, vice president and analyst at Gartner Inc.

Financial institutions disagree, saying knowledge-based authentication  especially questions based on less readily available information, such as data in your credit report  can be an effective way to identify customers.

No security measure is perfect, but knowledge-based authentication is certainly more granular and more effective than shared secrets, such as your mothers maiden name, says Doug Johnson, senior vice president for payments and cybersecurity at the American Bankers Association.

Yet repeated database breaches mean that tons of once-private information is now in criminal hands. Security questions and answers were among the data stolen from 1 billion Yahoo accounts in 2013, for example, and criminals answered questions drawn in part from credit report data to access more than 700,000 taxpayers transcripts at the IRS.

You dont have to be a hacker or even persistent to find the answers to some security questions. Many people post information such as birthdates and pets names on Facebook. They may link to family members, including their mothers. (If you cant find a maiden name that way, try genealogy sites such as Ancestry.com.) Data brokers legally hawk addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and property records, among other information, for as little as $1 per person.

Some financial institutions that use security questions say theyre only one facet of a multilayered approach. Discount broker Charles Schwab, for example, says it uses additional tools, controls and technologies  kept secret to foil attackers  to verify identity. Schwab also offers customers the option to add a verbal password and activate voice-recognition technology for added security in telephone transactions, says Sarah Bulgatz, director of corporate public relations for Schwab.

Financial institutions may take extra measures to determine identity when they spot unusual transactions or attempts to log in from unfamiliar devices or networks, Johnson says.

Still, its hard to know as a customer whats being done behind the scenes to protect you. And while federal regulations typically require financial institutions to restore money lost due to fraud, some banks, including Chase, say customers will be on the hook if they share their credentials with third-party sites such as Mint. Even if stolen money is eventually restored, customers could be without funds for days or weeks while their cases are investigated.

Toughen up your data

Given this landscape, we need to take extra steps to protect our money. Theres no way to make your accounts hacker-proof, since criminals have found ways around everything from facial recognition software to fingerprint authentication. Your goal should be to make your accounts tougher to compromise so the bad guys move on to easier targets. Heres how to do that:

 Use unique, strong passwords. Password managers such as 1Password and LastPass can help create and track this information as well as answers to security questions. Your router at home should be password-protected as well.

 Stick to your home network. Criminals can snatch your login credentials when you use public Wi-Fi for financial transactions. Plus, your institution may pay more attention to bad guys login attempts if you have a consistent pattern of using only your home network.

 Turn on two-factor authentication. Many banks and brokerages offer this option, which typically requires you to input a code texted to your cellphone or created by a smartphone app.

 Ask what else companies are doing to protect you. Financial institutions post security policies on their websites, but ask specifically how your bank or brokerage handles sensitive transactions, such as attempts to change your phone number (to thwart two-factor authentication, for example).

What if you dont like what you hear? Then it may be time to move your money to a financial institution that wants to help you keep it.

Liz Weston is a certified financial planner.
Michael Sandknop is not the first person, nor likely the last, to have his curiosity captured by the crimes of Jack the Ripper.

The Jefferson County man is intrigued by the connection between St. Louis and one of the prime suspects in the slayings: Dr. Francis J. Tumblety.

I was absolutely shocked to read articles saying Jack the Ripper may have died in St. Louis, said Sandknop, who is producing a documentary on the subject for a class at Webster University. From that point, it became a great curiosity.

In the second half of 1888, Jack the Ripper was terrorizing the streets of East London, killing and mutilating women. They were known as The Whitechapel Murders.

Sandknop believes he has come across discarded evidence that bolsters the case against Tumblety.

But more on that later; lets look at Tumblety.

Modern fingers began pointing at Tumblety in 1995, when British police officers Stewart P. Evans and Paul Gainey wrote Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer.

According to the detectives, Tumblety left Rochester, N.Y., and came to St. Louis in 1863. He moved in the 1870s to New York City, which he used as a base for traveling  especially to England, where two nieces lived.

The detectives noted that one trip landed Tumblety in London in June 1888.

The first Ripper murder occurred Aug. 31, 1888. The victim was Mary Ann Nichols. On Sept. 8, the Ripper killed Annie Chapman. On Sept. 30, Catherine Eddowes became the Rippers next victim. Organs had been removed from both Chapman and Eddowes  including Eddowes uterus.

In the wake of these murders, Scotland Yard discovered that Tumblety stayed in Whitechapel, and that he had visited a London pathological museum to ask if it had uteruses for sale.

On Nov. 7, London police arrested Tumblety in Whitechapel for gross indecency, a term used at the time to denote homosexual activity. He was released on bond Nov. 8.

On Nov. 9, the Rippers last victim, Mary Kelly, was grossly mutilated in her bed, and a number of organs, including her heart and uterus, were removed.

Police arrested Tumblety on Nov. 12 on suspicion of the murders. He was released without being charged, and on Nov. 24, sailed to France and then New York.

Scotland Yard detectives followed him to New York and did some further investigative work, but could not uncover enough evidence to extradite Tumblety back to England.

The book also notes that in the original police investigation, an American lawyer, C.A. Dunham, told police that during a dinner party in Washington in 1861, Tumblety called women cattle, sermonized about their evils and showed guests specimen jars that held human uteruses.

But one major finger of guilt pointed at Tumblety was discovered by Evans and is known to Ripperologists as the Littlechild Letter.

In the 1913 correspondence, Scotland Yard Inspector John G. Littlechild responded to a reporter working on a 25-year anniversary story about the murders:

I never heard of a Dr. D. in connection with the Whitechapel murders. But amongst the suspects, and to my mind a very likely one, was a Dr. T. (which sounds much like D). He was an American quack named Tumblety.

In the last dozen or so years of his life, Tumblety shuttled among Baltimore, New Orleans and St. Louis. In early April 1903, he checked himself into St. Johns Hospital in downtown St. Louis. He died there May 28, 1903.

Sandknops discovery is a deposition taken in New Orleans from Richard Norris, who appears to have been a lover of Tumbletys when he would visit during Mardi Gras season.

Norris says Tumblety invited him to his (hotel) room to seduce him, Sandknop said. And while he was there, he showed Norris a collection of knives and surgical instruments that he kept.

No one has ever before noted that Tumblety collected medical instruments, he said.

Sandknop said he hopes to substantiate one or two other leads before finishing his film.

What Id like to see when this is done, Sandknop said, is that we advance Tumblety to the top of the list of suspects.
The devastating impact of Alzheimers disease on his own mother  and on his father, who struggled to care for her  first prompted Gerry Richman to take a hard look at the disease.

As vice president of national productions at Twin Cities Public Television, he was the mastermind behind a 2004 Emmy-winning documentary called The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimers. Now, Richman is back with another eye-opening film on the subject.

Alzheimers: Every Minute Counts chronicles the struggles of people living with Alzheimers and the emotional and financial challenges it poses for their families.

It also forecasts, through interviews with doctors and researchers, a looming crisis for the country as baby boomers enter their senior years and their risk of developing Alzheimers increases.

A lot of the experts use the term skyrocket, Richman said, referring to the potential deluge of Alzheimers cases.

The current numbers are scary enough. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimers  with one new case identified every minute.

Alzheimers is a neurological disease that robs a persons memory and ability to care for oneself. There is no known cure, and it is not reversible.

In addition to the emotional toll, it can cost tens of thousands of dollars to take care of someone with Alzheimers, making it one of the most expensive diseases and provoking some health experts to predict that it will collapse both Medicare and Medicaid  and the finances of millions of people.

This is a major wake-up call to the country about the need to find a cure and to support all efforts to find a cure, or there will be a major social and economic crisis in the United States, Richman said.

Call to action

Part of the problem is that for too long, Alzheimers was not a recognized disease.

Its a weird thing because its not physically obvious, but it causes strange behavior, explained Elizabeth Arledge, writer, producer and director of both The Forgetting and Every Minute Counts documentaries. Only within the last 20 years have people realized that its a disease.

Although Alzheimers can strike people younger than 65, it generally occurs in those much older. The risk of developing the disease doubles every five years after 65, according to the National Institute on Aging. It becomes much more common among people in their 80s and 90s. With longer life spans come greater numbers of people at risk of Alzheimers.

There hasnt been a large population of 85-year-olds until this generation, Arledge said.

As public awareness of Alzheimers has grown, so has the amount of funding for medical research dedicated to it. Over the past four years, federal funding for the disease has doubled to $991 million. But that amount still pales in comparison with the billions the federal government spends on research for heart disease, cancer and HIV-AIDS.

Death rates for those diseases have dropped. Alzheimers research advocates are hoping for a similar outcome if funding is increased. Arledge said that message comes through in the documentary.

If theres something that people will come away with from the film, it would be that things can change when people mobilize, she said.

In the meantime, medical researchers are in a race against time to develop new therapies to better treat Alzheimers symptoms.

Do we cure cancer, heart disease or diabetes? No, but we can make significant progress, said Dr. Ron Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimers disease Research Center. So if Im destined to develop Alzheimers disease-related changes in the brain at age 75, and I can push that to age 78 or 80, thats a big deal. Thats why I say delaying onset and slowing progression is a more realistic goal than a cure.

Tips for prevention

Despite limited research funds, some promising discoveries have been made in recent years. One finding, discussed in the film, is that sleep  particularly deep sleep  may have a protective effect on the brain and help ward off dementia.

Part of the thought is that the proteins that are abnormal in the brain that probably cause or contribute to Alzheimers disease are continually being turned over and metabolized, Petersen explained. They get washed out in the spinal fluid system, and metabolized, and on their way. It turns out that during sleep, theres an important trafficking of this amyloid protein, which is thought to be one of the major culprits. And if you dont get adequate sleep, the clearing of the protein may be impaired, and that may contribute to some of the buildup of the protein and the toxicity.

In addition to sleep, other lifestyle behaviors may minimize your risk of dementia-related illnesses. Among them:

 Regular aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking every day.

 Eating a Mediterranean diet.

 Connecting socially. Avoid withdrawing and watching TV all day when youre retired, Petersen recommends. Remain active in society. Those kinds of stimulating activities are generally good for the brain.
It is a sad story when seniors pets show up at an animal shelter. They are often abandoned when their owners become infirm or die without insuring that the pets will be taken in by someone else.

Wills and estate plans are hard enough for most people to fathom. Only 67 percent of Americans over 55 have any sort of written testament, according to FindLaw, a unit of Thomson Reuters.

Legal planning for pets is rare.

That is because provisions for pets are considered a fancy of the ultra-rich. Much of the negative association is due to the 2007 lawsuit over real estate tycoon Leona Helmsleys attempt to leave $12 million to her dog. (It was cut to $2 million.)

Setting up a trust for pets such as cats, dogs and horses has evolved since then, and now there are ways for pet owners to prepare simple and inexpensive documents that can insure their beloved companions do not end up abandoned.

One place to start is the ASPCAs pet planning website at aspca.org. There are also ways to download pet protection agreements, such as at the online service LegalZoom, which start at $39.

Reuters spoke with Rachel Hirschfeld, the attorney who developed LegalZooms agreement, about why animal owners need to think about their pets futures.

What happens to a pet when the owner is incapacitated or dies and there is no plan for them?

If animals have been abandoned, by law, they are required to go to a city shelter. They are property.

How many people in your experience make a provision for their pets in their wills?

Its about 25 percent. Putting a sentence in the will is the cheapest. Theres not really any added cost to what you are doing. You just say, I leave my dog to...

You might want to add more, and say, my dog only eats this kind of food, please take him to this vet.

What if you want to leave funds for the care of the pet and more detailed instructions in a formal document?

You go to an attorney and pay the price. Some people do it for $750. Ive heard of more than $2,500.

Choose wisely. Its not the cost that makes a good agreement; its the talent. I caution people to only go to a lawyer who has done them successfully. If you dont know what you are doing, you can get sued.

Do you have to provide funds to care for your pets when you die?

You dont have to leave a dime, or leave as much as you want. The average person that Ive dealt with leaves $25,000. But funds are not required.

The most important thing is to leave beneficiaries in percentiles that equal 100 percent, not exact dollar amounts. Because if you say you are leaving $1,000.00, and theres $1000.01 in the account (or less than the exact amount), you could have problems because then a court would have to decide what to do about the excess (or deficit). The goal is to keep it out of court.

You have adopted abandoned elderly dogs at the shelter. Do you use your own agreement for them?

I wrote the agreement for my own animals. It started off with different pets, but the agreement is for all the pets that I have when I need this to be enacted.

I just adopted two dogs. I was at a shelter helping somebody, and there were these two dogs there that had been left by a woman whose father had just died and her mother had died a few years earlier.

I saw them there huddled and scared to death. Two weeks later, I came back, and they were still there. If that man and his wife were looking down, can you imagine? So I adopted them.
ST. LOUIS  Barbara Blaine, founder and president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has stepped down after 29 years, the organization said.

Blaines resignation from the nonprofit group was effective Friday. It has been the greatest honor of my life to have found and been your president, Blaine said in a statement.

Blaine and SNAPs new managing director, Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, said Blaines decision had absolutely nothing to do with recent litigation. In a lawsuit filed last month, a former development director for SNAP claims she was fired in retaliation for confronting the organization for making referrals to lawyers in exchange for donations.

Dorris will now serve as the groups highest ranking official. She said she will continue to work with SNAPs board to help sex abuse survivors everywhere.

Blaines departure follows that of David Clohessy of St. Louis, who resigned as SNAPs executive director Dec. 31. Clohessy started with SNAP in the late 1980s.

SNAP was sued last month in Cook County, Ill., by Gretchen Hammond, a former employee who raised money for the organization from 2011-2013.

SNAP was based in Chicago until moving to the Central West End late last year. The group has denied allegations in the lawsuit that 54 percent of the $440,000 in contributions to SNAP in 2003 came from plaintiffs sex abuse attorneys.

SNAP also has denied Hammonds claims that it is a counseling organization, instead insisting it is a volunteer, peer-support network of survivors.

SNAP said it is accurate that it refers sex abuse victims to lawyers and has accepted donations from attorneys but that SNAP has never and will never enter into any kickback schemes as alleged by Ms. Hammond in her lawsuit, nor has SNAP ever made donations an implied or express conditions of the referral of victims.
ST. LOUIS  A judge in Callaway County ruled on Thursday that a mental health patient at Fulton State Hospital was being constrained of his liberty due to the nature of his insanity plea entered 25 years ago for a misdemeanor offense.

Sean Cory Carter was already being held against his will in 1992 when he was arrested for hitting a hospital employee.

That additional criminal case added another barrier to his chance of being released from indefinite treatment or moved to a less-restrictive environment in the community.

Carter pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, or NGRI, for the offense. Had it not been for the plea, he might have just served 10 days in jail for the crime. Thats all the time the state prosecutor recommended in the case.

Carter, the subject of a Post-Dispatch report, has been challenging the NGRI plea in recent years.

His public defender says Carters case is particularly troublesome because it stems from a misdemeanor.

The vast majority of insanity pleas, which have plummeted in use, are for felonies.

Carter, 44, got a break in his case Friday.

This court finds that the procedural requirements for accepting a NGRI plea were not satisfied resulting in a violation of Carters due process rights, Circuit Judge Jodie Capshaw Asel wrote in her ruling Thursday.

Carter has testified that he was not made aware of the plea offer for jail time from prosecutors or that the plea would result in indefinite commitment to the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

The record available does not support a finding that Carters NGRI plea was voluntary, knowing and intelligent, Asel wrote.

The omissions in the October 9, 1992, NGRI proceeding were all the more significant and prejudicial when considered in light of Carters mental illness and condition  particularly his extreme impulsivity and inability to consider the consequences of his actions.

Asel ordered that the plea be vacated; however, Carter may not be eligible for release from Fulton State Hospital.

Doctors said last year that Carter was still a danger to himself and others because of his mental disease or defect. His guardian, the Jackson County Public Administrator, has supported keeping him at Fulton State Hospital until there are better alternatives.
JEFFERSON CITY  Gov. Eric Greitens signed right-to-work legislation into law on Monday, fulfilling a campaign promise that has been cheered by Republicans and the states business community.

It was a busy day for the governor, whose victory lap took him to an abandoned warehouse in Springfield, Mo.  a far too familiar sight for many towns across Missouri, according to a release from the governors office  and to Poplar Bluff, where he held ceremonial signings.

At each event, he was flanked by lawmakers who have been biding time for a GOP governor willing to sign the pro-business measure, which prohibits labor unions from collecting dues as a condition of employment.

This hasnt been an easy fight, Greitens said.

Eventually, he rounded back to his office at the Missouri Capitol, where supporters crowded around his desk and applauded as he hailed the bill as a simple and straightforward measure.

If (workers) choose not to join, they cant be forced out of their job, he said.

Greitens, like the legislators who cheered him Monday, is hopeful that the change will lure business to Missouri and keep the state competitive with 27 other states that have adopted similar laws.

But for the states unions, the signing is an event they had previously been able to delay. Greitens predecessor, Gov. Jay Nixon, blocked similar efforts with his veto pen and argued, along with fellow Democrats, that the measure was a political ploy to weaken Missouri labor.

Experts take issue with both arguments, saying the bill wont necessarily serve as a job creator nor a death sentence for unions, but debate around the issue has always been inherently political.

Businesses and their organizations, which typically donate to Republicans, support the legislation. Unions, who more typically back Democrats, contend the inability to collect dues keeps them from bargaining for important rights and benefits for their workers and curbs their political influence.

In particular, they take issue with Joplin roofing magnate David Humphreys, a Republican megadonor who in the 2016 election poured millions into the campaigns of those supportive of right to work, including Greitens.

Democrats in the Legislature were unsuccessful in attempts to amend the bill to address some of their concerns. Now, unions are making one last-ditch effort to block the law by voter referendum.

Next steps

On Monday afternoon, Missouri AFL-CIO President Mike Louis and Missouri NAACP President Rod Chapel filed a petition with the secretary of states office that would to put right to work on the ballot.

Louis has previously filed petitions that would invalidate the law after it takes effect, but this petition is different  its a seldom-used tool that allows citizens to block legislation approved by lawmakers and the governor before it goes into effect.

Louis and Chapel would need the support of 5 percent of voters from two-thirds of Missouris congressional districts by Aug. 28  the day the right-to-work law is to take effect.

If theyre successful, they will essentially force the issue to go before voters, and the law cant take effect unless a majority of voters approve it in 2018.

This referendum will guarantee that employers in Missouri can decide for themselves how to run their businesses and reach agreements with their employees without government intervention, said Missouri AFL-CIO President Mike Louis.

Greitens, at his final event of the day, acknowledged the opposition that last week descended on the Capitol and his office with pleas for him not to sign the measure.

I understand there will be people who dont agree with us on this issue. I respect the thoughtful disagreement on issues, Greitens said.

Right to work doesnt eliminate unions. It makes them more responsible and accountable to their members on the front lines, he added.

But as Greitens and Republican leaders enjoy their victory, union members remain fearful that the new policy will lower wages, benefits and workplace safety for the states middle class.

By passing so-called right to work, Gov. Greitens and other politicians in Jefferson City chose millionaire CEOs and out-of-state corporate special interests over Missouris working families, said Al Bond of the St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council.
Ste. Genevieve County is joining the St. Louis County prescription drug monitoring program database, according to St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger.

It joins St. Charles County, St. Louis and Jackson County in participating in the program, which creates an electronic database on opioid and other drug prescriptions dispensed within a given jurisdiction.

Its goal is to prevent a person from getting multiple prescriptions for the same drugs. Missouri is the only state to not keep such a database.
What does it mean to be an American? For that matter, what does it mean to be Japanese, Hungarian or Australian? All around the world, how we define our national identity is complicated. However, you may be surprised to find that different countries often have similar measures for who is one of us and who is not.

On Wednesday afternoon, Pew Research Center released a study that looked at how national identity is defined across 14 countries using survey data taken at the start of last year. In light of the ongoing debate about immigration in pretty much every part of the world, it makes for illustrative reading.

It turns out, for example, that most Americans dont believe that where someone is born really defines whether they can be American or not. In fact, only a handful of the countries Pew surveyed thought this was important. And while the U.S. is a country known for its talk of values and God, most Americans dont think that customs and religion are really important to being an American  and neither do most other countries.

Instead, Pews study found that in every country its researchers looked at, language was what really bound its national identity. The highest result was found in the Netherlands, where more than 84 percent of the population believes it is vital to speak Dutch if you want to truly be Dutch. But in all countries, a majority said it was very important to speak the national language.

The idea that language binds a nation together isnt surprising. Two people will struggle to find anything in common if they cant exchange information easily. As British historian Eric Hobsbawm wrote in a study of language, culture and national identity, as countries gradually embraced democracy, a shared language became a necessity. The original case for a standard language was entirely democratic, not cultural, Hobsbawm wrote in 1996.

Many modern states developed around linguistic communities  the German language was one key factor in the eventual unification of Germany, for example. In the modern age, some languages have become symbols for independence movements, such as the Basque language in Spain.

Pews study does not include countries where a multitude of languages are widely spoken  such as India or Switzerland. Instead, most of the countries listed in the research are pretty clearly defined by their language, which in many cases is unique to that country.

The most obvious countries where that is not true are both in North America  Canada and the United States. Canada is a country where there are two national languages, and both of them originated not in Canada but in Europe. This may be why it has one of the lowest percentages of people who think language is very important to national identity. (It also has the highest percentage for those who think that language is not at all important, at 5 percent.)

However, its worth noting that Italy, a nation with deep ties to its language, has results somewhat similar to Canadas, so perhaps the relationship is a little more complicated than that. Also worth considering is the fact that the United States  another country that imported its de facto national language from Europe  seems to view the importance of language more strongly than some European nations.

Pews data shows that beliefs about national identity have a partisan split. Eighty-three percent of Republicans say that being able to speak English is very important to being truly American, 22 percentage points higher than Democrats. There are similar splits regarding the importance of American customs and Christianity, too, though both Republicans and Democrats attach relatively low importance to being born in the United States.

This partisan link is also important across Europe, where respondents with positive views of anti-establishment parties such as the United Kingdom Independence Party and Frances National Front were found to attach a higher level of importance to national customs in defining identity. There were also similar partisan splits in Canada and Australia.

In most of the countries surveyed, there is already some kind of language requirement for citizenship. In fact, citizenship tests have become harsher over recent years as increasingly obscure cultural questions have begun appearing  potential British citizens are even quizzed about Rudyard Kipling. Some academics say the shifting tests are often a response to right-wing political pressure and serve little practical purpose.

But things may change.

For one thing, immigration also influences language: Germany has developed a colloquial language, Kiezdeutsch, which is primarily used by German speakers whose native tongue is Turkish or Arabic. Additionally, Pews data suggests that there is a big generational divide on whether language is very important for identity in most countries. In America, that shift is especially pronounced: While 81 percent of those age 50 or older say language is very important to national identity, only 58 percent of those age 18 to 34 agree.
Another runaway drug-pricing problem is putting an easy-to-use version of naloxone, a life-saving drug that can reverse an opioid overdose, out of reach for most drug addicts, their families and first responders. The cost of an auto-inject version of the drug, specifically approved for people without medical training to use in life-threatening situations, has increased more than 500 percent to $4,500 since 2014.

The wholesale price of insulin, a life-saving drug for some 1.25 million Americans who suffer from Type 1 diabetes, increased from $45 for a highly concentrated monthly form in 2001, to $1,447 last year. This is life and death for patients whose pancreases cant make insulin.

Older drugs and some medications that are particularly effective are becoming more expensive over time with competition failing to hold down prices. People are being deprived of desperately needed treatments because pharmaceutical companies are price-gouging, and Congress has failed to regulate them.

President Donald Trump has accused the pharmaceutical industry of getting away with murder because of the high pricing and vowed to tackle the issue himself a few weeks ago. We hope he keeps his promise. There is no justification for pricing common drugs so high that people will die because they cant afford them.

Companies with virtual monopolies set grossly inflated prices for drugs they know others cant provide, or make tiny improvements that generate new patents and greater profits. Medical experts say some insulin changes have been substantial, but others are simply a strategy to keep prices high.

Trump told pharmaceutical executives Tuesday that he would slash Food and Drug Administration regulations to make it easier for them to manufacture products in the United States, and nominate an FDA commissioner who will streamline the agencys drug approval process. The companies have blamed regulatory delay for high prices; in a few cases, that may be true. But greed is a bigger factor.

Patients need help. But cheaper drugs should not come at the cost of shredding FDA regulations that keep dangerous drugs off the market.

Trump stepped back from a threat to use the Medicare programs enormous buying power to drive down prices, something drug companies dread. If prices dont come down, and quickly, Trump should back up his tough talk with action.

Manufacturers blame high prices for new drugs on research and development costs. Price hikes for older drugs often are blamed on manufacturing and packaging costs, wholesalers and insurance companies. The numbers dont add up.

Consider Kaleo, the maker of Evzio, the auto-inject version of naloxone. It says it raised prices to cover patient co-pays. The product went from $690 in 2014 to $4,500 today. Co-pays didnt go up $3,810. Covering patient co-pays sounds morally defensible. An addiction to profits is more difficult to justify.
Why is Donald Trump so afraid to say these words: radical right-wing terrorism?

A week ago, we saw a repeat of the kinds of attacks that North Americans have been suffering for decades at the hands of radical racists. Alexandre Bissonnette sprayed gunfire inside a mosque in Quebec, Canada, killing six worshippers in the name of his fanatical cause.

The Trump White House condemned the senseless violence and called for increased vigilance. But nowhere was radical right-wing terrorism mentioned. When Dylann Roof walked into a Charleston, S.C., church and unleashed yet another spray of bullets, killing nine, the normally outspoken Trump was silent.

After Roofs conviction in December, the Rev. Al Sharpton noted Trumps silence: I am surprised he hasnt addressed the verdict.

The same kinds of internet-based propaganda that inspires radicals to attack their enemies is as present in the right-wing terrorism world as it is among Islamic State followers. But worse, there are right-wing militias currently training on U.S. soil, and the internet is replete with videos of their calls to action.

Long before the 9/11 attacks, the worst terrorist attack on American territory occurred at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. The bomber, Timothy McVeigh, and co-conspirator Terry Nichols were unabashed radical right-wing terrorists. But check the record. You wont hear Trump use those words.

Yet he spent years berating President Barack Obama for failing to use a specific label against Muslim radicals. Trump made it sound as if Obama were part of a vast conspiracy.

People cannot believe it. They cannot believe that President Obama ... cant even mention the words: radical Islamic terrorism, Trump stated on Fox News in June. There is something going on; it is inconceivable. There is something going on. Trump went to great lengths to loudly enunciate the words radical Islamic terrorism at his inauguration.

A New York Times report noted on Thursday that even Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Trump admires, believes its unwise to paint an entire religion with the terrorism label. I would prefer Islam not be mentioned in vain alongside terrorism, Putin told reporters in December. Obama frequently echoed that sentiment.

The Department of Homeland Security has identified at least 24 violent attacks by extreme right-wing groups in the United States since 2010. The Southern Poverty Law Center published an exhaustive study in 2015 of terrorist plots hatched by right-wing groups.

Although the centers horrific list of crimes doesnt come close to matching the toll from the 9/11 attacks, right-wing attacks collectively dwarf the number of attacks carried out by Muslim radicals inside the United States.

Trump offers no explanation about why he singles out only Muslims for condemnation while excluding white Christians who commit equally heinous crimes. Is he afraid of offending his base?
American travelers fear theyll be left to fend for themselves when they hit the road this year  and for good reason.

The incoming presidential administration has signaled that it intends to undo a wide range of federal regulations, many of which protect consumers. Although it hasnt yet targeted any rules that affect tourism, Donald Trumps campaign trail pledge to require that for every new federal regulation, two existing ones must be eliminated, has spread uncertainty among travelers. Federal regulation touches every aspect of the travel industry  some more than others. Removing even one rule could have lasting negative consequences.

I suspect youre going to see regulations disappear, says Bonnie Salt, a travel agent from Newburyport, Mass. I dont think it will take long.

Travelers, consumer advocates and industry insiders are also worried about the fate of several initiatives started during the Obama administration. Those include efforts to eliminate hotel resort fees and improve price disclosures on airline tickets.

During the waning days of the last administration, government officials sent a number of unambiguous messages about the need for increased traveler protections. In December, a report by the National Economic Council detailed what it termed a growing trend of hidden fees and their effect on the economy, including travelers.

The real prices of things are now being hidden or muddied by the addition of mandatory fees, noted Charlie Anderson, senior adviser to the director of the National Economic Council, in a blog post on the White House site. Quoted prices dont reflect what things actually cost  the real prices are hidden by fees.

Just a few days later, the Federal Trade Commission took an important step toward eliminating one of those hidden charges: resort fees charged on top of a hotel room rate after an initial price quote.

A research paper, written by an FTC staff economist and released this month, concluded that the hotel industry practice of disclosing resort fees separately from room rates without first showing the total price is likely to harm consumers.

The hotel and gambling industries, which could lose billions of dollars if resort fees become illegal, have doubled down on their opposition to regulatory action. Some industry observers say that the likelihood of phasing out resort fees, which looked like a real possibility this fall, decreased after the election.

FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez issued a statement saying that she hopes the findings will prompt the hotel industry to change the way it prices its rooms. But acting on the findings will be up to the agencys next chair.

Other such works in progress are new rules being considered by the Transportation Department, most notably a regulation that would require airlines to give customers a full and inclusive ticket price at the time a fare is initially quoted. Today, many services or products that airlines previously included in the price of a ticket, such as checked baggage, advance seat assignments and priority boarding, are sold separately.

If these rules take effect, it will be easier for airline passengers to make an apples-to-apples comparisons between ticket prices. At the same time, discount airlines that strip away these extras could be put at a competitive disadvantage, because they would have to quote the price of their tickets with luggage and seat reservations included.

For a Republican administration  Trumps included regulation is a dirty word, says Anthony DeMaio, a former airline lobbyist who now works for the Washington lobbying firm ONeill and Associates. The increasingly powerful airline industry will not accept more fare-transparency regulation.

With the future of these initiatives uncertain, consumers must learn to be their own advocates.

Be vigilant, says Randy Greencorn, publisher of the site Resortfeechecker.com. Look for resort fees and other hidden costs before reserving a hotel room, or simply call the hotel directly to ask about fees.

Laurie Sherwood, a partner in the California law firm Walsworth LLP, says knowledge is the key to protecting your rights. Travelers should fully educate themselves about their destinations, the companies with which theyre traveling, travel requirements and the potential risks of their travel, she says.

Perhaps the only certainty is that nothing is likely to happen in the near term. There are other legislative and regulatory priorities, so travelers will just have to take a back seat and wait.

And thats OK  were used to it.
Awhile ago, we shared our invitation to the traveling debut of the newest Partagas cigar, the Benji Menendez Master Series Majestuoso. And even though there wasnt an event in my area, I was able to obtain three samples for this review.

Born in Havana in 1936, Benji Menendez has a cigar pedigree that few can match. His grandfather, father, uncles, and great uncles were considered the royalty of the cigar business during the pre-revolution heyday of Cuban cigars, having developed world-class Cuban puros including Montecristo, H. Upmann, and Por Larranaga.

Now with General Cigar, Menendez is celebrating 57 years in the business with a new limited edition Partagas: the Benji Menendez Master Series Majestuoso, which comes only in a six inch by 46 ring gauge corona gorda.

The cigar features a dark, oily Cameroon wrapper wrapped around Connecticut habano binder and filler from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. It is solidly constructed, and a quick slice with my guillotine cutter reveals an effortless draw.

Once lit, the Benji Menendez Partagas Master Series Majestuoso reveals a medium-bodied combination of leather, licorice, and bread. It has a woody finish.

While the flavor profile doesnt change a whole lot, a slight peppery finish develops in the second half and a hint of nutmeg also emerges. Despite the relatively small change in flavor, it is still a complex smoke with extraordinary balance.

Only 5,000 boxes of this special Partagas are being released. The Benji Menendez Partagas Master Series Majestuoso sells for around $10 each, a reasonable price for an excellent smoke that earns four and a half stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

Patrick S



photo credit: Stogie Guys
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Australian army chief Angus Campbell will meet Indonesian military leaders in Jakarta on Wednesday, after defense cooperation was suspended last month over "insulting" teaching material found at an Australian base.

Campbell is due to meet Indonesian military (TNI) chief, Gatot Nurmantyo and army chief of staff Mulyono, TNI spokesman Wuryanto said.

Indonesia's military chief declared the rupture in military ties after an Indonesian officer found "offensive" teaching material while on a language training course in Australia late last year.

Nurmantyo said that the material "discredited the TNI, the nation of Indonesia and even the ideology of Indonesia", referring to material concerning East Timor and "Papua needing to be independent", as well as mocking the country's founding principles, known as Pancasila.

Both governments moved quickly to try to cool tensions and Indonesia's chief security minister, Wiranto, later said only cooperation related to the military's Australia-based language training program had been suspended.

Australian media said Campbell would discuss the findings of an investigation by the defense department into the issue after Indonesia had sought assurances over the training material.

TNI spokesman Wuryanto declined to comment on the agenda for Wednesday's talks. A spokesman for Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne confirmed the visit but also declined to comment further on the talks.

The countries have extensive military cooperation, which ranges from counter-terrorism cooperation to border protection.

But they have had a rocky military relationship in recent years. Australia stopped joint training exercises with Indonesian special forces (Kopassus) after accusations of abuses by the unit in East Timor in 1999 as the territory prepared for independence.

Ties resumed when counter-terrorism cooperation became imperative after the 2002 nightclub bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Indonesia most recently suspended military ties in 2013 over revelations that Australian spies had tapped the mobile telephone of then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

(Reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Harry Pearl in SYDNEY; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Nick Macfie)
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel speaks to the media outside of German House in New York, U.S., February 3, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

BERLIN (Reuters) - European Union countries such as Italy, France and Portugal that are pursuing economic reforms should be given time to reduce their budget deficits, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said on Sunday.

"Europe must not, as has been the case so far, be divided further between north, south, east and west," Gabriel said. "It makes no sense not to give the French a millimetre more room even though they are taking on a great defense burden in Mali.

"Those that are pushing through reforms - that includes Italy, France too, Portugal too - we should give them time to reduce their deficits," he told German broadcaster ARD.

(Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
Demonstrators in support of the immigration rules implemented by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, rally at Los Angeles international airport in Los Angeles, California, U.S., February 4, 2017. REUTERS/Ringo Chiu

By Dustin Volz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Sunday ramped up his criticism of a federal judge who blocked a travel ban on seven mainly Muslim nations and said courts were making U.S. border security harder, intensifying the first major legal battle of his presidency.

In a series of tweets that broadened his attack on the country's judiciary, Trump said Americans should blame U.S. District Judge James Robart and the court system if anything happened.

Trump did not elaborate on what threats the country potentially faced. He added that he had told the Department of Homeland Security to "check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!"

The Republican president labeled Robart a "so-called judge" on Saturday, a day after the Seattle jurist issued a temporary restraining order that prevented enforcement of a 90-day ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day bar on all refugees.

A U.S. appeals court later on Saturday denied the government's request for an immediate stay of the ruling.

Vice President Mike Pence defended Trump earlier on Sunday, even as some Republicans encouraged the businessman-turned-politician to tone down his broadsides against the judicial branch of government.

"The president of the United States has every right to criticize the other two branches of government," Pence said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program.

It is unusual for a sitting president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the U.S. Constitution designates as a check on the power of the executive branch and Congress.

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Trump seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis.

Some Republicans also expressed discomfort with the situation.

"I think it is best not to single out judges for criticism," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on CNN's "State of the Union" program. "We all get disappointed from time to time at the outcome in courts on things that we care about. But I think it is best to avoid criticizing judges individually."

Republican Senator Ben Sasse, a vocal critic of Trump, was less restrained.

"We don't have so-called judges ... we don't have so-called presidents, we have people from three different branches of government who take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution," he said on the ABC News program "This Week."

LEGAL LIMBO

The ruling by Robart, appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush, coupled with the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to deny the government's request for an immediate stay of the ruling dealt a blow to Trump barely two weeks into his presidency.

It could also be the precursor to months of legal challenges to his push to clamp down on immigration, including through the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, and complicate the confirmation battle of his U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said on Saturday that Gorsuch, a conservative federal appeals court judge from Colorado, must meet a higher bar to show his independence from the president.

Trump, who during his presidential campaign called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, has vowed to reinstate his controversial travel ban. He says the measures are needed to protect the United States from Islamist militants. Critics say they are unjustified and discriminatory.

The legal limbo will prevail at least until the federal appeals court rules on the government's application for an emergency stay of Robart's ruling. The court was awaiting further submissions from the states of Washington and Minnesota on Sunday, and from the federal government on Monday. The final filing was due at 5 p.m. PST on Monday (0100 GMT on Tuesday).

The uncertainty has created what may be a short-lived opportunity for travelers from the seven affected countries as well as refugees to get into the United States.

Sara Yarjani, an Iranian student with a U.S. visa who was attempting to return to Los Angeles to visit her parents, was among those who boarded flights to the United States after learning that Trump's travel ban had been blocked.

Her visa had been stamped "revoked" and she was sent back to Vienna last week. She was slated to arrive in Los Angeles on Sunday, according to her sister, Sahara Muranovic.

"This is our only window," Muranovic said. "Maybe they'll blow it again by Monday."

FACT AND FICTION

Trump's Jan. 27 travel restrictions have drawn protests in the United States, provoked criticism from U.S. allies and created chaos for thousands of people who have, in some cases, spent years seeking asylum.

Reacting to the latest court ruling, Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said: "It is a move in the right direction to solve the problems that it caused."

In his ruling on Friday, Robart questioned the use of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban, saying no attacks had been carried out on U.S. soil by individuals from the seven affected countries since then.

For Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction".

The 9/11 attacks were carried out by hijackers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon, whose nationals were not affected by the order.

In a series of tweets on Saturday, Trump attacked Hobart's opinion as ridiculous.

"What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?" he asked.

Trump told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida late on Saturday: "We'll win. For the safety of the country we'll win."

The Justice Department's appeal criticized Robart's reasoning, saying the ruling violated the separation of powers and stepped on the president's authority as commander-in-chief. It said the state of Washington lacked standing to challenge Trump's order and denied it "favors Christians at the expense of Muslims."The U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with Robart's ruling and many visitors were expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expected to begin admitting refugees again onMonday.

A spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, Leonard Doyle, confirmed on Sunday that about 2,000 refugees were ready to travel to the United States. "We expect a small number of refugees to arrive in the U.S. on Monday, Feb. 6th. They are mainly from Jordan and include people fleeing war and persecution in Syria," he said in an email.

Iraqi Fuad Sharef, his wife and three children spent two years obtaining U.S. visas. They had packed up to move to America last week, but were turned back to Iraq after a failed attempt to board a U.S.-bound flight from Cairo.

On Sunday, the family checked in for a Turkish Airlines flight to New York from Istanbul.

"Yeah, we are very excited. We are very happy," Sharef told Reuters TV. "Finally, we have been cleared. We are allowed to enter the United States."

(Additional reporting by Chris Michaud, Lin Noueihed, David Shepardson, Daina Beth Solomon, Dustin Volz, Chris Francescani and Reuters TV; Writing by Ayesha Rascoe and Dustin Volz; Editing by Paul Simao and Mary Milliken)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko the United States will work to restore peace along the border with Russia.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said in a White House statement on Saturday.

Renewed violence has flared between Moscow-backed rebels and Ukraine government forces that has caused the highest casualty rate since mid-December.

Separately, Trump reiterated to Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni the U.S. commitment to NATO and emphasized the importance of all NATO allies sharing the monetary burden of defense spending. Trump said he has agreed to attend the G-7 Summit in Taormina, Italy in May.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Steve Holland in Florida; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Federal Minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafique on Sunday asked India to shun stubbornness and implement the United Nations Security Councils (UNSC) resolution on Kashmir.

Talking to media after inaugurating a pectoral exhibition at Punjab Institute of Language and Culture Lahore in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day and Kashmir Movement, the minister plainly told India that its road to process passed through Pakistan, asking it to implement UNSC resolution on Kashmir by shunning its stubborn attitude.

He added that Indian cant retain its subjugation of Kashmiris for long.

The minister proposed forming a new think-tank for Kashmir freedom which should comprise on intellectuals, lawyers and people from different walks of life.

He also called for unity in the ranks of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leadership to give tough time to India.
The visiting dignitary will be briefed on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by the government of Pakistan.

According to Foreign Office spokesman, the visiting foreign minister Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa is heading a high level delegation to participate in the Pak-Bahrain Joint Ministerial Commission meeting.

Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa will jointly chair the commission meeting along with his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz. Besides the commissions meeting, the Bahrains FM will also hold a one-on-one meeting with Sartaj Aziz and delegation level talks to review the bilateral relations and enhance cooperation in different fields.

During his three-day stay, the FM will also meet President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Following the joint ministerial commission meeting, both the countries are expected to sign a number of pact and MoUs for bilateral cooperation.
Tibetan Buddhist monks will begin creating a Medicine Buddha Mandala for global healing and world peace at Toi Tauranga  Tauranga Art Gallery next week.

The special project has been organised by gallery staff in association with Tho Sam Dhargyey Ling  Dhargyey Centre of Contemplative Learning which was established in Tauranga recently.

Starting February 8, Tho Sam Dhargyey LingTauranga resident teacherVenerable Geshe Jamyang Sherab and Jam Tse Dhargyey Ling Whangareis Venerable Karma Gyasey of Whangarei will work on the mandala daily from 10am to 4.30pm.

It is expected to the mandala will take up to 12 days to complete.

Mandala is a term for a diagram, chart or geometric pattern representing the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, and is traditionally a two-dimensional representation of an Enlightened Beings place of residence and everything contained within it.

It is created from coloured sand particles, will be made in a unique traditional design which has been preserved through many generations along with studies and practices according to traditional Tibetan Buddhist lineages.

The Medicine Buddha Mandala is a manifestation of the healing energy of all enlightened beings, explains a Tauranga Art Gallery spokesperson.

When positive or joyous feelings and attitudes pass through each organ and circulate through our whole system, our physical and chemical energies are transformed and balanced.

Everyone is invited and most welcome to come and watch the monks as they work and witness the Mandala as it grows.

To help launch the special project, the public is being invited to an opening ceremony which is taking place at the gallery on February 8, starting at 5.30pm.

The ceremony begins with the monks welcomed and invited to construct the mandala by local iwi. They will then accept this invitation and recite prayers, then begin laying the sand in the middle of the mandala.

A closing ceremony will then be held on the morning of March 11, and will be presided over by Venerable Geshe Sangyey Thinley, a highly esteemed and experienced Buddhist practitioner and teacher from Jam Tse Dhargyey Ling in Whangarei.

During the closing ceremony the monks will recite prayers inviting the Medicine Buddha to enter his mandala. After this happens, each grain of sand is considered to be a seed to be a seed of great healing and well-being.

The Mandala is then dissolved, representing the impermanence of all phenomena, and either taken to a large body of water or distributed to the people attending the ceremony.

When the blessed sand is taken to water, the monks recite further prayers, offering the blessed sand for world peace and compassion.

PUBLIC TALK AND THANGKHA PAINTING

Venerable Geshe Sangyey Thinley, resident teacher of Jam Tse Dhargyey Ling in Whangarei, will deliver a public talk on the meaning and significance of the Medicine Buddha Mandala at Toi Tauranga  Tauranga Art Gallery on March 10, from 2.30pm.

While Venerable Nyima Gyaltsen, an accomplished Thangkha painter, will be giving painting demonstrations in this ancient Tibetan cultural art practice at the gallery daily from March 6-10.

Entry is free and donations are most welcome. Offerings to Tho Sam Dhargyey Ling and the monks can be made in donation boxes or put on the altar.

For more information visit www.artgallery.org.nz/medicine-buddha-sand-mandala
Two newly-appointed Ministry for Primary Industries fisheries officers have made the largest paua bust in the Auckland region in more than a decade.

Team manager for the South Auckland region Jacob Hore says the alleged offending was uncovered by two of MPIs more junior fisheries officers, which makes the detection even more significant.

The officers were on a routine late shift patrol in West Auckland earlier this week when they came across a car they considered to be in a suspicious location near Cornwallis wharf, he says.

They felt something wasnt quite right so waited for the occupants to come back then pulled the vehicle over as it left the area.

Four people  three men and a woman  were discovered in possession of 260 paua, 258 of which were shucked and all of which were undersized.

The officers seized all the paua and the dive gear used in the alleged offending.

Unfortunately, the paua were all dead because they had been removed from their shells when our officers found them. They were taken back to the office to be weighed, measured and stored for evidential purposes.

If they had still been in the shell, the officers would have measured them at the scene and returned them to the sea.

Jacob says it represents the largest paua gathering offence detected in the Auckland region in more than 10 years.

It is fantastic to see our new officers using their initiative and delivering great results.

He says it is likely that all the people who the officers found in the car will face regulation charges and charges under the Fisheries Act.
About 400 people, including more than 50 who were not born in New Zealand, gathered before dawn at Mt Drury to celebrate Waitangi Day.

The theme of Waitangi this year is whanaungatanga which speaks of the relationship, kinship, and sense of family connection.

"We all have our identities as workers, fathers, mothers, and those identities are different but we are all the people of New Zealand," says Ellis Te Arahi Bryers.

Whanaungatanga is a relationship through shared experiences and working together which provides people with a sense of belonging.

Last year the Waitangi celebration was unable to be held due to weather. This year the Ratana Band opened the dawn celebration, marching on to the grounds under an overcast sky.

Guests included Tauranga Mayor Greg Brownless, Hon MP Simon Bridges, Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy, Western Bay of Plenty Mayor Gary Webber, city and district councillors and iwi leaders.

Pastor Katie Milgate from Mosaic Church spoke of unity.

"The lesson of the old is crying out to us today to put our differences aside and choose unity," says Katie. "The responsibility for unity is on all of us who call Aotearoa home. It starts with me in my neighbourhood."

Rev Kate Burton of St Peters Presbyterian Church also spoke of unity.

"Gods voice calls us to unity," says Kate. "May we as a nation remain bound in love and unity."

The Waiata International Group performed He Honore and led the gathering in the National Anthem. The groups members, made up of children and adults, came from the Phillipines, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Samoa and New Zealand. They also performed a selection of songs.

The theme of New Zealand being a multicultural, multilinguist, multi-vibrant culture permeated the gathering.

Mayor Greg Brownless confessed to being a little nervous, attending his first Waitangi Day event as newly elected Mayor of Tauranga. He expressed his commitment to building stronger relationships.

Mayor Garry Webber from Western Bay of Plenty District Council highlighted how Waitangi Day is increasingly becoming a valued national day to New Zealanders since it was first introduced as a public holiday in 1974.

"When it became a public holiday it generally meant another day to spend with family and friends and to watch the news to see what had happened at Te Tii marae during the day," says Garry.

"However over the last 30 to 40 years, I believe the importance of Waitangi Day has moved up in its level of importance to our nation, much like Anzac Day has.

"Our Treaty is one of the longest standing peace treaties that exist in the world," says Garry, "and notwithstanding rough bits along the way, the spirit of goodwill that was evident in its beginning still exists today albeit the context in which we live has changed beyond what our forefathers thought possible in 1840."

Bay of Plenty Regional Council chairman Doug Leeder spoke of the spirit of whanaungatanga and the positive relationships regional council has built.

"We are all members of a whanau," says Doug, "and our nation is the sum of that diverse whanau. Its important to remember those things that bring us together. Its important to build and maintain relationships."

The Honourable Simon Bridges was at Waitangi on Friday. He commented that he found most of his conversations at Waitangi were economic, about enterprise and export.

"It gives me a great sense of optimism for New Zealand that Maori are adopting a culture of success," says Simon. "I very much hope as a Maori, as an MP, and as a New Zealander that people will come together."

Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy spoke about the importance of knowing our history.

"This year, 2017 is not very old," said Dame Susan, "but already we can see overseas what happens when people dont get along with each other."

Matt Dawson and Isabella Perkins were the invited rangatahi (youth) speakers. Isabella likened New Zealands treaty to a rock standing in the sea.

"Today we are celebrating what I believe is the foundational rock in our beautiful land," says Isabella. "There are stories of betrayal, grief and ignorance. Stories of pain. But I want to unveil a different view of the treaty."

"The treaty is more than a physical document, its a spiritual covenant," says Isabella. "That phrase: we are one people still resounds.

"The rock stands in the sea. Stands, stands, stands."

A woman from Puerto Rico came to the microphone and prayed. "I want to thank you Lord for the welcome of this nation. I thank you for the spirit of this country."

Matt Dawson and speakers from other countries spoke eloquently of the human need to belong and to live.

"Its loving someone who is unlike me that helps me grow and mature. Love is built on a foundation of love and respect. Ive learned to honour those who work behind the scenes."

"Everyone no matter how different or seemingly insignificant deserves to speak, says Matt.

"Its real life on planet earth, its messy but its worth it.

The treaty was a statement of faith and an extension of trust. Extend grace to each other like never before. Listen to each other like never before."

"The treaty calls us to a deeper need to love each other, he says.

"We will believe media that tells us it is about what happens on one marae, but it doesnt happen on my marae here in Tauranga. I am at home in New Zealand."

A karakia, followed by the hymn Whakaria Mai and a march off by the Ratana Band brought the proceedings to a close.
Tauranga is suffering from a good problem  growth  because during the next decade two-thirds of New Zealand will see population stagnation or population decline.

But the key to harnessing it is how we anticipate what will happen in the future and plan for it, says a leading Kiwi academic and professor coming to town next week.

Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley is in Tauranga tomorrow, Tuesday, February 7, to talk to the business community, to begin a new Beyond 2020 - Smart Talk Future thinking series.

Paul, who is also vice chancellor of Massey University, will discuss how we can deliver on the potential of our businesses, communities and our region on the back of his most recent book Rebooting the regions which is full of expert essays on how to combat the pull of Auckland and get the regions humming.

And he says future prospects of the new fifth-largest city are very bright for several reasons.

One it is part of the golden triangle. Were anticipating 60 per cent of NZs population growth will occur in Auckland during the next two decades. So thats the growth node for NZ.

But it will be accompanied by Hamilton and Tauranga as the two other growth nodes.

And Paul says Tauranga benefits from being at the centre of a growing region but it is also an important retirement destination.

In this decade the number of people 65-plus will double to 1.2million and they are the healthiest, wealthiest most active NZers aged 65-plus weve ever seen.

And Tauranga has a significant number of those older NZers and is becoming of the retirement centres for the country.

Nearly all of NZs population growth is going to occur in the top half of the North Island. But the other aspect to it is since 2012 two-thirds of our population growth has come immigration. And we do need to be aware that immigration is where we get our people from, says Paul.

He believes theres two important challenges for Tauranga. One is you need to accommodate growth  Auckland is an example of a city that has done a very poor job of providing infrastructure for growth.

You need major infrastructural development.

The second thing is many people contributing to Taurangas growth are new NZers.

And we do need to make sure we are welcoming and settling in those immigrants if we are going to be successful.

Paul says there are three components to Taurangas population growth.

One is a newly-retired population coming to live here. Another comes from fertility  the number of babies born in the area.

The third component comes from immigrants. A forth is youre getting overspill from Auckland.

So I think the challenge for local authorities and employers is they need to look five, 10 or 15 years out and anticipate whats coming down the pipeline. They are sort of quite reactive.

Paul says one particular One of the hurdle for regions is they dont do a particularly good job of anticipating skill demand. He says NZ is behind the eight ball in thinking about the demographics of the regions and how they might work to build their economies.

So employers in Tauranga will be complaining they dont have the skill bases they need  and thats because we havent planned for it.

Im not criticising employers but Im saying we often dont anticipate whats coming up.

And the economy is shifting towards a gig economy  and there are new jobs coming. All of the evidence suggest between 40 and 50 per cent of the jobs in a place like Tauranga in 2017 will not exist in Tauranga in 2027.

But there will be new jobs  and those will involve much more technology and probably much more global connections. Those might be tourists or working with people internationally. And a lot of the jobs around us will become redundant.

So Paul says the question for a place like Tauranga is: what will the future look like? And what are we doing to plan for it?

Being strategic, visionary and having good leadership are all critical.

To learn more about Pauls talk in Tauranga, see: www.tauranga.org.nz/events-calendar
For Dakoda Magness, housing herself and her two children has been one struggle after another.

In 2015, the single mother was living in a house that already had foundation problems and a gas leak when the roof started caving in, forcing her to leave. Jobless due to post-traumatic stress disorder and living off her savings, Magness and her kids moved into her car.

A veteran of the Arizona National Guard, Magness sought help through a federal rental assistance program that provides housing vouchers and case management services to veterans who are homeless.

But getting the rent subsidy turned out to be the easy part.

It then took two months for Magness to find a rental that her voucher, which was worth about $1,240, would cover. But the apartment turned out to be riddled with utility problems and unaddressed maintenance needs  during a year she counted 59 days when the water was off for all or part of the day, a week when the gas was turned off and another week when she had no hot water.

The property manager denied the water and electrical outages were as frequent as Magness said and insisted that accommodations were provided. Two months after she moved in, Magness started looking for a new apartment, but by December she had put her name on five waiting lists without any calls back.

Among landlords that would accept the vouchers, the value of hers simply didnt go far enough in Flagstaffs sky-high rental market.

Finally, she decided to give up her voucher and move into a place she will be paying for on her own.

Im going to be scraping by the skin of my teeth every month but at least I will be in a home that will have water every day and heat every day, Magness said. There is not enough housing that is affordable in this town. It is absolutely ridiculous.

Her rent in a subsidized apartment is now $1,075 plus utilities, which eats up much more than one third of the $2,600 she earns each month in her $32,000-a-year job.

The growing gap between federally set housing voucher rates and actual prices in Flagstaffs housing market, which are surging thanks to demand from Northern Arizona University students and the economic recovery, is an increasing concern for affordable housing agencies. Only about 50 vouchers become available in Flagstaff each year due to rental turnover, and last year 30 of them expired before the new holders could find a suitable unit and a landlord willing to take them.

But it is far from the only obstacle for potential clients. Demand for the citys housing assistance vouchers and public housing units dwarfs available supply, leading to wait times that stretch months and years for people whose financial situations are often desperate. The average wait time for the two city-owned public housing locations, Brannen and Siler Homes, is nearly eight months while the average wait time for a general housing voucher is a year and four months.

As with the voucher value gap, the citys high cost of housing comes into play, with residents saying they had to seek public assistance because their income streams alone could not cover the price of living here. For both vouchers and public housing, clients pay 30 percent of their monthly adjusted income toward rent, no matter how much they have coming in.

Theyre the only reason Im living in this town, Brannen Homes resident Tom Woodall said of the Flagstaff Housing Authority.

DEMAND DWARFING SUPPLY

For Susie Fletcher and her four girls, the wait was 10 months to get into their unit in Clark Homes, which is public housing managed by the city. They moved in in December.

Fletcher lost her job when the family moved to Flagstaff in August to help one of her daughters' diabetes, so since then her only income sources have been $400-a-month in food stamps and a $920 monthly unemployment check. Finding another place to live in those interim months, or a housing option that wasnt subsidized and within her budget, was impossible, Fletcher said. So for five of the months that they waited for public housing to open up, the family lived in hotel rooms, their car and a fifth wheel camper lent to them by a friend.

This was our Christmas present, Fletcher said of her three-bedroom Clark apartment.

The 80 units in Clark Homes, combined with 265 city-owned public housing units and 451 Section 8 housing vouchers, make up the bulk of city-owned or administered housing assistance. But with about 900 people on a waiting list for just the city-owned units or vouchers, its clear theres a need for more supply.

Theres little the city can do for that though, said Sarah Darr, housing director for the city of Flagstaff. Federal funding for new general vouchers and new public housing development dried up in the 1990s, she said. Annual turnover is also low  about 50 vouchers per year and about 40 public housing units per year, housing officials said. The waiting lists turn over more rapidly as people move, change circumstances or drop off the waiting list.

The city tries to negotiate with and incentivize developers to include affordable units in their plans and has done so for 90 units, but Arizona law prohibits cities from creating regulations that determine how much a landlord can charge in rent, Darr said.

Another 742 affordably priced rentals in Flagstaff have been built by developers through a tax incentive program but those projects depend on the initiative of private developers. The city doesnt have information on waiting lists for those complexes, Darr said.

The need for housing assistance and designated affordable housing likely goes beyond the city waiting list numbers. Census data suggest about 2,300 families make less than $25,000 per year, which is the income level at which a family of four would be highly qualified for public housing and vouchers.

VOUCHER GAP

The difficulty for voucher holders like Magness to find a rental that is affordable under the program's federal limits is not a new problem, but the depth of it is, Darr said. We need (the vouchers) desperately but where are we going to utilize them when the disconnect is so big?

Current numbers show that the payment standard set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which determines what rental assistance vouchers are worth, is $1,244 for a two bedroom. Thats $75 less than the $1,319 that the nonprofit organization Housing Solutions of Northern Arizona found was the actual average rent for a two-bedroom, according to a survey it conducted in February and March 2016.

The $1,244 also has to cover utilities, which average $179 a month for a two bedroom, according to Darr. At that point, voucher recipients are facing a $200 to $300 gap between their spending limits and total rent and utilities for the average-priced apartment.

The reason comes down to HUDs method of calculating the fair market rent for the Flagstaff area, which it does by averaging all rental prices in Coconino County. Because the county is so big and housing prices in the surrounding rural areas are much less expensive, those areas drag the fair market rent down. The data also lag a couple of years, bringing it farther out of line with reality as rents have soared recently, Darr said.

The effect is a steady increase in the number of days it takes for people to find a place to rent with their voucher. The maximum number of days to lease up has climbed from 134 to 197 over the past five years, according to housing authority data. The number of vouchers that expired each year because families didnt use them  another indicator of the problem  rose from four in 2012 to 30 in 2016.

Victoria Apple is one of those in the limbo of looking for a rental that she can afford with her Section 8 voucher. Apples search is even more complicated because she is disabled and needs a home that can accommodate her wheelchair.

It took Apple seven or eight months to find an apartment last year, which she lived in until October. It was the same complex as Magness. Then a combination of backed up and rotted pipes caused raw sewage to flood her unit. The apartment was deemed uninhabitable, so Apple and her adult son had to evacuate with only a few belongings. They have been living in a hotel for the past four months as they continue to search for another place to live.

I would feel that property owners and investors need to take more into consideration that veterans and elderly and disabled people need a place to live, too, and we have a right to live in Flagstaff like everybody else does, Apple said. It seems like in the Flagstaff community there's something somewhere that's gone wrong. There's not equal opportunity here.

But if landlords can rent their properties at higher and higher prices, its hard to blame them for not wanting to accept a lower-priced voucher that also comes with inspection requirements, more paperwork and a third party, Darr said.

Affordable housing advocates hope to send a message to landlords to consider working with either the Section 8 or veteran-specific HUD-VASH program.

I would love this to be a plea (to landlords), said Sandi Flores, chair of the Flagstaff Housing Authority Board. Would you think about working with us, consider opening up your units to this population as well. The struggle is real.
As President Donald Trump threads his way through his first 100 days in the Oval Office, he continues to reshape America  and the world in effect  in ways considered odious.

His first week in office is particularly eventful. On Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order that skewers both the housing and healthcare programs of his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. Five days later, he orders the building of a United States-Mexico border wall.

But that's not all.

On Jan. 27, the POTUS signed a devastating executive order that forbids refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for a certain period.

Refugees are not allowed in the country for 120 days, with Syrian refugees facing an indefinite ban. Immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries  Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran  cannot enter the U.S. for 90 days.

It doesn't matter if the person holds a green card  a permanent resident visa that allows them to work, study, or live in the country. If an immigrant from a Muslim-majority country leaves the U.S., they may not be allowed to return.

How The Immigration Ban Affects Scientists And Students

This executive order is a big blow not only to immigrants, but to America's healthcare, technology, and scientific research sectors as well.

In fact, about 18 percent of scientists who live in the U.S. are immigrants, according to a 2015 report from the National Science Foundation. About 15 percent of them hold temporary visas, while 22 percent are permanent residents.

To hear immigrant scientists' side of the story, international science journal Nature interviewed more than 20 researchers impacted by the immigration ban. Some of them requested to keep their identities undisclosed.

Ali Shourideh, an economist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, expressed his shock and disbelief over the executive order.

"I've always been under the assumption this is a free country, that once you immigrated they won't try to kick you out or make life hard for you," said Shourideh, who is an Iranian citizen currently holding a green card.

Shourideh frequently travels to Iran to visit his mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer. If he leaves the U.S., he won't be welcomed anymore.

The same thing could happen to Kaveh Daneshvar, a molecular geneticist who is completing his postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Also an Iranian citizen, Daneshvar was thrilled to learn that he had been invited to talk at an upcoming molecular biology conference in Canada next month. However, if he leaves the U.S. to attend the meeting in Canada, he may be blocked from going back to Boston.

Indeed, the immigrant ban has thrown the lives of these scientists and students into disarray.

Italian microbial geneticist Luca Freschi who currently lives in Quebec had planned to move to Harvard Medical School in March with his Iranian wife Maryam. Unfortunately, the immigration ban has disrupted the couple's plans as Maryam will not be able to come with Luca.

Another couple is experiencing the same dilemma. Both are scientists who got teaching posts at a U.S. university, but as one of them is Iranian, the couple is currently stuck in France.

Furthermore, the immigration ban has disrupted international collaborations between researchers. Glaciology student Samira Samimi, an Iranian studying in Canada, was supposed to visit Greenland as part of NASA's expedition to study snow melt.

Unfortunately, Samimi won't be able to cross the border to meet her colleagues in New York. If she does purchase another ticket to Greenland, she might not be permitted to fly on the cargo plane that takes the U.S. team to remote sites. This could slow her progress towards a PhD.

"None of this is right," said glaciologist Mike MacFerrin, who organized the expedition that Samimi is supposed to take part in. "There is no way this helps us or our science."

Battle For Rights

On Jan. 28, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government to overturn the executive order, in behalf of two people with green cards who were detained at airports. The federal court ruled that the detainees could not be deported by the government.

However, this ruling does not impact those who were not in transit when the immigration ban took effect.

On the other hand, more than 12,000 scientists, including 40 Nobel prize awardees and six Fields medalists, signed a petition that denounced Trump's immigration ban.

"The unethical and discriminatory treatment of law-abiding, hard-working, and well-integrated immigrants fundamentally contravenes the founding principles of the United States," the petition said.

But all this means very little for immigrant scientists and students, particularly for an engineering student in Detroit. The Iranian student, who is studying at Wayne State University, bought a house in the U.S., and he and his wife had been planning to have their parents visit them from Iran.

Their plans are now on hold as they contemplate whether to move to Australia and start anew there.

"If you leave, you can get your life back, your parents back, your family back  but you will lose anything you did here," the student said. "We worked hard for this."

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NASA's robotic spacecraft Osiris-REx will be donning a detective's hat from Feb. 9 to Feb. 20 to search for asteroids lurking in the Earth's orbit around the sun.

The special gig of the probe comes in the midst of its journey to asteroid Bennu with a plan to collect rock samples from the massive asteroid and bring them to Earth for analysis.

Launched in September 2016, the core mission of Osiris-REx is to put itself into orbit around asteroid Bennu for a two-year study.

Osiris-REx will be tracking asteroids at Lagrange points, where the combined gravitational forces of the sun and Earth balance out, allowing for asteroids and similar objects to swarm around in potentially stable orbits.

NASA will also be taking advantage of these regions by positioning the James Webb Space Telescope at a Lagrange point a million miles away from Earth.

Earth Trojans

Collectively these asteroids sharing an orbit with Earth are called Earth Trojans. To tracking such asteroids, the probe will use its sensitive cameras to monitor the front and back positions of Earth's orbit while the planet orbits the sun. Trojan swarms have also been spotted near Mars, Venus, Uranus, and Neptune.

Currently, Osiris-REx is nearly 74 million miles away from Earth. In the seven-year course of the journey to asteroid Bennu and back, Osiris-Rex will be collecting rock samples from the huge asteroid for analysis.

The last Trojan asteroid was discovered in 2010 by the WISE telescope of NASA in 2010, when it found 2010 TK-7, orbiting 60 degrees ahead of Earth with a size of 1,000 feet.

Commenting on the policing of Earth's orbit for Trojan asteroids and swarms, Osiris-REx lead scientist Dante Lauretta said it would be a fascinating thing to discover.

"The Earth-Trojan asteroid search provides a substantial advantage to the Osiris-REx mission," said Dante Lauretta, who is attached to the University of Arizona in Tucson.

"Not only do we have the opportunity to discover new members of an asteroid class, but more importantly, we are practicing critical mission operations in advance of our arrival at Bennu, which ultimately reduces mission risk," he explained.

The detective job will also enable the probe to use it as a trial to ensure its safe arrival at the asteroid Bennu in 2018. The mission is important as asteroids-turned-meteorites have bestowed Earth many essential elements for life. The samples coming from Bennu would be helping scientists understand the origins of the solar system as well as the beginning of life on Earth.

Maneuver Successful

The probe recently completed its first Deep Space Maneuver, DSM-1 on Dec. 28. The tracking data of Osiris-REx was relayed by its Deep Space Network to NASA, confirming the success of the maneuver.

"DSM-1 was our first major trajectory change and first use of the main engines, so it's good to have that under our belts and be on a safe trajectory to Bennu," said Arlin Bartels, deputy project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The spacecraft has now ramped up the speed by 964 miles per hour. A recent course correction maneuver put it on track for a flyby of Earth in September, during which the planet's gravity will catapult it toward Bennu. Osiris-REx is expected to meet the asteroid in the fall of 2018.

As noted, the mandate is to orbit the asteroid many months and do a flyby to collect material from the surface of Bennu using a robotic arm. It will be back on Earth by 2023.

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Close on the heels of the new discovery that the Great Barrier Reef, was destroyed nearly 125,000 years ago, comes the astounding revelation that the world's biggest reef's future looks quite dismal thanks to a new threat.

The new threat that lurks over the Great Barrier Reef is not beaching, but poisonous algae that are killing the coral.

In a new study conducted by Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, researchers reveal that the "weed-like" algae is destroying coral in the reef courtesy high levels of carbon dioxide in the environment.

The study suggests that if the carbon dioxide emission rate continues at the same pace it is now, major parts of the reef building coral could be impacted substantially by 2050, and may get wiped out by 2100.

The Findings Of The Study

Researchers have been aware that carbon dioxide or CO2 has a detrimental effect on the behavior of seaweed; however, scientist have been unable to explain the process - until now.

The observations and experiments by the scientists were effective in measuring the effects that increased CO2 levels in seawater had on algae.

The team is of the belief that algae will be competing with coral for space in the reef. Just like weeds slowly take over, the algae will follow the same path and may eventually completely take over the reef, which will result in the coral dying off by 2100.

According to the researchers, the algae is able to kill the coral thanks to the spike in the effectiveness of a chemical compound that is able to poison the latter.

Basically, once the CO2 levels see an increase in the seawater, the effectiveness of the chemical compounds of the algae increases. This poison from the algae in turn weakens the coral and assists the algae in expanding its territory.

The researchers have found that certain algae are able to produce more toxins, which act as suppressants for coral or kill them quickly. This process is quite a swift one and occurs in "a matter of only weeks." The most toxic algae species per researchers is the brown algae, which is quite common around the world.

"This is a major step forward in understanding how seaweeds can harm coral and has important implications for comprehending the consequences of increased carbon dioxide emissions on the health of the Great Barrier Reef," noted Guillermo Diaz-Pulido, the co-author of the study.

The algae taking over the coral is a major concern and could contribute to Great Barrier Reef's degradation along with other disturbances such as coral leaching, cyclones and starfish outbreaks.

The Great Barrier Reef's Future

Things look bleak for the Great Barrier Reef if adequate steps or not taken to control CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, which are having detrimental effects on the environment. The researchers reveal that the issue is so large that simply removing some seaweed from the Great Barrier Reef will not help as it will regenerate and grow again. The only way to address the problem is by reducing CO2 levels per Diaz-Pulido.

The study's findings have been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Photo: Kyle Taylor | Flickr

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Researchers have discovered that a developmental anticancer agent has the ability to support regeneration in damaged heart tissues, opening up a possible new treatment option for heart disease.

In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Lawrence Lum and colleagues detailed their discovery, outlining their work on a cancer drug targeting Wnt signaling molecules.

These molecules are necessary for regenerating tissues but also have a role in cancer development, and essential to Wnt protein production in people is the porcupine (Porcn) enzyme. It was while they were trying to inhibit the Porcn enzyme that the researchers discovered their cancer drug's surprising effect.

"We saw many predictable adverse effects ... but one surprise was that the number of dividing cardiomyocytes was slightly increased," said Lum, the study's senior author.

Studying Wnt Proteins

For the study, the researchers induced heart attacks in mice, administered a Porcn inhibitor as treatment, and observed that the mice hearts' blood-pumping ability had improved by almost twofold compared to subjects that were left untreated.

Rhonda Bassel-Duby, Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine's associate director and one of the study's authors, said it was striking to see that administering a Wnt inhibitor could significantly improve heart function after a heart attack.

Heart Repair Effects

Aside from improved blood-pumping ability, the hearts of treated mice also showed reduced fibrosis, or scarring. When an abundance of collagen is present, heart scarring can cause the organ to dramatically increase in size, leading to heart failure.

Lum explained that fibriotic responses can have immediate benefits but they can also overwhelm the heart's regeneration ability in the long run. With the drug agent they are developing, he and the rest of the research team believe that they can regulate fibriotic response, which will improve the heart's wound-healing abilities. The Porcn inhibitor will also only require a short usage duration so it may be possible as well to avoid the unpleasant side effects usually attributed to cancer drugs.

The researchers are hopeful that they'll be able to conduct clinical trials next year on the Porcn inhibitor to confirm its potential as a regenerative aid for heart disease.

Lum and Bassel-Duby were joined by Jesung Moon, Eric N. Olson, Huanyu Zhou, James F. Amatruda, Li-shu Zhang, Noelle S. Williams, Wei Tan, Jian Q. Feng, Ying Liu, Sean P. Palecek, Shanrong Zhang, Xiaoping Bao, and Lorraine K. Morlock in the research.

Heart Disease Statistics

According to the American Heart Association's Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update for 2017, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, with about 6.5 million American adults suffering from heart failure from 2011 to 2014. The AHA's report also projects this figure will increase by 2030 by 46 percent. Heart failure is defined as a condition where the heart is too weak to normally pump blood through the body.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some 735,000 Americans experience heart attacks each year. Out of all the heart disease types, coronary heart disease is the most common, claiming more than 370,000 people annually.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Arce stressed that "this table has a vital importance to continue giving certainties and solutions, above the whims, subway agreements and political calculations". | Read More
Send your questions to Ask The Advocate, 10705 Rieger Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70809; or fax to Ask The Advocate, (225) 388-0371; or email asktheadvocate@theadvocate.com.
After protests and speeches, the fact is that America's industrial economy is dependent on oil and gas, and the safe shipment of oil and gas and byproducts depends on the construction and modernization of pipelines.

President Donald Trump gets it.

The new president issued an order to expedite State Department consideration of a potential Keystone XL pipeline, a major project that will provide thousands of construction jobs and connect Canadian fields to Gulf Coast refineries.

The project was stalled by years by former President Barack Obama, who threw needless and obviously political delays before eventually deciding to oppose Keystone. The project then languished but, even with lower oil prices today, it clearly faces a much more positive regulatory environment under the Trump administration.

State Department approval is needed legally because the pipeline would cross the U.S. border into Canada. Officials at State have little expertise in the area of oil and gas pipelines, but that was a lever for Obama to object to the project while hypocritically maintaining his distance from his own administration's decison-making process.

Enough.

Trump also took action to move ahead with the Dakota Access pipeline's construction, which had been halted amid major protests. "From now on, we are going to start making pipelines in the United States," Trump said.

This is the right thing to do. He was rightly praised by several Louisiana leaders in Congress.

Trump has invited Keystone builder TransCanada to resubmit its application to the State Department for a permit to construct and operate the pipeline. The company said it would reapply.

More questionably, Trump also has said he will require that it be constructed using steel from the U.S. That is a requirement that is likely to be met, given the need to get going on the project, but one where the president's authority to order around a U.S. business about its own purchasing policies is unclear.

Trump's action directs the State Department and other agencies to make a decision within 60 days of a final application. He also declared that a 2014 State Department environmental study satisfies required reviews under environmental and endangered species laws.

Environmental groups promised a legal challenge, arguing a new application requires a new review, but the fact is that this was studied to death -- literally.

We see little if anything has changed, so there should be no problem with meeting Trump's timeline.

Keystone always was a good project, but it drew a bad political hand. Trump is right to redress the balance.
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As he prepared to sign orders designed to roll back bank regulations enacted to stop the next financial crisis, President Donald Trump said that the rules are stifling lending.

"We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank, because frankly I have so many people, friends of mine, that have nice businesses and they can't borrow money," Trump said.

US President Donald Trump. Credit:Bloomberg

"They just can't get any money because the banks just won't let them borrow because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank."

That may be the case for the president's friends  although Trump pal Carl Icahn seemed to have little trouble two weeks ago when he borrowed US$1.2 billion ($1.6 billion)  but it's not supported by data.
Ruline Steininger, the centenarian Hillary Clinton supporter who had said she was "going to live until [Clinton's] elected", has died aged 103.

The Iowa woman, who was born in 1913, seven years before women in the US were legally able to vote, passed away on January 31, her daughter-in-law told CNN.

Ruline Steininger, 103, arrives at a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton on September 29, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa. She passed away last week. Credit:Getty

"She had a long and productive life and did much to inspire many women, young and old," Karen Steininger told the news outlet. "One of my favourite things that she said, as my husband was telling her about the Women's March here in Des Moines, was to please send Hillary a note after her death and to let her know that she'll still be fighting. An activist even after she's gone."

Steininger voted for Clinton at an early voting location in Iowa on September 29, and met with the Democratic candidate afterwards.
Deeply anti-government, as well as anti-immigration, anti-globalisation, anti-redistribution and anti-climate action, this type of Australian is more likely to be male, older (the average age is 55) and vote Liberal (77-82 per cent said they supported the Liberal Party), and less likely to be university-educated, according to the project's methodology paper. The 'Anti-establishment Firebrand', one of seven types of Australian identified in the Political Persona Project, is a direct descendant of 'Jack Outback'. Credit:Matt Davidson "They're nativist-nationalist. They love Australia. They love particularly the nature of Australia but the funny thing is they might not necessarily like the native population," Krouwel says. "He would probably say the country was full, even though he lives in the middle of nowhere." People in this group, which most closely aligns with the Anti-establishment Firebrand persona, are also far more likely than other groups to listen to country music and to find John Howard, Pauline Hanson and Donald Trump appealing, the research found.

For Krouwel, Jack Outback is striking because he thinks so differently to many of the other personas that Krouwel has "met" through his work. "We don't have [this type of person] in the Netherlands because we don't have this vast outdoors where you don't need to consult with anybody else," Krouwel says. "We can't just sit there in the wild and say, 'I don't care about anything else and I don't need a government', because you will die. "But you can do that in Australia." These national idiosyncrasies are exactly the kind of insights Krouwel and his team set out to explore through painstaking analysis of more than 330,000 responses to questions spanning an enormous range of topics, from friendship and family, to spending habits, technology, national security, civil rights, political leadership and moral values.

"The difference between this project and all the others we've done is that usually we focus on the political," Krouwel says. "This project also tried to grasp a very wide range of social and lifestyle attitudes in order to profile Australians, so this would probably be one of the most extensive attempts to make coherent statements about what types of Australians are out there." Beginning with more than 1000 statements, the team worked with Australian academics to whittle the selection to just over 100, based on their relevance to Australia and how well the statements differentiated ways of thinking. They then asked more than 3300 Australians to rate their agreement or disagreement with each statement, from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree". Next, using a statistical method called "cluster analysis", the team paired these statements and analysed every possible combination to find the most common patterns of thinking. For example, do people with similar views on climate change have similar spending habits? Or does an interest in fitness tend to match up with a particular view on wealth redistribution? "You pair items, not one by one, but like a million times in every different combination," Krouwel says.

"So your computer keeps combining items for individuals and looking for similar patterns across these thousands of Australians. And you try and match up what are the most common combinations of attitudes." It is more than a litmus test of public opinion. This is about tracking the way we think and behave across the personal, social and political spheres. "You're not interested in an opinion on a single item but in how all these opinions form a coherent mindset," Krouwel says. Billions of calculations later, Krouwel and his team uncovered seven dominant patterns of thinking, some of which share attitudes on some topics, others of which are almost completely at odds. The analysis also identified five topics that most divide Australians: redistribution of wealth, climate change, immigration/multiculturalism, traditionalism/authoritarianism and consumerism/materialism. Most of the statements included in Fairfax Media's interactive quiz relate to these topics because they best differentiate the seven mindsets.

ANU researchers then tested a subset of the 101 statements with a nationally-representative sample of 2600 Australians, to ensure the results accurately reflected the wider population. The results from this second panel were used to weight the initial dataset to match the Australian population, and to further refine the final seven personas. Krouwel describes the project as "a way to give people a mirror" but warns that even the clearest reflection only shows part of the person. "These are the seven most frequent combinations of opinions among Australians but  no person, or very few people, will resemble one single persona 100 per cent. And that's logical because real people are not stereotypes," he says. "There's much more of Australia out there that's not in the data, so people shouldn't get angry [with their result and] think, 'That's not me!' Loading
Four adults are suspected to have had a drug overdose early on Sunday morning at a home in Sydney's west, where three children under the age of 10 were present.

Police are investigating the incident, which took place at a home on Gilroy Street in Ropes Crossing about 4am on Sunday.

Officers from Mount Druitt Local Area Command were called to the home by NSW Ambulance paramedics who were treating two men, aged 33 and 35 and two women, aged 28 and 32.

The four patients were found to be suffering a suspected drug overdose. It remains unclear what symptoms they were suffering or what drugs were involved.

None of the patients required transport to hospital, however all underwent treatment at the home.
One of nearly 500 text messages a nurse sent to his patient said: "Slept in your bed yesterday. Still had ur scent in the room."

Enrolled nurse Anthony Elliott was working at the South Coast Private Hospital, in Wollongong in 2014, when he initiated a relationship with a woman being treated for severe mental health issues.

court Credit:AFR

At first he talked to her about his family and personal life, but then began sitting on her bed so their bodies were touching.

Then he watched her as she slept, kissed her, exchanged sexually explicit text messages, and took her for a drive around a lake to profess his love.
A candlelight vigil will be held on Sunday night for murdered mother-of-four Teresa Bradford.

The Gold Coast woman was killed by her estranged husband at her Pimpama home on Tuesday morning, before he took his own life.

A Facebook page has been set up to promote the event, which will take place from 6.30pm outside Ms Bradford's home on Matas Drive.

"On the 31st of January, the Pimpama community lost a beautiful soul to a terrible act of DV," the online post read.
The hunt is on for a stolen four-wheel-drive after a violent home invasion in Logan on Sunday morning.

Police said about 12.30am a man broke into a Claudia Street home in Kingston and confronted a woman, who was known to him.

A four-wheel-drive similar to the one pictured was stolen from a Kingston home on Sunday morning. Credit:Queensland Police Service

The man repeatedly assaulted the woman, leaving her with serious facial and neck injuries, before stealing her car.

Police are urging anyone who sees a silver 2006 Ford Territory four wheel drive with Queensland registration 662 WWJ to contact them immediately.
A classic facade in Rockhampton's CBD. When asked if Rockhampton could be compared with Melbourne, Mayor Margaret Strelow said the "mini-me of Melbourne" might be more apt. "We have the same built form so our streets and lanes are very similar to the Melbourne layout," she said. The laneways in Rockhampton are set to be revamped to bring life back to the CBD. Cr Strelow said the revitalisation of the city was a two-year journey.

"Our Quay Street precinct, which is absolute riverfront and one block from the CBD with a swag of Victorian buildings, is to die for," she said. The mayor said the CBD's 20-year vision was about bringing life back to the city and attracting people to the centre. Cr Strelow said the CBD's 20-year vision was about bringing life back to the city and attracting people to the centre. "Using our amazing laneways, getting a true focus back on this area that should be the beating heart and in many regional cities, they've been challenges," she said. The Rockhampton Customs House. Credit:Felicity Caldwell

"I don't know if it's good luck or good management but our CBD is intact, it hasn't been ruined by high-rises in the wrong places." No beef with moniker Cr Strelow said Rockhampton was a regional hub, servicing half a million people within three hours, and they had no desire to shake off the "beef capital" image, proudly hosting Beef Week, with bull sculptures dotted across the city. "We still wear that name with pride. You've got to be known for something and I'm not at all wanting to stamp out what is our moniker," she said. However, empty shopfronts on East Street in the CBD tell a story that echoes across many regional centres.

Cr Strelow said the council put art in some windows and offered incentives to developers, "but it's a process". She said a cost-effective way to revitalise the night economy was by putting fairy streets down a main street. "It began to change attitudes and thoughts about the importance of the CBD," she said. "People want to be near them, they want to have photos taken in front of them, people go and sit on the edge of the surrounds." A small business owner in Rockhampton said many people in town were made redundant before Christmas, with the response from the public to a job ad on social media "so big it was overwhelming".

Cr Strelow acknowledged the unemployment issue was tough, with the drought affecting the beef industry and some jobs leaving the region. "The wake-up call for me was that the grandparents were now following, instead of families coming back to raise their children," she said. "It's a beautiful city, we just need to show our story, to tell our story better, and I think we're getting better at that." On the side note of the city's bulls, Cr Strelow confirmed some people did steal the bulls' balls. "It is a thing, but we know it's not locals because our men aren't that insecure," Cr Strelow quipped.

"If people want a souvenir we can offer them a much better souvenir but we wear our beef capital tag with pride and if that's how insecure people want to make their mark, feel free." What is the political environment in Rockhampton? There has been much said about the major parties' determination to prove their credentials in the bush to plug the flow of votes to One Nation following general dissatisfaction with the status quo and high unemployment in the regions. At the same time, the LNP and Labor must still win votes in the city. But is One Nation a threat in Rockhampton?

Labor member for Rockhampton Bill Byrne, who won his seat in 2012, increased his margin to a very healthy 25.7 per cent at the 2015 election, with a large swing in his favour. It is a very safe Labor seat. One Nation has had several applications for the electorate of Rockhampton and pre-selection is not yet closed. Labor member for Keppel Brittany Lauga won her seat at the 2015 election with a 4.8 per cent margin, after a swing against the LNP incumbent Bruce Young. The electorate has been won by the Nationals four times since 1992, ALP four times and LNP once and it could be a fight for Labor to retain. The One Nation candidate for Keppel is Matthew Loth, a hospitality manager with a passion for Viking re-enactments.

Labor member for Mirani Jim Pearce retired from state politics in 2009 when his electorate of Fitzroy was abolished, and won the election in 2015 with a 4.8 per cent margin. The seat was previously held by the Country and National parties and LNP since 1947. The One Nation candidate for Mirani is Stephen Andrew, a weapons dealer, with a pest management business. While in central Queensland, Ms Palaszczuk announced a $200 million expansion of the Capricornia Correctional Centre, campaigned against defence land aquisition at Shoalwater Bay and hosted her first town hall meeting while in government - among other announcements. LNP Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls accused the government of "pork barrelling" after she made the Capricornia Correctional Centre announcement. "Two hundred million dollars to spend in Rocky - you think they're running scared of One Nation up there?" Mr Nicholls said.
A man has allegedly driven a stolen Porsche directly at police officers during a chase north of Brisbane on Saturday night.

The car was allegedly stolen three days earlier from Nerang on the Gold Coast.

The Porsche was believed to have been stolen three days earlier from Nerang on the Gold Coast.

Police on foot had cornered the man in a residential yard at Kallangur late on Saturday night when he allegedly drove at them, narrowly missing the officers and their cars.

Polair, spike strips and the dog squad were needed to arrest the driver, who was later charged with a string of offences.
The Liberal National Party has revealed more details of proposed changes to domestic violence laws that will be introduced in a private members bill when Parliament resumes for the year.

Opposition leader Tim Nicholls outlined a proposal on Sunday which would mean victims of domestic violence would be immediately notified when an alleged offender applied for bail.

Mr Nicholls has already announced the LNP would seek to change the bail laws so the onus of proof was on those accused of domestic violence offences to prove they should be released.

He said the Labor government had suggested similar measures, but it was waiting for a series of judicial reviews which he said would take too long.
The state's endangered animal emblem and others will be extinct unless the Victorian government protects ash forests in the Central Highlands.

But a decrease in logging in the politically and environmentally sensitive forests will see at least 250 jobs in Gippsland go, with fears for thousands more jobs in the supply chain.

Victoria's fauna emblem, the Leadbeater's possum. Credit:Ken Irwin

Both issues are arguments being made to the Andrews government over the future of ash forests and the state's timber industry.

In January, Australian Sustainable Hardwoods, which processes timber from the Central Highlands, warned it would have to close its Heyfield plant, costing 250 direct jobs, because the offers of timber supply from state-owned VicForests was not enough to keep the plant open.
The success of a new tax on wagering in South Australia will be watched closely by the Andrews government amid estimates it could raise up to $150 million if implemented in Victoria.

From July, South Australia will impose a 15 per cent point of consumption tax on punter losses made in the state. The policy has been resisted by online bookmakers such as Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and Bet365 which last year joined forces in a campaign to "stop the punters tax".

A wagering tax in Victoria could raise $140 million Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

A Credit Suisse analysis of the potential impact of the new tax regime on gambling giant Tabcorp, published last week, shows that if implemented in Victoria it could raise about $150 million.

In South Australia it is estimated the tax would raise $30 million.
A man has died after jumping into flood waters to rescue a young girl, as flash flooding continues to ravage the state's north west.

The tragedy occurred at 5.20pm on Saturday in the Ord River near Purnululu National Park in the Kimberley.

A man has died in flood waters in WA's north west. File photo. Credit:Onslow police/Twitter

A police spokesman said witnesses claimed the man, believed to be in his 40s, managed to save the girl, but not himself.

"It is believed the man pushed the girl to safety on an island, and then disappeared under the water and did not resurface," he said.
Manila: The Philippine government derided Catholic bishops on Sunday as "out of touch" after they used weekend sermons to attack a war on drugs they said had created a "reign of terror" for the poor.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said members of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had dramatised President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign and should focus on contributing to the "reign of peace" that innocent people now feel instead of criticising.

Morgue workers carry an unclaimed body and victim of an extrajudicial killing in Manila, Philippines. Credit:Getty Images

The church assailed bloodshed that had caused suffering, and said killing people was not the way to deal with illegal drugs.

In a pastoral letter read out on Saturday and repeated to congregations at churches on Sunday, bishops said it was disturbing that many Filipinos were indifferent to the killings, or even approved of them.
Bucharest: After five straight days of spirited mass protests, and predictions that a half-million or more people might take to the streets on Sunday, Romania's month-old government backed down Saturday and withdrew a decree that had decriminalised some corruption offences.

"We will hold an extraordinary meeting on Sunday to repeal the decree, withdraw it, cancel it," Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said late on Saturday evening Romanian time.

A broken poster depicting the leader of the ruling Social Democrat party Liviu Dragnea, which reads "In a democracy, thieves are in jail", lies on the pavement in Bucharest, Romania. Credit:AP

It was a remarkable and rapid turnaround for a government that had shown every sign of holding firm against the protests.

As recently as Thursday, Grindeanu said: "We took a decision in the government, and we are going to press ahead."
Suzuki Ignis - World Car Of The Year 2017 Finalist

LONDON - February 4, 2017: Suzuki is well known as the ?Small Car Experts and is pleased to announce that the recently launched IGNIS has made it as a finalist in the new Urban Car category of the 2017 World Car of The Year.

To qualify for the initial judging process, vehicles had to be less than four metres long, suitable in design for everyday use in an urban environment and also on sale in two Continents by the deadline of Spring 2017. At 3.70 metres in length, the IGNIS Mini Crossover qualifed for judging and is now shortlisted with just four other new cars.

The World Car of the Year judging panel comprises of 73 Automotive Industry journalists with eight of these representing the UK and Republic of Ireland.

World Car of The Year (UK Vice-Chair) Mike Rutherford comments: "Suzuki has seen off many rival manufacturers from all corners of the globe to become a 2017 World Car finalist.

"As our 70-plus jurors have decided and as I have long suspected, Suzuki builds some of the finest small cars on the market - thus its official position as a finalist. The company may yet go on to lift the World Urban Car trophy at the New York International Motor Show in April."

The new IGNIS was first launched in the Japanese domestic market, unveiled for Europe at the Paris Motor Show last Autumn and went on sale in January 2017. In addition to its stylish exterior design it features excellent visibility, compact dimensions and a spacious cabin with ample luggage space. The development goal was to create purely iconic crossover styling that is undoubtedly Suzuki.

IGNIS is powered by a 90PS 1.2-litre Dualjet petrol engine and is available with optional ALLGRIP four wheel drive. It also offers optional SHVS (Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki) technology that lowers CO2 emissions to 97g/km.

The IGNIS SZ5 model offers the latest in safety technology with stereo cameras monitoring the distance between the vehicle and other objects, as well as the shape of those objects. This new technology is the basis for three advanced safety functions: Dual Camera Brake Support (DCBS), Lane Departure Warning, and Weaving Alert.

In the UK, IGNIS is already proving popular with sales of 560 in its first month.

The World Car Awards (WCA) is a programme initiated, organised and conducted by automotive journalists from all over the world. The WCA are administered by a not-for-profit association, under the guidance of a Steering Committee of distinguished automotive journalists. It is intended to complement, not compete with existing national and regional COTY awards, which are inherently different in scope. By its nature, WCOTY includes some vehicles that may be unavailable in individual regions, and excludes others whose availability may be limited to those regions.
if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...
Coming soon - The Cultural Voyager Dedicated to anyone who pursues culture as a major part of their vacation experience.
The clock resumes ticking this Sunday when 24 returns on Fox immediately following the Super Bowl, albeit this time with the addendum Legacythe better to highlight the new era this reboot is looking to initiate. Gone is Kiefer Sutherlands longtime hero Jack Bauer (at least, as far as anyone knows), whos now been replaced by The Walking Dead and Straight Outta Compton star Corey Hawkins Eric Carter. Aside from a different actor at the center of its terrorism-related narrative, however, little about the shows format has actually changed in the three years since the 2014 miniseries 24: Live Another Day (and six years since the original runs finale). And as Legacy suggests, time now seems to have passed the program by.

No matter the presence of Hawkins, nor the decision to limit its run to 12 hour-long episodes (thus calling into question how this can really be called 24), Legacy will strike fans as wholly recognizable, almost to a depressing degree. The shows signature aesthetics remain, from split-screens, transitional fades, and cross-cutting, to that ever-present ominous clock chime. So too do the shows dramatic hallmarks, including lots of panicked cell phone conversations, point-blank executions, frenzied shootouts, and good and bad guys yelling at people to do outrageous thingsand then doing even more outrageous things themselves. Regardless of the absence of Bauer, one of TVs all-time craziest badasses, everyone is still simultaneously level-headed and complete insane in 24: Legacy, capable of performing with amazing competence under extreme duress, and yet prone to behaving in ways that should immediately land them behind bars or in the loony bin.

That state of affairs is clear from the series pilot, which introduces us to Hawkins Carter, a decorated Army Ranger who, having been part of a squad that helped kill notorious terrorist Sheik Ibrahim Bin-Khalid in Afghanistan, is now living with his wife Nicole (Anna Diop) under a new identity in an anonymous California suburb. Domesticity is not in the cards for Carter, however, as hes soon forced to flee for his life after Bin-Khalids men arrive on his doorstep, looking for some mysterious lock box that was apparently stolen during the raid. Intent on figuring out what theyre really after, Carter gets in touch with his former boss Rebecca Ingram (Miranda Otto), and informs her of his blown-cover situation, as well as the fact that all but one of his comrades have already been executed. Since only a few people knew Carters new identity, Ingramwhos just resigned from CTU so she can support her senator-husband John Donovans (Jimmy Smits) presidential campaigndeduces that her replacement, Keith Mullins (Teddy Sears), must be a mole. And so of course she promptly tazes him, ties him up, and begins her own covert op from within CTU.

Thats not all the typical 24 craziness to be found in Legacy. To protect Nicole from harm, Carter drops her off with his drug-kingpin brother Isaac (Ashley Carter), with whom she was previously engagedand whose own girlfriend doesnt appreciate Nicoles return to the neighborhood. Carter then goes in pursuit of his last remaining Ranger mate Ben Grimes (Charlie Hofheimer), whos living on the streets as a PTSD-afflicted hobo-conspiracy theorist. Meanwhile, Smits would-be commander-in-chief (whose dad isGerald McRaney?) must contend with a possible scandal involving his Huma Abedin-ish Muslim right-hand woman Nilaa Mizrani (Sheila Vand), who has prior ties to an anti-American mosque. Oh, and did I mention that theres also a subplot involving a Chechnyan teenage girl named Amira (Kathryn Prescott) whose boyfriend thinks shes plotting an attack on their high schoolwhich she is, with her nerdy science teacher (and lover!).

Legacy spins this convoluted web with aplomb, casting each scene as a desperate race to avert disaster. And though hes not nearly as off-the-wall intense as Sutherlands Bauera fact thats true of virtually every fictional character, everHawkins Carter makes for a suitably frazzled protagonist, one whose righteousness is laced with undercurrents of anger and, as his wife says, a secret love for the violence he supposedly wants to leave behind. For those simply interested in enjoying more of the same, the show delivers on virtually all countsincluding some fan-service nods, most notably via dearly beloved analyst Edgars niece Mariana (Coral Pena), and the eventual appearance of Bauers BFF-turned-madman (and expert furrowed-brow brooder) Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard).

At least in its first few episodes (which were all that was provided to press), Legacy doesnt indulge in the one device that made its predecessors so controversial: namely, torture as an act thats necessary, and justifiable, in moments of true desperation (if ultimately scarring to those who perpetrate it). Nonetheless, the series continues to exploit hot-button issues for pulse-pounding fantasyalbeit in a manner that, when contrasted to the more modern (if equally silly) Homeland, comes across as clunky and outdated. At every turn, it feigns genuine interest in real world dilemmas by posing questions that always have two answers. Are cops racist? Absolutely! Excluding all the good ones. Are Muslims terrorists? Of course! Except when theyre wrongly accused of being just that. Should good guys kill? Sure! But, you know, they hate it. Can anyone be trusted? Naturally! Unless they know anyone at CTU, or know anyone who knows anyone at CTU, or know anyone who knows anyone at all.

Does that have-it-all-ways approach prove that Legacy continues 24s long-standing tradition of using topical stereotypes and assumptions to misdirect its audience with bombshell reveals about rogue agents and traitors? As always. But theres something so old-hat about its tactics, it feels completely out of step with our current Trumpian reality. Which isnt to say that were not, as a country, still grappling with Islamic terrorism, or national security responses to it, or the cost our anti-terror actions have on both the world and ourselves. Its just that those issues have mutated in new, multifaceted ways since 24 was last on the air, but the show still addresses them via the same stock dynamics and situations. No matter its inevitable litany of shocking-Shocking-SHOCKING twists to come, its hard not to feel like Legacy is stuck in a woefully predictable past.
Let me start with my grandmother, Pansy Whittemore, who I believe owned the first television set in the town of Vermillion, South Dakota, except for Careys Bar.

My Uncle Buck bought her the set somewhere in the early nineteen-fifties. He was a famous concert pianistthe Whittemore half of the duo Whittemore & Lowe, and not long after the television set was delivered to the big brick house at 15 Austin Avenue, word came out of NBC studios in New York that Uncle Buck was scheduled for an early-morning chat with the networks early-morning show host, Dave Garroway.

Today went on the air at seven in eastern South Dakota, and my grandmothers friends began dropping in around 6:30, women in their 60s and 70s, everybody bundled up sensibly against the snow and cold but dolled up underneath. Church shoes under galoshes, fresh blue hair-dos and everybody had pink cheeks, either from walking over in the cold or rouge. Alice McCusick drove, parking her hearse-like Plymouth pretty much dead in the middle of Austin Avenue, which was where she always parked when she came to see Pansy, and Jan Truien came in with rolls from the bakery. She had been my uncles first piano teacher and she lived in Vermillion all her life, giving piano lessons and taking care of her aging fatherthey lived together until he died at 100, and followed him out to the Vermillion graveyard directly afterwards, and never had another pupil like Bucky.

And there was a woman whose first name I dont think anyone knewMrs. Jordanwho walked every day to the post office dressed in her turn-of-the-century duds, make-up a quarter inch thick, every hair in place under her hat, carrying a parasol in one hand and the leads of her two beautiful Dalmatians in the other.

***

The south wall of the first story of my grandmothers house was all glass; windows from east to west near two large connected sitting rooms and beyond them a huge dining room, where the cookies and rolls and coffee were laid out. That morning, to my memory, I couldnt turn around without running into somebodys bodice, which I thought was a polite word for butt.

And the ladies and various friends and music lovers of Vermillion ate and waited, and then ate and fretted, watching the clock, Mrs. Jordan was smoking cigarettes through a cigarette holder as long as your femur, and dark rumors circled the place that something had happened. A line developed at the downstairs bathroom door. The ladies glanced at my grandmother, too nervous to eat, everybody afraid that Bucky had been bumped so that Daves co-host, a diapered chimpanzee named J. Fred Muggs had more time to show off for the camera. The rumors at the time were that Garroway was jealous of the chimpanzeewho had a 500-word vocabulary and 450 different outfits for the show, and was by far more popular with viewers than Garroway himselfand put Benzedrine into his morning juice to slow him down so he wouldnt steal Garroways audience. Which he did, drugged or not.

The air changed odor. Reputations in Vermillion were on the line in some way. As famous as Uncle Buck was in classical music circles, this was something bigger. Television. And by extension, the little town itself was on television too.

Well, enough. It didnt happen. My uncle did not get bumped by the primate.

By the time Uncle Buck finally got on camera it was the last quarterhour segment of the show, and you could have floated a canoe on the relief that washed through the room. Many years later I learned that the Today show was Uncle Bucks last stop of the previous evenings tour of a large sample of after-hours Manhattan drinking spots, and he'd walked into the NBC studios still humming.

After that, there was a lovely chat. Everybody in the living room agreed that theyd had a lovely chat, Bucky and Dave Garroway. And Pansys friends remarked on how handsome Bucky looked on televisionand then one of them recalled reading you had to wear blue shirts on television instead of white, and there was some disagreement about that, and then there was a commercial and then, almost before it had started, the lovely chat was over and they were saying goodbye.

But first, Dave Garroway asked Uncle Buck if he wouldn't mind playing a little something on the way out. This, even I knew, was something Uncle Buck hated, to be asked to play a little something. Still, he did not beg off, although suddenly the evenings libations seemed to have caught up with him all at once, and he looked very tired.

So a grand piano was rolled in and my famous uncle, the pride of Vermillion, South Dakota, sat down in front of millions of viewersnot to mention in front of his mother and her friends standing three deep around the first television set in the town  he sat down on the floor, legs splayed out from beneath the keyboard, facing backwards for a piano player, and plucked out Mary Had a Little Lamb.

My grandmother said one word: Smarty-pants. Or maybe thats two words.

And after her guests had left, she quietly unplugged the television and for a long time the first television in Vermillion, South Dakota, sat quietly against the west wall of the second sitting room, next to the ancient piano my uncle had first begun playing when he was five years old, collecting dust.

-P.D.
Katie Couric is not afraid to admit she got it wrong.

On a January 2014 episode of her ABC daytime talk show Katie, the veteran TV journalist famously came under fire for asking transgender model Carmen Carrera awkward questions like Was the whole process painful, physically, for you? and Your private parts are different now, arent they?

Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox defended Carrera in the next segment, informing Couric that the preoccupation with surgery objectifies trans people and that it obscures the often harsh reality of their daily lives.

The headlines the next day were harsh: BuzzFeed called the exchange cringeworthy, Salon labeled Courics questions invasive, and Slate slammed the interview as really offensive.

When some people were very critical, of course it hurt me, Couric told me over the phone in a conversation about Gender Revolution, her forthcoming National Geographic documentary on transgender and intersex issues. I felt terrible.

What critics didn't realize about the controversy at the time is that Couric, since 2014 global news anchor for Yahoo, had ample opportunity to avoid it altogether. The interview had been pre-taped weeks in advance and the producers, Couric told me, offered to remove the offending portion before the episode aired.

Couric knew that she had missteppedbut she refused.

I discussed it with Laverne [Cox] and I wanted, maybe foolishly, to use myself as an example to really have a teachable moment on the show, she said. That was my intent and I guess I did it at the expense of making myself seem like an insensitive buffoonwhich I guess I was.

The producers didnt want to have Cox back on Katie after that incident, Couric told me, perhaps to protect [her] from more criticism. But the former Today Show co-host and first female CBS Evening news anchor didnt want that interview to be her last word on transgender issues.

I think that I made a mistake, she told The Daily Beast. And I wanted to make sure that people knew that I recognized I made a mistake.

So at Courics request, Cox came back to Katie in June 2014. The resulting conversation was a master class in talking across difference: Couric was apologetic and Cox said she was appreciative of her friends willingness to learn out in public.

Two womenone cisgender, one transgenderworked past an uncomfortable moment together instead of leaving it in the history books as an epic internet callout.

Cox reassured Couric, Its only a mistake if you make it twice.

And the next year, when Cox won Maybellines Make it Happen prize at the Fashion Media Awards, she specifically requested that Couric be her presenter, telling the audience that their on-air talks had changed the conversation about who transgender people are and how we tell their stories.

Today, Couric is still learning about transgender people and telling their stories. And as Gender Revolution proves, she hasnt made many mistakes more than once.

The two-hour National Geographic documentarypremiering Monday nightis a compassionate, incisive, and informed introduction to the exploding conversation around gender and identity. It covers everything from the nascent science behind gender dysphoria to the treatment of transgender children to the continuing impact of North Carolinas bathroom bill.

Along the way, Couric interviews several key figures in or adjacent to the transgender community, including model and actress Hari Nef; hormone specialist Joshua Safer; and teenager Gavin Grimm, who is heading to the Supreme Court later this year over his school boards refusal to allow him to use the boys bathroom.

Courics curiosity is evident throughout the program, but so is her care. At one point, instead of asking a young transgender woman named Allison what she was called before transition, she asks if she can ask that question. When Allison says shed prefer not, Couric uses it as an opportunity for an impromptu conversation about previous names, and how they can function as a distressing reminder of pre-transition life.

Its an example of the way in which Couric has learned to create educational opportunities out of potentially challenging moments.

I think if we can all have these conversations and try to give each other a little room to sometimes make mistakesand to learn from those mistakesthen well be able to encourage a lot more conversation, Couric told me.

Even now, six months after she started filming, Couric is acutely aware of little slip-ups she spots in Gender Revolution. She told me that she felt self-conscious showing the documentary to a largely LGBTQ audiencewhich included transgender Human Rights Campaign spokeswoman Sarah McBridein Washington, D.C.

Oh gosh, they must think Im an idiot! Couric recalled feeling at the time.

But McBride, Couric said, told her that its very helpful for social movements when people witness someone evolve in their views. And if Couric had let a fear of making mistakes stop her back in 2014, she never would have embarked on her own journey with Gender Revolutionwhich, frankly, would have been a shame.

At times, the experience of being transgender can seem untranslatable. How can people who are comfortable with the gender they were assigned at birth ever understand what its like to not feel that way, deeply and persistently? But by talking to so many different transgender people in their own spaces, Couric comes as close as possible to bridging that gap over the course of Gender Revolution.

She doesnt just speak with experts and celebrities; she talks to ordinary people like Kate and Linda Rohr, who were married for 45 years before Kate came out as transgender; and Vanessa and J.R. Ford, who are raising a transgender girl named Ellie. In the process, something beautiful happens: Little moments of human connectionhugs, jokes, and high fivestransform Courics subjects from spectacles into peers.

The best tool is to actually spend time with people, Couric told me. And they taught me so much. They were compassionate and patient and willing to help me and to give meand by extension hopefully everyone watching the documentarya chance to learn without judgment.

As for Couric, Gender Revolution wont mark the end of her attention to transgender issues. In fact, the Boy Scouts of America just began allowing registration based on gender identity so shes interviewing a transgender boy scout next week.

And while working at Yahoo, Couric says shell continue to do deeper dives on other subjects that I find really important and compelling and needed. Despite the buzz generated by her recent return stint on the Today show, Couric said, I dont have any plans in the immediate future to do that [return to daytime].

Im interested in showing the very human side of any misunderstood or marginalized segment of the population, Couric said. I have tried my entire career to inform people or enlighten people or to give people a voice who dont have a voice.

Gender Revolution premieres Monday, February 6th at 9 PM / 8 PM Central on the National Geographic channel. Following the premiere, at 11 PM ET, Couric will be hosting a Facebook Live aftershow on National Geographics Facebook page.
ROMEFather Andrea Contin apparently liked all kinds of sexorgies, bondage and games with erotic toys. He also clearly liked all kinds of women, especially widows and those going through divorce. The 48-year-old priest from the northern region of Padua has been under investigation by the Catholic Church and local police for essentially preying on praying women for the better part of a month.

On Friday, his superior Monsignor Cladio Cipolla confirmed that he had initiated the process to have the priest defrocked, and that Contin had accomplices in the parish. The behavior of Father Andrea was in complete contrast with the commitments he made to the Church, Cipolla said. He had an objectionable lifestyle and, as such, is not eligible to exercise the priestly ministry. His actions have also compromised him to such an extent he can no longer represent himself as a priest, even after his repentance.

According to a separate police complaint filed by a 49-year-old woman reported as his first lover with whom he reportedly fathered a child, and with whom he wanted another, Contin often carried a briefcase full of vibrators, sex toys, masks and bondage equipment.

The woman also claimed that he wanted sex night and day and once coerced her to engage in bestiality by attempting to make her have sex with a horse. She and others said that his erotic games often spiraled into domestic violence, especially when they met in the church rectory, often after mass.

He reportedly carried the satchel of sex toys on pastoral visits to widows and women going through marital strife in the event he could seduce them on the spot. One witness said he kept the vibrators and leather straps alongside his priestly vestments and holy water.

Contin, who was considered ultra conservative among parishioners, often preached against the evils of adultery and warned his flock against television and Internet pornography.

Police and church officials say that when he wasnt at the pulpit, Contin organized orgy outings with married and divorced women at a swinger resort in France, which he told superiors were akin to spiritual and missionary outings. He also reportedly listed many of his lovers on wife-swapping websites and, according to police, pimped other women out to friends. Other times, he would pose as a lawyer and seduce women in fancy Venetian restaurants.

None of the more than 30 women who have now signed on to a complaint are under age, but Contin stands accused of both psychological and physical assault, in addition to abetting prostitution.

Confirmation of the lurid accusations came late last week when Cipolla called a press conference to say Contin had confessed to his crimes against the Church and was repenting. Calling the priests actions unacceptable for a priest, for a Christian and even for a man, he said that he felt like a father of a son who has fallen from grace.

Police have not yet officially charged Contin, whose whereabouts are undisclosed, with any crime, but they did seize computers and memory sticks, reported to be filled with pornography and home videos of the orgies from his room in the house he shared with other priests. One of his colleagues at the church, Father Don Cavazzana admitted to Cipolla that he was the videographer of many of the films but that he did it under extreme duress. Cavazzana is not under investigation by secular authorities. It is unclear whether he also had sex with any of the women.

Cipolla says the second priests involvement was only occasional and partial and that he does not face defrocking. A third priest is also under investigation by the parish for his apparent participatory role in the orgies and swinger trips to France.

Late last week, Cipolla says he got a call from Pope Francis who offered him prayers and encouragement and told him to stay strong as he moved forward with the investigation and eventual defrocking. The Padua church has set up a dedicated phone number and email address for other victims and witnesses to give information anonymously.

Father Contin had been in Padua for ten years, having received his assignment when his predecessor was defrocked for fathering a child with a woman in the parish.
For over 20 years, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has operated with a mission to expose clergy sexual abuse and its coverupwork that was highlighted by last years Oscar-award winning film Spotlight. But a new lawsuit alleges that the St. Louis-based charity actually exploits abuse survivors in a kickback scheme involving attorneys who file lawsuits against the Catholic Church.

In the lawsuit against SNAP, a former employee named Gretchen Rachel Hammond charges she was wrongfully fired as SNAPs development director in 2013 after she confronted SNAP president Barbara Blaine with evidence the group had been routinely accepting financial kickbacks from attorneys in the form of donations.

Blaine, executive director David Clohessy, and outreach director Barbara Dorris are all named in the suit. Clohessy resigned a week after the lawsuit was filed, but has denied his departure has anything to do with the allegations. On Saturday Blaine announced she, too, was leaving her position with SNAP after 29 years. Like Clohessy, Blaine stressed that the timing was only coincidental, and explained in a statement to supporters that her decision to leave was a result of the organization moving from a founder led organization to one that is board led.

Please know that the recent lawsuit filed against SNAP, as the others in the past which have no merit, had absolutely no bearing on my leaving, Blaine wrote.

According to that lawsuit, in exchange for the alleged kickbackswhich contributed up to 80 percent of SNAPs entire contributions in a given year, Hammond claimswhen survivors reached out for help, Clohessy and Blaine would send them to specific attorneys. When the cases would settle, as they often did, both the attorneys and SNAP would share in direct payments from survivors settlements, according to the complaint.

SNAP has flatly denied the allegations. There is no "kickback scheme, Blaine told The Daily Beast.

In an email soliciting funds to fight the lawsuit in court, Barbara Dorris, SNAPs outreach director and a co-defendant in the case, wrote, These allegations are NOT true. We have never and will never do that. We accept donations from cops, attorneys, our members, church employees and church members. We are a not for profit. Like all nonprofit organizations, we must raise funds to survive.

In the last five reported years, SNAP has brought in roughly $5 million in total revenue, according to the organizations tax returns. Hammonds attorney told The Daily Beast the payments to SNAP came from around 30 attorneys in at least five different states.

In 2007, Hammond claims one California attorney donated $100,000 to SNAP. The group brought in $437,407 in total revenue that year.

In 2008, the complaint goes on to allege, when the non-profit raised $753,596 in total, one Minnesota attorney donated over $415,000. The same attorney donated another $275,000 in 2011.

The Catholic Church meanwhile has paid out $3 billion to survivors over the last decade in the form of settlements, therapy and attorneys fees, according to an annual report from The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Attorneys fees constituted one-fifth of this years church payments.

During her tenure, Hammond claims, money poured in from these attorneys without rhyme or reason. Since Blaine allegedly warned her not to speak of them, Hammond said she kept a list of the the secret contributors with the code name, Roses list, the details from which make up most of the current lawsuit. In November 2012, Hammond claims she finally confronted Blaine after being mistakenly Cc'd on an email in which SNAPs former national director David Clohessy referred a survivor to an attorney, then allegedly asked the attorney when SNAP could expect a donation.

Thats the initial smoking gun, Hammonds lawyer Bruce Howard told The Daily Beast. That established a quid pro quo.

While it is unethical for a lawyer to pay a fee or give something of value in exchange or as a reward for a referral for legal services, it is neither illegal nor unethical for an attorney to make a donations to a non-profit, and its not yet clear in this case which occurred, legal experts told The Daily Beast.

If a court finds that the lawyers did violate the ethics rule, the attorney in question could face sanctions from his states high court, said Jim Grogan, deputy administrator and chief counsel of the Illinois Supreme Courts Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission. Anywhere from a reprimand all the way to disbarment and anything in between, said Grogan, who could not speak on this specific case.

Beyond the allegations of financial impropriety, Hammonds complaint alleges that for all their talk of support and counseling, in her two years in senior management, she never saw any instance of the victim support or advocacy work SNAP prided itself on. She claims when she asked for details about SNAPs work in these areas, she was denied access to a single support group or group therapy session. It was almost like they didn't do that side of it. It was like they were making it up as they went along, Hammond said in an interview. In a statement provided to The Daily Beast, SNAP denied ever claiming to be a counseling organization and defended their support groups. We are a volunteer-based, peer support network of survivors who help each other in support group meetings, over the phone, through the internet, in person, and through public events, it read. SNAP acknowledged barring Hammond from the groups, but said it was done to protect the privacy rights of victims.

When she wasnt allowed to participate in an organization-wide audit, Hammonds says she started to worry. She says the concern grew when she saw more money allegedly being spent on luxury trips for SNAP executives than outreach or counseling. Blaine strenuously denied the existence of such trips in an email to The Daily Beast.

But in this way, the lawsuits biggest threat to SNAP could be the tarnishing of its good name.

SNAP has been working to expose clergy sexual abuse since the early 90s and struggled for years to garner supportfinancial and philosophicalaccording to interviews with former leader David Clohessy. But a 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation changed all that. After Globe reporters uncovered a vast sexual abuse scandal and coverup in Boston area Catholic churches, SNAP phones began ringing off the hook, according to a piece in The Morning Call.

Then 2015s Oscar-winning film, Spotlight, dramatized the investigation, including characters from SNAP. Speaking to a reporter about the evolution in 2016, Clohessy quoted Gandhi: First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win," he said.

But with Hammonds lawsuit, the fight may be renewed.

For years, Catholic publications and bloggers have blasted SNAP as publicity-obsessed fanatics, driven by a grudge against the Catholic church. This opposition has pointed to Hammonds case as proof of that conclusion.

One long-time critic named Dave Pierre, who writes at The Media Report, said the lawsuit confirms what many of us have known all along: SNAP is not an organization designed to help victims of clergy sex abuse but a gang hell bent on shaking down the Catholic Church through a seedy web of lawyer kickback schemes, lawsuits, and bigotry.

For SNAPs local leaders, the allegations have been heartbreaking.

We know there are people who dont want us to exist. Im not sure why, said Melanie Sekoda, 63, who leads two support groups in California where she meets with a handful regulars once a month.

Its never been any secret that some of the attorneys make donations to SNAP, she said, but in her experience, most of the SNAP survivors never file lawsuits against their abuser because of the statute of limitations has run out.

I think in some ways the attorneys support SNAP because we help the people that they cant help.

Sekoda noted that she and most of the people at SNAP were unpaid volunteers, and would speak out if there was something amiss. Its just not how Ive seen SNAP work, she said.

Becky Ianni, another unpaid volunteer who leads two survivors groups in Virginia, said without SNAP, victims like herself would be again be disbelieved, guilted, and ultimately on their own.

Ianni received a settlement from the Catholic church after her abuser committed suicide in 1992. The lawyer who negotiated the payment was not referred by SNAP, Ianni said.

I do it because someone saved my life, Ianni said. We dont want another abused child to suffer in silence and get to get to be 40 or 50 years old  We want to let people know theyre not alone.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump continued to defend Russian President Vladimir Putin against accusations of political murder and human rights abuses. On Sunday, some prominent members of Trumps own party started publicly face-palming again.

In a preview clip from Trumps pre-Super Bowl interview with Fox Newss Bill O'Reilly, President Trump reaffirmed his respect for the often bloody manner in which Putin conducts business.

"I do respect [Putin], but I respect a lot of people, Trump told the Fox host. That doesn't mean I'm going to get along with him."

When O'Reilly described Putin as a "killer," Trump replied, "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think, our country's so innocent?"

Trumps comments are, in a way, old news. Trump has been loudly praising Putins thuggish style of governance since the presidential campaign. During an interview on MSNBCs Morning Joe in December 2015, Trump defended Putins killing of journalists, saying, at least hes a leader, unlike what we have in this country [with Obama], and went on to say that our country does plenty of killing, too.

The Republican Party is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Donald J. Trump, and party leaders of course are largely falling in line. (Playing the what if President Obama did this game is a useless exercise at this point.)

Vice President Mike Pence hit the Sunday show circuit this weekend to assure people that Trump was not in the least drawing a moral equivalence and, as Pence said on NBCs Meet the Press, that President Trump has been critical of American policy in the past[and will] continue to be candid with the American people.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNNs Jake Tapper that Im not going to critique every utterance of the president even though I obviously dont see this issue the same way he does.

Harsher criticism of the presidents ongoing Putin apologia came from the usual conservative suspects.

Putin is an enemy of political dissentthe U.S. celebrates political dissent and the right for people to argue free from violence about places where our ideas are in conflict, Ben Sasse, a Republican senator for Nebraska who was very public about his anti-Trump view last year, said on ABCs This Week. There is no moral equivalency between the United States of Americathe greatest freedom-loving nation in the history of the worldand the murderous thugs that are in Putins defense on his cronyism. Theres no moral equivalency there.

[Trumps] statement suggesting moral equivalence between Putin's Russia and the United States of America is deeply troubling and wrong, Congresswoman Liz Cheney tweeted on Sunday morning.

If you're a conservative suddenly okay with moral equivalence between the US and a dictatorial country, please apologize to Barack Obama, conservative blogger Erick Erickson chimed in.

And Sen. Marco Rubio, Trumps onetime primary opponent who never misses an opportunity to express outrage at Russian abuses and crimes, also tweeted his displeasure

We are not the same as #Putin, the senator from Florida insisted.

If any of this is anything more than performative remains to be seen. For instance, Cheney was a Trump endorser during the campaign, and strongly agrees with the president on a multitude of issues including the virtue of institutionalized torture to fight terrorism. Rubio called Trump a con artist last year, and declared that Trump could not be trusted with the nuclear codes and arsenal. Rubio ended up standing firmly by Trump in the general election fight against Hillary Clinton, and voted to hand him the nuclear launch codes, anyway.

Every passing week makes it clearer and clearer that the GOP is Trumps party. The presidents stated admiration for Putins brutality continues to emerge as just another mild inconvenience to party leaders.
Last April, in North Dakota, the Lakota Sioux, on their own lands guaranteed by U.S. treaty, faced the onslaught of the $3.8 billion dollar Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), some 30 international banks, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. To produce a legal and democratic Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the Corps is supposed to consult the tribes. It did not. The Corps only sent a letter, then did not answer three requests for consultation from Sioux leader Dave Archambault III.

The Sioux launched a prayerful, nonviolent encampment to protect the sacred waters of Lake Oahe and the Missouri River. They also defended their ancestors grave stones and sacred markings on the rocks. As I learned when I visited their encampment last September, for indigenous people, water and the earth are sacred.

Since 2010, Sunoco Logistics (SXL.N), the chief partner in the DAPL, has had 200 leaks, more than any other oil company. DAPL is not only bad for the air, but can make the Missouri River undrinkable downstream. The Lakota are water protectors for all Americans.

Over the past year, over 200 tribes and many supporters joined in mass nonviolent action. As my wife and I saw on September 3, the water protectors were attacked by untrained police dogs. On the night of November 21 in subzero weather, water cannons, water icing as it flew, doused demonstrators. Sophia Wilansky, a New York river protector, hit by a concussion grenade, nearly had her arm severed. An investor in the Dakota Access Pipeline himself, Donald Trump is extending this cruelty. This past Wednesday, police arrested and did body-searches on 76 people. On Thursday, the Bureau of Indian Affairs invaded and began to demolish the Sacred Stone camp.

North Dakota Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, Governor Jack Dalrymple, and Trump still dwell in the late 19th century. They brutally and mindlessly pursue Manifest Destiny against those they deem savages. They project onto others their own depravity.

But the #NODAPL protest has now spread to Iowa where more than 200 people have been arrested. It has spread to Denmark where nonviolent resistance has forced the Danish National Bank to withdraw its money from consortium funding. Even the Army Corps of Engineers has temporarily forbidden the Dakota Access consortium from drilling under Lake Oahe. To write a new Environmental Impact Statement, the Corps has opened a period of public commentary until February 20. Last month, in a stunning act of support and contrition, 4,000 veterans came to Standing Rock to apologize for the armys genocide against indigenous people. Today Veterans Stand has sworn to engage in civil disobedience until DAPL is stopped.

Far away from most Americans in sparsely populated North Dakota, the tremendous struggle of the water protectors to preserve fresh and sacred waters for future generations has become a great international issue.

In Tibet, over the past several years, another distant, indigenous people have been waging a similar struggle against the occupying Chinese government. All of the 11 great rivers of Asia come down from Tibet. The Yarlung Tsangpo begins at Lake Mansarovar in the shadow of Mount Kailash, crosses Tibet east to west at great speed, and then turns down at the Great Bend near Arunachal Pradesh to plunge into the Yellow River, the Yangtze, the Indus, the Ganges, the Jamuna, the Mekong, and many others. It has greater depth and speed than all European rivers combined, greater than any rivers worldwide except the Amazon and the Congo.

Since 2006, a railway has connected isolated Tibet to mainland China, flooding the region with Han migrants and Chinese tourists. The railway has been an instrument of ethnic cleansing. Tibetans and Tibetan culturethe Dalai Lama attacked as a splittistare a sideshow.

This past December in Dharamsala in the Indian Himalayas, I talked with Tenzin Tsundue, the great Tibetan poet and resistor. On January 16, 2002, Tsundue alone hid at the top of the Oberoi Towers Hotel in Mumbai when Chinese prime minister Zhu Rongji came to speak, and unfurled a red and yellow Tibetan flag. According to Tsundue, the indigenous people of the Bon religion listen intently to the winds in the high mountains. The breath we take is living wind. It is one with the air surging in the mountains. Static air is just wind that does not move. It is all one wind; one cannot tell lies on the wind within and without.

For the Bon, humans are a part of nature, Tsundue suggested, not beings to be revered separately. As they are for the Sioux, the mountains and waters are sacred to the Bon.

Over several decades the Chinese government has increasingly exploited Tibetan mineral resources, including copper, gold, chromium, silver, and lithium. It dumps tailings into the Yarlung Tsangpo, where the fish population has plummeted. In November 2012, Tsering Dhondup, 35, and Konchok Tsering, 18, set themselves on fire in protest against a gold minesince then, the number of self-immolations has risen to 146. In 2009, Tibetans in Tawu County (western Szechwan), lay down in the road to stop tractors. In confrontations similar to those in North Dakota, soldiers wounded many protestors. In April 2012, five nomadic villages in Togde County, Qinghai Province voted down the governments demand that they sell 50 percent of their animals and 60 percent of their land. They were forcibly resettled. Delayed by popular resistance, the huge Zangmu Dam on the upper reaches of the Tsangpo opened only in October 2015.

In May 2016 hundreds of indigenous protectors in Minyak, Khom (Eastern Tibet) stopped lithium mining. After two days of protest, the authorities suspended the project for environmental reasons. For eight days in May and June, thousands in Amchok Amdo (Eastern Tibet) stopped the mining at a sacred mountain, Nyenchen Gong-ngon Lari. In early December, 20 Tibetans were arrested for protesting against damming the Mekong River in Dechen County, Yunnan Province.

According to its latest five-year plan, the Chinese government envisions a series of huge dams in Tibet. Unneeded by Tibetans (the electricity generated goes to China), these dams would dry out the high grass lands on which nomads graze yaks and sheep. (Ironically, high-altitude Tibet is a ripe candidate for solar power.)

The Chinese regime is forcibly destroying Tibets indigenous ways of life. It has cordoned nomads, without yaks, into small, concrete houses, left them no land to graze their animals, and isolated them from centers of education or medicine. Men, demoralized, sometimes spend days drinking or playing cards. Women, stripped of most activities except child care, are also unemployed. Such concrete cantonments mirror reservations in the 19th century United States.

It is thus a Wild West of cultural genocide succeeding physical genocide which Tibetans, who lie down against the tractors, resist. It is settler colonialism. And, as at Standing Rock, indigenous protest meets this predatory system head on.

Now Mao Tse-tung led ordinary farmers in the longest, most vigorous and against the odds revolution of the 20th century to defeat ferocious oppression by landlords as well as genocidal Japanese aggression in World War II. The Chinese Revolution relied on people who are normally excluded from the decisions of the powerful. On the Long March, their policies of aiding what they called national minorities won them life and death support. As a whole, Maos movement recalled the farmer rebellions that ended the dynasties of the past.

After winning, however, Mao was high on himself. Influenced by Sovietand Americandevelopment policies, he imagined a war of man against nature. He advocated rapid damming of rivers. Because they threw larger numbers of people out of their homes and threatened those downstream (early dams often broke), these projects were not popular.

Yet today China has 26,000 dams, twice as many as the rest of the world combined. The collateral damage has been immense: The Three Gorges Dam alone destroyed an astounding 13 cities, 130 towns, and 1,350 villages, and displaced 1.3 million people. And the damage is not limited to China. The Power Construction Company of ChinaPowerChinahas more than 148 branches in 71 countries, including 54 branches in Africa and 74 in Asia. Chinas banks have financed more than 300 dams in 60 African and Asian countries. Todays builder bureaucrats have no clue about Maos democratic practice of soliciting support from ordinary people.

Official reporting suppresses protest. But in 2004, resisting eviction, tens of thousands of farmers overran the Pubugou dam on the Dado River, a tributary of the Yangtse. Hundreds were jailed and some murdered. In 2007, thousands of Chinese farmers protested against the Tiger Leaping Gorge Dam on the upper Yangtse. Yu Xiaogang, who founded the Kunming environmental group Green Watershed, helped lead these protests. Because of the seriousness of the environmental and human damage, Green Watershed is tolerated even by the government. Much current Tibetan thinking about anti-Chinese protest focuses on the downstream countries threatened by Chinese damming. But the moral and political focus could be inside China as well.

In China, the authoritarian regime stays in power only through ensuring rapid economic development. Yet Beijings air is unbreathable. The sun does not shine. Before the 2008 Olympics, to make things semi-bearable, cars had to be stopped for six months; still, athletes had to wear masks. As in smog-ridden New Delhi, clean air is not to be found.

In response, China has built an electric metro system in Beijing. It has launched 10 green cities. As I saw in July 2013, staring through the window of a rapid train from Liaoning to Beijing, farm house roofs often have solar panels. In part, China seeks to conquer the world economically for solar panels and green energy. That would also save future generations. Ahead of Germany, China is, admirably, a leader in this process.

But under a pretext of weaning off coal, Chinas vast system of hydropower dams preys on indigenous people. Internally and externally, Chinese settler colonialism enacts or abets physical and cultural genocide towards indigenous peoples. ChinaPowers conduct exactly parallels that of the predatory builders of the Dakota Access Pipeline, as well as the 30 international banks funding the project.

As with the DAPL, these secretive, anti-democratic projects threaten the environment: no water to drink, no clean air to breathe. Unless the vast Chinese damming is scaled back, it will overwhelm the green development the Chinese government otherwise seeks.

Tibetan resistors are thus water-protectors. Further, they defend what is good in Chinese efforts at green industrialization.

At the roof of the world or the third pole, Tibets glaciers unleash the Yarlung Tsangpo. But according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the glaciers are melting at twice the rate they did 30 years ago. What happens to the people of Asia if the great river abates?

Chinas Yellow River comes down from the Tsangpo, as does the Brahmaputra in India, the Indus in Pakistan. The Yellow River is drying out. Millions of Chinese are left without adequate drinking water.

Far away in Beijing, bureaucrats made a curious decision. Against gravity, they plan to turn the Yangtse River back upstream and refill the Yellow River. This bizarre Promethean effort is unlikely to work.

But even Chinese officials and their children must drink the water, breathe the air

Just as the 200 tribes at Standing Rock defend the Missouri for the people of the United States, Tibetans are the water-protectors for the Chinese.

Tibetans fight a rapacity fiercer even than the racist, occupying power fought by indigenous Americans in North Dakota. But seemingly strong like Tunisia and Egypt before the outburst of Arab Spring, China will not remain a tyranny forever. When economic growth slows, food prices soar or rivers dry out, there will, likely, also be a Chinese spring. Mirroring the new worldwide solidarity with the Lakota, Tibetan water protectors could now, gradually, through demonstrations and word of mouth, make a deep impact on ordinary Chinese, for instance on millions who have lost the Yellow River. Perhaps a Tibetan spring may accompany a Chinese spring.

Chinese dam construction preys mainly on indigenous areas. Though supposedly required by a 2003 Chinese law, PowerChina compiles no Environmental Impact Assessments. Mirroring DAPL, PowerChina strikes secretly, swiftly, importing bands of Chinese migrant workers to throw up dams.

Chinas neo-colonialism features vast numbers of resource-draining, seemingly public projects abroad which serve no common good. Preying on indigenous people, the dams in Tibetand the Dakota Access Pipelineare the templates for these policies. In Burma, for example, ChinaPower seeks to dam the Salween against the indigenous Karen and Kachin. Since 2010, a Kachin army has bombed the headquarters of the Chinese project and forced the indefinite suspension of the Myritsone Dam.

In a supreme gesture of environmental contempt for others, the Keystone XL Consortium recently suborned even the new Trudeau administration in Canada to revive a pipeline, previously halted by massive protest from below, through indigenous Canadian and American territory, to ship dirty tar sands oil via Texas to China. Trump and the oil industry-stoked. science-denying Republican congressional majority may now succeed in giving even Chinese bureaucrats a good laugh.

Indigenous people are water-protectors. Here and on the roof of the world, we owe them a debt of gratitude.
At 12:25 p.m. on February 2, President Trump posted a story on his official Facebook page which contended that Kuwait issued a visa ban for five Muslim-majority countries.

Trumps post, which is still up as of Sunday morning, read: Smart!

'Kuwait issues its own Trump-esque visa ban for five Muslim-majority countries | Al Bawaba, citing the source of the information.

It has some 250,000 likes,over 68,000 shares, and was picked up by Breitbart and Infowars. But theres one problem: Kuwait denies that anything of this sort ever took place.

The foreign ministry of the Middle Eastern country "categorically denies these claims and affirms that these reported nationalities ... have big communities in Kuwait and enjoy full rights," according to a Sunday morning report in Reuters.

The story shared by Trump had alleged that Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans will not be able to obtain visit, tourism or trade Kuwaiti visas with the news coming one day after the US slapped its own restrictions on seven Muslim-majority countries. The story in the Jordanian news outlet Al Bawaba did not have an official statement or order from the Kuwaiti governmentnor from any of the countries it said were facing a ban.

It then went from Trumps mouth to his most fervent online support bases ears.

On February 2, the conspiracy-hub InfoWars ran with the story citing reporting by Sputnik International, a Russian-government news agency.

Sputnik did in fact have a story on their site as well, but later issued a correction saying the following news article proved to be untrue. They cited a denial by Ghulam Dastagir, Pakistans ambassador in Kuwait. (Pakistan was listed as one of the five alleged countries under the false visa ban).

Similarly Breitbart, a predominantly pro-Trump outlet whose CEO Steve Bannon is now a White House counselor, published a story on the unverified ban citing Trumps own original source.

As of Sunday morning, Breitbart, Infowars and the President of the United States have not issued corrections or amendments to their posts about the story.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the wake of the Trump administrations changes to immigration regulations, many people are wondering if this is the beginning of religious censorship in the United States. Certainly it wouldnt be the first time a government implemented a ban on members of a religious group it viewed dangerous or subversive. But religious bans never work out for anyone: either those being targeted or the governments sending others into exile.

Roman Emperor Vespasian Expels the Stoics

When we think about religion we often mean ethics and how a person choose to live his or her life. In the Greco-Roman world the task of debating what it means to live a good life fell not to priests but to philosophers. Much like todays modern press, ancient Stoic philosophers saw themselves as responsible for exercising bold speech, that is, reprimanding their leaders and speaking truth to power. This situation had the potential to make philosophers very unpopular with governmental officials.

In the first century CE the emperor Vespasian expelled virtually all of the Stoic philosophers from Rome. According to the historian Cassius Dio, when one philosopher, Demetrius, decided to resist, Vespasian told him, You are doing everything to force me to kill you, but I do not slay a barking dog. Helvidius Priscus, an anti-imperial philosopher who spoke out in favor of returning Rome to a republic, was executed. These events were just one moment in a tense relationship between Roman philosophers and Roman emperors that lasted for much of the second half of the first century.

Diocletian persecutes the Christians

For the vast majority of the first three centuries of the Common Era, Christians lived in relative safety. Christians could be executed for sedition, treason, or any of the many other crimes that warranted the death penalty, but save for a few months under the emperor Valerian they were not the targets of official legislation.

As I wrote in my book Myth of Persecution, this changed between 303-305 when the emperor Diocletian attempted to unify the empire through a series of edicts designed to elicit displays of patriotism and loyalty. The publication of the first edict made the holding of Christian meetings illegal and ordered the destruction of Christian places of worship and the confiscation of Christian scriptures. Christians were denied the right either to petition the courts or to respond to legal actions brought against them, making them especially vulnerable in judicial contexts. Christians with distinguished social status lost their rank and imperial freedmen were enslaved. Everyone, including Christians, was now expected to sacrifice before engaging in any legal or official business.

A second edict was published in the summer of 303, ordering the arrest of Christian clergy. The third edict in November 303 provided an amnesty for imprisoned clergy providing that they participated in a loyalty test to the emperor. The fourth and final edict, issued in the spring of 304, required that everyone  men, women, and children  gather in a public space to offer sacrifice. If they refused they were to be executed. The edicts certainly produced martyrs but it drove many more Christians into hiding and exile.

King Philip Expels the Moriscos

In 1609 King Philip III of Spain ordered the expulsion of a group known, somewhat perjoratively, as the moriscos or little-moors. The moriscos were the descendants of Spains historic Muslim population, which had arrived on the Iberian peninsula with the Umayyad conquest in 711. Some nine hundred years later roughly one million moriscos lived in Spain, having been forcibly converted to Christianity by Spains Archibishop Cisneros in the fifteenth century.

Despite their conversion, popular prejudice continued to be suspicious of the moriscos and held that they engaged in secretive Islamic rituals. The result was that between 1609 and 1616 as many as 300,000 people were exiled from Spain. Most of them settled in Morocco and on the fringes of the Ottoman empire.

Ethics aside, the expulsion of the moriscos, as the Daily Beast has reported before, was extremely counter-productive for the Spanish and actually devastated the economy of the Kingdom of Valencia. More importantly it shows how tightly interwoven religious and racial prejudice can be.

England exiles Jews

There is no shortage of governments that have persecuted the Jews. Religious and political authorities alike have focused negative attention on Jews as a means of galvanizing popular support, creating scapegoats, and deflecting attention from themselves. In 1290 King Edward I issued the Edict of Expulsion and exiled around 2000 Jews from England. His actions were in part motivated by a financial crisis within the royal household. When Edward first expelled the Jews from Gascony and England he appropriated their property and debts. He then passed on the cost of deportation to the English taxpayers who, fired up by anti-Semitic myths and folklore, were happy to foot the bill of exiling scapegoated English Jews.

In their article States, Regimes, and Decisions, Karen Barkey (now the Haas Distinguished Chair of religious diversity at UC Berkeley) and Ira Katznelson (Ruggles Professor of political science and history at Columbia) argue that the expulsion was not just about money; it was about state building. They argue that the motivation behind the expulsion of Jews from England and France was the result of attempts by kings to manage royal insecurity, refashion relations between state and society, and build more durable systems of taxation within the territories they claimed as theirs. All of which means that as European social identities began to fossilize and Jews became less financially important, Jews also became more clearly identifiable as outsiders. This left them socially and politically vulnerable and ultimately led to their eviction.

Japan bans the Foreigners

In the seventeenth century, and following decades of trade with Europe, Tokugawa Iemitsu, the shogun of Japan, decided to expel foreigners from the country. Issued in 1635, the Sakoku edict banned foreigners already in Japan; it also

threatened any foreigners who tried to enter the country illegally or anyone who practiced Christianity with the death penalty. The purpose of the ban was not just to limit foreign incursions into Japan but also to protect Japan from evangelization by Catholic missionaries in particular. As with Diocletian, there was a religious loyalty test (fumi-e) that people had to pass in order to prove that they were not Christians: they had to step on a picture of Jesus. Those who refused to renounce Christianity were often tortured and killed.

The ban on foreigners lasted for two hundred years before an American Commodore, Matthew Perry, sailed a four-ship squadron into Edo Bay (Tokyo Bay) in July 1853. Perry provided Japanese officials with two white flags and told them to hoist the flags when they wanted him to stop firing his cannons at their buildings. The incident marks the beginning of the end of the isolationist policy.

Looking back over the course of the past two thousand years, it is remarkable how many of these violent and discriminatory measures were about profit and patriotism. As Dr. Heidi Wendt of Wright State University told The Daily Beast, "the evidence would suggest that these incidents were not typically, if ever, a straightforward matter of religious or intellectual intolerance." Wendt added, "What is more certain is that [religious bans] often had the paradoxical effect of drawing attention to and legitimating the very practices or figures targeted [by this legislation], with the result that the latter's influence only expanded."

The specters of foreign dangers and internal sedition hung over all of these governments, but the sense that national unity could be secured only by eliminating religious difference, and national interest by excluding foreigners, are persistent themes. To this day a number of countries enforce legislation that selectively targets members of specific religious groups: since 2016, to take one example at random, Putins Russia has forbidden evangelization outside of churches.
UPS Truck Loses SAT Tests of Texas Students

GONE WITH THE WIND

The affected students in El Paso will now have to retake the standardized test, UPS apologizing for the driver's actions.
Its been said, somewhat disparagingly, that too many universities are treating students like customers  and in business, the customer is always right.

So as new campus buildings go up, so do climbing walls, health clubs, food courts and apartment clubhouses.

They make easy targets for legislators looking for wasteful public spending, even though most of the examples above are funded out of student fees or by private investors.

In Arizona, taxpayers have been getting a bargain  on the backs of students. State subsidies of the three state universities have fallen from $1.1 billion a decade ago to $681 million this year even as enrollment has soared 40 percent. The result is that state aid per student has sunk from $9,648 to $4,098 during the same period, the biggest drop of any state in the nation.

HIGHER TUITION BAILOUT

So it is more than ironic that a pair of lawmakers who have been responsible for squeezing higher education dry are attacking the universities for spending money like it is going out of style. The only extra money coming in is from higher tuition made necessary by the state cuts and enrollment growth  and tuition in Arizona still remains in the bottom third of any state university system.

But Rep. Mark Finchem of Oro Valley believes making the universities compete against each other by breaking up the Board or Regents would result in lower spending. And Sen. Sylvia Allen wants to cap annual tuition hikes at 2 percent, no matter how fast enrollment goes up or how much the Legislature and governor cut state aid. The last cut two years ago was $99 million, with $17 million made up this year, putting the universities in a two-year hole of $82 million. And thats on top of the previous $300 million cut since FY 2008. If Allen wants to control tuition increases, she needs to look in the mirror and ask why she isnt insisting that Arizona restore slashed state aid just like many other states with recovering economies are doing.

DIVERTED, BUT NOT INCREASED

Instead, the governor is offering to divert the sales taxes already paid by universities on purchases to underwrite bonds to finance new buildings and renovate old ones. Thats a nice start at whittling down a $700 million backlog. But it doesnt deal with the operating shortfall that at NAU has caused class sizes to balloon and faculty salaries to drop near the bottom of its peer group of second-tier state universities.

Maybe its time that education advocates organize around a dedicated tax for both K-12 and higher ed that is protected from raids and diversions by the Legislature. Since the 1980s, personal and corporate income tax cuts have resulted in state revenue losses that this year would have amounted to $4 billion. And sales tax exemptions amount to another $12 billion. Compare that to a $9.8 billion state budget, and another $2 billion for education doesnt seem so far out of line but could have a big impact. So if the governor isnt willing to support any new taxes, there are plenty of old tax cuts and exemptions that could be sunsetted.

MARKETING RACE

As for downgrading the regents and creating new governing boards for each university in the interest of competitive cost-cutting, we wonder where Finchem studied economics. The states are already in a higher ed marketing race with each other to attract students and faculty as public subsidies are cut. Putting universities into intra-state competition with each other will mean costly duplication and even more spending on students as customers instead of partners with faculty and staff in learning.

If there is to be a separate governing board for NAU, it should supplement the regents and be focused on the town-gown interface. Board of Regents President Eileen Klein talks of upgrading university infrastructure with the diverted sales tax without mentioning that Flagstaffs infrastructure  its roads, water and sewer  is near or at capacity around the Mountain Campus as enrollment surpasses 21,000 on its way to 25,000. Formalizing the consultation process with a broadly representative board at least would assure residents, students, faculty and administrators alike that their concerns are being heard. Finchem and Allen might even be asked to attend  a visit to a real campus might do them some good.
It is obvious the swamp in Washington, as President Donald Trump termed it during the 2016 presidential campaign, hasn't been trained yet. In fact, Washington seems to be as bogged down as ever.

A good example is the president's appointment of Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Even before Trump made his announcement, some Democrats in the Senate were saying they would oppose the nominee, whoever it is. Since then, more and more Democrats have said they will try to block the appointment. They won't, but that won't stop them from trying.

That's right, they are doing the exact same thing they complained bitterly about the Republicans doing to Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died suddenly almost a year ago. That both appeals court justices appear to be eminently qualified to sit on the high court makes the political games of both parties particular obnoxious.

The contentiousness of Supreme Court nominations has been around forever, but the escalation goes back 30 years to President Ronald Reagan's nomination of Judge Robert Bork to replace the retiring Justice Lewis Powell. Even before Powell stepped down, many Democrats were pledging to oppose any Reagan nominee considered ideologically extreme. So intense was their lobbying effort against Bork, that the nomination was rejected by the Senate, 58 to 42.

Reagan then named Judge Anthony Kennedy to the Supreme Court and he was confirmed unanimously -- and today is considered the lone "swing" vote on the court.

Sadly, the Bork nomination set the stage for today's political gamesmanship. The qualifications of the nominee now matter less than how they might vote in the future -- and who is the president who makes the nomination.

Of course senators are bound to consider a nominee's record and perhaps use that to predict how he or she might vote on important issues -- although justices often surprise people with their votes. And senators should vote their conscience.

But every presidential nominee -- no matter for what position -- deserves a full and fair hearing. More and more, that doesn't happen because partisan politics get in the way. Democrats likely won't give Gorsuch a fair consideration because the Republicans didn't give Garland any hearing. And Republicans did that because of the way Democrats treated President George W. Bush's nominees. Democrats did that ... and so on.

We doubt potential Supreme Court nominations decided the Nov. 8 election, but surely some Americans factored that into their vote. We all realize to some extent that Republican presidents will appoint more conservative justices, while Democratic presidents will appoint more liberal justices. By electing Donald Trump, Americans signaled their choice -- and please stop obsessing over how many more votes Hillary Clinton received; she lost.

Americans clearly have said over and over that we are tired of the gridlock in Washington that holds our country in limbo -- although we keep electing the same people responsible for that gridlock.

As long as Republicans and Democrats play tit-for-tat, they never will accomplish much and our nation will stagnate.

Thus far, Democrats seem deep into the gridlock play-calling. They should take a higher road and set an example for Republicans on how a principled opposition acts. Democrats needn't give up their long-held beliefs to do this. They simply should consider each nominee, each piece of legislation fairly and fully. Ask questions, debate issues and vote based on those and not on who is making the nomination or proposing the legislation.

Democrats should not shirk their duties and must show up for committee hearings and official votes.

Then, when the tables are turned and the Democrats are back in power, the Republicans should follow that example.
On February 3, 2017, Dean Jay Conison sent the following update about its proposed Teach-out plan to Charlotte's dwindling student body (reportedly down to 268 from 712 this fall, according to the school's most recent ABA 509 Report).

From: Jay Conison

Subject: Update





Dear Charlotte School of Law Students,

Charlotte School of Law has filed its Teach-Out Plan with the ABA. The Plan is required by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar and will be reviewed at the Councils March 10-11, 2017 meeting. It is also required for eligible students at Charlotte Law to regain access to Title IV funding.

Implementation of the Plan has begun. The Plans purpose is to fulfill the Schools obligations to its currently enrolled students, and it is projected to run until December 2019, the last anticipated graduation date of any students currently enrolled. The Plan calls for Charlotte Law faculty and staff to deliver the educational program here in Charlotte.

Under the Plan, Florida Coastal School of Law will be the teach-out partner, providing quality assurance and support for the academic program, as well as career and student services.

Under the Plan, Florida Coastal will disburse Title IV funds to eligible students during the teach-out period. Charlotte School of Law will still be your degree-granting institution.

We will provide additional information after the ABA review of the Plan. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

President Chidi Ogene and Dean Jay Conison

It is not clear if this is just a contingency plan filed with the ABA because it is required to be filed, or if InfiLaw has really made a decision to close the school. There is certainly nothing on the school's website homepage (as of the time of writing this post) that makes it appear that the school is no longer accepting applications or otherwise plans to close. I suspect the ABA may have serious reservations about having a school that just failed the DOE's Gainful Employment Test and has had similarly exploitative admissions practices (Florida Coastal Dean Scott DeVito assures me that those practices are a thing of the past and that the school has substantially raised admission standards this year), and has a poor and rapidly declining bar pass rate, exceedingly high attrition rates, and woeful job placement rates providing "quality assurance" over academic support and support for career services. Another reason to object to Florida Coastal's oversight is that many of Charlotte Law School's woes are directly traceable to Dennis Stone, the current President of Florida Coastal who was formerly Interim Dean (the faculty refused to approve him as Dean) and later President of Charlotte Law School through May 2013, when InfiLaw shifted him over to Florida Coastal. President Stone was the architect behind the predatory admission practices at both schools, which were designed to meet Sterling Partners' return on investment expectations rather than ABA Standard 501.

It is also not clear that DOE will agree to allow Florida Coastal to disburse Title IV funds to students at Charlotte Law School. If DOE has already agreed to do so, I would have expected Charlotte Law School to say so.

Stay tuned.
The EcoCareer Conference is a live, 2-day interactive webinar series will take place online on Wednesday, February 22nd from 10  5:30 PM ET and Thursday, February 23rd  Workshop Day from 12  3 PM ET. This virtual conference is for students, faculty, and staff from high schools, colleges, and universities across the country. The National Wildlife Federation and their partners will prepare students and young professionals for wildlife and sustainability careers by providing information on the latest EcoCareer trends from leading analysts and employers, clarifying career-enhancing credentials and academic offerings, and formulating a better understanding of the competencies employers seek in the green sector.



Full Schedule

DAY I  Conference Day (February 22 starting at 10:00 AM EST)

Opening Presentation Introduction The Future of Environmental Careers: Growing a Resilience Economy

Keynote New Millennium Post-Secondary Credentials and Degrees: Buildings and Solar Technologies Break Advice from Professionals The Missing Link in Effective Sustainability Career Planning

Hiring Trends: Being Wired for Being Hired The Leaders of Tomorrow

Break Networking Sessions Closing Presentation

DAY II  Workshop Day (February 23 starting at 12:00 EST)

Opening Presentation Online Sustainability Skills Tutorial

Green Career Pathway Planning Workshop

Break Earning your NWF Project-based Leadership Certification 20 Million Global

Sustainability Campaign

Networking Sessions

Conference Closing Presentation Presented by National Wildlife Federation EcoLeaders Program

Speakers List

Learn from and network with the following leading professionals who will share insider knowledge on the latest EcoCareer trends, current employment demand and how to best prepare to land your Eco dream job!

National Wildlife Federations President and CEO Collin OMara will provide opening remarks for the conference. Collin comes to NWF from the state government of Delaware where he led the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control as Cabinet Secretary from 2009 through 2014.

The morning keynote speaker will be Kevin Doyle, project manager and co-author, of popular books about environmental careers, including The ECO Guide to Careers That Make a Difference: Environmental Work for a Sustainable World, and The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers in the 21st Century.

Additional speakers include:

Rita Alison, Aramark

Bridget Burnell, General Motors

Kevin Coyle, National Wildlife Federation

Meghan Fay Zahniser, Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)

Michael Gale, Wildlife Biologist and Former NWF Fellow

Marcia Lochmann, WorkerFIT

Michele Madia, Second Nature

Jaime Van Mourik, U.S. Green Building Council

Keith A. Norris, The Wildlife Society

NaTaki Osborne Jelks, National Wildlife Federation and Agnes Scott College

MaKara Rumley, Hummingbird

Talia Schmitt, NWF Certified EcoLeader

Capri St. Vil, The Corps Network

Mary Wright, Jobs for the Future

If youd like to attend this event you can purchase tickets online: Students: Registration is complimentary for all EcoLeader Community members! Registration for the EcoLeaders Program is also free!  Free College Students  $45 High School Students  Free (for all students not part of a class viewing) Professionals (includes instructors and staff)  $70 Groups up to 10  $300 Groups of 11 to 25  $350 Groups of 26 to 50  $600 High School groups  Free (for educators who will host the viewing during class) Faculty and Staff: Interested in providing this virtual conference to a class or student group? Group discounts are available! If you have groups of more than 50 please contact Kristy Jones at jonesk@nwf.org. Groups can be a mix of students, faculty, staff, and others.

Faculty and Staff: Interested in providing this virtual conference to a class or student group? Group discounts are available!

For more information about this event, please contact the EcoLeaders team at EcoLeaders@nwf.org

To register click here.
Republican candidates make final campaign pitch in Burlington

Reynolds, Grassley, Miller-Meeks, and other Iowa Republicans made their final pitch to supporters during a campaign stop in Burlington on Friday.
NORWALK  In celebration of Black History Month, the Norwalk Historical Society will be hosting a lecture by local historian and educator, Carolyn Ivanoff, entitled: The Life and Times of a Quiet American Hero  Ebenezer D. Bassett on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

Light refreshments will be served at 6 p.m. and lecture will begin at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $5, payable at the door. Seating is limited, RSVP to: info@norwalkhistoricalsociety.org or 203-846-0525. If the event is canceled by the Norwalk Historical Society due to inclement weather, it will be rescheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m. The Norwalk Historical Society Museum is located at 141 East Ave.
The news coverage of President Trumps refugee-restricting order focused on abused travelers, angry protesters and aggrieved lawyers. Those reports were useful, but they missed a much larger and more consequential point: Trumps action was profoundly immoral and un-American. It violated our most basic values and traditions as a nation.

Almost 229 years ago, George Washington wrote to a Dutch minister, Rev. Francis Adrian Vanderkemp, who had arrived in America after fleeing religious persecution. I had always hoped, Washington wrote, that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.

The 45th president has broken faith with the first. Instead of welcoming the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, hes rejecting them. Moreover, his policy is counterproductive. Instead of keeping the country more safe from terrorism, it will make us less safe.

Two Republican senators with impeccable military credentials, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, had the courage to tell the truth: Ultimately, we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism.

This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslins coming into our country, wrote the GOP lawmakers. That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorism recruitment than improve our security.

Trumps order has provoked almost universal condemnation, from political leaders like Germanys Angela Merkel to religious figures like the Catholic bishops. Only two groups seem to be cheering: Republicans who are afraid of crossing the new president and jihadists who cannot believe their good fortune.

David Miliband, the former British foreign secretary who now heads the International Rescue Committee, was exactly right when he wrote in The New York Times that Trumps action is a propaganda gift to those who would plot harm to America.

The presidents order bars all refugees for 120 days, bans refugees from Syria indefinitely, and stops all citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days. Moreover, it slashes the U.S. quota for refugees from 110,000 a year to 50,000.

In defending the impact of the order, administration spokesman Sean Spicer used a flurry of alternative facts. Only 109 refugees were directly affected this weekend, he said, comparing their trauma to waiting in line for a couple of hours at a TSA checkpoint.

But in fact, the impact is far larger. Families were torn apart. Countless institutions  corporations, universities, hospitals  were thrown into turmoil. Spicer said the price was necessary to protect the country from terrorist threats, but the evidence does not back him up.

Refugees are already subjected to extraordinary background checks that can take up to two years. Most of them are women and children. And U.S.-born jihadists are a far greater threat than outsiders trying to infiltrate the country.

The libertarian Cato Institute estimates that the odds of an American being killed by a refugee-turned-terrorist are 1 in 3.64 billion. Charles Kurzman, a terrorism expert at the University of North Carolina, told the Times that the danger of such an attack is infinitesimal.

If the benefit of the presidents policy is infinitesimal, the cost is almost infinite. Terrorism is certainly a real threat, but any effective effort to combat that threat starts with the cooperation of Muslims  from local imams to foreign intelligence chiefs  who could be alienated by the administrations hostility.

Former CIA director Michael V. Hayden told the Washington Post that there is no question this has already created an irretrievable cost. The refugee order has taken draconian measures against a threat that was hyped ... It feeds the Islamic militant narrative and makes it harder for our allies to side with us.

Trump says he wants to wipe ISIS from the face of the earth, but that can only be done with Muslim troops, not Americans. Daniel Benjamin, formerly the State Departments top terrorism expert, told the Times: For the life of me, I dont see why we would want to alienate the Iraqis when they are the ground force against ISIS.

The moral cost is as high as the military one. As a nation, we have failed Washingtons hope many times before: when Irish Catholics were despised and Italians lynched; when Chinese immigrants were barred by Congress; when loyal Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II; and when Jewish refugees from the Holocaust were turned away.

We now recognize those moments as shameful stains on our history. This episode will be covered in shame, as well.
WASHINGTON  There are many people to thank for the coming accession of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Donald Trump for winning the election. Hillary Clinton for losing it. Mitch McConnell for holding open the high court seat through 2016, resolute and immovable against furious (and hypocritical) opposition from Democrats and media. And, of course, Harry Reid.

God bless Harry Reid. Its because of him that Gorsuch is guaranteed elevation to the court. In 2013, as then-Senate majority leader, Reid blew up the joint. He abolished the filibuster for federal appointments both executive (such as Cabinet) and judicial, for all district and circuit court judgeships (excluding only the Supreme Court). Thus unencumbered, the Democratic-controlled Senate packed the lower courts with Obama nominees.

Reid was warned that the day would come when Republicans would be in the majority and would exploit the new rules to equal and opposite effect. That day is here.

The result is striking. Trumps Cabinet appointments are essentially unstoppable because Republicans need only 51 votes and they have 52. They have no need to reach 60, the number required to overcome a filibuster. Democrats are powerless to stop anyone on their own.

And equally powerless to stop Gorsuch. But isnt the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees still standing? Yes, but if the Democrats dare try it, everyone knows that Majority Leader McConnell will do exactly what Reid did and invoke the nuclear option  filibuster abolition  for the Supreme Court, too.

Reid never fully appreciated the magnitude of his crime against the Senate. As I wrote at the time, the offense was not abolishing the filibuster  you can argue that issue either way  but that he did it by simple majority. In a serious body, a serious rule change requires a serious supermajority. (Amending the U.S. Constitution, for example, requires two-thirds of both houses plus three-quarters of all the states.) Otherwise you have rendered the place lawless. If in any given session you can summon up the days majority to change the institutions fundamental rules, there are no rules.

McConnell can at any moment finish Reids work by extending filibuster abolition to the Supreme Court. But he hasnt. He has neither invoked the nuclear option nor even threatened to. And hes been asked often enough. His simple and unwavering response is that Gorsuch will be confirmed. Translation: If necessary, he will drop the big one.

Its obvious that he prefers not to. No one wants to again devalue and destabilize the Senate by changing a major norm by simple majority vote. But Reid set the precedent.

Note that the issue is not the filibuster itself. Theres nothing sacred about it. Its routine use is a modern development  with effects both contradictory and unpredictable. The need for 60 votes can contribute to moderation and compromise because to achieve a supermajority you need to get a buy-in from at least some of the opposition. On the other hand, in a hyper-partisan atmosphere (like todays), a 60-vote threshold can ensure that everything gets stopped and nothing gets done.

Filibuster abolition is good for conservatives today. It will be good for liberals tomorrow when they have regained power. Theres no great principle at stake, though as a practical matter, in this era of widespread frustration with congressional gridlock, the new norm may be salutary.

What is not salutary is the Reid precedent of changing the old norm using something so transient and capricious as the majority of the day. As I argued in 2015, eventually the two parties will need to work out a permanent arrangement under which major rule changes will require a supermajority (say, of two-thirds) to ensure substantial bipartisan support.

There are conflicting schools of thought as to whether even such a grand bargain could not itself be overturned by some future Congress  by simple majority led by the next Harry Reid. Nonetheless, even a problematic entente is better than the free-for-all that governs today.

The operative word, however, is eventually. Such an agreement is for the future. Not yet, not today. Republicans are no fools. They are not about to forfeit the advantage bequeathed to them by Harry Reids shortsighted willfulness. They will zealously retain the nuclear option for Supreme Court nominees through the current Republican tenure of Congress and the presidency.

After which, they should be ready to parlay and press the reset button. But only then. As the young Augustine famously beseeched the Lord, Give me chastity and continency, only not yet.
WASHINGTON  With an asperity born of exasperation, Justice Antonin Scalia once wrote, If you want aspirations, you can read the Declaration of Independence, but there is no such philosophizing in our Constitution, which is a practical and pragmatic charter of government.

Scalia was wrong, and much depends on Neil Gorsuch not resembling Scalia in this regard. Gorsuch can endorse Scalias originalism, construing the Constitutions text and structure as it was understood by its Framers and ratifiers, without embracing Scalias misunderstanding of this:

There is no philosophizing in the Constitution  until the Founders philosophy is infused into it by construing the document as a charter of government for a nation that is, in Lincolns formulation, dedicated to a proposition that Scalia implicitly disparaged as impractical and unpragmatic.

The proposition is that all persons are created equal in their possession of natural rights, to secure which  the Declarations word  the government is instituted. In Lincolns formulation, the Constitution is the frame of silver for the apple of gold that is the Declaration. Silver is valuable and frames are important, but gold is more precious and frames derive their importance from what they frame.

The drama of American democracy derives from the tension between the natural rights of the individual and the constructed right of the community to make such laws as the majority desires. Natural rights are affirmed by the Declaration; majority rule, circumscribed and modulated, is constructed by the Constitution and a properly engaged judiciary is duty-bound to declare majority acts invalid when they abridge natural rights.

In Justice Elena Kagans confirmation hearing, she was asked if she believes there are natural rights that are not among the rights the Constitution enumerates. She replied: I dont have a view of what are natural rights, independent of the Constitution.

Using a foggy double negative, she added: Im not saying I do not believe that there are rights pre-existing the Constitution and the laws, but my job as a justice is to enforce the Constitution and the laws. And: I think that the question of what I believe as to what peoples rights are outside the Constitution and the laws  that you should not want me to act in any way on the basis of such a belief.

Well. Natural rights, which are grounded in nature, are thus independent of the Constitution. They are not, however, outside of it because its paramount purpose is the protection of those rights.

The Ninth Amendment says: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. If you believe, as Robert Bork did, that this amendment is a meaningless inkblot you must believe that the Framers were slapdash draftsmen about this, and only this, provision.

Scalia believed that the whole theory of democracy ... is that the majority rules. ... You protect minorities only because the majority determines that there are certain minority positions that deserve protection. ... The minority loses, except to the extent that the majority, in its document of government, has agreed to accord the minority rights.

If that is the whole theory of democracy, then democratic theory is uninteresting. What is interesting begins with the institutional and cultural measures necessary to increase the likelihood that majorities will be reasonable and respectful of the natural rights of those in the minority. It is the judiciarys job to construe the document of government  the frame of silver  in the light cast by the apple of gold.

With the Declaration, Americans ceased claiming the rights of aggrieved Englishmen and began asserting rights that are universal because they are natural, meaning necessary for the flourishing of human nature. The Constitution is Americas fundamental law but not its first law. The Declaration appears on Page 1 of Volume 1 of the U.S. Statutes at Large and it is at the head of the United States Code under the caption The Organic Laws of the United States. Since the 1864 admission of Nevada to statehood, every states admission has been conditioned on adoption of a constitution consistent with the U.S. Constitution  and the Declaration.

The Constitutional Convention met in the room where the Declaration was debated and endorsed, and the Constitution implements what the Declaration initiated. Gorsuch will occupy much of the jurisprudential space Scalia so admirably did. But having earned a doctorate in philosophy and jurisprudence at Oxford studying under John Finnis, author of the book Natural Law and Natural Rights, perhaps Gorsuch will effect a philosophic correction.
The Grand Island Public Schools Key Communicator Advisory Group met this past week to review the working draft of the Senior High Vision project. The project aims to fulfill 21st century educational objectives. From the beginning of this process, school officials have made it clear that the districts high school plan for the future is not pinned to the construction of a second high school.

Grand Island Public Schools has partnered with the District Management Council (DMC), a Boston-based firm, to develop a long-term plan and goals. So far, the process has involved broad-based support and input from GIPS staff, students, parents and other members of the community.

The design for developing and supporting the aspirational goals of high school students is not bound by walls. At this stage, many exciting possibilities are being considered to accomplish the plans overarching mission of personalizing education to better prepare students for success in high school, college and career.

The three primary goals identified to fulfill this mission are:

1) Empower each student to take ownership of their learning and develop skills in critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. This combines classroom instruction with personalized, real-world learning experiences.

2) Students will develop meaningful, personal connections support their personal well-being and strengthen their confidence and resiliency.

3) All students will benefit by engaging senior highs community partnerships and family support.

Grand Islands Career Pathways Institute has proven to be a forward-looking approach to establishing career tracks on par with the academic preparation for advancement to college. In reality, only 22 percent of college-bound students finish with a degree after four years. Additionally, the U.S. job market cannot provide a job match for a vast number of college graduates who then struggle to pay off student loans.

The job market does, however, have a void to fill for skilled trades, for entrepreneurs, and medical and technical workers. Those good-paying jobs are readily available locally and the demand will only increase over time.

The new frontier for high school education is truly exciting. College-bound students will continue to receive first-class academic preparation and the rest of the school population will have new horizons and possibilities opened for them through an unprecedented level of personal guidance, support and preparation.

The concept of career academies may take many forms, but the approach delivers a long list of positive outcomes, including increased on-time graduation, a lower dropout rate, increased attendance, decreased disciplinary problems, more credits earned and a boost in post secondary enrollment and completion rates.

The growing partnerships with the community colleges, businesses and institutions will help to place the route from high school to college to career on a clear and fast track.

The next phase of the plan will establish the key steps for successful implementation of the defined vision and goals for the next-generation high school. The best is yet to come.
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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 5, 2017

In front of thousands of his supporters during a massive campaign event on Saturday, incumbent Jakartan candidate Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama promised transparent and accountable governance should he be elected governor of the city.

We believe that Jakarta needs an honest leader. If the leader is honest, then his or her subordinates wont dare to have [a different] attitude. Hence, the leader should be clean, transparent and professional, Ahok said in the event, which was held less than two weeks before the Feb. 15 voting day.

Held in the form of a musical performance called the Gue 2 Concert, the campaign event presented several noted musicians and bands, including legendary rock band Slank, which appeared as the icon of the campaign. The band is famous for songs that are rich in social and political messages about such things as corruption and drug abuse.

(Read also: Djarot reminds supporters about unity in diversity)

Ahok also pledged that if he earned his second term for the next five years, he and his running mate, Djarot Saiful Hidayat, would work to provide better medical services, transportation and housing, as well as cheaper basic necessities.

We will bring Jakarta to the same level as other big cities around the world, but most importantly, the living cost here should be low, the governor said.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri also attended the event. In her oration, the party patron told supporters she was sure Ahok would win the gubernatorial race, given the strong enthusiasm of the campaigns participants. (ebf)
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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 5, 2017

Jakartan incumbent candidate Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama is set to hold a pesta rakyat (peoples party) on Feb. 11, four days before voting day in the city's gubernatorial election, to mark the end of his campaign and to thank all of his supporters.

It wont be in the form of concert, but a pesta rakyat. There will be culinary [booths]. We want to express our thanks to all of our supporters at the end of the campaign period. The event may take place in Kemayoran [in Central Jakarta], so that it could be a big event, Ahok said during a mass rally in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Saturday.

Hundreds of supporters attended the campaign event, which took the form of a musical concert. A number of famous musicians and bands, including legendary rock band Slank, performed.

We also want to say thank you to all the musicians, like Slank, Jay Subiakto and others, because we didnt pay them. They themselves took the initiative to participate in the event. I never thought to hold such a big event like this, Ahok said.

It may change an old stigma that we usually pay celebrities [to promote us], but now we dont.

Ahoks rival, Agus Harimurti and his running mate, Sylviana Murni, are also scheduled to hold a large campaign event on Feb. 11, as will Islam Defenders Front (FPI) supporters who will stage a mass rally as a repeat of their Nov. 4 and Dec. 2 anti-Ahok rallies. The group claimed the upcoming rally would be a mass prayer to pray for the security and safety of the Jakartan election. (ebf)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 5, 2017

Banten incumbent gubernatorial candidate Rano Karno has vowed to intensify the development of infrastructure in the province should he and his running mate, Emba Mulya Syarif, be reelected on Feb.15.

Pak Rano and Pak Emba have the spirit to develop infrastructure in Banten. While serving as governor, Pak Rano increased the development of provincial roads by almost 80 percent, the candidate pairs campaign team spokesman Bahroji told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Besides improving provincial roads, Rano also helped the construction of roads in Lebak and Pandeglang, among other places, by providing financial assistance to administrations in those regencies, he went on.

This shows Pak Ranos commitment to improving roads in regencies and cities in the province, Bahroji said.

The Rano-Emba pair has been endorsed by a coalition of three parties: the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Nasdem Party and the United Development Party (PPP).

(Read also: Wahidin-Andika vows to end political dynasty in Banten)

Bahroji said the pair would develop the province by upholding the principles of transparency in government.

Pak Rano has shown his commitment to realizing clean governance by engaging with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) when creating the provincial budget, he said.

During his tenure, the governor had also developed electronic budgeting (e-budgeting) and electronic planning (e-planning) systems to improve the organization of the provincial budget and ensure a more transparent budgeting process, he went on. (ebf)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 5, 2017

The Bekasi Police in West Java are gearing up for possible floods following high rainfall in the area in recent days.

The police have prepared three inflatable dinghies and have distributed two of them to Jatiasih and South Bekasi sub-precincts.

"We have checked the condition of the boats so that they can be used [for evacuation] when the floods come," Bekasi Police facility division head Comr. Waluyo said as quoted by Antara.

Aside from the inflatable boats, the police have also checked the quality of other evacuation equipment and readied officers for any evacuation operations, he added.

"It is predicted that there will be heavy downpours in February so we need to be prepared," he added. (agn/dmr)
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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Tanjungbalai  Sun, February 5, 2017

Police are investigating the case of two female Indonesian migrant workers who managed to officially marry each other after returning from Malaysia.

The illegal marriage between the two women was revealed after the one posing as the husband, known as Farel, gave birth in the home village of her spouse in Tanjungbalai, North Sumatra.

Indonesia, which recognizes marriage as union between a man and a woman, outlaws same-sex marriage.

Farels identity was revealed after locals found a newborn baby dumped on Jl. Sei Kenagan, some 50 meters from her wife's house, on Thursday. Residents confronted the couple after becoming suspicious that it was Farel who had abandoned the baby.

Daman Wuri, a resident who lives nearby, said locals were shocked by the incident. Farel told us she was a widower with a child, so we were not suspicious when she married Salmah, he said.

(Read also: After FPI tipoff, police raid alleged gay sex party, arrest 13)

Tanjungbalai police spokesperson Adj. Comr. Y Sinulingga said Farel had admitted that the baby was hers and she dumped the baby to cover her disguise.

Farel married Salmah in Tanjungbalai on Nov. 30. Both worked as migrant workers in Malaysia before the marriage. Two days after the wedding, Farel went back to Malaysia while Salmah stayed in her hometown. Farel returned about a week before the birth.

Salmah told the police that she did not know Farel was a woman. She said she had not been intimate with her husband" after the wedding. She also denied deliberately having a same-sex marriage, saying that she wouldn't have married Farel if she had known that she was a woman. I am still normal, she said. (wit)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 5, 2017

The Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) Jakarta has warned the camps of all three gubernatorial tickets not to organize campaign events involving large numbers of people during the cooling-off period from Feb. 12 to 14.

The coordinator of Bawaslu Jakartas enforcement division, Muhammad Jufri, has also urged the police not to allow events or rallies that carried messages related to the Feb. 15 election.

We have hired monitoring officials at all levels, from districts and subdistricts down to polling stations. We have also partnered with universities and other monitoring organizations, Jufri said on Saturday as quoted by kompas.com.

(Read also: Mass campaign rallies have little impact on boosting support: Researcher)

The campaign period has been underway since Oct. 28 last year.

All three tickets have been intensifying their campaigns leading up to the last campaigning day of Feb. 11. (bbs)
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Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura  Sun, February 5, 2017

The state-owned electricity company PT PLNs Papua and West Papua Region (WP2B) has been considering biomass-fueled power plants to produce sustainable electricity in Merauke regency, Papua.

The electricity company has signed an agreement with a private partner, PT Merauke Narada Energi, which developed the technology.

PT Merauke Narada Energi will develop the power plant using biomass, which will be tested this year, PLN WP2B general manager Yohanes Sukrislismono said in a release made available on Saturday.

He said PT Merauke Narada Energi was currently developing the biomass-fueled power plant with a capacity of 3.5 MW in Wapeko, Merauke. This supply is to be distributed to a special economic zone (KEK) in Salor, Merauke.

With the supply, the electricity in the regency, which has a peak load of 19.1 MW, is expected to be more reliable.

We have an area of 250,000 hectares producing woodchips, said Budi Basuki of PT Medco Energi.

(Read also: PLN gives Pertamina more time in Java 1 project)

He said his company had previously conducted research on the use of woodchips to fuel power plants. This is just the first step, Budi said.

The plant is the first to develop using forest-based renewable energy in the eastern Indonesian region.

The wood waste used for the plant comes from plantations of acacia, eucalyptus and meulaluca, which will be processed into fuel for the power plant. (wit)
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Linkedin Suherdjoko (The Jakarta Post) Semarang, Central Java  Sun, February 5, 2017

National Police chief Gen.Tito Karnavian said his institution had never wiretapped former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's phone conversations, asserting he was ready to give explanation on the matter.

He was speaking to respond to the phone-tapping allegation raised by Yudhoyono, following the eighth session of Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama's blasphemy trial by the North Jakarta District Court on Jan. 31.

The National Police have never conducted a wiretapping against Pak SBY [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono], said Tito after the launch of the Smile Police Application at the Central Java Police headquarters in Semarang on Saturday.

Tito said he was ready to attend a meeting on the matter that would be held by the House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, human rights and security, should he be invited.

In the trial, one of Ahok's defense lawyers, Humphrey Djemat, claimed Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman Maruf Amin, who testified as a witness, received a phone call from Yudhoyono on Oct. 6.

It was a day before a meeting between executives of Indonesias largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Jakarta gubernatorial candidate pair Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and Sylviana Murni took place at the NU headquarters on Jl. Kramat Raya, Central Jakarta. Maruf was present at the meeting.

In the session, Humphrey frequently asked Ma'ruf whether he had been demanded by Yudhoyono" to "issue an edict" in response to Ahok's speech during a working visit to Thousand Islands regency on Sept. 27. The lawyer also asked the MUI chairman whether Yudhoyono had asked NU to accept Agus and Sylviana at its headquarters".

Maruf denied all of the accusations during the hearing. (ebf)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 5, 2017

In the last official Jakartan gubernatorial debate slated for Feb. 10, the three candidate pairs, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and Sylviana Murni, Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama and Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno, will discuss key social issues, including population and the improvement of the quality of life.

Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) commissioner Betty Epsilon Idroos said the themes would be divided into four topics, comprising women's empowerment, child protection, drug eradication and protection of residents with disabilities.

Betty said that just like the second debate on Jan. 27, the final one would run for 150 minutes.

After conducting a meeting with the campaign teams of all candidate pairs, [we decided] the debate will run for 120 minutes with another 30 minutes for commercial breaks. This will be the last debate so we want to dig more [into the debate materials], Betty said as quoted by kompas.com on Thursday.

She explained that the number of supporters allowed to enter Bhirawa Auditorium at Bidakara Hotel in South Jakarta, the place where the debate is to take place, would be reduced from 120 to 100.

The head of KPU Jakarta, Sumarno, said earlier that the candidate's supporters who attended the second debate were too noisy and had disturbed the proceedings. Therefore, the KPU decided to reduce the number of supporters allowed to enter the debate venue, he added.

Betty said CNN Indonesia television host Alfito Deannova would be the moderator of the third debate. Apart from his long experience as a TV host, Alfito was not affiliated with any political party or candidate, she said. (cal/ebf)
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Linkedin Ken Thomas (Associated Press) Washington  Sun, February 5, 2017

Like his predecessor, President Donald Trump seized on a go-it-alone strategy for fast-tracking his agenda. It took him two weeks to run into the nation's system of checks and balances.

The legal battle over his executive order on immigration and refugees is a surprisingly early demonstration of a lesson all presidents learn eventually. Governing by executive action may appear easier and faster, but it carries its own legal and political risks.

President Barack Obama was confronted with that reality late in his tenure when, thwarted by the GOP-controlled House, he used what he called a "pen and phone" strategy to advance his agenda. He ultimately found one of his most sweeping actions, the expansion of a program deferring deportation for some immigrants, blocked by the courts, while Republicans blasted him for what they said was an abuse of power.

Republicans have been notably quiet as Trump has taken a similar approach, particularly taking advantage of the precedent giving the president broad leeway when it comes to immigration.

A federal judge's order in Seattle Friday evening blocking Trump's ban on admitting travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries showed the limits of the president's powers and the role of checks and balances among the three branches of government. The administration appealed the judge's order, but the higher court denied its request for an immediate stay that would have enabled Trump to reinstate the ban.

The State Department cancelled visas for about 60,000 people from the affected countries; the legal setbacks had many rushing to restore their documents and find flights to the United States over the weekend.

Trump isn't alone in trying to maximize executive muscle. Presidents rarely voluntarily restrict their own power. And recent presidents also have used a burst of unilateral action to spur progress at the start of their administrations and to set a tone for Congress, where legislation often moves slowly.

Trump's opening weeks have shown he's likely to rely on the Republicans who hold a majority in Congress to pass top agenda items like overhauling the "Obamacare" law, changing the tax code and repairing aging roads and bridges.

The president has also signed a blitz of actions on border security, health care and financial regulation, showing few signs of slowing down.

On Friday, Trump's administration imposed sanctions on companies and individuals in response to Iran's recent ballistic missile test  after months of bitter criticism of Obama's landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.

Still, his actions stand out for their sweep and haste. On some issues, Trump didn't just leapfrog Congress, where his own party is in control, he cut Republicans out of the consultations and rollout of his plans.

"I think that Trump has been unusually aggressive in the scope of what he is trying to do and also I think remarkably casual in issuing orders and other actions that don't appear to have gone through what would be a typical process of reviewing and vetting and consideration," said Kenneth Mayer, a University of Wisconsin professor who has studied executive actions by presidents.

(Read also: Trumps Indonesian business partner says he can help with US ties)

Since Inauguration Day, Trump has signed 20 memoranda and executive orders. That number is in line with Obama's first two weeks. One of his orders directly reversed one of Obama's early orders: The former president signed a memorandum in his first week in 2009 rescinding a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform or provide information on abortions. Trump reinstituted the regulation, known as the "Mexico City Policy," on his first day in office.

In this, Mayer said Trump's use of unilateral powers has shown some similarities to a general pattern set in 1993, 2001 and 2009  when the White House switched parties.

But he added that "there's a big qualification." None of those incoming presidents sparked the controversy that Trump did last week. Chaos at airports and concern around the world quickly followed Trump's signing of the executive order to temporarily ban all refugees and also travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The president said quick, forceful action was needed to reduce the threat of terrorist attacks.

The executive actions on immigration have led to lawsuits. Interest groups also have vowed to challenge any unilateral efforts to curtail Obama's environmental regulations and other rules.

Despite his initial flurry of action, Obama became more reliant upon executive orders during his second term, when he faced opposition from Republicans. "I've got a pen and I've got a phone," he declared at one point, promising public orders and personal efforts to build support. When he acted unilaterally on immigration in 2014, providing temporary legal status to millions living in the U.S. illegally, Republicans insisted he was acting illegally.

The House speaker at the time, John Boehner, accused him of acting like a king or an emperor.

This time, with full control of the White House and Congress, Republicans have been largely muted in their assessments of Trump's executive actions.

A notable exception has been Arizona Sen. John McCain, who warned Trump not to allow the resumption of enhanced interrogation techniques such as waterboarding following reports that the new administration was planning a review.

"The president can sign whatever executive orders he likes. But the law is the law. We are not bringing back torture in the United States of America," McCain said.

Democrats are broadly and bitterly opposed to Trump's proposals  on the health care law, oil pipelines and the border wall  as well as the unilateral way he's going about pursuing some of them.

"What he is doing is reprehensible to them in most cases," said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic strategist and former aide to former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt. The go-it-alone approach, Elmendorf said, is "going to inflame the base of the party and make it hard for Democrats to work with him on other issues."

Even members of Trump's own party have distanced themselves from the rollout of his executive orders on immigration. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that Trump "didn't think it through" and the orders were a "classic example of putting something out there that wasn't ready for prime time."

But Graham said the bumpy start still pales in comparison to Obama's use of executive action, pointing to federal courts blocking the former president's executive actions on immigration and a piece of his health care overhaul.

"Look what Obama did. His executive orders got struck down by the court. I'm not going to listen to a bunch of Democrats complain about Trump when they sat on the sidelines and did nothing about Obama," he said.(dan)
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Linkedin Tammy Webber (Associated Press) Chicago  Sun, February 5, 2017

Visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries affected by President Donald Trump's travel ban hurried to board U.S.-bound flights Saturday, fearing they might have only a slim window through which to enter the country after a federal judge temporarily blocked the ban.

Those who could travel immediately were being urged to do so because of uncertainty over whether the Justice Department would be granted an emergency freeze of the order issued Friday by U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle. The government on Saturday suspended enforcement of the week-old ban as it scurried to appeal Robart's order.

On Saturday night, the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to set aside a judge's order that temporarily blocked the Trump administration's travel ban. The federal government's request for an emergency stay was filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The filing asks the court to lift an order from a day earlier from a judge in Washington state.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge James Robart temporarily halted a Trump administration executive order that suspended America's refugee program and halted immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.

President Donald Trump has lashed out at Robart on Twitter, calling him a "so-called judge."

Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan, said her group is advising people to hurry.

"We're telling them to get on the quickest flight ASAP," said Aoun, whose group filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Detroit asking a judge to declare Trump's immigration order unconstitutional.

(Read also: Trump's travel ban will spark radicalization)

Aoun said some people have had to make hard choices, including a Yemeni family expected to arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday from Egypt without two of their children. The father and two of the children are U.S. citizens, the mother has an immigrant visa, but the other two children did not yet have theirs and were left behind with relatives.

"They just don't want to take a chance of waiting," she said.

U.S. officials have said up to 60,000 foreigners had their visas "provisionally revoked" to comply with Trump's order. Confusion during the rollout of the ban initially found green card holders caught in travel limbo, until the White House on Wednesday clarified that they would be allowed to enter and leave the U.S as they pleased.

Even so, green card holder Ammar Alnajjar, a 24-year-old Yemeni student at Southwest Tennessee Community College, cut short a planned three-month visit to his fiancee in Turkey, paying $1,000 to return immediately when the ban was lifted.

"I got to study. I got to do some work," said Alnajjar, who arrived at JFK on Saturday. He said he fled civil war in Yemen and moved to the U.S. from Turkey in 2015. "I'm Muslim. I'm proud of it. Islam means peace."

Although the government suspended enforcement of the travel ban while it sought an emergency stay of Robart's order, some airlines reportedly still weren't letting some people from the seven countries board their planes, at least initially.

Royal Jordanian Airlines, which operates direct flights from Amman to New York, Chicago and Detroit, said it would resume carrying nationals from the seven countries as long as they presented a valid U.S. visa or green card.

But in the African nation of Djibouti, immigration attorney Julie Goldberg said a Qatar Airways representative told her that immigrants from all seven countries affected by the ban  Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Somalia  were not allowed to fly Saturday afternoon. A Qatar Airways spokeswoman said the airline would begin boarding travelers from those countries.

Goldberg said she was trying to arrange flights for dozens of Yemeni citizens who have immigrant visas and were stranded there. She said a supervisor at Turkish Airlines told her that people holding immigrant and non-immigrant visas from the seven countries still were being banned unless they had a special email from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection with the person's name and passport number.

A 12-year-old Yemeni girl whose parents and siblings are U.S. citizens living in California, was finally allowed to depart after "an hour-and-half of fighting" with officials, Goldberg said. It was unclear when she would arrive.

"Her mother is on pins and needles ... her father is on the plane with her," Stacey Gartland, a San Francisco attorney who represented the girl, said in an email.

Refugees also awaited word on their fates.

A Somali refugee said about 140 refugees whose resettlement in the U.S. was blocked by Trump's executive order were sent back to their refugee camp and it was unclear if or when they could travel.

Nadir Hassan said the group of Somali refugees was relocated to Dadaab camp in eastern Kenya on Saturday. They had been expected to settle in the U.S. this week and had been staying at an International Organization for Migration transit center in Nairobi.

"I was hoping to start a new life in the U.S." Hassan said. "We feel bad."

The State Department has advised refugee aid agencies that refugees who had been scheduled to travel before the order was signed will now be allowed into the U.S. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government is "focusing on booking refugee travel through February 17," and they were working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

American businesses affected by the ban also were jumping into action. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who quit Trump's business advisory council this week following criticism of his initial response to Trump's ban, said his company is buying plane tickets for some of its drivers who are stranded, tweeting Friday night that the head of litigation for the ride-hailing app is "buying a whole bunch of airline tickets ASAP!"

Protesters also took to the streets in several cities to protest the ban. Thousands gathered at Denver's City Center Park Saturday, carrying signs, chanting and singing.

"I find it utterly cruel that Trump is depriving people of the same dreams my family and I had," 17-year-old Zahra Abdulameer told the crowd. She said she came to the U.S. as a refugee from Iraq and is now a U.S. citizen. She said she was welcomed and treated with respect, but fears things could change amid fears over immigrants.

"No religion inflicts terror on people, but those who do so in the name of a faith have only twisted its value," Abdulameer said.

Meanwhile, legal advocates waited at airports to offer assistance to new arrivals in case anything went wrong.

Volunteer attorney Renee Paradis was among 20-25 lawyers and interpreters who stationed themselves inside JFK's Terminal 4 in case anyone arrived Saturday needing help. They were carrying handmade signs in Arabic and Farsi "that say we're lawyers, we're here to help. We're not from the government," Paradis said.

"We're all just waiting to see what actually happens and who manages to get through," she said. (dan)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 5, 2017

Showing a deep understanding of barriers to accessing healthcare in the province, Banten gubernatorial candidate Wahidin Halim and his running mate, Andika Hazrumy, are striving to win the hearts of voters by intensively promoting a free healthcare program.

Wahidin-Andika campaign team spokesman Syafril Elaine said that under their leadership, the Banten administration would cooperate with both public and private hospitals to provide free healthcare services to all Banten residents.

The administration will sign a memorandum of understanding [MOU] with several hospitals, under which each Banten resident can access free healthcare services by simply showing their electronic identification cards [e-KTP], Syafril told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

(Read also: Wahidin-Andika vows to end political dynasty in Banten)

He further said that under his leadership the Banten administration would cover healthcare expenses, which were not covered by the national health insurance program, managed by the Social Security Management Agency (BPJS). Poor residents not registered for BPJS or unable to pay its premium would be significantly helped by the program, he added.

Syafril further said the pair was confident about the successful implementation of the program given the size of Bantens annual budget.

In 2016, unused funds in Banten amounted to Rp 1.19 trillion (US$89.31 million). Such a huge amount of money was sufficient to provide free healthcare service to residents, Syafril said.

During his tenure as Tangerang mayor from 2003 to 2013, Wahidin was successful in implementing a free healthcare program, said Syafril, adding that he did not only cooperate with several hospitals in Tangerang but also Harapan Kita Hospital in West Jakarta. (ebf)
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Linkedin Retno LP Marsudi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 6 2017

At the 2014 World Economic Forum, the global managing director of McKinsey and Company spoke of a continent that represents our fastest-growing region in the world. He said if you want to be relevant, you need to be in this part of the world. If one was to guess the region being referred to, chances are many would get it wrong, as the answer was Africa.

Just as Indonesia has transformed over the past couple of decades, so has Africa. The continent now has a US$2 trillion economy with about a third of its countries registering growth of more than 6 percent annually. In fact, out of the worlds top 10 fastest growing economies, six are from Africa. As Africa is brimming with tremendous potential, is Indonesia a part of the story?

The bond between Indonesia and Africa is forged by the shared historic solidarity against colonialism. Indonesia was one of the sponsors of the 1955 Asian-African Conference that helped pave the way for the national awakening and independence of some African countries with the so-called Bandung Spirit. While the conference and the Bandung Spirit are of paramount importance, today we have gone beyond.

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Linkedin Viriya P. Singgih and Moses Ompusunggu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 6 2017

It came out of the blue when vocational high school (SMK) graduates, brothers Arfian Fuadi and M. Arie Kurniawan, stole the media spotlight a few years back after winning an international 3D printing competition, beating hundreds of reputable professors and engineers.

Running a design engineering service business in Salatiga, Central Java, Arfian and Arie, who were still in their 20s, successfully topped the competition, jointly held by US-based multinational conglomerate General Electric (GE) and open engineering community GrabCAD in mid-2013, with their design of a jet engine bracket.

You need almost an artistic approach to design, the ability to model and analyze structures and also the knowledge to pick the right materials and the correct manufacturing equipment. There is a lot that goes into the mix, and collaboration is the perfect tool for finding the best solution, said Michael Idelchik, who ran advanced technologies research at GE, applauding the achievement of the two siblings, who have no university degrees.

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Linkedin Jenny Zhang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 6 2017

Indonesians are right to be wary of United States President Donald Trumps executive order on immigration, which temporarily bans travel and immigration by people from seven Muslim-majority countries. Indonesia is not one of the seven countries affected and it is wholly possible that President Trump will never issue a travel or immigration ban that directly affects Indonesian citizens.

Even if Indonesians remain free to travel to the US, the damage to US-Indonesia relations is substantial, with ripple effects from top diplomatic levels to the grassroots. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has expressed Indonesias deep regret at the executive order, pointing out that the policy, which discriminates on the basis of religion, hampers efforts for international cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

At the individual level among Indonesian people, there is a growing perception of Islamophobia and xenophobia in America.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Medan  Mon, February 6 2017

Police are investigating a case of two female Indonesian migrant workers who managed to officially marry each other after returning from Malaysia.

The illegal marriage between the two women was revealed after the one posing as the husband, known as Farel, gave birth in the home village of her spouse in Tanjungbalai, North Sumatra.

Indonesia, which recognizes marriage as a union between a man and a woman, outlaws same-sex marriage.

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Linkedin Indra Budiari, Moses Ompusunggu and Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 6 2017

Each candidate of the Jakarta gubernatorial election has a different approach when making campaign stops as they try to win the hearts of voters.

Take candidate Anies Baswedan. Seeing him talking in front of Pondok Pinang residents in South Jakarta was like listening to a teacher in a classroom.

Making gestures with his right hand, while holding a microphone in his left, Anies, who is a former rector of Paramadina University and former culture and education minister, calmly pointed out the problems faced by Jakarta residents.

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Linkedin M. Taufiqurrahman (The Jakarta Post)  Mon, February 6 2017

When I started working here, three or four workers had to wrangle steel, pounding the sheet metal into shape, said 72-year-old Terry Springer, a former employee of the Mini factory in Cowley, near Oxford, who spent more than 50 years working in one of the most historic car factories in Britain.

Those days are long gone, as now 98 percent of work at the plant is carried out by robots, which on a daily basis can produce around 1,000 Mini cars of different variants per day.

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Linkedin Melanie Sanders, Yngve Andresen and Nader Elkhweet (The Jakarta Post) Melbourne/Jakarta  Mon, February 6 2017

Its tough to get ahead in the grocery business today. Shoppers are disloyal, discounters create mounting price pressures and customers demand more in quality and service.

This drama is playing out in many countries, but we decided to take a closer look at the situation in Australia, where we surveyed more than 2,500 supermarket shoppers.

Our findings were unsettling: More than 80 percent of respondents told us they routinely cross-shop and spend almost 40 percent of their grocery budgets outside of their primary supermarkets.

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Australian woman dead after colliding with husband's jetski at Kata Beach

An Australian woman, Emily Jayne Collie, 20, has died after colliding with her husband as the couple were riding jetskis near Kata Beach at 4:45pm today (5 Feb).



By Eakkapop Thongtub

Sunday 5 February 2017, 08:11PM

Rescue workers perform CPR on the woman at Kata Beach. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

Rescue workers perform CPR on the woman at Kata Beach. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

Rescue workers perform CPR on the woman at Kata Beach. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The woman was transported to Chalong Hospital. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

Rescue workers perform CPR on the woman at Kata Beach. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

Rescue workers perform CPR on the woman at Kata Beach. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

Rescue workers perform CPR on the woman at Kata Beach. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The married couple hired two jetskis earlier that day from a vendor at Karon Beach and reportedly rode them at high speed to Kata Beach.

While riding near Kata Beach the couple collided in the water at high speed and the woman suffered severe injuries to her neck and shoulders.

The man, who has not yet been identified, suffered only minor injuries.

The couple were rescued from the water by local lifeguards, who, along with the husband and rescue workers, performed CPR on the woman for 15 minutes before she was transported by ambulance to Chalong Hospital at 5pm.

The woman was pronounced dead on arrival at Chalong Hospital.

The woman's body has been sent to Vachira Hospital for further investigation into the cause of death.

The woman's family in Australia have been informed of her death.
To the editor

The State Department already has extreme vetting measures in place to make sure all people applying for visas, green cards and refugee status are safe to come to the United States. It takes 18-24 months for most individuals to enter our country.

The Executive Order unveiled on January 27,2017, to temporarily restrict the admission of people from seven Muslim countries plays to our fears of terrorism and our desire for a perfect safety net. There are no new vetting measures outlined in this new dictum. The idea of a wall between the US and Mexico is based on the same flawed ideology.

Thank you for your Guest Column from the Dallas Morning News (1/31/17) quoting the inscription on the Statue of Liberty. Emma Lazarus sums up the true meaning of being American in the less-quoted second line. "Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

She is referring to refugees from Syria, Iraqis who assisted our soldiers in war, outcasts from Iran , widows from Somali , parentless children from Yemen, the desperate from Sudan and the impoverished from Libya.

We will overcome this ban. It will be reversed. It is unconstitutional. Republicans will lose the Senate and the House in 2018. Trump will be at most a one-term President and possibly the second Republican to leave office early in the last 50years. Stay engaged and remember your outrage as it was voter apathy and indifference in November 2016 that allowed this to happen in the first place.

GREGORY JARRIN MD

WINSLOW
How many people have already voted absentee in South Dakota ahead of Election Day?

elections
Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan who is still soaking in the success of latest release Dangal, says he doesn't think he rules the box-office.

"I am not a box-office king. I am only Kiran's (his wife Kiran Rao) king," said the actor, who looked to be in the seventh heaven after the huge success of his latest film.

Speaking at the success party of the film on Saturday night, Aamir also added that he never chooses films on its potential to do business.

"Till today I never signed a film on the basis of its capability to do business. I prefer to choose a film from my heart. All the films I've done till now are those which touched my heart," he said.

"Taare Zameen Par, 3 Idiots, Rang De Basanti or Sarfarosh, when I did those films, I never thought they would do such a good business. If you take Dangal as an example, I played a role of an aged and heavy wrestler. There are no romantic songs or any typical formula to become a blockbuster. Therefore, we never predicted that the film would be such a big hit," he added.

"I would never do films like Dhobi Ghat with Kiran if I have ever thought of doing films by its number." Bollywood's Mr. Perfectionist told the reporters.

Asked if he wants to take forward the success internationally, Aamir said that for him the most respectable award is his audience's love.

"Other than this, I do not think about any other awards."

Aamir also spoke about the recent attack of a mob on the Padmavati set in Jaipur.

Saying that the attack on Sanjay Leela Bhansali as "unfortunate", the 51-year-old actor said: "Taking law in our own hand is not legal for anyone. What has happened is very wrong and saddening. The people of Rajasthan are very much lovable and sensible. My experience with the people and the place was very good."

"When a small group does this kind of an act, then the entire populattion gets a wrong name. This is very regrettable," he said.
The sun does not illumine that, nor the moon nor the fire. That is My supreme abode from which those who reach it never return.

(Translated from Sloka VI of The Tree of Life in the Bhagavadgita, edited by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan)

Dr Santanu Majumdar, professor and former head, department of English, University of Calcutta, passed away on 20 January 2017. For his family, colleagues, friends and a wide cross-section of students and researchers his sudden and untimely demise has created a void that can never be filled. He is survived by his wife, Sangeeta, and daughter Suryadeepa.

Dr Majumdar studied English Honours at Presidency College from where he passed with high first class marks in 1986. He passed his MA in English in 1990 from the University of Cambridge and PhD from the University of Leeds in 1995. He was Sir Rash Behari Ghosh Travelling Fellow and recipient of Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, Tetley and Lupton and OFB scholarships. Though he taught at the University of Tezpur, Visva-Bharati University and Rabindra Bharati University, the major part of his teaching career was at the University of Calcutta. Professor Majumdar was the Member, Academic Council, Netaji Subhas Open University from 2002 to 2006 and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Sheffield in 2005, at the University of North Bengal in 2008, and RMLA Conference (USA) in 2009. He was a Member of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society since 1990.

Professor Majumdar was an incomparable asset of our department. His scholarship and publications from essays to book-chapters and authored books have been widely commended. His works were published in Essays and Studies (Jadavpur University), Critical Review (Australia), The Calcutta Review, Indian Thoughts on Shakespeare (edited by professor Goutam Ghoshal), Revisiting the Raj (edited by Professor Jharna Sanyal and professor Krishna Sen), India-UK Academic and Educational Network between Department of English, University of Calcutta and School of English, University of Leeds (Monograph edited by Professor Krishna Sen). His comprehensive research was published as books  Dazzled By A Thousand Suns: Interpretations of The Gita and Whispers of Immortality: Religious Consciousness and the early Modern Bengali Novel: The impact of Canonical English Fiction under the UGC DRS (SAP) programme at the Department of English, University of Calcutta. His scholarship is evident through his various presentations on Hamlet, Middlemarch, Gita, Bacons essays and the Vedanta.

Once he remembered reading an article titled Superior People published in The Times Literary Supplement when he was in Cambridge but he could not remember the date and issue of the periodical. He searched for the email address of the author but could not find it. So, he emailed the British Parliament and soon a reply came from the peer Lord Bhikhu Parekh, the author of the article. But the information, which he gave, was found to be erroneous after professor Majumdar searched for the journal in the National Library. He pointed it out to Lord Parekh, who very graciously acknowledged it and expressed his gratitude to our professor. Such was the incisive perseverance of his wide scholarship.

Today with moist eyes, we, as his students fondly remember our association and interaction with our dear teacher, a great scholar who will never be seen anymore to take his classes on William Wordsworths The Prelude, George Eliots Middlemarch, Alfred Tennysons In Memoriam, Horaces The Art of Poetry, Longinuss On the Sublime, Pico della Mirandollas An Oration on the Dignity of Man, Erasmus The Praise of Folly, Aeschyluss Agamemnon, Senecas Thyestes and Translation Theory (MPhil/PhD course work) at the department of English, University of Calcutta.

We will be deprived of his able guidance as a research supervisor too. One of his close students shared her thoughts on him being a kind-hearted and simple teacher who could easily be approached with all academic queries. A former colleague was nostalgic when she said that professor Majumdar was an exceptional scholar and a very good friend. He was an avid reader of thrillers and detective fiction.

A few days before his death, he had ordered a book, which was delivered after he was not there to receive or read it. The book was Michael Connellys The Wrong Side of Goodbye. Perhaps there lay a prophecy in the books title itself.
Fresh economic reforms undertaken by the government would create a tax paying society that would raise funds to invest in social security and employment generating projects, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal has said.

Meghwal, who was here to visit a local event, said the digital transition and GST, which it aims to roll out by July 1, would take the country to new economic heights.

2017 will be remembered as 'year of economic reforms', the minister told media persons on Saturday.

The fresh economic reforms would create a tax paying society that would raise government's revenue and funds to invest in social security, developmental and employment generating projects, Meghwal said.

On raising the tax slab from 2.50 lakh to 3 lakh, Meghwal said the move will largely benefit the small scale industries.

The reduction (of 5 per cent) in tax slab would increase the number of tax payers and the people who earlier avoided paying tax would come forward for the same, he said.

'A tax paying society' would be coming up in the time to come, he added.

Further, the minister said, in Budget, efforts have been made to bring transparency in political funding along with 4 lakh crore for revenue instead of plan or non-plan, capitation expenditure and one crore new houses for the poor. It is a historical Budget.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently issued 10 fresh banking licences that would enable banking facilities to reach to the areas with less than 10,000 population, he informed.

Now, in far off villages also banking facilities will be available, he assured.

The efforts by the government to strengthen banking infrastructure are underway, he said adding, the people in time to come are not required to fill long forms to open a bank account. By just stamping thump print, they can get an account opened.

On demonetisation, Meghwal said, the shadow economy that had been prevalent in the country has been worst hit by the move.
A committee under the Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has rejected GMR group's request to convert its aviation SEZ at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here into a multi-sector SEZ.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) cited poor response from the aviation companies for setting up shops in aviation SEZ as the reason to convert it into a multi-product SEZ.

However, the Expert Appraisal Committee under the Ministry felt conversion of the aviation SEZ, which is close to the runway, into the planned multi-product SEZ, may attract birds which may become hazardous to aircraft at airport.

The infra major said the GMR Aerospace and Industrial Park, spread in the layout of 253.85 acres, has an occupancy rate of just 11 per cent over the last six years, and if allowed to convert into a multi-product SEZ, within 3-4 years it will be fully operational.

"The committee also felt that bird hazard is a serious concern for aviation sector and comprehensive study must be done by a reputed institution such as SACON, not just for airport, but also for SEZ areas, especially due the fact that multi-sector SEZ can become heaven for birds and if not planned well, can have serious risks to aircraft.

In view of the deliberations, the EAC was not inclined to consider the proposal anymore, and asked the project proponent to withdraw the same," the EAC said in a meeting held last month.

When contacted, a GHIAL spokesperson said they will study the order of the EAC and take steps.

"We will study the order and take necessary steps as required," the spokesperson told PTI, while offering no comments for the poor response for the aviation SEZ.

The proposal is an upgradation of the existing sector specific SEZ to multi-sector SEZ to meet the business feasibility and industrial interests received from prospective SEZ customers.

"GHIAL's SEZ has seen limited growth during last 6 years and is presently operating at just 11 per cent occupancy.

"With the revised sector focus, it is perceived that GHIAL would be able to capitalise upon the opportunities in next 3-5 years to make the SEZ fully operational with diverse but coherent industrial units, that will in long run provide requisite impetus to develop the region as an economic hub of Hyderabad with airport city as it core," the EAC said quoting GMR's proposal.

GMR said the multi-product SEZ will have industrial units/activities relating to aviation, pharma, gems and jewellery and electronics, among others. No additional land is required as part of the proposed conversion.
Employees of the IDBI Bank will strike on Monday pressing demands like wage revision, opposing out sourcing and others, said a top leader of All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA).

"The conciliation meeting was held in Mumbai for the past three days but despite the reasonable stand of the Union (All India IDBI Employees Association) to find an amicable solution, the IDBI management took a negative approach. As a result there was no agreement forcing the union to go on strike," C.H.Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA said.

"Around 2,000 employees-clerks and sub-staffs-will be on strike in IDBI Bank on Monday," Venkatachalam said.

According to Venkatachalam, the IDBI Bank had always signed a separate wage agreement with the unions and is not part of the industry wide wage agreement.

"Normally they would get a better deal. But this time around the IDBI Bank management's offer is lesser than what bankers in other banks are getting," Venkatachalam said.
Telecom regulator Trai has said that 'operator-assisted' drive tests, which measure call drops and service quality, would start across various locations soon.

These tests would be conducted around each of Trai's five regional offices including Jaipur, Hyderabad and Bangalore, by March.

"The operator-assisted drive tests where operators do their own drive tests and Trai participates and monitors

They are going to start very soon at various places," Trai Chairman RS Sharma said.

The operator-assisted tests  a new concept by Trai  involves operators' equipment and costs, with the regulator monitoring and supervising the entire process.

"Trai is partnering with the operators to do the drive tests to measure quality of service We have five regional offices and we have requested the operators to conduct drive tests and our regional officersthey tell the time and place in terms of which city, which road, place, route," Sharma said.

"They are saying, by March we will conduct 4 drive tests in each of the five regions," he said, adding that these locations include Bhopal, Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Bangalore.

The 'operator-assisted' drive tests will most likely precede the independent drive tests conducted by the regulator.

"As far as our drive tests are concernedI had earlier mentioned that there were some issues with our agencythey are being sorted out and those tests should start soonwithin a couple of weeks," Sharma said.

Asked if transparency will be an issue, when drive tests to assess call drops and service quality are conducted by the operators, Sharma said, "I am sure it will be transparent and the operators will collaborate".

"Quality of service is certainly a consumer (centric) problem but it is also an operator problemcustomer care and quality of service is good for the service providers too," he said.

Last year, independent drive tests were conducted by Trai in Amritsar in August-September, and in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, Darjeeling, Sikkim and Trivandrum in May-June.

Typically, drive tests assess the performance of networks on various quality benchmarks, including call set-up success rate, call drop rate, blocked calls and Radio Frequency (RF) coverage.
State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) on Sunday said it has identified five core areas, including optimisation of new assets utilisation, to turn ongoing challenges into opportunities in a context where the business environment is extremely challenging for the steel sector suffering due to weak demand.

"At this crucial juncture for steel industry across the world, SAIL management realises that business environment has become extremely challenging. Thus the company, in a recent meeting of top management, devised appropriate responses for the impending challenges to turn them into opportunities," the company said.

The nation's largest steelmaker said the core areas identified include, ensuring quality and cost effective input, achieving production excellence, optimising new assets utilisation and leveraging human capital.

SAIL is focusing on developing high impact leadership amongst its ranks for which it is sensitising talented young executives, it added.

At this recent meeting in Ranchi, SAIL Chairman P.K. Singh and other directors interacted with young managers for re-energising them and reshaping their perspective on leadership.

The session was part of a four-day training programme organised by the SAIL Management Training Institute and was attended by around 100 young executives, the company said
Over 500 nurses of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here went on strike on Sunday over the death of a nurse during treatment at the hospital, officials said.

According to a senior official, a nurse named Rajveer Kaur, who was being treated at the AIIMS, died on Saturday.

The nurses have alleged negligence in treatment by the doctor and are demanding suspension of the doctor who was treating Kaur.

AIIMS has about 5,000 nurses and they are considered as the backbone of the hospital.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has thanked everyone who worked for the AAP in Punjab and Goa, saying he was feeling "overwhelmed".

"I am truly overwhelmed," a visibly tired Kejriwal said in a video message in a choking voice late on Saturday. "We will surely win, people will surely win."

The Aam Aadmi Party leader thanked the people of Punjab and Goa, the two states which voted on Saturday, party volunteers, donors and NRIs who campaigned for the AAP.

"People fought this election, not the AAP," Kejriwal said, describing the election in both the states as an "andolan" (movement).

He profusely thanked both the volunteers and the NRIs. "You guys are just amazing."

Kejriwal said those who donated to the AAP showed courage because the Narendra Modi government, he pointed out, hounded virtually everyone who gave money to the party.

Some election watchers and opinion polls have said the AAP will finish on top in the Punjab battle also involving the Akali Dal-BJP combine and the Congress.

In response to election specialist Prannoy Roy's prediction at the end of polling that the AAP's chances of forming a government in Punjab was 55-60 per cent compared to the Congress' 30-35 per cent, Kejriwal said: "This is huge. Unbelievable."
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will on February 7 leave for Bengaluru where he will undergo naturopathy treatment for high blood sugar.

He returned to the national capital on Saturday after spearheading AAP's aggressive campaign for Punjab Assembly polls.

"The chief minister's blood sugar level has shot up. He is taking insulin thrice a day to keep it under control.

"He will leave for Bengaluru on February 7 to undergo naturopathy treatment. Also, he has fever. He will be there for 12-14 days," said a senior Delhi government official.

In January last year, Kejriwal had undergone 12 days of naturopathy treatment at the same institute for chronic cough and diabetes.

The chief minister had also undergone a throat surgery at Narayana Hospital in Bengaluru in September last year.
Noting that proper functioning of waste-to-energy plant would serve public interest, which must prevail over "little inconvenience", the National Green Tribunal has advised citizens to overcome "mental block" that there cannot be a compost yard in the neighbourhood.

The tribunal said that efforts should be made to protect the environment which is the fundamental duty of citizens and other stakeholders and the fundamental right to have a decent and clean environment as mandated under the Constitution can be achieved by protecting the environment and not by opposing the plant's operation.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Swatanter Kumar made the observations in its recent judgement allowing operation of Okhla waste-to-energy plant, saying it is now non-polluting.

The tribunal said if any inconvenience is caused to the Sukhdev Vihar residents, who had filed a petition to shut down the plant, they must give way to larger public interest of handling and processing of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Delhi.

It, however, made it clear that the plant should comply with all enrivonmental rules and regulations and not cause any injury to public health or environment.

"As of present, it appears to be the only plausible solution when the influx of population is increasing day by day," it said.

"Public at large has to overcome the mental block that there cannot be compost yard or waste-to-energy plant in the neighbourhood of their residential area," it said, adding that the plant owner has to adhere to the prescribed standards and to make it pollution-free.

The bench said the concept of 'not in my backyard' has to be subservient to processing of waste in public interest and it has to be been seen what is the best possible way of handling and processing such huge quantity of waste generated by the residents of Delhi.

"They (local authorites) need to tackle this huge problem with utmost sense of sincerity and objectivity. Similarly, the public at large should not propagate the principle of 'not in my backyard' that too founded on no scientific data but only on mere apprehensions," it said.
A special court here on Sunday sent chit fund company Green Ray International Ltd (GRIL) Managing Director Mir Shahruddin to six-day custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI had sought a 10-day remand of the accused in court.

The agency earlier brought Mir to Bhubaneswar on a transit remand from Kolkata, where he was arrested on Friday.

A native of Balasore district, Mir returned to India from Nigeria a few days ago on a Bangladeshi passport by impersonating as Ahmed Hussain, CBI sources said.

The CBI said GRIL tied up with a company in Nigeria where it acquired an iron ore mine on lease.

The dubious chit fund firm is accused of duping gullible investors of Odisha and 13 other states of nearly Rs.1,000 crore by promising good returns.

In October 2014, the Chhattisgarh Police had arrested another Grill director Ayub Shah from Ajmer in Rajasthan while he was trying to flee to Nigeria via Bangladesh.

The state Crime Branch, which was probing the case, confiscated 20.68 acres of land belonging to the company, besides freezing cash deposits of Rs.57 lakh in 46 accounts.

The CBI took up the investigation in May 2014.
Details of the agreement signed between Indian and French authorities regarding supply of 36 Rafale aircraft cannot be disclosed as they are confidential in nature, the Air Force has said.

An Inter-Governmental Agreement was signed between the governments of India and France on September 23, 2016 for supply of the Rafale aircraft, initial consignment of weapons, long-term maintenance support through performance-based logistics, simulators with annual maintenance and associated equipment.

Replying to an RTI query, the Air Force said the details are held by it in fiduciary capacity.

The information sought is confidential in nature and public revelation of the same may lead to its subsequent availability to our adversaries, it said.

"Further, the information sought is also held in fiduciary capacity and no larger public interest is served by disclosure of such information. Hence, the same is denied," the Air Force said in reply to the application filed by PTI.

The Defence Ministry was asked to provide copies of the agreement and price of the Rafale deal. The query was then forwarded to the Air Force for providing the reply.

The delivery of 36 Rafale aircraft, weapons and associated equipment to India will commence from September 2019. The deliveries are spread over two and half years, with the last aircraft delivery scheduled in April 2022.
The Jat quota agitation in Haryana entered eighth day on Sunday and remained peaceful, even as the authorities beefed up security in sensitive districts.

Amid elaborate security arrangements, the Jats held dharnas at several areas in the state which remained peaceful, officials said.

The call for the fresh stir has been given by some Jat outfits, especially those owing allegiance to All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti headed by Yashpal Malik.

Haryana's main opposition INLD has openly come out in support of the agitating Jats and asked the government to meet their demands.

However, senior BJP leader and state minister Anil Vij said today that while Jats were continuing with their dharnas in a peaceful manner, the opposition was unable to digest the same and was trying to flare up the issue to grind their political axe.

During the past couple of days, Yashpal Malik has been addressing the Jats at various dharnas sites.

At a village in Faridabad, Malik said the dharnas in Haryana would continue till the government accepted their demands.

He said Jats were willing to wait for reservation since the matter was sub-judice, but they wanted all other demands to be accepted immediately.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had earlier said that the government accepted the demand of the Jats to give job to the next of kin of those who had lost their lives in the agitation last year. Process has been initiated for the same, Khattar had said.

In the fresh round of the Jat stir, paramilitary forces are out in sensitive areas in Haryana while heavy police force has been deployed to maintain strict vigil, as the stir entered its eighth day.

Security has been further strengthened in many sensitive districts, the officials said.

The security was also tightened at the Rohtak residence of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

During a similar stir a year ago, there were 30 deaths and widespread destruction of property. This time, Haryana has been put on maximum alert, the officials said.

Notably, Rohtak and some of its neighbouring districts, including Sonipat and Jhajjar, had been worst-hit by the violence which broke out during last year's Jat stir in February.

Yashpal Malik said February 19 would be observed as "Balidan Divas" in memory of all those who lost their lives in last February's agitation which turned violent.
Upping the ante, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday said Kashmir is the "core dispute" between India and Pakistan and the dream of peace and prosperity of the people of the region will remain elusive without resolving the issue.

Describing Kashmir issue is the "unfinished agenda of partition and the oldest disputes in the UN Security Council, Sharif said "for the last seven decades India has denied the people of Kashmir the right to self-determination promised to them by the international community through numerous UN Security Council resolutions".

He was speaking on the occasion of 'Kashmir Solidarity Day'.

"The people of Pakistan join their Kashmiri brothers and sisters in observing Kashmir Solidarity Day today to reaffirm our moral, diplomatic and political support to the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for their basic human rights, especially the right to self determination enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions," Sharif said.

Pakistan, he said, "strongly condemns the systemic state terrorism and brutal killings of the innocent people of Kashmir by Indian forces".

"However, all the Indian brutalities have failed to deter the people of Kashmir from their cause for freedom from Indian subjugation," he said.

Pakistan calls upon the international community to raise its voice in seeking an end to the "gross violations of human rights and the reign of terror unleashed by Indian forces" in Kashmir and fulfil the promises it made with the people of Jammu and Kashmir 70 years ago, he said.

"Jammu & Kashmir is the core dispute between Pakistan and India. The dream of peace and prosperity of the people of this region will remain elusive without resolving this dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions," Sharif said.

"We urge India to stop bloodbath in.Kashmir and allow the holding of free and fair plebiscite under the UN auspices," he added.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said Pakistan should hold a referendum on its soil to ascertain what its people really want before asking for a popular vote in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Pakistani authorities who speak in favour of a referendum in Kashmir better conduct it first on their own soil to know what their people really want," Singh, who addressed two rallies in Haridwar (rural) to mobilise support for BJP for the February 15 assembly polls in Uttarakhand, said.

Terming both demonitisation and surgical strike as steps taken in the country's interests, he said they will have long-term and good effects.

At another rally in the area from where chief minister Harish Rawat is contesting, Singh said if voted to power BJP will make crop loans to farmers interest free.
It would be premature still to speculate on whether Brexit is on course to attain fruition. Suffice it to register that Theresa May has recovered from the blow suffered in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom which had directed the concurrence of Parliament on the issue. The voice of the legislators was accorded precedence over that of the people in a referendum. It thus comes about that the backing of the MPs, which was uncertain till a few weeks ago, has now been extended and convincingly so. Members of the House of Commons have overwhelmingly supported the triggering of Article 50 with 498 votes to 114.

On closer reflection, the House has voted more emphatically than the referendum. Almost as a coincidence, the Prime Minister has unveiled the long-delayed Brexit White Paper which reaffirms that Parliament has remained sovereign throughout our membership of the EU despite people not always feeling like that. More accurately, the concurrence of the Commons and the subtext of the White Paper signify an institutional victory of the legislature seven months after the referendum had its way, however marginally. With more power to her elbow, Ms May is eventually in a position to begin talks by the end of March on ending more than four decades of European integration, verily one of the most critical events in Britains political history since World War II. Indeed, Britain today bears witness to the unfolding of a momentous phase in its political, economic, and constitutional history. Of course, the Bill will now be forwarded to the House of Lords, which does boast opponents of Brexit. But the countrys constitutional tradition would suggest that the unelected Upper House concurs with the Commons, in the event of a clear majority on an issue. In a sense, there has been a turnaround on the part of the Commons, where 50 per cent of the members had preferred to Remain before the referendum on 23 June last year on whether to quit the European Union. Much as the parliamentary endorsement has been a shot in the arm for the Leave camp within the Conservatives, this weeks developments have had a deleterious impact on Labour. In the immediate aftermath of the Commons vote, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, if a critic of European integration, has instructed his party MPs to vote and allow Brexit negotiations to start British history is in a flux, but there is eventually a certain clarity in the emerging trends.
The collapse of a section of C Block of Connaught Place confirms that only lip-service is paid to what is commonly referred to as an icon of the Capital. For, while the circular colonnaded structure has been commercially exploited over the past 80 years, precious little has been done to reinforce buildings that have visibly shown signs of strain. The collapse may have been triggered by modifications being carried out when converting the long-vacant space into a restaurant, but it would be a classic case of self-deception not to accept that decay has been evident for over a decade. That only cosmetics have been applied is exemplified by the so-called renovation and restoration undertaken by the New Delhi Municipal Council ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010. It was a patchwork operation, the cost and time over-runs raised suspicions of a huge scam ~ whether inquiries now ordered will examine that angle has not been made clear. Nor has a determined effort been made to assess the impact on the old structure of the underground section of the Metro passing in close proximity to C Block. Not that official agencies are alone to blame. The traders who have thrived on old, low rents have been guilty of bleeding the popular shopping complex and business premises. No serious attempt has been made to pool their considerable resources and upgrade the structure ~ they have expected the several owners to do that, even when aware that low rentals make that financially impossible. Truly out of the box solutions will have to be found, the ownership/tenancy arrangements thoroughly revamped so that adequate funds are made available to strengthen the tottering structures, enable them to bear the weight of air-conditioning plants, generators and water tanks. It is often forgotten that the top floors of Connaught Place are residential units, and again only nominal rents are paid. Just who will have the courage to bell the cat is difficult to determine at this stage, yet there is no easy way out. Unlike Calcutta, Bombay, Madras or Bangalore, it has never been easy for Delhi to come to terms with its colonial past: which explains why the decay of Connaught Place raised so few concerns. Would things have been different if the

CP crowd had accepted its revised name of Indira Chowk? Or would that have led to the present government gleefully awaiting further collapses?
Amartya Sen has remarked that before demonetising the high-value currency notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1000, the Union Government should have discussed the matter with the States (29 in all), and preferably obtained their concurrence. A similar sentiment has been echoed, rather vehemently, by one of the crusaders against the decision. Participatory governance may be a statutory requirement or else, a conventional imperative based on ethical considerations in certain circumstances. But for the former, there has to be a legal provision. He has not pointed out any such procedure laid down in law. As for the latter, it is, always and entirely, a normative issue and would be contingent on the political inclinations of the ruling party.

Further, if the Centre wanted the matter to be discussed and agreed to by the State Governments, it would have been impossible to achieve the objective. Consider the history of the enactment of the goods and services law. The Centre has been struggling to sew up the frayed ends of the proposed law for almost a decade and yet, there is no silver lining in the immediate future, despite the constitutional imprimatur of 1 September having been fixed as the time-limit. It is apparently proving to be a huge task; no one knows when it will be completed.

If the Centre had decided to embark on such an adventure, the demonetisation would never have materialised. There is another aspect which was highlighted by the Prime Minister on 8 November in course of his address to the nation. This relates to confidentiality. In the process of consultation with the state governments, confidentiality would have been the immediate and first casualty and the purpose of the entire exercise would have been defeated. As it is, there have been allegations that despite the cloak of secrecy maintained and the fact that just four civil servants were taken on board, certain vested sections of the political spectrum, allegedly, got wind of the imminent action to enable them to take precaution. Of course, nothing concrete by way of credible evidence has surfaced till date and the allegations of prior leakage, as is customary in such matters, remain in the realm of speculation.

It is also interesting to note that the word federal is not mentioned in the Constitution. This word has been interpreted in a subjective manner. It reminds us of the childhood story of six blind men trying to define the appearance of an elephant. Equally interesting is the fact that federalism continues to be the buzzword of those who are disgruntled because of the policies of the Union Government. In terms of Schedule VII of the Constitution, item No. 36, currency, coinage and legal tender are in the exclusive domain of the Union Government. There is, thus, no legal requirement for consultation and approbation of the state governments in matters connected with these items. Further, instead of issuing the currency or bank notes, the government has entrusted such tasks to the Reserve Bank of India. This again is subject to the conditions laid down in Chapter III, Schedule 22 of the same Act. It also needs to be mentioned that the law that established the Reserve Bank of India is a pre-independence legislation. Of course, there have been several amendments to the RBI Act since independence, but the delegation of the power to issue and manage the bank notes have not been materially changed. The decision to make changes in the bank notes as per this provision rests with the Union Government, which asks RBI to call the meeting of its Central Board, deliberate on the advice of the government, and send its recommendation to the Centre which in turn announces the decision to the people of the country. The person who can make the announcement is not mentioned in the law. The manner of announcement is entirely at the discretion of the government and cannot be questioned or be subject to judicial review.

We also need to consider if India meets the classical definition of a federal state. The state, as mentioned in the Preamble to the Constitution, did not volunteer to join the Union as happened in the historical federal polity of the United States of America. It has been the case of one sovereign transferring the reins of the country to another sovereign under a law passed in the legislature of the former. The states did not federate into a Union. It was to a lesser extent, the subsequent merger of the Princely States by separate legislative instruments. The economic and political relations between the Union and the States are well-defined in the Constitution. The specious argument that the subject of law and order comes within the domain of the states as per list II of Schedule VII has been used, almost indiscriminately, to criticise the decisions taken by the Union Ministries as being against the federal spirit of the Constitution. However, there can be any number of situations when such consultations may not be feasible or possible. The spirit of federalism cannot impede the Centre to move in the best interests of the country. In the case of a natural calamity or for security reasons, it is necessary to take immediate steps by the Union. If the Centre has to obtain prior permission of the affected State and the state government does not give the permission, then should the Union Government remain paralysed?

It seems odd that Prof Sen should advocate that the Union Government should have consulted with the states or at least obtained their concurrence. This leads us to the main issue sought to be discussed, namely, the redefinition of the concept of Federalism in the Indian context. Those who framed the Constitution did not invent the philosophy out of the blue. They were definitely inspired by the development of the theory to a large extent from the American experience. If one goes through the historical background of federalism in the United States of America, it will be noticed that it is not a strategy among the diverse contending political forces of the newly-set up states seeking ways to put in place a binding and permanent establishment of a strong, unified and progresive polity.

It acknowledged the competing and often, conflicting interests of the federating states and looked for an amicable and acceptable resolution of such claims and counter-claims. One needs to examine the Federalist Papers (85 in number) which three eminent constitutional experts and political leaders of the day, namely, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison wrote and published in three newspapers, addressed, apparently, to the people of New York state under the common pseudonym ~ Publius. Charting the whole gamut of the constitutional structure and the philosophical underpinning of the new nation, they laid extra emphasis on the most controversial issues. These included Centre-state relations, inter-state relations and government formation. Surely, it would not be incorrect to assume that our Constitution framers were heavily indebted to them.

(To be concluded)

The writer is a retired officer of the Indian Revenue Service
Reports of the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Presidency College brought memories of college days crowding to my mind. I had to fight a lot with my family for entering this co-educational institution. It was my dream since long to seek admission to this college, specially as some of the senior girls from our school were already studying there.

But alas! as soon as our Higher Secondary results were published my father got me admitted to Lady Brabourne College. I used to take bus no. 10 from Park Circus every day to return to Gariahat from where I would find another bus to Lansdowne. And what a tryst with destiny I had!

On three consecutive days I met my seniors from Presidency College in the bus. On the first day they kindly enquired why I did not participate in the admission test for Presidency. On the second day they insisted that I leave the institution of my father's choice and come to Presidency. On the third day also they played the same music to my ears adding more and more to my heartburn.

I kept on thinking that one could study in a college only once in one's life. If I failed to be at Presidency it meant I would perpetually be banished from that distinguished stature. When I could not bear the anguish anymore, I went to the house of a science student from our school who was studying Maths honours in Presidency and accompanied her to her college the next day.

I chanced upon my school seniors in the college immediately. But admissions were over. I pleaded with a English Department Professor to arrange a special test for me. He went and spoke to Professor Tarak Sen, who was the Head of the Department in those days. But Tarakbabu was unmoved by my predicament. However, Prof. Amales Tripathy of the History Department yielded to my request and granted me the much sought after opportunity to be included among the heaven born alumni.

But my halcyon days in my dream college were to come to an abrupt end very soon. Prof. Tripathy had spoken about the great things he still hoped for from Presidency students during the Freshers' Welcome. I too had been hoping for great things to happen. I had entertained great expectations from our teachers, each of whom had a record of unsurpassed excellence in academics.

However, student violence soon reached such proportions that the college was closed sine die from 4 December 1968. Professor Tripathy joined Calcutta University soon after, denuding the college of a talented teacher.

Our days thereafter alternated between forced closures by certain student wings, brickbats on the CRP picket permanently posted inside the college, fights between students of two rival unions and occasional bomb blasts.

I still remember a lecture by a Student Federation leader Shekhar, who harped over the gulf between two divergent classes of students studying in the same institution. The mothers of one set of students plead with them, he said with great demagogy, to satisfy their hunger with burnt chapattis when they return home after the tiring day in the college, while another set is greeted with glasses of wine when they return. I could not decide which set I should belong to, as my experience matched neither.

But I felt moved to hear that there could really be so much of difference. Corridor walls and canteen doors were painted with odd slogans like 'the Chairman of China is also our Chairman,' 'power flows from the barrel of a gun', 'red salute to Mao-tse-Tung' or 'he who studies the most is the stupidest these days'. Sumita Chando, a philosophy Honours student got so carried away by Shekhar's slogans that she stayed back after college to go and mix with the college sweepers in their quarters. We heard one day that during one such visits she had even tried to share their drinks and fell unconscious as a result.

The Police Commissioner's son was in our class and I heard that Student Federation leaders had asked for his help to kill his father. I am not sure how Indrajit managed to wriggle out of the situation. Very bright science students like Manojit and Selima were involved in the movement although I heard that they were later shipped off to the US or UK. by their rich and influential fathers to elude the police.

Shekhar was injured while trying to hurl a bomb on the CRP picket from the second floor verandah. The CRP fired and Shekhar was probably injured. Sumita Chando alone went to rescue him I later heard. Tear gas shells were fired all over the college and we had to sit inside the teacher's common room with doors tightly shut from inside till police forces rescued us and made us march out of the college in a straight file; It had become sort of fashionable for even Hindu school boys opposite the college to hurl bombs and often we faced splinters of bombs falling from the school roof while waiting to catch buses.

Traffic used to be diverted through other routes due to these incidents and we had to walk to Sealdah to find buses to our homes. The transfer policy of the Government had also hit us hard and teachers were frequently transferred so that we read the first topic of our Medieval Europe paper three times with three teachers over seven months. The new teacher always insisted on beginning afresh and what with student strikes and forced closures we could not proceed beyond the first topic. I seriously began to believe that my father's curse for having joined Presidency against his wishes had taken its toll on my fate.

I had to work very hard in my post-graduate days to recover from the impact of the losses that I suffered during those days. 1972 to 1974 were comparatively tranquil, though I do not exactly remember why our 1973 M.A. Examination had to be postponed till May 1975 and we could pass out only in 1976. However, when I look back to my college days I cannot but cherish my classes with eminent teachers like Professor Ashin Dasgupta who had come fresh from Oxford and tried to give us his best during those tumultuous times.
The 16th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates concluded in the Colombian capital of Bogota, with a call to fight the ills afflicting humanity, the media reported on Sunday.

Saturday, the last day of the summit was dedicated to peace in Colombia and the challenges to the peace agreement signed between the government and the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels, a process that has the support of the attending laureates, Efe news reported.

The final declaration of the summit was read by the 1997 Nobel winner from the US, Jody Williams, recognised for her work in banning anti-personnel land mines.

In the text, the laureates call for action by governments, civil society and youth to eradicate evils such as nuclear arms, anti-personnel mines, drug-trafficking and other drug related crimes, and corruption.

They also urged all countries to tackle hate speech centred on ethnicity, race, religion, gender, disability, among others.

The closing ceremony, besides ratifying this text, served to give awards to people who have contributed towards the development of peace in Colombia, Latin America and the world.

The "Peace Summit Award" was presented to Richard Branson, whose "Virgin Unite" organisation seeks to create non-profit initiatives to help the world "eliminate wars and conflicts through practical solutions".

Branson said his action focuses on ending two wars in particular: the war on drugs and against climate change.

"None have been won, and both are the great threats of the world today, so it is necessary to act quickly to eradicate them," he said.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos presented the Colombia charter, a document drafted during the Summit and written by the laureates which contains "Ten principles for peace proposed as a legacy for all humanity".

It is the first time the summit was held in Latin America.

Earlier venues have been Barcelona (2015), Rome (2014), Warsaw (2013), Chicago (2012), Hiroshima (2010), Berlin (2009), Paris (2008) and Rome (1999 to 2007).
By Press Trust of India: Karimnagar (Telangana), Feb 4 (PTI) Round the clock drinking water will be supplied to all the houses in Karimnagar in two years, Telangana minister for Municipal and Information Technology K Taraka Rama Rao said today.

"Round the clock drinking water will be supplied in Karimnagar in two years. The town has been included in the list of smart cities," said the minister addressing the review meeting here.

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Finance Minister Etala Rajender said an amount of Rs 450 crore has been released for the development of Karimnagar. Karimnagar Zilla Parishad chairperson Tula Uma, MLA Kamalakar, MLC Naradasu laxman Rao, Secretary Naveen Mittal and others were present at the meeting. PTI COR RMT

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Italy's premier emphasized the significance of NATO and outlined a new agreement between Italy and Libya to fight human trafficking during a phone call with US President Donald Trump.

Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni's office says Sunday that the call on Saturday focused on "bilateral relations between Italy and the USA, united by a historic friendship and collaboration."

It said Gentiloni reaffirmed "the fundamental importance of the role of NATO and of collaboration between Europe and the United States in the face of challenges and threats to shared security."

The two leaders also renewed their commitment to fighting terrorism and radicalism and to reinforce efforts to resolve the Ukraine crisis and to achieve peace in the Middle East, including in war-torn Syria.
Terming Pakistan's "empathy" for Kashmir as "crocodile tears", a senior Bangladeshi minister on Sunday said Pakistan should apologise for 1971 genocide it committed before talking about Kashmir.

"The Pakistani rulers' empathy for Kashmir is in fact nothing but crocodile tears while they repeatedly plead innocence instead of seeking apology for the 1971 brutality and genocide they committed," Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said.

He said Pakistan should apologise for 1971 genocide they committed before talking about Kashmir.

The minister also commented that the history of Pakistan had always been one of oppressing ethic groups besides Bengalis.

Inu made the remarks while responding to a journalist on the reported observance of 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' at the Pakistan High Commission here, according to an official statement.

Inu, a member of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Cabinet, called the "celebration" in Dhaka "beyond diplomatic norms and a mischievous move" by Pakistan to drag Bangladesh into "what is basically a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan".

Inu's left-leaning Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASOD) is a partner in the ruling Awami League-led grand alliance.

Pakistan has been observing 'Kashmir Day' every year on February 5 since 1990.
India has been asked to send the name of its nominee for inclusion in a global team to assist a United Nations committee which decides on banning terror outfits and their leaders.

Following the request from the global body, both the Home and Finance ministries have been asked to recommend names of suitable individuals who can be part of the key team, official sources said on Sunday.

The presence of the country's nominee on the panel may facilitate the government's efforts to get Maulana Masood Azhar, head of Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and mastermind of last year's Pathankot air base attack, banned, they said.

India's effort to get JeM chief listed in the UN's sanctions list of organisations and individuals linked to Al-Qaida and ISIS has been repeatedly blocked by China.

The nominations have been sought from qualified individuals to serve on the 'Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team' in support of the important '1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee'.

India had in February last year reportedly sent the name of its nominee for the team who was not selected, the sources said.

Those interested should be experts on ISIL (Da'esh), Al-Qaida and affiliated individuals and entities, their evolution, linkages and changing nature of the threat. They should have "willingness to travel extensively, including in difficult environments".

The position requires a high level of personal commitment to the monitoring team's mandate and to the United Nations.

The fifteen members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) are on the Sanctions Committee. India is currently not a member of the UNSC and hence also not on the Sanctions Committee.

The 10-member 'Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team' comprising independent experts assists the Sanctions Committee.

Depending on the vacancies available, India and all other member states can forward nominations of their nationals to serve on the monitoring team.

The final selection of the team is made by the UN secretariat based on assessment of the individual qualifications of the candidate.

The monitoring team works in tandem with the UN Secretariat to standardise the format of all United Nations sanctions lists and also assists the Committee in regularly reviewing names on it.

Azhar's JeM, which is said to have links with Taliban and Al-Qaida, has been blacklisted by the UNSC. Ironically, its chief Azhar, who has been behind several major terror strikes in India, has not been banned by the UN.
Jyothi Udaya was on her way back home from work, when we called her on Saturday afternoon and informed that her attacker had been arrested.

CCTV footage of Jyothi Uday being attacked by a man inside an ATM in Bengaluru

Udaya responded to the news with equanimity. ''Police are yet to contact me,'' she said, requesting us to keep her posted.

By evening, the arrest was officially confirmed by the Chittoor police. Madhukar Reddy, the accused, was nabbed from Nimmanapalliki village under Madanappalli division, Andhra Pradesh.

Udaya, a Corporation Bank employee, was brutally attacked by Reddy with a machete at an ATM kiosk in Bengaluru in November 2013. He took away Udaya's wallet containing Rs 2000, her mobile phone, driving license and ATM cards and pulled down the shutter before leaving. He later sold off the mobile phone for Rs 500.

Udaya lay unconscious in a pool of blood for more than three hours, before being taken to hospital. The attack left her with a fractured skull, with pieces of bone driven into the brain. She was partially paralysed following the incident.

'' I am no longer the person I used to be. I don't know how long I can work like this,'' said Udaya with a painful smile when we met her in 2014.

After committing the crime, Reddy moved to Kerala and then to Hyderabad, where his parents live in. Later, he started visiting Madanappalli, his hometown at Chittor in Andhra Pradesh. ''When he visited this time, we nabbed him and he confessed to having committed the crime, '' said G. Srinivas, Superintendent of Police, Chittoor District.

Reddy, according to the police, is a serial murderer. In 2005, he was arrested on charges of a murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2011 but absconded while being taken to hospital from Kadapa Central Prison. He committed five murders in the next three years.
The US Justice Department filed an appeal late Saturday to restore President Donald Trump's immigration order barring citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries and temporarily banning refugees, even as travelers raced to enter the country while the ban was lifted.

The government moved to reverse a federal judge's Friday order that lifted the travel ban and warned the decision posed an immediate harm to the public, thwarted enforcement of an executive order and "second-guesses the president's national security judgment about the quantum of risk posed by the admission of certain classes of (non-citizens) and the best means of minimizing that risk.

"Friday's ruling prompted Trump to denounce the "so-called" judge in a series of tweets on Saturday..The appeal now goes to a three-judge panel which can act at anytime to uphold the order or suspend it pending a full appeal.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment beyond the filing.A ruling could come at any time.Seattle U.S. District Judge James Robart's decision barred the administration from enforcing the sweeping order that also indefinitely barred Syrian refugee admissions and prompted large protests across the United States.

Trump, whose personal attack on Robart, decrying his opinion as "ridiculous," went too far for some who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress, said he was confident the government would prevail.

"We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win," he told reporters in Florida.Robart's ruling came in a case brought by the state attorney general of Washington state and was backed by major state employers Amazon.com Inc and Expedia Inc.

The lawsuit is one of several now filed against the Trump executive order around the United States, but it was the first case leading to a broad decision that applies nationwide.

The Justice Department appeal criticized Robart's legal reasoning, saying it violates the separation of powers and steps on the president's authority as commander chief.

The appeal said the state of Washington lacked standing to challenge the order and denied that the order "favors Christians at the expense of Muslims."Congress gave the president "the unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class" of visitor, the Justice Department wrote.

"Courts are particularly ill-equipped to second-guess the president's prospective judgment about future risks," the appeal said, calling the decision "vastly overbroad.

"Washington state lawyers worked around the clock last weekend against the backdrop of turbulent scenes at US airports, where immigrants were detained by federal officials unprepared to implement the president's directive.A spokesman for Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson didn't immediately comment early Sunday.

The US State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with Robart's order and many visitors are expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expects to begin admitting refugees again on Monday.

A decision to reinstate Trump's order could again cause havoc at US airports because some visitors are in transit, as was the case when the order took effect on January 27.

As the ban lifted Friday, refugees and thousands of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by the executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States.

The panel that will decide whether to immediately block the ruling includes three judges appointed by former Republican president George W. Bush and two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.

US immigration advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union on Saturday in a joint statement urged those with now valid visas from the seven nations "to consider rebooking travel to the United States immediately" because the ruling could be overturned or put on hold.

A US State Department email reviewed by Reuters said the department is working to begin admitting refugees including Syrians as soon as Monday.

Trump's January 27 order had barred admission of citizens from seven majority Muslim nations for 90 days, suspended all refugee admissions for 120 days and indefinitely barred Syrian refugees.

Separation of powers

It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the US Constitution designates as a check to the power of the executive branch and Congress.Reached by email Saturday, Robart declined comment on Trump's tweets.

Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in a statement Saturday that Trump's "hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it is dangerous. He seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis.

"In an interview with ABC scheduled to air Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence said he did not think that Trump's criticisms of the judge undermined the separation of powers.

The court ruling was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges to Trump's push to clamp down on immigration.The sudden reversal of the ban catapulted would-be immigrants back to airports, with uncertainty over how long the window to enter the United States will remain open.

In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Fuad Sharef and his family prepared to fly on Saturday to Istanbul and then New York before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.

Virtually all refugees also were barred by Trump's order, upending the lives of thousands of people who have spent years seeking asylum in the United States.
By Press Trust of India: Kathmandu, Feb 5 (PTI) Nepal police today arrested 37 Bangladeshi nationals, engaged in tailoring business, from Kathmandus main tourist hub Thamel for illegally entering the country via India.

The arrested Bangladeshi nationals were not having passports and other legal documents to be in Nepal when they were arrested by the Metropolitan police, the Kathmandu Post reported.

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According to the police, the arrested people were in the age group of 19-34 and they entered Nepal via India. They were engaged in tailoring business.

Their goal was to acquire Nepali citizenship and passports and set out for jobs abroad, police said.

They will be deported to Bangladesh after investigation. PTI AJR ABH AJR

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The government on Saturday suspended enforcement of President Donald Trumps refugee and immigration ban and scurried to appeal a judges order, plunging the new administration into a crisis that has challenged Trumps authority  and ability to fulfill campaign promises.

The stand-down, a day after a federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked the ban, marked an extraordinary setback for the White House. Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend Americas refugee program and halt immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.

As the White House worked to reinstate the ban, Trump mocked U.S. District Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, as a so-called judge whose ridiculous ruling will be overturned. He added in a subsequent tweet: Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision.

Trumps direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a Trump University case. Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for his words as the travel ban case reaches the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The order had caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompted protests across the United States and led to multiple court challenges. Demonstrations took place outside the White House, in New York and elsewhere. One was planned later Saturday near the estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was spending the weekend and where the American Red Cross scheduled its annual fundraising gala.

Robarts ruling, which the White House said the Justice Department would challenge, led federal agencies to unwind enforcement of Trumps executive order.

The State Department, after initially saying that as many as 60,000 foreigners from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen had their visas canceled, reversed course on Saturday and said they could travel to the U.S. if they had a valid visa.

The department on Saturday advised refugee aid agencies that refugees set to travel before Trump signed his order will now be allowed into the United States. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government was focusing on booking refugee travel through Feb. 17 and working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trumps order from boarding U.S.-bound planes. The agency said it had suspended any and all actions related to putting in place Trumps order, which the White House argued was intended to protect the homeland.

The Justice Department was expected to ask the 9th Circuit to set side Robarts ruling so the ban could go back into effect.

Trump made clear what he thought of Robarts action.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned, Trump tweeted. When a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security  big trouble!

After a pause of several hours, the president returned to Twitter: What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized Trump for attempting to bully and disparage yet another federal judge and said he seemed intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis. Trumps rhetoric also could put government lawyers defending his order in a tough spot.

Either they have to defend the statements that Judge Robart is a so-called judge, which you cant do, or they have to distance themselves from the president, who is their boss, said University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman.

With legal challenges pending, two prominent Middle Eastern air carriers announced they would resume carrying passengers from the seven affected countries. Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, said U.S.-bound travelers from those countries with valid visas would be allowed to board.

In Egypt, Cairo airport and airline officials said they have received instructions from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend President Trumps executive order.

Government-backed Qatar Airways is one of a few Mideast airlines operating direct daily flights to multiple American cities. Its U.S. destinations from its Doha hub include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington.

At New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport, volunteer lawyer Renee Paradis said most of the flights involving passengers from the affected countries were to arrive later Saturday.

Anybody who comes here on a visa is supposed to be allowed in, so we would anticipate that somebody who is in the air would be able to land and enter, she said. Of course, as with everything this week, it remains to be seen what happens on the ground.

The executive order has caused chaos within the government and the courts. Trump fired Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover who was serving as acting attorney general, after she said the Justice Department would not enforce it. In Washington on Saturday, demonstrators chanting No hate, No fear, Refugees are welcome here walked from the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Hearings have also been held in court challenges nationwide.

In arguments to the court, Washington state and Minnesota said the temporary ban and the global suspension of the U.S. refugee program harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

But in his written order Friday, Robart said its not the courts job to create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches, but rather, to make sure that an action taken by the government comports with our countrys laws.

(AP)
Late Friday night, some of President Donald Trumps top advisers huddled on the phone to craft a response to a court ruling that blocked the White Houses refugee and immigration ban.

The White House statement slammed the order as outrageous. But the presidents lawyers quickly raised objections to that wording, according to a White House official. About 10 minutes later, a new statement was sent without the fiery characterization of the ruling.

The lawyers warnings dont appear to have made their way to the president. On Saturday morning, Trump lashed out on Twitter at the so-called judge and called the judges decree ridiculous.

Later Saturday, Trump followed that tweet with another: What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?

The episode illustrated just how little ability anyone in the White House has when it comes to restraining the president  not his lawyers, his aides or his family. Not even at a time when Trumps views of judicial independence could complicate the looming confirmation fight for his nominee to the Supreme Court, which holds one of the ultimate checks on presidential power.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said Saturday that Trumps tweet shows a disdain for an independent judiciary and raises the bar even higher for Trumps Supreme Court nominee, federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch.

His ability to be an independent check will be front and center throughout the confirmation process, Schumer said of Gorsuch.

While presidents have publicly disagreed with court rulings before, personal criticism of a judge is rare. The independence of the judiciary is enshrined through the Constitutions separation of powers, and judges are supposed to have freedom to decide cases impartially and without political pressure.

In 2008, President George W. Bush said he disagreed with a Supreme Court ruling upholding the rights of prisoners at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but said his administration would abide by the courts decision. During his 2010 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama rebuked the Supreme Courts decision in the Citizens United campaign finance, though he opened his remarks by noting that his criticism was with all due deference to separation of powers.

Trumps Twitter attacks were a sharp contrast to his measured, statesman-like introduction of Gorsuch during an address to the nation Tuesday night. Gorsuch, a 49-year-old conservative, has been widely praised by Republicans and his sterling credentials have put Democrats eager to block Trump any way they can in a bind over how hard to fight his nomination.

On Saturday, after Trump disparaged U.S. District Judge James Robart, some Democrats appeared to sense an opening. Sen. Patrick Leahy, top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Gorsuch must show an ability to be an independent check and balance on an administration that shamefully and harmfully seems to reject the very concept.

Robarts ruling temporarily blocked Trumps executive order halting the entire U.S. refugee program and stopping all entries from seven Muslim-majority countries. The White House vowed to fight the ruling, even as government agencies moved swiftly Saturday to comply.

Republican lawmakers were largely silent about Trumps criticism of Robart, who was appointed by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2004.

Top GOP lawmakers did break with Trump during the presidential campaign, when he repeatedly criticized Gonzalo Curiel, a U.S.-born federal judge of Mexican descent, who ruled against him in a case involving Trump University, a for-profit education company.

At the time, Trump said Curiels heritage meant he had an an absolute conflict in the case, given the then-candidates hard stance on immigration and call for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said then that Trumps comments about Curiel were the textbook definition of a racist comment.

Trump has said his executive order, which was signed without robust input from the government agencies tasked with implementing the provisions, will keep Americans safe at home by keeping potential terrorists from entering the country.

The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said in Fridays statement. He also called the order both lawful and appropriate.

Experts have disagreed on the effectiveness of the order, which created chaos at U.S. airports and around the world. The State Department said up to 60,000 foreigners had their visas provisionally revoked to comply with Trumps directive.

Trumps order also sparked protests nationwide. More protests were planned for this weekend, including at Trumps estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend.

(AP)
Defense giant Lockheed Martin has agreed to sell 90 new F-35 fighter jets to the US Defense Department for $8.5 billion  a deal that amounts to more than $700 million in savings over the last batch of aircraft delivered.

Lockheed Martin credited President Donald Trump for helping to accelerate negotiations and drive down the price of what is already the most expensive weapons program in history.

The cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program found itself in Trumps crosshairs on several occasions in recent weeks and Trump called for a review of whether a modified version of the older F/A-18 aircraft could replace the Navys costly F-35 variant.

Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson gave then-President-elect Trump her personal commitment to cut the cost of the stealthy F-35 fighter jet after Trump posted a tweet criticizing the program and newly confirmed Defense Secretary James Mattis ordered the Pentagon to conduct a review of the $400 billion program last week.

Once official, the deal in principle would mark the first time that costs for any of the three versions of the fifth generation fighter jet will have dipped below $100 million per plane.

READ MORE: CNN
In its last year in office, the Obama Administration showered at least some $9.2 billion on the United Nations and its sprawling array of organizations, according to a document recently posted on the State Department website.

The total is gleaned from a document that summarizes U.S. government spending for international organizations, and is about 20 per cent higher than the $7.7 billion figure given out by State for 2010, before the Obama Administration abruptly quit providing any overall tally for its U.N. support.

The overall U.S. bill for international organizations of every stripe is just under $10.5 billion, meaning that U.N. organizations absorb about 88 per cent of such U.S. government spending.

The new tally includes nearly $360 million for the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, which is regularly accused of inculcating violent anti-Israel attitudes and even abetting terrorist attacks on Israel, which it strongly denies.

That is nearly a 50 per cent jump over the $238.3 million UNRWA got from the U.S. in 2010.

READ MORE: FOX NEWS
Hundreds of El Al passengers were stranded on motzei Shabbos at Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv as a result of flights to Moscow and Boston being canceled at the last moment. This was the result of the ongoing dispute between the pilots union and airline management.

As a result, it is reported that flights from Boston to Tel Aviv (LY 0116  Sunday 21:00), Warsaw to Tel Aviv (LY562 -22:30) and Madrid to Tel Aviv (LY398 -23:15) may have also been canceled. There are likely to be other cancelations as well.

The Ministerial Law Committee on Sunday was presented with a bill from MK Yisrael Eichler seeking to prevent unannounced public sector strikes to avoid that which has been taking place in El Al over recent weeks, the sudden cancelation of flights. Eichler calls for a minimum of 48-hour notice.

In an interview with Ladaat, Eichler explained the issues of the pilots are not sufficient to justify holding passengers hostage as is the case with El Al.

According to a Ladaat report, persons with ties to the Histadrut national labor federation are working hard to prevent the ministerial committee from approving Eichlers legislation.

El Al management explains the pilots signed an agreement in which they stated such strikes would not occur. Negotiations involving the union and the labor federation are ongoing in an effort to halt sanctions which are resulting flight cancelations.

This dispute has erupted despite an agreement signed between management and the pilots in December. However, the current disagreement was not covered by that agreement, which concerns the terms of employment of pilots aged between 65 and 67  40 in number. International regulations prohibit them from flying aircraft but the age of retirement in Israel is 67.

The solution is to employ these veteran pilots as instructors.

A statement from El Al said: Despite the agreement signed with the pilots in which they committed to discontinue disrupting flights as instructed by their leader Nir Tzuk (head of the pilots committee), they have resumed disrupting the companys flights.

In addition (to the cancellations), the pilots are disrupting training lessons and harming their colleagues, after the company put 10 instructors on leave after they all cancelled training together claiming sickness. The disruptions are being carried out despite the talks being conducted over the past few days under the auspices of the Histadrut chairman Avi Nissenkorn on arranging the status of veteran pilots who have reached the age of 65 and can no longer fly after the State of Israel adopted international regulations in 2014 prohibiting flights by pilots over 65.

The companys management always acts with responsibility and fairness towards the pilots who can no longer serve as active pilots. We do not expect the pilots representatives to make every disagreement in talks into open or covert sanctions, which harm the company, employees and above all our customers who are held hostage.

Meanwhile, Globes published a statement from the the pilots committee which said, The companys management is lying to passengers: we, the pilots, are not taking any sanctions. We are operating all flights registered in advance. The fact is that no pilot who is not registered for a specific flight and is then called out at the last moment for a special flight during his daughters birthday, has the motivation to do so when management is cruelly throwing into the garbage, and violating agreements, with the most experienced pilots and captains, aged 65, while brutally and unilaterally reducing their salaries by two thirds. The companys management is thus destroying El Al  the company that is our home.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Australias prime minister on Sunday ruled out any deal to get the United States to honor an agreement to resettle hundreds of Muslim refugees that President Donald Trump has described as dumb.

Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull also dismissed a Nine Network television network journalists suggestion that he should be offended that White House spokesman Sean Spicer has repeatedly called him Trumbull in press briefings. Turnbull said, The important thing is results.

Spicer says Trump has agreed to honor an Obama administration deal to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers rejected by Australia. Trump made the agreement during a conversation with Turnbull last weekend, but has since tweeted, I will study this dumb deal!

Turnbull said Trump had asked for nothing in return for resettling the mostly Muslim refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Australia pays the impoverished Pacific countries of Nauru and Papua New Guinea to keep the refugees in camps.

Absolutely not, Turnbull said. Its a deal obviously that President Trump has said he wouldnt have entered into, but he has committed to honor it.

Turnbull said there would be no link between the refugee resettlement and any future U.S. request for military help in the Middle East or the South China Sea.

Australia is one of the largest contributors to the U.S.-led military campaign in Iraq and Syria. Australia has resisted U.S. pressure to conduct freedom of navigation exercises close to artificial islands created by China in the contested South China Sea.

We assess all requests for military assistance on their merits and there is no linkage at all between an arrangement relating to refugee resettlement and any other matters, Turnbull said.

The Obama administration agreed to resettle Australias refugees after Australia agreed in September last year to accept Costa Rican refugees fleeing drug wars.

Australian media have described the disagreement over the refugee deal as the lowest point in the bilateral alliance since 1973, when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam clashed with President Richard Nixon over a series of bombings during the Vietnam War.

Turnbull has welcomed U.S. support since media reports emerged of his disagreement with Trump during their first conversation.

I dont think there has ever been more public support for Australia than there has been his week, Turnbull said. We have seen dozens and dozens of congressmen and senators talking about the importance of the Australian alliance and talking about what a great friend we have always been to the United States. This has been a very good week for Australia.

(AP)
The Nawaz Sharif government has "in principle" decided to appoint Basit as the country's new foreign secretary, replacing Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry

By Press Trust of India: Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit is set to become the country's new foreign secretary, media reports suggested.

The Nawaz Sharif government has "in principle" decided to appoint Basit as the country's new foreign secretary, replacing Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry who has been designated as Pakistan's ambassador to the US, The News reported.

HERE IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

Prime Minister Sharif, who is also retaining the portfolio of the Foreign Affairs, has concluded consultations for appointing new administrative head of the Foreign Office, the daily said.

It is likely that the announcement pertaining to the appointment of Basit would be made next week, the report said.

58-year-old Basit is the senior most among the contenders for the top post.

Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations Geneva headquarters Tehmina Janjua, Pakistans former Chief of Protocol and Ambassador to France Ghalib Iqbal, country's ambassador for Denmark Masroor Junejo and Pakistan's High Commissioner for United Kingdom Syed Ibne Hasan were the other contenders for the post.

Basit, who has varied experience of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, was selected for the job three years back also but could not be appointed due to technical reasons and instead posted as High Commissioner in New Delhi. He was previously serving as ambassador to Germany.

Pakistan will take the decision about new High Commissioner in India after Basit's return, the daily said.

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The chareidi parties in the current administration have enjoyed many successes, focusing on reversing the damage caused by the previous administration, the Yesh Atid/Bayit Yehudi and Likud coalition that passed so much anti-chareidi legislation into law.

There are now fears that due to the numerous investigations against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, he may in fact have to step down at some point and the chareidim are stepping-up efforts to actualize the remaining coalition agreements that have yet been carried out.

One major area includes school funding as the chareidi parties are working to reverse the decisions of former Education Minister (Yesh Atid) Shai Piron. It is reported that while current Education Minister Naftali Bennett has promised action on a number of occasions, he is yet to make good on those promises.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Three residents of the PA (Palestinian Authority) village of Dir Abu Mahal in the Ramallah district were indicted for the arson attacks that destroyed a major portion of Nvei Tzuf last year.

The three, all in their 20s, were indicated in the Judea Military Court on numerous counts including arson. The fires took place in November along with a number of other major arson attack including in Haifa.

17 homes were destroyed in Nvei Tzuf (Chalamish) blaze while many others were damaged. Bchasdei Hashem there was no loss of life in the fire that swept through the community on Shabbos November 25, 2016.

Two of them used large lighters and toilet paper to start the fires according to the indictment while the third suspect remained in the getaway vehicle.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday, 9 Shevat during the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting addressed upcoming visits to begin with his trip to Britain. Mr. Netanyahu expressed optimism, hinting at the change of rule in the USA following the presidential elections, commenting We are at the start of a significant diplomatic period for the State of Israel. This afternoon I am leaving for Britain in order to meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. I will discuss with them how to deepen bilateral diplomatic, security, economic and technological ties, including cooperation in the field of cyber.

In the diplomatic sphere, I intend to emphasize the need for a common front against Irans defiant aggression which has raised its head in recent days. This must be done on an ongoing basis, but especially in light of Irans defiance against the international order.

Given the plight of the residents of Jerusalem last week, I called Mayor Nir Barkat, with the concurrence of the Finance Minister and the Jerusalem Affairs Minister, and I asked him to come here and stop the strike so that we might have a proper discussion  with assistance of government ministries  on a solution for Jerusalems budgetary problem. Jerusalem is dear to us all and we will try and find a creative and responsible solution in order to move the city forward.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
PLO Secretary Dr. Saeb Erekat, a longtime aide and confidant to Yasser Arafat YSVZ, has called for moving to the next stage against Israel, namely to persuade the International Court of Justice in The Hague to begin investigating Israeli war crimes throughout Yehuda, Shomron, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem.

In his statement, he spoke of Israeli Colonialism and the need to move ahead to stop Israel from stealing additional ands. Erekat was referring to recent statements from senior Israeli cabinet ministers calling for the construction of thousands of housing units throughout Yehuda and Shomron.

Erekat warns against delay as he feels Israel is moving ahead with additional construction, which he refers to as Stealing additional lands from the Palestinians.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
President Donald Trumps unpredictable foreign policy could have serious implications for Americas intelligence-sharing partnerships.

Trump wants a closer relationship with Russia. Hes alienated American allies with his travel and immigration ban for people from seven Muslim-majority countries. Hes had brusque calls with the leaders of Australia and Mexico.

Veteran spies say intelligence relationships are built to weather storms between political leaders. Even in the worst of times, allies have shared intelligence to thwart threats.

But the uncertainty of Trumps foreign policy direction and his potential new friendship with Moscow are creating jitters across the Western world.

(AP)
Police have arrested the suspect they say forced a Jewish man to strip off his clothing in a shocking gunpoint robbery. Sources tell YWN that the arrest was made on Motzei Shabbos, and that the victim IDd the suspect on Sunday morning.

As YWN had reported, the the 24-year-old victim was trying to enter a home on Neilson Street in Far Rockaway around 6:30 pm (Friday night) when he was approached by a man armed with a gun.

The suspect pointed the gun at the victims head and demanded his clothes.

The victim, who was wearing a suit, can be seen on surveillance footage handing over his overcoat, jacket, shoes, and pants before the suspect flees in an unknown direction.

The victim then dashes indoors to safety and warmth.

Further details about the suspect as well as charges will be published when they become available to us.

(Charles Gross  YWN)
By India Today Web Desk: Actress Shama Sikander, who rose to fame with Sony TV's Ye Meri Life Hai seems to be a water baby. The pretty actress kicked-started her Sunday by taking a dip in the pool.

Home is where the pool is??? Starting my Sunday with a swimming session??? The most refreshing thing in the world??? #sunday #swimming #session #refreshing A photo posted by Shama Sikander (@shamasikander) on Feb 4, 2017 at 9:58pm PST

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She shared a picture of herself in red swimsuit in the swimming pool with a note that said - "Home is where the pool is. Starting my Sunday with a swimming session. The most refreshing thing in the world #sunday #swimming #refreshing." What a great start to the day.

Also read: This TV actress attempted suicide 5 years back because of bipolar disorder

Shama is back on the screen with Vikram Bhatt's web series Maaya. The actress had recently opened up about her struggle with the bipolar disorder and how she felt hopeless, directionless and extremely gloomy during that time. We are glad that Shama is enjoying simple pleasures of life.

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MANZINI  It is highly possible that the 100 per cent pass rate obtained by some super schools in the country is not exactly based on quality.



This is the view of Samuel Nkambule, head teacher of Manzini Nazarene High School. Other heads of schools seem to agree.

Nkambule explained that the quality of academic results should not be measured by the attainment of the 100 per cent pass rate.



This is due to the fact that a school where all its pupils might have passed the external examination could still be ranked among poor performing schools in terms of quality.



The Times SUNDAY was interviewing certain public schools that used to attain the 100 per cent pass rate in external examinations.

The schools include among others Manzini Nazarene High School, St Michaels High, Mankayane High School, Mhlatane High, Masundvwini High and Lusoti Primary School in Simunye.



Meanwhile, Nkambule went on to say there was a possibility or likelihood that the 100 per cent pass rate attained by certain schools was based on quantity.

He said the 100 per cent rate was okay but should be based on quality, not quantity.
PM Sibusiso Dlamini (L) greeting Speaker in the House of Assembly Themba Msibi (C) and Senate President Gelane Zwane on arrival at Parliament on Friday.

LOBAMBA  Prime Minister (PM) Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini and Themba Msibi, Speaker in the House of Assembly, have confirmed seeing Senate President Gelane Zwanes speech before Friday.



Mystery surrounds the incident that occurred in parliament when Zwane struggled to speak. The Senate president lost her voice during the State Opening of Parliament on Friday. The two politicians say they saw the speech on Thursday, February 2, on the eve of the opening of parliament by His Majesty the King.



These politicians worked on the speech, to structure it such that it represented parliament in the event. It was a speech for parliament directed to their Majesties. Akusiso semuntfu munye (the speech does not belong to an individual).



Zwanes speech was seen by the PM and Speaker prior to being read before Their Majesties despite the Senate presidents previous pronouncement in the media that the speech was prepared and ready, weeks before the event.



Speaking to the media about it then, Zwane said the speech would not be edited or twisted by anyone.

On Friday, she looked shocked and dismayed as she read her speech, abruptly stopping. Speaker Msibi was on hand to give her a copy of another speech. At that moment, the president froze and left the podium. The Speaker then read the rest of the speech.



In separate interviews, both Msibi and the PM said they were shocked by what befell the Senate president on the podium. We all had copies of her speech and we knew that she was reading the right speech, said the PM.



The PM said after Zwane questioned her speech, another copy was availed to her by Msibi. Nakubonakala kutsi asilungi labesifundza president, waniketwa lesinye speech, he said.
By India Today Web Desk: After lambasting the Congress- Samajwadi party alliance and Dalit leader Mayawati at a rally in Meerut on Saturday ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses yet another rally in Aligarh.

Although Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is yet to announce its chief ministerial candidate, PM Modi, the party's star campaigner, is leaving no stone unturned in its attempt to win the electoral race.

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In his first rally before Uttar Pradesh votes in the first phase of seven-phase Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the alliance between Samajwadi Party and Congress a pact of opportunism. PM Modi had attacked the BJP's political rivals in Uttar Pradesh, terming them as SCAM - 'S' stands for Samajwadi Party, 'C' for Congress, 'A' for Akhilesh and 'M' for Mayawati.

PM Modi also called upon the people to give BJP a mandate similar to the 2014 general elections when the party won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh will witness a seven-phased election for 403 seats from February 11 to March 8.

HERE ARE THE UPDATES FROM THE PM's SPEECH:

In a day 7650 crimes, 24 rapes, 21 rape attempts, 13 murders, 33 kidnappings, 19 riots and 136 thefts happen in UP: PM Modi

We have undertaken welfare measures for sugarcane farmers, but why is it so that UP government has not been able to look after them?: PM

For 70 yrs, 18,000 villages didn't have electricity; Most cases were from UP; We have taken up work of electrification in mission mode: PM Modi

Our aim is to make rural India smoke-free;We've launched the Ujjwala Yojana & are providing gas connections to the poor: PM Modi

Sack 'gunda' politicians from the government to ensure safety of women: PM Modi

Uttar Pradesh government does not care about development: PM Modi

Lock industry here collapsed because the govt sitting in Lucknow couldnt provide sufficient electricity: PM Modi

Development for me is V for Vidyut (electricity), K for Kanoon (law) and S for Sadak (roads): PM Modi

Undertook this fight against corruption so that people especially the poor and youth get their rightful & money can be used for their welfare: PM Modi

Aligarh's famous locks are now used to lock factories in Aligarh itself because the govt in Lucknow doesn't provide electricity

No party can hold back BJP, says PM Modi

BJP has created ripples so strong that the chief minister here will rely on anyone.

Uttar Pradesh is looking for change, we are fighting for a noble cause

PM lauds the gathering,calls it a sea of saffron

PM Modi enthralls the gathering on a light note in his second rally in Uttar Pradesh.

PM Modi addresses rally in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh

#UPPolls2017: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a rally in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh . pic.twitter.com/5jPvAV4Zzf ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) 5 February 2017

Also read:

UP must get rid of SCAM - 'Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh, Mayawati', says PM Modi at Meerut rally

SCAM stands for Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh, Mayawati: PM Modi's top quotes at Meerut rally

Actor Gautami Tadimala slams Modi on his silence on Tamil Nadu's concerns, Amma's death

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I can no longer keep silent. I wholly support President Trumps temporary travel order on persons from six countries. It is his constitutional obligation to protect the United States. It is part of every presidents oath of office. This is hardly a religious ban as there are many more countries that are predominately Muslim from which he did not restrict immigration. The liberals act as if President Trump was the first and only president to author executive orders regarding immigration.

In 2011, President Obamas State Department slowed the processing of refugees from Iraq to do enhanced vetting in response to a threat. In 1980 President Carter canceled visas for Iranian citizens during the hostage crisis. Between 11/79 and 4/80, 14,768 Iranians, including 2,204 students, were removed from the country on executive orders. On 1/14/93 President-elect Clinton vowed to continue, at least temporarily, the ban on Haitians fleeing their homeland.

Where were the demonstrations about these restrictions? The only reason there are demonstrations now is because this executive order to temporarily restrict immigrants from nations that are likely to have ISIS agents infiltrate the immigrants was issued by President Trump. The ban will be lifted when a sound vetting policy has been developed.

How any reasonable person can want free and un-vetted immigrations at this time is beyond comprehension. Take the time to read the executive order. Stop believing the half-truths and lies coming from the liberal press and the Democrats. Take the time to think for yourself and stop the knee-jerk reaction of protesting everything President Trump is pursuing.

DONALD YOUNG

Flagstaff
By Press Trust of India: From Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Feb 5 (PTI) Ahead of assembly elections in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, the India-Nepal border in the adjoining areas would be closed from February 12 to 14.

During a joint meeting of representatives of administrations and security officials from both the countries it was decided to close the border areas and beef up the security vigilance during the period.

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However, an agreement has been made to allow the citizens of third countries to cross the Nepal-India border based on their documents, said Superintendent of Police Prakash Bahadur Chand of District Police Office, Kanchanpur.

SP Chand said the highly-essential vehicles would be allowed to ply only from the legal entry points. PTI SBP PMS

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By Patrick Donachie

A union representing 27,000 faculty and staff at the City University of New York endorsed Mayor Bill de Blasio for re-election Monday, citing the administrations support for higher education.

The Professional Staff Congress also mentioned de Blasios push for universal pre-K and the expanded paid sick leave provisions throughout the city as reasons for the endorsement, according to PSC President Barbara Bowen.

He has also, with less public attention, increased funding for the City University of New York, Bowen said. And in the weeks since the election of Donald Trump, he has reaffirmed New Yorks status as a sanctuary city. As CUNY faculty and staff, we understand the vital role public higher education plays in combating income inequality, and we know that increased city funding for CUNY is making a difference.

The PSC is affiliated with New York State United Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers, and is part of the New York City Central Labor Council and is affiliated with the Working Families Party. The organization pointed to de Blasios funding of the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs initiative, which will serve 25,000 students.

De Blasio faces re-election in November, and several candidates have announced they plan to challenge him, both in the Democratic primary and in the general election.
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By Gina Martinez

A Richmond Hill priest is in hot water after sharing a meme that encouraged anti-Trump protesters to commit suicide on his personal Facebook page.

Father Philip J. Pizzo oversees St. Benedict Joseph Labre Roman Catholic Church in Richmond Hill. The meme, usually a humorous image with text written over it, posted Sunday afternoon read Show your hate for Trump, Do it for social justice #jumpagainsttrump. The meme depicted a man jumping out of a building window.

The Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn released a statement condemning the post, saying it does not represent the views of the church.

Father Pizzo did share the meme in question on his personal Facebook page, the statement said. He says he intended it as satire only, regrets the offense it has caused, and has deleted it. Suicide is, indeed, a serious subject and this post does not in any way represent the view of the church.

Pizzo said he regrets posting the meme and that he does not support suicide.

I apologize for the hurt that I have caused over a Facebook post, the priest said. I never intended it to get this kind of reaction and I regret posting it. I have been a priest for 40 years and my goal has always been to bring Christ to the people. I am pro-life and any reference to suicide is contrary to my beliefs, therefore, making my post completely inappropriate. Again, please accept my sincerest apology.

President Trump has had a rocky relationship with the Catholic church. In February 2016 the then candidate called the pontiff disgraceful after he suggested to reporters that Trump was not a Christian.

On the day of Trumps inauguration, Pope Francis sent the president a message.

At a time when our human family is beset by grave humanitarian crises demanding far-sighted and united political responses, he said, I pray that your decisions will be guided by the rich spiritual and ethical values that have shaped the history of the American people.

St. Johns, a private Catholic university based in Jamaica, released a statement opposing Trumps executive order that banned Muslims from seven countries from traveling to the United States.

As a Catholic and Vincentian University with a 147-year history, St. Johns hasand will always bea place that welcomes immigrants and the children of immigrants, the statement said. At St. Johns University, we support all members of the university community, regardless of their country of origin or their chosen faith. We are committed to continuing this tradition.
Washington

The government on Saturday suspended enforcement of President Donald Trump's refugee and immigration ban and scurried to appeal a judge's order, plunging the new administration into a crisis that has challenged Trump's authority  and ability to fulfill campaign promises.

The stand-down, a day after a federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked the ban, marked an extraordinary setback for the White House. Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend America's refugee program and halt immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.

As the White House worked to reinstate the ban, Trump mocked U.S. District Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, as a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling "will be overturned." He added in a subsequent tweet: "Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision."

Trump's direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a Trump University case. Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for his words as the travel ban case reaches the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The order had caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompted protests across the United States and led to multiple court challenges. Demonstrations took place outside the White House, in New York and elsewhere. One was planned later Saturday near the estate in Palm Beach, Fla., where Trump was spending the weekend and where the American Red Cross scheduled its annual fundraising gala.

Robart's ruling, which the Justice Department promised to challenge, led federal agencies to unwind enforcement of Trump's executive order.

The State Department, after initially saying that as many as 60,000 foreigners from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen had their visas canceled, reversed course on Saturday and said they could travel to the U.S. if they had a valid visa.

The department on Saturday advised refugee aid agencies that refugees set to travel before Trump signed his order will now be allowed into the United States. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government was "focusing on booking refugee travel" through Feb. 17 and working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trump's order from boarding U.S.-bound planes. The agency said it had "suspended any and all actions" related to putting in place Trump's order, which the White House argued was "intended to protect the homeland."

The Justice Department was expected to ask the 9th Circuit to set aside Robart's ruling so the ban could go back into effect.

Trump made clear what he thought of Robart's action.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned," Trump tweeted. "When a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security  big trouble!" After a pause of several hours, the president returned to Twitter: "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?"

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized Trump for "attempting to bully and disparage yet another federal judge" and said he seemed "intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis."
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) RSS affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) has asked the government to review the General Budget it presented on Tuesday and provide relief to working class, particularly those who lost their jobs following demonetisation.

The union has also opposed the governments move over setting a huge target of over Rs 70,000 crore through divesting its stake in public sector undertakings.

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The central trade union has also expressed unhappiness over a meagre tax relief given to the salaried class saying it is insufficient in view of implementation of the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission.

BMS, in a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, said, "There was an expectation of a scheme for providing relief to workers who got unemployed due to demonetisation. But there is no mention about that in the Budget."

"As many as 2.5 lakh units in unorganised sector were closed and the real estate sector was badly affected where a large number of workers got unemployed. But the working class is disappointed due to no mention about any scheme or relief for them in the Budget despite huge deposits in the banks after notes ban."

BMS also pointed out that there was no mention of any relief for Anganwadi and other scheme workers like wage hike. Last month, a BMS-led delegation of these workers had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on January 23, to apprise him about the difficulties facing them.

At present, more than 61 lakh scheme workers (Aanganwadi, Aasha, Mid-Day Meal etc.) are working in the country.

The union is also unhappy with the Finance Ministers mention about continuing labour reforms and amalgamation of over 44 labour laws in four codes knowing that there was a strong opposition against certain amendments by all central trade unions.

The union said that some states like Rajasthan, has also pressed ahead with labour reforms on the premise that it would boost investments but it did not work.

"The mention about labour reforms in Union Budget is like encroachment. It is illogical. This should not be part of the Budget. It is not sensible to go ahead with labour reforms on Rajasthan model," BMS said. PTI KKS JM

--- ENDS ---
There really isn't a more important issue facing Albany than school quality, yet you probably won't hear much about it during the upcoming mayor's race.

The reason, of course, is that the mayor of Albany, as in most cities, doesn't have oversight of the school district. But debating the health and future of the city without talking about schools is like discussing the 2016 presidential election without mentioning Donald Trump. It misses the obvious.

Without successful schools, the city won't thrive. It's that simple.

So what should a mayor do?

More Information Contact columnist Chris Churchill at 518-454-5442 or email cchurchill@timesunion.com See More Collapse

The question came into play last week, after Mayor Kathy Sheehan addressed the school board in support of a resolution opposing Betsy DeVos, the school-choice champion tapped by Trump to lead the nation's education department.

The resolution passed, which isn't surprising. Democrats and teachers' unions are depicting DeVos as an enemy of kittens, puppies, and all other things warm and fuzzy.

But that isn't what irked school board member Kenny Bruce. He was bothered that Sheehan had not previously spoken to the board as mayor.

"We have 99 problems  why focus on this one?" said Bruce in a Facebook post mentioning low graduation rates, racial achievement gaps and the misappropriation of district resources as issues that hadn't caused Sheehan to pipe up.

It's certainly true that Sheehan has been quiet on school issues compared to her predecessor Jerry Jennings, who championed charter schools and routinely harangued district officials. Sheehan has been content to let the school board do its thing.

Sheehan told me she doesn't think it would be helpful for her to interfere. But she cited her effort with Albany Promise, which works to make kids ready for school, as evidence of educational involvement.

It's worth remembering that Sheehan found her way into politics through the Parent Teachers Association and that the school board remains key to her liberal base. Both factors may still influence her willingness to criticize the board and her view of a district she feels is unfairly maligned.

"When you look at the challenges the district faces and when you look at the successes, I think there's a discrepancy between what you read in the media and what you hear about and what's really happening," said Sheehan, who is expected to seek re-election. "There are good things going on in those buildings."

I hear often from Albany parents who echo that sentiment and are generally happy with their children's education, and I agree that the quality gap between urban and suburban schools is exaggerated.

But there's still no doubting that many middle-class parents will refuse to send their kids to a district with a 53 percent high-school graduation rate, or that the educational failure of so many students burdens the city with a population doomed to poverty.

That dismal graduation rate should be treated as a crisis  and a crime against morality. It's a failure directly responsible for the hopelessness, despair and crime that plague some neighborhoods. It keeps poor kids trapped.

Albany isn't alone. The educational struggle of poor children is one of the nation's great intractable problems  which might lead you to assume progressives would be more open to the approaches advocated by DeVos, an activist/philanthropist who has dedicated her life to shaking up our sclerotic education system.

But you'd be wrong.

Let's get back to whether schools should matter in the mayor's race. Let's hear what candidate Carolyn McLaughlin says about that.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.

"I don't think you can separate local government from education," she said, adding that schools "are a determining factor for whether people will be living in the city."

McLaughlin attended Albany schools until fifth grade and Catholic schools after, then earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a master's in public administration. Her experience with private schools helps her appreciate the importance of options for poorer kids.

As common council president, McLaughlin has not hesitated to voice her opinion on school issues. She would feel especially obligated to do so as mayor, she said.

"You may not have control," she said, "but you can have influence."

Last year, McLaughlin skewered the school board for its treatment of Superintendant Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard, who ultimately resigned. By contrast, Sheehan's support for the superintendant was muted.

McLaughlin also pushed (unsuccessfully) to save the Brighter Choice middle schools from closure, saying the charters were vital for poor children. Sheehan said nothing.

McLaughlin and Sheehan both supported the controversial $196 million referendum to rebuild the high school. Council member Frank Commisso Jr., a potential mayoral candidate, opposed the spending, which voters rejected before approving a less expensive plan.

Lingering anger about the high school spending could be a factor in the mayor's race. But will schools otherwise be discussed?

For the city and its children, let's hope so.
A look back on all of our reporting of the Delphi murders since 2017

crime
By Press Trust of India: From K J M Varma

Beijing, Feb 5 (PTI) China today said it is opening up more to foreigners and granted permanent citizenship to over 1,570 foreigners last year, a 163 per cent increase compared to 2015, the highest in its history.

About 1,576 foreigners became permanent Chinese residents last year, an increase of 163 per cent on the previous year, Chinas Ministry of Public Security said.

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China has made huge progress in easing its residence and entry policies for foreigners since September 2015, which has helped attract more talent from overseas as well as boost international exchanges and the economy, the ministry statement said.

The timing of the release of the figures of granting permanent citizenship to foreigners, which is also the highest in the history of the Communist nation, coincides with concerns over US President Donald Trump trying to clamp severe restrictions over entry of immigrants and foreigners specially from seven Muslim-majority countries.

China is also welcoming foreign experts as it is investing billions of dollars in high-technology.

Foreigners with permanent residence will enjoy the same rights as Chinese citizens such as in investment, housing purchases and schooling, among other rights, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

One year after new measures were implemented, Shanghai saw an year-on-year increase of six times over the number of permanent residence applications from foreigners and their families.

The number of such applications in Beijing last year increased 426 per cent from that of 2015.

Foreigners made over 56.5 million trips to China last year, up 8.9 per cent from 2015, the report said.

At present, 15 Chinese cities allow a 72-hour visa-free entry for nationals of certain countries.

Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang offer 144-hour visa-free stays for international transit passengers from certain countries. PTI KJV SUA SUA

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: Surat, Feb 5 (PTI) Citing Centres "indifference" towards Gujarat on railway front, Congress workers today garlanded Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu with a black cloth.

The party workers reached near Prabhu by posing as the supporters of BJP, taking police by surprise.

Twelve Congress workers were detained by police after the incident which occurred in Nanpura locality.

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As soon as Prabhu stepped out of his vehicle, protesters garlanded him with the black cloth and also offered him a lollipop.

The minister was in city to attend a function organised at the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry building.

Around fifty protesters had gathered outside the venue and were raising slogans before Prabhus arrival but police managed to keep them at a distance. However, some protesters managed to go near the minister.

"We have detained twelve Congress party workers in this connection. We did not have any information regarding the protest plan by them. We will be taking strongest action against them," said Surat police commissioner Satish Sharma.

However, Prabhu went on to attend the programmes, including an address to members of the SGCCI, and a Digi Dhan mela.

In a series of tweets, Prabhu said he laid foundation stone for 35 road under-bridges across Gujarat, and dedicated to nation "a host of railway infra, passenger amenities across Gujarat at Surat."

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said they will continue similar protests against the BJPs "anti-people policies and Centres indifference towards Gujarat."

"In the last three years, Railway fare as well as price of platform tickets have gone up, and despite charging Swachh Bharat cess to passengers, railway platforms remain unclean. Centre has done little for the state in the last three years," he said.

Union MoS for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala, who was also in city to receive Prabhu, criticised the manner in which the protest was staged.

"People should rise above party politics to acknowledge the fact the Railway Minister has come to Surat to inaugurate projects that will benefit the state. And if they are not able to do so, they should at least keep quiet. But Congress is well known for indulging in negativity," he said. PTI CORR KA PD NSK BAS

--- ENDS ---
Its pretty messed up that sexual assault is even an issue in Australias music industry, but a Hobart security company has suggested drones may be the answer to stopping it at festivals.

The owner of the company, who spoke anonymously to The Examiner, recommended large music events use drone cameras in mosh pits to survey bad behaviour.

The company owner, who The Examiner named Greg, said sexual assault is a showstopper for everyone and that its stunting the growth of Tasmanias festival industry.

Promoters are trying to get good music for [Tasmania], but if this sort of thing happens, no-one will come, he said.

Greg said he currently stations plain-clothed security guards amongst the festival crowd to assist in stopping bad behaviour.

The article doesnt actually describe what constitutes bad behaviour, but considering the numerous odious reports from local festivals (Rainbow Serpent cited four reports of sexual assault during this years festival), a new method of harm reduction is certainly needed  but maybe drones arent the answer.

In 2015, Enrique Iglesias was onstage in Mexico when he reached up and grabbed one of the drone cameras flying overhead getting shots of the cheering crowd. He sliced his hand so badly he fractured his middle finger and required a skin graft and reconstructive surgery.

Then again, Enrique getting cut by a drone seems like a small price to pay for the safety of people at festivals.
Super Dave Takes on Mainstream Media

When are the people of this country going to stand up and demand that the mass media either prints the truth, or they print all their stories as an editorial only?Over the past few days I have observed several stories where mass media makes a sensational headline with a story only to at the very bottom of the article in so many words put a disclaimer stating that the information wasnt really obtained from a reliable source. Three major broadcasting networks think that showing nudity on TV is a sin, but slandering a persons reputation with half-truths and out and out lies is acceptable.If I had a job at the White House I would hate to think of the rumors I could so easily start relating to just about anyone, because it seems that if it came from somebody at the White House its fact rather it is or not. And instead of exercising good journalism the AP for example instead runs with the story since it appears that takes priority over the truth.A classic example here is a story the AP just recently publicized where they said they had a source that claims the wording of a phone conversation between Pres. Trump and president of Mexico contained certain words. One phrase of those words was Bad hombre. How many movies have you watched on TV at the theater wherever that the term bad hombre was used?Now if you ever have used the term bad hombre in your life I would suggest you immediately apologize for it for whatever reason I have no idea because if you dont the AP will drag your ass to the nearest pole stack wood all around your feet and burn your ass in the name of journalism. President Trump said it and so now the AP thinks he uses it all the time. They cant prove he does but will try to make you think he does.The AP just the other day ran with this headline;That was followed with, President Donald Trump warned in a phone call with his Mexican counterpart that he was ready to send U.S. troops to stop "bad hombres down there" unless the Mexican military does more to control them, according to an excerpt of a transcript of the conversation obtained by The Associated Press.Now they didnt clarify who Pres. Trump meant as bad hombres nor did they make clear till later on down in the story the exact wording that was supposedly spoken, You have a bunch of bad hombres down there," Trump told Pena Nieto, according to the excerpt given to AP. "You aren't doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn't, so I just might send them down to take care of it."A person with access to the official transcript of the phone call provided only that portion of the conversation to The Associated Press. The person gave it on condition of anonymity because the administration did not make the details of the call public.Whoa, hold the horses here Nelly, we dont know who the person is that gave the information, and since the details of the call were not made public, how do we even know, yes, how we even know as the public, that those words were even said to begin with. Sure didnt stop the AP from twisting those words around and words that are not proven fact to begin with.Now Mexico's foreign relations department said the report was "based on absolute falsehoods. The Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's gave this response. Mexico denies that Trump's remarks were threatening. Followed up with Eduardo Sanchez, spokesman for Mexico's presidential office denied the tone of the conversation was hostile or humiliating, saying it was respectful. Mercy sakes alive the prints a headline for a story such as this making it sound like Pres. Trump is trying to make angry everybody in the free world all the while pointing out others who claim different. Is that what is meant by talking out both sides of your mouth?Negative, negative, negative, negative, Im so sick and tired of such negative news, full of half-truths, lies and twisted headlines. Another person here in Kansas City that I know used this same AP story headlines and made a huge negative post about Pres. Trump with it. He didnt include the whole story and when I brought the whole story to his attention his remarks were something along the line of classic Donald Trump official transcript. After I told them that Id pulled those remarks that I made to them from the AP site where they had supposedly pulled the garbage they posted... Nothing, absolutely nothing. You cant very well argue your negative against the truth.If its on Twitter and if its on Facebook people have got to the point where they are so stupid they accepted as fact. Another local blogger the other day liked a story that started from a twitter account.That twitter account has since been suspended after being reported by numerous people as a hate account. The person who made the account falsely claiming whom they were, they were using the N-word repeatedly, were making positive Trump comments followed by negative Trump comments. But this was liked and parts shared by tens of thousands of people before the truth came out that it was all a lie or something. Who knows what makes people create accounts and do such things? Of course when I tried to point out to the local blogger that the story they had supported was false, a scam, a fraud, their response was to call me a pest because I showed them the truth. But you see they never saw the truth because they refuse to go look at the truth using the excuse the N-word was on there. Sorry I didnt put the N-word on there, it was just a posting that they earlier had liked that contained the N-word. But in the end so many I guess anymore live in a world of Unicorns and rainbows with huge pots of gold at the end of them.How do we deal with all this negative news, to put something on and call it a rumor is one thing and I know people attacked Tony about his insiders but I also hear inside stuff to. Sometimes I pass it on sometimes I dont. If you claim youre being told a rumor then everybody should be able to read it and then judge it for what it says while knowing that it is a rumor and decide from there how they want to think about it or believe it. If somebody stands up on the good grace of their name and declares something is true then that I would probably assume it to be more factual. But you got to remember in this day and age putting your name on the truth could get you fired just as easy as putting your name on a lie will get you fired or public chastised.I have never seen a time with so much hate running wildly in our streets completely out of control. Yes I said out of control because it is out of control. Its amazing how many people youll bump into that think they know whats going on, only to find out what they had read was wrong but they thought it was right because there it was in front of them in print. Willie Nelson once said these words that I have always liked very well, Lie to no one, if its somebody close to you a lie will mess it up, if its not somebody close to you, who are they to know anything in the first place.##########
Todaygathered to talk about immigration and recent Prez Trump policies that have caused controversy, uproar and discussion across the globe.Here are a few highlights according to our blog community . . .- Amid a massive crowd, there was only one anti-immigrant voice who started shouting and faced some push back from the crowd. Interestingly, Congressman Cleaver urged calm and encouraged the somewhat angry dude to speak and share his opinions.- A group of "dreamers" hijacked the conversation for a moment and presented a list of demands to the Congressman along with testimony about the fears and frustrations they confront given their illegal alien/undocumented status.- The Congressman encouraged the youngsters and everyone in the crowd to contact their elected officials to continue the conversation and make their feelings known . . .Altogether, it was a diverse group of people showing a lot of concern for the local impact of new immigration rules on their community and a lot more productive than Internets hateration that never really convinced anybody.You decide . . .
KICK-ASS CITY HALL INSIDERS WARN THAT THE NEW SINGLE-TERMINAL AIRPORT CAMPAIGN IS ON DECK AND ONLY AWAITS VOTER APPROVAL OF $800 MILLION WORTH OF GO BONDS . . . TRANSLATION: KANSAS CITY TAXPAYERS CONFRONT BILLIONS WORTH OF DEBT AS POLITICOS PLAN THEIR 2017 AGENDA!!!

"Go ahead and put it on the ballot. Let's do it in August. I'm confident that voters will always choose lower costs and convenience over the empty promises of this Administration."

APRIL IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF HIGHER TAXES FOR KANSAS CITY IN 2017

The never-ending litany of higher Kansas City taxes and costly pet projects continues as elected leaders are already in the planning stages of anotherairport campaign as they ask taxpayers to take on nearly a billion dollars worth of debt in April.Accordingly . . .A few items to consider . . .- The most troubling aspect of the single-terminal airport plan is that politicos are working as hard as possible to keep the decision away from voters and creatingabout Southwest picking up the tab . . . Which isthat will get handed back to travelers and taxpayers.- Quote from behind the scenes: "This is probably more important than all of the bond junk. They (Mayor Sly's Administration and consultants) are primarily focused on the airport and voters are just an afterthought. There is a lot of arrogance in that office. They don't think people will catch on to how much they've been spending and even more money that they're hoping to get."- Tax fighters are planning to raise a ruckus in upcoming committee meetingsthe only thing that has held this project back is overwhelming skepticism from the public via local media . . . Andwhy a litany ofStill, supporters of airport renovation are holding out hope that any plan for a new single-terminal gets the scrutiny of voters:And so . . . What Kansas City voters must understand is thatand beyond.You decide . . .
The Greek state should withdraw from any kind of business activity and create conditions allowing the attraction of private investments, Theodoros Fessas, president of the Federation of Hellenic Enterprises (SEV) said

The Greek state should withdraw from any kind of business activity and create conditions allowing the attraction of private investments, Theodoros Fessas, president of the Federation of Hellenic Enterprises (SEV) said on Friday.

Addressing the 1st Greek Law Digest Conference on "Legal & Business Challenges in todays Greece", Fessas said: "In Greece, we do not need a businessman-state. It has been proven that the state cannot be a good businessman. A serious state should be restricted to its supervisory and controlling role, setting the terms of operation for businesses and to provide public goods, such as security, health, education, in a way that protects public interest in terms of cost and quality".

Fessas presented six proposals for a relaunch of the state, including:

 Offering citizens the option to choose between a public and private agency (kindergartens, hospital care)

 Funding the purchase of specific goods/services by eligible citizens, instead of producing them on a monopoly base by the state

 The state should focus its action on the strict quality and transparency control and adhering to budget goals

 Public sector enterprises, hospitals, schools, setting annual goals for improving their performance and maintaining high-level satisfaction rates, competing with private companies

 Privatisations should be accompanied by an efficient operation of regulatory authorities, to avoid creation of monopoly conditions in the market and to protect society from unfair business practices. All planned privatizations should be implemented immediately

 Outsourcing: Greece lags behind in this very successful practice.

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
Actor Daniel Balaji, who's known for his powerful villain roles, will be locking horns with Arvind Swami in his upcoming film.

By India Today Web Desk: Balaji, who shot to fame after playing menacing villains in films like Vettaiyaadu Vilayadu and Polladhavan, says it's an honour to work with Arvind Swami.

Basking in the success of Bogan, Arvind Swami and Daniel Balaji are teaming up for a Tamil outing, which will be directed by Selva.

ALSO READ: Bogan Review

WATCH: Katamarayudu Teaser

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ALSO READ: First look of Mahesh Babu's next with AR Murugadoss to be out on Ugadi

"To share screen space with Arvind Swami sir will be such an honour. I play a very stylish villain and I'm really looking forward to this project. I join the sets from March," Daniel told IANS.

It must be noted that Arvind earned a niche for himself after playing the suave villain in the blockbuster film Thani Oruvan. His Bogan too opened to decent response from fans and the critics couldn't stop appreciating his performance in the film.

Daniel, however, feels it will be a challenge to top Arvind.

"He has played villains' roles effortlessly. It's not going to be easy to match him in terms of performance. But I'm glad I'll get to learn so much from him," he said.

Also starring Nandita Swetha and Ritika Singh, the film will see Arvind Swami as a police officer.

Meanwhile, Arvind and Trisha are collaborating for Sathuranga Vettai 2, a sequel to the superhit Tamil film of the same name.

--- ENDS ---
The Greek Federation of Private Employees of Greece (OIYE) on Monday condemned the practice of offering employees gift vouchers for use in supermarkets and diners

The Greek Federation of Private Employees of Greece (OIYE) on Monday condemned the practice of offering employees gift vouchers for use in supermarkets and diners, in lieu of regular salary. The union said that companies, including large firms, were illegally replacing pay with vouchers and presenting this as a way to incentivize workers and improve their living standards when, in fact, it was a way to evade taxes and social insurance contributions.

It also criticised the companies accepting such vouchers, which it said were chiefly used to replace various categories of overtime pay.

It equally condemned the newly-introduced tactic where companies that had transferred their base to Bulgaria then hired employees in Greece as a foreign firm, with pay arriving in the form of a prepaid card linked to a Bulgarian bank account, thus sidestepping Greek social insurance payments entirely.

Source: ANA-MPA

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




UN Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide said he was encouraged by the progress achieved at specialist level talks in Mont Pelerin

UN Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide said he was encouraged by the progress achieved at specialist level talks in Mont Pelerin.

Speaking after meeting Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias in Athens on Friday, he said their discussion provided an "opportunity to go through in detail some of the ideas we are developing on how to think about a new security framework for Cyprus, one which can be accepted and supported both by the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities but also by the guarantor powers, so that they can be part of the necessary change from what we have today to what we will have tomorrow." ANA-MPA reported.

Without disclosing what had been discussed in detail, to preserve the confidentiality of the talks at this stage, Eide said he was encouraged, "particularly by the second session of the conference on Cyprus, which happened at the high civil servant level at Mont Pelerin a few weeks ago, which showed that there was a certain space for further discussions which we are elaborating in this particular visit."

The working group of deputies met in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, on January 18-19, and according to Eide, it "successfully completed the mandate entrusted to it by the Conference."

Eide said his discussions with Kotzias had focused on security aspects of the Cyprus issue and a conference on Cyprus to be held in early March in Geneva, as recently agreed by President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

"We do not think it will be the last meeting, we think its important to have at least one intermediate meeting, but it will be convened at a political level," the UN envoy said.

Eide also commented on "some complicated tensions in the relationship between Turkey and Greece" at the present time, noting that this was "a background setting that I would rather be without" but which should not be allowed to negatively affect the talks.

According to ANA-MPA, Eide said: "I do think that if we all play our cards well we might actually see Cyprus as an arena for cooperation - not only between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots but also between

Greece, Turkey and the other interested parties. So, rather than letting the talks be negatively affected by other surrounding issues we might actually see that it is a positive in broader regional developments. This is, at least, my ambition.

Eide said he will be visiting Turkey next week and was in contact with the United Kingdom and the European Union in order to discuss the "modalities for the next convening of the conference."

Source: CNA

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
King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), the worlds largest privately-funded new city, said it had awarded contracts worth SR1.6 billion ($426 million) for its upcoming residential and industrial development projects in 2016.



Located on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, KAEC covers an area of 181 sq km, approximately the size of Washington DC. It comprises King Abdullah Port, the Coastal Communities residential districts, the Haramain Railway district and the Industrial Valley.



KAEC is being developed by Emaar, The Economic City, a publicly listed Saudi joint-stock company established in 2006.



Of the contracts awarded, 30 per cent of them were for developments in the Industrial Valley and another 40 per cent were for residential developments, said a statement from the Saudi company.



The announced deals do not include contracts and agreements with companies that have investments in KAEC.



About 88 per cent of these agreements have been signed with Saudi-based companies, said a top official.



KAEC is continuing to grow and our development plan remains firmly on track, remarked Fahd Al Rasheed, the group chief executive and managing director of KAEC.



"Our status as a privately-funded development has been an important factor in our performance and our strong cash position has allowed us to continue to invest steadily across our activities toward achieving KAEC sustainable development," he stated.



Al Rasheed pointed out that the value of projects under implementation in KAEC was worth over SR6 billion ($1.6 billion) and does not include the implementation of contracts in the King Abdullah Port and the industrial and commercial companies investments in the city.



KAEC has registered more than 2,700 vendors to work on the development of the city since 2007 and most of the vendors are national companies and organisations, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Municipality on Sunday launched the eighth edition of "Car Free Day" with the participation of a number of government, semi-government and private organizations.



Hussain Nasser Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality said: "Each vehicle, with a full tank fuel size of 15 gallons, emits nearly 140 kg of carbon dioxide into the air, taking the annual emissions to four tons, contributing towards global warming. The campaign will contribute in achieving our objectives of UAE National Agenda 2021 in preserving air quality and reducing carbon footprint.



He said that the initiative will effectively contribute towards promoting the use of public transport instead of using personal vehicles to get to work. "It shows Dubai's commitment to international climate change agreements on reducing emissions of gases that causes global warming," he said.



Lootah revealed that this year the initiative has been linked to the Year of Giving by having specialists in the Municipality calculate the carbon footprint and convert it into cash and donate it to charity work in line with the Year of Giving that was announced by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.



"From two organizations during the first Car Free Day, the participation has grown to 1,070 last year. The environmental results achieved have also multiplied. Compared to 1,000 people in the first year, 30,000 people abandoned personal vehicles and turned to environmentally-friendly transport instead," said Khalid Sharif, assistant director general for Environment, Health and Safety Control.



He said that the exhibition, held alongside the eighth event, displayed environmentally-friendly vehicles, which run on alternative fuel sources, whether solar or electric power or biofuels. "It also showcased the latest practices, techniques and achievements related to air quality and the conservation of natural resources," said Al Awadhi.  TradeArabia News Service
Global Industrial Resources (GIR) will showcase its exclusive range of aluminum products at the Gulf Industry Fair 2017, which opens in Bahrain on Tuesday (February 7).



We would like to take this opportunity to show our appreciation for Gulf Industry Fairs efforts in promoting Bahrains industrial capabilities on a global scale. Support from a platform such as GIF helps GIR promote our status as a regional supplier of aluminium related products, said Ali Najjar, vice chairman and managing director of GIR.



GIR supplies international brands from the aluminum, metal and petrochemical industries such as cathode collector bars, steel bars, round bars, anode, refractories, material handling equipment, spares, foundry chemicals and special lubricants.



We will be using GIFs platform to promote our exclusive range of aluminum based products developed for aluminum potlines, aluminum casthouse and carbon plants, added Ali Najjar.



The GIR Group leads three major subsidiary companies who have achieved the highest of reputations in their respective product sectors. BIF (Bahrain Industrial Filters Mfg.) specialises in manufacturing dry and liquid filtration applications; GIR Lining is specialised in providing dedicated services for Aluminium Remelt/Holding Furnaces and the Parker Store, a well-known one-stop-shop showroom for fitting hydraulic and pneumatic products.



Global Industrial Resources presence at GIF showcases Bahrains capabilities of delivering industrial products to the international marketplace; their commitment in establishing Bahrain as a hub for trading quality industrial products is a major stimulation to Bahrains economy, said Jubran Abdulrahman, managing director of HCE, the event organiser.



The Northern Gulfs leading annual industrial expo takes place from February 7 to 9 at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain.



Gulf Industry Fair 2017 is sponsored by Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) and Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), in association with NOGA. Majaal and Naffco will be supporting the Industrial Facilities and Fire and Safety sectors, respectively.



Supporting organisations for GIF 2017 include AHK Saudi Arabia, Indias PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the German Saudi Arabian Liaison for Economic Affairs, the Saudi British Economic Offset Programme and Bahrain Industrial Association.  TradeArabia News Service






The Trump administration moved the US department of justice on Saturday night to appeal a Federal District Court ruling against the suspension of President Trump's travel ban on people from seven mainly Muslim nations.



At airports around the world, small numbers of travellers from the previously banned countries began venturing trips to the US, knowing the judges ruling could be overturned at any time, reported The New York Times.



The State Department reversed its cancellation of visas for people from the seven affected countries  Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen  and aid groups scrambled to take advantage of what they saw as a brief window for refugees to enter the US.



On Saturday night, as Trump arrived at a Red Cross gala at Mar-a-Lago, his waterfront Florida resort, where he was spending the first getaway weekend of his presidency, reporters asked him if he was confident he would prevail in the governments appeal. Well win, he replied. For the safety of the country, well win.



The legal manoeuvring led Trump to lash out at Judge James Robart of the Federal District Court in Seattle throughout the day, prompting criticism that the president had failed to respect the judicial branch and its power to check on his authority.



In an early-morning Twitter post, Trump wrote, The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!



Late Saturday, the Justice Department filed papers saying that it would seek to have the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit block the judges decision, the Times said.



Judge Robart, who was appointed by President George W Bush, declared in his ruling on Friday that theres no support for the administrations argument that we have to protect the US from individuals from the affected countries.



Judge Robarts ruling also barred the administration from enforcing its limits on accepting refugees. The State Department said on Saturday that refugees, including Syrians, could begin arriving as early as Monday. Syrians had faced an indefinite ban under the executive order. His ruling applied nationwide.



The court said it would soon issue an order setting a briefing schedule, according to the newspaper.
A US federal appeals court has rejected the Trump administration's request to immediately reinstate a travel ban blocked by a federal judge on Friday, media reports said.



The Department of Justice had lodged the request with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as part of an appeal against a lower court order temporarily suspending the travel ban on citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries, reported NDTV, citing Agence France-Presse.



With this, the travel ban will remain suspended until the full case has been heard. The court gave the White House and the states of Washington and Minnesota challenging it a deadline of Monday to present more arguments, according to a BBC report.



The Department of Justice was given a deadline of 3 pm Monday to supply more documents supporting its position.



In its appeal, the Justice Department said Judge James Robart had overreached by "second guessing" the president on a national security matter.



It also argued that only the president could decide who can enter or stay in the US.
Jotun Paints, one of the worlds leading coating brands for industrial protection, is showcasing its innovative range of high-performance coating technologies for offshore and onshore industries at the upcoming Gulf Industry Fair 2017 (GIF) in Bahrain.



The Northern Gulf's leading business-to-business industrial show, GIF will be organised by Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE) from February 7 to 9 under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa the Prime Minister of Bahrain.



The Norwegian coating brand offers a wide repertoire of products that incorporate the latest technological developments to decorate and protect when applied to industrial substrates.



Venkat Krishnan, the regional marketing support manager for Middle East and Africa, India, said: We are delighted to unveil our new range of specialised coating products at the Gulf Industry Fair 2017. The show offers a unique experience and opportunity to network and sell across the Middle Easts industrial sectors."



According to him, Bahrains strategic location in the Gulf allows exhibitors at GIF to market to key targets in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.



We will be showcasing our four main coating products - Tankguard, SeaQuantum, Steelmaster and Jotachar - all of which have been developed and tested to protect industrial, marine, deep sea, offshore and onshore vessels, refineries and chemical plants, revealed Krishnan.



Tankguard is specifically designed to protect the internal lining of offshore and onshore tanks, pipes and is resistant to crude oil temperatures up to 160 deg C.



Jotachar PFP is the industrys first mesh -free solution for hydrocarbon and jet fires, currently used in onshore drilling, power plants and oil and gas installations.



Steelmaster 1200 WF is a water-borne intumescent coating which provides structural steel with 180 minutes of fire protection against cellulosic fire scenarios.



The SeaQuantum Ultra S coating offers self-polishing and low friction antifouling to offshore and slow steaming vessels. This coating has been applied to over 10,000 vessels and has built a reputation as the ultimate fuel saver in the marine coatings business.



Jubran Abdulrahman, the managing director of HCE, said: "Jotun Paints is the worlds leading coating brand for industrial protection. Their debut at GIF is eagerly anticipated by GCC businesses looking to take advantage of the cost-effective use of coatings for their companies."



Gulf Industry Fair 2017 is sponsored by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) in association with Noga. Majaal and Naffco will be supporting the Industrial Facilities and Fire and Safety zones of the event respectively.



Supporting organisations for GIF 2017 include AHK Saudi Arabia, Indias PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the German Saudi Arabian Liaison for Economic Affairs, the Saudi British Economic Offset Programme and the Bahrain Industrial Association.-TradeArabia News Service
Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has announced the official opening of a 320-MW hydroelectric power plant at the Upper Atbara and Setit Dam Complexs in Eastern Sudan.



The $1.9-billion complex consists of the Rumela Dam on Upper Atbarah River and Burdana Dam on Setit River. The twin dams, hold a storage capacity of 2.7 billion cu m of water.



The project utilises natural water resources to reinforce agriculture production and generate much-needed electricity.



ADFDs $90 million concessionary loan contributed to the successful completion of the plants power source - Rumela Dam and Burdana Dam, said a statement from the Abu Dhabi fund.



The plant was inaugurated by Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir in the presence of Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, the director general of ADFD, Badr El Din Mahmoud Hamid Abbas, the Sudanese Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Hamad Mohammed Al Junaibi, UAE Ambassador to Sudan, and several high-ranking Sudanese officials.



The project also features schools, mosques, transportation infrastructure, healthcare centres and 11 housing communities.



Moreover, the Complex, is also expected to provide efficient irrigation systems and networks to increase agricultural production in the New Halfa area.



Apeaking at the launch, Al Suwaidi said: "ADFD remains committed to supporting the Sudanese government in achieving the countrys developmental goals. In line with our mission to fund key sectors that yield significant benefits, our latest project goes a long way in serving the needs of the Sudanese population."



"The project directly supports 93 villages overall socio-economic growth and led to the creation of 4,000 new jobs. Moreover, not only does the plant provide a sustainable source of energy, it also helps expand agricultural areas, increases irrigation efficiency and enhances food and energy security," he added.



Hamid Abbas, thanking the UAE government for its continued support, emphasized that ADFDs many developmental efforts have directly contributed to improving living standards in Sudan.



The 30,000 families affected by the projects infrastructure have been properly relocated to homes equipped with electricity and clean drinking water, he stated.



Furthermore, he noted that apart from giving a major boost to the national power grid, the project supplies thousands of people in the region with drinking water, and irrigates large expanses of fields growing produce for domestic and international consumption.



Since 1976, ADFD has contributed more than Dh2 billion ($544 million) to 17 sustainable development projects in Sudan across key sectors  most notably health, education, transportation, agriculture, water, irrigation and energy.-TradeArabia News Service
The Pearl-Qatars main retail hubs of Porto Arabia, Medina Centrale and Qanat Quartier have attracted 32 exciting brands during the past two months.



The Pearl-Qatar caters to a wide range of residents, visitors and tourists, offering them inspiring residences, added-value services and most importantly an eclectic retail mix that delivers a superior shopping and dining experience.



Porto Arabia received luxury men shoes and accessories label Cellini Signature in addition to Vazo and Fine Art furniture stores, Pure Fashion, The Balm Cosmetics as well as numerous cafes including Java U, Fleurs et Cafe, Flat White, La Maison du Pain, Tea Club, Classic Rock Cafe and A'la Turkish gourmet cafe and restaurant.



Medina Centrale also welcomed famed brands such as Shater Abbas, Mister Pizza and Hot Dogty as F&B concepts, Saloon Looks for men, exclusive toy store Kiddy Zone and furniture shops Global Antiques & Arts and Caracole.



For its part Qanat Quartier received the largest share of diverse new openings, being a unique and charming Venetian-themed destination offering boutique-style shopping and al fresco dining. These openings included restaurants, Casaluna, Esmer Chef and Crepa Crepa in addition to coffeeshop concepts Artist Cafe and Waffles & Coffee and ice cream label Baskin Robbins.



Qanat Quartier also welcomed some essential convenience stores much needed in this up and coming district. These encompassed mini market Crop Mart and laundry service brand Vasco, Pharmakeia Pharmacy, Majectic Real Estate agency and Niya Yoga fitness club. The first clothing retail boutique to be based in Qanat Quartier has also opened its doors to the public: The Brands Outlet allows shoppers to seek out enviable bargains from five luxury and designer labels which are permanently discounted. Also moving into the neighborhood is Nobbanolla, a brand of eco-friendly watches and accessories.



More exciting retail concepts plan to open later this year at The Pearl-Qatar, most notably in Porto Arabia include: The French Olive restaurant, Pressto laundry, Al Andalous Oud & Perfumes, Bentley car showroom, a second branch of Kiddy Zone toystore and Jasco Fitness. Medina Centrale will be expecting Tamima leather footwear, Dnata travel agency, Ajmal perfumery, El Clasico cafe and AlMajles restaurant among others. Qanat Quartier is also set to receive L'Eau De Vie Spa, Henks Flowers and Chocolate, Domino's Pizza, Lilo Cake as well as restaurants Mr. Taco, N Zain and Crepe Bechamel, the statement said.  TradeArabia News Service


In a reaction that went viral on Twitter, Trump called the 69-year-old Robart a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" opinion "essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country."

By Reuters: US Judge James Robart emerged from relative obscurity on Saturday as the first justice to come under fire from the president since he took office after his temporary order to lift Donald Trump's immigration ban.

In a reaction that went viral on Twitter, Trump called the 69-year-old Robart a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" opinion "essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country."

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THE JUDGE WHO FACED TRUMP'S WRATH

To those who know Robart, who has been on the federal bench in Seattle for more than a decade after his appointment by another Republican, President George W. Bush, the ensuing drama surrounding the move was a far cry from the judge's standard.

Also Read: US reverses travel ban after judge stayed President Trump's order

"He is relatively apolitical," said Douglas Adkins, a private equity investor and former investment banker who has known Robart since childhood. "He's not a conservative or a liberal. He's a man interested in the law and fairness."

Late on Friday, Robart grabbed national headlines with his decision to temporarily lift Trump's week-old travel ban for citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries and refugees. His ruling was just a first step in considering the merits of the case challenging the ban. The Justice Department on Saturday filed a formal notice that it intends to appeal the ruling.

TRUMP'S ANTI-JUDICIARY STAND

As a candidate, Trump had criticised federal judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was overseeing a case against his Trump University - arguing Curiel could not be impartial because of his Mexican heritage and Trump's vow to crack down on Mexican immigrants.

But by lashing out at Robart as president, Trump's anti-judiciary stance takes on new importance: it hits at the very heart of the checks and balances system meant to protect the country from government abuse of power.

Coincidentally, in his wide-reaching ruling on Friday, Robart emphasised that the three branches of government - the executive branch, Congress and the judiciary - should function as equals.

"The work of the Judiciary, and this court, is limited to ensuring that the actions taken by the other two branches comport with our country's laws, and more importantly, our constitution," Robart wrote.

Also Read: Poll suggests 40% people support Donald Trump's impeachment

JUDGE ROBART DECLINES COMMENTS

Reached by email, Robart declined to comment on Trump's tweets.

A graduate of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and Georgetown University Law Center, Robart spent 30 years in private practice at the law firm now known as Lane Powell, before being appointed to the bench by Bush in 2004.

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Adkins said Robart and his wife have no children but have been foster parents to several immigrant children over the years, primarily from Southeast Asia. Robart could not be reached for comment.

The judge served in the past as the president of the Seattle Children's Home and was a former trustee of the Children's Home Society of Washington, according to his official biography on the federal court website. Those organizations provide mental health services for at-risk youth and help troubled families.

"His involvement with children may have helped contribute to his understanding of the people impacted by this ruling but would not have shaped his interpretation of the rule of law," said Paul Lawrence, who was one of the attorneys who filed an amicus brief backing Washington State in the immigration case.

Also Read: Over 1 lakh visas revoked after President Trump imposed travel ban on 7 countries

PREVENTABLE HUMAN SUFFERING

During his confirmation hearing, Robart recalled providing pro-bono legal services early in his career to "people who in many times felt that the legal system was stacked against them." He said he learned that the law "could be, if properly used, an opportunity for them to seek redress if they had been wronged," according to a transcript of the testimony.

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Often sporting bow-ties with his black robes, Robart is known for saying from the bench in 2016 that "black lives matter." He cited the statement popularized by protesters during a hearing about a 2012 consent decree with the federal government that required the Seattle police department to address allegations of bias and excessive force.

In 2011, Robart put a temporary hold on a state rule change that would have cut government funding for disabled children and families in Washington.

"When faced with a conflict between the financial and budgetary concerns ... and the preventable human suffering," Robart wrote in that opinion, "the balance of hardships tips in the favor of preventing human suffering."

Adkins said he thought his friend would be able to take Trump's attacks in stride.

"His view is that criticism is important," said Adkins.

Also watch: US Court revokes Donald Trump's travel ban order

--- ENDS ---
Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, a leading five-star hotel in the kingdom, has appointed Richard Raab as its new general manager.



The assignment is Raabs first as general manager, having most recently served as acting general manager at Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeriah Beach.



Richard is a consummate hotelier whose extensive experience in resort management and food and beverage will be a great asset to Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, said Casson, president, Hotel Operations - Europe, Middle East and Africa. Having worked side by side to open our Jumeirah Beach resort, I wish Richard well in his new position, with full confidence in his future success.



A Swedish nationa, Raabs Four Seasons career began in the food and beverage side of the business, and has since spanned hotels and resorts in six countries prior to arriving in Bahrain. His diverse experience  and his ability to speak four languages  has prepared him well for leading the team at Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay. Among assignments in London, Hawaii, the Caribbean and St. Petersburg prior to first arriving in the Gulf region in Dubai, Raabs resume includes the legendary Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles, site of Wolfgang Pucks original CUT, now one of Manamas most popular restaurants and one of two of the international celebrity chefs dining concepts at Four Seasons in Bahrain. - TradeArabia News Service
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Every day as I post nice photos of beaches and write about fun things to do around the world, Im afraid it seems a little tone-deaf while the situation in our own backyard is so extremely uneasy. Theres more vitriol, more division than theres been in my lifetime. Half the population of the United States feels like theyve been ignored for too long, and half is terrified about having their rights taken away and scared for the overall future of our country. And thats the very reason why its still important to travel. Even if its too raw to build bridges to our immediate neighbors right now (theres so much more screaming than listening), we still must be open to the possibility of learning and growing and seeing what the world has to show us.

In the Spanish town of Toledo, Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived together in peace

Travel makes you smarter

At a very rudimentary level, travel helps you learn about the world. In elementary school, I had to memorize all the countries of the world and their capitalsand locate them on a map. In the over 25 years since Ive gone through that exercise, countries have changed, borders have shifted, and conflicts and ideologies have come and gone.

In the time Lance and I have traveled together, I cannot count the number of times Ive needed to look at a map to see exactly where a place was. Knowing where a country sits on a map is a pretty simple thing. But, without that, you cant know who its neighbors are or who its allies might be. If you cant find it on a globe, how can you make judgments about its people?

Women in traditional dress selling their goods in Otavalo, Ecuador

By far, our greatest travel learning experience was our trip to Egypt in 2011. We had booked the trip in late 2010, and in a few weeks, the country turned upside-down. On January 25th, Egyptians picked up on the unrest happening elsewhere in the Arab world and began their occupation of Tahrir Square, demanding that Hosni Mubarak resign after 30 years in office. For three weeks, we watched as 300,000+ people protested.

Memorial wall under Tahrir Square honoring those injured and killed in the January 25th Revolution

We were transfixed by the news coverage. For the first time, we paid attention to the strategic location of Egypt and its role in the Middle East peace process. We learned how important it was to have stability there and what people had coped with under 30 years of what was essentially a dictatorship. We might have given it a passing glance under normal circumstances. But since we were still planning to go, we were deeply invested in every development and became more knowledgeable for it.

Visiting the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat, Oman

Travel challenges your preconceived notions

In many ways, travel is a political act. It helps you learn about different places and cultures, improves understanding between people, and puts a face on the other. These are all things we need more of in the world, no matter what country you live in or what side of the political aisle you sit on.

Travel has the ability to challenge even the most basic cultural assumptions. Latvia was one of the first post-Soviet countries I visited. I expected everything there to be heavy. I was ready for cold weather, cold people, gray architectureeverything I associated with the Evil Empire. And I was flat wrong on every account. Riga turned out to be my favorite city in the Baltics thanks to its beautiful squares and unique Art Nouveau architecture. Part of the reason I loved it so much was because I was constantly discovering something unexpected.

Art Nouveau architecture in Riga  not what I thought a post-communist city would look like

It gets much deeper than that, though. Travel can challenge the idea of deep cultural and religious divides. Our first visit to a Muslim-majority country was on a brief day trip to Morocco from Spain. As we walked through the market area of Tangier, we clearly stood out from the local populationthe first time wed ever felt that conspicuous.

The people we met in Morocco were not what we expected

But the day of our visit happened to be an historic dayit was 2008, and President Obama had just been elected for the first time a few hours before. Everywhere we went, men in their traditional caftan robes and fez hats wanted to show us the front page of their local newspaper that declared Obamas victory. They shouted Obama! Obama! at us with enormous grins as we walked through the streets. Though they didnt know any English, they wanted to share their happiness and connect with us in the best way they could. It could not have been a warmer welcome. Dont believe it when people say there are whole countries or religions that hate Americans.

Travel makes you see your own country differently

America is far from perfect. We have made plenty of mistakes abroad. And I wont list all the issues domestically, but suffice it to say that there are many. At the same time, Americans have freedoms and conveniences that dont exist everywhere. From the right to free speech to the ease of picking up mail, we are privileged in big and little ways that it can be easy to overlook. Most of the time, most things work. Nothing has made me appreciate that more than some of the things Ive encountered abroad from a non-functioning toilet in rural Peru to a lack of clean water in the Dominican Republic to a memorial to those killed standing up against the government in Egypt.

Albanian and American flags woven together in an Albania bazaar

Its also been enlightening to learn about how others see us. While we certainly have better relations with some countries than others, weve seen pro-Americanism pop up in unexpected places. In Albaniaa country with a Muslim majority thats still recovering from four decades under Communismthere is a statue of President George W. Bush and a handful of businesses named after him in the town of Fushe-Kruja. Why? Because he was the first president to visit after the fall of Communism.

Bill Clinton statue in the capital of Kosovo, where Americans are greeted with great enthusiasm

In neighboring Macedonia (formerly part of Yugoslavia), we watched a woman well up with pride because President Obama mentioned the country once in a speech. Such a little thing meant so much to her. And in Kosovo (another Muslim-majority country), a statue of President Clinton stands proudly by an American flag. Major streets in the capital are named after him and President Bush (43), and theres a dress store named after Hillary. Its been fascinating to see how these countries pay tribute to the U.S. when they are so far off the radar for most Americans.

Talking with a village chief and his family in Zambia

Travel promotes understanding

Regardless of what the governmental relationship is, people themselves tend to be welcoming. Talk to them. Rent an Airbnb or try out couch surfing as way to get a glimpse into local life. If thats not your style, take a tour and really talk with your guide about their experiences. Strike up a conversation at a bar. It might surprise you.

Travel safely

We always encourage people to get out of their comfort zone, but be safe. Listen to your gut. For the first time this year weve decided not to travel to a few places because of unrest (not because of blanket State Department warnings that say things like dont go to Europe). Dont go places that youre fundamentally uncomfortable, and always be aware of your surroundings.

Keep traveling

Keep expanding your world. Think about pushing the envelope, meeting people, and trying to understand them just a little bit, even though your time may be limited. What we all need now are bridges between people (no matter where they live), more understanding, more citizens of the world.
President Donald Trump tweeted on Friday that America needs to get smart in the light of the Paris incident. Trump threw the blame of the Paris attack into the radical Islamic terrorists outside the Louvre Museum in the French capital.

According to his tweet, some of the tourists were locked down and that France is on edge again. There was a man spotted who was yelling "Allahu Akbar", "God is Great", in Arabic and has attacked the French soldiers on patrol near the museum. This made them officially described that it was an Islamic attack. The soldier tried to attack the assailant and made an open fire while shooting him five times, 24 Hour News reported.

Accordingly, France has the highest Muslim percentage of any country in the Western Europe. This fact likely not lost on the recent travel ban that the president instituted earlier this week. Further, French soldiers were able to neutralize the assailant without harming any civilians.

Further, President Donald Trump also added that his contentious conversation with an Australian prime minister was fake news. During his tweet on Friday morning, the president thanked the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for telling the truth about the very civil conversation that fake news media lied to. It was Turnbull who told the journalists that Trump had agreed to honor a deal in settling refugees among around 1,600 asylum seekers, Fox News reported.

Most of these people were in island camps of the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. According to Turnbull, US and Australia relationship is really strong. On the other hand, Australia had refused to accept these people and instead, they will pay for them just to be housed on the improvised islands. Meanwhile, the US president took a Twitter post and calling the agreement to Australia a dumb deal.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
By Press Trust of India: Los Angeles, Feb 5 (PTI) Hitting likes on Facebook posts and updating your status on the social networking site more often may be harmful to your mental and physical health, a new study has warned.

Holly Shakya, an assistant professor at University of California, San Diego and colleagues analysed data from about 5,200 people with an average age of 48 over three time periods.

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The study participants rated their mental and physical health on a scale of one to 4 and life satisfaction on a scale of one to 10, and reported their body mass index (BMI) numbers.

The participants also allowed the researchers to access to their Facebook data.

In addition to finding that people who gave out more "likes" had worse health, the researchers found that those who updated their Facebook status more often reported having worse mental health, on average, than those who updated their status less often, Live Science reported.

These links were shown to grow over time, suggesting both that people whose health is worse may turn to Facebook and that using Facebook may make things worse, researchers said.

They also found that people with higher BMI may use Facebook more but not that Facebook leads to higher BMI.

Peoples social media use is a complex topic, and studies dont agree on whether too much Facebook is harmful.

Previous study found that people who show off their romantic relationships on Facebook were more likely to report higher quality relationships.

However this was the case only if their affection was authentic, the researchers said.

Another study showed that accepting more friendships on Facebook was associated with living longer, but initiating friendships did not confer the same benefit.

The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. PTI SAR MHN

--- ENDS ---
For both Gilles Peterson and Sarathy Korwar, the year ahead is set to be one full of possibilities.

By Srijani Ganguly/Mail Today: For both Gilles Peterson and Sarathy Korwar, the year ahead is set to be one full of possibilities. Peterson, a DJ, label owner and radio broadcaster all-in-one, and Korwar, who is a classically trained tabla player and jazz musician, are both working on albums.

The two musicians, who performed at the first ever edition of the GOAT festival in Goa last month, are currently in the middle of live concerts. While Korwar will be in Italy for five gigs in the middle of February, before heading to Poland and the US in March, Peterson says he'll be playing at the Singapore Jazz Festival in March then Sonar Hong Kong before taking a 10-day holiday in Japan.

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After the holiday, Peterson will come back to business. "I'm looking to work with George Clinton on a documentary - hopefully we will start filming in New Orleans in May," he says, adding, "We (at the record label) have a new album that I just produced, for Dayme Arocena, with multi-instrumentalist Dexter Story. I'm very excited about Arocena's year ahead. I'm also loving the work of a jazz artist from south London called Nubya Garcia."

Also read: This educator is using music to nurture and teach children

Korwar, who spends his time between Pune and London, has plenty up his sleeve as well. He says, "I'm currently working on my second album, which is going to feature some rappers and spoken work poets from Dharavi and the UK."

The musician is very excited about the whole project, and has even recorded with the Dharavi poets in Mumbai.

He continues, "I'm also premiering a suite of music called 'Cicadas' (commissioned by zeroclassikal) which is for an ensemble of Indian classical musicians that looks at breaking the inherent hierarchies that exist in conventional classical performance."

With these projects in mind, the two musicians promise 2017 to be an extremely exciting one.

--- ENDS ---
Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Mohali, February 5

Its like the culmination of the final examination and the time to enjoy and relax. This was the common sentiment shared by the candidates of the main three political parties in Mohali on Sunday.

The three candidates-Capt Tajinder Pal Singh Sidhu (SAD-BJP), Balbir Singh Sidhu (Congress) and Narinder Singh Shergill (Aam Aadmi Party)- were seen completely relaxed as the election process came to an end yesterday evening.

Almost after three months, I realised that its Sunday today and its day to relax, enjoy with family and socialise with people, said Balbir Singh Sidhu.

Sidhu, who attended three marriages and two bhog ceremonies, said during his election campaign, he had to miss some social functions. I always prefer to go to such functions to share joy and sorrows of my acquaintances, said Sidhu while spending some quality time at his residence in Phase VII.

For IAS-turned-politician Captain Sidhu, who was virtually on the move after resigning from the post of the Secretary, Punjab Mandi Board, to contest in the election, said it was only today he realised that his post-retirement life had begun.

If I win the elections, a new chapter will begin in my life. But today, I realised that another new innings has already started. In the past one month, I did not get time to think over it due to a hectic schedule, said Sidhu.

Today I called my Toronto-based daughter, added Sidhu.

AAP candidate Narinder Singh Shergill had a similar experience. Today, I opened my office a bit late. This is the only change today, said Shergill smilingly. Shergill, who met his party activists and visitors at his office, said he was feeling a bit relaxed but certainly its not the time to take rest.

My evening is reserved for my family and we are going for a dinner together, said Shergill. The final exams are over and its time to wait for result, said the candidates.

Dera Bassi: After the polling, the life became normal again for candidates from the Dera Bassi constituency. For SAD-BJP nominee NK Sharma, the day started at 7 am, interacting with people. I am in the service of people. Whenever they require me, I am there to address their concerns.

Sharma takes 76 per cent voting in his constituency as a good sign. Development has been one of the major issues that impacted the Assembly polls, he adds.

The MLA on Sunday remained busy, thanking the voters of his constituency. A stream of party workers kept dropping in at his residence to give feedback about the day of polling.

The happiest person around him was his wife Babita Sharma, who prepared a special breakfast for him. In the past two months, he barely joined us on the dining table. I am happy that we had our breakfast together this morning. I had made special paranthas for him, she quips.

Sharma further said, The elections may be over but still there is a lot of party work to do. People visiting me cant be avoided, the MLA adds.

Meanwhile, Congress candidate Deepinder Singh Dhillon met the party workers at his office and visited various localities in the constituency to thank residents for their support.

After a busy schedule, Dhillon spent some time his family. The period of canvassing was long and tiresome, he says.

AAP candidate Bibi Sarabjit Kaur also preferred to spend some quality time with her daughter Manpreet Kaur Dolly. Bibi said, It has been a hectic campaign. Now, as it has finally ended, I can think of spending some time with my family and party workers. We hardly spent any time together these days.

I love to read religious books. But due to canvassing, I couldnt get much time for it. But now, I will spend some time for it in the morning.

Kharar: It was a sunny day for candidates from the Kharar Vidhan Sabha segment. Congress candidate Jagmohan Singh Kang, who resides in Chandigarh, said,  I am satisfied with the large turnout and hopeful of of a positive outcome. I will spend upcoming days with my sons and grandchildren.

Likewise, SAD candidate Ranjeet Singh Gill had a lunch with his family after a gap of several days at his Sector 2 residence in Chandigarh. He chatted for long with his father and had many visitors who were seen discussing various permutations and combinations. Today, the entire family is going out for a dinner. I am sure of winning the contest and have prepared plans for the development of the area, he said.

AAP candidate and veteran journalist Kanwar Sandhu is also sure of winning the seat. Sandhu said he visited the party office in the constituency. He also attended a fair at Majri village.

Surprisingly, the voters have kept the cards close to their chest.
Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 5

The Chandigarh Police have become smart and the entire country will now replicate its smartness  SMART-ONE (Skill maximisation and reorientation through online examination).

Dr MC Borwankar, Director General, Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), has given in-principle approval to implement UT police chief Tajender Singh Luthras force testing programme.

A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting, chaired by Dr Borwankar in New Delhi on February 1. The heads of all the police training academies, training wing heads of the Central forces  CRPF, BSF, ITBP and the states and UTs  attended the meeting.

After presentation by all, the Chandigarh and Maharashtra Police were shortlisted for the final presentations, in which our presentation was finally selected for implementation in all the Central and state/UT police across India, Ravi Kumar Singh, UT SP (Operation and Training), told The Tribune, here today.

Singh, who also holds the charge of SP (City, Traffic and Security), disclosed that barring 23 senior police officers (IGP, DIG, 3 SPs and 18 DSPs), the rest of the 5,900 UT police personnel had already been evaluated through this online exam and 23 senior cops would also appear in the online examination this week to complete the annual training module.

Sharing the details of his brainchild, the UT Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tajender Singh Luthra said that after undergoing the SMART-ONE exam, the city police personnel are on their way to becoming fully computer literate, efficient and smart cops.

In order to assign seriousness and a sense of efficiency in new recruits and those who undergo formal training at the police training institute, the relevant standing order and syllabi regarding various promotional course and trainings have been modified and the SMART-ONE exam has been incorporated in these courses so as to make it an essential part of the promotion and graduation process, the UT top cop said.

The SMART-ONE has been made available in the RTC-computer lab to every police personnel. If anyone wants to test his/her knowledge, he/she can do it in free time.

Since SMART-ONE has been envisioned on the lines of an aptitude test, it provides an all encompassing uniform measure of ones policing knowledge, Luthra said.

SMART-ONE skill programme has 2,300 questions

The whole question bank of 2,300 questions for the database of SMART-ONE has been prepared by the Chandigarh Police personnel. Questions pertaining to various aspects of policing like investigation, IPC, CrPC, case laws, special laws and various court procedures have been prepared.

Training while performing duty

Sparing personnel from duties and sending them to the police training institutes has its own limitations. First, the police training institutes lack enough capacity to ensure that every cop gets at least five-day training in a year. Secondly, even if such a training capacity is created, it will take away a substantial number of policemen from important duties of public service. Therefore, SMART-ONE has been developed as a self-study model, which doesnt require sending cops away from jobs for training.

Police must be trained continuously

To keep the police force motivated, up to date and competent to meet the challenges, it is necessary that the cops be continuously trained in various areas. Their field experiences are also needed to be incorporated into the new training modules to prepare an ever-evolving training programme. With the vision of an improvised training programme and efficient police force, we have initiated a system of online testing for all police personnel.  Tajender Singh Luthra, IGP, Chandigarh

Promoting good practices our motto

We regularly interact with the civil society, non-governmental organisations, technocrats and academicians to understand the expectations of citizens from the law enforcement and correctional administration. The bureau is a think-tank as well as a research and training organisation dedicated for the development of law enforcement and correctional administration in the country. We value partnership with all those interested in issues of law enforcement and correctional administration and strive to provide best services to our stakeholders and citizens. Promoting good practices and standards is our motto.  Dr MC Borwankar, Director General, BPRD
Apoorvanand

THE supreme leader is pained. He is disappointed by the fall in the standard of political discourse. Campaigning in Punjab, he told his audience that in his long political career he had never come across the kind of language he was forced to hear in Punjab. How can one say, he wonders, that so and so would be jailed once they are unseated from power.

The supremo is shocked. Things are going beyond civility. And he is right. It would also be right however for him to first confess, that it was in fact he who started the lowering of the social and political discourse to such a low level, that his opponents just didn't know how to match him.

The man does not need go back far in time. It was only a few days ago when he mocked and lampooned the leader of the Congress Party in a congregation at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), which was not political at all. It was a gathering of academics and students in a university campus, where he misused his position as a Prime Minister to attack his opponent. That his audience laughed and cheered at this abominable performance is a sad commentary on the state of our institutions where civility should be taught.

That the Prime Minister should think it fit to campaign in state elections is something people have noted, not very favourably. But when he complains that Arvind Kejriwal sounds like a dictator, he conveniently forgets his own diatribe against Kejriwal during the election campaign in Delhi. In meeting after meeting, he told the electorate of Delhi that they should elect a BJP government as it would work because of his fear. It is quite different a matter that the people of Delhi refused to be terrorised by him. But he did not take their rejection of his warning very kindly. This is evident from the way he unleashed the Lt Governor, the police and intelligence agencies on the AAP government.

It was unprecedented that a Prime Minister should even entertain the idea that fear would make state governments work. If there was anything dictatorial it was this.The dictatorial and authoritarian inclination of the leader has never been hidden. One should not forget that in his election campaigns and elsewhere too he had always referred to Rahul Gandhi as Shehzada. The connotation the adjective carries is outright communal. It mocks him and connects him with a particular religious community. Thus, this word arouses the base instincts of Hindus. Sonia Gandhi was always called with her full name to emphasise her Italian origins. Similarly, we have not forgotten that when the Election Commission under JM Lyngdoh took some decisions which were not favourable to him as the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, he made it a point to claim that Lyngdoh was against him as he was a Christian.

Men can always change. But his record as Prime Minister demonstrates that his veneer of sobriety falls off the moment he faces a serious challenge. The people of Bihar witnessed it as the campaign progressed. That they felt disgusted by his thinly veiled communal and authoritarian language became clear from the verdict of the state elections. He made the campaign casteist and anti-Muslim when he made repeated claims that he comes from Dwaraka and is, therefore, specially beholden to the Yaduvanshsis. It was a brazen attempt to woo the Yadav voters which failed miserably. And then he went to his tested formula of scaring the Hindus by attacking Nitish for being on the side of cow killers and beef eaters.

It is definitely not right that Kejriwal promises that he would jail the corrupt leaders of Punjab once he is given power. Because, he is not a monarch. We know it too well that Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers cannot jail people. They cannot even prosecute them. Worse is to ask the people as Chief Minister whether criminals should be killed in encounters or not and exhorting them to say yes to encounters. When he attacks Kejriwal for trashing the process of law, it would be better to recall his own instinct. It is as wrong to tell the people of Punjab that being a border state they need to choose a party in whose hands national borders would be safe. He is invoking the threat of Pakistan in a state election.

We need to say that this is unacceptable because all political parties are committed to protecting the territorial integrity of India. Moreover, securing borders is not the job of a state government.

The man once fought a state election pasting the posters of Pervez Musharraf all over and turning his entire campaign into an anti-Pakistan tirade. A Prime Minister who does not shy from raising the scare of Pakistan to frighten the electorate into submission is doing worse than what Kejriwal is accused of.

Of course, we need to tell our leaders that they cannot sow bitterness and hatred in their desperation to tempt people to their side. It is far too easy to appeal to the base instincts of people. The task before political leadership in a democracy is also to educate people and help them make a rational choice.

It was reassuring to recently see Rahul Gandhi telling his party people not to raise the slogans of murdabad against his opponents. It takes a lot to remain sober in the face of uncouth and violent attacks. But that is a challenge one must accept if democratic civility is to be restored.

When the conscience of the man felt bruised by the undemocratic language of Kejriwal, an admonition came from Sharad Pawar, directed not at Kejriwal but the complainant himself. Pawar said that it was extremely violent to give the slogan of a Congress-mukt Bharat.The language of eradication of one's critics shows the criminally intolerant mind behind it.

The writer is a Professor, Department of Hindi, Delhi University
A farce is being enacted in Tamil Nadu. Ms. V S Sasikala, the constant aide of the late Jayalalithaa, who first took over as the general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) after her mentors death, is now on the verge of becoming chief minister of Tamil Nadu. On Sunday, the incumbent chief minister, O Panneerselvam, was reported to have put in his papers and Ms Sasikala was elected as the leader of the AIADMK Legislature Party. Technically, there is very little difficulty in this shadowy figure being sworn in as the chief minister; politically, it would be a travesty and morally it is a downright unacceptable proposition.

Perhaps the only other comparable parallel in recent history is the accession of Mrs Rabri Devi to the chief ministerial gaddi in Bihar, after Lalu Prasad had to step down following a judicial indictment. Till she was sworn in as chief minister, Mrs Rabri Devi was a simple and simpleton housewife. Nonetheless, there was a bit of saving grace in that arrangement insofar as Lalu Prasad was able to do quite a bit of back-seat driving. In Ms Sasikalas case, there is no redeeming figure in the background. The only consolation is that with Panneerselvam stepping down, the diarchy in the ruling arrangement in Chennai would be over.

The office of chief minister in any state  leave alone in an important state like Tamil Nadu  is an office of public trust and competence. Ms Sasikala has had no record of any kind of public service; whatever political education she has had could only be gained as the late Jayalalithaas henchwoman. She may have a certain familiarity with intrigue and conspiracy, but there is much more to a public office than a dark knowledge of power and patronage. The chief minister of a state has to necessarily have a proven familiarity with administration, public policy and legislative landscape. Ms Sasikala fails on every single count of eligibility. The AIADMK is entitled to its internal plots and manoeuvres but, still, Tamil Nadu deserves better.
Tribune News Service

Karnal, February 5

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today held a meeting with his Cabinet colleagues in Gharaunda for assigning duties in the UP Assembly elections.

State BJP president Subhash Barala, Cabinet Ministers Abhimanyu, OP Dhankar and Krishan Panwar, Ambala MP Rattan Lal Kataria and Gharaunda legislator Harvinder Kalyan were present on the occasion.

The Chief Minister also took a feedback from the ministers about their campaigning in UP.

Khattar later interacted with party workers and local residents.

At a programme organised by Kamlesh Lather, a councillor, in Phoosgarh, Khattar was urged by residents of illegal colonies to reduce the development charges fixed for regularisation and order development works in their wards. Responding to the demand, Khattar said they should contribute their share for development in their wards.

About INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautalas threat that they would not let the state Assembly function if the demand for reservation to Jats and others was not fulfilled, Khattat said the party would tackle the situation in the House.

The session of the Vidhan Sabha is slated to begin on February 27.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 5

With a view to providing a hassle-free, citizen-centric and secure way of paying non-judicial stamp duty, the Haryana Government has decided to make e-stamping mandatory in the entire state with effect from March 1. The e-stamping was earlier made mandatory in four districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonepat and Panchkula.

While stating this here today, Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu said that any citizen could generate stamp paper online through the e-stamping system available on https://egrashry.nic.in.

He said that all other offices and agencies, namely Treasury Office, Sub-Treasury Office and authorised branches of the State Bank of India would stop selling non-judicial stamp papers. Stamp vendors would generate non-judicial stamp paper up to Rs 10,000 per person through e-stamping module only.

He said that the system was implemented in two parts, including making the payment for stamp papers in the relevant receipts head and generating e-stamp paper through e-stamping portal after online confirmation of the payment. Any depositor could make payment for generation of e-stamp paper by using payment aggregator service on E-GRAS portal or manual payment on the portal, he added.

Giving further details, he said that the payment aggregator service had been implemented with Punjab National Bank, IDBI Bank and State Bank of India with effect from May 2, 2015. These banks would not charge any fee for collection of government receipts through net banking on E-GRAS portal and have also been allowed to collect government receipts using debit and credit card. The depositor would pay charges amounting to 0.70 per cent for up to Rs 2,000 and 0.73 per cent for above Rs 2,000 in case of debit card and 0.90 per cent in case of credit card, exclusive of all taxes, charges and levies, which would be automatically deducted along with the payment to be made. After successful payment, the citizen could generate online e-stamp paper immediately through e-stamping system.

He said that the Electronic Government Receipt Accounting System (E-GRAS) had been implemented successfully all over the state. The SBI, Punjab National Bank, IDBI Bank, State Bank of Patiala, Central Bank of India and Treasury Bank branch concerned of other banks dealing with the Haryana Treasury business were collecting government receipts through E-GRAS manually. Any citizen could pay through draft or cash after generating requisite challan on E-GRAS manually, he added.

He said that after successful payment, the depositors would generate online e-stamp papers immediately and seek the date of registration from the revenue authority using Haryana Registration Information System (HARIS) portal. The revenue authority, after verifying the payment online through E-GRAS portal, would register the document and the system would automatically deface the e-stamp and corresponding government receipt number (GRN) online to avoid duplication.

Capt Abhimanyu said that the Cyber Treasury established by the Haryana Government in Chandigarh would verify the payment details received from the banks concerned in the management information system (MIS) with the credits in its nodal account every day. In case of any un-reconciled payments, the Cyber Treasury would inform the bank for resolution through the system. The accounts of those successful transactions received in the Cyber Treasury through e-scroll or hard copy of scroll would be prepared automatically on daily basis and reported to the Principal Accountant General on prescribed date. The Cyber Treasury Officer would closely monitor all activities for reconciliation of payments, he added.

He said that the depositor could apply online on E-GRAS portal for refund of unused e-stamp paper by filling up the requisite information in the prescribed format available on the website. Thereafter, the system would send the information to the Drawing and Disbursing Officer concerned in the district concerned who would prepare refund bill through e-billing system and get it passed in the treasury concerned.
By India Today Web Desk: After being secretly married for a year, Ramaiya Vastavaiya actor Girish Kumar has gone public with it. Girish took to Instagram to post a picture with his wife Krsna and captioned it, "My everything, mine forever."

MOVIE REVIEW: Ramaiya Vastavaiya

My everything, mine forever ?????? A photo posted by Girish Kumar (@girishkumart) on Feb 4, 2017 at 2:01am PST

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The actor told Mumbai Mirror, "Krsna and I were childhood friends and schoolmates. We started dating in our teens and in 2007, realised this was serious and for keeps." He added that he wanted to keep his marriage hush-hush because he was still a newbie and did not want the fate of his films to be affected. Although his wife was supportive, Girish now wants to "share her with the world and declare my love for her officially."

On the work front, he is yet to zero in on a good script to make his acting comeback. As of now, Girish is content with helping his father, producer Kumar Taurani, with some music for his films, till he finds the right script.

ALSO WATCH: Getting candid with cast of Ramaiya Vastavaiya

--- ENDS ---
Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, February 5

While a large number of farmers suffered crop loss during the recent hailstorm in Hisar and Bhiwani districts, the authorities are planning to carry out a survey of the damaged crops, which are insured under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

Sources said the state government had so far not given any direction to carry out girdawari to assess the losses incurred by farmers who had not got their crops insured under the scheme.

Significantly, only 25-30 per cent of rabi crops in the region are covered under the PMFBY.

Sources in the Agriculture Department said as per preliminary reports, around 2,500 acres under mustard had been damaged in the Barwala block of this district only. It is estimated that mustard and wheat crops on 4,000-4,500 acres in 15 villages of Hisar were damaged due to the recent rain and hailstorm. In Bhiwani district, crops on around 6,000 acres in 19 villages have been hit.

Ramesh Kumar, a farmer of Dhansu village who suffered loss of mustard and wheat crops on 5 acre each, said he had taken loan using the Kisan Credit Card only for crop on 1.75 acres, which was insured under the PMFBY. The rest of the crop is not insured. I own only five acres while I took remaining five acres on rent, he said, adding that mustard crop was in the flowering stage and he had already incurred the entire input cost; the expenses on the wheat crop too had already been incurred, barring two phases of watering.

Sher Singh, Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha state president, said, The PMFBY is of no use to the farmer. We have been demanding to scrap it altogether. Take the recent example of hail-hit crops. Hardly any farmer would get compensation. He added that they had demanded immediate special girdawari of the affected crop.

When our delegation met Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in September last year, he had promised us to consider even non-insured crops for compensation in case of crop loss due to natural calamities. But there has been no instruction to assess the losses due to recent hailstorm. This indicates that the government has no intention to compensate the affected farmers, he alleged.
Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala, February 5

The family of Major Yogesh Gupta, who sacrificed his life while fighting terrorists at Surankot in Jammu and Kashmir in July 2002, feels neglected. The family have been struggling to keep the name of the martyr alive for the last 14 years.

Talking to The Tribune, Lalit Mohini, the martyrs mother, said, Despite killing four dreaded terrorists and sacrificing his life, no gallantry award has been given. We remember the Commanding Officer mentioning his name being forwarded for the Ashok Chakra, but have not heard anything in this regard so far.

The battle casualty report stated: Based on specific information, the Operation Prachand Prahar was launched with 9 Para (SF). At 0430 hours, contact was established with terrorists at Ranjati. In the ensuing firefight, Major Yogesh Gupta suffered severe gunshot wounds in the abdomen. It further stated: Despite being severely injured, Major Yogesh Gupta continued to engage the terrorists valiantly and killed four dreaded terrorists. A total of five hardcore terrorists were killed in the firefight and Major Yogesh Gupta attained martyrdom.

If this is not bravery, what are gallantry awards given for? Either the Army should say it had prepared a wrong casualty report or tell why the martyr has not been honoured so far, she added.

We desire that a memorial to Major Yogesh Gupta should be built, which will help in keeping his name alive and inspire the future generation. The government and administration have turned a blind eye to our struggle and the sacrifice of my son, she further said.

It is sad that there is not even five yards of land in Ambala for a martyr while huge space is used to build statues of political leaders. We are not seeking any monetary help. It is a matter of honouring a martyr and remembering his bravery, said the pained mother.

Sometimes, we do not feel like raising the issue again. We feel neglected when a gallantry award is presented to the next of kin of other martyrs and feel the injustice meted out to Yogesh, she said.

We have approached all concerned, including the Ambala GOC, local administration, MLA and the PMO repeatedly, but to no avail, said the martyrs mother.
Tribune News Service

Mandi, February 5

Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur has urged doctors to withdraw their strike in public interest because the state government was considering their demand to bring a law for their protection.

Talking to reporters here today the minister said a few doctors were trying to resort to politics through the strike causing harassment to public, which was not good for them. He added that doctors were duty-bound to serve patients honestly and they should return on duty because patients were suffering.

He warned the doctors that they should withdraw the strike, otherwise they might be asked by Himachal Pradesh High Court to do so as it happened when employees of Himachal Road Transport Corporation were on strike.

The state government was serious about the issue of security in health institutions across the state and provides security to doctors and staff on duty. A law will be produced in the Vidhan Sabha in this regard for approval, he remarked.

The doctors were demanding enactment of a law making any attack on them on duty a non-bailable offence.

The minister was here to inaugurate a fortnight-long cleanliness drive at regional hospital, Mandi. He also flagged off a rally of trainee nurses. He said the campaign would continue till February 15 across the state. The main motive was to make the common man aware of the importance of cleanliness. He urged people to actively participate in the campaign.
New Delhi, February 5

A 12-year-old boy, whose both arms had to be amputated after he came in contact with a high tension wire in an agricultural field, has been awarded a compensation of over Rs 1 crore by the Supreme Court which held the Himachal Pradesh government vicariously liable for negligence.

While granting compensation, the apex court considered the boy's family background with limited means and his "excellent performance as a brilliant student in studies" saying he would have had a decent earning in his life.

"The High Court (of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla) held and, in our view, rightly that the incident in question occurred due to negligence of the State and its authorities and hence the State was vicariously liable to compensate the respondent (boy) for the losses sustained by the respondent.

"The High Court further held and, in our view, rightly that having regard to the family background of the respondent and further respondent's excellent performance as a brilliant student in studies, he would have easily earned Rs 30,000 per month in his life. We find no good ground to interfere in this finding of fact, which, in our opinion, is based on proper material on record," a bench of justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre said, asking the State to deposit the amount within three months.

The incident took occurred on March 18, 2012, when the boy, aged eight years then, had accompanied his mother to collect 'saag' (spinach) from the field.

He came in contact with a high-tension live wire and fell unconscious and had severe burn injuries. A week later, doctors at Rajendra Prasad Medical Hospital at Tanda in Kangra district amputated both his arms. The boy suffered 100 per cent disability and his poor parents incurred an expense of Rs 2 lakh.

The boy, through his mother, approached the Himachal Pradesh High Court seeking a compensation of Rs 50 lakh saying he has become totally dependent on family members for his day-to-day activities for his entire life. The boy had to discontinue schooling after the unfortunate incident.

The high court had awarded a compensation of Rs 1.25 crore to the boy which was challenged by the State before the apex court saying that the amount was on a much higher side.

The apex court allowed the State's appeal and modified the high court order by reducing the compensation amount.

The apex court awarded Rs 90 lakh with a simple interest of 6 per cent on it from 2013, the year when the boy had filed the petition in the high court. Thus, the total compensation to be paid by the state government would be Rs 1.16 crore.  PTI
Arun Joshi

The house arrest of Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Toiba, should not be viewed with skepticism by India, and for good reason. It has to be seen in the context in which Pakistan has detained him. Hafiz is universally acknowledged as the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. Or, is he being used as an alibi to avoid Pakistan being named as a terrorist nation by the new US administration. After all, the US had announced a $10 million bounty on his head. In this context the cause and effect are very clear.

Centre to this arrest and the subsequent rebranding of Jamat-ud-Dawa as Tehreek-e-Azadi Kashmir is that the old nomenclature would cease to exist at some point in time. It may matter little if anti-India activities continue under the new name as well. That seems certain because the words Kashmir and azadi have been added with an extra emphasis.

Nevertheless the act should not be overlooked that this change of the name will not befool the world. Hence, it is a step forward in curbing the activities of this symbol of terrorism hiding behind the benevolent names of charity organisations.

A study of the events is must. Soon after his arrest, Pakistan explained, Hafiz Saeeds arrest was a policy decision taken in national interest. It offers clues that Pakistani establishment that nurtured this mastermind of terror attacks in Mumbai for years and provided him shield against legal prosecution in spite of a pile of evidence supplied by India, is feeling the heat both from within and outside. Pakistans parliament reverberated with questions, why the terror masterminds were being protected by the establishment.

Terrorism in South Asia has been spawned by groups created by the likes of Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhars Jaishe-Mohammad. There are countless terror groups surviving on the soil of Pakistan.

Pakistans fault is its geography and the greed of its establishment for US dollars. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan found its strategic interests under threat. Its strategic depth in Afghanistan vis-a-vis its eastern neighbour was under assault. Then came Uncle Sam with all financial and arms aid to help Pakistan to host mujahideen of all shades and mobilise them to push back the Soviet troops. It was the last battle that the two super powers of the Cold War era were fighting with each other. The US used Pakistan and its ISI as its proxy.

Pakistans critical geo-strategic location was exploited by America to best of its interests  to push Russians and keep them away from the waters of Arabian Sea. Individuals in the establishment, the core of which is the army, benefitted. But they did not know that the American diplomacy is guided by its self-interests only. Once the Soviet Union retreated, the US also turned tap off on its proxy. Pakistan felt cheated.

How to overcome this betrayal by the US was a dilemma that Pakistan solved by embarking on a proxy war in Kashmir. There started the Kashmir insurgency, fully aided and abetted by Pakistan. This served two purposes: the people would not ask any questions about its betrayal at the hands of Washington, and then jihad in Kashmir had stronger appeal for the gullible masses of Pakistan fed on the dream, Kashmir banega Pakistan.

Kashmir is not going to become Pakistan. That is for certain. Some of the leaders in the Valley might hail Pakistan for its eternal support to the struggle of Kashmiris for freedom, but they are also aware of the ground reality. Kashmirs status cannot change because of Pakistan, though Islamabad may make noise about it.

Kashmiris are questioning: if Pakistan is a friendly nation then why is it arresting the men who have been profiled as there would be liberators. India also arrests the militants and protagonists of militancy, so where is the difference?

India should wait and watch. Pakistan will not punish Hafiz Saeed for the crimes, which he has been booked for, but it has inflicted a self-wound that it harbours terrorist masterminds. That is advantage India. This arrest and subsequent crackdown on his men have already created skepticism about Pakistan among Kashmiris. Their memories about Pakistan turning its back on Taliban  its own creation  post 9/11 terror attacks have got revived. This can happen to all those who claim to be fighting for Kashmir. The message is loud and clear: Pakistan is seen as an untrustworthy friend, despite it observing solidarity day every year on February 5.
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 5

The Congress today warned against the delimitation of panchayats and claimed that the government was going to the poll process scheduled in March without preparations.

It will cost you (government) dearlythe time and weather is not ripe and she (Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti) is going for the elections without preparations just like Prime Minister Narendra Modi went for demonetisation, J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president GA Mir said while addressing a party convention here.

The convention was called to debate and discuss impact of demonetisation, unnecessary delimitation of panchayats and anti-people policies of the PDP-BJP coalition in the state.

Earlier, talking to mediapersons, Mir said: Mehboobas government is mounting pressure over holding of urban local bodies and panchayat elections by taking hasty steps for increasing wards and separating panchayats. This should be done by the delimitation committee or the commission. But she is making all this done by single department, which is totally unconstitutional. We condemn it.

If the government thrusts panchayat elections on people by adopting a wrong way, then the party will fight by taking people along, he added.

Addressing party workers, Mir said the Congress was concerned about the fate of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) under the present dispensation in the state. He alleged that efforts were being made by the coalition government to erode the authorities of PRIs with the fear of losing power, as both coalition partners were in no position to face the electorates.

Describing the Congress as the architect of Panchayat Raj, Mir said the government had indulged in delimitation of panchayats and urban local bodies, which is not needed as of now.

He said the governments plan for delimitation of panchayats and wards was a deliberate move to make use of PRI for political benefits.
Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 5

The Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP government of Jammu and Kashmir has opposed creation of a minority commission in the state, saying it was not the only state where minorities declared under the National Commission for Minorities Act were in majority and there was no such body.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the Jammu and Kashmir government opposed a petition filed by Ankur Sharma in 2016 seeking a direction to the state to set up a minority commission in the state to safeguard the interests of religious and linguistic minorities.

However, the state governments affidavit said: There are other States/Union Territories in the country where such population (declared minorities under the NCM Act) is in majority. The situation is similar in the states of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Punjab and Lakshadweep.

The top court -- which had in July 2016 issued notices to the Centre and the state government on the PIL -- is likely to consider the affidavit on Monday.

The petitioner alleged that the state government was treating the Muslims, who accounted for 68.31 per cent of the total population in the state in the 2011 Census, as a minority community, which was arbitrary, unreasonable and illegal.

But the PDP-BJP government asserted that it was wrong to assume that by not extending NCM Act 1992, the benefit available to the minorities declared under the Act cannot be extended to Jammu and Kashmir.

Maintaining that its a settle legal position that courts cant direct the government to legislate on a particular subject, the state government said: It is for the state legislature to consider in its own wisdom as to which laws are required to be made considering the circumstances prevailing in a state.

Earlier, it had said the central Act was not applicable to the state and as such it did not have to set up a state-level minorities commission.

Sharma said his representations to the authorities for setting up a state minorities commission to identify and notify the minorities in Jammu and Kashmir had fallen on deaf ears. The petitioner said he was forced to approach the SC as the state high court had refused to even list a PIL on the issue for preliminary hearing without citing any reason.

The Central government had issued a notification under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, on October 23, 1993, identifying Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis (Zoroastrians) as national minorities. In 2014, Jains were added to the list.

But the state of Jammu and Kashmir has to date neither notified any of the communities as minorities in the state of Jammu and Kashmir nor has legislated a state minority commission Act providing for a state minority commission which may safeguard the interests of religious and linguistic minorities in the state, the PIL said.
Chennai, February 5

Hours before late chief ministers closest confidante VK Sasikala was elected AIADMK's head of Legislature Party on Sunday, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Working president MK Stalin said that Tamil Nadu did not vote to have anybody from J Jayalalithaas household to take over her former position.

Stalin, 63, who has previously voiced concerns about the divisions that the death of Jayalalithaa last month brought into his partys fiercest rival in the state  the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam  said in an interview on Sunday that the problems within the ruling party should not get in the way of the states functioning.

"One thing is certain that the government  in its present form  is clearly one that doesn't have the explicit legitimacy of having been elected by the people, Stalin said on Sunday in his first interview since he was appointed the DMKs working president earlier this month.

"The people voted for a government to be headed by Ms Jayalalithaa in May 2016 and not for one to be run by Mr. O Panneerselvam or any other person from Ms Jayalalithaa's household."

"As the Leader of the Opposition in the state, however, my primary worry is that such internal problems within the ruling AIADMK should affect neither the functioning of the Legislative Assembly nor the administration of the state. As the main opposition party in the state, the DMK has a responsibility to ensure that," he said.

Stalin, the Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu assembly, dismissed rumours of divisions within his own party at his new appointment. He also dismissed as pointless questions about whether the DMKs decision to not project him as the partys chief ministerial candidate in the state assembly elections in May last year cost the party.

The DMK also appears to prepare itself for the possibility of having to form the government.

"As a responsible party, the DMK is watching the situation closely. Any decision that we take will be within the framework of democracy, reflecting the popular will and aspirations of the people," he said.

Asked whether he saw himself taking over the partys reins completely, his reply was opaque.

"Dr Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) is the President of the party and he has been guiding me in all the spheres of my activity. I know very well that a hard and sincere worker in the DMK will never face obstacles and even if there are a few obstacles, they will be converted into stepping stones," he said about his father, former chief minister M Karunanidhi.

Stalin had led the party into elections last year that saw it win 89 seats alone  its alliance with other parties, the Congress among them, won 98 seats  narrowly losing to Jayalaithaas AIADMK, which won 136 seats in the 234-member house.  PTI
Jitendra K Shrivastava

Owing to demonetisation, the state's growth rate is likely to decline. Migrant labourers have begun returning home. The state's Annual Budget of about Rs 1.5 lakh crore is bound to be hit with tax collections dwindling. This, in turn, will adversely affect the gross domestic produce (GDP) of the state. Already, the government has been incurring a huge revenue loss of approximately Rs 5, 000 crore annually because of the liquor ban.

Bihars migrant labourers significantly contribute to the state economy. Since these labourers have started to return from different parts of the country, the flow postal order money in Bihar has been shrinking post-demonetisation. Back home, these labourers have yet to find jobs.

While most of the 40 lakh migrant labourers from Bihar have come back after losing their jobs, they have failed to find employment here so far, claimed RJD state chief Ramchandra Purve. These labourers were working in bicycle factories of Punjab, the diamond industry in Gujarat and construction companies in different states. They would send money to their families in Bihar. They are now without jobs and, hence, without money. Their families are in dire straits.

Darbhanga resident Mukesh Jha said: I was working with a construction company in Ludhiana. Work came to a standstill after the company ran short of money and was unable to pay its staff. We were asked to go home till the situation normalised. It has been more than two months now, but there has been no word from the company."

State Finance Minister Abdul Badi Siddiqui said the contribution of the migrant labour to the state's economy was yet to be gauged, " but demonetisation has certainly devastated their lives. However, economist Saibal Gupta claimed that notebandi had had little impact on Bihar as the state lagged in industrialisation.

The ruling Janata Dal (United) has backed demonetistaion despite its two allies in the government  the RJD and the Congress bitterly opposing it and holding separate dharnas in Patna. The JD-U has even demanded a clampdown on benami properties to check black money.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had promised to curb migration during his first tenure in 2005. He has yet to keep his word, and create adequate job opportunities for the workers.
New Delhi, February 5

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will on February 7 leave for Bengaluru where he will undergo naturopathy treatment for high blood sugar.

He returned to the national capital yesterday after spearheading AAP's aggressive campaign for Punjab Assembly polls.

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"The chief minister's blood sugar level has shot up. He is taking insulin thrice a day to keep it under control.

"He will leave for Bengaluru on February 7 to undergo naturopathy treatment. Also, he has fever. He will be there for 12-14 days," said a senior Delhi government official.

In January last year, Kejriwal had undergone 12 days of naturopathy treatment at the same institute for chronic cough and diabetes.

The chief minister had also undergone a throat surgery at Narayana Hospital in Bengaluru in September last year.  PTI
By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha

Washington, Feb 5 (PTI) US President Donald Trumps latest remarks drawing an equivalence between America and its arch- enemy Russia has drawn the ire of Republicans, with a top Senator today questioning the new administrations friendly postures towards Moscow.

"Well, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is a former KGB. Hes agent. Hes a thug. He was not elected in a way that most people would consider a credible election. The Russians annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, and messed around in our elections," the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN in an interview.

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He was responding to a question on Trump praising Putin in an interview to Fox News in which he also compared the US with Russia.

"No, I dont think there is any equivalency between the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does," McConnell said.

"Im not going to critique the Presidents every utterance, but I do think America is exceptional. America is different. We dont operate in any way the way the Russians do. I think there is a clear distinction here that all Americans understand," he said.

On Trumps travel ban, McConnell ruled out offering legislation to carry out the ban through the Senate.

"Well, I dont know if that is necessary. I mean, the courts are going to decide whether the executive order the President issued is valid or not. We all follow court orders. The administration is following the court order, as I understand it," he said.

"The courts will ultimately determine the validity of it. But there is a fine line here between proper vetting and interfering with the kind of travel or suggesting some kind of religious test. And we need to avoid doing that kind of thing," McConnell said.

"We all want to try to keep terrorists out of the United States. But we cant shut down travel. We certainly dont want Muslim allies who have fought with us in countries overseas to not be able to travel to the US," he said.

Responding to a question on Trump slamming the federal judge who halted his executive order, McConnell said it is best not to single out judges for criticism.

McConnell, however, praised Trump for his Supreme Court pick.

"The search was handled extremely well. I want to commend the administration for that. He picked an outstanding nominee, who has got a sterling background, outstanding accomplishment at every phase of his life. And Im very confident he will be confirmed," he added.

The Senate majority Leader said the Trump Administration will have a look at the Iranian nuclear deal.

"It was an executive agreement only. It was not a treaty. So, the Trump administration is going to have to take a look at this and decide whether they want to continue it," he said. PTI LKJ SUA SUA

--- ENDS ---

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KV Prasad

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 5

Having succeeded twice in a row over the last two years, a combined Opposition is once again gearing up to embarrass the Modi government this week by seeking to amend the Presidents Address to the joint sitting of Parliament.

With comfort of better bench strength, the Opposition members have moved 550-plus amendments as the Rajya Sabha began discussion on the customary Motion of Thanks to the Presidents Address.

The debate is scheduled to conclude this week, and Opposition notices to amend the text of the speech is aimed to get its point of view on a range of issues, including hardship caused due to demonetisation, regrets over deaths of people who stood in line to change the extinguished high denomination currency, plight of Dalits etc.

Over the past 65 years, the Presidents Address has been amended on five occasions, including in 2015 and 2016. The text of the Presidents Address is prepared by the government of the day and approved by the Union Cabinet. It is a vision document of the government containing accomplishments of the government, its policies and programmes.

This time, notices have been issued by members of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, CPM, CPI, TMC, YSR Congress and PDP among others. The PDP member amendments include expressing regret that the address does not contain any action plan for resumption of talks with Pakistan, and issues related to development in the state, waiver of loans to farmers etc.

In 2015, the Opposition motion amending the address relating to lack of action to bring back black money and eradicate corruption was carried. Last year, it was about mention of restrictions for contesting panchayat poll in the wake of decisions by BJP-ruled states of Haryana and Rajasthan. The Congress with 60 members and its allies add up to a little over the half-way mark in the 245-member House with one existing vacancy.

With the House set to resume discussion tomorrow, floor coordination effort is expected to be firmed up soon, CPI national secretary D Raja said.
Chennai, February 5

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Sunday tendered his resignation from the post citing personal reasons and setting the stage for takeover of VK Sasikala, who was elected as Legislature Party leader in the day.

Due to my personal reasons, I am tendering my resignation from the post of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

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Kindly accept my resignation and relieve the Council of Ministers of Tamil Nadu appointed by me on December 6, 2016, he said in a letter addressed to Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao.

His resignation came on a day when AIADMK MLAs elected party chief V K Sasikala as their leader, paving the way for her appointment as Chief Minister.

Panneerselvam was appointed as Chief Minister on the night of December 5 within hours of the death of his predecessor J Jayalalithaa.

Incidentally, he had proposed the name of Sasikala for the top post at the AIADMK MLAs meeting held in the party headquarters here today.

Meanwhile, in a separate but near identical letter, Panneerselvam thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Governor Rao for all the support and cooperation extended by them during his term.

I would like to convey my sincere gratitude for all the support and cooperation extended by you during my tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, he said.  PTI
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 5

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be travelling to Russia in June as a reaffirmation of the ties between the two countries.

The official reason for the PMs visit is to attend the St Petersburg International Economic Forum where India has been invited as a guest nation. The Forum is an annual event dedicated to economic and business issues and is popularly called the Russian Davos. It was first held in 1997.

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The PMs three-day visit from June 1-3 will also provide an opportunity for India to raise some of its concerns with Russia. Of late, Russia has been edging closer to both China and Pakistan in strategic concerns like the Taliban problem in Afghanistan and for India that opens up a set of grave concerns.

People privy to the developments said the PM is likely to travel to Israel in June or July and is also expected to stop in Kazakhstan on June 7-8 for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit where India will be admitted as full member along with Pakistan.

Terrorism, regional situation and rise of Islamic State are some of the issues that will be the focus when Modi meets Russian President Vladimir Putin.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval just concluded a visit to Russia on January 30-31 where he met Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of Security Council. Sources said Doval raised the issue of Afghanistan and Russias outreach to Pakistan.

By the time, the PM travels to Russia, the new trajectory of bilateral ties between the US and Russia under President Donald Trump would also be a little clearer. For India today, it has become imperative that it balances out relations with both Russia and the US.
Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, february 5

The polling process cost Punjab approximately Rs 120 crore. The state election authorities have completed the entire process well within the budget allocated by the state  Rs 132 crore  to the Election Department last year.

As per the norms, all state governments pay half the expenditure incurred on conducting Lok Sabha elections. But for Assembly elections, it is the state government that foots the entire election bill.

Edit: Violence-free poll

The election cost us Rs 120 crore. Conducting elections is a mammoth exercise, given its scale and significance. Some bills are yet to be cleared. But there will be no major change in the expenditure figures, said VK Singh, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Punjab.

He said most of the money was spent on fuel for vehicles of polling teams as well as stationery, which was printed on a large scale this time to make the electorate more informed. Also, considerable money was spent on paying honorarium to security personnel. We have paid Rs 1,500 per day to each security man of central paramilitary forces. Those deployed in the state for more than 15 days were given Rs 750 per week more, the CEO said. As many as 12,390 calls were received during 30 days. Out of these, only 1,784 were complaints.

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Repoll recommended at 2 polling stations

Chandigarh: Poll observers have recommended repoll at one polling station each in Moga and Sardulgarh Assembly segments. In their reports sent to the Election Commission of India, independent observers said the EVMs kept displaying the votes polled during mock polling even after the start of voting at 8 am. State Chief Electoral Officer VK Singh has confirmed the development. The EC will take the final call on the matter. In Sardulgarh, the staff forgot to delete the dummy votes after polling began, said a senior officer. TNS
Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Badal (Lambi), February 5

A day after polling, the top leaders of various parties held informal meetings with their supporters and spent time with their families.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal (89), who has been down with fever for the past about three days, met party workers at his residence at Badal village before leaving for Chandigarh in a helicopter. CM saab will stay there for the next two days and take rest, said a family member of the Badals.

There are reports that the CM is scheduled to visit the US for a medical check-up soon.

SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, who reportedly went to sleep around 3 am today, came out of his residence at 2 pm. After meeting party activists who were waiting for him at his residence, he went to Bathinda for lunch with his aides and party candidates Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon (Gidderbaha) and Kanwarjit Singh Rozy Barkandi (Muktsar).

PPCC vice-president Manpreet Singh Badal, Congress candidate from Bathinda Urban Assembly constituency, met party workers at his farmhouse in Badal village and then moved to Bathinda.

Raninder Singh, who was the election agent of his father, PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh, in Lambi, held a luncheon meeting with Congress activists and thanked them at the residence of Maheshinder Singh Badal. He told them that he, along with Amarinder, would return to Lambi on March 9-10, prior to the counting of votes on March 11.

AAPs Lambi nominee Jarnail Singh organised bhog of Akhand Paath at Malout and met party workers. I am going to Delhi for two days. We have a Political Affairs Committee meeting there, he said.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 5

Punjab recorded 77.37 per cent polling in the Assembly elections held on Saturday as the Punjab Chief Electoral Officer released the final figures on Sunday.

The turnout is slightly less than the 2012 Assembly polls when 78.6 per cent voters had exercised their franchise.

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This time, 76.69 and 78.14 per cent male and female voters, respectively, cast their vote. Polling was 21.93 per cent for the third gender voters.

The election to the 117 Assembly seats passed off peacefully yesterday, barring stray incidents of violence and technical glitches.

Meanwhile, after months of hectic campaigning candidates were today seen in a relaxed mood. They have five weeks to go before the results are announced on March 11.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal met some people at his Badal village residence in the morning. He will be spending next two days at Chandigarh.

Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh will be camping in Patiala and Chandigarh for some days. He is planning thanksgiving lunch and dinner to supporters and party workers. He is likely to visit Delhi for a few days.

In Ludhiana, AAP candidate HS Phoolka said he will be holding a meeting with party workers at Dakha today. Then, he will visit houses of booth agents to thank them.

Raninder Singh, son of Capt Amarinder, met Congress workers at the residence of a party leader in Lambi. Ranninder, who left for Patiala, said he along with Amarinder will come to Lambi on February 9 and 10 to thank people.
Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 5

The polling is over in Punjab, but not for state Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh. He is scheduled to visit poll-bound Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh to campaign for the party.

A day after the hard-fought poll battle in the state, the scion of erstwhile Patiala royal estate did not let the poll fatigue get to him. I will be visiting Uttarakhand before moving to Uttar Pradesh, Capt Amarinder said today.

He spent the morning with his grandchildren and relatives in Patiala before leaving for Chandigarh around 10.30am.

At his bungalow here, he got down to reading the final draft of his book on the battle of Saragarhi. It is slated for release next month. I carried the draft with me during campaigning. But due to hectic schedule, I was unable to read it. At the end of the day, I was too tired to go through it, said the CM face of the Congress.

Post polling, theres nothing to do. I am in a different mindset, focusing on the job at hand, he said, relaxing in the lobby on the first floor, where he has planted strawberries. As plants have bore fruit, he relishes these and offers them to his guests.

In the afternoon, he hosted a lunch for the IPAC team, which he said did a good job. I am politely turning down requests from visitors to go downstairs to pose for selfies because it gets exhausting after a long schedule of campaigning.

Confident, he glanced through several survey reports on his mobile phone that hint towards the Congress forming the government. The conversation was interrupted by calls from candidates, who seemed to share their feedback on polling trends in their constituencies.

We are expecting 34 seats in Malwa, 19 in Majha and 14 in Doaba. My boys are confidant of performing well. We may not do well on one or two seats in Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar districts, he added.
Kabul, February 5

More than a 100 persons have been killed in a series of avalanches triggered by days of heavy snowfall around Afghanistan, including 50 in one village, officials said today, warning the death toll could rise still further.

The avalanches struck after three days of heavy snow, which has destroyed scores of homes and blocked roads mainly in central and northeastern provinces, making it difficult for rescue workers to reach the stricken villages.

The bulk of the deaths however occurred in remote Nuristan province, where at least 50 persons were killed in a single village, Mohammad Omar Mohammadi a spokesman for the Ministry of Natural Disaster said.

Avalanches have buried two entire villages in Bargmatal district, 50 bodies were recovered from one village while rescuers are trying to reach the other village, the spokesman said.

Elsewhere 54 persons were killed in northern and central Afghan provinces, where officials said massive avalanches destroyed 168 houses and killed hundreds of cattle. Bad weather and deep snow had hampered efforts of rescue workers to reach the isolated villages, raising fears the toll could rise sharply, according to officials.

In Badakhshan province, 18 persons, including two children, were killed when avalanches struck their houses overnight, said the provincial spokesman.  AFP
By Press Trust of India: Panipat, Feb 5 (PTI) Haryana government today announced that it would soon launch a special recruitment drive to fill up the backlog posts for Scheduled Castes in the government jobs.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar also announced an increase of Rs 10,000 in financial assistance provided by the government for the marriage of daughters belonging to Scheduled Castes community under Mukhyamanti Vivah Shagun Yojna from Rs 41,000 to Rs 51,000.

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This shagun amount would reach the beneficiaries seven days prior to the marriage, he said.

Addressing a state-level function orgnanised to commemorate the 640th birth anniversary of Guru Ravidass here, he said the state government was making concerted efforts to complete the backlog of posts for Scheduled Castes in the government jobs.

"The process has already been begun. A committee headed by P Ragvendra Rao, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance and Planning) had been asked to study about the percentage of posts for reserved categories lying vacant in different departments. The report of 20 departments has already been received.

"After getting complete report, the government will conduct special recruitment drive to fill up posts for members belonging to the Scheduled Castes," he said.

Khattar also announced setting up a ?Bhawan Nirman Academy? named after Guru Ravidass at a cost of Rs 100 crore in Jind.

Greeting the people on the birth anniversary of Guru Ravidass, he said apart from these, half acre land would be identified in Panipat for construction of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Hostel. He also announced the release of first instalment of Rs 21 lakh for construction of hostel.

Khattar said following the footsteps of Guru Ravidass, the present BJP government in Haryana is ensuring welfare of all sections of the society.

To restore the faith and trust of people, the government had decided to celebrate the anniversaries of saints at state level.

Referring to the benefits being given to Scheduled Castes in the state, the Chief Minister said that the government is working to enhance their educational and socio-economic status.

"During the last 27 months, scholarships under Dr BR Ambedkar Medhavi Chatra Yojna, have been given to more than 72,000 students," he said, and listed the various schemes being implemented for the welfare of members belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes. PTI SUN SMJ

--- ENDS ---
Washington, February 5

In a significant blow to President Donald Trump, a US federal appeals court today rejected a request by his administration to immediately reinstate travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

The Justice Department had made the request with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco as part of an appeal against a lower court order halting the travel ban on people from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.

Appellants request for an immediate administrative stay pending full consideration of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal is denied, the ruling said.

The court asked for both sides to file legal briefs before it makes its final decision after a federal judge halted the programme on Friday.

It asked challengers of the ban to respond to the appeal, and for the Justice Department to file a counter-response by tomorrow.

The courts denial of stay means the people from affected Muslim countries will be allowed, for now, to enter the US.

Citing the Presidents sovereign prerogative to admit or exclude aliens, lawyers for the Department of Justice earlier told the court that the states of Washington and Minnesota should not have been allowed to challenge the ban, and that a judge was wrong to stop Trumps executive order.

Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco said the President alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the US.

Judicial second-guessing of the Presidents determination that a temporary suspension of entry of certain classes of aliens was necessary at this time to protect national security would constitute an impermissible intrusion on the political branches plenary constitutional authority over foreign affairs, national security, and immigration, Francisco said in a brief.

The administration was fighting Seattle federal judge James Robarts decision on Friday that imposed a temporary, nationwide halt to Trumps order barring refugees and those from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the country.

Soon after Robarts ruling, Trump attacked the judge, a George W Bush appointee, calling him a so-called judge and saying his opinion was ridiculous and will be overturned. Trumps executive order banned travel to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, suspended all refugee entry to the US for 120 days and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrian refugees.

After Fridays ruling, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended all actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travellers as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban.

At the same time, it urged the Justice Department to challenge the ruling at the earliest possible time.

Trump had exuded confidence that his administration would prevail in the governments appeal of the ruling. Well win, Trump had told White House pool. For the safety of the country, well win.

The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy! Trump had said, expressing his clear displeasure over Robarts ruling.

What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into US? Trump had asked in a tweet.

Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision, he had tweeted to his 23.7 million followers.  PTI
Chicago, February 5

Visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries who were turned away from the US due to President Donald Trumps travel ban are rushing to try again, hoping to make it through a narrow window opened by legal challenges.

The federal appeals court in San Francisco denied Trumps effort to immediately reinstate the ban early today. For now, it remains blocked by a judges temporary restraining order, and federal officials have told their staffs to comply.

Advocates werent taking any chances, telling people who could travel to get on the earliest flights they could find after the week-old ban was blocked Friday by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle.

Were telling them to get on the quickest flight ASAP, said Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan. Her group sued in federal court in Detroit, challenging Trumps executive order as unconstitutional.

Protesters sought to keep up the pressure, gathering in Denver and other U.S. cities to demonstrate against the ban. Meanwhile, legal advocates waited at airports in case anything went wrong with new arrivals.

Renee Paradis was among 20-25 volunteer lawyers and interpreters who stationed themselves inside John F. Kennedys Terminal 4 in New York in case anyone needed help. They were carrying handmade signs in Arabic and Farsi that say were lawyers, were here to help. Were not from the government, Paradis said.

Were all just waiting to see what actually happens and who manages to get through, she said. Some people have had to make hard choices.

A Yemeni family expected to arrive at John F Kennedy International Airport on Sunday from Egypt after leaving two of their four children behind. The father and two children are U.S. citizens and the mother has an immigrant visa, but the other two are waiting dont have their papers yet. They just dont want to take a chance of waiting, she said.

The State Department has advised refugee aid agencies that refugees who had been scheduled to travel before the order was signed will now be allowed into the US. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government is focusing on booking refugee travel through February 17, and they were working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.  AP
Houston: The worlds smallest pacemaker, which is about as big as a large vitamin capsule and provides the most advanced pacing technology, has been successfully implanted in a patient in the US. The pacemaker is for patients with bradycardia, a condition characterised by a slow heart rate, usually fewer than 60 beats per minute. PTI

DU to develop portal to track PhD progress

New Delhi: The progress report of a student right from PhD enrolment to thesis submission will now be available online with Delhi University developing a dedicated portal. In 2014, DU had signed a pact with the University Grants Commission (UGC) to upload thesis and dissertations of its research scholars on the digital database Shodhganga repository. PTI

Qatar Airways launches worlds longest flight

Doha: Qatar Airways launched worlds longest commercial service with its inaugural flight from Doha to Auckland taking off on Sunday. The Boeing 777 flight will take 16 hours and 20 minutes, pass over 10 time zones, five nation and travel 14,535 km before reaching Auckland. afp

Tiniest hammer to better treat brain injuries

New York: The worlds first tiniest hammer is being developed by US researchers to help understand what happens when force is applied to brain cells, an advance that may help improve treatments for brain injuries as well as Alzheimers. The microHammer  a tiny cellular-scale machine  can be used to tap, strike, squeeze and poke individual neural progenitors to elicit responses to unlock brain mysteries. IANS
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Feb 5 (PTI) Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clintons bestselling "It Takes a Village", published in 1996, is now being brought out as a full-colour picture book for young readers.

Simon & Schuster will release the book this fall. It will be illustrated by Marla Frazee, a two-time Caldecott Honour winner.

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The deal was made by Carolyn Reidy, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Jon Anderson, President and Publisher, Childrens Publishing Division of Simon & Schuster. Robert B Barnett of Williams & Connolly, represented the author. Paula Wiseman will be the editor.

Besides the US, the book will also be published by Simon & Schusters international companies in Australia, Canada, India and the UK.

Over 20 years ago, the original "It Takes a Village" inspired the US to think critically about how the choices made today, to raise children and support families, will determine how one will face the challenges of the future, the publisher said.

"The picture book edition will bring this inspiring message to a new generation in a format that is perfect for story time and bedtime. As she did with the original book, Hillary Clinton will donate her net proceeds from the sale of the book to charity," it added.

"We are proud to release Hillary Clintons It Takes a Village in an edition that can be shared widely across the nation, by families, and in classrooms and libraries," said Anderson, adding "The book will cast Secretary Clintons incredible timely and timeless message even further, brilliantly paired with Marla Frazees amazing art."

Illustrator Frazee said, "I am deeply honoured to help bring Hillary Clintons lifes work and devotion to public service, which has inspired me and millions of others, to children and those who love them." PTI ZMN MG

--- ENDS ---
The father of a missing Okmulgee woman is holding a vigil this week to remind the public of her disappearance.

RoseMarie Timperley, 21, climbed out of the window of her room at a group home for mentally challenged individuals sometime between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Feb. 2, 2016, and she hasnt been seen since, said her father, John Timperley.

Just over a year after her disappearance, he is planning a Missing but not Forgotten vigil for Feb. 11 in front of the Okmulgee County Courthouse, 314 W. Seventh St. in Okmulgee.

The vigil will begin at 5 p.m. with balloons and prayer. A candle lighting will follow. Organizers ask attendees to bring their own candles.

John Timperley has two theories for what might have happened to his daughter. The first: She met up and left with one of the unknown men she had been having inappropriate conversations with online.

He also believes it is possible she became delusional, as she sometimes did when she wasnt taken her medication or her dosage needed to be adjusted, and left the home and was picked up while walking down the road.

See, she wanted to be everybodys friend, he said. Shes like an old Irish saying, A stranger is just a friend that we havent met yet.

Since her disappearance, John Timperley has been frustrated with his options for seeking help.

At 20 years old at the time of her disappearance, despite having developmental issues, his daughter was too old to be the subject of an Amber Alert. She was too young for a Silver Alert.

They couldnt put out an alert because by law shes allowed to disappear. Nobody has any sort of guardianship over her, he said.

To get through the past year and care for his other children, John Timperley said, he has to lie to himself.

I have to pretend that shes on vacation, just so I can get up and get out of bed, he said.

John Timperley said he hopes the vigil reminds people that his daughter is still missing, and that he is still looking.

He also wants to remind parents to be involved in their childs life, especially when it comes to their behavior online.

They may call it an invasion of privacy. I call it protecting your children, he said.

RoseMarie Timperley has blonde hair and brown eyes. She is about 5-foot-5 and weighs 120 pounds.

She was last seen wearing a gray T-shirt, pink Tweety Bird pajama bottoms, tall tan boots and a black jacket. She may be wearing black-framed glasses with pink sides. She may also be wearing a wig.

Anyone with information on RoseMarie Timperleys whereabouts can call the Okmulgee County Sheriffs Office at 918-756-4311.

paighten.harkins @tulsaworld.com

Twitter: @PaightenHarkins
The Australian Securities and Investments Commissions and the Australia Securities Exchange have received complaints from Amber Harrison following Seven West Medias investigation clearing CEO Tim Worner of any misconduct.

The Australian Financial Review reports the complaints allege Sevens release of its investigation on Friday may have breached corporate regulation.

Seven West Media released a factually incorrect statement to market today and have been trading on this incorrect information, Ms Harrisons complaint claims.

ASIC will process the complaint in the normal way, ASIC corporate affairs executive Matthew Abbott said. It will be assessed over the next few weeks to determine if there has been any breach and then will need to satisfy thresholds of public interest, regulatory benefit and use of resources.

The ASX will reportedly consider the matter.

On Friday Seven said allegations of misconduct by Worner had not been substantiated and there were no grounds to take any further disciplinary action.
The two militants were no "ordinary kills" as they had been active to promote militancy in the Valley, DIG, North Kashmir said.

Security forces killed the two terrorists (above-left) in an encounter on Saturday.

By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: A major terrorist operation was thwarted on Saturday as two top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmir's Sopore district.

Two policemen - SP (Operations) Shafqat Hussain and subinspector Mohammad Murtaza -were also injured in the gunbattle which took place near Amargarh village, 50km from Srinagar, after police intercepted the two militants in a vehicle. Officials said the two militants - Sajjad Ahmed Lone, and Azhar Khan - were planning a big attack in Srinagar.

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"The operation is a major success, averting major terror attack in valley," Nitish Kumar DIG, North Kashmir range told Mail Today. He said that the two militants were no "ordinary kills" as they had been active to promote militancy in the Valley.

Also Read: Jammu Kashmir: Security forces kill 2 militants, including Hizbul district commander

WHO WERE THE MILITANTS

Lone (25) went missing in February last year but it has been learnt that he had gone to Pakistan on a valid visa and crossed the border at Wagah. Intelligence sources said he then turned up at a training camp in Muzzaffarnagar, only to reappear in Kashmir as a radicalised militant.

Officials said that Lone was involved in attacks on security forces, police and VVIPs. His job was to recruit boys from poor backgrounds and lure them with monetary benefits. Lone himself was the son of a retired JK Police officer, Mohammed Akbar Lone. He has three brothers and two sisters. A graduate from Government College in Sopore, Lone earlier worked at a pharmaceutical company.

The other terrorist, Mohammed Azhar Khan (26), operated in Handwara and Sopore districts. Sources said he was an MA in Kashmiri studies and was working as lecturer on a contractual basis at a higher secondary school in Handwara before he joined the terror outfit in April last year.

According to sources, Khan played an important role in mobilizing residents of his native village for violent protests during last year's unrest. He along with his other associates was actively planning to attack a special forces convoy along the Kupwara-Baramulla axis, sources said.

But on Saturday, their luck ran out. Nitish Kumar, DIG, North Kashmir, told Mail Today that a Nakka was laid by Jammu Kashmir police, CRPF and Army after a specific input was generated by JK police that "militants were planning some terrorist action in Srinagar."

WHAT HAPPENED

The duo was traveling in a vehicle when security forces intercepted them near Amargarh. On being challenged, the two lobbed a grenade and fired at the police party. They were killed in the retaliatory fire. Two AK series rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition was recovered from their possession.

--- ENDS ---
Four Corners returns for 2017 with an exploration of how President Donald Trump will wield his power.

Through interviews with key players in the Trump camp and the Republican Party, reporter Michael Brissenden examines the political earthquake rippling across America.

My best advice for everyone is to strap in Former Trump Adviser

This is a man who defies all tradition and all precedent. He is operating on his own rules, on his own instincts and I think a lot of people are having trouble keeping up. Former US Assist. Secretary of State

It makes a lot of people nervousI think theres no question. Former US Assist. Secretary of State

In his first assignment for Four Corners, reporter Michael Brissenden draws on his experience during his time as the ABCs Washington correspondent to explain just how revolutionary the presidency of Donald Trump is.

I first came to Washington as a correspondent just after the inauguration of Barack Obama. Americas first black president took office promising hope and change  But this is the real watershed moment. Donald Trumps change is disruptive and confrontational. Michael Brissenden

He talks to those who know Trump well, asking how we should read the Presidents actions.

Donald Trump warned us from the very beginning that hes gonna break some eggs and thats you knowthats what hes doing. Former Trump Adviser

And explores what a Trump presidency means for key issues like climate change and foreign policy.

In our recent history, and perhaps throughout our entire history, weve never had a president come into office with such an unpredictable style of communication and with such alarm among our closest allies and friends. Former National Security Adviser

Trump supporters are still savouring the Presidents victory.

Weve needed change for a long time. Were going to get it now. Americas going to be number one again and were going to get that change and were going to get what we want. Trump campaign worker

While Trumps opponents vow to fight him every step of the way in Congress and in the courts.

If the new administration and the Republican majority in Congress thinks that this is going to be easy for them to pull the rug out from under Americans that have made that progress, theyre sadly mistaken. Senior Democrat Congresswoman

Monday 6th February at 8.30pm.
Fenerbahce and St-Etienne grabbed the spoils on a weekend of high-profile derbies against fellow UEFA Europa League hopefuls, and there were smiles too for a Manchester United team back on track.

The Turkish Cup round of 16 brought a pair of UEFA Europa League sides together in Besiktas and Fenerbahce, and it was Fener who got the better of their Istanbul neighbours thanks to Robin van Persie's decider in a 1-0 victory. A place in the last eight proved beyond Osmanlspor, on the other hand, as they succumbed to Kasmpasa after extra time.

Schalke drew 1-1 away to Bayern Getty Images

Over in France, St-Etienne celebrated their fourth victory against Lyon in the last seven Rhone derby fixtures. Kevin Monnet-Paquet and Romain Hamouma found the net to lift Les Verts within a point of fourth-placed OL in the Ligue 1 table  but not before a late red card for the victors and two for their opponents.

Manchester United mustered an even more emphatic win as they piled more pressure on Premier League champions Leicester via a 3-0 away success, while second-placed Tottenham saw off Middlesbrough 1-0. Elsewhere, Schalke secured a point against Bayern and Villarreal held Liga high-fliers Sevilla.

TUESDAY

Roma 4-0 Fiorentina

SUNDAY

Roda 0-2 Ajax

APOEL 1-1 AEK

Celta P-P Real Madrid

Zulte Waregem 1-1 Gent

Leicester 0-3 Manchester United



Olympiacos 3-0 Iraklis

PAOK 3-2 Asteras

St-Etienne 2-0 Lyon

Besiktas 0-1 Fenerbahce (Turkish Cup last 16)

Kasmpasa 1-0 (aet) Osmanlspor (Turkish Cup last 16)

Sevilla 0-0 Villarreal

SATURDAY

Barcelona 3-0 Athletic

AZ 2-4 PSV

Genk 1-0 Mouscrom-Peruwelz

Maccabi Tel-Aviv 1-0 Hapoel Beer-Sheva

Monchengladbach 3-0 Freiburg

Bayern 1-1 Schalke

Tottenham 1-0 Middlesbrough

FRIDAY

Astra 1-0 Targu Mures

Lokeren 0-0 Anderlecht

NO GAME

Kbenhavn: the Danish Super League is on winter break until the weekend of 18 February

Krasnodar, Rostov, Zenit: the Russian Premier-Liga is on winter break until the weekend of 4 March

Legia Warszawa: the Polish Ekstraklasa is on winter break until the weekend of 11 February

Ludogorets Razgrad: the Bulgarian A League is on winter break until the weekend of 11 February

Shakhtar Donetsk: the Ukrainian Premier League is on winter break until the weekend of 25 February

Sparta Praha: the Czech First League is on winter break until the weekend of 18 February
By Press Trust of India: By Kunal Dutt

New Delhi, Feb 5 (PTI) India and Venezuela have stepped up cooperation in various sectors, including pharmaceutical industry and education and a new student exchange programme involving a petroleum university in the country, expected to begin soon.

"After the US and China, India is the biggest importer of oil from Venezuela. India has shown interest in expanding the economic ties, especially in this sector. But our cooperation is in other field as well, including cultural and educational," Venezuelan Ambassador Augusto Montiel said.

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Venezuela is one of the largest oil-producing countries in the world, the diplomat said, adding the ties between the two countries are growing. India constitutes about 10-12 per cent of the total volume of oil exported globally from Venezuela.

"We already signed an MoU with ISM Dhanbad for an exchange programme earlier and the select students visited Venezuela recently as part of it.

"And now we are in the process of finalising another agreement, to have an exchange programme for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of a petroleum university in India. By June, we should have the first batch of these students, about 30, in our country," Montiel told PTI in an interview.

In pharmaceutical sector, he said, private Indian firms are showing interest in setting up businesses in the Latin American country.

"A pharma major has recently set up production plant in our country. And culturally too, we are enhancing our ties. Last year, we did Venezuela-India Blend Ensemble, a cultural event, and we were there at the Kokata Book Fair too. We want both countries to know each other better," he said.

ONGC Videsh Ltd, overseas arm of state-owned ONGC, along with Indian Oil Corp and Oil India Ltd, holds 18 per cent stake in Venezuelas Carabobo-1 oil project, which currently produces about 16,000 bpd of oil and is expected to reach 90,000 bpd by end of 2017.

"The growing ties between the two countries was recently exhibited when India accepted our request to have a public square named our great leader and freedom icon Simon Bolivar. And we already have a street in Delhi named after him," Montiel said.

Located in Chanakyapuris diplomatic enclave, Simon Bolivar Square was inaugurated last April to mark 206th anniversary of the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence.

"The Simon Bolivar Square stands for the strategic fraternal ties between India and Venezuela. It also underlines that the memory of Simon Bolivar will continue to guide between Indian and those countries that he liberated in Latin America," Montiel had said on the Squares inauguration. PTI KND ZMN SRY

--- ENDS ---

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When Google launched Pixel phones, the tech analysts and enthusiasts already have something in mind about the upcoming Google Nexus 7 tablet.

Android OS

There have been reports that suggest the Nexus 7 tablet will come equipped with an Andromeda operating system. However, several updates including the one coming from Android Authority have learned that the hybrid OS was tested on Nexus 9 device instead.

That being the case, the crowds can expect an Android-based Nexus 7 from Google - probably running the latest version of Android Nougat.

4 gigs of RAM

As per Evan Blass' tweet, the upcoming Google tablet is said to flaunt 4 GB of RAM. To put into perspective, the Pixel Phones sport the same random access memory.

Google Assistant

When Google launched Pixel phones with Android 7.0 Nougat, it introduced Google Assistant - a voice-activated AI made exclusive to Pixel and Pixel XL.

If the Verge's speculation on Nexus 7 changing name to Pixel tablet comes true, this particular feature will be highly-anticipated in the device.

Daydream VR compatible

Aside from the unlimited Google Photos backup, consumers would be excited to find out whether Nexus 7 will be compatible with Daydream VR or not.

With the growing numbers of device supporting the VR headset, it is plausible for Google to bring the feature to its upcoming Nexus tablet.

Quick update

From the moment Google launched Pixel, analysts believe that Google is moving aggressively towards developing its own hardware. It can be assumed that Nexus 7 tablet may be branded as a Pixel device.

Whether it is Nexus or Pixel, Google promises software and firmware update in a timely manner for both brands, plus, 24/7 customer support. This will apply to the next-gen Nexus 7 as well.

Will Nexus 7 tablet be an iPad Pro killer?

As a reminder, Pixel C did not receive big applause from the tech crowds when compared to iPad Pro, as stated in KnowYourMobile.

If Google launch a Nexus tablet this year with hardware choices found in the Pixel, then it may not possess any key feature that could possibly outshine the iPad Pro, unless of course, if you're a fan of a pure Android.
More than 7,500 National Guard members from 44 states, territories and the District of Columbia were on hand Jan. 20 to support the 58th presidential inauguration.

January 20, 2017 - Army Spc. Shaleek Blackman, left, with the Delaware Army National Guard's 153rd Military Police Company; and Army Staff Sgt. Eric Stunkard, with the Delaware Army Guard's 262nd Component Repair Company keep an eye out as crowds make their way to the National Mall for the 58th presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. The soldiers were among more than 7,500 National Guard members from 44 states, territories and the District of Columbia who supported local authorities during the inauguration. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Erich B. Smith (DoD News photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Erich B. Smith) "This is the Super Bowl event for the District of Columbia National Guard," said Army Lt. Col. Nicole L. Brugato, a personnel officer at the National Guard Bureau who was part of the joint task force supporting the event.



Soldiers and airmen provided security, crowd control, traffic management, and logistics and communications capabilities while working with the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department, among other agencies.



"It [the inaugural event] took so many integral parts, so many pieces for it to come out smoothly," said Army Pfc. Michael Arthur, a military police officer with the Louisiana Army National Guard's 239th Military Police Company, who worked with officers from the Transportation Security Administration at a checkpoint along the inaugural parade route.



Providing Support



While boots on the ground played a key role in ensuring safety and security, Guard members could be found underground, as well. Army Sgt. John Garnett, with the Tennessee Army National Guard's 251st Military Police Company, worked with officers from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority providing added security in subway stations near the U.S. Capitol.



For Garnett, the day was an exercise in being "vigilant and resilient, and dedicated to keeping everyone as safe as possible."



Other Guard members had similar thoughts on the day.



"Our job here is to defend and enforce the laws of our nation, and help with the smooth transition of presidential power," said Army Sgt. Kurtis Brown, with the South Dakota Army National Guard's 235th Military Police Company.

January 20, 2017 - Army Sgt. Kurtis Brown, a military police officer with the South Dakota Army National Guard's 235th Military Police Company, answers questions from a spectator near a checkpoint during the 58th presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. Brown was one of more than 7,500 National Guard members from 44 states, territories and the District of Columbia who supported local authorities during the inauguration. (DoD News photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Erich B. Smith) Air Force Master Sgt. Heidi Gibson, a service specialist with the Florida Air National Guard's 202nd Redhorse Squadron, said remaining flexible was a key element needed throughout the day.



"This is about teamwork and communication and [being] willing to take on anything [while] making adjustments," she said.



In addition to providing support to local authorities, about 100 Guard members provided traditional ceremonial support, including marching in the inaugural parade.



Army Command Sgt. Maj. Wayne L. Bowser, the senior enlisted advisor of the District of Columbia National Guard, said he hoped young soldiers and airmen left with a sense of fulfillment and pride from taking part in the inauguration.



"There is a small percentage of folks who wear the uniform," he said. "There is a smaller [percentage] who will get a chance to be a part of this type of event."



The National Guard's presence in the presidential inauguration dates to 1789, when local militia units and members of the regular Army took part in George Washington's inaugural events in New York City. By U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Erich B. Smith

DOD News

Copyright 2017 Comment on this article
Chaitanya Karamchedu from Portland, Oregon, is turning heads across the country all because of a science experiment that began in his high school classroom.

By Press Trust of India: An Indian-American student has found a cheaper and easier method to turn salt water into drinkable fresh water and his research has caught the attention of major technology firms and universities.

Chaitanya Karamchedu from Portland, Oregon, is turning heads across the country all because of a science experiment that began in his high school classroom.

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The Jesuit High School Senior told KPTV that he has big plans of changing the world.

"1 in 8 people do not have access to clean water, its a crying issue that needs to be addressed," said Karamchedu.

He made up his mind to address the matter himself.

"The best access for water is the sea, so 70 per cent of the planet is covered in water and almost all of that is the ocean, but the problem is that's salt water," said Karamchedu.

Isolating drinkable water from the ocean in a cost effective way is a problem that has stumped scientists for years.

"Scientists looked at desalination, but it's all still inaccessible to places and it would cost too much to implement on a large scale," Karamchedu said.

Karamchedu figured it out, on his own, in a high school lab.

"The real genesis of the idea was realising that sea water is not fully saturated with salt," he was quoted as saying.

By experimenting with a highly absorbent polymer, the teen discovered a cost effective way to remove salt from ocean water and turn it into fresh water.

"Its not bonding with water molecules, its bonding to the salt," said Karamchedu.

"People have been looking at the problem from one view point, how do we break those bonds between salt and the water? Chai came in and thought about it from a completely different angle," said Jesuit High School Biology Teacher Dr. Lara Shamieh.

"People were concentrated on that 10 per cent of water that is bonded to the salt in the sea and no one looked at the 90 per cent that was free. Chai just looked at it and said if 10 per cent is bonded and 90 per cent is free, then why are we so focused on this 10 per cent, lets ignore it and focus on the 90," Shamieh said.

It is a breakthrough that is estimated to impact millions of lives if ever implemented on a mass scale.

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"What this is compared to current techniques, is that its cheap and accessible to everyone, everyone can use it," said Shamieh.

Scientists across the country are taking note. He won a USD 10,000 award from the US Agency for International Global Development at Intels International Science Fair and second place at MITs TechCon Conference where he won more money to continue his research.

"They were very encouraging, they could see things into it that I couldn't, because they've been working their whole lives on this," said Karamchedu.

Back in January, Karamchedu was also named one of 300 Regeneron Science Talent Search Semifinalists. The STS is thought to be one of the most prestigious competitions in the country for high school seniors.

--- ENDS ---


HomeAid Southern Nevada, the charitable arm of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, is putting the finishing touches on a renovation and expansion of the kitchen at U.S. VETS, 525 E. Bonanza Road, just east of Las Vegas Boulevard in Downtown Las Vegas.

The $460,000 project that HomeAid Southern Nevada began in November is complete after three productive months, thanks to an outpouring of donated time, labor and supplies from home builders and their partners in related industry trades. The kitchen is expected to reopen in mid-February and a formal grand opening will be held in March.

The expansion and renovation include the addition of 1,000 square feet to the kitchen space, which received a walk-in refrigerator, walk-in food storage area, commercial oven and cooktop and will be wheelchair accessible.

HomeAid Southern Nevada Executive Director Caitlin Shea said the project enables U.S. VETS to more efficiently open three times a day to serve a total of more than 400 meals to formerly homeless veterans now living in the adjoining residential facility.

U.S. VETS has provided transitional and permanent housing, along with employment services, to veterans in Southern Nevada since 2001.

HomeAid Southern Nevada and supporters, including Credit One Bank, The Home Depot Foundation, Bank of America and ChoiceCenter Leadership University, have partnered to provide funding and remodeling work. The HomeAid Southern Nevada builder captain on the project is Woodside Homes of Nevada.


On Friday, Feb. 3, Bank of America, in partnership with the Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals (VAREP) presented a mortgage-free home to Army Corporal Raphael Pizarro, his wife and four children. Corporal Pizarro was injured during active service, after serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq as a combat medic. He served for nearly two decades before being medically discharged.

(Pictured at top: Richard Mercado, Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals; Kylene Pizarro, wife of Raphael Pizarro and home recipient; Raphael Pizarro, U.S. Army Veteran and home recipient; Dan Giraldo, Bank of America Southern Nevada).

Corporal Raphael Pizarro, U.S. Army Veteran, received the keys to his newly renovated home in Las Vegas, Nevada. The legendary Patriot Guard Riders also attended to pay their respects to Pizarro.

This home donation marked the ninth home Bank of America has donated specifically to military veterans in Nevada, making it the 25th home donated in Nevada overall. Additionally, more than 2,000 homes have been donated nationwide. This is part of the banks efforts to revitalize communities and support the housing needs of those who have served and sacrificed for our nation.
Days after 24-year-old female techie was murdered at Infosys Pune campus, the IT firm is now organising self defence classes for its employees.

By Pankaj P. Khelkar: After the shocking incident wherein a 24-year-old female software engineer was murdered inside Infosys campus in Pune on January 29. Infosys company has now intensified self defense training at all its campuses throughout the country. The management has also taken various preventive measures so that such incident don't happen again.

On Thursday, a circular mail was sent to all of its employees, appealing to register their names for self defense martial arts classes. A 5th DAN martial art's expert, Jaydev Mhamane, has been roped in to teach self defence techniques.

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SELF DEFENCE CLASSES

Mhamane and his team spent the entire Friday at Infosys campus. As many as 1000 female employees attended the self defence workshop.

Talking to India Today, one of the employee who attended the Friday afternoon session said that there was a tremendous turnout of female employees who wanted to be self defendant.

"Friday's turnout was very nice, specially after the sad incident that happened inside Infosys campus. Everyone is talking that self defense is very important in day to day life. Not just living life normally but to learn new things. To save oneself first is bigger thing. people are taking it seriously and they want to practice more to make themself perfect," said an employee Bhavesh Kothari.

Many male employees also joined the session.

"Apart from attending the session, practicing what you have learnt is also important, and so is reading about self defense," Jaydev Mhamane said.

In addition to self defence classes, the management of Infosys is looking into other measures to ensure their employees' safety.

"The unfortunate incident on January 29 however is a reminder that nothing can be taken for granted and no security measure is fool proof. We are therefore taking some additional steps with immediate effect to further strengthen the security at our campuses," read the statement issued by the IT company.

Some of the immediate steps that are being taken are :-

Rosters are being reworked, especially where single team members are required.

Trying to see that no employee works alone on a shift.

Additional security (including female security guards) is being deployed.

More floor walks by security personnel.

Extension of work from home facility.

Deployment of panic buttons across buildings.

Rapid response teams to take immediate action.

Complete review of security procedures by an expert third party consultant.

--- ENDS ---

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Hameedullah, a resident of Afghanistan having an office in Karol Bagh of New Delhi, namely Sunlight World Trade E-Commerce Company, is said to have cheated and extorted money from the US national and then transferred it through Western Union Money Transfer to his home country.

By Tanseem Haider: An Afghan national, who was accused of cheating, sexual assault and extortion by a US citizen, has been arrested by the Delhi Police Crime Branch. The accused is believed to have befriended her through the social networking site Facebook.

Hameedullah, a resident of Afghanistan and having an office in Karol Bagh of New Delhi, namely Sunlight World Trade E-Commerce Company, is said to have cheated and extorted money from the US national and then transferred it through Western Union Money Transfer to his home country.

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The matter came to light when the US citizen approached the Delhi Police and filed a complain about being cheated and extorted in India by a man from Afghanistan.

MODUS OPERANDI: Hameedullah befriended the US woman though Facebook after posing as one MK Faheem. He lured her under the pretext of love and commitment and even persuaded her to meet him. After winning her confidence, he promised her a life long relationship and even put forth the idea of marriage. The accused even presented a fake marriage certificate which mentioned her as being his wife. The accused started having a physical relationship with her and even took sexually explicit pictures and videos of her. After he got her total confidence he began to take money from her under false pretenses, and it amounted to USD 86,000. He then got the amount transferred to Afghanistan through Western Union Money Transfer and then received the amount in India through other channels. The victim uncovered the true identity of the accused and she also discovered that he was mentioned as a scammer on the website whoscammedyou.com. When she confronted him, he threatened her that he would inform the FBI that the money transferred by her through Western Union was paid to terrorists in Kabul. The accused also said that he would upload the sexually explicit pictures and videos he had taken of her on the internet. He even threatened he would pour acid on her. Upon receiving the complain, the Delhi Police Crime Branch immediately sprang into action and apprehended Hameedullah near Hyatt hotel, RK Puram and recovered mobile phones and the vehicle used by him.

WHO IS HAMEEDULLAH?

Hameedullah was born in Kabul in January 1981 and brought up at Mazar Sharif, Afghanistan. He holds an Afghan passport issued at Kabul. His family moved to UAE in 1997/98 due to hostile conditions in Afghanistan. He arrived in India in July 2011 on a tourist visa that was later converted to medical visa.

He learned ways of ensnaring ladies through social networking sites and cheated money from them on various false pretenses. He was living a luxurious life by flaunting his earnings acquired through such cheating.

--- ENDS ---
The Omnipotent Owl  Why Are We Drawn to This Ancient Symbol of Wisdom?

Like a great sage, an owl sits stock-still, seeing everything, but saying nothing. When she takes action, it is swift and precise. These bold characteristics have earned the owl both respect and fear among humans; yet any great big eyes set into a fluffy body is sure to have broad
Since President Donald Trump opened the gold-infused ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago resort almost 12 years ago, it has been a popular rental for the American Red Cross, hospitals, medical researchers and other charities for fundraising galas where the wealthiest donors are wined and dined, often netting $1 million or more.



But Trump's election puts charities in an awkward position over choosing the resort - recently dubbed the president's Winter White House - for events they may have planned more than a year in advance.



With Trump placing a moratorium on refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries and his promises to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, activists are pressuring charities such as the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic to move or cancel their galas this month.



As the International Red Cross held a gala fundraiser Saturday at Mar-a-Lago, about 3,000 demonstrators marched nearby to protest Trump's now-blocked executive order temporarily limiting immigration. The event ended peacefully, and there were no arrests.



So far, no known Mar-a-Lago charity events have been moved or canceled.



More than 2,000 people, including faculty and students from Harvard Medical School, have signed an online petition demanding that Boston-based Dana-Farber move or cancel its Feb. 18 "Discovery Celebration," featuring a performance by Grammy Award winner David Foster. The cheapest ticket is $1,250.



Petition organizer George Karandinos, a 30-year-old Harvard medical student from Houston, said he understands that canceling or moving the Dana-Farber event would be difficult, "but they can make a public moral stand that is in line with their stated values" of diversity and supporting scientific exchanges across borders. Plus, he said, a cancellation might attract additional donors.



A similar open letter, signed by more than 1,100 including doctors and medical students, demands that Cleveland Clinic move its Feb. 25 "Reflections of Versailles: A Night in the Hall of Mirrors" gala. Its cheapest ticket also is $1,250.



Both Dana-Farber and the Cleveland Clinic said they won't move or cancel their events, but added that it doesn't mean they support the president's policies. Applications filed with the town of Palm Beach show Dana-Farber expects to raise $1.25 million after paying expenses of $250,000. The Red Cross says it will make $950,000 after spending $400,000. A portion of those expenses would go to Mar-a-Lago. The town did not immediately release Cleveland Clinic's application.



Dana-Farber President Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher issued a statement saying she shares the protesters' concerns about the immigration moratorium and what it will mean for doctors, scientists, students and patients from the affected countries, but that the protesters are unrealistic.



"The forthcoming fundraiser in Palm Beach is planned many months in advance, and raises critical funds to support this lifesaving work. Contracts have been signed, and a large number of people have committed to attend. Canceling the event outright would only deny much-needed resources for research and care," she said.



The Cleveland Clinic issued a similar statement.



"The sole purpose of our event in Florida is to raise funds for important research to advance cardiovascular medicine that improves patient care," spokeswoman Eileen Sheil said. "In no way is this connected to anything else but helping patients. The event has been held there for years, well before the election."



Mar-a-Lago director Bernd Lembcke didn't return a call seeking comment. The Trump Organization didn't respond to an emailed request for comment.



Photos of the ballroom complex, including the Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom, show large open spaces lighted by chandeliers and surrounded by massive archways and columns. Bathroom fixtures are gold-plated. The walls, ceiling and columns have intricate decorations gilded with gold leaf. Many organizations have been using the venue for years to host their wealthiest donors.



Trump opened the 20,000 square-foot ballroom complex in late 2005 _ the inaugural event was the reception for his wedding to Melania Trump. He told reporters the complex cost $35 million, but Palm Beach building records indicate the cost was lower, likely no more than $15 million.



Mary Simboski, who teaches in Boston University's fundraising management program, said that while she could not speak to any specific event, major galas like the ones the Cleveland Clinic, Red Cross and Dana-Farber are throwing take a year to plan and are a major part of an organization's fundraising operation.



Picking a site like Mar-a-Lago often comes down to location, size, cost and availability, she said, and has nothing to do with politics. Projecting that the groups could perhaps garner more financial support by canceling the event is wishful thinking, she said.



"Hope is not a strategy," Simboski said.
A federal appeals court has denied the Justice Departments request for an immediate reinstatement of President Donald Trumps ban on certain travelers and all refugees.



The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco instead asked both the state of Washington and the Trump administration early Sunday to file more arguments by Monday afternoon.



The Trump administration appealed a federal judges ruling that temporarily placed the ban on hold. The higher courts denial of an immediate stay means legal battles over the ban will continue into the coming week at least.



Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco forcefully argued in the governments brief Saturday night that presidential authority is largely immune from judicial control when it comes to deciding who can enter or stay in the United States.


Immigrants are now making their way into the United States again, after a federal court temporarily halted President Donald Trump's executive order banning travel to the United States from seven Muslim majority nations.

Reports say the New York Immigration Coalition has been assisting U.S. green card holders and non-immigrant visa holders who have arrived, without problems, at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Attorney Camille Mackler told the Associated Press on Sunday that "it's been business as usual."

Iranian Fariba Tajrostami received a call Saturday and learned she was being allowed to fly to the U.S. after the court order.

Her two brothers met her at JKF, where she said she feels "very happy" and "secure." Tajrostami was not allowed to board a plane in Istanbul last week after Trump's order.

Fuad Sharef, who worked for a USAID subcontractor in Iraq, was not allowed to board a U.S.-bound flight with his wife and three children. But after the court's decision, Sharef and his family took one of the first planes to Seattle.

Sharef told Reuters he wants to share with his children a lesson he learned after a tumultuous week.

"Yeah, my life changed dramatically. You know, ups and downs, and I learned a lesson that if you have a right, never surrender," he said.

The family departed Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, and planned to make their way to Nashville, Tennessee, where members of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugees Rights Coalition had plans to welcome them.



U.S. Judge James Robart, a 69-year-old jurist in the northwest state of Washington known for his conservative legal views, put a nationwide block on Trump's week-old executive order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven Muslim majority nations from entering the United States.

Hours after the federal judge blocked President Donald Trump's executive order, the president hurled fresh criticism at the judge, warning that the ruling would allow "many very bad and dangerous people into our country."

"What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.," Trump tweeted. Earlier he called Robart's decision "ridiculous," and vowed to have it overturned.

The Justice Department appealed the judge's decision, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied the governments request to immediately reinstate the temporary travel ban. The court asked the Trump administration and the state of Washington to file more arguments by Monday afternoon.

In the meantime, Nael Zaino, a Syrian refugee who worked for the International Organization for Migration in Turkey, said even though he was put through a secondary screening, a U.S. agent told him to Go on, start your life, and enjoy your time with your son.

"I didn't believe it until I came out of the airport. At that moment I realized I'm not in a dream," Zaino added.

Reports said Zaino was reunited with family in Boston Saturday after receiving a waiver from the State Department with the help of U.S. lawmakers who were contacted by Zaino's relatives.
Rights activists are trying to force President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi to throw out a law used by his government to imprison thousands of Egyptians and sentence hundreds to death by arguing that it was overturned as far back as 1928.

Over the past three years, judges have cited Law 10 of 1914, or the Assembly Law, in jailing opposition activists and ordinary people for protesting against Sissi and his government and in issuing mass death sentences, mainly to Islamists.

Security forces also cite it to justify the use of force against demonstrators that has led to thousands of deaths, a crackdown they say is in response to fatal attacks on police and soldiers and is needed to preserve stability in the most populous Arab state.

Little was known about the history of the Assembly Law until human rights groups decided to delve into the archives. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) non-government organization published a 95-page report on Tuesday.

The law, which criminalizes the gathering of five or more people and institutes collective punishment, was issued at the behest of British occupation authorities to stop Egyptians protesting against their rule in the lead up to World War I.

What the researchers uncovered was that in 1928, the then-parliament passed a bill to repeal it.

The bill should have passed into the statute book because the monarch at the time, King Fuad I, neither signed nor vetoed it within 30 days. However the king, who objected to the repeal but knew any veto would be overturned, prevented it being published in the official gazette, leaving its legal status, and that of the original Assembly Law, unclear.

Symbolic case

Despite this, successive post-colonial and republican governments continued to apply the Assembly Law at various stages. President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who overthrew the monarchy, even made it stricter in 1968 following student protests.

The researchers argue, however, that the fact that the 1928 repeal bill went unpublished did not detract from its legal status and that therefore the continued use of the Assembly Law was, and is, illegal.

Their findings prompted a group of 21 people, including two activists in jail because of the law, as well as lawyers and opposition party leaders, to launch a legal case on Tuesday. The case sets out the argument that the Assembly Law was repealed in 1928 and urges Sissi and the government to throw it out.

"It's time President Sissi takes the initiative to immediately renounce this historic and legal indignity by abolishing the British colonial administration law, originally designed to suppress Egyptian resistance to occupation," said Bahey eldin Hassan, director of CIHRS.

"Every citizen deprived of their freedom under this unjust, obsolete law must be immediately released, with apologies and reparations for their families."

The government and Sissi's office did not respond to requests for comment. The justice ministry declined to comment. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were unlikely to comment because the matter was with the courts.

The activists say they know it is unlikely the law will actually be repealed, and that even if it were repealed on a technicality, there is nothing stopping parliament, where most MPs are Sissi loyalists, from passing similar legislation.

Human rights groups estimate about 40,000 people have been detained for political reasons since 2013, when then-general Sissi ousted Egypt's first freely elected president, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi, after mass protests.

The Assembly Law, along with a protest law issued in 2013, has effectively outlawed demonstrations and a judicial and security sweep that began with Islamists has expanded to include secular activists and journalists.

Collective pubishment

The law stipulates six-month prison sentences for any gathering of five or more people as long as police deem it a threat to public peace, even if no crime is committed.

If a crime, such as murder, is committed during the gathering, all those at the gathering and even those who call for it, even if they do not attend, are liable.

Correspondence in the British National Archives unearthed by CIHRS and seen by Reuters between the British High Commissioner in Egypt and the British Foreign Secretary shows the king, who faced protests, asked the British to stop parliament passing the bill repealing the Assembly Law but that they refrained.

Their thinking was that the law had served its purpose now the war was over and could no longer be justified to the British public, the correspondence shows.

CIHRS said its report was published two years later than intended due to a stepping up of pressure on Egyptian civil society workers, including travel bans and asset freezes.

It has prompted debate in parliament and the House of Representatives Committee on Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Chairman has called on the government to issue a statement clarifying the law's status.

To date, there has been no response from the government.
French Nationalist Marine Le Pen vowed to put "France First" as she launched her presidential bid Sunday, speaking out against globalization.

"The primaries have shown that the debates on secularism or on immigration, as well as on globalization or generalized deregulation do constitute now a fundamental and cross-cutting division," she told crowds in the central city of Lyon.

"The division is not between right and left anymore, but between patriots and pro-globalization."

Le Pen has been a vocal representative of the National Front (FN) party for years, and continues to gain popularity as France falls victim to more terrorist attacks, prompting voters to shift toward nationalist and populist policies. Le Pen in recent months has called to ban the Muslim veil and Jewish kippah on streets.

She has spoken out against immigration for economic reasons as well, echoing claims from U.S. President Donald Trump across the ocean that immigrants claim welfare, taking an unfair share of American tax dollars.

"Do you really think this is normal?" she asked her supporters Sunday. "Tell me, do you think this is normal that a French family who has been working for all their life, can't not even pay for food to eat, while we are giving millions of euros to foreigners?"

Recent polls show that Le Pen has enough support to make it past the first round of French presidential elections, but not enough to win the run-off scheduled for May 7.

"Well, you know, according to polls, Trump should have lost. According to polls, the Brexit should have been rejected, and in Italy according to polls Matteo Renzi's policy should have been adopted," she countered. "I don't believe in polls. . . I really believe in victory, and we will win."
The man suspected of attacking French soldiers outside the Louvre museum in Paris Friday is so far refusing to speak with investigators, French judicial sources say.

Meanwhile, the father of the suspect has told the Associated Press his son is not a terrorist.

"He is a very respectable man who never had a problem with anybody, he never had any sort of political views,'' Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy told the news agency late Saturday. "His main concern in his life was his work in the United Arab Emirates,'' he said, adding that his son had gone to France on a "work assignment.''

Al-Hamahmy added that he trusted the French judiciary system to find the truth behind the charges against his 28-year-old son Abdullah.

The Louvre museum in Paris reopened Saturday morning, less than 24 hours after a knife-wielding man was shot by soldiers.

Abdullah al-Hamahmy's condition was "markedly improved" Saturday, according to the Paris prosecutor, after having been shot four times.

Al-Hamahmy reportedly yelled "Allahu Akbar" as he attacked soldiers outside the museum, injuring one of them.

The attack at an entrance to a Paris shopping mall that extends beneath the museum sowed panic and again highlighted the threat French officials say hangs over the country, which was hit by several extremist attacks over the past two years.

French President Francois Hollande said there is no doubt that the attack was of a terrorist nature. While he said the situation around the Paris tourist attraction is totally under control, he said it shows why increased security was needed in the country after attacks in 2015 and 2016.
The Afghan family expected by members of Kittamaqundi Community Church in the story below arrived Valentine's Day, February 14, after courts put a temporary stay on President Donald Trump's executive order banning refugees from Syria. When VOA contacted church members, the family was on their way from the airport to their new home, six days later than expected, but ready to start their new life.

A Welcome new neighbors card sits on a kitchen table covered with a red, white and blue flowered tablecloth in a three-story townhouse in Columbia, Maryland. The living room is fully furnished, including a rocking chair. It is waiting for its family to come home.

The calendar in one room shows February 8 ... because thats the day they are still scheduled to arrive.  I mean, they wont be arriving that day, says Rev. Heather Kirk-Davidoff of Kittamaqundi Community Church, known as KC.

Kirk-Davidoff is the minister of the 100-member church that took on the resettlement of a refugee family from Afghanistan.

Americans all over the whole country were [heart]broken by stories all over the news, especially in the summer in 2015, about people who were fleeing Syria and other areas in the Middle East, and dying in the Mediterranean as they try to cross, Kirk-Davidoff said.

Her church started small, assembling welcome kits with household items for newly arrived immigrants.

Watch: Refugee Ban Leaves Resettlement Organizations in the Lurch

Small effort led to big one

That effort led to a contract with Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, a nonprofit that partners with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help legal immigrants start a new life through the refugee resettlement program.

Families who are assigned to a community or a church sponsor through the LSS Good Neighbor Program do not have family or other ties in the U.S.

All through December, KC members said they prayed to be assigned a refugee family.

But they also were very aware, Kirk-Davidoff said, of President Donald Trumps campaign promise to curb the influx of refugees.

So it became really a matter of urgency for us to get the family here to the United States before inauguration, she said.

The Sunday before the new president was inaugurated, they were told a family was on the way.

House rented, furnished

With the support of five other faith communities, including a nearby mosque, the church rented a townhouse, raised $20,000, furnished the house with donated furniture, and assigned volunteers to meet the family at the airport and provide guidance on shopping, transportation and other local resources.

Members of the mosque donated a prayer rug and placed it in the homes living room in the direction of Mecca.

KC members do not know much about the Afghan refugees except that the parents speak some English and have four kids: 11- and 6-year-old girls, and two boys  a 9-year-old and a 14-month-old baby who was born when the family was in a refugee camp after having fled their homeland.

We really had this child [14-month-old] particularly in our minds, Kirk-Davidoff said. We figure this kid will only remember this house. Hes really the one whose life will start in the United States.

Hopes dashed

But he and the rest of the family will not be moving into the carefully prepared townhouse in Columbia  at least not yet.

On January 27, Trump signed an executive order that barred all refugees from entry into the U.S. for 120 days. He said the action was needed to keep Americans safe from terrorism.

Even then, Kirk-Davidoff still had hope.

We thought because the family at that point had a visa, had a date of entry. We actually celebrated that Sunday ... we felt we had made it, she said.

But then reality set in.

I was heartbroken, church member Don Link said. He was the one who originally felt the call to this outreach mission.

Some of us cried. We all prayed for our family. This is affecting us in our own hearts and our plans, but thats nothing to what it is doing to the family. I just cant imagine how these parents tell the kids that they are not coming to the U.S. How do they go forward? he said.

Sense of loss

In the living room of the rented house, Kirk-Davidoff sits on one of the donated couches. She talks about the journey of six congregations with different religions that came together to welcome a family fleeing war and persecution. She fights to hold back tears, but her voice breaks.

We dont have a photograph of the family, but we have a picture of them in our minds eye. We have a sense of them walking in this home and finding a new life here. They had become very real for us, she said.

Colin Richardson, an LSS case manager, said the organization does not get into politics, but is deeply saddened that tens of thousands of people may have lost their opportunity for a new beginning with a promise of freedom and prosperity.

Over the next four months we will be concentrating on the families we have here.  And just waiting to see how things play out in the future of resettlement, Richardson said.

According to LSS, 1 percent of refugees are resettled to a third country. The United States has been the worlds top resettlement country. In fiscal 2015, the organization and partners, like Kittamaqundi Community Church, helped more than 1,000 refugees.

Moving forward

In the meantime, stuffed animals sit on beds without children, the prayer rug lies beside the empty couch, and the welcome card on the kitchen table stays sealed.

Neither Richardson nor any of the volunteers knows where the family is now.

Link, however, is optimistic that he can somehow reach out to organizations overseas responsible for resettlement of refugees, to see if they can offer assistance.

Somewhere there are people who have interacted with this family, whether its an NGO, the United Nations folks or State Department folks. We dont know yet. [But] Im hopeful, he said.
Ahead of the Assembly polls in UP, families of the accused lodged in jail have boycotted the elections seeking their release.

By Abhishek Anand: More than a year after Bisada village resident Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched over suspicion of slaughtering a cow, the locals and some politicians are raking up the communally sensitive issue again. Ahead of the Assembly polls in UP, families of the accused lodged in jail have boycotted the elections seeking their release.

Many locals have also joined them. In a bid to garner votes, the local Bharatiya Janata Party candidate supported the families of the accused. "Many politicians visited the village to seek vote. But we have decided not to vote anyone. If any candidate ensures release of the youth arrested on false charges, we will support him," said a resident of the village.

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Eighteen locals, including three juveniles, were arrested on charges of murder and assault. However, all three juveniles were released on bail while one accused died due to some ailment.

Also read: Accused in Dadri lynching case Robin dies under mysterious circumstances in judicial custody

Their demands didn't remain unheard for long in the political hustle as the local BJP candidate Tejpal Nagar extended his support to the families of the accused. He criticized the lynching, but attacked the state government for 'biased' action. He also promised to ensure that no injustice will be done to anyone if he wins the elections.

"The incident was unfortunate, but the Samajwadi Party government's action was biased. I feel that many innocent youths were arrested following the incident. If my (BJP) government comes to power, I will ensure that no injustice will be done to any innocent. The SP government is doing politics of appeasement," Nagar told India Today.

However, other parties downplayed the communal factor and claimed that polarization will not help any party.

Also read: Dadri lynching: Take back UP govt perks from victim's family, says accused's kin

"There is no polarization factor in the coming assembly elections. Those who want to seek vote on the base of religion, will lose the elections," said Satveer Gurjar, sitting MLA and Bahujan Samaj Party candidate from Dadri.

On the night of September 28, 2015, Bisada resident Akhlaq and his younger son Danish were attacked by a group of locals over allegations of slaughtering a cow and storing its meat for consumption. Akhlaq had succumbed to his injuries a day later while Danish had survived with a fractured skull. The incident had triggered a massive nationwide outrage over intolerance with many prominent personalities returning their awards to mark their protest.

WATCH THE VIDEO

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The Seattle judge derided by President Donald Trump on Twitter Saturday after blocking Trumps executive order on immigration is known for his conservative legal views, for a record of helping disadvantaged children that includes fostering six of them, and for dramatically declaring black lives matter during a hearing on police reform in 2015.

Judge James L. Robart, 69, was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2004, following a distinguished 30-year career in private practice that included his selection to the American College of Trial Lawyers, an honor bestowed on less than 1 percent of lawyers.

The judge made the most high-profile ruling of his tenure Friday when he temporarily invalidated Trumps ban on travel to the U.S. from seven primarily Muslim nations. Washington state sued to block the order  with support from Minnesota and major corporations including Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia  arguing that its unconstitutional and would harm its residents, and Robart held that the state was likely correct.

The ruling did not sit well with the president, who on Twitter called Robart a so-called judge and the ruling ridiculous. The president later falsely claimed the decision meant anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.

A careful judge

The comments are unlikely to sway Robart, said those who know him.

Jim will give a wry smile, maybe adjust his bowtie a little bit and go back to doing his business, said former Seattle U.S. attorney John McKay, who worked with Robart for a decade at the law firm of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky. Hes a very careful judge, and hes conservative in the sense he looks at the law and tries to determine what that is, not what he wants. Hes conservative in his review of the law, but courageous in his application of it.

Another former Seattle U.S. attorney, Jenny Durkan, called Robart exacting: We won some in front of him and we lost some in front of him, but we knew anytime we walked into his courtroom wed better be prepared.

That was evident Friday when Robart grilled a Justice Department lawyer, Michelle Bennett, asking if foreign nationals from the seven countries named in the order had been arrested for plots in the U.S. since 9/11. Bennett said she didnt know.

The answer to that is none, best I can tell, Robart said. Youre here arguing on behalf of someone that says we have to protect the United States from these individuals coming from these countries, and theres no support for that.

He added that he was tasked with determining whether the presidents order was grounded in facts, as opposed to fiction.

Patent, intellectual property law expert

Robart, a graduate of Georgetown Law School, is an expert in patent and intellectual property law, and he issued a landmark decision, later upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a lawsuit between Microsoft and Motorola that provided guidance in how to calculate reasonable rates for use of another companys patents.

Hes considered a tough sentencing judge in criminal matters, especially in cases involving white-collar defendants, and he has overseen reforms at the Seattle Police Department since 2012, when it agreed to make changes in response to Justice Department findings that its officers were too quick to use force, especially in low-level situations.

Robart was holding a hearing in that case in summer 2015, a time fraught with tension over violence by and against police officers around the country, when he surprised the courtroom by adopting the mantra of protesters.

The importance of this issue to me is best demonstrated by the news, he said, shaking his head and sighing heavily. According to FBI statistics, police shootings resulting in death involve 41 percent black people, despite being only 20 percent of the population living in those cities. Forty-one percent of the casualties, 20 percent of the population: Black lives matter.

Robart donated to the state Republican Party and to GOP candidates before becoming a judge, but was picked for the bench with the help of a bipartisan selection panel. He helped lead his law firms efforts to provide free legal services to those who couldnt afford them, and he served as president of Seattle Childrens Home, which offers mental health services and special education for at-risk children.

High praise from lawmakers



And as U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., noted during his confirmation hearing, he and his wife had fostered six children themselves.

Robart drew high praise from Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who cited his exceptional qualifications and his work representing Southeast Asian refugees.

Working with people who have an immediate need and an immediate problem that you are able to help with is the most satisfying aspect of the practice of law, Robart said then. If I am fortunate enough to be confirmed by the Senate, I will take that experience to the courtroom with me, recognize that you need to treat everyone with dignity and with respect, and to engage them so that when they leave the courtroom they feel like they had a fair trial and that they were treated as a participant in the system.
Protests erupted for a third straight week across the United States and beyond, targeting policies of U.S. President Donald Trump and criticizing his presidential demeanor.

Late Friday, a U.S. federal judge temporarily blocked the presidents executive order, signed January 27, that banned travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

However, that didnt stop demonstrators from gathering around the globe.

In London, several thousand people gathered Saturday outside the U.S. embassy, holding signs and chanting anti-Trump slogans. The protest was organized by several anti-racism and Muslim advocacy groups who condemned the U.S. travel ban as well as Prime Minister Theresa Mays government for taking so long to criticize it.

Later in the day, protesters marched from the embassy in Grosvenor Square to Downing Street.

A week ago, hundreds of people had gathered in downtown Toronto to protest the travel ban imposed by the new U.S. president. On Saturday, thousands gathered outside the U.S. consulate in the city and marched against Islamophobia as well as the U.S. leader.

Similar protests in Paris and Berlin drew smaller crowds of about 1,000 protesters each.

In Australia, about 1,000 people rallied in the eastern city of Sydney to protest the executive order and call on Australian leaders to close the countrys offshore refugee processing centers.

A small group of about 30 activists gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Indonesia to protest the travel ban as well.

March: Protesters in London Rally Against Trump, Travel Ban

Poll: Nearly half of American support ban

Polls suggest nearly half of Americans support the ban, with opinion sharply divided along party lines.

The latest poll, released Friday by CBS News, found that 45 percent of U.S. citizens approve of the travel ban, compared to 51 percent who disapprove. A Reuters/Ipsos poll earlier in the week showed 49 percent agreed with the measure, compared with 41 percent who disagreed.

Rafael Diaz-Yoserev, 69, who came to the United States from Cuba at age 13, may have voted for Trump, but admits he often finds the presidents demeanor offensive.

I still dont like him, says Diaz-Yoserev, who works as a surgeon in Miami, Florida. But Im in agreement with everything hes done so far.

The White House says the order is aimed at protecting the U.S. from foreigners who wish to do it harm. But opponents say it actually makes the country less safe because it is an unconstitutional and discriminatory policy that represents a first step toward fulfilling Trumps campaign pledge to ban Muslim immigration.

Diaz-Yoserev doesnt see it that way.

I have nothing against immigration. Im an immigrant myself, he says. But if some foreigners are inconvenienced for the protection of the people of the United States, then its obviously an acceptable trade-off.

Those opposing the ban, which affects travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations, however, gathered by the thousands at rallies across the U.S.

March: Anti-Trump Protesters Rally in Palm Beach, Florida

Marching in Florida

Saturday evening, more than 2,000 protesters marched from Trump Plaza in West Palm Beach, Florida, to near Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort, where the International Red Cross was hosting a fundraiser that included President Trump.

In Miami, hundreds of people had gathered at Bayfront Park for an afternoon rally that shut down several streets. The demonstrators were protesting several of Trumps emerging policies, including rights of the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and questioning (LGTBQ) community.

Thousands of people also rallied for LGBTQ rights in front of the Stonewall Inn, a U.S. National Monument and gay rights landmark in New York.

Earlier in the week, Trump had released a statement pledging to support the rights of LGBTQ people in the federal workplace after speculation started to grow that he may do away with the 2014 executive order. Some activist groups have expressed concern that Trump would do away with the order or institute some other policies that would have affected the gay community.

A few hundred protesters gathered in the snow in Philadelphia Saturday outside a building where Vice President Mike Pence gave a speech to the citys chapter of the Federalist Society, a conservative lawyers group. The demonstrators held signs that said, No Ban No Wall.

About 600 protesters rallied at a park near House Speaker Paul Ryans home in Janesville, Wisconsin, according to the Janesville Gazette. Demonstrations were also held in other U.S. cities, including Denver.

In Los Angeles, dozens of supporters and opponents of the president squared off at the Los Angeles International Airport.

Wes Parker, 62, from Long Beach, California, told the Reuters news agency he supported the tighter measures.

We just have to support the travel pause, said Parker, holding a sign that said Trump is love. If you were a new president coming in, wouldnt you want what you feel safe with?

Jennifer Morita Kerr, wore a sign that said Japanese Americans against the ban. Immigrants welcome, the Los Angeles Times reported. Kerr, of Hacienda Heights, California, told the Times, Im here because this happened to my family. My father, my grandparents and my great grandparents were all put in internment camps. They lost everything.

Late Saturday, the Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal in a step toward asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to lift the judges ruling.

VOAs William Gallo contributed to this article.
The Trump administration says U.S. President Donald Trump had a very good call Saturday with Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko, addressing the conflict with Russia among other things.

In a statement, the White House quoted Trump as saying we will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border.

The White House said the two leaders also discussed the potential for a meeting soon.

Surge in fighting

Trumps first conversation with Poroshenko comes amid a surge in fighting in the eastern Ukraine war zone between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed insurgents. Dozens of people have been killed in the past week as the violence escalated to levels not seen since 2015.

Poroshenko has argued that the outburst is a reason to continue Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its actions against Ukraine. Trumps repeated promises to strengthen relations with Russia have stoked Ukrainian concerns the U.S. could drop some sanctions.

Trump, who is spending the weekend at his beach estate in Florida, also spoke by phone Saturday with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

The two leaders discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation across a range of shared interests, including security and counterterrorism, according to a statement from the White House.

G-7 meeting

Also discussed were Libya, the influx of migrants and refugees into Europe, as well as Italys priorities and the upcoming G-7 meeting in Italy, the statement said.

On Friday, Gentiloni participated in a European Union summit in Malta, where he and the other EU leaders promised to remain defiant of Trump, whose criticism of the union is thought by some to threaten the strength of the trans-Atlantic alliance. They discussed ideas that will be included in a declaration on the EUs future when they observe its 60th anniversary in March in Rome.

Gentiloni said Friday he saw a great opportunity for the EU if the Trump administration focuses primarily on domestic issues, giving Europe the chance to establish the No. 1 trade superpower in the world.

In their phone call Saturday, Trump reiterated the U.S. commitment to NATO and emphasized the importance of all NATO allies sharing the monetary burden of defense spending. Trump also agreed to attend the G-7 Summit in Taormina, Italy, in May, according to the White House.
President Donald Trump's heated rush to launch what he said would be a "major investigation" into voter fraud has cooled, leaving White House staff uncertain when it will come to pass or what shape it will take.

An executive action commissioning the probe is still planned but could be several weeks away, two senior administration officials said Friday. Although Trump instructed staff to jump on the project last week, he has not discussed the issue in recent days, according to two other people in close touch with the president. All demanded anonymity to discuss private conservations.

Asked about the status of the effort, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said: "I do not have an update at this time."

The indefinite delay came as some of Trump's advisers counseled him to abandon the idea, arguing it was a distraction from more pressing issues. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in last November's election. Trump won the Electoral College vote but lost the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Pushed aside

A senior official said the investigation, which Trump never publicly discussed in detail, has become less of a priority because it has been drowned out by other White House efforts, including attempts to manage the chaotic aftermath of Trump's executive order restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations. The investigation most likely would not be considered until well after the confirmation of Trump's pick for attorney general, Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the official said.

That would be a marked change from the breakneck pace by which the order was first introduced.

In his earliest days in office, Trump appeared to be fixated on the election results and frustrated by political opponents who questioned the legitimacy of his victory.

At his first meeting with lawmakers of both parties, he declared believed that 3 million to 5 million people had voted illegally in November, a widely debunked assertion that sent the White House scrambling to craft an order that met the president's wishes.

Two days later, Trump announced in a pair of tweets that a "major investigation" would look at those registered to vote in more than one state, "those who are illegal and ... even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time)." Depending on results, the Republican tweeted on his sixth day in office, "we will strengthen up voting procedures!"

A distraction

Several congressional Republicans decried the claim as a distraction, other executive orders were rescheduled and an administration set to roll out an ambitious first-week agenda found itself suddenly sidetracked.

White House staffers told reporters on the afternoon of January 26 that it was nearly time to be escorted into the Oval Office to watch Trump sign the order. But the photo-op was abruptly postponed. And now, though more than a week has passed, it has yet to be rescheduled and no timetable has been announced for its return.

The White House also abruptly canceled an executive action on cybersecurity this week, after briefing reporters on its text and putting the signing ceremony on the president's public schedule. That action has not yet been signed.

Trump's call for a probe alarmed Democrats, who already believe that efforts to tighten voter ID laws are a means to restrict access to the ballot box. And soon, members of Trump's own party suggested it was misguided.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, broke with Trump, saying that he saw no evidence of voter fraud in the 2016 election and that his committee wouldn't investigate it. He said Trump was free to order the Justice Department to investigate the issue, but that he was not interested in launching a congressional inquiry.

Vote 'was not tainted'

Trump's own attorneys dismissed claims of voter fraud in a legal filing late last year responding to Green Party candidate Jill Stein's demand for a recount in Michigan, a state Trump won. Referring to that outcome, the attorneys wrote: "All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake."

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said last week that a task force could be commissioned to focus on dead people who remained on voter rolls and people registered in two or more states. And he said it could center on "bigger" states where Trump didn't compete during the campaign, singling out California and New York, two Democratic strongholds.

No details have been released about the possible probe, including who would oversee it. One possibility would be Sessions, who has shown sympathy toward claims of vote fraud. He will most likely face a Senate confirmation vote next week. The president himself can't order a criminal investigation.
U.S. President Donald Trump spoke Saturday with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, seeking to reassure the Ukrainian leader of continued U.S. support, as Kyiv government forces and pro-Russian rebels again battled near the Russian border.

A White House statement described the conversation as a very good call that addressed the long-running conflict. It also said the two leaders discussed the potential for a face-to-face meeting soon.

Poroshenkos office said the two leaders agreed on the urgent necessity of establishing a complete cease-fire. It further said they voiced deep concern about the spike in [military] tension and the deterioration of the humanitarian situation on the front lines of the conflict.

Poroshenko said he also thanked Trump for his strong support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Shelling near border

Hours earlier, monitors near the Russian border reported renewed shelling just north of the rebel stronghold city of Donetsk, at a flashpoint where monitors say artillery and rocket fire has killed at least 33 people and wounded dozens of others in the past week.

Alexander Hug, the chief Ukraine monitor for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Friday described the fighting outside Donetsk at Avdiivka as the worst fighting weve seen in Ukraine in at least two years.

Hug also confirmed that both sides have deployed and used heavy weaponry that both rebels and the Kyiv government had agreed to pull back from front lines under a truce brokered in 2015.

Rebel commander killed

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department said the fighting, which erupted last Sunday at an industrial park outside Avdiivka, had left 17,000 civilians, including 2,500 children, without water, heat or electricity.

In a separate development Saturday, rebels near the Russian border said one of their top commanders was killed when his vehicle exploded.

The death of Peoples Militia commander Oleg Anashchenko in Luhansk followed widespread regional news reports that a top-level deputy rebel commander had been killed January 29, in what reports described as intense fighting in the nearby Donetsk region.

Luhansk and Donetsk are the two key rebel-controlled regions in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine where separatists have been fighting government forces since 2014. A United Nations tally shows nearly 10,000 people, more than half of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict.

Political maneuvering unabated

The uptick in fighting at Avdiivka coincided with a January 28 telephone conversation between the new U.S. president and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Days later, the Russian leader accused the Ukraine government of starting the latest fighting and blaming the rebels, in an effort ultimately aimed at ensuring continued U.S. support for Kyiv. Putin also said the maneuver was aimed at blocking any moves to repair frayed ties between Moscow and Western governments.

Each side blames the other for the new fighting, and each side is seeking the support of Trump to gain a decisive advantage in the drawn-out conflict.

Ukraines Poroshenko has framed the new fighting as the principal reason for supporting ongoing Western sanctions against Russia for Moscows widely acknowledged support for rebels and its unilateral annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in March 2014.

For her part, Nikki Haley, the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, condemned Russia on Thursday for its aggressive actions in eastern Ukraine. She also warned that the economic and trade sanctions imposed on Moscow after its annexation of Crimea would remain in effect until the peninsula was returned to Ukrainian control.

But Haley also acknowledged that the Trump administration wanted, in her words, to better our relations with Russia.
President Donald Trump says that though he "respects" Russian President Vladimir Putin, they may not necessarily get along.

"I say its better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS (Islamic State), which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world -- thats a good thing," Trump told Fox News in a pre-Super Bowl interview Sunday. "Will I get along with him? I have no idea."

When asked about atrocities committed by Putin in the past, and how Trump could respect him knowing this history, Trump likened Russia to the United States.

"There are a lot of killers. Weve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our countrys so innocent?" he said.

Responding to these comments on CNN, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he doesn't think "there's any equivalency" between the U.S. and Putin.

U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Russia of hacking computers connected to the Democratic Party as part of a wide-ranging campaign aimed at interfering in the U.S. presidential election .

Before taking office, Trump repeatedly questioned the intelligence community's findings. Those criticisms have since eased. Still, the president has continued to say publicly that he is open to better relations with Moscow.

Trump and Russian President Putin spoke by phone last Saturday in what the White House described as "a significant start to improving the relationship between the United States and Russia that is in need of repair."

The interview also included a question about Trump's call for investigating voter fraud in the November presidential election. Trump has made many claims that undocumented immigrants voting illegally cost him the national popular vote. Trump won the Electoral College vote to defeat Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton, but he lost the popular vote by about three million votes.

"Let me just tell you  when you see illegals - people that are not citizens and they are on the registration rolls," Trump said. "You have illegals, you have dead people, you have this. Its really a bad situation, its really bad."

Election officials who have analyzed the November 8 vote say there were almost no indications of voter fraud, certainly not on the scale Trump cites.



VOA National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump is telling the American people that if "something happens," blame the judge who blocked his ban on immigration from seven Muslim majority countries.

In one of his trademark tweets Sunday, the president said he "just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril."

Late last week, U.S. District Court Judge James Robart of Washington state temporarily blocked Trump's executive order halting travel to the U.S. by refugees and others from seven Muslim majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Then on Sunday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected the Trump administration's demand to reinstate the travel ban.

In his Sunday tweets, Trump said he has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to check people entering the U.S. "very carefully," adding that the courts have made the job "very difficult." He also singled out Judge Robart again, saying, "The judge opens our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!"

The appeals court has given federal officials and states until Monday to file more arguments on whether the ban should be declared unconstitutional or reinstated.

The states of Washington and Minnesota took care of their business early Monday, filing briefs with the appeals court, saying the travel ban is unconstitutional and hurts residents, businesses and universities. Legal analysts say the case likely will wind up in the Supreme Court.

The Justice Department, which has yet to file updated arguments, said earlier the judge's decision "second guesses the president's national security judgment" and harms the public by "thwarting enforcement" of Trump's executive order.

Vice President Mike Pence defended Trumps criticism of Judge Robart, saying the president expresses himself in a unique way and the American people find it refreshing.

The judges action in this case about making a decision about American foreign policy and national security, its just very frustrating to the president, Pence told NBC's Meet the Press Sunday.

But Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on CNN he thought it was best not to single out judges for criticism."

We all want to keep terrorists out of the United States, but we cant shut down travel. We certainly dont want our Muslim allies who fought with us in countries overseas not to be able to travel to the United States. We need to be careful about this," McConnell said.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, told NBC Sunday she would be willing to work on legislation to allow for a temporary suspension as long as we are honoring the Constitution.

We always have to subject our vetting to scrutiny to see if its working, but doesn't mean we institute an unconstitutional, immoral ban on Muslims coming into the country, she said.

After the judge's decision, the Customs and Border Protection Service started to allow travelers with valid visas to come to the U.S.

Several major airlines, including Air France and British Airways, began allowing passengers from the seven countries banned by the executive order to board planes headed for U.S. territory.

But a Somali refugee said about 140 refugees whose resettlement in the United States was blocked by Trump's executive order were sent back to their refugee camp and it was unclear if or when they could travel.









The group had been expected to settle in the U.S. this week, but was sent back to the Dadaab camp in eastern Kenya on Saturday from the International Organization for Migration transit center in Nairobi where they had been staying.
In a computer lab at Harvey Mudd College in California, a small robot performs the graceful movements of tai chi, an ancient Chinese meditation exercise. Student Jane Wu writes instruction codes from a nearby computer, showing a visitor a simple form of robotics and artificial intelligence.

Wu is a third-year student in mathematics and computer science at the college, a leader in attracting women to high technology.

I think the moment for me was during my freshman robotics elective [class] that I took, called Autonomous Vehicles, she said of her decision to pursue a computer science career, and in that class we got to make our own autonomous robots from scratch.

Harvey Mudd College, with just 800 students, stresses engineering, and is part of an educational cluster called The Claremont Colleges, in the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles. It was named after a mining engineer who helped to found the school.

The school overhauled its computer science program a decade ago to make the discipline less intimidating to those with little background in computers. The effort has yielded results: last year more than half of the colleges graduates in computer science were women. Students are initially placed in academic streams based on their knowledge of computers to reduce the intimidation factor, and many later come to understand that computer science is a beautiful intellectual discipline, says professor Ran Libeskind-Hadas, but also, or course, a useful and practical one.

Taste of coding

The introductory computer class, a requirement for all students, sparked the interest of senior Veronica Rivera, who is majoring in computer science and mathematics.

It was a very balanced class, she said, and I think the professors also do a very good job of making sure everyone feels welcome, regardless of their coding ability.

Rivera hopes to develop computer applications to help people with motor impairments.

Women were prominent coders in the early days of computers when Grace Hopper, who was later became a U.S. Navy rear admiral, helped invent programming languages, says Jim Boerkoel, an assistant professor who oversees the robotics lab.

She [Grace Hopper] is the original coder, Boerkoel said. It was only in later decades, the 1980s and 90s, that computer games and the idea of computer programming got heavily marketed toward boys rather than girls.

Women technologists

At Harvey Mudd, some women who come to study engineering rediscover programming, and each year, dozens attend the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, the worlds largest conference of women technologists.

With coding, I can just have my computer, have some programming language Im working in, and I can make almost whatever I want, said computer science major Emilia Reed, who is helping create computer apps to enhance the productivity of workers and students.

Internships in industry are part of the training, and third-year student Samantha Andow will intern at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, later this year.

Im really excited to see all the problems that computer science is working on right now, she said.

Computers are integral to all areas of life, and the field needs the best and the brightest, notes Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd.

If we dont manage to get a more diverse community into technology, she said, were not going to get as good solutions, as much progress as we need on the problems facing the world, whether its climate change or education, health care.

Klawe says todays challenges require the creativity that diversity brings, and that the field needs more on women and minorities  both underrepresented in the high-tech industry  as future programmers.
A federal court has intervened after U.S. President Donald Trumps executive order limiting immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries led to widespread confusion as refugees, green-card holders, students and workers were detained at American airports or barred from boarding international flights to the U.S.

Late Saturday, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York had issued an emergency order that temporarily barred the deportation of people who had been detained after landing at U.S. airports with valid visas. The order also barred the detention of anyone with an approved refugee application.

Donnelly said in her order There is imminent danger that, absent the stay of removal, there will be substantial and irreparable injury to refugees, visa-holders, and other individuals from nations who are subject to the presidents order.

Similar court actions have followed in other jurisdictions, including Virginia, Massachusetts and Washington State.

A Homeland Security statement issued early Sunday said it will comply with judicial orders, but went on to say it will also implement the presidents Executive Order to ensure that those entering the United Stated do not pose a threat to our country or the American people.

Reports from federal authorities indicated at least 170 people had been detained since Trump signed his order at the White House on Friday.

Trump responds

Trump brushed off comments that his order could be seen as an anti-Muslim measure, and said the very strict crackdown he had ordered was working out very, very nicely. The new immigration rules target people from seven nations  all where a large majority of the population is Muslim  judged as possible threats to the United States.

WATCH: Protesters gather at New York's JFK airport

At airports in New York, Washington, San Francisco and other cities, however, large crowds of protesters were gathering. Lawyers, many of them from the American Civil Liberties Union, also came to airports to offer counsel to airport detainees or any other U.S.-bound travelers stranded abroad.



WATCH: Protests at Los Angeles Airport

Fearful family members of those unable to enter the country were thrown into confusion by the new rules and what they said was a lack of information about how they were being enforced. Thousands of people at the New York airport chanted their support for refugees, and for love, not hate, and held signs condemning the presidents policy.

Democrat Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in the November election and rarely commented since, tweeted I stand with the people gathered across the country tonight defending our values and our Constitution. This is not who we are.

As he signed his executive order Friday night, Trump said: Were going to have a very, very strict ban and were going to have extreme vetting [of would-be immigrants], which we should have had in this country for many years.

By extreme vetting, Trump was referring to his plan to carefully and intensively investigate Muslims and other people deemed to be possible threats to the United States before they are allowed to enter the country.

WATCH: Trump: 'It's not a ban on Muslims'

Slamming shut the doors to the United States of America, which has rigorously vetted refugees for years, is an attack on the basic accepted notion that people should be able to flee for their lives, said Jason Cone, the executive director of the U.S. branch of Doctors Without Borders. Refugees are mothers and fathers and children who want what we all want: a safe place to live their lives, free from war and persecution.

Retno Marsudi, the foreign minister of Indonesia, which has the worlds largest Muslim population, but was not included in the nations whose citizens face restrictions for entering the U.S., told Reuters in a social media message that We have deep regrets about the policy.

.Lawmakers speak on both sides

U.S. lawmakers are speaking out both for and against the immigration restrictions.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican like Trump, defended the ban in a statement delivered by an aide Friday, even as his opponents circulated posts on social-media highlighting a strong statement Ryan made six months ago denouncing discrimination against Muslims.

This is not a religious test, and it is not a ban on people of any religion, Ryans spokeswoman AshLee Strong said.

Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, said Trump was properly focused on protecting U.S. borders, but he added that the decree, as written, was too broad.

Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona said Trump is right to be concerned about national security, but its unacceptable when even legal permanent residents are being detained or turned away....

Lena F. Masri, the national litigation director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said of Trumps order: This is an order that is based on bigotry, not reality.

John Cohen, a former Homeland Security official, said the presidents ban did not address the countrys primary terrorism-related threat,  people already in the U.S. who are inspired to radicalism by what they see on the internet.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul praised Trumps order. McCaul said in a statement with the stroke of a pen, Trump had done more to shut down terrorist pathways into this country than the last administration did in eight years.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that calls and emails to more than a dozen other top Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, went unanswered in the first day of the bans implementation. But some Republicans spoke out against the new policy.

Other lawmakers speak out

Congressman Charlie Dent, a Republican from Pennsylvania, counts a sizable Syrian population among his constituents in the metropolitan area of Allentown. He told The Washington Post of six people from the same family, owners of a home in Pennsylvania and all carrying valid visas, who were stopped at Philadelphia International Airport after arriving in the country on a Qatar Airways flight.

This is ridiculous, Dent said. I guess I understand what his [Trumps] intention is, but unfortunately the order appears to have been rushed through without full consideration.

This family was sent [back to the Middle East] despite having all their paperwork in order, Dent added. Its unacceptable, and I urge the administration to halt enforcement of this order until a more thoughtful and deliberate policy can be reinstated.

Shame. Shame. Shame, said Republican Senator Brian Schwartz of Hawaii in a tweet. I feel sick.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, told a reporter the ban is an unbelievable action. Its one thing to see that an individual is properly vetted. Its an entirely different matter to say that because someone comes from a particular country or is a member of a particular faith that he or she has no access to this country.

Other travelers have been thwarted in their attempts to enter the country as well, adding fuel to the protests at airports from coast to coast. The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that most of the detainees there were from Iraq or Iran.

A 25-year-old medical student from Iraq studying in the U.S. told VOAs Michael OSullivan at the Los Angeles airport she was joining the protest there because of the pain her brothers and sisters are feeling while stuck at the gate at the airport. She also said her plans to visit her family in Iraq now cannot happen, and they will not be allowed to visit her.

No access to those detained

Federal officials have not been allowing family members or lawyers any contact with detainees, so details are sketchy.

One immigration attorney, Jordan Cunnings, told the Los Angeles newspaper one of the detainees was a young Iranian mother who has held a U.S. green card, or legal work permit, for five years and is schedule to take her oath of citizenship in two weeks. Cunnings said the woman is traveling with her 11-month-old baby, who is an American citizen.

People dont have phone access or communication access to the people waiting for them, or their attorneys, Cunnings said.

Cunnings also told the paper that without information, legal aid workers are scanning the crowds for people who might be looking for someone who has not shown up.

Were literally walking around asking people, Are you waiting for someone who has been detained? he said.

Somali refugees

Somali refugees who have been waiting years for resettlement in the United States told VOAs Somali service their flights to the United States were canceled by the order.

We come from Dadaab [refugee camp] and have been in the U.N. complex in Nairobi [Kenya] for days, for the preparation of our flights to the U.S. on January 31, Farah Mahad Bille told VOA Saturday. We are told this morning that we are going back to Dadaab because of the U.S. presidents order. Its an absolutely devastating loss of hope to us.

Farhan Sulub, a Somali-American father who lived in the United States for 10 years, told VOA his wife was stopped at Dulles International Airport, outside the nations capital, although Sulubs children were allowed to enter the country.

The immigration officers in the airport called me as I was waiting for my wife and children, he said. They told me that my wife is not allowed to enter the U.S. because of her Somali nationality, but my children can go with me if I needed.

UN urges US to reconsider

The United Nations refugee agency and the International Organization for Immigrants have joined the growing numbers of advocacy groups criticizing U.S. actions.

The needs of refugees and migrants worldwide have never been greater, and the U.S. resettlement program is one of the most important in the world, according to a joint statement by the two groups. Since the previous U.S. policy of welcoming refugees has enriched both the lives of the refugees and their new American societies, the two groups urged U.S. officials to reconsider the new policy.

Resettlement places provided by every country are vital, the international refugee-aid groups said, adding they are hopeful that the U.S. will continue its strong leadership role and long tradition of protecting those who are fleeing conflict and persecution.

VOA's Somalia Service contributed to this report.
The U.S. State Department said fewer than 60,000 visas have been provisionally canceled as a result of President Donald Trump's executive order banning travel from seven countries.

The number conflicts with one released earlier by Department of Justice lawyers, who said more than 100,000 visas had been revoked after the people they were issued to were blocked from traveling to the U.S.

The State Department said the higher figure included diplomatic and other visas that were exempted from the ban.

The executive order bans visa holders from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen. Trump says the measure is necessary to protect American people from terrorists.

Deportation stay

The 100,000 number was revealed during a federal court hearing Friday in Alexandria, Virginia, in a case brought by two Yemeni brothers who arrived at nearby Dulles International Airport last Saturday. The brothers say they were forced to give up their legal resident visas and return to Ethiopia.

During the course of the proceeding, the Justice lawyers said they did not know how many people had been sent home as a result of the ban but that green-card holders had been allowed entry to the U.S.

Judge Leonie Brinkema commended the government for trying to bring Tareq and Ammar Aqel Mohammed Aziz back to the U.S. She also encouraged the government to consider how it might resolve such cases more broadly.

"I have been on this bench a long time. ... I have never seen such a public outpouring before," she said.

Brinkema added that this order "touched something" in people like she had never seen before. She previously presided over the case of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, another case that sparked considerable interest.

Brinkema extended her stay on deportations for another week, having also agreed to hear a suit brought by the state of Virginia that questions the constitutionality of the travel ban.

Thursday, a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, put a stay on deportations until February 21. Numerous other cases around the country are contesting the legality of the travel order.
Marking February 5, 2017 as Kashmir Solidarity Day, JuD's charity organization Tehrik-e-Azadi Jammu Kashmir announced the staging of many rallies, conferences and marches across the country.

By Hamza Ameer: After Pakistan government took the most difficult decision of putting the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack, the chief of Jamat-ud-Dawa, Hafiz Saeed, under house arrest in his headquarters in Lahore, it was announced as a "policy decision" taken under the provision of the Nation Action Plan (NAP).

Hafiz Saeed, along with at least 35 of his associates, have since then been under house arrest, while protests, rallies and legal petitions have been going on, in which, it has been demanded that the government should release them with immediate effect.

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Mainstream political parties have also taken the issue to the provincial assemblies, extending their support to the banned outfit.

This step was being taken as Pakistan's quick response to foreign pressure that it felt either from Washington or from Beijing. But, less did the authorities know, JUD had other plans of continuing its anti-India drive.

JUD LAUNCHES CHARITY ORGANISATION

JuD announced the launch of its charity organization "Tehrik-e-Azadi Jammu Kashmir", a consortium organization of at least 20 religious groups, which has been operating across Pakistan for many years, has now been brought forward as the new face of Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD).

Marking February 5, 2017 as "Kashmir Solidarity Day", Tehrik-e-Azadi Jammu Kashmir announced the staging of many rallies, conferences and marches across the country.

In Lahore, the organization staged a massive gathering at Nasir Bagh on the main Mall Road of the city. Thousands of supporters of the movement attended the rally.

The rally was led by Abdul Rehman Makki, senior member of JuD and the second in command to Hafiz Saeed. Though it was a rally organized by Tehrik-e-Azadi Jammu Kashmir, it was pretty visible and evident that the whole setup was organized by Jamat-ud-Dawa.

The security was provided by members of JuD, while media invites and coordination was also being done through JuD platforms.

Speaking at India Today, Abdul Rehman Makki, senior leader of JuD said:

We don't want to use anyone else's name to do our work. This is our new name for charity work. And we will continue to do that. We will also keep continuing our efforts to raise our voices against India.

We are doing politics, but we don't want to indulge in political race with other. Our agenda is to stop any relation with India.

We have our political position on Kashmir. Cutting out supplies to NATO forces, getting our water back from India, cutting our trade relations with India and attaining freedom from Indian aggression is the politics that we do.

One of the interesting presences at the stage was of the Baloch tribe leader Shazain Bugti, the president of Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) and grandson of the Pakistani Baloch tribal leader of the Baloch tribe.

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Shazain Bugti is the same man who announced that his tribesmen are prepared to take on the fight against India in the hills of the Kashmir valley.

Speaking on the occasion, Bugti said:

Bugti tribesmen would fight against Indian troops ahead of Pakistan Army.

We the people of Balochistan are with the people of Kashmir and are with you all in this struggle. Because we know, that freedom cannot be attained without bloodshed.

Party leaders also denounced the government over the arrest of Hafiz Saeed:

They have arrested Hafiz Saeed because they have failed to resist the foreign pressure, which has wanted to see Pakistan in chaos and in unstable condition.

They want to suppress the voices, which scream out for the people of Kashmir.

Tehrik-e-Azadi Jammu Kashmir has vowed to stage more protests across the country and put pressure on the government through political, legal and grass root level protests to release Hafiz Saeed along with his associates.

Pakistan government, however, has been maintaining that Hafiz Saeed's arrest is as per policy.

But putting identified leaders under house arrest and enlisting JuD's name on the terror watch list, does not necessarily derive the fact that terror outflow and export has been stopped.

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JuD's new brand name and open staging of anti-India rallies across Pakistan, has raised concerns over the intentions of the Nawaz Sharif government and has hinted towards the whole episode of detention, a barefaced claptrap.

Watch Video: We will continue our fight until Kashmir is liberated: Hafiz Saeed

Also Read:

10 takeaways from JuD chief Hafiz Saeed house arrest

--- ENDS ---
A pastor's judicial case in Zimbabwe has been referred to the High Court after a lower court ruled that a charge of trying to subvert President Robert Mugabe's government was a serious offense.

Magistrate Elisha Singano told Pastor Evan Mawarire that the charge of trying to topple a constitutionally elected government was a Third Schedule Offense and a bail application could be filed only at the High Court.

Court disagrees



Mawarire's attorney, Harrison Nkomo, of the nonprofit Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, argued in court Friday that his client had not committed any offense by calling on Mugabe to resign for failing to respect human rights and arrest an ailing economy.

What we were doing at magistrate [court] level was to argue that the facts on the state papers as they appear do not disclose an offense, and resultantly, the detention becomes unlawful and must be released, which the court disagreed with, Nkomo said.

Video sparks protest

Unless the High Court grants Mawarire bail, he will remain in jail and return to court on February 17, when he is expected to be given a trial date.

He was arrested Wednesday at Harare International Airport upon arrival in Zimbabwe after spending about six months in exile in the United States.

The pastor rose to prominence last April when he posted a Facebook video of himself wrapped in a Zimbabwean flag and criticizing the state of the country. The video sparked the #ThisFlag protest movement against the government.

Last July, Mawarire backed a general strike calling for the Mugabe government to respect human rights and to save the ailing economy.

Zimbabwe is home

On Friday, he appeared unsurprised by the ruling. After his arrest, he explained the reasons for returning home.

"Unfortunately, I have been arrested again, Mawarire said. We will get through this. But this is home for me, Zimbabwe is. I have committed no crime and I am allowed to come home.

Following the protests last year, Mawarire was arrested and charged with the same charge of trying to subvert Mugabe's government. Initially, the charge was inciting public violence, but a court ruled police had violated his rights and released him by changing the charge.

Mawarire fled the country soon afterward.
Commissioner of Police Presents Certificates to Trainees

Six trainees have been presented with certificates by the Commissioner of Police on completion of a two year trainee programme with the Royal Gibraltar Police. The trainee programme was run in conjunction with HMGoGs Training Scheme, which seconds the trainees and with whom the RGP has had a very successful partnership for a number of years.

April Baldachino, Jay Marin, Mathew Borg, Brandon Robinson, Eric Philbin and Brandon Doherty joined the trainee programme on 27th January 2015. During their time with the RGP they have been attached to various departments within the organisation and have carried out a wide range of duties. The trainees have also been visible in town wearing their blue banded headdress and epaulettes, whilst accompanying officers on patrol.

Two of the trainees, Eric Philbin and Brandon Doherty, successfully applied to join the RGP and are now undergoing police training as Recruit Police Constables in this years intake.

During their time with the Force they have formed part of the Police family and the RGP wishes all of them the very best for the future in their chosen paths.
K+L+32+H+4 Mon pere et moi, by Iranian painter and sculptor Charles Hossein Zenderoudi Photo: ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images

The Museum of Modern Art is responding to Donald Trumps travel ban by reconfiguring its own priorities. The museum will now showcase work from Iranian, Iraqi, and Sudanese-born artists in its permanent-collection galleries  Trumps executive order bars refugees and citizens from these countries, plus Syria, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia, all of which are majority-Muslim countries. In total, seven works by Sudanese painter Ibrahim el-Salahi, the late Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid, and five Iranian-born artists are getting prominent displays, taking the places of notable pieces from the Western canon, including work by Picasso and Matisse, among others.

According to the New York Times, the global works will remain in their new, highly visible spots for several months, each accompanied by a placard that reads: This work is by an artist from a nation whose citizens are being denied entry into the United States, according to a presidential executive order issued on January 27, 2017. This is one of several such artworks from the Museums collection installed throughout the fifth-floor galleries to affirm the ideals of welcome and freedom as vital to this Museum, as they are to the United States.
Kate Beckinsale, granddaughter Sarah Silverman, and friends. Photo: Instagram

While Michael Sheen is hypothetically off fighting the good fight against the forces of fascism in Wales, the ladies in Sheens life have been left to their own devices oer here on the home-front. But with their strong stock, theyre holding on, as Kate Beckinsale (Sheens ex-wife and mother of their daughter Lily) and Sarah Silverman (Sheens current girlfriend) are getting familial  not in a creepy sister-wives way, mind you. No, think more Amazonian matriarchal family structure, because over the weekend, Beckinsale and Silverman were out to dinner with a group including Molly Shannon, Lance Bass, and JoAnna Garcia (as one does), and Beckinsale posted a picture of the outing on Instagram. Absorbing the image, a commenter queried, That sarah is your daughter? Pretty like you @katebeckinsale. To which Beckinsale kindly clarified, Granddaughter. We are very proud of her. Of course they are! Sarahs a keeper, and while their arrangement might seem unnaturally evolved to the stale fogies among you, if Kate is going to condone her daughter looking at nude pictures of her father, well, turnabout is fair play.
Stephen Colbert. Photo: Pool/Getty Images

What with the absolutely polite reception Stephen Colbert got while hosting the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner, eviscerating George W. Bush in the process, of course hes jumping to do it again. Speaking at a fundraiser for the Montclair Film Festival, Colbert told the crowd it would be an honor to host Donald Trumps first supper with some of his favorite people. Id love to do it. I mean, when else are you going to stand next to the president and make jokes? he explained. Of course, Colbert may have found a slight dash in his dream: After that first go-round, no one will ever ask again. Right, darn. Okay, so maybe Donald Trump wouldnt want to get chummy with Stephen Colbert, liberal host of The Late Show, but that hardly means the cause is dead in the water. What about Stephen Colbert? Or, failing that, his identical twin cousin Stephen Colbert? See? Swimming in options. The only real question is if SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch will be a successor to Antonin Scalia in all things.
By Press Trust of India: London, Feb 5 (PTI) "Split" star James McAvoy has donated 50,000 euros for the treatment of a 16-year-old cancer patient.

Kelly Turner, who was given just two years to live in 2015, hopes to fly to America for pioneering surgery to reduce the size of the rare tumours, reported Femalefirst.

Her family are trying to raise one million euros needed for the immunisation to fly her to New York for immunotherapy treatment.

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When the 37-year-old actor got to know about it, he visited the girl at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Kent, here.

He later donated the amount to the little ladys fundraising page at JustGiving.

"Great to meet you the other day Kelly. I hope this helps you achieve your goal sooner rather than later. Good luck love James," a message alongside the "Split" stars generous donation read. PTI SSN SSN

--- ENDS ---
Now that President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, he can turn his attention to filling the more than 100 vacant federal court judgeships, including one in Waco.

Many of former President Barack Obamas nominations to the federal bench stagnated without action as senators, mostly from the Republican majority, stalled the process.

Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz have established a Feb. 19 deadline to submit applications and detailed questionnaires to fill judicial and U.S. attorney vacancies in Texas. There are 91 U.S. District Court vacancies nationwide, including 11 in Texas, and 18 vacancies on U.S. courts of appeal, including two on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which covers Texas and other states.

The federal bench in Waco came open in September when longtime U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr. retired after being sanctioned for groping a court clerk in his chambers and lying to investigators about it.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, a former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, has been coming to Waco to hear Smiths cases since December 2015, when the Judicial Council of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court reprimanded Smith, stripped him from hearing any new cases for at least a year and ordered him to undergo counseling.

Smiths retirement ended the judicial councils jurisdiction over the judge and ensured Smith would continue to receive his annual salary of more than $203,000 for the rest of his life. Smith was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, and the position carries a lifetime appointment.

U.S. Magistrate Jeffrey C. Manske, of Waco, said he will apply to be Smiths successor. Manske, 55, has been a federal magistrate since 2001.

Manske said he hopes to convince the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee that his compassion coupled with courtesy, patience, decisiveness and a commitment to justice give him the necessary tools for the job.

Gary Coley Jr., 48, said he is likely to submit an application, while Lee Harris, 49, said he has the matter under consideration.

Coley has been judge of Wacos 74th State District Court since 2009. Harris served as a county court-at-law judge in Hill County from 2005 until he was elected to the 66th State District Court bench in Hillsboro in 2015.

In addition to federal judge positions, the selection committee, a bipartisan group composed of leading attorneys selected by Cornyn and Cruz, will consider applications for four vacant U.S. attorney posts in Texas.

Traditionally, U.S. attorneys around the nation submit their resignations when a new administration comes on board. The president has the option of re-appointing the current top prosecutors or appointing new ones.

As a former judge and attorney general of Texas, I understand the importance of ensuring that we have the best people sitting on the federal bench and enforcing the law in Texas, Cornyn said in a statement released by his office. I encourage any qualified individuals interested in serving Texas in these roles to take the first step by submitting their information to the review committee.

Cruz said in a statement that the selection process involving the committee of attorneys to screen the applicants ensures Texans have the most qualified federal judges and prosecutors.

Texas is blessed with many exceptional candidates with a deep respect for the rule of law, and I encourage them to pursue these important positions, Cruz said.

Applicants must complete a questionnaire with 37 questions from the Federal Judiciary Evaluation Committee about a variety of personal and professional subjects, including an applicants health and mental health history, family life and whether they have abused alcohol or drugs.

One question asks them to describe the 10 most significant matters they have personally litigated before any court. Another asks them to describe every matter they have personally litigated before the judicial district for which they are applying.

Question 36 asks applicants have you ever transmitted an electronic communication (e.g., a transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo-optical system, including communications initiated by electronic mail, instant message, network call, or facsimile machine; and a communication made to a pager) or posted content on the Internet (including posts on social and professional network and comments on articles, blogs, etc.) that could cause embarrassment to yourself or the senators? If so, please state a narrative explanation of any such communications or posts.

The last question asks them to list any additional information about yourself and your background, including but not limited to, any information about your personal history that could cause embarrassment to yourself or to the senators, or that could be the subject of further inquiry in an exhaustive review and FBI background check of your candidacy.

The committee will interview applicants and send a name or names to the senators for consideration. Cornyn and Cruz will review the applicants and recommend an approved candidate or candidates to the president.

The presidents nominee must pass rigorous background checks by White House staff, the FBI and the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Typically, district court nominations reach confirmation by unanimous consent agreements in the Senate. If a roll call vote is asked for, a nominee wins confirmation by simple majority vote.
Hussam Sam Jassim found safety and freedom in the United States after leaving war-torn Iraq nine years ago.

But his adopted country is giving him a headache in the form of a confusing new travel policy.

President Donald Trumps executive order barring people from seven countries from entering the United States doesnt directly apply to Jassim, a naturalized citizen.

But it does mean his 66-year-old father cant travel from Iraq to Texas for glaucoma treatment to keep him from going blind.

Im totally disappointed, said Jassim, a Caterpillar engineer and Texas State Technical College student who was attending Friday prayers at the Islamic Center of Waco. Theres no way to bring him here on a visa. There was an idea he could go to India or Germany. But I dont know those countries, and traveling there would affect my job and my education.

The executive order signed Jan. 27 spawned outrage, confusion and accounts of foreign travelers stranded at U.S. airports. The turmoil was followed two days later by a federal court order that allowed those already in transit with valid visas to continue with their trips. The tale took a new twist Friday, as a Seattle federal judge issued an order to temporarily block the travel ban nationwide and the White House issued a statement saying it would fight the judges ruling.

Trumps order prohibits citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States for three months, even if they had acquired a tourist or business visa. It also suspends all refugee admission for 120 days and prohibits Syrian refugees indefinitely.

Officials at the Islamic Center of Waco and at Baylor University, which has some 800 foreign students, said they had no sign that any area residents were caught up in last weeks travel turmoil.

But the order has complicated the lives of some Waco residents with ties to the Middle East. At least two Baylor scholars may have to cancel plans to teach or study abroad, and the families of some foreign students may have to miss their graduation, said Jeffrey Hamilton, vice provost for global engagement at Bayor.

The anxiety started on Nov. 8, Hamilton said. We had students in the fall ask, Can I go home for Christmas break? We told them Of course you can. Nothing can change before Jan. 20. 

At the Islamic Center Waco on Friday, Jassim compared notes with Annas Alqadhi, a fellow native of Iraq. While Jassim has his citizenship, the younger Alqadhi has only a green card, showing lawful permanent residency.

Initially, the executive order was interpreted to bar green-card immigrants such as Alqadhi from traveling. But the chief of the Department of Homeland Security on Jan. 29 clarified that they could enter the country on a case-by-case basis, absent the receipt of significant derogatory information indicating a serious threat to public safety and welfare.

Alqadhi said the process of renewing his green card has been thrown into uncertainty, causing him to cancel trips he was planning. He had hoped to go to Guangzhou, China, this year to visit a trade market for an e-commerce business he is starting, but it will have to wait.

The main feeling right now is uncertainty, Alqadhi said. Everything is on hold. . . . To be honest with you, with everything going on, things are changing so fast. What I thought of as the worst-case scenario two months ago is already a reality now.

Alqadhi came to the United States as a college student after working for a nonprofit in the Middle East. He met his wife in college in Minnesota, and the two moved here last spring after she got a job at a Waco hospital.

Alqadhi said he has felt welcomed as an immigrant in Waco. Standing in the lobby of the Islamic center, he noted bouquets of yellow flowers and handwritten notes of encouragement that Waco residents, largely Christian, had left for Muslim worshippers this week.

I love it, he said. Im going to take some to my wife.

But he said the new government policy sends the opposite message.

A country is what you make it, Alqadhi said. You can welcome immigrants and good people and oppressed people, and you can become known as a great country that stands for freedom. But you take those elements out of it, and its not going to be the same country. . . . Does that mean its going to stay this way? No, this is a misstep, but it can be corrected.

Jassim also believed in the promise of America as a land of opportunity. He grew up in Baghdad and was a college student during the Iraq War. After witnessing militia kill civilians, he resolved to leave.

It was like a movie, but it was real life, he said. You record it in your mind. You repeat it forever. Once I saw that I said, Im not going to stay in this place. 

Like Alqadhi, Jassim said he has found people to be friendly and eager to hear about his experience and his religion. He said people at the Baptist church next door recently offered him lunch as he was working on the roof of the Islamic center.

But he said U.S. policies reflect a harder and more fearful attitude.

After 2001, the dream has changed, Jassim said. The dream is just for Americans, to keep this country safe.

Congressman Bill Flores, who represents Waco, told the Bryan-College Station Eagle this week that he supports the substance of the executive order, including a 120-day pause on refugees from the listed countries. He said most of the countries dont have strong central governments that can help American authorities verify applicants arent terrorists.

However, Flores said the implementation of the new policy was flawed and sowed confusion.

That confusion has extended to longtime permanent residents.

Abdul Saadi, an assistant professor of Arabic at Baylor, said the uncertainty has affected family members traveling between the United States and their native Syria.

Saadi said his nephew, a computer engineer who has a green card, has been stranded in Syria, where he had been visiting family.

Every day he calls us, Saadi said. We dont have clear information of whats happening.

Saadi said hes grateful that his mother, also a permanent resident of the United States, returned here after a trip to Syria a month ago and was unaffected by the upheaval.

Saadi grew up in a Christian family in the Kurdish north of Syria and still has relatives there and in Aleppo. His sister and brother-in-law, both doctors, fled the violence in Aleppo in 2014 and tried to come to the United States, but they were turned down, even though their 14-year-old daughter is an American citizen.

But Saadi said the travel ban wouldnt come as a shock to many Syrians.

Even before this decision, the common feeling among Syrians is that its beyond imagining for someone to dream to get a visa and come to the U.S., he said.

Saadi, 58, said he was among the fortunate few Syrians who managed to get a study visa to the United States and to become a citizen 20 years ago. Before coming to Baylor in 2011 he taught at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago.

Saadi said it pains him to see the rise of the Islamic State group and the destruction of a homeland he remembers as peaceful and tolerant. But he said theres no reason to think Syrian refugees displaced by the Islamic State group are a threat to the United States.

I would assure you, more than the vast majority of them are innocent people, he said. Those bad people, you can find them anywhere.

Saadi said his familys struggles with the travel ban are small compared to the suffering of other Syrians.

You have to be patient, he said. We should not complain too much. . . . This degree of hurt is bearable for us.
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By Press Trust of India: Chandigarh, Feb 5 (PTI) The Jat quota agitation in Haryana entered eighth day today and remained peaceful, even as the authorities beefed up security in sensitive districts.

Amid elaborate security arrangements, the Jats held dharnas at several areas in the state which remained peaceful, officials said.

The call for the fresh stir has been given by some Jat outfits, especially those owing allegiance to All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti headed by Yashpal Malik.

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Haryanas main opposition INLD has openly come out in support of the agitating Jats and asked the government to meet their demands.

However, senior BJP leader and state minister Anil Vij said today that while Jats were continuing with their dharnas in a peaceful manner, the opposition was unable to digest the same and was trying to flare up the issue to grind their political axe.

During the past couple of days, Yashpal Malik has been addressing the Jats at various dharnas sites.

At a village in Faridabad, Malik said the dharnas in Haryana would continue till the government accepted their demands.

He said Jats were willing to wait for reservation since the matter was sub-judice, but they wanted all other demands to be accepted immediately.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had earlier said that the government accepted the demand of the Jats to give job to the next of kin of those who had lost their lives in the agitation last year. Process has been initiated for the same, Khattar had said.

In the fresh round of the Jat stir, paramilitary forces are out in sensitive areas in Haryana while heavy police force has been deployed to maintain strict vigil, as the stir entered its eighth day.

Security has been further strengthened in many sensitive districts, the officials said.

The security was also tightened at the Rohtak residence of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

During a similar stir a year ago, there were 30 deaths and widespread destruction of property. This time, Haryana has been put on maximum alert, the officials said.

Notably, Rohtak and some of its neighbouring districts, including Sonipat and Jhajjar, had been worst-hit by the violence which broke out during last years Jat stir in February.

Yashpal Malik said February 19 would be observed as "Balidan Divas" in memory of all those who lost their lives in last Februarys agitation which turned violent. (MORE) PTI SUN SMN

--- ENDS ---

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One of President Trumps first official actions was issuing an executive order to withdraw from negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an agreement that would have linked 12 nations in the largest free-trade zone to date. As a practical matter, Congress wasnt going to support it in any case, so the order was only symbolic.

Its a genuine mystery to me how we evolved to the point that participating in the world economy is somehow a bad thing to do. That this belief is now present in both major political parties is even more baffling. Let me be very clear from the outset: Trade is good! In fact, trade is essential! We have centuries of history (not to mention some basic math that was figured out about 200 years ago) to illustrate this incontrovertible dictum.

If that were not enough, the flap over renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and who might pay for the infamous wall has now escalated to the point of threatening an all-out trade war with Mexico. One proposal from the new administration has even suggested imposing a 20 percent tax on imports from our friendly southern neighbor.

Move will aid China

The fiery rhetoric is centered around an America First policy which seems to boil down to reducing the U.S. trade deficit, with a special focus on Mexico and China. Ironically, withdrawal from the TPP will most likely aid China in strengthening its own position in the Pacific and cede the opportunity to substantially impact the ongoing development of South America as a global force.

Trump trade policy largely involves using taxes on imports, or tariffs, and penalizing companies that operate overseas (or even gather or utilize, say, materials or labor elsewhere at some point in overall production) to encourage more products to be made in the United States in the long run. For reasons explained below, this approach simply doesnt work.

The oft-cited claim is that current trade policy has caused the United States to lose manufacturing jobs as some production moved to lower-wage locations overseas. While its certainly true that some things that are made abroad were once made domestically, the primary reason for U.S. manufacturing job losses is the inexorable advance of technology. Its easy to forget that our manufacturing output continues to expand year after year; it just requires fewer workers.

Unless we want to tolerate wages in line with the poorest countries on earth, we are not going to make the things that require the least-skilled labor. The impact of NAFTA, for example, has not been by and large to take jobs out of the United States; it has been to keep jobs that were leaving in any case in this hemisphere rather than more distant locales. The tragic mistake in shifting U.S. economic policy  and its a doozy  is not our trading with other nations; it is rather not providing the resources and incentives to retrain displaced workers to meet the rising demand for skilled positions.

Top exporting state

At the same time these very workers are suffering, the country is at virtually full employment and many technology-oriented firms are begging for qualified people to hire. But I digress. Lest we forget, about 11.5 million jobs in the United States were supported by exports in 2015. Specifically, exports of goods and services to Mexico supported nearly 1.2 million jobs and exports to China supported another 900,000 jobs.

Closer to home, Texas is the top exporting state in the United States and received more than $288 billion in revenues from exporting in 2014. Mexico is Texas largest trading partner, receiving $102.5 billion in Texas exports. The states other largest export destinations include Canada ($31.2 billion), Brazil ($11.8 billion), China ($10.9 billion) and South Korea ($8.9 billion).

The more than 1.1 million export-related jobs in Texas in 2013 accounted for about 16 percent of all export-related jobs for the nation that year. Texas also imported nearly $302.1 billion in goods and services in 2014, including over $90.1 billion from Mexico.

Large import tariffs make imported goods more expensive for consumers, essentially passing much of the cost forward. And small businesses that are buying imports as part of their production mix may not be able to absorb the higher prices. Result: U.S. goods will become less competitive globally. Furthermore, other nations will likely retaliate by raising tariffs on imported goods from the United States, causing our exports to suffer as well.

Policy wonks who believe high tariffs are the solution need to review history: The United States tried this approach in the 1930s and managed to worsen the Great Depression, helped create a later global depression and, thus, contributed to one of the causes of World War II. Other than that, it was great!

More goods

In simple terms, the idea of free trade is that economies, minus the disruptive influence of tariffs, are able to specialize in what they can more cheaply and efficiently produce. When countries specialize in what economists call their comparative advantage, every country can produce more and trade for what they dont have, resulting in more goods and services available overall. Academic studies show that this result has occurred for centuries. Moreover, U.S. firms must ultimately operate facilities where they are profitable; markets and shareholders, which include the pension funds of many workers, will tolerate nothing less.

While free trade can be a part of structural changes in our economy, there would be even larger and more disruptive ones should the United States pursue the aggressive protectionist trade agenda currently proffered. Texas and the United States are part of the global economy. Working with other nations to lower trade barriers can enhance prosperity for all. Swimming against the rapid current of progress is never a good idea.

America First should not mean America Only but, rather, America Best. In any case, I will enjoy eating my guacamole made from Mexican avocados while watching the Super Bowl.

Nationally known economist Ray Perryman is president and chief executive officer of the Waco-based Perryman Group.
Heading back home after a great few days in Texas. Today we drove down to Waco and stopped in smaller towns along the way.

I had lunch with community leaders in Waxahachie who shared their pride in their home and their feelings on a divided country. I met young moms in West who moved back to their town because they want their kids to be raised with the same values they grew up with. And I met with ministers in Waco who are helping their congregations find deeper meaning in a changing world.

In many ways, I still dont have a clear sense of Texas. This state is complex, and everyone has a lot of layers  as Americans, as Texans, as members of a local community and even just as individuals. But this trip has helped me understand just how important community is and how were all just looking for something we can trust.

We may come from different backgrounds, but we all want to find purpose and authenticity in something bigger than ourselves.

Thanks to everyone who has shared their stories with me over the last few days. Ill remember this experience for a very long time.

Im also starting a page with more photos from my trips. You can see them all at: www.facebook.com/YearofTravel
Congressman Bill Flores has expressed enthusiastic support for President Trumps ban on refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries. He stated in a Fox News interview that America needs time to take a breath from settling refugees. As a pro-life Christian, this statement bothers me.

No, it angers me.

America has had exactly zero successful terrorist attacks from a refugee since before the Refugee Act of 1980. In other words, the vetting process works magnificently. Meanwhile, children, women and men in the banned countries do not have 120 days to take a breath. Their lungs are too full of soot and ash from the bombs dropped on them by half a dozen countries, including the United States. Harriet Agerholm reported for The Independent that the U.S. dropped 79 percent of all 30,743 coalition bombs in 2016. They do not have room to breathe because they are packed like sardines into tiny boats, looking for somewhere  anywhere  with a sky free of bombers.

Lawmaker wont answer our questions

In light of this evidence, a group of concerned citizens (including myself) sent a barrage of requests to Congressman Flores to provide a description of the pre-executive order vetting process and a description of its inadequacies. We asked for definitive proof that the process has failed. After several days of sustained pressure, he finally responded by telling us that he will never answer his constituents questions. He calls it an issue of national security, but the facts prove him wrong. For almost 40 years, the Refugee Act has kept Americans safe. In fact, Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute demonstrates that in those 40 years, Americans had an astronomical 1 in 3.64 billion chance per year of being killed by a refugee terrorist.

We did not ask the congressman for details of the vetting process due to our own ignorance. The details of the vetting process are available to the public, which makes his appeal for secrecy all the more absurd. Rather, we asked because we want Congressman Flores to demonstrate his own familiarity with it. Instead of reassuring his constituents that he understands the grueling 18-24 months of vetting, he simply requested that we quietly accept his word for it. He wants us to ignore the overwhelming evidence that the refugee resettlement program poses no imminent danger to our country. He wants us afraid. He wants us uninformed.

Why? Could it be that the congressman is just a career bureaucrat, playing on our basest fears for political leverage? Could it be that he is not pro-life, as he claims? Could it be that the congressman is more concerned with his reputation with the Trump administration than with human life? He will not (because he cannot) prove that his support for the refugee ban will do anything more than send thousands, maybe even millions, to be raped and murdered by ISIS or bombed by the United States and its allies. I, for one, refuse to be ignorant and passive. Until he proves that we are unsafe, I will be unafraid and I will stand up for the innocent.

I want my congressman to base his decisions on facts and to keep his constituents informed. Most of all, I want my congressman to value human life over political power. The citizens of District 17 deserve that kind of representative.

Tylor Standley is a student at Baylor Universitys Truett Seminary.
By Press Trust of India: infra?

Bhopal, Feb 5 (PTI) Confusion prevailed over the continuation of retired Madhya Pradesh High Court judge S K Pandey as the head of the one-man panel probing the October 30 jailbreak by eight SIMI activists and their subsequent "encounter" by police, with a top officer today saying Pandey has resigned over the lack of "infrastructure".

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According to the officer, Pandey quit over the "delay in providing a car by the government for carrying out official work". However, he also added the retired judge has agreed to continue after government apologised to him.

"Yes, he (Pandey) has resigned citing that the government has not provided him a car for carrying out official work," the officer close to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told PTI.

He said Pandeys resignation has not been accepted.

When contacted over phone to know whether he has withdrawn his resignation, Pandey merely said, "Thank you very much" and hang up.

Thereafter, he couldnt be contacted even after repeated calls were made.

According to sources, Pandey resigned yesterday, following which senior officials went into a huddle and scrambled to placate him.

The former HC judge was also probing the murder of Bhopal Central Jail warden Ramashanker Yadav allegedly by the SIMI activists before their escape on intervening night of October 30 and 31 last year.

According to Parvez Alam, the counsel for the deceased SIMI men, the Pandey commission has held two hearings so far and the next hearing is scheduled for March 1.

In a daring jailbreak, the eight SIMI under-trials escaped from the high-security Central Jail on the intervening night of October 30-31. They were gunned down in an alleged encounter by police on the outskirts of city on October 31 morning.

The encounter had mired in controversy with opposition Congress and other parties raising doubts over its genuineness after surfacing of a video clip and audio tapes that questioned the police version.

In a notification issued last November, the government asked the Pandey panel to probe the "circumstances in which the SIMI members escaped from the prison and the officials responsible for it".

"How and under what circumstances the encounter took place at Manikheda village under Gunga Police Station limits on the outskirts of Bhopal in which all eight prisoners were killed...Whether the action taken by the police is justified under prevailing circumstances," the notification stated.

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Before setting up the Pandey panel, the government had announced a probe by an SIT comprising CID officers into the encounter and a separate investigation by former DGP Nandan Dubey into the jailbreak. However, it agreed for the judicial probe following demands made by the Congress and other parties. PTI LAL MAS NSK SMN

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: Colombo, Feb 4 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has commuted the death sentences of 60 prisoners to life imprisonement on the 69th Independence Day of the country which was celebrated today.

Sirisena has taken the decision to spare the lives of the prisoners based on the recommendations made by a Committee appointed by the Ministry of Justice Wijedasa Rajapakse and headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Nimal Dissanayake, the Colombo Page reported.

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The Committee was appointed to review and report whether the death sentences on death row prisoners should be commuted to life imprisonment.

Accordingly, it has recommended commuting the sentences of 60 prisoners to life imprisonment effective from February 4, the report said.

The death row convicts will be considered for parole only after they served a minimum sentence of 20 years and their pleas for any relief will be referred to the parole board once in four years after that.

Although Sri Lankan courts give death penalty in serious crimes such as murder, rape and drug trafficking, no executions have been carried out since 1976.

All death penalty cases have been commuted to life in prison. PTI AJR ABH AJR

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: London, Feb 5 (PTI) A mother along with her four-you-old son was racially abused on a train in the UK by a solicitor who called them "foreigners" and told them you "dont deserve to be in first class".

Alexander AJ MacKinnon, 47, was filmed hurling abuse at Sanaa Shahid and her son Zayn as they travelled home to Glasgow.

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"How did you get into first class? You dont deserve to be in first class," he sneered at them.

"You should be in common class. In fact, you shouldnt be in this country at all. You dont deserve to be here. Bloody foreigners. Where were you even born?" MacKinnon said.

MacKinnon also swore at little Zayn. His social media "likes" include Donald Trump, the BNP and the far-right English Defence League.

None of the other passengers in the carriage did anything to help Glasgow-born lawyer Sanaa. But she bravely confronted MacKinnon and branded him a racist.

She reported him to the train manager and transport police took him away in handcuffs.

MacKinnon admitted a racially aggravated public order offence in connection with the incident that took place on December 29 when he appeared at Carlisle Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

He was fined 1,154 pounds, plus 50 pounds compensation, a 150 pounds victim surcharge and 85 pounds in court costs.

In the video, MacKinnon appears to be very drunk and can be seen drinking red wine straight from a bottle.

Speaking on the phone to a friend, he says, "Its my word against hers. Im going to get off the train if it stops at Carlisle and wait for another...she doesnt belong in this country.

"Now shell accuse me of insulting her and discrimination."

At this point a man who appears to work for Virgin Trains approaches MacKinnon and tells him, "See now its not just her word, its mine as well because I heard it all.?

"Youll have to accept youre a drunken racist and you need to get off the train,? the train employee says.

MacKinnon says, "Im not a racist, I love people actually.

"Youre so wonderful wasting police time, miss, and youre (expletive) son."

Shahid, herself a lawyer, praised train staff for assisting her during the incident, which took place after the family went to visit her husband Aftab, 36.

MacKinnons conviction comes as figures show racially-aggravated hate crime has been on the increase since the Brexit vote last year. PTI ASK AKJ AMS

--- ENDS ---

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Google NAPLAN and you'll get an advertisement taking you to a website that will help you cram for it.

Of course that's not the idea. The standardised National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy introduced by Julia Gillard as education minister is meant to be impossible to prepare for.

Donald Trump's ''alternative facts'' would not have done well with Greek philosopher Socrates. Credit:Getty Images

But teachers do. The next one is in May, two weeks into term two. The reputation of their students, the reputation of the school and their own reputations depend on it. Time that would have been spent encouraging year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students to ask questions and gain knowledge will instead be spent drilling them in how to pass the test.

That the two aren't the same ought to be apparent from the writing test. It's a hangover from an earlier era, before Donald Trump stood for president.
Tony Abbott has delivered a blunt message to the man who replaced him as prime minister, warning Malcolm Turnbull not to break faith with the Australian people and allow a free vote on same-sex marriage in parliament.

Tensions within the government over same-sex marriage have erupted again after Fairfax Media revealed that moderate MPs are preparing a push for the Coalition to abandon its policy that a national plebiscite should be held before any vote in the Parliament.

A chorus of conservative MPs reacted angrily to the report on Saturday, saying any move to allow a free vote on the issue would be a "betrayal" of the Coalition's election commitments.

Same-sex marriage supporters in the Liberal Party argue for a vote to be held before the May budget and could raise the issue in the party room within the next fortnight.
Founder of Invoice2Go, Chris Strode Credit:Daniel Munoz After 15 years of building up his mobile invoicing platform business, Chris Strode has a different set of goals this year. "My goals are around family, spending time with them  I've got three young kids," he says. "Every other year I've started with a to-do list longer than your arm and you just start freaking out that you're not going to get it all done in 12 months. But this year it's about making the most of what we've built up over the last 15 years in building the business." Strode has enjoyed the type of success every start-up founder wishes for. His app has attracted $50 million from venture capitalists and made him a millionaire. In the past four years he has recruited more than 100 staff across Sydney and Silicon Valley, which has put Strode in the fortunate position of letting the company run autonomously.

Small business owners they get into this default mode where it's just hustle, hustle, hustle. Chris Strode He says he's looking forward to stepping back from the stresses and strains of small business. "Small business owners they get into this default mode where it's just hustle, hustle, hustle," Strode says. "Doing that for two, three, four years or multiple decades what you realise is the challenge isn't how hard you can actually work, the bigger challenge is learning how to let go." Leanne Faulkner, in the Billy Goat factory prior to the sale of her business. Credit:Peter Braig

Leanne Faulkner, Fortitude at Work founder Ramping up support for mental health initiatives to help people in small business will drive Leanne Faulkner this year. The skincare entrepreneur has championed the cause since tackling depression while heading her company Billy Goat Soap, which she sold in 2012. "I'm on even more of a mission to advocate for more resources for small business people in the area of their mental health," she explains. "My primary goal this year is to ensure that the small business community sits at the mental health table. I'd like to think that businesses or government departments who make policies and procedures will think about how they will impact the mental health of small business customers and what they can do to make sure they stay mentally healthy when they interact with their business or agency." Faulkner heads up her own advocacy and training consultancy, Fortitude at Work. Having partnered with groups such as Beyond Blue and the Australian Tax Office, this year Faulkner has WorkCover, state small business commissioners and the banks in her sights.

Faulkner says her paper diary keeps her focused on her goals, which she has clearly written on the opening pages. Alec Lynch of freelance graphic design service website DesignCrowd. Alec Lynch, DesignCrowd chief executive Online marketplace DesignCrowd has soared since it was first launched in 2007, raising $12 million in venture capital and turning over nearly $20 million per year. In years past, founder Alec Lynch has prioritised scaling his company outside of Australia and adding marketing challenges. But this year it's all about fine-tuning the customer experience.

"Basically we want to make our users happier," he says. "We track net promoter score, a metric to track user satisfaction, and we're hoping to increase that this year by improving our product." Lynch's second goal is to find growth through product innovation. The company uses a measuring strategy to implement its goals and also receives help from management consultants. "Every year we set a strategy and budget for the year and split the year up into quarters and we set a 90-day plan for each quarter," Lynch explains.
In an interview to India Today, Nagaland's Governor PB Acharya spoke about what led to the recent protests in the state over reservation for women in local bodies, how peace was brokered and the path ahead.

By Manogya Loiwal : Nagaland has been in the grips of protests that continued for nearly a week and brought the state to a grinding halt. The protests were over urban body polls being held on February 1; a group of people were opposed to the elections being held.

Tribal leaders had earlier demanded that the elections be postponed as the government's decision to grant 33 per cent reservation to women in local bodies had not gone down well with Nagaland's tribes. The leaders wanted time to explain to the locals that the decision on reservation did not infringe on their privileges.

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However, protests erupted after the government went ahead with holding the polls this week. The protests turned violent in some places and two people were killed in police firing on Wednesday, which worsened the situation. Peace was finally brokered with the intervention of Governor PB Acharya, who spoke exclusively to India Today on what went wrong and the path ahead.

Also read: Nagaland protesters demand Chief Minister TR Zeliang's resignation

Top takeaways from the interview: On the demand on postpone elections: On January 30, three groups including tribal leaders and the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), which is a powerful body, came together against the government and had a talk in Dimapur about the elections being postponed. Their demand was that the election should be postponed for two months so that council members could convince the people that they had not done anything to violate the people's privileges. On why elections were held: Since the Election Commission had already started the electoral process, the government had to seek the EC's persmission before passing a cabinet resolution. Two conditions were set down on Chief Minister TR Zeliang, on January 31, as per these requirements told the groups that elections would be postponed but not in locations where no operations (of council members meeting the public) are held. Polls in those places would go ahead. This hurt the groups, who said there should only be a single policy. This led to a misunderstanding among the people and the whole trouble started. People had lost confidence in the promises given by the three groups - that is the main reason why I think it happened. On if the political leadership's decision: The political leadership did not have a hidden agenda. They took their decisions with good intentions. But, they could have waited for two months as had been promised earlier, that could prevented this issue. On two people dying in police firing: It is really unfortunate because life is very precious. But, when a big crowd comes together and a mass movement takes place, police have to take action. They could have saved the people, but I don't know what happened on the ground and why the firing took place. In fact, there are even doubts being raised over who fired. A judicial commission has set been set up and it investigate. On the new organisation and its demands: I was in Itangar where I received a letter from a new organisation - Nagaland Tribe Action Committee (NTAC) - with three demands. The group wanted the chief minister and his entire cabinet to immediately resign. They also wanted the urban local body elections to be declared null and void and they wanted the erring police officer and personnel (involved in the firing) to be immediately suspended. Reaction to new demands: I said we can contain this; this is not a difficult thing. So I spoke to chief minister from Itanagar itself and requested him to address the people. He immediately suspended or transferred the police officers. Then all the elections that were held - including those were people were unanimously elected - were declared null and void. On sacking the chief minister: I informed people that there is a constitutional process and I cannot just ask the chief minster to step down, so if your MLAs are there, you bring pressure on them (to ask the CM to resign). He has a majority and whenever the assembly has a majority, he has the power and I cannot do anything. Talks are going on now. On upcoming tripartite meeting next week: They (the opposing groups) took the initiative (to hold a meeting) and it is a wonderful initiative. People are prepared to give 33 per cent reservation to women - they just want the two months. On if Nagaland's image has been tarnished: The government has done things from its own point of view of what is good or bad. Women are in every field and there should be no reason why they should be barred from politics. But, their (the opposing groups') point is also true. There is a customary law... dialogue is the only way (forward). A misunderstanding led to the incident.

Interview has been edited for clarity

Also read: Rajnath Singh speaks to CM Zeliang, assures support from Centre

WATCH | People prepared to give 33 % reservation to women: Nagaland Governor to India Today

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A man is fighting for his life in hospital after being seriously injured by a boat propeller south of Perth on Saturday.

The 27-year-old Singleton man was out boating with friends on the Murray River around 2pm when the incident occurred.

A 27-year-old man has been seriously injured by the propeller on this boat. Credit:WA Police

Peel Water Police, Pinjarra Police, Mandurah Detectives and St John Ambulance attended the scene and the man was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital.

"An investigation into how the man received his injuries is ongoing" a police spokesman said.
I'll emphasise upfront that the Trump administration has given no indication that they'll actually ignore this particular court order - or any other. (They're appealing, and the 9th Circuit declined to immediately reinstate the ban early Sunday morning.) And doing so would take things further than most any president ever has; Franklin said he's not aware of when a president "purposely ignored a direct court order." But sometimes presidents have interpreted court decisions in ways that lead to discord between branches of government, leading to the threat of constitutional crises. President Donald Trump. Credit:AP The most oft-cited example of a president allegedly ignoring a court ruling just happens to involve the populist president that Trump's team seems most interested in comparing to Trump: Andrew Jackson. After the Supreme Court and Justice John Marshall struck down a Georgia law that allowed for the seizure of Native American lands, saying it violated federal treaties, Jackson ignored it or at least initially declined to get involved - depending upon the account. He is remembered to have said, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it," though there is debate about the accuracy of that quote.

Adrian Hegeman holds a sign while joining other opponents to new immigration restrictions to protest an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. Credit:AP According to Native American scholar Frank Pommersheim: "While others consider the statement apocryphal, there is no doubt that President Jackson supported Georgia's claimed sovereignty over Cherokee land. The constitutional imbroglio was only averted when the impending nullification crisis convinced President Jackson that such a constitutional crisis was not in the national interest." An earlier and plainer example also involved Marshall - and a Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson. Jeffrey Rosen wrote for PBS that a showdown between the two pitted Jefferson's federalist views against Marshall's view that the Supreme Court had authority over all US laws: "The culmination of Marshall's national vision came in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), in which he wrote an opinion for a unanimous Court upholding Congress' power to charter the Bank of the United States. Marshall resurrected the same arguments that Alexander Hamilton had used to persuade George Washington to charter the bank over Jefferson's objections: namely, that the Constitution gives Congress the authority to pass all laws "necessary and proper" for executing its constitutional powers, and that those words should be construed broadly, in a practical spirit. -- Although the decision was popular in the middle and Northern states, it precipitated a backlash against the Court in the Southern and Western states.

"Jefferson's reaction to McCulloch was especially peevish and extreme. He endorsed attacks on the decision published by the radical states' rights partisans Spencer Roane and John Taylor, agreeing that the Supreme Court had no power to review the constitutionality of state laws or to second-guess the decisions of state courts. Later, he seemed to deny entirely the Supreme Court's power to hand down binding interpretations of the Constitution. This proved too radical for Jefferson's protege, James Madison, who wrote to his patron that he had no doubt that the framers of the Constitution intended the federal courts to be a final arbiter of conflicts between federal and state law. On his deathbed, just before he expired on July 4, 1826, Jefferson criticised Madison for being too accommodating." Another potential parallel involves Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War. From history.com: "John Merryman, a state legislator from Maryland, is arrested for attempting to hinder Union troops from moving from Baltimore to Washington during the Civil War and is held at Fort McHenry by Union military officials. His attorney immediately sought a writ of habeas corpus so that a federal court could examine the charges. However, President Abraham Lincoln decided to suspend the right of habeas corpus, and the general in command of Fort McHenry refused to turn Merryman over to the authorities. "Federal judge Roger Taney, the chief justice of the Supreme Court (and also the author of the infamous Dred Scott decision), issued a ruling that President Lincoln did not have the authority to suspend habeas corpus. Lincoln didn't respond, appeal, or order the release of Merryman. But during a July 4 speech, Lincoln was defiant, insisting that he needed to suspend the rules in order to put down the rebellion in the South. "Five years later, a new Supreme Court essentially backed Justice Taney's ruling: In an unrelated case, the court held that only Congress could suspend habeas corpus and that civilians were not subject to military courts, even in times of war."

If Trump were to ever go down this road, Franklin said, the ultimate arbiter would be the other, third, branch of government. He said Trump could be held in contempt of court, and it would then be up to the House of Representatives. "(Contempt of court), in my opinion, is a 'high crime or misdemeanor' in the meaning of the Constitution, and he would be subject to impeachment," Franklin said. "Whether or not the House of Representatives would see it that way is another question. It is at that point their call." The other big question with Trump - should he opt to question the legal authority of a judge who runs afoul of him - is whether the government agencies who would need to go along with Trump's decision would actually do so. Trump's Defence and Homeland Security secretaries, for example, are military generals who are accustomed to a chain of command. Would they ignore a court order in favor of Trump? Loading It's all very hypothetical, but Trump's rhetoric -- not just about the judge's decision, but the judge's actual authority -- and his apparent desire to press his case for his own authority suggest it's not out of the question.
Berlin German news magazine Der Spiegel has provoked strong reactions over the weekend with a cover depicting US President Donald Trump holding the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty.

The cover depicts Trump holding the Statue of Liberty's severed head in one hand and a bloodied knife in the other. The image is accompanied by Trump's slogan: "America first".

"This Spiegel cover devalues journalism," ran a headline in German daily newspaper Die Welt.

The accompanying article slammed the cover for comparing Donald Trump to Islamic State terrorists and said it was clearly intended to shock and garner attention for Spiegel.
A Russian technology executive who was named in a dossier containing unverified allegations about connections between President Donald Trump and the Russian government has sued BuzzFeed News, which published the information.

The defamation suit was filed in court Friday in Broward County, Florida, according to lawyers for the executive, Alexei Gubarev, chief of XBT, a technology company based in Luxembourg. The suit focuses on allegations, made near the end of the dossier, that Gubarev and his company were involved in hacking operations against the leadership of the Democratic Party.

In the complaint, Gubarev's lawyers say that BuzzFeed acted recklessly; that none of the statements have any basis in fact; and that Gubarev's association with the dossier has left his reputation "in tatters," compromised his family's security and damaged his company's business prospects.

It called BuzzFeed's decision "perhaps one of the most reckless and irresponsible moments in modern 'journalism.'"
By Press Trust of India: Los Angeles, Feb 5 (PTI) Scientists have discovered a new shark species with rabbit-like buckteeth and a bulky head, which is the 50th ghost shark species known to science.

At nearly one metre in length, the new creature is the second largest species of ghost shark ever discovered, the researchers said.

"(Ghost sharks) in general have a pretty big head and their body tapers to a thinner tail. This one was really chunky in the front, and just a big bulky specimen," said Kristin Walovich, a graduate student at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in California.

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Like some other ghost sharks, the newfound species has rabbit-like buckteeth, prompting researchers to put it in the genus Hydrolagus, which translates to"water rabbit" or "water hare."

The species name erithacus is the genus name for robin birds, Live Science reported.

There are already three known species in the genus Hydrolagus that live in the same region as the new find, between South Africa and Antarctica in the southeastern Atlantic and southwestern Indian Oceans, the researchers said.

Two of the specimens in the new study came from deep-sea fishermen who mistakenly caught the animals as bycatch. But the other specimens included in the study had been sitting in a museum for years, Walovich said.

"The scientists and the fishermen in South Africa knew this was not the same species, because Hydrolagus africanus is small, its brown, and this one was huge and really dark in color," Walovich said. PTI SAR MHN

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The BJP has welcomed Nitish Kumar's adding colour to its poll symbol, but denied any talks going on regarding political realignment in the state.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: Politics has begun in Bihar after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar added colour to "lotus", which is the symbol of the BJP. The chief minister while doing so may have or may not have realized this, but it has definitely provided opportunity to think about political realignment.

The occasion was the inauguration of the 23rd edition of Patna Book Fair. During the event, Padma Shree awarded and renowned Madhubani painter Bauya Devi drew a lotus on the canvas and handed over the painting brush to Nitish, who instantly began adding colour to the lotus and also signed it.

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When the journalist present at the event queried Nitish about the meaning of coloring the lotus which is also the symbol of the BJP, he went without replying. Perhaps he realized that his act will trigger speculations.

Also read: Modi-Nitish bonhomie: JD-U slams Mamata for seeking PM's ouster

The BJP has welcomed Nitish Kumar's adding colour to its poll symbol, but denied any talks going on regarding political realignment in the state.

"There is no discussion going on in the BJP regarding alliance with the JD-U, and also I am not privy to any such information. Nitish has supported demonetization and we have also supported prohibition in Bihar. There is no discussion going on regarding JD-U returning to NDA fold," said senior BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain.

After Nitish Kumar has differed with alliance partner RJD over issue of demonetization and also surgical strikes on Pakistan, there had been speculations whether he would dump the RJD to return back to NDA.

Also read: PM Modi's big praise for ex-ally Nitish Kumar over Bihar liquor ban

The camaraderie which was witnessed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar during Prakash Parv festival also added fuel to the speculation. There may be nothing concrete on the platter at the moment, but Nitish Kumar's has been dropping enough hints to keep the political pot simmer in Bihar.

WATCH | Bihar CM Nitish Kumar painting colour to lotus

--- ENDS ---
Advertisement

By The Associated Press

Feb. 04, 2017 | LEXINGTON, KY

By The Associated Press Feb. 04, 2017 | 07:30 PM | LEXINGTON, KY

A former Lexington man has been indicted on a charge of threatening to kill a federal prosecutor.



The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that Edgar Villa-Castaneda also was indicted Thursday on one count of soliciting another person to kill an assistant U.S. attorney. The prosecutor was identified by the initials "R.D." in the grand jury indictment.



The indictment says that in 2015 in Woodford County in central Kentucky, Villa-Castaneda threatened to kill the prosecutor. The indictment says the intent was to retaliate against the prosecutor due to the "performance of his official duties."



The indictment doesn't specify how the alleged threat was relayed.



According to court documents, Villa-Castaneda is serving a 17-year sentence in a federal prison in Bennettsville, South Carolina, after pleading guilty last year in a drug case.




By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Feb 5 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today urged saints and religious institutions to take a lead in raising issues related to social reforms like Swachh Bharat, saying their word has a bigger impact than the governments.

Addressing the 7th centenary celebrations of Jagadguru Sri Madhvacharya being held in Udupi via video conferencing from Delhi, he said right from the time of Bhakti Movement, the saints and seers have encouraged the society to find within the remedies of ills plaguing it.

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He said the philosophy of world is one family is the solution to fundamentalism, which is "the core of terror" and goes by the concept of what I say is correct.

"There are several challenges and the mathas (monasteries) and seers have played a key role in finding solutions...If we talk of swachh Bharat, their (saints) word will have a bigger impact in spreading the message than the governments," he said.

He said such learned people have always encouraged the society to understand that there is no religion bigger than humanity.

Modi said societies across the globe have looked at India for answers in their times of crises, which is "the true recognition of our values".

The Prime Minister noted that Jagadguru Madhvacharya used to say that you serve humanity just like you pay tax to the government.

He also praised Saint Kabir, saying he always worked for the upliftment of the poor and made sure that there is no discrimination over caste and religion. PTI NAB AKK

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By Press Trust of India: From M Zulqernain

Lahore, Feb 5 (PTI) Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Falah-e-Insaniyat, recently placed under "watch-list" and against whom Pakistan government launched a crackdown, today held rallies in parts of the country under the banner of Tehreek Azadi Jammu Kashmir (TAJK).

The rallies were organised just days after the JuDs chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed was put under "house arrest" in Lahore under the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act by Pakistan government.

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Saeed had indicated a week before his "house arrest" that he might launch TAJK to "expedite the freedom of Kashmir". The Interior Ministry had also placed Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF members on Exit Control List, barring them from leaving Pakistan.

At the rallies in several parts of Pakistan today, the participants demanded immediate release of Saeed.

In Lahore, Yakjahtee (solidarity) Kashmir Conference was held at Nasser Bagh in which a large number of activists of JuD and FIF participated.

They shounted slogans against Pakistan, Indian and the US governments for detaining Saeed, and said the Nawaz Sharif government was damaging the countrys image by maintaining friendship with the Narendra Modi government.

"Pakistani nation is united for Hafiz Saeeds release," said JuD central leader Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, who is also the brother-in-law of Saeed.

He said unfortunately due to Saeeds detention "our message of solidarity to Kashmiris is not that powerful and encouraging this year".

The Sharif government, he said, should make its stance clear on Kashmir and tell the people of Pakistan that it is loyal to Kashmiris, and not India.

Makki said trade of potato and onion with India is not right. "Treacherous plot of giving India the Most Favoured Nation status will not be successful," he said. PTI MZ ABH AKK ABH

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Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 05/02/2017 (2099 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For a phenomenon often dubbed the worlds oldest hatred, anti-Semitism is not well-understood.

From top Iranian officials who blame the Talmud for the international drug trade to British political activists who claim the Mossad is stealing their shoes, anti-Jewish bigotry can be bewildering and bizarre. But given the prejudices longevity, virulence and recent resurgence in Europe and the United States  witness the waves of bomb threats against dozens of Jewish centres across the U.S. in the past month and the controversy over the Trump administrations repeated refusal to include Jews in its Holocaust memorial statement  its well worth debunking common misconceptions that impede our ability to fight it.

MYTH NO. 1: Anti-Semitism largely subsided after the Holocaust.

In my time reporting on anti-Semitism, Ive often encountered a certain well-meaning skepticism: didnt the Holocaust, with its shocking horrors, finally compel society to stamp out anti-Jewish bigotry? Sophisticated people dont write this idea down, but its one I hear constantly in my reporting.

This is profoundly, depressingly wrong. The FBI says Jews in the U.S. are annually subject to the most hate crimes of any religious group, despite constituting only two per cent of the nations population. The picture is considerably darker in Europe, where Jews were the target of 51 per cent of racist attacks in France in 2014, even though they made up less than one per cent of that countrys population. In recent years, synagogues and Jewish schools and museums have been subject to terrorist attacks in France, Denmark and Belgium. A 2013 European survey found nearly 40 per cent of European Jews fear to publicly identify as Jewish, including 60 per cent of Swedish Jews. Non-western examples abound as well. Populations of Jews in Arab lands, which once numbered nearly one million, have been reduced to only a few thousand, having been persecuted to the point of expulsion or flight in the past century.

These facts underscore a crucial point: its wrong to subsume anti-Semitism under Nazism, its worst manifestation, when the centuries-old prejudice usually takes less extreme or exterminationist forms. The end of slavery did not mean the end of American racism. Likewise, the end of Nazism as a dominant political force did not silence anti-Semitism.

MYTH NO. 2: Anti-Semitism comes predominantly from the right.

This past U.S. election season, the ascendant alt-right  a band of reactionary white nationalists with a penchant for harassing Jewish journalists  filled Twitter with neo-Nazi memes, Photoshopped reporters into gas chambers and concentration camps and chanted anti-Semitic slogans at political rallies. (My critical reporting on Trump made me the second-most-harassed Jewish journalist on Twitter, an Anti-Defamation League study stated.) One could be forgiven for assuming such bigotry flows from one primary political source.

But anti-Semitic outbursts were taking place on the left at the same time. At liberal Oberlin College, a writing instructor named Joy Karega shared Facebook memes about Jewish control of the global economy and media, alongside posts asserting Israeli responsibility for the Islamic State group and 9/11. When school officials and others criticized her conduct, the student council dismissed it as a witch hunt. In New York, despite a local outcry, the hip leftist hub Brooklyn Commons hosted Christopher Bollyn, a conspiracy theorist who argued Zionist Jews were behind 9/11. During the Democratic primaries, Jewish candidate Bernie Sanders was confronted by a questioner who declared, the Zionist Jews run the Federal Reserve, they run Wall Street, they run every campaign. Surveying this scene, TBS comedian Samantha Bee aired footage of an anti-Semite ranting at a Trump rally, then cracked, To find anti-Semitism that rabid, youd have to go to, well, any left-leaning American college campus.

This bipartisan bigotry shouldnt surprise. Anti-Semitism could never have attained its impressive influence without forging coalitions across ideological and religious lines. Hatred of Jews has long thrived on its ability to ensnare utterly opposite world views. Thus, the 2013 EU survey found Italian and Swedish Jews perceived more anti-Semitic statements coming from the left, Hungarian Jews heard them overwhelmingly from Christians and the right, and French Jews reported abuse largely from Muslim extremists. Its tempting to cast anti-Semitism as the sin of other people, but thats usually a way to avoid confronting the problem within ones own community.

MYTH NO. 3: Criticism of Israel is generally anti-Semitic.

The state of Israel often confounds the anti-Semitism conversation. Some assume an attack on Israel and its policies must necessarily be an attack on Jews. Evangelical leader Franklin Graham, for instance, called criticism of Israeli settlers an assault on Gods chosen people. Others justify their attacks on Jews around the world by pointing to Israel, claiming to be anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic. Much of this confusion stems from the conflation of all Jews with the state of Israel, its government and its policies.

Criticism of Israel, however, is not necessarily anti-Semitic. In fact, it is a popular pastime in Israel and among Jews across the globe. Objections to settlements, for example, or even calls to boycott them are debatable political positions, not bigoted slurs. Dovish proponents of such views are no more promulgating anti-Jewish prejudice than those security hawks and religious nationalists who have opposed Israels land concessions for peace. Israel is a democracy and can be held to account for its actions, just like any other country.

MYTH NO. 4: Criticism of Israel cannot be anti-Semitic.

At the same time, criticism of the Jewish state can mask malice toward Jews. Some cases are obvious, such as when the organizers of a 2010 flotilla that aimed to breach Israels maritime blockade of Gaza subsequently denied the Holocaust and claimed Israel was behind the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Similarly, those who accuse Israel of committing Palestinian genocide, when the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics records a four-fold population increase since Israels founding, are engaging in libel, not legitimate argument.

In other, less blatant cases, Israel is subjected to criticism levelled at no non-Jewish country. Consider the United Nations, whose Human Rights Council has condemned Israel more often than all other countries combined, including Syria, North Korea, Iran and Russia. As U.S. president Barack Obamas UN ambassador, Samantha Power, put it, As long as Israel has been a member of this institution, Israel has been treated differently from other nations at the United Nations. In October, one UN body even passed a resolution denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalems Temple Mount, Judaisms holiest site.

What these unfortunate approaches all share is they treat the Jewish state in much the same way anti-Semites have historically treated Jews: singling them out for censure and implicating them in outlandish conspiracies.

MYTH NO. 5: Anti-Semitism mostly threatens Jews.

Most bigotries debilitate their targets while empowering their disseminators, much like slavery and redlining enriched Americas white majority at the expense of its African American minority. Many successful societies have been built atop prejudices.

Anti-Semitism, however, is a unique case and uniquely corrosive to those societies that embrace it. Thats because it often takes the form of a conspiracy theory about how the world works. By blaming real problems on imagined Jewish culprits, anti-Semitism prevents societies from rationally solving them. In one of the most famous examples, Nazi scientists shunned Einsteins advances as Judische Physik, as opposed to Deutsche Physik, enfeebling their understanding.

As Bard Colleges Walter Russell Mead has put it, People who think the Jews dominate business through hidden structures cant build or long maintain a successful modern economy. People who think the Jews dominate politics lose their ability to interpret political events, to diagnose social evils and to organize effectively for positive change. People who think the Jews run the media and control the news lose the ability to grasp what is happening around them.

For this reason, Mead has warned, Rabid anti-Semitism coupled with an addiction to implausible conspiracy theories is a very strong predictor of national doom.

This is one case where the hatred ultimately destroys the hater.

Rosenberg is a senior writer at Tablet Magazine. Washington Post
Sasikala has been elected as the legislative party leader of AIADMK, O Panneerselvam tenders resignation.

By India Today Web Desk: AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala has been elected as the legislative party leader of AIADMK. Sasikala is set to become chief minister of the state after O Panneerselvam tendered his resignation.

It was Pannerselvam who proposed the name of Chinnamma (Sasikala Natarajan) as the leader of AIADMK Legislature Party Leader.

Also read: AIADMK after Jayalalithaa: Can Sasikala, Panneerselvam rein in factions, rival ambitions?

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Speculations were rife in Tamil Nadu that Sasikala could take over the command soon. The speculations were fuelled by the untimely shunting out of several bureaucrats considered close to O Panneerselvam. Earlier, in an exclusive interview to India Today, Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Madhavan slammed Sasikala comparing her maneuver to a military takeover.

When asked about the possibility of Sasikala taking over as the chief minister, Deepa said that although there has been a lot of talk about it but could only wait till a final decision. Moreover, Deepa went on to dismiss the possibility of the people approving this sudden change in power.

Here are the day's major developments:

AIADMK General Secretary and recently chosen Legislative leader of the party VK Sasikala's husband Natrajan has been hospitalised.

O Panneerselvam has sent his resignation to Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao. In his letter, Panneerselvam requests the council of ministers appointed by him be relieved.

Click here to Enlarge

Calling it a black day for Tamil Nadu, DMK said it 'can't accept Sasikala as chief minister' and that she is not whom the people of Tamil Nadu had voted in

Opposition party DMK expresses 'shock', says she is inexperienced to serve as chief minister

Sources say Sasikala's swearing-in will likely happen by February 9

AIADMK's official Twitter handle releases new poster featuring both the late Jayalalitha and Sasikala. The poster says that Sasikala has now been appointed as the leader of AIADMK.

Click here to Enlarge O Panneerselvam's resignation letter

AIADMK tweet quotes Sasikala as saying that the Tamil Nadu government will follow the principles of Amma

After chairing AIADMK MLAs' meet Sasikala Natarajan greets supporters outside party headquarters in Chennai

It was O Panneerselvam who insisted first, that I become the Chief Minister of the State: Sasikala

Following demise of honourable Amma, it was O Panneerselvam who urged me first to take charge as the General Secretary of AIADMK: Sasikala

Sasikala Natarajan chairs MLAs meet at AIADMK headquarters in Chennai where is elected as the legislative leader of the party. Tamil Nadu: Elected as Legislative party leader of AIADMK, Sasikala Natarajan chairs MLAs meet at AIADMK HQ in Chennai pic.twitter.com/RTWyGQbvAe- ANI (@ANI_news) 5 February 2017

Chinnamma all set to become the Next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Sasikala Natarajan reaches AIADMK HQ in Chennai, she is all set to be Tamil Nadu CM says AIADMK Tamil Nadu: Sasikala Natarajan reaches AIADMK HQ in Chennai, she is all set to be Tamil Nadu CM says AIADMK pic.twitter.com/N0pbXHzRG8- ANI (@ANI_news) 5 February 2017

Also read:

Jaya's niece Deepa Jayakumar all set to launch her political party

Sasikala to decide when she wants to become Tamil Nadu CM: AIADMK leader at India Today Conclave

As talks of Sasikala heading Tamil Nadu grow, CM Panneerselvam says will follow Amma's path

Watch video: Chinnamma to be CM: Sasikala elevated as AIADMK legislative chief

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Reject politics that tears people apart

Recently, I joined with other volunteers packaging food for distribution at the regional food bank in Rochester. That evening I had the pleasure to work beside a 13-year-old girl who was a recent refugee from Syria.

Though her English was limited, we communicated well by gesturing and laughing. I wondered what trauma and hardships this young girl and her family experienced that they took the desperate step to leave their country and travel halfway around the world to find refuge. I felt great pride that I lived in a country and community with a heart big enough to welcome them.

Suddenly I no longer recognize my country  where refugees from war-ravaged countries are turned away, where families are torn apart, where scientists who hold the promise to cure disease are denied entry.

I reject public policy that punishes entire groups of people for the actions of a few. And I call on all of us to take steps to overcome a natural fear of those who at first seem different  attend a local event where you meet people from other cultures or religions, read a book or watch a movie that depicts the lives of families that differ from your own. Discover our common humanity.
If youve kept up with state government recently, you know that much debate is currently taking place at the Capitol about how to fund road projects in Wisconsin. The question many are asking is, how is the state going to pay for needed road fixes in Wisconsin? In Columbus, I predict a different question will be asked around town this year, and that is, Im tired of the construction. When is the fix to our state road going to get DONE?

Truthfully, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has been very active in Columbus for the past couple of years, and that trend isnt going to end soon. The state has repaired the Highway 151 and 73 ramps, addressed an overpass concern on Highway 151, and improved the new intersection with turn lanes and traffic lights at Highways 16 and 60 last year. This year, we will be dealing with a much different animal.

From what we are hearing from WisDOT, the reconstruction of Highway 16/60 (James Street) could get started as soon as March 1, depending upon the weather. Despite the fact that this project is long needed and the preparation for it has taken several years, I can bet its going to hit many like a jackhammer through pavement.

Many owners of businesses in the downtown, WisDOT and city staff have worked together to get the word out about the project. In my three and a half years as city administrator, I know that many citizens have attended public information meetings over this time period and have asked questions about the project. In order for the project to proceed with as minimal disruption as possible, communication is going to be vital. There are several ways to keep informed about what is happening with the James Street construction project. But before I list them, I want to try and instill some plain truths about what we will see this year

The James Street project will create inconvenience. Particularly for those who live on James Street, but also for those who rely upon James to get places (which is pretty much everyone in Columbus). Like all road projects, it will be dusty, it will be dirty and it will be frustrating. But knowledge is power, and it will be incumbent on WisDOT and us at the city to tell you what is going on at every turn. Before it all starts, I will send you a pre-emptive thank you to all for your patience as the project takes place in our city this year.

The project will alter the streetscape of James Street. One of the first indicators that the project is off and running is that trees along the James Street corridor start to come down. That is one the biggest misfortunes of a road reconstruction. Yes, this will change the look of the corridor and many older trees will be gone, but project designers and managers have taken careful steps to limit removed trees to those that affect utilities and those that hamper the needs of the new roadway. On the flip side, the new look to James Street will include more decorative street lights, colored crosswalks and safety bumpouts. It will look different, but maybe thats not a bad thing?

Downtown Columbus is open for business. Even though the street will be impassable for vehicles, the shops, restaurants and other businesses affected by the James Street project will be open  while you may not be able to park your vehicle right in front of your favorite store, there are many public parking spaces within a block of the downtown, including our municipal parking lots. WisDOT is also going to maintain pedestrian traffic to the storefronts along James Street, as fencing and other barriers will be in place to assist you in getting to your downtown destination. While a little extra walk may be necessary, you will still be able to get there. If you know out-of-towners who like to frequent downtown Columbus, tell them often that road construction will not keep us down.

Businesses on the outskirts along James are also open. As you keep going northwest on James Street, the project will go all way out to the traffic lights at Dix Street. The businesses there are open as usual, so dont forget them either.

Stay informed! The James Street project will be a little less cumbersome if you prepare and stay informed. There are a few ways you can stay informed. WisDOT has explained that one more public information meeting will be happening before the project starts (stay tuned for date, time and place). A central hub of information will be shared on the web, at www.AskJames1660.com, which will be an online resource for reports, updates and calendars related to the James Street project. Frequent updates will also be posted to the home page for the City of Columbus: www.cityofcolumbuswi.com, and the City of Columbus, WI page on Facebook. For anyone who would like regular emails on the progress of the James Street project, send me an email and I will put you on my distribution list. I did this for the street projects in 2016 and it was helpful to those who wanted that information. My email is pvandersanden@columbuswi.us.

There will be times during the project this summer when it will seem like it will never end. But if we all help each other, stay aware of what is happening, and keep a focus on the end product, it may make the experience better for everyone. In the end, Columbus will have a very key piece of public infrastructure for which to be very proud.

If you have any questions on this or any other issue before city government, please contact me down at City Hall at 623-5900 or via email at pvandersanden@columbuswi.us.
Girgaon, an area in southern Mumbai, is believed to be a stronghold of the Shiv Sena. Uddhav Thackeray appealed to the people of Girgaon to vote for Shiv Sena in the civic body polls.

By Mayuresh Ganapatye: Shiv Sena on Saturday chose to start its campaign for BMC polls from southern Mumbai's Girgaon, an area which the party lost to the BJP in the last assembly election.

The locality is believed to be a stronghold of the Shiv Sena.

"Whenever we have started our campaign from Girgaon, we have always won that election. Thus, this time we are blowing the bugle of our BMC elections from here", said Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut.

People in large numbers turned up for Sena's Girgaon rally.

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Addressing his first rally, party chief Uddhav Thackeray appealed to the people of Girgaon to vote for the Shiv Sena. Uddhav directly attacked not just Chief Minister Fadnavis, but also the central leadership of the BJP in his speech.

MODI REMAINED CM DESPITE GODHRA DUE TO SENA

"They (BJP) must have forgotten that it was due to the Shiv Sena's coming to his rescue that Modi managed to continue as chief minister in the aftermath of the Godhra riots. Let me tell you Mr. Fadnavis, whoever has attacked the Sena has vanished from politics", Uddhav threatened.

Uddhav Thackeray not only touched upon local issues, but also commented on national concerns in his Girgaon rally. Criticising the BJP for Goa election, Thackeray said, "BJP doesn't even have a chief ministerial candidate there. On banners, only Parrikar and Modi's photos are there." He also slammed the BJP for not including loan waiver for UP farmers in its manifesto.

Also read | BJP has a use-and-throw policy on allies: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray

"Are there no farmers in Maharashtra? When you have a government here in the state, why can't the same loan waiver be given to the farmers of Maharashtra?" Uddhav asked.

Thackeray reiterated the fact that the Shiv Sena was not going to forge an alliance with anyone and his party was not contesting to play a 'friendly match'.

WATCH VIDEO

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The following companies are subsidiares of Lloyds Banking Group: A G Finance Ltd, A.C.L. Ltd, ACL Autolease Holdings Ltd, ADF No.1 Pty Ltd, Addison Social Housing Holdings Ltd, Alex Lawrie Factors Ltd, Alex. Lawrie Receivables Financing Ltd, Amberdate Ltd, Anglo Scottish Utilities Partnership 1, Aquilus Ltd, Automobile Association Personal Finance Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services 2 Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 2) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 3) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland)) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 1 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 2 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 3 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 4 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 5 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 6 plc, BOS (USA) Fund Investments Inc., BOS (USA) Inc., BOS Edinburgh No 1 Ltd, BOS Mistral Ltd, BOS Personal Lending Ltd, BOSSAF Rail Ltd, Bank of Scotland (B G S) Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland (Stanlife) London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Branch Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Central Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Equipment Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Foundation, Bank of Scotland LNG Leasing (No 1) Ltd, Bank of Scotland London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Nominees (Unit Trusts) Ltd, Bank of Scotland P.E.P. Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Structured Asset Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Transport Finance 1 Ltd, Bank of Scotland plc, Bank of Wales Ltd, Barents Leasing Ltd, Barnwood Mortgages Ltd, Birchcrown Finance Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Financial Services Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Land Development Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Mortgage Services Ltd, Black Horse (TRF) Ltd, Black Horse Executive Mortgages Ltd, Black Horse Finance Holdings Ltd, Black Horse Finance Management Ltd, Black Horse Group Ltd, Black Horse Ltd, Black Horse Offshore Ltd, Black Horse Property Services Ltd, Boltro Nominees Ltd, British Linen Leasing (London) Ltd, British Linen Leasing Ltd, British Linen Shipping Ltd, C.T.S.B. Leasing Ltd, CBRail S.A.R.L., CF Asset Finance Ltd, CF1 Ltd, CM Venture Investments Ltd, Cancara Asset Securitisation Ltd, Capital 1945 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 12 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 3 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 5 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 9 Ltd, Capital Bank Property Investments (3) Ltd, Capital Personal Finance Ltd, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2018-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2019-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Cardnet Merchant Services Ltd, Cashfriday Ltd, Cashpoint Ltd, Caveminster Ltd, Cedar Holdings Ltd, Celsius European Lux 2 S.A.R.L., Central Mortgage Finance Ltd, Chariot Finance Ltd, Cheltenham & Gloucester plc, Cheltenham II Securities 2020 DAC, Cheltenham Securities 2017 Ltd, Chepstow Blue Holdings Ltd, Chepstow Blue plc, Chester Asset Options No.2 Ltd, Chester Asset Options No.3 Ltd, Chester Asset Receivables Dealings Issuer Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings No.2 Ltd, Chiswell Stockbrokers Ltd, Clerical Medical Finance plc, Clerical Medical Financial Services Ltd, Clerical Medical International Holdings B.V., Clerical Medical Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Clerical Medical Managed Funds Ltd, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Spanish Prop Co SL, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Prop Co SA, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Property Company S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Funding S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Investments S.A.R.L., Conquest Securities Ltd, Corbiere Asset Investments Ltd, Create Services Ltd, Credit Card Securitisation Europe Ltd, Dalkeith Corporation, Deva Financing Holdings Ltd, Deva Financing plc, Deva One Ltd, Deva Three Ltd, Deva Two Ltd, Dunstan Investments (UK) Ltd, Edgbaston RMBS 2010-1 plc, Edgbaston RMBS Holdings Ltd, Elland RMBS 2018 plc, Elland RMBS Holdings Ltd, Eurolead Services Holdings Ltd, First Retail Finance (Chester) Ltd, Fontwell Securities 2016 Ltd, Forthright Finance Ltd, France Industrial Premises Holding Company, General Leasing (No. 12) Ltd, General Reversionary and Investment Company, Gresham Nominee 1 Ltd, Gresham Nominee 2 Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 1) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 10) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 11) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 12) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 13) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 14) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 15) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 16) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 19) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 20) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 21) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 22) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 23) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 24) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 25) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 26) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 27) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 28) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 29) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 3) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 30) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 31) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 32) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 33) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 34) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 35) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 36) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 37) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 38) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 39) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 40) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 41) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 44) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 45) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 46) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 47) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 48) UK Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No 3) Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No.11) UK Ltd, HBOS Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS Final Salary Trust Ltd, HBOS Financial Services Ltd, HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Ltd, HBOS International Financial Services Holdings Ltd, HBOS Investment Fund Managers Ltd, HBOS Social Housing Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS UK Ltd, HBOS plc, HSDL Nominees Ltd, HVF Ltd, Halifax Credit Card Ltd, Halifax Financial Brokers Ltd, Halifax Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Halifax Financial Services Ltd, Halifax General Insurance Services Ltd, Halifax Group Ltd, Halifax Investment Services Ltd, Halifax Leasing (June) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (March No.2) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (September) Ltd, Halifax Life Ltd, Halifax Loans Ltd, Halifax Ltd, Halifax Mortgage Services Ltd, Halifax Nominees Ltd, Halifax Pension Nominees Ltd, Halifax Premises Ltd, Halifax Share Dealing Ltd, Halifax Vehicle Leasing (1998) Ltd, Heidi Finance Holdings (UK) Ltd, Hill Samuel Bank Ltd, Hill Samuel Finance Ltd, Hill Samuel Leasing Co. Ltd, Home Shopping Personal Finance Ltd, Horizon Capital 2000 Ltd, Housing Association Risk Transfer 2019 DAC, Housing Growth Partnership GP LLP, Housing Growth Partnership LP, Housing Growth Partnership Ltd, Housing Growth Partnership Manager Ltd, Hyundai Car Finance Ltd, IBOS Finance Ltd, ICC Enterprise Partners Ltd, ICC Equity Partners Ltd, ICC Holdings Unlimited Company, Inchcape Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Software Ltd, International Motors Finance Ltd, Kanaalstraat Funding C.V., Katrine Leasing Ltd, LB Healthcare Trustee Ltd, LB Motorent Ltd, LB Quest Ltd, LB Share Schemes Trustees Ltd, LBCF Ltd, LBG Brasil Administracao LTDA, LBG Capital Holdings Ltd, LBG Equity Investments Ltd, LBI Leasing Ltd, LDC (General Partner) Ltd, LDC (Managers) Ltd, LDC (Nominees) Ltd, LDC GP LLP, LDC I LP, LDC II LP, LDC III LP, LDC IV LP, LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd, LDC V LP, LDC VI LP, LDC VII LP, LDC VIII LP, LTGP Limited Partnership Incorporated, Legacy Renewal Company Ltd, Leicester Securities 2014 Ltd, Lex Autolease (CH) Ltd, Lex Autolease (VC) Ltd, Lex Autolease Carselect Ltd, Lex Autolease Ltd, Lex Vehicle Finance 2 Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing (Holdings) Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing Ltd, Lime Street (Funding) Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I Holdings Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I plc, Lloyds (Gresham) Ltd, Lloyds (Gresham) No. 1 Ltd, Lloyds (Nimrod) Specialist Finance Ltd, Lloyds America Securities Corporation1, Lloyds Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Branches) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Colonial & Foreign) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (I.D.) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (International Services) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Stock Exchange Branch) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Scotland Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (HP) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.4) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Wertpapierhandelsbank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets plc, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (LM) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds LLP, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 7) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 9) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Holdings Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 11) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 20) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 5) Ltd, Lloyds Bank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Hill Samuel Holding Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank Insurance Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank International Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 6) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 8) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank MTCH Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 10) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 13) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No.16) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Offshore Pension Trust Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 1) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 2) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pensions Property (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Properties Ltd, Lloyds Bank Property Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank S.F. Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Subsidiaries Ltd, Lloyds Bank Trustee Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Ltd, Lloyds Capital GP Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Properties Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Property Investments Ltd, Lloyds Corporate Services (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Engine Capital (No.1) U.S LLC, Lloyds Far East S.A.R.L., Lloyds General Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Group Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Hypotheken B.V., Lloyds Industrial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds International Pty Ltd, Lloyds Investment Bonds Ltd, Lloyds Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Lloyds Investment Securities No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Leasing (North Sea Transport) Ltd1, Lloyds Leasing Developments Ltd, Lloyds Nominees (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Offshore Global Services Private Ltd, Lloyds Plant Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Portfolio Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Premises Investments Ltd, Lloyds Project Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 3 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 4 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Secretaries Ltd, Lloyds Securities Inc., Lloyds TSB Pacific Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Rentals Ltd, Lloyds UDT Hiring Ltd, Lloyds UDT Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Ltd, Lloyds Your Tomorrow Trustee Ltd, Loans.co.uk Ltd, London Taxi Finance Ltd, London Uberior (L.A.S. Group) Nominees Ltd, Lotus Finance Ltd, MBNA, MBNA Direct Ltd, MBNA Europe Finance Ltd, MBNA Europe Holdings Ltd, MBNA General Foundation, MBNA Global Services Ltd, MBNA Indian Services Private Ltd, MBNA Ltd, MBNA R & L S.A.R.L., MBNA Receivables Ltd, Mainsearch Company Ltd, Maritime Leasing (No. 19) Ltd, Membership Services Finance Ltd, Mitre Street Funding S.A.R.L., Molineux RMBS 2016-1 plc, Molineux RMBS Holdings Ltd, Moor Lane Holdings Ltd, NFU Mutual Finance Ltd, NWS Trust Ltd, Nominees (Jersey) Ltd, Nordic Leasing Ltd, Ocean Leasing (July) Ltd, Oystercatcher Nominees Ltd, Oystercatcher Residential Ltd, PIPS Asset Investments Ltd, Pacific Leasing Ltd, Penarth Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Penarth Funding 1 Ltd, Penarth Funding 2 Ltd, Penarth Master Issuer plc, Penarth Receivables Trustee Ltd, Pensions Management (S.W.F.) Ltd, Peony Eastern Leasing Ltd, Peony Leasing Ltd, Peony Western Leasing Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 1) Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 2) Ltd, Permanent Holdings Ltd, Permanent Master Issuer plc, Permanent Mortgages Trustee Ltd, Permanent PECOH Holdings Ltd, Permanent PECOH Ltd, Perry Nominees Ltd, Prestonfield Investments Ltd, Proton Finance Ltd, R.F. Spencer And Company Ltd, Ranelagh Nominees Ltd, Retail Revival (Burgess Hill) Investments Ltd, SARL Coliseum, SARL Hiram, SAS Compagnie Fonciere De France, SCI Astoria Invest, SCI De LHorloge, SCI Equinoxe, SCI Rambuteau CFF, SW Funding plc, SW No.1 Ltd, SWAMF (GP) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (1) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (2) Ltd, Saint Michel Holding Company No1, Saint Michel Investment Property, Saint Witz 2 Holding Company No1, Saint Witz 2 Investment Property, Salisbury II Securities 2016 Ltd, Salisbury II-A Securities 2017 Ltd, Salisbury III Securities 2019 DAC, Salisbury Securities 2015 Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 Holdings Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 plc, Sandown Gold 2012-1 Holdings Ltd, Sandown Gold 2012-1 plc, Savban Leasing Ltd, Scotland International Finance B.V., Scottish Widows Administration Services (Nominees) Ltd, Scottish Widows Administration Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Annuities Ltd, Scottish Widows Auto Enrolment Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Europe, Scottish Widows Financial Services Holdings, Scottish Widows Group Ltd, Scottish Widows Industrial Properties Europe B.V., Scottish Widows Ltd, Scottish Widows Pension Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Property Management Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth (ACD) Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Wealth Holdings Ltd, Scottish Widows Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Funds Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Ltd, Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society, Seabreeze Leasing Ltd, Seaspirit Leasing Ltd, Share Dealing Nominees Ltd, Shogun Finance Ltd, Silentdale Ltd, St Andrews Group Ltd, St Andrews Insurance plc, St Andrews Life Assurance plc, St. Marys Court Investments, Standard Property Investment (1987) Ltd, Standard Property Investment Ltd, Sussex County Homes Ltd, Suzuki Financial Services Ltd, Swan Funding 2 Ltd, Syon Securities 2019 DAC, The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Plc, The British Linen Company Ltd, The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland, The Mortgage Business plc, Thistle Financing Holdings Ltd, Thistle Investments (AMC) Ltd, Thistle Investments (ERM) Ltd, Thistle Leasing, Three Copthall Avenue Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (10) Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (7) Ltd, Tranquility Leasing Ltd, Trinity Financing plc, UDT Budget Leasing Ltd, UDT Sales Finance Ltd, Uberior (Moorfield) Ltd, Uberior Co-Investments Ltd, Uberior ENA Ltd, Uberior Equity Ltd, Uberior Europe Ltd, Uberior Fund Investments Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments (No.2) Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments Ltd, Uberior Investments Ltd, Uberior Nominees Ltd, Uberior Trading Ltd, Uberior Trustees Ltd, Uberior Ventures Australia Pty Ltd, Uberior Ventures Ltd, United Dominions Leasing Ltd, United Dominions Trust Ltd, Universe The CMI Global Network Fund, Upsaala Ltd, Vine Street IX LP, WCS Ltd, Ward Nominees (Abingdon) Ltd, Ward Nominees (Birmingham) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees (Bristol) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees Ltd 1, Waverley  Fund II Investor LLC, Waverley  Fund III Investor LLC, Waymark Asset Investments Ltd, West Craigs Ltd, Wetherby II Securities 2018 DAC, Wetherby III Securities 2019 DAC, Wetherby Securities 2017 Ltd, Wood Street Leasing Ltd, and Zurich Insurance Group - UK Workplace Pensions and Savings Business.

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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.

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By Ashraf Wani: Fresh spell of rain and snow has commenced over the hilly state of Jammu and Kashmir and the ongoing spell is likely to continue for another 48 hours.

In the wake of this, the maximum temperature has dropped significantly over the region. The mercury is likely to plunge further during the next 24 hours. Meteorology department, in Srinagar, has also issued avalanche alert for some areas in J&K. Jammu-Srinagar National Highway has been closed after fresh landslides between Ramban and Ramsoo

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Also read: High danger avalanche warning for some areas in J&K, Himachal

This year, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have received record breaking snowfall. Gulmarag has so for recorded 8 feet of snow and fresh one foot since Saturday evening.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Pfizer: AH Robins LLC, AHP Holdings B.V., AHP Manufacturing B.V., Agouron Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alacer, Alpharma Holdings LLC, Alpharma Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alpharma Specialty Pharma LLC, Alpharma USHP LLC, American Food Industries LLC, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., Angiosyn, Array BioPharma, Ayerst-Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, BIND Therapeutics Inc., BINESA 2002 S.L., Bamboo Therapeutics, Bamboo Therapeutics Inc., Baxter International - Marketed Vaccines, BioRexis, Bioren, Bioren LLC, Blue Whale Re Ltd., C.E. Commercial Holdings C.V., C.E. Commercial Investments C.V., C.P. Pharmaceuticals International C.V., CICL Corporation, COC I Corporation, Catapult Genetics, Coley Pharmaceutical GmbH, Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc., Continental Pharma Inc., Covx, Covx Technologies Ireland Limited, Cyanamid Inter-American Corporation, Cyanamid de Argentina S.A., Cyanamid de Colombia S.A., Distribuidora Mercantil Centro Americana S.A., Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., Esperion LUV Development Inc., Esperion Therapeutics, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals Inc., Farminova Produtos Farmaceuticos de Inovacao Lda., Farmogene Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Ferrosan A/S, Ferrosan International A/S, Ferrosan S.R.L., FoldRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Foldrx Pharmaceuticals, Fort Dodge Manufatura Ltda., G. D. Searle & Co. Limited, G. D. Searle International Capital LLC, G. D. Searle LLC, GI Europe Inc., GI Japan Inc., GenTrac Inc., Genetics Institute LLC, Greenstone LLC, Haptogen Limited, Hospira, Hospira (China) Enterprise Management Co. Ltd., Hospira Adelaide Pty Ltd, Hospira Aseptic Services Limited, Hospira Australia Pty Ltd, Hospira Benelux BVBA, Hospira Chile Limitada, Hospira Deutschland GmbH, Hospira Enterprises B.V., Hospira France SAS, Hospira Healthcare B.V., Hospira Healthcare Corporation, Hospira Healthcare India Private Limited, Hospira Holdings (S.A.) Pty Ltd, Hospira Inc., Hospira Invicta S.A., Hospira Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, Hospira Ireland Sales Limited, Hospira Japan G.K., Hospira Limited, Hospira Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Hospira NZ Limited, Hospira Nordic AB, Hospira Philippines Inc., Hospira Portugal LDA, Hospira Produtos Hospitalares Ltda., Hospira Pte. Ltd., Hospira Pty Limited, Hospira Puerto Rico LLC, Hospira Singapore Pte Ltd, Hospira UK Limited, Hospira Worldwide LLC, Hospira Zagreb d.o.o., ICAgen, Idun Pharmaceuticals, Industrial Santa Agape S.A., InnoPharma, InnoPharma Inc., International Affiliated Corporation LLC, JMI-Daniels Pharmaceuticals Inc., John Wyeth & Brother Limited, Kiinteisto oy Espoon Pellavaniementie 14, King Pharmaceuticals Holdings LLC, King Pharmaceuticals LLC, King Pharmaceuticals Research and Development LLC, Korea Pharma Holding Company Limited, Laboratoires Pfizer S.A., Laboratorios Parke Davis S.L., Laboratorios Pfizer Ltda., Laboratorios Wyeth LLC, Laboratorios Wyeth S.A., Laboratorios Pfizer Lda., MTG Divestitures LLC, Mayne Pharma IP Holdings (Euro) Pty Ltd, Medivation, Medivation Field Solutions LLC, Medivation LLC, Medivation Neurology LLC, Medivation Prostate Therapeutics LLC, Medivation Services LLC, Medivation Technologies LLC, Meridian Medical Technologies Inc., Meridian Medical Technologies Limited, Monarch Pharmaceuticals LLC, Neusentis Limited, NextWave Pharmaceuticals, NextWave Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, P-D Co. LLC, PAH USA IN8 LLC, PF Americas Holding C.V., PF Asia Manufacturing B.V., PF PR Holdings C.V., PF PRISM C.V., PF PRISM Holdings S.a.r.l., PF Prism S.a.r.l., PFE Holdings G.K., PFE PHAC Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Pfizer Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Wyeth Holdings LLC, PFE Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) LLC, PHILCO Holdings S.a r.l., PHIVCO Corp., PHIVCO Holdco S.a r.l., PHIVCO Luxembourg S.a r.l., PN Mexico LLC, PT. Pfizer Parke Davis, Parke Davis & Company LLC, Parke Davis Limited, Parke Davis Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Parke-Davis Manufacturing Corp., Parkedale Pharmaceuticals Inc., Peak Enterprises LLC, Pfizer, Pfizer (China) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Pfizer (Perth) Pty Limited, Pfizer (Thailand) Limited, Pfizer (Wuhan) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer AB, Pfizer AG, Pfizer AS, Pfizer Africa & Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Veterinarian Products & Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer Anti-Infectives AB, Pfizer ApS, Pfizer Asia Manufacturing Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd., Pfizer Atlantic Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Australia Holdings B.V., Pfizer Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Pfizer Australia Investments Pty. Ltd., Pfizer Australia Pty Limited, Pfizer B.V., Pfizer BH D.o.o., Pfizer Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer Biofarmaceutica Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Pfizer Biologics (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd, Pfizer Biologics Ireland Holdings Limited, Pfizer Biotech Corporation, Pfizer Bolivia S.A., Pfizer Canada Inc., Pfizer CentreSource Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Chile S.A., Pfizer Cia. Ltda., Pfizer Colombia Spinco I LLC, Pfizer Commercial Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Commercial Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Commercial TRAE Trading Kft., Pfizer Consumer Healthcare AB, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare GmbH, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Ltd., Pfizer Consumer Manufacturing Italy S.r.l., Pfizer Corporation, Pfizer Corporation Austria Gesellschaft m.b.H., Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Pfizer Croatia d.o.o., Pfizer Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Development LP, Pfizer Development Services (UK) Limited, Pfizer Domestic Ventures Limited, Pfizer Dominicana S.R.L, Pfizer ESP Pty Ltd, Pfizer East India B.V., Pfizer Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer Egypt S.A.E., Pfizer Enterprise Holdings B.V., Pfizer Enterprises LLC, Pfizer Enterprises SARL, Pfizer Europe Finance B.V., Pfizer Export B.V., Pfizer Export Company, Pfizer Export Holding Company B.V, Pfizer Finance Share Service (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Financial Services N.V./S.A., Pfizer France International Investments, Pfizer Free Zone Panama S. de R.L., Pfizer GEP S.L., Pfizer Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer Global Supply Japan Inc., Pfizer Global Trading, Pfizer Group Luxembourg Sarl, Pfizer Gulf FZ-LLC, Pfizer H.C.P. Corporation, Pfizer HK Service Company Limited, Pfizer Health AB, Pfizer Health Solutions Inc., Pfizer Healthcare Ireland, Pfizer Hellas A.E., Pfizer Himalaya Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Holding France, Pfizer Holding Ventures, Pfizer Holdings Corporation, Pfizer Holdings Europe Unlimited Company, Pfizer Holdings G.K., Pfizer Holdings International Corporation, Pfizer Holdings International Luxembourg (PHIL) Sarl, Pfizer Holdings North America SARL, Pfizer Hungary Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Inc., Pfizer Innovations AB, Pfizer Innovations LLC, Pfizer Innovative Supply Point International BVBA, Pfizer International LLC, Pfizer International Markets Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer International Operations, Pfizer International S. de R.L., Pfizer International Trading (Shanghai) Limited, Pfizer Investment Capital Unlimited Company, Pfizer Investment Co. Ltd., Pfizer Investment Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Ireland Investments Limited, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 1 LLC, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 2 LLC, Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Ireland Ventures Unlimited Company, Pfizer Italia S.r.l., Pfizer Italy Group Holding S.r.l., Pfizer Japan Inc., Pfizer LLC, Pfizer Laboratories (Pty) Limited, Pfizer Laboratories Limited, Pfizer Laboratories PFE (Pty) Ltd, Pfizer Leasing Ireland Limited, Pfizer Leasing UK Limited, Pfizer Limitada, Pfizer Limited, Pfizer Luxco Holdings SARL, Pfizer Luxembourg Global Holdings S.a r.l., Pfizer Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer MAP Holding Inc., Pfizer Manufacturing Austria G.m.b.H., Pfizer Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland Grundbesitz GmbH & Co. KG, Pfizer Manufacturing Holdings LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Manufacturing LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Services, Pfizer Medical Technology Group (Belgium) N.V., Pfizer Medicamentos Genericos e Participacoes Ltda., Pfizer Mexico Luxco SARL, Pfizer Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pfizer Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Animal Health and Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer New Zealand Limited, Pfizer Norge AS, Pfizer North American Holdings Inc., Pfizer OTC B.V., Pfizer Overseas LLC, Pfizer Oy, Pfizer PFE ApS, Pfizer PFE AsiaPac Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Pty Ltd, Pfizer PFE B.V., Pfizer PFE Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Belgium SPRL, Pfizer PFE Brazil Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE CIA. Ltda., Pfizer PFE Chile Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Colombia Holding Corp., Pfizer PFE Colombia S.A.S, Pfizer PFE Commercial Holdings LLC, Pfizer PFE Croatia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer PFE Finland Oy, Pfizer PFE France, Pfizer PFE Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Ireland Pharmaceuticals Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco 2 S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Pfizer PFE Limited, Pfizer PFE Luxembourg S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Mexico Holding 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE Netherlands Holding 1 C.V., Pfizer PFE New Zealand, Pfizer PFE New Zealand Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Norway Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE PILSA Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Peru Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Peru S.R.L., Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer PFE Private Limited, Pfizer PFE S.R.L, Pfizer PFE Service Company Holding Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer PFE Singapore Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Singapore Pte. Ltd., Pfizer PFE Spain B.V., Pfizer PFE Spain Holding S.L., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding 2 S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Switzerland GmbH, Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 2 B.V., Pfizer PFE UK Holding 4 LP, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 1 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 2 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 4 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 5 LLC, Pfizer PFE spol. s r.o., Pfizer PFE Ilaclar Anonim Sirketi, Pfizer Pakistan Limited, Pfizer Parke Davis (Thailand) Ltd., Pfizer Parke Davis Inc., Pfizer Parke Davis Sdn. Bhd., Pfizer Pharm Algerie, Pfizer Pharma GmbH, Pfizer Pharma PFE GmbH, Pfizer Pharmaceutical (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceutical Trading Limited Liability Company (a/k/a Pfizer Kft. or Pfizer LLC), Pfizer Pharmaceuticals B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Global B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Korea Limited, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Pfizer Pigments Inc., Pfizer Polska Sp. z.o.o., Pfizer Private Limited, Pfizer Production LLC, Pfizer Products Inc., Pfizer Products India Private Limited, Pfizer Research (NC) Inc., Pfizer Romania SRL, Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A. (Belgium), Pfizer S.A. de C.V., Pfizer S.A.S., Pfizer S.G.P.S. Lda., Pfizer S.L., Pfizer S.R.L., Pfizer SRB d.o.o., Pfizer Saidal Manufacturing, Pfizer Sante Familiale, Pfizer Saudi Limited, Pfizer Seiyaku K.K., Pfizer Service Company BVBA, Pfizer Service Company Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Services 1, Pfizer Services LLC, Pfizer Shared Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Shareholdings Intermediate SARL, Pfizer Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Singapore Trading Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Spain Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Specialties Limited, Pfizer Strategic Investment Holdings LLC, Pfizer Sweden Partnership KB, Pfizer TRAE Holdings Kft., Pfizer Trading Polska sp.z.o.o., Pfizer Transactions Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Transactions LLC, Pfizer Transactions Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer Transport LLC, Pfizer Ukraine LLC, Pfizer Vaccines LLC, Pfizer Venezuela S.A., Pfizer Venture Investments LLC, Pfizer Ventures LLC, Pfizer Worldwide Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Zona Franca S.A., Pfizer spol. s r.o., Pharmacia, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc., Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn S.A. de C.V., Pharmacia Brasil Ltda., Pharmacia Hepar LLC, Pharmacia Holding AB, Pharmacia Inter-American LLC, Pharmacia International B.V., Pharmacia LLC, Pharmacia Limited, Pharmacia Nostrum S.A., Pharmacia South Africa (Pty) Ltd, PowderJect Research Limited, PowderMed, Purepac Pharmaceutical Holdings LLC, Redvax, Renrall LLC, Rinat Neuroscience, Rinat Neuroscience Corp., Roerig Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Roerig S.A., Sao Cristovao Participacoes Ltda., Searle Laboratorios Lda., Serenex, Servicios P&U S. de R.L. de C.V., Shiley LLC, Sinergis Farma-Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Site Realty Inc., Solinor LLC, Sugen LLC, Tabor LLC, The Pfizer Incubator LLC, Therachon, Thiakis Limited, Treerly Health Co. Ltd, US Oral Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd, Upjohn Laboratorios Lda., Vesteralens Naturprodukter A/S, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AB, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AS, Vesteralens Naturprodukter OY, Vicuron Holdings LLC, Vinci Farma S.A., W-L LLC, Warner Lambert, Warner Lambert Ilac Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Warner Lambert del Uruguay S.A., Warner-Lambert (Thailand) Limited, Warner-Lambert Company AG, Warner-Lambert Company LLC, Warner-Lambert Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Warner-Lambert S.A., Whitehall International Inc., Whitehall Laboratories Inc., Wyeth (Thailand) Ltd., Wyeth AB, Wyeth Australia Pty. Limited, Wyeth Ayerst Inc., Wyeth Ayerst S.a r.l., Wyeth Biopharma, Wyeth Canada ULC, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare LLC, Wyeth Europa Limited, Wyeth Farma S.A., Wyeth Holdings LLC, Wyeth Industria Farmaceutica Ltda., Wyeth KFT., Wyeth LLC, Wyeth Lederle S.r.l., Wyeth Lederle Vaccines S.A., Wyeth Pakistan Limited, Wyeth Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Company, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals FZ-LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Limited, Wyeth Puerto Rico Inc., Wyeth S.A.S, Wyeth Subsidiary Illinois Corporation, Wyeth Whitehall Export GmbH, Wyeth Whitehall SARL, Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) Limited, Wyeth-Ayerst International LLC, and Wyeth-Ayerst Promotions Limited.

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Sikh leaders have accused Badal of violating a 2007 edict under which a social, religious and political boycott was announced against the Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.

By Manjeet Sehgal: Often terming the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as the religious (panthak) party, its chief Sukhbir Singh Badal has in fact annoyed the leaders of his own religion by seeking help from Sirsa, Haryana-based religious sect Dera Sacha Sauda.

Sikh leaders have accused Badal of violating a 2007 edict under which a social, religious and political boycott was announced against the Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.

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Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim is accused of hurting the religious sentiments of Sikhs. The Sikh leaders have brought the matter to the notice of Akal Takht - the highest Sikh temporal authority based in Amritsar and has demanded a strict action against him.

Also read: Dera Sacha Sauda to support SAD-BJP in Punjab polls

Senior SAD leader and member Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) - the authority which manages the Sikh shrines - Karnail Singh Panjoli in a written complaint to the authority has accused Akali Dal of violating the edict issued by the Akal Takht on May 17, 2007 under which a social , political and religious boycott order was issued against Dera chief for imitating the Sikh Guru.

"This is a very serious issue as the Akali Dal has violated the Akal Takht edict. Strict action may be taken against those who violated the edict so that no one dares to violate it in future," the complaint said.

Assembly Elections 2017: Full Coverage

Sources said the complainant Karnail Singh Panjoli had personally spoken to Akal Takht chief Gyani Gurbachan Singh. Photographs of Akali Dal candidates meeting the Dera authorities in Bathinda have also been made as evidence to prove that Akali Dal had sought help from the sect. Interestingly, the Akali Dal in lieu of the support has promised that it will allow the congregations of Dera followers in Punjab which were banned by the Akal Takht. The decision has left the Sikh religious leaders fuming who want action against Sukhbir Singh Badal.

"Badal family has betrayed Sikhs. The SGPC should take action against Badals to send a clear message that religion is above the politics. Seeking support from Dera will not save the sinking ship," General secretary of a radical outfit Dal Khalsa, Kanwar Pal Singh said.

PROBE ORDERED

Sources close to Akal Takht said that the authority has sought internal probe. It may summon Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal after the probe is over.

It is worth mentioning that, Akali Dal in 2015 had managed a 'pardon' for Dera chief, but it was dropped immediately after the Sikhs throughout the world objected to it.

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Meanwhile, Akali Dal spokesperson Virsa Singh Valtoha has said that Akali Dal had not approached Dera for the support. Dera chief had already denied the allegations that he ever imitated the Sikh Guru.

"We never asked Dera for support. It was announced by the sect itself. So far as the presence of Akali Dal candidates with Dera people is concerned, it is their personal matter," Virsa Singh Valtoha said.

Interestingly , the matter was also brought to the notice of the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, V K Singh, who expressed the inability to take any action saying the 'Announcement of support by a religious sect does not violate model code of conduct."

--- ENDS ---




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Insisting that the issue is not related to religion but involves respect and dignity of women, he said the government "respects faith but worship and social evil cannot co-exist".

By Press Trust of India: The Centre is likely to take "a major step" to ban triple talaq after the ongoing Assembly polls, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said and dared Samajwadi Party, Congress and BSP to make their stand clear on the contentious issue.

Insisting that the issue is not related to religion but involves respect and dignity of women, he said the government "respects faith but worship and social evil cannot co-exist".

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He said the tradition of triple talaq denies respect for women and the central government is committed to end the "evil social practice".

"The government may take a major step to ban triple talaq after the UP Assembly polls," he said while addressing a press conference in Ghaziabad last evening.

The Assembly polls being held in UP and four other states will conclude on March 11.

JUSTICE, EQUALITY AND DIGNITY OF WOMEN

Asserting that "every pernicious practice" cannot be part of a religion, the minister, who is a lawyer himself, said the Centre would raise the issue in the Supreme Court on three points -- justice, equality and dignity of women.

"We are the only party which respects women. Neither do other parties offer a good place to women nor do they respect them," said Prasad, a senior BJP leader.

"The government respects faith but worship and social evil cannot co-exist," he said.

Addressing a press conference in Lucknow today, the union minister said, "I want Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati to clarify their stand on the issue of triple talaq. Our (BJP's) stand is very clear. The issue is not related to religion but involves respect and dignity of women."

RISE ABOVE CASTE POLITICS AND RESPECT WOMEN

Attacking BSP, he said it should rise above caste politics and respect women.

Referring to the SP-Congress coalition in Uttar Pradesh, he said, "This is an alliance of desperation between two dynastic parties... alliance of desperation between crime, criminals and corruption."

Ridiculing the pre-poll tie-up, he claimed the "confluence of Ganga and Yamuna" will end up with one party merging with the other after the polls.

"Which party will merge with which party will be seen after the polls. This is nothing but a theatre of the absurd," the BJP leader said.

He also touched upon the salient features of BJP's manifesto and the Union Budget and explained how it would help the poor.

SAMAJWADI PARTY AND CONGRESS CORRUPT PARTIES

Yesterday, while speaking to mediapersons in Ghaziabad, Prasad had alleged that Samajwadi Party and Congress have entered an alliance as both parties "indulge in corruption, crime and loot".

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"Both parties are opportunist and have tied-up with each other just to stop the landslide victory of BJP," he claimed.

Not a single big industry was established in Uttar Pradesh during the tenure of Akhilesh Yadav-led SP government, the BJP leader alleged, adding the funds sanctioned by the Centre for the development of the state has not just due to the feud within the Yadav family.

--- ENDS ---
Pumpkins outside home (illustration)

By: Mason White WorldWideWeirdNews.com

A burglar was rushed to a hospital and is in critical condition after breaking his head during a home invasion, according to police in Nebraska.

Omaha police said that they were called to a home on Wednesday around 5:00 p.m., after the owner found the intruder in his house.

35-year-old Matthew Hill called police to say that he found 27-year-old Anthony Mitchell in his daughters room. Mitchell was sitting in the corner of the room and was wrapped in a blanket.

When Hill asked Mitchell what he was doing in his house, he said it is his home now. Hill told Mitchell to leave, and he complied.

On the way out the front door, Mitchell slipped on a pumpkin and cracked open his head. When police arrived at the scene, they found Mitchell sitting on the ground in front of the home.

Mitchell was taken to the hospital, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit. Mitchell is being treated for a cracked skull and a brain bleed.
A young man wanted to make a point about racism in the United States, but his plan backfired when he was exposed for a liar by police. 20-year-old Khalil Cavil of Texas was working at the Saltgrass Steak House in Odessa when he claimed he was discriminated against because of his Muslim name. Cavil took
Steven Zelich

By: Emily Lewis WorldWideWeirdNews.com

(Scroll down for video) A former police officer was jailed after he killed a mother of six children while having sex with her.

54-year-old Steven Zelich of Wisconsin, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Laura Simonson, 37.

Zelich described in detail how he killed Simonson of Farmington, in the Microtel Inn and Suites in Rochester, Minnesota.

He said that he accidentally choked her with a rope in what he called abreath playa during sex.

However, he did not call for help after choking the mother. Instead, he cut her up and placed her body in a few suitcases. He left the womanas body in his car before dumping the suitcases along a highway near Lake Geneva.

Zelich was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison, but not the 40 years he faced.

Zelich is already serving a prison sentence of 35 years for the death of 19-year-old Jenny Gamez of Oregon.

In that case, he also claimed that she died after choking during sex. He will be 88 years old before he is back on the streets.
By Press Trust of India: Washington, Feb 5 (PTI) Donald Trump has agreed to attend the G-7 Summit in Italy in May during his telephonic conversation with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, in what could be his first visit to Europe as US president.

They discussed the bilateral relationship, the importance of the NATO alliance and threats to common security.

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Trump agreed to attend the G-7 Summit in Taormina, Italy in May, and said he looked forward to meeting with the Prime Minister at that time.

During the phone call, Trump discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation across a range of shared interests, including security and counter-terrorism.

"President Trump reiterated the US commitment to NATO and emphasised the importance of all NATO allies sharing the monetary burden of defence spending," the White House said in a readout of the phone call.

The two leaders agreed to continue close coordination and cooperation on efforts to eliminate ISIS and other terrorist organizations, it said.

"The leaders discussed Libya, the influx of migrants and refugees into Europe, as well as Italys priorities, and the upcoming G-7 meeting in Italy," it added. PTI LKJ ZH

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: Chicago, Feb 5 (PTI) A 12-year-old boy in the US was allegedly assaulted by a group of students on a school bus for wearing President Donald Trumps signature "Make America Great Again" hat.

A group of middle school students from the Parkway School District, Missouri, got into a fight on the school bus when they started arguing with Gavin who was wearing a Make America Great Again hat.

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"As a parent its so upsetting. I feel like my son was made an example of, it was a tricky situation, it was politically charged," Christina Cortina, the mother of the boy who was wearing the Trump hat and was suspended later, told KMOV-TV.

In cell phone video of the incident, the students are heard arguing over President Trumps proposed Mexican border wall. The situation quickly escalates to pushing and what looks likes some punches thrown.

"You want to build a wall?" one student yells in the clip. "You want to build a (expletive) wall?"

Things quickly escalated from there, Gavin said.

"At one point, he just got so frustrated he pushed me," the sixth-grader told the news station.

"And then he kept hitting me and backing me up by the window of the bus, and so I just had to push him out," he said.

A Parkway District spokesperson was quoted as saying that the incident was investigated and all the students involved have faced "consequences".

The spokesperson said the district is also working to sit the students down and reach peaceful understanding.

The incident comes amid stark political divide in the country over President Trumps ban on refugees and visa holders entering the country from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Several hundred people have protested against President Trumps immigration order. PTI ASK AKJ ASK

--- ENDS ---
Ajit Singh's statement is significant as it comes in the wake of reports that the state could be headed for a hung assembly.

By Javed M. Ansari : RLD chief Ajit Singh has categorically ruled out having any alliance with the BJP post the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

"No matter what happens I will not support the BJP in forming the government," Singh stated.

Ajit Singh's statement is significant as it comes in the wake of reports that the state could be headed for a hung assembly.Also Read: Uttar Pradesh Assembly election: With just 24 seats in bargain, Ajit Singh's RLD pulls out of Grand Alliance

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The RLD chief did not come out in support of the Samajwadi Party and Congress alliance, but he did say that he would honour the mandate of the people and help in installing a secular government in Lucknow.

Speaking exclusively to India Today aboard his chopper while campaigning in western UP, Ajit Singh stated that no formal negotiations took place between the RLD the SP and the Congress. Though he did say that people in the state would have been much happier if such an alliance had taken place.

Singh believes that post the UP elections the political scenario will undergo a major change and will pave the way for all secular forces to come together to defeat the BJP at the centre.

"While I cannot predict the exact form and shape of the likely line up, public pressure will compel all the political parties to sink their differences and rise above their personal ambitions to defeat Modi and the BJP," he said.

--- ENDS ---
Tuesday, November 17, 2015. Wind traveling across Lake Washington in gusts buffet the Highway 520 floating bridge as the storm grows in strength. (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times)
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The Israeli airline El Al had to cancel three of its flights to Moscow, New York and Boston on Saturday night after its pilots union resumed its labor dispute. Two other cargo flights and a flight from New York have been been cancelled since Thursday.

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The pilots are also disrupting training. The company placed 10 instructors on leave all at once after claiming they were ill.

The airline and its pilots recently reached an agreement after a year-long labor dispute in which they made a commitment not to disrupt any more flights.

Archive (Photo: Reuters)

However, one outstanding issue remains. In November 2014, Israel adopted the international regulations prohibiting flight over the age of 65, while men in Israel don't retire before the age of 67. El Al has solved the issue by employing their veteran pilots as flight instructors, but negotiations over their pay continue, led by Histadrut Labor Federation head Avi Nisenkoren.

El Al stated that it "has always tried to maintain a level of responsibility and decency toward the pilots who can no longer serve as active pilots. We expect the pilots' representatives not to turn every disagreement that arises during negotiations into a covert or overt strike, which hurts the company, the employees, and above all, our customers, who are begrudgingly turned into 'hostages.'"

The pilots' union stated in response that "the company's management is lying to the passengers. We, the pilots, are not on strike. We uphold all flights to which we are scheduled in advance.

"It is true a pilot who is not scheduled in advance to a specific flight, and is suddenly sent on a 'special' flight in the middle of his daughter's birthday, is not motivated to do it. This while the management harshly discards the most experienced 65-year-old pilots and captains and reduces their pay by two-thirds (66 percent!!). The management is thus destroying El Al, a company that is our home," the union's representative continued.
After the evacuation of the nearby outpost of Amona , the High Court of Justice rejected Sunday a petition by the residents of Ofra to postpone the demolition of nine houses in the settlement by three months, but extend the deadline "beyond the letter of the law" by a month, to March 5.

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In February 2015, the High Court determined the nine houses were built on privately-owned Palestinian land and set a two-year deadline for the state to demolish them. But last week, the settlers petitioned the High Court asking to postpone the demolition order.

In its response to the High Court, the state recommended to postpone the evacuation and demolition of five of the houses until the end of April.

The nine homes in Ofra (Photo: Ofra youth)

The families living in those five houses have bought new homes that would only be ready in a few months. Since they have young children, the state wishes to spare them having to move to a temporary home for such a short period of time.

In her decision, Supreme Court Chief Justice Miriam Naor explained the one month delay was meant to give security forces time to prepare to carry out the ruling.

"Despite the fact the request for a three months extension was denied, we hope that when the evacuation date arrives, the petitioners will evacuatepeacefully, as they have declared in their affidavits. No man has the right to use violence against law enforcement authorities or any other man," Naor added.

Naor stated in her ruling that There is no disputing the fact these structures were built unlawfully on privately-owned Palestinian land. The construction ... was done while violating cease and desist orders and demolition orders issued by the authorities and was completed in what appeared to be an underhanded move done after the petition (against the construction) was filed.

"This serious and unusual chain of events, which led to the establishment of 'facts on the ground' while violating administrative orders, was a main factor in our decision," she added.

Yesh Din, a legal NGO that helped Palestinian land owners file their claims over the land, said in response: "These homes, which were built on privately-owned Palestinian land, never should have been built or populated. We hope that in the month that's left until the evacuation, we won't see any more repeat attempts to bypass the High Court's ruling."

The Ofra settlers came out against the decision: "The community of Ofra and the families in the nine homes would like to express their disappointment of the High Court's decision to postpone the evacuation by only a month. The court knows this will not be enough time for the families to move into their new homes, which are still under construction. The High Court's judges have shown no sympathy towards the families' feelings, they prolonged the torment caused by needlessly waiting and missed an opportunity to restore trust in the state's hall of justice. We demand the prime minister to complete the legislation process for the Regulation Bill tomorrow and immediately apply it to free the settlement enterprise from the grip of persecution and destruction by the radical left wing, which is cooperating with our enemies while using the High Court."

The Ofra secretariat met with Bayit Yehudi Ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked on Saturday night, but not all in the settlement welcomed them.

Some residents left the meeting yelling at the ministers: "We elected you so you can fight, not so you can cave in to Bibi (Prime Minister Netanyahu). A disgrace. Shame on you." Bennett responded coolly: "Have a good week, love you."

During the meeting, Bennett and Shaked talked about their plans to bring the Regulation Billwhich would retroactively legalize outposts built on privately-owned Palestinian landto a second and third reading at the Knesset this week and promised to work for the settlement's expansion.

A protest rally is scheduled for Sunday afternoon against the planned demolition of the houses. The rabbis organizing the protest rally will also call on the government to pass the Regulation Bill.

'We're not interested in politics'

One of the houses set for demolition is that of Netzah and Esther Brot. Unlike Amona's caravans and temporary homes, the Brot family's house is a large village with sculpted wooden doors, a modern kitchen and a back yard with fruit trees and a swing set.

"We moved here nine years ago, long before the Palestinians petitioned the High Court to have the houses demolished," said Netzah, a 32-year-old lawyer who specializes in international taxation. "We never imagined that our houselocated in the middle of a 40-year-old community with 700 familieswould be demolished."

Esther and Netzah Brot with two of their children at their home in Ofra (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

The couple came to Ofra six months after they wed, not because of an ideology but because of the quality of life.

"We're not even interested in politics," said Esther, a 31-year-old architect. "We were looking for community life, culture, a good education for our children. We love this place because of its vast spaces and mostly because there's no humidity here. We know that to live in Ofra, you have to have a particular sort of ideology, but we never imagined that we would buy a house in a bourgeois community and find ourselves facing evacuation."

"We're going through terrible upheaval and feel like we're being played," Netzah bemoaned.

The Brot family has already started packing. "We didn't have to see what happened in Amona to realize an evacuation here was not an unlikely scenario," Esther said. "Our struggle is not just for our own personal home. There are over 500 houses in Ofra under the same status, but no petition has been filed against them yet. In Gush Katif, the evacuation was politicala government decided to leave the territories. Here, it's a judicial evacuation. Radical left wing organizations who didnt win at the polls have turned to the High Court to promote their own disengagement plan."

The couple has three children: 10-months-old Uri, five-year-old Shir and 6.5-year-old Noam. "You can't explain to the children the complexity of this story," Esther said. "On the one hand, the decision was made by the High Court. On the other hand, I don't see the court as a hostile element. On the one hand, the state is evacuating my children from their birthplace. On the other hand, I want them to join the army and serve the country."

Her husband promises, however, that the family won't violently resist the evacuation. "We have no intention of forcefully resisting the evacuation or taking violent measures," Netzah stressed. "We'll express our protest using legitimate measures."

"The police officers won't have to take us out of here. I have no quarrel with them. We'll fight against the High Courts decision and the governments policy."
By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha

Washington, Feb 5 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has assured his Ukrainian counterpart to work with all parties to end bloodshed and restore peace along volatile Russia-Ukraine border, amid escalation in violence in the region.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said in his phone call with the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, according to the White House.

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The White House said Trump had "a very good call" with Poroshenko to address a variety of topics, including Ukraines long-running conflict with Russia.

Ukrainian President first conversation with the new US leader, whose aim to improve relations with the Kremlin has alarmed Kiev while the nearly three-year-old conflict remains unresolved.

The discussion came during a sharp escalation in violence in the Russian-backed separatist east that has claimed 35 lives in the past week.

They discussed the potential for a meeting in the near future.

On Thursday, Trump has promised former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko that the US would not lift sanctions from Russia until it pulls out of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Trump has said that he does "respect" Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that respect does not mean they will get along and has sought Russian help in defeating the dreaded ISIS.

"I say its better to get along with Russia than not.And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world -- thats a good thing," Trump told Fox News Bill OReilly in an interview, which is scheduled to air today.

I respect a lot of people but that doesnt mean Im going to get along with him," Trump said. "Hes a leader of his country,"Trump said according to an excerpt released yesterday.

When asked about Putins history of violence, the President indicated that the same could be said about the US too.

"There are a lot of killers. Weve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our countrys so innocent?" he asked. PTI LKJ AMS

--- ENDS ---
"Hooligans"that was the word used by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Thursday, when he addressed the dozens of young people who barricaded themselves in the Amona synagogue and threw on the police whatever they could get their hands on.

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In a normal country, the word hooligans as a description of a group of law transgressors who wounded more than 60 police officers would be considered an understatement. Where else in the world would young people who attack police with iron rods be treated with so much forgiveness? But in a country like ours, where the settlers are the masters of the land, their evacuation from robbed land costs the state more than NIS 150 million, and they get a new community in return for their violencecalling them hooligans is an act of heroism.

Up until Thursday afternoon, it felt like the 2017 Amona evacuation would go smoothly, definitely compared to the sights we saw there 11 years ago. Police forces worked undauntedly and with great sensitivity, but mostly slowly. Up until Thursday afternoon, one could say that the evacuation had ended successfully. The 42 families evacuated from the mountain in relative calm. In general, when one compares this evacuation to other evacuationsthe one in the Bedouin community of Umm al-Hiran, for exampleone has to wonder whether they were carried out by two different police.

Youths being evacuated from Amona synagogue (Photo: AFP)

The High Courts decision to reject the proposal to relocate Amonas residents to one of the nearby hills was made public during the evacuation. One can only imagine what would have happened had the evacuation been carried this week, after the High Court decision had time to sink in among the evictees and the groups of youths who arrived at the outpost to create provocation and riots. I believe that in such a case, the sights would have been completely different.

Up until the violent evacuation from the synagogue, the most outrageous thing was Knesset Member Bezalel Smotrichs metaphor, likening the Amona evacuation to brutal rape. Smotrichs world of associations is nothing new. He has already confessed that he has sexual fantasiesor, as he argued, "who doesnt?"but he managed to infuriate quite a few people, particularly women, and managed to irritate even those who were willing to have pity on the people that were clinging onto what used to be their home until last week. Those families who drove an entire state crazy, including the media, which offered live broadcasts of every single moment of the evacuation.

No one likes seeing people being evacuated from their homeneither in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Givat Amal nor in Umm al-Hiran or in Amona. We are talking about people, children, entire families uprooted from their homes. These are unpleasant sights even in cases of illegal construction or, like in the Amona case, private land that belongs to Palestinians and a conclusive High Court ruling ordering its evacuation.

Nevertheless, now that the evacuation is over it must be noted that whoever says Amonas resident went up there with authority and permission is simply lying. Amonas residents knew that they were settling on stolen land. Settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein admitted only recently, while rolling his eyes and chuckling, that when he proposed to people to settle on the land in Amona, he knew that the regulation move had yet to be completed, and even the residents who settled there at the time, and definitely in the past 10 years, were aware of the lands legal status.

Ministers Bennett and Shaked. The Bayit Yehudi party stands to lose the most (Photo: Yonatan Sindel, Flash 90)

This cannot be said in any other way: A right-wing government, or even radical right-wing, evacuated a settlement in Judea and Samaria last week. The Bayit Yehudi party, led by Naftali Bennett, stands to lose the most from this. It should be mentioned that Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked were the ones who told the Amona residents the truth. It was on the eve of Yom Kippur. In a meeting with the residents, they admitted that they could no longer promise to rescue Amona, but they promised to leave no stone unturned so that there wouldn't be another Amona.

Now, Bennett and Shaked are finding comfort in the fact that the Regulation Bill will be adopted on Monday. As far as they are concerned, it is another piece in this mosaic, in the move from the old era, in which communities could be demolished through petitions, to the new era. The regulation era. The annexation era.

If you try to tell them that this bill, which even the attorney general is refusing to defend, is not going to pass the High Court test  they will tell you that no one knows that for sure. After all, the same was claimed when the law reached its first reading.

And where was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in this entire affair? On Wednesday, he disappeared. His Twitter account, which reaches all the way to Mexico , fell silent. Immediately after the High Court announced that it was cancelling the compromise agreement signed with the Amona residents, Bennett announced that a new community must be built for the Amona evictees, that it would be a proper Zionist response.

About half an hour later, Netanyahu announcedon Twitter, of coursethat he had decided to establish a new community

By the way, it was not a spontaneous decision born from his solidarity with the evacuated residents. It is enforced in the agreement that was signed with the residents about a month and a half ago, in a late-night meeting between the prime minister and the settler leaders.

Clause 8 of the agreement specifically states: Should it be impossible to work the relevant lands, or some of them, the prime minister will order the location of a piece of land, with the state and the settlers consent, to establish alternative permanent housing on state lands in the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. The work on the land will begin by, and no later than, March 31, 2017, subject to any law.

On Thursday, during a visit to the city of Ariel, Netanyahu expressed his solidarity with the pain of the families forced to abandon their homes and their lifes work. He remembers very well, after all, what it means to abandon a home , from the days he was forced to leave the prime ministers residence after losing the 1999 elections.

And he must understand that the day is near when he will be forced to abandon his lifes work.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Monday with British Prime Minister Theresa May in an effort to formulate a new European front of support for Israel amidst the turbulent political environment on the continent.

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"Prime Minister Netanyahu will try to take advantage of the situation in Europe in order to create a system of support for Israel, which will lean upon the largest countries on the continent, including Britain, France, Italy and Germany," coalition chairman MK David Bitan said during a conference in London with senior Jewish leaders.

PMs May and Netanyahu (Photo: Reuters and gettyimages)

During the meeting, Netanyahu is also expected to ask May to increase public support for Israel in Britain, while also agreeing not to support anti-Israel resolutions in the EU and UN.

Additionally, the two will also discuss future agreements between Israel and Britain in preparation for the eventual British withdrawal from the EU.
Two brothers from the village of Musheirifa in Wadi Ara have received demolition orders for their homes that cannot be appealed. The two demolition orders are part of a recent spike in demolition orders for illegally-built homes in the area.

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Residents who received the demolition orders have threatened to defend their homes with their bodies and are calling on the government to rescind the demolition orders.

"Three days ago we received two demolition orders, one for me and one for my brother," said Ahmed Said Agbaria. "The order stated that there will be no appeal. It can't be that after everything that happened in Qalansawe and Umm al-Hiran, they still plan on moving forward with demolishing our houses, which we put so much into."

Homes set to be demolished

"The government is doing us a great injustice," he continued. "I call on all Arab citizens, Knesset members and the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens to intensify the struggle so that homes won't be destroyed."

"Because of what is happening to us we can't sleep or work, we're constantly in fear," Agbaria added.

"This is a racist government that is trying to take revenge on the Arab sector at any cost," said Abdallah Mahameed, a resident of Wadi Ara.

"This time, we won't stay quiet; we will fight with all of our strength, even if we lose our lives. This is the only thing left to us and we won't hesitate to take these steps. We'll sacrifice our lives for our homes."

Tent built in Qalansawe to collect donations for families whose homes were demolished

Joint List MK Yousef Jabareen, who lives in Umm al-Fahm, added, "In recent weeks we have demonstrated against demolitions in Arab communities. We want to present an alternative voice. Netanyahu is leading our two peoples to destruction using racist policies and annexation laws of all kinds, and we are warning the Israeli public against disaster. We offer the public an alternative to hate, incitement and the divisiveness of Netanyahu and his government. An alternative based on equality, coexistence and respect for all citizens. Our demonstrations are a point of light in Netanyahu's destructive radicalization."

In response to requests for a comment, the Finance Ministry responded that the homes were illegally built.
Several high-profile anti-Semitic incidents in the United States have been reported in the last few days, including the latest incident in which swastikas and racist graffiti saying, "Jews belong in the oven," were scribbled on a Manhattan subway.

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According to Gregory Locke, a resident of New York City, "The train was quiet and everyone looked at each other uneasily about what to do. One of the passengers stood up and said, 'Rubbing alcohol. Let's get rid of this shit.' He found some tissues and we got to work.

"Jews belong in the oven" (Photo: Gregory Locke)

"I've never seen so many people put their hands in their pockets and bags at the same time looking for tissues and hand sanitizer. Within two minutes, all the Nazi symbols were gone."

Fellow passengers help wipe away the hate (Photo: Gregory Locke)

Locke posted the experience to his Facebook page, which was shared 100,000 times within hours. One passenger said, "I guess this is Donald Trump's America," to which Locke responded, "No, sir. Not tonight and not ever. Not as long as stubborn New Yorkers have anything to say about it."

Hate crime in downtown Chicago

Meanwhile, in Chicago, the downtown Loop Synagogue was vandalized by an unknown assailant who smashed windows and placed Nazi stickers on the front door.

The vandalism is being investigated by local authorities who are terming it a hate crime.

Stickers and shattered glass at Chicago Loop Synagogue (Photo: Network Video Productions)

Loop Synagogue President Lee Zoldan said, "I was stunned. I was not prepared for any of this. We have a lot of contingency plans for what happens religiously, or what happens financially, but not for this.

"We serve all the Jews in the Loop, which is a lot of Jews. We intend to continue to be here and continue serving our community. "It's not going to take us down. We're going to remain strong."

Photo: Network Video Productions

The Archbishop of Chicago, Bishop Blase J. Cupich, said, "We stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters as they worship at Chicago Loop Synagogue this Sabbath. Hate will not prevail."

Anti-Semitism on the rise

A report by the Washington Post noted that according to the FBI, anti-Semitic crimes are the most common hate crimes based on religion in the United States, and racist violence against Jews is on the rise.

In New York City, a Jewish woman was physically and verbally assaulted by a man who called her a "dirty Jew" and shoved her. The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the incident and the suspect is still at large.

In addition to these latest incidents, there have also been a series of widespread bomb threats called into Jewish centers throughout the US.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was marked recently, provides an opportunity to take a look at the past year and examine what it looked like in terms of anti-Semitism. Different political changes that took place during 2016 served as a catalyst for the rise of new and renewed anti-Semitic phenomena, from the right and from the left. Particularly concerning is the case of the United States, where throughout the years the level of anti-Semitism had been significantly low compared to European countries.

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The fiery presidential election campaign was a fertile ground for the outburst of anti-Semitic manifestations. One of the most inflamed arenas was social media, and the situation was particularly serious on Twitter. A report released by the Anti-Defamation League monitored during the election campaign about 2.6 million anti-Semitic tweets. Of these, 19.253 tweets were directed specifically against Jewish journalists who had criticized Donald Trump. The figures show that the anti-Semitic manifestations were influenced by the rhetoric in the election campaign.

BDS - another manifestation of anti-Semitism which excludes Israel and undermine its right to exist (Photo: Citizenside.com)

The problem is not just the existence of the discourse, but its products, the main one being the fact that anti-Semitic discourse has become acceptable and normal. The source of the anti-Semitic discourse in this case was mostly the Alternative Right circles, a group of radicals supporting white supremacy. The days after the elections were also extremely charged, bringing to the center of the stage movements and phenomena we had not been familiar with in the US.

As the Alternative Right movements grow stronger, new phenomena have been seen in the US, like the gathering of activists of a radical right movement in which participants performed a Nazi salute and chanted  Hail Trump , vandalism against Jewish symbols across the country, anti-Semitic graffiti , and more. In Arizona, extreme right-wing activists turned a menorah in a familys yard into a swastika . In the past month, many Jewish institutions have received bomb threats

But problematic positions don't exist just on one side of the political map. One of the candidates for Head of the Democratic National Committee was Keith Ellison, a politician of Muslim origin who had made some disturbing comments on Israel, according to a recently reveiled recording in which he alluded to Jewish control of the US administration.

Left-wing movements which hold anti-Semitic views do things different and with different tools, but the message is in many cases anti-Semitic. The Anti-Defamation League asserts that a different attitude towards Israel and judging Israel by different standards from the rest of the world, as well as undermining its existence as a Jewish state, is anti-Semitism.

The same applies to the BDS movement, which calls for boycotting Israel and imposing sanctions on Israel in different areas, academic boycotts of Israeli institutions and academics, financial boycott attempts on the Israeli produce and industry, attacks and harassment of Jewish students on campuses across the US. These are all manifestations of anti-Semitism which excludes Israel and undermine its right to exist.

For the State of Israel and Jews around the world, the challenge of fighting anti-Semitism did not reach its end in the past year. On the contrary. It was a year which sowed fear and concern even among Jewish communities that felt safe and protected in the US. Lets hope that President Trump and the leaders of the free world adopt the war on anti-Semitism as a battle which is not just for the Jewish community, but a moral battle for a free and democratic society in which there is no room for such phenomena of hate.
ANKARA -- Turkish police on Sunday detained some 400 suspected members of Islamic State in anti-terror raids in six provinces, state media said, the biggest roundup to target the organisation in Turkey.

Those held were mainly foreign nationals, Anadolu news agency said. At least 60 suspects were detained in the capital Ankara, while 150 were arrested in Sanliurfa province near the Syrian border.

Thirty-nine people, mainly foreigners, were killed at New Year when an Islamic State member opened fire inside the Reina night club in Istanbul.

In the latest police operations, 30 alleged Islamic State militants were detained in simultaneous counter-terror operations in Konya province, and 10 others were held in Adiyaman province.

Police also detained 18 suspects in Kocaeli and Istanbul, 47 in Gaziantep and 46 others in Bursa province.

In addition to the latest arrests, Turkey says at least 780 people, including 350 foreigners, remain in detention - some of whom have been convicted - over suspected links to the jihadist group.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Tourism Minister Yariv Levin's proposal to increase Knesset supervision of the government while limiting the number of laws passed by the legislator was met with objection from both the coalition and opposition on Sunday.

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The proposal, which will be discussed on Monday in a special committee, has sparked quite a debate among Knesset members.

"I presented the justice minister with a proposal similar to hers, including canceling the preliminary reading and sending bills straight to the committees, as well as allowing every MK who submits a bill to appear before the Ministerial Committee for Legislation," said Coalition Chairman MK David Bitan (Likud). "(Shaked and Levin) forgot my proposal, and that's why I'm opposed to theirs."

On giving the Knesset authority to supervise the government, Bitan said the proposal "has no balances," adding "This is the Knesset's job, and we don't need the government to implement our legal right."

The promoters of the initiative (from left to right): Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Photo: Ido Erez, Alex Kolomoisky)

The Chairman of the Knesset's House Committee, MK Yoav Kish (Likud), said that while the initiative was a step in the right direction, it was flawed. "I believe that significant improvements in the Knesset's regulations and in the Knesset's supervision over the government are needed, but I won't allow for a situation in which the Knesset and its members are stripped of their authority and roleto legislate and supervise."

Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuly criticized the bill proposal as "delusional and dangerous."

"After the government's efforts to eliminate the press and the judiciary, now it's the legislature's turn," Shmuly said. "The Knesset speaker must not cooperate with an initiative meant to weaken and trample on the Knesset. Not only does the government not do its job in many fields, now it wants to limit the Knesset's ability to do its job as well? There is nothing to strengthen supervision here."

In response to Shaked's claim that over-legislation limits civil liberties, he argued it was "the social reality and the government's inaction are the things that limit liberties for the weak, not legislation."

Zionist Union MK Merav Michaeli called the plan to limit the Knesset's private bill proposals "the gagging of the Knesset in general and particularly the opposition."





MK Merav Michaeli: "the gagging of the Knesset" (Photo: Ido Erez)

"I regret that the Knesset speaker opposes such a unilateral move done by the government without involving representatives from the opposite," she added.

"It's already well known that democracy is the governing system the current prime minister prefers least, and this move is another step in his work to limit it," Michaeli concluded.

MK Stav Shaffir, also of the Zionist Union, referred to Shaked, saying, "She wants to strengthen the Knesset? She should start by approving my bill proposal for transparency in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which was signed by 64 MKs but is still waiting and pushed from one week to the next by her secret committee because the ministers are not willing to report to the public how they voted on significant social legislation."

Shaffirs, who heads the Knesset's Special Committee for the Transparency and Accessibility of Government Information, went on to accuse the government of "doing everything it can to avoid having to answer to the public's representativesthe Knessetfor its decisions. The government is breaking new records in weakening the Knesset in an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what it is doing with our tax money and in an effort to expedite legislation that is harmful and dangerous to the State of Israel.

MK Stav Shaffir: "The government is breaking new records in weakening the Knesset" (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

"Strengthening the Knesset's supervision over the government's work is an important goal, but for the government's initiative to be considered serious, it must prove that it's following the rules that already exist in the Knesset's regulationssuch as the requirement of ministers and state employees to appear in front of Knesset committees, the supervision over the budget and the changes made to it, and the existing procedures for legislation and for voting on it. These are principles that the government bends and tramples on one after another to prevent the public from understanding how decisions are being made here and what are the consequences of these decisions, and so they could close 'deals' behind our backs."

Meretz Chairwoman MK Zehava Galon warned that "without private bills, Israel's socio-economic situation will be more inadequate and less equal."

MK Dov Khenin (Joint List) joined the criticism: "First they attacked the NGOs, the media, the courts and the (Israeli) Arabs. Now they attack the Knesset. Democracy is getting in the way of the government and therefore they are acting to diminish it. Private bills in the Knesset is what pushed protective legislations for the downtrodden, the environment, human rights."

MK Dov Khenin: "Democracy is getting in the way of the government and therefore they are acting to diminish it" (Photo: Ido Erez)

MK Ahmad Tibi (Joint List) added: "This is a dangerous and one-sided initiative that weakens parliamentary work, and it is hard to understand why the Knesset speaker is for it and not against it. What is needed right now is transparency we should not limit private bills any further."

In contrast, Leader of the Yesh Atid Party MK Yair Lapid supported the initiative, saying "it is the start of a great move to strengthen the Knesset. It is time for members of the Knesset to really be able to act as representatives of the public instead of filing unnecessary bills. It's been a long time now that the madness should have been stopped, where each year thousands of law proposals are filled that encumber the Knesset and its duties and smother the public with pointless regulations."

MK Yair Lapid: "Each year thousands of law proposals are filled that encumber the Knesset" (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Lapid added that "this initiative will assist public representatives to start dealing with government oversight, by promoting substantial pubic initiatives instead of filing unnecessary bills and acting like PR employees. We're happy to see that this subject is being addressed after a series of petitions to limit legislation and strengthening the Knesset. I applaud MKs Shaked and Levin and Speaker of the Knesset Edelstein for this initiative and will do my best to help promote it."

MK Haim Jelin (Yesh Atid) added that "the downpour of private bills needs to stop. The thousands that get filed each year bog down the Knesset and government, who are forced to work around them instead of reducing regulations to ease on the public. Private bills need to be served in a measured fashion and when there is a chance they will pass and enter the legislation, not just newspapers and morning talk shows."

MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) also welcomed the proposal and called for Edelstein to expedite the ruling on it. "This is a step in the right direction, and we hope that the government will indeed help assist the promotion of the reform that will improve the Knesset's function because as it stands its efficiency as an overseeing and legislating body has many faults," said Stern.





MK Karin Elharar - supports the idea, criticizes the implementation (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Not everyone in the Yesh Atid party shared this optimism, as MK Karin Elharar, while supporting the initiative, said that "As it stands, Shaked's reform does not do much to increase the Knesset's effectiveness in government oversight. We need to ensure an effective parliamentary toolset with which every MK could promote his agenda. Today's public representatives have nearly no power other than to create noise and headlines, and this is not even taking into consideration the gap in legislative power between the opposition and coalition that leave the opposition with no real ability to influence or make a change."

The Israel Democracy Institute stated that this reform correlates with the institutes recommendations. "According to current data, Israel is the world's record holder in private legislation. Over the last 15 years more than 22,000 private bills have been filed in its parliament. This situation harms government oversight and public trust in the members of the Knesset. It is for this reason that the proposed amendments are an important part of a package that must be accepted to improve the means of oversight by MKs."
CHICAGO - Visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries who were turned away from the United States due to President Donald Trump's travel ban are hoping to make it through a narrow window opened by legal challenges.

The federal appeals court in San Francisco denied Trump's effort to immediately reinstate the ban early Sunday. For now, it remains blocked by a judge's temporary restraining order, and federal officials have told their staffs to comply.

Advocates weren't taking any chances, telling people who could travel to get on the earliest flights they could find after the week-old ban was blocked Friday by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle.

"We're telling them to get on the quickest flight ASAP," said Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan. Her group sued in federal court in Detroit, challenging Trump's executive order as unconstitutional.
ISTANBUL - Turkey's anti-terrorism police have detained over 440 people for alleged links to the Islamic State group, the state-run agency reported Sunday.

The Anadolu Agency said 60 ISIS suspects, the vast majority of them foreigners, were taken into custody early Sunday in the capital, Ankara.

It said a total of 445 people were detained in simultaneous pre-dawn police operations that spanned several cities, including Istanbul and Gaziantep, near the border with Syria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on the Knesset to once again postpone the controversial bills second and third readings. He said he wanted to further consult with Israeli Ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer before the bill is passed by the Knesset.

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Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi), whose party initiated the bill, is refusing to contemplate any further postponements. They say it is vital the bill be expedited, to avoid any further tragedies like Amona, and to ensure Jewish settlers can feel safe they will not find themselves one day facing eviction and displacement.

Netanyahu has commented on Bennett's unwavering stance, saying "I hear fake ultimata all the time. It doesn't move me. There are people who busy themselves with meaningless briefings for the press and social media. I'm busy with running a country."

Netanyahu and his wife Sarah on their way to London, Sunday (Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO)

The Regulation Bill would give the government a legal right to retroactively expropriate privately owned Palestinian land in West Bank in cases where Jewish settlements were inadvertently built on such land. The Palestinians would be forced to accept monetary compensation.

Once passed, the bill means that residents of such settlements, such as Amona and parts of Ofra would no longer be in danger of having the Supreme Court order their eviction, since the Palestinians would lose any right to appeal to the courts to get their land back, since retroactive expropriation means it would no longer be their land.

Protest against the evacuation of Ofra (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Netanyahu is concerned passing the bill would precipitate a major international diplomatic crisis for Israel.

It is believed hundreds of homes in various settlements have been built on privately owned land, and that unless something is done to change the legal environment, the entire settler enterprise could be in danger.

Most observers and pundits say that if the Knesset passes the bill, the Supreme Court will strike it down as unconstitutional and in violation of international law.

The nine houses set for eviction (Photo: Ofra Youth)

In related news, about 5,000 protested in the Ofra settlement, supported by the former residents of Amona who were relocated there, and have begun protesting against the expected demolition of nine houses and in support of the Regulation Bill that is scheduled to be voted on Monday.

TPS

has contributed to this article
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) A 35-year-old woman working in a bar was allegedly gangraped by two persons in south Delhis upscale Hauz Khas Village while she was returning back to her home, police said today.

She was on her way home on a scooty in Vasant Vihar area when the accused stopped her and dragged her inside an under construction building where they raped her.

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Nikhil and Vishal were arrested yesterday on the basis of details provided by the victim, a senior police officer said.

According to the victim, the accused stopped her and asked for directions and all of a sudden, caught hold of her and dragged her inside the under construction building near Hauz Khas Village, around 11 PM on Thursday, he said.

The accused also thrashed her before fleeing, said the officer.

The woman called the police who took her to a hospital where rape was confirmed in medical examination. A case was registered.

The accused, who are distantly related, work as salesmen in a garment shop in Sarojini Nagar area and live in Munirka, the officer added. PTI VIT CPS

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Monthly growth in property investor loans touched a one-year high of 0.8% in December, according to the latest figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). This brings the annual rate to 6.2% (although if the December rate is annualised, the annual rate is closer to 9%).

The southeastern capitals have experienced significant growth in property prices in recent years. This was one of the main reasons why APRA introduced a 10% cap on property investor loan growth in 2014, as it was the simplest means of reducing the funding available to property investors. It also forced many banks to dial back on aggressive marketing.

This seemed to have a significant impact on property investor loan growth, which fell back to more manageable levels last year. However, a cut to the cash rate in August undid much of this work and demand has begun to rise again.

While very few experts would publicly support these types of restrictions in a capitalist market, there was a very simple reason behind the cap. Property investor loan growth of 10% is way above average household income growth, which is between 5% and 6% in the most favourable conditions. Its difficult to see how this growth in property investor loans could be maintained for much longer without jeopardising the property markets.

Indeed, some experts have gone as far as to suggest that the limit should be between 5% and 7%, which aligns it more closely with household income growth.

There is no doubt that the property market has performed well over the past decade. Australia was one of the few developed countries which did not slide into recession when the US mortgage market collapsed in mid-2007.

While prices in many Australian property markets are far from affordable, the nation has not seen a significant pullback in prices as yet.

Whether its welcomed or not, regulators such as APRA have an obligation to police markets and ensure that theyre functioning efficiently. Introducing limits is the prudent thing to do, especially with property investment loan growth advancing far ahead of economic growth and general household income growth.

Measures had to be introduced to prevent prices from becoming so unaffordable that investors were the only ones who could afford to buy property.

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Washington, DC - President Trumps National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn Thursday announced the following additions to the National Security Council senior staff.

"Im incredibly excited about working with this talented group, Flynn said. With their diverse backgrounds in in business, law, technology, government, the military and the Intelligence community, they bring a wealth of experience and fresh ideas to the table. K.T. McFarland, Keith Kellogg know theyll make great contributions to this Administration and to their country."

David Cattler will serve as Deputy Assistant to the President for Regional Affairs. In this capacity, he will oversee and coordinate the NSC staffs regional senior directors and global security policy development and evaluation. Prior to his service at the NSC, Cattler served for more than 20 years in leadership positions in the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense. He most recently served as the National Intelligence Manager for the Near East and he earlier held national and defense intelligence leadership roles and served as the Principal Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Military Issues within the National Intelligence Council, the Joint Staffs Deputy Director for Intelligence, and the director of the Defense Intelligence Agencys counterterrorism center. A 1993 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he was commissioned as a surface warfare officer and served in operations, combat systems, and engineering positions in two Aegis cruisers. He was awarded the Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Medal for service in the Joint Staff. He also holds a Master of Policy Management degree from Georgetown University.

John Eisenberg will serve as Deputy Assistant to the President, NSC Legal Advisor, and Deputy Counsel to the President for National Security Affairs. From 2006-2009, Eisenberg served as a senior national-security official at the Department of Justice. There, both as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel and as an Associate Deputy Attorney General, Eisenberg advised the Intelligence Community, the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Counsel to the President on complex national-security matters. During his time at the Justice Department, Eisenberg won several awards, including the Attorney Generals Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security. As a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, Eisenbergs practice focused on white-collar, complex civil litigation, and data-security issues. He received a B.S. in mathematics from Stanford University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Kevin Harrington will serve as Deputy Assistant to the President for Strategic Planning. Before joining the NSC staff, Harrington was managing director and head of research for Thiel Macro LLC, a San Francisco-based global macro hedge fund. He also worked for its predecessor fund, Clarium Capital Management, and was a coauthor of the PayPal business plan. He consulted for the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), a Stanford foreign policy think tank, on the security of fissile materials and the protection of critical national infrastructure, and was a doctoral candidate in physics at Stanford University, where he was an NSF Fellow. A Goldwater Scholar, Harrington conducted mathematics research for the Department of Defense, and graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in mathematics and physics from the University of Idaho.

Kenneth I. Juster will serve as Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs. He will coordinate the Administrations international economic policy and integrate it with national security and foreign policy. He will also be the Presidents representative and lead U.S. negotiator (Sherpa) for the annual G-7, G-20, and APEC Summits. Juster has previously served in the U.S. Government as Under Secretary of Commerce (2001-2005), Counselor (Acting) of the Department of State (1992-1993), Deputy and Senior Advisor to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger (1989-1992), and Law Clerk to Judge James L. Oakes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1980-1981). In the private sector, Juster has been a Partner and Managing Director at the global investment firm Warburg Pincus (2010-2017), Executive Vice President of salesforce.com (2005-2010), and Senior Partner at the law firm Arnold & Porter (1981-1989, 1993-2001). Juster has also served as Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Harvards Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Vice Chairman of the Board of the Asia Foundation, and a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the American Academy of Diplomacy. Among his honors, Juster is the recipient of the Secretary of Commerces William C. Redfield Award and the Secretary of States Distinguished Service Award. Juster holds an A.B. in Government from Harvard College, a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Harvards Kennedy School, and a J.D. from the Harvard Law School.
Latest News

Washington, DC - Editorial Boards Across The Country Praise Judge Gorsuch:

The Wall Street Journal: A Leading Light On The Tenth Circuit Court Of Appeals As Qualified As He Is, Judge Gorsuch Ought To Be Confirmed At Least As Easily As President Obamas Appointees Judge Gorsuch is a leading light on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, where he was appointed in 2006 by George W. Bush.  As qualified as he is, Judge Gorsuch ought to be confirmed at least as easily as President Obamas appointees Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. (Editorial, Trumps Good Justice, The Wall Street Journal, 1/31/17)

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Headline: Trumps Good Justice (The Wall Street Journal, 1/31/17)

New York Daily News: No One Has Ever Questioned Gorsuchs Intellect Or Qualifications.  A High-Caliber Mind His Journey From Judge Gorsuch To Justice Gorsuch Is Easy To Envision No one has ever questioned Gorsuchs intellect or qualifications. A graduate of Columbia, Harvard and Oxford, he clerked for two Supreme Court justices and served in the Department of Justice and at a top law firm before beginning a 10-year appeals court stint.  While Gorsuch is hardly our ideological ideal, he is a high-caliber mind who stands solidly in the mainstream of conservative jurisprudence. Barring unforeseen revelations  or a partisan blockade that would be as hypocritical as it is destructive  his journey from Judge Gorsuch to Justice Gorsuch is easy to envision. (Editorial, Courting Competence: President Trump's Supreme Justice Pick, New York Daily News, 1/31/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: [Gorsuchs] Scholarly Credentials Are Impeccable As President Trump announced his choice of Judge Neil Gorsuch to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia on Tuesday, one big question hovered over Washington: Were Senate Democrats prepared to block the U.S. Supreme Court nomination by any means?  His scholarly credentials are impeccable: Columbia, Harvard, Oxford and Supreme Court clerk for Justices Byron Whizzer White and Anthony Kennedy. (Editorial, Democrats: Give Gorsuch Vetting, Hearing, Up-Or-Down Vote, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/31/17)

New York Post: An Impeccable Resume Affable And Witty Gorsuch boasts an impeccable resume, having clerked for Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy. Affable and witty, hes even described as Scalias intellectual equal. (Editorial, Trump Picks A Scalia-Clone To Fill Empty Supreme Court Seat, New York Post, 1/31/17)

San Diego Union-Tribune: An Impressive Jurist Deserves Confirmation Gorsuch is an impressive jurist, and that judgment goes beyond his Harvard law background, his clerking for two U.S. Supreme Court justices and the acclaim hes received as a judge and professor.  For these reasons, we believe that if Gorsuch does well in his nomination hearings and if no red flags emerge in the heavy scrutiny he is likely to face in coming weeks, he deserves confirmation. (Editorial, Why Neil Gorsuch Is A Good Supreme Court Pick For Donald Trump, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1/31/17)

San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Headline: Why Neil Gorsuch Is A Good Supreme Court Pick For Donald Trump (San Diego Union-Tribune, 1/31/17)

Houston Chronicle: [Gorsuchs] Pedigree Is Undeniably Impressive Gorsuch, who sits on the federal appeals court in the Denver-based 10th circuit, has been praised for his elegant writing.  His pedigree is undeniably impressive: Gorsuch clerked on the Supreme Court for Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy and studied for a doctorate of philosophy at Oxford University. (Editorial, Is Eight Enough?, Houston Chronicle, 1/31/17)

Colorado Springs Gazette: Trump Could Not Have Made A Better Supreme Court Appointment Than Gorsuch. (Editorial, Trump Could Not Have Made A Better Supreme Court Appointment Than Colorado's Neil Gorsuch, Colorado Springs Gazette, 1/31/17)

Denver Post: A Brilliant Legal Mind Applied The Law Fairly And Consistently Neil Gorsuch is a federal judge in Denver with Western roots and a reputation for being a brilliant legal mind and talented writer. Those who have followed Gorsuchs career say that from his bench in the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals he has applied the law fairly and consistently, even issuing provocative challenges to the Supreme Court to consider his rulings. (Editorial, Trump Would Do Well To Consider Neil Gorsuch For Supreme Court, Denver Post, 1/26/17)
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Feb 5 (PTI) The Supreme Court has constituted a medical board to examine the "condition and advisability" of permitting medical termination of pregnancy of a woman who has sought permission to abort as the over 21-week-old foetus lacks kidneys, besides having multiple anomalies.

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and L N Rao, in an interim order, directed the seven-member medical board of Mumbai-based King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital to examine the 21-year-old woman and submit the report before it.

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"The board shall examine petitioner number one (woman) and submit a report about her condition and advisability of permitting a medical termination of pregnancy, forthwith," said the bench which also issued notice to the Centre on the plea and listed the matter for hearing on February 7.

The woman has approached the apex court seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy contending that the foetus does not have kidneys, besides having multiple anomalies.

The law prohibits termination of pregnancy after 20 weeks, even if there is a fatal risk to the mother and the foetus.

"The petitioner found out in the 21st week of her pregnancy that the foetus doesnt have kidneys. She had to undergo two scans before this could established and the foetus has multiple anomalies," the woman has said in her petition.

The medical board constituted by the bench consists of doctors from the departments of psychiatry, obstetrics and gynaecology, medicine, radiology and anaesthesia.

In a separate case, the apex court had on January 16 allowed a Mumbai-based woman, who was in her 24th week of pregnancy, to terminate her pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act while taking into consideration the report of medical board of KEM Hospital which had suggested that the foetus would not be able to survive without the skull. PTI ABA MNL SJK RKS SC DV

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The effort of an Egyptian woman. Well done. Ahram Online, by Ingy Deif

An accident that left her son in a wheelchair set off a train of events that saw May Zain El Din establish a foundation for the differently-abled. She speaks to Ahram Online about her quest

May Zain El Din. (Courtesy of Al Hassan Foundation)

"I felt eerily unhappy, like I had nothing else to offer life, and the latter had nothing to offer me. I left my job at one of the leading communication establishments in Egypt, only shortly to see that life was actually going to unfold in the most unexpected way," May Zain El-Din said, describing the time before the accident that left her son, Hassan, dependent on a wheelchair.

The smiling mother is a shining example of an extraordinary woman who refused to be defined by a striking tragedy almost five years ago.

She became determined afterwards to see changes to facilities dedicated to persons in the same situation in the country, founding Al-Hassan Foundation for the Inclusion of Differently-Abled People.

Over the course of its first three years, the foundation opened multiple doors to people in wheelchairs and others also "differently abled." Zain El Din shared with Ahram Online the story behind the groundbreaking project:

From Egypt to Germany

"After the accident and for three months we were overwhelmed with love and care, from doctors here in Egypt, and from our friends and family; and this flood of compassion was one of the huge motivations for me later to give back my community," Zain El Din says.

At that time and in a quest for thorough answers, Zain El Din headed with her son to a specialised hospital near Munich in Germany.

"They didnt waste time, and at that very same day the doctors confronted us with what was known all the time by everybody except us. Hassan will never walk again."

Leaning life from scratch

"The denial and the outrage on my side subsided to give space to rational thinking, and we started together a three-month journey of a daily routine in the hospital that saw my son learn from scratch how to perform basic daily activities.

"I was overwhelmed with the precision of the rehabilitation process and how they thought about everything, from increasing his physical abilities to opening doors of hobbies, interests and possibilities. The target was to let us believe and feel that life with its endless possibilities is not coming to an end, but rather taking a different form. And they succeeded.

"When we came back after three months to Egypt, I felt drained and devastated, as if the accident had just happened. I felt I needed time to heal, and it took me several months to get back on my feet," she recounts.

Birth of an idea

After several months, the idea of the foundation was not on the cards. It took three main events to bring it to the surface.

"The first one was a conversation I had with my son when I was completely devastated, and I was struck by the strength he developed over time.

"I found myself in front of an 18-year-old, in a wheelchair, assuring me that he was happy and in a good place, and it was then that I began feeling not entitled to such a state of devastation.

"Then I learned about a girl who had a similar accident, and I was asked to help with the knowledge we acquired. The bliss of reaching out to others helped me begin looking outside the scope of my ordeal," she adds.

The third turn of events was the final trigger of launching the foundation.

"It was when I started helping wheelers - whose medical condition was far worse than what we witnessed or who were less fortunate financially - that the urgency to be a factor of introducing change took me by storm," she explains.
By Press Trust of India: Los Angeles, Feb 5 (PTI) Researchers have created worlds tiniest hammer to precisely measure how force affects brain cells, an advance that may pave the way for better treatments against traumatic brain injuries and diseases like Alzheimers.

Researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara in the US have built a tiny machine called microHammer.

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"Mechanical forces have been shown to impact cells a lot," said Kimberly Turner from UC Santa Barbara.

Far from being isolated units of life, cells - stem cells in particular - take cues from their environment that, for example, direct them to differentiate into one type of cell or another, or to start healing processes.

However a major limitation to understanding the reactions of individual neural cells to forces has been the inability to reliably apply impact or pressure to them.

MicroHammer, a cellular-scale machine built to tap, strike, squeeze and poke individual neural progenitors elicits responses that will then be studied and recorded to add to a body of knowledge that can help unlock the mysteries of the brain.

Modelled after cell-sorting technology used typically for medical diagnostics and immunotherapies, the MicroHammer flows individual cells through and subjects each of them to one of a variety of physical forces.

"This project will enable precision measurements of the physical, chemical and biological changes that occur when cells are subjected to mechanical loading, ranging from small perturbations to high-force, high-speed impacts," said Megan Valentine from UC Santa Barbara.

"Our technology will provide significantly higher forces and faster impact cycles than have previously been possible, and by building these tools onto microfluidic devices, we can leverage a host of other on-chip diagnostics and imaging tools and can collect the cells after testing for longer-term studies," said Valentine.

With the new devices and methods, Valentine said, the researchers expect to gain fundamentally new insight into the causes and progress of brain injuries due to trauma.

The MicroHammer is currently undergoing the process of characterisation, whereby the types and magnitudes of forces it can apply are being measured and recorded in anticipation of the first set of neuron-smashing experiments.

The knowledge gained by these experiments could pave the way toward a better understanding of neural conditions such as Alzheimers disease as well as traumatic brain injury.

It may also lead to better prevention of such injuries by elucidating, for instance, what types of forces affect the neural cells most so helmets can be designed to buffer them.

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It will have broad applications beyond brain cell research and help researchers gain insight on how forces affect other cells and tissue types. PTI NKS MHN MHN

--- ENDS ---
Imphal: Accusing the Manipur government of being involved in rampant corruption, BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav today said if BJP came to power it would investigate allegations of graft against the present regime and those found guilty would be punished.

He also assured that if BJP came to power then the state would no longer witness economic blockade.

Madhav, who is presently in the poll-bound Manipur, accused the Okram Ibobi Singh government of being involved in corruption and smuggling of foodgrains and fertilisers.

"The state government and ruling party are involved in corruption and smuggling of foodgrains, fertilisers and also helps in smuggling of narcotics.

Manipur is the third least developed state in the whole country," Madhav alleged while addressing a press conference.

"If BJP comes to power our first priority would be to provide clean, corruption-free and progressive government in the state. We would also ensure that there is no economic blockade in the state and everybody enjoys the fruit of development," Madhav said.

Economic blockade has led to extreme shortage of essential commodities including food items, lifesaving drugs and motor fuel in the state.

Answering media queries, he said, "If BJP comes to power, any allegation made against the incumbent government would be investigated and those found guilty will be punished."

Questioning the utilisation of funds sanctioned by the central government, Madhav expressed shock that several dam projects ha been stalled for more than three decades.

Promising zero tolerance in corruption, transparency in governance, the BJP leader said the state needed development and progress in every sector.

"Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is committed to clean politics, the state can excel in everything. We have zero tolerance towards corruption," he said.

Stressing on the need for infrastructure development in the state, Madhav said, "The state which has abundant natural water reserve does not have proper sanitation and water provision, with 85 per cent of people having no access to proper sanitation."
About Me

I'm a patent lawyer located in central New Jersey. I have a J.D. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from Stanford University, where I studied graphite intercalation compounds at the Center for Materials Research. I worked at Exxon Corporate Research in areas ranging from engine deposits through coal and petroleum to fullerenes. An article that I wrote in The Trademark Reporter, 1994, 84, 379-407 on color trademarks was cited by Supreme Court in Qualitex v. Jacobson, 514 US 159 (1995) and the methodology was adopted in the Capri case in N.D. Ill. An article that I wrote on DNA profiling was cited by the Colorado Supreme Court (Shreck case) and a Florida appellate court (Brim case). I was interviewed by NHK-TV about the Jan-Hendrik Schon affair. I am developing ipABC, an entity that combines rigorous IP analytics with study of business models, to optimize utilization of intellectual property. I can be reached at C8AsF5 at yahoo.com.

View my complete profile




[The goddess] Nut and her companions were immortalized at actual size, and at a resolution of up to eight hundred dots per inch. After the data sets from the scans were stitched together on a computer screen, the quilt of 0s and 1s was returned to physical form. The process eerily echoed that of making a fresco. First came the walls. A recording of their topography, capturing every bulbous paint drip, was rendered in 3-D by a computer-numerical-control milling machine, which produced two hundred and forty panels of high-density polyurethane. The panels, which mimicked the uneven surface of the original walls, were fitted together. The ersatz walls were then wrapped with a flexible skin, of a gesso-like material, bearing a lush ink-jet printout of the frescoes. Mummified walls: a nice Egyptian touch.

[T]housands of paint samples were mixed by hand, in Luxor, to match the tones in the original tomb, then compared with ink-jet outputs. Factum modified an enormous Epson printer so that it could make repeated passes over the gesso-like skin in perfect registration, allowing for fine tweaks.

Even the most perfect reproduction of a work is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.

One of the more contentious issues in the world of art revolves around the issue of restoration and conservation, where questions-- such as what, how, how much, and where -- have framed the discussion. But like so many other aspects of creative endeavor, developments in hi tech have shifted the nature of the discourse. The current state of the discussion was well-described in an article by Daniel Zalewski, The Factory of Fakes, which appeared in the November 28, 2016 issue ofmagazine. The most intriguing question that arises is whether it is preferable to conserve the original or create a digitally scanned replica.The article brings the example of King Tuts burial chamber in Luxor in Valley of Kings in southern Egypt. The living-room size room has become a tourist icon, with millions of visitors crowding into the hot and humid chamber to view the remarkably preserved walls, marred only by brown splotches that resulted from the apparent sealing of the crypt before the paint had dried, allowing bacteria to feast on the moisture and the plaster to expand and contract. Against that background, It was determined by the Getty Conservation Institute that there was a danger that some of the painted areas had become extremely loosened.The solution, in classic art conservation style, was to clean the relevant portions of the wall and apply an adhesive, and thereby attempt to prevent flaking of the paint. As Zalewski observes, because there is a physical intervention in the object of art, reversibility is the guiding principle; here, the view is that the test of reversibility was met. That said, conservation is inherently a risky task and even the best conservation can never be guaranteed to be reversible, inter alia, because the adhesive used may lead to what is called chromatic variations in the pigment surface, or getting rid of the adhesive might may lead to dislodging the paint.However, it turns out that there is also a replica of King Tuts tomb, located about a mile away from the tomb itself. The facsimile replica was the result of a seven-week digital scan of the tomb, followed by two years of work at the Factum Arte warehouse in Madrid. As Zalewski describes it--Back at the Factum Arte warehouse, the work to rematerialize (in the words of Adam Lowe, who led the facsimile effort) proceeded as follows:So, on the face of it, we seem to have a choice between doing our best to conserve the work in its original form, with all the attendant risks, versus making a facsimilebased on the best that scanned technology can do (and will certainly continue to do better and better). No weighing of these two options can be made, however, without considering Walter Benjamin and his notion of the aura. Benjamin, a German Jew born in 1892, was a cultural critic and theoretician who committed suicide in 1940 on the French-Spanish border in despair over his failed attempt to flee Europe. Only after his death did his thinking come to enjoy wide-spread renown, continuing to this very day.Among his most influential essays is  The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction , in which he elaborates on the aura of a work. As Benjamin wrote (in English translation)As such, no technical reproduction, no matter how true to the original, can never replicate the original, because the reproduction necessarily lacks the aspect of authenticity.So how does Benjamins aura relate to the facsimile of King Tuts tomb? The facsimile is notable for the degree to which it replicates the original (including blemishes in the artwork on the wall). But it does not fully replicate the original. As Adam Lowe himself notes, the replication does not (at least yet) reproduce the odor or the sound in the room. In Benjamins formulation, it does not (and cannot) fully reproduce the aura of the original. So the question still remains. Which form of the work should we prefer-- the original tomb, as conserved with all its technical warts, or the digitally based facsimile?And a final (copyright) thought: Is the replication, and/or the digital files that enable it to be created, a separately protected work, whatever the fate of the artwork in the original tomb? But maybe this is a whole separate blog.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Ambassador to Poland Edgar Ghazaryan met Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Marek Ziokowski, press service of the Armenian MFA told Armenpress.

The sides expressed mutual satisfaction over the Armenian-Polish mutual partnership, as well as the stable development of bilateral ties.

A number of issues related to the further development and political agenda of bilateral relations were discussed during the meeting. They talked about the holding of political consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries in 2017, by attaching importance to the necessity to discuss issues of mutual interest in this format.

Ambassador Ghazaryan and Marek Ziokowski also discussed issues related to the organization of a number of events to be held in 2017 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Poland, as well as the 650th anniversary of the formation of the Armenian community in Poland.
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced in August a 93 percent jump in first-half net profit thanks to rising commodities prices

Investors and mining firms gather Monday at Africa's biggest industry conference amid a newfound optimism that the uptick in commodity prices could shore up investment after years of downturn.

The annual four-day Mining Indaba in Cape Town takes place as demand in China, one of the world's biggest consumers, begins to stabilise.

Commodities like iron, copper and tin are soaring to new heights, raising hope among analysts that this year's conference may spur funding for new mining ventures.

"A lot of these prices are up 100 percent from what they were a year before, some only fifty percent, but some three or four hundred percent, so this should be the biggest Indaba we've seen in a couple (of) years," said Peter Major, mining analyst at Cadiz Corporate Solutions.

The devastating price slump saw several commodity-dependent economies across Africa stagnate, with companies cutting jobs and some shutting down operations.

Africa's biggest copper producers Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were among the worst hit, with thousand of jobs lost over the last three years.

The jobs bloodbath also hit South Africa, the continent's most diversified economy which is battling poor growth.

The World Bank's latest commodities forecast, however, confirms the worst is finally over, with prices on a solid climb thanks to strong Chinese demand and a tightening supply.

Copper prices jumped 10 percent in the last quarter of 2016, "the first double-digit quarterly gain in nearly five years", the report said.

The bank is now projecting metals prices to rise by 11 percent in 2017, a significant improvement from an earlier forecast of just 4 percent.

- US boost? -

"Policy efforts by China to boost commodity-intensive infrastructure and construction sectors were a key driver of demand last year,? the report said.

"Prices also received a boost following the US election on expectations of higher infrastructure investment and increased optimism for the global economy."

Story continues

By the end of 2016, iron ore was selling at $80 a tonne, nearly double its price a year earlier, and metals like zinc were both up for the fourth straight quarter.

Although the mood was shifting, Major warned against being overly excited about improvement, saying it looked like an "over-recovery" and adding "I don't trust it".

Rene Hochreiter, an analyst at Noah Capital Markets, said the prices would return to the mean "sooner or later".

"There might be a bit of euphoria at the moment with it shooting over the mean and it will come back down, but that doesn't mean it's going to go negative," he told AFP.

"I just hope this time it's not a false start," he added. "I've seen too many of those and I don't want to get too excited, but it feels a lot better than it has for a number of years."

Recovery optimism has also been reflected in conference numbers, with delegate registrations up year-on-year for the first time "in quite a few years", according to organisers.

Slow mining production had been cited as one of the major contributors to South Africa's poor growth, currently at an annualised 0.2 percent.

The country exports a slew of resources including platinum, gold and diamonds, but companies must navigate a volatile strike-prone labour force and legislative red tape.
SATURDAY, Feb. 4, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Be careful when you shovel down those chicken wings as you watch the Super Bowl on Sunday -- a new study finds that if you overeat your favorite team isn't the only one who might choke.

Americans who overeat during national sporting events or holidays are 10 times more likely to require emergency care for food obstruction than at other times of the year, according to a new study.

Researchers reviewed 11 years of data (2001-2012) from the emergency room at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston. During that time, 38 people had an emergency procedure on the esophagus during or within three days of a national sporting event or holiday. Nearly 37 percent of those procedures were due to so-called food impaction.

The researchers also looked at 81 people who had the same procedure two weeks before or two weeks after a holiday or major sporting event. Just under 4 percent of those cases were due to food impaction, the research showed.

"Though the sample size was small, it's clear that a pattern emerged showing a higher percentage of people seeking treatment during or just after the holiday or event, and a much greater percentage during those times needed help because food was impacted in their esophagus," said study leader Dr. Asim Shuja, a gastroenterologist from University of Florida Health in Jacksonville.

"It's a very serious problem that people need to be aware of," he said in a university news release.

During holidays and national sporting events, meats seem to create the biggest risk. The most common impacted food was turkey (50 percent), followed by chicken (29 percent) and beef (21 percent), the study found.

Men were most likely to be affected, researchers said.

Other risk factors included serving size, how quickly people ate and alcohol consumption, according to the study.

"We think the main message here is for people to be aware and not to, for lack of a better term, overindulge. Not only the amount of food you're eating during the holiday or event, but the size of the portion you're eating can have a tremendous impact," Shuja said.

The study was published in the journal Gastroenterology Report.

More information

The National Safety Council offers choking prevention and rescue tips.
Iran: Barbaric and medieval punishments

NCRI - Criminal Court of the Western Lorestan province in Iran, condemned a man and a woman accused of so called unethical relation to medieval capital punishment of death by stoning.





According to the verdict of the Criminal Court Branch 1, in Lorestan Province, the sentence of death by stoning has been issued, for Mr. KH. A and Mrs. S-M.Th. The state run website called Kashkan reported on February 2, 2017.





The source said: "At the moment the sentence is issued by the lower court and the track is communicated to the attorneys of the defendants and added, in this case the role of the city administration chief, the Public Prosecutor Bureau, feta police intelligence and police has been outstanding in gathering evidence, arresting suspects and transferring the case to legal authorities.





The source also stated that the two accused are already in custody, awaiting final approval of the sentence by the court.





It is noteworthy that Amnesty International earlier this year in Jaunary, has called out the mullahs dictatorship and asked other international human rights charities and governments to condemn these atrocities.





In a statement, Amnesty International wrote: Irans persistent use of cruel and inhuman punishments, including floggings, amputations and forced blinding over the past year, exposes the authorities utterly brutal sense of justice.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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Source: NCRI , Feb. 4, 2017
Tilon Carter

Tilon Carter, 37, received a stay Friday afternoon from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. His execution was set for Tuesday.





For the 2nd time this week, a Texas execution has been stopped days before the man was set to die.





Carter was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for the 2004 death of 89-year-old James Tomlin in his Fort Worth home. Carter and LaKeitha Allen broke into Tomlin's home, bound him with duct tape and robbed him, according to court records.





Carter has maintained that he never meant for Tomlin to die, that he tied him up and left with the money. But a medical examiner ruled Tomlin died from being smothered, as well as from being tied up and left in a dangerous position.





The stay comes after Carter's attorney filed a late petition requesting a stay of execution on a technicality: the trial court was a day late in notifying the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs that an execution date had been set.





"This is fairly technical thing, but they did technically violate the law," said Robin Norris, Carter's attorney.





According to the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, if the trial court fails to notify the convict's lawyer and the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs that an execution date was set within 2 business days of setting it, the court must reset the execution date. In Carter's case, it took 3 days.





The trial court had rejected Carter's request to reset the execution date, stating that even though it took 1 day more than was required, the execution was still more than 140 days away, longer than the 90 days required between setting an execution date and the actual execution. The Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay pending its resolution of the issue.





"This is the 1st case I know of that has actually gone to the Court of Criminal Appeals on this question," Norris said. "Most of the convicting courts that have been asked in the past to reset an execution date on the grounds that the Office of Capital and Forensics Writs was not notified in a timely matter have just reset the execution on request. But they didn't do that here."





The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office could not be reached for comment on the case.





The stay was the 2nd in Texas this week. On Tuesday, a federal district court in Corpus Christi stopped the execution of John Ramirez, which was set for Thursday. The state has executed 2 people this year.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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Source: The Texas Tribune, Feb. 4, 2017
Re: The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not [ #permalink

2 Kudos
EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:

Hi Hatakekakashi,



To start - you stated that you've taken the GMAT, so how did you score (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?



The process of applying to (and ultimately attending) Business School will require a big investment of time, money and energy on your part, so you really should make sure that the Programs that you apply to match your career goals/needs. There are a variety of factors that go into selecting the Schools that you'll apply to. Instead of just applying to Programs in which you might have a good chance to 'get in', here are some other things to think about:



1) Is there a particular company that you want to work for or industry that you want to work in? Certain degrees are more appropriate than others if you have a specific career goal.

2) What do you want your MBA to do for you?

3) Do you want to go to School full-time or part-time?

4) Are you willing to relocate? Are you comfortable with working through a program that is primarily online?

5) Are you going to be applying for scholarships?

Etc.



It's okay if you don't have answers to any of these questions just yet, but you really should try to define all of the important variables in terms of your goals, so that you can tailor your entire approach to getting into the best School that matches what you're looking for.



GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,

Rich

Hello Rich ,My GMAT score is as follows - 710 ( Qa 49 Va 36 IR- 7/8 Awa 6/6) . I am thinking of a retake as well so i could touch 720 or more as I represent a demography of a very high Gmat scores (viz India) and my academics are very poorAs far as the questions posted1) I do not have a specific company to work for. My areas of interest are marketing and Finance, consulting would do as well. Of course every aspirant desires to be in the best of the best companies. Rather than working for a company would love to have company of my own down the line2) I want my MBA to provide the knowledge n specific skills to run a business. It comes with experience i am sure but an MBA adds value and can make one think better in terms of the business. I would like to start a company of my own. My father has his own business and i want to diversify its services . A marketing related mba would help me to make my company more reachable to cater to the needs of clients. At this stage my answer isn't clear and might be vague but i still haven't put a thought to it . Mostly like i wish MBA helps me better to run a business3) I would want to do an MBA full time (2/1 year is fine) . I turned 25 last week so at the moment thinking i could use 2 years for an MBA unless a one year MBA suits me more4) Yes i am willing to relocate and in-campus MBA not an online course5) I would love to apply for scholarshipsTargeting R1 in september so i want to be ready by that time with solid applications for 5 schools. I do not want to apply to a school just because it is valued a lot. For ex- ISB which is a well known school is 10 minutes from my place , but i want to know wether it will help me or not in shaping my career in a better way.RegardsHKWork experience - 42 months ( as on date ) - aug 2013 till today current role - business development executive10th - 75% (74.42)12- 87%Under Grad - 69% (68.51)PS- excuse typos_________________
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On 3-5 October 2017 Kyiv is going to host the Space and Future Forum to network international experts and youth, many of whom will also participate at the first CosmoHack in the world. Joinfo provides media coverage of the Forum, and some of its topics were already discussed ...
Eskoms treatment of smaller municipalities is unfair considering how it treats Soweto residents, South African Local Government Association official Nhlanhla Ngidi told the Sunday Times.

The Associations objection comes amidst a dispute between municipalities and Eskom over an electricity supply agreement it predicts would generate billions in revenue for local councils.

Eskom refuses to sign the agreement that would see it stop supplying electricity directly, and instead become a service provider to municipalities, said Ngidi.

According to the report, Eskom supplies 47% of consumers directly  while the remainder get their electricity bill from municipalities.

The Association has complained about Eskoms treatment of smaller municipalities, many of which were threatened with disconnection over the R10 billion they owed the utility, said Ngidi.

Ngidi said Soweto owes Eskom R6 billion, but the area is yet to receive threats of interruption to its residents electricity supply.

The full report is available in the Sunday Times of 5 February 2017.

Now read: Municipalities default on Eskom bills despite intervention
The latest broadband traffic statistics show a drastic decline in BitTorrent and NNTP traffic, which is closely linked to online piracy, while video streaming service traffic is increasing rapidly.

MyBroadbands 2017 Tech Survey confirmed this information, with the number of tech-savvy broadband users who pirate content dropping from 55% in March 2015 to 38% in February 2017.

In the 2015 survey, most users said they pirate because of convenience and because the content was not legally available in South Africa.

Since then, Netflix, ShowMax, and Amazon Prime Video have launched in South Africa, and DStv has significantly improved its Catch Up and online services.

DStvs Express from the US also ensures that subscribers can watch TV series within 24 hours of broadcast in the United States.

Piracy down

The convenience and legal availability of more content in South Africa has had a direct effect on online piracy, which has plummeted over the last two years.

Cybersmart CTO Laurie Fialkov said BitTorent traffic on their network is about 20% of what it was two years ago.

This is definitely because of cheap paid-for streaming, said Fialkov. He said faster line speeds and locally-hosted content has made it possible for users to stream media instead of downloading it.

Axxess marketing director Franco Barbalich agreed, saying they have seen a significant decline in BitTorrent and NNTP usage since the launch of services like Netflix and ShowMax.

In the past, we have had torrent traffic peak to as much as 50% of our total traffic consumption. Recently, torrent traffic peaks at about 20% of total consumption, said Barbalich.

Barbalich said piracy traffic volumes are one-fifth of the traffic consumed by media streaming services like Netflix and ShowMax.

When you add services like YouTube, this figure goes up to a 10:1 ratio, he said.

BitTorrent and NNTP traffic are also the fastest-declining traffic groups, which shows the decline in the popularity of online piracy.

Now read: What you can look forward to from Netflix in 2017
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STEPANAKERT. - Azerbaijani citizen, serviceman Elnur Huseynzadeh, detained by the law enforcement authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has been provided with a public defender.

Husseinzadea attorney, Arkadi Israelyan, told Armenian News  NEWS.am that he has met with his client. I met with my client, and also took part in investigative actions, he noted, adding that other details cannot be publicized stemming from the principles of confidentiality.

On Friday, NKR Human Rights Defender Ruben Melikyan visited the Azerbaijani captive. The former handed to him the Azerbaijani version of the European Convention on Human Rights.

According to the statement disseminated by the press-service of the NKR National Security Service (NSS), on February 1, a group of Azerbaijani servicemen made a diversionary infiltration attempt in the direction of Talish village of NKR, taking advantage of the foggy weather. The attempt was prevented by the Karabakh military subunits defending the state border of Artsakh.

On the same day, serviceman of the intelligence troop of 157th motorized rifle brigade of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, Elnur Huseynzadeh, was revealed and detained.

A criminal case has been launched into making an infiltration attempt and illegal crossing of the state border of NKR under Articles 33-317 and Article 350(1) of the NKR Criminal Code. Elnur Huseynzadeh has been detained. Investigation is underway.
YEREVAN. - The states concerned will try to settle the matter related to blogger Alexander Lapshin so that everyone is able to save face.

Political alalyst Karine Gevorgyan said the aforementioned, referring upon the request of Armenian News  NEWS.am to the situation round Lapshins possible extradition from Belarus to Azerbaijan.

Alexander Lapshin will most probably be extradited from Belarus to Azerbaijan, following which the Azerbaijani authorities will hand him over to Israel in order not to spoil their relations with the latter. In Israel, Laphsin will be granted amnesty. Lukashenko will thereby demonstrate that he is Aliyevs friend. Aliyev will [for his part] manifest kindness, she noted.

According to Gevorgyan, this kind of solution is unlikely to have far-reaching consequences in the relations of Azerbaijan and Israel, however there is already certain tension.

Azerbaijan strongly relies on the military cooperation with Israel. Considering the treatment of the state of Israel to its citizens, the open demarche of the Azerbaijani authorities is unlikely to remain without consequences.

Currently, Russia and Israel are trying to achieve the cancellation of the decision on extraditing Lapshin.

After his visits to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in 2011 and 2012, Alexander Lapshin was blacklisted by Azerbaijan. In June 2016, however, he paid a visit to Azerbaijan, but with a Ukrainian passport. Subsequently, he issued several articles criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities. Afterward, the Azerbaijani authorities issued an international search for this famous blogger. And on December 15, 2016, he was detained in the Belarus capital city of Minsk, and based on this international search.

On January 26, the Minsk city court dismissed the complaint of blogger Alexander Lapshin over the decision of the Belarusian prosecutors office to extradite him to Azerbaijan. On Monday two complaints will be filed with the Supreme Court of Belarus.
Armenians will soon be able to raise funds for specific projects through a crowdfunding platform. It is planned to introduce the concept of such a platform in the country already in April-May 2017, crowdfunding specialist and co-founder of the Crodfunding Formule website Narek Vardanyan told Armenian News  NEWS.am.

Crowdfunding is an international concept used throughout the world via internet platforms, which makes it possible to raise nearly $30-35 billion USD annually. Our activity is aimed at helping different companies and persons from more than 50 countries, who present interesting projects. We help them receive funding and get attention, he said.

Asked whether such an initiative will gain a widespread acceptance in Armenia, Narek Vardanyan noted that it is funded by ordinary people, who take interest in a specific idea: These are not large investors, who will most likely get frightened of possible risks and large investments in Armenia. He also stressed that unlike business projects, presenting ideas in crowdfunding is much cheaper and enables to quickly understand whether you like the idea or not.

Many famous companies also take part in Crowdfunding, most often under false names. They present their new products and watch peoples reaction. Sony and Warner Brothers are also among them, Vardanyan added.

In his words, the initiative will enable many people to realize their ideas. He himself already has several promising projects in view. One of them is the concept of smart wallet, which was presented by a young man from Armenia. The wallet will have a location transmitter to be used in case of a loss, a camera to be used in case of being stolen, as well as a capacity to charge a phone and several other useful functions. The idea was born when a child hid the wallet behind a radiator and his family members couldnt find it. The project is unprecedented and very attractive, Vardanyan stressed.

Referring to the most absurd project, which has gained international recognition via crowdfunding, Narek noted Potato salad. It was initially planned to be a joke: Zack Danger Brown decided to make a salad from potato and posted the idea as a project in the platform Kickstarter. The young man offered the same salad as a gift for his investors. Consequently, ha managed to raise $80,000 USD. You see, nothing is impossible, the most important thing is the initiative, Vardanyan concluded.
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Armenia ex-President Kocharyan joins rally in downtown Yerevan

Russia oil, natural gas companies plan to collaborate with Iraq

Armenia army intelligence troops 30th anniversary is solemnly celebrated (PHOTOS)

Rally of unity in support of Karabakh kicks off in downtown Yerevan

Pentagon announces sending 8 NASAMS air defense systems to Ukraine

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US House committee extends deadline for Trump to produce documents on Capitol attack

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Oil war is Biden's biggest mistake

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Pentagon and U.S. weapons manufacturers to discuss Russia, human resources and supply chain

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IMF: Turkey should tighten monetary policy and give the Central Bank more independence

Pope urges religious leaders to keep the world from brink of abyss

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View of woods destroyed by a bark beetle infestation in Siguatepeque, 70 km north of Tegucigalpa on January 28, 2017

Over the past three years, Honduras has lost a quarter of its pine forests to a plague of bark-munching beetles.

Now though, after a long campaign that saw soldiers wielding chainsaws to contain the bug invasion, a little green is growing back.

In mountains north of the capital that were stripped bare, trees replanted by students from the National University's forest sciences department are growing.

The reforestation work started four months ago. The professor leading the students, Oscar Leveron, explained it will be a slow healing of the landscape: it takes 25-30 years for the trees to mature to the heights of the ones lost.

The infestation of the southern pine beetle, whose scientific name is Dendroctonus frontalis, was first detected in 2013.

Its march blighted bigger and bigger swaths of woodland until, a year ago, the exponential spread prompted President Juan Orlando Hernandez to declare a "forest emergency."

The pest has delivered what is considered one of the worst ecological disasters to befall the Central American country.

Chainsaws vs bugs

Some experts attributed the massive invasion to a prolonged drought brought on by the El Nino phenomenon felt across the region.

A student of the Forest Sciences University (ESNACIFOR) studies the bark beetle -after woods had to be cut down to stop its advancing- in Siguatepeque, 70 km north of Tegucigalpa on January 28, 2017

Satellite images show a total 509,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) have been destroyed by the insect since 2013.

The emergency decree allowed authorities to set up task forces of up to 3,500 people deployed in mountains across the country under the supervision of the Forestry Conservation Institute.

Wielding chainsaws, their mission was to cut down infected trees, and healthy ones in a close radius, to prevent the beetles jumping onto new hosts.

The forestry students joined soldiers in chopping down vast areas of the 5,000 hectares (1,300 acres) of pine forest owned by the university.

Traps made of rows of black funnels and pungent resin were hung from shrubs to attract and catch the bugs, which measure no more than four millimeters (0.15 of an inch).

View of woods destroyed by a bark beetle infestation in Siguatepeque on January 28, 2017

At the worst point of the plague, they found one tree infested with 139,000 of the insects, and a trap contained up to 12,000.

As he helped students collect the bugs inside the plastic devices, Leveron said the ideal is to have "zero in the traps."

He showed one trap that contained two bees and a dozen beetles.

Leveron and authorities from the forestry institute told AFP that the plague "is being controlled." But the woods remain vulnerable to new attacks.

A student of the Forest Sciences University (ESNACIFOR) observes a new pine tree -after the woods had to be cut down to stop the advancing of a bark beetle infestation- in Siguatepeque on January 28, 2017

Dry season risk

The Forestry Conservation Institute official in charge of fighting back the beetle, Juan Barrios, told AFP that 883 hectares were still infected, with little pockets of up five trees teeming with the insects.

"The plague is under 98 percent control. But the problem is to prevent the dispersion of the outbreaks," he said.

The students and the forestry institute have been using seeds from pine cones to replant the devastated zones, although they believe much of the woodland will eventually regenerate naturally.

But Leveron said the rainy season that started last September helped slow the bugs' advance.

The risk now, he said, was the next dry season might see them expanding again, as the lack of water reduces the trees' production of resin, a natural defense.

View of the new tree plantations under the supervision of the Forest Sciences University (ESNACIFOR) after the woods had to be cut down to stop the advancing of a bark beetle infestation in Siguatepeq on January 28, 2017

Students of the Forest Sciences University (ESNACIFOR) place bark beetle traps after the woods had to be cut down to stop its advancing in Siguatepeque on January 28, 2017

View of the new tree plantations under the supervision of the Forest Sciences University (ESNACIFOR) after the woods had to be cut down to stop the advancing of a bark beetle infestation in Siguatepeque on January 28, 2017

 2017 AFP
The Philippine environment minister's move to close some two dozen mines sparked concern Sunday among two of her colleagues, who said it could hit the economy and employment. The mining industry -- accused of illegal tree felling and polluting rivers -- has also questioned the order of Environment Secretary Gina Lopez. The Philippines is the world's top supplier of nickel ore and the main exporter to China. The order has already caused a rise in global nickel prices and a fall in local mining shares. "I don't think (Lopez) did it arbitrarily but anything like this would need a response like more scientific and data-driven studies," said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia. "Obviously it will have an effect on GDP and employment but we don't have the hard data," he told AFP. Lopez, a staunch mining critic, said last week that 23 mines had been told to close after illegally encroaching on watersheds, leaking waste into rivers and destroying trees. A further five mines had been ordered to suspend operations. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, on his official Twitter account, also expressed misgivings, saying: "I am deeply concerned over the welfare of the 1.2 million people affected by the closure of the 23 PH (Philippine) mines. This will result in joblessness." The closures would also hit local government tax revenues, he said. Lopez's order was the result of a government audit that started in July last year after President Rodrigo Duterte took office. Duterte, who enjoys wide popular support, has backed Lopez's order even as reports say the mining industry may challenge it in court. In a statement Sunday, Lopez said she would outdo the industry, declaring "give me... maximum of two years. I will prove that a green economy can create more jobs than mining could ever create." She also said mine workers would not end up unemployed but would be found jobs in mine rehabilitation and reforestation. "My issue is not about mining, my issue is about social justice," she said. Eufracia Taylor, Asia analyst at risk advisory company Verisk Maplecroft, warned that stricter oversight and the review of licences would likely prompt companies to delay further investment. She also cited "mounting concerns over new environmental and social requirements, and their potential to drive up the costs of compliance" in the nickel industry. "The prospect of higher operational costs could well impact the commercial viability of some projects," the Singapore-based Taylor told AFP.
2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #5

Posted on 5 February 2017 by John Hartz

Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Graphic of the Week... Photo of the Week... SkS Spotlights... Video of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...

Story of the Week...

AMICUS GROUPS FILE BRIEF TO PROTECT CLIMATE SCIENTISTS

New York, N.Y.  The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF) has asked the District of Columbia federal District Court to safeguard roughly 8,000 pages of privileged correspondence between nine climate scientists.

Under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Judicial Watch, a conservative group, has sued for emails of scientists employed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who authored a June 2015 study published in Science.

The study, which has since been replicated by other researchers, found that global temperatures are increasing faster than previously thought. The paper addresses and refutes prior claims about a so-called slowdown in global warming since the late 1990s.

Judicial Watchs lawsuit is not the first attempt to obtain these researchers emails. In October 2015, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who disputes the scientific consensus on climate change, tried to use congressional subpoena powers to obtain the NOAA emails. At that time, NOAA released hundreds of pages of documents to Rep. Smith, but steadfastly refused to produce the scientists email correspondence.

CSLDF filed the new brief on Friday, January 27 in partnership with the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The brief urges the court to protect scientific correspondence and preliminary drafts of publications from indiscriminate disclosure.

Now more than ever, it is critical that we defend climate scientists and their research, Lauren Kurtz, Executive Director of CSLDF, said. Forcing the disclosure of scientists private emails is invasive, unnecessary, and hugely detrimental to the scientific method.

Organizations across the political spectrum increasingly use public records laws to attack research findings and fields of study they dislike. As in this case, the records requests typically do not seek the data, methodology, or funding sources of completed studies. The requests instead seek privileged prepublication materials, such as preliminary drafts, private critiques from other scientists, and researchers personal documents and correspondence.

These types of records are generally protected from disclosure by the deliberative process privilege  as courts have repeatedly recognized in cases similar to this one. Government scientists correspondence, preliminary drafts, and peer review materials are quintessential deliberative, pre-decisional records safeguarded by Exemption 5 of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C.  552(b)(5).

Providing free and open access to all data and methodologies used to conduct scientific research is central to science and to scientific advancement, Keith Seitter, Executive Director of AMS, said. However, internal communications leading up to publication in the peer-reviewed literature should remain confidential so scientists can feel free to debate and resolve issues candidly without fear of their remarks being taken out of context.

The brief explains that releasing privileged prepublication materials  generally treated as confidential within the scientific community  could significantly damage government scientists ability and willingness to conduct research into vitally important but politically charged subjects like climate change.

Scientists, whether in government or academia, need to freely exchange and discuss ideas without constantly looking over their shoulders or worrying about legal action, said Andrew Rosenberg, Director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the UCS.

###

About CSLDF: The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund was founded in 2011 in response to the increasing incidence of legal attacks against climate scientists. Its mission is to protect the scientific endeavor in general  and climate science and climate scientists in particular  from assaults being launched through the legal system, including intrusive public records requests.

About AMS: American Meteorological Society was founded in 1919 and is dedicated to advancing the atmospheric and related sciences for the benefit of society. AMS is committed to strengthening scientific work across the public, private, and academic sectors, and believes that collaboration and information sharing are critical to ensuring that society benefits from the best, most current scientific knowledge and understanding available.

About UCS: Union of Concerned Scientists was founded in 1969 and combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative and practical solutions to pressing environmental and security problems. UCS believes that a crucial ingredient in achieving these goals is maintaining research institutions within the federal government that foster an environment of independent and rigorous scientific inquiry free from political interference.

Toon of the Week...

Quote of the Week...

Donald Trump's phone call with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made front pages and news bulletins around Australia and the US, but it led news bulletins in Germany, too, where leading European climatologist Stefan Rahmstorf is based.

"We are all very worried here," Rahmstorf, a professor at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, says. "We should assume our worst fears will be realised."

'We should assume our worst fears will be realised': climate scientist on Donald Trump by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Feb 5, 2017

Graphic of the Week...

Greenland ice mass loss continued in 2016 by Michon Scott, NOAA's Climate.gov, Dec 28, 2016

Photo of the Week

Spotted outside the White House last week. We're still here too. And we'll keep standing with you against Trump's destructive agenda.

Friends of the Earth U.S. Facebook page.

SkS Spotlights...

The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) is an international network of academics and non-profits addressing potential threats to federal environmental and energy policy, and to the scientific research infrastructure built to investigate, inform, and enforce. Dismantling this infrastructure  which ranges from databases to satellites to models for climate, air, and water  could imperil the publics right to know, the United States standing as a scientific leader, corporate accountability, and environmental protection.

In response, EDGI is building online tools, events, and research networks to proactively archive public environmental data and ensure its continued publicly availability. We also are monitoring changes to federal regulation, enforcement, research, funding, websites and general agency management at agencies including EPA, DoE, NASA, NOAA, and OSHA. We aim to serve the environmental community and its allies, and to enable them to hold the new administration accountable, by preserving and improving public access to at-risk government environmental data, documents, and digital interfaces, and by monitoring, documenting, and analyzing change to federal environmental agencies. We also aim to create an open, collaborative network of individuals, non-profits, universities and companies who believe that science and data are vital for environmental governance.

Video of the Week...

Coming Soon on SkS...

Repeal without replace: a dangerous GOP strategy on Obamacare and climate (Dana)

(Dana) Three quarters of Trump voters deny climate science, but that's not a lot of people (Dana)

(Dana) Correcting Warren Meyer on Forbes (Rob Honeycutt)

(Rob Honeycutt) Guest Post (John Abraham)

(John Abraham) Why claiming that climate scientists are in it for the money is absurd (Baerbel)

(Baerbel) 2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #6 (John Hartz)

(John Hartz) 2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Waming Digest #6 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week...

SkS Week in Review...

97 Hours of Consensus...

Matthew Collins' bio page

Quote derived with permission from author from:

"Further emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further global warming. The Arctic will warm most rapidly and the land will warm more than the ocean. There will be more hotter and fewer cold days. Mid-latitude areas that currently experience high rainfall will get more. Sea levels will continue to rise and snow and ice will melt back. If we follow the highest scenario of future greenhouse gases, the Arctic is expected to be ice-free before the middle of the 21st century. Avoiding 2 degrees of warming since preindustrial times will be very tough. We have already spent more than two thirds of the CO2 emissions that we can afford to spend."

High resolution JPEG (1024 pixels wide)
British-born economist Angus Deaton of Princeton University speaks in a news conference after winning the 2015 economics Nobel Prize on the Princeton University campus in Princeton, New Jersey October 12, 2015. Deaton has won the 2015 economics Nobel Prize for his work on consumption, poverty and welfare that has helped governments to improve policy through tools such as household surveys and tax changes. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the microeconomist's work had been a major influence on policy making, helping for example to determine how different social groups are affected by specific changes in taxation.

REUTERS/Dominick Reuter

In 2015, Princeton professor Angus Deaton won the Nobel Prize for economics. The prize was awarded for his work on consumption, poverty, and welfare. In particular, Deaton's work explains a concept called "consumption smoothing," the idea that people don't wildly change their spending habits when their pay is raised or cut. They tend to keep their consumption constant.

Deaton met with Business Insider over coffee at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where we had long conversation about inequality, universal basic income, and the legalised theft of wealth. We will publish more of that in the weeks to come.

At the end of our conversation, we asked a much more basic question: What is it like to win a Nobel Prize, an experience that notoriously begins with an early morning phone call?

Turns out, "it's a lot of fun!" Deaton says. You get week-long trip to Sweden with your entire family, where they give you a stretch BMW with a driver, and they treat you like a head of state.

But first, the early morning phonecall ...

ANGUS DEATON: "They call you at 6 o'clock in the morning. A traditional phone call. You have 45 minutes warning before they do the press conference."

BI: Were you asleep?

DEATON: "No I was sitting there waiting for the phone call! It's a big deal!"

BI: Did you think it might be a prank call?

DEATON: "I didn't think it was a prank call until my friend Torsten Persson who is chairman of the committee [Persson is a Swedish economist at the Institute for International Economic Studies in Stockholm] said, 'Angus, this is not a prank call!' I said, 'Torsten, that is the first time it occurred to me that it was a prank call.' They try to have someone call you that you know. So I had known Torsten for 30 years."

"You get swept off your feet. Princeton had a huge team  they were at our house within 10 minutes of the press announcement. It occurred to me maybe they had gotten advance notice even though I had not, but it turns out not. They said they had done all the preparations for five different people in my department."

Story continues

BI: At Princeton, they're probably on alert every year for this.

DEATON: "Yes. I had known that for a long time, that I was on that list, which didn't make it not a surprise because there is a lot of people on that list. I could give you 100 names of people who would be worthy. There is no public official list."

BI: What happens next?

DEATON: "It's a lot of fun!"

"The first bit of it that is sort of unimaginable, and you don't know about, and I've been trying to tell people about this, is that you go to Stockholm for a week  not just for a day  and they treat you like a head of state. You don't go through customs, through immigration, for instance. You're met at the door of the plane by the chairman of the Swedish Academy and one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen, who is a foreign service officer who has been assigned to you for the week and is your attache. And underneath the plane there is a stretch BMW with a driver in it, that's yours for the week."

"They have you so tightly scheduled [but] you get to bring  this is another part of it that I didn't imagine at all  you get to invite 14 people in addition to your spouse. Fourteen! And so about half of those are automatic family slots. And you know, 14 is a really hard thing. Because people have to be left out. You have to send people emails saying 'I'm sorry but they can't get you a ticket'!"

"So the others are mostly long-term collaborators, or people who played a big part in what I was getting the medal for. But the fact that it was sort of a family reunion, I spent a lot of time with my kids and grandkids, for my grandchildren they're just old enough to really remember it and there's lots of photographs, and my grandson was on Swedish TV and he became a sort of national superstar. So that part of it was just terrific."

BI: Are there downsides?

DEATON: "It changes your life in ways that you really have to handle, and it's not entirely obvious how to do that. Like, I wouldn't be talking to you if that hadn't happened."

BI: But you're choosing to be here surely?

DEATON: "Yeah though with some ambivalence. You get roped into a lot of things and some of them of them are fun. And some of them are lucrative, and some of the ones that are lucrative are fun too. Which is nice. Some of them are not fun at all. Some of them you think will be fun and they are not."

BI: This, talking to me, is not lucrative.

DEATON: "No but one of the good things about being here is that I can talk to you and a bunch of other people at relatively little cost whereas at home it's always a pain one way or another because I'm supposed to go down to the station or the studio."

At that point, someone rang a loud bell and we ended our talk in order to listen to a speech by Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China  which is another weird thing that happens to you when you win the Nobel for Economics.

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Call it coincidence. Call it serendipity. Three New Mexico authors of books for young readers are launching titles on the same day  Tuesday, Feb. 7.

So the authors  Brenda Drake, Kimberley Griffiths Little and CarolineStarr Rose  decided to celebrate their launches together. There will be a panel discussion and book signing at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Bookworks. Theyll talk about their new novels, their journeys as writers and related topics.

Roses new book is Jasper and the Riddle of Rileys Mine for ages 10 and older. Its about 11-year-old Jasper and his older brother, Melvin, boldly heading north to the Klondike region near the end of the 19th century. Theyve heard tales of a hidden stake that could make them rich.

Jasper is Roses first published novel in prose; her two previous books, award-winning historical novels, were in verse.

The change to prose, it was like learning a new language, she said in a phone interview. So much of the writing process is a learning experience. So after the publication of two books in verse, writing in prose was a challenge.

Rose, an Albuquerque resident, has a metaphor for the two literary approaches.

I feel like a book of verse is like a photo album. Each individual poem is like a photograph, one captured moment. When you put them together, you have some sort of a story.

The new novel by Little, a Peralta resident, is titled Returned. Its the final installment in her Forbidden Series, which takes place in the deserts of ancient Mesopotamia (parts of todays Iraq, Syria, Kuwait and Turkey.)

Jayden, a member of a nomadic Bedouin tribe, is the series protagonist.

Littles synopsis: After tragedy strikes on the day Jayden and Kadesh were to wed, the dark temple priestess Aliyah conspires to control the crown with the arrival of three armies bent on killing the royal family and conquering the secret frankincense trade. Also lurking is Horeb, Jaydens former betrothed.

Jayden and Kadesh prepare a fight to preserve their love and save their kingdom.

The book is also about the womens world, the belly dance, the goddess temples, Little said.

The series target audience is young adults. But she said HarperCollins felt the trilogy has adult crossover appeal, so its not under the publishers teen imprint.

Guardian of Secrets is the new teen novel from Drake, a longtime Albuquerque resident.

Its the second volume in her Library Jumpers series, whose protagonist is Gia Kearns. Gia leaps from the pages of a book into a magical world of libraries to protect humans from mystical and dangerous creatures and from the coming apocalypse. Theres also her tenuous relationship with the hottie Arik.

Drake explained how she came up with the series theme: She was at a bookstore looking at coffee table books. One book was about the most beautiful libraries in the world.

I love libraries, and looking at these beautiful libraries made me want to go to all of them. They have great architecture; the bookcases, the ceilings are soaring with beautiful glasswork. Then my imagination kicked in, she said.

Drake is now writing the third book in the series.

Little and Drake will discuss and sign their books at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at Barnes & Noble in Coronado Shopping Center.

Drake, Little and Rose will be at Page 1 Books, Mountain Run Shopping Center, 5850 Eubank NE, at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 23.


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LAS VEGAS  A federal jury in Nevada is about to be picked to decide whether a tense standoff pitting armed ranchers and rangers against federal agents over a herd of cattle in a dry river bed amounted to a peaceful expression of free speech and weapon rights, or an insurrection against the U.S. government.

Trial begins Monday in Las Vegas for six men  the first of a trio of proceedings for 17 defendants that will later include Nevada cattleman Cliven Bundy, four of his adult sons and seven other men. Each is facing the equivalent of the rest of his life in prison for the confrontation nearly three years ago.

The courtroom showdown is the latest battle over Western federal land policy dating to the Sagebrush Rebellion in Nevada more than 40 years ago. A jury in Oregon in October acquitted seven people, including two Bundy brothers, of federal conspiracy and weapon charges in an occupation of a federal wildlife refuge.

Theyre not the Bundys, said Todd Leventhal, attorney for defendant Orville Scott Drexler, one of the six whose case begins Monday. But realistically, this is a Bundy case. The outcome of this trial affects the other two.

Although theyve been characterized as the least culpable followers and gunmen among the 19 men arrested a year ago, stakes are high for Drexler, Todd Engel, Eric Parker and Steven Stewart, all of Idaho, Gregory Burleson of Phoenix and Richard Lovelein of Oklahoma.

Two other defendants previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and are expected to be sentenced in coming months to up to six years in prison. They are not expected to testify.

If convicted of all 10 charges, including conspiracy, firearm offenses and assault on a federal officer, each of the six could face up to 101 years in prison.

This is not an undercard for Mr. Lovelien, defense attorney Shawn Perez said of his client. It is the main event.

The six are accused of bringing guns to the Bundy ranch near Bunkerville, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to support Bundy family members against U.S. Bureau of Land Management agents enforcing federal court orders to herd Bundy cows off public rangeland in the scenic Gold Butte area.

Hundreds of supporters were in a dry river bed when the standoff took place, and dozens of self-styled militia members from across the nation remained for months afterward in dusty and windy camps around the Bundy ranch.

At the height of the protests, they blocked roads, gave speeches, flew flags and set up armed checkpoints to protect the rancher who declares that the federal government doesnt own the land, the people do.

The standoff came to a dramatic end April 12, 2014, with Bundy backers positioned on a high Interstate 15 overpass pointing military-style AR-15 and AK-47 weapons at heavily armed land management agents and contract cowboys herding cattle toward a corral in a dry wash below.

Las Vegas police stood by without interfering, after then-Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie negotiated a stand-down that was to have had the federal agents release the cows and abandon the cattle roundup.

Through a spokeswoman, U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden and the four prosecutors handling the case declined this week to comment about the evidence or the trial, which is expected to take several weeks.

A Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman, Megan Crandall, also declined to comment.

The government may also have to overcome a potentially damaging new BLM inspector general ethics and conduct report, made public this week.

It said the Salt Lake City-based land management supervisory agent who headed the Bundy cattle roundup misused his position during the 2015 Burning Man festival in northern Nevada, and manipulated a hiring process so a friend could get a bureau job.

Leventhal said he hopes prosecutors show jurors footage collected from many defendants in the months after the standoff by a documentary film crew from a company called Longbow Productions. Attorneys allege the effort was an undercover front for the FBI.

Jury selection is expected to take several days before prosecutors begin outlining the government case.
SANTA FE  Gov. Susana Martinez has called a special meeting of the state Board of Finance to consider emergency funding aimed at ensuring New Mexicos court system doesnt run out of money for jury trials.

The seven-member board  Martinez is president and appoints four other members  is set to meet Wednesday on a proposal to add up to $600,000 to the fund that pays jurors and up to $82,000 for other costs.

The meeting comes after she vetoed about $800,000 in emergency funding approved by the Legislature last week.

Martinez accused lawmakers of moving too quickly and failing to properly scrutinize the courts spending.

We are in a budget crisis, Martinez spokesman Michael Lonergan said in a written statement Saturday. We have to make sure every dollar is accounted for  its what New Mexicans expect their leaders to do.

Democratic leaders in the Legislature blasted the governors veto last week, arguing that it would make New Mexico less safe if the courts dont have enough money to do their work.

The chief justice of the state Supreme Court warned the Legislature last week of a constitutional crisis.

The courts, in fact, would have to stop conducting jury trials March 1, Chief Justice Charles Daniels said, without new funding.

An extra $600,000 would be roughly enough to get through mid-April, according to the Administrative Office of the Courts.

An extra $1 million or so on top of that is necessary to finish out the fiscal year, but that money could be appropriated as part of the Legislatures broader budget debate this session, according to the office.

The Martinez administration and Administrative Office of the Court are still in talks over the funding.

As we move forward, Lonergan said, the administration is already working with courts to diligently comb through their budget together, and were confident well be able to resolve this issue  possibly even before Wednesdays scheduled meeting.

Daniels told lawmakers Thursday that the courts are trying to save as much money as possible. The Supreme Court itself, he said, is preparing to reduce employees pay by shutting down operations on nine different days before the end of the fiscal year in June.
Casa San Ysidro in the Village of Corrales is in need of volunteers to continue the crucial work of explaining its historical significance.

The large adobe structure, at 973 Old Church Road, across the street from the historic Old San Ysidro Church, was originally built and pieced together in 1875 by the Gutierrez family, according to Casa San Ysidro Site Manager Emily Stovel.

Stovel, who has worked in different facets at San Ysidro for over two years, said that San Ysidro is a long-term project that was taken over by Dr. Ward Alan Minge and his wife in the early 1950s.

When the property was bought by Dr. Minge and his wife in the early 50s, they started a process of building on to the original historic adobe house, Stovel said. Dr. Minge was a historian who tried to bring as much of the historic traditions of New Mexico he could back to life in this structure.

Many of the spaces that Minge added to the house were built with old materials from other southwestern structures that were being torn down from around the state, she said.

They really wanted to experience the authenticity of living with kiva stoves to cook on and to sit on stools instead of a chair, Stovel said. This space is actually more intense than a traditional 19th-century house, because of each piece of his (Minges) remarkable collection of objects.

Because of the unique history of the house and its many artifacts, Stovel says the need for docents and docent training for the facility is crucial.

A commitment to New Mexico history and a desire to share that commitment and knowledge of said history is the main qualification Stovel is looking for in a docent, she said.

The docents selected are given resources through the museum based on their previous knowledge and interests, Stovel said.

Many people may find their first impression of a museum very overwhelming, she said, so a docents job is to guide visitors through different areas and draw their attention to specific objects in an effort to narrow the scope of the experience for them.

The docents enrich your relationship with the space by helping you move into the mindset of certain eras of objects that may have been overlooked or not understood, Stovel said.

San Ysidro trains docents regularly throughout the year, which gives many interested in volunteering an opportunity to learn and inform visitors that frequent the site.

Amber Murray, museum tour coordinator for San Ysidro, said docents usually donate an hour to 90 minutes of their time once a week.

There are two categories of tours, one for the public and the other for schools, Murray said.

A typical public tour will last for about an hour, she said, and the school tours will usually be an entire class of students guided through the museum twice a day for one hour by a docent.

Murrays background is in archaeology, she said, and Casa San Ysidro was on a list of jobs she found when attending the University of New Mexico that included interacting with the public.

I was looking at a change in careers that focused more on the public because before I was just writing technical reports and I didnt interact with people, Murray said. I like that here we interact with people every day and theres an impact, that people are getting excited about history and New Mexican culture.

Murray said she is in awe of San Ysidro because of how it embodies so much of the New Mexican spirit by showcasing artifacts from so many different cultures.

It really shows what people in New Mexico have accomplished in their time here and their creativity and their spirit and I just think its really beautiful, Murray said.

Rio Rancho resident Lois Mentze said she has been a docent at Casa San Ysidro for six years and loves being able to help spread the knowledge she has gained from working there to a young audience.

I loved it from day one and still do, Mentze said. It just kind of gives you a feeling of history when you first look at it.

Mentze said she has done well over 50 bus tours for school children who are getting their first experience of New Mexico history.

As soon as the children see the plaza, they are amazed and you can see it in their eyes, Mentze said.

Giving an explanation of the artifacts and the different historical aspects of the casa to a younger generation is the reason why Mentze returns year after year, she said.

You are always learning something new about the place, Mentze said. Every time I go in there they have something different or you learn something new.
SANTA FE  His relatives sobbed loudly and put their heads in their hands as a jury delivered first-degree murder guilty verdicts Saturday afternoon against Ricardo Martinez in the shooting deaths of a teenaged couple south of Santa Fe in 2014.

On the other side of the Santa Fe courtroom, more than a dozen friends and relatives of victims Venancio Cisneros, 18, and AnaMarie Ojeda, 13, sat mostly quietly as the verdict from the six-man, six women jury was delivered.

Outside the courtroom, Cisneros sister Mirna Cisneros told reporters, We want to say thanks for the justice that was made today, and now he is resting in peace.

Martinez, 22, wearing a dark suit and tie as the verdict was read, was immediately handcuffed by deputies. Friends and family members sobbed and called out love you several times and Martinez responded I love you too as he was taken from the courtroom.

After more than 13 hours of deliberation over three days, the jury came back at about 3:40 p.m. with guilty verdicts on the murder counts and not guilty verdicts on two counts of evidence tampering.

Cisneros and Ojeda were found shot to death in a car on the afternoon of Oct. 24, 2014, in the Valle Vista subdivision south of Santa Fe.

Prosecutors maintained during the almost three-week trial before state District Judge T. Glenn Ellington that Ojeda was shot first in the back of the head, before Martinez turned the gun on her boyfriend and shot him three times, also in the back of the head.

Defense attorney Mark Earnest acknowledged Martinez knew Cisneros, but said they were good friends, and that Cisneros stole from drug dealers and had enemies.

Martinez was arrested several weeks after the crime at a relatives home in Colorado Springs.

In closing arguments last week, prosecutor Peter Valencia said that on the day of the killings, Cisneros and Ojeda drove up to Martinezs house on Calle Inez on the southwest side of town and waited for half an hour before Martinez came out for a ride. Valencia said it was during that interim that Martinez thought about carrying out the murders and executed the two after they stopped at Valle Vista. Cash, marijuana and cocaine were found in the vehicle.

A witness testified he saw Martinez leaving the crime scene shortly after he heard gunshots.

No sentencing date has been set.
A dangerous tax-related phishing scam that comes from a Russian email address is targeting schools and other employers in New Mexico, state Attorney General Hector Balderas is warning.

The scam had hit four school districts in New Mexico as of last week, but none fell for it, Balderas office said.

The point of the scam is to illegally obtain W-2 forms by sending an employee an email that appears to come from a school superintendent or business manager. However, the senders email actually comes from an address that ends in .ru

The text, grammatical errors and all, reads this way: I want you to send me the list of W-2 copy of employees wage and tax statement for 2016. I need them in PDF file type, you can send it as an attachment. Kindly prepare the lists and email them to me asap.

If you receive this kind of email, report it to the Attorney Generals toll-free line at 1-844-255-9210.

n n n

A sneaky scam that uses a copy of your own voice to rip you off is making the rounds nationwide, the Better Business Bureau says.

This one begins with a recorded phone call from someone pretending to be with the government or a particular business. Reports have shown that the companies misrepresented include cruise lines or home security agencies.

In the most common occurrences, the caller will follow up the introduction by asking something along the lines of, Can you hear me clearly?

You are prompted to say, yes, at which point you have just become vulnerable to this nefarious plot. The next step is this: The scammer signs you up for some imaginary product or service and then demands payment.

If you refuse, the caller may produce your recorded `yes response to confirm your purchase agreement, according to the BBB alert.

Other questions that might prompt you to say, yes:: Are you the homeowner? Are you over 18? Do you pay the household bills?

Heres how to stay safe from this scam and so many others, courtesy of the BBB:

 Dont answer calls from numbers you dont recognize. If its a legitimate call, the caller will leave a message. Even if a scammer leaves a message, this will give you time to think about what is being asked of you.

 Never give out personal identifying information over the phone if youre not positive about who the caller is.

 If you think you might have fallen for this scam, contact your bank and credit card companies to flag your accounts. Then, check your account daily to look for unauthorized charges. The earlier you report any questionable entries, the easier it will be to recover any lost money.

n n n

Heidi Stanley of Albuquerque did something most of us only dream of: she made a scammer feel ashamed.

The caller had asked for her father, despite the fact that he had died more than a decade earlier.

Im sorry, Stanley told him. Hes in heaven.

The abashed scammer gave his condolences and hung up, she said.

Ellen Marks is assistant business editor at the Albuquerque Journal. Contact her at emarks@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3842 if you are aware of what sounds like a scam. To report a scam to law enforcement, contact the New Mexico Consumer Protection Division toll-free at 1-844-255-9210.
WASHINGTON  By putting Iran on notice for its aggressive behavior, President Trump has taken aim at a country thats opposed by many U.S. allies. But he has begun this confrontation without much preparation or strategic planning, continuing the haphazard pattern of his first two weeks in office.

Iran is a convenient enemy for Trump. Israel and the Gulf Arab states share the administrations antipathy toward Iran, and the regimes hard-liners gave Trump a pretext with a ballistic-missile test last weekend that arguably violated a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Trumps challenge also comes at a moment when Russia, Irans only major ally, is seeking better relations with the new administration.

That may be a useful point of leverage. Some American, Israeli and Arab officials hope Russia might be persuaded to accept limits on Iranian behavior as the price of rapprochement with the U.S. But some senior intelligence officials are skeptical.

Confronting Iran carries significant dangers. The U.S. Central Command has thousands of troops in Iraq and the Gulf that could be vulnerable to Iranian reprisals.

The White House, however, didnt coordinate its actions with CENTCOM before national security adviser Michael Flynn announced Wednesday his nonspecific but menacing notice about Irans destabilizing behavior.

In a tweet Thursday, Trump echoed Flynns comment that Iran should be grateful for the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated by President Obama, which Trump termed a terrible deal, rather than continuing its aggressive actions.

The administration appears to be considering new sanctions, but since taking office, Trump hasnt moved to revoke the deal itself.

Iranian officials launched rhetorical counter-volleys. A Foreign Ministry spokesman described Flynns warning as repetitive, baseless and provocative. But the Iranians, too, avoided any suggestion that the nuclear agreement was at risk.

Trumps goal of curbing aggressive Iranian behavior in the region has wide support, including among many countries that backed the nuclear deal. Arab nations argue that Iran has destabilized regimes across the Middle East, and that its proxies now control Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Saana. Flynns statement cited an attack last week by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on a Saudi vessel off the Yemen coast.

I dont think we are so much looking for a fight as responding to lethal provocations, argued one senior U.S. military official. He noted that in addition to attacking the Saudi ship, the Houthi rebels have been mining waters near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

But U.S. and foreign officials caution that any attempt to contain Iran needs to be carefully planned and implemented. Iran is a hardened adversary, despite its political isolation. Any confrontation has to take into account Irans strong position in Syria and Iraq, and its ability to thwart Trumps pledge to eradicate the Islamic State there.

They wanted to send a message, but they have no idea what it means, says a top Republican former foreign policy official.

Take Syria: Administration officials dont like Obamas strategy, but they dont yet have an alternative.

The Trump team has explored partnering with Russia, and even considered contacts with the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Some Syrian opposition officials have urged the U.S. to work with Russia (and, implicitly, the Assad regime) in a joint partnership against the Islamic State.

But Iran holds some choke points. Its strongest leverage is in Iraq.

With the victory over the Islamic State in Mosul probably six months away, the Iranians can mobilize thousands of Iraqi Shiite militiamen across Iraq. U.S. advisers are vulnerable to attack by these Iran-backed militias, as happened a decade ago in Iraq.

Moderating the Iranian threat in the Middle East has been an American aim since the 1979 revolution. Arabs and Israelis alike will cheer Trumps hard line. But Iran is among the toughest foreign policy challenges Trump will face, and he should be careful to avoid ill-planned early actions that would make it his Bay of Pigs.
SAN DIEGO  If I hear one more of President Trumps critics say that the administrations crackdown on immigrants and refugees is un-American, Im going to lose it.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, who managed to keep his composure while President Obama deported 3 million people over eight years, teared up after 109 people were detained under a temporary travel ban that the Democrat called mean-spirited and un-American.

Is Schumer even the least bit familiar with America? Because the country I love has never truly loved foreigners, regardless of whether they come here looking for opportunity or hoping for sanctuary. Thats just what it says in the brochure.

People who argue otherwise say that the United States takes in about 1 million legal immigrants each year. So what? In a country of 324 million people, which is supposedly a nation of immigrants, letting in less than 1 percent of our population annually is awfully weak.

Cracking down on immigrants and keeping out refugees  usually because we consider them inferior to those who are already here  is as American as schnitzel, chow mein, shepherds pie, spaghetti, bagels, tacos and falafel.

Check out this paradox. While many Americans boast that our cultural diversity is our strength, this hasnt stopped many of us from reacting intolerantly to those with what some consider weird languages, strange religions and peculiar customs.

This tradition began in the mid-1700s, when Benjamin Franklin attacked German immigrants. An Englishman born in Boston, Franklin warned that Pennsylvania was becoming a colony of aliens who  will never adopt our language or customs, any more than they can acquire our complexion. Franklin feared the newcomers would Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them.

Then there was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Concerned that arrivals from the Far East who had migrated to the American West to do the dangerous work of building the railroads were unassimilable, Congress decided to close the door. It wasnt until 1943 that the law was repealed, and a yearly quota of Chinese immigrants was established.

In the 20th century, nativism ran like a virus through U.S. immigration policy. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses quickly degenerated to There goes the neighborhood.

In 1905, Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts warned that immigrants (read: the Irish) were diminishing the quality of our citizenship.

A couple decades later, declaring that America must remain American, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924. The law  which could have been called the No More Italians Act  set quotas for each country based on how many people it had sent to the United States in earlier decades. The Germans and Irish were fine, but the Italians were out of luck.

It wasnt until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that Congress scrapped this ghastly quota system based on national origin. In its place, it created a fairer, though still not perfect, system that put more emphasis on immigrants skills and family reunification.

Today, most immigrants to the United States come from Asia and Latin America, and many are greeted with the same mixture of intolerance and ignorance that earlier waves encountered.

Trump can be shameful, but hes not terribly original. He is just the latest carnival barker to take advantage of the anxiety that the sons and daughters of the immigrants of yesteryear feel toward the immigrants of today.

And despite what some people like to believe, Americans dont just have a problem with those who come to this country illegally. Legal immigrants are also a target. Just look at whats coming next.

According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration is now contemplating closing the door to would-be immigrants who are likely to require public assistance and deporting current green-card holders who depend on welfare and other government programs. There are also plans to limit visas so that American workers can be spared the indignity of competing for jobs with foreigners.

This is bad policy that amounts to protectionism for American workers. But, like the refugee ban and the wall that Trump promises to build on the U.S.-Mexico border, it cant very well be called un-American. In fact, its perfectly American.

And thats the misery of it.

Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group
Another day, another administration and Senate, another partisan fight that catches a highly qualified Supreme Court candidate in the crosshairs.

And while Democrats complain with some justification that Republicans should have taken up the nomination of well-qualified Merrick Garland late in President Obamas term, the Democrat and liberal reaction to President Trumps nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming that hes dangerous, extreme and outside the mainstream, borders on farce.

While his record favors allowing elected representatives rather than bureaucrats to make the law, no one can seriously suggest he would vote for radical rewriting of the law in cases such as Roe vs. Wade. And there is no question Gorsuch is qualified. Undergraduate degree from Columbia; law degree from Harvard, both with honors; and a doctor of philosophy from Oxford. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to the 10th Circuit, which includes New Mexico, in 2006.

He has clerked for Justice Byron White and then Justice Anthony Kennedy. He was rated well-qualified by the American Bar Association judicial-selection panel, its highest rating; is a member of the federal Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules and has a reputation as someone committed to the rule of law.

He would fill the vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia, one of the courts most conservative justices.

Albuquerque attorney Andy Schultz, who also clerked for White, says Gorsuch has a reputation for being remarkably prepared and really pushing attorneys to the edges of their arguments, not because hes a bully in any sense but because he really wants to know how far the law can go. In that sense, he will fit in very well with this current Supreme Court.

Former New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Paul Kennedy has argued cases before Gorsuch at the 10th Circuit. He is an enormous intellect  a really, really bright guy. In terms of his demeanor, he was great.

There is no chance Senate Democrats can block Gorsuch short of a filibuster, with Senate Republicans failing to get 60 votes for cloture to stop it  unless Senate Republicans follow suit and change the rule by using the so-called nuclear option. That would allow a vote to go forward on a simple majority. Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., did that in 2013 that when Democrats were in power to cover all appointments except Supreme Court.

Historically, both parties share the blame for denigrating the appointment of a Supreme Court justice to just one more partisan battle.

Thirty years ago, Democrats shot down President Ronald Reagans Supreme Court nominee, Judge Robert Bork, with such vengeance that his surname became a verb  Borked  meaning the obstruction of a political nominee by persistent vilification. Surely Democrats understand after the last election that the new president is a master of the craft.

In refusing to take up Garland, Senate Republicans justifiably cited the Biden rule, referring to the former vice presidents tactic of not acting on a potential nominee when he was a U.S. senator.

It is not in the best interests of the Senate to exercise the nuclear option. Democrats should participate fully in hearings and then allow a vote to go forward based on that record. Meanwhile, some New Mexicans will remember Gorsuch in a case that made headlines here.

In May 2011, a student at Cleveland Middle School interrupted physical education class by fake burping repeatedly. The teacher sent the boy into the hall, where he continued to poke his head back into the classroom and burp some more. The teacher called the school resource officer,  an APD officer assigned to the school, who arrested the boy, handcuffed him and took him to a juvenile detention facility for violating New Mexicos school disruption law. The boys mother sued the principal, an assistant principal and the police officer, claiming the arrest violated her sons constitutional rights.

A federal district court ruled in favor of the school officials and police officer, and the mother appealed, focusing only on the police officer. Though the 10th Circuit ruled 2-1 in favor of the officer, Gorsuchs respectful, well-reasoned dissent, which included a quote by Charles Dickens, pointed to case law that held that trivial interference with the educational process doesnt amount to a crime, and that there must be a more substantial, more physical disruption of school operations to justify arrest.

While neither N.M. Sens. Tom Udall nor Martin Heinrich, both Democrats, have said whether they plan to vote for or against Gorsuchs nomination, the country could use more of the Gorsuch approach and less of the hyperpartisanship that is crippling this nation.

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.
SANTA FE  Former state Rep. Paul Pacheco, who was ousted from the Legislature in last Novembers election, has been hired as a deputy secretary at the New Mexico Department of Corrections.

Pacheco, an Albuquerque Republican, started his new job last week and is being paid a $103,000-per year salary, according to an agency spokesman.

He will be overseeing the Corrections Departments Probation and Parole Division and the agencys training academy, in addition to other duties, Secretary-designate David Jablonski said.

Pacheco served four years in the New Mexico House of Representatives  from 2013 through 2016  before being defeated in his re-election bid last fall by Democrat Daymon Ely of Corrales.

A retired police officer, Pacheco pushed several bills seeking to increase criminal penalties during his stint in the Legislature, including a proposal to expand New Mexicos three strikes law for repeat criminal offenders.

Most of the bills stalled in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, due in part due to concerns about the costs they would impose on an already cash-strapped prison system.

Paul Pacheco brings a wealth of law enforcement experience, having served as an Albuquerque police officer for 27 years, Jablonski said in a statement provided to the Journal . His understanding of New Mexicos offender population and our criminal justice system will be an asset to our agency.

Pacheco was also a lead sponsor of a measure backed by Gov. Susana Martinez that sought to repeal a 2003 law allowing immigrants to obtain New Mexico drivers licenses, regardless of their immigration status.

The Corrections Department has been beset by chronic understaffing and high employee turnover, and former Secretary Gregg Marcantel stepped down from his post last fall.

The agency also faced scrutiny last year after a high-profile incident in which two violent inmates escaped from a prison transport van that had stopped to refuel in Artesia. After a frantic manhunt, the two inmates were apprehended separately days later in Albuquerque.

Overall, the number of inmates in New Mexicos state-run prisons has increased from 6,791 in the 2010 budget year to 7,556 in the current fiscal year, according to Legislative Finance Committee data.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

WASHINGTON  When the gavel sounded to start the first meeting of the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee in the new Congress last week, a New Mexico lawmaker was sitting in an especially powerful perch.

Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat who has served on the committee for the past eight years, is now its top-ranking Democrat, a position that gives Udall broad influence over federal policies affecting Indian Country, including the Navajo Nation, New Mexicos 19 pueblos and other tribes.

Udall said one of his highest priorities in the new role is simply to listen to Americas tribes.

I think theres been a lack of respect and a lack of understanding of Native American history and what they want in terms of a good future in America, Udall said in a recent

Journal interview in his Washington office. They were here first, and we need to respect that and work very carefully with them.

Udalls legendary political family has a long history of advocating for Native American causes. The New Mexico lawmakers ancestor, Jacob Hamblin, was a Utah Mormon and a so-called Indian peacemaker who served as a liaison between Indians and white settlers in sometimes brutal conflicts during U.S. expansion westward in the mid- to late 1800s. The senators father, Stewart Udall, served as U.S. Interior secretary under President John F. Kennedy, and had a reputation for respecting the dignity and sovereignty of Indian tribes.

Udall said that his upbringing informs his approach to Indian affairs.

It developed in me a real compassion for their situation, Udall said. As a kid, Id go with my father to the Interior Department and  you cant walk into that department not knowing that Native Americans are a very big part of it and its history.

As vice-chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, Udall said he will focus on health care and education, housing, economic development, infrastructure and public safety. Udall also said he will introduce legislation to crack down on the sale of sacred Indian cultural artifacts. Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico has been embroiled in a high-profile dispute over the attempted sale of a sacred pueblo shield at a Paris auction house.

I really feel cultural repatriation is important nationally and its something well be working on in the committee, and its also important to New Mexico tribes, Udall said.

In one of his first official acts in the new role, Udall wrote to President Donald Trump asking him to exempt from a federal hiring freeze agencies that provide essential services to Native communities  particularly the Indian Health Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education. Several of his Democratic colleagues on the committee signed the letter, but the committee chairman, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., did not.

In a fiercely polarized congressional climate, the Indian Affairs Committee has a reputation for collegial bipartisanship. The panel even refers to its top minority member as vice-chairman instead of ranking member. Udall said hes confident he can work with Hoeven on most issues in a collegial way. But the senator said hes concerned about the president, who he said has shown an early insensitivity to Native American issues. He cited as an example Trumps executive order last week that advances approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been the site of protests by Native Americans and others who are concerned about the pipeline leaking into groundwater and disturbing sacred grounds.

I fear that President Trumps abrupt executive order on the Dakota Access Pipeline is an indicator that his approach to Indian Country will be misguided and cruel, Udall said. One of the main priorities is ensuring we hold this new administration accountable on tribal issues.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment on Udalls remarks.

NM support

Native American leaders in New Mexico cheered Udalls appointment. Max Zuni, the lieutenant governor of Isleta Pueblo, told the Journal that Udall can be an effective advocate for Native American interests in water rights and other disputes.

It will be good to have someone we can call in Washington, Zuni said.

Russell Begaye, president of the Navajo Nation, called Udall a proven leader and voice for the Navajo people and Indian Country in Washington.

We are proud to have a New Mexican provide input and leadership for this important committee, Begaye said. I know he will continue his familys strong legacy and represent the Navajo people in Washington.

Begaye also said he hopes Udall can help Navajo farmers win a settlement from the federal government after the Environmental Protection Agency ruled this month it would not compensate Navajo farmers and others adversely affected by the Gold King Mine spill, which polluted waters and damaged crops on the reservation in 2015.

The EPA declared on Jan. 18 that, by law, it could not compensate farmers for the spill triggered when EPA workers trying to mitigate leakage from the mine inadvertently blew a hole in it, causing millions of gallons of toxic sludge to spill into the Animas River. Udall and other members of the New Mexico congressional delegation called the EPAs belated decision not to offer compensation outrageous. Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, nominated by Trump to lead the EPA, has agreed to revisit the decision if he is confirmed.

Kevin Washburn, a University of New Mexico law professor who served as director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Obama administration, told the Journal that Udall  as a voice of reason  has a chance to help Native Americans in his new role.

Washburn said he will be particularly interested in the committees advocacy for Native Americans as the Republican-controlled Congress tries to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Included within the ACA were several significant improvements in how health care is delivered in Indian country, Washburn said. If the Republicans use a bludgeon and try to do a blanket repeal of the entire ACA, then they would move Indian country backwards quite a bit. There was a lot of thoughtful, common-sense stuff in the ACA for tribes.

Washburn cited a provision allowing tribally run Indian clinics to take medical insurance from patients who are insured through their private employers as an example.

On the other hand, if the Republicans use a scalpel and are more thoughtful about reform, there are still some further tweaks that can improve even on what President Obama did, Washburn said. Indian Affairs may well play a role in shining the spotlight on these issues.

Washburn also said energy development on Indian lands will continue to be a hot-button topic, with tribes around the country taking different positions on federal policy according to their interests.

The Committee on Indian Affairs has long been interested in reforming how much control tribes have over their own energy development, but people have quibbled over how to go about that, so nothing has happened, Washburn said. Sen. Udall may be able to make a difference there.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

While most 19-year-olds are enrolling in college, working their first full-time job or considering whats next in life  all of which keeps their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts buzzing 24/7  Rishi Sharma is on a far different quest. The 19-year-old Californian has been interviewing at least one World War II combat veteran a day for more than a year, recording their stories and learning all he can from that quickly disappearing Greatest Generation.

To date, hes interviewed more than 260 such veterans, including several from New Mexico.

My best friends are World War II veterans, said Sharma, the son of Indian immigrants who was raised in Agoura Hills, Calif.

Armed with a video camera, a lengthy list of questions and a razor-sharp focus on the job at hand, Sharma has already traveled thousands of miles in his Honda Civic to interview any combat veteran with the mental acuity and time  typically four to six hours  to spare.

Four days into his New Mexico swing last week, Sharma was in the Northeast Heights home of Jim W. Wilson who, at age 95, is likely the last remaining Army paratrooper who helped liberate 2,147 civilian and military prisoners being held by their Japanese captors at the Los Banos internment camp in the Philippines. The Los Banos raid, which occurred 72 years ago this month, is among the most successful POW rescues in modern military history.

Over the course of several hours, Sharma and Wilson discussed the veterans childhood on a sharecropping farm in Elgin, Texas, the challenges of growing up during the Depression, his military service, the famous raid and his life after the war. Taking brief breaks as needed, Sharma patiently and painstakingly queried Wilson, hoping to get as complete a portrait of the veteran as he could.

At the end, Sharma offered Wilson a copy of the video to do with as he chooses.

Some veterans will share the video with their families and friends, and some wont do anything with it. Its entirely up to them, Sharma said. Thats his standard operating procedure.

Im not trying to make a cute movie of grandpa for the family. That would be a waste of time, Sharma said. What Im trying to do is give these World War II combat veterans a chance to get some things off their chests before they pass away.

Sharma said that although he thinks its important to preserve the veterans stories, theres no documentary or book in the works. Although he has sent the Library of Congress Veterans History Project some of the videos, he doesnt do it routinely. With a veterans permission he posts some of the videos on his Facebook page.

Im not trying to commercialize anything. I even give them the rights to the videos, he said.

A common interest

Being a stranger with a genuine interest in their wartime experiences, Sharma said, makes it easier for some veterans to share their stories  sometimes for the first time ever.

Im here one day, and gone the next, so theyre able to unload a lot of stuff on me, he said.

A lot of these veterans have told me things they havent talked about in 70 years.

Sharma is keenly aware that time is running out for him, and the veterans, to get their stories told.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, about 620,000 are still alive, according to the National World War II Museum. But about 372 of them die each day. Sharma said he thinks he has about seven years before his mission draws to its inevitable close.

My biggest thing right now is just interviewing them he said.

I dont want us to be a society that, when the last World War II veteran dies, it dawns on them that they should have asked grandpa more about his life, and that they shouldnt have taken them for granted.

Even Sharma isnt sure when his interest in World War II, and the men who fought in it, started, though its been as long as I can remember.

Ive always found it fascinating, he said.

World War II was the worst war this world has ever seen. Countries put their entire efforts and energy into killing each another, without a clear end game, he said.

When I was little I wanted to be a Marine, but I just thought of them as these strong guys with just the shirt on their back and a rifle, fighting on the sands of Iwo Jima, he said. I was pretty naive. Everything was black and white, good against evil.

Its not that way today, he said, and he has no interest in a military career  or any other career  until he finishes his project.

Traveling around the country to interview veterans isnt expensive, he said, but its not free, either. Because hes not old enough to rent a car  which makes flying a challenge  he drives his Civic everywhere.

Really, my biggest expense is gas money, he said. Im not very high cost, and I practically live in my car.

Sharma has set up a nonprofit to help fund his travels.

The goals of the nonprofit, he said, are to encourage people to befriend a World War II veteran, and to urge the media to publish or broadcast stories about World War II veterans to preserve their personal histories.

Theyre dying at such a rapid pace, he said. The next seven years is all we have with these guys.

And he laments that most of his peers have little interest in history, let alone the veterans of World War II.

Were so selfish today, he said. We care more about the Kardashians  than we do about the men who saved our world.

Heroes of the Second World War

heroesofthesecondworldwar.org

Heroes of the Second World War, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit set up by videographer Rishi Sharma, encourages people to befriend a World War II veteran. Sharma, 19, is working to interview at least one World War II combat veteran a day.

Sharma also has a GoFundMe account (www.gofundme.com/ww2heroes) to solicit donations to finance his travels.

We welcome suggestions for the daily Bright Spot. Send to newsroom@abqjournal.com
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

Shortly after the gruesome murder of 10-year-old Victoria Martens last August, then-New Mexico Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel announced that his teams had launched an after action review of how Fabian Gonzales had escaped the probation departments oversight for nearly 18 months until he was arrested in the girls death.

Corrections officials have insisted they never received notice from state District Court in Albuquerque that Gonzales, an admitted methamphetamine user, was supposed to be on court-ordered, supervised probation.

But over the past three months  despite Albuquerque Journal requests under the state Inspection of Public Records Act  the Corrections Department has failed time and again to turn over public records that could back up that claim.

District Court officials in Albuquerque say the court orders on Gonzales and 23 other offenders were sent to the Corrections Department via email in a timely fashion in 2015 and point out that Corrections officials have never come to review boxes of records the court was asked to compile for the review.

At the time of Victorias death, Gonzales was supposed to be serving two years supervised probation stemming from a plea deal in February 2015 on a child abandonment charge.

The fact that Gonzales never checked in with the probation department in Albuquerque could have been an automatic revocation of his probation and could have landed him in jail. Probation would likely have included home visits and drug tests.

None of that happened.

Public anger over the administrative foul-up was palpable after the murder and dismemberment of Victoria.

Gonzales, 32, is facing first-degree murder, criminal sexual penetration, child abuse and evidence tampering charges related to the girls death at the West Side Albuquerque apartment she shared with her mother and younger brother. Victorias mother, Michelle Martens, and Gonzales cousin Jessica Kelley are also charged in the death. All have pleaded not guilty, and the trial is scheduled for this fall.

With two prior convictions involving violence against women, Gonzales has an arrest record dating back at least 12 years. He also has a history of violating probation.

Late Friday, Corrections spokesman S.U. Mahesh told the Journal, Our review has shown that we didnt find any proof of receiving the email packet containing the file of Fabian Gonzales. He offered no information about the other 23 cases included in the emailed packet.

Moving forward, we have decided, as a partnership, to establish new procedures and processes to ensure that this does not happen again, Mahesh said in a written statement. This includes stationing an officer at the court to handle intake processing; ensuring defendants who are sentenced in court immediately see that officer before even leaving the building; and then a 24-hour follow up with the offender at our probation and parole office in Albuquerque.

On Tuesday, Mahesh said, Corrections will send an audit team to state District Court in Albuquerque to look through the boxes of court records of other offenders whose cases were sent via email to Corrections during the first half of 2015.

IPRA delays

The Journal on Nov. 1 filed a request under the state Inspection of Public Records Act seeking emails and other communications from the Corrections Department related to Gonzales case. Presumably, the records would have included details about the review ordered by Marcantel and provide more information about how Gonzales case slipped through the cracks.

But Corrections officials rejected the first Journal request for records because it didnt include an address even though the request was in the form of an Albuquerque Journal email. After an address was provided, the Corrections legal department responded that the request was too burdensome and notified the Journal not to expect the records for at least two months.

Typically, state law requires production of records within 15 days, and within a reasonable period of time if requests are too broad.

In their emails to the Journal, Corrections officials attributed the delays in producing the records to the careful gathering of records and legal scrutiny needed to determine what should be redacted or withheld.

To make the request less burdensome, the Journal on Nov. 7 narrowed the original scope of the records request. Instead of seeking internal emails and communications for the 10-week period after Martens death, the Journal agreed to a three-week span.

To date, not a single document has been produced. The request is still pending.

Records waiting

As part of their review, Corrections officials in late August asked the District Court administration in Albuquerque to pull all sentence and probation orders sent via email to Corrections over a six-month period beginning Jan. 1, 2015.

James A. Noel, executive officer for the 2nd Judicial District Court in Albuquerque, said last week the records have been available since early September but Corrections officials have yet to come look them.

In an email to Marcantel and other corrections officials dated Sept. 3, Noel wrote that he and his staff had spent more than 12 hours working over the Labor Day weekend compiling the records.

The six boxes plus additional file folders, containing about 10,000 records, are still sitting in a court administration office in Downtown Albuquerque.

Corrections spokesman Mahesh said the review of the court records has not taken place because of a change in leadership and scheduling conflicts. But that is no excuse.

The records had been available for inspection for nearly two months when Marcantel resigned as secretary effective Oct. 31, citing family reasons.

Alex Sanchez, the agencys deputy secretary who fielded media questions on the issue, left the agency shortly thereafter. She made a lateral transfer to the state Regulation and Licensing Department.

Blame game

After Gonzales was arrested in Victorias murder, then-deputy secretary Sanchez blamed the courts for sending his probation directive to an email address that had been shut down. But that court orders mailbox wasnt shut down until March 3, 2015, more than a week after the Gonzales paperwork was emailed, court records show.

Court officials said they didnt use that address anyway. Instead they provided date-stamped records showing they sent Gonzales paperwork to a probation and parole email address. A probation supervisor in Albuquerque directed the courts to use that email address back in December 2012, according to records reviewed by the Journal.

Gonzales case was included in a single packet of about two dozen criminal cases emailed on Feb. 25, 2015, and that email was never returned as undeliverable, court officials say.

Marcantel told Noel in an email last fall that probation email address was still operational but had a data limit capacity.

When officials from both agencies met Sept. 7, the discussion focused on ways to prevent probation cases from falling through the cracks in the future, according to draft minutes of the meeting.

By mid-September, Sanchez said the internal review so far hadnt shown any other cases had slipped through the cracks. She emphasized her agency was focused on moving forward as this issue is too important to us to try and finger point.

We could have been monitoring him, she told the Journal. But he still could have killed this child.

Record trail

Fabian Gonzales case was No. 13 in the packet forwarded to probation, according to court records.

Of the 23 other cases reviewed by the Journal last week, a majority documented state probation department involvement in the weeks and months after the Feb. 25, 2015 emailing.

Most defendants had either been assigned probation officers, received actual probation orders or were caught violating the terms of their probation by their probation officers.

There were at least four cases, including Gonzales, in which there was no mention of probation department activity after Feb. 25, 2015.

Ironically, Corrections and the Albuquerque district courts agreed to begin sending probation and other criminal case orders via email after the early release of inmate Chris Blattner in February 2012 had tragic consequences.

Blattner managed to walk out of prison three years early because Corrections officials said they never received the sentence notification from the courts about his 2009 heroin-trafficking conviction. That notice would have kept Blattner in prison until September 2015.

Just months after his release, Blattner killed Katherine Paquin, an Albuquerque woman who disappeared in August 2012. He subsequently pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in her death and promised to lead authorities to her body.

These days, some smaller district courts in New Mexico still notify probation officials by furnishing hard copies of court orders. Others rely on their district attorneys offices to inform Corrections.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

Clarification: NMSU history professor Ken Hammond is a former, not current, head of the department.

LAS CRUCES  Faculty at New Mexico State University are considering unionizing as a massive financial restructuring moves into the academic arena.

The conversation began last week in a string of emails among faculty across different departments. Its little more than chatter right now, according to faculty who participated in the email chain shared with the Journal, but its an indicator of the apprehension some are feeling as budget pressures mount.

There have been at least three failed efforts to unionize NMSU faculty over the past 20 years or so, according to Ken Hammond, a tenured professor in the Department of History and a representative to the faculty Senate.

In the past, there has been a wave of enthusiasm but it has petered out in the face of a broader sense of apathy, he said. In the current circumstances it might be different. Many faculty feel much more concerned, even threatened, by the budgets at the state level and the overall environment of higher education.

Bottom line, there is a concern about how decisions would be made to address fiscal concerns and budgeting concerns.

Universities statewide have been hit with budget cuts, as the Legislature has scaled back appropriations, student enrollment has declined and regents have limited tuition increases.

NMSU system Chancellor Garrey Carruthers has taken the cutbacks at the states second-largest university a step further: leading an effort to reorganize management, and now the colleges, to improve efficiencies.

Administrative departments have trimmed management and eliminated some positions. NMSU has slashed its instruction and general budget by more than $30 million over two years as a result.

College deans are now tasked with reorganizing the academic domain. Schools could be combined or programs eliminated; its not clear yet what shape the academic restructuring will take.

Carruthers said in an emailed response to questions that he believes there is a process that is followed in unionizing an institution and we would honor the process, rules and regulations for such an activity.

The faculty will be involved in the transforming efforts of the academic side under any circumstances, he said, but that effort is scheduled for this spring, which means a union, if formed, would not be in place.

In the email chain, faculty began by raising concerns about upcoming cuts and whether they would have a voice in the academic reorganization. Then, one professor noted that the Faculty Senate at an out-of-state university had more teeth thanks to a faculty union. Another professor replied with, Oh! The forbidden U word.

Tenured faculty are protected from layoffs, but associate, assistant and adjunct professors and instructors on the non-tenured college track are not. That means that tenured professors  who have something to gain and nothing to lose  will likely take the lead on any effort to unionize, said Julie Steinkopf Rice, a tenured sociology professor.

I have faculty who we are working with and we are protecting their anonymity because they could get fired, she said.

In theory, NMSU operates on a shared governance model, meaning the administration works in conjunction with the Faculty Senate on key issues. The Senate can weigh in with an opinion, but on matters of finance  and the ongoing restructuring  faculty have no veto.

The whole restructuring thing has been very top down, Rice said. The faculty have no voice.

Carruthers has said he intends to include faculty in the team charged with guiding the restructuring of the academic side; faculty were also included on the teams tasked with the administrative reorganization.

Nationwide, faculty at more than 500 institutions of higher education are unionized, 93 percent of them at public institutions, according to the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions at Hunter College in New York.

Schools in California, New York and New Jersey account for the majority of unionized faculty, according to the center.

There are a handful of faculty unions at higher education institutions in New Mexico, but not at University of New Mexico or NMSU.

Central New Mexico Community College and Northern New Mexico College faculty have collective bargaining agreements.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 3, ARMENPRESS. Fighter pilots of the fourth generation Mig 29 fighter jets began exercises in the Erebuni military air base of Armenias Russian military base.

The Southern military district of Russia told ARMENPRESS Mig 29 pilots conduct aerial trainings of takeoff and landing in mountainous terrains, as well as weather reconnaissance flights.

In 2017, pilots of the Russian military base of Armenia will carry out more than 100 exercises, also in collaboration with the artillery, tank and motorized rifle divisions.
Government institutions across the world are known for their bureaucracy, which amounts to piles of paperwork that never get checked, or with things getting misplaced.It happens, and it can be understandable to some extent. We are human, and we make blunders, and government employees make no exception from either rule.The latest mishap related to what we explained above has become newsworthy thanks to its magnitude. It took place at the Workington police station in Cumbria ( UK ), where police officers spotted a suspicious vehicle that was parked on their premises.With all of the world keeping a watchful eye for terrorists and a Vauxhall Corsa left unattended in the police stations parking lot, it was natural for the officers to be worried. They followed procedure and called a bomb squad, fearing that the vehicle may have been rigged with explosives.Roads were sealed off, the building was evacuated, and the subcompact car was blown up to ensure that it could not be detonated and harm innocent bystanders. From there, the police started to look who was the owner of the vehicle, and proceeded to notify him or her that they had to blow up their car.As the BBC notes, the officers who were on call at the time were unaware that their colleagues had parked the car outside the station after helping its owner, who became sick and had to be taken to the hospital. They apologized for the incident, and told the media that it was all done with public safety in mind.The problem was described as an internal communications error.




Check the permissions of the Security Context that your software is running under.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

- Benjamin Disraeli



In the below code snippet, Ring() method defined in Classes " SmartPhone" , " BasicPhone" etc is returning a custom datatype called " Sound" . As far as I have read few topics, custom datatypes can be implemented using Classes, Structures etc.Normally, I have worked with methods returning in-built datatypes like int , string etc but have no idea about methods returning custom datatypes like " Sound" as per mentioned example. So, how should I write/define the Class " Sound" for the above program to work



OR (an other explanation w.r.t the question asked)



If code execution calls " Phone.Ring()" statement in the foreach loop defined Main() method , let ' s say a message "MP3 music is playing" for Smartphone, "Polyphonic music is playing" for SemiSmartPhone, "8BitMusic is playing" for BasicPhone to be displayed on the console screen. Let me know if you need more details.To be honest, had posted in other forums, but couldn' t get an answer yet.As far as I remember, this code example has been picked from codeproject.com I believe. Thanks



My Program on hold:





class Sound { ??? } interface IRingable { public Sound Ring(); } class SmartPhone : IRingable { public Sound Ring() { return PlayMp3Music(); } } class SemiSmartPhone : IRingable { public Sound Ring() { return PolyPhonicMusic(); } } class BasicPhone : IRingable { public Sound Ring() { return 8BitMusic(); } } class Main { public static void Main(string[] args) { List<IRingable> phones = new List<IRingable>(); IRingable htc = new SmartPhone(); phones.Add(htc); IRingable samsung = new SemiSmartPhone(); phones.Add(samsung); IRingable nokia = new BasicPhone(); phones.Add(nokia); foreach (IRingable phone in phones) { phone.Ring(); } } }







So, the question you have here is, how would you declare these classes and how would you use them? To answer this, you are first going to have to decide whether Sound contains any functionality at all, or whether it is merely a contract. If it's merely a contract, then you would get rid of the Sound class altogether, and just have an interface that the different sound classes would play. Let's assume, though, that the Sound class has some functionality that is common across the different implementations - it could be that the Sound class is responsible for loading a sound in and then playing it, and the only difference in your implementations is which sound it brings in. In this case, you would make your Sound class abstract and you would inherit from this. This might give you something like this: C# public abstract class Sound { public void PlaySound() { SoundPlayer soundPlayer = new SoundPlayer(SoundName); soundPlayer.Play(); } protected abstract string SoundName { get ; } } Now, in this code, we can see that the SoundName property is marked as abstract which means that derived classes must provide an implementation. So, let's create an appropriate derived class here C# public class PolyphonicSound() { protected virtual string SoundName { get { return " MySoundFile.wav" ; } } } Now, with this in place, any time you want to use a polyphonic sound, you would use an instance of this class. As an example, you would change SemiSmartPhone to return the PolyphonicSound class like this: C# class SemiSmartPhone : IRingable { public Sound Ring() { return new PolyphonicSound(); } } Now, the final bit that needs to be sorted out (other than adding the other appropriate sound classes), is to sort out your foreach. Your current implementation has a return value that it does nothing with. We know that Ring will return the appropriate Sound implementation and that they have a PlaySound method that we need to call, so change this instead to be: C# foreach (IRingable phone in phones) { Sound sound = phone.Ring(); sound.PlaySound(); }

This space for rent



Why do we need Interfaces?[^]

The said example is under the section "Interfaces Treat different types in the Same Way". I was unable to run that example as "Sound" in the code is behaving like a custom datatype (correct me if I am wrong) and the Ring() in all classes was returning "Sound". There was no implementation for "Sound" class or structure in that program. So, just wanted to know from experts as how would a "Sound" class be defined for that program to run successfully. Any ways, thanks a lot & appreciate for taking time in replying.



Member 12984275 wrote: What should the implementation of this class be for the program It should be whatever is necessary to do whatever you want it to do. If you do not understand how to create a C# class then take a look at Classes and Structs (C# Programming Guide)[^].



i saw couple of sample code searching google and people said we can run ppt slide show inside webbrowser controls. so i did the same.

here is my code



webBrowser1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;

webBrowser1.Navigate("about.blank");

webBrowser1.Navigate(@"e:\Presentations-Tips.ppt");



when i run the code then a dialog come which ask me to choose one option out of 3 and i select open option. after selection open option power point apps open but no slide show run in my webbrowser control.



here is the screen shot url [screenshot]



i want to run ppt slide show inside my browser controls and i want also no dialog should come with 3 options and also ppt app should not run.



so guide me how could i run ppt slide show in my browser control without opening power point application. thanks

tbhattacharjee



please guide me what argument i need to pass with ppt files name when run with Process.Start as a result ppt slide should start automatically



System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("pptfilename.pptx")



thanks

tbhattacharjee





This space for rent





C# webBrowser1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill; webBrowser1.Navigate( " about.blank" ); webBrowser1.Navigate( @" e:\Presentations-Tips.ppt" );



when i run the code then a dialog come which ask me to choose one option out of 3 and i select open option. after selection open option power point apps open but no slide show run in my webbrowser control.



[here is the screen shot url]



the problem is when i run the above code then first power point application is open which i do not want. also nothing start showing in web browser controls.



basically i want to run ppt slide show in web browser controls but power point application will not run. now tell me how it will be possible and what code i need to use. thanks

tbhattacharjee



I have a basic WindowsForm C# application that loops thru a key (Dependencies) and list all values of all subkeys found. It is compiled to use Any CPU (unselecting "Prefer 32-bit" option as well )



registry hive looks like this:

Dependencies

-{{050d4fc8-5d48-4b8f-8972-47c82c46020f}

.....

.....

-{030d4fc8-5d48-4b8f-8342-47c82c46020f}

...

...

-Microsoft.VS.VC_RuntimeAdditionalVSU_x86,v11

-Microsoft.VS.VC_RuntimeMinimumVSU_amd64,v12

....

....



When I run the application in server 2012 or higher, the application reads all values found in each subkey (works great) but when I ran it in Windows 10 Pro, only the subkeys that start with Microsoft.VS.VC_..etc are read.



Any ideas how to fix it?



picasso2 wrote: Any ideas how to fix it? Without seeing some code it is impossible. You need to use regedit to look at the entries and see if there are any differences between the two systems. Then use your debugger to track the code and see exactly where the problem occurs. See also 32-bit and 64-bit Application Data in the Registry (Windows)[^].



I am using a third party reference, which is a COM object. The COM object has an Open and Close function and I need to make sure that Close is always called whenever possible. I wrote a wrapper class that implements IDisposable and in the Dispose function, I try to call the Close function. However I get a System.Runtime.InteropServices.InvalidComObjectException when I try to call the close function with additional details of "COM object that has been separated from its underlying RCW cannot be used."

public class MyWrapper : IDisposable { private Session _mySession = new Session(); public void Open() { _MySession.Open(); } public void Close() { _MySession.Close(); } public void Dispose() { Dispose( true ); GC.SuppressFinalize( this ); } public void Dispose( bool disposing) { _MySession.Close(); } ~MyWrapper() { Dispose( false ); } }

From my (limited) understanding, there are two reasons why I am getting the exception.

1) The Finalizer is running and calling the destructor, but because the finalizer is on a separate thread I get the error.

2) Based on this Stack Overflow[^] post, the Runtime Callable Wrapper (RCW) has it's own finalizer which is being called before mine, and getting rid of the COM object.



I don't know if either of these, or both of these are true, but what is the recommended way to implement a COM object that needs to have finalizer code run?



Hello, I have a Problem. I'd like to list all existing files on a Network share. My Problem: When I save my Username and Password in Windows I can access the NAS with Visual Studio and list the files.



Here is my code:

string path = @" \\192.168.0.5\Share" ; string userName = @" User" ; string userPassword = " Password" ; string userHost = " 192.168.0.5" ; NetworkCredential theNetworkCredential = new NetworkCredential(userName, userPassword); CredentialCache theNetCache = new CredentialCache(); theNetCache.Add( new Uri(path), " Basic" , theNetworkCredential); var g = theNetworkCredential.GetCredential( new Uri(path), " Basic" ); var tt = CredentialCache.DefaultNetworkCredentials; StorageFolder folder = await StorageFolder.GetFolderFromPathAsync(path); IReadOnlyList<StorageFile> fileList = await folder.GetFilesAsync(); foreach (StorageFile sF in fileList) { }







I'd like to save the Credentials in C# into the saved Login Passwords (logon-information, in German it is called Windows-Anmeldeinformationen, but not the Web-logon-Information)



Please rate it 1-10 where 10 is the highest. I only learned VB.NET from school and only have self-taught C# so most of the logic here I got from open-source projects and some throught. Took me hours to refine this but I still feel I can do better (I know how to use constructors, accessors, and such but I didn't use them here).



It is a simple INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE form with datagridview/listbox display.



MainForm:

C# using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Data; using System.Data.SqlClient; using System.Drawing; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Windows.Forms; namespace Workers { public partial class ManageUserRecords : Form { string getID { get ; set ; } string Emp_ID, Username, Password, Type, FirstName, MInitial, LastName, FullName, Address, Phone, Email; public ManageUserRecords() { InitializeComponent(); } private void ManageUserRecords_Load( object sender, EventArgs e) { load_Dgv(); hide_GridColumns(); load_lb(); } private void dataGridView1_CellClick( object sender, DataGridViewCellEventArgs e) { set_TxtBox(); } private void dataGridView1_ColumnHeaderMouseClick( object sender, DataGridViewCellMouseEventArgs e) { set_TxtBox(); } private void dataGridView1_KeyDown( object sender, KeyEventArgs e) { if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Up || e.KeyCode == Keys.Down) { set_TxtBox(); } } private void btnInsert_Click( object sender, EventArgs e) { if (( string )btnInsert.Tag == " Add New" ) { btnInsert.Tag = " Save Add" ; btnInsert.Text = " Save" ; clear_All(); txtFName.Select(); } else if (( string )btnInsert.Tag == " Save Add" ) { if (txtFName.TextLength < 1 || txtLName.TextLength < 1 ) { MessageBox.Show( " First Name & Last Name is required" ); return ; } else if (txtUsername.TextLength < 1 || txtPassword.TextLength < 1 ) { MessageBox.Show( " Username & Password is required" ); return ; } else if (cbType.Text == " " ) { MessageBox.Show( " Account Type is required" ); return ; } btnInsert.Tag = " Add New" ; btnInsert.Text = " Add New" ; Username = txtUsername.Text; Password = txtPassword.Text; Type = cbType.Text; FirstName = txtFName.Text; MInitial = txtMInitial.Text; LastName = txtLName.Text; FullName = FirstName + " " + MInitial + " " + LastName; Address = txtAddress.Text; Phone = txtPhone.Text; Email = txtEmail.Text; new FormWorkers().insert_Record(FullName, Username, Password, Type, FirstName, MInitial, LastName, Address, Phone, Email); string userInfo = String .Format( " Details:{0} Name : {1}{0} Address : {2}{0} Phone : {3}{0} Email : {4}{0}{0}Account:{0} Username : {5}{0} Type : {6}" , Environment.NewLine, FullName, Address, Phone, Email, Username, Type); MessageBox.Show( String .Format( " Record Added!{0}{0}" + userInfo, Environment.NewLine)); load_Dgv(); load_lb(); clear_All(); } } private void btnUpdate_Click( object sender, EventArgs e) { int count = dgvEmployees.SelectedRows.Count; if (count == 1 ) { if (( string )btnUpdate.Tag == " Update New" ) { btnUpdate.Tag = " Save" ; btnUpdate.Text = " Save" ; accessControls(); } else if (( string )btnUpdate.Tag == " Save" ) { btnUpdate.Tag = " Update New" ; btnUpdate.Text = " Update" ; Emp_ID = getID; Password = txtPassword.Text; Type = cbType.Text; FirstName = txtFName.Text; MInitial = txtMInitial.Text; LastName = txtLName.Text; FullName = FirstName + " " + MInitial + " " + LastName; Address = txtAddress.Text; Phone = txtPhone.Text; Email = txtEmail.Text; new FormWorkers().update_Info(Emp_ID, FullName, Password, Type, FirstName, MInitial, LastName, Address, Phone, Email); MessageBox.Show( " Record updated" ); load_Dgv(); load_lb(); clear_All(); } } else { MessageBox.Show( " Select an item from the list to update." ); } } private void btnDelete_Click( object sender, EventArgs e) { int count = dgvEmployees.SelectedRows.Count; if (count == 1 ) { Emp_ID = getID; new FormWorkers().delete_Record(Emp_ID); MessageBox.Show( " Record deleted" ); load_Dgv(); load_lb(); clear_All(); } else { MessageBox.Show( " Select an item from the list to delete." ); } } void accessControls() { foreach (Control txt in this .Controls) { if (txt is TextBox) { txt.Enabled = true ; } } foreach (Control txt in groupBox1.Controls) { if (txt is TextBox) { txt.Enabled = true ; } cbType.Enabled = true ; } } void load_Dgv() { new FormWorkers().load_Db(); dgvEmployees.DataSource = FormWorkers.sqldt; } void load_lb() { listBox1.Items.Clear(); new FormWorkers().load_List(); foreach (DataRow dtrows in FormWorkers.lbdt.Rows) { FormWorkers.dtrow = dtrows; listBox1.Items.Add( " (" + FormWorkers.dtrow[ " Emp_ID" ] + " ) " + " Name: " + FormWorkers.dtrow[ " Name" ]); } } void set_TxtBox() { DataGridViewRow CurrentRow = dgvEmployees.CurrentRow; getID = CurrentRow.Cells[0].Value.ToString(); txtFName.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[5].Value.ToString(); txtMInitial.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[6].Value.ToString(); txtLName.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[7].Value.ToString(); txtAddress.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[2].Value.ToString(); txtPhone.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[3].Value.ToString(); txtEmail.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[4].Value.ToString(); txtUsername.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[8].Value.ToString(); cbType.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[9].Value.ToString(); } void hide_GridColumns() { int colcount = dgvEmployees.Columns.Count - 1 ; for ( int i = 5 ; i <= colcount; i++) { dgvEmployees.Columns[i].Visible = false ; } } void clear_All() { foreach (Control txt in this .Controls) { if (txt is TextBox || ( string )btnDelete.Tag != " Delete" ) { txt.Text = " " ; if (txt.Enabled == true ) { txt.Enabled = false ; } else { txt.Enabled = true ; } } } foreach (Control txt in groupBox1.Controls) { if (txt is TextBox || ( string )btnDelete.Tag != " Delete" ) { txt.Text = " " ; if (txt.Enabled == true ) { txt.Enabled = false ; cbType.Enabled = false ; } else { txt.Enabled = true ; cbType.Enabled = true ; } } cbType.SelectedIndex = 0 ; } dgvEmployees.ClearSelection(); } } }



MainForm Class:

C# using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Data; using System.Data.SqlClient; using System.Windows.Forms; namespace Workers { class FormWorkers { SqlCommand cmdSelect, sqlInsert, sqlUpdate, sqlDelete; SqlDataAdapter sqlSelect; SqlDataReader rdr; public static DataRow dtrow; public static DataTable lbdt; public static DataTable sqldt; public static string ID; private static FormWorkers _main = new FormWorkers(); public static FormWorkers Main { get { return _main; } } public void load_List() { string connStr = @" Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS_KEVIN;Database=Test;Integrated Security=true" ; using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr)) { using (SqlDataAdapter sqlSelect = new SqlDataAdapter( " SELECT Emp_ID,Name FROM Employees INNER JOIN Accounts ON Employees.Acct_ID=Accounts.Acct_ID WHERE Emp_ID >= 1" , conn)) { lbdt = new DataTable(); sqlSelect.Fill(lbdt); dtrow = null ; } } } public void load_Db() { try { string connStr = @" Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS_KEVIN;Database=Test;Integrated Security=true" ; using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr)) { using (sqlSelect = new SqlDataAdapter( " SELECT Emp_ID AS 'ID',Accounts.Name,Emp_Address AS 'Address',Emp_Contact AS 'Phone',Emp_Email AS 'Email',Emp_FName,Emp_MName,Emp_LName,Username,Type FROM Employees INNER JOIN Accounts ON Employees.Acct_ID=Accounts.Acct_ID" , conn)) { sqldt = new DataTable(); sqlSelect.Fill(sqldt); } } } catch (SqlException err) { MessageBox.Show(err.Message, " Error" , MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information); } } public void insert_Record( string FullName, string Username, string Password, string Type, string FirstName, string MInitial, string LastName, string Address, string Phone, string Email) { try { string connStr = @" Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS_KEVIN;Database=Test;Integrated Security=true" ; using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr)) { using (sqlInsert = new SqlCommand( " INSERT INTO Accounts (Name,Username,Password,Type) VALUES (@name,@username,@password,@type);" + " INSERT INTO Employees (Acct_ID,Emp_FName,Emp_MName,Emp_LName,Emp_Address,Emp_Contact,Emp_Email) " + " SELECT TOP 1 Acct_ID,@FName,@MName,@LName,@Address,@Phone,@Email FROM Accounts ORDER BY Acct_ID DESC" , conn)) { sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @name" , FullName); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @username" , Username); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @password" , Password); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @type" , Type); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @FName" , FirstName); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @MName" , MInitial); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @LName" , LastName); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Address" , Address); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Phone" , Phone); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Email" , Email); conn.Open(); sqlInsert.ExecuteNonQuery(); } } } catch (SqlException err) { MessageBox.Show(err.Message, " Error" , MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information); } } public void update_Info( string Emp_ID, string FullName, string Password, string Type, string FirstName, string MInitial, string LastName, string Address, string Phone, string Email) { try { string connStr = @" Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS_KEVIN;Database=Test;Integrated Security=true" ; using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr)) { conn.Open(); using (sqlUpdate = new SqlCommand( " UPDATE Accounts SET Name=@name,Password=@password,Type=@type FROM Accounts INNER JOIN Employees ON Accounts.Acct_ID=Employees.Acct_ID WHERE Emp_ID=@Emp_ID;" + " UPDATE Employees SET Emp_FName=@FName,Emp_MName=@MName,Emp_LName=@LName,Emp_Address=@Address,Emp_Contact=@Phone,Emp_Email=@Email WHERE Emp_ID=@Emp_ID" , conn)) { sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @name" , FullName); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @password" , Password); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @type" , Type); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @FName" , FirstName); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @MName" , MInitial); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @LName" , LastName); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Address" , Address); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Phone" , Phone); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Email" , Email); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Emp_ID" , Emp_ID); sqlUpdate.ExecuteNonQuery(); } } } catch (SqlException err) { MessageBox.Show(err.Message, " Error" , MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error); } } public void delete_Record( string Emp_ID) { try { string connStr = @" Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS_KEVIN;Database=Test;Integrated Security=true" ; using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr)) { using (sqlDelete = new SqlCommand( " DELETE Accounts FROM Accounts INNER JOIN Employees ON Accounts.Acct_ID=Employees.Acct_ID WHERE Emp_ID=@ID;" + " DELETE FROM Employees WHERE Emp_ID=@ID" , conn)) { sqlDelete.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @ID" , Emp_ID); conn.Open(); sqlDelete.ExecuteNonQuery(); } } } catch (SqlException err) { MessageBox.Show(err.Message, " Error" , MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error); } } } }





Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...







Secure Password Authentication Explained Simply[^]

Salted Password Hashing - Doing it Right[^]





You've repeated the connection string in every method. You should move that to a field on the class, or better yet, store it in the application's configuration file.



You should remove all of the fields currently on your FormWorkers class, and use local variables and return values instead. As it stands, your code is not thread-safe.



You should make all of the methods in the FormWorkers class static , and mark the class itself as static . That way, you won't need to keep creating instances of the class to call the methods.





On the plus side, you have correctly parameterised your queries, avoiding SQL Injection vulnerabilities.





"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."

- Homer







Message Closed



modified 7-Feb-17 6:52am.


Meggitt PLC designs and manufactures components and sub-systems in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Airframe Systems, Engine Systems, Energy & Equipment, and Services & Support. It offers ice protection products, radomes, and structures; air data and flight display products; brake control and tyre pressure monitoring systems, and wheels and brakes; engine health and vibration monitors, H2/O2 analyzers, and turbine monitoring and protection products; and aircraft cameras and security systems, and wireless aircraft systems. The company also provides ammunition handling, thermal, weapon scoring, and weapon training systems; energy storage, power conversion and distribution, and power generation systems; ducting systems, engine composites, and flow control valves; and fire protection and controls comprising bleed air leak detection products, cables, electronic control units, fire and overheat detection products, and fire suppression products. In addition, it offers ground fueling, and fuel systems and tanks; motion control actuators, electric motor drives, and electric motors; oxygen and specialty restraint systems; and accelerometers, ceramics, fluid sensors, magnetic and current sensors, position and inertial sensors, pressure sensors, speed sensors, and temperature sensors. Further, the company provides polymer seals; heat exchangers, printed circuit heat exchangers, thermal components, and thermal management systems; and live fire and virtual trainers, as well as aftermarket services. It serves aerospace, defense, and energy and equipment markets. The company was formerly known as Meggitt Holdings Public Limited Company and changed its name to Meggitt PLC in April 1989. Meggitt PLC was incorporated in 1947 and is headquartered in Coventry, the United Kingdom.
Farmers have expressed concern about the announcement that Tesco is to buy Booker, the UKs largest food wholesaler and the company behind Londis and Budgens, in a 3.7bn deal.

The firms said the deal would create the 'UK's leading food business'.

But Farmers Union of Wales (FUW) Policy Officer Charlotte Priddy said there are already 'well recognised' concerns regarding the balance of power along the supply chain being loaded in favour of major retailers.

She said: Any moves which increase such imbalances are a great worry.

Mrs Priddy said there were also concerns the merger could have a particularly acute effect over some local supply chains where those companies were the main retailers.

The Union previously welcomed the establishment of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, which was formally established in 2013 to ensure supermarkets treat their suppliers lawfully and fairly.

The FUW will be monitoring the situation to see what impact it could have on farmers, and we would want to see the Competition and Markets Authority consider the merger carefully.

National Pig Association chief executive Zoe Davies questioned whether the link between Tesco, one of the toughest players in the retail market, and a major wholesaler could put further pressure on pig producers.

"We will seek assurance this does not create greater imbalance in the supply chain," she said.

In a joint statement, the two companies said that the combined group would bring benefits for consumers, independent retailers, caterers, small businesses, suppliers, and colleagues, and deliver 'significant value to shareholders'.
ALMA  A sale barn has been a part of Alma for nearly as long as there has been a community.

However, that chain of history was nearly broken a year ago, until a group of local investors stepped forward to purchase the Alma Commission Co. and restart Tuesday cattle sales on July 12 that had ended in March.

"I'm not sure when it originated. Maybe 100 years," said sale barn steering committee president Terry Kauk of Alma, adding that researching more about Alma's livestock sales history is on the to-do list. "It's been here a long time."

He said a sale barn originally was where the city's Harlan County Lake boat dock is now. The business was along the railroad tracks, before the tracks, barn and other buildings were "moved up the hill" and out of the way of the lake project.

There were several owners along the way, most recently Jim Barta of Norfolk. "That's who we purchased it from," Kauk said, adding that the closing was on May 4.

"Right now, the steering committee and its members own the barn," Kauk said, but the business soon will be rolled into a new company, Alma Livestock Auction LLC.

When that change is complete, the business will have a seven-member board for which there already have been nominations submitted.

"It will be producer-owned by the entire group. We haven't reached that benchmark," Kauk said, but the group is getting close.

He added that the limited liability company will be operated similar to a co-op, with patronage dividends and votes weighted based on investment in the company.

Steering committee treasurer Dena Dunse of Republican City said the goal is $350,000 of investment. She and her husband. Nate, have a cow-calf business.

"We're going to put some money into it obviously," Kauk said, when asked about building improvements. Work has started with a new computer system and office remodeling.

"Structure-wise, it's fair. We know we need to do some pen work, but the general appearance is pretty good," he continued. "We have to get the business model completed and then we can get working." Kauk said employee safety is a priority.

The effort to purchase and restart a livestock market that had seen dwindling sales in recent years began with two public information meetings in January 2016. Kauk said the 100 people who attended each meeting understood that saving the business was good for the community, the employees and agriculture.

Kauk credits longtime Alma Commission Co. employee Brenda Molzahn, who died unexpectedly three weeks ago, as the leader of that effort.

The next step was creating the 13-member steering committee that has representatives from Franklin, Harlan, Phelps and Furnas counties in Nebraska, and Phillips County in Kansas.

Kauk and Alma sale barn manager Matthew Hegamen said there used to be livestock markets in Franklin, Oxford, Holdrege and Phillipsburg, Kansas, in addition to Alma. Now the closest regular cattle sales are in Kearney, Lexington, Norton, Kansas, and Plainville, Kansas.

"I think that was one of Brenda's things. That between Plainville and Kearney is a long stretch," Kauk said.

The noon Tuesday sale in Alma primarily is for cattle, but Hegamen said there are sheep and goat sales on the first Tuesday of every month.

"There used to be swine through here," said Kauk, whose cattle business includes a cow-calf herd and fat cattle. His family's business also used to have swine and dairy cattle.

Hegamen is the only full-time employee at the sale barn, located on Seventh Street west of U.S. 183, but there are 25 part-time workers.

Hegamen said five or six come in on Mondays to help unload cattle, but nearly all of the part-timers are needed on a sale day. They check-in cattle, add sale identification tags for animals not sold in groups, and sort cattle and calves by gender and size.

Working in the crow's nest above the sale ring with Downs, Kansas, auctioneer Craig Heinen is a clerk and a "penner" who instructs the outside crew on which animals go together in pens for loading after the sale. There are two ringmen, and people to move cattle into and out of the sale ring.

"I don't think people understand that you still have three or four people in the office because some sellers, as soon as theirs (cattle) are sold, want their check," Kauk said. There also are buyers who want to settle up quickly and head down the road.

Another feature at the Alma sale barn is an in-house cafe operated by Marilyn Shaw of Red's Country Catering in Roseland.

Dunse described sales since the July reopening as "steady and improving."

"The numbers have been surprisingly pleasant and very positive," Kauk added. "It's hard when people have changed and gone somewhere else to get them back."

Having a Tuesday sale day has helped.

"We have the same exact buyers as the big barns have. Tuesday is not a real popular day in Nebraska for auctions, so the buyers come. They don't get a commission if they don't buy," Kauk said, explaining that the order buyers work for both large companies and private buyers.

The Alma sales also are linked to DV Auction, an online service that allows anyone to log on and bid. "They just have to be approved a day or two ahead of time," Hegamen said.

Although there is a mix of cattle on sale days, he said there are more small calves right off the cows early in the year, with bigger weaned calves arriving later. More cows are consigned when producers are doing pregnancy testing and culling open females.

Sale day cattle numbers are up and down, according to Hegamen, with a high of about 1,500 head. At the Jan. 10 sale, the total was just under 1,200, Dunse said.

Although the staff doesn't see a lot of breeding livestock, Hegamen said the plan in the next year is to look at offering some special bred cattle sales.

Ian and Christine James of Bloomington have reserved the Alma sale ring on March 14 for their James Angus bull sale.

When asked what is behind the successful effort to get a locally owned Alma sale barn going, Kauk said, "The key things are the importance of the business being here. We've had wonderful support from the area businesses and community interest in saving it."
Marts to donate Scotch Lamb for St Andrew's Day campaign




Haiti - Politics : Canada will be officially present at the inauguration of Jovenel Moise





Friday, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and Francophonie, confirmed that she will travel to Haiti from 6 to 8 February 2017 to represent Canada at the inauguration of elected President Jovenel Moise.



On February 7, the Minister will attend the inauguration of Jovenel Moise as the 58th president of the Republic of Haiti, to congratulate him officially, on behalf of the Government of Canada, following his election to office. The Minister will also take the opportunity of her stay to discuss local development priorities.



During her visit, the Minister will visit development projects supported by Canada and meet with stakeholders working in areas such as the promotion of womens rights and the safety and health of the most vulnerable Haitians, including women and children.



"I am looking forward to meeting the President of Haiti and discuss our priorities in dealing with the many challenges that country is facing. Canada will continue to support the efforts of the Haitian government by playing a leading role in the countrys development," said Minister Bibeau.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Urgent action needed : Ruling Bangladesh Awami League Law maker- Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shawon MP from Bhola-3 and his accomplices manhandled Adv. Rabindra Ghosh of Bangladesh Minority Watch and his accompanying HR activist today (3rd of February, 17) to stop fact finding of Minority Repression/land grabbing of Hindu victim- Sawpan Das Bhola District-Bangladesh. Date of incident: 3rd of February, 2017 at about 12.40 p.m.

I, Adv. Rabindra Ghosh, Dilip Kumar Roy of BDMW and Hindu victim  Sawpan Das today visited the Official residence of Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shawon MP at Road No.12 of DOHS Dhaka Cantonment at about 12.40 to appraise him continuous atrocities on Hindus at his constituency at Bhola-3 specially the incident of looting valuable paddies and trees belonging to one Sawpan Das of the same locality who did not receive any legal help from local administration despite competent courts orders in favor of Sawpan Das available. I drew the attention of Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shawon MP relating to recent publication of news reported in the Daily Motabad dated 3rd Dec,16 with regard to looting of Paddies from cultivable lands belonging to Sawpan Das by the Local U.P. Chairman  Abul Kashem Meah who is reported to be a land grabbers of Hindus of that area. The Member of Parliament became angry with me as I complained against his U.P. Chairman  Abul Kashem Meah for his alleged involvement. I also requested him to be judicious in considering the prayer of Sawpan Das for legal protection, but it is unfortunate that he started to rebuke me with filthy language saying Why you are crying for only Hindus? You will not claim any properties in future for Sawpan Das; otherwise I will compel you to take police action against you, I also tried to make him understand the legal position of the matter but Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shawon directed his accomplices with angry mood to put me in his car and wanted us to kidnap. All on a sudden some unknown political activists under his direction pushed me and my camera man- Dilip Kumar Roy from our behind and started to assault verbally and physically causing severe pain on my head. I have become traumatized due to such unwanted mental and physical torture. Luckily I along with my HR activists escaped this time also.

Thereafter, I also communicated with Asaduzzaman Kamal  Home Minister of Bangladesh over his mobile number tonight and he patiently heard the matter and requested me to write a complain on this unfortunate behavior of MP Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shawon at his disposal. I also tried to make a general diary at Cantonment Police station at Dhaka against MP Nurunnabi Chowdhury but the local Officer in Charge of Cantonment Police station refused to register any General diary for future reference.

Previously many times, I was intimidated by law enforcing agencies, Member of Parliament, Lawyers and other Ministers of the country in different parts of Bangladesh during our fact finding /investigation mission. Neither remedial measures nor any preventive action taken by the successive governments of BANGLADESH rendering our lives in a great risk and jeopardy.
Geert Wilders, the wild-haired head of the right-wing Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), launched a new manifesto that calls for the de-Islamization of the Netherlands as he leads in the polls to become the next prime minister.

Titled, The Netherlands is ours again, Wilders published the one page, 11 point screed on Thursday, highlighting the partys hard-line positions on Islam.

The document, published ahead of a general election in March, calls for the closure of all mosques and Islamic schools, a ban on the Koran, and no more immigrants from Islamic countries.

A ban on Islamic headscarves in public is also proposed, as well as the prohibition of all Islamic expressions which violate public order.

All these measures will, Wilders argues, save the country 7.2 bn (US$8bn).

The PVV is fighting Islam, wants to close the borders of the European Union and all the billions we thus save giving back to the people, Wilders said in a statement. My message to Netherlands: Netherlands must again be ours.

It also targets the European Union with the party promising to hold a referendum on the countrys membership in the EU.

The PVV is also calling for spending to be increased in the areas of policing and armed forces while they want no more money for foreign aid, windmills, art, innovation, public broadcasters.

Wilders plans have been described as utterly bizarre and unbelievable by the leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal, Sybrand van Haersma Buma.

The program will further polarize Dutch society, he said.

Wilders, who has twice appeared in court for inciting hatred in both 2011 and in March 2016, will emerge as the biggest party following Marchs elections, if the opinion polls are to be believed.

There is a catch though, with most parties stating they wont go into coalition with Wilders.

Wilders, who has often been compared to US Republican presidential Donald Trump for both their shared hair styles and immigration policies, attended the four-day US Republican Party convention in July.

I wish we had political leaders like this in the Netherlands who defend their own country and forget the rest, Wilders said of Trumps bid for the US presidency.

In 2009, Wilders was banned from the UK on public security grounds after his film Fitna branded the Koran a fascist book and linked it to terrorism, causing much controversy. An immigration tribunal ruling overturned the ban shortly after, however.

The following year, the PVV supported a minority government led by the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). This relationship ended in 2012, however, when the PVV pulled their support over austerity measures VVD wanted to introduce.

Source : RT
Ban the Ban: Welcome Immigrants and Refugees at San Jose Intl Airport

Date:

Sunday, February 05, 2017

Time:

2:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Event Type:

Critical Mass

Organizer/Author:

Rise Up for Justice

Email:

Phone:

408-297-2299

Location Details:

International Arrivals Terminal (next to Terminal A)

Mineta San Jose International Airport

1701 Airport Blvd.

San Jose, CA 95110

Come join us to welcome our arriving Muslim and Middle Eastern brothers and sisters to San Jose! Support the heroic act of Judge Robart in lifting the ban on immigrants and refugees from the countries affected by the Executive Order.



Bring signs and your positive energy!



Please note this is a non-violent event.



Location:

Meet in front of the International Arrivals Building, just south of Terminal A at Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC).



If You're Taking Public Transit:

Take VTA Lightrail to Metro Airport Station, then take the FREE VTA #10 bus route to Terminal A. The International Arrivals Building is across the street from the bus stop.



If You're Driving:

Park free on Metro Drive at 1st Street, then take the FREE VTA #10 bus route to Terminal A. The International Arrivals Building is across the street from the bus stop.



This event is sponsored by Riseup for Justice
Romania's government has said it will repeal an emergency decree which decriminalises official misconduct, following days of mass protests.

Prime minister Sorin Grindeanu said the government would hold an emergency meeting to repeal the decree, which has sparked the biggest protests in Romania since the end of communism in 1989.
Lincoln PhotoFest is upon us.

The fifth biennial citywide celebration of photography, organized by the Sheldon Museum of Art, will peak in March with most of the citys museums and galleries presenting photo shows. Some photography exhibitions, however are already on view.

Those exhibitions are:

* Bridges, Sharing Our Past to Enrich the Future, Great Plains Art Museum. This juried exhibition will travel the state during Nebraskas 150th Sesquicentennial and aims at connecting Nebraskans with their culture and heritage while highlighting historic places and often overlooked historical treasures in all 93 counties.

* Allison Grant: Unsoiled, Workspace Gallery. Chicago photographer Grant creates her landscape photographs in her studio, using plastics and other synthetic materials to create representations of natural landscapes and setting up each scene, often including appropriated images taken from various media.

* Photographs by Robert Osborn and J.D. VanLandingham, Iron Tail Gallery. This exhibition features the work of a pair of Montana-based photographers. Osborn, who is from Livingston, captures portraits of Montana Natives and central Montana cowboys. VanLandingham, from Bozeman, is known for her loose, painterly approach to photography, seen in her close-range imagery of wildlife.

Sheldon has three photography exhibitions on view through May 7. They are:

* Conflict and Consequence: Photographing War and its Aftermath, an exhibition that focuses on the work of 12 international photographers who have dedicated their careers as journalists, documentarians and artists to depicting the consequences of war. An examination of this exhibition will be featured in the Feb. 12 Journal Star.

* An-My Le: 29 Palms, a series of black-and-white photographs made by artist An-My Le in the California desert where U.S. Marines train for battle prior to deployment.

* "15 Photographs, 15 Curators," images selected by 15 University of Nebraska faculty, staff and students from Sheldons permanent holdings of nearly 3,000 photographs.

A listing and calendar of Lincoln PhotoFest exhibitions and programming can be found at lincolnphotofest.org. Organizations and galleries that are featuring photography or creating programming to accompany PhotoFest are encouraged to post those shows and events on the website, which is the official PhotoFest guide.

Van Hook in residence at The Cornhusker

Paper artist Nicole Battelle Van Hook has been named the second artist in residence at The Cornhusker. Known for her paper sculptures based on dance, Van Hook will follow encaustic artist Margaret Berry, with whom she collaborated for a show last month.

Van Hook will move into the hotels studio and gallery in April after Berry completes her residency. The hotels artist-in-residence program was created by Marcus Hotel & Resorts, the majority owner of The Cornhusker, which began a similar program at Milwaukees Pfister Hotel in 2009.
LifeStyle

The best LifeStyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel LifeStyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Deb Hutton and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand.

Get Foxtel
Ag Growth International Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes grain and rice handling, storage, and conditioning equipment in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company offers storage equipment comprising grain and bolted bins, hopper bins, smooth wall bins, temporary storage equipment, unloads and sweeps, water tanks, fuel tanks; and conditioning equipment, such as mixed flow dryers, fans and heaters, aerations, airaugers, aeration floors, vents and exhausters, stirrings, and accessories. It also provides portable handling equipment, such as portable augers, conveyors, grain vacs, post pounders, seed treaters, and accessories; and permanent handling equipment, including bucket elevators, chain and belt conveyors, enclosed belt conveyors, distributors, feed handling equipment, screw feeders and conveyors, and spouts and connections. In addition, the company offers towers, catwalks, ladders, all-steel buildings, flat storage buildings; batch blenders, bulk scales, declining weight blenders, vertical blenders, micro-dosing systems, mixers, milling equipment; and controllers, hazard monitoring equipment, monitoring and automation equipment, sampling solutions. Further, it provides cleaning and destoners, rice milling and processing equipment, bin unloads, blending and control systems, Liquid and dry fertilizer blending and conveying equipment, turnkey design and build construction solutions for seed and fertilizer facilities, and farm management software. The company markets its products under the AGI, Airlanco, Batco, Brownie, CMC, Compass, Danmare, Ezee-dry, Frame, Grain Guard, Grainmaxx, Hi Roller, Hutchinson, Improtech, Junge, Keho, Mayrath, Milltec, MMS, Neco, PTM, REM, Sabe, Sentinel, Storm, Suretrack, Tramco, Twister, Westeel, Westfield, Wheatheart, and Yargus brand names. It provides its equipment for agricultural commodities. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada.
Phillips 66 operates as an energy manufacturing and logistics company. It operates through four segments: Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties (M&S). The Midstream segment transports crude oil and other feedstocks; delivers refined petroleum products to market; provides terminaling and storage services for crude oil and refined petroleum products; transports, stores, fractionates, exports, and markets natural gas liquids; provides other fee-based processing services; and gathers, processes, transports, and markets natural gas. The Chemicals segment produces and markets ethylene and other olefin products; aromatics and styrenics products, such as benzene, cyclohexane, styrene, and polystyrene; and various specialty chemical products, including organosulfur chemicals, solvents, catalysts, and chemicals used in drilling and mining. The Refining segment refines crude oil and other feedstocks into petroleum products, such as gasolines, distillates, aviation, and renewable fuels at 12 refineries in the United States and Europe. The M&S segment purchases for resale and markets refined petroleum products, including gasolines, distillates, and aviation fuels primarily in the United States and Europe. This segment also manufactures and markets specialty products, such as base oils and lubricants. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Gov. Pete Ricketts' proposed income tax cuts would have little-to-no direct impact on most Nebraskans' pocketbooks, even a decade from now, which is the soonest they would take full effect.

A married couple earning the state's median household income, $54,996 in 2015, would see no change in their tax bill if the cuts were in full effect this year.

To save $100 under the plan, a couple would need to make at least $84,000 in annual income  probably more  and a single taxpayer would need to make $48,000, based on a Journal Star analysis vetted by independent accountants.

Ricketts dismissed the idea that those savings are insignificant.

"That's a hundred dollars of their money that we're not taking," he said in an interview. "We shouldn't take that money. We should let them keep it. That's their money, not ours."

Nebraskans pulling six- and seven-figure salaries would see much-larger savings under the proposal, which is under consideration by the Legislature and will be the subject of a public hearing Wednesday at the Capitol.

Supporters argue the plan would benefit owners of businesses both big and small, making Nebraska more attractive to investments that would ultimately boost the state as a whole.

That point  that lowering taxes, specifically income taxes, is the best way to grow the economy and help everyday Nebraskans by extension  is the underlying philosophy in dispute.

The governor's plan is backed by the Nebraska, Omaha and Lincoln chambers of commerce, as well as the Nebraska Federation of Independent Business, the Lincoln Independent Business Association and the Platte Institute, a conservative think tank that Ricketts founded.

"Our high income tax has negatively affected economic growth and job creation, and has hurt Nebraska families," said Barry Kennedy, president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

The governor's proposal (LB337) would gradually cut the state's top individual income tax rate, based on triggers designed to ensure state revenue still grows by 3.5 percent each year. The bill wouldn't impact corporate tax rates, but a vast majority of Nebraska businesses pay taxes at the individual level.

The measure was introduced on the governor's behalf by state Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, chairman of the Legislature's Revenue Committee.

Even if low- and middle-income taxpayers see little savings under the plan, Smith said the change would benefit the "collective taxpayer" by allowing businesses to keep more of the income they generate.

"They will choose to do something with that money that will put it back into the economy," Smith said.

Some argue cutting property taxes is more important to most Nebraskans, and a better way to generate savings for small businesses and working families.

Reform for Nebraska's Future, a group led by Lincoln City Councilman Trent Fellers, cites recent polling it commissioned showing 62 percent of Nebraskans felt property tax reform should be the priority.

While we appreciate and share Gov. Ricketts' and Sen. Jim Smiths interest in bettering the tax climate for Nebraskans, their focus on income tax cuts differs from the vast majority of Nebraskans who have made it clear they want property tax reform," Fellers said in a news release.

Ricketts countered that income tax rates weigh heavily on many firms' decisions to locate in the state.

"If we are too high, we don't even get looked at," the governor said.

Ricketts recounted his experience as an executive at Ameritrade, the Omaha-based online-brokerage firm founded by his father. He said Ameritrade didn't even consider property taxes when it was choosing the states where it would expand.

Reducing property taxes also presents a unique challenge for the state.

Property tax levies are set by local governments, not the state. Therefore, any state-led efforts to address property taxes require the state to lessen the amount of control those local entities have over their own budgets, or to pump more state income and sales-tax dollars into subsidizing local governments and property taxpayers.

Because of the state's budget crunch, any money for property-tax subsidies would probably come from raising taxes elsewhere  specifically sales taxes.

Ricketts said he opposes increasing the overall state sales tax, as well as any proposal that forces people to pay sales taxes they aren't already paying, such as a sales tax on food.

"I am open to other ideas that don't increase somebody's taxes," he said.

Smith said while he is "lock-step" with the governor in opposing a flat sales tax increase, he would be open to eliminating sales tax exemptions if it enables comprehensive tax reform  meaning income and property tax cuts.

Becky Gould, executive director of the progressive nonprofit Nebraska Appleseed, questioned why the state should lower taxes to benefit business.

"Nebraska has been doing well in most economic indicators," she said. "Where really is the problem here in terms of income tax holding us back as a state?"

The conservative-leaning Tax Foundation ranks Nebraska's tax climate square in the middle among states at 25th. But the state has nation-leading low unemployment, and places high in national rankings of overall business climate.

Forbes Magazine ranked the state third in the nation on its most recent Best States for Business list. CNBC put Nebraska 11th on a similar list, and even higher  seventh  in the category of business friendliness.

Gould also expressed concern that committing to phased-in tax cuts would hamper the state's ability to recover from budget cuts being made to address this year's revenue crunch.

"I think we want to be really careful and thoughtful about setting up a structural change to our tax system that won't easily be undone," she said.

Renee Fry, executive director of OpenSky Policy Institute, said the governor's proposal would create an "autopilot" that could trigger tax cuts even as the state faces a revenue shortfall.

Cuts under the proposal are based on revenue projections, not actual revenue growth. If projections are wrong and a tax cut is triggered during an economic downturn, lawmakers will be put in a bind.

"They're setting up a future Legislature to have to make really difficult choices," Fry said.
CNO Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, and other insurance products for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face. The company also focuses on worksite and group sales for businesses, associations, and other membership groups by interacting with customers at their place of employment. In addition, it provides fixed index annuities; fixed interest annuities, including fixed rate single and flexible premium deferred annuities; single premium immediate annuities; supplemental health products, such as specified disease, accident, and hospital indemnity products; and long-term care plans primarily to retirees and older self-employed individuals in the middle-income market. Further, the company offers universal life and other interest-sensitive life products; and traditional life policies that include whole life, graded benefit life, term life, and single premium whole life products, as well as graded benefit life insurance products. CNO Financial Group, Inc. markets its products under the Bankers Life, Washington National, and Colonial Penn brand names. The company sells its products through agents, independent producers, and direct marketing. CNO Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.
NextEra Energy, Inc. is the largest electric utility holding company in the US. It operates a network of power generation and distribution facilities that include fossil-fuel-generated and green energy. As of mid-2022, the company was capable of generating 58 GW of electricity with nearly 60% of the load produced by green sources including wind and solar. In their view, going green isnt an option, its the solution. NextEra Energy has been recognized multiple times as a leader in clean energy and ESG practices and was ranked the #1 electric and gas utility on the Forbes list of Most Admired Companies.

The company is the result of several mergers that begin with FPL Group. FPL Group is now a subsidiary of NextEra Energy and the third-largest provider of electricity in the US servicing nearly half of Florida. FPL and its affiliates are the single largest provider of renewable energy generated from wind and sun. The group changed its name in 2010 following a decision to shift focus onto renewable energy sources.

Today, NextEra Energy, Inc through its subsidiary FPL serves about 12 million people in eastern and southwestern Florida. The company employs nearly 14,900 people who service 5.8 million accounts. The company is in business to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity to retail and wholesale clients. Electricity is generated through wind, solar, nuclear, natural gas, and coal-fired facilities.

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He had to lie when he joined the Marines in 1980.

Gregory Smith was still in high school in Pocatello, Idaho, when he enlisted, and he would report for boot camp two days after graduation.

He chose the Marines because his parents didn't think he could handle it, he said, and he was a little rebellious when he was 17.

But not rebellious enough to answer the recruiter honestly.

I can remember being asked when I went in if I was gay. And you couldnt be gay.

He had to keep quiet when he joined the Nebraska Army National Guard more than two decades later. Hed ended up in Lincoln, and with those eight years in the Marines, needed just a dozen more to qualify for active-duty retirement benefits.

He was almost 40 and openly gay. But now he had to be careful again, especially after moving in with his partner, John Burns.

Everybody knew me, but they didnt know about my private life. With Dont Ask, Dont Tell, they could ask, but only if they had suspicions. They had to have evidence, concrete stuff.

He could finally be himself in 2011, when the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy was repealed, when being gay was no longer grounds for termination from the military.

Gregory was a married man that same day. He and John wasted no time traveling to Council Bluffs, Iowa, to stand before a judge, then return to Nebraska with the same last names.

And without the need to hide publicly who they were privately.

It felt really good, Gregory Smith-Burns said. I could be out and open.

* * *

Gregory Smith-Burns retired last week after serving the National Guard full-time since 2003. The master sergeant and his husband were the first active-duty military couple in Nebraska to be married, and now theyre likely the first to retire.

He served for a total of nearly 22 years, but with a 15-year break between stints. So he can remember what it was like to wear a uniform long before the Dont Ask, Dont Tell policy, during a time when President Ronald Reagan declared that homosexuality is incompatible with military service.

And it was tough. He couldnt be himself as a young Marine. Not at boot camp in San Diego, or at Camp Pendleton, Twentynine Palms or Okinawa.

You couldnt be who you wanted to be, not if you wanted a career in the military. You couldnt date anybody or see anybody or really have any kind of romantic and meaningful life like anyone else could.

He knew other gay Marines and hed see them off the base, at parties or at bars.

But the minute we were at work, they didn't know me, they didn't know who I was.

The years under Don't Ask, Don't Tell weren't necessarily easier. Under the 1993 policy, the military stopped asking if recruits were gay, but soldiers and sailors could be kicked out if they came out.

Gregory would get to work on Mondays at Camp Ashland and listen to other soldiers talk about what they did over the weekend with their wives and families. He couldn't share.

I could never say my partner or my husband or my spouse; no one knew about that aspect in my life because I couldnt talk about it. I had to watch what I said.

But he had another life.

He met John Burns at a party in Omaha in late 2007.

Afterward, he looked me up, John said, and we started chatting.

Then they started dating. They moved in together in 2008.

John, who works on the rail car line at Kawasaki, said he understood what Gregory was facing, why his partner would look over his shoulder when they were in public, why it could be dangerous to even hold hands.

They lived like that  quietly, with their guard up  for nearly four years.

I had already been out for years prior to that, but when youre with someone in the military, you cant openly express that, John said. You never know if you were going to see some of his fellow soldiers.

* * *

The policy prohibiting homosexuality in the armed forces disappeared at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011.

Gregory and John were married before lunch.

They were on the front page of the newspaper the next day.

And they learned they hadn't been as effective hiding their relationship as they thought they'd been.

I dont know how many phone calls I got that said, 'Congratulations, but we always knew you were gay,' Gregory said.

He returned to work to find hundreds of emails and a full voicemail box. He estimated 90 percent of the messages were positive, encouraging.

And I had a couple of run-ins with higher-ups who congratulated me. I never got the feeling that any of it was not sincere.

But there was backlash. Some soldiers accused him of seeking attention. Some said he wasn't right in the head, and they didn't want him showering in the same locker room.

Some even complained to his superiors, saying they couldn't serve with Gregory  and if he didn't go, they wanted to.

His sergeant major supported him.

"He told those people if they wanted to transfer, he would honor their request.

And he remembers friends stepping up, telling his critics to shut up and to grow up.

Mellessa Dasenbrock served with Gregory before and after he married John. The change in her friend was remarkable, she said, a 180-degree turn.

I saw a lot less stress. He seemed to joke around a lot more and have more fun, and he really started to enjoy his life. Before, he was really uptight, and I did tell him he was bitchy.

She also saw the manly men in the Guard who were unable to accept Gregory. Shed tell them: Hes got that right now. The military made that right.

Johns life changed, too, in the wake of the repeal. He was eligible for benefits. More than that, though, he could play a more complete role in Gregory's world.

I was able to go out to the base and got to meet a bunch of people. I was able to become part of his military life, officially.

After they were married, John was asked to serve on a panel discussion for the National Guard on LGBT issues. He said it was important to him to let people know it wasnt just those in the military making sacrifices.

It was actually kind of cool to be part of that, so people can know what its like to be the person in the relationship with the soldier, to have to be careful about who you talk to and what you do in public.

Gregory hasn't decided what's next for him. Hes applying for jobs. Hes looking back at his military career, and he knows younger soldiers will never know what its like to have to hide who they are.

But he also knows theres still work to be done. There are still chaplains who won't support gay soldiers. Still progress to be made on transgender issues. Still people to convince that being gay doesn't diminish the ability to do the job.

Gay people are who they are. And I think everybody needs to accept people for the way they are.
Energizer Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes household batteries, specialty batteries, and lighting products worldwide. It offers lithium, alkaline, carbon zinc, nickel metal hydride, zinc air, and silver oxide batteries under the Energizer and Eveready brands, as well as primary, rechargeable, specialty, and hearing aid batteries. The company also provides headlights, lanterns, and children's and area lights, as well as flash lights under the Energizer, Eveready, Rayovac, Hard Case, Dolphin, Varta, and WeatherReady brands. In addition, it licenses the Energizer and Eveready brands to companies developing consumer solutions in gaming, automotive batteries, portable power for critical devices, LED light bulbs, generators, power tools, household light bulbs, and other lighting products. Further, the company designs and markets automotive fragrance and appearance products, including protectants, wipes, tire and wheel care products, glass cleaners, leather care products, air fresheners, and washes to clean, shine, refresh, and protect interior and exterior automobile surfaces under the brand names of Armor All, Nu Finish, Refresh Your Car!, LEXOL, Eagle One, California Scents, Driven, and Bahama & Co; STP branded fuel and oil additives, functional fluids, and other performance chemical products; and do-it-yourself automotive air conditioning recharge products under the A/C PRO brand name, as well as other refrigerant and recharge kits, sealants, and accessories. It sells its products through direct sales force, distributors, and wholesalers; and through various retail and business-to-business channels, including mass merchandisers, club, electronics, food, home improvement, dollar store, auto, drug, hardware, e-commerce, convenience, sporting goods, hobby/craft, office, industrial, medical, and catalog. Energizer Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside U.S. Sen. Deb Fischers Lincoln office Saturday afternoon to voice dissatisfaction with her decision to vote for the appointment of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education.

Members of Suit Up Nebraska, the Womens March of Omaha and Indivisible organizations across Nebraska pulled together weekend rallies at Fischers offices across the state after she announced on Thursday her decision to support President Trump's nominee. Kathleen Burke, the director of Suit Up Nebraska, estimated more than 200 people at the Lincoln rally, nearly 80 in Scottsbluff, more than 70 and Kearney and several hundred in Omaha.

Soon after the announcement, opponents started a petition at Change.org calling for her resignation. As of Saturday afternoon, the petition had more than 5,000 supporters.

A final confirmation vote on DeVos is expected Monday in the Senate. On Saturday, members of the Lincoln community, perhaps as many as 400, gathered to encourage Fischer to change her mind.

Cindy Cerny, a retired special education teacher at Lincoln Public Schools, comes from a family of four generations of teachers. She called and emailed Fischers office before the rally to voice her concerns on DeVos, but the office's voicemail was full.

She has no business being the Secretary of Education, Cerny said. Shes lived her whole life against public schools, and I dont feel thats right.

Fischers office was reportedly flooded with calls after her announcement on Thursday. Around 6 a.m., she tweeted: It's all hands on deck in my offices answering phones. If you are a Nebraskan who can't get through, try my website.

Burke said the abundance of phone calls and emails Fischer received illustrated her constituents frustrations.

These rallies and phone calls and letters are evidence to the fact that people are tired of being dismissed and ignored by their representatives until the next election rolls around and they want to cater to us for our vote, she said in an email.

The crowd on Saturday was filled with active and retired teachers, students, parents and others who are concerned about the future of the public school system under a department led by DeVos. The rally began at 2 p.m. outside Fischers office in the Historic Haymarket, with protesters spilling onto Eighth Street.

Those close to the office placed signs and notes on the windows with phrases such as My children are more important than your money and Say no. Others chanted, Vote for our kids and held signs with slogans saying, A sister can change her shoes and her mind.

Burke said she was pleased with the turnout, especially since protesters had little time to prepare; Burke said Suit Up Nebraska started to design the rallies Thursday night.

I am extremely pleased with the commitment of people to turn out on a little more than 24 hours notice, Burke said. I believe that is a testament to the level of concern and investment people have on the issue of education.

This wasnt the first protest for Anna Hopkins, 77, who took part in sit-ins during the civil rights movement. She said shes concerned DeVos support for charter schools and voucher programs will lead to a return of segregation in Americas school systems between the rich and poor.

For the most part, it will turn the public schools into poverty schools, she said.

Hopkins opposes the voucher programs DeVos promotes, which would allow parents to use public funds to pay for their childs private school tuition.

People have a choice between public education and private education, and if they choose private education, I feel like they should pay for it, Hopkins said.

Fischer said through a news release that while she does not agree with DeVos on every issue, she believes DeVos has the ability and commitment to lead the department.

I have received assurances from her in writing that the Department of Education will not impose new federal mandates related to vouchers on our schools," Fischer said last week.

Fischer, whose mom was an elementary school teacher in Lincoln for more than 30 years, also said DeVos "made a commitment to me in writing that she will work to protect all students, especially those with disabilities.

Still, Nebraskans attending Saturday's rally worry about the future of the education system.

Sisters Roxann Sattler and Renee Lyons-Stephenson, both retired public schools employees, protested out of concern for future students.

I fear for education, I fear for the loss of resources, said Sattler, a retired librarian. Theres not enough money for education to begin with, so its got to go to the best place it can go. And to me, the best value for the buck is the public school system.

Samantha Madderom attended the rally with her 7-year-old daughter, holding a sign reading I am the momma grizzly bear you should be concerned about.

DeVos received criticism after her confirmation hearing when she said guns may have a place in schools to protect children from threats of grizzly bears.

Its just the craziest thing ever, Madderom said. "We need to protect our kids, but we dont need to protect them from grizzlies. We need to protect them from people that dont understand the importance of public education.
Zoetis Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, and commercializes animal health medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic products in the United States and internationally. It commercializes products primarily across species, including livestock, such as cattle, swine, poultry, fish, and sheep; and companion animals comprising dogs, cats, and horses. The company also offers vaccines, which are biological preparations to prevent diseases of the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and reproductive tracts or induce a specific immune response; anti-infectives that prevent, kill, or slow the growth of bacteria, fungi, or protozoa; and parasiticides that prevent or eliminate external and internal parasites, which include fleas, ticks, and worms. It also provides other pharmaceutical products that comprise pain and sedation, antiemetic, reproductive, and oncology products; dermatology products for itch associated with allergic conditions and atopic dermatitis; and medicated feed additives, which offer medicines to livestock. In addition, the company provides portable blood and urine analysis testing, including point-of-care diagnostic products, instruments and reagents, rapid immunoassay tests, reference laboratory kits and services, and blood glucose monitors; and other non-pharmaceutical products, including nutritionals and agribusiness services, as well as products and services in areas, such as biodevices, genetics tests, and precision animal health. It markets its products to veterinarians, livestock producers, and retail outlets, as well as third-party veterinary distributors through its sales representatives, and technical and veterinary operations specialists. The company was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.
Brussels (AFP) - Thousands of members of the Congolese diaspora gathered in Brussels on Sunday to pay their last respects to their nation's opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, who died in the Belgian capital last week.

After a three-day funeral wake, Tshisekedi's coffin was put on display for several hours in a large hall made available by city authorities, near the famous Atomium tourist attraction, AFP journalists said.

They came from across Belgium but also travelled from France, Britain and Germany, to pay a final tribute to "Tshishi", as his supporters called him.

"He is dead but his spirit remains among us. We will keep his heritage alive," one man told the crowd through a microphone, drawing applause in a hall filled with a festive atmosphere and many tearful eyes.

Tshisekedi died on Wednesday, having left the Democratic Republic of Congo eight days earlier for medical care abroad.

Etienne Tshisekedi

His death has plunged the vast African country further into uncertainty. He played a key role in negotiations aimed at peacefully resolving the political crisis triggered by President Joseph Kabila's refusal to leave power.

Kabila's mandate ended on December 20 but he has vowed to remain in office until elections can be held to choose a successor.

Tshisekedi became a dissident in 1979-1980 when he denounced the arbitrary rule of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, whom he had supported in gaining power after the country's independence from Belgium in 1960.

He then led opposition to Laurent Kabila, who took office by force in 1997, followed by his son Joseph who became president after his father's assassination in 2001.

Beaten in 2011 elections tainted by massive irregularities, Tshisekedi refused to recognise Kabila's legitimacy to the very last.
The Northern Regional Police Command has called on clients and staff of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), and the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), who were allegedly assaulted by a pro-New Patriotic Party (NPP) to come forward and identify their alleged attackers.

The Pro-NPP group, the Kandahar Boys, raided and locked up offices of the NHIA and the YEA in Tamale, and reports indicate that some persons were injured during the incident.

The police have since unlocked the offices but have made no arrests yet.

In an interview with Citi News, ASP Ebenezer Tetteh, the Public Relations Officer of the Northern Regional Police Command, condemned the actions of the group, and called on individuals to assist their investigations.

Some of these actions are actions that are against the law, and some of the methods they are using are also crude. They are attacking and beating some of the workers there as they are alleging, he said.

I must say that we will look into the matter and if the persons who allege they have been attacked can identify those persons who came there and did what they did to them, they must agree to assist the police to investigate the matter.

Kandahar boys deny assault claims

Meanwhile, the Kandahar Boys in an earlier interview with Citi News, insisted that they did not steal from the offices or assault any individual.

We went to the office and asked the staff to come out for us to lock the gates. So we locked the gates, but we did not steal anything. Everything that was in the office before is still in it, and no one was beaten and nothing was taken from the office, the Secretary of the group, Idris Abdul said.

He also justified the actions of his group saying they were only following the example of some National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters, who he said engaged in similar actions after the 2008 elections when their party assumed office.

We were taught that by the NDC; that if your people are in power and people are not in your favour, you have to sack them because they are in opposition and they will try to do whatever they can do to sabotage your government.



By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Dubai (AFP) - Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir accused the Egyptian government of harbouring and backing Sudanese opposition figures fighting his troops, in remarks broadcast on Sunday.

In his first such accusation against Cairo, Bashir said in an interview broadcast by Al-Arabiya that Sudanese opposition figures were "backed by Egyptian intelligence services".

"We raise this issue every time when we meet Egyptian officials," said Bashir.

Sudanese troops are fighting rebels in three conflict regions -- Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

"Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is a good man and he is my friend, but it's the Egyptian intelligence that I am accusing," he said.

"I'm not accusing President Sisi. I'm accusing the regime."

Bashir also denied allegations that Khartoum was hosting several members of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement banned by Cairo.

"Our policy is not to disturb the peace and security of any country and not to intervene in any internal issues of any country," he said.

Bashir reiterated that Sudan will protest to the United Nations if Egypt does not end its occupation of a border region claimed by his country.

"The Halayeb triangle is Sudanese and we will not make any concessions," he said.

Sudan will lodge a protest with the UN Security Council if Egypt refuses to settle the dispute, said Bashir, calling for "negotiations" with Cairo.

Egypt occupied the sparsely populated 25,000-square-kilometre (10,000-square-mile) Halayeb triangle in 1995, during a low point in relations between the two countries.

Sudan has regularly protested about Egypt's administration of Halayeb, which lies near the Red Sea in a mineral-rich border region.

Khartoum says that Halayeb has been part of its sovereign territory since shortly after independence in 1956.

Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and genocide related to the conflict in Darfur, also spoke in the interview of Sudan's ties with Washington.

The United States has blacklisted Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1993 and imposed a trade embargo on Khartoum in 1997 over its alleged support for Islamist groups.

"There is a five-point roadmap between us and the United States. The first point, terrorism, has been completed 100 percent and the Americans have acknowledged that," said Bashir.

He said he now expected the US Congress to remove Sudan from the blacklist.

Before he left office, former US president Barack Obama announced in a letter to Congress that he was easing economic sanctions against Khartoum.
- President Buhari left Nigeria on Thursday, January 19, on a medical vacation

- He was expected to work in Nigeria on February 6, according to the presidency

- However, the president requested extra days for his leave in the evening of Sunday, February 5

Buhari returning from a previous trip / File Photo

President Muhammadu Buhari will not be returning to the country as ealier believed. The recent development follows a letter written to the National Assembly, asking for an extension to his leave.

In a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President, Mr Femi Adesina titled President Buhari extends vacation, writes National Assembly, the president was advised to complete his medical test before returning to the country.

The statement read: "President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the National Assembly today, February 5, 2017, informing of his desire to extend his leave in order to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors.

"The President had planned to return to Abuja this evening, but was advised to complete the test cycle before returning. The notice has since been dispatched to the Senate President, and Speaker, House of Representatives.

"Mr. President expresses his sincere gratitude to Nigerians for their concern, prayers and kind wishes," the statement added.

Recall that on Thursday, January 19, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari left Nigeria for a 10-day medical vacation in the United Kingdom, leaving Yemi Osinbajo his Vice President as Acting President.

17 days later, he is set to return to resume work on February 6 amidst speculations that he had died in the hospital in UK.

He gave a letter to the National Assembly, notifying the Senate and the House of Representatives of his journey.

He also transferred the functions of his office to Vice President , Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who had been acting on his behalf.

The presidency has refuted claims of his death, saying that the president was hale and hearty.

READ ALSO: How President Buhari gets his day going

In a chat with the press on Friday, January 17, the presidential spokesman Femi Adesina disclosed that Buhari is expected back into the country on February 6th.

He also said: The growing tension about President Buharis health is purely unnecessary. The president is just simply fine. I speak with people around him at regular interval.

For his age, President Buhari is fit and capable of paddling the affairs of the country.

"He turned 74 last December and if you look at his engagement in the last two months, you will agree with me that its been very engaging. Remember his role in the Gambia issue."

My candid advise for those peddling the rumour is to change their mind and remain positive about this administration.

Meanwhile, Malam Gambo Jagindi who is the special adviser on media and publicity to the president of NYCN urged youths who are the future leaders of the country to show love, solidarity and support for the President.

READ ALSO: Obasanjo cautions Nigerians to stop wishing Buhari dead

On the other hand, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the minister of Information and Culture asks Nigerians to disregard the news attributed to him in which he was alleged to have said the president won't be coming back today as a result of faulty plane

Source: Legit.ng
- 41 deported Nigerians from the UK arrived Lagos on Wednesday, February 1

- Some of the deportees have said they can't trace their families

- An official of NEMA said they were expecting 83 people not 41

UK deportees arriving at the airport

41 Nigerians were deported from the United Kingdom (UK) and arrived in Lagos on Wednesday, February 1 2017.

They were brought home in a chartered Airbus 330 aircraft that landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport at about 8am.

The National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA) said that they were deported for alleged immigration offences.

NEMA however said it had informed that about 83 deportees were being expected, and that some of them who had not completed their prison sentences would be handed over to the Nigeria Prison Service to complete the terms.

According to Vanguard, however, only 43 people arrived, including eight females and 33 males, mostly Yoruba, Edo and Igbo.

READ ALSO: 92 immigrants deported from US to Africa

The deportees were received by Dr Bandele Onimode, Deputy Director, Search and Rescue, who served as a representative to the NEMA Director General.

The deportees were served breakfast and later interrogated to determine their states of origin so that they could be assisted to locate their relatives.

One of the deportees, a 37-year-old, Yoruba man said he left Nigeria about 17 years ago and had lost touch with home.

According to him, he put resources together to travel to the UK but could not raise the money to process stay papers.

He then began to engage in illegal activities until he was caught. In a similar vein, an Igbo eportee, said his parents were Lagos-based before he left for greener pastures, said he might not be able to trace the parents because he learnt they had relocated back home.

An aged woman among the deported said she left Nigeria some decades back, and she had lost touch with her relatives, including her children.

According to investigation, many of the deportees had used fake names in their documentation as they were ashamed to reveal their identities.

Those who could locate their Nigerian addresses were give assistance to return home while those who could not were taken to rehabilitation centers.

READ ALSO: 83 Nigerians deported from UK arrive Lagos airport

Ibrahim Farinloye, NEMA's information officer, said the agency was yet to ascertain why the number of the deportees was 41 instead of 83.

Also, he said the deportees were not prisoners.

They told us that 83 were coming but on arrival it was 41. This is humanitarian evacuation and many things could have happened at the last minute that may lead to increment or decrease in the number of the people.

We work on information made available to us, said Farinloye Asked why the deportees names were not released, he said, The Nigeria Immigration Service did the profiling and the names are not made public because of their security and social protection," Farinloye said.

Meanwhile, no less than 792 illegal immigrants were deported from Nigeria in 2016, according to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in Cross River state. About 65 viticms of human trafficking were also rescued.

Source: Legit.ng
- Archbishop of Enugu Anglican province has called for IPOB and MASSOB to unite

- Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma said Igbo people cannot take up arms

- Other Igbo leaders are calling for the factions to unite

Archbishop Chukwuma

The Archbishop of Enugu Anglican Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma has said Igbo people may not take up arms to fight.

Rev Chukwuma also said the people of the South East are not ready to fight another war.

When asked about a statement credited to the IPOB in which the group threatened to take up arms, Archbishop Chukwuma said:

The ongoing verbal attacks between IPOB and a section of MASSOB loyal to Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, has the Enugu Archbishop worried.

His words: Because whatever they are exchanging words for is their stomach and time has come for them to reason together and allow peace to reign.

READ ALSO: What does the Igbo want: Biafra, Presidency or restructuring?

"All we are talking about now is how to defend the cause of our people, not selfish individuals.

"Because both groups are controlled by someone and I will appeal to the followers to look back and caution themselves and find out the main cause of the face off and take a reasonable and honest cause that will be of benefit to our people.

"There is a better war to fight together because divided we fall; and that is the problem with the Igbo. We are not united; there is no proper leadership and I think with the new Ohanaeze, it is time to call them together and get them to fight a common cause rather than exchanging words.

"So, the newly elected leadership of Ohanaeze, led by Chief Nnia Nwodo has a very big assignment to wade into this misunderstanding; and if they can do that (I am ready to be involved also) they will be able to reach a common cause for which they can really salvage our people.

For now, the picture they are painting is one of disunity and people could start to take advantage of that; so that will not help us.

"We are brothers and we must come together to find out what is the problem we are facing and then face it together. When we are divided, we cannot make any move and we become a caricature to the enemy.

READ ALSO: IPOB gives 6 reasons for blasting Father Mbaka

Thats exactly what is happening and I am not happy about it because I believe all of them have different agenda, which must not be selfish; the agenda must be of benefit to our people.

"But when it is becoming selfish and too materialistic, becoming a struggle of what you get, then it becomes a disappointing situation and we dont want that.

"So, it is time for them to ask themselves pertinent questions and find a way to resolve their differences. What we need now is peace, when we are peacefully together and we engage in dialogue, then we can be able to push our case before the Federal Government.

I am totally against the rift between the two of them and I urge them to come together, reason together and see what they can do to find a common cause for the good of our people.

Meanwhile, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has recognized a European Union Parliament member as its trusted advocate.

The IPOB said Julie Ward has made remarkable efforts to speak against injustice and dehumanization against the group, its leadership and members.

A statement signed by IPOBs spokesperson Powerful Emma, the group called on all its members worldwide to show appreciation to the EU parliament member.

Source: Legit.ng
Sahara Reporters is reporting that president Buhari might need to remain in London for as long as four months to attend the medical issues.

According to the news outlet, the president requires a major surgery that would force him to miss work for at least four months.

The statement issued by Mr. Adesina was silent on the exact date of the president's return.

Legit.ng has not been able to independently verify this claim.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari has written the National Assembly of his desire to extend his vacation citing medical reasons.

The president had gone on a 10-day vacation in the UK which also included medical check-up and was expected back in the country on Monday, February 6.

Since his trip to the UK, there has been rumour that the president had passed away although this was refuted by his media aides.

READ ALSO: List of courses offered by University of Calabar

BREAKING: Buhari extends vacation

However, in a statement by Mr Femi Adesina who is the special adviser to the president on media and publicity on Sunday, January 5, the president said he had to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors.

Read the statement below:

President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the National Assembly today, February 5, 2017, informing of his desire to extend his leave in order to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors.

The President had planned to return to Abuja this evening, but was advised to complete the test cycle before returning. The notice has since been dispatched to the Senate President, and Speaker, House of Representatives.

Mr. President expresses his sincere gratitude to Nigerians for their concern, prayers and kind wishes.

Meanwhile, Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo reacted to the rumour that President Buhari had died describing those peddling the rumour as wicked.

He said the president needed our prayers and best wishes, which will ginger his morale to come back more stronger and better.

Obasanjo said the issue needed not be politicised and said it was wrong to wish anyone dead irrespective of differences and recalled he has been the victim of rumoured death while in office.

He said: If you dont like him, wait for another election, not going about to say he is dead. No matter his health situation, we should pray for him to recover quick and come back more stronger and better.

For anyone wishing him dead, such person or group of persons are callous, wicked and treacherous."

Source: Legit.ng
Jeanne Artz figured shed be married on paper for the rest of her life.

Not that she wanted to be married.

Artz and her husband parted ways nine years ago. She lives alone in Lincoln and he lives in the southern part of the state  same as being divorced.

But if she was going to live like a single person, she wanted to be legally single, Artz said.

Artz is 65, and Social Security disability is her only income, so she had no extra money for a divorce.

Then a friend at church told her about Aging Partners, a city agency with programs that include the services of an attorney who helps low-income seniors with legal issues.

The elder-law attorney doesnt usually handle divorces, Artz was told. But Mary Wilson does handle a few uncontested divorces that don't involve benefit issues.

And Artz had a simple situation. No children. No shared assets. No fights.

So a few months later, after she and her husband signed the documents, Artz went to court with Wilson and got the divorce.

Mary made the process simple for both of us. She just took away a lot of the worry and headache, Artz said.

Divorce is just 2 percent of Wilsons work with people in the eight counties Aging Partners serves. But sometimes people in nursing homes need proof of divorce for Medicaid benefits and they either dont have it or they never got divorced, Wilson said.

More than half of her work on behalf of seniors involves advance directives and powers of attorney. She also helps them solve credit issues, deal with Medicaid and make wills.

Wilson, who has handled legal cases for Aging Partners since 1989, served 370 Lancaster County clients in the past year.

Her law firm has a contract to provide the services for low-income seniors in Lancaster County ($54,469) and seven other Southeast Nebraska counties ($4,999).

Credit issues are a growing problem for them, she said.

Late last year, she worked with a man who had been arrested because he didnt show up for a court creditor's examination in western Nebraska.

Thats one of the few credit-related issues one can be arrested for, she said. In this case, the hearing was in another county and the man didn't know he missed it. Three years later, he was arrested in Lincoln.

Wilson had to contact the company owed the money and provide the information it would have obtained in the creditor's examination.

It turned out the man was judgment-proof. Had he showed up at the hearing, his problem would have been solved, she said.

Many low-income seniors, particularly those with no income beyond Social Security, are protected from having their incomes garnished, Wilson said.

Senior debt has become a significant problem, she said. Most of her Aging Partners clients barely have one month of Social Security available. Some have never had a credit card, yet are being given $30,000 credit limits.

Four kinds of debt are exempted from Social Security protection: student loans, child support, alimony and taxes.

You can have money withheld from Social Security for that kind of debt," Wilson said. "So you have to be proactive. I encourage people to get on top of that quickly.

Student loans have become a big issue, and Wilson has 15 active cases involving them. Congress has become more intent on collecting that debt, she said.

For people who didnt take care of student loans, interest accrues and the debt can become enormous.

Another more common legal issue is the growing number of parents in their 70s and 80s who are guardians for adult children with intellectual and/or physical impairment.

These parents worry about what will happen if they die suddenly. Finding someone to take over that guardianship responsibility and going to court to establish the guardianship takes time, potentially leaving a gap in oversight.

So Wilson has been doing a number of standby guardianships, which allow another person to step in immediately without a court hearing, if the parent is incapacitated or dies.

Wilson is also seeing more consumer problems. Recently, she represented a woman who bought a car with no warranty. The car wasnt even drivable and certainly wasnt safe. She intervened and got the womans money back.

Another common problem is people who have paid for a service but arent receiving it. She recently represented a woman who paid in cash for her phone service but wasn't properly credited, so the company turned off the phone.

These are simple if you still have receipts. But people dont hang onto their receipts too well.

In this case she told the company, which had monitors showing the business activity each day, to produce tapes showing the woman didnt come in to pay the bill the day she said she did.

And there are always issues related to Medicaid, the federal-state program that pays for health care for low-income seniors, and they can be complicated.

Wilson is representing a man who has lived in a nursing home since moving to Nebraska seven years ago. Hes paid more than $4 million for his care and is out of money.

But he doesnt qualify for Medicaid here because Nebraska says he is not a resident of the state.

Nebraska Medicaid policy doesnt count his seven years in the nursing home. He doesnt have immediate family living in the state, and he didnt have an address in Nebraska before moving into the nursing home.

This is a case where state policy doesn't seem to be in line with federal law, she said.
The West African Examination Council, WAEC, has endorsed Governor Rauf Aregbesolas policies, especially in the education sector.

Head of Nigeria National Office of the WAEC, Mr. Olutise Isaac Adenipekun, Presenting a Plaque to the Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola

Delivering a frame of endorsement to the governor on Friday, 3rd February, 2017, Head of the Nigeria National Office of the council, Mr. Olutise Isaac Adenipekun, who led a delegation of the national management of WAEC to the Governors office in Osogbo, said Governor Rauf Aregbesolas interventions in education is second to none in Nigeria.

Adenipekun said, "The ongoing revolution in the infrastructural re-engineering of the school complexes in the state of Osun has also caught the attention of all stakeholders in the education sector in Nigeria and beyond.

READ ALSO: Sokoto implements consolidated salary structure for lecturers

"The immense contribution of the state government in the development of infrastructural facilities in schools, in particular, the "Mega Schools Project" is remarkable. It is in fact second to none in Nigeria", he stressed.

Adenipekun said Osun has contributed significantly towards enhancing Information and Communication Technology, ICT required in education sector which according to him remains the prerequisite to development of quality education in the country.

Adenipekun, who recommended the Tablet of Knowledge to other states of the federation said the initiative had contributed towards educational development.

He described the innovation as a tool of educational revolution, breakthrough aimed at enhancing and encouraging the process of teaching and learning through the use of innovative technology.

"We are particularly proud of the landmark achievement and the major breakthrough of the current administration in Osun most significantly in education sector by the introduction of the ground breaking 'Tablet of Knowledge' also known as "Opon Imo" to students of the state at secondary level.

"As we commend the efforts of Mr. Governor on the landmark achievement and major breakthrough of his administration in education most importantly on the widely applauded 'Tablet of Knowledge' which had improved and encouraged teaching and learning, we equally recommend other states to key into this initiative so as to improve the education sector," he added.

READ ALSO: Fayose lashes at Buhari over economy

Governor Aregbesola who described "the Tablet of Knowledge" as a panacea to education revolution, said the state had recorded national and international awards on the initiative.

Commending WAEC for maintaining education standards in the country, Governor Aregbesola said the examination body had contributed tremendously in raising the standards of education in the West African sub-region.

Source: Legit.ng
Nigerians have reacted to the emerging report that President Muhammadu Buhari has written the National Assembly of his desire to extend his vacation citing medical reasons.

Buhari is incapable, he should resign now - Nigerians react to president's vacation extension

The president had gone on a 10-day vacation in the UK which also included medical check-up and was expected back in the country on Monday, January 6.

Since his trip to the UK, there have been rumours that the president had passed away although this was refuted by his media aides.

Below are reactions of Nigerians, drawn from various social media platforms.

Chukwuma Ibeh said: "If by Monday our president is not back, they should declare Tuesday and Wednesday public holidays so that all of us will go and look for our president.

Our president can't go to London and be missing like that.... Let them open boarder, we all go to London and look for him.... Which kind country, It started from, Missing Chibok girls!..... Missing Certificate!... Missing Budget!.... Missing Moon!.... And now,.. Huh,. Missing President!!... What is all this.... Enuf is Enuf... We are tired of all this missing missing things in Nigeria."

Doris Anyanwu Buhari was of the opinion that the President has "entered the "OTHER ROOM" adding: "Osibanjo over to you"

Awele Precious said: "If he is not capable he should resign"

Kefas John said: "What a joke!!! Can't they mail him the result??? He extends his vacation??? Ok...LOL So when is he coming back??? cos you didn't mention"

Shedrach Da Monarch said: "Which kind rough play be this if he is dead why not tell us than bitting around the bush . Why do the Hausa people love born to rule mentality than betterment of Nigerians."

Ernest Ezechukwu said: "Buhari is seriously sick and I don't think he can continue. The best thing for him is to bow out and save himself a disgrace."

Princess Gift said: "Where are those people that trek for him when he won, I need them to trek to London to find him is urgent please."

Nzube Clement Ojukwu Another yar'dua's game have start again oo. Then what's will be the fate of 15,000 northern who were to welcome him? ...

Blessman Onosetae said: "Buhari is dead...I don't know who wrote that nonsense dey called #letter... And am surprised some people are still expecting d dead to leave u.s mortuary to aso-rock"

Briggs Tamunosaki said: "APC we want our President u guys should go and bring our President back."

Jonas Johnkennedy said: "Lies upon lies. I thought the wife said he didn't go to the hospital."

Henry Nwoko said: "This is the time National Assembly must as a matter of urgency investigate the sources of that letter. This investigation will take them to the Hospital where Mr President is being taken care of.

If he is in a state of not being able to communicate,whether orally or in writing, then that letter would be seen to have been forged by some criminals at the corridors of power. I must warn that National Assembly must not accept that letter without subjecting it to a thorough investigation."

Ifeanyi Igwe said:"Something is going on. They should tell us the state of health of our president. Anyway I wish him quick recovery because I can't wish my follow humanbing death. Because death or been alive all is in the hand of the Lord. May God see him through."

Christian Iyegbu said: "Our prayers are very expensive considering the fact that a very good number of Christian where slotted under his control and nothing was done."

Hassan Akeem Olajuwon said: "Someone of us need to die and make sacrifice for this country and am ready, they can keep fooling us saying all sort. Am not praying for Buhari's death but our government is based on lies, propaganda, corruption here and there .

God please hear our cries because if tins continue like this to make heaven will be difficult for people, frustration everywhere. God save us!"

Ifeanyi Igwe said: "Something is going on. They should tell us the state of health of our president. Anyway I wish him quick recovery because I can't wish my follow humanbing death. Because death or been alive all is in the hand of the Lord. May God see him through."

Femi Oriola said: "I keep telling President Buhari's fans, that Buhari has escape the country's affairs due to incompetency...that's the main reason why he decided to fake his death.

Osibanjo, is now the new Nigerian President. So let's just adapt to the 2nd version of "change"...that man done die, let's forget about him."

Henry Nwoko said: "This is the time National Assembly must as a matter of urgency investigate the sources of that letter. This investigation will take them to the Hospital where Mr President is being taken care of.

If he is in a state of not being able to communicate,whether orally or in writing, then that letter would be seen to have been forged by some criminals at the corridors of power.

I must warn that National Assembly must not accept that letter without subjecting it to a thorough investigation."

Kenneth Uc Okpokiri said: "Receive a series of investigations. I wish him quick recovery. But what is wrong in telling us the truth that he needs more time to fully recuperate. What investigations would take 10days to retrieve in the UK? Even if he had a biopsy it wouldn't take as long as it does in Nigeria."

Daniel Livingstrong said: "Just imagine the kind of country we find ourselves. First, they vehemently denied he was dead, that he was on a ten day vacation, hale and hearty, then later, they said he would be back tomorrow, now because tomorrow is here, they are now begging us to pray for his health.

Our leaders are really our problem in this country. Why can't they just tell us the truth, why treat us like second class citizens in our own country?"

Feyikemi Bolaji-Ebo said: "To make matter worse our president can not still do a video chat and tell us he is alive. We are not fools. They will not succeed in all their plans."

Manfred Chimezie said: "Finally Yoruba has taken over power, good news for them."

Scintillate Rich Ieh said: "If buhari not dead..he should have come back today.. and silence all criticises that he is still alive.. my dear if you think back.. this is how #yaradua death start finally it was letter confirm that he is dead.. let me fold my arms and be watching .. it shall come to pass"

Godwin Irimoen said: "Mr President I want to see u back. U must complete Ur 4 years whether u like it or not. No be power day hungry u.lol"

Twitter reacts too

Source: Legit.ng
Former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri has reacted to the vacation extension proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier on Sunday, February 5, written to the National Assembly of his desire to extend his vacation citing medical reasons.

The president had gone on a 10-day vacation in the UK which also included medical check-up and was expected back in the country on Monday, February 6.

Reno Omokri took to his Facebook page to share his view on the issue, the status update read: "Two years ago Mbaka preached a sermon against GEJ titled 'From Goodluck to Badluck'.

Buhari Vacation: From Goodluck to Badluck, Mbaka was right - Omokri reacts

As things unfold today, I hope he is proud of himself! In 2012, Tunde Bakare preached a sermon and said "Up, up Jesus; down, down Jonathan".

I hope he is proud of himself today! Let me tell them that the Goodluck Jonathan they preached against is now the toast of the world.

He is more relaxed and at peace with himself. He is celebrated by world leaders and world institutions. I remind both of them that he who God has blessed, no Mbaka or Bakare can curse-Numbers 23:8."

Some reactions were generated by the former aide to GEJ's status update.

Augustine Ehico said: "May God continue to bless, honor, protect and preserve Ex President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan...He is an exemplary Leader and a True Democrat"

Onojobi Eliya-johnson Gold Olusegun said: "Bro, you are on point. There gods buhari is dying silently now. The blood of the Christians massacre both in southern Kaduna and all over the country will surely strike anyone who is involve either directly or indirectly with partial stroke and in due curse with a complete stroke. Our God fights for us. He's a God of yesterday, today and forever."

Fred Timi said: "@ Pastor Reno, you forgot to mention pastor Kalajaye of RCCG who in one of his sermon made derogatory speech like"What is the need of having a brother who cannot deliver, let the messiah come even if .....". I hope he is equally happy and satisfied of the outcome of events."

He further noted that his "concern with Nigerian Christian Leaders (except very few) is that they are too sanctimonious to take a position on issues bothering their faith and more often than not fail to speak up even against all odds! In America, the evangelicals drew the battle line by declaring openly their position on who to stand with but back here, if not for your type and others (Apostle Suleiman, Pastor Chris Okafor and Bishop David Oyedepo, Pastor Ayo Oritsejiafor, etc). I wonder what the fate of the church would have been?"

Source: Legit.ng
The presidency has reacted to concerns by some Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari is very sick which was why he extended his vacation.

President Muhammadu Buhari has written the National Assembly of his desire to extend his vacation citing medical reasons.

The president had gone on a 10-day vacation in the UK which also included medical check-up and was expected back in the country on Monday, January 6.

READ ALSO: Opinion: President Buhari - Dead or Alive?

Since his trip to the UK, there has been rumour that the president had passed away although this was refuted by his media aides.

However, in a statement by Mr Femi Adesina who is the special adviser to the president on media and publicity on Sunday, January 5, the president said he had to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors.

Premium Times reports that Garba Shehu who is the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity insisted that the president was not in a hospital as being widely circulated but at the Nigerian High Commission in UK.

He said: I just spoke to the presidents personal doctor, and he told me President Buhari is not in any serious condition as to worry about.

READ ALSO: Buhari to remain in London for four months

He is not in hospital. He is in the residence at the Nigerian High Commission.

He said Buhari was getting ready to return to Nigeria but some test results made him wait.

He and his delegation were ready to come home today but for the delayed test result which came in today which necessitated that he delays his return.

There is nothing to worry about as far as his condition is concerned.

Source: Legit.ng
BREAKING: Delta state draws battle line with FG over Ibori loot, reveals next move

Delta state has said that it will never allow the federal government claim the recovered loot (about N2.2 billion) of one of its former governors, James Ibori.
Music was not only Walter Hautzigs vocation. It also won over the young woman who would become his wife. And it saved his life.

Mr. Hautzig, a concert pianist who escaped from Nazi-occupied Vienna as a teenager armed with a fellowship from the Jerusalem Conservatory and went on to become a touring musical good-will ambassador, died on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 95.

The cause was congestive heart failure, his daughter, Deborah Hautzig, said.

Only five years after he blustered his way into an audition with the conservatorys director in 1938, the 21-year-old Mr. Hautzig made his American debut at Town Hall in New York with an ambitious program of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin. A reviewer for The New York Times said it augured a brilliant career.

Years later, Mr. Hautzig recalled, My father said I should be a doctor or a lawyer, but after Town Hall, he never left the house without the New York Times review in his pocket.
The federal judge who blocked President Trumps immigration order is described by former colleagues and acquaintances as a mainstream Republican who went from a career as a highly respected corporate lawyer in Seattle to an appointment by President George W. Bush to the federal bench.

The order on Friday by the judge, James Robart of Federal District Court in Seattle, reversed the presidents executive order restricting immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. It stirred the ire of Mr. Trump, who in a Twitter post on Saturday denigrated Judge Robart as a so-called judge and described the judges order as ridiculous.

Lawyers in Seattle describe Judge Robart, 69, as a disciplined judges judge who is unafraid of passing down unpopular rulings.

Michael D. McKay, a former United States attorney who is active in Republican politics in Washington State, called Judge Robart a smart, thoughtful guy and very even-tempered.
The exchange surfaced on Saturday night in an excerpt from the interview, which is to be broadcast on Sunday before the Super Bowl. What Mr. Trump was specifically referring to or whether there was added context that came after his comment was not immediately clear based on the excerpt that was made available.

In the interview, Mr. Trump was asked if he respected Mr. Putin. He said he did, adding that he respected a lot of people, but that doesnt mean Im going to get along with him.

Mr. Trump continued: Hes a leader of his country. I say its better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS  which is a major fight  and Islamic terrorism all over the world  major fight  thats a good thing. Will I get along with him? I have no idea. Its very possible that I wont.

Mr. Trumps campaign pledge to mend ties with Moscow has raised questions over his administrations commitment to maintaining sanctions against Russia for its involvement in the fighting and annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
The diplomatic travails of President Trump and his past Twitter fixation with Kristen Stewart provided plenty of fodder for Saturday Night Live this weekend. But a sketch lampooning Sean M. Spicer, the White House press secretary, in which he was impersonated by Melissa McCarthy, the comic actress and a surprise guest star, stole the show as S.N.L. continued to take swings at a president who delights in hitting back.

In the shows cold open, Alec Baldwin returned for another outing as Mr. Trump, phoning up other world leaders under the guidance of chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon (actually an S.N.L. cast member dressed as the Grim Reaper). As Mr. Trump, Mr. Baldwin first called Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia (Beck Bennett), who reminded him that President Barack Obama promised to receive 1,200 refugees held in detention in Australia.

No refugees, Mr. Baldwin said hastily. America first, Australia sucks. Your reef is failing. Prepare to go to war.
The Doctor  who isnt referred to as Doctor Who  is a Time Lord from a distant planet who explores the universe in a time machine called the Tardis (which stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space). A plucky human companion usually accompanies the Doctor, who faces a rotating cast of alien adversaries.

Originally conceived as a family-friendly educational program, the series began in 1963 and, with the exception of a 16-year gap (1989-2005), has been broadcast ever since.

The show is a national institution in Britain and a cult favorite elsewhere in the world, with more than 800 episodes (a Guinness world record).

The Doctor is capable of regenerating, a concept that was introduced to prolong the series when its first lead actor, William Hartnell, left amid failing health.

Mr. Capaldi, above, is the 12th actor  and the 12th white man  to fill the role. Fans have urged the producers to address the lack of diversity when the 13th Doctor makes his  or her  debut.

Chris Stanford contributed reporting.

_____

Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings.

What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes.com.
Those percentages are seldom matched by other large companies, according to the new study, Missing Pieces Report: The 2016 Board Diversity Census of Women and Minorities on Fortune 500 Boards.

With the current rate of progress, we arent likely to see the number of minorities and women increase to our target of 40 percent representation until the year 2026, said Ronald C. Parker, the chairman of the Alliance for Board Diversity. This is not acceptable. Corporations need to do more to keep pace with the countrys changing demographics.

Many companies, however, continue to turn to people who have had chief executive experience, and these tend to be men. In addition, only a small number of board seats turn over in any given year  about 350 around the country  which makes it difficult to quickly increase the numbers of women and minorities. The total number of Fortune 500 board seats last year was 5,440, down slightly from 5,463 in 2010.

Most boards range from nine to 11 people  which some companies argue is a reason for the lack of board directors with more diverse skills than those conventionally accepted for board candidates. The relatively low turnover  the average tenure is eight to 10 years  and the small number of companies that have term limits also make the move to broader inclusion less rapid than advocates would like.

A possible bright spot for increasing diversity is that many board members are in their 70s, meaning they are likely to step down in the coming years.
President Trumps vow to overhaul the Food and Drug Administration could bring major changes in policy, including steps to accelerate the process of approving new prescription drugs, setting up a clash with critics who say his push for deregulation might put consumers at risk.

Mr. Trump has been vetting candidates to run the agency, which regulates the safety of everything from drugs and medical devices to food and cosmetics. Among them is Jim ONeill, a former official at the Health and Human Services Department who is an associate of the Silicon Valley billionaire and Trump supporter Peter Thiel. Mr. ONeill has argued that companies should not have to prove that their drugs work in clinical trials before selling them to consumers.

Other candidates also have called for reducing regulatory hurdles.

If the most significant proposals are adopted  and many would require an act of Congress  they will reverse decades of policy and consumer protections dating to the 1960s. Congress toughened the drug approval process in the wake of the worldwide crisis over thalidomide, which caused severe birth defects in babies whose mothers had taken the drug in pregnancy. Since then, the F.D.A. has come to be viewed as the worlds leading watchdog for protecting the safety of food and drugs, a gold standard whose lead other countries often follow.

Mr. Trumps most recent statements, made at a White House round-table discussion last week with leaders of the nations top drug companies, have reverberated throughout the medical and pharmaceutical industries. Supporters of deregulation have long wanted to reduce bureaucracy and lessen oversight of drugs and devices, while critics say the market for drugs could be destabilized and the door opened to unproven products based on junk science.
Damien Chazelle, the filmmaker behind La La Land, won the best feature prize at the Directors Guild of America Awards on Saturday night in Los Angeles, pushing the whimsical musical front-runner ever closer to a best picture Oscar win.

The awards doled out by the major industry groups, which include the actors, producers and writers guilds, are strong predictors of eventual Oscar winners, and Mr. Chazelles victory also signals that hell probably prevail at the Academy Awards on Feb. 26 over Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) and Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea) for best director.

While La La Land, which collected 14 Oscar nominations, tying the record held by both All About Eve and Titanic, was not a nominee for the top prize, best ensemble, at the Screen Actors Guild Awards  that went to Hidden Figures  it did prevail at the Producers Guild Awards on Jan. 28. At this stage of the race, its hard to imagine La La losing momentum.

Ezra Edelman also added to his growing list of trophies this season by taking home the Directors Guilds best documentary feature award for O.J.: Made in America, making his nearly eight-hour film the one to beat come Oscars night.
The New York group was patterned after one in Puerto Rico that had been pushing for Mr. Lopez Riveras release, eventually gaining support that cut across party lines on the island. Some of that groups leaders visited New York, where the cause moved Melissa Montero Padilla to follow their example, getting 33 local women to come to the first rally, on March 30, 2014, in East Harlem. They chanted and handed out fliers, and, at later rallies, Mr. Lopez Rivera sometimes called in from prison.

Ms. Montero Padilla knows some people do not approve of Mr. Lopez Rivera and his role in the F.A.L.N., but she said his actions had to be seen in the context of Puerto Ricos relationship with the United States, from early efforts to Americanize its people to todays debt crisis and brain drain.

You have to look at more than 100 years of history to understand why these groups formed, she said. After the nationalist groups in Puerto Rico were imprisoned in the 50s, the movement changed, she added. In the 60s, 70s and 80s these clandestine groups formed, like they did in other parts of the world, using militant tactics.

The group attracted women from different parts of the city, as well as different professions. They felt that as women, they brought a different sensibility.

This was us as mothers, elders, law students and social workers standing up, said Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan, a human rights lawyer and one of the groups coordinators. There is a real different dynamic when women do it.

Speaking for myself, she continued, when women organize there is a different energy that is more about righteous indignation and morality. We are the ones in society charged with the care of our society in our families. When we say it is unacceptable to see one of our brothers in this condition, we bring moral outrage but not virulent anger.
Ms. Hughes and her family wrestled with Mr. Durst in Surrogates Court for control of Ms. Dursts estate, but suffered another defeat in 1983.

I was just so fed up, Ms. Hughes said. I broke down. I couldnt do it anymore.

For a long time, she refused to drive a car or even leave her apartment. She focused on her two daughters, whom she had long neglected.

In the end, Ms. Hughes was left without answers as to her sisters fate. But she never lost her conviction about Mr. Dursts culpability.

Ms. Hughes, her husband and Ms. McInerney cooperated with an investigation into Ms. Dursts disappearance that was started in 2000 by an enterprising State Police investigator, Joe Becerra, only to be disappointed again when the local district attorney did not indict Mr. Durst.

In recent years, Ms. Hughes and other members of her family have gone back to Surrogates Court to fight Mr. Durst and to have her sister declared dead as of Jan. 31, 1982. Their mother, Ann McCormack, died in May at 102, without knowing what happened to Kathie.

Its absurd that after 35 years New York has not charged him with murder, Robert Abrams, whose law firm, Abrams Fensterman, is representing Ms. Dursts family, said of Mr. Durst. If theyre not going to do it criminally, well do it civilly.

Whatever happens in Los Angeles, Mr. Durst will return to federal prison to serve the remaining time on a seven-year gun conviction.

We want some sort of peace, some answers as to where shes at, Ms. Hughes said. Why couldnt he just tell us? He has nothing to lose. Hes going to stay in jail.
The authorities in New York have taken a man into custody for questioning about last summers killing of a Queens jogger whose case has drawn widespread media attention, the police said on Saturday.

The identity of the man, who had not been charged with any crime as of Saturday night, was not released.

The body of the victim, Karina Vetrano, 30, was found on Aug. 2 in a marshy area of Spring Creek Park, not far from her home in Howard Beach. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled, the police said.

Public interest in the case has been fueled in part by the pleas of Ms. Vetranos father, Philip, a retired firefighter who often joined her on jogs but had injured his back not long before his daughters fatal run.
Ms. Vetranos parents came down the steps of their tan-brick house at midafternoon to speak to reporters. Her mother, Cathie Vetrano, referred to the suspect as an animal, a savage and a demon.

Image Robert K. Boyce, center, the Police Departments chief of detectives, arriving at the 106th Precinct station house in Ozone Park, Queens, to speak about the arrest in the case. Credit... Uli Seit for The New York Times

Our sorrow is so endlessly painful that hearing the news is not what I expected, Mrs. Vetrano said. Theres no happiness.

Chief Boyce said Mr. Lewis had received a number of summonses in that area dating to 2013. Those summonses, and the 911 call, apparently pointed detectives toward Mr. Lewis, who Chief Boyce said lives with his mother and is unemployed. The chief also said the attack appears to be a chance encounter.

Mr. Lewis now faces murder and sexual assault charges.

The case has remained unsolved into the winter despite appeals from the victims family and a reward that grew to more than $280,000. Ms. Vetranos father, Philip, and police investigators found her body just hours after she had gone for a run on Aug. 2 in Spring Creek Park.

It is a secluded park off Jamaica Bay where homeless people camp and teenagers roar by on all-terrain vehicles, even though A.T.V.s are prohibited in the park, part of the sprawling Gateway National Recreation Area. Ms. Vetrano was jogging on a fire trail, a pathway three miles long and just wide enough for a fire truck. She knew the route because she and her father had often jogged there, but she had gone alone that night because he had hurt his back.

Along the way, she exchanged text messages with a friend, but those messages stopped abruptly, the authorities said. Before long, her father called her cellphone, but she did not answer. He tried again and again. After two hours, he contacted a neighbor who is a police official, and officers were called in to search. Ms. Vetranos father joined them.
Rex Tillerson, who ran Exxon Mobil for a decade before signing on as Donald Trump's secretary of state, is reportedly "baffled" that the White House didn't consult with him on its controversial executive order restricting travel and immigration from seven mostly Muslim countries.

James Mattis, who retired as a four-star Marine Corps general and supervisor of the U.S. Central Command before becoming Trump's secretary of defense, is said by the Associated Press to be "particularly incensed" about exactly the same thing.

Both men -- seasoned, thoughtful managers with bucketloads of experience and insight -- probably thought that Trump recruited them to his cabinet to be trusted advisers. They may be in for more surprises, however, because there's a good chance that Trump sees them merely as hood ornaments atop the little engine of state he's building at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

For most of Trump's career he has trusted only a small group of longtime loyalists at the Trump Organization, and even then he has often tightened the circle further to family members.

Advisers will come and go in the White House in coming years, but it's likely that the only permanent confidantes and counselors to the most powerful man in the world will be his 36-year-old son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, 35.

It will probably be Javanka to whom Trump turns for final gut checks on major decisions, and the Tillersons and Mattises of the world may have to shuffle along.

Trump hasn't enjoyed sharing credit or center stage for long stretches with anyone other than family. Advisers like Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani (and Cory Lewandowski) who are considered overly ubiquitous or assertive -- or both -- can find themselves out on the street. That's a reality that may eventually land hard on Trump's current leading media ambassador, Kellyanne Conway, who seems to have enjoyed more airtime lately than her boss. Chief strategist Steve Bannon, on the other hand, has shrewdly managed to stay off TV and has avoided interviews (a posture Kushner also favors).

But Bannon, 63, had a coming-out of sorts over the last few days after it was revealed that he worked in secrecy with a White House youngster, 32-year-old Stephen Miller, to draft Trump's immigration order. Widespread outcry about the order and Bannon's apparent power to dictate policy -- along with his promotion to an influential position on Trump's National Security Council -- inspired a spate of recent headlines describing where gravity now resides in the Oval Office: with "President Bannon."

This creates some peril for Bannon. Trump has always enjoyed having street-smart brawlers like Bannon at his side (think of Roy Cohn and Roger Stone) but he's unlikely to countenance a pretender to the throne. (Even if Bannon is going out of his way not to pretend, the media has crowned him. Trump absorbs media coverage and it often sways him.)

Bannon and Conway may survive in the White House for as long as Trump does. But there are already rifts within Trump's senior team as different cliques jockey for position. And Trump's inability to knit together advisers and managers, and his family-centric ways, will continue to be stumbling blocks for his administration.

Trump's management experience has been confined to the boutique licensing and development business he and his children run from the 26th floor of Trump Tower. The only sizable enterprise he ever oversaw was his casino company, where success depended on sharing power with qualified managers, being emotionally and intellectually disciplined and thinking strategically. Trump did none of those things and ran that venture into the ground.

The practical implications of this for Trump's presidency have surfaced just 12 days into his tenure, with the word "chaos" a common term in many accounts of his immigration ban, his confrontation with the Justice Department, his random tweeting about replacing Obamacare, his fights with U.S. intelligence services and federal agencies that are investigating him and his allegations of voter fraud in the general election.

Trump, who famously quipped during the presidential campaign that he "knows more about ISIS than the generals do," on Sunday launched his first covert military strike against terrorists in Yemen -- an operation that apparently reflected the president's desire to accelerate the use of such actions. A Navy SEAL and an 8-year-old girl were killed and a U.S. aircraft crashed and had to be destroyed.

Trump campaigned in part on the notion that he would bring managerial prowess to the White House. But his entire business career, his presidential campaign, and now his presidency, have been routinely marked by chaos and seat-of-the-pants decision-making.

Some observers attribute this -- as well as Trump's haphazard tweeting and his fondness for confrontational or unsettling statements -- to various forms of the Trumpian dark arts and wily, strategic thinking. It's none of that. It's just Trump being Trump, and the country he's presiding over should brace itself accordingly.
On Friday, the F.C.C. took its first steps to pull back those rules, analysts said. Mr. Pai closed an investigation into zero-rating practices of the wireless providers T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. Zero-rating is the offering of free streaming and other downloads that do not count against limits on the amount of data a consumer can download.

If a provider like AT&T offers free streaming of its DirecTV programs, does that violate net neutrality rules because it could put competing video services at a disadvantage? Under its previous leadership, the F.C.C. said in a report that it saw some evidence that made it concerned. But Mr. Pai said after closing the investigations into wireless carriers that zero-rating was popular among consumers, particularly low-income households.

The speed of the ruling and the chairmans tone are very encouraging for internet service providers, said Paul Gallant, an analyst at Cowen. I think its a down payment on net neutrality, with much more to follow.

Last week, Mr. Pai said he disagreed with the move two years ago to declare broadband a utility. The reclassification of broadband into a service akin to telephones and electricity provided the legal foundation for net neutrality rules.

Mr. Pai said he had not decided how he would approach the overhaul of broadband classification and net neutrality rules, but he faces legal hurdles. A federal court upheld the rules last year, and the commission could end up in a lengthy legal battle if he tries to scrap the rules.

Mr. Pai will have the help of powerful members of Congress who have promised to attack the classification of broadband as a utility-like service. And he is popular among Republican leaders, including the Senates majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who with other members viewed Mr. Pai as a loyal voice of dissent during the Obama years. Mr. Pai, 44, the child of immigrants from India who settled in Kansas, is a fresh face for the Republican Party.

Congress could introduce legislation that limits the agencys ability to regulate broadband providers and enforce net neutrality rules. Also under attack are privacy rules for broadband providers.
WASHINGTON  President Trump is barreling into a confrontation with the courts barely two weeks after taking office, foreshadowing years of legal battles as an administration determined to disrupt the existing order presses the boundaries of executive power.

Lawyers for the administration were ordered to submit a brief on Monday defending Mr. Trumps order temporarily banning refugees from around the world and all visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. An appeals court in California refused on Sunday to reinstate the ban after a lower court blocked it.

As people from the countries targeted by Mr. Trump struggled to make their way to the United States while they could, the president for the second day in a row expressed rage at the judge in the case, this time accusing him of endangering national security. Vice President Mike Pence defended the presidents tone, but lawyers and lawmakers of both parties said Mr. Trumps comments reflected a lack of respect for the constitutional system of checks and balances.

Late in the day, Mr. Trump took to Twitter to pre-emptively blame the judge and the judiciary for what the president suggested would be a future terrorist attack.
LYON, France  The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen delivered a grim populist kickoff to her burgeoning presidential campaign on Sunday, warning thousands of her flag-waving supporters of two totalitarianisms, globalization and Islamism, that want to subjugate France.

Ms. Le Pens dark picture of a weakened France troubled by bureaucrats and burqas was a striking echo of themes being sounded across the Atlantic. France, a prosperous country with the worlds sixth-largest economy, was depicted as a besieged wreck. In a packed hall here, she made a point, in an hourlong speech brimming with nationalist fervor, of praising President Trump and the Americans who had elected him, as her supporters shouted forcefully, This is our country!

Americans, she said, had kept faith with their national interest, even as she promised to do the same for France, saying the French had been dispossessed of their patriotism.

Whether it will sell in a country undoubtedly frightened by terrorism and weary of unemployment hovering around 10 percent is unclear, but it is certain that Ms. Le Pens National Front party is closer than it has ever been to gaining power in France after over 40 years of existence. Polls show that she is very likely to reach at least a second round of voting in Frances two-stage electoral process this spring.
BUCHAREST, Romania  Romanian anticorruption protesters were out in record numbers on Sunday evening, so distrusting of their government that they refused to accept its contrite promise the night before to capitulate to their demands and rescind a decree that had decriminalized some corruption offenses.

Why are we still here now? said Ana Puiu, 24, a translator joining friends on the teeming square outside the main government building in Bucharest, the capital. Because we cant trust this new government.

As many as half a million protesters were in the streets nationwide, an estimated quarter of a million in Bucharest alone. Many said they would continue at least until they were convinced that the month-old government would refrain from future efforts to weaken the countrys corruption laws. And some vowed to keep up the pressure until ministerial heads roll, or the entire government falls.

We dont want to have to be the guardians during the night, coming out into the street to save the law, said Mihai Georgescu, 28, an information technology engineer. Maybe they will try again in a month.
A Zen Roshi Master to speak and lead meditation of Voice of the Faithful New Jersey

Fr. Robert E. Kennedy SJ

Media Contact

VOTFNJ

***@votfnj.org VOTFNJ

End

-- Fr. Robert E. Kennedy, S.J., Roshi, will present a program,n Sunday, February 26, 2017 at 3:30 PM at St. Mark Lutheran Church, 100 Harter Road, Morristown, NJSitting meditation will be a component of the program, so comfortable clothing is recommended.Father Robert E. Kennedy, S.J., joined the Jesuits straight out of Xavier High School in New York City and was ordained a priest in 1965. Kennedy, who describes himself as conservative by temperament, served the Church in Japan during Vatican II, and upon returning home was led to Zen in seeking a way to be Catholic that didn't depend on outer forms.After completing doctoral studies in theology and preparing for psychoanalytic training, he returned to Japan in 1976 to study with Yamada Roshi in Kamakura. He went on to study with Maezumi Roshi in Los Angeles, and with Bernard Glassman Roshi in New York. Glassman made Kennedy a teacher or sensei in 1991 and conferred Inka, or a final seal of approval, in 1997, making Kennedy a Zen Roshi or master. Through Zen, Kennedy came to see what Meister Eckhart, Thomas Merton, and other contemporary contemplatives described: At the end of our striving, we are meant not only to follow Christ but to be Him. Our true identity is one with God.Kennedy teaches theology at Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, N. J., and in addition, is a practicing psychoanalyst in New York City, a representative at the United Nations of the Institute for Spiritual Consciousness in Politics, and the author of two books:. He conducts weekend and weeklong sessions (Zen retreats) at centers in the United States, Mexico, Poland, England, and Ireland.All are welcome. There is no charge for the program. Information at:
By: USOH

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-- Both Wyoming Senate and Wyoming House of Representatives in Cheyenne started their day with ancient Hindu prayers on February three.These invocations contained verses from; the oldest existing scripture of the mankind still in common use.Hindu statesman Rajan Zed delivered these prayers from Sanskrit scriptures before the Senate and House. After Sanskrit delivery, he then read the English translation of the prayers. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.Zed, who is the President of Universal Society of Hinduism, besides, also recited fromand(Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. He started and ended the prayers with "Om", the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work.Reciting from, Rajan Zed said: "Asato ma sad gamaya, tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, mrtyor mamrtam gamaya", which he then interpreted as, "Lead us from the unreal to the Real, Lead us from darkness to Light, Lead us from death to immortality."Reading from, he urged the legislators to keep the welfare of others always in mind. Legislators and employees were seen standing in prayer mode with their heads bowed down during these invocations.Zed is a global Hindu and interfaith leader. Bestowed with World Interfaith Leader Award; Zed is Senior Fellow and Religious Advisor to Foundation for Religious Diplomacy, on the Advisory Board of The Interfaith Peace Project, Spiritual Advisor to National Association of Interchurch & Interfaith Families, etc. He was invited by President of European Parliament in Brussels (Belgium) for a meeting to promote interfaith dialogue. He also leads a weekly interfaith panel "Faith Forum" in a Gannett publication for the last nearly six years.Wearing saffron colored attire, a ruddraksh mala (rosary), and traditional sandalpaste tilak (religious mark) on the forehead, Zed sprinkled few drops of water from river Ganga of India, considered holy by Hindus, around the podiums. Zed presented a copy ofto Governor Matthew H. Mead and House Speaker Steve Harshman. Senate President Eli D. Bebout presented Zed with a memento of State of Wyoming Legislature.Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation)is its ultimate goal. There are about three million Hindus in USA.There are 60 members of the House of Representatives and 30 members of the Senate of the USA's State of Wyoming, whose nickname is "Cowboy State" and tagline is: "Some things can't be explained. Only experienced."
Along with Support from the Canada Council for the Arts & Ontario Arts Council

By: Jasmine Reimer

Jasmine Reimer

Contact

Ms. Jasmine Reimer

***@gmail.com Ms. Jasmine Reimer

End

--announced "" her second solo show with contemporary artistThe exhibit will run from February 2 through to March 2 2017.In all of her sculptures, Jasmine Reimer is both the protagonist searching for a resolution and the antagonist telling her a solution is impossible. In her most recent body of work, Small Obstructions, Reimer makes a new natural out of extant material. While using found and cast objects and re-forming them with sand or papier mache, she creates a simulacrum of a thing through the experience of a shifting, embodied state.All twenty-four sculptures inhabit the exhibition's title: Small Obstructions.The sculptures house blockages - or obstructions - such as cast blueberries, cherry tomatoes, chocolates, figs and avocados, which emerge provocatively from their surfaces, holes and cavities. Two black sand sculptures, Promises and Threats, are disturbed by the perfect forms of ruby-red tomato orbs. These sumptuous protuberances are stand-ins for greater or lesser predicaments, troubles and situations and they, more than adequately, illustrate the grey-ness between such divides. Whether Reimer's seductive fruits depict the potential delight of a promise or the heart-stopping noise of a threat is unclear.Jasmine Reimer is a Canadian artist currently based in Toronto Ontario Canada. She completed the Master of Fine Art ( http://www.jasminereimer.com/ ) Program at The University of Guelph in 2015 and the Bachelor of Fine Art Program at Emily Carr University in 2009. She has exhibited internationally including exhibitions at Fondiazone Bennatton in Venice, Italy and The Art Students League in New York.Recent solo exhibitions included Coherent Disorder and Confused Arousal at Georgia Scherman Projects, Toronto Canada and Two Kinds of Anything at G Gallery, Toronto Canada.www.jasminereimer.com
A last-minute change in Nebraskas new protocol for executions moves the process back into public view, where it should be so taxpayers can monitor what government is doing in their name.

The final protocol, which has been signed by Gov. Pete Ricketts, will allow taxpayers to know the identity of the person, company or entity supplying the execution drugs.

It allows the Corrections Department to use whatever appropriate lethal injection drugs are available and would give an inmate with a scheduled execution information on what drugs would be used and in what quantity 60 days before a request for a death warrant.

An open and transparent execution process is important to the public because discussion continues on various aspects of the death penalty and whether Nebraskas system will meet "the evolving standards of decency which mark the progress of a maturing society," as Chief Justice Earl Warren of the U.S. Supreme Court wrote in 1958.

At issue is whether Nebraskas system would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, which is banned by the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Some advocates of the death penalty, however, apparently are uncomfortable with the transparency of the new protocol.

Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell has introduced a bill that would allow the state to keep the record confidential if it would lead to disclosure of the person or entity that manufactures, supplies, compounds or prescribes the execution drugs.

Other states, including Texas and Missouri, currently shroud their executions in secrecy, and use pentobarbital made by an anonymous compounding pharmacy as part of their protocol. The only injectable form of the drug licensed for sale in the U.S. is Nembutal, made by a firm which refuses to sell it to prisons.

It wont be easy for Nebraska officials to devise a workable system that can survive legal challenges.

The history of the death penalty is one of constant evolution. The last person to be executed in Nebraska died in the electric chair. Electrocution subsequently was ruled to constitute cruel and unusual punishment by the state Supreme Court.

Meanwhile court rulings in other parts of the country continue to constrict the implementation of the death penalty. Last year only 20 people were executed nationwide, and only 30 were sentenced to death.

In the wake of the November vote in Nebraska the most important discussions on the immediate future of the death penalty will take place in a courtroom.

Legal challenges will multiply if the Legislature allows what amounts to an executioners hood in the new process for putting a convict to death. How could it be otherwise with a system that is demonstrably fallible and arbitrary?
Zayed University Students Accessibility Services Department was recognized as an Apple Distinguished Program for 2016-2018

Contact

Sara Hassan

Media Relations Specialist

***@zu.ac.ae Sara HassanMedia Relations Specialist

End

-- Zayed University Students Accessibility Services Department was recognized as an Apple Distinguished Program for 2016-2018 in an awarding ceremony held recently at Zayed University in Dubai campus.Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of State for Tolerance and President of Zayed University, congratulated Zayed University Students Accessibility Services Department for earning the Apple Distinguished Program recognition, which is reserved for programs that meet criteria for innovation, leadership, and educational excellence.Her Excellency affirmed the significance of supporting students with disabilities and ensuring that all of them regardless of their physical disability or other learning difficulties have access to high quality education and are able to successfully pursue a university-level degree and become fully productive and active members of the UAE community."It makes me happy and proud to see Zayed University embracing prominent centers equipped with the state-of-the-art educational tools such as, the Humaid Al Tayer's Assistive Technology Resource Center in Abu Dhabi campus and Khalaf Al Habtoor Assistive Technology Resource Center in Dubai Campus. We recall this generous and philanthropic initiative today in 2017, which the UAE wise leadership declared as the 'Year of Giving'," Her Excellency said.Her Excellency also pointed out that both centers provide a wonderful opportunity for students with disabilities to learn and excel personally and professionally, and are committed to delivering high quality services that will benefit students in their academic pursuits and any future endeavors.Professor Reyadh Al Mehaideb, Vice President of Zayed University, praised the achievement that Zayed University Students Accessibility Services Department accomplished through exerting endless efforts to empower students with disabilities and adopting innovative and non-traditional tools, which helped them to become independent, integrate more with their counterparts, and enjoy a better quality of academic life at Zayed University."The recognition of Zayed University Students Accessibility Services Department as an Apple Distinguished Program highlights our success as an innovative and compelling learning environment that engages students and provides tangible evidence of academic accomplishment,"Professor Al Mehaideb added.For her part, Dr Marilyn Roberts, Provost of Zayed University, said: "Since its foundation, Zayed University has been a forward thinking institution. It serves both the academic needs of our students and the community's aspirations. The Students Accessibility Services Department's extensive and effective use of assistive technology is an excellent example of our innovative and creative commitment to serve all students' needs and the community at large. Zayed University is committed to providing students with disabilities the opportunity to be fully integrated in the university in classes and extra-curricular activities."Furthermore, Fatma Al Qassimi, Manager of Students Accessibility Services Department, said: "It is our great pleasure and pride to see Zayed University students with disabilities using the best technical and most advanced services that Apple offers to enable them to perform their mission independently and integrate with their peers similarly.""Zayed University has a unique and distinguished experience in implementing the most progressive technologies to enable students with disabilities to complete their studies and make a meaningful contribution to their local community and to the UAE society as a whole. Additionally, through the use of iOS accessibility features, Zayed University enhanced teaching and learning for students with disabilities, who regularly attend their classes and workshops organized by the Students Accessibility Services Department."Mohja Ibrahim, Specialist at the Students Accessibility Services Department, said: "Zayed University actively promotes the use of iPad to their students with disabilities. iPad allowed me to support students with disabilities, whatever their special needs might be, to communicate in a better way and integrate them into a normal education system to be equal participants in the learning process."The recent technology adoptions in the various academic programs at Zayed University dramatically changed the learning experience for students with disabilities.Omar Al Hashmi, a Zayed University student with visual impairment, said: "I faced various barriers and challenges personally and academically. However, my life changed completely after joining Zayed University. I have received an excellent foundation at the Students Accessibility Services Department. We were trained to use Apple devices, such as MacBook and iPad. I was capable of browsing and reading easily using various applications to enhance the size of the text. I successfully met the learning outcomes like the rest of the students, just in a different way."Al Hashmi added: "With the support of an iPhone currency reader application, I was also able to identify money easily, which is a very challenging task for a visually impaired individual."Zayed University is today the premier national university in the United Arab Emirates and a regional leader in educational innovation and change. It has created and implemented a skills-rich, outcome-based general education program that systemically develops student skills, knowledge, and values associated with liberal learning and provided a solid foundation for pursuit of disciplinary majors and future careers. Zayed University welcomes national and international students, and provides them with a high quality education, offered by seasoned teaching scholars to prepare them to shape the future of the United Arab Emirates.Zayed University offers Undergraduate and Graduate degrees in the following Colleges: College of Arts & Creative Enterprises (recognized as substantially equivalent by NASAD), College of Business (Accredited by AACSB), College of Communication & Media Sciences (Accredited by ACEJMC), College of Education (Accredited by NCATE), College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, and College of Technological Innovation (Accredited by ABET). For more information, visit www.zu.ac.aeMedia contacts: Sara Sabry, Media Relations Specialist at the Office of the Vice President at Zayed UniversityDir-Tel: 025993630Mobile: 0566561059E-mail: Sara.Hassan@zu.ac.aeWeb: www.zu.ac.ae
 Bilateral non-oil foreign trade at USD7.4 billion in 2015  Increased trade and tourism exchange, cooperation in civil aviation, SMEs and innovation on top of meeting's agenda

By: Orient Planet PR & Marketing Communications

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-- Abu Dhabi, February 05, 2017H.E. Eng. Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, UAE Minister of Economy, will lead a top-level economic delegation from the UAE to the Republic of Turkey to attend a series of meetings for two days for the 9th session of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) between the two countries. The meetings will be held in the Turkish capital of Ankara from February 6 to 7, 2017, and will be chaired by the UAE Minister of Economy and Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Mehmet Simsek.Eng. Mohammed Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz Al Shehhi, the UAE Ministry of Economy's Undersecretary for Economic Affairs, and Husnu Dilemre, the Acting Deputy Undersecretary of Turkey's Ministry of Economy, will lead the technical and preparatory meeting prior to the JEC ministerial meeting in the presence of Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, UAE Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey, along with a number of senior officials and government representatives of both countries.The meeting's agenda will include a discussion on forming cooperative agreements in a number of important areas, particularly the expansion of bilateral trade and the creation of a cooperative model for knowledge exchange in the areas of innovation and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The session also seeks to highlight investment opportunities in the tourism, hospitality, food, transportation, renewable energy, health, and financial services sectors. It will discuss ways to enhance cooperation in the field of civil aviation as well.H.E. Al Mansoori, UAE Minister of Economy, said that growth opportunities for UAE-Turkey relations have not been fully explored, adding that the resumption of the JEC between the two countries is a positive step towards advancing the level of economic and trade relations between the two countries.He noted that innovation, SMEs and entrepreneurship are areas that hold many opportunities for cooperation and the exchange of expertise as well as the establishment of partnerships at both the government and private sector levels. He added that the UAE is highly interested in further developing areas of cooperation and creating new investment opportunities in civil aviation as the sector has a direct impact on trade and tourism flows.The UAE Minister highlighted the many achievements of the Turkish economy and its outstanding international reputation in the industrial sector, which he referred to as an important gateway to expand cooperation between the two countries through the exchange of knowledge and expertise in line with the UAE's vision of establishing a highly advanced industrial base that adds value to the national economy.He also emphasized the Turkish market's importance for UAE products and exports, as well as Turkey's being an access route to several European and Asian markets, similar to how the UAE provides a strategic link between the East and the West. He said that this presents promising possibilities for their joint economic and trade relations to expand to broader markets in the future.The trade volume between the UAE and Turkey has dramatically increased in recent years, with bilateral non-oil foreign trade inclusive of free zone activities reaching USD 7.4 billion by the end of 2015. Turkey was the UAE's 15th biggest global trade partner, sixth largest importer and 13th top exporter for the same year.
FM meets head of ICRC mission in Yemen





SANA'A, Feb. 04 (Saba) - Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf met here on Saturday with Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) mission in Yemen, Alexandre Faite.



The meeting discussed the worsening humanitarian situation in Mokha city of Taiz province and its neighboring areas because of the continuing Saudi-Emirati aggression, which poses danger threatening innocent civilians due to intensive brutal air bombing.



The foreign minister called on the ICRC to coordinate with the United Nations to pressure for stopping the targeting of civilians and their property by the Saudi aggression warplanes.



Sharaf warned of the Saudi aggression schemes that aim to target the safe coastal areas through indiscriminate barbaric shelling and evacuating them of residents in order to bring terrorists and extremist groups to those areas, which represents a direct and serious threat to the international navigation lines and to peace and security.



Head of the ICRC mission indicated to the possibility of establishing safe corridors for citizens who want to get out of Mokha city, as well as safe areas for citizens wishing to remain there, according to arrangements to be carried out by the Red Cross after the agreement upon.



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[04/February/2017]
Saudi aggression launches around 73 airstrikes on Yemen over 48 hours







By Baseema al-Absi



SANA'A, Feb. 5 (Saba)  At least three civilians were killed and dozens wounded in 73 airstrikes launched by US-backed Saudi aggression warplanes on several Yemeni provinces over the past 48 hours, officials told Saba on Sunday.



In Sana'a, the aggression warplanes launched two raids against al-Katab area in Nehm district.



The Saudi aggression also waged three air strikes on Sawad area of Sanhan distric, also in Sana'a province.



The Saudi aggression warplanes also launched four strikes on residential area of al Nahdayn, south of the capital Sanaa.

Also last night, the aggression warplanes waged three strikes on the residential area of al Hafa, southeast of the capital Sanaa.

In Sa'ada, the aggression warplanes waged two airstrikes on Om al-Riyah area. Three citizens were injured when the warplanes waged an airstrike onb the regular road in Munabih district.



The warplanes also launched two strikes on Walibah school and four raids on Abdullah bin Masood school in Razih district, destroying both schools.



Also the warplanes hit the house of a citizen in the same district, leading to a total collapse to the house.



More three air raids hit Nazir area in Razih.



In Jawf province, the warplanes launched three raids on a Numaniyah area in the district of al-Maslob, killing many of livestock. The aggression also launched three other air strikes on al-Mutoon district.



In Taiz , the aggression fighter jets waged two raids and dropped five phosphorous bombs on Omari residential area, and other more strike targeted al-Saeed school in Al-Mokha port city, as well as three other raids on the directorate of Mawza.



Also in Taiz province, at least two citizens were killed on Saturday night by Saudi airstrikes on the coastal city of al-Mokha.

In Marib province, the aggression warplanes carried out five raids on the valley of Sarem in Hreib Alqramish district, another raid hit a car of a citizen in al-Hajlan in Sirwah district, killing the citizen and injuring two others.



Hodeidah port city, the aggression launched an air raid on the area of 16 kilometers.



In Hajja province, the air raids targeted farms of al-Jar area in Abs district, amd three other strikes targeted Muthalath Medi area and coast, as well as five other strikes hit Harad district.



Also in Hajja, the Saudi aggression launched more than 20 airstrikes on Medi area for several hours, causing large damage to citizens' houses and farms.





BS/ZaK

Saba

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[05/February/2017]
Saudi aggression war jets continue strikes on civilians





SANA'A, Feb. 05 (Saba)  Saudi aggression's warplanes and its mercenaries continued barbaric strikes on citizens' property in various provinces over the past hours, a military official told Saba on Sunday.



The Saudi aggression air strikes hit fishers' boats in Tarfah island of Hodieda province, killing six fishermen and wounding six others, as well as targeting citizens' farms.



In Sana'a province, the Saudi enemy aircrafts launched two raids on Herib Nehm and another one on al-Nahdian area, in addition to four strikes on al-Hafa and al-Sawad areas.



In Mareb province, the aggression waged 11 air raids on Serwah district, two on al-Makhdara area and one on Habab valley.



In Hajjah province, Midi district was hit more than 20 times by the hostile fighter jets.



Moreover, the warplanes struck the complex of Barad al-Marashi district in Jawf province twice.



In Taiz province, the enemy's fighter jets launched more than 53 strikes on different areas of Mocha city, two raids on al-Amri area of Thubab district, and seven strikes on al-Barh area of Maqbanah district.



Meanwhile, Saudi-paid mercenaries' artillery shelled citizens' houses at al-Moghani and al-Sawis quarters in Mocha city, which led to killing a citizen.



The Saudi enemy bombed with missiles and artillery shells various area of Monabah district of Sa'ada province.



The official said that three US spy planes kept flying over Hodiedah province and a number of provinces in the country.



Moreover, the aggression mercenaries fired an artillery shell on Damt city in Dhalea province.



The Saudi aggression fighter jets waged two raids on Jarah valley in Jizan province and four others on Rabu'eh area in Asir province, the official added.





AA/BA

Saba

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[05/February/2017]
For Russian security officials cell phones and social networks are again proving to be major problem when it comes to keeping certain facts out of the news. The latest example is the effort to conceal the movements of elite Russian troops between Ukraine and Syria. A recent example is members of the 137th Guards Airborne Regiment who were mourning the recent deaths of three of their own in Syria. Part of this effort included messages and photos posted online. Comparing this to earlier postings it confirmed that the 137th had indeed been shifted from Ukraine to Syria and was experiencing more combat there than they had in eastern Ukraine.

The Russians also got bit by this intelligence vulnerability in 2015 as more Russian troops and heavy weapons began showing up in Syria. At first the Russians tried to deny it, but they were done in by their own troops posting (on Russian social networks) photos of their presence in (and travel to) Syria. The Russian censors got most of those posts removed but not before they were seen by Western media and intelligence agencies and filed away. All this was good news for the Western intel people and bad news for their Russian counterparts. This sort of thing has been going on since the late 1990s and despite increasingly strenuous efforts to get the troops to be discreet there are always enough who disobey to give the real or potential enemy what they are looking for.

All this is yet another side effect of cellphone cameras, which have become a major source of military intelligence and this is especially true with counter-terrorism operations. For example in mid-2015 the United States revealed how a picture an Islamic terrorist took of himself with his cellphone (a selfie) revealed the location of an ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) headquarters, which was promptly bombed. Such incidents are more common with poorly trained irregulars, but even well trained troops have problems with cellphone discipline. This problem is a 21st century one and it has been getting worse.

Incorporating cameras into cell phones first showed up in 2000 and the practice quickly spread. This proved to be very popular and as such phones became cheaper, and their cameras more capable, military intelligence agencies warned that troops were taking a lot of pictures, especially when in combat zones. The big problem was that the troops were post those photos online. This was leading to a lot of pictures going public that could reveal military secrets. Efforts to ban troop use of cellphones in combat zones or inside classified areas had some success, but that only reduced the flood of useful (to intelligence experts) cellphone photos. It has proved nearly impossible to eliminate the problem. This became a major problem because of improved technology. This happened because cellphone networks entered the 3rd generation (3G) about the same time cellphone cameras were introduced it became very easy to quickly distribute pictures. The 3G networks enabled cellphone users to take photos and immediately send them to someone else, or post them to a website. By 2010 social networks were growing in popularity and cellphone users competed to take and post photos of all sorts of things, often getting newsworthy photos into circulation well before the traditional media. Cellphones with 3G capabilities became so cheap that even many Islamic terrorists and most military personnel had them.

No country is immune to the problem. Israel, with the highest proportion of Internet savvy people in the world continues to have the problem because so many of their troops on active duty are actually reservists called up for the normal (but infrequent) bit of active duty. Changing cell phone and social network habits isnt easy, despite the risk of getting caught and punished (often spending a week or two in jail, plus the bad publicity). China tried to ban all cell phones for troops on active duty outside their base. It worked for a bit and then it didnt. Some troops knew better but found ways to post photos anonymously. Even the revelations that troops have been killed because of posting certain pictures to the web has not reduced the number of military people doing it. As the cell phone use spreads so do the security problems and while the tech keeps getting better, solutions to the security problems do not.
Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA provides dialysis care and related dialysis care services in Germany, North America, and internationally. It offers dialysis treatment and related laboratory and diagnostic services through a network of outpatient dialysis clinics; materials, training, and patient support services comprising clinical monitoring, follow-up assistance, and arranging for delivery of the supplies to the patient's residence; and dialysis services under contract to hospitals in the United States for the hospitalized end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and for patients suffering from acute kidney failure. The company also develops, manufactures, and distributes dialysis products, including polysulfone dialyzers, hemodialysis machines, peritoneal dialysis cyclers, peritoneal dialysis solutions, hemodialysis concentrates, solutions and granulates, bloodlines, renal pharmaceuticals, and systems for water treatment; and non-dialysis products, such as acute cardiopulmonary and apheresis products. In addition, it develops, acquires, and in-licenses renal pharmaceuticals; offers renal medications and supplies to patients at homes or to dialysis clinics; and provides vascular, cardiovascular, endovascular specialty, vascular care ambulatory surgery center, and physician nephrology and cardiology services. The company sells its products to dialysis clinics, hospitals, and specialized treatment clinics directly, as well as through local sales forces, independent distributors, dealers, and sales agents. As of February 23, 2022, it operated 4,171 outpatient dialysis clinics in approximately 150 countries. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Bad Homburg, Germany.
Tableau Software, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides business analytics software products. It offers Tableau Desktop, a self-service, powerful analytics product with data; Tableau Server, a business intelligence platform for organizations; Tableau Online, a hosted software-as-a-service version of Tableau Server; Tableau Prep, a data preparation product for combining, shaping, and cleaning data; and Tableau Public, a cloud-based platform for analyzing and sharing public data. In addition, it offers Visual Query Language (VizQL) for databases, which is a computer language for describing pictures of data, including graphs, charts, maps, time series, and tables of visualizations; Live Query Engine that interprets abstract queries generated by VizQL into syntax understandable by database systems; and Hyper, an in-memory data engine technology that helps customers to analyze a range of data sets by evaluating analytical queries directly in the transactional database. Further, the company provides support, maintenance, training, and professional services. It serves organizations in various industries, including business services, energy and telecommunications, financial services, life sciences and healthcare, manufacturing and technology, media and entertainment, public sector, and education, as well as retail, consumer, and distribution industries. The company sells its products directly, as well as through indirect sales channels, such as technology vendors, resellers, original equipment manufacturers, independent software vendor, and distributors in the United States, Canada, and internationally. Tableau Software, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
On Jan. 12, Jeff Jeans stood up at a town hall meeting sponsored by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and declared, Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Im standing here today alive. He was diagnosed with cancer and uninsured. Jeans further said he had been a lifelong Republican who, like Ryan, hated the ACA. In a later interview on CNN with Don Lemon, Mr. Jeans stated that he had opposed ACA so vehemently that he was willing to close up his business rather than comply with the law. He gave two basic reasons for his opposition to the healthcare law when pressed. First, Mr. Jean acknowledged that he didnt really understand the law. The second reason that Mr. Jeans gave for his opposition was that he was what he called a libertarian.

It isnt surprising that Jeans didnt fully understand the ACA given the all out assault on the facts from the beginning. However, it is the second reason he gave, his libertarian philosophy, the desire to deregulate industries, privatize the functions of government and shrink government at any cost, is largely responsible for the misinformation and the opposition to the ACA. The adherence to this philosophy has become a dogma to many in Congress and makes it impossible to create real solutions to the problems facing healthcare in America.

When Jeff Jeans stood at that town hall meeting and presented his story, Paul Ryan told him, Im glad youre standing here. Mr. Ryan and his colleagues now have a chance to back up that statement and protect other Americans. Some common sense rather than dogma would be the right approach for congress as it attempts to address those problems.

Terry Keefe, Lincoln
Under Armour, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the developing, marketing, and distributing performance apparel, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth. The company offers its apparel in compression, fitted, and loose fit types. It also provides footwear products for running, training, basketball, cleated sports, recovery, and outdoor applications. In addition, the company offers accessories, which include gloves, bags, headwear, and sports masks; and digital subscription and advertising services under the MapMyRun and MapMyRide platforms. It primarily offers its products under the UNDER ARMOUR, UA, HEATGEAR, COLDGEAR, HOVR, PROTECT THIS HOUSE, I WILL, UA Logo, ARMOUR FLEECE, and ARMOUR BRA brands. The company sells its products through wholesale channels, including national and regional sporting goods chains, independent and specialty retailers, department store chains, mono-branded Under Armour retail stores, institutional athletic departments, and leagues and teams, as well as independent distributors; and directly to consumers through a network of 422 brand and factory house stores, as well as through e-commerce websites. It operates in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. Under Armour, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.
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..

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GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical products, vaccines, over-the-counter medicines, and health-related consumer products in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceuticals R&D, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare. The company offers pharmaceutical products comprising medicines in the therapeutic areas, such as respiratory, HIV, immuno-inflammation, oncology, anti-viral, central nervous system, cardiovascular and urogenital, metabolic, anti-bacterial, and dermatology. It also provides consumer healthcare products in wellness, oral health, nutrition, and skin health categories. The company offers its consumer healthcare products in the form of nasal sprays, tablets, syrups, lozenges, gum and trans-dermal patches, caplets, infant syrup drops, liquid filled suspension, wipes, gels, effervescents, toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes, denture adhesives and cleansers, topical creams and non-medicated patches, lip balm, gummies, and soft chews. It has collaboration agreements with 23andMe; Lyell Immunopharma, Inc.; Novartis; Sanofi SA; Surface Oncology; Progentec Diagnostics, Inc.; Alector, Inc.; and CureVac AG., as well as strategic partnership with IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. The company was formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline plc and changed its name to GSK plc in May 2022. GSK plc was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Brentford, the United Kingdom.
GERING  A Scottsbluff man has pleaded not guilty to charges in connection to the stabbing death of a Scottsbluff woman on Dec. 31.

The trial for 64-year-old Lucio Munoz was set Friday for May.

Munoz was arrested last month in Bradley, Illinois, after he was charged on suspicion of first-degree murder in an arrest warrant.

The body of 48-year-old Melissa May was found the morning of Jan. 3 after officers went to check on her welfare. Authorities say they believe Munoz used a knife to kill May on Dec. 31.

Munoz is being held at the Scotts Bluff County jail on a $2 million bond.
In his emotional and electric new book, Timothy B. Tyson exhumes the body of Emmett Till, bringing to the fore not just a bludgeoned 14-year-old African American boy, but a symbol who stands today as a precursor to Americas civil rights movement.

Tyson, author of Blood Done Sign My Name (about another race murder, this one involving a neighbour), synthesizes an extraordinary amount of previous material, fashioning it into a page-turning, all-too-typical Southern murder story. Its a tale he begins in 2008, in the living room of Carolyn Bryant Donham, the white woman whose words sentenced Till to death, where she finally admits to lying.

She was Carolyn Bryant then, tending the small-town Mississippi country store she owned with her husband, Roy. On Aug. 24, 1955, after a day of doing chores with his cousins, Till walked into the store and . . . what, exactly? Bryant claimed he assaulted her. Those with Till said he merely whistled at her.

It seems whatever happened in that store made her more mad than fearful, Tyson concludes. What she told her husband is unknown, but on Sunday, Aug. 28, at 2:30 a.m. he and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, kidnapped Till from his uncles house. Three days later, his battered body was being fished out of the Tallahatchie River.

Nothing that boy did, Bryant Donham says to Tyson at one point, could ever justify what happened to him. But as to what that boy did, she cant say: I want to tell you, she insists. Honestly, I just dont remember. It was fifty years ago. You tell these stories for so long that they seem true, but that part (that Till assaulted her) is not true.

Despite the ugly but predictable outcome  Milam and Roy Bryant were acquitted by an all-white male jury  this is a story full of brave men and women, none more so than Tills mother Mamie. She allowed her boys bloated and bashed face to be photographed for Jet Magazine and insisted on having an open-casket funeral.

Let the people see what they did to my boy, she said, which they did, in the thousands, then millions. Then, less than four months later, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala. bus to a white man. And 60 years after that, Tills name was shouted out by black protesters outside the White House along with Michael Browns who was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.

Emmetts murder would never have become a watershed historical moment, Tyson rightly opines, without Mamie finding the strength to make her private grief a public matter.

Still, he finds it hard to be optimistic. America is still killing Emmett Till, and often for the same reasons that drove the violent segregationists of the 1950s and 1960s.

A powerful, necessary book.

James Macgowan is a frequent contributor to The Stars book section.

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There is terrible conflict in the heart of Rev. Sharon Risher. It is a contradiction between the word of God, and the tragedy of experience.

Rishers mother, Ethel Lance, and her cousins Susie Jackson and Tywanza Sanders were among the nine black people murdered in 2015 by white supremacist Dylann Roof at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

God tells us not to fear, and thats in the deep of my soul. But, as a regular, everyday person just being true about her feelings, I do fear, Risher said. I even got to the point that I dont even want to close my eyes in prayer.

Long after high-profile hate crimes fade from the headlines, and victims names fall off the front page, their families continue to feel the pain and terror of their loss.

Whether it is a church in Charleston, a mosque in Quebec City, or a college in Montreal, hate killings leave a residue of anxiety and depression.

Read more:

What now for 17 kids who've lost their father in Quebec mosque attack?

What happened the night of the Quebec mosque attack

Trash radio creates culture of intolerance in Quebec

Its devastating enough to lose someone violently, but when you have that added layer, it becomes even less comprehensible, said Barbara Perry, an expert in hate crime and professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Its much more difficult for people to get their head around ... how someone can take a life purely out of hatred.

I dont know that you ever heal from something like this.

Risher was, for years, a clinical trauma chaplain at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Every day she counseled families whose loved ones had just died. Often, the people she saw had lost a son or daughter to gun violence.

But in the wake of the Charleston shooting, Rishers ability to guide others through grief simply abandoned her: When this happened to me, all my chaplain training just kind of went out of my brain, she said.

Toronto native Ralph Gerhardt was a vice-president at Cantor Fitzgerald investment firm, with an office in the North Tower of the World Trade Centre. He was killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when two planes struck the Twin Towers.

For his brother, Stephan Gerhardt, Ralphs death is never out of mind. The event that took his life is a seminal event in world history; And its there twice a day, when the clock rolls over to 9:11.

Its such a rawness to it, Stephan said, over 15 years later. That just doesnt go away.

The difference with a 9/11 or a mosque shooting or any of these big signature things, is the remembrance is so public and becomes so much bigger, Stephan said. The whole world talks about the fact that this was the day that Ralph died. Its so constant.

The knowledge that a loved one was killed for the colour of their skin, their religion, their gender or culture, can haunt a person.

People will often feel ... this sense of It could have been me, Perry said. The random nature of (hate crime) is really terrifying for people.

Beset by fear and mistrust, many relatives of hate crime victims may withdraw from society, Perry said. Or, like Risher, they start looking over their shoulder, always wary of who might be around them.

Some may even change their own appearance to be less identifiable as a member of a persecuted minority. A Muslim man might shave his beard, or a Muslim woman may abandon her hijab. But these changes come at a cost, said Perry.

They feel like they are traitors to their group, that theyre somehow eschewing that group membership, that community, she said. Some people say they really begin to not like themselves very much because theyre not real anymore.

From 2011 to 2013, Cardiff University professor Matthew Williams co-produced one of the largest studies on hate crime in the U.K.

Interviewing survivors of hate crime, Williams and his fellow researchers found people were more resilient if surrounded by family or community members who had gone through a similar experience.

The impacts of hate were not homogenous, Williams said. People express experiencing impacts at different levels yet there are good reasons for that, one of them being this notion of resilience and intra-family support for victims of hate, especially in relation to race and religion.

Sharon Risher has found a community with a very particular form of shared experience. About a month after the Charleston church shooting, she joined Everytown, an anti-gun violence advocacy group.

Now she works alongside people who have lost family to mass shootings in Aurora, Colorado, and at Sandy Hook Elementary School. She calls it her lifeline.

This bunch of people knows every feeling, every pain Ive been through, she said. I am not by myself.

Yet she remains hyper-vigilant.

There is nothing sacred anymore, she said. Thats what Charleston made known in this century. That there is no place sacred on this earth.

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OTTAWAKevin OLeary is a businessman, reality TV star, photography buff and self-professed airplane geek.

He is not, however, an Ottawa politician.

And hes banking on that to get him elected as leader of the federal Conservative party and then, prime minister of Canada.

I think the body politic in Canada is like the rest of the world. Theyre tired of the B.S., theyre tired of the politicians B.S.-ing them and spinning them and they want an operator, OLeary said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.

Do we?

A claim of being an outsider, an operator, was partly what propelled Donald Trump to victory in the U.S. presidential election. Ever since, Canadians have been consumed with the question of whether what happened there could happen here.

Over the coming weeks The Canadian Press will dive into that question in stories that seek to explore the extent to which conditions exist in Canada for what happened in the U.S., and how Canadas political system is evolving as a result.

The starting point is figuring out exactly what happened.

We tend to have this desire to be able to express it in this grand way, that something shifted, said Clark Banack, a political science professor at Brock University who has extensively researched populist movements.

But I resist the temptation to define it in any one way.

The word most commonly applied to Trumps victory is populist  a political term for people rising up for change when an elite class is seen to be oppressing the majority.

People who have fallen behind badly, who see no prospects for a better future, so they are fearful and angry and resentful; and that triggers and engages receptivity to certain types of political approaches that normally wouldnt be that resonant, is how Canadian pollster Frank Graves described what happened in both Trumps victory and the stunning upset in a British referendum last summer to leave the European Union.

What people are receptive to, Graves said, is a leader who proposes a decisive set of answers to the questions plaguing them.

For people who feel left out by globalization, its a promise to end free trade. For people concerned about illegal immigration, its thicker borders.

What happened in the U.S., argues Banack, is that Trump was able to speak to many different constituencies at the same time and rally them enough that they were willing to overlook the elements of his personality, his politics and his policy they may have found offensive.

It is unusual for all of these constituencies to come together, he said.

Its almost a fluke in my estimation.

Whether the fear and anger can be harnessed into change also depends on the political system. In England, it was a referendum on staying or leaving the European Union that allowed for those frustrated with the status quo to let off steam.

In the U.S., what clinched the presidency for Trump was the system as well. He failed to win the popular vote, but succeeded in winning the majority of the electoral college vote and thats what is needed to win the presidency.

So if fear plus anger plus the political system create the conditions for populist-driven change, where are things in Canada?

Broadly, the consensus among political scientists and economists seems to be that factors underlying fear and anger do exist in Canada  but nowhere near U.S. levels.

Take intergenerational income mobility, the extent to which differences in income are transmitted from one generation to the next.

A study by the Conference Board of Canada found this countrys record is far better than the U.S.: if a family here earns $10,000 less income than the average, the children, when they become adults, will earn $1,900 less than average. But in the U.S., children would earn $4,700 less.

America, if it stays on its current trajectory, youre going to have social mobility equivalent to that of Victorian England, said Craig Alexander, chief economist at the Conference Board.

Whereas in Canada, we have pretty good social mobility and thats one of the reasons I think were at less risk of the sort of backlash that youve seen in the United States.

What about fear?

In the U.S., Trump harnessed fears about border security and terrorism to capture votes.

In exit polls, people who rated the economy the most important issue broke for (Hillary) Clinton, not for Trump. Trump won among those more concerned about immigration and terrorism, the D.C.-based Brookings Institution wrote in its post-election analysis.

A July 2016 poll by The Associated Press found that 53 per cent of Americans thought the U.S. should allow fewer Syrian refugees to enter the country, at a time when the level was set at 10,000.

In Canada, a January 2016 poll by the federal Immigration Department found 53 per cent of Canadians agreed with the Liberal government resettling 25,000 Syrian refugees.

But there is a strong undercurrent of opposition to immigration, some of which has boiled up since Trumps win.

The week of the U.S. election, for instance, a local newspaper in Vancouver published a letter to the editor from someone bemoaning the effect of immigration on their neighbourhood.

The community of the West End and the gay community are gone, replaced by people from third world countries and refugees who refuse to learn the language and become a part of our mosaic community. I go into stores, and no one speaks English, read the letter in the Westender.

Dont get me wrong, but its pretty sad when you are a minority in the place of your birth.

Then theres the Canadian political system.

Any leader seeking to upend the status quo would first have to secure leadership of a party. Currently, two parties are on the hunt for new masters, the Conservatives and NDP.

Leadership races are hard for outsiders to penetrate because only card-carrying members can vote, argues Tom Flanagan, the Calgary-based political scientist who was involved in the earliest days of the last federal political movement in Canada that could be considered populism: the Reform party.

A new party would be the only way a populism movement in Canada could gain traction, he argues.

Reform sprung up in response to fear about the breakup of the country due to a rise in Quebec sovereignty and the failed Meech Lake accord. The new party drew from anger over the National Energy Program and federal deficits, combined with the belief existing political parties werent speaking for the Wests needs.

But today, while the deficit is concerning to some, its nowhere near the levels of the early 1980s and 1990s. And Canadians arent afraid of things like illegal immigration or terrorism to the same extent as their U.S. neighbours. Nor is there some existential national threat like the unity crises, Flanagan said.

I just dont see the conditions.

Still, a global poll this past January by Ipsos found 56 per cent of Canadians surveyed felt traditional parties and politicians dont care about people like me.

OLeary says harnessing that kind of sentiment is central to his campaign.

He reads 100 comments or so a day posted to his social media accounts, he says, and feels as though he is drawing support from a wide swath of previously disconnected and disaffected voters. In doing so, hes growing the base of the Conservative Party, he said.

If you have that direct relationship with your base, you can ask them to do extraordinary things for you, he said.

And thats how this journey is going to go.

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Hes a handsome older man with a thicket of silver hair and a sincere-sounding message.

At the Preszler Law Firm, we focus on helping victims recover from their injuries. We can help them get the financial compensation they deserveAnd remember, you dont pay unless we recover money for you.

It would be reasonable to assume that the man speaking in numerous advertisements in the last decade is a lawyer and senior partner at the personal injury firm founded in 1959 by Robert Preszler. Perhaps even Preszler himself.

That would be wrong.

He is actor John Fraser, whose other roles include a part in three J.P. Wisers Whisky commercials, a grandfather with a bad knee in an ad for Tylenol, and a general in Good Will Hunting, a 1997 drama starring Matt Damon and the late Robin Williams.

We work for you, not the other way around, the Preszler pitchman says in one of the many legal ad commercials.

On the Preszler homepage, Fraser stands front and centre in the firm photo surrounded by lawyers from the firm. One of the main ads features Fraser on his own, arms crossed, beside the firms name.

You will also see Frasers face on Preszler bus advertisements around Toronto. Hes not a lawyer. Until 1988 he was education director of the Peel District School Board, where a secondary school was named for him after his retirement.

How legal services are marketed to the public is a hot topic at the Law Society of Upper Canada, which is studying the issue. The rules state that legal advertising must be demonstrably true, accurate and verifiable and cannot be misleading, confusing or deceptive. Marketing must also be in the best interests of the public and consistent with a high standard of professionalism.

A Star investigation has looked into the marketing practices of Ontarios personal injury lawyers and found dozens of examples of advertising that appears to contravene the law societys rules of professional conduct.

Lawyers need to be upfront with the public, said Adam Wagman, a personal injury lawyer and president of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, which represents 1,600 personal injury lawyers and staff in the province. This includes consistently disclosing when actor portrayals are used in marketing.

Theres no disclosure on the videos, bus ads or website stating that Fraser is an actor.

A law society working group studying legal advertising, including the use of actors, is expected to make recommendations later this month.

Jeff Preszler, a lawyer at the firm and a son of its founder, Robert Preszler, told the Star Fraser is employed by the firm as a part-time marketing associate. He said his firm is very proud of its association with Fraser and that its no secret Fraser isnt a lawyer.

As you know, many companies use spokespersons. Were no different, he said. We think that (Fraser) helps our firm deliver a very positive message about access to justice to the public and most importantly, we dont represent him to be a lawyer or Robert Preszler. We never have. We never will.

When asked if it would be reasonable for a member of the public to think Fraser might be a lawyer or even the firms founder, Jeff Preszler said: I cant say yes or no. But its just as reasonable that they dont conclude that.

He said the firm has had a lot of positive comments from judges about how we deliver a positive message thats very clear and transparent.

When asked which judges made these comments, Preszler said it would be improper for him to disclose the names of judges who made statements to him in private conversations.

Preszler said that his firm has never been the subject of a complaint or reprimand by the Law Society of Upper Canada with respect to the usage of John Fraser. He said it should be noted that the usage of spokespersons in advertising to deliver a clear, consistent message is commonplace in both Canada and the United States.

In our view, there is no harm to the public in the usage of a spokesperson, Preszler said.

In an interview, Fraser told the Star he receives an annual salary from the law firm to be a marketing associate.

Since 1959, the Preszler Law Firm has helped thousands of people get the compensation they deserve. If youve been injured in a car or slip-and-fall accident, or have had your long-term disability claim denied, call us today, Fraser says in one ad.

Fraser told the Star he has been approached by people over the years who have mistaken him for a lawyer. He said he always makes it clear that he is not a lawyer.

To the best of my knowledge in the 10 years Ive been their brandI know of no case or instance where people were disappointed or misled that I wasnt a lawyerI dont know of any confusion that has come from it. I dont know of any harm that has come from it in any way, Fraser said.

Fraser, who said his agent recently negotiated a contract with Preszler to use his image as the face of the firm for the next 10 years earning about $20,000 annually, said he is comfortable using the word we in the commercials because he is an employee of the firm that members of the public can contact, if they desire, by calling Preszler. He added that he represents the firm with pride because it is an organization that provides assistance to people who are really in need.

Derek Shipman, the producer of the Preszler ads, said he chose Fraser at a general audition about a decade ago because he fit Shipmans vision for the firm. And, Shipman said, he kind of reminded me of Robert Preszler.

Since, Shipman said he has produced 60 spots for Preszler and he and Jeff Preszler have always been intent on making each one conform to the rules set out by the law society.

If there is any misrepresentation or ifsomeone complained about the spot, I would be the first to know, Shipman said.

Still, Shipman said, we are very careful about what we put on the air and making sure were not misrepresenting anything.

In a follow-up email, Shipman said Fraser is employed by Preszler as their spokesperson and was not hired to be an actor.

John Fraser is John Fraser on camera  not John Fraser acting, Shipman said. John reads lines from a teleprompter and wears his own suit just as any corporate spokesperson would do. Please do not characterize him as an actor in the Preszler commercials. He is not acting.

Theres a reason why spokespersons are employed, said Jeff Preszler. Theyre able to deliver messages effectively. And we think John delivers our firms message very effectively.

Preszler and Shipman told the Star that the law society was fine with their ads.

The Star asked the law society about this and received this response: Lawyers and paralegals do not submit advertising for prior approval to the law society  they are obliged to comply with the relevant rules regarding advertising and marketing.

Michele Henry can be reached at 416-312-5605 or mhenry@thestar.ca .

Kenyon Wallace can be reached at 416-558-0645 or kwallace@thestar.ca .

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QUEBECDuring a break from picking up passengers outside Quebec Citys airport, Karim removes a piece of cardboard hanging on the wall of the trailer and places it on the ground, he stands on it, and begins evening prayers.

Across the small, narrow trailer the television is broadcasting Thursdays funeral service in Montreal held for three of the six men murdered in a mosque across town.

Taxi drivers such as Karim, 53, who didnt want to use his last name, are thankful for the outpouring of warmth towards the Muslim community from people across the city since last weekends shootings.

Read the latest news on the Quebec mosque shooting

But he and his colleagues at the airport taxi stand  many of whom hail from French-speaking North Africa  cant help but feel frustration at the society they feel hasnt fully accepted them, especially in the job market.

Karim, who came to Quebec from Morocco in 1991, completed a masters at Laval University in 1996 in management.

I sent hundreds of resumes, he said, about his job search after graduating. I got two interviews.

Earlier in the week, the vice-president of Quebec Citys mosque, Mohamed Labidi, stood sobbing over the dried blood of his friend Azzeddine Soufiane, whom he said tried in vain to stop the shooter.

Labidi couldnt help but telling reporters that Soufiane couldnt find a job after moving to Quebec City and instead opened his own store.

Go to taxi stands and youll see PhDs and people with masters degrees because we do not find jobs here, Labidi said.

Taoufik Essekkouri, 46, steps out of his cab holding a coffee and onto the freezing outdoor parking lot. Nearby, a small planes propellers begin to spin.

He immigrated from Morocco in 2010 and completed a masters degree at Laval University in vegetable biology four years later.

My future here? To be honest, Im not optimistic, he said over the loud buzzing of the propellers.

A few hours earlier, several kilometres away in Quebecs City famed Place dYouville square, Bachreir Ikhlef, 37, was sitting in his taxi waiting for his next passenger.

He said when he came to Quebec City as a programmer from Algeria in 2011 he was full of energy.

A job councillor suggested he get a diploma from a Quebec college in order to help strengthen his resume.

We were 25 who started the diploma, and by the end only 12 of us finished, he said about his programming certificate.

Myself and a Tunisian guy didnt even get an internship. Neither of us have found work in our field.

Government and private-sector research over the past ten years consistently indicate immigrants, particularly visible minorities, have higher unemployment rates in Quebec than the rest of the population.

The left-leaning, Quebec-based research group IRIS, indicated in 2016 that 43 per cent of immigrants are overqualified for the jobs they hold.

Premier Philippe Couillard told reporters Thursday that our society has the same demons that others have to deal with. Xenophobia, racism, exclusion.

Why is unemployment higher among immigrants? Thats a question we must ask ourselves but this has nothing to do with (the shooting) of this week.

Hundreds gathered in Montreal and Quebec City for two separate ceremonies honouring the six men who died after a 27-year-man allegedly entered a mosque and began shooting last Sunday night.

Politicians and community members said during both commemorations that neighbours must begin to speak to one another more, in order to foster understanding between groups.

Couillard spoke about the need for employers to hire people not based on their last name, but on their competence.

A lot has been heard this week, Couillard told the funeral gathering in Quebec City on Friday, regarding the kind words from citizens expressing love towards the citys Muslim minority.

Lets hope a lot has been learned.

Back at the airport taxi stand, Essekkouri said many people in the city know all about how many immigrants are overqualified for their jobs.

Journalists have come here before and asked the same questions to taxi drivers, he said. Its been done. And nothing ever changes.

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Students from 22 Canadian law schools from coast to coast joined a research-a-thon Saturday to help with possible legal challenges stemming from U.S. President Donald Trumps recent travel ban and suspension of the countrys refugee program.

The focus of the research was on what is known as the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and U.S., which mandates that a person seeking refugee status must make the claim in the first country in which they arrive  the understanding being that both countries are considered safe.

But in the wake of Trumps executive order banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, advocates have been calling on Ottawa to immediately suspend the pact, arguing the U.S. is no longer safe for refugees.

The agreement came into effect in 2004 to prevent refugees from making asylum claims in both countries, clogging up the system. It has significantly slashed the number of claims lodged on both sides of the border.

Kim Veller, a second-year student at York Universitys Osgoode Hall Law School and chair of the local chapter of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, said each school had been given a different question to work on by the Canadian Council for Refugees, which she said is building a proposal to suspend the bilateral agreement.

Veller said most schools would be spending up to 12 hours or more on their research. She noted opposition to the agreement has existed for years, and it has faced legal challenges in the past.

And now with what is essentially a Muslim ban, refugees are in an especially precarious situation, she said. We feel the agreement is no longer reflective of international refugee law, because we dont feel the U.S. is a safe country.

When we look at Prime Minister Trudeau saying we welcome refugees, that were a humanitarian leader, as law students we want to see him make good on this statement, that our legislation is welcoming and in line with international human rights standards.

Withdrawing from the agreement would mean all asylum seekers currently in the U.S. could access Canadas refugee system without having to risk their lives by turning to human smugglers, Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, told the Star last week.

The U.S. was never safe for all refugees and is now even less safe, she said.

With files from Nicholas Keung

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Baby Elinor was supposed to start daycare at the end of January.

But when her parents, Erin Styles and Alexander Moore, saw on social media in November that the unlicensed home daycare operator they had chosen was under investigation for possible child abuse, their hearts sank.

When we called her, she told us childrens aid was investigating the parent of a child in her care and that she was co-operating by closing for a couple of weeks, Styles said.

Facebook posts claiming that the daycare had been shut down by CAS were lies written by a parent who was trying to blackmail her, the woman assured them.

But by this time, Styles had already connected through social media with parents whose children were attending Emily Nikolics Golden Apple Waldorf Daycare in a one-bedroom apartment near Dupont St. and Lansdowne Ave. They told a very different story.

According to the parents, during a routine well-baby visit in October, a doctor found unexplained bruising on a child in Nikolics care and called childrens aid.

Although the investigation started with the childs parents, the childrens aid worker assigned to the case expressed serious concerns about Nikolic, especially since the caregiver had been investigated for similar concerns in Kitchener, the parents told Styles.

Nobody seemed to know (Nikolics) real name, Styles said. She seemed to be using all of these aliases and her website and online ads had disappeared. It was really troubling.

Styles tried to piece together the facts, but there was no authoritative information.

The caregiver denies she was the focus of a CAS investigation or that any children were injured in her home. A spokeswoman for Toronto police said its investigation found no grounds for criminal charges.

There is no suggestion Nikolic has ever been charged with child abuse.

However, a criminal records inquiry through the attorney generals office found Nikolic had pleaded guilty in September 2015 to using a forged police record check at an unlicensed home daycare she ran in Kitchener. She was ordered to perform community service and received 12 months probation and a conditional discharge. During the court hearing, the judge noted that letters of support from parents in Kitchener were submitted on her behalf.

Back in Toronto, Styles and the other parents say they have learned the local childrens aid has closed its case on Nikolic. But since provincial child protection legislation prohibits the agency from discussing the results or even acknowledging an investigation took place, the parents are in the dark over what, if anything, happened.

Meanwhile, Nikolic and other unlicensed home daycare operators who have been investigated by CAS and whose cases have been closed, are hard-pressed to clear their names. And parents have no way of knowing if the unlicensed home daycare operator they are considering has ever been investigated for possible child abuse.

Home daycares in Ontario can be licensed through agencies that support caregivers and ensure the premises meet provincial health and safety standards though most operate legally without a licence.

When a home daycare is unlicensed, however, it means no one is actively monitoring what goes on, notes Rob Thompson, a spokesman for the Childrens Aid Society of Toronto.

It is one of the grey areas, that, frankly, causes CAS concerns, he said.

Childrens aid investigates any report of a child being harmed or injured. Police are often called during the investigation, but if there are no witnesses and no evidence, they cannot lay charges, he said.

From the CAS perspective, when a case closes, it could be closed with no worries, nothing found. It could be closed with huge worries, lots found, Thompson said.

But whatever the outcome, the results are kept secret.

With the abysmal shortage of licensed child care in Toronto  there are licensed spots for barely 28 per cent of kids under age 4  and costs often topping $2,000 a month, parents like Styles and Moore are scrambling for quality care in a fiercely tight market.

They say parents shouldnt have to rely on unlicensed daycare because they cant find or afford licensed care.

It should be a public system with a licensed spot available for every child that needs care at a price parents can afford, said Dana Suvagau-Greenlaw, a legal aid lawyer whose son Oliver, 22 months, attended Nikolics daycare two days a week last fall.

The Star interviewed six parents whose babies and toddlers were either in Nikolics care at the time of the CAS investigation or who have visited the caregiver as part of their search for child care. At the time, she was charging parents between $85 and $90 a day.

Three of the parents were interviewed by childrens aid as part of the investigation. The others called CAS to share their experiences and confirm what the other parents had told them.

Although childrens aid would not discuss the case with the Star, one parent shared a voice message the investigator left on Nov. 16 indicating some serious concerns about children that have been in (Nikolics) care.

In the message, the investigator said Nikolic was told she was not allowed to do any more babysitting or daycare . . . until further notice. The investigator apologized to the parent for the inconvenience but went on to say we do have to . . . think of the safety of the children.

Nikolic, 26, did not respond to emails or a hand-delivered letter requesting an interview for this story. In a brief conversation in the doorway of her apartment on Dupont St., she said last falls childrens aid investigation was focused on a family whose child was in her care  not on her  and that she was never forced to close.

Childrens aid can say what they like, but they have no legal right to shut me down, she said.

Nikolic says she has been the victim of online bullying by area parents, that her reputation has been destroyed and that she has contacted police.

When I or others go on Facebook groups to talk about what has been done to me, I am blocked and deleted. So I am not allowed to tell my side of the story, she said.

She said the childrens aid investigation in Kitchener was the result of a disgruntled parent who didnt like a clause in her daycare contract that said deposits would not be refunded if she terminated care of a child who was not fitting in.

Under provincial legislation that came into force in August 2015 after a rash of baby deaths in unlicensed home daycares, regulations were tightened, penalties for violations were increased and the Ministry of Education created a dedicated enforcement unit.

Inspectors regularly respond to parent complaints about unlicensed daycares and conduct proactive inspections if they suspect the operator is violating Ontarios Child Care and Early Years Act, says Lucas Malinowski, a spokesman for Indira Naidoo-Harris, the provinces minister responsible for early years and child care.

Violations are listed on the education ministry website, searchable by the caregivers name or address.

Because unlicensed home daycares are not actively monitored, the province knows about problems only if someone complains, Malinowski said. They are required only to limit the number of children in their care; to inform parents in writing they are unlicensed; and to operate out of only one location.

As with both licensed and unlicensed operations, parents must be allowed to enter the daycare during operating hours.

Although Malinowski is barred from discussing any possible childrens aid involvement with Nikolic, he said the ministry and CAS regularly share information regarding daycare investigations.

Ministry inspectors visited Nikolics apartment Nov. 10 after a parent complained about not being permitted to enter during daycare hours, he said.

Inspectors were not able to substantiate that complaint, but they found Nikolic had no record she had disclosed her unlicensed status to parents and issued a compliance order on Nov. 17. She complied the following day.

Provincial inspectors visited Nikolic again on Jan. 17 after a parent complained she had reopened her unlicensed daycare under a new name with a new address and was planning to care for more than two children under age 2, he said. Investigators found no evidence Nikolic was operating a daycare at either address, Malinowksi said.

(Unlicensed daycare operators are permitted to care for a maximum of five children under age 13, including no more than two under age 2.)

In her brief conversation with the Star, Nikolic denied parents allegations that she changed her daycare name and used another address and phone number in her online ads so new clients wouldnt connect her to warnings on social media.

I have always been Golden Apple. I am a Waldorf daycare, she added, pointing to a wooden toy in the hallway.

However, a spokeswoman for the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America said Nikolic is not registered with the organization, which promotes the creative play and hands-on learning espoused by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. Laura Mason told the Star she asked Nikolic last August to stop using the Waldorf name and logo.

The province is aware of the child-care challenges that families face and is working to ensure parents have access to a range of high-quality programs that meet their needs at a reasonable cost, Malinowski said.

Last falls commitment to create 100,000 new licensed child-care spaces for children under age 4 over the next five years will help more working families find high-quality, affordable care, he adds.

As soon as Styles learned she was pregnant in the summer of 2015, she put her name on wait-lists for more than half a dozen licensed child-care centres in her west Toronto neighbourhood and downtown where her husband works.

A year later, with baby Elinor almost 6 months old and no offers of care, Styles began scouring online community boards and parent Facebook groups for alternatives. When she came across an ad for the Golden Apple Waldorf Daycare, she was hopeful.

The home-based program for babies between the ages of 12 months and 4 years boasted two qualified early childhood education staff, one with Montessori training and the other a Waldorf teacher. The program offered French, sign language, yoga and music classes and promised organic meals and authentic Waldorf toys made from natural products (no plastic.)

Styles and her husband set up an interview with a woman named Emily, who said she had a list of families she was considering. Since the woman signed her Facebook messages as Emily Wonder, the couple thought that was her name.

The caregivers apartment was clean and tidy and baby Elinor seemed very comfortable. But Nikolic said they would have to act quickly if they hoped to secure a spot for the end of January, recalls Styles, a recent PhD graduate in genetics.

Styles said she was relieved when the woman called the next day to say Elinor could have the spot.

Its crazy to think of this now, but we felt lucky. It seemed as good as it was going to get, said Styles who emailed a $900 deposit to Nikolic that evening to hold the space.

For now, the couple is making due by juggling work schedules and relying on family to help out.

We have been told we might have more luck with licensed care in a daycare centre when Elinor is 18 months, Styles said.

For first-time parents who are sleep-deprived, anxious about returning to work after maternity leave and financially squeezed by Torontos high housing costs, the task of finding child care they trust and can afford is daunting, says parent Sara Fung, whose son James, 2, attended Nikolics daycare for 21/2 months last fall.

Parents are desperate. They need to go back to work and they need care, she said. So when you see a place that looks clean and a caregiver who seems to know what she is talking about, you dont want to ask too many questions for fear that she wont choose you.

Two of the parents interviewed for this story found Nikolic after bad experiences with other unlicensed home daycares.

After our first experience, we thought she was really great. Everybody tells you to go with your gut. But when your gut is so miserably wrong it is very unsettling, said one mother who was rattled to hear about the CAS investigation.

That mother, who did not want her name published, figures she lost almost $2,000 in deposits for both daycares. For her part, Nikolic said she owes no one any money because the daycare contract stipulates parents are required to give four weeks notice.

As a result of the many unanswered questions raised by the investigation, the mother and her partner have rearranged their work schedules and asked a grandparent to pitch in so they dont have to rely on child care.

Carolyn Ferns of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care applauded the province for beefing up compliance orders and fines for unlicensed home daycares and for promising to add more licensed spots. But affordability is key.

Affordability has to be more than just a goal. We have to have a real plan to make that happen, she said. Will the province commit to an affordable fee scale so that high quality child care is affordable for every family?

We need them to be clear about it and we need them to start working on it now.

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In his new book, Frontier City, Shawn Micallef writes of his walks through Toronto neighbourhoods with little-known municipal candidates who, despite the drama of the 2014 election campaign, shared big dreams for the city and filled him with hope that civic greatness really was within reach. How then to explain the Ford victory? In this excerpt, the Star columnist goes back to 2010 when on a Friday night in September, he found himself in the very middle of Canada  where the meat is plentiful, the bar is open, and the Rob Ford voters friendly.

Robs dad was the late Doug Ford Sr., a backbencher in Mike Harriss Ontario government from 1995 to 1999. The patriarch of the Ford clan, he founded Deco Labels and Tags, the printing company that made the family wealthy. Doug Sr. was the first in the clan to enter politics, launching what would become a family dynasty of sorts. Once a family has had at least two generations involved in politics, they can call the family home a compound, the place they go to recharge, plan, plot, and incubate new generations. Unlike the Bush and Kennedy families, with their famously private compounds on the Atlantic Ocean, the Fords opened theirs up to the public.

This is a family that pleaded for privacy and complained of an invasive media but invited everyone into their inner sanctum routinely, to sit by their pool and tramp around their backyard lawn. Throwing the door open was one of the ways the Fords portrayed themselves as regular guys, everymen just like the average voter  even though the family compound was much bigger than the homes most working and middle-class people in Toronto could hope to afford.

Yet no effort was made to hide the wealth. The Ford money and privilege has always been in plain sight. The Ford compound is landlocked at the end of a short cul-de-sac off of Royal York, north of Eglinton. Instead of being partially surrounded by the Atlantic, as are the presidential compounds, two-thirds of the property is bordered by parkland that follows a small tributary of the Humber River. The front of the house is unassuming and blends into the neighbourhood: a two-storey 1970s bungalow with a second empire roofline that makes it seem smaller than it is; around back, the large yard slopes down to the creek, exposing the true size of the three-storey house. The house matched Rob Fords mystique by appearing more like a little guy than its true scale warranted.

Our expectations were low as we headed to the barbecue that night; political events tend to be sedate affairs, attended by partisans of the organization sponsoring the event, whether they be members of an ethnic club or some community group. But rolling up Royal York, it was immediately clear this would be an altogether different kind of event, because there was traffic blocks away from the cul-de-sac.

Unlike the 2014 launch, this scene in 2010 was reminiscent of the original Woodstock festival, where hippies abandoned their cars in the rural gridlock and walked to the festival. Dozens of pedestrians were making their way along the sidewalks or trying to cross the street with no light or crosswalk in the early evening dusk.

Near the entrance to the Ford street teenagers held big, handwritten NO PARKING signs, directing cars to move along. We pulled into the big but nearly full Royal York Plaza strip mall parking lot opposite, a spot  so the Globe and Mail would later claim in an investigative report  where Doug Ford dealt hash in his younger years, when he hung around with a crew known as the Royal York Drifters.

This plaza, known as The Drift, according to the Globe story, is the topography of Toronto noir, a mid-century modern drama well lit by sodium vapour lamps, at once both more affluent and suburban than the usual dingy settings of noir tales. Royal York Plaza has been the setting of a few decades worth of Ford family drama, but the dooziest of the years still lay ahead.

Just two weeks after the 2014 launch, Mayor Ford would suspend his election campaign and seek help for his substance abuse problem after he was surreptitiously recorded ranting and swearing in Sullie Gormans, a pub in Royal York Plaza. The targets of that particular tirade were wide: raising the rainbow flag at city hall, the problem of Italians, or dagos, as he called them, and another mayoral candidate, city councillor Karen Stintz.

Id like to f---ing jam her but she dont want it, said Ford of Stintz, a phrase that was so over the top for even Fords enablers  a group of people who seemed, from the outside, like the Memphis Mafia who escorted Elvis Presley to an early death  that the campaign was halted. Ford entered a Muskoka rehab clinic.

We found one of the last spots in the plaza lot and crossed Royal York Rd. over to the park named after Doug Ford Sr. Its a city park but Ford Fest goers were parking on the grass, and Ford election signs festooned the grounds. This use was but one of many displays of the Ford familys assumption of entitlement in this city, especially in Etobicoke.

We approached the house with dozens of other people walking up the street, a Spielberg kind of scene where a typical suburban street becomes the site of something exceptional. The sound of the emcee riling up the crowd over the loudspeakers in the backyard was echoing through the neighbourhood. Anticipation was growing, and panic flickering. Had we left it too late and missed the main event? Maybe we should have taken Ford more seriously.

There was a long line in the front yard to get around back. Standing here in the dark in a spot where line-ups didnt usually form felt a little reminiscent of going to clandestine rave parties in the 1990s. The line was not to pay  although there were large donation jugs  but to get a personalized Rob Ford nametag and to have our names and numbers solicited for the ever-growing Ford Nation voter list. Even then, when his campaign was still considered a joke, Ford had an efficient machine at work.

Just as we entered the backyard, the sound system volume went way up as Eye of the Tiger played and Ford took to the stage erected in the backyard. We hadnt missed him after all. The compound was packed with hundreds of people. Five-hundred-watt portable lights lit the grounds, now dark around eight oclock, and I got my first glimpse of the now familiar ROB FORD: RESPECT FOR TAXPAYERS banner behind him. His speech included his already established hits  tax, waste, tax, waste, taxpayers, gravy train  and the crowd met everything he said with an enormous roar of approval. That evening was the first time I heard that roar  the moment when Ford supporters became real. Ford was passionate, and people were relating. He was Willie Stark.

As he gave his speech little kids climbed the berms by the pool and hoisted ROB FORD FOR MAYOR signs bigger than their bodies into the air. People raised their burgers and beers and shouted. When Ford was done, a full big band started playing and people started dancing on the patio by the pool. My consort was hungry, so he got in the meat line, which was at least 75 metres long.

Figuring there was no Ford vegetarian option, I stood in the shorter bar line and got a Coors Light and watched the happy scene play out by a Venus-like statue that sprayed water into a smaller pool. Such statuary could be found all around the professionally landscaped backyard. Later, starving, I put ketchup and mustard on a bun and ate it. Its hard to be a vegetarian in Ford Nation.

This early Ford Fest party was fun  off-the-hook fun. People partied like it was a wedding, or Canada Day. People were nice. Nobody was ranting or mean-spirited, bicycles werent being burnt in effigy, and the crowd, while fairly white, wasnt exclusively so, running at perhaps 15 per cent visibly multicultural, by rough estimation, a proportion that would grow at later Ford Fests. Robs mom was running around taking pictures with people, as if they were friends hanging out in her backyard. Despite being richer than most, the Fords have an instinctive talent at bringing people into their family, even if the house itself was off limits during this party. (Port-a-johns were provided.)

The friendliness of attendees was also a notch or two higher than most events in Toronto, whose coolness to strangers is legendary. While sipping my Coors, a woman, a decade or so older than I, jumped in front of me and asked, Who are you texting? I was tweeting. My friend and I were the only jerks buried in our phones at this 2010 event, just a little before tweeting and Instagramming everything became a widespread practice. I thought she was going to tell me to get out, that I didnt belong, but instead she grabbed my hand and led me to a table, then introduced me to her sister, who was holding a Rob Ford sign in one hand and glass of wine in the other. Then I met her brother-in-law and other family members. They asked, Are you working for Rob?

No, Im just here to see what hes all about, I said. Great, they said.

Then she asked me to dance  the first time a stranger asked me to dance in the 10 years I had lived in Toronto, and it was at a Ford political event. Former downtown city councillor and current Member of Parliament Adam Vaughan would often say, having grown up in a political household, youve got to have fun while fighting a political fight or it isnt worth it. The Fords, at least at Ford Fest, embodied this more than anyone. Even as the rhetoric on stage was about haves and have-nots, and divisions between elites and real people, people just like the mayor, the party was fun. More fun than a TIFF party, even. People talked to each other without looking over their shoulders.

I liked being there. The Ford supporters at the barbecue reminded me a lot of the working-class crowd I grew up with in Windsor, Ont., the same kind of regular folk, but here in Toronto they were without Windsors long tradition of organized labour membership and NDP voting tendencies to swing general sentiments in a leftish direction. Ford Nation was utterly familiar to me, a life where a Readers Digest sat by the toilet; where people cut their white wine with 7UP, and where wood-panelled basements were standard  comfortable territory, but not highly politicized.

In Toronto this was a population that hadnt yet become a political constituency; nobody spoke to them with the passion and directness Ford did, except perhaps the local NDP politicians, although rarely with strength enough to make them partisans. Its a scene where money is always an issue, though, and where the whiff of waste isnt taken lightly, and the Fords knew that. Theirs is a kind of apolitical politics. In Windsor, the left filled this space. Fords camp tapped into it and swung people to their side, people who would be called Reagan Democrats in the United States  working-class voters who opted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 in landslide numbers.

An odd thing happened as I was tweeting from the party, snapping pics and reporting on interactions I had with people and the things I saw. At first, the responses were in the spirit of our fun and somewhat gonzo act of crashing a party we werent exactly part of. But when it became clear we werent going to tweet about how awful Ford supporters were, I got some hostile pushback.

This was a time when Ford Nation was an unknown quantity, faceless voters routinely characterized as rubes or philistines. Right around the time of this party, retiring long-time city councillor Howard Moscoe, who represented a ward in the general geographic direction of North Etobicoke, suggested Ford supporters were illiterate. With all these tax cuts and everything they are going to have to close libraries three days a week to pay for it. Rob Fords supporters wont mind, because they cant read, he said.

This was the unquestioned common assumption. Ford, on the face of it, appeared to be unlike any political entity Toronto has ever produced and at odds with the civic self-image held by people who think about these things, ergo his supporters must be heathens and philistines. By simply going to Fords barbecue, and not describing them as freaks or dingbats, it seemed to some folks on Twitter that my companion and I were endorsing him.

Neither of us was toeing the narrative line weve been told to believe about Ford supporters since he had started to run. But now that he was starting to lead the race and the threat was real, that narrative was dangerous.

From Frontier City: Toronto on the Verge of Greatness by Shawn Micallef, published by Signal Books. Copyright  Shawn Micallef, 2017. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

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The squat clapboard house overlooking the Hudson River in the West Village might not seem like an obvious place for a Native American prayer centre.

Its graffiti-strewn facade faces the busy West Side Highway, with a city bus stop out front. It once housed a series of bars, and the back of the building faces tiny Weehawken Street, which has traditionally been a popular gathering spot for gay and transgender people.

The houses ground floor now sits directly on Manhattan soil, said Jean-Louis Goldwater Bourgeois, 76, a wealthy activist who bought the property in 2006. He says he is essentially donating it back to its original owners: the Lenape Indians.

Bourgeois wants the building to be a prayer house, to be owned and operated by the Lenape nation, which inhabited Manhattan before it was appropriated by European settlers.

Bourgeois pointed to a hole recently jackhammered through the thick concrete flooring of the house, which left black soil exposed underneath.

You can actually touch Manhattan soil  the idea is to be in touch with Mother Earth, he said, adding that the plan was to remove the concrete and simply have a dirt floor.

Anthony Jay Van Dunk, a former chief of the Ramapough Lenape Nation, a tribe based in Mahwah, N.J., is Bourgeoiss choice to start a prayer house, or a Pahtamawiikan, as it is known in one of the languages spoken by the Lenape.

Bourgeois said he had always been troubled by the well-known and not-quite accurate legend that, four centuries ago, the Lenape sold Manhattan to Dutch settlers for the equivalent of $24 worth of goods.

Its quite offensive, he said. Its a form of conquest.

Van Dunk, 54, a Brooklyn woodworker who is active in Native American issues, pointed out that, if such a transaction had taken place, the Lenape might have meant it as a goodwill exchange for sharing the land, and not as transferring ownership, especially because the tribe did not believe anyone could own land or water.

The Lenape tried to embrace and share, Van Dunk said. And in return, they got everything taken, even their lives.

Now, of course, Manhattan  whose name comes from the Lenape tongue, meaning roughly the land of many hills  has been developed to the hilt into a centre of global commerce.

Manhattan is a capitalist rock; this is a quiet protest against that, Bourgeois said of his gift. Im giving it back to whom the land was stolen from, and thats really a joyful event.

Bourgeois, a longtime Greenwich Village resident and an architectural historian, is a son of sculptor Louise Bourgeois, who died in 2010. His large inheritance, from the proceeds of her art, has financed his activism, which is aimed at social and environmental causes.

Bourgeois said that he bought the building, 392 West St., in 2006 for $2.2 million, and that it had probably appreciated in value to about $4 million. With three floors and less than 3,000 square feet, it is one of the last wood-frame buildings along the Hudson waterfront.

Though some documentation describes the house as being built in the 1830s, Bourgeois said he believed it may actually date to the 1770s.

The house was built on land that had been part of Newgate State Prison, a colonial jail, and then became part of the Greenwich Market, also known as the Weehawken Market, of which it is the last surviving segment.

Over the centuries, it has been home to a saloon, a gambling parlor, an oyster house and a pool hall, Bourgeois said, and in recent decades it housed bars. He said that when he bought it, there were peep show machines inside, which he had removed.

Bourgeois lives half a block from the house in an apartment filled with files and books related to his activism. He recently returned from several weeks in North Dakota protesting a proposed oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. He said that he donated about $1 million to the campaign against the pipeline, and that he hoped the prayer house would be a way to celebrate and promote Native American ideals and political empowerment.

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It will be a museum of biblical proportions: a massive, 430,000-square-foot, six-storey exhibition dedicated to the Good Book. At an estimated cost of $660 million (Canadian), just for the physical structure, the Museum of the Bible is slated to open in Washington, D.C., in November. While impressively ambitious, it sparked some initial controversy centred on the motivation behind the museum and the provenance of its artifacts. Organizers believe their academic, non-sectarian approach to presenting the Bible has answered any criticism.

GENESIS

The passion behind the project belongs to Steve Green, an evangelical Christian from Oklahoma City. Green is president of Hobby Lobby, an American arts and crafts retailer that boasts $4 billion in annual sales. Green has amassed one of the most comprehensive private collections of Biblical artifacts. Green  who has written religious books, including The Bible in America  viewed the museum as not only an opportunity to display his historic pieces but also as a chance to expose more people to the Bible. The museum will hold about 40,000 historical pieces, including 13 fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls donated by Green.

WHAT IS IT?

Occupying a dramatically renovated warehouse two blocks from the National Mall, the museum promises visitors an immersive and personalized experience as they explore the history, narrative and impact of the Bible. The floor devoted to narratives, for example, will feature the recreation of the village of Nazareth including homes and a synagogue to represent how people lived in the first century. The museum will likely have about 1,000 artifacts on display but the plan is to use modern technology to make it less stodgy than it sounds. A preloaded, hand-held mobile device will guide visitors, who can personalize the information provided.

MANDATE

Cary Summers, president of the museum, says the goal of the museum is straightforward. Its to engage people in the Bible. Thats it. Its real simple, he says. How you take it and how you run with it, thats up to you. Were not trying to tell you what to do with what you see but we at least want you to find it interesting, educational, engaging, and then where it goes from there is your call, not ours.

HOLDINGS

The museum possesses the second-largest collection of Dead Sea Scroll fragments, the largest collection of Torah scrolls (including some that survived the Spanish Inquisition and scrolls confiscated in Nazi Germany), biblical texts on papyrus and medieval manuscripts. The museum will also display rare printed Bibles including fragments from the Gutenberg Bible. It has items from several private collections as well as archeological artifacts on loan from the Louvre and the Israel Antiquities Authority. About one-third of the collection will be centred in Judaism and the Old Testament.

WOW MOMENT

Despite the array of historic items, Summers says what excited people most during touring exhibitions was a Bible once owned by Elvis Presley. It sounds funny but its true, he says. That Bible, which contained handwritten notes, isnt part of the museums collection but it does have another Elvis Bible. Summers said the museum also has a signed Babe Ruth Bible  With his lifestyle, youd never guess he had a Bible  and the original manuscript on which Julia Ward Howe wrote the lyrics to Battle Hymn of the Republic.

PROSELYTIZING

When the museum was proposed, some observers believed it would espouse fundamentalist Christian beliefs under the guise of historical study. At the outset, Green said the museum was to bring to life the living word of God  and to inspire confidence in the absolute authority and reliability of the Bible. The museum backed off that mission and Summers now says the museum is strictly an academic undertaking. This is about the Bible, its not about faith tradition, he says. None of this gets into apologetics at all. We really try to avoid that.

PROVENANCE

Green acquired so many artifacts in a short period of time  reportedly acquiring 10,000 items since the museum was established as a non-profit in 2010  that some academics questioned whether each piece was authentic and how they were acquired. To alleviate concerns, the museum hired biblical scholar David Trobisch to oversee the collection and work with a team of 30 researchers and curators to vet each piece. He told the Washington Post that we will not display any items found in the collection where we have no provenance records.

This article has been edited to correct the name of Cary Summers.

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Japan is warily welcoming Donald Trump as the U.S. president, wondering what his administration will mean for their security alliance and already seeing what it means for their trade relationship.

But there are no such mixed feelings about Trumps eldest daughter: Ivanka Trump is widely revered as the perfect woman here.

Among some Japanese women, Ivanka Trump is seen as an aspirational figure who has combined motherhood and career while managing to look perfectly put-together all the time (although her glamorous Instagram photos never show the retinues of nannies and assistants and hairdressers that answer the question of how does she do it all?).

Japan remains a highly patriarchal society, where men spend long hours at the office and women are often expected to give up their jobs after getting married or having babies.

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But Trump offers an example of how to be strong but not scary, said Yuriko Shinzato, 32, a freelance writer and mother of a 6-year-old daughter. She is a good example that a woman can do an outstanding job and handle a misogynist father like Trump, without pushing too much of a feminist agenda or confronting men too much, Shinzato, who blogs about Ivanka Trumps fashion and lifestyle, told the Japan Times. That is something that Japanese women want but have a hard time doing in a still male-dominated society.

As a result, the Trump daughter has quite a following here. The Japanese Internet was abuzz after the election at a tabloid report that Trump might be the next American ambassador to Japan, and she won Japanese fans when she posted a video of her daughter, Arabella Rose, performing the song Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen by the Japanese comedian known as Piko Taro.

Japanese women gush about her on social media. This is the woman I like now. Ivanka Trump. I love it that shes not only beautiful but also clever and has a graceful air. I think women should be kind and gentle, wrote Sachiko W. on a portrait that Trump had posted on Instagram.

On Twitter, news announcer Mari Maeda posted a photo of Trump in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York. Trumps eldest daughter Ivanka-san, who made it into the administration transfer team. She waved at me when I called out to her at the Trump Tower, Maeda wrote. What a figure she has even after having three children. So frank and cute!

This popularity is translating into increased demand for Ivanka Trumps fashion business in Japan. Sales have skyrocketed since Donald Trumps victory in the U.S. presidential election  although from a very low, almost negligible, base.

Waja, a popular Japanese online retailer, sells handbags and dresses on its Ivanka Trump page.

It averaged some 30 hits a day before the Nov. 8 election. Immediately afterward, it was racking up 10,000 hits a day, although that has since tapered off to about 500 hits a day. Before the election, Waja sold only a few Ivanka Trump dresses a month, said spokeswoman Yukie Suzuki. But it sold 170 dresses in November  28 times as many as the year before  and another 140 frocks in December.

In the United States, Ivanka Trumps sales suffered during the presidential campaign amid revelations of statements that her father had made about women.

You know whos one of the great beauties of the world, according to everybody? Donald Trump told Howard Stern in 2003. And I helped create her. Ivanka.

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Jacksons mansion includes the drawing room where Jackson ushered guests in to brag about himself. Tour guide in period costume

NASHVILLE, TENN.President Donald Trump, in his first days in office, has been drawing comparisons to Andrew Jackson, the pugilistic populist president who campaigned against elites and was known as temperamental and rash.

Trump ordered a portrait of Jackson, with his distinctive shock of white hair, to be hung in the Oval Office, and his adviser Stephen Bannon called Trumps inaugural address very Jacksonian.

The Hermitage, Jacksons Nashville estate and museum, is seeing an uptick in interest in the 7th president because of Trump, the 45th.

My email is exploding, said Howard Kittell, president and CEO of the Andrew Jackson Foundation that runs the Hermitage, as he walked around the grand 1,000-acre grounds over the weekend.

Both outsiders, Trump and Jackson share a number of qualities, but one of particular note: Rabid fans and rabid foes. A challenging figure, is how Kittell describes Jackson.

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Jacksons tenure spawned the term kitchen cabinet as his opponents railed against his unofficial advisers with powerful influence. Now Trumps inner circleBannon chief among themis causing alarm even among members of the Republican Party.

Kittell noted that Jackson holds the distinction of having had more official portraits painted of him during his lifetime than any other president. Trump has a penchant for portraits of himself, including large ones that hang in his grand Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.

Jackson, who led the nation from 1829 to 1837, was self-made, the first common man to be elected to the presidency; he was referred to as the peoples president. At the same time, he was famous for his showy display of the opulent marble and mahogany furnishings in his home.

Jacksons mansion includes, according to a tour guide in 19th-century dress, the drawing room where Jackson ushered guests in to brag about himself.

Intensely interested in what the media wrote about him, Jackson subscribed to 16 newspapers. Aging binders of old newspapers are stacked beside his desk and a big X is marked over one article that caught Jacksons fury, an old-time precursor to Trumps tweet blasts about articles and publications he hates.

Despite the similarities, author Jon Meacham, a Nashville resident who has written a biography of Jackson and is on the board of directors of the Hermitage, notes key distinctions: Jackson was a war hero and had political experience serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

Jackson, Kittell said, was also an unapologetic slave owner.

Trump is a businessman and reality TV star. He never held public office or served in the military and avoided Vietnam with student deferments and by citing medical problems with bone spurs in his feet.

John Donnelly, a visitor from Ohio to the Hermitage, was reading an exhibit on the Trail of Tears, a deadly journey of Native Americans forced off land east of the Mississippi that Jackson triggered with the signing of the Indian Removal Act.

I guess undocumented Mexicans feel like that now, Donnelly said.

The famous Jackson quote displayed at the entrance of the Hermitage?: I was born for a storm and a calm doesnt suit me.

Calm doesnt suit Trump either, said Ann Packard, a Nashville resident visiting the Hermitage and upset over Trumps executive order to ban people from certain Muslim-majority countries.

She wondered what in years to come Trumps presidential museum will feature: I hope its not all about the storms he caused.

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PITTSBURGHTwelve days into the strangest poker tournament of their lives, Jason Les and his companions returned to their hotel, browbeaten and exhausted. Huddled over a pile of tacos, they strategized, as they had done every night. With about 60,000 hands played  and 60,000 to go  they were losing badly to an unusual opponent: a computer program called Libratus, which was up nearly $800,000 in chips.

That wasnt supposed to happen. In 2015, Les and a crew of poker pros had beaten a similar computer program, winning about $700,000. This time, the pros had initially kept things more or less even by finding flaws in how the computer played.

Fans following this Brains vs. AI competition at the Rivers Casino here put the odds of the AI winning at only about 1 in 4.

But by the second week, the flaws had disappeared; the odds of the computer triumphing rose. On day one, it had played well, but it wasnt impressive, Les said. Whats impressive is how this thing has learned and evolved, how much better it has gotten every day.

Machines have learned a lot about how to play games. Twenty years ago, they figured out checkers, and 10 years ago they toppled the Russian grandmasters of chess. Even Chinas game of go has been solved. But poker remained firmly in the hands of humans.

Thats because unlike checkers and chess, where all the pieces are visible, poker is a game of limited knowledge and uncertainty, of hidden cards and bluffs. It is perhaps truer to life, which may explain why it has been difficult for silicon chips to grasp.

AIs have had a lot of trouble with poker, said Noam Brown, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University who developed Libratus with CMU computer scientist Tuomas Sandholm. Its the holy grail of imperfect information games.

A victory for Libratus, Brown said, would not be much of a threat to human poker players. Its brain is a supercomputer that costs millions of dollars per year to run, so using it to play poker would not be a great way to make money. But Libratus could be a step toward helping artificial intelligence deal more broadly with uncertainty.

Thats because poker is not simply a game of chance. Neither does it require being able to read an opponents facial expressions, although Hollywood might like us to believe otherwise. What guides Libratuss decisions is powerful mathematics, math that could be applied to auctions, negotiations, finance, security and other real-world arenas in which information is hidden.

Serious mathematicians have long been fascinated by poker. John von Neumann, a pioneer in game theory, the branch of mathematics that deals with competition, explored the ins and outs of the card game early in the past century. So did John Nash, whose struggle with schizophrenia was depicted in the movie A Beautiful Mind. In 1950, Nash published a paper showing that there is a best strategy for many games, including one-on-one poker, regardless of how your opponent plays. That strategy, now called a Nash equilibrium, may not always win, but it does better than any other approach.

Finding the Nash equilibrium for simple games such as tic-tac-toe or rock, paper, scissors is easy. Finding it for a game as complicated as poker is hard.

An artificial intelligence developed at the University of Alberta has been able to master a basic version of poker called heads-up limit Texas Hold em, in which two players compete against each other with a restricted ability to bet.

But a hand of no-limit heads-up poker, in which the players can wager as much as they want to, involves a huge number of possibilities: 10 to the power of 160, which is a one followed by 160 zeros. Thats more than the estimated number of atoms in the universe. For poker games involving more than two people, the possibilities become seemingly incalculable.

People ranging from university academics to enthusiastic retirees have tried to create artificial intelligences to simplify the problem. Every February, they pit their creations against each other at a machines-only competition. A winner is declared, but a person who simply folded each hand would do better than many of these AIs. Every year, the computers play billions of hands against each other, says Jonathan Schaeffer, a University of Alberta computer scientist who helped to start the contest. Every year, we see incremental improvement.

Aside from the people behind Carnegie Mellons Libratus, only the Alberta team has made the claim of being able to beat humans. The Canadian program, called DeepStack, uses a neural network, a piece of software that works a bit like the human brain, making fast estimates that its creators compare to an intuition and reconsidering its options as new cards are laid on the table. A research paper posted on Jan. 10 claims that DeepStack played 40,000 hands against dozens of poker players and won, becoming the first computer program to beat professional poker players in heads-up no-limit Texas Hold em.

But the poker pros facing off against Libratus brushed off that victory, pointing out that the people recruited for that study were not specialists in one-on-one, heads-up poker. Those guys dont play our game type, said Dong Kim, one the high-stakes poker players in the tournament. They might play other kinds of poker, but even small-stakes heads-up players on the Internet would crush them.

The Alberta researchers declined to comment, pending the acceptance of their paper in a scientific journal.

Libratus prepared for its epic match by first playing trillions of hands against itself to build a database about which choices tend to work better than others. While playing, it pauses once in the middle of each hand to rethink its strategy, assessing not only what moves it can make but also other moves it could have made if the situation were different.

This method has led to some seemingly unusual decisions by Libratus that fly in the face of traditional poker wisdom, Sandholm says. When an opponent raises the stakes on the last bet, for instance, the computer may match that raise, even with weak cards that are unlikely to win.

If my 10-year-old daughter made that move, I would teach her not to, Sandholm said. But it turns out that this is actually a good move. It helps to catch bluffs.

Those strategies paid off. By the end of the 20-day competition, Libratus was declared the winner, up more than $1.7 million in chips. This is a major milestone for AI, said Andrew Ng, a computer scientist at Stanford University who followed the tournament.

Les and his companions each walked away with a share of a $200,000 purse (real money, not chips)  and perhaps some lessons in how to play cards.

We are definitely learning from how this computer thinks, Les said. I think I will come out of this a better poker player.

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MANILA, PHILIPPINESPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned Sunday that the military is ready to respond with airstrikes and new offensives if communist rebels launch attacks after both sides lifted separate ceasefires and he announced he was scrapping peace talks with the guerrillas.

Duterte, speaking at a news conference, called the rebels terrorists, as months of steady progress in talks brokered by Norway rapidly turned hostile after New Peoples Army rebels killed six soldiers and kidnapped two others in fresh violence that enraged the president.

It seems to me that these terrorists want another 50 years of war, of killing of Filipinos, Duterte told reporters after attending the wake of three of the slain soldiers in southern Cagayan de Oro city.

I dont want a bloody thing, but if they choose to do it, fine, the tough-talking president said. With my lifting of the ceasefire, they can begin their attacks and we are prepared and I will use the assets. We have so many planes now, we have jets, I will drop all (the bombs).

Read more: Philippine president to scrap talks with communist rebels

Duterte lifted the governments six-month-old ceasefire with the rebels Friday and ordered troops to prepare for new fighting after the guerrillas abandoned their own truce two days earlier and killed six soldiers in fresh violence. He angrily said some of the slain soldiers were killed like pigs and raked with gunfire.

He said Saturday that he was scrapping the talks with the rebels and would order government negotiators not to participate in negotiations for a joint ceasefire accord scheduled this month in Norway, adding that peace with the communists might not come in this generation.

The rebels have yet to react to Dutertes moves.

Despite his tough talk, Duterte asked thousands of guerrillas to abandon the nearly half a century of bloody rebellion in the countryside with an offer of land reform and housing.

Im offering you peace, he said. You should just come down and I will look for money to place you in settlements and I will proceed with the land reform.

Duterte said that several rebel leaders who were temporarily freed to join the peace talks in Europe should immediately return to the Philippines and go back to prison, warning that he would cancel their passports and order them to be arrested. The rebel leaders, he said, could also apply for asylum in Europe and opt to die far from their homeland.

Despite his tough stance, Duterte said Saturday that he may reconsider his decision if there was a compelling reason, but he did not elaborate. His adviser on the peace talks, Jesus Dureza, suggested Sunday that the presidents decision may still change.

At the moment, he has clearly spoken on the directions we all in government should take, Dureza said in a statement. As I always say, the road to just and lasting peace is not easy to traverse. There are humps and bumps, and curves and detours along the way. What is important is that we all stay the course.

The setback in the talks is the latest reality check for Duterte, whose crackdown on illegal drugs, which has killed thousands of drug suspects since he took office in June, has also hit a dilemma.

Duterte prohibited the 170,000-strong national police and the National Bureau of Investigation, another key law enforcement agency, from enforcing his campaign amid an extortion scandal that was sparked by the killing of a South Korean businessman by police officers involved in the anti-drug fight.

Duterte has said he will enlist the military to support the crackdown, now in the hands of a small anti-narcotics agency. That would put more pressure on government forces, who are carrying out an offensive against Muslim extremist groups in three battlefronts in the south and now have to prepare for a possible resumption of fighting with the communist rebels.

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MANSOURA, EGYPTAn Egyptian man suspected of charging soldiers at Paris Louvre museum with a machete was questioned by French investigators Sunday for the first time since the attack.

The Paris prosecutors office said the suspect, who allegedly shouted Allahu akbar! while rushing toward the soldiers and was shot four times after slightly injuring one, remained silent during the interview and will remain in custody.

The Louvre was closed immediately following the Friday attack, but reopened for the weekend.

Read more:Louvre reopens in Paris after Egypt identifies machete attacker

French authorities so far have not named the suspect, but confirmed they thought he was Egyptian.

They are being more cautious than their Egyptian counterparts, who have identified the attacker as 28-year-old Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy.

Hamahmys father spoke out Saturday to say that his son is not a terrorist, but a family man who led a normal life with his wife and infant son.

Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy told The Associated Press late Saturday that he trusts the French judiciary to find out the truth behind his Abdullahs alleged involvement in the attack.

If he is convicted, God be with us. But if he is innocent, they owe us an apology, the father said at the family home in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura.

He is a very respectable man who never had a problem with anybody, he never had any sort of political views, he said. His main concern in his life was his work in the United Arab Emirates, he said, adding that his son had gone to France on a work assignment.

Abdullah has lived in Dubai for the past five years, employed by what his father said was a law firm.

The Paris prosecutors office says the attacker was shot after lightly wounding a soldier patrolling an underground mall near the famous Paris museum, but that the injuries are no longer life-threatening.

Ibrahim Youssry, a close friend of Abdullah al-Hamahmy, said his behaviour on the day of the attack did not betray any intention to commit an act of violence.

Before the attack, he commented on one of our friends pictures on Instagram and liked some (other) pictures. He also called his father and asked him what to bring for him from France. All this contradicts the French story, said Youssry.

Two Egyptian officials said Sunday that local security agencies were continuing to gather information on Abdullah al-Hamahmy to help establish if he was a member of any militant groups or had been radicalized.

We are trying to determine whether he was a lone wolf, worked with a group or he is innocent, said one of the two officials, who is employed by the Interior Ministry. Investigators were examining his social media accounts, he added.

His tweets show a radicalized person. He supports the Daesh and other extremists in Syria, said the official, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

One recent tweet by Abdullah al-Hamahmy defended the Islamic State.

Why are they sacred of the Islamic State? Because the Islamic State defends its resources, territory, the honour and dignity of Muslims, he wrote.

The information gathered on Abdullah al-Hamahmy will be shared with French authorities, according to the second official, who is with the Foreign Ministry.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

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Donald Trumps statement that the U.S. is no more innocent than Vladimir Putins Russia drew howls from Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Sunday, while Vice-President Mike Pence rejected the notion that Trump had been attempting to make a moral equivalence.

The comments came as the president finds himself increasingly at odds with lawmakers over his willingness to engage with Putin, who the U.S. intelligence community has said used cyberattacks on prominent Democrats to try to help Trump during the presidential campaign.

There is no moral equivalency between the United States of America, the greatest freedom-loving nation in the history of the world and Putin, said Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska on ABCs This Week on Sunday.

I am opposed to the way Putin conducts himself in world affairs, said Sasse, who criticized Trump during the campaign. I hope that the president also wants to show moral leadership on this issue.

Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump

In an interview to be aired before Sundays Super Bowl, Trump said he respects Putin and downplayed an assertion by Bill OReilly of Fox News that the Russian leader is a killer.

Weve got a lot of killers, Trump said in the interview, according to an excerpt provided by the network. Do you think our countrys so innocent?

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who competed with Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, also rejected the idea that there was a moral equivalency between the U.S. and Russia. He appeared to refer to accusations that Putin has had dissidents murdered.

When has a Democratic political activists been poisoned by the GOP, or vice versa? Rubio said in a posting on Twitter signed with his initials, which usually means that he composed it himself. We are not the same as #Putin.

Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, termed Trumps suggestion of an equivalence with Russia deeply troubling and wrong. Cheney is the daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney.

Democrats didnt shy away from the subject. I really do resent that he would say something like that, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, said on ABCs This Week.

Klobuchar said she wanted to hear the Trump administration support an investigation of Russias election hacks and for increased sanctions on the country, even as Trump has indicated he is willing to consider diminishing or eliminating sanctions.

Trump said in the interview excerpt from Fox News that despite his respect for the Russian leader, he may not get along with Putin. Still, it would be a good thing if the two countries could co-operate in the fight against the Islamic State, he said.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on CNNs State of the Union that there is no equivalence between the way the U.S. and the Russians conduct themselves, and that he would not have used the characterization that Trump did.

Im not going to critique every utterance of the president, McConnell added. I obviously dont see this issue the same way he does.

Pence defended Trump during appearances on Sunday morning talk shows. He said the president was not putting the U.S. on par with Russia and was simply being critical of government policies.

Look, President Trump, throughout his life, his campaign and in this administration, has never hesitated to be critical of government policies by the United States in the past, Pence said on CBSs Face the Nation on Sunday. But there was no moral equivalency.

Pence also said Trump is showing a determination to start afresh with Putin and possibly co-operate on matters such as combating terrorism.

What youre hearing there is a determination by the president of the United States to not let semantics or the arguments of the past get in the way of exploring the ability to work together with Russia, Pence said on NBCs Meet the Press.

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LYON, FRANCEFrench far-right candidate Marine Le Pen blasted the two totalitarianisms of globalization and Islamic fundamentalism Sunday in a speech formally launching her presidential campaign that hit all the right chords for her National Front party followers.

Looking to translate her high early poll numbers into votes, Le Pen evoked a frightening image of Frances future during her much-anticipated speech. The country, enslaved to the European Union and unrecognizable as French, risks losing its identity if the political status quo endures, she said.

We are at a crossroads  This election is a choice of civilization, she said, asking whether her three children and other young citizens would have the rights and cultural signposts of the current generation. Will they even speak our French language?

Read more: Marine Le Pens far-right party calls Quebec mosque shooting deplorable

She issued a call for French voters on the left and right to join her, saying You have a place at our side.

The speech recalled the thundering and previously unpalatable pronouncements of her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Fronts hard-liner founder. Marine Le Pen banished him from the party in an effort to clean up its image.

But her remarks made clear the elder Le Pens anti-immigration message, targeting Muslims, remains a selling point in party ranks.

We do not want to live under the rule or threat of Islamic fundamentalism. They are looking to impose on us gender discrimination in public places, full body veils or not, prayer rooms in the workplace, prayers in the streets, huge mosques  or the submission of women, she said.

The estimated 5,000 people in the amphitheatre and watching on big screens cheered and chanted On est chez nous (We are in our land).

Le Pen reiterated some of the 144 commitments she has pledged to fulfil, if elected. It is a nationalist agenda laying out plans for France to leave the European Union, control its borders and readopt the old French franc as the national currency.

Running under the slogan In the Name of the People, her platform also would create popular referendums on any issue that gathered at least 500,000 signatures. And it would put French people first, with national preference enshrined in the Constitution.

Weve witnessed the impoverishment of France for some years now at a cultural, economic and social level, said Billy Winkens, a 41-year-old supporter from Toule, in eastern France. Today, people are hungry for change and want to drain the swamp, but in an orderly fashion, with coherence.

The National Front has taken heart in the French lefts disarray amid the unpopularity of Socialist President Francois Hollande, who decided not to run for re-election.

The rights leading candidate, Francois Fillon, recently has been caught up in a corruption scandal and created an opening for maverick centrist Emmanuel Macron, who could end up facing Le Pen in the final round of the two-part election.

Le Pen has been a leader in early polls, which place her at the top in the April 23 first-round vote but not winning the May 7 runoff.

If elected, she envisions a government of national unity formed after June legislative elections.

Le Pen took control of the National Front in 2011 and largely rid it of the overt anti-Semitism that flourished under her fathers leadership.

Since then, the party has drawn supporters from the length of the political spectrum by tapping into disgust over Frances 10-per-cent unemployment rate and political corruption scandals. But the portrait its presidential candidate paints is as stark as her prescriptions for change.

The European Union, she said, is a failure.

It hasnt upheld one of its promises especially in terms of prosperity and security, Le Pen told the cheering crowd on Sunday.

If elected, she plans to call a referendum on EU membership within six months. She also predicted other European members will join her.

She said the EU is historical parentheses and, hopefully, one day, just a bad memory.

Along with leaving the EU, Le Pen would withdraw France from NATOs integrated command, crack down on illegal immigration and reduce regular immigration to 10,000 people a year.

No one living in France illegally would be issued residency documents or allowed to acquire French citizenship, she said.

She said she would arrange for foreigners convicted of crimes in France to serve their prison terms in their homelands.

There will be no other laws and values in France but French, she said.

Britains vote to leave the European Union and U.S. President Donald Trumps election have reveal the awakening of the people against oligarchies, Le Pen, praising Trump as a man who respects campaign promises and acts quickly.

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WASHINGTONThe ubiquitousness of Steve Bannon was crowned with a stone-faced portrait on the cover of this weeks Time magazine over the headline: The Manipulator. Its another rare distinction for a political staffer now being cast in popular culture as some alt-right Rasputin.

Bannon has already declared that he sees Donald Trump as a blunt instrument for advancing his own beliefs  hes shaped, articulated, refined a political philosophy, and the president of the United States is the delivery mechanism.

The gruff-looking ex-Navy man, Harvard grad, Goldman Sachs banker, film producer, and flame-throwing right-wing media exec swept into the epicentre of political power with new roles: first as Trumps campaign chair, now as chief White House strategist.

Last week, he became the story. White House insiders grumbled to media that hed pushed ahead Trumps controversial travel restrictions, avoided departmental advice, and insisted on making it more aggressive.

There are now reports Trump is miffed. The policys been adjusted. And the presidents reportedly ordered employees to start following the proper chain of command.

So who is this multi-careered, thrice-divorced, in-house philosopher of the Trump White House? What does he believe? Hes provided ample clues, in frequent media appearances including when he hosted his own Breitbart radio show.

Here are some:

Believes a historic war is afoot

He began a 2014 talk to a Vatican gathering by noting it was the 100th anniversary of Archduke Franz Ferdinands assassination. At the time, globalization was advancing. The world had peace. But within weeks, Bannon said, over one million were dead.

Were at the very beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict . . . If the people in this room . . . (do) not . . . fight for our beliefs against this new barbarity . . . (it) will completely eradicate everything that weve been bequeathed over the last 2,000, 2,500 years, he said, according to a transcript Buzzfeed published.

Radical Islam is one enemy, but not the only one

Regarding Islam, Bannon told the Vatican event: (Were) at the beginning stages of a global war against Islamic fascism . . . We have to face a very unpleasant fact. And that unpleasant fact is that there is a major war brewing . . . Its going to lead to a global conflict that I believe has to be confronted today. He criticized George W. Bush in 2010 for calling Islam a religion of peace: Islam is not a religion of peace. Islam is a religion of submission. Islam means submission.

Regarding China, he told his radio show last March: Were going to war in the South China Sea in five to 10 years, arent we? Theres no doubt about that. Theyre taking their sandbars and making basically stationary aircraft carriers and putting missiles on those. . . . Thats a throwdown, is it not?

Godlessness is weakening the West, he says. Bannon told the Vatican conference: Secularism has sapped the strength of the Judeo-Christian West to defend its ideals.

Opposes immigration

Republicans regularly stress that they believe in immigration, aside from the illegal kind. Not Bannon. He says the U.S. has too many immigrants.

Immigrants cost American kids college spots and jobs, he told radio listeners: What weve gotta get sorted here, is not illegal immigration  as horrific as that is, and its horrific  dont we have a problem, weve looked the other way on this legal immigration thats kind of overwhelmed the country? . . . Twenty per cent of the country is immigrants. Is that not the problem? . . . Is that not the beating heart of this problem? Told the U.S. had four times more foreign-born residents than in 1970, Bannon called it scary.

He urged Trump to take a harder line. In a radio interview last year, Trump told Bannon he wished smart foreign students would stay in the U.S. after getting degrees at Harvard and Yale. Bannon disagreed: Ive got a tougher (view) . . . You know, when two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia . . . My point is . . . a country is more than an economy. Were a civic society.

Flatters Trump

Former associates say he talked his way into the orbit of conservative political stars  Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and finally Trump  using charm, and media projects to gain access.

Heres how he greeted Trump during a November 2015 interview. Within seconds, Bannon stroked his ego multiple times: Im now honoured to have our guest, Mr. Donald Trump. Mr. Trump is one of the most successful real-estate entrepreneurs in the history of the country. Hes a graduate of the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School of Business . . . How many jobs have you actually created, do you know, in your life  high-paying jobs?

Disdains bankers

Bannon expresses disgust with financial elites. It may seem inconsistent for a former Goldman Sachs banker working for a president who wants to deregulate banks. But he refers to bankers, and establishment politicians, as the Party of Davos. Bannon was reportedly infuriated by the events of 2008. His working-class dad lost retirement savings, while the bankers got bailouts.

He told the Vatican event the banks should be broken up. He added: Think about it  not one criminal charge has ever been brought to any bank executive associated with 2008 crisis. . . . No bonuses and none of their equity was taken . . . I think thats one of the fuels of this populist revolt that were seeing as the Tea party . . . I believe that they should have criminal indictments . . . The investment banks, and their stooges on Capitol Hill, they looked the other way.

Complex views on capitalism

He is neither a laissez-faire capitalist, nor a fan of state-directed economies. What he believes, he told the Vatican, is a capitalism with a Christian conscience, guided by a sense of community and morality.

He said religious morality helped the Allies beat godless fascists in the last world war, then create broad postwar prosperity: (Its) an enlightened form of capitalism . . . Wealth was really distributed among a middle class, a rising middle class . . . and created what we really call a Pax Americana.

Reads a lot

The president isnt known for reading. Bannon devours books.

He sprinkles historical references into observations. In his talk at the Vatican, organized by the Human Dignity Institute, he called Vladimir Putin a state-capitalist kleptocrat, and added: Putin, when you really look at some of the underpinnings of his beliefs . . . a lot of those come from what I call Eurasianism. Hes got an adviser who harkens back to Julius Evola and different writers of the early 20th century who are really supporters of whats called the traditionalist movement, which eventually metastasized into Italian fascism.

Ultimate political goal

To destroy the modern Republican party. He wants it transformed into a nationalist-economic populist party like Europes right-wing movements. Bannon was raised in a Democratic household, became a Republican, and eventually turned on mainstream politicians in general.

He told the Vatican event: I could see this when I worked at Goldman Sachs  people in New York that feel closer to people in London and in Berlin than they do to people in Kansas and in Colorado, and they have more of this elite mentality that theyre going to dictate to everybody how the worlds going to be run. . . . The Tea party in the United States biggest fight is with the Republican establishment, which is really a collection of crony capitalists . . . And, quite frankly, were winning many, many victories.

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SANAA, YEMEN  The leader of Al Qaedas affiliate in Yemen has released an audio recording in which he describes President Donald Trump as the White Houses new fool and says a recent U.S. raid against the group killed 25 people, including 11 women and children.

Addressing his followers in the recording, which emerged late Saturday, Qassim al-Rimi says: The White Houses new fool has received a painful blow at your hands in his first outing on your land.

Al-Rimi identifies all 25 purported victims of the Jan. 29 raid and claims that scores of U.S. soldiers were killed or wounded.

The recordings authenticity could not be immediately verified, but the voice was similar to that of previous recordings by al-Rimi.

The U.S. military says a Navy SEAL was killed in the raid.

Read more: U.S. acknowledges 10 civilian deaths in Trump-authorized Yemen raid

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The scenario last week in Ste-Foy, Que., was unimaginable. A Canadian white extremist male massacred six Muslims who were innocently worshipping in their mosque. A professor, a pharmacy worker and a civil servant were slaughtered. Seventeen children are now without fathers. Canadian families have been torn asunder.

If it makes us sick, it should.

If it causes us to question our political and social media discourse, we have to.

Should it make us ask, if we as individual citizens, can do anything? Yes, it should.

First, we can no longer see this heinous tragedy in isolation.

Canadians watched in horror, on Oct. 22, 2014, as a soldier on ceremonial duty at the National War memorial was shot and killed, moments before the attacker stormed Parliament Hill. Just two days previously, another Canadian soldier had been killed by yet another so called lone wolf.

Secondly, whatever the mental stability and mixed motives behind the perpetrators, the political context in which these events have happened is relevant. Unless we identify possible extenuating causes, we risk further horrific incidents.

One of those causes is the use of dog whistle political messaging. A disingenuous political strategy, used by the alt-right, a white nationalist movement, in particular, it mixes sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and most recently, Islamophobia into a toxic brew designed to sow anxiety and suspicion to those who are receptive to the message.

Like a high pitched dog whistle, which not everyone hears, this is a cowardly strategy that hides behind code words and phrases. It is not a new tactic but has increased in frequency with the rise of right wing parties, extremism and authoritarian leaders.

The birther movement in the United States was a good example. In spite of documented evidence that Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Donald Trump continued to spread the false rumour that Obama was born elsewhere. The subliminal message was that Obama was a foreigner and not one of us. For many Americans, this idea fed into fears that they were being shoved aside by forces they could not control.

Similarly, Stephen Harper used the expression of old stock Canadians during a debate in the 2015 election. The bizarre phrase suggested a hierarchy of citizenship, a far cry from the value of equality that Justin Trudeau was espousing. Warning lights started to flash in voters minds.

Stephen Bannon, the current puppet master in the White House, would likely argue that dog whistle politics can create winning conditions for candidates. But Ian Haney Lopez, an American law professor and author of a 2015 book Dog Whistle Politics, argues politicians on the right desire much more than an individual victory. Rather, they wish to destroy social safety nets along with the governments that promote them. In other words, the goal is to literally demolish liberal, progressive societies and replace them with repressive conservative ideologies.

So what can we do to stop the spread of this inflammatory and destructive force? How do we halt the powerful right wing of Trumps America from spilling over our borders with their vicious messages? There are a number of ways.

Canadian politicians who use coded messages of race-baiting or values testing should be named and shamed by political opponents. Already this is thankfully happening in the Conservative leadership race.

Strategists and pollsters who practise this type of dangerous communication must think twice before posing questions designed to whip up prejudice. Clients and investors may equally become concerned about provocative behaviour.

Civil society and individuals are watch dogs for truth and fairness. Dont allow friends or colleagues to discriminate against others or to disseminate hateful information. Whether a message is in a tweet, during a conversation, or on Facebook, point out errors or bias.

Main stream media and social media equally have responsibility to verify facts and to report without bias.

And never forget the power of words. Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard noted that Words can hurt. Words can be knives slashing at peoples consciousness. But words can also heal and soothe, especially when they are spoken with great sensitivity by a member of the community, which has just been devastated.

What the Daesch is doing in the name of Islam is an affront to Islam, decency and humanity. What took place in Quebec was criminal and horrible. But the response of Canadians with love and solidarity represents Canada at its best and offers us pride and hope, said Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan, a former journalist and Order of Canada recipient.

Lets not let our communities and ourselves down. Lets support each other with understanding and strength.

And while we are it, lets throw those dog whistles in the garbage.

Penny Collenette is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa and was a senior director of the Prime Ministers Office for Jean Chretien.

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Party leadership selection, like choosing ones mate, is rarely perfect, never precise and always highly personal. But there are some flashing yellow lights at the boundaries of what is always certain to be a disaster that really should not be ignored. And yet, surprisingly frequently, parties ignore the signals obvious to outsiders and make very dumb choices. Why?

First, party activists are frequently tempted by someone who will not make the same dumb mistakes as the last guy. This usually means someone purer, less political, a real conservative/socialist/libertarian/progressive, a doer not a talker.

Others, ruing the beloved, recently departed leader often pine for a clone. Some just want to block a hated faction leader from another clan. None of these frames makes any sense. In any democracy, purist politics can only end in tears, and sometimes violence. New leaders will always make new mistakes, or new versions of the same old ones. Focus on a future election winner, not a score settler.

The One More Time Tory activists are salivating over the ethnic jibes of a Kellie Leitch, or the Trumpian vulgarity of a TV carny, and even the socon dog whispers of a variety of candidates unknown, until recently, beyond their own tiny parishes. And, in response, one can see the outlines of an Anybody but Kellie coalition in formation. Sadly, the blocking candidate often turns out to be a bigger mistake than the targeted front-runner.

New Democrats would be foolish to look for a new Jack Layton, s/he does not exist. Even more imprudent would be seeking an anti-Mulcair, out of umbrage at the disappointment of his one campaign. Looking forward, not back, means finding someone who can appeal to a younger, more suburban, and new Canadian audience. That is, the voters that Harper stole from the Liberals, and Trudeau stole from the Layton legacy and from Harper.

Conservatives need to shake off the nonsense that the future is a bright populist line beginning with Mike Harris and running through Harper, Ford and Trump. First, each of those upset victories were classics of inept governments being defeated, not triumphant victory strategies. Rae, Martin, Miller and Hillary Clinton owned their own defeats. Banking on Justin Trudeau to make their mistakes in 2019 would not be wise. Sir John A., Dief and Mulroney should be their signposts not the latest champion of political wedgies.

Despite the pain a lone wolf crazy can inflict, if Canada appeared to be edging closer to American culture and class warfare in the dark decade of federal politics just past, our return to a widening trajectory toward Venus, and not Mars, does not soon seem likely to be reversed. The nationwide unanimity of revulsion at the Quebec horror and Trumps Muslim ban is surely proof of that. Tories would be wise to give up gun enthusiasts, racial wedges and socon nostalgia in their choice of a new leader.

Leadership selection contests always tilt toward true believers. This is as true of primaries as it is of delegated or online voting systems. But it is the painful task of the partisans to assess not only Is she really one of  or the best of  us? but also, Will Canadians place their trust in her?

They will want to avoid the mistakes Tories made in 76, Liberals made in 85 and 06, and the New Democrats made in 89 and 95. Recovery from dumb leadership choices can take nearly a decade, and did in each of those cases.

With a field containing as many delusional pretenders as the Conservatives race, the first task is taking as many off the table as quickly as possible. There are perhaps half a dozen who should remain as serious choices, by any objective professional assessment.

Of them, there are perhaps two overarching question to put. How do their colleagues and local activists feel about them? Weak caucus support is a warning not to be ignored. Strained relations with their local party even more so.

The second, even more important test is this: Have they been defeated at something important in their lives and how did they handle it, what did they learn from it?

As my grandfather  a politician who suffered more than his share of painful defeats  liked to admonish those grieving over yet another bad election night, The only important lessons in politics are those learned in defeat. Learn them well or you will never know a secure victory.

Robin V. Sears, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and a Broadbent Institute leadership fellow, was an NDP strategist for 20 years.

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It should never have come to this. Moved by the suicides of two young girls in early January, a private donor has offered the Wapekeka First Nations $380,000 for youth mental health workers  money that Health Canada refused to provide.

As the Stars Tanya Talaga reports, Wapekeka Chief Brennan Sainnawap wrote to Health Canada last July, begging for funding to thwart a feared youth suicide pact in the northern Ontario community. Health Canada refused. On Jan. 8, 12-year-old Jolynn Winter committed suicide and her best friend, Chantell Fox, also 12, took her life two days later.

It matters little that Health Canada swung into action after the suicides of the two girls and ordered the money be sent immediately to Wapekeka. This delay in vital mental health funding is just the latest example of egregious missteps from a government that was elected with a promise of positive change for Canadas indigenous peoples. The string of youth suicides across Canada is among the most alarming outcomes of First Nations suffering.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government must use this tragic experience as an opportunity to recalibrate its original goals for First Nations people with a focus on positive, decisive action.

In recent days there has been a series of fresh examples of a government that is dragging its heels when it comes to indigenous rights. These should serve as an embarrassment to a government that promised what was regarded as the most comprehensive and ambitious First Nations agenda ever proposed by a party in power.

A confidential Privy Council report card on the accomplishments of the civil service gave the indigenous and northern affairs department an incomplete mark, citing bureaucratic lethargy, according to a report in the National Post. The department has the long-standing and unfortunate reputation of being incapable of creating improvements, either within its own ranks or for the indigenous people it is supposed to serve. However challenging, Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett must create cultural change.

Another example of bungled policy generating unnecessary delays was highlighted in a Quebec judges decision to give the government extra time to change parts of the Indian Act that were deemed to be discriminatory.

The governments own proposals to fix the act were considered so inadequate that the Senate aboriginal peoples committee told Bennett that the changes would do little to stop discrimination. Already given 18 months to improve the act, this latest delay now sets legislative change back another six months, to July 3. Will the bureaucrats get the job done? History would suggest otherwise.

All of this comes shortly after the anniversary of a landmark ruling by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. It found that the federal government discriminated against children on reserves in its funding of child welfare services. Wapekekas request for extra funding last summer shows that the discrimination continues.

Certainly, there has been no shortage of warnings. Last November, Auditor General Michael Ferguson cited decades worth of audits showing that the governments treatment of First Nations people was beyond unacceptable. He rightly criticized the ongoing lack of leadership.

Until a problem-solving mindset is brought to these issues to develop solutions built around people instead of defaulting to litigation, arguments about money, and process roadblocks, this country will continue to squander the potential and lives of much of its Indigenous population, Ferguson said.

Which brings us back to the suicides of two girls, in a community that asked for help but did not get it until an anonymous private donor offered to fill the void.

Jolynn Winter and Chantell Fox did not make it out of childhood. Canadas leaders must remember their names and stop making promises that no one ever fulfils.

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After less than two years on the job, Tiffany (TIF) CEO Frederic Cumenal will step down effective immediately, but the jewelry retailer said it still expects to report financial results in line with its previous forecasts.

Tiffany announced Sunday that it had engaged an executive search firm to find a new CEO. In the meantime, former CEO Michael J. Kowalski will serve as interim CEO in addition to his role as chairman of the board.

Shares were falling 6.80% to $75 in pre-market trading on Monday.

"The Board is committed to our current core business strategies, but has been disappointed by recent financial results," Kowalski said in a statement.

Tiffany also reaffirmed its fiscal 2016 guidance, which it outlined in a Jan. 17 press release announcing its holiday sales. The company expects its earnings per diluted share and net sales to fall to mid-single digit percentage points. Tiffany also forecast cash from operating activities of $575 million and free cash flow of $125 million.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect earnings of $3.67 per share on revenues of $3.99 billion, down 9.7% and 6% year-over-year, respectively.

Holiday sales, during the two months ending Dec. 31, fell 4% year-over-year in the Americas, with a 14% decline at the flagship Tiffany store on Fifth Avenue. "Post-election traffic disruptions" caused part of the flagship store's declines, the company said. The Tiffany store is located next to Trump Tower, where Donald Trump lived as President-elect and his wife and son still live. Protests, media presence and security disrupted retail sales and traffic on the block.

Although Jefferies analyst Randal Konik estimated that the flagship store accounted for more than 10% of Tiffany's sales, with tourists accounting for 40% of sales at the flagship store, he wrote that the disruption was not as bad as expected and will improve over time.

Cumenal's departure is the second of a chief executive of a luxury brand. Ralph Lauren (RL) CEO Stefan Larsson also stepped down, saying on a Thursday call with analysts that he had clashed with founder Ralph Lauren, who is the company's executive chairman, chief creative officer and largest shareholder.

Cumenal joined Tiffany in 2011 as executive vice president, was appointed president in 2013 and CEO in April 2015. Prior to Tiffany, he served as president and CEO of LVMH's Moet & Chandon champagne brand after stints at Procter & Gamble (PG) , Italian conglomerate Ferruzzi Group and privately held American candy giant Mars.

Tiffany will report its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings on March 17.

Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust, has no positions in the stocks mentioned.
Enbridge Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company. The company operates through five segments: Liquids Pipelines, Gas Transmission and Midstream, Gas Distribution and Storage, Renewable Power Generation, and Energy Services. The Liquids Pipelines segment operates pipelines and related terminals to transport various grades of crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons in Canada and the United States. The Gas Transmission and Midstream segment invests in natural gas pipelines, and gathering and processing facilities in Canada and the United States. The Gas Distribution and Storage segment is involved in natural gas utility operations serving residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Ontario, as well as natural gas distribution and energy transportation activities in Quebec. The Renewable Power Generation segment operates power generating assets, such as wind, solar, geothermal, and waste heat recovery facilities; and transmission assets in North America and Europe. The Energy Services segment provides energy marketing services to refiners, producers, and other customers; and physical commodity marketing and logistical services in Canada and the United States. The company was formerly known as IPL Energy Inc. and changed its name to Enbridge Inc. in October 1998. Enbridge Inc. was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
Juniper Networks, Inc. designs, develops, and sells network products and services worldwide. The company offers routing products, such as ACX series universal access routers to deploy high-bandwidth services; MX series Ethernet routers that function as a universal edge platform; PTX series packet transport routers; wide-area network SDN controllers; and session smart routers. It also provides switching products, including EX series Ethernet switches to address the access, aggregation, and core layer switching requirements of micro branch, branch office, and campus environments; QFX series of core, spine, and top-of-rack data center switches; and juniper access points, which provide Wi-Fi access and performance. In addition, the company offers security products comprising SRX series services gateways for the data center; Branch SRX family provides an integrated and next-generation firewall; virtual firewall that delivers various features of physical firewalls; and advanced malware protection, a cloud-based service and Juniper ATP. Further, it offers Junos OS, a network operating system; Contrail networking, which provides an open-source and standards-based platform for SDN; Mist AI-driven Wired, Wireless, and WAN assurance solutions to set and measure key metrics; Mist AI-driven Marvis Virtual Network Assistant, which identifies the root cause of issues; Juniper Paragon Automation, a modular portfolio of cloud-native software applications; and Juniper Apstra to automate the network lifecycle in a single system. Additionally, the company provides software-as-a-service, technical support, maintenance, and professional services, as well as education and training programs. It sells its products through direct sales, distributors, value-added resellers, and original equipment manufacturers to end-users in the cloud, service provider, and enterprise markets. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
Augmentation ileocystoplasty is a common treatment in adults with low capacity bladders due to neurogenic bladder dysfunction. We describe here our technique for robotic assisted laparoscopic augmentation ileocystoplasty in an adult with a low capacity bladder due to neurogenic bladder dysfunction.

The patient is a 35 years-old man with neurogenic bladder due to a C6 spinal cord injury in 2004. Cystometrogram shows a maximum capacity of 96cc and Pdet at maximum capacity of 97cmH2O. He manages his bladder with intermittent catheterization and experiences multiple episodes of incontinence between catheterizations. He experiences severe autonomic dysreflexia symptoms with indwelling urethral catheter. He has previously failed non operative management options of his bladder dysfunction. Our surgical technique utilizes 6 trocars, of note a 12mm assistant trocar is placed 1cm superior to the pubic symphysis, and this trocar is solely used to pass a laparoscopic stapler to facilitate the excision of the ileal segment and the enteric anastomosis. Surgical steps include: development of the space of Retzius/dropping the bladder; opening the bladder from the anterior to posterior bladder neck; excision of a segment of ileum; enteric anastomosis; detubularizing the ileal segment; suturing the ileal segment to the incised bladder edge.

The surgery had no intraoperative complications. Operative time was 286 minutes (4.8 hours). Estimated blood loss was 50cc. Length of hospital stay was 8 days. He did experience a postoperative complication on hospital day 3 of hematemesis, which did not require blood transfusion. Cystometrogram at 22 days post operatively showed a maximum bladder capacity of 165cc with a Pdet at maximum capacity of 10cmH2O.

As surgeon comfort and experience with robotic assisted surgery grows, robotic surgery can successfully be applied to less frequently performed procedures. In this case we successfully performed a robotic assisted laparoscopic augmentation ileocystoplasty displaying improvement in measurable functional outcomes.

International braz j urol : official journal of the Brazilian Society of Urology. 2017 Jan 27 [Epub ahead of print]

Peter A Caputo, Daniel Ramirez, Matthew Maurice, Onder Kara, Ryan Nelson, Ercan Malkoc, Jihad Kaouk

Department of Urology, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28128904
At the heart-piercing climax of Caroline, or Change, Caroline  the boilingly resentful maid in the home of a Jewish family in 1963 Louisiana  confesses her anguish in a harrowing aria, a song so combustible it seems capable of setting the whole theater ablaze.

Strangle my soul, turn me to salt, a pillar of salt, Caroline sings. Set me free. Dont let my sorrow make evil of me.

Its the illustrious Nova Y. Payton who, in Round House Theatres vibrant revival, portrays Caroline  a role tailor-made for a golden-throated powerhouse. Wearing a starched white uniform and a permanent scowl, her Caroline is a storm cloud of pain; you wait with both alarm and excitement for the thunder to rumble and the lightning to strike. For if any musical actress in town can roust meteorological forces  did you catch Payton as Effie in Signature Theatres Dreamgirls?  this natural wonder can.

And she does, incandescently, in director Matthew Gardiners illuminating version of the 2003 bluesy pop opera, with book and lyrics by Tony Kushner and a score packed with tempestuous, ear-pleasing riches by Jeanine Tesori. Payton, thankfully, isnt a stand-alone success in the cast, 17 strong, backed by a 10-member orchestra conducted by wizardly Jon Kalbfleisch. Gardiner, whom Round House imported from Signature, where he is associate artistic director, has assembled a formidable array of talent, particularly in the casting of the sensational Awa Sal Secka and Korinn Walfall as Carolines friend Dotty and daughter Emmie.

These women set exacting standards  vocally, especially  in a show with wrenching themes and challenging melodies; the evening is 95 percent music. Inevitably, with such potent artillery there will be weaker links and other voices more punishingly tested by the scores demands. A few allowances have to be made, for experience and technique, but not by any means in ways that seriously hinder the overall effect.

That would be that Caroline, or Change, while always fairly positively received, may be better than even its past notices indicate. Perhaps in the 14 years since it was unveiled at off-Broadways Public Theater (and, later, in a transfer to Broadway), musical theater itself has become more hospitable to the shows innovations: its fluid storytelling style, its interweaving of family and national politics, its saturated emotionality.

Set in Kushners home town of Lake Charles, La., Caroline, or Change explores at ground level the civil rights movement, with a portrait of the cold realities for a single black mother, with four children and an achingly dull, menial job. Goes underground might be an even better description, because Carolines world is that rarity in Louisianas waterlogged earth, a basement, where even the Washing Machine (Theresa Cunningham), the Dryer (V. Savoy McIlwain) and the Radio (Felicia Curry, Olivia Russell, Kara-Tameika Watkins) vibrate with more melodic joie de vivre than she.

Caroline is the member of a disadvantaged minority working for another with a legacy of oppression: Her employers, the Gellmans (Will Gartshore and Dorea Schmidt), are Jewish, and whats more, theyre themselves isolated and unhappy. Schmidts beautifully sung Rose is Stuart Gellmans second wife and, to her own frustration, neither he nor his son Noah (Griffin McCahill) is over the first wifes death.

The linchpin relationship of Caroline, or Change is the brittle tug-of-war between Caroline and Noah, and heres a facet of the production that feels underdeveloped. As a maternal substitute, Noah chooses not Rose but Caroline, a role for which the embittered, overextended maid simply has no energy, or interest. One of the demonstrations of the musicals integrity is its marvelously dry-eyed view of Carolines rejection of Noah. On this occasion, though, the audience requires a more potent manifestation of this dynamic because the crucial scene in which Noah lashes out at Caroline and she gives it right back to him lacks the devastating sense of transgression it must supply.

Set designer Jason Sherwood impressively places the Gellmans multistory frame home on a turntable that Gardiner uses deftly to reveal the essential coldness of the household; there are places for all of the Gellmans, especially the dependable Gartshores introverted Stuart, to seal themselves away. But the nuclear family more urgently tugging on Carolines apron and heart strings  her children and friends  is the one that on this occasion engrosses an audience most satisfyingly.

Secka is effortlessly appealing as Dotty, the friend who treads lightly around Caroline and her many griefs. Walfall, too, is a find as the oldest of Carolines children, and a young woman awakening to possibilities her mother cant even conceive of; though there are other, more ironic interpretations for the shows title, Walfalls Emmie most ecstatically embodies the change of Caroline, or Change. In supporting roles, McIlwain, Scott Sedar and Delores King Williams make strong vocal contributions.

Best of all is Payton as a maid tragically marooned by circumstance  but still capable of serving up both fire and ice.

Caroline, or Change, music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by Tony Kushner. Directed by Matthew Gardiner. Musical director, Jon Kalbfleisch; set, Jason Sherwood; costumes, Frank Labovitz; lighting, Grant Wilcoxen; sound, Fitz Patton; production stage manager, Che Wernsman. With John Lescault, Naomi Jacobson, Elijah Mayo, Micah Tate. About 2 hours. Tickets: $38.50 to $90. Through Feb. 26 at Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Hwy., Bethesda. Visit roundhousetheatre.org or call 240-644-1100.
President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron, walk to Marine One at the White House en route to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.

March 17, 2017 President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron, walk to Marine One at the White House en route to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

The beginning of the presidents term has featured controversial executive orders and frequent conflicts with the media.

The new president is expected to make his mark on an aggressive legislative agenda.

The new president is expected to make his mark on an aggressive legislative agenda.

Every presidential administration leaks. So far, the Trump White House has gushed.

Unauthorized transcripts of phone conversations between President Trump and the leaders of Mexico and Australia went public last week. So did details about the administrations stage-managing of Trumps Supreme Court pick. Drafts of executive orders, including one that would grant legal protection to people and businesses that discriminate against same-sex married couples on moral or religious grounds, also slipped out before they were ready for prime time.

The leaks have been a bonanza for news organizations, particularly mainstream outlets such as the New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC and the Associated Press. The pattern of leaks to these organizations suggests the leakers are seeking not just wide distribution of confidential information but are hoping to gain the credibility conveyed by establishment news organizations  the very news outlets that Trump has frequently derided as purveyors of fake news.

They also suggest the extent of rivalries and some possible misgivings within Trumps inner circle about policies and would-be policies. Leaks, after all, are often designed to isolate a rival or to whip up public pressure to derail a decision.

The Post was first to report on Trumps conversation with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in which Trump blasted a refugee resettlement agreement and bragged about his election victory before abruptly ending the call.

(The Washington Post)

The Times broke the news that the administration was preparing an order permitting the CIA to reopen secret black site prisons in which terrorist suspects were once tortured. The newspaper also described the White Houses attempt to set up a reality show-like competition to gin up the suspense about Trumps Supreme Court appointment.

AP was first with a story that Trump, in a call with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, had threatened to send U.S. troops to Mexico to stop bad hombres down there.

Smaller news outlets have tapped into the leaky pipeline, too. The Nation magazine, primarily known for its liberal commentary, reported last week that the White House was circulating the draft of an executive order that would permit sweeping discrimination against gay and transgender people based on religious or moral objections; the Nation even reproduced a copy of the leaked draft document.

The breadth of the leaks has surprised  and, of course, delighted  journalists, who say it gives the public an unfiltered view of what those in power are thinking and doing. The leaks of Trumps calls to Turnbull and Pena Nieto may have been the most surprising of all; its rare for transcripts of presidential phone calls or details of meetings with foreign leaders, especially potentially embarrassing exchanges, to leak so soon afterward.

Given Trumps erratic nature and lack of experience, especially in foreign affairs, these leaks may be more important than ever, says David Corn, a reporter with the muckraking Mother Jones magazine. They give us a sense of how hes doing his job and what important advisers such as Stephen K. Bannon and Jared Kushner are telling him to do.

Other reporters say the leaks reflect a certain degree of chaos within the new administration, with factions warily circling one another. At the top of the organization is an executive who has himself flouted White House norms, which may be setting a certain tone. I tend to think chaos begets chaos begets chaos, and thats what were seeing here, said a reporter familiar with some of the senior players.

But others see the leaks as whistleblowing  an effort to expose Trumps initiatives before they become policy.

The draft executive order expanding religious objections to gay and transgender people was probably leaked because the leaker was alarmed that such a policy might be enacted, said Sarah Posner, who broke the story for the Nation. She notes that there was no leak of Trumps most controversial order to date, a ban on travel and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, and the secrecy caused disruption and controversy. I think [the proposed religious order] was very concerning to a lot of people inside and outside of government, she said.

If so, mission accomplished. Trump hasnt signed the religious-objection order, and the White House hasnt indicated when or if he will. Similarly, the administration appears to have pulled back its plans to revive the black site prisons after the Times disclosure of it incited pushback from Congress and Cabinet officials.

Of course, the leaks could also be trial balloons launched by the administration.

Neither Trump nor his top officials have challenged the veracity of any of the major leaks. A few weeks before taking office, however, Trump demanded an investigation into who leaked to NBC News a top-secret report about Russian hacking of Democratic officials during the campaign.

This record suggests that mainstream news organizations are getting a reliable flow of unauthorized information. But reporters say such information needs to undergo the journalistic equivalent of extreme vetting.

Careful news organizations dont just throw unverified leaks into the world, said David Sanger, a veteran White House and national security reporter for the New York Times. Reporters want to understand the motives [of the leaker] and the context of whats leaked so that youre not just simply becoming the handmaiden to someones private agenda. You have to dig into it and ask questions about it, starting with, Why am I seeing this? 

Given Trumps management style and the competing power centers within his administration, I dont see [leaks] simmering down anytime soon, said Corn. Its going to be a continuing problem for him and his administration. But its going to be good for the public. And its going to be very good for journalists.
Jalal Al Farttoosi at his barbershop in Silver Spring, Md. In the sink are flowers he has received from customers and others as a show of support. (Photo by John Kelly/TWP) (John Kelly/The Washington Post)

When President Trumps executive order went out banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, Jalal Al Farttoosi hunkered down in his apartment in Silver Spring, Md., telling himself he had nothing to fear. America wasnt like Iraq, where he was born.

But Jalal, 33, couldnt help remembering that Iraq once wasnt like Iraq, either. In the 1970s, before Saddam Hussein came to power and set about systematically destroying the nation from the inside, it was a country of scholars, of art, of history. People seemed to get along with one another.

When Jalal was 6, some of Saddams men came and took his father away. They killed him and seized his assets. Years later, when Jalal applied to study medicine at a university, a school official ran his finger down a list and found Jalals family name there. As the son of an enemy of the state, the man said, Jalal would not be allowed to study medicine.

He studied English instead.

The United States invaded in 2003 and Jalal, the oldest son, took his family to a patch of land outside Baghdad, where they lived for two weeks. After the city fell, Jalal became an interpreter for the Americans. It was not a job that would make him popular with some Iraqis. And so Jalal received a special visa that allowed him to come to the United States. He moved here in 2010, got his green card, then became a U.S. citizen.

Hed been cutting hair since he was a teenager in Baghdad, and thats what Jalal did when he moved to Silver Spring. He got a job at a salon and he cut hair. He cut hair and he saved money and he sent it back to his family in Iraq.

Jalal told them about the United States, about how safe it was, about how everyone got along. Another barber in the shop was from Iran, a country Saddam had turned into Iraqs mortal enemy. It was no problem here, Jalal said. Anywhere else in the world, if you stuck an Iraqi next to an Iranian, or a Pakistani next to an Indian, Jalal said, they would fight. But not in America, a nation of immigrants, where people just wanted to pursue happiness.

Before hed left Iraq, Jalal had gotten engaged. His fiancee studied English, too, and the plan was that Jalal would set himself up in his new country and then she would join him. (He asked that I not use her name.)

Last year, they married  in Beirut, a safer place for a wedding than Baghdad  and Jalal filed for a spouse visa. Where is her birth certificate, U.S. officials asked. Destroyed during the first Gulf War when the Red Cross hospital where she was born was hit by U.S. bombs, Jalal explained.

Jalal paid a lawyer in Baghdad to procure the necessary replacement, and in October he filed the visa application. He was told if all went well, it would take no more than six months to process, and then his wife could join him.

Last summer, Jalal bought his own barbershop, on Georgia Avenue  the next step in his American journey. He closed it for five days in January so he could meet his wife in Beirut. He returned on Inauguration Day.

A week later, Trump issued his executive order. His wife called, distraught. She worried that Jalal would be attacked, that vandals would throw bricks into his barbershop, that he would be arrested. He tried to calm her. Its not like that here, he said  at least, he didnt think it was.

That night, Jalal stayed in his apartment, thinking. A 90-day freeze on travelers from Iraq suggested his wife wouldnt be coming here any time soon. The chaos at airports convinced Jalal that if he went to visit her, he might not be allowed back into the country  his country.

It wasnt my choice to be born in Baghdad, he said. But it was my choice to be American. It was a choice Jalal was proud of making.

On a recent evening, I visited Jalals barbershop. He switched off the lighted Open sign and started sweeping the hair of his last customer from the floor. His wife called every day, he said, worried about him.

He told her that an amazing thing had happened. Customers came to say how much they supported him. This is not who we are, they said of the immigration ban.

They gave Jalal information about lawyers they thought might be able to help. They promised to get in touch with their elected representatives.

They didnt throw bricks. They brought bouquets. Flowers started stacking up next to the scissors and combs. They said that they wanted to meet his wife and throw a party for the couple.

Jalal walked to the cash register and lifted something from the counter behind it. A toddler of about 3 gave it to him when his mother came in to offer Jalal her support.

This is from my sister and me, the boy had said. We want you to have it.

It was a handful of grass, a little piece of America.

For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.
RACINE  With a few Spanish words and phrases peppered in his remarks on Saturday morning, Mayor John Dickert addressed the Spanish-speaking community in southeastern Wisconsin by going on La Gran D 104.7 FM in Milwaukee.

The main focus was of the conversation on the Spanish-language radio station was to assure the Hispanic community regarding what some are hearing on the issue of immigration.

The residents of the United States right now are hearing a lot of rhetoric and unfortunately they are nervous, many people are afraid, Dickert said to radio host Jorge Perez. We have to have people understanding what the rhetoric is versus the facts.

This was the first time, Perez said, a sitting mayor had ever come on air at La Gran D 104.7 FM.

Perez asked Dickert about a recent meeting he attended in Washington, D.C., with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which took place Jan. 17-19.

What we did as mayors was come together in Washington, D.C., to try to find answers to meaningful questions, Dickert said. So as mayors we came together  to hire attorneys from one of the best law firms in the United States to give us an opinion on the rhetoric.

Dickert didnt go into detail about what exactly the opinion was other than to say mayors need to help dial back the rhetoric.

We want to make sure we are following the law, (and) more importantly, the people out in Washington understand the impact of the rhetoric, and its a negative impact on our society, Dickert said. We have bigger problems to deal with than to constantly chase issues that are really not a problem in the United States.

One country, one people

Dickert brought with him a few bilingual members of his staff who talked about their background. He emphasized the importance of having people in the city offices who speak Spanish.

When I came on board as mayor I noticed our main offices did not have a bilingual person in each office, Dickert said. We now have, in every main office, one Latino speaker. And I think thats our way of saying to the public were ready for anyone that comes through our doors.

Dickert concluded his statements with a message of hope and cooperation.

We are all one country and we are all one people, Dickert said. The only way to succeed is if everyone is working together to build a better community. The rhetoric and the speech that is out today does nothing but divide us.
Arlington County parent Ryan Donmoyer has two children at Williamsburg Middle School, one of the most affluent and high-performing public schools in Northern Virginia. Families are usually happy with such a favored place, but Donmoyer and several other parents are objecting to a planned block class schedule with no proven learning benefits.

Usually such protests fail after a few heated meetings and angry letters to the school board, particularly if the principal and the superintendent support the change, as they do for Williamsburg.

But Donmoyer, a former journalist, is using a reporters tool, freedom of information rules, to expose misinformation and secret maneuvering in adopting the plan for every-other-day 83-minute classes at Williamsburg. Arlington has a long tradition of good government and citizen review, so the school system gave Donmoyer more than 300 emails to and from staffers on the controversy.

[Great school system communicates poorly with parents on academic shift]

Such family vs. school battles rarely get much coverage. News organizations consider them too local, even though they reveal important truths about what most aggravates parents. The email copies Donmoyer collected show how school politics really works.

Arlington schools spokeswoman Linda Erdos told me that Superintendent Patrick Murphy, who thinks block scheduling would deepen learning for middle-schoolers and reduce time spent changing classes, left it up to principals to explore options with their communities. But emails indicate that Williamsburg Principal Gordon Laurie did not say the school could stay with the traditional schedule. Instead he asked staffers which kind of block schedule they preferred.

Laurie says he wants each student to have just one traditional 45-minute class that meets daily. A students other classes would be one for 45 minutes on Monday and two 83-minute classes the rest of the week. Several parents, students, teachers and curriculum experts say they do not want to lose daily classes in band, language, math and physical education where students benefit from regular and frequent practice. Some parents say they are unsure whether children with learning disabilities could handle 83-minute periods.

Laurie told the PTA president and staff on Oct. 26 that he wants to implement the new schedule in the next school year. He asked staff to vote on three possible schedules. He did not include leaving the current schedule alone as an option.

Emails show that the PTA president played an unusual behind-the-scenes role in the controversy. She sent emails to Murphy and the school board chair on behalf of the Williamsburg PTA describing the many people opposing the plan as a few, very loud parents . . . who are trying to derail this process. She said in an email that hundreds and hundreds of families supported the proposal, but indicated she reached that conclusion only because so few parents had contacted her on the matter. That seems at odds with a Nov. 9 parents forum and a Nov. 17 PTA meeting in which most of the comments, according to parents who attended, were skeptical of or opposed to the change.

In one email the PTA president told the principal it would be easier to install block scheduling if he shortened the time for parent comment. She said, I really wish there was some way you could tell parents that change is inevitable. The PTA president did not respond to my email request for comment.

I began writing about block scheduling 20 years ago, when the idea was quickly adopted by most Washington-area high schools. Policymakers felt that teachers could be more thoughtful and creative in much longer periods. Research since has shown no significant differences in achievement rates between students using traditional and block schedules. I asked Arlington officials for studies that support the reform but got none.

Middle schools have been less eager than high schools to adopt block schedules. They are still dealing with basics, where repetition has value. Williamsburg is a great school that might make it work, but not without additional discussion and clarity about the level of support.
President Trump named Ajit Pai, second from right, to be chairman of the Federal Communications Commission last month. (Susan Walsh/AP)

Federal regulators no longer are pressing to cut the costs of most prison phone calls, backing away from a years-long effort to limit charges imposed by a handful of private companies on inmates and their families.

The shift by the Federal Communications Commission comes as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Monday considers whether commissioners went too far when they capped prices for inmate calls that had reached more than a $1 per minute.

To make phone calls from most federal and state prisons, inmates generally must set up accounts with a private company to hold money deposited by family members. The companies typically have a contract with the prisons, which receive a portion of the call revenue.

Federal regulators had pushed since 2013 to lower the costs, saying the prices made it too hard for relatives to stay in touch.

But a week after President Trump tapped a new leader for the FCC, the commissions attorneys changed course and told the court that the FCC no longer would defend one of its own key provisions that limited fees for prisoners intrastate calls. The issue set for court Monday was first raised more than 15 years ago by a retired nurse in the District who could not afford to call her incarcerated grandson.

Martha Wright-Reed, who died two years ago, was paying more than $100 a month to call her grandson, who was locked up in Arizona.

[The FCC letter to the court]

The shift by the FCC is a small but clear sign of how the new administration is remaking policies throughout government.

The new FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, voted against the now-contested rate caps on prison calls as a sitting Republican FCC commissioner. With the resignation of two Democratic commissioners in January, two of the remaining three commissioners share that position.

The majority does not believe that the agency has the authority to cap intrastate rates, the commissions deputy general counsel, David M. Gossett, said in a letter to the courts clerk. We are abandoning, and I am not authorized to defend at argument, the contention . . . that the Commission has the authority to cap intrastate rates for inmate calling services.

[After almost a decade, FCC has yet to rule on high cost of prison phone calls]

The newly configured FCC will defend the limits on calls between states, but not on in-state calls, which inmate advocates say account for more than 80 percent of all inmate calls.

Virtually all of these calls home from jail are in-state calls, said Peter Wagner, executive director of the Prison Policy Initiative. We are seeing the cost of these calls rise  up to $1.50 per minute  for a simple in-state phone call.

Wright-Reeds initial class-action lawsuit after the experience with her grandson was dismissed, and she turned to the FCC for help. Her petition languished for years until it was picked up by former FCC chairwoman Mignon Clyburn, now the lone Democratic commissioner.

Clyburn attributed the high rates to an egregious case of market failure because of a lack of competition between the companies that negotiate contracts for the exclusive right to provide a prisons phone services.

Law enforcement officials opposed to the rate caps say they depend on the shared funds they get under the contracts to help pay for inmate programs such as addiction counseling. The funds also have gone to pay salaries and benefits, according to court filings.

Cheryl Leanza, a policy adviser with the media justice ministry of the United Church of Christ, said it is inappropriate for state governments or local governments to rely on the family members of incarcerated people to subsidize the cost of government. This should not be put on families who are the least able to afford it.

In 2015, the FCC voted 3-to-2 to cap rates for state and federal prison inmates at 11 cents per minute. The agencys order dropped the average rates for in-state calls from a total of $2.96 for 15-minutes to no more than $1.65 for 15 minutes. For calls between states, the order dropped the average from a total of $3.15 for 15 minutes to no more than $1.65 for 15 minutes.

At the time of the 2015 vote, Pai called the rules well-intentioned and praised efforts to reduce the rates. But he said the commission had gone too far and that the rules would not survive a legal challenge.

The companies providing prison phone services quickly went to court.

The major providers  led by Securus Technologies, Global Tel Link and CenturyLink  and a group of state and local law enforcement officials are challenging the authority of the commission to regulate calling prices. The FCC is relying on a mishmash approach to interpreting the law, opponents of price caps say.

The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last year temporarily blocked some of the 2015 rules from taking effect. In response, the FCC reworked the caps by a 3-to-2 vote.

Local sheriffs and attorneys general from nine states told the court that the FCC was pursuing its own purposes and policies rather than executing existing law and was expecting courts to abdicate their role by going along with the cap, according to a brief from the group of law enforcement officials led by Scott Pruitt, Oklahomas attorney general. Pruitt is Trumps nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

But supporters of the FCCs limits say the phone contracts are being awarded on the basis of companies willingness to pay the highest commissions to prison systems  not on the basis of lowest rates or best service. In 2013, phone-service companies paid at least $460 million in commissions to correctional facilities, according to a brief filed by a coalition of advocates for inmates and their families.

A number of state prison systems, including in New Yorks, Mississippis and New Jerseys, have taken steps to reduce rates and in some cases to limit commissions.

Even before the change of administration, the court took the unusual step of asking whether it should put the case on hold in light of the likely changes at the FCC.

After hearing from lawyers on both sides in January, the three judges who will hear the case Monday  Cornelia T.L. Pillard, Harry T. Edwards and Laurence H. Silberman  decided to press ahead.

Silberman, however, issued a brief, prescient dissent in which he wrote: I would not be surprised if, after the inauguration, the FCC changed its position.

Because the FCC is no longer defending a key provision of its own rule, the court has provided additional time Monday for arguments from attorney Andrew Jay Schwartzman, who represents inmate advocates, including the D.C. Prisoners Legal Services Project and the Human Rights Defense Center.
Bladensburg police officers fired at a car that smashed into a cruiser Saturday night, later finding a vehicle matching its description on fire in the District.

Police said the incident occurred about 11:30 p.m. after police were sent to investigate a report of a vehicle break-in in the 4100 block of 51st Street in Bladensburg.

Officers arrived to find the unspecified vehicle being driven away, according to a news release from the department.

The vehicle crashed into a police cruiser before the heading toward an officer who was on foot, police said.

At that point, police said, two officers fired at the vehicle, as the driver drove away.

The officers, who were uninjured, eventually lost track of the vehicle. Whether the driver or any occupants were injured is unknown.

A short time later, a vehicle matching the description was found burning in the 3700 block of Jay Street Northeast. Police were working to confirm Sunday if the vehicle was related to the incident.

Prince Georges County homicide detectives are investigating  a routine procedure for police-involved shootings  and the officers involved have been placed on administrative leave, police said.
A 20-year-old college student from the Rockville area died after an altercation Friday near his Pennsylvania campus, authorities said Sunday.

The victim was identified as Caleb Zweig by the school, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Facebook information indicated that he was a graduate of Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville.

Pennsylvania authorities said Brady DiStefano, 19, of Johnstown, Pa., was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. The district attorney for Indiana County, Patrick Dougherty, said his office was waiting for a formal determination of the cause of death.

Depending on the determination, the case could be revisited, he said.

The prosecutor said authorities were still in the process of finding out what happened. However, he said, all indications were that there was a fight on a street near the campus in Indiana, Pa.

News accounts indicated that DiStefano and Zweig were members of the same fraternity, Phi Delta Theta.

A spokeswoman for the university said Zweig was a junior English major who had enrolled in fall 2014.

Zweigs full Facebook site was unavailable Sunday night, but the Rockvilleview.com website showed a 2015 post in which he told of helping rescue a woman from a wrecked and smoking car.

Zweig said he and two others pried the door open to get her out.

We believe she was texting and driving and thats what caused her to flip the median and go to the opposite side. Dont text and drive, Zweig wrote on Facebook. Its not worth it.
A Potomac woman was hospitalized following a kitchen fire early Sunday, and two other homes were damaged in blazes over the weekend, Montgomery County Fire officials said.

Flames erupted about 2:30 a.m. Sunday in a single-family home in the 8300 block of Bells Mill Road in Potomac, according to Pete Piringer, spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire Department.

Piringer said a woman was taken to the hospital with symptoms of smoke inhalation. The fire broke out near a stove and kitchen cabinets, resulting in about $5,000 in damage. A cause was not immediately known.

Around 11 p.m. Saturday, about 75 firefighters were dispatched to a blaze in Aspen Hill, Piringer said. That fire displaced a family of three and caused about $400,000 in damage to the home near the intersection of Dowlais Drive and Sloan Street. Investigators concluded the blaze was accidental and caused by electrical wiring. Firefighters arrived to heavy fire engulfing the home, Piringer said, but had knocked it mostly down within 30 minutes.

An earlier fire, about 5 p.m. Saturday, displaced four adults from a two-story home in Glenmont. Piringer said flames broke out in the upstairs bedroom of a home, near the intersection of Urbana Drive and Denley Road. Flames from an air conditioning unit dropped to the ground, Piringer said, igniting the siding.

The damage was estimated at $35,000. Piringer said a host of devices were plugged in near the origin of the fire, which was believed caused by overheating electronics and deemed accidental by investigators.
A daylight armed robbery was carried out Saturday in Upper Northwest Washington, the D.C. polcie said.

The holdup occurred about 1:25 p.m. in the 3900 block of Garrison Street, a quet tree-shaded residential street.

A man with a gun demanded property from victims and fled with several items, police said.

A police department Twitter message reported a robbery around the same time a few blocks away, at Connecticut and Nebraska Avenues, a major intersection in the Upper Northwest area. However it may have been another account of the same incident.

A D.C. police lieutenant said Sunday that only one robbery was committed in that area on Saturday, the one on Garrison Street NW.

In that incident, a man said he and his wife were robbed as they got out of a car in what the man called an unsettling experience.

The robber was described by police as a black man, with a light complexion, from 18 to 25 years old, and about six feet tall. He wore an off white hoodie, light colored hat and dark pants, the police said.

They said he had a dark-colored handgun.

Robberies at any time in that neighborhood are uncommon, and daytime robberies even more so.

Police have said that they are looking for robbers in connection with a series of holdups in Northwest as well as other parts of the city. The series has been distinguished by what police think is the use of an automobile by the robbers to move around.

Earlier last week police used a helicopter in the area near Tenleytown as part of their effort to spot suspects.

It was not clear if the robbery reported Saturday were part of the series.

This story has been updated
As Metro struggles to respond to federal safety mandates, keep up with systemwide repairs and overhaul its entire track inspection department, it has dramatically increased its reliance on private contractors to perform core functions for which it lacks qualified workers.

Its a trend that concerns union officials and employees who say they fear the move is part of a push toward privatization.

The operations funding the agency has spent on private contractors has nearly doubled in the past two years, from $24.8 million in fiscal 2015 to $47.4 million in fiscal 2017, according to financial documents.

General Manager Paul J. Wiedefelds proposed fiscal 2018 operating budget ups that amount to nearly $65 million. .

Some of that money is dedicated to relatively peripheral needs, such as maintenance costs at newly opened Metro facilities. Other outsourced tasks are inherently temporary: consultants hired to vet and rewrite Metros track inspection manual, or safety experts brought in to help the agency fulfill the dozens of recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Transit Administration.

But in other cases, the distinction between the jobs performed by private contractors and longtime Metro staff members has become more blurred. Union leaders say the increased dependence on outside labor is especially galling in light of Wiedefelds plans to eliminate 500 staff positions in fiscal 2018 in addition to 500 job cuts he announced this past spring.

Union representatives also argue that contract workers lack familiarity with Metros particular issues, are prone to performing substandard work and allow the transit agency to avoid paying for better training for its own workers.

Private contractors working on SafeTrack . . . outnumber us almost 2 to 1, said Tony Gough, a track maintenance worker who spoke at a Metro board meeting in October. But who from [the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority] oversees contractor work to ensure that the work is not just getting done, but getting done correctly? . . . There have been too many times that employees have had to redo work that has been done by private contractors.

Metro spokesman Richard L. Jordan said that the exact percentage of SafeTrack work performed by contract labor is difficult to assess but that officials think it is about half.

In general, Metro fully utilizes the Local 689 [union] crews and then supplements with contractors to maximize the amount of work that can be performed while the track is out of service, Jordan said.

[Metro workers: Management forces us to put service before safety]

Asked about the unions concerns last week, Wiedefeld pointed out that many of the jobs performed by contractors are temporary positions intended to help the transit agency respond to federal safety recommendations. But, he acknowledged, we do look at opportunities to bring in other resources.

We have a contract, so we have to live by that, Wiedefeld said. But when there are opportunities to do other things that maybe provide a better product, or are more efficient  or there are new things that we want to take on  were not closing those options, either.

Jackie L. Jeter, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, said the union has asked Metro for information on the number of outside contractors employed to perform core jobs such as track inspection and maintenance. So far, she said, the union has received no response.

The issue of the purview and limits of private contractors work has gained increased attention in recent weeks after Wiedefeld fired 21 track inspectors and supervisors for allegedly falsifying inspection records; 14 other workers were disciplined.

For its long-term needs, Metro is hiring and training new staff for its inspection department and retraining the remaining employees. But Wiedefeld also hired 10 contract inspectors to fill out the department in the short term.

[One-third of Metros track inspection department has been fired for falsifying records, Wiedefeld confirms]

Jeter said she is particularly concerned about the agencys decision to begin hiring contract inspectors before it had notified those on its staff that they were being fired.

Were trying to find out exactly when did this hiring start, and what are their roles, and what are the jobs that theyre doing, Jeter said. There are a lot of contractors on the property, and we need to find out exactly where they are and what theyre supposed to be doing.

Metro has already made formal moves toward permanently privatizing some of its major responsibilities. Last year, the agency put out a request for proposals for a company to manage parking services. The agency also plans to pilot a program that would allow ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft to provide some paratransit services to people with limited mobility.

[Metro plan to privatize parking could result in fee hikes]

Even so, board member Michael Goldman, chairman of the boards finance committee, acknowledged that privatization isnt a long-term answer to the agencys problems. When it comes to tasks such as track inspections, rail repairs and safety improvements, reliance on outside help is a temporary measure made necessary by the dramatic steps that must be taken for Metro to right itself, he said.

In the long term, he said, he wants to see privatization limited to jobs that are not central to Metros rail and bus operations.

I think these things absolutely should be internal, and they should be WMATA employees. We shouldnt be relying on outside contractors to do these functions as part of the normal business of operating a transit system, Goldman said. On the essential safety functions, those are things we should be getting back to relying on WMATA employees to perform.

Still, the increased spending on contract labor is part of a larger national trend, as transit agencies around the country seek to cut costs by privatizing work than can be done more cheaply by outside contractors.

And, in some cases, just the threat of privatization has monetary value. At the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Bostons transit system, state officials celebrated the conclusion of contract negotiations in December after they won a slew of concessions from the areas transit unions. By the end of the process, the unions had agreed to defer a scheduled wage increase, lower the wage rate for new employees and limit workers ability to collect overtime pay. The state expects to save $81 million over the next four years.

How? According to Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, the state was able to push back against the transit unions by taking serious steps toward privatizing central roles at the MBTA. Officials sought out proposals from private companies about how much they would charge to take on basic services.

Then, the state delivered an ultimatum to the transit unions: Beat that price, or well skip binding arbitration and simply contract out those jobs.

When we talked about privatization, we didnt put it on the table as a threat  we put it on the table as a tool, Pollack said. And when they realized that we were serious . . . it changed the dynamic at the negotiating table in a substantial way.
RACINE  When Marilyn Peterson addressed the City Council last month, she said she spoke for those without a voice.

How many of you have ever seen a great horned owl in the center of the city, or woken up to the trill of screech owl on your back fence? Peterson, 59, asked the council. I have. For 37 years, Ive lived next to Pierce Woods.

Peterson spoke before the council to address the plans of Fischer USA, a local manufacturing company based at 3715 Blue River Ave., to buy three-quarters of an acre of the park for $40,000. Fischer President and CEO Ryan Brath said the company has been working with Racine on expansion plans for two years now and recently concluded that expanding into the park, which borders the current facility, was the only viable option.

Were simply landlocked, Brath said. Its getting more and more serious that wed have to leave our current location, which means wed have to leave the city. We just dont see a way to do it without going in the direction of the park.

The proposal will add 10,000 square feet of state-of-the-art manufacturing space onto the existing facility, according to a Racine County Economic Development Corp. memo prepared on behalf of the city. It will also add 20 new jobs to the community on top of the 60 Fischer already provides.

Fischer, founded in 1941 in Racine, manufactures spindles for milling, grinding and drilling applications.

But nature-focused people like Peterson and former Hoy Audubon Conservation Chair Sue Schuit have significant concerns about what Fischers acquisition will mean for the future of the park.

Trees threatened

Schuit is worried about the parks trees. In her work with Audubon, she started a pilot program called Trees We Love in order to protect local trees of significance, and shes concerned that Fischers expansion will threaten the parks oak grove.

Oaks are the top of the notch when it comes to trees in our area, Schuit said. You have this healthy, historic oak grove and youre going to eradicate trees to pave paradise and put up a parking lot, literally.

Brath said hes taken such concerns into account and added that, all told, the expansion should only affect 13 of the parks trees. That estimate includes trees with trunks unaffected by the expansion but with potential problems occurring in their root systems.

Were working hard to minimize the impact on the park, Brath said. Were listening to what people are saying and understand the value of the park. We see the value of the park as well.

The city held a meeting in January led by City Administrator Tom Friedel that included Schuit and other activists like WeedOuts Melissa Warner and Greening Greater Racines Dave Giordano. While Schuit appreciated the citys transparency at the meeting, she remains worried about a lack of city regulation on what Fischer will do in the park.

The city doesnt have any ordinances in place to force them to be as minimally invasive as possible, she said.

Park chosen over adjacent building

Schuit also expressed concern over Fischer choosing to expand east into the park for $40,000 instead of west into a vacant building with a sale price listed at $325,000.

They appraised (the park) as vacant land, Schuit said. I dont think they took into account the value of the trees.

Friedel explained that the city assessors office determined the 32,760 square foot portion of the park to be worth between $1 and $1.25 per square foot, meaning Fischer is paying near the high end of that range. Furthermore, city administration will recommend investing the proceeds into the citys tree replacement program.

This will go a long way to helping replace the trees we are losing because of the Emerald Ash borer problem, Friedel said.

Brath said the top factor for Fischer in choosing the park land over the vacant building was efficiency.

That building would be a tear down for us and wed be adding to the west, Brath said. Adding to the west does not make sense for our production flow. It means were less efficient. Efficiency dropping means were less competitive.

According to its website, the company completed a 10,000-square-foot addition in 2000 at its Racine plant, which opened on Blue River Avenue in 1956.

Fischer has local support

The addition of 20 jobs is driving local support for Fischers plans.

The citys highest priority remains keeping and attracting new jobs that provide a living wage, Friedel said. We are very sensitive to protecting the environment and will ensure that the Pierce Woods Park remains a high quality urban oasis for wildlife and for our residents to enjoy.

Racine Arena Manufacturers and Commerce (RAMAC) President Matt Montemurro wrote a letter of support for Fischer to Tom Molbeck, the citys parks, recreation and cultural services director.

Fischer USA has a 75-year history providing family supporting jobs in the City of Racine, Montemurro wrote. Retaining the 60 current jobs plus adding an additional 20 jobs is vital for the future success of our city.

Mary Land, the alderman for the area, has received input on both sides of the debate from constituents. She said she loves the park and frequents it, but can also see the need for jobs.

These are good family supporting jobs, she said. But its hard to give up park space.

Ultimately, Schuit doesnt want discussion about the sale to devolve into a fight between environmentalists and business.

We dont want Fischer to leave the city, Schuit said. There should be a common approach.

Brath believes he can find common ground with neighbors who love the park.

We have the same concerns, he said. We like the park next to us. But wed like to remain here and thats overall our goal. Our goal is to remain a good corporate citizen of the City of Racine.

Whats next?

The citys Board of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services is scheduled to meet at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the sale at the City Hall Annex, 800 Center St. The sale will also have to be authorized by the Finance and Personnel Committee and the City Council before its finalized.
Dumfries Councilman William A. Murphy was found dead at his home Friday, Mayor Gerald Jerry Foreman said Sunday.

A spokesman for Prince William County police said no foul play was suspected and Murphy appeared to die of natural causes.

Police pronounced Murphy dead at 11:45 a.m. Friday, Foreman said in a statement.

One of the few Democrats on Town Council, Murphy advocated for transportation improvements, water quality and financial responsibility.

His ability to bridge critical initiatives and conduct open dialogue was key to his success in working with fellow Council members and advancing citizens and business owners priorities, Foreman said.

Councilman Derrick Woods also expressed his condolences to Murphys family.

He was a great asset to the town, he said. He will truly be missed. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family.

Murphy served on the town zoning board for five years before being appointed to Town Council in January 2015 and winning election a few months later.

At the time, Murphy expressed gratitude for the position, in an email to his council colleagues, according to Potomac Local.

I am honored that the Council has shown their confidence in me and has appointed me to the interim council seat, he said. It is a responsibility I take very seriously. I will do my best to represent the citizens and businesses of Dumfries and help to improve the quality of life for all in Virginias oldest town.

Chartered in May of 1749, Dumfries touts itself as the oldest town in the commonwealth.
There are hardly words to explain the searing pain that can come with a urinary tract infection: It made me want to curl up in a ball and die, says a 36-year-old Washington woman. The woman, who did not want to be identified for privacy reasons, has suffered through three urinary tract infections.

Symptoms of a UTI  the condition is called cystitis when the bladder is infected  may include burning, pressure, pain over the bladder area, nausea, blood in the urine and a persistent, wildly urgent need to urinate. Typically confirmed by a quick urine test or through a urine culture, they account for more than 8 million health-care visits in this country each year, according to the American Urological Association, with women four times as likely to be as affected as men. Half of all women will have one at some point.

[Think cranberry juice guards against urinary tract infections? Think again.]

Women often get whats quaintly referred to as honeymoon cystitis  an infection that follows sexual activity. Although the urinary tract has mechanisms to prevent infection  valves keep urine from flowing toward the kidneys, and microbes are flushed out in urination  intercourse is an ideal opportunity for bacteria from the bowel to migrate around and up the urethra to the bladder.

The good news: Most women find relief from the fiery pain quite quickly after taking antibiotics. (If the pain persists, medical attention is needed to rule out kidney infection and other causes.) And many will go to great lengths to prevent it from happening again.

The age-old prevention method for UTIs has been cranberry juice, but with concerns about sugar consumption these days, some people have turned to cranberry pills.

An older premise was that the fruit helps fight bacteria by changing the acidity of the urinary tract; more recently, some scientists have pointed to proanthocyanidins, compounds in the berry that can prevent bacteria from binding to the bladder wall. A popular brand, AZO Cranberry, offers caplets containing concentrated cranberry powder that help flush the urinary tract to maintain urinary tract cleanliness.

[The superbug that doctors have been dreading just reached the U.S.]

Cranberry doubts

Many trials have cast doubt on cranberries preventive powers. In a widely discussed study published in JAMA in November, researchers found that nursing home residents who ingested cranberry capsules were no less likely to develop infections than those given a placebo.

The American Urological Association dismissed cranberrys usefulness rather firmly after the JAMA studys release. Urologist Kathleen Kobashi, speaking for the association, said via email, Given the lack of any evidence supporting the utility of cranberry supplements for UTI prevention considering their cost and the sugar content in juice, there does not seem to be any point in continuing them.

But the studys lead author, Manisha Juthani-Mehta, an infectious-disease specialist at the Yale School of Medicine, noted that theres no obvious downside to ingesting a moderate amount of cranberry: If you like cranberry juice or other cranberry products, she says, by all means, continue to eat or drink whatever you enjoy or think works for you.

[Almost all men with early prostate cancer survive 10 years, regardless of treatment]

Other possible solutions

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of proven ways to prevent UTIs, but there are a few things that may work:

 Drinking lots of water. Drinking a few liters of water per day can truly help frequent UTI sufferers, says Juthani-Mehta. The AUA lists reduced urine flow as a risk factor for UTIs.

 Urinating after sex. The idea is to wash out the bacteria before they can get to work. Theres no research that has shown that this helps, notes Andrew Sokol, a uro-gynecologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in the District, but the risk is so low, its a reasonable thing to suggest.

 Taking low-dose antibiotics after sex. Some women who have recurrent infections (generally more than three a year) with no apparent underlying health issue are prescribed a low-dose antibiotic to take prophylactically after sexual activity. If recurrent UTIs are not correlated with sex, Sokol says, prophylaxis can be given with a daily dose for three to six months.

 Keeping the area around your urethra clean. Dont wear thong underwear, for instance, because those garments allow bacteria to travel easier to the urethra, Berkeley explains. Its just something to think about. Wipe from front to back. Many women also wash with soap and water immediately after sex. Sokol calls it a common-sense thing.

The Washington woman, who hasnt had a UTI in more than five years, says she does most of the above, including drinking a full glass of water and urinating before and after sex and showering after sex.

She says she sticks to the routine without fail: The thought of getting another one is just too much.

Read more:

Alternative medicines are popular, but do any of them really work?

Urinary-tract infections send millions of people to the doctor each year

How obesity, stress and even cellphone use can make it harder for men to conceive

Opinion: Learning to love the secret language of urine
Prod the kids outside, give them hot chocolate and gaze toward the moon in the east. Enjoy the evening penumbral lunar eclipse on Friday. Hope for clear skies.

Lunar eclipses occur when Earth is perfectly placed between the sun and the moon. For this eclipse, were lucky to be on our planets dark side. A total lunar eclipse is when the full moon runs through the umbral (darkest part) portion of Earths shadow  the bulls eye, in dart-board terms.

But this Friday, the moon goes through the shadows outer band, making it a penumbral eclipse. The bright full moon will begin rising here in Washington at 5:33 p.m., just as the moon enters Earths penumbral shadow. Very slowly, the bright moon will begin to dim slightly and turn gray.

It will be easier to discern the dark gray about mideclipse, which occurs at 7:44 p.m., said astronomer Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory. You will see a noticeable graying of the northern third of the lunar disk at that time, Chester said. It wont be red like a total lunar eclipse. It will be more gray.

The moon leaves the penumbral shadow at 9:55 p.m.

2nd eclipse, planets, Spica

Catch the annular solar eclipse  a ring-of-fire eclipse  on Slooh.com, with programming that begins Feb. 26 at 7 a.m. Its not visible here. This Southern Hemisphere eclipse starts in South America, crosses the Atlantic Ocean and moves toward Africa.

Drawing well-deserved attention after sunset, that luminous light in the west-southwest is Venus. Currently at -4.7 magnitude, quite bright, the sizzling planet gets more luminous in the middle of the month. Like planetary lovebirds, Venus and Mars loiter together throughout February, but the reddish Mars is substantially fainter at 1.2 magnitude, still visible with the unaided eye. The Red Planet becomes dim through the month.

Find the pair throughout February in the western evening sky. Although the two planets gain more distance between them, the thin crescent of a young moon approaches both planets Feb. 27 and scoots closer Feb. 28.

The giant planet Jupiter rises near 11 p.m. now in the east, hanging out in the constellation Virgo at about -2.2 magnitude, bright. The planet travels across the heavens with the double star Spica, a first magnitude object similar in brightness to Mars  dim for the Washington area. The sun washes out king of the planets at sunrise.

The waning gibbous moon meets up with Jupiter and Spica (a permanent resident of the Virgo constellation) Feb. 14-16.

Saturn ascends the east-southeast a few hours before the sun now. The ringed planet is zero magnitude, bright enough to see from the city. Before dawn, catch the ringed wonder in the southeast above the treetops.

Down-to-Earth events

 Sunday  Observing Highlights for 2017, a talk by astronomer Elizabeth Warner, who will discuss the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse across the United States, at the University of Marylands Observatory, College Park. See the night sky through telescopes afterward, weather permitting. 8 p.m. astro.umd.edu/openhouse.

 Monday  Stars Tonight at the David M. Brown Planetarium, 1426 N. Quincy St., Arlington, next to Washington-Lee High School. 7:30 p.m. $3. friendsoftheplanetarium.org.

 Friday  After the James Webb Space Telescope, a lecture by former astronaut John M. Grunsfeld, hosted by the Philosophical Society of Washington at the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, next to the Cosmos Club, 2170 Florida Ave. NW. (At the corner of Massachusetts and Florida avenues.) 8 p.m. philsoc.org.

 Saturday  African American Pioneers in Aviation and Space, Heritage Family Day. Enjoy hands-on activities and learn about African American astronauts, pilots and scientists. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. National Air and Space Museum, the Mall. airandspace.si.edu.

 Saturday  Mars Intensifying Effect on Phobos, a talk by NASA researcher Terry Hurford on how the Martian moon Phobos slowly spirals toward the planet. National Capital Astronomers, regular meeting, at the University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. 7:30 p.m. capitalastronomers.org.

 Feb. 12  A Hitchhikers Guide to Meteorites, a talk by astronomer Cal Powell, at the Northern Virginia Astronomy Clubs regular meeting, 163 Research Hall, George Mason University. 7 p.m. novac.com.

 Feb. 18  African Skies, find out how Southern slaves followed the drinking gourd north to freedom. Montgomery College planetarium, Takoma Park, 7 p.m. montgomerycollege.edu/departments/planet.

 Feb. 20  Astronomer Drake Deming tells how scientists hunt exoplanets  planets beyond our solar system. At the University of Marylands Observatory, College Park. Night sky viewing afterward. 8 p.m. astro.umd.edu/openhouse.

 Feb. 25  African American Pioneers in Aviation and Space, Heritage Family Day. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the National Air and Space Museums Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly. Parking, $15. airandspace.si.edu.

Friedlander can be reached at PostSkywatch@yahoo.com.
People hold signs and flags at a rally in front of the Stonewall Inn in solidarity with immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees and LGBT people Saturday in New York. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images)

CALIFORNIA

Police arrest severalin 1993 building fire

Los Angeles police have arrested several people in connection with a 1993 apartment building fire that killed 10 people, including seven children, officials announced Saturday.

Those arrested remained jailed, Officer Aareon Jefferson said. He had no other details. Police planned to hold a news conference Monday.

The three-story building in the Westlake district caught fire May 3, 1993. At the time, police said they believed the blaze was set by gang members kicked off the property for selling drugs.

The building, packed with mainly poor immigrants from Central America, had inoperable smoke alarms. Investigators found fire doors had been propped or nailed open for ventilation, allowing smoke to surge through the apartments.

Tenants tried to escape by jumping from windows, scrambling down fire escapes and climbing down bedsheets tied to balconies. At one point, neighbors formed a human chain to pass along children from upper floors.

Other children were dropped from balconies into waiting hands.

The dead included three women, two of whom were pregnant, and children as young as 4. One womans baby was delivered by Caesarean section before she died.

Most of the bodies were found in a corridor on the third floor.

Investigators believe the fire was set by gang members who had been ordered off the property because the manager suspected they were dealing drugs. The apartment complex was known for cocaine dealing by a local gang, and the manager had begun reporting the activity to police.

The local thugs in the area decided that she had to leave, and the fire was set, Detective Steven Spear said in 1998, after two gang members were arrested and charged with murder.

However, the case against the men was dropped two years later for lack of evidence. It wasnt clear these were the right guys, Deputy District Attorney Joseph Esposito said at the time.

 Associated Press

SOUTH DAKOTA

Group trying to find homes for wild horses

Volunteers are scrambling to find homes for hundreds of wild horses in South Dakota that were spared a possible trip to the slaughterhouse but are now suffering through a harsh winter.

The horses, some of them blind, were once kept at a troubled South Dakota sanctuary. Now a small group of volunteers from across the country is working 10 hours a day to feed and care for the animals, using rented plows to carve paths through 15-foot snowdrifts. In a nearby hotel room, other volunteers are sorting through adoption applications and networking through social media, desperately trying to find homes for the horses before they are forced to leave the property next month.

We are working to get the whole herd out of the 15-foot snow. Some are blind and are walking out right over the fences. Its really hard to work with so many horses with so many problems, said Elaine Nash, director of horse rescue organization Fleet of Angels, who is spearheading the operation. Every time we get over one hurdle theres another one waiting for us.

About 500 horses have already been placed in sanctuaries and ranches across the country, from Arizona and Oregon to California and Minnesota. But the effort near Lantry, in northern South Dakota, isnt done.

The remaining 300 wild horses could be more difficult to sell or have adopted, said Elaine Nash, the director of horse rescue organization Fleet of Angels who is heading the operation. Nearly 200 are stallions that need gelding before anyone will want them. Dozens are old and have health problems. Others are blind from what Nash suspects was toxic farm runoff in their drinking pond.

More than 800 horses were impounded in October at the nonprofit International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros after a state veterinarian found they were being neglected and a former ranch employee said they were being starved to death. All but 20 were eventually surrendered by their owner.

 Associated Press

U-N.C. water safe to drink: Health and utility officials say the water that serves North Carolinas flagship university in Chapel Hill is safe to drink after a broken water main and problems at a water treatment plant forced the school to cancel classes and led restaurants and hotels to close.

Heroin packages with Trumps image seized in Florida: Florida authorities seized scores of individually wrapped heroin packets stamped with the image of President Trump. The Tampa Bay Times reported that law enforcement officers seized the heroin Jan. 27 in Hernando County. Some of the packets bore the names or likenesses of other figures, such as Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman and Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. Authorities couldnt explain the markings purpose.

Dog in film was not harmed: Leaked video showing a frightened dog being forced into churning water during filming of A Dogs Purpose was misleadingly edited and the German shepherd was unharmed, according to third-party findings released by American Humane, the group responsible for overseeing animal safety on the movie set. An independent animal cruelty expert found that preventive safety measures were in place to protect the dog, Hercules, American Humane said.

 From news services
After a federal appeals court early Sunday denied an initial request by the Trump administration to reinstate its controversial travel ban, a crush of people stranded in legal limbo rushed to fly back to the United States during the temporary stay.

Sundays ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit capped several days of chaos as airlines and immigration authorities adjusted to a constantly changing landscape of court rulings and federal guidance on the executive order that barred refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

A judge in a lower federal court had put a temporary stop to the travel ban. Because the appeals court declined to intervene immediately, affected travelers can enter until at least Monday. The appeals court asked challengers to the ban to file a response by roughly 3 a.m. Eastern on Monday and the Justice Department to reply to that by 6 p.m.

[9th Circuit Court declines to quickly reinstate travel ban]

The courts decision not to intervene meant Abdusebur Jemal could be reunited with his wife, Rudaynah, and their toddler daughter, Haifa.

International travelers are welcomed by demonstrators at Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Va., on Feb. 5. (Astrid Riecken/European Pressphoto Agency)

His wife is a refugee from Yemen. She fled to Ethiopia two years ago and had refugee status there. She can never go back to her country, Jemel said Sunday at Chicagos OHare International Airport.

Rudaynah, 25, was set to arrive in the United States on Jan. 28 but got caught in the ban, which Jemal said he learned about while surfing the Web. He contacted the office of Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), who arranged for an immigration attorney to help with the case pro bono.

Jemal, 33, is a two-year medical student at the University of Illinoiss Rockford campus. He is a U.S. citizen and has been here since 1999. He met his wife in Yemen through a family member, and the two married in 2011. Their daughter is a U.S. citizen.

All I wanted was to see my wife and daughter, he said. This is one of the greatest moments of my life. The ruling allowed me to see my wife. Finally, I have a chance to be a dad.

I always believed in the foundations that this country was built on, he said. This is a reaffirmation of that.

At Dulles International Airport, an elated Roslyn Sinha arrived on a flight from Dubai, anxious to join her husband, Neil, in Texas.

She landed at Dulles around 8 a.m. Sunday, emerging from the terminal almost two hours later without problem.

Neil? Neil? Neil? They are not sending me to Dubai, Neil, Sinha said, beaming as she spoke on the phone with her husband.

Sinha had been in Dubai visiting her ailing mother. She was in bed her first night in Dubai when she received a text from her husband just hours after Trump signed the executive order on Jan. 27. The 30-year-old former TV personality was born and raised in the United Arab Emirates, but the countrys rules require that she maintain a passport from Iraq, her parents native country. Iraq is one of the seven countries on the ban list, along with Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen .

[Despite her life in Texas, she fears deportation to Iraq  where she is a stranger]

With her green-card application pending and confusion mounting over who would be barred from the country, the newlywed scrambled to find a way back to her husband in the United States.

I thought it was going to be over, Im going to lose him, Sinha recalled Sunday.

So she cut short her visit with her mother, who is partially paralyzed after suffering strokes on Dec. 28.

I cried when I left because I didnt see her, I didnt get to see her at all. I was awake at night calling lawyers, calling [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services], calling airports trying to figure out how to get back to my husband, Sinha said. During the day, I was so exhausted.

After a few canceled flights, arguments at airports and concocting a backup plan to get a visa to travel to Mexico and drive to Texas, Sinha managed to get on a flight to Washington, where her attorney could intervene if she ran into problems.

[Were the good guys: Lawyers continue airport campouts amid Trump travel ban]

But while things appeared to be going relatively smoothly for travelers landing at U.S. airports, many people were having problems boarding U.S.-bound flights overseas.

When Sahar Fadul arrived at Dulles from Sudan on Jan. 28 to meet her fiance, a U.S. citizen who lives in Colorado, she was stopped at customs due to the ban. According to her lawyer, she was forced to sign a form relinquishing her visa and put on a flight back to Khartoum.

Fadul now is part of a Virginia lawsuit challenging the revocation of a variety of visas, including student and work visas.

Justice and State department officials revealed Friday that about 60,000  and possibly as many as 100,000  visas have been provisionally revoked as a result of Trumps order.

The State Department said Saturday it would restore those visas.

On Saturday, after a Seattle judge halted the travel ban, Fadul tried to board a plane in Khartoum. She was denied boarding at the gate, according to her lawyer, Timothy Heaphy. Heaphy said it was because Ethiopian Airlines had not received notice of the judges ruling.

Fadul, a microbiologist, was denied boarding again Sunday because the airline had no record of her reinstated visa. She will try again Monday night, and she is slated to arrive in Washington on Tuesday morning on her third flight of the journey.

She didnt have an official document except her passport with the canceled visa stamp, and they wouldnt honor that, Heaphy said. The problem seems to be communication between the United States and these foreign airlines.

Because the visa was hand-canceled, he said, there was no record of it being reinstated in the computer system. Everything must be done by phone, and it is taking time.

Isihaq Rabi, a 37-year-old Somali refugee who has been living in Austria, had a similar experience. He boarded a connecting flight to London on Friday and then a flight to Seattle, where he was planning to start a new life with his wife, an American citizen. His travel documents were confiscated and canceled by Customs and Border Protection upon his arrival, said his lawyer, Carol Edward. Rabi was put back on the same flight to London  in the same seat  with only a photocopy of those documents.

The original document he had with him was confiscated by CPB and it was marked canceled, but they have a new order to reinstate those, Edward said. She said Customs and Border Protection has been very cooperative and has said that Rabi would be able to enter the United States.

Rabi was able to get back to Vienna. The problem now, because of his documents, Edward said, is getting him on a flight to London. U.S. authorities are working with her, she said, but it requires multiple layers and phone calls. Its really messy and complicated, she said.

Immigration attorneys, dozens of whom have been camped out at Dulles and airports throughout the country since the ban was implemented, expected another round of passengers to arrive late Sunday. Many could be heard arguing on the phone with airline representatives to let their passengers board, as some seemed confused over the court rulings and what they meant.

Ahmed Abdulle embraced his wife and two young children after they arrived at Dulles on a flight from Qatar on Sunday afternoon, ending an agonizing week of fear that his long-awaited reunion with his family wouldnt happen.

He married his wife, a fellow native of Somalia, seven years ago, but he moved to the United States shortly after the wedding, and they never lived together long-term.

Abdulle, 31, would occasionally return to Dubai to visit her for short periods, and they had two children. A week before the November election, his family secured immigrant visas to join him in Alexandria, Va.

But then came the travel ban.

When the injunction came down on Friday, I called and said, get a flight right now before they change their minds, said his attorney, Lauren Eagan.

A Saturday flight from Dubai was canceled, but the family managed to get on a flight from Doha, Qatar, on Sunday.

Last night I could not sleep because of excitement and happiness, and before that, I couldnt sleep because of sadness and stress. I lost like five pounds in one week. It was very stressful, Abdulle said. It was the first time I Googled what depression mean.

When he spotted his wife, Bisharo, he ran to her with flowers and grabbed his 10-month-old son, Mostafa.

They are spending the night in a hotel because his apartment isnt fully furnished. Their original plan was to reunite in March, but they didnt want to take any chances on more immigration restrictions.

He ran his fingers through the hair of his toddler daughter, Zuhayrah.

These are children, he said. Generalization and stereotypes are always wrong.

The Jalili family, separated in Tehran on Friday by an unexplained bureaucratic hurdle, was reunited in Boston on Sunday. Nineteen-year-old Helya had been blocked from boarding a flight with her parents and younger sister. The family made the agonizing decision to separate, with Helya arguing that it would be easier to get her to the United States if her parents had arrived.

The family had been trying for 13 years to emigrate from Iran, joining Hamid Jalilis American brother and mother in New Hampshire.

Teary-eyed and visibly shaken on Saturday, the Jalili family looked much happier Sunday as they awaited Helyas arrival and then flung their arms around her as she arrived. Helya finished one year of university in Iran and hopes to continue her studies in the United States, dreaming of becoming a veterinarian.

My mind hasnt changed about the American people, she said.

Guarino reported from Chicago and Nirappil and Zezima reported from Washington. Karen Weintraub in Boston, Vera Haller in New York, Rob Kuznia in Los Angeles, Camille Pendley in Atlanta, Lornet Turnbull in Seattle, Leah Sotille in Portland, Steve Friess in Detroit and Francisco Alvarado in Miami contributed to this report.
ROMANIA

Corruption reforms scrapped after protests

Romanias prime minister said on Saturday that he was scrapping a decree that would have shielded dozens of politicians from prosecution for corruption, bowing to massive protests.

Sorin Grindeanu said the decree, which the government said was to relieve pressure on the prisons, would be repealed Sunday, five days after it was approved by the cabinet.

The decree would have exempted abuse-of-power offenses involving sums less than $48,000 from prosecution  shielding hundreds of officials. It could have put an end to the ongoing trial of the head of the ruling Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea.

Protests in some 70 cities nationwide attracted a total of about 330,000 people, police said. Larger protests were reportedly planned for Sunday.

 Reuters

FRANCE

Father says attacker isnt a terrorist

The father of the machete-wielding man who was shot by a guard as he tried to enter Pariss Louvre museum said Saturday that his son was not an Islamist and that the French were only accusing him of terrorism to excuse the brutality used to stop him.

Reda Al Refaai, who lives in Cairo, said he had learned of his sons case from Facebook. For them to say in the end that he is a terrorist is nonsense  This is a coverup so they dont have to apologize or justify the acts of this soldier who used brute force with a poor young man of 29.

Abdullah Reda al-Hamamy, an Egyptian, was shot several times Friday after allegedly attacking soldiers outside the museum and crying Allahu akbar! or God is great, in what French President Francois Hollande called a terrorist attack.

Hamamy was initially feared to be close to death but doctors at the hospital where he is being treated no longer consider his life in danger, the Paris prosecutors office said on Saturday.

 Reuters

Philippine president calls off peace talks with communists: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Saturday that he would scrap peace talks with communist rebels and asked several rebel leaders who were freed for the negotiations to return to prison or face arrest  the latest blow to efforts to peacefully settle one of Asias longest-running rebellions. Duterte made his remarks a day after he lifted the governments six-month-old cease-fire with the rebels and ordered troops to prepare for new fighting, after the guerrillas abandoned their own truce and killed six soldiers in fresh violence.

Putin opponent opens regional office in presidential bid: Alexei Navalny, Russias most prominent opposition figure, has opened his first regional office for a presidential bid, despite an imminent court verdict that could bar him from running. Opening his campaign office Saturday in St. Petersburg, Navalny, an anti-corruption activist, claimed the Kremlin will do its best not to let me participate in the election. A court on Wednesday is to announce the verdict in his retrial on fraud charges. Navalny said that opening the office before the court verdict is aimed at making them give me access to the election.

House of former Peruvian president is searched: Authorities say they have searched the house of former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo in a case involving alleged bribes from a mega construction firm under investigation in a major corruption probe in Brazil. Its the latest development in a case in Brazil that has caught up dozens of politicians from Latin America in a far-reaching probe. Toledo, who was Perus president from 2001 to 2006, is in Paris. He told Peruvian news media by telephone Friday that he denies the charges.

 From news services
RACINE  The debate over Planned Parenthood funding could have big ramifications in Racine.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, who represents Racine County in Congress, is pushing a measure to block Medicaid dollars from Planned Parenthood. He believes that money should instead be redirected to federally qualified health clinics, which he argues provide the same services for women without the controversy of Planned Parenthood.

Racine, however, has no federally qualified health clinics.

And while Planned Parenthood funding is politically charged because of the organizations abortion services, no such procedures are performed at Racines Planned Parenthood facility.

The organization says its clinic at 834 S. Main St., serves about 2,500 patients per year. Medicaid dollars support access to preventive and diagnostic services like birth control, cancer screenings, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, well woman exams and health counseling, the group says.

Advocates fear Racine-area health care providers could not absorb a large number of patients losing services at Planned Parenthood. The citys last federally qualified health center, Racine Community Health Center, 2405 Northwestern Ave., closed in 2015, and the number of places that accept Medicaid is limited.

About 80 percent of Planned Parenthood patients are eligible for Medicaid, which is geared toward low-income residents.

I fear what will happen is that its going to have a lot of women just not get their annual care that they need, said Alison Sergio, executive director of the Racine Health Care Network, 904 State St., which provides services to residents with no insurance and limited income.

Regardless of how you fall on the issue, I do believe that its really going to cause a gap in services in this community.

Part of ACA repeal

Ryan says the measure  which many refer to as defunding Planned Parenthood  would be part of a bill repealing the Affordable Care Act.

While no federally qualified health centers exist in Racine County, overall there are more of those facilities than Planned Parenthood, Ryan has noted.

The state Department of Health Services lists 57 federally qualified health centers in the state (though the list is from 2015 and includes the now-closed Racine Community Health Center), while Planned Parenthood has 21 clinics in Wisconsin.

Federally qualified health clinics are outpatient clinics that must meet certain criteria, like serving an underserved population and offering a sliding fee scale.

Our goal is making sure women get the kind of care they need and we believe that can best be achieved by putting money into community health centers, which provide similar services as Planned Parenthood but vastly outnumber them, Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said.

Supporters of the measure also reject the idea that Planned Parenthood will simply disappear if the measure passes, noting the organization just wont receive federal funds.

But Iris Riis, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said blocking the organization from receiving Medicaid reimbursements would decimate its ability to provide health care. The group receives about $11 million per year in Medicaid reimbursements statewide, she said.

Speaker Ryans proposal would have a devastating impact on health care across Wisconsin, especially in his own backyard, Riis said. Medicaid patients who depend on Planned Parenthood would lose their provider, and many would have no other provider to turn to, putting them at risk for undiagnosed cancers, STDs, unintended pregnancy and the poor health outcomes.

Heavily political

Its already the case that no federal dollars can be used for abortions, though some argue that by subsidizing Planned Parenthood, public money indirectly supports abortion.

But state Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, said abortion rights is not the issue at local clinics like Racine, since it does not provide those services.

Its really about taking away health care of thousands of Wisconsinites who have nothing to do with the debate over a womans right to choose, Mason said.

At a Jan. 26 press conference in the state Capitol, Mason led a group of Democrats calling on Ryan to reverse his stance on Planned Parenthood. In a letter to Ryan, Democrats said past state legislation that cut funding to Planned Parenthood forced the closure of five rural clinics. But no new providers filled the void, leaving many with nowhere to go, they said.

Advocates fear that scenario would play out in Racine. The Racine Health Department has some overlap in services with Planned Parenthood, like STD testing, but Planned Parenthood is one of the few providers in the county that can offer comprehensive reproductive health services for Medicaid patients, said Dottie-Kay Bowersox, the citys public health administrator.

Developing a communitywide solution if Planned Parenthood patients lose services would be no easy task given the politics involved and complexities of Medicaid reimbursement, officials said.

Racine County officials declined comment.

The fact that were not just talking about health care in general, were talking about a certain kind of health care thats tied to a politically charged (issue), Sergio said, that makes it even more difficult.
OPIOID ABUSE and addiction continue to ravage the United States  and its next-door neighbor, Canada, where there were four overdose deaths per day in British Columbia during November. Closer to home in Maryland, these extremely addictive drugs continue to cause havoc. Heroin killed 918 people in the state through the first nine months of 2016, up from 534 in the same period of 2015.

Gov. Larry Hogan (R) addressed the crisis in a set of legislative proposals on Jan. 24, the most interesting of which was a plan to limit the duration of first-time opioid prescriptions to seven days each, subject to renewal  with exceptions to that limit for cancer-related pain, terminal illness or the treatment of a substance-related disorder. (Some chemically similar medications are commonly used in addiction programs.) Although the relationship of this measure to fighting heroin abuse may not be immediately apparent, it is real: Many heroin addicts turn to that illicit drug after first getting hooked on prescription painkillers. To the extent that authorities can curb ill-advised or unnecessary prescription of opioids, they may, over time, succeed in easing the wider drug epidemic.

In that sense, Mr. Hogans proposal is consistent with prescribing guidelines issued nationally by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year. The CDC guidelines reminded doctors that opioids are not first-line or routine therapy for chronic non-cancer pain and that they should be issued in low dosages and small amounts, after non-opioid alternatives have been tried. The guidelines specifically advised that prescriptions lasting three days or less would often suffice for acute pain and that more than seven days will rarely be needed. Currently, doctors and dentists often write for much longer than that.

Will it make a difference? Thats for the General Assembly to debate, and, to be sure, there isnt much experience to draw on since the CDC guidelines are so new. Still, Mr. Hogans proposal tracks with measures adopted in the past year by other states, notably Massachusetts, whose state medical society deemed the law not an undue burden on physician autonomy but helpful  and counseled its members on how to comply. Certainly, the change Mr. Hogan proposes could at least encourage doctors to treat opioid prescription with even more caution than they already do. A legally binding standard, in fact, offers them a strong argument with which to resist the sometimes subtle pressure  social, commercial or otherwise  to prescribe more.

Marylanders are dying by the hundreds in this epidemic. Thousands more  41 percent of the state population, according to a new Gonzales Poll  have been affected in some less drastic but undoubtedly heartbreaking way. Whatever else they take into account while weighing Mr. Hogans bill, lawmakers must never lose sight of that awful toll.
AN EARLY test of the Trump administrations capacity for malice, or for constructive compassion, is its stance on dreamers  undocumented young immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and who were granted a temporary reprieve from the threat of deportation by President Barack Obama. On that score, in his earliest days in office, Mr. Trump is tilting, maybe, toward compassion.

Having spent most of the presidential campaign vowing to revoke what he called an unconstitutional amnesty (which it isnt, since dreamers have been granted what amounts to a stay, not legal status), Mr. Trump switched gears after the election, saying he would work something out that would make people happy and proud. Now his spokesman, Sean Spicer, says the new presidents priority for deportation is people who have done harm to our country, not dreamers, whom Mr. Trump would approach in a very humane way. In other words, the focus will be on undocumented criminals, the same sub-group of illegal immigrants targeted by Mr. Obamas deportation policy.

Deporting 750,000 dreamers who registered with the government and received Social Security numbers and two-year work permits would not just be cruel; it would be economically self-defeating and politically foolish. After all, this is a population that grew up and attended school in this country; they are as promising, hopeful and culturally American as their neighbors.

It is encouraging that the administration is edging toward acknowledging this. Ending talk of deportation is a good start. But that alone will not bring a sense of security to dreamers and an estimated 1 million others eligible for the same status  those who arrived in the United States by 2007 and before their 16th birthday and are now no older than 35. Mr. Trumps promise to work something out would have to include renewing their two-year work permits and registering others who meet the criteria. Removing those protections, or allowing them to lapse, would force some 1.7 million people back into limbo, with no confidence they could continue to work, study or travel.

The best path forward remains an overhaul of the immigration system that would provide long-term protections not only for dreamers but also for most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants, the majority of whom have been in this country for more than 15 years. Without offering details, Reince Priebus, Mr. Trumps White House chief of staff, allowed that he would also welcome what he called a long-term solution worked out with Congress.

That sounds like something very different from threats of mass deportation, with which Mr. Trump whipped up his campaign rallies. It holds out a glimmer of hope that the new presidents election-year hyperbole on immigration, at least as it pertained to dreamers, may yield to something more resembling pragmatism.
Wearing strings of bright LED Christmas lights around their necks so they could find each other if they got separated, Elizabeth Smiley and Suzie Barton joined about 1,200 others in a protest march in West Palm Beach on Saturday night, hoping to show Donald Trump and his Mar-a-Lago guests that many Americans dont agree with the way hes running the country.

So much of what hes doing is scary for so many people, said Smiley, 55, a social worker in Palm Beach County. We cant just sit back and let it happen without saying something. This is all about making sure our voices are heard.

Its unclear whether Trump actually heard any of their messages. Ensconced in the ballroom of his Palm Beach estate, he and his guests could have easily missed the entire march, which strung out along the waterfront Flagler Drive across the Intracoastal Waterway from Mar-a-Lago and stretched across a half-mile bridge to Palm Beach. It was Trumps first trip as president to what he calls the winter White House, and it fell on the same weekend as the annual Red Cross Ball. More than 500 guests were expected to attend the gala, the annual highlight of the Palm Beach social scene. Trump has attended the charity event often over the past 20 years.

But the sprawling complex is walled off from the public streets. Guests being chauffeured to and from the ball may have passed the march but otherwise, they would have missed it entirely.

Saw some at the south gate, one Mar-a-Lago guest said. No big deal.

(Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

Carrying glowsticks, flashlights and even light-up hula hoops, protesters chanted as they walked toward Trumps beachfront property. Several dozen Trump supporters chanted back, but the rally, which stretched over two miles, was peaceful, according to West Palm Beach police spokesman Sgt. David LaFont.

[How protesters plan to get under Trumps skin wherever he goes]

The march was originally supposed to stop before the bridge that leads from the mainland to Palm Beach. But when protesters Sarah-Helen Land and her wife, who were at the front of the march, got to that spot, nobody stopped them.

So we just kept on walking, Land said. And here we are, chanting and singing and letting Trump know that were not going to sit still. Weve come too far to go back.

Many marchers said that even if the wealthy guests at the ball did not notice them, it felt good to be part of the protest anyway.

The feeling of solidarity and shared purpose means a lot these days, said Lea Brown, a pastor and Lands wife. There have been a lot of marches, but this is just the beginning. When will we get tired of marching? Never.

[United by post-inauguration marches, Democratic women plan to step up activism]

(Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

Dozens of officers from the Palm Beach Police Department, Secret Service agents and deputies from the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office, including a line of officers in riot gear, greeted Brown and the other marchers at the back gate of Mar-a-Lago.

If you stay on that side of the road, youll be fine, Palm Beach public safety director Kirk Blouin said through a megaphone to the crowd. Cross the road, and youll be arrested.

Sandy and Johnny Kaye stood outside the gates, chanting with the rest of the crowd.

Maybe they cant hear everything were saying if theyre in the ballroom right now, Sandy Kaye said, but Im pretty sure theyre going to have to turn the music up louder to drown us out.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) introduces Steven Mnuchin, President Trumps nominee for treasury secretary, during a Jan. 19 Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing. McCarthy has staked out a crucial role as a trusted Trump loyalist on Capitol Hill. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

The day before his inauguration as president, Donald Trump scanned the ballroom during a celebratory luncheon at his Washington hotel: Wheres Kevin? he asked. Theres my Kevin.

It was a brief but telling acknowledgment of a behind-the-scenes political relationship between two GOP power-brokers on opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue  Trump and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)  that has set the stage for a rapid legislative blitz in the early months of the Trump administration.

McCarthy, the No. 2 House Republican, helped forestall an intraparty war during Trumps campaign, smoothing over tensions between the Republican front-runner and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who repeatedly clashed with Trump on matters of style and substance.

Now Ryan and Trump are largely on the same page, and McCarthy has staked out a role as a trusted intermediary between the new president and House Republicans  one he earned though a decade-long friendship with Ryan and by serving as an unusually early and loyal supporter of Trumps campaign.

[Ryan wont defend of campaign for Trump ahead of election]

President Trump hosted a reception for House and Senate leaders at the White House on Jan. 23. (Susan Walsh/AP)

Theyve built a good relationship, and I feel as though I was very helpful in making that happen, McCarthy said in a recent interview. I just feel as majority leader, my role is to keep a team together. . . . I think its been helpful.

At the Jan. 19 luncheon, Trump acknowledged as much: Kevin would call me in the heat of battle. Right, Kevin? And Id be fighting with Paul, Trump said, going on to describe how he had patched up his relationship with the House speaker. Paul Ryans done a great job, and Kevin, during the heat of battle, was there for us, and I appreciate it.

The alliance appears to have been forged back in the heat of the GOP primaries, after McCarthy indicated on MSNBCs Morning Joe that he would have no problem working with Trump as president.

The February 2016 exchange appeared to endear McCarthy to Trump, who called him soon afterward. As McCarthy tells it, Trump phoned him as he sat in church one Sunday morning home in Bakersfield  no blocked number, no secretary, no please hold for Mr. Trump.

Its just him, he said. And weve just struck up a relationship over the phone. . . .Id talk to him about things that were happening that we were going to do in the House . . . so hed know ahead of time and not be blindsided by anything.

McCarthy and congressional aides describe a relationship unfolding over the months in scores of impromptu calls and in a June meeting on a Sacramento airport tarmac. As Trumps Capitol Hill whisperer, McCarthy has taken a place alongside Vice President Pence and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus as a key link in GOP relations between the executive and legislative branches.

That has also given McCarthy new relevance in Washington a little more than a year after his steady ascent in House Republican leadership was suddenly halted after former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) stepped down in 2015.

McCarthy moved to claim the speakers chair, but he could not convince the Houses most conservative members to trust him as their leader and stepped aside. Now McCarthy appears to be one of the few on Capitol Hill who has the absolute trust of the one Republican in Washington who matters most.

[McCarthys comments on Benghazi should trouble Republicans]

The two men have bonded over a common approach to politics  light on policy nitty-gritty but heavy on back-slapping, deal-making and personal rapport. Their alliance began many weeks before Trump secured the GOP nomination, at a time when most of senior Republicans on Capitol Hill were treating Trump with kid gloves.

McCarthy, on the other hand, was unusually enthusiastic about the businessmans prospects. On Feb. 22  more than two months before Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) dropped out, leaving Trump with the nomination  McCarthy declared on Morning Joe that there was more than a 50 percent chance Trump would prevail.

Host Joe Scarborough asked McCarthy if he could work with Trump as president. Oh yeah, I think I can work with Donald Trump, McCarthy said, then gave a less equivocal answer when Scarborough asked if he could work better with Trump than Cruz, who pushed the 2013 government shutdown.

Thats an unfair question, McCarthy said.

McCarthy remained bullish on Trump as he edged closer to the nomination. After a Sacramento fundraiser in early March, he told reporters that Trump could be a boon to down-ballot GOP candidates by boosting voter enthusiasm  at a time when the conventional wisdom was that Trump would drive independents and moderate Republicans away from the polls, spelling disaster for the party.

Trump tweeted his appreciation:Thank you Kevin. With unification of the party, Republican wins will be massive!

The relationship intensified after Trump secured the nomination in early May, and Ryan subsequently declined to immediately endorse the GOP nominee .

Ryan ultimately backed Trump a month later, but the tensions between the two men ebbed and flowed over the course of the campaign. Ryan continued keeping his distance from Trumps most controversial statements and policy proposals. Trump in August appeared to flirt with endorsing Ryans primary opponent in his House reelection campaign.

And in October, after The Washington Post published a recording of Trump making crude remarks about women, the rift threatened to split wide open after Ryan told House Republicans that he would not campaign with Trump in the final weeks before Election Day.

Thats when McCarthy said he got on the phone with Trump to try and separate facts from what he considered media-driven hysteria.

A lot of those things werent described properly, McCarthy said in the interview. I would talk to [Trump], because Id see things heating up, and Id view the press as causing some of this. Paul didnt say this. The press said he did this; I was on the call, and this didnt happen. I think he appreciated that.

Id also tell Paul, Hey, hes not doing that, he added. Get em back together.

What gave McCarthy credibility with Trump were ongoing gestures of loyalty, including regular television appearances backing Trump and his service as a Trump delegate and prime-time speaker at the Republican National Convention.

With Ryan, McCarthy can call on a long relationship they forged as fellow Young Guns ascending the GOP ranks together.

Ryan has now patched up his relationship with Trump, noting in recent interviews that the two speak on a near-daily basis. But there are indications of the continuing esteem McCarthy holds in Trumps orbit.

It was McCarthy last month, as the highest-ranking California Republican in Congress, who introduced Treasury Secretary nominee and fellow Californian Steven Mnuchin to the Senate Finance Committee. And two former McCarthy aides, Ben Howard and Tim Pataki, have joined Trumps Office of Legislative Affairs and are now working out of office space inside McCarthys suite on the first floor of the Capitol.

McCarthy was also among the congressional leaders who were invited to the White House during Trumps first week in office to discuss his legislative agenda. But he declined to say what exactly he has discussed with Trump since his inauguration.

I find a lot of people want to go out and talk about their relationship with Trump, McCarthy said in the interview. I just want to help him.

Read more at PowerPost
The United Nations has removed a longtime Afghan insurgent leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, from its sanctions list, in a move to allow a peace deal between the beleaguered Afghan government and the fugitive to go forward.

President Ashraf Ghanis government had requested the dropping of Hekmatyars name last year after signing the deal, regarded by some as historic because it was the first of its kind without foreign mediation.

Hekmatyar is expected to return to Kabul within weeks, putting an end to his nearly four decades of military campaigning, which involved fighting the Soviets, Afghan opponents in the civil war and the current U.S.-led occupation.

The Afghan government is pushing to fulfill its two other main commitments with Hekmatyar: release of nearly 500 fighters and commanders of his Hezb-i-Islami party and the return of hundreds of families of the partys members who live as refugees in Pakistan.

The U.N. move unfreezes his assets and lifts a travel ban.

Mohammad Akram Khpalwak, a senior adviser to Ghani, said a joint commission was assessing the number of Hekmatyars fighters and the amount of weapons they own across the country, before reintegrating them.

He said Hezb fighters had been observing a truce since the peace deal was signed in late September.

We have seen a total drop in areas under their control, Khpalwak said in a brief interview.

These areas included Maidan-Wardak in the western outskirts of Kabul and Bagram to its north, close to where the U.S. military base is located, he said.

Khpalwak said routine and indirect contacts with the Taliban have been underway for some time, in an effort to bring them in from the cold, too, but with no tangible result so far.

The Taliban militants who have gained some ground on the battlefield are pushing for total withdrawal of all foreign troops led by the U.S. military.

The Taliban has termed Hekmatyars peace deal with Ghani an act of treason.

The United States, Britain and some other Western nations hailed the signing of the deal with Hekmatyar, who is in his late 60s and was once the main recipient of U.S. aid during the war against the Soviets.

He earned the nickname Rocketyar (companion of rocket) among some people in Kabul because of indiscriminate shelling of the capital when he, along with other factions, fought for its control in the 1990s.

The delisting of his name has drawn anger among his critics and the war victims.

Patricia Gossman, a senior researcher of Human Rights Watch in Afghanistan, termed the removal of his name as a failure by the government to insist on accountability rather than accommodating powerful factional leaders.

His return will compound the culture of impunity that the Afghan government and its foreign donors have fostered by not pursuing accountability for the many war crimes committed by forces commanded by Hekmatyar and other warlords, she said in a message.

Afghans have paid a high price for appeasing the warlords.

In the past 15 years, most of Hekmatyars key aides have parted ways with the once-reclusive man, who is known by some for making and breaking deals. They serve as senior government officials while hundreds of his former foot soldiers bolstered the Taliban ranks.

With affiliates of the Islamic State gaining ground in some areas of Afghanistan and the Taliban becoming stronger, Hekmatyar largely felt isolated and irrevalent, said Najib Mahmoud, a professor of political science at Kabul University.

He is not an effective political and military force, and the expiry date has elapsed because his military might has been dissolved or melted away during the protracted war, Mahmoud said in a recent interview.

By bringing him over, the government wants to show that it has an achievement of some sort to say it has brought peace in one part of the country and use this as media propaganda for some days.

Read more:

Kabul on edge amid standoff between Afghan government and vice president

Deadly insurgent attacks dim hopes for talks, spur regional worries

Afghan government signs peace pact with guerrilla group led by fugitive Islamist

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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A string of avalanches and snowstorms killed scores of people in Afghanistan in the past two days, blocking key roads across the country and canceling all flights at Kabuls airport, officials said Sunday.

About 50 people died on Sunday in avalanches in one village in the rugged and remote province of Nurestan, its governor, Hafiz Abdul Qayoum, told Radio Liberty.

There were reports of deaths in Parwan province, to the north of Kabul; in Badakhshan province, in the northeast; and in several other parts of the country. The total number of dead was about 100, the minister for national disaster management, Wais Ahmad Barmak, told reporters.

His deputy, Mohammad Aslam, said that scores of houses were destroyed or damaged by the disaster.

We have to complete an assessment of the situation and send emergency aid where we can as soon as possible, Aslam said by phone.

The inaccessibility of some mountainous areas and the closure of many roads linking scores of villages with provincial capitals were obstructing the delivery of aid to areas where it was badly needed, he said.

Dozens of cars and buses were stranded for hours along one highway west of Kabul while heavy snow fell, measuring a yard and a half in some places. The Salang Tunnel, which links Kabul with the northern region, was closed, witnesses and officials said.

Ice and snow shut Kabuls airport. The power supply was also interrupted in some areas of the capital.

Despite the loss of so many lives, the snowfall was welcomed by many across Afghanistan, which is suffering from years of drought and acute water shortages.

Read more:

Afghan government controls just 57 percent of its territory, U.S. watchdog says

Amid Kabul winter, Afghan war refugees shiver in frigid informal settlements

Iconic Afghan girl returns home after 31 years

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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Japans prime minister, a man who promised voters he would turn Japan back into a beautiful country, is now doing his utmost to Make America Great Again.

Shinzo Abe is set to arrive in Washington on Friday for his first official summit with President Trump, and he will arrive armed with proposals on how Japanese companies will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States.

Abe is clearly trying to get on the businessman presidents good side, but he will try to do so while also correcting Trumps misunderstandings about Japans trading practices. Trump has said that Japan and China engage in practices that are not fair to U.S. companies, particularly U.S. automakers.

I will object where I should object, Abe said in the parliament last week, when asked about Trumps remarks. Id like to clearly explain that its not that one side is benefiting but that both sides are benefiting. Its a win-win situation.

Abe has wasted no time in currying favor with Trump, becoming the first foreign leader to meet with him after his election when Abe visited Trump Tower in Manhattan the week after Trumps victory. He had been trying to see Trump within a week of his inauguration, too, but British Prime Minister Theresa May beat him to hold the first summit.

Abe seems to be playing this as smart as he can, said Brad Glosserman, a Japan expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Pacific Forum in Hawaii. Its important for him to build a rapport with Trump  Trump likes strong nationalist leaders, and Abe is a strong nationalist leader  and personalize the institutionalized relationship.

Japan is nervous about its post-World War II security alliance with the United States  Trump had called it into question  but also about economic relations. The United States and Japan, the worlds largest and third-largest economies, were the two linchpins of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which Trump scrapped immediately upon taking office.

[Trump phone calls signal a new transactional approach to allies and neighbors]

Abe will take a plan called the Japan-U.S. growth and employment initiative with him to Washington, laying out five fields for economic cooperation, including infrastructure; robots and artificial intelligence; and working together in areas such as the Internet and space.

With a proposed $450 billion in infrastructure investments in the United States, Japan would generate 700,000 jobs, the paper claims, according to reports in the Japanese media. The prime ministers office declined to confirm them.

But it is not clear how many of the jobs Abe will offer will actually be new jobs.

The infrastructure component would include high-speed rail projects in the Northeast, as well as in Texas and California. Japan would also help replace as many as 3,000 train and subway cars in the United States, the document said.

But Japan is already trying to sell Maryland a superfast maglev train between Baltimore and Washington and is involved in bullet train projects in Texas and California.

The document said Japan would further cooperate in highly efficient gas-fired power generation and the latest compact nuclear-power generation systems, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun, a conservative newspaper with close ties to the prime minister.

[Trump TPP move seen as win for China, but Beijing isnt celebrating]

Abe met with Akio Toyoda, the chief executive of Toyota Motor, last week to prepare for the summit, according to local reports.

After Trump took to Twitter to criticize Toyotas plan to build a plant in Mexico to manufacture Corollas for the U.S. market, Toyota re-announced plans to invest $600 million and add 400 jobs to its plant in Indiana, the home state of Vice President Pence.

Separately, Japans Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the worlds largest with $1.2 trillion in assets, is preparing to invest $150 billion in the United States. It will buy debt issued by U.S. companies, the Nikkei business newspaper reported.

The GPIF had long concentrated its investments in Japanese government bonds but, under Abes orders, has been buying up Japanese stocks over the past three years.

Norihiro Takahashi, president of the fund, denied that the latest plan had been orchestrated by Abes government, saying investments were made according to the returns they could earn.

[Japanese arent so sure about Donald Trump, but they love Ivanka]

Polls have shown that most Japanese expect relations with the United States to worsen under Trump. One, conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper the day after the inauguration, found that 56 percent thought it would worsen, while 29 percent thought it would remain the same.

Remarks like those Trump made to pharmaceutical executives last week are fueling concerns about relations with the United States under its new president.

You look at what Chinas doing, you look at what Japan has done over the years, Trump told the meeting. They play the money market, they play the devaluation market, and we sit there like a bunch of dummies.

Financial and governmental authorities in Japan immediately responded that their efforts have been aimed at pulling Japan out of two decades of deflation, not artificially devaluing the yen.

Read more

Meet the youngsters helping solve Japans caregiving crisis. Like Kunio Odaira, 72.

Japans trains are in a league of their own. Japans subculture of train fanatics is no different.

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
There was a bit of irony in the latest flap over at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Chancellor Rebecca Blank has asked the Board of Regents to review admission policies that prohibit asking prospective students about or considering their criminal history.

Right now, the UW System doesnt do that. It hasnt for years.

But that may change after a 33-year-old UW student got into the spotlight over his efforts to organize a campus branch of the white nationalist American Freedom Party.

Free speech is no crime, of course. But it turns out the student, Daniel Dropik, was convicted of setting fires at two churches in predominantly black neighborhoods of Milwaukee and Lansing, Mich. And was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

But Blank and the UW didnt know that  because they never asked.

Predictably, the incident hit the fan, with Blank calling for a review of the admissions policy and, in return, getting lambasted by liberal student groups who said adding a criminal-history inquiry into the admissions process would hurt minority applications.

The League of Women Voters weighed in shortly thereafter, saying it opposed background checks as part of the state college admission process as part of its longstanding belief that an ex-offender should have full restoration of civil rights.

Chancellor Blank, meanwhile, told reporters: I myself think its untenable for me to know that I have someone in the campus community who has a past felony background. I think that would be disturbing to a good number of my parents.

After playing the fear card, Blank went on to say: I want to be very clear that I do not think a criminal background should be a bar for admissions. The question is what information do you have and when do you use it in the admissions process.

Good question.

UW System President Ray Cross responded by saying the UW System would research admissions policies and practices at other universities, and make recommendations to the Board of Regents in time for the 2018-19 admissions cycle.

Cross said a safe environment for learning is a primary concern for students and families, but with that in mind, any consideration of criminal history during our admissions process requires the delicate balancing of three of our core principles: to ensure student, faculty and staff safety, to promote the healthy exchange of ideas, even contentious ones, and to provide the broadest possible access to public education.

As the UW System begins its sifting and winnowing process on admissions policy, it will doubtlessly come across reports like the one from the Center for Community Alternatives in collaboration with the Association of Collegiate Registrars that surveyed 273 institutions of higher learning in 2009.

Some of their findings concluded that 66 percent of responding colleges collect criminal justice information, although not all of them consider it in their admissions process.

A sizable minority (38 percent) of the responding schools does not collect or use criminal justice information, and those schools do not report that their campuses are less safe as a result, the report said.

Most schools that do collect criminal history information have adopted additional steps in their admissions process, the most common of which is consulting with academic deans and campus security personnel. Special requirements, such as submitting a letter of explanation of a letter from a corrections official and completing probation or parole, are common.

As they assess information like that, the UW should also know that an estimated 70 million or more Americans have a criminal record  almost one in five, according to a White House report. They should know, too, that education can be a saving grace toward reducing recidivism, according to a 2013 RAND Corp. study that found incarcerated students who enrolled in classes and educational programs while in prison are 43 percent less likely to return to prison within three years.

And finally, the UW should weigh its obligations to the entire state and, particularly, the minority community when it decides who can attend state universities. Those who have a criminal record, but have served their sentences and paid their debt to society should not be barred from lifting themselves above their past mistakes and finding good employment  or advancing their skills through higher education.

To remove those rungs from the ladder of life essentially confines them to the point that nothing is left but the criminal past they seek to escape. The UW has an opportunity and an obligation to provide a different path.
Anas Modamanis 2015 selfie with German Chancellor Angela Merkel made him a target of the far-right after the photo was falsely linked in Facebook posts to terrorist attacks in Europe. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

On a September day in 2015, Syrian refugee Anas Modamani took one of Germanys most emblematic selfies. Snapping himself alongside Chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to his Berlin shelter, he captured an image that became a symbol of her momentous decision to allow more than 1 million asylum seekers into Germany.

It also turned Modamani into the target of far-right conspiracies. Fake stories and doctored photographs first linked him to the March 2016 terrorist attacks in Brussels, then to the Berlin Christmas market attack in December. Another image even falsely claimed that he was a suspect in a recent assault on a homeless man.

So now he is taking aim at the messenger: Facebook.

A lawsuit, which goes to court Monday, is seeking to compel Facebook to act faster  even preemptively  to remove such material and thereby concede that the social network is also a media company and therefore liable for the content it publishes.

The suit marks the latest attempt to hold Facebook more accountable for an upsurge in fake news. Germany, Europes most populous nation, with cherished notions of personal privacy and a low tolerance for propaganda, has emerged as a particularly fierce battleground for the outlet.

Facebook only deletes those URLs that are pointed out to them in written form, said Modamanis attorney, Chan-jo Jun. We are fighting for all reposts to be deleted.

As Facebook has come under fire for allowing the spread of fake news, the company has promised to take steps to combat the problem while maintaining that it is merely a platform for sharing information, not generating it.

Europeans have been particularly aggressive. In May, the European Commission agreed on a new code of conduct with Facebook and other social-media platforms under which the sites would respond to reports of questionable content within 24 hours.

But nowhere in Europe has the pressure been stronger than in Germany  a country where the memory of Nazi propaganda and Cold War-era machinations have created a culture strongly averse to hate speech and false reports. Proliferating far-right and pro-Russian websites also have trained their sights on Merkel, who has put the issue of fake news front and center in the public debate as she campaigns for reelection in a vote set for September.

In response to calls for change, Facebook last month announced the start of a new effort in Germany in partnership with the nonprofit journalism network Correctiv. With the help of professional journalists, the social-media site would label as potentially suspect or false reports that users share that are identified as fake.

Yet Germany may push Facebook to go even further. The countrys Justice Ministry is monitoring how quickly Facebook, Twitter and YouTube delete potentially libelous fake news, reports inciting hate and other content considered illegal under domestic law. The German government has threatened that if the results show that Facebook has not made progress since a similar test in September, the country will force the company to comply.

Were considering concrete legislative measures, said Justice Ministry spokesman Philip Scholz. He added, Were also considering fines as a final option.

Modamanis attorney has sought to sway German prosecutors to build a case against Facebook for years. Although prosecutors in Hamburg and Munich took a look at his claims that the network was allowing the spread of incendiary and hateful material, they have thus far declined to take action.

In the Modamani case, the suit is seeking to force Facebook not only to delete specific false or illegal posts reported by users, but also to adopt special filters that search the network and remove all other references to that content. Jun said that although Facebook claims to have deleted fake posts attacking his client, he found reposts of the images as recently as last week.

The claims largely center on three widely spread images that Jun claims could still be circulating on Facebook. One shows the selfie of Modamani and Merkel next to an image of security footage of a group of young men suspected of trying to set a homeless man on fire at a Berlin subway station on Christmas Eve. The face of one of the suspects is circled and falsely identified as Modamani.

Merkel made selfie with one of the offenders in 2015! it reads.

In another post that circulated on Facebook, a photo collage puts Modamani and Merkel against the backdrop of a Berlin Christmas market following the December attack there. The caption reads, They are Merkels dead.

An earlier claim falsely linked Modamani to last years Brussels attacks, alleging that Merkel took a selfie with a terrorist. The image was initially posted by a user called Anonymous and, according to Jun, was reposted at least 1,000 times. Many times more users saw it.

I love Facebook  I found an apartment through the network, Modamani told Spiegel Online last month. But I also hate Facebook, because this Photoshop stuff simply never ceases.

In a statement, Facebook said it had already quickly disabled access to content that Modamanis legal representatives had reported. So we do not believe that legal action here is necessary or that it is the most effective way to resolve the situation.

Read more

Berlins Holocaust memorial is not a place for fun selfies

As Cold War turns to Information War, a new fake news police combats disinformation

German politicians demand new deportation centers, more police powers and re-vetting of migrants

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
A long-range S-200 missile is fired in a military drill in the port city of Bushehr on the northern coast of Iran on Dec. 29, 2016. President Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, said the United States is "putting Iran on notice" after it test-fired a ballistic missile last week. (Amir Kholousi/AP)

President Trumps tough talk on Iran is winning him friends in the Arab world, but it also carries a significant risk of conflict with a U.S. rival that is now more powerful than at any point since the creation of the Islamic republic nearly 40 years ago.

With its warning last week that Iran is on notice, the Trump administration signaled a sharp departure from the policies of President Barack Obama, whose focus on pursuing a nuclear deal with Iran eclipsed historic U.S. concerns about Iranian expansionism and heralded a rare period of detente between Washington and Tehran.

Many in the region are now predicting a return to the tensions of the George W. Bush era, when U.S. and Iranian operatives fought a shadow war in Iraq, Sunni-Shiite tensions soared across the region and Americas ally Israel fought a brutal war with Irans ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Except that now the United States will be facing down a far stronger Iran, one that has taken advantage of the past six years of turmoil in the Arab world to steadily expand its reach and military capabilities.

In order to confront Iran or push back more fiercely against it, you may find youre in a conflict far more far-reaching and more destructive to the global economy than many of our allies or American public are willing to bear, said Nicholas Heras of the Center for a New American Security.

(Reuters)

[Iran holds military exercises in response to U.S. sanctions]

Irans alleged quest to produce a nuclear weapon  which Tehran has always denied  has been curbed by the nuclear accord signed in 2015. But in the meantime it has developed missiles capable of hitting U.S. bases and allies across the Middle East and built a network of alliances that have turned it into the most powerful regional player.

Iran now stands at the apex of an arc of influence stretching from Tehran to the Mediterranean, from the borders of NATO to the borders of Israel and along the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. It commands the loyalties of tens of thousands in allied militias and proxy armies that are fighting on the front lines in Syria, Iraq and Yemen with armored vehicles, tanks and heavy weapons. They have been joined by thousands of members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Irans most prestigious military wing, who have acquired meaningful battlefield experience in the process.

For the first time in its history, the Institute for the Study of War noted in a report last week, Iran has developed the capacity to project conventional military force for hundreds of miles beyond its borders. This capability, which very few states in the world have, will fundamentally alter the strategic calculus and balance of power within the Middle East, the institute said.

Americas Sunni Arab allies, who blame the Obama administrations hesitancy for Irans expanded powers, are relishing the prospect of a more confrontational U.S. approach. Any misgivings they may have had about Trumps anti-Muslim rhetoric have been dwarfed by their enthusiasm for an American president they believe will push back against Iran.

We are so happy and excited about President Trump, said Abdullah al-Shamri, a former Saudi Arabian diplomat, speaking from the Saudi capital of Riyadh. We expect him to deal with the Iranians as the threat that they are, producing missiles and interfering in other countries.

Exactly what the Trump administration intends to do about a state of affairs that has already become deeply entrenched is unclear, however. So pervasive is Irans presence across the region that it is hard to see how any U.S. administration could easily roll it back without destabilizing allies, endangering Americans, undermining the war against the Islamic State and upsetting the new regional balance that emerged during the Obama administrations retreat, analysts say.

[Pentagon chief advocates restraint in response to Iran, China]

The Trump administration has given no indication that it intends to abrogate the nuclear accord. Rather, U.S. officials say, the goal is to contain activities that lie outside the scope of the accord, such as the ballistic missile program and what one official called the destabilizing activities of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies.

So far, U.S. action has been confined to retaliation for Irans test-launch of a ballistic missile last week and an attack by Yemens Houthi rebels on a Saudi Arabian navy ship in the Red Sea. The Treasury imposed sanctions Friday against people and companies alleged to be involved in the missile program and the Pentagon dispatched the destroyer USS Cole to the coast of Yemen, suggesting that Irans arming of the Houthis may be an early target.

Otherwise, the Trump administration has given little indication of what it has in mind, except to make clear that it intends to be different from Obama.

Iran is playing with fire  they dont appreciate how kind President Obama was to them. Not me! Trump wrote in a tweet Friday.

Iran has offered a relatively muted response to the challenge, with Irans foreign minister tweeting that Iran is unmoved by the threats emanating from Washington. Well never initiate war, he said.

Iran may well conclude that it is not in its interests to engage in confrontation with a new U.S. administration already earning a reputation for unpredictability, analysts say.

But those familiar with Irans behavior in the region have said that they do not believe it will readily surrender its gains.

Any pushing back, the Iranians wont take it lying down, predicted Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a Shiite Iraqi parliamentarian who has, for many years, worked to bridge the divide between Iran and America in Iraq.

Iraq, Iran and the United States are an extremely finely balanced equation, and Trump shouldnt come and bash, he said. He should play this extremely delicately.

It is in Iraq, where fighting the Islamic State has most conspicuously brought the United States into a tacit alliance with Iran, that a more hostile relationship between Tehran and Washington could prove most consequential.

Iranian-backed militias are deeply embedded in the overall Iraqi effort to wrest back territory from the militants, one that is also being aided by the United States. In the Mosul offensive, hundreds of U.S. advisers are working alongside Iraqi troops advancing from the east, among about 6,000 U.S. troops currently deployed in Iraq. Thousands of Iranian-backed militia fighters are meanwhile advancing on the city from the west, among a force of tens of thousands that answers mostly, though not exclusively, to Iran.

One of the Iranian-backed groups fighting around Mosul is Kitaeb Hezbollah, which also blew up American troops with roadside bombs and fired mortars into U.S. bases at the height of U.S.-Iranian tensions a decade ago. It will not hesitate to attack U.S. troops should the United States attempt to diminish Irans role in Iraq, said Jaffar al-Hussaini, Kitaeb Hezbollahs spokesman.

[Trump cites warnings against Iran; Tehran shrugs off pressures from inexperienced president]

We look at America as our first enemy, the source of all evil on the Earth, he said. American interests in Iraq are within our sights and our fire range. If they act foolishly, their interests will be wiped out . . . and we can target their bases whenever we want.

It is also hard to see how the United States could act to curtail the extensive influence acquired by Iran during the war in Syria. Iran and Russia together have fought to ensure the survival of President Bashar al-Assads regime, and they are now pursuing a peace settlement in alliance with Turkey that excludes a role for the United States. America has been left with few friends and little leverage, apart from the Kurds in the northeast of the country.

Russia controls the skies over Syria, and Turkey wields influence over the rebels, but Iran holds sway on the ground, through its extensive network of Shiite militias drawn from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have provided the manpower for front lines from the northern countryside of Aleppo, near the Turkish border, to the Golan Heights bordering Israel in the south.

Trumps promises to curb Iranian influence are at odds with his stated desire to pursue closer cooperation with Russia in Syria and also to support Assad, because Iran is allied with both Assad and Russia, said Mustafa Alani, a director at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center.

He will not be able to contain Iran if he is going to support Assad. He cannot have both at the same time, he said. The solution, he said, is to topple Assad, because Assad is the man who is underpinned by Iranian support. He was saved only by Iranian intervention.

Alani sees no reason Trump should not easily be able to contain Iranian influence.

It is a myth that Iran is strong. The only reason Iran is strong is because of U.S. weakness, he said. Iran is very thinly stretched. It will not take a lot to contain Iran.

But even those celebrating the shift in American policy dont seem so sure.

Tehran today is challenged by a strict, driven, strong and decisive United States, which was not always the case with the lenient and hesitant Obama administration, said a commentary Saturday in the Pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. The region now faces turbulent winds of change. It will not be easy.

Morris reported from Baghdad. Mustafa Salim in Baghdad also contributed to this report.

Read more

The strange and very cold city of Astana could be where Syrias war is solved

Syria deal draws Iran into alliance with Russia and Turkey

Russias new influence may limit Trumps scope in Middle East

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
The Trump administration is backing away from its plan to revisit using the CIA to imprison and interrogate terrorism suspects, according to a revised executive order on detention policy that has been shared with senior officials.

A new version of the order has stripped out provisions contained in a previous draft that called for top officials to evaluate whether the CIA should once again operate so-called black site prisons and have renewed authority to use coercive interrogation methods, according to a U.S. official and a second person who have been briefed on the matter.

The changes appear to reflect a retreat from a proposal that faced an immediate backlash from members of Congress and some officials in Trumps administration when a draft of the order was publicly revealed last month.

A senior administration official said that document was a transition draft produced before Trumps national security team was assembled, and that the document was not under serious consideration by the Trump administration. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive White House deliberations. A White House spokesperson declined to comment.

A new draft order under development seems to have abandoned this idea of reopening the path to CIA black sites and changes to interrogation rules, said a person who was briefed on the contents of the document. The new draft also does away with provisions that, if signed by Trump, would have revoked orders issued by Obama in 2009 dismantling the CIA program and its overseas prisons.

The development, first reported by the New York Times, is the latest in a series of conflicting signals from the administration on how it plans to approach the treatment of terrorism suspects captured by the United States in operations overseas.

The CIA on Thursday named an agency veteran with extensive ties to the prisons program as deputy director. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Gina Haspel ran a prison in Thailand where senior al-Qaeda operatives were subjected to waterboarding and other methods later denounced as torture. She was also involved in the decision to destroy videotapes of those interrogation sessions.

Trump recently declared that he believes torture is an effective tool for getting information but said he would defer to senior officials in his administration, including Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, on detention and interrogation policy.

U.S. officials cautioned that the detention order is still under review and could undergo further change before it is presented to Trump for his signature. But human rights groups welcomed the new signal that the White House may not be pushing to revive one of the most controversial programs in CIA history.

The big picture is that they seem to have heard and responded to intense opposition from senior lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and officials in the administration including Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, said Elisa Massimino, president and chief executive of Human Rights First.

The new draft appears to preserve some language from the previous document, including a provision that would allow for new prisoners to be detained at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Connie Inglis (Photo: Instagram)

Connie Inglis, a young woman living in Leeds, England, has used social media to raise awareness about body image positivity and also to document her daring battle with anorexia. Today, Inglis has emerged as an online activist of sorts, helping women embrace their imperfections while also learning to do the same for herself.

On her Instagram page, a stirring side-by-side image of Inglis details how small she had gotten just a year before. So extreme was her weight loss that she had to be fed via a tube through her nasal passages. Inglis started the page in hopes of documenting her recovery and to galvanize others who might also be battling the same issues, as reported by the Daily Mail.

Hammering this point home, with the photo, Inglis posted the following caption:

Firstly I want to say this is not a look how skinny I was or look how well Ive done post. This is to hopefully show you that no matter how lost you are in your own head, it is possible to escape! It is possible to find happiness again!!!

Secondly, you do not have to be this shape, size, colour or gender for your struggles to matter! You are always deserving of help if you are struggling!!!

She continued the post by sharing intimate details of her difficult journey. Inglis said she was so sick that she wanted to die before she was admitted to a hospital to seek treatment. She added that watching her weight rise was agonizing for her, and she had to be medicated and subdued as part of her recovery process.

With the power of family, friends, and a loving boyfriend, Inglis found the strength to continue on and said she fought like hell because they were there for her. She said that her decade-long battle with anorexia might be over and she still has personal work to do, but she offered her encouraging story as a show of support for others just like her.

Recent photos of Inglis show her happy and glowing, showing off her midriff, pudge and all, as she puts it. With close to 39,000 followers and growing, Inglis is giving voice to others who might not know where to turn.

A commissioned report by BEAT, an eating disorders awareness group, estimated that around 725,000 people in the United Kingdom alone are affected by some type of eating disorder, with 11 percent of those being men, according to the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence.



In the United States, 20 million women and 10 million men are battling or have battled with a form of eating disorder. This includes anorexia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and other related conditions.

Related: Pretty Little Liar Troian Bellisario Opens Up About Her History With Anorexia

Related: Country Singer Lauren Alainas Bulimia Was So Bad, Her Hair Fell Out

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President Donald Trumps recent remarks defending Russian President Vladimir Putin are not sitting well with politicians.

Many spoke out against the 70-year-old business moguls praise of Putin in a preview of his pre-Super Bowl interview with Bill OReilly.

The president said of the foreign leader, Hes a leader of his country. I say its better to get along with Russia than not, and if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS  which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world  thats a good thing. Will I get along with him? I have no idea.

OReilly responded, Hes a killer, though. Putins a killer.

There are a lot of killers. We got a lot of killers, said Trump. What, you think our country is so innocent?

After the sneak peek of the interview was released, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Meet the Press that she thinks the FBI should look into Trumps connections with the Russians to see if they are blackmailing him.

I want to know what the Russians have on Donald Trump, Pelosi said on Sunday. I think we have to have an investigation by the FBI into his financial, personal and political connections to Russia, and we want to see his tax returns, so we can have truth in the relationship between Putin, whom he admires, and Donald Trump.

Watch Bill OReillys interview with President @realDonaldTrump Sunday at 4p ET during the #SuperBowl pregame show on FOX. pic.twitter.com/OcRVRK8JgR  Fox News (@FoxNews) February 4, 2017

RELATED VIDEO: Leonardo DiCaprio Would Love to Play Vladimir Putin

When has a Democratic political activists been poisoned by the GOP, or vice versa? We are not the same as #Putin. MR  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 5, 2017

Only reason we should ever lift sanctions on #Putin is if he meets conditions of sanctions & ends violations of #ukraine sovereignty. MR  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 5, 2017

Marco Rubio, U.S. Senator for Florida, blasted the president over his defense of Putin. In a tweet Sunday morning, Rubio pointed out suspicious deaths of the Russian presidents political opponents.

Story continues

When has a Democratic political activists been poisoned by the GOP, or vice versa? We are not the same as #Putin, the Republican said.

In a follow-up post, he wrote, Only reason we should ever lift sanctions on #Putin is if he meets conditions of sanctions & ends violations of #ukraine sovereignty.

Rubio signed the tweets MR, signifying that it was personally written by the senator.

.@POTUS statement suggesting moral equivalence between Putin's Russia and the United States of America is deeply troubling and wrong.  Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) February 5, 2017

Liz Cheney, the elder daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Representative for Wyoming, took to Twitter to express her disagreement with Trumps statement.

.@POTUS statement suggesting moral equivalence between Putins Russia and the United States of America is deeply troubling and wrong, Cheney, who campaigned for Trump, wrote on Sunday.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on CNNs State of the Union on Sunday and called Putin a thug. Although he said he did not think Russia and the U.S. conducted themselves in similar ways, he did not comment specifically on Trumps remarks.

Im not going to critique the presidents every utterance, McConnell said. But I do think America is exceptional, America is different. We dont operate in any way the way the Russians do. I think theres a clear distinction here that all Americans understand, and I would not have characterized it that way.

Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a steadfast Trump critic, shared similar sentiments on ABCs This Week.

Putin is an enemy of political dissent. The U.S. celebrates political dissent and the right for people to argue free from violence about places or ideas that are in conflict, Sasse said. There is no moral equivalency between the United States of America, the greatest freedom living nation in the history of the world, and the murderous thugs that are in Putins defense of his cronyism.

Vice President Mike Pence appeared on NBCs Meet the Press and said he did not see Trumps comments as him creating a moral equivalency between the two countries.

President Trump has been willing to be critical of our countrys actions in the past, he said. But what youre hearing there is a determination by the president of the United States to not let semantics or the arguments of the past get in the way of exploring the ability to work together with Russia and with President Putin in the days ahead.

OReillys full interview with Trump will air at 4 p.m. ET during a pre-Super Bowl special on Fox.




A suspect is now in custody for the murder of Queens, New York, jogger Karina Vetrano in August 2016.

The alleged suspect is described as being a man in his 20s, living in East New York, and has been a person of interest in the case for a few months, ABC reported early Sunday. Later in the day, the NYPD held a press conference where they identified the suspect as Chanel Lewis, 20.

At the press conference, police said that they do not believe that Lewis knew Vetrano prior to her disappearance. They said he had no prior criminal history aside from some summonses. According to police, Lewis gave a DNA swab to authorities after an interview on Feb. 2. His DNA allegedly matched with DNA found on Vetrano. He has been booked on murder and sexual assault charges, according to police. It is not known how he pleads against the charges or if he has retained an attorney.

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.

After six-month long search, the arrest took place Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn, New York, according to the New York Daily News.

Vetranos body was found in Spring Creek Park around 11 p.m. on Aug. 2, about a dozen feet from a jogging trail she used daily, according to police.

The 30-year-old was sexually assaulted and strangled after putting up a ferocious fight, investigators previously revealed. They further believe Vetrano bit her attacker, because her teeth showed signs of cracking.




Twenty-two hospitals in Wisconsin, including SSM Health St. Marys Hospital in Madison, have been fined by the state for not following a law requiring them to offer emergency contraception to rape victims.

The 2008 state law requires emergency rooms to give information about so-called morning-after pills to victims of sexual assault, dispense the drugs at their request and train staff about the drugs.

St. Marys was fined $7,500 in April 2015 for not obeying the three main parts of the law. From June to December 2014, the hospital failed to inform three sexual assault patients about emergency contraception or make it available to them, the state Department of Health Services said.

During a state inspection that led to the fine, the ER director at St. Marys, a Catholic institution, said the hospital had two reasons for not complying: its religious affiliation and its policy of transferring sexual assault patients to UnityPoint Health-Meriter, which has a forensic nurse examiners program that investigates rape.

In June 2015, the hospital revised its policy to comply with the law, according to documents the Wisconsin State Journal obtained from the health department.

Kim Sveum, St. Marys spokeswoman, said hospital policy allowed emergency contraception before the fine and was clarified afterward. The hospital has provided information about emergency contraception to 13 patients since June 2015 and given the pills to two patients who requested them, Sveum said.

We are committed to providing all patients with exceptional care, in accordance with our policies and all applicable state and federal laws, Sveum said.

Sveum said the ER directors statement citing the religious affiliation as a reason for not complying was inaccurate. She declined to say who the ER director was, and the state documents do not name the person.

St. Marys has long transferred sexual assault patients to Meriter once they are stable, Sveum said. Occasionally, Meriter nurses travel to St. Marys to do rape examinations, she said.

Sveum said hospitals affiliated with St. Marys  SSM Health St. Marys Hospital-Janesville and SSM Health St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo  follow the law.

Approved in late 1990s

Emergency contraception, first approved in the late 1990s, greatly reduces the chance of pregnancy if taken within three to five days of sexual intercourse.

Proponents say the drugs can alleviate rape victims worry over being impregnated by their attackers, and reduce abortions. Opponents say the pills amount to abortion because they can block implantation of a fertilized egg.

Former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle signed Wisconsins law, which was supported mostly by Democrats but also some Republicans. Democrats controlled the state Senate at the time and Republicans had a narrow majority in the state Assembly.

Today, Republicans have large majorities in both houses and Gov. Scott Walker is a Republican.

Sara Finger, executive director of the Wisconsin Alliance for Womens Health, said the hospitals lack of compliance with the law shows why its important for the state to enforce it.

Compliance is everything, Finger said. Its scary how many women might not be getting the compassionate care they need.

Matt Sande, legislative director for Pro-Life Wisconsin, which fought the law, said some of the hospitals cited might oppose the law for religious reasons.

If there are hospitals among these 22 that are noncompliant because they feel the law is a violation of their religious freedom, they ought to challenge it, Sande said. There are grounds to do so.

Wisconsin Right to Life and the Wisconsin Catholic Conference were neutral on the bill leading to the law.

When the state Legislature debated the issue in 2007, some Republicans proposed letting hospitals and individual medical professionals opt out for moral or religious reasons.

A key Assembly sponsor, former Rep. Terry Musser, R-Black River Falls, opposed the opt-out clause, and it was not included in the final measure. It would gut the bill, Musser said at the time.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia require emergency rooms to provide information about emergency contraception to sexual assault victims, and 13 states and D.C. require them to dispense the drugs on request, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

Hospitals now complying

Wisconsin has 129 general service hospitals. Of the 22 hospitals fined for not adhering to the law, 12 have been cited since 2013. Two were fined twice: Cumberland Memorial Hospital, in 2009 and 2015, and North Central Health Care in Wausau, in 2008 and 2013.

Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County in Darlington was fined $7,500 in 2015, as was Watertown Regional Medical Center in 2013, for violating the three main aspects of the law.

Julie Chikowski, CEO of Memorial, said the hospital was offering emergency contraception at the time but failed to document it. Lesson learned, she said. We totally support this for best patient care.

Watertown Regional has been in compliance with the law since the hospital was fined, said Amy Hayden, marketing manager.

Monroe Clinic was fined $2,500 last year, as was Vernon Memorial Hospital in Viroqua in 2009, for violating one part of the law: not telling rape victims they could receive emergency contraception.

The Monroe hospitals fine was for a documentation problem, and the hospital complies with the law, said Patricia Lawson, marketing director.

Vernon Memorial didnt know about the law when it was fined, but were complying now, said Sue Sullivan, manager of compliance and quality.

Most of the other hospitals cited are in northern Wisconsin.

If there are hospitals among these 22 that are noncompliant because they feel the law is a violation of their religious freedom, they ought to challenge it. There are grounds to do so. Matt Sande, legislative director for Pro-Life Wisconsin
Chinese exchanged billions of electronic "red envelopes" over the Lunar New Year holiday, state media said Saturday, as more people turned to modern technology to perform the ancient tradition of handing out cash.

For centuries parents, relatives and employers have distributed red paper envelopes containing money, known as "hong bao", to children or menial workers to celebrate the dawn of the new year.

But tech-savvy givers in China are increasingly opting to transfer money via their smartphones rather than go to the trouble -- and expense -- of buying envelopes and handing them out.

About 46 billion electronic hong baos were sent or received via the popular messaging app WeChat from January 27 -- the eve of the Year of the Rooster -- to February 1, the China Daily reported.

That was 43 percent more than last year.

On January 27 alone more than 14 billion electronic red envelopes were transferred on WeChat, which is owned by internet giant Tencent and has more than 800 million users.

That was up nearly 76 percent on last year, the newspaper said, and included a record 2,125 hong baos sent by a man in Shenzhen.

An apparently very popular man in the eastern province of Shandong received a staggering 10,069 envelopes.

Tencent did not reveal the total amount of money contained in the red packets.
ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports

The Packers ruled out linebacker De'Vondre Campbell (knee) after he missed practice all week. That leaves rookie Quay Walker to wear the communication helmet on defense against the Lions. The only game Campbell has missed the past six seasons was Week 18 last season when he was inactive to rest for the postseason, not for [more]
Cape Town (AFP) - Investors and mining firms gather Monday at Africa's biggest industry conference amid a newfound optimism that the uptick in commodity prices could shore up investment after years of downturn.

The annual four-day Mining Indaba in Cape Town takes place as demand in China, one of the world's biggest consumers, begins to stabilise.

Commodities like iron, copper and tin are soaring to new heights, raising hope among analysts that this year's conference may spur funding for new mining ventures.

"A lot of these prices are up 100 percent from what they were a year before, some only fifty percent, but some three or four hundred percent, so this should be the biggest Indaba we've seen in a couple (of) years," said Peter Major, mining analyst at Cadiz Corporate Solutions.

The devastating price slump saw several commodity-dependent economies across Africa stagnate, with companies cutting jobs and some shutting down operations.

Africa's biggest copper producers Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were among the worst hit, with thousand of jobs lost over the last three years.

The jobs bloodbath also hit South Africa, the continent's most diversified economy which is battling poor growth.

The World Bank's latest commodities forecast, however, confirms the worst is finally over, with prices on a solid climb thanks to strong Chinese demand and a tightening supply.

Copper prices jumped 10 percent in the last quarter of 2016, "the first double-digit quarterly gain in nearly five years", the report said.

The bank is now projecting metals prices to rise by 11 percent in 2017, a significant improvement from an earlier forecast of just 4 percent.

- US boost? -

"Policy efforts by China to boost commodity-intensive infrastructure and construction sectors were a key driver of demand last year, the report said.

"Prices also received a boost following the US election on expectations of higher infrastructure investment and increased optimism for the global economy."

Story continues

By the end of 2016, iron ore was selling at $80 a tonne, nearly double its price a year earlier, and metals like zinc were both up for the fourth straight quarter.

Although the mood was shifting, Major warned against being overly excited about improvement, saying it looked like an "over-recovery" and adding "I don't trust it".

Rene Hochreiter, an analyst at Noah Capital Markets, said the prices would return to the mean "sooner or later".

"There might be a bit of euphoria at the moment with it shooting over the mean and it will come back down, but that doesn't mean it's going to go negative," he told AFP.

"I just hope this time it's not a false start," he added. "I've seen too many of those and I don't want to get too excited, but it feels a lot better than it has for a number of years."

Recovery optimism has also been reflected in conference numbers, with delegate registrations up year-on-year for the first time "in quite a few years", according to organisers.

Slow mining production had been cited as one of the major contributors to South Africa's poor growth, currently at an annualised 0.2 percent.

The country exports a slew of resources including platinum, gold and diamonds, but companies must navigate a volatile strike-prone labour force and legislative red tape.
ROME (Reuters) - Posters accusing Pope Francis of attacking conservative Catholics appeared around Rome this weekend and were swiftly covered up by city authorities. The posters, put up during the night between Friday and Saturday by mystery activists, featured a picture of a stern-faced pope and the slogan: "Where's your mercy?" The text accused Francis of several interventions targeting conservatives, including what the posters called "the beheading of the Knights of Malta." This was a reference to an ancient Catholic order of knights which is now a worldwide charity and whose former Grand Master handed in his resignation to the pope last week after a two-month, highly public feud. The posters appeared several hours before the Vatican announced the name of the pope's personal delegate to the troubled order, a move that side-lined conservative Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, who had been its chaplain since 2014 and is a frequent critic of the pope. In a letter released by the Vatican on Saturday, Francis told Archbishop Angelo Becciu that he would be the "exclusive spokesman" for the pope at the Order until elections are held for a new Grand Master in several months.. The posters were even more mysterious because sections of the text were written in the working class dialect Romanesco, spoken only in the Rome area. City authorities pasted white paper over them with the message "illegal advertising", as they had been put up without authorization or the payment of a tax. The Vatican had no comment. But Father Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit who is close to the pope, said in a tweet that they were a sign that Francis was doing a good job and therefore irritating many people. (Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
UPDATE: 4:11 a.m. EST The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Sunday morning denied the Justice Departments initial request for an immediate stay to a federal judges temporary restraining order on President Donald Trumps travel ban.

"The court has received appellants' emergency motion," the order from the appeals court read. "Appellants' request for an immediate administrative stay pending full consideration of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal is denied."

Original Story

President Donald Trump went on a Twitter rant Saturday against the "so called judge" who issued a temporary nationwide block to the travel ban on seven Muslim-majority nations. Trump kicked off the first day of his vacation in Mar-a-Lago Saturday morning by slamming Federal Judge James Robart of Seattle.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! the president told his 23.6 million followers. Later Saturday, Trump called the judge's ruling a "terrible" decision and warned that "many very bad and dangerous people" might enter the country.

Late Saturday, the Justice Department filed a motion to appeal Robart's order blocking Trump's immigration restrictions, which, among other things, banned travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the U.S. The ruling by Robart will remain in place unless an appeals court blocks the lower court order.

After Robart's ruling Friday, the Department of Homeland Security reverted to the immigration procedures that were in place before the Jan. 27 executive order. Individuals from the affected countries are now being allowed to board flights to the U.S.

Story continues

"The Department of State had, under the Executive Order, provisionally revoked all valid visas of nationals of those seven countries, with limited exceptions. That provisional revocation is now lifted, and those visas are now valid for travel to the United States, if the holder is otherwise eligible," the State Department said in a statement Saturday.

Trumps controversial executive order had put in place a 90-day ban on visa-holders from seven nations, an indefinite ban on Syrian refugee admissions, and a 120-day ban on the entire refugee program.

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement early Saturday, calling the order "lawful and appropriate."

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HELSINKI (AP)  The indigenous people of Europe's Arctic north are celebrating their national day this week with hundreds of events across Nordic lands.

Monday's start to weeklong festivities marks the centenary of the Sami people's first congress in Trondheim, Norway, in 1917. Seventy-five years later, the Sami declared Feb. 6 their national day.

The Sami, previously known as Lapps, today inhabit Lapland stretching from northern parts of Norway through Sweden and Finland to Russia. They once faced oppression of their culture, including bans on use of their native tongue.

Today the nomadic people live mostly modern lifestyles. Some still tend reindeer, wear their traditionally bright-colored national dress and perform joik songs. The songs, involving a mixture of chanting and poetry, are being recited in events across northern Scandinavia and Finland this week.
MADRID (AP)  Actor-turned-director Raul Arevalo's first film, "The Fury of a Patient Man," won best picture and he was honored for best directorial debut and best original screenplay at the 31st Spanish Film Academy's Goya Awards.

Arevalo, 37, shared the screenplay award Saturday night with David Pulido for co-writing the dark thriller.

While "Fury" took the biggest prize, Juan Antonio Bayona's "A Monster Calls" swept up nine awards, including best director for Bayona and many of the technical awards. The film, which stars Liam Neeson, Felicity Jones and Sigourney Weaver, tells the story of a troubled boy whose nightmares become very real.

Emma Suarez claimed two Goyas, for best actress in Pedro Almodovar's "Julieta" and for best supporting actress in "La Proxima Piel" ("The Next Skin").

Roberto Alamo won best actor for "May God Save Us" while best supporting actor went to Manolo Solo for "The Fury of a Patient Man."

"Timecode," which has been nominated for this year's Oscar Awards, won the Goya for best short film.

Silvia Perez Cruz won best original song for "Ai, ai, ai." The singer concluded her acceptance speech with a moving a cappella lament for those Spaniards who lost their homes during the country's recent economic crisis.

The honors Saturday were not Arevalo's first successes at the Goya Awards. As an actor, Arevalo had also won a Goya in 2010 for best supporting actor for "Gordos."

The annual Goya Awards are Spain's version of the Oscars, honoring excellence in filmmaking for full-length features, shorts, animated films and documentaries. There are two separate categories to honor the best European film and the best Spanish-language film from outside Spain. Members of the Spanish Film Academy are eligible to vote.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull: AP

Australias Prime Minister has ruled out any deal to get the United States to honour an agreement to resettle hundreds of Muslim refugees.

Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull also dismissed a Nine Network television network journalists suggestion that he should be offended that White House spokesman Sean Spicer has repeatedly called him Trumbull in press briefings.

Mr Turnbull said: The important thing is results.

Mr Spicer said US President Donald Trump has agreed to honour an Obama administration deal to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers rejected by Australia. Mr Trump made the agreement during a conversation with Mr Turnbull last weekend, but has since tweeted: I will study this dumb deal!

Mr Turnbull said Mr Trump had asked for nothing in return for resettling the mostly Muslim refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Australia pays the impoverished Pacific countries of Nauru and Papua New Guinea to keep the refugees in camps.

Absolutely not, Mr Turnbull said. Its a deal obviously that President Trump has said he wouldnt have entered into, but he has committed to honour it.

Turnbull said there would be no link between the refugee resettlement and any future US request for military help in the Middle East or the South China Sea.

Australia is one of the largest contributors to the US-led military campaign in Iraq and Syria. Australia has also resisted US pressure to conduct freedom of navigation exercises close to artificial islands created by China in the contested South China Sea.

We assess all requests for military assistance on their merits and there is no linkage at all between an arrangement relating to refugee resettlement and any other matters, Mr Turnbull said.

The Obama administration agreed to resettle Australias refugees after Australia agreed in September last year to accept Costa Rican refugees fleeing drug wars.

AP
A group of school officials, including state Superintendent Tony Evers, is asking lawmakers to address potential staffing shortages in Wisconsin schools by making the way teachers get licensed less complicated.

The Leadership Group on School Staffing Challenges, created by Evers and Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators executive director Jon Bales, released last week a number of proposals to address shortages, including reducing the number of licenses teachers must obtain to be in a classroom.

Under the groups proposal, teachers would seek one license to teach prekindergarten through ninth grade and a second license to teach all grades, subjects and special education.

The group also proposes to consolidate related subject area licenses into single subject licenses. For example, teachers would be licensed in broad areas like science, social studies, music and English Language Arts instead of more specific areas of those subjects.

The proposal also asks out-of-state candidates be granted a teaching license if they hold a license in another state and have passed a nationwide assessment measuring teachers readiness for their jobs known as the edTPA.
Bangladeshi authorities urged the international community Sunday to back a controversial plan to relocate tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to a remote island despite warnings it is uninhabitable.

Foreign Minister A.H. Mahmood Ali called on representatives from 60 diplomatic missions and several United Nations agencies to take "meaningful measures" to relocate the refugees.

The scheme would see the Rohingya resettled on Thengar Char island in the Bay of Bengal, where Ali said the displaced would have "better access to humanitarian assistance".

Some 232,000 Rohingya Muslims -- both registered and unregistered -- were already living in Bangladesh before more than 65,000 others began arriving in October, fleeing violence in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine.

Most of those who fled to Bangladesh live in squalid conditions in refugee camps in Cox's Bazar district, which borders Rakhine state and is home to the country's biggest tourist resort.

Last week, Bangladesh established a committee comprised of state officials in coastal districts to oversee the plan, and ordered authorities to help identify and relocate undocumented Myanmar nationals to the island.

One local official criticised the idea, saying the 6,000-acre (2,430-hectare) island was "only accessible during winter and a haven for pirates".

Bangladesh first mooted the idea of relocating the refugees in 2015 despite allegations that the island was still not ready for human habitation.

\The idea sparked an outcry from Rohingya community leaders, while a UN agency said a forced relocation would be "very complex and controversial".

During Sunday's meeting, Ali told officials the Rohingya would only be relocated to the island after the government finished building the necessary infrastructure, including schools and roads.

"[The minister] requested the... UN and other international partners to render their support in the implementation of this relocation plan by providing assistance in developing the island and in transporting the Myanmar nationals," read a foreign ministry statement, adding that the move was a "temporary arrangement".

Story continues

"Bangladesh would like the international community to take meaningful measures for repatriation of this population to their homes back in Myanmar," the statement said.

Myanmar has long faced international criticism for its treatment of the Rohingya, who are denied citizenship and live in conditions rights groups have compared to apartheid.

Since October the Myanmar army has carried out a military crackdown in the north of Rakhine state that the United Nations has said has likely killed hundreds.
Washington (AFP) - A US appeals court has rejected a government request to immediately reinstate President Donald Trump's controversial immigration ban -- the latest twist in what could be a long, high-stakes legal battle.

Here are the main facts about Trump's executive order and the court action surrounding the case:

- Executive order -

The January 27 decree prohibits entry to all refugees, regardless of nationality, for 120 days, and bars Syrian refugees indefinitely.

It also suspends the issuance of visas for 90 days to migrants or visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

- Federal court action -

On Friday in Seattle, federal Judge James Robart ordered the temporary nationwide suspension of the president's order.

His ruling stands until the court can study a complaint filed by the Washington state attorney general, Bob Ferguson. Critics including Ferguson say the measure unfairly targets Muslims.

Federal judges in several other states -- notably California and New York -- have also ruled against Trump's executive order, and a judge in Boston declined to review it, but Robart's ruling has the greatest sweep.

Trump attacked the judge in a string of fiery Twitter posts on Saturday.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" the president wrote.

- Travel ban lifted... for now -

"Those individuals with visas that were not physically canceled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid," a State Department official said Saturday.

And the Department of Homeland Security, which has authority over border police, said it was reverting to "standard policy and procedure."

- Was the federal ruling unusual? -

Not really. The suspension of Trump's order is reminiscent of the reaction to former president Barack Obama's November 2014 executive order that sought to protect from deportation more than four million undocumented immigrants who had been in the country for at least five years.

Story continues

A federal judge in Texas ruled that Obama had overstepped his powers, and blocked the order's implementation. That decision survived an appeal and reached the Supreme Court. Obama ultimately had to give in on what had been a key measure of his second term.

- The government appeal -

Late Saturday, the Justice Department officially challenged Robart's ruling.

The Trump administration filed an emergency motion with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals saying that suspending the ban was causing "irreparable harm" to the American public.

It also argued that Robart's decision runs afoul of constitutional separation of powers and "second-guesses the president's national security judgment."

The appeals court rejected the request for an emergency stay, and asked both sides to present additional documents by late Monday.

Vice President Mike Pence called the decision "frustrating."

Eventually, the case could go to the Supreme Court.

"It could go very, very fast," said Peter Spiro, a law professor at Temple University in Philadelphia.

- Tech sector challenges Trump -

Dozens of technology giants -- including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter -- filed a joint legal brief in a federal appeals court arguing against the ban.

The sector, which relies heavily on foreign-born labor, overwhelmingly opposed Trump in his bid for the presidency and looks to be headed for more battles with the new administration.

The brief endorsed by 97 companies argued that the executive order had already disrupted the sector and that highly skilled people "will not wish to immigrate to the country if they may be cut off without warning from their spouses, grandparents, relatives and friends."

- Lessons to learn? -

Legal experts said Trump's attack on Robart was unusual.

"It's not exactly contempt of court, but it certainly is contemptuous, and it conveys a lack of respect for the independent judiciary," said Laurence Tribe, a constitutional scholar and Harvard Law professor.

For Spiro, the Temple law professor, Trump made a mistake by mocking Robart as a "so-called judge."

"That's not something that judges like," he said.
Bernie Sanders says he was willing to give President Trump the benefit of the doubt when it came to taking on Wall Street  one issue both populist candidates were in agreement on during the 2016 campaign. But the Vermont senator says Trump hasnt lived up to his part of the bargain.

I have to say this, Sanders told CNNs Jake Tapper on State of the Union Sunday. I dont mean to be disrespectful. This guy is a fraud.

On Friday, Trump took steps to begin dismantling the Dodd-Frank financial regulations that were put into place following the economic crash of 2008.

I have so many people, friends of mine, that have nice businesses  they cant borrow money, Trump told reporters. They just cant get any money, because the banks just wont let them borrow because of the rules and regulations.

This guy ran for president of the United States saying, I, Donald Trump, Im going to take on Wall Street. These guys are getting away with murder,' Sanders said. And then suddenly, he appoints all these billionaires. His major financial adviser comes from Goldman Sachs. And now he is going to dismantle legislation that protects consumers.

Related: Bernie Sanders displays giant Trump tweet on Senate floor

Sanders also criticized Trump for filling his Cabinet with people who have vowed to cut health care.

This is a guy who ran for president saying, Im going  Im the only Republican, Im not going to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,' Sanders said. And then he appoints all of these guys who are precisely going to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Sanders added, I hope that all of those folks who voted for Mr. Trump because he  thought that he would stand up for working people, man, this guy is  you know, hes a good showman. I will give you that. Hes a good TV guy.

Sanders urged Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to stand up to Trumps recent barrage of executive orders.

Story continues

I would hope that people like Sen. McConnell and other Republicans have the courage to stand up to Trumps movement toward authoritarianism, Sanders said. Were a democracy, not a one-man show. We are not another Trump enterprise. Its called the United States of America. Were not a business run by Mr. Trump.

He added, I hope that Sen. McConnell, who is a decent guy, conservative guy  I disagree with him on everything. But I would hope that he and his Republican friends will make it clear to Trump that this country belongs to all of us, and its not a one-man show.

More from Yahoo News:
Bishop Broderick Pabillo, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Manila in the Philippines: Reuters

Sermons at Catholic churches across the Philippines this weekend will denounce President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs for creating a reign of terror among the poor.

Priests will read out a letter signed by the countrys bishops that says killing people is not the answer to trafficking of illegal drugs, voicing concern about the indifference shown by many to the bloodshed.

More than 7,600 deaths have been linked to Mr Dutertes extreme crackdown on drug dealers and users since he became President last June. Around 2,500 of these took place in shootouts during raids and sting operations, police said.

The letter from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said: An additional cause of concern is the reign of terror in many places of the poor, according to Reuters.

Many are killed not because of drugs. Those who kill them are not brought to account.

Both the government and police have strenuously denied that extrajudicial killings have taken place during the campaigns. The Presidents office offered no immediate comment on the bishops letter.

The address, which will begin to be made at Mass services this evening, will not mention Mr Duterte by name, but will urge elected politicians to serve the common good of the people and not their own interests and call for steps to tackle rogue policemen and corrupt judges.

Nearly 80 per cent of the Philippines 100 million people are Catholic and the majority still practise their faith with enthusiasm.

While that support has historically given the Church significant political and social clout, it has been hesitant to criticise the outspoken Presidents current war on drugs.

In interviews last year, more than a dozen clergymen said they were uncertain how to take a stand against the killings given the popular support Mr Dutertes campaign enjoyed. Some said challenging him could be fraught with danger.

But in a recent speech, Broderick Pabillo, the Auxiliary Bishop of Manila, urged Catholics to speak out against the bloodshed.

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Can we now keep our mouths shut when more than 6,000 of our poor people are being killed on the mere pretext of drug trafficking? he said, reported Rappler.

Mr Duterte has routinely attacked the Church. He cursed the Pope for causing traffic snarl-ups during his 2015 visit, and as recently as this week called for a showdown with priests whom he has accused of having wives, engaging in homosexual acts, misusing state funds and molesting children.

In an apparent reference to accusations that many drug pushers and users have been victims of extra-judicial killings, the bishops said in their pastoral letter every person has a right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty and the law should be followed.

We must also give priority to reforming rogue policemen and corrupt judges, the letter said. We also call upon elected politicians to serve the common good of the people and not their own interests.

The bishops letter comes less than a week after Duterte suspended all police operations in the drug crackdown due to what he said was deep-rooted corruption.

He has put an anti-drugs agency in charge of the campaign and says he wants the armed forces to play a supportive role.

Additional reporting from Reuters
HOUSTON (AP)  After a 3 1/2-year absence from the UFC, Chan Sun Jung looked like he never left.

The South Korean featherweight, who left the UFC in 2014 to serve his two-year mandatory military service in his home country, knocked out Dennis Bermudez in the first round at UFC Fight Night 104 Saturday night.

Jung delivered a right uppercut that knocked Bermudez to the ground before delivering multiple right hands that forced referee Herb Dean to stop the fight at 2:49 of the first round.

"I actually was expecting and planning for a five-round decision," Jung said. "But I thought if I can catch the knockout or submission, then even better."

Bermudez delivered the most effective blows early in the first round, stunning Jung temporarily. Two minutes into the fight, he thought he was in control.

"Everything was going my way, I felt," Bermudez said.

Jung is 4-1 in the UFC, with his only loss coming to featherweight champion Jose Aldo in his last fight before his spell in the military on Aug. 3, 2013. Overall, Jung is 14-4 as a professional.

Bermudez was ranked ninth in the featherweight division, and this victory makes Jung feel his goal of featherweight gold is once again in his sights.

"My goal is always to be the champion, and I think this fight has put me back in the game," Jung said.

Bermudez ended a two-fight winning streak but was happy with his performance, saying he felt he improved on his previous showing last August.

It may have been difficult for Bermudez to prepare for Jung, with no recent film to watch. On Thursday, at the pre-fight workouts, Bermudez noted that Jung was in the featherweight division's top-5. He came in expecting to get the South Korean's best.

"I put myself in his shoes," Bermudez said. "If I was away from the sport for three years, man, I would be so thirsty, so hungry to get after it."

In the semi-main event, the previously unbeaten Alexa Grasso lost to veteran Felice Herrig by unanimous decision in a women's strawweight fight. Herrig won her second straight fight.

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This was just Herrig's third fight since the start of 2015, with her last being a victory on July 23, 2016. At 32, Herrig felt she was overlooked with the matchup against the 23-year-old Grasso.

"Sometimes, the veterans in this sport actually get overlooked because we're not these young, up-and-coming fighters that you can market," Herrig said. "It's like we kind of get left behind and forgotten about. I wanted to prove I'm here, and I'm here to stay."

Grasso's unbeaten record come to an end in her second UFC fight.

Texas native James Vick picked up a lightweight win over Abel Trujillo. The Fort Worth native won via submission in the third round with a choke hold. He improved to 10-1 overall and made a request in the octagon to get his next fight in Texas, as well, during the UFC's event in Dallas on May 13.

"I'm like a little kid right now. I'm so happy," Vick said. "This is my state. I love to fight here."

At 6-foot-3, Vick is tall for the lightweight division. He thinks others in the division think they can wrestle him to the ground, but he proved on Saturday that is not the case.

"I knew that it was going to present itself because I knew he was going to try to wrestle me," Vick said of the choke. "I don't know why they think I can't wrestle."
Los Angeles (AFP) - US filmmaker Damien Chazelle's bid for Oscars glory was boosted as he took top prize at the Directors Guild of America honors -- a key predictor for the Academy Awards.

Chazelle was crowned best director for his dreamy tribute to the heyday of Hollywood musicals, "La La Land," three weeks ahead of the glittering culmination of Hollywood's annual awards season.

The 32-year-old has already scooped two Golden Globes for directing and writing "La La Land," a sumptuous throwback to the halcyon days of Old Hollywood.

A darling of this awards season, his movie has amassed a record seven Globes and 14 nominations for the Oscars, including for best picture, best director and for its two stars, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.

"Movies are powerful because they speak to everyone. They speak to all countries, all cultures," Chazelle, whose father is French-American, told fellow filmmakers at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

A feature of speeches during the awards season has been criticism or mocking of US President Donald Trump, and the DGAs were no different.

Chazelle berated the Republican for his travel ban on nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries -- put on hold for now by a federal judge -- which would stop filmmakers like Oscar-nominated Iranian Asghar Farhadi attending the Academy Awards.

"That's the most beautiful idea of all -- that art can make someone anywhere in the world feel like they are a bit bigger than they ever imagined," Chazelle added.

The director edged out Kenneth Lonergan, nominated for visceral family drama "Manchester by the Sea" -- another film seen as top contender for Oscar glory on February 26.

"Manchester" was nominated for five Golden Globes in January but only ended up taking home the best actor prize for Casey Affleck.

- Vision -

The DGA awards are seen as a reliable bellwether of Academy Awards success, particularly for the best director prize, as 12 of the last 13 winners went on to win the Oscar for best director.

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Presenters at Saturday's star-studded event for 1,600 guests included Affleck, Gosling, Stone, Michael Fassbender, Nicole Kidman and Alejandro G. Inarritu, who won the top prize at the last two ceremonies.

The other nominees for best director were Barry Jenkins for coming-of-age story "Moonlight," Denis Villeneuve for alien visitation movie "Arrival," and Garth Davis, for adoption drama "Lion."

Davis walked away with a medallion for best first-time feature, and thanked his cast -- including Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel -- for their courage.

"There's no doubt as a director I was lucky I was gifted with such a magnificent cast and beautiful story," he said, dedicating the award to the movie's child actors.

A native of Rhode Island, Chazelle was inspired at a very young age by Edward Zwick's epic civil war film "Glory" (1989), and had always planned to become a filmmaker but took up jazz drumming in high school.

His experiences were the inspiration for his darkly comic "Whiplash" (2014) -- the intense story of the stormy relationship between a bullying teacher and his jazz drumming student.

"His dream can produce enough energy to power the state of Ohio for 11 days and he invented the color burnt umber," Gosling joked before adding that Chazelle has "great vision, unbridled creativity and is a real collaborator."

Veteran British director and producer Ridley Scott was presented with a lifetime achievement award by fellow filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who credited him with enabling "a transformation in our visual culture."

"No experience is ever wasted. You grow a little each time. If you don't, you're a fool," the 79-year-old "Alien" director said.

"Try not to punch people -- I've come close quite a few times," he advised aspiring directors.
Chinese officials warned the U.S. against "instability" in the region after Defense Secretary James Mattis said during a press conference Friday that Washington would protect the disputed Senkaku Islands controlled by Japan in the East China Sea. Recognized as the Diaoyu Islands by China and the Senkaku Islands by Japan, the territory holds important resources and a favorable location in the Asia-Pacific region.

Despite its official ownership by Japan, China has insisted that it reserves the rights to the area. We urge the U.S. side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu Islands sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation, said Lu Kang, China's foreign ministry spokesman, according to media reports Sunday. "The Diaoyu Island and its adjacent islets have been an inherent part of Chinese territory since ancient times, which is a unchangeable historical fact."

Kangs statements followed President Donald Trumps defense secretarys two-day visit in Tokyo. Mattis said during his visit that the U.S. would continue its obligation to Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, which requires the U.S. to defend territories under Japanese authority.

"I want to make certain that Article 5 of our mutual defense treaty is understood to be as real to us today as it was a year ago, five years ago - and as it will be a year, and 10 years, from now," Mattis said to Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

He added:  I want there to be no misunderstanding during the transition in Washington that we stand firmly, 100 percent shoulder-to-shoulder with you and the Japanese people.

The uninhabited group of islands located between China and Japan in the South China Sea has been disputed by both nations for the past few decades. Following the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan established between the two countries after World War II, the U.S. agreed to defend Japan if any of their territories were under attack in exchange for military bases in their country.

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"The U.S.-Japan alliance is critical to ensuring that this region remains safe and secure  not just now, but for years to come," Mattis said.

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London (AFP) - Dressed in bright colours and wearing shiny red noses, dozens of clowns gathered in London on Sunday to celebrate the life of the art form's founding father.

Bold make-up, bowler hats and oversized bow ties were on show at All Saints church in east London, as entertainers gathered for an annual memorial service for Joseph Grimaldi who died in 1837.

Men, women and children -- including a baby in full clown attire -- squeezed into church pews to sing hymns and read a prayer dedicated to the profession.

The service was first held in 1946 at the now-demolished St James' church, Pentonville, in London's northern borough of Islington where Grimaldi is buried.

He is credited with creating modern clowning, with famous songs such as "Hot Codlins" which describes an old lady who sold roast apples and "drank too much gin" according to Islington council.

"(Grimaldi) revolutionised pantomime stories, introducing fairy tales, nursery rhymes and the pantomime dame, as well as the tradition of audience participation," the local authority said online.

He has also won praise from London's Victoria and Albert Museum, which boasts a theatre and performance section among its collections.

"Grimaldi's physical comedy was extraordinary, as was his ability to invent visual tricks and buffoonery... no one achieved the same legendary status as Grimaldi," the museum wrote online.
Brussels (AFP) - Tears flowed Sunday as thousands of members of the Congolese diaspora paid their emotional last respects to opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, known affectionately as "papa", who died in Brussels last week.

After a three-day funeral wake, Tshisekedi's coffin was put on display for several hours in a large hall made available by city authorities, near the famous Atomium tourist attraction, AFP journalists said.

Many waited in line for hours to get in and bow their heads in front of the casket, surrounded by wreaths of flowers and pictures of Tshisekedi, sporting his ever-present beret.

They came from across Belgium but also travelled from France, Britain and Germany, to pay a final tribute to "Tshishi", as his supporters called him.

"He is dead but his spirit remains among us. We will keep his heritage alive," one man told the crowd through a microphone, drawing applause in a hall filled with a festive atmosphere and many tearful eyes.

"He is our icon," added Armand Moke, who came from Dortmund in Germany. "He is a man who fought for some 30 years to establish democracy in our country."

- 'Who will replace him?' -

Pelagie, 50 and from Antwerp in northern Belgium where she has lived for 10 years, added: "We have lost a real papa.

"He is a hero. What he did for Congo, nobody can do," she said, without hiding her concern. "Who is going to replace him?"

Tshisekedi died on Wednesday, having left the Democratic Republic of Congo eight days earlier for medical care abroad.

His death has plunged the vast African country further into uncertainty. He played a key role in negotiations aimed at peacefully resolving the political crisis triggered by President Joseph Kabila's refusal to leave power.

Kabila's mandate ended on December 20 but he has vowed to remain in office until elections can be held to choose a successor.

Tshisekedi became a dissident in 1979-1980 when he denounced the arbitrary rule of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, whom he had supported in gaining power after the country's independence from Belgium in 1960.

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He then led opposition to Laurent Kabila, who took office by force in 1997, followed by his son Joseph who became president after his father's assassination in 2001.

Beaten in 2011 elections tainted by massive irregularities, Tshisekedi refused to recognise Kabila's legitimacy to the very last.

"We invested a lot of hope in dialogue," said Jean-Pierre Mukendi, a Congolese who has been a priest in the Brabant Wallon region of central Belgium for 17 years.

"We told ourselves that we were nearly at the end of the tunnel," he said, while adding: "We are going through a time of uncertainty, but we remain hopeful."

DRCongo authorities have said they want to hold a funeral ceremony "befitting a former prime minister for Tshisekedi," although it is not yet known when his body will be transferred back to his homeland.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Rebuffed in its bid for a quick reversal, the White House said Sunday it expected the courts to reaffirm President Donald Trump's executive power and reinstate a ban on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.

The case promised to extend into Monday at least, when fresh legal filings were due, and observers had no doubt the Supreme Court ultimately will have a say.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a brief order overnight, denied the administration's request to set aside a Seattle judge's ruling that put a temporary hold on the ban nationwide.

The lawsuit by Washington state and Minnesota said Trump's order harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination. Their lawyers had until 2:59 a.m. EST Monday to submit briefs opposing the government's request. The Justice Department then had a 6 p.m. EST deadline to respond.

"We'll accomplish the stay and will win the case on the merits," Vice President Mike Pence said.

Members of Trump's Republican Party scolded him for Twitter attacks on U.S. District Court Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, and accused Trump of stepping over the line that separates the executive from the judiciary. To Trump, Robart is a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling "will be overturned."

Trump renewed his Twitter attacks against Robart on Sunday. "Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!"

He followed with another tweet saying he had instructed the Homeland Security Department to check people coming into the country but that "the courts are making the job very difficult!"

Vice President Mike Pence defended Trump, saying "the president can criticize anybody he wants." Pence added that he believes the American people "find it very refreshing that they not only understand this president's mind, but they understand how he feels about things."

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At issue is the legality of a presidential action undertaken in the name of national security. Whatever the outcome and however the case drags on, a president who was used to getting his way in private business is finding, weeks in to the jobs, obstacles to quickly fulfilling one of his chief campaign pledges.

"The president is not a dictator," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. "He is the chief executive of our country. And there is a tension between the branches of government."

The government had told the appeals court that the president alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the United States, an assertion that appeared to invoke the wider battle to come over illegal immigration.

Congress "vests complete discretion" in the president to impose conditions on entry of foreigners to the United States, and that power is "largely immune from judicial control," according to the court filing.

"We don't appoint judges to our district courts to conduct foreign policy or to make decisions about the national security," Pence said.

Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, predicted the appeals court would not have the last word. "I have no doubt that it will go to the Supreme Court, and probably some judgments will be made whether this president has exceed his authority or not," she said.

In his ruling, Robart said it was not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches," but to make sure that an action taken by the government "comports with our country's laws."

Trump's order applied to Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen  Muslim-majority countries that the administration said raise terrorism concerns. The order had caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompted protests across the United States and led to multiple court challenges.

Trump's criticism of Robart echoed campaign comments against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University. Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for Trump's words as the travel ban case makes it way through the courts.

"We all get disappointed from time to time at the outcome in courts on things that we care about," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "But I think it is best to avoid criticizing judges individually."

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., was blunter: "We don't have so-called judges. We don't have so-called senators. We don't have so-called presidents. We have people from three different branches of government who take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution."

The State Department said last week that as many as 60,000 foreigners from those seven countries had had their visas canceled. After Robart's decision, the department reversed course and said they could travel to the U.S. if they had a valid visa.

The department also advised refugee aid agencies that refugees set to travel before Trump signed his order would now be allowed in.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trump's order from boarding U.S.-bound planes. The agency said it had "suspended any and all actions" related to putting in place Trump's order.

Pence appeared on ABC's "This Week," CBS' "Face the Nation," NBC's "Meet the Press" and "Fox News Sunday. McConnell was on CNN, Feinstein spoke on Fox and Sasse was interviewed by ABC.
By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - The governor of Colorado said on Sunday he believes the Cuban government wants to further improve relations with the United States under President Donald Trump, as he wrapped up a three-day visit to the Communist-run island nation. They seemed eager for the chance to build a relationship with President Trump and have it be a constructive one, Governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said of his meeting with Cubas point person for U.S. relations, Josefina Vidal. He said in an interview that Vidal, director of U.S. affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry, and other foreign ministry officials were cautiously optimistic." "They realize they have to wait and that the new administration has a lot of things going on. They understand things could change in some ways, but I didnt sense there was any fear or some sort of depression," the governor said. Hickenlooper, who traveled with a cultural and business delegation, was the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to meet with Vidal since Trump assumed office last month. Trump has said he wanted a better deal than that brokered by his predecessor, Barack Obama. On Friday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said a full review of Americas foreign policy toward Cuba was underway. Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro stunned the world in December 2014 when they announced the two governments would restore diplomatic ties after more than 50 years of Cold War hostilities and work to normalize relations. The Colorado governor said the purpose of his trip was to view post-Fidel Castro Cuba and invite the country to his states Biennial of the Americas, which brings together the cultures, businesses and ideas of North and South America. Hickenlooper said the Cubans had enthusiastically accepted the invitation to attend the event in September. Hickenlooper said he did not doubt many innocent people were hurt during the early years of the Revolution, but most of those involved had passed away. The younger people seem eager to build a relationship with the United States, he said. The governor, a former entrepreneur and restaurant owner, spent a day meeting with small business owners and said he had visited five private eateries. I was surprised. One has this vision of everyone being downtrodden, and there was so much optimism and positive energy, he said. Some of the business people did say if you see President Trump please tell him to let us keep the beginnings of this new inspiration, he said. (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
KABUL (Reuters) - Dozens of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan were killed after heavy snow and avalanches hit over the weekend. In eastern Afghanistan, at least 50 people died and dozens more were missing on Sunday after an avalanche buried a village in Nuristan, provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayum said. "Based on information from district officials, 50 dead bodies have been recovered and the number may increase," he said. At least five other deaths from collapsed roofs were reported elsewhere in Nuristan. In the northern province of Badakhshan, over the past two days as many as 19 people were killed and 17 injured by avalanches, collapsed roofs and road accidents, said Naweed Frotan, a spokesman for the provincial governor. The government was working to reach at least 12 districts in Badakhshan that had been completely cut off, he said. Heavy snow also blanketed the Afghan capital of Kabul, where the government closed its offices on Sunday. In neighbouring Pakistan, at least nine people, including children, were killed by an avalanche in the northern Chitral district, with as many as 14 residents believed to still be trapped in collapsed houses, district official Syed Maghferat Shah said. "So far the rescue workers have recovered nine bodies and efforts are under way to retrieve more," he said. The avalanche struck a village of 25 houses, but evacuation operations were delayed by the weather, Chitral Deputy Commissioner Shahab Hameed Yousafzai. "There is no way to rush the injured persons to Chitral hospital because all roads in the valley have been blocked due to heavy snowfall," he said. In a separate incident in the Chitral region, a government rescue worker was killed when an avalanche struck a check post near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the commanding officer told Reuters. The snow wreaked havoc on major roads in Afghanistan, including the Kabul-Kandahar Highway, where police and soldiers had to rescue around 250 cars and buses trapped by the storm, said Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for Ghazni province, where as much as two metres of new snow was reported. "Fortunately we arrived on time and there is not a single casualty," he said, noting that officials expected the road to reopen quickly. The Salang pass north of Kabul was also closed under as much as two and a half metres of snow, according to police general Rajab Salangi, who oversees the area. "It will remain blocked until the snow is cleared from the main road, facilities are provided and it is safe to travel, he said. (Reporting by Mirwais Harooni in Kabul. Jibran Ahmad and Gul Hamad Farooqi reported from Pakistan; writing by Josh Smith; editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jason Neely)
KABUL (Reuters) - Dozens of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan were killed after heavy snow and avalanches hit over the weekend. In eastern Afghanistan, at least 50 people died and dozens more were missing on Sunday after an avalanche buried a village in Nuristan, provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayum said. "Based on information from district officials, 50 dead bodies have been recovered and the number may increase," he said. At least five other deaths from collapsed roofs were reported elsewhere in Nuristan. In the northern province of Badakhshan, over the past two days as many as 19 people were killed and 17 injured by avalanches, collapsed roofs and road accidents, said Naweed Frotan, a spokesman for the provincial governor. The government was working to reach at least 12 districts in Badakhshan that had been completely cut off, he said. Heavy snow also blanketed the Afghan capital of Kabul, where the government closed its offices on Sunday. In neighboring Pakistan, at least nine people, including children, were killed by an avalanche in the northern Chitral district, with as many as 14 residents believed to still be trapped in collapsed houses, district official Syed Maghferat Shah said. "So far the rescue workers have recovered nine bodies and efforts are under way to retrieve more," he said. The avalanche struck a village of 25 houses, but evacuation operations were delayed by the weather, Chitral Deputy Commissioner Shahab Hameed Yousafzai. "There is no way to rush the injured persons to Chitral hospital because all roads in the valley have been blocked due to heavy snowfall," he said. In a separate incident in the Chitral region, a government rescue worker was killed when an avalanche struck a check post near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the commanding officer told Reuters. The snow wreaked havoc on major roads in Afghanistan, including the Kabul-Kandahar Highway, where police and soldiers had to rescue around 250 cars and buses trapped by the storm, said Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for Ghazni province, where as much as two meters of new snow was reported. "Fortunately we arrived on time and there is not a single casualty," he said, noting that officials expected the road to reopen quickly. The Salang pass north of Kabul was also closed under as much as two and a half meters of snow, according to police general Rajab Salangi, who oversees the area. "It will remain blocked until the snow is cleared from the main road, facilities are provided and it is safe to travel, he said. (Reporting by Mirwais Harooni in Kabul. Jibran Ahmad and Gul Hamad Farooqi reported from Pakistan; writing by Josh Smith; editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jason Neely)
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday that peace negotiations with Maoist-led rebels would be scrapped, five months after both sides resumed talks to end nearly five decades of conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people. Duterte called off a unilateral ceasefire on Friday, two days after the New People's Army (NPA) did the same. He was incensed by the killings and abduction of government troops since the NPA lifted the ceasefire. The tough-talking Duterte said the communist leaders who his government had freed temporarily to take part in peace negotiations overseas would go back to jail. "I will request tomorrow the Philippine contingent to fold their tents and come home," Duterte told reporters. However, he suggested the door was not closed completely. They would stop "unless there's a compelling reason ... that will benefit the interest of the nation", he said. Negotiators from both sides met in Rome to come up with a negotiated truce but failed when the rebels demanded the release of 400 more political prisoners, including a man who killed an American army colonel in 1989. They will return to The Netherlands in three weeks to resume talks on political, social and economic reforms, including terms of a bilateral truce. The New People's Army ended its unilateral truce, accusing the military of violating its own ceasefire by occupying restricted areas. The ceasefires were fragile due to a lack of agreed rules. The military, the NPA and government negotiators were hoping peace talks could resume, but Duterte's latest comments suggest he has lost patience with a process he had made a top priority. Duterte on Friday ordered the army to hunt down the guerrillas and accused the communists of negotiating in bad faith. He accused them of continuing to recruit fighters, attack businesses and extort money from owners of plantations, mines, and transport companies. Organised in 1969 as a ragtag army, the NPA has been waging protracted warfare to overthrow democratically-elected governments. At its peak, the NPA had 25,000 armed fighters, but now has about 3,000. (Reporting by Manuel Mogato, editing by Louise Heavens)
Washington (AFP) - Starbucks promises to hire 10,000 refugees? President Donald Trump's supporters call for a boycott. Uber allegedly takes advantage of the president's anti-immigration decree to drum up business? Users unsubscribe from the app en masse.

Trump's election has laid bare the deep divisions of American society, a discord that has forced many businesses to walk a fine line to avoid alienating consumers.

"Companies that were working very hard to stay neutral no longer can," says brand expert Bruce Turkel. "The biggest problem is anything they say can be misinterpreted."

Sportswear manufacturer New Balance, for instance, found itself embroiled in controversy after its CEO Matt LeBretton voiced optimism following the election.

"We feel things are going to move in the right direction," he said in an interview, prompting outrage on Twitter, where users called for a massive boycott of the sneaker company, forcing the brand into damage control.

"From the people who make our shoes to the people who wear them, we believe in acting with the utmost integrity and we welcome all walks of life," the company said.

Beverage giant PepsiCo faced similar backlash from the opposite camp. Two days after the election, the company's CEO Indra Nooyi said her employees "were all in mourning."

"And the question that they're asking, especially those who are not white: Are we safe?" she said.

The retaliation came instantly: "It's probably a good time to pass on the Pepsi products," the conservative site The Gateway Pundit wrote.

- 'No margin in the middle' -

Calls for boycotts often proliferate on internet forums such as Reddit and 4Chan, as well as social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Others originate from more structured protests.

The Grab Your Wallet site, launched in October, lists companies suspected of favoring Trump, either because their leaders contributed to the real estate billionaire's campaign or because they do business with the Trump family.

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The long "boycott" list includes the department store Macy's, retail giant Walmart and beer brand Yuengling.

"Brands have always been political, but now consumers can see more of this activity and are making decisions based on this information," the site's cofounder Shannon Coulter says.

The impact of boycott campaigns is difficult to evaluate, however, because calls to blacklist specific companies tend to get lost in the frenzy of social media.

"Consumers have an incredibly short memory," marketing expert Merry Carole Powers says.

Still, some companies fear losing customers by staying silent. Nordstrom, a chain of department stores, recently announced it would drop the Ivanka Trump clothing line belonging to the president's eldest daughter.

"There's no margin in the middle," says Turkel, who recently wrote the book "All About Them," focused on company branding. "If you stay quiet, you get nothing out of it."

"You have to figure out who your audience is and what are their values."

- Super Bowl stakes -

Uber appears to be playing by ear as it devises its strategy.

The company first distanced itself from Trump's executive order temporarily barring refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

But it then came under fire for allegedly taking advantage of a New York taxi driver protest against the ban, prompting a wave of unsubscriptions. As taxi drivers went on strike refusing to pick up passengers at JFK airport, Uber not only continued to operate but also dropped its surge pricing.

Rival Lyft was quick to set itself apart, vowing to donate $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed lawsuits against Trump's measures.

The strategy paid off with the Lyft app notching more iPhone downloads than Uber for the first time.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick then attempted to make amends by quitting Trump's business advisory group, saying "the executive order is hurting many people in communities all across America."

And with the approach of the Super Bowl -- one of the advertising world's central events -- every marketing move is facing microscopic scrutiny.

The beer giant Budweiser is slated to air an immigration-themed advertisement focused on the difficulties the brand's German founder faced when he arrived in the United States in the 19th century.

South of the border, consumer trends are less divided.

In Mexico, the campaign "Consumers, the cry of war" is urging people to boycott all American brands in protest against Trump's anti-Mexican threats.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP)  Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has returned to practicing law.

The Virginian-Pilot reports (http://bit.ly/2kALZuT ) that within the past couple of weeks the former governor rejoined the Virginia Beach law firm of Poole, Brooke and Plumlee. McDonnell previously worked at the firm for over a decade.

In 2014, McDonnell and his wife Maureen were convicted of public corruption. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned the conviction in June.

McDonnell's law license was suspended after the conviction, but he said he intended to get it back when the high court ruled in his favor. The Virginian-Pilot reports the Virginia State Bar lists him as an active member.

McDonnell, a Republican, also began teaching a government course at Virginia Beach's Regent University in January.

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Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com
Will Ryan Gosling be flying solo at the Academy Awards?

ET's Denny Directo caught up with the La La Land star at the 32nd Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Friday, where he revealed whether his longtime love, Eva Mendes, would be joining him at the Oscars.

WATCH: Ryan Gosling Thanks 'Sweetheart' Eva Mendes and Honors Her Late Brother in Emotional Golden Globes Speech

"Oh, I'm not sure," said Gosling, who is nominated for Best Actor for his role in the modern musical. "It's still a little while away."

The father of two and his co-star Emma Stone were also honored with the Outstanding Performers of the Year Award at SBIFF, and during a panel inside, he shared that Mendes came up with one of La La Land's most memorable lines.

"'LA worships everything and values nothing.' That was something my lady said to me one day and I thought it was so funny I asked her if I could put it in the movie," Gosling explained. "She was kidding, but it's a funny thing to say... I loved when she said it, because it's funny enough to have some truth to it, you know? But it's obviously a joke, so it just seemed appropriate for the movie."

Whether or not Mendes makes it to the Oscars, Gosling is sure to have a good time. The 37-year-old actor revealed that after a long awards season, he's still not tired of Stone or director Damien Chazelle.

"The temptation is to say something sarcastic, but the truth is we feel so lucky to have made the film, and that was reward enough," Gosling shared. "The fact that people are receiving it the way they are is so unexpected. All of it has been a really nice surprise."

WATCH: Emma Stone Reveals the One Thing Fans Don't Know About Ryan Gosling

ET also spoke with Stone and Chazelle, who also marveled at the musical's success.

"What a trip," Stone said, while Chazelle said he's already been asked to adapt the musical for Broadway. "I haven't given it much thought, but certainly maybe one day in the future. Never say never."

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And while Gosling could easily reprise his role on stage, he said getting his dance moves up to speed was harder than it looked.

"[My dance skills] were rough! They were rusty," he joked. "I had danced as a kid but that was a long time ago and 90s hip hop is a little different then tap and you know the shim shamwaltzing."

Something else that could have used a little more work was the wax figure unveiled of Gosling at the Madame Tussauds in Berlin, Germany. See the creepy wax figure in the video below.

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James Robart, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, rose to sudden fame after being slammed by President Donald Trump for issuing a temporary nationwide block to his administration's travel ban on seven Muslim-majority nations.

Although Trump vowed in a series of furious tweets Saturday that the "so-called judge" Robarts decision would be overturned, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Sunday morning denied the Justice Departments initial request for an immediate stay to Robart's temporary restraining order on the travel ban.

Robart, a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, is relatively apolitical, according to Douglas Adkins, Robarts childhood friend.

Hes not a conservative or a liberal. Hes a man interested in the law and fairness, Adkin, an investor and a former investment banker, told the Guardian, adding that Robart and his wife have no children but have been foster parents to several Southeast Asian immigrant children.

Robart, who occasionally accessorizes his black robes with bow ties, was appointed to the bench in 2004 by the then-president George W. Bush, after spending 30 years in private practice at the law firm now known as Lane Powell. According to excerpts from his official biography on the federal court website, Robart served as the president of the Seattle Childrens Home and was also a former trustee of the Childrens Home Society of Washington.

His involvement with children may have helped contribute to his understanding of the people impacted by this ruling but would not have shaped his interpretation of the rule of law, Paul Lawrence, an attorney who filed a legal petition backing Washington State in the immigration case, said.

According to transcripts of the testimony given by him during his confirmation hearings, Robart remembered giving pro-bono legal services to people who in many times felt that the legal system was stacked against them while adding that he felt that the law could be, if properly used, an opportunity for them to seek redress if they had been wronged.

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In 2016, Robart used the phrase black lives matter during a case regarding several allegations leveled at the Seattle police department which included the use of excessive force and police bias. Prior to that, in 2011, he put a halt to a change in state rules that would cut government funding for disabled children and families in Washington.

When faced with a conflict between the financial and budgetary concerns and the preventable human suffering, the balance of hardships tips in the favor of preventing human suffering. Robart wrote in an opinion, according to Reuters.

Adkins believes that Robart would not be fazed by Donald Trumps rant.

His view is that criticism is important, Adkins reportedly said.

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The FCC is dropping an inquiry into whether free data plans offered by AT&T and Verizon violated net neutrality rules, a signal that the agency under new chairman Ajit Pai will take a much friendlier view of such offerings than his predecessor.

In a statement, Pai said that the plans have proven to be popular among consumers, particularly low-income Americans, and have enhanced competition in the wireless marketplace. Going forward, the Federal Communications Commission will not focus on denying Americans free data.

Public interest groups have sounded the alarm over free data, or so-called zero-rating plans, offered by wireless firms in which subscribers can stream certain affiliated content without having it count against their data caps. Critics have said that such plans stand to violate the spirit of net neutrality rules, as it may give an unfair advantage to some video services over others.

The current rules are based on the idea that all internet traffic should be treated equally, and they prohibit internet providers from selling to content companies so-called fast lanes to give them speedier access to the consumer. But the question of whether a mobile firms offering of zero rating plans  now becoming more commonplace  was left to the FCC to consider on a case-by-case basis.

In the case of AT&T, its mobility service offers a data free TV feature that allows its subscribers to view unlimited DirecTV and DirecTV Now content with no impact to their monthly mobile data allotment. DirecTV is a subsidiary of AT&T.

But the acting chief of the FCCs Wireless Bureau informed the companies on Friday that they were closing the inquires, and will take no further action.

They also are rescinding a policy review report that was made public on Jan. 11, just weeks before Pais predecessor, Tom Wheeler, departed the FCC.

That report concluded that AT&Ts DirecTV zero-rating offering had a potentially anticompetitive impact. The Wireless Bureau then cited the fact that unaffiliated companies of AT&Ts conduct are based in part, but not entirely, on the fact that unaffiliated mobile video service providers must pay a significant, clearly identifiable amount of money to offer zero rated content on the mobile platform.

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The Wireless Bureau didnt have as much concern over Verizons offering of a data plan called FreeBee Data 360, but wrote that there was the same potential for discriminatory conduct in favor of affiliated services, and its competitive impacts in the short-form portion of the market exist today.

The report also concluded that sponsored data offerings by vertically integrated mobile broadband providers may harm consumers and competition in downstream industry sectors by unreasonably discriminating in favor of select downstream providers, especially their own affiliates.

The move to close the inquiry is not much of a surprise: Pai has been critical of Wheelers probe of zero rating services, and of the FCCs approach to net neutrality in general.

Joan Marsh, AT&Ts senior vice president of federal regulatory, said in a statement that the FCCs decision to close the matter is a win for the millions of consumers who are reaping the benefits of services made available through free data programs. Were pleased that these innovative products will be able to continue to flourish in the marketplace.

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On February 5, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt shocked America by introducing a plan to expand the Supreme Court, to gain favorable votes. FDRs war on the court was short-lived, and it was defeated by a crafty chief justice and Roosevelts own party members.

Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes

President Roosevelt had enacted wide-ranging legislation along with congressional Democrats as part of his New Deal program, starting in 1933.

By 1937, Roosevelt had won a second term in office, but the makeup of a conservative-leaning Supreme Court hadnt changed since he took office four years earlier. There were four justices who were conservative enough that their votes against most New Deal plans were expected. A fifth justice with conservative leanings was the chief justice, Charles Evans Hughes, who also narrowly lost the 1916 presidential race to the Democratic incumbent, President Woodrow Wilson.

However, Hughes also had roots in the progressive wing of the Republican party. Another justice, Owen Roberts, was a Hoover appointee who also voted with the conservatives on some decisions.

Adding to the tension between the president and the Supreme Court were a series of decisions by the justices that halted some key components of the New Deal. After his re-election, Roosevelt developed his plan in secrecy, working with his attorney general, Homer Cummings, on a way to ensure the court would rule favorably about upcoming cases on Social Security and the National Labor Relations Act.

By passing a law that would allow the president to appoint an additional Supreme Court justice for every sitting justice who was over 70 years of age, Roosevelt could add six of his own justices to the court.With two liberals already on the bench, that would put the odds in FDRs favor.

While the idea may seem outlandish today, President Roosevelt must have felt the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 stood a good chance of success. The President used one of his fireside chats in March 1937 to make his case to the American people.

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This plan of mine is not attacking of the court; it seeks to restore the court to its rightful and historic place in our system of constitutional government and to have it resume its high task of building anew on the Constitution a system of living law. The court itself can best undo what the court has done, Roosevelt said.

However, many Americans believed the high court was sacrosanct, and opposition to the plan steadily built inside Washington. It wasnt assured that the proposed law would even make it out of committee for a vote on the Senate floor.

On March 10, Cummings testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. We want an independent judiciary, but we want a judiciary that will permit the country to move, Cumming said. A week later, more testimony before the committee stuck a fork in the bill.

Senator Burton Wheeler read a letter from Chief Justice Hughes to the committee, which explained the need for an independent Supreme Court and debunked much of the logic behind the bill and Cummings testimony. An additional signer on the Hughes letter was the liberal justice, Louis Brandeis.

In the diaries of Harold Ickes, a key FDR adviser, the letters effect was duly noted. This letter, without expressing itself as to the policy of the presidents plan, sought to prove in great detail that the court did not need any extra help to handle its work since it kept right up with its docket. It then went on to congress the opinion that more judges would make for inefficiency and delay. It was good tactics, Ickes said.

So within five weeks of the presidents announcement, the court-packing plan, as it came to be known, was heading toward a dead end in the Senate. By June 1937, the Judiciary Committee had sent a report with a negative recommendation to the full Senate. The bill is an invasion of judicial power such as has never before been attempted in this country. It is essential to the continuance of our constitutional democracy that the judiciary be completely independent of both the executive and legislative branches of the government, the report read.

Its conclusion was even more direct: It is a measure which should be so emphatically rejected that its parallel will never again be presented to the free representatives of the free people of America.

In the meantime, changes were afoot that made sure the whole idea of a court-packing plan wasnt coming back in the Roosevelt administration. The Roosevelt administration was on the winning side of three court decisions involving the minimum wage, Social Security, and the National Labor Relations Act, when Justice Owen Roberts began voting with more liberal justices.

A key conservative justice, Willis Van Devanter, also decided to retire. And by July 1937, the Senate tabled the court-packing debate for good. Its chief lobbyist in the Senate, Majority Leader Joe Robinson, died of a heart attack. Robinson had fought hard to ensure passage of the court-packing bill, and without his support, the measure was effectively finished.

In the end, President Roosevelt outlasted seven of the nine justices who sat on the bench in 1937.
The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has let a temporary ban on President Trumps immigration executive order stay in place until it can consider detailed arguments from the administration, Washington state and Minnesota early next week.

In a brief order issued early on Sunday, two federal appeals judges asked for more details from the attorneys for Washington state and Minnesota by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, while paperwork from the Trump administration by 3:00 p.m. PST on Monday.

Link: Read The Order

Once the arguments are received, a three-judge appeals panel will likely move quickly to consider extending the temporary ban, or taking another action. Ultimately, legal experts expect that the case could wind up at the Supreme Court in relatively short order.

On Saturday night, the Trump administration appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals after a federal judge in Washington state put the temporary restraining order in place on the implementation of President Trumps executive order. For now, the injunction lets refugees, valid visa holders and green-card holders from seven predominantly Muslim Middle East countries resume travel to the United States under conditions regulated by the federal government.

Related Story: Lyle Denniston explains the legal arguments

The appeal from Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco argues that District Court Judge James Robarts order on Friday conflicted with basic constitutional ideals. The injunction contravenes the constitutional separation of powers; harms the public by thwarting enforcement of an Executive Order issued by the nations elected representative responsible for immigration matters and foreign affairs; and second-guesses the Presidents national security judgment about the quantum of risk posed by the admission of certain classes of aliens and the best means of minimizing that risk, Francisco argues.

In his ruling, Robart said Washington state and Minnesota had met their burdens of the likelihood of success on the merits of their claims and other factors, and that a temporary restraining order was justified.

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Robart cited the narrowness of the questions before him and that his court must intervene to fulfill its constitutional role in our tripart government.

Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.

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New York (AFP) - For Sudanese doctor Kamal Fadlalla, 33, the nightmare ended on Sunday -- he was reunited with ecstatic friends and colleagues a week after being barred from returning to his patients in New York.

The Brooklyn medical resident had been at home on holiday in Sudan when he heard that President Donald Trump was planning to ban visa holders from his homeland and six other predominantly Muslim countries from re-entering the country.

He frantically re-booked his flight to return earlier, but was not quick enough. Last weekend he had been in a queue to board a plane, but was pulled out and told he would not be allowed to fly.

He stayed in Sudan while friends, supporters and lawyers in New York worked out how to get him in as quickly as possible. After a federal judge in Seattle suspended the ban on Friday, he took a flight on Saturday.

"He's here!" said friend and fellow doctor Osama Mukhtar, whose young son ran ahead to greet Fadlalla with a hug in the arrivals hall of Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

"It feels great," said Fadlalla, dressed in a teal jersey and checked shirt, looking remarkably relaxed after an overnight flight from Dubai.

"It was a tough week actually, but finally," he said of making it home.

Excited shrieks and whoops erupted from a group of doctors and well-wishers, who turned out in white doctors' coats to greet him.

"Welcome home," shouted one of them. There were sighs as Fadlalla scooped Mukhtar's son into his arms.

Fadlalla, who is from the Sudanese city of Madani, said the first thing he wanted to do was call his mom and sister to reassure them that everything was fine.

"It was really horrible, it was shocking," he said, when asked what he thought about the ban that had blocked visa holders from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for at least 90 days.

- 'Great country' -

"Justice is justice, the law is the law, it's a great country," he said, looking forward to getting back to work as soon as possible and seeing his patients again. "I'll be happy to see all of them."

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New York's public advocate Letitia James, a Democrat, was one of those who came out to greet him.

"I believe in freedom and I believe in individual liberties and I believe this doctor, who has done much for central Brooklyn, needs to be celebrated and he needs to know that America is a safe harbor," she told reporters.

James called the travel ban "unconstitutional, illegal and immoral" and said Trump had "overreached and overstepped his power."

"He needs to understand and read the constitution," she said.

Khurram Mehtabdin, 30, from Long Island, was one of those who came out to greet Fadlalla despite never having previously met the Interfaith Medical Center resident, so horrified was he by the ban.

"He is the kind of person that makes this country great," Mehtabdin told AFP. His own parents are doctors who came to America 40 years ago as part of the same competitive, government-sponsored residency program, he said.

"We were all devastated. This is not just for the doctors, but it's for the cab drivers, it's for the bodega owners, it's for the common person whose life is now completely shattered because of this ridiculous travel ban."

Mehtabdin said there was a "huge shortage" of physicians in the United States, which high-achieving, foreign-born doctors help to fill, often working in under-served areas who can then be fast-tracked for green cards.

"I'm definitely happy," said Mukhtar, Fadlalla's friend and colleague from Sudan who is doing the same internal medicine residency.

On Sunday morning before Fadlalla arrived, Mukhtar's sons, aged three and six, crouched on the floor of the terminal to pen welcome home signs.

"Miss You Kamal," the eldest one wrote.
New York (AFP) - Jubilant lawyers at New York's leading airport on Saturday urged visa holders from seven predominantly Muslim countries to fly to the United States immediately while Donald Trump's travel ban remains in tatters.

Volunteers manning a crisis-management headquarters behind a diner at John F. Kennedy International Airport breathed a collective sigh of relief on Saturday, delighted that one week after the explosive order came into effect a federal judge in Seattle had suspended it.

Renee Paradis, 39, who has a solo practice in New York and worked on Senator Bernie Sanders' failed presidential bid last year, said the sense of happiness contrasted sharply with the gloom of a week earlier over deportations.

"It was just incredibly chaotic and stressful and really worrisome and just heartbreaking," she said, recalling one woman who was saved only when her plane turned back after a judge issued a temporary stay.

"Today is definitely a better Saturday," she said. "It's definitely more excited and jubilant that we're actually going to hopefully see some folks coming in who haven't been able to come in before."

Paradis, the on-site coordinator for the day and working her fourth shift, said the group based at Terminal 4 had assisted at least 199 families over the past week.

But while the team began the day optimistic that affected travelers would soon arrive, by sundown there had been only anecdotal reports of arrivals, with more expected on Sunday.

Confusion also lingered as authorities digested the ramifications both of the federal judge's ruling suspending the presidential order and of the White House's vow that the Justice Department would challenge the decision.

At least one person bound for New York was prevented from boarding by an airline, said Paradis. Seventeen or 18 others did make it through Logan airport in Boston, she said.

One was a female graduate student studying in New York. State Governor Andrew Cuomo said that a four-month-old Iranian baby and her family had been given clearance for the infant to undergo heart surgery.

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- Lingering confusion -

It was unclear what would happen to people whose visas had been canceled. Some volunteers said they expected many travelers to wait a few days for greater certainty before purchasing expensive tickets.

But with the president vowing to appeal the Seattle judge's ruling, activists urged visa holders and refugees to act immediately.

"They should move quickly and come as soon as they can and reach out" to the volunteer lawyers group, Paradis said. "We will do what we can to make sure that they land and get to where they need to be."

It was a message of urgency repeated by other groups working to help travelers from the seven affected countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

"We encourage all US visa holders who have been affected by the order to travel to the United States as soon as possible," said Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Clare Kane, a student intern at the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School, said in a statement that her group had been in contact with hundreds of people impacted by the ban.

"The Trump administration has said they will appeal the judge's ruling -- so people should get on planes as soon as possible," she said.

Back at JFK, one New Yorker, film studies professor Lindley Hanlon, donned a home-made Statue of Liberty costume and staked out Terminal 4 to greet those arriving to the symbol of US immigration and freedom.

"We still represent those values, and many, many people in this country do," she told AFP, draped in a shower curtain, wearing a plastic crown and holding a sign saying "Liberty and Justice for All."

"I'm hopeful but I'm sure it'll be legal tango for a long time," she said of the suspension. Halfway through the afternoon, after spending long hours on her feet, she called it a day.
BERLIN (Reuters) - The editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel on Sunday said a front cover illustration of U.S. President Donald Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty, which split opinion at home and abroad, was a response by the German magazine to threats against democracy. Published on Saturday, the cover depicts a cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statue's head, dripping with blood, in the other. It carries the caption: "America First". It followed a series of attacks on Berlin's policies by Trump and his aides that have marked a rapid deterioration in German relations with the United States. "Der Spiegel does not want to provoke anybody," editor-in-chief Klaus Brinkbaeumer told Reuters TV after the cover set off a debate on Twitter and in German and international media, adding he was surprised by the impact of the illustration. "We want to show what this is about, it's about democracy, it's about freedom, it's about freedom of the press, freedom of justice and all that is seriously endangered," he said. "So we are defending democracy... Are these serious times? Yes they are." Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a member of Germany's Free Democrats (FDP) and vice president of the European Parliament, described the cover as "tasteless". Die Welt said it "damages journalism", while another German daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, said it was "exactly what Trump needs - a distorted image of him, which he can use to work more on his distorted image of the press." Karl-Georg Wellmann, a lawmaker for Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU conservatives, told mass-selling daily Bild: "I urge everyone to calm down and to handle this with reason, rather than gut feeling." Merkel was the go-to European ally for former U.S. president Barack Obama, who praised her as "an outstanding partner". But Trump has said she made a "catastrophic mistake" with her open-door migration policy, and his top trade adviser last week accused Germany of using a "grossly undervalued" euro to gain advantage over the United States and its European partners. (Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Paul Carrel; editing by John Stonestreet)
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Sunday he was reassured after meetings last week with top U.S. officials that the United States was committed to a united Europe and to the NATO alliance. U.S. President Donald Trump described NATO as "obsolete" prior to taking office and has also suggested others follow Britain out of the European Union, which he has called "a vehicle for Germany". "We have all been unsettled by various statements by the new U.S. administration," Gabriel, who met U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last week, told German broadcaster ARD. "Both U.S. Vice President Pence and his colleague Tillerson made it clear in the talks that they have a strong interest in a united Europe, that they stand by a transatlantic partnership in NATO," Gabriel said, adding that this had "relativized much of what we heard before". Gabriel, who sought to foster a working relationship with the new U.S. administration on his trip to Washington and New York, urged German lawmakers and European officials to travel to the United States "to stabilize these contacts". German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the go-to European ally for former U.S. president Barack Obama, who praised her as "an outstanding partner". But under Trump, relations have deteriorated rapidly. Merkel's government has made an offer to Trump's team for her to visit the United States in the spring in her capacity as chairman of the G20 group of leading economies, government sources have said. Trump has accepted an invitation to go to a G20 summit that Merkel will host in Hamburg in early July. Turning to Russia, Gabriel said: "I think we should all hope there are agreements between Russia and the U.S., not to the detriment of Ukraine or to Europe, but if there is an easing of tensions between these two world powers, then that is good." (Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Andrew Bolton)
The Flash and Supergirl executive producer Greg Berlanti is excited for fans to see the musical crossover of the two CW series.

In a series of tweets, Berlanti revealed that hearing all the music for the musical reminded him of how talented the crossovers cast, writers, songwriters and composer are. Berlanti also gushed about the other aspects of the musical, including the choreography, production and direction. In his final tweet, Berlanti reiterated that theres so much talent in the two-night special event.

As previously reported, the musical will kick off at the end of Supergirls March 20 episode and will continue the next night in The Flashs March 21 episode, where the bulk of the action takes place. The second installment of the musical, titled Duet, features singing performances from Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/The Flash), Melissa Benoist (Kara Danvers/Supergirl), Jesse L. Martin (Joe West), Victor Garber (Dr. Martin Stein/one-half of Firestorm), Carlos Valdes (Cisco Ramon/Vibe), Jeremy Jordan (Winn Schott) and John Barrowman (Malcolm Merlyn). Supergirl stars David Harewood (Jonn Jonzz) and Chris Wood (Mon-El) will also appear in The Flash episode, but both actors wont be singing.

Earlier this week, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend star and creator Rachel Bloom revealed to BuzzFeed News that she co-wrote the song Super Friend for the musical. The song will be performed by Gustin and Benoist.

I immediately offered them my services [when I heard about the musical crossover], Bloom wrote in a statement to the website. As soon as they picked one of my song ideas, I hopped on the phone with my old Robot Chicken boss Tom Root and we brainstormed and, based on that brainstorm, I wrote up the song Super Friend. I am so excited to contribute more to the upward trend that is musicals in television and film. Music can be one of the most amazing and efficient forms of storytelling and character development. Also, it was really fun to write a comedy song for two superheroes.

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The musical finds The Flash and Supergirl facing the villain Music Meister (Darren Criss), who has the power to control people through song.

Greg Berlanti

Photo: Getty Images/Joshua Blanchard

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New sanctions the U.S. brought on Friday in response to Iranian ballistic missile tests won't undo a historic nuclear deal with Tehran by themselves  but the accord's odds of unraveling are rising.

Both the administration of President Donald Trump and the Iranian regime likely want to maintain the deal, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran accepting limits on its nuclear program, analysts say. But rising tensions threaten to lead the two countries down a path of tit-for-tat provocations that ultimately makes the deal untenable.

"Trump's bully pulpit will meet Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's pulpit. Iran uses a playbook a lot like Trump's  and that's incendiary," analysts for risk consultancy the Eurasia Group said in a research note on Thursday.

The U.S. Treasury Department fired the latest salvo on Friday, sanctioning 13 individuals and 12 other entities linked to Iran's ballistic missile program. That followed Iran's latest missile test earlier this week  also its first since Trump took office.





Friday's sanctions are consistent with actions taken by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama , and their impact shouldn't be overstated, said Richard Nephew, who served as lead sanctions expert for U.S. negotiations with Iran.

Indeed, sanctions on individuals are far less provocative than the alternative: measures aimed at crippling Iran's economy.

Still, the Eurasia Group puts the Iran nuclear deal's chances of surviving at only 60 percent, and its analysts say those odds are declining after the White House's announcement on Tuesday that it is putting Iran "on notice."

That warning was vague and risks backfiring, according to Eurasia Group. The consultancy notes that Iran has a history of not backing down and will likely test Trump's will  perhaps by conducting another missile test sooner than planned.

Iran is not expressly prohibited from testing ballistic missiles per se. However, a United Nations resolution passed when the organization implemented the nuclear deal "calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons."

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Reva Goujon, vice president of global analysis at Stratfor, said in a video briefing the language of the resolution "is squishy by design because the nuclear negotiators knew that Iran would be violating it anyway and wanted to keep that distinct from" the nuclear deal.

Goujon expects Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress to impose further sanctions on Iran, which will lead Tehran to repeat accusations that the United States is in violation of the nuclear deal.

That's potentially problematic for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who has an election this year. A moderate who has pushed to open Iran to the world, Rouhani would likely be forced to take a more aggressive stand for political reasons, analysts say.

Meanwhile, Trump has few options to regain an advantage over Iran, and his administration will likely rely on sanctions and military threats, Eurasia Group says.

If hardliners in the White House succeed in introducing "broad new economic sanctions," then Iran would likely withdraw from the nuclear deal, according to Eurasia Group.



The United States has grown sophisticated about sanctions after many years of applying pressure to Iran, said Nephew, now a senior research scholar at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy.



"Any European or Asian bank that does business on behalf of (sanctioned Iranian entities) runs the risk of being cut off from the United States," he said.
Turkish anti-terrorism police break a door during an operation to arrest people over alleged links to Isis in Adiyaman, southeastern Turkey, during which more than 400 suspects were detained: AP/Mahir Alan/Dha-Depo

Turkish police have arrested 400 suspected Isis terrorists in a series of raids as part of a crackdown on terror across the country.

At least 60 suspects were detained in the capital Ankara, while 150 were arrested in Sanliurfa province near the Syrian border along with scores of others across the country during the past week, as security forces carried out the raids.

The arrests come a month after an Isis member carried out a terror attack at a nightclub in Istanbul, killing 39 people and injuring dozens more, in what was the first Isis-claimed atrocity to take place in Turkey.

Police detained the suspected attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, on 16 January. Authorities reported he confessed to the massacre.

Dozens of people were previously detained in connection with the attack, which Isis had cited as revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.

Following the attack on the Reina nightclub, Turkish President Erdogan said his country was determined to destroy the source of threats against it, saying the country would "fight to the end" against the terror groups and would "never give ground to such dirty games.

In addition to the latest arrests, Turkey says at least 780 people, including 350 foreigners, remain in detention  some of whom have been convicted  over suspected links to the jihadist group.

Despite various claims by that Isis is facing imminent defeat, the terror organisation appears to still be capable of fighting on multiple fronts, holding west Mosul in Iraq with a population of 750,000, ands having recaptured Palmyra in Syria in mid-December.
Quebec City (AFP) - Several hundred people braved snow and cold Sunday in Quebec City to honor the six men shot to death a week earlier while praying at a local mosque.

"No to Islamophobia, Yes to Peace," "Open Your Heart" and "No to Terrorism" were the messages on some of the signs and banners carried by marchers, many of them Muslim.

The victims included two Algerians, a Tunisian, a Moroccan and two Guineans, all holding Canadian citizenship as well.

They had been attending evening prayers at their mosque when a gunman stormed in and unleashed a barrage of bullets from a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle.

Eight other men were wounded -- three remain hospitalized -- in one of the worst attacks on the Muslim community of a Western nation.

The suspect, Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, surrendered to police and was charged with six murders and five attempted murders.

The march Sunday began not far from the mosque, at Laval University, where the presumed killer was a student, before proceeding to the national assembly of the French-speaking province.

In a display of solidarity, organizers paired Muslim and non-Muslim marchers for the procession.

Mohamed Yangi, president of the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec, where the mosque was located, said the march provided an opportunity to show a "unified" Quebec.

He said he wanted to work with political leaders to help "eliminate messages of hate."

Canadian politicians, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, have denounced the words or acts of those who target Muslims.

On Friday, at the funeral of three victims, Trudeau blasted radio commentators and politicians who have fanned tensions.
The Finnish design house, which is famous for its glass work, is celebrating 100 years of its country's independence with a collection themed around ultramarine blue.

While this color has been chosen for its soothing qualities, its association with the world of dreams, spirituality and imagination, the main reason is because it is the national color of Finland. It brings to mind blue skies, the country's many lakes, and the deep blue which comes before night.

That's why to honor the centenary of Finland's independence, all the pieces in Iittala's new collection will feature ultramarine blue. They include the "Kivi" candles by Heikki Orvola, items by the famous designer Alvar Aalto, "Karto" by Kaj Franck, "Kastehelmi" by Oiva Toikka and "Kiuru," Iittala's annual bird for 2017.

All these pieces, apart from the "Kastehelmi" plates, are sold in blue packaging.

The Alvar Aalto collection will be engraved to mark the centenary and Iittala's new annual bird will be a limited edition.

Every year since 1993, Iittala has released a new bird at the beginning of the year. The bird for 2017 is Kiuru, meaning skylark, and it's dressed in Finland's national colors. "According to Finnish legend, the Kiuru announces the arrival of summer," its designer Oiva Toikka explains. As the only annual bird to have wings, it was designed with the help of five glass-blowers. All the parts of the bird's body were created separately, then assembled when the glass was still hot. The limited edition Kiuru will be accompanied by an egg.

A dove has also been designed for this special centenary collection. This limited series of 2017 features the same ultramarine blue along with touches of green, silver and darker blue.
By Dan Levine and Lawrence Hurley SEATTLE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson arrived in Seattle last Saturday after a trip to Florida, public outrage over the immigration order issued the previous day by President Donald Trump was quickly growing. He went home, greeted his family and then went to work. By late Monday afternoon, just minutes before the court closed for the day, Ferguson, a Democrat, and his team of lawyers were ready to file the first state lawsuit seeking to block the order. On Friday, they won a dramatic courtroom victory when U.S. District Judge James Robart put on hold the travel ban for refugees and citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries. The lawsuit emerged out of a chaotic 48-hour period in which the need for immediate action held sway over the kind of carefully thought-out strategizing that usually leads up to a major legal complaint being filed, according to Ferguson and other attorneys involved in actions against the order. "We knew we had one shot," Ferguson said in an interview, in reference to the bid for a temporary restraining that would immediately overturn Trump's executive order. The lawsuit is one of several now filed against the executive order around the United States, but it was the first case leading to a broad decision that applies nationwide. The fight over the immigration order is just the first of what is likely to be a series of court battles between Democratic attorneys general, the top legal officers in liberal-leaning states, and the administration. Several attorneys general have already said they expect to sue Trump on various issues if he oversteps his authority, including on the environment and consumer protection. President Trump on Saturday ridiculed Judge Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, and his decision. The Justice Department filed a formal appeal. The Washington state lawyers worked around the clock last Saturday and Sunday against the backdrop of turbulent scenes at U.S. airports, where immigrants were detained by federal officials unprepared to implement the president's directive. There was little time to coordinate with other states, though ultimately one other state, Minnesota, joined the effort. Additional states, including Virginia, New York and Hawaii, have filed their own lawsuits or sought to intervene in cases brought by individuals affected by the ban. State attorneys general did not collectively decide to let Washington file first for any strategic advantage, Ferguson said. Rather, Washington was able most quickly to marshal evidence of the harm Trump's order caused to the state, which is crucial to establish legal standing. Ferguson called the general counsels at major Washington employers Amazon.com Inc. and Expedia Inc. for their support. The companies eventually filed sworn statements in court saying the ban hurt their businesses. The state lawyers also gathered information on the harm to state residents and institutions such as the university system, which the judge appeared to find persuasive. TURNING THE TABLES The legal assault on the order has involved Ferguson and other Democratic lawyers taking a leaf from the play-book followed by Republican states that successfully challenged actions taken by Trump's predecessor, former President Barack Obama. Washington state's claims rely in part on the same legal arguments that Texas and 25 other Republican-led states made when they challenged Obama's November 2014 plan to protect up to four million immigrants from deportation. In that case, the Republican states argued that Obama overstepped his constitutional powers by infringing upon the authority of Congress. Washington and other states say Trump has violated the Constitution too, albeit on different grounds. They say he has violated protections against discrimination on the basis of religion by targeting Muslims. The state has a responsibility to protect the "health, safety, and well-being" of all its residents, the lawsuit said. In the 2014 case, Texas, like Washington state in the Trump case, asked for a nationwide injunction. Where the fight against Trump's order differs from the Texas challenge to Obama is that various lawsuits have been filed around the country by states and civil rights groups. The Texas case was a single lawsuit that the other states joined. ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said there was little time to talk strategy among the many states and advocacy groups opposing the order, as would normally happen. "It's moving too quickly, he said. That sense of urgency was all too clear to Washington state lawyers on Monday as they feverishly gathered the required documents to file with the lawsuit, including the motion for a temporary restraining order. Unlike other court papers filed electronically, a paper copy of that motion had to be delivered to the clerk's office in person. So Noah Purcell, the solicitor general, led a race to the Seattle courthouse with others from the office just as the building was about to close. They pulled up to the courthouse, jumped out of the car and ran up the steps to the doors before they were locked. They arrived just in time. (Reporting by Dan Levine in Seattle and Lawrence Hurley in Washington; Writing by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Dan Grebler)
Image released by Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) shows a long-range S-200 missile being fired in a military drill in the port city of Bushehr, Iran: Amir Kholousi, ISNA via AP, File

A commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards has said the country would use missiles to defend itself from its "enemies".

It followed hostile rhetoric from US President Donald Trump, after he said on Twitter that Iran was "playing with fire" and announced fresh sanctions on the country.

Head of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace unit, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, told Tasnim news agency: "We are working day and night to protect Iran's security.

"If we see smallest misstep from the enemies, our roaring missiles will fall on their heads."

Iran responded to the new US sanctions - imposed because of the test firing of a ballistic missile - by announcing another military exercise using its missile and radar systems.

The Revolutionary Guards Sepahnews website said that the aim of the military exercise in Semnan province, central Iran, was to "showcase the power of Iran's revolution and to dismiss the sanctions."

Iranian state news agencies reported that home-made missile systems, radars, command and control centres, and cyber warfare systems will be tested in the drill.

The country also announced sanctions of its own against the US.

Although tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said he was not considering raising the number of US forces in the Middle East to address Iran's "misbehaviour", but warned that the world would not ignore the country's activities.

As for Mr Trump's comments that "nothing is off the table" in dealing with Tehran, the commander of Iran's ground forces said that the country has been hearing such threats since its 1979 revolution.

"The defence capability and the offensive prowess of Iran's armed forces would make America or any other enemy regretful of any incursion," Ahmad Reza Pourdastan was quoted as saying by ISNA.
"The embassy contacted me and they said 'we are sorry and you are able to travel'," says Fuad Sharef, an Iraqi man who worked for the U.S. in Iraq but was caught up in President Donald Trump's travel ban. Sharef arrived at a New York airport after a judge in Seattle blocked Trump's ban on immigrants. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
By Ahmed Rasheed and David Shepardson BAGHDAD/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fuad Sharef took one of the first planes out of Iraq with a connection to the United States this past weekend, just hours after a judge in Seattle blocked U.S. President Donald Trump's ban on immigrants from seven mainly Muslim countries. Sharef, who worked for a USAID subcontractor in Iraq, was prevented with his wife and three kids from boarding a U.S.-bound flight last week via Cairo after Trump signed a 90-day travel ban on citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The U.S. president also imposed a 120-day ban on all refugees. Sharef said he came out of the tumultuous week with a lesson he wanted his kids to learn as well. "Yeah, my life changed dramatically. You know, ups and downs, and I learned a lesson that if you have a right, never surrender," he said before he and his family departed Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, on a Turkish Airlines flight with a connection to New York via Istanbul. Once in the United States, the family will head to Nashville, Tennessee, where the local Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition [TIRRC] is planning to welcome them at the airport. "Join us at the Nashville International Airport (BNA) to welcome Fuad Sharef Suleman and his family to their new home in Nashville," the TIRRC said on its Facebook event page. "Nashvillians fought to bring them home - and now we can show them the very best of Southern hospitality!," it said. Nael Zaino, a Syrian refugee who worked for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Turkey, also received help from Americans. He was reunited with family in Boston on Saturday after getting a waiver from the State Department, thanks to intervention by U.S. lawmakers who were contacted by Zaino's relatives. Zaino's arrival was relatively smooth, though he was pulled out of the arrival line, put through "secondary screening" and asked a long series of questions before a U.S. agent stamped his passport and gave him a friendly send-off. "He said, 'Go on, start your life, and enjoy your time with your son,'" Zaino said. "I didn't believe it until I came out of the airport. At that moment I realized I'm not in a dream. Zaino had received a visa to join his wife and U.S.-born infant son in Los Angeles on Jan. 27, but was blocked from travelling after Trump signed his executive order the same day, according to his sister-in-law. "We've been lobbying a lot of senators in the last few days," said Katty al-Hayek, a PhD student in Massachusetts with her own pending asylum claim, who met him at the airport. "It's been a long, stressful story but senators ... were able to get him a waiver from the State Department." VALID FOR TRAVEL Trump said his executive order, which also barred Syrian refugees indefinitely, was needed to protect the United States from Islamist militants. Religious minorities persecuted by the Islamic State, and other Iraqis fleeing violence, were among those affected. The United Nations said the ban would have prevented a total of 20,000 people in "precarious circumstances" in the seven countries targeted from resettling in the United States during the period covered by the suspension. A ruling by a federal judge in Seattle, Washington, on Friday was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges. It also opened a window of opportunity for some would-be travellers. "We were booked to travel next week but decided to bring it forward after we heard," said a Yemeni woman, recently married to a U.S. citizen, who boarded a plane from Cairo to Turkey on Sunday to connect with a U.S.-bound flight. "This is the first time I try to travel to America," she said, declining to be named for fear it could complicate her entry to the United States. In a statement dated Saturday but published on its website on Sunday, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad said visa processing had resumed and appointments would be scheduled for applicants. Visas revoked by the Trump order "are now valid for travel to the United States," it added. TWO-YEAR WAIT Sharef and his family spent two years obtaining U.S. visas. "Yeah, we are very excited. We are very happy," Sharef told Reuters TV before he and his family boarded their flight to New York. "Finally, we have been cleared. We are allowed to enter the United States." Sharef said he applied to immigrate to the United States under the Special Immigration Visa program, designed for those who worked for U.S. military and civilian state bodies in Iraq. U.S. Representative Jim Cooper of Tennessee helped clear the hurdles to allow the family to try again, Sharef said. Baghdad protested against the U.S. ban, calling it unfair and saying no Iraqi had been involved in attacks on U.S. soil. But it refrained from retaliating as it seeks to maintain U.S. support for Iraqi forces battling Islamic State in Mosul. Late on Saturday, a San Francisco-based U.S. appeals court denied the U.S. government's request for an immediate administrative stay on the Seattle judge's decision. Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said: "It is a move in the right direction to solve the problems that it caused." The U.S. State Department and Department of HomelandSecurity said many visitors were expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expects to begin admitting refugees again on Monday. Rana Shamasha, 32, an Iraqi refugee in Lebanon, was due to travel to the United States with her two sisters and mother on Feb. 1 to join relatives in Detroit until their trip was cancelled as a result of the travel ban. She is now waiting to hear from U.N. officials overseeing their case. "If they tell me there is a plane tomorrow morning, I will go. If they tell me there is one in an hour, I will go," she told Reuters by telephone in Beirut, saying their bags were still packed. "I no longer have a house here, work, or anything." On Sunday, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, Leonard Doyle, confirmed that about 2,000 refugees are ready to travel to the United States. "We expect a small number of refugees to arrive in the U.S. on Monday Feb 6th. They are mainly from Jordan and include people fleeing war and persecution in Syria," he said in an email. An official at the airport in Beirut said three Syrian families had left for the United States via Europe on Sunday morning. In Cairo, airline sources said that since Saturday, 33 people from the seven countries affected by the U.S. ban had been allowed to board U.S.-bound flights. (Additional reporting by Katie Paul, Ayat Basma, Chris Michaud and Lin Noeheid; Writing by Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Paul Simao)
CAIRO (AP)  Egypt's top Islamic authority on Sunday rejected President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's suggestion that legislation be adopted to invalidate the practice of Muslim men verbally divorcing their wives.

It marked a rare instance of a public institution contradicting the president, who has presided over a wide-scale crackdown on dissent in recent years while seeking to rally the country's entrenched interests behind him.

The Council of Senior Clerics in Al-Azhar  the highest authority in Sunni Islam  unanimously ruled that verbal divorce, when meeting all requirements, has been an undisputed practice since the days of the 7th century Prophet Muhammad.

The requirements, it explained, included that the man has a sound mind, full consciousness and uses appropriate phrasing. Muslim women in Egypt cannot verbally divorce their husbands but can apply for divorce in a court of law.

In a carefully-worded statement, the council made no mention of el-Sissi, or his suggestion last month for legislation requiring such divorces to be carried out in the presence of a state-authorized cleric. It was addressed to "the people."

However, its rejection of the president's proposal was uncompromising, and it made a thinly-veiled reference to the constitution, which refers to Al-Azhar as the main authority on religious and Islamic affairs.

The council expressed concern over the high rate of divorce in Egypt, where 40 percent of marriages end in divorce within five years, according to figures cited by the president. But it pointed out that the figures include only documented divorces, suggesting that reducing the number of verbal divorces would have little impact.

El-Sissi had proposed the change during a televised address he gave last month with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb, in attendance. He turned to him and said with a smile: "What do you think, your eminence, the imam?" indirectly acknowledging that he needed al-Azhar's backing for his proposed legislation.

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Al-Tayeb, appointed by presidential decree, heads the Council of Senior Clerics.

Ayman al-Sayad, an analyst who closely monitors religious affairs, said that Al-Azhar's rejection of the proposal showed that it has "drawn a clear line between religion and politics." He added: "It has decisively settled the issue, but went to great lengths so as not to appear confrontational."

El-Sissi, a devout Muslim whose public comments are often peppered with Quranic verses or mentions of God, has repeatedly called for moderating Islam's discourse to counter extremism. Recently, he instructed authorities to standardize Friday sermons in mosques across Egypt, a move billed as combatting extremism but which was seen by critics as further curtailing free speech.

The statement was a cautious pushback against el-Sissi, asserting a measure of independence for Al-Azhar in the face of a president who seeks to rally everyone and every institution behind him, according to author and columnist Basma Abdel-Aziz.

But it also reflects the influence wielded by senior conservative clerics in an institution that prides itself on being the chief propagator of moderate Islam while remaining a bastion of religious conservatism, said Abdel-Aziz.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli government committee gave an initial nod on Sunday for the export of medical marijuana in what could be a windfall for companies in Israel, widely regarded as a leader in research in the field. A government statement announcing the vote said it could take months for the legislation to make its way through parliament. In the United States, 28 states have legalized marijuana for medical use and since 2012, Colorado, Alaska, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, D.C. have also approved marijuana for recreational use. The market there, by some estimates, will reach $50 billion over the next decade. Israel is widely regarded as one of the world leaders in medical marijuana research, even though the local market is small. Only 23,000 people have Health Ministry permits to purchase medical cannabis from nine licensed suppliers, creating a market of $15 million to $20 million at most. Saul Kaye, CEO of iCAN, a private cannabis research hub in Israel, said there are about 50 Israeli medical marijuana companies active in many aspects of the industry, from agriculture to delivery devices, such as inhalers. Kaye estimated that international investments in Israeli companies reached about $100 million in 2016. Last month, Israel moved toward decriminalizing small-scale personal use of marijuana and authorities are supportive of research. Israeli Health Minister Yakov Litzman supports medical cannabis usage and has introduced steps to ease its prescription and sale. Israeli growers work together with scientific institutions in clinical trials and development of strains that treat a variety of illnesses and disorders. (Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Raissa Kasolowsky)
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli ministers on Sunday endorsed a draft bill to legalise export of cannabis for approved medical use, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked's office said, without elaborating.

Adoption by the ministerial committee on legislation, which meets outside the full cabinet, means that the draft will now move forward as a government bill.

No date was set for a first reading.

Shaked's office said that a scheduled debate on decriminalising marijuana use in favour of fines and treatment was put back until next Sunday.

Although the recreational use of cannabis is currently illegal in the Jewish state, for the past 10 years its therapeutic use has not only been permitted but encouraged.

In 2015, doctors prescribed the herb to about 25,000 patients suffering from cancer, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress and degenerative diseases.

The purpose is not to cure them but to alleviate their symptoms.

In January, the agriculture ministry said it planned to invest eight million shekels ($2 million, 1.98 million euros) into medical cannabis research projects.

In January last year, US tobacco giant Philip Morris ploughed $20 million into Israeli company Syqe, which produces precision inhalers for medical cannabis.

Last month, Israeli public security minister Gilad Erdan announced his support for decriminalising recreational use.

He said that he had adopted the conclusions of a commission created to study the issue and which recommended the move.

Shaked has reportedly indicated she will support it.
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday gave a small group of settlers in the occupied West Bank a brief respite from a demolition order, giving them until March 5 to leave.

Nine homes in Ofra settlement which were built on private Palestinian land were originally ordered to be razed by February 8, 2017, a 2015 court order said.

Their inhabitants had asked the court for a three-month postponement due to delays in completion of their new homes, according to a transcript of Sunday's ruling, released by the justice ministry.

"Execution of the demolition orders against the nine buildings will be carried out within one month, that is to say by March 5, 2017," the court ruled.

"Although the request for a three-month postponement was rejected we hope that when the time to leave arrives the petitioners will go peacefully as they stated in their request," Chief Justice Miriam Naor said.

On Thursday, Israeli police battled hardliners resisting the court-ordered demolition of the Amona outpost, a wildcat satellite of Ofra, near Ramallah built without official government permits.

Police said that 32 officers were injured during the eviction operation, which began the day before.

Ofra itself, one of the oldest settlements in the occupied West Bank, has a population of around 3,500 people.

It is deep inside the Palestinian territory, and is not part of the blocs of settlements that Israel will seek to retain as part of any future peace agreement with the Palestinians.

More than 370,000 Israeli settlers now live across the West Bank, surrounded by around 2.6 million Palestinians.

Israel's parliament is expected on Monday to give second and third readings to a bill which would retroactively legalise several thousand Israeli settler homes in the West Bank.

The United Nations has ruled that all settlements on occupied territory are illegal, whether or not they are authorised by the Israeli government.

They are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

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But the settlement movement wields significant power in Israeli politics.

Key members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, seen as the most right-wing in Israel's history, openly oppose a Palestinian state and advocate annexing most of the West Bank.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper said on Sunday that Netanyahu, who on Monday meets British Prime Minister Teresa May, has sought to have voting on the legalisation bill postponed but the bill's main backer, hardline Education Minister Naftali Bennett, refused.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner successfully persuaded Donald Trump to scrap executive orders that would overturn LGBT rights - but the couple's calming influence on the president is starting to wane, it has been reported.

A "brewing power struggle" has emerged between Mr Kushner, the son-in-law who can keep the president "on message", and Steve Bannon, the ultra-conservative former businessman, described as the power behind the throne.

A draft executive order on LGBT rights, aimed at rolling back Barack Obama's progressive reforms, was circulated last week. It outlined a weakening of protections designed to shield LGBT individuals from discrimination.

However, the First Daughter and her husband, both keen supporters of gay rights, persuaded Mr Trump to shelve the order, sources said.

Instead, the White House released a statement reassuring the LGBT community that their rights would be protected.

President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community. President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election, it said.

It was unclear whether the president was seriously considering signing the draft executive order into law, but the reports of Ms Trump and Mr Kushner's intervention could have wider implications.

There are some in Trumps family that have some views on these things, the source told Politico. Thats where the decision is ultimately being made.

Such a stance would pit Ms Trump and Mr Kushner against several key far-right White House figures, including vice-president Mike Pence, who is firmly against expanding LGBT rights and has a strong distaste for marriage equality, key aide Stephen Miller and Mr Bannon.

Mr Kushner, a property developer, was said to have been the voice Mr Trump listened to above all others on the campaign trail and drafted his speeches.

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He apparently arranged several meetings for Trump before November's election, including one with Rupert Murdoch.

I have a feeling that Jareds going to do a great job. Hes going to do a great job. Youll work with him, Mr Trump declared during his inauguration celebrations.

However, Mr Kushner was "f------ furious" that a meeting he had apparently brokered between Mr Trump and Enrique Pena Nieto, the Mexican president, was cancelled, a source told Vanity Fair last week.

Mr Trump had tweeted that if Mexico was unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting. The Mexican president cancelled the meeting.

Id never once heard him say he (Mr Kushner) was angry throughout the entire campaign. But he was furious, the source said.

There are also suggestions that Ms Trump and Mr Kushner's orthodox Jewish faith is being exploited within the White House.

It was "no coincidence" that Mr Trump's anti-Muslim travel ban was announced last Friday evening after Mr Kushner had left work and was observing Shabbat, sources told the New York Daily News.

Everyone is working 24/7, but Jared, because of his religious views, not only cant be in the White House, but cant be on his phone, cant drive his car, cant listen to the radio - he cant be reached, the source said.

The day after the immigration order was announced, Ms Trump posted a glamorous photograph of the couple preparing to go out, while protests raged at airports across America.

Ms Trump was apparently unaware of the announcement and the furore it sparked and was reportedly shocked by the backlash against her for posting such a photograph, which has been described as her "Marie Antoinette moment".

The "power struggle" within the White House centres on Mr Bannon, who is thought to have been the architect of the scheme to ban travel from seven Muslim countries.

Aides to the former Breitbart News Network editor have labelled Mr Kushner green and soft and worry he is attempting to make the president more moderate, the Daily News reported.

Mr Kushner had apparently reassured business executives before the election that Mr Trump would be "rational" on immigration.

Profile | Ivanka Trump
Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Gabriel Jesus scored two goals including an injury-time winner as Pep Guardiola's Manchester City recorded a dramatic 2-1 victory over struggling Swansea City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The home side looked in complete control during a dominant first-half showing only to surrender an 81st-minute equaliser to Gylfi Sigurdsson.

The Iceland international capitalised on some poor defending, collecting Luciano Narsingh's pass, switching the ball to his left foot and scoring with a brilliant low drive from just outside the area.

But deep in injury time David Silva's right-wing cross found Jesus and after his initial header had been saved by Lukasz Fabianski, the 19-year-old Brazilian tapped the rebound into an open goal.

"Gabriel Jesus is strong, fast and has really good movement," City manager Guardiola told the BBC.

"He has arrived really, really, well. We are happy to have him.

"Many times this season in last minute we have conceded. It is the first time we have won a game in the last minute."

Jesus, a January arrival from Palmeiras, had required just 11 minutes of his full home debut to score the first of what City supporters hope will be many goals for them.

The goal was created by the excellence of Silva, who beat defender Federico Fernandez along the byline before pulling the ball back towards Raheem Sterling.

Martin Olsson managed to block the England forward on the six-yard line, but Jesus reacted like lightning, pouncing on the loose ball and making no mistake with a close-range volley.

City's first-half dominance was complete and Willy Caballero, continuing to deputise for the dropped Claudio Bravo in the home goal, had not one moment of concern.

The afternoon might have been put beyond the grasp of Swansea, showing signs of improvement under new manager Paul Clement, had referee Mike Dean judged that Alfie Mawson had fouled Jesus in the area on seven minutes.

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Shortly after the goal, Yaya Toure almost doubled the lead from a 25-yard free-kick that was heading into the top left-hand corner until Fabianski made a superb diving save.

- Sane hits post -

Fernandinho, playing at right-back, sent Sterling away and his cross was almost converted by Jesus, who was only denied by a fine piece of defending from Fernandez.

From Silva's resulting corner, Toure should have made better contact with an unmarked shot that passed harmlessly wide.

Kevin De Bruyne then fired into the side-netting and Toure's 18-yard shot was smothered, at the second attempt, by Fabianski.

A long Silva pass played Sterling in on goal just before the interval, although the City forward fell while rounding Fabianski and was harshly booked for simulation for his trouble.

However, City's supporters would have been forgiven for wondering if their failure to score more than one goal would come back to haunt them as Swansea made an improved start to the second half.

Sigurdsson threatened to equalise in the 49th minute with a magnificently struck free-kick that was kept out by a combination of the leaping Caballero's right glove and his right-hand post.

Leroy Sane sped down the other end in response and delivered a low cross which hit the foot of Fabianski's post.

But the longer City went without adding a second goal, the more the anxiety grew at the Etihad, especially when Mawson headed just wide from Sigurdsson's corner.

The Swansea defender was pressed into action at the other end when he blocked a dangerous low cross from Sterling.

It came at the expense of a corner from which De Bruyne picked out Aleksandar Kolarov, whose header flew harmlessly wide.

Mawson again came to his team's rescue after 72 minutes, producing a well-timed block to stop a Silva shot, set up by Jesus's superb flick, which had looked destined for the back of the visitors' net.

"We deserved more," said Clement. "If we can build on that we will have some more wins not far away."
Do you want to be a massage therapist in Helena, Montana? Youll need 500 hours of study to receive your license first.

What about a barber at a shop in Billings? Get ready to spend 1,500 hours practicing your craft.

How about one of states justices of the peace, with the power to send defendants to jail for up to six months? Youre in luckonly a four-day certification course is necessary.

No law degree is required, eitheronly the approval of the voters in your county. While Montanas rules are not the norm in America, theyre also not unheard of. Twenty-eight states require all judges presiding over misdemeanor cases to be lawyers, including large states like California and Florida. In 14 of the remaining 22 states, a defendant who receives a jail sentence from a non-lawyer judge has the right to seek a new trial before a lawyer-judge.

But Montana and seven other statesArizona, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Texas, South Carolina, and Wyomingallow non-lawyer judges to hand down jail sentences for misdemeanors without the right to a new trial before a lawyer-judge. Some states, like Montana, only allow the practice in rural or sparsely populated counties, while others allow it statewide.

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The situation may have been acceptable in the 19th century, when lawyers and law schools were scarce, critics say. But in the modern era, they say it raises serious questions about due process and the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial. Whats the point of having a legally-trained lawyer if the judge cant understand what theyre saying? said Stuart Banner, a University of California Los Angeles law professor.

What makes Montanas situation even more troubling is that its usage of non-lawyer judges is not a vestige of an earlier era, but a recent attempt to save money. From at least 1895 until the 21st century, Montana guaranteed defendants tried before non-lawyer judges to a new trial before a lawyer-judge. Then, in 2003, state lawmakers tweaked the states rules to allow counties to exclude themselves from that right by designating their justice courts as courts of record. A state senator told his colleagues while introducing the bill would provide cost savings to the people of Montana at every level.

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It wasnt like they were nostalgic for the good ol days or something, Banner said.

Banner and his students drafted a petition for certiorari last July urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue in Davis v. Montana. The case revolved around two defendants, Kelly Davis and Shane Sherman, who were separately arrested and charged with driving under the influence. Each of them unsuccessfully moved for dismissal at trial, arguing the proceedings violated the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments by denying them access to a trial by a lawyer-judge. Davis received a 30-day jail sentence; Sherman was sentenced to serve ten days behind bars. The Montana Supreme Court upheld the convictions last May and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in January, leaving the underlying constitutional question unresolved.

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Justices of the peace have been a cornerstone of American governance since the colonial era, when they formed the political backbone of towns and villages where state and federal officials rarely traveled. Local aristocrats often fulfilled the English version of the institution that arose from 14th century medieval reforms. But since early Americans lacked an aristocracy, the offices they inherited were instead held by respectable local leaders who were often non-lawyers. This adaptation drew the praise of Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political scientist who studied the early 19th-century United States.

A justice of the peace is a well-informed citizen, though he is not necessarily versed in the knowledge of the laws, he observed in 1831. His office simply obliges him to execute the police regulations of society; a task in which good sense and integrity are of more avail than legal science. In that role, justices of the peace often carried out a wide variety of duties, ranging from officiating weddings and assessing fines to issuing warrants and trying criminal cases.

But by the mid-20th century, the folksy image of the justice of the peace lost its luster. Criminal procedure grew more complex as the Supreme Court applied the Bill of Rights provisions to the states. Advances in both communications and transportation allowed states to centralize their sprawling judicial systems. With the growth and spread of law schools, the traditional apprenticeship-style system of reading law with a practicing attorney gave way to a professionalized corps of lawyers. Accordingly, by the 1960s, most states began to require lawyer-judges for all criminal cases, even misdemeanors.

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There's a lot more lawyers than there used to be, said Banner. Trials are a lot more complicated than they used to be. And with technological changes, you don't need to have a court in every small town and quite so many judges scattered all over.

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court heard North v. Russell, a challenge to Kentuckys then-two-tiered judicial system in which only cities with more than 100,000 residents had to use lawyer-judges in their municipal courts. Lonnie North, the defendant, challenged the jail sentence he received from Judge C.B. Russell, a coal miner with no legal education. Chief Justice Warren Burger led a 6-2 majority to uphold the arrangement in a dry, rote opinion, citing Norths procedural ability to seek a new trial before a lawyer-judge.

Justices Potter Stewart and Thurgood Marshall found the system intolerable and dissented. In this case alone, Russell had denied North a trial by jury in violation of state law and sentenced him to imprisonment even though the statutes didnt authorize it for his offense. Nor did Stewart and Marshall agree with Burgers proposed solution that a defendant simply admit guilt and ask for a new trial. In short, I cannot accept the suggestion that, as a prerequisite to a constitutionally fair trial, a defendant must stand up in open court and inform a judge that he is guilty when in fact he believes that he is not, Stewart wrote.

By upholding the conviction, the Court rejected not only the premise of due process, he argued, but also betrayed the ancient protections of Magna Carta, the medieval English charter of liberties. At Runnymede in 1215, King John pledged to his barons that he would not make any justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs, excepting of such as know the laws of the land, Stewart concluded. Today, more than 750 years later, the Court leaves that promise unkept.

Banner wouldnt go quite as far as King John. Most of the functions performed by justices of the peace dont require a formal legal education, after all. I think everyone would agree there's no problem for non-lawyer judges to perform weddings, Banner said. At the opposite extreme, I think everyone or almost everyone would agree that if you have non-lawyer judges presiding over capital trials, that doesn't seem right. So somewhere in between there's got to be a line.

That line, Banner suggests, should be incarceration. The Supreme Court has already adopted that threshold for another crucial element of the criminal-justice process: the right to legal counsel. If there's no prospect of incarceration, you don't have a constitutional right to a legally-trained lawyer, he argued. But once incarceration enters the picture, then you do. And so our argument was, well, it ought to be the same line for judges.

Montanas example also offers a troubling potential precedent. Multiple states have pared back their ability to uphold constitutional protections for budgetary reasons in recent years. Louisianas indigent-defense system is on the verge of collapse in most of its parishes from underfunding. Missouri towns often use predatory methods to collect fines, a practice that in Ferguson, drew condemnation from the U.S. Justice Department. Is it possible states could follow Montanas lead and broaden the use of non-lawyer judges to cut costs, I asked?

Banner paused for a moment. I hope not, he replied.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department filed an appeal late Saturday to restore President Donald Trump's immigration order barring citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries and temporarily banning refugees, even as travelers raced to enter the country while the ban was lifted. The government moved to reverse a federal judge's Friday order that lifted the travel ban and warned the decision posed an immediate harm to the public, thwarted enforcement of an executive order and "second-guesses the presidents national security judgment about the quantum of risk posed by the admission of certain classes of (non-citizens) and the best means of minimizing that risk." Friday's ruling prompted Trump to denounce the "so-called" judge in a series of tweets on Saturday.. The appeal now goes to a three-judge panel which can act at anytime to uphold the order or suspend it pending a full appeal. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment beyond the filing. A ruling could come at any time. Seattle U.S. District Judge James Robart's decision barred the administration from enforcing the sweeping order that also indefinitely barred Syrian refugee admissions and prompted large protests across the United States. Trump, whose personal attack on Robart, decrying his opinion as "ridiculous," went too far for some who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress, said he was confident the government would prevail. "We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win," he told reporters in Florida. Robart's ruling came in a case brought by the state attorney general of Washington state and was backed by major state employers Amazon.com Inc and Expedia Inc.. The lawsuit is one of several now filed against the Trump executive order around the United States, but it was the first case leading to a broad decision that applies nationwide. The Justice Department appeal criticized Robart's legal reasoning, saying it violates the separation of powers and steps on the president's authority as commander chief. The appeal said the state of Washington lacked standing to challenge the order and denied that the order "favors Christians at the expense of Muslims." Congress gave the president "the unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class" of visitor, the Justice Department wrote. "Courts are particularly ill-equipped to second-guess the presidents prospective judgment about future risks," the appeal said, calling the decision "vastly overbroad." Washington state lawyers worked around the clock last weekend against the backdrop of turbulent scenes at U.S. airports, where immigrants were detained by federal officials unprepared to implement the president's directive. A spokesman for Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson didn't immediately comment early Sunday. The U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with Robart's order and many visitors are expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expects to begin admitting refugees again on Monday. A decision to reinstate Trump's order could again cause havoc at U.S. airports because some visitors are in transit, as was the case when the order took effect on Jan. 27. As the ban lifted Friday, refugees and thousands of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by the executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States. The panel that will decide whether to immediately block the ruling includes three judges appointed by former Republican president George W. Bush and two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. U.S. immigration advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union on Saturday in a joint statement urged those with now valid visas from the seven nations "to consider rebooking travel to the United States immediately" because the ruling could be overturned or put on hold. A U.S. State Department email reviewed by Reuters said the department is working to begin admitting refugees including Syrians as soon as Monday. Trump's Jan. 27 order had barred admission of citizens from seven majority Muslim nations for 90 days, suspended all refugee admissions for 120 days and indefinitely barred Syrian refugees. SEPARATION OF POWERS It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the U.S. Constitution designates as a check to the power of the executive branch and Congress. Reached by email Saturday, Robart declined comment on Trump's tweets. Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in a statement Saturday that Trump's "hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it is dangerous. He seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis." In an interview with ABC scheduled to air Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence said he did not think that Trump's criticisms of the judge undermined the separation of powers. The court ruling was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges to Trump's push to clamp down on immigration. The sudden reversal of the ban catapulted would-be immigrants back to airports, with uncertainty over how long the window to enter the United States will remain open. In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Fuad Sharef and his family prepared to fly on Saturday to Istanbul and then New York before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee. Virtually all refugees also were barred by Trump's order, upending the lives of thousands of people who have spent years seeking asylum in the United States. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her Sapphire Anniversary on Monday, marking 65 years on the British throne. The longest-living monarch took the throne in 1952 after King George VI's death, who didn't have any sons.

In recent days, concerns about the health of the 90-year-old monarch have risen, especially since she skipped annual royal holiday celebrations, including Christmas and New Year services, due to a "heavy cold." However, the queen has recovered since then, attended several events and resumed her royal duties.

While it's time to remember the queen's achievements as she becomes the first British monarch to celebrate the Sapphire Anniversary, there may not be any grand events as the day also marks the anniversary of the death of her father George VI.

In Britain the crown is normally passed on from the monarch to the eldest son. Since King George VI did not have any son, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned on Feb. 6, 1952. But, in 2011, the Act of Settlement was changed before Prince Georges birth to ensure succession would not be affected by gender of the child.

The British Line of Succession:

If the queen gives up her throne, retires or dies, the next in line to sit on the throne will be Prince Charles, the eldest son. However, even if Charles, who has the title of Prince of Wales as well as the Duke of Rothesay and the Duke of Cornwall, becomes king, it is unclear if his wife Camilla Parker Bowles will be named queen. Charles married Camilla after their extramarital affair while he was still married to the late Princess Diana.

After Charles takes the throne, Prince William will become the new Prince of Wales. The eldest son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, is the second in line to the British throne. When William takes the throne, his wife Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is likely to hold the ceremonial title of queen without having any claim to the throne.

Williams oldest child, George Alexander Louis, is third in line, followed by his daughter, Princess Charlotte.

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Charles younger son Prince Harry is the fifth in line to the British throne. This could change in the future if William and Middleton decide to have more children.

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Mardin (Turkey) (AFP) - A respected pro-Kurdish politician said Sunday after his release following over two months in jail that both Kurds and the Turkish government should embrace a new era of peace to end a decades-long conflict.

Former mayor of the southeastern city of Mardin Ahmet Turk, 74, was held in November on terror charges, but his arrest caused controversy even among political foes who have regarded him as a moderate voice for peace.

Turk, a senior member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), was released from jail in the city of Elazig on health grounds late on Friday and returned to Mardin, where he enjoys immense popularity.

The HDP has been heavily targeted by the crackdown under Turkey's state of emergency with 12 MPs currently under arrest including its co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.

"One person leaving jail does not solve the problem. Our co-leaders, our mayors, nearly our entire leadership are inside," Turk told reporters in Mardin in his first major comments since leaving jail.

"We hope that there will be new era for a solution for the peaceful normalisation of Turkey," he said, quoted by Dogan news agency.

"There is no alternative other than dialogue. I hope that in the nearest future a joint spirit will arise and finishing with the weapons will be on the agenda."

Tens of thousands have lost their lives since 1984 in the conflict between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which seeks greater rights and autonomy for Turkey's Kurdish minority, and the army.

There has been a new surge in fighting since a ceasefire collapsed in summer 2015, with the government vowing to fight until the PKK is eradicated and the militants refusing to lay down their weapons.

- 'No problem between peoples' -

Turk, who was also jailed in the wake of the 1980 military coup, thanked Turkish politicians from rival parties who had helped him during his incarceration including the former leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) Deniz Baykal.

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"There is no problem between peoples. But incorrect policies have given rise to anger and tension," said Turk.

"Because we know, weapons and conflict are not a solution," he added.

He said Kurds and Turks have a long history of relations, going back to the Ottoman Empire.

"The Kurds are not a danger for Turkey. That needs to be understood and our people need to tell this."

"Everyone needs to breathe. Everyone needs to think again. We also need to own up to our own shortcomings. But the state also needs to show a greater understanding," he said.
By Noah Browning DUBAI (Reuters) - Kuwait has denied a media report which said it had imposed a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, a story which U.S. President Donald Trump praised on Facebook. "Smart!" a post on Trump's official Facebook page said on Thursday, linking to a report on Jordanian news website Al Bawaba which alleged that Kuwait had "mirrored" a decision by the Trump administration to temporarily bar travelers from several countries. The article alleged that "Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans" would not be allowed to enter the Gulf state "while the blanket ban is in place". But Kuwait's foreign ministry refuted the report, which was widely picked up by news websites popular with Trump supporters including Breitbart, Infowars and Sputnik. Kuwait "categorically denies these claims and affirms that these reported nationalities ... have big communities in Kuwait and enjoy full rights," a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying on state news agency KUNA on Friday. Citizens of the countries mentioned visit Kuwait regularly, it added. Confusion and protests at airports greeted the executive order Trump signed last weekend to bar for 90 days entry into the United States by travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Representatives of the proscribed countries as well as several neighboring nations condemned the move, but Trump on his Twitter account said the initiative enjoyed support in the region. "Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!" he wrote. The United Arab Emirates was one country which did publicly give the ban a measured response. Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed called the ban an internal U.S. matter which did not target Muslims. (Editing by Jason Neely)
Donald Trump: AFP/Getty Images

Kuwait has denied imposing a travel ban on nationals from several Muslim-majority countries, a move that was praised by US President Donald Trump.

The story was propagated by news web sites popular with Mr Trumps supporters including Breitbart, Infowars and Sputnik.

The President hailed the purported ban as Smart! on his Facebook page and posted a link to an article by Jordan-based site Al-Badawaba, which claimed citizens from five majority-Muslim countries would no longer be able to obtain visas from the Gulf state.

Citing unknown sources, the report alleged that Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans would no longer be able to enter Kuwait, "mirroring" the US President's immigration ban.

Yet a Kuwaiti foreign ministry spokesperson told state news agency KUNA the government categorically denies these claims and affirms that these reported nationalities [...] have big communities in Kuwait and enjoy full rights,.

Citizens of the five nations that would have been affected visit Kuwait regularly, it added.

The rapid roll-out of an Mr Trumps Muslim ban at the end of January caused travel chaos and protests at American airports, with citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen affected.

Pre-approved refugees, students and workers with visas and residency green cards were all initially barred from flights to the US.

The controversial ban has been condemned by numerous world leaders  including by those from within the affected region  yet Mr Trump claimed on Twitter he enjoyed support in the Middle East.

Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction! he said.

Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

The United Arab Emirates was one country which did publicly give the ban a measured response. Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed called the ban an internal US matter which did not target Muslims.

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A federal appeals court denied the Presidents order on Sunday, causing the Department of Homeland Security to suspend all enforcement of the ban.

Mr Trump called the order from the so-called judge ridiculous, while the White House said the government would follow the courts ruling until the Justice Department intervened.
By Ahmed Aboulenein CAIRO (Reuters) - Rights activists are trying to force President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to throw out a law used by his government to imprison thousands of Egyptians and sentence hundreds to death by arguing that it was overturned as far back as 1928. Over the past three years, judges have cited Law 10 of 1914, or the Assembly Law, in jailing opposition activists and ordinary people for protesting against Sisi and his government and in issuing mass death sentences, mainly to Islamists. Security forces also cite it to justify the use of force against demonstrators that has led to thousands of deaths, a crackdown they say is in response to fatal attacks on police and soldiers and is needed to preserve stability in the most populous Arab state. Little was known about the history of the Assembly Law until human rights groups decided to delve into the archives. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) non-government organization published a 95-page report on Tuesday. The law, which criminalizes the gathering of five or more people and institutes collective punishment, was issued at the behest of British occupation authorities to stop Egyptians protesting against their rule in the lead up to World War One. What the researchers uncovered was that in 1928, the then-parliament passed a bill to repeal it. The bill should have passed into the statute book because the monarch at the time, King Fuad I, neither signed nor vetoed it within 30 days. However the king, who objected to the repeal but knew any veto would be overturned, prevented it being published in the official gazette, leaving its legal status, and that of the original Assembly Law, unclear. SYMBOLIC CASE Despite this, successive post-colonial and republican governments continued to apply the Assembly Law at various stages. President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who overthrew the monarchy, even made it stricter in 1968 following student protests. The researchers argue, however, that the fact that the 1928 repeal bill went unpublished did not detract from its legal status and that therefore the continued use of the Assembly Law was, and is, illegal. Their findings prompted a group of 21 people, including two activists in jail because of the law, as well as lawyers and opposition party leaders, to launch a legal case on Tuesday. The case sets out the argument that the Assembly Law was repealed in 1928 and urges Sisi and the government to throw it out. "It's time President Sisi takes the initiative to immediately renounce this historic and legal indignity by abolishing the British colonial administration law, originally designed to suppress Egyptian resistance to occupation," said Bahey eldin Hassan, director of CIHRS. "Every citizen deprived of their freedom under this unjust, obsolete law must be immediately released, with apologies and reparations for their families." The government and Sisi's office did not respond to requests for comment. The justice ministry declined to comment. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were unlikely to comment because the matter was with the courts. The activists say they know it is unlikely the law will actually be repealed, and that even if it were repealed on a technicality, there is nothing stopping parliament, where most MPs are Sisi loyalists, from passing similar legislation. Human rights groups estimate about 40,000 people have been detained for political reasons since 2013, when then-general Sisi ousted Egypt's first freely elected president, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi, after mass protests. The Assembly Law, along with a protest law issued in 2013, has effectively outlawed demonstrations and a judicial and security sweep that began with Islamists has expanded to include secular activists and journalists. COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT The law stipulates six-month prison sentences for any gathering of five or more people as long as police deem it a threat to public peace, even if no crime is committed. If a crime, such as murder, is committed during the gathering, all those at the gathering and even those who call for it, even if they do not attend, are liable. Correspondence in the British National Archives unearthed by CIHRS and seen by Reuters between the British High Commissioner in Egypt and the British Foreign Secretary shows the king, who faced protests, asked the British to stop parliament passing the bill repealing the Assembly Law but that they refrained. Their thinking was that the law had served its purpose now the war was over and could no longer be justified to the British public, the correspondence shows. CIHRS said its report was published two years later than intended due to a stepping up of pressure on Egyptian civil society workers, including travel bans and asset freezes. It has prompted debate in parliament and the House of Representatives Committee on Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Chairman has called on the government to issue a statement clarifying the law's status. To date, there has been no response from the government. (Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Milan (AFP) - Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri insisted the Serie A title race is far from over after a sensational first-half strike from Colombian Juan Cuadrado sent the Turin giants six points clear of Napoli on Sunday.

Roma, currently third at seven points behind, can move back up to second place with a win over Fiorentina in their delayed game on Tuesday.

But the capital club, still reeling from a 3-2 defeat to Sampdoria last week, are now under huge pressure not to drop further points following another defiant display from the 32-time champions in Turin.

Inter travelled west hoping to build on a superb spell of form that has seen Stefano Pioli's men claim 25 points from their last 10 games.

But poor finishing and dogged Juve defending kept Inter at bay in a promising first half before Cuadrado put a smile on Allegri's face with a slightly-deflected shot that beat Samir Handanovic at his top corner on 45 minutes.

Juve held on amid an at times bad-tempered second half, Ivan Perisic seeing red in the final minute, to secure an 18th win that kept them on course for a record-setting sixth consecutive title.

But Allegri, who admitted to now being happy Inter's "slow start" to the campaign, said the title race is far from over.

"We're not going to say we have one hand on the scudetto, but this is a very important step," Allegri told the Domenica Sportivo programme post-match.

"I'm sure that Napoli and Roma have yet to collect a lot of points, but in the meantime we've kept a rival like Inter at bay."

Inter, chasing a coveted Champions League place, remain fifth at 12 points adrift and five points behind Roma in the third and last Champions League spot.

The gap on Roma will grow to eight points if Luciano Spalletti's men turn around a recent spell of mediocre form to beat La Viola on Tuesday.

It left Inter coach Stefano Pioli even more annoyed after claiming his side were denied two clear penalties in the opening half following alleged fouls on Mauro Icardi by Mario Mandzukic and Giorgio Chiellini.

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As Juve, Napoli and Roma look to tighten their grip on the Champions League place, Inter are staring at fighting for a place in next season's Europa League.

If there is any consolation, it was in seeing city rivals AC Milan slip to a third consecutive defeat after Luis Muriel hit a second-half penalty to earn a 1-0 San Siro win for Sampdoria.

AC Milan coach Vincenzo Montella had raised hopes this season that the seven-time European champions could battle for a Champions League spot for the first time since 2014.

But injuries to midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura, who is out for the season, and defenders Mattia Di Sciglio and Luca Antonelli forced Montella into deploying a largely makeshift back four.

Alessio Romagnoli and Juraj Kucka were hauled back into defence from midfield and the enforced changes exacted a toll.

When Gabriel Paletta hauled down Fabio Quagliarella on the counter, the referee pointed immediately to the spot. Muriel sent goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma the wrong way in the 70th minute.

Milan remain in eighth place but are now 17 points behind leaders Juventus.

"The Europa League is our primary objective," admitted Montella.

Elsewhere Sunday Marco Parolo scored four times, three with his head, as Lazio hammered bottom side Pescara 6-2 to maintain their Champions League challenge to remain fourth, at four points behind Roma.

Palermo gave their relegation dogfight a shot in the arm with a 1-0 win over 10-man Crotone that kept the Sicilians third from bottom but now eight points from the safety zone.
SANAA, Yemen (AP)  The leader of al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen has released an audio recording in which he describes President Donald Trump as the "White House's new fool" and says a recent U.S. raid against the group killed 25 people, including 11 women and children.

Addressing his followers in the recording, which emerged late Saturday, Qassim al-Rimi says: "The White House's new fool has received a painful blow at your hands in his first outing on your land."

Al-Rimi identifies all 25 purported victims of the Jan. 29 raid and claims that scores of U.S. soldiers were killed or wounded.

The recording's authenticity could not be immediately verified, but the voice was similar to that of previous recordings by al-Rimi.

The U.S. military says a Navy SEAL was killed in the raid.
A house in Kathmandu

They decided to move to Kathmandu when they realised their love could no more blossom back in the village.
By David Ingram

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York authorities were preparing on Sunday to charge a man arrested over the weekend in last summer's killing and sexual assault of a 30-year-old female jogger on an isolated running path in the borough of Queens, officials said.

Police late on Saturday arrested Chanel Lewis, 20, an unemployed resident of Brooklyn with no prior criminal record. Prosecutors would charge him with murder and sexual assault after the necessary papers are prepared, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

The killing of Karina Vetrano in the quiet Howard Beach section of the borough drew intense media attention in August and was followed by growing frustration when the months-long investigation produced no suspects.

The woman's death stirred anxiety in a city where crime rates have fallen in recent years, and fear that an era when random violence was more common could return.

Investigators said on Sunday that they do not believe that Lewis and the victim knew each other and had no evidence that Lewis had stalked her, New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.

"It appears to be a chance encounter," he said.

It was not immediately clear if Lewis had a lawyer.

On Aug. 2 Vetrano had told her father, a retired New York firefighter, she was going out for a run and never returned home, according to media reports.

Her father was with detectives when her body was found, the New York Daily News reported.

Boyce said that police began looking into Lewis after a resident complained about him as a suspicious person in the area. Boyce said Lewis made "detailed, incriminating statements" about Vetrano's killing and then provided a DNA sample that matched genetic material found under her nails.

The park where she was found in Howard Beach is secluded, and there is little crime reported in the area, Boyce said.

"This is very unusual. This is a very rural part of New York City," he said.

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Days after Vetrano's death, a 27-year-old Google employee was found slain in the woods in Massachusetts after leaving for a jog. The death of Vanessa Marcotte remains unsolved. There is no evidence connecting the two cases, according to authorities.

New York City had 335 murders reported during 2016, down 5 percent from a year earlier, police said. The record for the fewest murders since the city started keeping reliable statistics in 1963 was 328 in 2014.

Years with more than 2,000 reported murders used to be routine in New York.

(Reporting by David Ingram in New York; Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif.; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Alan Crosby)
BIMSTEC preparatory meeting underway

The 7th meeting of BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on the establishment of BIMSTEC Permanent Secretariat began in Kathmandu on Sunday.
By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Pro-Europe MPs' efforts to temper Theresa May's Brexit plan gained traction on Sunday when a member of her own party broke ranks to criticise her strategy before parliamentary votes that will test her government's slim majority. A three-day debate on a law giving May the right to trigger Britain's exit from the European Union begins on Monday, and will be followed by a series of votes on whether to attach extra conditions to her plan to start talks by March 31. MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of the principle of the new law last week, signalling May is unlikely to be blocked outright from triggering Brexit. But, she will need the support of her whole party to approve the strategy without change. Sunday brought the first signs of internal Conservative Party dissent which, if they spread, could see the law amended, damaging May's authority domestically and potentially giving EU negotiators a powerful lever in the exit talks. "We could be faced with the prospect of leaving the EU by 'falling off a cliff'  as some have described leaving with no deal  with potentially disastrous economic consequences," MP Neil Carmichael said on Sunday. May has said parliament will be given a choice between accepting the deal she has reached with the EU, or rejecting it and leaving the bloc without any agreement on issues such as trade and immigration. But, MPs want to be given more influence. "Parliament must have a final say when we get to the end-game," Carmichael wrote in the Mail on Sunday, arguing that MPs should be able to send May back to the negotiating table. Carmichael is the most outspoken of a handful of critics within May's party who could join forces with opposition MPs from the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party to defeat the government. May has a 16-seat working majority, but the actual number of rebels needed to inflict defeat could be higher depending on how smaller parties and pro-Brexit Labour MPs vote. One source said upwards of 20 Conservative votes might be needed to defeat her. Pro-Brexit MPs were keen to head off the threat of a revolt. "Any vote to amend this simple bill is a vote against the implementation of the referendum result," said Conservative Eurosceptic MP Steve Baker. Baker said there were as many 27 rebels in waiting. A source familiar with the cross-party talks said that number was higher than their own estimates. So far only Carmichael and one other MP, Anna Soubry, have publicly suggested they might vote against the government. (Editing by Louise Ireland)
Kristen Stewart dropped an F-bomb after telling President Trump she is like, so gay during her opening monologue as host of NBCs Saturday Night Live on Saturday. But it was guest star Melissa McCarthys portrayal of White House press secretary Sean Spicer that stole the show.

McCarthys impersonation of Spicer as an angry, gum-chewing, prop-needing, high-pitched spokesman was pitch-perfect, right down to the ill-fitting suit and wildly combative tone with the press.

Id like to begin today by apologizing on behalf of you to me, McCarthys Spicer yells at reporters from the podium inside the mock briefing room. And that apology is not accepted!

Related: SNL Recap: Kristen Stewart and Melissa McCarthy are effin fantastic

Im here to swallow gum and take names, she said before downing a wad of Orbit. Now let me wave something shiny in front of you monkeys.

McCarthys Spicer then discussed Trumps announcement of Neil Gorsuch as his nominee to the Supreme Court. The real-world Spicer infamously and falsely argued that Trumps inauguration crowd size was the largest in history and dismissed reports that the White House brought Trump supporters to cheer the president during his first visit to CIA headquarters.

The crowd greeted him with a standing ovation, which lasted a full 15 minutes, she said. And you can check the tape on that. Everyone was smiling. Everyone was happy. The men all had erections, and every single one of the women was ovulating left and right. And no one, no one was sad. Those are the facts forever.

While taking questions, McCarthys Spicer singled out New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush (played by SNL cast member Bobby Moynihan) when he asked about the Trumps use of the word ban to describe his executive order on immigration. The real Spicer told reporters that the order did not amount to a travel ban, though Trump himself uses the phrase.

You just said that, she responded. Hes quoting you. Its your words. Hes using your words, when you use the words and he uses them back, its circular using of the word and thats from you.

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McCarthys exasperated Spicer decided to use props to get his point across, pulling out a pair of stuffed animals to illustrate the presidents fight against radical moose-lambs.

When a female Wall Street Journal reporter asked, Are you OK? McCarthy ripped the podium from the stage and charged at her.

If you come at me like that, I will put you in the corner with CNN, McCarthys Spicer warned before the faux C-SPAN feed cut to a shot of CNNs Jim Acosta in a cage.

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Vice President Mike Pence wouldnt say America is morally superior to Russia during an interview with Face the Nation.

When repeatedly asked by moderator John Dickerson about Americas moral superiority to Russia, Pence talked about American ideals instead.

I believe that the ideals that America has stood for throughout our history represent the highest ideals of humankind, he said.

Shouldnt we able able to just say yes to that question though? Dickerson asked.

I think its without question, Pence responded.

That America is morally superior to Russia, Dickerson said.

That American ideas are superior to countries all across the world, Pence said.

As @jdickerson points out to Pence here  shouldn't this be just a yes answer on whether U.S. is morally superior to Russia? pic.twitter.com/tVBmDZQy19  Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) February 5, 2017

Dickersons question followed a comment by President Donald Trumps from an interview with Bill OReilly, in which he said he respects Russian President Vladimir Putin. After OReilly noted that Putin is a killer, Trump said: There are a lot of killers. Weve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our countrys so innocent?

The interview is set to air Sunday afternoon during the Super Bowl pregame show.
Washington (AFP) - US Vice President Mike Pence in an interview airing Sunday warned Iran "not to test the resolve" of the Donald Trump administration, days after Washington slapped new sanctions on Tehran following a ballistic missile test launch.

Relations between the two sides have deteriorated sharply since Trump took office last month promising a tough line on what he sees as Iranian belligerence toward US interests.

"Iran would do well to look at the calendar and realize there's a new president in the Oval Office. And Iran would do well not to test the resolve of this new president," Pence told ABC News in an interview taped Saturday.

The tough talk came after Trump's Pentagon chief James Mattis declared last week that Iran was "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world."

The charged rhetoric has raised questions over whether the United States will abandon commitments it made under a landmark deal -- negotiated with several world powers and approved by president Barack Obama in 2015 -- that obliged Iran to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from US and international sanctions.

"The Iranians got a deal from the international community that again, the president and I and our administration think was a terrible deal," Pence said.

Although Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have said the United States would stand by the agreement, Pence was less forthcoming.

"Well, we're evaluating that as we speak," he said.

"I think the president will make that decision in the days ahead. And he'll listen to all of his advisors, but make no mistake about it. The resolve of this president is such that Iran would do well to think twice about their continued hostile and belligerent actions."

US officials said the new sanctions imposed Friday were in response to Iran's recent ballistic missile test and its support for the Huthi rebels in Yemen, who recently targeted a Saudi warship.

The White House has said "nothing is off the table" -- even military action.
Rabat (AFP) - Morocco will "never recognise" Western Sahara's independence despite rejoining the African Union after a decades-long dispute over the territory, Deputy Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said in published remarks Sunday.

Last Monday, the AU approved Morocco's re-entry into the bloc which it quit in 1984 in protest at the admission of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) declared by the Polisario Front at the height of a war for the territory.

"Not only does Morocco not recognise -- and will never recognise -- this so-called entity," Bourita told website Le Desk in an interview.

"It will (also) redouble its efforts so the small minority of countries, particularly African, which recognise it, change their positions."

AU membership would not change Morocco's stance that the Western Sahara is an integral part of its territory, he said.

Monday's summit in Addis Ababa followed an intense diplomatic battle with the Polisario's backers, led by Algeria and South Africa, which opposed Morocco rejoining the AU.

Those countries "have spent months doing everything they can to prevent our return, until the last minute," a senior Moroccan diplomat who did not wish to be identified told AFP.

"The Addis summit was a setback for them," he said, adding that they are now working hard "to present this failure as a success".

The Polisario and its allies say Morocco's return to the African bloc implies a recognition of the SADR's borders.

"This is nonsense from the point of view of international law and state practice," Bourita told Le Desk.

Joining "an international forum in the presence of an unrecognised entity cannot imply the state's recognition of that entity", he said.

Arab countries and Iran are UN members along with Israel, which they do not recognise, he added.

"Does Algeria recognise Israel simply by sitting beside it at the UN?"

"The return of Morocco is a direct challenge to the presence of the Polisario within the AU," the diplomatic source said.

"Morocco will continue to mobilise to delegitimise the SADR."
Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is to prolong his stay in London pending the result of health tests, his spokesman said on Sunday in a statement which will do little to quash rumours he is unwell.

Femi Adesina said Buhari had written to the National Assembly on Sunday "informing them of his desire to extend his leave in order to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors".

The 74-year-old, who has been dogged by speculation about whether he is physically fit for office even before he took power in May 2015, had been due to return to Abuja on Sunday after 10 days' holiday.

The presidency previously announced Buhari would combine time off in the British capital with routine health checks but has been forced to counter rumours he was gravely ill or even dead.

The former army general, who headed a military regime in the 1980s, was last in London in June 2016 for treatment to what was said at the time to be a persistent inner ear infection.

Adesina said on Sunday Buhari had been "advised to complete the test cycle before returning". The lower and upper houses of parliament had been informed, he added.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has been deputising for Buhari in his absence.

No timeframe for Buhari's return was given, nor any details about the medical tests he had undergone.

The health of Nigeria's president is a sensitive issue. In 2010, president Musa Umaru Yar'Adua died in office from a long-standing, but previously undisclosed, kidney complaint.

His initial illness and treatment in hospital abroad triggered months of political uncertainty. His deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, took over on Yar'Adua's death.

General Sani Abacha, who headed a military regime in the 1990s, also died in office, officially from a heart attack. But rumours persist he met a more lurid end.
France captain Yannick Noah said his team could go on to lift the Davis Cup after wrapping up a 4-1 first-round victory over Japan on Sunday.

Entering the final day's reverse singles in Tokyo with an unassailable 3-0 lead, the nine-time champions chose to rest Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon and split the two dead rubbers.

Doubles specialist Nicolas Mahut replaced Gasquet and took the first set off Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1 before a wrist injury ended the Japanese player's hopes of a comeback.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the other half of the world's top-ranked doubles pair who clinched France's third point on Saturday, took Simon's place in the abbreviated singles.

However, he was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Yasutaka Uchiyama as Japan avoided a whitewash in the absence of world number five Kei Nishikori, who dropped out the World Group clash citing a busy schedule.

"If all my players are ready then we have the possibility to go all the way," said Noah, a Davis Cup runner-up in 1982.

"That's what we should aim for -- the win the whole thing," added the former French Open champion. "But to do that we have to be at 100 percent in the next three ties."

Noah could have a selection headache for the quarter-finals in April, where France will face either Great Britain or Canada.

With their two highest-ranked singles players, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, also available, Noah could be tempted to tinker with his line-up as France look to capture the Davis Cup for a first time since 2001.

"I would take them right away, but I would only pick them for the right reasons," said Noah, pointing to the camaraderie in a French team who spent three weeks preparing for the Japan tie.

"In the next two months some players will play five, six or seven tournaments and a lot can happen -- guys who show up, guys who play well, others who get hurt. We have to wait and see."

France faced little resistance against Japan, who will now face a battle to retain their World Group status.

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Gasquet thrashed Taro Daniel 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 and Simon beat Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on Friday before Wimbledon champions Herbert and Mahut overpowered Uchiyama and Yuichi Sugita 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in Saturday's doubles.

Japan captain Minoru Ueda knows talisman Nishikori's involvement will be crucial in September to keep his team among the Davis Cup elite.

"We must win the playoff and stay in the World Group so it's important we have Nishikori available," he said.

"We need Japanese players to perform better at grand slam events in order to be able to compete at this level."
Bonus Bill Fifth Amendment sent to Finance Committee for deliberation

The Legislature-Parliament has unanimously decided to forward the Bonus Bill (Fifth Amendment), 2073 to the concerned parliamentary committee- Finance Committee- for its clause-wise discussions.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence Sunday warned Iran not to underestimate President Donald Trump, saying Tehran would do well to think twice about their hostile and beligerant actions.

In an interview on ABCs This Week, Pence advised Iran to look at the calendar and realize Barack Obama is no longer in office.

Trump repeatedly criticized the Obama administration of being soft on Iran and Friday placed new sanctions on the Islamic Republic for a ballistic missile test last Sunday and an attack on a Saudi ship by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Iran would do well not to test the resolve of this new president, Pence warned, adding, Iran would do well to think twice about their hostile and belligerent actions.

Pence called the Iran nuclear deal, which removed sanctions from Iran in exchange for Tehran cutting back its nuclear program, a terrible deal, which essentially allows Iran to develop a nuclear weapon  in the years ahead at a certain date.

Though both Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary John Mattis have said the U.S. must stand by the deal, Pence said Trump is re-evaluating it.

On NBCs Meet the Press, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he thinks sanctions need to be racheted up.

I think what this administration is doing, which I agree with, is saying, We have a new administration, and we're going to hold you, Iran, to account,  Ryan said. This last administration did not do that. This new administration needs to do that. And I think that's what you're getting here.

Ryan noted Iran is still the largest sponsor of terrorism in the world and guilty of human rights abuses galore.

Ryan said until now we have appeased Iran.

On CNNs State of the Union Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell noted the Iran nuclear deal is not a treaty but rather something the executive branch agreed to. He said that if Trump wants to unwind the deal, he can do so without congressional approval.

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The administration on Sunday attempted to put a positive face on a weekend of embarrassing judicial setbacks that at least temporarily put President Donald Trumps controversial immigration ban on hold after a week of global protests of Trumps hard hitting and disruptive executive orders.

Vice President Mike Pence -- the administrations chief tactician for damage control  appeared on four major talk shows today arguing that a federal court judges ruling on Friday night against Trumps hastily implemented actions against tens of thousands of foreign travelers would soon be reversed.

Related: Trump May Be the First Test Case for His Own Supreme Court Nominee

Pence insisted that a majority of Americans overwhelmingly approve Trumps tough action to root out potential terrorists  despite criticism that the order has created chaos and uncertainty at airports throughout the world and is a blot on the countrys tradition of welcoming immigrants of all religions, including Muslims.

We believe the judge made the wrong decision, Pence said on Fox News Sunday. Were going to continue to use all legal means at our disposal to sustain that order and move forward and take the steps necessary to protect our country.

Noting that there is no unanimity among lower court judges on the constitutionality of Trump immigration order, Pence added, We dont appoint judges to our district courts to conduct foreign policy or to make decisions about our national security.

From the very outset of his campaign for president and the outset of his administration, President Trump has made clear hes going to put the security of the American people first, Pence added. It is quite clear that the President has the ability to determine who has access to this country when it comes to national security.

Trump fumed and lashed out this weekend after a federal judge in Seattle late Friday ordered a nationwide halt to enforcement of Trumps week-old order temporarily barring citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries  including Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen  pending an extensive review of U.S. immigration policies.

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Related: Judge Grants Nationwide Temporary Restraining Order on Trump Travel Ban

The bellicose chief executive derisively referred to the judge as a so-called judge in a tweet and denounced his ruling as ridiculous and contrary to the nations best interest. His tweets were reminiscent of Trumps attacks last year on Gonzalo Curiel, a federal district judge in California of Mexican descent who was hearing a fraud case brought against the now-defunct Trump University.

But despite the latest presidential histrionics, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco early Sunday rejected the Justice Departments request that it immediately overturn the ruling of the federal judge, James Robart, who was appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush.

Robarts ruling is contrary to another federal court decision in Boston earlier last Friday that upheld Trumps executive order. Robarts decision was much broader than the Boston ruling, and it forced the State Department to reverse its cancellation of as many as 60,000 visas.

It also prompted the Department of Homeland Security and immigration and customs officials to once again permit travelers from the targeted Muslim countries to enter this country, and many started trickling in over the weekend.

The Ninth Circuit appellate court has asked the attorney general of Washington State, who brought the complaint, and the Justice Department to file additional briefs by Monday. Regardless of how the appeals court finally rules, the question of whether Trumps executive order was a valid exercise of presidential power or blatant religious discrimination against Muslims is certain to be resolved by the Supreme Court.

Related: Is Trumps Travel Ban Already Hurting US Tourism?

Thousands of protesters marched on London Saturday for the second time in a week, to oppose Trumps ban on travelers from mainly Muslim nation entering the U.S. Meanwhile, an estimated 1,000 people marched in West Palm Beach, Fla., yesterday, near Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate, to protest his policies. Some carried a flag-draped coffin that symbolized the death of democracy, according to the Washington Post.

Democrats have charged that Trump has recklessly exaggerated the impact of Robarts temporary order by warning that many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country because of the judges ruling. They also complained that Trump is attempting to intimidate the independence of the judiciary, at the same time he seeks to convince Senate Democrats that his nominee to the Supreme Court, Neil M. Gorsuch, would be a staunchly independent conservative voice on the High Court.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said today that she is alarmed that Trump has issued a blizzard of executive orders and memoranda since he took office Jan. 20, including some like the immigration order that was hastily drafted and most probably unlawful.



Feinstein said that notwithstanding Trumps complaints about Robarts temporary ruling, the federal court has a right to make a judgment whether a law or order is lawful and constitutional  and that process has begun. The president is not a dictator, she said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday. He is the chief executive of our country.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) seemed to be criticizing Trump for attempting to belittle the Seattle judge for ruling against his executive order. McConnell said on CNNs State of the Union program that it is best to avoid criticizing judges individually.

Related: Trump Inherits a Solid Job Market. Can He Really Make It Better?

However, Pence once again came to the defense of his boss, saying during an appearance on NBCs Meet the Press that The President of the United States has every right to criticize the other two branches of government.

We have a long tradition of that in this country, Pence said. I think that people find it very refreshing that they not only understand this presidents mind but they understand how he feels about things.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said on Sunday that ex-president Alejandro Toledo, accused of receiving millions in bribes from embattled construction firm Odebrecht S.A.[ODBES.UL], betrayed his country and must return to Peru to face justice. Prosecutors are preparing an arrest warrant for Toledo after discovering evidence that implicates him in $20 million in bribes that Brazil's Odebrecht has acknowledged distributing to win a contract during his 2001-2006 government. According to a source in Peru's prosecutor's office, authorities detected $11 million that was allegedly transferred to an associate of Toledo, leading investigators to raid Toledo's house in Lima on Saturday. The ex-president, who has denied taking any bribes, was in France on Saturday, though his current whereabouts are unknown. "Very hurt by this news about ex-president Toledo. It's a betrayal of the Peruvian people, and it's a betrayal of his colleagues that worked so hard," Kuczynski said in comments to Colombia's W Radio, which were distributed by the president's office. "This is very lamentable. He must straighten himself out and come back to Peru and answer what the investigators are going to ask him." Kuczynski, who was Toledo's finance minister and prime minister, also reiterated previous declarations that he was not involved in the negotiations between Odebrecht and Toledo that are being probed. The current president is the subject of a separate preliminary investigation regarding a law he signed off on in 2006 that removed legal obstacles to highway contracts awarded to Odebrecht and other Brazilian companies. He denies any wrongdoing. In addition to Peru, Odebrecht has acknowledged doling out hundreds of millions in bribes to win public work contracts throughout Latin America, spurring inquiries from Argentina to Panama. (Reporting by Teresa Cespedes; Writing by Gram Slattery; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Manila (AFP) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has angrily scrapped talks with communist insurgents aimed at ending their decades-long conflict after both the government and the rebels called off unilateral ceasefires.

Duterte, a self-described socialist who had previously freed top communist leaders to jump-start the peace talks, condemned the insurgents for resuming hostilities and said he was ready for a prolonged conflict.

"I told the soldiers to prepare for a long war. I said (peace) will not come during our generation," he said late Saturday.

He later threatened to jail rebel negotiators should they return from peace talks overseas.

"They are bandits... I do not think they are worthy of being called rebels. Plainly, they are terrorists," he said Sunday.

The government and the communists separately declared ceasefires in August, and the informal arrangement largely held as they continued discussions in Rome.

The president said he was now ordering government negotiators to "fold their tents and return home from the overseas talks.

"I am not interested in talking to them (the rebel leaders). I will refuse to talk about it anymore," he told reporters.

- Fifty years of fighting -

"We have been fighting for 50 years. If you want to extend it for another 50 years, so be it, we will be happy to accommodate you."

The rebels last week announced an end to their five-month-old ceasefire, accusing Duterte's government of treachery and human rights abuses.

The government responded by calling off its own unilateral ceasefire.

Duterte also denounced the 4,000-strong communist New People's Army for killing four soldiers in attacks last week, saying one of the victims had been riddled with 76 bullets.

Duterte's peace negotiators appeared hesitant in describing the volatile president's latest stance.

Government negotiator Jesus Dureza said in a statement, "he (Duterte) has clearly spoken on the directions we all in government should take. Let's take guidance from these recent declarations."

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"The road to just and lasting peace is not easy to traverse. There are humps and bumps, and curbs and detours along the way. What is important is that we all stay the course," he said.

Chief communist peace negotiator Luis Jalandoni told ABS-CBN television on Sunday the rebels want talks to continue.

"The compelling reason is that the peace talks will try to achieve genuine peace based on justice, land reform, free distribution of land," he said.

"All of these things are still on the table and for the (communist leadership), it is worthwhile trying to continue the peace negotiations," he added.

He added that the NPA had killed the soldiers only "to defend themselves and defend the communities".

Duterte had previously made dramatic overtures to the communists, releasing some captured leaders so they could go abroad for peace talks and even appointing to his cabinet leftist figures named by the rebels.

The talks with the communists had appeared to be moving forward, with both sides describing the meeting in Rome last month as "successful."

But Duterte had refused communist demands to free hundreds of their jailed comrades.

The insurgency in the poverty-stricken country, which began in 1968, is one of the longest running in the world and has claimed an estimated 30,000 lives, according to the military.
By Manuel Mogato and Clare Baldwin MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine government derided Catholic bishops on Sunday as "out of touch" after they used weekend sermons to attack a war on drugs they said had created a "reign of terror" for the poor. Members of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had dramatised President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign and, instead of criticising, should focus on contributing to the "reign of peace" that innocent people now felt, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said. The church assailed bloodshed that had caused suffering, and said killing people was not the way to deal with illegal drugs. In a pastoral letter read out on Saturday and repeated to congregations at churches on Sunday, bishops said it was disturbing that many people in the majority Catholic nation were indifferent to the killings, or even approved of them. Abella, a former pastor, said the war on drugs had made the country safer, "far from the 'terror' the bishops paint rather dramatically." "The officials of the CBCP are apparently out of touch with the sentiments of the faithful who overwhelmingly support the changes in the Philippines," Abella said in a statement. More than 7,600 people have been killed since Duterte unleashed a ferocious crackdown seven months ago, more than 2,500 in police raids and sting operations. Human rights groups believe many other deaths that police had attributed to vigilantes were carried out by assassins likely colluding with police. The government and police vehemently deny extrajudicial killings have occurred. The CBCP's message was read at numerous churches in Manila attended by Reuters, though not all. Church sources said the Archdiocese of Manila issued a circular telling parishes to read the pastoral letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters prior to the first readings. The drugs war is a contentious issue, with some bishops keen to make a stand and others hesitant to risk a backlash by criticising a campaign that enjoys broad public support. Duterte has routinely attacked the Church, and as recently as this week called for a "showdown" with priests whom he has accused of having wives, engaging in homosexual acts, graft and child abuse. In a speech late on Sunday, Duterte shrugged off the bishops' letter and said there would be no let-up in his campaign. "You Catholics, if you believe in your priests and bishops, you stay with them. If you want to go to heaven, then go to them," he said. "Now, if you want to end drugs ... I will go to hell, come join me." "GIVE THEM A CHANCE" Katrina Rufael, an office worker who attended mass at the Baclaran Redemptorist Church, said the pastoral letter was justified. "We have to oppose the war on drugs, because we cannot just put an end to the life of people who have made mistakes," she said. "Let's give them a chance to change." Elsewhere in Manila, at the Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord, a packed congregation listened attentively to the plea to stop the killings. "Life is a gift from God, and only God can take it away," said Ligaya Reyes, a government worker. "It was a strong statement, it should have been made a long time ago when the killing began." The statement was also heard at a chapel in the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters on Saturday. Not all agreed with it. "They're not being killed if they just surrender," said a policeman's wife, who gave her name as Dolores and said the PNP had been unfairly depicted as murderers for shooting drugs suspects resisting arrest. "What the president's doing right now ... he's doing good. Because for the common people, it's our safety." (Reporting by Manuel Mogato and Clare Baldwin, with additional reporting by Ronn Bautista and Karen Lema; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)  Police say a customer at a Wal-Mart store in Florida fatally shot a man who was among a group suspected of stealing two carts full of merchandise.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that the shooting occurred Saturday after suspects left the store with stolen items.

Sheriff's Capt. A.L. Nieves says the men were loading the merchandise into a car when a worker and a customer who came to the employee's aid confronted them.

Nieves says the customer was armed and fired at a suspect, who he thought was going for a weapon. Nieves did not identify anyone involved.

The suspect later died at a hospital after deputies found him at a gas station.

The shooting is under investigation, and the remaining robbery suspects remain at large.
Tindouf (Algeria) (AFP) - The head of Western Sahara's Polisario Front has said "all options are open" in its independence struggle from Morocco, but called for talks after the kingdom rejoined the African Union.

Morocco quit what was then the Organisation of African Unity in 1984 after the bloc admitted the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) declared by the Polisario at the height of a war for the territory.

Last Monday, AU members at a summit in Ethiopia decided to allow Morocco back into the group.

Polisario head and SADR president Brahim Ghali told AFP in an interview that the move did not fundamentally change the situation.

"We always look for the peaceful way" to resolve the conflict, he told AFP at a Sahrawi refugee camp in Tindouf, southwestern Algeria.

"But all options remain open," he said, hinting that a return to armed struggle was possible.

A ceasefire has been in force since 1991 in the vast desert territory, a former Spanish colony that has been under Moroccan control since 1975.

"Now that the Moroccan kingdom is a member of the AU, it must respect its commitments and the international borders of the Sahrawi Republic," Ghali said.

"We hope that Morocco will meet its commitments."

Some 165,000 Sahrawis are settled in five camps around Tindouf, where they receive aid from UN agencies and international NGOs.

Efforts to reach a negotiated solution for the territory have borne little fruit.

- 'Procrastination' -

A referendum on independence was set for 1992 but was aborted when Morocco objected to the proposed electoral register, saying it was biased.

"Moroccan procrastination and the failure of the (UN) Security Council to meet its responsibilities force us to consider the various means of recovering our rights," Ghali said.

He criticised France, saying it had blocked the UN process and threatened to veto resolutions condemning "systematic Moroccan violations of human rights" in the territory.

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Years of waiting for a solution had "reduced the confidence of the Sahrawi people in the international community and the Security Council", he said.

Morocco's Deputy Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said in published remarks Sunday the kingdom would "never recognise" the territory's independence.

"Not only does Morocco not recognise -- and will never recognise -- this so-called entity," he told local website Le Desk in an interview.

"It will (also) redouble its efforts so the small minority of countries, particularly African, which recognise it, change their positions."

Ghali, who took over as leader of the Algeria-backed Polisario on the death of his predecessor Mohamed Abdelaziz in May 2016, said he hoped new UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will push for a return to talks.

"We hope that he will have the necessary support of the Security Council to lead the negotiations that will enable the self-determination of our people," Ghali said.

A UN peacekeeping force, MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara), was set up in 1991 to monitor the ceasefire and organise a poll on the future of the territory.

The SADR, which remains a member of the AU, demands independence and a UN-supervised referendum to resolve the conflict.

Morocco, which controls 90 percent of the territory including its three main towns, insists it is an integral part of the kingdom and that only autonomy is on the table.
British Defence Minister Lancaster cancels his Nepal visit

British Defence Minister Mark Lancasters planned visit to Nepal has been cancelled at the last hour. He was preparing to fly to Nepal on February 6 for a five-day visit.
A former video cassette seller with close ties to Tamil Nadu's late leader will become the next chief minister of the Indian state, capping a remarkable rise for the political novice.

The ruling party in the southern state announced Sunday that VK Sasikala would become the next leader following the resignation of the acting chief minister.

Her rise to the top had been rumoured since December, when beloved leader Jayalalithaa Jayaram died at the age of 68, plunging the state into political uncertainty.

Sasikala -- a close confidante of Jayalalithaa but with no previous record of public office -- was soon afterwards elevated to head the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party, paving the way to the top job.

"She is the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Like Amma, we wanted a strong woman leader to serve the people," party spokesperson C R Saraswathi told AFP, referring to Jayalalithaa by her popular nickname.

O Panneerselvam, who had been filling in as chief minister since October when former film star Jayalalithaa was hospitalised, has stepped down.

Tamil Nadu's main opposition party were scathing, stressing the unorthodox nature of her ascent.

"The people of Tamil Nadu did not vote for anyone from Jayalalithaa's household to become CM," opposition leader MK Stalin said on Twitter, using the acronym for chief minister.

Although Sasikala had never held any official position in the AIADMK or the state government before her election, she has long been known as "Chinnamma" (aunt) to the party because of her friendship with Jayalalithaa.

The two met in the 1980s when Sasikala was running a video parlour and Jayalalithaa was a budding politician.

It marked the beginning of a decades-long friendship dogged by corruption scandals and intermittent spells of bad blood.

Sasikala was briefly expelled from the party over allegations her family were misusing the Jayalalithaa name, but was allowed back in after she publicly distanced herself from her husband.

In 2014, both Jayalalithaa and Sasikala were jailed for four years for corruption charges but were later acquitted.

The death of the hugely popular Jayalalithaa, a three-time chief minister, on December 5 sparked a mass outpouring of grief across Tamil Nadu, with huge crowds lining the streets to pay tribute to her.
(WASHINGTON)  President Donald Trump said he respects Vladimir Putin, and when an interviewer called the Russian leader a killer, Trump said the United States has many of them.

What do you think? Our countrys so innocent, he told Foxs Bill OReilly in an excerpt released by the network. The presidents interview was to air Sunday afternoon on the Super Bowl pregame show.

Trump has long expressed a wish for better ties with Moscow, praised Putin and signaled that U.S.-Russia relations could be in line for a makeover, even after U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign to help Trump win against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Putin has called Trump a very bright and talented man.

During Putins years in power, a number of prominent Russian opposition figures and journalists have been killed.

Watch Bill OReillys interview with President @realDonaldTrump Sunday at 4p ET during the #SuperBowl pregame show on FOX. pic.twitter.com/OcRVRK8JgR  Fox News (@FoxNews) February 4, 2017

In the interview, Trump says, I do respect him, and then is asked why.

I respect a lot of people, but that doesnt mean Im going to get along with him. Hes a leader of his country. I say its better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world  thats a good thing, Trump said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group. Will I get along with him? I have no idea.

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OReilly then said about Putin: But hes a killer, though. Putins a killer.

Trump responded: There are a lot of killers. Weve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our countrys so innocent?

In the excerpt released by Fox, Trump did not cite specific U.S actions. It was not clear whether he expanded on the comment or added context later in the interview.

The Senates top Republican, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, distanced himself from the president.

Putins a former KGB agent. Hes a thug. He was not elected in a way that most people would consider a credible election. The Russians annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine and messed around in our elections. And no, I dont think theres any equivalency between the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does, McConnell told CNNs State of the Union.

While saying he would not critique every utterance by Trump, McConnell said he thinks Americas exceptional, America is different, we dont operate in any way the way the Russians do. I think theres a clear distinction here that all Americans understand, and no, I would not have characterized it that way.

I obviously dont see this issue the same way he does.

The Trump administration on Thursday revised recent U.S. sanctions that had unintentionally prevented American companies from exporting certain consumer electronic products to Russia. The change allows companies to deal with Russias security service, which licenses such exports under Russian law.

The products were not intended to be covered by the sanctions the Obama administration imposed on Dec. 29 after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia interfered in the presidential election. The White House denied it was easing sanctions.

Also last week, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley condemned Russias aggressive actions in eastern Ukraine and warned Moscow that U.S. sanctions imposed after its annexation of Crimea will remain until the peninsula is returned to Ukraine.

But she tempered her criticism, saying it was unfortunate that she had to condemn Russia in her first appearance at the U.N. Security Council.

We do want to better our relations with Russia, Haley said.
CHICAGO (AP)  The founder of the group that advocates for priest abuse victims has stepped down after three decades of campaigning to force the Catholic Church to recognize the extent of the scandal and compensate thousands of people affected.

Barbara Blaine, president and founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said she was abused herself and the organization was created through her efforts to reach out to other victims, the Chicago Tribune reported (http://trib.in/2jMvDzJ ).

"I knew there were other survivors out there and wondered if they felt the same debilitating hurt and if so, how they coped with it. I thought they might hold the wisdom I lacked. I looked for other survivors and asked if they would be willing to talk," Blaine said in a statement.

Blaine did not say why she resigned. She and several other top SNAP officials were sued last month by a former employee who says she was fired shortly after asking superiors whether SNAP was referring potential clients to attorneys in return for donations.

SNAP announced at the end of January that another one of those top officials, former Executive Direct David Clohessy, had resigned. Blaine and Clohessy both said their resignations were unrelated to the lawsuit.

Blaine founded SNAP in 1988, years after she was abused as an 8th grader by a Toledo, Ohio priest who taught at the Catholic school she attended, according to the organization's website. Her pleas for help to Toledo's bishop were ignored. The first SNAP meeting of victims was held at a Holiday Inn in Chicago.

The group gained prominence in 2002 after the Boston Globe's stories on the priest sexual abuse scandal rocked the Catholic Church.

The organization now has more than 20,000 members and support groups meet in over 60 cities across the U.S. and the world.

"Her tenacity and fortitude helped expose abuse globally during the past three decades," SNAP board member Mary Ellen Kruger said in a statement.

Blaine's resignation took effect Friday.
Fox News Sunday

Patriots owner Robert Kraft has three of his four original Super Bowl rings. Hes missing the ring from the Patriots 2004 Super Bow victory that was stolen by Russian president Vladimir Putin after Kraft allowed Putin to wear it on a visit in 2005 and never got it back.

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On Fox News Sunday, Kraft explained that he has not gotten that Super Bowl ring back in more than 10 years and instead has a replacement ring. Kraft said he has a plan to get it back, but hasnt been able to execute that plan. Sadly, his plan does not involve an elaborate heist, but instead is a plan to make Putin a custom Patriots Super Bowl ring with his name on it and Kraft will trade it for his original ring, with President Donald Trump acting as the middle man.

I was willing to have one made with his name on it, Kraft said. Maybe well have the new President bring it to him when he connects with him.

That would be good. I do have an emotional attachment to that ring. Maybe if we win Sunday I could trade a new one with him and have one made up in good spirit of friendship.

Heres the full clip:

Its truly an incredible story, and made even more ridiculous by the fact that Kraft is willing to try and bargain with Putin to get him a custom ring after he stole it. Thats not even mentioning that this plan hinges on the President of the United States working as the middle man for this exchange, and Kraft wants it to happen on Trumps first summit with Putin.

In case you didnt already have a rooting interest for the Super Bowl between the Patriots and Falcons, if the Patriots win their owner wants to get a custom ring made for Vladimir Putin in good spirit of friendship. Rooting for the Patriots in the Super Bowl is literally rooting for Russia. Rise up.
Wellington (AFP) - The world's longest commercial flight landed in New Zealand Monday with the arrival of Qatar Airways's 14,535 kilometres (9,032 miles) Doha-Auckland service, the airline announced.

"We've officially landed in Auckland," the airline tweeted as flight QR920 landed at 7.25am (1825 GMT Sunday), five minutes ahead of schedule after a 16 hour 23 minute flight.

The long-range Boeing 777-200LR crossed 10 time zones on its marathon flight.

Qatar Airways noted the flight was longer than the entire "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" trilogies which were filmed in New Zealand.

There were four pilots on board as well as 15 cabin crew who served 1,100 cups of tea and coffee, 2,000 cold drinks and 1,036 meals during the flight.

In keeping with international tradition to welcome inaugural flights, the Auckland airport rescue service showered the plane with water cannons on arrival.

New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay said the estimated economic impact of the new service "will be well in excess" of NZ$50 million (US$36 million) with the increased freight capacity provided.

In March last year, Emirates airline launched what was then thought to be the world's longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight, with a service from Dubai to Auckland, spanning 14,200 kilometres (8,824 miles).

Air India's Delhi-San Francisco flight claims the world's longest by flying distance but when measured on the surface of the earth Doha and Auckland are further apart.
Young rookie Jordan Thompson claimed a winning double as Australia completed a 4-1 Davis Cup World Group victory over the Czech Republic in Melbourne on Sunday.

The 22-year-old, who was handed his debut by captain Lleyton Hewitt after Bernard Tomic made himself unavailable citing scheduling issues, won his second singles rubber of the tie on the Kooyong hardcourt.

Thompson, ranked 65, fought off the 157th-ranked Jan Satral 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 in 91 minutes to follow his 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 upset of 54th-ranked Jiri Vesely in Friday's opening singles.

Vesely earned the Czechs' only point of the tie when he downed Sam Groth, who stood in for Nick Kyrgios, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in Sunday's other reverse singles.

Australia will now face a home tie against the United States in the quarter-finals of the team competition on April 7-9.

"It's a pretty quick turnaround, eight weeks or so, so the players get to go away and play in a few big tournaments before that," Hewitt said.

"But I'm pretty happy with the way the boys are hitting it at the moment, so hopefully they come back playing just as well."

Asked if Tomic would be considered for selection to play the Americans, Hewitt said: "Ah. I don't know. Not sure. Can't answer that right now."

The Australians were always in control of the Kooyong tie against the hapless Czechs, who played without world number 12 Tomas Berdych and experienced Radek Stepanek, who withdrew from the doubles with injury.

Doubles pair John Peers and Groth secured the tie for Australia when they raced through the scratch Czech pairing of Vesely and Satral 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in Saturday's doubles.

World number 15 Kyrgios conceded just seven games in reeling off a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 win over Satral on Friday.

Australia now lead the Czech Republic 8-1 in the Davis Cup competition.

Australia, 28-time winners, have not won the Davis Cup since 2003 and only returned to the competition's top tier in 2014 after a six-year absence.
By Andrey Ostroukh MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Sunday that it supports the continuation of Syria peace talks under United Nations auspices, long-running negotiations which had been thrown into doubt by separate, Moscow-backed peace talks launched last month. The latest round of U.N. talks had been planned to begin in Geneva on Feb. 8 but Russias Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that they had been postponed. They have now been rescheduled for February 20, diplomats have told Reuters. The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said he had decided to delay them to take advantage of negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition in Astana, Kazakhstan, hosted by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran. The Astana talks last month ended with Russia, Turkey and Iran agreeing to monitor Syrian government and opposition compliance with a Dec. 30 truce brokered by Moscow and Ankara. Lavrov said on Sunday the Astana talks between representatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and opposition groups were a "breakthrough step" in efforts to resolve the crisis but were not instead of the U.N.-led talks. We are not planning to replace Geneva with the Astana format, he said in an interview published on the ministry's web site on Sunday. The Astana talks were a diplomatic coup that underlined the growing Middle East clout of Russia, Iran and Turkey and Washington's diminished influence at a time when Donald Trump is settling into the presidency. But the talks spotlighted sharp differences between Moscow and Tehran over the possible future participation of the United States and also excluded Gulf states, despite their major role in the proxy war in Syria that has drawn in the entire region. Iran, whose relations with Washington have nosedived since Trump became president, opposes any U.S. involvement. Lavrov reiterated on Sunday that the United States and Moscow were in a position to solve bilateral issues, improve ties and coordinate efforts to fight "international terrorism", but said it had to be on the basis of mutual respect. The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, also praised the Astana talks in a meeting with Russia's special envoy on Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, in Tehran on Sunday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). But he said peace was not achievable while Islamic State, which he labelled Daesh, as well as the al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front, which has renamed itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, and other unnamed groups he said were linked to them were present. As long as Daesh and al-Nusra and groups linked to them are present in Syria - and they are being protected and supported by some countries in the region - a political solution and peace for Syria and the region will not be achievable. The Syrian opposition have objected to Iran's role in the Astana talks, blaming Shi'ite militias backed by Tehran for violations of the fragile ceasefire agreement by launching military assaults in rebel-held suburbs of the capital. De Mistura said the United Nations would be attending a follow up technical meeting in Astana on Feb. 6 of the talks on the implementation and monitoring of the Syria ceasefire. (Additional reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh and Suleiman Al-Khalidi, editing by John Stonestreet and Philippa Fletcher)
Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - A Saudi warship targeted by Yemeni rebel "suicide" boats returned to its home port in Jeddah on Sunday, Saudi Arabia's national news agency said.

"The frigate, which was attacked by the Huthi militia while on patrol in the Red Sea, has returned to Jeddah as planned," the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Saudi Arabia said last week that two sailors were killed and three wounded when battleship Al-Madinah was hit by a Yemeni rebel "suicide" boat strike off the Red Sea port of Hodeida.

The Huthi rebels said they hit the ship with a guided missile.

The United States has since deployed the USS Cole to the Bab Al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, according to a US defence official.

Seventeen US military personnel were killed aboard the USS Cole in an attack in the Yemeni port city of Aden in October 2000 claimed by Al-Qaeda.

A Saudi-led Arab coalition launched a military campaign against the Huthi rebels in March 2015 as the insurgents closed in on President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in Aden, forcing him into exile.

More than 7,400 Yemenis have since been killed, most of them civilians, according to the World Health Organization.

At least 113 Saudis have been killed in skirmishes or rocket strikes along the border with Yemen since the coalition campaign began.
Photo: Getty Images

In a world where speaker of the house Paul Ryan explains what dabbing is (the popular dance move), it should surprise no one that White House press secretary Sean Spicer is having an online spat with a celebrity.

Charlie Sheen, a vocal critic of the new administration, fired a shot at Spicer on Twitter, calling him out on his choice of neckwear.

bro,

that shitty

Windsor

should b remodeled

to asphyxiate u. U R a shameful husk. crawl back

into your mom

you baleful

noxious shoat.

 pic.twitter.com/cK1IaR2o3T  Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) February 2, 2017

One might agree with Charlie (on that ugly tie, not that Spicer should be asphyxiated). The combination of a lime green tie with a violet shirt and navy blazer is an alternative fact we just cannot accept.

Spicer, in an interview with Fox News Jesse Watters this weekend, responded to Sheen, saying:

I would just say I think my tie knot is really nice and its a shame that he chooses to focus on that. I think that Im focused on promoting the presidents agenda, and if he wants to poke fun at my tie, thats fine with him, but I will continue to do my best to tie a nice knot and represent the president to the best of my ability.

On the subject of the tie knot in particular, its not difficult to side with Sheen  the apple-size double Windsor knot doesnt so much complement Spicers ensemble as it highlights the size of his rotund face.

Spicer, however, is only one among a legion of fashion offenders in the Washington, D.C., elite. Weve compiled just a few examples out of a growing ensemble of many:

First up is Orrin Hatch, Republican senator from Utah, upheld as an example of Washingtons acceptance of insane accessories. Behold this hideous polka-dot monstrosity he is wearing.

Orrin Hatch, left, and his misguided use of the polka-dot tie (Photo: Getty Images)

Maybe Hatch is a big fan of the game Twister, but given his seniority on the Hill, somehow we doubt that. There are a few justified occasions where you will see such large polka dots outside of a circus ring. This is not one of them.

Story continues

Another shining example is former President Barack Obama, whose bizarre tan suit shows how important color and fit are in a so-called power suit.

Photo: Getty Images

The prez is in a tough spot, since his options are limited, he needs to give off an air of command and respect, so that pretty much limits him to either black or navy blazers. We dont believe anyone who has access to the nuclear codes should be seen wearing beige. To boot, it doesnt look like its his cut, either. His slim frame gets lost in all that fabric.

We now recognize the gentleman from Oregon, Democratic representative Mr. Earl Blumenauer, as perhaps one of the more confusedly dressed members of the legislative branch. Blumenauer is a fan of that sartorial seductress: the bowtie. He likes it so much its become his trademark.

Photo: Getty Images

He also seems to have a penchant for plaid or windowpane fabrics in his suits. Were we on his staff, wed advise him to stick with one or the other. Much like Congress made us realize with their approach to healthcare, you cant have it all. Ultimately, unless you are James Bond in black tie, or Bill Nye the Science Guy, perhaps avoid the bowtie in the first place.

These are but a few of the many style issues wed love to see get cleaned up as they drain the swamp in D.C. Of course there are much bigger issues to tackle, but isnt it all about the details?

Related:

Did J. Crew Just Decide the Skinny Tie Is Over?

President Donald Trump Taped His Tie at Inauguration

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Its time to put on your tin foil hats because its conspiracy time at the Super Bowl.

According to Peter King from The MMQB, security at Falcons practice at Rice University (which is in a residential area) grounded a drone that was sent into the air on Thursday by one of the residents nearby.

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With the field situated next to a residential area abutting the Rice campus, there was extra security between the edge of the field (with a fence and high hedges) and the neighborhood, so the Falcons could feel secure running a practice as though they were at their home facility. There was only one brief security heads-up: Security officers grounded a drone that was sent airborne by one of the residents in the neighborhood on Thursday.

This is almost assuredly nothing, but because there was a drone sighting above Falcons practice during Super Bowl week with the Patriots as an opponent, there will be those that call shenanigans on Bill Belichick and his shifty ways. Marshall Faulk insisted this week that the Patriots taped Rams practices before Super Bowl XXXVI and every opponent that has felt wronged by the Patriots since Spygate wants to believe that there was tomfoolery afoot from New England.

This Falcons drone story in particular feels like a lot of nothing, but if the Pats shut down the Falcons high-powered offense on Sunday night, you better believe there will be a group crying foul and pointing to this as evidence. Who knows, maybe Russia has its hand in it. Or maybe itll have something to do with Alex Mack playing with a broken leg.

(h/t CBS Sports)
33-kg gold smuggling case: CIB arrests SSP Khatri

A team of Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Nepal Police on Sunday arrested Senior Superintendent of Police Shyam Khatri in connection with the 33-kg gold smuggling case.
Kosovska Mitrovica (Kosovo) (AFP) - Serbs in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica on Sunday began tearing down a concrete wall on the banks of the Ibar river that had drawn the ire of the Kosovar authorities.

The mayor of the city's Serb-dominated northern sector, Goran Rakic, had said the barrier was built last month to protect a new pedestrian zone near a bridge that connects to the southern zone, home to most of the city's ethnic Albanian population.

But the two-metre-high (six and a half feet) wall, stretching some 100 metres, was seen by many as an effort to cement the town's divisions.

On Sunday, two bulldozers were employed by a crew of workers to start knocking down the barrier, an AFP journalist reported.

The move was the first evidence of a thaw between Belgrade and Pristina after weeks of strained relations, and came after EU-sponsored talks between leaders of the two sides in Brussels last week.

"It's an extremely good sign, showing that both sides can reach an agreement given sufficient political will," said Nataliya Apostolova, the EU representative to Kosovo.

Tensions had been running high in Kosovo since last month, when Belgrade sent a train towards Kosovo painted in the colours of the Serbian flag, bearing the words "Kosovo is Serbia" in multiple languages, and decorated inside with Serbian Orthodox imagery.

Kosovo called it a "provocation", and the train was stopped from crossing the border over fears it would be attacked, according to Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

Members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority were also outraged by the arrest in France in January of former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, under an international warrant issued by Serbia.

Belgrade wants to try him for alleged war crimes committed against civilians during the 1990s conflict.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian insurgents fought Serbian forces in 1998-1999. The former province unilaterally declared independence in 2008, but Serbia denies Kosovo's sovereignty.
Kosovska Mitrovica (Kosovo) (AFP) - Ethnic Serbs in the Kosovo town of Mitrovica on Sunday tore down a controversial wall critics blamed for reinforcing ethnic divisions in an already tense region.

The mayor of the city's Serb-dominated northern sector, Goran Rakic, argued the barrier built last month would protect a new pedestrian zone near the bridge crossing the Ibar river to the southern zone, where most of the town's ethnic Albanian population live.

But the two-metre (six and a half feet)-high concrete wall, stretching some 100 metres, quickly took on a larger political dimension, with Kosovar authorities in Pristina calling for its dismantling.

On Sunday, a crew of workers operating two bulldozers took three hours to demolish the barrier, an AFP journalist reported.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini hailed the move as "constructive", and said leaders on both sides were "demonstrating courage and vision by taking down walls and focusing on building bridges".

The move was the first evidence of a thaw between Kosovo and its northern neighbour Serbia after weeks of strained relations, and came after EU-sponsored talks between leaders of both sides in Brussels last month.

Ties between the two Balkan countries have reached their lowest level since they opened talks to improve relations back in 2011, three years after Kosovo declared independence from its larger neighbour.

Last month Belgrade sent a train towards Kosovo painted in the colours of the Serbian flag, bearing the words "Kosovo is Serbia" in multiple languages, and decorated inside with Serbian Orthodox imagery.

Pristina called it a "provocation", and the train was stopped from crossing the border over fears it would be attacked, according to Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

Members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority were also outraged by the arrest in France in January of former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, under an international warrant issued by Serbia, which wants him tried for alleged war crimes committed during the 1990s conflict.

Story continues

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian insurgents fought Serbian forces in 1998-1999.

The former province unilaterally declared independence in 2008, but Serbia does not formally recognise Kosovo's sovereignty.

Mogherini has warned the two states that normalising relations is essential if they want to pursue closer relations with the European Union.
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea confirmed a case of foot-and-mouth disease at a dairy farm, the country's first outbreak less than a year, its agriculture ministry said on Monday. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement that the disease had been detected at a dairy farm in Boeun county, about 170 kilometers (105.63 miles) southeast of Seoul. All 195 cows raised in the farm had been culled to contain the disease. The outbreak comes as Asia's fourth largest economy has been grappling with a nationwide spread of virulent bird flu virus since November last year, leading to cull nearly 33 million farm birds and raising the country's bird flu alert level to the highest for the first time. This is not the first confirmation of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in South Korea. A case was discovered at a hog farm in South Chungcheong Province in March last year, according to the statement. The agriculture ministry said it has stepped up quarantine measures including a movement ban for farms within a 3 kilometer-radius of where the disease had been found. The ministry also said the disease was unlikely to be widespread as it was one of the three types that the country inoculates against. (Reporting By Jane Chung; Editing by Bernard Orr)
A fire in a South Korea shopping mall killed four and injured more than 40 others, authorities said on Sunday.

Police suspect that sparks from a welding torch might have started the fire on Saturday in a kids' play area in the mall in Dongtan, a commuter town south of Seoul.

Two of the four who died were builders and the others were a mall worker and a shopper. Most of the 47 injured complained of smoke inhalation.

The play area was closed at the time of the fire.

Fire authorities urged builders to follow safety regulations, noting that welding torches were blamed for past blazes.

These include a December 2008 warehouse fire in the eastern city of Icheon that claimed eight lives and a shopping mall blaze at a bus terminal in Koyang, north of Seoul, which killed nine and injured 60.
Dubai (AFP) - Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir accused the Egyptian government of harbouring and backing Sudanese opposition figures fighting his troops, in remarks broadcast on Sunday.

In his first such accusation against Cairo, Bashir said in an interview broadcast by Al-Arabiya that Sudanese opposition figures were "backed by Egyptian intelligence services".

"We raise this issue every time when we meet Egyptian officials," said Bashir.

Sudanese troops are fighting rebels in three conflict regions -- Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

"Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is a good man and he is my friend, but it's the Egyptian intelligence that I am accusing," he said.

"I'm not accusing President Sisi. I'm accusing the regime."

Bashir also denied allegations that Khartoum was hosting several members of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement banned by Cairo.

"Our policy is not to disturb the peace and security of any country and not to intervene in any internal issues of any country," he said.

Bashir reiterated that Sudan will protest to the United Nations if Egypt does not end its occupation of a border region claimed by his country.

"The Halayeb triangle is Sudanese and we will not make any concessions," he said.

Sudan will lodge a protest with the UN Security Council if Egypt refuses to settle the dispute, said Bashir, calling for "negotiations" with Cairo.

Egypt occupied the sparsely populated 25,000-square-kilometre (10,000-square-mile) Halayeb triangle in 1995, during a low point in relations between the two countries.

Sudan has regularly protested about Egypt's administration of Halayeb, which lies near the Red Sea in a mineral-rich border region.

Khartoum says that Halayeb has been part of its sovereign territory since shortly after independence in 1956.

Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and genocide related to the conflict in Darfur, also spoke in the interview of Sudan's ties with Washington.

Story continues

The United States has blacklisted Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1993 and imposed a trade embargo on Khartoum in 1997 over its alleged support for Islamist groups.

"There is a five-point roadmap between us and the United States. The first point, terrorism, has been completed 100 percent and the Americans have acknowledged that," said Bashir.

He said he now expected the US Congress to remove Sudan from the blacklist.

Before he left office, former US president Barack Obama announced in a letter to Congress that he was easing economic sanctions against Khartoum.
Just hours before the big game, the Super Bowl 2017 point spread remains the same as its been for two weeks. The New England Patriots are three-point favorites over the Atlanta Falcons Sunday in Houston, though other aspects of the betting odds have seen changes in recent days.

The over/under is still the highest in Super Bowl history, but it was even higher earlier in the week. After reaching 59 at most Las Vegas sportsbooks, the total is down to 58.5, via OddsShark. Most online sportsbooks appear to have the over/under set at 58.

Atlanta is the NFLs highest-scoring team, ranking eighth in regular-season history with 33.8 points per game. New England finished the regular season third in points scored, though the teams offense has been even better since Week 5 when Tom Brady returned from his suspension.

The moneyline has also changed somewhat, giving the Falcons a better chance to pull off the upset than they had earlier in the week. Atlanta is given +130 odds to win outright, while New England is down to a -150 favorite at many sportsbooks. Some oddsmakers have the Patriots as small as -145 favorites.

Julian Edelman New England Patriots

Photo: Getty Images

Among the numerous prop bets for Super Bowl LI are the alternate betting lines that gamblers can wager on. The betting website Bovada.lv offers 24 extra point spreads, including New England-7.5 at +350 and New England-10.5 at +450. Betting on the Patriots as 3.5-point underdogs comes with -275 odds.

Betting on Atlanta as a favorite comes with some pretty good odds. The Falcons have +600 odds to cover a 14.5-point spread, and they have +350 odds to win by more than seven points. There are also lines that make Atlanta an even bigger underdog than they are. Bovada.lv gives the Falcons -500 odds as 13.5-point underdogs and -1800 odds as 21.5-point underdogs.

Story continues

In their six trips to the Super Bowl since 2002, all of New Englands games have been decided by four points or less. The Patriots and Falcons have won both of their playoff games by at least 16 points.

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Paris (AFP) - The suspected Louvre Museum attacker refused to talk to French police during two rounds of questioning, a judicial source said.

The man, believed to be an Egyptian national, was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded after lunging at soldiers with two machetes on Friday.

The attack was the latest in a string of assaults in France and thrust the issue of security back into the headlines three months ahead of the presidential election.

Investigators questioned him twice at his hospital bed where he is receiving treatment after his condition improved but he "still refuses to speak", the judicial source said.

The suspect has been held at a Paris hospital since the attack near the museum on Friday morning.

Based on his phone and visa records, he is thought to be Abdallah El-Hamahmy, a 29-year-old Egyptian living in the United Arab Emirates, who entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26.

Investigators believe Hamahmy rented an expensive apartment near the Champs Elysees avenue.

The accommodation, which cost 1,700 euros ($1,830) a month, was booked online in June, a source close to the investigation said.

- DNA testing -

Investigators say the attacker, who was carrying two machetes and wearing a black T-shirt with a skull design, lunged at four soldiers shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest").

President Francois Hollande said that "there is little doubt as to the terrorist nature of this act".

French investigators have contacted Egyptian officials in hopes of confirming the suspect's identity through DNA testing, a source close to the inquiry said.

They also plan to contact officials in the UAE and in Turkey, since Hamahmy's passport had two visas from Turkey in 2015 and 2016.

Police are also examining Hamahmy's Twitter account after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic just minutes before the attack.

"In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world," he wrote, before referring to the Islamic State jihadist group in another tweet a minute later.

Story continues

Speaking to AFP in Cairo on Saturday, a retired police general, Reda El-Hamahmy, said he believed the wounded suspect was his son, Abdallah, who had been in Paris on a business trip.

But he said there were no signs his son had been radicalised.

"He went on a company trip and when it was over visited the museum. He was supposed to leave on Saturday," he told AFP, saying his son was married and his pregnant wife was currently staying in Saudi Arabia with their seven-month-old son.

"He is a simple guy," he said. "I can show you pictures where he has no beard," he said. Beards are often grown by devout Muslims.

Over the past two years, France has suffered a string of bloody attacks by Islamic extremists and has been under a state of emergency since November 2015.

Security, immigration and the economy are all major issues for voters ahead of this year's presidential and parliamentary elections which are expected to confirm the country's shift to the right after five years of Socialist rule.

Formally launching her presidential campaign, far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Sunday promised a massive increase in spending on law and order.

"We will not expect the French people to get used to living with terrorism," she said in the central city of Lyon, where she had once compared the sight of Muslims praying in the street to the Nazi occupation.

Worries over security have taken a toll on the Louvre, a former palace in the heart of Paris, which has seen annual visitor numbers fall to 7.3 million since the November 2015 attacks, a drop of around two million.

After being closed immediately after the attack, the museum reopened Saturday under a heavy presence of police and soldiers.
Taipei (AFP) - Taiwan has banned euthanising animals in shelters, which follows the tragic suicide last year of a vet burdened with the task of putting down animals.

The law came into effect Saturday, two years after it was passed by parliament -- a period meant to prepare shelters for the ban.

But during the wait, animal lover Chien Chih-cheng took her own life with euthanasia drugs, reportedly upset at having to kill animals at the shelter she worked at.

Reports at the time said Chien was called a "butcher" by activists.

Her death sparked calls for authorities to improve conditions for animals and staff at shelters.

An animal welfare group, Life Conservationist Association, estimated more than 1.2 million animals not adopted from shelters have been put down since 1999.

"Animal protection in Taiwan has moved towards a new milestone," the association's executive director Ho Tsung-hsun said in a statement.

But Taiwan's Council of Agriculture warned the ban would lead to a deterioration in the quality of shelters through a surging intake or it may discourage the capture of strays.

"It's impossible for there to be no problems," said Wang Chung-shu, deputy chief of the animal husbandry department, according to The China Times.

He said Taiwan's ban was "quite idealised", adding that manpower was a problem because the vet's suicide had had a "chilling effect" on the sector, according to the report.

Even before the legislation, the number of animals being put down had been steadily declining.

Last year, 12.38 percent of the 64,276 animals in public shelters were euthanised, according to official statistics.

That compares with 94,741 animals in shelters in 2014, of which 26.45 percent were put down.
CIEDP lays groundwork for investigation

A Forensic Coordination Committee involving forensic experts and stakeholders has been proposed to facilitate the tasks of exhumation and excavation to be carried out by the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) during its investigation into the incidents of disappearance.
By Alastair Macdonald VALLETTA (Reuters) - "Our Donald", or "the other Donald"? European Union leaders meeting in Malta found themselves taking sides, between their summit chairman, "our Donald" Tusk, and the new U.S. president, Donald Trump. But despite declarations of unity, EU states are split on how to respond to policies from a man who has reversed staunch postwar U.S. support for European integration and suggested others follow Britain out of a bloc he has called "a vehicle for Germany". Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, said EU leaders gave him the "our Donald" nickname in Malta. He presented it as a sign of their support, saying before the summit that Trump posed a "threat" to the bloc, alongside Russia, China and violent Islam. "The mood in the room was 'our Donald' and 'the other Donald'," said one person present at the talks, where Tusk also felt confident enough in his support to confirm he wants a second term as president of the European Council. His political enemies in the Warsaw government publicly disavowed any sense of unanimity behind Tusk, however, calling his criticism of Trump a "gross abuse" and accusing him of "sowing fear" and "seeking confrontation". Others, less publicly, said there was wider disquiet that the EU could turn its back on its Transatlantic relationship. Such internal arguments pit historic unease, especially in France, over U.S. influence against fears of weakening a Western front against Russia and, increasingly, China. How they play out will help shape Trump's hopes, for example, of saving U.S. money spent on NATO and shifting world trade in Americans' favor. They will also flavor the EU's Brexit talks with London - where Prime Minister Theresa May sees Britain being a bridge between Washington and Brussels - as well as efforts by some states to tighten cooperation on euro zone economic policies and other areas, notably an independent EU military capability. "STRATEGIC AUTONOMY" As a Pole well aware it is U.S. forces that underpin NATO's security guarantees in eastern Europe, Tusk nuanced his call to Europeans to pull together to defend their independent interests against the "superpowers, the United States, Russia and China" with an appeal to Americans to preserve "the Transatlantic bond without which global order and peace cannot survive". But some leaders worry Trump's coolness toward NATO and the exit of well-armed Britain will fuel ambitions for Europeans to loosen that bond - notably in Paris, which has often chafed at "Anglo-American" influence and where officials say Trump shows France has been right to seek "strategic autonomy" for the EU. "The French ... are as usual saying 'It's just the European Union now; there's no such thing as the West'," said a senior eastern European diplomat, criticizing Paris's view. "The Germans are much more cautious. There is a clear issue to be decided on whether we should seek a common ground to engage with the United States, or turn our backs." As EU leaders prepare to map out a post-Brexit strategy at a 60th anniversary summit in Rome next month, French President Francois Hollande criticized Trump and eastern European governments he accused of raking in EU subsidies but then breaking ranks and undermining the bloc by seeking special favor from Washington. Many in the east are especially alarmed by Trump's warmer tone toward Russia but some back his entry ban on Muslims, which echoes their own criticisms of EU refugee policies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel took a less confrontational tone but stressed the need for "multilateralism" - a prod to Trump not to try and circumvent the EU by talking only to national leaders, and to Europeans to speak with a single voice. Whether "the other Donald" gets that message is another matter, given a seemingly hazy grasp on who is who in Brussels. The tycoon-turned-president told an interviewer last month he had spoken to "the head of the European Union" and named his interlocutor as Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU chief executive. In fact, however, he had spoken to "our Donald", Tusk. "Sometimes I have an impression that the new administration does not know the EU in detail," Juncker said drily on Friday. "But, in Europe, details matter." (Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey is once again facing off against historic foe-turned-ally Greece in one of their fiercest rows in years, though the war of words is unlikely to spill over into military confrontation.

With some two months before Turks vote on a critical referendum to enhance presidential powers, this renewed dispute is fuelling nationalistic sentiment inside Turkey.

Forging a less ideological and more pragmatic relationship with Athens has been seen as one of the major foreign policy gains of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party since it came to power in 2002.

But tensions over disputed Greek islets in the Aegean Sea, airspace violations and discord on how to handle Byzantine heritage inside Turkey have cracked open an old schism between the two NATO allies.

The refusal in January of a Greek court to extradite eight former Turkish army officers over the failed July 15 coup widened that chasm.

The eight fled to Greece by military helicopter on the night of the putsch, which Turkey says was masterminded by the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen.

Defence Minister Fikri Isik slammed the Greek court's decision as a "complete disappointment".

"Any decision taken by Turkey's partners in relation to the failed coup is bound to be highly controversial, be it Gulen's extradition from the US or the officers' extradition from Greece," said Marc Pierini, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe.

- 'Unwanted situation' -

In an apparent riposte, a Turkish naval vessel with Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar onboard conducted a sail-by of two disputed islets in the Aegean on January 29, prompting Greece to shadow the Turkish boats with its own forces.

The uninhabited islets -- known collectively as Kardak in Turkish and Imia in Greek -- have long been a source of tension.

A row over their sovereignty flared in January 1996, when the two countries sent marines to two neighbouring islands in a sign of an imminent armed confrontation.

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They withdrew their troops after heavy diplomatic pressure from the United States, a fellow NATO member.

Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos later flew over the islets in a helicopter, throwing a wreath into the water to commemorate three Greek soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in the 1996 dispute.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned that "if the situation escalates -- God forbid, if an unwanted situation happens -- it would be irreparable".

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim accused Kammenos of posturing, arguing that there were "130 large and small rocks" in the Aegean whose status is disputed.

But Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras warned Ankara its actions "would lead nowhere", insisting there were no "grey areas" of territory in the Aegean and that Turkey had simply violated Greek waters.

- 'Too many risks' -

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias blamed the tensions on Turkish domestic politics.

"Many aspects of foreign policy have not gone as they wanted and they have big internal problems," he told Alpha Radio.

Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, director for the Centre for International and European Studies at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, said Turkey and Greece have never formalised their partnership beyond political dialogue and hopes to boost trade.

"Without a viable legal and political framework embedding the relations... the maintenance of the status quo holds far too many risks," he said.

He argued that the standoff was being used by Turkey to show that "if it wants, it can bite" in the extradition row, at a time of political turbulence at home.

Nationalist rhetoric traditionally escalates in Turkey ahead of elections and Turks are expected to vote in April in a potentially tight referendum on giving Erdogan extra powers.

- 'No interest in escalation' -

Greece and Turkey joined NATO simultaneously in 1952 as postwar Europe and the United States worked to ensure they never again went to war.

But the relationship remained explosive, not least when Turkish paratroopers invaded Cyprus in 1974 in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.

But those tensions were set aside with the so-called earthquake diplomacy of 1999 -- where Greece responded quickly to a devastating earthquake in Turkey.

Turkey then turned around and helped its neighbour when a deadly quake hit Athens a month later.

The ascent to power of the Islamic-rooted government of Erdogan, who sought to distance Turkey from the vigorous secular nationalism of past administrations, further helped.

The relationship is of far more than just bilateral importance and Turkish officials have already indicated this new row could hurt a deal with the EU to cut the flow of migrants.

The two sides are also working together to end the division of Cyprus. The UN's Cyprus envoy Espen Barth Eide admitted the tensions were something "I'd rather be without".

Yet both sides also emphasised they want to keep relations alive, with Kotzias expressing hope they can "soften the tone".

"I do not think that any side has an interest in further escalation," said Ioannis Grigoriadis, assistant professor at Ankara's Bilkent University.

He predicted the dispute will "once again go on the back burner".
Protest: Demonstrators gather at the US Embassy in central London: PA Wire/PA Images

Thousands of people joined a protest against Donald Trump in London on Saturday following the US President's controversial travel ban.

Organisers claimed 40,000 people took part, gathering at the US embassy in Grosvenor Square at 11am, before making their way towards Whitehall.

The protesters clutched banners reading "Love Trumps Hate" and "Theresa the Appeaser".

Another, parodying Mr Trump's election slogan, read: "Make America Think Again."

Demp: Protesters hold up placards reading 'no to Islamophobia' (PA Wire/PA Images)

Organisations including Stop the War and Stand Up to Racism were involved in organising the event.

Activist John Rees, co-founder of Stop the War Coalition, said there were almost 40,000 people at the demonstration which showed that "the Government has got a very, very big problem with the state visit".

He said Mrs May had a choice to either "insult the American president, or insult a majority of people in this country who don't share that president's views on practically any issue you care to mention".

Mr Rees added: "He (Mr Trump) thinks one way about women, most people in this country don't share that view. He thinks one way about Muslims, most people don't share that view.

Protest: Demonstrators gather at the US Embassy in central London (PA Wire/PA Images)

"She's got a choice: she can either insult him, or us."

Mr Rees also claimed that Theresa May had "walked into a storm wholly bigger than she could imagine" and urged her to "disinvite" the president.

The march was set up to condemn the travel ban, alongside the forthcoming state visit of Mr Trump to the UK.

The biggest crowds. The best people. Standing up to hatred. Dumb hatred. Proud. @AntiRacismDay pic.twitter.com/8w2Q3jFfzX  Bryan Pirolli (@WhereIsBryanP) February 4, 2017

Protester Bryan Pirolli tweeted a picture of the demonstrators, writing: "The biggest crowds. The best people.

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"Standing up to hatred. Dumb hatred. Proud."

Rich Squince wrote: "Demo surrounds US embassy. Trump not welcome here!"

One of Mr Trump's first acts as President was to issue an executive order banning entry to the US for people from seven Muslim-majority countries.

A judge ruled against the President on Friday, blocking the ban nationwide in a move the White House is set to challenge.

Saturday's protest was the third large scale demonstration in the capital since Mr Trump's inauguration.

Kevin Courtney, NUT general secretary, told the crowds that Mr Trump's policies were aimed at "stoking up fear".

Protest: Thousands joined the march (PA Wire/PA Images)

He said that the "fear and division" was evident in schools and told the masses gathered: "I'm here to say that every teacher should be involved in the campaign against Trump."

"We can fight Trump's policies, we can fight that division," Mr Courtney added.

Dawn Butler, MP for Brent Central, told the crowds that Mrs May needed to "understand the responsibility" of the UK's relationship with the US.

She added: "The answer isn't walls and the answer isn't bans."

Demo: Donald Trump has introduced a controversial travel ban (PA Wire/PA Images)

The crowds marched down Park Lane - filling the length of the famous London street - and along Piccadilly towards Downing Street.

They chanted "Donald Trump has got to go" and "No ban, no wall" as they went.

Park Lane, Piccadilly, Pall Mall East, Haymarket and Trafagar Square were all closed off for the demo.

The prime minister invited the American president to visit Britain later this year during a recent trip to the White House.

Hours later, Mr Trump introduced a 90-day travel ban on residents from seven predominantly Muslim countries - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen - to stop "radical Islamic terrorists" from coming to America, sparking fury.

A petition calling on the government to prevent Mr Trump from making a state visit because it would cause "embarrassment" to the Queen has received more than 1.8 million signatures.

Downing Street rejected claims the Queen has been put in a difficult position due to the invitation and insisted the state visit would go ahead this year, but MPs will debate the matter later this month.

Since the ban was announced, there have been protests at several US airports where travellers were being held, including at least 2,000 protesters at New York's Kennedy International Airport, while thousands took to the streets of the UK amid anger over the ban.
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP)  To get a feel for how North Korea's economy works, go buy a roll of toilet paper. Or start up a mobile phone network. As capitalist-style markets have grown more important in North Korea, so has a market-friendly exchange rate for the much-coveted U.S. dollars, euros and Chinese yuan that lubricate the North's economy. But the official and unofficial rates are totally out of whack. And as one big investor recently found out, the difference can mean hundreds of millions of dollars in lost profits. Dueling exchange rates are a common issue for developing countries that have an official premium rate set by the government, often for political purposes that don't reflect economic realities and are therefore often ignored in the marketplace.

MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Communist guerrillas in the Philippines said Monday they want to proceed with peace talks that President Rodrigo Duterte has scrapped, but that reimposing a cease-fire would be difficult if the military keeps on violating the truce. Duterte on Friday lifted the government's 6-month-old cease-fire with the rebels and said Saturday that he was scrapping the talks brokered by Norway. Those moves came after the guerrillas abandoned their own truce and killed six soldiers and kidnapped two others in fresh violence. The government and the rebels separately declared cease-fires last year to foster peace talks, which had steadily progressed in recent months before rapidly deteriorating in recent weeks.

NEW DELHI (AP)  It's no surprise that satirical portraits of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un are the centerpiece of the India Art Fair, the annual feast of visual arts where politics took center stage this year, including groundbreaking projects on migration and rapidly changing urban landscapes in South Asia. Titled "Peace Owners," the work of Nepali artist Sunil Sigdel uses Buddhist motifs on the faces of the three global leaders. "Artists are responding to the global political climate," said Dina Bangdel, curator of Nepal Art Council in New Delhi. "We are also looking at agriculture and perhaps the disintegration of the rural community with urbanization.

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TOKYO (AP)  In his debut abroad as the first retired general to lead the Pentagon in more than half a century, Jim Mattis found that in Japan and South Korea his experience in uniform is seen as an asset. Not everyone who knows Mattis well in the U.S. shares that view, but he clearly was an instant hit in northeast Asia. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was effusive in his endorsement as the two shook hands Friday before a phalanx of Japanese and international news reporters and cameras. "I was very encouraged," Abe said, "to see someone like you who has substantial experience, both in the military and in security, defense and diplomacy, taking this office." Mattis won easy confirmation by the U.S.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australia's prime minister on Sunday ruled out any deal to get the United States to honor an agreement to resettle hundreds of Muslim refugees that President Donald Trump has described as "dumb." Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull also dismissed a Nine Network television network journalist's suggestion that he should be offended that White House spokesman Sean Spicer has repeatedly called him "Trumbull" in press briefings. Turnbull said, "The important thing is results." Spicer says Trump has agreed to honor an Obama administration deal to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers rejected by Australia. Trump made the agreement during a conversation with Turnbull last weekend, but has since tweeted, "I will study this dumb deal!" Turnbull said Trump had asked for nothing in return for resettling the mostly Muslim refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

BEIJING (AP)  Authorities have detained those in charge of a foot massage parlor in eastern China in which 18 people were killed and another 18 injured in a fire Sunday. The official Xinhua News Agency gave no further details and the cause of the fire was under investigation on Monday. Workers jumped out of windows to escape the blaze, which broke out at the Zuxintang parlor in Zhejiang province's Tiantai county at around 4 p.m. China has struggled to improve workplace safety and change a deep-rooted business mentality that puts profits above all else. Recent disasters include an explosion at a hazardous material warehouse in the eastern city of Tianjin in August 2015 that killed at least 114 people.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)  Bangladesh is sticking to its plan to relocate Rohingya Muslims, who fled Myanmar in the face of persecution, from overcrowded and unhealthy camps in a southern coastal district to a low-lying island still not ready for human habitation. Foreign Minister A.H. Mahmood Ali briefed about 60 diplomats and representatives of various agencies and sought their help to relocate the Rohingya to Thengar Char in eastern Bangladesh, a government statement said late Sunday. More than 300,000 Rohingya Muslims have been living in Bangladesh for decades while about 66,000 more have crossed the border since October amid renewed persecution and targeted attacks by soldiers and majority Buddhists in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

BANGKOK (AP)  A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves: ___ EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest developments in the South China Sea, home to several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region. ___ MATTIS RULES OUT MILITARY RESPONSE IN SOUTH CHINA SEA On his first trip to Asia as secretary of defense, Jim Mattis ruled out a military response to China's assertiveness in the South China Sea but promised to continue with freedom of navigation operations to oppose Beijing's occupation of disputed islands.

SYDNEY (AP)  Seven percent of priests in Australia's Catholic Church were accused of sexually abusing children over the past several decades, a lawyer said Monday as officials investigating institutional abuse across Australia revealed for the first time the extent of the crisis. The statistics were released during the opening address of a hearing of Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The royal commission  which is Australia's highest form of inquiry  has been investigating since 2013 how the Catholic Church and other institutions responded to the sexual abuse of children over decades. The commission has previously heard harrowing testimony from scores of people who suffered abuse at the hands of clergy.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  Avalanches in Afghanistan have killed at least 54 people in the last three days, officials said Sunday. Omer Mohammadi, spokesman for the Afghan state minister for disaster management and humanitarian affairs, said that more than 50 others have been injured in different parts of the country, updating an earlier toll. He said more than 150 homes have been destroyed by the avalanches and that 50 others were heavily damaged. The avalanches, which came after heavy snowfall, have also killed an estimated 550 animals and destroyed more than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of farmland, Mohammadi said. Mohammad Aseem, governor of the hard-hit northern province of Parwan, said 16 people were killed and eight others injured in avalanches in two districts.
BOSTON (AP) -- Travelers from the seven predominantly Muslim countries targeted by President Donald Trump enjoyed tearful reunions with loved ones in the U.S. on Sunday after a federal judge swept the ban aside.

Airlines around the world allowed people to board flights as usual to the United States. One lawyer waiting at New York's Kennedy Airport said visa and green-card holders from Iraq and Iran were encountering no problems as they arrived.

"It's business as usual," said Camille Mackler, of the New York Immigration Coalition.

Fariba Tajrostami, a 32-year-old painter from Iran, came through the gate at Kennedy with a huge smile and tears in her eyes as her brothers greeted her with joyful hugs.

"I'm very happy. I haven't seen my brothers for nine years," she said.

Tajrostami had tried to fly to the U.S. from Turkey over a week ago but was turned away.

"I was crying and was so disappointed," she said. "Everything I had in mind, what I was going to do, I was so disappointed about everything. I thought it was all over."

Tajrostami said she hopes to study art in the U.S. and plans to join her husband in Dallas soon. He moved from Iran six months ago, has a green card and is working at a car dealership.

Similar scenes played out across the U.S. two days after a federal judge in Seattle suspended the president's travel ban and just hours after a federal appeals court denied the Trump administration's request to set aside the ruling.

The U.S. canceled the visas of up to 60,000 foreigners in the week after the ban on travel from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen took effect, according to the State Department. Trump also suspended nearly all refugee admissions for 120 days and barred Syrian refugees indefinitely.

The order triggered protests and a multitude of legal challenges around the country and blocked numerous college students, researchers and others from entering the U.S.

Trump, who said the goal was to keep terrorists from slipping into the country, lashed out against U.S. District Judge James Robart for putting the ban on hold. He referred to Robart as a "so-called judge" and called the ruling "ridiculous."

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On Sunday, the president tweeted: "Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!"

At JFK on Sunday evening, Abdullah Alghazali hugged and kissed his 13-year-old son, Ali Abdullah Alghazali, who he had not seen in six years. That wait was made even longer by Trump's executive order.

Ali and his mother, Musarlah Alghazali, had left Yemen a year and a half ago to Egypt because of the war at home. Musarlah came to the U.S. two and a half months ago, but Ali stayed behind in Egypt with cousins while he waited for his visa to be approved. The boy was not able to leave until last Saturday, after the executive order was in effect.

"When he went to the airport to come over here they stopped him last week, Saturday. I tried again the next week, Thursday, but they put him back again," Abdullah said. "They said they had an order from the US government to not allow anybody with a visa or green card to come to the United States."

Mahsa Azabadi, 29, an Iranian-American who lives in Denver, was forced to put her wedding plans on hold after her fiance, Sorena Behzadfar, was turned away when he tried to board a plane to travel from Iran to the U.S. on Jan. 28.

Over the weekend, though, Behzadfar was cleared for travel and was expected to arrive at Boston's Logan Airport on Sunday afternoon.

"It's been a really tough week to figure out what will happen to us," said Azabadi, who has lived in the U.S. for 11 years and is now a U.S. citizen.

The couple is hoping to keep their wedding date of May 12.

"Seeing the support from the lawyers and different people trying to help, it was really nice," she said. "We want to be the best and do the best for the people and for this country. We would love to have the opportunity."

An Iranian woman attempting to return home from Iran after initially being blocked from entry cleared through an immigration check in Boston and was expected to return home to Clemson, South Carolina, on Monday.

Nazanin Zinouri was taken off a plane in Dubai days after the travel ban went into effect. Zinouri, a legal U.S. resident, had traveled to Iran last month to visit family.

Eric Martinez, the founder of the startup technology firm where Zinouri works, said she planned to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday in Boston.

Iranian researcher Nima Enayati, a Ph.D. candidate at a university in Milan, was prevented from boarding a flight to the U.S. on Jan. 30. He had a visa to conduct research on robotic surgery at Stanford University in California.

On Sunday night, he arrived in New York.

"It feels great finally I'm here," Enayati said at JFK. "Considering the last 10 days we had no idea if we'll be able to make it or not."

Enayati said he feels safe for now, but worries that the travel ban could inhibit research in the future.

"We always had this open collaboration around the world," he said. "We never had concerns about whether we would be able to go somewhere physically or not."

At Cairo Airport on Sunday, officials said a total of 33 U.S.-bound migrants from Yemen, Syria and Iraq boarded flights.

Lebanon's National News Agency said airlines operating out of Beirut also began allowing Syrian families and others affected by the ban to fly. Beirut has no direct flights to the U.S.; travelers have to go through Europe.

At Kennedy, a team of volunteer lawyers that had set up operations in a diner to help arriving passengers during the height of the crisis packed up computer equipment and paperwork. A few volunteers and interpreters will stay behind just in case.

___

Associated Press writer Emery Dalesio contributed to this report from Raleigh, North Carolina. Mathis contributed from New York City.
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP)  An Iranian engineer who had been blocked from returning to South Carolina by President Donald Trump's travel ban against seven Muslim nations returned to the U.S. on Sunday, her employer said.

Nazanin Zinouri cleared through an immigration check in Boston and expected to return home Monday to Clemson, where the 29-year-old works for startup technology firm Modjoul, company founder Eric Martinez said in a phone interview. Zinouri had spent about 30 hours traveling from the Iranian capital, where she had gone late last month to visit family.

Zinouri, who is a legal U.S. resident, said last week she was taken off a plane in Dubai days after Trump signed an executive order temporarily banning entry from citizens of Iran and six other nations.

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the travel ban following a lawsuit by Washington state and Minnesota that said Trump's order is causing significant harm to residents and effectively mandates discrimination. A federal appeals court on Sunday denied a Justice Department request for an immediate reinstatement of the ban, creating at least a temporary opening for travel by citizens of the seven countries.

Zinouri said she rushed to return to the United States before the Trump administration could persuade other judges to reinstate the ban.

"The last 48 hours have felt a lot longer than 48 hours," she told Greenville television station WHNS (http://bit.ly/2jkHvZS). "It was chaos, it was a lot stress, it was a lot of shock and it was hearing the rumors, and then going from the rumors to actually something happening that would possibly affect my entire life and trying to somehow address the problem."

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina had urged Trump's executive order to be modified to people like Zinouri could enter the United States. Graham told people at Zinouri's workplace in Clemson, South Carolina, that the Clemson University graduate "is exactly the type of person we want to be part of America."

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"We've made a mistake," Graham said. "What I think happened here is the executive order was issued without really thinking it through."

The Trump administration said the president's executive order banning U.S. entry citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen is necessary to keep out potential terrorists until stricter vetting procedures are put in place.

Zinouri moved to the U.S. in August 2010 and obtained a master's degree from Northern Illinois University, then obtained a Ph.D. in industrial engineering last year on a full scholarship from Clemson University, where she won a prestigious research award.

She began working in August for Modjoul, which makes a monitor for workers to help companies prevent injuries. Martinez, of Mercer Island, Washington, described Zinouri as "the smartest lady I know."

Martinez said Zinouri made plans to watch the Super Bowl on television in Boston.
Govt move irks animal rights activists

Animal rights activists on Saturday protested against the governments decision to allow wildlife farming and commercialisation of the wildlife products, arguing that the move would encourage illegal wildlife market.
Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) - President Donald Trump blasted the federal courts for a second day in a row on Sunday after his efforts to implement a travel ban were suspended and warned that the judiciary could be placing Americans in "peril."

"Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!" the president tweeted, after uncharacteristically taking a nearly day-long break from Twitter.

"I have instructed Homeland Security to check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!"

The saga began on January 27 when Trump issued a blanket ban on all refugees, as well as on travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

That sparked a worldwide furor, prompting protest marches and demonstrations in cities and at airports across the United States.

On Friday, a federal judge in Seattle, James Robart, blocked the ban nationwide pending a wider legal review.

On Saturday Trump angrily fired off multiple tweets on the matter, stating that the "so-called judge" was "ridiculous" -- and drawing criticism from Democrats and others who said the president was dangerously close to interfering with the judicial branch of government.

A leading Democratic senator, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said Trump seemed "intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis."

Then early Sunday, a US appeals court rejected an urgent government request to reinstate Trump's controversial ban.
In the excerpt of an interview, which is set to air later Sunday before the Super Bowl, President Donald Trump can be heard defending Russian President Vladimir Putin while speaking to Fox News' Bill O'Reilly.

"I do respect him," Trump says, when asked whether he respects the Russian president. "I respect a lot of people but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with himhe's a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not."

Trump added that if Russia helps fight against ISIS and "Islamic terrorists all over the world" then it's "a good thing"  a reference to his earlier statements where he had said that he would revoke sanctions against Russia in exchange for cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State group terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

However, the part of the interview that has raised eyebrows comes when O'Reilly follows up by saying that Putin "is a killer," and when Trump responds by saying: "There are a lot of killers  We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?"

President Donald Trump's comments come at a time when he has assured Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that he aims to "restore peace along the border" of Ukraine and Russia.

The U.S. president and his Ukrainian counterpart discussed the intensification of fighting in Ukraine during a call took place at 5 p.m. Saturday. The conflict in Ukraine has, in recent days, exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in areas such as the city of Avdiivka. Besides discussing mutual cooperation to boost economic and strategic ties and a potential visit to Washington for President Poroshenko, the two sides also discussed the need for immediately establishing ceasefire agreement, according to a statement released by Poroshenko's office.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump reportedly said during the call.

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Trumps comments follow a private meeting with Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister, Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast. The meeting reportedly created a furore and a diplomatic rift, prompting the White House to set up the call with Poroshenko.

Tymoshenko, a member of parliament who is projecting herself as a potential successor to the incumbent president, said that Trump assured her that he would not abandon Ukraine. She also said that Trump promised not to lift sanctions on Russia until it had pulled out of Ukraine.

Tymoshenkos comments about President Trumps assurances are contradictory to the claims he made during his campaign where he asserted that he may ease sanctions against Russia. Trump had also praised Russian president Vladmir Putin, and, on a few occasions, dismissed reports by U.S. intelligence that suggested that his campaign received a boost against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton due to Russian intelligence facilitating cyberattacks.

Several unanswered questions linger in the aftermath of Trumps supposed support for Ukraine and Putin  especially regarding the extent to which a hardline position would be embraced, in light of his recent comments defending "killer" Putin. Will the President emulate the hardline approach adopted by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley  who rebuked Russia earlier this week and announced that the U.S. will not rescind its sanctions related to the annexation of Crimea? Or will he lift sanctions against Russia if it withdraws from Ukraines southern region of Crimea, or for shared support in the fight against ISIS?

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Passionate protests against Donald Trump's presidency have swelled the ranks of Democratic activists, but their new enthusiasm faces a hard reality: Republicans remain well-positioned to retain their grip on power in the 2018 elections.

While Republicans hold only a slim majority in the U.S. Senate, Democrats occupy most of the seats up for election in two years. That means they must play defense against Republicans, especially in 10 states that Trump won.

In the U.S. House, Republicans will be aided by favorable district boundaries that were drawn to maintain GOP political dominance. In some cases, the congressional districts were gerrymandered to pack high numbers of Democratic voters into just a few districts as a way to create a greater number of Republican-leaning seats.

"Democrats are extremely fired up right now," said Sam Wang, a Princeton University neuroscientist and statistician who has developed a statistical model for analyzing partisan gerrymandering.

But for Democrats to win back Congress, Wang said it "would take an extreme event. The question is, are we seeing something that's headed towards that?"

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting 59 Republican-held House seats in 24 states as it builds toward the next election. Those include 23 districts where Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton defeated Trump and various others that Republicans took away from Democrats in recent years.

It also is beginning to place full-time paid organizers in 20 of those districts, something the committee says it has never done at this early stage.

The Democratic committee is touting a surge of 675,000 new supporters in January, many of whom joined the cause amid nationwide protests against Trump's policies. Whether that energy can be sustained through 2018 remains to be seen.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Jesse Hunt calls the Democratic optimism a "pipe dream." Hunt notes that Democrats also held high hopes for 2016, but unseated just four of the 15 freshmen GOP representatives they targeted.

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Democrats would appear to have history on their side. The president's party has lost ground in Congress in all but two of the initial midterm elections since the Civil War. The exceptions are 1934, when President Franklin Roosevelt was guiding the country through the Great Depression, and 2002, when President George W. Bush was leading the response to the 2001 terrorist attacks.

In the 2010 election during the middle of President Barack Obama's first term, Republicans flipped more than five dozen seats to take control of the U.S. House away from Democrats. Republicans also won control of a majority of state legislative chambers and governors' offices that year.

They then used that statehouse power to help cement their control in Washington by redrawing congressional districts following the 2010 Census.

In 2012, the first election under those new maps, Republicans won a 33-seat majority in the U.S. House even though Democratic candidates across the country received 1.4 million more votes than their Republican opponents.

Although court rulings have since forced the redrawing of some districts, many of those boundaries remain in place for the 2018 elections.

Wang estimates Democratic congressional candidates would need to win the 2018 nationwide vote by 7 to 12 percentage points to capture enough seats to win control of the House. The last time Democrats enjoyed such a spread was 2008, he said.

But circumstances have changed since then.

"There are just more districts at the moment that have a natural tilt toward Republicans, partly because of Democratic geography and partly because of Republicans drawing districts with an eye toward helping pick up more seats for their party," said Michael Barber, an assistant political science professor at Brigham Young University who has studied the effects of gerrymandering and incumbency on congressional elections.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder recently signed on as chairman of the new National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which is attempting to better position Democrats for the 2021 redistricting by winning key statehouse races and court cases in the coming years.

"There's a lot of work to be done," said Iowa-based Democratic consultant Jim Kottmeyer. "Redistricting is a real problem, but the bigger problem is frankly that Democratic votes are just way too concentrated in too small of geographic areas"  big cities, instead of America's many small and mid-size towns.

The realities of the electoral map have tempered the optimism of some newly invigorated Democratic activists.

Since Election Day, Philadelphia physician Rhea Powell has marched with other women in Washington, protested in her home town against the potential repeal of Obama's health care law and joined in airport demonstrations against Trump's immigration restrictions. She has even enrolled in a program that trains potential Democratic candidates.

But she also understands that victories may be difficult, at least in the near term.

"I am worried that because of the impact that gerrymandering has had on many of the districts that it may be hard to make big changes" in the 2018 elections, Powell said.

Other new activists believe it's possible to win even with unfavorable districts.

"I think there'll always be barriers ... (but) we're not just going to sit back and shake our head and say, 'OK, well, I guess that's it,'" said Mary Clauss, a small business owner from suburban Chicago who recently marched in Washington and now is organizing other women in her community.

Ironically, Democratic chances for huge congressional gains may depend on Trump's success at enacting his agenda. The Republican wave in 2010 was fueled by voter backlash against Obama's policies, headlined by the health care law that quickly became known as "Obamacare."

"Politicians sometimes think that they made promises and their voters want them to keep them, but the historical pattern is the opposite  that public opinion moves against the direction of policy change," said political scientist Matt Grossmann, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University.

"So the more Donald Trump is successful  and the Republican Party is successful  in moving policy to the right, the bigger the backlash is likely to be."

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Follow David A. Lieb at: http://twitter.com/DavidALieb
By Dustin Volz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Sunday ramped up his criticism of a federal judge who blocked a travel ban on seven mainly Muslim nations and said courts were making U.S. border security harder, intensifying the first major legal battle of his presidency. In a series of tweets that broadened his attack on the country's judiciary, Trump said Americans should blame U.S. District Judge James Robart and the court system if anything happened. Trump did not elaborate on what threats the country potentially faced. He added that he had told the Department of Homeland Security to "check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!" The Republican president labelled Robart a "so-called judge" on Saturday, a day after the Seattle jurist issued a temporary restraining order that prevented enforcement of a 90-day ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day bar on all refugees. A U.S. appeals court later on Saturday denied the government's request for an immediate stay of the ruling. Vice President Mike Pence defended Trump earlier on Sunday, even as some Republicans encouraged the businessman-turned-politician to tone down his broadsides against the judicial branch of government. "The president of the United States has every right to criticise the other two branches of government," Pence said on NBC's "Meet the Press" programme. It is unusual for a sitting president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the U.S. Constitution designates as a check on the power of the executive branch and Congress. U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Trump seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis. Some Republicans also expressed discomfort with the situation. "I think it is best not to single out judges for criticism," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on CNN's "State of the Union" programme. "We all get disappointed from time to time at the outcome in courts on things that we care about. But I think it is best to avoid criticizing judges individually." Republican Senator Ben Sasse, a vocal critic of Trump, was less restrained. "We don't have so-called judges ... we don't have so-called presidents, we have people from three different branches of government who take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution," he said on the ABC News programme "This Week." LEGAL LIMBO The ruling by Robart, appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush, coupled with the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to deny the government's request for an immediate stay of the ruling dealt a blow to Trump barely two weeks into his presidency. It could also be the precursor to months of legal challenges to his push to clamp down on immigration, including through the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, and complicate the confirmation battle of his U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said on Saturday that Gorsuch, a conservative federal appeals court judge from Colorado, must meet a higher bar to show his independence from the president. Trump, who during his presidential campaign called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, has vowed to reinstate his controversial travel ban. He says the measures are needed to protect the United States from Islamist militants. Critics say they are unjustified and discriminatory. The legal limbo will prevail at least until the federal appeals court rules on the government's application for an emergency stay of Robart's ruling. The court was awaiting further submissions from the states of Washington and Minnesota on Sunday, and from the federal government on Monday. The final filing was due at 5 p.m. PST on Monday (2.00 a.m. BST on Tuesday). The uncertainty has created what may be a short-lived opportunity for travellers from the seven affected countries as well as refugees to get into the United States. Sara Yarjani, an Iranian student with a U.S. visa who was attempting to return to Los Angeles to visit her parents, was among those who boarded flights to the United States after learning that Trump's travel ban had been blocked. Her visa had been stamped "revoked" and she was sent back to Vienna last week. She was slated to arrive in Los Angeles on Sunday, according to her sister, Sahara Muranovic. "This is our only window," Muranovic said. "Maybe they'll blow it again by Monday." FACT AND FICTION Trump's Jan. 27 travel restrictions have drawn protests in the United States, provoked criticism from U.S. allies and created chaos for thousands of people who have, in some cases, spent years seeking asylum. Reacting to the latest court ruling, Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said: "It is a move in the right direction to solve the problems that it caused." In his ruling on Friday, Robart questioned the use of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban, saying no attacks had been carried out on U.S. soil by individuals from the seven affected countries since then. For Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction". The 9/11 attacks were carried out by hijackers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon, whose nationals were not affected by the order. In a series of tweets on Saturday, Trump attacked Hobart's opinion as ridiculous. "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?" he asked. Trump told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida late on Saturday: "We'll win. For the safety of the country we'll win." The Justice Department's appeal criticized Robart's reasoning, saying the ruling violated the separation of powers and stepped on the president's authority as commander-in-chief. It said the state of Washington lacked standing to challenge Trump's order and denied it "favours Christians at the expense of Muslims."The U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with Robart's ruling and many visitors were expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expected to begin admitting refugees again onMonday. A spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, Leonard Doyle, confirmed on Sunday that about 2,000 refugees were ready to travel to the United States. "We expect a small number of refugees to arrive in the U.S. on Monday, Feb. 6th. They are mainly from Jordan and include people fleeing war and persecution in Syria," he said in an email. Iraqi Fuad Sharef, his wife and three children spent two years obtaining U.S. visas. They had packed up to move to America last week, but were turned back to Iraq after a failed attempt to board a U.S.-bound flight from Cairo. On Sunday, the family checked in for a Turkish Airlines flight to New York from Istanbul. "Yeah, we are very excited. We are very happy," Sharef told Reuters TV. "Finally, we have been cleared. We are allowed to enter the United States." (Additional reporting by Chris Michaud, Lin Noueihed, David Shepardson, Daina Beth Solomon, Dustin Volz, Chris Francescani and Reuters TV; Writing by Ayesha Rascoe and Dustin Volz; Editing by Paul Simao and Mary Milliken)
WASHINGTON/PALM BEACH, Fla (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said the Justice Department will win an appeal filed late Saturday of a judge's order lifting a travel ban he had imposed on citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries.

"We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win," he told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, shortly after the Justice Department filed a notice that it intends to appeal the order.

Trump's personal attack on U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle went too far for some who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said on Twitter early on Saturday. Trump has said "extreme vetting" of refugees and immigrants is needed to prevent terrorist attacks.

Throughout the day, Trump continued to criticize the decision in tweets. Late Saturday, Trump showed no signs of backing down. "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" he tweeted.

As the ban lifted, refugees and thousands of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by Trump's executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States.

The Justice Department did not say when it would file its appeal with the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the ruling made by Robart late on Friday that also lifted Trump's temporary ban imposed on refugee admissions.

The judge appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush questioned the constitutionality of Trump's order.

The three-judge panel that will decide whether to immediately block the ruling includes appointees of George W. Bush and two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.

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Trumps tweets criticizing the judges decision could make it tougher for Justice Department attorneys as they seek to defend the executive order in Washington state and other courts, said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, adding that presidents are usually circumspect about commenting on government litigation.

"Its hard for the president to demand that courts respect his inherent authority when he is disrespecting the inherent authority of the judiciary. That certainly tends to poison the well for litigation," Turley said.

U.S. immigration advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and International Refugee Assistance Project on Saturday in a joint statement urged those with now valid visas from the seven nations "to consider rebooking travel to the United States immediately" because the ruling could be overturned or put on hold. A U.S. State Department email reviewed by Reuters said the department is working to begin admitting refugees including Syrians as soon as Monday.

SEPARATION OF POWERS

It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the U.S. Constitution designates as a check to the power of the executive branch and Congress.

Reached by email Saturday, Robart declined comment on Trump's tweets.

Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in a statement Saturday that Trump's "hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it is dangerous. He seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis."

"Read the 'so-called' Constitution," tweeted Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee.

In an interview with ABC scheduled to air on Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence said he did not think that Trump's criticisms of the judge undermined the separation of powers.

"I think the American people are very accustomed to this president speaking his mind and speaking very straight with them," Pence said, according to an excerpt of the interview.

The court ruling was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges to Trump's push to clamp down on immigration. His order set off chaos last week at airports across the United States where travelers were stranded and thousands of people gathered to protest.

Americans are divided over Trump's order. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed 49 percent favored it while 41 percent did not.

Wes Parker, a retiree from Long Beach, California, held a sign saying "Trump is love" at the Los Angeles International Airport, and said he supported the tighter measures.

"We just have to support the travel pause," said Parker, 62. "If you were a new president coming in, wouldn't you want what you feel safe with?"

Rights groups, Democrats and U.S. allies have condemned the travel ban as discriminatory. On Saturday, there were protests against the immigrant curb in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and other cities.

At the White House, hundreds of protesters chanted "Donald, Donald can't you see? You're not welcome in D.C."

TRAVELERS MOVE WITH HASTE

The sudden reversal of the ban catapulted would-be immigrants back to airports, with uncertainty over how long the window to enter the United States will remain open.

In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Fuad Sharef and his family prepared to fly on Saturday to Istanbul and then New York before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.

"I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Sharef, who was stopped from boarding a New York-bound flight last week.

The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travelers but that the Justice Department would file for an emergency stay of the order "at the earliest possible time."

Some travelers told Reuters they were cautious about the sudden change.

"I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes," said Josephine Abu Assaleh, 60, who was stopped from entering the United States after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family.

"We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been canceled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone.

Virtually all refugees also were barred by Trump's order, upending the lives of thousands of people who have spent years seeking asylum in the United States.

Friday night's court decision sent refugee advocacy and resettlement agencies scrambling to help people in the pipeline.

Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab, 52, told Reuters in Lebanon that his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on Jan. 31. The trip was canceled two days before that and he was now waiting for a phone call from U.N. officials overseeing their case.

"It's in God's hands," he said.

(Additional reporting by Issam Abdullah in Beirut, Dan Levine in Seattle, Alana Wise in New York, Robert Chiarito and Nathan Layne in Chicago, Daina Beth Solomon in Los Angeles, and Julia Edwards Ainsley in Washington; Writing by Roberta Rampton and David Shepardson; Editing by Bill Trott, Mary Milliken, Diane Craft and Nick Macfie)
By Yeganeh Torbati and Steve Holland WASHINGTON/PALM BEACH, Fla (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said the Justice Department will win an appeal filed late Saturday of a judge's order lifting a travel ban he had imposed on citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries. "We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win," he told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, shortly after the Justice Department filed a notice that it intends to appeal the order. Trump's personal attack on U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle went too far for some who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress. "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said on Twitter early on Saturday. Trump has said "extreme vetting" of refugees and immigrants is needed to prevent terrorist attacks. Throughout the day, Trump continued to criticize the decision in tweets. Late Saturday, Trump showed no signs of backing down. "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!" he tweeted. As the ban lifted, refugees and thousands of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by Trump's executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States. The Justice Department did not say when it would file its appeal with the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the ruling made by Robart late on Friday that also lifted Trump's temporary ban imposed on refugee admissions. The judge appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush questioned the constitutionality of Trump's order. The three-judge panel that will decide whether to immediately block the ruling includes appointees of George W. Bush and two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. Trumps tweets criticizing the judges decision could make it tougher for Justice Department attorneys as they seek to defend the executive order in Washington state and other courts, said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, adding that presidents are usually circumspect about commenting on government litigation. "Its hard for the president to demand that courts respect his inherent authority when he is disrespecting the inherent authority of the judiciary. That certainly tends to poison the well for litigation," Turley said. U.S. immigration advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and International Refugee Assistance Project on Saturday in a joint statement urged those with now valid visas from the seven nations "to consider rebooking travel to the United States immediately" because the ruling could be overturned or put on hold. A U.S. State Department email reviewed by Reuters said the department is working to begin admitting refugees including Syrians as soon as Monday. SEPARATION OF POWERS It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the U.S. Constitution designates as a check to the power of the executive branch and Congress. Reached by email Saturday, Robart declined comment on Trump's tweets. Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in a statement Saturday that Trump's "hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it is dangerous. He seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis." "Read the 'so-called' Constitution," tweeted Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee. In an interview with ABC scheduled to air on Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence said he did not think that Trump's criticisms of the judge undermined the separation of powers. "I think the American people are very accustomed to this president speaking his mind and speaking very straight with them," Pence said, according to an excerpt of the interview. The court ruling was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges to Trump's push to clamp down on immigration. His order set off chaos last week at airports across the United States where travelers were stranded and thousands of people gathered to protest. Americans are divided over Trump's order. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed 49 percent favored it while 41 percent did not. Wes Parker, a retiree from Long Beach, California, held a sign saying "Trump is love" at the Los Angeles International Airport, and said he supported the tighter measures. "We just have to support the travel pause," said Parker, 62. "If you were a new president coming in, wouldn't you want what you feel safe with?" Rights groups, Democrats and U.S. allies have condemned the travel ban as discriminatory. On Saturday, there were protests against the immigrant curb in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and other cities. At the White House, hundreds of protesters chanted "Donald, Donald can't you see? You're not welcome in D.C." TRAVELERS MOVE WITH HASTE The sudden reversal of the ban catapulted would-be immigrants back to airports, with uncertainty over how long the window to enter the United States will remain open. In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Fuad Sharef and his family prepared to fly on Saturday to Istanbul and then New York before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee. "I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Sharef, who was stopped from boarding a New York-bound flight last week. The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travelers but that the Justice Department would file for an emergency stay of the order "at the earliest possible time." Some travelers told Reuters they were cautious about the sudden change. "I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes," said Josephine Abu Assaleh, 60, who was stopped from entering the United States after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family. "We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been canceled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone. Virtually all refugees also were barred by Trump's order, upending the lives of thousands of people who have spent years seeking asylum in the United States. Friday night's court decision sent refugee advocacy and resettlement agencies scrambling to help people in the pipeline. Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab, 52, told Reuters in Lebanon that his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on Jan. 31. The trip was canceled two days before that and he was now waiting for a phone call from U.N. officials overseeing their case. "It's in God's hands," he said. (Additional reporting by Issam Abdullah in Beirut, Dan Levine in Seattle, Alana Wise in New York, Robert Chiarito and Nathan Layne in Chicago, Daina Beth Solomon in Los Angeles, and Julia Edwards Ainsley in Washington; Writing by Roberta Rampton and David Shepardson; Editing by Bill Trott, Mary Milliken, Diane Craft and Nick Macfie)
(Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Sunday: IMMIGRATION ORDER Trump ramps up his criticism of a federal judge who blocked a travel ban on seven mainly Muslim nations and says courts were making U.S. border security harder, intensifying the first major legal battle of his presidency. Iraq is satisfied with a U.S. appeals court ruling against the travel ban on people from Iraq and six other Muslim-majority countries, a government spokesman says. Washington state's lawsuit challenging Trump's executive order on immigration emerged out of a chaotic, 48-hour period in which the need for immediate action held sway over the kind of carefully thought-out strategizing that usually leads up to the filing of a major legal complaint, according to state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and other attorneys involved in actions against the order. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel says he was reassured after meetings last week with top U.S. officials that the United States is committed to a united Europe and to the NATO alliance. Despite declarations of unity at a recent European Union summit in Malta, EU countries are split on how to respond to policies from Trump, who has reversed staunch postwar U.S. support for European integration and suggested others follow Britain out of a bloc he has called "a vehicle for Germany." Trump's first two weeks in office have left some European politicians leaders aghast but are drawing cheers from France's far-right National Front, as its leader, Marine Le Pen, launches her own bid for power. The governor of Colorado says he believes the Cuban government wants to further improve relations with the United States under Trump, as he wraps up a three-day visit to the Communist-run island nation. VOTER FRAUD Trump says in remarks broadcast on Sunday that he would put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of a commission to probe what he believes was voter fraud in last November's election. MEDIA CONTROVERSY The editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel says a cover illustration of Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty, which split opinion at home and abroad, was a response by the German magazine to threats against democracy. (Compiled by Jonathan Oatis; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) - President Donald Trump is drawing fire from Republicans and Democrats alike after playing down political assassinations in Russia and Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Trump -- now two weeks into his four-year term -- showed no signs of yielding to demands from within his own Republican Party to distance himself from President Vladimir Putin's regime, instead plunging himself into a fresh political firestorm.

"I do respect him. Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with them," Trump said in an excerpt of an interview with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly that aired before the Super Bowl on Sunday.

When pressed in relation to Putin's alleged links to the extrajudicial killing of journalists and dissidents, Trump said, "we've got a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent?"

"Take a look at what we've done too. We've made a lot of mistakes."

Trump's fellow Republicans, including Senate leader Mitch McConnell, were quick to criticize the president's remarks.

"I don't think there is any equivalency with the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does," McConnell said.

"He is a former KGB agent, a thug, not elected in a way that most people consider a credible election," he told CNN.

That criticism was echoed by Michael McFaul, a former ambassador to Russia and advisor to president Barack Obama, who described Trump's comments as "disgusting."

"This moral equivalency that Trumps continues to draw between the USA and Russia is disgusting (and inaccurate)," he said on Twitter.

- 'Major fight' against IS -

Mainstream Republicans have repeatedly called on Trump to distance himself from Putin, with little impact.

Throughout the election campaign, Trump refused to criticize the Russian leader, saying better relations with the Kremlin would be in the US national interest.

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The new president has advocated working with Russia to combat the Islamic State group in Syria.

"If Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all around the world, major fight. That's a good thing," Trump told Fox.

Moscow has deployed aircraft, naval assets and troops to Syria, but has so far trained its fire on rebels with the aim of propping up President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

In December, US intelligence agencies went public with their view that Russia conducted a hack-and-release campaign aimed at swinging the US election in Trump's favor.

Trump's repeated criticism of NATO -- a common target for Putin -- has only fueled suspicions that Trump is ready to side with Moscow over allies in Europe.

Across Europe, there are growing concerns that the continent might be wedged between a hostile Russia and a hostile United States.

Trump's stance on Ukraine has also raised eyebrows. After a call with Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko on Saturday, the White House said the pair addressed "Ukraine's long-running conflict with Russia."

Russia annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea in March 2014 and has supported separatists in the east of the country.

Former national security advisor Susan Rice publicly criticized Trump's framing of the situation.

"This distortion of even recent history is deeply troubling," she tweeted.

- 'We're watching' -

Trump's Vice President Mike Pence tried to explain the administration's approach to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which had flared after Trump and Putin spoke by telephone a week ago.

"We're watching, and (we're) very troubled by the increased hostilities over the past week in eastern Ukraine," Pence told ABC's "This Week" news program.

The Kremlin said that during the Trump-Putin call the two men had discussed improving economic relations, a potential signal of Trump's willingness to lift sanctions on Russia.

Asked whether the administration would be willing to ease sanctions while Russia is violating ceasefire agreements, Pence demurred.

"I think that's a question that will be answered in the months ahead. And it just simply all depends," he said.

"If we have opportunities to work together, I think the president is looking for an opportunity to begin that relationship anew.

"But make no mistake about it -- those decisions will await action. And they'll be very dependent on how the Russians respond in the days ahead."
IC exchange: Indian officials to visit Nepal

Indian authorities representing central bank and finance ministry are visiting Nepal soon to take stock of preparations made by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to provide currency exchange facility to Nepalis holding demonetised Indian banknotes in denominations of 500 and 1,000.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko the United States will work to restore peace along the border with Russia. "We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said in a White House statement on Saturday. Renewed violence has flared between Moscow-backed rebels and Ukraine government forces that has caused the highest casualty rate since mid-December. Separately, Trump reiterated to Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni the U.S. commitment to NATO and emphasized the importance of all NATO allies sharing the monetary burden of defense spending. Trump said he has agreed to attend the G-7 Summit in Taormina, Italy in May. (Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Steve Holland in Florida; Editing by Dan Grebler)
One week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, concerns are growing about the dictate's reach.

Trumps executive orders were created to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the U.S. and can impact both legal and undocumented immigrants. The orders have therefore prompted several important questions.

Will Trump Deport Legal Immigrants Living in the U.S.?

A leaked draft of an executive order titled, Executive Order on Protecting Taxpayer Resources by Ensuring Our Immigration Laws Promote Accountability and Responsibility, was released Tuesday by the Washington Post and has drawn concern from legal immigrants.

According to the report, one of the drafts contains a plan under consideration "to weed out would-be immigrants who are likely to require public assistance, as well as to deport  when possible  immigrants already living in the United States who depend on taxpayer help."

Those affected by the potential order could range from the millions of legal immigrants who receive healthcare from Medicaid to middle-income immigrant families who receive tax credits for their young children. The White House would not confirm or deny the authenticity of the leaked draft.

Will Trump Deport "Dreamers?"

During his presidential campaign, Trump told his supporters he would repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals President Barack Obamas executive action  that granted temporary legal status and work permits to the roughly 750,000 young people, otherwise known as "Dreamers," who were young children when they were brought to the United States by their parents.

Questions have been raised as to whether legal residents can be deported under the Trump executive order signed Jan. 25 entitled, Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States. Though under current law, any legal immigrant can become a removable alien when convicted of a crime, Trump's executive order has made it easier for officials to investigate an immigrant suspected of posing "a risk to public safety."

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Leon Fresco, who headed the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Immigration, told McClatchy newspapers the law has resulted in more than 2 million legal immigrants and more than 1,000 Dreamers becoming the targets of deportation raids for having criminal records for low-level crimes like marijuana possession or writing a bad check.

Is It a Muslim Ban?

It's a ban on travelers originating from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen, for a period of 90 days. Those from Syria are banned indefinitely.

A legal argument can be made that the executive order discriminates against Muslims based on the establishment clause. While all Syrian refugees are banned from the country for 120 days, Trump said in an interview on Jan. 27 that persecuted Christian refugees will eventually be given priority over Muslims refugees since they have been horribly treated.

How Many Travelers at Airports Have Been Affected by the Ban?

Trump tweeted on Monday that only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. But that number doesn't include those who were detained at foreign airports after being prevented from boarding a plane. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 940 people were prevented from getting on a flight destined for the U.S. between Jan. 27 and Feb. 1.

Is the Travel Ban Similar to Obamas Ban in 2011?

There are some similarities between Obama's denial of Iraqi refugee requests for six months and Trump's ban since both blocked immigration to the U.S. on a temporary basis.

But Obama's ban halted refugee processing from one country while Trump's ban applies to all alien visitors, Politifact noted. Also, Obama's ban came after a discovery that two Iraqi refugees in Kentucky had been linked to a detonation device in Iraq, which raised concerns about the vetting process, while Trump's ban takes pre-emptive action against countries without direct evidence of an imminent threat.

Are the Countries on the Travel Ban a Hotbed for Terrorism Against the U.S.?

Some of the countries on the list such as Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen and Libya are in the midst of civil wars where Islamic extremist groups could very well to take control of the government.

But not a single person from any the countries on Trumps travel ban has committed terrorist attacks in the U.S. since 9/11, according to Politifact. Fifteen of the 19 terrorists involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack came from Saudi Arabia, with the rest originating from Lebanon, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates  none of which was included in the travel ban. The U.S. has, however, foiled potential terrorist plots involving people from the seven countries on Trump's executive order, Sky News reported.

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Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) - Donald Trump will attend a G7 summit in Italy this May, the White House said, in what could be his first visit to the continent as US president.

After a call with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, the White House said Trump would attend the meeting of seven leading industrialized economies in Taormina, Sicily.

Trump's election has caused fissures in the trans-Atlantic relationship that have not been seen since George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq.

Many European capitals are concerned about Trump's apparent backing for nationalist and populist movements on the continent and fear being wedged between a hostile United States and a hostile Russia.

Trump has done little the ease those fears, meeting figures who oppose the European Union and questioning NATO's relevance.

For 75 years, the trans-Atlantic alliance has underpinned global security.

During the call, the White House said Trump "reiterated the US commitment to NATO and emphasized the importance of all NATO allies sharing the monetary burden of defense spending."

Vice President Mike Pence is expected to visit a security conference in Munich and Brussels -- home of the EU and NATO -- later this month, in a bid to clear the air.
Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago vacation retreat in Florida, but if his Twitter feed and a brewing legal showdown are any indication, rest and relaxation are not on the menu.

The president began his day with a Twitter storm of posts expressing his outrage at a court ruling that suspended his controversial ban on travelers from seven majority Muslim countries. By the end of the day, his administration was appealing the judge's decision.

Here are five takeaways from Saturday's events in Washington and Palm Beach:

- Administration appeal -

On Saturday evening, the US Justice Department appealed a temporary block that had been placed on Trump's travel ban.

The nationwide suspension of Trump's executive order had been put in place by Judge James Robart of the federal district court in Seattle the day before.

Trump let loose a tirade of tweets Saturday morning, including a rare criticism of an individual judge by a US president.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump posted.

When asked at a Red Cross gala Saturday evening if he was confident the government would prevail in its appeal, Trump responded: "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

- Travelers welcome -

In light of the court decision halting the traveler ban, both the State and Homeland Security departments announced on Saturday they were resuming normal practices concerning travelers from the affected countries.

"We have reversed the provisional revocation of visas," a State Department spokesman told AFP. The department had said some 60,000 travel visas had been revoked in compliance with the president's executive order.

The Department of Homeland Security wrote in a separate statement: "In accordance with the judge's ruling, DHS has suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections of the executive order."

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- Global protests -

From London and Paris to New York and Washington, thousands of people took to the streets Saturday in American and European cities to protest the travel ban.

The biggest demonstration by far took place in the British capital, where an estimated 10,000 people turned out, chanting "Theresa May: Shame on You" to denounce the British prime minister's support for the new US leader.

Elsewhere in Europe, about 1,000 people demonstrated in both Paris and Berlin, while smaller gatherings of several hundred people took place in provincial British cities.

In the United States, around 3,000 people rallied in New York, hundreds marched in Washington and at least 2,000 protested near Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

- Pence's Supreme Court warning -

Vice President Mike Pence warned Democrats Saturday not to block a vote on the president's Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch, who faces a fierce confirmation battle.

He needs at least 60 votes from the country's 100 senators to prevent Democratic opponents from launching a filibuster -- a procedure that essentially prevents a vote through endless debate.

"Make no mistake about it. This would be an unwise and unprecedented act," Pence said during a speech in Philadelphia to a local chapter of the Federalist Society, a conservative group.

- Der Spiegel cover -

German news magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy Saturday with a cover depicting Trump holding the severed head of the Statue of Liberty in one hand and a bloodied knife in the other.

The image by US-Cuban artist and political refugee Edel Rodriguez also included the Trump slogan "America first."

The image, which shows an orange face featureless save for a wide-open mouth, was widely shared on social media and also brandished on posters at the rally in Berlin denouncing Trump's temporary traveler ban.
Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish police on Sunday detained almost 450 suspected Islamic State group members in nationwide raids just over a month after an attack on an Istanbul nightclub claimed by the jihadists.

Security forces rounded up 448 suspects, the state-run Anadolu news agency said, in Turkey's biggest police operation against IS since the New Year attack on the Reina nightclub that killed 39.

Among those detained were foreigners and those suspected of planning attacks in Turkey, the Dogan and Anadolu news agencies reported.

During the operation, 150 suspects, all Syrians, were rounded up in raids on hotels and private homes in Sanliurfa in the southeast, Dogan said.

Another 47 were detained in the nearby city of Gaziantep close to the Syrian border which has a known jihadist presence while 38 were picked up in Hatay, also bordering Syria.

Sixty suspects, mostly foreigners, were detained in four districts in the capital Ankara.

Dozens more arrests were made in provinces ranging from Bursa in the west to Antalya on the Mediterranean and Bingol in the east.

- People smuggler link? -

Television footage showed police in body armour battering down a door in a pre-dawn raid.

In the usually peaceful Aegean city of Izmir, nine people suspected of travelling to and from Syria and planning attacks in the city were detained, Anadolu said.

One of the suspects detained in Izmir -- a Syrian identified only as E.A. -- is said to have been in touch with people smugglers in a bid to help the IS members escape to Europe, Anadolu said.

Eighteen people were detained in Istanbul and the neighbouring province of Kocaeli on suspicion of planning attacks. Another 14 foreigners were due to be deported, including 10 children.

Meanwhile in Eskisehir east of Istanbul, nine people were detained on suspicion of membership of Fateh al-Sham, Al-Qaeda's former affiliate in Syria.

Thirty-nine people, mainly foreigners, were killed on New Year's night when a gunman went on the rampage inside a plush Istanbul night club.

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- 'I never knew' -

IS claimed the massacre, its first clear claim for a major attack in Turkey although it had been blamed for several bombings in 2016.

Police detained the suspected attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, on January 16 after more than two weeks on the run and authorities say he has confessed to the massacre.

The Hurriyet daily later reported that IS had also planned a simultaneous New Year's strike in Ankara but dropped the plot after arrests by the Turkish authorities.

An Istanbul court on Friday placed a dozen people under arrest ahead of trial over the nightclub plot, including Masharipov's wife Zarina Nurullayeva.

In her statement to investigators, excerpts of which were published by the Turkish media, she said she had "no idea" what her husband was planning and "most of the accusations against me are false".

She was quoted as saying the couple had arrived in Turkey from Iran but her husband had sworn allegiance to IS in Pakistan.

Last year, Turkey was hit by a string of attacks blamed on IS and Kurdish militants that left hundreds dead.

It is also engaged in a battle with IS to take the Syrian town of Al-Bab, in the fiercest fighting yet of the Turkish military's campaign inside Syria that began in August.

At least 48 Turkish soldiers have been killed in the incursion so far, according to an AFP tally, the vast majority in the battle for Al-Bab since the fight for the town began in December.

Turkey was long accused by its Western allies of not doing enough to stop the flow of jihadists across its borders and emergence of IS cells in its own cities.

Ankara denies the charges, saying it listed IS as a terror group since 2013.

However, observers say Turkey has markedly stepped up its actions against IS in the last months and note that the capture of Masharipov alive may provide it with valuable intelligence.
By Rodi Said and Tom Perry RAQQA PROVINCE, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) - An alliance of U.S.-backed militias started a new phase of its campaign against the Islamic State-held city of Raqqa on Saturday, aiming to complete its encirclement and sever the road to militant strongholds in Deir al-Zor province. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement the action was being undertaken with "increasing support from the (U.S.-led) international coalition forces" through both air strikes and backing from coalition special forces on the ground. The SDF, which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, launched its multi-phased campaign in November aimed at encircling and ultimately capturing Raqqa. It is the main U.S. partner in the fight against Islamic State in Syria. Islamic State is also being fought in a separate campaign by the Turkish army and Syrian rebel groups northeast of Aleppo, and on several fronts across Syria by the Syrian government backed by the Russian air force and Iranian-backed militia. Jordan, part of the U.S.-led coalition, said it had conducted air strikes against Islamic State targets in southern Syria on Friday night, hitting an ammunition depot, a car bomb factory, and a barracks. Islamic State is fighting hard to preserve its Syria foothold as it loses ground in Iraq. It still holds swathes of Syrian territory, mostly in central and eastern Syria. A SDF commander told Reuters the forces had so far advanced a few kilometres (miles) in the latest phase, which aims to capture areas to the east of the city, including the highway linking it to Deir al-Zor province. Deir al-Zor, which is almost entirely in Islamic State hands, stretches all the way to the Iraqi border. A Kurdish military source told Reuters on Tuesday that the goals of this phase include capturing the main highway. Several hundred U.S. special forces soldiers have been supporting SDF operations against Islamic State in northern Syria. France said in June that its special forces were advising rebels in the same area. Representatives of the U.S.-led coalition looked on as the statement declaring the start of the new phase was read out in a village in northern Raqqa province. PHASE THREE This is the third phase of the Raqqa operation. The first phase targeted areas north of Raqqa city. The second, targeting areas to the west of the city, is ongoing, with SDF forces yet to capture the Islamic State-held Euphrates dam. Air strikes on Friday in Raqqa hit two bridges over the Euphrates river, hindering movement from the city southwards and killing six IS militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. U.S. support for the SDF has been a point of tension with NATO ally Turkey, which views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a group that has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey. The United States says it is providing training and material support only to Arab elements of the SDF. It supplied them last month with armoured vehicles for the first time to help in the Raqqa campaign. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week requesting the Pentagon, joint chiefs of staff and other agencies to submit a preliminary plan in 30 days for defeating Islamic State. One key decision awaiting the Trump administration is whether to directly provide weapons to the YPG. The U.S.-backed campaign against Islamic State in Syria has focused mostly on northern parts of the country. Turkey launched its own offensive against the group along the border in August, deploying its army in support of Free Syrian Army rebel groups. The Turkish campaign, which also aims to prevent further expansion of YPG control, has been encountering fierce Islamic State resistance in al-Bab since December. Syrian government forces have staged a rapid advance of their own towards al-Bab in the last two weeks, risking a confrontation with the Turkish army. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian army captured a town from IS to the south of the city on Saturday, while the Turkey-backed forces captured one to its east. (Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman; Writing by Tom Perry in Beirut; Editing by Alexander Smith and Louise Heavens)
Ban lifted: A student from Iran is greeted at Logan Airport: REUTERS

Visa holders from countries affected by US president Donald Trump's travel ban have hurried to board US-bound flights after a federal judge temporarily halted the block.

Those who can travel immediately were urged to do so because of uncertainty over whether the US justice department would be granted an emergency freeze of the order issued on Friday by US district judge James Robart in Seattle.

The US government suspended enforcement of the week-old ban as it attempted to appeal Judge Robart's order.

But an immigration lawyer said passengers in at least one African airport were told they could not get on the planes.

Ban lifted: Banah Alhanfy is greeted at Logan Airport after she cleared U.S. customs and immigration on special immigrant visa (REUTERS)

Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan, told The Detroit News that her group is advising people to hurry.

US officials have said up to 60,000 foreigners had their visas "provisionally revoked" to comply with Mr Trump's order.

Although the government suspended enforcement of the travel ban while it sought an emergency stay of Judge Robart's order, some airlines reportedly still were not letting some people from the seven Muslim-majority countries board their planes.

Anti-Trump: a demonstrator chants during a rally protesting the immigration policies of President Trump in Washington, (AP)

Royal Jordanian Airlines, which operates direct flights from Amman to New York, Chicago and Detroit, said it would resume carrying nationals from the seven countries as long as they presented a valid US visa or green card.

But in the African nation of Djibouti, immigration attorney Julie Goldberg said a Qatar Airways representative told her that immigrants from all seven countries affected by the ban - Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Somalia - were not allowed to fly on Saturday afternoon.

A Qatar Airways spokeswoman said the airline would begin boarding travellers from those countries.

Ms Goldberg said she was trying to arrange flights for dozens of Yemeni citizens who have immigrant visas and were stranded there.

She said a supervisor at Turkish Airlines told her that people holding immigrant and non-immigrant visas from the seven countries still were being banned unless they had a special email from the US Customs and Border Protection with the person's name and passport number.

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A 12-year-old Yemeni girl whose parents and siblings are US citizens living in California was finally allowed to depart after "an hour-and-a-half of fighting" with officials, Ms Goldberg said. It was unclear when she would arrive.

A Somali refugee said about 140 asylum seekers whose resettlement in the US was blocked by Mr Trump's executive order were sent back to their camp. It is unclear if or when they could travel.

Nadir Hassan said the group of Somali refugees was relocated to Dadaab camp in eastern Kenya on Saturday.

They had been expected to settle in the US this week and had been staying at an International Organisation for Migration transit centre in Nairobi.

"I was hoping to start a new life in the US," Mr Hassan said. "We feel bad."

Ban suspended: Ammar Alnajjar, left, shakes hands with his cousin, Fahd Alfakih, after coming into New York's JFK International Airport on a flight from Istanbul (AP)

Meanwhile, legal advocates waited at airports to offer assistance to new arrivals in case anything went wrong.

Volunteer attorney Renee Paradis was among 20-25 lawyers and interpreters who stationed themselves inside JFK's Terminal 4 in case anyone arrived on Saturday needing help.

They were carrying handmade signs in Arabic and Farsi which read they were available to help.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Donald Trump's unpredictable foreign policy could hamper long-standing U.S. intelligence-sharing partnerships as countries react to a president who seeks closer ties to Russia and is unafraid to offend American allies by cracking down on immigration or getting angry with friendly leaders.

Veteran spies say intelligence relationships are built to weather storms between political leaders. Even in the worst of times, allies share intelligence to thwart threats. But the lack of understanding about Trump's foreign policy direction and his potential new friendship with Moscow are creating jitters across the Western world.

"We are facing an unprecedented level of uncertainty today," said John Blaxland, a former Australian intelligence official and professor at Australian National University. He said there is mutual benefit to these "broad, deep" intelligence sharing relationships, but added: "It is hard to calculate just how much damage the new president's approach may have."

"It will be felt," Blaxland predicted, "and it won't be good."

Russia is a main concern.

If Trump moves forward with efforts to improve U.S.-Russian relations, European allies in particular will probably question how safe their intelligence is in American hands. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and threatening movements near the borders of NATO members in Eastern Europe have contributed to the perception of Moscow as a threat to national sovereignty.

If American intelligence agencies are instructed to enhance cooperation with Russia, U.S. allies see "significant counterintelligence threats that come with that," said Steven Hall, a retired CIA chief of Russia operations. He said they "will be much more careful in the future."

As candidate and president, Trump has sparked widespread international unease by questioning the value of U.S. military alliances, if not necessarily intelligence partnerships. He called NATO "obsolete" and challenged countries such as South Korea and Japan to assume greater self-defense responsibility. In the last weeks, however, Trump advisers have gone out of their way to stress the durability of such arrangements and America's commitment to its friends.

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Detente between Washington and Moscow is no sure thing, despite Trump's intentions. Under President Barack Obama, relations between the former Cold War foes strained dramatically over Syria, Ukraine and alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election after initially improving under a "reset" policy. In recent days, Trump's administration has reverted to criticizing the Kremlin after a flare-up of violence involving Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Regardless of Trump's new direction, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, a former CIA officer and new member on the House Intelligence Committee, said American intelligence professionals recognize the need to protect information they receive. "The point at which our allies will get concerned is if they believe that our intelligence professionals do not view Russia as an adversary," he said.

Trump's sometimes impulsive style and lack of experience handling classified information also have foreign officials concerned.

Mark Galeotti at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, said European intelligence officials worry that Trump or his advisers will "blurt something out at the wrong moment or to the wrong person."

Allies might curtail what they share as a result, said Galeotti, who talks with intelligence officials in Europe and Russia.

"It's not so much about how much," he said. "It's precisely how heavily edited it is, how carefully it's scrutinized to absolutely make sure that there is nothing that you are worried about leaking."

Former French internal intelligence chief Louis Caprioli said European countries might hold information related to Ukraine or other issues closer, given the uncertainty of Trump's relationship with Putin. But he said intelligence sharing will continue in critical areas, such as counterterrorism.

"Intelligence services go beyond the political world," Caprioli said.

Still, allies fret about politics seeping into U.S. intelligence findings.

Trump has disparaged U.S. intelligence agencies for past failures and publicly challenged their assessment that Russia meddled in the presidential election. A day after he was inaugurated, Trump delivered an unusual speech at the CIA headquarters criticizing the media's coverage of his inaugural crowds.

Wesley Wark, a University of Ottawa professor and national security expert, said U.S. allies may ask more questions about the source of American intelligence products. For example, he said, they might think a certain piece of intelligence is from Trump's strategic adviser Steve Bannon, a conservative media executive who now sits on the National Security Council.

"There will be a growing concern about politicized  as opposed to truthful, objective  judgments and reports," Wark said.

Last weekend's testy conversation between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull concerned a refugee deal Trump inherited from Obama. It didn't relate to the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing program the U.S. has with Australia, Canada, Britain and New Zealand.

Nevertheless, California Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said the spat can't be dismissed as simply "Trump being Trump."

Schiff said Australia shares America's interest in fighting terrorism and countering Chinese actions, and stood alongside the U.S. in every war of the last century. "This is not a relationship to be taken for granted or abused," he said.

The committee chairman, GOP Rep. Devin Nunes of California, isn't worried: "I have no doubt that intelligence sharing with our allies will continue to be robust and productive."

___

Associated Press writer Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report.
KU students serve 48-hour ultimatum to resume classes

The students of Kathmandu University on Sunday served a 48-hour ultimatum to the varsity administration to resume classes.
Glasgow (AFP) - Pressure will mount on Rangers manager Mark Warburton after a 1-1 draw at home to Ross County saw them drop to third in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.

Alex Schalk fired County in front in the first-half before captain Lee Wallace came to the rescue with a late equaliser.

It wasn't enough to stop Aberdeen leapfrogging Rangers into second place on goal difference -- with a game in hand over the Glasgow giants -- after they sealed a 2-0 win over Partick Thistle.

A chorus of jeers greeted the full-time whistle as Rangers dropped points for the 12th time in 24 matches to trail league leaders and bitter rivals Celtic, who face St Johnstone on Sunday, by 24 points.

Warburton -- who secured the job on the back of an impressive spell at unfashionable English side Brentford -- lamented his side's missed chances.

"It was a very poor goal to give away and the result from that was for 15 minutes we were poor and gave them a couple of sniffs," said the 54-year-old Englishman.

"We got the goal and then had chance after chance, but youve got to put the ball in the back of the net."

Swiss veteran Philippe Senderos returned for Rangers for the first time in four months as Warburton looked to shore up his defence that conceded four against Hearts in midweek.

There was to be no marked improvement, however, and Ross County troubled the defence from the first minute as Wes Foderingham desperately scrambled away a deflected Martin Woods shot.

Rangers failed to heed the warning signs and County took the lead in the 18th minute.

Jim O'Brien beat the offside trap to scamper down the right wing and his perfectly-weighted delivery into the box found Schalk who fired past Foderingham.

A moment of madness from Foderingham then allowed County another chance as Foderingham's slack kick out went straight to O'Brien whose cut-back found Schalk, but this time the striker sent his effort into the side netting.

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More confusion in the Rangers defence saw Senderos and Clint Hill both knock each other out of the way as they went for the same header allowing Schalk through on goal but Foderingham was equal to his effort.

Rangers started the second half on the front foot and Joe Garner, who had recovered from the shoulder injury he suffered in the New Year's Eve defeat to Celtic, came close with a header that was stopped by Fox on the line before the keeper turned it out for a corner with Jon Toral ready to pounce.

A poor backward header from Kenny van der Weg fell to Garner but the striker's shot from a tight angle was smothered by Fox.

Rangers needed inspiration from somewhere and it came from their captain in the 71st minute. Wallace collected a poor County clearance and picked out Toral with a pass before galloping into the box to collect his return and bury the ball under Fox from a tight angle.

Rangers came close to a winner from an unlikely source as Fox scrambled the ball over the bar after County captain Andrew Davies nearly turned Tavernier's cross into his own net.

Hearts moved three points clear of St Johnstone in fourth place with a 3-0 win away to 10 men Motherwell.
Alec Baldwin returned to play President Donald Trump for Saturday Night Lives cold open, where he threatened to go to war with a handful of American allies.

Accompanied by chief strategist Steve Bannon  in Grim Reaper costume  a tired and cranky Trump decided to freak out some other leaders. The first call, with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, shocked Trump who did not realize the U.S. had made a deal to accept refugees from Australia.

No refugees, he said. America first, Australia sucks. Your reef is failing. Prepare to go to war.

Trumps subsequent attempt to get Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to agree to pay for a border wall was unsuccessful, as was a call to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, played by Kate McKinnon, who just wanted to get off the phone.

A call to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe backfired, frightening Trump.

I will rip out your spine and drink from your skull, Mugabe, played by Kenan Thompson said. You cannot even walk down stairs, you little white bh.

Trump, who frequently tweets complaints about his SNL portrayals, had not yet commented as of Sunday morning.
Melissa McCarthy crashed Saturday Night Live to debut her impression of White House press secretary Sean Spicer during a fiery press briefing.

Donning a boxy suit and a wig of thinning blond hair, McCarthy came out as Spicer to swallow gum and yell at the media, telling the White House press corps she was apologizing, on behalf of you, to me, for how you have treated me these last two weeks.

And that apology is not accepted, she said.

As Spicer, McCarthy grew increasingly frustrated at reporters questions. When Bobby Moynihan, playing a New York Times reporter, asked about President Donald Trumps executive order on immigration, she flew into a rage over the word ban, recalling Spicers real-life blasting to journalists over the term.

Its not a ban, she said. The travel ban is not a ban, which makes it not a ban.

When the reporter pointed out that Trump has called the order a ban, McCarthy said: You just said that. Hes quoting you. Its your words. Hes using your words, when you use the words and he uses them back, its circular using of the word and thats from you.

Watch the sketch above.
New York (AFP) - On one side, a few dozen diehard supporters of Donald Trump. On the other, a dozen or so equally passionate counter-demonstrators. They faced off Sunday outside Trump Tower -- proof positive of how entrenched the divide has become.

The pro-Trump protest, on a bitingly cold Manhattan day, was one of the first in the president's largely Democratic hometown since he took office on January 20.

Demonstrators urged their fellow Americans to give the new president a chance, and they backed his controversial travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

A big white banner they unfurled read, "Welcome the Trump Era!"

The crowd stood outside designer boutiques Dolce & Gabbana and Armani on Fifth Avenue near the president's New York home and business headquarters in Trump Tower.

But such is the antipathy that the Republican president can arouse in New York -- he won only 18 percent of the city's votes -- that soon a dozen or so counter-demonstrators descended on the scene.

Police kept the two groups apart.

The pro-Trump group wore his red "Make America Great Again" campaign hats, carried US flags and chanted "USA! USA!"

Some wore Star of David buttons and carried signs in Hebrew and in English, one of which said: "President Trump Mazel Tov You're Doing It Your Way."

Demonstrators on both sides competed to make their message heard. "No ban, no wall, refugees are welcome here," his opponents shouted in a sing-song chant.

But Cindy Grosz, a Trump supporter and rally co-organizer, said Americans should give the new president a chance.

"He's been in office less than three weeks. He's entitled to have a fair shot and to run the government the way he wants to," she said.

- 'Very much afraid' -

Sunday's rally paled next to the huge anti-Trump marches and rallies that have sprung up almost spontaneously across the country. But the president's New York supporters were uncowed.

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Adela Pisarevsky, a Manhattan retiree who emigrated from Argentina decades ago, said the rally had a point to make in a city that overwhelmingly preferred Trump's Democratic Party rival Hillary Clinton.

"It's important to show that we want to get rid of the illegals and we want to get rid especially of the Middle Eastern illegals, the terrorists," Pisarevsky told AFP.

"For the first time we have a president doing exactly what he wanted to do and instead of waiting to see if it works, they're harassing him. They want him to fail. I'm very much afraid," she said.

Greg Drapkin, 28, from Brooklyn, told AFP that he had been "really excited" to find out about the rare pro-Trump rally in the city, even knowing it might well be outnumbered by Trump critics.

"There's nothing wrong with prioritizing American interests," he said. "A lot of people are equating that with racism or discrimination but it's not," he added.

A cyclist passed by, waving a sign denouncing Steve Bannon, the senior Trump adviser who some Democrats have portrayed as a dark, Svengali-like force behind Trump.

A Trump supporter, 23-year-old Eric Preneta, approached the cyclist, exhorting him to "give him a chance," and the two engaged in a testy exchange before a policeman stepped in to separate them.

Emily Winters, a cook who had come from neighboring Connecticut to support Trump's strongly pro-Israel stance, said it was impossible to talk to Democrats about the new president.

Pushing a stroller carrying her pet dog, a Pekingese, she said Democrats were hostile, aggressive and belligerent. She likened them to "a cancer."

But Trump supporters, she said firmly, would never give in.
The new Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, didnt wait long make good on his intention to roll back the agencys net neutrality efforts to protect competition on the Internet.

On Friday, the agency formally rescinding a report it had issued under Obama-appointed chairman Tom Wheeler that blasted and for favoring their own mobile video services over competitors. The two carriers allow customers to watch their video services on mobile phones without counting against monthly data caps, a practice known as zero rating. Competing services have to pay the carriers to make the same offer to their customers.

Going forward, the Federal Communications Commission will not focus on denying Americans free data, Pai said in a statement. Instead, we will concentrate on expanding broadband deployment and encouraging innovative service offerings."

President Donald Trump named Pai as FCC chairman last week. A former lawyer for Verizon who has served as an FCC commissioner since 2012, Pai has been an outspoken critic of the net neutrality rules adopted in 2015. The rules prohibit Internet service providers from blocking, slowing, or otherwise discriminating against any online content.

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The FCCs wireless bureau under Wheeler had concluded that the zero rating by the big carriers likely violated the net neutrality rules and harmed competition by giving an unfair advantage to the carriers services, including AT&Ts DirecTV Now cable-like TV offering and Verizons short video Go90 app. The agency, however, concluded that T-Mobiles program to allow customers to watch numerous, third-party video and music services without counting against data allowances was not a problem.

On Friday, the agency also said in addition to canceling the report, it would close separate enforcement probes challenging the two big carriers zero rating actions, which could have resulted in further sanctions or limitations eventually. And the agency cancelled a previously unreported request to seeking more information about its Stream TV service, which is exempt from the companys broadband service data caps.

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Today, the Bureau sent letters to AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless closing the inquiries into each company's sponsored data and zero-rating offerings, taking no further action, the agency said in a statement. The Bureau now sets aside and rescinds the Policy Review Report and any and all guidance, determinations, and conclusions contained therein, including the document's draft framework. The Policy Review Report will have no legal or other effect or meaning going forward.

Pai also ordered seven other reports, orders and agency actions from Wheelers last few months cancelled, including designating nine companies as providers of subsidized Internet connections to low income consumers. The nine small Internet service providers had won permission to use federal subsidies to offer cheap Internet connections, while most larger carriers, such as AT&T and had opted largely not to participate.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson predicted in December that the agency would drop the net neutrality push under at Trump.

The zero rating decisions were earlier reported by Multichannel News.

See original article on Fortune.com

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President Donald Trump has again criticized the federal judge who issued a temporary restraining order against his proposed travel ban, warning about bad and dangerous travelers while protests erupted in cities across the nation and the world in opposition to the presidents policies.

Without presenting any evidence, Trump tweeted many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. (See the tweets below.)

Shortly before that one, the president tweeted: What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?

Last night, federal Judge James Robart issued the TRO, prompting Trump to call him a so-called judge earlier today. The White House has said the Department of Justice will defend the presidents executive order.

Trumps reference to a Homeland Security travel ban comes just hours after the Department of Homeland Security itself suspended all actions pertaining to the presidents travel ban order, and the State Department resumed accepting the visas of people arriving from the seven majority-Muslim named in Trumps executive order.

What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

The latest presidential tweets come on an afternoon when MSNBC and CNN were featuring heavy coverage of the nations third consecutive weekend of anti-Trump protests. Todays rallies in New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, Miami and West Palm Beach (heading to Trumps Mar-a-Lago Florida resort, or at least as close as possible) erupted in response to a week of legal back-and-forth over the presidents exec-ordered travel ban.

Story continues

Worldwide, rallies were held today in Paris, London and Tel Aviv.

While not given the non-stop coverage of the Womens March on January 21 or last weekends airport rallies, todays significantly smaller protests, along with the Trump tweets, dominated MSNBC and CNN airtime.

Even Fox News interrupted its Houston-based pre-Super Bowl coverage with an exasperated Shepard Smith briefly debating Fox News legal analyst Mercedes Colwin who said the travel ban was not against a religion. Said Smith, after assuring viewers that he and Colwin were good friends, its just another name on the same thing. Thats the complaint from those who think this is ridiculous.

On CNN and MSNBC, coverage shifted from the various protests that included large showings of LGBTQ protesters. In New York, the crowds gathered near the Stonewall Inn, the historic West Village bar thats become a symbol of gay rights.

The afternoon rally was organized to show LGBTQ solidarity with immigrants and refugees targeted in Trumps executive order. At one point, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer led the NYC crowd in a Dump Trump! chant.

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Most patients seek care when disease is at advanced stage

Majority of cancer patients in Nepal go to the hospital only after the disease has reached advanced stage, thereby with minimal chances of survival, and this has emerged as a major challenge in treating them, experts said.
Nepal is a very important market for us

Torsten Mayer, vice president of FICO, a Germany-based analytic and predictive software development company, was recently in Nepal introduce his companys products to banks and financial institutions (BFIs) here.
Nepal Telecom asked to phase out obsolete technologies

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) Chairman Digambar Jha has called on state-run Nepal Telecom (NT) to do away with technologies that are becoming obsolete in a bid to retain its position as the market leader in the telecoms sector.
Nepse inches up 7.31 points

Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) last week inched up 7.31 points to close at 1,382.45, as fall in prices over the past few weeks spurred demand for stocks.
Of twenty-first century

I have experienced the twenty-first century so far mainly in three domains. First is the experience of its celebration at the zero hour of 2000 in Nepal.
Pakistan thanks India for returning boy to mother

A five-year-old boy who was taken from Pakistan to India by his father nearly eleven months ago has been reunited with his mother.
Rukum health posts reeling under medicines shortage

Heath posts in rural parts of Rukum district are reeling under shortage of essential medicines that the government distributes free of cost.
Said a little bird

US President Donald Trump uses Twitter not only to express his frustration and displeasure, but also to attack anyone without caring about diplomacy and decency.
"All the growth in publication education ... in my city, is occurring in charter schools.

Stories about the value of school choice and the healthy competition it nurtures are ubiquitous yet salient. Proponents of traditional public schools often degrade charters and school choice in general by defining the schools and ideology as elitist, discriminatory, unaccountable, and a drain on funding for those traditional public schools.None of that is true. I can personally attest that it isn't.I have twin boys who will soon be 14. One of my boys was classified as mildly autistic so, according to his standing in the public school system, he has "special needs."He qualifies for a plan under the Individualized Education Program , which allows him to receive instruction and considerations afforded to children eligible for special education.His brother, born eight minutes before, gets no special help. His grades are excellent and he tests well, good things in the one-size-fits-all system of educating our children.On end-of-grade tests, for example, the child with special needs is given extra accommodations, such as additional time to take the test and taking the test in a separate room.The level of faith and trust in his teachers and the attention required of us in regard to monitoring his status and progress can't be discounted. Making sure the process works requires a concerted and committed effort by several people. One small misunderstanding or misstep could lead to hours of conversations and corrections.Is it unreasonable, then, to allow parents of special-needs students the privilege of choosing the people who will play such a significant role in teaching their children?With the older child, we tend not to worry so much. We monitor his work closely and are confident he'll raise his hand to us when he foresees a problem. This isn't the case with the younger twin, who sometimes struggles with articulating his thoughts and needs and can't be relied upon to identify problems or issues. Richard Vinroot , a former Charlotte mayor and Republican gubernatorial candidate, is a leading proponent of charter schools and school choice. He was a founder of Sugar Creek Charter School in Charlotte, which has 1,500 students and a waiting list of some 400. Ninety-nine percent of the school's students are African-American, and 98 percent receive free or reduced-price lunches.Vinroot said last week during a talk at the John Locke Foundation Competition spurs innovation and ensures accountability. School choice, says Vinroot, levels the playing field - for all children and all parents.says Vinroot, who spoke during National School Choice Week.He called out media, specifically The Charlotte Observer, for reporting "fake news" about charter schools.he admits.Since the state lifted the cap on charter schools in 2011, more than 10,000 children are choosing charter schools, Vinroot says, and, in 15 to 20 years, half of North Carolina's students will choose charter schools. The state has 168 charter schools, with 32,000 students on waiting lists.My wife and I pulled our boys out of a magnet public school in the middle of their fifth-grade year. A National Heritage Academies school near Greensboro, Summerfield Charter Academy, had two openings, but, because of an expansive waiting list, we had about a week to decide.In our minds, placing the boys in the assigned middle school closer to home wouldn't work. We had heard too many stories, and looked at too much data, to think otherwise. The middle school was an amalgamation of several elementary schools, which dumped in too many students with parents who didn't care onto too few teachers. Teachers who spent too much time dealing with disciplinary problems and trying to maintain the status quo.That wasn't good enough, especially for our youngest son, who doesn't necessarily "fit in."We wanted more. He needed more. We had a choice of public schools, and we made it.More than anything else, really, that's what matters. That, outside of private schools, we have a say in our boys' education.Charter schools provide an option, says Vinroot, for children and parents desperate for something better.
Schools grab community homes in north Dhading

Safe community homes built by the Nepal Army to shelter quake-displaced families have been captured by two local schools in north Dhading, one of the districts hit hardest by the devastating earthquake in April 2015.
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Trump beheading cover sparks criticism

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Wildlife-affected people demand change in conservation act

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Contact: Ford Porter

Ford Porter govpress@nc.gov

RALEIGH, N.C. Governor Roy Cooper has named two new members to the Governor's office to work in communications and in government relations.Cooper has hired Sadie Weiner as Communications Director to oversee the Governor's press and communications office. Weiner previously served as Communications Director for U.S. Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina, and most recently worked as Communications Director for the DSCC.Cooper also named Jordan Whichard Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. Whichard, a UNC Chapel Hill graduate, previously worked in the White House on intergovernmental relations, scheduling and advance. Most recently, he worked in human resources and benefits at Hill, Chesson & Woody.said Cooper.As Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Whichard will work with county, state, and federal government entities. Weiner will direct daily communications and provide information to the media and the public.
Yesterday I visited the Jefferson Memorial to commune with my favorite Founding Father. Jefferson is perhaps the single reason I am so very proud to be an American. The principles he articulated in the Declaration of Independence, which the Second Continental Congress adopted in 1776, laid the basis for our independence from Great Britain. It established the principles and government philosophy that defines us as a nation, and although it's message is lost on most Americans, I am sure to remind my students how it laid the basis for government by proclaiming that power originates with the individual and that power can never be fully divested from them. The Declaration informed Britain and the rest of the world that the thirteen colonies were dedicated first and foremost to the recognition and preservation of individual liberty. To that end, they proclaimed "to a candid world" that individuals of those colonies have the natural right to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. In other words, government serves the people and its primary role is, and should be, to protect their rights. Nowhere in our founding documents does it state that government is a permanent fixture. Nowhere does it provide that the government has the right to seeks its longevity or its permanence. Rather, it exists in form and organization just as long as it serves its legitimate ends. The people always have the right - even the duty - to alter or abolish it when it frustrates its purpose. Jefferson and Madison, along with our other Founders, knew full well that power would corrupt if it was centralized enough in government, then government would eventually limit or even deny rights away to the people. And in many instances, we see that the fears of our Founders have come to fruition.What I learned from Jefferson is that when it comes to citizenship, it is perhaps more important to represent an idea or an ideal than merely a physical location.And so I sat inside the rotunda and gazed up for awhile at this under-appreciated Founding Father. I walked around the room and read some of his poignant quotes memorialized on the walls and reflected on their timeless message. Sadly, to some degree, our government has rejected his wisdom. Then I went outside the rotunda and looked straight across the tidal basin towards the rest of the National Mall. I could easily see the Washington Monument. And I could also see the White House. What I couldn't see was the Lincoln Memorial. I thought about that for a moment. And then I began to note its significance.It's true that the Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial are not visible to one another. I think there is a reason for that, whether or not it was a conscious factor in the Mall's design. Abraham Lincoln didn't see eye to eye with Jefferson. In fact, his vision of government was quite different. While the Declaration of Independence clearly provides that individuals can alter or abolish their government, Lincoln adamantly proclaimed that the Union, and by extension the federal government, was to be perpetual. In fact, after he repeatedly ignored and even violated provisions of the Constitution, suspended habeas corpus, imprisoned journalists, publishers, newspaper owners, citizens and seized their property, waged war without a declaration, etc, he sought a resolution from Congress to excuse those violations. Such a resolution was proposed and it read: "For the preservation of the federal government,"..... Congress would the actions of President Lincoln. (The resolution was never voted upon because the session of Congress concluded for the year). Lincoln had to ignore the principles laid down in the Declaration if he was to use force to bring the South back into the Union and convince the North that he had the power to do so.President Lincoln destroyed the notion of limited government and its relationship to the individual, as promised in the Declaration, and our country has never sought to reclaim those ideals. Why? Because government had become so strong and no one, no state, and certainly no government official had the guts to challenge the creature that the government had become. States have cowered and caved. They have tacitly relinquished their independence and have become subjugated to the design and will of the federal government. Perhaps that is why, when the government designed the National Mall, it put the memorial to Abraham Lincoln at the most prestigious position. Its layout is spectacular; Lincoln sits on high, looking out over a long reflecting pool, to the strongest branch of government - Congress. Lincoln is rewarded and glorified because he is the president who achieved the most in transforming the government into one of great power and influence and coercion over its independent parts (the States). Lincoln, in a sense, destroyed the ideals that inspired our founding generation to fight for their independence.The Jefferson Memorial directly faces the White House - the home of our President and Chief Executive. The White House does not face the Lincoln Memorial. Could it be that this lay-out was intended to remind Presidents of Jefferson's ideals and the principles of government outlined in the Declaration? Could it be that the president of the United States should forever be reminded that government is not a tool of an ambitious president (as it was for Abraham Lincoln) but rather an institution which serves the people and their interests in life, liberty, and happiness.Something to think about.What I can say is that when I listened to Donald Trump's inaugural address - and particularly the part when he announced: "Every four years we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power.... Today's ceremony, however, has a very special meaning because today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people." -- I couldn't help but smile and think to myself how Jeffersonian he sounded.Maybe, at least for the next few years, we can enjoy a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Maybe Trump, in fact, gets it.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Windy with a few showers possible. High 66F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 30%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. Low 41F. SW winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
KPC NEWS SERVICE

ANGOLA  Three people were hospitalized after suffering injuries when their sport-utility vehicle went off the road and rolled multiple times.

The Steuben County Sheriffs Office was called to a rollover crash on C.R. 400W in the area of C.R. 600S at approximately 6 a.m. Saturday.

After investigating the crash, deputies determined that the driver, Kyle Hall, 24, Angola, was traveling north on C.R. 400W when he went off the east side of the road for an unknown reason. He over-corrected, causing the vehicle to swerve across both lanes and go off the west side of the road.

Once off the road, the SUV hit an embankment and rolled several times before coming to rest.

Hall and two 14-year-old juveniles who were passengers were injured in the crash. They were all taken to Parkview Regional Medical Center by ambulance for treatment.

Police believe alcohol might have been a factor in the crash and were unable to determine whether the occupants were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.

The incident is still under investigation.

Assisting Steuben deputies were Indiana State Police, Steuben Township Fire Rescue, Ashley Fire Rescue, Steuben County Emergency Medical Service and Steuben County Communications.
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Rejecting Illegal Obamacare Expansion

Confirmation of Cabinet Secretaries

Lake Mattamuskeet Lodge Restoration Project

Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies Golden LEAF Grant

North Carolina's Medicaid program already covers children, pregnant mothers, the elderly, blind, disabled, etc. In 2013, the General Assembly passed a law to prevent the expansion of taxpayer-funded health insurance to able-bodied, single, childless adults. Reversing course and expanding Medicaid now would cost North Carolina citizens billions over the next ten years and take away funding from important priorities like public education. Yet Gov. Cooper is trying to openly defy the law to expand Obamacare and spend billions of state taxpayer dollars without our legislative approval. We were forced to file a lawsuit after multiple attempts to amicably convince the governor to follow the law fell on deaf ears. Thankfully, the federal government is partnering with legislative Republicans to stop Gov. Cooper. An agreement made between legislative leaders and the new federal administration guarantees that Gov. Cooper's illegal scheme will be halted for at least the next roughly 90 days. This means that no matter what Gov. Cooper tries to do in the coming weeks and months, Medicaid expansion will not happen in North Carolina, period. The governor should abandon this political stunt at taxpayer expense.As you may know, the Senate will soon begin a confirmation process for Gov. Cooper's cabinet appointees similar to the process currently underway with our federal government in Washington, D.C. From approving new regulations to granting small business permits to even renewing a driver's license, there's no question these cabinet secretaries wield a lot of power. This change follows the constitution and helps give North Carolinians confidence that our state's leaders will be held accountable. Article III, Section 5 of the North Carolina Constitution states: "the Governor shall nominate and by and with the advice and consent of a majority of the Senators appoint all officers whose appointments are not otherwise provided for." In the coming weeks, our goal is to have a transparent and fair process where the governor's nominees are thoroughly considered. As long as Gov. Cooper's cabinet nominees have nothing to hide and are free of conflicts of interest, willing to follow the law and qualified, he should advise them they have nothing to worry about and encourage them to comply with the law.During opening day of the 2017 Legislative Session, I had the distinct honor to nominate Senator Louis M. Pate to serve as the Senate's Deputy President Pro-Tempore. Following the ceremonial session on January 11th we gaveled in last week for the start of official business.For the past one hundred years, the Lake Mattamuskeet Lodge has served as a symbol of the Hyde County community, culture and history. A provision in the 2016 state budget directed the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to engage in advanced planning of completion and renovations of the Lodge, and to develop a public/private partnership to facilitate the future operations. The reopening of the Lodge would help restore its significance and foster a link between the public and its natural resources. Last month, the University Of North Carolina School Of Government in association with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and Hyde County released a report on the short-term and long-term impacts. To review a copy of the report click here.On Thursday, the Golden LEAF Foundation Board of Directors awarded a grant of $200,000, the maximum grant available through their Open Grants Program, to the Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies in Elizabeth City, N.C. Our state's ability to compete for jobs, develop a stronger economy, and promote greater economic prosperity is dependent on the quality of our education system. This pathbreaking school coordinates with Elizabeth City State University and their expertise to provide real-world learning opportunities tied to available jobs in the area and the state.
LOS ANGELES  The company behind Snapchat has two offerings  that beloved, 5-year-old app for messaging and video streaming, and Spectacles, a months-old, $130 pair of sunglasses that double as a camcorder.

The Los Angeles company has promised more gadgets will follow. But even with a significant increase, hardware sales in the near term probably would bring in 100 times less revenue than selling ads displayed on Snapchat.

Its that potentially massive, multibillion-dollar ad business that has investors most excited about Snap Inc., which is expected to open its stock to public trading in the coming weeks in one of the tech industrys highest-anticipated initial public offerings in years.

So why is Snap insisting its actually a camera company?

The label introduced last year raised questions about Snaps hardware ambitions. But more than signaling that Snap is the next Apple Inc.  a firm that makes software and hardware but derives about two-thirds of its revenue from iPhone sales  the distinction could be an attempt to help investors see the nuance between the goals of Snapchat and those of its most potent rival, Facebook.

Unlike Facebook, Snaps not out to connect everyone on the planet. Rather, its goal is to tinker with both the physical make of cameras and the code behind them, giving people new ways to chat with friends, have fun together and educate themselves about the world. Both companies rely on advertising revenue, but Snap, which declined to comment, appears to be suggesting its approach will be more focused.

They need to show they are not just Facebook for teens, said Gene Munster, who studied Apples finances for years and now co-manages investment firm Loup Ventures. Tech companies that enjoy the most sustained success have visions beyond whats visible to most today, and Snap is arranging itself to join that group.

Twenty years from now, the way we engage with the world will probably not be a phone, Munster said. Hardware changes are going to be happening, and this mission gives them a foothold and foundation to be prepared for this transition.

Though the camera, both in apps and in gadgets, will be central to that aim, investors and the financial analysts who advise them ascribe minimal value to Spectacles and other hardware. They insist Snaps real value is in the advertising business. If Snap wishes otherwise, it will have a long way to go before changing perceptions.

I would be hard-pressed to imagine them as a hardware company unless its possible to see a long-term commitment to that business, said Brian Wieser, who follows companies such as Facebook for Pivotal Research. So for now, its an ad tech company.

Still, Snap joins financial technology company Square Inc. as one of the first internet companies with revenue coming from both hardware and software at the time of an initial public stock offering. That split helps diversify its business, but it means Snap also will have to justify to investors any hardware-related expenses.

Snap has shared limited financial data with potential investors and met only with a select group of analysts. More could become clear when it publicly shares its stock prospectus, which could be as early as this week.

Experimentation doesnt necessarily hurt share prices, said Scott Kessler, a financial analyst at CFRA. Amazon.com, Facebook and Google parent company Alphabet Inc. have gotten away with unrealized product goals as their core businesses continue to surge.

People want to see these companies innovating and trying new things, Kessler said.

In Snaps favor is that its second revenue line already has inklings of success. Spectacles have received positive reviews. Investors point to the long lines that Snap generated by selling the sunglasses through roving vending machines. Its a wacky experience that has energized the industry. And because of Snaps generally small release of thousands of pairs, investors simply are discounting the idea for now.

It seems like a noble experiment akin to Google Glass, but not yet a central part of the Snap value proposition, said Chris Rust, a founder at Clear Ventures who held a board observer role at GoPro.

Instead, Snaps biggest challenge could be convincing investors to notice the distinctions with Facebook and showing them that profit is within sight.

Alexander Stimpson, co-chief investment officer at Newport Beach, Calif., money manager Corient Capital Partners, said hes worried that companies going public before demonstrating recurring profitability have turned investors into speculators. It forces them to invest based on instincts rather than formulas. And despite the great risks, they stand to gain a much smaller return than the venture capitalists who held shares prior to the IPO.

If a company is unprofitable, the rewards should be substantial because youre taking substantial risk, he said.

Because Snap isnt yet profitable, Stimpson doesnt mind coming late to the party when it may be a safer bet.

When theres no earnings there, it forces investors to behave in a way thats against their best interests to be successful long term, he said. Investors are successful when they are disciplined about valuations, when profits matter, when metrics matter, when they buy low and sell high.

Still, many analysts expect the excitement to be so great that Snap gets whatever price it wants. Hitting the stock market could bring Snaps value upward of $25 billion.

Any time you have a brand-name company, youre going to have a lot of interest, said Ivan Feinseth, director of research at Tigress Financial Partners. They are very strong in the teen, preteen and the millennial market. Theyre a key player.
So youve gotten yourself into another mess. A fine kettle of fish, as they say. A heaping load of trouble, up to your hiney in alligators, and youll pay for a long time. Your life right now is pure chaos although, as in the new novel Clownfish Blues by Tim Dorsey, creativity may solve your little crisis.

Florida was consumed with Lottery Fever.

Nobody had won the last few rounds and so the amount rolled over, and over again. Lines doubled back and snaked through parking lots, while convenience stores and grocery aisles filled with hopeful people holding their lucky numbers.

With his trusty sidekick, Coleman, riding shotgun in a silver Corvette, Serge Storms decided it was a good time for their next adventure: a remake, new-for-the-millennium, not-quite-updated version of Route 66, shot entirely in Florida. The possibilities were endless for a couple of guys wanting to travel the Sunshine State, grabbing new gigs each week. It was fail-safe. Itd be fun!

Worm grunting seemed like a road to riches; fishermen who longed to catch The Big One in Florida waters always needed nightcrawlers, so Serge used his skills to enhance old-time methods of capturing worms. Turns out, it wasnt quite as lucrative as he figured it would be, but grunting for worms was a nice way to hide a body  twice, in fact.

Being a hostage negotiator only required windbreakers, and the best part was that there really wasnt a hostage. There was a lot more to becoming a psychic  more than just having a Magic Eight-Ball, truthfully, but finding a hot babe was a nice perk to the job. And the next gig was just down the road because Florida was in the grip of Lottery Fever. It was chaotic and crazy. Everybody wanted a piece of the winnings, including police, drug dealers, cartels, and one very stoned lawyer in Hialeah.

Normally speaking, to read a Dorsey book by is to take a wild, screaming ride down I-75 while standing on the back seat of a convertible. Fans, of course are used to it with Dorsey; heck, theyve come to expect it.

But Clownfish Blues is like that, only with sinkholes every 10 feet: its just too much to stay upright.

Theres a huge overabundance of Serge-and-Coleman chaos in this book, starting with a signature Dorsey only-in-Florida scenario and Serge-driven not-so-random travels up and down the state. Readers are reacquainted with recurring characters from prior novels here, while other bit-players show up early and return only when youve mostly forgotten who they are. In between, Serges revenge tactics are fewer than normal, Coleman seems more clueless, and the bad guys dont seem quite as bad as usual.

If youre a fan, Im sure this review only whets your appetite and nobody can take your money fast enough. If youre new to the series, though, do not start with this book. Go find another, trust me. Fans will love this, but for others, Clownfish Blues is just a mess.
MINNEAPOLIS (TNS)  TerraCOHs idea is big. The fledgling firm would use carbon dioxide emissions  a nemesis to the planet  to power a geothermal energy system, which would in turn produce low-cost, clean electricity.

And TerraCOHs patented geothermal technology could serve as a big underground battery, effectively storing renewable  but intermittent  wind and solar energy. Now, the Minneapolis-based company just needs money to turn its plans  about eight years in the making  into reality.

The good news: TerraCOH believes this year it will fire up a small-scale commercial version of its power system. We are ready to build the power plant, said Jimmy Randolph, TerraCOHs chief technical officer. And were trying to raise the money to do that, chimed in Chief Executive John Griffin.

TerraCOH, which has its roots at the University of Minnesota, so far has been financed with more than $5 million in grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy. Last year, the company began soliciting private investors to commercialize its ideas, with Griffin leading the way.

Griffin is a mechanical engineer with an MBA from the University of Minnesota who has worked with technology companies large and small over the past 30 years. Randolph graduated summa cum laude in physics and math from St. Olaf College, and then got a Ph.D. in geophysics in 2011 from Minnesota, where hes currently a senior research associate.

Randolphs adviser at Minnesota was Martin Saar, professor of earth sciences. The pair, along with Thomas Kuehn, a mechanical engineering professor, invented a renewable energy technology called CO2 Plume Geothermal. The university holds the patent and would split royalties with the three researchers if the technology becomes a hit.

TerraCOH has also worked on its technology with researchers at Ohio State University and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

Geothermal is the cheapest form of energy, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, but its not widely deployed. Traditional geothermal energy projects must be near places where the earth is hot relatively close to the surface. These hot spots, though, are limited geographically.

The deeper you go, the hotter the earth gets. So, Randolph and his co-inventors developed a method to tap geothermal heat that is 1 to 3 miles below the earths surface. This deep heat resource is much more widespread, but cost-effectively mining it is difficult.

TerraCOHs technology uses supercritical CO2 to efficiently unlock that thermal energy. Supercritical is a chemical state somewhere between a gas and a liquid. Its dense and has a lower viscosity than water, so it flows easy. Oil companies use compressed CO2 to scour the last bits of petroleum from conventional wells.

In TerraCOHs system, supercritical CO2 heats up as its pumped lower into the earth and is stored in porous sedimentary rock. The hot CO2 can then be drawn back up to the earths surface  without costly pumping  where it spins a turbine to create electricity. Its an energy loop, basically.

The equipment needed for this process has become viable over the past year, Griffin said. TerraCOH needs to raise $2 million to build two small power plants with 100 to 200 kilowatts of generating capacity. By contrast, a good-size wind farm can pump out 200 megawatts.

TerraCOH is eyeing existing oil and gas fields for its early projects, since theyve already been drilled.

The company is planning a small power plant at a conventional oil well in northwest North Dakota that will produce electricity for that site. For this project, TerraCOH will harness the geothermal energy provided by oil and gases coming up the well, heating CO2 in an above-ground tank, which will then power a turbine.

But the long-term goal is to place TerraCOH Plume Geothermal systems near coal-fired or gas-fired power plants, directly capturing CO2 emissions, pumping them into the ground for eventual use in bigger CO2 fired-power plants. These plants would initially generate up to 15 megawatts, but could eventually be up to 300 megawatts.

Another goal is to use the geothermal system as a battery for solar and wind power. The drawback to renewables is that they are intermittent, producing when the weather is sunny or windy. Currently, chemical batteries are too expensive to store large amounts of renewable energy.

But excess wind and solar power could be transmitted to a TerraCOH plant, powering pumps that would inject CO2 into the earth, from where it could eventually be turned back into electricity when needed. Plume Geothermal is not intermittent, Randolph said. Its 24/7. You can run it on demand.

One goal is to use the geothermal system as a battery for solar and wind power. The drawback to renewables is that they are intermittent, producing when the weather is sunny or windy. Currently, chemical batteries are too expensive to store large amounts of renewable energy.
Twenty-two hospitals in Wisconsin have been fined by the state for not following a law requiring them to offer emergency contraception to rape victims.

The 2008 state law requires emergency rooms to give information about so-called morning-after pills to victims of sexual assault, dispense the drugs at their request and train staff about the drugs.

St. Marys was fined $7,500 in April 2015 for not obeying the three main parts of the law. From June to December 2014, the hospital failed to inform three sexual assault patients about emergency contraception or make it available to them, the state Department of Health Services said.

During a state inspection that led to the fine, the ER director at St. Marys, a Catholic institution, said the hospital had two reasons for not complying: its religious affiliation, and its policy of transferring sexual assault patients to UnityPoint Health-Meriter, which has a forensic nurse examiners program that investigates rape.

In June 2015, the hospital revised its policy to comply with the law, according to documents the Wisconsin State Journal obtained from the health department.

Kim Sveum, St. Marys spokeswoman, said hospital policy allowed emergency contraception before the fine and was clarified afterward. The hospital has provided information about emergency contraception to 13 patients since June 2015 and given the pills to two patients who requested them, Sveum said.

We are committed to providing all patients with exceptional care, in accordance with our policies and all applicable state and federal laws, Sveum said.

Sveum said the ER directors statement citing the religious affiliation as a reason for not complying was inaccurate. She declined to say who the ER director was, and the state documents do not name the person.

St. Marys has long transferred sexual assault patients to Meriter once the patients are stable, Sveum said. Occasionally, Meriter nurses travel to St. Marys to do rape examinations, she said.

Sveum said hospitals affiliated with St. Marys  SSM Health St. Marys Hospital-Janesville and SSM Health St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo  follow the law.

Approved in late 1990s

Emergency contraception, first approved in the late 1990s, greatly reduces the chance of pregnancy if taken within three to five days of sexual intercourse.

Proponents say the drugs can alleviate rape victims worry over being impregnated by their attackers, and reduce abortions. Opponents say the pills amount to abortion because they can block implantation of a fertilized egg.

Former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle signed Wisconsins law, which was supported mostly by Democrats but also some Republicans. Democrats controlled the state Senate at the time and Republicans had a narrow majority in the state Assembly.

Today, Republicans have large majorities in both houses. Gov. Scott Walker is Republican.

Sara Finger, executive director of the Wisconsin Alliance for Womens Health, said the hospitals lack of compliance with the law shows why its important for the state to enforce it.

Compliance is everything, Finger said. Its scary how many women might not be getting the compassionate care they need.

Matt Sande, legislative director for Pro-Life Wisconsin, which fought the law, said some of the hospitals cited might oppose the law for religious reasons.

If there are hospitals among these 22 that are non-compliant because they feel the law is a violation of their religious freedom, they ought to challenge it, Sande said. There are grounds to do so.

Wisconsin Right to Life and the Wisconsin Catholic Conference were neutral on the bill leading to the law.

When the state Legislature debated the issue in 2007, some Republicans proposed letting hospitals and individual medical professionals opt out for moral or religious reasons.

A key Assembly sponsor, former Rep. Terry Musser, R-Black River Falls, opposed the opt-out clause, and it was not included in the final measure. It would gut the bill, Musser said at the time.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia require emergency rooms to provide information about emergency contraception to sexual assault victims, and 13 states and DC require them to dispense the drugs on request, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

Hospitals now complying

Wisconsin has 129 general service hospitals. Of the 22 hospitals fined for not adhering to the law, 12 have been cited since 2013. Two were fined twice: Cumberland Memorial Hospital, in 2009 and 2015, and North Central Health Care in Wausau, in 2008 and 2013.

Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County in Darlington was fined $7,500 in 2015, as was Watertown Regional Medical Center in 2013, for violating the three main aspects of the law.

Julie Chikowski, CEO of Memorial, said the hospital was offering emergency contraception at the time but failed to document it. Lesson learned, she said. We totally support this for best patient care.

Watertown Regional has been in compliance with the law since the hospital was fined, said Amy Hayden, marketing manager.

Monroe Clinic was fined $2,500 last year, as was Vernon Memorial Hospital in Viroqua in 2009, for violating one part of the law: not telling rape victims they could receive emergency contraception.

The Monroe hospitals fine was for a documentation problem, and the hospital complies with the law, said Patricia Lawson, marketing director.

Vernon Memorial didnt know about the law when it was fined, but were complying now, said Sue Sullivan, manager of compliance and quality.

Most of the other hospitals cited are in northern Wisconsin.
Methamphetamine use in Wisconsin is rising at an alarming rate and there are no indications it will plateau, a new report found.

Between 2011 and 2015, while law enforcement, treatment providers and others focused on fighting the heroin epidemic, meth use statewide grew up to 300 percent, according to data and input from 95 agencies, including 15 in La Crosse and surrounding counties.

The FBI Milwaukee Field Division, Wisconsin Statewide Intelligence Center and Southeast Wisconsin Threat Analysis Center recently released the first statewide study examining the scope of meth use in Wisconsin.

Among the findings: Use will grow during the next decade as Mexican drug cartels capitalize on demand by continuing to produce high volumes of cheap, potent meth. Violent and property crime will increase as desperate addicts steal to support a habit that could cost them hundreds of dollars a day.

Use is increasing in La Crosse and its surrounding counties, judging by the rising number of people jailed for possessing and delivering meth, said Tom Johnson, head of a regional drug task force that includes 17 law enforcement agencies.

Heroin ebbs and flows, he said. But meth continues to climb and never breaks.

Mexico to La Crosse

Laws enacted to restrict the sale of pseudoephedrine used to manufactured meth reduced the amount of homemade meth, although producers target pharmacies still using paper purchase logs, the report found.

Today, Mexican drug cartels manufacture about 90 percent of the meth consumed in the U.S., according to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. Super labs can produce 10 pounds of meth in a single batch; home labs produce about three grams of subpar meth from one pack of cold medicine.

This has reduced the need for meth labs in Wisconsin, as it is easier to purchase high-purity, high-potency meth than it is to make it, the report found.

It comes into Wisconsin via the Twin Cities, primarily carried by gang members, although Rochester, Minn., is emerging as a new distribution point, Johnson said.

Meth traffickers use Wisconsins highway system to transport meth to secondary supply cities, such as Eau Claire, La Crosse, Wausau, Green Bay, Sheboygan and the Fox Valley area, according to the report.

Cases

Statewide, meth possession charges rose 286 percent from 2010 to 2014, while meth delivery charges increased 167 percent, according to the report.

In La Crosse, the number of adults arrested for possessing, delivering or intending to deliver meth leaped from 12 in 2010 to 185 last year, according to data from the La Crosse Police Department. Heroin arrests increased from four to 53 during the same period.

La Crosse County prosecutors in 2014 and 2016 filed about twice as many meth cases as heroin cases. In 2015, prosecutors charged 268 meth cases compared with 83 heroin cases, according to statistics from the district attorneys office.

Heroin and meth each caused or contributed to the deaths of two people last year in La Crosse County, while another four people died after using a combination of the drugs, according to the medical examiners office.

Jackson and Trempealeau counties were among the top 10 counties that witnessed the largest increase of meth cases, according to data collected from law enforcement.

Meth arrests accounted for about 40 percent of all drug arrests in the first half of 2016 in Trempealeau County, Sheriff Richard Anderson said.

We have a huge problem, he said. The amount of meth in the county was so alarming that we didnt have enough personnel to handle it.

The county last year created new positions in the sheriffs and human services department to work with drug addicts and affected families, Anderson said.

The sheriff, district attorney and drug investigators reach out to community groups to address how the public can help police fight meth use. Federal law enforcement must sever supply lines, said Anderson, who advocates punishment for dealers and treatment for users.

In rural areas, we need resources for those who want help, he said.

We have to focus on prevention and treatment

Combating methamphetamine use is a complex issue with no single solution, but experts raise the same suggestions they do for fighting every drug problem: enforcement, prevention and treatment.

The report was not intended to present solutions, said FBI intelligence analyst John Kumm, who wrote the report. Now its up to elected officials and each community to see what theyre going to do with the information.

La Crosse County formed a task force in 2013 to address the heroin epidemic after a surge in opiate deaths but later broadened its mission to include combating meth, said Dr. Chris Eberlein, co-chair of the Heroin and Illicit Drug Task Force and an emergency room physician at Gundersen Health System.

As a task force, we have to focus on prevention and treatment goals, he said.

Those include expanding prevention education and creating new inpatient treatment centers to serve a growing number of users, although funding is an obstacle, Eberlein said. He also advocates for more research into the science of addiction.

We could research our way of it, Eberlein said. Our understanding of addiction is small compared to other medicine areas.

Medication can help counteract withdrawal symptoms and curb cravings for heroin addicts, while meth users undergo more traditional treatment methods, said Amber Sherman, supervisor of the addictions department at Mayo Clinic Health System.

The facility is treating a rising number of meth addicts, some seeking treatment voluntarily and others by court order.

Or theyre using both drugs, Sherman said. Theyre using meth to come off heroin or heroin to come off meth.

Many meth addicts need long-term inpatient treatment that isnt covered by insurance or Medicaid, said Cheryl Hancock, executive director of Coulee Council on Addictions, which provides relapse prevention, support groups and social interaction for addicts in a clean environment.

We as a community need to have a conversation followed by action identifying what we can do to support those struggling with meth addiction, she said. We know what the gaps are, but yet little progress has been made to fill them. If we are the compassionate community we aspire to be we have to be serious about treating individuals and families struggling with the disease of substance use disorder, just as we do with those with other chronic progressive diseases.
TOWN OF WILTON  A snowmobiler died Saturday morning after his machine struck a fence and then crashed into the concrete end of an overpass in Monroe County.

The crash was reported at 7:49 a.m., according to the Monroe County Sheriffs Department. The snowmobile was traveling east on the trail at the intersection of Hwy. 71 and Lobster Avenue.

Authorities are withholding the name of the victim until family are notified. The crash remains under investigation by the Monroe County Sheriffs Department and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Two days before the new presidents inauguration, the Society of Professional Journalists and dozens of other media and government transparency groups sent a letter asking Donald Trump for a meeting to discuss his administrations relationship with the press.

Among other things, the groups wanted Trump to affirm his commitment to the First Amendment, assure media access to his presidential activities, and allow expert government employees to talk to the media rather than muzzle them in favor of public relations officials.

Trump has yet to respond.

However, the new administration issued orders to employees of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture not to convey information to the media or public. Officials also imposed a news blackout at the Department of Transportation.

Meanwhile, Trump claimed, with no evidence, that up to five million illegal voters participated in the election; his White House spokeswoman used the term alternative facts to explain false claims that Trumps inauguration audience was the largest ever; and chief strategist Steve Bannon called the news media an opposition party that should keep its mouth shutviews that Trump himself later endorsed.

All this happened within Trumps first two weeks in office.

Where does that leave us, as members of the press and guardians of your right to know what government is doing?

First, we must report on official efforts to withhold information from the publicwhich is, after all, footing the bill for government. On day one, the new administration scrubbed references to climate change from the EPA website (echoing similar actions by Wisconsins Department of Natural Resources and Public Service Commission). Expect more of the same.

Second, we must continue to be vigilant in the face of Trumps tendency, first as a candidate and now as president, to engage in bombast and exaggeration. It is our duty to expose unprovable, and outright false, claims.

Third, we must guard against politicians unwillingness to subject their actions to media scrutiny. It is our job to disclose what the administration is doing, even in the face of efforts to bypass the traditional White House press corps.

As law professors RonNell Andersen Jones and Sonja R. West recently wrote in The New York Times, while the First Amendment prohibits government censorship and offers protection against lawsuits, journalists have few constitutional rights to government documents and sources, or from being maligned by people in power. Trump, they noted, appears set on blowing up the mutually dependent relationships the White House press corps has had with presidential administrations from both parties.

This is why we should be alarmed when Mr. Trump, defying tradition, vilifies media institutions, attacks reporters by name and refuses to take questions from those whose coverage he dislikes, they wrote.

Its not just about the media. Its about your right to know. To quote Jones and West, Like so much of our democracy, the freedom of the press is only as strong as we, the public, demand it to be.
The Billings Association of Realtors was founded in 1910, only two years after the establishment of the National Association of Realtors. As one of the oldest associations in the United States, the group adapted to changing consumer and community needs. But with increasing membership and new technology available, a larger transition became necessary.

BAR opened the doors of its new location at 2021 Overland Ave., in early December. Having spent 32 years leasing, board leaders wanted to buy their own building.

Realtors are in the business of ownership, said Angela Klein-Hughes, current BAR president.

That opportunity came when the Jade Palace, a Chinese restaurant on Billings West End, closed and the building went up for sale. After more than a century in business, the Billings Association of Realtors found a home to call their own.

Total renovation

Visitors will not recognize the building that houses the association. The exterior with terracotta shingles and teal trim underwent a major transformation. In its place is blue siding and modern stone work, complete with a new roof.

The board enlisted the services of Atwood Architecture to realize their goals for the space.

I really enjoyed working with the BAR staff and board to help define their vision for the project, said Scott Atwood.

Although there are challenges when converting a space from one use to another, Atwood circumvented the obstacles with ease. But he doesnt take all of the credit.

I was also impressed with Bauer Construction, said Atwood of the building company hired for the project. Their communication and project management skills moved the project forward efficiently, and Im confident helped save construction dollars for our client.

Inside, the only remnant of the previous interior is a firewall, which separates the new classroom space from the rest of the building.

Tom Llewellyn, a 49-year BAR member active in the planning process, says the whole building was pieced back together after being gutted. Even the duct work was disassembled and replaced.

The project went very smoothly, said Jason Kapfer of Empire Heating and Cooling, who was contracted to provide updated HVAC for the building. It was a very well-ran project.

Construction began on April 1 and was completed ahead of schedule, which leaders attribute to a solid team with a shared approach and attitude toward the project.

Bauer Construction hired several sub-contractors to execute the remodel. Floors from Pierce Flooring, a Mountain Area Systems acoustic ceiling and paint by Acom Painting were only a few of the updates that combined to create a whole new look for the building.

The result is impressive.

On a scale of one to ten, This (location) is an 11 compared to a 3 (at the last location), said Llewellyn.

With the large 6,240-square-foot space, its no wonder BAR leadership is thankful for the move. The previous location was only one-third the size. The new classroom, two additional offices, increased storage capacity and catering kitchen are other celebrated building attributes.

Current estimates calculate project expenses at around $1.2 million, but the value of the building  both monetary and in service  far exceeds the cost.

Im very pleased with the project and look forward to seeing how the facility meets (BARs) needs in the upcoming months, said Atwood.

Excellence in innovation

BAR wants to provide members with the best possible service, a goal more easily achieved at the new location.

The remodeled building provides a better space to accommodate classes for realtors and community members. The classroom area seats 105, and overflow into the conference room allows for up to 150 attendees.

Since Montana Realtors are required to take an introductory course within one year of receiving their license and 12 hours of recertification courses annually, the classroom is integral to continuing education.

Equally important to BAR is educating community members. The board is legislatively active, and the expanded space allows for more people to attend discussions on private property rights and engages homeowners in the political process.

Upgrades in technology were another main focus in the relocation.

The way we do business has to have an emphasis on technology, said Llewellyn, reflecting on a time when everything in the realty business was printed. The world has changed.

A projector was installed to connect their classroom and conference room, so everyone can see and hear presentations. This innovation also means that partner associates at its Havre and Lewistown locations can Skype in for meetings that would have otherwise required travel.

Recently, BAR updated its Multiple Listing Service program to a new product. The upgrade means new ways to communicate with members and improved service for clients.

Building a better Billings

In accordance with its vision statement, BAR consistently looks to enhance quality of life through professional services and involvement in the Billings community.

Annually since 2004, BAR raises money to donate to local non-profit groups. They organize the annual Quality of Life Run and hold a casino night  each garnering proceeds for a different cause. Last year, the association gifted $35,000 to Tumbleweed, $20,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters, and an additional $5,000 divvied up between 10 different nonprofits.

In 2017, a Meals on Wheels expansion will be supported by the casino night event on April 18, and YWCA will be the recipient of funds raised by the run on Aug. 12.

Not only does BAR reach out to the community through civic engagement, the new location makes it possible to bring the community in.

The conference space, catering kitchen and classroom are all available to rent.

If (an organization) has a conference or committee meeting, we can provide the space, said Mary Grant, executive officer.

The team is glad to have a location that enables them to continue charitable endeavors, community education and professional enhancement.

The reality is we are in a space that will serve us for many years, said Grant.
The New Lisbon Police Department informed the Jackson County Sheriffs Department that a young girl was allegedly beaten and possibly choked by her father during a hunting trip in the Jackson County town of Millston last November.

It was reported that the young girl and Keith Herritz, 57, went to several bars in Millston Nov. 19, and when they returned to the cabin, she told her father she wanted to go home. She stated he pulled her from the car by her neck, choked her and kicked her in the stomach.

The girl was taken to Hess Memorial Hospital in Mauston, where she was treated for her injuries. Police learned of the incident after Herritz returned the girl to her guardian in New Lisbon.

Herritz has been charged by the Jackson County District Attorneys Office with physical abuse of a child, intentionally causing bodily harm, which could land him a fine up to $10,000, not more than six years in prison or both.

His initial appearance in Jackson County Circuit Court is set for Feb. 20.
The thrill of marching down Pennsylvania Avenue last Saturday with 500,000 other people for basic human rights for women spurred my memory of the first march for womens lives I ever attended. In 1989, I was a 21-year-old college student marching at a time when protestors were physically blockading womens health care clinics. Then, as now, I felt that we could change the world with the energy of the crowd.

What I now realize decades later is that change doesnt just come with marching, but with acting. And the need to act is urgent. Though individuals no longer blockade health center doors (but women seeking access to reproductive health services often face harassment), politicians here in Wisconsin, at the national level and in state legislatures around the country pass law after law that has the same effect  to deny women access to life-saving health care. In the next several weeks, Paul Ryan will attempt to push through his bill to deny Medicaid patients the ability to seek birth control, cervical and breast cancer screenings and testing and treatment for STDs from Planned Parenthood. No abortion services are provided with public funds. Ryans measure will not only deny 6,000 individuals from his own district access to Planned Parenthood, but 50,000 patients throughout our state.

The Republican talking point is that other providers will step in. But we need look no further than our own state to know that this is a lie. When Gov. Scott Walker in his first budget denied all state funds to Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, five rural health care clinics in Shawano, Johnson Creek, Chippewa Falls, Fond du Lac and Beaver Dam closed, impacting thousands of Wisconsin women and men. No other provider stepped in to provide the critical health services no longer available in these communities. A recent Guardian article entitled Healthcare without Planned Parenthood: Wisconsin and Texas point to dark future, details the devastating consequences, including spikes in sexually transmitted diseases, increased pregnancy rates, and a void in the availability of these health care services. The only option now for these counties is to refer women to Planned Parenthoods in other counties. The question is how long these Planned Parenthood providers will be around if Paul Ryan and Scott Walker have their way.

The reality is that PPWI is one of the few charity health care providers to underserved people. Over 54 percent of PPWIs health centers are in health professional shortage areas, which are rural or medically underserved areas. In 73% of the counties that PPWI serves, there is no provider who has the capacity to absorb PPWIs patients. And PPWI loses money on every single Medicaid patient they serve, a result few providers can, or are willing to, absorb. PPWIs mission is not profit, but to serve patients.

This week, my Democratic colleagues and I sent letters to both Paul Ryan and Scott Walker calling on them to cease their efforts to deny public funds to Planned Parenthood. These politicians shouldnt be jeopardizing the life and health of Wisconsin men and women to score political points. Without a massive public backlash against their efforts, that will be the result. And women and families will suffer.

Please take time this week to call Paul Ryans office at 202-255-3031 and Scott Walkers office at 608-266-1212 to urge them to fund the life-saving patient care provided to thousands of Wisconsinites and patients throughout the country at Planned Parenthood. Womens health and lives depend upon it.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is more concerned about the safety of Syrian women and children than she is for American families.

Her party and its sanctuary cities are willing to jeopardize American lives in the name of a political victory.

On Jan. 27, President Donald Trump ordered the immediate suspension of immigration from the countries of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, for a time period of 90 to 120 days based on the countries ties to terrorists. Pelosi and company completely freaked out.

Before the weekend even was over, protesters took to the streets and the national media proclaimed victory when a federal judge, appointed by former President Barack Obama, issued a stay which, according to The Hill, only affects those who have arrived in the U.S. with previously approved refugee applications or were in transit with valid visas.

Just a quick question: How do you get the attention of a federal judge on a Saturday?

Contrary to the headlines, the stay did not block most of the executive order and it also is not a ban on Muslims. It was exactly what the American people requested last year an opportunity to examine our procedures to effectively process thousands of people at risk from terrorist states as a means of limiting the threat to a front-door terrorist invasion.

This is not a first for this country. On April 7, 1980, former President Jimmy Carter ordered officials to invalidate all visas issued to Iranian citizens for future entry into the United States. His orders began immediately and, at the time they were issued, lasted indefinitely. President Trump at least offered a timeline. I dont recall protesters lining the streets on behalf of Iraqi citizens who are also Muslim.

Pelosi, in the most grandiose way, grabbed a microphone in the Capital Building on the day of Trumps announcement and proclaimed As the Statue of Liberty holds her torch of welcome high, there are tears in her eyes as she sees how low this administration has stooped in its callousness toward mothers and children escaping war-torn Syria.

The image of Lady Freedom no longer accepting your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free was a powerful one. Pelosi acted as if she personally would have to apologize to those Syrian mothers while our president seeks a way to safely extract this endangered group into the United States while protecting our own sovereignty.

The risk of not properly vetting these refugees is very real. Just last month Europol, the law enforcement arm of the European Union, issued several warnings about the refugee crisis. The agency believes Syrian refugees may be vulnerable to radicalisation (sic) once in Europe and may be targeted by extremist recruiters. They stated the infiltration of refugee camps and other refugee/migrant groups is likely.

Europol has the evidence to back it up: The Dec. 19, 2016, attack on a German market killing 12 people and leaving 56 dead. The March 22, 2016, attack on the Brussels Airport killing 32 people and injuring more than 300. These attacks were carried out by people infiltrating those countries in the name of ISIS.

We have no reason to believe things here will be magically different. On Dec. 2, 2015, 14 people were killed in San Bernardino by people inspired by ISIS. The Boston Bombers from Chechnya were radicalized by an al-Qaeda cleric. How long before these terror groups reach out and inspire just one of the refugees that already are here?

Pelosi and her Democrats have suddenly become backers of the U.S. Constitution  for non-citizens. One could only wonder what would happen if they felt that strong when those same American rights pertain to American citizens. Is Pelosi willing to defend her position to the next American mother who is notified her child died in an act of terrorism on American soil?

And that is the problem with sanctuary cities. Do we really believe that the open-door policies of cities like Madison and Milwaukee ultimately are to the benefit of the residents of Wisconsin? Are Mayor Tom Barrett and Mayor Paul Soglin willing to come to Baraboo and apologize when things go wrong because they defied federal law? Do we really need to wonder about our safety, or look over our shoulder, every time we go to Madisons West Towne Mall?

A 90-day pause assessing refugee migration isnt racist, or an attack on Muslims. Its practical and its prudent. After all Pelosi, American lives also matter.
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A mild stroke last May has left Al Kiser with a familiar feeling from time to time on the smooth wooden dance floor of the Moose Lodge in Billings  that of two left feet.

It wasnt an excuse when his wife of 49 years, Lois Kiser, taught him to dance the polka decades ago, and its still no good for her.

Im not going to let him quit, she said laughing as the two took a break from the music at a recent meeting of the Big Sky Polka Club in Billings.

Club President Keith Kraft said he believes that in the northern United States the Big Sky Polka club might be the largest west of Minnesota.

Despite the clubs relative size, Kraft and others expressed concern that a lack of youth interest and an aging membership will ultimately cause their club to fold.

The whole culture of old-time music will be lost, Kraft said.

The group was founded sometime around 1989, Kraft said. Even before local polka enthusiasts officially banded together, the Bohemian style of dance had a passionate following in the Magic City, said Lois Kiser.

The dance floor used to be absolutely covered, Kiser said, recalling dances held at the Moose Lodge before the Big Sky Polka Clubs founding.

Citing club statistics, Kraft said that in 2005 the clubs monthly dances on the first Sunday of the month attracted an average of more than 200 dancers. In 2016, that number was down to an average of 89, he said.

Kraft, 72, said he grew up in Billings in a large German family and that he learned the polka and other dances through large, lengthy and frequent family weddings, in addition to 4-H dances and other dance-oriented functions that were common in his youth.

Members and dancers travel to Billings for the groups monthly dance meetings from a long list of regional communities like Ringling, Martinsdale and Melstone in Montana; Greybull, Cody and Sheridan in Wyoming; and even Williston, North Dakota, Kraft said.

Every fall for the past 23 years the group has hosted the Big Sky Polkafest, which brings people from across the country to Billings for three days featuring multiple bands and more than 20 hours of dancing.

At the 2016 Big Sky Polkafest, Krafts wife Susan Kraft joked that the two of them stay out later than their children when the festival comes around.

The couple said they have made lifelong friends far and wide and that sometimes the club will charter a bus to travel to out-of-state polka festivals.

Traveling out of state isnt uncommon for polka dancers, Kraft said, adding that he and his wife were considering a trip to an upcoming festival in Mesa, Arizona, where the dancing is incredible.

The Krafts and the Kisers both described similar benefits to the dance gatherings that have had a regular role in their lives for years.

Dancing provides companionship and social opportunities, it offers good exercise and, perhaps most importantly, its just fun music to move to, they said.

It gets you off your chair and dancing, Lois Kiser said.

Dances held on the first Sunday of every month cost $4.50 for members and $6 for non-members for four hours of dancing, Keith Kraft said.

Kraft said he and his wife both regret letting busy personal and work lives cause them to miss out on opportunities to instill a deeper love of dancing in their four children.

Having dabbled in teaching dancing in schools in the past, Kraft said he would leap at the opportunity were it to come again, since he believes polkas best bet at surviving in his hometown is getting youth involved.

Big Sky Polka Club events include a heavy dose of country dancing as well as a variety of other dances, including swing, two-step, jitterbug and waltzes  all of which have their own flairs and wrinkles depending on where a person learned the dance, Kraft said.

Texans tend to move at a slower pace, whereas Canadians push the tempo on the dance floor, he said. At the Big Sky Polka Club, waltzes tend to get the dance floor humming, Kraft said.

The three-quarter time dance certainly is a favorite of Lois Kiser. Asked why she likes to waltz, Kiser paused and smiled.

I dont know, she said. You just float.
Sunday, February 5, 2017

The New York Times reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit early this morning denied a request by the U.S. Justice Department to immediately restore President Trumps Executive Order travel ban. Judges William Canby and Michelle Friedland of the Ninth Circuit ordered as follows:

"The court has received appellants emergency motion (Docket Entry No. 14). Appellants request for an immediate administrative stay pending full consideration of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal is denied.

Appellees opposition to the emergency motion is due Sunday, February 5, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. PST. Appellants reply in support of the emergency motion is due Monday, February 6, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. PST."

The ruling means that refugees and travelers from seven nations  Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen  who were barred by an executive order signed by President Trump on Jan. 27 would, for now, continue to be able to enter the country.

The Justice Department's brief filed in the Ninth Circuit makes an argument for expansive presidential powers:

"The district courts sweeping injunction should be stayed pending appeal. It conflicts with the basic principle that `an alien seeking initial admission to the United States requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application, for the power to admit or exclude aliens is a sovereign prerogative.' Landon v. Plasencia, 459 U.S. 21, 32 (1982). It also contravenes the considered judgment of Congress that the President should have the unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class of aliens. The district court did not confront those authorities; indeed, it gave no explanation why the State of Washington has a high likelihood of success on the merits of its claims. And it entered the injunction at the behest of a party that is not itself subject to the Executive Order; lacks Article III standing or any right to challenge the denial of entry or visas to third-party aliens; and brings a disfavored facial challenge. The injunction is also vastly overbroadit is untethered to Washingtons particular claims; extends even to aliens abroad who currently have no visas; and applies nationwide, effectively overriding the judgment of another district court that sustained the Executive Order against parallel challenges."

KJ

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2017/02/ninth-circuit-denies-us-governments-request-for-an-emergency-stay-of-tro-in-mulslim-ban-case.html
A court in the state of Virginia is reviewing a legal case against a congressman who had $90,000 in his freezer.

Former U.S. Congressman William Jefferson has been in prison since 2012 after being found guilty of corruption. He is asking a federal court to overturn the guilty ruling against him.

After a jury found him guilty, a judge sentenced Jefferson to 13 years in prison. It was the longest prison sentence ever given to a member of Congress.

Jefferson is a Democrat who represented New Orleans, Louisiana in Congress.

He was found guilty of trying to influence leaders in Nigeria and other African nations to help an American business that provided his family with money and stock. The American business wanted to set up cable television, telephone and internet services in Africa.

Cold cash in food boxes

The case received a lot of attention in Nigeria. One reason was that $90,000 in $100 bills was found in food boxes in a freezer in the congressmans Washington D.C. apartment. The case became the subject of jokes on American and Nigerian television. Television hosts called the money, cold cash," or cold money.

During the trial, the government said Jefferson was recorded saying he needed money to persuade Nigerias vice president, Atiku Abubakar, to approve the American companys business deals.

Asked if he delivered the money during a secretly recorded discussion, Jefferson said he had given the African art to the Nigerian vice president. The government said those words were code" for cash.

But Jefferson and his wife, Andrea, later wrote that they never were asked and never gave money to any government official.

During his trial, the government played a video of Jefferson accepting a briefcase that the government said was filled with $100,000 in $100 bills. It was that money -- missing $10,000 -- which was found in Jeffersons freezer, the government argued.

John Campbell is a former United States ambassador to Nigeria. Campbell said the case received attention in Nigeria because it had so many unusual details and Abubakar was a senior government official.

Abubakar twice ran unsuccessfully for president and is reported to be a possible presidential candidate in the next Nigerian national elections.

Why the case did not get more attention

Campbell said the case might have gotten even more attention if corruption was not common in Nigeria.

Now, Jefferson is appealing the guilty ruling, which he wants overturned. His lawyers argue that the U.S. Supreme Court last year redefined how corruption cases should be decided.

In 2016, the Supreme Court overturned the guilty ruling against former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell.

McDonnell and his wife were found guilty of corruption in 2014. The government charged that McDonnell received an expensive watch and his wife was given a shopping spree, among other gifts, from the owner of a Virginia business.

But the U.S. Supreme Court said the jury in the McDonnell case was given a definition of official acts that went too far. The definition, it said, would make government leaders worry about scheduling needed meetings out of fear of facing criminal charges. The court said there was testimony that McDonnell set up meetings for the Virginia businessman, but none that he provided direct benefits in return for the gifts.



During his 2009 trial, Jeffersons lawyer Robert Trout argued that Jeffersons actions of trying to get African officials to grant business to an American company were not part of his official duties. A congressmans job, Trout said, is to vote on bills, introduce bills, and attend committee meetings.

Trout said the trial judge, T.S. Ellis III, gave the jury a definition of official acts that was too broad.

Federal officials who brought the case said the guilty ruling against Jefferson should remain.

Ellis will decide what to do with Jeffersons appeal.

Jefferson is serving his 13-year sentence in a prison in Louisiana. He is to be released on August 30, 2023, when he would be 76 years old.

Im Bruce Alpert.

Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page.

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Words in This Story

stock - n. a share of the value of a company which can be bought, sold, or traded as an investment

cable television - n. a system in which television signals are sent through cables rather than through the air

host - n. a person who is entertaining guests socially or at a club or on television

briefcase - n. a flat case that is usually used for carrying papers or books

shopping spree - a phrase meaning to do a lot of shopping over a short period of time

watch - n. a device that shows what time it is and that you wear on your wrist

testimony - n. statement made under oath in court

broad - adj. wide in range or amount
Boy Scouts in Billings had perfect timing on Saturday.

Their annual Scouting for Food drive brought in 2,917 pounds of donations to the Billings Food Bank at a time when the nonprofits shelves have grown increasingly bare.

This is probably the lowest the food bank has ever been, Executive Director Sheryle Shandy said Saturday morning, as Scouts brought in their contributions to be weighed.

The food bank provides food to people seeking help through a number of programs, including handing out food boxes, preparing sack lunches for the homeless and filling backpacks for students at some area schools.

Just coming off a busy season, Shandy surmised that the holidays, plus the cold winter and an increasing number of agencies collecting food have all contributed to the shrinking inventory. So the Scouts efforts were a really big help to us, she said.

Four Boy Scout troops and seven Cub Scout packs scattered throughout the community for the one-day canned food drive, said event coordinator Kathi Schweigert, training chairperson for the Black Otter District of the Montana Council of Boy Scouts of America.

Some went door to door to seek donations. Others dropped off notes a few nights before, to let residents know theyd be stopping by on Saturday to pick up the food.

And at least one troop set up in front of a Billings grocery store, to collect food from generous shoppers. Once the Scouts completed their part of the drive, they came to the food bank to weigh in.

Schweigert greeted the Scouts and leaders. Then she helped them place the bags and boxes of food on a pallet jack, which produced a digital reading of the foods' weight.

Boy Scouts of America has a solid background in community service, she said, as she waited for the next group to come in.

Its something we encourage at every age and level throughout the whole program, Schweigert said. Thats part of our Scout oath, to help other people all the time.

Truman Tanner, 11, member of Troop 403, said his troop brought flyers to peoples houses on Wednesday night get the word out that they were participating in the food drive. On Saturday morning, they went back out to pick up the food, collecting 360 pounds worth.

I think this will help a lot of people, Truman said.

His efforts didnt stop there. Scouts were asked to decide on something they wanted to buy, and then earn money for it.

Truman decided he wanted to earn $20 and buy food to donate to the Billings Food Bank. Hes doing chores around the house to come up with the cash.

A few months ago I went to Salt Lake and I saw a ton of poor people, he said. I wanted to do something to help the poor people in Billings, so I decided to raise money to get food.

Ashley Ricks, a troop leader with Troop 403, was on hand to help her Scouts with Saturdays drive.

I think its fantastic to get the kids to be aware of how they can help their neighborhoods in the community, she said. And just to get them doing service and helping other people.

Meanwhile, in the food banks warehouse, 14 members of Troop 52 helped to organize food and other household goods. Scoutmaster Jason McKee said the youth in his troop actually volunteer at the Billings Food Bank every couple of months.

For one thing, Scouts need to complete service hours to advance from one rank to the next, McKee said.

And this is a great way to do it, he said. It helps out the community and they usually have a fun time doing it.

Ten-year-old Evan Oliszczak, part of Troop 52 with two of his brothers, busied himself with sorting toilet paper and other items. The boys got a little crazy tossing individually wrapped rolls to McKee, though he quickly calmed things down.

Evan, asked why he was there, grew more serious and said, to help people that are hungry and are poor.
A Chinese company is withdrawing from an American education project designed to fight fraud among Chinese students. The company itself is accused of widespread application fraud.

The Dipont Education Management Group is withdrawing from the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy and Practice. The University of Southern California, or USC, operates the center. The purpose of the center is to study college application information. It also fights fraud among Chinese students looking to attend American universities.

Jerome Lucido is the executive director of the center at USC. He told Reuters that the Shanghai-based company had withdrawn from the project.

Jeff Zhu is vice-president of Dipont. He said the withdrawal was based on a suggestion from the projects advisory board. The board includes representatives of some of the top universities in the United States. Zhu said the group had urged Dipont to withdraw so as to remove any possible question of who has control over the project.

Last year, Diponts chief executive officer told Reuters he was giving over $700,000 to support the center. Several universities and academic organizations also provide resources and financial support.

The future of the project is now unclear. Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and Pomona College in California are the first schools to withdraw from the project.

Lucido told Reuters at least four other schools are reconsidering their involvement in the project. They are Stanford University, Columbia University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dipont programs in China

Dipont operates international programs in high schools all over China. The programs offer college counseling services that can cost up to about $32,500 per student.

In 2016, Reuters reported the company was paying officials from 20 American colleges to attend counseling events in China. It also included stories from 17 former Dipont employees who claimed the company is involved in application fraud. The employees said the company made them write essays for students and change teacher recommendation letters.

Brian Perkins, an American, taught at a Dipont school in Hangzhou from 2012 to 2014. Perkins said his employers pressured him and other teachers to give good grades to students that missed class. He said he did so under protest.

In a statement, Dipont disputed the claims of academic fraud. The company said it would quickly and thoroughly investigate any credible evidence of any situation in which the companys legal and/or ethical standards may not have been [followed].

Chinese students in the U.S.

American colleges usually reduce tuition costs for students from needy families and those living in the same state as the school. They often depend on students from overseas to pay the full tuition.

The 2016 Open Doors report notes that almost 330,000 Chinese students attended U.S. colleges and universities during the 2015-2016 school year.

Chinese students make up more than 30 percent of all international students in the U.S. But a growing number of colleges have had reason to question academic records coming out of China in recent years.

Hundreds of Chinese companies help students interested in attending an American college or university. Reuters reported that falsifying documents is among the services some companies offer.

Many American colleges and universities require students to take the SAT. The schools consider the results when making admissions decisions. And last January, the College Board, a private company, briefly stopped offering its test, the SAT, in China and Macau following reports of cheating.

Im Pete Musto.

Steve Stecklow, Alexandra Harney, Renee Dudley and James Pomfret reported this story for the Reuters news service. Pete Musto adapted their story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. What kinds of help do educational companies offer students in your country that want to attend college in the U.S.? How often are these companies involved in controversy? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

application  n. a formal and usually written request for something, such as a job, admission to a school or a loan

fraud  n. the crime of using dishonest methods to take something valuable from another person

academic  adj. of or relating to schools and education

counseling  n. advice and support that is given to people to help them deal with problems or make important decisions

essay(s)  n. a short piece of writing that tells a person's thoughts or opinions about a subject

recommendation  n. the act of saying that someone or something is good and deserves to be chosen

grade(s)  n. a number or letter that indicates how a student performed in a class or on a test

thoroughly  adv. done in a way that includes every possible part or detail

credible  adj. reasonable to trust or believe

ethical  adj. involving questions of right and wrong behavior

standard(s)  n. ideas about morally correct and acceptable behavior

tuition  n. money that is paid to a school for the right to study there

admissions  n. the act or process of accepting someone as a student at a school
Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trumps choice for the United States Supreme Court, has something in common with the courts current members.

He studied at Harvard Law School, as did four current Supreme Court justices. A fifth justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, attended Harvard, but graduated from Columbia Universitys law school. The courts three other members graduated from Yale Law School.

The Gorsuch nomination now goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee. If he is confirmed, it means all nine Supreme Court justices will be former students at either Harvard or Yale. That is worth noting, given that the United States has more than 200 law schools.

Nominations to the Supreme Court are among the most important made by a president. Once approved by the Senate, federal judges have lifetime positions. Someone as young as Gorsuch, who is 49, can serve for many years -- long after Trumps presidency ends.

Yale and Harvard rated 1st and 2nd by magazine

Both Yale, located in New Haven, Connecticut and Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, are rated highly. In its 2017 list of law schools, US News and World Report magazine rated Yale No. 1, and Harvard No. 2.

Still not everybody is happy with their influence over the Supreme Court.

Jonathan Turley is a law professor at George Washington University in Washington D.C. He says that Gorsuch is widely viewed as a powerful writer and intellectual leader on his Colorado federal appeals court.

But Turley said it is wrong to exclude all but graduates of two law schools.

It not only reduces the number of outstanding candidates, but guarantees a certain insularity in training and influences on the court, Turley wrote on his website.

Before Trump named Gorsuch, White House aides told reporters that federal judge Thomas Hardiman was the other finalist for the nomination.

Hardiman would have broken the Supreme Courts Harvard-Yale domination. He graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington.

Obama also looked to Harvard and Yale for nominees

Many observers say Gorsuch is more conservative than the Supreme Court nominees proposed by Barack Obama. Obama, a member of the Democratic Party, served as president from 2009 until January 20th of this year.

But Trump, a Republican, followed Obamas example in choosing a nominee from Harvard or Yale.

In his first term, Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor, a Yale Law School graduate, and Elena Kagan, a Harvard Law School graduate. The U.S. Senate approved both nominations.

In his second term, Obama chose Merrick Garland, another Harvard Law graduate. But Senate Republicans refused to consider his nomination. Republicans said the choice should be left to the winner of the 2016 presidential election.

In that election, Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate.

Since 1975, only two nominees to the high court came from schools not called Yale or Harvard. In 1975, President Gerald Ford named John Paul Stevens, a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law in Illinois.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan named Sandra Day OConnor, a graduate of Stanford Universitys law school in California.

If the Senate approves Gorsuch, he would replace Antonin Scalia. Scalia joined the Supreme Court in 1986. He was the nominee of President Reagan. Scalia served until his death in February, 2016. He, too, attended Harvard Law School.

In a 2010 report, a Georgetown Universitys Patrick Glen wrote that people attending law schools other than Harvard and Yale should lower their expectations.

Non-Harvard or Yale Law School graduates can become judges, just not on the Supreme Court, Glen wrote.

Im Bruce Alpert.

Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

intellectual - adj. involving serious study and thought

exclude - v. to leave people out of a group or organization

outstanding - adj. very good

insularity - n. separated from other people

graduate  v. to complete a program of study

locate  v. to set up or establish in a place
It is often asserted that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 proved that HWA was right and he really did see the future.

This of course is nonsense. Herbert W. Armstrong said that Christ would return within twenty years in his book Mystery of the Ages. (PCG has since deleted those words so someone in there knows HWA spoke nonsense.) How convenient for them to forget this.

Also Herbert W. Armstrong never said the Soviet Union would collapse. He thought it would survive intact until a few years after Christ's return. It shows how biased some many in the COGs are that they never seem to notice this. This inconvenient truth is just tossed into the memory hole.

It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most.

So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning".
Among 14 Montana children who died of abuse or neglect between July 2015 and November 2016, 12 had previously been the subject of a report to the Child and Family Services Division and eight of those had a report filed within 60 days of their deaths. Other findings of the fatality report from Office of Child and Family Ombudsman included:

11 deaths involved adult drug use, including four with meth.

6 involved domestic violence.

11 victims were less than two years old and nine were under one year.

In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, CFSD received 35,226 calls reporting child abuse or neglect involving 13,307 different children. That was nearly 100 calls per day. The division conducted 9,154 investigations, according to its report to the Legislature this month.

The staggering volume of child abuse and neglect complaints and the tragic deaths demand action from Montanas leaders during the 2017 legislative session. Here are two steps the Legislature and Gov. Bullock must take:

Create the Child Abuse and Neglect Review Commission proposed in House Bill 303, sponsored by Rep. Kathy Kelker, of Billings.

Fully fund child protection services.

The ombudsman report of 14 deaths wasnt comprehensive and investigations were hindered by lack of access to information needed to review all factors contributing to the childs death. Kelkers bill would give the new commission greater authority to investigate while assuring that confidential information is kept confidential. Some members would be appointed by the governor, the rest by the state attorney general and would include the child and family ombudsman, a judge, a Native American representative, the state crime lab, a legislator, law enforcement, a childrens attorney, a pediatric specialist, a foster parent and a parent who was abused as a child.

All members would serve voluntarily, so expenses would be mostly travel and meetings, which the bills fiscal note estimates at $31,000 per year. As Kelker has said, federal funding is available to cover those costs. Even without federal money, the review commission is an urgent necessity.

This commission was the top recommendation for change from the Protect Montana Kids Commission Bullock appointed to advise him on the states child protection crisis. The Childrens Justice Bureau in the Montana Department of Justice also highly recommends this new commission.

Importantly, DOJ and the Department of Public Health and Human Services have been working on an agreement that would allow the commission to be attached to DOJ, even if federal funding has to go through the health department. This interdepartmental cooperation is crucial and commendable.

Leaders of the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence as well as the Montana Medical Association supported Kelkers bill at a House committee hearing last week. Maurita Johnson, CFSD administrator, and her predecessor, Sarah Corbally, both spoke in favor. Kelker carried a similar bill in 2015; it died in committee.

It is time for more transparency in CPS (child protection) in Montana, both externally and internally, said Jani McCall, of Billings, who served on the Protect Montana Kids Commission, and is lobbying for Montana childrens services providers. This commission will yield better information to improve services for children.

Improvement will also require adequate resources. The number of child protection cases in Montana District Courts has doubled in the past five years. The number of child protection workers has not, resulting in caseworkers who are responsible for two or three times the maximum number of children deemed safe and effective by national standards. In Yellowstone County alone, new civil child protection filings increased from 143 children in 2010 to 531 in 2016.

The appropriations subcommittee started the 2017 budgeting process by proposing to cut funds that equate to nine children protection workers. This cut should not even be considered.

The 3,400 Montana kids in foster care need every CFSD worker weve got and need all of them to do their jobs very well. When abused and neglected children  and their parents  get the attention and services they need quicker, theres greater probability of safe reunification. An overloaded system often strands kids for months because the people who are supposed to help are too busy with too many children.

We call on Montana lawmakers to approve the child abuse and neglect review commission in HB303.

We call on lawmakers to fully fund the life-saving work of CFSD so that the new commission will have fewer cases of child abuse deaths and serious injuries to investigate.
Forty-five Montana House members voted Friday to keep their constituents from seeing police mugshots  photos taken at jail booking upon arrest and regularly made available to The Gazette and local television news stations because they are public records. Fortunately, a bipartisan majority of 55 voted against this new restriction on public information.

House Bill 236 started out as a bill to promote public information. Although some jurisdictions have long recognized that jail mugshots are public information, not all do. So Montana law enforcement leaders collaborated on legislation that would clarify that mugshots are public information. Rep. Frank Garner, R-Kalispell, a former police chief, introduced HB236.

The Montana Association of Chiefs of Police and the Montana Newspaper Association supported the bill in a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Their representatives said the bill would clarify the ruling of Park County District Judge Jon Oldenburg who ordered the release of a mans booking photo despite his objection. The man was charged with attempted deliberate homicide and aggravated assault and was already on the Montana violent offender registry because of a previous conviction.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Alan Doane, R-Bloomfield, took issue with a judge making that decision. We shouldnt have judges legislating from the bench on these important decisions, Doane told the committee in arguing for an amendment that transformed the bill from public disclosure to withholding photos from the public.

It is double jeopardy, said Rep. Barry Usher, R-Billings, who worried that peoples lives have been hurt by their booking photo being out there.

Publication and posting of booking photos has helped solve crimes. In one case described by Billings Police Chief Rich St. John, a man arrested for crimes against women was charged with an additional offense after another woman saw his booking photo in the media and recognized him as her attacker.

The principle at stake is the publics right to know what its law enforcement and courts are doing. The busy justice system in Yellowstone County generated more than 1,300 felony cases last year, plus many more misdemeanors. That's a lot of mugshots.

If HB236, as amended by Doane, became law, none of those photos would be available  unless a judge ordered the release. Petitions for mugshot releases would burden our already-overworked judiciary and the public.

Without booking photos, photos of criminal defendants arent available to the public on a timely basis. Those charged typically dont go in-person to court in Billings for weeks after their arrest. Inmate arraignments usually are conducted by video conference with the judge in the courthouse and the defendants in the jail.

Reps. Virginia Court and Kathy Kelker, D-Billings, got it right in committee:

This kind of flies in the face of what they were trying to achieve, Kelker said in opposition to the amended bill.

Its completely the opposite of what was intended, said Court.

And that made the amended bill unconstitutional, according to Mike Meloy, counsel for the Montana Freedom of Information Hotline in Helena. Meloy cites Article V, Section 11(1) of the Montana Constitution, which forbids altering a bill "to change its original purpose."

HB236 is dead, but bad bills have been known to reappear  even in the same session. We call on the lawmakers who voted against the amended mugshot bill to stand firm against future attempts to restrict this public information.

Thanks to the Yellowstone County lawmakers who stopped the unconstitutionally amended HB236: Virginia Court, Geraldine Custer, Jeff Essmann, Jessica Karjala, Kathy Kelker, Kelly McCarthy, Sharon Stewart-Peregoy and Sue Vinton.








According to statistics from El Salvador's National Civilian Police , the number of murders in the the first month of 2017 dropped to 256, compared with 484 violent deaths in a very bloody January 2016. That represented an average daily murder rate of 8.3, and the country enjoyed its first day without any murders in quite some time.

According to security officials, the state is willing to stay the course with its extraordinary measures and continue to tolerate abuses such as those that occurred in Armenia. President Sanchez Ceren's silence, on the other hand, bears the signs of political calculations that do not yet add up to being in favor of dialogue.

The possible participation of the Catholic Church, this time with the institutional support of the bishops and the Vatican's diplomatic representative (the local nuncio), as well as whispers of the UN's possible participation, appear to indicate that certain dynamics could very well have changed.

Nevertheless, up until now nothing clearly demonstrates that this will give rise to productive talks, despite the MS13's proposal and the good intentions of the Catholic priests.

The country is currently debating two questions. First, will there be an extension of the "exceptional measures" put in place at the end of March 2016? Those measures include increasingly harsh conditions in the prisons aimed at isolating imprisoned gang leaders as well as more and more aggressive police and military tactics in the communities. The government credits these measures with bringing down the homicide rate. The legislative assembly is debating whether to approve an extension to those exceptional measures, which would appear likely.The second question is whether the government will respond favorably to a proposal by MS-13 and Barrio 18 Surenos to sit down at a table with the government and a mediator such as the Catholic church. The gangs say the discussions could include the possibility of dismantling the gangs. Hector Silva Avalos summed up the prospects of discussions in a piece at InsightCrime titledMeanwhile a protest at the gates of the National Assembly yesterday addressed both issues. Family members of gang members accompanied by Lutheran bishop Medardo Gomez rallied to advocate against an extension of the exceptional measures saying they were too punitive on families who could not see their fathers and brothers in the prison. Bishop Gomez also continued his consistent call for dialogue with the gangs. According to an article in La Prensa Grafica , police at the rally were visibly hostile and arrested twelve young men in the crowd, and stating that blood was going to run in the streets after gangs killed a police agent the day before.
Last month thousands of women, men, and children held some of the biggest protests in modern American history.

Tampa Bay Women's March working to create non-profit

Organizers to start movement, spread message

For more info on Tampa Women's March, click here

Now, organizers of the Tampa Bay Women's March are working to create a non-profit organization to help spread their message.

"Our goal is to take the love and peace we felt in Washington and all over the country, and turn it into a movement to address the issues that are affecting our community," said Melina Welch with the Tampa Bay Women's March.

That movement started with a meeting and a list of objectives -- fighting for healthcare, the environment, education and equal rights.

These issues aren't new, however, for some, speaking out about what you believe in is something new.

"I never really understood, why do people march? And with Donald Trump's presidency, now I understand why people march," said Lakeisha Black.

Many people have said they're learning that politics and government are not spectator sports. Being involved is just as important as being aware.

"I've always been knowledgeable about politics, at least know what's going around, but I never necessarily felt the urgency of action. I never felt as inspired to have an active voice in the community," said Steph Andell.

Organizers hope their actions now will speak louder than words.

There are reportedly 20 similar chapters forming throughout Florida.
Investigators believe the same group of suspects is targeting local veteran organizations.

It all started at the American Legion Post in Holiday in December where thieves broke in through the roof and stole a safe with $10,000 inside.

Most recently, they broke into American Legion Post 335 in Holiday, stealing money out of the quarter machine and leaving behind $4,500 in damage.

Deputies arrived as the thieves were leaving, but during a police chase they crashed the car and fled on foot.

"We arent here to make money, we are here to get money to give back to the veterans, James St. Denis at Post 335 said. When they destroy it and we have to put money in the house, its not helping the veterans."

The Hernando County Sheriffs Office and the Pasco County Sheriffs Office have formed a joint task force.

"These individuals, it is a slap in the face to keep going back to the same businesses or same VFW business and thats why we put together a task force to reach out and apprehend these suspects, Sgt. Chris Thomas with the Pasco County Sheriffs Office said.

Investigators said since the first burglary in December, the thieves are getting more brazen.

"Its concerning they are on a crime spree so to speak, Thomas said. Adding a mask to that, adding a stolen vehicle, adding a pursuit to these type of offenses definitely raises the level."

Almost all of the posts have the thieves on tape and they hope the footage eventually leads to an arrest.

"Theyre bums you know? St. Denis said. Theyre worthless and like I told the police bring them by here before you take them to the station and we will show them how veterans feel about what theyre doing to their posts."

If you have any information youre asked to call the Pasco County Sheriffs Office at (727) 847-5878.


Red pandas are the Houdinis of zoos. The raccoonlike creatures, who lounge on tree branches like stuffed animals made real, have escaped exhibits in the United Kingdom, California and Washington, D.C. Theyre often retrieved in days, if not hours.

But at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, Sunny has been AWOL for more than a week. The 19-month-old broke out on a stormy night  likely after her lust-driven male companion, Thomas, began to pursue her.

Red pandas, which are native to China, are in their breeding season, the zoo said on its website. And the animals, with their white-trimmed faces and furry red tails, can become agitated.

Sunny has so far evaded infrared cameras, search dogs and drones, not to mention zoo staff and volunteers. Im sure someone took it, Brianna Maison, 22, a college student in Norfolk, said last week at the zoo with her children.

Sunny may have slipped from a wet branch, which helped her escape, the zoo said. And the theory surprised no one who passed by the exhibit at lunchtime Wednesday.

Frequent visitors said large branches from a tree in the enclosure had sloped above a pedestrian walkway. We used to wonder what kept them from getting out, said Karen McSpadden, 32, of Virginia Beach. I guess nothing was.

The branches looked freshly sawn. The zoo declined to comment on Sunny, referring The Associated Press to its website and Facebook page.

The tree-branch escape plan isnt new. A red panda named Rusty likely climbed to freedom on rain-soaked branches at the Smithsonians National Zoo in 2013, according to a news release. (Those trees were trimmed as well). But Rusty was found nearly 24 hours later. The search for Sunny continues.

Greg Bockheim, the Virginia Zoos executive director, told the Virginian-Pilot last week that reports of sightings continued. And hes taken them seriously, searching miles away with a thermal imaging camera.

Its very upsetting, but I dont blame the zoo at all, Amanda Mills, 29, of Chesapeake, said as her 6-year-old son Caeden gazed at Thomas. I think somebody out there has got her and just isnt ready to give her up.

Rob Vernon, a spokesman from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, said zoo escapes in general are rare and the animals are often found quickly. But not always. A 10-year-old red panda in China was found in August after 242 days, according to media reports. The animal was less than 3 miles away. Ben Finley in Norfolk, AP
UP

Interior advance. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee sent the nomination of Rep. Ryan Zinke to the full Senate with both Montana Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines voting for Montanas lone congressman to head the U.S. Department of Interior.

UP

Native wisdom. Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribal Chairman Vernon Finley gave Montana lawmakers good advice in his address at the Capitol, urging them against following the example of our polarized Congress: There are opposites married within this chamber, but as long as you keep the focus on what is best for all of Montana in mind, well do fine.

UP

Barks in parks. Turns out Billings has a larger number of responsible pet owners than city officials thought. After accounting for three-year pet licenses, the threshold of 10,000 registered pets has been met, so a 2016 city ordinance now allows leashed dogs and cats in all city parks, with some play areas and events excepted. The Parks and Recreation Department deserves credit for installing rugged doggie bag dispensers, but pet owners should try to bring their own bags to minimize city costs. The plastic sleeves that keep your home-delivered Gazette dry make good doggie bags. Reuse them to clean up after your pooch.

DOWN

IHS freeze. Add the Indian Health Service to the federal agencies already short on staff that are now stymied under the Trump administration hiring freeze. As of last week, IHS had about 75 vacancies for health care professionals to provide care in the states reservation communities.

DOWN

Feed bill. In a session that started with proposed budget cuts to education, health care, corrections and most other state services, the Montana Legislature passed a $1.3 million increase for the Montana Legislature.

UP

Calling Yellowstone. The National Park Service is seeking public comment through March 2 on a plan to upgrade cell service in the Mount Washburn area to meet the demands of safety for the growing number of visitors and smart phones. To learn more or register a comment, go to https://parkplanning.nps.gov/mtwashburn.

DOWN

Bigotry bill. Senate Bill 97 claims to eliminate a problem that doesnt exist. As The Missoulian opined last week, its nothing more than thinly veiled bigotry toward people of the Islamic faith. A similar foreign law ban passed by another state was ruled unconstitutional. Montana, as part of the United States of America, is governed under the U.S. Constitution; theres no threat of Sharia law being imposed.
BOISE  What happened was, she raised her hand.

Without even thinking, she volunteered, and if you ask why, what swirls in her memory are the faces of thousands of children.

Six times now, Cheri Jorgenson has traveled, at her own expense, to the borders of Lebanon and Jordan to help run an educational camp for Syrian children. These are children whose families  more than 4.5 million people  have fled the country because of war.

She says: Helping a child to have hope for the future. And a future that will help all of us in turn.

Syrian families might find some semblance of safety and shelter and food in refugee camps and communities on the other side of their homeland. But education becomes a luxury, compared to survival.

The theme has always been empowering the future of Syria. Doing this through art, through music, through sports, through team building.

In many cases, these children have been out of school for years  idle minds, fertile ground for mischief or worse. And that sears her soul.

So twice a year (she leaves again in March), Cheri joins two dozen other international volunteers who go to areas not served by United Nations relief programs, and provide one day  one day  where children can be children. And they can learn.

(We want to show children) that there are people who still care about their future and their demise. (To give them) hope that there will be a country to go back to  (although it) is harder and harder even for us to hold to that hope.

And (to give them) hope that the future will be better for them.

The camp is called Project Amal Ou Salam. Project Hope and Peace.

The work is exhausting. In Beirut, the volunteers gather for a day of preparation and go by bus each day into the communities near the border; once a year in Jordan and once a year in Lebanon. Then there are intense, 12-hour days, teaching 200 or 300 children each day for five days, providing meals for everyone. Each class is led by a couple of volunteers, one of whom is an Arabic speaker; the camps are held wherever they can find space  a school, a field, an apartment complex.

(In Shatila), the Palestinian refugee camp, were in these high-rise buildings with very little space, no air conditioning, no heat, very little running water; pretty dire, poor conditions. And we just have to make do with what we have.

Each camp is divided into classes  art, health, music, team building and sports, health and wellness, photography  and the kids into age groups, from very young to teenagers.

Technically theyre supposed to be 5, but we often have 2- and 3-year-olds and we even diaper change if needed. Because its really hard to say no to the siblings when they come.

Hand puppets, which the kids adore (and which were made by a Boise puppeteer), help open up sensitive topics for kids who have been traumatized. Cheri uses stuffed dinosaurs (with big teeth) donated by Boise dentists to teach about brushing teeth. They talk about hand-washing and oral hygiene and nutrition  all interconnected things that most kids learn at home when parents are not preoccupied by survival.

We have gone back to the same areas each time, so well see, sometimes, the same kids. And theyll come up to us and say, I have waited all year. This is the best day of my life.

I mean, its heartbreaking. To think that our little camp is the best day. That this is the best their life has to offer right now.

Some of the teachings are lessons in life.

What were trying to give them is tools ... to take back to Syria when they rebuild their country.

For instance, theres the photography class. The kids share a digital camera to document the other classes. But in the toolbox of making good photographs  along with light and composition and exposure  is perspective. That is a philosophy as well as a tool. And they talk about that.

If you are looking at (something) on the table, and youre looking at (it) from the side, youre seeing it differently than if you were a drone looking at it from above.

So trying to relate that to their everyday life: How are Jordanians looking at you as a Syrian? Are you taking their jobs, are you pushing them out of their schools, are you creating crime? Looking at it from the perspective of a refugee  and looking at it from all different perspectives. ...

We (are) always about giving the kids some kind of hope for peace and skills to take back  so that they become the future of Syria to help rebuild it.

And rebuild it in a way thats tolerant, that is inclusive, that is global in perspective.

Cheri grew up in a middle-class family in Los Angeles, to young parents who loved to travel. So they did: Mexico, Mexico City, Tijuana; England, Ireland, Spain. It wasnt exotic travel, but it was enough.

My eyes were opened. ... Seeing that there were people who lived differently than me.

When Cheri, her husband and children moved to Boise, it was important for them to continue to intersect with people of different cultures.

We live in a globalized world. I personally believe that the more open you are, the easier life will be for you.

And conversely, the more close-minded you are, the more more difficult life will be for you. Your corner of the world will become (increasingly) smaller.

As a family, theyve traveled to South America, North Africa, Mexico, Canada. The kids grew up going to bilingual schools and have studied abroad. A life-long language learner herself, Cheri speaks Italian, French and Spanish, and is a masters student at Boise State University learning Arabic.

To me, (learning a language) is just opening up the world.

Today, Cheri also volunteers at the International Rescue Committee, one of Boises three resettlement agencies, where she teaches the U.S. government-mandated cultural orientation class for all newly arriving clients. She also teaches a weekly job class designed to help refugees navigate, search, land and keep a job here in Boise.

By being born (in America), I am privileged. By being white, I am privileged. 

To me, we have a moral obligation to try to make life a little better for others who werent as lucky as us.  I have a huge responsibility to provide for those who were not given the same opportunities I was given.

In job class, Cheris experience in the border refugee camps helps her explain to newly arrived Boise refugees how their lives have changed. For instance, Syrian refugees in Lebanon might have to beg for the rest of their lives; it is illegal for them to work.

(But) the moment you step down in the United States, you are legally able to work.

And in Boise, refugee children can go to school.

If you ask (any refugee about) their hopes and dreams, every single one of them who has kids (will say): I want my children to have an education. Every single one of them. Because they know that education is the ticket to a better life. They know that much. ...

When we take away the labels, I firmly believe that each and every person that walks the face of the Earth has the basic desires and goals in life  the same things: to provide for their families and to be free to make choices for themselves, and to be happy.

And, of course, have their basic needs met, and doing that by providing for themselves. I think given a choice, everyone would rather provide for themselves than have someone provide for them.

Not all people will think that what Cheri does is a good idea  helping strange people in cultures we dont understand and who we think might want to hurt us. That bothers her.

We could live our entire life thinking all Syrians are bad  and Syrians could live their entire life thinking all Americans are bad. But in our globalized world  as our world really gets smaller because of technology, it just becomes more and more problematic if every other is a bad guy. ... 

Other means seeing people in terms of divisions: different languages, different religions, different cultures.

For me, the only other is those we dont know. And we dont know them because we, personally, havent taken the time to get to know them. I think its our individual responsibility to learn about the other. ...

What I think of even more, in light of the (presidents) executive orders, as opposed to making ourselves safer, were creating more distance from the possibility of building bridges of understanding between one another.

And where it might seem odd for a middle-aged white woman from Boise, Idaho, to go to the Middle East, in fact, she is an ambassador.

My presence in a Middle East country is normalizing relationships between Muslims and non-Muslims. The more we stay apart and separate, the more we perpetuate these notions, these crazy ideas, that all Muslims are terrorists. ...

By my learning about them and them learning about me, Im actually doing the opposite: Im teaching them that WE are not all terrorists and that were not all bad guys.

She thinks about the thousands of children shes met at the camp  and she thinks about what they can teach others.

They come in with fear and with this, what I call, sense of the other  these walls and barriers  us and them. And by the time they walk out, theyre laughing, theyre smiling, they might be holding hands  and weve broken down this otherness.

Were all one in the camp and the workshop. ...

Besides the camp, Project Amal Ou Salam also funds an underground center in Aleppo, Syria, a safe place where children can learn, play and put aside the sound of war, even for a few moments. In recent days, however, even that was not a safe place, and with emotion choking her voice, Cheri said she could not know if the teacher there was alive from one day to the next, one hour to the next.

I think about these children in Syria that are being bombed right now. Could that be the next cancer drug that was embodied in this child that was just annihilated by this bomb?  We have no idea. Given the opportunity though, we might find out. 

Were going on six years that these kids have been out of country; actually longer for some of them. Its quite possible that these kids will never return to Syria; that they are just going to eke out a life in Jordan or Lebanon. 

Our hope is that weve planted enough seeds. That its exponential and they then become change-makers for the kids around them.

Thats the hope. That (these children) build a better future  for all of us.
TWIN FALLS  After sentencing a 19-year-old Twin Falls man to a year-long therapeutic prison program on a rape charge last week, a judge added an unusual caveat should the teen successfully complete the program and be placed on probation.

If youre ever on probation with this court, a condition of that will be you will not have sexual relations with anyone except who youre married to, if youre married, 5th District Judge Randy Stoker said.

The judges unusual proclamation was made during the sentencing of Cody Duane Scott Herrera, who pleaded guilty to the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl in March 2015. Now, legal scholars are questioning whether the judge could hold Herrara to his warning.

Stoker said the condition would be put in place in part because Herrera told presentence investigators hes had 34 sexual partners.

I have never seen that level of sexual activity by a 19-year-old, Stoker said.

Prosecutors also revealed Herrera, who could face more sex-related charges involving an underage girl, has had fantasies about a 13-year-old girl and watches pornography depicting rape.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare did not designate Mr. Herrera as a sexual predator, Stoker said during his sentencing, though there seems to be an argument that could be made for that.

The victims mother, making a victim-impact statement, certainly believed Herrera was a predator.

It was his intent from the beginning to take what he wanted from my 14-year-old child  her virginity, the victims mother told the court. And he stayed around until he got it from her. Cody will never understand what he has done to our family. Cody robbed her of her innocence. He destroyed the child left in her. This can never be returned.

Stoker sentenced Herrera to an underlying prison sentence of five to 15 years, but suspended the sentence in favor of the year-long rider program. If Herrera successfully completes the program, hell be released to probation, and, according to Stoker, a life of celibacy unless he weds.

But that probation condition might be illegal or unenforceable, according to Shaakirrah R. Sanders, an associate professor at the University of Idaho College of Law.

I would suspect (a judge cant do that), Sanders said. I think it infringes on his constitutional rights.

While judges have quite a bit of discretion in creating special probation terms, Sanders said, they cant violate the federal or state constitution.

I think if he appealed, he would win, Sanders said.

Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs said he did think Stoker would be able to impose the probation condition.

The judge has the ability to tell people to do or not do all sorts of things that are (otherwise) legal and constitutional, Loebs said, pointing out that abstaining from alcohol is a condition of most probations.

A judges purpose is to keep them from committing another offense, Loebs said. A judge has right to order things to keep him from doing that  I dont think this goes beyond what a judge is allowed to do.

But Sanders pointed out two cases that Herrera could use to defend himself from an overreaching probation condition. One case out of Texas that went to the Supreme Court protected the rights of all citizens to engage in sexual activity in private with another consenting adult.

The other case, from Oklahoma, protected the general right to procreate after the state tried sterilizing criminals.

There, the court said there is a right to procreate, Sanders said. In this particular situation, we seem to have an order infringing on (Herreras) right to procreate. A court cant dictate how he decides to procreate.

Sanders said shes never seen a ban on sex as part of a probation requirement, calling it bizarre and saying it would also raise Fourth Amendment issues.

Probationers already give up a lot, especially in terms of law enforcement monitoring, Sanders said. But how would you even enforce this? It seems to be quite intrusive if they can just bust into his bedroom to make sure hes not getting it on.
TWIN FALLS COUNTY

FELONY SENTENCINGS

Cody D.S. Herrera, 19, Jerome; Rape, $545.50 costs, $100 DNA, 15 years penitentiary, five determinate, 10 indeterminate, 14 days credited, 365 days retained jurisdiction.

Shai Draper, 21, Twin Falls; conspiracy to commit robbery, $245.50 costs, $1,000 fine, $100 DNA, eight years penitentiary, two determinate, six years indeterminate, 126 days credited.

Tori Lyn McKinley, 34, Jerome; $285.50 costs, $500 public defender, $100 DNA, $60 workmans comp. program fee, seven years penitentiary, three determinate, four indeterminate, 108 days credited, 365 days retained jurisdiction.

Angela Eloice Wiley, 48, Mesa, Arizona; possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver, $285.50 costs, $100 DNA, 15 years penitentiary, three determinate, 12 indeterminate, 170 days credited. Second and third charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver dismissed.

Ethan Kyle Godfrey, $290.50 costs, $100 DNA, 10 years penitentiary, two determinate, eight years indeterminate, two days credited, sentence suspended, one year drivers license suspension, two years interlock device to follow.

Marsha Ann Fairbanks Shetler, 34, Twin Falls; Manufacture, deliver or possess controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver, $285.50 costs, $1,000 fine, 12 months penitentiary, two determinate, ten indeterminate, four days credited, sentence to run concurrent to second charge. Manufacture, deliver or possess controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver, $285.50 costs, $1,000 fine, 12 months penitentiary, two determinate, ten indeterminate, four days credited, sentence to run concurrent to other charge.

Michele Lee Dubina, 32, Twin Falls; possession of a controlled substance, $285.50 costs, $500 public defender, $100 DNA, $60 workmans comp. program fee, seven years penitentiary, three determinate, four indeterminate, four days credited, sentence suspended, four years supervised probation.

Amy Lynn Allred, 25, Twin Falls; possession of a controlled substance, $285.50 costs, $500 public defender, $100 DNA, $60 workmans comp. program fee, $25 other restitution, five years penitentiary, two determinate, three indeterminate, 31 days credited, sentence suspended, three years supervised probation, two years problem solving court.

Brad Lee Cogswell, 56, Twin Falls; possession of a controlled substance, $285. 50 costs, $500 public defender, $100 DNA, $60 workmans comp. program fee, three years penitentiary, one determinate, two indeterminate, one day credited, sentence suspended, two years supervised probation.

Steven Wayne Christian, 50, Jerome; DUI third or subsequent offense, $290.50 costs, $100 DNA, seven years penitentiary, three determinate, four indeterminate, three days credited, 365 days retained jurisdiction, one year drivers license suspension, two years interlock device to follow. Possession of a controlled substance charge dismissed.

Cody Tyler Spray, 31, Nampa; possession of a controlled substance, $285.50 costs, $60 workmans comp. program fee, five years penitentiary, three determinate, two indeterminate, 138 days credited, 365 days retained jurisdiction.

Thomas Anthony Porter Hitchcock, AKA Anthony Porter, 44, Twin Falls; possession of a controlled substance, $285.50 costs, seven years penitentiary, one and a half years determinate, five and a half years indeterminate, 135 days credited, sentence to run consecutively to 2013 case.

Kevin Michael Amundson, 24, Twin Falls; grand theft, $245.50 costs, $500 public defender, $100 DNA, $24 workmans comp. program fee, four years penitentiary, two determinate, two indeterminate, three days credited, sentence suspended, one year supervised probation.

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE SENTENCINGS

Antonio Pizarro, 34, Hansen; DUI excessive, $1,000 fine, $1,000 suspended, $202.50 costs, 180 days jail, 175 suspended, two days credited, guilty withheld sentence, 365 days restricted drivers license, one year interlock device, 24 months supervised probation, attend victim impact panel and court alcohol school. Injury to a child when adult transports minor in vehicle while under the influence, $500 fine, $450 suspended, $157.50 costs, 30 days jail, 30 suspended. Second injury to a child when adult transports minor in vehicle while under the influence charge, $500 fine, $450 suspended, $157.50 costs, 30 days jail, 30 suspended.

Teresa Joanne Fruhwirth, 60, Buhl; DUI, $500 fine, $300 suspended, $202.50 costs, $75 public defender, 90 days jail, 89 suspended, one day credited, 16 hours community service, 12 months probation with six months to be supervised, attend victim impact panel and court alcohol school.

Jesus Pena Marquez, 80, Nampa; DUI, $500 fine, $300 suspended, $202.50 costs, $75 public defender, 90 days jail, 88 suspended, two days credited, guilty withheld judgment, 90 days restricted drivers license, 12 months probation with three to be supervised, attend victim impact panel and court alcohol school.

Scott Edward LaPatra, 60, Twin Falls; DUI second offense within 10 years, amended to DUI, $500 fine, $300 suspended, $202.50 costs, $250 restitution, 90 days jail, 88 suspended, two days credited, 180 days restricted drivers license, 12 months probation with six months to be supervised, attend victim impact panel and court alcohol school. Consume or possess open container of alcoholic beverage by driver charge dismissed.

Oscar Alberto Tenorio- Aragon, 29, Wendell; DUI, $202.50 costs, $75 public defender, 90 days jail, credit for 25 days served, 30 days restricted drivers license, attend victim impact panel and court alcohol school. Possession of a controlled substance marijuana, $197.50 costs, 90 days jail, credit for 25 days served, sentence to run concurrent with other charges, 30 days drivers license suspension. Reckless driving, $157.50 costs, 90 days jail, 25 days credited, sentence to run concurrent to other charges, 30 days drivers license suspension.

Alison Elizabeth Chase, 46, Jerome; DUI excessive, $1,000 fine, $1,000 suspended, $202.50 costs, 180 days jail, 175 suspended, five days credited, guilty withheld judgment, 365 days restricted drivers license, 24 months supervised probation, attend victim impact panel and court alcohol school, one year interlock device.

Jocelynn Emma Iree Smith, 30, Buhl; DUI excessive, $1,000 fine, $1,000 suspended, $202.50 costs, $75 public defender, 180 days jail, 175 suspended, one day credited, guilty withheld judgment, 365 days restricted drivers license, 24 months supervised probation, attend victim impact panel and court alcohol school, one year interlock device. Resisting or obstructing officers, $500 fine, $400 suspended, $157.50 costs, 90 days jail, 90 suspended.

Paige Alexandra Yore, 26, Twin Falls; DUI excessive, $1,000 fine, $1,000 suspended, $202.50 costs, 180 days jail, 175 suspended, one day credited, guilty withheld judgment, 365 days restricted drivers license, 24 months supervised probation, attend victim impact panel and court alcohol school, one year interlock device.

DIVORCE CIVIL PROCEEDINGS

Patrick Austin v. Andrea Genschmer

Tika Uprety v. Chitra Uprety

Tim Stadelmeir v. Carly Stadelmeir

Brandy Dyer v. Robert Dyer
BOISE  The Idaho Department of Education has released high school graduation rates for the 2015-16 school year.

Statewide, 79.5 percent of students earned a high school diploma within four years. Thats an increase over 78.9 percent during the 2014-15 school year.

This is proof that we are seeing a positive trend in our graduation rate under the four-year calculation, and it shows the hard work that is being done at the local level to emphasize the importance of achieving a high school diploma, Superintendent Sherri Ybarra wrote in a statement.

Here in south-central Idaho, graduation rates range from 25.33 percent at Mt. Harrison Junior/Senior High School to 100 percent at Carey Public School, Declo Senior High School and Oakley Junior/Senior High School.

The Idaho Department of Education is required to release graduation rates every year. Its the third year of cohort reporting  a new federal calculation.

It counts some students as non-graduates who were previously counted, explaining why graduation rates have dropped for some school districts.

The changes have drawn concerns and criticism from some south-central Idaho school leaders.

Some examples of non-graduates: alternative school students who are in school completing credits to graduate, students who earned a GED, special education students who earned a diploma under adapted guidelines and students who transferred out of state without official documentation.

Here are graduation rates for south-central Idaho school districts. Data wasnt available for Bliss, Camas County and Murtaugh.

Blaine County

Total: 89 percent

Carey Public School: 100 percent (17 graduates)

Silver Creek High School: 50 percent (9 graduates)

Wood River High School: 91.95 percent (160 graduates)

Buhl: 77.78 percent (70 graduates)

Cassia County

Total: 90.57 percent

Burley High School: 90.91 percent (190 graduates)

Cassia Junior/Senior High School: 65 percent (26 graduates)

Declo Senior High School: 100 percent (68 graduates)

Oakley Junior/Senior High School: 100 percent (31 graduates)

Raft River Junior/Senior High School: 91.3 percent (21 graduates)

Castleford: 75.86 percent (22 graduates)

Dietrich: 76.92 percent (10 graduates)

Filer: 75.93 percent (82 graduates)

Gooding: 79.78 percent (71 graduates)

Hagerman: 87.5 percent (21 graduates)

Hansen: 95.45 percent (21 graduates)

Jerome: 76.34 percent (200 graduates)

Kimberly: 86.84 percent (99 graduates)

Minidoka County

Total: 73.93 percent

Minico High School: 89.91 percent (205 graduates)

Mt. Harrison Junior/Senior High School: 25.33 percent (19 graduates)

North Valley Academy: 81.82 percent (nine graduates)

Richfield: 87.5 percent (14 graduates)

Shoshone: 74.29 percent (26 graduates)

Twin Falls

Total: 76.21 percent

Canyon Ridge High School: 88.28 percent (226 graduates)

Magic Valley High School: 38.73 percent (55 graduates)

Twin Falls High School: 85.48 percent (206 graduates)

Wendell: 76.74 percent (66 graduates)

Xavier Charter School in Twin Falls: 95 percent (19 graduates)
TWIN FALLS  The College of Southern Idaho is holding two interactive STEM days for high school seniors.

Students who are interested in science, technology, engineering or math are welcome to attend the sessions Feb. 24 and March 31.

Participants will hear presentations, work with CSI student mentors, visit college labs and participate in a ropes challenge course.

Theyll also present a program for younger students at area elementary schools.

STEM days are open to the first 40 high school seniors who sign up. Its free to attend, thanks to a grant from the NASA Idaho Space consortium.

Students who attend both days will earn a $500 college scholarship.

To sign up, visit csi.edu/admissions/stem. For more information, contact Heidi Campbell at 208-732-6429 or hcampbell@csi.edu.

*This story was edited Feb. 15 to fix errors included in a CSI press release. Teens will travel to local elementary schools to present a program for younger students. Also, every high school senior who participates in both sessions will receive a $500 scholarship.
TWIN FALLS  The College of Southern Idaho is reassuring its international students theyre welcome on campus, but none are affected by President Donald Trumps seven-country travel ban.

Keith Quatraro, international student services coordinator at CSI, sent an email to the colleges 46 foreign exchange students Monday.

He encouraged them to ask questions or voice concerns about the executive order. And he wrote CSI is committed to fostering a safe learning environment. He hasnt heard from any students in response.

University presidents in Idaho and Washington, though, are urging foreign students to avoid trips home or international travel following Trumps recent executive order, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

With a much smaller population of international students at CSI, the campus hasnt seen the same impact. But its still a topic of discussion.

Weve certainly been having similar conversations that many universities have been having, Quatraro said Thursday.

Trumps order blocks people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for 90 days, along with other limitations placed on refugees.

Specifically, the executive order addresses travel from Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Libya and Yemen.

Quatraro  who has been in his job position for nearly two years  said he doesnt recall having international students at CSI from any of those countries.

A handful of Magic Valley school districts  including Twin Falls and Jerome, and the private Community School in Sun Valley  also have foreign exchange students this year, but none are from the seven affected countries, school officials say.

Overall, CSIs international student numbers are down a bit compared with fall semester. Thats because 16 international students recently transferred to four-year universities to pursue a bachelors degree. Of CSIs 46 international students this semester, the largest numbers are from Saudi Arabia and Canada.

Another popular country of origin: Germany. CSI has an ongoing partnership with the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange. But this semester, theres only two German students at CSI. Quatraro said hed like that number increase.

Finding housing for exchange students has been difficult because they are required to stay with a local host family. Sometimes, that can be a little tricky, he said.

International students hold social events at CSI throughout the school year. Quatraro also reached out to the student Diversity Council on Tuesday about how to promote more inclusivity on campus, he said.

Now, Im just trying to get other student organizations and clubs on campus to be an ally and advocate for (international) students, he said.

Earlier this week, Washington State University President Kirk Schulz and University of Idaho President Chuck Staben told The Moscow-Pullman Daily News that students from the Muslim-majority countries singled out by Trump are safe in the U.S. with their valid visas but would not be permitted to re-enter the country if they leave.

At Washington State University, 130 international students are from the countries mentioned in Trumps order. The University of Idaho has 21 such students.
Richard Allen Engelhart, 63, of Hollister passed away on Wednesday February 1, 2017 at Woodstone Assisted Living in Twin Falls. No services will be held at this time. Arrangements are under the direction of Rosenau Funeral Home.

Kayoko Matsumoto Johnson, 85, of Boise died January 31, 2017 at local care home. Arrangements are under the care of Boise Funeral Home, 8209 W Fairview Ave.

Janice Emily Arterburn Rounsevel, 58, passed away January 10, 2017, at a Boise hospital after a lengthy illness. The family will hold a life celebration in April. A notice will be published in early April. Arrangements are at Summers Funeral Homes, Boise Chapel.

Hazel R. Jones, 84, of Malad, passed away Wednesday, February 1, 2017, at her home in Malta. Arrangements are under the care of Rasmussen Funeral Home in Burley,

Ricky David Syme, 53, passed away February 03, 2017 at St Luke Magic Valley Medical Center, Twin Falls. Arrangements are under the direction of Parkes Magic Valley Funeral Home, Twin Falls Idaho.

Terry L. Moffett, 72, of Boise and formerly of Buhl, Idaho died Friday, February 3, 2017 at a Boise hospital. Arrangements are pending at Farnsworth Mortuary, Jerome.

Audrey Dean Knight, 94, of Twin Falls passed away Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at Chardonnay Assisted Living Center in Twin Falls. At Audreys request there will be no services. Arrangements are under the direction of White Mortuary, Chapel by the Park, Twin Falls.
Carol A Wheeler Jarrell

November 16, 1943  January 24, 2017

Carol Kit Ann Wheeler Jarrell peacefully passed away at her home in Portland, Oregon on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

Born November 16, 1943 in St. Ignatius, Montana, Carol was a daughter of the late Joseph Wheeler and Margaret Ashley Wheeler. She grew up in a small cabin in the mountains of Montana surrounded by several siblings and lots of love. As a young girl, she loved playing with her siblings and helping her younger sisters with reading and math. As an adult, she was proud of the fact she really did walk 3 miles each way to catch the school bus. She graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1962.

Carol had a tender and caring heart, making her well suited for a career as a registered nurse. She attended St. Patrick's School of Nursing in Missoula, Montana, graduating in the class of 1966. She dedicated her life to helping others, working in hospitals and clinics in Missoula, MT; Helena, MT; and Twin Falls, ID. She retired from nursing in 2010, at which time, she moved to Portland to be closer to her daughters and their families.

She married shortly after graduating from nursing school. As a supportive wife, Carol moved with her husband, Dale Jarrell, to various locations in the Northwest where he was employed by the Forest Service. They were divorced in 1988.

Her love for others was demonstrated daily through random acts of kindness, whether it was making sure everyone felt special on their birthday, helping those in need, or sharing words of encouragement. She had a following for her positive daily Facebook posts, complete with a picture collage and inspirational words. She considered herself Grandma to the children of her many friends and family and was overjoyed at becoming a grandma when Joseph was born. Carol was an avid music lover and likely the biggest Celtic Thunder fan ever known to man  a Thunderhead to the core! She loved to travel, particularly if it involved visiting historical locations and buildings. She was also an enthusiastic collector and dreamed of opening an antique and curio shop.

Survivors include her cherished grandson Joseph, her daughters Terrie Jarrell and Dawn Jacobs, and her sisters Jacqueline McRae, Dorothy Clinkenbeard, Loretta Gariepy, and Margaret Bowman. She is preceded in death by her parents, brothers Jim Wheeler, Joseph Wheeler, Robert Wheeler, Thomas Wheeler, and Michael Wheeler, and her sister Betty Pierce.

A gathering of friends and family to celebrate Carol's amazing life will be held on Friday, February 3, 2017, 2:00 p.m. at The Gateway Little Chapel of the Chimes, 1515 NE 106th Ave, Portland OR, 97220. Donations may be made to the Portland Rotary Charitable Trust:1220 SW Morrison St. Ste. 425, Portland, OR 97205 or www.rotarypdx.org. In accordance with her wishes, her ashes will be returned to her beloved home in Montana.
Gov. Steve Bullocks request to the Legislature to expand and upgrade the 65-year-old Montana Historical Society facility has been misrepresented by some as unneeded pork." This characterization is both wrong and ridiculous. Fortunately, members of both political parties recognize the real and critical need to care for and provide access to priceless collections belonging to the people of Montana and provide ongoing economic development  jobs during construction and development of enhanced tourism dollars in the future.

Montana Territory was created by the signature of President Abraham Lincoln in 1864. The Montana Historical Society was created the next year by one of the first acts of our first Territorial Legislature. It is the second oldest state historical society west of the Mississippi. It was prominently housed in our state capitol building after its completion in 1901, showing the deep respect for Montanas history of our states early citizens. It is a respect we believe is still shared by Montana citizens today.

In 1949, Gov. John Bonner, with support of the Sons and Daughters of the Montana Pioneers and the states veterans organizations, persuaded the Legislature to put the final funding in place for the Veterans and Pioneers Memorial Building, the current home of the Montana Historical Society. Now this 65 year-old facility is outdated and in constant need of repair. The ability to provide appropriate environmental conditions for important artifacts, irreplaceable works of art and archival material gets more difficult with each passing year. Exhibition and research space is severely restricted. The need for the proposed Historical Society Heritage Center project is real and indisputable.

Sadly, Montanas Heritage Center has been rejected by the last five legislatures, last session by only one vote. Surrounding states have invested in their heritage facilities and are reaping the benefits. A recent study by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana estimated the Montana Heritage Center would have a comparable economic impact on Montana, generating an additional 78,000 history-related tourist visits each year, with spending by these visitors of $7.5 million. Not only is the investment in safeguarding and showcasing Montanas history necessary, it is an investment with a real economic return. Montana has a powerful opportunity to invest in sustained economic development in a vital driver of Montanas economy  tourism now and into the future.

The Montanas Historical Society has been dubbed the Smithsonian of the West. Its collections have become even more historically significant, complete and valuable over time. Montana can do a far better job with our priceless historical assets than it is doing. Contact your state senators and representatives and strongly direct them to vote for the Montana Heritage Center.

More than any other project it will serve our sense of pride in our shared Montana heritage. It will address the extreme, pressing need for improved conditions. It will bring untapped rewards from the resource of our history. Our ancestors, men and women, immigrants and Native Americans, rich and poor, progressives and conservatives, all made Montana history together. Our history is our unifying and common bond. We share it equally and together. We urge you to direct our Legislature to meld our Montana pride of heritage with economic development.

Just as our parents and grandparents made their commitment and investment in Montana history, it is now our turn to pass on to our children and grandchildren what was passed on to us.
Donna Mae Iverson

May 2, 1929 - January 31, 2017

Donna Mae Iverson, age 87, formerly of Buhl, Idaho, passed away on Tuesday, January 31, 2017, at St. Luke's Magic Valley Regional Medical Center.

Donna was a resident of Oak Creek Rehabilitation Center in Kimberly, Idaho at the time of her passing. She also resided for several years at Brookdale Senior Living Center in Twin Falls, Idaho and was formerly a long time resident of Buhl, Idaho.

Born May 2, 1929 in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, Donna was the daughter of Claus and Marie (Peterson) Evers. Donna was one of ten biological siblings, and also had three step-brothers.

Donna spent 11 years with relatives in Idaho before returning to New Ulm, Minnesota, where she attended school.

Donna Married her husband, Edwin Iverson, in June 1946. Together they opened and ran, 2 cafes' before relocating to Buhl, Idaho in 1961. Together the couple had 4 children.

Donna was preceded in death by her daughter Luann, and husband Edwin.

She is survived by a daughter  Naydene Freestone, and two sons  Wayne Iverson and Bryan Iverson. She is also survived by 8 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

A viewing will be held on February 9, from 5  7 P.M., and funeral services will be on February 10, 2017 at 11:00 A.M. both at Parke's Magic Valley Funeral Home, 2551 Kimberly Rd. in Twin Falls. Services will conclude with burial at the Buhl West End Cemetery in Buhl, Idaho.

The family requests lieu of flowers, any donations be made to Hospice Visions Inc. 1770 Park View Dr., Twin Falls, ID 83301 Those who wish may share memories and condolences on her memorial page at www.magicvalleyfuneralhome.com.
Marilyn Staley Malberg

February 15, 1958 - January 27, 2017

BUHL - Marilyn Eileen Staley Malberg lost her battle against Frontotemporal Dementia on January 27, 2017 at her home in Buhl, Idaho with her loving family by her side.

Marilyn was born in Jerome, Idaho to two loving parents Lloyd and Eleanor Staley. She was the third addition to their NAVY family and the only girl. She attended school in various places, but when she was a Senior her family settled permanently in the Magic Valley. After graduating from High School, she began her secondary education at Ricks College.

In 1983, while working as a station break switcher at KMVT she met and married her best friend, Leo Malberg . The two were married on November 23, 1985 and later sealed at the Boise, Idaho LDS Temple.

The couple raised their family first in Buhl and later south of Filer on the Clover Track. Marilyn worked part time at JoAnn's fabric store in Twin Falls. She made most of her children and husband clothes, sewed wedding dresses, made handmade quilts and loved counted cross-stitch. Marilyn also loved the outdoors. She loved fishing with her husband and kids and she loved camping. She was an accomplished big game hunter. Even in her illness, she preferred to be outside.

She became involved in the Scouting Program and spent 12 years as a Scout Master raising her own cub scouts, boy scouts and even an Eagle Scout. In 1999, she began her dream of becoming an elementary teacher. While holding down a part time job and raising a family, Marilyn graduated from CSI with an Associate's Degree. She graduated with her Bachelor's Degree carrying 3.5-4.0 average. In 2004, she started her career at Hollister Elementary where she eventually became the 4th and 5th grade teacher.

Surviving Marilyn is her husband of 32 years, Leo Malberg of Buhl, her son Gregory (Kristine) Malberg of Twin Falls, daughter Tamara (Jud) Harmon of Kimberly, son Benjamin Malberg of Twin Falls, and son Christopher (Christine) Malberg of Moscow, Idaho, 9 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Also surviving are her brothers Lloyd Staley Jr. of San Jose, California and Michael Staley of Shelton, Washington.

Marilyn was preceded in death by her loving parents, her son, Scott Malberg and her grandparents.

A service for Marilyn will be held at a later date in hopes of a little better weather.

The family would like to express gratitude to the many people who provided she and Leo care at the end, especially St. Luke's and Hospice Visions.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to the Marilyn Malberg Education Scholarship Fund, care of the CSI Foundation, PO Box 1238, Twin Falls, ID 83303-1238 or online at www.csi.edu/foundation. Or, if you prefer, provide an act of service in her memory and hold your loved ones close.

All services and arrangements are under the direction of Parke's Magic Valley Funeral Home of Twin Falls, Idaho. Those wishing to share memories and condolences may do so on Marilyn's memorial webpage at www.magicvalleyfuneralhome.com.
Penny Louise Thompson

April 12, 1943  February 2, 2017

MALTA - Penny Louise Thompson, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, friend, examplewhile surrounded by her family, she graciously returned to her heavenly home to be greeted by her loving husband. She endured all things with grace, integrity, and compassion while serving her family and her Father in Heaven.

Penny was born April 12, 1943, in Rupert, Idaho, to Ivan LeRoy Knox and Mildred Louise Palmer. Penny and her sister, Kerry, were raised by their grandparents, George and Nora Palmer in Burley, Idaho. Her childhood was full of love, laughter and adventure. It was in her childhood when she met her true love, Larry LuWain Thompson. Penny always reminisced of the days she spent walking to school with Larry as children and playing with him, his brothers and neighborhood friends. Their friendship soon grew into an eternal love, and they were married on November 6, 1959, in Burley, Idaho. After their marriage, Penny joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Larry's occupation then lead them to California where they were later sealed in the Los Angeles California LDS Temple. While in California, Penny always enjoyed taking many trips to Disneyland and Knoxberry Farm with their children. Penny and Larry eventually moved to Malta, Idaho, where Penny worked as a custodian at Raft River Elementary for 17 years. She enjoyed being around the kids, listening to all their stories, and being their friend.

Serving others was a big part of Penny's life. For many years, Penny volunteered as an EMT and secretary for the Malta Ambulance. She also held various church callings throughout her life, including, Primary president, Young Womens president, and family history consultant. Family history was Penny's passion. She spent many of her days compiling volumes of history for her posterity. She continued this calling in her life by later serving in the Twin Falls Temple.

Penny is survived by her loving children, Richard (Zena) Thompson, Robert (Kala) Thompson, Randell (Chris) Thompson, Tina (Todd) Powers, Russell (Tamara) Thompson, Rodney (Christyn) Thompson; brothers-in-law, Leland (Gay) Thompson and Keith (Carol) Thompson; sister-in-law, Michelle (Bob) Perez; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and, extended family.

Penny was preceded in death by her husband, Larry; her parents; and grandparents.

The family would like to express a special thanks to Minidoka Hospice for their love, kindness, compassion, and support.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 10, at the Malta LDS Church, 280 N. 1st St., in Malta, with Bishop Dallan Spencer officiating. Burial will be at the Valley Vu Cemetery in Malta.

Friends may call from 6 until 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., in Burley, and from 10 until 10:45 a.m. preceding the service at the church.
Otto Florence Jr.

TWIN FALLS  Otto Florence Jr. of Twin Falls, Funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m. Monday, February 6, at St Edward the Confessor Catholic Church, 161 6th Ave East, Twin Falls. Arrangements are under the direction of Reynolds Funeral Chapel.

Lawrence Turner

DECLO  Lawrence Turner of Declo, funeral at 1 p.m. Monday, February 6, at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 East 16th Street in Burley, Idaho,. Visitation will occur prior to the funeral services from 12 noon until 12:45 p.m.

Julio Benavides

TWIN FALLS  Julio Benavides of Twin Falls, Celebration of Life at 1 p.m. Monday, February 6, 2017 at White Mortuary, Chapel by the Park.

Donna Andrew

PAUL  Donna Andrew of Paul, funeral at 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 7, at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E 16th St. in Burley. A visitation will be held one hour prior to the service.

Lee Roy Crumbliss

TWIN FALLS  Lee Roy Crumbliss of Twin Falls, funeral service at 1 p.m. Tuesday, February 7, at Parkes Magic Valley Funeral Home, 2551 Kimberly Road, Twin Falls. A viewing will be held from 5 until 7 p.m. Monday, February 6 at the funeral home.

Larry Shaw

TWIN FALLS  Larry Shaw of Twin Falls, celebration of life at 2 p.m. Friday, February 10 at the Twin Falls Reformed Church, 1631 Grandview Dr. North. Arrangements are under the direction of Serenity Funeral Chapel Life Celebration Center & Cremation Services of Idaho.
The following editorial appears on Bloomberg View:

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Of all the measures to improve gun safety, background checks are among the most reasonable and popular. House Republicans lost no time this week in voting to weaken them.

A bill approved on a mostly party-line vote in the House would rescind a rule on gun background checks that was initiated by the Barack Obama administration in 2012 and finalized in December. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill after its likely passage by the Senate.

The rule requires the Social Security Administration to submit records to the gun background check system for an estimated 75,000 beneficiaries annually who, due to mental illness, cannot work at all and require a representative to manage their Social Security benefits. The Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits gun possession by the "mentally defective."

Advocates for the mentally ill caution that mental illness should not be equated with a penchant for violence. They're right. But America's tragic experience with mentally ill gunmen -- from Virginia Tech in 2007 to Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 -- shows the folly of simply dismissing the danger.

In recent years Republicans have prioritized instant gratification for anyone who desires to purchase a gun. Last year the National Rifle Association spent $50 million on the campaigns of Donald Trump and six Republican senators. NRA leader Wayne LaPierre, who met with Trump this week, wants payback.

The Obama rule established a process for identifying only Social Security beneficiaries who would be prohibited from possessing guns under existing law. It required that beneficiaries be notified of the prohibition, and it provided means to appeal the determination before an administrative law judge or a federal court.

Such provisions would safeguard individual rights. But they offend the fundamental principle that drives NRA, and thus Republican, gun politics: Anyone should be able to get a gun at any time for any reason and bring that weapon, loaded, anywhere. As this latest foray in extremism makes clear, that principle applies even to the mentally incompetent.
First, I want to wish newly-appointed MSU Billings Interim Chancellor Ron Larsen the best.

Second, enough is enough. Higher education in south-central and Eastern Montana has been the neglected stepchild long enough. MSUB needs to be independent from Bozeman. Tweaking the current relationship is not sufficient. The epicenter for decision-making and the development of a functional vision and a dynamic leadership committed to involving the public and serving the region must move to Billings.

MSU President Waded Cruzados uninterrupted rhetoric regarding how things will improve on the Billings campus under the leadership she and her third appointee provide is just that. Rhetoric. Under the current system, nothing ever improves. The flagship in Bozeman has opted to keep its thumb on MSUB and has done nothing to stem declining enrollment and stabilize a steadily contracting curriculum.

Under the current system, there is a leadership vacuum and no vision for Eastern Montana. As a result, in four years, the MSUB Foundation has struggled to raise just a fraction of the matching funds needed to construct the Yellowstone Science Building. Investing in what is perceived as a failing operation makes no sense. For those who believe conditions will improve with more of the same, I have a couple of bridges for sale on the Yellowstone River to raise money for that building.

Every legislator from Eastern Montana should join in an effort to convince the Montana Board of Regents to create an independent unit of higher education in Billings with a new name. Dont you think it is about time?

Cy Jamison

Billings
Thats why we slow it down and make sure that if they are a 5-year-old that maybe theyre with their parents and they dont pose a threat. . . . To assume that just because of someones age or gender or whatever that they dont pose a threat would be wrong

 Press secretary Sean Spicer, when asked about the 5-year-old Iranian boy who was detained under President Trumps new executive order on refugees.

--

Sean Spicer is quite right to be concerned. This 5-year-old boy waiting at the airport certainly has a diabolical plan. All 5-year-old children do.

When the 5-year-old comes to this country, he will begin his hostile takeover almost immediately. He is going to touch everything in the house and his hands will be sticky for some undefinable reason and nothing in the house will ever feel entirely not sticky ever again.

He will sow disinformation. He will run up and down the aisle of the airplane creating chaos and making fake plane noises with his mouth, even though he is clearly not a plane. He will say the floor is lava. He will say he is a dinosaur. He will say he is Batman. He will say he is a doctor who can vaccinate you against cooties. All of these will be lies.

He will commit sabotage. He will knock down his block towers with a thunderous crash when you are on the telephone. He will spill his Legos on the carpet for you to walk across barefoot in the middle of the night and make you blaspheme God.

But he will not stop there. He will tell interminable stories. He will draw horrible propaganda art where your head is too big and both your arms are sticks and your mouth is a horrible pool full of yellow boulder teeth.

He has plans to turn his bed into a spaceship without registering first with NASA. He has plans to invite friends over from school and hold them hostage behind the couch with his whole army of stuffed hippos.

He has plans to carry his sinister associate Bear Bear with him everywhere, to bed and to the dinner table and even to school, and we know how Betsy DeVos feels about bears in schools. Besides, Bear Bear is a foreign operative with a missing eye and almost none of his original fur, always silent, and his motives cannot be adequately discerned.

He has plans to let go of your hand and run off giggling because he thinks the world is all like him on the inside and there is no one who does not understand that he means no harm  how could they?and he wants to play.

Oh yes, the 5-year-old boy has diabolical plans. Look at him, standing in the airport. He is not even four feet high, but his mind is whirling with plans: to go to a strange new school and learn a strange new language and make strange new friends and teach them draw incendiary graffiti all over the walls with crayon. And at recess, he may not share. He has plans to sit up past bedtime in a house where the sound of bombs falling does not keep him awake. He has plans to commit awful acts of sabotage like flushing strange things down the toilet, because here there is a toilet to flush. He has plans to grow up to become the most terrifying thing in the world: an American.

And if you turn him away  you will be very lucky if he does not have other plans.
This appeared in Saturday's Washington Post.

- - -

Not surprisingly, one of the first countries to probe the mettle of President Donald Trump's administration was Iran, which continues to seek hegemony in the Middle East at American expense. The prod was a familiar one: a test of one of Tehran's medium-range ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying a payload of more than 1,000 pounds - including a nuclear warhead. Over the objections of the United States and other Western powers, Iran has conducted a number of such tests since the signing of the nuclear accord in July 2015. Eager to avoid a rupture that would ruin a legacy achievement, former President Barack Obama's administration played down the launches while applying mostly symbolic sanctions to entities involved in the missile program.

The Trump administration's rhetorical response to the latest launch was much hotter. National security adviser Michael Flynn appeared before the media to dramatically assert that Iran was being put "on notice." But when the first follow-up action came Friday, it was similar to that of the previous administration: targeted sanctions against officials and entities involved in acquiring materials for missiles. For a president who during his campaign had spoken of ripping up the nuclear accord and blowing Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf out of the water, it was a measured and modest step - which is a good thing.

The Trump administration is right to push back against Iranian aggression across the Middle East as well as the missile tests. But it should be strategic in doing so. Nullifying the nuclear accord would reopen the one threat from Iran that is, for now, contained: the enrichment of uranium that could be used in nuclear devices. What is needed are measures to address other pressing threats, including the thousands of Shiite militiamen deployed in Iraq and Syria; Iranian support for Houthi rebels in Yemen; threats to U.S. ships in the Gulf; and cyberattacks.

The missile launches are particularly troubling because they exploit a loophole allowed by the Obama administration in U.N. Security Council resolution 2231, which ratified the nuclear deal. Previously Iran was under a U.N. ban for conducting tests of ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, but the resolution changed the language so that Iran was merely "called on" to comply. Though the United States, Britain and France have taken the position that the missile tests are "not consistent with" the resolution, Russia has sided with Iran, making U.N. enforcement action impossible.

If the response to the latest launch is limited to sanctions, the Trump administration will deserve credit for not rushing to measures that could provoke an escalation it is not prepared for. As it is, the response looked ragged: The U.S. Central Command was not given advance warning, according to The Post's David Ignatius, even though U.S. soldiers and ships deployed across the Middle East could be vulnerable to Iranian reprisals. Nor is it apparent that U.S. allies were consulted, though sanctions are unlikely to be effective unless they are backed up at least by European governments.

Rolling back the gains Iran has made across the Middle East in the past decade will be, at best, a work of years. To succeed, the Trump administration will have to clarify priorities: Russia, which it regards as a potential ally in the region, has become Iran's strategic partner. Leaving the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad in place will lock in Iranian domination where it matters most. Until it has a strategy for addressing such challenges, the administration will find it hard to impress the mullahs.
Amid all the kerfuffle in the past week over immigration bans, the Supreme Court, Iran and Arnold Schwarzeneggers TV ratings, little attention was paid to an extraordinary meeting at the White House at which President Donald Trump reneged on a campaign promise and sold out millions of forgotten Americans to giant drug companies.

It was almost exactly a year ago that Trump, campaigning in New Hampshire, said it was crazy that the federal government, effectively the worlds largest buyer of prescription drugs, was not allowed to negotiate directly with the drug companies to get lower prices, boasting that he could save taxpayers $300 billion a year on Medicare on Day One.

At a news conference the week before his inauguration, Trump doubled down on his promise to reduce prices, declaring that drug companies were getting away with murder. And on Tuesday, he summoned drug company chief executives to the White House to do to them what he had done to carmakers and aerospace executives, shaming them into creating jobs and lowering prices.

We have to get prices down, he told the drugmakers. We have no choice.

An hour later, however, the negotiator-in-chief emerged to say it was all a misunderstanding. Reading almost verbatim from the industrys talking points, he vowed to oppose anything that makes it harder for smaller, younger companies to take the risk of bringing their product to a vibrantly competitive market. He would have nothing to do with anything so odious as price fixing by Medicare.

Asked about the apparent 180-degree turnaround later in the day, press secretary Sean Spicer conjured up the industrys newest and most absurd talking point, explaining that it was not the job-creating drug companies but rather government bureaucrats and regulators who were preventing the government from getting the best deal for taxpayers.

The whole incident provided the latest reminder of Trumps troubling tendency to agree with the last person he spoke with, in no small part because he understands so little about the issues about which he so confidently opines. Indeed, the whole drug price drama was a flimflam right from the start.

Trumps original claim of $300 billion a year in annual Medicare savings was absurd on its face, given that $300 billion represents half of all Medicare spending and close to half of what the government and everyone else spends on drugs in a year. That whopper merited the worst ranking from The Posts Fact Checker.

Trump also seemed unaware that while Medicare is prevented from directly negotiating drug prices, most of the drugs paid for by Medicare are bought through private insurance plans sponsored by Medicare that can and do negotiate with competing drug companies. The governments other big health insurance program, Medicaid, doesnt negotiate drug prices, either, but in most states, the law requires that Medicaid receive the lowest price charged to any private insurance plan. As a result, Medicaid pays more than 20 percent less for drugs than Aetna or Blue Cross. Similar discounts are negotiated by the Department of Veterans Affairs on behalf of its network of hospitals and clinics.

Most experts agree that if Medicare were allowed to negotiate directly on behalf of all 50 million of its beneficiaries, it could push prices even lower, albeit modestly. But what Trump doesnt appear to realize is that for those negotiations to be effective, two other things would have to happen that he might find hard to swallow.

First, for illnesses for which there are two or more equally effective drugs, the government would have to be free to create a formulary, in effect telling patients and their doctors, We will pay for this drug but not that one. Theres nothing in Obamacare that comes even close to that kind of government interference in clinical decisions. Republicans would never accept it, and if he understood it, neither would Trump.

And then there are illnesses for which only one drug offers the best treatment, either because it is protected by a patent or because the market is too small to attract another firm. In those cases, which account for many of the most expensive drugs, there is no competition so there could be no competitive bidding. The only negotiating leverage the government would have would be to refuse to pay for the drug, denying it to taxpaying patients. Another name for it is rationing. Good luck with that.The basic story about drug pricing goes like this:

Because ours is the only country that does not negotiate prices with drug companies, using a national formulary, Americans pay roughly twice what patients in other countries do for the most widely used drugs still under patent. What that means, in effect, is that Americans pay for the 20 percent of drug industry revenue that is invested in researching new drugs, giving the rest of the world a free ride. In exchange for this largesse, a disproportionate share of the high-paying research jobs are located in the United States. Drug companies also used to pay a disproportionate share of corporate taxes to the U.S. Treasury until they became as innovative in tax avoidance as they are in product development.

As with just about every other facet of the American health system, drug pricing is impossibly opaque. While drugmakers post exorbitant prices for some drugs, large insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers negotiate large discounts on behalf of their customers that are closely guarded secrets, but on average are close to 40 percent. One perverse effect of this system is that it encourages drug companies to push posted prices ever higher so they can offer steeper and steeper discounts to win more business. The result is higher profits for insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, but also higher out-of-pocket costs for consumers who have no insurance or whose insurance policies include large deductibles or co-payments for drug purchases.

This past week, this rebate racket was detailed in a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston against the three leading drug companies  Sanofi, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly  which are accused of conspiring to raise the benchmark price of insulin by nearly 170 percent over the past five years, despite little increase in production or distribution costs. While fully insured patients have to pay little of this increase, the suit alleges, others who once paid $25 per prescription now are forced to pay $300 to $450, or as much as $900 a month.

Drug companies have also come to dislike the rebate racket, if for no other reason than stories of sky-high prices have given them a public relations black eye. Instead, they are pushing for what they call value pricing, in which drugs would be priced based on how effective they are in treating an illness and in reducing other medical cost.

But while value pricing may be a good idea, it wont do anything to help Trump lower drug prices. The industry is hoping that the next generation of pills and biologics will dramatically reduce the number of days people spend in hospitals, the number of operations they have and the number of visits they make to doctors offices. What value pricing means to the pharmaceutical industry is the ability to capture most of those savings in the form of higher prices, not lower  and with it a larger slice of an ever-growing health-care pie.
The Jan. 20 (Times-News) AP article Judge Orders Idaho to Destroy Elk and Wolf Wilderness Data outlined a court decision that seems ignorant of the unique Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The Earthjustice attorneys claim that helicopter flights for wildlife research in the Frank involves the sanctity of the concept of wilderness is either naive or deliberately deceptive. Enabling legislation for this 2.4 million-acre wilderness involved compromise by our own late Sen. Frank Church including 18 airstrips, in-holdings, and jet boats on the Salmon Main Fork. Backcountry lodges that predated wilderness include cabins, lawns, hay fields, generators, roads, tractors and trucks.

We dont fully understand particulars of the complex court case focused on National Environmental Policy Act compliance. But we know the Frank, both from professional and recent experience. At a resupply stopover last summer at a fly-in-ranch in the Frank (part of a month trip backpacking traversing Central Idaho), we heard concerns about diminishing elk herds and the local belief that wolves were the culprit. The AP article said Idaho officials sent a contract hunter to kill nine wolves in 2014. It seems odd to litigate efforts to understand elk-wolf dynamics. The court order to destroy research data seems wasteful and capricious. Should state officials just keep killing wolves? In a conservative state like Idaho, this court action may play well to naive out-of-state citizens and foundations but fuels local hostility against conservation.

Whats the real motive for such a lawsuit led by Earthjustice? Its website shows about 260 staff; lots of attorneys, communication and media people but little or no ecological or scientific staff. A 2016 annual report shows about $55 million total revenue (65 percent from individuals, 26 percent from foundations and 9 percent from estate gifts). Maybe a federal/state faux pas over helicopters in the wilderness offered low hanging fruit for a quick win in court flashy media coverage, a story for the Earthjustice 2017 portfolio and more donor appeals to keep funds flowing to save the wolves and save the wilderness.

To brand attempts to understand/manage wildlife populations as illegal manipulation seems to negate any respect for state responsibility for wildlife. If the litigating Non-governmental Organizations really cared about elk and wolves, they could do complementary winter research via snowshoes and cross-country skis. Given the vastness and inaccessibility of the Frank Church, this would indicate a true commitment to this area and its wilderness values.

In a conservative state where government, predators and public lands are viewed with suspicion, we wilderness advocates are saddened by NGOs complicating the issues and poorly researched judicial work supporting them. Instead of destroying data and wasting the thousands of dollars of public funds spent to obtain it, we would like to see support for understanding the wilderness and our relationship to it. If nothing else, release the data to an objective university for analysis; do not destroy it!
Another legislative session, another call from House Republicans to cut taxes.

A bill cleared the House last week and now heads to the Senate, which has in the past rightly blocked politically motivated tax cuts like this one. We hope theyll do the same this time.

To be clear, were not opposed to tax cuts. But we are opposed to dumb ones.

The latest House plan will take $51 million out of state coffers at a time when the Legislature needs all the money it can get to continue funding education and other programs Idahoans have said they care more about than saving a few dollars a month through a tax cut.

Sponsored by Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, the new plan would reduce the states top individual and corporate income tax rate, which applies to income over $7,500, from 7.4 percent to 7.2 percent, and also exempt the first $750 of taxable income from any income tax.

That amounts to a big cut for Idahos wealthiest residents  $1,562 a year for the states top 1 percent  and only a meager cut for the middle class. The Idahoans in the middle 20 percent of earners will save just $2.67 a month, according to the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy.

If lawmakers really wanted to help Idahoans, theyd remove the 6 percent sales tax on groceries. Under the current system, taxpayers can get a small rebate on their returns, but 31 percent of Idahoans dont file a state return, meaning lower-income Idahoans are hit the hardest.

Or, lawmakers would seek a complete overhaul of the states tax code to make the system more equitable for all Idahoans.

Instead, House Republicans continue to pitch anemic proposals like Moyles, claiming Idaho isnt competing well with other states because of our tax structure.

The facts say otherwise. Idahos own state Tax Commissions analysis finds Idaho to be one of the lowest-taxed states in the country in terms of overall tax burden. Its most recent report, released in December using 2014 numbers, found the states tax burden to be 48 out of 51 in taxes paid per person and 41st when adjusted for income. Both measurements rank Idaho as the lowest of the 11 Western states.

OK, Republicans say, but what about messaging? Wont this tax cut signal to businesses that Idaho is a good place to locate?

Were already sending that message. Just look at our booming economy and population growth. If Idaho isnt already positioned for attracting new businesses and residents, how do you explain our economic success?

The real messages lawmakers should be focused on are from the public and their governor. The Idaho Public Policy Survey, taken at the end of each year, showed Idahoans No. 1 concern to be public schools. Not really a surprise since lawmakers have shifted the burden from the state to local districts, which now near constantly have to turn to voters for bond bailouts.

The greatest increase in public concern came in health care, underscoring, as they report said, that the public views health care as an area deserving of the state legislatures attention.

Rather than listening to their constituents, Idaho lawmakers have all but given up on trying to solve Idahos health care crisis, which still leaves 78,000 Idahoans uninsured.

And then theres Gov. C.L. Butch Otter, whose budget this year more accurately reflects the wishes of residents. He recognizes that Idaho is enjoying economic prosperity and believes now is the time to make investments in education and other programs that will reap economic rewards for years to come.

To us, that sounds like a much smarter use of taxpayer money than returning a meager $2.67 a month. The governor has also warned lawmakers that he wont entertain any proposals that call for cutting taxes at the expense of his proposed investments. Apparently, that hasnt stopped the House from going down that road.

Of course, the Houses tax cut must first clear the Senate before Otter weighs in. In past sessions, senators have wisely turned away similarly structured plans.

Idahoans dont want conservative ideologues. We want lawmakers working to improve our lives. This tax plan isnt the way to do it.
Here's my synopsis of Emperor Trump's first dozen days in office:

His Muslim ban from those hot spot terrorist countries, I think is a good idea! Of course he should have included Afghanistan, Pakistan and the deadliest of all, Saudi Arabia!

Now a little closer to home, his bashing of Mexico, I think is way over the top! Overall Mexico is a good trading neighbor and building a wall is going to be paid by this country one way or another. Huge!

His paranoia of the media is comical. He lost the popular vote by 3 million and refuses to accept the facts. Same with the inauguration. He and his chief toadies are interested in "alternative facts!" Sad!

His buddying up with "nut case" Kanye West! Do they see the same shrinks?

Lastly, besides his daily executive orders, he obviously go a chronic tweeting habit!

Roger Paulson

Shoshone
Graduation Matters in Hardin has helped increase our graduation rates and reduce dropout rates. These are good things. Eighty-five percent of our students are Native American. We started Graduation Matters in 2011. Since that time our teachers, administration, board, parents, community and students have helped emphasize and sustain the expectation that everyone can and will graduate from Hardin High School.

The support in the past provided by OPI has helped change the trajectory of graduation rates in our school. Valued assistance provided by OPI include funding, strategies that identify at-risk students, and assistance in tracking a utilizing local data to create support that offer lifelines to our students. In the past, OPI has also served as a repository of successful strategies employed by schools in the state of Montana that are readily accessible to others seeking these proven methods.

Our graduation rates have increased from 60.9 percent on inception of the Graduation Matters Program to 73.5 percent in 2016. Our dropout rates have decreased from 10.7 percent to 5.2 percent since our immersion in this program. Two years ago, our school was honored with the Seventh Generation Award by OPI, as our school had the greatest reduction in the dropout rate with our Native American students. This is significant.

We ask for continued support for Graduation Matters. Funding and supporting this program will help sustain the upward path of our students success. It is something our entire community rallies around. Successful students equal stronger communities, and therefore a stronger Montana.

Dennis Gerke

Superintendent

Hardin Public Schools
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Jon Tester knows what is good for Montana students and all American students. Does Steve Daines? Tester deserves a big thank you for his opposition to Betsy DeVos as education secretary. As a former teacher, he knows that all students deserve access to a quality education in America. Betsy DeVos wants American taxpayers to subsidize private religious schools, which would take needed tax dollars from our public schools and give it to schools and families who do not need it.

DeVos has no education experience and has not even sent her kids to public schools. She has bragged that her family was the biggest GOP funder of "soft money. Most concerning to me was that in her confirmation hearings, she did not seem to know anything about the different kinds of assessments used to judge our public schools. I hope that Daines will consider these strikes against her, and oppose the confirmation of Betsy DeVos.
PORAC, PampangaDiplomatic relations between the Philippines and South Korea remain solid and cordial, if the inauguration of a deep well and sanitary facility constructed by Koreans here on Sunday is proof.

A project of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, the deep well and sanitary facility worth P175,000 is aimed at helping Aetas living in Sitio Pidpid, Sapang Uwak in this town.

The project was inaugurated by second district Rep. Gloria M. Arroyo, the former president, and Gov. Lilia Pineda along with Dr. Eun-Mi Yang of Kkottongnae University, and Roberto Tantingco, Vice President for Student Services and Affairs of Holy Angel University in Angeles City.

Yang and Tantingco labored very hard for the realization of the project, which will benefit 300 Aetas living in the area, Arroyo said in her remarks.

Dr. Yang, also the dean of planning and director of Catholic Global Education of KU, said the project also aims to study the health and hygiene level needs of the Aeta community, and create and implement health education programs for them.

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Meanwhile, Arroyo said she filed a bill in Congress to amend the Ingenious People Rights Act (IPRA) that give them rights to subdivide their land titles.

In fact, she said the land titles of Porac are now ready for partition under the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples.

Pineda thank Dr. Yang and Tantingco for their efforts to improve the health and hygiene of Aetas living in Sapang Uwak.

The project is under the auspices of Academy Partnership Program of the Korean International Cooperative Agency, the international development agency of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Earlier, Chief Supt. Aaron Aquino, regional director of Police Regional Office 3 assured the safety and security of 16,500 Koreans living in Central Luzon after the kidnapping and murder of Jee Ick Joo last year and robbery of three others by police elements last week.

During his visit to the Koreans business center along Friendship Highway in Angeles City on Saturday, Aquino strongly believes the two incidents will not lead to the demise of the relationship between the countries.

Although there are scalawags in the police force as in any other organization, the majority of us are good policemen, Aquino added.

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When billionaire businessman Donald J. Trump took on the CEO job of United States of America Corp, little did he know he was going to encounter headwinds after setting sail only less than a month ago. His ship of state, the USS America, is floundering and heading into dangerous waters. Its not the fault of his crew whom he picked mostly on the basis of their tax returns in the corporate world. Yet, he cannot yell youre fired! The shoe is now on the other foot. His bosses, the people , are showing their dissatisfaction with the man they hired. They know where the buck stopsat Trumps desk.

He only has himself to blame. His inexperience at this kind of job and his reckless, controversial policies are sinking him deeper into a quagmire. Trump, from all indications, is waging a war on several fronts. On the domestic front with foreign and global implications, Trump stopped the US refugee program and put on notice that the US will not be granting visas to those from seven majority Muslim countriesSyria, Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, Libya and Iran. Radical Islam has spawned a worldwide fear after Islamist terrorists struck in Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, Nice and US cities. Fear of Islam though should not be the lynchpin of US foreign policy.

A Washington state federal judge ruled that Trumps temporary ban of travelers from Muslim majority countries is unconstitutional. Trump has challenged the court ruling as he says the ban is a lawful order to protect the security of the state. Airlines in Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, despite the Trump ban, resumed boarding passengers with valid US visas following three days of confusion at international airports when passengers were not allowed to check in while those already on board were offloaded at the tarmac.

Trump also called the proposal of Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to swap refugees held in the Pacific Islands for refugees from Muslim countries as a dumb deal. How many more enemies will Trump make in his no-Muslims-in-America policy?

Filipino-Americans in the US have joined the widening protests against Trumps ban despite the administration clarifying that Filipinos and other foreign nationals with green cards or US residents are exempted.

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The latest to draw Trumps ire is Iran for test-firing long-range missiles even after the Obama administration inked a compromise peace agreement with Tehran. Russia, which was accused of hacking the November presidential US elections to favor Trump into winning over Hillary Clinton, did not escape Trumps notice. His ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said the US will maintain its economic sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea where the strategic naval base of Sevastopol in Ukraine which gives the Russian navy access to the Mediterranean Sea. Vladimir Putins playbook also calls for the massing of Russian troops along its border with Ukraine where two million ethnic Russians live.

Displaying his confrontational propensity, Trump is pushing to build a wall along the US-Mexico border to make good on his campaign promise of keeping illegal aliens and drug traffickers from entering and eroding American values and institutions. While Trumps America first campaign slogan found traction with US voters, the widespread protests would seem to show a change of heart among those who voted for him. Constitutionalists and human rights groups are leading the worldwide protests. American diplomats expressed opposition to the Presidents suspension of the refugee program and discriminatory visa requirements as unlawful and an act that would draw anti-American sentiment.

In Asia and the Pacific, the Trump administration is fanning the flames of war as it warns China against military buildup that would impede the flow of commercial cargo from plying vital international sea lanes in the South China Sea. But there are dissonant voices within the Trump Cabinet itself. While Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned China against further aggressive moves, Defense Secretary James Mattis said there will be no dramatic moves by the US in the South China Sea. US allies are confused at this conflicting statements on the US stance. Mattis, however, reaffirmed its support for treaty ally Japan in its territorial dispute with China over the Senkaku/ Diaoyu Island being claimed by China.

China has shredded the trust of countries in Southeast Asia, said Mattis whos on an official trip around Asia.

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, in an opinion piece in Time magazine, expressed concern the world could be preparing for war. War clouds are gathering in the horizon arising from Chinas aggressive moves to claim nearly all of the South China Sea, North Koreas nuclear saber-rattling and Russias territorial grab of Crimea from Ukraine.

Last week, the worst fighting since 2015 flared up anew between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed rebels along the east Ukrainian border. Exchange of heavy mortar barrage and gunfire between the two sides took a toll of 33 lives.

The Crimean crisis, the simmering South China Sea territorial dispute and the unresolved civil strife in Syria which sent refugees fleeing across Europe are only some of the failures of Ban Ki Moon as UN Secretary General tasked to deal with global crises.

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Disturbing events happened in the last week of January. Two Filipinas, both household service workers in Kuwait, suffered tragic deaths. One of them, Jakatia Pawa, a 32-year-old mother of two, was hanged on Jan. 25 for allegedly killing her employers 22-year-old daughter in May 2007. She was convicted to death by hanging in 2010. The other oneAmy Capulong Santiagowas reported to have been beaten to death by her Kuwaiti employer. Records of the Police Directorate General of Criminal Evidence in Kuwait showed that Santiagos body bore old and fresh bruises. Contusions on various parts of her body showed that the beatings went on for a certain period of time.

The fates suffered by these two Filipino household workers in Kuwait represent only the tip of the mountain of agonies and oppression that Filipino household service workers suffer in the Middle East, especially Kuwait. According to accounts from Pawas family, mainly from her brother, Air Force Colonel Angaris Pawa, her employers went on a vacation in Iran in May 2007. When they returned, Pawas female employer caught her 22-year-old daughter sleeping with her boyfriend in her bedroom. The daughter was allegedly betrothed to someone else. Her sleeping with another man while not yet married would bring shame to her family apart from being contrary to Islam laws. Out of rage, the girls mother allegedly stabbed her own daughter to death but pinned the blame on Jakatia Pawa. Pawa consistently professed her innocence throughout the trial and until her death. Her claim of innocence was supported by the fact that the murder weapon did not bear her fingerprints; there were no blood stains on the dress she was wearing on that day; and she had no motive to kill the daughter of her employers whom she had served for five years.

Several other events of late showed the sorry plight of Filipino overseas workers in Kuwait. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III was reported fuming mad because in his recent visit to the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, he was not told that there were some 100 runaway Filipino workers living in the Philippine government-run halfway house. He learned about it only after he had left, prompting him to recall Labor Attache Angelita Narvaes to face administrative charges. Bello said Narvaes misled him about the death of Amy Santiago and concealed from him that there were runaway Filipino workers who were waiting to talk to him.

Then, too, last week, 32 repatriated Filipino workers arrived in Manila from Kuwait. All of them were domestic helpers who escaped from their employers because of maltreatment and abuse. One of them said she was sold by her employer to another Arab who physically abused her. Another said she too was sold to another Kuwaiti who had three sons. She recounted that one of the sons tried to rape her, forcing her to run away.

The way Filipino workers are treated in Kuwait and other Arab countries speaks volumes about their peoples lack of respect for Filipinos. I saw with my own eyes how a Kuwaiti male, the third secretary of the Embassy of Kuwait, spoke and behaved with much rudeness and disrespect toward a female member of the House of Representatives. She filed a complaint at the Department of Foreign Affairs against a former Kuwait Ambassador for causing millions of pesos worth of damage to her house, which he had rented.

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I thought to myself, if a Filipino congresswoman can be treated in this manner at the very premises of the Foreign Affairs Office by a Kuwaiti national, we can just imagine how Kuwaitis treat Filipino workers in their home territory. Truth is, Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East need our labor force more than we need the wages they pay. The proposed move to ban Filipino household workers from going to Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East should thus be implemented soon. The Duterte administration, after all, is working to create as many jobs as possible to keep Filipinos workers from leaving. Then, too, an information and education drive must be launched to open the eyes of Filipinos to the unimaginable horror stories suffered by our Filipino overseas workers.

It may be a dream. But if we do more to help the poor members of our society to stay home and do productive work here in their own homeland, we will earn the respect of nations that treat our overseas workers like dirt. In the meantime, the Department of Labor must study how many overseas Filipinos need help in various jurisdictions. It must rid its ranks of consular officers who have no genuine concern for their fellow citizens in foreign lands.

Email: ritalindaj@gmail.com

Visit: www.jimenolaw.com.ph

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Recently, the Philippine government lost a long legal battle. I refer to the international arbitration courts decision on President Benigno Aquino IIIs cancellation of the Laguna Lake dredging contract with a Belgian firm. The deal was entered into by the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

President Aquino simply canceled the contract, despite the protestations of the Belgian and EU ambassadors, and despite the fact that the Belgian dredging contractor was reputed to be one of the worlds best and most reliable.

A, basta is perhaps the best descriptive of the rationale behind the cancellation.

So the Belgian firm, supported by its government, went to court. Predictably, the Philippine government lost the case. We are now being fined P800 million payable to the Belgian firm. Its Duterte who must pay, never mind if the culprit is his predecessor. Correction: The Filipino people must pay.

aaaaa

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One recalls that the same thing happened when the Arroyo administration refused to honor the terms of the Naia 3 terminal won by Piatco in partnership with Fraport of Germany, and constructed quickly by Japans Takenaka.

We went to great lengths, paying humongous sums to lawyers both domestic and international, here and in Washington DC, just because our government decided to get into legal battle over a project that was in fact already completed.

At the beginning of the Aquino administration, Piatco, burdened by the inability to get paid, and with their own obligations to their partners and contractors, sued for a compromise agreement. They were willing to settle for less than 200 dollars, just to get it over with. Six long years dragged on top of the nine years of Arroyo. No dice.

So the aggrieved had no choice but to pursue the case it won in the RTC but which government appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. Piatco won, and government lost in the high tribunal.

But because monetary claims earn interest as years of inaction take its toll, the sum government has to pay doubled.

Who lost? The Filipino taxpayer.

aaaaa

There is yet another contract that government will soon lose in the international arbitration courtsthe much-criticized North Rail contract which was launched during the Arroyo administration.

As of this writing, I do not know how much we will have to pay the Chinese state-owned company which was left holding a document to construct a rail system between Manila and Pampangabut never proceeded.

The tragedy consists not only in monies or fines that we have to pay, but more because of the economic opportunities laid to waste by these unfinished projects. Clark is not viable as an international airport because there are no commuter trains to ferry passengers quickly enough to it. Mass housing plans are in limbo, so the metropolis remains as congested as ever.

In the case of the Laguna Lake dredging project, designed to alleviate the flooding that occurs with every downpour in the metropolis, weeping is what we all do each time the heavens open and send us tons of rain.

All these damages, all these aggravations, because government is so fatally attracted to the folly of long legal battles, instead of reasonable settlements and rational decision-making.

aaaaa

Now comes DENR Secretary Gina Lopez-Roys decision to cancel 21 mining permits already awarded by her predecessors, legally, to some very big corporations, many of which have tie-ups with foreign companies.

Asked to reveal the results of the audit she claims her department laboriously worked upon since her appointment to the position, she refuses, saying its too complicated.

And then she generalizes by saying its because mining causes suffering.

Naturally, the mining firms insist on their rights under the Constitution which guarantees due process. They will go to court.

Again, this looks like another A, basta! decision.

Media and a lot of people cheer the secretarys decision against bad, bad mining which causes environmental destruction. A basta, pare-pareho silang lahat.

The same people who hate mineral extraction will soon cook their meals on stainless steel pots and pans, mindless of the fact that these are made from extracted metals, principally iron and nickel.

After dinner, the more religious (why do these environmentalists always swear by the good Creator?) will fondle their blessed by the Santo Papa, mismo rosaries forgetting that the chain that keeps the mysteries together in their rosary beads are made of metal extracted earlier from the bowels of the earth, and that the crucifixes they kiss and adore are made of metal likewise (perhaps verdadero argento for the elitist matronas?).

Folly.

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Georgia to establish timely ties with Trump administration

By Messenger Staff

I would advise Georgia to establish ties with the new White House administration as shortly as possible, former UK Ambassador to Georgia and current Atlantic Council researcher Alexandra Hall Hall has told the Voice of America Georgian office.She stated it had been clear from his very first days in office that Trump plans to fulfil what he promised during his election campaign.With regards to foreign policy, Hall Hall says a lot of things still remain vague. She stated that it is too early to say that U.S. policies towards Russia will completely change but Trump obviously wants to improve Washingtons relationship with Moscow.Regarding her advice, ex-Ambassador stated that "Georgia is not alone, it is a part of a greater, international society".She said that Georgia is not a NATO member but has strong ties with countries in alliance, and has pursued active cooperation with the United Kingdom and the United States.The head of Parliaments defence committee Irakli Sesiashvili claimed that currently Georgia has closer cooperation with the Trumps administration than it had with Obamas administration.Sesiashvili claimed Georgias Ambassador to the United States, ex-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration David Bakradze, was doing his best to establishvery close ties between Georgia and the new US administrations.It is difficult to predict what the new US Presidents attitude to Georgia will be, especially since he promised a better relationship with Russia during his election campaign.It is also hard to say whether any improved cooperation will make Russia step back in some directions or only enable the Federation to continue its aggressive policy.Trump is already meeting his pre-election promises. However, his major concern is domestic policy, and he may be more cautious with foreign relations, and especially Russia.Georgia is a member of a big chess game, where US and Russia are key-players, whereas Georgia is a pawn which could be always sacrificed, if it is required by any of the players.
If you've visited one of Montana's iconic old saloons, chances are that bar you rested your elbow on arrived in the state on a steamboat, or a horse-drawn wagon.

And after a century in service, some of those old hand-carved bars and backbars are highly valuable, and in some cases are worth more than the buildings that house them.

Watering hole history

At the turn of the 20th century, taverns popped up all across Montana, in every mining town, logging camp and ranching community. Beer quality varied, but the best bars served their swill on fine pieces of wood furniture imported mostly from the East and Midwest.

The Brunswick, Balke and Collender Co. produced the gold standard of front and backbars from the late 1800s, leading up to Prohibition. The molded and carved furniture replaced homemade counters and liquor cabinets in the frontier watering holes that could afford the upgrade.

Much of Brunswicks history was lost in a fire in the companys Chicago headquarters. Many Montana bar owners can trace their backbars to St. Louis, but the bars were built in several facilities across the United States. Once ubiquitous, they have since become increasingly hard to find as old taverns close, said Lou Marschak, an antique saloon furnishing dealer based in Dubois, Wyo.

I like to think of them as western things with cowboys, but thats not the case. They were everywhere, Marschak said.

He said up to 90 percent of the bars he sells end up in private homes. Hes one of the few dealers of antique bar furniture and he fields inquiries from as far away as Europe.

Several companies built bar counters and backbars, but Marschak said most were cheap copies of Brunswicks. The company first produced poker tables, acquired competitors Balke and Collender, and, starting in about the 1870s, started building bar furniture.

Marschak said salesmen back in the day visited taverns toting scaled-down models of backbars. A wide range of models were offered and were available in several sizes to fit different buildings. Bar owners could also choose the type of wood the counter and backbar were carved from. In the early 20th century, the simpler of the bar sets could be had for a few hundred dollars and higher-end examples sold for closer to $1,000. Today Brunswick bars demand prices anywhere from $30,000 to $125,000 for fancier designs.

Most of the bars were plain designs. Marschak deals mostly in ornate bar sets and although theres 10 in his showroom he said they are not easy to find.

Often, he finds deals online. He said areas that enforce smoking bans have more bars going out of business and in turn are hot spots for backbars. He likes to check out old establishments while traveling and sometimes the exercise in curiosity turns into a business deal.

I dont drink, but Ill open the door because Im always curious about what theyre using for a backbar, Marschak said.

Tiny towns, long histories

Some of the most lavish backbars in Montana reside in the smallest towns. The Peps Bar and Lanes in Big Sandy is home to a Brunswick, Balke and Collender front and backbar set.

Honestly, this is the most ornate one Ive seen, said Josh Danreuther, who bought the bar in 2008. Usually, you have some pillars and some side pieces but not a full centerpiece.

Danreuther recognizes its value and figures the backbar could be worth more than he paid for the entire tavern. He said when he first bought it, the wood was stained white but he had it stripped and restored.

The backbars arches were once decorated with acorn nut carvings, but a former owner didnt care for the design and chiseled them off. The bar counter has also been decorated with the brands of local ranchers.

Otherwise the wooden furnishings havent changed much since the bar opened in 1920. Danreuther said he believes they are the originals and arrived in Big Sandy after traveling up the Missouri River on a steamboat landing at Ft. Benton.

That was a common route for bar sets originating in St. Louis.

In Emigrant, The Old Saloons counter and backbar set made the steamboat journey after the tavern had already been built in 1902. Over the next 100 years, the bar became a Paradise Valley landmark but also fell into disrepair.

It was ready to burn down before we bought it, owner Brett Evje said. Part of the reason we picked it up is we wanted to save it and kind of bring some life back to it.

When Evje purchased The Old Saloon in May of 2016 the matching bar set was listed as an asset in the businesss inventory. He had admired old backbars since he was kid sitting in the bar area of the Livingston Bar and Grille. He knew the Old Saloons backbar was a valuable part of the business and it was preserved when the building was restored last year.

The high value and demand for the antiques makes it difficult for taverns to retain their heritage when they hit the market.

The New Atlas Bar in Columbus is best known for housing more than 60 animal mounts, including century-old elk, a pair of golden eagles, a two-headed cow and an albino deer. But it also boasts not one but two Brunswick Balke Collender backbars.

The original front and backbar set was installed when the bar opened in 1916. The second came to Columbus after use in a Butte tavern and for years served patrons of the bowling lanes in the basement of The New Atlas.

The Columbus bar was owned by the same family for 80 years before it was sold in 2016.

Were the third family (to own the bar) in 100 years, which is kind of cool. It was kind of a package deal so they wanted it to stay that way, said Gena Pluid, who owns The New Atlas with her husband, Shawn Pluid.

Keeping with the taverns wild motif, the main backbar features lions' heads carved into wooden arches. The bar has its original mirrors and spittoons still used by tobacco chewing locals. Most of what the Pluids know about the bar comes from barstool tales spun by patrons and history passed on from the previous owners, like the backstory behind the artwork on the backbar mirrors.

Gena Pluid said the mirrors have carried the words Welcome Stranger and a mural of a bronc busting cowboy since a patron running low on funds in the 1940s provided the paintings to work off his tab.

Pluid grew up in Columbus and she cherishes the bars place in the towns history. The Pluids moved from Belgrade to take over the New Atlas and dont plan to make any changes.

Salvaged shards

Some of Montanas bars havent benefited from the same commitment to preservation.

Polson resident Steve Lozars great-grandfather, Joseph Lozar, was a Slovenian immigrant and operated a bar in East Helena for decades despite losing the saloon in a 1909 card game. Joseph Lozar regained the business when the luckier gambler failed to pay $26 in city taxes.

Steve Lozar said his grandfather was a proud saloon operator and would brag about his taverns Brunswick bar.

It was a big deal because it wasnt homemade. It was actually bought by the company, Lozar said.

The bar was eventually sold to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and except for the occasional Boy Scout meeting, the room sat empty for 50 years. Lozar thought his family had an understanding with the buildings owner that if the structure was sold or torn down they would remove the wooden bar set. So he was especially upset when excavators began demolition with the bar counter and backbar still inside.

I went crazy when I got there, Lozar said. I got up on top of the rubble and wouldnt leave.

Police were called and removed him from the scene but were sympathetic and let him go a few blocks away. The next day he returned to the mostly destroyed building and salvaged what he could.

Lozar said the front bar had miraculously dropped into an underground opening and was mostly undamaged. The backbar, however, was shattered into many pieces. Lozar and his family collected what they could and retreated to Polson with the wooden shards.

The destroyed backbar was laid out in the attic of Lozars printing shop. A carpenter cousin spent the next two years gluing, screwing and pressing the pieces back together with a filler made of wood shavings and epoxy. Today, its hard to tell the bar has been touched since arriving in Montana in the late 1800s.

The bar set is still in the attic but makes up the centerpiece of a vast collection of Montana bar and brewing history thats open to the public. Lozar, who is also a trained historical researcher and anthropologist, is committed to keeping the alcohol history of Montana in the state.

Of these original Brunswick Balke Collenders, I cant imagine there are more than 75 in the state in any condition, he said. The prices have gone so crazy, all of this stuff leaves the state and theyre true pieces of Montana history.
The News in Brief

Police Arrest Three for Beating and Threatening Journalist



The Georgian Chief Prosecutors Office arrested three people for beating and threatening Giorgi Gasviani, a journalist and talk show host at Tbilisi-based Iberia TV, who accused the men of physical assault on December 19.



The Prosecutors Office said in its January 27 statement that, based on the court ruling, one acting policeman and two of his friends, of whom one was a former policeman as well, were arrested on charges of violence and threatening.



Gasviani said on December 19 that the incident took place in Borjomi, after his car slid on an icy road and three persons from the car coming from the opposite direction, including one drunken police officer, attacked him, beat him and threatened him at gunpoint not to disclose the fact.



The prosecutors office said on December 19 that initially, it was the police, which launched the investigation under the clause of the criminal code dealing with violence (punishable by restriction of liberty for up to two years or with imprisonment for a term of one to three years), but based on the journalists testimony, the case was transferred to the Samtskhe-Javakheti prosecutors office and an article dealing with exceeding official powers, committed with violence or use of firearms, was added to the case (punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to eight years, with deprivation of the right to hold an official position or to carry out a particular activity for up to three years).



The last charge was, however, dropped later and the three were indicted with two charges - of violence and of threatening (punishable by a fine or community service from 120 to 180 hours or collective labor for up to a year or with imprisonment for up to a year).

(Civil.ge)







Georgian PM lectures EPP head on separation of powers



Georgias Prime Minister gave an EU politician a lesson in the separation of powers in democracies on Tuesday, explaining that a government cannot interfere in decisions made by the courts.



Giorgi Kvirikashvili, the head of government in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, was responding to a call by Joseph Daul, leader of the European Peoples Party (EPP) to free all political prisoners.



My thoughts go to the other political prisoners still detained in Georgia and I call on PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili for their immediate release, the French conservative politician wrote on Facebook a few days ago.



Photos showed him standing next to some of the most well-known associates of former President Mikheil Saakashvili; among them, Gigi Ugulava, the former mayor of Tbilisi who was released from prison a couple of weeks prior after serving a sentence for corruption.



The Georgian governments office answered Tuesday that it recognizes the importance of the suggestions from EPPs president, but pointed out that justice in a democratic system is administered by the judiciary, not the executive branch or the prime minister.



The Government of Georgia cannot engage in the process of releasing persons charged in the court with such crimes despite their political affiliation, and it cannot introduce impunity, which is also unacceptable in a democratic society. These are not the values of a Western, democratic and constitutional state. Georgian Governments adherence to these values cannot be compromised in response to a politically motivated statement, the statement reads.



The EPP, the largest party faction in the EU parliament, has always stood by the UNM party, which came to power in the Rose Revolution in 2003 and used its then solid popular support to push through radical liberal reforms, but was resoundingly rejected by voters in 2012, in part due to a perceived problem with numerous political prisoners. But it was evident from Dauls post that he believed that his newfound partners are the ones who are now victims of persecution.



Saakashvili left the country immediately after the end of his second term in November 2013, and is living in Ukraine, unable to return without facing arrest and criminal charges stemming from his actions as president. Also many of his companions during the near decade in power have either been put in prison or are living in exile with charges pending, as the new Georgian Dream government sought to clean up what they and the brunt of the population saw as government crimes under Saakashvilis hard-handed rule.



Dauls new friends are part of a faction within Saakashvilis political party, UNM, who just recently broke out in a painful split about the role of Saakashvili, and formed a new party called European Georgia, representing those within the party who saw the former presidents long-distance interference as counterproductive and opted for a rebranding of the party. Saakashvilis wife had previously signalled that the UNM has learnt from its mistakes and wont repeat them, but voters rejected her in one of the partys historic strongholds. On a national level, it got 27 percent of the votes.



Ugulava, the former mayor who was recently released after spending two and a half years in prison and is seen in the photo next to Daul, became a figure for those who wish to distance themselves from Saakashvili in the bitter internal feud last fall, which culminated in a party conference last weekend, where Saakashvilis wing regained control of the party.

(DF watch)




Kimberly Shappee has joined RBC Wealth Management as First Vice President & Financial Advisor. Prior to her work in financial advising, Shappee was the Senior Credit Officer and Senior Vice President at Bank of Montana, a private business bank based in Missoula. She is President of University of Washingtons 2012 Class of the Pacific Coast Banking School and a Babson College Entrepreneurship graduate. She was named to the 2013 Missoulians 20 under 40 list, former Gov. Brian Schweitzers 5 business professionals under 40 shaping Montana list, and is the founding partner of The Athena Conference, a womens leadership conference based in Montana.

Brian Salonen with Guardian Life Insurance in Missoula, has achieved membership in the Million Dollar Round Table  an organization which recognizes leading producers in the nation for financial and insurance services. Brian has 29 years of experience in assisting clients with financial services, including estate, business and life insurance planning. Securities offered through Park Avenue Securities LLC, member FINRA.

Dave Ashby recently joined Stockman Wealth Management, Inc. as a senior portfolio manager working out of Helena but serving clients in Missoula. His responsibilities include customized portfolio management and comprehensive wealth planning for high net worth individuals, families and charitable organizations. Ashby brings over 25 years of experience in private wealth management to the position. He holds the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Spokane. He is also a graduate of the American Bankers Association National Graduate Trust School. Ashby earned his bachelor of business administration from Gonzaga University. Ashby is located at 3094 North Sanders Street in Helena.

Mark Bellon and Dominic Goble of Territorial-Landworks, Inc. were awarded the 2017 Associate Award from the Montana Contractors Association at the Annual Conference held in Helena. Over the past year, Territorial-Landworks has partnered with the MCA to provide SWPPP Certification Training Courses across the state of Montana and has played an active role in MCA events and efforts. Territorial-Landworks, Inc. is a Montana-based Civil Engineering, Surveying & Land Use Consulting firm with locations in Missoula, Billings, Helena, the Flathead Valley and the Bakken.

Nate Davis has been hired as an Account Representative at OS2  Office Solutions & Services, a locally owned office products company and Sharp copier dealer located at 1020 North Ave. West, Missoula.

Courtney McFadden joined Lambros ERA in Missoula as a sales associate. McFadden spent nearly a decade at Community Medical Center Laboratory. She and her husband have spent the last four years creating a custom furniture business in Missoula. McFadden hopes to use her unique home remodel eye to help buyers of all price points find their dream home. She can be contacted at courtney@eralambros.com.

Clint Rogers is the Top Sales Agent for January at Ink Realty Group. Rogers has been a licensed RealtorR since 2003 and specializes in land and residential sales. He can be reached at 406-544-3730 or georgecrogers@yahoo.com.

Danika Kosola recently joined CTA Architects Engineers in Missoula as a project manager assistant. She has a background of 15-plus years in project management, sales and customer service experience. In her new position, she will assist with various stages of project coordination. When shes not at work, she enjoys raising her two teenage boys and doing yoga.

Keller Williams added new members to its Western Montana team:

Mary Helliwell in Sanders County. Helliwell is a native of Plains and specializes in the Sanders County area. She has been in the real estate business for 19 years and has sold real estate in California and Montana. She has a background in residential real estate sales and development and property management.

Kathy Kinney in Missoula. With a background in sales and service for over 20 years, Kinney has intimate knowledge of what it takes to be a success. She is excited to transition from diamonds to dream homes.

Michelle Machek in Missoula. Machek has a background in management and sales and has been in the industry since 2013. She focuses on family homes but will work on all real estate needs.

Dawn Thomas in Missoula. Thomas is a listing coordinator for the Jeremy Williams team at Keller Williams Western Montana Realty. Her background is in real estate administration and property management.

ATG announces changes:

Holly Foster has been promoted to vice president of solution delivery for ATG. Previously, she was the executive director for ATG's Missoula Solutions Center. Foster is responsible for supporting a team of over 90 consultants and works with other key leaders on staffing, leadership development and skill-building across all ATG teams and geographies. She has an extensive background in leading high-performing teams and enterprise technology projects. Foster holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Millersville University of Pennsylvania, and a master's degree in instructional and performance technology from Boise State University.

Ashley Welchans is an account executive in ATGs sales and marketing team. Her background is in advertising, account management and business development. She is skilled in digital marketing, public relations and strategic planning. Prior to joining ATG, Welchans worked for Spectrum Reach/Charter Communications in Missoula. She has a bachelor's degree in communication and media studies from West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

Lauren Nichols is a consultant with ATG's Missoula Solutions Center. Her background is in program development, agile development and teaching. She is skilled in HTML, JavaScript, databases and web development. Prior to joining ATG, Nichols worked for the Montana Code School as a teaching assistant. She is actively pursuing a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Montana.

Tyler Owens is a consultant with ATG's Missoula Solutions Center. His background is in quality assurance, systems administration and technical support. He is skilled in leadership, software documentation and CRM, and has his Salesforce CPQ certification. Prior to joining ATG, Owens worked for Goomzee in Missoula. He received his bachelor's degree in management information systems from the University of Montana.
Hold onto your hats. Its going to be a wild ride.

Whether or not you voted for President Donald Trump, I think we all can agree that the new administrations rollout has been the rockiest in recent memory. Ive worked for Republican and Democratic administrations, and no presidential transition has featured nearly the same degree of surprise and confusion as this one.

Such is the promise  and peril  of the new Trump administration.

My initial plan for this months column was to use Mexican President Enrique Pena Nietos meeting with Trump  scheduled for January 31  as a springboard to talk about Trumps campaign promise to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement and to impose a high tariff on imports from Mexico, China and other countries with which we run trade deficits.

But Pena Nieto canceled the meeting at Trumps urging, after making it clear Mexico wouldnt pay for Trumps border wall.

Shortly thereafter, statements from the White House spokesman about how Trump might impose tariffs were contradicted by tweets from the president and statements from other White House officials.

So U.S. companies and trading partners are left in the dark about an important economic policy, and Americas relations with Mexico are at their lowest ebb in decades.

Trade isnt the only area in which the new administrations pronouncements and executive orders  most of them fulfilling campaign pledges  have left confusion in their wake.

In an executive order signed on the night of his inauguration, Trump directed that agencies waive certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, particularly those imposing a financial burden on states, individuals, and other parties. The order makes clear that repeal of the ACA is the administrations ultimate goal.

In testimony before two Senate committees February 1, insurance industry representatives and state insurance commissioners warned that without greater clarity, more insurance providers likely would drop out of the market for individuals, since they will have no way to set prices. Such a move would leave an unknown number of people without options for health insurance.

Separately, many businesses are taking steps to protect themselves from a potential value-destroying presidential Twitter attack by announcing new jobs and new investments in the United States, even those that have long been planned. Tell the president what he wants to hear and let him feel hes won, is the idea.

Trump raised some legitimate concerns during his campaign, including the need for tax reform, improvements in Americas health care system, measures to help our struggling middle class, and greater cost-sharing among NATO members, among others.

And he can be applauded for following through on campaign pledges.

But rushed or poorly drafted initiatives can have serious unintended consequences, leading to precisely the confusion  and angst  we now see in many quarters.

And while a president might be able to cajole or strong-arm American companies and politicians, he may find that using the same tactics on foreign leaders will have the opposite of the intended effect  especially when those leaders represent vibrant democracies, whose people are unlikely to look kindly upon bullying treatment by another countrys leader.

The list of American neighbors and allies Trump has criticized or needlessly insulted already includes Mexico, Germany and Australia.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to meet Trump on Friday, Feb. 10. Will Trump use their meeting to find common cause against rising threats from North Korea and China, or will he feel the need to demean or belittle our strongest Asian ally?

Some readers no doubt are thinking: Trump is just standing up for American interests for a change. Were sick and tired of kowtowing to other countries and letting them run herd over us.

My reply?

Unpredictability and uncertainty about intentions and motives may be good negotiating devices for real estate companies. But those tactics can seriously destabilize relations between countries and increase the risk of miscalculation and even armed conflict.

For example, conservative voices in China now are calling for strengthened nuclear capability to protect the country from a potential U.S. military threat. Iraq and other countries subject to a U.S. travel ban are threatening to block entry to Americans, military or civilian.

Most worrisome to me is that discord with our friends and neighbors plays into Russian President Vladimir Putins desire to weaken Americas alliances in pursuit of his own goals  which certainly are not in Americas interests.

The question is: does the White House have an end game? I hope the answer doesnt lie in the fact that the only major leader Trump seems to respect is Putin.
DRUMMOND  Sometimes it's a matter of having very big art in the right place at the right time.

Charles Penzone happened to drive past the Ohrmann Museum and Gallery on Montana Highway 1 a few miles south of Drummond last year when he saw the menagerie of life-sized metal animals.

It's hard to miss the steel Kodiak bear sculpture, standing 10 feet tall on its hind legs, or the rust-colored rhinoceros in mid-stride. Penzone had plans to open a high-end men's barbershop in Columbus, Ohio, called the Royal Rhino Club, the next year and hed found the perfect mascot.

It was late in the day, and the museum wasn't open. Later, he emailed John Ohrmann with his idea.

John helped build those sculptures with his father, Bill, a lifelong rancher who began painting in earnest when he retired, producing 280 canvases with often frank political messages or warnings about the treatment of the environment and wildlife.

The museum displays about a third of those, along with his wood carvings. To passers-by like Penzone, the animal sculptures are the lure.

Bill passed away in 2014 at age 95, and since then John, 61, hadn't made any big sculptures himself. He has his own business, Ohrmann Design, offering repair and remodel services, in addition to making smaller, yard-art sculptures.

He happily took up the chance to tackle a big project on his own.

"I think Dad would be proud of the way it turned out," he said. "People ask me, 'Was your dad working there with you?' and I said, 'Yeah. I feel him.' "

John estimates his father built the first sculpture in 1998. Back then, John assisted with the "grunt work," as he called it.

"As the projects ran along, I got more and more involved. In the last several, it was pretty much a collaboration," he said.

After they completed the 9-foot-2-inch stainless-steel polar bear in 2005, it truly was.

"When it came time to signing it, he put my name on, too," John said.

***

For his rhino head, John used the same process he developed with Bill.

"I'd worked with Dad enough that I felt pretty confident that I could do it," he said. "Once I got the nose done, I knew I had it made."

He created a sketch with a grid he could scale up to the final beast, whose head measures 7-feet-6-inches from neck to front horn, and stands almost 5 feet tall.

He constructed a framework of wire to get an idea of the shape, and then filled in the metal "skin" with square-shaped patches that create a stitch-like pattern.

Like the full-bodied rhino out front on the property, this one will rust and turn a rich brown color. Rust is "the forever finish," as he called it, and won't require any cleaning or treatment.

He started work in mid-November, and lost about 10 to 12 days due to the cold weather that rendered his shop unworkable. He's wrapped up all the welding, and just needs the last touch: some jewels on the crown that rests on the left side of the animal's head. It's for the Royal Rhino Club, after all.

***

Not many artists in western Montana have their own museum, but then again Bill Ohrmann wasn't a typical artist.

He built the museum himself to house and display the plethora of work he created after retiring in the mid-1990s. They vary from whimsical canvases to some prophetically charged warnings about the way man treats the earth and each other. Stylistically, he loved Charlie Russell and Vincent van Gogh, and you can see both in his painting.

Before he died, the museum's catchphrase was that it's "usually open" to any visitors. Now that his wife, Phyllis, is alone, they've decided to keep it open whenever there's not much snow on the ground, roughly mid-March to mid-November. It still attracts 300 or more visitors a month during the summer.

John said the family has had discussions about the long-term future of the museum and his collection, but haven't made any firm decisions.

"It would be wonderful to keep at least the core collection together, and of course, it would be great to have it on display so the public could enjoy it," he said.

His mother can't run it forever and John can't be there all the time, either.

"Unless there's a way for it to bring some income in, I can't afford to just hang out here and keep it open," he said.

Regarding the part about Bill being unusual: None of his paintings were for sale. He would occasionally sell one here or there, and you can buy prints and postcards at the museum.

He made money on the side doing wood-carvings, his original medium of choice.

"In fact, by the time he retired he was making considerably more money on artwork than he was on the cattle," he said.

The paintings, though, were made after he sold his ranch and retired. He lived simply, John said, and didn't need the money.

"He just wanted to keep them all together," John said. Even when he lent his rhinoceros sculpture to the Missoula Art Museum for a career survey, he was anxious to get it back.

They can show about a third of his post-retirement paintings at a time, and last fall rotated in about three dozen paintings to keep it fresh for visitors. There are works from the last years of his life, before macular degeneration slowed him down, like a 2013 canvas with references to Twitter. They supplemented them with early works, dating back to the 1960s, that showed his love of a bright palette.

They've added some wood carvings, too. He was a skilled sculptor all of his life. John recalls his dad telling him there are thousands of good painters, but not as many wood-carvers.

They're exhibiting a series he created, called the "Twelve Moons," one mythic figure for each month accompanied by a poem.

"He was just so prolific," John said. "We were running a ranch. We were haying, or we were farming or this or that. We'd come in with the days work done, and I'd sit down and watch TV or read, and he'd be in his workroom working on a wood carving."

Last summer, Phyllis found his diary and showed John the entries. One day might list ranching duties, following by a note that he started a sculpture. Four days later, it was done.

***

John Ohrmann made a number of smaller projects before tackling a rhino on his own.

Over by the museum, there's a "ferrous trout" weather vane, a reference to the iron, not a particular species of fish. It bears a rainbow surface generated by the welding torch. At 500 degrees, it turns straw brown, he said. Go hotter and it's purple. Seven-hundred degrees and you've got blue. Go even hotter and you get cherry red.

Not all of his projects are scaled to life. Only a monstrous prehistoric fish could nip at his mayfly, which is tucked behind the woolly mammoth near the museum. Likewise, a hummingbird he made for a show in Butte is several orders larger than its real-life counterparts. The owner of that venue, the Hummingbird Cafe, liked it so much she bought it.

For future projects, John said he'd love to do a giraffe, laughing a bit as he imagines a 20-foot herbivore nipping on the alder tree near the driveway.

He's in talks with another out-of-state tourist for a commission. A man from Oklahoma was pedaling by last summer and saw the menagerie. He didn't stop, but he tracked Ohrmann down online and inquired about a bison, much like the one in the yard.

John's rhino is bound for Ohio soon, and he said he realized that his dad was right. He's going to be sad to see it go.
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2014 by Michael Lauchlan, Thaw, from The Cortland Review, (Issue 65, 2014). Poem reprinted by permission of Michael Lauchlan and the publisher. Introduction copyright  2017 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
The heinous life events that gut humanity and leave people asking why are all too familiar. A brutal assault, an abduction, the murder of a child  the list is too numerous and depressing to compile.

These events can leave people stunned, grasping for answers that might never come. That void of understanding is at the heart of Emily Ruskovichs debut novel, Idaho. Ruskovich, a 2015 O. Henry Award winner for Owl, builds her story around the implosion of the Mitchell family after Jenny murders her younger child, May, and the older daughter, June, is lost in the woods. Wade Mitchell is the lone survivor of the carnage, but his memories are being claimed by dementia.

And even the memory doesnt provide a definitive answer to the question of why a mother would kill a child on an ordinary afternoon out with the family. Its that sense of the ordinary, somehow always just a beat or two off, that makes Idaho a compelling tale.

Ruskovichs writing is vivid and dense. Shes telling stories  there are strong subplots woven through the tale  that need to be told, but not necessarily resolved. After all, can society ever really resolve the death of a child at her mothers hand?

Instead, Ruskovich follows the blurred lines that make up life, rather than the resolutions that make up fiction.

Ruskovich, who grew up in northern Idaho, has chosen this region as her setting. Her narrative is gritty and dark. Years later, Mays murder and Junes terror-filled disappearance are still too raw to be discussed. This isnt a story about the mental state and psychological baggage that drive a mother to kill her child. Its about the aftermath and the search for a new normal.

Less than a year after Mays death, Wade marries Ann, a music teacher who had been teaching him piano. Its not a marriage of convenience, but there are some elements of obligation and responsibility. Wade, whose father was in his 50s when he died as a result of dementia, is beginning to exhibit symptoms and Ann promises to take care of him.

Their relationship and Mays death drive the story. Its a rich story as Wade and Ann grapple with the omnipresent grief from Mays murder and Junes disappearance, as well as his descent into dementia.

His reactions to Ann and treatment of her can be as gut-wrenching as they are tender.

The story is told from several points of view  Ann, Wade, Jenny and the girls are joined by compelling secondary characters like Jennys prison cellmate. For her part, Jenny accepts responsibility for her act, but her subsequent behavior is as murky as her actions on that fateful day.

Rather than trying to excuse an inexcusable act, Ruskovich focuses on how people cope in the aftermath. Her narrative is wonderful as she looks at the ripple effect Mays murder had on those closest to the events of the day. She goes beyond the boundaries of the family, reflecting on how tragedy can prompt even those on the periphery to re-examine their lives.

Much of the story is told from Anns perspective. She gets glimpses of family from Wades memories. As his mind fades, his memories become hers. Her anguish over the loss of Wades mind before his death is heartbreaking. So too is the phase when Wade understands that he is slipping away.

Jennys life in prison is also a striking narrative as Ruskovich is careful not to make Jenny, or any of the women in prison, a cliched inmate  hard-boiled characters always searching for a fight or saints whose eyes have shed their scales.

Idaho is a wonderful debut. Ruskovich knows how to build a page-turner from the opening paragraph.
In his memoir Civilianized, Michael Anthony, a young veteran of the war in Iraq, shares cigarettes and slugs of peppermint vodka with a homeless Vietnam War vet outside a liquor store. Referring to their respective homecomings, the Vietnam vet mumbled that it was bad back then, but not as bad as it is now.

The surprised Anthony nearly spit out his sip of vodka.

After all the stories Id heard about veterans returning home from the Vietnam War, being called baby killers, being spit on, rallies against them and the war. There was none of that for us.

But, the older veteran said, he would rather have someone passionate about the war spit on him than to shake hands with someone who didnt care.

Mulling that over, Anthony reflected: Everyone wanted to shake my hand, give congratulations, and thank me for my service. But people didnt care. Not really.  People didnt know we were still at war.

United States and allied forces invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when the Taliban regime refused to turn over Osama bin Laden. A U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in 2003, primarily on the rationale, now generally discredited, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. According to the Watson Institute of International & Public Affairs at Brown University, 2.7 million service members have been to the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, and over half of them have deployed more than once. American troops remain in both countries today.

New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins titled his chronicle of these campaigns The Forever War (2008), a phrase aptly cited in the subtitle of a new collection of fiction by American veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars: The Road Ahead: Fiction From the Forever War. Both titles bring to mind Vietnam vet Joe Haldemans classic science-fiction novel, The Forever War (1975), about a veteran of interstellar conflict who, thanks to relativistic time effects, returns to a changed society where he cant fit in.

America has never before, by any measure, fought a war with such a well-educated force, editors Adrian Bonenberger and Brian Castner write in their introduction to The Road Ahead. Not only do soldiers have unprecedented technical skills, they are also steeped in war literature, readers already well-versed in the canon from Hemingway to Herr. But, as their anthology and Anthonys memoir indicate, many of these veterans find returning to civilian life problematic and painful.

After a year of service in Iraq as an operating room technician, Anthony returns to the U.S. with a Vicodin addiction and an alcohol problem, poor substitutes for the rush from constant near-death experiences he felt in Iraq. During the three months he gives himself before he plans to commit suicide, he joins a group class taught by a pick-up artist, where he begins to feel, with the other men, a touch of the camaraderie he felt overseas: It was like in war, how the relationships that are forced upon you  can take on a type of unexpected intimacy.

He also tends to pick fights with large, angry people, even when he knows he cant win them. His being alive today is proof that Anthony has one of the best guardian angels ever.

Anthonys pursuit of women, and his struggle to maintain a potential relationship of quality when he connects with a sane woman, develops parallel to his thinking about suicide. Bibliotherapy is one of the things that keeps him alive: I couldnt see killing myself if I had a book that was only half-read, he writes. The text that finally helps him to choose life is a classic war story: Shakespeares Henry V. That, and the friend and fellow veteran who urged him to write the (bleeping) truth.

Civilianized is a remarkable account of what its like to live inside post-traumatic stress disorder. Its also smart and mordantly funny. Its spareness and unflinching description of drug use and consequences reminds me occasionally of another short book, William S. Burroughs Junky, though Anthony, even in his fighting mode, come across as a kinder and more compassionate character than Burroughs Bill Lee. Anthony is also the author of Mass Casualties: A Young Medics True Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq (2009).

Nothing in this anthology is definitive, the editors of The Road Ahead declare, emphasizing the constantly changing nature of these wars and the unique responses of each combatant. But The Road Ahead does capture what appears to me two of the distinctive elements of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts: the constant threat of improvised explosive devices and the widespread presence of women in combat roles. Marquette University graduate Castner, who served as this anthologys managing editor, is a former Air Force explosive ordnance disposal officer and author of the compelling memoir The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life That Follows.

Like the men, the female soldiers and Marines in these stories have been shaped, sometimes irrevocably altered, by their wartime service. In Lauren Kay Hallorans Operation Slut, a female vet approaches dressing up for a singles bar as though she were going on a dangerous mission, doing recon by watching YouTube videos of teenage fashion bloggers. Serving in Afghanistan had turned her from a scrawny blond girl to a woman that men admired, but poisoned her former boyfriend with corrosive jealousy.

In Teresa Fazios Little, probably my favorite story in this anthology, a tough Marine captain, socially isolated on base by her job as mortuary affairs officer, wrestles with her crush on a younger male lieutenant  literally, as both are martial artists. Fazios story is filled with telling details both about the captains sobering work and about the tight path a woman must walk in the military.

Bonenbergers American Fapper presents a bitterly comic alternative to the romantic fantasies that have sprung up around Navy SEALS and military snipers. This particular sniper develops an unfortunate connection between getting off a difficult shot and sexual satisfaction. This becomes even more problematic when the insurgent target turns out to be an attractive woman.

Most stories in The Road Ahead are told in a realistic mode, but suitable attention is paid to the surreal and disorienting elements of war and homecoming. In the collections most far-out tale, We Put a Man in a Tree, Madison novelist Matthew J. Hefti personifies the guilt that haunts JJ, a veteran of four tours of duty, as three bitter ghosts who jabber at him in every weak moment, especially when hes alone.
SHERIDAN, Wyo.  Organic artifacts preserved by ice patches in Yellowstone National Park are being lost to research because warmer temperatures are melting the ice, an archaeologist said.

Before his current position leading the cultural and natural resources program at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana, Staffan Peterson was park archaeologist at Yellowstone for four years.

Peterson told members of the Sheridan-Johnson County Chapter of the Wyoming Archaeological Society this past week that archaeologists can't collect the organic pollen, pine needles, sticks, dung, bones and other artifacts preserved in the ice patches.

"They're cryogenically preserved, and so once that stuff melts, that protection's gone, and these things will decay very quickly," he said. "I mean they're ancient and they've been in the ice  entombed in this ice for millennia  and they don't stand a chance out in the open air."

Archaeologist Sarah Mostek, of Hope Archaeology in Bozeman, told The Sheridan Press reports that this was the first time that she's heard of ice patch archaeology.

Peterson said he and other scientists and park officials initially got the sense that something was changing in the higher Yellowstone elevations about 10 years ago and have since done reconnaissance to determine where the ice patches are and to track their size. He said in the four times they've revisited the ice patches, the changes have been drastic.

"We've seen a marked decrease," Peterson said.

Peterson said artifacts preserved in ice patches in Yellowstone are critical in understanding the bigger picture of the human past.

"It's really an unparalleled storehouse of information that is vanishing," Peterson said.

He said that while this isn't just a problem in the world's first national park, there's only about a dozen ice patches left in Yellowstone. While some are very large, he said the smaller areas won't last much longer.

Peterson said the next time they'll get to return to these areas in Yellowstone is 2019 with funding from the National Park Service.

He said Grand Teton National Park also puts a lot of effort into recovering artifacts from ice patches and researchers will head to those areas sooner than they will in Yellowstone.
All the rules in the world are useless without someone to enforce them. In Montana, we rely on the Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices to investigate campaign complaints, monitor lobbying activity and financial disclosures, and generally act as a non-partisan, impartial enforcer of state campaign laws.

Its certainly not an easy job. The commissioner of political practices must police the very people charged with confirming a commissioner and approving his budget. The highly political nature of this process makes the commissioner a favorite target for charges of bias.

But it is an absolutely necessary position, particularly as Montana sees ever-increasing amounts of dark money dumped into campaigns from sources who do their utmost to remain anonymous. The potential for shadowy groups to exercise undue influence in Montanas elections is too grave a matter to treat lightly.

So why are Montanas legislators considering shutting down the office?

House Bill 340, sponsored by Kalispell Republican Rep. Derek Skees, would eliminate the entire Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices and parcel out the offices duties  and its budget - to the secretary of state and attorney general. These are, of course, both elected offices.

The 51-page bill, which amounts to a massive rewrite of Montana law, had its first hearing in the House Judiciary Committee Friday morning. This same week, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that the term of current Political Practices Commissioner Jonathan Motl ended Jan. 1, meaning legislators will be voting on his replacement before the end of this legislative session.

The office must be maintained, with both a sufficient budget to perform its duties in a timely manner and a commissioner to oversee its operations.

Fortunately, Motl will remain in place until his replacement is appointed. There had been some question about when exactly his term was set to expire, stemming from the relatively rapid turnover of previous commissioners.

Three different commissioners held the post within a three-year span from 2011-13, as the Legislature either failed to confirm an appointment or the commissioner resigned after only a few months in office. The hangup repeatedly hinged on political divisions; the commissioner is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Montana Senate, and the Republican-dominated Senate did not see eye-to-eye with Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock on filling this important seat.

Finally, Motl was confirmed in June 2013, and has served admirably since.

Motl entered the office facing a sizeable backlog of complaints, which had increased dramatically over the previous few years. The offices staff of seven operates with an annual budget of $650,000; under Motl, the backlog was eliminated, a new online campaign finance filing system was instituted, and hundreds of important cases were decided in time for Election Day. He has decided against both Democrats and Republicans, and worked with both Democrats and Republicans on campaign finance reforms.

While Motl himself thought his term would end Jan. 1, last week the state Supreme Court provided a unanimous decision confirming it. The ruling was issued in response to an argument from a group of elected state officials and the Montana Trial Lawyers Association that Motl should serve a full six-year term. The court cleared up that Motl was to serve only the remaining years of a previous commissioners term.

The decision paves the way for Bullock to offer his next appointment to the state senators for confirmation. They will have to work together, as the system was designed to force them to do, to come up with a commissioner who is acceptable to both the governor and the Senate.

Already two potential replacements have thrown their hats into the ring: former Billings City Commissioner Michael Larson, and Motls chief legal counsel Jaime MacNaughton. Whoever is ultimately chosen will have their work cut out for them; even outside of campaign season, the office fields dozens of campaign, lobbying and ethics complaints.

The Legislature shouldnt make it any harder. While it is no doubt tempting to turn the offices regulatory duties over to other elected officials, doing so would turn them into politically affiliated functions. Thats a recipe for bias, controversy and gridlock that could easily be avoided by maintaining the independent nature of the office.

House Bill 340 is a bad bill, and Montanas legislators should kill it  instead of killing the Office of Political Practices.
HELENA  While Child and Family Services leaders arent asking the governor or Legislature for more caseworkers in a tight budget year, some of their employees feel much differently.

Several letters obtained by Lee Newspapers from child protection specialists plead for more employees.

I am flabbergasted that management with (the Department of Public Health and Human Services) is not begging you for funds to hire more staff, one employee wrote to legislators. We desperately need more workers and clerical support.

The Joint Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee last week heard testimony from Child and Family Services leadership as the Legislature considers at least $1 million in cuts to the division, mostly through leaving positions vacant and trimming an increase in funds the agency received last legislative session. The Legislature is considering about $93 million in cuts over the entire health department. The committee will set budgets sometime this week.

Gov. Steve Bullocks plan also proposes $1 million in cuts, but puts $16 million back into the division over two years. That money is directed to help pay for the cost of children in care, such as foster families or subsidized adoption and guardianship.

Appropriations committee members Wednesday and Thursday questioned division officials why they werent asking for more employees. About 380 work in the division, which has field offices around the state.

The health department Friday said it's in the process of implementing recommendations from the Protect Montana Kids Commission, a 14-member group appointed by Bullock to examine the division, and that the changes will improve things for children and employees.

"The department will continue to support the division team through technology advancements, training and organizational improvements," a statement from spokesman Jon Ebelt said.

Ebelt said Bullock has transferred 27 permanent positions to the division over the last year.

Former division administrator Sarah Corbally told the committee Thursday she met a caseworker in court who had 47 children on her caseload. Employees who wrote letters to legislators said they had similar caseloads.

New division administrator Maurita Johnson, when asked by lawmakers Wednesday, told the committee the number of children in foster care could be increasing in part because less-experienced workers remove children from homes more often than workers with longevity. Those employees feel less confident in leaving children in possibly abusive homes, Johnson said. The division has also cited an increase in the abuse of methamphetamine as a cause.

Workers who wrote to lawmakers disagreed.

It was brought to my attention that upper management for DPHHS were testifying in front of you folks this week and reported that we did not need more staff and that the extraordinary number of children in foster care we have is due in part to the number of new workers from the agency, one employee wrote. This could not be further from the truth.

Another wrote: "First and foremost, there is not a single person I work with that is incapable of effectively doing their job. Quite the opposite, I have never worked with a more dedicated, ethical, educated and outstanding group of individuals. We put ourselves in positions that most people wouldnt dare tread to protect the innocent lives of children. We spend countless hours away from our own children and families to assure the safety of one child."

One employee wrote that managers responded to a lack of available foster homes by saying that children would have to stay in sleeping bags, supervised by field workers, overnight in Child and Family Services offices, though the letter writer said that didnt happen and temporary placements were found for children.

I plead to this committee to look at the numbers. Look at the workload and caseload numbers that increase everyday. These children deserve to have a safe place to lay their heads down at night without the fear of what will happen the next day.

Jim Fitzgerald, the chief operating officer of Intermountain, a nonprofit that provides a range of services to children in the western part of the state, said workforce vacancies are crippling the division.

We need logical and consistent caseloads for these workers, he said. They are just being ground into dust. ... We are not going to get the job done if we cant get some consistent, thorough support for those folks that are going down in the field as well as those folks in the division."

Ebelt said the division has done things to make work more efficiently  staff now have cellphones and tablets that allow them to work from the field and a new case management system is expected to be in place by October.

The division is also working to enhance its training, which now includes a simulation lab, for field staff and supervisors.

A sixth regional manager was added in Kalispell to help with workload distribution, Ebelt said, and under a new organizational structure regional supervisors report directly to the new division administrator, who started in November.
It takes a week to transform the Schreiber Gym from an old, forgotten building on the University of Montanas campus to the saloon-style wonderland that works as the pine-scented setting for UMs annual Foresters' Ball.

Still, organizer Alex Williams said the ball takes nearly a year of planning, and almost all the materials used to build the woody dance hall are donated from community members. In an effort to reach a wider variety of people while thanking the Missoula community for their donations, Williams said the Forestry Scholarship Association started Community Forestry Day, during which parents can bring their children to see the famous Foresters' Ball venue.

Thats why its so important for us to give back to the Missoula community, because they give us so much, Williams said at the fifth Community Forestry Day Saturday. Its free and open to the public, and parents can come and let the kids run around and have fun.

Nearly 400 people came and went through Schreiber on Saturday, Williams said, including various excited children who repeatedly dashed up the stairs to the entrance of a giant wood slide. Others watched in awe as a couple of lucky kids tried out a two-man crosscut saw, with some help from safety chaperones, courtesy of the UM Woodsman Team.

Matt Deaton, the weed prevention coordinator at the Missoula County Weed District, was tasked with making weed identification sound fun to packs of hyperactive children. So Deaton used candy to his advantage.

While the Weed District uses dichotomous keys  a series of choices leading to the correct answer  to identify specific noxious weeds in the Missoula area, among other things, the children at Community Forestry Day could pick candy from a bucket, and use a simplified key to identify the brand of candy they had chosen.

Its just the candy that brings them in, Deaton said with a laugh, after a young girl successfully identified her snack as a watermelon Jolly Rancher and sprinted off to brag to a friend.

The craft-making and coloring table was right outside the Slash and Burn Barber Shop and the Foresters' Ball jail cell, where college students and alumni had paid the night before to lock each other up and eventually bail out their friends.

Both parents and kids spent huge periods of time in the Forestry Ball Museum, which, complete with a woodchip floor, showed each of the 100 years of the balls longstanding tradition through captioned photos, some taken from Life Magazine.

The UM Fire Club is responsible for building the museum each year, according to Fire Club President Shale Pagel. But Pagel said this year was the first time they were asked to bring something for the kids to enjoy, too. Pagel immediately thought of a sandbox used to create fire scenarios for firefighters in training.

It was a hit. Kids surrounded the sandbox and pushed mini fire trucks, ambulances, trees and houses through the sand. One kid dumped sand on a house where there was a hypothetical fire, then continued to dump sand on surrounding trees.

Good suppression, Pagel told the child. But that probably wasnt minimum impact. We always try to put out fires while impacting nature as little as possible.

Pagel stood up and looked at all the kids huddled around the sandbox.

Its funny to think of a group of grown firefighters and smoke jumpers playing in the sandbox just like these kids are, Pagel laughed. But thats how we do it.

But Tim Mitchells little monsters, ages 5 and 7, were more interested in sawing and sliding. Mitchell watched as they flew down the slide and sprinted back up the stairs. Fortunately, Mitchell decided to bring his kids to Community Forestry Day this year, a slide year. He said that because of the level of building difficulty, the foresters only construct the giant slide every other year.

Mitchell said although he graduated from UMs communications department in 96, he fought wildfires as a young man, and recalls attending the Foresters' Ball nearly 20 years ago. He went this year, too, and wanted his kids to see the handcrafted set.

I wasnt sure how they would take it, Mitchell said, smiling. But they havent been next to me for one second since we got here. Theyre just running around having fun.
In 2016, 12.3 million travelers from out of state visited the Big Sky state, which has a population of just over 1 million.

That means there were 12 times as many tourists as locals here last year. And the main reason theyre coming here is because of the states mountains, rivers, lakes, streams, wildlife, national parks and other outdoor recreation opportunities.

According to Norma Nickerson, the director of the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana, those visitors created 52,630 jobs in the state and spent an estimated $3.49 billion in the state.

The outdoors is our business, Nickerson told the crowd during a recent Economic Outlook webinar presented by UMs Bureau of Business and Economic Research. If it werent for our mountains, lakes and streams  and access to those places  our way of life and the economy here would be different. Our economy wouldnt be the same and there would be less people spending money here.

Because it sits in the nexus between Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park, Missoula sees a fair amount of those travelers.

Last year, 4.2 million people visited Yellowstone, and 68 percent of them came through Montana, although the majority of the park is in Wyoming. Since 2012, Glaciers visitation has increased 34 percent to almost 3 million people this past year.

Nickerson said that with the increased visitation, there are downsides like enormous added pressure on natural resources and the costs that come along with that. Yellowstone National Park found that since 2012, there has been a 96 percent increase in wildlife violation tickets issues in Yellowstone, along with a 61 percent increase in search and rescue calls, a 28 percent increase in domestic violence incidents and a 62 percent jump in driving under the influence citations.

There are traffic jams and lines to the bathroom 20 people deep, she said. It has made it difficult for the parks administrators to follow their mandate of protecting resources while providing access to the public.

All those extra visitors are taking an environmental toll as well. High-profile incidents, such as when people walked across a delicate thermal feature in Yellowstone last summer, are only the tip of the iceberg because they only came to light when video was posted to social media. There was a 177 percent increase of out-of-bounds camping citations in 2015.

In Glacier, camping spots are filling up by 8 in the morning, Nickerson said. We have never seen that before. But despite all these crowds, surveys show that when people are asked about their satisfaction levels, they are happy. Were a very adaptive species.

She said more and more people are learning to get up earlier or visit parks in other seasons to avoid crowds.

Besides the two crown jewels of Yellowstone and Glacier, Montana also boasts many other lakes, streams and rivers that provide a lot of outdoor recreation jobs.

When the Yellowstone River was closed on August 19 of last year due to the deaths of thousands of Whitefish from a disease, Nickerson estimates that the local economy suffered an estimated impact of between $360,000 and $524,000. The incident underscores how the health of the natural environment is tied in with the health of local economies.

She said that 120 businesses reported that they had a negative impact (after the fish die-off). The majority were outfitters, guides and fly shops. It was across the board. The average net loss was $7,000 but it went up to $50,000 for some rafting companies. And when the employees are college kids trying to pay for school, its tough.

The threat posed by invasive mussels to Montanas waterways is more than an environmental concern, its also an economic one, Nickerson explained. This past November, they were found in the Tiber Reservoir and the Canyon Ferry Reservoir.

Once you have mussels in a waterway, you wont get rid of them, she said. Its virtually impossible. When you look at maps of where they had been found before, it was bound to happen. What mussels do is clean the water, but they do such a good job that they get rid of everything else and it devastates the aquatic ecosystem.

She said that a city in Michigan had to pay $325,000 to rid mussels from public drinking water pipes.

It is for those reasons and more, she said, that several different public surveys have found that roughly 68 percent of people in the Rocky Mountain states say they want the Trump administration to protect clean water, clean air and wildlife viewing opportunities.

It may be different out East, but in the Rocky Mountain west there is a lot of concern and a lot of support for conservation, she said.

The outlook for tourism is strong in Montana. She said that surveys of tourism-dependent businesses show that 57 percent of owners expect an increase in 2017, even though 2016 was a huge year. Overall, U.S. travel is expected to pick up 2 percent this year, although those surveys were done before the November elections.

Outdoor recreation is a $646 billion industry in the United States, and it generates $5.8 billion in consumer spending in Montana. She said that Gov. Steve Bullock has recognized the importance of the industry and has hired a public access specialist whose main role is to troubleshoot specific issues that prevent full access to public lands.

***

Dan Vermillion, the chairman of the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission, said that Montana has to grapple with protecting natural resources if the economic benefits of tourism are to continue to be reaped. Montanans also have to realize that while they may view tourists as a nuisance who overrun public lands here, they are a huge contributor to the economy.

Im in the tourism business, I own a fly shop in Livingston, Vermillion said. It allows us to employ the people we employ. People see tourism activity as additional people on public resources. Its kind of like Montanans think Montana should be for Montanans only. But in a place like Livingston, theres a broad understanding of how critical tourism is to our economy. In places like Billings or Great Falls, its a little less obvious. But theres still thousands of visitors who are staying in hotels, eating in restaurants and stopping in gas stations on their way to Yellowstone or Glacier.

Vermillion said the Fish and Wildlife Commission must rely on biologists and trained scientific professionals to manage wildlife in a sustainable way.

We try to make sure we manage our resources so we have healthy rivers and healthy big game herds for wildlife watchers and hunters, he said. We are trying to figure out how to accommodate so many users on the landscape. Sometimes we have to limit certain uses. There is no right answer. Its a tricky conversation, so we have to try to be as mindful as possible.

Vermillion said he believes compromises can be found between those who want to preserve jobs in mining, forestry and drilling and those who want to preserve pristine environments for outdoor recreationists.

If you look at a place like the Paradise Valley, there are two mining proposals on the northern border of Yellowstone Park, he said. Both incoming Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Sen. Jon Tester have made it pretty clear thats not a place there should be an open pit gold mine. It jeopardizes the incredible value of the tourism resource there.

However, Vermillion said the massive Stillwater Mine near the Boulder River is an example of a mine that has found a way to preserve the river.

Theyve done a really good job of having a really strong mine that employs a lot of people and right downstream were fishing every day, he said. Theres a way to do it. You can accommodate both industries by acknowledging that we need minerals to operate the industrial society while also knowing that Montanas best competitive advantage is the quality of our natural environment.

Vermillion said that it is Montanas great outdoors that allows companies to attract workers here.

You look at the cities in Montana that are experiencing the most growth  Bozeman, Missoula and Kalispell  the common denominator there is the quality of public lands right out their back door, he said. So when technology companies move to Bozeman, it is the quality of life that allows them to attract high quality talent.

Vermillion is profoundly opposed to the sale or transfer of federally administered public lands to the states, where they would be more susceptible to being sold to private owners and locked up.

A lot of those public rivers that we fish from, they come out of drainages where the upper reaches is all public land, he said. If those reaches are not properly managed, anything that happens really affects downstream. Its super important to make sure the management of public lands takes into account the implications that can occur downstream.
In her midyear update, University of Montana President Sheila Stearns said she wants to push up retention at the flagship from 70 percent to 80 percent.

Retention is a priority across the country, Provost Beverly Edmond said last week.

"I have to stress this: This is not a University of Montana issue," Edmond said. "Students are having increasing challenges being prepared in our secondary schools for post-secondary experiences."

They face a variety of hardships, from financial to personal to academic.

At UM, the vast majority of students who apply are accepted. One question universities face as they figure out how to boost retention is whether faculty will be pressured to retain those who aren't equipped for college, Edmond said.

She said the concern is legitimate, but she believes the answer is no.

"It does a disservice to students," Edmond said. "When he or she gets that degree, and we've passed them along, and they cannot perform, and they are not successful in life, we have destroyed their opportunity to be a contributing person to society.

"So I would not ever, ever condone that."

***

But dollars are tight at UM. Boosting retention is one way Montana campuses earn state dollars, and Stearns noted as much in her midyear report last month.

A small portion of funding for UM is based on its performance, and metrics include retention, graduation and research; the formula breaks out retention for under-represented and at-risk groups, like Native Americans, veterans, and non-traditional students.

For the 2017 fiscal year, UM received 100 percent of its performance allocation, or some $4 million, because of its overall achievements, according to data from the Office of the Commissioner for Higher Education.

However, its current retention level of 72 percent is slightly lower than its three-year average of 74 percent, according to data from the Commissioner's Office; under-represented and at-risk retention is at 65 percent compared to a 68.9 percent three-year average.

The retention level represents students going from their freshman to sophomore year.

Tom Crady, vice president for enrollment and student affairs at UM, said the easiest way to retain students is to be more selective on the front end  but that's not UM's mission.

"Our mission is to serve the students of Montana and certainly do everything we can to help them succeed," he said.

Some students enroll at UM only to learn they're better suited to a trade, and he said UM offers options at Missoula College.

Crady is charged with increasing enrollment, and strong retention helps the overall goal, he said. He said it takes six or seven prospective students to replace one person who isn't retained.

"Money is better spent and it's ethically correct to retain our students more than to have them come in and leave," Crady said.

***

Sometimes, though, students take detours, and they return stronger.

Taylor Anderson got a job offer in Big Sky after a journalism internship in 2011, and he accepted without giving it a second thought. The salary didn't even cover his student loans.

"Looking back, it was kind of peanuts, but first job out of college, and it looked like a lot of money to me," Anderson said.

At the time, he had started to question the value of a college degree. The costs were high, and his family was trying to help him but still struggling from the recession.

His grades had dipped after he'd discovered Montana's mountains and ski resorts. He wasn't skipping classes, but he wasn't taking a healthy course load, either. Generally, his outlook on school had soured.

Once he quit, Anderson wasn't planning on going back to school.

After his girlfriend's grandma encouraged him, though, he returned to UM, and he buckled down. He became the editor at the student newspaper, took 20, 21 credits a semester, and earned almost all A's.

"I felt school was way easier after that year off," said Anderson, who graduated in 2013 and recently took a job as justice reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune.

At the same time, he wonders if better advising would have helped him graduate sooner, and he said other students grumbled about advising as well. He took snowboarding 101, for instance, just for fun.

"If there was a premium put on telling kids like me, 'Look, you might want to take snowboarding 101. It might be fun to do. But if you do not take physics this semester, you will have to do X, Y and Z to make up for it,'" Anderson said.

***

Paul Haber, head of the University Faculty Association, said he believes faculty stand ready to assist UM in increasing retention.

Research shows the primary factor keeping students in school is their relationship with faculty, he said. So in the classroom and outside of it, advising and mentoring are crucial, he said.

"At the University of Montana, like is true in many schools, I'm sure, there are faculty that are just naturally good at that, and put time and effort into that," Haber said. "And then there's faculty who are less gifted in that area or less interested."

Currently, UM evaluates faculty for merits on research, service and teaching, and he said research and grants are important at the flagship: "There's not a faculty member there who doesn't know that  or they're not paying attention." Merits mean pay increases.

Since UM wants to retain students, and the literature suggests relationships with faculty are key, Haber would like to see merits based partly on a robust evaluation of a faculty member's teaching, advising and mentoring skills.

"I am not denying the importance of grants and research," Haber said. "I'm just saying there's another important element here that maybe needs to be paid more attention to than has currently been the case.

"Most students who leave don't leave because of an inadequate research and grants agenda of their teachers."

***

UM supports students academically through its Office of Student Success with things like a writing center, Provost Edmond said.

To make progress on the president's charge, Edmond is looking more closely at data to identify areas of concern and progress for "retention, persistence and completion." Some programs may already be retaining students at 80 percent, she said, but others may be at 60 percent.

A committee on campus will be making recommendations for priorities when it comes to retention, but the commitment to improving quality is ongoing.

"How can we continue to improve so that at some point, not 80 percent, not 85, not 90, but 99.9 percent of our students succeed?" Edmond said.

John DeBoer, chair of the Faculty Senate, said students need to be advised to go into programs that suit them. In that regard, persistence is as important as retention, and retention alone can leave students behind, he said.

"You might encourage them to continue in a field that they might not be ready for, prepared for, or all that adept at," he said.

DeBoer, a faculty member in the School of Theatre and Dance, said students in his program feel at times like they need to take a step back and evaluate their career options because "a life in the arts is a difficult life."

To date, he hasn't felt pressured at UM to encourage those students to stay.

"If that pressure was ever applied, I would reject it strongly," DeBoer said. "Mostly because we can't keep students here just to have the numbers.

"Students have to be here to have a transformative educational experience that prepares them for the rest of their lives, and if that's not what they're getting here, we should not try to keep them. That is simply unethical, pure and simple."
When a forest fire threatens your house and you have minutes to run, do you know what you plan to grab besides your family?

The photo albums? Computer hard drive? Tax records? Gun collection? Clean underwear?

The U.S. Forest Service faces a much bigger version of that question. When wildfire starts, does it deploy its army of yellow-shirted initial attack forces, or let trees burn? Does it chase every smoke on the horizon or concentrate on defending homes? And who gets a say in the decision?

Jim Hubbard spent years in the Forest Service pondering those questions. During a visit to Missoula last week, he said we need to start thinking about some new answers  fast.

We have 17 Type I incident commanders (the most experienced, big-fire team leaders), and every year they say Ive never seen that before, Hubbard said during a presentation at the University of Montana. Each one of these guys has 25 years-plus experience. That gets our attention.

Part of those debriefings dwell on how wildfires have changed in longer summers, drier landscapes and beetle-killed tree stands. But they also consider how the Forest Service has (or hasnt) been able to get to its year-round land-management duties while the agencys budget has been drained by firefighting costs. They look at how county commissions have guided home-building in fire-prone areas, and what kinds of support might be available from state or local firefighters. And they wonder what the long-term vision of all this work should look like.

Hubbard spent 11 years as deputy chief of the Forest Service in charge of fire and aviation as well as relations with state and private foresters. He also was Colorados state forester for 20 years.

We havent defined our performance-based outcomes yet, Hubbard told the audience at the annual Mike and Mabelle Hardy Fire Management Lecture. That doesnt mean picking a number of acres cleared of hazardous fuels or logged each year. It does mean setting out bigger goals for what risks are worth taking, whose interests are at stake, and what actions are even possible.

That involves things as basic as having up-to-date maps showing where houses have been built, where old-growth tree stands remain and where forest activities are planned.

We need to know what areas to protect, what places are less important, Hubbard said. If everything is wildland-urban interface, you cant make suppression decisions. You need to hear from the community, the county commissioners, the sheriff. Because we dont want to use unnecessary exposure (of firefighters) that wont get the results were after.

Hubbard authored whats known as the Hubbard Letter in 2012, telling federal fire bosses to launch initial attacks on all public-land fires that summer, including those in designated wilderness.

We expect above-normal, significant fire potential for many areas of the country to result in suppression costs that exceed the 10-year average appropriation, Hubbard wrote at the time.

Given the unique circumstances we face in 2012, I expect regional forester approval of any suppression strategy that includes restoration objectives. I acknowledge this is not a desirable approach in the long-run.

And five years later, Hubbard confirmed that final opinion before a ballroom full of firefighters.

Maybe some of that fire needed to run its course, Hubbard said in Missoula. Lets tear up that Hubbard letter.

Retired Montana State Forester Don Artley was one of those in the room with Hubbard last week. He echoed the need to be clear about what the big-picture goals should be. Part of that means understanding how fragile those goals are.

We are making great plans about how we want the landscape to look, and they can all be for naught once a fire starts, Artley said. If it starts under hot, dry and windy conditions, we cant risk direct action. Other times, it might be best to just monitor the fires progress. And we need more public acceptance of that process. We used to call it let-burn, and everyone understood that. But the Forest Service was uncomfortable with that wording  it thought it meant we werent doing anything. Now they talk about prescribed natural fire, and the public says What are you talking about? 

One thing Hubbard was talking about was unplanned wildfire management. That seemingly self-contradictory phrase grows out of the Forest Services falling budgets, where district rangers with land treatment projects in the works calculate the probability that a fire might burn something productively. For example, if a low-intensity wildfire runs through a hillside slated for a hazardous-fuels reduction burn, thats one less project the district has to pay for.

Our scientific ability to predict fire behavior has increased by orders of magnitude every year, said Jeff Jahnke, a retired state forester with experience in Alaska, Colorado and Montana. So the challenge is, can an incident commander plan the best way to suppress a fire and get resource benefits out of it at the same time?

Nobody wants to appear to gamble with public safety, even though Hubbard pointed out every time someone drives a car, they gamble on avoiding wrecks. Allowing more prescribed burns might mean days of smoke in a citys airshed during the spring or fall. But it might also mean fewer months of smoke during the summer if those small burns lessen the risk of bigger wildfires.

If we dont manage unplanned wildfires, we cant get ahead of land treatment, Hubbard said. Youre going to fight fire a little differently in the future. You have to have buy-in.
All residents of House District 97 with whom I spoke during my 2016 campaign know Im working as their representative in Helena to help them and all Montanans succeed and prosper. However, prosperity and success come from better job opportunities and a level playing field for all wishing to achieve their dreams, as well as the dreams of their children.

Success is not far off if government will reduce taxes and make itself more efficient. Instead, $300-plus million in new taxes in Missoula County alone this past year, in addition to higher taxes and user fees imposed by the state, prevent all taxpayers from achieving their full economic and personal potential.

After a few weeks in this legislative session, its clear that the budget is our biggest challenge. The governors proposed budget seeks to increase spending above what most legislators want to spend. The reason for this conflict is simple: Montanas government continues to expand in size and expenditures.

Gov. Steve Bullock failed to address constitutionally mandated spending cuts when the state took in less revenue than expected in 2015/'16. The ending fund balance was reduced from $300-plus million when the Legislature left Helena in April of 2015, to about $50 million-$70 million under Bullocks oversight. Where did that quarter of a billion dollars go? Thats a great question for you to ask the governor.

Everyone knows theres no money for new, costly programs in this budget. However, thats not stopping the tax-and-spend crowd from asking for more money for non-priority projects, while pushing for tax increases on working Montanans. Those of us favoring smaller government and personal responsibility are working diligently to hold the line. However, with the governor being the chief spender (and holder of the veto pen), our work is cut out.

To operate a more efficient government in Helena, clarity needs to be identified between constitutionally essential/priority services, and those that are ancillary. Its my position that we need to fund necessary infrastructure projects (roads, bridges, water, sewers), education, as well as police, fire and military services, before we channel money to other entities like gymnasiums and museums. As an example, the Montana Law Enforcement Academy in Helena is selling T-shirts and coffee mugs to defray costs of operation, while Medicaid funds are paid out to unqualified recipients. The waste and duplication at the state cry out for leadership from the executive office and nothing is forthcoming.

Its time for the governor to become a leader, rather than looking to further his personal political aspirations. Too much is at stake to re-arrange the deck chairs while the ship of Montana continues to take on water.

As citizens of Montana, it is our duty to demand leadership and accountability from our elected leaders. If we fail to perform in accord with both our constitutional oath and our political declarations, then then our duty is to remove and replace ineffective officeholders with true public servants.
City Councilman Bryan von Lossberg, the mayor and the six council members who bought into his specious background check ordinance have put Missoula taxpayers through a year-long tutorial on how to waste our time and resources.

His fool's errand for self aggrandizement concluded on Jan. 26 with Montana Attorney General Tim Fox's legal ruling that von Lossberg's ordinance was invalid and unenforceable. If von Lossberg and City Attorney Jim Nugent had initially sought Fox's counsel, this misuse of city resources might never have happened. Instead, von Lossberg, when crafting his Missoula ordinance, sought the legal counsel of paid lobbyist Jonas Oransky, a New York City attorney. Another paid lobbyist who was involved is Pedro Morillas of Washington, D.C. Morillas recently poured $200,000 into New Mexico in an effort to change the political makeup of the state legislature. On Jan. 22, Morillas tweeted the following message: Trump, I'm going to burn down your houses!

Many Missoulians attended City Council to express their opinions on the background check ordinance, not knowing that all the time the fix was in. This political charade engenders distrust and cynicism and is a gross violation of the public trust.

Upon learning of Fox's ruling, Nugent responded: I don't think anyone expected anything different. If Nugent knew all along this ordinance wouldn't pass muster, why didn't he speak up during the year-long drafting process? And why did von Lossberg seek legal advice from a New York attorney and a D.C.-based lobbyist? The Montana state commissioner of political practices demands that anyone who is paid to influence any public official must register as a lobbyist in Montana. Oransky and Morillas have never done so.

Until this matter is resolved, von Lossberg and Nugent should take no further action in any matters affecting the citizens of Missoula.

Dennis Gordon,

Missoula
PHILIPSBURG  Located off Montana Highway 1 in the Flint Creek Valley lies the skeletal remains of the ghost town of Granite  a former mining community of the 19th century that saw its population go from a couple thousand people to just over 100 hardy individuals when the price of silver crashed in 1893, according to local lore.

In an interview for a series of economic development articles, economist Bryce Ward, associate director for the University of Montanas Bureau of Business and Economic Research, said ghost towns like Granite are emblematic of the way that places can lose their reason for existence.

Not every place is going to last forever, he said. Its a simple fact of life.

But one place in Montana where residents can say they have successfully brought their town back from the brink is Philipsburg, which resides just 4 miles away from the now-abandoned mining town.

The poet Richard Hugo visited the town in the late 1960s and in his poem Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg he described it as a place where the last good kiss you had was years ago, where salvation came in the form of alcohol and religion and young people packed their bags to chase big-city dreams in Butte.''

And he might not have been far off, as Philipsburg faced economic decline through the 60s, 70s, and 80s. By now the story is all too familiar: mines that brought wealth to the community since its founding in 1867 closed, while sawmills folded amid policy changes and evolving attitudes toward the logging industry.

But a lot has changed since Hugo visited Philipsburg. In fact, Hugos readers might not even recognize the town.

Today it boasts a bustling summer tourist scene where once dilapidated buildings are now colorfully painted in hues of blues, yellows and reds. A historic map of the area lists 50 buildings registered on the National Register of Historic Places, many of which now house cafes, restaurants, performing-art venues, education centers and a variety of businesses. And on Sundays, rather than wandering forlorn streets bemoaning unrequited love and longing for ones last good kiss, visitors can instead sip on a microbrew on the patio of the local brewery as the sun sets at the end of the towns main thoroughfare.

Whats more, Philipsburg has garnered attention in recent years for the revitalization of its downtown.

In 2015 Sunset magazine named the town winner of its Best Municipal Makeover, and in 2017 Philipsburg was included in USA Todays list of Picturesque Small Towns in Every State.

So how did residents and city leaders make it all happen?

According to Jim Jenner, community advocate and former president of the towns Rotary Club, the revitalization of Philipsburg isnt something you can package into a bulleted master plan.

He and other residents interviewed by The Montana Standard described the towns makeover as a unique brew of on-trend decision-making, existing assets, passionate, risk-taking residents and a bit of luck.

Its funny. So often peoples formula is oh we need a government program to do it or we need this and that, said Jenner. Yet so much of this was organic.

Serendipitous is one way to put it, he continued. Philipsburgs strength has been a string of small victories to the extent that there wasnt a grand scheme. I mean it was obvious the bones were here (with) the wonderful old historic district. We had a lot to work with and very much a can-do attitude. 

Hey, remember the 90s?

Jenner said what made the difference for Philipsburg was a series of events in the 1990s and 2000s.

During that time, he said, there was a string of purchases of downtown buildings whose owners were getting older and were eager to get the properties off their hands.

Many of new real estate owners were outsiders, Jenner said, who moved to Montana for a variety of reasons. Some had family in the area, while others simply moved because they liked Montana and Philipsburg.

Any kind of rebirth is based on capital, said Jenner, noting that the new owners had enough capital to take advantage of the inexpensive real estate the town boasted at the time and who were also interested in opening new businesses and seeing what would happen if the historic structures were brought back to life.

Another keystone, Jenner said, has been the willingness of residents to work together and support new ideas, including volunteers who helped paint the Broadway Hotel in the J.K. Merrill & Sons building and refurbish the McDonald Opera House.

Theyve got this attitude of you always help your neighbor, said Jenner, speaking of the legacy of ranching families in the area.

Existing assets

But in many ways Philipsburg was already well-positioned to turn into a viable tourist destination  and thats where the crucial ingredient of luck comes in.

Much of Philipsburgs tourism capacity comes in the form of location, location, location.

As residents are often fond of saying, Philipsburg resides halfway between Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. Discovery Ski Area and Georgetown Lake are also nearby, along with access points to activities like hiking, fishing and snowmobiling. These assets, Jenner said, combined with the fact that the town resides a short 27-mile drive from Interstate 90, mean that Philipsburg has the potential of attracting tourists and sportsmen already in the area.

Jenner also noted that the size of the 800-person town made revitalization feasible, as its downtown was big enough to support a variety of storefronts but small enough that rehab was manageable and real estate supply didnt overshadow demand.

When in Rome

And when you add in vices like beer and candy to the mix, said Heidi Beck-Heser, corresponding secretary for the Philipsburg Chamber of Commerce, you cant go wrong.

Beck-Hesers mother, Shirley Beck, was one of the first property owners to take a chance on the one-horse town when she opened the Sapphire Gallery jewelry store in 1991 with business partner Dale Siegford and The Sweet Palace candy store in 98.

Beck-Heser said her mother  who one blogger described as a Main Street evangelist and a one-woman Chamber of Commerce buzz-saw  knew a candy store had the potential of becoming a viable business model because she saw the concept work successfully elsewhere in the country and knew that vacationers tend to treat themselves while on vacation.

Beck-Heser was a senior in High School when the Sapphire Gallery opened and she remembers the Philipsburg of the day as a sleepy place.

Vacant, she said in a one-word phrase.

At first, Beck-Heser said, not everyone shared her mothers vision of turning Broadway storefronts into galleries and candy shops.

It was a ranching, logging and mining community, and some residents felt there wasnt a need for change, Beck-Heser said.

But she maintained that Philipsburg needed to look beyond resource-based jobs if it was going to survive.

Philipsburg had to change or it was going to die, there was no question about that.

Tour de beer

According to Maddy Mason and Max Statler, beer consumption in Philipsburg is on the rise.

Mason and Statler both have marketing positions with Philipsburg Brewing Company.

The company launched in 2012 under the ownership of Rob Jarvis and Cathy and Nolan Smith. For the project the trio renovated the historic Sayrs Building at the corner of Broadway and Sansome Streets, which Jarvis purchased from Granite Mountain Bank. With its ornate Victorian exterior and yellow and green facade, the two-story building has arguably become an iconic image of downtown Philipsburg.

Since then, Mason and Statler said, the brewery business has been growing.

Last year the company opened a bottling facility and now distributes bottled products throughout the state. In addition, the new facility produced 3,000 barrels in 2016, while its main location on Broadway Street produced just under 900.

The brewery has also won a host of state, national and international awards, including a silver medal from the World Beer Cup, a bronze metal from Great American Beer Festival and gold medals from the North American Brewers Association and Best of Craft Beer Awards.

Mason and Statler said keys to the brewerys success have been family-friendly atmosphere, consistent hours and great, award-winning beer.

Its getting to the point in the beer world that you cant get by by being just a microbrewery. You have to be someone that makes quality products, said Mason

But its also about passion, the two said.

Another huge part of the brewerys success is the vision and the determination of our owners. Ive never worked for anybody that works as hard as they do, said Statler.

The two also said that a new form of tourism is on the rise  beer tourism  noting that an increasing number of people are traveling to towns they wouldnt otherwise visit because they want to try the local brew. However, they cautioned that opening a brewery isnt a golden ticket to economic development.

Lucky strike

As for luck (the same element that causes miners to strike it rich or strike out) residents who spoke with the Standard each had their own take on what it means to be lucky.

For Jenner, luck is when preparation meets opportunity, while Beck-Heser described it as recognizing the right time to do something.

And encapsulating it all, Jenner said, is the Sayrs Building at the corner of Broadway and Sansome Streets, which he said is emblematic of the Philipsburg story.

You have this wonderful old building, this iconic building at the main intersection of the community and you can go in and get an internationally award-winning beer made in this town, he said. You can sit out on a sunny sidewalk and watch the world go by.
McNaughton hired

The North Dakota Water Education Foundation in Bismarck has hired Shauna McNaughton as an editor for the North Dakota Water Magazine.

She is a recent graduate of Dickinson State University with degrees in natural resource management and communications.

McNaughton has completed internships and was a writing tutor for the Dickinson State University Academic Success Center.

Rosenau certified

Mike Rosenau, Bismarck-Mandan account representative for Cole Papers, attended the Sure Grip Safety Solutions floor safety training in Houston and is now a certified floor safety professional. He has been with Cole Papers since 2015.

Bry gets promotion

Cara Bry was recently promoted to assistant manager of Ground Round in Bismarck.

With Ground Round for seven years, she is a past recipient of the Hospitality Hero award for dedication to her job.

Four join Alliance

Four people have joined Alliance Real Estate Inc. as agents.

Evan Pegors is a graduate of North Dakota State College of Science with an associate's degree in diesel technology.

Jake Kist is a lifelong resident of Mandan and worked at Kist Livestock.

Melanie Kitzan-Morel has working in municipal government, banking and real estate for 15 years.

Becky Aadnes, originally from Hazen, has worked in sales for 15 years.

Hernandez joins

Michele Hernandez has joined Century 21 Morrison Realty.

Hernandez has worked in the Bismarck-Mandan area for eight years. She has experience in the health care industry.

Two get awards

Reed Groth, flight paramedic for Sanford AirMed, and Janell Peterson, an EMT and driver for the Oliver County Ambulance, have received Stars of Life awards.

The Stars of Life program was established in 2009 to recognize individuals with a commitment and enthusiasm for emergency medical services in North Dakota.

Groth started his EMS career in 2002 as an emergency medical technician in Bismarck for Metro Ambulance Service. During his career, he has worked for the Fargo-Moorhead Ambulance in Fargo for 10 years and served on the SWAT team in the Red River Valley.

When Peterson joined the Oliver County Ambulance in 1998, she had already been a part of the EMS family for several years while working for Falkirk coal mine. She also is an American Heart Association-certified CPR instructor.

Radke with BAC

Christopher Radke has been hired as a full-time flightline technician at Bismarck Aero Center.

A Bismarck native, he has more than 10 years of experience in property maintenance and customer service and seven years in the North Dakota National Guard.

Hogue with AARP

Wendy Hogue, of Mandan, has joined the AARP North Dakota staff as senior operations associate.

Hogue previously was an administrative office associate at USDA Rural Development in Bismarck.

She holds a bachelors degree from Valley City State University, an American Management Association Certificate in leadership from Dickinson State University and a financial management certificate from Cornell University.

She is a native of Dazey.
The former CEO of Vann's Inc. has been found guilty of conspiracy and 172 fraud charges alleging his actions helped drive the electronics and appliance store founded by his father-in-law into bankruptcy.

Jurors returned their verdict against George Leslie Manlove on Friday evening after a two-week trial. The same jury ruled Saturday that Manlove has to forfeit $2.4 million, according to court records.

Prosecutors alleged Manlove spent company money on personal expenses  including vacations, membership fees and $200,000 to get his master's degree in business administration  without the approval of the board of directors.

The charges also said Manlove and former CFO Paul Lyn Nisbet conspired to create holding companies to buy buildings that would house Vann's stores, then leased them to Vann's at above-market rates to pay off the loans and gain ownership of the buildings.

After the company filed for bankruptcy in 2012, Manlove filed a $2.4 million claim for unpaid rent even though a written lease did not exist, prosecutors argued.

When asked about the rent payments, Manlove testified last week that "nobody asked for it back."

Under questioning from his attorney, Michael Sherwood, Manlove said it was "impossible" that he intended to defraud the company, the Missoulian reported. Sherwood also asked if Manlove had used a company credit card to pay for his class ring after receiving his MBA.

"I may have used the wrong credit card," Manlove said.

Manlove was convicted of conspiracy, 75 counts of wire fraud, four counts of bankruptcy fraud, 87 counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to a bank and one count of bank fraud. He was acquitted on 41 counts including three counts of tax fraud, the Missoulian reported.

He was allowed to remain free pending his sentencing on May 19, but he must surrender his passport, cannot open any new lines of credit and cannot sell or transfer any of his assets.

The employee-owners of Vann's filed a civil lawsuit against Manlove and Nisbet that argued their actions led to the bankruptcy that made their $9.2 million in stock worthless. The lawsuit was settled for $7.3 million paid by business insurance policies. The bankruptcy estate received an additional $3 million, and attorneys received about the same.

Nisbet pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and was sentenced in October to 14 months in prison. He also admitted to a forfeiture allegation that required him to give up $122,250.
While Missoulians spent their Sunday enjoying high temperatures into the 40s and a rapidly melting snowpack, Kalispell, Whitefish and most of Northwest Montana were in the midst of "extraordinary" levels of snowfall.

Its hard to fathom, National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Zumpfe said of the estimated 30-inch snowfall in one weekend.

Add that to about a foot of snow already on the ground and stay resigned to the fact that Kalispells formidable snow berms arent going anywhere fast.

Considering how much trouble that plow crews have had in towns like Kalispell, this certainly wont help, Zumpfe said.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for most of Northwest Montana Sunday, predicting snowfalls of up to 2.5 feet in Flathead and Lincoln counties, with predicted rates of 2 inches per hour.

Sanders, Lake and parts of Missoula County, including Seeley Lake, could see a foot to a foot-and-a-half of snowfall.

The prediction drops considerably in Missoula and down the Bitterroot Valley, with an estimated 2 to 3 inches additional snow over Sunday night into Monday.

Glacier County, including West Glacier and Polebridge, is set to see the most new snow at possibly four to five feet depending on elevation.

Zumpfe said blizzard conditions are expected from Columbia Falls to Marias Pass until around midday Monday, with blowing snow making for near zero visibility. He warned against anyone trying to make the drive.

Visibility will lower to less than one-quarter mile, the blizzard warning said. Snow drifts over roads will make driving treacherous and snow plow operations difficult.

The US Forest Services Kalispell Avalanche Center sent out a backcountry avalanche warning Sunday as well, as they saw wind strong enough to dislodge the snow pack in the Whitefish, Swan and Flathead Ranges and portions of Glacier National Park.

The Missoula and Bitterroot Valleys werent without their own wild weather last weekend, though theyre set to mellow out rather than worsen Monday.

Freezing rain that came down Saturday night slicked roads across Western Montana, rendering certain stretches of highway treacherously unsafe, including a stretch of Interstate 90 between Alberton and Frenchtown and Highway 93 south into the Bitterroot. Zumpfe said the freezing rain threat is largely over as temperatures warm up this week.

Most snow that we get is going to melt on contact or accumulate only on already existing snow, he said. (The snowpack) is possibly going to go down pretty rapidly in the next few days.

The Weather Service tweeted that Sunday's high of 46 degrees was the warmest day in Missoula since Nov. 25.

Those higher temperatures do bring some new dangers. The Weather Services Twitter account warned Missoulians to watch for flooding.

The state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation sent a warning for flood and ice jam conditions in mid-January, in advance of the yearly Missoula Valley snowpack-depletion-turned-soggy-mess.

They recommended clearing snow away from houses, stocking drinking water and having a flood evacuation plan during February and March, the highest risk months of the year.

The heavy, wet snowfall from Saturday caused a roof collapse at the historic Silver Theater on South Higgins Avenue, as well as damage to a propane tank in Seeley Lake.

About 60 homes were evacuated after snow slid from a roof onto the tank's valve, releasing a noxious cloud. Residents were allowed to return that evening.

Theater director Carolyn Maier, was in the theater with a few others preparing for the upcoming Big Sky Documentary Film Festival when she noticed water leaking in and ordered everyone evacuate.

Maier said theyd already cleared snow off the roof earlier in the week to ease pressure on the building.

Finally, for those keeping track, Saturdays snowfall dumped around 5 inches in Missoula. That makes the total since Dec. 1 an impressive 47.8 inches.
SEELEY LAKE  Residents of about 60 homes in the Seeley Lake area were able to return home Saturday afternoon, hours after snow from a rooftop caused the valve on a 500-gallon propane tank to break, releasing potentially harmful gas.

"You can see a cloud that's going through town," Sgt. Bob Parcell of the Missoula County Sheriff's Office, said after the leak near occurred near the intersection of Locust Lane and Tamarack Drive.

At about 10:41 a.m., snow from the roof of an adjoining building slid onto the tank, breaking the valve, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff's office. The evacuation for nearby residents was ordered as a precaution as the cloud moved south-southwest from the 200 block of Locust Lane.

Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Brenda Bassett said the evacuation order was lifted after air-quality levels were found to be safe, although it was unclear whether the propane tank has been fixed.

The homeowner will have to handle that, Bassett said. Everything is good and clear.

University of Montana journalism student Kasey Bubnash contributed to this story.
Located off Montana Highway 1 in the Flint Creek Valley lies the skeletal remains of the ghost town of Granite  a former mining community of the 19th century that saw its population go from a couple thousand people to just over 100 hardy individuals when the price of silver crashed in 1893, according to local lore.

In an interview for a series of economic development articles, Economist Bryce Ward, associate director for the University of Montanas Bureau of Business and Economic Research, said ghost towns like Granite are emblematic of the way that places can lose their reason for existence.

Not every place is going to last forever, he said. Its a simple fact of life.

But one place in Montana where residents can say they have successfully brought their town back from the brink is Philipsburg, which resides just 4 miles away from the now-abandoned mining town.

The poet Richard Hugo visited the town in the late 1960s and in his poem Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg he described it as a place where the last good kiss you had was years ago, where salvation came in the form of alcohol and religion and young people packed their bags to chase big-city dreams in Butte.

And he might not have been far off, as Philipsburg faced economic decline through the 60s, 70s, and 80s. By now the story is all too familiar: mines that brought wealth to the community since its founding in 1867 closed, while sawmills folded amid policy changes and evolving attitudes toward the logging industry.

But a lot has changed since Hugo visited Philipsburg. In fact, Hugos readers might not even recognize the town.

Today it boasts a bustling summer tourist scene where once dilapidated buildings are now colorfully painted in hues of blues, yellows and reds. A historic map of the area lists 50 buildings registered on the National Register of Historic Places, many of which now house cafes, restaurants, performing-art venues, education centers and a variety of businesses. And on Sundays, rather than wandering forlorn streets bemoaning unrequited love and longing for ones last good kiss, visitors can instead sip on a microbrew on the patio of the local brewery as the sun sets at the end of the towns main thoroughfare.

Whats more, Philipsburg has garnered attention in recent years for the revitalization of its downtown.

In 2015 Sunset magazine named the town winner of its Best Municipal Makeover, and in 2017 Philipsburg was included in USA Todays list of Picturesque Small Towns in Every State.

So how did residents and city leaders make it all happen?

According to Jim Jenner, community advocate and former president of the towns Rotary Club, the revitalization of Philipsburg isnt something you can package into a bulleted master plan.

He and other residents interviewed by The Montana Standard described the towns makeover as a unique brew of on-trend decision-making, existing assets, passionate, risk-taking residents and a bit of luck.

Its funny. So often peoples formula is oh we need a government program to do it or we need this and that, said Jenner. Yet so much of this was organic.

Serendipitous is one way to put it, he continued. Philipsburgs strength has been a string of small victories to the extent that there wasnt a grand scheme. I mean it was obvious the bones were here (with) the wonderful old historic district. We had a lot to work with and very much a can-do attitude. 

Hey, remember the 90s?

Jenner said what made the difference for Philipsburg was a series of events in the 1990s and 2000s.

During that time, he said, there was a string of purchases of downtown buildings whose owners were getting older and were eager to get the properties off their hands.

Many of new real estate owners were outsiders, Jenner said, who moved to Montana for a variety of reasons. Some had family in the area, while others simply moved because they liked Montana and Philipsburg.

Any kind of rebirth is based on capital, said Jenner, noting that the new owners had enough capital to take advantage of the inexpensive real estate the town boasted at the time and who were also interested in opening new businesses and seeing what would happen if the historic structures were brought back to life.

Another keystone, Jenner said, has been the willingness of residents to work together and support new ideas, including volunteers who helped paint the Broadway Hotel in the J.K. Merrill & Sons building and refurbish the McDonald Opera House.

Theyve got this attitude of you always help your neighbor, said Jenner, speaking of the legacy of ranching families in the area.

Existing assets

But in many ways Philipsburg was already well-positioned to turn into a viable tourist destination  and thats where the crucial ingredient of luck comes in.

Much of Philipsburgs tourism capacity comes in the form of location, location, location.

As residents are often fond of saying, Philipsburg resides halfway between Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. Discovery Ski Area and Georgetown Lake are also nearby, along with access points to activities like hiking, fishing and snowmobiling. These assets, Jenner said, combined with the fact that the town resides a short 27-mile drive from Interstate 90, mean that Philipsburg has the potential of attracting tourists and sportsmen already in the area.

Jenner also noted that the size of the 800-person town made revitalization feasible, as its downtown was big enough to support a variety of storefronts but small enough that rehab was manageable and real estate supply didnt overshadow demand.

When in Rome

And when you add in vices like beer and candy to the mix, said Heidi Beck-Heser, corresponding secretary for the Philipsburg Chamber of Commerce, you cant go wrong.

Beck-Hesers mother, Shirley Beck, was one of the first property owners to take a chance on the one-horse town when she opened the Sapphire Gallery jewelry store in 1991 with business partner Dale Siegford and The Sweet Palace candy store in 98.

Beck-Heser said her mother  who one blogger described as a Main Street evangelist and a one-woman Chamber of Commerce buzz-saw  knew a candy store had the potential of becoming a viable business model because she saw the concept work successfully elsewhere in the country and knew that vacationers tend to treat themselves while on vacation.

Beck-Heser was a senior in High School when the Sapphire Gallery opened and she remembers the Philipsburg of the day as a sleepy place.

Vacant, she said in a one-word phrase.

At first, Beck-Heser said, not everyone shared her mothers vision of turning Broadway storefronts into galleries and candy shops.

It was a ranching, logging and mining community, and some residents felt there wasnt a need for change, Beck-Heser said.

But she maintained that Philipsburg needed to look beyond resource-based jobs if it was going to survive.

Philipsburg had to change or it was going to die, there was no question about that.

Tour de beer

According to Maddy Mason and Max Statler, beer consumption in Philipsburg is on the rise.

Mason and Statler both have marketing positions with Philipsburg Brewing Company.

The company launched in 2012 under the ownership of Rob Jarvis and Cathy and Nolan Smith. For the project the trio renovated the historic Sayrs Building at the corner of Broadway and Sansome Streets, which Jarvis purchased from Granite Mountain Bank. With its ornate Victorian exterior and yellow and green facade, the two-story building has arguably become an iconic image of downtown Philipsburg.

Since then, Mason and Statler said, the brewery business has been growing.

Last year the company opened a bottling facility and now distributes bottled products throughout the state. In addition, the new facility produced 3,000 barrels in 2016, while its main location on Broadway Street produced just under 900.

The brewery has also won a host of state, national and international awards, including a silver medal from the World Beer Cup, a bronze metal from Great American Beer Festival and gold medals from the North American Brewers Association and Best of Craft Beer Awards.

Mason and Statler said keys to the brewerys success have been family-friendly atmosphere, consistent hours and great, award-winning beer.

Its getting to the point in the beer world that you cant get by by being just a microbrewery. You have to be someone that makes quality products, said Mason

But its also about passion, the two said.

Another huge part of the brewerys success is the vision and the determination of our owners. Ive never worked for anybody that works as hard as they do, said Statler.

The two also said that a new form of tourism is on the rise  beer tourism  noting that an increasing number of people are traveling to towns they wouldnt otherwise visit because they want to try the local brew. However, they cautioned that opening a brewery isnt a golden ticket to economic development.

Lucky strike

As for luck (the same element that causes miners to strike it rich or strike out) residents who spoke with the Standard each had their own take on what it means to be lucky.

For Jenner, luck is when preparation meets opportunity, while Beck-Heser described it as recognizing the right time to do something.

And encapsulating it all, Jenner said, is the Sayrs Building at the corner of Broadway and Sansome Streets, which he said is emblematic of the Philipsburg story.

You have this wonderful old building, this iconic building at the main intersection of the community and you can go in and get an internationally award-winning beer made in this town, he said. You can sit out on a sunny sidewalk and watch the world go by.
Like many cities in southwest Montana, Dillon is looking to beef up economic development by revitalizing its downtown.

Lynn Giles, Vana Taylor and RayAnn Sutton of Dillon Main Street, LLC corresponded with The Montana Standard by email to discuss a new downtown master plan that they, along with Dillon city officials, released in February 2016.

According to the trio, the plan came out of several brainstorming sessions geared toward improving economic development.

For the study the organization received grants from Main Street Montana, the Community Development Block Grant Program, the City of Dillon and the Beaverhead Development Corporation.

The three officials said action items from the plan include:

Supporting local business development and recruiting anchor tenants for retail complexes

Preserving, restoring and enhancing historically significant resources that contribute to Dillons identity, history and quality of life

Creating inviting spaces through beautification and design projects

Launching marketing efforts and creating promotional events for downtown businesses and community activities

Establishing a unified downtown organization

Already some of these goals are being realized, the three said, noting that Dillon Main Street has helped install bulb-out corners, historic lighting and benches on the corner of Bannack and Montana Streets with the goal of making the area more walkable and accessible.

The group is also working to continue the corner design, making Montana Street a welcoming area for visitors and area residents to shop and relax, the three officials wrote.

As for Giles, Taylor and Sutton, downtown revitalization is all about preserving and be able to capitalize on the rich history of Dillon, whose buildings go as far back as the 1800s.

Downtown revitalization is important to Dillon because it is the heart of the commercial area the three wrote.
Macel Anderson  treasurer and former president of Sheridans Main Street Improvement Team  says downtown beautification is about more than attracting visitors and driving traffic to local businesses  its also about keeping a towns cultural center intact.

It keeps the town vital, she said.

Anderson said about 15 years ago city and community leaders embarked on a main street improvement project after the Montana Department of Transportation announced it was going to improve a portion of Highway 287, which runs through Sheridan and forms its main thoroughfare.

At that point, Anderson said, the towns then-mayor asked city officials and community leaders to come up with a plan that would make Sheridan look like more than a town with a highway running through it.

And we did not want parallel parking, Anderson added jokingly.

Completed in June 2016, the roughly $2.5-million project involved hours of planning, volunteering, fundraising and grant writing. The work included new sidewalks, stormwater system and street lights, along with facade improvements on some of the buildings and the installation of crosswalks, among other improvements.

Before the project, Anderson said, the sidewalks on Main Street were cracked and uneven, having been poured in the 1940s, and many of the storefronts stood vacant.

You literally could not walk down the sidewalk without stepping in a big hole, Anderson said.

However, residents are now greeted with a welcome sign at the edge of town, along with angled parking, wide, accessible sidewalks, flower pots, historically accurate street lights, banners and benches.

The hope behind such improvements, Anderson said, is to entice more visitors to stop while driving through town and make downtown a pleasant place to be so that residents will want to spend time in the district and, more importantly, patronize the businesses there.

Scott Harner, who formerly owned Serendipity Gifts & Coffee on Main Street before he sold it to a new owner, said he saw an uptick in business after the improvements.

It required some patience, he said. But it was worth waiting for.

Anderson, meanwhile, said that a few new businesses downtown have opened up, including a new bakery. In the year ahead, she said, the city is expected to get its first brewery and see Montana Macs Steakhouse reopen under new ownership

She added that while the Main Street project is complete, the Improvement Team is not finished.

Upcoming projects the organization wants to pursue include getting historic buildings designated on the National Register of Historic Places, setting up a walking tour and ongoing beautification.
When Lacey and Jaime Wood began managing the Hamilton Ranch shortly after Tony and Amie James purchased the 34,000-acre property outside of Twin Bridges in 2010, no one was sure what to make of the 19th-century round barn that was coming apart at the seams.

But then they had an idea.

What if they bought the barn and turned it into a venue for events?

Today the barn is known as the Round Barn at Twin Bridges, and since it opened last year, Lacey Wood said, its already hosted a plethora of weddings and charity events.

But the pastoral structure located 4 miles north of Twin Bridges on Riverside Drive has a history almost as bright as the red paint that now covers its exterior.

The barns main claim to fame is that it was once home to Lord Raglan, a racehorse who won third place in the 1883 Kentucky Derby, and the birth place of Spokane, a horse who won the Derby in 1889. Both horses were owned by Noah Armstrong, who built the barn in 1882.

At the time, it had three floors, an automatic windmilldriven water system, feeding chutes, an indoor track, and stalls for 24 thoroughbreds opening directly out to their individual paddocks, the Round Barns website reads.

But when the Wood and James families began revitalizing the barn in 2012, it was a shadow of its former self.

The roof was about to cave in, said Wood, adding that the barn had a manure floor, which consisted of dirt, along with horse and pigeon droppings.

Wood said the renovation effort required a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but that the two families couldnt be more pleased with the result.

It was very intensive, said Wood. Way more work than anyone imagined, but it turned out much grander than anyone imagined.

In addition to making the barn suitable for weddings, Wood said a kitchen and audio-visual components were installed in the barn, giving it the capacity to host performances and corporate retreats.

When asked what the ultimate vision is for the Round Barn, Wood said she hopes it can provide a shot in the arm to local businesses, noting that the barn can accommodate weddings of up to 250 people, all of whom are looking for places to stay overnight, shop and dine.
According to local lore, when Montana state legislator Charles Bovey first set eyes on Virginia City in the 1940s, he fell in love with the former mining community, which at that time was almost completely a ghost town.

Founded in 1863, Virginia City and nearby Nevada City came into being when Bill Fairweather discovered gold in Alder Gulch.

Within a week of Fairweather's discovery, hundreds of hopeful prospectors and camp followers of all stripes were crowding along the length of the stream, the Virginia City Chamber of Commerce writes on its website. Nine mining camps soon came into existence along approximately a fourteen-mile stretch of Alder Creek gulch.

Virginia City became the Montana Territorial capital a year later, but by 1875 much of the gold had been extracted and the town started to decline. By 1937, gold mining had ceased completely.

In 1944 Bovey started the Historic Landmarks Society, and he and his wife Sue began buying up and restoring historic properties in both Virginia and Nevada Cities.

In 1997 Boveys son Ford sold the historic properties, 276 in total, to the state of Montana, which led to the formation of the Montana Heritage Preservation Commission, the entity that now oversees the properties.

Today about 200 people live in Virginia and Nevada Cities, which attract thousands of visitors each year.

According to numbers from the Heritage Commission, about 500,000 visitors came to see their old buildings, retail shops, art galleries, food vendors and performance troops in 2016. Whats more, said Elijah Allen, the organizations executive director, visitors spent a total of $72 million in the two boom-and-bust towns in 2015.

Meanwhile, city leaders are making sure some of that money stays in the community through an opt-in tax known as a resort tax.

State law says that resort taxes are available to tourist destinations in Montana with populations under 5,500 for incorporated towns and 2,500 for unincorporated towns. Local government leaders need to get voter approval for the tax, which can be imposed on things like hotel stays, bar tabs and retail purchases at a rate of up to 3 percent. The money from the tax goes into a fund which can be spent on marketing campaigns, infrastructure improvements, community development, among a variety of other uses. In addition, 5 percent of the tax has to go to property tax relief for property owners who own buildings and land within the district.

Communities that have implemented the tax include Big Sky, Cooke City, Craig, Gardiner, Red Lodge, St. Regis, West Yellowstone, Whitefish and Wolf Creek.

Scott Petersen, mayor of Virginia City, said the historic town gets about $80,000 a year from the tax, which makes up a majority of citys budget.

Petersen has only been mayor for a year, but said hes been a city council member for about 10 years.

When the tax was first implemented in the early 90s it was fairly controversial, Petersen said. But by 2011, he added, voters reapproved the tax by 80 percent, opting in for another 20 years.

If you understand it, its easy to pass, said Petersen.
Jim and Geri Davis

Jim and Geri (Sullivan) Davis celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. A surprise dinner was given in their honor at Beverly's Restaurant at the Coeur d' Alene Inn and Resort on Oct. 15, 2016.

The dinner was hosted by their children, grandchildren, and spouses

Jim and Geri were married on Oct. 20, 1956, at St. Mary's Catholic Church. Together they raised four children, Jim, Jackie, Tom and Machele. Geri was blessed to be able to be a stay-at-home mom and Jim retired from Pioneer Equipment in 1999.

Jim and Geri enjoy spending time with family and traveling with family any chance they can. They especially enjoyed going to see their seven grandchildren's sporting events and now get to see four great-grandchildren at their events.
As a lifelong hunter, I have seen many new hunters, both young and old, harvest their first pheasant. The smiles and excitement are priceless. Whether its watching a good dog work a patch of grass, having a bird explode from under your feet, or listening to friends and family reminisce of past adventures, hunting is a time-honored tradition.

Im deeply concerned with one of the final acts the Obama administration put in place, which was an order to ban traditional ammunition on most federal lands. The fact of the matter is, this misguided directive is going to push hunters away from the sport, which has serious long-term implications for our state.

Whenever I spend money on hunting or recreational shooting, Im proud to know Im supporting local businesses and conservation programs. It is this money spent by hunters and shooters that pays for conservation via licenses and stamps and the Pittman-Robertson Act, which became law in 1937 and created an 11 percent tax on all ammunition, firearms and other hunting equipment. Believe it or not, hunters lobbied for these taxes and fees themselves because, as hunters, we understand the true importance of conservation.

Unfortunately, this directive from the Obama administration was hastily put in place at the last minute without any public input or proper legislative hearings. Issued under cover of darkness by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe, Directors Order 219 places an immediate ban on the use of traditional ammunition in national parks, wildlife refuges and all other lands administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This order, if not quickly eradicated by the new administration, could drastically impact hunters and conservation as a whole in our country. What Ashe fails to mention is the more expensive alternative ammunition (though not statistically safer) that would be required on many public hunting lands under Directors Order 219 will price many hunters out of the market. This reduction in hunters will result in not only a loss in wildlife management dollars for the state, but also jobs. Currently, hunting supports over 2,300 jobs in the state.

Make no mistake about it, Ashes order is a radical act of executive overreach with no supporting scientific data to back up the claim. Directors Order 219 cites as its basis the misleading, if not fully debunked, claim that there is an ongoing risk to birds that ingest spent shot directly from the ground or as a result of predating or scavenging carcasses that have been killed with lead ammunition and left in the field. This misleading statement offers no scientific data nor actuarial study to give credence to his claim. The reason Ashe fails to cite supporting data is because it simply doesnt exist.

For more than a century, hundreds of millions of Americans have safely consumed game harvested using traditional hunting ammunition. Absent sound scientific evidence, there is no justifications for restricting or banning its use. We have seen similar tactics over the years from the radical, anti-hunting lobby. Unfortunately in this case, Directors Order 219 harms what it claims to help most, namely habitat and wildlife populations.

Hunters were the first group to take action to protect, conserve and enhance America's wildlife over 100 years ago. For the sake of hunters, future generations and wildlife across North Dakota, lets hope that the new administration does the right thing and eliminates this nonsense once and for all.
Just through the doors of the Montana Historical Society, the mass of weathered wood that once ferried native people across the Flathead River stretches down the lobby.

It is the first time in half a century the Nez Perce dugout canoe has been brought from storage and put on public display, its fragile walls now anchored with steel rods but still holding the same shape as in 1860 when it was built by Ed Lamorais and Alikot. But the canoe is just one of the many artifacts and items displayed in MHSs new exhibit, Hooked: Fishing in Montana, which opened Jan. 19.

With this exhibit we really wanted to emphasize that Montanans really love their opportunities to fish because Montana offers so many different kinds of fishing in such beautiful settings, said curator Maggie Ordon.

From primitive spears to bamboo fly rods, Hooked is about a celebration of the states fishing history, said MHS registrar Kendra Newhall.

Space is always our No. 1 challenge, she said. There is so much you can cover in this exhibit.

Many of the items came from the museums own collection. Others were borrowed from private collections, including that of the late Norman Maclean, author of A River Runs Through It.

We were really lucky to get on loan from Norman Macleans son some items that Norman used, Ordon said.

Macleans plaid shirt adorns one display while fly rods owned by his father, himself and his son are framed nearby. The idea of sharing fishing across families and generations was an important aspect of the display, she said.

Fishing decoys used to lure fish in close enough to spear, a bamboo cane pole and early casting rods show the evolution and many different methods of fishing. Historic 1930s film footage of hatchery spawning at Georgetown Lake is another highlight, and a special kids area offers some fun for the younger members of the family.

Paintings by famed Montana frontier artist Ralph DeCamp show the cultural impact of fishing in the state. Charlie Russell said of DeCamp that he painted the wettest water he had ever seen, so wet you could hear it ripple, according to historian Ellen Baumler

We were really excited to showcase some artifacts we dont normally have an opportunity to display, Ordon said.

Also acknowledged is the role fisheries managers and conservation has played in keeping Montana a fishing mecca.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, tribes and other individuals and organizations have really worked to maintain Montana as a really special place, Ordon said.

Ordon and Newhall expect the exhibit to bring back fishing memories for visitors while the history will excite others.

A lot of people will be really excited about the fly-fishing because thats a really large group of people that are enthusiasts, Newhall said, but then theres going to be some other people interested in the bait fishing. Its just the enjoyment everyone gets out of it is what youll want to equate.

Ordon and Newhall also co-curated the Big Game, Big Stories: Montanas Hunting Heritage currently on exhibit. The hunting exhibit will be up until next June, and the fishing exhibit until February 2018.
An 8-month-old coonhound found himself trapped in a perilous situation after jamming his head into the center of a mag wheel at his Butte owners home last week.

It took three hours of effort by owner Joel Patton, veterinarian Darrell Turley, and firefighters, but the Butte-Silver Bow Fire Department finally extracted the puppy, Blaze, from the loose wheel last Monday.

"We put the story on our Facebook page because it was kind of a goodwill story, with all the negativity in the world," said Battalion Chief Bill Fisher.

I think the puppy was chasing a bunny or a mouse or something, said Fisher, part of the team that ultimately safely unhinged the canine.

Those real long, pendulum ears just hang and get into everything, said Lisa Turley, spokeswoman for her husband, veterinarian Darrell Turley, who was unable to speak Saturday due to a cold.

The puppys ultra-long ears, common to coonhounds, proved to be his undoing as he managed to squeeze them completely through the wheel.

When owner Joel Patton arrived home to find Blaze stuck, he applied coconut oil to try to squeeze Blaze out of the trap  but to no avail.

Patton transported his pooch to St. Francis Veterinary Hospital, then the fire department was summoned to extract Blaze.

The vet didnt know what to do, so they called us, wrote Fire Marshal Brian Doherty and fire house coordinator Shelly Jones on Facebook after the Monday ordeal.

The team of Doherty, firefighter Zach Osborne, Patton, Fisher, and vet tech Kendall Torpey worked on Blaze for a few minutes to loosen the wheel's grip.

Once it was stabilized, they were able to use Dawn dishwashing liquid all around his head and neck to make it extra slippery, said Lisa Turley. Oil has a little bit of traction to it.

Doherty and Jones elaborated, tongue in cheek, on Facebook:

With a lot of coconut oil, patience, a lot of ear tucking, and some powerful skin-pulling, Blazes head was quickly and successfully extricated from the wheel without the use of tools, but with Firefighter Zach Osborne's brute strength. Blaze remained uninjured throughout the ordeal. Although some minor neck swelling was noted by the firefighters. Blaze remained calm, cool, and collected throughout the ordeal; he did not make a sound.

It was touch and go for a while, though.

With the tire being so tight around his neck, he was starting to lose oxygen and starting to turn blue, said Turley.

Finally free, the pup was watched closely. The vet placed an oxygen mask on Blaze for about 20 minutes to help him recover from the trauma.

Then the doctor could look in his mouth, and Blaze was able to swallow, Turley said.

Blaze started to eat about half an hour later.

The puppy is doing great. He had some minor abrasions around his neck and head and ears, said Lisa Turley.

The vet released him Monday evening. Owner Joel Patton could not be reached for comment.

At any rate, its rare for a dog to get crammed into such an unusual spot.

We havent seen it before, Turley said, but we have seen other things, such as (beef) bones stuck around a whole muzzle, she said. Weve seen a lot of odd things in our profession, but nothing as severe as this.

On Friday, when posing for station photos, Blazed voiced his displeasure at the wheel upon seeing it again, Fisher said, chuckling.

The black-and-tan coonhound probably wont be chasing cars any time soon.

Hopefully this was a valuable lesson for young Blaze and we wont have to respond to any more menacing incidents involving this playful puppy, said Doherty on Facebook.

Blazes story has gone national, too, perhaps due to its happy ending. See info box.
This is an open letter to Rep. Derek Skees, who is promoting a "Personhood Amendment" to prohibit abortion.

Rep. Skees, how is it that you fail to understand that under existing law ABORTIONS ARE NOT MANDATORY? If you do not realize this basic fact, then perhaps you also fail to understand that 70 percent of Americans support the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision.

The Personhood Amendment ain't gonna happen, so quit wasting taxpayer dollars on futile attempts to make it so. Your proposed legislation is a perfect example of why we should limit legislators to one bill per session. Maybe we need an initiative to do just that!

-- Bob Balhiser, Helena
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater seems to be a recurring theme in todays politics. But now, it appears that some in the Legislature are willing to pitch fully grown adults out the window as well.

Introduced this week by Tea Party stalwart Rep. Derek Skees of Kalispell was a bill to eliminate the office of the Commissioner of Political Practices. Skees bill would take the campaign reporting aspects of the office and give them to the Secretary of State, while transferring the enforcement aspect to the office of the Attorney General.

We cast no aspersion on the current holders of those offices when we say the bill is tantamount to assigning the fox to cover the henhouse. Elected officials policing elected officials is not our idea of reform.

When the greasiest scandal in a century  Watergate  smeared the political landscape, the problem wasnt just the secret tapes and the burglary and the Saturday Night Massacre. It was the fast-and-loose campaign cash machine called CREEP  the Committee to Reelect the President  which basically ran a slush fund out of a safe in the White House.

The zeal to reform federal campaign finance law post-Watergate produced the Federal Election Commission  an admirably conceived if weakly structured body  and other significant changes.

Meanwhile, back in Montana, Gov. Tom Judge, himself not untainted by campaign-contribution controversy, decided the state needed to fix its campaign policing mechanism, and fix it right.

He assigned a committee that included representatives of Common Cause, The League of Women Voters, the state Chamber of Commerce, organized labor, and others to come up with a solution.

The problem wasnt the states Corrupt Practices Act, a visionary measure enacted by initiative in 1912 that survived rock-solid for a century until the ill-advised Citizens United decision finally took it out of play. The problem was the reporting and enforcement mechanism, which was too weak. The old law left those functions up to the Secretary of State  sound familiar?  and that structure was ineffective.

Judges committee ultimately decided on a nonpartisan election cop, appointed by the governor after names are submitted by legislative leaders of both parties. And, in the 1975 legislative session, the Commissioner of Political Practices was born.

Buttes own Evan Barrett was on that committee, and he had this to say when asked about it last week: We have a system that has stood the test of time. In spite of Citizens United and some other things, it has managed to remain effective. The structure is sound. I dont know why youd want to change it.

Indeed. Tom Judges committee and that 1975 Legislature created the toughest campaign-policing statute in the country, and in the succeeding four decades Montanas system has been the envy of other states. We believe it would be an enormous step backward to dismantle it. Of all the ways this Legislature could go sideways and end up being remembered for doing the wrong thing, this bill could be the most damaging.

While we are confident Gov. Steve Bullock would veto such a measure, the Legislature would be well-served to drop this bill and focus on the more constructive task of helping to identify and ultimately confirm an excellent replacement for current Commissioner Jonathan Motl, whose term expired Jan. 1.

We cannot let big-money interests wearing the cloak of populism gut one of our states key protections against corruption.
Montanas only state-run psychiatric hospital is so understaffed that its unsafe at times. Thats a concern Montana State Hospital doctors shared with the Mental Disability Board of Visitors staff recently.

Last month, the hospital at Warm Springs came close to losing its federal funding agreement because of serious deficiencies found in a Jan. 13 inspection. The hospital, which is part of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, responded by hiring temporary staff and approving more overtime pay, thus averting the Feb. 8 federal termination announced in a legal ad Jan. 26 in the Montana Standard in Butte.

If a private hospital or nursing home had been cited for similar immediate jeopardy deficiencies, it could have been shut down  by DPHHS.

In the case of the state hospital, its 240 patients wouldnt have had anywhere to go. So a very temporary, expensive patch was applied and the crisis wasnt resolved.

The problem is that Montana spends way too much of its mental health budget on a single hospital that is distant from population centers. It has been chronically understaffed for years while patients who could return to their community are isolated from family, home and all the connections that people need to live independently.

Community care

At the same time, Montana has chronically underfunded community-based services, and has failed to create an effective system that rewards quality of care rather than quantity of services.

Across the state, community-based services do not have sufficient transition options for all individuals leaving state facilities, the Mental Disabilities Board of Visitors said in its 2016 annual report. The bottleneck effect of individuals who cannot leave a state facility when a community provider cannot provide services is felt across the system.

When this report was written last August, Montana State Hospital was full with about 200 patients and 50 forensic patients were at a newly rented building several miles away in Galen. The forensic patients are either being evaluated in a criminal case or have been sent to the hospital because of their involvement in a criminal case. They do need to be in a secure facility.

But most of the 200 patients at Warm Springs have committed no crime; they have been civilly committed or held temporarily because they pose an immediate risk of harm to themselves (usually) or others. These people should be served in the community.

As of this week, Montana State Hospital sheltered about 30 people who are ready for discharge but have no place to go, said Daniel Ladd, executive director for the board of visitors, which is in the governors office.

Ladd agrees with the 2016 reports recommendation that the state move away from the fee-for-service system it uses to pay community providers per unit of treatment. Instead, Ladd said, the state needs a system based on quality and accountability.

What we need is effective community-based services, Ladd told The Gazette. The best way to get people out of the state hospital is to keep them from going in.

More money wont solve the problem. The state last year actually expanded its mental institution capacity by renting the Galen forensic building. The Warm Springs forensic unit was overcrowded, but the real problem is too many civil patients who should have been treated in their communities.

The Galen rental didnt solve the problem, according to what the public has learned about the January hospital survey.

Cutting the state hospital budget without significantly changing the system wont solve the problem. Gov. Steve Bullock and DPHHS administration must work with lawmakers, Montana community care providers and other mental health advocates to direct limited resources where they are most needed.

The states modest efforts to boost community services have helped, but Montana must do much better.

$44 million budget

There are good doctors and other health care professionals at Warm Springs, but the vast majority of their patients would have been better served with effective care in their communities  avoiding the expense and trauma of deteriorating till they were threatening to kill themselves and forced to take a cross-state trip away from everyone they know.

Montana State Hospital has a budget of $44 million for this fiscal year, making it the states most expensive behavioral health service. It would be cheaper for taxpayers and better for patients to provide them a home in the community instead of a state hospital bed.

Montana policy must change to keep people healthier outside the state hospital with high-quality community care.

-- The Billings Gazette
MUSCATINE, Iowa  Members of the Iowa Legislature discussed the states recent education budget cuts in a legislative forum Saturday morning at Muscatine Community College. The event attracted so many people that there were not enough seats for everyone and a line at least 10 people-deep formed near the podium.

In their introductory remarks, most of the representatives and senators addressed the $117.8 million deficit in the 2017 state budget. To balance the budget, the government cut $18 million in funding to universities and $3 million in funding to community colleges, among other cuts to correctional facilities, the courts and more.

Sen. Robert E. Dvorsky, a Democrat who represents Cedar County and northeast Johnson County, said the state should have used its rainy day fund to reduce the deficit.

Rep. Gary Carlson, a Republican from Muscatine, said that using the states reserve fund wasnt an option because the state would have had to replenish the reserve next year.

The state budget has continued to grow and the revenue has continued to grow, it just hasnt grown at the pace that we anticipated it would grow, Carlson said.

Later in the session, a Muscatine Community College student asked if there was a way to prevent the $3 million cut to community colleges, and the elected officials explained the measure already passed and cuts will proceed.

I think we need to put the junior colleges back to the top of the list. Help fund them and continue their good work that they do, said Rep. David Kerr, a Republican who represents Louisa County and the rural areas of Des Moines and Muscatine counties.

Members of the audience also brought up K-12 education. Carlson explained that K-12 was not part of the recent round of cuts, and that school districts struggle because of declining enrollment.

Sen. Thomas A. Greene, a Republican who represents Des Moines, Louisa and Muscatine counties, said education is a priority in Iowa, and that it accounts for more than half of the states budget.

Fifty-five percent of our $7.3 billion budget goes to education, you know, pre-K, K-12, community colleges and the three state universities. Fifty-five percent, its a huge number, but we have to make sure that were spending that money appropriately and that it goes in the right direction, he said, adding that declining enrollment is the biggest problem facing schools today.

The solution to the declining enrollment in schools, he said, is to create more jobs that will bring more people with families to the state.

I think those are the factors (of) how we get our communities to grow and how we get our schools to grow, Greene said.
FARGO  The head of the local Catholic diocese says he was outraged by The Forum of Fargo-Moorheads story about a local man accused of being a "Nazi," because the newspaper interviewed the alleged white supremacist at a Fargo cathedral.

The story centered around Pete Tefft, a Fargo resident whos been the target of signs posted downtown accusing him of being a Nazi. The signs show Tefft's photo and ask people to tell him he's not welcome in the area.

A Forum reporter first interviewed Tefft via email and later in person at St. Marys Cathedral, a site Tefft requested. The story included a photo of Tefft standing in the downtown cathedral with a Virgin Mary statue behind him.

To voice his displeasure with the story, Bishop John Folda of the Fargo Diocese issued the following statement Saturday:

I wish to express my outrage and objection to the article. ... The subject of the interview, a Mr. Pete Tefft, insisted that the interview be conducted on the premises of St. Marys Cathedral in Fargo without permission of church authorities, which most certainly would not have been given, especially given the contents of the story and the message presented by Mr. Tefft. The views of Mr. Tefft in no way represent the Catholic Church or the Diocese of Fargo. Mr. Tefft and the Forums abuse of this place of worship is regrettable, and any confusion it has caused is their responsibility.

In response, Forum Editor Matt Von Pinnon said, "Mr. Tefft asked that we meet him at the Cathedral of St. Mary because he said he had a meeting there afterward. We had no reason to believe he wasn't telling the truth."

In a Facebook message to The Forum, Tefft said the cathedral had not given him permission to be interviewed there and that he did not request permission. He said he attends Mass there and that the meeting he had after the interview was for weekly adoration training that he was signed up for.

In the message, Tefft apologized to the cathedral and its parishioners for any trouble he may have caused.

I love St. Mary's and the Fargo/Moorhead Catholic Diocese. It was the only place I felt safe and spiritually secure discussing Pro-white issues with the press, he wrote. These days sticking up for white people is seen as heretical, especially to the cult of secularism which controls our federal Govt. I certainly wouldn't want to or have St. Mary's Cathedral do anything that would affect their 501c3 tax exempt status. Any recourse they take against me I will accept. I will continue to be a devout Catholic despite whatever happens.
WILL OF THE PEOPLE WORLD TOUR 2023
I will not be attending the inaugural AMTA symposium. I want you to know this from the get go. I have looked at the program and just can'...
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 []
In the spring of 2014, Jacob Odermann went out to fix some fence before turning pairs to their spring pasture north of Belfield. He heard a popping noise and realized it was hunters shooting at prairie dogs in his direction.

When he confronted the two hunters, they told him his "no trespassing" signs werent valid because they werent signed. Odermann asked them to leave, and they did; but the incident influenced his decision to testify in favor of a trespassing bill under consideration in the North Dakota Legislature.

Why is the onus on my family and my family alone to protect my private property? he asked the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Friday.

Senate Bill 2225 would remove the requirement that landowners post "no trespassing" signs on their land to keep people off it.

North Dakota agriculture groups came out strongly in favor of the proposal. Representatives from North Dakota Farm Bureau, North Dakota Farmers Union, North Dakota Stockmens Association, Independent Beef Association of North Dakota and the North Dakota Ag Coalition were joined Friday by landowners, farmers and ranchers in asking the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to support the bill.

Hunters and outdoors groups, however, testified the bill would reduce access to hunting, would hurt relationships between hunters and landowners and wouldnt reduce the incidence of slob hunters trespassing, cutting wires and disrespecting property rights.

The hearing drew more than 100 people, causing IBAND president Larry Kinev to note that hed seen free beer draw a smaller crowd than this.

Sen. Donald Schaible, R-Mott, sponsored the bill. Though it was in part a reaction to the anti-Dakota Access Pipeline protests going on in his district, Schaible said the bill would take care of a longstanding issue in which landowners must put up hundreds of signs to keep people off their land.

North Dakota Farm Bureau President Daryl Lies said the requirement for property owners to take action to keep people off their land has been in place throughout most of the states history. But that doesnt mean it shouldnt change, he said.

With technology has come an increased ability to locate landowners, he said, so the argument that owners not posting their land will decrease the ability to find the person responsible for hunting decisions doesnt hold weight.

Kinev said the land is his home, and he doesnt feel like he should have to put up a sign to keep people out of his home.

Do you have the right to come into my home without permission to use this resource? he asked.

This current law infringes on private property rights, agreed Trevor Graff of the North Dakota Stockmens Association.

Bill supporters repeatedly pointed out they arent against hunting; they just want hunters to ask for permission. "No trespassing" signs dont always stay up, they said.

A 'no trespassing' sign under current law is only good until someone tears it down and throws it in the ditch, said Selfridge rancher Allen Lund.

But sportsmens groups and hunters said problems under the current law were rare and involve only a few bad actors. Mike McEnroe, of the North Dakota Wildlife Federation, said about 100 complaints have been filed annually from 2008 to 2016 concerning trespassing violations.

The bill is too blunt an instrument to deal with the actions of a relative few, said John Deveny, vice president of U.S. policy for Delta Waterfowl.

Eric Lindstrom, national manager of agriculture policy for Ducks Unlimited, said if there arent places for people to hunt, they dont hunt. That creates declining funds for conservation and agencies that are funded through excise taxes on hunting gear, said Terry Steinwand, director of North Dakota Game and Fish.

Bill Helphrey, of the North Dakota Bowhunting Association, said trespass laws may work in Wyoming or Montana, where land is kept in large tracts held by one owner and where there is ample public land for hunting. But North Dakota, he said, is only 9.1 percent public land.

Tourism director Sara Otte Coleman said her agency is neutral on the bill, but she pointed out the large amount of revenue brought in by out-of-state hunters who come to the state in part because of the private lands available for hunting.

And not all landowners support the bill. Some eastern North Dakota farmers said theyve never had problems with hunters on their property, and the land in that part of the state is often so segmented that it is difficult to find out who owns what.

Tom Bair of Mandan owns property in Burke County. He doesnt post the land, because he wants hunters there. The plat book still shows the land in his deceased fathers name, making it impossible for hunters to find the right person to ask for permission, he said.

I want hunters to use that resource, he said.
ROLLA -- More than two weeks after the fact, authorities still have not named two suspected criminals who were shot and killed in separate cases days apart last month in Rolette County, including the man who killed a sheriffs deputy.

An intruder was killed during a break-in at a home in rural Rolette County on Jan. 22. The fatal home invasion came just four days after Colt Allery, a Rolette County deputy sheriff, was fatally shot after a vehicle chase on Jan. 18.

Though authorities have not released the name of the suspect in the Allery shooting, news reports have identified him as Melvin DeLong, 28, of Belcourt.

Two other Rolette County sheriffs deputies have been placed on administrative leave in connection with the Allery shooting, along with a Rolla police officer. The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting.

In the break-in, six people, including children, were in a home 2 miles outside Rolla when they heard someone trying to break in, the sheriffs office has said. The intruder was shot and killed.

Rolette County Sheriff Gerald Medrud said last week that he could not provide the intruders name and referred questions to Ryan Thompson, the county states attorney, or to the BCI, which is helping with the investigation.

I havent worked the case and do not have any facts, Medrud said. You need to check the other agencies.

Multiple calls over several days last week left for Thompson, at his office and residence, seeking the name of the intruder were not answered. Nor did Thompson respond to an email sent Friday afternoon asking him to provide the name or cite his legal justification for withholding the name.

Liz Brocker, a spokeswoman for the state attorney generals office, which oversees the BCI, said any records the agency might have containing the intruders name or the name of the suspect who shot Allery would relate to an ongoing investigation and therefore would be exempt from North Dakotas open records law.

Also, she added, the BCIs role is that of an assisting agency, and the requesting agency maintains jurisdiction.

We cannot speak for or on behalf of the local law enforcement agency or states attorneys, she said.

North Dakota has a new law protecting the rights of crime victims, including privacy. Voters passed Marsys Law in the November election, and it took effect Dec. 1.

Law enforcement officials have been, in some cases, unsure what information can be released under the laws privacy provision, which allows victims or their families to prevent the release of information identifying them.

Whether a criminal suspect who is shot could be construed as a victim wasnt addressed in the sole advisory opinion the attorney generals office has released on how to interpret Marsys Law.

Lacee Anderson, a Bismarck lawyer and Marsys Law advocate, has said the law does not apply to information about crimes that is routinely made public. That interpretation is shared by Erik Johnson the Fargo city attorney.

As terms of the standard practice of law enforcement of disclosing basic elements of crime and the location, I dont think theres any change in that, Johnson said in early December.
SANTIAGO, Chile  The flames consumed everything on Sonia Diazs land: the machinery, supplies, even the shed for her sheep. But the 70-year-old artisan weaver still hopes to rise from the ashes.

Diaz is one of thousands of people who have lost most of their belongings and their livelihoods to some of the worst wildfires in Chiles history. Besides farmers and ranchers, hundreds of small-scale winemakers, beekeepers and artisans have also lost everything.

With the flames seeming to be finally dying down  though they sometimes spread anew when winds whip up smoldering ash  survivors are looking at how to recover their livelihoods amid complaints by some that state aid is not enough given the extent of the devastation.

Im going to rise again through hard work, and hard work alone, said Diaz, who had been assessing the damage to her town with other local artisans when she got a call warning her that the flames were spreading fast from the hills onto her land.

By the time she arrived, the fires had destroyed her supplies, including the wool she uses to make blankets, tapestries and shawls. Everything got burned but her home located in Pumanque, some 130 miles (215 kilometers) south of the capital, Santiago.

The ferocity of the blazes led President Michelle Bachelet to issue a state of emergency, deploy troops and seek international aid. Supertanker planes from the United States and Russia have dumped thousands of gallons of water to assist local crews.

In all, more than 20,000 people, including firefighters and experts from more than a dozen countries, have battled the wildfires that Bachelet has called the worst forest disaster in Chiles history. At least 11 deaths have been blamed on the fires.

The fires have consumed forests and entire towns. But many continue to show the same stoicism that has helped Chileans to recover from other natural disasters, including large earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

Bachelet said on Friday that the flames are no longer threatening residential areas for now and that her government is beginning to hand out money and food to the Chilean who have been worst-hit by the fires.

The emergency situation is still ongoing, so its important to not drop our guard, Bachelet said.

So far, the government has spent about $330 million to control the emergency and is helping small-scale farmers rebuild their homes and lands, said Finance Minister Rodrigo Valdes. The full extent of the damage has yet to be quantified.

An estimated 80 families that made a living from beekeeping lost their livelihoods in the area near the city of Cauquenes, about 220 miles (350 kilometers) south of Santiago. About 63 million bees died in the area and some 240 million bees are at high risk, said forestry engineer and beekeeper consultant Carlos Correa.

Beekeeper Jorge Andrade complained that the $1,500 government aid that he will get for losing it all, is nothing, and will only help him recover a small fraction of his hundreds of beehives.
A healthy dog treat company, photography business and therapeutic riding center were just three of a dozen start-up businesses recognized at the Jan. 21 Youth Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition.

Twelve teams presented PowerPoint business plans to a panel of judges and winners were announced at the end of the competition, held at Napa Valley College.

Connor Harris from Napa High School won first place in the high school division for his business, Connor Days Photography. He received $1,000 cash, donated by competition sponsors.

First place college division went to Chris Jordan and Marissa Renda for their business, Benefit Biscuits, healthy treats for dogs. Their prize of $1,500 was also awarded by the competition sponsors.

Competing students were selected as finalists from more than 100 business plans submitted from students at Napa Valley College and Napa and Sonoma County high schools.

Student teams worked directly with professional business consultants, paid for by the Youth Entrepreneurship Program grant, to polish their plans and presentations.

Business plans included research on product supply and demand, financial statements, marketing strategies and social media.

I spoke with an incredible student today, said competition judge, Dr. Ron Kraft, President of Napa Valley College. She was full of energy, intelligence and excitement, and it was clear that she and hundreds like her will be successful if they continue to follow their dreams.

Sponsoring businesses include Petaluma Poultry, Capital Access Group, Working Solutions, BD Company, EyeWorks Optometry, CellarPass and MarketPlace magazine.
As wineries work to cultivate the future of the Napa Valley wine industry, growth for many is trellised around one key component: guests.

For years, winery efforts to enhance the visitors experience have been changing the face of the valleys core industry. Today, business models increasingly hinge on the allure of a memorable visit, and wineries are in hot pursuit of distinguishability  seeking ways to set themselves apart from hundreds of competitors throughout the valley.

When a visitor comes to Napa and they visit three properties in a day, all three properties are going to pitch them their wine club, said Julia Eklund, direct-to-consumer marketing manager at Etude winery. So its really just about where you have the best experience.

For many in the fine wine space, the only path to market these days is direct sales, said Rob McMillan, executive vice president and founder of Silicon Valley Banks Wine Division. In a phone interview this week, McMillan reiterated the results of an annual survey of tasting rooms undertaken in part by SVBs wine division. Direct sales today represent as much as 60 percent of the average winerys revenue, he said.

The evolution of the tasting room as the core of many wineries business models can be traced back several decades, growing out of the crossroads of distributor consolidation and a boom in new wineries throughout the county. Today, an untold number of wineries in the Napa Valley vie for visitors as too few distributors take on a limited cast of labels.

John Williams, owner and founder of Frogs Leap winery in Rutherford, described what he sees as almost an escalation of Napa wineries cogitating how they might draw in more visitors to counter the effects of a shrunken number of distributors.

To this end, many wineries are refining their hosting capabilities. Some are seeking approval from the Napa County Planning Commission for updated use permits allowing higher production and visitor limits, or the construction of more visitor space.

Frogs Leap and Etude are among the handful of wineries that received such approvals in recent months. Both were granted increases to their visitation limits amid other permissions.

For Frogs Leap, the request was retroactive, put forward once Williams and his team realized the winery was exceeding the visitor limits of its previous permit. We were aghast, Williams said of the discovery, and the winery immediately began a three-and-a-half year process to gain approval.

The boost in visitors at Frogs Leap began around 2007, explained Williams, as the recession depressed the wholesale market and the winery first established its wine club, The Fellowship of the Frog. The club was a success, Williams said, and drew in nearly 4,000 so-called Frogfellows over the course of a few years.

Well now this is their winery in Napa Valley, Williams said. So when they come to Napa Valley, guess where they want to trump off? Theyve got to come here.

Their guest numbers now in compliance with their new limits, the winerys focus, Williams said, is squarely on the wholesale market, where the majority of its wine is sold through a distribution network that extends to every state and overseas.

But Williams acknowledged the direct sales channel is not a component of the business to be discarded. Quite honestly, at this point if it went away, particularly the Fellowship, wed have to work harder to sell our wine in the distribution market.

For smaller, lesser-known operations, however, the ability to rely on a solid distribution network has continued to evaporate as a viable option for sales. Were now a significant enough player for most of the distributors, Williams said, ... but if we were a no-name just starting up, making a small amount of wine, itd be damned difficult.

Seated in the southerly Carneros region, Etude winery is known both for its pinot noir and the quiet reprieve it offers from the more heavily visited areas of the valley. Though Etude wines are distributed nationally, Eklund estimated direct to consumer sales make up about 30 percent of the winerys business.

Were a smaller brand, Eklund said, and people, really in order to understand us, need to come here and visit and see everything we offer  Just seeing our bottle in the store, you dont get the full story of Etude and we want to be able to share that.

Days before the new year, the winery won approval to increase both its production and visitation limits, and to construct a new patio that will feature prominently into the wine club, Eklund said. The forthcoming patio will allow club members to reserve outdoor space when visiting the winery for the complimentary tasting that comes with the membership.

Whats different about wine clubs now is looking at it not so much as three shipments a year of four bottles, but the total experience, said James Caudill, director of marketing communications for Treasury Wine Estates, the Australian company that owns Etude, Beringer, Beaulieu Vineyard, Stags Leap Winery and a number of other Napa Valley wineries.

Lots of places have special rooms, special parties, special events of all kinds that are exclusive to wine members, Caudill said. So the evolution of what a wine club is, the definition of that is clearly changing and expanding and becoming more personalized to people.

The shift toward personalization has also become apparent beyond wine clubs. In some cases, it can even mean a winery shrinking its number of visitors.

Opus One winery in Oakville received the countys green light early last summer for construction of a more than 50,000-square-foot addition to the rear of the winery. The iconic Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild conception is slated for a new barrel storage space and administrative offices, as well as a new visitor center and tasting room.

For years the winerys tasting room has occupied the former private offices of Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, explained Christopher Barefoot, vice president of Communications and Guest Relations, in an email this week.

The new, larger space will in fact allow for more intimate one-on-one seated tastings, in contrast to a tasting bar, Barefoot wrote, and will be hosted by a specialist who will share the winerys story with its guests.

Despite its request for the additional visitor facilities, Barefoot pointed out that the winery has actively reduced visitation numbers over the last decade, writing that even with the new space, ...we may indeed continue to reduce the total number of visitors to our winery in order to enhance the visitors experience.

Barefoot stressed however, the Opus One team sees its winery first and foremost as the facility for us to produce the finest wine possible  and not as a marketing tool to sell wine.

Another winery taking the less-traveled path to personalization is Clos du Val, in the heart of the Stags Leap district. The winery halved production last year amid a sea change in direction, and is applying to the county for increased visitor facilities.

But coinciding with the request for additional space is the winerys transition from a public tasting room to tastings by prior reservation only. The intent, said Director of Marketing Tiffany Kenny, is to have a smaller group environment and  to provide a more personal guest experience at Clos Du Val.

Meanwhile, the on-going competition between wineries to enhance the visitors experience has some in the industry anxious about the future.

What Im concerned about is that were going to get more and more and more desperate fighting over the handful of visitors who come here, Williams said.  if I get fewer visitors, my business models not dependent on that, but if your business models dependent on that, and you get into a competitive situation for these visitors, well, then, wheres this stop?

At the same time, Williams said, Were not going to keep people from coming to visit the Napa Valley, right?

McMillan observed that one factor limiting growth is the sheer lack of additional wine that can be made in the valley. What we have planted right now in Napa is effectively what were going to have, he said. The volume of wine made in Napa is kind of locked in now.

McMillan also noted that from the most recent tasting room survey results, the percentage of the average winerys revenue coming from direct to consumer sales appears to have stabilized. There has to be a leveling off at some point, he said. Maybe weve reached it.
Catherine Jean Brady passed away on January 17 after a short but brave battle with cancer. She was in St. Helena with family by her side.

Catherine, who went by her middle name of Jean, was born to John and Pauline Kelly on March 20, 1925. Jean was raised along with two younger sisters in the small farming community of North Bend, Nebraska.

Growing up, Jean was a very good student and very adept at helping in the family store. She cultivated her business skills at an early age by selling cigarettes to her schoolmates out the back door of her fathers grocery store.

After high school Jean moved to Lincoln, Nebraska where she attended business school and worked for Union Pacific Railroad. It was there that she met and soon fell in love with a young Army soldier named George Condon.

While waiting for the end of the war and Georges return from his deployment in the Philippines, Jean moved to San Mateo where she continued to work for Union Pacific Railroad. Jean and George were married and started a family shortly after his return from the war.

Initially Jean worked at home raising their four children. As the children got a bit older, Jean returned to the workforce as bookkeeper and office manager for a large construction firm and later a CPA firm before joining the administration office at Aragon High School.

Jean and George raised a family and enjoyed twenty years together. Their union was cut short when George contracted cancer and died at the early age of 41.

In 1970 Jean married the second love of her life, William Brady. Bill had three grown children and had lost his wife about the same time Jean had lost George. They had known each other for some years as both families attended St Matthews Catholic Church and School in San Mateo.

Shortly after their marriage, Bill and Jean, and Jeans daughter Patricia, moved to London, England for Bills work. They took full advantage of the wonderful cultural and historic opportunities available in London for the five years they lived there. When Bills project was complete the couple transferred to Houston, Texas where they lived for 3 years. Eventually they moved back to San Mateo where Bill closed out his career working at Bechtels headquarters in San Francisco.

After Bills retirement, the couple joined son Tom and daughter Patricia in St. Helena where they were active in their church and enjoyed lots of time with granddaughters Katy and Kelly. After several years in St. Helena Bill and Jean relocated to Sun City Roseville. They took full advantage of the many clubs, activities and social events available there. They enjoyed an extremely active retirement for several years until Bills passing in 2011.

After Bills passing Jean relocated to the retirement community of The Meadows of Napa. There she enjoyed the company of many new friends with whom she shared numerous movies, big band music, watching ball games, outings to local restaurants, and many card games.

Jean is survived by sisters Irene Keller and Marilyn Givens, children Gerry Condon (Helen), Tom Condon, Michael Condon (Sandy) and Patricia Zanzonico (Gerard). She is also survived by stepchildren Bill Brady Jr. and Linda Brady, as well as grandchildren Meegan (Earl), Kelly, Katy (Tyler), Zoe, Heather, Heidi, Alison, Michael, Abigail, Elliot, Larry and Jennifer and great granddaughters Helen and Clara. She was preceded in death by husbands, George Condon, and Bill Brady, and stepdaughter Julie Brady.

The family would like to thank Dr. Ioana Bina and all of the wonderful staff at the Martin ONeill Cancer Center of St. Helena Hospital. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Napa Community Projects.

Jeans life will be celebrated in a small private family ceremony.
Police arrested a 23-year-old man on suspicion of vandalism after someone reported seeing him using a hatchet to damage the vehicle at the River Park Shopping Center in Napa on Friday night.

Russell, who was wanted for two arrest warrants, was arrested and booked at the Napa County jail on suspicion of vandalism. He did not provide police with a statement or explain why he was vandalizing the vehicle, Dalessi said.
About one-third of all Americans think that you have to be a Christian to truly be an American - despite the history of religious pluralism that dates back to the nation's very earliest days.

In a timely survey released Wednesday afternoon, just as the United States is debating the merits of suspending immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries, the Pew Research Center asked residents of numerous nations what it takes to truly belong in their countries. Americans were far more likely than residents of other countries included in the survey to say that religion was key to sharing in the national identity.

Thirty-two percent of Americans said one should be Christian to really be American, compared to just 13 percent of Australians, 15 percent of Canadians and 15 percent of Europeans who felt the same way about belonging in their homelands.

The same number of Americans - 32 percent - said that being born in the United States is key to being an American. More Americans - 45 percent - said that sharing "national customs and traditions" was important, and many more - 70 percent - said being an American meant speaking English.

Religion was the only question on which Americans were an outlier. On birth, language and customs, America fell in line with other industrialized nations.

While religious minorities have lived in the United States since before the American Revolution - Thomas Jefferson defended the rights of Muslims, and George Washington wrote a famous letter guaranteeing religious liberty to the Jews of Rhode Island - still pastors and politicians alike have frequently described the United States as a "Christian nation."

Republicans, who are themselves more likely to be Christian, said at a higher rate that one need be Christian to be American: 43 percent compared to 29 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of independents.

One's own religion and race also strongly affected the answers: Pew found that 57 percent of white evangelical Protestants thought it was very important to be Christian in order to be American, while 29 percent of white mainline Protestants, 27 percent of Catholics and just 9 percent of people unaffiliated with a faith felt the same way.

This opinion is apparently becoming much less popular with the younger generation of Americans, who are less likely to affiliate with a religion than generations before them. Among adults over 50, 44 percent told Pew that being Christian was key to being American; among those younger than 35, 18 percent said so.

In Sweden, where 73 percent of the population is Protestant but many do not consider religion important in their lives, a mere 7 percent of respondents felt that one needs to be Christian to be a real Swede. The number was similarly low in several other European countries: 8 percent in the Netherlands, 9 percent in Spain, 10 percent in France and 11 percent in Germany.
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NATO launched a new training programme in Iraq on Sunday (5 February 2017), teaching Iraqi security forces to counter Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). Around 30 enlisted soldiers are participating in the first five-week course. ''NATO's training and capacity building in Iraq is strengthening the country's ability to fight ISIL and provide for its own security,'' said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

NATO Allies are supplying protective equipment to Iraqi security forces as part of their training. The new counter-IED training scheme will run alongside NATO-run courses in Iraq on civil-military cooperation. Since January 2017, NATO advisers have been working in the country, overseeing training activities and working with the Iraqi authorities to reform their security institutions. NATO has been training Iraqi security forces in several areas, including counter-IED, explosive ordnance disposal and de-mining in neighbouring Jordan. At the Warsaw Summit in July of last year, Allies agreed to expand this training into Iraq itself.

The Secretary General stressed that training Iraqi forces is an important part of NATOs contribution to the fight against terrorism, which includes AWACS surveillance support to the Coalition against ISIL. "The best weapon we have in the fight against terrorism is to train local forces," said Mr. Stoltenberg, adding that "a more effective Iraqi military means a safer Iraq, and a more stable Middle East."
Based on the recent sattelite image (above), in addition to the two Type 055 and six Type 052D destroyers, one can see four Type 726A LCACs: Two in the water and two on land (in yellow rectangles). The four Type 726 were built at the same shipyard six years ago. These LCACs were fitted with UGT-6000 ??71 gas turbines from Ukraine. And these were the source of the Type 726 issues: The most widespread rumors mentionned concerns to replace Ukrainian turbines with local ones, and also a problem with the steering system. But according to a source working at the shipyard in question, the problems were rather: - low-frequency vibrations - high noise levels.

The newer and improved Type 726A is fitted with a Chinese propulsion system: The QC-70 gas turbine developed from the WS-10 aviation engine. In terms of development, it is interesting to note that Chinese aeronautical group AVIC had a role in the design of the Type 726 / Type 726A. For example, the assembly of the propeller fairing is made by the CAC (Chengdu Aircraft Corporation), a subsidiary of AVIC, which today produces J-10B and J-20 fighter jets.
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"The woman had eloped with a youth and crossed over to Bangladesh in February last year. They were apprehended and jailed," a police official said here.

After being in jail for a year, the three returned to their homes in Belonia in southern Tripura.

--IANS sc/tsb/mr

( 78 Words)

2017-02-05-15:48:06 (IANS)
She sashayed down the runway in a neon-green lehenga with a modern twist from the designer's collection.

Malaika's lehenga had embroidery on the hem and frills with an orange choli in corset style and the dupatta had sequins work.

Her hair were styled in a middle part, sleek low bun with a choker style necklace and she wore minimal makeup.

The 43-year-old opened LFW Day Five and her bestie actor Kareena Kapoor Khan will be closing the night as she would walk the ramp for the first time post her pregnancy for Anita Dongre. (ANI)
Instituting a veiled attack on the leadership of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramaniam Swamy on Sunday said it would be awkward if AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala goes on to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, citing her involvement in the disproportionate assets case. "There was no bar to Sasikala becoming the Chief Minister but, the practical questions are there. There's my case in the Supreme Court regarding the disproportionate assets. She's also party to it. She is also one of the accused. So, it will be awkward if she becomes the Chief Minister," he told ANI. "Moreover, before she fights by-elections, the Supreme Court judgement will come. So, going by the reports that she is not going to stake a claim to become the Chief Minister, I think, it's a wise move. This is because as it is she is a very powerful person as far as the General Secretary-ship of the party is concerned," he added. Earlier, a meeting of party MLAs to be chaired by Sasikala on Sunday triggered speculations that she was set to replace Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam as the leader of the party. Senior leaders of the AIADMK, however, dismissed rumours of any imminent change in the party leadership and said the meeting was to facilitate better communication between the MLAs and the government. Swamy also attacked Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian for presenting a survey that showed that Indian economy is in a bad shape, which he begs to differ with. "They are still depending on the National Sample Survey for estimates. The economic survey has painted a very gloomy picture. I have made a strong objection against Aravind Subramaniam taking out such a report because the picture is not as gloomy as the Economic Survey is making it out to be," Swamy told ANI. The senior leader also commented on the Chennai oil spill that has been plaguing the state for days now. "It's a shocking thing as the initial statement was that there was no oil spill. And it is huge. So, there are matters that need to be explained. How did the accident happen? Was it negligence? What should be done that it doesn't happen again?" he said. Two vessels namely, M.T. BW MAPLE and M.T. DAWN KANCHIPURAM, while crossing each other collided on January 28 outside the Kamrajar harbour along the Chennai-Ennore coastline. The Oil Tanker, M.T. DAWN KANCHIPURAM, which was carrying 32813 Tonnes of POL, suffered a rupture which led to engine oil spill. A massive clean-up operation was launched in Tiruvallur, Chennai and Kancheepuram Districts by engaging more than 2,000 persons at various sites including Ernavur, Chennai Fishing Harbour, Marine Beach, Besant Nagar, Kottivakkam, Palavakkam, Neelankarai and Injambakkam beaches. (ANI)
"#Jallikattu in Avaniapuram; 1200 tamers, 950 bulls,15 medical teams, 20 ambulances deployed,Thanks 2 Shri @narendramodi ji & #TNCM," the BJP TamilNadu said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway in Alanganallur in Madurai, where Jallikattu will be organised this coming Friday.

The famous venue for the bull taming sport is being held after a gap of three years, with organizers announcing attractive prizes, including a car for the winner.

Jallikattu is usually held during the harvest festival of Pongal in mid-January, but could not be organised in the past three years in view of the ban on the sport.

With the Tamil Nadu government promulgating an ordinance and subsequently getting a Bill passed in the state assembly allowing Jallikattu, the event is being held in several parts of the state in the past few days.

The government's intervention came after a week-long protest largely by youths, including students, in the Marina Beach in Chennai, and elsewhere in the state. (ANI)
Persistent and aggressively spreading crop viruses such as the tomato yellow leaf curl that completely destroys tomato crops or the insidious yellow view mosaic affecting moong dal, may soon be history with researchers developing a 'gene-silencing' spray that plants can potentially use to defend against various diseases. Advanced research to make a crop more resistant to viruses, infections or drought, without having to genetically modify them was presented here at the ongoing conference 'Micro and Metabolic Regulators in Plants' organized jointly by Rajiv Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) and the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO). "We are identifying plant genes that play a crucial role to help plants defend themselves against viruses. Once a plant detects attack by a virus it stores pieces of the virus sequence that are transmitted through out its entire body to develop immunity against all future attacks by the virus," said Mr Bernard Carroll, Professor from Australia's University of Queensland. According to Dr Radhakrishnan Pillai, Director, RGCB, "Combating viral infections continues to be a major challenge for plant, animal and human diseases." Prof Carroll also referred to a collaboration with his colleague, Indian-Origin Researcher Prof Ms Neena Mitter, from University of Queensland, who recently developed a new technology for protecting plants from viruses - a spray made out of clay and synthetic pieces of the virus that works on the principle of 'gene-silencing', which means switching off and destroying the genetic material of the live virus. Whenever a virus attacks, the plant cell takes a part of the virus to create short pieces of the double-stranded RNAs, information of which is transmitted to all the cells of the plant to organise and destroy virus RNAs with matching sequences. The clay component of the spray developed by Prof Mitter protects and stabilises the synthetic pieces of the virus that are responsible for inducing immunity in the plant. "Prof Mitter and her team experimented on tobacco to produce the spray that is quite effective to protect the crop against multiple viruses. "The spray technology holds potential for the control of other pests and pathogens of plants, but this potential still it needs to be demonstrated," Prof Carroll said. Since clay disintegrates into the soil, the spray is considered to be environmentally friendly and a better alternative to pesticides for farmers who are battling the malaise of plant viruses. Also since there is currently no existing treatments for controlling plant viruses, the only other option for farmers is to grow genetically modified resistant varieties. "The results presented at the meeting are significant and needs to be explored further. It is also of significant interest since the current thinking is to develop strategies that jointly address the challenge across all species. This "one health" philosophy is also what guides RGCB's research," the Director, RGCB said. Scientists from over 20 countries including the US, Australia, Canada, Belgium and the UK participated in the four-day conference that conclude today. UNI DS CS 1140 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-1137340.Xml
Executives of two Chinese companies included on a new US sanctions list targeting Iran said on Sunday they had only exported "normal" goods to the Middle Eastern country and didn't consider they had done anything wrong.The sanctions on 25 individuals and entities imposed on Friday were the opening salvo by President Donald Trump who has vowed a more aggressive policy against Tehran and came two days after the administration had put Iran 'on notice' following a ballistic missile test.Those affected under the sanctions cannot access the U.S. financial system or deal with U.S. companies and are subject to secondary sanctions, meaning foreign companies and individuals are prohibited from dealing with them or risk being blacklisted by the United States.The list includes two Chinese companies and three Chinese people, only one of whom the U.S. Treasury Department explicitly said was a Chinese citizen, a person called Qin Xianhua.Richard Yue, who is on the list, told Reuters he was also Chinese and that he thought the decision was unfair. His bank account had been frozen, meaning he couldn't work, he said."I export to lots of countries, and Iran is a customer too. That's totally normal," Yue said."How is this fair? Why should others pay attention to what Americans say? What's wrong with my daily use goods?"Yue added he did not know what he would do, or whether he would try and seek help from the Chinese government.He did not elaborate on what products his company, Cosailing Business Trading Co. Ltd, based in the northern port city of Qingdao and also on the sanctions list, exported to Iran.The company's website shows it is involved in trading everything from furnaces to treadmills and false eyelashes. Yue is listed on the site as Cosailing's sales manager.The other Chinese company on the list is Ningbo New Century Import and Export Co, based in the eastern port city of Ningbo, which business-to-business websites show advertises exports and imports of fire hydrants and inner tubes for motorcycle tyres.An export manager at Ningbo New Century who gave his family name as Tang told Reuters they made "normal" exports to Iran, though he would not say of what."There's nothing we can do. Let them put us on the sanctions list," Tang added, declining further comment.Reuters was not able to locate contacts for the two other Chinese people on the list.China's Foreign Ministry has not commented on the new sanctions.The official Xinhua news agency, in a commentary on Sunday, said while the new sanctions would have a limited effect on Iran, they opened a new chapter in the stand-off between Washington and Tehran."Now Trump has taken office, uncertainly in the U.S.-Iran relationship has risen, and this may become a ticking time bomb for peace and stability in the Middle East," Xinhua said.China has in the past been angered by what it calls unilateral sanctions placed on Chinese firms by the United States and others in relation to Iran or North Korea's nuclear ambitions.China has close economic and diplomatic ties with Tehran, but was also instrumental in pushing through a landmark 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear programme.Reuters cj NS12`13 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1137375.Xml
Every political party has locked horns for the prestigious Behat Assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh for its unique feature. Behat, located in the lowlands around the Shivalik Hills, is constituency number one numerically in the state and thus it lends the seat an enormous amount of prestige and every party wants to win it because of this symbolism. Behat goes to poll in the second phase of polls on February 15 and 13 candidates are trying their luck this time. Virtually every political leader, irrespective of affiliation, makes a beeline for the Mata Shakumbhari Devi Temple here to seek blessings before starting their campaigns. The BJP began its Parivartan Yatra from this very constituency in November last year. In 2012, Amar Singh is also said to have visited the constituency and sought blessings from the goddess. Currently, Mahaveer Rana of the BJP is locked in a fierce battle with Mohammad Iqbal of the BSP for the seat. The constituency, where Muslims are in a majority, was earlier known as Muzaffarabad, but its name was changed in 2012 after delimitation. BSP won the seat for the first time that year in 2012. In 2007, the current UP Congress vice president Imran Masood won contesting as an Independent. He is now fighting from Nakur seat. In 2002 and 1996, Jagdish Rana of the Samajwadi Party won the seat in succession. Jagdish is Mahaveer's elder brother. The BSP this time has fielded former MLC and senior party leader Mohamed Iqbal while SP-Congress alliance's candidate Naresh Saini, on a Congress ticket and Arun Singh on an RLD ticket are the other names in the fray. Aditya Pratap Singh, member of the Jaspur royal family and manager of the shrine, wanted to contest on a BJP ticket but rebelled and joined the RLD after Mahaveer Rana got the ticket. The BSP candidate Iqbal is very wealthy and has a large following in this area. He has established a private university and a 300-bed hospital. Similarly, Imran Masood is a heroic image among local Muslims and Naresh Saini is seen as Masood's close aide. All of which makes Behat a very tightly-contested seat. The constituency might be high profile, but its voters are still struggling to get their problems heard. Forest fire in the Shivaliks, shortage of drinking water, 4-5 hours' electricity a day and monsoon floods along embankment-less rivers are the major issues of the area. Over two dozen villages are surrounded by rivers and turn into islands every monsoon. Long-pending demands to build bridges for these villages have not been heard yet. UNI MB SV 1128 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-1137332.Xml
AIADMK General Secretary Ms V K Sasikalawas today unanimously elected as the Leader of the AIADMK Legislature Party. At a meeting of the party MLAs, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK Treasurer O Panneerelvam, who tendered his resignation, proposed Ms Sasikala's name as the new Legislature Party leader. The resolution was unanimously adopted by all the MLAs, amid a big round of applause by the Legsilators.MORE UNI GV CS 1511 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1137606.Xml
With nearly 70 startups already functioning inthe City of Palaces Mysuru and many more in the pipeline, the cityis poised to witness a surge in entrepreneurial activity andinnovation in the days ahead. Moreover, with connectivity issues being resolved with improvedroads and impending flights in due course, besides a goodpenetration of financial and educational institutions, Mysuru'ssobriquet of a 'Pensioner's paradise' may soon be a thing of thepast. This idea came to the fore at the CII Young India's Mysurusummit held here to find ways and means to promote the city as hubfor startups and make it the first choice for entrepreneurs. The CII said that it was an attempt to make the city the firstchoice for all startups, encourage entrepreneurship, and ensureentrepreneurs get inspired from successful speakers and learn totrust the process. D Randeep, Deputy Commissioner, addressing the youngentrepreneurs, spoke at length on the inherent advantages of Mysuruthat Bengaluru lacks, and that need to be harnessed. He cautionedthat runway growth and development should not drive Mysuru theBengaluru way and stressed upon the importance of retaining thecharacteristic features of Mysuru that makes it unique. Mr Randeep said the government had introduced heritage controlsand there was not much emphasis on vertical growth around monumentsand heritage. On the advantages of the city and its hinterland, itwas pointed out that there was no dearth of land around Mysuru andthe State government was also promoting the city as an investmentdestination. This was paying dividends. Mr Randeep said Mysuru was set to become the first city in thecountry to have a public bicycle-sharing system and was an exampleof government synergy with private entrepreneurs. The CII Mysuru Chairman N Muthukumar said there still werequestions about the business models and infrastructure in Mysuru fornew ventures to take flight but the startups had grown to 70 andwould reach 100 in due course. The city presented an opportunity interms of market, talent, finance besides infrastructure that has tobe tapped, he added. Senior business leaders, venture capitalists and others addressed the gathering of nearly 250 entrepreneurs who attended the summit.UNI BSP MSP CS 1452 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-1137558.Xml
In order to combat Measles and Rubella diseases affecting children till the age group of 15 years, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched Measles Rubella (MR) dual vaccination campaign in the country covering nearly 41 crore target children.The vaccination campaign was launched at a function today in Bengaluru and will start from five states and Union Territories (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Goa and Lakshadweep) covering nearly 3.6 crore target children.Following the campaign, Measles-Rubella vaccine will be introduced in routine immunisation, replacing the currently given two doses of measles vaccine, at 9-12 months and 16-24 months of age. Speaking at the launch, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Mr Faggan Singh Kulaste stated that the Government is committed to eradicating Measles and Rubella from the country. He said, ''We have taken this as an achievable target. This shall be taken up in a mission mode and rolled out in partnership with States , NGOs and development partners such as WHO, UNICEF, Gates Foundation, Lions Club, IPA, IMA, among others. In the nationwide campaign, the Ministry will reach out to and cover 41 crore children in the age group of 9 months 15 years who will be given a single shot of Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccination irrespective of their previous measles/rubella vaccination status or measles/rubella disease status.''He urged parents, caregivers, community leaders, teachers, Anganwadi workers and other frontline health workers to become the active part of this campaign. MR vaccine will be provided free-of-cost across the states from session sites at schools as well as health facilities and outreach session sites. Measles vaccine is currently provided under Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP). However, rubella vaccine will be a new addition. After the completion of the campaign, MR vaccine will be introduced in routine immunisation and will replace measles vaccine, given at 9-12 months and 16-24 months of age of child. ''Measles a highly contagious disease is one of the important causes of death in children. It can make a child vulnerable to life threatening complications such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and brain infection. It killed an estimated 49,200 children in India'', according to a health ministry report. ''Rubella is generally a mild infection, but has serious consequences if infection occurs in pregnant women, causing congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), which is a cause of public health concern. Through this campaign, it is aimed to rapidly decrease the disease burden in the country. The measles disease burden was brought down by introduction of second dose of measles vaccine in 2010. In order to further reduce the burden,country is going to carry out the Measles-Rubella campaign,'' it said. Measles immunisation directly contributes to the reduction of under-five child mortality, and with combination of rubella vaccine, will control rubella and prevent CRS in country population. Given the wide target group of the vaccination campaign, schools and educational institutions will play a critical role, and will require partnership from multiple stakeholders at all levels.The initiative was launched in the presence of Union Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation Sadananda Gowda, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Chemicals and Fertilisers, Ananth Kumar, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Faggan Singh Kulaste, Minister of Medical Education, Karnataka Dr Sharanaprakash Rudrappa Patil, State Health Minister KR Ramesh Kumar, Karnataka and celebrity actor, Ramesh Arvind.The dignitaries also launched the communication material on the occasion to raise the awareness about the initiative. UNI SY SNU 1638 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0093-1137713.Xml
Two people were today killed when their motorcycle was hit by a bus at Koni Tri-junction in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol district, police said.The bus was heading from Beohari to Shahdol when the accident occurred. Rewa-residents Vinay Shukla (32) and Ajay Kumar (30) died on the spot. The bus driver and the bus owner were booked.UNI XC-PS AE SNU 1616 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-1137646.Xml
An Afghan 'casanova' has been arrested by Delhi Police for cheating, extortion and sexual assault of an US national."We have apprehended Hameedullah (34) from RK Puram area, after a complaint was registered against him by an US national that an Afghan born boy has cheated and sexually assaulted her here. She also accused him of extortion," a police official said here today.He said that the accused had befriended her over Facebook posing as one MK Fahim. He then lured her in the trap of love and got intimate in the pretext of marrying her. Later he started exploiting her physically by showing her a fake marriage certificate, claiming that she was his lawful wife.The accused also managed to extort an amount USD86000 on various false pretext."The victim came to know his reality through a website (who scammed you.com). On being questioned by her, the accused threatened her of dire consequences to cover up his acts," the official said.He said, "Hameedullah possesses excess communication skills and has command over several languages. He has made Facebook profiles with different names and approach female users for friendship. He then, wins confidence and entraps them in his love."Two mobile used in offence, one laptop and a car along with his passport were recovered from his possession, the official said.He said that Hameedullah arrived in India in July 2011 on a tourist visa which was later converted to a medical visa.Further interrogation is on.UNI DS SNU 1838 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0432-1137914.Xml
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan, contesting election from Rampur, created stir in political circles by comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Ravana. Azam Khan however, did not take the name of the Prime Minister. Addressing an election meeting here today Azam Khan said that, "the King who rules over 125 crore Indians goes to Lucknow to burn the effigy of Ravana, but he forgets that the real Ravana is not in Lucknow but lives in Delhi'". He also took a jibe over the life style of the Prime Minister saying, "what is the source of money of the tea vendor for the costly garments who has spent Rs 80 crore in a year on his clothing's alone and in next five years he is likely to spent Rs 200 crore on his clothing's alone'". Without naming the Prime Minister Azam Khan said "his father was a tea vendor, so he should explains the sources of the costly garments he wears and he owes an explanation to the people, of the country". Azam Khan also made some personal comments on the private life of the Prime Minister. He also criticised the PM for visiting Pakistan and sending gifts for the mother of the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. SP leader also cautioned the people against voting for the Bahujan Samaj party. He said "none can save you if the elephant (election symbol of the BSP) goes berserk, if you fall from the cycle (election symbol of the SP) then you will only suffer from minor injuries". Later, in Lucknow SP spokesman Naved Siddiqui defended Azam Khan saying that he did not name any person or leader during his address in the elections meeting. "The statement of Azam Khan is being misinterpreted and he did not name anybody. The sole agenda of the Samajwadi party is the development of the state. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has very positive mindset and prefers to speak on the agenda of the party''.UNI MB AKC 1957 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0432-1138013.Xml
Replying Prime Minister Narendra Modi's yesterday's comment on Samajwadi Party and Congress using word 'SCAM', SP president Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi defined SCAM in their own words. In yesterdays public gathering in Meerut PM Modi had defined SCAM as S stands for Samajwadi Party, C satnds for Congress, A stands for Akhilesh Yadav and M stands for Mayawati. Modi had also said that for progress of Uttar Pradesh riddance from SCAM was necessary. Replying on PM Modi's comment Mr. Yadav and Mr Gandhi presented new definition of SCAM. While Mr. Yadav said that SCAM means 'Save Country from Amit Shah and Company', Mr Gandhi said in SCAM, S stands for service of poor, C stands for craze of bravery and honesty, A stands for ability to keep promises and M stands for Modesty. Mr Gandhi was addressing a public gathering here along with Mr. Yadav to support the candidates of alliance. Mr. Gandhi said Modi ji suddenly announced that money in your pocket was no longer legal tender just to waive loans of crores of his rich friends. CriticiSing demonetisation move Mr Gandhi said that to waive loans of his rich friends PM Modi has done conspiracy against poor and commoners. He alleged that PM Modi has no concern with farmers. Mr. Yadav said those who had said about 'achhe din' forced public to stand in long queues. He said that those people should tell public that how much black money has come back and from where. SP government has given compensation of RS two lacks for the family of those who lost their lives while standing in queues but Central government has not taken any initiative. Both Mr Gandhi and Mr. Yadav urged to vote for alliance and promised that after gaining power more development projects will be initiated.UNI JDM MB JW 2052 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1138126.Xml
Goa Pradesh Congress has thanked people of Goa and various organisations for impressive, silent and decisive voting yesterday and claimed that people would give it clear majority to form government. In a statement, All India Congress Committee (AICC) Secretary Girish Chodankar said, ''Our party has bowed to the feelings and aspirations of people of Goa by giving new and young faces and fulfilling people's demand through people-centric manifesto, what we termed as vision document, which will be our government's document.'' While thanking media and party cadres, Mr Chodankar expressed confident that people would not disappoint the party and would give it clear majority to form the 'People's Government' to preserve Goa's 'Osmitai and Goaekarponn', uphold Goans democratic rights, preserve Goa's resources and empowering people through sustainable economic growth. Mr Chodankar said,'' Despite BJP's misleading campaign in 2012 assembly elections difference between us and BJP was just 3.9 per cent of votes which comes to about 33,000 votes despite having alliance with MGP (Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party). With people-centric policies adopted for this elections and with people's blessings and anti BJP atmosphere, We will easily surpass the gap.'' The party had fielded its candidates in 37 constituencies and extended support to other candidates in three constituencies. The assembly election this year was multi-cornered. Besides Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Aam Adami Party (AAP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP)-Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM)-Shiv Sena (SS) were contesting elections for 40 seats of the assembly.UNI AKM JW ADG 2145 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1138149.Xml
The principal opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) today strongly reacted to the election of AIADMK General Secretary V.K.Sasikala as the Leader of the Legislature Party paving the way for her swearing in as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and said it was against the people's wishes. "People will not accept Ms.Sasikala as a Chief Minister," said DMK Working President and Opposition Leader M.K.Stalin. Talking to mediapersons here, he said the people have not voted in favour of Ms.Sasikala and her election as Leader of the Legislature Party was totally against the wishes of people as well late Chief Minister J.Jayalalitha. He said when Jayalalitha was jailed in the disproportionate assets case, her confidante O.Panneerselvam headed the government. When she was admitted to Apollo Hospital, again Panneerselvam looked after the administration. After the demise of Jayalalitha, Panneerselvam was elected as the Chief Minister. The decision to elevate Ms.Sasikala for her to become the Chief Minister by AIADMK MLAs' was against the wishes of the late Jayalalitha, he said. Jayalalitha did not give any 'post' for Ms.Sasikala neither in the party nor administration. The DMK will face Ms.Sasikala's election in a democratic manner, he added. Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam proposed Sasikala name in the AIADMK MLA's meeting held in the party head office in Chennai this evening. Ms.Sasikala will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of the state on February nine. She will be the third woman Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, after V.N.Janaki, wife of AIADMK founder M.G.Ramachandran and Jayalalitha. UNI GSM JW ADG 2147 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1138151.Xml
The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) today demanded the State Government to supply free power to all places of worship in the State. "The energy department is collecting huge amounts from the places of worships like Mosques, Temples, Churches and Gurdwaras towards power consumption charges. Shockingly, these places of worship are being applied the commercial tariff. Hence, the monthly billing for these religious places is amounting to several thousand and even lakhs of rupees in some cases. Consequently, the managements of most of the institutions are unable to clear the bills leading to disconnection of power supply," TPCC Spokespersons Syed Nizamuddin said in his letter to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. Citing an instance, Syed Nizamuddin said that the Secretary of Masjid Char Chaman, Jahanuma received a bill of Rs. 416,019. The power supply to the Masjid has been disconnected on January 30 due to non-payment of bill. "This is a small mosque with very little sources of revenue. It pays the salaries of Imam, Maozan and other staff with great difficulty by taking small donations from the worshipers. How this mosque can be expected to pay a whopping sum of Rs. 4.16 lakh power bill?" he asked. The TPCC Spokespersons said several places of worship in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and also other parts of Telangana State have very little or nil sources of revenue. Therefore, he said that the State Government should consider providing free supply of power to all places of worship, irrespective of religion. If not, a special tariff can be fixed for such places with the State Government adding subsidy component, he said. The Congress leader also urged the government to waive off all pending power arrears of all places of worship in the State. "The TSSPDCL should be directed to immediately restore the power supply to all places of worship whose connections were disconnected due to non-payment of bills," he demanded. UNI VV JW ADG 2025 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0432-1138019.Xml
The skeletons of serial killer Udayan Das's parents were today recovered by police during digging at his previous house at Maitri Vihar Colony in the Chhattisgarh capital, police said. Udayan who allegedly killed his West Bengal's Bankura-resident live-in partner Akanksha and entombed her body at his house in Bhopal had confessed to police that he had killed his parents too eight years ago and buried their bodies at their previous house in Raipur. On the basis of his admission, police from Bhopal and Bankura arrived in Raipur and reached the house. At Udayan's indication, digging was carried at the spot first by labourers and then by JCB machine in the presence of police of three states. Two skeletons believed to be of Udayan's father BK Das and mother Indrani Das were recovered. However, DNA tests would be carried out to confirm their identities. A murder case was registered against Udayan in Raipur. Meanwhile, West Bengal police would leave for Kolkata with Udayan today. Later, Raipur police would seek him on remand for interrogation. Udayan was arrested in connection with the murder of Akanksha whose kin had lodged a missing complaint in Bankura after they were not able to contact her since a long time. A police team from Bankura arrived in Bhopal on Thursday to trace the missing woman and discovered that she had been murdered. The accused had befriended the woman on social media. Akanksha then made up a story for leaving to the United States in June last year and came to Bhopal where both started staying together. Udayan killed her in July. UNI AS-PS RSA ADG 2018 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-1138033.Xml
According to the reports of the Guardians, Yael Splansky, the rabbi behind the effort to set up "rings of peace" around Toronto mosques told the Canadian Press that, "No Canadian should be afraid to go to their house of worship to pray."

Hundreds of people in Toronto, belonging from local synagogues, churches and temples stood together outside seven of the city's mosques on Friday during midday prayers showing their support to the movement.

Similar "rings of peace" were set up around local mosques in Ottawa and Edmonton too.

Thousands across Canada have come together to condemn the deadly attack on the into a mosque in Quebec City

Canadian Prime Minsiter Justin Trudeau had also condemn the attack and has described it as an act of terror.

At least six people were killed and several others injured after three attackers opened fire inside the Quebec City mosque last week.

The Guardian quoted witnesses as saying that the shooting took place during evening prayers at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Center.

According to Radio Canada, the police have arrested two suspects. (ANI)
The shooting took place before many witnesses and police have reportedly seized the weapon and identified its owner, said Steven Butler, CPJ Asia programme coordinator, while adding that there can be no excuse for failing to swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum (BMSF) also strongly condemned the killing of Hakim, reports the Daily Star.

The IFJ demanded immediate arrest and punishment of the perpetrators, according to a statement posted on its website.

The IFJ strongly condemns violence which cost the life of colleague Abdul Hakim Shimul who was only doing his job, said IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger.

Abdul Hakim, who sustained bullet wounds during a clash between two associate bodies of Awami League in Shahjadpur on Thursday, succumbed to his injuries.

Since CPJ began keeping records in 1992, at least 20 journalists have been killed in Bangladesh in direct relation to their work.

In addition to Abdul Hakim's death, CPJ is investigating the deaths of another nine journalists to determine whether they were related to the journalists' work. (ANI)
The administration of US President Donald Trump on Saturday began the process of appealing the decision of a federal judge who suspended the application of an immigration ban to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, the media reported. In a short document presented to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco late Saturday, Trump and his cabinet formally appeal the judicial decision that has temporarily blocked the controversial executive order and has reopened the country's doors to millions of immigrants and refugees, Efe news reported. The Notice of Appeal was made in the name of Trump, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and the United States of America. The parties above appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals the decision to restrict the application of Trump's executive order is to protect the country from terrorist threats, according to the Notice of Appeal. The document has begun a process of appeal that, according to legal experts, will be followed by an application to suspend the judicial order that blocked the immigration ban, and a report with arguments on why, in the government's view, the courts should grant them this petition. The appeal follows a late Friday decision by US District Court Senior Judge James L. Robart, appointed by former President George .W. Bush, when he granted an injunction by blocking enforcement of Trump's executive order instituting the travel ban, acting at the request of Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose office said that the temporary restraining order applies nationwide. Trump's policy banned travel to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, suspended all refugee entry to the US for 120 days and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrian refugees. If the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rules against the Trump government, the case could go to the Supreme Court, something many experts consider likely. Asked at a gala in Florida about whether he was confident his administration would prevail in the appeal, Trump replied, "We'll win. For the safety of our country, we'll win", CNN reported. The three judges who will likely hear the appeal are: Judge William Canby, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter; Richard Clifton, who was appointed by Bush; and Michelle Friedland, a President Barack Obama appointee. Although it is unclear what form of relief the Justice Department will seek, the White House said on Friday that it wants an "emergency stay" of Robart's order. Also on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended all actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travellers as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban. --IANS ksk ( 458 Words) 2017-02-05-08:28:06 (IANS)
Chaotic scenes were witnessed at the Los Angeles International Airport as protests against US President Donald Trump grew after a federal judge halted enforcement of the executive order barring refugees and people from select Muslim-majority nations entering the country. Travellers has a tough time coming out of the airport, one of the busiest in the US, on Saturday afternoon as both anti- and pro-Trump protesters blocked almost all exits, shouting slogans amid heavy police deployment. Irfana, one of the anti-Trump supporters at the rally outside the airport, told IANS: "We have a ray of hope after the federal judge blocked the enforcement of Trump's executive order instituting the travel ban. We know that the battle will now go to the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and even to Supreme Court, but we believe in the law of the land." According to her, the fight is not only about the Trump ban on people from Muslim-majority nations from entering the US. "The fight has a broader meaning. We want the government to restore civil rights, minority rights and true liberty of immigrants in the country," Irfana said, hailing the work of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which is fighting for the cause. Later in the day, the US Justice Department filed a formal notice of appeal on the court order suspending immigration ban. "We'll win. For the safety of our country, we'll win," Trump tweeted. "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump had earlier tweeted. Media reports said it was unusual for a President to attack a member of the judiciary, which the US Constitution designates as a check to the power of the executive branch and Congress. According to Daniel, who works at the LA airport, the situation created by the protests is not acceptable as this has affected day-to-day life. "I don't like this situation. I hope a solution to this issue arrives soon and the country comes back to normal," he told IANS. But Trump had his supporters too at the airport. James, who was part of a pro-Trump rally, told IANS: "The US has become a country of immigrants and refugees. We want our land, our jobs back. We support Trump and believe he will get us our country back." Meanwhile, after the ruling by the US District Court Senior Judge James L. Robart, the State Department said it had reinstated thousands of visas. The provisional revocation of visas under Trump's executive order has been reversed, a State Department official told Efe news agency. The official added that people with visas that were not physically cancelled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid. On January 27, Trump issued an executive order that banned citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US. The order has been met with widespread protests across the globe, with multiple lawsuits already filed in the US and many more expected in the coming days. (Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in) --IANS na/sac/ksk ( 530 Words) 2017-02-05-09:20:06 (IANS)
Almost two-thirds of Britons believe US President Donald Trump is a threat to international stability, according to a new poll. The Opinium/Observer poll issued on Saturday revealed that the Britons have an overwhelmingly negative view of the "divisive" US President, who in the fortnight since his inauguration on January 20 has signed a string of executive orders imposing draconian immigration measures, professed to backing torture and rowed publicly with the leaders of Mexico, Iran and Australia, the Guardian reported. In addition to the 64 per cent who believe he represented a threat to international stability, the words most commonly associated by Britons with Trump were dangerous (50 per cent), unstable (39 per cent), and bigot (35 per cent). A further 56 per cent believed he was untrustworthy. The poll also revealed that over four in 10 people (44 per cent) believed Trump will be an "awful" President, with a further one in ten believing he will be below average. A mere 6 per cent said Trump will be a great President. However, Britons were more divided on the issue of Trump's state visit to the UK, due to be hosted by the Queen this year, the poll said. While a slim majority (53 per cent) believed the trip should either be delayed until his now-suspended 120-day travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries lapses (25 per cent) or cancelled outright (28 per cent), 36 per cent said the visit should go ahead regardless. Parliament will hold a debate on calls to cancel the state visit on February 20 after more than 1.8 million people signed a petition in support of scrapping or downgrading the invitation, the Guardian reported. The poll also suggested that Prime Minister Theresa May's move to forge a close partnership with the new White House administration could risk alienating a substantial portion of the British public. Though 50 per cent of those surveyed believe that the US is Britain's most important global ally, less than a third (29 per cent) think the special relationship will be stronger under Trump's presidency than it was under former President Barack Obama's. The poll surveyed 2,005 adults online between January 31 and February 3. --IANS ksk ( 375 Words) 2017-02-05-09:44:06 (IANS)
Trump had a "very good call" with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday addressing "a variety of topics, including Ukraine's long-running conflict with Russia", the White House said in a statement.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said.

The White House also noted that the two leaders discussed "the potential for a meeting in the near future", The Hill magazine reported.

The call came as the situation in eastern Ukraine worsened last week, after Ukrainian forces clashed with Russian-backed separatist groups.

Also on Saturday, Trump spoke with the Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni about strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries and has agreed to attend the G-7 summit in Italy in May, the White House said.

Trump reiterated his commitment to NATO to the Italian leader, with whom he is expected to meet at the summit, the statement added.

--IANS ksk

( 185 Words)

2017-02-05-09:52:06 (IANS)
Sri Lankan ambassador to China Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku has assured that Chinese military activity will not be allowed at the Hambantota Port, following concerns expressed by its neighbours. "I do not know about other countries, but Sri Lanka has very categorically informed the (Chinese) investor that it will not be allowed to be used for any military purposes," Colombo Page quoted Kodituwakku as saying on the sidelines of Sri Lankan Independence Day reception in Beijing. The envoy also played down protests by locals and labor unions over handing of 80 per cent stakes of the Hambantota port to a Chinese firm, and said that no military activity will be allowed at the port. Admitting concerns expressed by China over the protests, the Ambassador said: "Despite the opposition from a small group, the government will go ahead." The government signed a framework agreement in December regarding the port with China Merchant Holdings and according to the agreement, 80 percent of shares of the Port of Hambantota will be given to the Chinese company for USD 1.12 billion. The rest will be held by the Sri Lanka Port Authority. (ANI)
Refusing to bow before US President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban, scientists across the world, including India, have opened up their lab spaces to counterparts stranded outside America. Under the Science Solidarity List (SSL) initiative, researchers from over 30 countries have agreed to host the affected. What began on social media as spontaneous offers of help from scientists to accommodate banned peers awaiting US clearance, following Trump's January 27 order, has emerged as a clarion call to support those in need of immediate work spaces. Anchored by the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), the SSL is a "list of scientists offering temporary bench or desk space, library access and possibly even accommodation for US-based scientists who are stranded abroad due to the White House Executive Order 13769, 'Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States' of 27 January, 2017." On Friday, a US judge in Seattle issued a temporary nationwide block on Trump's ban on travellers from seven Muslim nations. However, the White House said the Justice Department will challenge attorney's decision. Offers continue to pour in as science, literally, attempts to trump the ban. There are currently over 800 offers of assistance and the list gets a new entry every five minutes or so. "We felt we had to do something. It is very discriminating. This impacts science a lot. It impacts the work of the lab. Their projects do not get done because the scientists are missing. It impacts everyone," Maria Leptin, director EMBO, told IANS over the phone from Heidelberg, Germany. "We (scientists) see ourselves as a worldwide community and it is a completely natural thing for us to do," she said. EMBO is an organisation of more than 1,700 leading researchers that promotes excellence in life sciences. Its programmes and activities are funded by the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC). The EMBC, founded in 1969, is an inter-governmental organisation comprising 33 member- and partner-states, including India, which came under its fold in February 2016. The solidarity list comprises offers from both EMBC and non-EMBC countries. Leptin was the first to join the list, extending help to host stranded researchers in her own lab at the University of Cologne. While most of the host offers are from Europe, the list includes labs in India, Canada, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Singapore, Brazil, and China. The "overwhelming response" from the fraternity is trending under the hashtag ScienceShelters. Among the first to make personal offers of assistance via Twitter were population geneticist Magnus Nordborg and plant biologist Jurgen Kleine-Vehn from Austria. A look at some of the tweets reflects the gravity of the situation, relegating scientists to an almost refugee-like status. "Another example of consequences... biology postdoc meant to join our School w/new faculty has visa but cannot come -- Iranian passport," tweeted Georgia Institute of Technology Professor Joshua Weitz. "I was pretty excited to join @soumya_boston's lab but denied boarding due to my Iranian nationality. Feeling safer?" tweeted Samira Asgari. The Kleine-Vehn Lab tweeted in response to an update of 420 offers of assistance: "Took less than 24h, reflecting the strong political statement!#ScienceSheltersAagainst Trump's immigration ban and discrimination!" Coming to the rescue of their peers are also scientists from India. Till February 4, three offers were made from the country, all of them from Bengaluru-based National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS). Theoretical physicist Sandeep Krishna has proferred desk space and access to computers, while Shashi Thutupalli's lab, dealing with experimental physical biology, is also available. "Can provide experimental facilities, desk space, lab space, library access and a warm welcome." NCBS's Arati Ramesh has stepped forward with "desk space, lab bench space, access to lab equipment and computers" in her lab that works on RNA biology. "I am a theoretical physicist who uses tools and ideas from physics and maths to try and pose new kinds of questions about basic processes in biological systems. Thus, what I can offer is simply desk space and access to computers and a scientific environment where a stranded scientist can continue their work, at least to some extent," Krishna told IANS. Expressing his views on the "Muslim ban", Krishna reckons it would do more harm than good to the US. "I have no doubt it is really a a Muslim ban, whatever legal devices they use to cloak it and justify it. As such, it seems to me quite against the Constitution of the USA, and practically speaking I would predict would do more harm than good to that country. Think this will simply spawn another generation of hurt and disgruntled young people who could be exploited by extremists," he said. He added: "In India, though we can hardly take the moral high ground here because our governments similarly fail repeatedly, in my opinion, to protect the rights of minorities, including Muslims, and do not have a humane approach to immigrants or even a consistent political and legal framework for them." (Sahana Ghosh can be contacted at sahana.g@ians.in) --IANS sgh/ssp/gsh/vt ( 844 Words) 2017-02-05-15:16:08 (IANS)
The Philippine government derided Catholic bishops today as "out of touch" after they used weekend sermons to attack a war on drugs they said had created a "reign of terror" for the poor.Members of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had dramatised President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign and, instead of criticising, should focus on contributing to the "reign of peace" that innocent people now felt, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said.The church assailed bloodshed that had caused suffering, and said killing people was not the way to deal with illegal drugs.In a pastoral letter read out yesterday and repeated to congregations at churches today, bishops said it was disturbing that many Filipinos were indifferent to the killings, or even approved of them.Abella, a former pastor, said the war on drugs had made the country safer, "far from the 'terror' the bishops paint rather dramatically.""The officials of the CBCP are apparently out of touch with the sentiments of the faithful who overwhelmingly support the changes in the Philippines," Abella said in a statement.More than 7,600 people have been killed since Duterte unleashed a ferocious crackdown seven months ago, more than 2,500 in police raids and sting operations.Human rights groups believe many other deaths that police had attributed to vigilantes were carried out by assassins likely colluding with police. The government and police vehemently deny extrajudicial killings have occurred.The CBCP's message was read at numerous churches in Manila attended by Reuters, though not all. Church sources said the Archdiocese of Manila issued a circular telling parishes to read the pastoral letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters prior to the first readings.The drugs war is a contentious issue, with some bishops keen to make a stand and others hesitant to risk a backlash by criticising a campaign that enjoys broad public support.Duterte has routinely attacked the Church, and as recently as this week called for a "showdown" with priests whom he has accused of having wives, engaging in homosexual acts, graft and child abuse."GIVE THEM A CHANCE"Katrina Rufael, an office worker who attended mass at the Baclaran Redemptorist Church, said the pastoral letter was justified."We have to oppose the war on drugs, because we cannot just put an end to the life of people who have made mistakes," she said. "Let's give them a chance to change."Elsewhere in Manila, at the Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord, a packed congregation listened attentively to the plea to stop the killings."Life is a gift from God, and only God can take it away," said Ligaya Reyes, a government worker. "It was a strong statement, it should have been made a long time ago when the killing began."The statement was also heard at a chapel in the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters yesterday. Not all agreed with it."They're not being killed if they just surrender," said a policeman's wife, who gave her name as Dolores and said the PNP had been unfairly depicted as murderers for shooting drugs suspects resisting arrest."What the president's doing right now ... he's doing good. Because for the common people, it's our safety." REUTERS AKC AN1446 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-1137550.Xml
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that Russia was ready to walk half way towards restoration of relations with the US, which suffered major damage during the previous US President Barack Obama. Lavrov said Moscow is watching closely statements made by President Donald Trump about Russia."The position he announced on necessary normal dialogue between our countries gives certain hope for positive progress in bilateral relations," he said in an interview with Austria's Profile weekly. Tass news agency reported. "We are ready to take our part of the road to restore the relations with the US which have degraded not because of us, but as result of the specially organised actions of the Washington's former administration," Lavrov said."We have always been open for development of forecastable cooperation based on equality, mutual respect and minding of each other's interests," he said, pointing out to major efforts, which both sides will have to undertake in order to overcome the damage done during Obama's time."As yet, it is rather too early to say how will continue the work with the Republican team on certain issues," Lavrov said. "We have to wait for the key figures in the new administration to look around at their positions to specify foreign-relations priorities, and then it would be possible to have expectations, he added."UNI XC AKC SNU 1712 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0432-1137785.Xml
Iraq expresses satisfaction today with a US appeals court ruling against a travel ban imposed by US President Donald Trump, a government spokesman said.The ruling given late yesterday denied a request from the US Department of Justice to immediately restore Trump's order, which a judge in Washington state had blocked on Friday."It is a move in the right direction to solve the problems that it caused," the spokesman, Saad al-Hadithi, told Reuters.Trump's ban put restrictions on the entry to the United State of Iraqis and citizens from six other Muslim-majority countries. Iraqis fleeing violence in their country were among those impacted.REUTERS AKC BL1733 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-1137820.Xml
The governor of Colorado said on Sunday he believes the Cuban government wants to further improve relations with the United States under President Donald Trump, as he wrapped up a three-day visit to the Communist-run island nation."They seemed eager for the chance to build a relationship with President Trump and have it be a constructive one," Governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said of his meeting with Cuba's point person for US relations, Josefina Vidal.He said in an interview that Vidal, director of US affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry, and other foreign ministry officials "were cautiously optimistic.""They realize they have to wait and that the new administration has a lot of things going on. They understand things could change in some ways, but I didn't sense there was any fear or some sort of depression," the governor said.Hickenlooper, who traveled with a cultural and business delegation, was the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to meet with Vidal since Trump assumed office last month. Trump has said he wanted a better deal than that brokered by his predecessor, Barack Obama.On Friday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said a "full review" of America's foreign policy toward Cuba was underway.Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro stunned the world in December 2014 when they announced the two governments would restore diplomatic ties after more than 50 years of Cold War hostilities and work to normalize relations.The Colorado governor said the purpose of his trip was to view post-Fidel Castro Cuba and invite the country to his state's Biennial of the Americas, which brings together the cultures, businesses and ideas of North and South America.Hickenlooper said the Cubans had enthusiastically accepted the invitation to attend the event in September.Hickenlooper said he did not doubt many innocent people were hurt during the early years of the Revolution, but most of those involved had passed away."The younger people seem eager to build a relationship with the United States," he said.The governor, a former entrepreneur and restaurant owner, spent a day meeting with small business owners and said he had visited five private eateries."I was surprised. One has this vision of everyone being downtrodden, and there was so much optimism and positive energy," he said."Some of the business people did say if you see President Trump please tell him to let us keep the beginnings of this new inspiration," he said.REUTERS JW RAI2323 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1138193.Xml
LONDON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Black Sabbath, the British rock group ranked as one of the greatest heavy metal band of all time, will bring a career spanning half a century to an end on Saturday night.

The band play their last ever gig to a sell-out gig at the 15,700-capacity Genting Arena in their home city of Birmingham.

Fans from every continent have gone to Britain's second biggest city for what will be the end of an era.

Black Sabbath was formed in 1968 as an antidote to the "peace and love" music popular in the so-called swinging sixties. They are regarded as pioneers of the genre of heavy metal music.

Over the last five decades, the band has sold more than 70 million albums around the world.

In the line-up in the very last concert will be Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler with Tommy Clufetos on drums.

The Birmingham concert is the finale to what Black Sabbath called their The End world tour. It took them to North and South America, Australia and New Zealand and Europe.

Likely to be included in their playlist will be a selection of their top hits from over the years, including Iron Man, War Pigs, Snowblind and the main song on their debut album, Paranoid.

Ahead of the gig, Tony Iommi told the Birmingham Mail newspaper: "It had to finish in Birmingham. It's our home and where we started. I think it will be emotional in Birmingham. It hasn't sunk in yet."

As a curtain raiser to their last ever concert, the band played to a sell out crowd at the same arena Thursday night.

Ecstatic fans who watched their penultimate gig took to social media to give their views on the evening.

Their final concert promises to be punishingly loud and thunderous, just like their gigs through the last 50 years.

As Geezer Butler said in an interview: "We're all getting up there in age, and while we're still at the top of our profession, both musically and aesthetically, we wanted to go out on the top and we feel that this is the right time to do it."
Fraternity Septuagenarian

In this January 2017 photo, Ed Meek poses for a photo in Oxford, Miss. Meek was inducted Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017, into the Sigma Nu fraternity at the University of Mississippi. Meek had to drop out of the chapter weeks after he pledged nearly six decades ago, but remained friends with members.

(Bruce Newman/The Oxford Eagle)

OXFORD, Mississippi -- A story of friendship and brotherhood that began at Ole Miss almost six decades ago came full circle when Oxford's Ed Meek was initiated into a student fraternity on campus.

The 76-year-old Meek was initiated into Sigma Nu, a fraternity he briefly pledged as a freshman at Ole Miss in 1958, with encouragement of the late state senator George Payne Cossar, before dropping out weeks later due to cost.

But decades of lasting friendships and a sort of unofficial membership will now be formalized with Meek becoming a part of Sigma Nu's Epsilon Xi chapter at Ole Miss, which includes alumni Trent Lott, Roger Wicker, Eddie and Johnny Maloney, and Archie and Eli Manning.

Meek was initiated with the Ole Miss Sigma Nu 2016-2017 student class that just completed pledging -- even though he pledged 59 years ago. When Meek's name was called out in recent ceremonies as Epsilon Xi's 3,000th initiate since the chapter was founded at Ole Miss in 1927, he received a standing ovation from students and alumni.

"Everyone who knows Ed knows that he considered himself a Sigma Nu every day of his adult life and we felt the same way about Ed," said Oxford resident John Green, a chapter advisor. "The question was, how do we get him formally initiated?"

Ole Miss alum, Sigma Nu and longtime Meek friend Bill Cossar (nephew of the late George Payne Cossar) helped get the process started almost two years ago, which included appealing to Sigma Nu national to seek initiation according to by-laws.

Once the High Council of Sigma Nu said yes, the current active students of Ole Miss' Sigma Nu Epsilon Xi chapter had to formally vote on Meek's initiation.

He was unanimously approved.

"The chapter is not doing anything for Ed," said Ole Miss alum, longtime active Sigma Nu and Charleston native Carson Hughes. "Ed is honoring the chapter by accepting this."

Meek, originally from nearby Charleston, did not have much money in high school and wasn't even sure he would attend college until Cossar, a lawyer, state politician and Sigma Nu from his hometown pushed him toward Ole Miss and the fraternity with strong encouragement.

"I literally did not understand what the Greek system was as a freshman in 1958," Meek said, retired as the longtime assistant vice chancellor for public relations and marketing at Ole Miss, and now overseeing the New Media Lab as founder, an operation that includes the news site hottytoddy.com.

"I was just having fun with everybody else until my first bill came for something like three hundred dollars," Meek said. "I had to pay my own way through college and couldn't see how to make that work."

Meek dropped out of the fraternity before initiation, but maintained lasting friendships with members of the chapter then and others to come throughout the years to the point that many just assumed that Meek was a member.

"I have always felt like I was a Sigma Nu," Meek said. "Some of my best friends in the country have remained Sigma Nu's even though I was just there three weeks. The bond that developed has always been there, with friends like Trent (Lott) and Carson Hughes (of Jackson).

"It became the brotherhood for me even though I didn't go through the process like the others," Meek said.

Meek's family had humble means in Charleston and he had worked odd jobs since elementary school to help out and to save enough to manage on his own one day.

When his older brother, John, went to college at Mississippi State when Meek was in the seventh grade, he paid his brother's tuition of $125. And he assumed that by the time he graduated from high school he would just keep working and earning.

But a high school English teacher encouraged Meek, known in Charleston by the nickname Budgie, to attend college after reading a senior year term paper. The only school he had visited was Mississippi State, where his brother attended, but he found out they didn't have a journalism program and he wanted to be a photographer.

"My mother called George Payne (Cossar) asking him what to do," Meek said. "He said there's only one thing to do. Go to Ole Miss and be a Sigma Nu."

The summer before college Meek, an Eagle Scout, got a job as a firefighter for the forestry commission thanks to a tip from the late Congressman Jamie Whitten, and though the pay was just $1.25 per hour, it was multiplied for overtime hours. He ended up on one fire for 32 straight days, giving him enough money to start Ole Miss.

Meek used the money for tuition, housing and to get married, starting a life with his wife Becky, a fellow university student -- they recently celebrated the birth of their first great-grandchild.

Meek was on a mission as an Ole Miss student to learn journalism and earn money. He and fellow student Larry Speaks, who later became a press spokesman for the White House under Ronald Reagan, started their own student media business.

They had a Teletype machine on campus and submitted stories to papers throughout the region including the Clarion Ledger (Jackson) and the Birmingham News (Alabama) under varies pen names.

"You would use the same story and submit it to three different papers under three different names," Meek recalls. "We had many different bylines. One I used was Jim Roberts. I ran across an old clip recently and thought, 'Who's Jim Roberts?'

"Oh, that was me," Meek said.

Becky Meek ran a beauty salon in Oxford while a student and had quite a successful business -- earning "more than she made with a master's degree," Meek said, laughing.

Meek took at job at Ole Miss in public relations and became at the age of 24 one of the university's youngest department heads ever. He later earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. and Dr. Meek was for many years one of the university's most recognizable figures as its leader of PR and marketing.

On the side, his entrepreneurial hunger and spirit continued and he and Becky developed and owned successful businesses including magazines and trade shows and the popular Tupelo Furniture Market.

Meek retired from Ole Miss in 1999 and later sold his magazine and trade show business, but didn't stop there. Starting the website hottytoddy.com that serves the Ole Miss and Oxford community, and donating funds to the journalism school that resulted in the fast-growing Meek School of Journalism and New Media, Meek's impact and contributions are still being felt.

"Everything we have we owe to the university and we wanted to give back," Meek said.

And now, this weekend, some longtime friends from Ole Miss are saying thank you back to Ed Meek, officially initiating him into the fraternity that has long considered him a brother.

"Budgie (Meek) is very much what each person in college should strive to be," Hughes said. "In my view Sigma Nu is honored that his long ago 'pledge' will now ripen into official full membership, a condition many thought already existed."

This story originally appeared in The Oxford Eagle.
TIRANA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- About 10 miners were seriously injured at a chromium mine in Bulqiza, northern Albania, after a gas explosion occurred there on Saturday, Albanian state police said at a press conference.

According to the police, the explosion took place while the miners were digging at level 16.

Three of the injured miners are in critical condition, police said.

Local media also reported that other three miners might be trapped inside the mine while police and local authorities are working to rescue all.

The Albanian ministry of energy and industry also made a press statement, saying that experts and inspectors have been sent to the mine to check the situation.
KHARTOUM, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese government condemned on Saturday an attack on a French police patrol near the Louvre Museum in Paris.

"The incident constitutes a crime that contradicts all humanitarian values and principles," said Sudan's Foreign Ministry in a statement.

The ministry expressed Sudan's full solidarity with France, and reiterated its support for France to take whatever measures to preserve security and safety of its citizens in the face of terrorist and criminal acts.

The ministry also urged the international community to intensify joint efforts to confront terrorist activities.

On Friday, the French police shot a man who tried to break into the Louvre Museum with a bag of suspected explosive materials.
TEHRAN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry dismissed the claims made by the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs about Tehran's interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries, Press TV reported on Saturday.

The UAE official had better be realistic and avoid repeating baseless claims which have no result but divergence among regional countries, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on Saturday.

Iran has made all efforts to establish and maintain convergence, peace, stability and security in the region, Qasemi was quoted as saying.

Iran has always placed emphasis on the principles of dialogue, respect for sovereignty of countries and good neighborliness in the region, he said, expressing the hope that other regional countries would also make more efforts to establish such relations.

On Saturday, the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, tweeted that Iran's interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries had caused instability in the region.
BRUSSELS, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The performance of "Si Hai Tong Chun" art troupe on Saturday was staged in Utrecht, a historic city located in the central Netherlands, to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

The two-hour evening show attracted over 1,400 audience in Utrecht's TivoliVredenburg music complex, bringing the enjoyment of Chinese culture to the overseas Chinese and local people.

The highlight of the show was Shaolin Kungfu practiced by a group of warrior monks from China's Songshan Shaolin temple. Their performance triggered loud applause by the audience and livened up the evening.

Dance, music and magic are also part of this year's programs. The audience gave the artists rounds of applause throughout the event.

"The show is so wonderful. I was impressed by the Kungfu," said C. Van Den Bor, a Dutch business woman.

The visit by the art troupe to the Netherlands brought happiness to Chinese people here, said Hu Yunfei, with the local Chinese community, who also participated in the preparation work.

"Si Hai Tong Chun" means "people all around the world celebrate the Spring Festival". It is a series of international cultural events initiated in 2009.

It has become an important part of Chinese New Year celebrations for overseas Chinese people as well as locals.
Demonstrators participate in a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order barring U.S. entry to all regugees and seven Mideast and North African countries' citizens in front of the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., the United States , Feb. 4, 2017. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Washington on Saturday to demonstrate against an executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

WASHINGTON, Feb.4 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Washington on Saturday to demonstrate against an executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 which bars citizens from the seven predominately Muslim countries from traveling to the U.S. for 90 days, stops accepting refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria, in order to protect the U.S. security.

The protesters, mostly young people, started to gather outside the White House at around 1 p.m. local time, and made their way toward the Congress along Pennsylvania Avenue at around 2:20 p.m.

Organized on a Facebook page called Peace for Iran, the demonstration was the second of its kind in Washington.

The protester chanted "immigrants are welcomed here, no hate, no fear" and "that's what make America great, love, not hate" as they marched in downtown Washington.

When the crowd passed by the Trump International Hotel, loud boos were heard and chants of "Donald Donald can't you see, you are not welcomed in D.C." broke out.

A protester called Alexa Wilson said she came out to show solidarity. "I believe that people should stand up against things that are against their beliefs," she said.

Taylor Stevens, another protester, said he felt uneasy with the way Trump executed the order.

"He used a hammer when you need a scalpel. The executive order has made our country less safe as it may become propaganda fodder for the extremist groups," he said.

Similar events also took place in New York and Florida on Saturday.

In a related development, the U.S. State Department earlier on Saturday reversed revocation of visas for foreigners under a travel ban which was suspended Friday by a federal judge.

The department said that the foreigners covered by the travel ban who hold a valid visa now may travel to the United States.

The move came after federal judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington state, ruled Friday that President Donald Trump's executive order on the travel ban would be suspended nationwide, effective immediately.

Up to 60,000 visas for citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries covered by the 90-day ban, including Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia, were "provisionally revoked" under the January travel ban, which triggered worldwide criticism and protests.

Also on Saturday, the U.S. Homeland Security Department said that it had suspended all actions to implement the travel ban in accordance with the judge's ruling.
Demonstrators rally in front of the White House, Washingtong against Trump's executive order barring U.S. entry to all refugees and seven Mideast and North African countries citizens on Feb. 4. (Xinha Photo/Liu Yang)

WASHINGTON, Feb.4 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Washington on Saturday to demonstrate against an executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 which bars citizens from the seven predominately Muslim countries from traveling to the U.S. for 90 days, stops accepting refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria, in order to protect the U.S. security.

The protesters, mostly young people, started to gather outside the White House at around 1 p.m. local time, and made their way toward the Congress along Pennsylvania Avenue at around 2:20 p.m.

Organized on a Facebook page called Peace for Iran, the demonstration was the second of its kind in Washington.

The protester chanted "immigrants are welcomed here, no hate, no fear" and "that's what make America great, love, not hate" as they marched in downtown Washington.

When the crowd passed by the Trump International Hotel, loud boos were heard and chants of "Donald Donald can't you see, you are not welcomed in D.C." broke out.

A protester called Alexa Wilson said she came out to show solidarity. "I believe that people should stand up against things that are against their beliefs," she said.

Taylor Stevens, another protester, said he felt uneasy with the way Trump executed the order.

"He used a hammer when you need a scalpel. The executive order has made our country less safe as it may become propaganda fodder for the extremist groups," he said.

Demonstrators rally in front of the White House, Washington against Trump's executive order barring U.S. entry to all refugees and seven Mideast and North African countries citizens on Feb. 4. (Xinhua Photo/Yin Bogu)

Similar events also took place in New York and Florida on Saturday.

In a related development, the U.S. State Department earlier on Saturday reversed revocation of visas for foreigners under a travel ban which was suspended Friday by a federal judge.

The department said that the foreigners covered by the travel ban who hold a valid visa now may travel to the United States.

The move came after federal judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington state, ruled Friday that President Donald Trump's executive order on the travel ban would be suspended nationwide, effective immediately.

Up to 60,000 visas for citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries covered by the 90-day ban, including Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia, were "provisionally revoked" under the January travel ban, which triggered worldwide criticism and protests.

Also on Saturday, the U.S. Homeland Security Department said that it had suspended all actions to implement the travel ban in accordance with the judge's ruling.
Demonstrators participate in a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order barring U.S. entry to all regugees and seven Mideast and North African countries' citizens in front of the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., the United States, Feb. 4, 2017. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Washington on Saturday to demonstrate against an executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

WASHINGTON, Feb.4 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Justice Department on Saturday filed a notice of appeal seeking to challenge a federal judge's ruling that has suspended President Donald Trump's executive order of temporarily banning global refugees and nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

The formal notice was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington and the case now goes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, according to local media reports.

Federal judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington state, ruled Friday that Trump's executive order on the travel ban would be suspended nationwide.

In response, the White House said the administration would seek an emergency stay against Robart's ruling, defending the travel restrictions as legal.

On Saturday, the U.S. Homeland Security Department said it had suspended all actions under the travel ban in accordance with the judge's ruling.

The U.S. State Department also announced it had reversed revocation of visas for foreigners covered by the travel ban, saying that they now may travel to the United States with a valid visa.

Throughout Saturday, Trump criticized Robart for his ruling. He tweeted on Saturday evening: "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!"

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump tweeted Saturday morning.

Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 that bars citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen from traveling to the United States for 90 days, stops accepting refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria.

Up to 60,000 visas have been revoked since then, sparking mass protests at major airports and cities in the country and some other countries, as protesters decried it as a "Muslim ban" that targets people because of their faith.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Washington D.C. on Saturday to demonstrate against Trump's order.

Since the inauguration, Trump has been named in 52 federal lawsuits in 17 U.S. states, many of the cases filed over his executive order on refugees and immigration, according to an NBC News report citing the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

Related:

U.S. State Department reverses visa cancellations as judge suspends travel ban

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department on Saturday reversed revocation of visas for foreigners under a travel ban which was suspended Friday by a federal judge.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that his country will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help restore peace along the Ukraine-Russia border.

Trump made the pledge in a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the White House said in a statement, describing it as a "very good call."

The two leaders also discussed the potential for their meeting in the near future, the statement said.

The call came as the situation in eastern Ukraine has worsened in recent days with reported ceasefire violations and widespread use of multiple launch rocket systems.

Separately, Trump spoke with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni over the phone on Saturday to discuss strengthening bilateral cooperation on issues including security and counter-terrorism.

The two leaders discussed Libya, the influx of migrants and refugees into Europe, as well as Italy's priorities, and the upcoming G7 meeting in Italy, the White House said.

They agreed to continue close coordination and cooperation on efforts to eliminate the Islamic State (IS) group and other terrorist organizations.

During the call, Trump also emphasized the importance of all North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies sharing the monetary burden of defense spending, according to the White House.

Trump also agreed to attend the G7 Summit in Taormina, Italy in May.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Justice Department on late Saturday filed a notice of appeal seeking the reinstatement of President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The latest turn of events triggered a new round of fights over the legitimacy of the ban, which has not only sparked mass protests across the United States, but has also created panic and drawn criticism around the globe.

SUSPENSION & REVERSION

The formal notice was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington and the case now goes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, according to U.S. media reports.

The move came after Trump's order was suspended late Friday by federal judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington state.

In response, the White House said the administration would seek an emergency stay against Robart's ruling, defending the travel restrictions as legal.

On Saturday, the U.S. Homeland Security Department said it had suspended all actions under the travel ban in accordance with the judge's ruling.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order which bars citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen from traveling to the United States for 90 days, stops accepting refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria.

The total population from these countries exceeds 130 million and up to 60,000 visas have been revoked since then.

However, the State Department on Saturday announced it had reversed the revocation of visas for foreigners covered by the travel ban, saying that they now may travel to the United States with a valid visa.

Visa holders from the seven countries hurried to board U.S.-bound flights Saturday, fearing they might have only a slim window through which to enter the country after the ban was blocked by Robart, U.S. media reported.

TWIST & TWEET

Throughout Saturday, Trump criticized Robart for his ruling.

"The opinion of this co-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump tweeted early Saturday.

In the evening, he posted: "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!"

The newly-inaugurated president has been harshly criticized during the past week as his pushy ban triggered mass protests at major airports and cities in the United States and some other countries. Protesters scolded it as a "Muslim ban" that targets people because of their faith.

Thousands of protesters, mostly young people, took to the streets in Washington D.C. on Saturday.

"Donald, Donald can't you see, you are not welcomed in D.C.," they chanted. "Immigrants are welcomed here, no hate, no fear."

The outcry has been echoed by thousands of protesters from London and Paris.

Moreover, the ban has also been rejected by governments of traditional U.S. allies in the West, including Britain, Germany and France.

Since the inauguration, Trump has been named in 52 federal lawsuits in 17 U.S. states. Many of the cases were filed over his executive order on refugees and immigration, according to an NBC News report citing the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police solved 83,000 cases of telecom and Internet fraud in 2016, up 49.6 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The ministry noted that the number of cases has dropped significantly since last September.

The increase in telecom and Internet fraud has been contained, the ministry said in a statement, adding that economic losses caused by telecom and Internet fraud in 2016 decreased by 10.9 percent year on year.

Last year, Chinese police dispatched work teams to several countries, including Kenya, Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia and Spain, and took back 561 telecom fraud suspects, the ministry said.

In 2016, police nationwide busted nearly 7,700 telecom fraud rings.

According to the ministry, Chinese police have successfully stopped bank transfers to 73,000 fraud accounts and recovered 1.13 billion yuan (around 164.8 million U.S. dollars) since June 2016 when banks and police nationwide began cooperation to respond to telecom fraud.
Al Copp

Al Copp and several of his colleagues founded Wood Wine Cellars in northern Maryland in 1983.

(Photo courtesy of Regina McCarthy)

Editor's note: I added information from Al Copp's obituary that appeared in the Baltimore Sun and on baltimoresun.com around 6:30 Sunday.

Funeral arrangements have been announced for Al Copp, one of the founders of Maryland's Woodhall Wine Cellars and a member of the state wine industry's "old guard."

Visitation hours are scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. and 5:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Mitchell-Wiedefeld Funeral Home, 6500 York Road, Baltimore. Here's the link to the funeral home's page on him. The services will be private.

Copp died Thursday of pancreatic cancer at the age of 82.

A longtime member of the Maryland Grape Growers Association, he was its first DiSimone Award winner. His interest in winemaking took off in the 1960s, as a member of the Chesapeake Bacchus Club. He and other members would import grapes through other club members, and some of them would store their wine in his garage. According to a piece posted years ago on baltimorestories.com, one of those individuals was Bert Basignani, still the proprietor at winemaker at Basignani Winery in Sparks, Md.

Eventually Copp and a group planted a vineyard off Belfast Road that they called Woodhall Vineyards, and in 1983 he and several partners opened Woodhall Vineyards and Wine Cellars, Inc., at its present location on York Road outside Parkton.

"We are in the Piedmont, it's a gravelly clay that is nice for the grapes," he was quoted in saying in the baltimorestories.com article. "The Eastern Shore and southern Maryland have soil that is more sandy. Cabernet from the Eastern Shore has an earthy characteristic whereas from the Piedmont, it has more finesse."

A vintage shot of Woodhall Wine Cellars, taken from the I-83 side of the Baltimore County winery.

That story noted Copp's other career role, overseeing the redevelopment project in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

According to his obituary in the Baltimore Sun, the city's waterfront had plunged into decay and neglect by the 1960s when Copp and the city's development firm embarked on its renewal. Afterward, the story said, the American Institute of Architects praised their results as "one of the supreme achievements of large-scale urban design and development in U.S. history."



Copp become president of the nonprofit Charles Center-Inner Harbor Management Inc. "The firm guided the companies, donors and city agencies behind a 20-year development that emerged as a model for waterfront cities around the world. Mr. Copp advised planners in Pensacola, Fla., Philadelphia and San Juan, Puerto Rico, the obituary said.

"He didn't care about getting attention and publicity, and he was more 'Roll the sleeves up and get it done,' " his wife, Laurie Schwartz, was quoted as saying.

Here's the full obit that appeared on baltimoresun.com Sunday night.

Eventually Copp decided to retire from that and throw all his efforts and passion into his winery.

Copp's involvement on that city project no doubt served him well for his role as an advocate for the state wine industry at an important time in its history, said Kevin Atticks, of Grow & Fortify, longtime executive director of the Maryland Wineries Association.

"When wineries came under attack from wholesalers in 2006, Al Copp devoted 90 days of his life defending the industry, commuting to Annapolis almost every single day," Atticks wrote. "Al was so incredibly passionate about the industry, and its unity. He was also quick to honor his peers for their successes, often jumping up with a glass of wine to raise a toast to fellow winemakers at meetings and events."

Rob Deford is president and owner of Boordy Vineyards, the state's oldest and one of its biggest producers. In an email he called Copp a good friend, mentor and an inspiration.

"For many years ago Al and I prowled the halls of Annapolis knocking on legislators' doors, testifying at hearings, nursing bills through the Maryland General Assembly against formidable odds," Deford wrote. "Al's judgement was spot on, and he earned a reputation for dogged persistence and fairness. Whether they agreed with Al or not, legislators and other members of the alcohol beverage industry respected his passionate advocacy for the Maryland Wine industry. Al recognized that reforming the legislative environment for Maryland wineries was critical to our future prosperity. He never let up - there was always something more to be done, another call to make, another appearance before a key committee, a fundraiser to attend."

That persistence, he said, paid off in April 2010 with passage of the Maryland Winery Modernization Act. The numbers of wineries operating across the state has grown to more than 70.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Copp's name may be made to the Roland Park Water Tower Project, c/o Roland Park Community Foundation, P.O. Box 16214, Baltimore, MD 21210.
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) has promised severe punishments for economic crimes that affect interests of lots of people, including illegally absorbing public deposits and fundraising fraud.

It also urged procuratorates to give more priority to the prevention of financial risks, cracking down on crimes such as money laundering and underground banking, and take an active part in Internet financial risk management, according to an SPP statement.

The SPP also pledged to strengthen work against manipulation and insider trading in securities and futures markets, and in supervision of property markets.

High-profile cases of financial crimes have been reported in China in the past years, including the illegal fund-raising activity of Ezubao and the case of Xu Xiang, general manager of a Shanghai-based investment company indicted for allegedly manipulating the securities market.
The file photo shows African elephants have their meals at the Amboseli National Park of Kenya, July 16, 2014. (Xinhua/Meng Chenguang)

ARUSHA, Tanzania, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- A herd of 150 elephants stormed into villages in northwest Tanzania, destroying 160 acres of food and cash crops, Tanzanian authorities have confirmed.

The elephants were strays from Serengeti National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site as big as Northern Ireland.

Local media reports said villages most affected by the jumbos' invasion were those in Itilima District, Simiyu Region.

According to the reports, for the past three days, the elephants were roaming around locals' farms destroying crops such as maize, sorghum and cotton.

"I had three acres of maize, which have been destroyed by the elephants. I am not sure of what I am going to feed my family this year," complained Nila Delefa, a farmer in the area.

"I have never seen such large group of elephants in my life. Our efforts to scare them away failed as the wild animals were charging to us. So, everyone in the village ran away," Derefa said.

He said that the first group of elephants landed into the area on Wednesday.

Another villager Shigilu Mlashi described the destruction as 'devastating', as the situation is likely to pose security concerns.

Ndulu Mtegwa, ward councilor in the area, said that six villagers have been affected by the elephants' invasion.

He described the situation as worrisome as people in the area have sleepless nights due to elephant invasion.

Benson Kilangi, Itilima District Commissioner, confirmed the incident. "We're aware of the new challenge and we've dispatched wildlife officers into the affected areas, to chase away the elephants to the national park," Kilangi said.
A Kenyan armed ranger stands guard at the site of burning contraband ivory in Nairobi, Kenya, on March 3, 2015. (Xinhua/Pan Siwei)

NAIROBI, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) member states should take a cue from China and ban domestic and overseas trade in ivory products, members of the African Elephant Coalition (AEC) said.

The coalition of African elephant range states in a statement released on Friday night hailed Beijing's decision to outlaw ivory trade and urged the EU to follow suit in order to save the giant mammals.

"We welcome China's decisive action to close its ivory market. It is a major breakthrough in the battle to save elephants," AEC chairman Patrick Omondi said.

"But we need other countries with legal domestic markets to follow suit and are calling on the EU to take advantage of the momentum created by China and shut down their trade in ivory once and for all," he added.

The Chinese government on December 31, 2016 announced a ban on processing and trade in ivory products by the end of 2017.

African policymakers and wildlife campaigners hailed Beijing for taking bold steps to eliminate ivory trade that is to blame for loss of elephants in the continent due to poaching.

The EU commission on its part has expressed willingness to terminate domestic and overseas ivory trade.

A statement from AEC indicated that the EU commission will soon announce a common position on future actions to be taken in a bid to hasten phasing out of trade in ivory products.

The statement revealed that the EU committee that oversees trade in endangered species will meet on Feb. 7 and announce major decisions that may impact on ivory business.

On its part, the British Parliament will on Feb. 6 debate a petition that has received 100,000 signatories to close its domestic ivory market.

The African Elephant Coalition rallied the international community to support a total ban on ivory trade during the 17th conference of parties to the convention on international trade in endangered species(CITES) held in Johannesburg in September last year.

Among the proposals presented by the coalition included closure for domestic and international markets for ivory and listing all elephants in CITES Appendix 1 to elevate their protection under international law.

All the EU member states except France failed to support the clause meant to raise the threat levels facing the African elephants.

African conservationists urged the EU to reconsider that decision and demonstrate greater commitment towards protection of the iconic mammals.

"The EU and its member states have an opportunity to realign themselves with France, which recently issued strict regulations and work with China to implement the CITES recommendations," said Omondi.

He added that global solidarity is key to saving the remaining population of African elephants.
SHENYANG, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- A man was sentenced to jail for 10 and a half years for robbing ancient tombs in northeast China's Liaoning Province, a local court said Sunday.

Qi Jingyu was convicted of robbing a tomb in the protected Hongshan Culture site in Lingyuan city twice in June 2013, using a spade, pick and metal detector. He found three jade items. In October, he robbed another tomb, unearthing three jade bracelets and a jade hoop.

The cultural relics protection center of Liaoning found that the two tombs were more than 5,000 years old, and the theft resulted in serious damage and loss of archaeological information.

The Lingyuan court also found Qi stole from and damaged three other sites between 2013 and 2014, including one from the Warring States Period (475BC-221BC).

Qi was also find 40,000 yuan (5,826.7 U.S. dollars). His three accomplices were also sentenced.
ANKARA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-three Islamic State (IS) terrorists were killed after targets belonging to them were hit by Turkish army in Al-Bab of northern Syria in last 24 hours, Turkish General Staff stated on Sunday.

According to the Turkish army, 220 targets belonging to the terrorists have been shelled.

A total of 3680 improvised explosive devices and 55 mines have been destroyed since the beginning of the operation, the military added.

The Turkish Armed Forces launched the Euphrates Shield Operation last August against both IS and the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Turkey regards the YPG and the PYD as terrorist organizations due to their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Meanwhile, Turkish police on Sunday detained at least 100 suspected members of IS in anti-terror raids carried out in six provinces, including Ankara, Istanbul, Adiyaman, Konya, Manisa, Samsun, and Gaziantep, Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkish police detained 60 suspects in the capital Ankara's Sincan, Cubuk, Yenimahalle and Mamak districts, who were mainly foreign nationals. Thirty suspected IS terrorists were detained in simultaneous counter-terror operations in Konya province, and 10 others were detained in Adiyaman province.
Iraqis walk in the street after returning to their homes in Mosul, Iraq, February 3, 2017. (REUTERS Photo)

MOSUL, Iraq, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Large reinforcement troops have been dispatched near the southern edges of Mosul, preparing for an imminent push into the last Islamic State (IS) stronghold in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said on Sunday.

"We have large reinforcement troops with units of armored vehicles and artillery arriving recently near the Abu Saif Hills just south of Mosul to bolster the military situation," an army source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"The reinforcement troops have taken new positions on the southern and western edges of Mosul. The troops are on the highest alert and are ready to engage in battles to free the remaining part of Mosul from IS terrorists," the source said.

During the past few days, the Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft conducted many airstrikes against IS positions in the western side of Mosul, while the artillery and mortar shelling intensified against IS positions in particular their positions in Mosul international airport in southern the city, the source added.

"The troops are waiting for the zero hour to push into the western side of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of the city," he said.

On January 24, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the eastern side of the city of Mosul was fully liberated after more than 100 days of fighting against the extremist militants of IS group.

Following the liberation of eastern Mosul, al-Abadi promised to retake the western part of the city, where an estimated 750,000 people are still living under the control of IS militants.

On Oct. 17, 2016, al-Abadi announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city and IS militants' last major urban stronghold in Iraq.

The second phase of the offensive to free the eastern bank of Mosul began on Dec. 29.

Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- China will deepen supply-side structural reform in agriculture to cultivate new development engines for the sector, according to a policy document released Sunday.

The major problems facing China's agricultural sector are structural ones, mainly on the supply side, according to the document by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

The document calls for improving structure in the industry, promoting "green" production, extending the sector's industrial and value chain, boosting innovation, consolidating shared rural development and enhancing rural reforms.

This is the 14th year in a row that the "No. 1 central document" has been devoted to agriculture, farmers and rural areas.

The "No. 1 central document" is the name traditionally given to the first policy statement released by the central authorities in the year and is seen as an indicator of policy priorities.

When carrying forward supply-side structural reform for the sector, national grain security must be guaranteed, according to the document.

It said that supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector would be a long and challenging process, demanding the relationship between government and market be well handled and in the interests of all stakeholders.

China started structural reforms in its agricultural sector a few years ago. Partly due to structural adjustment, China's grain output dropped slightly in 2016, ending a 12-year rising streak. The yield stood at about 616 million tonnes, down by about 5.2 million tonnes or 0.8 percent year on year.
HANGZHOU, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- A picture thought to be the most spectacular family photo during Spring Festival this year has vent viral.

The photo, shot by a drone in Shishe village, Shengzhou city in eastern China's Zhejiang province, shows more than 500 people from the Ren family.

The family members, all between the 25th and 31st generation of the Ren family, live in Beijing, Shanghai, Xinjiang and Taiwan, and were brought together by a project to update their family tree.

"It took us two and a half years to complete the new family tree," said Ren Tuanjie, Party chief of Shishe village. "During Spring Festival, we like to bring all the family members together so as to let our ancestors know where they are."

Spring Festival is an occasion for the gathering of family members, with many choosing to have family photos.

The photo was hailed by web users as the "most amazing family photo" in the past Spring Festival.

"It is lucky to bring them together and get to know each other," said a Sina Weibo user.

"China is moving towards modernity, but Chinese people's roots in their native land never disappear," Ren said. "Wherever they go, descendants from one family have always got something to bring them together."
United Nations peace keepers beef up security at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) compound in Juba, capital of South Sudan, July 20, 2016. The residents took part in a demonstration against the possible deployment of additional troops to the 12,000 United Nations peacekeeping forces. (Xinhua/Daniel Majack)

by Denis Elamu

JUBA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Despite huge humanitarian suffering caused by over three years of conflict in South Sudan, experts say the war-torn nation is not yet at the level of warranting international takeover.

The proposal to put the oil-rich yet impoverished country under African Union (AU) technocrats for an interim period gained currency after the renewed clash between the warring factions in July 2016, which threatened to reverse the slim gains in the 2015 peace deal.

South Sudanese officials in the capital of Juba have vehemently dismissed any possibilities of foreigners taking charge of their sovereignty after the hard-earned independence from Sudan in 2011.

Remember Miamingi, a South Africa-based law expert, told Xinhua that the conditions in the country were not yet at the requisite level for International Transitional Administration (ITA) like in Kosovo and East Timor, but he instead supports a government of technocrats.

"Even though I believe that in some extreme cases of state failure ITA might be an appropriate remedy, I intend to argue here that South Sudan is not yet a very good case," he told Xinhua.

Miamingi said international trusteeship succeeded only in countries where warring parties had reached mutually hurting stalemates, and with significant domestic constituencies that were willing to consent to ITAs.

This would contrast with South Sudan where the post-independence war nostalgia was still high and hugely credited to the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) that dominated the transitional unity government formed last April.

"ITAs should more likely be considered only in the event that a territory contains a true vacuum of political authority; domestic political agents are fragmented to the extent that collective action via UN-facilitated power sharing is impossible; political actors are too violent or untrustworthy, or because they have violated foundational internal norms and covenants," he said.

Juba-based analyst with the Ebony Center for Strategic Studies James Alic Garang said letting the AU takeover of South Sudan will not happen as the AU member states will be moving in unchartered waters.

"Besides, there are many countries in Africa with similar political problems and none has been put under the AU sanctioned mandate. It's unacceptable in the present day and age where self-determination tops agenda at the international arena," he said.

"There is no compelling reason to believe that UN or AU administrators will be effective or efficient in transitioning South Sudan out of its current crisis. If local political actors have failed, why would anyone expect foreigners to singlehandedly deliver South Sudan from its modern abyss given a prevailing undulating political terrain?" he added.

Garang however said South Sudan still needs the AU to challenge all warring parties to stop fighting and implement the Agreement on Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCISS).

Meanwhile, former deputy defence minister Majak D' Agoot, told Xinhua there was urgent need for roundtable conference outside Juba to bring all warring factions to chart a new road map for the country.

"The first premise to restoring peace is to recognize that the peace agreement has been fractured and for peace to return a fresh break is needed," he said.

Jacob Chol, head of Juba University's political science department, said the proposed government by technocrats was not a bad thing.

He however added that the proposal would likely be resisted. "Nobody wants to be removed especially the illiterates who have been accommodated in government," he said.

"Most of the technocrats we have are not very well qualified since they are mostly political appointees," Chol added.

Miamingi noted that ITAs for South Sudan should be last resort for an extreme form of limited statehood.

"Other options should be tried first before frog jumping to the other extreme. One such alternative is a technocratic administration of South Sudanese with support where needed, from the international community," he said.
DHAKA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- A high-level conference of E-9, a forum of nine high-population countries, began here Sunday to discuss policies necessary for the member states to achieve the United Nations' education-related "Sustainable Development Goal-4."

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the meeting of E-9 countries which represent more than 60 percent of the world's population, over two-thirds of the world's illiterate adults and over half of the world's out-of-school children.

On the first day of the three-day conference, Bangladeshi Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid assumed E-9 chairmanship from Pakistan.

All E-9 forum members, namely, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan, took part in the 11th biennial E-9 ministerial meeting on education.

In her inaugural speech, Hasina said the world have currently been facing threats from terrorism, violent extremism and armed conflicts.

Under such circumstances, she said, education is one of the key means through which many of such problems can be resolved.

"We're reforming our curricula and learning materials with peace-building in mind," she said.

She also stressed the need for attracting talent to teaching to boost quality of education.

At a press conference, Bangladeshi Education Minister Nahid said Dhaka Declaration will be adopted by the member countries after the end of the conference to speed up the implementation of the SDG-4 in the E-9 countries.

The E-9 initiative is a forum for these nine high-population countries to discuss their experiences in education, exchange best practices and monitor progress on achieving Education for All (EFA).

Since its launch in 1993, the E-9 network has become a powerful lobby for EFA and South-South cooperation.
A boy carries water and firewoods back home in the snow in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 5, 2017. At least 42 people have lost their lives and scores of others sustained injuries due to snowfall and freezing weather over the past three days across Afghanistan, local media and officials reported. (Xinhua/Dai He)

KABUL, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 42 people have lost their lives and scores of others sustained injuries due to snowfall and freezing weather over the past three days across Afghanistan, local media and officials reported.

Heavy snowfall has also resulted in the closure of transport and road blockade in parts of the country and disrupted road connection between districts and provincial capitals.

Even the essential Salang Pass which links capital Kabul to eight northern provinces has remained closed over the past couple of days due to snowfall and avalanches.

To tackle the problem and avoid more snow-related casualties, the government announced Sunday as public holiday.

The snowfall has also partially paralyzed the life in Kabul on Sunday as the streets are deserted and many shops are closed.

Kabul Municipality has called upon drivers to follow all the traffic rule and regulations on snowy days.

Although, there is no report on loss of life and property damage in Kabul, continued snowfall and chilly weather has added to the suffering of poor families as the prices of basic needs include wood which is used in warming houses have gone up.

Snowfall has also hampered the outgoing and incoming flights at Kabul airport on Sunday, according to passengers.

In the northern Badakhshan province, according to local media reports, 18 people have lost their lives and 21 others injured.

Five more people have fallen victim to freezing climate in the northern Saripul province over the past three days, a local official Aziz Rahman Aymaq said.

Heavy snowfall, chilly weather and avalanches have killed 16 people in Siagurd and Surkhparsa district of the eastern Parwan province, according to local officials.

Countless houses, according to Hasan Reza Yusufi, a member of eastern Ghazni province, have been destroyed due to snowfall in the province.

At least three people, according to locals, have lost their lives in the central Ghor province.

However, the Natural Disaster Management Authority has yet to release any statement on the number of snow-related casualties.

Meanwhile, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, in a meeting with cabinet ministers on Saturday night, directed concerned ministries and government entities to get ready to handle with the untoward situations arising of heavy snow and to deliver aid to the needy people in the country.
The file photo taken on Jan. 29, 2017 showed that People hold posters during a protest against President Donald Trump's executive order banning entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, outside the Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the United States (Xinhua Photo/Wang Ying)

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. court denied early Sunday a request by the government to overturn a ruling that has suspended a controversial travel ban targeting refugees and nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries.

Consisting of three judges, the motions panel of the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, Northern California, made the move hours after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an appeal with the court, arguing that President Donald Trump has constitutional authority to limit entry of foreign nationals.

More than 24 hours earlier, Judge James Robart of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled in favor of the state attorneys general of Washington and Minnesota on a lawsuit to block the executive order by Trump to temporarily ban citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the country.

The order, signed on Jan. 27, a week after Trump's inauguration, has been the most controversial among his dozens of executive orders so far and has prompted wide-spread protests across the United States.

In delivering his temporary ruling Friday, Judge Robart, appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2004, said, "The state (of Washington) has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury" by the executive order.

"Judge Robart's decision, effective immediately, effective now, puts a halt to President Trump's unconstitutional and unlawful executive order. It puts a stop to it immediately, nationwide," Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson told a group of reporters Friday. "What the judge announced today was nationwide; the president's executive order does not apply."

Trump, however, posted several messages Saturday on Twitter to defend his position and criticize Judge Robart and his ruling.

Related:

Spotlight: Trump's travel ban chaos continues as U.S. Justice Dept. appeals judge's blocking
GAZA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement said Sunday it seeks reaching a full prisoners' swap deal with Israel via a broker, a spokesman for the movement in Gaza said.

Abdulatif al-Qanou denied earlier Israeli reports saying that Hamas rejected an Israeli offer to free two Israeli civilians for the release of a brother of a senior Gaza Hamas leader.

"Hamas hasn't received any offer for a prisoners exchange and so far there is still no deal with Israel," said al-Qanou, adding that Hamas welcomes Egypt's mediation to finalize a full prisoners swap deal with Israel.

Israel Public Radio had earlier reported that Hamas welcomed an Egyptian mediation for reaching a prisoners swap deal, but rejected an Israeli proposal for a humanitarian swap deal of two Israelis.

"Hamas won't talk on any deal before Israel shows commitment to the terms of the first swap deal, which is to release all those were freed in 2011 deal and were re-arrested again," he said.

In October 2011, Egypt brokered the first-ever prisoners swap deal between Israel and Hamas, where the latter freed an Israeli soldier for an Israeli release of 1,028 prisoners from its jails, including women and children.

However, Israel arrested and resentenced dozens of Hamas prisoners in the West Bank, who were released in the 2011 deal. Hamas said they should first get released before starting to talk about a new deal.
MUMBAI, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- An Indian textbook containing controversial excerpts about higher dowry demand for "ugly and handicapped" girls has sparked outrage.

"If a girl is ugly and handicapped, then it becomes very difficult for her to get married. To marry such girls, bridegroom and his family demand more dowry," stated the textbook for secondary and higher secondary education in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Pictures of the text went viral on social media, with many people criticizing the the book's authors for being careless in choosing such offensive terms to portray women, and condemning the illegal and infamous dowry system in the country.

"If education itself becomes oppressive, where are we headed?" Twitter user Breakthrough India commented.

"We will withdraw the objectionable part and also issue a notice to the textbook officials concerned," state education minister Vinod Tawde told The Times of India.

Dowry refers to the money, goods, jewelry or property that the bride's family gives to the bridegroom as a condition of the marriage. The dowry system is believed to put great financial burden on the bride's family. In some cases, the dowry system leads to crime against women, ranging from emotional and physical abuse, even injury to deaths.

The practice has been illegal in India since 1961 under the Dowry Prohibition Act, but the law has been proved ineffective in many cases.

Sociologist Vidyut Bhagwat told The Times of India that dowry was "market-related" and that marriage had also become a "market."

"Mentioning 'ugly' and 'handicapped' to describe girls is in itself a very wicked and crooked way of looking at things. Why didn't the writer instead write about the anti-dowry Act and the past movements that were led to stop the practice of dowry? I feel the book should be banned," Bhagwat said.

Despite widespread condemnations, an author of the book contacted by The Times of India argued that the text was taken out of context. "We have said that these are some of the reasons why dowry exists. We have also included advisory on how girls should and can refuse to marry a groom whose family demands dowry," said the author.

While India has been making progress for women's rights, women continued to be in a subordinate status in their family and society.
HEFEI, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Six people were killed by gas poisioning in eastern China's Anhui Province Sunday, local authorities said.

The incident happened at around 11 a.m. in Yangxiaoying village in Changfeng County, according to the county publicity department.

Police said that the victims, from Anhui's Lixin County, might have died after using honeycomb briquettes to heat their rented house.

Further investigation is underway.
Photo taken on Feb. 5, 2017 shows a scene of a light show on water curtain after the launching ceremony of China-Australia Year of Tourism 2017 in Sydney, Australia. China-Australia Year of Tourism 2017 was officially launched in Sydney on Sunday. (Xinhua/Zhu Hongye)

BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull have sent their congratulations to the China-Australia Year of Tourism 2017, which was officially launched in Sydney on Sunday.

In his congratulatory message, Li said people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the Chinese and Australian people is one of the important pillars supporting the development of bilateral relations.

Li said he was happy to see that China and Australia have become popular tourism destinations for each other, with the total number of two-way arrivals between the two countries reaching nearly 2 million last year.

Li expressed his hope that the two countries can use the Year of Tourism as an driving opportunity to broaden and deepen bilateral cooperation and exchanges in various fields including people-to-people and cultural exchanges, to build a more solid popular basis for all-round development of bilateral ties.

The Chinese premier said the two countries respect civilizational diversity in the world, and on the basis of sound development of bilateral relations in the past 45 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and Australia should continue to uphold equality in treating each other, tolerance and openness, and learn from each other to jointly safeguard world peace and promote regional stability, and achieve new results from mutually beneficial cooperation in the greater interest of the two peoples.

The Australian prime minister said in his congratulatory message that more than 20 years of partnership in tourism between Australia and China has borne many fruits and China has become Australia's most valuable tourism market with 1.2 million Chinese tourists visiting Australia last year.

He said the Australia-China Year of Tourism marks a brand new era for bilateral relations and he believes that through joint efforts, Australia and China will share opportunities to be brought about by future development in the field.
PARIS, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The machete-wielding man who attacked soldiers near Louvre Museum before being shot and seriously wounded, remained silent on Sunday during a questioning over his assault, a local newspaper reported.

"In a short hearing at the end of Sunday morning, the attacker refuses to speak to investigators," the daily Le Figaro reported, citing a source close to the inquiry.

On Friday morning, the man armed with two machetes attacked four soldiers patrolling the Carrousel du Louvre shopping centre in the French capital, shouting Allahou Akbar (God the Greatest).

He slightly injured a soldier in his scalp before he was shot and seriously wounded.

Identified as Abdullah Reda al-Hamamy, the 29-year Egyptian national was placed into custody on Saturday after he was declared able to answer investigators questions over his attack, the report added.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the man arrived in France from Dubai at the end of January after acquiring a one-month tourist visa.

Investigation is underway to determine the motive and to establish whether he acted alone or have been guided, the prosecutor added.
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- China will deepen supply-side structural reform in agriculture to develop the sector, according to a policy document released Sunday.

The major problems facing China's agricultural sector are structural ones, mainly on the supply side, according to the document by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

The document calls for improving structures in the industry, promoting "green" production, extending the sector's industrial and value chain, boosting innovation, consolidating shared rural development and enhancing rural reforms.

This is the 14th year in a row that the "No. 1 central document" has been devoted to agriculture, farmers and rural areas.

The "No. 1 central document" is the name traditionally given to the first policy statement released by the central authorities in the year and is seen as an indicator of policy priorities.

When carrying forward supply-side structural reform for the sector, national grain security must be guaranteed, according to the document.

It also said that supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector would be a long and challenging process, demanding the relationship between government and market be well handled and in the interests of all stakeholders.

China started structural reforms in its agricultural sector a few years ago. Partly due to structural adjustment, China's grain output dropped slightly in 2016, ending a 12-year rising streak. The yield stood at about 616 million tonnes, down by about 5.2 million tonnes or 0.8 percent year on year.

BETTER FARM PRODUCTS

The gist of supply-side reform in China's agriculture sector is to increase the output of high-quality products based on green and innovative production.

The country will maintain its zero increase in the usage of pesticides and fertilizers and vigorously control water usage in the sector.

For better farm produce, a group of innovation centers and alliances will be created, and outstanding research will be enhanced.

The reform also aims to refine the quality supervision and standard system for farm produce, control soil pollution and encourage agricultural businesses to gain international certifications.

China will promote the export of competitive farm produce, cross-border operation of agricultural enterprises and the establishment of global leaders in the sector.

BRAIN GAIN

China will encourage migrant workers to return to rural areas and start businesses, while stepping up training for professional farmers, including professional agricultural managers.

Authorities will offer favorable taxation policies for business start-ups in rural areas in addition to support with financing, land use and social insurance.

Local governments are encouraged to start business parks and incubators for the returnees.

The nation will also encourage college graduates, entrepreneurs and returned students from overseas to start businesses and bring technological and managerial expertise to rural areas.

Institutions of higher learning will open more programs and courses on rural planning and rural house design.
KATHMANDU, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Nepal received more than two thirds of the total foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges from China during the first half of the current fiscal year that began in mid-July, according to data from Nepal's Department of Industries (DoI).

According to the DoI statistics, Nepal received investment pledge of 51.77 million U.S. dollars from China during the first half of the current fiscal year.

The figure represents about 68 percent of total FDI of 76.39 million U.S. dollars Nepal was pledged from various countries during the period.

In recent years, China has emerged as one of the largest FDI contributors to Nepal, as economic engagement between the world's second largest economy with the Himalayan country has been growing.

In the past fiscal year 2015-16, China was the largest source of FDI pledges with an investment commitment of 57.47 million U.S. dollars.

Pradeep Kumar Koirala, director general of DoI told Xinhua that Chinese investors are largely seen interested in tourism, infrastructure and restaurant businesses in Nepal.

For Satish More, a director of Hongshi-Shivam Cement Private Limited, a Nepal-China joint venture, the Chinese investment in Nepal has been rising in recent years because Nepal is an underdeveloped country and there are opportunities for investment in almost all areas.

"There is a scope for increased investment from China if we develop our infrastructure," he said.

During the first half of the current fiscal year, the total pledged FDI increased to 76.39 million U.S. dollars up from 59.93 million U.S. dollars during the same period last fiscal year when the country had gone through troubling blockade from India.
LHASA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The tourism industry in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region has reached a new height.

During the Spring Festival holiday this year, about 310,000 tourists visited the region, an annual increase of 7.9 percent. Tourism revenue rose 9.3 percent year on year to 259 million yuan (38 million U.S. dollars) during the period, according to the regional tourism development commission.

Last year, Tibet recorded more than 23 million visitors, bringing revenue of 33 billion yuan.

"I spent the Lunar New Year holiday with friends at a homestay in Tibet," said Yang Weijiang, from Hangzhou city in eastern China's Zhejiang Province. "We experienced a variety of wonderful food and cultural activities, including temple tours, local dances and a special local noodle soup."

The local government plans to promote the region's tourism further to attract more than 30 million visitors by 2020, when annual tourism revenue is expected to exceed 55 billion yuan.
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MADRID, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Five people died in a traffic accident close to the town of Cartagena in the southeast of Spain late on Saturday night.

The police said that the accident happened around midnight local time between the towns of La Palma and Torre Pacheco when a car carrying four men aged between 19-21 crossed onto the wrong side of the road and crashed head-on with a car carrying four young women aged 20-24.

All of the men were killed in the accident along with one of the women, while the other three all suffered serious injuries.

Local police rushed to the scene of the accident along with civil guards, the fire brigade and local ambulance services. They confirmed the five deaths, and sent the three injured to the Santa Lucia Hospital in Cartagena.

In January, Spain's Direction General of Traffic confirmed that 2016 had seen 1,160 deaths in road accidents, an increase of 29 from 2015's figures, putting an end to 13 years of declining mortality on the country's roads.
DAMASCUS, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy and the Syrian Planning and International Cooperation Commission (ICC) signed two agreements on Sunday, under which China will provide two batches of humanitarian aid to the Syrian government worth 16 million U.S. dollars.

The agreements were signed by Chinese ambassador to Syria, Qi Qianjin, and Imad Sabuni, the head of the ICC, under which China will send two batches of humanitarian aid to Syria worth 110 million CNY (16 million U.S. dollars).

The delivery of the humanitarian aid will start soon, according to Qi.

During the agreement signing ceremony held in the ICC headquarters in Damascus, Qi expressed happiness for providing the humanitarian aid to Syria, saying his country has been committed to providing the war-torn country with aid over the past few years.

"We sympathize with the Syrian people for what has befallen their country, and we are signing this agreement with the aim of bolstering friendship between the Chinese and Syrian peoples and to fulfill the international obligations and responsibilities," he said.

The ambassador also pointed out the "positive progress" made recently in Syria, especially after the battle in the northern city of Aleppo, where the Syrian army succeeded to wrest control over the entire city, after the rebels were dislodged toward rebel-held areas in the northern part of Syria.

"Syria has witnessed a positive progress, particularly after the Aleppo battle late last year, in terms of the war on terror," he said.

Qi also expressed optimism about the recent political efforts aiming at finding a solution to the crisis, referring to the recent Syrian talks in Astana, where the rebels and the Syrian government met face to face for the first time and agreed on a Russian-Turkish sponsored cease-fire. He also mentioned the upcoming Syrian talks slated for later this month in Geneva, where the political solution is expected to be further discussed after the success of the Astana talks.

"We are so glad these efforts are taking good paths, and we hope that 2017 could be the year of the return of peace to Syria," he said.
JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Three Chinese tourists were injured after being rubbed by armed gangsters in a South African hotel, the Chinese Consulate-General in Johannesburg confirmed on Sunday.

The family of three from south China's Guangxi were in a tour group that arrived at Johannesburg Airport Holiday Inn Hotel around 10 p.m. on Saturday to take the flight home on Sunday.

The group was checking in when four gun-wielding criminals stormed into the hotel and tried to rob them.

While trying to fight back, the mother was shot on the head by the gangsters' sand-blasting guns, the father's chest and legs were scratched by the sand bullets, and the daughter sustained bruise on the head.

The criminals escaped with their suitcases and handbags, and the family were send to a local hospital for treatment. All three family members are out of danger, the consulate-general told Xinhua.
DAMASCUS, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday extended an amnesty announced last year till the end of next June, for all rebels who surrender themselves to the Syrian army, state news agency SANA reported.

The presidential pardon covers all those who have held weapons in the face of the government and fugitives as well as kidnappers on condition to surrender themselves during the time of the pardon.

It is the second extension to the amnesty since it was first announced in late July last year.

The government considers the amnesty as a golden chance for the rebels who want to abandon their insurgency, and it was applied for tens of rebels who have surrendered themselves during the past months.

This comes as Syrian government and opposition delegations are set to embark on talks in Geneva at the end of February, a month after rebels and government representatives agreed to a nationwide cease-fire brokered by Turkey and Russia, which went into force on Dec. 30.
VIENTIANE, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Lao government have signed an agreement for a 12 million-U.S. dollar loan and grant package from 2017 to 2022, to bolster health security in 12 provinces of Laos and the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

The package will support the government's efforts to improve the control of emerging infectious diseases such as SARS and bird flu, as well as hospital services, reported Lao state-run Vientiane Times on Sunday.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Officer-In-Charge at ADB's Laos Resident Mission Steven Schipani said that effective infectious disease control and prevention is a regional priority.

The agreement will support Lao Ministry of Health's efforts to digitize its disease surveillance system and strengthen the outbreak rapid response teams in remote areas.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (C) speaks to Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko looks at the hall while posing for a photo prior to their talks in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 26, 2014. (Xinhua/AP)

MINSK, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said here on Friday his country does not seek to join NATO, hoping to keep good ties with its neighboring Russia.

At a press conference, the president explained that Belarus always cherished sacred agreement with Russia on the defense of Belarusian space and land.

"We are not Ukraine. We are not anti-Russian, and we do not aspire to NATO", he said, stressing the Belarusians should not offend the Russians.

Speaking about difficult oil and gas relations with Russia, the Belarusian president expressed his wish that this conflict would be solved at the top level and would not affect the daily life of the people.

Belarus is at loggerheads with Russia over the unresolved dispute over oil and gas. Russian media reports said Moscow will reduce oil supplies to Belarus from 4.5 to 4 tons in the first quarter of 2017, hoping to press Minsk to pay 425 million U.S. dollar gas debt.

Lukashenko also said he would welcome anyone wishing to monitor military exercises Belarus and Russia had planned to hold this year.
A fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces gathers near a village north-east of Raqa on February 3, 2017, during their advance on the jihadists' de facto capital in Syria. (AFP/Xinhua)

DAMASCUS, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday extended an amnesty announced last year till the end of next June, for all rebels who surrender themselves to the Syrian army, state news agency SANA reported.

The presidential pardon covers all those who have held weapons in the face of the government and fugitives as well as kidnappers on condition to surrender themselves during the time of the pardon.

It is the second extension to the amnesty since it was first announced in late July last year.

The government considers the amnesty as a golden chance for the rebels who want to abandon their insurgency, and it was applied for tens of rebels who have surrendered themselves during the past months.

This comes as Syrian government and opposition delegations are set to embark on talks in Geneva at the end of February, a month after rebels and government representatives agreed to a nationwide cease-fire brokered by Turkey and Russia, which went into force on Dec. 30.
Members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, attend a memorial in the southern Gaza aStrip town of Rafah on January 31, 2017. (AFP/Xinhua)

GAZA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement said Sunday it seeks reaching a full prisoners' swap deal with Israel via a broker, a spokesman for the movement in Gaza said.

Abdulatif al-Qanou denied earlier Israeli reports saying that Hamas rejected an Israeli offer to free two Israeli civilians for the release of a brother of a senior Gaza Hamas leader.

"Hamas hasn't received any offer for a prisoners exchange and so far there is still no deal with Israel," said al-Qanou, adding that Hamas welcomes Egypt's mediation to finalize a full prisoners swap deal with Israel.

Israel Public Radio had earlier reported that Hamas welcomed an Egyptian mediation for reaching a prisoners swap deal, but rejected an Israeli proposal for a humanitarian swap deal of two Israelis.

"Hamas won't talk on any deal before Israel shows commitment to the terms of the first swap deal, which is to release all those were freed in 2011 deal and were re-arrested again," he said.

In October 2011, Egypt brokered the first-ever prisoners swap deal between Israel and Hamas, where the latter freed an Israeli soldier for an Israeli release of 1,028 prisoners from its jails, including women and children.

However, Israel arrested and resentenced dozens of Hamas prisoners in the West Bank, who were released in the 2011 deal. Hamas said they should first get released before starting to talk about a new deal.
KATHMANDU, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-seven Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested on Sunday from Thamel, Kathmandu's tourist hub, for illegally entering Nepal, police said.

Somendra Singh Rathaur, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Sorukhutte police station, told local media that the police have launched a probe against those detained Bangladeshi nationals.

Most of the arrested Bangladeshi nationals - who had entered Nepal via India-Nepal Kakarbhitta-Panitanki border point a few months ago - were involved in small-scale business like weaving and crafting clothes in Thamel area, the police said.

The police will handover the arrested Bangladeshi nationals to the Department of Immigration on Monday for further investigation.

The arrested Bangladeshi nationals have failed to produce their travel documents during the interrogation, local media reported citing police sources.

They will be deported to Bangladesh soon after the investigation, according to police sources.

The police have suspected that as many as 4,000 Bangladeshi nationals are illegally working across the capital city of Kathmandu for the past one year.
Although he'd made several features beforehand and gained a little international attention for his prior two films, Matador and Law of Desire, his 1988 comedy Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown was the big breakout hit that secured Pedro Almodovar's reputation as a major director on the worldwide stage. In addition to being a box office success both in its native Spain (the film's producer claims it was the most-seen movie in the country for two straight years) and the United States, it steamrolled through the Spanish Goya Awards and the Toronto International Film Festival, and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language prizes at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes and Oscars. Suddenly, Almodovar was identified as the most vital voice in Spanish cinema. A young actor named Antonio Banderas benefited from the exposure as well.

That type of acclaim and reward might typically suggest a serious drama weighted heavily with important themes and existential angst. To the contrary, Women on the Verge is a very light and frothy relationship comedy about a group of female characters driven to hysteria by the men in their lives and their interactions with each other. Carmen Maura leads the cast as Pepa, a successful television actress whose personal life is imploding because she's convinced that her boyfriend, a fellow actor named Ivan (Fernando Guillen), is planning to leave her for another woman. She has good reason to worry. Ivan is an old-fashioned ladykiller with a history of treating his previous lovers poorly, and he's clearly dodging the many phone calls she obsessively makes to contact him. The more their paths just miss crossing (by Ivan's design, of course), the more frantic and irrational Pepa becomes, to the point of planning a drastic and ill-conceived plot to prevent him from leaving town.

While she's preoccupied with that, Pepa is interrupted by her friend Candela (Maria Barranco), a flighty young woman who has just discovered that her own boyfriend is a criminal. She's less concerned about his actions than the fact that he lied to her about them, and she's terrified that the police will come to arrest her for unwittingly harboring him. Into the middle of these two crises walk Ivan's son, Carlos (a very young and nerdy Banderas), and his stuck-up fiancee (Rossy de Palma). As if all that weren't complicated enough, Carlos' deranged mother (Julieta Serrano) somehow proves to be even more obsessed with Ivan than Pepa is, and far more dangerous.







As all of these characters and their individual storylines swirl around and bounce off one another, the film's plot grows increasingly crazier and more melodramatic until hitting its outrageous climax. Throughout, Almodovar's direction draws from several very disparate influences, including classic Hollywood screwball comedies, Douglas Sirk's Technicolor women's pictures of the 1950s, and a touch of surrealism by way of Fellini. The manner in which he combines these is his own peculiar stew, forming a vibrant and rambunctious vision of a post-Franco Spain filled with characters almost as colorful as their surroundings. His fetishistic attention to detail in the wardrobe and production design nearly hits Wes Anderson levels a decade ahead of that filmmaker's emergence, but in the service of a story that thrives on chaos and delirium.

From Fellini, Almodovar takes a fondness for casting interesting faces that don't necessarily conform to the usual standards of movie star beauty and glamour. Carmen Maura is a lovely woman and an excellent actress, but her jutting jaw wouldn't get past the door at a Hollywood casting call. Maria Barranco's features are just a little off, with a head slightly too small for her body and teeth too big for her mouth. And no disrespect to the actress intended, but Rossy de Palma has a face that many have described as Picasso-esque. Almodovar doesn't treat any of them as weirdos or curiosities. I think he genuinely sees them all as beautiful, and he styles them and photographs them accordingly, as objects of attraction and desire. His work with her in this movie and others (she's a frequent collaborator) propelled de Palma to a career as a model and fashion icon.

Women on the Verge is something of a statement piece for Pedro Almodovar that confidently established him as an exciting talent to watch. For all that, it's still an early, formative work in the filmmaker's career. It's an entertaining but ultimately minor effort from an artist who would go onto to better things as he developed and refined his artistic voice.







Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown enters the Criterion Collection as spine #855, under license from Sony Pictures Classics. This marks Criterion's second collaboration with director Pedro Almodovar, following a Blu-ray edition of his 1990 comedy Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! a few years ago. A corresponding DVD edition is available separately.

The disc comes packaged in one of the distributor's clear keepcases, which also contains a booklet with an essay about the movie. The disc has a plain static menu displaying the same artwork as the outside of the case  a Lichtenstein-inspired Pop Art design. The current video disc Pop Art fad has long since worn out its welcome, but this one at least feels appropriate to the movie's content. In addition to being boring, the menu is also poorly designed with confusing menu highlight colors that make it unclear which selection has been chosen.
NEW DELHI, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Chief Minister of southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu O Panneerselvam Sunday resigned from his post, party officials said.

Panneerselvam's resignation has paved the way for his party head V K Sasikala to take charge of the state.

Tamil Nadu is governed by a regional party - All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

"The Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today proposed the name of Chinnamma (Sasikala) as the leader of AIADMK legislature party leader during a meeting and after that he announced his resignation and submitted it to Sasikala," an AIADMK party official said.

O Panneerselvam became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu last year following the death of then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. During her hospitalization she handed over all her responsibilities and portfolios to him.

"Now Sasikala will call on Tamil Nadu Governor C Vidyasagar Rao to submit the party's decision and stake claim to form the government," the official said.

Sasikala, according to sources, is likely to take her oath as chief minister soon. She was a longtime aide of Jayalalithaa.
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Most of the top 10 valuable Chinese brands in 2017 are owned by state-owned banks and Internet powerhouses, according to a report by Britain-based consulting firm Brand Finance.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, one of the five banking heavyweights in China, edges China Mobile to top the chart with a brand value estimated at 47.8 billion U.S. dollars, gaining over 10 billion U.S. dollars from 2016 and earning it the 10th place globally.

Alibaba, China's top e-commerce firm, boasts the most valuable brand among Chinese Internet companies, having the value surging by 48.5 percent year on year to reach 34.8 billion U.S. dollars.

Tencent ranks the 10th domestically with a brand value of some 22.3 billion U.S. dollars, according to the Brand Finance report which unveiled the top 500 most valuable brands in the world.

Compared with last year, Tencent's WeChat, the most popular instant messaging app in China, ascended more than 100 rungs up the global value ladder with some 13.1 billion U.S. dollars.

Baidu took a nosedive in the hierarchy by retreating 50 slots globally.

The world's most valuable brand is claimed by Google, which surpassed Apple with the intangible asset worth some 109.7 billion U.S. dollars.

Gauges used by Brand Finance for the ranking include brand strength, potential value of brand licensing and prospect sales volume.
PARIS, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- After a primary victory, the clock has been ticking for French left presidential nominee Benoit Hamon to unite ranks and rally majority ahead of the upcoming presidential election.

On Sunday, Hamon said "My first task is to gather the Socialists and the broader left" to make "dreams possible."

"It does not matter if you are a minister, citizen or elected, what counts today is the horizon that we will draw together ... This is the program we want to lead together. It's that associative, collaborative left that I want to gather," he told supporters.

At the end of January, the former education minister won the left ticket to join the presidential competition after beating ex-prime minister Manuel Valls in the primary run-off which was a contest between two wings of the ruling Socialist Party.

Unlike 2011 when President Francois Hollande had managed to rally green and far-left parties behind him, severe rifts in the broader left party is challenging Hamon and hamper his presidential bid.

"Yes, there are disagreements between us as there has always been in the left," he acknowledged.

"Gathering is not requiring the presence of key faces. Rallying is the act of drawing together a common horizon," he said during his official nomination.

The 49-year-old ex-education minister resigned from Hollande's government in protest over what he said was a too liberal economic policy. He was a harsh critics to labor reforms that the ruling Socialists described it as the flagship measure to cut unemployment.

"Let us look at what the right wants to destruct, and we will know what we have done well," the left candidate said, referring to education reform and the block of EU-U.S. free trade negotiations under Hollande's governing.

"All of that goes in the right direction, but (the ruling Socialists) record has also left discontent people. We ...want to gather to transform this anger into an aspiration to something beyond us, transcends us," he added.

If elected, Hamon vowed to repeal the controversial labor reform which aim at soften job market rules and offer more flexibility to companies and block the use of 49-3 decree, a constitutional mechanism that helps the executive team to pass laws with lawmakers approval.

He also wants to recruit additional 5,000 security officers.

"Today, in the world in which we live, the clouds are numerous, the threats are heavy, the transitions that we are going to propose to the French are not without uncertainties," Hamon said.

Opinion polls said that given the ruling Socialists unpopularity, the left-wing politician has little chance of making it to the run-off round of the presidential election on May 7.
NAKURU, Kenya, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Before 1992, Zakayo Lesingo had no knowledge on what it involved to prepare land, grow maize, harvest and make food out of it.

As an Ogiek, an indigenous minority ethnic community in Kenya, his food was either honey, wild meat or berries.

When he was born in Logoman forest within the Mau Forest Complex in Kenya's Rift Valley region some forty years ago, his life revolved around the bushes; chasing after a deer, collecting honey or gathering ripe berries from indigenous trees.

"It was an exciting life with little of struggles in obtaining food or water," Lesingo said told Xinhua on Saturday.

But it's no longer an exciting life for him and his community; the core hunter and gathering practice has faded away for a new dawn of farming.

The Mau Forest Complex, an expansive forest area of 400,000 hectares is under rehabilitation and government had to evict the community from inside the forest, automatically breaking their cultural chain of activities.

The complex forest is a significant ecosystem not only to Kenya but also its neighbouring East African countries due to a multiplicity of its benefits ranging from agriculture to tourism.

It's a water tower that supports the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, the cradle of remarkable tourism adventures, particularly wildebeest migration from the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya to Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

By 2011, more than 100,000 hectares had been lost as estimated by United Nations environment agency, UNEP.

Following a spotlight on the state of environment at the forest, the government has been relentless on executing rehabilitation activities overseen by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS).

On this development, Lesingo's community has been on the losing end since it can no longer be allowed to live in the forest and continue with their way of life.

It is through the evictions from the forest and disruption of their hunter and gathering survival mechanism that Lesingo and his fellow community members approximated to be 40,000 in total came to know the definition of farming.

"We did not know what a plow was, it's work and how it was used. But now we do," he said.

"It was very challenging at the beginning since we did not know what to do but we have now come to terms to it since we have no other option," Lesingo said.

Just like his other community members, Lesingo grows maize and potatoes which he sells to wholesale traders.

Nevertheless, climate fluctuations have not spared them.

"We never experienced drought before but it has now become a common phenomenon. It leaves us in desperation when it lasts for too long since we deplete our food stocks before a next harvest," he said.

"There are some diseases which also affect the crops. You cannot be so sure you will harvest what you have planted. It is a challenging situation but we are adapting."

He said the community is also struggling to keep up with their traditional bee keeping practices.

"We still have a few traditional bee hives but the harvesting seasons are not as reliable as they used to be. There are very few indigenous trees where bees can get nectar from to make honey. It's impossible to depend on honey as a main source of food as used to be," he said.

Lesingo said honey served not only as food but also medicine that their treated their children with.

He said the community is a conservationist in nature from their historical connection with the environment. They highly valued every aspect of their surroundings, Lesingo said.

"Cutting a tree for any member of our community was totally unthinkable. That was our life. We reared bees on trees and they provided bees with nectar to make honey for us to feed on. It was our role to protect every tree," he said.

"We love protecting the forest because we know its value. We totally discourage indiscriminate felling of trees," Lesingo said.

Although the community is adapting to new life out of the forest, it is still living under one major fear; lack of title deeds to pieces of land where they currently live on.

The forest evictees are yet to receive formal state resettlement and Lesingo hopes the government would do so soonest to bestow their hearts and mind with peace of mind. Enditem
KABUL, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 50 people were killed and a dozen others wounded after an avalanche struck a remote village in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nuristan on Sunday, a local official said.

"The natural disaster struck Hafsaa village, Barg-e-Matal district roughly at midday. The initial information found 50 people died and over one dozen wounded," a provincial source told Xinhua anonymously.

The source added that the number of casualties may further rise as the avalanche also destroyed countless houses in the province, bordering Pakistan.

"Most of the roads leading to the affected village have been blocked by the snow, and the local officials were trying to dispatch rescue teams to provide assistance and aid to affected people in the district with difficult terrains," he said.

The deaths have brought to over 90 the number of people who lost their lives due to snowfall and freezing weather across Afghanistan over the past three days.

The heavy snow and avalanche also destroyed or damaged more than 200 houses across the mountainous country over the same period.

Afghan security forces and Natural Disaster Management Authority's officials rescued several passengers, who were trapped in 40 vehicles along a main highway connecting Kabul to southern Kandahar province over the past 24 hours.
This file photo taken on February 3, 2017 shows US President Donald Trump speaking with reporters on board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, bound for Palm Beach, Florida. (AFP File Photo/Mandel Ngan)

By Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Two weeks since newly-elected U.S. President Donald Trump took office, Americans are split in their assessments of whether the U.S. news media is covering the Trump administration fairly, a new Gallup poll found.

Just over a third of Americans, at 36 percent, think the media has been too tough on Trump, while just under a third, or 31 percent, think it has been about right, according to the poll.

Twenty-eight percent say the media has not been tough enough. Republicans overwhelmingly believe the media has been too tough on Trump, the poll found.

However, this masks broad disapproval among Republicans, who mostly believe the media -- which Trump has declared "the opposition party" -- is being too hard on the new Republican president. Meanwhile, about half of Democrats think the media should be tougher on Trump, according to a Gallup poll released Friday.

Trump's team has battled against what it describes as the U.S. media' s unfair coverage of a number of issues. The White House has fought against some media estimates of the size of Trump's inauguration crowd being relatively small, and against media descriptions of Trump's visa ban as a "Muslim ban," for example, Gallup noted.

This comes against this backdrop of nearly three in four Republicans, or 74 percent, saying the media has been too tough on Trump.

Democrats, on the other hand, are more divided, with 49 percent saying the media has not been tough enough and 40 percent saying its coverage has been about right.

The public's mood, according to this late January poll, differs from January 2009, when only 11 percent of Americans thought the U.S. news media had been too tough on then newly-elected President Barack Obama.

Nearly half, or 48 percent, thought the media was about right in its coverage of Obama and his administration, while 38 percent said it was not tough enough, Gallup found.
US President Donald Trump and First Lady MelaniaTrump arrive for the 60th Annual Red Cross Gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach on February 4, 2017. (AFP File Photo/ MANDEL NGAN)

By Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Not even a month into Donald Trump's presidency, Washington's bitter partisan rivalry continues, with Democrats going hard against the new commander-in-chief.

The Democrats have been stunned by Trump's victory last November when he beat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to clinch the White House, surprising the vast majority of pollsters and experts.

Expressing their disapproval of the New York billionaire and his policies, a number of Democrats joined demonstrations against Trump, or refused to attend Trump's inauguration two weeks ago. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is leading the charge against Trump' s recent visa ban on seven majority-Muslim countries where terrorism is rife, calling the ban anti-Muslim.

Some Republicans and pundits, however, have countered that the ban does not cover hundreds of millions of Muslims from countries worldwide.

Some experts said many Democrats are baffled that voters chose Trump, and are attacking him in any way they can in a bid to drum up support after suffering a massive defeat. Others note that Republicans, when Obama was elected eight years ago, blocked everything the former president did.

"Democrats have decided to oppose most of what Trump is proposing," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua.

This means it will be difficult for Trump to pass anything that requires 60 votes in the Senate to break a Democratic filibuster, West said, referring to Congressional rules that could make things difficult for Trump.

"He can pass budget-related bills through a simple majority, but every other policy action is going to be difficult for him. I expect this to continue throughout Trump's presidency," he said.

Critics also said the new president has done little to reach out to the other side, making it likely that the rivalry will continue unabated.

"He has done little to reach out to opponents, so if anything their (Democrats' ) opposition is likely to become even more intense," West said.

Republican Strategist Ford O' Connell told Xinhua that Democrats are going to complain about Trump's actions no matter what he does, in a bid to increase support from voters.

Polls find that Americans are fed up with Washington's party rivalry. Others note that this is simply part of the U.S. system of governance, although at times it can hamper progress.

"Some degree of partisan rivalry is good for democracy. Vigorous competition promotes idea development and gives voters a sense of how the two parties differ on key issues. However, taken too far, extreme partisanship weakens the political system and makes it difficult to address important problems," West said.

Not being able to pass basic legislation raises cynicism among voters and makes them think nothing good comes out of Washington, West said.

One upcoming issue of contention, among others to come, is the wall on the U.S.-Mexican border that Trump ordered to build. He even demanded Mexico pay for the wall, despite the latter's strong opposition.

Critics, including the Mexican government and U.S. Democrats, have railed against the wall, saying it's expensive and unnecessary.

West said Democrats will attack the wall as bad policy and as far too expensive.

"They will argue that Republicans waste money on ill-advised policies while the Republican Party also cuts assistance programs for the middle class. They will say the wall is bad for foreign policy and will destroy relations with Mexico," he said.
TEGUCIGALPA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 people were killed and another 35 were injured on Sunday when a passenger bus collided with a semitruck in southern Honduras, local media reported.

The crash along the highway connecting the capital Tegucigalpa with the southern part of the country "left at least 17 people dead and 35 injured on Sunday morning," the daily La Prensa said.

Fourteen of the fatal victims died at the site, and another three at the hospital.

Images of the crash site showed the truck had turned over on its side and pinned down the bus onto the highway after the two collided head on.

The public transit bus was reportedly carrying some 60 passengers, including the son of the mayor of San Miguelito, a town close to the crash site. He is among the fatal victims.

Video footage showed rescue workers placing the injured into ambulances, which transferred the wounded to the University School Hospital (HEU).

The daily Diez said, "reporters at the site of the accident said 'the scene is Dantesque,' and the interior of the bus 'full of corpses'."

Authorities have yet to determine the cause of the accident, but officials arrested the driver of the truck, who was reportedly speeding, and are holding him in safekeeping "to prevent him from being lynched by angry relatives," Diez added.

Relatives of the victims gathered outside the hospital awaiting news, with some of the injured survivors said to be in critical condition.

According to the Violence Watch at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, in the first half of 2016, traffic accidents were "the second cause of death" in the country.

The average death toll from such accidents stood at 117 per month, or four a day.
Distraction policy (Photo source: Jiao Haiyang / China.org.cn)

by Wang Xiaohui

On Jan. 29, the second day of China's Lunar New Year, The Times, a British national newspaper, published a report entitled "Rifkind a stooge in secret PR war on China," saying that the Henry Jackson Society (HJS), a U.K. think tank, is paid a total of 15,000 pounds per month by the Japanese embassy in the U.K. to voice opposition to Chinese foreign policy. Former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind was approached by HJS and served as a stooge in this disgraceful deal.

According to the report, a provisional proposal wanted the think tank to deliver a "communications strategy" for the embassy at a cost of 15,000 pounds per month. Written in early 2016, the proposal aimed to engage U.K. journalists and high-level politicians, including members of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, to focus on "the threat to western strategic interests posed by Chinese expansionism." It added that "as part of delivering the 'threat' message, we will have to counter the growing belief, particularly in the U.K. Treasury, that Chinese inward investment can provide the answer to the U.K.'s infrastructure problems."

Chinese people who were celebrating the Spring Festival might have missed the report, but the problems it revealed are deep.

Why does the Japanese embassy fund the spreading of anti-Chinese propaganda?

Generally speaking, the responsibility of an embassy is to handle political, economic, military and cultural relations with the government of its host country and to defend the lawful rights of its citizens in a foreign land on behalf of its country. What the Japanese embassy has done goes against common sense and is no better than espionage.

As is known to all, the problems and conflicts between China and Japan are both historical and contemporary. Since the late 19th century, Japanese imperialists had wreaked havoc throughout Asia, and especially in China, for almost 50 years. However, it not only refuses to reflect on its wartime aggression, it also tries to revise history and set itself against China on territorial sovereignty as well as trade. Of course, the main reason for this fear is China's rise. In the wake of rapid economic growth during the past 40 years, especially since reform and opening up, China has leapfrogged Japan to become the world's second largest economy, and the gap is gradually widening. Along with its economic expansion, China is also growing into a military power.

China's development has caused much concern for Japanese politicians, especially those on the right. Due to fear based on the past logic of "power to hegemony" and a self-envisioned "China threat," Japan aims to contain its neighbor by all possible means.

President Xi Jinping's visit to the U.K. in 2015 sparked a China craze in the country and lifted bilateral relations to a new height. George Osborne, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, also called for creating a "golden decade" of China-U.K. cooperation during his visit in Shanghai in 2015. All of this has caused a large headache for the Abe administration and led to the embassy's disgraceful decision to wage a propaganda campaign against China via a third party.

Why did a British think tank dedicate itself to working for the Japanese embassy?

Even though the transaction of the monthly stipend of 15,000 pounds paid by the Japanese embassy sounds handsome, it remains unimaginable that a prominent think tank like HJS would accept the payment. Moreover, why should the former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind act as a conduit for HJS? The reason goes far beyond business transactions. The hostility towards China's social institution and "the Chinese Road" are the true reasons behind the scenes.

In October 2015, the China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) partnered with Electricite De France Group (EDF) to seal an agreement to develop a project at Hinkley Point C. It was the first time that a Chinese enterprise has ever engaged in nuclear power construction in the European market, which, therefore, attracted immeasurable attention from across the world. However, the project has sparked disturbances and doubts from think tanks and the media, hyping security concerns when Britain allows China to be involved in the construction of the local nuclear power plant.

Rifkind confirmed he had been approached by HJS to put his name to an article published in the Daily Telegraph expressing concerns about China's involvement in Britain's Hinkley Point C nuclear plant. Headlined "How China could switch off Britain's lights in a crisis if we let them build Hinkely C," the article made groundless speculation that "no one knows what 'backdoor' technologies might be able to be introduced into the building of a power plant."

Because of such disturbances, the project of Hinkley Point C continued to be protracted as EDF delayed investment in the final phase and the newly elected British government postponed approval in July 2016.

Even though the Hinkley Point C project eventually moved forward after several twists and turns, we can truly feel the repercussion of "China Threat Theory," which is firmly ingrained in the minds of many western countries. The latest reports in The Times have made us truly understand the point, while the intriguing schemes of the Japanese have also been exposed.

Would Japan's little tricks work?

Japan has never lacked the ability to play tricks, especially political tricks. From the September 18 Incident, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Pearl Harbor Attack and the duo performance of the Japanese government and Tokyo authority in attempts to "purchase" China's Diaoyu islands in 2012, Japan has never failed to demonstrate that their gimmicks are always followed by bigger and more vicious schemes.

However, the world has transformed in the past century and China today is no longer the country it once was. China will step forward to the central stage of the world despite the apparent political, economic and military challenges and the schemes both on and off the tables. Without making use of invasion and looting, the development of China relies on assiduous endeavors and sweat of its 1.3 billion people. While making its own progress, China has contributed substantially to the world's economy and provided new approaches to global governance. An increasing number of countries have recognized and accepted China's efforts and devotions, which resonates with a Chinese adage that "a just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust cause finds scant support." The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping has drawn the involvement of more than 100 countries and made progress in its initial stage; The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is running smoothly; multinational cooperation in projects such as the Hinkley Point C has removed hurdles and made headway; the G20 Hangzhou Summit in 2016 demonstrated that China would share its thoughts with the world and propose its ideas  How can independent, just and inclusive development be impeded by dirty tricks?

"The passes and paths are as impregnable as iron, but we are now transcending them from the very beginning." This is the real path to a stronger China.

The author Wang Xiaohui is editor-in-chief of China.org.cn.
Gunman found hiding in bush

A police report state that at about 3 pm on Friday, a party of officers among them Insp Ramkhelawan, Sgts Francis and Santlal and Cpls Maharaj and Wolfe went to the Mon Repos district. On arrival, police searched an area of overgrown bush where they found a man hiding.

The officers also found a .45 Kimber pistol with a magazine of seven rounds of ammunition. The suspect is from Church Street in Mon Repos.

Also in the exercise were officers from the Rapid Response Unit and Community Police. Up to last evening, the suspect remained in police custody. Once charged, he will appear in the San Fernando Magistrates Court.